A/N: And here's the first actual chapter! I really hope you enjoy it. It ended up being way longer than I meant it to be (it pretty much doubled) and at the rate things are going right now, it looks like the other chapters are going to be about the same, possibly longer. They could possibly be shorter, but I won't let any of them (except for the prologue and epilogue) get under 5,000 words. I do hope you enjoy. Constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged. Also I do not have a beta for this, so any and all mistakes are my own. I try and make sure there aren't any, but nobody's perfect.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.
Chapter 1: Another Great Adventure? Future and Past Meet!
Daisuke was walking home with Chibimon after a rather long meeting with the other Chosen Children. Even after everything that had happened, which had only been a couple of weeks ago, the world was still trying to keep to the belief that digimon didn't exist. They kept saying that everything that had happened was the work of terrorists and delusions. Nobody was even taking notice that the same things had happened all over the world, too concerned with their own countries to really care.
Of course, the Chosen Children didn't really mind this even if they did still have to hide their digimon. They knew, as unfortunate as it was, that the human governments were likely to want to use the digimon or destroy them and the Chosen Children couldn't allow something like that to happen. It was their job after all to protect the digital world even if that meant protecting it from the human race.
Fortunately all of their parents knew what was going on, so at least they didn't have to hide their partners in their own homes. It would also come in handy if they didn't have to come up with a camping trip excuse or something of the like the next time they needed to stay in the digital world for a few days. Unfortunately it wouldn't get Daisuke out of a talking to, even if it wasn't his fault that the meeting had lasted until eleven o'clock.
Daisuke had really wanted to stay at the Yagami's, because it would have made things so much easier, but when he had called, his parents had said 'no'. They had decided that Chibimon was perfectly capable of seeing Daisuke home safely and they wanted to discuss a few things, now that it had finally sunk in that their child was responsible for saving the world.
Daisuke sighed. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'There's nothing I can really do about it.'
"Daisuke," Chibimon called to his partner and Daisuke looked down at him questioningly. Chibimon pointed towards the park, which was just up ahead where the two could see a very faint orange glow before it disappeared. "What was that?"
"I have no idea," Daisuke said looking at where the light had just been shining before he ran towards it, "But we're gonna find out."
Daisuke ran to the park and looked around. There wasn't anything visible from the sidewalk, so he decided to walk further in. He was at the center of the park where the swings and jungle gym were, when he saw something move just beyond the trees at the back of the park. He stared at the spot for a moment, but didn't see anything there. He was just about to play it off as his imagination when he saw two shadowy figures making their way out of the trees.
Daisuke tensed a little and held Chibimon, who was about ready to jump from his arms to defend him, a little closer. These guys could be complete creeps and while he did have a digimon, he didn't attack humans. Although, he supposed, if they attacked him and tried to hurt him, Chibimon would attack, whether they were digimon or not. It was comforting when he thought about it, because he never had to worry about being mugged even if they were trying to hide their digimon. Of course Daisuke knew some of the others, like Iori and Miyako, wouldn't see it quite the same way.
Despite these thoughts, Daisuke didn't try to leave. He felt that he needed to be here. It was a feeling he was rather familiar with. He had felt it several times before, like somebody was telling him he was alright and that this was important. It was the Digital World, or at least had something to do with the Digital World, because he'd only ever felt it when the Digital World was involved. It had never steered him wrong before, so he wasn't about to ignore it now.
Daisuke watched the figures as they approached and noticed that they were about the same height, though the one in the back was wider. The reason for this became apparent when the moonlight hit the two and revealed what they looked like. The one in the front was a very old man wearing worn out clothes, a really weird hat with a clock like design, and round red sunglasses. The other figure was a giant alarm clock with arms and legs and of course, hands and feet too.
A digimon. Daisuke knew this would involve the Digital World somehow. Although why it was with the old guy was a mystery to him. Were they partners perhaps? But that couldn't be, because all of the Chosen Children were still in their teens... Unless he was a member of the first group of Chosen Children that Taichi had told him about. Even then, though, you would think they would have run into him sooner than now, especially with all of the digimon attacks that had happened in the last few years.
"I wasn't expecting to find you so soon," The old man said, sounding surprised.
"Er... You were looking for me?" Daisuke asked confusedly. Even if he was a part of the original Chosen Children, he shouldn't have known who Daisuke was. Chibimon was with him, sure, but the way the old man had said it was as if he had been looking for Daisuke specifically.
"Yes. Although I have just arrived, so I hadn't begun looking yet," he said as he and the clock like digimon stopped a few feet away from Daisuke and Chibimon.
"Who are you!? What do you want with Daisuke!?" Chibimon had caught onto the strange inflection in the old man's voice when he had said he was looking for them, too, and was perfectly prepared to protect his partner.
"Most people call me the Old Clock Shop Man, but that's a bit long, so you may call me Kuroku," the newly dubbed Kuroku said before pointing towards the digimon. "This is Clockmon, my partner."
"Does that mean that you're one of the original Chosen Children? I know there were some before Taichi-sempai and the others, but nobody really knows how long ago that was," Daisuke asked curiously.
"No, I am not a Chosen Child at all."
"Eh!? But you just said that he's your partner..." Daisuke said pointing towards Clockmon.
"I did."
"Would you just give a straight answer!" Daisuke yelled as he started to get irritated. He wondered if this was how Taichi and the others felt when they had to talk to Gennai during their adventure.
"Yeah, and you never answered what you wanted with Daisuke!" Chibimon yelled just as irritated as his partner.
"Ha ha ha ha! That is quite true, but that is a rather long and complicated matter, so perhaps we should sit down," Kuroku said and made his way over to the jungle gym and sat down on one of it's lower bars. Clockmon was right beside him, but decided to stand.
Daisuke frowned and vaguely remembered that he was supposed to be home and his parent were probably going to be really mad, but decided that this was more important. He sat down on one of the benches that faced the jungle gym and placed Chibimon on his lap, though he did loosen his grip on the little digimon. He wasn't a complete idiot, like most people seemed to think. He understood that if things went south he would definitely need Chibimon. Not that he really believed things would go badly, but just in case...
"Are you sure Daisuke?" Chibimon asked as he watched the two strangers warily. He knew Daisuke wasn't stupid, but he also knew he was very trusting and very forgiving. Daisuke was always the first to trust someone and the first one to forgive a person for past wrongs. He made friends easily, or at least he considered them his friends, and then he held onto them very tightly. These were all good traits. They made Daisuke who he was, but they also made him more vulnerable. If the people that you trusted and thought of as friends ended up betraying you, it wasn't such a good thing.
