A/N: Well, this is embarrassing…I forgot to do Nene and Ewan's POV. But don't worry, they'll be done in Chapter 11. Sorry about that.
Now, since we're at Chapter 10, I think this would be a good time for credentials. But if I really put all of your names here, then this chapter would consist of 50% or more of my thankfulness. Literally. So, the least I can do is say…
Thank you all. For reading, reviewing, favouriting, following, sending me PMs with tips, putting my fic in your community, whatever, just know I say thanks to you personally. I now reward you with Chapter 10, which I hope you enjoy. Not much action in this, because I really wanted to focus on the Digimon/human bond. So, let's just say I...'attempted' to make it emotional.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or its characters. Alright, then, I gotta thank Toei as well, for producing (is that the right word?) Digimon.
Now finally after my speech of gratitude, let's get on with the story!
~X~
Chapter 10: The Brink
This was the day I met my General and more importantly, partner.
Mikey Kudo.
Mikey gazed around, though there wasn't really any point, since he was in an alley. Some part of his mind corrected what he had just thought. This isn't Odaiba, he realized. It's Koto. This is…where I used to live. Though how he could recognize Koto from Odaiba by being in an alley was beyond him.
He had moved to Odaiba three years ago. The rest of his friends had remained in Koto, except for Nene and Christopher, whose scenarios were different. Nene had moved from Hong Kong to Koto to live with her brother Ewan a year earlier, while Christopher had come all the way from America to Odaiba the same year Mikey had moved.
A chord of recognition resonated through him, but he still didn't know why. He had a feeling he was about to find out.
Mikey—or should he call himself Shoutmon, since that was who he apparently was?—muttered to himself weakly, "I'm gonna die…"
"Who are you?" a voice called out, and Mikey saw an image…of himself, the one who had spoken. Only he was younger. How much younger? He looked to be around twelve or thirteen. Five years ago? How could he not remember any of this?
"You…" Mikey/Shoutmon said feebly. "You can hear me?"
"Yeah, who are you?" young Mikey replied. "Where are you?"
"Why bother asking? I'm gonna die… And here I was aiming to become the king…"
"King…a monarch?"
Their conversation was cut short as young Mikey and his two friends (was that a younger Angie and Jeremy, too?) raced over elsewhere, their attention fixed on a car randomly jutting out from the second or third floor of a building. Mikey/Shoutmon watched them for a while, as they looked up, distracted as the blue sky went digital, until he sensed something amiss.
"Jump to the right!" he shouted.
Mikey breathed an inward sigh of relief as he watched his younger self shove himself and his friends out of the way just as the car came crashing down on the spot where they had just been standing. When had this happened? Why couldn't he remember it happening to begin with?
"Lucky break for you, huh?" he said softly to his youthful self; except…the words poured out of his mouth as if on instinct, like they were rehearsed.
He watched as young Mikey found him in the alley, as he walked up to him. "There you are." He scooped Mikey/Shoutmon up, and older Mikey couldn't help but feel the least bit weird feeling (and seeing) himself...pick up himself. But all he was at the moment was a dying static red lizard.
"Hey!" adolescent Mikey whispered, unbeknownst, to his older self. "Can you hear me? Hey!"
"You're the guy from earlier…" murmured Shoutmon/Mikey. It felt so bizarre talking like this, thought Mikey. "I've reached my limit… I can't hold on anymore…"
"Hey! Hey! Hang in there!"
"What's the matter, Mikey?" Angie walked up from behind with Jeremy right beside her.
"Listen to me, please!" Mikey's younger clone insisted, holding up Shoutmon/Mikey. "Whoever saved us from that car earlier was whoever is inside this light." His two companions reeled back.
"What the heck?!" Angie said.
"What are you talking about, Mikey Kudo?!" Jeremy added.
"It means that this someone is hurt," young Mikey answered, looking back at the red 'light'. "If I turn my back on him now, he'll die."
An image flashed into Mikey's (older) head, of himself even younger, as a small boy, crying on the sidewalk as it rained. The memory left a searing pain in his heart (if he had an actual heart), as he looked at his young self once more, struggling to remember when (or whether) this had happened.
"I…" young Mikey trembled. "I can't ignore him!"
"Mikey…" Angie whispered.
Jeremy continued to look at him uncertainly.
"Brings tears to my eyes, those words of yours," Mikey/Shoutmon said. "You damn soft-hearted bastard…"
"That goes for you, too," youthful Mikey replied. "You're close to dying and you still took the time to help us."
Shoutmon/Mikey lightly chuckled. "We're birds of a feather, huh?"
"…Yeah…"
Just then, a blinding light engulfed them all. Mikey felt himself becoming separated, separated from the body that he had just joined with, separated from Shoutmon, and suddenly he was himself again.
His eighteen-year-old self, next to a now-revived Shoutmon. Mikey still didn't know how the name had come up in his head. Beside them, younger Mikey and…was it safe to say younger and battered Shoutmon?…stood still, looking on into the light. Before them, a device appeared, devoid of colour at first, but then, slowly, turning a bright red.
"Mikey…" Shoutmon whispered and the older boy turned around to face his…partner. That word felt right in the situation. "Don't you remember this?"
Mikey looked back and forth between the young and the old. "I..."
Shoutmon sighed sadly. "I thought…I thought you'd remember after I showed you this…"
"Showed me…what is this, exactly?"
"The day we met. I…you saved my life, after I saved yours. You could never turn your back on anyone...just like me."
"That's right," Mikey said. "But how did you…?"
