Nobody seemed able to think clearly. After Mewtwo's body was found in the crater that used to be a forest, all hope seemed lost. Mewtwo had destroyed Missingo's body...but Missingo would be reconfigured eventually. When that happened...the digital world may not survive.
Biyomon had taken Mewtwo's death the hardest. It had taken quite a bit to get her away from the crater (one of the digimon ended up digivolving to keep from getting hurt). By the time the other digimon all woke up a few hours later, she was still in a state of shock. She hadn't said a single word the whole time and no amount of consoling from the kids seemed to be working. For the moment, the kids let her sit in the shelter, while they worked on a plan outside. Palmon insisted on staying with her, to try and comfort her.
"Biyomon?" said Palmon. She put a hand on the pink bird's shoulder. "I'm sorry..." Biyomon did nothing but look up at the green digimon sadly. Palmon looked at the floor to avoid seeing Biyomon's eyes. "I...I never would have guessed that Mewtwo would go that far," said Palmon. "He knew what he had to do...and he did it. And for that, I respect him more than ever." Palmon looked back into Biyomon's eyes with a light smile. "I think I see why you like him so much."
Biyomon sniffed and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "...He was really brave. Even before he considered us friends, he tried his best to protect us when we needed help," she said, referring to their time in the other world. "But he was so lonely...it made me so sad to see him giving so much for others, and not having anything for himself. I wanted to make him happy." Biyomon shook her head. "But now look what's happened. I wish I never asked him to stay here!"
"Don't say that Biyomon," said Palmon softly. "I'm sure if he had the chance to do it again, he would still come to the Digital World. Don't blame yourself for what happened."
"But...why did he have to do it? There had to be another way."
Palmon frowned. "I don't know if there was. Missingo seemed unbeatable...and since none of us could digivolve, there was no one else that could face him. Mewtwo did what he felt he had to do."
Biyomon choked her tears back. "If only he could come back...if only he were a digimon." Biyomon looked into Palmon's face. "Palmon...where will he go now?"
Palmon shrugged. "I don't know. Humans believe in a place called...'Heaven'. Maybe he'll go there."
"What do you think Heaven's like?" asked Biyomon. "Do you think it's nice?"
"...I think so. I think it has lots of clouds..."
Biyomon smiled lightly. "Good...Mewtwo likes to play in the clouds. Maybe it'll help him *sniff* ...remember me...*sniff*..." Biyomon started to cry again, and Palmon held her friend lovingly as she let her sorrow out.
****
"And that's the story," said the recently recovered Veemon. The others stood in shock at what they just heard. "Mewtwo thought the only way to stop Missingo was to cut off his source of power- the Memory Bin. So he sacrificed himself to try and get to the heart of Missingo's power."
"My god..." said Yolei wondrously. "How do you stop something with the power of all the dead digimon in the Digital World?"
"It's like fighting Apocalypmon all over again," said TK. "That monster was a match for all our Mega and Ultimate digimon."
"Now we have to fight a pokémon version, which is even worse," said Cody. "Missingo can still grow in power as he fights us, and thus control more and more energy. If we don't find a way to weaken him, he'll win eventually. There's no tie in this fight."
"So what do we do?" said Gatomon evenly. "It's been nearly three hours since Missingo disappeared, but the gate still doesn't work, so he must still be alive...or whatever you want to call it. Mewtwo may be stalling him, but he can't for long. His power isn't enough to match Missingo's for long."
"What can we do?" said Davis. "The Golden Armor has been used up, and now Missingo has its energy in that Bin of his. Now there's no way to reach a level even close to Missingo's. Even before that, we have to think of a way to fight him."
Tentomon and Gomamon were whispering amongst themselves. Eventually, they nodded and stepped forward. "There might still be a way to digivolve," said Gomamon.
"What is it?" asked Kari. "Right now, we're willing to try anything."
"Normally we need to use Crests and Armor to digivolve, but if there's free data lying around in this Memory Bin, we should be able to digivolve fairly easily," said Gomamon. "Send in the cavalry, turn up the power, whip Missingo's butt, end of story."
"Gabumon and I can reach the Mega-level then," said Agumon.
