A/N: Wewt! Managed to get this chapter done rather quickly after all. It's a little shorter than some, but it's certainly not lacking for content... there is one major event in this chapter that I've been building toward for a while. Though this is also where the story will start to get a little... complex. Starting next chapter, certain things are going to start unfolding that I'm not sure anyone is expecting.

Also, regarding the question about Commander Kaiba... I'll just admit that, yes, the name definitely came from Seto Kaiba. I always liked the name, and you can actually see a reference to it in Book Zero with the slightly altered Captain "Sato." However, in terms of personality, history, etc, Commander Kaiba is completely original, so don't be looking for any references to the original character.

Also, important note: I don't know how much I'll be updating for the next couple weeks. I'm going to be out of state for a while and I don't know how much I'll be able to get written immediate before leaving/after returning. Just letting you all know so that nobody wonders what happened if I don't manage to get any updates in during that time.

Chapter 11: Kaiser

If there is evil in this world, it lurks in the hearts of man.

A few more days, a lot more training, several more experiments and just as many refinements made to their armor... Daisuke was starting to regret getting out of that infirmary bed now.

They had gone from being totally idle to working every day, but it wasn't the good kind of work. Kicking the Kaiser's ass? Always good... but this was just training. It was physically exhausting and mentally tedious. Repetitive and hardly rewarding, even when they got compliments from Taichi and the others for how much they had improved.

Well, if nothing else, at least their training wasn't as strenuous as it had been at the start. They were doing less direct combat and more team coordination, which meant they got something of a breather for a few days, until they went back to the standard training again.

Daisuke stretched slightly as he stood from the couch in the lounge room, trying to flex that injured arm a bit. He'd gotten it out of the sling, at least, but he couldn't use it much. He was sorely tempted to head back to the infirmary and see if he could lie down in the DESbed for a few hours to recover faster or, pending that, take a trip to the digital world. The effect seemed to be more or less the same...

Grabbing a drink from the fridge, Daisuke stepped out into the main room. As he did he raised a brow, noting Iori was there and wearing his field armor again for some reason. Daisuke still had his on, but that was because they had wrapped up their latest training session less than an hour before and it was easier to just leave it on. His was actually pretty comfortable, plus it looked cool.

He figured out what was going on when he saw Iori draw his sword and present it to someone he didn't recognize... an older man who carried a wooden sword of his own. Daisuke had never met Iori's grandfather before, but he knew enough to recognize him, if only from the fact that he was the boy's sensei.

Chikara picked up the blade with the trained hands of a swordmaster, carefully shifting it around several ways to test its weight. Left, right, back, forward... not bad. He shifted into a combat stance, held the blade forward and made several practice swings through the air, freezing as he completed the last one. Finally, he drew the blade back and turned to Iori, taking the scabbard and sheathing the blade before handing it back to his grandson.

"Acceptable. The weight balance needs to be improved slightly, and I would like to test the sharpness of the blade for myself, but for now it will do."

Iori nodded, returning the blade to the rack that he had up on the wall. Daisuke said nothing, just continued to watch, actually a little curious to see the interaction between these two. It seemed to be like something out of the history books... but somehow, between the two of them, it didn't feel unnatural at all.

"You ever think about learning to use a sword?"

Daisuke blinked and glanced over to Veemon who was beside him as always, watching everything. He was, like all the digimon, a peculiar case. Daisuke noted some time ago that most of their partners rarely spoke in the company of the larger group, and he understood why... this was the human world. The fear of digimon was very real, even among the ranks of the Hunters, and so the children's partners had to be careful how much they said around others. They had no problems speaking their minds in private, but in the larger group... well, it was often just easier to let the experts discuss everything amongst themselves.

"Not really... a gun, maybe, but not a sword. Not that useful, especially now."

"Yeah, but it's good discipline. I mean, just look at Iori during training. You really should think about learning it."

He had a point... Iori took to Hikari's new combat training better than any of the others. It was just as tedious for him as for everyone else but he was already used to that sort of daily training routine. For him it just doing something he was already familiar with, simply in a different way.

As for saying he should learn to use a sword, that was all Veemon. He liked to learn and experience new things, and he often advised Daisuke along that same direction. That was simply the kind of person he was. He did that with food after he first arrived in the human world, he did that with technology during the early waiting periods, and he likely would have done that with sports and other such things if they actually had time to stop and play anything like that.

Still... Daisuke did have a certain level of discipline, but it was of a very different kind. He lived by his mission, even more so now that he was digidestined. He wanted to protect humanity no matter what, and he was learning how... the problem was he was doing all the learning here while the Kaiser was active in the digital world. He'd have no problem training every day if there was nobody to fight, but knowing the Kaiser was still out there, working on who knows what... it bothered him.

"Maybe. Maybe after we beat the Kaiser. Right now I just don't have time."

"Yeah right. You're just saying that. You'll forget about it later."

Veemon shrugged and headed back into the lounge to grab some food from the fridge. Sighing, Daisuke stepped forward and pulled the door closed behind him.

"Hey!"

