I maybe should've waited a day for a response or two, but I decide not to leave you all hanging for the day and just post it now... you're gonna have to be left hanging with the next part sadly since I'm still writing it.
So, now that Hikari fears the Dark World is calling, how are Digidestined going to deal with the horrors that are planning on coming?
Act 1: Past; Down the Rabbit Hole we Go!
Yagami Residence, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. March 20th, 2007. 0741 Hours.
"You're absolutely sure about this?" I was so quick to get on the phone with Koushiro and not take my eyes of Hikari. After what had happened the last time with her and the Dark World, I wasn't taking any chances since whoever that dark ruler was; a Digimon equivalent to Cthulhu, Dagomon I think it's name was according to Oikawa on the last day of his life that the others told me when explaining the Dark Towers, might be wanting to take her again.
"Over the past few days, I've observed some strange readings. It was different than pretty much anything we've experienced before. All those incursions from the Digital World were different to this." He explained to me. I bet Osamu might have noticed sooner what with his connection to it in the past.
"So it's certain to be the Dark World?" I asked.
"I'm afraid there's only one way to find out. There's also the question of what's coming. Is it that Dagomon or is it Demon?" I shuttered at the thought of it; whomever it was, it couldn't be good.
"I supposed it was too much to ask for both of them to wipe each other out." I sighed.
"Well, at least the good news is that we're pretty prepared for this. Many of our Digimon can reach stronger forms. The only reason why Demon was such a threat was that only Imperialdramon could truly fight him." Koushiro reminded.
"Exactly, let's see him try to take on Omegamon, Imperialdramon, most of our Digimon in Ultimate levels at the same time." I chuckled.
"Careful, Taichi-san, last thing we need to do is get overconfident about our strength. We've paid the price about that before such as Ordinemon." Koushiro said.
"Right, right… always seems like the bad guys always are almost as strong as all our Digimon combined." I groaned. "Okay, so what's our plan?"
"The signal is coming from far out in the bay, southeast of Odaiba." So whomever it is wouldn't show up next to the Rainbow Bridge. "So the container yards mostly is where we would have to go for a better contact point. Maybe have to use Tentomon to fly us all over."
"How much time do we have?" I asked.
"Not too much. I've already contacted the others. Taichi-san, if indeed it's that monster, it might be better to leave Takeru-kun with Hikari-kun." He advised me.
"I think they'd prefer it that way. After all, their Digimon is the dark's greatest enemy and he did rescue her before." I said as I looked over to Hikari. Agumon and Tailmon were still keeping their eyes on her as well as staying close to keep her from being whisked away like before.
"Okay then. We'll all meet in Daiba Park and fly over. I've already sent word that the bay should be cleared out of shipping." Koushiro said.
"You talking to those G-Men contacts of yours again?" I chuckled. It had to be done, they probably would've interrogated us once again if we didn't at least give the government a fair warning.
"Just stay with your sister until Takeru-kun comes. Already e-mailed him."
"Good, I hope he's already awake." I heard the phone tone as Koushiro ended the call before walking to the kitchen. "Tailmon, Agumon, eat up, you two are going to need your strength." Both Digimon nodded, they knew the severity of the situation by Hikari's behavior alone.
I went to grab some breakfast for them and tried to make it as quick as possible before the doorbell rang.
"I got it!" Agumon ran across the floor before opening it up. "Takeru's here!" He announced. Takeru quickly ran the corner and took a sigh of relief the moment he found Hikari still here.
"Thank goodness." He sighed.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning on letting anything happen to my little sister. I certainly hope you'd be even more protecting with your girlfriend." I chuckled causing him to blush.
"I don't- we're not-" He stammered.
"Look, Takeru-kun," I said as I finished up making breakfast for the Digimon which they quickly started digging in the moment I placed it on the table while Takeru walked over to Hikari. "If it is indeed that Digimon that wanted her, she'll be much safer with you than me. Your brother and I can lead the charge to kill that thing as soon as possible."
"Right, that's what Onii-san said as well." Good to know Yamato and I are on the same page. "Are you alright, Hikari-chan?"
"I'm-I'm alright." She said, her tone was low. She clearly was still traumatized in a way from her previous encounter. I know she always thought herself weak and helpless without myself, Ross or Takeru and all but she was getting better; we all knew it, just, confronting a dark fear always was hard.
"You don't have to worry, Hikari-chan, you're not alone, not this time, I promise." Takeru told her as I smiled. I then silently cursed.
"Jeez, Ross, the day you leave and all this happens." I said under my breath. Guilmon still was in Yokohama with Phil and wouldn't be of any real help, not without Ross. Agumon quickly finished his food and looked to me. "Grab what extras you want and we'll eat on the move." I told him as I got my things. "Takeru-kun, I'm counting on you."
"I won't let you down, Taichi-san."
"Onii-chan… be careful." Hikari told me. I smirked and nodded before I ran for the door with Agumon right behind me.
