DIGIMON WORLD

CHILDREN OF DESTINY

A Fan Fiction By DaekerCroft

-CHAPTER TWO-

-Revised Edition-

Soon, the light below Jei had completely enveloped him, his fall gaining momentum as he continued to spiral out of control. He had lost all sense of where he was and what was happening, the events leading up to his plummit becoming blurred as he spun every which way. Just when he thought his torment would never end, his free fall came to a sudden stop. There was no impact, or anything to determine what had broken his speedy descent, everything was just still. The world around him started coming into focus, as if fading into existance for the first time, and Jeishita suddenly felt whole again.

He felt relieved, to say the least. He was thrilled to be back on solid ground, although it felt unfamilier, and it certainly wasn't the same ground that had been beneath him just moments before. He struggled to his feet and found himself surrounded by a sprawling forest that seemed to go on for miles in every direction. Everything leading up to this moment had left Jei scared and horribly confused and his mind aflutter with questions that likely had no answers. How strange he thought, that there are no birds chirping in this forest. Throught everything that had just happened; being chased by strange creatures, finding himself in an unfamilier place, he found it odd that the lack of birds chirping in the trees was the first thing that really stuck out to him. He was right though, in fact, there didn't seem to be any signs of life anywhere he looked. All was silent, and all was still, not even a breeze. His head throbbed with images of the creatures that had persued him, as if the memory of them was almost too much for his mind to handle. As he collected his thoughts, everything began to come back into focus. The warehouse, the terrifying cloaked figures, the strange device- The device Jei realised. He began feeling around searching for it, but it wasn't on him. He remembered that he had been holding it in his hand when he fell. I must have dropped it he thought to himself, it have landed anywhere.

It seemed like he had been searching for an eternity with no luck. The day had gone bye and another night was nearing it's end, and yet the "digivise", as the two creatures had called it, was still nowhere to be found and Jei was beginning to get hungry. He hadn't slept all night and still had no idea where he was. Jei took one last look around, but it was no use. I have to figure out where I am Jei thought to himself and just how the heck I got here. Jei found what looked to be the tallest tree nearby and began to climb, the rough bark and pine needles digging into his hands and making it difficult to keep his grip. By the time he had reached the top, the sun was already peeking over the horizon, flooding the landscape with light and revealing a strange vast world that was completely new to him. I don't think I'm in Odaiba anymore he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a strange dark patch in the sky opposite of the horizon, and it was growing, as if slowly consuming everything in it's wake. What the heck is that!? Jei thought.

"Hey up there!" came a voice from below "hey you!"

Startled, Jei lost his footing and toppled out of the tree, hitting no less than three branches on the way down. More falling, just what I need he thought to himself as he dropped This time he felt the impact, although, it wasn't the forest floor that broke his fall, but something softer, and Jei could have sworn he heard a small whimper as he landed.

"Ugh" came the voice again, "would you mind getting off me?".

Jei immediately jumped to his feet to see who he had landed on, only to find what it wasn't a who, but a what! Standing before him was a strange creature with bluish fur standing on it's hind legs, no more than 3 feet tall with floppy ears trailing behing his head, almost like a rabbit's but thinner, droopier and both coming to a point at the end. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something strangely familier about this creature.

"Geez your heavy" said the creature "just what the heck were you doing up there anyway?".

Jei simply looked on in disbelief. This strange creature was speaking to him as if everything about this was completely normal.

"I-I'm, uh" Jei said fumbling with his words, "s-sorry I landed on you. I was just trying to find out where I am and-".

"All in due time Jei" the blue creature said inturrupting Jei's stuttering, "first we need to get you to file city, and by the way, are you by any chance looking for this?"

The blue creature held out it's hand, the strange digivice that Jei had been looking for contained within.

"H-Hey, thats, ugh, that doesn't belong to you and-" Jei started "w-wait a minute... How do you know my name!? W-what are you, how did you find me!?".

