Chapter 5: Crypt

A monolith. That was the only way Gatomon could describe the cylindrical plateau that Myotismon's castle rested atop of. Intimidating from a distance, though becoming a whole different type of unsettling once they got closer.

Reaching the summit was simple enough thanks to Imperialdramon, and despite the dragon's size, no extra attention seemed to have been drawn their way. Aside from the echoes of the group's heavier footsteps and brief gusts of wind, the area around them was docile, and every visible corner was devoid of life. Stretching all her senses a little further outwards, Gatomon couldn't detect anyone or anything of note, or at least anyone who wasn't set on staying hidden.

The castle's main entrance remained open, almost like the structure itself had been expecting them. Less welcoming were the shadows just beyond said entrance.

"Yeah, this lines up with just about every vampire movie I've ever seen," Yolei said as she leaned a bit closer, as though she would actually see something that everyone else had missed.

Davis raised an eyebrow. "How many have you seen, exactly?"

"Lost count." Yolei stood up straight and shrugged. "Hawkmon's an enthusiast."

"I find the atmosphere of Gothic horror to be quite exhilarating," the digimon in question explained.

"I prefer something with more vibrant colors," Wormmon chimed in. "Like a musical."

"I gather Yolei and Ken's movie nights involve a few compromises," Cody commented.

Yolei's shoulders sank. "That's assuming Davis doesn't crash them with his stupid action flicks."

Davis snorted. "You're just jealous I have better taste than you."

"It should be this way," Gatomon put forward the second she saw Yolei was getting ready to respond. She had a feeling clawing at the back of her mind that they had limited time, and they couldn't afford to let this particular tangent eat any of that.

"Then let's go!" Salamon cheered, clearly pouring on their upbeat energy extra thick.

Venturing inside, the group went mostly silent again. With the two pairs of Agumon and Gabumon, visibility became less of an issue, the hallways filled with torches for them to light. A few fireballs later, Gatomon was able to more easily lead the group to their intended destination.

Of course, better visibility meant her surroundings were more recognizable. Turning a corner or two, Gatomon felt the hairs on her back stand on end, a few dark hallways triggering her fight-or-flight reflexes. These halls had a number of bad memories associated with them, both done to her and ones she had carried out herself. While Gatomon had come a long way in accepting her past, these memories still hurt on occasion.

"Gatomon…" Kari said softly, likely sensing her distress.

"I'm fine," Gatomon replied quickly, not slowing her pace when she looked up at her partner.

"I don't see how." Kari tucked her hands into her armpits as she eyed the walls around them. "There's a nasty draft in here, and someone should call an interior decorator."

Kari paused to look back at Gatomon, a weak but earnest smile on her face. Gatomon took a deep breath, reminding herself to stay in the present, that a familiar location digging up old habits shouldn't cause her to shut out the people most important to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I started sensing the reality tears," Gatomon put forward, not wanting to let the issue fester.

"It's okay," Kari replied with a nod. "I know you just wanted to be sure."

Or at least those were Kari's words. She likely even understood and believed them, though Gatomon knew her partner well enough to know that that didn't necessarily mean she felt them. Kari had episodes of doubting herself in the past, and the last thing Gatomon wanted to do was contribute to one of them, especially with an encounter with the Dark Ocean looming on the horizon. Gatomon would have been keeping an eye on her partner regardless of the kind of enemy they were facing, so she simply made a mental note to be ready in case Kari showed signs of any doubts bubbling up.

With that thought, they arrived at a stairwell, and were entering their destination a few minutes following. The Digidestined now found themselves in a large chamber, large as it had needed to be to contain the small army Myotismon had led into the human world seven years prior. At the far end of the room sat a moderately sized pedestal decorated with a grid pattern on its face.

"Is it like tic-tac-toe?" Akira asked as the group moved closer.

"It's a lock," Izzy explained, eyeing the pedestal suspiciously without approaching it. "For the gate between our world and this one."

"Too bad we don't have those cards to open it," Tai pointed out, though with a lighter tone to his voice.

"We won't need them," Gatomon stated, closing the distance towards the pedestal.

Taking a moment to trace her paw along its base, eventually pausing on a loose bit, invisible to the naked eye but clearly out of place once the right amount of pressure was applied. Gatomon pushed the button, causing the pedestal to slide backwards, revealing yet another staircase underneath.

"How long have you known about this?" Tai was the one to ask, though thankfully without any judgment in his tone.

"Just today," Gatomon answered calmly.

Salamon tilted their head. "That's a long time to suppress a memory."