It only took us a few minutes to run over to Daiba Park; most of the others were already waiting on us with the exception of Meiko, Ken and Osamu.
"You're late." Yamato scoffed as I rolled my eyes.
"Sorry, I had to wait for your brother and make breakfast." I smirked.
"So, is it true? That Dark World is calling again?" Miyako clearly was somewhat worried since she herself had found herself in that terrible realm once before.
"All the data indicated is for sure." Koushiro explained as he typed away at his laptop.
"It was bad enough trying to snatch away Hikari-chan… but coming here…" Daisuke clenched his fist. Even though Hikari chose Takeru over him, I don't think Daisuke's feelings will truly go away. Not at least until he finds another girl to steal his heart away.
"It'll be a disaster if that monster or Demon shows up." Mimi feared.
"Demon was terrible enough the last time we encountered him. As for this other Digimon, few of us have had any real connection with it." Iori pointed out.
"Not to mention those mutated Hangyomon that Takeru once told me about. If those come with that monster; we might find ourselves having to fight on multiple angles." Jou pointed out.
"Which is the reason why we hope to engage out in the bay." Koushiro said. "The signals are at least clear enough that whatever is coming will be out in bay waters. Those smaller monsters might make it ashore and try to get us while most of our Digimon will attack their master."
"Which is why we can fight them off." Hawkmon assured us.
"Yeah, dagyaa!" Armadimon chimed in.
"Well, Ken still isn't here so I guess I have to wait for him before we could have Imperialdramon." Daisuke crossed his arms.
"Shouldn't take too long, just a quick ride over the bridge. So long as nothing wrecks it." Sora said.
"He would be faster if he just turned into Stingmon." V-mon pointed out.
"Look, we at least have a plan; let's get to the other island and get ready to fight. I want to end this as fast as possible." I explained. The others all nodded along with the Digimon.
"Tentomon?" Koushiro turned to his partner.
"Allow me!" He declared. He quickly evolved all the way to his Ultimate form of HerakleKabuterimon before we all got on him. We obviously were going to catch a lot of attention but certainly it was better than what was coming with the dark storm clouds building above.
A quick flight over, though Daisuke stayed behind in the park for Ken so Imperialdramon could be brought forward, we landed right near the Marine Disposal site and could see Haneda not too far away.
"Koushiro…" I turned to look at him as he kept typing.
"Just a moment." He told me as Yamato walked over to him.
"Should we have our Digimon evolve already or wait until we finally make contact?" He asked him.
"Might be better to wait a moment; wait until he's fully crossed over so they can't simply run away."
"Good idea." Jou said. "Might be our best chance to end Demon or that other Digimon once and for all."
"And here I was hoping those two would just kill each other when we send Demon to the Dark World." Miyako groaned.
"Heads up!" Koushiro shouted as it was clear something was about to happen. Those dark storm clouds that had been building went even darker, especially towards the center of this storm where it was almost pitch black, not to mention the water underneath the eye.
"It's coming." I heard Sora whisper as she got close to Yamato. Maybe a bit too close. No, focus Taichi; bigger things to worry about and jealousy never becomes you.
"Just wait a second, everybody. Like Koushiro said, let's wait a second until he's fully crossed over." I said.
That dark pool in the bay soon erupted as a monstrous entity exploded out of the water. To our deepest fears, this thing was way bigger than we could even imagine as the dark silhouette continued to tower in the bay.
"That thing… is huge…" Mimi muttered as her breath had been taken away. The same feeling could be shared by all of us. This certainly was this mysterious Dagomon; not even Demon got that large and he brought himself to the height of the Hikarigaoka apartment!
"Koushiro…" I looked back at him. "Please tell me we can evolve now?"
"Now's our best chance, do it!" We all nodded as our Digimon quickly evolved to their strongest forms.
"Agumon, warp-evolve! WARGREYMON!"
"Gabumon, warp-evolve! METALGARURUMON!"
"WarGreymon–"
"MetalGarurumon–"
"–Jogress Evolve! OMEGAMON!"
The other Digimon followed suit very fast; evolving to their strongest forms; though for Ankylomon and Aquilamon, Adult was the highest level they could go without Tailmon and Patamon around.
"Rosemon! Stay close to us!" Mimi shouted.
"Good idea, help Ankylomon and Aquilamon if those creatures try to get close." Jou said as a loud roar rocked us all from Dagomon.
Now that he wasn't as silhouetted but the darkness was still almost drowning, he could be seen a bit better. He had slimy light blue skin and wore various chains around the neck and arms. There were tubes protruding from his body with a gaping mouth and tentacles around the face and tentacle-like hands. I had seen artist representations of Cthulhu and aside from missing a Zoidberg like tentacle mouth, it was pretty dead on.
"Koushiro, please tell me you have a plan about this, this thing is titanic. He's even bigger than Apoclymon." I bit my lip as Koushiro typed away.