"If we're lucky, we may even manage to become Omnimon again. Between us and Mewtwo, Missingo wouldn't be any trouble."
"That's a lot of ifs, guys," said Yolei. "You're saying you can just make yourselves digivolve, with no digivice or anything?"
"Basically," said Gomamon. "Digimon do it all the time, but it takes a real long time, or a lot of emotion and strain."
Gatomon nodded slowly. "When I was Myotismon's slave, I became a champion level digimon like I am now. I don't need a digivice to stay at this level."
"We actually have digivolved without the Crests themselves before, during the battle with Apocalypmon," continued Gomamon. "We found out a long time ago that the digivices and Crests are just tools to focus energy, so there's no reason why this shouldn't work. The Golden Armor is the same way. All we need is to give it everything we've got. With the fate of the world on the line...that shouldn't be too much trouble."
"Interesting plan," said Cody, "but do you think it can work."
"There's a chance that it will," said Agumon. "I say we go for it."
"Me too," added Gabumon. "Missingo's got to pay! We can't let Mewtwo fight this monster on his own."
"I'm glad you're all psyched up, but I've got just one question," said Davis. "Just how are you getting to the Memory Bin."
Agumon looked at him sternly. "Do you have to ask?" Slowly, realization dawned on the others, as their plan became clear.
"You can't be serious," said Patamon. Agumon and Gabumon didn't look like they were playing around.
"But there's no guarantee that you'll come back!" cried Kari. "If you go and destroy the Bin, you might be trapped! You'd be..."
"...That's why Agumon and I are the only ones going," said Gabumon.
Agumon looked at the other digimon. "If this doesn't work...that leaves the rest of you to handle Missingo."
"I'm going to," said Veemon. "Magnamon has some unfinished business to settle with Missingo."
"Veemon, you can't," said Davis.
"Veemon, don't be an idiot!" yelled Gatomon. "If you go, you might not come back! Ever! Don't you get it!"
Veemon looked at her angrily. "Don't you think I know that!" Gatomon faltered slightly. She hadn't expected that from Veemon. "I can't just sit here and let others fight for me! Please, you've gotta let me do this!" Agumon and Gabumon looked at each other, and nodded silently.
"All right Veemon, you win. You can come along, but you'd better pull your weight around."
"Don't worry about that," said Veemon. "I'll pull twice my weight around if I have to. Just leave a piece of that pokémon pipsqueak for me."
Agumon turned to Gatomon and Patamon. "That leaves you guys to lead the others if we fail."
"You can count on us," said Patamon. Gatomon nodded silently.
"Please guys...you can't do this," said Kari sadly. "We don't want to lose you..."
"Hey, don't worry. We'll be back," said the orange digimon. "Just have faith."
Davis looked at his digimon friend. "Veemon..."
He smiled, winked and gave a thumbs-up. "Don't worry Davis...I'll be back. All of us will."
"And guys?" said another voice. Everyone turned to see Palmon walking into the group.
"Yeah Palmon?"
"...Try to bring Mewtwo back...if you can. For Biyomon's sake."
Gabumon smiled and nodded. "Of course. You don't even have to ask."
"...So how do you want to do this?" said TK softly.
Gabumon looked at Gatomon. "...None of the armors are recharged yet, but you're already a Champion digimon."
Gatomon shook her head. "No…"
"Please, Gatomon. You have to," he answered. "Nobody else can do it."
"Please...I can't-"
"Gatomon," said Agumon. "You have to do it. We don't have much time."
Gatomon shut her eyes and cringed at the thought of killing her friends. As she shook her head no repeatedly, a hand touched her chin and lifted it up. Gatomon looked into the eyes of the hand's owner.
"Don't feel bad Gatomon," said Veemon softly. "You'll still have Patamon around to keep you company," he said jokingly. He kneeled until he was eye level with the smaller digimon. Gatomon looked away, but found herself looking into his eyes again. "Please...?" he said, smiling one of his more playful smiles.
Gatomon eventually answered him, although she spoke barely above a whisper. "...Alright." She grabbed Veemon in a fierce hug, which the digimon nervously accepted. "But you're coming back..." She looked at Agumon and Gabumon. "...All of you."
