First official new post of the new year! Wait, I actually posted a Digimon Chapter BEFORE August first?! Miracles! Actually, I'd hoped to post this chapter a few weeks ago in January. :P
This chapter ended up getting pretty long. I was able to write the first two parts pretty quickly, but I felt that I had to reread PW and UGotD (which took a while because 50 CHAPTERS!) to remind myself where I was going in the other story and to determine how much time has passed in both. Events in this chapter happen 9 days after the DigiDestined arrive in the other Digital World. The real reason I had to reread UGotD was to count days (because for some reason I only did that for the first 20 chapters). Did you guys know that where chapter 50 of UGotD stands, it's been 30-31 days (a month) since the start of their adventure?! I really need to pick up the pace with this story if we're only on Day 9, 19 chapters in. O_O
But whatever. OH! Also (PLEASE READ THIS:), for those of you who haven't gone back and reread the previous chapter like I did, you should know that the new Warrior DigiDestined of Earth guy got renamed. He was originally called Haru, but I realized that I already had a Haru in Hiroaki's group shortly after I posted chapter 18 last year... so I renamed him Rikuto. I figured it was safe to rename him because he was only in a small part of the last chapter and it wouldn't take much to change.
ANYWAY! Here is the latest chapter of Parent Worries! Hope you like it!
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!
Chapter 19: Getting Somewhere
Tamers Digital World: Location: Level 3
Having already been rudely awakened by the Cerberumon pack, the hodgepodge group of humans and Digimon packed up and began their travels for the day. The cave tunnels seemed to go on endlessly and no other Digimon had been seen since the attack. Gotsumon was still Monochromon, so he took to carrying any of the smaller Digimon that needed to rest. Even hours later, Kai and Monochromon were still talking excitedly about becoming Tamer and Partner.
"I'm happy for Kai," Alice told Minami, "but I wish they'd stop talking about it so much."
"I think he's just excited because this gives him a reason to go after Takato if we can find a way to send help to that other world," Minami said softly. "I know that he felt left out of the action last summer when Takato came to visit him in Okinawa. Now that he's a Tamer with a partner of his own he can be right in the thick of things with Takato."
"Fool," Alice sighed. "He shouldn't be so excited to get mixed up in a fight. Takato and the others are essentially at war in that other world. Someone's already died and more are going to get hurt."
"Kai is just a person of action," Minami said in defence of the boy. "He hates sitting on his hands waiting for news. For something to happen. I knew the moment you asked us if we wanted to come on this venture with you that he'd say yes. He felt so helpless watching what was happening to Takato. It's not that he wants to get mixed up in any fights, Alice. He just wants to help bring Takato back home safely. For cousins who live so far apart, Kai and Takato are very close."
Alice hummed, watching the boy in question help haul a couple of tired Gekomon aboard Monochromon's back. "And you? She asked.
"Pardon?" Minami said, blinking in surprise.
"Why did you choose to come along?" Alice asked.
Minami bit her lip, hugging herself a little.
"At first…it was to keep Kai company. I also wanted to help Takato and the others, but Kai is the main reason I said yes."
"You like him," Alice mused. She'd had a feeling her companions were a little more than friends, or at least on their way to becoming more.
Minami blushed.
"Go on," Alice said, keeping her eyes ahead of them and not on the nervous girl beside her.
"…I do like him, and I think he likes me back," Minami said with a small smile. "We haven't really said anything or gone on anything I think counts as an official date, but… Anyway, I knew that if he was going to say yes, than I'd go with him. And I think he knew that too. But if I'm really being honest… the real reason I said I'd come…"
"Yes?"
"It's silly," Minami sighed.
"Try me," Alice said.
" … How much do you know about what happened in Okinawa last summer?" Minami asked.
"Not much," Alice admitted. "There's very little information on it even though it happened in our world. It was before my uncle came to join Hypnos."
"Well… basically an evil Digimon called Mephistomon tried to use my Dad's creation, the V-Pet, to disable worldwide communications and allow Digimon to cross over freely into the real world. The only way to stop Mephistomon lay in the coding of the original V-Pet, which turned out to be Seasarmon, a Digimon that had appeared when I was in trouble. I never had a D-Power like the others, but I felt like he was my Digimon partner. He reverted to Labramon when he got hurt too badly during the fight. He ended up sacrificing himself to release the code inside of him that allowed Takato and the others to destroy Mephistomon."
"You came to see if he's here," Alice said.
"I told you it's silly," Minami laughed sadly. "He's gone. When their data is used up or absorbed, Digimon don't come back."
"It's not silly at all," Alice said softly. "I'm here for a very similar reason."
"…Dobermon?" Minami asked, remembering what she'd heard about her friend's previous involvement with Digimon.
"He was my Seasarmon," Alice said, nodding.
The two girls became very quiet and somber after that. Kai noticed their glum faces and decided that they needed cheering up. He slid off Monochromon's back and let his partner know that he was going to walk with his friends for a little bit.
"Hey gal pals!" he said brightly, slipping between them and throwing his arms around their shoulders. "Why the sad faces? I know these caves are dark and gloomy and appear to go on forever, but I'm sure we'll find the next lock soon enough."
