War of the Crests

Part 1: Light

-Chapter 6: Questions-

Davis woke on Gennai's couch, a thin blanket covering him and a throw pillow under his head. He sat up slowly. He'd never slept well on couches, no matter where it was. The fact that his right shoulder felt like it'd been run over by a train didn't help. He stretched out his neck, working out the kinks from the over-stuffed pillow. Outside, the rain was gone and sun poured in through the windows.

He yawned and began flexing his bad arm. He dislocated it once before, when he was a kid at a soccer match. If he'd learned anything from that experience, it was that you needed to work the muscle to get it back into shape. It stung with every movement, especially once he started rotating it, but he bore the pain. After maybe ten minutes of self-treatment, he stood up and walked to the back rooms, where he knew Gennai and Veemon slept.

Gennai's room was empty. Apparently, whatever had taken him away from the cottage was keeping him away. Davis was still determined to learn exactly what Gennai knew. But for now, he had places to be. He wandered to Veemon's door and knocked. No answer. He pushed the door open and found the little blue digimon asleep in his small bed. The walls were mostly bare, though he had a few pictures of his own hung up. Photographs and child-like drawings of the team and Gennai, as well as pictures of sunsets, landscapes and city skylines. Veemon was really a child of the world around him. He was one of the most adaptable souls Davis had ever met, comfortable no matter where he was.

A knock at the front door shifted his attention. Who was that?

"Oh shit," he said, reaching into his pocket. He was late, wasn't he? He grabbed his cell phone, pulled it out and checked the time. He'd learned in his many journeys to Gennai's cottage that, even if time sometimes flowed differently in the digital world, any clocks he brought with him would still function normally, and that way he was always able to keep track of the time in the real world.

The screen lit up and the numbers 8:45 told him he still had time. It'd take him maybe twenty minutes to reach the TV and get back to his world. Then maybe another half hour to get to Izzy's.

Okay, so he didn't have much time, but he had time. He walked to the front door and checked the peep-hole. A shock of rusty-red hair over a tanned head told him it was that kid Tommy from the other day. Davis opened the door.

"Oh!" Tommy said, his too-blue eyes widening a bit. "Hey, man…Davis, right? Hey, I'm just here to talk with Gennai."

"He's not here," Davis replied. "He left last night. Didn't say when he'd be back."

"Creepy," Tommy said, then raised an eyebrow while narrowing his eyes. "Wait. It was creepy, wasn't it? What's the what, man? Where'd he go?"

"I'm not sure. I dropped by last night to pick up Veemon. Gennai and I had a discussion and he just…disappeared."

Tommy nodded, "he has been known to get teleporty when the mood strikes him, though he usually leaves a 'where.' Can we come in? It's kind of cold out here." He gestured to the small blue-green dragon at his side. Dracomon, Davis recalled.

"Yeah," Davis said, stepping out of the way. "Veemon's still asleep. And I have to leave in, like, fifteen minutes, though."

"It's all good. Just coming in for a warm-up before we head back out." Tommy and Dracomon walked in and stepped over toward the fireplace. The fire had died in the night, and only a couple coals remained in the graying ash. "So, what gave Gennai the wigs?"

Davis closed the door, "Come again?"

"There's no way Gennai would just leave the way you say he did without some kind of a freak-out. What exactly was the freak that shipped him out?"

"We just talked. I had an encounter with somebody and I thought he might know something about it."

"Being Gennai and all," Tommy said.

"Yeah. Anyway, we talked, he avoided the questions and just left." Davis kept everything important out of the conversation.

"I see," Tommy crouched and held his hands toward the coals and remained silent.

"What exactly does that mean?" Davis asked.

"It's filler, like 'wow' or 'huh.' Generally people say it when they're thinking about something." Tommy's tone changed. It wasn't nonchalant or light-hearted any more. There was a tinge of annoyance hidden in there.

"So what are you thinking, exactly?"

