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War of the Crests

Part 1: Light

-Chapter 5: After the Storm-

The clouds were gone by Sunday morning and TK was grounded. The police report said he got into a wreck, and the other guy drove off without checking to see if he was all right. He didn't know if the cops actually believed the story or not, but there was little other explanation he could give. "An angel charged me and smashed it into a V-shape with a golden staff" was a little farfetched, to say the least.

He'd told his mom the truth, though she still hadn't worked out whether she believed him either. It had been four years since anyone in this world had seen anything even close to a digimon attack, and most people had blocked such things from their memories. And while his mom got to live with the constant knowledge of digimon, thanks to Patamon, the concept that there were other, less friendly varieties was a mostly forgotten concept.

And so TK was grounded.

However, being grounded had never meant much in TK's life. His folks separated when he was a kid, and while his mom took him, his dad had Matt. TK was essentially raised as an only child, and like most only children, he got the boon of being the only object of affection in his mom's life. Being grounded essentially meant that he couldn't leave the apartment except for school—which didn't bar others from coming to visit him.

Thus, the particularly large gathering in his living room: Tai and Matt sat on TK's couch, talking about something that involved a lot of gestures and enthusiasm. Sora sat on the counter-top that walled off TK's kitchen and talked with Joe and Izzy, who was scanning through something on his tablet as he talked. Davis stood on the patio outside, looking out over the "view" they had, which consisted mostly of other apartment buildings and a street. Cody joined him. They didn't speak, just looked at the horizon and the passing people and cars. Kari stood beside TK, her hand clasping his. She was the only other person he'd told about the events yesterday.

A few digimon joined them as well. Along with Patamon (who was exceptionally tired, but awake and healthy), Gatomon snuck over, and Cody brought Armadillomon in his duffel bag.

Ken and Yolei were the only ones missing, as they had to wait for Yolei to get off work. TK looked at all his friends, scanning the room.

"It's been a long time," Kari said.

"Hm?"

"I said it's been a long time. Since we all got together like this for…you know, digimon-related stuff," she elaborated.

"Yeah," TK replied. "It's nice, though it's a shame that it's bad news that brought us together."

Kari's hand squeezed his, "don't worry. We'll figure this out."

"I know," TK said. "It's just—" before he could tell her how frightened he was—how purely terrified he'd been—the door opened and Yolei walked in, wiping her shoes off at the door. She was smiling, shiny-white teeth parting as she said "hello" to everyone. Ken was decidedly less enthusiastic. He still greeted everyone with a smile, but TK could see concern in his eyes. He knew something was up. Wormmon poked his head out of the front pocket of Ken's hoodie, and crawled out onto his shoulder as they entered.

TK parted from Kari and said hello, telling them to sit where they wanted. Seeing the final arrivals, Davis and Cody entered, shutting the sliding-glass door that led to the balcony. Once everyone was situated, TK took a stand in front of the television. All eyes were on him, and he wanted to squirm under their gaze. It really had been a long time since they all got together under such dire circumstances. He took a deep breath, collected his thoughts, and began,

"Yesterday," he said, "I was attacked by a digimon."

A few eyes widened, a few jaws dropped, and there were many "what?"s. Ken didn't react, only nodding. Izzy likewise appeared to confirm something in his mind, and he typed something on the tablet one-handed. Cody, stoic as a tree, shifted from one foot to the other. TK knew him well enough to see it as a sign of surprise.

"I left the house, going to Kari's. And on the way, at a stop light, two people just appeared in the middle of the road. They were cloaked, so I couldn't see their faces. One was about my size, I think, and the other was easily eight or more feet tall. It was a human and a digimon. The human pointed at me, and the digimon dropped its cloak. It was…an angemon."

More gasps. More typing on Izzy's end.

