Happy almost Halloween readers! I was going to wait until Halloween to update this and several of my other fan fictions, but I am going to be working that day, so I'm taking advantage of the few days I have off to post these updates. Sorry that it's taken so long for me to get this next chapter out. :P I hope you enjoy it and leave me a review when you're finished. I would love any and all input you guys can give me on this. :)
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER, SAVERS, OR XROS WARS!
Chapter 2: First Mission
Early the next morning, Tai woke up and got ready for his first trip to another world in the Multiverse. He'd packed his bag the night before, so all he needed to do that morning was take a quick shower and change into his official DATS uniform. His DATS uniform was a pair of heavy navy blue canvas slacks, black combat boots, and an orange short sleeved shirt under a navy duster jacket with DATS written in black on the left breast pocket over an orange rendition of his Crest of Courage. The long back felt like he had a cape on. His T-shirt had his Crest of Courage on it too in yellow on the front of it in the same spot it was on the jacket, only it was within an outline of the shape of his original digivice model. Gennai had said that it was his army's symbol.
While he was getting dressed, he could hear Agumon and the others inside his Xros Loader as they began suggesting names for their team. Tai liked it a lot better when they were referred to their group as a team, rather than an army, because that was what they were. Yeah, they could be considered soldiers volunteering to fight in a war that wasn't really their own, but they were brought together by friendship, not by an assignment. Even their new companion, Garurumon, was quickly becoming a friend.
"How about The Courageous Sun?" Centarumon suggested.
"Can a sun be courageous?" Wizardmon wondered.
"What about The Rising Sun?" Leomon asked.
"Isn't that already taken as the name of some movie or book?" Agumon said.
"Well, General Taiki's army call themselves The Red Fusion Fighters," Garurumon spoke up, "so how about The Orange Sun's Brave Strikers?"
"Oh! I like that!" Agumon cried. "Tai was team captain and center midfielder for his soccer team, so it's perfect! He's our leader and we're his strikers!"
"It does seem quite satisfactory," Andromon said.
"Sounds good to me you guys," Tai laughed, not really caring about having a team name, but was glad that they were able to work together and agree on one.
He stored his Xros Loader in the special holder he had on his belt and after shouldering his travel bag, he locked up his room and headed to the situation room where Agent Shigure Nanase was waiting for him by the Digiport, another gate already selected and ready for him to pass through.
"All set?" Agent Nanase asked.
"Yes, sir," Tai said.
"Good. Gennai is waiting for you and will properly debrief you on dimension travel through the Multiverse. We'll see you in a couple days. Good luck!"
"Thank you, sir," Tai said, bowing before entering the portal and arriving in the Digital World.
Last time he'd traveled through the Digiport he'd arrived in the plains on File Island. Now he was standing on the edge of a forest on Server standing outside a large and familiar castle.
"Myotismon's Castle?" Tai gasped.
"Not anymore," Gennai's voice laughed as the digital man himself appeared at the castle's main gate. "It was my people's base before Piedmon attacked us all those years ago and Myotismon moved in. Now it's ours once more."
"I see," Tai said as he followed Gennai inside, but not before he unloaded Agumon and the others so that they could walk with them and spend some time outside of the Xros Loader.
Gennai brought them to the basement level of the castle where the gate that Myotismon used to get to the human world was. It wasn't as creepy down there as it had been back then. Tai saw several of the other digital men that looked like Gennai walking about looking at various monitors and equipment set up down there.
"All set, Harry?" Gennai asked as they approached another digital man and the pedestal Tai had placed the Digimon Key Cards on years ago to open the gate to follow Myotismon to the human world. The pedestal was an electronic computer now and not made of carved stone.
"We're good to go," the other digital man said with an American accent.
"Great," Gennai said before turning to Tai and handing him another white Xros Loader, only this one didn't change color when he touched it. "We've programed the gate to drop you off in the dimension's human world, hopefully near Hypnos HQ. When you get there do not hand this Xros Loader over to anyone except the DigiDestined general that Yamaki wishes to give it to. Once that person touches the Xros Loader it'll change color, like yours did, and become his. Then the device can be given to Yamaki for the modifications he wishes to make on it. These Xros Loaders give their allegiance to the first available person to touch them, which is why they need to be delivered in person by either a Digimon, someone like myself who is not human, or someone who is already in possession of one, like you. Do you understand?"
"Make sure no one else but the person this digivice it is intended for touches it first, got it," Tai summarized, nodding as he put the device in his bag.
