Davis gasped and he backed up a step. How could Nova, his cousin by his father's side, be the Dgidestined of Darkness? Is there really a Digidestined of Darkness? Was he kidding?

But no, Nova wasn't one to make a joke, at least, not about something this serious.

"Nova, is this true?" he asked, surprised.

Nova took a deep breath and stood up. Impmon backed away and hung his head a bit. He was betting his partner had hoped that everyone would find out about this a bit more in the future.

"Yeah, it's true." Nova said quietly and his eyes cast upwards towards everyone. "I'm the Digidestined of Darkness."

"How is that possible?" asked Izzy, who was as surprised as everyone else.

Nova sighed. "It was about five years ago...I was visiting my mother's grave."

In the Odaiba Cemetery, a 9-year old Nova sat down next to his mother's grave.

"Remember that science project that I was telling you about a few weeks ago? Well, guess what? I passed with an -A." Nova said and smiled to himself. Looking up towards the clouds, he rested his hands on the ground and continued to talk. "I was really scared at first because I didn't know that we were suppose to present. I didn't find out till two days before, but I think I did okay. I kinda stuttered though."

He chuckled. "I practiced the night before what was I going to say with Dad and I think that helped me a lot, so I bought him his favorite candy from the store down the street."

Nova sighed and looked around his surroundings. He was the only one there actually. Every other week, he visited his mom's grave and talked to her as if she was alive. And he had been doing this ever since his Dad decided he was old enough to be on his own.

At school, Nova was an outcast, always keeping to himself. Kids either teased him for no good reason, or just plainly ignored him. Which was fine with him. Nova found that other kids his age could be a bit annoying and immature. He was the kind of person to be totally quiet in the back of the room and appear to not be paying any attention what-so-ever, but yet, surprised his classmates every time whenever his school work would be in one of the highest in his class. Nova didn't let this get to him though. He had better things to do.

Standing up, Nova yawned and stretched up his arms, his back on the grave. He checked his watch and was surprised that he had been there for at least an hour. "Wow, time went faster than I thought." he muttered. He sighed as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Well, I've got to go." he said as he turned. "Don't want to upset..."

His voice trailed off when he saw a small egg with purple polka-dots on his mother's grave. "What in the world?"

Nova cautiously bent down and inspected the strange object. A few seconds passed, and to his shock, the egg began to shake. Nova gasped and covered his eyes when light peeked through some cracks forming. He fell back on his butt and behind his closed eyes, Nova felt the light appear brighter and brighter until it dimmed.

"Hi!"

Nova opened his eyes and saw a strange purple and brown creature with lime green eyes staring up at him.

"Hi!" the creature said again.

Nova waved hello , a bit nervously, as he moved his legs out of the way. "H-Hi."

"I'm Yaamon! And who are you?"

"Nova."

Yaamon smiled. "What's wrong, huh? Shocked to see your partner?"

"Partner?" Nova asked, confused.

"Well, yeah! I'm your Digimon partner, Yaamon!" Yaamon hopped on his lap and smirked. "Why're you here?"

Nova looked down sadly. "I'm visiting my mom."

Yaamon frowned and looked around. "Um, sorry to tell you this, but you're not gonna find your mom around here."

Nova shook his head and pointed. "She's right there."

Yaamon turned and his eye caught a gravestone.

'R.I.P.

Kazumi Kurata

Loving mother, wife, daughter and friend.'

Yaamon finally understood and lowered his head. "Oh, I'm sorry." he said sadly.

Nova smiled slightly. He was about to tell him something but a device suddenly appeared out of thin air and floated above him.

"Oh! That's your Digivice!" said Yaamon and grinned up at the object. "It's yours!"

Nova cupped his hands underneath the Digivice and watched as the device fell on them. Both of them peered at the screen and saw a strange picture of a swirl with four circles trailing down at the end of the swirl. (LOOK AT MY PROFILE! (BENEATH THE PICTURE OF NOVA))

"What's this?" asked Nova.