Minami smiled slightly but still looked bummed and Alice only huffed. Now that wouldn't do.
"I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, princess, now when did you last let your heart decide~?" Kai sang, grinning at the two girls who were looking at him in bewilderment. "I can open your eyes. Take you wonder by wonder. Over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride. A whole new world~! A new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming…"
"A whole new world~!" Minami and Alice joined in. Minami was smiling for real now, no doubt thinking that Kai was being an idiot again, but he was a charming idiot that could make her smile at least. Alice was pretending to be annoyed by looking away from him, but Kai could see that she was smiling. And she was singing too, so he knew that she wasn't as annoyed with him as she was pretending to be. "A dazzling place I never knew. But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear that now I'm in a whole new world with you."
The three of them continued singing, finishing the song together and then started up another one, running through the gamut of all of the popular Disney songs that they could remember, though Alice shot down any and all attempts made to sing Hakuna Matata.
By the time they ran out of songs to sing, Kai was quite pleased with himself. Whatever had been depressing the girls was no longer bothering them and they were smiling, even if they probably thought that he was a major dork for knowing as many Disney songs as he did. It had passed the time wonderfully as well and the Digimon had enjoyed listening to the humans sing the silly songs, many of them quick to pick up the chorus of several of them and joined in for a line or two. The Gekomon's croaky voices made for an… interesting accompaniment.
It was the group's singing that had drawn out a group of Drimogemon and Meteormon.
"Thank goodness we've finally found some Digimon that live on this level," Minami sighed.
"What are you lot doing here?" a Meteormon asked.
"Trying not to get eaten by Cerberumon," Kai joked.
"We're trying to find our way to the next level," Alice spoke up and proceeded to tell the group of cave dwelling Digimon their purpose for coming to the Digital World.
The Drimogemon and Meteormon conferred with one another and Jijimon and Babamon about where they thought the lock for the next level might be. Their luck was holding so far, it seemed, because the Drimogemon and Meteormon were very familiar with the tunnels that made up the 3rd level and thought that the lock for their level might be in the city they were from. The group was very happy to find out that the entire level wasn't all caves and gratefully followed their new guides.
Another hour later the group was relieved to walk out into open air of the twilight that existed on every level. The dark core could be seen high above them with two beams of light moving in the distance, most likely touching down on the first and second levels.
The city the Drimogemon and Meteormon brought them to was a series of pueblo dwellings lining the round open space before them. It was like they were in a bowl. The opening from the cave that they'd come out of was on the lowermost level of the city. Looking up, Kai, Alice and Minami could see all sorts of Digimon. Gazimon, Gotsumon, Armadillomon, Hawkmon, Patamon, Biyomon, Agumon, Veemon, Tentomon, Togemon, and all sorts of other Digimon that might thrive in a cavern like Level were there. It was by far the most diversely populated level the others had seen thus far.
The Drimogemon didn't leave the caves, so that left the Meteormon as their guides. Their group picked up quite a few gawkers as they made their way to the center of the city where a Digimon that looked a lot like a machine armored Leomon was talking with some Cerberumon. Likely the group that had attacked the travelers earlier.
"It's them!" one of the Cerberumon cried when it spotted the humans and their company. "GrapLeomon, those are the invaders we encountered."
"Invaders?" Kai scoffed. "Where do they get off calling us invaders? We weren't doing anything wrong."
"Then how did you get here?" barked a different Cerberumon. "We've never seen the likes of any of you before. Not since the Great Lockdown."
"We traveled up here from Levels 1 and 2," Alice said calmly.
"Impossible!" cried another Cerberumon. "No one had been able to travel between the Levels since the core went dark and the sky got stuck changing between day and night."
"But it's true," Minami said. "My friends and I came to this world to help you reverse the Lockdown so that we might make it to see the Digimon Sovereign."
"And why would you want to do that?" the first Cerberumon demanded.
"Enough!" GrapLeomon said. "Can't you dogs see that those three are human children? Their kind are not from our world. Clearly there is more to their story. Would it happen to have anything to do with what's happening in that other Digital World?"
"Yes," Alice said, speaking up once more. "Those are our friends. It was after they were taken that communication between our world and your Sovereign was severed. We were sent to help lift this Lockdown you're under and to find the Sovereign and seek their help in sending aid to the other world."
"I see. I suggest we discuss this further inside," GrapLeomon said, gesturing to the dwelling behind him. "Cerberumon, gather the chiefs."
"Yessir," the dog digimon grumbled before racing off to do as they were ordered.
Frontier Human World: Location: Shibuya Park
"What… just happened?" Rikuto gasped, staring at the wall of earth that had sprung up in front of him.
"I'm not sure what just happened," Tetsukomon grunted as he strapped his broadsword into place on his back, "but-"
At that moment two screeching sounds came from Umi and Rikuto's pockets. The two startled teens pulled out their cellphones in time to see them turn into D-Tectors like the ones Yutaka and Shinya had begun to carry around after becoming the new Warriors of Steel and Wood.
"I think this means that you two have been chosen to become the new Warriors of Water and Earth," Mokuseimon said.
"What?!" gasped the siblings.
"You mean we get to be like you?" Umi asked, sounding excited.