"Excellent," Gennai said, grinning. "Now, while this might be a quick delivery job, once your business is concluded there, you might have to stay a day or two before Hypnos can open a portal to their Digital World and send you to the Digimon Sovereign, who will open a gate to the Dimensional Corridor that'll allow you to come back here."
"Alright," Tai said. It sounded like a simple enough job.
"Now, to explain travel between worlds in the Multiverse," Gennai said, turning to the pedestal before him and the new monitor attached. "We're going to enter the sequence that'll unlock our world's doorway to the Dimensional Corridor. Once it is open, you'll use your Xros Loader. Hold it up to the gateway and say "Tamers Dimension designation 032001 H-3." Can you repeat that?"
"Tamers dimension designatio dash 3," Tai repeated.
"Good," Gennai said. "Remember that sequence. It's important that you remember it because that's where we'll be sending you a lot over the next couple of months. Now to get back here, you must say, "Adventure Dimension designation 011999 DW-7" when the Sovereign open the way to the Dimensional Corridor from their world."
"Adventure Dimension designatio dash 7," Tai repeated. "I remember it now, but I might have trouble keeping the two straight. That's a lot of numbers to remember."
"Perhaps this'll help," Gennai's friend Harry said, handing Tai a small handheld device that looked like a blackberry with square screen taking up the top half of the device and a keypad on the bottom half. He showed Tai where in the device the two dimension designations were already stored inside. "I like to call it the Digi-Berry. It acts as a travel log and passport of sorts, recording where you've gone and how long you stayed. It's also a multidimensional phone. You should be able to reach us here and Agent Nanase at DATS with this. It's locked to everyone except you. It has a fractal energy scanner, so unless you approve someone else to use it, no one can."
"Awesome!" Tai cried.
"Back to traveling the Dimensional Corridor," Gennai said pointedly, "After saying your intended destination's designation code, you need to say, "Portal Open" and a bubble should come out from your Xros Loader. You need to enter the bubble and after getting inside, it'll enclose around you, like a second skin and you'll be able to enter the Corridor. Once you cross through, you'll be transported to the next world. Because our dimensions are so close, it shouldn't take you long to arrive."
"So after the doorway to the Dimensional Corridor is opened, I say the designation code for the world I wish to travel to, say "Portal Open", step inside a bubble, and then cross through?" Tai said, wanting to be clear that he hadn't missed any steps.
"You got it," Harry said, grinning.
"It'll get easier the more times you do this," Gennai said reassuringly.
"I hope so," Tai sighed. "Let's do this."
"Oh! Before we do, you'll need these," Harry said, handing Tai a pair of grey goggles with oval lenses. "These will protect your eyes during travel. They also have a number of other functions, like night vision, and are able to pick up traces of fractal energy, making it easier for you to find gates between worlds. Play around with them a bit when you get the chance.
"Sounds good," Tai said, slipping the goggles on. Now he really felt nostalgic for the old days when he'd snapped his old pair of goggles on in preparation for an adventure.
"Good luck," Gennai and Harry said before turning to the pedestal and began entering what Tai assumed was the sequence to open the door to the Dimensional Corridor.
"Opening Dimensional Corridor!" Harry called out and all noise in the room ceased, everyone now watching as the gateway opened.
The doors opened with a groan and beyond, Tai could see a bright blue-white wall, much like it had been when he and his friends had passed through to get back to their world nearly seven years ago.
"Now, Tai," Gennai said.
Tai took his Xros Loader back out and reloaded Agumon and the others into the digivice. Now he was good to go.
"Tamers Dimension designatio dash 3. Portal open," Tai recited, holding his Xros Loader out in front of him at the gate. He may have peeked at the Digi-Berry to make sure he had the right numbers.
The bright wall of blue-white flashed before him before turning black with small pinpricks of white dotted throughout. It reminded Tai of the night sky.
As Gennai said, his Xros Loader vibrated in his hand before a bubble started to come out of the screen. When it detached and hovered in front of him, Tai stepped inside, feeling like he was being sucked in as he passed through the thin membrane wall. Then the bubble felt like a vacuum as it suddenly decompressed around him, but it didn't crush him. It did feel weird when it seemed to stick to his skin. It felt like he was covered in plastic wrap and boy was he glad he was wearing the goggles now.
After taking a deep fortifying breath, Tai gave Gennai a thumbs up and proceeded to walk through the gateway to another dimension.
