Author's Note: I'm sure many of you were awaiting the return of a certain Servant. Welcome back to another chapter of Digital/Extra. Let's see where this leads! It's late, I got sick for nearly two weeks then last week of the term came up, talk about inopportune timing! But I also had partially finished Kaiju and Lunar Hearth and being sick just drains away all the energy. Well, at least I'm better now. Also working on another Digital Culmination chapter.

P.S. I'm heading to Disney World this following week, also planning on finishing a new story while I'm there! It's not a Digital Human story for once!

Danny: No, I meant Knightmon, because its next evolution is Crusadermon.

Jmcdavid:About time indeed! Jogress was a long time coming.

Celian Cogitore: Most definitely the Moon Cell would love to record the knowledge of the Digital World, only Hakuno is understandably hesitating, even if she logically knew otherwise.

King of Fans: Haha, yeah. Caster can get silly even in fights!

"After an endless dream, in this world of nothingness. It seems as if our beloved dreams will lose. Even with these unreliable wings, covered in images that tend to stay. I'm sure we can fly, on my love!"

Digital/Extra

Chapter 86: Elsewhere Reactions

Ken Ichijouji placed down his bag against the wall, closing the door into his room, but not locking it. He took a brief glance toward his computer monitor, its unpowered state seemed to taunt him like he expected it to suddenly turn on with either the imagery of Arukenimon or some other phenomena caused by the Digi-Port. Of course, neither such event occurred and the screen remained passively unlit. He reached into his bag on the floor and took out the D-Terminal, it was becoming more and more a habit to use the device, he could still recall how he hesitated in contacting the Digidestined and also how he'd used it to send orders to a certain girl while as the Digimon Emperor.

His memories as the Digimon Emperor were a blur and hard to recollect with the exception of those involving Hakuno Kishinami, which could be remembered with vivid clarity. Ken didn't know why this was the case, perhaps the darkness the influenced him was countered in some manner by the nature of a Digital Human?

It was an illogical theory, even by the Digital World's standards.

"Welcome back, Ken," The in-training form of his digimon partner greeted him, hanging from one of the bed pieces.

"Thanks, Minomon," He greeted back warmly. "Anything happened while I was away?" He said as he booted up the D-Terminal.

"Your mom cleaned up a bit, but not much else," Minomon replied.

"So that's why some things were re-organized," He answered. Fortunately, Ken always kept his D-3 Digivice and the Crest on his person, instead of leaving it in the computer desk drawer. While he didn't feel worthy of the so-called Crest of Kindness, it would be foolish to leave it behind, especially considering that Arukenimon had shown the ability to enter his room beforehand, though only for a limited time.

However, he learned a neat trick in stopping his personal Digi-Port from acting up, which potentially blocked Arukenimon's access to his home. It was simple, just have it linked to Kishinami's region and the girl's own network security did the rest.

She kept helping him, unknowingly or not, and Ken felt guilty for it. But he wasn't a fool to not use it to his advantage.

He powered up the D-Terminal and was immediately greeted by a barrage of e-mails, most of which were from the other Digidestined. He bit his lip and began to read the latest ones, a sense of dread filled him. They were in a battle against a powerful foe, Knightmon, who was apparently belonging to the 'Light Faction'. The very same faction that apparently wasn't taking too kindly to Hakuno Kishinami's interference in the Digital World.

Hastily, Ken began typing to respond about the situation when suddenly his D-Terminal began to freak out. He recognized this interference and turned his attention to his computer, which's screen had come to life and computer language ran through it at a rapid pace. Not only was that another tell-tale sign, but the lights in the room were flickering.

Something big had occurred in the Digital World for interference to happen in the Real World.

He took a glance at his Digivice, expectedly, it remained unheeded by the surrounding chaos. Which only served to give evidence to his prior theory.

"What happened, Ken?" Minomon asked.

"I don't know, the others are in trouble," He replied and walked over to the computer, raising his black D-3 to its screen. "Digi-Port, Open."

It did not respond in the way he expected.

