Lucas listened to Leon and DemiVeemon’s request, raising a hand up to rub his chin in thought. He’d already come up with a plan, and it would still work if he included more people, but he simply didn’t want to. Mainly because he didn’t want to have anyone else see him speak with his father, on the off chance that he lost his composure. And then after some more thought, Lucas grimaced. What the hell was he doing? UlforceVeedramon could be a valuable asset, and he was willing to pass that up just because there was a chance that his friend could see him lose control? Forget that. 

“Fine,” He allowed, nodding his head. “When we get back to the real world, we take a night to rest and recharge. Meet me at Shibuya Station tomorrow at noon, and wear a suit. Bring a suitcase or something to hide DemiVeemon in. We’re going in through the front door, and we’re not getting past without looking presentable. 

___

“I believe it is time for the Royal Knights to turn to a new chapter. There is no denying that their ruthless regime under Imperialdramon has inflicted pain and suffering and only time could allow these wounds to recover, but they do deserve a proper guidance, one that would guide them to a true peace in Digital World." 

"I believe they deserve a second chance... Through you.”

As he headed for the castle in silence, Examon listened to Alphamon’s words. 

Whilst still frustrated with the First Knight, the last few hours had broken down the barriers he had put up against her, and as she spoke, he just listened, taking it all in. 
In all honesty, he just wanted to be rid of the whole fiasco; once Kimeramon had been dealt with, he would come back to help rebuild the Digital World as necessary before going off to keep out of the way of whatever order sprung up to replace the Knights. He didn’t feel cut out for the leadership; for whatever pride he had, he didn’t feel himself to be a suitable figure of authority, at least not compared to how another could be. 

Tired and unfocused, Siggy didn’t weigh into the thoughts of his partner; and so Examon pushed the thoughts into the back of his head, to contemplate later. 
However, one thought remained.

"I believe they deserve a second chance... Through you.”

As far as Examon was aware, a few Knights remained unaccounted for. With the revelation of Yggdrasil’s demise and how Imperialdramon had manipulated everyone, it was possible that some form of negotiation could be attempted. 

“... Look, let’s not talk about Leadership now,” He finally replied to Alphamon, after a quarter of a minute’s pause, “We can decide who’s going to lead who later; but you’re right about one thing. We should go find the survivors, see what we can do.”

Pausing in flight, Examon began to descend towards the ground; and as his feet touched down, his senses expanded as he blocked out all inside interference.
Run-down and low on energy after his grueling fight with Imperialdramon, his senses didn’t stretch far; at least, not so far that he could sense any of the remaining Knights at his current range.

However, as he grunted in frustration and forced himself to focus further, something else came up.
At first, all he could tell was that it was some kind of Hazard-based dataform; but as he locked onto it and began to identify it, he realized what it was.
One of the three ‘special’ Orci that had been created from Parasimon earlier. The one that wasn’t that rat bastard Primus or that green asshole that had goomba-stomped him earlier. 

Thoughts entered Examon’s head. Even when running on low energy, he was far stronger than the Orci; if he could ‘persuade’ it to tell him where Parasimon was, he could probably track down the rest of the Knights from there. 

And so, Examon began to make his move. 
_________________________________
Imagine for a second that you are Kappa.

One moment, you’re flying idly along, minding your own business as you look over the devastation your complex-riddled older brother caused after bodyjacking your boss. Sure, you’re admiring it, but who’s to judge? 

The next, every single instinct in your head is screaming at you to drop to the ground.

“FUCK,” The white abomination yelled out as he narrowly avoided being skewered by a sudden spear of light, as he dropped to the ground with all the dignity of a duck with lead wings. 

He looked up, scanning the air around him for the origin of the attack.
And then he found it.

“Well, fuck me,” He groaned to himself as he saw Examon Prime descend to the ground a few hundred meters away from him, holding his arm up to recall his spear as he began to walk towards him.

“Where’s Parasimon?” Examon asked, in a tone that made it perfectly clear where the spear in his hands would be going if Kappa didn’t answer in the next few seconds.
“And I should tell you, why, exactly?”

Examon’s initial response was to tilt his head at the Orci, glaring at him before continuing. 

“Cut the shit and tell me before I beat it out of you, you little psycho.”

“So, you’re calling me a psycho?” Kappa replied, returning the glare, “Man, Imperialdramon’s dead and you’re asking me where daddy dearest is so that you can go and stomp on him anyway. Pot, meet kettle. Make good fri-”

“No, you idiot,” Examon sniped, cutting the Orci off before continuing with, “Turns out Yggdrasil’s been dead for god-knows how long.”

“... What.”

Examon sighed.

“Look, it’s a long story, and I don’t even know the half of it. Basically, we talked to the Sovereigns and Yggdrasil’s been dead for ages. Alphamon just wants to open negotiations with the surviving Knights. No death threats, no funny business, a lot of shit has happened and we just want to talk.”

For a few moments, Kappa just stared at Examon in amazement, taking in what he had just been told, weighing up how it affected what he knew, and what to do next.
Finally, after a minute of thought and Examon staring at him, he came to a conclusion.

“... Alright, I’ll trust you. I don’t actually know exactly where the remaining Knights are at the moment, but I know the rough area. If you’re willing to trust me, I can take you to them.”

In response, Examon willed his spear to dissipate and began to walk towards Kappa.

“Fine, but I’m reserving the right to shank you if you pull any bullshit.”

“And apparently I’m the psychopath around here,” Kappa muttered to himself as he turned, spreading his wings to head for the outer reaches of the castle grounds as Examon followed behind him.
__________________________________________________________
“Hey, let go of me!”

“Oh, give over,” Wisemon replied to the struggling orange creature he had been told to collect by Baihumon, holding tightly onto Patamon as he looked around for the other Rookie present.

As fortune had it, Guilmon was already collected; Wisemon could see the red dinosaur being held by the mammal Mega that Baihumon had gifted with one of his cores, along with the Knight who had come asking AncientWisemon for spirits earlier. Even with his senses screwed up in the wake of the battle earlier, he could make out at least that much.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” He asked the two Megas as he quickly and suddenly moved over towards them, letting go of the struggling Patamon as the Rookie continued to protest, “Could you take this one and get him back to his Tamer? No offense to either of you, but I have things that I really need to be getting on with and, well, at least one of you is actually with the little bugger.”