The moment he passed through the gateway, he hung in suspension for a moment, just floating until he felt an invisible tug on the arm attached to the hand he was holding his Xros Loader in. Then he was flying through space, the white pinpricks of light turning into bright streaks darting all around him. The feeling of moving through the dimensional corridor was exhilarating. He felt completely weightless and after the first couple of scary minutes he got used to the sensation and was laughing and enjoying the experience. It felt like he was in freefall, only he was falling forwards instead of dropping straight down if that made any sense. The closest thing he could compare the sensation to was being on a roller coaster, heading in a somewhat clear direction, but without being strapped down and jarred around. This was smoother, like hurtling down a zipline or a long tube slide.
He had been traveling in the dimensional corridor for only about five minutes before his traveling speed slowed down and he was moving towards an increasingly bright light. There was a big flash that rendered his vision white and then it was as if gravity had slowly begun to reestablish itself. Tai sank down from the sky feeling like he was on a bungee line and landed on wobbly feet. It was foggy as he looked around trying to get his barrings.
"Whatcha see, Tai?" Agumon's voice asked, beeping from his Xros Loader.
"Not much," Tai admitted. "Just trees and fog."
There was a sudden rustle to his left, causing Tai to quickly turn to face the source of the noise as a large red raptor dinosaur that came up to Tai's bellybutton stalked out of the bushes. It was clearly a Digimon with it's black markings that no natural dinosaur would have, particularly the biohazard symbol on it's stomach. Thankfully, in spite of the fact that it had startled him, the raptor Digimon didn't seem inclined to attack him… yet. It's head was cocked to the side inquisitively and there didn't appear to be any malice in those great big yellow orbs it had for eyes.
"Who are you?" it asked. "Are you a Digimon?"
"Wha? No," Tai said, feeling slightly confused. He had ended up in the human world for this dimension, hadn't he? "My name is-"
"Guilmon! Where are you?" Someone shouted somewhere behind the raptor Digimon.
"Over here Takato! I found it!" the Digimon called back.
"Found what?" Tai asked.
"The center of the fog," the Digimon - Guilmon apparently - said in a rather cheerful manner.
"Guilmon!"
A boy around TK and Kari's age with mousy brown hair wearing a maroon school uniform and a pair of yellow framed goggles appeared behind Guilmon. Not far behind him was another boy with dark navy blue hair like Joe's and a girl with fiery red hair pulled back in a pony tail. Both were wearing similar uniforms to the first boy as well as sunglasses - the boy's green tinted and the girl's red. On the second boy's shoulder was a Terriermon, and the girl was followed by a tall yellow fox Digimon that was roughly Tai's height. The human trio and other Digimon came to a halt beside Guilmon.
"He's the source of the fog?" the girl asked, flipping her sunglasses up onto the top of her head.
"No one else is here," Guilmon said. "He smells like Digimon."
"So he must be the one that came through," the boy with the Terriermon said, flipping his sunglasses up too. "The fog is dissipating."
Tai glanced around him and realized that the kid was right. The fog was letting up, allowing him to see what looked like a children's playground just beyond the trees and down a path.
"Well, I'm not from around here, if that's what you're getting at," Tai said, smiling as he lifted his goggles off his face and up on top of his head like he used to. "Sorry for causing a disturbance, I guess. My name is-"
"Oh my gosh! You're Tai Kamiya!" the boy with the yellow goggles cried, pointing at him.
"What are you talking about, gogglehead?" the girl snapped. "He can't be. Tai Kamiya is just a character on the TV show. He just looks like him."
"An older version of him," the other boy added.
"Uh… I have no idea what you're talking about," Tai said, "but my name is, Tai Kamiya. I've come here from my dimension to speak to a Mitsuo Yamaki of Hypnos? I'm supposed to meet this world's General candidate for Omegamon's war."
The three of the young teens in front of him traded surprised looks before the goggle wearing boy stepped forward tentatively.
"Ah, I-I'm Takato Matsuki and I'm the one Omegamon chose," he said tentatively.
"Nice to meet you, Takato," Tai said, smiling as he reached forward and shook the younger teen's hand. "And who're your friends?"
"Oh!" Takato said, jumping a bit, his face flushing. "This is my partner, Guilmon, and ah, these are my friends Henry Wong and Rika Nonaka and their partners Terriermon and Renamon."
"Nice to meet you all," Tai said, bowing in greeting. "So are Digimon a common sight in your world, or are you just taking advantage of an empty park?"
"Digimon aren't a common sight per se," Henry said, "but they're known and accepted around here. New Tamers pop up occasionally, but mostly in our area and among our friends. All are registered with Hypnos."
"So no one's going to question a few more Digimon walking about, huh?" Tai asked.
"People might stare, but not really," Rika shrugged. "It helps that most of our partners are small and non-threatening looking."