"Your crest, silly! The Crest of Darkness!"

Kouji walked silently beside Stephanie as they continued to travel the forest. Stephanie bit her lip and looked back. Ever since they left the Reminiscent Forest, everyone left Nova and Impmon by themselves. And currently, both of them were in the very, very back of the group. Nova had his eyes downward and Impmon walked beside him, occasionally looking up towards his partner.

Stephanie sighed sadly. "Poor Nova."

Kouji looked towards her and then at Nova. "Yeah, I guess."

"Why don't you talk to him?" Stephanie whispered.

Kouji shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

A tick-mark appeared on Stephanie's head as she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "'Yeah, I guess. yeah, I guess'. Is that all you can say?"

"Yeah, I gue- er, I mean NO."

Stephanie smiled and so, both of them stopped walking and waited until everyone else passed by them. Nova walked by them and they hurried up to catch up to him.

"Hi, Nova!" Stephanie said cheerfully.

Nova looked up from the ground towards her and his eyes flickered back down.

Kouji sighed and rolled his eyes. "Nova, just don't listen to them." Them being Digidestined. "They've just had bad memories, I think."

Nova shrugged, his eyes still stuck to the ground.

Jp and Lili suddenly arrived with Takuya, who were both in charge of leading Lili through the forest.

"What's up, guys?" asked Jp.

Stephanie smiled at them. "Just talking with Nova."

"Nova?"

Nova looked up and caught Lili's eyes. Lili smiled softly.

"I'm sorry about your mother."

Nova nodded his head. "...and I'm sorry about Ai."

Takuya sighed and placed his hands behind his head. "I really didn't expect that to happen back there. You said it was safe, Kouji."

Kouji nodded his head. "Yeah, I know what I said. Guess I was tricked." He smiled sadly towards Lili and Nova. "I'm sorry you two. I would've known it would had happened, I would have said something."

"It's okay." muttered Nova.

"No, it's not okay." Kouji argued. "I'll find a way to repay both of you."

At that time, Amy, Kouichi, Zoey, Tommy and Calumon walked/flew to them.

"Hey guys." smiled Tommy.

Zoe frowned towards the hot-head. "Takuya, aren't you suppose to be up in front with Tai?"

Takuya shrugged. "I wanted to hang out with my friends for a while. Tai said it was alright."

Placing an arm around Nova's shoulder, Jp smiled. "Come on, Nova. Smile!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and pushed away Jp's arm. "Oh please, Jp. Do you really think he can just smile after seeing his mom for the first time? Honestly."

Nova looked uncertainly towards Impmon. He wasn't used to this much attention.

"You know what helps me get over it, Nova?" Lili asked. "I just think about what I have now and be thankful for that. Your mom was really brave to let you live. She looked really scared."

"Same goes for you, Lili." Amy smiled. "Your sister was a hero to save you...you know what?"

Amy stopped walking and looked at the both affected. "Both Mrs. Kurata and Ai have something in common. Nova, your mom gave you a chance to experience living and Lili, Ai gave you a chance to keep on living. You want to repay your mom, Nova? And Lili, Ai? I say do your best to make sure your lives are worth living. If you keep moping around, then what the heck are you doing? It's like the necklace Kouichi gave me." Amy held out the golden rose necklace her boyfriend had given her at her birthday one year.

"Kouichi gave me this with the purpose of me wearing it. What will happen if I didn't wear it at all, Kouichi?"

Kouichi smiled. "I would be disappointed."

"Exactly. And so I don't disappoint him, I make sure to wear it every single day. Same goes with Mrs. Kurata and Ai. They gave you a gift and you better make sure to use it everyday."

Nova nodded slightly. "Never actually thought of it like that before."

Calumon giggled as he flew backwards in front of Nova. "Then it's about time you did, silly!"

Stephanie squealed suddenly. "It's like the song goes..." she threw up an arm and placed the other on her hip. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Stand a little taller! Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone! What doesn't kill you makes a fighter! Footsteps even lighter! Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone!"

