Chapter 25

He could feel Patamon squirming on his head. TK just couldn't believe that the Crest of Hope symbol was sitting right in front of his face. He thought the Crests had been destroyed, so to speak. He couldn't wrap his head around it. They used the power of their Crests to restore the Digital World to its rightful state. They willingly gave up the power for their Digimon to go to Ultimate to help protect the Digital World. And now, the Crest of Hope was looking him right in the face.

"I don't…believe it," TK whispered, finally stumbling forward, never taking his eyes off of the rock. "There's just no way."

"It's here, TK," Patamon said from atop TK's head.

"It can't."

"What is it?" Crystal asked, tilting her head slightly.

"It's the symbol of the Crest of Hope," Ken replied.

"The Crest of what?"

"The Crest of Hope," Ken repeated. "Every Digidestined has a crest. It helps their Digimon Digivolve to the Ultimate level. Also, each DigiEgg that we use has a Crest on it. A Crest, basically, is an attribute of the holder. Tai's for example, is the Crest of Courage because he is the bravest of all of us."

"Not quite," TK replied with a smile. "The Crests aren't attributes of the holder, but of everyone in the group. Tai had the Crest of Courage because it was the courage he felt from the rest of the group. Like my Crest of Hope isn't just my Hope but everyones."

"But Tai doesn't have a DigiEgg so someone else has the Crest of Courage, right?" Crystal asked.

"In a way," Icemon spoke up. "The Crests and DigiEggs are two different things. Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, TK, and Kari all had the eight original Crests. Their Crests were used to restore the DigitalWorld which meant that they can't be used again and the Digimon couldn't evolve into Ultimate for a while. The DigiEggs that Davis, Yolei, Cody, Kari, and TK have has the Crest symbol on them because of the attributes they have inside. Kari and TK are the only ones who still have their past Crest attribute symbols on their DigiEggs."

"Ooooh," Crystal muttered. "So…what's it doing on the rock?"

"That we don't know," Ken replied.

"Why don't you touch it to see what happens, TK?" Wormmon suggested.

"What if something bad happens," TK said with uncertainty.

"But what if something good happens?" Patamon asked. "You never know until you try. Remember, that's how we got the power to Armor Digivolve." He clung to his friend's head when TK nodded in remembrance. "So why don't you try it now?" But TK couldn't move. He didn't want to admit it but he was afraid, very afraid. He didn't know what would happen if he touched it. He was afraid that something bad would happen because they always seemed to attract trouble, even when they weren't doing anything. "TK!"

"OK, OK." TK took in a deep breath and stepped forward, his eyes trained on the Crest of Hope that stared back at him. He slowly reached out his hand, gulped, and pressed his palm against the stone. A few seconds went by and nothing happened. All was still. Sighing, he slowly dropped his hand, dragging his fingertips across the surface before bring his arm back to his side.

"I was sure something was going to happen," Patamon muttered, sadness filling his voice. "I want to Digivolve again."

"Oh Pata'." TK took his friend off of his head and hugged him tight. "Let's go back before the others start to worry. And then we can go in search for the others."

"Good idea. I don't like the idea of being split up," Ken said as they started their walk back. "But should we be the ones to move? Should they find us instead? I mean, we have a pretty safe place."

"As safe as we can be with that earthquake earlier," Crystal commented.

"Think about it. Would you rather stay in a home with food and a bed or would you rather sleep in the forest and be easy to target?"

Crystal sighed. She knew she was in a losing battle and there was no point in trying to get them to change their minds. She didn't want to admit it but they had a point. She just didn't feel right staying there when they could be looking for everyone else. While separated they could easily be attacked and be outnumbered than if they were together. If they were all there then it would be easier for them to fight Diaboromon.

"Are you ok?" Icemon asked, landing on Crystal's shoulder.

"I don't like waiting around, that's all," Crystal replied. "That rock is important, right? Why aren't we doing anything about it? Why are we just going back?" She pulled Icemon into her arms and hugged him tight as he snuggled into the crook of her elbow. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly wondering when she became a follower instead of the leader she used to be.

She smiled at the thought. Years ago, even before she and Willis got their Digimon, whenever they played together she would always be the leader. He claimed she was bossing him around but she simply stated that she was simply being assertive and he needed to stop being such a pushover. In hindsight she might have been a tad bit bossy but what was the problem in that? Willis wasn't a wimp anymore and it was all because of her. Really, he should thank her for giving him courage and the ability to stand up to people.

She gently stroked Icemon's head and looked around at the Digital World. It was times like these that she couldn't help but think she was the reason for Willis's troubles. She was there when he first got his Digimon (she had been sleeping over and they were playing on the computer trying to keep quiet so they wouldn't get in trouble when it happened), she was there when he created Diaboromon, when he got his first C on a report card, everything. She couldn't help but feel if everything was her fault. She was always there when something happened, albeit it's coincidence, but she couldn't help but think that she was really the reason for all of their problems.

"What took you so long?" Crystal lifted her head at the tone in Willis's voice. She hadn't noticed that they had made it back to the house. She and Willis stood outside. She hadn't noticed that TK and Ken had gone in. She hadn't noticed anything, really, she was too wrapped up in her thoughts.