"Now wait a minute, Umi," Rikuto said, looking worried. "Shouldn't we think about this first?"
Umi scowled, but Tetsukomon spoke up before she could say anything.
"You definitely should," the Warrior of Steel said. "Yes, you two have been chosen, but that doesn't mean that you have to accept. You can choose to say no."
"Why would we?" Umi asked, looking bewildered. "This seems like the chance of a lifetime."
"How?" Rikuto huffed.
"Think about it, Riku!" Umi cried. "If we go with them to the Digital World, then we won't have to worry about Child Services. They can't take us away and separate us if we aren't even in this world."
"Your brother is right to be cautious," Tetsukomon said sternly. "I can't say that Shinya and I have really come across anything too dangerous so far in our Digital World, but if you accept the responsibility of becoming the Warriors of Water and Earth, then know that you're signing up for war."
"War?" Rikuto repeated, looking concerned and a little pale.
"Taka means what is going on in the other Digital World that you've seen on TV," Mokuseimon said softly. "We both agreed to become Warrior DigiDestined because we want to help the others trapped in that Digital World. It's going to be very dangerous. My brother died there…"
Umi seemed a little less enthusiastic after that.
"Don't get me wrong though," Mokuseimon said, smiling. "I'd - we'd - be really happy and excited to have you guys with us. We came back to our world to find two people to join us as the Warriors of Water and Earth, but even though I'm sure our time together will seem like some big adventure at first… to war is where we're going. Yutaka and I are in this to find his brother and to prevent anyone else from dying like my brother did. We have a reason to fight. To want to do this. You don't."
"And we understand that," Tetsukomon said softly. "I didn't want to do this when I was first offered the chance to have my own Warrior Spirit Partner. I was scared. I still am at times. But my brother and Shinya need me, so I chose to become this," he said, gesturing to his armored Digimon form. "This needs to be your decision - your choice - and not one that should be made lightly."
Umi and Rikuto looked at each other. Rikuto looked nervous and worried, but Umi looked determined.
"Umi," Rikuto started to say, but his sister shook her head.
"I hear what they're saying, but I still want to go. I… I don't think I could handle going back into the system. Soon you'll be eighteen and then we won't be able to be together. At least this way we can stay together, and we won't be alone. Right?" She looked at Tetsukomon when she said that last bit.
"Shinya and I will be with you every step of the way," Tetsukomon promised.
"And so will Tommy and the others when we find them," Mokuseimon added. "And they've been close friends ever since they started their own adventures. Brothers and sisters in arms and all that."
"Well, Riku?" Umi asked, looking at her brother.
Rikuto didn't look comfortable with the idea, but he nodded. "Fine. We'll go."
"You don't seem so sure," Tetuskomon said.
"I'm not. But I'm not going to let Umi go off alone," Rikuto said, voice firm. "We've been through alot together since our parents died and I don't blame her for wanting to get away from here and child services. I don't expect you two to know what that's like, but Umi is all I have. Where she goes, I go."
"Fair enough," Tetsukomon said, smiling sadly. "In that case, we should all get going. People are going to be waking up soon and we need to get to Shibuya Station before it opens for the morning."
"Right," Mokuseimon huffed before turning to their new companions. "Are you two ready?"
"One sec," Umi said before she raced off for the fountain again, grabbing two slightly damp duffle bags before rejoining them. She handed one to Rikuto. "Now we are," she beamed.
"Then let's go," Tetsukomon said, scooping up Rikuto while Mokuseimon picked up Umi.
"Hey!" the siblings squawked.
"It's quicker this way," Mokuseimon laughed. "Trust us."
The two Human-Digimon then took off with their companions, racing through the slowly waking homes in Shibuya. It was nearing five in the morning when they managed to sneak into the station. The elevator doors opened for them without needing to be called. Mokuseimon and Tetsukomon put Umi and Rikuto down before entering the elevator.
"This is it," Tetsukomon said. "There's no turning back from here."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mokuseimon asked.
Umi and Rikuto shared another look. Umi nervously shifted her duffel bag's strap on her shoulder and Rikuto swallowed. Both looked around at the dark empty station and then at the two armored Warrior DigiDestined in the brightly lit elevator.
"Together?" Umi whispered.
Rikuto smiled softly, reaching out to take his sister's hand. "Together. Always."
"Us against the world," she said, grinning. "Well… Us and them against the world now, I suppose."
Rikuto laughed, shaking his head. Both turned and after taking a deep breath, stepped aboard the elevator with their new friends. The elevator's doors closed and it began to descend. Dark Trailmon was waiting for them, it's passenger car doors open.
The ride back to the Digital World was nice and smooth. Yutaka and Shinya knew the moment that they passed into the Digital World. The car's lights blacked out and they felt their forms shift back into their original human ones. Then they were in the sky, the Digital World's rising sun showing signs of appearing over the horizon, casting everything in a nice soft orange-pink glow.
"Welcome to the Digital World," Yutaka and Shinya said, grinning at the amazed looks on Umi and Rikuto's faces.
"You're human!" Rikuto cried.
"Well duh," Shinya snorted. "We always have been."
"Shinya, don't be rude," Yutaka scolded before addressing their surprised companions. "For some reason we were turned into Digimon when we arrived back on Earth. Now that we're back in the Digital World, we're back to normal."
