Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ressurection War ❯ DIGIMON EMPEROR: Discovery ( Chapter 2 )

Hey, it's Kari. I was having strange dreams about my older brother dying, when I was pulled into the Digital World! There I met this guy named Geni, who told me that I was really a Digidestined. He said that my brother and the rest of the old Digidestined had been reborn and it was my mission to find them!

I found my digimon partner, Salamon, but we were chased by a Monochromon that was under the control of a Dark Ring. We ran until we reached a Control Spire, when the Monochromon accidentally destroyed it. Salamon digivolved to Gatomon and freed the digimon. We met the Digimon Emperor himself, but he used this weird Crest of Abandonment to defeat me. The only way to beat him is to get my own crest. Now, where the heck am I suppose to get one?

What does this existence mean………?

Is this life all there is………?

Will I one day pass on………

Into nothingness………?

Or will there be friends and family waiting for me………?

Scientists can recite the creation of the universe, the Big Bang………

They can explain everything in terms of the physical world………

But is that all there is………?

There has to be more………

Sometimes I wonder………

If I've ever lived before………

If I've ever experienced another life………

DIGIMON EMPEROR: Discovery

The Digimon Emperor stood atop his Monochromon as the rest of his Dark Ring controlled forces rumbled across the grass field. The simple flowers and blades of green were no match for the thundering stamping of the massive Triceratops. Destruction followed in the wake of the fearsome human teenager. He relished in the terror, it was what he lived for. Yet, he did not even smile as the Monochromons stamped innocent flowers.

"Something bothering you?"

He looked to the small digimon on his shoulder. "Yes, Tsukaimon, that girl from earlier."

His partner sighed. "Still?"

"Yes! What was she doing here?"

"I think it was pretty obvious. She was sent to stop us." He stared at him for a few seconds before clearing his throat. "But..maybe she's the one from that cave."

"That hero?" the Emperor asked,"I doubt it, but..."

Tsukaimon used his large ears to hover away from the Emperor's shoulder, "I've seen her digimon. If she can only reach the Champion level, she'll be no match for me."

"Don't get cocky," he sighed, crossing his arms as the Monochromons continued to march,"We have more important things to worry about anyway. That Destiny Stone is around here somewhere. We've just got to find it, and then, the entire Digital World will bow down before me!"

%% %% %% %%

Inside of the Kamiya apartment, the serene quiet morning was broken by the sound of the alarm blasting inside of Kari's room. The teenage girl moaned slightly as she reached out from underneath the covers and slammed her hand down on the snooze button. "Just five more minutes," she said, sliding back under the sheets.

"Kari!" Mrs. Kamiya shouted,"Kari, are you awake?"

Her daughter sighed as she slowly poked her head out of the sheets. "Yeah, I'm awake."

"Hurry up!" she heard her mother call,"You don't want to be late for school!"

"Yeah, that would be a real shame," she muttered as she climbed out of the bed. As she swung her feet around, her feet caught onto Salamon and threw her to the floor.

"Salamon!" she cried, dropping to her digimon partner's side,"Salamon, are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

The puppy dog digimon shook her head slightly. "Wha-what happened?"

"I accidentally kicked you to the ground," Kari said, lightly rubbing her head across her partner's head, "Are you okay?"

Salamon shrugged. "I don't remember you doing that, so I guess so."

Kari chuckled slightly, then heard her mother. "Kari!"

"I'm awake!" she shouted back. She jumped up and quickly made her bed. She shed her pajamas and ran to her closet to pull on her uniform. The teenager charged to her vanity table.. During her entire morning routine, Salamon simply sat on the ground and watched her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting ready for school," she said, running a comb through her hair, "While I'm there, you'll have to stay here and pretend to be a stuffed animal."

Salamon cocked her head to one side. "What's a stuffed animal?"

Kari sighed, then looked around her room. She ran over and pointed to the white teddy bear that was on the top of her dresser. "Like this."

Salamon stared at the fake bear, "But, she's not moving."

"That's the point," Kari sighed, "If my mom finds out about this, she'll freak." Before Salamon could ask, Kari just said,"She won't like it. We've got to keep it a secret."

"Oh, all right."

Kari smiled slightly,"You're one of a kind."

Mrs. Kamiya's voice sounded through the apartment. "Kari!"

"I'm coming!"

Kari ran into the school, totally out of breath. She glanced at the large clock that was resting against on the wall. She had only ten minutes before home room began, and she still needed to go to her locker. There was no way she could make it.

