"Now that we have reached this last encounter,
Where are we now?
What shall be now?
How could we have come so far to give up?
We won't give up
We can win."
Linn Minmei—"We Will Win," unpublished lyric: Robotech

Echoes of Angels Who Won't Return
Chapter Four, April: "What Shall Be Now?"

He'd chosen his invisible form this time, knowing that his duty required stealth. Quickly, and without a single hesitation, he passed through the walls of the Kaiser's base until he penetrated through to the dank Cell 24. Once he was sure that no one would wake up, he solidified and walked over to the unconscious Kouji Minamoto.

He had to desperately fight back the anger that burned at him. It was bad enough the darkness of the cell caused the boy to suffer from seasonal affective disorder—if it could even be called that when the only season in there was a false dark winter—but the pressures of being a slave, having the lives of his family constantly in danger, the never-ending beatings, and the knowledge that it was his only brother Kouichi who committed these heinous acts disheartened him even further. It had gone so far that he was afraid to call Kouichi his brother, afraid to admit that someone in his hard-won family could do this.

"Osamu, calm yourself," Qinglongmon warned. "None of these occurrences are your fault. You're doing the best you can."

He didn't reply. He knew that, but the Mind Illusion still haunted him. He needed to be able to help, or else watch the young man die. Kouji had been unconsciously reaching out to his friends, and with the interference of Hikari Yagami's gift, he'd been able to reach Izumi late one night in March and had allowed his emotions to slip through.

Osamu placed two fingers behind Kouji's right ear, where a large cut dripped blood. Kouichi had beaten him early on in the morning, his anger brought on by the fact that Kouji had finally learned to block him from his mind. Once the Kaiser realized he no longer was able to have control over the boy, he was infuriated and struck him repeatedly with the whip, even after Kouji could no longer open his eyes. He had been unconscious since.

Several drops of blood passed through Osamu's non-living skin, allowing him to take on the unconscious boy's appearance and wounds. Carefully, he moved him over to the wall and placed him in a recovery position, just as Dr. Tenshi had done two months ago. But the movement had stirred up a coughing fit from Kouji, and phlegm and blood exited his lungs in great amounts.

No wonder he was in such bad shape, Osamu realized. He couldn't breathe!

Hurriedly, he rushed to get some toilet paper, which he wadded up and positioned to stay in front of Kouji's mouth. The Black Ring occasionally blinked, stirring up memories of watching Ken take over the Digital World while he had to helplessly surrender his role of older brother to five strangers. Inspiration soon struck him as he remembered the two who had most readily accepted the role, even though Osamu had still been alive when the other took up the part: the boy who had found the Digimental of Miracles and his predecessor, who'd used the same Digimon.

This could work! he mentally exclaimed. Qinglongmon, do you remember how Gennai had to loan V-mon to Ryo because Daisuke was far too young and immature to be a Chosen?

"Yes, but what is the significance?"

Ryo and Daisuke weren't related at all, but the necessity of the time allowed Ryo to use the D-3. If the necessity of the time now is Kouji's condition, is it be possible for me to temporarily use his D-scanner? After all, the power of Light is drawn to its source, right?

Qinglongmon's voice was a bit lighthearted, as though he was laughing. "Yes, Gennai and I did tell you that. But be careful with how you use this power."

"I will, Qinglongmon," he whispered. "And thanks."

He reached down and removed the defuser from Kouji's neck, taking the D-scanner as well. But there was one last element to his guise that was vital. With his left hand, he took hold of the Black Ring, using the power of the Light Seed to open it. Then he placed it on his own neck, knowing it would probably break easily due to the Light Seed's roots' rejecting the evil darkness. Once finished, he used his illusionist abilities to conceal Kouji's body, and the healing abilities of the Light to calm the boy's coughing.

Asphyxiation—not a pretty way to die, he reflected. And don't I know it. Automatically, he placed his hand against his chest, remembering how his ribcage collapsed and crushed his lungs after his accident.

