"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange: To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth."
Al Elric, Full Metal Alchemist

Recommended Music:
Scene 1: "Imaginary," Evanescence
Scene 5: "Jumping Fish," See-Saw

Black Wings
Chapter Ten: "Searching For Paradise"

Summers in Tokyo could be summed up in one word: Hell. One would expect it to be cooler than, say, an Okinawan summer, because the island of Honshu was farther north; but as any coastal city dweller can affirm, humidity breaks all rules and assumptions. During the summer, it was not uncommon for humidity to reach one-hundred percent, leaving Tokyo denizens lying miserably in the sticky heat, clinging to air conditioners and fans or vying for a breeze.

And then rain. It fell from the sky in a massive cloudburst, temporarily easing the heat before the added humidity could cause any more suffering. But that was in the future; for now, it was cooler.

Iori lay in bed, the covers pushed off completely. The hospital's air conditioning was on full-blast, and Upamon was enjoying the cold linoleum floor. The boy was not a late sleeper by habit or design, but the sound of the raindrops against the window was soothing therapy for his troubled mind.

In that fragile world that was his subconscious was a reflection of the Digital World, only brighter and untainted by evil. A waterfall he didn't recognize poured down behind him into a sparkling river that caught his reflection. He stared at his image momentarily. He barely recognized himself—a small boy with pain in his eyes, grown up far too quickly for his mind and body to keep up.

"Are you ready?" asked a voice. Iori turned and saw another boy. He was about the same age, with black hair badly in need of a cut, as it was getting in his eyes, which were a deep blue. And unlike Iori's green, these eyes knew no pain and sorrow. They had never seen monsters or demons or death. To put it simply, they still maintained their innocence.

"Akemi?" Iori recognized.

"You promised me you'd teach me kendo one day," the boy replied. Suddenly, Iori was aware that they were both clad in kendo gi and armed with bamboo shinnai. "So are you ready?"

Iori ran his fingers over the smooth, light wood. It felt good to have one of these again, to have his friend alive again. He turned to Akemi, his eyes just as filled with excitement, and answered, "I'm ready."

They bowed and ran at each other, their shinnai impacting with a loud clack. Akemi laughed as the two tested each other's strength, finally having to pull away. Iori laughed as well, leaping into the air and bringing his bamboo sword down. Akemi blocked it deftly, nearly knocking Iori off his feet when he landed.

"Pretty good for a first-time student," Iori complimented.

"I have a good sensei," Akemi replied.

They repeated their blocks and thrusts until both were sweating and panting. Laying aside their swords, they sat in the cool grass and stared off into the horizon, where birds flew toward the sun.

"It's exactly the way I imagined it," Akemi declared. Iori looked at him. "The Digital World, I mean. This is what I imagined when you described it."

"Well, normally, it's a lot more active," Iori corrected. "And it's not usually this bright. I guess the others have been doing a good job protecting it."

"Of course. Why wouldn't they be?"

"Akemi, I don't know if you know, but they've been fighting. A lot. Something about a boy in another world—that's all I know."

"I know," he answered. His face, normally so cheerful when lucid and calm, was now taking on a more depressed look. "I may run away from the world in my schizophrenic daydreams, but I know what's going on in the world outside. It's part of the reason why I tried so hard to imagine the Digital World. I wanted to see a world like that, like it was in the times of peace—beautiful and unharmed. I wanted to believe that there could be a place like that somewhere, even if it wasn't on Earth." Iori marveled at him. "What?"

"Nothing. You just reminded me of a man I once knew, a man named Oikawa."

"Of course," Akemi replied. "When you get down to it, he and I are a lot alike. We just went about things differently."

Thunder suddenly crashed, waking Iori from his dream. On the floor, Upamon jumped somewhat and then settled back to sleep. Iori envied him. He didn't have all the pain the boy did; he only understood a fraction of it.

He got up and stared at the rain outside his window. Placing his hand against the glass, he sighed. It seemed he'd never be freed from his nightmares, even if they were slowly starting to become dreams.

In the shadow of Mt. Fuji was a high school with an elementary/middle school nearby. It served the residents of the nearby towns, including the Resistance settlement village. It was lax with certain dress code restrictions such as hair dyeing (after all, it produced some of the best young artists in the Tokyo area, so why not let them express their creativity a little?) and let the students express themselves to some extent. So long as they wore their uniforms and didn't deface them, the administration was happy.

