Author's Notes

The times are different between the two worlds. So when they left the real world in the afternoon, they arrived in the Digital World in the morning, so it was around midday when Koichi and Angler parted ways…which was also about the time Koji got his human spirit. Now it is further into the afternoon, and then into the next day. So to sum up, Takuya, Tommy, Zoe and Koji have their spirits. JP doesn't. Koichi doesn't even have his D-tector. We've passed through episodes 1-3 (except the very end) and episode 4 is partially rewritten so JP doesn't get his spirit. In fact, the Wind Factory's only mentioned in passing. The reason is towards the end of this chapter, which continues into the next chapter and also concludes day 2.

Oh yeah, and Bokomon's book gets automatically updated on everything the original author originally knew. That's why the continent of darkness pages are blank. Author never went there. Also, the author never knew anything about the ancient warrior of darkness, so the spirit of darkness isn't mentioned in the book. But the "legend" is common knowledge.

I thought for a while I wasn't going to get this done. Kept on getting distracted, and not only by my new fictionpress account (hehe, advertising there. Check it out, my name's Small Wings Flying). But I made it. And now I have to get a couple chapters ahead in the next six weeks or so so I'll be good for the exam period. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. I've been trying for the last to weeks, and look where I'm at.

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 9

Thinner than Blood

'Apparently you two don't get along very well,' Zoe commented as they set about fixing the damage again with a few extra hands.

Koichi looked at her briefly, before shrugging almost distractedly. 'He's my brother,' was the reply he gave.

'I don't have any myself, but I still think you two seem like an odd pair of brothers,' the blonde persisted. 'I've known Takuya for only a few hours, and he's already complained up a storm about him. Still, there's some pride buried in…even if he won't admit it.' She laughed at that. 'Man, being an older sibling must have a lot of responsibility. I think I'd like my privacy to myself.'

'Yeah…' the other, almost listlessly, agreed.

'Are you even listening to me?'

'Yeah,' Koichi replied again, setting up the garden frame.

Zoe gave him an odd look, then coaxed a flower into the soft soil.

'Are you proud to have him as a brother?' she persisted.

This time there was a pause before he replied in the affirmative.

'What about him?'

A longer pause.

'He's…strong,' came the reply in the end. 'And independent. He's always been able to handle himself.'

'Okay.' To the relief of the elder Minamoto twin, the blonde accepted that. Although, to his dismay, she attached herself to a different tangent. 'Do you mind?'

'Excuse me?' The question didn't quite click until the explanation followed.

'Do you mind he chooses to go off on his own?'

Koichi looked up, some dirt staining his right cheek, making that eye look ever so slightly darker. 'No,' he said quietly, blue eyes meeting with green before he turned slightly, breaking the spell to look down at Flora by his feet with her little watering can. 'No, I don't.'

The way he said it sounded almost believable, almost being the key word. There was a hint of sadness, or perhaps it was best described as lament. In any case, it was that little teardrop that spoilt the effect. Apart from that was an almost remote feeling, which found itself being far more effective than the icy possibility.

Zoe looked like she was going to say something else, but a shout cut her off.

'Hey! So that's where you two got to!'

The blonde stood up with a bit of a huff, putting her arms at her hips.

'For your information,' she huffed. 'We weren't the ones who went off into a dry plain when it was obvious the forest terminal was towards the forest direction.' The she smirked. 'Let me guess. You two hit a dead end.'

'No,' the taller of the two brunettes, whom Koichi recognised as his brother's friend Takuya, answered, although it was blatantly obvious to anyone but himself that he was lying.

'Well,' JP grinned, apparently over his disappointment…and the wheelbarrow. 'You missed Zoe spirit evolve.'

The other two brunettes started. 'What?' Then, simultaneously, they cracked up.' Yeah right.'

'What's so unbelievable about that?' Zoe's tone immediately took a steely edge. 'Can't girls spirit evolve?'

'It is true, you know.' Bokomon, smartly, cut through the pending argument. 'Zoe spirit evolved into Kazemon.'

'Yeah,' Flora cheered by Koichi's knee, almost dropping the can. Luckily, the boy caught it. 'Butterfly.'

