A/N: As a sort of change from the norm, I decided that it would be easier to go all English with everything in this story. English translations of the names, English names for any new attacks/abilities, etc.
Many elements from different media will be used, so don't be surprised when you see it.
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Chapter 1: A World Gone Digital
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For one Kari Kamiya, this was truly a worse case scenario.
First, her squad had been defeated at the top of Vesplume Tower, failing to cut the Crimson Spire, then they had to separate in order to throw off suspicion, apparently her brother had been captured in a raid, and now she had just accidentally touched a cockroach while crawling through a filthy ventilation shaft in order to save him!
'Tai owes me about three weeks of chores for this one' thought the Child of Light as she continued through the shaft until she reached an opening.
Placing her ear over the cover to check for sounds, as she had been wrong about where her brother was being held about three or four times already, she heard the guards, two mere Goblimon, arguing with each other over something mundane.
"Do you think this guy is the real thing? I mean...I never seen no aristo before but...the stories I heard before don't look nothing like this guy," said the first one to the other.
His buddy responded, "Of course 'dis is the real Taichi Kamiya! Was only a matter o' time before we caught 'em."
Kari smirked as she had found her target, she held out her left hand which began to glow with the symbol of the Crest of Light surrounded by stylized lines forming a square, and a blast of light blew open the hatch and sent the two Goblimon flying.
Kari jumped down, grabbed the keys for the cell on the table, and quickly began to unlock the cell door while saying, "Thank goodness I found you Tai! Everyone's been worried about you since we heard about your capture..."
She was cut off mid sentence when a voice much younger than she was expecting replied, "You know Kari, I appreciate the help and all, but I'm not sure I'm who you're looking for."
Kari looked up from her current task of unlocking the door, unknowingly completing it as she did so, to see what seemed to be a younger version of her brother, down to the goggles. However, slight differences in the goggles' model and the pattern of voice alerted her that it was one of her classmates, Davis Motomiya.
Going over multiple reasons of how and why he could be there, Kari's eyes peered over to something that was next to the keys on the table. A blue and white Digivice in the model of the Digimon Emperor, was lying inactive.
'Wait a minute…could that be...no way...' thought Kari as she quickly unlocked Davis's cell and motioned for him to leave with her. 'Yep, that's Davis alright. But how did he get here? Could it have been during the battle at Vesplume Tower?'
"Davis, how in the world did you..."
"Listen, it's like I told those weird goblin looking things over there, I don't know! I mean, one minute Yolie's helping me with math homework in the computer lab, then this other kid named Cody walks in, and then one of the computers lit up...and then I ended up here somehow," said Davis, confusion and hits of fear marring his features.
As Kari got a better look at her classmate, she noted that he had a bruise on his left cheek, and it looked like he was limping a tad. 'So, he resisted his capture. No wonder they thought he was Tai, same reckless and stupid behavior...'
"Davis, do you have any idea where Cody and Yolie are? They could be in grave.."
"Kari! Look out!" exclaimed Davis, cutting off his crush's sentence as he noticed one of the Goblimon appoaching.
Kari's danger sense kicked in, and jump flipped backwards to avoid both the attack from the club and the Goblin Strike from his partner. In her haste, however, she didn't take Davis into account, and the two rookie level Digimon quickly closed in on the defenseless boy. Kari reached for her dual daggers, and nearly cursed as she realized she left it in the ventilation shaft because she was sure she wouldn't need it for just releasing her brother. And with Gatomon currently distracting the lone Ogremon outside, she was also without her Digimon partner.
'I don't have enough Digisoul for a spell, I shouldn't have wasted it on that dodge maneuver, what can I do?' thought Kari as the two Goblimon prepared to strike the gogglehead down.
