Davis and the others thought they were facing some tough opponents, but are these opponents really their friends? They wondered about that when they saw Hackmon and Gennai. After what happened before, some of them were a little hesitant to trust Gennai, but he claims to be the real one and not some fake.
"Tai, what do you mean this is the real Gennai?" Sora asked.
"I saw it. It was when I got back to the real world after I got separated from the rest of you." Tai claimed as he remembered it.
...
Flashback
During the battle against Ordinemon, Tai was separated from the others. When came back, he had Davis and the others with him. After getting out of the case he was in, he opened up the others to make sure Davis and the others were all safe.
"Davis! Davis, can you hear me?!" Tai called as he held Davis in his arms and tried to get him up, but Davis looked like he was in really bad shape. The same was with the others. All four of them were alive, but they needed medical help at once. "Try to hang in there. I'm calling for an ambulance." Tai reached for his phone and tried to call for some help, but that was when he heard the waves pushing against something else. He looked near the water where he came back in and saw there was one more. "Hold on. Who is in there?" He thought it was strange since there were only five of them, but it looks like six came back. He hurried over to the last one before it drifted away and got it on land. When he opened it up, he saw it was Gennai, and he appeared to be in better shape as he was waking up.
"Tai..." Gennai groaned.
"Gennai!" Tai said and soon realized how odd this was with him picturing that more psychotic version of Gennai. "Wait. What's going on? If you were in there the whole time, who was that other guy?"
"Tai, there's no time to explain. You need to get them help at once, and then regroup with the other digidestined." Gennai said. Tai didn't quite get it, but he looked around and saw things were really bad and needed to be done now.
End of Flashback
...
"When I went back and looked to make sure you were okay, you were gone, Gennai." Tai said.
"Well, you have my good friend, Hackmon, to thank for that." Gennai said as he looked down at Hackmon. That was when they heard alarms and such. "I think we might want to find a more secluded place to continue this discussion. Gankoomon! Kentaurosmon! Thank you for help, but you should head on back! Gallantmon, you wanted to see things for yourself, and you might be able to hide more easily than the others. You can stay if you wish."
"Thank you." Gallantmon said. That was when the other two caused digital gates to open and they both dived inside. "Let's get moving. I'll explain everything once we're in a safe place." The digidestined have so many questions, but it looks like it will have to wait until they are safe from the authorities.
...
The Park
Having to escape from the authorities, yet again, to keep the digimon a secret and themselves out of trouble, all of them went for a place where they could all talk in private. They all went down to the park and there wasn't a sign of anyone. Other than Hackmon and Gallantmon, Izzy had the other digimon hidden away in the program he made for them to keep them safe and out of sight.
"I think we're safe for the moment." Ken said.
"Okay, Gennai. No more dodging our questions. What the hell has really been going on?" Tai said.
"If you're the Gennai we all know, who was the other one? The one that chased after us and tried to hurt us." Kari said.
"That had to have been one of his lookalikes. We did meet a few of them when we all traveled around the world." T.K. said. "He must have been one of them, something like Gennai's evil copy."
"Yes, I'm well aware of this other me going around." Gennai said. "A lot thought that was the real me, but that wasn't the case at all. The truth is that I have no idea who he is or where he came from."
"So you've been captured and held prisoner this whole time like the rest of us?" Cody questioned.
"That's right. I was the first one captured to ensure I didn't warn the rest of you of the threat and danger that was coming." Gennai said.
"And what threat is that? Who are these two digimon? Do you know something about this lady named Athena?" Davis said as he was asking a bunch of questions at once.
"I think what Davis is trying to ask is this: what is going on?!" Yolei said with annoyance.
"Please, Gennai. Start from the beginning." Ken said.
"I'm not exactly sure where to start." Gennai said as he thought it over. "I guess it all started when I detected this strange energy. I had no idea where it was or what it was, but I do know it was dangerous. I could feel the powers of darkness were seeping into the Digital World once again, corrupting it." All of them gathered that much, but there had to have been more. "As you know, the Digital World was in a desolate state. After the battle with MaloMyotismon, Yukio Oikawa transferred whatever energy and power he could to the Digital World and helped revive it. Once the Digital World soon found piece, the gate closed and your digimon remained to watch over the Digital World. When I detected this strange power, I went to speak with Azulongmon, and other digimon like him, about this matter. However, not that long after it started, I was attacked." He still remembered what happened and could feel some pain. Someone just attacked him in the back with powerful blast and he was instantly knocked out. "After that happened, I remained prisoner."
"So that fake you took your place posing as you." Matt said.
"Do you think it could have been this Himekawa or an underling that served this King Drasil you guys told us about?" Yolei questioned.
"Unlikely." Gallantmon said. "This other Gennai spoke to King Drasil after Gennai was captured."
"Gennai, does this dark power have something to do with some sort of virus that infected many digimon?" Izzy asked.
"That would be correct, Izzy." Gennai said. "In fact, it was the same dark power you all fought when you went against Devimon, the Dark Masters, and even the likes of Apocalymon." None of them liked that. It sounds like history is repeating itself. "The digimon that were infected with this virus became stronger but vicious. They acted like savage beasts, but I'm sure you remember that."
"Sure do. Even our own digimon got infected, and then the reboot happened." T.K. said as it was hard for him to think of Patamon like that.
"That's because it spread like any virus would, and the Digital World was suffering from it." Gennai said. "But there was more to this virus. The cause for the warps was because the barrier between our two worlds was weakening."