"Know?" Shoutmon finished. "Because I knew you, Mikey. I-I mean, I STILL know you! We had adventures together. Digimon! The Digiworld! You helped me save our worlds and helped me become the Digimon King! Don't you remember?"
Mikey stared at the red lizard for a long time. He didn't want to say no because he didn't want to hurt his feelings. Shoutmon got the message anyway. "I'll prove that I know you. I'll show you it, then," Shoutmon said gently.
"Show me what?" Mikey asked.
"That day," Shoutmon responded, a wild fire in his eyes. "That rainy day." Mikey blinked in astonishment. That rainy day.
"I'll show you," Shoutmon declared. "Just like on that day, when you showed me." The scene dissolved.
They were on a balcony of some sort, and as Mikey watched, he noticed his younger self walk up, along with Jeremy and…who were the others? Shoutmon as well, juvenile, along with…Ballistamon, Mikey remembered someone from the Village of Smiles…and someone else who resembled a knight.
"Knightmon," Shoutmon confirmed, standing beside Mikey. But the older boy paid no heed, staring off into the scene before him, his eyes glowing with a new light.
"…I don't feel any warmth from him as I do Mikey," Knightmon was saying.
"Him…" Mikey murmured.
"Christopher," Shoutmon supplied. "Back when he was a jerk."
Christopher was here, Mikey thought, a silent bell attempting to ring off in his head. I met Christopher…where? Mikey tuned back to what his young clone was saying.
"Yeah… But it doesn't look like that's all there is to him. When I see him, I get the feeling…"
"Hey, hey!" Jeremy interrupted. "Don't tell me you're thinking of not turning your back on him too! Why do you always act like that?"
Mikey's head spun for a moment, and he knew his former self's was as well, as his mind went back.
"That day…" young Mikey mumbled. "Yeah, it was raining that day." Mikey didn't see them speaking anymore. His mind—and eyes, for that matter—had already gone back to that day…and he could still hear his young voice echoing through it all.
Shoutmon stood beside him, watching. They weren't on the balcony anymore. They were on a sidewalk, and the sky overhead was filled with angry clouds. But Mikey's attention was fixed on the little boy sitting down on the ground, head low, soccer ball beside him. He was also aware of an even younger version of himself walking up to the boy.
"I wasn't that close to the guy. I only knew him a little because he switched classes. I felt like I couldn't leave him."
"But," little Mikey protested.
"Be quiet, I'm fine," the boy insisted gruffly. And Mikey walked away. Come back, Mikey screamed to himself. Help him out!
After a while of walking, both Mikeys heard the sirens. As the ambulance passed him going the way he had just come from, little Mikey suddenly ran back. Mikey continued watching with a heavy heart.
By the time the tiny clone got back, a large group had already gathered, everyone sad. Tiny Mikey realized what had just happened, and what he hadn't done. The soccer ball was left alone, and he stood before it.
"Apparently he hit his head in a game, and it was deadlier than it looked."
Little Mikey let loose his wail of sadness as the rain began to pour everywhere. Mikey watched him for a long time, before finally looking up, letting a raindrop fall on his eye. When he looked back, he and Shoutmon were back on the balcony with young Mikey.
"He didn't come back to school for half a year," the adolescent continued, eyes on the floor, focused. "Whenever I saw his desk, it made my heart hurt. That's what made me think."
Mikey's eyes shined as he watched himself. "If I think for even a second not to turn my back on a person, then I must never turn my back on them ever."
"Mikey Kudo…" Jeremy said.
"That's why my body is always moving before I even realize it," he explained. "In that moment, my heart goes back to that rainy day." The scene dissolved once more.
"Shoutmon…" Mikey said, but it was more that he was testing out how the name felt in his mouth. "Shoutmon… I—I was there…Christopher and Jeremy…Angie…"
"Nene and Ewan as well," Shoutmon sighed. "But there's more to it than that."
Mikey nodded, his thoughts suddenly going back to the morning, and all of the kids that had been present. "Where do Tagiru and the rest fit into this?"
The scene changed again. They were back in Koto, Mikey believed. On a bridge. The sky was dark. Except…everything around them was stone. Almost everything. There were a few kids on the bridge, and Mikey recognized them. One of them was himself, a little older than what he'd seen from before.
"…It's okay, Tagiru," young Mikey was saying. At the back of Mikey's mind, something went off, but he still couldn't put his finger on it. His younger self pulled his old goggles out and tossed them to Tagiru. "We've got the heroes," he declared determinedly.
"Mikey!" Tagiru gasped.
"Take them, Tagiru!" he ordered, flinging his headgear to his biggest fan. The boy caught them and stared at his idol in shock and disbelief. His superstar smiled faintly.
"A hero needs goggles."
Mikey looked at Shoutmon again. Had he really known this…creature? Wait, what had these creatures been called? …Digimon.
Had he really known this Digimon? Been friends with him? Partners, even? Had he shared a bond with him? Did he still share that bond now? Or had it been severed, like his most important memories had been severed from his mind?
"C'mon, Mikey," Shoutmon insisted. "Don't you remember any of…" He stopped when he saw his partner's face. He continued in a low voice. "You don't…nothing…" He squared his shoulders, looked Mikey directly in the eye, and took his hand. Mikey complied. Their world faded to a new place.
They were on a slight hill overlooking a river. He could see a bridge spanning the length of the river. For a moment, he wondered where he was, then realized he was still in Koto. For a moment Mikey lay in the grass, looking up at the night sky dotted with countless stars.
His heart began to stir as he continued looking at the place before him; it was much more significant than he'd taken it to be. What had happened here?
