. . .

Kai, Madison, Sakura

. . .

Ravemon lead them into the basement of the large traditional home, into a cellar with no windows, cramped and filled with cobwebs and old forgotten family heirlooms.

"You two will stay here," Ravemon said sharply, pointing to Kai and Madison. "But you're coming with me," Grabbing Sakura by the arm roughly. "Gotta keep the old bastard happy somehow."

"Let me go!" She kicked and tried throwing punches but they bounced harmlessly off his strong body.

Kai took a step forward to help, but the moment he did razor sharp feathers were released from Ravemon's wing. They narrowly missed his head, causing him to stop in his tracks as one grazed his cheek and another his shoulder, instantly drawing blood. "Ah ah ah," He smirked, wagging a finger at the boy. "Be grateful I'm such a good shot, or you might have lost an eye~"

Sakura saw the blood running down his cheek, and bit her tongue. "Just... Lets get this over with..." She said, lower her head and following along obediently.

"Now that's a good girl," Ravemon chuckled, "That attitude will serve you well when the King arrives."

"So what is your plan exactly?" Madison questioned before they could leave, holding Tsukaimon in her arms. "You need to open a gateway, is your king the one you plan to let through?"

"But of course," Ravemon sneered back at her, "And once our great host arrives, all of humanity will bend knee to us, their divine saviors who will deliver them to a prosperous future..."

Kai had a more important question on his mind. "And what if they resist?"

Ravemon quirked an eyebrow, before he simply shrugged as he continued ascending the stairs with Sakura. "Then those who disobey, will be culled."

The young heroes were enveloped in darkness as Ravemon sealed the door behind him. Leaving them alone with only one digimon, unsure of their options or where Kotemon might be. Madison however, was more concerned with Kai, seeing he was bleeding still. She frowned before she pulled off her jacket, leaving her in a t-shirt as she ripped the sleeve with her bare hands.

"What are you doing?" Kai questioned.

"Making a bandage," She answered, grabbing his arm and wrapping the first piece around his wound. Tying it off nice and tight to try and staunch the bleeding, taking a small piece of cloth and pressing it against his cheek. "Hold that in place until it stops, we don't have anything to make it stick so... That's your only option."

Despite everything, Kai found himself releasing a small scoff of laughter. "And I thought healing was my power." Holding the cloth against his cheek, he smiled at Madison. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," She replied, looking towards the door. "We're still trapped, and since Ravemon took our phones-"

"But not our digivices," Kai realized, pulling his from his pocket. "He must not know we can use them to communicate." Before he tried to make contact with the others, to try and get a message to Thomas or Cody. But his screen flashed in error, something about a bad signal? "Damn, I don't know if it's this basement or maybe the gateway he mentioned... Hey," He spoke quietly into the device, "Kotemon? Can you hear me?"

But there was no response, causing Tsukaimon to frown, "I hope he's okay..."

Maddie patted her head, "I'm sure he's alright, Kotemon is tough." Before looking back to Kai, "If we can get out into the open, Tsu can digivolve, then we'll at least have a fighting chance."

Kai looked towards the entrance, before his eyes scanned the room. He racked his brain attempting to come up with some kind of solution, but as things stood now these bastards had them dead to rights. "I'm not sure we can get out... Without someone on the outside to help..." He slouched his shoulders, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this." Resting himself against an old dresser.

"It's not your fault," Madison assured, releasing Tsu to let the little Digimon flutter up and land on some old forgotten shelves. "I don't think anyone could have expected all of... This."

Kai shook his head, "I just had to schedule this stupid trip, just had to kick the hornets nest, if I'd not jumped the gun maybe we could have taken on this threat together, with support from Grayson or... Something."

"You scheduled this trip because you were concerned for the future of your family," Madison reminded, "And I think it was the right move, you heard Ravemon these guys aren't exactly planning a peaceful takeover." Her fingers gripping her digivice tighter, "I'm Chosen, just like you, so lets drop the doom and gloom alright?"

Kai couldn't resist her infectious optimism, and found his mood slowly brightening. "You know, I'm starting to wonder why someone like me was even chosen." He stated, releasing a heavy sigh. "Compared to you, I don't think I'm really that special, I've just been handed a mountain of opportunity."

"Yeah, most people with a life like the one you've lived would be spoiled brats," Madison replied bluntly. "But you're not like that, you..." She hesitated for a moment, before reaching out and placing one hand on his chest. "You've got a strong heart, and I know I can rely on you."

Causing Kai to tense up a bit, "Y-You think so?" His cheeks flushing a bit, hidden well by the dim lighting.

