Disclaimer – I do not own Digimon, it remains trademarked to whoever owns it now I'm merely making use of characters and settings for creative purposes.
Just a heads up, this series incorporates a bit of canon lore that comes off the CD Drama's for seasons 01 & 02, if you haven't read/heard any of them then go hunt down the English transcripts as they're pretty good reads on their own and will fill in a few gaps that people might otherwise not understand. I've linked them at the bottom, you don't really need it for this chapter but it might help fill in some story gaps later.
Also I go with the Japanese naming conventions because they feel more appropriate I guess? I plan on taking the story in kinda semi-serious kind of way and I can't help but feel saying "TK" & "Davis" & "Cody" etc would take away from it and to keep with a consistent naming convention the digimon stages are also the Japanese ones. Rookie is Child, Champion is Adult, Ultimate is Perfect and Mega is Ultimate (I only mention this for the last one in case some people get confused).
I also planned to have a snippet of lyrics at the start and end of the chapter, turns out FFN ToS makes that a big no-go. So I've had to get creative with it.
Digimon Adventure – The Sun-Wash War
Chapter 1 – Rhapsody In Gold
'I've seen those red balloons she talks about.
I watched them get blown out of the sky,
Just for floating there, carried by the wind.'
The low vrrrr of rubber on concrete preceded the adolescent's advance as his bike made easy progress down the paved street. The breeze that lifted his hair and shirt was warm and carried with it the muggy scents of the city but somewhere beneath smog you could just about make out the sweet fragrance of summer flowers. The early morning sun reflected off the goggles hanging loosely around his neck, treating passer-bys to brief blinding flashes as the lenses caught the light of the morning sun. The stripped tie around his neck was loose, it swung back and forth with his movements and the powder blue blazer he wore was clean but creased in many places, he hadn't had time to iron it and had hastily pulled it on as he ran out of his apartment building.
Taichi Yagami rolled along the side of the canal and the sight and smell of water brought to mind the memories of his last year and all that had occurred since their confrontation with Armagemon in Tokyo Bay. It had been Daisuke & Ken that had saved them, Omegamon hadn't been strong enough to bring the revenge fuelled monster down alone but the two generations together had done what one could not. Since that incident the world had become increasingly aware of the digital worlds existence. When a hoard of pink jellyfish start popping out of phones and a giant doom spider decides to drop in on Tokyo Bay then people tend to notice, especially after the Christmas invasion exposed digimon to the world at large.
Since then time had passed with an almost eerie kind of quiet, the number of Chosen children around the world grew every couple of months and there had only been a few breaches of the digital gate, resulting in a few confused digimon wandering round the real world. Most of these incidents had been resolved peacefully and quietly, in large part thanks to the Chosen children's intervention.
Well most of them anyway, he thought. Had even half of the Digimon who got lost then turned aggressive they could of done some serious damage to the real world.
Koushiro had set up a website for the Chosen children to keep in touch around the world and as one of the original Odaiba Chosen, Taichi was a notable figure amongst them. Chosen from all around the world had seen their original fight with Diablomon and how they had saved Japan and since the Odaiba group had spent the most time in the digital world and had access to some of the highest tiers of evolution, they were looked up to and so a lot of new Chosen around the world came to them for advice. The we're the forefront of defence for any major threats to either world and now with the chosen growing in number every month, it was up to some of the older members to help a new generation come to terms with their responsibility.
It hadn't been all bad anyway there had even been a few nice surprises along the way. Like Daisuke's sister becoming a Chosen, it was certainly one of the funnier one.
The look on Daisuke's face when she showed up with a digimon in her arms was priceless, I've never actually seen a jaw hit the floor but it got pretty damn close He laughed to himself, letting the warmth of the happy memory briefly wash over him but before long it was derailed with a more serious train of thought. Something he had been increasingly hung up on lately.
A Chosen child was essentially a person who has been chosen to fight by the digital world. Selected by the powers at be they were thrust into a position of responsibility, but why were so many new Chosen cropping up? What kind of threat required an army of kids to combat it?
The thoughts cut through the warmth of the day and left Taichi with a chill, if there came a time where he needed to fight, then he would. Taichi new this was simplifying the problem, but in truth he thought it was also a good way to look it at, made things easier to accept.
For now though all of that could wait, Taichi took his hands off the handle bars and let it coast towards the gate of the high school ahead of him. He scanned the gates for familiar faces and broke into a smile at the sight of two. He swung his legs over the saddle and with practised grace, climbed off the still moving bike and walked it the last 10 feet towards the two figures standing next to the bike rack.
The figures broke off their conversation and raised their hands in greeting and at the sight of Taichi, he smiled and raised a hand in return at the similarly attired figures.
"I thought the whole point of a bike was that you get to places quicker?" remarked the blond boy ahead of him, his bag was slung casually over his shoulder and a guitar case rested at his feet, the girl on his left laughed and brushed a strand of orange hair out of her eyes, a racket case was slung across her back.
"Depends on how much you like sleeping in." Taichi countered with an amiable grin, Yamato simply sighed while Sora raised a hand to her mouth and stifled a laugh.
"No, it depends on how late you want to be. Now come on, class starts soon." and as if on Sora's queue a bell sounded in the large building behind them. Taichi locked up his bike while they made idle chat and once he was done they walked towards the front doors as a trio. Both Sora & Yamato would be busy with practice tomorrow, so they wouldn't be able to make the weekly meeting.
