Chapter the First: Arrival
Tai Kamiya shivered slightly in the cold air, drawing a jacket he'd grabbed from home around him. Normally teachers would scold him, but as the summer air was preposterously chilled for July. He sighed, turning to his younger sister. "Weird day, isn't it?"
Kari nodded, staring coldly ahead of her. The entire school district had been dragged on another stupid yearly field trip, and Tai's sister, a quiet girl who mostly wanted to be left alone, hated the crowd that had been built up from thousands of students. Tai didn't mind much that she wasn't saying much, she barely talked at home.
"You want my jacket?" Tai asked after they shuffled forward a few more feet. "I'm not that cold." Blatant lies, of course, but he was her older brother. She shook her head in response, wrapping her arms around herself and trying not to shiver. Tai sighed and let it be. Not worth it, even though she'd probably get sick later like she always would. He'd let her suffer, and find someone else to talk to.
Like Sora, who was standing in a line next to Tai's. She kept smiling over at him, laughing at the ridiculousness of cramming so many students into one field trip. Tai wasn't that good at talking to her any more; they'd tried dating a year ago but things had fallen apart. He assumed that it was the fault of Sora's mother, a rather domineering woman who had spent the last few years turning Sora from a tomboy to someone prim and proper. But they were still friends, he thought. It was awkward maybe, but she didn't turn him away.
"It's really cold!" she said. "What is up with this weather?"
Tai tried to say something, but couldn't come up with a response. He just stood there awkwardly. Maybe there wasn't anyone else to talk to.
"Hey Kari, where's that friend of yours?" Sora asked a bit later. "The kid who has a writer for a mom?"
Kari turned to Sora slowly. "You mean TK?" she asked. There wasn't much emotion in her voice, nor inflection. Tai wondered for a moment if TK and Kari were friends at all, or if Sora was just mistaken. "He and Davis dashed off to hang out with TK's older brother."
"I know that guy!" Sora said. "He's... well, to be honest he's basically a jerk." She shrugged. "You know who I mean, right Tai?"
Tai shook his head. "Never heard of him," he said.
Sora sighed. "Maybe if you'd gone to summer camp with me back in fifth grade," she said, "you'd know the guy. I made a lot of great friends there, and I still talk to most of them. Even TK." She shrugged.
"You know why I didn't go that year. Kari was really sick!" Tai didn't point out that Kari was sick frequently lately. She'd spent most of the last school year in the hospital and while this year she wasn't complaining about any new symptoms, she didn't seem to be that much better. He turned away from Sora, not really wanting to start that chat again.
The line slowly started moving forward, but the chill in the air didn't disappear. Looking around, Tai made note of TK and Davis hanging out with Matt, an angry-looking kid who didn't seem to hang out with anyone besides his little brother. He also noticed an old friend Izzy talking with an even dorkier girl whose name he didn't know. She was probably in year eight if Tai didn't recognize her.
"I can't wait for this trip to be over," he said to Kari when the line stopped again. She didn't say anything in response for awhile.
When she did, it was with alarm. "Tai, no one's moving," she said.
"Right," Tai said. "That's because the line has st-"
Kari shook her head. "No, they're not moving at all! Look!" She reached forward and seemed to shove against the person in front of her as hard as she could. Her target didn't budge an inch.
"That's... um..." Sora pointed up suddenly. "Look!"
Seven sets of eyes followed her arm to the sky. In front of them floated a young man in a pure white robe. Surrounding him were an array of glowing lights. "It is time," he announced. He flickered for a moment, then continued. "The world can no longer be maintained, and this is the greatest concentration of you that I have seen in many years." Another flickering, and then he disappeared entirely, replaced by eight beams of light, shooting outward to the only teens present who were still moving.
An instant later, the cold air had disappeared, and taken with it were eight children.
Tai woke with a headache and blurred vision. He briefly considered the possibility that he'd slipped off to some party the night before, but as his sight returned, Tai realized that this could not possibly be the case. He was not in his bed and now clearly remembered the events that had preceded his awakening.
He stood up carefully and looked around. An immense forest stretched out around him, silent as a grave. The humidity was greater than Tai had ever known. "What the hell?" he whispered. "Where am I?"
"You're in the Digital World!"
Tai looked down and nearly screamed. Sitting at his feet was an orange lizard with a long nose. Tai took several steps backward. "What are you?" he asked.
