The chilly early December morning air showed no signs of warming up, even as the winter sun rose above the horizon in to the sky. Hints of ice appeared around the edges of every glass surface, waiting for someone to manually remove it, as there would be no help from Mother Nature.
Hikari sighed, her warm breath turning to a puff of mist in the cold air. From her arms, YukimiBotamon watched the little cloud her partner had breathed out before she purposely blew a puff of her own to join it.
The small white Digimon met her partner's gaze as Hikari let out a giggle, before her expression grew solemn. "It's really getting cold out now, isn't it? Be careful where you walk, there might be ice."
Hikari nodded. Despite the fact that her partner was a Baby at the moment, it seemed everything was back to normal between them. YukimiBotamon talked the same as she always did, which was admittedly surreal, given that the little Digimon couldn't pull off the same serious expressions she could as Tailmon; they wound up looking more adorable or strange than anything else.
To her credit, if being in such a small form bothered YukimiBotamon, she did a good job of covering it up. Instead, she kept her mature attitude as she looked past the ice-accented road towards the school. "I can't believe it's December already. The year has passed so quickly."
Another sigh escaped Hikari before she nodded again. "Yeah… A lot has happened this year, hasn't it?"
YukimiBotamon paused at that before she drooped. "Yes… a lot has happened."
It still felt so surreal to Hikari. Weeks had passed since the fateful battle with Armagemon, and they were no closer to finding Ken. The Digital World was slowly rebuilding, one piece at a time, as peace returned to the Digimon. Even the Chosen Children themselves had settled down to a more normal schedule without the constant threat of war with one of their own.
Yet, even as the Digital World itself healed, some wounds still hadn't.
Hikari couldn't help but wonder if she was the only one that even cared that Ken was still missing. If any of the other Chosen Children were, they did a good job of not showing it. Even Ken's parents had stopped doing all the talk shows, pleading for his return while chastising him in the same breath. No one cared anymore, and they had gone on with their lives.
It made Hikari's heart hurt all the more.
Silence weighed between them before Hikari muttered, more to herself than her partner. "I hope Ken is doing okay. It's been weeks since…"
Subconsciously, she pulled YukimiBotamon a little closer to her body.
YukimiBotamon snuggled in to her partner. "I know," She hesitated before she lowered her gaze. "All we can do is hope… and wait. If something were wrong, surely Keiko would've said something. But as it stands..."
"Yeah…" Hikari mumbled. "She hasn't said anything at all… I never thought I'd want to dream of the Dark World, but… I want to know how she and Nyamon are doing too."
"I know," YukimiBotamon said, softly.
The rest of the trip to the school was somber, though thankfully the weather encouraged Hikari to be brisk, making it end that much quicker. As the Chosen of Light stepped through the front gates, she was immediately greeted by noise - running, shouting, and the sounds of a ball being kicked about. They were familiar sounds, prompting her to glance towards the soccer field. The soccer club was having one of its last few practices before it would be out for the rest of the year - what little there was - before resuming again in the spring.
Hikari couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the boys, as the cold bit at them in their uniforms. The only real defense they had was the heat of their own bodies as they ran their exercises, which would last only as long as their own movements.
YukimiBotamon blinked when she spotted Takeru as he played along with the others, running along the field. "Takeru looks cold." She paused when another boy caught her eye. She went quiet as she saw Daisuke kicking the ball about, focused on it rather than his surroundings. She made a face, her mouth drawing tight. "...Daisuke too."
"Yeah," Hikari murmured. She could only briefly settle her gaze on Daisuke before an unpleasant bitterness welled up in her heart and forced her to look away. She tried to feel happy that, at least, Daisuke and Takeru seemed to be getting along as well as ever. She didn't hate Daisuke. Even after he ruined all her hard work and refused to listen to her no matter what she said in spite of all the time and trust they had together, she didn't want to end their friendship. In spite of all the doubt his sister Jun had leveled against him in the beginning, she believed him and was proven right in the end that he was a good person, someone who she wouldn't think badly of.
Hikari could never hate Daisuke. She just hated how he made her feel.
YukimiBotamon's ears drooped as her beady eyes narrowed, before she let out a huff. "Well, let's leave them alone for now. We'll see him enough as it is when we go to the Village of Beginnings after school."
Hikari was torn about agreeing, not wanting to give in to these bitter feelings, but eventually she nodded all the same. "Yeah… We can talk to Takeru and Patamon after practice ends."
YukimiBotamon gave a nod at that. "Sounds good."
Hikari quickly moved out of sight so neither the boys nor their hidden partners could see her heading towards the school. While part of her still felt incredibly guilty about avoiding them, it was no match for the complicated emotions driving her onward away from her friends. Perhaps when they found Ken, and things started to improve, she would be able to address the tension between her and Daisuke. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so responsible for what had happened - for how everything had turned out - or her resentment for Daisuke's hand in it. For now, she would focus on the Digital World and hope that another clue to Ken came soon enough and they could all be friends again.