'Well, if you all say so.' Takuya looked at Koichi. 'Hey, you're…umm…dang it. I forgot your name buddy. Your Koji's brother though, right? I'd never forget that face-ouch.'

He rubbed his head where Zoe had bopped him. 'What was that for?'

'Letting your mouth run on motor,' the girl snapped back.

'Hey,' the boy said in his own defence, holding his arms up in a mode of physical protection. 'I didn't say it was weird or anything. It just looks exactly like Koji.'

Zoe sighed, giving up.

'It's Koichi,' Koichi said, eyes darkening for a fraction of a second at the comment.

'Oh.' Takuya laughed sheepishly. 'Right. Koichi.'

'Are you two dating?' Flora asked suddenly, looking between Takuya and Zoe and causing them both to jump so fast, their heads almost collided.

'No,' they sputtered in a single voice, red coating their cheeks as Tommy giggled at the display, JP looked at the embarrassed pair and Koichi looked down at the little Floramon.

'Are you making stew?'

'No,' Zoe spluttered again, although the brunette's face took on a blank quality.

'Stew?' he asked, a tad too loud apparently as one of the older Floramon looked over.

'Would you like some?' she inquired, prompting some mixed reactions.

'Yay!' the Digimon cheered, and Flora immediately abandoned her watering can to lend a hand…or a taste bud. It was difficult to see which she truly meant to offer.

'As long as we don't have to see it made,' JP muttered.

'We've already eaten,' Zoe pointed out.

'We didn't,' Takuya and Tommy pointed out simultaneously.

'Yeah, well you got los-' She cut off with another blush as her stomach growled.

Then she grinned sheepishly. Suffice to say, they did wind up having some stew as the sun set on their backs. And staying the night at the insistence of the Floramon.

Koichi lay awake for quite a long time, listening to the level breathing of those beside him. The Floramon didn't have beds, or futons per say, but they had spread out leaf litter on the floor of their dining/entertainment room while moving the tables back so all seven of them, Bokomon and Neemon included, fit with ease. The other six were deep in sleep, although the humans had taken a while to get comfortable with sleeping with the fresh smell wafting through their nostrils, but all of them had slept on futons at se stage in the past, so the floor wasn't an issue they had to contend with. He'd wager, if he dared to bring up the topic, that he'd spent more time on futons than them, particularly when he had a seizure at home and was recovering…or was recovering at home after returning from a seizure, mostly because he'd topple off the bed if he tried getting up. Even if it was far more comfortable for his aching muscles. And his parents would fuss over him, make sure he had painkillers if he needed them (he hated the little red-capped devils), water and lots of pillows, then pat him on the head and leave him to get some sleep.

A lot of that time passed like it was passing now, just laying and looking up at the ceiling.

The only difference was the additional company, but they were asleep. His eyes should have been drooping by all accounts; it had been a long, exhausting day, and he had barely gotten a wink of sleep the night before. Indeed, his eyes were burning in protest, but he found he couldn't keep them closed. His head felt heavy each time he tried, as if it had been stuffed full of fog, or worse, under water where there would be no oxygen to quell his starving for air. He wasn't claustrophobic; he was fairly sure of that. He also wasn't afraid of the dark; it was pitch black right then and there, and he was having no problems in staring sightlessly at the ceiling. He just couldn't close his eyes and sleep. Because some unseen terror was lurking behind his eyes.

He knew exactly what it was, and he trembled slightly, staring blindly out into the world. The rhythmic breaths around him sounded slightly louder, and his heart both took comfort and resisted the company. This world…

He sighed noiselessly. This world seemed so different to the human one. Dimmer somehow. Less sharp. And yet more open. More friendly. Even more natural.

It was the light, he realised suddenly. There were no artificial lights here. No globes on twenty-four hours a day. No blaring signs and street-lights glaring from every corner. No cars driving around, exhausting gas while making their car lights shine all that brighter. No pollution to make the sun glare out upon the world. No asphalt where the rain and splashes of water pooled, letting rays bounce off them and reflect into others' eyes. Even when it had been midday and the sun had been blaring on the horizon, it was nothing like the sun he tolerated in their own world.