The lizard, or maybe dinosaur, stood up. "I'm an Agumon," he explained. "I live here on this island!"
"Island?" Tai stared. Were they on an island now? They'd been on an island before, admittedly, but it was hard to think of Honshu as an island because of how big it was. This definitely wasn't there. Several large and purple tropical flowers were growing in ground that was not covered in the shade of the trees around them.
"Yes," Agumon said patiently. "It's called File Island." He sighed. "I know we just met, but I feel like I've been waiting for you forever."
Tai looked at the 'Agumon' closely and debated internally how fast it could probably run. He decided it wasn't worth the risk. "Uh, why?" he asked, stalling for time. None of the trees looked particularly easy to climb, so he wasn't sure how he was going to go about this. He just hoped the monster wouldn't suddenly go berserk and attack him.
Agumon considered this question for an exceedingly long time, and was just about finished saying, "I'm not quite sure," when suddenly a scream echoed through the trees. "Oh no!" Agumon shouted, and took off towards it. "Come on!" he added when Tai hesitated.
The two ran for several minutes before reaching a clearing where Kari and Matt stood, alongside what appeared to be a blue-furred wolf. "It's okay," Matt was saying unconvincingly. "His name is Gabumon or something and he just wants to be our friend." Matt also sounded a little disgusted.
"Well," Gabumon interjected, "mostly your friend, Matt." He smiled, revealing a set of dangerous teeth.
Tai tried to smile back and waved at Kari. "I'm glad you're okay!" he said.
"Okay?" Kari asked. "How can I be okay when I don't even know where I am?" She waved around her. "This could be the Phillipines or someplace for all we know! We were at a field trip a second ago!" Tai couldn't believe Kari was freaking out this much and stared blankly as she shut her eyes and began to tremble.
He put his hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be okay!" he insisted. "We'll find a shore, light up a big fire, and try to get some help. We're probably somewhere in the Pacific, and we'll be found in no time."
Matt glared at Tai. "We could be anywhere," he said firmly. "I don't even remember falling unconscious! What makes you so sure we haven't been drugged up for days or weeks?!"
"Also, I've never heard of the Pacific," the one called Gabumon said. "I'm sure it's a nice place though, but that's not where we are."
"Then what ocean are we in?" Tai asked.
Agumon smiled. "File Island is one of the many islands that can be found in the global ocean, which is called the Net."
"And where's that?" Kari demanded.
Neither of the monsters answered for some time. Finally, Gabumon said, "We're not really sure. We've never left the island. Even when I was a baby Punimon I only ever lived here." He paused briefly, but resumed before any of the children could think of something to say. "To be honest, I've spent all this time waiting for Matt."
"And I was waiting for Tai!"
It occurred to Tai that he hadn't actually said his name at any point while being here, but before he could point this out, Kari spoke up. "Does that mean there was a monster like you waiting for me?"
"Maybe! There were five more just like us! Biyomon, Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, and Patamon!" Agumon smiled again. It was deeply unsettling.
"Were?" Kari asked. "Why did you use past tense?"
And here, Agumon's smile disappeared. He sighed deeply as well, and looked so depressed that Gabumon had to answer for him. "Well," he explained, "A few years ago Palmon and Gomamon hitched a ride to the continent, and we haven't heard from them since. And..." Gabumon looked down. "Our friend Patamon was attacked about a year ago by a powerful Digimon. He didn't survive."
"Why do all of your names end in '-mon'?" Matt asked.
"Because we're Digimon!" Gabumon said. "It stands for Digital Monsters. That's what we all are here."
All three children exchanged rapid glances. Digital? They all knew what that meant, but there didn't seem to be anything electronic about either creature, or any of the rest of their surroundings. "Okay," Tai said at last. "Sure, why not?" He leaned in towards Kari, "Keep your eye on these things, they seem really messed up."
She nodded. "Um, so, Tai... Matt... What's the last thing you guys remember before waking up? Do you guys remember that weird man who appeared?"
"Now that you mention it, I do," Matt said. "And there were all those lights..."
"Eight of them!" Tai cut in. "And one of them shot right at me and then..." He looked down at his belt. Placed snugly against it was a small gray device. Tai grabbed it and examined it. "Weird," he said. "And it's got these four red dots on it. One of them is moving."
Matt looked at his. "Yeah," he said. "If there was one less-" He cut himself off. "This is some kind of radar, Tai! We should follow the signal!" He turned about a few times, then ran off into the woods, Gabumon following him carefully.