"How does that work?" Umi asked.
"No idea," Yutaka sighed. "We're still pretty new to this thing ourselves. We've only been DigiDestined for a few days."
"So we're not that far behind you learning curve wise," Rikuto mused.
"Right! So we'll all learn things as we go together!" Shinya laughed.
The rest of the ride back to Flame Terminal was spent informing Umi and Rikuto about what they could expect in the days ahead. When they pulled into the station they were surprised to see Sorcermon waiting for them.
"I see Dark Trailmon has decided to intervene," Sorcermon said after they stepped out onto the platform.
"Events needed to be sped up," the Trailmon said in a soft deep voice. "Things are coming to a head and you must be ready when it does. Time is not on your side."
"Thank you," Sorcermon said. "We are most grateful."
"Do not thank me yet," Dark Trailmon said as he began to pull away from the station, "A great darkness is falling over the Universe. I pray that the children are ready when I come for them again. Their next trip may very well be one way."
With that final warning Dark Trailmon disappeared, literally vanishing as he pulled out of the Terminal.
"Well that was ominous," Umi said, shifting nervously.
"Sorcermon, who was that Digimon?" Shinya asked.
"Dark Trailmon," Sorcermon sighed, turning on his heel and leading them out of the terminal and down the sleepy streets of the Digimon Village that was beginning to show signs of waking up. The sun was just starting to peek up over the hills that surrounded the village. "He is a Digimon that is not bound to this world alone. According to legend, Dark Trailmon appears when things are at a turning point, when an important decision must be made. Tell me, young humans, was something going to happen tonight?"
Shinya and Yutaka looked over at Umi and Rikuto who were trading confused looks.
"Oh!" Umi suddenly gasped. "We were planning on running away."
"I see," Sorcermon mused. "And by running away, you two provided the turning point Dark Trailmon needed to appear. Had he not appeared, you two would not be here. You would have been far from where we might have been able to find you when we managed to find a way to reopen travel between our two worlds."
"How'd you know to meet us at the station?" Yutaka asked.
"Lady Ophanimon told me she sensed Dark Trailmon briefly reappearing in our world," Sorcermon explained. "When I checked the hut that you and Shinya were staying in and found it empty, I knew that Dark Trailmon must have taken you and waited for your return. I'm glad to see that you found the new Warriors of Water and Earth. And your names are?"
"My name is Rikuto and this is my sister Umi," the older brother said.
"I can see why you were chosen," Sorcermon said, his eyes scrunching up in that manner that told them he was smiling. "Your names mean "Land Person" and "Sea" correct? Yes, very fitting indeed."
Sorcermon brought them to a small cottage looking house on the edge of the village. "I had this house made for the four of you. I knew you'd need a bigger place once all of you were together. Ah! I also have something for Umi and Rikuto as well."
Sorcermon moved over to a small locked chest on a table in the dinning/kitchen area of the cottage. He took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the chest. Inside were two small idols. He took them out and held one out to Umi and the other to Rikuto.
"These are the physical manifestations of the Human Spirits of the Water and Earth Warriors. Please, take out your D-Tectors and accept them as yours," he said.
Umi and Rikuto did as they were told and with some instruction, managed to scan the spirits' idols into their D-Tectors.
"Excellent," Sorcermon sighed. "I suggest you all rest this morning. I'll come back around in the afternoon for your training."
Adventure Digital World: Location: At the Base of Infinity Mountain
"They got him," Hiroaki sighed, watching as Datamon became nothing more than scrap data.
"Tentomon!" Keisuke cried out, racing down the incline to reach his downed partner.
"Keisuke, wait!" Haru yelled, racing after his friend.
Hiroaki, Saito and Yumi were quick to follow as well. By the time they reached their dedigivolved partners, Biyomon and Gabumon had the exhausted Tentomon and rejoined Patamon and Agumon by the black box.
"Is everyone alright?" Saito asked.
"Ten is tired but he should be alright," Biyomon said reassuringly as Keisuke knelt to examine his partner.
"That's a relief," Yumi sighed. "So what's with the box?"
"We don't really know," Saito said. "Datamon was trying to open it when we came upon him and his Tankmon guard."
"They're the ones that probably ran the Boarmon off the night before," Hiroaki added. "They probably wanted to clear the area before digging this thing up."
"Why don't we open it and see what all the fuss was about?" Haru asked as he looked over the box.
"That might be easier said, than done," Agumon said. "Datamon looked like he was having a lot of trouble doing that."
"Let's have a look then," Keisuke said, calmer now that he was sure his partner was alright. The man took out a flashlight and examined the box for a moment. When he reached out to touch it, the box vibrated under his fingers. He felt along the sides to find any seams, but found nothing. "There doesn't appear to be a way to open it. There's no noticeable door or panel or lock. For all appearances it's just a black box."
"Bummer," Haru sighed, touching the box. "I wonder what Datamon wanted with it."
"It could be a powersource of some kind," Hiroaki mused, also running his fingers along the edges.
The box vibrated hard enough to rattle and hummed loudly. Haru, Hiroaki and Keisuke jerked their hands back in alarm. A few seconds later the box settled down again.
