Chapter 34:
Gateway to Home
As Naoko’s information lecture came to an end, the kids and Digimon settled down to rest and absorb what they had been told.
Jun, however, continued to ask questions.
“So are the rest of us descendants of the previous Chosen Children? Your group, or Taichi’s?”
Naoko looked at him thoughtfully. “I can’t say for sure. I can only speak to Akira and Rion being direct descendants from my group. The only known reason all of you were chosen is for the power you have within you, and not necessarily because of lineage. However, it’s very likely that you might be closely related, due to how strong your Crest traits are.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Jun. He opened his mouth to say something else when Mana interrupted.
“Jun! Enough history lessons for today! Let Naoko do what she needs to do, and come over here and get some rest!”
Jun smiled sheepishly and walked over to where Mana and the others were sitting.
“What about the Edge?” Rion asked. “Mataymon did a lot of awful things to try and stabilize it enough to bring the Midnight Army through to the Real World. I’m not sure if he managed to do it...”
Naoko shook her head. “If anything, he’d probably only manage to send over a few at a time, and not an entire army at once.” She walked over to one of the consoles attached to the glass chamber and started making adjustments.
“Crossing the Edge from the Digital to the Real World can only happen under ideal weather conditions. The skies must be clear, and the temperature must be mild.” Naoko made further adjustments on the console. “The best method would be to use a Meterostone to adjust the weather before attempting a transfer. It just so happens that there’s one here.”
Naoko pressed a final button, and the console beeped. The screen changed to a map of the Real World, with several dots representing the kids’ last locations.
“All right, everyone. Gather around.” she called out. “The transfer machine is ready, and I have a few more things to tell you before I send you off!”
She addressed Seita and Tian first. “I see that both of you have your second Crests and upgraded Digivices, and that your Digimon can warp evolve.”
Seita and Tian nodded.
“All I can say is don’t overdo it. Warp evolution requires a lot of energy, and you wouldn’t want to be in a situation where both of you are weak and can’t do anything.”
Naoko then turned to Rion and Guilmon. “I don’t have to tell you twice to be careful when Guilmon evolves,” she said to Rion.
Rion nodded. “I walk the line between light and darkness,” he recited. “I can’t fall too far into the darkness, or else Megidramon will appear again and destroy everything.”
“The Crest of Destiny is there to remind you that you have choices. You can fall to the darkness, or embrace the light. The choice you make will determine which Ultimate form Guilmon will have.”
Rion nodded again. “Got it.”
“What about the rest of us?” Jun asked, “We haven’t discovered our second Crests yet, and our Digvices haven’t been upgraded.”
“That is an issue.” Naoko thought a moment. “I was hoping all of you would have found your second Crests and upgraded your Digivices by now. I suppose it’s a lack of opportunity. I’m sure that eventually it’ll happen for you.”
“Is there anything else we can do to help?” Mana asked.
“There is a way,” Naoko answered, “and it’s something some of you have discovered already.”
“Slotting a Crest into the Digivice!” Kei exclaimed. “Rapidmon changed and got stronger when I did that!”
Naoko nodded. “Slotting your Crest into your Digivice will trigger ‘Overdrive Mode’. It will give your Digimon a minute and thirty seconds worth of power equal to Ultimate level.”
“Enough to warp evolve?” Jun asked.
“Enough to stay at Ultimate level for only a minute and thirty seconds,” Naoko repeated. “It may not help you enough. Without another Crest, there won’t be enough energy to keep your Digimon at Ultimate level for longer than that.”
“It’s something to try,” Jun said confidently.
Naoko turned to Akira and Kodamon. “As for you two,” she said, “Keep believing.”
Akira nodded, remembering what the Naoko AI had told her a year previously. “Belief makes us stronger.”
“Positive beliefs make you stronger,” Naoko added, “Negative beliefs will destroy you.” She was silent for a moment, then spoke up again. “And like Rion and Guilmon, do not let yourself fall too far into the darkness of your mind. Do not convince yourself that you can’t do something, or that you can only do nothing.”
“Self-fulfilling prophecies,” Akira said.
“Yes.” Naoko looked around at everyone. “That’s everything for now,” she said, “Get some rest. I’ll send you off in the morning.”
Jun dozed off for a couple of hours, then woke up amid snoring and dreaming. He heard a soft muttering from the other end of the room and got up to see Akira sitting there, wide awake, scribbling random notations on a scrap of paper.