"He was wearing some kind of armor, with glowing green stones. He summoned his staff—it was topped with a green stone, too—and charged my car. I got out in time, but he practically ripped it in half. Patamon—he charged the angemon and digivolved. They fought, but this other angemon was, I don't know. More powerful? Better trained? Whatever it was, he won. He stabbed Patamon in the chest, and then the human just told him to stop, as if he proved something. Then they just left, the same way they came. They disappeared into thin air.

"I called Sora. She was the only one with a car I could think of. She picked me up and we traveled to the digital world—to Gennai's cottage."

Davis shifted at that.

"He looked at the wound, and he cleaned it, but he couldn't heal Patamon. We—he took us to another part of the digital world, where we met another digimon who he said could heal Patamon. She did…but she needed payment. I—I gave her…" he looked away, down at the floor beside him, "my crest."

"What?" Matt stood up from his place on the couch, his eyes wide. "You gave some digimon your crest?"

"She wouldn't heal him without it! I had to," TK retorted.

"You don't know that he would have even died," Matt snapped. "And even if he did, what does it matter? He would have come back through primary village!"

"There was something in his chest. A shard, from the green stone on the angemon's staff. They said it was some kind of poison, that he'd die if it wasn't removed. I can't remember what they called it, but—"

"I do," Sora jumped in. "Abysium. They said it was called abysium."

Gatomon's ears perked up, and Wormmon's eyes widened.

"I know that name," Wormmon said. "I remember hearing about it, a long time ago. I don't remember much, but it's dangerous. I remember that."

"It's more than dangerous," Gatomon said. She rubbed her hands together. "Myotismon had a cache of abysium in his castle. He used it…he tortured digimon with it, cutting them or…making them swallow shards of it. He said it came from the Dark Area, that any prolonged exposure would kill even the most powerful digimon. Even he wouldn't touch it to his skin. He always used tools to handle it."

Matt silenced, but still glared at TK as he sat down.

TK pressed his lips together, "I had to do it."

Ken nodded, understanding, and changed the subject, "Regardless of TK's actions, what we should be really focusing on here is the attacker. An angemon. And a human."

"Hate to say it, but that doesn't tell us much," Davis said.

"No," Izzy interjected. He brought up the tablet and began to read from it. "We know quite a bit. For instance, we know he's partnered with a digimon, and we know that digimon's an angemon. We know he has the ability to appear and disappear. That either means invisibility or some kind of teleportation. I've never heard of an angemon turning invisible, but we know that those of us with a d-3 can open gates between our world and the digital world. I'm going to say it's something like that, only more advanced. We also know that the angemon was wearing some kind of armor, specifically with green stones set into it. His staff also had this "abysium" attached to its head. If we learn more about these things—figure out where someone could get this armor and these stones, and learn if that sort of instant teleportation is possible, then I think we can find our man."

"Glad to have you on board, Izzy," Tai said from the couch, looking back at his old friend.

Izzy looked around, realizing that everyone was staring at him, and blushed a little, "Or, you know, something like that."

"No, you're right, Izzy." Cody spoke up. The kid had grown in the past few years, and was almost as tall as TK. "If we follow the clues, we'll come to the right conclusion. All we need is a plan."

"Got one in mind?" Tai asked.

"Yes, I do. TK and I go back to the digital world to talk with Gennai. Even without a crest, he and I have Shakkoumon on our side if we run into any opposition. We can ask him about the armor and the stones, and the teleportation. In the meanwhile, Izzy, Ken, the two of you can study the d-3s and try to come up with something, maybe explain away the teleportation on this side. Kari and Yolei, you guys should scout around together, see if you can't figure out if anyone saw anything. Every piece of information helps. If you run into trouble, you've got Silphymon. Davis, you and Veemon stay with Ken and Izzy. If anything nasty shows up, give them a taste of Imperialdramon. Everyone else, lie low. If you've got a digimon in this world, stay together. Otherwise, just try not to attract any attention to yourself. We don't want to get caught unaware if this person attacks again." Cody stood tall and directed his eyes at each person he spoke about in-turn, but never expressed anything with his hands. It was a good plan. A really good plan, actually. If there was anyone who knew about the armor and the stones, it was Gennai.

