Hello everyone! After a long break from writing, it looks like I'm finally back! And with a new series too!
I'm not going to tell you when it takes place, since the story kind of unfolds over a long period of time. But trust me, you'll find out soon enough. Also, although this might seem like an alternate universe fic in the beginning, it actually is supposed to be in "the same universe" as the TV show. Just wait, you'll understand everything in the end (not the end of the fic, of course, just later in the story).
As usual, I'm using the English names for everyone, although I consider the Japanese names to be their full names. For all you thick people out there, that means that Tai is just a nickname for Taichi.
As the surgeon general has ordered, I have to issue a warning regarding copyright information. I own Digimon. I created Digimon. Digimon is my baby. By the way, if you believed any of that, you also are being stalked by a four-foot tall rabbit… named Trix.
For those of you interested in my other series (Destiny's End), which I know equates to the exact numerical opposite of the population of China, I'm having a hard time writing part 5. Hopefully I'll get it out soon.
Even if you don't particulary enjoy this chapter, I highly suggest you read the next one. It really develops and gives a good idea of where this story is going, and before you make any judgements, I beg you to read it.
Please, oh please, write a review for this fic. I really, really, really want to know what you think about it, so just give me one stupid review, ok? Thank you, and enjoy.
atreides128@hotmail.com
* * *
Sincere Conflict -
Prologue
* * *
"We think we've found him, sir."
"Him? You're sure the one we want is a male?"
"We're not absolutely positive, of course. But this one does show tremendous potential. More then any other so far."
"I see. Watch him closely. We don't have much time. If he is the one, he must be advanced as quickly as possible."
"Yes sir."
* * *
The boy watched as his ball rolled into the busy street. He sighed. That was the third ball he had lost that week. His parents were going to kill him.
He turned around and forced himself to walk. He hated walking home. Hated seeing all the happy faces of the other children, laughing and smiling, playing merrily with their friends. Not a care in the world. But then again, they were normal. All they had to worry about were their friends.
Friends. Another thing he didn't have. He had never had a friend. Not once in his short life. Never had anyone who would even want to play with him. Nobody who he could invite over to play with. No one what so ever.
Why? Because I'm not normal. He answered his own question in his head. And it was true. He wasn't normal. He never had been. All his life, he had been, simply put, strange.
Sure, he looked like the average kid his age. No doubt about that. He liked to do what other kids his age did. He talked like them. But in the end, there were reasons that set him apart from the others.
For one, he realized things no one else could. In no way was he a child prodigy, nor any type of genius. It was just how he saw things. He saw patterns, and so he made connections. His mind could sense the tiniest thing, and realize how it affected another thing instantly.
He understood how a high-speed car chase in one part of the city could affect a bird's flight miles away from it. He understood how the reflection of someone in the window could cause an airplane to fly off course. He understood how an earthquake could cause a bird to pick a tree for its nest.
Of course, he couldn't explain how or why such things affected each other, because even he didn't know how or why his mind worked that way. But he understood that the tangents did affect each other, even if only his subconscious knew how. He could see these kinds of things. Sense them. The connections.
Then there was his memory. It was perfect.
It wasn't photographic by any means; rather, he had the ability to remember each and every thing. He didn't try to memorize random tangents, it just happened. It scared his parents, his teachers, and everyone who knew him that he could remember every minute detail that he ever heard or saw; even though half the time he pretended to "forget" when it was time for him to go home. But in reality, he never forgot a thing. He didn't really mind the ability; he considered it fun. But it was different. Weird. Strange. Abnormal. And it set him apart from the other kids.
Finally, there was the thing that really set him apart. Occasionally, he would look into "another place" as he called it. What he saw was a place that looked like it had been ripped right out of the prehistoric age. Complete with the dinosaurs.
He didn't actually call them dinosaurs; instead, he had named them "monsters." He hadn't gave them that name because they frightened him… it was just that "monsters" seemed the only suitable word for these beings from this other place. Of course, only he could see the fantasy world, and only at certain times and places; when no one else was with him.