Tommy stood, rubbed his hands together, and said, "that the list of people who can get Gennai to freak like that is pretty damn small, wouldn't you say? I mean, it is a person right? Not a digimon?"

"Pretty sure," Davis said, walking into the living room.

"How many people do you think Gennai knows? And how many of those people do you think can get in his head like that?"

Davis was beginning to understand.

Tommy continued, "I'm guessing this discussion you had…it was about the identity of this person. You're not sure who it is."

"Yeah," Davis said, nodding a bit. "But Gennai does."

"Exactly. That limits our choices a bit, doesn't it?"

"But how do we figure it out? Where do we start? I mean, Gennai's probably met a lot of people over the years, right?" Davis asked.

"And how many of those people, do you think, are on this wall?" Tommy gestured to the photographs plastered all over. Davis gazed at it with new eyes. Those weren't just photos any more. They were research tools. He knew what this bastard looked like, and Gennai apparently had a relationship with him. Gennai's memories were all over that wall. It was his history in visual form.

Davis rushed over to the wall and began taking down pictures, one by one, whether framed or just tacked into the wood, "He's maybe a little older than us, and he's got silvery hair. And his face is…regal, I guess. And green eyes. Bright green." He said. Each picture he took that didn't have his target, he tossed to the floor. There were hundreds. Group-shots, landscapes, pairs and singles, humans and digimon, they were all here. Tommy began following his lead, though he stacked each picture in his hand until he couldn't hold any more and he took them to the coffee table. Davis started at the top-left and began working his way across until he hit the brick of the fireplace before jumping back to the edge. Layers of pictures came down, and before long he was standing in a graveyard of photo paper. He worked about half-way down and began uncovering something different. Another layer of photos beneath the first. They were sparse and old, but that might mean something. They were buried, after all. Deeper pictures, deeper memories, buried under the new ones. He grabbed at them as they revealed themselves. He saw a woman in one—she was familiar, though he couldn't place her. Another was of a young girl, maybe eight or nine years old. More of the woman. More of the girl.

There he was. Davis ripped away a picture of Tai, Matt and their digimon and there he was, staring back at him. Even with the browning color, Davis knew. The face was the same, if a bit younger. The hair was short, but still pale silver, and the eyes were green, almond-shaped, and piercing. He pulled it off an old, thin nail driven into the wall and stared. That was him.

"I got it." Davis said. "I found him."

Tommy turned and walked over to see the picture. The young man with the piercing eyes stood in the photo, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He was wearing robes similar to Gennai's, and he held a digivice in one of his hands. That was definitely him.

"This is the guy that attacked me," he said.

Tommy looked up at him, "attacked you? You didn't say anything about being attacked."

"Yeah," Davis said. His voice was dreamy and soft. "He dislocated my shoulder. Warned me that he'd attack every one of us." He flipped over the photo. The name Jacob rested in the bottom-left corner, next to a date.

The digital world had a different set of dates than the human world, for obvious reasons. They measured the year by seasons, not months. Their year was about the same, though, around three-hundred-sixty days. This was the year 845 AY (After Yggdrasil). The photo was marked 1522 PW (Post War). From his discussions with Gennai, he knew that PW shifted to AY some time around the year 1545.

That made this photo almost nine hundred years old.

"Oh, shit," Davis said.

"What?" Tommy asked.

Davis gulped, "This guy's an immortal."

A door creaked open at the rear of the living room, and Veemon stepped out of his room, yawning. "Davish, aren't we supposed to go back to the real world? Oh," he spotted Tommy, "hello."

"Hi, Veemon," Dracomon said, waving. The little blue guy waved back.

"So Gennai's not back yet?"

"No," Davis said, folding up the picture and stuffing it in his pocket. He looked to Tommy, "sorry. I…I have to go."

"Yeah. I do, too. I'll go with you," Tommy said. He motioned for Dracomon to head toward the door and they both began walking that way. Veemon approached Davis, staring at the scattered pictures.

