Chapter Twelve: Puzzle Pieces [Pt. 1]

(Ken's P.O.V)

I spread out the papers, the photos, everything that I had managed to gather. There was a puzzle here and there was one to many pieces. Something was wrong and I could sense it. With everything spread out I was looking for the key.

"You really think you'll be able to crack this puzzle Ken?" I looked to Tai before nodding.

"We have all of the pieces of the puzzle but we have one to many pieces, one of these is a fake." That surprised him.

The papers contained everything that we had gathered over the months of Kari's disappearance; the papers went from things about Kari, to World Crossing, to reports of Digital Signatures. The photos that were taken of odd digital occurrences over the years, it also covered the battle that happened the night Kari left. There were profiles on every Digital Ruler that existed along with every ounce of info attained.

"Something seems a little fishy with this." Our elder DigiDestined tapped a photo of five years ago; it was actually a picture of Kari and her friends.

"Why do you say that's fishy?" He pointed to the necklace that Kari was wearing.

"The Necklace of Harmony was sealed away a long time ago by all of the Digital Rulers combining their strength; as long as that existed then Lucemon couldn't be at full power. There is no way that she attained that necklace." I was surprised so I picked up the photo and looked before looking through the documents that had mentioned a seal.

"I have to say thanks for keeping Kari's disappearance out of the news." He shook his head at Tai's words.

"Don't thank me, as long as Lucemon is killed for good I would cover up her disappearances as long as it would take, be it months or even years." I looked to him.

"Truthfully you're a little fishy in my mind; you knew Kari was a DigiDestined without us telling you, knew we were DigiDestined as well, and you know things that we don't; along with your grudge against Lucemon." He leaned back in the chair and laughed slightly.

"It was twenty-two years ago, this world's time at least, that I entered the Digital World. I was the last DigiDestined of Light." That made my eyes go wide; he had approached us saying he was a 'DigiDestined' but hadn't believed him but we had accepted his help.

"I was the one who gathered all that information; I was a Runner, as was my girlfriend. We were fourteen; we were stupid kids who had no one besides each other. We were just about done with a mission when we ran into something dark, something that I will never forget for the rest of my life." He tightened his hands into fists and his face showed his rage.

"She used her crest and drawing in pure raw Digital Power into her own body she created something that was to protect everyone from the darkness we faced, to save them from the demon that had destroyed over fifty different worlds alone." He narrowed his eyes at the memory but I grabbed a paper from many, many years ago.

"Your girlfriend became the ghost known as the Spirit of Harmony, Yune." He nodded his head and he tried to calm down.

"She sacrificed her life for everyone; she disappeared right in front of me. What was it all for? Sealing Lucemon away for what maybe two years? He still came back, granted less powerful, but he destroyed at least ten other worlds before he was locked in the core of a Digital World where he slept for about six years. She gave her life up to protect everyone but all she got was a 'you did well' and then she was forgotten, just like that." I sighed and I understood why he hated Lucemon now; it was because of him that he lost the last person he held close all those years ago, we had already found out that he had been an orphan when I looked into him two weeks ago.

"My sister may face the same fate if we don't figure something out soon. I mean she would do something like that if it meant protecting everyone." Tai was lost now, I could tell by his voice and by the face he made.

"I found the false information!" They looked me and I quickly grabbed a document.

"I was looking for just one thing but if I separate them out they come out into groups." I sorted them and everything matched up but two documents.

"Both are about a Digital Ruler. One is claiming that the Digital Ruler fell from grace and began working with Lucemon as his tactician since she had the trust of all the other Digital Rulers. The other is claiming that the same Digital Ruler is still good but she had a sister who fell from grace, the past Digital Ruler of that world." They grouped together but everything else supported something else besides these two; these two contradicted each other in fact.

"You're a genius Ken! I knew you could do it!" I looked to Tai as did the older DigiDestined.

He worked with other older DigiDestineds, the other DigiDestined who had been on his team, in the government to cover up Digimon related incident. The government knew all about Digimon and they knew that the incidents were few in number so they weren't pressed in finding a way there or anything, they had used an old DigiDestined to deliver a message tell our Digital Ruler that if the Digital World was kept in order then they would be considered an equals and no battles or anything would happen besides between DigiDestined and Digimon.

"You were the one who thought he wouldn't solve it!" Tai laughed slightly and scratched his cheek and looked away.

