Back with Homeostasis, Meiko and Meicoomon the three of them were admiring the new digieggs and digivices. Smiling she ran her finger over the glass and was about to turn to ask Homeostasis more about them. However the attack from Imperialdramon began and the explosion from the blast shook the room they were in. 
“What in the world?” Homeostasis questioned. 
“What’s going on!?” Meiko exclaimed. “Is it King Drasil?” Gennai appeared and rushed over. 
“It’s Imperialdramon. He’s firing on the hill.” Gennai explained. 
“He’s what!?” 
“Davis and Ken, what are they thinking!?” Meiko exclaimed. 
“Why are they here, Meiko?” Homeostasis demanded. 
“I don’t know but I’m going to find out. This is crossing a line.” Meiko clenched the digivice close to her chest. “Meicoomon, we gotta step up!” 
“Right!” 
“Meicoomon, digivolve to! Meicrackmon!” 
“Gennai, can you get us outside?” Meiko requested. 
“Sure, let’s go. Hackmon, bring Homeostasis with us.” Hackmon’s form nodded and the group teleported out. Upon landing outside, they stood opposed to Davis and Ken who had Imperialdramon behind them. 
“Figured that’d get your attention, we want a word with you!” Davis called out. 
“Davis, this is completely out of line!” Gennai scolded. 
“He’s not wrong.” Ken joined in. “Enough is enough and we want answers. Veemon almost died defending this world, we’re sick and tired of waiting to find out when our counters start. You’re gonna end this protocol now!” 
“Felt Made!” Meicrackmon shouted, creating copies of herself that surrounded Imperialdramon. 
“What the?” Davis looked around baffled. 
“Subtle Stun.” They all lunged in, swinging her massive stinger tail into the neck of Imperialdramon. Gasping he all but collapsed, splitting back into Veemon and Wormon.. 
“Oof, ok, maybe I’m not 100% yet.” Veemon confessed. 
“I may be a Stingmon, but that sure stung.” Wormmon complained. 
“What in the world do you two think you’re doing!?” Meiko jumped in.
“I told you, we want this stupid protocol, proto-dumped!” Davis fired back. 
“And this is the way to do it? You’re supposed to be guarding our world right now, if you’re not there and we have a breach who’s going to be responsible?” 
“Yeah but.” 
“Yeah but nothing. Davis, Ken, shame on both of you. I’m here taking the proper channels to getting your questions answered while you two throw a tantrum. Veemon isn’t even fully recovered yet. Go back to our world right now, or trust me there will be consequences for both of you for jeopardizing an emissary’s work!” Meiko warned. 
“Well put.” Gennai complimented. 
“Fine, but this isn’t over.” 
“Davis, if you try this again. I might have to fight you, don’t make me do that. I’m begging you.” Meiko pleaded. Ken sighed and put a hand on Davis’s shoulder. 
“Sorry Davis.” 
“Fine. We’ll go back and be good little guard dogs till you put us down. Jerks.” Davis quipped before opening a portal back to the real world. Ken picked up Wormmon and walked through behind Davis and Meiko sighed as it closed. 
“Meiko, that was quite impressive.” Gennai complimented once more. 
“You handled the situation well, and didn’t have to resort to violence. Once more you showed that Meicoomon’s progress into digivolving is going even better. That’s the first time I’ve ever sensed Meicrackmon and she seems perfectly stable like any other Ultimate level digimon.” Homeostasis carried on. 
“Thank you.” Meiko bowed as Meicrackmon appeared behind her. Meiko took hold of her hands and joined her in taking a long deep breath as she reverted to Meicoomon. “I’m so sorry for the interruption. Davis has been a bit of a handful lately. I think what happened to Veemon really shook him.” 
“I’m aware of the breach that almost claimed him. I was tempted to apologize for that as we took advantage of it to study it further. In doing so we may have inadvertently endangered Veemon and Armadillomon.” 
“Did you learn anything else?” 
“Yes, and it’s grave news. We should discuss it inside however.” In a snap, they were teleported back in. 

“Kari, T.K now!” Tai shouted. 
“Right!” They said in unison. “Digi-armor energize!” 