But, before the clubs could strike, a bright light shone from Davis's right shoulder, and both Goblimon's clubs broke upon contact. The light died down, but kept shining in the shape of what looked to be half of the Crest of Courage and the Crest of Friendship on his shoulder. The boy grabbed the first Goblimon in the face, slamming him into the floor with the strength of nearly ten men. He turned his attention to the second Goblimon, blocking his initial move and sloppily grappling him, tossing the goblin digimon into the wall with enough force to put a crater into the wall.
"Davis...what did you just..."
"I don't know...I just...I wanted to help somehow. I just wished I had the strength to help, and it sorta appeared," responded the goggle wearing boy in earnest.
'That should be impossible...without going through a rite he shouldn't have any sort of abilities...but I could see the DigiGlyph on his shoulder...how did he get one?' thought Kari as she ran scenario after scenario in her head. 'Well, no time for that, we have to get Gatomon and….'
Her thoughts were interrupted by an explosion followed by a small cat-like creature with green gloves on its paws entered the room.
"Kari! Did you find Tai? We have to get out of here soon, I'm starting to think Ogremon isn't a cat person," said Gatomon in a hushed tone.
The Child of Light walked over to the small wooden table, grabbing both the digivice and an iron shortsword that happened to be lying there. She handed both to her new comrade, much to his surprise.
"What? I don't know what to do with either of these, Kari! I can barely swing a baseball bat correctly!" said the brunette boy in protest.
"You don't exactly need to know how to use it, just swing it at any Digimon that gets close. We aren't fighting, we're running," responded the pink and white clad girl.
Kari took out a small glass flask filled with blue liquid and downed it with one gulp. She held up her right hand, index and middle fingers extended and a pink light engulfed her.
"Windflower!" exclaimed Kari as her body was propelled by a gust of wind to break the portion of the ceiling adjacent to the ventilation shaft opening, two dagger falling down among the various debris.
Kari secured her weapons to her hips, grabbed Davis by his collar and held out her arm for Gatomon to gracefully move her way onto her partner's shoulder.
"Kari, where are we going?" asked Davis apprehensively.
"I can use a technique to get us to the front door of the prison, but we'll have to run from there. Think you can keep up, Davis?" she responded with a smirk.
Davis's mumblings went unseen as Kari narrowed her eyes, the color shifting from brown to a bright pink, and she vanished with a single move, taking her two compatriots with her….
(Digimon)
A distinct feeling of nausea greeted Davis as he saw himself in front of a giant wooden door, with a green ogre holding a spiked bone and many smaller creatures that looked like kendo students chasing after him and his compatriots.
Or rather, just him because he was the only one that hadn't took off running after the pseudo-teleportation.
"Hey! Wait for me!" he exclaimed as he took after Kari and Gatomon, not noticing in his haste his body was much faster than he was used to, catching up to his crush in but a few seconds.
The duo, trio if you count Gatomon, escaped into the forest, zigzagging through the foliage to try and heighten their chances at escape. Well, until they reached a clearing and Kari suddenly fell to the floor with a gasp.
"Kari! Oh no, you still have that injury from Vesplume, don't you?" asked Gatomon, trying to comfort her partner who was on her side clutching the opposite side.
"I'm…ugghh...I'm fine. I can...keep going," said the Chosen Child as she attempted to stand, only to fail miserably at her goal.
Davis looked down at the young girl, noticing things he now knew he should have seen before. Kari's skin was much paler than it should have been, and her left hip had a pale violet glow to it that didn't seem healthy. Overlooked memories of just how much she had been struggling to breathe and the strain on her face as they moved filled his brain, hammering the point home.
Gatomon surveyed the area, anxiety running high as she said, "We have to get moving. They can't be too far away."
"But what about Kari?"
"If we slow down a few steps, she may be able to keep up, I'm not entirely sure…" responded Gatomon as she continued to scan and try to think. 'C'mon, Kari. I know it'll be a little hard to do but I need you to stand UP!'
Davis motioned for Gatomon to move, and picked up Kari bridal style without missing a beat. He turned to the cat and said, "Somehow, I've got like super-strength or something here, so I can carry her. Just tell me where we're going."
