AN: Chapter 13 here.

A thanks to Sightbent for being my beta. They've been a big help as usual.

Well, let the show begin.

XXX

The First Move

The following morning, Takuya woke up feeling far more sluggish than usual. He wasn't surprised, of course. He had spent quite a bit of time last night with Hikari. It was a later night than he was used to. His parents hadn't even been awake when he got home, which he was actually rather thankful for.

Groggily, Takuya almost stumbled out of bed and down the stairs, forgoing his shirt in favor of quickly escaping the clutches and comforts of his bed. The smell of breakfast was the only thing that really kept him moving and he could already taste it. Takuya loved his mother's cooking and her food would be perfect after the past day's events. Food would help jump start his mind, dispelling the fog of sleep and allowing himself to start formulating a plan for the day. Whatever happened today would change everything from now on, after all.

That in mind, Takuya finally set foot on the first floor and made his way towards the dining room. A yawn escaped his lips as he walked in. The sight that greeted him as he croaked out a morning greeting woke him instantly.

"Morni-"

Takuya's eyes widened. His father looked at his son with a sigh and a shake of his head. His mother hid a smile behind her left hand as her eyes crinkled in mirth and restrained laughter. Shinya was outright laughing at him. One may ask why these reactions were coming about. That was simple.

Zoe and Hikari were at the table.

Zoe remained silent as she eyed her shirtless leader, a smirk on her lips. This wasn't the first time she'd seen Takuya like this. He often came down to breakfast with no shirt. It had been a surprise for her the first time she'd ever dropped by in the morning unannounced, but it had happened so many times now that she was used to it. Considering this fact, Zoe flicked her eyes to Hikari to find the girl staring, red in the face and still as a statue.

Hikari's reaction was the only thing making this funny.

"Wha…"

"I'm sure you have questions, Taku, but don't you think you should go grab a shirt? I think you're breaking your little girlfriend here."

"I – we… we're not-"

"We're not together yet!"'

"Yet?" grinned Zoe.

"I-I didn't mean – look – it's not like that..."

"Yet."

"Zoe!" Whined Hikari, burying her scarlet face in her hands as Takuya began to massage his temples. He already knew this would be a long day. The warrior of flame glanced up at his family, catching a smile on his mom's face. He groaned.

A long day indeed.

=X=

Plutomon stood from his kneeling position, his eyes narrowing as he turned away from the grey stone. The members of the Olympus XII beneath his thumb were waiting patiently behind him.

"We're going to crush our opposition before they can become a true threat. Prepare yourselves."

=X=

Takuya, Zoe, and Hikari stepped out of his house, the warrior of flame shutting the door behind him. Heaving a sigh, Takuya began to lead their little group to the park.

"I've really gotta start putting on a shirt from now on when I wake up."

"Oh, stop whining. It's nothing I haven't seen before," Zoe giggled.

"It's not you I was worried about."

"Then what's the issue? Unless you expect to find Kari in your home during the mornings more often…?" Zoe's implication was certainly not lost on her two companions. That Much was made evident by the fact that their faces were turning scarlet.

"Let's just drop it," sighed Takuya as they walked along, "and please don't bring this up later Zoe… I get the feeling her brother won't quite take it well."

"He wouldn't," Kari confirmed.

"It was just an accident though," giggled Zoe.

"Tai's brain works in mysterious ways. Best not to jinx it."

"Oh, alright. I won't say anything." With that the three slipped into a more comfortable silence as they made their way to the park. Another meet up today was inevitable after yesterday's events. Takuya couldn't imagine today would go very smoothly, but he hoped. The threat of the Olympians would ultimately prevail if their two teams didn't work together. That's what he believed anyway.

The three of them eventually entered the secluded clearing within the park to find that they were the last to arrive. Kari imagined her friends must have gotten up rather early in order to be here so quickly. Glancing around, she saw that a majority of them had sour looks across their faces – something she wasn't surprised about in the slightest. What did surprise her was the steel melting glare her brother was shooting towards Takuya. The warrior of flame actually took a step back at that.

Kari furrowed her brow at this, not understanding why Tai would react in such a way. Takuya hadn't done anything to him specifically.

Unless… ugh. Who told him? Kari's countenance shifted then. Her face going flat at how immature her brother was being. She could only imagine how he would feel when he found out she and Takuya were going on a date.

"Kari," called Yolei, grinning and waving her friend over. Kari looked to Zoe and Takuya, offering them a smile before she walked off to chat. Similarly, Zoe and Takuya met up with the other warriors as well.

"So… how'd it go?" grinned Yolei, Mimi and Sora were at her sides, also curious of the proceedings of the night before. The other Chosen hung around, most likely listening in as well.

"Well… we talked," Kari replied slowly, "he apologized. And told me about a good chunk of their adventure before it got too late. It… wasn't altogether pleasant. We've fought some powerful Digimon, but I can say with confidence that they've done battle with some enemies I'd like to never meet, if Takuya's retelling was as accurate as it sounds."

"What happened?" Sora inquired only to earn a shake of the head from Kari.