He ignored Veemon's shout from the other side. The digimon was short enough that he would have a little trouble trying to get the door open again, so it would give Daisuke a momentary freedom from his pestering. He was getting a little tired of being the butt of everyone's jokes lately...

He then wandered to Koushiro's corner, glancing at a few of the side terminals to look over some of the recent reports. As usual, the geeks were working on their individual pet projects, but Koushiro made certain to keep a couple screens up with info on other recent events, just so people could check them at a glance if necessary.

So far, it seemed that the network security was perfect. No spies, no holes in the system... nothing the Kaiser could exploit. If the enemy was tracking them in the digital world, they had to be doing it some other way. Obviously the Kaiser still had a few more tricks up their sleeve that the team didn't know about yet...

Hmm... what about the spires? Maybe they were some kind of radar system.

While Daisuke stood pondering those questions, Iori concluded his formal business with his sensei. He'd written down everything that the man had advised on how to improve on his sword and armor, to be given to Miyako later on. Now there wasn't much else to do except chance back to his normal clothes and head home. Work at the Hunter base – his work, at least – was done for the day.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP-BEEP.

Iori glanced up toward Koushiro, noting the odd sound that was coming from... wait, that wasn't his terminal... nor any of the ones near him. Not the techies' computers with the vacant seats either. Where was that coming from?

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

Armadillomon caught the source before Iori did and headed over to it. It was coming from the... platform? That was the gate terminal... they didn't use it for anything but gate jumping. Why was that beeping?

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

The trio went over to inspect the computer to see what was up, though Chikara understandably stayed a step behind just in case something unexpected came through without warning. He wasn't foolish enough to think he could stand up to a digimon, sword master or no.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.

When Iori looked at the screen, all he saw was dots. Periods across the bottom of the screen; a new one for each time it beeped... there were spaces to divide them, but there was no pattern he could clearly recognize. It didn't seem to mean anything, it was just lines of dots, each one longer than the last-

Wait, nevermind. They just started over again. One beep, one beep, two beeps, three beeps...

"What's that?"

Veemon had finally gotten out of the lounge and moved over to join the group, noticing the conspicuous circle they were forming around the terminal. Hearing his partner's voice, Daisuke headed over as well, curious as to what was going on.

"It seems you're receiving a signal."

Chikara stated simply. He recognized this kind of signal from the old days of radio and the like, but he didn't understood how all this new technology worked, so he wasn't going to presume more than that.

"A signal from who? And what's it even supposed to mean? It's just a bunch of random beeps..."

Daisuke glanced around the front and back of the console, wondering if maybe this was just a hardware screw up or something. None of the other terminals had done this, even when they were receiving messages from the digital world.

"It's not random. It keeps getting longer, then it resets to the beginning again."

Iori countered, pointing out the dots on the screen. They came in sets, with spaces between them, and it seemed to be repeating a certain sequence over and over. However, he still had no idea what that sequence was...

"...Fibonacci."

Chikara muttered, his eyes locked firmly on the screen, watching the dots as they reset once again and began their third cycle through. Both Iori and Daisuke gave him odd looks, clearly not knowing the reference. Personally, he was no expert on math either, but he recognized this much, at least...

"That's the Fibonacci sequence. One, one, two, three, five, eight, thirteen... Izumi!"

Koushiro recoiled slightly and turned to look back. It was the first time that the elderly man had ever even addressed Koushiro, so the boy certainly wasn't expecting it. Add to that the fact that he had been totally immersed in his work and he was doubly caught off-guard, particularly by the intensity in the man's voice. Wasn't hard to tell that he was a retired police officer...

Fortunately, seeing the whole group standing there by the terminal alerted him to the fact that something was wrong. Standing, he took several steps toward them until his ears caught the beeping. Then he paused, simply listening as it started to cycle through again. Two, three, five, eight...

Suddenly, he ran back to his computer, switching over to check the status of the gate terminal. The network hadn't picked up the signal because it was so small... it was being sent in single bits and none of it was unique to the digital world. No living data, just a simple code, repeated again and again. However, that had an added benefit to it as well...

"Clever. They managed to bypass the interference by sending a signal so small that it slipped right through."

"Where's it coming from?"

All Daisuke knew was that it wasn't random, and that meant somebody was sending it on purpose... someone from the digital world, he assumed. Who else would send a signal specifically to that terminal?

"Digital world, a minor sector... we've scouted there before. Nothing important there that I know of..."

"Can you send a signal back?"

A few more confused glances went Chikara's way, but nobody thought to question him. He was a man who wasted no words in times like this, so he wouldn't have been speaking if it wasn't important.

"I'm not sure... I can't send much. I think it's coming from a gate terminal. Those weren't designed to communicate with."

"Send back a signal just like theirs. Twenty-one beeps."

Koushiro paused a moment as it clicked in his brain. Ah... of course. If someone was there to receive their reply, then they'd know the children got the signal, whatever it was for...

"What are you doing, dagyaa?"