Chibimon knew Daisuke was strong, but there was only so much someone could take. Everything had turned out well with Ken, but there had been other times when it hadn't been okay. If things turned out badly here, it was Chibimon who had to deal with the aftermath. He didn't want to see the sad look in Daisuke's eyes; the look that he always got when he felt betrayed. Chibimon would do anything to make sure that Daisuke's smile didn't leave, because any other expression just didn't fit. He knew he had help in that regard, too, because Ken wanted to protect Daisuke just as much as Chibimon, and Taichi and Yamato looked out for him too. Thinking about this made him feel better about everything, because he knew there were others that would help look after Daisuke and beat the crap out of this person (and digimon) if they hurt him in any way.
"Of course, Chibimon," Daisuke said, breaking Chibimon from his thoughts. "I think we can trust him."
"Okay," Chibimon said, deciding all he could do was trust Daisuke's judgment.
"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything other than tell my story and request your help."
"Our help?" Daisuke asked.
"Yes. I need your help and the help of the other Chosen Children of your generation, although I need your help more than theirs."
"Why?"
"That's what I'm about to explain. I would prefer if there were no interruptions," Kuroku waited for Daisuke and Chibimon to nod in acceptance before he continued. "Now, I can't tell you everything right now. It is very confusing and there are others that need to hear the whole story and I'd rather not tell it – and I'm sure you'd rather not hear it – five times over.
"What I can tell you is that I am from another dimension –'' Kuroku held up his hand to stave off any questions when he saw Daisuke open his mouth. Daisuke snapped his mouth shut and smiled sheepishly, "– I am sure that you do not need convincing of other worlds. You already know of three other worlds, besides your human one. What you may not know is that there are many other worlds and dimensions in existence; many other human worlds and digital worlds. I come from one such world, which is connected to it's own digital world. Unfortunately there is a very powerful enemy trying to destroy our world and digital world; an enemy that cannot be defeated by our own heroes. That is why we have come to you for your help.
"Now I understand that you have your own human world and Digital world to protect, but if Quartzmon – that is our enemy – succeeds in his plans it will affect all the worlds that are connected to a digital world. To that end we ask that you help us protect not only our own world, but yours as well."
Daisuke sat there for a minute trying to take everything in. It was pretty mind boggling to find out that there were other earths and digital worlds out there, but at the same time it wasn't all that hard to believe. Like Kuroku had said, he already knew of the existence of three other world besides this Earth – the digital world, the dream world, and the dark ocean. The hardest part to believe was that he seemed to be so important to the old man's plan. It was flattering to hear, of course, but he couldn't think of any reason that he would be needed more than the others.
"Why do you say that I'm needed more than the others?"
"Because you are a Legendary Hero," Kuroku said as if it were obvious. Daisuke certainly didn't think it was.
"Legendary Hero?" he asked.
"Yes, a Legendary Hero. You are someone who has already saved your own world and digital world from complete destruction."
"As totally awesome as that sounds, everyone else was there too. Wouldn't they also be Legendary Heroes?"
"No, because it was through your efforts and leadership that it was possible. It was your partner that made the final move. It was your strength of heart that kept you from being pulled into the Dream World's fantasies, your courage and trust in your partner that kept you from giving up when all others had, your bonds of friendship and your belief that anything was possible, even in a world not made of dreams, that you were able to pull your friends back into reality and give them the boost they needed to continue fighting. You have something very special about you, both in character and as a Chosen Child, that makes you a Legendary Warrior far more than your title as leader of your group does."
Daisuke felt a little light headed. That was a lot to take in. He could see what the old man was talking about, but he'd never thought of it as anything special. It was just how he was. Hearing it all said like that made him feel very warm inside. He was a very happy person by nature. He wasn't easily embarrassed and most insults or jokes rolled right off him, but that didn't mean he wasn't affected at all by what other people said about him, particularly his friends and family. To hear someone – someone who wasn't Taichi or Yamato – praise him so thoroughly for what he did really made him feel good.
"Geez, thanks," Daisuke said with a slight blush as he rubbed the back of his head.
"There's no need to thank me, I merely speak the truth. Now the question is: Will you help us?"
Daisuke didn't need to think about his answer. He would have helped even if his own world wasn't involved, but since it was there was even less of a reason to say no.
"Of course we'll help, right Chibimon?" Daisuke asked and despite his earlier misgivings Chibimon was all for helping to save the world again.
"Of course!" Chibimon said excitedly, dropping his serious act as he had decided that the two strangers didn't pose a threat against Daisuke.
"Great! I'm sure the other will help out too. Do you want me to go ahead and contact them?" Daisuke asked Kuroku.
"Yes, the sooner we leave, the better."
"Alright, just a moment." Daisuke pulled out his D-Terminal and sent a message to his friends. He decided to keep it brief and to the point. It would be easier to explain once they were here, anyway. "Okay, they should be here soon. Erm, you mentioned something about my generation... does that mean that I should have told them not to bring Taichi-sempai and the others?"
"No, the older children will not come. I am sure of that," Kuroku said with a strange smile.
"How can you be so sure?" Daisuke asked with a frown. He was pretty sure that the older Chosen Children would come considering the message he had sent, but he also had a feeling that Kuroku was telling the truth.
"Don't worry. You'll know soon enough."
Hikari sighed and leaned back on her bed as Daisuke left. It had been two weeks since the final battle with BelialVamdemon, and everything was pretty crazy. The world's governments were already denying the existence of digimon and trying to cover everything up, even though they had been perfectly willing to accept it during the crisis. To make matters worse everyone had decided to just go along with it. The only ones who knew what had actually happened were the Chosen Children and the parents and family members of the Japanese Chosen Children. It really irked her that people were so willing to deny what had happened. She wanted everyone to know and to accept the digimon. She was tired of being forced to hide her best friend from the world.
Unfortunately not everyone agreed with her on that point. Of course they all wanted their friends to be accepted, but they didn't think that they would be. They were worried about how the governments might try to use the digimon and by extension the Chosen Children. That was what the whole meeting had been about. What they should do about the digimon and exposing their existence to the world. Ultimately it had been decided that they should just keep them hidden. It was mostly Taichi and Daisuke's decision, but everyone decided to go along with it because they were the leaders.
"You shouldn't worry so much Hikari," Taichi said as he sat down beside his sister, startling her from her thoughts.
"I know, but I can't help it. I'm just so tired of always having to hide."
"Me too, but I think hiding is better than dying," Taichi said with a sigh and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "As much as I'd like to believe that the world would be able to accept the digimon and not use them to wage war, I know that that won't happen. As humans we're selfish, hurtful, and afraid of what we don't understand."
