Chapter 1
Tai paced back and forth, making Matt more nervous by the second. "Okay… we had similar dreams, right?"
Tai nodded. "Well, duh. That's the no brainer. The brainer is how do we get there now?"
Matt shrugged. "Last time we just fell into it."
"This isn't last time!"
Matt bit his lower lip to keep his mouth shut. He understood Tai's anger, he was frustrated too. He also knew that this wasn't the time for one of their trademark fights. "What about Gennai?"
"You know as well as me that the old coot isn't all there!"
Matt stood, feeling his temper pushing its limits. "Tai, listen to me. Don't get pissed at me. I haven't done a fucking thing. I'm making suggestions, and I'm every bit as concerned as you. So instead of shooting down every damn word I say make your own fucking suggestions and help. Anger isn't getting anything done!"
Tai backed down from this fight. "You're right… of course you're right… but what can we do? I don't know how to contact Gennai and I haven't been able to reach any of the other Digimon… not since…"
Matt nodded. It was something that wasn't often talked about, but no one ever forgot it either. The image of her cold, dead, body sometimes still crept into Matt's mind and made him feel ill. "I know." He resumed his seat in the oversized chair that sat beside the bookcase.
Tai began to pace again. He placed his hand on his hip, pushing his shirt up just high enough for Matt to make out a small bulge. "That's it." Matt pulled his own Digivice from his waistband. He studies its screen and buttons. "It has to be it."
"What?" Tai asks, pulling his Digivice out to look at it.
"I don't know, but these are like our… powers. There has to be away to use these to get back into the Digiworld. Has to be."
"Agreed. Any bright idea how?"
"I'm working on it. I'm not the digital whiz kid. Give me a minute." Matt pushed buttons on the device, but all he managed to do was change the time back. He groaned, knowing it would take him at least two days for him to reset his Digivice to the correct time. He stared at the device, and noticed, for the first time, the small hole in it. "Tai, give me a GameBoy link up cord."
"What?"
"I know you have one. The cord that you stick into a GameBoy and get different stuff from people or play together or, whatever it does."
"Oh… yeah…" Tai turned and went to his room. He looked around. The room wasn't very big but it was very messy. Not much had changed since he was younger, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't be seeing this place for awhile. Out of the corner of his eye he saw it. A long, skinny cord with two plugs. He grabs it and rushes back to his living room.
Matt still sat in the same seat as before, and now he held his cell phone in one hand. "I have an idea." He grinned. "Got the cord?"
"Yeah." Tai handed the cord to him.
He looked up to Tai. "I hope this works, man."
"Me too."
Matt plugged one end of the cord into his phone and the other into his Digivice. "Cross your fingers."
Tai sat, his presence radiating over the room, making Matt more nervous then when he was pacing.
Matt put the phone to his ear. "Gennai." He said. "Gennai." A grin broke across Matt's face. "It's ringing." He told Tai. "It's actually ringing."
Tai blinked. "Amazing."
"Hello? Where's Gennai? Ca-… Sto-…. No, calm down. I'm a friend. Where's Gennai?"
Matt listened intently. The voice was female. She was panicked and difficult to understand. "…gone for 3 days. Not even Shūri's here."
"Okay, calm down. Breathe. In with the good… out with the bad." He listened to her breath. She dragged in her breath nearly cried when she let it back out. "Where did he go?"
She was sniveling. "He… he said something about… getting a… a… machine fixed. He-… he said without Shūri he might not be able to-" she let out a loud cry before continuing.
"To what? Not be able to do what?"
"Get it fixed!!"
"What is it?"
"A…" she started crying again. He heard voices in the background. One of the voices came out clearer then the other.
"Oh, give me that. Hello?"
"Hello? Who is this?"
"My name is Samaphynithithanee."
"Okay, Samafayn-"
"Sam. Just stick with Sam."
"Okay, Sam. What's going on?"
She took in a deep breath.
Oh no, he thought, she's going to cry.
