Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Digimon Trinity

Chapter: 166/ Episode 24: Different Mysteries

Yolei stood outside the door to Kari's apartment, key in one hand, cellphone in the other. Hawkmon stood at her side. The key had been a spare, one of many Kari had made for her friends in the event that they wanted to swing by or, in the case of emergency, needed to. Today, after Izzy's call about Kari's continued absence, Yolei worried that this was one of those emergencies.

"Hello? Kari?" Hawkmon called, tapping a feathered claw upon the wood. "Last chance. Come out, come out, wherever you are! We'll give you anything you want, including candy!"

"Hawkmon, I've told you that never works."

"It can't hurt to try, especially where Gatomon is concerned." Hawkmon tapped a claw against his beak. "Although, I probably should have replaced candy with catnip or fish. Kari could almost always bribe her with those."

"Nothing gets between a digimon and their stomach, does it?" Yolei said with a nervous chuckle. Fitting the key into the lock, she turned and the door opened, laying the apartment bare for them to enter and explore.

"I would have expected Gatomon at least to greet us if they just overslept," Hawkmon said. "I mean, it would be understandable if they did, after yesterday. But Gatomon's not as heavy a sleeper except when she's on top of a heater or in a spot of sun."

"Plenty of spots for sunlight," Yolei observed as they entered. Closing the door behind her, she looked about. "Kari? Gatomon? Are you here?"

She checked her phone again for messages. Nothing. Not that meant anything as connectivity had been sporadic all day, but it had been improving. She barely had to think about text messaging anymore. Curious, she quickly typed up a new one and fired away.

Nothing from the apartment indicated the presence of a cellphone here.

"Maybe she's out and she just put it on silent?" she suggested. She pressed her lips together, not happy with this invasion of privacy. But Izzy had insisted as it was quite unlike Kari to not respond for this long to any messages to a meeting.

"Possible," Hawkmon said. Flapping his wings, he took to the air and flew over to the kitchen where he began inspecting the contents. "Though I hesitate to suggest that she went grocery shopping. There's plenty here."

"Doesn't mean she didn't go out to lunch." Yolei padded down the hall, knocking on doors as she went. "Maybe she went to check in on Davis at the hospital."

That felt the most probable as far as reasons went. Davis being injured would have hit Kari hard after all. It hit her hard as well, as it did all of them. But Kari had always been one of the most empathic members of the group, shouldering responsibilities and taking the blame for things that were outside of her control. Traits she inherited to a degree from her goggleheaded brother.

A trait that, in the light of Kari finding herself indirectly responsible for the death of innocent civilians, made her worry had finally pushed her over the edge.

She paused at the door to Kari's bedroom and hesitantly knocked on it. "Kari? Are you in there? Let me know, otherwise we're both going to feel really awkward in about a second."

She swallowed, and in her mind's eye she wondered what would happen if she found Kari in there, but sleeping in a completely different kind of manner. The final one that ended all lights.

No, she told herself. Kari's not like that. She'd never…never kill herself.

Yet, there had been others from the War who had. Their group. Their little family had been miraculously untouched by such tragedies, but there was always a first time for everything.

Her heart in her throat, Yolei grasped hold of the doorknob and pushed it oven. Her terror mounted in leaps and bounds as they sought about her for any sign of her friend, and upon finding a pillow lying on the floor, shrouded by shadow just right, she let out a loud, short-lived cry.

"Yolei!" came Hawkmon's frightened response as he came soaring toward her. "What happened? Did you find her?!"

"N-No," Yolei half-squeaked as she gingerly placed a hand on the small bump in her belly. "Just…Just freaking myself out, that's all. Jumping at shadows."

Jumping at shadows… Entering the room, she lifted up the pillow and placed it back on the bed. It didn't look at all slept in, but that didn't tell her anything. Kari wasn't the sort to leave a mess in her room the way her brother had been.

Must have fallen from the fighting, she told herself distractedly. Kari lived far enough away to be clear of the destruction after all, but close enough that quakes would still have been felt.

Yeah. That makes sense.

