Chapter 35

It All Started When You Returned

A whole night and half a day now separated Takuya and Kari from their time in the Dark Ocean. The two of them had been brought back to the Kamiya apartment, where they continued to sleep until noon the next day. Takuya would the first one to awaken that day.

He awoke to the sound of talking coming from the other room and warm sunlight streaming across the floor. Takuya sat up in bed and swung his feet over the side. When he did he felt the warm floorboards beneath his feet and a slight tiredness ran through his body. Even though he had slept for what felt like days he still felt exhausted; a true testament to how much he and Kari had been through.

"…Kari!" Takuya suddenly thought to himself. He jumped up from the bed, straightened out, and spun around. He was greeted by Kari's soft facial features illuminated by the sunlight. When he saw her safe in her bed he released his held breath as his worries began to slip away. Kari's face suddenly twitched and Takuya turned back to her. Several strands of hair had fallen across her face and were tickling her, causing her to stir from her sleep. Takuya smiled and reached out brushing the strands back behind her ear, allowing her to return to her restful slumber.

When Takuya pulled his hand back he noticed for the first time that he was no longer wearing the green school uniform he had on when he passed out. He was now dressed in a pair of light blue long sleeve pajamas; they were most likely Tai's since they were a size too big on him.

"Man… I don't even want to think about who changed my clothes… or how awkward it must have been…" Takuya said to himself with an exhausted sigh.

Looking around the room Takuya spotted his travel clothes thrown over the back of the desk chair. His clothes seemed to have been washed but his body was still covered in the dirt and sweat that had built up during his time in the Dark Ocean. He needed a shower before he put on his fresh clothes; but more than that his body and soul ached for the warm waters. Leaving Kari for the time being Takuya decided it would be best if he check in with those in the next room so that they knew everything was going to be alright with him.

He walked across the room in his bare feet and wrapped his hand around the doorknob and turned it slowly. The moment the door opened a crack the voices in the other room were no longer muffled sounds. They poured into the room truly signifying that this wasn't a dream and that the two of them had escaped the Dark Ocean. Up until now he hadn't really trusted his senses. The energies of the Dark Ocean had really messed up his instincts; showing him that he had plenty of room for improvement if all it took was a pocket dimension to throw him off his game.

With a small pull the door swung open and the voices stopped. Takuya stepped through the doorway and found that all eyes were on him. It was indeed all eyes that were on him since every member of the Digidestine and their partners were packed inside the small apartment.

"Hey guys…" Takuya said awkwardly as he stared out at all the faces looking back at him.

"Takuya you're finally awake!" Tai greeted him jumping up from the couch and walking over to him.

"How are you feeling?" Sora asked in a concerned tone.

"You might find this hard to believe but I actually feel better then I've felt since I arrived; painfully arrived that is." Takuya laughed uneasily.

"You do kind of look healthier." Joe added looking Takuya up and down. "I was actually surprised when I found that your injuries had almost completely healed when I examined you."

"How did that happen exactly?" Matt inquired from his spot on the other side of the room. It was hard to pick up on but Takuya was pretty sure Matt sounded concerned about him as well.

"It's a long story…" Takuya stopped in mid-sentence when several things attracted his attention. He hadn't noticed until he got closer but Tai had bandages sticking out from under his right sleeve and shirt collar. Matt was using his right hand to hold a bag of ice against his left shoulder and Mimi's right ankle was wrapped in a pressure bandage and an ice pack. While the rest of the Digidestine had some small scrapes and bruises scattered about their bodies. The digimon were in their in-training forms as well. All of these things were clear indicators of a serious battle.

"What happened?" Takuya asked a bit of anger welling up inside him. It wasn't anger directed at the other; but anger aimed at whatever had happened… and at himself.

"You're pretty quick on the uptake you know that… It's actually a pretty long story as well." Tai sighed feeling exhausted just thinking about the last twenty-four hours.

"This all looks pretty recent… Did this happen when we got back?" Takuya inquired trying to pin down some information.

"Yeah… but don't worry about it." Davis said waving it off.

"Okay somebody's got to tell me what happened. The fact that Davis is treating whatever happened so causally is starting to worry me." Takuya concluded looking around the room for anything else he might have missed.

"Actually we rather hear what happened with the two of you." Tai suggested from beside Takuya.

"I'm still a little fuzzy so my story can wait until my mind is clear. While we wait tell me what happened here." Takuya said in an almost demanding tone.

"If you insist…" Tai responded. He had hoped to finally hear what had happened in the Dark Ocean but he could understand how Takuya felt right now. Actually everyone could tell how Takuya must have been feeling. He knew they got in another fight, a serious on at that, while he slept off his experience in the Dark Ocean. Takuya must have felt that he was failing his mission and them by having them fight his battles.

"Before we start…" Takuya laughed. "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"Sure. You really look like you need it." Tai laughed back glad to see that Takuya wasn't feeling to down.

"Thanks for that." Takuya responded with a laugh before turning towards the bathroom and hopping in the shower. Outside the bathroom he could hear the discussion start up again; while on the inside his anger built. He was the experienced one; the one the enemy should be coming after. It was killing him that his enemies were hurting people who other then it being their Zone had nothing to do with this. His enemy was harming his friends and he couldn't do anything.