"Davish, what'sh going on?" He asked.

"I think I just found out who's attacking us," he said. "Come on, I'll tell you on the way out."

Digidestined and digimon turned to the entryway and the front door. Tommy and Dracomon ran toward them. Tommy's arms were outstretched and waving.

"Get Down!" he shouted, and he leaped onto Davis. In mid-air, he watched—almost in slow-motion—as the entryway exploded. Fire and wooden shrapnel shot in every direction, and a wave of heat washed over him. He hit the floor hard, his breath rushing out of his lungs and his shoulder forcing out a fresh scream.

Tommy climbed off Davis and knelt beside him, offering a hand, "I think your guy might be back to finish the job."

TK flew down the stairs of the apartment complex, taking them three at a time.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy Shit.

He hit the third floor running, grabbed onto the railing, and swung around to the next flight of stairs down. He was down to the second floor—Sora's floor—in two seconds. He charged through the door to the second-floor hallway and rushed down the hall. Two-sixteen. That was her room. He pumped his arms as he ran down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of her door.

Holy shit.

He rushed to it, grabbed the handle with one hand and knocked like his hand was on fire with the other. With a quick twist of the knob and a shove with his shoulder, he burst into the room.

"Sora! You have to—"

…holy shit.

Sora sat on a stool in front of an easel, a thick piece of charcoal in her hand. She wore next to nothing—just a bra and panties—and was covered in tiny charcoal stains.

"Oh, shit!" It wasn't her that shouted. A male voice emanated from the couch. Tai's big, brown eyes got bigger, and he dove behind the back of the sofa, attempting to hide himself. Sora jumped off her stool and positioned herself behind the giant pad of paper on the easel.

"Hi, TK," Sora smiled, though there was more worry in that smile than happiness. In fact, there was no happiness.

"…what the hell is going on, here?" TK's eyes flicked from the half-nude Sora to the couch where Tai hid, and back to her.

"TK, shut the door," came Tai's voice again. On instinct, TK obeyed, and the door closed with a small click that sounded more like a heavy smacking sound in the silence of the room.

"I ask again. What the hell is going on?"

Everyone in the room remained silent for what must have been an hour, but was actually only thirty seconds or so.

Tai crept out from behind the couch. TK saw he was shirtless, and had the same charcoal-marks all over his body and on his cheeks and temples.

It clicked, then. He'd walked in on his parents having sex—except it wasn't his parents.

"I thought you locked the door," Tai said, still staring at TK from his fort behind the couch.

"I did," Sora said back. "At least, I thought I did."

"Happens all the time," TK joined in the conversation. "Old locks in this place only work half the time. Try getting a chain." Wait. What was he saying? Tai and Sora were having sex! Why the fuck was he discussing locks?

"Oh," Sora said.

Another hour of silence passed. Tai stood up, leaving the shelter of his couch. He was wearing boxers. And only boxers.

"TK, look—"

TK put out a hand, "Don't. Pretty sure I figured it out already. The two of your are—" he looked to either of them. Sora bit her lower lip and nodded.

"Yeah. No shit. What I was going to say was 'don't tell Matt,'" Tai's eyes got stern.

Don't tell Matt? Don't tell Matt? How dare he say that? Who the fuck did he think he was, fucking Matt's ex behind his back and then telling TK not to report it? His face grew hot, his eyes narrowed, and he lifted a finger to jab at Tai as he berated him.

Sora stepped out from behind the easel, nearly naked, and the blood fled from his cheeks. He averted his eyes as she crossed her arms over her breasts and said, "Please, TK. Matt should know, but…not now. Not like this."

Suddenly, TK was more angry at himself than at either Tai or Sora. He'd stepped inside and totally forgotten the whole reason he was down here.

