A/N: Chapter seven is up and running! Hope everyone continues to enjoy the story!
Sorry for the hiatus! I'm back (at least for now). Please continue to read, review, follow, and favorite!
Thank you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the characters!
Chapter Seven
-Kamiya's Apartment-
Everyone had regrouped at the Kamiya's apartment and were completing their own checklists or were lost in their own thoughts.
"First aid kit. Check. Extra bandages. Check. Extra Supplies. Check." Joe rambled off to himself as he started putting everything back into his bag. Tai continued pacing around the living room, partly going through his own checklist and partly worrying over his little sister's safety.
'I have my stuff, as well as some things for Kari. I'm glad Sora got here quickly or else I wouldn't have known what to get for her. Dang it, Kari. What have you gotten yourself into now?'
The majority of the thoughts in the room matched Tai's. There were a few excited ones mixed in, mainly Izzy's. No one could say that Izzy wasn't worried, it's just that his curiosity to meet these new individuals was higher. Izzy, thought that this might be good for Kari, knowing how protective Tai was of her and how Tai didn't exactly give Kari the chance to be strong herself. Finishing his preparations, Izzy took a glance around the room before speaking.
"Everyone ready? The coordinates are set, and if everyone's done preparing, we can leave."
Everyone gave an affirmative nod, signaling Izzy to bring up the Digital Portal.
"DIGI PORT OPEN!" With those three words, the living room became empty once again.
-Digital World: Tai & Co.-
Everyone landed carefully. Some of the DigiDestined, after landing, slipped in the mud below them. "What the?!" Davis jumped out of the mud. "Why did we land HERE?!"
The sound of light-hearted laughter filled the –now revealed– swamp. "Sorry about that." The familiar voice of Jackie, audible before he was visible, said through laughter. Jackie walked through the swamp towards the group. "What the heck dude?!" Davis was not letting this go.
"This-" Jackie motioned around him, "is a swamp and there is my home." Jackie pointed down the "muddy road" towards a large cottage.
"You live in a swamp." The shock written all over the children and digimon's faces was obvious (and priceless) to Jackie. "Yes. It's very peaceful."
"You have got to be kidding me. A SWAMP?! I HAVE TO WALK THROUGH THIS SWAMP IN MY NEW SHOES?!" Mimi was now throwing a "small" fit. "This way." Jackie smiled, ignoring the "Princess" –as he dubbed Mimi– and started leading the way. Everyone ignored Mimi's rants as well, until "DON'T LEAVE US!" Mimi and Palmon yelled, running up to everyone. Well, not running, more than "speed walking as carefully as possible without getting too muddy or falling".
It wasn't that far of a walk to Jackie's house. "Welcome to my humble abode. You can set your bags in the corner there, and follow me into my work area." Jackie smiled as he walked through a large archway. Tai quickly put down his bags and followed Jackie. "Wow…"
Jackie's "work area" was a huge room (about the size of the Kamiya's apartment) fully furnished with two tables (with eight chairs each), three couches –for three people each–, four different colored over-sized chairs, and three small rectangular coffee tables. Everything was a different shade of brown. The walls were a very dim gray and there were two door-sized windows showing the swamp outside.
"Impressive, huh?" Jackie asked Tai. "This is huge." Tai answered with a nod. "I help settle any and all disputes between the villages out in this region. I need a lot of space in here for that. Takuya helps out a lot, so I put him in charge of the areas near 'Youthful Village'. As its name hints at, most of the baby digimon are raised there, at least the ones of this region. It's similar to Primary Village, which I assume you know of."
"So, this Takuya helps with any disputes near Youthful Village?" Matt asked, as he and the rest came in.
"Yes. His partner, Coronamon, was raised there and Takuya appeared in the forest just outside the village. It only made sense to have them watch that area, since most know them and trust them to do what's right for everyone." Izzy, who had walked over and sat at one of the tables typing notes, asked, "Where is Youthful Village and how far away is it from here, Jackie?"
Jackie smiled at Izzy's attitude, "Not too far. At least since you have your partners with you. If they digivolve, you should get there within a day and a half. About three days, without digivolving. I'll send you the coordinates right now. But I would suggest staying here toni-"
"But-" Tai started to object.
"Staying here tonight allows me time to send the word out to the villages along the way. I can notify them that my guests will be coming through and to not cause trouble. Quite a few are very protective of their villages and territory and have a habit of attacking on sight. They know not to attack anyone of my guests. This way, you all will have safe passage, on in case anyone gets lost, can help you regroup." Jackie didn't waste a moment, nor let Tai completely object.
"That would be more than beneficial, Tai. We would have more able eyes to help in our search for Kari." Izzy looked towards their leader as he spoke. Knowing how Tai is, he would not want to rest a night when they could be searching. So Izzy used this to his advantage. More help and safe passage through hostile territories would allow them to find Kari much quicker. Especially if they had to stop and fight other digimon every few hours. Tai sighed in defeat. "Alright, we'll take you up on that offer Jackie. So, thank you."
