In the words of RAKIM, "It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, without a strong rhyme to step to..."

Yes, I know, I suck. Really suck. Life got buzy and I totally dropped this fic like a hot potato. But I'm back now and I promise that I'll never leave you guys waiting for almost a year for a new chapter again (not a hard promise to keep with this being almost over). In fact, you're getting two updates this week (yay)! I did my typical "write a chapter that's entirely too long (30,000+) so I'm forced to split it into two" thing. So here is the first half of "Destinies Pt II: The Start of Something New/Plans for War." The second half will follow on Friday (for real, I promise).

Destinies Pt. II (1): The Start of Something New

Tokyo, Hitachi Tower

Ineg grimaced as he headed down the wide hallway of Hitachi's new technological complex. After turning the corner that would take him to the new portal provisioning department, he let loose an angered sigh. It was insulting, frankly, for he, as powerful and skilled a being as he was, to have to depend on the meager abilities of mere men in order to survive.

Ineg's thoughts were abruptly broken by his left hand wavering between its normal solid state and a strange, flickering translucency, akin to a broken light bulb. He stopped and closed his eyes, focusing on the troubled area until it finally returned to normal, then resumed his trek with an irritated grumble. This was something he was not used to; the abject desperation that his current condition brought upon him. It was an unmitigated assault on his usually overconfident psyche that placed him in a virtually unceasing neurotic state.

He didn't have much time left. Hitachi's final plan, mysterious though it was, was set to go into motion soon. He needed to be whole once again in order to take his place in the impending order of the dark empire that would soon engulf the world.

"I will not be left behind." Ineg muttered the words to serve his own lacking sense of self assurance more than anything. He slowed to a stop as he finally arrived at his destination, a large metal door that read, "portal provisioning."

With an unpleasant grunt and no preamble, he pushed the door open and barged into the room.

"What news, Miko?" He asked of the single technical agent seated in the expansive advanced lab within. The much younger man looked up in alarm from the monitor and keyboard before him and swallowed loudly.

"Good news sir." He nervously ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the dark guardian with anxious eyes.

"Yes?"

"Y-yes. It appears that the portals to the realm have re-opened. Defenses have currently been drastically lowered."

"Truly?" There was a hint of disbelief in Ineg's voice.

"Y-yes sir."

"Good." Ineg clapped his hands together and smiled broadly. "Prepare the portal. I'll depart at once."

"Um, I would advise against that, sir."

"What, why?"

The man pointed to the screen before him with a trembling hand. "There's a reason the securities were taken down. Look at what recently passed through the portals into the realm."

Ineg leaned forward and closely scrutinized the screen. After a moment of reading the lines of encoded data, he drew back with a slight look of confusion. "How? How is this possible? I thought they were dead."

"Yes. Well, not exactly...apparently."

"But how-? Why?" Ineg paused as he suddenly remembered something Hitachi had told him during their initial meeting. "… See the look in his eyes? That's not a thirst for blind vengeance. He wants to know how I did that, and how he can repeat the feat in the future. Precisely what my reaction would be."

Ineg rubbed his temples as a grimace of regret came to his face. It was perfectly within Hitachi's personality to do something as stupid as to study the biggest threats to his burgeoning empire rather than destroy them.

"Hitachi, you fool!"

"Pardon?" Miko looked up in surprise. Ineg knew that the tech's surprise stemmed from the fact that he'd heard no one, not even The Assassin, speak of their leader in such a manner.

Ineg ignored him. "Does he not realize what he's doing? He is toying with fire."

"H-hardly." Miko contended. "How can they pose any threat to him? What little of the Dark God's power that he has within him to this point has already made him formidable. And soon he is going to initiate the full joining."

"And none of that matters if he just ignores the prophecy!"

"Prophecy? Oh I hardly think such superstition is relevant here."

"Superstition?!" Ineg was incensed by the nonchalant way the lowly tech addressed the matter. Insignificant speck. Who was he to speak that way? "If it is such a superstition, then how would you explain me? How can you explain how the digidestined defeated Myotismon seven years ago? The prophecies are not a matter to be taken lightly."

Miko cowered considerably under Ineg's verbal onslaught. "B-But, do you honestly believe that they are in any position to-"

"Defeat Hitachi? Of course I do"

"But he's so strong now-"

"The prophecies rarely make any real sense in terms of strength and experience."

"But you said before that they each have dark counterparts-"

"Which we are obligated to fulfill...and I thought Hitachi had. Damn fool." Ineg shook his head ruefully and stared at the information on the screen. "What are his plans to combat them when they inevitably return?"

"Well, he doesn't actually have a plan exactly..."

"The arrogance! Why not?"

"Because he was never told that they escaped from the prison and research facilities in the first place."

Ineg took a deep breath in a vain attempt to steady his nerves. The chain of command around here was in a ridiculous state of disrepair.

"We couldn't tell him." Miko continued. "You know how much he would've wanted to discover the knight's abilities. He would have killed us all without prejudice."

"And what makes you think you can delay the inevitable? Sooner or later, he's going to find out."

"Yes, but hopefully it will be after the joining has been completed, by when he should find it irrelevant."

Ineg shook his head. Humans practically redefined the word fallible. How they could place so much of their faith and well-being in plans rife with words like "should" and "hopefully" was beyond him. "Don't you see?" He said with a grated sigh. "That is the ultimate flaw in this entire operation. With the prophecy still in play, there may not be a joining."

"So, what are you saying?" A voice carried in from the doorway. "We should inform Hitachi to launch an offensive against the Realm?"

The owner of the voice, KiAdjae, walked into the room then, Jade trailing behind him.

"Assassin!" Miko immediately launched himself from his chair to the floor, head bowed deeply in a groveling poster that Ineg couldn't have found more sickening. For his part, he greeted the two newcomers with barely a nod.

"No," He said. "It is now too late for that. We cannot disrupt the timetable. We will have to let them come to us."

"I agree." Said KiAdjae, hand to his chin, with a musing nod. "But in the end, it does not matter. They are only a nuisance, and safely imprisoned. There is no need for Hitachi to worry himself with them."

Ineg raised a brow at the statement. So, KiAdjae didn't know of their escape either? He was discomforted by this notion and frowned momentarily. Jade must have noticed his expression, because she said. "You do not agree?"

"Of course not." KiAdjae answered when his counterpart didn't respond. "Though he has sided with us Jade, you must remember the person whom he once a part of. No Guardian put as much stock into the prophecies as dear Gennai here."

"Do not call me by that name," Ineg said, bristling. "I am not him. We are not one and the same."

"Of course not. But that doesn't mean you don't share many of his traits."

Ineg narrowed his gaze suspiciously. "Meaning?"

"Meaning what I said, you share much of his traits, in so much as you trust the prophecies anyway. The only difference between you two is that you try to complete the dark portion of each prophecy, whereas your counterpart is a slave to the light."

"And you never respected the prophecies at all." Ineg countered. "Whether or not you agree with their use, you never respected their power, and it ultimately led to your downfall."

The room fell deathly silent and the last visage of a sneering smile disappeared from KiAdjae's face.

"How dare you?" He said in a lowered tone. "Nothing I did led to my own downfall. That was all your doing. You condemned me, forced me to wander the digital world for years without my powers. You judged me!"

"As I have said before, KiAdjae, I did not judge you. I was the part of Gennai that-"

"Always agreed with me, right? I knew there was a good reason I always remained suspicious of you. It all makes perfect sense now."

"What does?"

"You never agreed with me. That is an outright lie. You are the dark component of Gennai, which means that you always wanted to bring the dark prophecies to fruition."

"Like you-"

"No, not like me. I never sought to complete the dark prophecies. I simply wanted to get rid of the prophecies altogether. I found them pointless and vapid and preferred taking matters into my own hands. You, however, -both sides of you- thought the prophecies were the end all and be all. Now that I think about it, my banishment was probably the only thing your two sides ever agreed on."

"KiAdjae-"

"My eyes are opened now." The restored Guardian smirked. "You've done everything- given me my abilities back, attacked the Knights, simply for your own benefit. In order to fulfill the prophecy. Your goals are not in line with Hitachi. Studying how the Knights were created could play a vital role in building our future army, yet you simply want them destroyed."

Ineg clenched his fists. How could they all be such fools? "Fulfilling the Dark Prophecy is what the Dark God would want, do you deny that?"

"No, of course not."

"Then where do your loyalties lie?"

"With the only visionary involved in this entire operation, Hitachi."

"Then you are making a grave mistake."

KiAdjae chuckled. "Am I? We don't exactly know who will come out of this joining in control. Better to play both sides than foolishly choose only one."

Ineg drew back at the words and sneered. "You are as much a spineless snake as you ever were."