Masaki Nishigawa was a fairly normal-looking teenager: brown hair, shadowed eyes, tanning skin. He was unusually tall for his age, but that was all he really deviated in. He was good at the core academic studies and decent in athletics, but he wasn't too good at anything. A bit of a computer geek, yes, but he did engage in some physical activities like bicycling. All in all, he didn't raise any red flags. He was perfectly normal, other than the fact that he had few friends his age. Perhaps it was because he was younger than most of the other ninth-graders; perhaps it was because he was shy. But it wasn't anything that made him seem suspicious, and that was exactly what he wanted.

It was Japanese History, one of his better subjects, and he was taking notes in atrocious kanji. It was one of the few things he was allowed to handwrite, as his teachers had given up on the migraines they'd gotten trying to read it and requested that he type all of his assignments. In the middle of his notes on the earliest clans, the principal entered the class.

"I have something for Masaki Nishigawa."

"The addressed young man looked up, trying not to look pale. No, it wasn't anything to worry about. He'd carefully covered his tracks and everyone else's. They couldn't have learned who he really was!

The principal placed an envelope in his hands. The return address featured the logo of a violet spider on a crimson background. The company's name was Arachne Communication Systems, Inc., situated in Tamachi. He'd heard of it from time to time: a new but fairly successful business that created hardware and software. He'd even filched some of their chips from stores with bad security so he could upgrade his computer. Unsure of what the company wanted with him, he opened the envelope to pull out a check.

"Holy shit!" he declared rather loudly. The entire class turned to stare at him. Remembering where he was, he flushed and murmured, "Sorry."

"What is it that invoked that expletive?" the teacher asked.

"I've just been given a check for ten million yen," he answered, somewhat breathless.

"A grant?" the principal questioned.

"I think so," he replied. "But I didn't know Arachne took interest in students."

"Then it looks like this is something to celebrate," the teacher commented.

"Trust me, I will," Masaki replied. "Can I be excused for a second? I want to phone my family and tell them."

"Of course, go right ahead," the teacher answered.

He left the classroom and snuck into the computer room, where no one was around to spy on him. He pulled a small cell phone out of his pocket and attached an override chip to its back. This was the first real test of this system, and he hoped it would work. He pressed one on the keypad and waited for an answer on the other end.

"Takuya here." His voice was barely coming through past all the static. Kage grimaced. There was too much digital energy in the D-scanners for it to work. He'd have to scrap it in favor of a more reliable communication system.

"Takuya, Kage."

"What's wrong? And you're coming in terrible."

"Yeah, I know. And about what's wrong--I'm not sure. Arachne Communications just gave me ten million yen."

A whistle came through the static. "Damn."

"Yeah. It's paid to the order of Masaki Nishigawa, but the memo says personal."

"Someone just gave it to you for your own use?"

"Looks like it. Listen, after calls, I'm going to open a bank account and cash it in. If it's a personal check, then I can use it for the Resistance without any problem."

"Be careful though," Takuya warned. "Maybe we should check that company just to be sure this isn't one of Kouichi's traps."

"The CEO is someone named Arc Oikawa. We can investigate him."

"All right then. I'm going know before someone gets suspicious."

"Same. We'll meet after school."

Kage hung up and removed the override from his phone. But rather than destroying it, he examined the delicate microchips. What interest did Arc Oikawa and Arachne Communication Systems have in him—not necessarily in Kage Tenshi, but his alter ego of Masaki Nishigawa?

He sighed and pocketed both the chip and the phone. He was going to find answers, one way or another.

Shin was not a pessimist by nature. On the contrary, next to Shuu, he was the most optimistic and light-hearted of the Kido family. True, he was a bit more serious now after the Darkness and Vamdemon's second rebirth, but for the most part, Shin was far more optimistic than his brothers could be.

But optimism is quickly shot down and trampled when it comes to Iori Hida. Especially when he's asking for a computer to go to the Digital World while in psychiatric care.

"No, I can't do it," Shin refused. "You're bad enough now after your friend died. I am not letting you get worse because of the Digital World."