"Well, then if you think it's alright, I'm going to let my friends out for a little bit," Tai said, holding out his Xros Loader. "Agumon, Centarumon, Andromon, Leomon, Wizardmon, Garurumon. Reload."
His five companions materialized beside him and stretched.
"You guys alright?" Tai asked.
"It's not too bad in there, but it's nice to be out," Agumon said.
"It's strange," Garurumon muttered.
"But we're getting used to it, don't worry about us, Tai," Wizardmon said kindly.
"We are fine," both Centarumon and Andromon reassured.
"Whoa!" the three teens before him cried.
"You have more than one partner?" Takato asked.
"Sort of," Tai said. "Agumon's been my partner and best friend since I first became a DigiDestined, but after I joined DATS and became one of Omegamon's generals, Leomon, Andromon, Centarumon, Wizardmon and Garurumon joined us as part of our team."
"The Orange Sun's Brave Strikers! That's us," Agumon cheered with nods and sounds of agreement from the other larger Digimon beside him. It was actually kinda funny to see tiny little Agumon among the much larger forms of Leomon, Andromon, Centarumon and Garurumon. Granted, Wizardmon was only a head taller than Tai's dino bestie, but it was still amusing all the same.
"The Orange Sun's Brave Strikers?" Henry and Rika repeated, looking puzzled.
"It's the name of our army," Wizardmon explained.
"We need to come up with team names?" Takato asked, looking nervous.
"Not really," Tai laughed, "though it does give our group a sense of comradery. But getting to the purpose of our visit, where can we find Hypnos?"
"It's not far," Henry said.
"Though a lot of your friends are really going to stick out during the few city blocks we'll have to travel through to get there," Rika said.
"I can reload them into the Xros Loader once we reach the edge of the park," Tai said, reassuringly.
And with that, Tai followed the three teens and their partner Digimon through the park, which was surprisingly empty for what appeared to be a centralized location. As he promised, Tai reloaded his companions with the exception of Agumon and Wizardmon when they reached a more populated area and entered a city. Takato and his friends were apparently familiar faces around there because quite a few kids waved and shouted hellos to them and their partner Digimon. He, Wizardmon and Agumon got a few curious glances, but were left alone.
It took about twenty minutes to reach a large building that had a sign declaring it to be Hypnos HQ. The three teens led him through a pristine lobby that reminded him of the one back at DATS and into an elevator that they rode to the top floor. From there they approached a desk were a woman with red hair greeted them and informed them that she'd notify Director Yamaki of their arrival.
Three minutes later a blond man in a grey suit exited the pair of doors on the other side of the secretary's desk.
"Mr. Kamiya of DATS, I presume," Yamaki said, heading right for Tai, hand extended. "I'm Mitsuo Yamaki, Director of Hypnos."
"That's right. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Tai said, shaking his hand.
"You have the Xros Loader for Takato Matsuki here?" Yamaki asked.
"Yes, sir. I was told that I was to hand over the device to him before I allow you to handle it," Tai said, loosening the strap on his travel bag.
"Very well," the director said, stepping back and gesturing Takato to come forward.
The younger teen approached nervously as he waited for Tai to pull out the white Xros Loader. When he did, he offered it to Takato and watched it turn a golden yellow color the moment it came into contact with his hand.
"Whoa!" the boy gasped. "What was that?"
"That was the Xros Loader identifying you as it's new owner," Tai said as he held up his own orange digivice. "It'll only work for you now, though Director Yamaki will still be able to modify its functions as he wishes. And here is the manual for you to review what it's capable of doing thus far."
Takato's eyes were huge as he reviewed the manual with Henry and Rika reading over his shoulders.
"Thanks for bringing that," Yamaki said. "How was your trip through the Dimensional Corridor?"
"Alright, I suppose," Tai said. "It was quick and fun once I got used to the sensation of flying through space. Any idea of how long it'll be before you can send me back?"
Yamaki crossed his arms as he thought that over.
"It shouldn't take us long to set things up with Azulongmon and the rest of the Digimon Sovereign. Perhaps a day or two to get the transporter going so that you'll arrive right where the Sovereign are, rather than on some random level that'll force you to partake in a few day's travel to reach them."
"Yeah, rather not do that," Tai laughed. "As exciting as it'll be to see a different dimension's version of the Digital World, I'd like to get home and back to DATS in a timely manner."
"Understood," Yamaki said, smiling. "In the meantime, I've arranged things with Takato's parents for you to stay with them while you're in our world. That'll give you time to get to know each other before we send you two off on any missions."
"Sounds good to me," Tai said.
After that, Takato handed Yamaki his new Xros Loader as well as the Tamer's version of a digivice, the D-Power. Then Tai followed the boy home to a bakery that his parents owned.