“Patamon armor digivolve to! Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!” 
“Gatomon armor digivolve to! Nefertimon, the angel of light!” 
“What are you doing, digivolving down here!?” Dorumon shouted. 
“Golden noose!” Pegasusmon and Nefertimon cried out, scooping up Dorumon and wrapping him around a pillar. 
“Don’t take it personal.” T.K called out. “But we know you and King Drasil want in to the vault for something and that’s not happening!” 
“You can just hang out here; we’ll come get you when we’re done!” Kari called back entering inside. 
“Oh you two timing, double crossing human filth!” Dorumon struggled to break free, but the shimmering chains held tight. Everyone rushed inside and as the doors gradually closed, Dorumon was able to break free and lunging he opened fire. “Dash Metal!” He shouted, firing on the door as it slammed shut. “Damn you!”
Inside, everyone was breathless at the sight before them. The vault was far bigger than they could have imagined. Stone shelves shaped in semi-circles were floating all around. The roof a good thousand feet high, leading toward a bright light above while the floor was cavernous and dark with even more stone shelves visible below. At the center was a platform with what appeared to be a workstation of some sort, but it was far off in the distance and hard to make out fully. 
“This room must span at least a few kilometers across!” Izzy stated in total awe. “We need to get to that work station.” T.K and Kari brought Willis and Izzy up onto their digimon. 
“Tai, stay with Terriermon and Lopmon we’ll come get you after we drop off Izzy and Willis, hang on.” Kari called out. Flying between the massive floating stone walls, they took a good few minutes to reach the work station before landing and letting Izzy and Willis down. The technology looked old, almost like 1970’s computers along with a clear glass station and monitor running in digi-code that appeared much more modern. 
“I gotta find a way to connect my laptop to this thing so we can find our digimon. Somehow I don’t think we’re gonna be able to search alphabetically.” Izzy thought aloud. 
“This digi-code looks a little familiar.” Willis said, rubbing his chin. 
“We’ll go back and get Tai and the others. You guys go to work, but be quick!” Kari called out, leading T.K back toward the entrance. 
“Took ya long enough.” Tai joked, waving at the two of them as they landed on the small platform. Jumping onto Nefertimon, along with Lopmon and Terriermon onto Pegasusmon they began their flight back to the center. “This is, unreal. There’s so much data here, like millions and millions of digimons data.” 
“I know, I don’t know where to begin.” Kari said, holding to Nefertimon even tighter. 
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out. We’re right here, I’m not about to give up now!” T.K called back taking the lead toward the center. 
“Got that right, T.K!” Tai cheered. Izzy was able to link up his computer to the workstation and began running a translator on the monitor. Line by line, the digi-code was swapping out to English on the screen. 
“Got it!” Izzy smiled, going to work on his screen. 
“I’ll run a search. Let’s start with Agumon.” Willis said, typing on the touch keypad below the display. Gasping he turned to Izzy. “I have over 1403 results! They’re time coded, but I can’t make sense of the dates.” 
“Try sorting by active and stored memory. Given the nature of this workstation, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re reading live digimon along with those stored here in the vault.” Izzy suggested. 
“Right, of course.” Willis agreed, after typing away for a while the results changed, but weren’t much better. “Great, I got a listing of 740 active, 663 in storage.”
“Any chance we can find one by whether or not they’re digi-destined?” Izzy asked. 
“No. Looks like it’s all universalized, there’s some minor variance in data sizes, but that’s it.” 
“I’m going to try to run a calendar match up. Let’s see if I can’t match the dates in the digital world to the date that Agumon vanished.” Izzy began typing away while Tai just continued to look around, taking in the vastness of the room. 
“This place is unreal.” Tai breathed, landing beside Izzy and Willis along with Terriermon and Lopmon.  
“Some of the cells are dormant, while others are occupied. It seems like that light up above is the collective consciousness data. That’s where our digimon would have likely ended up, had they been properly recalled through the protocol.” Izzy surmised. “Whoa hey, look!” Izzy pointed up. A small sphere from the light above was descending into one of the shelves and settled into small metal pod. After a few seconds the pod shimmered with light and took the form of a digi-egg and vanished. 
