4. Bitter Reunions
Getting a visit from both Ken and Yolei at his university was not something Izzy had thought he'd see in a while. Normally, Yolei texted him first so this must really be an emergency. He asked them to wait while he finished his class – he was studying Artificial Intelligence because he felt that would lead to him branching out into researching the digital world in a way it could not be exploited.
Fiddling with his pencil, chewing on the end of it, class could not end soon enough. He and Yolei messaged sometimes but this felt different. He could see it in the looks in their faces. Something was wrong. This was not a casual visit. He had not been able to open the digital gates in a while, but he thought of Tentomon a lot even when he was going through the busiest of times.
Once it had ended, he hurried out to the lunchroom where he had not planned to send his free period, but it was the only place he could talk to them without disrupting other people.
They were talking amongst themselves. He walked over, pulling out a chair and sitting down causing them to stop talking, looking at him.
"Guys, what's going on?" Izzy asked frowning.
Ken fidgeted with his hands and Yolei glanced at him once before sighing as she turned back to Izzy.
"It's the digital world," Yolei said bluntly. "It's been taken over and that's not even the worst part because do you know why you haven't been able to open a digital gate in the last 2 years?"
Izzy shook his head. "No, why couldn't we? The D-3's could always open them before." And he had tried every possible thing under the sun to try and get them open. There had been no warning either – the digimon had just been sucked back into the digital world and it was like the gates had never been open.
He had spent months – close to a year, trying to find out what was going on and why the gates had closed. But all answers were closed too – it seemed even Gennai was not replying to him. There were times when his heart sunk – where he didn't understand why he never figured it out. It made him doubt himself a lot but Touko, a young woman he had been able to trust with the digital world said there might be something deeper.
"Gennai closed the gates to the digital world," Ken said quietly. "In exchange for the enemy sparing his life."
Izzy stared, mind going numb for a moment and for a split second, he thought maybe he had heard the other incorrectly. Gennai had closed the gates…he had been the reason their digimon had been taken from them and they had never been able to get that back. And to think, it was done out of reasons of cowardice. His crest may have never been the most emotional one, but it was never logical to betray your friends for the enemy. Even if he put all emotions aside, an enemy would likely not keep his promises anyway.
"Enemies do not keep promises," Izzy said quietly as he exhaled a bit. "If Gennai's locked the gates, I'm not sure how we're going to get in or is there more to this than you're telling me?"
"There was another human in the digital world," Yolei explained. "She rescued some of our digimon and found some kind of crest that responded to their wish to come back to us, they wished for a miracle. Ken and I think it might be the Crest of Miracles, but it hasn't responded to Davis yet even though he's the one who used the Digimental of Miracles back then."
Izzy paused for a moment and shook his head. "That is a bit strange but there could be something we're missing as well. But given this enemy had the power to make Gennai turn on us, we are all going to be needed. The problem is we're not children anymore. It won't be as easy to round us all together like we could when we were kids. Who knows what's happened to Tentomon and the others?"
Were the digimon ok? If Gennai had betrayed them, had everyone else betrayed them as well? Had they betrayed each other or was each other all they had? Given what Ken and Yolei were describing, it was possible that the digimon may have abandoned one another to stay alive…being logical could lead to some disturbing places sometimes. He shook it off. This would not help right now. He turned back to Ken and Yolei, forcing himself to focus.
"Is your younger group still in touch?" Izzy asked. He waited for nods from both Ken and Yolei before continuing. "Good. We're going to need their help rounding everyone up."
Yolei waved a hand and shook her head. "We're two steps ahead of you, Izzy. Cody's going to try to reach out to Joe. T.K. and Kari are going to get in touch with Matt and Tai. Matt can probably get Sora…those two are dating, right?" It was an off-hand comment which she didn't linger on much, before she continued. "I think the real issue will be Mimi. She's in America, after all. I mean, sure we can make a long-distance call, but will she be able to get here that quick?"
Izzy sighed and shook his head. "The flight is quite long. Normally, I would open a gate for her to the digital world directly, but I already know it's not going to work in this situation." This was so much to take in. It stung – knowing someone who had once been a trusted ally would throw everything away. Not just that – he had betrayed them.
The digimon had been happy living with them in the real world – and while there could be challenges with navigating their normal lives as well as being able to give time to their digimon, at least they were safe. But Gennai hadn't only put them in danger – he had thrown them under the bus, literally.
