Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do now own Heroes of Olympus. It's just temporary bliss...

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

Today is the start of July's Camp Nano! However, this chapter doesn't count, because I had written it before midnight. Whoops! But either way, I am on my way to trying to write 40k words by August 1. Fingers crossed! Everybody wish me luck! Or don't. It's cool either way, hehe.

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Nine

They had been reunited and separated from Izzy's group in less than two hours. As they ventured further into the jungle, Ken couldn't help but keep looking back, but he knew the others were long gone.

"Izzy said he and the others would meet us at the place where Gennai was being kept," Davis explained.

"How is he going to do that?" Yolei asked. "We don't even know where it is!"

"He said Gatomon would," Guilmon said.

Gatomon's eyes widened. "Me? How would I know?"

Takato shook his head. "I don't know. But Shibumi told me that you would be the only one other than me who would know where Gennai was."

"So, spill, Gatomon!" DemiVeemon said. "Where is it, huh? Where is it?"

Gatomon glared at him. "I was on my own for years. How am I supposed know which places would be familiar to Takato and which wouldn't?"

"She has a point," Cody pointed out.

"Why can't anything ever be simple for once?" Davis groaned.

Ken agreed. Despite what Izzy had apparently said about meeting up again, he couldn't help but wonder if that were going to actually happen. How could Izzy have put together exactly where Gennai was being held when he hadn't even had the dream to see the location? Sometimes it was like Izzy had a sixth sense about these things. Once upon a time, Ken's mind had worked in a similar way, but not anymore. Now, he was lucky if he was above average compared to the rest of his peers, and that was just fine with him. But right about now, he wouldn't mind having a little bit of genius.

Don't think like that, he told himself. Nothing about those days are worth missing.

Even after all of these years, he could barely tolerate to think about what he had done as the Digimon Emperor. Traveling across Server and Folder was almost therapeutic in a way. It let him know that the Digimon Emperor's reach hadn't been quite as expansive as it used to feel; lands still existed that had managed to remain untouched by the darkness brought on by the Dark Spore.

The eastern half of the Digital World wasn't nearly as lucky, though. Anytime he visited, it was like the Digital World was handing him a baby – a really loud, ugly baby – and saying, Here, this is your burden. You must carry it. You don't have a choice. He didn't want to carry it. He didn't want to look at it or claim it. He didn't want the memories of being a monster that once delighted in causing pain in other living creatures. No wonder Takato had admitted to being almost afraid of getting his memory back; Ken had plenty that he wished he could simply forget forever.

Then he remembered Oikawa – the man who had also been manipulated by the darkness and was now existing as some sort of digital entity. Being not quite alive and not quite dead didn't sound like a very fulfilling existence for anyone, but Ken knew that the man had taken the only path he thought would make up for all the pain he had caused. Ken understood that – the need to make up for what he had done. But Oikawa was now nothing more than spiritual energy; Ken wasn't sure if he could actually feel any sort of guilt anymore, but from Cody's description, the man seemed happy enough for a dead guy.

Meanwhile, Ken was left holding the bag of guilt and regret and shame – literally.

The black backpack strapped over his shoulders held the three digicores that they would be presenting to Ebonwumon in just a few minutes, assuming they were even in the right place at all. The further into the jungle they got, the more the digicores seemed to pulsate with energy and light. Ken could see the glow seeping out of his backpack and bouncing off of the shadowed foliage around them.

The only one of them who didn't seem too concerned about what was to come next was Elecmon. He led the way with his head held high as he trotted over forest debris. "Come on, you lazy bums! Can't be too far now. We have TK and Patamon to save!"

They trudged through the jungle in silence. Maybe they could all sense that each of them had something heavy on their mind, and Ken was a little thankful for the quiet. He wasn't exactly in the best of moods. He hadn't been since Circuit, but how could he talk about something like this? Yolei kept glancing back toward him, worry written all over her face, as if he were the one that had just been treated for hypothermia. Or maybe she was thinking about what Sirenmon had said about Sam's death – about how it was all his fault – because he knew he certainly couldn't get it off his mind.

He tried to focus on something else, like how Izzy had seemed so certain that they could save both Tai and Gennai, but Ken didn't really understand how they were going to do that. Kari hadn't said a word since Davis and Takato had told them what Izzy had said either, so he wasn't sure if Kari was feeling more or less hopeful since the revelation.

Davis kept glancing over his shoulder back the way they had come, like he had left something back there on the bridge. DemiVeemon rode on his head. He looked like he wanted to talk with Davis about everything that had happened, but even he could sense Davis's somewhat dark mood. Ken was just ready for this trip to end so that Davis could go back to being himself; he was starting to miss his upbeat best friend, and it had only been about a day since he had last seen him.

Mostly, though, Ken worried about what Davis had told them. "I don't want to be a bridge or an exchange or anything," Takato had said as he and Davis relayed the information to the rest of the group. "I just want to know where I came from."

They were so close to figuring everything out – or at least a good chunk of it. Ken could feel it deep in his bones, but he was starting to feel like there was another force at work beating back their revelations. Every step they took forward led to three steps back. At this rate, they were never going to figure everything out.