"I am not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not from you." KiAdjae continued to smile, prompting Ineg to wonder how he could maintain such a jovial visage in the midst of such a volatile conversation. Something was giving the deposed Guardian a heightened level of confidence, and Ineg had a good idea of what it was.

"And so we find ourselves at a crossroads…" KiAdjae continued. "There can only be room for one second in command in this empire, and neither of us is completely loyal to our impending emperor, whoever he may be." A sphere of energy began to take form around his hand.

Ineg narrowed his gaze at his newfound adversary. "This was always your plan, wasn't it?" He said, purposely making his voice sound as unimpressed as possible. "Wait until my condition had sufficiently deteriorated, then attempt to eliminate me. So much for brotherhood."

"Brotherhood? That ended with your judgment, judgment that both sides of you, darkness and light, passed down upon me. Simply because I decided to follow my own path and not the one provided by your little fairy tales and bedtime stories. You had to know this was coming."

"Please gentlemen," said Miko meekly from his cowering position. "Not in here. You'll likely destroy Mr. Hitachi's equipment and-"

"Silence!" Both guardians yelled at once.

Miko only responded with a slight whimper and slid further down out of his chair and onto the floor. Jade let out a disgusted snort at his cowardice and produced her digitally enhanced sword from its scabbard. "If we are to battle, I prefer to get it out of the way now."

Ineg looked between the woman and her master. He'd had momentary inklings that this might happen; that the enhancements he'd given the two would ultimately be used against him, but his dedication to recovering his other aspects and serving the Dark God had been so complete that he'd foolishly ignored the warning signs. Now he found himself with a debilitating quandary.

"So it all comes out, KiAdjae. This is why you were never eager to help me return to the realm. This is what you wanted all along."

KiAdjae shrugged. "Not initially, but it soon became an indulgence of mine, bringing about your destruction by my hand. I had considered simply allowing you to waste away, as you currently are, but it then occurred to me, 'what would be the amusement in that?' Why simply allow you to die, when I can take my vengeance by force?"

Ineg glanced out of his periphery at the portaling panel Miko was hiding under. He was in dire straits now. There was no way he could defeat KiAdjae in his current condition, not while he could feel his entire body phasing in and out of his current reality. He had to find another way.

"There's no escape." KiAdjae said, as if reading the dark guardian's mind. "You'll never recover your missing parts, and frankly, you'll never leave this room alive."

"I beg to differ."

The attack flew forward from KiAdjae's hand like lightning, just as Ineg had expected. He'd started to dive to the side before the projectile had even been hurled at him. The powerful mass of energy plowed through a wall on the other side of the room and left a billowing cloud of black smoke, along with many crackling severed electrical wires, in its wake.

"You missed." Ineg said, his voice tauntingly arrogant. He needed his opponent angered and temperamental to pull off what he was planning.

Another attack came forth, this time originating in a wide arc from the tip of Jade's sword. Ineg dodged the expanding band of white energy, stopping to hover in midair as it passed underneath him, and gave the offending woman a calculated glare. They had definitely prepared for this attack if her sword was already charged. She stood in front of her master, in a threatening and all too confident pose. That brought a sneer to Ineg's face. He'd have loved nothing more than to utterly obliterate the insufferable wench at the moment, but that would prove as impossible at this point as him winning this entire battle. He had to stick with his plan.

He darted to the side again, just as another of KiAdjae's attacks singed by him, and came to a rough landing beside the portaling machine. He quickly grabbed a hold of Miko by his shoulders and dragged the programming engineer away, behind a nearby partition, just before another of KiAdjae's attacks streaked by and blew up a nearby console.

"Oh, come on Ineg," KiAdjae shouted, a cocky smile evident in his tone, "Running and hiding? Isn't that beneath even you?"

Ineg peeked around the edge of the partition at his opponent. "Continue this assault KiAdjae, and Hitachi's head technical agent dies at my hand! There can be no joining without him!"

KiAdjae narrowed his gaze at his adversary. "You wouldn't."

Ineg felt insulted at that. "Honestly, why would I not? What of what you know of me would lead you to that conclusion?"

"I know that all you want is your precious 'Dark God.' You would never risk Hitachi joining with him and bringing him into this world."

Ineg chuckled derisively. "If I believed Hitachi worthy, perhaps, but then we both know now that I don't believe that, don't we?"

KiAdjae visibly seethed and an expected moment of silence passed before he said in an even voice, oozing with suppressed rage, "You worthless...sniveling...coward, GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT!"

Two flashes of white streaked by on both sides of the column. Warning shots. Ineg knew that The Assassin would never risk the power that Miko's skills afforded him.

"This is what you're going to do," he whispered to the trembling man. "I will provide a distraction and you will go to that machine and open the portal to my realm."

"B-but," Miko glanced back and forth between Ineg and the console anxiously. "that could t-take t-t-ten minutes."

"You have two. Do it, or my vow to end your life will become much more than just a threat."

"B-but-" Miko looked up at the imposing guardian incredulously.

"Those fingers had better fly, Mr. Kori, or your head will."

The small man gulped and nodded. "Y-yes sir."

"Good. Now go!" Ineg pushed him away from the partition and leapt out in the other direction. Predictably, Miko went unnoticed as Ineg drew the majority of his adversary's fire. Ineg rolled into a somersault as he flew through the air, barely avoiding a couple of well-aimed strikes from Jade's sword. He dove behind a large piece of machinery as the strikes plowed through one of the room's reinforced steel walls.

By the way they were tearing this place apart with reckless abandon, Ineg knew that this attack had to have been sanctioned by Hitachi himself. They didn't trust him, probably never had. Like everyone else in their organization, they'd only tolerated him for so long as he could serve some kind of use to them. Now, with the impending joining so close, they were effectively tying up all of their loose ends. He glanced over to where Miko was, huddled next to the portaling machine, diligently at work. Ineg knew he could trust the cowardly engineer. Though he showed marked loyalty to Hitachi, it was bought loyalty. A young wife and mother held captive tended to bring such a measure of devotion, at least from men that valued such things. Ineg allowed himself a small smirk. Miko would likely take his small act of insurrection as some type of moral victory.

Another attack came, this time from KiAdjae's hand, forcing Ineg to abandon his cover as the powerful sphere of energy reduced it to flaming scrap metal. He dove forward and for a panicked moment saw his hands disappear into nothingness. They only reappeared after he'd suffered the ignominy of a particularly ungainly landing and tumbled to a harsh stop against a wall.

KiAdjae's mocking laugh echoed around the room as Ineg struggled back to his feet and stumbled behind another console. "You appear to be a bit out of sorts, Ineg! How about we just end this, and you retain some semblance of dignity? Stop hiding like a coward! Come, receive your death in an honorable manner!"

Ineg allowed himself a small smile. KiAdjae's arrogance was affording him an opportunity to concentrate on regaining his senses and strength. Once his hands had ceased wavering and regained their form he made a fist and formed an energy attack. "I'm afraid you don't know me very well, brother!"

He stuck out from his cover, firing the attack in a continuous beam rather than the usual sphere. KiAdjae dropped to the ground to avoid the strike and rolled away as it carved through the wall behind him.

"Now who's the coward?" Taunted Ineg. He felt suddenly empowered by the effective force of his attack. If he could continue to fight like this, he might not need Miko's portal after all. He struck out again with his other hand and this time caught KiAdjae with a glancing blow to the shoulder. KiAdjae rolled with the blow and slid to a stop behind a column on the other side of the lab.

Ineg let out a hearty laugh. "I see you have forgotten who was always the better fighter between the two of us. Maybe you should take your death honorably."

"I haven't forgotten," came the reply from the other side of the column. KiAdjae's voice was strained and somewhat subdued. "I underestimated you for the last time years ago...JADE!"

The sudden shout brought Ineg's attention back to something, or rather, someone, he never should have taken it from, and he knew almost immediately that it was too late. No sooner had he turned than did he see the band of energy come at him from behind. He had no time to dodge the oncoming attack, and the last thing he registered before it would slam into him was the brilliant white hue the energy gave off as it sped towards him. KiAdjae must have charged the sword with as much of his power as possible and Jade had just released it all at once. It was obvious that they desperately wanted him to die here. The wave of energy collided with him, and an excruciating pain like he'd never experienced prompted Ineg to release a guttural scream as he was sent flying through the air. He slammed into a wall and fell to the ground with a whimper.

Then...nothing.

But only for a moment. Though the world remained dark and unseen, Ineg soon regained enough of his senses to realize that someone was standing over him, and he could just make out a pair of voices.

"How he managed to survive that, I have no idea." The embittered voice belonged to KiAdjae. "Look at him, his whole body is phasing in and out of reality. He's damn near invisible, yet he's still alive."

Jade's voice followed. "Your plan did work, however. By sacrificing that blow to him, you managed to get him to open himself up to my strike."