Baguramon, Shoutmon said, but Mikey didn't see the lizard's lips move. Baguramon happened.
Baguramon…Mikey knew that name. He looked at Shoutmon again. A lone memory flared in his head out of nowhere.
"Shoutmon!"
Mikey clutched his head as pain exploded in his skull and he clutched his head as the world tilted beneath him. Shoutmon noticed it.
"Mikey!" he yelled. "Hey, Mikey! Hang in there!" He grabbed the boy's shoulders in an attempt to steady him. They ended up on the grass, Shoutmon on top of Mikey, who was lying down on his back. "I'm here, Mikey!"
But Shoutmon's voice felt far away. The pain was starting to null…
Mikey wanted to let go. He wanted to get away from the nonsensical things in his life…it'd make things much easier, wouldn't it? But that voice just didn't go away…that annoying voice…
"Mikey…why…hurting…?...can't die here...it's…dream…YOU IDIOT, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?" Something stung his cheek, and Mikey's eyes flashed open as he felt the sting Shoutmon's hit had left him. But he still felt himself drifting away...
...That annoying voice was still there...
"I need you! You need me! What happened to that, huh? C'mon, stay awake! Look at me! FOCUS. Look—at—me!"
Shoutmon was crying. Mikey stared dully at the tears blurred in his vision, and words started coming to his mind, and he felt it was a conversation he had once had.
"Without you… I… We… We'll all get killed!" Shoutmon cried miserably. He suddenly got up, fuming angrily. "You damn idiot!" He made for a huge punch, just missing Mikey and Angie, instead hitting a boulder, which got split in half.
"Shoutmon…" Mikey gasped.
"What was that for?" Angie scolded. "We're human! We're different from you guys, okay?! We're really weak! We're delicate!"
"Shut up!" Shoutmon screamed hotly. And then he ran away. "Stupid Mikey!"
"You're the one acting stupid!" Angie shot back to Shoutmon's receding figure. Then all was quiet as a slight breeze began to ruffle their hair.
"He…" Mikey started. Angie looked over at him as he continued ever so quietly.
"He was crying…"
"Stupid…" Mikey heard Shoutmon whisper, or maybe he was yelling and Mikey's hearing was just failing. "Stupid Mikey…stay with me…"
"What's wrong with you?" Mikey asked tiredly. "I'm…I'm right here…"
But his eyes still fluttered as exhaustion took over. Shoutmon punched him hard in the arm. Mikey blinked, but his vision started to blur.
"hey," Shoutmon said distortedly. Was he still shouting? All of it was like a jumbled whisper. "comeonstayawakemikey…"
But Mikey could not, for the life of him, stay awake. He did not notice everything starting to wilt around him. As he let his eyes slide shut, a scream cut through his thoughts, as if glass had shattered.
"AAAGGGHHHHH!" Shoutmon's scream came crystal clear this time, and Mikey doubted anyone would ever miss a voice that loud. He cracked an eye open, pushing himself into a sitting position.
The red Digimon was glowing blindingly. As the radiance reached an apex, it transformed into a beam and shot directly at Mikey, who took it at full force. The blast sent him back on his back again, his eyes staring at the starry night sky.
But he didn't see the blackness.
Instead, images started to float around as the stars formed into constellations; but they weren't constellations that anyone knew of—as the stars were connected with strokes of light, Mikey saw familiar pictures: pictures of him…Shoutmon…and others…old friends, for some reason he knew.
At that moment, Mikey realized that the scenes weren't just ironic constellations.
They were memories.
Like a storybook come to life, he watched it unfold before his very eyes: Five years ago, how he, along with Angie and Jeremy, had found Shoutmon dying in an alley.
How his red Fusion Loader had been given to him by the leader of the Legendary Digimon, Omnimon. How that had sparked the biggest adventure of a lifetime to the Digital World. How he'd traveled to the different Zones there in search of each Code Crown in the hopes of defeating Lord Bagura.
How he'd met Christopher. How he'd met Nene. How their alliances hadn't worked out in the beginning, which led to multiple disputes between all of them. How he'd gone back home with Jeremy, Angie, and Shoutmon, only to have to leave to the Digital World soon after, but without his two dear friends this time.
How he'd had to join forces with Christopher and Nene once more. How they'd gone from Land to Land, defeating each Darkness General. How they'd opened Ewan's eyes of the true enemy's side. How they'd defeated Baguramon in the Human World.
Fast forward a year later. How he'd met Tagiru. How he learned of the Digimon Hunt. How the final battle with Quartzmon came. How he'd passed on his goggles to Tagiru. How they'd won.
All of it came in a rush, along with a burst of emotions—Shoutmon's emotions. Like a dam had burst, they flooded Mikey's mind. Sadness at his partner's fatal amnesia, pain that he could lose his partner (though how Mikey didn't understand), anger at his own futile attempts to save him.
Mikey absorbed it all, and was quite surprised he hadn't fainted from the impact of it all. It was as if Shoutmon were inside of him, or he was inside of Shoutmon, which, technically, was what had happened just a while before.
Clarity sparked inside of him as he could finally connect the dots.
Mikey didn't know for how long (days, weeks, months?) had he had that empty feeling in him, as if he weren't complete with something…or someone. Or as he had thought before, like he was unknowingly turning his back on someone.
And now he knew why; now he remembered why. The answer was right beside him. Had already and always been right beside him.
"Shoutmon," he murmured, turning his head to face his Digimon partner. He reached out a hand to his partner's microphone and they held it together, silently looking up at the night sky. "I remember."
"Mikey," Shoutmon replied. Mikey caught the slightest of relieved smiles on his face. "Glad to see you're back."
