Power of the Crests: Part Five

Awareness of Lightning

Original Author: Debbie (Dai-chan)

Rewriter: Celestra (Les)

Hi! Guess what! I finally got around to do this chapter, so Arianne (alias Yokata) doesn't have the right to complain. Izz-man fans, this one is for you! It seems to really show his real character, so of course Izzy fans and fans alike should enjoy this. I LUV Izzy! So does Dai-chan and Kyra, and I agree. Of course, I luv every Digidestined except for Kari and Jun. So read on, nad please review. By the way, Debbie (Dai-chan) is the original author of this saga, but this is my version.

Izzy cupped his hands and dunked them in the stream. He drank deeply, welcoming the cool, refreshing water in his dry throat. His digimon companion, Tentomon, lowered his head so he could drink straight from the water. Izzy took another drink and sat up, wiping his mouth. He watched TK wading in the stream, finding the delight of hunting for fishes. Patamon hovered near, often giggling whenever TK made a mistake to catch fishes; he often splashed himself, losing his grip on a slick fish.

The group was finally out of the underground cave. They don't know how long have they been underground, and they walked for only a short time when the sky began to dim. They chose a stream for a place to rest. Izzy looked behind him. He saw Matt sitting on a stone, his chin on his hands, looking solemn. His grey-blue eyes were rueful. His digimon, Gabumon sat by him, usually quiet. Izzy sighed. Yamato had been like that since Elanna found her power.

Izzy's black eyes gazed over to the girl, who sat far from the group, sitting cross-legged, unusually quiet. Her new eyes, the eyes of snow white, stared out into the distance, seeming to watch for something only she knew. Her power changed her. Before, she was companionable, easy to talk with, but now she was silent, reflective.

Izzy was very curious about her. He often wondered why she had to be changed like that. It seemed unnatural to have that white eyes and black and silver streaks. He stood up and strolled to Elanna, Tentomon following behind. Izzy moved quietly, careful not to disturb her. She might be upset if she was disturbed from her thoughts. However, Elanna did hear him. She gazed up with her white eyes. ("She seems so blind,") thought Izzy, ("yet she can see me.") The eyes didn't distractIzzy, but increased his rate of curiosity. He sat by her right side; Elanna's digimon, Raimon laid by her other side, looking not rueful, but kind of amazed with deep admiration.

"How do you feel, Elanna?" Izzy asked.

Elanna's eyes once again unfocused in thought. "Kind of confused, now that I have this odd power." She gazed down to her hands, her white eyes seeming to flicker into a slight grey color, appearing perplexed. Izzy's curiosity grew.

"I am very inquisitive about your abilities," said Izzy. "Since Tai and Joe received similar abilities, I believe we might have easy access to them, too."

Elanna then gazed up to him, faintly smiling. "You want to know why, don't you?"

Izzy grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Is that obvious?"

To his surprise, Elanna shook her head. "No. I can see it in your eyes."

Izzy was puzzled for a moment, then remembered. "Ah, I see. You are the Seer." Elanna became wistful, saying nothing. "May I see your crest?" Izzy thought Elanna might hesitate or refuse, but, without question, she took her crest from over her head and handed it toIzzy. He was gentle to handle it as he studied the pattern of the crest.

"What is the point of seeing her crest, Izzy?" He heard Matt saying from behind. Izzy looked back, and Matt was striding toward them with Gabumon. He looked kind of edgy, his lips tightened. It was not a surprise. He was always stern. TK was running up to his brother, his fish hunt forgotten.

Izzy answered the blond boy's question, "Well, as you might recall, Sora mentioned about the reasons why we possess these crests. I presume this crest can reveal an opening for Elanna's power to expose itself, like the crests did for Tai's and Joe's." His black eyes went to Elanna's crest, the heart and peace image on the blue-green-turquoise-aqua tag and crest shadowed by his fingers. "It's interesting that the crest didn't change a bit." Then he looked up to her. "It might be a vessel to inside of yourself."

