"So who wants to start?" asked Joe.

The group was sitting around amidst the ruins along with a few other surviving digimon they had found, including Deramon, a Pumpkinmon, some Numemon, and a Woodmon. The black cloud that hung in the sky seemed to be continuing to expand.

"Well what exactly do you want to know?" asked Deramon.

"How about starting with what happened?" asked Gomamon.

"We were attacked, obviously," said a Numemon.

"Well I could figure that much out," said Gomamon. "But who was it that attacked you? Why did they pick this place?"

"It was terrible," said Woodmon. "There were so many of them… they seemed to close in all around us. If one went down there were always to more in its place. It was… too horrible to describe. It was a nightmare."

"We don't know why this happened to us," said Pumpkinmon. "Just unlucky I guess. They say other towns have been hit just like ours, but we figured those were just rumors. I guess we found out the truth too late."

"You say this has happened other places too?" asked Yolei.

"Yeah, that's right," said a Numemon. "A big city down south a ways got it first. Then there was a Koromon village a few miles north of that. Then there's us."

"Hmm…" mused Izzy. "A pattern. Sounds to me like these guys are heading north."

"Any idea what's up that way?" asked Cody.

"Just the biggest desert you could ever hope to see," said Pumpkinmon. "Ain't nuthin' up there 'cept sand and sky."

"Now that's not true," said Deramon.

"You mean that old place?" asked Pumpkinmon. "Why would anyone go up there to see that thing?"

"Those two fellas who came here last week seemed pretty interested," said Deramon.

"Wait, what are you two talking about?" asked Izzy.

"Just some old abandoned building out in the middle of nowhere," said Pumpkinmon. "Ain't no one been there for a real long time."

"Don't forget those two guys," said Deramon.

"What two guys?" asked Armadillomon.

"Well about a week ago, these two fellas showed up here," said Deramon. "One of 'em was a Rookie; dragon-type I believe. The other one was… well… I've never seen anyone like him before. He looked kinda' like y'all."

"You mean human?" asked TK.

"Well, I've never seen a human before myself," said Deramon. "But I'd have to say yes; he was human."

"Then they're still alive!" said Cody. "Jack and Stormdramon are both still alive!"

"Not too likely," said Pumpkinmon.

Cody's excitement fell immediately.

"I don't know about humans," Pumpkinmon said. "But there ain't a Rookie alive that could make it through the desert on the small supply of rations they took."

"But couldn't they've made it to the building?" asked Tentomon.

"Well, maybe," said Pumpkinmon. "But even if they found it, and that is one big if, I don't even know if they'd be able to find food there."

"Well we can't give up hope," said Joe. "Say Pumpkinmon, do you remember which direction they came from?"

"Sure," said Pumpkinmon. "They said that they'd come up from the south."

"Then I don't think we've got much time to waste," said Joe.

"What do you mean?" asked Armadillomon.

"Well, think about it," Joe said. "It sounds a lot like this path of destruction is following Jack and Stormdramon. If I'm right and they passed through the other city and the Koromon village, then those evil digimon are hunting them down."

"That's a distinct possibility," said Izzy.

"But that still doesn't tell us where all the others are," said TK.

"One step at a time," said Izzy.

"So I take it you're heading into the desert," said Deramon.

"As soon as we can," said Yolei.

"Well then we could offer you a little help," said Deramon. "The rest of us will scrounge up some supplies for you guys. It probably won't be a lot, but hopefully it'll get you to where you need to go."

"That's so generous!" said Cody. "I wish there was some way to repay you."

"You've done more than enough already," said Deramon. "It was you guys that came along and rescued us. Plus, you're our only hope to go after those guys who destroyed our home."

"We appreciate any help we can get," said Yolei.

"Although," said Deramon. "There is one favor you could do for me."

"What's that?" asked Gatomon.

"Well, I have this friend; Tsunomon," said Deramon. "For some reason he was taken shortly before they leveled the city. I really doubt he's still alive, but could you guys keep an eye out for him? I really just want my friend to be safe."

"Not a problem," said TK. "We'll bring Tsunomon back as good as new!"

"Oh thank you all so much!" said Deramon joyously. "Now you guys get a little rest and we'll try to get some supplies together."