“What’s that?” he asked in a whisper.
Akira jumped in surprise, then calmed down. “Oh. Jun.” She side-eyed the scribbles on the paper, then pushed it closer to him. “Maybe you’ll be able to make sense of all this.”
Jun picked up the paper and looked at it. His expression turned into one of confusion. “What’s all this?”
無限
∞
א
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …
6:06:06
α Ω
AGTCTGAC
CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, AGG
θ
Following this was a large spiral, curling outward in a clockwise direction, then another smaller spiral with “x2” written beside it. Following that was the outline of the Crest of Spirit.
Below this were two lines:
Find the answer… and it will take you far.
Beyond the edge of forever… and to the place where light reaches.
“It’s a puzzle someone sent me, before Rion and I went to the Digital World the first time,” Akira said, “I have a feeling it has a lot to do with why we’re here, and our mission when we go back to the Real World. But I just can’t figure it out!”
“Why not ask Naoko about it?”
Akira hesitated. “I don’t know…” A memory flashed in her mind, of her mother’s anger when confronting her about the puzzle. “Somehow… I don’t think she’d know about this,” she said slowly.
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Both Akira and Jun jumped and turned their heads to see Naoko looking down at the paper between them. She picked it up and looked at it for several moments.
“Hmm… I know what each piece is by itself, but not what they all have to do with each other. Are you sure this has anything to do with our mission?”
“Not for sure,” Akira answered, “I just have a hunch.”
“I’d encourage you to trust your instincts, then.” Naoko sighed, then returned the paper to Akira. “I can’t tell you much about this. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It might be something to ask my human self about when you meet her.” Naoko looked back at Akira seriously. “You’re sure about your grandmother?”
Akira nodded. “As sure as I’ll ever be.”
“Let me get a copy of those notations,” Jun said, “Maybe I can figure something out.”
“Go right ahead,” Akira said.
A few yawns echoed through the room as the others began to wake up.
“Almost time,” Naoko said.
The glass chamber hissed as it opened. Naoko pressed a button, and mist quickly streamed out, giving the inside of the chamber a quick clean and dry. When the mist subsided, Naoko motioned everyone inside.
Once everyone was situated, Naoko pressed a few more buttons. The door to the glass chamber closed. The locations on the Real World map blinked, then shined steadily.
“Remember what I’ve told you,” she called out, “Keep Mataymon and the Midnight Army from invading. Infiltrate ITI and find out their plans. And find my human self and re-establish contact.”
Seita punched a fist into his palm. “You can count on us!”
Akira looked back confidently. “We’ll do what we can!”
Naoko nodded. “Good luck.” She pushed a button on the console, and a soft hum sounded through the glass chamber.
Static built up inside the chamber, and electricity flowed outside, snapping like twigs. What looked like digital snow from an old television appeared, and bits and pieces of those inside the chamber started winking in and out.
“Weird…” Jun murmured, looking through his hands.
Suddenly, Akira hugged her arms and grimaced, as if she was in pain. She whimpered softly.
“Akira?” Kodamon asked.
The whimper soon became a scream. Akira stumbled and fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Akira!” Kodamon shouted, “What’s wrong?”
Kei stared at Akira for a moment, puzzled and scared. Then her eyes widened. “The car…” She turned and pounded on the glass. “Naoko! Stop the transfer!”
“What’s going on?” Seita asked, shocked.
“Right when we left, Akira pushed me away from a car. If we go back to that very moment…”
“The car’s going to hit her,” Tian concluded, looking stricken. “It’s hitting her right now…”
“Naoko!” Kodamon shouted.
“Working on it!” Naoko called out, her fingers flashing across the keyboard. “Shifting coordinates…” She pressed a final button and a burst of energy zapped through the chamber like static.
“Akira…?” Kodamon asked faintly.
Akira had stopped screaming and lay on the floor, unconscious.
Then, the energy inside the chamber increased, and the static and blinking digital snow increased. Seita and Yuka and their Digimon disappeared first, followed by Tian and Renamon. Then, Jun and Mana and their Digimon faded away.
“Hold on tight!” Rion yelled over the static, “This might get a little wild!”
Kei grabbed onto him with one hand, and Akira with the other. Kodamon held onto Terriermon and Guilmon.
Then they all winked out from the chamber, like a television turning off.