Nova was surprised at her sudden singing, but laughed when Kouji slapped a hand across her mouth.

"Sorry," Kouji apologized. "She thinks as herself as a professional singer."

Stephanie narrowed her eyes and was about to punch him in the gut but stopped.

"What is it?" asked Tommy.

Stephanie looked up and in an instant, a drop of water hit her forehead. Her eyebrow frowned and everyone stopped walking, looking up.

Dark clouds rolled in without their knowing moments ago and now, more and more drops of rain fell down.

From the front of the large group, Mimi gasped as she desperately tried to cover her head with her backpack. "Oh no! My hair!"

Everyone started to either cry out or complain when more and more water fell on them. And soon, they were soaked.

"Oh man." muttered Tai. He turned and faced the others. "Let's hurry up and try to find somewhere to cover our heads!"

"I second that!" yelled Izzy, who had quickly stuck his laptop underneath his shirt.

Takuya left his friends and joined both Tai and Matt in front of the group. Everyone quickly followed the leaders through the rain, which was getting worse by the minute. So bad that it came to a point that the flying Digimon couldn't fly anymore due to the fact that the rain knocked them down.

"Come on, Hawkmon!" yelled Yolei as she rose up her arms towards her partner.

Hawkmon crashed into Yolei, almost knocking her down. Placing her jacket over him, Yolei continued to follow.

Kouji squinted his eyes through the thick rain and saw that Jp was having trouble pushing Lili through the mud. "How about you carry Lili, Jp! And I'll carry her chair!"

Jp stopped and nodded. "Good idea!" He stopped pushing Lili and ran in front of her, kneeling down on his knees. "Hurry Lili! Get on!"

Lili quickly fell frontwards on Jp's back and Jp grabbed hold of her legs. Kouichi helped Kouji fold the chair and Kouji placed it on his back, trying to move as quickly as possible.

As everyone passed by, Tommy noticed that Stephanie was the only one who wasn't bothered by the thick rain. Instead, she stood a few feet away with a smile on her face. He cupped his hands around his eyes and yelled at her. "Stephanie, let's go! What are you doing?!"

Blue eyes turned to look at him and she blushed. "Oops! Sorry, T-boy."

Tommy was really confused. She didn't even appear fazed by the sudden heavy rain.

"Alright is everyone here!?"

Heads turned and in their heads, counted to make sure all of them were there.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, everyone's here."

Tai looked around the small cave they were in. Thankfully, about a few minutes before, Davis and Veemon had called out that they had thought to see something through the rain. And when both Tai and Takuya left to check it out, they found the small cave they were in. Going back, they brought in the others and both Amy and Calumon made sure nothing else was in there with them.

"What time is it?" someone asked.

Mimi yawned before checking her watch, which actually managed to not get that wet. "It's almost 9:30 p.m."

"Let's make fire so we can rest for the night." Takuya said to Tai and the older boy agreed.

"Okay, guys. We're going to sleep here for tonight."

Sighs of gratitude were heard and Mimi watched as everyone put down their things and smiled when Matt laid next to her.

"I'm dead tired." muttered Matt. "What about you?"

Mimi stretched. "I'm tired, too." Lying down on her side, she groaned when her ice cold hair touched her face. "Brr! My hair's so wet and cold!" she shivered.

Poor Palmon, who was completely wet, trembled. "M-Me t-too..."

Matt reach up a hand and grimaced when he touched a strand of Mimi's hair.

Meanwhile, Gabumon looked around and spotted a fire that had just been made. "Go dry yourselves over there." he suggested.

"No, but then I'll smell like smoke." Mimi complained. Palmon nodded.

Zoe, who had overheard, smiled as she looked to the pink-ette. "Hair's too wet too?"

Mimi nodded, but then her eyes widened when she noticed that the blonde's hair was already dry. "How did your hair dry so fast?!"

Zoe laughed. "I'll show you." She turned towards her friends. "TAKUYA!"

Takuya's head shot up from the group and walked over to her. "WHAT!"

