Author's Note: Yesterday I got this sore throat that just wiped me out and made it impossible for me to do anything. So that's why there's been a slight delay with this chapter. I feel a lot better now though.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 5: Voyage Through Darkness

After a few hours, the Pierce family jet landed at an airport in Tokyo. From there Team Excalibur and their Digimon disembarked. It had been a long flight, filled with very little conversation. In fact the only one who really did any talking on the plane was Hagurumon. The coming battle with Lucemon weighed heavily on everyone's minds, especially Kari's. As the team walked through the airport, many of the people they passed noticed them, though whether it was because of their team jackets or the large group of Digimon that was with them, no one could say.

"I knew it, because of these stupid jackets everyone is looking at us," Gwen complained. "I've never been so embarrassed in my life."

"Well if it's so embarrassing, why are you wearing it?" Artemis asked with a playful smirk.

Gwen blushed and looked away. "Because…it's chilly."

"It didn't seem very chilly at the mansion, yet you put it on almost as soon as Arthur finished handing them out," Cindy retorted. "Could it be that maybe you actually like it? I mean it is your first gift from Arthur after all."

"Shut up!" Gwen shot back, looking very flustered.

"Alright everyone!" Arthur called to the rest of the team after suddenly stopping. "It seems that we've arrived a little early, so it will be at least half an hour before our ride arrives to take us to the base camp. Until then, I suggest we all take a little time to relax, perhaps get a bite to eat. So feel free to look around and stretch your legs."

With that, the members of the team split up and went their own separate ways. Most of the team went to get a bite to eat at the small airport cafeteria. Patamon and Gatomon went with them to give their human partners some alone time. T.K. and Kari walked until they spotted a small airport chapel.

"You know for something that's part of an airport, that chapel looks pretty quant," T.K. commented.

"Yeah…" Kari replied as if her mind was somewhere else. "…T.K., let's get married now."

"What?" T.K. asked in surprise. "I mean definitely wouldn't mind marrying you right now, but why?"

"Because…I'm not sure if we'll survive this next battle. And I don't want to die never having been married to you."

After a moment, T.K. smiled and took her hand. "Okay then. Let's go get married."

"Well, I can see our little delay is going to be more eventful than I thought," a voice suddenly commented.

T.K. and Kari turned to see Arthur, Gwen, and their two Digimon standing behind them.

"If you're going to get married now, you're going to need witnesses," Arthur continued. "Dorumon, go get the rest of the team."

Dorumon nodded and went off to get the others.

"Pawn, you go with him," Gwen commanded PawnChessmon.

"At once my queen!" PawnChessmon replied with a salute as he went after Dorumon.

"Is there any other way that I might be of service to you?" Arthur asked the couple.

"Well, I'd like to stop by my parents' place after we're done here," Kari requested.

"Not a problem. Now then, I believe we have a wedding to get to."

With that, T.K. and Kari went into the chapel to talk to the priest. Arthur and Gwen hung back to wait for the rest of the team.

"Do we really have time for this?" Gwen asked sounding a little irritated. "I mean shouldn't we be focusing on stopping this evil Digimon from destroying the world?"

"There are some matters just as important as saving the world, and this is one of them," Arthur replied. "Besides, after all that those two have been through, they really need this."

"…They really went through something awful, didn't they?" Gwen asked, looking a little ashamed.

"Well, they don't talk about what they experienced, or at least don't go into great detail, but I could tell by just looking at them that they went through a horrible ordeal. You should've seen Kari when she first arrived on my doorstep."

"I see…" Gwen responded as she looked at the ground. "And when I first met them I made some dumb joke about what they went though being like a weekend visit to my Grandma Worthington's… When am I going to learn to control my big mouth?"

"You didn't know that they had been through such an ordeal." Arthur assured her as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, your little jest may not have been that far off. I met your Grandma Worthington once and it is safe to say that she is the most depressing human being on the planet."

"I still shouldn't have said it. I was irritated with you and I took it out on them. There's no one who drives me up the wall like you Arthur."

"And I feel the same way about you my dear Guinevere. Yet I cannot picture my life without you."

Gwen smiled. "I feel the same way about you, you ego maniac."

A few moments later the rest of the group showed up. The ceremony that followed was a modest one, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Perhaps it was beautiful because the ceremony was so simple, or perhaps it was because the couple getting married was so much in love. Whatever the reason was no one could tell, but in didn't really matter. And at the end of the ceremony when T.K. and Kari kissed, the rest of the team, the Digimon, and the two business executives who were just there to kill time while they waited for a flight, all cheered.

Meanwhile, the team that was sent by Tai to free Lucemon flew over the Dark Ocean on Imperialdramon. The massive red-winged dragon landed on a small island with a giant archway with two closed doors bound together with a thick black chain. The face of a demonic creature was engraved on the doors. The group had seen this structure during their last search of the Dark Ocean and thought nothing of it, but after their contact with Lucemon, they knew the evil looking archway to be the Devil's Gate that would allow Lucemon to escape. The team disembarked from Imperialdramon's back to head for the gate and wait for the one they had come to help escape.

"Stay sharp Imperialdramon," Davis commanded. "There might be another psycho Digimon nearby."

"You got it," Imperialdramon replied.

"Hey Ken, can I talk to you for a moment?" Cody asked, stopping Ken in his tracks.