Davis nodded, agreeing. TK could see a few extra gears turning in his mind.

"Just one question," Yolei raised her hand and asked. Everybody turned to her. "When do we start?"

Izzy checked the time on his tablet, "It's about five now. I can start checking the d-3s tonight."

"I have to go to the digital world and get Veemon. After that, though, I'm free," Davis said. So that was why Veemon hadn't attended this little get-together.

"I'm not," Ken spoke up. "I vote we start tomorrow. Bright and early. I'll meet you at your place, Izzy?"

"Me, too," Davis joined in. Izzy agreed.

"Okay then," Cody said. "If everyone's clear, we'll meet up tomorrow morning and get going. TK, I'll see you around ten?"

"Sure," TK said, and the group began to collaborate. TK gave Kari and Yolei the street corner where he'd fought the other angemon, and everyone, having figured out their jobs, made their way out. In the end, it was only Matt, Kari and Tai left in the room with TK. Matt's eyes were flinty and dark. Tai led Kari out of the room. Before she left, she gave TK a "be strong" look.

As Matt approached him, tall and looming like a living tree. He hoped he was strong enough. They stood across from each other for what felt like a very long time.

TK broke the silence, "Matt—" but Matt broke whatever he was about to say.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He growled.

"I told you. I didn't have a choice! Patamon would have—"

"Shut up! You were attacked, TK! You were attacked and you didn't tell me! You called Sora, and you told Kari, but not me? What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Sora has a—"

"I'm your brother!"

Oh…

"Your brother, TK! You tell Sora and Kari and mom, but not me?"

"Matt…"

"I fought tooth and fucking nail to keep you safe in the digital world! And I watched from the sidelines when you got to play hero with Davis and the others! But…TK, I'm your brother. How do you not tell me something like this?" The anger in his voice was quickly shifting to something else.

"Matt, I didn't—"

"Didn't what? Think? You didn't think to call me? Maybe let me know that you almost died? What, you didn't think I'd care?" The anger was coming back.

"No, Matt. I didn't call you because I knew how much shit you're going through with Sora. I didn't want to screw with your head any more than it's already being screwed with." TK put a hand on his brother's shoulder. Matt looked down at his feet, took a deep breath, smiled and shook his head.

"Then you royally screwed the pooch on that one, bro," he said. He looked up into TK's eyes, "Look, TK. Fuck Sora, all right? That whole thing? Forget it. You come first. You have always come first."

The two brothers embraced.

"That being said," Matt continued with TK in his arms, "I'm moving in."

TK paused, "…Oh."

Night was falling in the digital world as Davis jogged along the path through the Great Forest. What little sunlight remained painted the Western sky hues of orange and yellow. Davis could only see snippets of it through the trees, but something about sunsets in the digital world brought a smile to his lips. He'd heard once before, though he couldn't substantiate any of it with facts, that the pink you saw in the sky at sunset wasn't natural; that it was caused by years of pollution in the air. The fact that there was none of that pink spoke to the claim's truth.

Then again, this was the world where creatures were born with jetpacks on their backs and the ability to fire lasers out of their eyes. So any correlations with Earth had to be taken with a grain of salt.

The sun passed from sight, leaving only the slightest bit of light in the sky. Most was dominated by the dark tapestry of night, and the tiny little holes where stars shone through. The moon was little more than a sliver, barely providing any light. It was peaceful, yet creepy. The cold of the night clung to his skin, raising goosebumps and forcing him into a run to stay warm. In the distance, through the trees, he saw the lights of Gennai's cottage.

Something appeared in front of him, maybe twenty feet ahead in the middle of the path. Whoever it was, they were definitely human, and he had a hunch that they were male. He could see pale skin and paler hair, falling around the person's face. A pair of green eyes flashed in the starlight. Davis slowed to a stop and blinked a few times. Had they been there a second ago? He didn't think so, but otherwise they would have just appeared out of thin—

Oh, shit…

Davis reached into his pocket and gripped his digivice. It wouldn't do him much good without Veemon, but it was heavy enough that he could probably weight his punches with it.

