Digimon Adventure 06: Data

by YukiraKing

Three years have passed since Yggdrasil's defeat, and the digidestined thought they had brought about peace, but things are not always as they seem. New foes threaten that peace, and the digidestined struggle to hold on to what little they can. Will they be able to fend off these foes, or will peace elude them forever?

26. Righting Wrongs

Y/N: ...Yolei's was fun. I got to use a minor character introduced in the last arc, and it was fun to bring him back, even if he's still minor. He's cute.

U/N: Originally Kari's part here was supposed to go later and be about something completely different, but it just didn't make sense, so I just kind of played with nothing and came up with her part. I actually really liked it, and I love Emiko, sooo... :P It's also nice to see that someone is still living their dream job, whether she has a crappy boss or not.

Title: Digimon Adventure 06: Data

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 3: Ignorance

Chapter 26: Righting Wrongs

Miyako Ichijouji:

"There isn't anything else?" Taichi pleaded.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "But Ken doesn't like to talk about him at home. He says it's his Morestuna-free zone. I called him last night, and he said he'd compile a list today, of all the things he thinks are suspicious. He's going to do a little recon at work and see if he can't work out a schedule or something too. I can't help anymore right now."

"It's fine, it's okay," Taichi said shaking his head. "I don't mean to bite your head off."

"You're stressed," I said, understanding. "I don't blame you. I'm worried about Ken though. He's determined to stay at work as long as you need him too. He wants to be as helpful as possible. But I'm so worried about him. He's getting so good at acting, it's scary. I know he doesn't think the way they do, but he's gotten so into character that he's starting to sound like the Digimon Kaiser again. Not the things he says, they're still sweet and considerate and smart. It's the tone of his voice."

"He doesn't need to stay there," Taichi said. "It's going to provide invaluable information that we might not be able to collect in any other way, but he doesn't need to risk himself. We can find another way."

"I told him that to," I admitted. "But I think he's just thrilled to be able to do something. He went to school for so long to become an officer of the law, but it's not shaping up anything like he expected it to."

"He's helping catch the bad guys," Taichi pointed out. "He's just not working for the people he thought he would be."

"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "Do you have anything else you need me to do?"

"Can you go tell Mr Ogremon that we're going to need nine more of his students for transportation today?" he asked.

"Can do," I said saluting him. He looked thankful, before rushing off, back to the lab in the basement. And I headed out into the Temple. It had surprised me to find out just how big this place was. I mean, I obviously knew it was huge, just by looking at it from the outside, but there was so much here that I'd never known about. There was more to the Temple than the training grounds, the hallway of gates, the lab and the Council room. There was the marketplace that I'd been to hundreds of times, but that was the first thing I'd seen when I'd first walked through the doors. What I hadn't realized was that this walled courtyard actually led to other areas. The training grounds weren't the only grassy plains in the Temple. There were parks for the digimon to play in; there was even a community garden that was the size of a soccer field. It was glorious. And way more beautiful than the herb garden I'd planted in my window box. I was very jealous.

I'd been shocked to find that the Temple had a sort of motel service available for long-term visitors. I only learned about it when Sora sent me to fetch Michael's sister Jenna for a brief meeting. They wanted to know everything about this Veronica girl that Jenna had been interacting with in America. And I discovered that the Temple was a far cooler place than I'd ever imagined it could be.

There were large arches in the walls around the courtyard, and each of the four arches were the gateway to a path, two going left and the others going right. The motel area was at the beginning of one of these paths, and the rest led to the residential areas. Yeah. It turned out that not all of the digimon I'd seen in the courtyard market were actually visitors. There were hundreds of digimon, though it could be thousands, since I'd heard it both ways—though Koushiro told me there were more than a thousand, and I was inclined to believe him. They all called the Temple home. There were larger houses for larger digimon, though it was all very much like one large apartment building. They were each given a building number and a room number. There were so many that it made my head spin. Taichi had set up guest housing for the digimon that had been abandoned, and those of the fight club—there'd been a fuss about leaving them here, but Taichi talked their partners into doing it for their digimon's safety—within the motel that Michael, Tatum, Betamon, Jenna, Monodramon and Kudamon were staying in. There were also temporary rooms being used for those of us that stayed at the Temple day in and day out, like Taichi, Koushiro and myself. A little bird—namely Koushiro—had told me that Gennai's library was out there somewhere, and that the entire history of the Digital World could be found within it, if someone was brave enough to try.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of digimon that needed evacuation. These tanks—should they attack—could mean the deletion of a thousand digimon. That was a staggering number, and I couldn't bear the thought.

But we were evacuating. Slowly but surely. It would take years to evacuate at the rate we were doing so, but maybe the tanks would hold off until then, since they just seemed inclined to sit there and wait us out. I wasn't even sure there were people in the tanks anymore, but I wasn't about to test that theory. Kiyoko had developed a smaller scaled version of the technology he'd used on the Coliseum. He embedded the program into people's cellular phones, and rendered people invisible. Iori and Yamato were the delivery service. They came together, with as many as cell phones they could, and brought groups back with them to the Coliseum. It was approximately a ten hour walk though. So it couldn't be done often. Once during the day, and once at night. Only, Iori and Yamato couldn't physically take two shifts. I was surprised to hear that Masami Izumi—Koushiro's father—and Kazuya Ichijouji—my own father-in-law—volunteered to take the night shift. They wanted to feel like they were doing something. And Masami enjoyed the brief visits with his partner, Andromon.