“Wow, that’s so cool.” Willis smiled. Kari and T.K landed once again and after dismounting Nefertimon, Kari fell to her knees holding her head. 
“Kari!” T.K and Tai rushed over. T.K took hold of her and picked her up, holding her close. “Kari, you ok?” 
“I think so.” She moaned. “I feel weird.” Tai placed a hand on her shoulder and reminded her of the warning from earlier. 
“Gennai did say that you might have a bit of a reaction in here because we’re really close to the Kernel.” 
“Yeah, I remember.” Kari smiled, still holding her head. “Reaction is putting it mildly; I spoke to the Kernel while we were in that stairwell.” 
“You what!?” They all exclaimed. 
“What did it say?” Izzy called out. 
“Hope will light the way. A lot of other stuff to, but I’m trying to make sense of it.” Kari said, leaning a little more on T.K. 
“Hope will light the way.” Izzy pondered. 
“Ugh!” Willis slammed his hands on the pad. “At this rate it’ll take us hours to get all six of them! We need a better strategy.” 
“I’m trying to get the times aligned, just hang on.” Izzy said, trying to encourage his friend. 
“Willis, you gotta relax.” Lopmon leapt on his shoulder and started rubbing his neck. 
“We believe in you guys. You can do this!” Terriermon cheered. 
“Oh no!” Izzy gasped. 
“What is it!?” Tai turned back. 
“When I linked my laptop up to the computer, it linked directly into Homeostasis. It may not be aware of it yet, but it’s gonna know we’re here. We have to move, now!” Izzy frantically typed away. 
“This has to work.” Kari moaned, leaning in to T.K’s chest. “We didn’t come all this way to fail.” 
“Shh, hey?” T.K soothed, holding her tight. “Remember what I said. We’re not giving up. If we gotta break in here a thousand times then that’s what we’ll do. I’m not gonna give up on my friends. Not now, not ever.” He smiled. 
“T.K.” Kari smiled up to him. Leaning in, T.K embraced Kari with a long tender kiss. Closing her eyes with a smile after their lips parted she let a little giggle escape before her body began to resonate. “Thanks for showing me the way.”
“Kari!?” T.K breathed. Opening her eyes, her pupils had vanished and her eyes were aflame with light. She released T.K and walked to the edge of the platform. 
“Kari, watch out!” Tai called out, however her first step off she began floating, she stretched out her arms and from her heart the crest of light ignited the room, firing beams of light off the walls and onto the shelves. 
“My light will guide you.” Kari said in a rather calm and reverberating voice. Izzy examined where the lights were hitting and gasped. 
“Tai, T.K, get on Pegasusmon and Nefertimon, I think the lights hitting where the digimon are!” 
“Got it! Let’s go!” Tai jumped onto Nefertimon who followed the first beam and T.K followed another. Sure enough, the light was hitting what looked like another small metal pod with a glass door over top and data resonating inside. Underneath was a list of characters and numbers to which Tai called out. 
“Izzy! V-194 –GO-101!”
“Got it!” Izzy replied, pulling it up. “Tai, it’s Gomamon! Activating the data!” 
“It’s working. The data’s starting to compile!” Willis called back. 
“Izzy!” T.K called out. V-143 –TE-422!” 
“Come on, come on.” Izzy said, typing away. “It’s Tentomon! Prodigious!” Tai and Nefertimon arrived with Gomamon’s pod, setting it down in the middle before following the next light. 
“V-199 –GB-041!” Tai called back, while T.K dropped off Tentomon. 
“Gabumon confirmed!” Izzy replied. “Activating it, go ahead and bring him in.”
“V-004 –AG-124!” T.K shouted. 
“Agumon! Activating, go ahead T.K!” 
“This is working. Gomamon at 55%. Tentomon at 20%” Willis updated him. 
“Got V-432 –BY-999!” 
“That’s Biyomon Tai! Go ahead and grab it! Activating!” 
“Gomamon at 71% Tentomon at 45% Gabumon 21% Agumon at 15%.” Willis updated as Tai dropped off Biyomon. 
“Only one light left, Kari you’re doing great!” Tai cheered. 
“Palmons at V-634 –PL-103!” T.K called back. 