Why? he wondered to himself. Why was it like that? What's different about this place?

He wondered for a moment if that meant he'd never have another seizure again. But the idea was soon squashed by common sense. No way he'd be that lucky. Just because he hadn't had one so far in this world, it didn't mean he wouldn't. After all, direct sunlight wasn't even supposed to cause seizures in PSE patients. And it didn't. It was the light bouncing off everything that was a problem.

Besides, even if that was the case, he'd have to go home eventually. Back to their own world. Back to their house…where the key still lay nestled in his pocket. All that running after his brother, and it was utterly useless. It had brought him a brief moment of utopia, and for what?

Nothing, he decided. Once we're back, nothing is going to change. So this isn't going to change anything.

The last thing he saw before his mind slipped away into darkness was the image of his brother: tall, powerful and self-contained…and holding two blades fashioned of pure light.

They thankfully accepted the offer of breakfast…not that the Floramon would have taken 'no' for an answer. But all of them, with varying levels of regret, were forced to decline the offer to stay more.

'We really have to be going,' Zoe explained. 'We need to get to the Forest Terminal.'

That was news to Koichi, but he kept silent. He wasn't sure he was in any particular rush to get there anymore. In fact, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to get there. Because there, according to Angler, was the way…home.

'And you?' Elder turned to Koichi, while Flora clung to his pant leg.

Takuya blinked in surprise. 'I thought you were coming with us.'

He looked, instead of the subject, at Zoe and JP, who exchanged glances and then shrugged. 'I don't think the subject ever came up,' the female admitted.

It was true. They (mostly Takuya and Bokomon) had talked quite a bit, explaining along the way the weird phone messages and the whole spirit-evolution gig, but no-one had mentioned travel plans.

And when it was thown out like that, he wasn't left with all that much of a choice. Especially since he was lacking one of those things called a D-tector. At least now he knew what Angler had been talking about on that subject. At first, it had struck him like a little pang; they all had D-tectors, and so had his brother. He'd seen the device in the other's hand. Angler had asked him for his, then said that perhaps it had been a mistake. A mistake of him being here perhaps? Because he wasn't going to save the world? Okay, that was true. Or was it because it was a waste of resource? Or because he was sick?

He lowered his eyes with a slightly glare at the ground, still musing on the thought, not even hearing the question until Zoe waved her hand in front of his face.

'Sorry,' he apologized, his tone somewhat dimmer than normal…although she wasn't likely to pick up on that. There was only one person in the world they were currently in that might, and he wasn't anywhere around. 'I wasn't listening.'

Zoe sighed, sounding almost reminiscent of a school teacher. 'At least you admit it,' she muttered, before clearing her throat. 'So you're coming with us, right?'

Considering the way everyone stared at him in that moment, he didn't think he could say no.

And that's how he would up regrettably prying a teary Flora from his leg and waving farewell to the Elder who had chosen to see her visitors off. Ironically, she had brought her knitting along with her, and no-one could understand why the dark-haired boy had suddenly burst into giggles at the sight of that.

He knew of course. It had reminded him of his grandmother. His most favourite person in the whole wide world as a kid…until she passed away from cancer. Koji had never really liked her for some reason, but he'd loved her. She'd sit and knit in her rocking chair and tell him stories of far away lands, things Koji called baby stuff. She'd make delicious sweets that admittedly made him lose his appetite for dinner, but it was somewhat fun getting scolded by his mother the first few times. It had almost been like their little game. She had never treated him like a little kid. They'd go out shopping together. They'd go to see the old Japanese plays…another thing that Koji could not tolerate.

They'd go to the festival downtown during the daytime, dressed in light yukatas, and enjoy the rides and the horror house (which his parents didn't even know about, otherwise they'd probably freak out and have kittens; they wouldn't ground him, at worse they'd scold and lecture him for a while and make him feel guilty over the whole situation) and read books together and play board games. Sometimes they'd spent hours at chess, and Grandma Kimura would take up her knitting while he laboured over his moves. Sometimes, they'd still be playing and his parents would arrive to take him home, in which case she'd take her knitting out onto the pouch and wave until he was nothing save a speck in the distance.