Andromon couldn't leave the Temple. Neither could Wizardmon or any of the fight club digimon. They all wore red tracers, and they were also the reason the Temple was surrounded like it was. I didn't blame them though, and while some digimon that called the Temple home did, Taichi didn't either, and that was good enough for me. Taichi kept them close to a digidestined at all times, because he was worried about them. I wasn't sure what he was worried about specifically, but I knew there were a couple of options. Either they were so ashamed of what had happened that they would go and surrender themselves to make up for it—meaning Andromon and Wizardmon—or the other digimon of the Temple were waiting for the opportune moment to pounce on them—meaning the fight club digimon. The fight club digimon hadn't exactly made any friends since they'd been here. They were always fighting with one another, scaring the other digimon. And they were never intimidated by the bigger, stronger digimon of the Temple either. They just thought of them as a challenge.

The Knights were watched by whoever happened to be in the Council building—because that was all it was really used for after all—so it was mostly the fight club digimon that were the problem.

I skipped down the steps of the Council building, and headed for the school. Mr Ogremon—called as such specifically because there were two Ogremon and it was confusing otherwise—taught all of the young digimon of the Temple. There were some babies that decided to try and make it in the world outside of Primary Village, but for the most part, he taught the in-training level digimon. We'd sent the majority of the babies out already, along with Masa, Lunamon, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon. We had only managed to save thirty-one so far. Total, meaning Masa and the rest of them were included in that number. I'd given Kazuya my phone the previous night though, and convinced him to donate his own, so by tonight's shift we'd be able to send eleven at once, which was an improvement.

I glanced at my watch and picked up my pace. I knocked on the doorway of the classroom, and Mr Ogremon called me inside. "I'm here for more of your students," I said with a smile. Some of the little digimon shook with fear, and others cheered. I was confused, until I heard one whisper that she didn't want to disappear. My heart ached. "We're bringing you somewhere safer. You're not disappearing," I explained. "We can't bring everybody at once though, so we have to take only a few at a time."

"Can I go next?" she asked hesitantly. She was an in-training...I'd been asked to get the last of the babies. I quickly counted them and there were only six. I did a mental happy dance before nodding. "Sure."

That of course caused a bit of a problem, because everybody was volunteering at once, and I looked to Mr Ogremon for assistance. He pointed to a Yokomon and a Pagumon, and everyone else sighed in disappointment. I hated seeing their faces fall. I wanted them all to be safe. But there were just so many of them. And they clearly didn't realize they'd be walking—or bouncing?—for ten straight hours without rest, or else they wouldn't be that thrilled.

I'd made that journey.

It wasn't fun.

I led the selected nine digimon up the stairs to the Council room where I thought they were going to be waiting for Yamato and Iori to arrive. But when I got there, I heard yelling. I told them to wait in the hall before entering the Council chamber.

"I don't care, Yamato," Natsuko yelled at her son. "I'm not going next. I refuse. There are so many digimon here. I'm not important enough to go first. I can always go home and act like I don't have a partner. I'd still be safe. These guys don't have that opportunity. So you take them first."

"Mom," Yamato growled. "Takeru wants you there. He's freaking out."

"And he can do that all he likes," Natsuko said. "He's a big boy. He knows how these things work."

"Women and children first," Yamato said. "Isn't that how it goes?"

"But when there are this many children, Yamato, you take the kids. You take them first and you're going to damn well like it," she said. "I will not go only to find out that something happened here. Not when I know I can give my place to a child. I will always defer my place for a child. I am your mother. And you will do what I say."

"I'm the digidestined in this relationship," Yamato insisted. "Why don't you have to listen to me? Besides, we brought a way to bring more digimon this time. Hideto suggested it actually, so there's room for you."

"What did I just say?" Natsuko said.

"Come on Miyako," Iori said, startling me. I hadn't realized he was leaning against the wall next to the door. I was too busy watching the two blondes do battle at the foot of the table. I let Iori lead me out of the room. I heard Taichi yelling at them to shut up and let him concentrate just as Iori closed the door behind us. "So," he said. "I bet you want to hear our new plan."

"You bet I do," I said. "There's a classroom of kids that want their turn. Tell me, what did Hideto suggest?"

"He gave us a shopping cart. Apparently he'd always wanted to steal one, he said something about it being on his bucket list," Iori explained, evidently not approving of Alias III's methods. "He said that when they went...shopping...they just put a phone in the basket of the cart and that it rendered all of its contents invisible. So we brought it. It was a little tricky with the terrain and the water, but if we can even get four digimon in the cart, then that's three extras that we can save with one phone."

"Okay," I said. "Let's go kids, we're going to see how many of you we can fit in a cart."

"Will it be a comfy cart?" Yokomon asked excitedly.

"Probably not," I admitted.

"Do we have to?" Pagumon asked.

"Yes," Iori told him.

Punimon blew bubbles at him, upset by the news. But we couldn't afford comfort when the chance at safety was there. With the six baby digimon—three Poyomon, a Punimon and two Yuramon—there was plenty of room for the three in-training. Iori looked at the cart with renewed hope. They had nine phones available today, and would have eleven by tonight. If a cart could carry nine—though I was sure there would be fewer with only in-training and even less with anything larger—things were sort of looking up. They could bring seventeen digimon today alone. That was more than half of our previous total. We grinned at each other, and I ran to the classroom to get another eight digimon. I brought them all back to Iori, and decided it would be better if I went up to collect Yamato, since both he and Iori tended to have a short fuse—and we didn't have time for them to start yelling at each other.

"Please take us?" Terriermon pleaded, sending Yamato pouts that looked like a wounded puppy. Lopmon nodded quickly, also looking absolutely distraught. "We miss Willis. Doesn't he want us anymore? Doesn't he want to see us?"

