Well, it may be rather late, but I managed to get in update in this month after all. (And what a month it has been; I didn't underestimate that, let me tell you…) I feel a little bad leaving you all with even more questions. I swear it's all coming together. Sooner or later…

Thank you for reviewing chapter fourteen: FlightfootKeyseeker, ToastyToaster22, dnofsunshine, Berry Doyle, Sweet Cari, and Guest! And thank you Lord Jaric for reviewing most of the chapters! It was a lot of fun to see you go through the story, and yes, while I'm trying to keep things recognizable, this story is a bit of an AU. So please, don't stop calling me out on things that don't seem right to you! But some things have been purposely changed.

Chapter Fifteen: Questions

Kari froze… and reminded herself to breathe. She placed a lid on her mounting panic, slowly setting the dishes down on the desk. She had to stay calm and think logically. Just 24 hours earlier she'd been running from actual monsters in a digital world. This was laughably manageable by comparison. So she took a deep breath and a good long look around the room. The window to her little terrace was shut tight against the summer heat, and the apartment was small enough that Kari would have noticed if Gatomon had tried to sneak out the front door while she was in the kitchen. Which didn't leave the Digimon with too many options. Kari carefully lowered herself to the floor, peering under the bottom bunk.

Sure enough, Gatomon was crouching in the darkness with the dust bunnies. She hissed when Kari's face appeared before her, claws on full display through her gloves. But Kari couldn't bring herself to feel very threatened. Maybe it was the way the Digimon's entire body trembled.

"It's okay," she soothed, keeping her voice low. "I promise, you're safe here. It's just you and me."

Gatomon didn't appear convinced. The look in her eyes was still decidedly feral.

Kari thought for a moment and then got back up. She grabbed the pink Digivice before reclaiming her position on the floor. She held out the Digivice in as unthreatening a manner as possible. "See? We're a team now, remember?"

This sight finally calmed Gatomon down a little. Kari watched her muscles relax one by one. She sat back up as Gatomon crawled out from underneath the bed. Kari kept her movements slow as she pulled her partner into her arms, but Gatomon made no move to resist.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Gatomon nodded, only a slight tremor remaining in her voice. "I woke up, and I couldn't remember where I was. For a minute, I thought that other girl had captured me."

Kari held the cat a little tighter. "Why would she want to do that?"

Gatomon shrugged. "The same reason everyone else does, I guess. To get to you."

Kari resisted the urge to shudder. "How long have you been on the run like this? And how did you get here? You must have started out in the Digital World, right?"

Gatomon nodded. "In the beginning, it was just me and Patamon and Gennai. He used to tell us that it all started with Hope and Light. The other crest partners came later."

"Gennai?" Kari asked, interrupting already. After all the information TK had just thrown at her, it seemed hard to believe that there was still more to be uncovered. But Gatomon nodded.

"A being as old as the Digital World itself. He looks a little like your people, but he's something neither human nor Digimon. He watches over the Digital World and keeps things in order. At least… he's supposed to…"

Gatomon frowned, reflecting on those simpler times. Kari waited until she was able to continue. "Gennai always told us of an old legend regarding the Digital World. About human heroes destined to make the journey between the worlds and save ours from a terrible darkness. And how we had been created specifically for the purpose of helping you. …But that's not how it happened."

"What did happen?" Kari asked, a hushed quality to her voice. And she was feeling a little breathless. Here was someone who might be able to fill in the holes in TK's story.

Gatomon's expression turned almost mournful. "Only seven of you made the journey. Gennai did what he was supposed to… He sent the seven corresponding Digimon partners to the arrival point… but Wormmon and I were left behind."

"Wormmon?"

Gatomon tilted her head up to look at her partner's face, and Kari allowed the cat to twist around in her arms. She herself took this opportunity to move them off the floor to the couch in the next room. It sounded as if they were in for quite a story, particularly when her Digimon partner answered simply, "The ninth partner."

A little thrill went through her. "So there is a ninth Digidestined? TK said there were some ancient ruins hinting at a ninth human, but he wasn't sure. Do you know who it is? Is it this Ryo person who was with them?"

Gatomon blinked her large, curious eyes at Kari's barrage of questions. "No. Ryo isn't human either. And there aren't nine Digidestined. There are ten. Originally, at least."

"Ten?" she repeated.

The cat Digimon nodded, her expression solemn. "I'm not surprised TK doesn't know. We're made of data, remember? Gennai reconfigured the seven's memories before he sent them to be with their partners. He told us that we weren't supposed to know. He wouldn't say why."

"But… that doesn't make any sense. Why would he send you out into danger without any guidance?"

Gatomon's tail flicked thoughtfully. "I think Ryo knew… He was the key. The center of it all. If the other nine Digidestined had all come together the way you were supposed to, Ryo would have been the leader. But then you didn't go with them."

Kari's head was spinning. There was a sickening feeling of being manipulated rising up in the pit of her stomach. What was going on here? Magic and prophesies of saviors had been mind-boggling enough, or so she'd thought. Now it was starting to sound more like a story or a game. Like the Digidestined were all role-playing chess pieces being set up in a very particular way. She tried to reign those thoughts in for now. "Okay… But what about Wormmon's partner?"