He stood up and sighed and bit his lip before pulling out his phone. I watched him as he looked at something on the screen before putting it back in his pocket.

"I need to be going but Ken you know if you crack this completely this government group will come after you and try to recruit you." I sighed and stood up.

"I'm only doing this to save Kari, even since two weeks ago I got the feeling that something bad happened to her. That's the only reason why I accepted your help as well; I'm only doing this for Kari." I think that surprised him but he smiled after a few seconds.

"If you need any help in solving this or anything just call that number I gave yesterday and ask for me, Kain Shuji." I sighed and shook my head; I would never do something like this ever again after this, I'm seriously only doing this for Kari.

I began looking through different documents, getting Tai to help me since I had figured out the secret of the puzzle already. Now I was looking for anything that seemed interesting or out of the ordinary. Tai nudged me after a few hours.

"I found something that contradicts itself Ken." I sighed I looked at the documents that he was looking at; he pointed towards the bottom.

"Two Digital Rulers never summoned DigiDestineds; claiming that their power was enough to defeat any evil that would come their way; two Digital Rulers train selected humans to fight." I was surprised; they did contradict their selves.

"Think that's it by chance or what?" I thought for a few moments before something dawned on me.

"Or it's adding onto that document; it's possible that they never summoned a DigiDestined but a human slipped through the gate and when trouble came around they trained the humans and they became strong enough to defend the Digital World by their selves." Tai thought for a few moments before he nodded.

"Possible, I mean you slipped through the gate between here and the Dark Ocean without meaning to once before right?" I nodded and I looked for something else containing to these two Digital Rulers.

"Ah ha I found their official files!" We had received top secret files from the Digital Rulers by permission since we were hoping to at least help Kari and helping Kari would more than likely end up with Lucemon dead.

"Ok let's see here, Gallantmon and Chronomon they're known as the…" The words died in my mouth; we had gotten these files just a few hours ago.

"What's wrong? I don't like how you stopped like that." My hand shook slightly as I read the text again not wanting to believe was there.

"Gallantmon and Chronomon are known as the strongest Digital Rulers to have ever been, both are currently missing and were last reported looking into a Digital Signal that is believed to belong to Lucemon. Lucemon has been going around collecting powerful Digimon and forcing them to work for him." Tai's eyes went wide and he dropped the papers that he had been looking through.

(Unknown's P.O.V)

I watched as my sister appeared; she was laughing and she looked like she had more fun than she's ever had. From the sadistic grin she had on her face I knew my plan has already been put into action. Even being evil it still bugged me what had happened; I was the weakest link here since I was still able to take on the angel form, I wasn't fully fallen from grace.

"From the look on your face I'm guessing that you took care of your job." My sister nodded and she licked her lips; enjoying the pain she had inflected.

"I also took the initiative to put her out of the game; she won't be moving any time soon." He began laughing.

"Also I have two new toys to play with; they are more powerful than the other Digimon we have under our control." That drew my attention away from my sister to him.

I had warned him when it came to taking powerful Digimon; there is always a chance that they were partnered with a DigiDestined, even if he killed their partner he could never be sure that someone from somewhere wouldn't come after them.

"I'll warn you again be careful of the Digimon you take." He laughed at me but shook his head.

"These two won't have anyone coming for them; they're Digital Rulers who never called upon DigiDestineds since their power were enough to defeat anything that threatened their world." It still worried me that he had taken Digimon; none the least Digital Rulers.

"Keep in mind about the last time you were sealed away." He narrowed his eyes at me; even if he scared me slightly I still stood my ground.

"I remember well what that foolish girl did to me but you remember well what became of that girl as well." He had a seriously bad run in with a DigiDestined girl a very long time ago.

"Hand it over." I pulled the object out of my sleeve; I stared at it for a few moments before I tossed it to him, he caught it and he smirked while looking at it for about ten seconds.

He closed his hand, using all of his power he crushed it and we watched it being deleted before our eyes. The guilt that I felt deep down intensified just a little but it made me feel bad.

"Very well, one down three to go, they won't work together because they'll blame each other along with themselves for what happened to the light. We'll be using my favorite plan, plan TE." He had made the 'name' up himself; TE meaning 'Total Elimination'.

"I still don't know why you say that the Light was the strongest point, the light was so easy to break not to mention that the Light gave in so quickly without even such a thing as a resisting word, she begged me not to actually." That made me bite my lip in thought; only one thought occurred, what have I done to this girl?