Finally, they reached the middle of the island. Stone architecture rose up toward the sky, at least a hundred feet tall, and ended at a point, creating a very distinct layered pyramid. The stone was covered with moss and ivy, as if the jungle was attempting to reclaim this manmade building, and the place looked absolutely deserted. At least, it would have, had the stone doors at the front not decided to open right at that precise moment as if to welcome them.

"That's not creepy at all," Yolei deadpanned.

"Who wants to bet that this place is definitely haunted?" DemiVeemon said.

Davis glared up at him. "Seriously, dude?"

"What?" DemiVeemon asked innocently. "It totally looks like it!"

"The door did open all on its own," Armadillomon pointed out.

Cody groaned. "I really don't think we need to be thinking about ghosts on top of everything else."

"I thought Shibumi and Oikawa were both ghosts?" Guilmon asked.

Ken smiled a bit. "He does have a point."

Wormmon buried himself in Ken's arms. "I think I'd like to go now."

"Unfortunately," Hawkmon said, "I believe the only place we'll be going is inside. Correct?"

"Correctamundo," Yolei said. "Not that I really want to."

Kari took a deep breath and moved to lead the pack toward the front dark entrance. They passed through the ancient doorway that fed into a narrow corridor lined with sandstone and lit by torches along the wall. Ivy and moss lined the walls inside of here as well. Ken was just starting to think that maybe this place was abandoned when a figure appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Digidestined." The figure stepped into the light, and Ken took an alarmed step back. He was a half-bull, half-man creature, covered in dark silky fur that hugged his body like a second skin, showing off every definition and contour of his muscles. He had a bull-like face with red eyes and three golden horns coming out the top of his head. He wore red and gold armor across his chest, shoulders, arms, and around all four of his legs. He carried two swords, both of which were sheathed at the moment, but Ken wondered how long that would last. "I have been expecting you."

Ken wanted to respond, but it was a little hard to think straight. In dark haunted creepy corridor, seeing a minotaur pretty much took his breath away. The digimon took another step toward them.

"Are you Ebonwumon?" Cody asked.

"No," Takato said, his voice sounding far away, like he wasn't quite talking to them. "He's a deva."

Ken turned to stare at Takato. He didn't have his D-Power in his hand, so Ken wasn't sure how he knew that. Unless… they had met before, but the digimon simply regarded Takato with curiosity, not recognition.

"You're Vajramon," Takato said.

The digimon nodded. "I am. I am one of three devas that protect Ebonwumon's shrine from outsiders."

"Does that mean you're about to attack us?" Yolei groaned.

"No," Vajramon said. "I have been expecting you, as has Ebonwumon. I am here to welcome you."

"Well, that's a first," Davis quipped.

"Have we met before?" Takato asked taking a step forward. "We have. We've met. We've fought… We… We…"

"We won," Guilmon finished.

Vajramon raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "I assure you, we have not."

"But—" Takato started to protest.

Yolei grabbed his arm. "Let's not argue with the deva, Takato."

"Maybe it was a different Vajramon that you fought," Hawkmon offered.

Takato didn't look convinced, but he nodded all the same. "Okay…"

Vajramon waited for further protests before he turned around to lead them down the corridor. "Please, follow me." His hooves clopped against the stone flooring as he led the way further into the darkness of the temple. Ken quickly realized that they were being led into a maze as they took a left, a right, another left, and then another right. He tried to keep track of their path in case they needed a quick exit, but it was nearly impossible. Not for the first time, he hoped this wasn't a trap. "Lord Ebonwumon has been… not quite himself lately," Vajramon continued, "but he has been waiting for your arrival. I am taking you right to him."

"Thank you," Kari said.

As they walked, they passed open and closed doorways, most of which looked empty and abandoned. They ignored several other corridors that led in opposite directions. The moss and ivy seemed to grow thicker the further they got into the maze, not thinner, and a heavy dampness settled around them reminding Ken of the hundreds of waterfalls surrounding the island. Despite Vajramon being the only living being they had seen since arriving, Ken felt like they were not alone. Doors slid open and slammed shut all on their own.

Ken glanced into an open doorway as they passed. Inside was a large brown heap, about the size of two busses stacked on top of each other. The brown heap was a mountain of cascading fur, and in the midst of the fur was a large gray snout. Two red rubies peaked out from the fur. The heap gave a sound like a foghorn, and Ken realized that it was a digimon that was snoring.

"I'm guessing that wasn't Ebonwumon?" Ken asked as they continued further down the corridor.

"Vikaralamon," Vajramon supplied. "Another one of Ebonwumon's devas. It's best if he stays asleep while you are here."

"Why's that?" Gatomon asked.

"He is not a creature that you want to meet while he's awake," he said.

Ken glanced back over his shoulder and gave a small shudder. Considering that the digimon looked like he could easily flatten a city block, he believed it.

"So," Kari started uncertainly, "where is Ebonwumon?"

Vajramon came to a stop in front of an open doorway that was larger than the others Ken had seen during their walk through the maze. This one was as wide as a pair of double doors, and a light was glowing from within that looked softer than firelight.

"If the Digital World is to have any hope at all," Vajramon said as he looked back at them, his face deadly serious, "then you must convince him to give you the information that you seek. It is the only way. It is our only hope. Now come."