Disclaimer: Only own Jesse, Heromon, the Crest Weapons, the other original DigiDestined, and a few of the Crests. Other than that, I don't even have two bucks to rub together.

And though I wish I was able to write the full month of school that takes place between the last chapter and this one, I'm unable to for various reasons. The least of them being that I am not that good at writing such scenes. Which probably explains why one of my DBZ fics isn't doing so well.

~~

Twenty days have passed since Jesse has joined the older DigiDestined at Odaiba High School under the guise of Jacob to observe them for selecting who would be going on an important mission. A multi-part mission. He had just finished forging the new Crests, Tags, and Crest Digi Eggs the night before. And so far he had managed to become a good friend of the newer generations of DigiDestined without revealing who he was.

Unfortunately, he had terrible luck in avoiding Jun Motomiya, Davis' big sister. She had the potential to become a DigiDestined, and he could easily make her a DigiDestined if he wanted to, but he did NOT want the headache he would cause for himself in doing so. So the older Motomiya sibling remained a civilian who was 'in the know' about Digimon.

Also, several Digimon had attacked various parts of the world in this time. Most were random Digimon attacks, but the ones in Odaiba never were. Jesse had intervened a time or two, revealing some of his partner's powers as well as his own ability to fight like a Digimon. Needless to say, the other DigiDestined were stunned, though Izzy was going crazy over the idea of a human being able to fight like a Digimon. He used a technique he had learned, specifically it was that of a Bakemon's, to slightly shapeshift to make it seem that he still had his goatee. He did not want them making any judgments that he and Jacob looked alike before he revealed himself to them.

As Jacob, he had unfortunately been caught up in a few Digimon attacks. He had managed to pass off the story that he knew little about Digimon. In a short coma during Myotismon's attack and the subsequent appearance of the Digital World afterwards. Eye surgery was his excuse for not knowing about MaloMyotismon shrouding the world in darkness. As for Digimon appearing all over the world the previous Christmas, he simply shot that off as being in a cabin out in the woods with his family for a cozy Christmas. It had not been easy convincing them of any of his stories, but he had managed it.

And finally, the American DigiDestined Willis had arrived in Japan. He didn't go to school with the others, as he had graduated from college when he was only eleven. He had been taking classes at Colorado Tech when he was eight. He still hung out with them after school though, giving 'Jacob' a chance to get to know him and draw out the essential energies he would need to create Willis' Tag and Crest as well as summon his Golden Digi Egg of Destiny so Willis would be able to use it whenever he desired. Of course, that meant Jesse would also have to reforge his Digivice into a D-3, but that was easily done.

It is the final day of Jesse's charade. Today he would reveal himself to the DigiDestined. His plan was simple: gather the DigiDestined together, drop the disguise, and hand out the Tags, Crests, and Crest Digi Eggs. Too bad fate was working against him again.

On the way to school, a Digimon realized ten feet in front of him. It was a Karatenmon, a Wizard Digimon that wielded a pair of straight swords. It had a pair of raven-like wings sticking out of its back, purple chest armor and arm and leg gauntlets and a purplish-black helmet on its raven-like head. Jesse knew its attack to be Cross Sword, a strong attack for an Ultimate level Digimon.

Jesse had to instantly summon Heromon and his Crest Weapon of Honor to control the Karatenmon. Currently, Jesse and Heromon were doing fairly well, but this Karatenmon was having its power boosted by an outside source and was able to keep up with both Jesse and Heromon, who normally could take on most Ultimate level Digimon and have a fair chance at defeating them.

The battle was currently taking them dangerously close to Odaiba High. If Jesse could not redirect the battle, then the civilians at the school were in trouble. And that was unacceptable. Jesse had not sacrificed living alone, fighting almost nonstop for two million years to allow civilians to be harmed in any way.

"Heromon, we gotta break away long enough for you to digivolve!" Jesse calls out as he blocks another slash from Karatenmon.

"I know," Heromon grunts as he takes a kick to the gut, "but we got nothing to distract him with."

"Bunny Blast!" "Blazing Ice!" A pair of small blasts, one a small ball of energy, the other a spray of flaming ice, hit Karatenmon in the back.

"That's it Terriermon, Lopmon!" It was Willis, the strongest American DigiDestined next to Jesse himself, and the only DigiDestined with two partners. Of course, Terriermon and Lopmon were twins, though all of the other cases of someone having one of them, a sibling was the partner of the other. Usually it was a twin. He stood up to level with Jesse's chest. His blue eyes showed that he would not be running from this fight. His short- cropped blonde hair bristled, showing that the kid did know that he was in over his head.

"Terriermon, Lopmon, digivolve!" Willis cried out as his Digivice began to glow, sending energy to Willis' two partners. The two rabbit-like Digimon begin to glow as they are filled with energy from the Digivice.

"Terriermon digivolve to Gargomon!" Terriermon calls out as he becomes the gun-hand toting Gargmon.

"Gargmon, Champion level Animal Digimon, Vaccine type, attacks are Gargo Laser and Animal Uppercut," Jesse mutters as he spots the strong Champion. Gargomon was one of those Champion level Digimon who were stronger than the norm, capable of dealing with even an Ultimate level Digimon if it was not too powerful. But it was out of its league with this Karatenmon.

"Lopmon digivolve to Turuiemon!" Lopmon calls out as he becomes his true Champion form, not that of Endigomon, the Digimon that had hounded Willis and Terriermon for four years after the defeat of Diaboromon. Turuiemon was a lean Digimon, wearing a yellow gi top and pants and a blue bandanna. Turuiemon was purple, with the tips of its ears and its muzzle being white. It had on a pair of dark red gloves with special claws attached to them that could snap from their resting position against the back of the gloves to the forward position, where Turuiemon could hack and slash with them.

"Turuiemon, Champion level Animal Digimon, Vaccine type, attacks are Turuie Claws and Turuie Tempest," Jesse mutters to himself. Turuiemon was also one of those rare Digimon with natural strength high on the listing for their digivolution level. Turuiemon was a perfect partner for Gargomon. Gargomon excelled at long-range combat whereas Turiemon excelled at close range combat.

"Gargo Laser!" Hundreds of small energy blasts erupted from the gatling arms of Gargomon as Turiemon leapt into the air, its claws snapping into attack position.

"Turuie Claws!" Turuiemon's claws began to glow a fierce orange as he came down on Karatenmon, grabbing Karatenmon's head with his left hand and slashing into its chest with the other claw. Karatenmon is knocked back by the force of the punch, but is otherwise unfazed by it. He proceeds to headbutt Turuiemon and then ram his fist into the Champion's gut, his sword still in hand. He then spins and delivers a spinning back kick to Turiemon's gut that sends it flying into Gargomon.

"Warrior Beam!" A beam of yellow-green energy rips into Karatenmon's left wing. Silently the Ultimate cursed himself for forgetting that all a Digimon needed was a few seconds to digivolve, particularly from one level to the level above it. And he had just allowed one of, if not the, most powerful Rookie's to digivolve into its even more powerful Champion form. The Karatenmon knew that it might not be able to withstand the power that Warriormon possessed on its own and still be able to carry out its mission.

