Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier or Digimon in general. Digimon belongs to Akiyoshi Hongo, and Digimon Frontier belongs to series director Yukio Kaizawa. I do own my OCs in this story, but that's as far as it goes. There will be no character bashing, nor crossovers, nor slash. There will also be no pairings, because there were no official pairings in the series proper, unlike Adventure 02 (Yamato/Sora and Ken/Miyako) and Tamers (Takato/Juri). This re-write will contain some changes to the original story to seamlessly work in my OCs, but the overall story and plot events will remain the same as they happened in canon.
Chapter 1: Agnimon
It was 2002, April fifth, Friday. After many obstacles in arriving at the subway from Shibuya Station—which involved rushing out of his house, thereby missing out on Shinya's ninth birthday, with only seven minutes to get to Jiyuugaoka Station, accidentally stumbling in front of a truck, almost not getting a ticket to get on the train to Shibuya Station, sprinting as fast as he could to get to the elevator that goes down to the subway before 18:00, and dealing with a silent, uncooperative long-haired boy who also looked like he was a fifth grader—ten-year-old Kanbara Takuya had succeeded in starting the game that was given to him by the mysterious text message and accompanying female voice on his cellphone.
The elevator that carried Takuya and the long-haired boy had gone further than the lowest possible level and, instead, reached an area that did not look like a subway at all. After the dust settled, the elevator doors opened, and Takuya had his eyes closed as he held the top of his head with his left hand, as if he were in minor pain. He opened his eyes, and he and the long-haired boy looked out at the platform before them.
There were many strange-looking trains from left to right. A yellow one, a blue one, a grayish-green one, a plum-colored one, and a bluish-gray one. Scattered throughout the platform, surrounding the trains, were other children.
"Th-this is…" Takuya said, amazed. He got up from the floor and looked at his cellphone in his right hand. "Don't tell me everyone was called here like we were…" He said, talking to the long-haired boy without actually looking at him.
The clocks in the platform were ringing, and the children walking near the different trains looked at the clocks. It was 17:59, mere seconds away from 18:00.
Takuya's cellphone spoke to him again. Accompanied with the mysterious female voice from earlier was a strange symbol that Takuya was unfamiliar with: it looked like there was an eye in the middle, and surrounding the eye was a cross. "This is the final choice," said the voice. "Will you get on? Or will you leave?"
Takuya could only stare at his cellphone, pondering what the voice had just asked him. He blinked and turned his head to his right to look at the long-haired boy. Suddenly, the other boy grunted and started running towards a train off to the far right. Takuya let out a noise, but did not stop the boy. He then looked out at the platform again. Most of the other children had not yet boarded a train.
The clock struck 18:00. Takuya saw a small boy being pushed into a train by two other boys who were laughing and yelling, "Get on!" as the small boy grunted. A chubby boy who looked like he was slightly older than Takuya, a girl who looked like she was Takuya's age, a girl who looked slightly younger than him, and a girl who looked slightly older than him, were all locked inside the compartments of their respective trains as their doors involuntarily closed.
All of the trains began departing. The yellow one, the blue one, the grayish-green one, the plum-colored one, and the bluish-gray one, along with a red one, a black one, a green one, a purple one, a tan-colored one, and a bluish-white one. To where they were departing, Takuya did not know. All he knew was that he did not want to abruptly end the game he had started.
Takuya ran as fast as he could towards one train, passing by many of the children who chose not to take one. He managed to catch up to it. He grabbed onto the railing with his right hand and, gasping and grunting, he promptly boarded. As he was catching his breath, another train was riding on a set of tracks next to those of his train. Takuya looked up to see that the other train was occupied by the long-haired boy. Takuya and the other boy exchanged glares for about five seconds before their trains entered different tunnels. Takuya looked back at the platform he was departing from for several moments.
With nothing left to do, Takuya let go of the railing, turned around, and entered the train. As he opened the door with his right hand, he did not see the strange writing that was above the door handle.
"There's no one here," Takuya said to himself as he left the door open and looked around the empty compartment. Gripping his cellphone in his right hand, Takuya continued walking through the train, and eventually broke into a run.
Takuya opened the door that connected to the next compartment and saw four other children, all of whom he saw just moments before: the girl who looked like she was Takuya's age, the chubby boy who looked like he was slightly older than Takuya, the small boy, and the girl who looked like she was slightly younger than Takuya. The first girl was sitting to Takuya's right, and the chubby boy was sitting across from her. The small boy was also sitting to Takuya's right, and the second girl was sitting across from him. Both the small boy and the second girl were sitting a whole row away from the first girl and the chubby boy.
Takuya noticed that everyone seemed to be ignoring each other. The first girl was looking through her cellphone, the chubby boy was noisily eating a bar of chocolate, the small boy was looking down at the floor, and the second girl was properly sitting on her knees, looking out the window as she perched her hands on the window frame.
Eventually, the two girls and the chubby boy noticed that someone else had arrived, and they turned their heads to look at Takuya.
Because he wanted to avoid an awkward staring contest, and because it seemed like no one was going to speak, Takuya decided to break the ice. "Did all of you get this?" He asked while pointing at his cellphone, referring to the voice and text messages from earlier.
The two girls nodded, while the chubby boy grunted and looked away, his chin in his left hand. "So, including you, there were five people who got on this train..." The first girl said, looking from Takuya to the chubby boy sitting across from her.
"Five?" Takuya asked. "But… But... Why did you guys get on?" He walked past the first girl, who was watching him, and went over to the chubby boy. "Who are you?" Takuya inquired.
The chubby boy had his cheek in his left hand, and he looked like he didn't care to answer Takuya's question. In fact, he looked like he was annoyed with Takuya. "What, do I have to tell you why I do everything I do?" the chubby boy asked, his right eye open and his brow furrowed.
"N-not really..." Takuya responded, his shoulders sagging a little.
"What about yourself?" The chubby boy asked, not missing a beat, as he pointed at Takuya with the chocolate bar in his right hand. Takuya looked down, and the chubby boy gave him an exasperated look.
"I..." Takuya began to say.