"We will," said Agumon.
"You can count on it," said Gabumon.
"Save me some catnip," said Veemon. He slowly let go of Gatomon, and stopped kneeling before her.
"...Good luck, you guys," said Davis. "We'll be waiting for you."
"Find Mewtwo quickly," said Cody. "He's probably not doing too well."
The three digimon nodded. "We'll find him...and we'll cut Missingo down to size. Make sure the pokéball is ready to greet him in case he comes back."
Gatomon flexed her claws, which shined as the moonlight hit them. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." She trembled as she stood in front of Veemon, trying to do her trademark attack, but looking into his eyes paralyzed her with guilt. Finally, she got her resolve up again, and leaped at the blue digimon, claws flashing. "Lightning Claw!"
Davis and the others turned away abruptly as the attack hit dead on, making a particularly nasty noise as it cut through Veemon's body. Gatomon started to tremble as she removed her hand from Veemon's torso. Before he even hit the ground, the digimon had depixelated, getting gasps of shock from the other digimon.
"Veemon..." said Davis weakly. Kari held his head to the side, while she sadly watched Gatomon continue in much the same way with Agumon and Gabumon. Three Lightning Claws...three downed digimon...three painful gasps as they disappeared. When the last one, Gabumon, had disappeared, Gatomon fell to her knees, cradling herself and weeping bitterly at what she had just done.
****
It was a place without a name, but every digimon knew what it was, deep inside. Many times when people die, they say there was a bright light that they floated to on their way to paradise. For a digimon, it was not quite as wonderful.
Veemon blinked his eyes a few times. The pain had been horrendous, but brief. Letting Gatomon kill him had been one of the toughest things he ever had to do. As could be expected, it worked in doing what they set out to do.
"Are you guys okay?" said Veemon. His voice echoed in the blackness around him, but there was nothing for it to bounce off of. The only visible objects were Agumon, Gabumon, and a pillar of light that extended upwards as far as the eye could see. At the top was a glowing blue circle that looked like a pool of crystal clear water. The three digimon were on a rocky shard of land that looked like it had been plucked from the Digital World itself. As Veemon's vision got slightly better, more shards of land became visible. Some of them were green with grass, while others were brown like mountain rock. The piece of land they were on was the biggest, and about as large as a football field. They couldn't see what was beneath them, but from the sound of rushing wind and the smell of hot lava, they could guess what was down there.
Agumon managed to stand up on his feet, although he still felt disoriented. "Ooh...whoa...dizzy..." Gabumon and Veemon managed to get to their feet as well. All three stared in awe at the massive pillar of light.
"We must be inside the Memory Bin," said Agumon. "It reminds me of when Gabumon and I went into the Internet a while back."
"You went into the Internet?" asked Veemon in awe. "I bet that was cool."
"I'm sure you'll see it someday," said Gabumon offhandedly.
Veemon blinked his eyes a few times. "I don't know if this is good or bad...but there's something familiar about this place."
"All digi-eggs come from here," said Gabumon. "So I guess we all have seen this place before...but just don't remember."
"...What...are...you...doing here?" The three digimon looked over at the source of the voice. When they hopped over there (the gravity was a lot different than what they were used to...kind of like walking on the moon), they found Mewtwo lying on the ground in a heap of blood-matted fur.
"Mewtwo!" Veemon helped the pokémon to a sitting up position. The others noticed a weird circle around Mewtwo's head...kind of like a halo.
"Veemon...how did you guys get here?" Mewtwo coughed and grunted in pain as he held his stomach. "Did Missingo get through?"
"No, he didn't come back. We came to help you fight," said Agumon.
"Urgh...what?" Mewtwo pulled himself to his feet, and the others saw just how bad in shape he really was. His body was covered in burns, cuts, bruises, and dried blood. He seemed barely able to stand, and was having trouble breathing. Whether it was from internal injuries, exhaustion, or both, they couldn't tell. "Why did you come?"
"Look man," said Gabumon, "you can't handle this guy by yourself. Look at where that's gotten you so far. Good thing you're already dead."