"Oh, right I suppose this is going to take some explaining," the creature replied as he placed the digivice in Jei's hand, "My name is Veemon, I'm a Digimon and a close friend of Shion".

"Really?" Jei asked, "because I'm Shion's closest friend and she sure has heck never mentioned beings friends with any digimon or whatever, and that still doesn't explain how you found me!".

"Look Jei, it's complicated, but I'm the one who brought you here, I'm sorry it took so long to find you but I wasn't completely sure where you would end up" Veemon continued, "Shion asked me to find you if anything went wrong. She's in big trouble and I need your help to get her back! Please Jei, not just her, but everyone in the digital world is at risk, everyone in your world too!".

Jei felt faint. First the creatures in the warehouse, and now this? He wasn't at all sure about trusting this strange blue creature, but he needed answers, and so he took a deep breath and gave a nod, trying his best to act calm and collected.

"Alright" Jei said "I'll trust you, but why me? Why not her parents or the police?".

"It's like you said, you're her closest friend!" Veemon replied, "she talked about you a lot, she said if there's anyone that can save her and the others, it's gotta be you! Here in the digital world, a bond like that is stronger than anything else!".

"What do you mean others?" Jei said surprised, "You don't mean to say that the other missing children are here?".

"The children of destiny" said Veemon, "They were chosen as the saviors of this world and yours, the ones with the highest potential to stop the virus from consuming everything, but something went very very wrong and they were captured!". Veemon's face grew grim, "It all started when the first of them began to arrive Each of them had a partner, the digimon that they formed the strongest bond with when they came to this world. They all trained hard to become stronger and more powerful, but soon, many of them became over confident and thought too soon that they were ready to take on the virus at it's core. Their journey was off to a great start, but something went wrong" Veemon explained, "They called them the 'Children of Destiny', they were said to be the ones with the highest potential of stopping the virus which plagues your world and ours."

"Virus?" Jei asked, "You mean that dark patch in the sky?".

Veemon nodded. "When they reached the dark zone where the virus' destruction is at it's worst, some of their partners became corrupted and turned on them." Veemon paused for a moment, trying to hold back his tears, "Others ran away when they saw what was happening. I tried to get Shion out of there, but when I saw the corrupted digimon coming for me, I got scared and ran for it."

the tears were beginning to roll down Veemon's cheeks as he continued, "Now they're all being held prisoner at the virus' core, on the first island the virus destroyed, like some kind of limbo".

Veemon was now balling his eyes out on the ground, the guilt of abandoning his friend eating away at him from the inside. Jei didn't know what to say, everything still felt extremely surreal to him, but he couldn't just stand there and watch this creature sobbing into the dirt. He kneeled down next to the strange blue creature and rested his hand on it's shoulder, attempting to comfort it.

"It sounds like you were completely outnumbered" Jei said "Theres no way it was your fault!".

"But I was supposed to protect her" Veemon sobbed, "I ran when she needed me most!"

"So what if you had stayed? What if you had become corrupted and taken Shion prisoner? Then there would be no hope!" Jei said trying to lift the distraut digimon's spirits. "We can make this right Veemon! I promise I will try to help you any way I can, we can go and get her back!".

Veemon whiped the tears from his face and looked up at Jei. Jei smiled, and Veemon tried his best to smile back as he got to his feet and brushed the dirt and pine needles off of his fur.

"You're right Jei" Veemon said "I can see why Shion likes you so much! Since you're a human, the virus can't control you. If we can find a way to get you inside the dark zone, you can find her and the other chosen kids and bring them back!".

"Yeah!" Jei said trying not to sound unsure, "Then they can put everything right. First we need to get to that Data City you were talking about, we can't just go charging in unprepared!".

"It's FILE city" Veemon replied "and It's just over the horizon, it's still far away from the virus' destruction".

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Jei said encouragingly "Lets go!".

