Chapter 7
When the light disappeared, they all saw a young woman standing in front of Tai and behind them other Digidestined had appeared too as they all stood around the four protectively.
"Leave my brother alone!"
Kari let Gatomon Digivolve into Angewoman and the others also let their Digimon Digivolve.
The Digimon attacked Arukenimon and her henchmen while the Digidestined lead the four boys away.
The hurried towards the gate when the Gazimon blocked their path.
"Flamedramon; Stingmon DNA Digivolve!" Davis and Ken yelled and their Digimon changed into Paildramon, blocking the Gazimon who seemed so much stronger than normal.
"Why are they so strong?" Cody asked and Joe shrugged as Tai lifted the unconscious Izzy into his arms.
"We'll worry about that later, we need to get out of here first," Joe finally replied, taking up the rear as Paildramon opened a path to the gate for them and they all disappeared through it.
When they came back out of the computer where Sora was sitting before, they all turned to Matt and Joe.
"What the hell were you guys doing there all alone!" Davis snapped, but Tai and Joe ignored him as they carefully lowered Izzy onto Tai's bed.
"My god...Izzy, you found him!" Kari breathed out; brushing passed Davis to kneel beside the bed and the others stared shell shocked as Tai tucked a blanket around Izzy.
"Is he all right?"
"Alive but weak. He had to use his powers to help us escape," Tai said.
"Oh...my...god," Yolei whispered as they all made their way to the bed side and looked at the unconscious young man.
"Has he really been alive all these years?"
"How do you know it is truly him?"
Cody shrugged at Ken's question, a frown appearing on his face.
"It is him, I know it is."
"How can you tell?" Davis asked, anger having vaporised.
"I don't know, I just do."
Ken frowned confused, but Joe smiled understandingly.
"But why did they keep him alive for so long?" Davis asked tactlessly.
"I think I can answer that question for you, Digidestined," the all turned to see Gennai standing in front of the computer.
Gennai walked towards the bed and smiled at Izzy. "So the child of Faith and Knowledge is back where he belongs."
"Why did they keep him alive for so long? T.K. repeated the question as Tai took a hold of Izzy's hand protectively.
"Because they wanted his powers, Child of Hope."
"Why did they want Izzy's powers so badly? Why is he so special?" Davis asked.
Gennai sighed. "Because, Child of Courage, Izzy's powers are the key to ruling the Digiworld."
A shocked silence fell over them until Ken laughed, hoping he'd either heard it wrong or Gennai was joking.
"You...you are kidding, right?" he finally asked even as he knew Gennai wouldn't joke in a situation like this.
"I wish I was young Digidestined," a sad expression fell over his face as he sat down on the chair next to the bed, sighing as he stared at Izzy's motionless form.
"I think it is time the truth is revealed, the whole truth."
He turned to the Digidestined.
"Twenty-three years ago there was evil attacking the world. Innocents, older than you were, were chosen to protect the world just like you were. They fought the evil Digimon for a very long time, continuing even when one of them fell pregnant."
He shifted.
"The baby was born in the Digital World, right in the middle of a terrible fight. The Digidestined of then had to fight, not only to protect the world but also an innocent baby as they were trapped much like some of you have been in the past."
Letting his gaze fall over each of them he wasn't surprised to see horror on the faces of the older Digidestined, knowing what it meant, not being able to escape to the safety of home in the evening.
"However, soon after the birth the Digidestined discovered that the birth in Digiworld had infected the child, granting him powers no humans could ever have. Both parents were very strong Digidestined and they had given their powers to their child."
He shifted again as the youngsters before him glanced at each other.
"Because he was born to two very good people, he despised evil and they named him Child of Faith because they believed he would one day safe them all. But the dark Digimon found out about the child of Faith's abilities and wanted to use the little boy's powers for their own evil gain. To protect the child, they found a way to escape the Digiworld and seal the gate so none could ever escape. But the gate did not seal properly and one dark Master escaped to earth."
Apprehension slid over most of their faces and Gennai sighed.
"That dark Master followed the Digidestined he attacked them. The parents tried to escape while the others fought him off, but without their Digimon at their side they did not stand a chance. Piedmon then caused a car crash, in which both Hope and Light died. Piedmon tried to take the baby with him, but Faith already had too much power and sealed Piedmon away into the Digital World again."
He paused to let that knowledge soak in.
"Light and Hope were Izzy's parents?" T.K. asked surprised and Gennai nodded.
"Yes. My colleagues and I would have taken the baby into our care, but we knew that the Dark Masters would not rest until they had control over him. So we shielded his powers for both the Digimon and himself and left him in the care of his uncle and aunt, the only family he had left."
Tai looked down, already having known most of the story from the start but it still hurt to know his closest friend had lost his biological parents, just because he'd been born with some powers that Piedmon desired.
"You say you shielded his powers, then how did Arukenimon find him?"Joe asked.
"One of us had been captured and tortured until he finally gave the name Izumi away. With that information they searched for a young boy with that name. When you first came to the Digiworld, you fought a Dark Master on whom we based our shield and when you destroyed him, the shield broke also. Exposing Faith to the world."
"They soon found his location and what he'd done as the Child as Knowledge. But despite knowing where he was, they couldn't reach him in your world as he had shielded them away himself. I warned Izzy that he would be in danger should he go to the Digiworld, but when you called for his help, he refused to leave you in danger and answered you call. The chance the Dark ones had been waiting for, and took."
Gennai looked back at Izzy with a sad smile. "He choose his friends above his own life, above his freedom. He will never have a normal life as long as he has these powers."
"But can't he just vanquish them if he's really as strong as you say he is," Sora asked.
"No, he only controls a fragment of the powers he has."
"So, all the stuff he can already do is nothing compared to what he'd be able to do if he had full control?" Matt asked.
"Exactly."
"So what you are saying is that Izzy has the power to destroy all evil for good if he controls these powers?" Davis asked suspiciously, frowning when Gennai nodded. "Then why the hell hasn't he learned yet?"
Gennai turned his gaze to Tai accusingly, who in turn looked down.
"He was afraid of what he can do."
"Why would he be afraid of his own power?" Davis asked and Tai sighed.
"How would you feel if one day you found out that with one wrong sneeze you can destroy the world? Destroy the ones you love without meaning too."
Davis, who was about to say something, closed his mouth.
"Got the point."
"What are we going to do?" Matt looked at Tai.
"I don't know Matt. We either need to find a way to destroy all evil or take Izzy's powers away from him."
Joe frowned, but whatever he was going to say died as he saw Izzy stir.
"He's waking up."
They all looked down before Matt cleared his throat and rose to their feet. "Right, we need to go home, school and parents and stuff, come on."
Some protested, but Kari and Joe helped Matt chase them out and Tai turned to Gennai.
"You too, I don't want you to be anywhere near for now."
Gennai nodded resigned and disappeared as Kari closed the computer.
"We're all going home to take care of stuff and meet up in the diner room at three this afternoon. Talk with him and take care of him," Joe said before he and Matt left too.
Tai sat down and reached for Izzy's hand, pulling it into his lap as he waited for another reaction.
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I got the question if Izzy truly is an Empath and the answer is no, he is not. But I have always found that he was scarily good at reading what others had in mind and always just suspected he was one, so I made him one.