Mewtwo shook his head. "I may be dead, but I still have my spirit." Mewtwo fiddled with the golden halo above his head, which sparked as he touched it. "Unfortunately, if you die here, your spirit energy gets further decomposed until your molecules can't remain intact."
"So basically...if you 'die' here, you're completely gone?"
Mewtwo nodded weakly. "Yes. In your case, you'd be returned to individual bits of data with no inbred consciousness, while in my case my mental energy would cease to exist. In either case, Missingo can destroy us completely if we're not careful."
"So that's why you're beat up, despite being an angel," said Veemon. "Just great..."
"I wouldn't call myself an angel, but you're right about the other part," answered Mewtwo. "I managed to fend him off and seal the Memory Gate. He can't get out now, unless he manages to destroy the gate itself...and he's getting closer to doing just that by the second."
"Memory Gate?" said Gabumon.
Mewtwo nodded as if he thought the digimon already knew about it. "Yeah, the glowing pool at the top of this pillar." Mewtwo looked up, and so did the others. "The Memory Gate leads back to the physical world, while the gate below us..." Mewtwo motioned downwards, "...is less inviting. I'm not inclined to find out where it leads too." Mewtwo gazed upwards, and the other digimon followed suit. "Missingo is still up there, pounding away at the gate. He left me for dead a while ago."
"You should be alright as soon as Magnamon gives you a good recharge," said Veemon. "Speaking of which, let's get going! That gate won't last forever!"
"If we manage to defeat his spiritual form, he'll be completely destroyed," said Agumon. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused. A glow surrounded him, and the other two digimon did the same. "Let's do it!"
****
*THOOM*...*THOOM*...*THOOM*...
Missingo felt a strange itch in the back of his mind. The glowing blue star that represented Missingo's spirit stopped blasting the Memory Gate and extended his senses towards the source of the disturbance, far below...
"Strange...that feels like..." Missingo looked down, and three distinct glows could be seen...no, four now.
"What's this..." The glows shot towards him at breakneck speed, quickly closing the gap between them and the Memory Gate.
"...Hahaha...so he is still alive...and he has some new friends with him."
In a rush of air, the four fighters halted before Missingo and the gate. Two Mega-level digimon, a Golden Armor digimon and the psychic pokémon stared at him with determination, waiting for his first move.
"Be careful," said Mewtwo. "No matter what, we have to keep the gate closed."
"How many times do I have to kill you, insect!" Missingo's voice rumbled like a hurricane. The monsters went on the attack as one. Wargreymon swiped at the blue star and slammed it off into space, as Metalgarurumon leaped with a howl and launched a blue stream of dragon breath. The attack exploded upon impact with Missingo, but seemed to do little damage as the pokémon let out a pulse of force that knocked the wind out of the two Mega-digimon.
Mewtwo and Magnamon flew at the creature, back to back. The two powered up at the same time and focused their energy into a dual Quick attack. The two sped forward at an incredible speed, and together they rammed straight through Missingo's glowing body. The star-like creature seemingly shattered into several smaller globes, but quickly reformed into one being again. Missingo glowed brightly, and a shower of energy blasts flew towards the two monsters. Magnamon and Mewtwo both were hit by several explosive blasts, sending them tumbling into the space around them.
"Heh heh heh...too easy."
*A crackling can be heard off in the distance...*
"Huh?"
"HYPER..."
*A glow of tremendous energy, forming in between two odd-looking hands...*
"When will you learn to die!"
"BEAM!" A tremendous blast of energy exploded from Mewtwo's fingertips and shot straight at Missingo. The attack never actually hit the monster, but seemed to come to a screeching halt scant feet away from him.
"Wha-!"
Mewtwo's Hyper Beam collected into a ball of energy in front of Missingo, and returned at high speed right back at him. Mewtwo cried out in pain as his own Hyper Beam exploded against his body.
Metalgarurumon rocketed behind Missingo and brought a powerful claw down on him, knocking him down several hundred feet into the space below. Wargreymon used the opportunity to release a Terra Force attack, and Magnamon unleashed a volley of missiles with his Magna Blast. The two attacks hit their target dead on, though they knew it would only stun him.
"Mewtwo, are you alright!" called out Magnamon. He flew up to where the pokémon angel was holding his head.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. All this heavy duty fighting is starting to "beef me up", so to speak."