Suddenly remembering that the first girl was sitting just behind him, Takuya inexplicably felt the urge to act braver and cooler in her presence. "Right, I got on because I felt I had to!" He exclaimed, clenching his left hand into a fist and raising it determinedly as he watched her from the corner of his left eye.
The first girl blinked and giggled into her left hand. Takuya was initially annoyed by this, but, after a moment, he let his shoulders sag again as the girl said, "I did because I thought it would be interesting."
The chubby boy suddenly smiled at the first girl, quickly smirked at Takuya, and, while pointing at the girl with the chocolate bar, said, "Really? Same here, actually."
Takuya noted that the chubby boy's tone and demeanor were completely different from when they had conversed. This made Takuya think that the chubby boy was trying to act cool in front of the first girl, similar to what he himself did just moments ago.
The chubby boy got up from his seat and pushed Takuya out of the way with his right hand. Takuya noticed that the boy was at least two inches taller than him. The boy pointed at himself with his eyes closed and continued talking to the girl. "I'm Shibayama Junpei. And you?" He said.
The first girl briefly closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the right, before she opened her eyes, smiled, and responded, "I'm Orimoto Izumi."
"I'm Kanbara Takuya. Nice to meet you," Takuya replied, returning her smile.
Takuya then remembered the small boy, who was sitting one row away from Izumi. "Um…" He said as he turned to his left and looked at the boy, who still seemed to find the floor very interesting to look at. "And you?" He continued.
Junpei and Izumi also seemed to remember the small boy. Junpei turned to his left to look at him, while Izumi sat up straight in her seat and turned her head to her right to look at him.
The small boy lowered his head even more as he spoke. "I'm Himi Tomoki..." He let out a small gasp.
"Tomoki..." Takuya repeated.
Tomoki began shaking as he continued to speak, now in a hoarse voice. "I didn't want to get on..." He had to pause for a second before he was able to continue. "I didn't want to get on, but..." He then looked like he was recalling something. "I got pushed in by bullies," he concluded.
Takuya wondered if by "bullies," Tomoki was referring to those two older boys who pushed him into the train.
Tomoki then turned his head to his left to look at Takuya, Junpei and Izumi, with tears running down his face and snot running down from his nose. "I didn't want to get on!" He yelled.
Takuya had no idea how to respond to Tomoki's story, so he remained silent. It seemed that Junpei and Izumi had no clue what to say either, so they too kept quiet.
Looking at the teary-eyed boy, Takuya felt the urge to protect him. He found himself wanting to make sure that he was always close by so that he could watch over Tomoki. Maybe it was because Tomoki reminded him of Shinya. They even looked like they were the same age.
Takuya then remembered that there was another girl with them. He turned to his left to look at the second girl, sitting across from Tomoki. She was quiet the entire time thus far. Sometime during Takuya's conversation with Junpei and Izumi, she had turned away from her window and changed her position so that she was in a more proper sitting position, with her body turned towards Tomoki and her head turned to her right towards Takuya. She tilted her head to the right as she stared back at him.
"Who are you?" Takuya asked.
The second girl smiled at him and stood up from her seat. Takuya noticed that the girl was a head shorter than him. "I'm Saito Minori," she replied. "I got on even though my older sister told me not to."
"Why did she say that?" Takuya wondered aloud.
Minori's face clouded over, but she quickly plastered her smile back on her face as she said, "I don't know. She didn't elaborate. She saw me on the platform and told me to go home."
As soon as she finished speaking, Minori awkwardly turned her head to the left, looking away from the others, and her smile faded.
"I see..." Takuya said, unsure of what else to say. It seemed that Junpei, Izumi and Tomoki were also at a loss of words, so the five of them fell silent.
Upon hearing Minori's story, Takuya felt the urge to protect her. He didn't have any sisters, but he often wondered what it would be like if he did. Perhaps he could look after Minori and be a big brother to both her and Tomoki. Although, why he did not think of Izumi as a sister, and why he didn't feel any attachment whatsoever towards Junpei and the long-haired boy from the elevator, Takuya wasn't too sure about.
Takuya was also not keen on meeting Minori's older sister, if that ever happened. He noticed that when Minori talked about her sister, her smile did not seem genuine. Looking at her now, Takuya saw that a blank expression had replaced her smile, and she seemed to be deliberately avoiding eye contact with the others. Based on her words and the sudden shift in her body language, it was clear that Minori and her older sister did not get along. However, Takuya knew better than to pry into family issues.
As the train ride dragged on, Takuya recalled that the last people he saw boarding a train back on the platform were Tomoki, Junpei, Izumi, Minori, and a girl who looked like she was slightly older than him. Takuya could have sworn that each of them had boarded different trains. Was it a coincidence that the last people Takuya noticed on the platform ended up boarding the same train? Was it also a coincidence that he boarded the same train as them? Or was it fate that drove each of them to take the same train?
This led Takuya to think about the long-haired boy from the elevator. It was clear that the other boy wanted to board a train that was farthest away from the others. However, that did not explain why his train and Takuya's train ended up on adjacent railroad tracks as they departed from the platform.
Takuya turned his thoughts to the last girl he saw on the platform. He didn't get a very good look of her, but she looked like she was the same age as Junpei. Was there a reason why she also did not board the same train as Takuya and the others? Did she board the same train as the long-haired boy? If so, did they meet similarly to how Takuya met his train companions? If she boarded a different train, then who would she meet first: Takuya and the others, or the long-haired boy?
Takuya brushed off all of these thoughts as he looked at his four companions and took note of their individual appearances. To Takuya's left, Minori had gray eyes, light skin, and chin-length dark red hair that fanned out at the back. On her head was a gold knit cap. A tuft of hair in the front was left sticking outside of her cap and covered her forehead. She was wearing a sleeveless turtle-necked gold shirt that had an orange collar and orange trimmings at the bottom. She was also wearing silver shorts that had a pocket on each hip, crew-length white socks, and white and sky blue sneakers that had sky blue shoelaces and white soles.