"I'm working on something, Taichi-san. Just… engage him I guess."
"Well, you heard the man, attack!" I shouted at the other Digimon as they took off to fight. Massive dark tendrils raised out from the waters to attack the other Digimon while hundreds of dark objects were floating in the water towards our direction.
"And there's those Deep Ones." Yamato growled.
"I can hold them off!" Vikemon shouted as he started to unleash his attacks on the blobs in the water.
"Be careful, Vikemon." I could hear the worry in Jou's voice as Hououmon was struck by one of those tentacles.
"NO!" Sora screamed as Yamato tried to hold her back.
"You crazy? You try swimming out there, you'll be dragged under forever by those things!" Yamato yelled at her as he tried to keep hold of her. I walked over to her and grabbed her as well.
"Come on, Sora, you're not going to help her by being afraid for her." I told her as she slowly calmed down. Though Hououmon flying in the air certainly helped.
So far, the fighting had been mostly the Digimon trying to cut through the swarm of tentacles that seemed like a vast sea of them. Rosemon flew in the air and started to assist Vikemon in keeping those Deep Ones from coming ashore but there just were so many.
"This is bad." I clenched my first. "They just keep coming and we can't even lay a finger on that monster!"
"What's he waiting for?" Miyako asked. "He's just standing in the water."
"He might be waiting for us to get exhausted. Wait until our Digimon are weak before attacking." Iori theorized.
"Where the hell is Imperialdramon? We can't wait for-" Yamato was unable to finish that as the air practically roared before Imperialdramon in his Fighter Mode swooped low to drop off Ken and Daisuke before joining the others in the fight.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Imperialdramon laughed as he cut through a field of tentacles with Omegamon.
"We easily had it in hand!" Omegamon seemed to joke. Certainly part of Agumon and Gabumon coming through there but they say that now.
"Was held up by some traffic, the whole bridge nearly got locked down." Ken explained to us as he quickly bowed.
"Well, at least you're here now. That said, any ideas on how we break through?" Yamato asked as we turned our attention back to Koushiro who just stared at his screen.
"Oh, great, how bad?" Jou rolled his eyes in worry as Koushiro shook his head.
"This… this isn't right…" Koushiro muttered.
"How so, Koushiro-san? You telling me that we're really in trouble this time?" Daisuke said as he looked back to the fighting.
"No, it's…. this can't be right. Dagomon… he's… according to my readings and the Digivices..." He looked up at us. "He's only a Perfect."
"What?" My eyes widened. This had to be some kind of mistake. No way a Digimon of that massive size could only be a Perfect.
"You're telling us that thing still isn't it's strongest?" Ken questioned though it looked like he seemed very nervous, for other reasons; like that monster or the dark cold we probably all were feeling was getting to him more.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Koushiro showed the screen. "According to this, almost all our Digimon could easily destroy him; he shouldn't really stand much of a chance. In theory at least."
"So, it's only doing all those tentacles…" Mimi whispered. "Because it knows we're much stronger than it?"
"It's not waiting for us to wear out; he's trying to keep us from killing him so quickly!" Daisuke smirked as it seemed like confidence had come back to him.
"You think it's that easy?" Yamato asked me, he clearly was on the same wavelength as myself. It couldn't be the case; ruler of the Dark World should be insanely powerful, certainly not weaker than Demon. After all, why isn't he here if he was stronger?
"Can't be." I shook my head at him. "But I guess there's only one way to find out. Omegamon! Imperialdramon! Cut through those tentacles now!" I ordered.
"Super Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon shouted as his arm cannon charged up and tore a massive trail of destruction right through the sea of dark tentacles. Dagomon roared as Imperialdramon kept going, and it left a path wide open for Omegamon to attack.
"Omega Sword!" Omegamon roared back as he pulled out his blade and caused it to glow as he went straight in for the kill. He flew hard and fast before his sword and whole body went straight through Dagomon's chest. His eyes widened in shock before Omegamon emerged out his back and then swung his sword again. It had gotten large, well large enough to carve right through the monstrosity's neck.
And he wasn't done there as he continued to swing a few times while all the tentacles stopped moving and the Deep Ones just stopped in the water too while Imperialdramon joined in with another few blasts against the body.
It was all over so suddenly. The cries of the Deep Ones echoed out as they all slowly evaporated while Dagomon's body followed suit and melted in a black heap; a sort of disgusting reenactment of when Gojira melted down in that 95 movie.
But, it was done; the storm was slowly passing as the clouds burned away to reveal the sun once more. Whatever dark influence Dagomon was causing, it was gone now.
"Did… did we do it?" Jou asked.
"According to my readings, I think we did." Koushiro said as I rolled my eyes.
"We sure? He's not gonna come back like Vamdemon is he? Last thing I would like us to do is have a round two with that thing." I scoffed.
"I'm worried it is the case. That was way too easy." Yamato expressed his doubts.