"It doesn't seem like anyone's here," Hawkmon said. "I checked around but so no messages."

"I doubt she would since it's just her and Gatomon here," Yolei said. "Did you check the bathroom?"

"No. I was about to, but then you screamed."

"Well, one more place to check and hopefully nothing's wrong."

At this point, I kind of wish it would just be an awkward encounter, she thought as she marched toward the bathroom. At least then I'd know Kari's okay and we can laugh about this afterward. After I give her an earful for making everyone worry about her.

"Kari?" she hammered her fist against the bathroom door, making absolutely certain that she could be heard in the event that Kari had the shower on.

Yet, she didn't hear any sounds of running water.

Pushing the door open, she peered about. Nothing more than a dry bathroom greeted her. Not even a leaky faucet.

"I bet Ken would have turned this place over and found at least a dozen clues about where she went," Yolei huffed, checking her phone again. Still no messages.

Well, it's not like it could be helped. He's checking her usual haunts and her former workplace to see if they might know where she might be. And this was closer for me than for him.

She frowned, worry pulsing through her veins. Kari's absence and apparent refusal to respond to messages didn't sit well with her. It just wasn't like her. Even at her lowest, she never truly stopped fighting. So what was going on here?

Could it have anything to do with those portals Ken was telling me about earlier? Could she have fallen into one of them? Or used one intentionally?

Both sounded increasingly plausible by the second. Clutching her cellphone tightly, she heaved a heavy sigh.

"Yolei?" Hawkmon prompted, tilting his head at her.

"She's not here," she said. Raising her phone, she quickly typed out a message and fired it off toward Izzy. "And it's not like her to not answer calls or messages. That can only mean one thing. She's in the digital world."

The digital world…or worse, a part of her thought, pressing her lips together tightly. Oh Kari… Wherever you are, be safe!

###

KingEtemon plowed across the fire-washed landscape, his cape whipping about him. Above, WarGreymon slashed at oncoming strands of crimson in a vain attempt to catch its attention. KingEtemon saw data evaporate from his arms, and he found himself shuddering as his keen eyesight told him that his companion's Dramon Destroyers were gone.

"That ain't right," he said to himself. "Those things are Chrome Digizoid. The strongest metal there is! Why are they getting deleted just like that?"

KingEtemon had no answer. Neither, it seemed, did WarGreymon as he retreated, tossing minute balls of Terra Force at the red creature as it continued to climb its way out of the hole. The orbs exploded upon contact, sending wet mass flying free from its body, splashing onto the ground below. They didn't stay still however. Indeed, almost immediately, they began to sprout roots that dug deep into the digital world's soil. Drawing data from it, these seeds began to grow and sprout thick ropes that writhed and meshed with one another. They were forming a net of some kind.

"Can't let that musical number stand in this rap battle," KingEtemon said. Drawing up a hand, a violet orb flashed into existence above his palm. Drawing back, he hurled it with all his might.

"Monkey Wrench!" he shouted. The orb flew through the air and slammed into the net, causing it to explode and sending fragments of data flying through the air. He didn't stop to see if these fragmentary particles would begin sprouting again, sending instead more and more energy blasts after them, decimating the landscape. KingEtemon blew through the smoke, flapping his cape about him to clear his view of things.

Nothing, he thought. Good.

"WarGreymon!" he shouted, turning his attention skyward. "You're going to need a bigger beat if you want to get rid of this thing!"

Whether or not WarGreymon heard him, he didn't know. Not that it mattered though as the warrior Mega digimon brought his hands together and glowing energy began to coalesce between his palms. Lifting them over his head, the sphere of light expanded to gargantuan proportions – much more than he had used prior. With another cry of Terra Force, he threw it at the main body of the creature. It struck the beast, shearing through its 'skin' before detonating, sending fragments of its body flying through the air.

Some of it struck KingEtemon's chariot, and immediately began to dissolve the metal tube that lay behind the Monochromon.

"I think it's time we got out of here," Tai said, helping Rei to her feet.