To Takuya's right, Junpei had dark brown eyes, lightly tanned skin, and short spiky brown hair. Among the five children, he was the only one to not wear some sort of headgear. He was wearing a light blue jumpsuit that had cuffed yellow sleeves and four yellow pockets, one on each side of the chest and one on each hip. Underneath his jumpsuit was an orange shirt. He was also wearing dark blue and yellow sneakers that had yellow soles. Like Minori, he was also wearing crew-length white socks.
To Junpei's right, Izumi had teal green eyes, pale skin, and a long mane of flowing blonde hair that ended at the middle of her back. On her head was a pink and purple cap that had cat ears on the top. She was wearing a sleeveless pink jacket that she left open, and it had white vertical stripes and a pocket on each side. Underneath her jacket was a short-sleeved blue and white striped t-shirt, which was cut short to expose her midriff. She was also wearing a pink skirt that had white vertical stripes on each side and a pocket on each hip, high-length purple stockings, and white and pink shoes that had white soles.
To Izumi's right, Tomoki had aqua green eyes, pale skin, and short dark brown hair. On his head was an orange newsboy cap, which was almost twice as big as his head. He was wearing a short-sleeved white V-neck t-shirt that had dark green trimmings at the neckline, sleeves, and bottom. Underneath his t-shirt was a mustard-colored shirt. He was also wearing yellow shorts that had four pockets—two at the front and one on each hip—and red suspenders hanging loosely from each side, crew-length orange socks, and white and green sneakers that had white soles.
Takuya himself had brown eyes, tanned skin, and chin-length dark brown hair that fanned out at the back. On his head was a light brown cap, which he wore backwards. The front of his cap contained a 'D'-like symbol. A tuft of hair in the front was left sticking outside of the back of his cap and covered his forehead. He also wore goggles over his cap. He was wearing a short-sleeved red jacket that he left open, and it had a pocket on each side of the chest. Underneath his jacket was a yellow t-shirt, which had a 'D'-like symbol on the chest. Among the five children, he was the only one wearing gloves, and his were light brown. He was also wearing dark brown cargo shorts that had four pockets—one on each hip and one on each thigh—and red and orange sneakers that had white shoelaces and white soles. Like Minori and Junpei, he was also wearing white socks, although his were three-quarters length.
Takuya couldn't help but notice how color coordinated all of their outfits seemed to be. He felt that he could easily associate at least two colors with each of them and be able to tell them apart if they were ever at a distance from each other. Izumi's outfit had a pink and purple theme, Junpei's had a light blue and yellow theme, Tomoki's had a green and yellow theme, Minori's had a gold and silver theme, and Takuya's had a red and orange theme.
Takuya began to wonder if the color-coding of their outfits was also a coincidence or something more, when their train began making strange noises that did not belong to an ordinary train.
The tunnel gradually lost all of its light, and the train turned on its four lights. Tomoki, Izumi, Junpei, Takuya and Minori heard another strange noise before they felt the train jerk so hard and so suddenly, at least three times, that it made all five children scream and fall to the floor.
As Takuya sat upright, he felt a strange sensation flowing through him. He turned his head to his right to look at his companions, and he saw that Minori was faced forward on the floor, Junpei was sitting upright, Izumi was holding her cellphone in her left hand and the armrest of her seat with her right hand, and Tomoki was also faced forward on the floor with his cellphone in his left hand. Even though they all had their eyes closed, it seemed that they all felt something strange happen to them as well.
As Takuya continued to look at his train companions, his cellphone began reacting. He took it out of his right pocket and saw that its screen was glowing. He gasped as an intense bright light shined through before his cellphone gradually faded away and turned into an odd-looking device.
"Huh?" Takuya asked to no one in particular, astounded.
His cellphone-turned-device spoke back to him. It was the same female voice who spoke to him earlier, and the strange symbol accompanied it again. "This is your Digivice," said the voice. "Welcome to the Digital World."
Takuya could only stare at the device and slowly repeat, "Digital World…?"
Their train was nearing the end of the tunnel, and light was shining through from somewhere. The five children were completely unaware that their train was indeed very different from an ordinary train: it had a brown coating, four yellow eyes, and sharp teeth sticking out of its mouth.
The train-with-a-face rode up on its railroad track as the children gaped at their glowing cellphones-turned-Digivices, all of which looked the same but had different colors. Held in her right hand, Minori's Digivice was gold and silver. Held in his left hand, Tomoki's Digivice was green and cerulean. Held in his right hand, Junpei's Digivice was yellow and light blue. Held in her left hand, Izumi's Digivice was pink and purple. Held in his right hand, Takuya's Digivice was red and black.
As their train looked ahead with its yellow eyes and rode onward on the railroad track, it let out a noise that sounded like it was a mixture of a roar and the standard train whistle. Tomoki, Izumi, Junpei, Minori and Takuya covered their ears upon hearing the sound.
"What was that?" Takuya asked as they uncovered their ears. "A whistle?" He looked to his right, and he watched Izumi as she stood up and walked over to a window.
"What are those?" Izumi asked, placing her right arm on the top of her seat. She, Junpei and Tomoki looked out the window and saw strange slime-like creatures floating around their train.
"Aren't they birds?" Junpei asked as he and Tomoki sat up.
"Birds?" Izumi responded.
Two of the slime-like creatures appeared by the window closest to Izumi. More of the creatures came closer to the windows and stared at Junpei, Izumi and Tomoki, and the three of them stared back in wonderment. The creatures seemed to be saying, "Poyo! Poyo! Poyo! Poyo!"
With her right arm now resting on the window sill, Izumi leaned forward to get a better look of the creatures. One of them stuck to the window and seemed to flatten itself. Izumi began to gasp in horror, as it now looked like a ghost. She turned blue and placed her right hand under her chin as the creature flattened itself further to make itself look like a ghost with a disturbing expression on its face. Izumi's eyes comically bugged out, her teeth inexplicably became sharp, and she screamed in terror as she watched the creature flatten itself again to flash a frightening smile on its now sinister-looking face.
Izumi's scream of terror did do some good, though, as all of the slime-like creatures on either side of the train flew away, screaming in terror themselves.
On the opposite side of Tomoki, Izumi and Junpei, Takuya and Minori were looking out from adjoining windows, watching more of the slime-like creatures fly away, with both sets of hands pressed against their respective windows.
