Chaos Theory
By Aa-chan
Chapter One
"Oh, and then the time Mimi got us onto that boat with her—snort—feminine charms!"
Sora smiled as Mimi daintily wacked Tai over the head. 'Just like old times,' she thought with a sigh, shifting in her chair. She glanced around Tai's room, not really seeing anything, trying not to pay attention to the conversation. It surprised even her, but it hurt to think of their summer in the Digiworld.
'Biyomon was—is—my best friend, and I'll probably never see her again.' It had been a full year since they had arrived back at home, a full year since they had said goodbye, a full year since the little specks that were their Digimon disappeared into the distance as the trolley car sped away from the other world where they had learned so much about themselves… Sora sighed again.
She let her gaze drift across her companions. It was odd seeing all of them together like this again. Oh sure, they had remained friends in the past 12 months, but distant ones, for the most part. After being together for so long, they really needed time apart, and they had all settled back into their regular routines they had had before being transported from their summer camp. The group together now gave her surprising pains of nostalgia.
Joe sighed loudly, startling Sora out of her thoughts. "This is all very well, but are we going to discuss what we came here to discuss?"
Tai paused in the middle of an exuberant retelling of one of their many adventures. "You're right, Joe. Okay, so we've all been thinking about the Digiworld more often than usual, right?"
Izzy nodded. "Yes. It may not seem like much, but these feelings of nostalgia have suddenly hit us like—like—"
"Like a truck," Matt supplied.
Mimi nodded wistfully, her eyes growing slightly misty. "I've just been missing Palmon more and more lately."
"Now, it may be we are just longing for those days," Izzy continued, "but it does seem odd that these feelings have hit us all full-force at the exact same time. It could mean something. And some of have had dreams, right?"
"Right." Sora remembered the dream… it was full of feelings of happiness and warmth, and first and foremost was Biyomon's smiling face, saying, "I'll never leave you, Sora…" She lowered her eyes and tried to think of something else.
"I'm coming, Gatomon." The others glanced at Kari, who was leaning on her brother's windowsill, staring up at the night sky. She looked at the others and smiled placidly. "I know it's not a sure thing, but I just…know."
The group fell into silence for a moment.
"Tai," TK suddenly spoke up shyly from his place on the bed next to Matt, "Would you finish that story?"
As Tai burst into chatter again, Sora smiled. The official reason they'd come was to discuss the possibility that the feelings meant something, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they all just wanted to see one another again and reminisce.
"Whoa! You-you guys!"
Sora turned to Izzy, whose fingers were poised above the keyboard. He was staring at the screen in shock. "What is it?"
"I just—" His voice caught in his throat and he swallowed. "I have just received an e-mail from Gennai."
They gaped at him for a moment. "Well, don't just sit there, what does it say?" Tai asked excitedly.
The redhead cleared his throat and began to read. "' Well, hello there, kids, I'll bet you didn't expect to hear from me again. Anyways, I was just going about my regular morning routine and eating my breakfast when I felt something. I'm not sure what, almost an air of anticipation, as if something is about to happen. The Digimon feel too, though I can't imagine what it could be. The Digiworld is now a very peaceful place and there are no threats here that I know of. Well, I thought I should let you know, because you may be involved. Gotta go finish my toast now,'" Izzy finished. He glanced up at the rest of them. "What could it be?"
Sora frowned. Whatever it was, she would do anything to help Biyomon, and she had to admit it would be wonderful to see her again.
"I'll do anything for Agumon!" Tai proclaimed loudly. Sora smiled at the echo of her thoughts.
Izzy shut his laptop and looked at the others. "Well, at any rate, I think we should prepare…"
He trailed off, staring at something over Sora's shoulder. She furrowed her brow and turned to look.
An archway stood behind her chair, an archway of bright, burnished platinum light. It shimmered and wavered, an iridescent golden visage.
"Am I the only one who didn't notice that before?" Sora shot a wry look at Joe.
"I think we've just found our way to the Digiworld, guys," Matt said softly.
Tai grinned and without another word, jumped off his desk and walked through. Sora made a choking noise. He didn't come out the other side.
"Is… is it okay?" TK asked worriedly.
Matt poked a finger through it. "I think so, Squirt. Only one way to find out." He rose and walked hesitantly through. Feeling slightly sheepish, the others followed in succession.
Sora stared at Mimi's disappearing back and swallowed, then entered. Golden obscurity surrounded her as far as the eye could see. She floated in the light, a feeling of warmth and comfort washing over her. She felt completely at peace with anything and everything. For that one brief moment, all thoughts of trouble in the Digiworld and Biyomon left her. Then it was abruptly over, like a pricked bubble.
Sora blinked and tried to focus, but she could see only blurry shapes. She was standing in a large room, with what felt like hardwood floors, and had blue walls, surrounded by people. Not just her little group of friends, either. She squinted, wondering what was wrong with her vision, and the world suddenly came flooding into focus.