Karatenmon turns around to face his opponent. Warriormon was humanoid in shape, possessing a formidable-looking double-edged sword with digital symbols etched into the blade. For the most part he looked human, only he possessed full torso armor that was designed like Magnamon's chest armor, only silver in color instead of gold. He bore a helmet designed like the ones that Angemon and Angewomon wore, but it covered his jaw as well, leaving his mouth uncovered. Shoulder-length blonde hair flowed underneath the helmet. At his waist was the scabbard for the sword that was currently being gripped with both hands. Silver armored leggings adorned his waist and legs, and mesh-metal boots adorned his feet. Ornate gauntlets were attached to his forearms.

"So you're the fabled Warriormon, are you?" Karatenmon asks, sounding unimpressed.

"I am," Warriormon replies, "I may only be a Champion level Digimon, but I am one of the most powerful Warrior Digimon of all. You just felt my Warrior Beam. And seeing as how it singed your left wing fairly badly at only half power, I'd say you're screwed."

"So you think!" Karatenmon growls before leaping at Warriormon, hacking with the blade in his left hand, which is promptly blocked by Heromon's sword. Karatenmon then executes a spinning back slash aimed at Heromon's head. Heromon ducks, the jumps and delivers a dropkick to Karatenmon's back.

Karatenmon recovers quickly, thrusting in an 'X' pattern at Heromon with both blades. Heromon simply backflips, kicking the blades up in the process. He lands on his feet and leaps at Karatenmon, checking him into the side of a nearby building.

Warriormon raises his left hand, the palm facing Karatenmon and the thumb folded in. "Warrior Beam!"

The yellowish-green blast of energy rips out of the center of the palm, aimed right at Karatenmon.

"Nail Bone!" A spiky yellow blast of energy collides with the Warrior Beam attack, causing them both to explode. Jesse looks up to see a SkullSatamon perched on a nearby abandoned bus and groans. SkullSatamon were strong, Ultimate level Ghost Digimon. Their attacks were Nail Bone and Skull Hammer. SkullSatamon were also among the fastest Digimon of all. And with Karatenmon to distract him, Warriormon was at a disadvantage.

"About time you got here!" Karatenmon snarls at SkullSatamon as he picks himself up and gets back to his feet, "I almost got deleted!"

"But you weren't, so shut up!" SkullSatamon growls, "I'll take care of the human. Take this and eliminate his partner."

SkullSatamon throws a dark sphere of energy at Karatenmon, who absorbs the energy through his chest. Karatenmon begins to glow a blackish-purple color as his power level goes up high enough to rival Warriormon's.

"We may be in trouble," Warriormon mutters as he feels the change in Karatenmon's power, "whatever that was, it just boosted Karatenmon's strength even higher."

"You're right!" Karatenmon snarls as he leaps forward at Warriormon, hacking and slashing with both blades at incredible speed.

"Nail Bone!" Jesse jumps to the side to dodge the energy attack sent at him from SkullSatamon. This was definitely not good. Jesse knew he might possibly have the strength alone to defeat a Digimon as strong as SkullSatamon, but he definitely did not have the speed. But he didn't have a choice.

"Skull Hammer!" Jesse backflips to avoid SkullSatamon's staff. The staff sends up sparks of dark energy as it collides with the ground, creating a small indent in the street. Jesse strikes, slamming his Crest Weapon of Honor, a double-edged sword with the symbol of Honor on it, onto the middle of SkullSatamon's staff. The staff does not yield to the mighty blade and SkullSatamon swings his staff up, attempting to get Jesse off balance.

It doesn't work and Jesse delivers a spinning roundhouse kick to SkullSatamon's torso, knocking the dark Ultimate back several feet. He follows up by dashing at SkullSatamon and leaping into the air, trailing his sword along SkullSatamon's torso as he leapt into the air. The attack does little to affect SkullSatamon and he merely aims the end of his staff with the orb directly at Jesse and attacks point blank.

"Nail Bone!"

~Odaiba high~

The day had barely started and already Tai was bored. And Jacob had not shown up yet. Which was strange. Izzy had told him that Jacob had always arrived at school before he did, and Izzy arrived right as the night janitors were leaving! What was more, Tai could faintly hear the sounds of what could only be a rampaging Digimon. He sincerely hoped that Willis was nearby and could handle it. If not, then hopefully Jesse would appear again and take the threat out.

A large flash of yellow catches Tai's attention. He turns his head to see something heading straight for the classroom. Before he could raise a yell of alarm, it crashed right through the window and slammed into the wall on the other size of the room, then slumped to the floor.

Tai and the other DigiDestined that were in the class rushed over to whatever it was only to be shocked when they saw their friend Jacob standing back up. When 'Jacob' sees the DigiDestined, his face slumps.

"Aw crap," 'Jacob' curses. And it was not his voice that came from him. It was Jesse's voice.

Every one of the DigiDestined were completely dumbfounded, not having expected that.

"Listen, I'll explain later, duck," Jesse says. The DigiDestined do as he says just in time to avoid another Nail Bone that slams into Jesse and throws him through the wall and into the classroom across the hall, startling everyone in that class as well.

Jesse picks himself back up and shakes his head to clear it. He looks around to see the stunned expressions on his classmates' faces. "Eh, sorry about that. Don't have time to explain right now."

Jesse runs back across the hall to see SkullSatamon standing at the window he had crashed through a minute ago.

"Ah, I see you're still alive," SkullSatamon laughs, "good, good. I wanted to feel your blood of my when I killed you up close and personal."

"You won't get the chance," Jesse snarls, twirling his sword around until the tip was pointed at the ceiling, "Spectral Force!"

The Crest Weapon of Honor begins to glow a ghostly shade of green before taking on the characteristics of a Knightmon's Berserk Sword attack. Jesse slashes at SkullSatamon, launching the attack. SkullSatamon jumps back and avoids the attack. Jesse runs and leaps out the window, startling everyone in the class. The classroom was on the second floor of the school.

Jesse lands seamlessly on the ground, his joints only slightly protesting the shock of the landing. He hadn't been able to keep up his physical training regimen during his time at school, observing the DigiDestined, and his body had somewhat gotten out of shape. And that small amount of conditioning could mean life and death right now. The partners of the other DigiDestined were at their homes right now, and if SkullSatamon got past him he could easily kill the older kids of the second generation of DigiDestined. And if that happened, then the worlds could easily be doomed.

Jesse leaps at SkullSatamon, his sword ready to strike. SkullSatamon blocks with his staff, then whirls his staff around, deflecting Jesse's blade and countering with a strike aimed at Jesse's head. But two million years in the Digital World had honed Jesse's fighting reflexes beyond a normal humans, and he backflips midair, kicking SkullSatamon's staff up into the air.

When Jesse lands, he calls out 'Spectral Force' and sends a blast very much like SkullSatamon's very own Nail Bone right into SkullSatamon. The blast drives SkullSatamon back and damages him, but the Digimon recovers quickly. He snaps back with his Skull Hammer attack, but it is met with Jesse's sword, effectively blocking the attack.

Jesse drops and kicks SkullSatamon's legs out from under him with a low spinning sweep kick, then continues spinning and delivers a spinning roundhouse kick to the side of SkullSatamon's head. Shrugging the attack off, SkullSatamon drives his left fist into Jesse's gut, sending him crashing into the side of the school, gasping for air.

"Gargo Laser!" Hundreds of tiny bursts of energy hit SkullSatamon's right side. He turns disdainfully to see Gargomon and Turuiemon ready for battle.