Gatomon nodded and moved to lead the boy out of the forest, only to stop in her tracks almost instantly, to Davis's confusion.
"Why did you stop? Don't tell me it's already time for your cat nap."
"No, you dolt, we're surrounded. Looks like they found us," replied Gatomon with a fair amount of snark. She would never let him have the pleasure of knowing that she was, in fact, overdue for a cat nap as it was.
Ogremon emerged from the forest, along with a horde of Kotemon and a couple Gazimon with Dark Rings as leashes. Dark Rings could be seen on the Kotemon as well, placed on their right arms, but curiously missing from the Ogremon standing over them.
"Taichi Kamiya and Kari Kamiya…..how does it feel to be trapped with no way out?" asked the Ogremon arrogantly.
"I don't know, you tell me."
Kari's eyes shot open instantly at the new voice, recognizing it belonging to her beloved older brother. Lo and behold, on a nearby hill was standing the elder Kamiya boy, who looked mildly irritated at the current state of events.
"Tai! You're here! How did you find us?"
"You can say a little birdie told me," said Tai with a finger pointed to the sky, alerting them all to the presence of Birdramon, her Digidestined partner perched on her back with a bow notched with an arrow at the ready.
"We've been searching for you for hours, Kari. You're the only one that hasn't checked in from Alpha Team since Vesplume. You don't know how worried we were," said Sora in a concerned, yet stern tone.
Kari merely sighed, mumbling something about overprotective brothers and how ungrateful they were. Gatomon nodded in agreement with her partner, while also silently thanking the heavens that those two arrived at the time.
Davis, on the other hand, was mystified at his idol's appearance. Instead of his school uniform, Tai was wearing a long blue robe with yellow linings, a yellow tunic beneath what looked to be a flat metal chestplate, the Crest of Courage engraved on the front of it. Long blue pants with yellow pockets and yellow boots completed his attire. The most striking feature, however, was a gold horseshoe shaped halo that floated over his upper back.
Ogremon, much less impressed with the Digidestined leader, said, "So you think just the two of you and only one Digimon capable of fighting can defeat all of us? All of that tiny amount of power has gone to your head. Gazimon! Attack!"
Sora and Birdramon quickly cut off the two beast Digimon, the Child of Love hopping off her Digimon's back with an acrobatic flip. A bright red light illuminated the arrowhead, and when it reached it's zenith Sora let it fly.
"Phoenix Feather!" screamed Sora as the arrow split into two very small, yet fiery missiles that destroyed the Dark Ring collars on the Gazimon.
As his two bloodhounds fell to the ground, Ogremon quickly motioned for his Kotemon army to attack, but half of them were hit by a Meteor Wing from Birdramon before they could move. As the others tried to scramble into a formation of sorts, Tai raised his right hand, causing a glowing circle to appear underneath him, poised to strike.
"Pyrdance," said the Child of Courage a bit emotionlessly as a ball of fire appeared over his head, splintering into four streaks of fire, much bigger than Sora's attack, struck many of the remaining kendo wielding soldiers, leaving them unconscious. "As much as I like moonlit walks in the park, I think you should retreat now, Ogremon. You're outclassed."
Narrowing his eyes in disgust, Ogremon turned tail and ran back to the prison, swearing something about revenge. The Digimon still retaining Dark Rings ran with him, leaving only the Digidestined behind.
(Digimon)
"...and then I woke up near a river, next to Yolie and Cody. When those guys….the Goblimon came after us, I distracted them while those two ran away. They only called off the dogs because they thought I was Tai," said Davis to Sora, finishing the tale of how he arrived.
They had remained in the clearing, now joined by two others. One brown-haired guy who looked uncannily similar to that new kid in his class that was too close to Kari for his liking, and a blue haired guy with glasses who was currently attempting to heal Kari with some sort of magic. Next to them were a reptile-like Digimon with white fur pelt with blue stripes, and a smaller seal-like digimon with a white body and orange hair on the top of it's head.