“Activating, bring her in!” 
“Izzy!” Willis cried out. “We’re being hacked!” 

“So, this was your plan.” Homeostasis spoke through Hackmon, glaring at Meiko. 
“What do you mean?” Meiko asked, tipping her head. 
“Do not play fool with me. Someone is in the vault and only one of the royal knights could lead them there!” Homeostasis shouted. Turning to Gennai it scowled even more harshly. “Which means you have also betrayed my trust, Gennai.”
“Sometimes we must step in and make the hard decisions that you cannot. Sadly the Kernel has shown me that you were blind to the dangers you were creating.” He rationalized away. 
“Begone, traitor!” Homeostasis shouted, causing Gennai to vanish. Homeostasis returned her attention to Meiko. “You have some nerve, recklessly leading Dorumon to the vault. Now that he’s inside, who knows what King Drasil will do with that data.” 
“You’re wrong.” Meiko smiled, tipping her head. “I’m here on official business only, just like I said.” 
“A distraction, how quant. Hackmon, handle the intruders in any way you see fit, destroy them if you have to.” Homeostasis ordered.
“You wouldn’t!” Meiko shouted. 
“I do what I must to protect this world, now get out of my sight!” Homeostasis fired right back, and in a flash of light Meiko was blown back to the real world, landing in the parkade beside Cody and Yolei. Meicoomon and Meiko were rubbing their heads while Cody, Mimi, Sora, Joe and Yolei rushed to their side. 
“You alright!?” Sora asked. 
“Oh Mei-mei, that looked painful!” Mimi consoled. 
“Yeah, I’m ok. But we’ve been spotted. Homeostasis is furious, we had better get ready.” 

“The recompiling program has been stopped!” Willis shouted. 
“I got it, don’t worry. I figured this might happen.” Izzy said. Loading up a new series of codes, he uploaded it onto the main computer. 
“What did you do? It’s back up?” Willis asked. 
“I localized the programming to just this room. If Homeostasis wants to interject now, it’ll have to come here.” Izzy explained. 
“Gomamon’s completed. Tentomon at 94%.” 
“We’re so close!” Tai urged as Kari came down from her levitation, but the glow still radiated from her body. 
“It’s not far.” She said, her voice reverberating through the room. 
Outside, Hackmon approached the door and looked it over. 
“Homeostasis, I’ve arrived open the way!” Hackmon called out. 
“Metal Shot!” Dorumon fired, blowing Hackmon over. Growling, Hackmon got up and glared at Dorumon. “You had that one coming, didn’t you brother?” He smirked. 
“Pepper breath!” Hackmon fired. 
“Metal Shot!” Dorumon retaliated. The two attacks met in the middle and exploded. “Beast Attack!” 
“Fifth Rush!” Hackmon charged and slashed at Dorumon, knocking him away. With a solid scratch on his head, Dorumon got up and growled. 
“You’ll pay for that!” 
“Why aren’t you inside with the digi-destined?” Hackmon demanded to know.
“Because the stupid humans roped me up with Pegasusmon and Nefertimon and left me high and dry. But I’ll get them back for that too!” He growled. 
“So, they were on to your little plan. What were you and Drasil plotting this time?” Hackmon carried on interrogating. 
“Shut up and fight you lightborn lapdog! Rah!!” Dorumon started charging up a more powerful blast. “Metal Cannon!” He shouted, firing a massive sphere of flaming metal at Hackmon. Jumping out of the way, he leapt into the air and spun rapidly, drilling down toward Dorumon but he leapt clear of it. Hackmon charged for Dorumon and the two locked hands in a test of strength. 
“The digi-destined. Their digimon are being activated, aren’t they!?” Hackmon asked between grunts, trying to push his brother down. 
“What do you care? Huh!?” He growled, pushing him forward a little. “I may have lost my shot at the vault but at least you and Homeostasis lose! I can take a little comfort in that.” 
“Homeostasis will open the door at any moment. It’s expecting me to go in and destroy the digi-destined!”