"Sure, what's up?" Ken replied as he and Cody hung back for a moment.

"Do you think that what we're doing right now is the right thing?"

Ken sighed. "To be honest, I don't. Rika brought up a really good point about Lucemon. We don't know if he is who he says he is. What we're doing now might end up making things a whole lot worse."

"I feel the same way. So don't you think we should turn back now?"

"I'd like to, but I don't think we have much choice. Both Yolei and Davis are too determined to make sure Kari didn't die for nothing."

"But we don't even know if Kari is really dead!" Cody retorted sounding a little frustrated.

"That's true, but right now I don't think pointing that out to them will do any good. They've thought Kari has been dead for the last couple of months, and now it seems like it's been confirmed. This might be their way of dealing with the grief. It's the same thing with Tai. The only thing we can do right now is just go with it and hope that things turn out for the best."

While Ken and Cody were talking, Izzy and Tentomon discovered what looked to be a large cylinder made out of some sort of silver metal. On the front was what looked to be a control panel and monitor. The two approached the device to take a closer look.

"What do you think it is Izzy?" Tentomon asked.

"I'm not sure," Izzy answered while looking the device over. "It might be some sort of computer. It could contain information about the Dark Ocean that we don't know about."

Izzy reached out and touched the control panel, and when he did so a stream of purple electricity from the device started flowing into him through his forehead, causing him to cry out. The rest of the group was instantly alerted. At the same time Tentomon began glowing with a bright purple light.

"Tentomon warp digivolve to…HeculesKabuterimon!" Tentomon cried as he suddenly transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.

With his transformation finished, Tentomon had become a massive golden beetle with long curved horns. HerculesKabuterimon suddenly went berserk and began lashing out at everyone. Yolei and Davis barely managed to avoid being hit by a ball of electricity fired by the giant beetle.

"Imperialdramon, try to knock him out!" Ken commanded.

"On it!" Imperialdramon replied as he suddenly began to transform. "Imperialdramon mode change to…Fighter Mode!"

Imperialdramon took on a more humanoid shape and tackled HerculesKabuterimon and tried to hold him down. HerculesKabuterimon proved stronger than Imperialdramon thought though and threw the dragon warrior off and attacked him with his horns. Meanwhile still had the energy from the strange device flowing into him, and it was having a very unexpected effect.

Izzy let out an insane laugh. "Yes, YES! I now know everything! The knowledge of the whole universe now flows through me! And I can use that knowledge to control everything! I will become the ruler of all things! I will become a GOD!"

A moment after Izzy's insane proclamation, Yolei grabbed a large rock and struck him over the head, stopping the flow of electricity and knocking him out cold. At almost the exact same time, Imperialdramon hit HerculesKabuterimon in the thorax with a blast from the laser cannon on his right wrist, knocking him out and reverting him back to Tentomon.

"What the hell was that?" Davis asked a moment later in an attempt to make sense of the chaos that had just occurred.

"I don't know, but now that Izzy's been hurt I think we should get out of here," Ken decided.

"But we haven't found Lucemon yet!" Yolei pointed out.

As if on cue, the sky was suddenly lit by what looked like a bright white star, which was slowly descending to the island. The light faded enough to reveal what looked like a handsome boy with short curly blond hair. He had twelve white-feathered wings, two of which grew out of his head. His outfit consisted of a white toga and gold rings around his wrists and ankles. Purple markings ran down the left side of his body.

"Do not be afraid my friends," the boy told them in a sweet child voice as he slowly came to the ground. "I am Lucemon."

"You're Lucemon?" Yolei asked with a look of awe.

"That's right," Lucemon confirmed as the aura of light around him faded completely.

"Maybe you can help us then. Our friend Izzy touched that weird computer thing over there and he went nuts."

"You say he touched that silver device?" Lucemon asked with a look of concern.

"Yeah. Do you know what it is?" Davis asked.

"It is a fragment of Yggdrasill," Lucemon replied as he went over to take a closer look. "It contains a great amount of knowledge and power, too much for your friend I'm afraid. It would've driven him mad and then destroyed him, but it seems you were able to do something about it before much damage was done, so he should recover."

"Well that's good to know," Yolei declared as she let out a sigh of relief. "Um, what's Yggdrasill?"

"Yggdrasill was a powerful protector god of the Digital World," Lucemon replied as his eyes suddenly became filled with a look of sadness. "He was mortally wounded near the end of the great war with the Seven Lords. Most likely he was killed, and all because I had failed to protect him… Just as I had failed to protect your friend Kari."

Tears suddenly began to well up in Lucemon's eyes. The rest of the group fell silent after once again being reminded of Kari's supposed death.

"…You can help stop the rest of the Seven Lords, right?" Davis asked after a moment with a serious yet pain filled expression.

"…That I can," Lucemon replied after regaining the composure that he seemed to lose. "I swear to you that I will. I will help you to avenge Kari's death, but first we must break the seal of the Devil's Gate."

"Alright, just tell us what we need to do," Davis told him as his eyes became filled with determination.

Author's Note: T.K. and Kari's sudden marriage was done for a couple of reasons. One of them was because I wanted the rest of the Digidestined to be as shocked as possible when T.K. and Kari finally returned. As for the whole thing with Izzy going nuts, that was just a weird idea I came up with to unlock Tentomon's Mega form and I thought I'd try it out.

Please review and let me know what you think.