Hikari was not altogether sure what she was feeling looking up from the outer edges of Cerulean City at Mt. Moon. Technically, she and everyone else on the project had been there, done that, no problem when it came to other worlds. But this was different. There were no humans in the digital world. On this other Earth, with its other Kanto, there were people milling around in the late morning sun. Not just some strays there by the same mysterious means, but an entire thriving population of normal human beings co-existing with monsters that might or might not actually be a touch more frightening than the average digimon; human beings totally at peace with their reality, and unaware of hers.
Nobody born here had ever heard of digimon. Nobody, save Joey, knew the dangers of trying to catch digimon in pokéballs. It chilled her to think other people might be as unfortunate as him. On one hand, it seemed nearly karmic. Who went around turning wild animals into pets by beating the fight out of them and then forcing them to beat the fight out of other wild animals? On the other hand, if Joey was to be believed, being without one of your own in a world full of them was just asking for something bad to happen. Hikari could grasp that, though begrudgingly. There was a fundamental misunderstanding between the two philosophies, but that didn't mean it should be reconciled with killing.
"Are you sure it's ok to not stay on Route 4 and keep people like me out?"
Joey was mostly alright for his trouble. His arms were still wrapped up to allowed flayed and punctured flesh to recover, but thanks to Babamon's emergency treatment and the healing ability of a nearby Jyureimon, he was in little pain, and he was recovering quickly. His face, while covered by an eerily mouth shaped pattern of puckering early stage scars, was in no need of bandaging.
"Jyureimon and Babamon will spread the word. They're strong enough to not be taken down by trainers of your strength. I have to find my way home."
"Isn't that other world part of your own?"
"Kind of, but the gates home are all closed. We can only pass through the ones that were downloaded, but that's taken me here..." A stress headache began to pulse right above the bridge of her nose. "I have to get back before this spirals out of control… Go home. Your mother must be worried about you."
"Nah, I'm not even from this region. I've been a trainer since I was ten. I'm gonna go with you."
Tailmon jumped from a nearby tree, and stood between her partner and the trainer, pointing an accusatory claw. "You've already proven that you system is a natural danger to digimon. Why would we let you come with us?"
"Well, mostly because you can't stop me. And because you need someone who knows their way around."
Hikari ignored him. From what she had seen, the difference between a route and going off-road was pretty obvious. She could be any hick in the world, following the most obvious paths to get to new locations.
"And you need somebody who has money, unless you intend to eat a pidgey when you get hungry."
Now that, Hikari's stomach told her, was reasonable. She still had plenty of the water and a few of the protein bars that had sustained her on Kilimanjaro, but they were meant to run out soon. If time still made sense as it should in this world, she would have made it to Odaiba today… No, no use thinking about things the way they should be. "Where's the next closest town, and how long will it take to get there?"
Joey smirked. "Saffron City, and we'll be there in time for dinner." He descended the stairs leading to Route 5. "It's this way."
Tailmon watched him walk ahead, her tail swaying with agitation. "He's cheekier the V-mon..."
"Humans are like that when they're young. I'm going to trust him for now. It's not like he can stop us from getting home, seeing our only lead is...to just keep moving really. Maybe we'll run into one of the others." She peeked over her shoulder, and noted several interested eyes on Tailmon. "I think it's better if you stay close to me instead of hiding. There are laws against people stealing other people's pokémon. Let's get going."
Tailmon sighed, and perched on Hikari's shoulder. Together, they jogged after Joey.
While Hikari was on her way out of Cerulean City, Takeru had only just arrived. His initial night on Cerulean Cape had begun with a knock on the door of the sea cottage, where an old relative of someone he presumed was famous in this world was house-sitting. Patamon had been exhausted by that point, but all Takeru requested was food for his partner. In his rush, he had forgotten to bring more than a few snacks that had gotten them that far. The old man was kind enough to give them a meal, and even a set of beautiful stones engraved with elemental symbols that they could sell at a trainer market for some pocket money.
