Digital Dream 8- The Changed World
*Minako's POV, Several Months Later*
"Minako-chan, this is…"
"Sensei!"
"I didn't realize…oh, of course. Takaishi. I actually have Yamato over this weekend, he's playing with Takeru."
"I can go babysit…"
"Would you?" I nod and run out of the kitchen, heading to the living room. I notice the two boys in the floor, rough-housing, and sit on the couch to watch. They stop abruptly and stare at me. The younger one gets up and walks over, tugging my skirt.
"Who're you?" I smile.
"I'm Minako."
"I'm Takeru. And that's my brother Yamato." The older boy nods and gets up, walking over and holding out his hand. I shake his hand and smile sweetly. He blushes and backs up.
"How old are you guys?"
"Um…"
*Unknown POV*
"So…it looks like they've left her unattended…the stone."
"That Aquamon is a problem though. She never leaves it alone."
"We can handle a little Aquamon. Especially with the others not even here."
*Yamato's POV, in Tokyo*
"I wish there was some way we could have either stayed or brought Sensei back with us. I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone there like that…"
"Aquamon can take care of her. And we've got other stuff to deal with here." I'm still worried. So is Dad. I don't know about Mom…but still. Gabumon runs forward and I hurry after him.
"Hey! Don't run off like that."
*Aquamon's POV, The Digital World*
What's taking them so long in the real world? It's been forever. I've lost track of the years.
"Aquamon?" I turn around and stare at Minako. She's still the same, but I just heard her. "I'm over here…why are you looking like that?" I whirl and stare at the figure leaning on the wall of the cave we're in. "Don't look so shocked. You look like you're seeing a ghost."
"That's because I am. You realize that you've been…?" I shake my head.
"What? I passed out…where's Yamato and Takeru?"
"In the real world. It's been…"
"What? They're in the real world? And they didn't wait for me to wake up? That's rude…"
"They had to! If you'll quit interrupting me!" Minako looks taken aback by my outburst and I sigh. "Sorry. It's just been a while since I've talked to anyone."
"How long? It can't have been that long…"
"After you got sick, everyone got File Island back together and then we headed to the mainland. I've mapped it out in the past few hundred years, but it's been changing a lot. There's been a lot of chaos."
"Hundred…years…? What the heck happened?" I sigh and relay the entire story to Minako, all the way up to the time when the others followed Vamdemon into the real world to stop him and find the last child.
"So they're in the real world now, and time is still completely out of sync between the two worlds. Ara?" I hear something and hurry to the edge of the cave, looking at the sky. "What the heck?"
"That's Hawaii…and right there is South Africa! And China and Japan!" Minako points at different places in the sky and I notice that she's transparent. "Are the two worlds trying to combine or something? I wonder if they can see this place…where…?" She looks around and I shrug.
"We're in Pinocchimon's territory. The forest. I was about to go to the Sea and get comfortable. Water's my element, remember?" Minako nods slowly and I go to touch her, curious. My hand passes right through her arm.
"That's strange…"
"My hand passes straight through you and all you can say is that it's strange? You're so weird…"
"Oh! Look!" We both look up and I gasp.
"That light…they're coming back! And it looks like the light is connecting with the border…let's go!" I run into the cave and pick up Minako's body and run out.
"What's that?"
"You." I situate my grip on her body better and continue running to the edge of the Net Ocean, heading toward the light. "Don't disappear before we get there."
"Wait! How am I in two places at once?" Minako keeps up with me, her strong legs helping her keep pace with my long stride.
"I'm not sure. But…oh!" I skid to a halt beside the water and stare across. The others are on the other side. And I can sense MetalSeadramon in the water. Not good.
"Hey! Aquamon!" I wave to them and step onto the water, walking across. Once I get across, I set Minako down and face the kids.
"So? What happened?"
"Why does everything look so different? Are we really in the Digital World?" I nod once.
"A lot's changed."
"How? We weren't gone for more than a week."
