Author's Notes

For some reason, the fact that the twins were on the same train was surprising to people. Personally, I found it went best with the story and so went with it. Honestly never occurred to me to split them up…not in the sense of putting them on two different trains. The "slipping down the stairs" did occur to me, but I decided that considering Koichi's circumstances, very bad idea. He'd be lucky to get off with a grand mal I think and would influence his spirit's transfer and mess the process up.

Changed Angler's personality again. You might have noticed from Butterflies Flight/Achilles' Heel that I change the personality of the train depending on the circumstance. It is AU after all. In any case, Angler did seem more mature at the beginning…until he got high on Chocolate.

What signals normally do is give a general direction, then when you get closer it becomes both stronger and more specific. So if you're far from the signal, it'll basically just tell you to go in a very general direction…which may or may not be of help, depending on where you are. If a plain field, great. If a labyrinth…completely useless. See my point? Remember when Tai was looking for TK? He says: "north-north west". Not very specific.

I haven't bothered describing Takuya's spirit evolution thingy again, because we're following the twins, not the others. All you really need to know is Takuya gets his spirit in this episode. The trailmon arrived after the fractal code was restored, but I adjusted the time a little. AU, me messing with things for convenience…you know.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Mirror Distortions

AU. What if the twins' parents never divorced? What if being pushed together was the very rift that divided them? What if envy was spurned from societal influence-and the gate opened amidst?

Kouichi K &Kouji M

Chapter 6

The Fire Spirit

Not many things threw Koji Minamoto off guard. He saw himself as quite apathetic…though if he ever met the idiot who made up that word, he was going to have a little chat with them. If he ever looked up the etymology of the word however, he would find that it's paralleling to the word "pathetic" was intentional, as the addition of the "ic" ending onto "apathy" modelled the structure of the word "pathetic". If he looked further back, he'd come to realise that the model in fact had nothing else to do with the word, as "apathy" derived from of French and ultimately from Greek, from a word that means "freedom from suffering or want of sensation".

There was a rather sublime irony there to be realised. Was he suffering? Physically no, unless one counted the injuries he attained from his martial arts classes and the scuffles he found himself in from time to time. Mentally…that was a difficult question, but the simplest answer one could give was "yes". In that sense, simplified beyond belief, every being capable of even the most minuscule amount of free will, suffered mentally. Not to say they were psychotic or demented…but in layman's terms it could not be denied that they each suffered in their own way.

That wasn't the ironic part. The irony came from the part that addressed freedom. There he was, trying to get somewhere outside the circle that was his current life, and he'd somehow managed to drag his brother, the one largely acting as the pivotal point of that circle (though not necessarily by his own violation) along with him.

Rather reluctantly too, as Koichi was none too happy at being stuck on the train. And it had nothing to do with him lacking a ticket.

'I'm getting out at the next station,' he muttered to himself, assuming that like all other subways that departed from the lower levels, the train would only travel for a maximum of three minutes before slowing to a stop.

Sadly, that was not to be.

'Next stop,' the unknown voice, distinctly male, said. 'Forest Terminal, the Digital World.'

Koji sighed. The Digital World? Who'd ever heard of such a place? No doubt this was going to turn into a waste of time and effort.

But then again, it wasn't like he didn't have the time to waste.

'Where the hell is this train going anyway?' he asked in general, although he was addressing the conductor he couldn't see far more than his brother.

'I just said that didn't I?' the voice replied. 'The Digital World.'

The lights of the underground terminal vanished suddenly as they entered the dark tunnel, the train picking up speed.

The younger twin rolled his eyes again. Seriously, if the Conductor kept going on like that he'd start sounding like a broken record even to the most patient people.

'Where exactly is the Digital World?' he asked, gritting his teeth and talking in a tone that hybridised annoyance and that which one used when talking to young children or else those with learning disabilities. He stood as he said that, making for the front of the carriage.

There was a pause, then a sound of an exhaust suddenly expelling a large amount of gas. 'You know,' the voice replied. 'I don't rightly know. We're here, my world's there, and that's about all there is too it.'

The front of the carriage suddenly jerked with a clang as the wheels readjusted themselves to the rail. It was only fast reflexes born from years of martial arts that stopped Koji from falling like his brother before him.

'Whoops.' The voice now sounded sheepish as the raven straightened himself and continued to the front of the carriage, and the doors that divided it and the one in front of them. He assumed, since the voice was coming from that general area, that the Conductor was aboard that first carriage, although he couldn't see anyone from his current position. 'Sorry 'bout that. Forget myself at times. It's hard to remember I'm dragging two carriages on my tail. Hard to find a job when half the rails have been sucked out.'

That made no sense to either of them. And when Koji reached the door and opened it, revealing the empty first compartment, he was further baffled.