"This is…" Takuya said as Minori, sitting to his left, gasped in amazement.
Their train finally reached its destination: a village that was covered with heat pipes. Flame and heat were coming out of every opening of the strange-looking houses that filled the village. The train let out its roar-whistle once more as it began making its stop at the train station.
"This is… the Digital World?" Takuya asked dazedly, more to himself than to anyone in particular.
The train-with-a-face that carried Takuya, Minori, Junpei, Izumi and Tomoki let out another roar-whistle as it was coming to a full stop at the train station. It seemed to make a noise of contentment as it ended its journey and emitted steam from its blast pipe. Then, it made a noise of confusion as its eyes shifted to its left and opened its doors.
Tomoki, Izumi, Takuya, Junpei and Minori stared out at the platform before them, and they saw a large group of light blue round creatures with ear-like appendages and red crescent moon-shaped eyes staring back at them. These creatures were exclaiming, "They're humans! Humans!"
The five children could only gape at the creatures before their train somehow drew smoke from within its compartment and blew them out. The children screamed as the smoke pushed them out, and they flew into the air for about a second before they fell to the ground.
"How long did you intend to stay on?" Their train asked them as he looked upwards.
"Wait... the train talks?" Takuya asked as he laid his right hand on Tomoki's back. Izumi, Minori and Junpei looked around at the creatures that had gathered around them, before they turned their heads to look at the train.
"I'm no train," the train responded as he stared back at the children from the corners of his two left eyes. "I'm the Trailmon 'Worm.' This is Fire Terminal, a Digimon town."
"A Digimon town..." Takuya repeated.
The round creatures flew in front of Tomoki, who gasped in horror as the creatures closed in on the children. Takuya had his right arm slightly in front of Tomoki, and Izumi, Minori and Junpei pressed their backs against Takuya and Tomoki's as the children huddled together.
"Th-this isn't good..." said Junpei.
"What should we do?" Minori asked, looking back and forth at the creatures.
After a few moments, Tomoki started to cry, badly. "I want to go home! Papa! Mama!" He said.
Takuya, Junpei, Minori and Izumi could only helplessly watch Tomoki as he continued to cry. Meanwhile, Worm emitted steam from his blast pipe once more before he began to make his departure from the train station. Ignoring the crying boy, Worm stated, "If you want to go home so badly, obtain the Spirits!"
"Spirits?" Takuya asked. He stood up as Tomoki continued to cry and Junpei, Minori and Izumi stared at the departing Worm. "Wh-what are those? Where are they?" Takuya asked, to no avail, as Worm ignored him.
Junpei stood up and yelled, "H-hey, answer us!"
Izumi followed him up and yelled, "Answer us!"
In between them, Minori followed them up and yelled, "Worm-san, please!"
Tomoki cried, "No! I want to go home!"
The other four children turned around and watched as Tomoki stood up, stepped off the platform, and began to run onto the railroad tracks, futilely chasing after Worm.
"H-hey!" Takuya called out.
"I'm going home!" Tomoki cried back, running further down the tracks.
Takuya got off the platform and ran after Tomoki. "Where are you going, Tomoki!?" He called out.
Junpei, Minori and Izumi stayed back, unsure of what to do as Takuya chased after Tomoki. Junpei appeared to be nonchalant about the whole thing, as he had his arms crossed and an annoyed facial expression. Minori and Izumi had their mouths slightly open as they watched Tomoki and Takuya running on the tracks.
None of them noticed that the ground abruptly ended and the tracks were somehow still held up against thin air.
Tomoki began walking directly onto the railroad tracks, with his eyes closed and his arms spread wide open, as he cried out, "I'm going home!"
Takuya jerked back as he reached the end of what was left of the ground, and worriedly called out, "Tomoki! Stop, Tomoki!"
Unfortunately, the crying boy ignored Takuya and continued to walk on the tracks.
Takuya glared and clenched his left hand into a fist, raising it as he exclaimed, "If you want to go home that badly... I'll take you home!"
That caused Tomoki to gasp and finally stop running away.
"Trailmon said it himself! If we find those Spirits, we can go back!" Takuya exclaimed.
A teary-eyed Tomoki lowered his arms and turned his head around to his right to look back at Takuya. "Really?" The small boy asked. He began to fully turn around and walk back towards Takuya, but he yelped as he lost his footing and began to fall off from the tracks.
"Tomoki!" Takuya called out worriedly.
"I-I'm okay," Tomoki responded, grunting. He had managed to grab onto the tracks, and he had his arms wrapped tightly around them. His eyes were closed once again.
Takuya let out a sigh of relief, and his previously widened eyes reverted back to normal. He then regained his determination and called out, "Wait there, don't move!"
Takuya stepped forward with his right leg, but he stopped as a green light suddenly began to shine through to his right, with an explosive sound immediately following it. He and Tomoki turned their heads in that direction and saw a couple of the buildings going up in green flames before suddenly turning into white strands – possibly data? They noticed that the data-like strands seemed to be disappearing quickly.
Takuya and Tomoki then saw two odd-looking creatures running away from the dissipating data towards Takuya. The first creature was small and white, and had black eyes, a horned head, pointed ears, and a pink haramaki wrapped around its stomach. The second creature was skinny and yellow, and its eyes appeared to be closed. It resembled a rabbit with long pointed ears. It also had stubby arms and it wore overlarge red pants. It stood about a head taller than the first creature.
"H-help us, help us!" Both creatures cried out. They collided into Takuya, who fell to the ground and let out a yelp upon impact. As the dust settled, the two creatures got a good look at the human they ran into.
"Look, a human," said the white creature. He spoke in Kansai dialect.
"Human?" asked the yellow creature. He spoke in a slow voice.
The white creature pulled out a magnifying glass from within his haramaki—how there was enough room for such an item to fit within a haramaki was a mystery to Takuya—and with it, he took a closer look at Takuya. "See, a human child," he replied to the yellow creature.
Takuya was completely nonplussed as he looked back and forth between the two creatures and asked, "U-um... save you from what?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot," replied the white creature.
