Chapter 21

Back-Up and Running (Part 2)

"Wooooww…" Was all Tai could think to say as he looked around the Dimensional Corridor in amazement.

The multicolor walls of energy rushed by on all sides while pulsing portals of light skimming the surfaces passed by at steady intervals. Like he had been told he felt as if he were falling through the air, but at the same time there was no feeling of the natural human fears or concerns that came with the impression. The closest feeling to it he could recall was when he and Matt had been flying through the internet to fight Diaboromon for the second time. However, this time the sensation was so much more intense that the awareness coursed through and over his skin.

"This is amazing, Tai," Agumon looked about awestruck, unsure of what he should be looking at since there was so much to see and marvel at.

"It sure is," he agreed as he watched a cluster of swirling energy streak by. He would have reach out for it if his arms hadn't been busy holding onto Agumon.

"Glad you two are enjoying your first true Crossing," Koichi suddenly appeared at the twos side.

"I know I've said this before, probably not to you yet, but what you guys see and do is pretty amazing," Tai could only marvel at the sight the three Runners probably saw all the time.

"Yeah, I guess after you see it enough times it gets kind of common place," Koichi sighed, recalling memories of when the scenery around them used to invoke the same wonder he was seeing from the older boy now.

"That sounds like a pretty boring way of looking at it," Tai argued.

"Takuya tells us the same thing every time," Koichi chuckled at the similarity between the two. "Enough of that though. We should catch up to them before we reach the exit portal."

In the distance Tai could see two dark forms moving against the luminescent walls of the tunnel. Anything that wasn't part of the Dimensional Corridor seemed like dark shadows moving over a bright background, really standing out against the neon glow.

"I was actually trying to do that before you got here, but I can't seem to figure out how to. I tried to do what skydivers do. You know, tuck you arms in at the side and reduce wind resistance, but that doesn't seem to work," Tai confessed as to his attempts.

"You have the basic physical principle down, but there's some more and a mental side to it as well," Koichi glanced towards the two in the distance as he explained. "Normally, you can't increase your speed in the Dimensional Corridor, but since there's two groups of physical beings, our group and my brothers group, we can actually speed up until we catch up to them by using a kind of magnetic force generated by solid material within the Dimensional Corridor."

"I don't mean to interrupt you, but you were starting to sound like Izzy for a moment there and lost me," Tai interjected with a depressed sigh, ignoring the slight ache in the back of his head from trying to think about the possible meaning of his words. "Could you explain it in simpler words and leave out the whole scientific reasoning behind it. I'll just accept that it works, okay."

"Sorry. Of course," Koichi apologized with a chuckle. "You need to do the same thing you were trying before, but this time concentrate on eliminating the space between you and them and not actually catching up with them."

Tai gave Koichi an exasperated sigh and look. "Was that seriously your attempt at making it simpler? Because I have no idea what that's supposed to mean."

"Ah, yeah. It's just another one of those things that you actually have to try before you understand it," that was all Koichi could offer. "Just try it."

"Okay," Tai assumed the position and took his eyes off of the two ahead and instead focused on the space that separated them from each other. At first nothing happened when he imagined himself sailing through the space, but when he imagined the distance growing smaller he suddenly started to gain on the three ahead of him. There was no feeling of increasing speed, just a shrinking space that vanish completely when he slide up beside his sister. "That was a little weird… but considering our surroundings I guess it's probably pretty normal in comparison."

"What?" Kari questioned. However, she never got an answer since Tai just smiled at her and decided to forget the whole incident.

"It's about time you three caught up," Koji watched them from the corner of his eye.

"We were taking some time to enjoy the sights," Koichi retorted taking his place beside his brother. From the sounds of it he had felt some amusement from watching Tai's reactions earlier, maybe allowing him to remember some of the great wonder he had once felt while Crossing. These days it was the worlds and missions that invoked his interest.

"We should probably discuss what to expect once we reach the exit," Koji dropped the subject and instead choose to focus on the immediate future.

"Like what?" Tai questioned, knowing that he in some way wouldn't like what they had to say.

"You do remember what happened when you Crossed into Lilithmon's Created Zone?" That was Koji's response with a quizzical glance.

