Chapter 18: It Begins
"This is impossible!" Richard ranted as he paced back and forth through his room. "How could she break through my hypnosis? It's just not possible."
"I told you not to underestimate her." Betamon hissed from the corner of the room. "That girl has powers you cannot even begin to comprehend."
"You could have told me that earlier!" Richard yelled at his partner.
"I did." Betamon said coldly, "Nearly every day since you decided you wanted her."
"Shut up!" Richard snapped, "What am I going to do now? I'm going to have to fight them in a straight up fight."
"So what," Betamon hissed, "weren't you the one that pointed out that they just don't have the power to defeat us?"
Richard looked up, "You're right," he said calmly, "there's no need to get worked up. We've already won the battle, they don't stand a chance."
"Exactly." Betamon said.
"Yes, we will win." Richard said, "And Kari will be mine." Betamon shook his head; sometimes Richard was very single minded.
"Wake up you two." an annoyed voice said. TK blinked and sat up looking straight at Jack. "Get up," Jack said, "it's time for breakfast. Oh, and put some clothes on before you get there." he added.
"I, wait what?" TK asked still half asleep.
Jack chuckled. "Look to your left." he said before turning and leaving.
TK looked over to his left and his mouth dropped. Kari's eyes suddenly opened and she smiled up at him. "Have a good night?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I, you, we, but, that wasn't a dream." TK stuttered looking down at the naked girl beside him.
Kari giggled. "I'll let you get away with that this time," she told him, "but say something like that again and you'll be sorry."
"I, um, meant that it was so good it was like a dream of paradise." TK said.
"You're so sweet." Kari told him.
"Oh yeah, it's time for breakfast." TK told her as he reached for his pants.
"Are you going to make pancakes?" Kari asked as she pulled her own shorts on.
"Kari, I couldn't cook pancakes if I had a griddle, forget about cooking them over an open fire." He sniffed the air a little, "Besides, smells like the others are roasting some fish."
The 'roasted fish' actually turned out to be more burnt than roasted, a fact which nearly everyone was content to ignore except Kari. It seemed that her first trip to the Digital World had left her with a deep seated hatred of burnt fish in addition to her fear of clowns. She had taken one look at it and declined breakfast.
"So what's our next move?" Melissa asked everyone turned to look at her.
"What do you mean 'our next move'?" Ken asked, "This is our responsibility, you and Jack aren't a part of it."
"They are a part of it." a voice said from behind them. The group turned to see a short balding old man watching them. "All of you are here for a reason."
"Gennai?" Izzy asked, "What are you doing here?"
"And why are you old again?" Kari asked.
"It's the trouble in the Digiworld." Gennai explained. "The digital barrier Richard made is interfering in the way the world functions."
"So how do we get rid of the barrier?" TK asked.
"The program is installed in his digivice," Gennai told them, "if you can get that out of the Digiworld everything should go back to normal."
"How can we get it out of here if the digiports don't work?" Ken asked.
"It should be able to override its own program," Gennai said, "but if it can't you'll have to smash it."
"Why don't we just smash it and stop anyone else from using it?" Jack suggested.
"Because Richard's not going to just hand it over you idiot." Melissa retorted. "It would be easier to just chase him back into our world."
"Neither one of them will be easy." Gennai told them. "Mechaseadramon is a very powerful Digimon; he won't just roll over and die."
"Do we have to kill him?" Wormmon asked.
"Unless you can magically stop him from killing you while you get Richard's digivice." Gennai told him.
"Gennai if the link between worlds is blocked how did we get here?" Izzy asked.
"I pulled you all into the Dark Ocean and through there into this world." Gennai explained.
"Gennai, if we were in the Dark Ocean why didn't Daemon attack us?" Kari asked.
"He didn't attack you because he's not there anymore." Gennai told them.
"What! Where is he then?" TK exclaimed.
"He's dead." Gennai told them.
"What? When? Where? Who? How?" Ken spouted shocked.
"Don't sound so surprised." Gennai scolded him. "There are Digidestined other than yourselves. Daemon was killed two years ago in California on the winter solstice."
"The darkest day." Jack said suddenly. "It was the shortest day of the year and a new moon." he explained.
"Yes," Gennai said, "the darkest day. His name was Lucas, he was the light in the darkness…"
"The Darklight." Melissa suddenly said cutting him off.
"What was that you just said?" Gennai asked quickly.
"Just something that popped into my head, sorry." Melissa told him.
"Okay." Gennai said, though he still eyed her curiously.
"Aren't you going to say anything else?" Kari asked.
"What is there left to say?" Gennai asked. "They fought Lucas won."
"So what do we do now?" Melissa asked.
"Why the hurry?" Jack asked, "Miss your parents that much?"
"Not by a long shot." Melissa hissed, "I just want to get this over with as fast as possible."
"She's right," Izzy said, "the longer we take the more time Richard has to prepare."
"Then let's get going now." TK suggested.
"Do you even know where he is?" Ken asked.
"He doesn't," Kari said, "but I do. So follow me." she said as she began walking east.
"Richard." Betamon said walking out onto the balcony his partner was on, "they're coming."
"Good." Richard said. "This fights about to begin Betamon, make sure you are ready."
"You're sure of this Benjamin?" an enormous tiger asked a man that looked exactly like Gennai.
"Yes Lord Baihumon. Melissa referred to Lucas as the 'Darklight' but couldn't give a reason why. Is there some way the memory block could be wearing off?" Benjamin asked.
"No." Baihumon replied, "The block on those memories still stands, they can't remember anything of that event.
"My lord," Benjamin began, "I must again tell you that choosing five psychics for the experiment may not have been the smartest thing you have ever done."
"It is nothing to worry about." Baihumon said unconcernedly, "As I recall Melissa could always make connections she couldn't explain."
"Lord Baihumon, the Darklight Destined were never meant to see each other again, and here we have the children of luck and defiance not only meeting again but working together. They were always the closest of the Darklights, this may wind up ruining counter to your idea of keeping the parts of the team apart."
"It's of no matter," Baihumon said, "after this time here they will go to college and never see each other again. They'll remember each other only as 'that person I met before college.' Now speak no more of this, you are dismissed."
Benjamin bowed silently and left quickly. He could feel it in his digital bones that it wouldn't happen as Baihumon said it would, and for the millionth time wondered if erasing the memories of the Darklights had been the right thing to do.