Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes. What if I lose it all?

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

Also written for July's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 17,430/40,000. Another transition chapter, but I'm happier with this one. People think that Cody is extremely boring, and he does have this moments, don't get me wrong, but he has a lot to pull out of when you're writing fanfiction. So, I've actually enjoyed writing his POVs the few times I've managed to squeeze it in. I hope you all have enjoyed reading them just as much. It's my hope that no matter whose POV the chapter ends up in, the reading experience (hehe, experience, see what I did there?) is just as interesting as if it were anybody else. I know everybody has their favorites, of course, and I'm not knocking on that. Just... hoping you enjoy it all the way through, I guess. Speaking of...

Enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Seven

The plan was simple: storm a castle, rescue Gennai, and try not to get killed. It sounded about as good as any of the other plans so far this week.

The sun was going down as they flew west over the Server desert, and Cody couldn't believe the day had gone so quickly. Nothing like a good fight to the death to make the time fly by.

Flying over the wasteland below in Stingmon's arm, he kept going back and forth between confidence and panic. They had literally just come from one fight to the death, and they were headed blindly into another. Izzy had sounded quite certain that only he and Yolei could break Gennai free from his cage, but that didn't exactly make sense. Their best locksmith by far was Gatomon, and she hadn't even been on the list. He imagined his grandfather speaking to him in extremely formal and vaguely proverbial Japanese, telling him that in order to open a door, one must simply turn the knob. Somehow, he didn't think it was going to be that simple.

"How are you doing, Stingmon?" Ken asked from Stingmon's other arm. He sounded concerned, but honestly, all of the digimon had seemed quite energized despite their fight with Barbamon. Davis's crest had given everyone a shot of adrenaline that still hadn't worn off.

"I'm fine, Ken," Stingmon said. "Don't worry. We'll make it to Myotismon's castle in time."

"Speaking of," Cody said, "what is Myotismon's castle like? What should we expect?"

WarGrowlmon banked to the right and joined them next to Stingmon. "It's a maze where the laws of physics don't exactly make sense," Takato said.

Cody wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

"It shouldn't be a problem now," Gatomon said from her place on AeroVeedramon's back. "The castle has been abandoned for years. Last I saw, it was nothing but ruins."

"But it was Myotismon's base of operations," Takato said. "You have to know there's some seriously evil stuff still there. And more than that – there's a portal to other worlds, a doorway to just about anywhere as long as you have the right combination."

"Only Myotismon had access to the digicode that hinted at the combinations for the worlds," Gatomon said. "That is until Gennai got his hands on him, but I saw his list once… He could have theoretically gone to a dozen different worlds using that portal."

"Is it still there?" Ken asked.

"Maybe not the physical door," Takato said. "But portals don't just disappear. They just… grow weaker, harder to find."

"Which means if someone was looking for it, they might be able to find it again," WarGrowlmon said.

The desert slipped behind them, and their little air brigade continued southwest. Ahead of them, the desert turned into forest and the sky grew darker with every passing minute.

"So that portal is how you got here," Cody guessed.

"I don't think so," Takato said. "I don't think Gennai would have played with that portal. It's…"

"Tainted," Gatomon finished.

"Dude, you're freaking me out with all of this mysterious talk," Davis said. "Are you remembering stuff or not? And how do you know so much about Myotismon?"

"I'm remembering pieces," Takato admitted. "Only pieces. And none of it is spelling out good things for us. Myotismon's castle is a really bad place, filled with darkness. It's where Myotismon learned how to cheat death again and again – where he first started to plant the seeds for Oikawa. We also know that Myotismon and Huang were connected, so Huang has his mark on the castle, too."

"Takato's right, though I don't know how he knows," Gatomon said. "There was always something off about that place… something evil. Myotismon chose that location for a reason. I thought it was for the portal to the other worlds, and it was – but there was more to it than that. The land that the castle sits on – Wizardmon used to call it cursed. He said that darkness had seeped into the very foundation. He told me once that there are places in the world that are closest to the World of Darkness, places where if you took a wrong step, you could slip right into the other world…"

"That's what happened to us," Yolei said. "Me, Ken, and Kari – four years ago."

"That's when you and Kari figured out how to DNA Digivolve," Ken remembered.

"We found a crack," Kari said quietly. "One of the weak points in the Digital World."

Gatomon nodded. "Wizardmon hated the castle. He said the darkness was suffocating. He believed that if he pulled back the wrong tile on the bottom floor that he'd find nothing but a pit of darkness waiting to swallow us all whole. He'd take any job possible to get out of that place. I… I just grew used to it, I guess."

Kari hugged her. "It's okay, Gatomon."

"So," Yolei said, turning toward Takato, "how do you know all this?"

A shadow crossed Takato's face. Probably just a cloud, but Cody could swear he could see the missing years of experience in Takato's past starting to shine in his eyes.

"I've seen it," Takato said. "Myotismon… the castle… I know it's a powerful place, a dangerous place. If Huang can use that power, use the darkness to destroy Gennai and waken the last Demon Lord – that might be enough to help him escape his prison."

Stingmon kept his pace steady, following after Aquilamon who was guiding their troupe at full speed – racing toward the southwest. Cody could see some weather ahead – a spot of darkness like a cloudbank or a storm, right where they were going. He tried to suppress a shiver, and it wasn't from the cold; it was like the approaching storm was a foreboding omen. Something bad waited for them there; he could feel it.