A raindrop fell into Mikey's eye. The night was still blanketed with stars. It could have been the wind that had stung him.
Or maybe he had mistaken it for the slowly forming tears that now stung the corners of his eyes.
Mikey could have lain there forever, in the fellowship of his Digimon. The night air was cool, the grass was soft, and it wasn't too cold or too hot, nor too bright or too dark. He could have lain there forever, if Shoutmon would've stopped calling him.
"What is it now, Shoutmon?" Mikey sighed. Things felt a lot clearer now, and he didn't feel tired anymore.
"Hey, Mikey, I hate to break your relaxing time, but we gotta go back now!"
"Go back?" Mikey blinked. "Go back where?"
Shoutmon sputtered. "Back! Back to life, of course! You can't stay here forever! Our worlds are in danger again, remember?"
"…Danger…again? Do you mean Quartzmon? We defeated him already. I mean, Tagiru did. What do you mean? The Digimon Hunt still continues, but those Digimon aren't really that bothersome to all of us. Our worlds are at peace."
Shoutmon gawked at his partner a moment longer before finding his voice again. "Well—I—you mean you don't—well at least wake up!"
Mikey glanced at him. "Wake up?"
"Yes! Then we can join with Tagiru and the others again! And…and other people too!"
"But…" Mikey's gaze shifted back up to the stars. "Why now?"
"…"
"Why now?" Mikey repeated. "Everything's finally over; we need a break. C'mon, let's relax for once."
"But…" Shoutmon shook as he fought against more tears. "There's no time to relax…d-d-don't you see?"
"See what?" Mikey said exasperatedly. Without a word, Shoutmon grabbed Mikey's left hand, forcing his forefinger and middle finger onto his right wrist. He wanted to stop his Digimon. Instead, he stopped himself cold.
No...that can't be.
There was no heartbeat.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2006
-Hypnos Headquarters-
35th Floor – Infirmary, 00:01
Shibumi felt a fear he hadn't known well up inside. He couldn't believe how much time had passed—from this morning all the way to the next day at midnight now. It wasn't like he'd find sleep, anyway, though. His thoughts kept going back to the kids. Only…
They weren't his kids. Heck, he didn't even know what having a kid was like, let alone more than one of them. And still he cared for these, because he knew them. Watched them, admired them for how young they were, and their efforts to save their home, his home, Shinjuku.
The first time Shibumi had met with them…well, he hadn't even met all of them at the time, but that wasn't the point; when he had first met them, it hadn't even been in the flesh. They'd met in the Digital World, but with him contacting them mentally, as if his soul had only gone there. He'd been in hospital, just as the Tamers and other children were now, except not for as serious a case as they were in now.
It was a strange feeling, back when that moment had happened—Shibumi had contacted Takato and Henry, actually saw them, very much alive, somehow in the Digiworld. He'd talked to them, and they'd talked to him, and he'd seen their Digimon, something he'd thought had only existed in a small computer program. The moment had been extraordinary.
And now they were dying. Or already dead.
Shibumi had no idea what strings Yamaki and Sampson had pulled to convince the children's parents not to arrive here yet. The phone calls had started a few minutes after school/university would have ended, probably meaning that the parents had called the schools and universities first, only to be told their kids had been taken here. No doubt they were probably in a ruckus, especially the parents who were not acquainted with Yamaki or Sampson whatsoever.
"Hey, Yamaki," Shibumi called as he watched the blond walk into the infirmary, clicking his lighter agitatedly. "Things alright on the parental side?"
The man groaned outwardly. "I wish. They're extremely riled up now and I won't blame them."
"So I'm guessing that means you haven't told them anything…?" Babel guessed.
Yamaki nodded his agreement. "Yes. We haven't exactly broken it to them that their children are currently in hospital."
"Why not?" Tao countered, and Shibumi detected a slight tremble of anger or sadness in his voice. He didn't blame him; two of his children were dying or for all he knew dead at the moment, before his very eyes. "Mayumi has to know about Henry and Suzie! And Rinchei and Jaarin too…they have to know about their own younger siblings!"
Everyone glanced pitifully at him. Sampson, who was sitting a little ways away with his own little group (which basically composed of himself and Yushima), must have been listening, for he answered.
"It would be too great a risk to bring the parents in. As it seems to be, the whole world has forgotten about Digimon. It would be even more chaos letting so many adults in about it at once. As for the children's partners being there right beside them…"
Yushima completed the thought. "It doesn't look as though we can simply pull them out of their trance-like state." Shibumi marveled at how well the two worked together despite only meeting each other yesterday morning.
"Well, we're not even sure what the Digimon are doing," Daisy pointed out. "What are they doing?"
"They seemed to have formed a very special bond," Alphamon explained, and there was a slight amazement in his voice. Shibumi had forgotten he had been standing there in a corner for the whole time.
That was a long time.
"I can feel the energy coming off of them," the Royal Knight continued. "It has created some kind of special bond between human and Digimon. This power flowing is greater than what I've ever felt in normal Digimon-human bonds, and I don't believe that this has ever happened before. And yes, it would be incredibly dangerous to pull them out. That would most likely result in…deadly consequences."
"Is there anything we can do though?" Dolphin asked in a low voice.
"It appears to be that the Digimon are doing more than any mere person could," Alphamon reassured. "The most we can do is to leave it to them."
"But the kids aren't breathing," Tally argued. "And…that's what's worrying me the most. We've given them gas masks to pump air through, and we still are, but their hearts still aren't beating."
"They're already lost beyond the reaches of human methods now. It is all in the hands of their Digimon partners."