"The hell?" Saito said, getting closer to the box. Yumi was right next to him.
"Hiro, do that again," Keisuke said.
"Do what?" Hiroaki asked.
"Whatever it was that you just did," Keisuke snapped.
Hiroaki ran his fingers along the box's edges again. Nothing.
"You two should touch the box too," Yumi said to Haru and Keisuke. "Recreate the scenario."
Haru and Keisuke shared a considering look before placing their hands back on the box and Hiroaki touched it too. The box vibrated again, humming loudly.
"Now us, dear," Yumi said, grabbing her husband's hand and made him touch the box with her.
The box shot into the air, humming loudly as it spun like a top. Then it seemed to open, its sides unfolding like a geometric flower before floating down to chest level. The five human adults slowly circled around it and looked inside.
"Are those what I think they are?!" gasped Saito.
"Our rings!" Yumi squealed. "I thought they were lost after our battle with Apocalymon."
Inside the box were five simple but different colored rings; red, blue, yellow, green, and white.
"We all did," Keisuke said. "We used the power of those rings to seal him away."
"Well, apparently it wasn't good enough to just seal him away," Hiroaki growled. "He came back four years ago and my sons and their friends had to fight him too. They at least ended him once and for all."
"I remember that," Keisuke said. "The sky was all weird and we could see what was going on every night."
"Well, however it happened," Saito said, reaching into the box and grabbing his red ring, "we have these back now. How, I don't know, but I'm not about to question it. This means that Agumon and the others will be able to Digivolve all the way up to their Mega levels."
"Here here," Haru grinned, grabbing his blue ring.
Yumi grabbed the yellow ring, Keisuke took the green, and Hiroaki took the white one. The ring slid onto their fingers perfectly even though they'd been teenages the last time they'd worn them.
"Now begs another question," Keisuke mused. "Why was Datamon after these? He couldn't have known what was inside, could he?"
"I doubt it," Saito said, spinning the ring around his finger. "Gennai made it sound as if no one in this current Digital World knew much about our time as DigiDestined."
"That box still radiated power, though," Yumi pointed out. "Even if they didn't know what was inside, Datamon probably thought it'd make a good power source."
"Maybe," Hiroaki murmured. "If he only wanted it for that, though, why have the Tankmon around? And what about that Bakumon wearing that strange dark ring? Something tells me that something else is at work here, guys."
"Hiro's probably right," Keisuke said grimly. "But at least now we have our partners and our rings, meaning that we're much better prepared and equipped to handle whatever it is now than we were before."
"So what now?" Haru asked.
"We continue as planned. "We've found Agumon, Biyomon, Patamon and Tentomon, so now we make our way back to Gennai's base," Saito said. "Our priority here is helping Hiro get his sons and those other kids back."
"Right!" Yumi agreed. "If something comes up, we'll handle it then.
"True," Keisuke said. "We can't solve all of this world's problems and I'm sure Gennai will have someone look into it."
With everyone in agreement, the adult DigiDestined and their rediscovered partners began to make their way back to Gennai's. Hiroaki used the comm. device he'd been given before they'd parted ways with Gennai to get instructions on where to go. Apparently Gennai's base changed location frequently so it was good that Hiroaki had remembered the comm. device, otherwise they would have traveled to where Hiroaki had remembered starting the journey to Infinity Mountain but found nothing.
They got to the edge of the forest of signs and saw the large building waiting for them.
"That's convenient," Saito mused.
"No kidding," Haru laughed. "Even the Digital World has mobile homes."
Hiroaki led the way into the base where they were escorted by Gennai's friend, Harry, to the wing where the other parents were staying.
"Hiroaki's back!" Dan Motomiya had yelled when he spotted them.
Everyone gathered around to greet Hiroaki and meet his old friends, the other four original DigiDestined and their partners. Nancy appeared to be very relieved to see Hiroaki back safe.
"So what's been going on?" Hiroaki asked. "How are the kids doing?"
"Our kids are fine," Susumu Kamiya reported, "but another one of those Warrior kids was hurt badly by another Zaigou a couple days ago. They've been staying in a castle up in someplace called Himizu. It's a snow city of some sort."
"Yesterday TK and that Koichi boy had a bit of an adventure of their own," Nancy said, glancing at the wall of screens where TK could be seen amongst the group chatting with the twin Warrior DigiDestined. They appeared to be getting along better than Hiroki last remembered them interacting.
"Oh?" Hiroaki sighed. Why was it always his youngest? "What's he gotten himself into now?"
"Koichi and TK snuck away from the others yesterday to explore the city," his ex said, frowning. "They were chased by some lizard creature, but managed to make it back to the castle before it could catch them."
"Apparently one of the Zaigou has it out for Koichi," Yuko Kamiya added.
"And Matt?" Hiroaki asked Nancy.
"He's not the one I'm worried about," she sighed. "He's been fine."
The parents then spent the next hour giving Hiraki and his team a full account of the children's departure from Sekizou, the fight with Iramon, their travel north, TK and Koichi's encounter with Paressemon, the afternoon spent in Himizu, and Lord Genbumon's prophecy.
"So what are they doing now?" Saito asked, taking notice of the large gathered group of children on the screens.