"I forgot," the yellow creature parroted.
The two creatures turned their heads around and looked back at what they just ran away from. Takuya followed their gazes, and the three of them saw an animal-like creature beginning to appear against the green flames.
"It's Cerberumon!" said the white creature.
"Cerberumon?" Takuya repeated skeptically.
Takuya's Digivice began to analyze the animal-like creature. Oddly enough, it was not the female voice that Takuya heard earlier; this time, a male voice was speaking instead. "Demon Beast Digimon, Cerberumon," the Digivice explained. "The watchdog from Hell who guards the Dark Area. His special attack is Hell Fire."
Cerberumon looked beastly and sinister, in stark contrast to the two Digimon next to Takuya. This Digimon was large and black, sans for its claws and teeth, which were gray. Its jaw and hind legs were red. The claws on its feet looked hard enough to easily tear through alloys, if they had low purity. Its body was protected by a hard living shell, and it also had armor that looked like two additional heads on each shoulder.
"Where is the Spirit?" Cerberumon asked in a harsh voice.
Spirit? Takuya wondered to himself. The small Digimon and rabbit-like Digimon hid behind him, with the small Digimon gripping his left arm and the rabbit-like Digimon gripping his right arm.
"W-we told you we didn't know!" the small Digimon exclaimed.
"We told you..." the rabbit-like Digimon echoed.
"Liars!" yelled Cerberumon, his voice now rougher. "This town reeks of one of the Legendary Spirits!"
"Legendary Spirit?" Takuya repeated loudly, as the two Digimon behind him donned widened eyes—wide enough that their pupils were no longer visible—and nervous smiles, complete with nervous facial expressions and nervous laughter.
"So you do know..." said Cerberumon. He lifted his head up and yelled out as he began to form green fire in his mouth.
Back at the platform, Minori, Junpei, Izumi and the round Digimon heard Cerberumon's yell. Junpei stood in front of Izumi and Minori with his arms spread wide open. Izumi had her left hand pressed against her mouth as she let out a gasp. In between them, Minori had her mouth slightly open. The round Digimon collectively had widened red eyes, and they flew away to hide underneath the platform.
"Hell Fire!" Cerberumon called out, emitting a scorching-hot jet of green flames from his mouth.
Junpei, Minori and Izumi watched as a wave of green flames erupted before them, where they last saw Takuya and Tomoki running towards.
The small Digimon sitting on Takuya's left shoulder was futilely trying to ward away the flames with his left arm. "Hurry up and run, you idiot!" He said to Takuya.
An annoyed Takuya stood up against the green flames and, still carrying the two Digimon on his shoulders, retorted back, "Wh-what do you mean, 'you idiot'?"
Cerberumon's attack was now aimed directly at Takuya and the two Digimon, and yet somehow, the attack seemed to not hit the three of them at all. Takuya ran through the green flames as fast as he could to get back onto the railroad tracks and retrieve Tomoki. He didn't notice that the area he just escaped from had turned into pure data.
Takuya did not care to know how he managed to run across the tracks to get to Tomoki while carrying the two small Digimon on his shoulders. No matter what, he would not let Tomoki get hurt.
"Tomoki!" Takuya said, wrapping his arms tightly around the small boy.
"Takuya-oniichan!" Tomoki replied, putting his hands on Takuya's upper arms.
"That Cerberumon... is he trying to eat up this town's DigiCode?" the small Digimon asked.
Takuya, Tomoki and the two small Digimon turned around and watched as Cerberumon ate a large amount of data. Most of the ground of the Fire Terminal's train station was completely gone. Even some of the railroad tracks were missing. That proved to be worrisome for the four on the tracks, as they began to fall downward towards their doom, screaming with panic in their voices and holding on to each other for dear life.
"Oh no!" Minori cried from what was left of the ground. She was crouched on her hands and knees as she looked down.
"Takuya!" Junpei called out while standing to Minori's left. He looked down with uncertainty.
"Tomoki!" Izumi called out while standing to Junpei's left. As she looked down, she clamped her hands together against her chest.
The three who still had their feet planted firmly on the ground could only helplessly watch as the other four slid down from the tracks, despite their best efforts to hang on. Takuya and Tomoki had their arms wrapped around each other, the small Digimon was hanging on to Takuya's cap, and the rabbit-like Digimon was hanging on to Tomoki's oversized hat, as the four of them screamed and slid further down the tracks.
Luckily, they fell onto the ground, which was only a short distance away from the damaged tracks. As they landed, Takuya wrapped his arms around Tomoki again, the small Digimon let go of Takuya's cap, and Tomoki wrapped his arms around the rabbit-like Digimon.
As the dust settled, Takuya's Digivice fell out of his pocket and began to glow. The strange symbol, which he had seen earlier on the platform of Shibuya Station and then in Worm's compartment, had appeared again. While the screen glowed, the top part of his Digivice also glowed.
Takuya opened his eyes to see his red and black Digivice float in the air. "Th-the Digivice..." he said, astonished.
The top part of his Digivice emitted a bright beam of light that suddenly extended further ahead. "What?" Takuya asked loudly.
The beam of light went through a small wall of red flames for about seven seconds. Then, a large surge of light exploded around the flames, and dust began to appear around it. Takuya gasped at the scene before him as he had his left hand on Tomoki's back, while the small Digimon grasped his right arm and Tomoki still had his arms wrapped around the rabbit-like Digimon. Another explosion occurred, and a bigger surge of light burst through as the dust settled.
"What's that?" Takuya asked.
"Oh... that's..." said the small Digimon, letting go of Takuya's right arm and standing up.
Something materialized in the middle of the surge of light, right where the beam of light emitted from Takuya's Digivice had went through.
"This is... a Legendary Spirit!" exclaimed the small Digimon.
Amidst the surge of light were a few flames that surrounded the Spirit. The Spirit resembled a demon of sort. It had red and white armor protecting its body, and it also had blond hair.
Takuya could not explain it, but he felt a powerful pull towards the Spirit. "Legendary Spirit..." he repeated slowly, as if he were in a trance.
Then, suddenly, Takuya became indescribably determined. "So, with this..." he began to say, his brows furrowed. He stood up and continued, "I can take Tomoki home!"
