"I've come up with a number of theories," Kosuke announced, holding a small stack of papers. He dropped them on a nearby coffee table. "I'll start with the most likely."

Emiko took the paper on top of the stack. "'Parallel universes'?" she read aloud, "Kosuke, we've seen things like this before, it wasn't like that. Besides, this seems like something you'd find on a poorly-made science fiction TV show."

"I know that, but this time, we can't trace this to any Hikari artwork. Those were fake worlds contained within the art. Since there's no art, we have to start looking at something else," Kosuke explained.

"Let's say that's what happened," Dark proposed, "how do we get Daisuke back?"

"Most of my research only turned up technological theories on getting to these alternate realities."

Dark interrupted him, "Krad knows close to nothing about technology. He doesn't need it."

"I guessed as much." Kosuke took one of the papers from his stack of research. "Along the lines of magic, I've got nothing on origins, but I have some…less than satisfactory news."

"Let's hear it," Dark said impatiently.

"The only one who can bring Daisuke back is the one who took him in the first place."

Dark groaned. "So…we need Krad," he said.

Kosuke nodded. Everyone was silent.

Dark interrupted their thoughts, "well, then. We're going to need a warning note."

_______________________________________________

"We need something that won't make Hiwatari suspicious," Dark told Daiki.

The old man nodded as he looked through a pamphlet. "That means something by the Hikari family." He pointed at an item in the pamphlet, "like that."

"The 'Fates'. It's small, that's good…it won't get in the way," Dark stated.

Emiko began writing. "This is the first time our warning wasn't for our target," she said, almost feeling amused.

"Krad won't see this one coming," Dark said with a little smirk.

_________________________________________________

"Commander Hiwatari."

Satoshi turned to see Inspector Saehara behind him holding a slip of paper about the size of an index card. He knew what it was…but the timing was poor. 'Why would Dark pull a heist during a crisis like this?' he asked himself. He took the paper and looked over it. 'The Fates…perhaps it has something to do with Daisuke's condition?' He wondered if Dark was trying to tell him something…but why would he do that? Dark did not want his help.

"It's tonight, Commander. My men are ready."

"Good. Let's begin the preparations." Saehara left. Satoshi crumpled the warning note. He wasn't sure if he wanted to stop Dark this time. Then again, if his target was too important, he wouldn't have warned him. Dark wasn't so self-centered as to put his own pride before Daisuke's safety. Satoshi decided to show, but if he needed to go easy, he would.