I swear this chapter was going to be on time. It would have been, if not for this last week, where I've been picking up shifts at work like crazy because there have been so many call-outs.

We have come up on the second of the big chapters… And I had a moment when I it sunk in that we're already on chapter eighteen. The plan is for the story to move along a little faster now. Yolei just had her defining moment a bit early. (In fact, while planning this story, I don't think I realized just how much I would have left to set up once she was in place in the Digiworld.)

Thank you for reviewing the last chapter: Lord Jaric, Fruitloop Trooper, Guest, Sweet Cari, dnofsunshine, and Berry Doyle, who I saved for last, because I really liked your review! I'm glad you've been enjoying Davis's role in this story so far, but because I've surprised myself with how much I've enjoyed writing them. Davis was never one of my favorite characters, but he did have his strengths, and I think I've started appreciating him more since I've been writing this story.

Chapter Eighteen: Knowledge

As he walked home, Cody's mind was swimming. Henry's older siblings had finally lost patience with their favor, and the group had gone their separate ways for the afternoon, agreeing to make plans to regroup sometime soon. And he had no doubts about any of the others' commitment, even the two he'd just met. But did they really have the time to spare to put off the next stage of their planning? Even for just a day or two?

They knew so little about the Digital World… Its origins were one thing; how were they supposed to navigate and survive inside this world if they did make it that far? How was Yolei holding up now, without them? Kari had been in the world for such a short time, had seen so little first-hand, and had had TK to guide her through that whole experience. (Speaking of, he still viewed TK as a bit of a wild card, possibly having his own agenda.) He felt almost like he was back at the start—with each new answer arriving with a barrage of extra questions attached—and it was incredibly frustrating.

He must have looked as dejected as he felt when he stepped back into his house, carefully closing the door behind him, because his mom stopped en route to the kitchen.

"Where have you been all day?" she asked lightly in a tone that clued in Cody immediately to her worry. "You look… stressed."

He did his best to give her a tired smile. "I was out with Davis all day. He just… has too much energy for me sometimes."

"I see." His mother's expression relaxed a bit. "Well, dinner's just about done."

Cody felt his smile strain even further. "Um… I'm really not hungry."

Just as he'd feared, his mother's face fell again, his progress immediately erased. But his grandfather came up behind her before she could say anything else. "There's no reason you can't still join us while we eat."

And this was the end of that, as he should have known it would be. Family dinners were sacrosanct in this house. All Cody wanted was to barricade himself in his room and pick up his brainstorming where his team had left off. But he followed them obediently into the sitting room, took his place at the table, and picked at the meal his mother had set out until the other two were finished. His mother sent more undisguised worried glances his way than he could count, but his grandfather was his usual serene self. His attempt at normalcy resonated as an act of trust, and Cody appreciated it greatly.

When he was finally able to retreat to his room, he closed the door behind him carefully but firmly. Time to get to work.

He booted up his laptop and found his way back to the website where the scene on the bridge from that night had once been playing on a loop. But it was just as empty as before. He considered trying to track down further information on Janyu Wong… but it felt wrong somehow now. He doubted Henry's dad was still involved in his old project. If he knew how far this mess had spiraled, he would surely also know his own son was caught up in it. But maybe some of the others…

Cody's focus shifted over to Janyu's old colleagues… the Monster Makers. He tracked down their old college, found the computer programming degree program… Without an account for the school, it was difficult to find his way into the student forums and old backlogged reports… But Cody channeled his patience, found the loopholes, just as Yolei had been teaching him to. And finally, finally found what he was looking for.

Based on the single report catalogued for the project, it would look like the Digital World never got off the ground. It had never gotten an official, peer-reviewed report on their success. It had been a work in progress until the funding ran out. And then their notes had been gathered and summarized in the hopes that their peers might appreciate their efforts more than anyone with actual power and authority. They hadn't even used their real names, defaulting to their Monster Maker code names: Tao, Curly, Shibumi, Daisy, Dolphin, and Babel.