Looking at the dusty floor, he said, "Get cleaned up and come upstairs. There's something on TV. Something important." He forced himself to look up again. As they stood beside each other, he couldn't help but feel like he was the naked one. Even now, years after he'd saved the world twice, he still felt like they somehow had some kind of dominion over him. He looked into their eyes—first Tai, then Sora—and said, "you will tell Matt. Soon."

With that, he turned and twisted the knob on the door. Apparently the lock had decided to kick in when he rushed inside, and it wouldn't turn. He fiddled with it for a second before it finally worked and he stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

He took in a deep breath before heading back upstairs; walking, this time.

Davis scrambled to his feet. Outside he could hear the whir of some kind of machinery. A faint, digital tone filled the air, raising in pitch. It was the same sound that lasers made in movies when they charged up to fire.

"Come on! There's a window in the back we can use," Veemon said. Davis, Tommy and Dracomon followed him as he ran down the back hall into Gennai's room. Sure enough, on the other side of the bed sat a window. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind that opened. Tommy rushed to it, taking off his coat and wrapping it around his left arm. He closed his eyes, put his right arm over his face, and swung at the window. With a crash, it shattered—just as the living room exploded into fire behind them. The force of the blast knocked all the glass outward, and Tommy hopped outside, redressing himself. Davis and the two digimon followed.

Outside, Davis saw his attackers.

Yeah, there were two of them.

Two huge reptilian, snake-like digimon with long tails and thick, muscled arms floated above the forest. One was red with a yellow underbelly and huge, purple wings. The other was all in shades of gray, its wings mechanical and boxy. They both had identical, three-clawed mechanical hands that appeared to function both as graspers and rocket launchers as well as thick, metal masks similar to those of MetalGreymon.

"Oh, look, Mega! They came out to play!" Said the gray one.

"My aim must be off," growled the red.

Like characters on Power Rangers or a Super Sentai series, Davis and Tommy both reached into their pockets and whipped out their digivices.

"Veemon!"

"Dracomon!"

The little machines shone and the digimon charged forth, leaping into the air.

"Veemon digivolve to…"

"Dracomon digivolve to…"

They changed shape in mid-air. Strangely enough, their forms changed almost identically. They grew, their bodies becoming thick and muscular. Tails grew, as well as wings, and their horns extended.

"ExVeemon!"

"Coredramon!"

They were even both blue and white. While ExVeemon appeared more humanoid, though, Coredramon's form was reptilian—no, draconic, with larger wings and a build more focused on flight and grappling than fist-to-fist combat.

Both digimon soared up to meet their opponents. ExVeemon stopped mid-way and unleashed a Vee-Laser toward them while Coredramon sped up in an aerial charge, his mouth wide in a roar and his claws outstretched. The laser impacted the red digimon and he recoiled a bit, but appeared mostly unaffected by the attack. The gray reached out its metallic claw and snatched Coredramon out of the air. The blue dragon, continuing its roar, released a gout of equally blue flame across the digimon's arm. Metal heated to orange and flesh blackened, forcing it to release him. With a flap of its wings, it backed off toward ExVeemon.

"Divide and conquer?" ExVeemon asked.

"Right. Take the red one down first," Coredramon answered. With that, they both shot off in opposite directions. The red beast put out its arms, spread its claws, and fired a volley of rockets toward ExVeemon. With two well-aimed vee-lasers, he shot them out of the sky and continued charging. The gray turned to Coredramon, spread its own claws, and with that rising tone, launched a pair of laser-streams toward the blue dragon. He brought his wings in close and spun in mid-air, dodging the streams while keeping his momentum. He hurtled toward the gray mech-dragon, who lunged forward with its claws to grab him out of the air. Like a trick pilot, Coredramon dodged under the attack and under the gray digimon's arm.

"Strike Bomber!" He called out, curling into a ball and slamming into the red beast's back. It pitched forward, its eyes and jaws going wide. ExVeemon met it head-on—literally. He slammed his head into the mech-dragon's metal mask in his ever-signature Vee-Headbutt.

