Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

72) Rise and Revelation

The process of retreating to the inside of Koushiro's office was agonizingly long as far as Taichi was concerned. He knew it was only a few minutes, but his heart was pounding as he waited for the adrenaline rush to wear off. He could tell that there was something of note regarding the situation with Gennai before the man could even dream of speaking, and in a way, that was the worst part of all of this. Taichi could tell that there was something going on behind the scenes, something that made this entire situation much more complicated than it had any right to be. 

Gennai was exhausted for some reason, and he was so beyond dirty that it didn't even seem real. Taichi had always perceived Gennai as being so perfectly put together, like nothing was going to be able to tear him down once he put his mind to something. It was so beyond unnerving to see Gennai this way that it left Taichi's heart skipping a beat every once in a while. Something was wrong, and he could only imagine that whatever Gennai was about to say was only going to make everything that had happened that day worse. 

The Chosen Children sat down on the couches lining the inside of the room with their partners perched on their laps, and they looked to one another before Taichi finally found the strength to break the silence. "What's going on?" he asked simply. He didn't bother to go any deeper than that; he was sure that one question was going to take long enough to explain. 

"It's been a long time since we were last able to speak with each other, Chosen Children," Gennai said with a weary smile before he gave way to a full sigh. He looked at his feet, and something about him seemed oddly... Weak. Gennai was many things, but weak was not one of them, and it was strange to see him bowing in the face of something that had seemingly bested him when the Chosen Children hadn't been paying attention. 

"Why has it been so long since we last got into contact with each other?" Koushiro questioned, a frown on his face. He seemed to be the most anxious out of all of them, though Taichi had to admit that it made sense and was certainly in character. 

"I've been held captive somewhere," Gennai began, and the entire room seemed to rise in temperature at those five words. "It was a bunker in a sandy yet mountainous region of the Digital World."

"Wait... You were in the bunker?" Miyako echoed, her eyes going wide. "We heard about that place. It was the hideout for the Emissaries of Chaos, right? Why were you being held there?"

Gennai hesitated before he looked up. "I have learned much about the inner workings of the Digital World in the last few months. The force that's responsible for this attack on Earth... I know it by name, and it has managed to avoid our gazes for centuries of time within the Digital World. It goes by the name... Of Entropy," he said carefully. 

The Chosen Children glanced to one another in silence before Ken forced himself to speak. "Entropy?" he echoed. 

Gennai nodded. "Entropy is a force that has existed longer than even Homeostasis or any of the Agents of Order. He has endured for generations as a silent force of the Digital World much like Homeostasis. Where she was created by the birth of the Harmonious Ones, Entropy has existed since the dawn of time in the Digital World. Before Homeostasis arrived, the natural order of the Digital World was that the strong would triumph while the weak perished. The process of evolution and survival killed many Digimon along the way, and that... That was the nature of the world as Entropy willed it."

"What is this Entropy figure doing now then?" Yamato asked, everything about him growing tense. "Do you mean to say that Entropy is the one responsible for the Emissaries of Chaos?"

"He is. Entropy has done much over the course of the Digital World's history, but his way of thinking has remained the same the entire time. He wants to ensure that the strong thrive while the weak fall to the wayside. That was how he looked over the Digital World. The birth of Homeostasis brought on by the rise of the Harmonious Ones, the strongest Digimon in existence at the time, changed everything," Gennai went on. "Homeostasis assumed that she was the only power of her nature in the Digital World, and she worked against Entropy. He had remained in the shadows as he looked over the Digital World, and he ultimately fell out of sight as Homeostasis did what she could to establish the Digital World's modern order... One generally ruled by peace and stability."