"Akemi had been hallucinating," Iori protested in his usual calm manner. "He only thought he saw Demon."

"Still, it scarred you badly. Your psychological state is fragile. If something goes wrong, it can once again undo the progress we've made."

"And staying here is any better? This is a hospital—people die in here everyday, even though the doctors and nurses do everything in their power to save them. How is that any different from being a Chosen Child?" Shin kept silent. This wasn't like arguing with any other child or patient. He was arguing with a Chosen; there was no way he'd win. "I'm not going off to fight a war. I just want to find some answers I can't find here."

He sighed. "I don't know how long I can cover for you. This would be a lot easier if the Digital World still had a time difference. Don't stay longer than fifteen minutes. They'll want to check on you."

"Thank you," Iori replied. Shin finally took a notebook computer from his father's work area and placed it on the desk. Iori held up his D-3 to the screen and disappeared.

According to Freud, at the age of six, a person's entire core personality is shaped. At six, Iori had lost his father to a gunman and had been in an airplane attacked by a Digimon. His core personality had been completely and utterly torn to shreds and rebuilt into the quiet, haunted young boy who walked across the digital plains. And ironically, at the beginning and end of it all was the Digital World.

He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for or if he'd even find it. That dream was still fresh in his mind, the words echoing with his every step. Armadimon walked alongside him, looking up in concern, unsure of whether or not he should say anything.

Not far in the distance, two girls were relaxing in the shade of a fruit tree. One was reading a romantic fantasy novel while eating a summer fruit while the other stretched after finishing a magazine. This girl happened to notice the distracted boy walking in their direction, and she called her friend's attention to him:

"Hey, Yuri, isn't that Iori over there?"

The other placed down her book and looked. "Where?"

"To the right. Look! Isn't that him?"

"I think you're right, Sakura." Yuri looked up into the tree. Alraumon, Kunemon, come down!"

"Why, Yuri?" Alraumon asked.

"Iori and Armadimon are here," Sakura explained, grabbing Kunemon. "Come on!"

The girls and their Digimon hurried toward Iori, a massive swarm of butterflies fluttering behind them. Where the butterflies flew, colors brightened and plants bloomed. Slowly, the world started to match the one in Iori's dream, and this didn't escape his notice. He stared at the brightening sky, his face expressionless save for his open mouth.

"Iori!" two female voices cried. Blinking, he looked at the girls.

"Sakura and Yuri, right?" he checked. They nodded.

"Come on!" Yuri urged, pulling him forward.

The Digimon began playing, pouncing the butterflies and dancing in the flowers. Iori walked in between Yuri and Sakura, explaining why he'd come.

"That's terrible," Yuri commented. "But at least it was somewhat comforting to think that your friend's at peace."

"Yeah," he replied with some reluctance. "But now I have the feeling that something's missing, like I have a question that can't be answered."

"And things probably aren't helping in the hospital," Sakura mused, cupping a butterfly in her hands before releasing it.

"Not really," he confessed. "It's been almost a year, and I'm not getting any better. I think the doctors know it too."

"Things might not be much better on the outside," Sakura murmured.

"Sakura!" Yuri scolded.

"Oops!" the other exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry. I gossip too much; I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Iori assured. "I know all about the fighting and everything and how everyone else is avoiding each other. Miyako comes to visit me a lot."

"Well, that's good," Sakura commented.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I know she's trying to be nice, but she's suffocating me. I want to talk about everything, but she tells me not to, as if keeping everything inside will help me any. And then there's the doctors. They want me to open up, but they're not exactly willing to listen. They hear it, but they don't understand it."

"At least you know what your problem is," Sakura replied. He looked at her in confusion.

"You want to talk about it, but only with someone who's gone through the same things," Yuri explained. "And Miyako's afraid it'll hurt you more to remember everything, so she'd rather you spoke to the doctors. But they don't realize that's the worst thing for you."

"But," Sakura interrupted, "we're here and we've been through a lot of the same things. Yuri may have her head in the clouds a lot with her dreams of fairytales, and I may be an incurable gossipmonger, but we'll be willing to listen. And I'll keep my mouth shut if that's what you want."

A butterfly chose that moment to flit closer to him. He placed out his finger to let it perch. It stayed a moment, as though for comfort, before flying away to join its brethren.

