The Dark Ocean-Lighthouse

"Gennai" slumped in his chair, he was exhausted. The battle had taken more out of him then he realized. Still, everything for the most part was going according to plan. He had got Gennai to allow him to escape and got the bearer of the Crest of Knowledge to spend almost all the crest's energy. He knew that the only option for the humans to survive was to have that brat turn his Digimon into a mega. It would take a long time for the crest to recover, and by then it would most likely seek another owner.

Near him on an operating table lay a demon, almost ready to wake up after spending oh so long asleep. The demon has been slowly building its strength since "Gennai" "liberated" a shard from Apocalymon all those years ago. Granted it normally was not supposed to take over five years to recover this long, but with that blasted Homeostasis "shutting down" King Drasil it has taken a bit longer to wake the beast. In reality, Homeostasis only weakened King Drasil as King Drasil had backups for this type of situation. Still, it did significantly slow "Gennai" down. At least Homeostasis was gone, most likely never to interfere with anything again after the disgrace the Digidestends brought it by defining the mighty "God." Who would have thought the self-righteousness about them trying to save their friend would have been so beneficial in the end.

He heard a stirring from the table. It was time, the reason why he waited to act now was for this moment. Gennai got up and walked to the beast stretched his long black arms and stood up while opening its glowing red eyes. It's finally here, my grand poetry masterpiece is coming to its fruition.

"Hello" the man said, "I bet you have some questions."

Yes, all according to plan.

Real World-Late Evening

Jeez what a day, Kari thought to herself. The team spent some hours at Izzy's building to rest before leaving and giving Izzy privacy to spend the last day with his partner in peace. She felt destroyed that he had to sacrifice so much to save them. I'm sorry Tai, I'm trying to be strong like you. Yet again I failed, and Izzy had to pay for it. She shook her head to clear it, nothing good ever came with comparing herself to her brother. She was carrying Salamon in her arms and Salamon was nestling into her partner's shoulder, just enjoying the moment with her friend. With a little bit of rest Nyaromon was able to evolve back into Salamon. Kari always figured that Gatomon hated her Nyaromon form which is why she tried to transform out of it so quickly.

After the battle Maki was transported to a government hospital, the diagnosis seemed grim Gennai told everyone before they all parted ways. While physically Maki would recover, mentally was another story. Gennai said that it was impossible to know how long she was trapped in whatever world she was in, and it was impossible to know the damage "Gennai" would have done to the already broken woman. If she ever did recover, she would not be the same. She felt sick to her stomach as she imagined the sick and twisted things the psychopath did to her. Maybe she could call her brother….no that would be a bad idea. He was doing so well now in college that if she distracted him with this, he'd drop everything to be with her to make sure his sister was doing okay. No, she would tell him much later after this whole mess was done.

She didn't see T.K. leave but she figured that he was roughly in the same shape as her. They were both facing the loss of their partners and neither one of them fully knew how to bare it. Davis, Ken, and Yolei all promised that the next time they saw "Gennai" it would be his last day on earth. Well at least those all could still be with their Digimon. She was happy for them.

As she was walking back to her apartment, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She gasped which alerted her partner and practically jumped as she turned around to face the owner of the hand. There she saw T.K., and he was surprised to see how shocked she was until thinking better of it.

"Sorry" the man apologized to her, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Jeez T.K. what's the big idea?" She felt herself saying.

"Yeah, you almost gave us a heart attack." Her partner chimed in.

"See, I told you they didn't see or hear us coming." Tokomon said from on top of T.K.'s head.

T.K. looked down in defeat and said sorry again.

"What's up?" Kari said getting control her emotions as to not further hurt T.K. There's been enough hurt for a lifetime today.

T.K. appeared to be drawing up some courage to say something.

"I was wondering if you'd like me to walk home with you." He said trying not to be too nervous about it. They've walked home together multiple times, they're best friends after all. However, she figured he was afraid she'd want to be alone and not be with him. Silly T.K. she thought to herself. She could never deny him when he's so much turmoil. It was a lie she told herself so she wouldn't feel so lost…so out of control of her life right now. It almost worked….almost. Because the truth was, she needed him just as bad as he needed her.

"I'd love that" she did her best to smile at him.

When they were kids, it was obvious to everyone that they low key had crushes on one another. Kari thought for sure that as they grew older T.K. would ask her out. She knew she would say yes to him; however, what she did not expect is that as they grew up that day never came.