"They'll tell us everything today. Takuya promised. It will go better if you hear it from them, I think. Especially now that they're all here to contribute. They were pretty scattered for a while it seems."

The Chosen nodded before Mimi spoke up.

"So what else happened? You ended up missing the last train after all. Tai was pretty worried." Kari shot her brother a look here; a decidedly scrutinizing one. Tai blinked, wondering what he'd done wrong.

"Yeah, I bet he was," Kari snorted as she looked away from him.

Tai's confusion intensified.

"We'd gotten caught up talking and before we knew it I'd missed the train. He called Zoe to ask if I could stay with her and so… he walked me to her place. We – uh… we just spent the walk talking about various things."

Yolei began to smile mischievously as her friend recounted the night. She knew something had happened. Kari rarely got so flustered and her face was a tad red.

"What 'various things?'" grinned Yolei, her tone knowing. Kari ducked her head here, her cheeks now flaming as she mumbled something out that only Yolei heard as the girl had been standing quite close. Yolei's subsequent squeal was telling.

"He asked you out?!" She blurted excitedly, her voice carrying enough for a now embarrassed Takuya to hear and look over.

"What did you say?" Sora inquires with a smile. Kari's head tilted up ever so slightly, a bit of her eyes and face peeking out through her bangs.

"I said… yes, but I mean, i-it's just one date. Don't blow this out of proportion. I'm talking to you, Yolei!"

Yolei's grin did not diminish at all.

=X=

After much chatter and grumbling the two groups finally came together once more, Ceresmon was between them, intending to act as a mediator of sorts. Tai was once again glaring at Takuya, causing the younger boy to scratch his cheek sheepishly. He was exceedingly thankful Zoe wasn't going to say anything about this morning. Takuya glanced around again, catching similarly intense glares from Davis and T.K.

Exceedingly thankful indeed.

"Let's go ahead and get this over with," grumbled Koji, essentially letting Takuya know they needed to start. Grunting in affirmation, Takuya began to recount his tale from last night once more, the other legendary warriors adding onto it, giving details on instances Takuya knew little about as he wasn't present. By the time they got around to their first confrontation with Duskmon, a few hours had passed.

Takuya hadn't told Kari about the end of their battle with Duskmon last night. He'd only mentioned him as their next enemy and frankly he was glad he hadn't said anything. Her expression was grim, much like her other companions. They knew what it was like to encounter an enemy capable of dispatching all of them, but not quite like what Takuya's group went through. The enemies they could think of were always seemingly the baddest of the bad; only encountered by the end of their journeys.

The Legendary Warriors had made it clear just a bit ago that they weren't even half way through the tale yet.

"Damn," Davis growled, punching into his left palm, "Dark type Digimon are always nothing but trouble."

"That's inaccurate," Koji retorted with a scowl, "there's nothing inherently evil about dark types."

A majority of the Chosen rose a brow at this response. Due to the retelling of events so far, they knew Koji was the warrior of light. They couldn't understand how he, of all people, could think dark types weren't evil.

"I don't believe that," commented T.K.

"Yet it remains a fact," was Koji's response, folding his arms as his scowl deepened. He spared a glance to Koichi who didn't seem too perturbed by the reaction of their new companions.

"He's right," Takuya spoke, trying to give more of an explanation before one of the Chosen managed to piss Koji off, "Dark type Digimon are certainly more susceptible to corruption, but they're not born evil. No more so than any other type of Digimon."

"Oh?" Snorted Davis, "how would you know?" He grumbled, taking a decidedly aggressive step forward. Takuya's eyes narrowed, zeroing in on Davis as if sizing him up. He wasn't impressed. Ceresmon observer this development and was preparing herself to step in when Koichi spoke.

"We're speaking from experience; we know Dark Digimon aren't all evil." The other legendary warriors looked to him, unprepared for the warrior of darkness to comment on this subject himself.

"Koichi, bud, you sure abou-"

"Yes," Koichi interrupted. J.P. Simply stared at him a moment longer before nodding his head.

"We know because I am the warrior of darkness. Duskmon was me. Our enemy at the time had found my human and beast spirits and using their connection to the darkness he twisted them, giving birth to Duskmon."

The clearing went silent.

=X=

"Hmm…" Aegiochusmon Dark gazed out over the human world from the roof of a high rise. It had at least 30 floors, something he was quite pleased about. The height gave him plenty of free space to observe the humans without being detected.

"Plutomon said a little trouble in the city should lure out the pesky humans… if I find a nice place to open up a gate…" Aegiochusmon trailer off, a sick smile forming on his lips.

"This will be fun…"

=X=

"You…? You were Duskmon?" asked Cody. He found that hard to believe. Granted, they'd had their own case of an enemy becoming an ally in Ken, but he wasn't literally the vessel for the spirit of darkness. They knew Ken had been corrupted and though Koichi had said his case was similar, darkness was still darkness in their eyes.

"Yes," Koichi replied simply, "I fought against my friends for quite some time before I was finally freed of Kerpymon's influence. I hadn't really understood what I was doing then. Kerpymon made sure all I really felt was hatred and anger. I can hardly express how horrible I felt when I was freed and realized what I'd done. I didn't think I deserved forgiveness, but the others thought differently, and so here I stand, a proper member of my team."

