Gasp! Could it be? Is it true? After five years, a brand-new entry in 'Return to the Digital World'?!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it has been WAY too long, but I've finally returned to this series and finished off the draft that I started five years ago! I know, I promised this around this time last year, after delaying by revising and reposting the first three parts, but those shiny new fandoms were still distracting me, and then I went four/five months without the very binder this story was kept in, so I had to make do with the fics that weren't in there. But I'm back now, and am proud to present 'Return to the Digital World IV: Value'!
For those who are unaware, I did some major revising of Parts 1, 2, and 3, so you'll want to read those in order to avoid confusion, as I've changed a few things, including the Digimon names and forms of some of the newbies. The new versions are on my profile page in addition to the old ones.
To recap, all the original six heroes now have their Human Spirit forms back, and all the newbies except Shin'ya have theirs.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.
WORD COUNT: 1968
"So it is decided," Succumon stated, "The Legendary Warriors will soon go to the next known location of a Spirit. With any luck, one of the remaining new Spirits will be discovered nearby, and we can claim both!"
"Decided?" that buffoon Incumon interrupted, "I don't remember Master saying anything about that."
"He doesn't need to. Our Master has much to take care of; he doesn't have time to bother himself with the details, so I am taking care of them for him. Now, as I was saying, the humans will most likely be heading to the Gotsumon Village next to retrieve the Beast Spirit of Light. I already have a Digimon attempting to breach their defenses. We shall arrive there ahead of them and search for it. When the humans arrive, they will split up to look for the newer Spirit on their own, and that is when we shall strike and seize the Warrior of Steel, before he can retrieve his own Spirit, and his disappearance and eventual death will break their team apart, starting with their leader."
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
"KACHIKACHI KOCCHIN!" Chackmon covered the boulder with a very thick layer of ice with his freezing breath.
"Good hit," Gnomemon commented.
"Thanks. Now try to break the ice without doing any damage to the stone underneath. If you can get this level of control down, you'll be able to handle your powers much better."
The Legendary Warriors, minus Juan Cortez, were out in the woods, away from the city and any prying eyes, practicing their powers in a large clearing. Juan wasn't able to come because his mother, whom he'd told about them, had forbidden him from getting involved anymore, and barely let him out of her sight.
Each of the ten Warriors held dominion over two ancient Digimon Spirits, one humanoid and one bestial, but most of them had only attained the former. Six of them had possessed both of theirs five years earlier, but they'd been returned to their hidden locations in the Digital World, the alternate dimension the Legendary Warriors were chosen to protect.
The hot-headed leader, Agnimon, aka Kanbara Takuya, aged sixteen, held the Spirits of Flame. The one who held the unofficial, yet undisputed, role of second-in-command was sixteen-year-old Minamoto Kōji, although he was currently in the form known as Wolfmon, Warrior of Light. The youngest of the original six was the Warrior of Ice, thirteen-year-old Himi Tomoki. He could take the form of Chackmon. One of the only two girls on the team, the Warrior of Wind known as sixteen-year-old Orimoto Izumi, flew above them as Fairimon. The team's second-eldest member (but the oldest of the originals) was Blitzmon, the Warrior of Thunder. He was better known as Shibayama Junpei, aged seventeen. Rounding off the original six was Kimura Kōichi, Kōji's older identical twin brother. He possessed the Spirits of Darkness, and was currently in the form of Lowemon.
There were four newer additions to the team: Miura Kyōsuke (seventeen), Alexis 'Lexi' Walsh (sixteen), Juan Cortez (twelve), and Takuya's younger brother Shin'ya, whose upcoming thirteenth birthday would mark the fifth anniversary of the original team's journey to the Digital World. Respectively, they were the Warriors of Earth, Water, Wood, and Steel, and all but Shin'ya had found their first Spirit.
The ten also had five Digimon friends: Bokomon, Neemon, Patamon, Plottmon, and Lopmon, but they were currently in the Digital World. They'd once tried to return to the Human World with them, but Neemon in particular was terrible at blending in and pretending to be an inanimate stuffed animal, plus most of the Warriors were too old to be carrying such 'toys' around.
The experienced Warriors had already pretty much mastered the abilities of their Digimon forms, so they were trying to teach the new kids some degree of control. The key word here being 'trying'.
Kyōsuke, as Gnomemon, launched his 'Boulder Wave' attack at the ice-covered rock, dumping a whole load of other, larger rocks on it and not only shattering the crystalline shell, but also reducing the stone underneath to small fragments.
Wolfmon smacked his forehead in frustration. "You overdid it again. What part of 'no damaging the rock' did you not understand, Gnomemon?"
"Sorry," an irritated Gnomemon apologised, shrugging, "This is harder than it looks."
"Hey, ease up on the guy," Fairimon came to his defence. "Remember, we didn't even get this kind of training when we first started. We had to learn it as we went along."
"Yeah, so quit acting like you know how to teach us anything. We can probably learn this stuff on our own, too. Watch this: SINKHOLE!" In a desperate burst of desire to regain a little bit of his dignity, Gnomemon created a large hole in the ground. It had been intended as a relatively small one, but the gap quickly began to crumble out of his control.
Lowemon and Nymphmon (Lexi) were close enough that they had to jump out of the way to avoid falling in, but Shin'ya, who'd been sitting and watching from the edge of the clearing, wasn't so lucky. The ground beneath him collapsed before he could even get to his feet, and he screamed as he started to plummet, but Blitzmon flew in and pulled him back up just in time.
"Shin'ya!" Agnimon shouted, reverting back to his regular form and running over to his brother, "Are you alright?!"
All the others returned to normal as well, once Gnomemon got his sinkhole to stop spreading. "And this is why you need to learn control," Kōji stated bluntly.