Cody sighed, seeing a long night ahead of him. But he thought of Yolei again and got to work.

It was a big job. Cody assumed 'Tao' was Janyu; based on his surname and appearance, he'd already assumed Henry was half-Chinese. Palo Alto was a diverse campus—he soon learned the Monster Makers had come together from all over the world. Through the alumni page he found a Rob McCoy, who'd gone on to be a professor at that same university and who cited his work with the professor who'd mentored him—who was known for his own work with dolphins—as something that had greatly inspired him. Bingo.

With a little flutter in his stomach, Cody soon realized how lucky he'd gotten. One breakthrough quickly led to another. It seemed Professor McCoy was something of a sentimentalist. He had a public blog where he spoke generously of his more recent projects with some "old friends," promoting their work as much as his own.

He'd worked with another professor from a university in India—further research turned up a picture of a woman with very curly hair in a lab coat (straightened for most official photos). Henry's dad was in one of the posts. There were two others—also listed as Palo Alto alumni—who could have been Babel and Daisy, leaving just Shibumi…

Based on his nickname, Cody would guess he was from here in Japan. He found it a little hard to believe he was the one Monster Maker Dolphin had just neglected to keep in touch with. But there was no sign of him anywhere on the university website. Had he maybe decided on some other path for his life after their project had lost its funding? Somehow, Cody didn't think so, but his evidence that he'd even found the other Monster Makers was already so flimsy.

He sighed again, resting his head on his arms atop his desk. He was so tired of feeling like he was floating around in some unquantifiable space of questions. He felt like an overworked detective, following one lead after another and still getting nowhere. What if he was wrong about all of it? What if they'd headed off the path in the wrong direction and hadn't even realized it?

When Cody opened his eyes again, trying to ground his flyaway thoughts, he figured he must have drifted off. Surely this was the only explanation for his intangible, murky thought world suddenly coming to life around him.

But the harder he tried to wake himself up, the more real his surroundings seemed. He could barely see more than a foot in front of him in the gloom, but he could feel the dampness of air on his skin. He heard the splash of a shallow puddle under his feet when he took a tentative step forward. And the dread in the atmosphere, soaking into his very being, it seemed, was very, very real.

Cody took another step, and his breath caught in his throat as something occurred to him. Wasn't this kind of how Kari had described the Dark Ocean? A bottomless pit of a world that preyed on a person's negativity… and also a gateway to the Digital World.

All of Cody's instincts were screaming at him to turn back. He was not the type to rush blindly into things. Especially when those 'things' had the potential to be dangerous. He didn't have enough information. But he wasn't sure he could turn back. The world behind him looked exactly like the one ahead. There was no obvious window of light leading back to his bedroom. He had no choice but to go forward.

Strangely enough, he soon found it rather simple to fend off that fear. This was a very curious world, and Cody wanted to take it all in and make sense of it. Maybe enforce some sort of order upon it.

But every time he started to think he could make something out in the gloom, it shifted, ever so slightly. The only consistent thing was the path unfurling in front of him. It was taking him somewhere; he only wished he knew where. Kari had been okay because she'd had something anchoring her to the other side. Was Cody doomed to wander in circles forever? Or would the Dark Ocean eventually plop him down in some other world he had no knowledge of?

It was a daunting thought. And he was more than a little relieved when he spotted the crude wooden sign sticking up out of the gloom. It read Curiosity Shop, and he supposed it did its job. His curiosity was immediately piqued. He headed for the sign, and the path obliged.

As he got closer, the frame of a building materialized as well, simple and a little crude, like the sign. Within a matter of seconds, he was at the door and didn't even bother to look back this time.

The Curiosity Shop was… a hallway of shelves, from what he could see. Had he found his way in through the back door perhaps? On the shelves were boxes and miscellaneous junk and lots and lots of dust. He was careful not to touch anything—whoever all this stuff belonged to could be very particular about how it was stored—but he made a curious decision not to call out and make his presence known too. He still had no idea what he was walking into… and he didn't plan on taking any more risks than absolutely necessary.