"Of course I can," she smiled to herself as she ran up the stairs, "I'm a Kamiya!"

She wondered where that came from, she never recalled ever saying something like that before. She did not have time to wonder, though, so she just pushed that thought out of her head as she entered the second floor. She ran to her locker and quickly dialed in the combination as she glanced at the clock. Five minutes left, she was making good time.

She grabbed her books and slammed the door shut. The halls were surprisingly empty, everyone must all ready be in class. She had to hurry.

She started dashing for her class, when she slammed into someone, her books flew everywhere. "I'm so sorry!" she shouted, "Are you okay?"

The person she had run into was a familiar boy with curly brown hair. "Kari," he grinned.

"Davis?" she gasped, "W..what are you doing here?" She mentally smacked herself. She knew what he was doing there, but it was the only thing she could think of because of her shock.

He grinned. "Getting run into by pretty girls."

She quickly turned away and started to pick up her books. Maybe if she just ignored him, he would stop starting at her. Maybe he would just go away and leave her alone.

No such luck. "Here, let me pick those up for you," he said, grabbing the books that Kari had dropped," It was my fault, after all."

"No, I've got it," she said, quickly pilling her books into her arms, "Aren't you going to be late for class?"

He suddenly seemed to remember the time. "Oh shoot, you're right." He quickly grabbed his books and looked at the clock. "Come on, we've got to hurry."

Kari jumped back onto her feet and charged towards the door. She knew the bell was going to ring any second, so she dove through the door and her feet touched the ground seconds before the bell sounded.

She panted heavily, then suddenly turned to face the class. They were all staring at her, while her teacher was clapping. "Very well done, Miss Kamiya," he said, "I was most impressed by that terrific display of athletic mastery. I can see why the Soccer team did so well last year."

She knew her face was completely red, and had to fight every urge to turn away from the teacher's gaze. "Yes sir, sorry sir."

He walked from her and over to where Davis was seated in his desk. "But at least she was on time, albeit only by a few seconds, but she was still inside the room when the bell rang. Mr. Motomiya, however, thought that he could sneak into his seat while I was talking to his classmate."

Davis started to blush and slunk down into his seat.

The teacher walked back to the front of the room. "Miss Kamiya, Mr. Motomiya, you both have detention after school. Take your seat, Miss Kamiya."

She nodded and walked to her desk. She knew that the other students were staring at her, but she did not care any more. She had humiliated herself in front of all of her friends and fellow classmates. Maybe that would teach her to be to class on time.

What was happening to her? She never use to be late before, her grades were always perfect, yet, lately she had been slipping. What was going on?

It was those stupid dreams, that's what it was. How could she be expected to be on time and study properly when she could not get a good night's sleep? Besides, now she had to find the other Digidestined and bring their memories out. How was she supposed to do that to begin with? And where was she going to start?

"Miss Kamiya!"

She snapped back into attention. "Yes sir?" she shouted on instinct.

The teacher sighed. "I said, Please complete the problem on the board."

She swallowed hard and turn to look at the black board. It was an easy problem, one that she could definitely do. She breathed a small sigh of relief and walked to the board.

%% %% %% %%

After the last bell rang, Ken Ichijoji ran into the halls with the other students. Even though the school day was over and the other teenagers were anxious to run home, Ken was going to be here for at least the next hour. He had to suffer through the entire school day, but now was his favorite class, well, actually, his favorite after school class, computers.

He ran past the other students and charged into the computer classroom. No one was there, the room was completely void of any people. He had always been early, but he had never made it to class even before the teacher! He shrugged and walked over to the computer screen in the back of the room.

He logged on and started to check his e-mail when the pointer did not respond. He grabbed the mouse and started shaking it, trying to lodge the pointer free, but it not work. He sighed to himself and tried Alt-Ctrl-Delete, but the keyboard did not respond.

"Oh man," he sighed. He was going to manually shut the computer down, when the screen started flashing. He watched with wide eyes as a strange image appeared on the monitor.

"What the heck is that?" he asked. He was about to try the mouse again, when the screen shot out a bright flash of light that totally covered him. When the light faded, he was gone. The computer screen blinked and then changed to Ken's homepage.

%% %% %% %%

Kari leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh. A stupid essay! She thought that in detention, you were forced to stay quiet and stare forward. Boy, was she ever wrong. Her teacher forced her to write an essay about why grades are important and why students need to be on time. She worked her hardest to make it the best essay that she ever wrote. She could have easily written something quick, but she did not want to get into any more trouble. She worked as hard as she could and created, in her opinion, a very decent essay.

