DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON.
CHAPTER 6
That night, Hikari called Koushiro and the other digidestined to come over their home. By the time they got there, Taichi had left.
"Where did Taichi go?" asked Koushiro. He had brought his laptop as usual in the assumption that it was for their search of the original digidestineds.
"He never told me. He said that it's important." Hikari replied.
Yamato had been talking to Sora ever since they got there as Takeru sat closer to Hikari. Daisuke and Jou were talking about sanitation problems in a mobile ramen stand.
"It could work, you know! I could put my clothes in there too!" Daisuke exclaimed.
"Daisuke, that's not how things work. You're going to sell food, you have to keep the health of your customers in mind." Jou explained.
Iori, talking to Miyako and Ken about the current situation, noticed Mimi was silently sitting by herself near the front door.
"Are you alright there Mimi?" he asked. Mimi glanced at Iori and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess it's just weird that Taichi would call us over just to leave for something else." she said.
"Come to think of it, he didn't even tell Hikari why he left. Could he be hiding something?" Ken asked them.
"No, that's not Taichi. He always has a reason for everything he does." Sora responded. Yamato looked glum the moment Sora said those words.
"That's the thing… He always has a reason for leaving. He always has a reason for everything he does. Nothing he does is ever done just by the thrill of it anymore." Yamato sighed. Everyone went silent.
The doorbell buzzed.
"That must be Taichi." Hikari said.
"I'll open the door!" Mimi said rushing towards the door.
Taichi was standing in front of the door with his phone in hand. He looked at Mimi slightly surprised and waved at her.
"Hey Mimi."
"Hey! T-" Mimi froze. Behind Taichi was Melody, leaning on one of the posts in the hallway.
"Mimi? Am I right?" Melody said, smiling at her. Mimi was beyond words.
Melody, sat in the middle of the room looking at everyone staring at her. She tilted her head and did something unexpected- she barked. Yamato and the others fell to the floor comically.
Koushiro scratched his head in bewilderment and chuckled. With that, Melody grinned.
"Now that that's out of the way, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Melody Benett. I'm one of Taichi's old friends. It's very nice to meet you all!" She said bowing to everyone.
Hikari smiled at her and spoke in American, "Nice to meet you Melody."
The tone of Hikari's voice triggered something inside of Melody causing her to rush to Hikari, hugging her tightly.
"You have such a cuuuuuute voice!"
Mimi looked shocked at how Melody acted.
"Didn't expect her to be weird?" Taichi said, standing next to Mimi.
"Y-yeah." she said awkwardly.
While everyone was somewhat enjoying the quirky scene that was transpiring, Taichi took a deep breath and cleared his throat to signal that they have to start the discussion.
Everyone got the signal and sat themselves down.
"Now that everyone's comfortable with everyone, we can begin discussing why I asked you all to come here in the first place."
"Just a moment, Taichi." Koushiro raised his hand. Taichi glanced at him.
"How did you meet Melody."
"Last night."
"You said you wouldn't go to-"
"I swear to you Koushiro, it wasn't my intention to look for her when we parted ways. We met by chance." Melody nodded.
"I was just passing by the neighborhood when I saw Taichi." Melody said, smiling at Koushiro who proceeded to blush. Taichi recomposed himself and proceeded to discuss the matter at hand.
"You might have all watched the news earlier today about the distortions or maybe you've read an article about it. In whatever way you got the information, that's what we're facing right now." as Taichi spoke, Koushiro took out his laptop and Melody, unbeknownst to anyone else, took out a tablet and opened an article about the current topic.
"I want to know if anyone of you guys have actually gotten numbers deleted from your contacts or weren't able to contact one another last night." Taichi looked around for someone to respond.
"I did." Sora said.
"I was calling Yamato earlier that night to ask about a homework we had, but I couldn't reach him. I checked my contacts to call him, but his number was deleted as well."
"The same happened to me, with Takeru." Yamato added.
"I wasn't able to call Koushiro last night as well." Jou responded.
"Now that I think of it, Miyako and Ken's numbers were deleted from my phone last night as well." spoke Iori.
"Did you all try calling someone else that night?" Taichi asked.
"My Dad," Yamato said, "To get Takeru on the line. I was able to contact him, but not Takeru."
