11.
Tailmon, fortunately, is a cat. Therefore she rights herself with ease, going to cradle Hikari's head before it hits the floor.
The others, however, lack such composure. That said, Iori takes to the task with ease, lifting Hikari's head carefully with his hands and placing a pillow beneath it. Sweat pours in rivulets down her face. Takeru swallows a snarl of frustrated worry and goes to her. Daisuke is right after him, Miyako going to look for a first aid kid and returning in seconds. He looks to Ken, who doesn't seem to know where to stand, and has resorted to hugging Wormmon instead of making things worse.
Is it his imagination, or is there a strange gleam in the other boy's eyes?
It fades in seconds and Ken kneels with them, looking strangely frantic.
"What's going on-" Daisuke starts.
Then Hikari's eyes snap open and their vision is covered in white.
Takeru thinks of the vision of Hikarigaoka from above, and wishes so fervently for Patamon. He is almost glad he won't show up.
They don't float over a cityscape, however. Instead they float over a desert. The wind blows and whips harmlessly through them and Takeru glances everyone over. Hikari is moving to her feet, loose limbed and impassive eyes. No, it's not Hikari. Tailmon's tail lashes as she stands up, moving by Takeru and then back to Hikari. Her eyes are worried.
"You again," Takeru says. He thinks of Pinnochimon's forest, of the horrible fighting, and when they had needed something to quell them the most, here she had come, a peacemaker. Honestly that could sum up Hikari as a whole, couldn't it?
Hikari smiles, and the other kids look so bewildered. The smile doesn't look quite right to him either. "Indeed. It took some time, we have less influence here, but with your Digimon around, I eventually found my way. I apologize, but there's something you need to see."
"Hikari-san," Iori croaks, puzzled. He manages to beat Daisuke, who is currently slack-jawed.
Takeru answers before she can. "Three years ago, Hikari-chan was possessed by a strange entity. It showed us our beginning as Chosen, what changed our lives, and what made us so necessary." He lifts his head. "Are you going to do the same thing now?"
Hikari shakes her head and points to the distance. "Not your beginning, I'm afraid. Not theirs. Theirs they will find an answer to. But of another. For Patamon's sake, you need to know this."
The area warps and a large crystal begins to shimmer into view. Something writhes inside of it, and Takeru thinks if it had a voice, he would hear it screaming. No, wait… He squints, attempting to look closer.
He's wrong. That creature is laughing, its death throes thankfully going unheard.
"Moon-Millenniummon." Hikari's quiet voice is grim. "Capable of traversing time and space, capable of many great atrocities. Many he committed." She glances at Chibimon. "Can you recall?"
Chibimon shifts in Daisuke's arms before nodding. "How could I forget?" His high squeak twists with anger. "Can't ever forget someone like that! Even if I forget everything else, not him."
Daisuke looks suitably worried. "Chibimon?" He lifts him up. "Dude, what's the matter?"
"He's bad, Daisuke," Chibimon says simply, ruby red eyes still unhappy. "He ruined what made him strong. He ruined what made him okay. He hurt the most precious person to him. That's not okay, Daisuke. Ken helped us fight him and then… then he got hurt. I remember that much now."
Hikari nods slowly, noting Takeru wincing in pain. "You're starting to recall."
"There was a tournament," Takeru mutters, voice hazy. "What does this have to do with Patamon?"
"Everything."
Ken's finally spoke. His soft voice now has the familiar and unfamiliar edge of the Kaiser. Yet it's twisted now, twisted by something so much older. They look at him. Wormmon is scuttling off of his arm.
"Remember now, Chibimon?" Ken smiles at the little Digimon and Chibimon tenses. "You fought me, and Ken tried to take away what was mind. You see how unforgiveable that is, don't you?" He looks over at Hikari. "Hello, Homeostasis. It has been years, hasn't it?"
"Millenniummon." Hikari's calm ripples. "Isn't this a surprise."
Takeru feels ready to vomit.