Christochi dreamed, yet did not sleep. He walked through a hazy reality before stopping before a large, high-backed, black chair. He stopped, finally recognizing the place. He bowed before the chair as it began to spin towards him. The chair finished its revolution and the figure seated there stood, and walked to Ishida.

Devimon gazed down at the man he had secretly helped to create. "What is your dilemma, my son?"

Christochi Akumamon Ishida stood straight. "Something is wrong with Jesanae, father. Do you know—" He was cut off by Devimon.

"Yes, I have seen her eyes. I had feared the problem had died and gone away, and indeed, when I was deleted by your younger half-brother, I felt I would never have to deal with it. And I don't; you do. Yet you are my son, and I will help you." Devimon took a deep breath and turned to Christochi. "Son . . . you and Yamato were not the first."

"What?!"

"There was an earlier egg. One which would produce only one offspring. However, after its implanting, I discovered Nancy Myshira, your mother, and used her as the final subject. You and Matt came. I forgot about the other. But now my problem has become yours."

"Do you mean . . .?"

"Christochi, she is your and Matt's half-sister."

Chris stood frozen in shock, attempting to absorb this new information. "But . . . but . . . she and Matt—"

"Yes, I know. The night of their engagement. They were to be married soon, and didn't wait. It doesn't matter—don't bother talking." Devimon raised a hand to silence Chris before he spoke. "You are the only one besides me to know. I caused pain. Keep it secret. Don't cause them that pain."

"Them? Then Matt—"

"As my children, I would somehow sense it if one or both of you died. Yes. Yamato still lives . . . barely."

"Where?"

"That I do not know. Be calm, keep searching. If I discover more, I will contact you in the world of dreams."

"Father—!"

But the walls of haze seemed to be closing in around Chris and Devimon, and the black throne dissolved into nothing . . .

Christochi bolted awake, breathing hard. His eyes quickly sought out Jesanae and he strode silently to her. Chris removed his jacket and quietly mumbled, "Devil Trigger Activate." The air shimmered slightly and Akumamon quietly knelt down beside Jesse.

Akumamon placed both hands softly on Jesse's body, one on her forehead and the other on her stomach.

"Reveal yourself, sister," the demon whispered.

He removed his hands. As he did so, Jesanae's form rippled. The skin changed from a glorious cream to a silver-grey, she gained five inches of height. Jesse's beautiful dark hair blazed molten red.

Akumamon sat back, staring at his half-sister. Clothed in a forest-green tunic, she was very attractive to the demon's eyes. Akumamon hurriedly pushed that thought aside. Jesanae and his sister were different to him now, no longer related by law but by blood. And she belonged to Matt . . . Yamato. Akumamon shuddered slightly at the thought that she and Yamato, now known as half-siblings, had made love. Akumamon vowed then and there to never reveal this fact, as it would hurt too many others. If they loved each other, which they most certainly did, and if they gave pleasure and happiness to each other, what right had either he or Chris to ruin that?

"Sister, awake."

The she-demon opened her eyes, revealing once again the deep blue-green he had seen earlier.

"What is thy name, sister?"

"Quatrishamon."

"Have you been dormant inside this young woman all this time?"

Quatrishamon slowly sat up and shook her head, as if to clear it of confused thoughts. Turning to Akumamon, she said, "Yes, brother, for the entirety of Jesanae's life thus far, and mine."

"I am glad to meet you. However, now is definitely not the time for pleasantries. Do you know where Yamato is?" Quatrishamon pointed slowly southwards. "There."

"There? But there is nothing but the desert wasteland on File Island there . . . do you mean beyond this island? Is Yamato on the continent of Directory?"

"Yes . . . Directory Continent . . . in the Digital City . . ."

Akumamon cursed. Since the defeat of ShadowMosesmon he had traveled and condemned the Digital World to memory, yet had never set foot on nor flown over Directory Continent. Just my luck, Matt's trapped in the only place I don't know like the back of my fucking hand!

"What should we do now, brother?" Quatrishamon asked.

Akumamon gazed at his sister. "You're awake now. Soon you, and thus Jesanae, will begin to crave fresh meat and blood, like myself and Chris did. Stay alert, yet dig yourself deep into her, so the cravings will not affect her fatally. Be ready to help, and try to get Jesse's consciousness to help more often, please? If you hadn't shown up when you did, Marajamon would have finished us."