Chikara glanced down to Iori and his partner, his gaze more hard and professional than the boy had ever known. Then again, he hadn't known his grandfather back when he was an officer. It was rare that he ever had to get so serious as this anymore, even during training... then again, training was just that. Lives were never at risk. He couldn't necessarily say the same here...

"Continuing the sequence."

He motioned for everyone to step back from the platform, just in case. After a few seconds Koushiro informed them that he was sending the reply. The beeps from the computer resumed to the end of its current cycle, then... stopped.

They waited... at first it seemed like nothing was going to happen, but after about fifteen seconds the beeps resumed, only this time in a different pattern. Iori and Daisuke listened for a moment, but once again they couldn't figure out what it meant.

"Three, one, one, one, three... what's that mean? More math stuff?"

Daisuke groaned. He hated this... he didn't sign up to fight the Kaiser with math. Better just to go there in person and ask. Hell... that's what he was sorely tempted to do right then.

"That's not math. It's Morse Code. S-O-S."

There was a silence that hung over the room a moment. Though they hadn't been able to recognize the previous codes, Daisuke and Iori at least understood what that meant... alert. There was danger. Koushiro recognized it as well, and double-checked the map, realizing something that he hadn't noticed before... something so obvious that it should have been the first thing he noticed.

"...that sector is right on the edge of the Kaiser's territory."

"Where is everyone?! Hikari, Miyako, Taichi!"

Daisuke grabbed his digivice and ran over to Koushiro's terminal, double-checking the map with his own eyes just to be certain. Yes... it was there. An area on the edge of the Kaiser's territory, sending them an emergency signal? There was no studying or research crap involved here. No big secret as to what was happening. The Kaiser's silence was over... the enemy was going on the offensive.

"Miyako's at home, she's working more on refining her armor. Since she wasn't here for training, Sora didn't even come in today, and Hikari left with Taichi earlier, right after training ended. I don't know where they went."

"Are they still in the base?"

"No."

It seemed odd for Iori to answer when he wasn't standing at any of the terminals to check, but he didn't need to check. The very fact that the enemy was moving proven that in and of itself...

"If they were... the Kaiser wouldn't be attacking now."

Daisuke immediately understood the implication he was making. Reports be damned... the enemy knew the exact state of their forces. Somehow, they were in the Hunter network and they knew that the other digidestined had left the base. Only two left, one with a slightly injured arm and both being ground-based fighters. This was the worst position for the children to be in...

"We don't have time to get everyone here..."

Veemon muttered and Daisuke clenched his digivice in his fist. Damn the Kaiser...! This was what the waiting was all about... stall until they got lax, left themselves open, got distracted... however it happened, it equaled the same thing. They couldn't fight back. They didn't have the manpower.

"If we go in now, we're dead."

Daisuke muttered, hating himself for even saying it. He wasn't a fool... he knew what a suicide mission looked like and this was obviously one. The enemy made damn sure of that... somehow.

"But if we don't-"

Iori muttered, though his words were cut off by the sound of rattling metal behind him. He turned to see his grandfather grabbing his sword from the mount on the wall and swiftly carrying it back to him. When he held out the sword for Iori to take, the boy turned to face his fellow chosen child, silently inquiring about his own feelings, though both of them knew he didn't need to... after what risks Daisuke had already taken before, it was clear where he stood.

Nobility before reason, and he wasn't ashamed to admit it. Suicide mission? Sure... but like Taichi, he could live with that. He wasn't sure he could live with knowing he left those digimon to be enslaved by the Kaiser while he stood back and did nothing. To hell with the risk... if he had any choice, he was going, no question.

The boy glanced down next, making sure his partner was on board as well. Oddly, Armadillomon was the only one present who didn't seem to share the dire mood of the rest of the group.

"I trust you, Iori. Whatever you decide, I'll follow, dagyaa."

Some considered Armadillomon a bit simple compared to some of the other digimon... and maybe he was? A simple mon with simple tastes and simpler feelings. He wasn't the strongest or the smartest...he wasn't the most clever by far, but so what? It wasn't his job to be. His job was to protect Iori, his pleasure was to help the rest of the team...

Of course, that didn't make him a fool either, but what was the point of trying to out-think the rest of the team with the way things were? Let the geeks do the smart-people stuff. He was attentive, and for now that was enough. The day might eventually come where he would be called to help make a decision, and if it did he would rise to the occasion, but for now? For now he was simply playing his role...

Though, in a way, he had been called on to make a decision, and he had done so, giving his partner the confidence he needed to move forward.

Iori gave a firm nod and looked back up to his grandfather. That was what Armadillomon preferred. He didn't want to show off or look good, he wanted to see everyone else look good, especially Iori. Give them a chance to show their best side and offer them the support they needed to do it.

Iori didn't really understand the logic of his partner's mind, but he understood all he needed to. His partner was following him and Veemon was following Daisuke. This was still insanely dangerous, but... they could do this. They had to do this. There was nobody else there who could.

Iori took the sword and strapped it on. Fortunate that they were already suited up, for they had no time for delays. Looking up to Daisuke, his expression made it clear that he was waiting for instruction. Chikara's early advice hadn't been forgotten. Iori was no leader... not yet, certainly, so if someone was going to lead it had to be Daisuke. The boy was clearly the more ambitious between the two, so it was time to make something of that ambition... time to be a leader.

