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Further Discussion

"I have often wondered if all the objects of the professor's questioning felt as puzzled as did this fraction." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Miyako and Iori walked together from Takeru's eighth floor apartment to the elevator.

"Did you notice anything strange about Hikari-chan?" Miyako asked her junior. Iori nodded.

"Maybe a little, but I think all of us were a little startled by what Ichijouji-san said. I'm worried that he may be right about Demon. The last time we were only able to seal him away, not destroy him."

"Yeah, but we were able to beat Armagemon back in March. Maybe Imperialdramon would be able to beat Demon now," Miyako replied, hoping to convince herself of the thought's plausibility. "By the way, I think I had a dream about Hikari-chan last night. I can't remember what it was, though." Iori looked up at her with questioning eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"It's nothing," Iori said. "It's just that… I had some bad dreams last night for the first time in a while." Actually, it had been just one dream repeated interminably. He had watched his father die. From the perspective of the killer.

"I don't think mine were very good either," Miyako said. "I wish I could remember what they were about."

Daisuke had invited Ken to spend the day at his apartment, so they said goodbye to Hikari and Tailmon at the elevator and headed for the Motomiya residence. The girl entered her apartment, carrying the Digimon. Taichi walked out of his room just as she was removing her shoes.

"So what was it about?" he asked. Taichi had not gone to the meeting simply because he had not been invited, but he now expected to be filled in.

"There was someone in Ichijouji-kun's room last night," she said, hoping that would be the end of it. She loved her brother, and he deserved to know, but she did not feel like talking at the moment. That wasn't the end of it, of course. Taichi wanted to hear the details, and so she obediently shared them, with interjections and clarifications from Tailmon.

"Is… everything okay, Hikari?" he asked when she was finished. He didn't expect to get a straight answer. He knew Hikari, and she was not one to vocalize her problems, but he wanted her to know that he noticed, and was willing to listen.

"I'm just… tired," she said. "I didn't sleep well last night." And she went to her bedroom. Once the door was closed, Tailmon decided to try her luck at uncovering the problem. Taichi was Hikari's brother, and they were as close as siblings could get, but some things were easier to say to one's partner.

"Hikari, what is the problem? I can see something's been bothering you all day." There was silence in the room for a few moments. Hikari sighed.

"I dreamed last night," she said at last. With that, all the pieces fell into place.

"About the Dark World," her Digimon finished for her. Hikari nodded dejectedly.

"It's the first time I've seen it since last year. I heard someone talking to me."

"Someone… You think this might be connected to what happened to Ken?"

"I don't know." There was another silence. "Tailmon… am I weak? I thought that all this was over, but… it won't leave me alone. I'm afraid that I—"

"Stop," Tailmon interjected. "You are not weak. You are one of the strongest people I know. We should tell the others. Much of our strength comes from our friends."

The girl was silent for several moments, but then managed a wan but sweet smile.

"Thank you, Tailmon. I'll tell them."

Upon reaching the Motomiya apartment, Daisuke and Ken were first greeted not by any human, but instead by Caprimon. The furry, helmeted Digimon had been part of the household since around the beginning of summer, one of four partners who appeared simultaneously for siblings of the Chosen Children. Motomiya Jun, Inoue Momoe and Chizuru, and Kido Shuu had been drawn through their respective computers into the Digital World, where they were introduced to their new partners.

That day had been exciting in more ways than one. Not long after the arrival of the four in the Digital World, an earthquake had struck the area. This had been odd in itself, more so when the coincidence of the new partners was considered. Earthquakes were not unknown in the Digital World, but they were fairly rare, especially in the region the humans had found themselves.

Daisuke and the others had entered the Digital World to rescue their new teammates, and as the tremor had been minor, there hadn't been any casualties, but the strange seismic activity in the Digital World had continued off and on ever since.

Several days before Ken had called the meeting about the intruder in his apartment, a massive earthquake had struck. The damage was again minimal because the epicenter had been far out in the ocean, but almost the entire Digital World had felt the shaking. Neither Gennai nor Koushiro could account for the increasing number of seismic disturbances, and the problem had been weighing somewhat on the minds of the Chosen.

Caprimon was looking rather miffed and dejected. Jun had gone out, leaving her sleeping partner behind. If one had not noticed the Digimon's expression, they would still know of her bad mood from the whining sound produced by the cones on her helmet. Daisuke was usually good with baby Digimon, but Caprimon tended to get on his nerves, possibly just because she was his sister's partner, certainly because of that sound. Upset was Caprimon's usual state of mind.

"Oh, you're back," she began. "Did you bring anything to eat?"

"Not really," Daisuke answered. "Just get something out of the fridge."

"I can't open the fridge!" she reminded him. He looked at Ken with an apologetic shrug and went to the kitchen to get something for her to eat. There followed a few minutes of arguing as Caprimon refused to decide on any one food, but eventually her hunger won out and she didn't send him back to the fridge with his latest offering. The children and their partners headed for Daisuke's room and closed the door, though they could hear the whine of Caprimon's helmet grow shriller as they did so.

"Sorry about that," Daisuke said. "She's almost as bad as my sister."

"I don't mind," Ken replied.

"That's really strange, what happened to you last night," the other continued. "What did that guy look like?"

"I couldn't really see him clearly, just his smile and eyes, but I know he was tall. I don't think I could pick him out from a crowd, though maybe if I heard his voice I would recognize him." It was the voice that Ken chiefly remembered. It had been overflowing with a sort of dark humor, as if the man were laughing at some secret so terrible only he would find amusement in it. It was a ridiculous thought, but Ken couldn't rid himself of it.

Daisuke smiled, and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it! We'll figure this out. And if there's bad guys to take on – there's no one more likely to beat them than us." Which was very true, Ken knew.