"What's that?" Minomon questioned."

Ken Ichijouji examined the content on the screen, the standard Digi-Port interface had been replaced by the imagery of a blue cube-like structure, with crimson words placed in front of the object.

"... SERAPH access restricted?" Ken said in confusion.

However, after a minute, the computer screen, as well as all surrounding electronics, returned to a state of normalcy, the mysterious cube vanished in place of the usual Digi-Gate.

His mind blanked a bit at what had just occurred.

But he then set it aside and moved to attempt another entryway into the Digital World-

A knock on the door occupied by his mother's voice called to him, "Ken, everything alright?"

He lowered his D-3, "Yes, mother. Everything is fine!" He replied, and quickly glanced back to the D-Terminal.

She opened the door, and Ken Ichijouji realized quickly that he was trapped here. On the flip side, it seemed the Digidestined were alright, as they just sent another message concerning the situation.

It had been a few hours since Taichi Kamiya had heard the news from Koushiro, and only thirty minutes since his friend had shown the recording to him and the rest of the Older Digidestined about the occurrences that occurred in the battle against Knightmon. They were fortunate that the D-3's had a type of recording, even if it was limited in what it showed.

Now, here they all were, the original cast brought together in Koushiro's household with Mimi connected through a laptop to converse alongside them. Only, the exception that both Takeru and Hikari were still in the Digital World, having decided beforehand to stay there for a few days.

"The situation has worsened," Koushiro began the meeting, bringing an air of tension to an otherwise pleasant re-gathering. "I know that everyone has their own goals, concerns, and responsibilities in the Real World. Furthermore, in spite of that, you've continued to help in the Digital World in any free time you gathered," He acknowledged and took a moment to breathe. "But now we're on a time table."

Yamato spoke up, "We all saw the video, Izzy." He said. "So let's cut to the chase, what do we really know about these Factions and more importantly, Hakuno Kishinami."

"Matt," Sora spoke in a slight berated tone.

Yamato raised his hand, "I meant no offense, I trust her. She's basically part of the newer Digidestined now."

Joe nodded, "Matt only was addressing the point. But I think we should save that discussion for last."

"I agree!" Mimi's voice came out of the laptop's speakers, her face on the screen wasn't the best quality, but it was impressive with how new the technology was. "I want to know more about what we're dealing with."

"So, Izzy," Taichi said. "I know a bit but you're the one in the loop."

"At the moment, there are three factions," Koushiro raised an equal number of fingers as he began. "Four if you count Homeostasis."

"Who?" Sora inquired.

"From what I gathered, Homeostasis is the same entity responsible for our group of Digidestined, the creation of the digivices of our generation," Koushiro explained. "It interacted with most of us beforehand during our fight with the Dark Masters through Kari, and recently to talk with Hakuno."

Taichi frowned, "Admittedly, I don't very much like the idea of Homeostasis possessing Kari."

"I can understand that," Yamato replied. "So, the others are Light, Darkness, and Arukenimon?" He questioned.

"I'll sum it up as quickly and simply as I can," Koushiro began. "The Light Faction is an entity known as King Drasil, alongside his 'Knights' that serve him are in opposition to Homeostasis and Hakuno. We know at the very least that the Knights are Ultimate-Level Digimon. The Dark Faction, in contrast, we know even less about, presumably, Daemon is part of it and also shows great hostility towards the Servant we know as Archer, who was abducted by King Drasil." He took a small breather before continuing. "Lastly, Arukenimon. She was the individual responsible for manipulating Ken into the Digimon Emperor and has the uncanny ability to use the Control Spires, both to activate them and prevent normal digivolution or use them as disposable tools to create artificial digimon."

"Such as Blackwargreymon," Joe pointed out.

"Seems to be that she couldn't control a Mega," Mimi said. "Blackwargreymon isn't mindless as the others were."

"Thank goodness for that," Sora commented.

"The Control Spires only prevent digivolution with her nearby, right?" Matt said. "Then we should be able to destroy many of them without Arukenimon being able to stop us older Digidestined."