Taichi nodded in acknowledgement and took one last look back over his shoulder at the morning sun. He took in a deep breath of the summer air and exhaled slowly, the peace suited him just fine for now and if something went awry somewhere, there were plenty of Chosen around to deal with it. With the weight of that off his mind, he faced forward and the doors of the high school closed behind him, sealing out the warm morning light.
The group of children ran for cover as the bats swarmed over the area, flitting through the surrounding tree's and blotting out what little light made it through the overcast clouds above. Many pairs of dark wings settled on everything from the bare branches of the dead trees, to the extravagant architecture of the mansion which dominated the clearing. The building was ancient and whatever colour it had originally been was now bleached by time and worn by the dry winds that savaged the forest. Its roof, windows and turrets we're sharp angular creations. Gothic constructions that would of looked at home in an old European city.
"This is MY land," a voice roared from above the mansion, it stood on nothing; his regal attire and crimson cloak caught in the constant gale typical of this region "I earned it, fought to protect it and I'm not going to let some inept children take that from me!"
One of the children stepped from behind a tree, a V-mon stood at his side poised to cover his partner if things went south.
"No-one's arguing with that, it's when you showed up south of here and started claiming that was your territory as well that we've had to show up," Daisuke barked up at the Vamdemon "and especially when you start deleting Digimon who disagree with you."
There was a high pitched squeal as a red lash of energy struck the ground where Daisuke had been standing only a moment before, V-mon had made a swift tug on his partners jacket and brought him tumbling back into the group of teens gathered behind a boulder.
A scream of frustration from the figure above but it made no move to route them from cover.
"Well he's not leaving us many options is he?" Daisuke grunted as he righted himself, he looked round at his friends and their partners "Any suggestions?"
Takeru glanced towards Overdell Mansion with his hat pulled low, his voice was flat and the distaste was obvious "Yeah, we stop with the negotiating and end this." across from where Takeru sat, Hikari was fiddling with her digivice, she could relate to her old friends bias but was also aware that this wasn't the same Digimon that had nearly killed her and her partner all those years ago.
"It might look like him-" she started but was cut off.
"I've lived here all my life, was one of hundreds of Bakemon and I was the only one to reach perfect level!" The figure called from above his mansion.
Hikari shuddered at the cry.
And sound just like him she thought.
"-but its not him and we should at least give him a chance to surrender, we even gave Blackwargreymon that much." Hikari finished her statement and looked to her partner. Tailmon stared back at her, there was a supportive smile there but her whiskers were turned down, she knew that Tailmon was worried and could Hikari blame her?
This was Vamdemon they were talking about, not 'their' Vamdemon exactly, but when you sometimes wake up from a nightmare with a pale face and crimson mask still fresh in your mind then it can be easy to form a bias.
Hikari also knew she wasn't the only one who had those dreams, she glanced at her partner and then the other faces of her Chosen children friends. Miyako was sporting a frown but the look on Iori's face was clear and determined, both Hawkmon & Armadimon we're staring at their respective partners.
"I say we give him a chance." Iori stated firmly. Takeru favoured him with sour look and Iori heald his gaze steadily "But we should be ready to act. If he proves to be dangerous then..." Iori's face turned grim but the determined quality of it didn't fade. It was the sort of look that had no right to be on the face of a 12 year old with most of his life ahead of him but Takeru recognised it, he thought he sometimes caught a glimpse of that look in the mirror of his room.
"I second the smart and responsible young man to my left." Daisuke said in a dry tone of voice, he nodded at Iori then turned on the rest of the group "Well? Any other votes on the 'give a mon a chance' motion?" Hikari met his gaze and then nodded, he found it hard to tear himself away from her hazel eyes but managed it when he remembered how Taichi had put him in charge. It was about time he took this seriously, he wasn't just a chosen in a small group anymore, he was part of something 'bigger now' as Taichi had put it.
"He's already deleted several Digimon when he tried to take over that village, what makes you think he deserves a chance?" Takeru all but spat at him, Daisuke didn't take it personally. While his group, and sometime he did think of them as his group, had their own run in with Vamdemon, he knew that Hikari & Takeru had a bigger history with him. To them, this wasn't just another run in with some unruly digimon, this was something personal with some heavy baggage.
"I know its no excuse but Digimon all end up back at primary village anyway right?" Miyako said from her sitting position. She wrestled with herself, trying to find the right words "Its been going on this way for a long time in the digital world, I can't help but feel stuff like territorial disputes are a cultural issue" Takeru shot her a disbelieving look and she paled "I'm not excusing his actions! just saying we take it into account..." she trailed off and looked to Hawkmon for support, he just shrugged his feathered shoulders and hers drooped in response to his. In the end she looked at Daisuke and nodded her agreement.
"Looks like you're outvoted on this one Takeru, we take a diplomatic approach." he looked down at his partner and then at the faces of his friends "Though we might be needing some muscle on this though, just to make him think twice about that whole red lightning thing he's got going on "
"We might not have Ken & Wormmon with us but I can still handle myself" V-mon flexed a small blue bicep and cracked a toothy smile at his partner "Lets go talk to fang face" Daisuke put a hand on V-mon's shoulder and halted him mid stride, then he turned to look at Takeru and Hikari.
"I think some angel backup might work best for this, you two good for that?" the question caught Takeru off guard, he had always seen Daisuke as more of a 'play it by ear' and 'Take centre stage' kinda guy. The shrewd, and calculated look that Daisuke wore threw him off for a second, Takeru blinked and then regained his composure looking down at his partner.
"I'm good to go Takeru!" the bat eared pig chirped, taking to the air from Takeru's lap.
"The sooner we get going then the quicker we get home" Gatomon remarked and she rose onto her back paws.
