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Background
"All memories that could be eradicated were eradicated, so that in most cases only a dream-shadowed blank stretched back to the time of the first exchange. Some minds recalled more than others, and the chance joining of memories had at rare times brought hints of the forbidden past to future ages." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shadow Out of Time"
Hiraga wasn't sure what to expect when the elevator doors opened. He had no way of knowing from the hazy details getting out to the public how many Digimon had been lost on the expedition, or how many hostages the survivors might return with. He was certainly not expecting to see the elevator empty except for the female creature in charge of the others.
Lilithmon had subdued her temper over the journey home. The idea that had struck her in Odaiba was becoming clearer, and she was so excited to put things in motion that she had almost danced through the night's blackness. As always, no one had seen her return to the building. Hiraga always worried on that account, unaware of her ability to cloak herself in darkness. She walked into the room with a regal air about her, only deigning to look at the human after a few moments had passed in silence.
"What happened?" Hiraga eventually asked.
"Oh… nothing very surprising," Lilithmon replied, waving a dismissive hand. "The rest of those stooges I brought are gone. But all that was just preparation."
"I see," Hiraga said, concealing the fact that he didn't believe it. To play along, he asked, "What will you do next?"
"Well, I now have a good feel for the meager capabilities of the Chosen Children, and will be able to defeat them easily when they arrive tomorrow evening."
"Arrive? You – you mean they know where we are?"
"Well, no, not yet. I don't want them getting here before everything is ready."
"I'm not sure my client would—" Hiraga began, but she interrupted him.
"He'll be fine with it, I'm sure. You can ask if you like, but I have to get busy." She stepped closer to him, and he had the courage not to step back. "Now, you don't have a problem with my taking over the subbasement, Hiraga-chan?" She gave a girlish tilt of her head.
Hiraga was too flustered to reply immediately. It wasn't until she lifted her left hand and began caressing his arm that he found the stability of mind to back off a few paces. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the feelings this monster aroused in him.
"I will ask Sato-san," he said stiffly. "You can do what you want unless he objects to it."
"Then I'll be off," she replied with a knowing smile. Suiting word to action, she turned and headed through one of the doors leading deeper into the core of the building. Hiraga turned to leave, but Lilithmon poked her head out of the doorway to ask a last question. "By the way, where is that little kitty we brought with us?"
"She's out exploring again, I guess," the mercenary answered.
"Well when she gets back send her to me. I have a job for her."
Hiraga wasn't sure how he felt as he made his way to the room from which he would contact his employer. The monotony of what had become his daily routine combined with the surreal circumstances had a numbing effect. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it all. Thinking back on the conversation with Lilithmon, he almost had to laugh. He had only been referred to with "chan" one other time in his adult life, and the man who had made the jibe ended up with a knifed jugular.
There was no reason he could see to be afraid of Lilithmon. She wasn't even as tall as he was, and he didn't find the gold claws on her right hand very threatening, since he hadn't yet seen them in action. Then again, he was learning not to trust first impressions. The children he had been stalking on Sato's orders seemed harmless enough, but they were apparently a match for monstrosities such as that skeletal giant. Life had become so strange recently.
Hiraga opened the connection between his own location and Sato's headquarters in the Digital World, but it was some time before he got a response. Finally the video came online and he could see Sato staring out of the screen at him.
"What is it? I'm busy at the moment."
"Only the lead Digimon is still alive," Hiraga said.
"I know," Sato snapped. "We can monitor their signals from here. I hope you have something else to tell me."
"I guess she's planning now to invite the kids to come here. Apparently she's setting a trap for them. I wanted to make sure that was alright with you before letting her go through with it."
After a moment's thought, Sato asked, "What is she doing, exactly?"
"Something to do with the subbasement. I didn't ask for details."
Sato nodded.
"I think I know what she has in mind," he said. "If she's taking time to prepare everything, I have faith in her abilities. I would prefer, however, that the Chosen Children did not know the extent of our headquarters in the human world. My associates will know of ways into the building other than the ones you've been using. Make sure to keep your guests out of the inhabited parts of the base." Sato paused and leaned towards the screen. "Now I am going to sleep. Contact the Dark Man if you have anything to report."
