What happens if you place a large stone in a river? Not one large enough to block it, but one large enough to divert it? Which way does the water now flow? It's up to chance. The same with time. Each stone is an event, a choice, a decision made or not made. From those stones, the flow of time diverts. Some are large branches while others are small streams. In every stream, a Digital World exists, and in every Digital World, so do the Chosen Children.

The Mark of Millenniumon Prelude

Altered Crests

The Crest of Treachery

Taichi lifted his head when he heard the sinister laughter. Standing on the other side of the metal bars was the Digimon Kaiser, with a demonic grin plastered on his face. "I hope you found the accommodations to your liking."

Taichi narrowed his eyes but didn't speak. The Kaiser continued. "I'm sure you're wondering why I bothered to capture you and throw you into the dungeon rather than destroy you. Well, it has to do with your faithful digimon partner."

Taichi jumped to his feet. "Where is he?"

"He's safe, well, as safe as can be expected, given the circumstances."

An image flashed through Taichi's mind, of a towering skeletal digimon smashing through the forest. This was followed by an image of Taichi running after him before the Digimon Kaiser appeared in front of him, holding up a strange object that, as Taichi surmised, knocked him unconscious somehow.

"What am I doing here?" he demanded.

The Kaiser chuckled. "All right, fine, let's get right to it. I enslaved your Agumon and tried to force evolve him. Sadly, it seems that evolving a digimon under the control of a Black Ring causes him to turn into the worst form of his Virus possibilities."

"Or it's because your soul is black," Taichi sneered.

The Kaiser glared. "The reason you're here is because I want to test a theory. I wonder if I could control a digimon who was already Fully Evolved."

"Yeah, so what does that have to do with me?"

"You can't evolve your partner past Adult, right? You gave up your Crest power over a year ago, right?"

Taichi almost shivered. "How do you know so much about us?"

The Kaiser smirked. "Are you kidding? You Chosen are like celebrities here in the Digital World. Anyway, the point is you can't evolve your partner that way, but I wonder if the rest of the Chosen digimon might be able to."

"They can't."

"As they are right now, yeah, but my theory is that you, and the rest of the, heh, original Chosen, are connected to your partners through your crests as well as your digivices. Motomiya and the rest of those meddlers don't have Crests. If I were to take one of their partners and enslave them, would they be able to evolve to a more stable Fully Evolved form?"

"What does any of that have to do with me?"

"My Black Rings won't work on their armored forms. So, here's my offer. You bring Motomiya and the others to me and I'll release your Agumon."

Taichi's mouth flapped and then he laughed. "You really think I'd even consider that? You're more f-ed up than I thought."

The Kaiser returned the taunt with a laugh of his own. "Oh, I'm sure you'll consider it. I've heard all the rumors."

Taichi winced and his laughter died. The Kaiser continued chuckling. "I'll let you think about it."

Taichi watched the Kaiser leave. He wanted to shout something back but nothing came to mind. He just stared into the darkness on the other side of the bars.

"Quite a deal, isn't it?"

Taichi jumped slightly and twisted to the source of the voice. It belonged to a boy in the prison cell next to his. Taichi couldn't make out his features as he sat away from the only light source: an overhead light on the other side of the dungeon. The boy's hoodie didn't help either. "Who are you?"

The boy shrugged. "Just another Chosen captured by the Kaiser. You can call me Jiga by the way."

"How'd the Kaiser get you?"

"Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but let's talk about you. The Kaiser enslaved your partner, and you tried to rescue him, right? Why'd you go after him alone?"

Taichi winced. Jiga nodded. "Oh, right, the rumors, huh?"

"You've heard about them too?"

"It's major news in every tavern in the Digital World. That the Chosen had kicked you off the team."

Taichi winced again and slid down the bars to plop onto the ground. "No, it wasn't like that." He paused and then sighed, "They just stopped asking me for help."

"Why's that?"

Taichi stared into the darkness of his cell. It was his own fault. He remembered the day when he gave his goggles to Daisuke. Though he smiled, inside, it felt like a knife through his heart. The Digital World needed help but it didn't want him anymore. So he decided that if the Digital World didn't want him, he didn't want it. When the others needed help with Andromon in the metal city, Taichi was too busy with soccer. When Yamato and Gabumon wanted to free a city held captive by RedVeggiemon, he had homework. When Jyou had to rescue a captured Gommamon, Taichi conveniently forgot his phone. After a while, they stopped asking for help, stopped including him in anything that had to do with the Digital World. He felt a little hurt when he found out about their meetings, but Daisuke's response of "Sorry, Taichi, but you're just not that reliable anymore," only harded Taichi's heart. But then he found out that Agumon had been captured by the Digimon Kaiser. He needed help but had no one to turn to. He'd alienated the other Chosen.

Jiga's voice cut through the fog of his memories. "So, I guess you can't expect the other Chosen to come to your rescue then."

Taichi shook his head.

"So, if they won't help you, why are you trying to protect them now? If you need to hand them over to the Kaiser to save not only yourself but your Agumon, why are you hesitating?"

"But-"

Jiga cut him off. "You're here because the others wouldn't help you right? So what do you owe them?"

"Well, I didn't exactly ask them-"

"Would they have said yes?"

Taichi opened his mouth but Jiga cut him off. "No, they wouldn't. You've alienated yourself from them. You're on your own now."

Taichi turned when he heard the sound of the door opening. A Wormmon entered, holding a tray of food.