She just wished that she could shake the feeling that the peace was nothing more than a lull before the storm - the eye of a hurricane - and that something bad was about to happen.
Waves of gray gently lapped against the monochrome shore, underneath a perpetually overcast sky. The scene would have been serene, albeit dreary, if not for the knowledge of what was hidden beneath the tranquil surface.
The only thing the Dark Ocean ever promised was death and madness.
A small group of Digimon walked along the shore, heading towards the waves. Leading the way were the Devas of the Holy Beast Zhuqiaomon - the snake Deva Sandiramon, the horse Deva Indramon, and the sheep Deva Pajiramon. Behind them, wobbling back and forth with a bright grin on his face that totally belied the seriousness of the situation, was Neemon.
Sandiramon slithered right up to the shore and gave a small sniff at the water before he jerked back as the waves seemed to suddenly reach for him, sending the snake scurrying out of range as he abandoned his dignity in the moment.
"Careful, careful~!" Neemon said, cheerfully. "Unless you want a permanent vacation, you should probably avoid taking a dip~!"
Sandiramon curled up around himself as he glared at the water, then towards Neemon. "Keep your comments to yourself, wretch."
"It's just as disgusting as I knew it would be," Indramon said as he stared out across the water, looking to the vast horizon that continued onward indefinitely. "A land befitting its master."
"We're not here for sightseeing," Pajiramon said before she turned to look down at Neemon expectantly.
Neemon removed two of the three necklaces he wore and twirled one on each hand, creating a streak of black and pink at his sides, leaving the golden one resting against his scarred chest.
Indramon reached out for the blurs, only to flinch slightly when Neemon released the crests and sent them flying into the horse Deva's face.
Panjamon stared impassively as Indramon let out a snort, his disapproving glare somehow managing to sneak past his long mane as it covered his face. "We must hurry. Even with Neemon's Obfuscation Aura, it is only a matter of time before Narakumon notices something amiss."
"You give him far too much credit," Sandiramon said, with a vicious smirk. "He was useless against the so-called 'Digimon Kaiser', so what do we possibly have to fear?"
"Narakumon would have known who the Digimon Kaiser was, and chose not to tell anyone," Panjamon replied. "We can only assume that they were allies."
Sandiramon considered his comrade's words before he let out an angry hiss, his tongue flickering out of his mouth. "Which means he would most certainly interfere."
"Enough talking, more doing~!" Neemon said, waving his hands to the Devas. "Or are you just going to talk Ken-chan to death~?"
"Agreed," Pajiramon said. "The time for talk has passed."
Indramon walked straight up to the shoreline, or at least as far as he dared, before he came to a stop. "All that is left to do is decide where."
"Does it matter?" Sandiramon asked, more rhetorically than expecting an answer as he looked around. "In this hellhole, it really doesn't matter where you die - or be killed, in this case."
"Indeed," Indramon agreed before he lifted the his hoof, the neckband for the Crest of Darkness and the Crest of Kindness wrapped around it so that they both dangled in the air before him.
The snake Deva watched his comrade before he turned to Pajiramon. "Do you really think this is necessary? He's just a human."
"You forget where we are," Pajiramon replied. "And what befell Lord Huanglongmon at this very place."
Sandiramon paused at that before he grimaced, his hood flaring.
"We must erase all trace of his existence from this world," Indramon agreed. "Only then can we be certain that he can cause no more harm to our world."
Sandiramon let out a snort, flaring his nose. "Just like an infestation. How fitting…"
"Indeed," Pajiramon said,
"Get into position," Indramon said. Without waiting for confirmation from his comrades, the horse Deva lifted his hoof towards the dangling crests. His hoof began to glow gold, and an aura appeared around the crests. The light pulsed before the aura quickly turned black, the crest of Darkness eagerly devouring the energy that Indramon provided it. As it did, pink suddenly sprang forth, attacking the blackness as eagerly as it had gone after the gold.
As the crests consumed each other's energy, something within the water started to react. The serene surface bubbled and splashed violently, as if a great turmoil was happening beneath the surface. The sounds of screams, full of fear and pain, could faintly be heard as the water grew increasingly troubled.
Suddenly, the water exploded out in all directions, as if being viciously repelled by an explosion from deep below the surface. The Dark Ocean surged away from all sides, fleeing from the source of the detonation.
"It worked," Sandiramon said, with a hiss. "That bastard really is here!"
Indramon stepped forward even as he still held the crests outward. "Step forward, Kindness, and-"
The horse Deva's words were cut short as a whip lashed out, wrapping around Indramon's throat with a snap. The Digimon could barely let out a strangled gasp before he was yanked forward, into the crater left by the retreating water.