“That eager to kill us all!?” Dorumon bellowed, leaning back he planted his feet into Hackmon and kicked him back toward the pillar. Hackmon slammed into it and landed on his feet. “Without the digi-destined our world’s doomed and you know it. Go ahead and admit it, you picked the wrong side, brother!” 
“I don’t want to stop them.” Hackmon confessed. Dorumon sneered at him, looking on in confusion. “But I can’t disobey Homeostasis. You’ll have to defeat me.” 
“What are you trying to pull!?” Dorumon exclaimed. 
“For once in your life, do something useful and fight!” Hackmon bellowed charging for Dorumon. “Pepper Breath!” 
“Dash Metal!” Dorumon fired before Hackmon could release his breath. The shot sent him back into the pillar. “Rah! Metal Cannon!” Dorumon fired his giant sphere, and this time, Hackmon simply braced for it. The blast exploded on him, sending the pillar down and burying him in the rubble. Dorumon caught a bit of a lump in his throat seeing Hackmon buried alive, but steadily he caught his breath and shook off the fight. 

“Terriermon, go!” Willis exclaimed. Terriermon moved Gomamon into the server and Lopmon carried in Tentomon. 
“Biyomon at 94%, Palmon at 70%, we’re so close!” Izzy called out, taking over Willis’s station. Terriermon popped back out of Izzy’s screen and picked up Gabumon and brought him through. Lopmon did the same for Agumon and tried to heft him in. 
“What were ya feedin this guy!?” Lopmon moaned. “Whoa!” he shouted falling into the screen with Agumon. 
“Biyomon completed!” Izzy stated, her pod door opened up and Tai pulled her out, placing her in Terriermon’s arms. 
“Tai!” T.K shouted, pointing to a glimmer of light shining over their heads. 
“Grr, it’s Homeostasis!” Tai grunted. The shimmering form tried to rain down on them, causing the screen Izzy was working on to flicker and distort but Kari raised her hands and a dome of light enveloped them. 
“Palmon’s almost done! 99%!” Izzy called out. Just as the screen hit 100% though the workstation shut down. Palmon’s chamber opened up and Tai rushed her over to Lopmon. 
“Go, now!” 
“Got it!” Lopmon leapt back rapidly, falling into the screen. 
“Kari! We need to get out of here!” Tai called out to her as rocks and debris began to fall, conveniently aimed between the shelves and crashing on Kari’s barrier. Drawing a circle with her finger, the dome that was shielding them began to encircle Homeostasis and with a harsh wave of her arm, she sent the entity flying back through the walls with extreme speed. Kari began to faint as T.K caught her and lowered her to the ground. 
“Tai, we gotta portal out now!” 
“Willis, Izzy, Take Kari and go! T.K, fly me to the door! I gotta get Dorumon!” Tai ordered. Gatomon activated Kari’s teleport band and the portal took them in. 
“Tai, be careful!” Izzy cried out as he ported out along with Willis, Terriermon and Lopmon. Tai and T.K jumped on Pegasusmon and flew to the door as rocks continued to fall. A large one was heading their way when Pegasusmon fired on it. 
“Equisbeam!” He called out, shattering the stone. Landing on the platform, Tai dismounted and started pushing on the door. T.K and Pegasusmon joined him and he opened it just enough for Tai to be able to slip through. 
“Get out of here!” Tai ordered T.K. “Go, now!” T.K grunted, Pegasusmon reverted to Patamon and the two jumped through the portal. Tai slid through the door to see Dorumon dodging his fair share of falling debris. “Dorumon! Over here!” 
“What!? You actually came back?” He snarled. Tai leapt in and grabbed hold of him, activating his own band. The portal swallowed him up along with Dorumon just as a large chunk of rock fell where they were. 

Tai and Dorumon landed not too far from T.K and Kari. Catching his breath and shaking the debris from his hair, Tai dusted himself off and was quickly hugged from behind by Meiko. 
“Tai, are you ok?” She asked. 
“I’m alright, we did it!” He cheered. 
“You deceived me.” Dorumon growled. Matt and Sora took to Tai’s side and Meicoomon took point before Dorumon. “Why didn’t you let me into the vault?” 
“What were you and King Drasil planning to do with the data inside?” Matt asked. 
“Tch.” Dorumon scoffed. “I had no such plan.” 