"They're going to travel through a series underground tunnels. From the sound of it, they expand throughout the entire world they're in," Gennai reported. "They're trying to travel south under enemy territory in hopes of bypassing any evil digimon and the Zaigou on their way to the southern city, Netsusa. It looks as though they're getting underway now."
It was true. The large group was starting to move and Hiroaki could now make out the earthen tunnel walls and the torches that lit their way. He also saw the vicious looking scar over JP's left discolored eye.
"So how have things been on this end?" Hiroaki asked. "Have you managed to make contact with any outside worlds?"
"Not yet," Gennai sighed. "Even with the boosted signal we're only getting static, but sometimes we think we can hear someone answer on occasion, but I don't think any of the other children's worlds have managed to clear their communication ways either."
"We're able to get the occasional radio broadcast from our world, though," Dan Motomiya said. "We got to listen to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp game last night."
"How'd they do?" Haru asked, earning himself a glare from Keisuke and Yumi. Saito only laughed and Hiroaki shook his head.
"They won," Jun Motomiya said. "Beat the Yokohama BayStars 4 to 1."
"Sweet!" Haru cheered.
"Ah-hem!" Yumi coughed. "Getting back to the matter at hand, Haru, do we know what we can do next?"
"There might not be nothing for the moment," Gennai sighed. "Until the other worlds clear up their own communications, we'll just keep sending out broadcasts until we pick something up."
Hiroaki noticed Keisuke whispering something to Saito. When the other man nodded, Keisuke reached into his pack and pulled out a broken black ring.
"Gennai? Do you happen to know what this is?" the engineer asked.
"Where did you find that?" Gennai demanded, taking it from Keisuke and examined it with a worried expression.
"On a Bakumon that attacked us last night," Keisuke said. "It appeared to be under this device's control."
"What is that thing, Gennai?" Saito asked.
"A Dark Ring," Gennai said grimly. "I thought we'd seen the end of these things after Ken Ichijoji stopped being the Digimon Emperor. It's what he used to enslave Digimon as his puppets."
Hiroaki noticed that the Ichijojis looked shocked upon hearing what their son had apparently done.
"You say that the ring was controlling a Bakumon?" Gennai asked.
"Yes," Yumi spoke up. "Poor thing was running scared as soon as it was off."
"Harry!" Gennai shouted, and soon the other digital man appeared. "Run a scan for control spires."
Harry frowned, but headed to the nearest computer terminal in the room and ran the scan. "The hell?" he muttered.
"What is it?" Gennai asked, hurrying over.
"There's … so many," Harry said, eyes wide. "How?! How did we miss this?!"
"I think we found the reason for our communication system problems," Gennai sighed.
"What's going on?" Saito asked, approaching the two digital men, with Hiroaki and Keisuke close behind.
Hiroaki took in the grid on the screen and noticed a lot of small black squares.
"Someone has begun rebuilding the Digimon Emperor's Control Spires," Gennai said grimly. "They're what gives power to the Dark Rings. The DigiDestined weren't able to open a portal into the Digital World to locations that had one of these towers there."
"So how did the kids handle it before?" Hiroaki asked.
"They would find portals that opened up in a spire free zone and traveled around to destroy them," Gennai sighed. "They often split up into teams just to cover more ground."
"Then that's just what we'll do," Saito said, turning to face his team. "Any ideas, Hiro?"
"We can split into teams of two," Hiroaki declared. "Saito and Haru can be one team, Yumi and Keisuke can be another. Gabumon and I can round up a team of Digimon to go with us. That way we have three teams to take these things out."
"Sounds good to me," Yumi said, grinning. "When do we leave?"
"We just got here," Keisuke sighed. "Can't we at least stay the night? Regroup, resupply and all that jazz? Give Hiroaki time to find Digmon to help us out?"
"Sounds good to me," Saito said. "No use wearing ourselves out."
"Precisely," Gennai said. "Right now, you five are the only DigiDestined we have access to. Though, hopefully, if we can take out enough Control Spires, we can get in touch with more of the world's DigiDestined and get some of them here to help out. Give me a couple of hours, and Mr. Ishida and I can gather up some volunteers to help you all take out those Control Spires."
"Perfect!" Yumi beamed.
Hiroaki watched as his old friends settled a bit and began to interact with the other parents. Yumi was chatting with the mothers, showing them pictures of her own kids, Saito was hanging out with the dads talking shop and also about their kids, Haru was entertaining the teenagers with stories about their adventures, and Keisuke was talking with Harry and a few other digital men about something that had to do with the base they were in. After a moment, Hiroaki left with Gennai to find their Digimon help.
Savers Human World: Location: Yokosuka Naval Base
Masaru felt antsy as he unbuckled his harness and exited the C-17 with his Digimon friends in tow. Waiting at the end of the tarmac was a van and waiting outside it was a familiar looking redhead. Her hair was a bit longer than he remembered it but she hadn't changed much in the five years it had been since he'd seen her.
"Yoshino!" Masaru cried, waving wildly as he rushed over to meet her.
"Masaru Daimon, you're the worst!" Fujieda Yoshino gasped, laughing, as his bear hug lifted her clean off her feet.