A massive blue dragon with golden claws came into view, his enormous wings fanning out wide to show off the wing-like sharp ridges along his upper arms. A white dragon skull mask with red markings and golden horns covered his face, with a matching white breastplate covering his chest. Twin golden orbs floated around him in circles, glowing with a royal purple hue that kept the terrified ocean waters at bay.
The dragon Digimon opened his gaping maw to greet the hapless horse Digimon, snapping down on him and crushing the Digimon in his jaws with a sickening crunch. Data flew upwards through his razor sharp teeth as Indramon died without even a chance to scream. The dragon Digimon let out a low rumble before he turned to glare at the stunned Pajiramon and Sandiramon, murderous intent clear in his cold gold eyes.
The crests fell downwards, dropping to the dragon's feet to land harmlessly on the moist sand.
"W-what the-who the hell are you!?" Sandiramon demanded as he arched up, fanning his hoods. "You're not… you're not Wormmon!"
"What an astute observation."
A teenage boy with wild short hair that appeared to be somewhere in between midnight blue and indigo emerged from the parted waters, looking to be about fifteen years old. He wore a long black jacket with gold trim and matching gold accents around the waist, and purple shoulder pads. Hints of red inner lining flickering through as he walked, mingling with the brief flashes of the blue-gray pants and shirt he wore under his coat. His silver buckle glinted in the light, standing out vividly against his black belt, as his blue-gray shoes with a white center stripe crunched the wet sand under his feet.
The strange boy paused to reach down, plucking up the Crest of Darkness and Kindness off the sand with his free hand as the other held the black whip that had pulled Indramon to his death, his hands protected with matching blue-gray gloves that sported white traced with gold on the back of his hands. He straightened back up and gave the crests a twirl. The band spun about his pointer finger idly before landing with a 'clink' against the human's silver-white cuffs around his wrist - identical to the ones around his other wrist and both ankles.
The boy gave the two Digimon a deadpan stare through his sleek, goggle-like gold glasses. Behind him, Wingdramon lowered his head so that it was directly above the human child, flaring his nostrils as he let out a rumbling growl.
"I'd say I was impressed," the teenage boy said in a smooth low tone. "But then I'd be lying."
"Just who-!?" Sandiramon gasped, incredulous. The vision before him could only fit one person - and even then, it didn't fit them at all. "You can't be… Ken!?"
The regally dressed boy stared hard at Sandiramon, his expression still as deadpan as it had been when he first appeared. "'It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.'" he recited, his voice dry.
"I have heard that humans do evolve, though more slowly and gradually than Digimon," Pajiramon said as she aimed her bow directly at the human child before her. "Perhaps this is the result of his time within the Dark Ocean."
Sandiramon stared at the sheep Digimon before he turned his attention back to the newcomer. "I-it doesn't matter - you're dead!"
The boy barely paid attention to the threat as slid the Crest of Darkness and Kindness around his neck. "I'd thank you for giving me the means to finally escape the Dark Ocean by introducing myself before you died, but I know what you were really planning to do with these crests." With a snap of his fingers, the dragon floating behind him stood at attention. "Drown them, Wingdramon."
Wingdramon let out a low growl before he fanned his wings wide. As he did, the water around him surged upwards as the panicked screams came back in full force. Like a stampede of spooked cattle attempting to flee a predator, the Dark Ocean rushed forward towards the gaping Devas as they stood dumbstruck on the shoreline.
Neemon watched the carnage from a safe distance, his Obfuscation Aura in full effect as neither Wingdramon nor the Digimon Kaiser noticed his presence. While he had been prepared to swoop in and take the kill for himself, his senses were apparently far better than Zhuqiaomon's supposed elite servants as they had warned him against making the first strike. Now, thanks to his gut, he was alive while they were dead - or wished they were dead.
But then, it was only natural, as he was a professional.
Neemon lingered only long enough to watch the Devas struggle to escape the tsunami Wingdramon unleashed upon them. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't just water that splashed onto them, but a curse that stole their color where it touched as clawed hands of the damned souls within reached out to take them.
As prideful as the Devas were, they were quickly overcome by the unnatural aura of fear the Dark Ocean radiated, as malformed faces wailing, screaming, laughing, and whispering terrible secrets further disoriented them. They attacked blindly at the waves, but Wingdramon somehow managed to continually force the water outward until it dragged them, screaming and struggling, into the Dark Ocean.
Soon, the Devas were gone, leaving only evidence of their desperation behind in the streaks left behind on the sand.
Neemon silently took in all of this with half-open eyes and a smile that split his face. He had seen the Dark Ocean take Digimon before, but it not while they were still alive. However, as interesting as the scene had been, he couldn't ignore the sight of the Digimon Kaiser standing there on the shore, calm and untainted, scanning the area. There was little doubt who the boy was looking for.
If Ken had learned how to influence the Dark Ocean, then the last place Neemon wanted to be was in his crosshairs again.