That had worried his parents to no end. At first, they had thought it was just the average little kid story about "monsters under the bed," or something around those lines. But when they saw how convinced he was that there was "another place", how much he believed in it, how he could so avidly and vividly describe it and it's creatures, they became more than nervous.
They had taken him to every doctor in the city. But not a single doctor could find any thing wrong with him, physically or mentally. So in the end, his parents had resorted to forbidding him to talk about it. They thought that if he never spoke about his imaginary world, he would eventually forget about it, and hopefully keep his imagination in check.
But they were dead wrong. Not being able to talk about it freely forced him to think about it more. If no one would listen to him, he would just tell himself. For the best listener to a story is the storyteller himself.
So he became withdrawn and sullen as he studied the other place in his mind. Another reason he had no friends. He didn't attempt to make any.
Then again, even if any of the other kids wanted to become his friend, it was extremely doubtful that their parents would allow it. The adults seemed to think he was a walking disease for visiting so many doctors. What was he, contagious? The parents obviously thought so.
He sighed again. What was the point of life? He couldn't understand why life existed if it was so bleak and dark. To live, to love, and to grow. He doubted he would ever do any of those happily. Not if he remained so "weird."
His thoughts were mature beyond his years, shaped and formed with wisdom that he couldn't possibly have learned within his short life.
He kept walking normally, however unhappily, towards the other children. When he finally reached them, he sped up, so as to get away quicker. He didn't want to stay near them, to be with them. He just wanted to go home. To get away from all the furtive whispers about him that he knew they were making.
It was only a few seconds later when he finally reached the end of the park. He smiled inwardly, knowing his apartment was just around the corner. Anxiously, he broke into a run and sped across the sidewalk. Only a few more feet till the turn.
But he never reached it. Right before he reached to corner, something happened that forced him to skid to a stop. Something familiar…
A window had opened. A window formed of shimmering air; a gap in the earth's thick atmosphere. A window, a portal, a doorway that hung in the middle of the air, directly in front of him. A window that showed lush grass and trees on its other side. A window to "another place."
The boy stared around. Even though this sort of thing had happened many times before, he never lost the sense of utter surprise when it did. Couldn't anyone else see it? No. Although the other people walked around it, it wasn't because they saw it. It seemed like they just subconsciously wanted to get out of its way, even though they couldn't see it at all. They didn't even notice it. Neither could the people in their cars on the street, or in their apartments above.
Then how come he could see it? It made no sense. That him, just a weird little kid could see this place? There was something strange about that. Something very strange.
He disregarded his thoughts as he peered through the floating gate. He wanted to touch it, but knew there was no point. He had tried before, but his hands had just slipped away from the window, as if it was intangible. So instead, he peered in closely through the window to study the other land.
What he saw before him surprised him. Nestled in the grass were four little eggs. Each of them had strange markings on them, unlike any egg in this world. That wasn't the unusual part, since he had seen eggs like this before. But four of them together? That was strange.
But that wasn't all that was strange. Attached to each egg, by two different cords, were two little objects, one on each side. The first object was a whitish, silvery tiny squashed cube. It had a screen on top of it, much like a miniature computer monitor. There were also a few buttons on it, which served a purpose beyond the boy's current knowledge.
The other was a sort of necklace with a medallion or something like it at the end. It was sleek and smooth, as if it had never been touched before. The golden pennant glinted as the alien world's sun hit it.
Neither of the objects attached to each egg interested the boy in the least. He was more concerned with the eggs themselves. He longed to touch them, to find out there purpose. To feel them. To know why, he of all people, could see four of them near him. Almost as if they were waiting for him…
His curiosity got the best of him at last. Timidly, he raised his hands towards the window. He inched them closer, pushing them forward, all the while trying to keep his breathing level. Why was he so worried about it? So nervous? If this was anything like normal, however un-normal normal was , his hand would just slide away from the window.
But it wasn't like usual. Something was nagging in the back of his mind that this was anything but normal. Something was odd, something about the connections didn't click.
But it was to late to do anything now. He pushed hard towards the window with his hands, holding his breath for what would happen next.
