Gennai

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The past of the being known as Gennai is something of a mystery. It is known that he was a member of the ancient, mysterious group that was charged with the protection of theDigiWorld, which chose the DigiDestined from each generation. When the eight children from our generation were chosen, the Dark Masters got wind of the group's plans, and led a brutal attack on them, killing them all, save for Gennai. Gennai - then a young man - battled with Piedmon, but during the conflict, Piedmon inserted a small black sphere into Gennai's back. Acting quickly, Gennai appropriated a Mekanorimon, and grabbed up the Digi-Eggs and Digivices that the group had created for the chosen children, and fled, using the Mekanorimon's flight capabilities. He deposited the eggs and Digivices on File Island, but Piedmon had been able to capture the Tags and Crests.
Gennai and the Dark Masters went into seclusion then - both to prepare for the coming of the DigiDestined. When Devimon began his attempted takeover, the time had come - the Digivices were dispatched, and seven of the eight chosen children came to the DigiWorld. After they defeated Devimon, Gennai - now very old - made contact with them, and told them of their destiny. He explained that they had to go to Server to battle the other evil Digimon there, and also told them about their Tags and Crests. The kids obeyed his wishes, and headed to Server, finding their Tags along the way. Upon arrival on the continent, they immediately clashed with Etemon numerous times, but managed to locate their Crests, which had somehow become scattered. During the final battle with Etemon, Tai was sucked through a dimensional rift back to Earth. As time passes slower in the DigiWorld, for the few hours he was on Earth, months passed in the DigiWorld, and the DigiDestined split up. Izzy made it his priority to find Gennai to try and learn more about their destiny, but after months of searching, he had still turned up nothing. After a confrontation with Vademon andDemiDevimon, Izzy was contacted again by Gennai, via his laptop computer. Gennai sent him a computer program named the Digimon Analyser, which would help the kids to identify Digimon they encountered.
When Tai returned, and all the kids were together again, Gennai once again contacted them, and informed them of the prophecy of the Eighth Child, explaining how there was to be an eighth member of the DigiDestined. He told them how Myotismon was planning to open a portal to the real world, so that he could find and kill the Eighth Child and prevent the fulfilment of the prophecy of the DigiDestined. The kids tried to stop Myotismon from opening the portal, but failed, and Gennai brought them to his underwater home, where they met him in the flesh for the first time. He explained how they had to use the Key Cards to unlock the portal. He and Izzy conversed about Digimon, and Gennai revealed that he a creature of digital matter, like a Digimon, but without any special attributes. He modified Izzy's laptop so the kids' Digivices could be inter-linked with the analyser program.
The kids then successfully opened the portal and went back to Earth to battle Myotismon and his armies. Gennai e-mailed Izzy and sent him the Digital Barrier program to protect him and his family fromBakemon. The kids then discovered that the Eighth Child was actually Kari, Tai's little sister, and that Gatomon, one of Myotismon's lieutenants, was destined to be her Digimon! Gatomon Digivolved toAngewomon and destroyed Myotismon, but then, Gennai unearthed an ancient prophecy that foretold what would happen next. In accordance, Myotismon rose again, having Warp-Digivolved to the Megalevel as VenomMyotismon, but Agumon and Gabumon were able to defeat him by Warp-Digivolving to their Mega stages of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.
During the time that the kids were on Earth, the Dark Masters had risen again, and conquered the entirety of the DigiWorld, reformatting it into the massive Spiral Mountain. The kids returned and did battle with the Dark Masters, defeating three of the four, leaving only Piedmon. Gennai arrived on the scene (still in possession of the Mekanorimon), as MagnaAngemon took out the last Dark Master, and tried to warn the kids that there was an even greater evil - the being who had created the Dark Masters; Apocalymon! The kids were immediately drawn into battle with Apocalymon, who destroyed their Crests, but the kids realised that the power came from within them, and they were able to use their Digivices to contain his Total Annihilation attack, destroying him, restoring the DigiWorld to normalcy. Gennai explained that Earth and the DigiWorld where now chronologically in synch, and that the kids had to leave while the world reformatted itself. Using the trolley car Gennai supplied them with, the kids returned to the real world.
Eight months later, Gennai contacted Tai and Izzy to warn them about Keramon, a Digimon/virus creature who had hatched out onto the Internet. He sent Agumon and Tentomon into the Internet to fight him, and later uploaded Gabumon and Patamon to help.
In May 2000, Gennai called all the DigiDestined back to the DigiWorld, and explained to them that they needed to release the powers of their Crests if they were to seal it off from evil entirely. However, this rendered the Digimon unable to Digivolve to their Ultimate forms. Gennai subsequently remained in e-contact with Izzy.
When the Digimon Emperor came to the DigiWorld, Gennai did not appear to help the new DigiDestined, as he had with the old team. Apparently, he, and various associates, were in the process of invading computer systems in the real world, and deleting all the information that had been gathered on the DigiWorld. With this operation underway, he was able to come to the real world when he was summoned by Izzy, where he revealed to the DigiDestined that he was a young man again. Digimon had begun to appear all around the world, as a result of Arukenimon opening all the Digi-Ports, and Gennai needed to mobilise the DigiDestined to round them up and send them back to the DigiWorld. Using one of Azulongmon's Digi-Cores, he gave each of the original eight Digimon a power boost, restoring their lost ability to Digivolve to Ultimate, and then sent them all over the world to meet up with his associates and gather up the Digimon. The kids were surprised to meet all of Gennai's associates - because all of them were completely identical to Gennai himself. They were: Benjamin in America, Jackie in China, Hogan in Australia, José in Mexico and Ilya in Russia.
After MaloMyotismon was defeated some time later, Gennai reappeared to grimly survey the devastation caused in the DigiWorld by MaloMyotismon's darkness. He also returned Gatomon's Tail Ring to her, explaining why it had to be kept from her.
Gennai first appeared at the very end of "The Legend of the DigiDestined," which continued directly into "Departure for a New Continent." He first appeared in the flesh in "It's All In The Cards." We learned a little of his past, and saw him as a young man and a member of the mystery group, in "The Ultimate Clash." As an old man, his voice is supplied by Michael Reynolds, while as a young man, his voice is supplied by Jeff Nimoy.
No explanation has ever been offered as to the purpose of the black ball Piedmon inserted into Gennai. It was theorised that it was related to his age reversal, but a Japanese audio drama CD released two years after season two ended specifically stated that it's purpose was unknown (which feels somewhat like a self-parodic wink to the audience). As such, the most popular prevaling theory for the equally unexplained age reversal is that Gennai split himself into numerous younger versions of himself - a theory supported by Benjamin's statement that he and Gennai were both one and the same.
Category:Main characters
Category:Digimon character