Sora was staring at an exact double of herself.
She thought it must be a mirror at first, but then realized the double was not wearing her helmet. She was. The two stood staring at one another. "H…hello," the mirror finally stammered, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "It's, um, nice to meet you."
"Uh, hello," Sora answered politely. "Who--?"
"Sora!"
She spun around, her thoughts racing. 'That voice. That voice can only belong to one person. Or rather, one Digimon. It's—' "Biyomon!" The shimmering golden arch stood in this room, too, and those familiar Digimon friends of theirs had just come stumbling through. Forgetting her copy, Sora crouched down and swept Biyomon into a hug.
"I missed you so much, Sora," the pink bird whispered.
Sora was too overcome to reply. She just nodded, holding her tighter.
"Ahem."
The two pulled apart to look around. Gennai was staring at them. Sora blinked then gazed at the room they were in. She recognized it; it was a room in Gennai's own house. With a start, she realized that there were two… of everyone, really. Even the Digimon. The only ones that didn't were Gennai and… Kari? And Gatomon, for that matter. The girl was holding her Digimon, looking around in complete and utter bewilderment.
The two Joes stared at one another, both holding their Gomamon partners. One of the Gomamons was poking the other curiously with a claw. She couldn't tell which was which.
"Ahem."
With a start, Sora turned to Gennai, who looked as though he was losing a great deal of his patience. "Now…"
"Who are you?" Joe spat out suddenly.
"That will be explained," Gennai began, looking perturbed, "If you would just—"
"Hi!" They all turned to Tai, who was grinning and had his hand stuck out to his double. The mirror didn't seem to share Tai's easy acceptance of the situation, or his cheerfulness. He merely stared at the hand in mild wonder before uncertainly shaking it.
"Hi…umm…Tai…" He chuckled softly.
Sora frowned thoughtfully. Obviously, they weren't exact doubles, in personality at least, or he would have done just the same.
Gennai shot a glare meant to kill at the boys. "If you would just follow me, all will be explained." Izzy and his twin both nodded fervently and turned to follow.
"That was kind of spooky," a Tentomon remarked, hovering after his partner.
Sora's double fell in step beside her as the odd group made their way down a little hallway. The two just stared at one another, not bothering to try and disguise their curiosity. Who was this person? She absently thought of the time Datamon had created a clone of herself. Was this a clone?
They emerged into a room Sora recognized. They had eaten dinner here the time they had stayed at Gennai's house. The low table was covered in an abundance of food. Her stomach gave a tiny growl, reminding her she hadn't yet eaten dinner, as she sat down with the rest. Her copy took a place opposite her, Biyomon settled in her lap, and the rest followed suit. They dug in.
Izzy suddenly spoke up hesitantly. "Gennai… if you knew what was going on, why didn't you explain it to us in your e-mail?"
"I am not Gennai." Sora blinked. Not Gennai…? "Well, I am, but not the Gennai you all know. I am… a sort of alternate version of him."
"Waiff, wuffooyoo—" Joe swallowed a bite of fish—"What do you mean? Where are we, then?"
Gennai, standing at the head of the table, sighed and scratched his chin. "Perhaps it would be best to begin from the beginning before getting into that. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering who these people are, and what exactly is going on." Sora saw Izzy nod his head emphatically out of the corner of her eye.
"I shall begin by explaining the concept of parallel dimensions." Sora raised an eyebrow. Gennai wasn't usually this stiff; he normally made some kind of bad joke and was generally less formal. "There are infinite dimensions, layer upon layer, that exist. One is born when a decision is made. For example, if a girl decided to turn left, a new dimension would be born in which she turned right. Strange parallels that continue to branch out into infinity."
"Yes, I have often thought that it might be so. Just a thought, of course, but it did seem plausible." Izzy was frowning slightly, his chopsticks paused in midair.
Sora shook her head in confusion. She wasn't entirely sure she understood. Were these people from a different dimension? "Do you mean like different worlds? Like the real world and the Digiworld?"
"No."
"Oh." Sora blushed.
"But that's a good question. The Digiworld was created from data in the real world. In many dimensions, both the real world and the Digiworld exist. However, there are many worlds in which only the real world exists, because that information was never created, or perhaps was destroyed, because of the different decisions a person may make.
"Even the tiniest of decisions can sometimes change an entire dimension."
"Oh, like in those books where a person goes back in time, kills a bug, and when he returns to his time everything is completely changed?" Joe asked.
"Precisely, though time has nothing to do with this. You are in a parallel now."
Sora stared. No wonder this Gennai seemed slightly different than the one she was used to. It wasn't the same person.
"Why have you brought us here?" Tai asked.
Gennai glanced at him disapprovingly, but it seemed to Sora there was also a hint of sadness to his face. Somehow, for some reason. "I am getting to that, young man," he scolded. "I am not entirely sure what the situation is in your dimension, but I am sure it is very different than the one here. Kari is dead."
