Well, I said I'd get this up before the end of May, and here it is! I will be posting at two-week intervals instead of one, simply to give myself time to finish Part III, which is still under revision, and Part IV, which is still in the early drafting stages. Once Part IV is up, I will be back on track with my official posting schedule - which I have been lagging on because of the random, smaller fics that've been popping into my head and distracting me. So I will be putting Knightverse and the others on hold to finish all this. Part V will be inserted somewhere on the established list, possibly between 'Elsie' (Twilight) and 'Chichi no Tsumi', but that depends on how quickly I can finish everything.
So, possible posting dates:
Part III: July 12, 2014
Part IV: Sept 6, 2014
Avatar Niella 5: The Pursuit of Peace: Nov 1, 2014
Keep in mind that school and work will take priority; these dates only apply under the assumption that I can get these written during the summer.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.
WORD COUNT: 2115
Sunday, April 8th, 2007
"Going out already?" Uncle Toby looked up from his newspaper as Lexi left her room, slipping her purse strap over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I've been letting this wait for too long. I've already done my homework for the weekend, don't worry. I'm just going to check these next places, see if Londyn's ever played there. I'll be back before supper, promise."
"Okay, good luck."
Lexi made her way out of the apartment, trying to focus on the details of her mission, but constantly going back to what had happened the previous day.
Yesterday afternoon, she'd received a mysterious text message on her cell phone. It'd instructed her to take a train from Shibuya Station, the local train terminal. There'd only been nine other teens on board. Six of them – Takuya, Tomoki, Izumi, Junpei, and the twins Kōji and Kōichi – all told some crazy tale about monsters and another dimension they'd travelled to, supposedly. Lexi hadn't believed a word of this, until they'd arrived at their destination: the Digital World, the very same alternate dimension from the story. To make things even weirder, they'd encountered a bunch of strange creatures called Digimon that'd insisted she had to help save the universe or something. Oh, and the train could talk, too. Even after she saw Takuya, Kōji, and one of the other kids, Kyōsuke, being transformed into magical warriors, she still didn't want any part of it. It wasn't that she didn't think it was a worthy cause. But she had her own mission to worry about, and little time left.
"It seems that Mantimon was not strong enough to handle the Legendary Warriors. Go, my servant, hunt them down, and bring me their Spirits."
A large, monstrous Digimon hissed and slipped into the water, anxious to complete her task.
"But when you have them, bring them to me alive. Then you may do what you wish."
Lexi sighed as she exited the coffee shop. Another dead end. This was starting to become a pattern. Her list of available options was shortening. They hadn't been by there in over a year, and only one waitress could even remember them. She was no closer to finding Londyn than she had been last month. The Sunday afternoon crowd had made it difficult to sit down and talk to any of the staff or regulars.
Her aunt and uncle had been helping her with the bars on her list, but had also come up with nothing. As the Canadian girl huffed in frustration and checked her phone for directions to the next restaurant, she heard someone calling her name.
"Let me guess, you're a friend of Izumi's?" Orimoto Komaki asked the sixth teen who'd come to the apartment door. This one was a tall boy with sandy brown hair and eyes. At his surprised nod, she opened the door all the way. "Come on in, they're all down the hall. Just follow the voices." The boy nodded and smiled politely, then places his shoes on the mat with all the others and walked by. Grabbing the plate of apple slices she'd prepared for the ever-growing amount of guests, Komaki followed him. She had to admit, she had an ulterior motive for going in there. She didn't like the idea of her teenaged daughter being left alone with six boys.
When she went in, an odd scene was laid out before her. Four of the boys were sitting in a circle on the floor with a map of an unfamiliar area spread out in the middle. Izumi and the boy from down the street, Miura Kyōsuke, watched from the bed, lying side-by-side on their stomachs with their feet in the air. Four stuffed animals – which Komaki could almost swear had been moving – were propped up around them.
"Apple slices, anyone?" she asked. Everyone stood up, each thanking her and taking a small handful. The new arrival was held back by Kyōsuke and the one who'd arrived with his little brother.
"Oi, Junpei," one of the younger ones complained, "save some for the others."
"They'll survive, Tomoki," Junpei said, shrugging and popping the fruit into his mouth one piece at a time.
"Oh, there are more people coming?" Komaki asked, hoping they didn't hear the strain in her voice.
"Yeah. Kōji, Kōichi, and Lexi." Great. Two more boys. At least another girl would be joining them. Still, she was going to have a little chat with Izumi when they all went home.
The doorbell rang again, and Komaki hurried to answer it. It had to be Kōji and Kōichi, because two more teenaged guys – identical twins, by the looks of it – were waiting on the front step. She forced a smile as she pointed them down the hall. One odd thing she noticed was that as he was going by, one of them, the one with the bandana and the irritated attitude, made a sudden grabbing motion, as if he was wrestling with his backpack. His brother chuckled nervously and carefully pushed him onward. What were they hiding?
Earlier…
"You sure this is the right way, Kōichi?"
"For the hundredth time, yes!" Kōichi glanced again at the directions in his hand. He really had no idea where he was going at all. But he wasn't going to let Kōji know that. His twin was already irritated enough. He hadn't slept well (hell, he didn't get any sleep at all), and they were lost – not to mention ten minutes late.
Neemon wasn't helping one bit. He was hidden in Kōji's backpack, and kept asking them "Are we there yet?" Which would've been tolerable, if he hadn't been asking them every… single… minute. And while Kōichi was holding his temper, effectively zoning the Digimon out by focusing on where they were going, he knew Kōji was about this close to losing it. "Are we there yet?"