The screen went black. Hiraga shrugged at the sudden dismissal, and walked out of the room.
Gennai was standing atop a hill, watching the eastern sky as it slowly clouded over and lightning flashed in the distance. He stood motionless for many minutes, listening to the soft rumble of the thunder. Finally he could sense movement. Something gigantic was stirring behind the curtain of clouds, and he bowed his head in preparation to meet again with Qinglongmon. A soft, diffuse light began to glow in the sky, and attached itself to each tree, stone, and blade of grass.
"So it has come again to this, and in less than a year's time," the Digimon said, the clouds parting to reveal him. Gennai bowed more deeply before speaking.
"Yes, I am afraid it cannot be helped. The Chosen Children need your power, if you can spare it."
"We can, for now, but our powers wane daily. The number of Dark Towers continues to grow, but the breaking of the seals is more disturbing. Too late, I have begun to realize that building the towers of darkness was never our enemies' primary goal. No human, and very few Digimon, would know of the seals' existence. Something in the World of Darkness is directing these attacks. I am certain of it."
Gennai lifted up his gaze, looking directly at the Holy Beast.
"I will work to find out who is behind all this. The Chosen Children are working hard to keep things under control, but they will need your help."
Qinglongmon looked down at Gennai for some moments in silence.
"But there is more on your mind, is there not?" the god asked.
"It is not my place," Gennai answered.
"No, you are within your bounds. Speak freely."
Gennai took a deep breath before replying.
"Do you remember your partner?"
Resisting the urge to avert his eyes, Gennai watched the Digimon's face closely as he asked the question. Qinglongmon showed no sign of surprise or irritation. His expression changed very little, but his four eyes grew distant and clouded. When he responded, there was a difference in his voice.
"My partner… You knew then."
"I had guessed," Gennai said. "I knew that the original Chosen Children's Digimon, if they had survived their struggle, would have grown immensely powerful, even become gods, in the millennia since their partners returned to the human world. I found evidence of it some time ago, but did not want to bring it up."
Qinglongmon closed his eyes.
"Our memories are long, Gennai. But we are so very old. I can recall my partner only dimly. I cannot call up all the details of his face in my mind's eye, or even remember his name. I do not know what became of him, or the others, and I doubt that my fellow Holy Beasts have any more idea than I do."
There was another long pause. The wind whispered in the grass and the thunder became almost inaudible, as if it were coming from the very ends of the universe.
"Why do you ask me this?" Qinglongmon said.
"I have been searching for any clue that might reveal to us the source of this evil," Gennai said. "I have been examining the past, wondering if it might conceal the answer, and the mystery of the first Chosen Children suggested itself. Why did they never return? Where are they now?" Another pause. "Perhaps it is nothing."
"Continue your investigations, Gennai. I will confer with the others. By morning, the Chosen Children will be able to achieve the Ultimate level once more."
Gennai bowed a last time, and while he waited the luminescence faded. When next he looked up the clouds were still again, and the night devoid of lightning and thunder.
As Gennai made his way home, he was thinking about memory, and its unreliability. His own long life stretched out behind him, thousands of years by the Digital World's no longer warped timescale. Very few events stood out to him.
He and his fellow Agents had been created, and had set in motion the events which would eventually lead to the destruction of Apocalymon. The only survivor of the group, he had remained in hiding for long, empty years, waiting for the time when the Chosen Children would be gathered and called to right the situation. For the most part, his entire life was an interminable gray blur, watching over the Digimon he had saved, programming, and building robots like his pet fish to while the centuries away.
He thought also of the Chosen Children and their memories. As young children, the first eight of them had witnessed beings from another world, and forgotten about it almost entirely within the span of a few years. Under the influence of the Dark Seed, Ichijouji Ken had lost nearly all of his own past, and was still far from having recovered what he had lost.
Finally, he thought of the unknown enemy. What did it remember? How long had it been waiting, this Thing in the dark outside the world? Arriving home, his reverie was interrupted by a notification that the Dark Towers had begun to appear again. Eagerly, he sat down at his computer, and began to trace the energies that summoned them.