Chapter Eight
Hikari sighed. Taichi walked up to her. "Hikari, how do you know that guy?" he asked.
"It's a long story, and if I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Hikari responded.
Koushiro looked around. "I don't know what to think anymore. How could the entire digital world have been destroyed?" he said to himself. He saw the crystal structure that Hikari had noticed earlier and walked up to it.
"I've got a bad feeling about things," said Tentomon, walking over to where Koushiro stood.
"I wonder what this is," Koushiro replied. He reached out and touched the structure, which then glowed. A shard of crystal appeared, floating in front of him. "Interesting." He reached out and grabbed the shard, which flashed and grew into what appeared to be a mace. Startled, Koushiro dropped it, but instead of falling, it reverted back to being a shard of crystal and hung around his neck by a string. It reminded him of the crystal around Eugene's neck.
A portal opened. "Hikari!" yelled Daisuke, running out as fast as he could.
"Why me?" groaned Hikari to herself. "Can't he find someone else to annoy?"
Following Daisuke was Ken, the Ichijouji and the Motomiya families, and their digimon. "That guy was right. They are here," said Ken.
"So, did you miss me, Hikari?" asked Daisuke.
"Does a toe miss a hangnail?" said Hikari, under her breath. She walked towards where the digivices were held.
"Hikari, where are you going?" Hikari walked faster.
"So, you're here, too," said Iori to Ken.
"It appears so," Ken responded. "Where are we?"
"I don't know. At least the guy who led us here is friendly."
Hikari grabbed the digivices of Miracles and Destiny and started back, only to be stopped by Daisuke, who had been following her. "Hikari, why are you ignoring me?"
Hikari thrust the Digivice of Miracles into Daisuke's gut and walked off, saying "Because you won't stop annoying me!"
Daisuke groaned, clutching his abdomen in pain, then noticed what now in his hand. He looked at the gold-colored digivice and thought.
Taichi looked at Hikari. "Was that English? Since when can you speak English that fluently?" he asked.
"Since six Earth-years ago."
"Earth-years? You only have to say years, you know. We don't live on Mars, or anything."
"Perhaps she said Earth-years because of the flow of time that the digital world used to have," Koushiro said, walking back from the crystal structure. Hikari gave Ken the Digivice of Kindness.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Hey, where'd you get that crystal?" remarked Taichi, referring to the crystal that now hung around Koushiro's neck.
"Over at that large crystal, over there." Koushiro pointed at the crystal structure.
Taichi walked over to the crystal. "This is neat," he said to himself. He reached out, and like Koushiro, touched it. Like before, a shard of crystal appeared, floating between him and the crystal structure. "Whoa." He grabbed the shard and it changed into a pair of sais. "Wow!" It reminded him of when Eugene had grabbed his shard. Taichi tried to set it next to the crystal to come to back later, but when he let go of it, it changed back into a shard and was hanging from around his neck by a string. "That's cool."
Hikari looked at Taichi, now interested in the crystal. "That shard of crystal turned into a weapon. How?" she asked herself. She thought to herself for a moment, then walked up, touched the crystal, and grabbed the shard that appeared in front of her, which then proceeded to turn into a staff. As she examined it, Taichi looked at her.
"Heh, if this were a game, you'd be a mage!" he said jokingly.
"These must serve a purpose, but for what I am uncertain," Hikari commented back.
"Hey! Everyone! Come check this out!"
Daisuke, Iori, the others came to where Taichi and Hikari stood. "What is it?" asked Iori.
"Touch it and grab the shard that appears, and a weapon will form," responded Hikari, showing her staff.
Daisuke was first to touch the crystal. When he grabbed the shard that appeared, hardened gloves appeared around his hands. "Hey, I was hoping for a sword!" he said, clearly disappointed.
Iori did the same, and when he grabbed the crystal shard, it turned into a whip. "Ooh! I want to try!" said Daisuke's sister. She reached over and touched the crystal, but nothing happened. "Hey, what's the deal?"
"Maybe only the digipure have access to the crystal's abilities," suggested Hikari.
Ken touched the crystal and grabbed the shard that appeared before him. His shard changed into a wakazashi. "What's the point of these weapons? They will only cause more pain and suffering," he said.
"It is possible that we are to fight alongside our digimon in our next journey," said Koushiro.
A portal opened. Out stepped Jo, Sora, and their families.
"See? I told you. We can trust him," said Jo.
"Are all of the digidestined here?" asked Sora.
"We're still missing Takeru, Yamato, Miyako, and Mimi," responded Hikari.
"Hey, Sora! Jo! Come over here!" said Taichi.
Sora and Jo walked up to where the others stood. They noticed the crystal that the others were crowded around. "What's that?" Sora asked.