KiAdjae grunted. "Whatever, at least I can finish the job now."

The faint hum of a charging attack drifted down to Ineg and after a moment of struggling and intense concentration, he was able to open one of his eyes. Despite his slowly adjusting vision, he could see that he was lying on the floor of the lab, his body contorted into a fetal position. Fortunately, KiAdjae and Jade were standing behind him, and could not see that he had regained consciousness. He was also fortunate to have an unobstructed view of Miko at the portaling machine from his vantage point. The tech was looking directly at Ineg and after moment he gave him a very slight nod.

The portal is open, Ineg realized. From here, where he lay on the very edge of death, he could see his salvation awaiting him just across the room. He struggled to move and felt his entire body shudder from the strength expended in simply trying to lift a hand.

"This is pitiful;" KiAdjae chuckled at the slight movement, "and very amusing. Trust me, ending your suffering now will not be an act of mercy or benevolence. I simply don't have time for this."

Ineg stared desperately at the machine as he heard KiAdjae powering up his attack for a killing strike. There was no way he would be able make it to the portal, let alone stand, in the precious few seconds he had left. He could barely move at all. Never had the saying, "so close and yet so far" been so thoroughly understood. Still, he could not die like this, not when there was vengeance to be wrought upon Gennai, and now KiAdjae. Maybe he could find a way to repeat what he, or his counterpart, rather, had done all those years ago. He could hardly move, and certainly couldn't outrun KiAdjae's attack, but perhaps he could use his disowned brother's own strength against him. A precise, well-timed, movement on Ineg's part may be all that was needed.

When Ineg heard KiAdjae shout and saw the slight movement of his arm coming down, he summoned every bit of strength he had remaining to roll to the side and curl himself into a ball. As he hoped, the late movement caused KiAdjae's attack to miss him, and instead blast the ground where he had just been. The close proximity of the explosion caused the resulting shockwave to actually lift Ineg up from the ground and send him hurtling across the room. With his senses as dulled as they were, Ineg could only hope that he was sent flying in the direction he'd planned. He struggled to make sense of the streaking sounds and shapes around him, but could only make out what sounded like a shout of frustration from KiAdjae and a frightened scream from Miko. For a moment he thought he saw the silver hue of the side panels of the portaling device, then the white glow of its main screen. It seemed they were getting closer as he continued to rapidly flip head over heels, but he couldn't be sure. Briefly, in the dizzying haze of everything that was going on, Ineg heard the sound of KiAdjae shouting and firing another attack. Then, shortly afterwards, everything faded into white and he lost consciousness once again.

Miko let out a groan as he lay on the ground, not from the substantial amount of pain now coursing through his body, but from the amount of work those two "guardians" and that woman had created for him. Their wanton destruction of his laboratory would certainly keep him busy for the rest of the night. All over the room were broken console screens, crackling circuitry panels, and open gashes in the walls from which plumes of smoke liberally spilled. Miko turned his head in order to take a look at the area where he'd previously been standing and frowned angrily. The Assassin apparently had fired another shot at Ineg's just as he'd reached the portal. Miko couldn't be sure if Ineg had made it through or not before the attack had destroyed the device, but in the end it really didn't matter. Neither result could save him from Hitachi's wrath if he didn't fix all of this.

"Where did he go?" The Assassin ran over to the smoking remains of what was once the portaling console and looked around anxiously. "Where did he go?!"

"N-nowhere I assume." Said Miko. The engineer slowly picked himself up from where he'd landed on the floor, adjusted his glasses, and walked over to view the scene himself. "It would seem that you destroyed him. In his weakened state, he pixilated rather quickly."

"That easily? I doubt it. Gennai was never so pitiful a combatant."

"That may be so, but was he ever so weakened? Perhaps he was desperate."

"Desperate to do what? He made a beeline for that portaling machine..." The Assassin paused as if something had just occurred to him. "Almost as if he'd had planned to use it. Is this possible, Miko?"

Miko quickly shook his head. "Most assuredly not, sir-"

"Because if I find that you are lying to me."

"He is," interrupted Jade. "He was crouching next to that device throughout most of the battle. Likely carrying out whatever orders that Ineg had given him."

The Assassin cut his glare at the man, giving him a fiery look that made Miko silently grateful that he had chosen to use the restroom shortly before Ineg's arrival.

"Is that true, you worthless little worm? Did you help Ineg escape?"

"I-I did not, I assure you."

"Then what, pray tell, were you doing at the portaling machine?"

"I was doing the responsible thing, what Hitachi would have wanted. I was backing up data and information from the machine into our main servers, in the event that in the midst of your thoughtless battle, it got destroyed. And it was fortunate that I did, because that is exactly what happened."

"He is lying." Asserted Jade, taking a threatening step forward.

Miko didn't flinch. "Oh, really? Am I? Because I would be perfectly willing to take this before Hitachi and have him decide. That is, if he gets past the anger of finding out that you two would so boldly put his plans for tomorrow at risk like this."

Jade let out a low growl and raised her katana. The assassin quickly reached out and stayed her hand.

"He has a point, Jade. I believe he is telling the truth. Let him go."

"Fine." Jade took a step back and kept a well trained glare on Miko.

"Thank-you. The disheveled engineer bent down and picked up a few papers that had been scattered across the floor. "Now I'll have to go downstairs to storage to get a new console and upload all of the proper programming into it. You two have certainly made my day that much busier. Thanks for that."

Miko left the room in a huff, hoping the entire time that his performance wouldn't be rewarded with a high powered blast to the back. When he reached the main hallway outside the destroyed room, he let out a sigh, relieved to find himself very much still alive. The relief was fleeting, however. He still had a lot to do if he wanted to remain alive past tomorrow, and so very much more than just Hitachi's plans depended on his survival.

"He certainly grew bold." Jade said, watching the tech's departure with disdain.

"Yes, he did." The Assassin replied in a thoughtful tone. "I wonder why." He turned his attention to the smoking pile of machinery in front on him. It was possible that Ineg had gone through whatever portal may have been opened, yet it was just as possible that in his weakened state, he had been destroyed. The Assassin finally shrugged. Either way, it didn't matter. Gennai's darker half was a lone entity with no allies or any power. If he wasn't dead, he would soon be. And he posed absolutely no threat.

"It doesn't matter." He said, turning with an angry flourish. "Come Jade, we have to prepare ourselves for what's coming tomorrow."

"Yes." She nodded and began to follow behind him, but not without flashing a last glance at the destroyed device herself.

"He's not coming back, Jade." The Assassin said without breaking stride. "If he isn't dead, in the state he was in, he soon will be. Gennai has lost and I have won. It is time to move on to more important things."

"You're right." Jade bowed her head and fell into step behind her master, whatever lingering misgivings she had quieted for the moment.

The Realm, Training Fields

"Strike!"

Krista Lee's shout was echoed by the sound of several fists smashing into various wooden mannequins, which was followed by more than a few groans of pain. She frowned in disappointment as her students, all lined shoulder to shoulder in a somewhat disciplined row, began to complain out loud.

"Tell me again," Said Matt, rubbing his fist gingerly and inspecting it for any signs of bruising, "Why are we doing this? Won't we have guns out there?"

Krista looked offended by his words. "You can't possibly think that a gun will be your only form of combat. What will happen when you run out of bullets?"

"Guess we'll just be S.O.L." said Matt under her breath

Krista rounded on him. "You certainly will be, if you do not take this training seriously."

"No offense, but a one day crash course in how to fight isn't going to suddenly change us into some crazy ninja warriors."

"Guys," came a gruff voice. "Just do as she tells you. Even the smallest amount of training might save your life."

"Easy for you to say, Cody," grumbled Sora. "We don't all have a lifetime worth of training and fists of steel."

"Just listen to them guys." Said Noriko. "Like she said, strike like you mean it, without fear of hurting yourself." She threw another punch and the mannequin made a loud crack as a chunk of wood splintered away from it. Noriko drew her fist back and began bouncing up and down on her heels, obviously doing her best not to start outright jumping for joy. "See? It works!"

Krista gave Noriko a nod of satisfaction. "Very good. Now, once again, strike!"

Four fists obediently struck out yet again.

This time the noise of four simultaneous cracks rang out and pieces of wood splintered everywhere.

"Much better. See what happens when you just shut your mouths and do as I say?"

There was a murmured agreement from Matt mixed with the others.

Krista crossed her arms and looked between he and Sora with a skeptical smile. "You know, you two wouldn't have to deal with me had you actually decided to attend the early morning session instead of sleeping in."

"Hey, you can't fault us for that. We were exhausted! We went on the rescue mission with Hatori, remember? Figured you would recall that with the way you guys were arguing."

"Ugh," Krista shook her head. "Let's not revisit that debacle again. Now, back in your attack stances!"