The group sat by them. Matt sat by Elanna, not close enough to be modest, still looking rueful. TK sat in Elanna's lap, the only one who was not disturbed by her power. Elanna held him close to her, as if she did not want to let him go. Izzy noticed that she had the look of sad longing. The digimon crowded around Izzy, taking a look at Elanna's crest.

"You are right, Izzy," said Gabumon by Izzy's right side. "Her crest is the same as before."

"But it has changed Elanna," Patamon spoke from his position in TK's arms. "Remember when Elanna got her power, her crest glowed?"

Raimon sat up on her hind legs, looking thoughtful. "Now when you mentioned it, I did remember. It did glow, but I didn't feel it at all. Before, it did give me the power to digivolve into Nebulamon, but this time, I didn't feel it. Also, it glowed a different color. Instead, it glowed silver and black, not the usual blue-green-turquoise-aqua color."

"So, it's one of the mysteries of Digiworld, huh, Izzy?" said Tentomon with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"A mystery I want to unravel," said Izzy, eager to learn more. "Elanna, can you -"

"HEY! Give Elanna some room!" Izzy and the digimon jolted in astonishment at Matt's words. His eyes flashing, Matt scowled severely with warning. "She is new to her power and needn't to be examined as some foreign animal."

Izzy felt his cheeks going hot, and he lowered his eyes guiltily. He could feel some heat radiating from Elanna's body, as if she too were blushing and/or flushing. He heard Elanna speaking calmly, "Yamato, it's all right. I, for once, am curious, too." He looked up to see Matt's scowl deepening, and he averted away to stare at the stream, his eyes unreadable. Elanna was quiet, her eyes on him, but turned to Izzy with a restful smile. "Izzy, what do you want of me?"

Izzy's eyes flickered to Elanna's crest and gave it back to her. "Matt is right. I should not push you too far." Still, his curiosity coaxed him, encouraged him. He glimpsed at Matt before asking Elanna, "But if it's not any trouble, would you mind to call on your power? Just a bit? But only if you can."

Elanna's smile widened. "I would not mind." She held up a fist and opened it. A hazy image of a small digivice floated above the palm of her hand, lazily spinning in place before it vanished in a brief, tiny flash. "Did it satisfy your curiosity?"

Izzy grinned enthusiastically. "It is hungrier now. Is it easier to be able to call on your power?" The girl answered with a nod, but she really did not know. Before long, perhaps she could not even defend herself with it now, but still, she did not really know."Remarkable! It's possible that you will possess this power for a lifetime."

Matt suddenly burst out his unexpected words with hot fury. "But why must the power affect her like that?!" He paused, realized what he had said. Elanna then blushed deep scarlet, and again Izzy felt heat radiating from her body. Izzy and the rest of the group gaped at him in surprise. Elanna was gazing at him, misery coloring her white eyes into a light blue hue. Matt's face and eyes abruptly paled into shame. "I'm sorry, Elanna, but . . ."

"I understand," Elanna whispered with empathy. She now looked like the Seer, though Izzy didn't remember how he might know. "I am not the same as before." Matt gazed back with deep rue then hardened his face. He gave out a choked, strained grunt. He took off into the jungle, a worried Gabumon trailing after. Elanna exhaled faintly and turned to Izzy with sad eyes. "Izzy, for once, I wish I didn't have my power, no matter how remarkable."

TK was quiet during the whole time. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her warmly. He also had rue in his azure eyes. Her eyes closed, Elanna embraced him back, holding him so firmly that Izzy got a hunch that Elanna didn't want to let go at all for some reason. Raimon also embraced her human friend with hidden compassion.

Gazing upon the girl, Izzy pondered, his curiosity growing.

* * *

The group was sleeping by the stream, soothed by the humming of water. TK nestled near Elanna, seeking comfort and warmth, and Elanna gave him much more than that. Izzy watched from his seat. Elanna acted kind of like a replacement for Matt. Whenever Matt was somewhere else, Elanna was present for TK as a big sister. Izzy thought she was doing good at that. Matt had come out of thejungle, looking unusually woeful. Izzy pretended not to pay attention to him while he worked at his laptop, but, out of his eyes,Izzy saw Matt standing near the boy and the girl, watching them in silent tenderness Izzy never saw before. He heard a faint rustling, then silence. When Izzy looked up, he saw Yamato sleeping byTK's other side, TK in between Matt and Elanna. Izzy smiled.

