[tri OOM] The Crest of Light

Yamato doesn’t need Taichi to send him a message over the Network this time. Even on a different continent, he feels the moment when Hikari’s powers return.

They’re playing cards in the cramped tavern room they’ve rented, and as Koushiro sheepishly pulls the chips towards himself after winning his eighth hand in a row, every Crestbearer in the room feels the air shift.

It’s like music, or a voice, or -- something. A sound that pierces through Yamato’s thoughts and draws his attention westward, homing in on Hikari’s location as the Crest of Light blazes with power.

Through the open window of the room, he sees the evening star flare pink, washing the entire sky in shifting shades of fuchsia and rose. A moment later, the music fades from his head, and the sky ripples back into evening blues.

“What’s up with you guys?” Miyako asks, over her hand of cards. “You’re all being weird.”

“... I guess you need to get in touch with Taichi’s group,” Takeru says to Yamato, sounding just a little strangled.

“Guess so.”


---


Yamato Ishida has entered the room.

Taichi: You felt that, huh?
Sora: I think we all did.
Yamato: Hikari?
Taichi: Yeah. We made a run at the next hostage location, and the Mystery Man attacked us with Nanomon. We don’t know exactly what caused it, but Hikari’s Crest of Light reactivated.
Yamato: Did you rescue the hostage? And has Nanomon been taken down?
Taichi: Yeah. It was Ken. He’s still groggy, but we got him out okay. Hikari and Angewomon took down Nanomon.
Sora: That just leaves Daisuke to find.
Taichi: And our Mystery Man is down to seven zombie Digimon. Half of us have our powers back now, too, so that’s pretty cool. What’s your status, Yamato?
Yamato: We’re near the next target. I want to gather some intel before we make a run at it, and there’s something in town I need to investigate.
Taichi: We’ll start heading east. Once we get closer, we’ll set a rendezvous location.

Yamato’s heart lifts a little. Three hostages rescued so far, and better yet, Taichi and his group on their way to reunite with them.

Taichi: What about you, Sora? How’s Meiko doing?
Sora: She’s actually really good at wilderness living. I guess she got a lot of practice in Tottori. No Mystery Man activity here, but I guess if he’s mostly interested in keeping us from rescuing those hostages, he wouldn’t bother with File Island.
Taichi: Right. Even so, keep an eye out.
Taichi: Be careful, Yama. Daisuke’s the only hostage left, so the Mystery Man doesn’t need to divide his attention anymore. He can focus it all on you now.
Yamato: Yeah, noted.

[tri OOM] Who felled the mighty tree

The evening star burning bright overhead, an arrow of light piercing the sky, and metal and plastic bending and deforming before Nanomon shatters into data.

Gennai flees as soon as the arrow lands. He has no desire to linger overlong in the presence of the Crest of Light.

He rematerialises in the lobby of a ruined tower, still with the acrid smell of Nanomon’s burning plastic body clinging to him, still wearing the slightly frazzled shape of Jyou Kido. Very carefully, very slowly, he reaches up and adjusts his -- well, Jyou’s -- glasses.

Nanomon is gone, skewered with one of Angewomon’s arrows. On its own, it wouldn’t be a considerable loss. Added to the loss of MetalEtemon, BlackWarGreymon, Archnemon, Mummymon, and Vamdemon, it’s a contributing factor to his ever-thinning forces. Only seven left. Six, if you remembered that PicoDevimon was neither powerful nor useful to his efforts.

Sooner or later, the Chosen would make a move on this tower, and Daisuke Motomiya. If they freed him, there would be no sanctuary from another Reboot, and for all of the many, many routes Gennai could take to achieve his goals, another Reboot would be a fatal roadblock to any of them.

Whistling a breath through his teeth, he shifts shape again, shoulders broadening and glasses vanishing, soft dark hair turning coarse and blond.

He could gather all of his forces here. With three Dark Masters and a handful of other Digimon, it would make a nearly impregnable defense. But it would also be positively inviting the remaining sleeping Crests to rouse themselves from dormancy, and that presented its own problems.

He flicks a hand. Two bundles of data appear in front of him, flickering and shifting, one green and one red -- the raw substance of two Digimon that he’d so painstakingly clawed and pieced back together from Homeostasis’ archives back during the Reboot. When he’d brought back his thirteen puppet Digimon, these two had been kept in reserve, held back until they could be proven useful.

One of them would be useful now. He adjusts his footing, shifting shape again, blond hair turning red, form shrinking down from teenage boy to teenage girl.

“A softer touch, then,” Gennai murmurs, dismissing the red bundle and raising his hand towards the green one. “Unlock environmental data for repurposing; load physical and consciousness data; draw power from all available energy sources. Begin reconstruction.”

“BE-GIN RE-CON-STRUC-TION.
PERFECT-LEVEL, VACCINE-ATTRIBUTE, PLANT-TYPE.
JUREIMON.”