As he walked over to the other side of the cell, he observed two tiny blue eyes staring at him through the darkness. It was the baby, Kouri, and she had most likely felt the change in her brother's condition. Silently, he picked her up and held her as gently as he could, trying to lull her back to sleep.

"It's all right, Kouri," he coaxed. "This can't go on forever. There are people who will stop Kouichi, and bring him back to normal." In the dim light, he could see that she was staring at him as though he was a stranger, which he was of course, but it was still surprising. "I guess there's no fooling you. You have a gift—the one my brother's friend does, but even stronger than she or your brothers do. There's something special about you. You'd know Kouji anywhere." She replied in soft cooing sounds—easily comprehensible to anyone who knew the language of death, as Osamu did. An infant's language of fresh life was no different, although the tongue was long forgotten by the time the child reached a certain age. "He's all right," Osamu assured. "But it's Kouichi that worries me. I don't know that he'll do next." She babbled back to him again, and he replied in his choice language of Japanese: "No, I don't think he'll kill him. But I don't know what will happen next. He's gotten too far out of control. I may need some help soon. You're all going to need to escape very soon."

For a few precious hours, he sat in the dark, talking to Kouri as he slowly soothed her to sleep. Somehow, it was like when he was eight and he and Ken would blow bubbles on the terrace outside their bedrooms at their apartment. True, blowing bubbles and conversing with a baby were entirely different, but both were beautiful lessons to Osamu, helping him embrace both life and death.

"It's a cruel circle we deal with," he admitted, "but there's really nothing better."

"Talking to yourself again, halfling?" Kouichi questioned. Osamu automatically let out a sigh, wondering if Kouji was getting as sick of the nickname as he was. "Get up. There was a battle, so you know what that means."

He placed Kouri down once more before standing up to succumb to the evolution. He could only hope it would work enough to fool the new Kaiser.

The Kaiser… he thought as he calmly called an evolution to take place. How is it that Kouji and I can be related through the disease our brothers share, and yet not be blood related in any way?

The DigiCode walls broke down, revealing Osamu in the form of Wolfmon. Never before had he felt so strong, so powerful… But at the same time, he felt the same nagging helplessness from his role in the Mind Illusion. He supposed all the Chosen and Tamers went through that at least once, but it was a bitter feeling for a non-Chosen/Tamer.

"That took a little longer than usual," Kouichi observed. "Let me see the ring." Osamu stood completely still as Kouichi approached to inspect the Black Ring. "Malfunctioning. I'll have to repair it later. For today you can go without it, but don't expect this treatment all the time." Osamu nodded silently, all the while keeping his fists clenched tightly. He was afraid that if he spoke, he would do something worthy of Hikari's and Takeru's current dispositions. Kouichi already looked so much like Ken, and because of that, he was afraid of what he could do to this doppelganger. "Now get moving."


Ryo sat in his bedroom, uploading the new hardware into his computer. Jenrya had written to inform him that the older boy owed him a lot for having him sneak the unneeded equipment from Hypnos ops and mail it to him, and he knew it to be true. Finally, after two years of being cut off from Gennai and the Chosen, he had the ability to contact home. His parents would be able to keep in touch with the family and friends they'd left behind when ENIAC sent them to this world. He would be able to see his friends again and know how Ken was doing. ENIAC had given him little updates here and there before finally cutting off communication (sometime before the tournament in which Ryo beat Ruki), and the last it had told Ryo was that the new Chosen were fighting the Digimon Kaiser, Ken. He had to know if his old world—and friend—was safe.

Finally, the webcam and dimensional interface system were installed. Rapidly, he set them up and hoped he could reach Gennai.

Wallace and Koushiro stepped into Gennai's study to see Daisuke facedown on the computer, asleep.

"What happened to him?" Wallace asked.

"He's been helping me try to contact Ryo," Gennai explained. "He's been working all night, and it completely wore him out."