"You're the one who attacked TK," Davis said, not accusing. It was a statement of fact.

"Yes," the young man answered.

"He survived, you know, Patamon. Whatever your angemon stuck in his gut, he made it through just fine," Davis said, edging toward the woods. If he could make it in there, he would probably be able to make it to Gennai's cottage. Veemon was there. He'd stand a chance with Veemon.

"I knew he would survive before I even attacked, you fool. You think me a reckless barbarian, rushing into battle without already knowing the outcome?" He had a strange accent, this man. It sounded English, yet he trilled his R's like someone from the middle-east, and the cadence of his words was all wrong.

"You knew? Even with that abysium? How could you know he would survive that?" Davis edged again toward the foliage. The man's eyes followed him. If he cared that Davis was trying to escape, he didn't show it.

"You digidestined are so used to fighting the unprepared. It is actually rather amusing how little you know of this world, despite your victories over its darkness. You are like blind children, stumbling about without actually knowing anything about your surroundings."

Davis reached the foliage, "So are you just going to stand there all night insulting me? Or are you going to sic your angemon on me?" He didn't give the mysterious man a chance to respond, and bolted into the woods, heading toward the lights of Gennai's home. He stayed silent, so even if the man did come after him, he'd be harder to pinpoint.

Someone stepped out from behind a tree directly in front of Davis, blocking the light of Gennai's cottage. He ran straight into the young man's outstretched hand, warm fingers wrapping around his throat. The shock of the impact knocked his legs out from under him, and he could barely breathe. His digivice fell from his hand and hit the ground with a rustle in the leaves. The man lifted him up a few inches, so his feet just dangled. Davis struggled against the hand, but the man had a firm grasp. In the trees, the stars didn't illuminate his face as well.

But Davis was close. Whoever he was, this man was young. Maybe a year or two older than Davis. He had white hair, and pale skin. His cheekbones were high, and his nose hawk-like. His skin was smooth, free of blemishes or scars, and his bright green eyes still caught what little light shone through the leaves, and glittered. He would have looked regal, if he weren't holding Davis off the ground and strangling him with one arm. His lips curved into a half-scowl, his brows furrowing a bit,

"I do not need Angemon to kill a weakling like you." His grip tightened, and Davis could feel the man's pulse against his own. There was something in that pulse. With every beat, Davis could feel something leaking out of him; some kind of power. He tossed Davis aside, into a tree. He hit it hard and his shoulder lit up like fire. He let out a cry of pain and slid to the ground.

"But your blood is not worth my trouble, Davis Motomiya. Not yet. I came here to give you a fair warning. I will come for all of you. Each and every digidestined will face me, in the end. And if you do not rise to the occasion, then you and your world will die."

Davis looked up, but the man was gone. His shoulder felt like it was being torn off. He glanced over, and then looked away, biting his lower lip. A large lump under the skin that was his bone told him it was dislocated. He breathed hard, stood up, and stumbled around until he found a tree with a hollow he could use. He positioned his shoulder, took a few deep breaths, and stopped. With his free hand, he broke off a small branch and stuck it between his teeth. Again, he prepared himself, his breath coming in and out, in and out, in and out. He was hyperventilating, getting as much oxygen as he could and psyching himself up.

He jerked his leg up, rammed his shoulder into the hollow, and screamed a bloody scream. With a sickening POP!, his shoulder slid back into place and the pain began to dull a bit, but not much. He fell onto his back and moaned with the stick still in his mouth. It tasted like dirt, so he spit it out.

A drop of rain hit his forehead.

"Really?" Davis asked the suddenly-cloudy sky. It responded with another rain drop, this time hitting his arm. Davis simply groaned, "why the hell did he warn me?" His voice was hoarse from the paralyzing grip. Didn't warning your enemy kind of go against the whole point of being enemies?