"But it's been fifteen hours!" Yamaki stormed suddenly, shocking everyone. "Fifteen hours! At four to six minutes without a pumping heart, brain cells begin to die! How could the Digimon reach out to their partners if their partners don't even have a functional body to come back to?!"
He stopped then, as if realizing what he had just said, and the negative vibe that it rubbed off on the others. He raked a harsh hand through his hair in stress.
"I'm sorry about that..." the blond apologized. Shibumi sympathized to Yamaki's reaction. He couldn't blame him for venting out his anger on them for what he believed to be the truth: that the kids wouldn't be coming back, probably because they wouldn't be able to come back.
That they were dead.
And Shibumi also knew that Yamaki (and Sampson) just didn't have the heart to admit it to all the kids' parents. So Yamaki had stated it here.
Just then, Riley spoke up. "Hey, guys? ...I think there's something you should all see." She flipped the main computer monitor which showed the conditions of all the children in hospital at the moment. Everyone's eyes fixated on the screen.
And what it showed was...Shibumi couldn't form words in his head.
The huge monitor showed everyone's heart rate and body temperature. Their heart rates went in a straight line to show they weren't beating, but the body temperature...
All their body temps were at 30 degrees Celsius.
That shouldn't be possible, Shibumi thought in disbelief. Below 32 is...
Hypothermia.
And in extreme cases...people had been able to survive longer even though their hearts had stopped but so long as their bodies had been cold. As in hypothermia cold.
"When did their temps all drop that low?" Babel said in a whisper, as if talking normally would break their last line of faith they were holding on to.
"It might have been when their partner Digimon connected with them," Alphamon reasoned.
"Then..." Daisy said softly, smiling. "They're not done fighting yet, are they?"
"That's right~!" Calumon came swooping up to them, landing in Tally's arms. He wasn't smiling, but he had a look of grim determination on his face. "And we can't give up on them! They're tough, remember? They saved the world! They saved me!"
"Calumon's right," Tally claimed with renewed vigour. "We can't lose hope now! These kids are way stronger than we could ever be! We can't give up on them now!"
"You only agree with Calumon because you think he's cute," Riley retorted.
"Well, he is," Tally returned. "He's adorable, even after four years. But he's right as well."
"They'll pull through," Shibumi added determinedly, a sudden rush of confidence entering him. Who knew how well a computer screen could make his day? "They always do. And we'll be there for them when they come back."
"And by that you mean…" Dolphin said.
"…that we keep the gas masks on them," Yamaki and Sampson completed, and Shibumi knew their eyes were probably burning behind their shades, "for when they will start breathing again. If it's our only way of support to them, then we'll go with it."
"That's really the only thing we can hope for," Riley sighed. "It's our only bright side."
"Not hope," Calumon argued, jumping off of Tally's lap and marching up and down the hospital aisles lined with beds. "It will happen! I know it will!"
"On the other hand," Tally beamed. "Calumon's a pretty bright side too, don't you think?"
"Then let's go back now, Tai."
Agumon's words resonated through Tai's skull for a long time, as they sat on the digital shore of beach that he finally remembered so well. The stars twinkled overhead in the beautiful night sky, and were reflected in the calm waters in front of them.
"Go back?" Tai echoed quietly, watching the gentle lap of the calm waves.
"Let's go back," Agumon repeated, as if that would make things more sense to his partner. "Back to life, Tai. We're in a dream right now."
"How can this be a dream?" Tai wondered. "It can't be—everything's as I remembered it. So peaceful. We defeated Apocalymon with our friends. Then Diaboromon. Three years later, I passed on my goggles for Davis and his team. And…they saved us from Cherubimon. They took down MaloMyotismon. And finally…we destroyed Armageddemon, all of us together. Our world…your world…they're at peace now."
"Is that really all you remember, Tai?" Agumon said softly.
"What do you mean, Agumon?" Tai felt a sense of confusion and a little foreboding. "What more to it could there be? You—You're the one who helped me remember the Digital World again."
Tai wanted to understand—understand everything, because at the moment, he had thought his life had finally been pieced back together. Agumon seemed to be saying that it was not.
"The Digiworld, in peace?!" Agumon gasped. "It's not in peace, Tai! We were there…" His voice grew quieter as he struggled to keep his voice steady. "…We were there, all of us…we almost died, Tai…and now, it looks like you're already…" He didn't finish his sentence.
"We went to the Digiworld?" Tai reiterated, shocked. "When? I…" He clutched his bushy hair, his mind spinning and pulsing with a sudden headache. "How? You—all the Digimon—they went back to the Digital World when the gates closed! That was four years ago! How are you even here? Did the gates open again?"
Agumon nearly recoiled, hurt evident on his face, tears brimming his eyes. "…Tai…you…really don't remember…"
"There it is again!" The boy felt frustrated. "You keep saying that! 'You really don't remember.' I'm sorry that I don't. But Agumon…" His voice cracked slightly. "…I want to. So please…tell me."
A wave of pain hit his mind again, making him groan, and he rubbed his temples and waited for it to subside.
Agumon made a noise that sounded like a whimper. "But it hurts, doesn't it? It hurts every time you try and think of it. That's why I'm scared to tell you. I—I don't want you to die!"
"What do you mean, die? Didn't you just remind me of our adventures in the Digital World? Nothing happened! Except…" Tai recalled the sense of drifting off and feeling Agumon's emotions bring him back. He didn't voice any of it aloud. "I just forgot, Agumon."