Of course, before leaving, he asked about Hikari. The old man hadn't seen her. He thanked him anyway, and found a place to camp for the night.
And then had come Punimon, startling them out of their wits at the crack of dawn. How had he gotten there? He had no idea, but he needed to find Noriko. Why wasn't he at Primary Village? He didn't know, but he needed to find Noriko. Did he have any idea he was not one, but two worlds removed from his partner, assuming she was still in their world? No, but he really needed to find Noriko. That had been the shape of Takeru's morning. Getting the little dude to calm down, listening to what he knew, and being very firm with the trainers who either insisted he had to battle with them or tried to interrogate him about Patamon and Punimon.
By the time he got into town and sold two of the stones, he was already exhausted, but he leaned against a lamp post and considered his next move without resting.
"I'm still a little shocked that we were actually training people to defend the computer," Patamon said from his perch atop Takeru's hat. "But it's a good thing there's someone to protect it while we're away right?"
"Yeah, except we can't take Punimon back. As much as he needs to get back to Noriko, I still need to find Hikari."
Punimon nibbled anxiously on Takeru's sleeve. "But it won't take long right? How far away could she be?"
Takeru resisted the urge to run his fingers through his hair, lest he dislodge Patamon. He was trying to think directionally. South from Spain, into the lost part of Africa. To where Kilimanjaro should be. He looked up at Mt. Moon. That was the likeliest prospect, but the chances she'd stayed there were low. She'd never been a very timid girl, but she'd certainly stopped doubting herself. She wouldn't be going in circles, wondering if she should stay still or move, confused and unable to function. She'd be active, out searching for her friends. That meant direction was equal opportunity. Hell, she might be on the other side of the mountain.
"Takeru. We're not going to find anybody just standing here."
"Yeah." He took a deep breath, and looked around for some kind of landmark, or interesting sight; anything conspicuous enough that she might head straight for it.
"You ok?" a new voice asked.
He turned in the middle of some standard mediocre response, and was surprised to see a woman with fluffy orange hair in nothing but a jacket, a blue swimsuit, and white sandals. And she seemed perfectly at home about it.
"Y…yeah," he said, averting his eyes. "I was deciding which way I should go…"
She gave him a huge grin. "I thought you might be a tourist. Where are you trying to get to?"
"That's just it, it doesn't really matter. I'm looking for someone, but I don't know which way she might have gone. Have you seen her? Brunette, ponytail, probably really tan by now, only slightly shorter than me, probably came from that mountain?"
"Nothing like that, sorry. Though if she came from the mountain, you can limit your options. She's probably either in Saffron City or heading for Lavender Town."
Takeru took the gamble. "Which one is further east?"
"Lavender Town for sure. You'll take a sharp bend south, pass through the Rock Tunnel and it's right on the other side. It's a long way though. I suggest stopping at the pokémon center outside the tunnel for the night."
"Thanks!" He dashed off, thought better of it, and paused. "I'm Takeru. If she was still on the mountain for some reason and comes into town, please tell her where I'm going."
She gave him a thumbs up, and watched him dash off. With a laugh, she shook her head and headed back to her gym, pondering old adventures.
The urge to yawn came again, but Gabumon resisted it, and continued to watch the cross-sections of Mauville City from the safety of the trees. Yamato had already asked around for Iori, but to no effect. At the moment, he was trying to fish something edible from the lake hidden on the southeastern edge of town with similar success. So far, all he seemed to be catching was huge tadpoles that spat water. His stomach growled. If he got much hungrier, they would do.
Splash.
Gabumon picked up an ear, listening intently in the hopes that Yamato might call him to help with a fire. Instead he heard something to the tune of 'What the hell?', and looked worriedly back toward the lake.
"Yamato?"
"It's cool," his partner's voice assured him. "I… I think."
He couldn't resist that, and left his post. Something was definitely at the other end of Yamato's fishing line, but it wasn't really pulling. In fact it looked like it was getting closer. Gabumon stepped carefully down to the bank, but he froze almost instantly. From above, it looked smaller than it really was.