"Or, we're just that good now and he was a total pushover we feared way too much?" Daisuke had a smug grin on his face as he shrugged.
"I kinda agree with Daisuke." Ken spoke up. "I mean, I guess it doesn't hurt to be cautious about this; many of our foes have a tendency to come back, but, maybe we did get lucky this time."
"See, Ken agrees with me!" Daisuke laughed as he felt so proud. "And at least we kept Hikari-chan safe from that thing… that wanted to…"
"Please, stop, I wanna keep my breakfast." I held my hand up. I did not need a reminder of how those Deep Ones wanted Hikari to… breed with Dagomon. I shivered for a moment as I shook my head. "Okay, well, we'll just keep our eyes out and I quickly check back at the house to make sure Takeru-kun and Hikari are alright."
"If that is indeed the case, that it's truly over, that's a huge sigh of relief for me." Sora sighed as she gave a small smile.
"For all of us. Especially if we don't have to deal with that Dark World again. That place really almost messed me up." Miyako grabbed her arms as if she was almost in a fright. "I'm glad Hikari-chan at least gave me a hand to bring me to my senses… or a hard slap in the face." Oh yeah, they did hit each other during that day they and the Ichijouji brothers ended up in the Dark World.
"At least it's over for now. I say we at least take the time to relax and keep our eyes peeled in case he tries to somehow make a comeback." Iori pointed out.
"I tell you all what, I am going to take such a long bubble bath to relax then!" Mimi stretched her arms as I shook my head.
"You gonna pretend all those bubbles are Ross snuggling up with you?" I joked as Mimi gave a... I want to say almost confused and partial disgusted look on her face. The others all looked confused as well.
"What?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Did I say something wrong? It's the truth, you've admitted it, Mimi." I pointed out as I shook my head. "That lucky son of a-" I obviously stopped short of saying ill of Sharon; Ross would obviously knew I was joking with the phrase, but it still…
"Taichi-san, what are you talking about?" Iori asked.
"What am I talking about? Did someone forget to tell him? While we're all dealing with Dagomon and all, he's on a flight back to the States for basic and gets to miss all the terror and action." I scoffed as the strange looks continued. "Okay, I'm sorry, what's with the looks?"
Yamato took a step forward to look at me.
"Taichi, who the hell is Ross?"
I swear, I thought my hearing was starting to break or something when I first heard that.
"I'm sorry?"
Now Yamato shrugged his shoulders like I did before.
"Who is this Ross you're talking about?"
"Are you- is this some kind of joke that everyone came up with on me?" Everyone shook their heads as I glanced back to Mimi and noticed she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. "Mimi, why'd you take your engagement ring off?"
"Engagement ring!?" She sounded utterly shocked.
"Yeah, your engagement ring from Ross; he dropped it when you all though he and I were dead when fighting Alphamon, before we stopped Yggdrasil. He's been with us from the start of our adventures with Guilmon, his Digimon partner. We were all enjoying at the bar last night from graduation and all." I explained as everyone continued to look at me like a stranger.
"Taichi, you were the only who vanished with Nishijima-san." Sora said as I looked around.
"No, that… that can't be right… he was…" I think I was slowly starting to have a bit of a panic attack. If this was a cruel joke the others were playing, surely they'd call it quits by now at least.
"And I've never really heard of a Digimon called Guilmon." Koushiro shook his head.
"Are you sure you're okay, man?" Yamato asked as he looked concerned while Sora got close to him again.
"I think something might be wrong, Yamato-chan." Yamato-chan? When the hell did she ever call him that. I gave him a glare as he looked at me funny again.
"What?"
"When did she start calling you 'Yamato-chan'?" I asked him.
"Since we've been dating for a few years." Sora answered for him. I swear, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut when she said that.
"You've been cool with this for years, what changed?" Yamato asked.
"No, no, I'm… I'm supposed to be dating Sora, you're dating Meiko, she was with us at the bar last night." I explained.
"Meiko-san been in the countryside ever since she lost Meicoomon, at least that's what you guys told me." Miyako said.
"But she came back, Meiko found Meicoomon's egg in the countryside; she had been coming over here every once in a while. She was at the bar with us last night!" I argued. Yamato shook his head.
"No, she wasn't. We've kept in touch but she's still in Tottori. As for Sora, I asked her out shortly before Christmas of 2002, when my old band was getting ready to play and all before Archnemon ruined that night." He explained.
"I was waiting for you to call and maybe ask me out, but… you never did." Sora had a sort of hurt look on her face.
"That's… that's not true…" I dropped down to the ground as I sat, my mind just suddenly reeling from their words.
"Taichi-san, are you alright? Did you hit your head or something?" Daisuke asked me.
"Maybe he just had a very vivid dream last night." Iori suggested as Jou looked me over like the doc he was becoming.
"Don't think he hit his head." Jou said as he looked at me and checked my head. "Of course, I might be better able to tell if I got this mess of hair out of the way."
