A/N: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge, in which each chapter will get a separate prompt. This chapter's prompt is #006 – observant.
Divergent Paths
Chapter 1 – Twos and Trailmons
Koichi watched the tracks fade into a blur and let his eyes slip closed with a sigh. His head was throbbing, though why was beyond him. Maybe he hadn't been getting enough sleep, staring up at the ceiling after slipping into his futon, just thinking about…everything.
At least the sound of wheels on the track was enough to distract him.
'So…what's your name?'
And his company, sitting on the seats opposite.
He opened his eyes to look at the other boy. Not someone he'd ever seen before – but so many hours from home, that was to be expected.
'Koichi,' he said. 'Koichi Kimura. And yours?'
'Takuya Kanbara.' He grinned. 'So, uh…' His voice trailed of a little. 'You here because of the phone thingy?'
'Phone..?' Koichi repeated, before shaking his head. It aggravated the headache, and he winced in regret. 'No, I f – came with someone.'
Takuya might have noted the stutter, but he definitely noticed the wince. 'Are you okay? Did you hit my head anywhere?'
Not that he remembered, and he was sure he'd remember doing something like that. He hadn't even passed under any low ceiling recently that could have tapped his head on with less notice. 'I'm fine. It's just a bit of a headache.'
'Oh, okay.' Takuya paused, then lowered his voice. 'Am I talking too loud? Or too much? Mum says it bugs her when she's got a migraine…'
Koichi began to reply to that, to say that he wasn't a bother at all because it was nice to have some to talk to on a train (or bus for that matter) ride. There were few people who'd start talking to a stranger after all. And rides, especially in otherwise empty carriages or vehicles, could become quite uncomfortable and lonely without them.
He didn't even get the first sound out before the train lurched though. His hand shot out for something to grab on, his fingers curling around the edge of the row of seats just in time. Takuya seemed to have tried to do the same, but he missed and tumbled off and on to the floor.
Koichi made to get up, but had to sit down when the train lurched again and everything went black.
'What the hell?' He heard Takuya's voice, in the dark, over the suddenly louder screeching of wheels on tracks. 'Hey! What's going on?'
Koichi, even if he wasn't frozen in his position of clutching the edge of the chair in the dark, couldn't answer that. He had no idea himself. But the train seemed to be going faster, and the sounds – was the train going out of control?
If only they could see out the windows, that might give them a clue as to what was going on. But in the darkness, all they could do was guess. Guess whether it was nothing, or their doom.
And then, suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and Koichi blinked reflexively, then more as his eyes watered and his vision blurred. The blinking helped. So did lying still, because he could feel a thread of bile creeping up his throat as well. But it stopped, and swallowing made that taste go away as well. He was glad for that. He wasn't particularly fond of throwing up, and trains were a horrible place to do so anyway. But that was just a tiny feeling and gone soon enough. The flash of light had twinged his headache a little as well, but it wasn't intolerable.
Things slowly came back into focus: Takuya climbing to his feet and picking something off the ground, strange blobby things approaching the train Koichi couldn't quite make out still…
Then one plastered itself to the window like jellyfish, and Koichi made a sound that was half a laugh and half a gasp of surprise, causing Takuya to turn around and look as well.
'Eek!' Having not seen them come, he was far more startled. Then he chuckled. 'Aww, they're just like jellyfish.'
Koichi laughed as well. 'They really were.'
'Hey, you sure you're okay?' Takuya was suddenly crouching down in front of him. 'You look paler.'
'I'm fine,' he said, then at the disbelieving look added: 'Really. It was just that flash of light.'
'Yeah, that one was a doozy,' Takuya agreed. 'Where did it – woah!' He tumbled to the floor again as the train screeched to a halt.
'Woah yourself,' a voice coming from near the head of the train replied. 'You're pretty loud for a passenger, you know.'
Takuya said something in reply, but Koichi didn't hear it. He was thinking how odd a statement that was. "For a passenger" – as though it was someone who was always on the train, or not as a passenger.
The driver then?'
'Now, are you two getting off or – oh no, I'm off duty for the evening.'
Takuya and Koichi exchanged glances, then the former shrugged and hopped out of the now open door. Koichi just stuck his head outside – but both of them had a clear view of the train's mouth – or what looked like its mouth anyway – moving in time with those last words.
And to one side was an angel in blue toga and with a golden rod, replying. 'But Lady Ophanimon believes one of those children is the warrior of flame. You must take him to Flame Terminal.'
'Can't that wait until tomorrow?' The mouth yawned, creating a ripple effect that made the carriages lurch again, and Koichi lost his grip on the handle and fell on to the platform.
He lay there for a moment, stunned. Then something soft, like a pillow, crashed into his back and something warm, like soaking in a bubble bath, spread through his body.
He got to his knees, then his feet, and checked himself. The headache had completely vanished, and somehow he'd come away without any bumps or scratches from the tumble. None he could see anyway. Some bumps did take a while to show.
'Pu pu pu!' someone cried, and then something crashed into Koichi's chest this time: something small and pink and with wings. 'Pu pu!'
'MarineAngemon!' the blue clad angel cried, flying over. 'Please be more careful –'
'Pu!' MarineAngemon replied, nuzzling into Koichi's shirt.
The blue-clad angel looked at Koichi. 'I guess he…doesn't want to go?' he suggested, feeling awkward under the stare.
'You don't look like the child of flame,' the angel said, instead of a reply. 'You haven't got the same fire inside of you.'
Koichi blinked, uncomprehending.