"We were able to accept it well enough," Hikari said looking at her brother.
Taichi looked over at her, "Yeah, well, we've got an advantage. We're Chosen Children, and being actual kids when we went to the Digital World made us more accepting because we were still "pure of heart" or at least that's what Koushiro says. Anyway, as Chosen Children we also have a special connection to the Digital World that nobody else does. We can't base the real world's reactions to digimon on our own. If we were normal, there's a chance that the world could accept digimon, even if it took a while. Since we're not though, how could we expect them to react the same way?"
"That makes sense. We're already connected to the digital world in some way, so it's only natural for us to want to protect it, but the rest of the world... they don't understand it the same way we do. They don't have a connection like we do."
"Right, so it would be unfair to expect them to accept something like the digimon, and cruel to push the digimon into a situation that might hurt them."
There was silence between the siblings, but it was comfortable. Hikari continued thinking over their conversation, she wondered when her brother had become so smart. Not that she thought he was stupid. He was very intelligent, but he didn't usually do the whole "deep thinking" thing. That was usually Koushiro's department.
The silence was soon broken by the sound of Hikari's D-Terminal going off. She frowned as she picked it up off the bedside table. She couldn't think of why any one would be contacting her this late unless there was some kind of problem. Taichi seemed to agree with her, because he had straightened up and was staring at her D-Terminal with a serious expression.
She turned back to the device and opened it:
To: Hikari
From: Daisuke
I need you to come to the park immediately. There's something going on. I can't explain right now. It's easier to explain in person. Just come quick! This is really important!
"That's all it says," Hikari said worriedly.
"I see," Taichi said quietly in a tone of voice as if he was confirming something instead of actually speaking with Hikari.
"Taichi?"
"You should hurry up, Hikari. This sounds important," Taichi said as he got up from the bed and headed out the door.
"Wait!" Hikari called after her brother as she ran to the door, "Aren't you coming too?"
"Nah. I think you can handle it."
"But, but – This isn't like you!"
Taichi sighed, "You'll understand soon enough, Hikari. Right now, though, you need to go to Daisuke." And with that Taichi disappeared behind his door.
Hikari stared at her brother's door for a few seconds stunned. He had never acted this way before. He was always the first to jump into action when something was wrong and he had never been so dismissive towards her before. It was a little worrying, but she knew she couldn't think of that right now. She needed to figure out what was going on. With these thoughts in mind Hikari raced out the door with Gatomon in tow.
It didn't surprise Daisuke when one of his fellow Chosen Children showed up about five minutes after he had sent his message. What had surprised him was that it was Ken, who lived in Tamachi, that had showed up first. Daisuke was sure he would have been on the train to Tamachi by now as he was the first to have left the meeting.
"Ken!" Daisuke called as his friend ran up to him and Chibimon, Wormmon cradled in his arms, "What are you doing here so early? I thought you would be the last person to show up."
"I never got on my train," Ken explained as he came to a stop in front of Daisuke, "I felt... well I don't really know how to explain it, but I felt something was about to happen, so I started back towards the Yagami's when I go your message."
Daisuke hummed. He wondered if it had anything to do with their bond as Jogress partners, but decided to think about it another time. Right now he needed to focus on his best friend who was worriedly asking questions about what was wrong and if he was okay.
"Dude, chill out. You're starting to sound like Miyako. I'm fine. What's going on is a little... complicated. I think it would be best if everyone was here before we explain anything."
"We?" Ken asked with raised brows.
"Yeah, Kuroku and I," Daisuke said and waved his hand in the direction of Kuroku and Clockmon. Daisuke could tell that Ken hadn't noticed the old man and digimon, because he had jumped back and took up a defensive position whenever Daisuke pointed them out.
Kuroku and Clockmon didn't pay them much mind and simply continued to inspect the ground where they were standing muttering about something. Daisuke had no idea what they were doing, but they had told him it was important and not to interrupt.
"Daisuke, are you sure?" Ken asked his friend. He knew Daisuke wasn't naïve, but he didn't always think things through and had a tendency to trust people quickly.
It was for that very reason that Ken felt the need to protect Daisuke. Daisuke was the one to pull him from the darkness. He was the one that had given his life meaning; that said no matter how evil he had been before he was allowed a second chance. Daisuke was the one that had saved him from himself. He was the light to Ken's darkness; like the brilliant sun that chased away the nightmares brought on by the night, warmed the heart, and shone so freely to everyone. He didn't want Daisuke to get hurt. He had been hurt enough already.
"Of course I'm sure," Daisuke said nonchalantly, "He's explained everything to me and he has a digimon. Evil people don't have digimon."
"Daisuke I have a digimon," Ken said, reminding Daisuke that he used to be the Kaiser.
"Yeah, and you're not evil," Daisuke said firmly.
"Not anymore, but I was," He said quietly, but just as firmly.
"It wasn't your fault, you got corrupted by an evil seed. Plus you weren't corrupted when you first got your digivice or when you first met Wormmon." Daisuke said. He sighed when he realized that Ken wasn't ready to drop this. "Look, watch him and be wary all you want, if it makes you feel better, but at least trust me enough to stay and listen to what he has to say."
Ken looked at Daisuke's pleading face and broke immediately. He just couldn't say no to his best friend. Ken was pretty sure that Daisuke had the best puppy dog eyes out of anyone alive, and he didn't even know it.
"You know I always trust you Daisuke, but I won't trust him," Ken said with a suspicious look towards Kuroku.
Daisuke rolled his eyes, but smiled, "You're always so protective," he said in exasperation.
Before Ken could make any sort of response, Hikari and Gatomon came running up to them.
"Daisuke!" she called when she saw him. She stopped in front of her fellow Chosen Children and looked rather surprised at seeing Ken there. "You're here rather early."
"I hadn't made it on the train yet. I... felt like something was going to happen, so I was on my way back when I got Daisuke's message."
Hikari nodded her head in understanding as if it all made perfect sense to her. Daisuke decided that it probably did make perfect sense to her or at least that it didn't surprise her. Having been a Chosen Child three years before and being the Child of Light left her with a strong connection to the digital world and quite a few odd experiences.
Hikari turned to Daisuke with worry. "What's the problem Daisuke?" she asked.
"I think it's better if we wait for everyone else to show up first and then I'll let Kuroku explain."
"Kuroku? Who's Ku-"
"Hey! We're here!" the voice of Miyako rang out, cutting off Hikari.
The trio looked out towards the road and saw six other figures running towards them. In the front was Miyako waving her arms frantically. Takeru and Iori were right behind her, keeping pace with each other. All three of them were carrying their digimon. When they came to a stop in front of Daisuke, Ken, and Hikari, Miyako leaned on her knees to catch her breath.