Koushiro stared in shock. "He was here all night? His parents must be out of their minds!"

"He informed them he might need to be here the whole night."

"But still…"

"How far has he gotten?" Wallace interrupted.

"Not very, I'm afraid," Gennai admitted. "That program is still blocking us. Daisuke nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to get through."

"That's not like him," Wallace replied.

"His nerves are shot," a sleepy voice informed. Yawning, Taichi walked over to Wallace, Gennai, the sleeping Daisuke, and the now-calm Koushiro. His brown hair was once again in its haphazard style with the headband, but it was even more tangled from his rough sleep the previous night. "His entire team deserted him, choosing their own paths."

"I take it you stayed too," Koushiro guessed.

"Mm-hmm," Taichi answered with another yawn. "We were working on the connection last night. Best we can guess is that the program originated somewhere in Tokyo—Shibuya or Shinjuku or one of the surrounding towns." Stretching, he went over to Daisuke. A bag of Fox Leaf Arrowheads rested next to the boy, having served as his lamp that night. Involuntarily, Taichi winced and traced the scabs and scars left behind from the Renamon's assault; he would never be able to look at that type of Digimon or her attack the same way again. He owed his life to two people: Kouji Minamoto for getting him to the Trailmon, and Daisuke Motomiya for breaking Demon's attack.

Carefully, he pulled Daisuke out of his chair, half-carrying him to bed. "I still say it was a mistake for him to give up on the others," he commented.

"I know," mumbled the awakening Daisuke. "But there's nothing we can do about it now."

Taichi somewhat stared off into space, his mind in the past, when they had been a united team. It had only been a few months earlier, but the memory felt like it was an eternity away.

The sound of static interrupted his thoughts. All of the people in the room turned their attention to the computer, where the image of a brown-haired boy with cerulean eyes was fading in and out.

"Gennai, are you there?" he questioned.

"Holy crap, it's Ryo!" Taichi recognized. The picture continued to fade. "Koushiro, try and keep the signal! Ryo, it's Taichi!"

"Taichi?" His voice was both relieved and surprised. "Why is the signal so lousy?"

"Some program on your side," Daisuke informed. "It's keeping us out. By the way, I'm Daisuke, and this is Wallace. You already know the others."

"I'm losing the connection!" Koushiro cried.

"Ryo, we're going to try again," Gennai informed. "In the meantime, try to figure out what's blocking us."

"Wait!" he interrupted. "There are a few things I need to ask first!"

But before he had the chance, the connection terminated on both sides, fading the screens to black.

Meanwhile, Reika and Megumi were tracking in the war room at Hypnos' headquarters. Their employer, Mitsuo Yamaki, the creator of Hypnos, sat at underneath them as he flicked the lid of a Zippo cigarette lighter back and forth. The sound of metal clanking would have annoyed the women if they weren't so accustomed to it after years of his employ. It was just one of the things they had to suffer with.

"Situation contained," Reika informed. "Yuggoth and Shaggai terminated the interference."

"The data of the origin point is coming through, sir," Megumi added. "Location is…"

"Fukuoka, Kyushu," Reika read after a pause.

"Fukuoka?" Yamaki repeated. The memory returned of a young blue-haired boy asking for several odd pieces of equipment, causing him to smirk. "Contact Jiang-yu. I think he should be the one to talk to his son."


Alice McCoy sat in the research room at the Metropolitan Building, assisting her grandfather. Just as she had two years before, she wore a black vintage blouse and stiff crinoline skirt decorated with crosses. Her hair was still in pigtails with black ribbons, but now they were braided and looped up in a Germanic or Scandinavian style. She was still a sad and lonely soul, but the work she helped the Wild Bunch (her grandfather Prof. Rob "Dolphin" McCoy, Prof. Rai "Curly" Aishuwarya, Jiang-yu "Tao" Lee, Goro "Shibumi" Mizuno, and the anonymous Babel and Daisy) with was enough to distract her mourning.