"Who betta' to cover your back than me, this shell ain't for show ya' know" Armadimon shook himself and Iori nodded.
"The peaceful route is probably the better choice, we're here to help Digimon not enforce any laws. Right Miyako?" Hawkmon looked to his partner and she responded wearing her best cynical smile.
"Well lets hope it goes smoothly then" and after a second, the smile became genuine. She looked at Takeru and giggled into her hand "Hope it goes smoothly" Takeru cringed and pressed his palms into his temples, Hikari stifled a giggle while the others laughed. As bad as the joke was, it carried away the tension that had been lingering over the group since hearing a Vamdemon was causing trouble in the digital world. Suddenly it was just like any other day as a Chosen child, no more or less dangerous than patrolling and taking in the beautiful, if sometime quite strange, scenery the digital world had to offer.
As a group they exchanged one final look and stood, pulling their digivices from pockets or off belts.
The group gripped their D3's and a familiar feeling flowed through them, not quite a draining sensation but something similar.
Koushiro once described the process like an extra capacitor being drained for its excess energy, not directly tiring the Chosen child but drawing on the extra power they hold to supplement the evolution process. Daisuke didn't quite get it but he did know what the feeling signaled and shortly after the feeling subsided and the light that had surrounded their partners faded away, the 4 adult level and single perfect level digimon took to the clearing of the Overdell mansion.
"I gotta say it was nice of you to leave us alone while we finished our chat" Daisuke called up to the Vamdemon right of XV-mon's massive leg "How about we carry on with this very civil attitude and discuss it like reasonable mons?"
"I have nothing further to discuss, this land is mine and I want you humans to leave me in peace" the tone of his voice was sharp but quieter than before and he made no move attack which Daisuke took for a pretty good sign. Rather than looking at Daisuke, the floating digimon's attention was focused on the two angels that now lit the clearing with their own white glow, the bare branches of the surrounding trees casting dark shadows in contrast to the new light. The digimon's expression was shaken for a moment as it cringed at the sudden light but then rearranged itself into something more dignified.
He's scared of them. Daisuke thought. He'd never admit it but he knows that the pair of angel digimon are dangerous to him and he's worried.
Daisuke took this for another good sign. Things we're going well.
Daisuke glanced round and saw that Miyako and Iori had taken up his flanks and when he returned his gaze back to the Vampire digimon they locked eyes.
They were a deep crimson, but didn't contain the look of cruelty and malice he might of expected, there was just a hastily thrown up veneer of arrogance, one that didn't quite mask the digimon's fear and uncertainty.
Daisuke suddenly felt that things we're going to be fine and that negotiating was the best choice.
So he opened his mouth, and with a carefully decided level of politeness. Began to negotiate with the vampire lord of Overdell Mansion.
For Koushiro Izumi the day had been busy and by now he figured that a break was long past due, he tried to stand from his chair and almost fell as the muscles in his legs we're suddenly roused into motion they weren't expecting after 15 hours sitting down. Grabbing the chair he'd been sat on, he caught himself and gave his lower body a second to boot up and remember how to do its job, then confident that he wouldn't fall again, made for the kitchen.
The flat was quiet and a quick glance out the window told him it was late in the night now, his watch confirmed that it was indeed half 3 in the morning and Koushiro cursed himself for working so late, this was going to destroy what little sleep schedule he had and he still had to get up for high school tomorrow.
He'd spent most of the day alternating between talking to Gennai and working on the Chosen forum, which he had just finished upgrading. Specifically he had just installed a universal translator, one that would help everyone understand and communicate easier no matter what their native language. The site detected where you were, gave you a choice of likely languages and everything was automatically translated. It was not a simple task and even with Gennai's help it was proving to difficult, but without the digital sage it would have been impossible. Gennai had a way of writing code that was completely foreign to Koushiro and it opened up possibilities beyond any programmer from the human world.
He'd set up the site more than half a year ago, again with Gennai's help and had made it a place for Chosen to discuss their lives and some of the problems they faced. It also functioned as a good network of surveillance for any digimon who breached the digital gate. Initially there had been some worries of government interference with the site but with a mind bending bit of programming the site could only be accessed while a digivice was present and only once a password had been given. Not to mention it wasn't even hosted on the internet, Gennai had set up a form of server that existed in the digital world but was accessible from the human one. How Gennai had done so was beyond him but all in all the thing had been running smoothly for going on 8 months now and other than the communication problems inherent with gathering people from all over the world, it had been a great success. New Chosen were found by Gennai and directed towards the site and once there, they could ask any questions they needed too. It was a good system, he should know considering he helped design it.
Koushiro opened the fridge, spied a bottle of orange juice and poured himself a tall glass. It was cool and refreshing after sitting in the closed environment of his room for so long but working for such a marathon had been worth it, the translation system was running and while it had a few bugs here and there, the majority of them had been worked out and the Chosen were more connected than ever. He drained the glass quickly in long gulps, the cool pit it made in the centre of stomach soothed the edge of hunger that had crawled in since he realised how long he'd gone without food.
Ever since the new Chosen had started appearing more regularly and once he'd started working on the site, Koushiro felt he'd taken on more of a support role and realised he hadn't really seen any action for a long time. He still spent time in the digital world, all the Chosen children either spent time there or had their partners with them in the real world. As partner to a Chosen though, Tentomon was almost as busy as he was and so they had to find time to meet up. Still the breaks from the constant stream of high school work and administrating the Chosen forum were welcomed and he sometimes spent the whole weekend just relaxing with his partner, just exploring more of the digital world and looking at some of the ruins and remnants of time passed in an unfamiliar world.