Daisuke nodded and rushed over to the terminal to grab a pair of comm units, taking one back to Iori before quickly donning his own.

"Okay! Koushiro, call everyone and get them back here! We're going on ahead – we'll try to blunt the attack as much as possible! Send everyone else as soon as they arrive!"

He shouted as he finished putting his gear on. Then, without another moment or thought, they deployed to the digital world... having no clue who or what they would be encountering on the other side until they arrived.

After a dozen or so times heading to the digital world expecting an ambush that never came, Daisuke was almost convinced that this occasion would be just the same. A false alarm, or at least a situation that wasn't nearly as dire as they expected...

Holy shit was he wrong.

They weren't jumping into a combat zone... they were jumping into hell. They were greeted upon arrival by a a cacophony of screams accompanied by a massive explosion a few dozen yards away, at the edge of what appeared to be a large village. They could see the fight – if it could be called that – clearly enough, and it was as one-sided as anything could ever be.

At least two hundred digimon were attacking, swarming the village, though they weren't directly attacking the natives. They were simply driving them out... out into the open, and it wasn't any wonder why. Behind the army, dozens of free-floating rings hovered in the air, moving with the rest of the Kaiser's army, a few launching out from the mass to capture digimon whenever they become exposed.

Daisuke froze for a moment at seeing the mass of enemies, remembering... remembering...

A year ago. Myotismon. The swarm, the final sweep... the horror of war, right there on his own doorstep. Barriers falling, Hunters being driven back by a massive tide of enemies, people getting killed and... wounded. Crippled.

Jun.

Daisuke's fist and teeth both clenched once again as that moment of fear turned to anger.

JUN!

"DIGIVOLVE!"

Veemon and Armadillomon shifted together as one and ran toward the village with their partners right behind them.

"There's no time to plan!"

Daisuke shouted instinctively. He knew going in without a plan was a terrible idea, but they had no other choice. He had to make sure Iori was prepared for it... the worst thing that could happen in the midst of the chaos would be for him to hesitate.

"Lead, Daisuke! We'll follow your orders!"

If Daisuke was in any sort of right mind, he might have felt flattered that Iori trusted him so completely, but in that moment his mixed rage and survival instinct blanked out any such feelings. His only thoughts were on the battle. A thousand things going wrong, and he had to figure out what to prioritize... no time to try to be heroic. They had to win.

"Flamedramon, the rings! Digmon, ground sweep! Iori, with me!"

With him? So the children were doing something different than their partners, then? Well... okay, Iori wasn't going to argue, though he was suddenly very glad that he had a sword at his side.

He was even more confused when Daisuke turned to charge the fleeing digimon, trying to move around to... cut them off? What the heck was he doing?

"STOP!"

Even with the intensity in his voice, Daisuke only barely managed to catch the attention of the digimon. They were in chaos... panic. They didn't much care what anybody said or did, they just wanted to get out. However, Daisuke holding up his digivice caught their attention long enough for them to actually realize that... well, he was human. He and Iori both. Humans in the digital world... they were digidestined.

"You can't outrun the Kaiser! You have to FIGHT! We have to fight together! All of you, get behind me! You, attack those rings!"

Daisuke motioned to all of the digimon that appeared to have any sort of flying abilities. They were mostly small creatures, of course... children, with only a couple adults at most. Maybe a few adult level, but nothing that could put up a serious fight against the enemy army. However, the rings weren't especially tough... a single good hit was enough to eliminate one. As long as they had the armored digimon protecting them from the swarm, they might be able to hold off those rings.

It was still a gamble, though... Daisuke knew they wouldn't be able to stop the rings forever, so he was hoping that the enemy didn't have any in reserve. Based on what he saw, the number appeared small enough that they could take most of them down before the digimon from the villatge got tired or overwhelmed... but against the Kaiser one never knew quite what to expect.

Fortunately, the enemy's tactics hadn't adjusted for the children's presence yet. They were still only launching a couple rings at a time, and none of them got past Flamedramon's rain of fire.

Iori went to reorganizing the digimon line, calling everyone to their proper positions. The toughest digimon in front, weaker ones in back to attack from a distance, and all the aerial ones above and behind to cover the rest of the group. So far it was only the rings, but he wasn't going to take a chance and assume that the enemy army wasn't going to come out of the village and chase after them, especially once they realized what was happening.

"Flamedramon! Help Digmon! Hit the army!"

Their miniature army was set up... hopefully they could stop the rings on their own. Their partners had to prioritize the enemy attackers now. There were too damn many to just leave them until all the rings were gone. They had to strike first and knock off as many as possible before the Kaiser turned the full force on the children.

In the chaos that followed, a couple dozen digimon had their rings blasted off and, fortunately, most of them came around to join the little makeshift army. Their local resistance, as it were. Then the enemies drew back, into the limits of the village and behind the buildings to cover themselves from any sort of attack.