"We told you not to run so fast," Takeru panted as he also leaned on his knees. Iori only seemed mildly winded. He had better endurance than the other two due to his many rigorous Kendo lessons.
"Daisuke said it was really important, so I thought we should hurry in case it was, like, the end of the world again," Miyako said with a glare, "And we wouldn't have had to run if you hadn't taken so long."
"Miyako has a point. You did take a long time to get ready," Iori said.
Takeru frowned as he stood up straighter, "It wasn't my fault. I was eating dinner with Nii-san when I got the message and he started looking really weird. He said that he wasn't going to come and none of the others would be there either..." he said with a helpless shrug.
"That sounds like how Taichi was acting," Hikari said.
"Kuroku said that they'd be that way," Daisuke said with a shrug.
"Kuroku?" Miyako asked.
"Who's Kuroku?" Iori and Takeru asked together.
"The old guy over there with the Clockmon. He's the one that told me to call you guys, which I would have done anyway after he told me what was going on," Daisuke explained and waved a hand in Kuroku's direction. He seemed to have finished inspecting the ground and was now making his way over to the group, Clockmon in tow.
"Whoa! He's old," Miyako said.
"How could someone at such an age have a digimon?" Iori asked.
Hikari looked thoughtful. "Is he... part of the first group of Chosen Children?"
"Did the digital world exist when he was a kid?" Takeru asked.
"He's not a part of the first group," Daisuke told them. Everyone turned towards him.
"How do you know?" Miyako asked sceptically.
"Because he told me so," Daisuke said rolling his eyes at her.
"Good, you're all here."
The group turned towards the voice to see Kuroku standing a couple of feet away with Clockmon standing beside him. All of the digimon, save for Chibimon and Wormmon jumped in front of their partners in case the man decided to attack.
"There's no need to be so defensive. I'm not here to hurt anyone," Kuroku said.
"How do we know we can trust you?" Gatomon growled.
"Your leader trusts me."
"That's not exactly in your favor," Miyako snorted.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Daisuke said highly offended. Didn't his friends trust him?
"Daisuke trusts a lot of people and not all of them deserve it," Iori said quietly, casting a glance towards Ken.
"Iori, that wasn't very nice," Upamon said, though he never took his eyes off of Kuroku and Clockmon.
Daisuke agreed with Upamon. Iori had always had the hardest time forgiving Ken or really anyone when they did something wrong, even if they sincerely regretted it. He had thought though, that he had already gotten over his hatred towards Ken and that the two were beginning to become friends.
"Ken is one of us, Iori, and I thought you knew that. He's helped us a lot and he was being corrupted by an evil seed. If you're too immature to apologize, fine, but don't let the fate of our worlds suffer because of it," Daisuke said disapprovingly towards Iori. He may not have been the most mature of the group, but neither was Iori if he was still holding onto his grudge for the past six months even after Ken risked his life and in some cases sanity to help them protect the Worlds.
"Oh, like your one to talk," Miyako sneered once she got her wits about her. She had never heard Daisuke sound so authoritative before.
Daisuke ignored her. Now was definitely not the time to get in a fight with her. "Before you go dismissing him, you might as well hear him out. Whether you believe him or not is up to you, but either way, I'm going to help him."
"Alright, let's hear him out then," Takeru said interrupting Miyako before she could even start yelling about being ignored.
Takeru looked at Kuroku and tried not to show his surprise at Daisuke's maturity. He supposed it was only natural after what they'd been through and when he thought about it, it had really started as they were getting into their final battle with the Kaiser. He knew it was unfair of him to judge Daisuke by his actions in the beginning and compare his maturity level to the people he knew when they were his same age, because they had all been forced into maturity and Daisuke hadn't yet. It was still hard, but now that he was seeing a different side of Daisuke, he was really going to have to start rethinking a few things, particularly his behavior towards him, because as much as he hated to admit it, he hadn't exactly been the nicest to Daisuke, though it was a two way street.
Unknown to Takeru, Hikari was having similar thoughts, although Daisuke having always been nice (though a bit annoying) to her made her feel even guiltier when she thought of all of the things she had said to him or all of the times she had used his crush on her against him.
"Alright, please try not to interrupt." Kuroku said and then cleared his throat. "There are many different worlds and dimension in existence. You already know of four of them – Earth, the Digital World, the Dark Ocean, and the Dream world. This being said, it shouldn't be too hard for you to believe that there are other worlds, besides those, in existence." The group nodded there heads slowly. "Good. Many of these other worlds are very similar to this world. There are many different "earths" in existence and several of them have "digital worlds" attached to them.
"It is with one of these worlds that my concern lies. You see, they are having a terrible time right now. Their "Chosen Children" for lack of a better term, are struggling and I fear that their enemy will over power them. I come to you to ask for assistance in gathering other heroes from other worlds so that we may assist the heroes of my own world."
"Why do you need us, if you're going to other worlds as well. Surely those Chosen Children would be enough," Iori said with a frown. "We've just gotten out of a war, after all."
"Yeah! Besides we have our own world to take care of! It's not our fault if they aren't strong enough to handle it," Miyako said with a hand on her hip and a glare on her face.
The others gasped at what she said and Hikari looked at her in disbelief. "Miyako, how can you say that?" she asked incredulously.
Miyako frowned at her. "We've fought hard to protect Earth and the digital world. We almost lost and it's only been a couple of weeks. There's still so much damage and we still have to hide our partners. Don't we deserve a break? Why should we have to go around saving other worlds too? It's not fair! We had to fight on even though our chances of winning were so small. If they're Chosen Children then they're going to have to find their own strength!"
Miyako was panting by the end of her tirade and small tears had gathered in the corners of her eyes. She refused to let them fall though. She had fought to hard and survived through too much to cry over something as meaningless as this. She was stronger than that now.
"I... can see Miyako's point," Takeru said softly. "It's not that we don't want to help them, but we've been through a lot. Why should we go to another world just to help another group of Chosen Children defeat their enemy. Why do you need us? Won't whoever else you're going to get be enough?"
"If they were enough I wouldn't be here. You can choose to stay if you wish, but understand that if the enemy wins it will not simply be my world and it's digital world that will fall, but yours as well as all other human digital worlds in existence" Kuroku explained gravely.
The group looked wide eyed at the old man. If they didn't go their world would be destroyed. No matter how much some of them wanted to stay and finally be done, they had to protect their world. That didn't mean they would be particularly happy about it though.