Madison nodded firmly, pulling back her hand as she smiled. "Yeah, now let's find a way out of here so we can save the world again!"

. . .

Sakura

. . .

"Where are you taking me?" She demanded, as Ravemon continued leading her through the house. They were moving far away from the others, to the other side of the building, it seemed.

"Somewhere I don't have to hear your whining." He grunted in response. Before turning another corner, he stopped in his tracks, "Ah, there you are."

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw the armored female figure ahead, wielding that silver staff. "Ravemon, what are you doing with her?"

"That voice!" Sakura held back a gasp.

"Just delivering her to a nice, hard to escape room that I can lock." He answered. "I'm sick of listening to these humans prattle on and ask their questions."

The warrior priestess nodded slowly, "I'll put her in the other storage room, away from that little digimon we captured."

Ravemon quirked an eyebrow, before shrugging. "Sure, take her, I'm sure she's got a lot of questions for you." He chuckled in amusement, pushing Sakura forward. "Go on then, I've got more important preparations to finish."

Sakura glared back at him briefly, before turning and making her way towards the other digimon. "Glad to be away from you too..."

The purple armored digimon turned as Sakura approached, "This way." Ushering her forward, "To the old storage rooms."

Sakura walked along with her quietly for a moment, as if waiting for the digimon to say something else. Before finally, she took the initiative. "That... That is you, isn't it Saki?"

"Saki was a fake name," She answered, keeping her tone level and not making eye contact. "I am Kuzuhamon."

Her cold response made Sakura's heart sink, "Then... You really are working with them, you have been the whole time..." Her eyes lowering to the floor as she continued walking alongside her.

"I am a servant of a Divine Digimon known as Kazuchimon." She explained as they went, "His power will be absolute in this world, his forces unbeatable, he will protect your kind from the same destruction that claimed our world."

"So you lost your own world, and decided to take ours?" Sakura asked, venom in her voice. "If your lord is so mighty and great, why didn't he save your world huh?"

Kuzuhamon paused in her stride, and shook her head, "By the time we realized what was happening, it was too late... The very core of our Sphere was fractured, imagine if the world beneath your feet began to crack and fall apart, there was nothing that could be done but save those few who could be."

"If you're really noble saviors," Sakura pressed, glaring up at her. "Why the cloak and dagger? Why not speak with humanity directly? Instead of playing these mind games, manipulating my family!?" Her voice raising with every word.

She hesitated, "You do not understand-"

"I understand that you were never my friend!" Sakura cut her off, causing the armored digimon to step back. "It was all a lie, you never cared about this family or me!" She accused, heat building behind her eyes. "You... You were the only person I thought I could trust, inside this damn cage built by tradition..." The fire dying quickly, as her despair overwhelmed her courage. "And now I feel more trapped than ever..."

Kuzuhamon managed to maintain her composure, her hand trembling around her staff. "Everything I've done... Has been to protect you." She assured, turning to continue down the hall.

Sakura begrudgingly followed, "So you wanted me to play nice? So I can be some kind of pet to you and your master?" But Kuzuhamon ignored her, continue on towards the door at the end. "ANSWER ME!"

Finally stopping at their destination, the warrior priestess digimon looked back at her. "Please, do not resist..." The desperation in her voice took Sakura by surprise, as if Kuzuhamon was truly begging her. "You can wait in here until it is finished, Kazuchimon will be arriving shortly." Sliding open the door with her hand.

Sakura clenched her fists, but stepped forward into the old storage room. "Ravemon made it clear what will happen to those who stand in his way," She said, glaring back at her. "Think he'll kill me too if I don't quietly obey?"

Kuzuhamon hesitated for a moment, watching Sakura. "Just... Just stay here, please, Sakura." Before she slowly closed the door, sealing it with one of her talismans to prevent it from being opened from the inside.

As her footsteps faded down the hall, Sakura released a heavy sigh. Looking around her room for anything that might be useful, seeing nothing but old trinkets and family heirlooms. Her eyes tracing the outline of the room for a moment, looking for something specific.

"There!" Her eyes catching the small misplacement in the wall panels near the floor in the back. She made her way over, carefully picking at the boards, causing one to give way and reveal a small tunnel. "You might have taken control of this house, but you know nothing about it." She thought, about to slip into the passage when she noticed a faint glint of light on a shelf beside her. She wasn't sure why it caught her eye, but following the glint she spotted two long thing objects tied together on a small stand.

Without hesitation, Sakura grabbed them before disappearing into the tunnel.

Her thoughts turning to the others, she gripped the heirloom tighter. "I still believe in a dream where we're free, no old traditions or Divine Digimon are going to stop me from reaching that dream!"

