Standard Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit derivative work. I claim no ownership to Digimon or its characters.

Across Dawn

Hikari tried to put the previous night behind her. She tried to put aside thoughts of the harrowing dream, the black digimon, and that awful world. She tried to put aside her worries and greet the new day with cheer and optimism. Today was going to be a great day! Sure summer homework was no fun, but she'd be meeting all her friends that afternoon to work on it together, so there was no reason to be down and gloomy about a spooky dream was there?

Hikari's practiced, positive manner gave no indication to her family she was worried at all. Indeed it was so convincing that she'd almost convinced herself nothing was wrong by the end of breakfast. Almost. She tried again to convince herself everything was totally fine in the bathroom and again as she gathered her things and her partner to head out. When that failed to silence the worried little voice in her head Hikari made a promise to herself that she really would tell someone about her dream if all this Dark World trouble popped up again. After all, her previous visits had always been one-time things, a spooky call at school, the machine in the Kaiser's base, getting lost in a forest... She had no reason to believe this was anything different, really. Really. Really. And if it did then... Well she'd worry about it then which was fine because it wasn't going to happen. Really.

That didn't do nearly enough to convince the little voice in her head, the worried voice that sounded so much like Tailmon had just hours ago, but it was a compromise the voice would accept. And that's all she needed because everything was fine. Walking out the door Hikari repeated it quietly to herself, "everything is fine".

Digital technology is not stagnant and so neither is the Digital World.

In the span of four years between Takeru's first visit and Lowemon's mid-morning arrival the Village of Beginnings had expanded far beyond the point it could be fairly called a "village". It had expanded even beyond being called a "town". What Lowemon looked down upon from his perch on the upper slopes of Mount Panorama was The City of Beginnings, a sprawling, shining, unkempt cluster of buildings home to a riot of different digimon. Like so much of the Digital World the City of Beginnings was a funhouse mirror reflection of a Real World idea; an exaggerated vision of a modern human metropolis realized through the eyes of digimon.

Even from a distance Lowemon could see all the places in the city wouldn't make sense to a human. On the edge of town a skyscraper stood alone surrounded with a vast, empty parking lot. The only paved road in the city went straight through a building. Nonsensical street signs were plastered on walls and poles pointing in random directions, some indicating straight up or down. In the middle of town stood a railroad crossing gate with no railroad to go with it. Telephone poles rose all across the city with wires that connected nothing in particular. One portion of the city had dozens of little storefronts and stalls tossed about in careless zigzags. Another part of the city had been built along carefully ordered streets but spared no coherence for design with a classical Japanese Inn, an American-style fast food restaurant, and a Grecian temple standing side by side. And of course there was the north edge of town where dirt and grass gave away to mattress fabric and the towering buildings became giant stacks of blocks, but Lowemon suspected he wasn't going to be headed in that direction.

That it made no sense from a human's point of view was obvious and said a little bit about the digimon who had built it and quite a bit more about digimon in general. Every digimon had some knowledge of human objects and human ideas, it was written right into the zeroes and ones of their code. However for a digimon there was a huge gulf between knowing something and actually understanding something.

The digimon who had built the City of Beginnings were undoubtedly intelligent and well-meaning, but they were also digimon who had never been to the Real World and had only a limited understanding of the things they inherently knew. These builders clearly knew what you would find in a city, but this knowledge didn't stretch as far as knowing why those things were in a city. No doubt some enterprising digimon had put up all the road signs under the assumption that having them was necessary for a place to be called a city. Nevermind that there were no cars in the City of Beginnings, that there were no useful roads for them to have driven on had there been cars, that many digimon wouldn't have been able to fit in cars if they had existed, or even if they were the right size that many digimon could simply fly or climb or leap from place to place with less hassle, heedless of the non-existent roads or their signs. What mattered was that this digimon had known you needed a lot of street signs in a city and so had dutifully put them up.

And here was Lowemon, a digimon who was often a human and was therefore uniquely equipped to look down on the City of Beginnings and understand it.

Lowemon looked up from the city to take another glance at the little piece of paper. It had been from a human's scratch-pad, so in his hand as a digimon it seemed almost comically small. The map had been copied down exactly as it had been given, but it was still much too simplistic to give good directions for a city as sprawling as the City of Beginnings, and going down into the thick of things certainly wasn't going to make it any easier. On the other hand he was getting nowhere from up here.

"I hope you weren't thinking of heading into the city, were you?"

The speaker's deep voice came from no warning on Lowemon's right. Lowemon was tensed to strike on reflex as he spun round, but held himself back. Devidramon, his senses provided, an Adult wicked dragon digimon. The Devidramon's four gleaming red eyes, long clawed arms, and tattered leather coverings weren't friendly looking in the slightest, and Lowemon was a human-type while Devidramon was a beast-type, but if a fight broke out Lowemon was sure enough of his strength that he'd be okay. More importantly the Devidramon had settled down to talk instead of striking first. A fight avoided was already a victory.

"I was, actually. Why do you ask?" said Lowemon, evenly.

"I was going to warn you that you might want to think again. That city doesn't take kindly to our kind," said the Devidramon, his long tail flicking back and forth.

"Our kind?" Lowemon asked.