"F-Forget?" Agumon sputtered, suddenly angry, as the tears started to fall slowly. "But…you promised, Tai! You promised you wouldn't forget! How could you forget your own promise?!"
Tai stared at his partner for a long time. Were those tears real? Was that sadness real? Why would Agumon be sad, though? There was nothing to worry about…
Was there?
He searched his head, trying to find the answers, but once again pulled another blank.
He remembered though! He remembered the adventures he'd had with Agumon since he was eleven! So then what was Agumon trying to tell him? But every time he thought near that subject, his head began to throb. And yet his heart hurt more at his partner's biting words.
"You promised you wouldn't forget! How could you forget your own promise?!"
"Promise," Tai muttered, lying on his back on the sand. "I promised…" Beside him, his partner kept saying, "C'mon, Tai, you've gotta remember…" over and over again it seemed.
Tai soon tuned him out. He looked at the stars, wishing one of them would give him a direct answer, because it looked like Agumon was scared to. Why was he scared?
"He is right to be scared, boy."
Tai opened his eyes. He hadn't realized they had been closed. Somehow he knew no one was around them. He had obviously only heard it, or felt it more like, since Agumon hadn't reacted to the voice.
Who had spoken then? He hadn't imagined it, and it had felt chillingly familiar.
"Yes, Tai." A light chuckle followed those words. "You do not remember me, but we've been acquainted, in times old and 'forgotten', but as you humans say, the past does not matter. Only the present, and how it will shape the future ahead of us."
For some reason, the boy wanted the voice to go away. He wasn't in the mood to talk to some telepathic speaker. And there was something else…something deep inside him that said that the 'Voice' was not on their side. Whatever their side may be.
Suddenly, Tai felt himself go aloof again, and for a moment thought he was falling into the void and never coming back, like what Agumon had feared.
But instead of seeing darkness, he saw light. The picture was blurred, but he could still tell it was bright. And…beeping?...and voices—not like the voice he'd just heard. Different voices. They sounded human. But it wasn't like he knew these voices either. He caught bits and pieces of their words.
"…the…breath…?"
"No…ot beati…eep air…ming…"
"…een…ove…venteen hou…last brea…can…no…e…dead…"
Tai found it ironic that 'dead' was the only word he heard fully.
"…mon…liv…ids…ple…" Tai heard the pumping of air, felt it go through his mouth, but he still felt nothing at the same time. As if his lungs and organs were detached from the rest of his body. Or soul.
He couldn't be…
Tai noticed a yellow hand on his chest and with a start, realized it was Agumon's claw. What had his Digimon said?
"Back to life, Tai."
Then what did that make him? …Dead?
The talking suddenly became a lot clearer.
"C'mon, kids, breathe. You've gotta live!"
"Keep talking, we have to keep talking!"
"Why?"
"Anything we say, any of our voices that they hear, can be used as a lifeline for them. We have to keep talking!"
"Let's go, you guys~!" A new voice entered the crowd. It was higher-pitched than the rest. "You can do it! Your Digimon are gonna get you back and we'll be here to cheer you on!"
A different kind of beeping made the guy stop. A chorus of shouts came as voices started to speak, one on top of another.
"One of them…their heart's beating! It's faint but…"
"Still there…"
Indeed Tai suddenly felt himself breathing again. It was weak, but something told him it would strengthen. He wanted to stay there—"Come back to life"—as Agumon had put it, but he stopped himself, just as he was about to.
He wasn't done yet. He had left something behind back at the beach—something he'd forgotten. Yes, he had. He'd left behind his partner, left behind his promise, whatever it was, but it must have been meaningful enough for Agumon to bring it up.
Tai could have come back to what people would call realism. Stayed and let his breathing go back to normal.
But life wouldn't be the same, and he knew it. He'd come back half-full and half-empty, left with answers yet still more questions. He'd have part of the puzzle finished, but never see the big picture.
Tai could have stayed, but he wouldn't. He couldn't do that, because he couldn't allow himself to go back to life without a care of what was happening around him, because, as Agumon had hinted, things weren't right.
He was a DigiDestined, and that was not how a DigiDestined rolled. There was never an easy way even though a shortcut had presented itself to him. Or rather, someone had presented this shortcut to him in the hopes he would take it. He would not.
He thought he could hear the Voice's growl of frustration as he rejected its offer. He also thought he could hear the cries of anguish of the other unknown human voices as he let himself go under again.
Tai blinked his eyes open. The 'fake' night sky sparkled over him. He felt Agumon shaking him violently. "Agumon, get a grip, I'm here!"
The Digimon stopped abruptly, looking at him with worry and anguish. "Y-You're back to normal. I thought…I thought I'd lost you. You were fading away, and I knew I shouldn't have told you anything, and—"
"I was fading away?"
"Yeah, and—"
"It's okay, Agumon. I'm back now. I was just…visiting another place for awhile, that's all."
They sat in silence, looking at the water again. Tai decided to go for it. "Hey, Agumon…you were telling the truth earlier, weren't you? That things aren't over yet; that we were in the Digiworld recently?"
The dinosaur was hesitant before he answered gently, "Why would I ever lie to you, Tai?"
The teen sighed. "I'm sorry, buddy. I'm just…feeling really confused right now. I can't remember us going to the Digital World so recently."
Agumon leaned in and rested a claw on his partner's shoulder. "But that's what partners are for: to make sure you remember." Something wet splashed on Tai pants. He realized they were tears. But he wasn't crying. No, Agumon was. The boy shut his eyes, trying to recall something, anything, of a former life. A recent life.