"Control panels are smashed…" Rei said, getting her balance. "We can't relay orders to them like usual."

"Gatomon!" Tai turned to Kari's partner. "Can you get to our drivers? Tell them to turn us around and get us out of here?"

"If I can untangle a ball of yarn, then this'll be a piece of cake," the feline Champion said. Kari looked uncertainly at the red mass of goo as it continued to dissolve away at the metal barrier that had so far served as their only protection from the battle outside.

"I should digivolve you," she said, bringing out her digivice. Gatomon shook her head.

"I'm a smaller target like this," the feline said, jerking a claw up at the red liquid as it splashed down onto the floor and began to dissolve through it. "With that stuff flying around, the less of me there is to hit, the better my chances."

Kari grimaced, but nodded. Her partner did have a point.

"But where are we going to go?" Kari asked as Gatomon hurried along and ducked out of the open door. "There's not a lot of cover out there and WarGreymon and KingEtemon…" She paused, finding herself briefly stunned that Tai had been able to digivolve another digimon. "…are having to really push themselves to fight that…whatever it is. Analog monster. And it's…whatever it is just eats through this place."

Kari felt her balance wobble as the earth rumbled beneath her feet. She cursed the damage to the computers. Unless she stepped outside, she had no idea what was going on outside!

"It's really weird," Tai said, frowning slightly. "I've never seen or heard an Anamon do anything like that."

"Well, maybe this one can," Rei said, starting over to the computers. "Maybe if I can reconstruct the data of the screen, I can get us some kind of visual…"

Rei was abruptly cut off as something large slammed into the hull of the chariot, causing the metal at the front to collapse in on itself and bulge toward them. Electricity sparked as the humans all collapsed to the floor. The lights went out with a flicker and an electric gasp, leaving them with the outdoors as the only source of illumination.

"The Monochromon and Gazimon are dead," came Gatomon's report as she hurriedly climbed back inside. "We've got to go! Things are heating up out there."

As if to lend credence to her words, there came a flash of light outside, followed by a thunderous boom that washed over the landscape. The chariot lurched, but the hull remained in place.

Kari gripped her digivice tightly. "I'm going to have to Armor-Digivolve you," she said. "Are you ready?"

"Always am," Gatomon nodded.

"Digi-Armor…" began Kari, only for light to spill out on her from above. The Digidestined of Light's head snapped up to find some of the red mass dissolving a hole in the roof. A red, tendril slipped in through the hole and just as before, Kari had the distinct feeling that it was looking right at her. Before she could even react, a small, tiny drop of crimson broke free and fell toward her. She gasped as she watched it suddenly loom large in her eye…ready to pierce through it and into her brain.

"Look out!"

Rei's shout broke her out of her paralysis, but not before a pair of hands shoved her backward with enough force to send her flying out of the chariot. Rei screamed as the drop splattered on her hand and she snatched it away from the column of daylight, smoke and data breaking away from the limb. More tendrils joined in, pushing in through the hole made by the first and with great force, ripped the protective barrier apart. Light spilled over Tai as he again grabbed hold of Rei.

"Back off!" Gatomon shouted, instinctively leaping at the monster. On the ground, Kari shouted a breathless warning. The air had been knocked from her lungs.

Tai, on the other hand, had no such problem.

"Don't touch it!"

Tai's call brought the feline's instincts to heel, and swinging about, she lashed at the oncoming tendrils with her tail. Light flashed along the ring that sat upon it and burst outward, causing the tendrils to recoil, as if in pain. The light intensified as Gatomon dropped down to the floor and those tentacles that weren't fast enough writhed and then burst apart into shards of data.

The main body of the monster fell back, seeming to contemplate this latest development. It didn't have long however as a second later, a thick, angular shield emblazoned with the Crest of Courage slammed into it, imbedding itself deep and knocking it to the side. WarGreymon's Brave Shield evaporated into data moments later, but the attack had done what it set out to do. WarGreymon came in for a landing and held out his arms.

"Everyone! Hop on! We're getting out of here!"