Tentomon snoring lightly by his side, Izzy tapped at his computer. He entered a folder that kept the information of the eight crests. There was not much there, anyway. On one of the screens, he had images of the crests with their colors and names.

"The crests have their own names," Izzy told himself, pointing the crests out. "Courage, Reliability, Bravery, Sincerity, Knowledge, Friendship, Love, and Hope. Every of us has one of those crests that represents who we are. Already, the Crests of Courage, Friendship, Knowledge, Bravery and Love glowed to aid Agumon, Gabumon, Tentomon, Raimon, and Biyomon to digivolve into their ultimate forms. But now, the crests gave Tai, Joe, and Elanna their hidden powers. Why?" Izzy sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "I don't see the point to them."

Izzy reached for his crest from under his orange shirt. He liked the way the light reflected off the polished brass tag. The tiny screen protected the vivid purple crest. Five circles - two within the largest one as another inside the last, linking together side by side - set in the tag. The image of his Crest of Knowledge.

Izzy's gaze tore from his crest to a sound. Tentomon yawned, and gazed up to him. "What are you doing, Izzy?" he asked.

Izzy sighed, letting go his crest drop to his chest. "I am trying to figure out the reasons to the hidden powers. I wonder if I could have such power."

"Why, of course you can." Izzy turned to his digimon in surprise. Tentomon always showed his emotions through his pale green eyes, rather than through his face or mouth. His eyes seemed to smile. "You have the power of Knowledge."

Izzy smiled. "Yeah, but these powers are very different from the crests."

Tentomon cocked his head in slight puzzlement. "What do you mean, Izzy?"

Izzy loved to explain things. "Well, Izzy told me that when Tai attacked Phyrimon with his power, he used fire. I remembered Joe used his power, which is water, to defeat Aquenmon. Elanna used, well, shadow to attack Arachnimon. It seems that the powers are connected to nature, not digital or machine-like, as I would expect."

Tentomon watched him for a while in silence. He appeared deeply puzzled, but smiled again. "I don't know,Izzy. But I am sure you will solve this. You have the knowledge." He settled down and went back to sleep.

Izzy turned off his computer and shut it. For the first time, Izzy was not certain he had the knowledge.

* * *

Again, the group explored through the jungle for their missing friends. They had no idea where they were since Myotismon sent them in the underground cave. They even tried to use their digivices, which had aided them to find the friends since Tai came back from the real world, but now, they refused to work for some reason. Matt appeared upset about that; he had the determination in the group to find the friends. Elanna now seemed to have patience. She simply calmed Matt down, and she took up the leadership. They boys and digimon had trust in her as they followed her thought the jungle. After all, Tai, the leader, was her brother, and apparently, he taught her some stuff. The group naturally had trust in her to lead followed her until they stopped at a strange ruin.

The ruin was an ivy-covered building, more like a temple or something. The stones were hued earth-brown with crawling green vines all over. An entrance was opened wide, no doors, with stone steps leading upward to it. A steeple was rose so high that its tip seemed to touch the sky. On both left and right sides of the ruins, thick trees crawled so close that it seemed impossible to pass through. The digimon went to check the areas to see if there was a path or trail.

"Is there another way around?" Matt asked when the digimon returned.

"No, we couldn't find any," answered Gabumon.

Elanna turned her eyes at Matt. "We have to go through it. Please don't be so upset, Matt. I am sure no harm will come to us."

Matt looked uncertain. Izzy walked up to him, saying, "She is right, Matt. Besides, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. It would save us some time to go through that building rather than go around it."

Ignoring Matt's tense eyes on him, Izzy moved closer to see a better view of the ruins. A memory nagged at the back of his mind, seeming similar to the present. "That reminds me back when Mimi and I were stranded on a shred of File Island."