"Nail Bone!" The yellow bolt of energy careens towards Gargomon, but is knocked aside by a 'Spectral Force' attack that was very similar to SkullSatamon's own Nail Bone. The 'Spectral Force' hits the Nail Bone and the two attacks explode.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jesse demands hotly, "you two are no match for an Ultimate of SkullSatamon's speed! You're not strong or fast enough!"

"So says the human who fights Digimon on his own," Gargomon retorts.

"I've been doing this a long time, you nitwits!" Jesse yells as he runs over to join Gargomon and Turuiemon, "you two are fairly inexperienced. You have a lot of potential power, but if you get yourselves deleted and reformatted, it'll stunt your growth tremendously! Wormmon had tremendous power before he got himself reformatted when he offered himself up to give Magnamon the energy he needed to stop Kimeramon. He could have taken on this SkullSatamon no problem, but getting reformatted cost him greatly."

"Hey, we can take care of ourselves!" Turuiemon tells Jesse.

"I'm sure you can, Jesse says evenly, "against other Champions and against Rookies. Perhaps even against some Ultimates, but not this one!"

"Then let us help you," Gargomon says, "your obviously not strong enough to take out this SkullSatamon on your own either."

"I am, but it would cost me a great deal that I would rather not pay," Jesse admits, "so I guess I will have to work with you. Gargomon, you keep peppering SkullSatamon with your Gargo Laser. Turuiemon, you and I will try to keep him relatively penned down where Gargomon's Gargo Laser can accumulate some damage, hopefully slow him down more."

"Gotcha," Turuiemon says before leaping at SkullSatamon, "Turuie Claws!"

Turuiemon does a double slash with her claws, sending two waves of energy at SkullSatamon. SkullSatamon is about to leap out of the attacks way, but he instantly gets peppered with Gargomon's Gargo Laser. Jesse does a double slash with his sword, calling out 'Spectral Force' once again, this time his attack taking on the characteristics of Snimon's Twin Sickle attack. The distraction of the Gargo Laser lasts long enough for Turiemon's attack to hit SkullSatamon unawares. He turns to glares at the Champion level Animal Digimon only to be hit by Jesse's attack.

The trio keeps this up as best they can, sometimes either Turuiemon or Jesse's attack would get through, but it was still evident that Gargomon's Gargo Laser was slowly wearing SkullSatamon down. Jesse could already see small chinks in the Ghost Digimon's armor beginning to form. Taking this as a good sign, Jesse decides to up the ante of his attacks.

Focusing a bit more power, he changes from using an attack like Snimon's Twin Sickle to an attack that was used by an ancient Digimon of legend, Beowulfmon, sometimes called AncientGarurumon, by raising his sword, tip pointed at the sky and the blade parallel to the ground, above his head, to use the attack known as Frozen Hunter.

"Spectral Force!" Around Jesse, a the greenish energy of his attack forms around him until it coalesces into the basic form of a wolf with glowing ruby red eyes. Jesse brings the sword down until the tip is pointed at SkullSatamon. At that moment the energy wolf charges at SkullSatamon, slamming into the Ghost Digimon with incredible power. The attack drives SkullSatamon back until he slams into the side of a school bus. SkullSatamon slowly picks himself out of the wreckage and leaps into the air.

"Skull Hammer!" Jesse and Gargomon both leap out of the way as SkullSatamon's staff slams into the concrete right where the two of them had just been, forming a small crater.

Jesse hits the ground and rolls back to his feet, facing SkullSatamon and holding the hilt of his sword with both hands, one hand on each side of the blade. Energy gathers at the base of the blade and slowly travels up the blades length until it reaches the tip, where it forms a ball of greenish energy. "Spectral Force!"

The attack launches from Jesse's sword, hitting SkullSatamon in the side of the head and blasting right through it. A second later SkullSatamon bursts into data and the data disperses.

"Well, that's that," Jesse mutters, "now to go and help Warriormon."

Warriormon appears beside Jesse. "No need. Karatenmon did become stronger with that black energy filling him, but he was still no match for me."

"Good," Jesse says, "but now I'm gonna have to figure out what my next move is. I can't go to school now. But how am I gonna contact the DigiDestined?"

"Jacob, what are you talking about?" Jesse turns around to see Willis standing behind him. "What happened to your voice?"

"Funny story that," Jesse says, fidgeting, "just tell the DigiDestined to gather at the usual place and I'll explain all. Voice no theories, got it!"

"Got it," Willis says, though it is evident that he has a few suspicions now. With a nod, Jesse and Warriormon rush off and open a Digi Port, entering it and disappearing into the Digital World.

~later that day~

The younger DigiDestined (Tk, Kari, Cody, Yolie, Ken, Davis, and Willis) are gathered at the usual spot for meetings: the center of Odaiba Park under a large tree. They are waiting for the older DigiDestined and Jacob to show. Willis has not yet said anything about Jacob helping out in the Digimon attack, though he no longer thinks it is Jacob. As per 'Jacob's' wishes, he has not said anything about his suspicions.

"Hey guys." It was Tai and the older DigiDestined, sans Jacob.

"Hey, where's Jacob?" Davis asks.

"Not sure," Tai answers, "there was a Digimon attack earlier. Jacob was part of it. Thing is, he was fighting the Digimon. Like Jesse does."

A voice floats down from the branches of the tree they were sitting under. "And I'm sure Izzy figured out that the two of us are one and the same."

The DigiDestined gasp and look up. Jesse flips on the branch he was on and hooks his legs at the knees around it, balancing himself hanging upside down now. Half his face is like it normally is now, the other half is under his disguise that he uses to continue looking like he used to.

"Is he Jesse, or is he Jacob?" Jesse asks with a crazy grin, his face changing fully into his old face then into 'Jacob's' face as he speaks then changing back to half and half, "or maybe neither name belongs to him and are just alias'. Or maybe he doesn't exist at all."

Jesse lets go of the tree branch and twists mid-air to land on his feet. He straightens himself and grins at the bewildered looks the DigiDestined were giving him.

"Well, now that I've had my fun shocking all of you," Jesse says, letting his disguise go and looking like 'Jacob', which was now how he really looked, "I suppose its time for some explanations."

It was Davis who managed to speak the one thing on each DigiDestined's mind. "Wha- how?"

Jesse laughs. "Confusion is to be expected. To put it simple, I had various things that needed to be done without your knowledge. I've been working on creating your Tags and Crests once again and I needed to be near you to draw out the special energies that you exert during your normal routine. Well, normal now anyway. Each of your Crests represented the true essence of what you lacked when you first became a DigiDestined, or something that you did not accept existed in the cases of Davis and Willis. Except for Kari and Tk, all of you lacked a true understanding of what your Crest symbolizes when you first became a DigiDestined."

"What do you mean?" Yolie asks, "and Cody, Davis, Willis, and I don't have Crests."

"Every DigiDestined has a Crest," Jesse says, "there are many in the world with the same Crests as you, but their Crest power is not as great or pure as yours. Also, those of you with Crest Digi Eggs have a bit of the power that is in that Crest Digi Eggs nature. You could have one of those Crests if you are needed to fulfill a prophecy saying that there should be, oh, two Bearers of the Crest of Reliability and two bearers of the Crest of Sincerity."