"…never forget my partner… That's a promise, Agumon." Agumon watched Tai proudly, at his squared shoulders, level gaze, confident voice. Hearing his voice made him feel much more confident, and he believed him, believed every word that left his mouth. Agumon knew he wouldn't forget; he would never forget.
Tai wheezed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He quickly shut his eyes though, because he couldn't let go of the image, not yet, not when he was so close—
Agumon felt a sudden weariness overtake him as his eyes became slits. His partner's last words continued to reverberate through his head as he watched Tai and the rest get engulfed in a bright light.
Tai…Keep your promise… Agumon finally surrendered and fell unconscious.
It felt like forever that Agumon had been confined in the cage. Looking around him at all the other Digimon captivated with him, he was bound to be depressed. But he wasn't; somehow, he kept his spirits high. No, it wasn't him. Tai was the one who held on to him, and Agumon never lost hope that he'd come back for him, one day. And that he was somewhere safe in the Real World, and that he'd never forget about his partner…
Tai gasped again, his eyes shooting open. His sudden tears made the dream world around him grow fuzzy, and he lay there for a moment, shaking as he clutched Agumon's claw. When his emotions subsided, he finally spoke, but his voice still quivered.
"Agumon…I-I'm so sorry…I couldn't keep my promise…"
Two green eyes lit up in the moonlight. "Well…now you did."
The bushy-haired boy shook his head. "But in the end, you were the one who came to me…you were the one that held on to me and never let go. I…I let you down. Your world's in danger…"
"No, Tai," Agumon whispered, hand (or claw) still on his shoulder. "Our worlds are in danger."
Tai nodded grimly. "We'll save them. Both our worlds. Our enemy…" He closed his eyes at the slight memory. "I may not remember everything about our enemy…but it's enough. Our worlds are in danger and it's our job to protect them."
"I'll be with you the whole way, Tai."
"'Bout time you snapped out of it." The two whirled around to see familiar figures emerging from the trees and underbrush.
"Matt?" Tai called out in disbelief as him and the others, along with their Digimon partners, came walking out. "How are you…?"
"Y'know what?" the blond replied. "I have no idea."
"We're still in a dream," Gatomon supplied beside Tai's younger sister Kari. "But it seems to be that after one of them remembered, another somehow found their way to them. And then the two of them found another one who remembered. And you get the point now, it kept going on and on…"
"Are you saying I was the last to remember?" Tai checked, groaning as he looked at the twenty-three of them (humans and Digimon, including his own partner).
"Hey," Davis pointed out. "At least you ended up remembering."
"Yes, I'm glad you're back, brother," Kari smiled.
"Since we're all here now, let's go back, then," Tai said, repeating his partner's former words and quickly taking charge.
"Back…" Sora murmured. "Except…"
"According to the Digimon, in real life, we're considered as deceased," Joe asserted bluntly.
"Is that a fancy word that doctors use for the dead?" Patamon wondered.
"Patamon," TK admonished half-heartedly.
"But if what our Digimon are saying is right," Mimi began, "then in real life...we're not alive anymore. We…we're not breathing."
"That doesn't mean we're dead," Cody said, almost inaudibly.
"What?" Yolei prodded.
"That doesn't mean we're dead," Cody said, voice stronger now. "Our heart might not be beating, our lungs may not be pumping…but we're still here, on a brink of some sorts, between life and death. We can still choose whether to go back to the living or move on with the dead. In true death, we have no choice. It comes when it comes, and must be accepted, by the one dying…and his loved ones around him."
"I agree with Cody," Ken concurred. "We're not dead yet, because we're still here and still given a choice…so I'll do all I can to find a way back to life."
The two trailed off suddenly, lost in thought, and Tai realized they were probably thinking of their father and brother respectively, whom they had already lost to death's inevitable pull.
Davis balled his hand into a fist. "Alright then! Let's blow this pop stand!"
Tai held up a fist of his own. "You got that ri—wait, what?"
"A Western expression," Izzy provided. "Something like 'let's leave this boring place as soon as possible'. Did you learn that from Willis or Michael?"
"I would hardly call being on the brink of life and death as 'boring'," Tentomon grumbled.
"Oh," Tai said, ignoring the fact that Izzy's question had not been answered. "Okay then, I'm with you!"
"It really doesn't take much to get your brother up again," Matt muttered to Kari, who stifled a giggle.
"Actually," Izzy said urgently. "There's something that you should all kn—"
"Izzy," Tai interrupted. "…will your info affect us…waking up again?"
"…No."
"Then tell us once we wake up."
"Yeah," Matt added. "At the moment, I really want to get the hell outta this place. Nothing against the Digital World and all, I just find it creepy that right now we can choose whether to live or die. Personally, I want to live. Now let's go."
"Go…how, exactly?" Yolei asked.
"I went back," Tai said. "For a few seconds, but I still went back. I just…lay down and closed my eyes and sort of let go of everything." He went on his back again, his eyes to the stars.
He probably looked awkward, and it was hard to imagine that the worlds depended on him lying down on a beach.
The others complied, including the Digimon.
"Huh," Tai spoke softly, suddenly feeling tired. "See you…on…the other side…" He realized that he'd met the others (for real) just this morning. Had it really been this morning? It didn't matter. He had already let himself go.
Once again, Tai saw the blurring lights and heard the indistinct voices and consistent beeping. He felt air flowing through his mouth and nose and tried taking slow, steady breaths, no matter how weak they were at the moment.
He zoned in and out, his senses sometimes working and sometimes not. Nevertheless, he still felt Agumon's claw rested on his shoulder, maybe even his voice (he wasn't sure), reassuring him. So Tai wouldn't let go of life, of reality.