"Aaaaaaaagh!" Miyako screamed her frustrations out causing everyone to jump and glare at her. She ignored them and took a deep calming breath before letting it out slowly. Than she smiled widely (and rather creepily) and Daisuke, who had been standing closest to her, edged away. When she spoke again her voice was rather strained. "Okay then. Since we don't seem to have a choice."
"What about the older kids?" Takeru asked.
"They will not be needed. Not as they are now at least."
"I don't understand," Hikari said with a furrowed brow.
"As they are now, they are not strong enough to fight with us. We will not have enough time for them to become that strong either, so we will gather them from a time when they were at peak strength." Kuroku explained.
"Are you talking about going to the past?" Ken asked in surprise.
"Of course. I can cross through dimensions and time, though it is very dangerous to mess with the time lines it is necessary at the moment."
"That is so cool!" Daisuke exclaimed with a big smile. "Man, it'll be so weird seeing Taichi-sempai as the same age as me!"
"What makes you think that he'll be the same age as you?" Miyako asked rudely.
Daisuke huffed and rolled his eyes, "Duh. If they're going to come from a time when they were at there best, that would be before they gave up their crests, which was the summer after they first went to the digital world. They might be a year older, but it's still close enough." Miyako just huffed and turned away, irritated that he had one-upped her.
"How are we going to go to another world?" Chibimon asked.
"Ah, yes. Please everyone. Gather around over here," Kuroku said and ushered everyone to stand on the spot of ground he had been inspecting earlier. "This spot here seems to be the weakest spot in the temporal barrier."
"Um... temporal barrier?" Daisuke asked confused.
"Yes, the temporal barrier is the barrier that keeps time in check. If it didn't exist you might see your self across a room doing what you had just done or see yourself doing what you are about to do. Without the barrier the fabric of time would fall apart, throwing everything into chaos, creating paradoxes and likely causing the universe, or should I say multi-verse, to implode," Kuroku explained. "It would be very nasty business."
"Is that why it's so dangerous to travel through time?" Hikari asked as she picked up Gatomon.
"Yes. By traveling through time, you weaken the barrier."
"Then wouldn't it be better to travel through where the barrier isn't already weakened? Won't that just make it worse?" Takeru asked a little worriedly.
"Not quite. It's easier to pass through what's already weak. There's less resistance and less of a chance of damaging the barrier when you go through it."
"That doesn't make sense," Iori said.
"Ha ha ha! Perhaps not, but sense when has time travel ever made sense?"
Nobody could really answer that question, so they stayed quiet as Kuroku and Clockmon did whatever it was they were doing. Daisuke watched in interest as Clockmon's hand began to move backwards. A strange circle with weird symbols appeared on the ground beneath the groups feet and started to glow with faint green light.
"Ealte eaus eapssa eahthgour eahte Eatlaropme Eabreirra," Kuroku called out.
Daisuke heard everyone gasp as the circle began to rise and encircle them, growing steadily brighter. Soon the clock hands on Clockmon started to slow down only for both of them to settle on on of the two strange symbols they had already been resting on – the circle with a dot in the center and a long slender triangle pointing upwards with a line on either side that curled outwards at the ends. As soon as the clock hands had stopped moving, everything around them seemed to stop as well and then suddenly everything was a multicolored blur and a great wind was whipping the groups hair around their faces.
Daisuke began to feel a little sick and dizzy at all the motion and closed his eyes in hopes of preventing himself from throwing up. It worked a little though he still felt a little disoriented. As he waited he felt someone grip his shoulder and knew instantly that it was Ken. He guessed that he was having the same problem and had decided to hold onto Daisuke so he didn't fall over.
It wasn't long until the wind stopped and Daisuke heard Kuroku telling them that it was okay to open their eyes. When he did everything looked about as it should and the only indication that they had traveled back in time at all was that it was now day time – likely morning – and it was much warmer than before – likely being summer time.
"Come along children. We had better find a place to sit down so we don't stand out too much," Kuroku said as he started walking closer to the woody area of the park.
"We're lucky no one was here to see us," Iori said.
"Yeah, that wouldn't have been good at all," Takeru said.
Ken took his hand away from Daisuke's shoulder as the started walking towards Kuroku. "Sorry," He said.
"That's okay. I would have done the same thing if you hadn't first. You kept me standing too," Daisuke replied easily. They all came to a stop by Kuroku and Daisuke could see Clockmon hiding in the trees.
"I won't be able to go with you to get the others as I need to find the best place for us to continue our travels. I would suggest that you approach the group with caution as they will be wary of you." Kuroku said as he sat on the ground with his legs crossed.
"Right. I guess we should split up. It'll be easier to find everyone that way and less intimidating if there's only one of us instead of six of us," Daisuke said.
"I think we should go in groups at least. What if something happens?" Iori said.
"Well we're not in the digital world and we run around the city by ourselves all the time when we're in our own time. I doubt it will be much different then. If we do happen to have trouble, though, we all have D-Terminals to contact each other with. If we split into groups it will take two to three times as long since we have six people to find," Daisuke said easily.
"Um, don't you mean eight?" Miyako said. "There were eight original Chosen Children, remember?"
"While that may be the case, Hikari and Takeru are already coming with us. They are at full strength right now, so there's no sense in bringing their younger selves in with us," Ken said.
"I agree with Daisuke," Takeru said and Daisuke looked at him in surprise.
"You do?" he asked with slightly wide eyes.
Takeru gave a smile, "Yeah. It makes sense, and Hikari and I don't have any memories of this, so we obviously didn't go with you."
"That's right!" Hikari exclaimed in realization. "That would explain why Taichi and Yamato didn't want to come. They had already come."
"Fine. How are we going to find them then since you seem to be oh-so smart," Miyako said irritably.
Daisuke frowned at her. He had never really gotten along with Miyako. She thought he was an idiot (which he wasn't) and he thought she was a brat (which she kind of was), but he had thought that their relationship had improved some after their battles. He supposed it could just be the stress talking, but he sometimes wondered.
He decided he had better speak up as she was starting to get irritated and Chibimon was glaring at her. He definitely didn't want a fight to start.
"We can use our Digivices. They were programmed to find both the knew and old versions and since the old versions haven't changed in the past – future? – three years then our digivices should still be able to track them," Daisuke said stumbling a little over which tense to use since they were now in the past.
Miyako gaped a little at him and he couldn't help but smirk a little. She snapped her mouth closed and glared a little before looking away to sulk.
"That's a good idea," Hikari said. "It won't be nearly as hard to find them that way."