About a field's length from the training area, immersed in their own conditioning exercises were the Knights, sans Curtis and Rosa. Most of them were busily progressing through a series of holds and break maneuvers. Most, that is, except for Tai, who Kuri noticed seemed to be more preoccupied with watching Krista's training session than participating in their own.

"Hey Tai," She said as Terence easily broke from her half-hearted wrist hold. "We don't hold your interest anymore? I think I'm offended."

He ignored the jab and didn't turn around as he spoke. "They're doing ok so far, huh?"

"About as well as can be expected in so little time." Answered Jun, her voice strained as she grappled with Davis.

"Don't kid yourselves, you two." Said Kuri, pausing as Clara seized her with a simple arm hold and she twisted out of it. "They're barely passable. I heard the morning session with Hatori and the others went a lot better, though."

"I missed that one," said Tai. "Took a run after training with Curtis and Rosa to get our legs back. I'm surprised Cody didn't get up early for that session too."

"He did." Said Jun as she struggled to break free from a rather effective shoulder lock thrown by her brother. "He's pulling a double shift just like you and Agumon over there."

Tai turned and followed her gaze to where the digimon were practicing on the next field over. They were all in their rookie forms, practicing basic attack and defense techniques under the watchful guise of Krista's partner Ninjamon. As Agumon and Veemon alternately barked out orders, all of the digimon, including Sparks, followed through diligently. The Knight's partners had lost a lot of their ability due to the atrophy caused by their incarceration at Hitachi's hands. Accordingly, they were wasting no time in working to recover their strength.

"Wow, they look so...organized and focused," observed Davis. His momentary inattention allowed Jun to easily break free of his hold, though he barely seemed to notice. "They don't even need us to supervise them."

"Yeah," Said Clara. "Our little digimon are growing up."

"Yeah right." Terence rolled his eyes. "More like they don't like being captured and having their asses shoved into test tubes. They're just looking for some payback."

Jun gave him a smirk and shook her head. "You literally live to ruin these types of moments, don't you?"

Terence shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I have a moral obligation to-" He stopped, mid-sentence, and looked into the distance with a furrowed brow.

"What is it?" Tai asked.

"I don't know." Terence pointed to the edge of the nearby forest. "I thought I saw something in the air over there. Like a flash or something."

"Oh no, don't tell me," groaned Clara.

"Tell you what?" Asked Davis.

"The flares. They can't be back, can they?"

Jun shrugged. "Don't see why not. Ineg's still out here and he still needs to rejoin with Gennai to live, right?"

"Oh, come on, guys," said Kuri with a huff. "There's nothing there. Terence is probably just seeing things. I mean, something always came through the old flares. Did you see anything?"

"No. Like I said, it was just a flash."

Tai shielded the sun from his eyes and squinted as he looked in the direction Terence had indicated. "In any case, we should check it out anyway."

"I agree," said Davis.

Kuri sighed. "Fine, you three guys go check it out. We'll stay here and take five. If you need our help, which you won't since there's nothing there, you know how to reach us."

Terence turned to her. "I wasn't aware that you were now running things around here."

The glare that Kuri gave him in response prompted Tai and Davis to hurriedly grab Terence by the shoulders and lead him away.

"Come on, let's go." Davis said, adding under his breath, "Before you get yourself killed."

As the three departed, the girls walked over to a nearby set of folding tables with several coolers of water perched atop. They refilled their water bottles and, as they drank, turned their attention back to the digimon's training sessions and watched how their partners interacted while progressing through their exercises.

After a few moments of observation had passed Jun asked, "Do Veemon and Gatomon seem to be a little closer than usual out there?"

"Yeah, I noticed." Clara replied with a grin. "Isn't it crazy? I mean, it's not just Veemon and Gatomon either. Have you seen the way Biyomon and Agumon are hanging around each other?"

"Romance blooming among the digimon? Well wonders never cease."

"I know." Kuri said, sounding a little annoyed. "Davis won't stop talking about it today. He gets some kind of weird sense of pride out of it."

"Of course he does. His digimon won."

"Won?"

"Patamon has had a crush on Gatomon for just about forever. He's just been a little more…subtle than Veemnon. Apparently, Veemon won."

Clara shook her head. "This is crazy. They're like, I don't know, our kids or something. It's weird. Well, for them anyway."

Jun smiled. "You just wait. I think Marta is really starting to grow on Sparks. He's always had a thing for the spunky type."

Clara's eyes widened. "Oh no."

Kuri crossed her arms and looked perturbed. "So what's wrong with Peko? She's spunky."

Jun shrugged. "Sparks says she has a thing for Patamon."

"Are you kidding me? That little goody-two-shoes? He sounds like a squeak toy."

"Kuri," Clara admonished. "Don't be mean."

"I'm just stating a fact."

Jun chuckled as she adjusted and tightened the protective tape on her wrists. "What I'm wondering is, why do I know more about you guys' digimon than you?"

"Because maybe we don't like to think about having to go around chaperoning the little bastards." Kuri looked over to where the digimon were practicing with a critical eye. "I can't believe they're all hooking up at a time like this."

Jun's expression turned serious as she watched their partners practicing as well. "This is the time where people tend to seek out relationships and fall in love- situations like these. Don't see why digimon would be any different."

"Like me and Cody?" The question came from Noriko, who approached the three girls while wiping her forehead with a towel. Apparently Krista had mercifully granted her group a break. She came to a stop beside Jun and wore a troubled expression on her face. "You know, one thing I wonder, is if maybe, you know, we're only together because of all this violence."

Clara cocked her head slightly. "Not sure I'm following you there, girl."

"Jun just said it. What if we're only together because, you know, we think we may not have too long left?"

"Funny," Kuri looked over Noriko's shoulder at Cody, who was still diligently practicing his attacks and parries as the others rested. "He's never struck me as the type to make rash decisions."

"Because he's not," said Jun. "Noriko, he loves you very much. You know that."

"Yeah. I know. It's just, well, I've never been in this position before. It's kinda hard to know what to do."

"Oh, it comes to you," said Clara. "It's natural. You'll want to be near him so much at first, that you'll just find yourself doing and saying things that you thought only happened to people in books and movies. Soon enough, you two will be trying all sorts of new things that you didn't know you could do-"

Kuri interrupted Clara by making a loud gagging noise. "Yeah, that's enough of that." She walked over to Noriko and draped an arm around the girl's shoulders. "You'll thank me later. This conversation was about to drift way out of PG territory."

Clara put her hands on her hips and glowered. "It was not. I was just trying to offer some advice."

"Yeah, the kind of advice that's usually preceded by someone dialing a 1-900 number."

"Whatever." Clara dismissed Kuri with a wave and looked around. "What's taking the guys so long?"

On cue, there was a rustling motion from the trees and bushes at the edge of the clearing, followed by three figures emerging forth. They came trudging over to the group with somewhat perplexed expressions.

"So, I'm guessing you guys didn't find anything?' Said Kuri.

"No." Answered Tai. "But it's weird. There were a lot of broken branches and the grass in the area looks disturbed. Something was there."

"But that doesn't make sense. I know the defenses are low right now, but if it was Ineg creating flares from that other dimension before, what would be creating them now? He's in the real world, not making siphons like last time."

Kuri let out a loud sigh. "Simple. Nothing. It wasn't a flare."

"Kuri-"

"Seriously guys, don't you think we have enough on our plates? We have to make things more complicated by saying someone's trying to break into the realm again?"

Exasperated, Tai brought a hand to his forehead.. "Kuri, we can't just ignore dangers to us because they're inconvenient. And it makes perfect sense for someone to be trying to break into the realm. You think Hitachi would just quit?"

"Hitachi doesn't even know we're here. His little peons are scared of him. You heard them tell us that just as well as I did."

"Well, maybe his 'little peons' are the ones trying to break in," offered Terence. "Maybe they figure they can still save themselves by capturing us again."

"Yeah, sure, that sounds like a great plan," Kuri said, "Besides the fact that it's the dumbest plan ever."

"I never accused them of being the sharpest minds around."

Noriko stepped into the middle of the group in order to bring the argument to a halt. She turned to Tai. "Well, still, you didn't find anything, right?"

"No," he admitted. "But something was there…"

"Yes." Said Kuri, arms crossed. "You already said that."

Why is this bothering you so much?

Kuri glanced at Davis for a moment, then looked away. I don't know. Just, for a second, for however brief a moment, I'd like to forget the mess that we're going back to in the real world. Is that too much to ask?

Davis walked over to Kuri and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. She knew he understood how she felt about the Realm. It had been a paradise for her compared to her former home life. This was one of the few places that she truly felt at home, at peace. She just wanted to recover the feeling, however little of it she could, that it had given her before. But damned if her concerns about the real world weren't ruining it all.