'Where the hell are you?'

There was a snort. 'Kids these days. So disrespectful. I'm being nice enough to give you all a ride.'

'We didn't ask for a ride.' That was Koichi.

Another jerk of the carriage. 'Sorry kid. Can't do anything there. As I said, I've got a tight schedule to keep.'

Light blinked and faded again, almost as if they were passing from one tunnel to another.

Koji opened his mouth again, about to say something, but a whistle cut him off.

'Hang on tight.' This statement was about as loud as the first but louder than the rest. 'And no throwing up in my insides.'

Before anyone (the twins or anyone in the carriages behind them), could understand that last comment, they were plunged into total darkness. The internal lights snapped off.

And then there was the screeching of brakes.

Koji awoke to light flashing. It reminded him slightly of a disco ball, flashing white light in spreading beams across the compartment, gently alternating between shadowed and bright. He found himself half-slumped over the seat he had been sitting in, one hand clutching the rail while both legs dangled on the ground and his torso somewhere in between. With a bit of a groan he pulled himself up fully (it was after all a rather uncomfortable position to be in), and looked around. The train was still moving, and somebody somewhere was whistling rather annoyingly. They were passing some sort of forest.

'Almost there, almost there. We're almoooooost there. Yeah, yeah, yeah...' The whistler had started singing.

Joy, Koji thought sarcastically, finding his brother entirely on the floor (and therefore more comfortable) and no-one in the other carriages. He remembered hearing voices from the ones behind them before losing consciousness, and he couldn't help but wonder where the other passengers had gone.

Not that he cared. Really. It was just plain ol' curiosity.

'Almost there. Almost there.'

'Oh stop it,' he muttered irritably. That singing was really getting on his nerves.

Another whistle. 'Oh, sorry 'bout that. You two were being too quiet and it was getting rather boring. We're about to pull into the Flame Terminal now.'

And indeed, the forest was vanishing, being replaced by some sort of train station and other metallic structures.

The train pulled to a stop a few minutes later, and the "driver" let out a huge yawn. 'I think I'll take a nap here.'

The doors opened, and then the sound of large snoring echoed in the compartment.

Koji meant to get off, before hesitating slightly. His brother was still asleep, clutching something in his hands. The keys probably, the other assumed, putting his own hand into his pocket to feel the mobile phone…and pulling out a different sort of electronic device.

'What the heck?'

The snoring stopped. 'Oh, keep it down would'ya?' The voice grumbled. 'Come out here so I can see ya. That way maybe I can answer your questions and get some shut-eye.'

The younger twin spared his brother another glance before disembarking.

The train, rather blue and polished, snorted a little and yawned again. Literally.

'What?' it, or presumably he, asked. 'Never seen a talking train before?'

'Sure,' the other responded sarcastically. 'Thomas the Tank Engine.'

He wouldn't admit that the train had caught him off guard. After all, a slip of the tongue had already revealed the plastic…thing in his hand had done so.

'Yeah?' The train looked genuinely interested. 'So they're talking trains on the other side too? That's nice.' A pause. 'Well, my name's not Thomas for sure. It's Angler at your service. No see ya later. Shoo. Shoo.' It took a deep breath and exhaled, before closing his eyes again. 'And don't wake me up.'

'I thought you were operating on a tight schedule,' Koji muttered, but not loud enough for the other to hear. 'Big help anyway. A talking train. I've wandered into kinder-garden again. Joy.' That last part was unhidden sarcasm.

He more closely inspected the new device it held. It partially resembled one of those hand-held games, fitting snugly into his hand as if it had been modelled for it. The grips were dark blue while the actual plastic was a light grey that bordered on white. Indeed, most people would mistake it for being purely white. There were four buttons, three in a triangular fashion under the darker grey screen with the fourth on the side, under the forefinger if held firmly. There was some sort of output at the top, similarly to those solar-powered calculators, and the screen was surrounded by navy blue trapped within a hexagon which was only a tone, perhaps less, darker than the plastic that encased the rest of the device.

As he stared at the device, the screen lit up, revealing an odd sort of symbol. If he saw it in a page of other symbols, he probably wouldn't be able to pick it out. And in his opinion, that made it a rather mundane, if not entirely "bad", symbol. Especially since it was rather clouded by static.

He wasn't too surprised when a voice spoke however. Nor was he too surprised to find it female. It would be female after all. How many men led kids on random rides…and then turned around and asked for help?

That latter part occurred only after the connection dropped out.

'Hey, I'd hate to wake ya, but I do need to get going…like now! And I really need some help.'

Koichi groaned in slight protest, before forcing his eyes open. The voice sounded rather urgent. It wasn't until his other senses realigned however that he realised exactly what was so urgent. He could see flashes of light, green and red, and by the looks of things, the…it looked like a station or terminal, was falling apart.