"Stop trying to guilt Yamato into sending you to the Coliseum," Taichi told them, rolling his eyes. His words caused an instant effect on the twin digimon. They glared at him angrily, muttering about how it would've worked if he didn't ruin it. "You guys are rookies, and we're sending the smaller digimon right now. We'll work our way up to you. Besides, you two are a Knight. It's your duty to stay and protect the digimon of the Temple."

"We'd be so much better at protecting the Coliseum though," Lopmon told him with a sugary voice. "Don't you think there needs to be some big, strong digimon there to keep everyone safe?"

"They've got MetaLifeKuwagamon, and have access to Omnimon and Piedmon with Alias III there," Taichi said dismissively. "Not to mention the absolute invisibility thing they've got going on. I think they're good. I'm not trying to punish you two. I just really think you're the most helpful where you are. Willis wants you guys to help. You know that, don't you?"

"Fine," they sighed, their shoulders slumping. They walked past me out the door, letting their ears drag sadly along the floor behind them.

"Yamato," I said brightly. "There are seventeen digimon downstairs waiting for you and Iori to bring them to the Coliseum."

"Seventeen?" Taichi asked, perking up. "That's better than expected."

"I know, right?" I said with a grin. "With numbers like this, the classroom could be empty of kids by tomorrow night."

"Then we can start on the thousand or so others," Yamato said with a sigh. "On the bright side, I've never gotten so much exercise in my entire life."

I walked with Yamato for a little bit, but ended up saying my farewells sooner than expected, because I wanted to take a peek in at the Knights in their training grounds. Lopmon and Terriermon seemed to have recovered, because they were pretending to be ninjas and attacking each other, though they kept giggling before they got a hit in. Kotemon was practicing with a kendo stick by himself and Veemon was practicing against Dorumon in a heated battle. They weren't using any techniques, strictly hand to hand combat, and it was hypnotising. I watched them for a few minutes, before noticing that Wizardmon was sitting by himself. He was cross-legged, and his eyes were closed. I took one last lingering look at Veemon and Dorumon's fight before I went over to him and sank to the ground at his side.

"You holding out okay?" I asked him gently, so as not to scare him. He opened one eye and looked to me nonchalantly before closing his eye again. "It's not your fault."

"Is it not?" he said bitterly. "I'm a marked digimon. It is because of me that they've found the Temple. I am a disgrace as a Knight."

"But the fight club digimon had tracking devices long before you ever did, and they've been here since they got caught," I reasoned.

"But it was by following me that they found us," he said simply.

"How do you know it wasn't Andromon they followed?" I asked gently. "Taichi was with Andromon, so were Sora and Koushiro. They had Andromon in their grasps. I'm not entirely convinced they didn't mean for us to get Andromon back. It would make sense from a strategic view point, wouldn't it? Find someone that the enemy values and when it draws the enemy to you, let them have it back."

"And then follow them home," Wizardmon concluded. "I am still not convinced. I was there too, they could have followed me."

"They could have, but they could have followed any of you," I said shrugging my shoulders. "I won't lie. The situation sucks. I'm supposed to be at the Coliseum, but I haven't been there in ages. Because of a stupid gun. I'm supposed to be taking care of Wormmon for Ken, but I'm not doing that. But I was also offered one of the first spots. I could've gone any time I wanted to. But I haven't. Because I believe in our cause, and I am willing to stand by it. To stand by you. I don't care what anyone else says. You are a good and just digimon, and you fought for your life that day. Your life. None of them can say that, so they have no right to judge you. You're still alive. You're being granted one miracle after another. Be proud of that. I know I am. And I know Taichi is. He's proud of all of you. He also blames himself."

"But he did nothing," Wizardmon said fiercely. "He holds no blame."

"Sounds to me like you two have something in common," I said with a wink before pulling myself to my feet. "Let me know if you need anything. I'm here to run errands for everybody." He nodded to me solemnly, and I left, knowing I'd given him something to think about.

I wandered through the hallway of gates, glancing out the one window when I passed, spotting Jenna and Michael laughing and goofing around. My heart ached for that same camaraderie. Momoe was still on Earth for now, and my two oldest siblings decided to stay there permanently. Yeah, they sent their digimon—smart thinking—and Chiziru even sent Masa, but it wasn't the same as knowing my siblings were safe. How was I supposed to handle the mystery? Didn't they know how susceptible to panic attacks I really was? Didn't they care about my wellbeing at all?

But I couldn't be selfish.

They had their reasons. And I agreed with Chiziru's reasons. She did think it through. Mantarou? Not so much. There was a time when I would have thought it was the most romantic gesture in the entire world, risking his life just to spend more time with the woman he loved. That time was over. It ended when I met Yorokobi. I hated her, and I hated what she did to my brother. I hated what she did to Hideto. I still hadn't told anyone, and I knew Jou and Momoe had kept the secret as well. They didn't want anyone to pry into his business. But it just added more fuel to my fire. I didn't like Yorokobi, and now she could've cost me my brother.

Did he really think that she would just magically accept Gotsumon whenever he got around to introducing the two of them? She didn't like digimon, he said so himself. Whether that meant she was DWD or just irritating, didn't matter. She didn't like digimon, and Gotsumon was one. Was he going to wait until he was hopelessly in love with the girl before telling her about Gotsumon? Because that wouldn't end well. But I didn't know who for. Maybe Yorokobi wouldn't make the cut after all, or maybe Mantarou would decide he wanted her more than his partner, and give Gotsumon the boot. I didn't think he was as heartless as that, but I couldn't be sure. Not anymore. Yorokobi had changed him so much.