"It's not a problem. It's your younger sister that's missing, correct? It's only natural that any member of a family would worry. It's the same with humans and with Digimon. If I can help ease that worry a bit, even the smallest amount, I am glad to do it."
Jackie walked towards a small door and opened it, revealing a tall staircase. "There's plenty of rooms up here. You are all welcome to any room you like. Rest to your heart's content, because there will be a long travel ahead of you. Izzy, I'll give you a connection portal to here. It will connect you straight to me, in case of trouble. With that you'll be able to contact me or teleport to here. Takuya has one as well, so if he happens to contact me while you are out, I'll send him to a location to meet you all."
Everyone's cheers filled the room. "That's great!" "Awesome!" "Thank you, Jackie!" "A BED!"
"Prodigious!" Jackie couldn't help but smile at the children's reactions. 'If only Takuya could get to know them. Perhaps he could act more natural…'
-Digital World: Youthful Village-
"What is all this?" Kari asked the Dorumon, who was hurrying past her. The plaza was being decorated with flowers from the forest and some of the digimon were cooking different things.
"Hmm? This? This is all of us getting ready for the celebratory dinner tonight! It's not every day that a human visits here! We're all so happy that you've come to visit!" the Dorumon smiled brightly and then continued on his way.
Kari watched the two Lalamon, small pink digimon that floated around (and looked like a flower bulb turned upside down), creating and placing the brightly colored flowers around. "They're so pretty and so amazing." She couldn't help but admire the flowers and hardworking digimon. One of the Lalamon noticed her watching and floated over to her. "Would you like one?" The Lalamon smiled at Kari. "Is it alright too?" Lalamon smiled, "Of course! Here." The Lalamon created a small flower crown –created from red, pink, and white flowers– and placed it on Kari's head. "Those flowers are special. They glow in the dark and last a long time." "They're beautiful, thank you!"
Gatomon, the ever suspicious and protective cat digimon, wondered around the village. She was looking for that boy. 'How can he not know anything? I don't like the idea of letting him near Kari. If I can find something, anything, to help me in case he tries something, I'll feel better.'
Gatomon found Takuya sitting on the outskirts of the village. He seemed absorbed in staring at the nearby hill and the starting sunset. Gatomon walked over to him, "Hey. Kid." "Hmm? Oh, hi Gatomon." He turned and looked at her. Gatomon examined his face for a moment. With a sigh Gatomon talked again, "What's wrong with you?" "Ah, well, I was thinking about what your partner –" "You mean Kari." "Yeah, Kari, about what Kari said. I was trying to remember something, anything really, but nothing comes to me…" Takuya sighed. "Humph. Well, maybe you need to SEE something to remember. Yolei, another human and friend of ours, worked with Kari on a project about memory loss. She said 'sometimes people need to see something to trigger memories' or something like that."
"See something…? How would I see something that would 'trigger' these memories?"
"You'll have to see the human world in person." Kari sat down next to him, and Gatomon hopped on her lap. "Pictures wouldn't help you too well. These memories have been buried under ten years of new memories. Even if I showed you the pictures I have, it wouldn't help much. Besides, seeing something in a picture and experiencing it are two different things." Gatomon nodded in agreement.
"See it myself… I-I don't know. The first thing remember is waking up and meeting Coronamon. I don't know what this 'human' world is like." Takuya looked away, unsure of what to do. "Well, if you want to know, just ask. I don't know everything about the 'human' world, but I can tell you a bit." Kari, the ever considerate of anyone's feelings, made sure not to call it "our world" not knowing whether or not it would upset Takuya.
"Okay then. Describe it."
"Uh, to start with the human world is…no that's no good. How about this – Humans live on a planet called Earth –at least that's the only planet that has humans that scientists know of– which is made up of mostly oceans. There are seven continents –land masses. I live in Japan, a country in the Asian continent that is surrounded by water. You also lived in Japan. There are a lot of countries and languages out there." Kari's explanation continued on, giving the simplest and basic descriptions available.
"So, I lived in a world full of humans and animals. Digimon are not common nor native to the Human World. But there are a lot of similarities between the Digital World and the Human World." Takuya repeated the gist of Kari's explanation. "Yeah, that's the basics." Kari nodded in agreement.
"Here you are!" The Lalamon called out. "It's ready~!" "Yeah, come eat! It smelled really good, you'll like it!" The Kamemon smiled. "Coming!" Takuya said, standing up. He offered his hand to Kari, "You'll like it. There all really good cooks." "I bet I will. Thanks." Kari, avoiding eye contact, took his hand and stood up.
Sorry for the delay!
I'm going to try and get a few chapters done as an apology for the hiatus.
I'm also going to delete the 'Hiatus' chapter.
Hope everyone is having a good December. (Mine is crappy already).
Next time – Tai & Co. start heading out for Youthful Village. Kari and Takuya talk more about the 'Human World'.
