Solitary Courage
"You shouldn't be surprised to find yourself alone," a young voice chimed. "It's always been like this, from the very start."
The one they were speaking to didn't respond.
"I mean, we were the one able to contact the digimon in the first place." the small child continued. "They came through our computer. We were so surprised." she couldn't hold back her smile.
"Then, years later, they came for us again. Just like before, we were swept along without putting up any resistance. We were captured in the end… but then a miracle happened. The enemy was defeated, yet the story still doesn't end."
The one the floor tensed at the memories.
"No, next the eight year old, little girl has to go off on her own to save a whole other world. It wasn't good enough that she managed to save her town, and her family single handily, but now another world. We… no, I had already lost Wizarmon to the last enemy, and now I had to go through that again and again… by myself."
A berated heap of a person trembled on the floor.
"But that's not even the end off it. Years after that, I was haunted by other worldly nightmares. Haunted by monsters I can't even comprehend… and there was nothing anyone else could do about it. There was nothing I could do about it… Not without more sacrifices."
The brunette on the floor became still. It was as if the words bounced off of them painlessly. It didn't go unnoticed by the girl.
"Have you finally given up, because I could use a nice long break as well. It's best if we just did nothing in this darkness. Just like before, no one is here for you. Not mommy or daddy… and big brother is just as unreliable."
"…" the person on the ground mouthed a name wordlessly.
"Still trying to call out for help?" wondered the girl. "You brother won't come to save you, he never has."
"…mon."
The young girl scowled down at her target. "I don't know why you're still calling out. No digimon will come to save you this time. Who would risk their life for someone who can't even do anything alone Without the courage to even believe in themselves."
"Tailmon…" The young woman uttered. She managed to look up the face the younger girl's glare. "Tailmon, would risk her life for me, just as I would for her. Just like she did when we fought off Myotismon, and when we went to the digital world to face the dark masters, and again when Dagomon called out to me."
The younger girl's face scrunched up at the defining nature of her older self. "That doesn't change the fact that you resent that world for taring you away from your family. For thrusting you into the unknown by yourself. For relying on you and only you… even now!"
"You're right," the older one agreed. "Back then, I was extremely scared and upset about being alone. But, Tailmon was there to lift my spirits whenever things got to tough for me. When that wasn't enough, I relied on the other digimon we met along the way for support. Even then, with all of that, I still had some resentment and fear left in my heart. That's how Dagomon could make contact me after all."
The young girl kept quiet as the older counterpart reviewed her past.
"But something else was there as well. That was the courage my brother and parents had given me before I went to the digital world. Even though Tailmon and I had just saved the city, going off to a whole new world with just her was frightening. Even so, my brother encouraged me and my parents to let me go. Even when we started floating towards the sky and they didn't want to let go my hands while crying, they sent both of us off with a smile. Those faces still give me the courage to face any obstetrical, even my own worries and fears."
The girl could almost snarl at the young lady's defiance. As the older girl spoke, she had also become engulfed in a blinding white light. It was too much for the smaller one to handle. The light washed over the small child and illuminated the area.
The young woman adjusted her eyes after the blinding light died down. She looked at her now empty surroundings. She was alone in a fairly large bricked room. She managed to get to her feet just in time to hear her name being called.
"Hikari!" A small purple striped, white cat raced to the girl though a bright portal.
"Tailmon!" Hikari, hugged her digital companion. "Do you have any idea of where we are?"
"How would I know? You're the one who disappeared," The small digimon countered. "You're lucky that random light lead me to you.
The girl's memories of her day's events were fuzzy. She remembered being in the digital world with Tailmon, but everything after that was filled with hazy darkness.
"I guess we're somewhere in the digital world," the brunette started. "It at least feels like the digital world," she tried to reason.
Tailmon was about to explain how she had seen her disappear, but she halted after catching a sound coming from one of the walls. The feline digimon left her partners hand and ran up to the door.
"What do you hear?"
Tailmon closed her eyes and focused, "Someone's coming."
"Whoever took me must be coming back, or the guards."
Tailmon kept trying to pick up the sounds from beyond the stony wall. "No, guards don't normally run like that..."
A feminine scream soon became audible to the young lady, "I guess they don't normally scream like that either."
"That sounds like trouble," Tailmon turned towards the door. "It seems we weren't the only one's captured."
"We have to hurry and save that digimon, and any others that are trapped here." Hikari pulled out her digivice, "alright, lets get that door opened," the girl commanded.
"Please, I don't need to digivolve to break down this door," Tailmon smashed down the wooden door with only one fierce blow.
As the two rushed outside, they were greeted to a human girl running away from a digital monsters. They recognized one but had never seen the other. The long haired girl ran down the hall straight towards the two with a big smile on her face.
The girl grasped Hikari in a large hug, "I'm so glade that someone else is here as well."
Hikari was slightly thrown off by the sight of another human being in the digital world along with her. Her mind raced with questions, but they were pushed aside for what needed to be done that instant.
"I'm glad your alright as well," the short haired girl spoke, "but we need to get to safety now." Hikari took the girl by the hand and started to sprint down the hall. The larger monster looked as if it was on pursuit of them while the other tried to hold it back. She had never seen such a monster in her eight years of exploring the digital world. Tailmon joined the defending digimon fended the beast off, as they made their turn.
Hikari had no idea what was going on, but she knew she had to do her best to protect those who she knew here in danger. She was sure that's what her brother and parents back home, would want.
AN: So here's a new story, just… because. I started this story because I wanted to practice writing shorter chapters. As for the actual contents, I aimed once again try my hand at angst, and once again I've failed.
I was mostly inspired by seeing so many stories tackle the kids' shortcomings and exaggerating them. I also wanted to draw focus to those issues as well but I also want to focus on the fact that these are children who have saved a world and overcame adversity before.
The next theme would be, how would I show those strengths and weaknesses. Well I would use the conveniently supplied character traits know as the crests. Then I thought, "hey, let's shake things up a bit and switch the focus of the traits."
So first, but defiantly not least, we deal with Hikari. Why? Because she was the first one to come to me when writing this, and without a doubt she's set the pace and elements of this story. It was also really easy to just give her courage to focus on. As for all the other weird stuff going on, the only excuse I have is that I'm thinking about and working on some AU stuff, so that's also shaped this story.
But even so courage was a perfect match for Hikari because she is naturally very brave. It helps even more that she doesn't think her self to be so. For a character who isn't as built up as the others, she's still deep enough to do something with and straightforward enough to not have to think to hard about.
Anyway, I hope all of you will support me in this new, (shorter) story and have enjoyed this first chapter. Like always, leave a comment of any kind, form a review, to just telling me how you feel about the story. Who will be up next? Keep reading to find out.