"So that's why you deceived us?" Izzy accuses.

"Oh no, that wasn't my only reason," Jesse replies, "but I'll get to that later. Right now, I'm just gonna be giving you your Tags and Crests."

Jesse holds up six golden Tags and tosses them to the six older DigiDestined. He produces six more and tosses them to the younger DigiDestined. He pulls out one last Tag and tosses it to Willis. Each DigiDestined catches their Tag and examines it.

"Hey, where are the Crests?" Tai asks.

"Ken already has his Crest," Jesse says, "I do assume that you have it, right Ken?"

"I do," Ken says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the Crest of Kindness. It begins to glow a pale purple and then floats out of Ken's hand and slides into Ken's Tag.

"One down, twelve to go," Jesse says, "okay, those of you that have wielded a Crest before, it will be easier for you to get yours back. Just focus on your Crest, the exact emotions you were feeling when it first activated. Think hard and let that feeling seep through your entire body. Let it permeate your entire being. Make it so that you cannot tell where the border between your entire being and your Crest is unable to be defined."

Tai, Matt, Izzy, Sora, Joe, Mimi, Tk, and Kari each think about when their Crests first activated.

Tai reflected back to when Etemon was seemingly invincible, when he had merged with his Dark Network and gained phenomenal power, he did not back down. His courage gave Greymon the strength needed to digivolve to MetalGreymon. MetalGreymon's power was incredible, even for an Ultimate. The power MretalGreymon had had been enough to destroy Etemon. And the source of that courage had been the knowledge that he was in the Digi World to fight evil like Etemon, and had the power to do it. Tai let that feeling seep into him as his Crest of Courage began to reappear within his Tag and glowed with phenomenal light and power.

Matt thought back to when he and Joe had been stuck in Digitamamon's restaurant, trying to work off the bill they had accumulated. He could have left at any time, but he didn't because Joe needed him. Joe had been a klutz, dropping dishes and the like, increasing the amount of money they had to work off every day. But Matt stuck by him. He would not abandon someone in need of help. When Tai and Tk showed up, he was happy. Tai had returned and he had brought Matt's little brother with him. And then Digitamamon was revealed to be a bad guy. Garurumon and Ikkakumon had been overwhelmed by the evil egg until Joe had to save Tk from some falling masonry. That had been when Matt realized that Joe had always been trying his hardest and been a true friend. That feeling, the true, pure friendship, had overwhelmed Matt and that was when his Crest of Friendship had first began to glow. At that moment when this feeling is relived, Matt's Crest of Friendship reforms within his Tag and glows a fierce blue, radiating power and camaraderie.

Izzy thinks back to when he and Tentomon had been tricked by Vademon. Izzy's had given up his curiosity and Tentomon had de-digivolved all the way back to his Micro form, Pabumon. Pabumon had given it his all to get Izzy his curiosity back, to break the spell Vademon had over him. Pabumon succeeded, and together they regained Izzy's Tag and Crest, Digivice, and curiosity. Then Vademon attacked them. Izzy had been extremely angry with Vademon tricking him into giving up his desire to learn. Then he felt a strange warmth emanate from his Tag and Crest, and light burst from his Digivice and Crest in unison and struck Kabuterimon. The moment the memory of when Izzy's crest first lit up was relived, Izzy's Crest of Knowledge reforms within his Tag and glows a deep purple, radiating power and Izzy's desire to learn.

Sora thought back to when she didn't even think her crest of Love would ever light up. She hadn't thought that she knew what love was because of the way her mother had treated her. Then Biyomon had gotten hurt and Myotismon attacked. None of the other Digimon were able to digivolve past Champion and they were getting beaten badly. Biyomon wanted to help, but since she was hurt Sora wouldn't let her. Then Biyomon said the exact same thing Sora had once said to her mother in a similar situation. Sora had then realized that her mother had loved her all along, and she let Biyomon digivolve and join the battle. Birdramon was still hurt, and since Myotismon was so powerful she couldn't fight at her best. But the more Sora thought about her relationship with her mother, the more she realized that she did know what love was, and her Crest began to radiate with the love she felt in her heart. As Sora remembers this important moment in her life, her Crest reforms within her Tag and glows a warm red, radiating love and strength.

Mimi thinks back to when her Crest first activated and Togemon digivolved into Lilymon for the first time. They had been captured, along with almost everyone else in Heighten View Terrace, by Myotismon's minions when they were searching for the Eighth Child. She and Sora had come up with a plan to escape, but their escape had been blocked by DarkTyrannomon. DarkTyrannomon's Dark Fire Blast had been too much for the cactus-like Togemon to handle and was being sorely beaten. But Mimi's sincere faith in her Digimon being able to win lit up her Crest and gave Togemon the power she needed to digivolve into the classy Lilymon. At that moment, within Mimi's Tag her Crest of Sincerity reforms and glows a vibrant green, radiating with honesty and strength.

Joe thinks back to when his Crest of Reliability had first glowed. He and Tk had been riding on Ikkakumon to get to Heighten View Terrace to help the other DigiDestined. Along the way they had met MegaSeadramon and got in a fight. MegaSeadramon easily overpowered Ikkakumon and knocked Joe and Tk off Ikkakumon's back and into the water. Tk couldn't swim, but Joe swam down and rescued Tk, bringing him back to the surface and getting him to latch onto a large piece of driftwood. Joe had explained to Tk that he was responsible for him, he had promised Ms. Takaishi that he would look out for him until everything was over. But he had hit the water headfirst and quite hard when he had been knocked off of Ikkakumon's back and he began to lose consciousness and slipped back into the water. At that moment, his Crest of Reliability had begun to glow with a steady dark gray light and filled Ikkakumon with the power he had needed to digivolve to Zudomon. As Joe remembers this, his Crest of Reliability reforms within his Tag and glows dark gray, radiating with Joe's maturity and inner strength.

Kari thinks back to when her Crest had first lit up. It had happened when she had just gotten it. Myotismon was overpowering everyone and there was no hope in sight. Even Angemon, Tk's partner who had saved the DigiDestined from Devimon, as well as MetalGreymon, her brother's partner and had stopped Etemon, could not beat the Dark Ultimate. Wizardmon had just given his life to save Gatomon and herself. Kari had been scared, but she knew that the other DigiDestined were counting on her and Gatomon to help. Myotismon was evil. He had to be stopped. He was darkness itself in Kari's eyes, and she knew what the best way to fight the darkness was with: light. Her Crest had glowed with the phenomenal power of light itself, and it gave Gatomon the strength she needed to digivolve into the Ultimate level Angel Digimon, Angewomon. As she remembers this, Kari's Crest of Light reforms within her Tag and glows with pink light, radiating the purity within Kari's soul and the strength of spirit that the light represented.

Tk thought back to when his Crest had activated for the firs time. His had been the last of the crests among the older DigiDestined to activate, and it couldn't have activated at a more crucial time. He and Kari were on Spiral Mountain, the last of the DigiDestined. Only Patamon had not been turned into a keychain by Piedmon, and only Kari and himself were not keychains like the other DigiDestined. Angemon was being beaten badly by the Dark Mega. After all, he was only a Champion Digimon. Piedmon was two digivolution levels above Angemon. But Tk clung to the knowledge that they could not lose. As long as even one DigiDestined was free, there was hope that Piedmon would be stopped. But he also knew that they were the last\, best chance that the Digital World had. As that knowledge filled his heart, his Crest of Hope began to glow with golden radiance, filling Angemon with its pure power and energizing him to be able to digivolve into the most powerful Ultimate level Digimon that any of them had ever seen: MagnaAngemon. As this memory lingers in Tk's mind, his crest of Hope reforms within his Tag, blazing with golden light, radiating such power and hope that even Jesse felt rejuvenated by the power.