A lot smaller.
He was gearing up to tell Yamato to let go of the fishing pole and get away from the river bank when it surged forward, and leaped out of the water. It was a huge whale; taller than Yamato, and almost perfectly spherical, with an alarming feeling of heaviness as it sailed through the air toward the bank. Its baleen plates gave it the impression of having a gigantic grin on its face, but if it really was grinning, Gabumon didn't think it was funny. He rammed the full force of his body into it, and it squealed in surprise as it came to a confused crash landing a few feet shy of Yamato. For a moment it didn't move. Then it rolled quietly back into the lake.
Gabumon snorted.
The makeshift fishing rod slipped through Yamato's fingers and into the lake with the whale, and Yamato didn't mind at all. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Water sprayed them out of nowhere, crashing into them like a wave, and pushing them against the trees. It ended with a thump that shook the ground. The whale had come back, and was bouncing violently toward them on land. Stones and stumps were crushed beneath its weight, and they were next.
"Hey, Gabumon…think you can handle this?"
Gabumon's stomach growled pitifully in response.
They ran for their lives. While the bouncing was destructive, it wasn't the fastest thing in the world, and it was easy to gain some distance. That changed when it started to roll after them instead. Yamato looked over his shoulder at the encroaching fleshy boulder, and struggled to somehow run faster.
"This is not a ruin escape sequence!"
"Naw, you gotta think of it more like a baseball game is all! Now, home run slide, dagyaa!"
Yamato wasn't familiar enough with Ankylomon's voice to know it for what it was, but he certainly recognized the verbal tic and the implications of the cry of TAIL HAMMER! He grabbed Gabumon and slid to the ground as a giant tail tipped in a spiked ball swung through the air and collided with their pursuer in a spray that was five parts water and one part blood. This time when it fell into the lake, it did not resurface.
Iori ran over to them, breathing heavily. "Ishida-san! We saw you from the other side of the lake! Are you both ok?"
"All things considered," Yamato answered, checking his calves for scrapes. He was never the athletic one. This should have been Daisuke or Taichi, hell even Sora would've handled it better. "What was that thing?"
"Oh…a pokémon. I think it's called a wailmer. We caught that same one earlier. Apparently it likes to startle people just for fun."
"Well, I guess it's actually a good thing. If we hadn't disturbed the wildlife, we probably would've passed each other by entirely. We were thinking you'd pass through Mauville since it's supposed to be a major travel hub."
Iori started to laugh, and then tears showed up at the corner of his eyes. "We wouldn't have is the funny part. There was no way for me to hide Armadimon so I was going to avoid it if I could. I'd have missed you entirely Ishida-san, and I would have still been alone here…"
Iori was a stone-faced boy. He managed to avoid bawling his eyes out, but his experiences since last speaking to a member of the Project exploded out of him. Amphimon had told him not to, but he'd tried to drag at least one body back into this world, and he'd been unable to handle it. Most of them were kids his age, and he was being crushed by the idea that their mothers and fathers would never see them again, never even be able to find the body. The pokémon had mostly come with him, intelligent enough or well trained enough to understand that he could lead them home, but some of them had refused. They purposefully settled themselves into the sand, refusing to leave the corpses of their trainers. The strain of being lost had only amplified his feelings. He knew the way back to their area where Full Metal City blended into this world, but that wasn't his destination. He was adrift in a foreign world with only a bit of savvy and no money. Catching and killing and eating things because he would starve otherwise, and being entirely unsure when or even if he would find his friends had taken a toll.
It was a lot for Yamato to take in, but he listened sincerely. Iori was too old for the long, comforting older brother hugs Yamato had once given Takeru. Yamato would have only been awkward if he tried, so he gave him a short, gruff one instead. "This is probably going to get stranger before it gets better, Hida." He squeezed the boys shoulders. "Let's just focus on finding Daisuke, alright?"
Iori was a little surprised by the affection, but he respected the effort it must have taken his somewhat aloof elder. He wiped his eyes and nodded.