Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. But I'd really love Kari's jacket...

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "fumbling".

Well, last chapter didn't receive very much feedback, and so I apologize for the lackluster chapter. But I will warn you that there are probably going to be more transitional chapters in the future. Chapters where nothing seemingly happens, but I'm dropping information or talking back story for the moment. I'll try to make them a bit more interesting at the very least, though! Hopefully this chapter makes up for it. Moving the plot a bit further along. I hope you...

Enjoy!

Chapter Seven

As soon as Takato saw the house, he knew he was a dead man.

Cody raised his digivice, which he explained was called a D-3. "Digi-Armor Energize!"

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to… Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!"

Takato couldn't explain the feeling of doom. The house was no longer smoldering, the fire having put itself out by this point, and for all of the damage, it still looked somewhat structurally sound. Still, the ruins seemed to glare down at him, ready to swallow him whole for trespassing. Watching the little armadillo digimon become a huge insect-like creature with drills for hands probably should have brought more fear into Takato's heart, but he found that he couldn't muster up the shock. He just couldn't decide if that was because he was starting to go numb from all that had happened today, or if it was just something he had seen a lot before all of this and had just forgotten.

Guilmon let out a small gasp as Digmon showed off his shell, liking the attention. It all seemed very innocent, but every molecule in Takato's body told him that he was somewhere he was not meant to be.

"I don't think I'm supposed to be here," he said.

Cody glanced toward him. "What happened with Elecmon isn't your fault. It's the fault of whoever is behind this."

For a moment, Cody looked extremely angry, like he wanted to hit something. Takato took a subtle step backwards. He knew that the other boy was just trying to make him feel better about the whole situation, but he didn't exactly mean what he thought. While he did feel extreme guilt over the whole situation with Elecmon's disappearance and possible deletion, it was more than that. This place, these people, even the other digimon – all except Guilmon – felt wrong. He had a horrified thought that they were all fake, just figments of his imagination, before he quickly pushed that thought aside. He already lost his memory; he really didn't want to consider the possibility that he might be losing his mind too.

"I meant… this place," he tried to explain. "I don't belong here."

"You have a digivice, right?" Cody nodded toward the device on his belt. "That means you're one of us, and digidestined are allowed in the Digital World. As long as they don't do anything that would threaten it."

Takato wasn't sure how to respond. He hadn't even considered that scenario, and the thought sent him down a path that made him feel even worse than before even though he knew that wasn't Cody's intention. What if he were some evil spy sent to infiltrate the good guys until the right possible moment? A part of him very strongly knew that wasn't the case, but how could he know for sure? He couldn't even remember his own last name! Still… when Thunderbirmon had attacked, his only thought had been to help protect the baby digimon and the digimon that were trying to help him. Those weren't the thoughts of some evil spy, were they?

"I don't think I'd do that…"

"No, of course not." Cody let out a sigh as if he were fighting his own exhaustion. Considering the bags that were hanging heavily under his eyes, Takato would not be surprised if that were the case.

"You're thinking of TK," he guessed. "Your friend."

"What? No… Well, yes. Your story doesn't seem at all connected to TK, but there has to be some connection. This all can't just be random, can it? Then what would be the point of it all?"

"You're thinking too much again, Cody," Digmon said.

"I'm sorry, Digmon. I think I'm just tired. Why don't you get started?"

Digmon watched Cody for a moment longer before he turned toward the house. "Rock Cracking!"

"Maybe you don't know his name, but maybe you'll remember his face," Cody said suddenly. "He's about 5'11, blonde, blue-eyed, plays basketball… Any of this sound familiar?"

"You're really close to him, huh?"

"He's like a brother to me. So, does it?"

As usual, Takato didn't have an answer. He looked toward Guilmon, but his partner didn't even seem to be listening. He watched Digmon shuffling through the rubble with wide eyes, and Takato pushed down a shiver. Little bits of debris flew past both digimon and toward Takato, littering the grass with bits of chalk dust, as if it to say, Go back, kid. You're messing things up by being here.

A shadow fell over him, and Takato turned to see that Centarumon had followed them. "I brought lemonade. Thirsty?"

Centarumon carried a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and five stacked glasses. Takato blinked, wanting to ask where he had gotten the refreshments, but Cody barely reacted as if this were normal and grabbed a glass. He figured it was just another one of those weird things of the Digital World – either that or Centarumon knew where the cafeteria in this village happened to be.

Takato took a glass as well, though his stomach fluttered with nerves. He felt like he was on the edge of figuring something out, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what was causing it. And a part of him was growing fearful of what he might discover if he did start to unravel the mystery of his past. Centarumon's glowing red eyes seemed to squint in a smile, but Takato got the strangest feeling that it was forced.

"How's it coming?" Centarumon asked.

Digmon lifted his head out of his work. "It shouldn't be too long."

"Be careful, Digmon," Cody said. "We don't want to damage anything that could tell us—uh, I mean, anything that belongs to Takato."

"He had a lot of cards!" Guilmon offered. "Lots and lots of cards."

"Yeah, thanks, boy."

"Look out for cards," Digmon said. "Got it!" Then he got back to work, drilling away through the fallen debris.