They all paused in whatever they were doing, even with food halfway to their face, except Kari, who choked on the fish she had been eating. Tai slapped her on the back. His double, Sora noticed, looked devastated, but had still not stopped staring at Kari.
"So this is how she would have grown up," he said softly, smiling sadly.
Sora watched him. That must be why he didn't respond to Tai's greeting with the same cheerfulness, she thought. Events in people's pasts can change their entire personality.
"You see," Gennai continued, giving Kari a sharp look. As if it were her fault she choked. "You see, in many parallels, Kari became sick because she was out in the rain one night and missed summer camp. That is what happened in yours, if I don't miss my guess."
Kari blinked. "Only because Miko went outside and I had to go get him back. But…how did that affect my living?"
"Your parallel self did not do that, because the cat did not go outside. She stayed healthy as ever and went to summer camp with the rest of you."
Tai's twin was shaking now. The Sora double laid a hand on his shoulder, concerned. "Tai, are you sure you want to stay to listen to this? Why don't we go and…um…why don't we go?"
He nodded and hey walked off into some adjoining room. Sora glanced at her dimension's Tai. He was staring at the doorway the two had exited by. 'What could he be thinking?' She wondered.
Gennai cleared his throat softly. "Yes, well…she went to the Digital World from the beginning. She, however, did not have Gatomon to protect her." He sounded almost guilty, for some reason. "You see, when I was young…I saved…"
Izzy's eyes widened with comprehension. "Of course. When you saved the eggs from Piedmon, you had dropped Gatomon's accidentally. She was not with the other Digimon."
Gennai nodded, head hanging. "Yes. I…I was careless. That Kuwagumon knocked Kari off the cliff before the rest of you—them. Only she did not land in the water. She landed on the rocks beside." His voice was almost a whisper.
Kari had her hands to her mouth in complete horror. "If Miko hadn't gone out that night, I would be dead now. It—It's awful to think that such small things can make such a difference. I'll never know if what I'm about to do will kill me."
Tai patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay, Kari. You can't let it bother you. There's nothing you can do about it."
"I know."
Sora shuddered. She knew, too, but that didn't stop it from frightening her. Anything, any small choice in her life, even a choice made by someone else, could land her dead. Or worse. She shook her head, not wanting to linger on what would be worse than death.
"At any rate," Gennai continued, having regained some of his composure, "The children were able to defeat Devimon and Etemon, but without Kari, Myotismon was just too powerful for them. He was never destroyed."
"Then…what…?" Joe trailed off, but Gennai understood.
"He rules over both worlds, Digital and real." Sora gasped slightly. "Everyone is enslaved to Myotismon aside from those who manage to keep well hidden from his spies. I, with my house in such an unusual place, am one of those. I allow the Digidestined to stay with me."
Sora thought she understood why. Gennai probably felt it was mainly his fault.
"As the years went on, Myotismon became more powerful and has now digivolved to Venommyotismon, and is able to retain that form. So we—'we' meaning Izzy and I—developed our theory about interdimensional travel. We managed to build a machine that takes us to different ones. We weren't entirely sure what sort of dimension the doorway would open to, but Izzy managed to get it to accept certain specifications we could give."
Joe moaned loudly and everyone turned to stare at him questioningly. "I thought we were safe at home once and for all, and now I'll bet you anything we have to save this other Digiworld. Perfect."
Gomamon hit him over his head with a flipper playfully. "Don't be such a downer, Joe."
"I'm a downer?" Joe glared at Gennai. "Have you even heard anything that this guy has been saying?"
Gennai sighed. "You are just like the Joe I know," he said. "As a matter of fact, you are right. We need you. Only the Digidestined are able to destroy Venommyotismon. I fear we could not use just Kari, for Digidestined have to be with their own dimensions' versions of one another. It just doesn't fit together properly otherwise. Plus," he added, staring at the doorway, "I don't believe Tai would be able to handle it."
Sora felt a sudden pang of sympathy for this dimension's Tai. The Tai she knew would have been completely and utterly devastated if his dear sister died.
Joe had his arms crossed and was glowering. "And what do you expect us to do about the real world? I think my parents would start to worry if I didn't show up for who-knows-how-long."
"The others will take your places, and Mimi will say Kari is staying over at her house for however long it takes. Not too long, I hope."
The blue-haired boy snorted. "That's your plan? What if Mrs. Kamiya calls Mimi's mother to see how she's doing?"
Gennai shrugged. "It will be handled. It's not the best of plans, I know, but there's no help for it."
"I still say we should have a choice in the matter!" Joe announced.
"You do."
"I mean, who are you to— What? Oh." Joe stared at the old man, then turned to stare at his double, who looked ready to beg if need be. "Well, in that case…I…guess we can't just leave this dimension knowing we could have done something. I'll stay." He grabbed a loaf of bread and bit the end off, still glaring sullenly at Gennai. The others laughed softly.
They all looked at one another, and one by one, they nodded. "We'll do it."