"Could the ruins be a maze?" wondered TK by Matt's side.

Izzy cocked his head in thought. "I don't know. Maybe if I could -" He stopped abruptly in mid sentence. He thought he saw something flashing on the perch above the entrance. He was not sure. It seemed something like writing or words, perhaps. He moved a bit and abruptly saw it. It flashed in a purple hue, a bold word. It read, 'Warder.' Izzy raised his thick red eyebrows in perplexity. ("Why would the word 'Warder' be above the entrance?")

"Izzy?"

Izzy jumped, blinked, and gazed at the hovering Tentomon. "What?"

Tentomon said with usual weary suffering, "You were off in another world, again."

"Was I?" Izzy looked around. Matt, TK, and the digimon were staring at him in puzzlement. Elanna was quietly gazing at him - was there a faint smile on her lip? Izzy looked up to the entrance. The word was gone in an instant. His cheeks went hot. "Sorry about that."

Matt put his hands in his pants' pockets, looking serious. "You were saying that if you could do something . . . what?"

Izzy shrugged. "I don't remember. It must've slipped out of my mind."

Matt exhaled sharply. "The sooner we get out of here, the better." He turned to enter the ruins with Gabumon, TK, and Patamon. Elanna walked behind quietly with Raimon. Izzy stared hard at the entrance's perch, and when nothing happened, he went after his friends with Tentomon.

Inside, the ruins were mostly empty. There was nothing but a square chamber with a hall at the other side. It was dimly lightened by sunlight through old cracks above. There were also vines all over the walls, seemed to be a viny curtain. The group entered the hall, and Izzy realized after a while, turning many corners, the ruins must be a kind of labyrinth. He hoped they would not get lost in it. The walls were decorated with bizarre, outlandish pictures and letters all over, peeking through the vines. Izzy stared hard with curiosity at them, wondering.

"What odd writing," murmured TK as he scanned the pictures. "And it's not polite to write on walls."

"The writing is up there for a reason," said Gabumon.

"Do you know, Izzy?" Raimon asked from Elanna's side, looking back.

Izzy simply shook his head.

Elanna gazed back with concern in her white eyes. "You seem quiet, Izzy. What's the matter?" She slowed her pace so she could walk back to Izzy's side.

"I'm not certain," answered Izzy. His black eyes went to the writing. "I try to understand the words, but they are so confusing."

"Don't go too hard on yourself," Tentomon said.

Izzy still felt disappointed. "I wish I know the answer. You know, I did encounter a familiar word outside, on the perch over the entrance. 'Warder,' it presented. That's it."

TK surprised Izzy and the rest when he said with wonder, "Could this 'Warder' be you, Izzy?"

His eyebrows arched in surprise, Izzy pointed a finger at himself, looking a bit comical. "Me?" Then he scoffed. "Why would I be a warder? Warder of what?"

TK held up his hands, shrugging unknowingly, then turned to study the writing.

Izzy gazed up to the writing for a while, then suddenly saw a yellowish-white glow among the outlines of the pictures and letters. It lasted for a brief time, but long enough for Izzy to finally be certain that they were not hallucinations. But he noticed that the kids and digimon didn't react at them at all. Not even Tentomon.

("No one saw it, but I did. Why?") Izzy thought with puzzlement.

They kept walking in silence, until Matt slowed down into a stop. He gazed back to the friends, a lost expression on his face. "What are we doing here for?"

Izzy stood in silence, then in bewilderment. "We are passing through the ruin so we can go search for our friends."

"Oh." Matt shrugged, and then began to walk. Izzy bewilderment broadened.

As they walked, Elanna was playing with her pocketknife, pressing all the different buttons that made the different things pop out, looking deeply in thought. Then she dropped it, forgotten. Izzy stopped to pick it up and ran up to her. "Hey, Elanna! You dropped your pocket knife."

Elanna looked down at the pocketknife with a screw driver sticking out and shook her head. "It's not mine. It must be yours."

"Huh? No, Elanna, it is yours. You carry it all the time."