"Finished, Miss Kamiya?"

She opened her eyes and saw that her teacher was standing in front of her desk. She handed him the paper. "Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Good. You may leave, and I hope that I do not see you in detention again."

She bowed, then exited the room. She sighed deeply and slowly walked down the hall. "My parents are going to kill me when I get home." She glanced at the clock. "Maybe I'll take the long way home."

%% %% %% %%

Ken slowly opened his eyes, feeling an intense pain in the back of his head. "Oh man, that really hurt."

He found that he was lying in the middle of a grass covered field that seemed to stretch for miles. While large green trees littered the prairie, the plain was almost completely bare, a flat plateau stretching on forever.

"Where am I?" he asked, "I was in the computer lab, how did I get here? And where the hell is here?"

He looked around in all directions, but all he saw was green grass and trees stretching to the horizon. He sighed, "I guess I've got no choice."

He took a deep breath and started walking. He had only been traveling about a half-an-hour when he came upon a strange sight: a younger boy lying on the ground.

"Hey!" he shouted, running over to him,"Hey! Are you okay?"

The boy slowly sat up. "I think so. Who are you?"

"My name is Ken, what's yours?"

"Cody. Where are we?"

Ken sighed. "I was hoping that you could tell me."

The younger boy stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I was just sitting in computer class, when I ended up here. What about you?"

Cody nodded. "Me too. I was in front of my computer and...the next thing I knew, you were waking me up."

Ken smiled slightly. "I guess we're in this together, huh?"

"What should we do?" Cody asked.

Ken mentioned to the horizon. "I was thinking that maybe if we searched, we might be able to find out how we ended up here."

Cody thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "I guess that's a good idea. Let's go."

%% %% %% %%

When Kari finally did make it home, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The apartment was empty. "Mom? Dad?" she called, removing her shoes at the door. She walked into the kitchen, when the door to her room flew open and Salamon came charging out.

"Kari!" she called.

"Salamon!" she hissed, "What are you doing? What if Mom and Dad saw you?"

"They're not here," the digimon said, "I heard them over that thing over there."

"What thing?" she asked. She turned to where her partner was pointing, "Oh, you mean the answering machine. I hope they're okay."

She ran over and pressed the button. "You have three new messages."

"Okay.."

"'BEEP' Hi Kari, it's Yolei. I was just wondering if you got the homework from Asikuwra. You know how much of a witch she is, so I don't want to go in tomorrow without it. Please call me back, this is a matter of life and death."

Kari just shook her head. "I don't think Yolei will ever change."

'BEEP' Kari, this is Mom and Dad. You'll probably get home before us, but your father came home early and we went out for the night. Dinner's in the fridge, make sure you're in bed on time. Your teacher called yesterday about you falling asleep in class."

"D'oh!" she said to herself.

"Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow morning. Good night, honey."

Kari breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm safe. Boy, I sure lucked out."

Salamon cocked her head. "You humans are weird."

The weird human pressed the button on the answering machine for the last time.

'BEEP' Kari, this is Geni. There's a problem in the Digital World. Get here as soon as you can."

Kari and Salamon glanced at each other, then ran into Kari's room. Kari grabbed her digivice and ran over to her desk. The teenager quickly logged into her computer, then stopped. "What's wrong?" the digimon asked.

"How do we even get into the Digital World?" she asked, "I don't have any idea."

Salamon cocked her head to the side. "So we can't get back?"

Kari took a deep breath. "Okay, there's got to be something that I can...." She turned around to ask Salamon something, but the digivice on her belt faced the computer and exploded in a bright light. The computer flashed the same light, enveloping Kari and Salamon, pulling them once again into the Digital World.

%% %% %% %%

The Digimon Emperor sat on his throne, lightly tapping the armrest of his regal chair. He was staring at the monitors around his throne room, completely bored. He had arrived in the Digital World earlier that day with the intention of securing more Destiny Stones, but none of his servants had discovered any leads. So he had spent the afternoon lying around his base, doing absolutely nothing. He wondered if this is what he would have to deal with when he finally conquered the Digital World. Would he spend his royal days bored beyond belief? Maybe this was why those Roman rulers had that Coliseum. He would have to look into that.

Tsukaimon hovered over to him. "Master! Haven't you heard me calling you?"