Quatrishamon smiled, proudly displaying the rows upon rows of the sharp, pointed teeth that her brother also possessed. Akumamon flashed his own teeth to her in a mutual sign of respect. Then she laid back on the ground. Slowly she returned to sleep . . . and as she did so, she returned to Jesse.

Akumamon also changed back to Christochi, who stayed in that position, crouched next to Jesanae, until the first rays of light poked their way over the horizon.

Jesse woke slowly, feeling each muscle as a knot of tension. Exercising her mental control, she forced them to relax one by one, wincing. It pained her, and she knew she would be stiff all day. Why the hell did I go to sleep like this? I'm usually smarter than that . . .

Someone was breathing loudly nearby, and she almost cramped up again as she tensed involuntarily. She kept herself limp and cracked an eyelid. She saw bright blue sky, half-obscured by a soiled white boating hat. That particular fashion disaster can only be T.K., which means I'm safe. That's a relief.

She allowed her breathing pattern to alter and stirred deliberately, grunting a bit. The hat about-faced to show her T.K.'s anxious eyes. "Jesse! Are you all right?"

She put on a disoriented expression. "I think so. What happened?" Now that question is real. Last thing I remember . . . Marajamon had just shown up.

His face closed abruptly. "Well—" He hesitated. She glared at him. "You sort of—um—"

"Are you going to waffle, or are you going to tell me why the fuck I was asleep in the middle of the day?"

"You should ask Chris," he evaded. "He's better at explaining things than me. Besides, he said he wanted to know when you woke up."

Kari entered Jesse's field of vision. "How are you?" she asked with a warm smile.

"I'm good insofar as I'm aware, unless you're not telling me something."

"Let me get Chris." She rose and strode a ways off. Jesse heard soft murmurs, and the young girl returned with Matt's twin in tow. He knelt and favored her with the oddest expression she had ever seen him wear. She quirked an eyebrow, and he smiled and sat.

"Glad to see you're awake now. Can you guys let us alone for a while?" The two fiancées moved off. "How're you doing?"

"Wonderful. I just love amnesia, it's so refreshingly non-stressful."

He grimaced good-humoredly. "That sucks. Don't worry, I'll fill you in when I've had time to—process it, okay?"

"Sure, whenever."

"Cool." He grinned suddenly. "You must be feeling better than you have in months; you haven't been sarcastic with me in ages!"

She giggled, sitting up. A moment later she wore inventively as her entire body stridently protested. A huge cramp exploded in her back and neck.

"Goddamn lousy sonuvabitching asshole," she hissed around clenched teeth.

"Are you okay?" asked Chris.

"Of course I'm okay," she said sourly. "I mean, just because I can't move doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me." Her acid tone caused him to frown, and he scooted around behind her, placing both hands on her shoulders.

"Damn, that's gotta hurt! You're like a rock!"

"No shit. I've got a tension ball the size of Mt. Fuji in my back."

"Here, lemme see what I can do."

He punched her in the back. She turned stiffly around and planted a solid one in his gut.

"That hurt, you lamebrain! You're supposed to make it un-hurt!"

"Ow," he said when he got his wind back. "It's going to un-hurt, but I have to get you loosened up. Let me do my thing, or I can't help at all."

She grunted noncommitally, but turned her back again. He got up and punched her a few more times, and after a bit it didn't pain her so much. At least it's helping. I s'pose I should apologize for hitting him. "Sorry," she told him shortly but with grumpy sincerity.

"No prob. I've had worse." He left off punching and began to rub her shoulders. A long pause commenced, but as he didn't stop massaging, Jesse really didn't care. Soon, however, she felt constrained to break the silence, however comfortable it was.

"Sooooo," she began after a bit. "Since I'm not a reddish ground smear, I'm guessing we sat down and talked it out with Marajamon like good little campers. Who wiped the floor with her?"

Chris stopped, suprised, resuming the massage at her threatening noise. "You don't remember—oh. Duh. Well, it was you, babe. And you kicked ass, too."

Her newly-relaxed posture went rigid. "What?!"

He grinned. "Yup."

"So let me get this straight . . . I, somehow, some way, took out Marajamon . . . single-handedly?"