"Thanks," he answered. "I'd like that."

"Holy shit!"

"You're kidding me!"

"My god!"

Takuya blinked at the reactions to the monthly box of supplies in the Railroad's mess. Izumi walked by with a package, silently warning him not to speak. A young man came up and threw her a fresh roll of toilet paper.

"Miyagami, think you can slip me some painkillers too?" she checked.

"All right," he promised. At Takuya's questioning glance, he whispered, "That time of the month."

"Ah," he replied.

"Just don't mention anything," Izumi pleaded.

"Don't worry, I won't," he promised. She hesitated a minute, but then finally left in the direction of the latrine. "So, Miyagami, what about everyone else? Why are they so surprised?"

"We just got a shipment of good stuff this time: sweets, a minifridge, rice and a steamer… We're actually going to eat well this time."

Takamoto opened a can of coffee. His status as black sheep was momentarily forgotten as he removed a wad of cash from the grinds.

"It's all euros!" Yutaka realized.

"And probably enough to buy supplies from Europe," Junpei concluded, "stuff we can't get here."

"Or start up an international bank account," Kage inferred, walking in. "Along with the American dollar, the euro is a more international currency than the yen. It's also worth more than both." He looked at Takuya. "Come on. Let's go to Tamachi."

Deciding against gray contact lenses this time, they put on sunglasses to hide their eye colors from any Imperial spies. Kage slipped one of his artificial digivices in his pocket, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get a laser-stun pistol inside. If they got into trouble, it would be up to Takuya to get them out.

"Take a book or something to read," he advised, pulling out a manga volume. "It's probably going to be a long ride."

"Right," Takuya agreed hesitantly. He found a book to his liking and turned back to Kage. "You're a little more nervous than usual. What happened?"

"I tired to set up an account today, so I went to the bank. They told me I already had one. Nothing in it, but still…"

"That's all? It's nothing to worry about."

"And I had a safety deposit box. I check in it and found newspaper clippings about my father's death."

"Oh."

"And there was a note warning Kage Tenshi to remain on guard at all times if he wanted to make it through the war."

Takuya's eyes widened. "Somebody knows who you are?"

"Yeah. The clippings weren't concrete enough, but that note was. The clippings could have been for anyone in the Resistance who was close to my father. The letter, though…"

"Who do you think it was? Who did this?"

"That's what I hope Arc Oikawa can answer for us when we see him."

They managed to get a ride to the station from one of the villagers heading into the city. On the train, Takuya tried to concentrate on reading, but he often looked over at his commander. On the outside, Kage looked fine, flipping the page to get to the next scene. But Takuya knew he wasn't. He knew that this Arachne business was a strain on him. He hoped that whoever Arc Oikawa was, he was on their side. Kage would never be able to handle it if his army was discovered through a lapse in his security.

After the longest time, they finally arrived in Tamachi. With the help of the return address on Kage's envelope, they found the tall glass skyscraper that housed the company. A spider on a web was etched on each of the front doors.

Takuya whistled, impressed, as they walked in. On the ground floor, workers busily labored about, finishing paperwork and furiously typing. A young woman led a child back to the daycare facility, assuring the child that Mommy was happy to see the drawing. The woman and child passed Takuya, and he was amazed to see how clear the little one's eyes were. He turned in surprise to talk to them, but Kage grabbed his arm.

"We can't interfere," he warned. "You never know." But the receptionist he approached at bright green eyes and no sense of suspicion about her.

"Ah, yes," she replied, running a finger down a list of appointments. "Masaki Nishigawa. No Ryuichi Sanada, but Oikawa's been expecting you. Conference room on the nineteenth floor."

"All right," Kage answered, motioning to Takuya to head toward the elevator.

"Excuse me," the woman from the daycare interrupted, bringing forth a young girl. "You're going to see Oikawa, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Takuya replied.

"Please, take this girl with you. She's Oikawa's daughter, and she's driving me absolutely crazy."

Takuya looked at Kage, who shrugged. "Sure."

The woman was extremely relieved. "Thank you. Go with these nice boys, Toshiko."

As they waited in the elevator, Takuya whispered, "What do you think her story is?"