Even when I take time off I still end up researching stuff he reflected. But there's so much to discover and if I don't then who will? There's hundreds of thousands of years that have never been documented and remain a mystery in that world. Someone's got to start looking at it, if we don't learn from the past then how can we prevent making the same mistakes in the future.
The red haired adolescent opened a window and let the fresh breeze roll in, coupled with the refilled glass of juice he felt quite at peace for a moment and it was while he was clearing his mind after being wound tight all day that he remembered something important. It had hidden at the back of his mind and only now rose to the surface once he'd finally taken a break from thinking about the translation program. The window closed with a snap and he hurried back towards his room, the soft footfalls of socks on carpet followed him as he rushed back to his desk and waiting pc.
He booted up the forum and navigated it with practised ease, he quickly found the thread that had been nagging at his brain. It was noted specifically for him and had caught his attention last night.
It was titled "A British Chosen is on his way to Japan".
After opening the thread and quickly scanning the post within, he understood why his brain had subconsciously brought it back to him. The idea of a British Chosen coming to Japan wasn't a big deal, the original poster was another of the British Chosen and said his friend was visiting extended family in Japan. The problem was that Koushiro was supposed to of heard from him by now, infact he was supposed to have had someone open a portal to let him back into the real world, the thread stated that he had an old style digivice and thus couldn't open a gate himself.
Travelling through the digital world was easier than getting around the real world, not to mention cheaper and it had recently become common for those with second generation digivice's to use them to quickly traverse big distances. It wasn't quite as easy as finding their way to a nearby portal and just opening a new gate across the world, but distance was funny in the digital world and the digivice provided a bit of leeway on where you could come out. There had even be a couple cases of long distance relationships with couples who were countries apart meeting in the digital world or quickly hopping big distances to meet their partners.
Koushiro checked his watch against the date and time on the thread and was certain he should of heard from the arrival by now and while he didn't think it was an incredibly serious problem, apart from the Japanese children, the English and American groups boasted a number of members with access to high level evolution, it was still something to be slightly concerned about. If Koushiro remembered correctly there was a total of 6 Chosen children on the English team and all of them had reached perfect level before, having encountered their own trials in the digital world a couple years ago.
Koushiro's mind briefly wondered to the Egyptian team of Chosen, the only other team outside of Japan that had members able to reach Ultimate level. They had faced a threat almost at the level of the dark masters and one of their members had rose to the occasion helping their partner achieve the highest level of evolution.
Still if the guy didn't turn up by morning then he'd ask for some of the local Chosen to help look for him, there seemed to be more in Japan every month and they were all enthusiastic to help do their part.
Koushiro loaded up a notepad and typed in the missing Chosen's name and partner.
'Jun Yoshida & Commandramon. MIA after failing to contact me, they should of needed a gate opened to get into Japan.'
Not a very English name is it? Koushiro mused Then again that explains the family visit in Japan.
He saved the note to one of his folders, and turned the computer off. The more he thought about how long he'd been working, the more exhausted he got. He climbed into let his body relax into the mattress.
As Koushiro slowly drifted to sleep, his brain naturally ran over the stuff that happened during the day as it progressed towards deep sleep. It catalogued and recorded and later in the night just before he entered that fabled land of dreams in deep REM sleep, his brain threw together a passing thought from random neurons.
Perhaps he found something in the digital world and got held up exploring.
When he woke up he wouldn't remember ever thinking this, but it just so happened that he hit the nail on the head.
Or at least, he was on the right lines.
At about the same time that Koushiro Izumi was falling asleep, Jun Yoshida was discovering that he was in-fact, horribly lost. The tree's we're thick all around him and he was suddenly certain he'd seen that damn rock about 15 minutes ago.
The boy was riding in the arms of his partner who had evolved to adult level to make the journey to a gate that could be opened on Japan. The creature that held him looked like a sleek combination of reptile man and high tech soldier, with thick dark teal combat armour all all over his body and tail.
In some way a lot of digimon are almost natural in appearance, they resemble animals or dinosaurs if somewhat slightly altered but there are those that almost seemed designed for combat and Jun's partner, Sealsdramon, was definitely one of the latter. His midriff was strapped with pouches and attached to one of his armour covered thighs was a small sheath holding a chrome digizoid combat knife, few things were sharper than it and fewer digimon were more adept at wielding it. Sealsdramon's face was covered with a sleek helmet, one eye covered with a small red lens and the other with a much larger clearer lens, it looked like a combination of binoculars and an infrared camera, which it essentially was.
Jun tapped his partners arm and the steady up and down movement of the digimon's long strides lessened, then stopped. Jun leapt from his arms and looked at the thick surrounding woods.
"Well...shit" The 16 year old muttered, he barely came up to his partners waist, about 5'8". His lithe frame wasn't muscular but Jun was no stranger to a bit of exercise, he just hid it underneath the long sleeved jumper and jeans he wore. They were both getting a bit ragged but the jumper had sentimental value and he liked wearing it when he could get away with it, luckily the digital world didn't have a dress hair rustled in the wind, it was getting long and a little shaggy. He had inherited his mothers brown hair over his fathers straight black hair and he was glad that he had, as much as he liked his heritage, he didn't want to be a walking stereotype.
"We passed that rock about 15 minutes ago" Jun told his partner, jutting a finger at to the right. The rock in question was fairly recognisable, it had been eroded by the wind and looked like a stack of faces on top of one another. It was only on closer inspection that Jun realised they weren't random groves that resembled faces but crude carvings.