The door burst open, and Jiang-yu Lee brought forward his younger son Jenrya. The boy was staring at the tile in shame and remained silent while his father fought the fury in his voice. It was enough to distract everyone's attention.

"Jiang-yu, what's wrong?" asked Alice's grandfather.

"Remember the equipment Jianliang kept asking for?" The other Wild Bunch members nodded while Alice resumed her work. "Apparently, he has been sending it to Ryo to construct an inter-dimensional communication channel."

"Jenrya, you know that could cause more emergences," Shibumi stated.

"I know, Mr. Mizuno, but I had to. You know how Ryo and his family originally came from another world? He had to figure out a way to contact it, so I helped him."

"Then why didn't you just tell us to begin with?" Jiang-yu questioned, frustrated.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I…" Jenrya went silent. He had never meant to betray his father's trust, but he knew his request would have been denied if he'd asked.

"Shaggai and Yuggoth have been malfunctioning lately, and it's because of your experiment," Jiang-yu continued. "If anything was to break through at that point…"

"Excuse me, Mr. Lee," Alice interrupted, "but if Shaggai and Yuggoth could be modified to allow transmission signals through, I don't think a problem would be caused." Suddenly, everyone's attention was on her, but it didn't unnerve her in the least. "It would be fairly simple for Mr. Yamaki to figure it out; after all, he's the one who designed them. And if anything did break through, the Shaggai system could be initiated while Yuggoth restrains the target."

"It makes sense," Daisy admitted. "And none of the children or Digimon would be harmed by it."

"The Four Holy Beasts could also prevent any escapes in the Digital World," Shibumi theorized.

"But how would we know that this solution would not summon another such enemy as the D-Reaper?" Curly asked.

"Yuggoth and Shaggai would neutralize it before it penetrates," Alice explained. "And if it was too big a threat already, the Four Holy Beasts would have contacted the Tamers beforehand."

"I love the way your granddaughter thinks," Babel commented to Prof. McCoy. "My kid would have given up long ago."

"So, Mr. Lee, will you consider my idea?" Alice questioned.

"It's too logical to ignore," he admitted with a sigh. "I'll go tell Yamaki."

As he walked out to inform the section head, the Wild Bunch continued their praise of Alice. Jenrya flashed her a smile of thanks, and she returned it with a tiny one of her own, cleverly disguised as modest satisfaction on her praise.


Osamu—still in Kouji's borrowed form—sat in the tub, staring at nothing in particular. In the course of the day, he'd managed to avoid getting on Kouichi's bad side, but still he had been placed in the torture rack. Luckily, the worst he'd suffered was a bloody nose (which was still bleeding), but the dull ache caused by it was an unwelcome reminder of what life meant.

He submerged under the water in an attempt to collect his thoughts. He needed to contact someone, but whom? Who could possibly help him find out Kouichi's next move? The Chosen here?

No, he rejected. I'm not allowed to interfere with their sacrifices. Ken? The thought was promising, but…

No, he answered mentally. Right away, no. I have no right to put him through any more pain.

"Hikari?" Qinglongmon suggested.

Absolutely not. She'd do everything I've been told not to—and the same goes for Takeru.

"Daisuke?"

He's trying to avoid this matter as much as possible right now. Besides, he's busy helping Gennai contact Ryo.

"Miyako?"

No, she's too excitable.

"Iori?"

He would have been the best due to his calm nature and desire to help others, but now it's impossible for him. Unintentionally, he grunted in frustration. Then who else is there?

Before he had his answer, Kousei Minamoto pulled him out of the water, an expression of pure fear etched on his weathered face. Osamu realized that he had been under so long that he'd worried Kouji's family. It was perfectly all right to be underwater for such a long period of time for someone who didn't need to breathe, but he was playing the part of Kouji, a normal human who happened to be able to evolve into Digimon forms.

"Kouji, what were you doing?" he demanded.