Without waiting for an answer, he swept up Tai and Rei and moved to Gatomon and Kari. As they did so, the crimson monster surged toward them, its 'face' splitting open to reveal two rows of cube-like teeth.

"Monkey Wrench!" shouted KingEtemon, and a violet, crackling orb of energy came hurtling through the air, smashing into the side of the creature. Lightning arced along its body before the sphere shattered into bits of data shards. Yet, it made no sound. Nothing to indicate that it felt the pain. The impact, for all intents and purposes, had about as much in common with a stone slamming into a tree. The creature rocked violently simply because it was an object upon which force was being imparted to. Nothing more.

WarGreymon took advantage of its momentary distraction to grab hold of Kari and Gatomon.

"KingEtemon!" he called. "We're retreating!"

The king of rock snapped a salute and promptly leapt into the air, hurtling over the tendrils of the creature. WarGreymon took to the air and together, the group left the monstrosity behind. Kari watched it shrink behind them down to a crimson dot on a sea of broken landscape, her breathing starting to return to normal. Air, sweet digital air, filled her lungs and with a shake of her head, she looked down at her partner.

"Are you all right?" she asked, the wind whipping about her. Her bangs fell into her eyes, but she didn't dare clear them with her hands. Instead, she held tight to WarGreymon's bare, muscular forearm.

No Dramon Destroyers, she thought. Were they destroyed?

"Yeah," Gatomon reported. "How about you?"

"I'm…fine," she said. Shaking her head in an attempt to clean up her vision, she caught a brief sight of the wreckage about WarGreymon's arms. Gone. Nothing left but broken fragments. Definitely not a good sign.

A thought came to her.

Rei!

Now she used risked using her hands to brush aside her hair. Looking over, she saw the Sora-duplicate clutching at one hand, eyes and teeth clenched tightly in pain. As she watched, the skin, swollen and angry, blurred and pixilated.

"T-Tai…" Rei said in a hushed whisper. The Digidestined of Courage's hand closed about her good one and gave it a soft squeeze.

"It'll be okay," he said. "Just hang in there."

With the red creature's eyeless gaze still following them, WarGreymon blitzed through the sky, KingEtemon bounding along behind them.

###

"Let me see."

Rei hissed as she lowered her hand, revealing a black mass shaped in the outline of her hand, broken only by a digital wireframe built along the same lines.

"Data scorching," Kari said, drawing in a sharp breath at the sight. Tai nodded.

"That…That bad, huh?" Rei asked. Her blackened fingers twitched and she let out a low, keening cry. Her free hand clutched at Tai, clasping him close to her, as if she were afraid he would disappear and leave her in her pain and fear.

"Plenty, but it's fixable," Tai said, his expression severe. He looked over his shoulder at the still-battered WarGreymon, flanked by KingEtemon. "How quick can we get to the pyramid by flying?"

"Faster than it would take us by Monochromon," WarGreymon replied. He looked at himself, gauging his energy reserves. "But I don't think I'll be able to last that long. That fight with…whatever that thing was took a lot out of me."

"We should probably get something to eat," Gatomon suggested. "Food will help Rei heal and if there's any catnip around, that'll help out a lot."

"All right, roadies," KingEtemon said, the glow of de-digivolution surrounding himself and WarGreymon. Their bodies shrank as they reverted to their lower levels of Etemon and Agumon respectively. "You've got your marching orders, now let's see them done."

With that, the Ultimate level Virus whirled about and crashed into the brush, followed quickly by Gatomon, leaving Tai, Rei and Kari alone with Agumon. Rei looked up at Tai and the man gave her a reassuring smile. Reaching up, he placed a hand against her cheek and she leaned into it. A tear broke free from one brown eye and traced a path to Tai's thumb. He felt her tremble beneath his touch.

"I'm sorry," he said. Opening her eyes, she blinked at him in confusion.

"Are you about to tell me that you shouldn't have let me come along?"

"N-No," Tai stammered out. Kari could see though that the thought did cross his mind. "Just…sorry that you got hurt, that's all." He pressed his lips together. "I wish we had something like bandages. That'd help at least even a little bit."