After a minute or so of shining green lights coming from the blue haired boy's hand, he eventually gave up and adjusted his glasses in defeat.
"No good, Tai. DigiGlyph-based healing won't work. I even tried boosting Kari's natural healing factor, but none of it will work. I can't think of any other ideas," said the blue haired guy, dejectedly.
"Actually, I have one. Izzi managed to get a message through right after our last battle, amazingly. He said that there was one way to counteract the Dark Spore was to use an amalista stone to cancel it out,'' responded the googlehead.
"An amalista? We can't afford the effort to find one of those! We still have to destroy the Azure Spire!" exclaimed Sora in protest.
"Are you saying that we just leave Kari like this until then? Even if she's the Child of Light, there's no way she can survive that wound much longer!" replied Joe.
Tai held up his hand, causing both sides to ease themselves a bit, and then said in a neutral tone, "No need for that. If memory serves, Azulongmon happens to have one over in his shrine in Nolaan. I'm sure he'll give it to us."
"Tai, there's no way any of us can be off the front lines that long. Especially since the Digimon Emperor created those prototype Dark Spirals. Even if he can't control them for longer than a few seconds, our forces don't stand a chance without us there," said the brown haired young man.
"I know, that's why I'm sending Davis to do it."
A collective gasp was elicited from the Digidestined, including Davis himself.
"M-me?"
"No offense to the kid but he won't survive three minutes out there with that master Control Spire still in business," said Joe.
"Actually," said Tai as he raised his left hand, causing a large dinosaur with a brown skull-like helmet to emerge from the forest, "Greymon's going with him. He'll need the protection."
"So, you want him to go there with just Greymon?" said the brunette boy incredulously.
"Well, Matt, if you'd let me finish, you'd know that he'll be fine. The reason we knew where to search for Kari, and Davis for that matter, was that TK sent a messenger bird out a little while ago saying that he found two young children with no knowledge of the Digital World in possession of Digivices similar to the Digimon Emperor's," said the esteemed leader of the Digidestined.
"Huh, so TK's babysitting. Seems like just yesterday we were changing his proverbial diapers," replied Matt with a smug smile.
'Same old Matt…' "So, Tai, even if these kids are Digidestined, possibly even with Glyphs of their own, where are their Digimon? I mean, everyone we've met so far has had one other than them," the Child of Love inquired.
"I have my own theory about that one. Davis, can you hold this for me?"
Tai pulled out a small oval object, decorated in red with orange designs, complete with the Crest of Courage and a metal spike coming out the top. Davis marvelled at it for a moment before touching it, causing a bright orange light to shine from it, causing a blue column of light to appear in the middle of a field. From the column, a blue skinned reptile-like Digimon appeared and instantly attached itself to Davis.
"I'm FREE! Finally! I thought I'd never get outta there! And here I was thinking you'd never find me, Davis!" said the excited Rookie-level Digimon.
"That's great and all, but who are you and how do you know my name?"
"Don't be silly, Davis! I've always known who you are, I'm your partner, Veemon!" replied the blue reptile.
"Veemon?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out!"
A chorus of laughter erupted from the small Digimon's childlike antics, easing the tension in the clearing. After about a minute or so, Tai cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Greymon, take Davis, Veemon, and Kari to Nolaan immediately. Rendezvous with TK and inform him that we're attacking Castle Prevant at the end of the week. Everybody else, we'll regroup and plan a course of action. We'll leave tomorrow morning," commanded the elder Kamiya boy.
All of the older Digidestined nodded and went on their way, while Davis found himself in the hands of a giant dinosaur, Veemon still attached to his jacket.
"Man, today has just gone from normal, to crazy, to…."
"Digital?" said Veemon, interrupting his partner.
Davis chuckled before saying, "Yeah, something like that."
A/N: A few stylistic edits. Just things I didn't like about how it looked.