"I can cut it if you want!" Agumon laughed as the Digimon reached shore in their normal forms, proud of the victory they had achieved but obviously probably didn't know what was going on.
"No, last time you had scissors, you nearly cut off Tailmon's tail!" I shouted as I sighed, looking back to the others. "And no, no way almost my entire life could be a dream. Ross was just here last night… Guilmon's with his father in Yokohama; my dad's best friend, his best man at my parents wedding. Phil McGlathey, Ross McGlathery, none of these names ring any bells?"
Everyone just shook their heads. I think I'm going to be sick. This was no prank, for sure, someone would've cracked by now.
"Was this Ross-san going to be my husband?" Mimi still was on that as I nodded.
"Yeah, you two are like almost perfect for each other in ways. You guys did have a bit of a snag for a while with the whole infection thing but you guys had been dating almost non-stop since that spring we were fighting the Kaiser. Speaking of which, where's Osamu?" I asked. Again, everyone looked confused.
"Who's Osamu?" Koushiro asked.
"His freaking brother!" I pointed to Ken as he looked pale all of a sudden.
"T-T-Taichi-san… Osa-Osamu… my brother has been dead for almost seven years now."
And now I'm sure my heart just stopped hearing that one.
"D-Dead?"
"July 27th, 2000. He got hit by a car, trying to get me out of the street." Ken admitted.
"No, that's… that's impossible. Oikawa tried to run him down-"
"Oikawa killed my brother!?" Ken suddenly turned angry upon me saying that. Iori looked even more pale than Ken was before.
"He tried… he told us… well, told you guys, Sora, myself, Ross and Mimi were all keeping an eye on Noriko after he extracted Osamu's cloned Dark Seed from her. He tried killing one of you to make into the Kaiser, but he failed; though Osamu still became the Kaiser…" I said.
"No, Taichi-san, I was the one who became the Kaiser; it was my Dark Seed he used for the other children."
"But- Monodramon… I…" I just was stunned and couldn't say anything more.
"And I wasn't around that day you mentioned, Taichi-san, I was still living in New York." Mimi told me as I just couldn't believe that. Something finally just clicked when I reached for my D-3… only to find I was holding the old Digivice.
"It's- It's not a D-3…" I whispered as Yamato kneeled next to me.
"Taichi, I think something's very wrong now… I think your mind's messed up, somehow."
"I think so too…" I muttered as I looked to the group. "Does the names KajiGreymon, Robinmon, ForceBeemon, Tetermon, Waibanmon, Raimon, MetalSealmon, and Konteimon ring any bells?" Everyone shook their heads as I nodded. "I thought so." I then blacked out.
Koushiro's Office, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. March 20th, 2007. 1139 Hours.
"Here…" Koushiro handed me a glass of water. I woke up a few hours later after passing out, mostly just from the shock to my system as he put it. The group took me to his office until I finally woke up a bit ago. First thing was to quickly call Hikari and try to find that Nishijima Himekawa wedding photo and letter. When she got here, she told me she couldn't find it even though it was in the spot I knew it was hiding.
"Thanks." I sighed as I took a long drink. Hikari was sitting close to me as Agumon and Tailmon kept their eyes on us. Koushiro walked back over to his computer where Tentomon was sitting on the floor.
"Well, at least so far, seems like no more issues with the Dark World as of this moment. Dagomon's death seems to have completely disconnected it's connection with ours, for the time being at least." Koushiro explained.
"I'm still concerned the fact that he was only a Perfect. And we sent… wait, let me quickly make sure of this since apparently I'm losing track of my mind according to everyone… Daisuke's group sent Demon to the Dark World at Hikarigaoka that day after Christmas, right?" I asked as Koushiro nodded.
"Honestly a bit surprising how things seemed to have worked out similar with this Ross of yours involved; if not for maybe a few changes." Koushiro said.
"I'd say more positive in some ways." I scoffed as I leaned my head back. "But I'm telling you, I'm not craz- jeez, now I just sound like Sam Neill in In the Mouth of Madness." I groaned.
"Onii-chan…" Hikari grabbed my arm and leaned against me. "You're not crazy, I think I would notice sooner if that was truly the case." Well, at least it was nice to know that Hikari still would be at my side even if I'm pretty sure my whole world has been changed upside down.
Still, kinda crazy to know that honestly we seemed to have been alright even without Ross in a way. Usually I always thought how doomed we might have been if not for Ross, but whatever is going on… seems to have that idea out the window.
"And I wouldn't go so far as to say that you've gone insane or anything, but something certainly is very different about you in some way. It's fascinating… practically a whole different timeline of events you can think of, similar to what the reality-"
"It is reality! At least it was to me…" I looked away after I shouted at Koushiro.
"Koushiro-han, it might be better not to… agitate him like that?" Tentomon suggested as I rolled my eyes.
"Tentomon, clearly not helping." Tailmon said.
"Sorry."
"Are you sure you're alright, Taichi?" Agumon asked as I sighed once more.