"It's not her memory," Kari explained, matching Gatomon's calm.

In a way, it was fitting that this had all begun with Myotismon. Having clawed his way back to life one more time less than a year ago, he had managed to find a way to move between different realities. The Digidestined had stopped him thanks to new allies, though Gatomon was reminded that her former master would never change. Once the dust had settled, she dealt the killing blow herself, following up by loading his core data so it could never be recycled.

That had been the last Gatomon had thought about him, at least until a couple hours ago. While meditating, one of Myotismon's memories had shaken loose, of a mystery of this castle that even he had not been able to make sense of. Gatomon told Kari first, and before long the group was on their current task.

"Fair enough." Tai nodded before waving everyone else forward. "Let's get to it."

As the Digidestined started downward, Gatomon held herself back, feeling a pair of eyes on her. Turning to find Salamon, a perplexed look on their face, she simply stared back and waited for them to speak.

"You loaded another digimon's data?" Salamon finally asked, though with no obvious emotion in their voice.

"I did," Gatomon replied in kind.

"You've never mentioned it before."

"It probably never came up."

Salamon paused, then tilted their head again. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

Gatomon sighed. "I don't know you, and maybe you shouldn't assume you know the rest of us that well."

"You know, it's nifty gettin' the sense of things with each jump." Salamon grinned, their usual enthusiasm coming back up. "Like, Akira's parents are always Akira's parents. That's when they're not even married, and when they are and have kids that aren't Akira."

"And what about the versions of them that actually are his parents?" Gatomon shot back. For her limited experiences with the multiverse, she didn't like the insinuation that her partner was interchangeable with every other variant of her.

To their credit, Salamon paused again. Raising a paw to scratch under their chin, they did seem to be giving it some thought.

"They…" Salamon turned to face Gatomon again. "...didn't hesitate. Doubt your Kari would either."

Gatomon didn't reply, knowing the statement was true. Not even accounting for any innate connection she may or may not have felt with Akira, who she just innately was as a person meant Kari would defend the boy.

Salamon suddenly started walking down the stairs. "Even if you're right, though, it doesn't hurt to make new friends."

Gatomon arched an eyebrow, though also didn't feel compelled to continue arguing. She followed suit, once again reminding herself they had limited time.

Sora couldn't bring herself to be scared or even be put slightly on edge by the castle around them. This was technically the third time in her life that she had crept through these halls, so the sense of discovery of the unknown had worn itself out. There was the secret staircase they were currently walking down, though even that wasn't exactly a new experience for their group.

Of course, Sora was more than willing to admit that her mind just might have been elsewhere. Rei and Mari were both proving difficult to approach, neither of them having said much to anyone to cue up another conversation. At this point, they were just going along with the group without much resistance.

So Sora waited, not so much because she didn't know what she would say, but more because she knew that charging at the two girls alone and without much of a plan hadn't worked. A knot briefly formed in her stomach, a reminder of the uphill battle it was to reconnect with Biyomon when her partner's memories were erased. Sora knew she would need to approach things differently this time around.

This time, she was intent on taking full advantage of her team. While Tai was leading the group at this particular moment, Matt was walking at her right, being his usual stoic self, which was enough for the immediate future.

"Have you thought about trying to talk to Mari again?" Sora asked him softly, though she assumed anyone walking right in front of or behind them could hear her if they wanted.

"A couple times. She…" Matt hesitated, not looking her way as he stared off into space for a couple seconds. "I don't think she really wants to be around me right now."

Sora held back a smirk, not surprised by his response in the slightest. Matt was projecting in his usual way, always a little afraid that his presence wasn't to anyone's benefit. Maybe one day he would accept not only how much they all needed him around, but that they actively wanted him to be so.

"Sounds like you're just getting in your own head," Sora summarized.

"Or maybe that's genuinely how she feels," Matt replied, the tone of his voice not really arguing as much it sounded like he was trying to present a possibility.

"Why would she, though?"

"Could be any reason." Matt rubbed his neck and looked forward, though this time he was focused in Mari's direction. "Maybe she had a fight with her parents before she left and feels guilty, or maybe she feels like she would be betraying them by leaning on us."

Sora considered both possibilities, but pushed them aside. While she didn't want to assume what her counterpart would want, she wouldn't want her daughter thinking or feeling that way.

"But you'll talk to her anyway, right?" Sora asked, gently but firmly. Maybe slightly more of the latter to get her point across.

Matt turned his head directly towards her, slight movements of his eyes saying he was weighing the request. For someone who could stick to his guns the way he could, he had difficulty saying no in the right circumstances. Half the arguments he lost to Tai were mostly down to this.