The older DigiDestined lift their Tags up to look at them in awe and wonder. Davis, Cody, Yolie, and Willis all watch in amazement as the Crests reformed within the Tags.

"Pretty neat, don't ya think?" Jesse asks, "took me a month to figure out how to do it properly. If your Crests are ever destroyed, just do what you did just now and they will reform. Your Crests were at their absolute strongest when they first activated, and the feeling you have that activates them was at its peak at that time as well. All in all, it seemed like the best way to go about bringing your Crests back."

"It was my idea," a voice says from above the DigiDestined. They look up to see Heromon and Wizardmon sitting on a tree branch. Wizardmon continues. "It was a fairly effective trigger, if I do say so myself. Reliving the moment your Crest first activated brings back the emotions and feelings from that time. For a Digidestined, these memories are more intense because they are intertwined with life and death struggles, so your memories of those moments are very clear."

Wizardmon and Heromon drop down from the tree branch and land gracefully.

"Jesse, everything is in place," Heromon says, "we just need your input for the final phase of this mission."

"Mission?" Tai asks.

"Your done already?" Jesse asks, surprised, "you contacted them and they're part of this? Memories restored and everything?"

"Phoenixmon is awaiting whoever you send to here at Elecmon's village," Wizardmon says, "Tapirmon and Digitamamon are at Digitamamon's restaurant, the one with the Veggiemon working there as a supervisor."

"I always hated that place," Jesse grumbles, "food was always lousy and the customer service was horrid. And it wasn't cheap either."

"I remember eating there while he had Matt and Joe slaving away," Heromon chuckles, "I believe Joe cooked our meal. Only decent meal I ever got at that place."

"Speak for yourself," Jesse gripes, "I ended up with someone else's order."

"You knew we were there and didn't help us?" Matt demands angrily.

"Couldn't do a thing," Jesse replies, "forbidden by the higher powers. Wouldn't have done anything even if I could've. You needed to grow from the experience. And besides, Gabumon was there so you were never in a lot of danger. Not from Veggiemon at least. They are always notoriously weak."

"I don't remember you," Gabumon remarks.

"Sure you do," Heromon laughs, "remember the silent duo in cloaks?"

"Oh, so that was you," Gabumon says, "how did you hide your scent?"

"That's easy," Jesse laughs, "we'd just been in a fight with a lot of other Digimon and their scents got rubbed off on us during the fight because it was at such close quarters. That's why you didn't recognize our scents."

"So, you gonna give the newbies their crests?" Wizardmon asks.

"Sure," Jesse says, drawing his sword, the Crest Weapon of Honor. The blade was plain, but very well taken care of. "Spectral Force."

Mystical green energy forms into seven spheres of energy that shoot forth from the blade of the Crest weapon of Honor and converge within Davis' Tag, forming his Crest. The symbol on the Crest was the same as the one on the Golden Digi Egg of Miracles. It was the crest of Miracles.

"Now that was cool," Davis says as he inspects his new Crest.

"Spectral Force." This time, the energy converges in Yolie's Tag, forming her Crest. The symbol on her Crest was an equilateral triangle with a heart in it, the Crest of Compassion.

"This is my Crest?" Yolie states as she looks at her Crest in awe.

"Spectral Force." This time, Cody is the recipient of the energy as it merges within his Tag, forming his Crest. The symbol on Cody's Crest was of three circles touching one another in a triangle position, but not interconnecting.

"This is quite amazing if I do say so myself," Cody states.

"Spectral Force." This time, the energy rushes into Willis' Tag, forming his Crest. Te symbol on his Crest was the same as the one on the Golden Digi Egg of Destiny. He was the bearer of the Crest of Destiny.

"So this is a Crest," Willis remarks as he studies his new accessory.

"Willis, Davis, you both know what Crest you possess," Jesse says, "Davis, you possess the mighty Crest of Miracles. As such, you have access to the power of the Golden Digi Egg of Miracles. It will not be easy to learn how to access the strength of your Crest, but since you can access the Golden Digi Egg of Miracles so easily, you may be able to harness its awesome power. Same goes for you Willis."

The two Golden Digi Eggs appear in Davis and Willis' left hands, then shine and disappear in streaks of golden light into Davis' D-3 and Willis' Digivice, which promptly turns into a white D-3 with an orange outline.

"Yolie, Cody, you two possess the Crests of Compassion and Justice, respectively," Jesse says, "Yolie, Samantha Cruger, the lone female of my group of DigiDestined, wielded the power of the Crest Weapon of Compassion. Learn the strength of your Crest and keep it close to your heart. A time will come when it is needed. Cody, you possess the power of the Crest of Justice, one of the rarest Crests. Only a handful are rarer and they are the Crests of Hope, Light, Life, Faith, Spirit, Wisdom, and Honor. But you possess more of the spirit of the Crest of Justice than most other DigiDestined possess of their respective Crest power. You are a young man with a firm belief in justice. Knowing what I know of you, this is not surprising. I sense that you will bear your crest with pride and bring out its power when we need it the most. You know how to unlock your Digi Eggs. It takes far less power to unlock a Digi Egg than it does a Crest."

A Digi Egg appears in Yolie's left hand. It is blue-green in color and is shaped roughly like a cylinder, but the top of it is conical. The Crest of Compassion is emblazoned in the middle of the Digi Egg. It vanishes in a streak of yellow light into Yolie's D-3. Cody's Digi Egg is more spherical, shaped a bit more like a normal egg than the odd shape some Digi Eggs were. It was black with red-gold stripes. The Crest of Justice was emblazoned on the top, displaying the fact that it was the Crest Digi Egg of Justice. It disappears in a streak of reddish-orange light into Cody's D-3.

"Ken, you already possess your Tag and Crest," Kesse begins, "but you have never used a Crest Digi Egg before. You pioneered the voluntary use of DNA Digivolving. Your time as the Digimon Emperor showed you how tempting the darkness can be, but also how scary and horrifying it truly is. Only myself, Kari, and Tk are the only other ones among this group of DigiDestined who know this as well as you do. However, you truly are a kind person. If you weren't such a kind person, you wouldn't have been affected so badly after learning that Digimon were living, breathing creatures. You would have gone through a period of guilt and then returned to normal with just some underlying guilt that would always be with you. But no, you are haunted by your actions day in, day out. I doubt you'll ever be able to feel that you have atoned for the wrongs you have done. Maybe you can, though you will never be able to do it on your own or with Wormmon. You will need your friends. But, you cannot fight evil as you are. We will be going to places where normal digivolving will not be allowed without years more of experience as a DigiDestined that none of you yet possess. Instead, you will need to rely on Armor Digivolving. As such, I will be giving you your Crest Digi Egg."