Suffice to say, he was in a lighter mood leaving than he had expected.

'Oh, I'm tired,' Tommy sighed, stopping again. Compared to the previous day, the current one had turned out to be particularly uneventful. Sure, they'd run into some trouble along the way, including a factory where they'd unwisely stopped for a lunch break, but JP in particular was rather down as they continued their trek through the forest. 'And hungry,' he added as his stomach grumbled on cue.

'Me too,' Zoe moaned. 'Let's camp here.'

'Ooh,' Neemon declared suddenly, pointing. 'Look. Food.'

They all groaned as Takuya brightened. Rather, they groaned at his words. 'Let's race to that tree then.'

'No way,' Zoe and Tommy declared together. JP just put a scowl on his face, similar to how he had on the train when he was being bugged by all the "wrong" people and ignored by the "right", and Bokomon and Neemon were out of the question. Their legs were too short to make it a fair fight.

'You game?' Not to be deterred, the brunette turned to the only one who hadn't had a reaction.

Koichi eyed the distance. He and Koji used to race when they were rather small, but this distance was longer than that. About one and a half times as long. That being said, after he'd grown a little more, too much physical exercise turned out to result in him becoming dizzy enough to pick up light more sensitively…which only spelt trouble.

But he found suddenly that he really did want to run. To race, even if it wasn't against his brother but rather a guy he only knew through listening to various chains of small talk.

'Let's go.'

He hadn't expected the other to take off so quickly and unexpectedly, and that made it a bit of a chore to keep up. Suddenly, he found himself clearing his mind, pushing his body, feeling the wind whiz past his body, taking away everything else…

And then his fingers hit the tree they had been aiming at all too soon, and Takuya's closed upon his own.

'Damn,' the brunette muttered, panting. 'Just missed.' Then he straightened and grinned.

'You were pretty fast though. Run track or something?'

Koichi stayed where he had doubled over, panting for his own breath. Running like that had been…indescribable. For a moment, it had seemed he could really run so fast as to leave the rest of the world behind, but then it all caught up with him and he cracked up, slumping to the ground and practically choking on his laughter.

'Hey.' Takuya sounded a little annoyed. 'You don't have to rub it in, you know.'

Koichi just shook his head. 'No track,' he replied, trying to quell the giggles. It was crazy. Nothing he was thinking about prompted laughter. And no doubt the others would think he's crazy too.

'You're crazy,' JP muttered on cue. Apparently, the silence had stretched a little father than he had expected.

'JP,' Zoe scolded, before reaching out and plucking some sort of berry. 'These look scrumptious.'

She bit into the red, relishing its sweet taste. 'Delizioso,' she trilled.

That got everyone up. But it was when Koichi was about to bite into his first berry that Bokomon suddenly shouted: 'stop!'

They all jumped at that.

'What?' Takuya asked, Zoe grimacing as his mouth was half-full.

Bokomon however was looking at Koichi. 'Those ones are poisonous.'

They all dropped their berries, before realising there was an odd blue one.

'I would get the poisonous one on my first try,' Koichi muttered under his breath, before raising his voice. 'So the red ones are fine and the blue ones are poisonous?'

'That's about it,' the white gnome agreed, whacking Neemon who had been reaching for that very berry. 'You idiot. Didn't I just say that was poisonous.'

'I guess we have to be more careful,' the blonde said, inspecting the branches. 'Thank goodness there's still some light.'

She took off her hat and started picking some of the red berries. 'It's easier,' she explained to the looks from the boys. 'That way we can double check, and we won't have to worry afterwards. Who knows, we might even be able to avoid those sour plums for lunch.'

'They tasted like liquorice,' Tommy elaborated, taking off his own hat and helping Zoe.

'We might as well get to the other side of the tree,' JP said after a moment's pause when the other two didn't do anything. 'They'll be nothing left otherwise.'

But that was where their plan got completely skewered, as just as Koichi was reaching for the first red berry he spotted to put into his own hat (which he was wearing for apparently unknown reasons; it had been a part of his unexpected clothing change from his school uniform), when he was grabbed from behind.

Takuya and JP spun around at his gasp in surprise as the hat fell to the ground, only to blink a little dumbly at the wooden face that was looming under four fists and the struggling boy hanging in midair.