She was so shocked and upset that he would go on dates with OTHER girls (sometimes more than one in a day.) Though she was always careful to make sure T.K. never saw her jealous side as she never wanted to give him the satisfaction, deep down it hurt. As she grew up more, she understood, it was just part of growing up. He wanted to know how to properly treat a lady so when the time came for them to be together, he would be ready.

She had tried to do the same thing too towards the end of her grade school years. However, she failed rather miserably. While she was often told that her looks garnered her a lot of attention from the boys, she wasn't ever able to feel the same way she felt when she was around T.K. Granted she might have been able to get over him, but he was just too big of a part of her life for her to ever do that.

So, the partners and their Digimon walked together. As they walked together, they didn't talk about the Digital World, they just talked about random stuff. Things that made her world seem a little lighter. She was sure about one thing now, he wanted to get serious with Kari. She bet the doofus just didn't know how to go about it. So much for all that "practice" she thought to herself. Still, she could feel that she couldn't withstand the day's events for much longer without breaking. As they approached her door, she looked T.K. into his eyes and asked, "Do you want to come in?"

T.K. gazed in some mild shock but truth be told he did want to go inside. Sure, he's been in her place multiple times but something about today just felt different. Well, it makes since, we've both been through a lot today. He thought to himself. Since the battle he's been unable to look at his Digivice and he felt Kari was the same. Watching that clock slowly count down wasn't going to do anyone any special favors.

To his surprised Salamon jumped down from Kari and stated, "I need to go for a walk, Tokomon you want to come with me?"

Tokomon seemed confused at first but then caught the meaning of Salamon's request. Salamon wanted to give her partner and her best friend some privacy no doubt. T.K. blushed at the thought of it but was sure Kari didn't notice.

Tokomon nodded and gave a cheerful "okay."

"Wait, are you sure?" Kari asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, besides there's somethings that I want to discuss with Tokomon while I still can. Don't worry Kari, we'll be back in an hour or less." Salamon said in her most polite voice possible.

"Well…okay…." Kari agreed.

"Be safe you two" T.K chimed to them.

Just like that they were gone and out of sight. Though, if he knew the two Digimon, and he knew them VERY well at this point; he was certain they didn't go far and would probably eavesdrop on their conversation.

Oh well, it can't be helped now he thought to himself.

Then T.K. looked at Kari, like really looked at her. She noticed and was it his imagination or was she looking a little red?

Then T.K. asked in a profoundly serious tone "are you okay?"

Kari nodded to him and did the best she could to tell him that she was okay. It was a lie and he spotted it off the back. He knew he WASN'T okay, but he could deal with that later in private. Right now, this was more pressing.

Hmm…well here goes everything he thought to himself. Without missing a beat T.K. wrapped Kari in his arms and said, "everything is going to be okay."

It was at that moment when T.K. saw that Kari was fighting a battle and she lost it. Her lip was quivering and then she started trying and held on to T.K. very tight like she was drowning, and he was her life raft.

"I…I'm sorry…" she choked between sobs.

"Shshh…it's okay" T.K. said and put his head over hers. That way she couldn't see that he was crying too, that would have been so uncool if she saw that.

Government Hospital

Gennai managed to spare a moment to visit Maki in her room. He made sure he was alone and using his abilities made sure no one knew he was there either. He just wanted to be alone with her for a moment undisturbed. She hadn't regained consciousness yet and the doctors were unsure when she would. However, when he viewed the woman in the bed, he did not see a woman but a little girl. A girl who was happy and so full of energy.

"My name is Gennai" he told the little girl.

The little girl gasped up in awe. She had never seen another human outside of the group she was with. Well, he wasn't exactly human, but he did look the part.

"My name is Maki… Maki Himekawa" she said confidently "and this is my friend Daigo Nishijima."

"H…hello" the boy said nervously. The two were flanked by their Digimon partners Tapirmon and Bearmon, respectively.

"Come on Gennai, lets get you to meet the others" the girl cheered.

"Come on Gennai, come play with us" the same girl stood smiling at him.

"Don't worry Gennai we'll protect the Digital World from those Dark Masters" the same girl said with unparalleled determination.

The girl was so full of life back then. That is how he wanted to remember her. He had utterly and completely failed to keep them safe. Daigo was presumed deceased, and Maki was in this catatonic state. He continued to see flashes of the girl he used to know flash before him as he bowed his head and wept.