It didn't take Tai long to remember the incident and come up with an answer, "Great… I'd completely forgotten about that… what was it called? The Crossing Backlash. So we're going to collapse with paralysis once we get out of here?"

"Yep," Koichi could still remember those days clearly. The days before his body and mind had become accustom to Zone Crossing, so he felt some sympathy for them. He had hated the helpless feeling that came with being unable to move his own body.

"There's also the thing with the exit portal," Kari chimed in with a bit of knowledge from her own experience with Takuya and taking the Sealed Digivice to its final resting place. It was an occurrence one didn't easily forget.

"There is that too," Koichi agreed with a small smile and a nod.

"Thing with the exit portal?" The three who didn't know found the same questioning words and turned their attention towards her, waiting for her to elaborate.

"It's just that we're going to kind of… crash into it," Kari hesitated on the last part, knowing how it sounded to people who hadn't done it before.

"Crash into it...!" The three started at her in shock and concern. They were unsure if they had heard her right.

"It doesn't hurt… it just feels a little weird. Like falling into a pool of warm Jell-o," Kari tried to reassure them.

"Well, that's going to be an experience," Tai sighed, wondering how one could know what that exact sensation felt like. Takuya must have been the one who gave her the comparison.

"One you won't have to wait for much longer," Koji interjected himself into the conversation by nicking his head towards the front.

"I'm guessing that's the exit portal you were talking about?" It had taken Tai a few seconds to process the large sphere of spinning white energy that filled the corridor ahead of them. It was just small enough to fit within the corridor, its sides barely skimming the walls but still blocking out any possibility of getting past it.

"Yep," was the only response he got from Koichi who like his brother didn't seem to be worried in the least.

In contrast to the twins, who no longer felt the process of passing through the exit portal, the other pair of siblings were clenching their muscles in anticipation. Seeing the approaching roadblock their natural instincts took over and they braced themselves expectantly of the feeling impact would bring. By the time they closed their eyes tight they hit the portal and the feeling Kari had described washed over them. The sensation lasted only a few seconds before it was replaced with the taste and feel of cool crisp air.

Koji and Koichi stepped out of the portal with a smooth grace and quickly turned around to watch as Tai and Kari with their partners stumbled out.

"I've got you, Tai," Koichi knew that he could at least count on his brother to catch Kari, again it was his social obligation as Takuya's best friend, so he choose the person Koji won't help.

He swept one arm under Tai's chest while he used the other to catch Agumon before he flopped out of his partners limp arms. "Thanks," Tai and Agumon made their appreciation for the save known.

"No problem," Koichi slowly lowered the two and set them down on the grass.

"This is interesting," Koji's voice sounded intrigued by whatever he had come across.

"What so inter…" That was as far as Koichi got before he spotted what had caught his brothers attention.

"What's wrong?" Kari could feel their eyes on her as she cradled the temporarily paralyzed body of her partner.

"Nothing's wrong," Koji responded. "It's just that you're still standing. What is this? Your… fifth time Crossing?"

"Yes… but isn't that normal? Takuya told me that people eventually get used to the Crossing process and stop collapsing," Kari couldn't figure out what was so strange, but from the looks on the two's faces she knew something was off.

"Not by the fifth time," Koji replied, his mind trying to make sense of the occurrence.

"What do you mean?" The feeling that she was missing something still lingered.

"I've never heard of anyone or anything that's become acclimated to the Crossing process by only their fifth time. And from your apparent stable and controlled posture you've even seemed to have skipped past the whole weakening stage that comes after not becoming paralyzed. You've essentially gone from one extreme to the next with a single Crossing," Koichi took it upon himself to answer that question.

"Really…?" Kari seemed a bit bewildered by the explanation. Her confusion most likely stemmed from her modest attitude that prevented her from thinking of herself as something special. She couldn't imagine that she was somehow better able to acclimate than the three Runners.

"I can't wait to tell Takuya that his girlfriend just blew away his record. He's kind of proud of that achievement so it should be pretty funny," Koji chuckled to himself at the idea. A bonus was that it would put an end to him constantly bring up his ability to adjust faster than him.

"What was Takuya's record?" Kari wondered if she wanted Takuya to know. On one hand the twins seemed to be treating her adjustment as something pretty impressive, but on the other hand she might have been taking away something her boyfriend was proud of.