His hands fell through the window almost immediately. They had entered another world. It had made his hands feel strange, tingly, cold, when they had left his world to the other. But now that they were through, everything felt normal again… other than the fact that he was in two different universes at once. For a moment he stared in awe at his hands, allowing them to soak in the other world.
But his awe was short lived, as barely a moment after his hands had entered, the rest of him was pulled through.
It felt as though someone had grabbed him and tossed him through the window. But he knew that hadn't happened. No, instead some unknown force had tossed him through. He would have taken time to try to understand more, but then he remembered the eggs. They were right in front of him.
As he stared at the closest one, he began to forget where he was. His mind seemed to draw a blank, as if he was incapable of thinking. The other world he was in did not fascinate the boy. Only one thing did. The same thought repeated in his mind over and over again as he watched the egg.
Touch it. Yes, that's what he wanted to do, touch it. That was all. Nothing else in the universe existed, only the egg and him. So why not touch it? His mind obviously thought it was a good idea.
But was it his? For one moment, it seemed as if the thought was foreign, not of his body. Not his thought. As if it had been placed in his head against his will. But why would someone, or something, do that to him…?
Immediately his hands went to his eyes as they began to sting. But just as quickly as the pain had come, it was over. As well as his thought. That thought left just as quickly as the sting in his eyes had. No, it hadn't left; it had been removed. But the boy didn't worry about that, because he was back to his original thought, however alien, of touching that one egg.
So he did. Not timidly, not forcefully, just normally. He reached out and placed his hand on it. Nothing happened. All he felt was the cold heat of the shell.
As soon as the interest in that egg had come, it left. No, now he wanted to touch the egg behind and to the left of it. So he got up and walked a few steps to the new egg, and just as he had done moments ago, put his right hand out and touched it.
Again nothing happened. This wasn't the egg he was looking for. Looking for. What on Earth, or should he say "this world", was he looking for? They were just eggs. So why did he feel such a desire to touch each one in turn?
Again, his eyes stung for a fraction of a second, and the thought left him as soon as it had come. It didn't matter what he thought anymore, he just wanted to touch one of the last two eggs. Not wanted, needed to touch it. For whatever purpose it would serve.
Reaching out to the second to last egg, he nearly tripped, but caught himself in time. He didn't seem to notice what he had just done, since it was obviously of no concern any more. So he simply put his hand on the egg. And again, nothing happened.
He was feeling frustrated now, although he didn't know why. Would it be this last egg that would have his answer? There was nothing to do but try.
So, for the fourth time, he reached his hand out, and touched the last egg. But what he felt wasn't a cold shell.
He felt warmth, heat, a fire of sorts. A fire of belonging. Yes, that was it. He had found his answer. This was the egg. The egg that he needed. The egg that needed him. His egg.
He smiled as he touched it. He felt completed by it. As if he had waited his entire life for it, to be with it. But had he? For he felt as if he knew the egg, and had always known it. His thoughts flowed freely now, as if the hidden sensor on his mind had disappeared.
He placed his left hand on the egg so he could pick it, although he didn't know why he wanted to. But he never got the chance. Because the moment both of his hands had touched the egg, it had shaken. It was waking up.
The boy watched with fascination. His egg, quiet and serene before, had begun to glow and shake with energy. But his egg wasn't the only thing acting strangely. The little cube had begun to hum and blink with light, as if triggered by the egg. Meanwhile, the necklace attached on the other side had begun to glow a deep crimson.
And now he could feel something in him heat up also. Was it his heart? Whatever it was, internally he had begun to shake with light and energy in unison with the egg. Then, in one sheer moment, it happened.
It came suddenly, unexpectedly. In fact, he barely saw it happen. The chain on the necklace became momentarily rigid and straight as the pennant on the end of it stood erect towards the sky. For the first time, he noticed a small symbol behind the glass on the pennant. Although he strained his eyes, he couldn't tell what it was. Then, suddenly, the glowing necklace shot a beam of pure energy at the egg, piercing it with brilliance. Where the energy had come from, he would never know. He had to many other things to worry about at that moment…
For the tiny cube had also been acting strangely. While the necklace had been acting up, the cube had been glowing and humming with unimaginable vigor. It had shaken wildly with color, and then suddenly, it had shot a beam at the egg at the exact same time as the necklace, hitting the egg at the same moment.