. . .

Kotemon

. . .

It took some time for Kotemon's head to stop ringing after that strike, but once he'd properly regained his senses the little armored Digimon was hard at work struggling against his bindings. The ropes weren't normal, maybe made by Kuzuhamon? They were much stronger than a normal rope that was for sure, but the material seemed to be the same. And that meant she didn't know what Kotemon was capable of. Focusing his power, he began channeling heat into his palms, the same power he used to superheat his kendo stick.

"Ha!" With a quick jerk, he ripped right through the now burning ropes. Kotemon jumped right up to his feet, summoning forth the aforementioned kendo stick from within his sleeves, "Right, need a game plan... Gotta find Kai!"

He ran right up to the door, attempting to push it open only to feel a jolt through his entire body causing him to stumble back, "Ow! Okay, must be protected by some kind of barrier..." Before he turned his head to the nearby wall, "But, I'd be willing to bet those aren't..."

"HOT HEAD!" An explosion of dust was unleashed as Kotemon used his super powered blade to blow through the wall, rushing out through the smoke and instantly starting to race down the halls, not really having any idea where he was going. "Gotta run, gotta find Kai and Maddie! Come on tiny legs move we're on the clock now!"

. . .

Kuzuhamon

. . .

"And just like that all our annoying loose ends are tied up," Ravemon chuckled, seated atop the main house with a small computer in hand. "And soon, the network link will be established, and Kazuchimon will arrive." Knowing that as per the work this family was paying for, there were humans working underground to finishing laying the final pieces to this newly established hub.

Kuzuhamon watched him surveying the progress, doubts beginning to weigh on her mind. "Indeed, and then... We try to correct our previous error in our own world."

To which Ravemon waved her off, "Forget the old world, we got a nice shiny new one now... Could use more digimon though, these humans are honestly quite hard to look at sometimes."

Kuzuhamon narrowed her eyes at that, "It's our duty to make sure what happened before never happens here, not to turn this world into a digital tourist attraction."

Ravemon smirked in amusement, "Aww, getting a little attached to the humans are you?" He mocked, "I should have figured, you've been so close to Sakura for so long, you must be head over heels~"

She was about to bark back a response, when the sound of an explosion caught their attention from below. "Dammit, what are they doing!?" She cursed loudly.

"Giving me a reason to GUT them!" Ravemon growled as he jumped up.

"No, you go to the shrine and make sure the gateway opens," Kuzuhamon ordered, "If a massive fight breaks out and the network lines are damaged we could lose everything, I'll put them down with my talismans." She assured.

Ravemon narrowed his eyes at her, "Fine, but if any make it out I'm cutting them down, no questions asked." Before he dashed off across the rooftops towards the shrine.

Kuzuhamon sighed as he disappeared, jumping down to the ground and kicking in the nearest door. She immediately began racing towards the room Sakura had been left inside. Reaching it in moments, she threw open the door only to see it empty, "That foolish girl!" She grit her teeth, turning and racing towards the source of the smoke, towards Kotemon's room. "She's going to get herself killed!"

. . .

Kai and Madison

. . .

Despite their rather determined declaration, the passionate youth both renewed in their drive to get out of here and save everyone, they still hadn't exactly found a way out of the basement. And with a sealed door, protected by another spell of some kind, they had decided to bide their time and wait for the next time one of their captors came by to make their move.

But the distant explosion told both teens that something had changed, the rumble causing dust to fall from above. "Sounds like somebody's starting the party." He said, looking towards Madison and Tsu. "Might be Kotemon, we need to get out of here now."

"Tsu can't breach the door," Madison reminded, "So what do you suggest?"

Kai smirked and simply pointed up, "Wanna bet they didn't place a spell on the ceiling?"

Madison blinked, "Weren't you the one worried about damaging the building?"

"Well it sounds like someone is already doing that so who cares at this point?" He shrugged, looking to Tsu, "Think you can punch a hole for us?"

The little digimon nodded her head, "You bet!" Fluttering out of Madison's arms, "Let's try this, FRIENDLY FIRE!" Her body inflated as she inhaled deep, before releasing a burst of purple flame straight up.

Both Kai and Madison were forced to dive for cover as the explosion ripped through the floor, blowing floorboards straight up where they clanged around loudly into the room. Ignoring a few of the remaining flames, Kai climbed up onto a nearby box, and pulled himself up through the hole. Leaning back in and extending an arm, "Come on!" As Tsu fluttered past him.

"Right!" Madison hopped to grab his hand, gripping it tightly as he pulled her up, heart racing as they stood up. "Let's find Kotemon!"