Once they had decided that they were all going to split up, they turned on their D-3's and each chose one of the whitish blue dots. Daisuke was extremely happy that Koushiro was always trying to find ways to improve the digivices, because otherwise searching for everyone would be a pain in the but. It was pretty amazing that he had been able to find a way for their D-3's to see the entire city and not just a portion of it. Daisuke knew that he was also working on upgrading the older generations digivices to do the same thing, but since they were older it was a little harder.
Daisuke walked around the city looking at his digivice as Chibimon slept in his arms. He made sure to still pay attention to what was going on around him so he didn't run into anybody, trip and fall, or not be able to remember how to get back. The streets were pretty crowded and as he approached an apartment complex that he knew Taichi and Sora lived in, he started seeing a lot of police officers and military men. He looked down at his digivice and saw that he had to walk by whatever commotion was going on to get to his target. He decided he might as well satisfy his curiosity if he was going to be so close anyway.
Daisuke let out a small grin as he pushed past the many bystanders. He heard a few of them curse at him as he waded through, but he ignored them. He was small enough that most people didn't pay much mind and those that did probably thought he was looking for his parents. It was unfortunate, but he was pretty sure that most of them thought he was younger than he was, since he was a little on the short side.
As he moved he realized that most of the commotion was directed towards the river beside him, so he started heading in that direction. When he was finally able to get passed the throng of bodies he stopped dead in his tracks at the yellow police tape. He knew his eyes were as wide as saucers and he was gaping like an idiot, but he didn't really care, because what was in front of him was pretty mind blowing. It also gave him an idea of when they were.
Before his eyes, resting in the harbor like some kind of grand monument was a missile. Not just any kind of missile though. It was a nuclear warhead. He knew because it had been all over the news and had almost started a war between Japan and America, whom the missile belonged to. He briefly wondered how he could have forgotten this had happened when he had actually seen the missile fall while out with his mother. He hadn't really understood what was happening at the time. He was only seven, after all, but his mother had totally flipped and he remembered being questioned for a few days by some military guys.
"Pretty scary, huh?"
Daisuke jumped when he heard the voice behind him. He had been so engrossed in his memories that he had completely forgotten that he was standing in a crowd of people. He whipped himself around to see who had spoken only to come face to face with one Yamato Ishida. He couldn't help but gape a little as he stared at the younger-older boy. It was definitely a weird sight. For once he was actually glad to be shorter than most boys his age, because if he had been taller than his sempai he might not have been able to handle the weirdness.
"Y-Yamato-sempai!" Daisuke squeaked out before he could stop himself. He flushed a little at how high his voice had gotten and mentally face palmed for his mistake. Yamato was one of the more suspicious and "hardened" of the Chosen Children. In fact he was probably the worst person Daisuke could have run into. Daisuke didn't exactly have a filter for his mouth and he just knew this was going to be really difficult for him to explain.
Yamato raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?" he asked confused and suspicious. "Do I know you?"
"Er... not yet," Daisuke said awkwardly.
"Not yet? What is that supposed to mean," Yamato asked with narrowed eyes.
"Um, maybe we can talk about this somewhere else?" he asked hopefully.
"Why should I go anywhere with you? I don't know you or anything about you."
"Uh..." he said as he tried to think of some way to convince the other boy to come with him. He didn't want to talk about this in a crowded street, even if nobody was focusing enough to here them. It made him nervous and he shifted Chibimon in his arms. He suddenly wanted to smack himself. How could he have forgotten about the most convincing evidence he had?
"Because of him," he said firmly and with confidence as he lifted Chibimon and shoved him forward to show him to Yamato. Chibimon startled awake at the sudden move, but merely blinked at Yamato who's mouth was hanging open slightly.
Yamato seemed to shake himself and snapped his mouth closed. His eyes hardened and he grabbed Daisuke by the wrist and started pulling him through the crowd. Daisuke let out a squawk at the sudden movement, but didn't resist as he was led to somewhere quieter. Once the three had made it to an ally way, which left Daisuke feeling uneasy, Yamato dropped his wrist and spun to meet his eyes.
"Why do you have a digimon?" he demanded with out preamble.
"Because I'm a Chosen Child," Daisuke said confidently. His sempai had a way of being intimidating, though he hadn't seen much of it in his own time, but Daisuke knew he had every right to be where he was and he didn't have the luxury of beating around the bush. Not that he'd do so anyway, but it was the principle of the matter.
"There are only eight Chosen Children," Yamato said.
"Right now, yeah, but in three years time there are about a hundred all around the world and four more show up here in Japan," Daisuke explained.
Yamato scoffed. "Are you trying to tell me that you're from the future?"
"Yes," Daisuke said with such certainty and finality that Yamato was startled.
Yamato frowned. "Then prove it."
"I don't really know how to do that. I have a digimon and I know you, but you don't know me. I can't really reveal what's going to happen in the future, because Kuroku said that it was dangerous messing with time. I don't want to mess anything up," Daisuke said a touch desperate at the end.
"Whose Kuroku?" Yamato asked.
"This old guy who came to our time with this clock like digimon. He said that while he wasn't a Chosen Child he knew about them and he talked about there being a bunch of different worlds and digital worlds out there that nobody knows about. Apparently there's some big bad out there trying to destroy his world and digital world and if he succeeds he's going to destroy all of our worlds, so Kuroku's traveling between different dimensions and times to gather Chosen Children or the equivalent from different worlds to fight off the enemy and save all of the digital worlds," Daisuke explained all in one go. It was extremely condensed but he didn't have the time or the patience to try and explain things any better.
Yamato looked at him like he'd grown another head. "And why should I believe something like that? It sounds ridiculous."
"You didn't believe in the digital world until you went there either," Daisuke pointed out.
"Maybe not, but a time traveling, world hopping Chosen Child sounds crazy."
"Daisuke's not lying and he's not crazy!" Chibimon said in defense of his partner.
Yamato jumped, having forgotten that he was there. He looked at the little blue dragon and a bit of doubt came over his face. "It still sounds ridiculous, but I guess you do have a digimon partner, so you can't be completely lying."
Daisuke's face broke into a wide smile. "Great, that means we can head back to the park and meet up with the others!" he said cheerily as he grabbed Yamato's wrist and began dragging him out of the alley way.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yamato yelled and yanked his arm back. "I didn't say I believed you, just that you weren't completely lying."
Daisuke looked at him and frowned, which Yamato thought looked more like a pout. For some reason he really didn't want to say no to him. On the other hand he had no idea who this kid was. He could be a digimon in disguise or something.