The force of both energy shots turned the entire egg a glowing white for the briefest of a second. It clung to the egg, swirling around it in a rapid motion, as if tickling the shivering egg. Finally, it settled down. Sitting on the egg, the energy remained. But it hadn't dissipated yet.
Instead, the energy that had gathered around the now shaking and glowing egg shot away from it in an arc, directly towards him. He didn't have time to brace himself.
It blasted him, nearly knocking him over. The power engulfed him, consumed him, as it took over every square inch of his body. His muscles, his senses, all of them seemed to disappear as the energy seeped through him, totally grabbing him. It plunged through him internally, searching for something. Deeper and deeper, penetrating him throughout his body.
Finally, it got to its destination. His heart. It hit it fast, jumping on it as if it needed to move faster. The force of the blow knocked him over; his hands clenching his heart. But he never let the egg out of his sight during the invasion.
And then it was over. The energy left him, obviously satisfied for accomplishing its secret mission. A mission he could never guess. He tried to stay awake, but he couldn't. Consciousness was leaving him.
As his eyes began to steadily draw to a close, he took one last look at the egg as his vision became fuzzier and fuzzier. But he could still see it. Could see the battle marks of the energy beam on his egg. And he could see the other thing, something he had never seen before. It had cracks on it.
It was hatching.
The eggs around it disappeared in a rainbow of light.
Finally, he fainted.
* * *
"Out of all the choices, he chose that one?"
"He did not choose it. It chose him."
"Call it what you like. Either way, it was a bad choice for both of them. How can you expect him to have, to use, that one?"
"Meaning…?"
"It can only change directly. It is incapable of any other forms but its chosen path. All of the other three could manage at least one other 'mode', but this one…"
"You are to quick to judge my friend. This boy will change everything, if he hasn't already. He is the one we want. No, no don't try to babble about it more. Talk to me about it later. I need to oversee the transition."
* * *
The boy awoke fifteen minutes later to the sound of his mothers voice and a splitting headache. Groggily, he opened his eyes and focused them on his mother's worried face.
"Are you alright? I was worried sick!"
He nodded, signifying his semi okay health to his mom. He massaged his head, trying to get rid of the nauseating headache.
"What happened? How come you fainted? It must have been the heat. I told your father the warnings I saw on the television, but no, he said…"
The boy blinked a few times as his mother continued her babbling while they walked back to the apartment. He hadn't answered her question of course, but she didn't seem to mind, obviously content with her own answer. But he wanted to know the answer to that question. Yet, he couldn't seem to remember…
What the boy didn't seem to realize was how strange it was that he couldn't remember something. It was as if he didn't know he had a perfect memory, or as if he didn't have it. Why would he have a perfect memory? He was just a kid, right?
As they approached the corner, a little girl ran up to them. She seemed to be as young as him, since the soccer ball she carried was so large compared to her. She looked out from under her hat at his mom, then back at him.
"You wanna pway tommowow?"
For a second, he seemed stunned by her words. She wanted to play with him? Then, as soon as the feeling came, it left. Why wouldn't she want to? It was a normal thing to do, right? Normal, yeah. That's what he was. Normal. Just like he had always been… right?
He tried to remember. It was hard to do, almost like it was his mind was being censored… but he tried anyways. Of course, he had always been normal. What else could he have been? There was no way, no connection that proved he had been anything but normal.
"Well?" the girl asked impatiently, bringing him back to reality. He looked at her for a second, then nodded and smiled. She smiled back, before running back to the other kids.
He was unexpectedly filled with bliss at her smile. He liked her smile. It was nice, comforting, and likable. He might even have thought it was beautiful if he was capable of such thoughts. But at that young age he wasn't. Yet he still enjoyed her smile.