Everything is going to be okay, Kuri. Our families and friends will be okay. I know you're worried, but we're going back soon enough, and we're going to save them.

Terence crossed his arms and watched the two. "There they go, having one of their typical secret conversations again. That gets annoying, you know."

"Oh hush," said Clara. "They're not talking about you."

"You don't know that. If I was them, I'd be talking about me."

"Yeah, well that makes sense," said an interrupting voice. "Since you are you, and you're always talking about yourself."

The voice belonged to Pings. He and the other sparring digimon were approaching the others, apparently taking a break from their exhaustive rehabilitation..

"Nice one." Said Sparks. He walked over to one of the coolers, filled a cup with water, then turned and handed it to Marta.

"Thanks." Said the Salamon, between heavy breaths, as she settled on her hindquarters in order to handle the cup.

Clara watched the interaction between the two with a frown, and Jun smirked.

"So you guys are getting some good work in? How do you feel?"

"Better," Agumon replied. He had trained with the morning group and was now helping the others using what he had learned. "It's not so sore anymore when they move, but we still have a long way to go."

Several of the other digimon that hadn't been captured groaned after he said this.

"Hey," shouted Biyomon, "you guys want to go back there and get your butts handed to you by Hitachi and his thugs? I think Agumon here just may know a little more than you about what we need to do to make sure we're ready to fight when we go back."

"Okay, okay," Said Peko, raising her paws in a sign of surrender, "We get it. Your new boyfriend knows what's best."

Biyomon's eyes widened and she blushed, which was remarkable for a digimon's whose plumage was already pink. "Hey, he's not my, um, well…"

"Just ignore him," said Agumon, walking past the two and back out towards the training field. "Okay everyone, hurry up, get your drinks and let's get back to training!"

"Wow," Said Gatomon, scratching her chin as she watched Agumon depart. "He really is taking charge, huh?"

Veemon, who was standing beside her, nodded. "Agumon's a good leader. Come on guys, he's right. There's no time to waste. Let's go!" To everyone's surprise he reached out and grabbed Gatomon's paw and the two jogged back to their training field hand in hand.

Tai chuckled as he watched them depart and turned to Davis. "Looks like you and Kari are going to have to give those two the old 'birds and the bees' talk."

For a fleeting moment, a mortified look crossed Davis's face, but it was soon replaced by a mischievous smirk. "Sure," he said, "but you and Sora can go first."

Tai's grin quickly disappeared and was replaced by a frown. "Okay guys. Break's over. Let's get back to work."

Kuri hurriedly gulped down the last of her water and glared at her boyfriend. Nice one, Davis.

Davis looked at her and winked. Totally worth it.

As the group headed away from the coolers and back out into the training area, Clara once again began grumbling her discomfort about the digimon striking up romantic relationships. "We're supposed to be trying to save the world." She said. "And they're acting like love struck teenagers."

Davis chuckled. "Hey, I resent that."

Terence walked up behind Clara and draped her arms around the girl's shoulders. "Ah, but romance is natural out here on the training fields." He said in her ear. "You of all people should know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Noriko. She was following them out to their training area as her group was still taking a break.

"Actually, this was where we shared our first kiss." Clara turned to Terence, a fond memory of the event showing in her affectionate gaze. "It was wonderful."

"I remember." He nuzzled her neck and breathed deeply, taking in her scent. "That was the day my whole life changed."

Kuri interrupted the moment by again making an exaggerated gagging noise.

"Really?" Noriko looked particularly pensive. "And you've been together ever since…"

"Yes they have," said Jun. "And so will you and Cody. Now why don't you go over there and let him know that."

"How?"

"Sneak up behind him and give him a kiss," said Clara, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"God knows he needs something to loosen up a bit," said Kuri.

For a moment, everyone turned to watch Cody as he continued through his progression of kendo stances and attacks while Sora and Matt sat to the side.

"Hmm," mused Terence, "so that's the kind of behavior that a prune juice addiction can lead to. Can't say it's much different than what I expected."

"Hey!" protested Noriko, hands on her hips. "Watch it."

Clara chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just ignore him. Now you'd better get going. I think Ms. Lee's ready to start up again."

"Yeah, I'm not trying to get the same treatment as Matt and Sora. Thanks guys." Noriko nodded to the group and headed off.

"There are worse things than dedication." Tai said, stretching as he prepared for their next round of sparring. "We all could learn a lot from Cody."

"Please." Kuri rolled her eyes and did a quick, effortless back-flip to loosen up. "We already know plenty. Well, unless he has any secrets about taking out billionaire mass murderers, then I'm all ears."

"Tell me about it." Jun said, leaning back as she stretched her arms. "I can't wait until Willis unlocks those files. At least then we can make plans for a counter attack. I can train all day until I collapse, but I won't feel like I'm doing anything until we actually, you know, do something."

"Well sis, you know you could go help Curtis and the others with overhauling that heap of junk van."

Kuri laughed as she took up an attack stance. "Davis, she said she wanted to do something, not perform miracles."

Hitachi Tower, Training Center

"Attack me!"

Jade let out the blood curdling scream just as she swung her enhanced sword yet again. The blade of energy that shot forth actually gashed the shoulder of her opponent, causing him to release a reptilian scream of agony, then continued on, smashing two other mutants into a nearby wall. Three more mutants leapt at her from behind in a coordinated attack. She ducked one of them, ran through the second with the blade of her conventional katana, and brushed away the third effortlessly with a swing of her digital sword. The first landed and turned to came back at her, but was greeted by the terrific force of yet another of the sword's attacks before he could even muster a charge. He slammed into a wall and dropped to the ground with a thud.

"You call this sparring?" Jade sneered, looking upon the state of her battered and beaten opponents. "This is hardly a battle. Where is the red one? At least he possesses some small amount of cunning."

"He is not here." Said a rumbling voice. Jade looked up at its source. The large orange mutant had stepped into the training gym, and his expression a bit less than warm.

Jade smirked at his arrival. "And you would like to battle me?"

He answered her question with only a glare.

She chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure you would, wouldn't you?"

"If it's a fair fight you want. Then it is my duty to oblige you."

Jade shook her head. "I know who you are, Sato Kobe, as does my master. Do not think I am foolish enough to allow you an opportunity for vengeance here. Now leave."

Sato flinched, a symptom of his growing resistance to her orders. "If your fear will not allow you to battle me, then I will go."

He slowly turned around to depart from the room and Jade watched him with a scowl. She knew exactly what he was trying to do, but she would be damned if he was going to talk to her that way and she allow him to get away with it. She was in control here.

"Stop."

He did, accompanying the movement with a low growl.

"You want to die here, beast?"

"With all due respect, Ms. Jade, I do not believe that will be the outcome of our battle."

"Turn. Face me. We do this, here and now." Jade blew away a few stray bangs that had fallen in front of her face. "Come at me…and do NOT disappoint."

The mutant unleashed an ear splitting roar, his jaws wide and revealing rows of gleaming, razor sharp, teeth. He crouched low, ready to leap forward and strike at any moment.

Jade brought both of her blades before her and stood ready. If the stupid beast managed to avoid the strike from her empowered sword, she would surely eviscerate him with her katana on the follow through. He stood no chance. She didn't care what The Assassin had ordered of her. Sato would die right here and right now.

"I said COME, fool."

Sato lunged forward with a ferocious roar and she likewise rushed forward to greet him. Just before the two would clash, their bodies came to sudden, jerking halts. For a moment the two simply hovered in midair, giving each other looks of confusion and contempt. Then, the same invisible force that was holding them forced them apart, tossing each to an opposite corner of the training room, where they both slid to stops in three point stances.

Neither took their glare away from the other as Hitachi fully entered into the room.

"This...disappoints me. To see one of my higher ranking officers wasting resources," he looked around the room at all the fallen unconscious mutates and those nursing injuries, "in such an obscene manner. Especially after the damage you and your master played a role in earlier."

Jade tore her glare away from Sato and brought her eyes upon Hitachi, who maintained an even, steady, stare upon her. Even Jade was not immune to the level of power and ferocity that the look conveyed.

"I apologize, My Lord." She said, head slightly bowed. "Perhaps I was a bit…overzealous, in my training."

"Perhaps is an understatement. I did not create this facility so that you could incapacitate my army. It would do you well to remember that they are not the Hida boy. They are not your enemies. I understand the boy perished in our attack and that frustrates you, but he still has a living grandfather and mother, does he not?"

"Yes... sir." It almost pained Jade physically to utter the submissive words.

"Then your anger should be directed in more…constructive directions."

An untrained woman and a decrepit old man? He considered those worthy adversaries?