The Matsukis were very welcoming and showed him to a guest room where he could stash his things. He felt bad that he couldn't let Garurumon, Centarumon, Leomon and Andromon out of the Xros Loader in the small home above the bakery, but he promised them that they'd return to the park that night so that they could eat and stretch. The Matsukis and Takato ended up having a lot of questions for Tai, Agumon and Wizardmon. Takato mostly wanted to know about events that he'd seen on this show that Tai was apparently a character in. It was a bit surreal when the boy showed him clips from the show when they were alone after supper. It made him wonder if he'd really been that bossy when he'd been eleven and those few clips he saw of Myotismon and the Dark Masters sure brought back a lot of bad memories.
"Say, I've got a question for Wizardmon, but I don't want to be insensitive or anything," Takato said, looking the most nervous Tai had seen him yet.
"What is it?" Wizardmon asked.
"Well… you… died… right?" Takato said slowly. "In the human world."
"I did."
Tai watched the humanoid Digimon very closely. He seemed to be taking the subject of the conversation pretty well.
"Well… how did your rebirth work?" Takato asked. "From the sound of it, you took a while to be reborn. Was that episode in season 2 where you haunted the TV station to warn Gatomon about the Digimon Emperor and a hidden evil an invention of the show or did it really happen? Most fans of the show speculate that you faded from existence after you passed on that final message because you died in the Digital World and couldn't be reborn like normal Digimon."
"An excellent question," Wizardmon mused. "You know… I don't really remember. I remember dying. I was happy to save Kari and Gatomon. Gatomon was my dearest friend and I would have done anything to keep her and Kari from harm. After that… I just remember a stretch of grey. I think I was waiting to do something for someone. I had to warn Gatomon. I was the only one who could… You know… I do remember seeing her again briefly. I gave her my message and then… it wasn't grey anymore. Things were moving around me, slowly at first, but… I don't know. I remember hatching again in Primary Village. I was happy because that meant I could see Gatomon again. She didn't recognize me at first but we've rekindled our friendship since then. Now I'm here, helping Tai on her request to keep him safe."
"You didn't' tell me Gatomon sent you," Tai said, surprised.
"We knew Gennai was up to something and that you were going to be involved at some point, so when Gennai started asking around for volunteers to help you fight in a war in another world, I told her that I'd join if only to keep an eye on you for Kari's sake."
"Thanks, Wizardmon," Tai said, resting a hand on the Digimon's shoulder and squeezing it gently. "I really appreciate having you at my back."
"Not at all," Wizardmon said.
"From the sound of it," Centarumon said, voice emanating from Tai's Xros Loader where his image could be seen on the screen, "a higher power was involved in your rebirth. Your data should have either been transported back to the Digital World through the rifts that were torn open between the human and digital worlds during the Dark Master's reign, or diminished soon after you were killed. Someone took great pains to salvage your data and keep it in the human world - quite possibly on the servers in the TV station you died in - until you could deliver that message to Gatomon and then restored your data and returned it to the Digital World for rebirth. Someone powerful who knew what was going to happen in future years."
"Like Azulongmon, maybe?" Agumon suggested.
"I doubt it," Tai said, "Azulongmon and the other three like him were restrained by the Dark Masters and later the Control Spires until Kari, Davis and the others summoned him while protecting the final Destiny Stone or something during that time. That's why the balance between our worlds was so out of whack and why we had to give up the powers of our crests. Though he did come through and grant us the ability to allow you guys to digivolve all the way up to ultimate and mega level during that crazy christmas that Digimon were coming through all over the world."
"Oh yeah, the Digimon Sovereign exist in your Digital World too," Takato mused.
"Well, whatever the reason," Tai sighed, "you're back Wizardmon, and we're more than happy to have you."
"Thank you," Wizardmon said, bowing his head, feeling humbled and glad that he'd decided to join Tai's team. He missed Gatomon for sure, but Tai and the others were quickly becoming good friends of his. He knew that eventually they'd get drawn into dangerous situations and battles, but - unlike the war he'd fought in his previous life with Gatomon as a part of Myotismon's army - he knew that this time around, he had more than one mon he could trust to have his back.
So that's chapter 2! I hope you guys liked it. I got a lot of comments last chapter about brining Wizardmon back, so I hope that this explains things a little bit.
And the Tamers are here! As those of you that've read my Ultimate Gathering fic, I am not as familiar with Tamers as I am with the other seasons, so any and all advice you Tamers fans can give me on these characters, (especially on Takato in particular since he's going to join Tai as a main character in this fic,) will be very appreciated!