"The newer generation has also gained normal digivolution and have been using it to full effect," Koushiro mentioned. "But yes, it would help if we could trim down the number of Control Spires. They are disrupting the Digital World by their presence."

"Even inactive?" Mimi said in confusion. "Don't they have no power?"

"They still have a passive effect, hard to explain, but let's just say they are possibly one of the reasons why Kishinami can't stay in the Real World," He replied.

"Explains why Kari and the others are spending so much time destroying them," Taichi said. "We still don't know why exactly this so-called 'Light' Faction is hostile to Hakuno. If they're protectors of the Digital World, why go against someone who's helped?"

Surprisingly, Joe answered, "She's an unknown entity, both to us and them. Her abilities to interact with the Digital World and technology probably threaten King Drasil's position."

"King Drasil knows about Homeostasis," Mimi said. "So he probably believes us Digidestined are no threat because he's aware of how we were chosen. However, our adorable friend is a wildcard."

"What a mess," Sora shook her head, placing a hand against it.

Koushiro agreed, "There's a lot going on and the intel is only getting more convoluted. That's not even taking into account exactly what is going on with Hakuno Kishinami."

"Digital Human…" Taichi crossed his arms. "She seemed alright at first in the Real World."

"She's more similar to Gennai, but unlike him, not similar to Digimon," Koushiro said. "Paradoxical, her very nature seems to interact differently with the Digital World… Like she wasn't born of it."

"Perhaps she wasn't?" Sora said. "Gennai explained that Myotismon's gate could have opened to different worlds."

Joe nodded, "In the time I served as Hakuno's doctor, she clearly didn't heal like a Digimon would, and the injuries were like humans rather than Digimon."

"True, and it's not like we haven't met people from other worlds-" Koushiro stopped himself. He frowned, wondering why he had spoken about that despite it not being the case.

"The Digital World is in itself a different world," Taichi reasoned. "But it isn't our place to pry into her, the important thing is what is happening concerning her."

"So far, our only methods of helping her are the same as the newer Digidestined," Sora said.

"There is something I want to bring up," Koushiro started. "It involves-"

This was one of the most patient games he'd ever gone through. Nameless, also known as Archer, remained chained inside this prison room alongside his contemporary companion, Hackmon. A few times, one of the Royal Knights would attempt to gather information from him about what he is, but more often than not, he would be trying to gain knowledge about his Master, Hakuno Kishinami.

However, while dealing with the Royal Knights had proved bothersome, the true challenge lay in trying to gather any magical energy. This place was filled with an 'energy' but it was of a sort tied to the Digital World and its denizens. While mysteriously it provided him with enough to sustain his existence, it was also not granting enough to be able to trace any conceptually-strong enough weapons to aid him in escaping this place.

Hackmon was providing him pieces of information about the Royal Knights and King Drasil, but it was in exchange for what he knew had occurred in the Digital World. There was also the fact that Hackmon was also interested in what the Royal Knights demanded to know, but the digimon didn't press too much. Not that Archer had given any information about his Master, only the events that had transpired around the Digidestined.

Still, both he and Hackmon were restricted in their ability of what they could do.

Until a few short hours ago… That is.

It was fortunate that none of the jailors were nearby at the time. Archer had felt his contract with Hakuno Kishinami rekindle for a fleeting moment, alongside came a surge of magical energy that helped refill his reserves to a decent degree. It was a surprise, but not entirely shocking that his Master would find a way. She was likely working very hard.

His Master had presented him with the tool he needed, now he only needed to wait for the opportunity. The Royal Knight Digital Monsters that passed by had begun to fall under a repetition, which could be exploited.

"Looks like you have an escape plan in mind," Hackmon said under hushed whispers. "Can you break both of us out?"

Hackmon was stronger than the average digimon in his state of evolution, he was also knowledgeable about the area around them.

"Yes, during the next rotation," He answered.

It was time he stopped being a prisoner and revealed how difficult it was to face a Heroic Spirit.