"Spoiled daughter of the CEO," Kage whispered back. "When she acts up, they send her to her father, who tells her not to do it anymore but lets her get away scot free. It happens all the time. And if she's bad now, imagine her as an adult."

"I'm still here, you know," Toshiko informed. "It's rude to talk about people behind their backs. Everyone keeps doing that since Arc adopted me. And since the base, the only other nice one was that boy."

One word in her message caught their attention, and they traded shocked expressions. "Base?" Takuya repeated.

"As in the Kaiser's base?" Kage checked.

Toshiko nodded. "The boy helped me escape and got me to Arc. I don't know what happened to him, but I guess he couldn't get out. But I don't think he's dead. He was a very important prisoner to the Kaiser; he wouldn't just kill him."

Kage merely nodded, missing the last line. Its implications, however, made Takuya more and more suspicious. Where Kage assumed "the boy" was a kid on Toshiko's work shift, Takuya was thinking of the one person he knew that was so important that Kouichi wouldn't kill him for helping someone escape.

The elevator halted at the nineteenth floor. The boys closely followed Toshiko to the left, where the doors of the conference room loomed over her. She sighed and opened them, where a white-haired woman in a scarlet business suit sat at the table. She pursed her lips and momentarily removed her purple-tinted glasses. She rubbed just above her eyes to fight off a suddenly growing migraine.

"Toshiko," she addressed calmly, "what did you do?"

"It wasn't my fault, Arc! I swear! Miss Tanaka was taking Kenji to his mom, and Ayaka was picking on me and pulling my hair, so I hit her."

The woman, Arc, sighed. "Toshiko, we'll talk about this later." Turning to her visitors, she addressed, "Thank you for coming. I am Arc Oikawa, also known as Archnemon."

Kage blinked. "A Digimon? Able to take human form?"

"Yes," she replied. "But I'm not a pure Digimon, rather, a hybrid. The man who created me, Yukio Oikawa, used some of his DNA as a base. You probably don't know his name. He was from the other word, where the Kaiser and I are from."
Kage tensed, as did Takuya, who fingered his digivice. "How do we know we can trust you?" the younger boy demanded.

She shook her head. "Just like that Daisuke boy. Yes, I was an enemy of the Chosen Children, but I'm an even bigger enemy to the Kaiser. I had tried to control him, and he still resents me for it. That's why I was selected to help you."

The boys' faces went blank with confusion. "Who selected you?" Kage checked.

"Another enemy of the Kaiser's," she replied, "a Plotmon that had recently evolved to Tailmon."

"Was she the same Plotmon who used to be Ophanimon?" Takuya questioned.

"I believe so. She knew a great deal about you Chosen Children and asked me to try and help you in exchange for helping me escape. From there, I took control of a rising new computer company until we'd gained enough money and popularity to bring us here."

"And all in a matter of months," Kage marveled. But Takuya wasn't as impressed.

"Tell me, did you and your daughter have any contact with a prisoner named Kouji Minamoto?"

"Yes," she replied solemnly. "Tailmon asked that I do as much in my power to help him, should he escape. Apparently now, there's no chance of that." Reminded of the state of things, Takuya nodded and adopted a somber expression.

"One last thing before we go," Kage requested. "First, have you been the mysterious benefactor that's been getting us better supplies and that bank account and deposit box?"

"Yes," she answered. "The supplies I have been providing for all Resistance teams. Warriors fight better when they're better fed."

"And second, how did you figure out who we really are?"

"I knew that those closest to the First Three would be the ones to concentrate on," Arc explained. "Through maintaining good relationships with Resistance teams, I found where these people were. When I found that the Chosen Children were on the same team as Dr. Tenshi's genius son, I decided to try and find where you were hidden. If it's any consolation to you, Kage Tenshi, it took a team of elite hackers four months to make a dent in your security. You're one of the most talented programmers I've seen."

A shadow seemed to have lifted from Kage's face. "Thank you."

"If there's anything you need, contact me. You know where to look." Kage nodded and walked out the door, but Takuya remained. "Yes?"

"He's got too much pride to ask, but there is something we could use," he confessed. "We're trying to build a university at Mt. Fuji, but we don't have enough money for construction. We have some professors, but no building and not enough books and—"

"Done," Arc answered. "I will see to it that you have whatever you need to make this dream of yours a reality. Besides, an army of well-educated thinkers and fighters may be exactly what we need to make the Kaiser sweat." She smiled at this, making Takuya grin, and he thanked her and left.