"We'll be waiting," said Patamon.

And so the remaining DigiDestined had a nice chance to rest for what they knew would probably their last chance in a long while. After a short time though, they were met by their knew friends with a bag loaded down with foodstuffs, a first aid kit, a couple canteens with water, a flashlight, and a compass. The digimon were very apologetic about not being able to find more, but the DigiDestined insist that they not worry about it too much. With supplies in tow and a few flying Champion digimon underfoot, the DigiDestined and their partner digimon headed north into the desert.

As the day wore on the sun began to sink in the sky. The black cloud that loomed over the desert, motionless and eerie, had blocked the sun from view all day long, but failed to cover it as dusk neared. Gentle winds rolled over the sandy dunes. Beneath the surface though, this all went completely unobserved. Only the cold touch of steel, the smell of stale oxygen, and the distant droning hum of machines could be heard. Willis lay against the wall of a small prison cell that was occupied by other DigiDestined, most of whom refused to say anything to him. They had spent the last hour or so without as much as a word to one another. Michael, being the only one there besides Willis to remain himself, had talked with the other blonde for a while, but now he was just sleeping. Willis had long since given up trying to talk to the others. Instead he just listened to the terrible sounds of some creature in the next cell. The beast's groans were anguished; tortured. The sound made Willis quite sad, and yet somewhat sympathetic. Whatever the creature was, it was clearly suffering.

"Are you alright over there?" Willis finally called.

The groans suddenly stopped.

"I'm just asking because-"

"Hunger…" grumbled the creature in a scratchy, somewhat demented voice. "Need… free."

"You're hungry?" asked Willis.

"Need be free," said the creature. "Get data. Be strong. Stop enemy. Revenge."

"Do you know who's holding us here?" asked Willis.

"Enemy… strong," groaned the creature. "Too strong. Need be free… or need destroy."

"Don't worry buddy," said Willis. "Somehow, I'll get us all out of here. Then you and I can take the 'enemy' down together."

The creature chuckled. "You strong. Good friend. Need strong friend for fight enemy."

"So who exactly are you?" asked Willis.

The creature sighed. "No talk. Bad."

"Well how can you and I be friends if-"

"QUIET! NEED DATA! FEED OR DIE!"

"Look, I just-"

The creature began to throw itself around the room, smashing into walls and slashing at whatever it could get its claws into. The force from the creature's movements shook the wall of the cell and generated terrible banging noises. After several minutes of this, Willis heard the door at the end of the hall slide open. The creature silenced itself almost immediately. Ominous footsteps approached the creature's cell, the sound echoing throughout the prison area. Finally, the footsteps stopped.

"Acting up again?" asked a cruel voice outside the creature's cell.

Silence.

"Don't try to deny it," said the voice. "I know you even better than you know yourself. I know what brings you pain, and I have no reservations about using that knowledge."

More silence.

"Fine, play that game if you want," said the voice. "I certainly don't mind doing this. I just figured you might want to make it a little more fun."

"Revenge…" grumbled the creature. "Soon…"

"Ah, there we go," said the voice. "So good to see that I still have a little of your spirit left to crush. I think I'll leave it intact for my big finish when you get to see me attain what I have sought after for so long."

"Will stop you," said the creature.

"Heh," coughed the voice. "You're not the first to say that, and you probably won't be the last. Let me assure you that I WILL succeed. No one can stop me now, NO ONE. I will bring the Digital World under my sway, or see it burnt to ashes around me."

Willis then heard some movement outside. A moment later there was a sound like an explosion, followed by a tortured scream from the creature.

Isn't it amazing the power of this little thing?" asked the voice as the creature continued to scream. "Soon, I will have one that's even stronger. Of course you won't be alive to see it, but I assure you it will be glorious."

The creature's screams fell silent, as its body could be heard collapsing to the floor. Without another word, the figure outside could be heard approaching the cell in which the DigiDestined were held.

"Is he-?" asked Willis when the footsteps came to a stop.

"No," said the voice through the small window. "He just passed out. I find his threshold for pain to be disappointingly low."

"You monster," said Willis. "I'm gonna'-"

"You're gonna' what?" asked the voice. "I certainly don't foresee any threat posed by some child in a box."