"This isn't working. He's too strong for us," said Metalgarurumon. "We've got to become Omnimon if we want to actually hurt him."
Down below, Missingo roared angrily, and the space around them reverberated with his anger. "You will suffer!"
"Mewtwo, Magnamon, buy us some time to digivolve!" said Wargreymon. The two monsters looked at each other and nodded. Mewtwo and Magnamon flew down as fast as they could, screaming a war cry as the two Mega-digimon worked on gathering the energy they needed to make the jump to the next level.
Missingo called on his massive power and unleashed a gigantic beam of light that was over ten feet wide. The attack headed straight up towards Metalgarurumon, but he was unable to move because he was too busy trying to digivolve. Mewtwo zoomed up and quickly caught the attack as best he could; the energy was almost too much for him. He was pushed upwards as he tried to stop the attack, like a boulder trying to stop a train. Meanwhile, down below, Magnamon unleashed his powerful and deadly Magna Explosion attack, shattering Missingo's energy-based body for the moment.
Finally, Mewtwo's back hit Metalgarurumon's body, but the pokémon kept on trying. Using all his strength and willpower, he managed to stop the entire attack. As Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon started to dramatically increase in size, Mewtwo let the energy dissipate around him and zoomed back down to aid Magnamon, who was having difficulty against Missingo now that his energy had been drained from his attack.
"Magnamon! You have to digivolve to something stronger!" shouted Mewtwo as he pummeled Missingo with several Shadow Balls to give the digimon a chance to recover.
"There's nothing I can digivolve to! This is as high as I can get!"
"You fools! You cannot defeat me!" The pillar of light that held all the free digital energy started to hum and glow rhythmically, and Missingo started to turn bright gold as he called on every last ounce of power in the pillar.
"No...stop him!" Mewtwo and Missingo launched two energy attacks at him, but the instant they hit Missingo, they dissipated into digital data. Before they could gasp in disbelief, Missingo shot two ultra-powerful Hyper Beams at them, knocking them forcefully to the shard of earth below with a loud crash. Moments later, Missingo zoomed up towards Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon.
"Look out!" warned Wargreymon, but they weren't able to get out of the way in time. Their digivolution was canceled, and the two were rocked by a massive shower of Hyper Beams that sprayed from Missingo. The digimon shouted in pain as the attacks knocked them to the ground below as well. With their last ounce of energy drained, the two reverted back to Agumon and Gabumon.
Silence. Missingo laughed at the weakness of those around him. "Pitiful monsters." Missingo returned his attention to the Memory Gate, and used his increased power to start slicing a hole through the mystical device.
Mewtwo painfully tried to sit up. The halo above his head was getting dimmer by the minute as his will started to weaken. He looked up to see Missingo, bringing all his power to bear on the doorway that led back to the land of the living. Around him, the three digimon lay motionless almost completely spent of energy. All that they had left was barely enough to keep them together. Quickly losing his strength, Mewtwo tried to Endure, but he didn't have the energy to do it. He slowly drifted into unconsciousness as the Memory Gate above started to shatter.
****
Biyomon tossed and turned on the bed she was borrowing. After staying up all night and going into shock, her body was ready to drop a few hours ago. She tried to sleep peacefully, but her dreams were filled with bad things...things like Missingo.
"...Biyomon."
Biyomon cringed in the bed. Her dream was starting to get worse...she saw Mewtwo, in pain. In her dream, the two met on a dark, stormy cloud under an evil-looking night sky. Such a cruel trick her mind was playing on her...
"Mewtwo..." Biyomon leaped towards the pokémon, but she fell right through him. Her eyes turned teary as she tried again, each time meeting the same result.
"Biyomon...I failed you."
Biyomon fell in front of Mewtwo, sad that she couldn't touch him. "What do you mean...?"
"Missingo...has won."
"Don't say that!" cried Biyomon. "I know you can win! I believe in you!"
"...I'm sorry. I'm just not strong enough. None of us are."
"But..."
"Biyomon..." Mewtwo's form kneeled down to as close to Biyomon's height as he could manage. "I...wish I had never brought this disaster to your world. If only I had done something to stop this...I should never have come to the Digital World."