Zoe rolled her eyes and patted the floor next to her. "Sit down."

"Okayy..."

"We're going to dry Mimi's hair."

Takuya then smiled at the Digidestined of Serenity. "Oh yeah sure!"

"Wait! Dry Palmon first!" pleaded Mimi and Zoe nodded.

As Mimi, Matt and Gabumon watched, Takuya rubbed his hands together and using his newly-found powers, his hands started to warm up a bit more than usual. And when he was ready, he placed his palms face up and Zoey quickly rubbed her own hands on his. And using her wind powers, heat combined with air and Zoe stroked Palmon, relaxing her and drying her at the same time. Takuya and Zoe continued to do so until Palmon was sure that she was dry.

"Wow!" gushed Palmon as she looked herself over. "That was awesome! Thanks!"

Zoe and Takuya did the same for Mimi and when they were done, Mimi beamed when she ran her fingers through her hair. "Sweet!"

Takuya and Zoe grinned turned each other, unknowingly, but blushed and immediately looked away.

"You're welcome, Mimi." said Takuya and coughed once.

Zoe sniffed and stood up, walking away. (Still blushing c: )

~x~x~x~

"So who wants to take the first shift?" asked Tai.

Everyone looked around and some shoulder shrugged. Amy took her hand off from Calumon's head, who was sitting on her lap, and rose up her hand. "I'll do it."

A few seconds passed before Kouichi rose up his hand as well.

Yolei, Hawkmon, Sora and Biyomon rose up their hands. "We'll take the next shift." Sora volunteered.

"Okay cool." Tai smiled at the couple. "Just remember, after your turn's done, wake up the next people."

Amy and Kouichi nodded in union and stood up. And as they passed by, Kari huffed in annoyance.

"Hmph. And make sure to WARN us if something's up."

Kouji, who was nearby enough to hear, looked up. "What the hell is that suppose to mean." he said seriously.

"Don't people who have to do with Darkness keep things to themselves?" Kari said and shrugged. "Just letting Kouichi know not to do that."

Stephanie, who was lying down next to Kouji, stood up abruptly. "What the fuck is your problem, Kari? You've been acting like a real pain in the ass lately!" Stephanie only cussed when she was really pissed off.

Kari widened her eyes in surprise. "What's my problem?!" She stood and rudely pointed at both Kouichi and Nova. "DARKNESS IS BAD! You guys told me that Kouichi tried to kill Kouji! How is that not bad!? And Nova? Nova is the freaking Digidestined of Darkness! He hid it from us! Why would he hide it from us?!"

"Kari..." warned Tai.

"So what?! That's not fucking reason for you to be so rude! Especially to Nova!" Stephanie continued. "He's a Digidestined and he's suppose to be part of your team!"

Impmon glared as Nova seemed to shrink.

"Maybe he had a good reason to hide it from us, Kari." Davis spoke up. "I mean, you do get kind of paranoid in this subject."

Tk sighed heavily. "That's not the point!" he said and stood up as well. "The point is, how can we trust them?!"

"Tk!" snapped Matt.

"Come on, guys." Calumon said to them. "Don't fight..."

"Listen, Kari. I know you're the Digidestined of Light." sighed Amy and placed her hand on Kari's shoulder, who grimaced. "But part of having the Crest of Light means accepting people for who they are and looking at their good qualities, not their bad ones. Kouichi is past the evil he was before. He was possessed by Cherubimon's evil, remember? And Nova's just been through some bad times in his life."

Kari's hands clenched up in both anger and frustration. How can she be so blind?! How could the daughter of a Celestial Digimon be so blind?! How could she trust them?!

Amy gave her a smile.

Kari shut her eyes. She tried to contain the fury, but containing it now was too late.

"Kari, please understand. We can't work together like this if you don't trust my boyfriend or Nova. I think we shou-"

Kari's hand shot out from her side and striked Amy across the face.

WHAP!