He tugged on his mom, and they started walking again. His mother didn't seem to have realized that the boy had made his first friend; nor did the boy. Because, as they both knew, he had always been normal. Nothing had ever been unusual at all about him. So his mother continued her babbling as they walked, eventually changing her conversation with herself to what she was going to make for dinner. Finally, they reached the door of their apartment.
The boy smiled broadly. Although he didn't understand why, he was filled with utter happiness. He had a friend. Possibly more. And even more importantly, he was plain and simply, normal. What was so significant about either of those things, he would never know. Just like he would never remember what had happened in the park before he fainted. Or the "another place" he used to see. His perfect memory, his ability to see connections and patterns, never again would he recall them.
Without knowing it, the boy had just ended one life, and started another. His life was beginning anew. His memories, his past, all were gone. His life, as far as he was concerned, had started barely five minutes ago. With a happy heart, he opened the door that was labeled with his family's last name.
It simply said, "Kamiya."
* * *
"The transition went well."
"We shouldn't have done it so soon. It was too dangerous. We should have waited until he was older."
"Until he was older? How many times do I have to repeat myself? We don't have the time! A few of the boys measly years, at most."
"But the sicknesses, side effects, vulnerabilities… fine, have it your way. You were just lucky that everything went as planned."
"I confess I had an ulterior motive. I didn't want him isolated that long."
"It would have done him good. Isolation is one of the best ways to get them to think for themselves."
"But if he's the one, he's not going to be thinking only for himself, now is he? The one we want will have to think for everybody, including you."
"Still, a little more time would have been safer… But what's happened has happened. Now all we have to do is wait."
"Yes. As soon as he passes the first couple of tests, he'll be ready for the real testing. We have a lot to do until the real testing begins."
"If he passes the preliminaries. If and only then."
"He will. There's something different about this one. No, this 'Taichi Kamiya' is the one."
To Be Continued…
* * *
A/N:
Well, this first part, the prolouge, is finally done. It turned out a bit longer than I expected, but that's a good thing, right? ^^ Ok, I also was trying out a different kind of writing style on this one; so if you didn't like it, don't worry. Every other part will be back to a more "normal" style. Also, remember, this fic is supposed to take place concurrently with the Digimon series, not in some alternate universe. So if things seem not to make sense with the series, don't worry. I plan to keep it as true to the series as possible, just from another point of view. Sort of like a parallel story in the same universe. Ok, anyways, please R&R. Also, if you want, you can e-mail me at atreides128@hotmail.com if you have any questions, comments, want to go on a date with me, or whatnot. I hope you liked it!
Everything from here down is not mandatory to read, as it's not even related to it. This is a HUGE review I wrote for Artisan of the Written Word's series By Unseen Forces. FF.Net thought it was Spam for being so long, so that's why I'm putting it here. I highly suggest you read that series, so please be smart and go to it (after you review my fic, of course ^^). So, finally, here is my review for part 6 of By Unseen Forces:
*** You are not required to read this following review, it has nothing to do with the above story. Also, if you haven't already read Part 6 of By Unseen Forces, I don't suggest you read this, as it is a major spoiler. And if that isn't enough warnings for you… then you can't read***
Well Whit, I decided to give you the more or less long review you've been bugging me about. I doubt this will be half as long as your insanely long and detailed review for Logan, but hey- I can try, right?
Lets start at the beginning. The very, very beginning, when all the digi destined are coming over to Sora's house/apartment. Ok, I'll admit it, this part was scaring me. I know you told us in the last chapter that Tai would become "vulnerable" to the demon, and there was the chance that he could die, but that's what made it even more freaky and suspenseful; the fact that he wasn't dead, so we didn't really know what was happening to him. Of course, to top that off, when "Dr. Joe" examined Tai, he told us tons of symptoms, yet couldn't exactly find out what was wrong with Tai. This gave me this feeling of both horror and mystery, which was a nice addition to the angst, action, and romance of the previous chapters.