"No!" cried Biyomon. "...I want to know that you don't regret coming here. I want to know that you liked being with us. Liked being...with me."
Mewtwo sighed deeply, and looked up at the digimon. "...I loved every minute of it." The pokémon looked into Biyomon's tear-filled eyes, and felt a tear of his own slide down his cheek, though he didn't know how. As the last of his energy started to fade away, Mewtwo leaned closer to Biyomon, whispering softly in her ear. "...Goodbye."
Biyomon cried out to the image of Mewtwo as it faded away from her dream. "Mewtwo, don't go! I love you!"
****
*ping*
Missingo sensed an awesome amount of data bytes being corralled, despite the fact that he was supposed to be in control of all the energy. As strange and impossible as it seemed to the powerful virus...another consciousness was taking control.
"What is this...?" Suddenly, a pink glow from the pillar shined like a newborn star in the heavens. The amount of power was awesome... "How can this be? What's generating all this power?"
Down at the base of the pillar of light, a pink light was flowing from Mewtwo's body. Emblazoned on the pokémon's chest was a familiar heart-shaped symbol. The light shown on the digimon around the fallen pokémon, and the intensity of the light awoke them from their unconsciousness.
"What's...happening?" said Veemon weakly. "That light..."
"It looks like the Crest of Love," noted Agumon. "But...how? What happened to him?"
"Did he...no, he couldn't have," whispered Gabumon to himself.
Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes and got to his feet. His body was in no condition to move around, but the pokémon had managed it. His eyes were wet from the tears coming from them, but he seemed to still carry the same determination he always had. The Crest of Love on his chest glowed brightly and rhythmically like a real heart.
"...If you think this frightens me, you're wrong!" Missingo shot a blast of energy like a comet at the small landmass, roaring angrily as it sped straight down. Without tensing a muscle, Mewtwo looked at the comet coming towards them with indifference. Before the digimon could register what was happening, the attack came to a crashing halt the instant Mewtwo lifted his arm. Without so much as a scratch, the pokémon powered up and dashed up towards Missingo and the gate.
"...What! That's impossible" Mewtwo powered up and flew straight at the enemy pokémon like a warhead. He sped straight into the living virus like an antibody, melting the evil monster away at his touch.
...For you, Biyomon.
"AHHHHH!!" With his last words echoing through the emptiness of that space, Missingo's body exploded as the power of the Crest of Love shattered the evil that was Missingo. Pink and blue sparkles showered down from the point of explosion, along with the data that Missingo had stolen. Slowly, the pillar of light started to resume its normal color. In the center of the explosion, Mewtwo floated quietly.
A loud crackle of thunder could be heard as the Memory Bin started to reset itself. The digimon managed to start flying again as a burst of adrenaline rushed through their bodies. The four monsters zoomed up towards the closing gate portal. As they neared the exit, they felt a painful tug in their bodies as the pillar tried to absorb them.
"Argh!" shouted Gabumon. "The entire place is going to be reconfigured!"
Mewtwo didn't waste time thinking about the situation, and reacted instinctively. As the Memory Bin began to implode on itself, he used his powers to teleport the others through the portal before he was engulfed. Just as they disappeared in three distinct flashes of pink light, Mewtwo felt his body disassemble with the rest of the Memory Bin into digital bits of information.
Restarting...
****
*DootDootDoot*
"What's that?" said Izzy. As he watched, the entire gate program seemed to be rewriting itself write before his eyes. After the initial shock wore off, Izzy realized what happened.
"They...they did it! They did it!" Izzy cheered a preliminary victory cheer, and punched the keys for his e-mail.
----------------------------
Back in the Digital World...
4:12 AM
----------------------------
*BeepBeepBeep*
Yolei pulled out her D-terminal. "Hey, a message from Izzy." The others looked at the little screen with her, as she slowly started to smile.
"They...did it?" said Gomamon uncertainly.
"They did it!" shouted Davis. "Woohoohoohoo! Yeah! I knew Veemon could do it!" Davis jumped around in celebration, while the others breathed a sigh of relief.