Unfortunately, just after that moment, Cerberumon jumped behind the four of them and said, "Found it."
The four of them gasped and turned around to see the Demon Beast Digimon, looking no less sinister than he did when he was eating the data from the Fire Terminal. "At last, the Legendary Spirit," he said in his harsh voice. He began to growl viciously before he yelled and pounced on the four, with green flames coming out of his mouth.
Takuya glanced to his right and, out of the corner of his right eye, saw Tomoki gripping the back of his red jacket, whimpering in fear. Takuya knew that no matter what happened, he wasn't going back on his promise to return Tomoki home. Even if it meant that he'd have to take on this Demon Beast Digimon all by himself.
Feeling determined again, Takuya nudged Tomoki back with his right arm. The small Digimon gripped Tomoki's right arm and the rabbit-like Digimon gripped Tomoki's left arm as Takuya commanded, "Stay back!"
Takuya grabbed a pipe that was next to his Digivice, the latter of which was still floating in the air, and stood tall and prepared while facing the Demon Beast, which was still charging towards him. "I won't let you have the Spirit!" Takuya cried.
Cerberumon jumped towards Takuya and yelled, "Move!"
Takuya guarded himself with the pipe just in time, and Cerberumon bit down on the pipe. Since the Demon Beast was much stronger than Takuya, he pulled the pipe out of Takuya's hands and threw it aside. He started to jump over Takuya, but Takuya grabbed onto the Demon Beast's tail with both of his hands as Cerberumon jumped into the surge of light towards the Spirit. Tomoki and the two Digimon turned around and watched as Cerberumon dragged a yelping Takuya into the surge of light.
Within the surge of light, Cerberumon menacingly approached the Spirit and said, "So this is one of the twelve Legendary Warrior Spirits..."
Suddenly, red flames burst from within the surge of light and burned the Demon Beast, who cried out in pain, "Why!? Not even the flames of Hell affect me!"
After unsuccessfully fighting off the red flames, Cerberumon jumped out of the surge of light and rolled onto the ground to extinguish the flames. "Damn it..." he said weakly as he barely lifted his head up.
The rabbit-like Digimon, Tomoki, and the small Digimon shifted their gazes from Cerberumon to the surge of light, noticing that Takuya did not come out with the Demon Beast. "Where's Takuya-oniichan?" Tomoki asked.
Grunting, Takuya stood up and discovered something odd. He looked at his hands, and he found that he did not catch fire like Cerberumon's body had. "It's not hot..." he said, puzzled.
Takuya looked ahead at the Spirit, and he felt that powerful pull towards it again. "Spirit..." he said in wonderment.
Takuya could not explain it, but he felt a strange sensation flowing through him again. He felt it back in Worm's compartment, and at the time, he did not know what it was that he felt. Now, he knew. Somehow, he knew that it was the Spirit.
Takuya could have sworn that at the very moment, he could see a tall figure standing before him. It had flowing blond hair and blue eyes, and red, white, yellow and black armor protecting its body. There was a symbol written on several parts of its armor. Takuya and the tall figure slowly walked towards each other, and then, somehow, walked right through each other.
Takuya snapped out of his trance, and, with fire brimming in his eyes, he took one last look at the Spirit, spread his arms out wide open, and cried out, "Spirit!"
Tomoki and the two small Digimon turned their heads and watched as Takuya's Digivice flew towards him. Takuya caught it easily in his left hand and pointed it straight at the Spirit, yelling out a battle cry. A beam of light shot out from the top of his Digivice, and it collected the Spirit. Takuya looked at the device, now in his right hand, and he stared at the screen, which displayed a symbol that resembled the Japanese kanji for 'flame.'
With his Digivice still in his right hand, Takuya yelled out another battle cry. He suddenly found himself standing on an octagonal plate while being surrounded by a red background. Extending his left arm out to his left, he raised his left hand, placing the back of that hand forward, and a single ring of data materialized around that hand. He crossed his arms twice before he connected the ring of data with the top of his Digivice. He then cried out, "Spirit... Evolution!"
Immediately after making the connection, Takuya's clothes were burned off from him, and many rings of data encircled him. Red flames erupted from behind him. His entire body inexplicably turned red. He felt a mask being put on his face, and armor being placed on his arms, hands, chest, and legs. He felt himself becoming that tall figure he saw in his trance.
Takuya-as-the-figure spun around once on his left and tilted his head slightly to his right. Then, he jumped down onto the octagonal plate. Clenching both of his hands into fists, he punched through the air twice, erupting red flames from his hands, and he cried out, "Agnimon!"
Takuya—now Agnimon—let out a battle cry as he stood in the middle of the surge of light.
Cerberumon ignored the many scratches forming on his armored body, got up and turned to his left, and, with widened eyes, shouted, "What? A human evolved into a Digimon?"
As Agnimon puffed his chest out, an astonished Tomoki said, "C-cool..."
The small Digimon standing to Tomoki's left pulled out a green book from within his pink haramaki and flipped through the pages of the book with his left hand. "Could this be..." he began to say.
Tomoki and the rabbit-like Digimon turned their heads to their left to look at the small Digimon, as Agnimon uncrossed his arms and the 'flame' symbol appeared on his abdomen, with actual red flames appearing from within.
Meanwhile, from above, Izumi, Minori and Junpei watched what had transpired and reacted appropriately.
"Amazing..." Minori said, looking dazed. She was still crouched down on her hands and knees, but now, she was in between Izumi and Junpei.
"T-Takuya turned..." Junpei began to say from Minori's left, now also crouched down on his hands and knees and looking surprised.
"Into a Digimon..." Izumi finished his sentence from Minori's right, also crouched down on her hands and knees and looking befuddled.
Red flames erupted from the three holes in each of Agnimon's armored feet. Tomoki and the rabbit-like Digimon looked over the small Digimon's shoulders— although Tomoki was confused over how the rabbit-like Digimon could even see, since his eyes seemed to be closed by default—as the small Digimon looked through his book and began to say, "Th-this is one of the twelve Legendary Warriors..."