He made it all the way to the end of the row of shelves… only to see more rows of shelves than he could count spread out before him. Was the Curiosity Shop a warehouse of some sort? He tried not to let his heart fall too far.

Cody sighed and looked down to the shelf just inches from his left hand. A strange purple blob of some sort had been set down on this shelf. Cody had no idea what it was but thought it looked almost… alive. Yup, best not to mess with that one… He was just about to move on when he spotted movement behind the blob.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, recoiling back to lean up against the wall of shelves behind him when another blob—this one bright pink with eyes and a mouth and little arms—uncurled itself out from behind the purple blob and peered at him, looking tired and sad.

Cody was barely breathing as the little thing slowly took him in, finally seeming to wake up a little. "Oh… you're a human, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Cody croaked out, not ready to correct his posture just yet. "Um… what are you?"

"I am Motimon," it—he?—answered, still looking deflated. Cody began to relax ever so slightly as Motimon fell forward, draping himself over the purple blob and holding it close, like it was something precious.

"Um," Cody said again. He swallowed, trying to form a coherent sentence. "Are you… by any chance… a Digimon?" The Digimon nodded as best it could from his hunched over position, and Cody felt his stomach flutter for a different reason. "And that thing you have with you…?"

Tears filled Motimon's eyes, and Cody found himself taking a step closer without realizing it. "It's Izzy's curiosity. I have to keep it safe."

"For how long?" Izzy… Had he stumbled upon one of the original Digidestined's partners?

Motimon looked up at him, and Cody's heart twisted at how pitiful the Digimon looked. "Until he's ready to take it back, of course."

Had this been the thing to 'taint' Izzy? How did one even go about losing their curiosity? (Cody decided not to linger too much on this just now.) There was only forward, he reminded himself. He had found his mission.

"My name is Cody," he said belatedly. "What can I do to help?"

For the first time, Motimon seemed to perk up. "You would help us?"

"My friends and I, we're trying to help all of you." His voice was firm. "Just tell me what to do."

"I can't remember the last time I saw the others… After we defeated Devimon, we all got separated. Izzy was convinced TK had made it back to the human world, and he was determined to find his own way. So we went in search of what made the Digital World tic… And ended up here."

"I think you got pretty close," Cody told him. Izzy had taken exactly the approach he would have gone with. "I found this place through the Dark Ocean, which we think connects the two worlds. This 'Curiosity Shop' must be right on the fringe."

Motimon shuddered. "I've only ever heard rumors of the Dark Ocean. Terrible rumors… Izzy would be excited to find proof that it's real, though…" Cody almost thought he was going to lose him again when the Digimon refocused. "This Curiosity Shop is run by an awful scavenger named Vademon. He told Izzy there was a way out through his shop. But he made Izzy wager his curiosity if he couldn't find it in a given time."

Motimon didn't go on… but then, he didn't really need to. Cody thought the rest was pretty self-explanatory. "Well, we're starting at the end point… Do you know how to get back to where Izzy is?"

Motimon seemed to deflate again. "Vademon's keeping Izzy in the actual Curiosity Shop. We're on the outskirts. All these rooms are just storage. And the landscape is always changing… Vademon collects things—curiosity, knowledge, thought itself… Getting anywhere in this place is like solving a puzzle."

Cody found that his heart didn't sink at this news, as perhaps it was meant to. So this Vademon collected knowledge, huh? Cody liked to think of himself as a connoisseur of knowledge also. And he was up to solving any puzzle he'd constructed between them.

"Excellent," he said confidently, causing Motimon to blink up at him in surprise. "Where do we start?"

Motimon pointed slowly to his right. Past the rows of dusty shelves, he could just make out another crude wooden door. The little Digimon jumped down from the shelf to walk at Cody's side, Izzy's curiosity held tight to his chest. Cody briefly considered offering to hold the purple blob for the creature… but knew he'd be immediately refused.