"There is an air of defiance in everything you do." Hitachi said with an approving smile. "It is an admirable quality…yes, admirable indeed." He gave her a look, one that Jade had received unsolicited many times before from men far less repulsive. All those men had paid for the look with much more than hurt feelings, but in this situation Jade found herself entirely powerless. It was a position that she found excruciating, if not altogether unbearable. Hitachi continued. "Though you do show a measure of obedience around your master, don't you?"

The words came out as more of a statement than an actual question, as if Hitachi were taking in the woman standing before him for the first time.

"I suppose that devotion goes both ways," he continued, "considering how dedicated your master has been to our cause since I brought you aboard."

Jade cocked a brow curiously at that.

"Yes, that's right. In my experience, I've found that the best brand of loyalty isn't bought, but bartered, and you, my dear have proven to be quite the useful bargaining chip."

Jade just looked at the imposing figure before her. She felt slightly offended by his words, but saw no point in retaliating in any way.

"Thank-you, lord." Jade tried to make the words come out in a dignified fashion, but she knew it was futile. She had never been wired that way. She was naturally inclined to go for whatever she wanted and brush aside any actions that didn't directly lead to that goal. She bowed her head once again, allowing her bangs to fall over her face in hopes of shielding any looks of revulsion her expression might have conveyed.

"You are welcome, child." He said. "Now please, do refrain from causing any more damage to our own forces. If you are having trouble overcoming your own feelings of frustration, I suggest you take them out on the parties responsible for causing them."

With that, Hitachi turned to leave, but instead of walking out of the room, he disappeared with a loud clap and a flash of black smoke. As the haze of his departure wafted across the room and dissipated, Jade turned to Sato once again. Though he still stood there, poised to resume their battle, Jade knew better than to defy one of Hitachi's direct orders.

"Count yourself fortunate, beast, and do not cross my path again." She sheathed her weapons and brusquely left the room without waiting for his response.

Hitachi had been right about one thing, maybe the Hida boy was dead, but his family was still out there somewhere, likely escaped on those stolen hydrofoils she'd heard about last week. There was no place they would be able to make safe landfall. They were likely still on the water, foolishly waiting for a safe time to return. Sitting ducks. Jade allowed herself a small smile. She would need some men, and a boat.

The Digital Realm

Bertha had likely never received so much care and attention, or at the least, not in a very long time. The van was parked in the clearing behind the mansion, not far from the lake. The gentle sound of the waters lapping against the lakeshore provided a steady ambiance to the various digidestined and digimon positioned in and around the van, all working diligently as they continued in what had become quite an interesting conversation.

"Angewomon," said TK as he reached under the hood and tightened another bolt. "Definitely Angewomon"

"That's your hottest digimon?" Jiro popped his head out of the passenger window. "Your girlfriend's partner digimon? Isn't that kinda weird?"

"Maybe, but can you name a digimon that's hotter? I'm just being honest."

"I agree." Chimed in Patamon from where he was, perched on TK's shoulder.

"I'm not sure what makes your opinion more biased," said Yolei, wiping her forehead with a towel as she looked up from her work. "The fact that you have always had a huge crush on Gatomon, or the fact that you digivolve into Angemon."

The rookie Digimon squeaked in protest. "Hey, I don't have a crush on her! Besides all she wants to do now is hang out with Veemon, anyway."

"Bitter much?" Came the dual voiced taunt from across the car.

Patamon glared at Yolei and her partner defiantly.

"Bitter a lot." Hawkmon said with a chuckle.

"I dunno." Said Curtis from under the car, where he was replacing a broken fuel pump. "I know she was evil, but I'm kinda partial to Lady Devimon, myself."

A chorus of whistles echoed around the car.

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Said Ken. "She was pretty hot. Psychotic, but hot."

"Boys…" muttered Yolei, shaking her head. "Wasn't her head like, stitched together?"

Ken chuckled. "I don't think anyone was looking at her head, dear."

"Seriously though," Said Izzy from his position perched atop the roof of the car, where he was wearing a protective visor and holding a blow torch in hand. "No votes for Lilymon? I mean, she's pretty attractive too, right?"

"Oh come on!" Said Jiro. "Mimi's partner digimon? You guys are just trying to creep me out on purpose now."

"Eh, I don't know," Said TK. "I mean, she is part plant.'

"Part plant?" Exclaimed Izzy. "What? Are you kidding me?"

"Well, Izzy, she has those leaf things on her back and her head's like some kind of flower."

"I know, but you're saying that's a quality that adversely affects her hotness? I mean, you mentioned Angewomon. Did I say anything about her being part bird?"

"Hey, those are angel wings. She's part angel…or something. But not bird."

"Whatever, TK." Said Kin. "We all know feathers when we see 'em."

"Thank-you." Izzy nodded as he returned to welding a weapons rack to the van's roof.

Curtis maneuvered from beneath the van with a chuckle. He shook his head as he wiped his hands off and placed the bad fuel pump beside him in the grass. "You guys are all nuts."

"Ah, you love us." Said Yolei dismissively.

Curtis turned to a laptop sitting in the grass beside the van and began inputting information. He would need a full replacement for the broken pump, as it was beyond repair. The sound of beating wings alerted Curtis to the arrival of Patamon, who enthusiastically alit on the ground beside him. Taps came over as well.

"Is he going to do it again?" Asked Patamon.

"I think so." Said Taps. He pointed to the broken fuel pump on the ground. "I don't think he has another one of those just lying around anywhere."

"Cool."

"Yes guys, I'm going to do it again." Curtis would have rolled his eyes if the digimon's enthusiasm weren't somewhat infectious. He'd already gone through this process this like twenty times before, yet they still found it fascinating. "Okay, step back guys."

Several small infrared lasers were emitted from the side of the computer. They swept back and forth across the surface of the broken pump in a crisscrossing manner. Another small laser light shot out from the computer, splitting and branching out in several directions. Each point of light disappeared into the ground momentarily before returning with a bit of glowing matter at its end. They coalesced together and flashed brightly, before disappearing to reveal a brand new gold plated fuel pump in their wake.

"Cool." Said both Patamon and Taps together.

Curtis nodded. "I must admit, Willis really outdid himself with this one. Hard to believe he could create a program which can take the preexisting data of the realm and format it into whatever you need…within reason, of course."

"Of course." Muttered Yolei. "Otherwise we'd run this entire jalopy though the damn thing and be done with all of this."

"Oh come on Yolei," chided Ken. "You're not having fun with this?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I just love manual labor, especially combined with listening to you pervs talk about hot digimon."

Kin peeked his head out of the rear window he was refitting. "But you were the one that started all this when you said that you would consider going out with Leomo–Hey!" He ducked back into the car just before a wrench smashed into the window frame.

"Yolei," said a snickering TK. "Was that really called for?"

"Don't see how it wasn't. Rosa will back me up on this one, right Rosa?" Yolei frowned when an answer didn't come. "Rosa?" She looked down beneath the car, where she'd last seen the girl helping Curtis with the van's suspension. "Now where did she go?"

"No idea." Said Gotsumon, emerging from underneath the rear of the vehicle and looking around. "She didn't say anything to me."

"I'll find her." Curtis said, getting to his feet and dusting off his hands. "Jiro, there are instructions here for installing a fuel pump. Think you and Gotsumon can handle it?"

"Sure." Jiro shrugged. "How hard could it be?"

Curtis considered the younger boy for a moment before turning back to look up at the van. "Izzy, can you check on them when you're done up there?"

Izzy paused in his welding with a smirk and nodded. "Already planning to."

"Thanks." Curtis set off from the area, heading towards where he figured Rosa would be. He heard Jiro say something indignant that sounded suspiciously like "you guys suck" as he walked away.

It took only a few moments for Curtis arrive at the forest edge and proceed to the familiar clearing. There, as expected, he saw Rosa, sitting alone on their stump, the place where they had shared their first kiss, and the same place where they had called the meeting that seemed to have set all of the Knights' current events in motion.

"Hey buddy." He said, approaching her slowly. She glanced up at him and smiled, then accommodated him by scooting over.

"I knew you'd come sooner or later."

"Oh yeah?" Curtis settled down next to her. "So what's going on? Are you okay?"

Rosa shrugged. "I guess, considering."

"Then what are you doing here? We still have a few things to do before Bertha's completely refitted."

"I know that. I came here to give you a break, actually."

"A break? Really? Why?"

"Because you're working too hard, and nobody really appreciates it but me."

"Rosa, I'm okay-"

"No. No you're not. You're working harder that anyone else here."

"Oh, come on-"

"Curtis, I'm serious! You got up early this morning to check on Hatori and Willis's progress and help them out, then we went to the morning training session, where you had to help teach the others basic combat, then Willis got the bright idea that that old jalopy van could be, well, 'pimped out,' and who got volunteered to be in charge of building it? You. Curtis, you're working harder than anybody else here, and the day isn't even halfway over."