The enemy was reacting... shit. The battle was about to shift, and not for the better. Daisuke ran forward until the partner digimon could hear calling. Time to change tactics...

"Team, back! Iori, get the villagers out of here!"

One command to the digimon ahead, the other through the intercom to the boy behind. As the partners ran back toward him, Daisuke noticed the enemy lines shifting, as if they were preparing for something. Shit! Out of time... no way to run fast enough.

"Digmon, help Iori! Flamedramon...!"

Before the words even came out of his mouth, his partner knew what he wanted. Idiots, both of them. They'd get chewed all the hell out for this if they made it back home, but there was no other choice. They needed time for the villagers to be able to flee and hide in the woods or otherwise find means to get away. If the enemy swarmed them first, they were dead. He had to keep the Kaiser's eyes on something else... on them.

"Time to start a-"

Diasuke muttered to himself almost idly, a sort of instinctive reaction to what was coming. He tended to rattle off random phrases like that when he was mentally prepping for something big... like charging to his death. However, as he realized what he was saying he suddenly stopped.

Time... to start a fire?

"Hit the village!"

For the first time, Flamedramon gave his partner a look that indicated that he was crazy, but then... they both already knew that. Still, hitting the village? Was he actually saying what it sounded like he was?

"Set the buildings on fire! Burn it all to the ground!"

Their allies had all fled. The village was lost either way... but they needed a distraction, and the enemy was hiding in the village and using the buildings as shields. Well, that worked both ways. A shield of fire... Daisuke couldn't try to get into the village, but he could at least make it hell for the enemies to get out.

Meanwhile, Iori noticed the fact that Daisuke and Flamedramon weren't coming back with Digmon... as if it was possible not to. Iori knew what he had to do then. That idiot was going to get himself killed without backup. He had a responsibility to the villagers too, of course... but he also understood Daisuke's logic at some instinctive level. Distract the enemy... that was their best chance to get out.

"Everyone, stay close together and head for the trees. Hide as much as you can and just get away. We'll keep the Kaiser busy until you're safe..."

Gesturing to Digmon, the digimon nodded and reached down, pulling Iori up onto his back before turning around yet again to head back toward the village for what might possibly be the final time...

Back at the village, flaming darts struck most every building in sight, igniting the edge of the village into a wall of fire that sent the enemies into chaos, forcing a good number of them back further in order to escape the flames.

The rest charged forward, emerging from the growing inferno to charge Flamedramon. Fortunately, they were all slightly disoriented from the fire... the searing heat, the roaring sound, the bright light and the smoke blocking their view... on the other hand, Flamedramon was literally made for this kind of battlefield.

Their rings were shot off with ease and more darts were fired, igniting the few buildings that stood unscathed at the edge of the village. No more enemies emerged from the flames on the ground, but apparently the Kaiser had gotten a bit annoyed at Daisuke's tactics and decided to take the hard approach to counterattacking. Out from the billowing smoke above emerged several dozen fliers – large, ravenous birds with twisted talons and beaks, indicating that they were likely taken from some of the less pleasant parts of the digital world... and the Kaiser had sent them here to serve as part of the main offensive force. Oh joy...

Flamedramon jumped back and prepared to unleash a array of flaming darts to start knocking them down, but before he could the swarm was scattered by Digmon's drills smashing into the center of the group, obliterating a half-dozen rings and forcing the rest to break off and regroup.

"Iori! What the hell are you doing?!"

Daisuke skipped surprise and went straight to anger. No time to sit and gawk at a time like this... but Iori had abandoned the fleeing digimon and left them vulnerable. What would happen if they got caught by the rings?

"Same as you!"

Daisuke growled under his breath. He couldn't argue with that... he really did need the backup, and maybe... just maybe they could distract the enemy enough that they wouldn't care to catch the rest of fleeing digimon?

Sure. That was as good a plan as any...

The children spent a good minute trying to hold their ground and knock down the fliers as much as possible, but there wasn't much they could do from there. They managed to hit one or two, but the enemies were flying war too high, and several of them were using the smoke for cover, making it even harder to hit them. They weren't attacking, though... why weren't they...

"They're stalling us!"

Iori shouted and Daisuke nodded. He was right... but why? The enemy was attacking. Why would they want to stall? He glanced back toward the fleeing refugees behind them. No rings in pursuit... what the hell was the enemy after?

"Iori, hold the line!"

The younger boy blinked. Hold the... what? What was Daisuke-

Oh. Oooohh no... you idiot. You complete idiot!

Iori had no time to stop Daisuke and Flamedramon from charging into the village, right down the center road, the only place where the flames were far enough away that the boy didn't get baked in an instant.

Oddly, most of the enemy fliers seemed to divert from attacking Iori and went after Daisuke... even though he was going into the village? What the heck? The enemy's whole army was there! Did they really need backup?

"BURN IT ALL!"

Iori barely caught the sound of Daisuke's voice over the flames and for the a moment he considered... well, maybe so. Against someone as crazy as Daisuke, anyone would want backup.