Revenge would have to wait a little longer, but it would come. It would come. Neemon had spent far too long dreaming of what he would do to Ken, of the finale of his masterpiece, to let it go. For now, he would retreat back into the shadows and look for new opportunities to orchestrate the next movement in his composition.
Even with the sun shining brightly in the clear blue sky, the ruins of the Village of Beginnings looked no better than they had the first time the Chosen Children visited. Decay and destruction was everywhere, with seemingly no attempt at repairing the damage having been made.
Taichi ran his fingers through his hair as he slowly took in the devastation. "So… where do we start?"
"Are we supposed to… fix this ourselves?" Sora asked as she glanced about the ruined buildings, furrowing her brow. "Before the eggs will start coming?"
"I don't think so," Takeru said, with a frown. "The Village of Beginnings started working as soon as Apocalymon was dead. We didn't need to actually do anything."
"It doesn't seem as though destroying all the Dark Towers had any effect," Koshiro said, laptop cradled in his arms. He checked the map of the Digital World for any dark patches on the grid scanner, but there was nothing but white. "We might want to try investigating the area for anything else unusual."
"That's a good idea," Yamato said as he put his hands on his hips. "There must be something we're missing."
Mimi furrowed her brow at the deary, washed out colors and felt a pang of sadness as she remembered Kyoumon. "Maybe all we need to do is rebuild it, and it'll start back up again?"
"Before we start any back-breaking manual labor," Miyako said as she adjusted her glasses. "We should take a look around and make sure we won't just be wasting our time."
"And look for survivors," Daisuke added, his expression severe.
"Ken wouldn't have killed the babies," Hikari said, her voice quiet, but firm.
Daisuke's fingers twitched at his sides, but his gaze lingered on the ruins around them. "I didn't say that."
Hikari fixated on a rotting bassinet that had been split in half as she cradled her partner close to her chest. "I know."
"You all can worry about what Ken did or didn't do later," YukimiBotamon said as she eyed Daisuke before glancing about. "Let's split up and look around. We'll cover more ground that way."
"If anyone sees anything, let everyone else know," Jou said as he adjusted his glasses. "Even if it seems quiet, we can't take chances."
"Good idea," Taichi said as he placed his hand on Hikari's shoulder before jerking his thumb in the direction of the slowly setting sun. "Hikari, Sora, and I will go this way. Yamato, you head the other way with Takeru, Daisuke, and Jou. Koshiro, you, Mimi, Miyako, and Iori head to the center and we'll meet up with you from the edges of the village."
"You got it," Yamato said with a nod.
"We will do our best," Iori said.
"I'll protect Iori!" Kyokyomon declared, with great enthusiasm.
"Oh, yes," Pafumon said as she wiggled her ears. "We definitely need to be on guard… weeds and peeling paint are pretty terrifying."
Miyako barely stifled a snicker. "Oh yes, they're the worst, especially when Mom's giving out the week's chores."
"Don't worry, Daisuke," V-mon said as he clenched his fists, keeping his voice low. "I'll keep my eyes, ears, and nose out for Ken!"
Daisuke nodded, his expression solemn. "The second we find that guy-"
"When we find Ken, we're talking to him," Hikari said, raising her voice as her muscles stiffened.
Daisuke's mouth twitched into a grimace twisted between pain and anger. "Why? So he can pretend he wants to be our friend all over again?"
"Okay!" Taichi said a little too loudly as he placed both hands on Hikari's shoulders and nudged her forward at a brisk walk. "Come on, everybody, let's get going. This place isn't going to fix itself!"
Hikari said nothing, biting her tongue as she let Taichi lead her away from a potential argument. With her head hanging low and no hair clips to hold her hair back, her bangs cast a shadow across her eyes.
The other Chosen reluctantly headed in their own directions, grouping together like Taichi had suggested. Takeru followed after his brother, though he lingered back to walk alongside Daisuke. He occasionally glanced over to the goggle boy, noting the severe tension in his face as he occasionally looked back over his shoulder in the direction Taichi's team went.
Takeru watched the goggle boy for several moments before he furrowed his brow. "Daisuke, are you okay?"
Daisuke jerked at the unexpected question, his head whipping back around so he could look at Takeru. He tried to smile, but all his mouth could form was a grimace. His mouth opened, a lie of platitudes hovering on his tongue, before he closed it again with a sigh. "No, man, I'm not."
"I had a feeling," Takeru said as he lowered his voice, slowing his steps so that he was walking alongside the Chosen of Tenacity. "Want to talk about it?"
Daisuke let out a frustrated puff of air through his nose as his shoulders slumped a little. "What's there to talk about? Ken was lying and spying on us the whole time, and Hikari forgives him for doing it, but not me for being mad at him."
Takeru blinked. "I'm sure Hikari understands why you're angry, she's just… very focused. I think she's taking it very personally that everything went so… well, badly."