"Then we can assume this only happened with contacts related to the us. Melody-" Taichi said, looking towards Melody who stopped typing on her tablet and looked at Taichi. Knowing what he was going to ask, she immediately said, "No. I couldn't contact any of them last night. I was however able to contact them today."
"What are the arrangements?" Taichi asked.
"The two boys are on their way to Japan."
"And Inori?" Melody looked at Taichi more relaxed at hearing him say that name.
"I gave her our location a few minutes after you met up with me at my apartment. In theory, she should be arriving in about 10 minutes."
Taichi nodded and looked towards everyone who looked wide-eyed at the two talking.
"What?" Taichi asked confused.
"You got the original digidestineds?" Koushiro asked.
"Yes. Melody had contacts with them. Luckily, they knew the situation at hand and were willing to help."
"We're not just here to help, Taichi." Melody looked at him grimly.
Taichi sighed and was about to proceed when Koushiro asked another question.
"Why did my software not track their locations?" he asked. Taichi was about to respond when Melody put her tablet on her lap and spoke.
"I heard about the software you made. It's pretty intricate. It's great for tracking digidestineds." she said.
"Ah- thank you…" Koushiro said upon hearing her speak.
"If I'm right and Taichi's explanation of it is accurate, this can trace the locations of digidestineds from all over Japan. Anyone with a digital device are locatable as long as they are in the locality, am I right?" Koushiro nodded.
"Now, Taichi said you tried using that software to trace us; those that came before you. And it is a proper assumption that you would believe it would work on us. However-" Melody raised her tablet once more and typed something before looking at Kousiro again. "You missed an important part in your algorithm."
Koushiro, unable to believe he had missed something in his program, looked it through.
"I'm quite sure it would work with all the digidestineds. I've tested it on countless of devices. I-" he paused. Melody nodded.
"Unless you didn't have devices to begin with." Koushiro finally concluded.
"You're right!" Melody grinned at Koushiro.
"We didn't have digital devices back when it was our turn in the digital world. Your program only included those with devices in the assumption that all digidestineds even prior to your time, had one."
"I see." Koushiro spoke softly, but smiled almost immediately.
"Thank you! This will bode well for my future programs!" he said. Melody nodded.
"It's no problem! In fact-" Melody continued to type on her tablet and hit a button that was meant to send an email attachment to someone. Koushiro's laptop notified him of an email and he looked at it. It was from Melody. Yamato, Sora and Ken were there looking at the email with Koushiro's jaw dropping.
"If you simplify your algorithm to only scanning from specific beacons instead of individual hotspots, you can expand the program to trace not just domestically, but internationally." She said, smiling at her handywork.
"H-how… How did you-" Koushiro could not speak. Mimi looked at Melody and smirked.
"I thought you were like me, the crest of sincerity." she said. Melody smiled at the thought.
"We thought she was." spoke a girl who Taichi had just allowed entrance to their home. Everyone looked at the new visitor.
She had short jet black hair, just above the neck. Her deep dark brown eyes, pale skin and moderately tall height made it seem like she was a vampire of some sorts.
"Inori." Melody spoke.
"You changed your hair color." Inori said looking at Melody. Her voice, deep and mysterious.
"You cut your hair shorter than before." Melody retorted.
She looked at everyone in the room who had become uncomfortable with her appearance. She was wearing a black turtleneck, checkered skirt, log black socks and platformed high heeled ankle boots. The silence became unbearable to her. She bowed to all of them.
"I'm sorry!" She continuously bowed. Melody let out an awkward smile.
"I don't mean to make everyone uncomfortable. Please forgive me." She said, still bowing apologetically.
"It's alright. You can stop apologizing Inori." spoke Melody.
Taichi looked at Inori and smirked.
"You're just like before…"
"I'm sorry! Please forgive me Taichi!" Inori said bowing uncontrollably towards Taichi. She was tasked to get food along a lake when she met up with Taichi. Her long black hair had gotten caught by a branch. When she had freed herself from the branch she tripped and fell to her knees, in front of Taichi. Not knowing who it was, Taichi felt a chill run down his spine. Inori's hair was a mess, most of it covering her face. Her white cloak, covering her clothes made it look like she was a ghost. Taichi ran away and fell into the lake.