"I don't know. I just woke up today to find an old enemy of ours back once more, we defeat him and then I discover part of the life I once knew… gone." I shook my head.
"Koushiro-san, are we sure that maybe Taichi is right? That maybe something has happened? After all, with everything that's happened with us and the Digimon?" Hikari suggested as I had a small smile.
"Well, I suppose when you bring up that point, it may be possible." Koushiro typed away on his computer. "I mean, Taichi-san's stories seem… a bit too sure to be something he came up with."
"Yeah, and my reactions were pretty damn genuine, if this was some sort of prank… I would've laughed at you all by now." I told him.
"Right…" Koushiro sighed as he typed away. "Well, I have one theory then."
"You do?" Tailmon tilted her head.
"Yes, that this is not the real Taichi-san." I stood right up. "Not what I'm meaning!" He quickly waved his arms as trying to avoid me from coming over there and hitting him. "My theory is that you've swapped realities with our Taichi-san." All of us just looked at him when he started to nervously rub the back of his head.
"Koushiro-han, you've lost them again." Tentomon put a claw to his face.
"Okay, I get it, it's a bit confusing, but it's possible that there's this parallel universe to ours that's similar in many ways, but somehow, Taichi-san ended up from that one into this one."
"And this happened while Onii-chan was asleep or something?" Hikari asked as Koushiro shrugged.
"Look, I don't know, it's just a theory, if I could run maybe a few tests or something…" Oh boy, I knew where this was going.
"Yeah, keep your tools away from me there, Dr. Frankenstein." I sighed. "I bet I would've noticed sooner if Guilmon was at the apartment, but he was out with Phil in-" I stopped when something suddenly clicked in my brain. "Phil…"
I walked right over to Koushiro's computer.
"Koushiro, look up a Phil McGlathery, related to the USS Shiloh especially." I said as he started to type. "I think I may have thought of some other theory."
Koushiro and Hikari were intrigue with what I had in mind but I needed to make sure. Koushiro typed as he shook his head.
"Nothing. Nothing much about a Phil McGlathery and certainly nothing related to the Shiloh." Koushiro said.
"Nothing about a Silver Star or anything of the sort?" Koushiro shook his head to my question.
"So, what was your theory, Taichi?" Agumon scratched his head. I looked around the room before I saw a whiteboard.
"Here, I can show you." I walked up and grabbed a marker that Koushiro had before I started to draw a few lines. "Well, mostly I'm just copying Doc Brown here, but if you want my theory… it may have something to do with time travel."
"Time travel?" Tailmon raised an eyebrow.
"Not the first time we've done it. Or, at least in our case with Homeostasis, it was visions of the past and all, but not able to interact. In this case… something, or someone, has interfered with the timeline, clearly related to Ross, and caused the long chain of events that I remember, but no one else has." I explained.
"But you have no idea why you remember and no one else seems to have been affected?" Koushiro said. I nodded.
"I'm still working on that one… but I feel this might be what happened; and I'm going to find out where and why this change happened." I said.
"How?" Hikari asked.
"Going straight to the source… I'm gonna find Ross."
Yagami Residence, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. March 20th, 2007. 1925 Hours.
"Phil… now there's a name I haven't heard of in a while." Dad admitted as he took a drink of his beer that he got from the fridge. The light stuff of course, he hadn't really had anything stronger or a large quantity in years since Hikari and I were little kids. I guess we were lucky he was more of a loopy drunk than an angry one those days.
"Why? He's your best friend and all, your freaking best man, for God's sake." I scoffed in disbelief. I made sure to ask Dad about all this the moment he came home after what I said in Koushiro's office. At least Dad might give me a better picture of what had changed and certainly it appeared that Phil and perhaps Ross hadn't just simply been whipped from existence.
"Was my best friend." He sighed as he took a sip. "I've just sadly lost all touch with him in the 90s."
"How do you lose touch?" I asked.
"Mostly being the other side of the world, changing phone numbers and losing his. As well as loosing addresses." How does that work? "Taichi, I don't know if you remember this, but sometime while we were living at Hikarigaoka, I think it 93, 94, maybe, certainly just before the whole Agumon thing…"
"Greymon." I pointed out. "Apparently it was a different Koromon that came that night."
"Right. Anyways, we changed phone providers and had to change the number… which would be all fine, just call Phil and tell him 'Hey, we changed numbers, write this one down so we can stay in touch.' Well, apparently, bad timing, he changed his too. And forget about mailing addresses, tried it once, came back after like a month; apparently, not living there either."
"So that's why you lost touch with him?" I sighed as I leaned back on the couch.
"Believe me, if there was a chance to get back in touch with him, I would do it, but I just can't really think of anyway to do it, especially now. He could be dead for all I know; that's how out of touch we are." Dad admitted as I bit my lip. I hope that's not the reason why things have changed...