The mask cracked with the sound of tearing metal and the red dragon went to the ground in a heap. Its huge form let out a ground-shaking thud as it hit the earth; and a little more of Gennai's house crumbled.

Coredramon followed it down while ExVeemon fired a vee-laser at the gray dragon's back. Tommy's digimon hit the ground hard in front of the unconscious digimon's face. He heaved open its mouth, and inhaled. The gray digimon turned around just in time to shout,

"No! Mega!"

Coredramon loosed a stream of blue fire into "Mega"s mouth, waking it. The digimon rose into the air, screaming. With each howl of pain, blue fire leaked from its jaws. But the damage was done. Its torso began turning black, and then the fire burst through the skin, consuming it as it fell to the ground and evaporated into energy.

Coredramon and ExVeemon stood their ground, just looking at their remaining enemy.

He snarled and said, "I won't be the last, digidestined! You can be sure on that!" Davis thought that, if he had any legs, his tail would be between them as he left.

ExVeemon landed and gave Coredramon a high-three before they both degenerated to their rookie forms. Davis walked to meet them, a smile on his face.

"Still got it!" he shouted. Veemon pumped his fist into the air.

"So, uh…question," Tommy said as they rounded the front of what was left of Gennai's cottage. He pointed to the destruction. What had once been a garden, an entryway, and a living room was now black, charred rubble. "Does this count as our fault?"

Davis looked at it, "I…don't know. For some reason, I think that's how Gennai's going to see it."

"I guess 'sorry we let your shit get blown up' isn't going to cut it," Tommy said as he picked up a scattered piece of lumber and looked it over, turning it around in his hands.

"Probably not," Veemon said. "He liked this house."

Tommy tossed the lumber into the mound, "you go. I'll stay."

"What? No. We should both stay…or go. I mean, if Gennai comes back, he'll want to know what happened. But even if he doesn't, what if that guy brings friends?"

"I can be very fast when I need to," Dracomon said.

"He's not lying," Tommy said. "You have places to be. I don't. I'll wait for Gennai. If trouble finds me before his Watcherliness, then Coredramon can speed me out of here."

"You sure?" Veemon asked.

"Go. I'm good," Tommy said, waving them away. Davis jogged up to him and held out his hand.

Tommy took it and they shook.

"Don't die while I'm gone, okay? I'll be back once I'm done in the real world."

"And you don't die if I'm gone when you get back. Whether it's those things or Gennai that wants to kill you."

"Deal," Davis said before running off onto the path that led out of the forest, Veemon on his heels.

I hope I'm not too late.

"No way," Tai said, staring at the TV. "Just…no way. This can't be…can it?"

"Sure looks like it," Matt replied.

Tai and Sora arrived about five minutes ago, each touting an excuse about how they were 'sticking together' like the group suggested yesterday, what with the teleporting madman lurking about.

Sticking together. Does that count as a Freudian slip?

"They started playing it about a half hour ago. They haven't made any demands yet and…I don't know. What are we supposed to do?" TK asked. "I mean, we could go in there, but they've got hostages."

"You will not!" TK's mom shouted from the kitchen. He cringed. Ever since the broadcast came on, she'd gone into freak-out mode. It was everything TK had told her about his car broadcasted on live TV. She'd been cleaning the kitchen for twenty minutes, and hadn't gotten past the floor—and their kitchen was pretty damn small. "This…this is something the police will handle, or the military. You and your friends are not to get involved."

TK would have told her that she couldn't control what his friends did, but it would have fallen on deaf ears.

A helicopter was panning over the area—a bank being the center of everyone's attention. Police cars surrounded the front of the building, as well as three SAT (Special Assault Team, think Japanese SWAT) vans. The camera cut to a reporter on the ground, who was standing behind one of said vans. She looked into the camera and said,

"Thus far, the robbers have not made any demands, nor have they alerted anyone of their intentions. Tensions are truly running high as the police attempt to open a line of communication with these strange, costumed criminals."