The door led outside… sort of. All around them was the darkness he'd come to associate with the Dark Ocean, but the ground under his feet felt more solid, and there was grass growing as well as a river flowing by. For a minute, the utter nothingness of everything else confused him—what sort of puzzle was this? But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Water flows downhill. If they wanted to get to Vademon—the source of all this madness—they would have to climb to higher ground. Cody set their path heading against the current—up a hill that seemed to materialize in front of them—and Motimon followed faithfully.

In this fashion, their journey continued. Cody began to view it less like a puzzle and more like a treasure hunt. They plodded along, looking for clues that would lead them back to Vademon, and he couldn't help being a little impressed at how well Motimon kept up. Through rooms that resembled houses designed backwards and landscapes where the path could only be determined by tracking which plants made sense to be growing in that particular soil, the little Digimon never voiced a single complaint, even though his partner's curiosity blob was nearly as big as Motimon himself.

None of it was terribly complex, at first. Cody took the more advanced technology that started popping up as they went on as a sign that they were headed in the right direction. But still Motimon gave no indication that any of this looked familiar. Had Izzy not gotten this far? Just how big was Vademon's territory? It was the one thing he made a conscious choice not to think about, lest that possibility intimidate him.

Their progress stalled when they came to a split path. On either side of them was a door, each open ajar, just enough to give them a glimpse of what lay beyond. To his left, Cody saw another warehouse-like area, much like the one they'd started out in. If he squinted, he thought he could make out a counter and shopfront beyond the shelves. And to his right…

Cody jerked back on reflex. In the room to his right was an endless galaxy… at least that's what it looked like. He couldn't even see a path to stand on; it dropped off into nothingness. It was obvious which path looked to bring them into the Curiosity Shop proper. And yet…

Cody felt an inexplicable tug towards the nothingness and confusion to his right. They were motionless long enough for Motimon to look up at him in concern.

"Izzy saw that place too, but he wouldn't go inside. We just kept going in circles around Vademon's labyrinth… until he told us we were out of time."

Cody met eyes with him and nodded. He'd never met Izzy but felt a definite connection to the older boy. Making his own journey through this 'labyrinth,' he could picture all too clearly what must have been going through his mind. But Izzy's logic had failed him somewhere. Was this the point where it had all gone wrong for him?

Suddenly, Cody missed his team—his friends. He could really use some extra guidance right about now, another perspective. What would Davis do if faced with this dilemma?

He couldn't stop the smile that flitted across his lips. Well, that was a no-brainer. Davis would tell him to trust his instincts. Never mind that right now they were pulling him in the direction of something he couldn't hope to possibly understand.

He tried to look confident—for Motimon's sake—as he strode forward. He pretended his hand wasn't trembling has he pushed the door open wide enough for them to step through. And he held his breath… until he realized there was still oxygen and he wasn't falling to his doom.

Still, the galaxy around him was making his head spin. He wanted to turn back… but was afraid that if he did he would find that the door behind them had disappeared. And there was still something pulling him forward. He just had to be brave.

As they got further and further into the nothingness, Cody thought he could see a pinprick of light up ahead. It encouraged him forward and was right at his feet before he realized it. The final few steps had been like wading through sludge, and he was breathing hard. He nearly collapsed over the egg-shaped bundle of glowing data, hunching forward to wrap his arms around the thing, not unlike Motimon cradling Izzy's curiosity.

As soon as he came into contact with the thing, its glow strengthened, becoming too bright to look at head-on. But Cody could feel the data changing shape… until the flow faded altogether, and he was left blinking down at another creature. This one was much bigger than Motimon, with claws and pointy ears and a smooth, hard shell. In fact, it looked rather like an…

"Howdy. I'm Armadillomon. Nice to meet you, partner."

"Partner," Cody repeated slowly. Armadillomon was staring up at him with big green eyes, clear of any turmoil. The creature's accent was goofy, entirely out of place. And yet… he supposed in a world like this one, nothing had to make sense.