"Sorry, Dad," Osamu apologized, the words sounding strange as he spoke them. "I guess I've learned to hold my breath too long." It was a lame excuse, he knew, but it was the best he could come up with. Improvisation was never one of his strong points.

"It's all right," he assured, "but don't do that again. We've lost you once; we could never bear it if we were to lose you again."

Guilt welled up in Osamu, clogging his throat with a hard lump, and he forced himself not to show tears. The comment held a double meaning for him: the sacrifice Kouji would have to make, and the words his own family would say if this situation was placed in the Ichijoujis' hands. He nodded sadly and changed into his disguised clothes. For a moment, he began to despise what he'd done. He knew the importance of one person, but he hated having to play another part—just as he had when he was alive.

"I'm not hungry tonight," he informed.

"Are you okay?" Tomoko Kimura asked.

"Yeah. I just have a cough right now, and my nose is bleeding still." He wadded up some toilet paper and held it in front of his face as he faked a few hard coughs.

"Do you need to lie down?" Satomi Minamoto questioned.

"Yeah. I just need a little sleep."

He wandered over to the area he'd hidden Kouji and lay in the same position. To satisfy the requirements of the condition he was pretending to have, he coughed a few more times before finally seeming to fall asleep. Once that was done, he managed to reveal Kouji's body and revert to his invisible and intangible form. The toilet paper fell to the floor without a single person noticing.

All right, he thought. I think Kouji will be fine from here. The Light Seed should let me know if he's not. Now to see about getting some help…


Takamoto knew he was breaking about a hundred rules Kae had created and Kage had enforced, but the most recent events had forced him to take desperate measures. At midnight between April 14 and 15, he stole a knapsack containing a flashlight, can of knockout gas, hammer, and laser pistol, and slipped away home.

No Imperials, he observed as he stealthily made his way toward his parents' home. It was making him nervous. No visible guards could spell an ambush. Therefore, his fears were eased a bit when he observed two members of the Imperial Guard lurking near his street. The situation was likely to be a trap.

Carefully, he removed what appeared to be a can of soda from his bag. Holding his breath, he opened it to release the powerful substance. The fumes of the gas attempted to enter his body through his nostrils, but he threw it in the direction of the Imperials before that could happen. Seconds before hearing the clank of the aluminum hitting the street, the gas took affect. He then covered his face as he ran to his old house.

His parents were asleep when he arrived, so he was able to discreetly enter his room through the window. Knowing his reputation at school, he figured the Imperials would have torn apart his room in an attempt to tie his disappearance to the Resistance.

Fortunately, they didn't find it, he thought, breathing a sigh of relief. Using the back of the hammer, he pried up a nail from a floorboard and retrieved his most precious possession of all:

The biological and genetic formula for his bacterium.

It'll have to be stronger, he theorized, but I can work on it at the settlement hospital. So long as Yamamoto, Iwahara, and Akagami don't suspect anything, I'll be all right.

He placed the vital papers into his knapsack and slipped out, wandering around Tokyo for an hour in order to throw any Imperials off his scent. Fortune shone on him when he arrived at the Railroad: No one was up, so no questions would be asked. Kage's weapon was taking far too long to build; he'd have to develop a weapon himself.

But no one could ever find out about it.


After slamming his head against the wall for ten minutes, desperately trying to reconnect for twenty-four hours, and receiving a phone call about the new functions of the Yuggoth/Shaggai program, Ryo finally connected to Gennai's computer to see Taichi, Koushiro, the new faces of Wallace and Daisuke, and an unfamiliar man in his thirties that had to be Gennai.

"Gennai?" he exclaimed. "What happened? The last time I saw you, I called you 'jiisan'!"

"That's not important right now," he answered. "Have there been any strange disturbances in your world?"

His face looked puzzled. "No. Nothing aside from the ordinary emergences."

There was a sigh of relief from everyone before Gennai continued. "We haven't gotten any updates from ENIAC since October of 2001. It said you were fighting something terrible in Shinjuku."

