A/N: for the new readers: this is a re-written version of a very old fan-fic of mine. If you like how this chapter looks and decide to keep reading, don't be alarmed if the writing suddenly goes a few levels down after some chapter or other: it means I just haven't gotten around to re-writing it yet. The full explanation for my actions is filed under chapter 26. Thank you~
01. A New Beginning,
A New Mission
"What are you waiting for, beat it, beat it!"
Takuya's little brother laughed, eyes focused firmly on the screen. Their mother popped out of the kitchen.
"Takuya, how nice of you to let your brother play on your computer, after you used to argue so much!"
"Well, Mom, I—"
The soft ring of a new text message cut him off and Takuya fished out his ex-D-Tector - now a cellphone again – out of his pocket. He pressed 'read now'.
The message was short and clear:
'It is Ophanimon. We need your aid in the Digital World once again. Do you wish to help?'
Takuya grinned broadly and pressed, 'yes'.
'Yes, you bet!'
A voice in his head said,'I have already contacted the other five Digidestined! Go to Shibuya station and get on the train from five oclock. You have a half an hour'
"Little buddy, beat the game; I have to run out for a bit." Takuya pat his brother's shoulder while grabbing his coat. As he ran out of the house, he yelled, "I'll be back real soon!"
At that same time, Zoe, J.P., Tommy, Kouji and Kouichi were opening and reading the exact same message.
"Lther five kids?" Asked Kouichi, as he and his twin-brother were running towards the station (the two of them only had around ten minutes left…) "But, we're not six! We're seven!"
"How... come?" asked Kouji, trying to keep up his breath.
"Well, with... with Yoma we're seven!"
"She wasn't with us when she was there, remember? We met her after we came back to the Real World!"
"Ah—yeah, you're right…!"
Although he'd said that, Kouichi wasn't sure. He knew he'd seen her somewhere in the digital world. If he could just remember where...
"Although," he started with some uncertainty as the two of them elbowed their way through the station, "I think she was with me around the time Cherubimon started messing with my head…"
"You think she was another one of his minions?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think so—"
"I doubt Ophanimon will call her if she wasn't with us in the first place. Got it!" Kouji took hold of his brother's wrist and they managed to wobble safely into the elevator.
A redheaded girl was slowly walking along a train. She held a green and brown D-tector in one of her hands and was just climbing into the only train that was currently waiting for passengers.
She thought she could hear voices somewhere far ahead…. reminiscing about the past, she opened the door to the next compartment.
[FLASHBACK]
"Are you alright, KK?"
"Hn?" He looked up to see a girl with medium fire-red hair offering him a hand. Taking it, he stood up.
"Uh… thanks. How... did you call me?" He asked.
"KK. You ARE Kouichi Kimura, right?" She cocked her head to the side in suspicion.
"Er... yeah, but how did you..."
"That doesn't matter," she looked around impatiently. "we have to get you out of here."
"Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. Yoma Gami."
She gave him a sunny smile. Kouichi gave her a weak smile in return, his head spinning a little.
"What are you gaping at?" Yoma asked, noticing that he'd kept his eyes on her face for a while. Just now he had noticed her eyes... they were red. Blood red.
"Ah, eh, n-nothing..." under her questioning gaze, he continued, "it's just that... your eyes... they are..." Kouichi was looking for the right word "...unusual."
"Un... usual?" Yoma raised her eyebrow. The explanation dawned upon her and she laughed. "you mean their color? Yeah, I know. "
"Well, it's not bad! Just surprising."
"Thanks; I like to surprise!"
"So, uh, where are we, anyway?" Kouichi looked around now. Everything was swirls of dark clouds and gray mist. He couldn't even tell if they were standing on something…
"Now, that, my boy, is a more difficult question. How should I put it—" Yoma halted, her eyes scanning the space above rapidly.
Yoma cursed under her breath and then yelled, "Don't mess with the boy's mind, Cherubimon! He's not what you're looking for!"
There was a screeching laugh and a voice echoed, "he is exactly what I'm looking for; stay out of this!"
"What's going on?" asked Kouichi. Yoma ignored him.
"I tell you, he' not—AHH—"
"Yoma!" Kouichi managed to pull her away from the path of a lightning."Are you all right?"
"Been better..." The two dodged another lightning and she hissed, "Listen, whatever happens, you must not listen to anything he tells you!"
"What-?"
"Trust me, don't—"
[END FLASHBACK]
When the brothers arrived at the underground station, they noticed there was only one train waiting to take off this time. Looking around for a sign of the others, they hopped in and-
"Here you are! We were wondering if you were going to make it… Guys, look, its Kouji and Kouichi!"
J.P. ran towards them, smiling broadly, followed by Tommy, Zoe and Takuya.
"So good to see you! We haven't gotten together in so long!"
"Ah, yeah, even though we've been on vacation so far—"
"Oh, buddy, you have no idea how hard homework is kicking my ass," Takuya sighed dramatically. Zoe raised an eyebrow.
"Like you ever really do it!"
At the very bottom of the train, a redheaded girl wearing sport-style clothes, with medium long hair and red eyes, was staring at them didnt seem pleased.
At first she'd been happy when she'd opened the compartment door and finally found them, but…
'I wonder if they forgot about me. … She was right. Don't ever count on anybody!'
She squinted and looked firmly out the window, wondering about what course of action to take next. Standing here and staring at them would certainly do her no good. Maybe if she yelled, they'd-
At that very moment, Kouichi turned around and spotted her. A smile stretching his lips, he called, "hey Yoma!"
The others turned to look and, with similar callings, waved her over.
She jumped, started, and turned to look. They—they had noticed?