And if it came down to it, if he gave up Gotsumon, I knew I'd take Gotsumon over him. Because he wouldn't be my brother anymore.

Mom and Dad I expected to stay on Earth. Dad probably would've come if it weren't for Mom. She hated digimon though, so there wasn't really a doubt in my mind that she would refuse the offer. I hoped she'd take it though, even if it was just because I'd asked her to.

But I was alone.

I didn't even have my husband here, since he refused to give up his self-imposed mission. I worried about him all the time, and I added to that all the worry I felt for the entire Inoue family, and all the digimon in the Temple and out of the Temple and on Earth. The only ones I didn't have to worry about were the ones that were at the Coliseum already. I wanted to be at the Coliseum again. But I knew I couldn't do that. In my heart I knew that I would always make sure the digimon go first, because I was the digidestined of honour, and it was my duty to stay here and protect the digimon.

But I also knew that I had that same duty for my baby.

I was always conflicted. Do I or don't I? Should I stay or should I go?

I was at the top of the stairs when I noticed there was a commotion in the courtyard. There was a dancing mushroom digimon, and a tiny robot. They were standing at the door and projecting some sort of energy field at it. I smiled, knowing who they had to be. Shinsetsumon—the crest digimon of kindness—and Shinramon—the digimon of trust. Meiyomon's brothers. I hadn't seen them around since the battle against Yggdrasil's robots. They had a tendency of wandering off to explore the world. I grinned and rushed down to greet them.

I stopped short though, when I saw that Meiyomon had come and was closer. He also had a really mean look on his face. I got closer, and heard what Taichi was saying to him.

"Please, Meiyomon, help us," he pleaded.

"I am helping," he said. "I brought my brothers, didn't I? They're making a shield to protect you."

"Meiyomon, you saw those tanks, I know you did. They're making it so we can't bring these digimon to safety. All of the digimon in the Temple are at risk. I need your help. I'm begging you, use your data streams and take them to the Coliseum. Use different routes, if they want to try and follow us make it so they can't find it," Taichi said, practically dropping to his knees in front of Meiyomon. The digimon sighed and looked Taichi right in the eye.

"I can't find my brothers and sisters. I've got Shinramon and Shinsetsumon but that's it. There are so many missing. I need to find them, Taichi. I have to make sure they are safe too," Meiyomon said. "I can't spend who knows how long here. I've got to go."

"I'll get people out looking for them," Taichi promised. "I can't do that though, if everyone is stuck here. I've got people in the Coliseum already that can try and find them though. And Leomon is out with Ogremon, searching the world finding any digimon they can, and finding other safe zones. They're out there right now sending the smaller digimon to the Primary Village, and the biggest digimon to Piximon's home. Maybe some of your brothers and sisters are there already. I've even got Whamon sending word across the ocean to the continents. Ogremon and Leomon are recruiting friends to help spread the word. We're going to get all the digimon we can. They'll be out there somewhere. We'll find them. But please help me help these digimon."

"Fine," Meiyomon agreed. "But only because you're begging."

"Not because it's the honourable thing to do?" I questioned with a teasing tone. A grin formed across his face and he laughed. Taichi called for the rest of the school kids to be brought to the courtyard, because he'd be sending them off first, and he sent Shuu and Haruhiko to start spreading the word throughout the residential areas.

I hadn't realized it, having been preoccupied with Meiyomon and all, but pretty much everyone that had been in the Council building was out here too. Not the Knights, but the rest of them, all the research team, the remains of the Council members. Ilya, Jose, Benjamin, Hogan and Jackie—Gennai's clones—were among the crowd. The mood was lightening in the Temple, and I was grinning like a fool.

"You can't come!" Meiyomon shouted, cutting into my good mood. I turned and saw him yelling at Mr Ogremon, causing all of his remaining students to cry. "You're evil and I won't show evil people where the secret base is."

"Meiyomon," I scolded. "I don't care how upset you are, don't take it out on strangers. He's my friend, and you will bring him."

"We can't tell everyone," he protested.

"Watch us," I dared him. He pouted, but realized he'd lost when he caught sight of everyone else's face. He sighed and raised his hands.

"Once I start they're going to be on high alert," Meiyomon warned Taichi. Taichi nodded, and looked to the rest of the people gathered.

"I want you to start spreading the word," he said. "Like Shuu and Haruhiko. We need as many digimon gone as possible in as short of time as we can. Okay? Let's move out! You know what to do Meiyomon."

And he did. Meiyomon summoned a pillar of pink light that scooped up all of the school kids and Mr Ogremon, and then they were gone. I grinned. They'd beat Iori and Yamato back. Wouldn't those two be surprised to see how many digimon were at the Coliseum when they got back? I laughed.

"Miyako," Koushiro called. I whirled around, embarrassed to be caught laughing instead of working. He was holding out the silver and black gun I'd given him to research—handle towards me. "Don't mess around with that. I've done extensive tests," he told me. "That thing is lethal to any digimon. I don't know what effect it would have on humans. But it targets the very pixels in the digimon's code. It rips them apart piece by piece in the most painful and excruciating way possible. They mean to kill the digimon. All of them." I'd assumed as much already, but it was worse hearing it confirmed like that. "Don't shoot that gun."

"I won't," I promised. I had never intended on shooting it in the first place. I tucked it into my ever-so-stylish fanny-pack and started running. I spotted Sora talking to Michael, Tatum and Jenna, explaining the new mission, and laughed when I saw Biyomon mimicking Sora exactly as she told Betamon, Monodromon and Kudamon the same thing. I kept running, wanting to get a bit of a distance before I started, since Sora and all the others were still behind me, but I stopped sooner than I'd planned. Candlemon was sitting on a step, looking at all the excitement and crying. "What's wrong?"