"Unless he wants us to prepare for him. But why the hell would he want that?" He puzzled over the question as he sat up. The drops were quickly becoming a shower. And what was he talking about when he said that he already knew about Patamon surviving before the attack even happened?

With his good arm, he pushed himself up onto his feet and searched for his digivice on the ground. A speck of white amongst the darkness revealed its location. He snatched it up and set the gears in his mind a-turning. The sound of the rain hitting the trees created a nice noise-buffer for him to think, even if the drops hitting his head were a bit distracting.

This guy was giving himself away with every word. Davis knew that, he just had to figure out what he was giving away. He was smart; and not just tactically smart. He claimed to know more about the digital world than they did. That was something. He was familiar with the digital world. And he also claimed to know what was going to happen before it happened. Maybe he was psychic?

"A teleporting psychic with an angemon and access to deadly materials. That brightens things up a bit, doesn't it? It's not like that makes our job any harder or anything," he wheezed as he walked to the cottage, having exited the woods. He held his arm against his torso, to ease the movement and the pain.

There was something, though. Maybe he was cocky. He warned Davis, warned all the digidestined, really, that he was coming. If he did know the future, maybe he saw his own victory.

But that didn't seem right. Something about his last words contradicted that.

If you do not rise to the occasion, then you and your world will die.

That suggested that they could win, didn't it?

Davis didn't know what to think. He reached Gennai's door and knocked. The rain was threatening to come down in buckets. If anyone would know, then it would be him. The wise sage had gotten them out of more than one jam. One could only hope that he would do so again.

Gennai answered the door, opening it a crack and peeking out before opening it all the way, "Davis. What's wrong? You look awful."

"Put on some tea," Davis said. "We have to talk."

Kari lay in bed, twisting her digivice around in her hand, running her fingers across the not-quite-rubber grips on the edges. With her other hand, she rubbed her tag-and-crest like a worry stone. All the while, she stared at the ceiling of her room. A plain white, textured surface with a single light fixture in the center stared back. Gatomon sat at the end of the bed, cleaning herself in the way cats do.

"There's got to be more we can do than just 'investigate,'" Kari said.

"Not really," Gatomon responded, ceasing her cleaning practice.

"Why? I mean, before, we never really 'investigated.' Did we? It was always just slam, bang, pow!" Kari punched at the air, the leather cord on the tag flailing about. "Beat the bad guy, go home, have dinner."

"Get up the next morning and do it all again," Gatomon turned toward her. "I remember the process, Kari. If you don't recall, I was the one beating the bad guys. And as much as I'd like to jump into the fray again, that doesn't seem to be an option, this time. We're not dealing with Myotismon, who made his presence more than known. We're not dealing with the Dark Masters with a big tower in the center of the world. We're not even dealing with the Digimon Emperor and his control spires; or even Arukenimon and Mummymon. In fact, we have no idea what we're up against. All we've seen is that he can disappear, he has an angemon, and he has access to Abysium. For all we know, he could just be some nut that happens to have access to dangerous minerals."

"Or he could be even more dangerous than MaloMyotismon," Kari mumbled.

"He could. But we can't know that yet. We've only seen him once, and just barely. We won't know more until TK and Cody visit Gennai."

"Why?" Kari sat up. "Why do we have to wait for them to visit Gennai?"

"What do you mean?" Gatomon twitched a single ear and tilted her head.

"I mean why can't we visit Gennai? You and I are a good team. And I've got my crest! Why can't we go to him, now?" She hopped up off the bed and began pacing.

"Because we weren't there during the attack. We don't know everything that happened. That's TK's department. Plus," Gatomon gestured to Kari's window, "It's dark. Night. As in, we should probably get some sleep so we can do our job tomorrow."

"Oh, come on, Gatomon," Kari said, walking to her closet. She slid open the door, found her laptop on the top shelf, and pulled it out. "Even if TK saw the attack, he doesn't have the information that you have; the experiences. You already knew what abysium was! You knew that Myotismon had a cache of it. That's already more information than anyone else had. Who knows what other information you have that'll be useful."