"Well, we did help, too!" Lyeernmon called out, the rest of the Digimon grunting behind her.

"Basically, yes," Izzy said, rubbing his temples. "Christ, I've got a headache."

"You've got an ache," Jesanae snorted. "I"m barely going to be able to move for the rest of the friggin' week!"

"Will everyone shut up?" Jaina interrupted. "Chris says that he spoke with Devim— . . . uh, a contact, in his dreams. He says he knows where to go to find Matt."

All eyes locked on Ishida. "WHERE?"

Chris sat back up, holding his ears. "Ladies, gentlemen, and monsters, please! Now, I was told we need to to cross the South Digital Sea to find Directory Continent."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Izzy said. "Another part of the Digital World? I thought that it was just Server, File Island, and Shadow Moses Island."

"Remind me again, why did we name an island larger than Japan after him?" Kari asked tiredly.

"Because it's where we condemned and trapped his spirit for all eternity all those years ago," Takeru said in a dry, Ben Stein-esque voice. "And if we didn't call it that, Zeke and Netsuke wanted to called it 'Cocksucker Isle.' "

"They did? Why did they want that?"

"Because that's what they kept referring to ShadowMosesmon as."

Jesanae shook her head. "My sister and Zeke . . . please, someone stop us from going off on this."

Izzy stood up. "Allow me. It might be noon already, but if we start now we actually could reach the sea by sundown; we are extremely close, you know."

"Thank you, Mr. Science," Keramon monotoned to Koushiro. "I'm up for it. Besides, moving might eventually work some of the kinks out of Jesse."

"I seriously doubt that." Jesanae moaned as she stood up with the others, grabbing at her back to rub where the sudden burst of fresh pain had exploded from. T.K. offered a supportive shoulder. She smiled gratefully and thanked him.

"Well, we're in for the long haul now. Let's get our rears in gear."

It was much later in the day, far later than Jesse would have liked to still be walking, when she suddenly felt hungry. This would have been normal, except that they had only just broken for supper; her enormous appetite had resurfaced, so she knew she had eaten plenty. The fight with Izzy over the last of the fish had been a memorable one. Hadn't known the little nerd had it in him.

As the memory crossed her mind she felt positively nauseated at the thought of the cooked, flaky fish, and the fruit, and the junk food T.K. had invariably brought along—in fact, she couldn't think of a single thing that she wanted to eat. And yet the hunger was there. It disturbed her, but it was peculiar enough that she decided not to mention it.

After all, no sense in acting more insane than I probably am.

She resolved to make the most of the grueling trip, and struck up a conversation with Matt's younger sibling.

Chris was watching Jesse with something akin to amazement. The change in her was remarkable. Not only was she no longer bordering on the suicidal, there was an almost jaunty air about her that hadn't been there since Matt had vanished. Her caustic wit was back, along with her razor-sharp perception, and when she smiled she smiled.

She's finally alive again, he marveled, watching her eyes sparkle with mischief as she made merciless fun of T.K.'s "evil hat". I guess that when her demon self woke up, she knew for certain that Matt wasn't dead, even if she doesn't remember any of it. Thank God for that. I thought for a while that she might up and kill herself, if she didn't kill the rest of us first.

These were not charitable thoughts, so he pulled the plug on the them and concentrated on the path ahead. It was a long way to the South Digital Sea, and a still longer voyage to Directory Continent; and he had a feeling they should hurry. After all, it won't do either of them any good if he dies before we get there. I don't think she could take that. And for that matter, neither could I. He realized that he himself had had a weight lifted from his shoulders now that he knew for sure his twin still lived; he breathed more easily, and some of the omnipresent tension had dissipated.

What was more, they were all finally beginning to function as a unit again. That was a priceless asset—for without the cohesive cooperation of the group as a whole they couldn't hope to plow through the dangers that they were sure to run up against.

That train of thought strayed to Marajamon—and he suddenly had a nasty, sneaking suspicion. She was dead, and she's as rare as hell. I don't think there could be another Marajamon other than the one we killed. So that means she came back to life somehow, and I don't like that thought at all. If there's something running around that can ressurect trashed data, I'm not sure we should go haring off into unknown territory without knowing something about it first.

He heaved an inward sigh. Maybe I'll ask my father.

Or maybe I won't.