"I can't go," he said sadly. "I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home, but I can't. And now I can't go with everybody else either."

"You have to stay for now," I agreed. "But only until Koushiro figures out the tracking devices. And then you'll get to go to the safe house with everybody else."

"He's not even working on them," he pouted. "I asked. He was working on a gun."

I flinched, knowing exactly what he was talking about. It was tucked in a pouch at my waist. "How about you come with me?" I asked him. "You can't leave yet, but you can help me get these guys out of here. It'll give you something to do at least."

He sighed, but hopped to his foot—candlestick holder?—and started hopping down the street at my side. We hooted and hollered and sent tons of digimon running for the courtyard. They were all so excited that it made me feel even worse for Candlemon. He just wanted to leave. He wanted his partner. I wondered if Daisuke even remembered about the fight club members—or if he had any way to contact them. They deserved a chance to go to the Coliseum too.

"Get to the courtyard, get to the courtyard!" Candlemon yelled.

"You heard him folks!" I shouted. "Your ride is here!"

We ran through street after street until I couldn't run anymore, and then we continued anyway, just at a much slower pace. I saw bakeries, and exercise studios, there was an art gallery and a spa—no doubt Tinkermon's new addition. There were big digimon, little digimon, flying digimon, digimon of different shapes, textures, temperatures. It was amazing to see them all. I didn't know if I'd ever seen so many different digimon in all my life.

And then I saw it.

The library. Gennai's library. I wanted to go in so badly. I wanted to see what Gennai saw, read the books that Gennai wrote. I wanted to experience something that Gennai had before. But I couldn't. There were still digimon to be called for.

"There's someone in there," Candlemon said, interrupting my thoughts. "We should check it out. We don't want to leave him behind."

"You're right," I said, trying to hold my excitement at bay. We were working, not browsing. It looked as though the library would have to be underground. There was no way this small building could be what Koushiro feared. I pushed through the ivory doors, and saw nothing aside from a set of stairs leading down. Of course. So we set off down the stairs and found a down a dark, entirely unlit hallway. I was so glad that my companion was a Candlemon, and had a built in light source on the top of his head. At first, I supposed it was a trick of the light making the floors look twisted, slanted downwards and uneven, but after a few minutes I realized I was getting sea sick, and I knew they had to be real. The ceiling was getting shorter too, and the walls closer. I wasn't having a claustrophobic problem either for two reasons. A) I wasn't claustrophobic, and B) I reached up with my hands to check and it was definitely smaller. Suddenly the hallway ended, and there was door at the end. I quirked my ears, making sure Candlemon had actually heard something from in here and not the next building over, but I heard it too. A scuttling noise. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

The room we met was beautiful and strange, and had marginally better lighting than the hallway. There were candles burning on fixtures attached at every column. There were also three or four candles on each table in the centre of the room, depending on the size. There was a table small enough for a Chuumon with three tiny tea lights on it, and a table as wide as a Whamon with candles the size of a spaghetti pot. Stairs spiraled their way up the very centre of the room, and there were ladders going every which direction on the walls. The room was set up like a tiered wedding cake, with each layer getting smaller than the last.

"Where are we?" Candlemon asked in awe.

"Under the Temple."

"Who said that?" I asked, whirling around but not seeing anyone.

"I did."

"Who're you?" Candlemon asked.

"I am the head bookworm. Gennai's trusted librarian."

"You've just been in here the entire time?" I asked.

"Of course. What else would I do?"

"Why don't you come into the light?" Candlemon suggested, unsure of himself. If this librarian was a threat, then he was going to protect me. I thought it was sweet, until I remembered Candlemon was part of a fight club and would probably enjoy destroying this guy.

But I was more shocked than scared when the librarian stepped into view. He scuttled when he walked, and I was suddenly aware of all of the scuttling going on around us. He wasn't the only librarian. What had he called himself? The head bookworm? So there were more like him. He looked so familiar yet so different. He was old, his green a lighter shade—probably due to the darkness he surrounded himself with. He was a Wormmon.

"I thought you were extinct," I blurted without thinking.

"We never were, my dear," the elderly Wormmon said. "We're simply not fit for fighting. We prefer the peaceful life of book keeping."

"My husband's partner, he's a Wormmon too," I said. "He'd love to meet you all. I know he would. Actually you can go see him now. We're evacuating the Temple. We're surrounded, and we've finally got an exit strategy."

"Yeah," Candlemon said. "Call your other non-extinct buddies and let's get rolling! We've got a bunch more digimon to save."

"I will send the others along," the elderly Wormmon promised. "But I cannot go. There's much work I've yet to complete."

"You don't have to go now," I told him quickly. "The digidestined are staying for awhile longer yet. Taichi still has to make sure nothing important can fall into enemy hands should they breach the Temple walls. You can have until he's done before you have to go. But when he goes, time's up. There won't be any other chances, and with these guys, death doesn't mean recycling. It means you're gone."

"I understand," the Wormmon told me. "I will be sure to go when the time comes. You!" I looked up to see he was shouting at a much younger Wormmon who was dangling from the ceiling using his Sticky Net. He was rocking back and forth, trying to get the string to stretch. "Alert the others to the evacuation. Get them out and to the courtyard immediately. Understood?" The silly little Wormmon nodded eagerly and climbed back up his net, crawling along the ceiling and down the walls. "I will see you again."

"I'll be waiting," I told him.

Candlemon and I raced out of the library. It was a little too strange for me—also the hallway we'd come in was entirely uphill now, and it was killer on my legs. But we made it to the top and back into the open air. We looked at each other and started racing down the street again, laughing.