Daisuke rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not her fault Ken was lying to us the whole time, but she's too quick to give people a second chance before they even deserve it."
"Hikari has a big heart," Takeru agreed. "But she's also extremely stubborn." He flashed Daisuke a grin. "I think it's hereditary."
Daisuke blinked, staring at Takeru. "Stubborn? Hikari?"
Takeru's grin widened. "When she puts her mind to something, it's actually really hard to discourage her. While she will give in to Taichi or her friends, if she really believes in what she's doing… then it's like a brick wall."
Daisuke nodded after a moment, still baffled by the notion that Hikari might have been as stubborn as Taichi. "Yeah… I guess. She gave up all her friends at school last year to stick by me and stood up to Jun for me, but that's because she's got the biggest heart I've ever seen."
"And that's the same reason she's doing her best to find Ken, even after everything that he's done," Takeru said. "She's not willing to give up on him. And honestly, I don't think anyone is."
A rumble of displeasure escaped Daisuke before he kicked an errant stone to the side. "So everyone but me is just forgetting what he did and forgiving him just like that?"
"No," Takeru said with a shake of his head. "But it's more… even if he did lie to us and trick us, that doesn't change the fact that he's a kid - a Chosen - like us. And I don't think anyone here hopes that something bad has happened to Ken."
Daisuke let out a noncommittal grunt as he found another stone to kick.
"I'm sure most of us have some choice words for him, not just you," Takeru said as he looked up to the sky. "But no one really had a chance to say anything. There's no closure, nothing of any kind. And then what happened with Wormmon, and… we can't really be certain he took that well at all." He paused before shaking his head. "No, I know he didn't. If he cared about Wormmon at all, that was like a knife right to his heart… just like it was for me when Patamon died."
Patamon, who had been trying to give Takeru a little space to talk with Daisuke, couldn't help but flutter closer to his partner when he overheard those words.
"Like how Hikari doesn't seem to ever let go of YukimiBotamon these days, right?" Daisuke muttered.
Takeru nodded, with a grimace. "Yeah, it's… I know our partners won't die permanently, but it's still an awful feeling. I didn't - and still don't - want anyone else to feel like I did."
Daisuke looked to V-mon for a moment before placing his hand atop his partner's head. "Yeah, me neither."
"That's probably part of it, too," Takeru said. "They both lost their partners at the same time - even worse, hers killed his. Even if Tailmon had no choice, it's still… knowing the pain he's feeling, and knowing that she had a hand in it, even if she didn't want to."
Daisuke flinched as a pool of guilt churned in his belly.
"I'm sure Hikari has forgiven you," Takeru said as he glanced back at Daisuke. "Like I said, I'm sure she understands that you're justified in feeling angry. It's just that she's already past that point, and is out to find Ken - if she was even angry in the first place. We're all just catching up, basically."
Daisuke rubbed his face as his stomach twisted and made him regret eating before they came here. "I guess…"
V-mon looked up at his partner, drooping. "Daisuke…"
In another area of the Village of Beginnings, the conversation was far less heavy and far more focused on the situation at hand - namely, fixing the village that brought life to the Digital World. As Koshiro, Miyako, Iori, and Mimi checked every inch of the rubble, no answer was forthcoming.
"There has to be something," Koshiro said as he peered behind a slab of rubble, lifting it upwards slightly with a grunt of exertion. "We just have to find it."
"What precisely are we looking for?" Iori asked as he craned his head, looking up at the roof of one of the destroyed buildings.
"At Factory Town, I found an area that had lines of code written on the walls," Koshiro said before he let go of the chunk of wall, jerking back instinctively as it thunked to the ground close to his feet. "It actually controlled all of Factory Town. It's just a theory, but the Village of Beginnings may have its own control room as well."
"It's certainly better than any other theory we have right now," Miyako said as she adjusted her glasses, then glanced up to Pafumon as her partner hovered high in the sky. "Do you see anything, Pafumon?"
"Define 'anything'," Pafumon replied as she wiggled her ears. "Rocks? Yes. Rubble? Yes. Devastation? Yes. Anything worth our time? Nope, nope, nope!"
"Delightful," Miyako sighed as she put her hands to her hips. "Well, I suppose it's better than spending all our time battling evil or mind controlled Digimon."
Mimi grimaced as she glanced around at the devastation around them, then clasped her hands together with a sharp clap. "Even if it doesn't really help, maybe we should still clean up-"
"Koshiro, we have found something!" Tentomon's voice interrupted Mimi, drawing the Chosen's attention over to the insect Digimon and Palmon as the two stood by a large fountain. The fountain had long since gone dry and looked a little worse for wear. However, the Chosen soon saw what had gotten the Digimon's attention - the fountain had been moved aside at some point, exposing a stairwell leading down.
"Look, look!" Palmon said as she waved her hands. "It goes underground!"