The two of them walked a few straight hours, finally reaching the edge of the vast forest. Ahead of them was a narrow stream that flowed around the treeline like a mote, and across that was a wide open field that went on for miles, at the far end of which, Jei could see the tops of tall buildings peeking out from behind a steep slope. Mustering up the last bit of energy they had left, Jei and Veemon hopped over the stream and sprinted most of the way across the field before being forced to slow to a walking pace by hunger and fatigue.

"We're almost there now" Veemon panted, "the main entrance is all the way on the other side, but theres a tunnel under the hill that leads straight into city".

The tunnel in question turned out to be an overflow pipe constructed to allow water to escape from the interior of the city during heavy. Despite the fact that it was only water that flowed through the pipe, the smell was anything but pleasent. Mildew, mold and rust were just a few of the scents that Jei could make out. The city itself was surrounded by tall hills on each side. He and Veemon exited the overflow pipe in a large gutter than ran the entire perimeter. There were plenty of footholds to climb, making it easy for them to scale the steep walls of the gutter. The came out onto a long road that ran from one end of the city to the other, revealing it to be a much bigger place than Jei had originally thought.

"Before anything else" Veemon began, "we should go and see Jijimon, he's a wise old Digimon and also the one who brought the Children of Destiny here in the first place! He was able to see which of them had the highest potential to form a strong and powerful bond with us Digimon".

"It makes sense that Shion was chosen" Jei said, "when she decides she likes spending time with someone, she is a friend for life whether they like it or not"

"You got that right!" Veemon chuckled, "I've met quite a few humans, but there is no one like her!"

Veemon's gleeful smile faded as the reality of the situation came flooding back, and the two continued their walk in silence. Veemon led Jei down the long central road almost to the exact center of the city. Many of the buildings looked to be made only of wood and bamboo, with a few of them being made of metal. Veemon walked up to a small wooden hut wrenched between two of the tall metal buildings, it looked very out of place. The inside however was quite comfortable and reminded Jei of his grandfather's old dojo that he sometimes visited in the summer.

"Hm? Just who is this?" a harsh voice demanded, "A human I gather, but I sense that he is not one of the chosen, which begs the question..." A short stubby creature remotely resembling an aged master entered the room, a long staff in his left hand defined by the golden bear claw fastened to the end, "Just how did he come to be in this world?".

"I-I brought him here Jijimon" Veemon stuttered, "I think he can help us free Shion and the others!".

"And what makes you think that?" Jijimon asked.

"They're close friends, she spoke very highly of him," said Veemon, "She asked me to bring him here if anything happened to her, and if she thinks he can help, then so do I!".

"Shion is my best friend" Jei said backing the blue Digimon's argument, "if she's in danger, then nothing is gonna stop me from trying to help!".

Jijimon gave an exhausted sigh, turning to the window of his hut and gazing out at the virus in the sky that was slowly infecting the world in the distance.

"He's usually not like this," Veemon whispered, " but when the chosen kids were captured by their own partners, Jijimon felt responcible for not stopping it, but there was really nothing he could have done".

Jijimon's grip on his staff tightened. He turned and looked Jei right in the eye, not that Jei could tell for sure by the mop of gray hair covering Jijimon's face, but he could definetly feel his gaze.

"Hm. I sense that your bond with Shion a powerful, a connection that you and Veemon share" said Jijimon, "perhaps it is even more powerful than the bonds shared by the Children of Destiny and their digimon partners. I really don't know that you can succeed young one, but this world is dying and I am helpless to stop it. As a human, the virus can not control you, so if you really are willing to help us, then I will do all I can to aid your cause".

"Thank you Jijimon!" Veemon exclaimed, "I know that together me and Jei can save them, and then they can fulfill their destinies!".

"I hope you are right" Jijimon sighed stepping closer, "but you must prepare for what awaits, and you Jei" the elderly digimon said coming face to face with him, "you must be prepared to continue alone once you reach the threshold of the dark zone".

Jei looked at Veemon and together they nodded in agreement.

"Let's get started!" Jei said with hightened determination.

To be continued...