"What is it?" he asked.

Tsukaimon hovered over to the monitors. The screens displayed a variety of images, but the two that the small digimon pointed to show an image of Ken and Cody, while the other was of Kari and Salamon wandering through a forest.

The Digimon Emperor jumped up. "How long have they been there?"

"About an hour," he answered, "I'm amazed at how quickly the two boys were walking. They already walked out of the green field and into that forest."

The Emperor grinned. "At last, some excitement! Who's the closest?"

"Well, I'll have to.."

"Forget it!" he grinned, "Just send the Tyranomons."

"Yes, Master."

%% %% %% %%

Kari and Salamon wandered through the green forest, looking in every direction. "Geni said they were around here somewhere, but I can't find any trace of them, can you?"

The puppy dog digimon shook her head. "No, I can't find anything either. Maybe we're in the wrong place."

Kari frowned. "Maybe you're right."

Her digivice started beeping. "Wait a minute, I'm getting a reading on something." Kari followed the beeping noise on her device through the forest until they reached the edge of a mountain.

She sighed. "Dead end, I guess. Salamon, why don't we...Salamon?" She turned to her side, but her digimon partner was not there. "Salamon?" she cried.

"Kari, over here!"

The teenager followed the edge of the mountain until she reached her digimon partner, who was standing in front of a large cave entrance. "Maybe we should go in there?" the puppy dog asked.

The brown haired girl nodded. "Good idea."

The two girls took a deep breath and walked inside the cave. There was not much difference between that cavern and every other cave that they had ever seen. It was dark and gloomy, with water dripping slowly from somewhere inside the walls. There was a major difference, however, this cave had two boys resting inside.

"Cody and Ken, I presume?" Kari asked, with a slight smile.

"Who are you?" the younger boy asked.

"My name is Kari, this is Salamon. We were sent here to find you," she explained.

Salamon nodded. "Yeah, it took us some time to find you, we almost got lost."

"All right," Ken nodded, "Where are we, and did your dog just talk?"

Kari broke into a full smile. "That's not a dog, it's a digimon, and you're in the Digital World."

"Digital World?" he gasped, "You mean that..that weird place that appeared in the sky twelve years ago?"

Kari nodded. "Yeah." She looked to the ground, "My brother died in that battle."

"I'm sorry," Cody said, "Your brother, who was he?"

"Tai Kamiya," she said with pride, "He was the leader of the Digidestined, and I.." She shook her head, "I guess that's not really important right now. Why are you two here?"

Ken and Cody glanced at each other. "We were just pulled here," Ken said, "We don't know why."

The teenager nodded. "Okay. Well, let's get you back to Geni's. He can probably send you back home."

The two boys nodded and rose to their feet. They followed Kari and Salamon to the entrance of the cave, and their faces drained of all color when they saw the two large red dinosaurs that were waiting for them. "Are those digimon?" Cody asked.

"Yup," Salamon answered, "They're Tyranamons, but why are they staring at us like that?"

Kari pointed to the dinosaurs' wrists, "Dark Rings! The Digimon Emperor sent them!" She turned to her partner, "Are you ready to digivolve?"

The puppy dog nodded. "I'm ready!"

Kari pointed her digivice at Salamon, but the digital device did not glow brightly as it should have. Instead, it made a slightly fizzling sound, then was silent. "What's going on?"

Salamon glanced around, but did not find what she was looking for. She trotted forward a few feet, then stretched her neck to look at the top of the mountain. She saw a large black tower reaching for the sky.

"Kari!" she pointed,"A Control Spire! That's why I can't digivolve!"

The teenage girl stared at the snarling duo ready to snap their massive jaws at the three children and the Rookie digimon. "Back into the cave!" she shouted.

Ken and Cody spun around and dove into the cavern. The female member of their species was about to join them, but before she jumped back inside she saw that her digimon partner was running towards the two dinosaurs. "Salamon!"

"Don't worry, Kari!" she called, "I can still fight them."

The teenager grabbed her partner, and ran back inside. "Not a chance! Let's go!"

The two girls found the boys leaning back against the wall, panting. "I never thought I would see a living dinosaur," Cody panted, "Jurassic Park's got nothing on this."

Kari was about to say something when the Tyranamon's roar blasted from behind her. She jumped forward, then spun around. She could see that one of the dinosaur was jabbing its jaw through the opening in the mountain in an attempt to grab it's prey. Although the Dark Ring controlled digimon was not able to reach them yet, it would not be long before he caused the mouth of the cave to shatter apart into an even larger hole that he could pass through.