And… boom.
"No, we aren't! Just stop asking! We'll get there when we get there, got it?!" Yep, just like Kōichi had predicted. Luckily Neemon was used to this sort of reaction from Bokomon, so he merely cocked his head curiously. A couple people walking nearby turned and looked at them funny, but kept walking. Kōji huffed and crossed his arms. "Nii-san, please tell me you've figured out which way we're supposed to be going."
"Um…" Kōichi mumbled, "I don't really know." He braced himself for a second explosion, but Kōji just groaned in frustration. "I told you we made a wrong turn back there."
A familiar figure caught Kōichi's eye. "Hey, isn't that Lexi?" The redhead was coming out of a nearby store. "Hey! Lexi!" He waved her over.
"K-Kōichi?" she stammered, "Kōji? What are you guys doing here?"
"Trying to find Izumi's place. Did you get lost, too?"
Lexi bit her lip, then took a deep breath. "Look, I'm going to be very clear on this: I don't want anything to do with the stuff that happened Saturday, got it? I'm not coming to your little meeting, and nothing you two say will change my mind."
"What?" Kōichi cried. Kōji stared at her. "But you're one of us! This is your destiny!"
"Says who? Who even says it has to be me? I'm not some superhero, and it's not like I can just drop everything and save the world! I have other important things to do, and not much time to do it! I'm sorry, and I hope you guys win! But I can't be part of it!" And with that, she crossed her arms and marched away.
Kōichi couldn't believe it. After what'd happened the day before, how could she not accept her destiny?
"Hey!" Kōji called after her, "Do you at least know the way? Nii-san here got us lost!"
"Oh, so we're blaming it all on me now, are we?" Kōichi commented. Kōji gave him a look that plainly said: 'Duh!' Lexi pointed in one direction over her shoulder before going inside. It was the direction the boys had just come from. Kōichi turned around and took a look at the sign of a shop on the next corner, then checked the paper in his hand again. "Oh, that's the shop she meant!"
Kōji felt a bit relieved when they'd finally found Izumi's building. However, he was still pretty agitated, from Neemon's whining and Nii-san getting them lost, but it was mostly Lexi that bugged him. Did she really think she could just walk away from all this? That her personal problems were more important than the fate of an entire world?
Izumi's mother answered the door politely and pointed the twins up to Izumi's room. She nearly spotted Neemon sticking his head out of Kōji's backpack – to say hello, unbelievably – but Kōji shoved him back in quickly enough. "We are never babysitting Neemon again," he announced as he entered Izumi's room. Everyone looked up in mild surprise.
"Jeez, Kōji," Takuya commented, "Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
"Actually, that's not true. I didn't even go to bed last night. Neemon kept us up all night, saying he was hungry. He even tried to sneak downstairs a couple times!" Kōichi nodded, having only gotten three hours of sleep himself. "It was insanity yesterday trying to hide him from Dad and Satomi. Then on the way here, he kept asking if we were there yet. He started before we even left the house!" Kōji sat down between Tomoki and Juan, who wisely scooted away. "And to top it all off, we got lost, and then we ran into Lexi, who said she's not even coming!" He took a deep breath, having finished his tirade.
"So…" Izumi began carefully, "Did Lexi say why she isn't coming?"
"She says she doesn't want any part in this whole thing," Kōichi explained, "Apparently, she has better things to do."
"Is she serious?" Takuya asked, "Or is she just crazy? She can't just run away from all this!"
"We can talk about that later," Bokomon interrupted, "Right now, we have to discuss our plans for the future."
"Right," Shin'ya agreed, "We don't need her, anyway."
"I wouldn't take it that far, boy." He sighed. "You remind me of your brother when this began. Trust me, he and Kōji couldn't even speak to each other civilly."
"You got that right," Kōji added, remembering all their countless arguments.
Izumi got up off the bed and walked over to her desk, doing her best not to step on anyone. She fished around in one of the drawers until producing a sheet of stickers. "Now, I know these are a bit kiddie," she apologised, "but they'll have to do." She sat down by Bokomon's map of the Digital World. "Okay, now which one's Flame Terminal?" When Bokomon pointed it out, she stuck three happy-face stickers around the spot, red, white, and brown. "These represent the Human Spirits of Flame, Light, and Earth."
"And we found the Human Spirit of Ice in the Candlemon Gorge," Tomoki added, prodding a nearby area. Izumi placed a green smiley-face there. "The Wind Spirit was at Breezy Village, and the Thunder Spirit was at the Wind Factory." A pink sticker and a yellow one were stuck on their respective points.
"Where's the Forest Terminal, again?" Kōji asked, "I remember there were three Best Spirits around the nearby cove."
"But it's so big," Junpei complained, "We don't have time to search the entire cove."
"Maybe we should just get the ones we already know about?" Juan shyly suggested, "And worry about the other Spirits later? Besides, Kyōsuke found his Spirit own his own, so maybe we'll get that lucky again."
"Good idea," Takuya announced, "We'll go for the closest ones to Flame Terminal first, since for all we know, that spot may be the only passage between our world and the Digital World. Now all we need to do is work out a time."
"How about now?" Junpei suggested, "I've got nothing better to do today." A chorus of agreements came up from the others.
"Then it's settled. We're going back to the Digital World!"
So this fic diverges a bit from the original, and Part III will do so even more. This is because III is supposed to be Juan-focused, and I let Lexi's character development spill over. So I've moved what I can to this part to keep things balanced. But Kyōsuke's extra development with be sprinkled throughout Parts II-IV to make up for the lack in Part I. I want to get more on his family and his personality.