A small flower-shaped Digi Egg appears before Ken. It has the Crest of Kindness on it. It is a very light pink in color, with reddish-pink hearts on it. Ken blushes slightly at having such a feminine-looking Crest Digi Egg. It disappears in a streak of lavender light into Ken's D-3, which then changes its color to a slightly light purple color on the border instead of the black that it had been. The black inner space on the D-3 had long since changed to white.

"Thank you," Ken says simply. He felt like a great weight had been lifted off his heart. He had felt that as long as the border of his D-3 was black, not changing at all from the way it had been when he was the Digimon Emperor and he held the Dark Digivice, the Dark D-3, that as long as it had not changed, he was still the Digimon Emperor on the inside. Now he felt lighter, freer than he had been in years.

"It was no trouble," Jesse says, "I was not the one who made your D-3 change. It was you. If you had not fully accepted that your past is the past and you were no longer the Digimon Emperor, then your D-3 would have stayed the same."

"Still, I thank you," Ken says, bowing deeply. Jesse returns the bow.

"So, now we all have our Digi Eggs and Crests, right?" Tai asks.

"That you do," Jesse says, "but I'm afraid this was the easiest part of the times to come. Evil has returned, and soon it will be in its darkest form once again. We'll need more help, but there are no other DigiDestined in this world with the strength to help us, even if I should give them their Tag and Crest, and Crest Digi Egg if it is not already taken by one of you."

"So we just need to get stronger," Tai states simply.

"That you do, but we still need backup," Jesse says.

"But you just said none of the other DigiDestined except those here had the power to stand up to the coming evil," Izzy says.

"No, I said none of the other DigiDestined in this world had the power to help," Jesse corrects, "I said nothing about DigiDestined locked away in the other worlds."

"DigiDestined have been locked away in the other worlds?" Mimi gasps.

"Think about this," Jesse begins, "when a Digimon dies in the Digital World, or even the Dark Ocean, they get reformatted and reborn at the Primary Village on File Island. When a Digimon dies in this world, the real world, they become a ghost like Wizardmon did. Humans who die in this world go on to, well, I actually got no clue. I'm not a very religious person so I'm not about to say heaven or hell, but perhaps something like that. But what do you think happens to a human who died in the Digital World?"

"They get reformatted?" Izzy asks.

"Sortof," Jesse replies, "they become ghosts. But, if my theory is correct, they slowly regain their physical substance. It would take a long time for this to happen though."

"A long time as in, say, two million years?" Davis asks.

"You got it gogglehead," Jesse says.

"So, your friends, they could be?" Sora begins.

"Returned to life?" Jesse asks, his facial expression not even changing, "more than likely they regained their substance years ago. Possibly when Apocalymon arrived from beyond the Wall of Fire. But because Apocalymon fairly much destroyed the Digital World, they ended up elsewhere. Gennai and I have already calculated where each one of them would have ended up."

"So, why haven't you gone to get them?" Tai asks.

"Because they would have been sent to dimensions I can't access," Jesse replies, "dimensions that Apocalymon's predecessor took over before trying to conquer the Digital World."

"You mean the same creature that you and the other first DigiDestined fought?" Patamon asks.

"You got it," Jesse nods, "which brings me to the other reason I deceived you and led you to believe I was an ordinary teen."

Jesse's solemn look becomes grim.

"What is it?" Tai asks.

"I was trying to get to know you before sending you out on the four rescue missions," Jesse replies, "I need to make the teams complement each other perfectly and make your personalities compatible with the DigiDestined I would be sending you to rescue."

"What makes you say you get to decide?" Davis demands. Jesse's glare cuts off further comment.

"I get to decide because I am the most experienced and powerful DigiDestined here," Jesse replies, his voice even and unchanging, but it now seems to carry an air of menace about it, "I get to decide because I alone have any idea what you will be dealing with."

Jesse pauses and takes a deep breath. "Also, I am the only DigiDestined who knows what the others are like."

"So who goes to rescue whom?" Sora asks, trying to stave off any interruptions from Tai or Davis.

"Well, it took me a while to decide," Jesse admits, "some I decided who would go to rescue whom within the first few days. Tai, Kari, Sora, and Joe, I am sending you four to rescue James Moyiyama."

"James?" Tai, Sora, and Kari gasp.

"Yes, James," Jesse says, biting back a grin, "he was the second oldest of our group. Tai, Kari, Sora, you three knew him before his family moved to America. That's why you get to go rescue him. Tai also goes because you'll need the muscle of WarGreymon to get through some of the stuff I expect you'll need to get through. Joe gets to go because they are so similar."

"Thanks," Joe says, unsure on whether he was just complimented or not.

"It's a compliment," Wizardmon assures him, "you will also be joined by James' partner. I believe you've met him a couple of times."

"Who?" Sora asks.

Jesse does grin at this. "Digitamamon."

Tai arches an eyebrow at that, but says nothing. Sora smiles at the slight irony of Joe and Digitamamon working together. Kari smiles at the prospect of seeing James again and being on the team to rescue him from wherever he was. Joe just pales and mumbles something incoherent.

"Davis, Ken, and Cody will be on the team to rescue Brian Tangit," Jesse continues, "he was our leader and very much like Ken. He was not confident in his abilities to lead us. He was middle in age among us. Samantha and Daniel were younger, James and I were older. Davis and Ken, you are going because you will need Imperialdramon for transportation and firepower if it is needed. Cody, you're going because Digmon may be more practical to bust Brian out of wherever he is being held."

The three DigiDestined nod. This sounded easy enough.

"Wizardmon will be joining you," Jesse continues, "he was Brian's partner."

"Cool," Davis says.

"Matt, Yolie, and Mimi, you will be going to rescue Samantha Cruger," Jesse says, "the lone female of our group. She is very much like you two girls. Matt, you're going for the firepower of MetalGarurumon. Yolie, you're going to give Mimi an aerial ride should she need it, and because you can relate to Samatha. She wielded the Crest Weapon of Compassion. Mimi, you're going because you can relate to her as well."

"Okay," Matt says, uncomfortable with the thought of being the lone male human in his entire group.

"Phoenixmon, Samantha's partner, will join you," Jesse continues, "she is a Mega, so she can actually give you some more muscle should you need it, but her energy cannot be replenished so easily until she links back to Samantha's Digivice."

"Okay," Yolie says.

"Tk, Willis, you two will be going to search rescue Daniel Cruger, Samantha's little brother," Jesse says, "Tk, you can relate to the kid because both of you were the kids of your respective groups, the youngest but the ones with the truest hearts. Willis, you are there because, frankly, you just don't fit in any of the other groups. You'll also be accompanied by Daniel's partner, Tapirmon."

"But that's not fair," Davis protests, "neither one of them has a Mega! Why not send Matt with Willis and put Tk with Yolie and Mimi?"

"Because, Heromon and myself will also be going with them," Jesse replies, "I promised Daniel I would look out for him, and I will be there to help rescue him. Plus, the place he will be in will be the darkest, most evil place you will have ever been to. I know where it is, and I can get there on my own. But I do not want to rescue him alone."

"So where do we go and how do we get there?" Izzy asks.

"Well, Daniel is trapped in a place similar to the Dark Ocean," Jesse says, "it's the only place I can get to, so I can open a Gateway for us to go through. But first, we need to get the rest of the Digimon. Heromon and Wizardmon have been slowly readjusting Digitamamon and Tapirmon back into their old memories, as well as waking Phoenixmon up from her slumber and getting her her memories back. We'll be going to a spot in the Digital World to meet with them and head to the Dimensional Gate."