Taichi turned back to Jiga and gasped. The other boy was gone.

Wormmon skittered to the small slot on the bottom of the cell door. "Time for your evening meal. It's only bread and water. I'm sorry but the Master deleted our Digitamamon cook."

The bread was stale and the water murky. "Um, tell your boss I want to talk."


The Kaiser leaned forward on his throne and grinned. "I'm a man of my word. Your Agumon is safe and sound."

Taichi looked to the side of the Kaiser's throne and saw his loyal partner. "Agumon!"

The small dinosaur charged and nearly tackled the boy to the ground. "Taichi!"

The human grinned and rubbed Agumon's head. He looked up at the Kaiser. "So, that's it? I'm free to go?"

The Kaiser nodded. "Yup. You upheld your end of the bargain." He waved to the door at the rear of the room. "Go on. Get out."

Taichi glanced over his shoulder but hesitated. The Kaiser must have understood the expression on his face because he started to laugh. "You think I'm going to go back on my word? You're too powerless to be a threat to me, remember? Go, go, before I die of laughter."

Taichi glared for a moment before heading for the door. He heard the Kaiser's voice ring through the hall. "I want something to drink. Get me some wine."

Taichi stopped as he heard footsteps echoing on the polished floors. He turned slowly and saw Miyako, wearing a slinky French Maid's outfit, approach the Kaiser. She held up a glass on a tray. "Yes, my master."

The Kaiser snatched the glass and downed it in one gulp. "Excellent." He returned it to the tray. "That is all."

Miyako bowed. "Yes, my master."

As she trotted away, Taichi felt a chill from the blank look in her eyes. That chill only got worse when he focused on the Black Ring around her neck.

He ran out of the room with Agumon following behind. He continued down the hall at the same speed until he passed by an open door. Inside were Mimi and Sora, dressed similarly to Miyako, throwing sheets into a washing machine.

Taichi continued down the hall, passing by another door that led into what looked like the kitchen. Yamato, dressed as a chef, was at the stove, while Jyou washed dishes at the sink.

Agumon looked up at him. "Taichi…"

He waved the dinosaur to silence and they continued on their way to the main doors. However, when they passed by the entrance to another hallway, Taichi pivoted and walked down that one instead. At the hallway's end was a set of large, metal, double doors. Taichi hesitated and then pushed it open. On the other side was a massive room where Koshiro and Iori, both dressed in white lab coats, were observing a Scorpiomon. The rest of the Chosen digimon were in a large cage in the corner of the room.

Taichi twisted on his feet and raced back into the throne room. The Kaiser was still on his high seat, laughing at the antics of Daisuke and Takeru, who were both dressed as medieval court jesters. "Oh, you're back," the Kaiser said, "Something else I can help you with?"

Taichi motioned to the two boys. "You said you only wanted the digimon. Why are you torturing the others like this?"

"Why let good slaves go to waste?" he replied, "Don't tell me that you're now starting to regret this? You were the one that came up with the plan to lure the other Chosen to a Control Spire in the Koromon village, you were the one who suggested I attack before they had a chance to use their digi-mentals, you were the one that pointed out the weaknesses in my previous plans, that I didn't attack quick enough. It was you who brought this on them."

Taichi wanted to protest, but the words died in his throat when he noticed the person standing next to the throne. Hikari, in a similar maid's outfit, fanned the Kaiser like a slave girl. Taichi tried to find some spark of recognition in her eyes, but they were blank, empty, soulless.

He raced out of the throne room, raced down the hall, and charged out of the castle. He ran into the forest and dropped onto his knees in front of a tree. He emptied his stomach; each violent heave accompanied a memory of the other Chosen, enslaved forever.

"Taichi."

It was Agumon; he'd almost forgotten him. He chuckled; he almost forgot the entire reason he'd sold out the others. "You must hate me."

"I don't hate you. You must have had your reasons for doing it, right? All I know is-" His eyes dilated and he spun around.

Taichi jumped back to his feet and narrowed his eyes. Jiga was leaning against a tree and Taichi could make out a grin beneath his hood. "What?"

Jiga shrugged. "Sorry about that. It always makes my heart flutter when I see how loyal Agumon is." He glanced at the Kaiser's dark castle. "He's done better for himself in this world than in most others."

Taichi stared for a moment. "Then you really are-"

"I am," Jiga nodded, "So, you wanna see those other worlds? There's nothing for you here anymore, right?"

Taichi glared. "This is your fault! You told me-"

"But you're the one who did it," Jiga countered. "You committed the act all on your own."

Taichi tensed. He didn't want to admit it but Jiga was right. "So what? I join you now?"

"You've got nothing else, right?"

Taichi sighed. "Fine."

Jiga grinned and held out his own. Taichi took it and felt a jolt of energy shoot up his arm. This was followed by a dark orange light from beneath his shirt. "What the-?"

"Your crest," Jiga said, "Since you've unlocked a new trait, you're getting a new crest. The Crest of Treachery. "

Agumon gasped. "I...I feel the power! Agumon super evolve to Anomalocarimon!"

Jiga grinned. "Welcome, Musekin."

Next: The Digimon Kasierin has launched an all-out attack on the Digital World. Taichi joins her older brother Hikaru and the other Chosen, but when she is the only survivor, will she make a deal with the devil? Mark of Millenniumon Prelude: Crest of Shadows.

Author's Note: What did you think? Any criticisms? Thanks for the read and don't forget to review.