It was in fact a totem pole of some sort and by the look of the rock, it had been here for a very long time.
However when Jun ran his hand over the rock he couldn't suppress a smile, this was the reason he liked the digital world. The rock looked heavily eroded and looked porous and rough, but to the touch, the thing felt as smooth as glass dipped in oil. Such a paradox in the human world would be un-explainable, but here it was just another weird thing as the result of garbled data, at least that was Jun's assumption.
There was a sudden flash behind him and when he turned he saw his partner now significantly shorter than he had been a second before. His child form stood where the adult had been only moment ago, Commandramon at first glance might of almost been mistaken for an Agumon, if it weren't for the urban camouflage pattern that coated his scales and the fully functional flak jacket & helmet he wore. The armaments strapped to him weren't for show either, grenades and magazines we're distributed in different pouches and attached to the rucksack on his back was an M16. Most Chosen we're surprised when they met Commandramon, he was a digimon that looked and acted like a soldier, something many didn't expect when they had become used to tyrannosaurs and sea serpents.
Commandramon looked down at gloved claws in surprise, then at his equally stunned partner.
"Wha-?" Jun managed to get out before the ground around the pillar collapsed without warning and he descended into darkness. While falling he felt his partner get a grip on his wrist, the digimon's talons were digging into the flesh of his arm but there was no pain, he was to disorientated for pain.
Then whatever pain he might of felt from his partners vice-like grip was blotted out by the intense pain that rolled through his leg when they hit the ground in a faded circle of light below. It felt like someone had poured molten glass into the area where the bones in his lower right leg should be. Some people say that the worst part of falling down a large drop is the horrifying knowledge that you're going to hit the ground eventually.
Based on the pain in his right leg, Jun thought those people were completely full of shit.
This was also the last thought he had before the shock kicked in and he fell into sweet unconsciousness.
When he came too his partner was slumped by his side, still unconscious from the fall like Jun had been only moments before. As he cleared his head and got a grip on his bearings, the pain from his leg came crashing down on him in a savage wave and when he tried to move his leg, he couldn't suppress the scream.
Black stars exploded in front of his eyes and it took all his willpower not to scream again, he'd once broken a finger falling over as a kid and he wondered how he'd ever thought that could be the worst pain in his life. Commandramon stirred slowly next to him, opened his eyes and sat up scanning the clearing, its no doubt he could see slightly more than Jun could but for the moment, there seemed to be nothing that worried his partner.
"I think we got lucky, these rocks broke my fall" Jun commented dryly. Commandramon shuffled over to him, looked at and then sniffed his leg. He could tell his friend was concerned but he also knew his partners nature, its was cool and calm like it always was, be it broken leg or battlefield his partner was a soldier through and through.
"I can smell blood, Its a compound fracture. I can put together a makeshift splint but...it'll hurt like a bitch." His partner stated bluntly, he rarely swore and Jun thought he must picked the habit from him. The reptile tilted his helmet back and glanced up above him at the hole in the ceiling with what little light came from up above "But I'm gonna have to evolve to get you out of here without hurting you more."
Jun also tried to look up and his body stiffened when a cold breeze set his hair on edge, he shifted his leg and for a moment Jun was sure someone was dragging a rusty saw across his bones. The black stars were back in his vision but this time he managed to suppress the scream snapping his mouth shut, a sharp copper taste in his mouth told him he had either bit his lip or bit the end off his tongue.
Just another injury on the list. I'll get it seen too, provided we can get out of here. Jun tried very hard to suppress his next thought and failed miserably.
If we can get out of here.
He replayed the events of the fall and remembered how his partner had devolved, it had happened just seconds before the floor fell out. His brain was slow in its realisation but it reached the conclusion eventually, he chalked it up to having a broken leg and the almost blinding pain that seemed to peak with the beat of his heart.
Which he noted was hammering away in his chest, was he in shock? Maybe. He hadn't passed out again and Jun thought this was a good sign of his body coping with what had happened. His mind returned to conclusion it had gathered from this new chain of events.
If that was coincidental, I'll eat my digivice. When he gripped the small device he kept on his jacket, it lit up and emitted enough light to observe his surroundings but it didn't respond in the way he hoped. There was no brief wave of exhaustion and no light enveloped his partner like it normally did.
Jun was what some people would call cynical and the smile he favoured Commandramon with was one his friends knew well, it was his 'Well this is another fine mess we've gotten into' smile.
"I don't know who wants us here but they've put my personal powerhouse on ice." He told his partner, shaking the digivice for emphasis, then turned to examine his surroundings.
While in the darkness he had thought it was just a dark cavern, but the light from his digivice showed him otherwise. The cavern was a large geometric room, all of the walls were exquisitely carved and the light from the digivice threw them into sharp refrain. Jun ran his eyes over them and thought at first glance they depicted a sequence of events from left to right, there was but one thing constant on all the walls.
Each one had a large depiction of what could only be the sun, shining high up in the middle of each wall.
12 walls with a sun on each. Neat.
He glanced down and it was only now, from the light of his digivice, that Jun saw how bad his leg was. His jeans were torn in several places and the lower right leg of his jeans had turned a muddy brown, there was also a sicking protuberance, deforming the outline of his leg. It was only then that he realised he was looking at his bone poking through muscle and skin under the fabric of his jeans, the thought brought a wave of nausea which he managed to hold back and he took a moment to steady his breathing which had quickened as he realised just how damage had been inflicted to his leg.
He forced his mind away from the image it made of a doctor cutting away the jeans and exposing the mash of splintered bone and torn muscle that definitely lay beneath. Such thinking was not conductive in getting him out of this hole in the ground and he had to get out of here, otherwise he'd never get to see that lovely image played out in reality.