Koshiro's eyes lit up with interest as he hurried over to the stairwell. "Good work, Tentomon! This might just lead us to what we're looking for."
Mimi peered down into the dark depths of the underground and the rusting metal spiral staircase that quickly disappeared into the gloom. "Looks creepy…"
"In case you hadn't noticed, this whole place looks creepy," Pafumon said as she landed on Miyako's head. "That's what happens when you destroy everything."
"I'm contacting the others," Iori said as he pulled out his DT2 and quickly typed an email.
Miyako reached back into her backpack and pulled out an electric lantern that she switched on. "Well, we won't find out what's down there staring from up here. Let's go."
Koshiro nodded and, with a small sliver of trepidation, led the others down the staircase. With Mimi's anxiousness, it meant that he, as one of the older and more experienced members of the group, needed to be the one to lead.
The stairwell was actually fairly short, leading the Chosen in to a small room no bigger than the fountain that had apparently hidden it for so long. The circular room was mostly bare, save for the faint writing along the tops of the wall that gave off an eerie pink glow.
Koshiro's eyes widened when he spotted particular on the writing high along the top of the wall. He quickly rushed down the rest of the steps, pulling out his laptop back out of his bag. "I knew it! It's just like Factory Town!"
"It is," Tentomon agreed as he followed his partner. "Though, wasn't that code written all over the wall, as opposed to just along the top?"
Koshiro scanned the walls with his laptop, typing furiously along the keys. "Yes, but that…" His voice trailed off on an uncomfortable note as he already finished translating the code.
Mimi blinked as she noticed Koshiro's odd expression. "What is it?"
Koshiro shifted uncomfortably as he glanced from the laptop to the text, confirming that his translation was indeed accurate. "It's… uh… I think it's a message from Ken to the Holy Beasts."
"What's it say?" Mimi asked as she leaned in closer, only for Koshiro to back up and turn the laptop screen away from her.
Koshiro fidgeted. "It's, uh, well…"
"He told the Holy Beasts to fuck off," Miyako said flatly.
Mimi gawked at Miyako's use of foul language, jaw hanging open for a moment before she sputtered. "What?!"
Miyako readjusted her glasses before clearing her throat. "It says, and I quote, 'The Holy Beasts may escape from the Dark World when Keiko and Ryo do. And given that miracles do not exist, this means you can all fuck off.'"
It took Mimi a moment to come up with a response as she looked at the pink lines of text that looked like little more than squiggles to her eyes. While a part of her wanted to protest such language and chastise Ken, the reason why left her too uncomfortable to say anything but, "Oh."
Koshiro focused back on his laptop, relieved that he didn't have to give Mimi an exact transcript of the text. "I'm going to see if there's anything else here…"
Miyako shrugged before she slowly circled the room, shining her lantern against the walls in search of anything else of note. "I guess Ken wanted to give the middle finger to any Holy Beast followers who came here trying to fix the village to bring them back. Makes me wonder why he hid it down here though. There doesn't look like there's any actual code here."
"I believe this room was here from the start," Tentomon said. "Much like the room at Factory Town, this room controlled all of the Village of Beginning's operations." He paused before looking upward at the top of the walls. "And yet, there doesn't seem to be any useful code. Why would Factory Town require more code than the Village of Beginnings? The factory ultimately served no purpose, while this village allows all Digimon to live."
Iori stared at the walls for several moments, furrowing his brow. After a moment his eyes widened as a cold, chilling thought came to him. Slowly, he turned to Miyako. "What if Ken wrote his message over the code? Is it possible?"
A dead silence settled over the room as Koshiro paused with his fingers hovering over the keys. Slowly, he turned to Iori with widening eyes, then up at the code that was written along the walls. Realization dawned on his face, and with it shock and horror.
"It would keep the Holy Beasts from being revived," Iori said, his expression becoming grim. "Especially if none of their servants can manipulate Digital Code. They can't fix what Ken had done, making it the nail in their proverbial coffin."
The very thought sent Koshiro to the ground to place his laptop on his folded legs so he could type furiously on the keys. Digging deeper into the code, the very life of the Digital World, he probed for that very core code that Ken had taught him how to find.
Mimi felt a chill along her spine, along with a sense of dread that was making her sick to her stomach. The fact that Ken would go so far as to doom all of the Digimon to spite a certain few was unthinkable, she couldn't bring herself to understand it - or want to understand it. Clasping her hands together and trying to stop her shifting from foot to foot, she turned to Koshiro with an almost desperate hope glinting in her eyes. "But… you can fix it, right? You can repair the code, can't you, Koshiro?"
Koshiro didn't respond right away as he continued to look through the core code. The longer the silence reigned, the more the question lingered over everyone's head - and in turn, the more anxious the other Chosen became. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Chosen of Knowledge stopped and lowered his hands, staring at the screen.