"Seven times to remain on his feet and three more by the time the weakening effect stopped as well. You beat him all the way through by half the time," Koichi smiled at her warmly, his way of congratulating her on her success, even if she didn't understand why it was an achievement of any importance.

Twenty minutes eventually passed before Tai was able to walk under his own power and the group could move out. Lady Ophanimon had succeeded in putting them only a short trek from the Digital Ruler they were set to meet with.

"Finally," Tai tiredly sighed as the group pushed their way out from some brush and into a clearing. Normally, a short walk like they had just had wouldn't affect him even a little, but thanks to some of the longer lasting effects of the Crossing Backlash draining his strength and having to carry Agumon, who seemed to have got the worst of it and despite being able to walk was still too sluggish to keep up, he was exhausted by the time they arrived.

"You must be the allies of Takuya's that we were told were coming," a voice rose up to greet the group upon arrival.

"Gennai!?" The name slipped from Kari at the sight of the man.

The digital man seemed as confused and taken a back as Kari and Tai did, but each most likely for different reasons. The siblings were questioning if something had gone wrong with the Zone Crossing and they had just ended up in their own Digital World, while Gennai pondered where he could have met the two before.

"Ah, of course," Gennai seemed to have reached some epiphany with an understanding nod. "You must have been told about me by your Digital Ruler or Takuya. I'm impressed that they were so descriptive that you were able to pick me out on sight though."

"Or it could be the fact that the only other being we were sent to meet with is a massive, glowing blue, thunder dragon," Koji snidely commented as he walked past the digital man and out to the Digital Ruler at the cliffs edge.

"You didn't tell her?" Koichi question his brother with a slightly disappointed look.

"So… You didn't tell him either," Koji retorted, a small smirk working its way to his lips. "Anyways, I didn't want anything to ruin the surprised and dumbfounded looks they'll have on their faces while they try and figure it out. They're already priceless."

"…" The siblings faces said that they wanted to make some kind of retort in his direction but the confusion seemed to have drowned their voices.

"I don't understand what's happening here," Gennai was feeling lost, but to be fair he had been lost since he had met Takuya and had to deal with all of the stuff that came with the Multiverse.

"You'll understand in a little bit," Koichi took over the introduction since Koji seemed to be tied up in an annoyed glaring contest with Tai at the moment. "The names Koichi. This is my brother Koji. And these two are Tai and Kari… Kamiya, but you already know them."

There was a complete halt in Gennai's thoughts as he was bombarded by surprise and confusion. However, when he made all the proper connections in his head a realization dawned on him. He now understood why Takuya seemed to know so much about their world and what was happening. It was because he actually knew.

"From the look on your face I guess you've at least probably already figured this out," Koichi directed his comment towards Gennai, "but I'll explain what's happening for everyone's benefit."

It didn't take Koichi long to explain the situation with the two time displaced Zones and the mission. In return Azulongmon and Gennai filled them in on what had been happening and what Takuya had told them so far.

"I just don't get why Takuya didn't tell us all of this before. With his foreknowledge of events we would have been able to plan better," Gennai felt a bit agitated with the boy now that he knew the truth.

"It because he's smart… sometimes," Koji quickly replied.

"Did you just compliment, Takuya?" Tai sounded honestly surprised by what had been said by the normally harsh tongue. Koji's only response was to give him a bored glance, hiding his feelings of annoyance.

"How does him not sharing what he knew with us make him smart?" Gennai found that statement quite hard to grasp.

"Because by not telling you, he kept you acting like yourselves, and not some version of yourselves that already went through this. When people think they know what's going to happen, they tend to make stupid mistakes. This way you were ready for anything instead of solely focusing on what should happen, but might not," Koichi explained the odd sense to Takuya's decision to keep quiet since his brother didn't seem to be in the mood to do so. Instead, the Warrior of Light had walked off to try and contact Takuya's Runner Phone again.

"That makes sense, especially since a lot of new things seem to be happening here that didn't happen in our Zone," Kari chimed in. "Granted, Takuya was the cause of quite a bit of it, but still."

"Why the hell isn't he picking up?" Hearing Koji growl the other turned to look in his direction. He was glaring into the screen of his open phone, trying his best not to show any concern for his seemingly unreachable friend.