'Of course they did, silly girl', she thought, a shiver running down her spine. 'They're your friends!'
Shaking her previous thoughts off, she quickly approached them. And still for some reason, she found it a little difficult to look any of them straight in the eye…
"Hey, guys. What's up?"
"Everything's PERFECT! What could be better that this? We're together, and on our way to the DigitalWorld...!" J.P. threw his fists in the air.
Takuya, Tommy and Zoe laughed, Kouji smiled with a hint of very slight annoyance, but Kouichi was looking at Yoma worriedly.
"Are you ok?" He asked carefully.
"Uh? Yeah, I'm fine!" she snapped out of her thoughts again and grinned.
"You sure?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I don't know... you seem worried about something, that's all."
"I'm fiiiiine!" she waved the question off.
"What are you doing here, though?" asked Takuya curiously, as if he was seeing her for the first time.
"Obviously, I was called here! Like you. What do you think?"
The train underneath their feet felt like it was starting to move – at last!
Then, it happened again: Yoma heard that voice again: 'See? He doesnt really want you here! None of them wants to here!'
Yoma closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Enough already."
She rubbed her nose and, noticing confused looks, said, "I just – feel a bit woozy."
They all sat down around and Zoe said, "maybe feeling strange is maybe a sign we're getting close to the DigitalWorld. Though… I don't feel anything…" she looked around at the others, who all shrugged or shook their heads.
"No, its not that. I... haven't slept in a while. I'm tired. That's all." Yoma wasn't really lying at this point. Dreams hadn't been very pleasant for a while, resulting in a serious lack of sleep.
"Eh? Lack of sleep? Why? You can sleep all you want, it's SUMMER VACATION!" JP started—
"Could you PLEASE—" Yoma cut off, catching herself and realizing the tone she was using.
They gaped at her. She had never been like that before. Sure, she could be rude at times, but this behaviour…
She said, "Sorry. What I meant is... please, don't shout."
JP shrugged, looking a little pouty.
"Sorry, JP," said Yoma quietly.
Before anyone could say anything more, the train slowed and finally halted.
The forest terminal was waiting for them – and the trailmon greeted them with a rumbling voice.
"'Ello!"
"Oh, hello again, Worm! How've you been doin'?" asked Takuya patting the digimon's side.
"Ah, so so. A lot's changed since you left!"
Meanwhile, JP pulled out a piece of chocolate and threw it in Worm's mouth. "that's for the ride!"
"Mmmm!" Without thanking the boy, Worm belched, "thank you! I will see you arouuuuund!"
"Wait, what did you mean by— oh, man, it's no use…"
"He really hasn't improved his manners, has he?" Zoe frowned.
"Welcome back."
The kids turned around to see an angel-like Digimon radiating light standing behind them. Ophanimon.
"Lady Ophanimon!"
And behind her were standing two other Digimon – Cherubimon, purified, and Seraphimon.
"It's so good to see you guys!" Takuya grinned.
"Cherubimon." Yoma gave him a small, private bow and received a nod as a response.
"I'm glad to see you all came. And how are you, Kouichi?" Ophanimon asked him with a smile.
"Erm... I'm... I'm fine—thanks," he answered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.
"We're all perfect!" Tommy called, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"Why are we here?" it was Yoma who asked that, while at the same time trying not to sound too pushy.
"Oy, get a hang of yourself," whispered Kouji from the corner of his mouth.
Yoma ignored him.
"I didn't call her, did you?" Asked Seraphimon quietly. Charubimon shook his head.
"Lady Ophanimon?"
The woman didn't answer him. After a pause, she said:
"We have summoned you here because of a dark force that's been slaving digimon all over the digital world."
"Slaving?" asked Tommy.
"Controlling their minds, making them do things against their will,"explained Seraphimon.
"How horrible…" Zoe covered her mouth.
Takuya hurried to ask, "Do you know what's causing this?"
"It's not a what. It's a who. A Digimon."
"Naturally," snorted Yoma quietly. No one seemed to hear her besides Kouji, who suppressed the urge to reply. This wasn't the time for it.
JP and Kouichi exchanged looks as the older boy said, "Well, there are digimon who can control, no?..."
"But only a few minds at a time. But you see, the digimon that are being controlled are all over the Digital world, which means we can't even begin to guess the location or source of this… digimon."
"With all due respect, but aren't you here to take care of that kind of thing?" Yoma looked straight into Ophanimon's eyes.
"Eh, you'll have to excuse her, she's a bit rude sometimes..." added Takuya awkwardly.
"Yes, I know." Still under Yoma's hard gaze, Ophanimon said, "your friend is right. That's what we're here for. We've fought this force before, but our attacks were turned against us, and we had no choice but to move out. We never got to see who's behind this."
"You mean that whoever it was, it was fighting from a distance?" asked Kouichi with amazement.
"It can create illusions, so we never saw its real appearence."
"Is there a digimon that powerful?" asked Zoe.
"Only a few. We have a suspicion that it is Elfmon."
Yoma gasped and took a step back.
"What?" asked JP.
"I... I haven't heard anything good—about her—"
"O-kaay..." Takuya turned back to Ophanimon "so… you think it's her doing all this?"
"We're not sure, but yes, that's a possibility. She fits the… criteria," Seraphimon said.
"And that is why we need you. You're our last hope, children. The power of your spirits and D-tectors…" Ophanimon raised her hand and, once again, the kids' mobile phones turned into the D-tectors they all knew so well (all besides Yoma's; no one really seemed to notice that, however). The objects slowly descended back into their owner's open palms.
Takuya looked up at the three Celestial Digimon.
"Count on us!"
TO BE CONTINUED...