Something floated up between them then, and he jerked back a little. A small device like the one Kari had shown him, but yellow. A Digivice…

Cody brought a hand up to grab the Digivice out of the air. It shined brightly for a second—as if to acknowledge him—before fading back down. He swallowed, feeling as if something momentous had occurred, and said, "It's nice to meet you too. My name is Cody."

Motimon came forward with wide eyes. "A Digivice… That means you are also one of the Chosen Ones."

Armadillomon cocked his head to the side. "I don't know anything about 'Chosen…' I just know I'm meant to be with Cody."

Motimon nodded enthusiastically. "My partner Izzy is the Chosen warrior of Knowledge."

Cody pursed his lips thoughtfully. He hadn't told Motimon their working theory—that the Tamers and Yolei and now himself were meant to be replacements for the original Chosen Ones. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what this meant for Izzy, but perhaps this explained why he'd felt such an immediate connection to the older boy.

"That's nice," Armadillomon said simply, and if he had been even a little less laid-back, Cody might have assumed his tone was passive-aggressive. "Where is your partner?"

Motimon's lower lip trembled ever so slightly, but Cody's new Digivice lit up again before he had to answer. A beam of light shot out, settling on a spot beyond them. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about that darkness as opposed to the area they were in now. But as the three watched, that tiny speck of light grew until they were blinking at another doorway.

The light was blinding; they couldn't see what lay beyond this doorway. But for some reason, Cody wasn't worried. He had gotten this far on blind faith. He had to trust his Digivice would take them where they needed to go. He took the first steps, the two Digimon close behind.

His first impression of the next stage of their journey was that it looked just like the first, if a bit smaller. But Motimon gasped in immediate recognition and dashed forward, and as Cody hurried after him, the dusty shelves soon gave way to an ordinary-looking storefront. What was perhaps not so ordinary was that it looked identical to the storefront he'd seen through the door to his left—the path they had chosen not to take. It seemed they had ended up where they'd wanted to go after all.

"Motimon!" he hissed, glancing around nervously, but the Digimon had already darted into a room alongside the front counter. Cody and Armadillomon followed more cautiously, hovering in the doorway.

Inside what must have been one of Vademon's private rooms, a boy with a shock of bright red hair lay on a simple cot, staring blindly up at the ceiling. Cody could see his lips moving to form a constant stream of inaudible words—was he reciting something?—but his expression was blank. Motimon jumped up without a second thought, placing the purple curiosity blob on his partner's forehead. When nothing happened, he pressed down on the blob, as if trying to force Izzy's curiosity back into him.

When this also seemed to have no effect, Cody took a step forward. As he drew closer, something began to glow from under the collar of Izzy's shirt. Motimon pulled out an older model Digivice from an inside pocket with wide eyes. Cody's yellow one began to glow in response and Izzy seemed to stir a little. The purple blob was slowly absorbed back into him… just as Cody heard a chilling voice behind him. "And what have we here?"

He turned to see a creature straight out of a horror film standing by the counter. The thing's head was one huge brain and the rest of its body a mass of tentacles. It held itself with a certain poise, but there was cruelty in its eyes. This was Vademon? No wonder Motimon had gone to hide in the Curiosity warehouse rather than with Izzy himself.

Cody was already about to run and hide himself… when Vademon pulled out some sort of laser gun and pointed it at him. The weapon was almost comically cartoonish, but Cody didn't feel even the slightest urge to laugh.

A jolt of adrenaline shot through him as the laser in the point of the gun lit up. He dodged to the side, Armadillomon still at his heels, as the shot just missed him, shattering something on the wall behind him instead. He heard Vademon give a shout of frustration—just barely, over the sound of his own heart pounding—but a different sort of light caught his eye as he looked back. Something behind the front counter had shot up into view, shining brightly.