Tomoki could not read the strange language that was written in the book, because the symbols did not resemble kanji, hiragana, katakana, or English. All he could definitely see was what he thought resembled the kanji for 'flame' and a poorly drawn version of Agnimon.
"Agnimon of Fire!" the small Digimon concluded.
The surge of light shined brightly once more before it turned into red flames. The flames completely dissipated with a wave of Agnimon's left arm. Agnimon let out a grunt.
"Agnimon of Fire!?" Cerberumon echoed in his harsh voice. He then jumped up with a growl.
Agnimon turned around towards his left and saw Cerberumon floating above him. The Demon Beast was preparing to use his Hell Fire attack on Agnimon, who swiftly did a cartwheel to escape the green flames. Agnimon then wrapped his arms around Tomoki and the two small Digimon.
"Agnimon!" Tomoki said as Agnimon, carrying the three of them, jumped out of the way of Cerberumon's attack with a grunt.
Cerberumon landed on the ground with a scoff as he saw that his attack missed the targets. Agnimon jumped up to the platform above, performed a somersault as he landed in front of Minori, Junpei and Izumi, and placed Tomoki and the two Digimon down.
"Take care of them," he instructed to the three who stayed on the platform. He performed a backflip and jumped back down to the ground, where Cerberumon remained.
The rabbit-like Digimon, Junpei, Tomoki, Izumi, the small Digimon, and Minori watched as Agnimon left them. The rabbit-like Digimon, Tomoki, Izumi, and the small Digimon smiled, Junpei looked unimpressed, and Minori stared in awe.
"Prodigio!" Izumi said excitedly, putting her right hand over her chest. She did not notice that Junpei turned his head to his left to give her an annoyed look.
Cerberumon growled and looked away as he shouted out, "Inferno Gate!" This attack unleashed a bright purple light from his armor.
"What?" Agnimon gasped as the many gates of Hell, engraved in the earth, opened up.
This attack was trying to thrust Agnimon into the Dark Area. Grunting, Agnimon jumped away from the portals left and right. He felt himself being pulled into one of the gates, until he grabbed the edge of the gate with his left hand to stop himself from falling. However, Cerberumon used his claw to slash Agnimon's hand away, causing the red Digimon to fall down into the portal again.
Cerberumon let out an evil laugh and told the falling Agnimon, "No one has ever left this Dark Area alive!"
Agnimon stopped falling and looked up as the Demon Beast jumped down through the gate, still letting out an evil laugh with his claws bared. Cerberumon then disappeared into the darkness.
"What?" Agnimon repeated as he looked to his left and right. He felt his arms and frontal body getting clawed three times, and he let out three painful grunts in response.
After getting clawed two more times and letting out two more painful grunts, Agnimon turned to his left and grabbed Cerberumon's left paw, effectively stopping the next attack. "There you are!" He said.
Cerberumon let out a guttural noise and said, "Good job predicting my attack. However..." He interrupted himself to open his mouth and call out his signature attack, "Hell Fire!"
Agnimon had no time to evade the attack, and he appeared to take a direct hit to the face, as he yelled out in pain.
However, it turned out to be a bluff. Agnimon clenched his right hand into a fist and uppercutted Cerberumon in the jaw. "Agnimon will not be burned by your puny flames!" He yelled superiorly. Then, with both arms ablaze and red flames erupting from the three holes in each of his armored hands, he spun around and created a fire tornado that surrounded Cerberumon.
"What the?" the Demon Beast cried out. He then let out a painful yell as the red flames engulfed him further.
An explosion occurred as the fire tornado erupted from within the gates of Hell. The rabbit-like Digimon, Junpei, Tomoki, Izumi, the small Digimon, and Minori gasped in awe as they watched the scene unfold before them.
"There's fire coming from the Dark Area!" said the small Digimon.
As the fire tornado dissipated, Agnimon kicked Cerberumon hard in the stomach and shouted out, "Salamander Break!"
Cerberumon's eyes turned blank white as he bellowed out, albeit weakly, "A human child..." He let out a strangled yelp of defeat as he exploded from Agnimon's attack.
Minori and the two small Digimon gaped at the scene, with each of their mouths slightly open. Tomoki and Izumi smiled excitedly, while Junpei glanced to his left and gave Izumi another annoyed look.
"Cool!" Tomoki said.
"Commozione!" Izumi exclaimed dreamily with her eyes closed, framing her face with both of her hands and lifting up her left leg. Unbeknownst to her, Junpei's shoulders sagged in defeat upon seeing her reaction, and his facial expression changed to match his new posture.
A single ring of data surrounded Cerberumon. Agnimon looked at the ring of data and began to say, "Corrupted, evil soul..." He then lifted up his red and black Digivice in his right hand, and the screen and top part of his Digivice emitted a bright blue and white glow, respectively, as the kanji for 'flame' appeared on the screen once more. He swiped his Digivice once as he resumed with, "This Digivice will purify you!" He swiped his Digivice again so that it could gather Cerberumon's data, and he concluded his speech with, "DigiCode... Scan!"
A digital egg appeared where Cerberumon once was. Agnimon looked into his Digivice once it had finished gathering the Demon Beast's data. He then jumped down to the ground, past where the other children and the two small Digimon stood, and the digital egg rapidly flew away somewhere to the right.
"What will happen to that egg?" asked the rabbit-like Digimon from Tomoki's right.
"You're so uncultured..." replied the small Digimon exasperatedly from Tomoki's left. Reading from his green book, he continued, "Cerberumon will awaken in a different time, in a different place." He then noticed that his rabbit-like companion was looking over his left shoulder, and he swiftly closed his green book. "Don't look!" He exclaimed.
Tomoki worriedly looked down where Agnimon had landed, and gasped at what he saw. As Agnimon was crouching down on the ground, data suddenly formed around his body. After a moment, Takuya appeared in place of the red Digimon.
Takuya gasped from exhaustion and placed his hands on the ground. "Wh-what happened?" He asked weakly. Lifting his head and looking at his Digivice in his right hand, he continued, "I became a Digimon..."
The screen of his Digivice glowed, and the strange symbol appeared, with the female voice accompanying it again. "You are a Chosen Child," said the voice.