'What the heck?' Takuya managed finally. 'Are you supposed to be a tree with hands?'

'As I say,' the other replied with a slight accent. 'The softest wood is the most fruitful…right?'

'Uh…' The two brunettes still blinked as Koichi's mind scrambled for some ground. It was somewhat dizzying to be up so high (even if it was two metres at the most), and his brain was somewhat behind on the times. 'You mind letting go of him?'

'What's going on?' Zoe poked her face around the tree, before gasping…which alerted the remaining three, Bokomon quickly riffling through his book.

'Let's see,' he mumbled. 'Ah, here we are. Arbormon, the Legendary Warrior of Wood. He's one of Cherubimon's warriors.'

'That's right,' the…Arbormon replied, giving his arms a little shake as Koichi decided that shaking himself loose from the bonds was a no-dice. He definitely didn't like being up there, and part of him was…well, afraid. After all, it wasn't every day he was swept off his feet and held a couple of metres up in the air by a talking tree, albeit it could be worse. 'And I must say it's very useful to have dogs follow their nose-'

'Which means we'll have to fight you, right?' Takuya's code was halfway scanned before Zoe managed to grab his arm.

'Are you crazy?' she hissed at him. 'Hello, warrior of fire vs. warrior of wood? Are you trying to burn Koichi to cinders?'

'Whoops,' he muttered, as she took her own D-tector out and swiped her code through, Tommy following suit. JP had, in fact, stuck his own hand into his pocket before remembering he lacked a spirit.

'Ah,' the walking tree said. 'And so the maggots all gather on the wood-'

He was cut off again, this time by Koichi's unexpected foot hitting him square between the eyes, taking advantage of both the height, his own manoeuvring, and the distraction.

'Ouch,' he growled as the human darted away. The other humans (or hybrids) stared at him.

'What?' he protested. 'I wasn't going to stay there like a dummy.'

Kazemon giggled at that. 'You tough guy,' she commented, before firing a surge of wind at the fist coming towards her. 'Oi, Kumamon. Lend a hand.'

'No problem,' the other replied, taking a deep breath to blow frost all over the wood.

Apparently though, their attempt wasn't very successful.

'A little trouble before saved a lot of trouble after, right?'

Apparently not, because he was causing a whole lot of trouble.

'What is with this guy?' JP grumbled to himself. 'Giving out random advice and being a pain.'

'Who cares,' Takuya exclaimed, swiping his data again. 'He's going down, whatever he's trying to do.'

The data scanned through the barcode reader. 'Execute, Spirit Evolution! Agunimon!'

'And we just stand here,' JP sighed, before getting knocked over as a fist flew over his head. 'Uurgh, me and my big mouth.'

He was almost reminded of the incident over at the Wind Factory. Only, that hadn't been his mouth doing most of the talking. All the same though, how is they always found themselves into crazy situations they had to fight their way out of? First the Cerberumon at Flame Terminal, then the numerous amount of Pagumon who somehow turned into a Raremon, then all the Mushroomon who'd been brainwashed and later turned into Woodmon, then the Snimon and all the Goblimon, and now this Arbormon.

'Forget that,' Koichi replied, attempting and failing to pull him back to his feet and plopping down again as another fist flew over his head. 'What's your D-tector doing?'

JP blinked at the device, that was suddenly showing a map. 'Oh seriously,' he exclaimed. 'After fighting Snimon with a forklift, I'll finally find my spirit!' Then he looked around, and ducked under another fist. 'Damn, he's not going to let us get away to find it.'

Koichi frowned, then rolled out of the way of another fist. The next one landed in the dirt behind his back. 'He might,' he said slowly. 'It seems he's far more interested in me.'

'Oh don't-' the elder brunette began, feeling immediately guilty, but it had taken only a split moment for Koichi to make his mind up over the crazy idea.

'Hey!' he yelled, moving further to the right to put as much space between himself and his classmate as possible. 'What do you want with us anyway?'

Somehow or other, his voice wasn't swallowed in the commotion, but that didn't mean the digimon he had intended answer the question.

That also, however, didn't mean that no-one did.