Daichi: Now, I'm not saying that this can't be fixed, but…

Verity: You broke the team. The one thing you tried to avoid doing at all costs. At least you have a way to fix it.

Vee-Vee: We don't own this stuff.

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Cody couldn't focus. The events of the previous day had taken their toll, especially on his conviction. He didn't know what was going on, Mimi, who he'd only met twice before seemed to know more than he did, and T.K…. The less said about T.K., the better.

That morning, he and Yolei had more or less unofficially kicked T.K. off of the team, although they didn't explicitly say so to anyone. T.K. had just seemed to notice and accepted it.

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-What happened?

-...I think I got kicked off of the team. Yolei and Cody don't seem to want me around anymore, so I'll keep my distance for a bit. I'm not sure if Davis has picked up on it, though. Kari probably has, but she hasn't said anything. It's only been a day, though, so they may notice soon enough.

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Naturally, being unfocused during a kendo lesson has it's natural outcomes. Namely, utterly failing at what he had come there to learn.

"Cody, what is the matter?" His grandfather asked. "You seem rather… distracted today."

"It's nothing, Grandpa. It's just… I've had a lot to think about, lately. I'm not sure what to think anymore."

"Oh?"

"It's a… moral concern."

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-This is because you brought me to the fight, isn't it? Having me around cost you your friends.

-Look, if they don't want me on the team anymore, that is their decision. You didn't tell them to kick me out. Officially, I'm not even out. I just… can't talk to Yolei and Cody anymore without death glares, so I'm keeping my distance.

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"Recently, one of my friends did something I didn't agree with." He couldn't tell the whole truth, not the way things currently were. "What he said… I don't understand it."

"What did he say?"

"He asked me… if it was worse to kill a person that you know will kill many others, or stand by and let the others die."

"Action versus inaction, then? Cody, your friend has brought up a question that I don't think anyone has a right answer to."

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-That isn't the point. You're just assuming that they'll warm up to you again.

-Well, they'd have to deal with Davis and Kari if they hoped to officially kick me out. And given how Kari's been acting recently, I'd say we'd finally have a majority, if they were to accept me back.

-A majority for what?

-To invite you to join the team.

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"But how can there not be a right answer?" Cody remembered how, after the incident with Thunderballmon, T.K. had listed several Digimon that he'd claimed had been killed by Patamon, or his Digivolutions. He hadn't been able to really believe it at the time, but now he could see it all too clearly.

"Cody, sometimes you need to decide what is right for yourself. Those on the side on inaction claim that nobody truly knows what will happen in the future, while those on the side of action refuse to take risks that could come back to haunt them later. Say, for example, I may choose to drink the last prune juice right now to make sure nobody else takes it, or leave it because I don't know if anybody would."

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-A majority? You really think that?

-Kari and the others, the first ones, I mean, know about Control Spire Digimon. They haven't told the others, though.

I wasn't sure if letting them know the difference would have helped or hurt them, in the end. These things happen, after all.

-Wormmon says you may not have made the best choice. I'm inclined to agree with him.

-I know that now. But if they can't bring themselves to hurt living Digimon, that could come back to haunt us one day. I certainly never got that choice, so why should they?

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"What side are you on, grandpa?"

His grandfather simply laughed, shaking his head. "Cody, this isn't something that should be influenced by somebody else. If a choice isn't clearly cut, then it is a choice that you have to make."

But which was the right one? How could there not be a right answer? Despite how much he kept trying to think about it, Cody simply couldn't come to a conclusion.

"But I don't know what choice to make."

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-Do you want me to point out the obvious reason?

-It was a rhetorical question. The thing is, they'll have to fight back eventually. That lady is bad news, and I'm pretty sure she's not human. Gennai isn't, after all.

-Who's Gennai?

-Only a guy who tries to give helpful advice, dips into comedy too often to be taken seriously, and has been overtly vague on several occasions.

He has given us actual help, though. Mostly by mailing stuff to Izzy. Haven't seen him in years, of course. I have no idea what he's gotten up to. I know where he lives, but it's at the bottom of a lake and you can't go to it without his permission, so contacting him is out.

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"You're still young yet. You'll have plenty of time to figure it out." But he didn't. And there was no way to explain that. Not without revealing everything, and he didn't think anyone would believe him, even if he were to introduce them to Upamon.

Other realities? Way too farfetched.

Well, maybe some people would listen. But certainly not that would know how to answer his questions.

Cody contemplated actually asking T.K. about his choices, but quickly discarded the thought. If nobody could be allowed to influence this decision, then he couldn't trust anyone to point him in the right direction.

He couldn't remember a time when his grandfather's advice, that he had asked for, had confused him so much more than he had been already.

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-T.K…. are we friends?

-Of course we are. I don't know why you'd think otherwise.

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Daichi: This is why a large bit of the plot was thrown out. The Jogress/DNA plots simply cannot happen with how the characters are now. Ken already has a friend in T.K., and T.K. has put a larger rift between himself and Cody. It would be a bit strange if it was just Kari and Yolei who could do it, when neither of them is the main character. Omnimon, however, is still a thing.