"Dammit phone."
Davis was looking up the bus schedule when he got another popup. Seriously, all week he could not shake a series of popups every time he accessed the internet. No, he was not going to download the secret to salvation or whatever else B.S. the trolls out there wanted him to fall for.
Looking at where he was, Davis had a resourceful epiphany and started heading west.
"Who is it?" A singsong voice answered his knock several minutes later when Davis arrived at a fairly ordinary apartment complex. The door in front of him had a 'no solicitor' sign and a wreath of candy wrappers.
"Hey, I need your help."
"Davis?" Yolei opened the door, "What are doing here?"
"I was nearby and hoped you or Ken could take a look at my phone. I think it has a virus or something."
Yolei opened the door to allow her friend in but contrary to her action muttered, "We're not your personal IT department, Davis."
"Yeah, yeah. Just take a look, please."
Yolei sighed and accepted Davis's phone before making her way to the small kitchen table and sitting down with it. Ken appeared soon after, and following the same plea for help, leaned over Yolei's shoulder.
The pair of them physically had hardly changed. Yolei had updated her childish purple hair to an edgy violet so dark it was almost black and Ken had grown quite a few more inches. The true change of age was in their personalities and relationship. After nearly a decade together, Ken's softness had warn down the worst of Yolei's brashness, and Ken had learned a great deal of self-loving he had always been worthy of. They were a great team. They were also very in sync.
"Davis!" they raised their voices in unison, "How did you get this?"
"Whoa, calm down. I wasn't doing anything improper it just started freaking out of its own accord."
Ken gawked at him while Yolei snapped, "Davis, did you even read the popup?"
"I scanned it. Seems like the run of the mill scam."
Ken signed as Yolei hit Davis on the head before rushing out of the room. "It's about the digital world."
Davis felt the floor sink beneath him. He had definitely not seen that. Warning him not to click anything yet, Ken handed Davis the phone back. He read the popup with full attention and after scrolling down saw what had cleared missed.
Download now.
A threat to harmony plagues us.
Be the saviors you claim to be
and reclaim the smallest.
Your return is expected on File
Island where all is reborn.
The digital gates will open when
the host accepts my invitation.
"What does it mean?"
"No idea," Yolei reappeared with two laptops in hand. She handed one to Ken along with a cable to connect Davis's device. "We're going to find out though."
"And make sure we can duplicate the file if this is a legitimate way to get to the Digital World."
"You think that's possible," Davis excitedly asked. Ken and Yolei shared a look and nodded. "I'd get to see Veemon, wow, I can't even begin to imagine…"
"Davis?"
As Yolei started typing away, Ken paused to look at Davis with concerned eyes. His voice had trailed off abruptly and his fists were now clenched.
"This is about Tk."
"What?" Yolei had stopped now. The room was so silent it made Davis's next pause seem twice as long.
"This is about Tk. He's what we have to reclaim."
"Davis," Yolei looked compassionately at Davis, "I know you've taken what happened to Tk badly but we don't know it's connected yet. We don't even know if this is real yet. It could be a cruel prank."
"No, I'm absolutely certain." Davis crossed his arms stubbornly. "Think about it. We've all heard bits and pieces of what happened on File Island. We know that was where Angemon died but was reborn and…well, Tk was physically the smallest, right? He was the youngest."
"It could be," Ken gave a barely perceptible nod.
"Ok," Yolei signed dramatically, "I'll entertain the theory, because I also really, really want it to be true, Davis. But, File Island is where everything is reborn. We need more than a hunch to go on."
"Would it help," Davis said smugly, "if I told you that I've been getting that pop up since the last time I saw Tk."
Yolei conceded, "It certainly helps your argument."
Ken nodded, "We should call, Izzy. He'll want to be notified and perhaps he will provide more insight on the rest of the riddle."
"White goes first."
Kari blinked her eyes. A moment ago she had been running up an endless flight of stairs, now she stood staring at a chess board. She had never played a game of chess in her life but her arm was already reaching for a pawn and sliding it forward two spaces. Only then, did her gaze slide upward. She gasped.
"Hello, Kari," Angemon's lips curled into a smile and he reached for his own black pawn to directly oppose Kari's. As he withdrew from the board a long blonde lock fell across his shoulder. As usual, the angel was beautiful and radiant.
"It is your turn."
Kari looked back to the chess board and then up again, "I don't know how to play chess."
"Then I will win." Though Angemon's eyes were covered by a metal visor, she could feel his gaze burning into her. The intensity gave her chills.
"That isn't fair."
"Perhaps. So, what should you do, Kari?"
Kari looked at the board, then Angemon, and then back at the board. She did not know what to do. She could only guess what the pieces did and the thought of making a mistake overwhelmed her. "I don't know, I don't know what the right move is."
Angemon's holy rod appeared in his hand and without a word he blasted the chess board in radiant white light. Kari shrieked as the residual warmth hit her face and she jerked away from Angemon and the hovering lines of digicode.
"Do not play the game, Kari."
"What?"
"If you do not know his game, then play your own." Angemon pointed the holy rod towards the young woman as if preparing for an attack and a wild, invisible wind began to rip around his body. Power began to emit from the tip of the rod once more but unlike the first blast, this power was black and inky.
"Angemon!"
The angel smiled and Kari heard a familiar voice in her head, "Save all of me."
Kari screamed as the blast slammed her body. However, she did not feel pain. She opened her eyes and a dim, familiar dorm room greeted her sight. She had fallen asleep at her desk again and the sun was nearly set.
Kari rubbed her eyes. It was a dream. A short but powerful dream that had been occurring for days in one form or another. Tonight, though, was the most detailed rendering. She felt him. As weird as it was to say, she felt Tk through Angemon's visage tonight. Perhaps it was simply the pure goodness and light Angemon radiated, or maybe there was something more to it.
Before Kari could dwell on the moment much longer, her phone began to beep and she instinctually looked over. A notification from DigiPlace lit the screen. Kari unlocked her phone and the message appeared. Davis had posted something…something weird…
"Sending now. Did you get the file?"
"Yes," Izzy's voice crackled from the speaker in the center of the table, "and I'm not the only one."
"What do you mean?"
"I have no idea how, but it didn't go through the sFTP. For some unfortunate reason it was redirected via DigiPlace."
"What! How is that possible?" Yolei opened a new screen on her computer and brought up DigiPlace. As Izzy indicated, Davis had made a new post with the same cryptic message as his phone had displayed earlier.
"So much for keeping it quiet until we finished analyzing the file," Ken said regretfully.
"You can't blame me, I was sitting over hear the whole time."
"No ones blaming you, Davis, so be quiet a moment and let me think," Yolei reprimanded. "Izzy, can we retract the post?"
"Yes, let me get in through the back—"
"Stop, Izzy." Ken watched as 3 status lights turned from yellow to green. "They're already reading it, we won't be able to buy more time."
Izzy audibly signed over the phone connection, "You're right, Ken, no more secrets. Let me set up a conference call while you both keeping working."
Thank you to everyone who left such kind reviews last chapter. I hope you continue to find the story engaging.