Flamedramon charged ahead, jumping onto nearby rooftops in order to propel himself even higher, launching fireballs from his airborne position to ignore any structures within range. Any enemies that were hiding between the buildings were forced out into the open or simply away. Those that came forward had their rings shot off in an instant, and the rest... well, they weren't a problem with a giant wall of fire between them and Daisuke.

Then the pair went deeper, right toward the heart of the village, to the center square where Daisuke expected to find the most dense concentration of enemies. However, oddly... there was no such thing there. The enemies had all withdrawn, forming a wall further back, and instead there was...

Okay, what the hell was that?

In the center of the square, lying on the ground, was a small object of some sort, though Daisuke couldn't see it clearly. All he could see was that it was of some kind of standard geometric shape. Symmetrical, sharp edges... but he couldn't tell any more than that for the simple fact that the thing was glowing too brightly, and it was only getting brighter by the second.

There was also a sound. An odd, static-like noise that seemed to be coming from the object, or... not. It got louder as Daisuke stepped closer, but it didn't seem like it was actually coming from the object. Rather, it was coming from all around him. All around, yet it got louder as he got closer? How did that make any sense? What, was the glowing thing attracting it like-

Waaaaaait a minute... he knew that sound. That was Koushiro's noise. The thing from the briefing. The static noise... the... the signal.

The SIGNAL! Of course the object on the ground wasn't making it – it was receiving it! It was also growing... brighter, and slightly larger as well. The Kaiser was transmitting the signal to this thing in order to... what, activate it? What the hell was this thing, anyway?

"Daisuke!"

Flamedramon caught the boy's attention and called it upward, pointing back toward the center of the enemy line. In the midst of all the enemies was a large, winged creature that neither of them recognized. Some kind of gray- well, okay, every one of the enemies was gray, so that didn't mean much... but it was a large, wicked looking, dragon-like creature with four eyes and as many wings. However, for how freaky that thing was to look at, it wasn't what had caught Flamedramon's attention.

There was something on its head. No... not something. Someone. A humanoid creature, wrapped in a cowl and cape, donning a suit of armor, complete with a mask. Both the armor and cape were silver with black trim, which advertised as clear as anything that it was connected to the Kaiser. Possibly some kind of general?

From the way that the armor covered its entire body, Daisuke initially assumed that it was some kind of human-like digimon, similar to Andromon or Wizardmon. Though what was odd was the fact that it was silver, not gray, and there was no visible ring on it. A willing servant of the Kaiser, or... could that have been the Kaiser itself?

Then he caught it... the thing that Flamedramon had noticed before calling his attention up to the enemy. It was just a tiny thing at the edge of the figure, held firmly in its hand. It was white, which made it difficult to see initially due to all the silver that tended to catch Daisuke's eye. However, once he got a good, long look at it, he realized what it was.

The figure seemed to recognize that he noticed it as well and shifted its... shifted his hand slightly to actually give Daisuke a better view. The shape, the faint glow in the center... that was all the confirmation he needed. That was...

"Oh... my... god."

"Daisuke, what's going on?"

Iori shouted over the comm and Daisuke didn't reply. He simply stared, struggling to believe that what he was seeing was actually real.

Back at the edge of the village, Iori noted the fliers withdrawing... into the village? Were they going after Daisuke? Dammit!

"Daisuke! What-"

"Iori, withdraw."

At first the boy couldn't believe his ears, first because of the words said and also because of the tone that carried them. He sounded... shaken. Worried. Even outright scared.

"Wh... what?"

"I said WITHDRAW! Get out of here as fast as you can! Go to the terminal and get back to the Hunter base, NOW!"

Daisuke was... ordering a withdrawal? He had committed this far to the fight and now he was running away? Was that even possible? Daisuke was the most stubborn and headstrong member in their whole team. Worse than Miyako, Taichi... worse than anyone, and he was running scared now?

It took all of Iori's courage not to run fleeing the instant that realization hit. One thing kept him there though... he remembered the last time he'd gone on ahead of someone and what happened. Not again. He wasn't leaving alone.

"I'm not leaving without-"

He never had time to finished that sentence before Daisuke and Flamedramon burst through the wall of smoke, running at full speed away, toward the gate terminal. Without a command, Digmon reached down to grab Iori and hoist him up, running with the others from whatever the hell was behind them... he made surprisingly good speed too, despite being one of the slowest members of the team. Then again, for all he knew the entire enemy army was about to come down on their heads like the wrath of hell, so he was damn well gonna run as fast as his legs could take him...

As they reached the terminal, Digmon stopped abruptly to look back, having noted something odd... light reflecting off the trees ahead, but nothing that looked like either the color or angle of natural sunlight.

"Daisuke!"

Iori called the older boy's attention back, pointing back to the center of the village. Beyond the billowing smoke, something was showing through... an immense light that seemed to be covering the entire village. At first, Iori was preparing to jump through the terminal and back to the human world. For all he knew that was a giant bomb or something... but the way that Daisuke calmed as he faced it changed Iori's mind. What was going on?