On the final wall, opposite where Jun had fallen, beneath the depiction of the sun there was an archway leading into darkness. The digivice lit the room well but the corridor beyond seemed to swallow the light, almost unnaturally so. It gave Jun the creeps and he was seized with the sudden certainty that he and his partner had to get out of here now, he had to run, broken leg or no broken leg it was now of the utmost importance to get "Da' fuck outta' dodge" as Jun's brother was known to say.
Jun turned to his partner "We've gotta go" he told his digimon partner rapidly, there was none of the usual chill character in his voice, it was sharp and commanding and his face stone. Commandramon had seen this side of his partner a few times before, mainly during the battles that occurred when the English chosen first entered the digital world. It was one hell of a look for scrawny 16 year old English kid and he doubted many people twice Jun age would fail to snap in motion at his command. "Fuck whatever state my leg is in, you gotta help me get moving and we gotta' bounce"
Commandramon nodded, something about the archway gave him chills and set his senses on high alert as well. He gripped his injured partner about the waist and pulled him upwards into his arms.
Jun screamed this time and then bit his lip again in an effort to stop the sound, the taste of blood was back and it was sharper than before, almost bitter. In a once again pain blinded brain he pulled the knowlegde that his blood was now packed with adrenaline, his fight or flight response had kicked in and Jun knew that the new taste in his blood was the chemical indicator of fear.
Thunk.
Jun's chest jumped and a chill ran up his spine, had his partner that made that noise climbing the wall? Had his leg? No, that was just naïve hope and he knew with certainty that the sound had come from the archway. Or more specifically from the darkness beyond the archway.
Thunk.
Louder this time, closer. Yet still the sound seemed muffled to Jun's ears as if he was hearing it through earmuffs, perhaps he had hurt his head or ears in the fall but didn't think so. Something about the archway or the darkness beyond was swallowing the sound. Almost as if he was hearing nothing but an echo of a sound made many years ago.
Commandramon heard it too but turning back and facing the noise wouldn't save his partner, he had to focus on getting a good grip in the wall and to continue moving upwards. That was his sole objective now, one claw in-front of the other.
Jun turned his eyes on his partner and made them as authoritative as he could "Drop me and go, get out of here. Find some way to contact the Japanese Chosen and get them back here. They can get me out of this hole but right now, you've got to get out." underneath the authority was thinly veiled fear. He tried not to think about what might happen if his partner wasn't quick enough or if he would damage his leg more when Commandramon dropped him.
Jun knew a broken leg was a dangerous thing and bleeding out was a real possibility in this case, not to mention infection can quickly run rampant in exposed tissue. He cursed himself for knowing this, ignorance really was bliss wasn't it? For a moment he wished he could unlearn everything to do with broken bones.
"I'm not leaving you here, I'll be scrap data before I do something like that" Commandramon snorted, he hefted Jun and carried on upwards. The boy was back to focusing his entire being on blocking out the blinding pain from his leg as it was shifted back and forth by his partner who dug his claws deep into the carved wall. They moved slowly but steadily upwards, towards the hole in the ceiling and the light above.
Thunk.
The sound came again and Jun looked over his partners shoulder, something in the darkness of the archway shifted and a figure seemed to form and then dissipate. Jun didn't say anything, he was to focused on keeping quiet and coming to grips with how any human being could carry on breathing with the astonishing pain that washed over his leg with every move his partner made up the wall but when knew what he had seen. Something was coming.
They almost made it out. It felt like a thousand years to Jun, each one marked with searing pain and black stars in his vision but who knows what might of happened if they had made yet after climbing roughly 25ft of wall and with only 4ft to go, the sound came again. For the last time.
Thunk.
This time it came out crisp and carried around the dark stone room. The sound was quite easy to distinguish. A large heavy metal boot on stone. Both Chosen and digimon partner had heard similar sounds before and recognised it at once. It meant someone was standing behind them, someone or something big.
Jun expected to hear the sound again, to hear it break into a run. A sharp rapid drum beat of metal boot on stone as whatever was behind them rushed at them. No sound came though and when Jun looked over his partners shoulder this time, he saw the figure had abandoned the floor and now stood on nothing. The imposing figure was level with them, floating in the air. It's white cloak shifted gently in the cool breezed that came from the world above and must flow down into dark archway below.
Jun had a moment of clarity, his experience as a Chosen child kicked in and he made an automatic analysis of the digimon in front of him, disregarding the fear and pain that had previously gripped him.
Tall, humanoid, flying without wings. Gold armour, Lotsa' gold. Gotta be Ultimate level, no doubt about it. Roman numerals inscribed on its breast plate. XI. Feathered cloak. It doesn't...look evil?
These facts were quickly filed away, along with one more, a word that seemed to sum the figure perfectly.
It looks...righteous. That's the ticket. Righteous.
This was as far as he got with his analysis before the pair of them were plucked off the wall, the gauntleted hand held Commandramon's backpack and Commandramon held Jun. Neither of the two moved, Jun was too scared and was trying to keep his leg as still as possible and his partner had frozen.
Commandramon could feel the strength of the digimon before him. All of the digimon he and his partner had faced before now, somehow seemed pathetic. The chances of escaping or fighting back were zero, so he froze. He froze and waited for what the imposing golden figure would do next. Praying to any sovereign that might be listening that it's next move wouldn't be to delete him and kill his partner.