Tentomon landed on the ground beside his partner and glanced up to his stricken face, the sight not bringing any comfort. "Koshiro?"
"No," Koshiro said quietly. "I can't fix this."
Mimi felt her dread intensify, her eyes beginning to water. "W-what? But you… but you can read the code! You can-"
"I can see where the code used to be, and what it used to affect," Koshiro admitted, reluctantly. "But everything has been wiped completely clean. It'd have to recreate it from scratch. And while it's possible that I could eventually figure it out, who knows what'd happen to the eggs in the meantime? What if my code glitches them - or… or worse?"
Iori glanced down at Kyokyomon, visualizing what might have happened if his egg had glitched, before he grimaced. "Yes, it's far too risky."
Mimi fell to the floor, sitting on her knees. She stared at Koshiro for a moment before she glanced around helplessly at the others, tears in her eyes. "But then… what about the Digimon? What are we going to do?"
"I sincerely doubt Ken just deleted the code," Miyako said gruffly before she lifted her glasses to rub a hand across her face. "With how important it is, there's no way he'd just wipe it out entirely. He probably saved a copy first."
"And I would think that Tenraimon'd be able to fix the code, as well," Iori said as he glanced to the Chosen of Passion. "It does fall under her domain."
"So we either need Ken to fix it, or Tenraimon," Koshiro said as he looked back down at his laptop. "And neither option is… really available to us right now."
"That brat can't sulk forever," Pafumon said as she wiggled her ears. "Eventually he'll have to come crawling out of the woodwork."
"And we do plan on helping Tenraimon recover," Palmon said as she moved to sit beside her partner, reaching to grasp Mimi's hand for support. "So it's just a matter of whichever comes first, right?"
Mimi nodded with a quiet sound of affirmation as she gratefully squeezed Palmon's hand. "We're going to make everything okay again…" She looked to her friends with a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. "Right?"
"Right!" Palmon agreed.
"Of course," Iori said with a nod.
"Leave it to me!" Kyokyomon agreed.
"It's just one more thing on our 'to do' list," Miyako said as she put her hands on her hips. "No problem."
"Of course, Pafumon said. "Miyako's on the case, so you know it'll get done."
Koshiro didn't say a word, instead focusing on his laptop as the other Chosen Children comforted themselves and tried to raise their demoralized spirits. There really wasn't much any of them could do at the moment, least of all him. While he couldn't be as confident as Miyako that Ken had kept a copy, he was willing to hold on to that hope for as long as he could. It was frustrating, feeling so helpless even when he was in his element, but even he knew when to not tinker with something. With how many ways a computer could corrupt data, there was no end to the horrific possibilities if he blindly tried to recreate the data from scratch.
They had no choice but to wait.
Ultimately, everything pointed back to the boy genius, the Digimon Kaiser, and the Chosen of Kindness - Ken Ichijouji.
"Ken… where are you?" Koshiro murmured, softly.
It was a miracle that the computer systems were still functioning, though even that wasn't of much help to FlaWizarmon or Witchmon. While they had a rough idea of how to use the machines, neither was on the same level as Ken. They needed the Chosen of Kindness to make the computers work at their full capacity.
Unfortunately, as irony would have it, finding the Chosen of Kindness was why they needed the computers in the first place.
"Still nothing," FlaWizarmon said with a sigh, slouched in the chair that had supported the much smaller boy genius for so long. He wearily looked up at the monitors as they displayed the Digital World and the crest energies flowing through it - specifically, the bright pink glow of Kindness. Unfortunately, the only light that appeared was the natural flow of the crest itself, and nothing else.
There was no sign of Ken's crest anywhere on the map.
Witchmon clucked her tongue. "Well, at the very least, it's not showing up in the Dark World."
"But it ain't showin' up anywhere else, either," FlaWizarmon said as he reached up to gingerly rub his brow. "It's like Ken-chan's disappeared completely… off the face of the earth, the Digital World, an' everywhere else!"
"If the Dark Ocean had him, we'd know," Witchmon said, softly. "So we can at least rule out that catastrophe."
FlaWizarmon let out a frustrated grunt as he slapped his hand down onto the armrest. "But so long as we don't know where he is, we-"
"Get out of my way."
FlaWizarmon froze at the abruptly barked order, his eyes widening. The sound of an unfamiliar voice was enough to distract him from the sudden pinging on the screen, as the scarecrow Digimon glanced over his shoulder towards the doorway - an action that was mirrored by Witchmon. Both Digimon proceeded to gawk as they found themselves staring at a human child wearing a far more stylized version of the Digimon Kaiser's outfit, the same boy who had emerged from the Dark Ocean with his monstrous dragon.
The dragon Digimon had reverted to his child form, a small teal dragon with a white underside, tiny red wings, and twin pronged horns on his head. The Digimon, Dracomon, stared at the two impassively with his sharp red eyes, dutifully standing beside the boy dressed as the Digimon Kaiser.