“Right.” Tai dismissed. “You just happened to know about the vault, how to get in there and the fact our digimon were inside, along with a massive amount of consciousness and physical data. So what, gonna build a new mega digimon to destroy us with?” 
“Uh.” Dorumon let a bead of sweat escape. “Well, it was going to destroy the ultimate level primal digimon first, if that’s any consolation.”
“We’ve been dealing with evil digimon a long time.” Sora said calmly, but kept her glare fixed on Dorumon. “No surprise you only wanted our help to pursue your own ends.” Tai chuckled and wiped his brow. 
“I don’t envy the conversation you’re going to have when you have to explain to King Drasil you let a bunch of “Worthless” humans doop ya.” 
“And you wonder why we hate you.” He scowled at them. 
“Hey, I held up my end.” Tai shrugged off. “I came back for you and backed you up when you asked for it. I never agreed to letting you make some new digi-monstrosity. So long as the truce is on, we’ve been true to our word.” 
“And when it’s over, trust me when I say there will be hell to pay for double crossing me.” He growled, vanishing before them.
“Scumbag.” Sora dismissed. Gennai finally reappeared and immediately snapped his fingers, establishing a new barrier around the building. 
“Good job everyone, though I must admit. I’m very concerned about what’s to come.” He stated. 
“All that matters now.” Izzy said, holding his computer. “Is bringing our friends back. Gatomon, Patamon, Terriermon, Lopmon. If you would please. Also, a reminder to you all, get your rings on, and have all of theirs on first before you instill their consciousness data.” 
“Right.” Everyone agreed. Terriermon brought out Gomamon and Joe ran in to scoop him up. 
“Gomamon.” He said, clutching him tight. Lopmon brought out Biyomon and Gatomon with Agumon. Each digi-destined taking their digimon into their laps as they were brought out. Meiko and Meicoomon joined Tai, and watched as he slipped the ring on over Agumon’s left foot. Matt was careful in sliding it onto Gabumon’s arm, under his fur so it would be less intrusive. Biyomon wore hers on her right foot, opposite to her normal ring. Palmon’s on her left arm, Tentomon on his right leg, and Gomamon on his left arm. Tai produced the sphere from his pocket and breathed a heavy sigh.
“Here goes.” Tai whispered placing the sphere on Agumon’s heart. Slowly the sphere sank in, and Agumon resonated with a pale orange glow for a few seconds. Twitching and grunting for a moment, he opened his eyes to see Tai, Meiko and Meicoomon smiling over him. 
“Tai?” He asked. 
“Agumon.” Tai smiled down at him with tears creeping out of his eyes. “You’re back.” 
“Yeah! I can tell cause I’m already craving a pizza!”Agumon laughed. Tai let a quick laugh escape before taking him tightly into his arms. “I missed you so much, Tai.” Agumon cried as well. 
“I love you, little buddy.” 
“Gabumon!” Matt tried to fight back the tears but couldn’t help it, squeezing Gabumon as tight as he could. 
“I knew you could do it, Matt. I never lost faith in you, not once!” Gabumon whimpered, hugging Matt just as tightly.
“Oh Biyomon!” Sora all but bawled her eyes out, holding her and grinding her head against Biyomon’s. 
“Sora!” 
“Oh Mimi!” Palmon wrapped her up. 
“Oh Palmon, don’t you ever go away again! I love you, I love you I love you!” 
“Joe.” Gomamon sniffled, rubbing his cheek against Joe’s. 
“Nothing’s been the same since you left. Gomamon I love you so much.” Joe cried. 
“Tentomon.” Izzy choked back the tears, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. 
“I always knew that brilliant mind of yours would figure it out, and I never doubted you for a second Izzy.” Tentomon said with tears in his eyes. Izzy nearly started bawling, throwing his arms around Tentomon. 
“How could I ever give up on you!?”
“Aww.” Terriermon and Lopmon said in unison as Willis rubbed their heads. 
“Yeah hey! They’re back!” Veemon cheered, jumping for joy.
“Woo hoo!!!” Davis hollered with him. “We did it! They’re back home again!
“Welcome home you guys!” Yolei cheered.