He balled his fist and bent his arm back in preparation to punch the tiled wall of the shower; but the punch never came. Before he released his rage on the wall he tried to calm his thoughts by reflecting on what he knew. The first was something fighting alongside Koji had taught him. That no matter how fast you charge through the enemy ahead of you, you will always need someone to watch your back. That's was what the Digidestine were doing now. They were covering his back. The second was that if he had been here Kari would have been swallowed up by the Dark Ocean and that was something he wouldn't have been able to live with. With no clear conclusion to how he felt he just leaned back into the warm water and let it wash away his cares.

Twenty minutes later Takuya emerged from bathroom dressed in his recently cleaned travel clothes. He then looked over the group once more before walking over to the recliner and sat down.

"So what happened while I was out?" Takuya asked even before he settled into his seat.

"Like we said it's a long story, but we'll do our best to tell you what happened." Tai noted before taking the seat across from Takuya.

"It all started with you and Kari suddenly returning to the Real World in the soccer field at the school. We carried both of you to the nurse's offices so the two of you could sleep it off in the beds. Then we spent the next three hours waiting for you two to wake up, while Izzy continued to play on his computer." Tai began to explain.

"I wasn't playing Tai. I was analyzing the digital signals I received when Kari and Takuya returned." Izzy commented. He apparently didn't like the idea of people thinking he was slacking off at such an important time.

"Fine… Izzy was doing research and we were trying to figure out how we were going to get you two back here, since we couldn't keep you in the school overnight. This was about the time when things got bad…" Tai trailed off into the events of the day Takuya and Kari slept through.

"How come we can't think of a better way than carrying them through the crowded streets to get them home?" Tai sighed slightly aggravated by their lack of solutions.

"Is there really any other way?" Matt asked wishing they could find one.

"I guess n…" Tai began before he was cut off by a loud alarm.

*BEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP*

"Izzy what is that!?" Davis called out over the noise.

"I have no idea! Why do you think I would know?" Izzy yell back over the sound.

"Well it sounds like some kind of alarm, and you're all about the technology." Davis rejoined.

"How are those in any way connected?" Izzy retorted slightly agitated by Davis's implication.

"I know this sound." Sora announced to the group.

"You do!?" Tai said surprised by her words.

Without saying a thing Sora walked over to Takuya's coat and pulled out his D-tector. She flipped it over in her hand and looked down at the screen.

"It's the detection program on Takuya's D-tector. It picks up on the presence of digimon in a Zone that they don't belong in. Or at least that's what it's supposed to do." Sora explained holding up the red and black D-tector to the group.

"How do you know that?" Izzy asked.

"He told me about it when we were hanging out in the flower shop last week. It's how we tracked down Gryphonmon a while back." Sora continued to explain.

"Interesting…" Izzy said staring intently at the blank display of the D-tector.

"So how do you make it work?" Tai asked as he looked over Sora's shoulder at the D-tector.

"If I remember correctly Takuya did this, then pushed this a few times, and then hit this." Sora said to herself while she fiddled with Takuya's D-tector; mimicking what she had seen him do a few days ago.

With a final button push the screen went white and light began to pour out of the display. An few inches from the D-tector's surface a holographic screen sprang to life with a beep, shocking Sora. She wasn't surprised by the screens sudden appearance; she was just shocked that it was different than before.

"Did I do something wrong…" Sora pondered aloud as she looked down at the new holographic display.

"What's wrong Sora?" Tai inquired after seeing her reaction.

"It's different than before…" Sora replied while she looked at the screen and ran the sequence through her head again.

"How is it different than before?" Izzy questioned Sora.

"Before it was just a small black and white screen; like the map you used to keep track all of the Dark Spires in the Digital World Izzy." Sora explained. "However Takuya did say something about it being a simple version of the main one." Sora added.

"Well it has been quite a while since he arrived here, so it might have finished being repaired. Meaning the simple map was no longer needed. You wouldn't use version two software when version three gets released. Same thing goes for the map in the D-tector" Izzy concluded.

"Wait!"

"Sorry to interrupt your story, but are you saying the main digimon tracking feature in my D-tector is working again?" Takuya asked unable to hide the fact that he was excited over this revelation.

"If it's an expandable holographic display with a large range. Then yes." Izzy answered for the group.

"Yes that's it!" Takuya cheered before reaching forwards and picking up his D-tector off of the coffee table in front of him. He quickly repeated the activation sequence and the holographic screen came up, displaying a scan of the city. Looking at it Takuya smiled and then began pushing more buttons. The circular screen became wavy and was soon replaced by a screen of white static. With the buzzing display humming along Takuya sighed and hit a button turning off the screen before he set it back down on the table.

"Damn! I was hoping more of it had been repaired." Takuya sighed before leaning back in the recliner.

"What's wrong?" Cody asked from across the room.