"Just you wait," said Willis. "Sooner or later, my friends are going to come after you, and you aren't going to survive."

"Actually, they're already on their way," said the voice.

"What?" asked Willis.

"They're coming right for us," said the voice. "But believe me, they're the ones who won't survive. I won't be defeated; not when I'm so close."

"So close to what?!" demanded Willis.

"To completing a plan started one thousand years ago," said the voice. "To bringing the grand scheme to fruition. To resurrecting him."

"And what happens when he gets here?" asked Willis.

"The end of all things," said the voice. "And with the White DigiEgg in my possession, even he will have to bend to my will."

"You're insane," said Willis. "Do you really think we're going to let you win?"

"There's nothing you can do to stop me," said the voice. "I already possess many of the tools I need. The dark spore I have recently harvested is a source of incalculable dark energy. The Crest of Corruption, which lies in my possession, is the key to unlocking the energy of the spore. All I need now is to corrupt one more of the high crests, and then I can use it to focus the power of the spore. Gathering the raw, dark energy needed is the only troublesome prospect in the entire process. Doing the rest is child's play."

"You demented son of a-"

"Hold your tongue," said the voice. "I could kill you with a thought, but I want you to live just long enough to see my ultimate victory. Don't think for a second though that I would hesitate to eliminate you should you become a nuisance."

The figure swiftly turned and walked back down the hall. Willis slumped to the ground, pondering the hopeless situation he was knee-deep in.

Hours later, beneath a completely black sky, Joe, Izzy, TK, Yolei, Cody, Gomamon, Patamon, Gatomon, Armadillomon, Hawkmon, and Tentomon lay around a campfire. Deep blue desert stretched out in all directions. Izzy and Joe were the only ones still awake.

"Think we'll find it tomorrow?" asked Joe.

"Hard to say," said Izzy. "But if we do I'm willing to bet we'll need our sleep tonight."

"Hey Izzy, I want to ask you something," said Joe.

"What is it?" asked Izzy.

"Well I know we were a little irritable earlier," said Joe. "You know, right before we came back to the Digital World. But that was because we were all in a big hurry. Anyway, now that we have the time, I'd like to know how you solved the whole problem of getting us here to begin with."

"You really want to know?" asked Izzy.

"Of course," said Joe.

"Alrighty then!" said Izzy happily. "As I recall, I was just about to explain about phase warps. You see, a phase warp is a region wherein a massive instability causes different planes of reality, such as the real and digital worlds, to sort of overlap. Some of the other worlds we've seen include the dark ocean and that place that Oikawa went where wishes become reality. Anyway, we've encountered phase warps very often in our travels. They allowed digimon to appear in our world four years ago, they allowed Kari to travel to the dark ocean, they allowed Black Wargreymon to appear in Kyoto, and they allowed any number of other strange events. Of course, phase warps can also be incredibly destructive too. For example, Ken's base had direct access to the dark ocean, allowing its evil energy to spill into the digital world. That concentrated evil caused an imbalance to form inside the base, resulting in a phase warp that grew larger and larger until it threatened to explode, taking a sizeable chunk of the Digital World with it. We also saw phase warps appearing when the destiny stones were destroyed. All of the destruction caused by these phenomena is because phase warps cause dramatic, sometimes dangerous distortion in reality. There's no telling what a phase warp could do with enough power.

Anyway, I got us here through the use of static phase warps. These are phase warps that don't really do much. They have all the potential of a normal phase warp, but they are simply inactive. I believe these phase warps have manifested themselves in the form of the clouds we see above us. As these clouds grow, that indicates that the instability in this region is increasing, in turn creating more phase warps. If we find the center of these warps, we should find our enemy.

As for how I utilized them, well, it's quite simple. Do you remember back on Server when we first encountered Datamon? I used his signal to transport us near to his location. My theory at the time was way off, but I had unknowingly tapped into a phase warp. Using the knowledge I acquired on that day, I was able to activate one of the phase warps on the outskirts of the massive field of them we see above us. Activating one of the ones towards the center would've been too dangerous, as there are so many that are packed so tightly together, there would've been a good chance of us being splintered across the universe. So that's how we-"

At this point Izzy noticed that Joe was fast asleep.

"…Got… here…" mumbled Izzy.