"Still can't get him to answer?" Koichi was starting to feel a bit anxious now.

"No," Koji closed the device and slipped it back into his coat pocket. "We're going to go look for him. Where's the last place either one of you knew he was?"

"The last time I heard from him he was meeting up with the Digides… Our Zones Digidestined," Gennai felt compelled to correctly identify the group now that he had two from a separate set in front of him.

Koji turned to Tai and Kari. "Where would we most likely be able to find them?"

"If nothing's changed they should be somewhere in Odiaba at the moment," it took Kari and Tai a few seconds to realize that the question had been meant for them.

"We'll start looking there then," Koji decided before turning to face the Digital Ruler and digital man. "By the way, you don't need to keep saying your Zone's Digidestined. While they're here, you can keep calling them the Digidestined and refer to these two as Runners."

Hearing that from Koji seemed to have brought surprised, but happy, smiles to the faces of the siblings. It was probably one of the nicest compliments he was capable of making.

"Or by their names. What the hell do I care," Koji sighed and turned away. "And you two. Don't get full of yourselves. You'll have to do a lot to earn that name, but since you're with us I guess it's okay for now."

And… Koji just had to go and ruin it.

"Whatever…" Tai sighed and shook his head.

"I'll get you all a Digiport to the Real World ready," Gennai hurried to find a television set or computer to use.

"Before you two head out…" Lady Ophanimon's voice suddenly arose from the twins D-tectors.

The D-tectors still allowed for Zone communication, not as well as the Runners Phones did though. However, while the phones were closed Lady Ophanimon couldn't hear anything through them, nor could she broadcast her voice. The D-tectors on the other hand could be used to listen in on important conversations, like this one, and spoken through without having to call and wait for someone to pick up.

"Before you two head out, we need to get something out of the way," something in her tone made the twins feel a little uneasy and a bit nervous.

Just like with Takuya the twins were unable to spirit evolve and had to have temporary partners created from their spirits. They seemed to accept the situation with the same dissatisfaction as Takuya had; the only two differences being that they understood all of the technical stuff behind it and their partners were created at the champion level. It seemed that neither one of them had ever been put into a position like Takuya where their spirit had been forced to create a rookie form, so their partners were born at the lowest level they were capable of.

With the new partners in tow the eight made their way to the Real World. Upon arrival they were drawn to the energy of the battle taking place in the city. They arrived on the scene to find the Digidestined fighting against Daemon… and not doing so well.

"They seem to be in some trouble," Koichi noted, while beside him Koji held Tai and Kari, and their partners as well, back from jumping in to help their younger versions.

"Just wait," Koji ordered the siblings. "We don't interfere unless we have to. Until then, let them try. It is their world and their problem after all."

"Right…" Tai and Kari had to agree after a bit of deeper thought. They had fought quite a few battles over the years that they felt they might lose, but they eventually found a way to win and got stronger for it as a result. So a bit dejectedly they waited on the rooftop and watched the battle grow increasingly against the side of good.

*RING**RI*

Koji had his Runners Phone out, open, and up to his ear before the second ring could even finish. He didn't care about whatever words Takuya used to greet him. In the last minute the battle had turned even worse and it became obvious that they were needed to step in, so he had to get his point across the phone quick.

"Where are you?" He growled, pulling everyone's attention to him and off of the fight.

Takuya came back with some joke about him being hostile, but Koji wasn't in the mood at the moment to take his bait.

"Again, where are you?" He questioned again, this time nodding to Kari.

He was answering the question her eyes had been asking him since he had picking up the phone. That it was in fact Takuya who was on the other end.

From Takuya's response to his question on the other end of the phone Koji guessed that he had figured out that they had already arrived in the Zone and were somewhere where something bad was happening.

"Okay, you two, we're going in," Koichi saw the Demon Lord prepare the killing blow so he gave the siblings the go ahead by issuing a quick plan of attack to them.

"Where you should be right now," Koji replied to Takuya's question while giving his brother an agreeing nod, telling him he'd have his partner where he needed to be when the time came and to go on without him while he finished with the call.

"Get to Odiaba," that was all Koji had left to say before he hung up and headed to the fire escape to join in on the assault against Daemon.

To be continued…