"You haven't changed. Man, I missed you," Masaru said, grinning as he set her down and allowed Lalamon to have her own reunion with her human partner.
"Well you've certainly have," Yoshino sighed, after hugging Lalamon, taking in Masaru's long hair and towering height. "You're a giant."
"Nah, you just shrank," Masaru teased, ruffling her hair. She barely came up to his chest now.
"I take it back," Yoshino huffed. "You haven't changed at all. You just grew a bunch."
They piled into the van and Yoshino took them to DATS HQ, getting Masaru up to date on the situation.
"Director Satsuma got Japan's DATS branch reinstated the same day the TVs stopped broadcasting normal programing and those kids became big news," she told him. "The first thing he did was get Miki, Megumi and I reinstated and made heads of a new tech department with your father, Daimon Suguru, at the head of the new research team. Then we had to track down Tohma. He's been spending the last couple years in Austria with his sister and father. He recently found a cure for Relena's illness and even won a Nobel Prize this past spring for it."
"That's great!" Masaru said, feeling happy for his old friend. He knew how much Tohma loved his little sister and had worried for her health.
"Tohma agreed to come the moment we got in touch," Yoshino continued. "He and your father have been working restlessly with the Noguchis to try to find a way to get back to our Digital World. Then we got a massive portal reading when you guys arrived in New York. American DATS agents were already on the lookout when you guys had that fight with Cockatrimon."
"I was wondering why there was already someone there to take us to the American DATS HQ," Masaru mused.
"We were so happy and relieved to hear that it was you and our old Digimon partners that came through first," Yoshino sighed.
"Yeah, well, Cockatrimon must have slipped through soon after us," Masaru grumbled. "You'd think the Royal Knights would have been keeping an eye out for that sort of thing when they sent us through."
"Regardless," Yoshino laughed. "I'm so glad you guys are here. You've been missed greatly."
They spent the rest of the ride catching up and when they finally arrived at the old DATS HQ, there was a welcoming committee, Masaru's parents and sister standing front and center.
"Mom! Dad! Chika!" Masaru cried, jumping out of the van before Yoshino even finished putting it in park.
The next couple of minute were a blur of hugs, tears and incomprehensible statements full of love and happiness. When they finally parted, Masaru spotted Tohma Norstein standing next to Yoshino with Gaomon and Lalamon.
"Hey, Tohma!" Masaru grinned. "Long time no see."
Tohma snorted, shaking his head. "Masaru."
"Dude, what's up with the grandpa glasses?" Masaru asked teasingly. "And what's up with your hair? You need a haircut."
"I need a haircut?" Tohma scoffed, stepping right up in his space and pointedly picked up a long lock of Masaru's hair that had fallen out of it's ponytail.
"I've always had long hair," Masaru huffed, lightly smacking Tohma's hand away. "I can pull it off. Long hair on you just makes you look old."
The two scowled at each other for a moment, much to everyone else's unease, but then they both burst into laughter and shared a manly hug.
"It's great to see you," Masaru said, grinning as they parted.
"You too," Tohma sighed, smiling.
Masaru then spent the next half hour greeting Noguchi Ikuto - who'd grown like a weed and, unlike Yoshino, Tohma, and Chika, had shorter hair now - and Kurosaki Miki, Shirakawa Megumi, Director Satsuma Rentarou, and Commander Yushima Hiroshi - none of whom had changed a bit, looking just as they had when he last saw them. It was great seeing his old friends and DATS co-workers. They moved their reunion inside and Masaru was impressed to see how much the base had remained the same, and yet changed with the updates it had received since he'd been inside five years ago.
"So now what happens?" Ikuto asked after things settled down and everyone was gathering in the debriefing room.
"We need to find a way to get to that other Digital World," Masaru said. "They need help."
"Yeah, but how do we do that?" Yoshino sighed. "We're having trouble just getting to our parallel Digital World."
"That is why I am here," Kudamon said from his perch wrapped along the back of Director Satsuma's neck. "I can get in touch with the other Royal Knights and teleport us back. Teleporting uses up a lot of our energy however, so we might have to wait a few days before we try again."
"Ok, so we have a way to get to our Digital World," Yoshino said, "but that doesn't help us get to that other world."
"You'd have to get there through our Digital World anyway," Kudamon stated. "Travel between human worlds is impossible, but between other Digital Worlds in the Multi-Verse it is possible to arrange if one can get in touch with that world's enforcer. That's why it's so hard to travel between your world and our world. Your human world has no deity or guardian for us to get in touch with and create a portal or gateway for stable travel."
"Deity? You mean like Yggdrasil?" Masaru asked, frowning.
"Sort of," Kudamon mused. "Yggdrasil was considered the god of our world. But these days we Royal Knights fill the role of being our Digital World's overseers. Together we're powerful enough to protect our world and reach out to other worlds in the Multiverse. Other Digital Worlds have Digimon of similar status. From what we were able to gather before recent events, many Digital Worlds have multiple guardians. Worlds like the one those children are in are overseen by the Digimon Sovereign. If we want to get anywhere we need to be able to reach them."
"And how do we do that?" Chika asked asked.