"Arc," Toshiko addressed, "do you think they'll win?"

"It's hard to tell, but they're strong. God knows Ken's group was too. They should at least stand a fighting chance. Now, I want you to sit in the corner of my office until we go home. We'll discuss your punishment there." Toshiko moaned. Part of the problem of having a formerly evil Digimon as a mother was that she couldn't get away with anything.

Takuya looked a little confused as he and Kage exited the building and headed for the subway.

"Something wrong?" Kage asked.

"Maybe."

"What is it? Everything seemed to make sense. And even if we can't trust Arc, it's better than nothing."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Takuya responded, quoting the oldest of adages. "But what I don't get is how could Plotmon evolve? She's only been at the Child level for—what? A year? It takes a long time to evolve past that."

"That's what I was thinking," Kage agreed. "But when you get down to it, the Kaiser's base is probably filled with so much digivice energy that I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more Digimon are evolving prematurely."

"But how?" Takuya asked. "The digivices were meant to evolve us."

"Not exactly."

"Huh?"

"Takuya, have you ever read Full Metal Alchemist?"

"A bit of it," he admitted. "I only got through three volumes. Why?"

"I had the same before the war," Kage explained, "and I've been picking up more to read to take away some of the stress of battle. You remember the taboo on human alchemy?"

"Of course. That was how the whole story started, right? Ed and Al tried to resurrect their mother, and Ed lost his arm and leg while Al lost his whole body. What's that got to do with the digivices?"

"Everything, actually." Now Takuya looked interested. He focused directly on Kage as he explained, "The law of alchemy is that something can't be created for nothing. You must be willing to sacrifice an equal value, and that's why human alchemy is forbidden. It's too big a sacrifice to make."

"Yeah, and?"

"Isn't it just the same with the Spirits?" Takuya stared at him. "Before you say anything, listen to my version of the story. The original Legendary Warriors had to make a sacrifice to seal Lucemon, right? But when they did so, something went wrong, and they died in the process. All that was left was their Spirits. But when you reached your most desperate hour, they gained a level of sentience and appeared to you in ghostly forms. They had a bit of themselves still there, but they were also becoming a bit of you too."

"And how exactly does that fit in with the evolving Digimon?"

"When you Spirit Evolve, aren't you technically evolving your Digimon? But your Digimon don't have bodies of their own, so they live inside of you and your body evolves. You become the medium for their evolution, and the digivice helps regulate it. I guess it's sort of like possession, or maybe another form of human alchemy. You place the soul inside another person who already has a soul and manage to fuse them together as much as you can. But it has to be a mutual agreement, otherwise it doesn't work."

"Yeah," Takuya remembered. "I went completely crazy when I used the B-Spirit of Fire. I hadn't really wanted it; I just wanted to save the last person it had possessed. Kouji hadn't gone nearly as crazy when he used his. He actually wanted to find it. And after I saw what happened to him, I didn't think I really wanted mine."

"Now, in that case, the Spirit of Fire had been with someone else—someone who wasn't you. I'd have to ask Osamu, but I think there might have been cases in Gennai's files that mentioned evolution of other Digimon by the Chosen Children. The evolution devices can be used on anyone, basically. And considering just how much power the Kaiser has now…"

"Kouichi's able to evolve anyone!" Takuya realized in dread. But then his horrified expression softened into one of confusion. "But then, why haven't we faced an army of Ultimates?"

"It's probably pretty subtle," Kage mused. "Either that, or he doesn't want to risk losing control of someone." Upon seeing the still-confused look Takuya gave him, he added, "Let's say he decided to evolve Renamon into her Ultimate. He's got to exert a certain amount of control over her in her Child state, but if she suddenly becomes stronger, that's a lot more power he's got to feed. And if he doesn't use enough, she can break free and join our side."

Takuya laughed bitterly. "Never thought I'd say I wanted him to try sending us the strongest he has."