Kai nodded, "Yeah, that blast sounded like it came from the far side of the house." Before he pulled out his Digivice, "Let me try- Kotemon! Can you hear me!?"

The response was static, like there was some kind of interference, but through it he could just barely hear a voice. "-ai! Where ar-... I can't-"

"Kotemon!" Kai shouted back into it, "I can barely understand you, if you can hear me head to the main hall! We'll meet you there!" Before he started running, waving for Madison to follow. "Let's hope the message got through."

Madison's eyes darted by every hall they passed, expecting Ravemon to come out of any shadow. "Kai, I was thinking about something," She began, Tsukaimon flying beside her as they ran. "We should get to the shrine once we have Kotemon!"

Kai quirked an eyebrow, "What? Why?"

"It's just a hunch," She prefaced, as they rapidly approached the main hall doors. "But earlier when we were there, Tsu said it-"

"Ura Izuna!" The voice sounded behind them, and Kai turned just in time to see a bolt of light shaped like a silver fox racing towards them. He grabbed Madison and ducked, the bolt flying right over their heads and blowing open the doors to the main hall.

"Th-That was close," Madison muttered, looking back to the source of the attack to see Kuzuhamon staring back at them. The two humans slowly backing up into the great hall, as the armored priestess slowly marched towards them. "She doesn't look happy..."

Kai clenched his fists tightly, "Come on Kotemon... Where are you?"

As they backed further into the hall, Kuzuhamon continued her advance. "You will not interfere, this is your last chance to return to your confinement." Leveling her staff at them as she reached the entrance and came to a stop.

Tsukaimon jumped forward, getting between them and her, "Not happening," Madison replied firmly, clenching her Digivice in hand. "Not exactly the amount of space we need, but it'll have to do, you ready Tsu?"

The tiny digimon nodded, "Ready!"

Kuzuhamon slammed her staff into the floor, "Then you have chosen death!"

Digi-

"STOP!" Their impending battle coming to a screeching halt as the familiar voice rang out. All eyes turning to see Kotemon standing at one of the halls many side entrance. Panting lightly as he stepped forward, his Kendo stick in hand.

Kai was happy to see him, but noted the rather troubled feeling he got from his partner even at this distance. "Kotemon?"

Kuzuhamon turned her attention fully to him. "You should have run while you had the chance..."

The little digimon breathed in deeply, before releasing a heavy sigh. "I feel like all I've done since I got here, was listen... But before we do this," His eyes flicking to Tsukaimon and the others, before going back to his foe. "It's my turn to talk, and you're going to listen, Kuzuhamon!"

Her sharp white eyes narrowed beneath her fox mask, before she clicked her tongue. "Very well... Speak."

. . .

CS:GO HQ

. . .

Grayson walked down a long hall beside one of his newer colleagues, one of the two humans that had been sent to the Digital World long ago. Currently the duo were making their way to the control room, still searching for answers to the newest problems to cross Grayson's desk.

"Give me an update Angela, have you found the source of the disturbances?" He questioned.

The sharp eyed blonde was tapping away at her own touch screen device, "No, the disturbances are too random to indicate any sort of pattern, and they don't last long enough to trace a source."

He sighed as they passed through the door into the main hub where staff members were rushing reports back and forth, tapping away at their keyboards. "Well keep on it, maybe try and get a sample of the signal that we can reverse engineer and trace." He suggested, reaching the center before another question popped into his head. "And what happened to that Data Mass you were tracking?"

"Fell of the grid," She answered simply, "Last Hub it was detected near was in East Asia, after that the trail goes dark."

"Great," Grayson pinched the bridge of his nose, "Lets hope that isn't another nasty surprise waiting to spring out and-"

"Grayson, sir!" A voice piped up from across the room, "We've got an anomaly forming, it matches the signature we lost before!"

"Oh god dammit," Grayson cursed, "And what's it doing? Where is it?"

"Near a hub in Tokyo, Japan," Another man answered. "It's trying to breech!"

Grayson narrowed his eyes, "Warn the Hub to deactivate immediately, send a message to the JSDF, and somebody find those damn kids!"

"Sir, we've got interference spreading all throughout the local network," One woman replied, "It's going to be impossible to get in front of this, sir..."

"Last known location of Kai Sarata is in that area," Angela chimed in casually, as if she were unfazed by the current events. "So... We do have one man on the ground, at least."

Grayson clenched his fists tightly, "Keep trying to get through," He ordered, watching the screen as more parts of the network were interrupted by the growing interference. "At this rate, we won't be able to keep a lid on this one..."