When I looked to the sky, I saw a pink pillar with a Gazimon floating inside, along with two Pagumon, a Kiwimon, a Deramon, two Woodmon, a Scorpiomon, a Tortmon, a Shellmon and a Blossomon. They were all heading to safety, and I couldn't help but feel ecstatic about it. The digimon of honour did this, he was saving us again, and soon we'd have all the digimon out of the Temple, and the DWD were powerless to stop it from happening. I let out another joyous laugh and started calling for digimon again.

Hikari Yagami:

"Mother said I will be leaving school soon." Emiko said curtly and it possibly the cutest thing I'd seen in my life because she was dressed as a monkey. Momoe had begged me to get to the bottom of the monkey costume so she could put an end to it. She had to do laundry constantly with Emiko wearing the same outfit every single day, and now that people were gathering in the Coliseum it was becoming harder to do that. But the only thing Emiko would talk about was that she was angry with her mother for pulling her from school. Every time I tried to change the subject she would bring it right back to that. Kids had a very one track mind sometimes, and Emiko was no exception.

"I know," I told her kindly, "It's because she loves you."

"I literally want to stay here." Emiko argued from her place in the back of my car. It wasn't a nice car by any means, and it made a very horrible sound whenever I went anywhere and I couldn't understand what was wrong with it no matter how many times Daisuke told me, but at least it drove. As long as it could get me to work, it would do until I was more financially secure to buy a better one. "At school I mean."

"I know," I told her again, "But it will be safer for you at the Coliseum. And your cousin Masa is there! You two can play whenever you want now."

"I don't want to play with him." She pouted, crossing her arms angrily, the floppy tan coloured ears on the hood of her costume flapping around. "I literally hate him."

"You can't mean that," I told her firmly, "He's your cousin, you have to love him."

"I literally don't have to." She said, "I don't like him and he's stupid."

"That's mean, Emiko." I sighed, pulling into the school parking lot.

"Too bad." She said snidely. "I don't love him." She had unbuckled herself before the car was even in park and she threw the door open the second I'd turned the engine off. "I literally, literally don't like him."

"You like that word, huh?" I asked, getting out of the car to walk with her to the front door. "Literally?"

"Bearmon taught me." She told me with a huge toothy smile. "He's the smartest one." I smiled at her before she ran off, the tail of her costume dragging across the dirty ground.

"Emiko!" I called, motioning for her to come back.

"Miss Yagami!" She called back, imitating my hand gestures. She'd forgotten her backpack, but didn't seem to mind me carrying it back for her. I did so without any reprimanding because she was already having such a tough time. Her partner was missing, her parents were now both out of a job it seemed, and all of her family friends were facing an enormous moral dilemma. Plus she was told she was being taken from school only a month and a half into her first year, and being relocated to a place that was not her home. I could understand why Jou and Momoe wanted to do that, but I felt sad for Emiko who was finally getting used to her new routine. She didn't want everything to be turned upside down.

I pulled the door open for her and she hopped inside and then all around the kids' boot room. She continued to hop in circles as some other children came in around her, flinging their shoes off hastily and throwing them into a corner. She smiled after them and did the same, taking her toes out of each shoe and flinging it through the room by kicking them. She laughed loudly, her voice high as ever as she watched her shoes light up as they bounced off the ceiling.

"Emiko," I said, pointing my finger at her, "I know your dad doesn't like it when you make a mess of things. Can you—" No, that wasn't the way to parent Emiko. Don't ask her to do things. Make her figure it out. It was the first time I'd caught myself, "What do you think you should do with my shoes?"

"See how far you can kick 'em?" She asked.

"I could!" I smiled, "Very good, what else could I do? I just forget is all. Something your dad always says to you, and I think you could help me remember."

She sighed dramatically and flopped her arms around, storming toward her fallen shoes. "Place them neatly in a pile; that would make my daddy smile." She shot off sarcastically, placing the shoes under the sticker that had her name written on it. She took her backpack from me and hung it up as well as a girl in a frilly dress emerged from the classroom to the right of the hooks.

The wooden door was left open, so the girl closed it on her way out, and her eyes fell on Emiko, and she laughed, "Still coming to school naked?" The girl laughed in a weird way—kind of like a guffaw, which I'd never heard before. "Emiko you have to put clothes on, so people don't know you're gross." The girl patted Emiko's shoulder in a way that made it look like she thought she was being helpful.

"Excuse me," I said sharply, causing the girl to jump in alarm.

"Miss Y-Yagami!" She stuttered, bowing courteously, "I didn't know you were there."

"Please apologize," I said as simply as I could. I'd forgotten how mean children could be. The mean girl apologized to Emiko and then ran off toward the bathroom. There was hardly any reason for her to be at school already anyway. She was quite early.

Emiko looked to me, biting her lip and then away again quickly. "Don't tell Daddy..." She said, sounding defeated.

"Tell him what?" I asked, closing the gap between us. I knelt down to her eye level, but she blatantly avoided eye contact.

She scratched behind her costumes ear and grabbed the tail nervously with her grubby hands, kind of swaying on the spot. "That I'm bullied."

"Emiko," I told her, my shoulders dropping. I suddenly felt as defeated as she looked. "Emiko, Sweetie, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone is bullied. That doesn't make it right though."

"Were... you bullied?" She asked, looking up to me finally, her eyes glossed over with tears.

I nodded and tried to smile, but as stupid as it was, it still hurt. Being bullied was a horrible experience, and here Emiko was going through the same fate right under my nose. "Yes," I told her finally, "When I was young I was called Sickari."

"That's silly," Emiko giggled.