Moving on, I got this instant feeling of sadness, almost regret, when Izzy and the others found out that Tai hadn't told Sora the consequences of them having sex. I mean, I thought that by now Tai could have told her anything... until I realized why he hadn't told her. He didn't want to scare her. My hating Tai feelings were immediately changed to understanding when I realized this.
Then came a plot turn where I thought I would go insane. When Sora began to fall asleep, I was ready to kill her! I mean, she has to take a nap then? When her boyfriend/soul mate was about to perish? Of course, you had tricked me again, and as soon as I realized why Sora had fallen asleep, I became more interested in this roller coaster type plot (that's a good thing, Whit ^_^).
I don't mind saying that I really enjoyed the whole telepathic part that followed. It was a nice way of inserting Tai into the equation, just in case we had forgotten how much he meant to her. Plus, I was having a field day imagining cool it would be to be telepathic! Of course, in the end, I think what you were trying to do was set up the feeling for the rest of the chapter when Sora would hopefully save Tai. All I can say is that it worked. I immediately began to yell internally, "Save him Sora!" Well, I almost did anyways, but I was afraid someone would here me and… er, let's get back to the review, shall we?
I was getting sort of confused when Sora suddenly thought of a solution to get into Tai's mind. I'm glad you made all the other characters think of the possibility that the Demon was in her, because that's exactly what I was thinking! lol It was especially weird when Sora started acting like she was smarter than Izzy, almost as if she was possessed. So the whole situation did seem kind of strange... but whether or not you wanted it to seem like that, I liked it. :)
Oh boy, now we're at the good part; inside of Tai. This part was really interesting. First of all, I loved the descriptions. "The land was barren. Nothing. Nothing that could account for anything, anyway. It was all dust. The ground was cracked from what would have seemed to be a serious drought." Although that's just a small excerpt, it really gives you a good sense and, more importantly, feeling of what the environment is like. But when you combine it with all the other amazing descriptions you use... you give us the most detailed picture possible, all made up out of your words. It's beautiful.
Adding Agumon was a great addition to the story! Even though it wasn't really him, it reminds us that this story is still a digimon fic, and connects us to Tai in a new way. The part Agumon play's in the story, if you ask me, is essential, and I'm glad you included him. Plus, it was a little funny to imagine Tai's subconscious to be a miniature, unassertive, orange Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Back to the fic. I really liked all the little interruptions from the main story that told us what was happening with the rest of the digi destined. Besides thinking that Izzy's little comment about not being "dead" was grimly funny, I thought it gave us good little pit-stops from the main action, which allowed us to better absorb what was happening. It also showed us what was happening to their bodies externally, instead of only internally. That really helped the over all plot.
Don't worry; I'm getting close to the end of the review! ^_^ Let's skip ahead to the part where Sora feels so much hatred for the demon she goes semi berserk. This was another of those good plot twists. Who would've thought that sweet little Sora could turn in to such a monster... to kill a monster? That part really made me think, and then, of course, you topped that off with the whole part of how it was hurting Tai too. Then came the fact that Sora wasn't even trying to kill it... just to torture it! I never thought I would see the day when Sora would go evil... but I guess under those circumstances, anything can happen. Freaky!
Okay, although I hate to admit it, especially after all the evil things it did; I was beginning to feel compassion and sorrow for the demon. In the first chapter of this story, you made the demon seem like a cruel, heartless monster... what wasn't their to hate? But by this part I'd realized that the demon has feelings, feelings of love for that matter, and even after all of its terrible deeds, I couldn't help but feel sorry for it. We all know that Tai and Sora are meant to be together (except for you Sorato, Michi, Taito and other annoying people! Grrrrr!), but I still couldn't help understanding how the demon feels... and how hard it was for him. So when Sora forgave him right before he died, I felt almost as happy as when Tai and her got back together. Strange how that works...
Finally, the ending and the epilogue. That was a great finish! It tied all the things we needed to hear at the end into one, and still managed to pull of a great ending. Although it was more or less a happy ending, the whole Demon thing gave it a touch, just a touch, of sadness; which, if you ask me, was perfect. A great ending.
Sappy, isn't it? ^^