'Ah, dammit.' The train driver/conductor/whoever began to curse. 'I really need my review mirrors fixed.'

The elder twin peeked out the window as the train's head twisted around to stare at him.

'Oh good,' he said, and the other could see the mouth moving…and was reasonably sure he wasn't hallucinating after a seizure. He was moving fine after all. He did pinch himself to make sure though.

Yep, not hallucinating. Although he'd never actually tried pinching himself in the midst of a hallucination. Normally, he couldn't quite move. But hallucinating was a rather inaccurate term; normally it was blurry grey and black shapes permeated with blinks of yellow light…those made him vomit the second he regained consciousness. He did sometimes hear voices, and connect them with odd shapes.

But it was remarkably clear. And there was no headache (which suggested the aura had passed or developed into a seizure and he'd managed to sleep of the entire effect) nor nausea. But maybe that was because the air smelt so fresh.

None of that explained however why, or even how, the train was talking to him?

'Err…hello?' The train tried. 'Could you help me reverse?'

'Uhh…sure.'

He clambered off the carriage and onto the platform…thankfully intact. The rails however were a different story. He could see why the train (driver?) needed help. The rails had somehow melted slightly, making the surface rocky rather than smooth…which meant the wheels could only glide over so fast over certain (rather worse off) spots before running a serious risk of becoming derailed.

As to why the rails had turned like that…to be honest it looked like acid or some other corrosive material had spilt on them.

Walking straight was always a good idea, especially when one didn't know where they were. There was a blinking dot on the screen, but as it brought no map along with it, it wasn't all that big of a help except to tell him to go "in this direction", ie. The direction in which the dot was at the centre of the screen. The problem was that the signal seemed far enough away for the possible "straight" directions to span about sixty degrees of his body rotation from his current position…with three different exits he could currently see.

He'd stuck to the centre one. Just kept going straight. And he'd been out of the station before he noticed the rails suddenly disappearing and the train flying.

Turning back, he noticed the black hole, in which fire and black acid spewed, and in the distance, on an elevated platform next to a rail that had become dislodged and now hung over nothing, were three small and blurry figures.

For a moment, he was worried. Was his brother still on the train, or was he tethering at the edge of nothing?

But then the entire image was swallowed up as the large black hole faded, and the tracks were put right again.

He turned and kept on walking. Whichever way Koichi had gone made no difference to him. He wasn't his brother's keeper after all.

'You might want to grab on,' the train said (he decided to question the logic at a later date, seeing as the platform was vanishing beneath his feet).

Thankfully, Koichi took hold of the extended appendage and pulled himself on as the train began to pick up speed. They'd managed to navigate over the "gritty" areas…but a new problem was fast developing. Namely the bit of the tracks that had fallen away, leaving quite a jump.

'Hang on!' The train bellowed, accelerating rapidly into the air. The raven clung (and he wasn't ashamed to admit it was rather desperately) to the grips on the side...until there was sparks and a grating sound, and then the train was whistling merrily with its wheels under flamed ground.

He risked a peek back. The rails, and really half the station had been sucked into the black hole spitting green acid and red flame. He thought for a moment he could spot the faint outline of a canine figure clashing with one that looked almost human, but there was another flash-he blinked, shielding his eyes- and they were gone.

'That would be the fire spirit.'

'Fire?' Koichi repeated, drawing in a bit of a breath as he stared at the black hole. He knew logically he should look away…more so because of his PSE, but logic always seemed to fail in the face of other things, especially fear. And in fear one generally did not take their eyes of the source while backing away.

He couldn't anyway. He was…well, captivated, though he reflexively drew himself a little closer.

The train, all things considered, sounded rather merry, still whistling between words. 'The Legendary Warriors are rising again. I never thought I'd live to see this…woah there!' The sudden exclamation came from a bridge missing a portion of its surface…and consequently its rails.

'You might want to hang oo-ooooon.' The last word was drawn out in a tone that was half sing-song and half warning as the wheels left solid ground for the second time with an acceleration speed too fast to stop.

Koichi clung to the side as the wind rushed past him, slashing at his face and his hands. In the process, he completely forgot about the flashing lights and the "fire spirit"…whatever that was.

Temporarily of course. But with the way the ride was going, he wasn't sure he'd make it to the next station.

'Heh heh, I know that feeling,' the train chuckled, as if reading his mind. 'Unfortunately, I can't let you inside the train without a pass, and I can't let you off in the middle of no-where, can I? Or leave you on a collapsing doorstep. So next stop, the….ah, whatever terminal's next. Breezy I think.'

All around them was cracked, infertile land with gusts of wind drifting through from time to time.

Or maybe that was the speed they were rushing past. Because the train (definitely the train talking) seemed to be in rather a hurry.