"Centarumon, there's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Cody stared at the digimon with an intensity that made Takato – who wasn't even the victim of the stare down – uncomfortable. "What is it?"

"I'm not trying to mislead you," Centarumon said, "but you're right. There are things that I have yet to mention, because I haven't been sure if they were worth a mention at all. I don't want to unnecessarily worry you, but it sounds as though nothing going on in the Digital World at the moment is a coincidence. Remaining in denial is helping no one, especially—"

Digmon stopped drilling. He froze, hunched over, his claws buried into sheetrock. Cody stopped moving. The wind stopped blowing, leaving trees suspended in a strange half-blown manner. Guilmon stood up straight and stared around the area, a confused look on his face that mirrored the one on Takato's perfectly.

"Uh… what's going on?" Takato asked.

But Centarumon had frozen, too. Takato stumbled backward, his heart starting to race in his chest, but Centarumon kept staring at the same spot, his mouth open mid-sentence. His chest didn't move. His tail didn't twitch.

Takato, a voice said.

"Takato, the house is talking," Guilmon said.

For a horrible moment, he thought Guilmon was right. Then a dark mist started to form in front of them, and an even worse thought occurred to Takato: evil digimon.

"That's not something you see every day…" He fumbled for his digivice. "Guilmon, get ready!"

The mist took the form of a man in brown robes. His face was hooded, but Takato could make out his kind smile in the darkness. His hands were tucked into the sleeves of his robes. Takato wasn't sure how he knew, but he immediately figured that if he was to pull back that robe, he would find someone that looked deceptively human but… wasn't.

Come now, Guilmon, the man chided. His voice echoed in Takato's head. Would you attack an old friend?

"Old friend?" Guilmon repeated. "Are we friends, Mr Ghost Man?"

"Who are you?" Takato demanded. "Where did you—? How did you—?"

Our time is limited, Takato. I wish I could tell you more, but my prison grows stronger by the minute. It took me a full month to gather enough energy to get you here and contact you, but now I have even less time left and even less energy. This may be the last time you'll hear from me.

"You're in a prison?" Takato wasn't sure if he should drop his guard after all. "Look, if you're really my friend, then you know who I am. You can tell me!"

I could, he agreed, but I can't.

"That makes no sense!"

I know all of this must be extremely confusing for both of you, he continued. The memory loss was an unexpected side effect of bringing you here, but it might also be a happy accident. Without knowing where you belong, you'll be able to focus on the task at hand.

"But I do belong somewhere," Takato insisted. "People are out there that miss me?"

Yes, he said. And you will be able to return to them… if you find my prison. Free me, or Sloth will rise from the earth adding another to their number, and I will be destroyed. You may never retrieve your memory if that happens.

"Great. So you're pretty much saying that I don't have much of a choice."

You have until sunset on the solstice. Four short days. I hope to see you both face-to-face very soon.

The hooded man dissolved, and the mist curled up into a ball before dissipating completely.

"Bye-bye, Mystery Man!" Guilmon said before he turned to look at Takato. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking… we listen to him, or we might never find our way home," Takato said.

"Do you think home is nice?" Guilmon asked.

Takato smiled sadly. "I hope so."

Time unfroze. Digmon's drills started back up and tore through another layer of sheetrock. The wind tossed around the trees and Takato's hair, Cody let out a small breath, and Centarumon said, "—since I fear one other may be missing."

"Let me guess," Takato said, rolling his eyes. "Some guy in a robe?"

Centarumon blinked. "How did you…?"

Cody shot him a strange look. "Weren't you just standing over there… and why do you have your digivice out?"

"A ghost took our memories!" Guilmon announced.

Digmon stopped drilling to listen as Takato told them all about the frozen-in-time visit. He tried to remember all of the little details and words that the guy had used, feeling as if every little wording was important, though most of it still didn't make much sense to him at all.

Centarumon shuddered. "Oh… That does explain a lot."

"Uh… Centarumon, what exactly does it explain?" Digmon asked. "I just heard a whole lot of nothing."

"We're missing some big piece of information, aren't we?" Cody said, his expression tight and serious. "Such as Gennai being missing. That's who he's talking about, isn't it?"

Centarumon let out a heavy sigh. "Yes, that does appear to be the case."

"Gennai?" Takato asked.

"I had hoped I had just been worrying for nothing…" he continued.

"Well, apparently you weren't," Takato said. "Now, can you please explain to me what just happened, because you seem to know a lot more about the guy I just talked to and what he meant by what he said than I do."

Before Centarumon could respond, a shadow fell over them from above. Takato turned to see the same red bird from earlier – Hawkmon's champion form whose name he couldn't remember at the moment – swooping down to land. Sitting on his back were Yolei, Kari, and Gatomon, but something was wrong. Kari's head lolled like she was unconscious.

"Help!" Yolei yelped as they landed. "Somebody, help!"

"What happened!?" Cody ran over to help lower Kari gently to the ground. "What's wrong with her?"

"Some sort of digimon entity," Gatomon gasped, like she was trying not to cry. "Something happened. Something bad."

Takato took a hesitant step toward the unconscious girl, his eyes locked on a strange discoloration on her pink jacket, like someone had dipped their hands into soot before grabbing her and refusing to let go.

"I think…" Yolei said tearfully, "I think it may have killed her."