"Well, Rosa, I mean, that may be true and all, but if there was a time where none of that would matter to me, this is it. This stuff has to be done."

"I know that. I know you're gonna be the last one to complain about any of it, but still I…"

"You what?"

"I worry about you." Rosa mumbled. "Ok, there. I said it."

Curtis grinned. "It's okay to be a little worried, Rosa. It's not necessarily a bad thing."

"I know, but I always make fun of Clara so much about it, and yet here I am…" Rosa threw up her hands and looked genuinely bewildered about this development.

Curtis chuckled, then leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm fine sweetheart. You don't have to worry about me."

Rosa grabbed his hand. "Curtis, you're smart."

"Um, yeah, I've been told."

"But you're strong too, and a good fighter, and a Knight."

"Alright, now I'm blushing- well I would be if I could blush."

Rosa smiled. "All I'm saying is, we need you in the battle, not just in front of a computer. You can't just do one or the other. I'm afraid you're going to get too stretched out with all of your duties. It won't be long before Willis unlocks those files we got from Barke and we get called to the war meeting. When are you ever gonna get some rest?"

"I can handle it, Rosa. I promise."

"Curtis, I love you, but no, you can't. I don't think you've ever realized how important you are to our group, but you will soon. We depend on you for a lot."

Curtis gave in to the notion with a nod. "I suppose, but we depend on you for a lot too."

Rosa scoffed. "Yeah, right. For what, to make sure there's enough violence to go around?'

"No. Rosa, you're the spirit of this team. Come on, don't you know that?"

"Whatever." Rosa kicked at a stray leaf on the ground. Curtis smiled. She always fidgeted that way when attempting to deflect praise. "Davis is the spirit of this team, if anybody."

"No, he might be the soul. But you're the spirit. Rosa, more than anybody, you represent that part of all of us that was the reason we got chosen to be knights. You're the fighter that doesn't know when to quit, the one that wears her attitude on her sleeve and will be damned if anyone has anything to say about it. You are definitely our spirit."

Rosa smiled at the kind words and quickly turned away.

"Look who's blushing now." Curtis said.

"Curtis, I'm supposed to be helping you, you know."

"Yeah, and you are."

"Oh really?" Rosa gave him a skeptical look. "And just how's that?"

Without a word, Curtis leaned forward. Rosa instinctively came forward to meet him, and together they joined in a tender kiss.

"Like that." Curtis said when they came apart. "You just convinced me to take a little break."

"Oh really?" Rosa giggled. "Well then, I'm glad I can be so persuasive."

"Yeah. Me too. But you know me, I'm pretty stubborn. I might need a lot more 'persuasion' than that."

"Fine. Come here." Rosa threw her arms around his neck and pulled him to her tightly. "After this, you're not gonna want to do anything for a week."

"Yes maam."

They joined again and gave in to their passion and love for one another, sinking deeper into the kiss and allowing the notion that there was any other task they could be doing at the moment to completely fade away.

Ineg allowed his fatigue to take over as he lay on his back on the forest floor. He'd just barely been able to avoid the Knights that had come searching just after his arrival. Fortunately he'd fallen in such a way that his upper torso had been concealed by a rather thick mass of sticker brush and, in an ironic twist, due to his weakness his legs had fortuitously fazed out of reality. Ineg was grateful that they hadn't reappeared until the three interlopers had departed, satisfied with the cursory glance around that they tried to pass off as a search. He was in no condition to take on any of the Knights now.

For now he would rest, recover what semblance of his strength he had remaining, wait for the Knights to leave the realm to launch their inevitable counter attack, and then strike. Once he'd subdued Gennai and recombined his aspects, he might indulge himself in killing that arrogant Willis boy. Yes, that would be the perfect end to what had become quite a trying time in his life. And as for KiAdjae- no, The Assassin- that was truly his name now-, and Hitachi... they could have the world that they desired so much, if they were even successful in obtaining it. Ineg would be just fine in possessing this realm. He would be able to build quite an empire here and in time, once he'd amassed a large enough army, he'd launch an assault against those that had betrayed him. He would show the Dark God a true heir to his power...

Ineg grimaced as the mottled pattern of the sunlight filtering through the canopy above began to swim and became blurred. He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. For now, he would need to concentrate on recovering his abilities. He allowed his consciousness to slip away and fell into a deep, rejuvenating slumber.

"Now, if a wound needs to be cauterized, you proceed like this…"

Mimi watched closely as Joe worked with the instrument. Her eyes gradually worked up from the expert manner in which he maneuvered his dexterous fingers to the stern look of concentration on his face. That was so typical of him, always concentrating so much more on healing and helping than fighting. It was a very attractive quality, in truth. There was a time she had seriously considered going out with him. He had, after all, been the only one to accompany her when she left the others during their fight against the Dark Masters. To tell the truth, she always had felt a rudimentary chemistry between them, and he had always had that smart-hot thing going for him, especially after he'd grown his hair out. But ultimately her choice had come down to more than looks.

Throughout her time spent in America, only one person had really kept in touch with her. Sure part of the reason was that Izzy was the only one of the Original Digidestined completely obsessed with the internet and constantly checking his email, but the many messages they sent back and forth gradually began to grow more personal and … Mimi smiled. And then there was the week that Izzy had visited New York. He had come for some big technology symposium, but surprisingly, had spent much more time concentrating on Mimi than all those computers and gadgets. When he had left, Mimi had made up her mind. One way or another, she was moving back to Japan.

"-MIMI!"

Mimi was jerked from her reverie by Joe's loud shout.

"Geez Joe, what?"

"You're completely not paying attention here."

"Yes I totally am."

"Okay then, what was the last thing I said?"

Mimi put a finger to her chin thoughtfully, then smiled before shouting, "MIMI!"

Joe was definitely not amused. "Mimi, lives will be in danger and soon, you may be the difference between whether one of our friends lives or dies. Do you really think this the best time for you to be playing around and not paying attention?"

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

"Thank-you, now as I was saying..."

As Joe trailed off into his directions once again, Mimi took the opportunity to look around their small table. They had been joined in the Academy infirmary by Kari and Kentaro. Mimi knew why Kari had joined them. She had never been much for fighting indirectly, much less taking part in the hand to hand combat that was sure to come. Like Mimi, she was essentially a pacifist at heart. Kentaro, on the other hand, was another story. He was huge, and frankly, quite scary. Why he would choose to be here rather than out on the battlefield intrigued her.

"So big guy," She said, "Why are you here? Why didn't you train with the others?"

"Mimi," Joe sighed, now more than a little irritated. "I happened to be talking..."

She waved him off. "Yeah, yeah I know. Hold on a sec, k? So Kentaro, what's the deal?"

"Come on Mimi," Kari put down the needle and thread she'd been practicing suturing with and gave her old friend a disappointed glare. "Just because he's a big guy he's supposed to want to fight?"

"Well, no. He's not supposed to, but I was certainly expecting him to."

"How is that any better? That's still a pretty prejudiced way of looking at things."

"But it's sincere."

"You know, you can't just blame your crest every time you say something insensitive-"

"I don't like fighting," bellowed Kentaro, bringing the girls argument to a halt. "It only causes good people to get hurt, and most times, nothing good comes out of it."

Joe nodded. "Amen to that. You know, they're going to call us to this meeting in a little while, and I bet you that more than anything, they're simply going to talk about how to fight Hitachi, how to defeat him by force."

"Um, you're saying that's a bad thing somehow?"

"I'm saying that this mentality of violence needs to be stopped. It's always been like this, even when we were younger and trying to save the digital world. There was never any option other than fighting, never any other path besides matching our enemies' brute force with our own. It can't always be this way." Joe raised his glasses in order to pinch the bridge of his nose and sighed. Mimi noticed, for the first time, just how tired he looked.

"Joe, are you okay?"

"No, frankly. I thought I was done with this. I want to save people, to revere life, rather than destroy it."

Kari frowned. "But Joe, Hitachi killed millions-"

"I understand why we have to do this, Kari, but it doesn't mean I have to participate or like it. Barbarism is barbarism, no matter who's committing it."

Mimi felt a bit offended by that. "Barbarism?"

"Yes, Mimi. It means-"

"I know what it means, Joe, and I don't agree with it." She stood up from her chair. "So you don't like fighting. I don't like fighting. And you know what, our friends accept that about us. They don't hold it against us. So long as we help in some way it's fine."

"Maybe that's what they think about you, but me? I'm useless to them. They don't understand, and neither do you. Not since you abandoned me."

"Okaaay," Kari interrupted, looking between the two nervously. "So what's say we take a break here, eh? Come on Kentaro, let's get a drink or something." She grabbed her burly counterpart by the arm and strained to pull him out of his chair.

Reluctantly, he got the point and stood up. "But why?"