"That is what we must find out," Kudamon sighed. "The other Royal Knights and I believe that the worlds directly affected by what's going on with those children will be the hardest to get in touch with. However, if it's hard to get in touch with those worlds, it'll be even harder to get in touch with the Sovereign of the world we want to get to."
"Ok, so let's problem solve," Tohma said. "How do you get in touch under normal circumstances?"
"There is a hall where we Royal Knights gather on occasion. We used to go there to commune with Yggdrasil, but these days it's more for debriefs and meetings. There is a room in the hall where there is a terminal of sorts that we can use to reach out to other worlds," Kudamon said. "We've never had reason to use it to make contact, but we have always made sure to test it regularly to make sure that we can transmit and receive messages from other worlds. We've never been ignorant of the possibility that threats can come to us from worlds outside our own."
"Like Kurata," Director Satsuma sighed.
"Yes," Kudamon agreed.
"So we'll need routers and signal boosting equipment," Tohma mused.
"My team and I can handle that," Suguru answered. "Kenji and Mizuru can help me figure out what we'll need."
"Mom and Dad do have experience creating equipment that can get through to the Digital World," Ikuto confirmed when Masaru looked over at the boy. Masaru nodded.
"Ok," Yoshino said, trying to get the conversation moving again. "So say we get all that equipment transported to the Digital World, and get it up and running in this hall. Then what? We try to get in touch with those Sovereign Digimon from that Digital World the kids are in?"
"Not at first," Kudamon said. "As I said before, that world is going to be the hardest to get in contact with because the source of the communications block between worlds in the Multiverse if coming from there. I suggest that we try to get in touch with one of the worlds that those children came from. The more worlds in that area of the Multiverse that we can reach, the more help we can get in breaking through to the world we want to get to."
"You want to piggyback signals," Tohma said, eyes widening.
"What?" Masaru frowned. "What's that mean?"
"On our own, our efforts might be for naught," Director Satsuma said. "However, if we get in touch with other worlds, we might be able to combine our signal strengths and break through to the world we want to get through. In layman's terms, piggybacking means gaining access to a restricted communications channel by using the session another user has already established. What we'd be doing is accessing and using other worlds' communication networks in order to get through to the one we're trying to reach."
"Okaaay," Masaru drawled, not really getting it.
"Think about it this way," Tohma said. "Picture a stream. Alone, it isn't very strong. But if it meets up with and joins other streams along the way, it'll eventually grow to become a river. What we want to do is join our communications network up with those of other worlds and try to establish contact that way."
"We want to boost our signal enough in order to reach that other world but to do that we're going to need the help of other worlds closer to it to do so," Yoshino huffed. "If we can get in touch with the worlds those children are from, together we might be able to get through to the world they are currently in."
"Why didn't you just say that?" Masaru laughed, making a majority of the room sigh.
"So step one is to determine what kind of equipment we're going to need and get it prepared for transportation to the Digital World," Director Satsuma said.
"We'll get right on it, boss," Megumi said, standing up from where she'd been sitting with Miki and the Pawnchessmon.
"I'll help," Tohma said, he and Gaomon following them and Commander Yushima, Kamemon and some other techs Masaru couldn't remember the names of.
"Aniki," Agumon spoke up for the first time after most of the people had left the room. "What are we going to do now?"
"You'll come home!" Chika declared, standing from where she'd been sitting between Ikuto and Piyomon. "We all have a lot to catch up on."
"Indeed," Suguru said, looking over at his son.
"Aren't you going to help with the research?" Masaru asked his father.
"I will, but for now, I don't think anyone would blame me for wanting to spend some time at home with my family," Surugu said.
Masaru smiled and followed his parents, sister, and Ikuto out of DATS HQ and headed home for the first time in five years.
Oh man, talk about taking one step forward and two steps back! Who's behind the new Control Spires? What's in store for Alice, Minami and Kai on Level 3 and will they be able to find the lock? How are Umi and Rikuto going to handle being Warrior DigiDestined? And how soon will the DATS team get what they need before moving their operation to the Digital World? I guess we'll just have to see next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
Sorry for all the talk that seemed to happen in this chapter (and story in general. Now that I look back on it it's a very chatty story), especially during the Savers section. I just really wanted to make it clear on what the Savers are going to attempt. Did anyone get confused? I'm so sorry if you did. I'm not a computer person so trying to write any computer tech jargon pushes me to my creative limits. I'm not sure if what I wrote is actually possible in real life (because I'm not sure how computers and hacking work) but for the sake of Digimon, this BS is gonna have to do. XD
If anything was unclear, please let me know in a comment and I'll try to fix it in the next edit.
Basically the DATS team wants to use the other worlds as stepping stones (hence the piggybacking term Tohma threw out) to reach out to the Digital World the DigiDestined are in, and try to combine their transmission signal strength with the other worlds' signals and create a strong enough signal to get in touch with the Sovereign in the other Digital World. Again, I don't know if that really works with computers, but I figure it's kinda the same as pinging off several service towers and satellites on a phone line to reach someone in another country or something. Then again, this is all fictitious Digimon world logic and I'm probably over worrying and making mountains out of ant hills (again) and you guys just don't care how they do it so long as they do and we can get caught up with UGotD. XD
I hope you enjoyed this long new chapter and will leave a review to let me know how I'm doing.