"Maybe there's a back door or something," Kari said, running past the others,"Help me look."

The two boys followed closely behind the Digidestined and her partner. They ran only a few feet before arriving at a solid rock wall. "So much for the back door," Ken sighed.

"Kari!" Salamon shouted, "Look at this."

The three humans glanced to where Salamon was pointing. There was a raised platform carved out of the stone, resembling a shelf of rock. Resting on this shelf were five objects that resembled eggs: one was bright red and had a horn sticking out of the top, the second was silver with twin blades on both sides, the third was an orange, oval shape, the fourth was blue and white, and the fifth was an odd sharp with another sharp blade emerging from the top. There were three square slots arrange in a line next to the fifth egg; it appeared that there were three other eggs that were once held there.

"Most unusual," Ken said, scratching his chin. He turned to Kari, "Any idea what these are?"

She shook her head. "No, none at all." She walked over to the first egg and examined it. "Maybe I can lift it?" She placed both of her hands firmly on the egg, but found that she was able to lift it quite easily.

"Well, what does it do?"

Kari turned to Salamon. "I don't know." She stared at the other four, then glanced over her shoulder at the two boys. "They were pulled to this world and no one knows why, but they found their way to this cave. Hmm..."

She smiled slightly and nodded to herself. "Cody, Ken, I would like you to try and lift these eggs."

The two boys gasped at her. "What?"

She nodded. "Ken, why don't you try first?"

He glanced at Cody, but the younger boy just shrugged his shoulders. "I guess, good luck."

The older boy sighed. "Okay, thanks." He walked over to the second egg, which was of the silver color. He grabbed firmly to the two blades on the side and tried to pull up with all of his might. The egg remained firmly situated in place.

The teenage girl just nodded. "Try the next one."

Ken looked over his shoulder and nodded. He walked to the orange colored egg and grasped it firmly. He took a deep breath and pulled with all of his might. Surprisingly, the egg easily lifted off of the shelf. He joined the others in a gasp as a beam of green light erupted from the square slot where the egg once rested. A square device formed in the center of the light and floated over to Ken's hands. He turned to Kari. "Is this...what you have?"

Kari lifted up her's. "Yeah, it's a Digivice."

"Ken!" Cody pointed, "Look behind you!"

The older boy turned around and saw a green caterpillar creature forming in the green light. When it faded, the large bug turned to Ken and smiled. "Hello. My name is Wormmon, and I am your digimon partner."

"My...my partner?"

"That's right. Your removed the Digi-egg of Knowledge. Only my digidestined partner can do that."

Ken just nodded, awe struck. "My name is Ken. It's nice to meet you..Wormmon."

"Likewise."

Kari grinned and turned to Cody. "Your turn."

The younger boy took a deep breath and walked over to the silver egg. He tired to lift it, but as with Ken, it would not move. He walked over to the blue and white egg and lifted. This time, he was successful.

As with Ken, a beam of orange light emerged from the ground. A digivice floated over to his hands and his own digimon partner appeared. "Hiya!" he called, "My name's Armadillomon, and since you removed the Digi-egg of Reliability, you must be my partner!"

Cody nodded. "My name is Cody Hida. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The group heard the loud roar of the Tyranomon. "They haven't left yet?" Cody asked.

"We have to fight them," Kari said, clenching her fists, "But as long as that Control Spire is above us, our digimon can't digivolve. If only there was some way!"

The three eggs that were resting in the digidestineds' hands began to glow. The three floated from their grasp and over to their digimon. No one was able to say anything before the oval shaped objects exploded in bright light, filling the room with a multitude of colors.

"Salamon armor digivovle to..."

"Wormmon armor digivolve to..."

"Armadillomon armor digivolve to..."

"Lynxmon! The Fires of Courage!"

"Searchmon! The Shield of Knowledge!"

"Submarimon! The Reliable Guardian of the Sea!"

The Tyranomon that was jabbing it jaw into the cave entrance was suddenly thrown backwards as Lynxmon's attack cause him to rear back in pain. Searchmon and Submarimon joined him their fire friend and second later. The three digidestined ran through the hole in the mountain and stared at their partners. Salamon had digivolved into a massive feline, with orange flames racing across her body, Wormmon had changed into a metallic beetle with a large dish strapped to his back, and Armadillomon had become a dolphin like creature with a large harpoon attacked to his nose.