Vademon was temporarily distracted also, and Cody used the seconds this bought him to reexamine his Digivice, which had grown warm in his hand. It, too, had begun to glow, and he watched with wide eyes as a virtual egg emerged from the tiny screen. It hung in the air before him just long enough for Cody to observe the little symbol on its side—which resembled a lopsided pair of glasses, with one circle dwarfing the other.

By the time Vademon turned back around, Armadillomon had begun to glow as well, and Cody could only stare. He watched as his new partner began to grow until he was twice his original size.

The creature that was left in his place resembled Armadillomon only slightly. Similar coloring maybe, but this one stood on two legs and had functional drills for a nose and hands. This Digimon quickly moved to shield Cody as Vademon took aim again. His drills whirred into motion, causing the next laser beam shot at them to dissipate into smoke. (Cody decided not to scrutinize the logic on that one too deeply.)

"Let's move," his supersized partner urged, and Cody didn't need any more encouragement. He scrambled to his feet and darted down the next aisle of shelves. He and his partner weaved around the store, knocking over things on display as they went. Quite a few blew up smoke or noxious gases behind them, providing a nice cover. But they couldn't run forever.

"Cody, do you have a plan? Vademon's tougher than he looks; I won't be able to defeat him in this form."

"Um…" Cody glanced around frantically, as if hoping for inspiration. And then… miraculously… something did come to him. "Actually, yes."

Without another word, he headed back the way they'd come, knowing Vademon was still chasing them. He finally reached the door that had taken them out of that endless galaxy and darted behind a well-stocked shelf, carefully out of sight. Just as he'd hoped, Vademon came rushing into sight a second later, dashing through the open door in pursuit… or so he thought.

Cody leapt forward and slammed the door shut, shouting, "Quick, Armadillomon, destroy the door!"

There was one moment when he was gripped by panic. Would destroying the door cause the entire area to implode into a black hole? Had he just doomed them all? Or would their efforts just make a bigger opening, inviting Vademon back their way? In that second of panic, he swore he could almost feel something sucking him in…

But then his partner's drills made contact with the frame and the structure collapsed just as he'd hoped it would. What remained where the door had been was a pile of rubble… And Cody quickly plugged up the holes with other debris from around the shop. Perhaps it was a wasted effort. Maybe Vademon knew every inch of his labyrinth like the back of his hand and would have no trouble finding his way back. But Cody hoped this would at least stall him.

The two stood frozen, taking in their work, for a few seconds, the sudden silence ringing in their ears. At last, Cody's partner turned to look at him. "I'm Digmon now, by the way."

"Oh. Sorry." Cody remembered Kari briefly trying to explain Digivolution—something about an angel? He would have to question Digmon more thoroughly later. The silence had been broken. Without another word, the two turned and raced back to the room where Izzy had just been awakening.

When they got there, the older boy was sitting up, Motimon held tight to his chest. The little pink Digimon was crying hysterically. Izzy looked a little bewildered. He looked up when Cody and Digmon stopped in the doorway, not wanting to intrude.

Even in his frazzled state, Cody took the time to give a slight bow. "It's nice to meet you. My name's Cody Hida, and this is my partner Digmon."

"It's a pleasure," the boy on the bed answered, eagerly taking them in. Cody swore he could see his thoughts racing behind his eyes. "My name's Koushiro Izumi, but everyone calls me Izzy, even my parents."

His eyebrows furrowed then, as if he was trying to remember something. Cody supposed reabsorbing your curiosity was a bit of a process, though. He finally crossed the threshold, making his way to the bed. As he came closer, Izzy's crest and both Digivices began to shine again, though with a softer light this time. Simultaneously, both Digimon partners began to glow too. Cody watched with rapt attention as Digmon began to shrink and Motimon began to grow… When the process was done, Armadillomon was back and a beetle-like creature about the same size was left in Motimon's place.

"Oh, Izzy…" he said, finally making an attempt to wipe away the still-streaming tears. "I've missed you."