After everyone got over her mysterious facade, they looked at her once more. She was smiling sheepishly, realizing the scene she made. Her eyes glowed in the moonlight and she had a very sincere ambiance surrounding her.
"Mimi," Melody looked at the girl behind her. "Meet Inori, she's the one who bears the crest of Sincerity." Inori revealed her crest to everyone, placed on the left pulse area, just like Taichi. Mimi looked at her in amazement.
"Then… that would mean that Melody, you…" Koushiro said as she raised her left arm, revealing her crest.
"I'm the original barer of the crest of knowledge!" She grinned.
Inori sat next to Mimi and Taichi looked over some information from Melody's tablet and Koushiro's laptop.
"Looks like the distortions aren't happening right now. Koushiro can send information normally. Hikari was able to send a message to Daisuke. We can safely assume that it won't attack any time soon."
"I've send word to Riku and Rin meaning that they are still reachable by phone. Hopefully they can arrive here without any troubles." Melody said.
"We can't stay comfortable with this peace." Taichi said.
"Taichi…" Inori said, looking at her friend she had not seen for nine years. He glanced at her and she looked away.
"Uhh- I was just going to ask if this really is the void, then… We can't stop it from attacking in the human world." she said ignoring what she really wanted to say.
"What do you mean?" Hikari asked. Taichi looked at the lamp outside.
"The void…" Melody said standing next to Taichi.
"It's an entity with no form. Created from all the negativity of the digital world and the human world. It's everywhere. It cannot be stopped by physical attacks."
"Was that who you fought before?" Ken asked. Inori nodded.
"We were fortunate to have survived our encounter with the void in general. Though we thought we had vanquished it." Melody said with a grim expression. Taichi had completely averted his gaze from everyone and looked at the lamp outside.
"It had this ability to create digimons from the depths of the digital world. A monster consumed by malice and created with vile intentions. It was horrible." Melody spoke.
"How were you able to stop it all those years ago?" Inoue asked.
"It may not have a form, but in every creature, there is always a source of their power. For the void, it was beacons."
Everyone fell silent.
"The reason Inori said that we can't stop it in the real world is because the beacons are located in the Digital World. We thought we had destroyed all of them when it was our turn. From the looks of it, we haven't."
"But-" Daisuke raised his hand. "These distortions are only minor. Why the sudden worry?" Melody looked at Daisuke with irritation, however, she realized this and calmed down. Daisuke apologized afterwards.
"You have to understand, we thought the same way too…" Inori said, holding Melody's shoulder.
"We saw what the world became. The void taunted us. A vision of the earth being consumed by darkness and the Digital World dying entirely."
"We were able to go home, a chance I took with Inori. A chance we both regretted immediately." Melody said.
"We were able to head to our homes. However, the distortions happened. Phones losing reception, contacts vanishing. It wasn't happening selectively… it happened internationally. The next thing we knew, lights started shutting off. Businesses were at a stand still, people were stranded from one location to another, the world was descending to catastrophe. We were lucky that we got sent back to the digital world before it got worse. That's when we took everything seriously. We stopped acting selfishly and began hunting for the beacons." Inori said disappointed.
"We might look foolish taking this minor distortion seriously, but if you saw the digital world at that time, you wouldn't be acting the way you are now." Melody told Daisuke. She smiled at him, however.
"Don't worry! I'm not mad at you. We can understand where you are all coming from. It's alright." Melody explained. Daisuke felt a little relief from her words.
"So, what's our next move?" Yamato asked Taichi who jumped upon hearing Yamato. It took him a few seconds before he could respond.
"We wait for Riku and Rin. Then we head to the digital world."
"Whoah! Just a moment Taichi!" Jou said.
"I have my review! I can't just up and go to the digital world like last summer." he explained.
Melody looked at all of them.
"He's right, we can't just go without explanations."
Taichi paused for a brief moment. He had completely forgotten that they had classes tomorrow. In fact, he had forgotten that they even had classes in the first place.
"Taichi?" Yamato looked at his friend confused. Melody gasped and looked at Taichi. As the lamp outside flickered, so did Taichi's eyes twitched. It looked like he was blacking out as the lamp was.