"Dad, were you still in touch in 92? Did Phil mention anything about the Shiloh to you? About a transfer?" Dad looked at me when I asked that.
"Listen, I know what your mother and sister told me… about your memories and your whole time travel thing; I'm telling you just what I know and can remember. If Phil had anything about the Shiloh, he never told me. My guess, if that offer came, he may have declined and just decided to stay stateside." Dad explained.
"Stateside…" I muttered before standing up. "Thanks, Dad."
"Hey, if you're planning something crazy…" He tried to argue as I smirked.
"Dad, at this point, what I have in mind is one of the most sanest things I've ever done."
Or maybe it wasn't since I was outside in the park about an hour later on my cellphone and talking to some guy at the Department of Defense.
"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" He asked me.
"I said my name is Taichi Yagami, I'm in Japan, and I'm just trying to know the location of a serviceman who may or may not still be in the service; he's an old friend of my father who's lost touch with him." I explained.
"Sir, I must remind you, this is very unorthodox, and there are a lot of concerns with your questioning, specifically in the safety of our proud service men and women."
"Yeah, I get it, classified information and all that. Look, I know you don't believe me, I know you have no reason to trust me, but I'm just wanting to know one thing." I sighed; I probably was making a big mistake but I had no other options.
"I really should just hang up on you right now because of this-"
"Please, I just need to know. Look, I know this guy, and I'm not planning on harming him or anything. His name's Phil McGlathery, he's from Houston, he graduated from that city in 82, went to Annapolis, graduated 86, same year he married a woman named Sharon, he's got a son named Ross; was stationed in Corpus Christi since graduating. At least up till 92." I explained.
There was a short pause for a little bit as I just waited for either a response or him to hang up.
"Okay, well, Mr. Yagami, you seem to be very well informed of this serviceman…"
"I'd like to think so, he and my father were each other's best man at their weddings." I pointed out. There was a sigh on the other end.
"Very well, I guess it might not hurt too much to at least say that he's still in Corpus according to our records."
"Thank you, thank you very much sir." I gave a huge sigh of relief there.
"Sir, I must warn you that I will have to contact him-"
"Go ahead, it's alright, you… I owe you so much sir."
"Uh, you're welcome…" He then hung up on me as I took another deep breath.
"Now then… how the hell do I get to Corpus?"
Yagami Residence, Odaiba District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. March 22nd, 2007. 2246 Hours.
"Are you really sure about this, Onii-chan?" Hikari asked me as I finished gathering my things as Agumon and I were all ready to go. Thanks to Koushiro, I managed to work out a way to quickly get to Corpus in only a few minutes.
Essentially, it was just using a D-3 to open some Digital Gates, the only thing is that someone needed to be on the other side in Corpus. Thankfully, our old friend Wallace was willing to help once Koushiro got in contact with him. Crazy to find out that things were pretty much the same with him, minus the fact that he ever met Ken since he was going through the same thing Osamu did when he was defeated and brought back to reality.
"Hikari, listen, I just got to know, okay, something's clearly off, and I'm not gonna get any answers staying here." I told her as I finished packing. Nothing too heavy, mostly I could quickly come back home and rest; especially if I make contact with Ross and all, then Wallace could do whatever he wants.
"I know you're frustrated about all this, and I think you are right, something feels wrong but, if indeed things have change, he's obviously not going to know anything." She explained as she placed her hand on my shoulder.
"I'm fully aware, but at least I could figure out maybe where this whole time change happened… or hell, there might be an evil Digimon watching him and all causing all these changes." I said. I then kissed her hand. "I'll be alright, okay? Trust me, after everything that's happened with me, this might be one of the least dangerous adventures we've ever been on." I chuckled. I clearly wasn't giving her a great deal of confidence.
"Okay, I'll open the gates for you, but promise me you'll stay in touch." She warned.
"I promise. If you don't hear from me within the next forty-eight… well, call the calvary." I smirked as she rolled her eyes before holding her D-3 to the computer.
"You ready, Agumon?" I asked him as he nodded.
"Always wanted to go somewhere outside the country." He chuckled.
It took about a few minutes. Mostly it was just the four of us, with Tailmon, standing in the Digital World in a nice secluded location while we wait for a signal coming from Wallace and whatever computer he was using. After a few moments of waiting, the signal was being broadcast and Hikari opened the gate for Agumon and myself again.
And within just a few minutes, I ended up traveling over ten thousand kilometers to the other side of the planet. And I didn't even need to spend a single yen.
Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. March 22nd, 2007. 0903 Hours
"Hey there, Taichi." I turned to see Wallace sitting on a small, cushioned bench as I walked up to shake his hand.
"Wallace, am I glad and really grateful for what you're doing for me right now. I'm not causing you too much issues with having you come out here." I apologized.
"It's alright, I got Spring Break wrapping up and wasn't doing much in New York. So a little vacation this far south was fine. Just to answer a few questions before you ask them. We're in the Best Western and Chocomon and Gummymon are in my room." He smirked. Despite five years, the guy had hardly changed a bit. Just taller, but that was basically it.