"Chosen?" Takuya repeated quietly.
"But please do not forget," the voice continued. "The choice to come here was yours alone."
"Mine alone..." Takuya parroted slowly.
Meanwhile, a green Trailmon and a red Trailmon were riding on the third and fifth sets of railroad tracks, respectively. Both Trailmon began to slow down as they approached the Fire Terminal train station. The green Trailmon had eerily perfect straight teeth, a single red eye, and an antenna with a yellow ball on top of its head. The red Trailmon had two green eyes and a metallic mouth. Inside the green Trailmon, standing next to one of the doors on the left side of the compartment, was the long-haired boy with whom Takuya had an encounter in the elevator of Shibuya Station. Inside the red Trailmon was the last girl Takuya saw on the platform of Shibuya Station.
The girl inside the red Trailmon stuck her head out a window from the left side of the compartment and stared blankly at the Fire Terminal, which was coming into view. With the wind blowing through her hair, her arms perched on the lower part of the window frame, her head rested on her arms, and a dull expression on her face, she asked herself in a toneless voice, "Where am I?"
Author's Notes:
1) There is a reason why I gave Minori gray eyes. Frontier is the only series in the entire Digimon anime franchise that features all of the main Chosen Children with common eye colors: blue eyes for Kouichi and Kouji, brown eyes for Junpei and Takuya, and green eyes for Izumi and Tomoki. I referred to TVTropes a lot for this story, and in the "Common Eye Colors" trope, black, gray, green, and blue eyes are listed alongside unnatural eyes. Brown eyes used to be a part of this trope, but it's under the "Ambiguity Index" now. Anyways, I noticed that in this series, not one single child has gray eyes. Not even Katsuharu, Teppei, Teruo and Chiaki from Episodes 40 and 41 have gray eyes; all four of them have brown eyes. Because I wanted to balance out the "Common Eye Colors," I gave Minori gray eyes. Also, as the story continues, you'll see that Minori fits some of the attributes that come with having gray eyes; at least, according to TVTropes.
2) There is a reason why I gave Minori dark red hair. Almost all of the series in the Digimon anime franchise features at least one redhead among the main Chosen Children—except for Frontier. Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, and Adventure tri. has two redheads: Sora and Koushirou/Izzy. Digimon Tamers has two redheads: Ruki/Rika and Juri/Jeri. Digimon Savers has one redhead: Yoshino/Yoshi. Digimon Xros Wars has one redhead: Akari/Angie. Even the newest series, Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters, has one redhead so far: Yuujin Oozora. Digimon Frontier is the only series in the entire anime franchise to not feature a redheaded main Chosen Child. Therefore, I gave Minori dark red hair.
3) I am posting this chapter on my fan-fiction two-year anniversary!
4) I have been planning out this story since June 2004, but I actually started writing this chapter in January 2016. Once I finally finish this story, I'll explain why it took me so long to get this story out of development and onto here.
5) This re-write follows the original Japanese version of Digimon Frontier, which extends to the original names and dialogue. As such, I watched a fansubbed version of the series and got all of the dialogue from the work of fansubber PositronCannon. From that, when I was writing Minori's dialogue, I tried to give her lines that were in-line with the canonical dialogue.
6) In the original series, during the Children's transformation sequences, they were standing on a hexagonal plate. However, since there are going to be eight main Chosen Children in this re-write, they're going to stand on, and jump down onto, an octagonal plate.
7) For some reason, when I was writing Minori's lines, I kept hearing Aya Hisakawa's voice reciting them, particularly as Sailor Mercury. Then again, I did watch a lot of Sailor Moon while I was writing this chapter, so that probably explains it.
8) I placed this series to begin on Friday, April 5th, 2002. Please know that this is just my head-canon date. There are four reasons why I placed this series to start right when school had just begun in early April, particularly on that date.
First, in real life, Digimon Frontier premiered on Sunday, April 7th, 2002.
Second, in real life, beginning in April 2002, most Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools no longer included Saturday as a school day; Saturday was a free day, just like it is here in America. However, there are some schools (mainly private schools) that still have Saturday classes.
Third, in Episode 9, when the Children are watching the TVs in the TV Forest, Izumi notices that the cherry blossom trees outside of her elementary school are still blooming, and then Junpei speculates that it's been over a month since they came to the Digital World. Episode 48 implies that Izumi is from Shinjuku, based on how she recognizes it when Lucemon tries to enter the Real World. Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo. Cherry blossoms in Tokyo tend to start blooming in late March and reach their full bloom in early April, and in general, they tend to keep blooming until mid-April. Because Izumi stated that the cherry blossom trees were still blooming, this series can only take place in the first week of April, right after school started.
Fourth, in Episode 34, all of the children who are shown getting Ophanimon's text and voice messages, including Katsuharu and Teppei, got those messages between 5:00 pm and 5:30 pm, and pretty much all of those children had backpacks on them. Japanese elementary schools generally end at 3:00 pm, give or take a half-hour or even an hour (I read three different times from three different sources: one source said 3:00, another said 4:00, and an older source said 3:50. Keep in mind that I'm American, not Japanese, so I had to look up all of this). Junpei is the only main Chosen Child who got the messages when he was getting home from school, as evidenced by the fact that he had a gray one-strapped backpack on him, and the other children around him also had backpacks and were parking their bikes. Takuya and Izumi were already at home, Kouji was at the flower shop, and Tomoki was at a park with Katsuharu and Teppei. Also, in Episode 1, Takuya's father was implied to have been held up at work, because Takuya's mother asked if he was going to be late for Shinya's birthday. Typically, the Japanese don't work on Saturday or Sunday, similar to how it is here in America; naturally, though, it depends on what their job is. Based on all of this, this series can only take place on a week day, particularly on a Friday, since that's after the school week is over.
Please remember that Friday, April 5th, 2002 is just my head-canon date. In the original series, when the Children went to the Digital World, no official date was given (unlike Adventure and Adventure 02, which did occasionally have time-stamps, particularly during the Vamdemon/Myotismon arc and the Digimon Kaiser/Digimon Emperor arc).