Daisuke sighed and then put his hand to his chin and narrowed his eyes in a classic "thinking pose". Only a few seconds went by before his eyes lit up and he let out an excited "AH!" before turning back to Yamato. "If you see an older version of Takeru will you believe me?" he asked and Yamato's eyes widened. "Of course you'll have to come with me because we split up to look for you guys. He's probably back at the park by now. He wouldn't have any trouble convincing anyone to come with him. Actually, I can see If he's there. We can track each other easily, because we can tell who's who. Unfortunately Koushiro hasn't figured out how to do that with you guys yet." And with that said he pulled out his D-3 and started pulling up the tracking program.
Yamato's widened even more when he saw the D-3. It wasn't the same as there's, but he could tell it was a digivice. He was a Chosen Child after all. The different looks could easily be attributed to him being from the future, if he was telling the truth about that. The strange feeling he got when he was around the other boy could also be attributed to the fact that he was a Chosen Child, though it was a slightly different and much stronger feeling than the one he got from being around the rest of the group. It was almost like what he felt around Taichi, except it was still different to that feeling. If this kid really was from the future than he must be connected to him in some way more than simply being another Chosen Child.
"Well?" Daisuke asked impatiently when he noticed Yamato zoning out a little. "I've already seen that Takeru and Hikari are back at the park. Are you going to come or do I have to find some other way to convince you?"
Yamato thought for a moment before giving his answer, "I'll go with you, but this had better not be a trick."
"Great! And I promise that it's not a trick." Daisuke said before grabbing Yamato's wrist again and pulling him towards the Alley way entrance.
"I can walk on my own, you know," Yamato grumbled, but he didn't pull away like he normally would have. There was just something about the kid that was keeping him from being too irritated.
It took a while to get through the crowd as it seemed that even more people were flocking the unexploded warhead than before. Daisuke supposed that that was probably true as it was late enough that most of the adults would be getting off of work now. Having someone with you that you were pretty much dragging didn't help much either.
Not that Daisuke was complaining. He was happy that he'd found someone and that it hadn't taken nearly as long as he thought it would have. He wondered of it had anything to do with being the Successor of Friendship, but then decided it didn't really matter. He was getting distracted and that was never a good thing. He always got into some kind of trouble when he let his mind wander.
Just as he thought this, he ran right into some one, though whether this could be considered "trouble" was debatable. On one hand he lost his balance and fell to the ground, dragging Yamato with him, whose wrist he was still holding. Yamato ended up falling on top of Daisuke, and while Daisuke was used to being on the bottom of a dog pile every time he and the others travel through the digital gate, it was still painful. On the other hand the person he ran into and his companion were friendly and most certainly welcome company on their way back to the park.
"Whoa! Are you guys okay?" A friendly and oddly familiar voice asked above the two downed boys.
Yamato groaned and pushed himself onto his hands and knees. He shot an irritated glare at Daisuke, but still pulled the other boy up with him. Daisuke gave a sheepish grin in response before turning his attention to the two people they had knocked into.
Standing before them in all his glory was Taichi, and if Daisuke had thought it was weird to see Yamato it was ten times worse with Taichi. He had actually known Taichi at this age. They had met at the beginning of the school year in 1999 when Taichi had come to pick Hikari up after school. Daisuke had been new, having just moved from Kyoto. Hikari had been the first person to befriend him (and he meant this literally – he had never had friends before) and had introduced the two of them. That had pretty much settled things.
Seeing Taichi this young again while they were the same age was really weird, especially as they could now look directly in each others eyes, something that had never been possible except for when Taichi had knelt down. Daisuke knew he was gaping like an idiot, but there wasn't much for it. After a few seconds he heard someone chuckling – it was muffled but very familiar and he snapped his mouth shut before turning to Taichi's companion and pouting.
"Ke~n!" he whined a little at his friend.
"Sorry," He said though he didn't seem sorry at all.
Daisuke huffed and then turned back to look at Taichi who was looking at him with a furrowed brow. "We're fine, Taichi-sempai," He said and then sighed. He had to stop calling them like that. It was probably weird for them, although at least Taichi was already his sempai by this time.
Taichi's eyes widened a little at the title and this time it was his turn to gape at Daisuke. "Daisuke?" he choked out.
"Yep!" he said leaning back a little and putting his hand behind his head.
"I guess you really were telling the truth," He said to Ken and Ken smiled and nodded his head.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Yamato asked looking between his friend and the strange boy who had suddenly appeared out of no where.
"Yeah. Daisuke's Hikari's friend. I met him at the beginning of the school year. I've been teaching him some soccer. He's a really fast learner!" Taichi said with a smile.
Daisuke couldn't help but blush at the praise, even if it was from the younger version of his sempai, it was something that Taichi had at one point thought and it made him feel pretty good to hear it.
"Well, I guess I don't have to worry about this being some kind of prank then," Yamato said with a sigh.
"I told you I wasn't lying. You'll still get to see Takeru, though just in case there are any more doubts. He's already at the park waiting with Hikari."
"Man, this is gonna be weird," Taichi said thinking about seeing his older-younger sister.
"No kidding," Yamato said under his breath as the began walking back to the park.
The walk back was made in awkward silence. The Chosen Children from the future and past were still unsure about each other, even if the second generation new the others from the future. There wasn't much conversation that could be made without making them all think about the fact that two of them were from the future or past depending how it was looked at.
When they reached the park they could see that it was strangely empty. Daisuke figured this was somehow Kuroku's doing, though he couldn't be sure what he did. He and Ken led the other two to the far end where Kuroku was waiting. As they neared they saw Hikari and Takeru holding their digimon and talking with Koushiro and Sora. There were several other small blobs roaming around and Daisuke frowned trying to figure out what they could be, when all of a sudden Taichi and Yamato let out shout of surprise and joy and began running towards the group. Two of the smaller figures also began running forward and it only took Daisuke a second to figure out that they were the first generations digimon.
"I had wondered what we were going to do about them," Ken said as he stopped by Daisuke and watched the reunion.
Daisuke looked at the scene and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I forgot all about them..."
"Daisuke, Daisuke. Let's go. I want to say hi," Chibimon said as he tugged on Daisuke's sleeve.
"Alright, alright. Just hold your horses," he said and started towards his sempai who were now the same age as him.
"Just don't forget that they don't know you yet, alright. We don't want to make them uncomfortable," Ken said.
"Okay~" Chibimon said.
"We won't Ken-chan," Wormmon answered and the two little digimon hopped out of their partners grasps and made their way to the older digimon. Daisuke and Ken followed their over excited partners to speak with their teammates and sempai.
"About time you showed up," Takeru said as he came to meet Daisuke and Ken. Yamato couldn't help but stare at him as he walked by. It was really weird to see your younger brother the same age as yourself, but also taller than yourself.