His grandfather had once called him and his friends heroes. Even now, he wasn't sure if he believed it, but he knew that they had done some unbelievable things the last three days – battling digimon with engine parts, surviving an army of armor digimon, and taking on a Demon Lord. It had all happened so quickly that it almost felt like everything was happening to another person. He was just Cody Hida, a boy being raised by a single mother and his grandfather. He kept his head down, focused on his studies, and just tried to make his mother proud. This entire situation seemed so much bigger than him, and part of him wanted to run. Who was he to think that he could save the world – that he was some great purveyor of Justice?

His grandfather's voice echoed in his head: You can do anything you set your mind to, Cody.

Not anything, he thought. I can't bring my dad back.

He knew he shouldn't be dwelling on it. He'd lost his father years ago; he was over it. But finding out that his father's death had been part of some greater evil plan to make sure that he didn't oppose Huang had brought up a lot of old feelings and questions. Seeing Kari and Tai back together had driven it home even further. Even if Cody survived this battle and saved Gennai, his story had already been written. There was no saving his father, no happy reunions with him on the horizon. Hiroki Hida had been one of the first victims of Huang, and there was no taking that back.

Thunder echoed in the distance. Stingmon hummed in concern, but he didn't say anything aloud. Cody could almost imagine what he must be thinking though: This doesn't look good.

The group lowered their altitude a bit and leveled out. He tried not to focus on the fact that this was probably to stop them from falling to their deaths if they were suddenly struck by lightning and thrown out of the sky. But dwelling on his other thoughts wasn't much better – if Oikawa still existed out there as digital energy, was it possible that his father was somewhere out there too? Could he speak with him? Was it possible? No, he couldn't think about that. Thinking like that would drive him crazy. He had a job to do.

He let his battle instincts kick in – just focus on his surroundings so that they weren't suddenly caught by surprise again. If he let his mind start to wander, it often wandered into places that he'd rather it not. The trick was to focus on something else – it was the only way to get through it.

"We're about thirty minutes away," Takato announced, looking up from his D-Power.

"This is probably the last chance we're going to get to rest," Davis said. "Take it while you can."

x X x

Takato curled up in WarGrowlmon's arms and passed out almost immediately. Gatomon and Armadillomon followed his example. The rest of them stayed wide-awake.

After a few minutes of silence, Cody heard Davis speak to Kari: "Your brother will be fine, you know. He's Tai-freaking-Kamiya. Nobody can bring him down."

Kari glanced toward Davis, and Cody was struck by how much she'd changed in three days. And it wasn't just her. Yolei, Ken, and even Davis (maybe even especially Davis) were different. They'd all grown up a lot in the last three days. They seemed more… almost soldier-like. This was not the first time they had saved the Digital World from imminent destruction, but the last time they'd gone on an adventure like this, they spent most of the time just fumbling their way through everything. But they'd never been warriors; they were spectators, kids, just trying to do the best that they could. Now anyone (especially their partners) would be hard-pressed to keep them out of the midst of the fight. They were done standing on the sidelines. It didn't matter that they weren't digimon – this was their fight too.

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "I was thinking about Takato, actually. I'm worried about him."

Cody understood that. The closer they got to that bank of dark clouds, the more Cody worried too. He glanced toward WarGrowlmon and Takato who had taken the lead before speaking up quietly, "He's starting to remember. Even if he won't share with us everything he's remembering."

"Certainly explains why he's on edge," Yolei said. "All those memories…"

"They're overwhelming," Ken agreed.

"But what if…" Kari started uncertainly. "What if he's a different person?"

Cody had been thinking along the same lines. If Takato's memories had been completely removed, could the Takato they had met and become friends with the last few days not even really exist? If their friend wasn't their friend, and they were heading into a cursed castle – filled with darkness and enemies – what would happen if Takato's full memory came back in the middle of the battle?

"Not happening," Davis said. "After all we've been through? We're a team. Takato can handle it."

"Davis is right," AeroVeedramon said. "Takato's made of stronger stuff than that. He won't fall apart on us."

Cody frowned down toward the ground below as he held onto Stingmon's arm that was wrapped around his middle. "I hope you're right," he muttered.

"Me too," Kari whispered. "We need him."

"And I trust him," Ken added.

"We all do," Stingmon said.

Cody watched Kari on AeroVeedramon's back and resisted saying anything. After seeing Tai all but breakdown, Cody understood Kari couldn't afford to lose anyone else to their inner demons. She'd just watched her hero, the cool and suave Tai Kamiya, reduced to a broken shell. Cody had been barely able to stand watching that, but for Kari – he couldn't even imagine. He could see the insecurities playing her face. If Tai, of all people, could be pushed to the breaking point, she had to be wondering where her threshold lied? Would she be a broken shell before the end?

"Kari, for what it's worth, you're going to be fine," Davis said. "I know it."

"Of course she is," Yolei said. "She has us to back her up!"

"You can trust us, Kari," Cody added.

Kari smiled gratefully around at all of them. "Thanks, guys." For a second, they all just enjoyed the moment as if they were all just sitting around, relaxing comfortably with their best friends.

Then they hit the storm clouds.