"That's… really hard to believe," T.K. Replied after a moment of silence.

"I can understand why that may be. From what I understand, the only dark digimon you all have run into have been enemies. But I assure you, that doesn't make them evil." The chosen slipped into silence once more at Koichi's words. When no one said anything more, Koji nodded and picked up the story where'd they left off. The rest of their tale took another couple of hours to tell, but they finally came upon Lucemon's defeat and their return home.

"And that's that," sighed Takuya, happy to get that out of the way. The clearing was quiet again and before any of the chosen could comment on the adventure of the warriors, Ceresmon took hold of things.

"Now that that's out of the way, we should probably focus on what our first move is."

"Well," began Izzy, "we know they want Gennai. We should probably secure him." The chosen agreed with him, but Koji quickly voiced his disagreement.

"We shouldn't do that." In typical hothead fashion, Davis took a step forward with a growl.

"And why not!? We can't just abandon Gennai!"

"Koji's right though. It's not necessary, think about it. What could they possibly need him for?" Takuya asked, earning a glare from more than just Davis now. He didn't let it deter him though, "hear me out. At best, they would be looking for him to try and discern Ceresmon's location. They know where she is now, though. She was with Koji and Koichi when they rescued you guys. So they must know she's in the human world at this point. There's not really anything else Gennai could offer them. They don't need him any longer."

Izzy nodded here, finding Takuya's observation to be sound. Some of the other chosen such as Joe, Ken, and Cody to name a few calmed as well. By Takuya's logic, Gennai would no longer be in any danger.

"But what if they want to know about our weaknesses? Or what if they want his knowledge on the digital world as it stands now?" T.K. shot back.

"They've already bested your groups best. More than once. They don't need your weaknesses. To them, you're not a threat." Koji's blunt reply made some of them flinch. He wasn't wrong.

"As far as knowledge on the digital world… I was able to see it when the seal was weakening. It would be too convenient if I was the only one who saw it as it changed. It's likely they already have that information," Ceresmon commented.

"More than likely actually," Zoe added, "they knew where our beast spirits were. Someone from their side had to have seen it in a similar fashion to Ceresmon." The few chosen who had still wanted to find Gennai as quickly as they could were slowly resigning to the fact that they wouldn't be searching for him. Though they hated it, the facts were that the Olympians truly didn't need him.

"We're still going to find him as quickly as possible though," Ceresmon said, earning surprised looks from everyone present.

"But why?" questioned Takuya.

"It's a waste of our time," Koji added with a scowl.

"Because my comrades aren't themselves right now. And leading them are the corrupted Plutomon and Titamon. I wouldn't put it past them to capture Gennai simply for leverage." No one had thought of that, though the legendary warriors certainly weren't surprised by the suggestion. It would make sense.

"Ha!" yelled Davis with a grin on his face, as if he'd come out of a battle victorious, "were going to look for him after all!" Takuya merely blinked at the boy.

"Okay," he replied simply, "I mean, I don't actually have an issue finding your friend. I just didn't want us to have to do too much at once. We already need to get ourselves at the Olympians level of power. And honestly, it might be a good idea to teach your Digimon how to actually fight. That's already a lot on our plate. Didn't wanna add too much." Davis fr ended at the other boys reply, his earlier grin diminishing slightly.

"On that note," Ceresmon spoke again, trying to once more, defuse the situation, "the best way to go about this is probably by forming mixed teams. So, how shall we set that u-" Ceresmon was interrupted by the sound of a distant explosion. The group of destined looked around to eventnoticed smoke billowing into the air from the city.

"What is going on…?" Wondered Tommy. Tai felt his head sink into his stomach as a thought came to him. Takuya has said they already knew Ceresmon was in the human world.

"Izzy!" Tai said, panic in his voice, "check for any digital signals." Initially Izzy looked at him oddly, before he went pale as he caught on. Whipping out his laptop, he started up the necessary program and after a moment he cursed.

"There are Digimon in the city."

That single sentence had set everyone on edge. The legendary warriors more so than the chosen, in fact. After all, this was their home town.

"Never thought I'd be doing this in the human world, but no one messes with our home," growled Takuya as he and his team held their D-Tector's at the ready, fractal code swirling to life around their free hands. It seems that the first move in the coming war had gone to Plutomon's side.

"Spirit Evolution!"

The Legendary warriors were going to make sure he regretted it.

XXX

To Be Continued…

Translations:

So, here is chapter thirteen. Took me some time. Had writer's block for this. God it sucked. As a side note, let it be known that at the time of writing chapter 12, I was not fully aware that schools in Japan had class through Saturday and only had Sundays off. I believe I made a similar mistake in a chapter before that. That in mind, from this point forward their weeks will work according to the culture in Japan and there will be no further off days on Saturday. Not unless I plan for some sort of holiday.

The subject of darkness isn't quite done with just yet either.

Also, this chapter marks the first time on any of my gifs that I'll be using the app to update a chapter. Let me know if there are any weird formatting issues. As I still can't quite get in touch with my beta.