Then a second later he saw it. As the growing light hit the peak of its brightness it seemed to warp, exploding outward for a moment only to implode a second later, drawing all that energy back in to the center of the village. The pressure of the shifting energy extinguished some of the flames and spread the smoke to further obscure their view, but then it all settled they could see clearly enough what was left in its wake.

A spire. A tower of silver, now standing dead-center in the middle of the burning village. Daisuke understood now... the spires were somehow linked to that same signal, like the rings. Like digimon. They were... alive, in a way. They weren't built, they were grown. He still didn't understand what they were actually for, but that was a question for another day. He had much more important news to report back to base. The face of the war had suddenly changed.

"Let's go."

Daisuke turned to the terminal and gave the signal. Iori didn't question it... there was obviously more than the spire that had scared Daisuke. So whatever was happening, he knew he'd find out in due time along with everyone else on the team...

Daisuke's silence after his return was even more unnerving than his words before. Daisuke was always so confident, loud... boisterous, even. Now he was dead quiet. All he did was tell Koushiro to call all the digidestined to the base, then he headed to the lounge. He was still there half an hour later once everyone had arrived. There had been some unexpected delays... unexpected to the team, at least. No doubt the Kaiser had known enough to predict them...

"Daisuke."

Taichi stood at the door to the lounge, looking in on Daisuke and Veemon who both sat there silently on one of the couches. Veemon's expression was pretty well neutral, though some concern was clearly visible on his face. Daisuke was the more serious case, though... he was hunched over, hands up to cover his entire face. He still wore his armor and smelled smelled faintly of smoke from the fire... while Iori changed back to his civilian clothes almost immediately, Daisuke didn't seem to care to.

Slowly, he raised his face and looked across to Taichi. When he did, the leader saw something he'd never seen before on that boy's face... dread. Not fear, not worry over what was going to happen, but the cold, somber knowledge that the future held something terrible... it wasn't unlike the first time the gen-one children had learned that Etemon was invading the human world. Knowing their friends and family were in danger... knowing that they'd have to fight in the streets, and it was not only possible but entirely likely that innocents would get caught in the middle of it all...

Daisuke stood and Veemon followed, both completely silent as they stepped out past Taichi and the others and walked to the briefing table. The boy unconsciously noticed the people around... just about everyone was there, save a few Hunter people. No Ryo or Masaharu... no Kaiba either, but that was to be expected. He rarely showed his face around there. All the rest though, both gen one and two, Momoe, Ken, Chikara... everyone was there, and everyone was waiting for him.

"Daisuke, what happened?"

Yamato spoke. He didn't respond. Daisuke kept walking, stopping at the head of the table before slowly turning, looking to find Iori among the group. As it turned out, he and his partner had come up right beside him.

"I told them everything I know about the mission."

He muttered and took a seat. Daisuke nodded, eyes downcast toward the table. Nothing else to say about that, then... all that was left was part he didn't know... the thing nobody knew yet.

Daisuke was barely sure he was ready to even say it... still, he cleared his throat and took hold of the edge of the table to steady himself. Start small... that's what Jun had told him once about being more diplomatic. Don't say everything at once. That's like hitting someone with a brick... try to ease into it.

"The Kaiser was there... leading the attack. I saw him with my own eyes."

The room was already tense from the unusual silence, but it suddenly grew. The Kaiser... up until now just a faceless name that they knew nothing about. Now one of them had seen it with his own eyes... and he was scared. Yeah, that was enough to worry the rest of them. But first...

"You're sure it was the Kaiser?"

Yamato wasn't trying to question Daisuke's intelligence, but he had to make certain. It was possible they were being tricked somehow... it wouldn't be the first time.

"...yeah, I'm sure. There was no ring on him... he was wearing silver armor with a mask..."

"Could it have been some other digimon working with the-"

"...and he had a digivice."

Jou's words fell totally silent, along with everyone else in the room. For several seconds there was nothing. No words, no movements... forget a pin, right then you could have heard a feather drop.

"Say that again."

Hikari took several steps forward, stopping beside Daisuke opposite Iori. Gatomon was, as always, curled up on her shoulder, but her claws were visibly bared, the only sign of the tension she was feeling...

Daisuke finally raised his eyes, and they were colder than they'd ever been. There was no child there... no reckless trainee ready to charge blindly into battle. Something in him had changed the moment he laid eyes on that device...

"The Kaiser was holding a digivice in his hand. One of these."

He reached down to grab his own and hold it up to clarify, just so that nobody would have to ask later. Gen-two, the same as all of the new children...

"He pointed it at me to let me see it. The screen was glowing – it was active. The Digimon Kaiser. Is. Human."

Human... their number one enemy in this war, and the one he had understood from the first moment to be who they would have to kill in order to stop the fighting... until that day he had thought it would be much the same as Myotismon or Etemon.

Daisuke didn't hate digimon. He didn't see them as less than human like some people did. He understood that digimon were people, just like any human, but something about them... something about the thought of destroying an evil digimon made it easier. Maybe it was what they'd done in the war... maybe it was that, knowing all about that attribute stuff, he felt they really were evil to the core and beyond redemption. Maybe it really was simply the fact that they weren't human like he was, so it didn't feel as damning.