Everyone gasped as the Digimon's face whipped to the side, her dark hair flying. Tai, Tk, Kouji, Kouichi, Zoe and Takuya made their way to interfere, but Amy held out her palm, stopping them. Tai froze halfway making his way towards his sister in shock. The twins, Takuya and Zoe were frozen too, and everyone else? They had trouble believing that Kari had actually slapped Amy in her cheek.

Amy lifted her head and looked at Kari with a saddened expression. Kari's eyes glared at her but her eyes flickered towards Amy's cheek, which was now turned a stinging bright red.

"...Kari..."

"What."

"You wanna know what kind of people absorb the most light?"

Kari looked at Amy, whose face remained calm. But slowly, she shook her head.

"The kind of people who absorb the most light are the people with the darkest past." Amy sighed and looked over Kari's shoulder towards Tai, who was still frozen in place. "I don't exactly know the details of the experiences you guys had with darkness." Her eyes flickered back to the younger girl. "But I'm not going to let that affect me. You may not agree on my relationship with Kouichi. But I love him with all my heart. And I don't care if he's Darkness or not. If I remember clearly, which I do, it was because of him we're still alive. it was him who helped me and my friends from defeating Lucemon in the first place. It was him who gave us the key to save both of our worlds. And as for Nova, I'm sure that he'll prove himself to be a great person and help out in any way possible. But you have to let him. Both of them."

Amy gave her one last look and walked away, leaving Kari still glaring. But Kari then gasped when her arm was grabbed.

"Kari, you have to stop this!" Tai snapped.

Kari eye's widened in sorrow. "T-Tai? Why're you taking their side!?"

"I'm not taking anyone's side. But Kari, you're going to far. Just a few days ago, you were okay with both Kouichi and Nova and now? What happened to you?" Tai asked in disappointment. He then sighed. "Look, we have to work together whether we like it or not. And fighting about something like this is only going to bring us more trouble."

Kari hung her head as Tai gave her a hug. Kissing the top of her head, he sighed again. "Let's just go to sleep, okay Kar? We'll talk about this later."

~x~x~x~

Nova crossed his arms and looked over everyone else.

After the scene between Amy and Kari a few moments ago, everyone was just as in shock as he was. And after Tai talked with his sister, the leader had walked over to the boy, making it a bit nervous.

"Sorry about that, Nova." Tai said apologizing.

Nova had nodded. "It's okay."

"Look, things are kinda tense around here, so I would kinda suggest staying with the Warriors for a bit. They seem to accept you."

Nova again nodded. "Sure thing."

Tai looked kindly at Nova and placed his hand on Nova's head, messing his hair up a bit. "I'm sorry Nova. I wish things were different. But hey, I'm sure you'll prove yourself to the others soon, am I right?"

Nova's small smirk gave Tai his answer, making him chuckle.

"Good night, Nova."

"Night Tai. And thanks."

And now, almost everyone was asleep, except for a few people. A moving figure startled him a bit, but was surprised to see that it was just Lili, who was dragging herself towards him. He stood up to help her off the floor, but she waved him away.

"It's fine, it's fine." she reassured.

Nova sat back down and waited patiently for the girl to reach him.

Lili finally sat up, brushed some dirt off her clothes and gave him a wide smile. "You know what, Nova? Amy was right. We have to appreciate what my sister and your mom gave us. And I think the only way to do that, is to prove ourselves to the others. Think we can do that?"

A small smile appeared and Nova slowly nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"We'll work on it together." assured Lili and held out her hand.

If proving himself to everyone else meant that he would finally be at peace, with himself and with other, he was totally in. Besides, Nova wanted to help out in any way possible. He owed it to his mother.

Nova held on to Lili's hand and shook her hand.

Joe was the first to wake up the next morning. Sitting up groggily, he stretched up his arms and yawned. Joe then smacked his lips, pushing his glasses up his nose and rubbed his eyes.

What time is it?, he wondered.

He stood up and stretched some more. But when his arms fell back down at his sides, he looked ahead of him and frowned.

"Is that a beach?"

Yay! I updated! Man, typing with my left hand is hard..

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