"Yeah," I told her, smiling at her brightened expression. "Do you know why?" She shook her head. "When I was young I was really, really sick and no one knew if I was going to even live." She gasped, her mouth hanging open.

"What happened?" She gasped.

"I lived," I told her, unable to hold my laughter in. She slapped her forehead and laughed with me, realizing her mistake. "But one day, I passed out in the middle of class, and the boy who sat at the same desk as me helped me up, and guess what I did?"

"Hit him?" Emiko guessed.

"Well, no," I smiled to her again, "I threw up on him. All sorts of chunks of vibrant foods, and stomach acid. And after that day I had a horrible nickname and, well, no one wanted to talk to me." Emiko looked horrified that the same would happen to her, "But, there was one boy in the class who made things better, and now he's one of my closest friends."

"Daddy?"

"No," I told her, "It was Daisuke."

"The one with the baby?" She asked, and I nodded. "There's no one like that in my class. The only boy who doesn't make fun of me is a creepy, creepy boy. He follows me home sometimes. Literally every day."

"Literally?" I asked with a smile.

"Every day," She assured me.

"Well," I said, ignoring that for now, "Whenever I think back to those mean names I remember that I ended up okay. I have some wonderful friends, I'm not sick anymore, and karma came around, crashing through my life like a wrecking ball."

"Karma?" She asked.

"Exactly," I said, poking her nose resulting in more giggles, "That means that good people are rewarded, and bad people are punished by the universe. In other words, when a person is bad, the universe feels that person needs to be punished."

"Oh..." Emiko said weakly, turning away nervously.

At first I was confused, but glancing over my shoulder I saw that Professor Ikeda was standing over me, his arms crossed eyeing me up like a mouldy sandwich. I got to my feet, sighing, and tightening my lips before turning to face him with a big smile. "Good morning, Sir," I said politely, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I noticed you speaking with this student," Professor Ikeda said, his eyebrows raised in near disgust, "Outside of the classroom, teachers are not permitted to interact with the students."

"Pardon me?" I asked, shocked. "That's part of being an instructor, Sir."

"I do not care for your backtalk, Miss Yagami." Professor Ikeda said sharply, "As I am in charge in this institution, you are required by law to ensure my rules are followed exactly as specified." That simply wasn't true. It was not law that I followed his rules, and he was not in charge of the rules either, but I did not speak up this time. I did not want to set a bad example for Emiko. "I noticed also that you arrived with this student, though you are not in her emergency contact information."

"Oh," I said, "I'm sorry, her parents can't come to school every day so I take her. They're close friends of mine that I've known for more than fifteen years."

"It is no interest of mine how long you have been acquainted with Miss Kido's parents," Professor Ikeda said sharply, stepping around me, his arms behind his back. He smelled of cheese, or some kind of dairy product. "I am not asking much of you, just that you follow the rules I provide."

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying again though it was a lie, "I don't understand. Which rule this time?"

"You are not permitted to touch this student," He told me sharply, rounding on me, a big vein on his forehead bulging as he tried to keep his voice controlled. He paused and turned to Emiko, "Dear, would you step aside for a moment?"

"Kay." Emiko said annoyed, but not daring to defy the intensity in his voice. She dragged her book bag into the classroom that the mean girl had come out of.

"Miss Yagami," He said loudly, "With permission by this girl's parents I could have you arrested, do you realize that?"

"Yes, Sir, but—"

"Do not interrupt me!" He said, his anger slipping for just a moment. He took a deep breath as another head popped out of the room Emiko had gone to. It was Noriko, Emiko's teacher. She looked to me apologetically as Professor Ikeda started again, "Miss Yagami, I hired you against my better judgement three months ago when school let out and poor, sweet Ms Nagano retired. I knew when I looked at you that you were not right for this position, and yet I hired you anyway. Do not make me regret this decision." I didn't say anything, so he just continued, his face turning an unhealthy shade of purple, "If I catch you with this child again I will have no choice but to fire you."

"Sir, if you would just listen—"

"I do not have time for your petulant excuses today, Miss Yagami." He said, his chest inflating like he'd won some great war. "I am a busy man, and I have many things to accomplish." And then he was walking off, leaving me alone with my sweaty palms and stinging chest as my teeth bit hard against my tongue to stop myself from responding. But he wasn't finished just yet, "And ask Miss Kawada to speak with Miss Kido about her attire. It is not school appropriate."

"Does it break any of the school's dress codes?" I heard myself ask against my restraints. Noriko quickly ducked her head back inside the classroom in front of me and I knew Professor Ikeda had turned back around.

"Miss Yagami, what did I just—?"

I spun to face him and smiled, "Sorry, sir." I told him, "I'll talk to her about it."

"Good to hear." He said proudly before walking off. I ran my fingers through my hair and adjusted my dress until I had calmed enough to continue my day. The mean girl in the pink dress pushed past me on her way into her classroom again, and I followed her inside.

"Is he gone?" Emiko asked the moment I'd entered the room. "Karma literally needs to go get him."

"That's true." Noriko nodded, her face tight and upset. "That man has no right to say those things to you, and it's not against the rules at all to talk to Emiko."

"I know," I said slowly, but even though I knew it was the case it felt amazing to know someone was backing me up. Noriko and I had gotten closer over our time working together.

"And, and!" Noriko insisted, "He's lying. In the staff meeting the week after he hired you he went on and on to us about how he found the perfect replacement. He said you were a 'shining star among the field of coal.'" She put air quotes around his supposed words, and even though I thought she might be exaggerating, my entire body felt lighter, like everything would be fine because I had Noriko. Which was a very weird thing to be thinking. "Listen, what if Emiko meets me on the streets, and I drive her down the road, and you can pick her up there?"