Elanna reluctantly took it, fidgeting with it, looking unusually confused. "Maybe it is yours," she said to Raimion. She put the pocketknife into Raimon's paws. The digimon appeared interested with it, looking down at the strange thing sticking out of the silver handle.

Izzy stopped in his tracks, wondering why. Something is going wrong here. "Don't you remember anything happening now, guys?" he said to get their attention.

His friends stopped walking and gazed back to Izzy with uncertain suspicion. "What do you mean?" said Patamon from his perch on TK's head.

"Don't you remember that we are supposed to find our friends?" Izzy nearly went berserk.

He saw Matt exchange sidelong glances with Elanna, then said, "What's up with you, man? We are all here."

Izzy's body nearly went limp, his black eyes clouding with incomprehension. He spoke faintly, "Remember the others? Tai, Sora, Joe, and Mimi?"

"What others?" asked TK with innocent confusion. "Who are they?"

Izzy couldn't believe that Elanna couldn't even remember Tai, her own brother, the brother with who've they both together had many adventures.

Izzy blinked his eyes in incredible disbelief. His own friends don't remember anything about the others? ("What had happened?!") He gazed up to Tentomon, who also looked disbelieving. Izzy and Tentomon might be the only ones who still remembered. Izzy suddenly felt light-headed, holding his head. He shut his eyes, holding back the dizziness. He heard footsteps coming closer, and he felt the supportive arm of Elanna around his shoulders.

"Easy, Izzy," Elanna said with gentle compassion. "You press too much on yourself."

He kept his eyes closed. ("How can I relax when my friends are losing their memories?") He thought. Elanna let go of him, and he opened his eyes. Elanna was whispering with Matt, who responded with an arched eyebrow. TK was listening quietly, but his azure eyes were on Izzy, looking attentive.

Izzy flushed hotly and turned to keep his gaze on the odd pictures. For an instant, he saw a sudden, tiny flash among a picture of a A-shaped letter with a rugged line across it. He reached to touch it, but a small spark of lightning jumped from the letter to his finger. A sharp slice of pain stabbed in his finger.

"Ow!" Izzy gasped, shaking his finger and sucking on it.

Tentomon hovered near, concern in his eyes. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Izzy looked at his finger. It was not damaged. The pain was gone. "Nothing." He looked up to his friends to see if they saw what happened. Matt and Elanna were talking together, concentration in their faces. TK's eyes were on them, looking bored. Izzy shook his head in disbelief. "Tentomon, something is wrong with them, and I am going to find out what."

TK was yawning, looking now tired. He tugged on his brother's green shirt to get his attention. "Can we rest, Matt? I'm tired."

Matt nodded in agreement. "Okay. Take a break, guys." The rest sat down, already yawning. Izzy was not tired at all; his curiosity urged him to find a solution to the problem with the lost memories. He turned to stare at the writing. He knew staring would not work, but it was better for him to concentrate than worry too much. Strangely, he rarely got upset, but his collected temper began to boil inside his chest.

Tentomon hovered lower so his head was at Izzy's height. He spoke with anxiety, "You appear tense."

"Of course I am!" Izzy nearly snapped. He sighed with anguish. "Don't you see that they are forgetting about themselves? They don't remember the others, absolutely not at all."

"I did notice that," said Tentomon softly.

Izzy clenched his teeth firmly; for the first time, he was a loss at ideas. "It must be something in the ruin that made them forget. I saw something flashing in that writing. That must be the reason."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Izzy watched Tentomon glancing back to the kids, then gazing back at him. He spoke gently, "Izzy, I think you should sleep. You are too tense."

("Now he thinks I am crazy.") Izzy stubbornly shook his head. He felt the gentle touch of his digimon on his shoulder and heard the pleading voice. "Please, Izzy."

He let his anger cool down from his chest and felt immediately exhausted. He glanced back and saw that his friends were already falling asleep. No problems to wake them. He slid down to a laying position and closed his eyes. Slumber took long to overtake him

* * *

(". . . Warder . . . Warder . . .")

(". . . You are . . . worthless to the Digidestined . . .")

(". . . Thirsty for your knowledge . . .")