But that didn't matter either way. It wasn't a digimon they were fighting, and it wasn't a digimon they might well be forced to kill at the end of the war. It was a human... a child, just like them. A child with a digivice.

A digidestined.

The silence resumed. It seemed that, for a time, nobody knew what to say at all. The leaders had no directions, the geeks had no suggestions. The revelation had stunned everyone and changed their entire view of the war, and now... just what the hell were they supposed to do?

"...Koushiro, what's the protocol for declaring a digital emergency?"

Such an emergency had already been declared, but due to some damn political nonsense the Hunters had reduced the threat level. They hadn't really known what they were up against before, but with this knowledge there was now no doubt that the enemy could get into the human world if they... if he wanted. They had to increase the threat level. They had to make everyone aware of what was happening...

"Any digidestined can declare an emergency or increase a lower level emergency up to level four, if they feel it's necessary. Going higher usually requires approval from Hunter command, although..."

"Although what?"

Koushiro paused, glancing around the room to the face of every destined child present. He wasn't an expert on politics, but being as experienced as he was with computers he knew how to take advantage of certain... rule systems.

"Due to certain protocols... it's possible for us to declare a level three emergency, but it would require the unanimous approval of all active digidestined."

"All in favor?"

Hikari asked without missing a beat, raising her hand, to be followed immediately by Taichi and Yamato, then most of the other members as well. Koushiro hesitated for a few seconds, as did Jou, but both of them eventually followed suit as well. Only one remained who didn't follow the others... and based on his expression he clearly had no intention of doing so.

"Iori?"

Chikara was... curious. Not necessarily surprised, as he could see several potential reasons why he wouldn't go along with the suggestion. The fact that it was so rushed and not sufficiently thought through was a big one, along with others... but he was specifically interested to know what his grandson's reasons were.

Hikari lowered her hand, turning toward the boy with confusion. He was actually one of the last people who expected not to go along with this... he was one who tended to play things safe, and getting the Hunters alerted to what was going on to get backup seemed like the safest option they had.

"Hikari... are you actually ready to tell the whole world about this?"

"What? Tell them about wh-"

"We just found out that the Digimon Kaiser, the one who's taking over the digital world and enslaving digimon, is actually a human. Not just a human, a digidestined, like all of us."

"Yes, and they need to know-"

"What do you really think they're going to say to that? Right now, we're the only thing connected to the digital world that everyone isn't scared of, and people are still scared of all of our partners just because they're digimon. What will happen if we tell them that one of us is now our enemy?"

Hikari went silent, and with that several hands dropped, starting with Yamato and... Daisuke, of all people. After them, the others started falling, one by one until they were all down again.

"People do need to know... but only people we can trust. Masaharu and Kaiba and Ryo... our families... but not the whole world. Not yet. I'm not ready to tell everyone about this until we can tell them all what we're actually fighting for. What the Kaiser's really after, and what we're trying to stop."

Hikari slowly nodded. He had a point... one that she hadn't initially realized in her rush to up the emergency level and alert the world to the crisis. The fact that the Kaiser was human meant his goals might be completely different then they imagined... hell, for all they knew, the human world might not be in danger. How did they know he wasn't simply retaliating for what happened in the war? Granted, this would be a horrendously stupid way to go about it, but... it was still possible.

"I'm calling my dad and Ryo. I'll report this to them personally. Taichi, you coming?"

Yamato motioned to his semi-brother and rival who nodded and turned to the exit along with him. It was a somewhat rushed reaction, but in this case everyone could understand it. Better to have something to do than just sit and ponder the implications of what it meant to be fighting a fellow digidestined...

"I'll start collecting information that could help us work out the identity of the Kaiser. I'll set up a secure file in the SDZ records for everyone to review for the future. I'm not sure what kind of legwork we'll have to do in this world to track him down..."

Koushiro headed back to his terminal, calling for Mimi to follow him. She understood how people thought better than any of the other gen-one children, and figuring out who was the Kaiser was more than just technical work. Unless he left a trace somewhere in the network – and based on all they had seen so far, he hadn't – they'd need to track him down some other way.

They needed a system. First, a way to identify potential targets, and then a way to start eliminating them as possibilities. Given her knowledge of people, Mimi was the best to help set the parameters for that kind of system. If nothing else, her non-linear thinking would help him spot any problems in his work that he might overlook.

The first problem was even figuring out where to look. It was completely irrational to assume that grabbing a block of records from the civilian database and filtering through it in search of someone with a history that screamed DIGIMON KAISER would do them any good. The first step to beginning their search was in figuring out what kind of search they were even going to be doing...

While they started on that, the rest of the team all found tasks to do in the meantime as well... things to keep them occupied while their leaders reported to Masaharu about what they learned. Busy work, mostly... something to burn time with. They wouldn't need to do it for long. They all knew that soon enough they'd likely be called in for another briefing by Masaharu, and then... then they'd have to start exploring the new angle of this war.

They had to take the fight to the human world. They had to start the hunt for the Digimon Kaiser...