"Thanks," I said, shrugging. "She could just walk home and I could meet her there though."

"Not with that weirdo literally following me." Emiko said, shaking her head.

"Why don't you go play?" I laughed, patting her head, before quickly retracting my hand realizing the girl in the pink dress was watching me suspiciously. Emiko sighed and went to play with the mean girl because there was no one else to play with, and fell to the floor in front of a plastic bin of wooden blocks. I turned to Noriko and smiled, "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" She asked.

"For not hating me." I said, rubbing my temples in frustration. "Everyone here seems to. I guess Professor Ikeda told everyone about Gatomon. Talking to Emiko earlier made me really question why I came back to be a teacher after having a horrible experience in school growing up—but you're the reason. The good parts of school. The part where you find people who are around to support others. I wanted to be that person, but it isn't me. It's you."

"Hey, no problem." Noriko smiled, reaching for her back pocket and pulling out her phone. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I want you to call me." I nodded and pulled out my own phone as laughter filled the room. I couldn't tell if it was positive laughter or not, but Noriko seemed pleased with it, so we exchanged numbers. "Hikari, honestly, I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I should speak up too. I should tell everyone I have Impmon."

"No," I shook my head, "That would do no good." Again laughter shot from the girl in the pink dress, so I turned to see Emiko, frustrated, moving the blocks around, as the girl laughed at her.

"It's right!" Emiko shouted, "I know how to spell it!"

"You're stupid!" The girl laughed, "Gross and stupid. No wonder you don't have any friends." And then Emiko had lunged toward her, pushing her to the ground. The girl screamed bloody murder as she fell and Emiko picked up a red block, whipping it after the girl who was sobbing now.

"Emiko!" I shouted, rushing over to her, "No! You can't hurt people!"

"You said!" Emiko shouted angrily, "You said it! Bad people need to be hurt!"

"That isn't at all what I said or meant!" I insisted, but Emiko wasn't listening.

"She doesn't know!" Emiko screamed loudly so the girl would hear, "I'm not stupid! I can spell! I promise!" Tears fell from her eyes now and she slammed her fist down into the floor, "And I'm not gross! And I heard what that fatso said about me! I-I-I'm not going to take off m-my monkey suit!" She was crying wildly now, tears cascading down her cheeks and splashing onto the muted blue tiles. "I-I'm w-wearing it because-se people are w-wrong! They don't like Mo-Monmon! Or Bearmon or Gomamo-on! I like them th-though! I love them! I-I'm right! And you!" Her sadness turned to anger as she jumped to her feet. I turned and saw Noriko's frightened face as Professor Ikeda stood in the doorway. If he hadn't shown up there were many things I would have said to Emiko—starting with name calling—but I had a feeling I wasn't going to be given the chance. "You're a bully! Picking on my friend Hikari! I heard what you said to that ugly m-man! You said you d-don't like dig-gimon! And th-this costume is for y-you! It's to sh-show you that I support them! The digimon! I love them, and I-I-I hope one of them eats you!"

Noriko threw her hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing, but my emotions had taken a different route. I was crying now too, along with Emiko. This small, innocent girl had so much knowledge inside her—amongst the rage—that she was openly admitting to a man she knew to be against her cause that she firmly stood for what she believed in, and would not back down. She was brave.

"I will not stop wearing this monkey clothes!" She screamed at him, "Not until y-you stop being a big JERK! Literally!" She shook her head in frustration and turned away from him, kicking the block she'd thrown earlier.

"Young lady, I think you and I need to have a talk in my office." Professor Ikeda barked loudly to Emiko.

And if I'd had just one second more I would have bitten his head off for yelling at her like that, but unfortunately someone took my chance, "Why?" Noriko asked sharply, "Because she doesn't like that you're a racist ass?" Professor Ikeda turned to Noriko, shocked. "Well, it's true."

"Now I expect this behaviour from the likes of Miss Yagami," Professor Ikeda said loudly, "But not from you Miss Kawada! I thought you were better than this. You've gotten your first warning now."

"A warning for what?" She asked, seemingly unable to keep in the frustration she had with this man any longer. She'd been working with him longer than I had, I was surprised she'd lasted this long. "You're warning me because I told you you're wrong? Well you are, and even this six year old girl know that, so please refrain from using racist words in my classroom." She pointed to the wall where a big yellow sign was plastered, "This is a no bullying-zone, and you are not excused from the rules, Sir."

Professor Ikeda looked positively flabbergasted. He tried to speak many times before he finally spat out, "I will see you in my office after school today Miss Kawada. I am very disappointed in you."

"Okay," Noriko said, shrugging her shoulders as Professor Ikeda stepped out the door. "See you then Kota." She used his first name with a smug little smile that made him stop in his tracks for just a moment before storming down the hallway to his office.

I turned to Emiko and smiled, "See Emiko?" I told her, "That's how karma works. You just sit back and eventually they get what's coming to them." She was smiling and ignoring the tracks of tears that were staining her cheeks. "You okay?"

"Great!" Noriko replied misinterpreting who I was speaking to. "This is the turning point." She said, her hand in a confident fist, "I'm going to speak up, starting now. Impmon is my partner and I cannot keep that a secret any longer. I will let the world know the truth. I support the cause of justice." She was being a little dramatic, but I was happy to hear she was on board. "Literally." She added with a wink to Emiko.

Next on Digimon Adventure 06: Jou tries to fix what has been Broken in his personal life and encounters a little more than he bargained for, while Kiyoko uses his computer knowledge to expand his social network.