"Fine…" Matt finally conceded.

Sora smiled, trying not to seem smug as they finally reached the bottom of the staircase. The new chamber seemed about the same size as the one they had just left, a number of shadows filling the corners thanks to the dim lighting.

"I'll try to talk to Mari once we're settled here," Matt added.

"Right," Sora replied, having almost forgotten what they were here for. "We should probably focus then."

"Maybe things won't be as bad as we're building them up to be," Matt offered, trying to sound reassuring but lacking the confidence. Clearly, he had caught on to her lack of enthusiasm towards another coming battle.

Sora nodded, though felt like she was internally shaking her head at herself. Again, she had never wanted to fight, but she couldn't remember ever having to force herself to stay on task this way. Whatever the source of this was, though, she would power through it for the time being.

Glancing from wall to wall, nothing about the room they had just entered stood out to Tai. The walls weren't blank save for a large circle on the far one, covered in images of what looked like the Digimon Sovereign and small angels if he squinted, scattered in between brief lines of digicode. To be fair, the walls could have contained some piece of game-changing information and Tai just wasn't able to read them, but the fact was he couldn't read them so it all might as well have been chicken scratch.

That was exactly why he followed Izzy and Tentomon across the chamber, knowing where the answers would come from if they came at all. Izzy eventually stopped at the far wall, specifically at a pedestal in similar position as the one on the floor above. It was about the same size as well, though rather than the familiar grid pattern, a single circle was carved onto its flat surface.

"What's this?" Izzy asked, leaning back and forth to look at each side of the pedestal.

"No theories?" Tai asked back, figuring he could be a springboard if nothing else.

"Almost…" Izzy knelt down to examine the base of the pedestal. He then paused, before looking over his shoulder. "You seem like you have something you want to say."

"Nothing in particular," Tai replied with a shrug. He had questions, but he trusted Izzy to answer them when the time was right.

Izzy faced forward again. "You didn't seem as surprised as everyone else when I mentioned Patamon and Gatomon being able to traverse realities."

"Yeah, Takato mentioned a training accident with Lopmon a few months back." Tai modestly scratched the back of his head. Thanks to Izzy's tech wizardry, they had managed to stay in limited contact with the other Digidestined they met the last time they crossed between realities, so Tai occasionally heard things. "He said Henry would know more about the details, which I assumed meant you would have the details if there were any."

Izzy paused again, then nodded. "We might be getting closer to traveling between realities more freely."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound all that excited."

Izzy stood up straight, worry taking over his face. "I'm worried we're looking at a Pandora's Box situation."

"Then leave the box alone."

Izzy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "But then what happens when someone else opens it first?"

Tai had no answer, but knew it was something he would be taking more seriously once their current conflict was resolved. Anything else was cut short by Kari and her entire "family unit" approaching them.

They were all quiet for a brief moment, though Tai knew that was partially on him. He had taken the opportunity to cross his arms and send a stern look T.K.'s way. The boy seemed confused, until Tai motioned to Akira and then Kari. T.K. shrugged, trying to play the whole thing off with an innocent smile.

"Oh, brother…" Kari grumbled while rolling her eyes.

Tai didn't push any further, at least for the time being. Later, though, he intended to have a talk about what T.K. might end up thinking about doing to his little sister.

"You guys don't sense anything, do you?" Izzy asked the digimon.

"Now that you mention it, the air does feel different in here," Patamon answered, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Like it's tingling the tips of my toes."

"What did Myotismon even use this place for?" Izzy's eyes wandered the walls and ceiling.

"He had no idea what it was," Gatomon explained dismissively. "Didn't really care once he figured out how to use the gate upstairs."

"Seems like some kind of junction point," Salamon put forward confidently.

Gatomon turned to face them. "And what's that?"

"I don't know." Salamon looked over the nearest wall. "Don't think I've ever been to one before."

"Of course…"

"Hmm…" Izzy had suddenly returned to the pedestal, staring at one spot in particular.

Tai took a step closer to see what was up. A small rectangular hole was on the side of the stone fixture, though Tai hadn't been paying close enough attention to be sure whether it had always been there or just suddenly appeared. Before he could ask, Izzy had pulled his laptop out of his bag. After juggling a couple different cords, he picked one and connected it to his computer. Without wasting another second, Izzy plugged the other end into the hole, and suddenly new windows were opening on the screen.

"Anything?" Tai asked, not being able to make sense of any of it no matter how closely her stared.