Gatomon shrugged. "I don't know. The same day the seven Digidestined arrived, Wormmon's Digivice and crest went dark. And Gennai started to go downhill…"

"Downhill how?" Kari didn't think her apprehension had abated even a little since the conversation started.

Gatomon stretched in Kari's lap, seeming a little uncomfortable, her partner thought. "Gennai's not human, remember. And he's not like most Digimon, either. We can be reprogrammed or have our data rearranged with the right know-how, but once that's done, we still have the power to think for ourselves and make our own decisions."

"And Gennai doesn't?"

"That's the impression I got." Gatomon stilled for a moment, and Kari got the feeling she was about to impart something she'd been pondering for a long time. "…I have this theory that Gennai was created with the Digital World itself. Almost like he's an earlier model. He had his role in the prophecy, and that was that. When the script suddenly changed, he didn't seem able to adapt with it. So when things didn't go as planned, he changed the story in the other partners' minds, I guess hoping this would still get them to the same ending, even if the beginning had been messed up. He kept me close, the same way he always had. I was still waiting for you. But Wormmon…" She shuddered. "He tried to delete Wormmon completely."

Kari shuddered in response, and something else occurred to her. "Gatomon… Do you think something happened to Wormmon's partner? I mean, Gennai seemed to know that I would still make the journey someday. What if the ninth Digidestined couldn't?"

Gatomon considered this. "I don't know. But Gennai was convinced that Wormmon wouldn't be needed anymore. Luckily, Ryo appeared before the process could be completed. He took the remaining crests and Digivices and set us both free."

"So Ryo saved you?" The longer this story went on, the more confusing it got. "Just what is Ryo? You say he was supposed to be the Digidestined leader, but TK said they barely saw him after they got to your world. And then he killed Leomon, who was trying to help them."

"Ryo is more complicated," Gatomon hedged, as if Kari hadn't figured out that much by now. "He can adapt where Gennai couldn't. Gennai created Leomon to sort of… reshape the story, tell the other Digidestined that there were only ever eight of them and that everything was going according to plan… except it wasn't. And I guess Ryo was trying to fix that. Interfering with Gennai's interferences."

"And ignoring his own responsibilities to his team in the process…"

"Maybe…" Gatomon eyed the hand still clutching the pink Digivice. "Maybe not. Where did you get this? Ryo took it with him the day he set us free."

Kari looked down at her Digivice as if she'd forgotten it was there. "TK had it."

"Really? Maybe he left it somewhere he knew it would fall into TK's hands… Or with someone he trusted not to tell TK. But I don't know why he'd do that. If he'd given it to him directly, I bet TK wouldn't believe Ryo was this evil being."

Kari wished she was so sure. Maybe TK was just more comfortable believing this simpler, black and white view of Ryo being evil in the midst of all this craziness. Or maybe he just hadn't wanted to tell her, for reasons she couldn't begin to fathom. She didn't know. She really did want to trust TK, but he had too many secrets.

"So what happened next?" she asked instead, shelving those thoughts as well. "What did you do after Ryo set you free?"

Gatomon grew solemn again. "I learned how to survive on my own. He took Wormmon with him somewhere, so I tried to follow after them in the beginning, but I lost the trail. Eventually, I Digivolved to the form I am today. I tried to find the others, but other Digimon kept coming after me. At first, I thought Gennai had sent them. That maybe I'd outlived my usefulness too. But these Digimon were… different."

"Different how?" Kari asked, eyes wide.

"They were being controlled. By dark gears at first—nasty little things that had to be embedded in their very flesh." Gatomon flicked her tail in distaste. "It was barbaric."

"And you don't think it was Gennai's work?"

She shook her head. "Gennai could have reconfigured their data to make them loyal. Or created a new creature solely for the purpose of tracking me down. This is more like mind control. Once the gear was destroyed, the Digimon was freed. He uses dark rings now—collars that are a little harder to destroy. It's just as barbaric, if you ask me."

"He?" Kari's head was swimming.

"The Digimon Emperor. Somehow, another human found his way to the Digital World and started taking over."

"Another human? How… How is that possible? How could he get there without a Digivice or a partner or… I don't know, some previous connection to the world?"

"I wish I could tell you. I really don't know much more. I just assumed he got through the same way I did—through a weakness in the worlds' barriers. He would have had to cross the Dark Ocean." Gatomon shuddered again. "But maybe such an awful place is nothing to someone like that."

"But still…" Kari said thoughtfully. "You had me on this side of things. TK told me your Digimon partner is what links you to the Digital World, so it probably works in reverse too, right?"

Gatomon nodded emphatically. "When I was in the Dark Ocean, I could sense you on the other side. Sometimes it was stronger than others… Sometimes it was like you were right there with me, but I couldn't quite see you. And then your presence would fade again… But your light gave me strength and showed me the way out. I tried to find you when I got here, but this world is so crowded and big. And then that girl found me first."