"Izzy says the gate should be working again once it fixes itself," said Yolei. "We can go home in a couple of hours."
"But...where are they?" said Gatomon. "...Did they make it?"
Davis' pocket started to glow, much to his surprise. He reached in and pulled out his D3, which was beeping wildly. "My D3...what's happening?" He held it out, and from the glow came several yells and shouts. Eventually, three digimon fell out of the D3 onto the ground in a heap, coughing and sputtering.
"Veemon!" shouted Davis happily. "You guys made it!"
"Agumon! Gabumon!" cheered their digital friends. Kids and digimon alike hugged the returning heroes happily, while the three digimon groaned and moaned painfully. When the torture session/hugfest was over, they helped carry them into the shelter where they could rest. As they walked in, Biyomon jumped out of bed and ran up to them.
"Did you find him?" she asked. The three digimon didn't answer for a while. Gabumon was the one who spoke first.
"...Sorry, Biyomon. He didn't make it through the gate. He's...he's gone."
Biyomon stared in disbelief at Gabumon, before falling to the ground. "No..."
Agumon kneeled down next to her. "Biyomon...don't be sad. He saved us all. I don't know how...but he did it."
"It was the Crest of Love," said Veemon. "We all saw it on Mewtwo's body. He had...changed, at the last moment."
"The Crest!" exclaimed TK. "But...how is that possible?" Biyomon started to cry again, though the others didn't know exactly why.
****
For the next few hours, they were essentially doing clean-up. The digimon that lived within the city they evacuated returned, and the digimon started the process of replanting the forest that Missingo and Mewtwo destroyed in the fight. The dam was more or less in good shape, so they would worry about it later. When the Digidestined and their digimon were satisfied that they had helped them enough (around 6:30 AM), they went to the nearest TV to return home.
Davis yawned deeply. "Oh man...that was the longest night of my life."
"Too bad we missed the dance," said Yolei. "I was looking forward to it."
Davis began to cry and complain. "I won't get to see Kari's dress! Noooo!" Kari giggled, and the others sweat-dropped.
Kari kneeled next to Biyomon. She gave her a deep hug, which the bird returned. "...Are you going to be okay?"
Biyomon nodded a little. "*sniff*...I'll try."
"I'll tell Sora what's happened. I'm sure she'll come to see you."
"Thank you..." said Biyomon softly. She separated from Kari, who stood up and backed away slowly.
"We'll be here with her," said Palmon. "Don't worry." Kari nodded.
"We'll keep in touch...after we get a full night's sleep," said TK.
"Same here," answered Agumon, who was already half asleep.
Cody looked around. Nobody seemed willing to say it was time to go. He decided to take the initiative. "Okay...I'll open the gate." Cody pulled out his digivice. "Digiport-"
*BeepBeepBeep*
Cody paused, and Davis pulled out his beeping D-terminal. He read the message...but didn't say anything for a while.
"What is it?" asked Yolei.
"...It's Elecmon."
TK stepped towards him and looked at the message. "Is he back?"
Davis swallowed a lump in his throat. "...Yes. But there's another egg with him...and it's already hatched."
****
----------------
Primary Village
6:40 AM
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Elecmon looked at the empty basket with dread. It was larger than a normal basket for a baby digimon, which worried Elecmon to know end. He wanted this madness to end...
"Elecmon!" The digimon turned around to see the five digidestined and their five digimon running towards him.
"I'm sorry...it's too late. Whatever was in this egg has already left."
Veemon growled angrily and slammed a fist into the ground. "Darn it!"
"I thought we won!" growled Davis. "Don't tell me he's still alive!"
"Guys..." Cody said quietly.
"I mean, come on! We've done everything we could and he still is alive!"
"Guys..." said Cody, slightly annoyed.
"What are we going to do now!" yelled Davis.
"DAVIS SHUT UP!" shouted Cody. Everyone went silent. "...Look." The boy pointed at the basket. Everyone followed his finger, but didn't quite get what he was referring to.
"Cody...what about it?" said Armadillomon confusedly.
Cody kneeled down and picked up a small, nearly invisible object from within the basket. He held it up for the others to see...and they gasped in shock.
It was a strand of fur.