"Yeah, well, I had to try and convince Yamato-sempai. Do you have any idea how hard that was?" Daisuke whined a little.
"I suppose he is one of the harder ones," Hikari said. Taichi looked at her with a slight frown, not sure what to think of the situation.
"Yeah, you guys have it easy. Everyone knows who you are, so it probably didn't take long at all," Daisuke pouted.
"Look on the bright side, Daisuke. At least you didn't have Jou," Ken said trying to cheer him up.
It worked and Daisuke snorted at the thought, "Yeah, that would be a nightmare."
"You shouldn't say things like that. Jou's not so bad anymore," Sora said as she walked over to the group with Piyomon.
"He's still pretty bad by this time, Sora," Takeru said, remembering that Jou was still pretty neurotic for a couple more years.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but what exactly is he doing?" Koushiro asked, startling the group since they hadn't noticed him walk up. When they looked to where he was pointing, they saw that Kuroku was examining the ground a short ways from where they had appeared.
"No idea," Daisuke said with a shrug. "He did that in our time before."
"Maybe he's checking for weaknesses in the Temporal and dimensional barriers," Ken suggested.
Sora, Taichi, and Yamato looked confused, not really understanding what they were talking about, while Koushiro had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Why not use the same place we used before then?" Gatomon asked drawing attention to the fact that the digimon were actually paying attention to the conversation, even if most of them had no idea what was being discussed.
"Perhaps because you were merely trying to travel through time, therefore he chose a place where only the temporal barrier was week. Now, however we have to both travel through time and to another dimension so he needs a place where both the temporal barrier and Dimensional barriers is weak. I wonder if..." Koushiro explained before trailing off and mumbling to himself and walking away.
"There he goes again," Tentomon said sighing a little as he following his partner.
"I didn't understand any of that,'' Taichi said and the others nodded in agreement.
Silence reigned for a time as the group stood in the clearing unsure of what to say next. It was extremely awkward and Daisuke was just barely keeping himself from fidgeting. He hated awkward silences, because he always felt the need to say something, and unfortunately what he said usually came off sounding idiotic and only had a fifty percent chance of making things less awkward and it was usually at his own expense. The other fifty percent of the time the silence only became more awkward. Fortunately it was Sora who spoke next and not him.
"Ken and Daisuke, right? Why don't we go sit over there and get to know each other better while we wait for the others," She said and grabbed the two boys' hands and dragged them away. Daisuke didn't feel sorry in the least to be leaving the other four to whatever awkward conversation would pop up and by the looks of it, Ken didn't either.
"Wait for me Daisuke!" Chibimon called as he ran after his partner, Wormmon right on his heels.
"I'm, uh, going to go over there too," Agumon said.
"Wait for me, Agumon!" Gabumon called out and the other digimon were quick to follow.
"Traitor..." Yamato said under his breath. He was awkward enough around his younger brother as it was, though he had gotten much better since the digital world. Being around an older version of him, was really uncool. He swallowed and looked at he other three, "So..."
"Right..." Taichi said nervously.
"Um..." Hikari said biting her lip.
"Yeah..." Takeru rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
About an hour passed before the remaining four Chosen Children showed up. The conversation between the four siblings had eventually moved from awkward to normal, as if nothing had changed at all. In fact the only show of strain that still remained was the occasional pause when Taichi or Yamato had to look up to speak with Takeru . Kuroku and Koushiro had talked quite a bit about the mechanics of Time and Dimensional travel and Sora, Ken, and Daisuke had made easy conversation, though they did their best not to reveal too much of what would happen in the future. The digimon, of course, were quite happy to chat amongst themselves or play silly games.
"Hey! We're here!" Miyako yelled as she came running into the park. Mimi, Iori, and Jou were running behind them.
"Took you long enough!" Daisuke exclaimed, "What were you doing?"
"Hmph! It's not my fault!" Miyako said, crossing her arms.
"I'm sorry I took so long. It was difficult to convince Jou that I was telling the truth," Iori said apologetically.
"It's alright. We figured it would take longer to convince him," Ken said with a smile, though it dropped a little when Iori frowned at him and looked away. Ken sighed a little dejectedly and Daisuke put his hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him.
"Ah, it wasn't that big of a deal," Taichi said with a shrug, before jumping out of the way of Palmon and Gomamon as they ran to their partners.
"Jou!"
"Mimi!"
"Gomamon!"
"Oh, Palmon! You're really here!"
They were allowed a short time with their partners before Kuroku finally interrupted.
"I know you're happy to see each other, but we really must be going. There are three more worlds we need to go to before we can go to my world and you will all need some training once we get there."
"Wait, before we go, could you explain a little more about what's going on?" Yamato asked with a frown.
"I thought that it was already explained to you," Kuroku said, hos gaze passing over the second generation.
"It was, but we're still a little confused on why you need us," Sora said and the others nodded in agreement before fixing Kuroku with serious looks.
Kuroku sighed with some impatience, but acquiesced to their request and told them everything he had told Daisuke and the others. Daisuke decided to sit further away and talk to Chibimon about some ramen he was thinking about trying. He didn't feel like listening to this story for a third (or fourth if you count the time he told it) time.
Once Kuroku was finished he looked at the Chosen Children. "That is everything I have to say. Are we ready to leave now?"
"Yeah, sorry. We just wanted to know what was going on," Taichi said.
"Then you agree to help us?" Kuroku asked.
"Of course!" Taichi said with determination.
"Very well then, we shall get started." Kuroku said as he walked to where he had been examining the ground. "Stand close together in a group and I shall call out where we need to go."
Nearly the same process was use this time as the last, except that it seemed a little more complicated. Their were orange and green circles and a lot more symbols. The incantation was also much longer. Daisuke couldn't make out any specifics like last time, because there were so many people, but he new that it was on a much larger scale. Daisuke instantly latched onto who was standing beside him, remembering the queasy feeling he got the first time it happened.
Taichi, whose shoulder he had grabbed, looked over to him with a curious expression. It quickly morphed into a concerned frown when he saw the grimace. Before Daisuke could say anything in way of explanation or warning, the world erupted into brilliant lights and colors and loud rushing sounds. The process had begun, and Daisuke decided it was much worse than last time and just barely managed to close his eyes before the psychedelic visuals made him lose what little food he had left in his stomach.
A/N: And that's a wrap! I hope you like the explanations and I hope they make sense. If you have any questions I would be glad to answer them. I do not know when the next chapter will be out. Hopefully within the next week or so. If anyone read my other story, will know that I can be very late sometimes. Those of you who didn't read my other story will probably find out pretty soon. On the up side, it will be a very long chapter. Until next time!