Had he made things worse too by trying to contact Gennai? Would he have tried to harm the digimon further because he knew the DigiDestined were trying to reach them? A shiver went down his spine. He shook his head. He couldn't let his thoughts spiral any further – that wasn't practical. He needed to focus on what he could now.
"Mimi will have to make it," Izzy said firmly. "She wouldn't forgive herself otherwise. I hate to waste any more time so we'll set a meeting with all the DigiDestined, save for Mimi right now who can join us by the weekend at the earliest. We need to get to the digital world as soon as we can."
He knew it would be a challenge – none of them had their digimon partners but they would have to make do. They would find each other – like they had when they had first gone there.
"Let's do it," Ken agreed softly while Yolei nodded.
Cody had checked to make sure Joe was finishing his medical practical soon before arriving at the University lab. He had not spoken with Joe in a while and if he was honest, he did miss that. The two of them had been quite close when they were younger and although he understood being a doctor was not easy, he did wish they could spend a little more time together. The older man had become like a brother to him.
He waited patiently outside for the other male to come although found himself tapping his foot. Was Armadillomon okay? Could they really save him in time if the digital world was in this condition? An enemy who could evoke that kind of fear in their allies was something they would need to be careful around. He didn't know how to feel about being stuck in the digital world because they had always been able to come home at the end of the day.
He would still do it – Armadillomon needed him and that mattered than his own comfort. He was older now and his grandfather and mom both knew about the digimon so it should be okay to tell them about what was going on.
"Cody? Cody!" Joe waved his hand in front of his face and Cody snapped out of his thoughts to see Joe standing beside him.
"Joe, when did you get here?" Cody asked.
"Two minutes ago," Joe explained. "You ok? You look a little pale. What was the big emergency?"
Cody bit his lower lip and shifted, not sure where to even start even as Joe peered at him. However, maybe something in his expression had given it away because a frown overtook Joe's face and now it was his face that turned pale.
"It's Gomamon, isn't it?" Joe asked softly.
Cody stared. "How did you…" He shook his head. He hadn't even said anything yet so how had Joe been able to figure that part out?
Joe chuckled a little bit. "Despite doing so well in medical school, I haven't felt okay since the digimon disappeared. Especially when Izzy even with Ken and Yolei's help couldn't get the gates to open again. It's why I kind of pulled away from everyone…it felt so empty without Gomamon. No success felt like a success, not completely. And we haven't talked in a while, mostly my fault I know and then seeing your face, I felt you had an update on the digital world."
Cody sighed and looked away. It made sense that Joe would want to distance himself after what happened 2 years ago but that still didn't make this any easier to explain. Joe was closer to Gennai than he had been.
"The gates closing and the digimon disappearing was no accident," Cody admitted. "I know this is hard to hear but Gennai closed the gates. This new enemy wanted the digimon and it looks like Gennai preferred handing them over to being deleted himself. He gave them up in order to stay alive."
There was silence – Joe didn't speak, however his expression changed. A small scowl appeared on his face and his fist clenched a little, but he still didn't speak, and Cody couldn't blame him. He had only met Gennai around the time of the World Tour and he had been helpful then as well.
But the way Joe and the others had described Gennai helping them through the first adventure when they were trapped in the digital world, it must have stung a lot more. Gennai had been their friend and guide, someone who helped them against the enemies and now he was the one who had become the enemy.
Joe finally exhaled and sighed a little. "I think Tai and Matt have been bad influences on me." He tried to sound joking but his voice was still a bit tight, and Cody could tell he was trying to stay light-hearted and keep himself that way as well. "Give me two hours, Cody. I'll hear out the rest when we have the meeting, but I need to apply for special leave. We may need to go to the digital world, and I don't think we'll be able to come back as quickly as you guys were able to in the second adventure."
Cody frowned at this. "Joe, won't that affect your studies?"
Joe smiled a little. "It will. I'll have to catch up on all the projects when I do get back. I might even have to drop out of the course and re-apply. But…" His smile widened a little bit. "Nothing is more important to me than Gomamon is. I wouldn't even have the confidence to be a doctor if it weren't for his encouragement and my brothers' as well. So, this is nothing."
Cody knew the bonds between the digimon and the original DigiDestined were strong but to think that Joe would sacrifice this much was amazing. It was inspiring and he decided no matter what it cost, he was willing to stay in the digital world for as long as they needed in order to solve this.