"Gatomon and Etemon will find something," Agumon said, giving Tai and Rei comforting pat on the back. "Cheer up. We'll have Rei fixed in no time!"

Tai's eyes dropped back down to the burned data of Rei's hand. As he watched, he saw a fleck of data peel away and float to the ground, revealing more blackened scorching underneath.

###

Cody stood at the street corner leading into Shinjuku park, Armadillomon lazing about at his ankles and both of them doing their best to ignore the stares and worried glances from passersby. He checked his phone, frowning slightly.

"What's the matter, Cody?" Armadillomon asked, seeing his expression. "Is the Internet acting up again?"

"It's the group chat," Cody replied with a shake of his head. "Ken's come up empty as well. Izzy's not sure what to make of it, but with her not answering her phone, it looks like Kari's definitely missing."

"That can't be good," Armadillomon drawled out, getting up to his feet. "Did Izzy say anything more about what we're going to do?"

"Not yet," Cody replied, shaking his head. "But I have a feeling about what it will be."

Deep down, he suspected what it meant and his heart and brain had little room to counter argue as they normally would in preparation for a court case. He had been briefed a little on the aftereffects of the latest attack and the holes it left in the firewall between the worlds. Holes that meant portals. That meant opportunity that they likely wouldn't get anytime in the near future if they didn't take advantage of them here and now.

But that didn't mean that they could take advantage of that opportunity.

"I just hope that the digital world will accept us again after all these years," he said aloud.

"You don't think that it wouldn't let you in, do you?" Armadillomon asked. "Tai's been there all these years after all. He wouldn't be if it didn't like him."

"I know, but the digital world is a strange place for humans," Cody replied. Nothing more needed to be said. There have been times where it felt as though the digital world had tried to reject them. While it loved children, adults offered a different kind of memetic energy and brought complexities and issues to the table that its pallet at times seemed ill-equipped to handle. Consequently, going to the digital world during the War had been something of a chore, even with the 'allowances' made for the Digidestined and Tamers to help fight the encroachments of the Darkness.

Still, Armadillomon has a point. Tai's been there for a long time now. If the digital world didn't want him there, he wouldn't have been able to stay. And Izzy seems sure we can do it. Or at least he's never mentioned any doubts about it. And if Kari's there, then maybe…maybe we'll be allowed as well.

Of course, allowances or no allowances, the digital world was never reliable. The Keenan incident came to mind. As did the infamous expedition led by Spencer Damon. Both involved humans – and in the case of Spencer, a human adult – who never returned home. The digital world was ever a strange place.

"Cody!"

Breaking free from his gloomy thoughts, the dark-haired man turned to find his friend approaching him, vibrant, reddish-violet hair streaming behind her. Sometimes, he found he had forgotten about how beautiful Yolei had gotten as an adult. But then, caught up as he was in his love for his wife, he remembered quickly it was rather easy to do.

"Hey Yolei," he greeted. "Hawkmon."

"Howdy, Hawkmon!" Armadillomon called, waving a hand at the pair. "Long time, no see. How're you all doing?"

"As well as one can be, under the circumstances," Hawkmon replied. "Yolei informs me that Ken hasn't turned up anything concerning Kari either."

"Cody said the same to me just a minute ago. He thinks we might have to go to the digital world to find her."

"Oh my. Won't that be a trip?"

"Almost like old times," Yolei said, though her tone lacked any of the wistfulness or enthusiasm that it would have otherwise held. Cody couldn't blame her. He preferred returning to the digital world under far better circumstances.

Of course, we would only be able to return there when it needs us again, he thought with a sour note.

A pall of silence fell between them and after several seconds had passed, Cody felt the need to give Yolei a little nudge to get things going again.

"So, what's the plan, Yolei?" he asked. "You said you had something you needed to do before the meeting and that you needed me there for it too. What do you have in mind?"

Yolei lifted her eyes, and just like that, Cody knew what she intended the very second she opened her mouth.

"Takeru," she said. "We're going to see Takeru."

8