"We found this rock," Crystal finally replied. "It had the Crest of Hope on it we were taking a look at it to figure out what it meant. TK tried touching it to see if it would do anything, activate anything. Nothing happened so we decided to come back. I wanted to find the others but I was voted against, I guess." She knitted her eyebrows together. "Why?"

Willis's lip twitched slightly. "You were gone for a while."

"You were worried," Crystal supplied.

Willis flushed. "We didn't know if you got attacked or anything."

"You were worried," she repeated, a smile forming on her face. "Come on, it's not that hard to say. Admit it."

"I wasn't worried," Willis denied. "I was…far from it."

"You were worried!" she bounced on her toes with glee. "Aww, and here I thought you didn't care about me." She had a teasing grin on her face.

"Ha, you wish!"

Icemon struggled out of Crystal's arms and she slackened her grip. He shot into the air, looked down at the two and smiled a bit before going in search for Terriermon and Lopmon. He and the twins were practically joined at the hip. Despite being a different species they joked saying that they were siblings since they were 'born' on the same day. Icemon finally found them in the kitchen. Lopmon was sitting on top of the counter watched Terriermon with a mixture of fascination and disgust on her face as Terriermon shoved more food into his mouth.

"What are you doing, nya?" Icemon questioned, walking over to them. He sat back on his haunches and tilted his head slightly, the little crystal tips on his fur sparkled in the sunlight the streamed into the room.

"Terrier is sick of not being able to Digivolve so he's eating thinking that if he gets enough energy he can," Lopmon summarized, sighing.

"The only thing that will happen is you'll get enough energy to burp if we're lucky, nya," Icemon said before licking his front right paw and rubbing some dirt off of his ear. "You're going to get a stomach ache, nya."

"C'mon guys, this has to be the solution to our problems," Terriermon said after swallowing. He loud out a loud belch, something that surprised Icemon from coming out of a little guy. Lopmon sighed and flopped back on the table as Icemon laid out on the floor altogether and watched Terriermon intensely. His ears twitched and he lifted his head slightly when he heard footsteps coming his way. He jumped to his feet and flapped his wings hard, pushing himself into the air. As soon as the person rounded the corner Icemon went into a divebomb.

"Aaah! Icemon, what're you doing?" Izzy's voice came out muffled underneath the fur of Icemon's stomach as he latched onto Izzy's face.

"Haha! I got you! You were scared weren't you, nya?" Icemon asked, jumping off of Izzy's head and flapping his wings steadily to stay in the air. Izzy couldn't help but stare at the way the light bounced off of his wings, sparkles of the rainbow floating around them with every downstroke. He shook his head and turned his attention to Terriermon who had flopped onto the floor, holding his large stomach.

"Terriermon! What're you doing?" Izzy demanded.

"Terrier though that eating a lot would give him the energy needed to Digivolve," Lonmon explained. "I guess he ate too much."

"Terriermon, energy is a big part of it, yes, but that doesn't mean you should stuff your face," Izzy sighed, kneeling and helped Terriermon sit up. "You know, Tai had the same idea when we were younger." Terriermon's head snapped up at the mention of the leader's name. Izzy gently petted Terriermon on the head. "He thought that the only way he could get his Crest to work was to get Augumon to have a lot of energy. The problem was that he was pushing Augumon too hard. When they got into a fight Augumon, well, let's say he had too much power." Terriermon gulped at the tone in Izzy's voice. "Augumon, as Greymon, eventually Digivolved…but into SkullGremon. SkullGreymon was a reckless Digimon. Greymon actually Dark Digivolved, at the time we didn't think that was possible but you could tell that he became a dark Digimon. He would attack anything that got in his way, he was uncontrollable.

"He couldn't remember who his friends were, if he wanted to at least. The darkness has a funny control over people. He attacked Birdramon, Garurumon, and Kabuterimon before destroying the Colosieum. He used so much energy that after that he reverted back to Koromon but the damage was done. Tai realized his mistake afterwards, that you can't force a Digimon to Digivolve unless you want something else like that to happen. You have to let it come naturally."

Terriermon's eyes were as wide as saucers once Izzy finished his story. He let out a sort of groan and struggled to his feet. His stomach buged so much it almost touched the floor and he waddled when he walked. "Why can't we Digivolve? I want to Digivolve like the others! It's not faaaaiiiirrrr!" He wailed.

"I've been working on a couple of theories," Izzy said over Terriermon's whining. "The biggest one, Crystal's theory actually, is the only one that makes the most sense. You can't Digivolve because you don't have your DigiEgg yet."

"So why don't we just go looking for them?" Lopmon asked.

"It's not that easy," Izzy sighed. "If you're forgotten we're hiding. We're hiding from the Dark Masters and the most powerful Digimon we've ever faced. This Digimon…it almost destroyed the world by hacking into the Internet and firing missiles at us. The Dark Masters were hard by themselves but Diaboromon has the chance to not only destroy the Digital World but my world as well."

