Awake and Alive

Chapter Twelve: Aftermath, Truths Revealed

"So, you must be strong to have defeated Devimon. He was no simple Numemon after all."

Tai staggered at the sight of the old man; it had been nearly a week since they had seen another human. "Who are you?"

"Are you a friend of Devimon?" Matt took the more cautious yet confrontational route. For this guy to appear right after their biggest battle yet to congratulate them? Something had to be up.

"Fear not," he assured. "For I am a friend to all, yet I am a friend to none."

Sora had her hands on her hips, "I can't believe it – there are actually other humans besides us in this world."

"I am human." Gennai told her. "And yet, I am not human."

"This is confusing," Mimi muttered while holding her head. "Do you come with subtitles?"

He harrumphed a bit indignantly before calming himself. "I am Gennai. I couldn't send this transmission during your battle with Devimon, but now the lines are clear and only ten cents a minute."

"Where are you?" Izzy asked curiously. "And why haven't we seen you before? Are there others like you around?"

"I am speaking to you from far away from File Island, across the ocean on the continent of Sever. You have never seen me before because File Island has been in a dark zone of non-communication since Devimon took over. Nothing could get in and nothing could get out. There are others like me around the Digital World; it is too big a place for just me to oversee."

"Talk about a long distance call," Sora mused. "How long have you been here?"

"Since before the beginning and until after the end," Was the cryptic response.

"Are you the one who got us stuck here in the Digital World?" Mimi questioned. "Or was it one of your friends?"

"It was not I."

"Then who was it?"

"It was..." Gennai began, trailing off thoughtfully. "I don't know."

"But Mr. Gennai sir, do you know what we need to do so that we can all get back home again?" TK asked hopefully, his arms wrapped tightly around his egg.

"No, I don't."

"Boy, you're a regular fountain of information aren't you?" Tai huffed

"I'm sorry I can't help you," Gennai apologized, sincere with his regret. "But you can be of help to me."

"How?" The reply was a mixture of wariness, excitement and reluctance. All they wanted to do was go home, but apparently they wouldn't be able to do so anytime soon.

"Please come to Sever and defeat our enemy. As the Digidestined I have faith in all of you."

Izzy shook his head, "That's crazy when we don't know your exact location."

"Good point, I forgot you're from out of town. Let me create a map for you on your computer."

"What if you're enemies are humungazoid?" Joe pondered with a hint of panic in his voice.

Izzy looked over his shoulder at his laptop with a thoughtful frown on his face. "Do you think we can beat anything tougher than Devimon?"

"Not presently." Gennai told him. "But if your Digimon can digivolve once more you might be able to do it."

"So we can digivolve even more?" Agumon beamed at the idea.

Gennai nodded slowly, "But you'll need something special to do it." His image faded and a picture of a necklace and a crest appeared. "If you have the tags and crests, your Digimon will be able to digivolve even further."