"Dimensional Gate?" Izzy inquires. He had never heard of such a thing.

"The Dimensional Gate is a portal to other worlds," Jesse says, "it can take us anywhere, even places that I cannot go. I have never used it, because the places that I cannot go were outside of my jurisdiction."

"So, when do we leave?" Davis asks.

"I'll let you all go home to get some gear for a long trip, probably three days at the least, and to tell your parents," Jesse replies, "have them come up with an excuse of some sort to tell your schools. I've already sent in the papers that have me withdrawing from school. It's not like I'm a legal citizen of this country anyway. Technically, since I'm legally dead, I'm not a legal citizen of any country in the world. Digital World, I'm not just a citizen I'm one of the oldest living residents. Real world, just a visitor without even a passport."

"Well, I guess we'd better hurry then," Tai says, "Ken lives pretty far away."

"I'll be taking Ken home through the Digi Ports," Jesse replies, "I have some things to talk to him about anyway."

The other DigiDestined nod and, with the exception of Ken, head home to gather their necessary supplies and to get their Digimon. They had left them at home and Willis had dropped Terriermon and Lopmon off after school to play with DemiVeemon.

"What do you have to talk to me about?" Ken asks.

"When you created Kimeramon, did you create any weaknesses in him?" Jesse asks. His question stuns Ken for a moment, but he recovers.

"Not really. I was focused on building the perfect partner, a Digimon with no equal. At that time I had no idea about Mega's. In fact, the only Mega's I have ever seen are WarGreymon, Imperialdramon, BlackWarGreymon, Daemon, and MaloMyotismon."

"Well, there are only a few Mega's beyond that that the second generation of DigiDestined have seen," Jesse says, "MetalGarurumon, Piedmon, MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, Puppetmon, VenomMyotismon, and Apocolymon. The other kids of the third generation have also seen Cherubimon, Seraphimon, and Magnadramon though. And some have also seen Diaboramon."

"Jesse, why did you ask me about Kimeramon?" Ken demands.

"Because four different Kimeramon have appeared in the various parts of the Digital World," Heromon answers. Ken's blood runs cold. Kimeramon? Running loose in the Digital World? This couldn't be happening.

"Ken, are you sure that there are no weaknesses in Kimeramon that we cannot exploit?" Wizardmon asks kindly, "some flaw in him? Something in the way he thinks that we can manipulate to make the battle easier?"

"No, he's the perfect Ultimate as far as abilities go," Ken says sadly, "he has the best traits of various Champion and Ultimate level Digimon. He has to be totally overwhelmed in firepower. Granted, we can easily do that now, but if we were to split up our forces to take all four out at the same time, it would be very risky."

"And then there's the fact that its power has been increased further by a pure connection to the Powers of Darkness," Jesse says evenly.

"He's.even stronger now?" Ken manages. Kimeramon had been monstrously strong when Ken had originally designed him. To have his power increased like that would mean that even WarGreymon and Imperialdramon Fighter Mode would have trouble dealing with even one.

"I'm afraid he is," Jesse says sadly, "I have yet to decide how to handle this situation. Splitting the DigiDestined up to handle four Kimeramon would put the ranks dangerously thin, though Heromon and myself could go after one on our own and allow Tk and Willis to join up with another team or two. But splitting up the DigiDestined sounds like a bad idea."

"We could try and lure the Kimeramon into the same area and attack them all at once," Ken suggests, "even four Kimeramon would be hard-pressed to handle an onslaught of attacks from four Mega's and nine Ultimates."

"I don't think they could withstand a full power blast from Heromon's lesser Mega form," Jesse remarks, "but Heromon takes a long time to restore his strength after digivolving to Mega, so I try not to have him digivolve that far unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Lesser Mega form?" Ken inquires.

"Heromon has two Mega forms," Jesse explains, "one is gained by Mega Digivolving from his Ultimate form, and it is the lesser, the weaker form. The stronger form, his true Mega form, is gained by Warp Digivolving from his Rookie or Champion level."

"Why two forms?" Ken asks.

"Each Crest, on its own, can enable the Digimon it is linked with to digivolve all the way to the Mega level," Jesse explains, "but it takes a deep understanding of the nature of what the Crest represents to activate the Mega Digivolution from the Ultimate level. But it takes more power than a single Crest can create to enable a Digimon to Warp Digivolve. When Agumon and Gabumon first Warp Digivolved into WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, their Crests were supercharged with energy from Kari's Crest of Light and Tk's Crest of Hope. Or at least some of the power from Tk's Crest of Hope. It had yet to be fully activated. Tk has enough of the power of Hope within him to enable Patamon to Warp Digivolve into his Mega form of Seraphimon from either his Rookie or Champion levels. However, if he Mega Digivolved from MagnaAngemon, he would become a different Digimon. What, I have no idea. Patamon rarely make it to even their various Champion forms. They are widely hunted down by evil Digimon because of the great power they could potentially possess. And it makes it harder to reach those levels because they require a considerable amount of power to digivolve between to their next level. And since Patamon themselves are weak in their Rookie forms, they are pretty much screwed."

"I see," Ken says, "shouldn't we be heading to my home now so I can pack for this journey and tell my parents?"

"Good idea," Jesse says, then waves his right hand. Two Digital Gates open up. Heromon and Wizardmon immediately head for one of them.

"We'll meet you guys at the arranged spot," Wizardmon says, "hope you don't get attacked."

"Very funny," Jess snorts, "like we'd be in any danger. There aren't any Mega's for us to be worried about, and I can handle any Ultimate long enough for reinforcements to arrive."

"Sure sure," Heromon chuckles, "take care, see you soon."

With that, Heromon and Wizardmon step through the Digital Gate and it closes behind them. Jesse turns to Ken.

"The remaining Gate will take us to your home," Jesse says, "just outside it, actually. I doubt your parents would be pleased if you just showed up in your room with a stranger."

"Your probably right," Ken sighs, "well, lets go."

~outside Ken's home~

The Digital Gate crackles, then disappears, as it deposits Jesse and Ken right in front of Ken's front door.

"Glad to know you haven't moved," Jesse commented, "this is a good neighborhood. Nice people, good school district, affordable housing."

"Thanks," Ken says with a faint blush. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his house key. Unlocking the door, he invites Jesse inside.

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" Ken calls out.

Mrs. Ichijouji walks up and gives her son a hug. "Hey honey, how was your day?" She spots Jesse. "Ken, who is this?"

"Mom, this is Jesse," Kern explains while Jesse bows formally and says hello, "he's a DigiDestined from America. Mom, I think you'd better sit down. We have some things to tell you."

"Okay dear," Mrs. Ichijouji says, recognizing the serious tone in Ken's voice. He had some news that he felt that she wouldn't like, but would have to deal with. "Would either of you like something to drink, or eat?"

"No thank you," Jesse says, "I appreciate the offer, though."

"Well son, what is it that you have to tell us?" Mr. Ichijouji asks.

Ken looks at Jesse. "It's your story. You wanna tell them?"

Jesse sighs. "Sure. You go ahead and start getting your stuff together."