Kari remembered suddenly her trial runs in the Dark Ocean as she'd come to consider them. The way Gatomon described her presence fading in and out… Had that been her unconscious response to her partner's calls? But she would have to further ponder this later, as Gatomon reminded her of something else. Kari had almost forgotten about the girl from the night before. Her list of questions was almost too long to keep track of these days. And right now, there was something more pressing on her mind. "Gatomon… you never saw the other Digidestined?"

The cat shook her head. "No. But now that we're together, we can go back and find them—and finally bring down this so-called Digimon Emperor!"

Kari tightened her grip at the vehemence in her partner's voice, and the Digimon looked up at her quizzically, seeing conflict in Kari's eyes.

"I know," she said softly. "Gatomon… My brother was one of the seven who made the journey four years ago. I'd do just about anything to see him again and now he's all right… And I know we have a responsibility to the Digital World. We have to go back. But…"

"But what?" Gatomon asked, and Kari was encouraged by this. There was no judgment in her voice, only trust.

"But if we go back now, are we really in any better position to help?" Once again, her mind was with TK, who had not had nearly as many answers as she'd hoped. Who'd put so much faith in her, when she'd had no idea what to do. "There's still so much we don't know…"

"So what do you want to do? I've spent my whole life waiting to meet you; I'll be by your side no matter what you want to do next."

Kari's voice was a little stronger when she answered. "I want to go back to that neighborhood where we met last night. I'm starting to think this 'legend' is a lot more flexible than anyone thought. That girl that attacked you had a Digivice and a Digimon partner, but she'd never been to the Digital World and isn't the last Digidestined. Which we know is true because Wormmon is supposed to be the ninth Digidestined's partner. She might know more than we do. Or, at least have the pieces to this equation that will make our pieces make sense. Maybe she'll be able to tell us more about the Digimon Emperor. If we can find out who he is and how he rose to power, we'll be in a better position to take him down."

Kari trailed off a bit at the end, hoping that sounded convincing enough—that she was someone who was used to handling situations like this. And, while she was sure Gatomon saw right through her, her partner's faith didn't waver for a second. There was nothing but determination in the cat's eyes. "Let's do this."

…

Davis had always found the tranquility of the Hida household to be a little… unsettling. It was the polar opposite of everything he associated with home. It wasn't hard to see how Cody had grown up to be so solemn.

His mother had let Davis in with her soft smile and polite questions. Once she'd been assured that his family was well, he'd made his way to Cody's room, passing what he thought was the younger boy's grandfather meditating along the way. Seriously. This was the most put-together, calm household he'd ever been in. Until he reached Cody's room anyway.

Davis was never one for caution. But what he came across at the end of his journey made him pause. Cody's door had been left ajar, and angry muttering could be heard from within. When Davis peeked inside, Cody's usually impeccably neat, short hair looked like he'd run his hands through it multiple times. He was seated in front of his laptop, looking frustrated, his face just a little too close to the screen, scrolling furiously through something.

"…Cody?" he ventured at last, stepping into the room and taking care to shut the door firmly behind him. If whatever was going on was enough to make Cody lose his cool, Davis got the feeling he didn't want to try to explain it to Cody's family.

He was expecting the younger boy to jump or yell out or have some sort of violent, surprised reaction. But Cody was so preoccupied that he only looked up for a second with a hurried, "Oh, hi, Davis," as if they'd had actual plans or Davis unexpectedly showed up in his room on a regular basis.

Davis decided to just go with it. "What's going on?"

"It's gone!" Cody exclaimed, sounding like he was on the edge of despair.

"What's gone?"

Cody finally seemed to give up. His fingers stilled on the keyboard, and he leaned back in his seat. Davis took a seat on his bed, and Cody turned to him, a tired intensity remaining in his eyes. "Yesterday, I found a short clip on a video game designer's website, and now it's gone."

Davis let out a deep breath and laughed, starting to relax. "Is that all? All this crazy stuff is going on and you're getting worked up over a video game?"

But Cody had not relaxed even a little. "Davis, it's the same thing. This clip was exactly what Kari described seeing at the bridge that night, and now it's gone."

Davis straightened back up. "What? Are you sure?!"

Cody looked exasperated. "Of course I'm sure! You think I would be this 'worked up' if I wasn't sure?"

"Well, what happened to it?!"

"I have no idea. I swear, I bookmarked the page, but it's just gone. There isn't even an error code or anything where the file used to be. And I searched the website top to bottom. It's like it never existed, but I know what I saw!"

"Well, did you looking up the game designer? Maybe we can get in contact with him directly."

Cody stared at his friend blankly for a moment before whirling back around in his seat, attacking the keyboard with new purpose, unable to believe he'd allowed himself to fall into such a one-track rut. And in the end, Janyu Wong's personal information was almost laughably easy to track down.

Cody sat back again, staring at the screen almost reverently. "Unbelievable. He's a local. Davis, you're a genius!"

Davis jumped to his feet, knowing full well how hard it would be to get those words to come out of Cody's mouth again, eyes sparkling the way they always did when he was on the verge of an adventure. "Well, then what are we waiting for?"

Review please!

I don't own Digimon.

Like I said, I feel bad having so many chapters that feel like just pure information dumps… But I also know I can't jump into the action before the characters know these things. I hope it hasn't seemed too tedious to you as readers.