"Exactly. The Kaiser's a genius, remember? So he keeps an eye on how much power he has to use on certain levels of evolution. We know he had at least two Ultimates on his side—a Valkyrimon and a Rosemon. Most are Children and Adults. Both of those Ultimates have been with him since the beginning. One of them has already turned and tried a complete genocide on our caravans in the Digital World—thanks to Akagami and in part to Takamoto. So the Kaiser has to keep a closer eye on that one last Ultimate he has, and most likely, it's a mercenary anyway. I think Osamu mentioned that the traitor was a merc too."

"Okay, so Kouichi's power is bleeding out of his digivice," Takuya concluded, "and it's causing some Digimon to reach higher levels at a faster rate than normal. What about Kouji? He's still got a lot of power. Do you think there might be some leaking out of him?"

"Maybe," Kage reasoned. "I'm not sure. From what Osamu's told me, the Spirits of Light are spending a lot trying to keep Kouji alive. They might not have enough power left to do much of anything else, which would explain why he'd never done anything to try and escape and save his parents before they were killed."

"Yeah, he wasn't exactly the kind of person who would give into threats, even when his family was involved. Especially when his family was involved. Back when Kouichi was still with us, if he was in danger, Kouji would try every stupid thing in the book to try and save him. We joked that when that happened, he was even more reckless than me."

"So you get it now?"

"Yeah. It's making a lot of sense now."

"So we're going to have to get stronger. We never know when another abnormal evolution will happen."

"Amazing what you can learn from manga, isn't it? And isn't it where you based some of your style?"

"Yeah, a little. Computer-wise, I got ideas from anime like Lain, and you already know where I got the Railroad from. I don't exactly want to talk about the fashion side."

"It's okay. It can't be anything too bad. You got your old haircut from Yahiko in Rurouni Kenshin, right?"

"Well, not just him…"

"Who else?"

He was hesitant. "Dark from D.N. Angel."

Takuya stared at him in a mixture of horror and disgust. "You read shoujo manga?"

"It was my sister's, I swear!"

"Oh, God, Kage!"

Fifteen minutes after school with two of the darkest people he knew. That was it. A little talk with Yuri and Sakura seemed to have helped Iori a lot. Shin was amazed. He kept in mind to ask Iori's doctors to allow the Dark Seed Chosen to visit more often. He'd of course refrain from mentioning how he came up with the idea, but he'd plant it in everyone's mind that giving Iori some Chosen companions who had gone through a lot worse might help him form a support system. It wouldn't be nearly enough, but at least it was a start.

Iori, meanwhile, sat at his desk, reading a borrowed book on samurai and listening to the CD Miyako had given him. The band was See-Saw, a female duo he probably wouldn't have been actively listening to before hand; but now, he was enjoying the calmer songs with the soothing vocals of the women. Normally, he longed for home, for an end to his torment, for a peaceful mind, but this time was different. This time, he'd been to the Digital World, ad it helped ease the longing. Yet he felt more from his brief visit. He'd faced down a nightmare and spoken with people who had had to live through them. And he had a promise from them that they'd visit again. It was another team, but he was finally part of the Chosen Children again.

And something told him, he thought as he closed his book, that this was going to be one night where he didn't have to suffer with nightmares.

If anyone remembers from chapter five, Archnemon had a cameo in the scene between Kouji and Reiyama—she was watching the events unfolding and then walked away. Facts about Tokyo summers come from Del Rey's handy guide at the back of XXXholic, volume two. And before anyone goes "Holy shit!" at the sight of the ten million yen, it's only equivalent to about a hundred thousand dollars U.S. Still, that's a huge amount for a fourteen-year-old kid to wind up with for no reason. The comments about personality are correct according to Freudian teachings. Yuri and Sakura are the names Lord Archive gave to two of the Dark Seed children in "War Diaries" and "Red Digivice Diaries," and their names and personalities are used with permission. The Full Metal Alchemist conversation between Kage and Takuya came from a conversation between Shaun Garin and me about how the Frontier Digital World seemed to have human alchemy, but without so much of the equivalent exchange law. The D.N. Angel… That was just for humor's sake.

Chapter Eleven: "True Light"

Your loyalties are torn. Who is it you must protect: the individual or the world? Are you even sure that you can save the world? Despite everything, you are still a young boy. Are you sure you can make the decisions you must? Stop hiding yourself and regretting what must be done. Remember that your fate does not bind you, even though your freedom is limited.