To their surprise the figure lowered them gently on the floor and the pair couldnt help but look up into the face of the golden armoured digimon, the air felt thick and seemed to hum in its presence. Jun felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and added to his mental analysis.
Static? It's Electricity.
The digimon lowered a finger towards Jun's leg who would of waved his hands in some gesture of warding off if it weren't for the fact he was scared any move might immediately make the digimon hostile. When the finger made contact with the leg, the static feeling around the room surged and for a moment Jun's body went numb but he let out an scream, he couldn't stop himself.
Commandramon snapped into action throwing caution and his very existence to the wind, he pulled his rifle of his backpack and aimed at the large digimon's head. He might have been on the verge of firing, of signing what could only be his deletion warrant when Jun's hand gripped his shoulder and he looked round into his partners face.
To Commandramon's astonishment, Jun struggled to his feet and stood there without any sign of pain or difficulty. The right leg of his jeans was still dyed a muddy brown but the lump that had been poking out was gone, presumably it was back in place doing its job. Jun shook the leg out and stamped his foot a couple times. No pain, just a good old fashioned working leg.
Healed like nothing had happened.
"Uh..Thanks, I guess" Jun stammered, he was standing in the soft shaft of light from up above and looking up at the figure that had come to his aid. It was a surreal moment for Jun, the eyes looking out of the slit of the helmet we're a cold blue and lacked the compassion he might of expected from someone who heals a broken leg without a word.
"Boy, my name is Jupitermon" The voice rang with authority and the charged feeling in the room seemed to grow and make more of Jun's hair stand on end. Jupitermon stood about 18ft tall and a rich cloak of gleaming feathers hung down his back framing his golden figure"-and I require your assistance"
He must have had to duck to get through that damn archway Jun thought wildly, his brain wasn't quite responding properly and it was the only coherent thought he had for a moment, then his mouth took over on autopilot.
"Well I appreciate the help, really I do, but what could a pair like us do to help you?" Jun felt off-balance.
Too much had happened too quickly and despite the fact this helpful-
But not kind. There was no kindness in those blue eyes. Cold Gunslinger eyes.
-Ultimate level digimon had come by and healed his broken leg before even saying hello, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right here. Something was definitely 'Fishy'.
He put on his most winning smile and ran his mind through the days events, piece by piece, something his think-pan found easier now that it wasn't juggling the pain of a broken loeg.
I somehow end up going in circles while trying to reach a gate to Japan. Evolution is a no go. I fall break my leg and then get it healed again by this mysterious altruistic digimon. Jun rattled these thoughts round twice before realising.
Someone wanted me here. Now this big guy shows up and 'asks' for my help. That's no coincidence. It was simple enough to think but how could he use this information, in the end he was still stuck in this hole with what could only be an incredibly powerful digimon.
I've forgotten something.
The thought was crystal clear in his head. He slid his eyes past the large golden figure and to the opposite wall.
The archway. The darkness beyond. The way the sound of his steps we're muffled.
All of this was wrong. He knew now, this whole thing was a set-up, but above all else, it was wrong.
Jun turned towards his partner, gripped his digivice hard, prayed to whoever would listen and tried to will some power into his partner. Commandramon felt the power rush towards him and he leapt between the boy he was bonded too and the digimon many times his superior. Light gathered on him and from it emerged his adult form, even though he had hoped for it, it still surprised Jun who hadn't been expecting it to work.
The gold figure also shifted, almost in-perceptible but Jun definitely saw it happen. The golden knight digimon, Jupitermon, hadn't been expecting it either.
Sealsdramon stood about as high as Jupitermon's abdomen, but in opposition to the golden figures radiance, Sealsdramon's reflective armour plating didn't emit any glow and any light that hit it almost seemed to slide off, covering him in shadows that broke up his outline.
Sealsdramon became a blur, not because of his armour but because of his speed. Jun was always amazed at his partner's speed in this form, he seemed to blur from reality leaving only empty air and an after image in his wake.
Sealsdramon made to pick up his partner and leap to the opening above in one deft movement but even with his great speed he never stood a chance. A gauntleted hand flashed out, a bolt of lightning clad in gold, caught the combat armour clad dragon man about the waist and simply held him in a vice grip. When Sealsdramon made to struggle the large golden hand applied pressure and Jun heard metal screech and buckle, he also heard his partner hiss in pain.
"NO! Please don't!" Jun collapsed to his knee's and turned his hands palm up in a sign of surrender. The first and quickest way he could think of showing his passiveness.
"Don't move C', just be cool, okay?" He called to his partner from his face down position. Sealsdramon went still and tried to cut all movement, they were both at Jupitermon's mercy.
"I require your help" Jupitermon stated again to the kneeling boy, his face was hidden behind most of his helmet but Jun could feel the cold indifference in it's stare on the back of his neck "but I do not require your consent"
With that statement he reached down and with a finger on his free hand, lifted Jun's head and touched him in the centre of his forehead. There was a what felt like an hot spear, thrust into his head and the worst static shock of his life ran through him.
Then, the lights went out for Jun Yoshida.
Sealsdramon watched in horror as his partner went limp and collapsed, the hand holding him didn't loosen or show any sign of weakness and when Jupitermon raised the free hand to his chest and touched him where his core lay beneath, he didn't struggle. He wanted too but he simply couldn't, the grip was over-powering, like trying to swim through set cement.
Sealsdramon also went limp then rapidly devolved down to his baby form of Missimon, a small floating missile with tiny little arms. Jupitermon let the tiny creature lay on his hand for a moment, studied it and then touched the digimon again, this time he touched through the small creatures body and to its core, there he implanted the same thing he had implanted in the boy's brain. Once it was done, he fed a tiny portion of his energy to the baby digimon and it glowed and returned to child level.
