Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything associated with it. That honor belongs to Toei Animation, Saban, and Fox. I'm just a fan who needs an outlet, so please don't sue me.

Chapter Four:

Marc Immiri stood outside after school the next day, watching the people file out of the building. He spotted Anni Kamiya, this time walking with Matt Ishida. She's sure not short on admirers, he thought as he spotted red-haired Izzy watching the pair walk by with a frown. Reaching into his pocket and feeling the weight of the strange device, he decided to go back to Izzy's house to do some more surveillance.
He took a shortcut to the Izumi apartment and waited for Izzy to show up. Twenty minutes later, he decided that Izzy wasn't coming after all, and snuck in through the window once again. Stepping cautiously up to the computer, Marc reached into his other pocket and removed a different kind of device.
He knew what this one did. He'd slipped the tiny cellular modem out of his father's office that morning. It had been a touch job, but he hoped it would pay off. He set it to dial his computer's modem and to send all data, audio, video, everything to his computer, all without leaving a trace on Izzy's laptop. He carefully snapped the device into place. Now he'd be able to find out what was going on...

Izzy stood about half a block away from the Kamiya's apartment building. He gave a huge sigh as he watched Matt and Anni disappear into the building. But Matt reappeared a short time later, and Izzy's spirits rose. Maybe he would have a chance to spend some time with Anni today after all. He waited until Matt was out of sight and raced into the building, only stopping to catch his breath after he'd knocked on the apartment door.
Anni answered. "Hi Izzy!" she smiled.
"Hi Anni!" Izzy grinned, suddenly forgetting that he'd ever been upset. "Listen, my mom wants me to invite you over for dinner. I thought maybe we could go over to my house, catch up on things, maybe call Gennai..."
"I'd love to," Anni replied. "Hold on just a sec." She ran back into the apartment, calling to her new mom. She came back with her jacket in hand, ready to go.

Izzy looked at Anni's reflection in the screen on his laptop as she hovered over his shoulder while he typed. "It'll only be a second....there!"
An image of Gennai's head popped up on the screen. "Uh, hello?" the old man asked. Then he saw who was on the other end. "Oh, Izzy, Anni! Hello kids!"
"Hello, Gennai," Izzy said.
Anni broke into a big smile. "Hi Dad!" she greeted him. "How's life in the Digital World?"
"Oh!" Gennai exclaimed. "Have I got news for you, Anni-girl! I finally found out where you came from!" he proclaimed.
Anni and Izzy looked at each other, eyes wide, jaws hanging open. This was a shock to them both. Anni had finally resolved herself to the fact that she'd never understand the mystery surrounding her birth, and Izzy, well, Izzy had just oriented himself to Anni's being in the real world at all.
"What??" Anni gasped.
"Where?" Izzy asked.
Gennai chuckled. "Anni, my dear, you ARE where you came from."
Anni's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What, do you mean..."
Izzy finished for her. "You mean that Anni's from the real world?"
"She is," Gennai said definitively.
"But how..?" Anni seemed unable to finish a sentence.
"All those years ago..." Gennai started. "The Evil forces in the Digiworld were starting to decipher the prophecy of the digidestined. And they were more than a little worried. They had a big meeting to decide what to do about this coming threat.
"They decided to fight fire with fire. What they needed was an 'Anti-Digidestined' if you will, to fight the Digidestined on their own terms. They needed a human child.
"Meanwhile, a young blonde woman in Japan was taking her baby out for a stroller ride. From an alley, Ogremon came up and snatched the little child from her stroller while the mother looked inside a store window.
"When Ogremon got back to the Digital World, he had a hard time dealing with the little thing, and was all too happy when Leomon showed up and gave him an excuse to put down the child. The two fought, like they always do, and forgot all about the baby.
"A travelling group of Koromons discovered the baby there, and took it back to their village. And then I came...and well, you know the rest of the story. The baby was you."
There was a moment of silence. Anni appeared unable to move at all.
Fascinated, Izzy asked, "How did you find out?"
"After Anni came to me," Gennai explained, " I had my hands so full with child-raising that I had little time to delve into the mystery about her. It wasn't until she left that I started thinking of it again...I started asking around. I managed to coax the story out of Ogremon himself."
Hesitantly, Anni spoke up. "And...what of my real parents?"
Gennai sighed. "I don't know anything about them, Anni-girl. No one does. I wish I could tell you something."
Izzy perked up. "I think I might be able to find something out!"
"Good!" Gennai said. "Help her out in any way you can, Izzy. I have to go now." And with that, he disappeared.
Izzy, in full computer-genius mode, pulled up another screen. "If we search all the news archives for kidnappings, in those years, a girl..." A file appeared on the screen.
"There," Izzy proclaimed. "This must be it. Kay Elizabeth Tyler, that must be you." He continued reading. "Daughter of Arthur and Carole Tyler...Says you're from St. Louis, Missouri. You're American then...Born August 2nd, Disappeared the following March in Tokyo. Never found."
Anni leaned over his shoulder and pointed at the screen. "There's a news article here," she said.
Izzy clicked on the link and the headline pops up:

TWO CAR CRASH KILLS FOUR

"Among the casualties are Arthur and Carole Tyler, tourists from the US, who earlier that day had reported the disappearance of their infant daughter. Seven-month-old Kay Tyler has not been found..."

Izzy gasped. Anni looked up at him. "What?" she asked.
"That crash," Izzy breathed. My parents, my real parents, died in that crash."
"Your parents?" Anni said in surprise.
Izzy nodded. "I've seen this article before. My mom and dad showed it to me, after they told me I was adopted."
There was an uncomfortable silence between them.
"If you're Kay Tyler..." Izzy finally said.
"Then that means..." Anni continued.
"Your parents..."
"Died in the same crash as yours..."
"On the day you disappeared," Izzy finished.
Izzy suddenly made a connection in his mind. He turned and looked at Anni with a cold stare.
"I..." Anni started, then stopped as she noticed his glare. "Izzy, why are you looking at me like that?"
"You're it then," Izzy said flatly.
"I'm what?" Anni asked.
"You're the reason my parents died."
"What are you talking about?" Anni insisted. "I was less than a year old, I wasn't even there in the car! How could it be my fault?"
"You were kidnapped," Izzy said cooly. "In a foreign country. I'll bet your parents were distraught, worried. They probably weren't thinking about anything but how much they wanted your little girl back. Your father shouldn't have been driving a car."
"Izzy, stop it..." Anni said quietly.
Izzy wasn't listening. "And so along comes the other car, with my parents. And CRASH!" He clapped his hands together, making Anni jump. "They're all dead."
"This is insane," Anni shook her head.
"And why are they dead?" Izzy continued unimpeded. "All because of one little girl. Kay Elizabeth Tyler." He pointed at Anni. "You."
Anni looked angry now. "Are you saying that the crash was my fault? How can you say that? You don't know that myt parents caused that crash! For all either of us know, it could have been your parents that caused it. Your parents that kept my family from living long enough to find out I was still alive. That kept my from finding out what they were like. That took everything away from me."
"Your parents kept me from growing up with a normal family," Izzy said darkly.
Equally darkly, Anni replied. "Your parents kept me from having a family to come home to."
"No," Izzy shook his head. "They died because of you, Kay."
"Don't call me that," Anni gasped.
"That's who you are."
"No!" Anni insisted. "I'm Anni Kamiya, and I'm your friend."
"You're Kay Tyler, and you're the reason my parents are dead."
Anni reached out and slapped Izzy across the face. While Izzy is reeling from the blow, Anni stormed out of the room. Moments later, Izzy's mother pokes her head in the door.
"Anni just left," she said, concerned. "Is everything ok?"
"Just fine," Izzy said flatly.
Izzy's mom sighed and left.
As soon as Izzy was alone again, he angrily knocked a pile of stuff off his desk. Suddenly realizing that he'd left his Digivice in that stack, he got down on the floor to look for it. Not finding it on the floor, he searched in his desk. Not finding it there, he conducted a frantic search of his room, but came up empty.
"It's gone!"

Meanwhile, Marc had gathered all sorts of information from Izzy's computer during the conversation with Gennai. Crossing his fingers, he pulled up the connection information and put it through on his own line.
After a few moments, the same old man that had been talking to Izzy appeared on Marc's computer screen.
"Hello? Who are you?" the old mand asked.
"That's not important," Marc said smugly, pulling out the device he'd stolen from Izzy. "What you can tell me about this, is important."

End Chapter Four