"Taichi? Taichi, stay with us." Melody said standing up and holding his shoulders.
"What's happening?" Sora and Mimi asked worriedly looking at Taichi. Hikari stood up. She recalled what he told him earlier that day.
The lamp was dimming and Taichi started closing his eyes.
"Taichi!" Hikari yelled and Taichi snapped. The light stopped blinking. Everyone looked at Taichi and he looked at Melody who was in front of him.
"Taichi?" Melody looked at him worried. Hikari walked towards his brother. The moment Melody noticed Hikari was there she looked at Taichi in his dazed eyes.
"Taichi, look at her-" she points to Hikari, "what is her name?"
Taichi stared at Hikari and said, "N- no. I-"
He looked around the place and noticed everyone else looking at him.
"Who are these people?" he asked. Melody backed away and looked at those behind her. They were baffled.
"T-taichi, come on… You have to remember us." Yamato said deperately as he noticed Hikari covering her mouth with her hands in disbelief.
"I- Where-" He couldn't come up with full sentences until the lamp outside burst. Everyone screamed and covered their head as the lightbulb on top of them broke as well.
Taichi looked at the dark room and gasped.
"Hikari!?" he yelled, looking for her sister. She rushed towards him and hugged him tightly. He chuckled nervously and hugged back.
Melody looked outside. Her eyes opened wide.
"Everyone… Come look!"
Yamato and the others rushed towards the window and gasped.
One by one, the lights outside started dying. And one by one, they can hear cars beeping, crashing towards each other. Trains stopping mid way.
"It's starting…" Inori said. Melody rushed to see her tablet and it had turned off.
"Shoot! Koushiro! Where's your laptop!"
Koushiro checked his laptop but it had turned off as well.
"Nothing! What's going on!"
"We can't wait for Riku or Rin any longer." Melody thought.
"They're on a plane towards here… What if…" Inori said as the thought of her friends dying from a plane crash kept popping in her head.
"We need to get to the digital world!" Hikari said as did the others.
Taichi was still at a loss as to what happened. He looked around. The light was dimming pretty quickly. All the devices were dying out and they had no time left to plan. He then noticed his crest glowing. Inori and Melody's crest glowed as well.
The digivices started beeping and they took them out.
"What's going on?" Their digivices glowed and surrounded them. A bright light blinded them. When it faded, the earth froze. Everything went quiet.
Taichi looked around their surroundings. He felt a pang at the back of his head. He turned around and saw something he did not believe he would see ever again, Origin. He was standing in front of him, but it looked like only Taichi can see him. Taichi wanted to talk to him, but Origin shushed him.
'You're just in my head' Taichi thought and Origin nodded.
'I must be really terrified.' Origin smiled at him and looked at their crests. Taichi remembered an event that occurred a couple of years before when it was Daisuke and his group's time to protect the digital world. Taichi was able to call forth the a link to the digital world for those digidestineds that were consumed by the darkness. Taichi looked at his digivice and Origin's crest.
'Can I still do that?' he asked Origin. He shrugged and vanished, leaving Taichi looking at his glowing crests.
He raised his hand and made his crest glow brighter.
"Digiport, open!" Taichi yelled and a gust of wind swept through them. By the time they opened their eyes, they were in the middle of the desert in the Digital World.
"I did it…" Taichi said.
"Taichi!" Yamato yelled. Taichi realized he was separated a few meters away from the group. He rushed back towards them and looked at the place they landed on.
Daisuke, Miyako and Iori's clothes were transformed to what they wear when they get transported to the digital world. They have officially arrived to the digital world.
"I can't believe it actually worked." Taichi said pocketting his digivice.
"Does this mean that-" Mimi said but paused.
"I guess it is…" Koushiro continued.
"We can't go back now." Hikari said walking towards Taichi. Taichi nodded and looked at the vast desert surrounding them.
He took a step forward and felt something under the sand. He picked up the back end of the item and gasped at the sight of his goggles. The ones he gave Daisuke back in the day. He looked at Daisuke and his goggles were different. Pondering for a brief period of time, he dawned the goggles and looked at everyone. Their determined faces prominent.
"Let's go save the world… again."
END OF CHAPTER 6
