Joe woke up under a thick and warm blanket with a vaguely familiar woman standing over him. His head hurt and he blinked, searching for his last memory. He had been in Odaiba, Myotismon's digimon were causing havoc everywhere, attacking everything, and then… nothing.
"Oh good, you're awake." The lady smiled down at him. "You looked like you took quite a slip in the snow out there."
Snow? It was the middle of summer, blazing heat everyday that Joe had been home. Maybe one of the digimon had done something… Joe reached up and sure enough there was a bandage around his head. At least it explained why his head hurt.
"Uh, excuse me, miss, but did I have a white stuffed animal with me?" Her brow furrowed and she shook her head.
"No, but you did have the emergency bag with you." She reached down and lifted up a very familiar tan bag with a red cross in the center. "The chart says it's Mimi's turn to carry it though."
"What?!" Joe janked the bag out of her hands, looking through it. Everything they had started their journey with was still in there; the food, the matches, the emergency blanket. "What day is it?"
"August first. Did Mimi try and convince you that it was yesterday so she wouldn't have to carry it?" The woman - camp counselor, now Joe remembered where he's seen her - gave him a pitying look.
"Uh, y-ye, n… no. I must've just forgotten." Joe let the lie fall from his lips and prayed that the counselor didn't notice how much his voice was shaking. Joe rubbed his head, gently where the most pain was, and looked around the room he was in. He recognized the cabin that the camp counselors stayed in and that was now swarming with the other campers. Near the door, Joe could see Izzy frowning at his laptop, but the other five digidestines - could he call them that if he wasn't sure it was true? - were nowhere to be seen.
With the bag in his arms still, Joe got off the bed.
"Maybe you should rest a bit more." The camp counsellor advised. Joe didn't respond right away, deep in thought.
It was all so insane, thinking back on it, on the impossible dreams or memories or whatever that were at the forefront of his mind. Digimon and crests, a digital world and a big destiny and another half in the form of a weird and small sealion monster. But if it was all a dream… why was there still snow in the middle of summer?
"... do you think we should put more supplies in the emergency bag? What with all the snow?" Joe asked.
"That's, actually a great idea Joe. Let's see what we have…" Joe followed the woman around the small cabin as she picked out another emergency blanket, a bit more food, and some extra matches. The bag hadn't been too heavy to begin with, and luckily the extra items didn't weigh it down too much. If it was all a dream, that was okay (no it wasn't), but if it was like some kind of weird prophecy he had witnessed, he didn't want to start taking any chances.
He watched as Izzy got up and went out into the snow.
"I'm going to give this to Mimi now." He told the woman and didn't wait for an answer, following the kid genius out the door.
Mimi was indeed out there, as were the rest of the kids he so clearly knew, though they barely gave him a glance. He didn't take offense from that though, seeing as they were all looking at the Aurora Borealis shining like ribbons in afternoon sky. He knew what was coming next, some nights in the Digital World he'd dream of this moment over and that maybe he missed his and was left behind, or he got to the Digital World and ended up far away from the others, already on Server Island, and died alone.
The digivices fell, hitting the ground at each other their feet, and Joe squeezed his eyes shut against their bright light. They floated up, out of the snow and into the hands of their respective Chosen Child. Joe caught his, unsure what to think. Was this another dream? But the cold snow slowly melting into his shoes seemed too real, the odd warmth of the digivice warming his chilled hands.
And then The Wave.
It surged up, above the tree line, seemingly manifesting out of thin air, and Joe only had enough time to catch a deep breath before it washed him and the other six before retreating like the tide and pulling them with it to the Digital World. Joe tried to stay awake, but like the first time - like his dream - darkness overtook him.
The first time he had woken up that day, it was somewhat gradual. This time, he popped right up. Legs scrambling to get under him as an initial reaction. Joe's struggling stopped when he realized he knew where he was.
Of course.
The next part.
Being in the Digital World.
Joe stood up, brushing dirt off of his legs and arms. He didn't really think this was a dream, one doesn't usually fall asleep and wake up within one. Was he really in the past? Why?
Despite knowing so much more than the Joe who has gone through this before, he felt more confused than before.
"You're here."
The voice, despite how familiar it was, made Joe jump as he spun to look at the tree behind him. The brown digimon rubbed his eyes and then continued to stare at Joe.
"Uh-"
Was all Joe could manage to say. He hadn't even started to think about this part. Bukamon. His partner, his best friend. Except it wasn't his Bukamon, it was the one who had never evolved past In-Training form, who would be seeing a human for the first time.
"You really did come today." Bukamon hopped down to the forest floor, and when he looked at Joe again his eyes were watering. "H-hey there, I-I'm Buka-... B… I CAN'T DO THIS!"
Bukamon flew across the distance between them and latched onto Joe's leg.
"Bukamon?"
"I CAN'T DO THIS AGAIN JOE I JUST CAN'T I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ALONE AND WITH NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERING AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO!" Bukamon cried, and Joe slowly knelt down, feeling tears prick in his own eyes. He hadn't realized just exactly how afraid he was to be alone until this very moment.
"Bukamon, I'm here." Joe wrapped his arms around the small sea-horse like digimon
"JOE!" Bukamon cuddled in closer. "Joe, what's going on?"
"I don't know, Bukamon," Joe sighed, looking past Bukamon's orange plume and out into the digital forest, "But first, we need to find the others."