"But it's not fair that we can't go looking!" Terriermon wailed. "I bet that's where Willis is. That's why he didn't want us to come!"

"Come?" Izzy repeated. "Terriermon, what do you mean?" Terriermon chose that time to let out a groan, grab his swollen belly and fall onto his bottom as Lopmon and Icemon joined them. Izzy closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten in his head before opening them again.

"Icemon, did Crystal and Willis go looking for your DigiEggs?" Izzy asked slowly, looking Icemon in the eye.

Icemon's eyes darted back and forth between Izzy and the twin Digimon who were subtly shaking their heads. "Aaaaaaah! She told me not to tell! She and Willis went looking for the DigiEggs around the rock we saw in the woods today, nya!" Icemon wailed, throwing himself to the ground.

Izzy clenched his hand into a fist and pounded the top of the counter. The Digimon jumped in reaction. "Icemon, go get the others. Quickly. Tell Tentomon to fly ahead."

"What're you doing?" Lopmon asked.

"We have to find them before one of the Dark Masters finds them first."

"This is the rock, huh?" Willis wiped his sweaty brow with his gray sleeve before rolling them up to his elbows. He stared intently at the symbol on the front of the rock as Crystal sat by, watching him. "So the Crests look something like this." He gently placed his hand on top of the symbol.

"Something like that," Crystal corrected. "I heard Izzy saying something about them being different shapes for different people."

"And whatever Izzy says must be right," Willis muttered under his breath, rubbing his hands together to get the dirt off.

"Do I detect a bit of bitterness, Henderson?" Crystal asked, lifting an eyebrow. "What the heck's wrong with you lately? It seems like every time I say something you make a bitter comment about it."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd talk about anything else but Izzy all of the time," Willis replied without looking at her. He heard her making a scoffing noise and felt her presence behind him.

"Yet you can go on and on about all of the 'nice girls' you've met," Crystal said with air quotes and an eye roll. "You're setting a double standard here."

"I'm not doing anything," Willis said, finally turning around. Crystal was shocked at the smoldering look in his blue eyes. She's never seen him this angry before. It wouldn't surprise her if he attacked her right then and there he looked that mad. His features were stony, it didn't fit his sweet face. He turned his hand into a fist and for a second she braced herself, waiting to get punched. Willis let out a slow breath and unclenched his fingers. "You know what? It doesn't matter. We should be focusing on how to get our Digimon to Digivolve."

"So you're just going to ignore this and walk away?" Crystal demanded, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at Willis's retreating back.

"Uh huh," he replied.

"Why the hell are you such a fucking coward?" Crystal shouted at him. "Why can't you ever face your problems? Why do you always run away?" He didn't respond. "Fine, run away, again! Just let Diaboromon take over the world. We can all blame you for this since you were stupid enough to create him in the first place!"

Willis stopped and stiffened, his hands clenching into fists. She has never gone that far. She's been mad at him plenty of times before but never has she gone that far. Willis squeezed his eyes shut. 'Calm down, it's just the stress of all that's happening talking. That's not her, that's not your Crystal' he told himself trying to keep his blood from boiling. His face was red with anger; he probably looked like a lobster. He slowly turned around and faced her. Never in his life did he want to harm her until now. "What…did…you…just…say to me?" He hissed.

Crystal held her ground. "You heard me."

Willis stomped over to her and glared down at her. "You know how I feel about this…this Diaboromon thing. How dare you throw it back in my face like that?"

"How dare you talk to me like that?" Crystal shot back. "As I said you're setting a fucking double standard and I won't stand for it. I say one thing about Izzy and you jump down my throat!"

"One thing?" He repeated. "One thing? That's all that ever comes out of your mouth! Izzy said this and Izzy said that. Do you even have your own thought process anymore?"

"Ohhh, I get it now, you're jealous!"

"Of what?" They were practically nose to nose now.

"Of someone possibly being smarter than you are."

"Don't make me laugh!"

"I'm not joking."

Before Willis could retort a line of explosions pushed them apart as dust shot up in their faces. Crystal covered her face with her arms and felt herself being yanked backwards, as if strings were tied around her.

"What the hell?" She managed to yell through the dust that was going into her lungs.

"Oh neat! A new toy for me to play with." The dust slowly faded away and Crystal turned her head, her eyes locking on the wooden frame of none other than Puppetmon. "Hmm, you're new aren't you?" Puppetmon used his strings to turn her this way and that as Crystal struggled to get free. "You may pose to be a problem but I can make you obey," he laughed, lifting his mallet in the other hand.

"Ugh! Let go of me, Pinocchio!" Crystal growled.

"Pinocchio! That's the best you can come up with?" Puppetmon laughed. "This was too easy. Diaboromon will have to give me a promotion once I bring you back."

"Put her down!" Willis shouted, grabbing a rock and throwing it with all his might. It bounced off of Puppetmon's head harmlessly.

Puppetmon glanced at Crystal, then at Willis and shrugged, "Ok." Grinning he brought the strings down, slamming Crystal's body into the ground. When he picked her back up she hung limp. "You told me to put her down," Puppetmon laughed as Willis clenched his hands into fists.

'What'm I going to do?'