“This calls for a grand celebration!” Hawkmon declared. 
“Seeing this alone, makes it all worth it.” Ken smiled, pulling Yolei close to him.
“You said it.” Wormmon agreed. 
“It’s a beautiful sight.” Cody sniffled, wiping his nose. 
“The whole teams back together.” Armadillomon joined in.
 Kari just let a few tears escape while T.K held her in his arms. Gatomon and Patamon cuddled up close, watching the spectacle unfold before them. T.K and Kari got up and walked over to their brothers. 
“Hey Gabumon, glad to have you back!” T.K smiled. 
“Gabumon!!” Patamon cried out with joy, throwing him a big hug. “Hahahaha, I’m so glad you’re home!” 
“It’s great to see you guys again too!” Gabumon smiled, with Matt now holding Gabumon from behind. 
“Agumon!” Meicoomon threw her paws around him as soon as Tai let and opening show. 
“Hey Meicoomon! Did you come back too?” Agumon asked. 
“I’ve been back for a while, but I really missed you.” She cooed, rubbing her head on his chin. Gatomon came over and clasped Agumon’s claws in her hand. 
“Welcome home, we really missed you.” She cried. 
“I missed you too, Gatomon. I’m just so happy to see all of you!” Agumon smiled with a quick giggle. Kari leaned down and gave Agumon a kiss on the nose. “Aww, thanks Kari! Everyone came back, huh?” 
“Yeah.” Tai smiled, giving Agumon another quick squeeze. “It wasn’t easy, but you’re worth it. You always will be.” However, just as the reunion was well under way, a blast shook the building. 
“What in the!?” Izzy spoke up. Opening his phone, he checked the security cameras for the building. Outside he could see his security detail circling around Hackmon. “Oh no. Hackmon’s here!” 
“Leave it to us!” Tentomon proudly offered. 
“Yeah, wait, is he a bad guy? I can’t remember.” Agumon pondered. 
“Guys, do not digivolve!” Tai called out to all of them. 
“Huh?” They collectively replied, while Izzy began to elaborate. 
“The rings on each of you are binding you to this world and to your partners. But the thing is, we don’t know how they’ll behave if you digivolve. They could snap and break off, sending you back to where you were; the same goes if you get too weak and de-digivolve. It’s best to stay out of the fight, if possible!” 
“So we can’t even save you if you get in trouble?” Gabumon asked. 
“Seems like a design flaw.” Gomamon noted. 
“Did you at least get a warranty!?” Tentomon pleaded.
“Davis.” Tai spoke up. “Ready to step up?” 
“You got it!” Davis clenched his fist. “If he breaks through, I’m busting him open!” 
“You and me both!” Veemon cheered. 
“He’s breaking through now!” Gennai warned them, as the digital barrier went down. Hackmon teleported in and stood before all of them as Tai and the others shielded their digimon. Hackmon on the other hand wasn’t looking too good. He was roughed up from his fight with Dorumon. 
“So it’s true, you did find a way to revive your digimon.” He growled. 
“That’s right, what’s done is done so back off!” Tai ordered. 
“My orders are to return them to the vault by whatever means necessary.” Hackmon stepped forward. 
“You think we’re gonna let that happen!?” Tai fired back. 
“I got this!” Davis leapt in front with Veemon, Terriermon, Lopmon, Patamon, Gatomon, Armadillomon, Wormmon and Hawkmon at the ready. “The only place you’re going is the trash heap.” 
“Fight me, as I am.” Hackmon said. 
“Wha?” Davis questioned. 
“Pepper breath!” He shouted, firing on Veemon but Armadillomon jumped in the way and blocked it.
“Diamond Shell!” He called out, deflecting the attack. 
“Vee-Headbutt!” 
“Feather Strike!” Hawkmon joined in. Veemon hammered him with a headbutt and the feather lashed across Hackmon’s body. Steadily he managed to get to his feet. 
“Boom bubble, Pah!” Patamon fired. 
“Bunny Blast!” 
“Blazing Ice!” The twins joined in, firing on Hackmon he cried out in pain as he was knocked over by the attacks. 
“Sticky Net!” Wormmon spat up, trapping Hackmon to the ground. 