Kyōsuke looked absolutely terrified when he saw the furious expression on Takuya's face. "That's an understatement!" the leader snapped, "You could've seriously hurt him! If Junpei hadn't gotten to him in time, who knows what would've happened?! He can't even Spirit Evolve to get himself out of the way!"
At this, Shin'ya turned and started to walk away. "Hey, Shin'ya, where're you going?" Tomoki called after him.
"Home," Shin'ya replied bitterly over his shoulder, "All I'm really doing is getting in the way, anyway."
"Aw shit," Tomoki thought to himself, "I'm so going to be late!"
Thanks to Warrior training, he was running way late for spring soccer tryouts. His best friend Sasuke had insisted that they try out together; he would not be happy.
It wasn't really the actual training that'd made him late, it was the 'discussion' that'd taken place after Shin'ya's departure. Takuya was still mad at Kyōsuke for almost accidentally killing his brother. Kyōsuke, though clearly shaken by what had nearly happened, had gotten defensive about it thanks to his wounded pride, blaming Shin'ya for even being in the way. This statement, of course, had angered Takuya even more, and resulted in Kyōsuke stalking away.
The rest of the training session had been spent trying to calm Takuya down. The twins, Junpei, Tomoki, and Lexi (Izumi had run after Kyōsuke to try and figure out what his problem was) had tried their best, but their leader was still simmering and worrying about Shin'ya. He'd considered going after his brother, but Junpei had advised against it. He'd said that he knew how Shin'ya felt, reminding them that in the original group of five, before they'd even known Kōichi existed, he'd been the last to receive a Spirit.
It'd been at that point that Tomoki had realised that he was late, and dashed off. He'd had to stop by his house to grab his gear (just his luck, his house happened to be in the opposite direction from the tryouts), catch the bus, and run past the swimming complex and ice rink to arrive at the public soccer field, where tryouts were being held. He finally arrived, huffing and puffing, nearly halfway through the tryout. The coaches had disapproving expressions on their faces as one checked Tomoki's name off a clipboard.
"Dude, where the hell have you been?" Sasuke asked as Tomoki stood next to him in line for one of the drills.
"Sorry. Got caught up in… uh… something else, and lost track of time."
"What's been going on with you lately? You've been disappearing a lot, you won't tell me what you're up to, and you've never been this late before."
"Uh… It's kind of hard to explain." Tomoki was temporarily spared from answering when Sasuke's turn for the drill came.
The last time he'd been involved with the Digital World, this hadn't been a problem. He hadn't had to go back and forth between two lives and come up with excuses for where he was disappearing to. This was going to be far more difficult than he'd originally thought.
Shin'ya was in his room, moodily staring at the ceiling, when his cell phone rang again. He checked the caller ID and let it ring when he saw that it was Nii-san. Again.
When his brother had first described the Digital World to him, Shin'ya's initial reaction had been to wonder if that basketball to the head had given him brain damage. Still, he'd humoured him, and the trip to the secret basement terminal had been enough to make him a believer.
The first time he'd seen Nii-san Spirit Evolve, he'd been in complete awe. He couldn't wait to do it himself. Even at twelve-going-on-thirteen, Shin'ya still looked up to his big brother. And since then, he'd been yearning to be just as strong and powerful.
But now he was the only one who hadn't, yet. Kyōsuke, Lexi, and even Juan, who'd nearly wet himself on their first trip, had all gotten badass new powers, while he was still the weak link, the load. This morning's disaster had proven that much.
His phone buzzed again, this time with a text alert. Shin'ya frowned at the offending device; those who'd gained Spirits now had the ability to switch their cell phones into D-Scanners and back at will while in this world. He didn't. It was a mediocre trick compared to anything else they could do, but it was still something even he couldn't pull off.
Shin'ya read the text out of sheer boredom. It wasn't from Nii-san this time; it was from Junpei. 'Get to Shibuya Station. Kōji just got some sort of distress signal, and we're heading out to investigate.'
He seriously considered just staying in his room. It wasn't like he would really be needed.
As if the elder Legendary Warrior was somehow reading his mind, his phone buzzed with another text. 'We need all 10 warriors, Shin'ya. Just because you don't have a Spirit yet, doesn't mean you're useless.'
Shin'ya sighed and sat up. He might as well head out.
As he left the house, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around to see his best friend Matsuno Mami, a basketball tucked under her arm. "Hey! I'm glad I caught you! A bunch of us were heading down to the courts for a game. Want to come?"
"Uh… sorry. I'm meeting my brother, we'll be busy for a while. Maybe some other time, 'kay?"
He hurried off, not seeing the expression on Mami's face that was a combination of exasperation, suspicion, and determination.
So yeah, next chapter will be up in two weeks, as I am finally returning to that pattern. The story is written out in its entirety, as I dislike posting fics that I haven't finished (not that that's stopped me before). So I will be posting new chapters on Sept 5 and 19, and Oct 13. However, it'll then be another wait before I get around to Part V, as I haven't even begun to write it, and my new priority ordering system puts 15 other stories between it and this one. Basically I'm putting up one part of a series or a sequel in the order in which it was last updated, then a couple stand-alone stories before starting the cycle over. So once I'm done getting all the chapters of this story saved, I'll be finishing my half-posted 'The Star-Crazy Cult', then finishing the 'Avatar Niella' series, the sequel to 'Miriam', a new addition to the 'United AU', a sequel to 'Himitsu no Hōki', and so on. Any work/series that has been recently updated has been shifted to the bottom of my priority list, which unfortunately includes this one with this new update.
But until then, I'm glad that I'm finally able to give you guys this new story. Enjoy!
Spectre out.