"It only took you…time is more out of sync than I thought." I hear something behind and whirl. "MetalSeadramon! Everyone behind me." I hold a hand over my head and yell. "Warp Evolution!" Light swirls around my raised hand and spirals around me. "Hoeshomon! Faerie of Fire!" I float above the ground and form a flame in my hand. "Leave…MetalSeadramon!"
"This is my territory, Hoeshomon! And fire can't be around water…even your flames." I smirk.
*Yamato's POV*
This must not be Aquamon…I mean, Hoeshomon's first encounter with that guy.
"Guys…stay back."
"River of Power!"
"Blazing Shield!" A shield of fire comes up in front of us as a stream of energy comes from MetalSeadramon's snout. "We'll end up back where we started again. With you recovering at the same time as me. There won't be an end!"
"So be it!" MetalSeadramon attacks again, hitting Hoeshomon.
"Hoeshomon!"
"Blazing Torrent!" Her attack connects strongly and sends MetalSeadramon under the water, screaming.
"I'll get you yet!"
"I'd like to see you do that, when you get some guts." Hoeshomon lands softly and faces us. "He's such a pain in the rear." She shrinks back down to being Aquamon and we all stare at her.
"How…?"
"Huh? Oh, the evolution?" Taichi nods once. "I'm not really sure. It happened a while back…you all know that Minako's the genius, not me." I look over at the statue that Mina-oneesan became and then glance over at Takeru.
"Excuse me…who are you?"
"You must be Hikari. Good to see you again, Tailmon."
"Aquamon."
"How do you two know each other…?"
"If I hadn't have had an obligation to look after the others, I would have searched for Plotmon and taken care of her. Anyways…"
"Has anything changed?"
"Besides the landscape."
"No. I've been mapping everything out. And then the Dark Masters had to go and screw everything up."
"What?"
"Come on…I've got to rest anyways. I have a little hideout in every area of Spiral Mountain." Aquamon walks over to Mina-oneesan, I notice she has legs now…instead of a tail, and picks her up.
"Do you need some help?"
"No. The last time I had to move, I had just fought two of the four of them. I'll explain once we get there." Aquamon leads us across the bit of land and to a tunnel that seems to lead under the water. We go down the tunnel and end up in a large cave. "Sorry about the lack of light in here…I can't keep it lit up without notifying the stupid ones where I am." A small flame flickers to life in the center of the cave and illuminates everything. "Oh, thanks Agumon."
"How'd you know it was me?"
"I just know these things. So…" Aquamon sets Mina-oneesan down on a bed-like shelf and walks over to a chair. "What happened in the real world? Obviously, Tailmon and Hikari were found." We start to relay what happened in Odaiba to her and she nods occasionally, not responding.
"What happened here?" She sighs; making the first noise since we started the story, and then relays a shortened version of what must have been hundreds of years.
"Basically…after you guys left, I moved Minako to a safe place and started working on doing some research. I had heard through a few sources that there was a group waiting for the right moment to take over the Digital World. Well, with Vamdemon out of the Digital World, and you guys as well, they had their chance. It started slowly, a few Digimon here and there would start acting differently, or a fight would start quicker than normal…little things like that. We were on a totally different continent, about…I think two hundred years ago, when the land started changing. We got back and that monstrosity of a mountain was sticking out. I wasn't sure about it for a while, and just avoided it, staying on the outskirts of the base. But after a while, probably about fifty or sixty years, the changes spread out and by the time a hundred years had gone by, the entire world was covered in the division of the areas. There are small pockets of resistors, like us, who have hidden for years, gathering strength and information, a way to get things back to normal. It makes me feel really stupid…I spent so much time trying to…never mind. Anyways…"
"So…the group? You said the Dark Masters…?"
"Yea. Four Ultimate Level Digimon who managed to take over. MetalSeadramon, he's in charge of the water, Mugendramon, in charge of machinery and anything linked to the element of Metal, Pinocchimon, over wood and plants, and Piemon, the lord of darkness."
"So…about your evolution? When did that happen? And how?" Aquamon looks shocked.
"I'm not really sure about that. When I first encountered the Dark Masters, they were trying to…" Aquamon glances over at Mina-oneesan and shakes her head. "They're trying to destroy any threats. And they do. When they attacked us…"