"Yeah. That was the D-Reaper—a computer program turned red mass of antimatter. It was all over the world, and the Digital World, feeding off our friend Juri Katou, who was in a deep depression after her partner, Leomon, was killed."

"You have Chosen there?" Taichi asked in shock. He hadn't heard of any other Chosen since Takuya and his team.

"We're not really Chosen, but Tamers," he explained. "My partner—my real one—is Cyberdramon, the end result of Monodramon and Millenniumon's jogress." At the sight of Taichi's, Koushiro's, and Gennai's startled faces, he added, "Don't worry. Only our enemies are threatened by him."

"How many of these Tamers are there?" Koushiro questioned.

Ryo's eyes gazed toward the ceiling as he tried to count. "I'm not sure. There's Takato Matsuda and Guilmon, Ruki Makino and Renamon—" Taichi winced at the Digimon's name—"Jenrya Lee and Terriermon, his sister Shiuchon and Lopmon, Hirokazu Shiota and Guardromon, Kenta Kitagawa and MarineAngemon, Juri Katou and Culumon—he's not really her partner, but he might as well be—and Ai and Makoto Shimamura and their partner Impmon." He laughed. "Pretty much as many Tamers as there are Chosen." Right away, everyone on the other side began to look uncomfortable. "Has Ken gone back to normal yet?"

"Yeah," Daisuke replied. "The Kaiser's gone."

"Which brings us to another problem," Wallace put in. "He's entered another world, but not yours. He's making life hell for a kid there named Kouji Minamoto."

"Plus he's enslaved both worlds and killed a friend of their Chosen," Koushiro added. "None of them has the heart to fight him."

"I'd promise the Tamers' help," Ryo admitted, "but I already pushed our government connections to the limit."

"Taichi, Sora, and Yamato tried to help find more information about the new Kaiser but at great risk to their lives," Gennai explained. "Taichi survived only with the help of the Minamoto boy we told you about."

"Well, why not have all the Chosen come together and fight the Kaiser?" Ryo suggested. "I know Ken would kill to help—especially if he was the last Kaiser."

"Shows how well you know him," Wallace muttered.

"Come again?" Ryo asked in confusion.

Taichi sighed. It was the moment he'd been dreading since he and Daisuke had agreed to help Gennai, Koushiro, and Wallace.

"Ryo, I hate telling you this, but there aren't any Chosen anymore," he informed. The older boy's face was full of shock. "There was a huge fight… Iori's gone insane, Hikari's forsaken her friends in order to become an antisocial maniac, Takeru's not far behind, Miyako is bitter to everyone, and God only knows how Ken is—he's cut off all contact with us. The rest of us couldn't take it any longer." Taichi stopped, seeing Ryo's face. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was agape. He placed his hands over his face for a moment before sliding them down and tracing invisible lines across his face with his fingers. He appeared to be ready to vomit. "Are you okay?"

Fortunately for Ryo, the phone rang. "Can I get back to you on that?"

Somberly and still in shock from the news, he walked to the phone in his parents' room and answered it. "Hello?"

"Ryo, did you get through?" It was Ruki. He recognized her by the voice and the way she didn't state her name. She filled in the same role Ken had long ago: a sort-of younger sibling, only she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and the two joked around a lot more than he and Ken used to. But wry humor wasn't something he'd really been concerned about when they were facing down Millenniumon. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he really wasn't a replacement for Osamu during that time, and he wasn't now. He was no older brother, barely even a close friend. He couldn't be if he didn't realize a long time ago that all of this would have happened. And could it happen again with his new partners, the Tamers?—

"Ryo?" she asked again. "Did you get through?"

—He wasn't sure he wanted to answer that question.

"Yeah." His voice was flat.

"That doesn't sound good."

"Sorry, Ruki, I'm going to call you back. I just got some bad news."

"All right."