The cameraman moved to the edge of the van and peeked the lens around the side, aiming at the building. He zoomed in, revealing he criminals in question. A large group—maybe ten to twelve—of camoflauge-skinned dinosaurs moved around behind the glass. They each wore dark military fatigues, complete with helmet, and strange, mechanical boots. In their three-clawed hands, each held a big, black M16 assault rifle. To accompany it, they wore a set of grenades on their chests. Most of the group stood with guns aimed at hostages, while a few others stalked the windows, watching the men with guns outside. The news called them costumes, but just looking at them, everyone in the room—even TK's mom—knew what they really were. Digimon.

Digimon that were, apparently, robbing a human bank.

TK had already received texts from Kari, Ken, Yolei and Izzy regarding the situation. Nobody really knew what to do.

The camera turned and they all got to watch as several black cars pulled up. Interpol? Two black-suited, sunglasses-wearing G-men got out of each car and began moving around the area, talking with members of police and SAT. One approached the camera crew and flashed a badge, demanding that the camera be shut off. The reporter argued, but a couple of his friends approached and soon enough, the camera turned off, cutting the feed. It picked back up in-studio, where a reporter informed the populace that Interpol had arrived and forced all crews out of the area, including their helicopter. He assured them, however, that they would continue covering the story from the studio, and would alert everyone with whatever news came in.

A knock on the door drew everyone's attention. TK got up and opened it. Cody stood there, his expression blank as ever. His eye shifted as he glanced inside, then moved back to TK, "so everyone's heard, then?"

"Yeah. Come on in, man." TK stepped aside and let Cody in.

"Hey," he said to everyone, and "hello, Ms. Takaishi." He bowed to TK's mom, who smiled and continued to clean.

"So what do you all think?" TK asked as he closed the door.

"Do you think it's connected?" Sora asked "To the attack on you, TK?"

TK sat down on one arm of the couch and sighed, "I don't know. I mean, it's not like I got to talk to the guy and find out if he's a fan of military dinosaurs." He gestured at the TV. "I couldn't say if this is his style or not. I don't know. The whole situation's hard to figure out. I mean, digimon robbing a bank? A human bank? What do they need human money for?"

"And even if they did need it, why Yen? Hell, why Japan? Why Tokyo?" Matt asked. "Isn't Japan, like, the digidestined capitol of the world?"

"Unlikely, but you've got a point," everyone turned to Cody. "Even if these digimon were to need money for whatever reason—maybe there's a human guiding them—Japan is the worst place to attack. Not only are currencies like the Euro more valuable, but like you said, Tokyo has us. And any digimon who can get to this world to rob a bank probably knows not to mess with us."

"So you think they're after something other than money," Tai said.

"I don't think they're after anything at all. I think whoever sent them is trying to send us a message." He said, standing behind the couch. Again, his arms didn't move as he spoke, merely sat at his sides.

"And what kind of message is that?" Matt asked.

"That we're not safe," Sora said from her position on the countertop in front of the kitchen. Her eyes were wide with realization.

"Exactly," Cody confirmed. "Whoever sent them wants us to know that they have access to both firepower and the means of getting digimon to our world."

"Definitely something to be scared of," TK said, turning back to the TV.

The reporter said the words "Breaking News coming in from the bank robbery" and everyone else's eyes followed.

He had his finger to his ear, and he said, "I'm receiving word that…oh…my God. Ladies and…ladies and gentlemen, I've just received word that the robbers have…have executed the hostages and…killed themselves. Apparently they…" he continued to explain that the digimon shot the hostages and then blew themselves up with their grenades, without firing a single shot at the gunmen posted outside. SAT snipers were able to hit a couple of the digimon, but it was already too late. His face had turned white, and kind of green, and his eyes were wide and downcast as he gave the report. The entire room was silent as the digidestined and TK's mom watched the broadcast.

If this was the man who'd attacked TK's doing, and if his intent was to scare them…

…he succeeded.