"Okay, well, thank you for informing." I sighed. "Now that I'm here… I just suddenly realized how much of a needle in a haystack I might be in."
"Well, it is a town of almost three-hundred thousand people last I checked." I was glad Koushiro at least explained things to him. After what Wallace went through; he was much more willing to believe that something was off and it might have something Digimon related. He patted me on the back. "Come on, we'll go get some breakfast and look through a phonebook. Might be a good way to find who you're looking for."
We went over to a nearby IHOP for breakfast while Agumon and twin Digimon enjoyed each other's company. I was honestly glad how more calm and well behaved Gummymon and Chocomon were; though according to Koushiro, that wasn't their names in these forms but Wallace rarely addressed them as Lopmon and Terriermon. At least those two were keeping Agumon from causing too much of a scene; despite his eating habits.
"You sure you're willing to comp him? I can easily pay you when I quickly hop back to Tokyo and switch out some cash." I asked Wallace as the two of us were looking through a few phonebooks.
"You're fine, Taichi. It's the least I can do for all you guys since you helped me all those years ago. Even if most of you guys from Japan were in your own trouble."
"Don't remind me." I rolled my eyes. That whole situation was nasty with what few memories I had of that strange realm us older Digidestined got dragged to while Daisuke's group had to save us and destroy Chocomon.
"These Americans make good food!" Agumon said as downed another few pancakes.
"Yeah, try not to run them out of business, Agumon." Gummymon warned him.
"Or bankrupt Wallace." Chocomon chuckled.
"Ugh, these phonebooks are a mess, it was so much easier in Tokyo when we were trying to find Hikari using our school phonebooks." I groaned as I laid my head on the table.
"Well, we're not using local school phonebooks, we're using the city's yellow pages. You think it wouldn't be so hard though…" Wallace admitted.
"It's just looking through the M's! Why the hell for so many ads and all this non-people bull." I huffed as I lightly pounded my head against the open book in front of me.
"I get your frustration, Taichi, I'm tryin- wait! I think I got it!" I shot up so fast when he said that and he turned the book towards me. "It's from 2005 but I think you'll still be good if this Phil is still stationed here."
My eyes quickly looked through before I found it. Phil McGlathery, living at 14826 Beal Dr. Wallace pulled out his laptop and was obviously trying to look for location on one of those map websites.
"Okay, so it looks like you mostly would just have to head straight down 37 there to Calallen but there it is." He showed me where the house was.
"The only issue is… I don't have a ride. Even if I had my bike with me, I couldn't bring Agumon along." I sighed.
"And if there was indeed Digimon trouble, you really couldn't afford to leave him just here at the hotel with us." Wallace admitted as we both thought about how to do this. The two of us looked towards the docks and saw a rental place. It then clicked to me upon seeing that and remembering Koushiro's little Digimon holding space program.
I wasn't able to cycle as fast as I wanted when I got the bike, which we just bought off rather than rent; it thankfully was fairly cheap and after again thanking Wallace for all he was doing for me; I soon found myself out in the suburb of Corpus.
Getting close to the address, I pulled out my laptop's laptop and let Agumon out once more as we walked down the suburb streets.
"Really smells different here compared to the city." Agumon admitted.
"Yeah, I forgot, you don't often get out from Tokyo. Usually we just hang in the city." I chuckled as we soon found Beal Dr.
"Taichi, are you sure about this?" Agumon asked as I shook my head.
"Now? Not so much but I just got to know; I'm sorry I have to drag you along with all this but there's something that's happened and I at least got to know what happened. After that, I have no idea… I'm hoping maybe fixing this little time mistake will be easy."
"It never really is in our case." He said as I snickered.
"When did you become such a pessimist?" He shrugged before I finally found the correct address. "Okay, here we are… now then Ross… why are you here?"
It was a quaint little two story brick house, pretty average compared to the rest of the neighborhood and all as I started walking up to the front door.
"Taichi, aren't they still having school out here? Isn't that what Wallace said?" Agumon reminded me.
"Yeah, well, I'm just gonna knock and see if anyone's home, if not, then we're just gonna wait here all afternoon if we have to." I told him as I walked down the drive way and went to the front door before knocking.
I waited a few moments before I heard the front door unlock…
And just like the other day, I was in for the shock of my life as I found myself staring at a woman who looked to be in her early 40s perhaps; long dirty blonde, almost close to brown hair and hazel eyes with a pair of glasses in front of them staring right back at me.
This was the face of a woman that I had seen before… but only in photos…
"Sharon…?"
Well, now isn't this interesting?
So, few things, sorry if you were expecting more from Dagomon but he's honestly weaker according to the wikis and all so I thought it would be intersting to pose him as this dark threat but goes down like Glass Joe.
Anyways, I'll see you all sometime soon for Act 2.
"Push the button, Frank."