"(. . . Come, Warder . . .'')

"I am not the Warder!"

Izzy popped his eyes open, sweating. What a bizarre dream! The words were few, but tauntingly enough to shake him. He lay still, staring up to the dark ceiling, trying to remember what happened. Then he heard the panicked call of his name. He blinked when the shocked face of Tentomon came in his vision.

"What's it, Tentomon?" he asked.

Tentomon's voice was quavering. "They are gone!"

Izzy sat up, gazing around. The kids and digimon were gone, but they left some stuff behind. He found Yamato's silver-tinted harmonica, Elanna's small notebook and lead pencil, and TK's favorite gree hat near him. Izzy's worry and curiosity grew. "They left their possessions behind . . . What happened, Tentomon?"

"I don't know," said Tentomon. "I woke up to find them gone."

Izzy gazed around harder, then he saw faint footprints in the settled dust on the floor, leading ahead of him. "They must've gone that way," Izzy located, pointing at the footprints, "But why?"

Tentomon shook his head, tugging on Izzy's sleeve. "No questions this time, Izzy! We must find them before it's too late!"

Izzy nodded. He quickly put Matt's harmonica and Elanna's notebook and pencil into TK's hat, carrying them in it upside down like a bowl. He closed a strap concealed in the hat over the items and held it, then he ran after the footprints with Tentomon soaring ahead. The ruin was, as Izzy believed, a maze, but the footprints led them the right way. He hoped. They turned a few corners before they stopped at a long gap in the middle of the hall. The footprints continued still from the far side.

Izzy peeked downward and gulped at the deepness. Straightening up, he said, "How can I get across?"

Tentomon flapped his gossamer wings and held out his talons. "Here, hold onto my talons."

Izzy hesitated, biting on his lower lip. "Are you sure, Tentomon?"

"I am certain," Tentomon responded with confidence. His eyes seemed to smile. "Always."

Izzy held a firm grip on his digimon's talons. Tentomon flapped harder, and Izzy felt his feet going off the ground. A bit shaky, Izzy kept his eyes on Tentomon as he carried him across the gap. The moment he felt the firm ground under his feet, he let go. He beamed a thankful grin at the digimon. "Thanks, Tento! Now let's go."

The duo ran down the hall, following the footprints, until they again stopped at a circular chamber with four different tunnels reaching out. The footprints abruptly stopped in the middle, as if the group decided to fly rather than walk. Izzy knew it was impossible for them, except Patamon, to float, but now he was uncertain about the possibilities of Digiworld. He remembered Joe saying anything is possible in Digiworld. In the ruin, everything was going wrong.

"Now what?" Tentomon mumbled.

Izzy pondered for a while. "I think I have an idea." He reached into TK's hat and got out the harmonica.

Tentomon cocked his head in wary confusion. "How can a harmonica help us find our friends?"

Izzy awkwardly held the harmonica. "Matt would kill me if I tried to play it, but it might be our only chance." Taking a deep breath, Izzy blew into the harmonica. It came out terribly, piercing. Tentomon groaned softly at that. "Ouch." Trying again, Izzy played the harmonica. He was terrible at playing music. The music was way off-key, screeching. Tentomon looked like he was suffering, covering his talons over his ears. Stopping, Izzy waited for what he would expect.

As if answering back, Izzy's music echoed back from three of the tunnels.

"Huh?" Tentomon remarked.

Izzy grinned in triumph. "Just what I expected. The echoes mean that the three tunnels are dead ends. We go that way." He pointed at a tunnel at his near right. Together, Izzy and Tentomon ran in the long tunnel. Izzy now noticed the footprints of his friends, leading down from ahead. Soon, he will find his friends. Soon, they stopped at the entrance of a huge, damp-looking chamber. There were the odd writing on the walls, but Izzy didn't care about them. He found his friends.

"Hey, you guys!" Izzy ran to them. They were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, but he noticed they didn't react to his voice. They were unmoving, tranced by something. Their faces were blank, expressionless. Their eyes were unfocused, staring out into the distance. Izzy grew worried. "Wake up! Please!" He gently but firmly shook their shoulders, waved his hands before their eyes, and even pinched their arms. No responses. Izzy sank to his knees, helpless. "What can we do, Tentomon?"