"Should we follow them?" Kari asked. She was looking at her own little device. "It does seem to be a radar, brother."
Tai nodded. "Let's go. Are you coming, Agumon?" The lizard nodded as well, and they all set off. They found it easy to regain sight of Matt, who was now standing with the girl Yolei. She looked immensely terrified.
"There were all sorts of giant bugs everywhere!" she was screeching. "I saw them on the cliff face and it was all I could do to get away without screaming and being noticed."
Matt put his head in his hands. "You're screeching now!" he shouted. "Calm down! There's just some weird wildlife here or something okay?" Yolei looked even more scared than before, and Matt deflated slightly. "Sorry," he said. "Yeah, it's scary. But we've got to make plans instead of blindly panicking or we're not going to accomplish anything."
Yolei continued to tremble, but she muttered, "Right, right." She looked down at Gabumon and shuddered. "I'm guessing you're going to tell me next that this one is friendly, huh?"
"Afraid so," Matt said. "At least, he seems to be. Tai's monster, er, 'Digimon' seems friendly too."
The girl looked from one to the other, trying very hard not to seem too alarmed by everything going on. "Why don't I have one?" she asked suddenly. "Where'd you get yours?"
"Some of them left, or died," Tai said. "Maybe yours was one of those..."
Kari cleared her throat. "That's true, Tai," she said, "but Agumon, Gabumon, and the five Digimon we heard about are only seven. Weren't there eight flashes of light? If that means there's eight of us here now, it sounds like one of us was going to be short a partner even if all the others had stayed."
"What's the big deal?" Matt asked. "I mean, Gabumon looks cool I guess but it's not like my life depends on him. Hell, I'll share this one with you if you want, Kari."
"As your big brother, I'll do the same thing," Tai said jokingly.
Matt's eyes suddenly widened. "TK..." he whispered. "He was hit by a flash just like me! Where is he?"
Yolei shrugged. "I haven't seen him or Izzy," she said. "And weren't you hanging out with someone else too? Daiki, or something?"
"Davis. And he was just following TK around. He does that a lot." Matt glared around at the forest, as if it were personally responsible for their situation. "That makes seven, right? Any ideas who else might have come along?"
"Sora," Kari said firmly. "And we should hurry up and find them, if there's giant insects like Yolei said. Only two of those people are going to have Digimon friends, if-" She cut herself off suddenly when a giant green insect emerged from the trees. It seemed impossibly large; and as a dragonfly it also was incredibly threatening, its legs all ending in sharp gray claws.
The children and Digimon stared for a moment in shock, and then the monster muttered something under its breath. A large cloud of smaller dragonflies appeared out of nowhere and then began to swarm around everyone.
Kari was the first to cry out when one of them stung her, and then another. Agumon stepped forward and opened his mouth as widely as he could. A small ball of fire shot forth, incinerating a large number of the insects but leaving many behind. Gabumon meanwhile charged towards the insect and opened his mouth as well, and a jet of blue flame shot forth. Unlike Agumon, his attack had no effect on his target.
"Run!" Tai decided, grabbing Kari's arm and pulling her along with him. Matt and Yolei were right behind them, and the Digimon (good and bad) followed as well.
"I told you about the insects!" Yolei shouted. "What the hell is that thing?"
Gabumon, panting for breath, answered. "It's a Yanmamon," he explained. "They're normally quite friendly insect Digimon, but lately no one on File Island has been very friendly!"
Tai almost asked why, but decided against it because he realized they might be running for some time. How were they going to get away from this thing? There didn't seem to be an obvious solution, until they came to a cliff face. A powerful river churned below them.
"Should we jump?" Tai asked.
"Are you crazy?" Matt shouted. "Why would we do that?"
Yolei looked down at the water. "What choice do we have? The river doesn't look that bad. We could probably stay afloat."
"I don't want to risk 'probably'," Kari muttered, but no one listened. The whirring of Yanmamon's wings could be heard behind them.
"On the count of three?" Tai asked. Everyone nodded. "One..." Agumon and Gabumon caught up with Tai.
"Two..." The Yanmamon shouted "Insect Swarm!"
"Three!" Tai yelled, and together the four teens and two Digimon leaped forward off the cliff. Tai tried not to scream as they plummeted.
Next time: In the Forests
TK, Sora, Izzy and Davis explore the woods around them and discover much about the political nature of File Island.