He couldn't let go, because Agumon was still there, holding on to him.
-Hypnos Headquarters-
35th Floor – Infirmary, 4:07
Biyomon blinked open his eyes and for a moment forgot where he was. Then he felt himself going up and down and focused more. He realized he was lying on top of Kristy and that he wasn't actually moving—it was the slow but gradual rise and fall of his partner's chest.
She was breathing! She was really breathing!
Biyomon didn't know what to think anymore—sure, he'd seen his partner in…some kind of dream, and he'd felt a great deal of warmth once she finally remembered him, but this, seeing her actually breathing, topped it all off.
They were different from the rest. Kristy didn't have a Digivice like the others did. Somehow, back in that room though, they'd seen each other. Somehow, they'd been connected.
He'd seen the arrows pointing to the Digimon and their human partner that had come out from their Digivices. That had not been the case for him and Kristy. Instead, a beam of light had appeared on his heart and shot straight toward the girl.
Then…everyone knew what had happened next. The same thing that had happened to all the Chosen.
Biyomon slowly looked around as the others, human and Digimon, began to wake up. He suddenly wondered how Impmon had pulled it off, with two partners at that. He saw the other adults rushing, watching as a miracle happened before their eyes. Even Alphamon, in a corner, looked on with a mixture of relief and awe.
Slowly, slowly, everyone awoke. They were disoriented at first, maybe even tense, but upon seeing their partners they instantly relaxed.
Biyomon was overjoyed when his partner opened her eyes, but she seemed too confused to speak at the moment.
"What time is it?" somebody asked.
"4:08," Sampson answered.
"If it's 4:08, Sampson, then why's the sky so dark?" a brunet challenged.
"AM," the man fired back calmly.
"4:08 AM?" a blond said incredulously. "So then how long have we—?"
"I'd say about nineteen hours, max?" Yushima interrupted.
"You went into the next day," Shibumi included. "We're in the early morning of Wednesday. You…let's just say…passed out…yesterday morning. You've been out for almost a full day."
"What about our parents?" someone called.
"That's a whole other complicated matter," Yamaki sighed, massaging his forehead. "They'll probably want to hear your voices on the phone or something."
"Oh no," a brunette said concernedly, glancing over at an older wild-haired boy. They looked to be siblings. "Mom's probably freaked right now."
"It's okay. We'll take care of it later," the older teen responded. He turned to the grown-ups. "You don't seem surprised by all the Digimon in this room."
"No. We're not," Shibumi said simply.
"They're an organization that deals with Digimon," two people said at once.
"It's called Hypnos," one said at the same time the other said, "It's called DATS."
"O-kayyy…" the bushy-haired boy said, nodding slightly. "It looks like all of us have...some kind of Digimon. Some…quite different from others." He cast a look at the Spirits quizzically, who were somehow out of their Digivices, standing creepily half-see-through in the room.
"Somebody'd better explain this all well," a person mumbled.
"Yes, we will get to that soon," Alphamon said in a low voice that stunned them all. Rarely speaking, most forgot he was in the room. Some hadn't known he was in the room at all.
"Hang on," a blue-haired bespectacled boy broke in. He threw a look at a few others, probably friends. "If we're on the same boat here, then our worlds are in danger. We should call Gennai to help us."
Biyomon's heart froze at the familiar name. The name that belonged to their rescuer he'd barely knew. Kristy, who had no idea who that was, finally voiced her puzzlement. "Who's Gennai?" she whispered. He just shook his head, not wanting to answer.
"I agree with Joe," an orange-haired girl approved. "He should be able to help us in some way."
"Gennai can't help us," Alphamon and Tentomon said in unison. "I'm sorry," Alphamon added.
"Why not?" a goggled spiky-haired boy challenged. He glanced at a redhead and his face paled. "I-Izzy…?"
"No…" the bushy-haired brunet said, while his sister looked just as horrified. "Y-You can't mean…"
"That's what I wanted to tell you before," the boy named Izzy said, his voice laced with sorrow. "Gennai…he…he's dead."
Wow, things must be really confusing for the Chosen now. They've just gotten their memories back, and seemed to have found new allies in the process! What does Alphamon mean by special bonds, and why has it never happened to any other partners before? How and why was Tai contacted by the Voice? What will the Chosen do now that they've met one another? How will they react to what's been going on in the Digital World since their absence? You'll just have to keep reading Digimon: The Worlds' Last Hope to find out!
Chapter Notes:
1. I'm sorry if my writing is confusing at times. My story's kind of a mix of both English and Japanese dubs: I'm obviously using the English dub human, Digimon, and Digivolution sequence names. However, I think the Japanese dialogue was done much better (and gives more meaning) in most aspects, which is why I'm going with that (written in English, of course) when I'm referencing to the show(s).
2. I purposely wrote one of Shoutmon's lines all in lowercase to show Mikey's hearing distortion at that moment.
3. 32 degrees Celsius = 90 degrees Fahrenheit
4. Digimon Movies: Yes, all the Digimon movies are canon in this and may be referenced from time to time (except maybe X-Evolution, which I'm not sure of, since there were no humans in it).
~X~
Well, there you have it, folks! I hope you liked the way this came out. Thus, I believe the first arc of this has now come to a close. The Chosen have gotten their memories back (or most of their memories, anyway).
From the next arc onward is where we'll be getting to the interactions with everybody. And, don't worry, the mysteries that have been presented in previous chapters will slowly start to get solved.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this first arc in The Worlds' Last Hope, and it'd mean a lot to me if you gave a review; I want to know what you think! 'Til then, I'll see you next time!