The angel flew a little closer, then frowned. 'I understand now,' he said, quietly, almost to himself. 'Stay close to the other warriors. Do not wander anywhere on your own.'
Koichi blinked again. 'Okay.' He wasn't quite sure if he meant it as an agreement or a question. A bit of both, he supposed.
'Pu Pu!' the little pink form on his chest, added.
The angel blinked. 'You have no offensive attacks. You'll be entirely dependent on the warriors.'
'Pu pu pu!' MarineAngemon protested – or argued. It was hard to tell when neither Koichi nor Takuya could understand a word.
'You have a valid point,' the angel agreed. Apparently he did understand. He thought for a moment longer, then nodded to himself, straightening. 'Will the two of you take him with you? He may not have any offensive powers, but his healing prowess will be of great help to you.'
'Great help where?' Takuya asked. 'For that matter, where are we and who are you?'
Koichi didn't think he could have been so direct. Luckily, the angel didn't seem insulted. Just caught off guard. 'I am Angemon,' he introduced himself. 'I am a Digimon. That there,' He pointed at MarineAngemon, 'is MarineAngemon. And this – ' He gestured at the train. 'Is a Trailmon. This one is named Racoon Dog. We're at the Forest Terminal.'
'Digimon?' Koichi repeated.
'Aliens?' Takuya guessed.
'The natural inhabitants of this world,' Angemon explained. 'Like I believe you humans are in your world? I'm afraid I don't know much about the worlds outside this one.'
'Other worlds? Like a video game or something?' Takuya looked around: at the trees that stretched beyond their sight, and the tracks that wound their way through the wood. 'So did we get kidnapped and stuffed on those virtual machine thingies or is this some really detailed dream?'
'Pu!' MarineAngemon cried, knocking into Takuya's cheek.
'Ouch!' Takuya cried back. 'I almost bit my tongue – oh.' He blinked at that statement registered. 'I guess this is real then. But how did we get here? Is this part of that message?'
'The Trailmon brought you here,' Angemon replied. 'And Ophanimon called you here.'
But I wasn't called here. It was at the tip of Koichi's tongue, but he didn't say it.
'She called as many children as she could, but there were a few special ones whose help she needed,' Angemon continued. 'Help in order to save this world.'
'So we're signed up as heroes or something?' Takuya asked. At the nod of confirmation, he let out a low whistle. 'That sounds pretty cool. So we get to fight bad guys and things like that?'
'What you need to do is find the legendary spirits and keep them from the evil Cherubimon's clutches. Racoon Dog will take you to Flame Terminal where there is one – and, from there, the digivice will guide you.'
'I didn't agree to that,' the Trailmon muttered muttered. No-one heard him.
'Digivice?' Takuya repeated. MarineAngemon took something out his pocket and held it in front of the other's face. Takuya blinked at it. 'Oh, that thing.' He pressed a few buttons, but nothing happened.
Koichi's mind was on another matter though. 'You want us to fight? Against other…Digimon?'
Angemon shook his head. 'Ophanimon only asks you find the spirits before Cherubimon. If you children find them all and take them back with you, then they'll be out of his reach forever. But you may have to fight, if your paths cross with the enemy.'
Takuya opened his mouth – maybe to ask what the spirits were, which was the next question that came to Koichi's mind, but Angemon held up a hand. 'You need to hurry to Flame Terminal,' he said. 'It is the spirit of flame that rests there, and only you,' He looked at Takuya here, 'amongst the humans here can extract it from its resting place. You'll meet other humans at the Flame Terminal. Other spirits will respond to them. You too,' Here, he looked at Koichi, 'may find one that responds to you.' He opened his mouth, as if to say something more, but then he stiffened.
Racoon Dog twitched as well, his two carriages moving a little. 'Another Trailmon's coming,' he muttered. 'Sounds like Franken to me.'
'You'd best be going then,' Angemon said, before turning to the two boys. 'The gate to the human world is closed for now, and I'm afraid it'll be at least a week before Ophanimon is able to open it again. We can't ask you to put yourselves in danger for us, but please –'
'Just get on board!' Racoon Dog yelled, starting his engines. 'I'll take you to Flame Terminal, but I really don't want to be run over by a fellow Trailmon.'
He was moving before he finished the sentence. Angemon picked the two boys up and threw them unceremoniously through the door. His final words followed them, along with MarineAngemon's small pink form.
'– help our world.'
'Pu pu pu,' MarineAngemon added gravely.
'This wasn't what I had in mind when I clicked yes,' Takuya commented, shaking his head at MarineAngemon. 'So not a dream or a virtual world, and we're supposed to go on a treasure hunt of sorts and maybe fight the bad guys if they show up? Have I got it?'
'I think so,' said Koichi, who was still having trouble grasping things. Angemon hadn't really explained what Digimon were – just that they were the world's natural inhabitants. Animals were inhabitants of their world as well, but there was no way two kids could stand up to a tiger for example. A fly on the other hand they could probably handle. 'Do you think you can fight?'
Takuya shrugged. 'Depends on how strong they are, I guess. But if we don't want to fight, we can just hide, right?' He leaned back on the seats. 'We're, like, missing the whole back story though. And I had a million other questions.' He paused. 'Hey, do you think it'll be dangerous? Like all those action movies with one guy up against a whole race of aliens or something like that?'
'Pu pu.' MarineAngemon nodded.
The two boys looked at it – he? She? – and then at each other.
'I'm not sure I'm ready for that sort of heroship,' Takuya said.
Koichi was sure he wasn't either. He wasn't any sort of fighter.
Just what had they gotten themselves in to?