"Tentomon," Izzy replied fondly. "I'm ashamed to say I haven't been in much of a condition to miss anything… I let you down." Tentomon immediately tried to convince him otherwise, but Izzy just turned back to Cody. "That's twice now that your partner has reacted to my crest. Very curious… Though I suppose it's curious that you're here at all. I get the feeling you're not the eighth Digidestined we were looking for?"

"Not exactly…"

…

TK heard Patamon's sharp intake of breath as they crested the hill and silently agreed. The sight below them was impressive… if a little daunting. A huge shadowy fortress resembling a pyramid rose up from the middle of it all, surrounded by laboratories and prisons that TK suspected were just as subject to the experiments that went on around here. The Digimon Emperor's stronghold…

"Well, it looks like we found it," Patamon said a little shakily.

TK smiled encouragingly. "I'd say so. Now we just have to find a way inside."

…

Izzy listened to the whole story quietly. He'd looked distinctly unsettled when Cody told him how much time had passed, not that Cody could blame him. But, thankfully, at the end of this tale, he didn't seem too upset. Maybe a little resigned. And grateful for Cody's help.

He finally got up from the bed and walked silently out to the storefront. Cody followed and watched as he picked up the little square chip that had shot up from behind Vademon's counter during their struggle. Izzy handed it to him and Cody saw the same symbol that had been on the egg that had emerged from his Digivice. This must be Izzy's Crest of Knowledge, he realized now.

"Take it," Izzy said when he saw the realization cross his face. "It's yours now."

When Cody looked unsure, Izzy pushed ahead, "You earned it. You passed Vademon's test when I couldn't."

"But…" Cody protested. "I'm not even really sure how I passed… Or that I understand what the test really was. I just did what felt right."

Izzy looked almost wistful, reflecting. "When we all got separated, I went looking for Vademon on purpose. I'd heard he was the most knowledgeable being in the Digiworld, that he was a collector of information. He sounded a little like me, to be honest. I was trying to learn everything I could about this world. I thought if I could figure out its code, I could get us all out.

"But then I foolishly accepted Vademon's challenge and got lost in his maze. I relied entirely on what I already knew; it never crossed my mind that my previous knowledge might not be enough. My whole life, people praised me for being something of a child prodigy. But I was just studying the discoveries that other people had made. I didn't have the courage to venture out into the unknown. Not like you."

Cody kind of wanted to protest further. But this did line up with his plans. Sort of. So he swallowed down his uncertainty and closed his fist over the crest. "Okay. But what are you going to do now?"

He seemed pretty confident from someone who'd been effectively braindead for the past three years. "I'm going to search for Gennai. If you and your friends are right—and I'm sure you are—he may be the closest thing to a courier between this world and ours. If he was supposed to be watching over us all this time, maybe he has a way to get back in touch with the others. If you'd like to come along, I'm sure I could use your help."

Cody considered this for a moment… but he already knew this wasn't his path. "I appreciate that. But I'm going to stay here. We're right on the edge of the Dark Ocean—the other way home. I'm going to study it and see if I can contact my friends."

Izzy grinned. "I suppose we're working two sides of the same mission then. Thank you for everything, Cody. We'll have to compare notes when we meet again."

Review please!

I don't own Digimon.

Aaaand it's done! Just a few more things I wanted to mention before I let you go… Well, one, it's about time we check back in with TK, even if it's only briefly. I think the only one who's gotten less screen time than TK is Wormmon and… well, I'll get back to him. Some other notes for this chapter: I'm pretty sure it's never actually stated which university the Monster Makers went to. Dolphin does go on to teach at Palo Alto, and it was just convenient for me to make that their alma mater too. And lastly, I know I mentioned that I tend to use their English names in a past chapter… I always thought the Adventure names were interesting, because they tried to keep them as faithful to their original names as possible. Izzy's is one of the ones that's pushing it a little, though, and I spent a good chunk of time deliberating how I wanted him to introduce himself… I eventually did wind up going with his 'real' name being Koushiro in this universe also. Anyway, thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!