"The Ring!" Kari shouted as she and the two boys ran out to join their partners. "You've got to destroy those Rings!"

"She's right!" Lynxmon shouted, "I destroyed a Black Ring on a Monochromon and freed it from the Digimon Emperor's control!"

"Lead the way!" Searchmon buzzed.

Submarimon fired one of his Oxygen Torpedoes at the Dark Ring on the first Tyranomon, but the red dinosaur moved his wrist too quickly, and the Torpedo passed into empty air. Lynxmon tried to attack with a blast of flame, but her attack was ineffective as well.

"We're not doing so good," Cody sighed. He turned to his new friend, "Ken, do you have any ideas...Ken?!"

Kari turned her eyes from the battle and saw the older boy lying on the ground with his hands squeezing his head. "Ken, what's wrong?"

"My head hurts," he moaned, "Like someone's got my brain in a vise!" He started wriggling around on the ground, "I can't take it!" He suddenly screamed out.

"Ken!"

"K...Koushiro..."

Cody and Kari looked at each other. "What did you say, Ken?" Kari asked.

"Kourhiro Izumi," Ken said, "My name was once Koushiro Izumi!" He stood up, "I remember! I was once Izzy Izumi!"

"What's he talking about?" Cody shouted.

Kari was in shock. "K..Koushiro Izumi was one of the original Digidestined! I found one," she smiled, "I found one!"

The trio of Digidestined heard a loud roar and they quickly turned their attention back to the battle. The three digimon had succeeded in bringing both of the red dinosaurs to the ground. However, the Dark Rings still remained.

"We've got to get rid of those rings!" Lynxmon roared, "I'll distract them! The two of you attack!"

She charge forward and a burst of red flame leapt from her back and race around the carnivores, leaving them trapped within a circle of flame. "Thermal Mane!"

"My turn!" Searchmon buzzed, hovering into the air. The dish on his back began to glow and shot out a column of orange light into the dinosaurs that was on the right. "Jamming Hertz!" The insect's attack pounded into the Dark Ring and shattered it apart.

"What about the other one?" Lynxmon asked.

"Allow me," Submarimon said. He leapt into the air and fired a burst of air from his missile chambers. "Oxygen Torpedo!" His attack was successful as well, as it destroyed the Dark Ring on the second Tyranomon.

After a quick apology, the two Tyranomons went about their business, leaving the three digidestined and their partners. Kari and Salamon quickly told their new friends about the mission that they were tasked with, locating the reborn Digidestined.

Wormmon rested on Ken's shoulder. "So, you're really Koushiro Izumi?"

Ken nodded. "Yes, my memories are starting to return about my time as Izzy. It's actually a very unique experience."

"Wait a minute," Cody said, "Does that mean that I'm a reborn Digidestined too?"

Kari thought for a minute. "Well, the Digidestined died about fifteen years ago. Ken, you're fifteen, right?"

The black haired boy nodded. "Yes, I am."

Kari nodded. "So, I'm guess that all of the reborn digidestined are fifteen. I think you're too young."

"Oh," the younger boy said, looking at the ground.

"But that doesn't mean you're not a digidestined!" Armadillomon said,"I wouldn't be here if you weren't."

Cody smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"You have done extremely well!"

The group spun around and saw that a cloaked figure had appeared behind them. "Who are you?" Kari asked.

The figure chuckled and smiled, even though neither the digidestined nor digimon could see. "My name isn't important, but you can call me Ryo."

Kari nodded. "Okay, Ryo, what are you doing here?"

"I have come to five you something, Hikari Kamiya." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a pendant shaped object hanging from a small chain. He dropped it into her palms.

The teenage girl looked curiously at the object. "What is this?"

"That is the Crest of Courage. It was once held by your brother."

She gasped. "You knew my brother?"

"That...is not important right now," he answered. "That Crest is now yours. Once you are able to activate it, you will be able to counter the Crest of Abandonment held by the Digimon Emperor."

Kari grinned and placed it around her neck. "Thank you."

Ryo bowed and started to walk away. "Wait!" Kari shouted, "How did you get this? Can you help me?"

"I have already helped you," he said, disappearing into the forest, "We will meet again. Farewell."

The two other digidestineds looked at the object in Kari's hands. "You're going to have to explain about that too," Cody said.

Kari turned to him, then started laughing. "Come on, we'd better get home."