"No, Kari!" Gatomon stood up, her eyes wide and wild. Kari snapped around to look at her. "Kari, I only know that because of Myotismon. I only know that because he tortured me until I worked for him willingly, until I viewed him as…Kari, I do NOT want to go digging into those parts of my memory. It was more than a shock when Sora even mentioned the abysium." Tears were welling in her big, blue eyes.

"Gatomon, I didn't think. I—"

"No, you didn't. You have no idea what he…" she clutched her paws close to her chest and closed her eyes. "…Kari, I still have nightmares. It's been almost seven years, and I still can't get him out of my head." The tears spilled over and Kari set the laptop, her crest and her digivice on the bed before embracing her digimon. Gatomon wrapped her arms around Kari and squeezed tight, sobbing into her chest. Kari squeezed back and ran her hand down Gatomon's back.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered. She didn't know if that was true or not. Gatomon was right. They didn't know anything. And, in a way, that simple fact was even more frightening than any enemy they'd already faced.

Davis and Veemon sat on the couch beside Gennai. Davis sat sideways, his back to the arm of the couch and his injured shoulder resting on the back cushion. Veemon nibbled on a cookie while they waited for the tea to steep. Rain no hammered on the cottage, reminding Davis of his date with Kimiko. He closed his eyes and could almost feel her hands, her lips, her tongue.

"It's ready," Gennai said, and Davis banished his fantasy. He opened his eyes to Gennai pouring three cups of tea. He spooned some sugar into one and handed it to Veemon, giving the second to Davis and taking the third for himself. He blew some of the steam off and took a sip before saying, "so, what happened?"

Davis had to hold his tea with his good hand. The muscles in his other were shot until he could give it a proper rest. He took a sip and said, "I got attacked. By the same guy who went after TK."

Gennai froze, his eyes darting up into Davis's. He could see something there.

Davis relayed everything that happened today: the meeting, the decision, and his trip to get Veemon, including the encounter and the dislocated shoulder.

"What do you think?" Davis asked. "He sounded like he knew the future already, so I thought he might, you know, be psychic or something. Like a prophet."

Gennai set down his tea—having not taken more than that first sip—and stood up, "No. He can't see the future."

"Then was he just bluffing?"

"No," Gennai walked to the fire, facing away from Davis. "He can't see it, but he still knows it." He mumbled something else to himself that sounded like a curse, but Davis couldn't hear it. He set his own tea down and stood, holding his arm close.

"Who is he, Gennai? How does he know the future? How did he get that abyss-y-whatever? What aren't you telling us?" Davis saw something in the Watcher's eyes when he mentioned that he was attacked. It was fear. Gennai knew. He knew who they were fighting—what was happening—and it frightened him.

"He…I…" Gennai rubbed the bridge of his nose and bit his lower lip.

"Gennai, he threw me like a goddamn toy! He forced TK to give up his crest! Who the hell is this guy?"

Gennai remained silent for a minute or more before shaking his head, "No. I have to go. You can—you can stay here tonight, the both of you. I…have to go."

"No!" Davis shouted. He reached out a hand to grip Gennai's robe, to force the explanation out of him. As his fingers closed down on the cloth, though, it dissolved beneath them. Gennai teleported right out of the room. Right in front of Davis. He roared and punched one of the framed pictures on the wall. The glass shattered and the frame fell to the floor. He took a deep breath, bent over, and picked up the picture. It was old, worn around the edges with fading color. Gennai—younger than he was now—stood beside a young woman. They were holding hands in front of what appeared to be this cottage, only the garden wasn't there and everything seemed a bit more new.

He hung up the picture and turned to Veemon, who took a bite out of a cookie, his eyes on Davis.

"So Gennai knows shomething," he said.

"Yeah," Davis said. "Come on. We should get to bed."