"The barrier is weakening?!" Joe said as that was bad for they all knows chaos would surely follow.
"In order to prevent that, Homeostasis initiated the reboot." Hackmon said. "It was a last resort used to prevent such matters."
"And look at what it cost us! We almost lost Palmon and the others!" Mimi said in anger. "In the end, it was for nothing since our problems didn't just go away!"
"Not to mention, Homeostasis was willing destroy Meicoomon." Kari said thinking of what happened when Homeostasis controlled her body. "Just how selfish could Homeostasis be?"
"Selfish? How so? It was the job of the digidestined to protect both worlds, but you were failing to do so." Gallantmon said. "This Meicoomon was the cause, so it only makes sense that Meicoomon should have been destroyed."
"You wanted us to destroy our friend?! How could you ask for such things?!" Kari said, but no one really had an answer to that.
"Gennai, why did something like this had to happen to Meicoomon?" Sora asked.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that." Gennai said. "All I do know is that your enemies and King Drasil attempted to use her in an attempt to destroy the human world as it is."
"Who is this King Drasil in the first place. For that matter, who are these two?" Davis asked as he referred to Hackmon and Gallantmon.
"I suppose introductions are in order. For those who don't know me, my name is Hackmon. I digivolve into Jesmon. This here is my trusted comrade, Gallantmon."
"We are part of an order known as the Royal Knights." Gallantmon said. "In fact, a digimon you faced before is one of us as well. You would know him as Alphamon."
"Alphamon?!" Tai said as he and the others were shocked to hear that he was one himself.
"The truth is that we served King Drasil." Hackmon admitted with all of them even more surprised. "Let me explain before you jump to conclusions. The Royal Knights serve King Drasil, and King Drasil governs over the Digital World. I guess you could say he is a god in our world."
"King Drasil was beginning to believe that our two worlds connected was becoming more of a threat to the Digital World." Gallantmon said. "Despite what you all might think, King Drasil's overall objective was to protect the Digital World."
"That was around the one imposing as Gennai showed himself." Hackmon said. "He spoke with King Drasil and confirmed what he was already beginning to believe. This other Gennai believed humans are weak without digimon to help them and that destroying your world would be easy. I'm not beginning to believe he lied and manipulated King Drasil for his own purposes."
"However, some of us Royal Knights did not agree with King Drasil's decision." Gallantmon said. "We saw no merit in destroying an innocent world where millions of lives would be lost. We thought we should focus on the current threat to the Digital World, but this imposter convinced King Drasil that the human world was the one causing the infliction."
"Sounds like His Majesty is a big sap." Davis said.
"Watch your tone." Gallantmon said as he didn't approve of that. "Once King Drasil made his decision, we Royal Knights ended up divided. Some of us like Alphamon remained loyal to King Drasil and followed his orders. The rest, such as the four of us, decided to act against his actions. I'm sure you all understand what happened after that."
"After what happened with Ordinemon, King Drasil was shutdown." Hackmon said. "However, we still feel the darkness flowing and causing corruption. I believe this might have been the enemy's true objective."
"True objective?!" T.K. said.
"You mean getting King Drasil out of the way was what they wanted from the start?!" Joe said.
"As part of a contingency." Hackmon said. "With King Drasil out of commission, there's no telling what might happen with this power still spreading." None of them liked the sound of that. That means they've been playing into the enemy's hands from the beginning.
"Something about this must be done, and that is why we beseech all of you to aid us." Gallantmon said. "I understand that I might left the wrong impression, but I had to see it for myself."
"See what?" Davis questioned.
"The power of the Golden Radiance itself." Gallantmon claimed. "I believe that might be of great asset to us."
"You mean what Veemon and I can do?" Davis said. "Well, about that... Gennai, I've been meaning to talk to you about it."
"I'm sure you're wondering why the golden digiegg disappears after it's use." Gennai said. "As you know, armor digimon hold various levels of power. They're equivalent to that of champion or maybe even ultimate digimon. those who digivolve with the golden digiegg are another matter. Magnamon has the power that could match that of a mega. With that in mind, it can be harder to fully use. I'm afraid I can't help you, Davis. In order to fully unlock it's power, it's for you alone to make happen."
"Only me..." Davis said as the answer was in him somehow, but how does he unlock it?
"Magnamon could be quite helpful to us." Gallantmon said. "Davis Motomiya is your name, is it not? We must have Magnamon in this fight. I saw it during our fight. He has the potential and power that matches one of us. A fellow Royal Knight."
"Not gonna lie, this sounds pretty awesome." Davis said.
"Just don't let it go to your head." Yolei said.
"Rest assure that you will have Royal Knights to aid you in this fight, the ones that sided with you humans." Hackmon said. "Aside from us, you will have the help of Kentaurosmon, Gankoomon, and another named Examon." It sounds like the Digital World is in serious trouble, and a powerful force known as the Royal Knights are divided especially now that King Drasil is out of the commission. That is why they need the digidestined to help them with this. Hopefully, they can still stop it. They just might get their chance as they all saw the sky shine red.
"What's going on now?!" Kari said.
"Trouble." Hackmon said as they all could see another warp opening up in the sky and something fell right out of it and crashed into the ground. A large green dragon-like digimon smashed into the ground and unleashed a terrifying roar.
"It's Groundramon, and this could mean great danger." Gallantmon said as things were beginning to unfold.