"I'm here because he had abysium! And not just a sliver of it, but enough to make a whole spearhead!" Gennai shouted at Tyron, who stood with his huge arms crossed over his huge chest. He was already furious, and the heat emanating from the Forge wasn't helping his mood.

"And I already told you that I have no way of knowing how he attained it!" he bellowed back. "If you're accusing me of giving it to him—"

"Do you think I'm an idiot, Tyron? Of course you didn't give him any! But there's only one damned person in this world I can think of who might know just how he got his hands on it!" Gennai snapped. "And just how in Yggdrasil he was able to handle it without killing himself!"

"I don't know, Gennai. I don't know. He's not a crest-bearer and he doesn't have access to the Forge. I couldn't tell you how he ended up with enough abysium to make a spearhead, much less how he fashioned it. Nor can I tell you how he made armor out of gold digizoid, or inset it with chunks of noqual! I haven't seen him since before he left. Maybe you should find him and ask him yourself!" Tyron argued. And damn him if the old Smith wasn't right.

"I don't have to," Gennai said, closing his eyes and calming himself. "Damn me, I don't have to find him."

Tyron stopped and narrowed his eyes, "what do you mean, Gennai?"

"He's been to see her. His sister," Gennai said, his eyes still closed. Dark memories bubbled forth, but he forced them back down into the recesses of his mind.

"Little Elle? He's visited her? How can you know that?"

Gennai flinched a bit at the hidden accusation in that question: how can you know since you've never visited, yourself?, "The digidestined who he spoke to…he mentioned knowing the future."

"So he's been translating the prophecies," Tyron said. "Gennai, if reading those prophecies has driven him to things like abysium…you must speak to her."

"Damn you. Damn you, I know."

The memories came forth again. This time, he made no effort to suppress them.

A young girl screams in the rain, trying to struggle out of Gennai's grip. She's only six years old. Only six, over a thousand years ahead of her, yet condemned. She screams and howls as the rain pounds on their heads. Gennai is forced to squeeze tighter and tighter as she struggles. He knows he's hurting her. He knows she just wants to go home. He knows, but still walks toward the cathedral.

It's called a palace, but it is a cathedral. Nerina said so, before she died. She said it was beautiful, like the cathedrals of her world. Gennai had never known it as anything more than horrifying. It was a place of death—of endless torture. And he was forced to leave this little girl here.

"I didn't mean it!" she screams.

"It's not my fault!"

"Jake said he's okay! It's okay!"

"Stop!"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why?"

"Stop!"

"You're hurting me!"

"Let me go!"

"Stop!"

His body trembles as he reaches the massive door. Even under the eaves, the rain is as heavy as ever.

"I want to go home!"

Gennai raises a hand and pounds on the door. Just once. Once is all that is needed. He probably couldn't muster a second, even if he needed to.

"I want to go home!"

"Where's Jake?"

"Let me go!"

The door opens. Slowly. Ever-so-slowly. An old digimon with a wrinkled face looks out at him, then at the little girl. The old digimon's eyes widen and its jaw drops.

"It has happened?" the old digimon asks.

Gennai tries to say 'yes,' but can only nod.

"To me, then, child," the old digimon says, reaching out with old, wrinkly hands.

"No! No! Who are you?"

"I want to go home!"

"Daddy, I want to go home!"

Gennai chokes on those words. Daddy, I want to go home! The old digimon takes the little girl from his hands. She's screaming.

"Daddy! Daddy, don't leave me!"

"Daddy, I want to go home!"

Her words disappear as the door closes. Gennai's tears burn hot on his face. He raises his arms and pounds on the door. Again and again and again, he slams his fists against the solid wood until the bases of his hands begin to bleed.

"Elle!" He screams.

"Ellie, come back!"

"Elle! Elle, please come back!"

He slides against the door, falling to his knees. Tears mix with rain.

"Elle…please."

It is the last time Gennai sees his daughter for a thousand years.