"A lot of hard data." Izzy sat down on the floor, resting the computer on his lap. "I can read it, but it seems like a lot of numbers and technical information."

"Best guess?"

Izzy closed one window and enlarged another. "Whatever it is, it's lacking a reliable power source."

Salamon waltzed over to Izzy's side, giving the pedestal their own examination. After a couple seconds, they placed their front paw against it. White runes appeared on random spots on the pedestal, with the whole chamber seeming to get brighter in the process. Without warning, the carved circle jutted a couple centimeters outward.

"How about now?" Salamon asked as they turned back around to face the group.

Izzy stood back up, balancing his laptop with one arm while reaching out to the raised circle with his free hand. He hesitated for a split second, before placing his hand on it. He didn't push down, however, instead gripping the edges. Like a dial, Izzy spun the circle both clockwise and counterclockwise, audible clicks sounding off each time he did so. All the while, his eyes bounced between the pedestal and the computer screen.

"Every time I turn the dial, the frequency of the emitted energy changes." Izzy paused to squint at his laptop. "I've seen this before."

"So what's going on?" Matt's voice joined in, him and Sora having moved closer while Izzy was messing with the pedestal.

Without skipping a beat, Izzy pushed the circle down. The runes blinked at the same time, before energy started to pool together at the blank spot on the wall. The energy eventually settled, though Tai didn't need to ask what they were looking at by that point.

It was a portal, a tear in the fabric of reality itself. At the moment, all they saw was white, meaning there was no clue as to where it opened to. Still, it was a bit more progress than they had planned on.

"I think it's connected to the gate upstairs," Izzy began slowly, looking from the dial to the portal. "Though I haven't quite worked out which was built first."

"Can we swing back to the first part?" Tai asked, not wanting to get sidetracked. "What exactly did we just turn on?"

"It's…" Izzy's eyeline found its way to Salamon. "...a junction point. Between the two gates, not only could we probably move between realities, but also each reality's respective material and digital worlds."

"So how do we use this thing?" Tai knew there were concerns, but they had mission to complete and this was what they had to work with.

"Well, that'll depend on the functionality of this gate." Izzy placed a hand on his chin and looked upwards. "It's one thing if it can take us to parallel realities, but moving up and down our own potential timelines might be another. Even assuming we access the Dark Ocean, we have to consider-"

The chamber around them suddenly shook, some dust from the ceiling above them becoming displaced. Tai scanned the room, everyone else seeming as confused as he was.

"I swear it wasn't me this time," Tentomon commented.

"What's that?" Tai asked, eyes bouncing around the room again until settling on the stairwell they had just come down.

"The draft in here suddenly got a whole lot worse," Kari pointed out, doing her best to keep up appearances though clearly strained and shivering.

At that moment, a white mist rolled down the stairs, putting all the digimon on edge. With plenty of twitching ears, wide eyes, and flared nostrils to go around, it was clear they were no longer alone.

"I thought we'd have more time," Salamon's voice squeaked, the first time since their arrival that they actually sounded timid.

As a group, everyone backed away from the approaching mist, gathering in the most defensive positions they could around the control pedestal. Having risen to just about knee-height, the mist stopped just short of their group, and then started to stir.

Shadows started to rise and coalesce, into roughly two dozen figures of varying shapes and sizes, each with purple and black armor and accented with green tentacles and yellow eyeballs. Most common were spherical ones with metal claws, as well as a more slender and humanoid variant. Just one towered above the rest, a brute who looked like he was hunching over to support his own weight.

"I've never seen any digimon like these before," Ken was the first to verbalize.

"Yeah, we'd never seen any Argomon before either," Rei's Agumon rambled off. "Then we started seeing a whole lot of 'em."

Tai looked over his shoulder. "Izzy-!"

"Already working on it!" Izzy's typed quickly, eyes skimming over whatever was on screen. His hands tightened around his laptop, frustration all over his face. "Next to nothing, just like Dragomon. I think the round ones are Champions, and skinny ones Ultimates."

"Th-The big one is a Mega," Mari added meekly.

Yet none of these "Argomon" made any aggressive movements. If anything, it looked like they were standing guard, biding their time until-

"You should be more responsible about where you take your partner, Salamon," a new voice taunted. Or at least it could have been a single voice, as it could have been two or three voices speaking in unison, all gravelly and distorted to the point that it was hard to tell.

One more shadow emerged from the mist, this one tall and lithe. His features soon came into focus, his right side black and covered in red eyeballs, and his left crimson with multiple mouths with jagged teeth scattered on his person. With a pronounced collar and long cape, this new digimon stepped forward, with even the Mega-leveled Argomon deferring to him.