Jesse quickly outlines his role as the oldest DigiDestined, what he had been through, and what he had done while Ken gathers some clothes and other things for his trip to wherever this rescue mission would take him.

"So you're the one that brought Ken home when he disappeared a few years ago?" Mrs. Ichijouji asks.

"I did," Jesse says, "Ryo disappeared back to wherever he came from, but Ken stayed. He had been hit with the Dark Spore, which is what improved his academics and his athletic prowess. Unfortunately it is also what turned him evil. He was unconscious for a few days."

"Evil?" Mrs. Ichijouji gasps.

Jesse raises an eyebrow. "Ah, so he didn't tell you. Well, its in the past and I plan on altering the Dark Spore very soon so he will never be tempted by the darkness any more than an average person. He's too good a kid to be evil. It came as such a surprise to me that I was unable to do anymore than slow him down. I couldn't destroy him; he's human. That would be immoral and he wasn't even in real control on himself."

"My baby was evil?" Mrs. Ichijouji gasps.

"Again, he wasn't in control of himself," Jesse repeats, "and its in the past. It won't happen again. Don't worry, ma'am, I'll keep your son out of trouble. Its what I do. He would have done a lot worse if I hadn't intervened and stopped a few of his projects."

"Why didn't you stop him outright?" Mr. Ichijouji asks.

"Are you believers in destiny?" Jesse asks, "don't answer. I am. As you know, your son is one of the DigiDestined. As a DigiDestined, destiny is a part of him. He has been called to fight evil, but among all of the DigiDestined he has a special destiny. He could not properly fight evil without truly understanding it, and to truly understand evil, what makes evil do what it does, you have to be evil. Or extremely self-serving, which was really what he was. He had no inhibitions. The Dark Spore allowed the darker side of his nature to surface without the good to balance it. Before, he only had the good with no evil to balance it. Now he is balanced. And now that he is balanced, he can fulfill his destiny."

"His destiny?" Mr. Ichijouji asks.

"Of the youngest generation of DigiDestined, he is the oldest," Jesse replies, "he has seen more than any of them except for Tk, and that is only because Tk is one of the original seven of the second group. Ken is the only one other than myself with the ability to open gateways to other worlds other than the Digital World. Out of all the DigiDestined in the world, he is the only other one with this ability. As such, he is perhaps the most important of them. If the Digi Ports are ever closed, he will be the one to get them where they need to be going."

"My baby can do that?" Mrs. Ichijouji murmurs.

"He stopped being your baby when he was first taken to the Digital World," Jesse says softly, "going to the Digital World has a maturing experience on people. The change is subtle, and you really can't see it except when things are on the line, but a part of their innocence is gone forever. The DigiDestined will always be good kids: that's why they were chosen, but they are no longer children. Every time I see how much going to the Digital World changed your son, or young Takeru, or young Kari, I desperately wish that I had been able to take up their destiny like I had my teammates. It almost killed me as I watched them almost die time and again as the older kids traveled through the Digital World. When your son was the Digimon Emperor, I was forced to only slow his progress because it was not considered my place to interfere without certain restrictions on the powers of Darkness being ignored first."

"Will you please watch after our son?" Mr. Ichijouji asks.

"I will protect him with my life," Jesse says, his voice so serious that the Ichijouji's flinch. They could tell that he literally meant he would protect Ken and the other DigiDestined at the cost of his own life if it came down to it.

"I'm ready to go," Ken says as he walks into the kitchen with a bag slung over one shoulder, Wormmon perched on the other shoulder, "how much time before we meet up with the others?"

"We still have plenty of time," Jesse replies, "you sure you got enough stuff? You will be gone for four days at the least. Possibly more."

"Four days?" Mrs. Ichijouji asks, "why will you be gone for four days?"

"I told you about how my four teammates lost their lives in our final battle," Jesse explains, "well, as it turns out the nature of the Digital World kept them from dying. Their spirits lived on and their bodies slowly regenerated over the two million years that had passed in the Digital World since that battle. We're now on a rescue mission. Since they need to be rescued at very close to the same time, I cannot do it alone. And none of the other DigiDestined in the world even possess close to as much power as your son and his friends. So, in short, the Japanese DigiDestined, plus Willis and myself, are going on a rescue mission to save four people who truly are heroes."

"Well son, I can't say that I'm pleased with the fact that you're gonna be missing days of school, but your mother and I will make up an excuse for you," Mr. Ichijouji says, "we'll get your homework and stuff so you can do it when you get back."

"Its too bad saving the world isn't an acceptable excuse," Ken sighs.

Jesse laughs. "How true. If it was, then we DigiDestined would really only have to go to school when we want to, because there is always some world out there needing to be saved."

"Well, see you in a few days, a week at the most," Jesse says as he opens up a Digital Gate, "it was nice meeting you in person."

"The pleasure was ours," Mr. Ichijouji says.

Jesse and Ken walk through the Digital Gate.

~Odaiba Park~

The rest of the DigiDestined are waiting for Jesse and Ken to arrive. Their Digimon are still adjusting to the information that the guy they had informally met as Jacob was in fact Jesse, the oldest DigiDestined.

The Digital Gate opens up. Jesse and Ken walk out of it and then it closes.

"That is a nice way to travel," Ken comments.

"Much better than the Digi Ports," Wormmon agrees.

"So, how did your parents take the fact that you'll be gone for a few days?" Davis asks his DNA Digivolving partner.

"They took it good," Ken replies, "they did seem worried, but that was to be expected. How did your parents take it?"

"Pretty good," Davis replies, "Jun got home as soon as I did though." Davis looks at Jesse. "Sorry dude, but she knows that 'Jacob' is Jesse now."

Jesse shrugs. "Its not like I'll really be hanging around here much after this whole mission and the evil is defeated. I'll just disappear again. Did she seem perturbed by that information?"

"Strangely enough, it didn't bother her," Davis replies, "she just said that you were hot and strong."

Jesse winces. "She didn't follow you, did she?"

"I don't think so," Davis replies.

"It doesn't matter," Jesse says, "she won't be able to follow us to the Digital World, so its no worries for me."

Jesse raises his right hand. A Digital Gate opens. "This will take us to the Primary Village on File Island. We'll meet the rest of our fellow rescuers there. Walk on through."

The DigiDestined and Digimon nod and walk through the Digital Gate. They each feel a pulling sensation as they near it. As soon as one of them is in the middle of the vortex of the Gate, they disappear in a pinprick of light. After each of the Japanese DigiDestined have gone through the Gate, Jesse walks up to the Gate and disappears in it.

Some distance away, a lone figure watches the DigiDestined and their Digimon disappear through the Digital Gate. With a wicked grin, the figure vanishes in a small whorl of red and black light.

~~

I have redesigned some of the original Digimon, particularly Heromon's digivolutions. They just weren't imaginative enough for my tastes now. If anyone wants to draw the Digimon I created, e-mail me at silver_warrior12@yahoo.com or IM me at warrior6018 on AOL Instant Messenger. E-mail is better for a first contact.

Turiemon's attacks are made up. I cannot find a place that has her attacks listed, so I just made some up.

By the way, someone who read "Tale of the Original DigiDestined" sent me the info on some original Digimon, but I had forgotten to record who it was that sent me the info. If you are reading this and can remember, please notify me. I may be using the original Digimon soon and I need to point out who it was that sent me the info.