Without saying goodbye, he hung up on her and smashed his fist through the window. Blood and broken glass bits fell to the floor, but he couldn't feel the pain of his mutilated right hand—which would soon match his arm. The one establishment he'd believed in more than the Tamers was now gone. What was there left to believe in? How could he feel any worse pain?


Ken reviewed his own personal bio from Gennai's database, as well as the file on the Dark Seed, quickly taking notes on anything and everything he thought could be vital about the Kaiser. As he worked on the third page of notes, however, his mother knocked on his bedroom door.

"Ken? Noriko, Takashi, Keiko, and Hiroshi want to see you."

He removed his gold-framed reading glasses from his face and allowed his vision to adjust before exiting his room. It was strange just how much he was reminiscent of his brother, even without the guise of the Digimon Kaiser. He wore glasses for reading and writing, finding his vision to be opposite Osamu's nearsightedness. His voice was very close to his older brother's, and his facial features were also similar. So alike were they that Ken feared to wonder the Kaiser's actions had Osamu been alive to fight him.

Standing outside the door were four children: an eleven-year-old with short dark brown hair and dressed in a white shirt with pink overalls, a twelve-year-old girl with long light brown hair wearing a pale blue dress, a ten-year-old light brown-haired boy in a baseball uniform, and a tall thirteen-year-old black-haired boy dressed in black jeans and a colorful shirt.

"Hey, guys," Ken greeted. "Sorry I can't talk right now, but I'm kind of busy."

"With what?" young Takashi questioned.

"Just stuff from Gennai's archive. Nothing too important."

"It must be," Noriko judged, "if you've been alienating yourself to do it."

"We brought you something," Keiko informed, handing over a box of strawberry pocky. Ken's eyes grew wide with surprise.

"But…how did you know?" he asked. "Not even my parents knew…"

"We were sworn to secrecy," Takashi explained.

"We've got to go now," Hiroshi added, clamping his hand over the younger boy's mouth. "See you soon!"

Ken stared after the new Chosen Children in total shock. He hadn't eaten this since his brother died. How could anyone have found out about the snack he and Osamu secretly saved their allowance solely to buy?

The four children found their Baby I level Digimon happily munching on the chocolate variety of the cookie sticks.

"Punimon, you'll rot your teeth!" Noriko scolded.

"Don't get sick on that, Poyomon," Takashi warned.

"That's enough for you, Nyokimon," Hiroshi decided.

"No, Yukimibotamon," Keiko addressed, taking her partner away from the sweets, "Mom has a big dinner planned."

"Gomen," apologized an eleven or twelve-year-old boy with dark, roughly cut hair concealed by a red-striped blue bandana. Judging by the tears and bloodstains in his blue fleece jacket, yellow T-shirt, and gray athletic pants, he had been in a terrible fight; but the calm, yet anxious, expression in his dark blue eyes argued otherwise. "I didn't expect them to eat so much of it."

Keiko sighed and looked at him. "It's not your fault. The Digimon are just like bottomless pits."

"Did you find anything out?" he questioned.

"No," Hiroshi replied. "But he did ask how you knew his favorite treat."

"And?"

"We told him nothing," Noriko assured.

He nodded. "Thank you for your help. I'm just sorry I troubled you in vain." Calmly, he took his exit, rubbing a sore spot on his left wrist. It meant nothing, except that Gennai and Qinglongmon requested a conference with him.

Hopefully, this will lead me to an answer, Osamu thought. His brother would not be of any help to him—this much he'd known already. But now his search was even more desperate as the looming feeling bore down on him that Kouichi Kimura was up to something.

Jiisan: Grandfather

Gomen: I'm sorry

The shocked look on Ryo's face was one Jarod had in the Pretender episode "Crash," when he learned that the plane he was supposed to be on had crashed on its way to San Diego. Basically, that's the only reference. And for the last chapter, something I only just thought of on 1/12/04 after watching Zoids Guardian Force: "The Distant Stars," Taiyou's character is based almost entirely off of Raven. Just watch that episode of Zoids if you don't believe me.