"Because this conversation has been a long time coming." She hissed, leading him across and out of the room. "Now come on."

Mimi watched the less than tactful exit with a frown before turning her attention back to Joe. He gave her a nervous smile as she put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Joe, what are you talking about? How were you abandoned?"

Joe stood from his chair and walked over to the nearby window. From there he could see all the training and work that was still going on outdoors. "None of our friends even remotely thinks like me, not even Gommamon. Maybe you used to, but, well, you don't anymore, apparently. I feel like I'm in a losing battle of sensibilities here."

"Yes, I realize that fighting doesn't have to be the only way, but I don't hold it against our friends that it's the way they want to do it. We all have the same goal, Joe. We want peace and so do they. Our methods of getting there are different, that's all. You abandoned us Joe, when you secretly started thinking that your way was the only way, and that any of us that disagreed were barbarians."

"I didn't mean it like-"

"And Joe, I didn't forget about you, but loyalty is a two way street. We were both in America for a while there, and I hardly ever heard from you."

"Well, I was busy with Med school, and you and Izzy..."

"Me and Izzy what? Why would Izzy matter?"

Joe didn't respond, instead choosing to idly finger a bit of gauze sitting on the table.

Mimi rolled her eyes. Guys. "Joe, if you felt that way about me, then you shouldn't have shut me out with the rest of them."

"What? I didn't shut anyone out."

"In a way you did. You were our friend in appearance, but not in spirit, and I can feel stuff like that. We're different Joe, but we're all the same too. A big difference between you and Izzy is that he understands that."

"Ouch."

Mimi shrugged. "Sorry, you know how I am."

Joe plopped back down in his chair and sighed. "Yeah, I do. But to be honest with you, I'm not sure that's quite my problem, Mimi."

The inflection that he said the words with and the way his gaze awkwardly shifted downwards told Mimi all she needed to know about the true motivations behind his current mood. "Oh, Joe," She walked over and knelt beside his chair. "You're going to be okay. Just because you're not a fighter doesn't make us value you any less, and it doesn't make you any less useful. A healer is just as important in this battle as anyone else. You will do your part."

"Saw right through me, huh?"

Mimi smiled gently and placed a hand on top of his. "I always have."

"Yeah..." Joe's gaze shifted and lingered on her for a moment, before quickly being averted back down. "You have."

"You're going to be fine." She reiterated, before surprising him with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now come on, you still have some teaching to do here."

Mimi sat back in her chair and smiled as she watched Joe subconsciously draw a hand to the area where she's kissed him. Yeah, had things gone differently, they might have made quite a couple.

At that moment, the infirmary door opened and Kari peeked her head inside. "Sorry to interrupt guys, but we'll have to get back to our lesson later. We just got word from Hatori. Willis cracked the files. It's time for the meeting."

Hitachi Tower, Mess Hall

Sato Kobe hated this. He looked around the expansive room he stood in, full of the absolute dregs of mankind, men and mutants, all grunting as they sat at their tables and messily tore through their meals. It was midnight, lunch time around these parts. He supposed he should have grown used to it by now, but how could one really get used to living in a world in which they knew they didn't belong? Sato held his meal, a metal bowl filled with several raw steaks, and maneuvered his way across the room to what looked to be a relatively quiet table in the corner. It was occupied by a group of recently infirmed mercenaries, most of whom Sato knew, and whose company he far preferred to his animalistic brethren. He pulled a large chair, specially made for the mutants, over to the table, gave the men a nod, and started in on his meal.

"Guess what I heard." Said one of the men, a mercenary named Taru who'd been horribly burned during a battle a few weeks back. He grinned as he took in the rest of the table, the broth of his beef stew sickeningly dribbling down his scarred chin, then continued when no one bothered to respond. "We might get to see some action. They say there's rumors of some kinda underground resistance movement."

"Oh please." Said another man, who sported an arm sling in addition to a neck brace. "We all know there's a lot mor'n that out there, now don't we?"

Sato paused in his meal and looked up at the man. "What are you talking about?"

"You gotta be kiddin me. You don't know?"

"Shut it, Toby. We don't want everyone knowing. Somebody'll blab to the boss man soon enough."

"Not my big orange buddy here. He sticks to himself, don't cha big guy?"

"What are you talking about?' Sato reiterated, annoyed.

"Nothin." Said another merc. "He's just talking about them kids that got away."

"Kids?"

"Them Knights or whatever…plus that boy, what's his name?"

"What boy?"

"You know, the one that killed Red."

Sato paused and put down his steak. "Red's dead?'

"Ah man, you haven't heard? He got sent down on the raid at the docks. Most of them guys came back messed up…if they came back at all."

"But he died? Who killed him?"

"Some kid that got turned into a mutant, you know, the one with the swords that The Assassin's broad hates so much. Took out like five of you muties in that brawl at the shipping tower."

"Cody? Cody Hida?"

"Whatever. I guess that's the little bastard's name. But yeah, cut Red's head clean off. Saryu over there saw the whole thing."

A man seated near the end of the table wearing an eye patch and shoulder sling, looked up. "Yeah, I saw it from a distance." He said. "Not long before some chick shot up my jeep and sent us crashing into the sea. Did this to my eye and my arm." He looked down, an expression of regret and anger crossing his face. "I really liked that damn jeep."

Sato snorted. So Cody was still alive as well. After the incident at the Rainbow Bridge, and then the bombing of the CADE bunker, he'd pretty much given up hope of getting out of his current situation. But now, now there was a chance. Sato would need to perfect his burgeoning obedience resistance techniques. Hitachi's special project was supposed to come into play tomorrow. If CADE's intel amounted to anything, that surely would be when the Knights attacked.

"We been screwing up quite a bit lately. Letting them kids get away like that. Hitachi's gonna kill us."

"Naw, we'll be alright. Just gotta make sure he does this transformation thing before it's too late is all. It's all over once that's done, right? What's he gonna care then?"

"Yeah. And it ain't like them kids did anything to him the last time they fought. He trashed them all like they weren't nothin'. They won't be a problem. If they know what's good for them, they're tucked away and hiding in some other dimension."

Saryu grinned. "Man, it's gonna be something, ain't it? By tomorrow, we're going to be running this entire joint. The whole friggin' world."

"Don't know about that. You're countin on Hitachi keeping his word for that one."

"He's been good about the money, so far."

"Yeah, he has. Because he needs us. But I don't know about after this is all said and done."

Toby looked around nervously. "Hey, I wouldn't be talking like that if I were you. Might get back to him."

"Yeah, and so might what happened to those kids. Aint nobody saying anything to Hitachi right now. Not if they value living."

Sato turned to Taru. "So what makes you think that he won't keep his word?"

"Hell, cause I wouldn't!" Saryu interrupted. "And Hitachi is just like the rest of us here. He knows what he wants and he does whatever it takes to get it."

"Here here," Said one of the men, raising his beer in a toast.

"No, he isn't." Said Taru quietly.

"What?"

"He isn't just like the rest of us. Trust me, I know. Remember a while back, the big brawl in Odaiba? When CADE put together that break in on the old Odaiba bunker?" The others at the table nodded. "Well, I was one of the guys that was sent in with that team to stop them. When we were setting up to make our move, we could hear the ol' lab doc talking about how Hitachi got to be who he is, how he created them computers to catalog the experiments he was doin on POW's in World War II, how he killed all those people-"

"Yeah," interrupted Sato. "We've all heard the rumors. And?"

"Man I just got to thinking, especially after what you just said. I mean, how much is he really like us, you know. I mean, sure, we would all slit our best friend's throat if the price was right." A hearty round of laughter went up amongst the other men. "But could we do that? Could we torture and kill millions of people just to learn, just because we could, because we thought it was fun? Could we set off nuclear bombs all over the world just cause we figure it'll scare folks? I'm telling ya, Hitachi aint like us. Soon as he gets what he wants, he might not just be done with us. He might just destroy everything. We might wind up his next 'experiments.' I got a feelin' some of y'all are gonna find yourselves choosin' between your money and your well bein' soon enough. I wonder… wonder what y'all are gonna do… Wonder what we're all gonna do."

Sato bowed his massive head as he contemplated the mercenary's words. What would he do? He'd been working up a small measure of mental resistance to the orders of his superiors, but it had yet to approach anything close to having his own freedom of will. Now he had only a day left to do something to stop the inevitability of these people overtaking the entire world. He did not know exactly what he would do at this point, but there was one thing he was sure of, he would do something.

To be continued...

Next up: Destines part II (2): Plans for War: The data's been cracked and now it's time for the Knights to plan for the ultimate battle against the greatest evil the world has ever known. How can they possibly take down a man they literally cannot touch? And how will they handle the reality of what they are about to face in their own hearts and minds? Find out in the next chapter of Digital Knights... (on Friday. I totally promise)