“Scared to digivolve into Jesmon!? I would be too if I were you! We’re never gonna let you win, you hear me!?” Davis taunted. 
“This, is not about winning.” Hackmon struggled to speak as he slashed away at the webbing. “I must obey what Homeostasis asks of me. I don’t want to do this! But I must! Pepper Breath!” 
“Pepper Breath!” Agumon fired, the two fireballs colliding and blowing away. Agumon walked past the other digimon with a determined look on his face. “Pepper Breath!” He fired again, this one hitting Hackmon and sending him to the ground again. Agumon rushed in, placing his claws at Hackmon’s throat and spoke. “You lose. Enough fighting already.” 
“You over stepped your bounds.” Kari spoke up. Everyone turned to her to see she had been possessed once again. “You reach out with an offering of good faith and then take what you don’t understand we need.”
“No, it is you that does not understand!” Gabumon interjected.
“Our bond is forever!” Biyomon cried out. 
“We’ve given so much to protect this world.” Palmon joined in followed by Gomamon. 
“And this is the thanks we get, what kind of a joke is that!?” 
“We’ve stood committed to protecting the digital and real worlds and have never been afraid of making the hard decisions when they needed to be made.” Tentomon joined in. 
“But you made this one without us!” Agumon growled. “I thought you were on our side but you’re not! You’re bad!”
“It is irrelevant. You are acting on emotion, on pain. Yet your actions will only inflict more.” Homeostasis replied. Kari suddenly grit her teeth and slammed her eyes shut. 
“Get out of my body!” She shouted, as light blew from her heart, filling the room as everyone covered their eyes. “Don’t ever use me as your puppet again! I’m not your plaything, and neither are my friends! Our bonds are unbreakable; the light inside us all will shine forever!” Kari proclaimed, rising off the floor as light emanated from each of the digi-destineds hearts. 
“Is that!?” Tai asked, seeing his chest aglow with the crest of courage. 
“Our crests!” Matt finished. 
“Kari, take my hand!” Gennai cried out, reaching for Kari’s hand. The sparkle from Homeostasis stood before them and Gennai reached for another sphere in his pocket. This one shining with an enormous amount of light. “The Kernel granted this to me and by its light I banish you to the digital world!!” Gennai shouted, hurling the sphere at Homeostasis. Kari raised her hand, channeling light at the sphere as it expanded to encompass Homeostasis. Trapped within the sphere, it gradually shrank before vanishing from sight.
“Phew.” Kari sighed, falling to her knees as T.K picked her up. 
“I got you!” He assured her, holding her close to him. “Don’t worry, I’m right here.” 
“I know.” She smiled, stroking his cheek. 
“We’ve banished Homeostasis to the digital world.” Gennai began to say, looking over the group. “But I’m not sure what it will do next. My best gambit is to stay away, but that will leave me with a modest information disadvantage.” 
“Don’t worry Gennai, we have you covered.” Izzy affirmed. 
“Good.” He nodded, heading over to Hackmon. Picking him up he rested a hand on his back. “Hackmon, Homeostasis has lost its way for now. Will you fight by my side until its stability has been restored?” 
“Well.” He grunted, seeing the digi-destined before him. “I must confess, my brother was right about something. I picked the wrong side. Digi-destined, I will guard Gennai and do my utmost to protect you as well.” 
“Without you, there’s no link to Homeostasis though.” Ken jumped in. 
“Perhaps, that is a good thing. Homeostasis has been blind to your potential for so very long. I think it is time for another to step into its place.” He said turning to Gennai. “I will give it the decency of letting it know I will no longer serve it. After all, my duty is to protecting the digital world, and if the Kernel has decreed that Gennai is in the right, I’m not one to refute it.”  
“Good.” Tai breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “I was getting tired of having to worry about you as a threat.” 
“Tai, Meiko, all of you. I’m truly sorry for my actions. Know that what I did, I did with remorse in my heart. I do not wish to fight you any further.” Hackmon bowed from Gennai’s arms. 
“No sweat, go get some rest. You’ll need your strength in the coming days.” Tai advised him. 
“Thank you, Tai.” He smiled.