"Maybe if you give them their possessions, maybe they could remember."

Tentomon's hopefulness gave Izzy a new light. His face brightened. "Prodigious idea!" He put down TK's hat and got out Matt's harmonica. He went to kneel by the blond boy, placing the harmonica in his hands. To his shock, the harmonica slid out of Matt's hands. Picking it up, Izzy miserably looked right into Matt's's empty eyes. "Come on, Matt. You know you love playing the harmonica." He took Matt's hands and put the harmonica in them. When he let go, again the instrument slid out of his hands, carelessly.

His heart slowly clenching, Izzy went to the quiet Elanna. He took out her notepad and pecil, used for drawing. He noticed her pocketknife sticking out of her pocket. He spoke softly, "Elanna, remember your drawing pad and pencil? You love drawing pictures and scenes and all sorts of things all the time, never going anywhere without your pad." Clasping on fading hope, he placed it in her hands. The pad of paper and pencil settled in her lap, but she made no move. Izzy quietly exhaled. "Your drawings are beautiful." He then took TK's hat and put it on the young boy's head. TK's azure eyes blinked not, looking empty. The kids' digimon sat by their humans' sides, looking as hollow as them.

Izzy sat down, his face twisted in anguish. He shook his head hopelessly. What had happened to his friends?" I don't understand, Tentomon. Nothing I do helps them remember. I can't help them. I am useless!" His hands went into trembling fists, and his anger began to boil into his chest. He buried his face with his fists, stifling back an enraged cry. He never felt so helpless before. He remembered when he nearly drowned. It was an extremely disturbing experience. It was the same feeling, being helpless and lost.

He felt a comforted touch of Tentomon on his arm. Blinking back-unwanted tears, Izzy gazed at him. "Don't give up, Izzy," Tentomon said, deeply confident of him. "You can do it. I know you can."

Before he could respond, Izzy heard a guttural growl filling the chamber. He scanned around quickly, and then glanced upward. He saw two glowing slanted eyes of deep red floating in the darkness above. "Who are you?" Izzy declared with a bit of fierceness.

The eyes lowered downward until Izzy saw that the eyes belonged to a digimon. He was crawling on the walls, his claws clasping on the vines. He was upside down, his long, thick tail hanging over his head, swaying lazily. He had brown fur, with patched dark pants that came to below of his knees. Skin-like wings covered his arms and sides of his torso, giving him the appearance of a bat. He was sneering, revealing two rows of deadly-looking fangs.

"That's Thuntemon," explained Tentomon with some loathing. "I didn't know he lives in this ruin, but he is known by his way to 'gather' knowledge. Unlike you, Izzy, he eats brains."

Izzy suddenly felt queasy. His friends were losing their memories so that that digimon could eat their brains?! He was not going to let him do that! Standing up, Izzy shook his fist at the bat digimon. "Hey! Leave my friends alone!"

Thuntemon crawled to the floor, on both hands and feet. He made no move toward them, but his eyes seemed to grow hungrily. He spoke in a softly, screeching voice, "First, I want your knowledge, Warder. I can smell it far away from here. So delicious."

"Warder . . ." Suddenly, he remembered his dream. He remembered the flashing word of 'Warder' outside. He began to shake his head in disbelief.

Thuntemon began to crawl around the kids and digimon in a circle, making no move to attack. Tentomon hovered over Izzy's head, softly growling in his throat. Thuntemon said, "You are the Warder of Knowledge who guards information and memories."

Izzy moved so he could keep the circling digimon in his vision. He inhaled sharply, uneasily. "Do you want to destroy me, just like the others?"

"Yessss," the digimon hissed. "Each of you Digidestined must be destroyed."

"Why?"

Thuntemon paused in his tracks. "You should know that. You are the Warder." He tensed up, and his powerful legs pushed him up in the air, preparing to attack.