"Well when I heard the Digimon Tracker function was fully operational I was hoping that some of the other functions like the Dimensional Scanner or the Zone Communicator were working again too. But they're still completely offline." Takuya said in a saddened voice.

"Would either of those functions have really helped?" TK inquired looking down at the red and black device sitting on the table.

"Yeah, they would have. With the Dimensional Scanner I could have started looking for an open connection to the Dimensional Corridor; and with the Zone Comm. I could have contacted someone back home." Takuya answered still slightly depressed by having to say it out loud.

"That sucks." Matt added calmly.

"Yeah, but at least this means the Repair Function is making some serious progress." Takuya replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Ken questioned this time.

"From what I understand the Digimon Tracker is one of the most complicated systems in my D-tector; so it must have been very difficult to fix. The fact that it is back to one-hundred percent means the Repair Function is working at full capacity. And now that it has cleared that hurtle it should be able move onto the other systems." Takuya explained.

"So you might get back some functions that will help you get home?" Davis inquired confused by what Takuya had just told the group.

"Yes. But more importantly it gets the Sealed Digivice one step closer to being safe from the hands of the enemy." Takuya noted. "Sorry to have interrupted you Tai. Could you please continue again?" Takuya asked as he leaned back into the chair some more.

"Sure." Tai smiled before returning to the story.

"Okay… now that all that's been cleared up. Why was it making that sound?" Yolei asked pushing herself up against Izzy so she could see the screen as well.

"Well it most likely means that there is a digimon from a different Zone somewhere in the area." Izzy stated plainly.

"Right…" Yolei answered, satisfied with Izzy's answer.

The room fell quiet after that. Only the quiet pinging of the map as it completed one scan after another to refresh the map could be heard in the room. In the silence the Digidestine sat contemplating what had just transpired. Knowing they had missed something important.

"Isn't that a bad thing?" TK finally voiced as the realization dawned on the group.

"Yes. Yes it is." Tai sighed feeling somewhat foolish for not realizing it sooner. Actually everyone in the room felt slightly embarrassed by the fact that it took them that long to realize what was happening.

"Sora, how close does it say the digimon is?" Joe asked finally getting a chance to speak after a while.

"That's really not good! It says there's four digimon and they're heading this way!" Sora announced as she watched four blinking red dots closing in on a blue center dot she assumed was their location.

"Why are they heading right for us?" Mimi inquired feeling slightly shaken by the news.

"Damn! Because that pillar of light Kari and Takuya returned in was bright enough to probably be seen in the next town over." Tai cursed turning to look out the window at the clearing skies and soaked grounds of the school.

"And they've probably made a connection between it and the Sealed Digivice." Matt added looking out a different window.

"Wait! How could they have known it has anything to do with the Sealed Digivice?" Yolei asked unsure of how this situation had come about.

"They don't. They're just checking it out. They're guessing in other words." Izzy explained watching the four dots close some more distance between them and the center dot; which he assumed was their location.

"What do we do? Takuya's still asleep and from what we've heard about these digimon they are pretty bad news." Cody inquired hoping that someone would step in and take the lead.

"We head them off." Tai announced. "We can't move Kari and Takuya with them out there and if they get here they will rip the school apart until they find us and the Sealed Digivice." He concluded.

"So how do we go at them?" Matt asked giving Tai a slight nod of approval.

Tai got very quiet for a moment. There had never been a situation quite like this before. He would have to figure out how to divide the group into four separate teams to meet the coming threat, as well as one to stay back and watch two unconscious members of their team.

"Sora, how close are they all to each other?" Tai inquired hoping the information would help him reach a conclusion.

"There is one approaching from the East, one from the South, and two coming at us from the north and northwest." Sora listed off the enemy positions from the display.

"Okay I think I have an idea then." Tai said with a hint of uneasiness after a period of silence.

"Let's hear it…" Matt breathed as he and the rest of the Digidestine focused their attention on Tai.

As Tai retold the series of events that had transpired while Takuya and Kari were asleep Gennai had just finished clearing another floor of books.

"There has been some mention of other dimensions and travelers here and there; but nothing helpful." Gennai sighed as he made his way up the winding stone stairs to the next floor to continue his search.

After a minute he reached a landing at the top of the stairs. On this floor, just like all the ones before, row after row of bookshelves stocked with old texts filled the room. The only source of illumination was coming from the digital torches affixed to the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Gennai made his way to the closest shelf and removed one of the books. He quickly flipped through it before putting it back on the shelf.

"Interesting, but not what I'm looking for…" Gennia sighed before reaching for another book and removing it from the shelf.

Three floors down the cloaked figure walked along the rows of books with its right arm outstretched. As it walked it ran its black fingers along the books and listened; searching for something only it knew to look for. When it reached the end it stopped and looked back at the row of books it had just passed along.

"So much useless information." The figure hissed from under its cloak.

With its distain expressed the figure made its way to the steps and began to head up to the next floor.

The cloaked figures incredible pace brings it ever closer to the unsuspecting Gennai. Their different quests for knowledge will soon come to a head. Will it be the one who seeks it for good, or for evil, who will claim the prize and leave this tower alive? Only time will tell.

To be continued…