"We aren't exactly sure, but we think that it will play a key role in our upcoming journey," Hikari replied.
"And how is that?"
"Touch the crystal." Sora and Jo reached out and touched the crystal, which started to glow. A shard of the crystal appeared in front of them, floating in thin air. "Now grab the shard." Sora and Jo obeyed, and weapons formed in their hands. In Sora's hands formed two daggers, while in Jo's hand formed a flail.
"Wh-what are these for?"
"I believe that these weapons that appear in our hands will be needed in our next adventure," remarked Koushiro.
"They seem a little old-fashioned for a war," said Jo.
A sudden expression of surprise appeared on Hikari's face. "How do you know about the war?" she asked.
"It's complicated. Eugene would probably be able to explain better than me."
Hikari thought to herself for a while. Slowly the crowd around the crystal scattered. For some reason, Hikari felt a feeling of gloom. She felt is if something bad had happened. A short while later, another portal opened, out of which came Miyako, Takeru, Yamato, their families and digimon, Beth, Eugene, and Bethany. Hikari then saw what had made her feel that way; a damaged Inju was cradled in Eugene's arms.
"Everyone move! I need room!" cried Eugene. The digipure and their families cleared a space for Eugene as he and Bethany walked past. Eugene went to the spilt-out contents of his duffel bag, set down Inju, and grabbed his laptop. He opened a file on it and began typing at a seemingly inhuman pace. "We don't have much time. Bethany, I need you to prepare for a data transfer."
Bethany touched her odd-shaped ears, which proceeded to open. She pulled out a tiny wire on each side and attached one wire into Inju's already opened ear. "Okay, what do I do with the other one?" Bethany said, her hair turning blond.
Eugene grabbed his digivice and placed it in a slot on the laptop. A chime sounded as the screen on the digivice lit up. Eugene removed it, opened a portal, reached in, and pulled out what appeared to be another Inju. "Plug it into here." Eugene opened one of the new Inju's strange-shaped ears, and Bethany plugged the other wire into a slot inside. "Begin the data transfer."
"Starting data transfer..." said Bethany. A humming noise came from the persocom and her eyes went blank as she began transferring the memory from the damaged Inju to the new one.
"There. Everything should be fine in a few minutes."
"What happened?" asked Hikari.
"She got hurt trying to protect us," replied Takeru.
"Hey, Eugene. I thought they were built to be stronger than us."
"They were. Ordinarily, they could take quite a beating. However, if their power source is damaged, they won't last for long before they run out of power. In this case, that is exactly what happened," said Eugene.
"...How, might I ask, did your hair get long and blue?" asked Koushiro.
"Actually, I'd like to know that, too," added Hikari.
"I am basic now, not acidic. Perhaps I should return to my neutral state," answered Eugene. Eugene concentrated, and his hair receded in length and became blond.
"Ah, that's the Eugene I remember. You still have that same haircut," said Hikari.
"Or rather lack of one..." added Beth. They laughed.
"Hikari, do you know where the Digipure of Sincerity and Respect might be?" asked Eugene.
"I might know where Sincerity is. Being as the rest of us are here, I'd say that Mimi is to be here, too. She currently lives in America," said Hikari.
"America is huge. Do you know which State she lives in?"
"New York, I believe."
"Okay, which city?"
"New York City."
Eugene groaned. New York City was the largest city in America, which meant if he went, he would be better off looking for a needle in a haystack. "Please tell me you know which house she lives in."
"Yes. Takeru and I have been there to visit once or twice."
Eugene let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I guess you'll be coming along, then." He looked over to his persocoms. "As soon as Inju's data is transferred, we'll leave."
It wasn't long before Bethany announced the completion of the data transfer. "Sister! You're all better!" she exclaimed, her hair changing back to a turquoise color.
The new Inju grabbed hold Bethany and sharply replied, "Don't you EVER call me that again!"
Eugene chuckled. He unattached the wiring from the two Injus, which receded back into Bethany's head. He then proceeded to pick up the damaged one. "What are you going to do with her?" asked Yamato.
"Well, I was going to let the Digipure of Knowledge take a look at it, since she's, in layman's terms, an android," Eugene responded. He turned to Koushiro. "Would you like that?"
Koushiro seemed elated. "You're serious? You'd let me examine the technology you used?" he said.
"Sure…in about twenty minutes."
"Why that long?"
"You have to let the power run out so that you won't get shocked, of course."
"Makes sense."
"Hikari, you ready to go?"
"Sure am. Tailmon, you stay here."
"Why?" asked Tailmon.
"I don't want any fights breaking out between you and Eugene's digimon."
"Bethany, let's go," said Eugene.