"HOW IT SEEMS"
Part 1

Cool, soft grass. Shooting stars shimmering out of a celestial ball- the rising sun. The DigiDestined opened their eyes to the bright, morning light. Waking, they found their Digimon, gathered food, and ate breakfast. Everywhere they turned there were whispers of, "Ahhh, the perfect DigiWorld. No Dark Masters or evil Digimon." Finally, there was peace in the DigiWorld.
The eight DigiDestined commenced and set out to Gennai's house. They descended the stairs through the lake, where the water separated to make two solid walls, yet the fish still swam freely and the DigiDestined could reach through the walls of water and grab fish. Finally, they reached the last step and walked into Gennai's front yard.
"I see you have arrived," Gennai cheerfully greeted them.
"Yes, and we need your help!" Tai exclaimed.
"We need you to open up the gate so we can get back home," Joe interrupted.
"So it is a key you seek," Gennai concluded. "Then it is a key you will get. Come inside."
The children followed Gennai inside his house where he proceeded to lead them to a secret room where they all gathered. The room was triangle-shaped and had three very large bookshelves, one on each wall. In the middle of the room was an antique, wood desk. It was dark brown and appeared to be very sturdy.
"A key...a key," Gennai muttered, looking at his bookshelves with content. "You've already used the Digicards, so that won't do. You obviously can't use your crests seeing as they have been destroyed. Hmmm...this is going to be difficult," Gennai pondered for awhile, thinking hard.
"Well, Gennai, is there a key or not?" Matt impatiently questioned, a few minutes later.
"Yeah, Gennai. We want to go home," Mimi added.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Patience is a virtue, children...WAIT!! That's it!" Gennai exclaimed.
"What's it?" the others asked.
"Patience! Patience will unlock the gate," Gennai told them.
"How do we use patience to unlock the gate?" Izzy asked.
"Oh, that's an easy one. You must find it," Gennai answered.
"Find it! We can't FIND patience. Patience isn't solid!" Joe crazily worried.
"Settle down, Joe!" Sora tried to calm him down, unsuccessfully.
"Yeah, Joe, chill! So where do we find this patience and how does it work?" Tai asked, ready to accept any challenge Gennai could throw out.
"Well..." Gennai began.
He pulled out a very old book from the bookshelf adjacent to the door they came in (except now the door had disappeared and was replaced by the third bookshelf). The cover of the book had some writing on it, but none of them could make it out. Gennai opened to a page marked with a tuft of hair and began to read from the book.
He read, "When they come together, they will find it deep within, then it will shine with the light of a small one and the sky shall split and then they shall be returned to their home. The gate can only be unlocked once and when it closes, those left behind will find only darkness."
"Darkness?!?!" Mimi exclaimed.
"Deep within what?" Tai wanted to know.
"How can we find something when we don't even know where it is?" Matt asked.
"We'll find it! We can do anything!" T.K. shouted, glowing with hope.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Kari said, leading the way.
The DigiDestined and their Digimon started out, in search of the mystical thing Gennai called patience. The small brigand hiked over mountains, crossed through deserts, and even swam across water, but they just couldn't find the material object of patience.
"I've had it! We've been searching for days and can't find 'patience'. We might as well give up. I mean there's no point in this at all. Eventually we're just going to end up stuck in the DigiWorld anyway. I say we quit," Joe yelled out in exasperation.
"I'm with Joe. I mean, I'm tired and hungry and we're never gonna find 'patience'," Mimi said.
The two sat down on the side of the road exhausted physically and mentally, both too tired to go on.
"Come on you guys, get up. We can do it!" T.K. said, insistently pulling on Joe's arm to get him up.
"Yeah, T.K.'s right you two," Sora said and started pulling on Mimi.
Kari also joined the two and tried with all her mite to get Mimi up.
"Joe! Mimi! We've come so far; we can't give up now. We've gotta get home," Tai explained now also trying to get Joe up.
By this time, Izzy and all of the Digimon had joined the others trying to get Joe and Mimi up. Only Matt was left standing.
"Come on Matt! Help us!" Tai yelled back.
Matt still stood there and gazed at them blankly. A thin, glowing light surrounded him and the kids looked at him in awe.
Finally, he spoke, " Leave them alone, they need to find this for themselves."
Kari walked forward to Matt and took his hand and said, "Matt's right. They need to find the patience on their own. When Gennai said 'deep within', he meant deep within ourselves."
Kari also began to glow with the same light as Matt. The signs of their crests suddenly emerged from them and rose above their heads. T.K. joined hands with his brother; Tai with his sister and the same thing happened to them. Sora and Izzy joined and soon they too were glowing and had the symbols of their crests floating above their heads. Still exhausted and distraught, Joe and Mimi looked up at them.
"Come on guys! Find the patience within yourselves!" Sora encouraged.
"We can't do this without you, it would be impossible!" Izzy added.
"We believe in you," Matt and Tai said simultaneously.
Mimi slowly got up to her feet. She looked at her friends and their looks of love, courage, light, friendship, hope, knowledge, and most of all, the patience to put up with her. She walked over to them and joined their hands. She smiled as her crest of sincerity exploded from her and joined the other crests, hanging above her head. She felt so proud and loved. She had never felt this way before. Only Joe was left.
"Come on Joe! We need you! Come on!" were the random chants from the DigiDestined and their Digimon.
"Come on Joe. They really need you. I know that you can do it. You've been the best friend any Digimon could ask for, but you have to go home. This is the only way. These seven kids love you just as much as I do and they believe in you...and so do I. you can do it," Gomamon told Joe while a single, solitary tear fell down his cheek.
"Thank you," Joe whispered and rushed up to join the others.
"We knew you could do it!" Sora yelled.
"Yeah, good ol', reliable Joe!" Tai said.
Joe's crest appeared and hung proudly over his head and all eight of the crests suddenly began to spin together. The spinning crests shot up to the sky and the light around Kari made a beam and joined the crests. Then they exploded and a small, auburn gem fell from the cloud of smoke the explosion had created. Tai caught it and on the gem was a symbol to represent patience. It looked much like a combination of all the crests put together. It was beautiful, elegant, and dignified all at the same time.
"Prodigious!" Izzy said in wonder of the even that had event that had just taken place.
The DigiDestined could finally go home!
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