Then the room was silent except for the hum that accompanied his presence everywhere. Jupitermon scooped the pair up and floated out into the daylight of a digital world that was unfamiliar to him. The light glinting off his armour turned the faces on the totem pole gold and dappled the surrounding trees with soft golden light. He lay the pair on the grass of the clearing, then he returned to the room below the ground.
With an idle wave of his large hand the ground that had fallen down and started the whole chain of events, rose back to the ceiling and replaced itself like a jigsaw puzzle rapidly solving itself.
Once this was done he turned and strode through the archway without another word, ducking so that he would fit under the archway and then he straightened back to full height once past it. The shadows that lingered there smothered him, devouring the light his golden body emitted and then, he was gone.
The effect of his brief visit would remain though, the very air for hundreds of meters around the cavern would seem to be charged with static and his very crossing had eroded the barrier between the human world and digital world greatly. Tomorrow, the Chosen would receive a report of multiple incursions with no visible connection or cause and would be busy clearing them up.
In the months to come, many would say that the opening shots of the war we're at the battle of Kyoto. A select few with more knowledge would realise that the first salvo had been fired by Jupitermon before any of them even knew who they were fighting.
A first strike intended to cripple those who might hinder his objective. A weapon to confuse and place his enemies in disarray.
A weapon who didn't even realise he was being used.
Jun woke up from what felt like a very vivid dream of breaking his leg and talking to a golden figure and sat bolt upright, quickly scanning the grassy clearing and the tree's around him. The totem pole stood stoic to his left, it seemed uninterested that he'd woken up and continued its eternal staring contest with nothing in-particular. His mind tried to work, gather up what was going on. Why was he sleeping here, next to this creepy stack of heads?
He looked to his partner who was snoozing pleasantly to his right and then saw the blood on his jeans, the dream came flooding back to him in blurry images.
It wasn't a dream, it was real.
This thought was met with a static buzz that seemed to run across his eyebrows and into the centre of his forehead. He shook his head and when the feeling subsided, he remembered what had really happened.
I'd fallen over and scraped up the back of my leg, it was nothing serious. Definitely not a broken leg anyway. It just bled a bit is all. Then it got late and after travelling most of the day, we took a break here and we both fell asleep.
The boy who had spent the last 16 long years in control of his body and mind, reached over and shook his partner awake. He was unaware of the small part of his brain that seemed to know something was wrong, the thoughts from that part were quiet, almost muffled.
Thunk.
Muffled footsteps.
Thunk.
Muffled footsteps behind an archway curtained with shad-
The thought was cut short and the feeling of static was back in his head. Once again the mind that was no longer quite his own buzzed and then cleared, steered back onto the right path. Jupitermon's path.
"Come on, C' " His face broke out into a warm smile at the sight of his partner rubbing sleep from his eyes "We'd better get moving. we'll end up worrying someone if we don't get in contact with someone soon. Hope we didn't cause them any trouble."
'I've seen that war machine as well.
I've stared into its eye, and it stared right back at me.
And for a moment, I knew how those balloons felt'
Afterword – Man this was actually quite difficult to write, I've had this idea in my head for a while and there's was no way I was gonna be rid of it unless I wrote it down.
So voilà, this is chapter one in the Sun War series. I hope you enjoyed it, I spent some time going back over it, cutting and editing it here and there when I felt things had gotten too wordy.
I know this was pretty long for a first chapter but I feel like this is probably the format I'll go for from now on. Long chapters with maybe a week or so between each. I'll definitely release have a deadline at the end of each chapter to let you know the latest when the next one will be out.
I could really do with some opinions on this because I've tried to write this to the best of my ability, now that doesn't just mean getting the story down but to really try and convey the image of the scene to you guys, the readers. However If I get a decent amount of feedback that is like "Its a bit wordy" and "You do tend to prattle at moments you really don't need to" then I'll see about altering my writing style, I've haven't taken an English lesson in about 4 years so I'm a little rusty on writing rules and convention other than the ones that stuck with me.
Now while there is essentially an OC in the form of Jun, I want to let it be known that the main focus of characters of this series will be the Adventure & 02 crew, the plot and character development with revolve mainly around them. I plan on bringing up a lot of OC's but they will mainly be for a bit of world building, characters to make it feel like there really is a world wide network of Chosen children. Jun has his own role to fill that no-one from the main cast could, so I was forced to make a character that could do the things I need for the story.
Again I reiterate the main focus will be on the digimon characters you know and love, which is what I think most people want from a digimon fanfic. I'm also aware that we jumped around a lot today and perhaps didn't meet with every character but I assure you, I have a plan for most of them laid out and each will get their moment in the sun, I promise.
Lastly I've actually tried to keep to canon as much as possible for this project, if you ever get the chance or want something cool to read between chapters then I suggest you go look for the translated drama's which can be found here.
wiki/Category:CD_Drama
If you look in the external links beneath the track list, you can find transcripts of the drama's rather than the cut down summary on the site.
If you consider how it's written and some of the plot holes it helps clear up, this is probably all canon. These dramas for example are where I got the information that Jun (Davis' sister, shit thats gonna be confusing) becomes a Chosen.
All in all thank you for reading, constructive feedback would be nice as well as follow and likes to see how people like the series. Oh By the wway for anyone that was curious, the song I reference at the beginning is 99 Red Balloons By Nena, The first verse would have been referenced before Taichi's segment and the second verse would be at the end after Jun wakes up. Like I said I took some creative liberties with it.