"Any place where we can't see your busted face is fine with me, Abbadomon," Salamon growled, slowly backing into Akira as they spoke.

"Easy now…" The mouth's on Abbadomon's left side all started to grin. "After all, you brought little Akira to a place with thin walls, and chose to use that pesky Celestial energy of yours no less. That takes some combination of arrogance and desperation, wouldn't you say?"

Tai looked down to Akira by instinct, finding the child still refusing to leave Kari and T.K.'s sides. While a shaking hand reaching for his D3 said he was nervous, conviction-filled eyes also said he wasn't as scared as he could have been. For that, Tai couldn't help but respect the little guy.

Shaking his head, Tai took a couple steps forward of his own. While not the smartest move, he did so for a couple reasons, the first of which being that it was his job to be the first one in and last one out.

"So who's this guy?" Tai asked, though kept his eyes on the digimon in question.

"Well, hello, Taichi." All of Abbadomon's eyes widened. "It's been more than a couple minutes since I've seen you this young."

"Have we met?"

"So many times it's grown stale," Abbadomon groaned, turning around to none of the Argomon in particular. "Feel free to eat him or whatever it is you do."

Without warning, a trio of the Argomon sprang towards him. Luckily, Tai could count on the second reason he was able confidently approach the enemy: His own, personal T-Rex.

At the first hint of danger, Agumon had leapt forward. With a bright light, he became meters taller, now with blue stripes and three horns growing out of his brown skull. With the same motion, Greymon spun on his heel, swatting the Argomon away with a single swing of his tail. Planting both feet firmly back on the ground, he leered at their approaching enemies.

"Sorry, acted on instinct," Greymon said softly, or at least as softly as his voice could be. "You want me to fall back and bump it up to Mega?"

The question was a fair one. There was a time when, if they were faced with enemies like these, the Digidestined needed to prioritize getting WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon on the field. Fortunately, they now had seven other Megas they could rely on, which left a little more room for strategy.

"Soon," Tai answered. "For now, let's see if we can't buy the others a couple seconds to digivolve."

Greymon braced himself. "You got it, dude!"

A Champion Argomon scuttled forward, sparking with some kind of energy between its claws. Naturally, however, it wasn't fast enough.

"NOVA BLAST!"

A fireball launched from Greymon's mouth, colliding dead-on with the Argomon and sending it rolling backwards. Out of the smoke, one of the Ultimates flew into the fray, though it wouldn't get far either.

From the corner of his eye, Tai caught lights amongst his friends. The next thing he knew, ExVeemon and Stingmon were flying over his head, fists connecting simultaneously with the Argomon's jaw and forcing it back as well.

One more of their number entered the battle at that moment as well, though Tai didn't quite recognize them. At a quick glance, Tai would have though he was looking at another Greymon, though setting this digimon apart was a more slender build, spikes on their shoulders, and red markings on their skull.

"Tear them apart, GeoGreymon!" Rei yelled, intensity and anger behind her eyes as she marched to the front line and jerked an index finger forward.

GeoGreymon did just so, digging both teeth and claws into the first Argomon she came across, prying its round body apart like an eggshell. Even with data already flaking off its form, GeoGreymon bent down and released a stream of flames downward, disintegrating it.

"And you're next!" Rei declared to Abbadomon.

"Oh my…" He chuckled as he waved a dismissive hand back at her. "I genuinely don't know I should respond to that."

"I don't care what you have to say!"

"Honestly, likewise." Abbadomon's whole body sneered. "Besides, I'd feel pretty bad picking on an orphan."

For a split second, all Tai could hear was dead air. Focusing on Rei again, he saw her cast gaze downward. If he hadn't been so close, he probably would have missed the one tear that dripped down her face.

"Rei…" Tai began, taking a cautious step in her direction.

"I'll kill you," Rei said under her breath, ignoring him and doubling down on her glare towards Abbadomon.

A dark red glow formed in her chest before emitting outward. Rei didn't scream, her focus clear and cold.

GeoGreymon lit up in a matching light, at least until it intensified, leaving Tai unable to see whatever changes in shape came with this digivolution. Tai's expectation was another new form, one that he wouldn't recognize. His expectations weren't met.

The light dimmed, revealing a skeletal figure in the rough shape of some kind of dinosaur. With long pointed claws and a single horn atop her head, the white of her bones was only broken up by the single orange torpedo on her back.

"Uh oh…" Greymon muttered, not even blinking at the sight.

SkullGreymon roared, and the chamber shook once again.