("Tentomon, digivolve into Kabuterimon"!)

Lowering his shoulders, Kabuterimon rammed into Thuntemon's stomach, sending him out of the way. As his digimon fought the bat digimon, Izzy turned to his friends, trying again to wake them. Shaking them, Izzy pleaded, "Please! Wake up! We have to get out of here! Wake up! I won't let you forget! I won't!"

Then he heard a painful howl from behind him. Whirling around, he saw Kabuterimon screaming as Thuntemon clasped on his back, sinking his fangs in Kabuterimon's shelled shoulder. Red blood began to stain Thuntemon's fangs and Kabuterimon's shoulder.

"NO!" Izzy screamed along with Kabuterimon. His chest began to glow with a vivid violet hue, and the glow surrounded him. The aura was deep purple, nearly as dark as his eyes, with tiny silver lightning bolts. A silver, rugged lightning bolt emitted from his hands and plunged at where Thuntemon bit Kabuterimon. The bat digimon let of him when the bolt came in contact. He screamed in enraged pain, flapping his arm-wings. Kabuterimon fell to the floor, glowed for an instant, and de-digivolved into Tentomon, who held his bleeding shoulder. While Izzy attacked Thuntemon, his aura blazed brighter until it touched the kids and digimon, waking them from their trances. They gazed around in a daze.

His anger violently boiled into the point of explosion. He never was so raged at someone like that. He was angry because he was helpless. His aura blazing even brighter, Izzy roared, "I wish I could do anything to help! I want to! I won't let you forget all about what had happened to us, forget all about our memories! I won't let you forget! I won't! Awareness of Lightning!"

Mad bolts of silver lightning charged all over from his body, forming an electric sphere around him. The bolts attacked Thuntemon from everywhere, giving him no place to escape. He screeched in pain. Izzy let his anger get out of control, and the bolts explode in midair. The explosions were so powerful, immense that Izzy was jostled back by the unexpected force. He flew backward and rolled across the floor, rapidly losing his power and strength.

He heard vague voices before he lost his awareness.

* * *

He was so weak when he regained his awareness. He found that he couldn't move. He had no strength to move his arms and legs. But he did feel movements of walking. He felt arms holding him up, one arm beneath his knees and another behind his back. He had his head rested on a shoulder, feeling the warmth on his cheek. He could feel heartbeats through his right side, and he assured that he was carried by someone.

He had just enough strength to open his eyes. Izzy opened his eyes a crack and saw the head of Matt above him, looking quiet. He was carried by Matt. Matt took a glance down to check on him, and seeing him awake, Matt stopped walking, smiling gently. "Hey, Izzy."

Izzy weakly looked around without moving his head. They were outside in the jungle, out of the ruin. Sunlight winked through branches above. He saw Tentomon hovering near Matt, looking deeply relieved. TK was hitched on Elanna's back, both far ahead of Matt. They looked back, relieved. "How do you feel?" TK asked from his hitch on Elanna, appearing concerned.

Izzy tried to gather strength to speak, but all he could give out was a mumbled croak. His eyes fell droopy, suddenly exhausted.

Elanna smiled softly. "You don't need words to explain."

Izzy's eyes scanned around, then gazed at his friends in wonder. Tentomon got the hint. "We are finally out of the ruin. You destroyed Thuntemon. With your power."

Izzy's eyebrows arched a bit and raised his black eyes to Matt. Matt nodded lightly, his grey-blue eyes full with new respect of him. "Yes, you have changed. Now, like Elanna, you have a strand of violet hair In your red hair." His eyes flickered to where his new strand was, and he grinned. "Very attractive, if you ask me."

Izzy smiled back weakly.

Elanna touched his cheek with her fingers, so tender and mild. Her voice was deeply sympathetic. "You must sleep now. Don't worry, Izzy . You will be all right."

Izzy's eyelids drooped down, and he settled his cheek on Matt's shoulder. He was so tired that he abruptly went to sleep. But the last words he remembered stuck to his mind, and they made him smile slightly even in his deep slumber.

I am the Warder.

TO BE CONTINUED!