"Ken-chan…?" Witchmon said slowly even as she hovered backward to make room for the Digimon Kaiser.
FlaWizarmon quickly scrambled out of the throne, moving to the side as the strange child didn't even wait for him to vacate it before coming to claim it.
The Digimon Kaiser barely gave Witchmon and FlaWizarmon more than an assessing glance before he claimed the throne as his own. He then gestured at the air, calling up viewing screens and a translucent keyboard. "Get to work on bolstering the defenses and our numbers and prepare for battle. Zhuqiaomon is going to pay for everything he's done."
FlaWizarmon and Witchmon blinked at the same time as they stared at the child in front of him, then at each other. Only a beat passed before the two smiled brightly and returned their attention to the strange child in Digimon Kaiser regalia.
"You got it, Kaiser-kun~!" they chirped, in unison.
The sun had long since set in the sky, allowing the temperature to drop considerably as night settled in. Koshiro sat in his comfy chair, bathed in the glow of his computer screen, wrapped up snugly in a fluffy blanket. With heavy-lidded eyes, he scanned through the Digital World's code while idly chewing on a flavored corn puff snack stick. While most children might find scouring endless strings of data strange, even monotonous, he found it soothing and a good way to relax after a long day.
Besides, the trip to the Village of Beginnings had proven that as much as he knew about the Digital World, Ken still held far more information and experience than he did. If he ever intended to erase the gap between them, he had to keep studying - keep learning - until he truly felt like comfortable with his knowledge.
Besides, it was hardly a chore if he enjoyed doing it.
As Koshiro finished off his current snack stick and reached for another, opening the plastic wrap as if he were peeling a banana, a sudden sharp noise caught his attention. Blinking, he turned to glance around the room, absently sticking one end of the bar in his mouth as he did so. He glanced over to Tentomon, his partner barely visible under the thick blanket of Koshiro's bed.
Furrowing his brow, Koshiro's eyes continued their journey across his room before they settled on his laptop, open on top of his dresser. Only then did it finally dawn on him what he was seeing. The laptop, which displayed a map of the Digital World as it ran his scanning program, had finally, after weeks of running, gotten a result.
And there was only one result he had programed it to set off an alert - Kindness.
Koshiro's eyebrows shot straight up as he gaped at the laptop, the half-eaten snack bar falling out of his mouth. He hesitated a moment as the information fully settled in before he lunged from his chair, knocking both it and himself to the floor in the process.
The clatter of the chair drew Tentomon from his warmth coma, the insect peering out from under the blanket just in time to see Koshiro practically crawling across the floor towards his laptop before finally getting back on his feet.
"Koshiro, what is it?" Tentomon asked.
"K-Kindness!" Koshiro blurted out. "My program found Kind…" He paused as soon as he was close enough to get a good look at his laptop screen. "…ness?"
"Kindness!?" Tentomon repeated as he crawled out from under the blanket despite the biting cold. "Ken has returned to the Digital World?"
"I…," Koshiro hesitated in his words as he looked at the screen, more specifically the icons in front of him - the pink rose of Kindness, the twin moons of Darkness, and the tyrian purple crest that he knew to be the alchemical symbol for gold. "It's not… just Kindness."
"What?" Tentomon asked as he landed on the table by the laptop.
"It's Darkness, but also… Pride," Koshiro said, confusion clear on his face. "But why is Pride…?"
"Does it matter?" Tentomon asked. "Kindness is there, so it might be Ken."
Koshiro considered that before he gave a quick shake of his head. "Y-you're right! I've got to-"
Koshiro couldn't even finish his statement before the screen suddenly glitched. The Chosen of Knowledge and his partner both froze, staring at the map of the Digital World as data flickered seconds before all three symbols disappeared from view - and with it, the entire section of the map. Instead, a large black square covered the grid, obstructing even the topographical symbols that had designated it a mountainous region not even moments before.
"What… just happened?" Tentomon asked, tentatively.
"I don't know," Koshiro murmured before he leaned forward to tap at the screen, prompting it to give him a video view of the area. However, rather than display a night time scene of the Digital World, it instead brought him nothing but static - black and white fuzz reminiscent of an old television with no signal.
"What does that mean?" Tentomon asked his partner, tilting his head.
Koshiro shook his head as he furrowed his brow, clicking back out to expand his view. His eyebrows shot straight up to see that the grid he had selected was no longer the only square blackened out. It had spread to those around it, almost like a virus. "T-this is-!"
Tentomon noted his partner's confusion, taking it as an unfortunate answer to his previous question, before he returned his attention to the screen. "What should we do?"
Koshiro stared at his screen for several moments before he straightened up. He didn't understand what was happening or what it meant, or what any of it had to do with the three crests he had seen not even moments before. However, there was something he knew with absolute certainty.
"We have to tell the others."