"The monsters came back. Gennai said that there was no way we could win against them. He said that the Digitalworld needed the DigiDestined again, but the machine that he had to use to retrieve them was broken. First he went to get Shūri. Shūri can fix anything. He had been out with Andromon reprogramming something or other. When Gennai found Andromon he was told that Shūri had left hours ago on his way back home, but he never made it back. So Gennai, Andromon, myself and my sisters all went searching for him. When we found Shūri he was unconscious… honestly I thought he was dead. My older sister, the one you were talking with, said he wasn't dead, but next to it. He'd been robbed of his soul, which Gennai said was odd since he was the only human to take permanent residence in the Digitalworld. So my oldest sister took him and carried him here… and then Gennai had to find someone else to repair the machine to bring the DigiDestined here. We haven't seen him in 3 days." She swallowed hard, almost like she was bracing herself to deal a match winning blow. "And last night we got news that when Agumon and Gabumon went out to hold off the monsters they…"
"They what?"
"They were taken."
"Taken?!" Matt screamed. "What do you mean taken?!"
"The monsters! They took them! Two terrible creatures. One a vampire, a creature of the night. The other a horrible demonic creature with a wretched red mark across his chest."
"No."
"I'm sorry." The girl said. "I must go. When-"
He heard someone break in. "If."
"When Gennai returns I'll tell him you called, Matt Ishida. Good-bye."
The phone went dead. Matt stared at Tai. "Gennai's trying to get us again… but his machine was broke… and it sounds like the only one that could fix it is in submission."
The girls weren't Digimon, nor were they human. They had came to this world on a search for where they belong. None said that they belonged here, but they were accepted, which was every bit as acceptable in their minds.
When they first arrived they had found an old man strolling along the beach of a lake. He had a kind, accepting smile. He would never know how close he came to being murdered that day. If it hadn't been for the boy that was playing in the water he wouldn't be here now.
They came to know the old man. His name was Gennai. Although they didn't know exactly what he did in this world they knew he held a great power. He was a kind man who you did not want to cross.
The boy they knew as Shūri. He was human in everything but intelligence. He was a mechanical genius. They didn't know too much about him, despite living with him for the past 4 years. They watched him grow and mature. At 12 he was a ball of energy and getting him to sit still for more then a minute was more difficult then fighting an entire evil army. Frankly, they preferred fighting the army. At 16 he could sit for hours working on one of his inventions, or fixing something in this world. He was tall and athletic. Long blond hair fell down his back and his eyes were pools that came from the ocean itself. No one ever spoke of his true name. Gennai once told them that he abandoned his name to forget the trouble that came with it. Apparently it had worked for him because he never spoke of his past and it never seemed to bother him.
Sam sighed as she stared at his pale figure lying motionless on the bed. She hated to think that she'd never see his eyes open again, and unless Gennai returned soon and called the DigiDestined no one would ever see them again. "It's been four days," She moaned.
The eldest woman patted her shoulder. "It's okay, sis. I like him too." Her smile was seductive and oddly sweet. "He'll come back… and if he's not back by tomorrow I'll go hunt him down myself."
"You can't." The words were flat. "Shūri isn't even digital and they took his soul. You are digital. They could destroy you."
"Sam, no one is going to mess with this dragon. We may be digital, but we aren't of this world. We're beyond it." She grabbed Sam and stared into her eyes. "We are warriors. So, don't worry. If he's not back tomorrow I can find him."
Sam smiled. "Okay, Tsumi."
"Now, let's go to bed, okay, Sammi."
She nodded. Tsumi wasn't really her sister. None of them were sisters. It was all part of a game their creators came up with. They were sisters in the fight against evil. They just adopted the word for their own means.
Flame red hair fell across the pillow softly. Her tan skin glowed in the moonlight and her ears pricked up at the low noise of an opening door. She sat up, long hair cascading down past her shoulders to her waist. She saw a short, almost blobby figure. "Gennai?" She whispered.
"Ah! Miss Ro!" He laughed. "I should have known I couldn't sneak past your keen ears. How are we holding up?"
She grinned. "Everyone's fine… except for Shūri, his condition hasn't changed… at least, not for the better. His heart… is getting slower. If we don't get his soul back soon he may actually… die. His soul is the energy source for his body. You see, the body only stores so much soul energy in it and once its all used up…" She shrugs. "Its all gone. No more human being. Luckily I'll never have to deal with that. I'm no more then a tool of entertainment."
"That's not true. You're a wonderful girl."
"Not a girl. I'm a unicorn, meant to heal the warriors."
"But you are a warrior." His smile was contagious. "You may not be human, but you have earned yourself a soul."
"What about the DigiDestined?"
"They will be here bright and early in the morning."