"Yes, our kind. You know, dark digimon," the Devidramon put heavy emphasis on the last words. It was impossible to read expression in his eyes, but the Devidramon seemed to be giving Lowemon a quizzical look. "Did you just evolve? You have to know the reception we all get around here."

"No, it's... No nevermind. Thank you for your warning but I have business down there I have to attend to," said Lowemon.

"Nothing bad I hope? If you cause trouble you're going to make it harder for the rest of us, you know," the Devidramon was still looking at Lowemon with what seemed to be skepticism.

"No, nothing like that. There's someone down there who needs my help. It's something I need to do."

"Really? They want help from you? Well suit yourself. What I was going to say is that if you're thinking of staying on File Island for a while you'd be better served spending time at Overdell Cemetary, that's the sort of place digimon like us are welcome," As he spoke the Devidramon turned to indicate towards a gray cape of in the distance jutting out of the north shore of the island, and Lowemon could see even from far away a cluster of what looked like small buildings where the dragon pointed.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for your offer, but for now I need to head into that city," Lowemon said.

"Suit yourself then. I'm Devidramon. A lot of digimon around Overdell know me, if you do end up around there tell them I sent you and they'll help you out."

"I'm Lowemon. Thank you again," Lowemon nodded politely and began his descent.

The Devidramon kept an appraising look on Lowemon's retreating figure for a while longer, then flapping his tattered wings, flew off towards Overdell and away from the city below.

The path downwards off the squat little mountain was easy enough, and a quarter of an hour more spent crossing rolling green hills put Lowemon at the outskirts of the city. Crossing under an archway that was halfway between a shrine's gate and a pair of telephone poles put Lowemon on a dirt road that was one of the city's main winding thoroughfares. He was here, now he just had to find where he was going.

Mid-morning was coming up on late morning and the City of Beginnings was alive and moving. It wasn't quite as loud as the Akiba market had been back home, but this city was also much more spread out and there were many fewer digimon hawking their wares.

Lowemon walked onward down the road further into the city, one digimon among many. On the outskirts of town a meat farm was overseen by a Vegiemon bouncing up and down excitedly over a bumper crop. There was a construction site overseen by a Tankmon in a hardhat barking incoherent orders at a couple of confused Guardromon and an empty Mechanorimon. A couple of blocks of the mid-city was given over to a grassy plain playing host to a Tyranomon, a Garurumon, and a couple of Monochromon. At one point a freestanding fountain depicting a Shellmon sat in the center of the road. A Geckomon and a handful of Otamamon were singing loudly on a stage standing between two tall apartment blocks. Near the railroad crossing a Minotaurmon in a beret presided over a food cart offering American-style hamburgers.

Lowemon passed all of them with no comment. Occasionally he glanced at his map, fruitlessly trying to match it to the sprawl of the city. Silently walking unfamiliar streets with a tiny scrap of a map came with it a strong sense of Deja vu. It seemed so long ago he'd been wandering through that neighborhood looking for that one particular nameplate...

Every so often, when Lowemon took a moment to re-examine his map he caught a glimpse of something. It was while stopping for the trackless railroad crossing and looking at the map again that Lowemon saw it again out of the corner of his eye, much more blatantly than before.

Among the small crowd of digimon was an Elecmon herding a little flock of baby digimon. Coming up towards the railroad crossing Elecmon had been chatting animatedly with the herd of bouncing balls, but the cheery talk ended immediately when he looked up. Lowemon pretended not to see the way Elecmon pulled the group back in alarm, nor the way Elecmon shushed all the babies, nor the way Elecmon carefully guided the baby digimon far to the other side of the road and took a cautious stance, well away from the scary stranger.

"Our Kind." "Dark Digimon." "They want help from you?" "You will be received with hostility."

Elecmon taking care to keep the babies far away from him had been the most overt part of it, but Lowemon had felt the city's collective mistrust since almost the moment he'd crossed under the arch. It hadn't been loud or showy, but it had been there. A quiet muttering, a sidelong glance, a gap in the crowd a little bit too large...

In a backwards way this was almost comforting. This was something that Lowemon, that Kouichi recognized. This was that well-meaning crowd of people politely worried that maybe you were in the wrong place, and concerned that perhaps it would be best that maybe you should go back to whatever godforsaken backwards slum you belonged because you obviously didn't belong here among the upright well-to-do people.

The careful glances and whispers put him in mind of those times he'd gone with Kouji to walk his dog. Kouji loved that dog, an enormous German Shepherd almost as long as Kouji was tall. Walking his dog and talking about it were some of the only things that made Kouji really eager to smile, so Kouichi loved to go with his brother and smile with him. That smile also kept Kouichi from bringing up the way the neighbors reacted to them, or rather to him.

It was the contrast, probably, that got people buzzing. One one hand there was Kouji of the distinguished Minamoto clan who could trace his lineage to the imperial dynasty. He wore fashionable clothing, brand new athletic sneakers, and a bandanna around his head that practically gleamed. On the other hand there was some impoverished youth wandering with him through the upscale Meguro neighborhood in a secondhand jacket, old worn out shoes, threadbare slacks, and wearing a ratty baseball hat. Some child of poverty clearly unworthy of spending time with Kouji, who was almost a prince! What on Earth could Kouji see in that stranger? But there was muttering here and there about how strange it was that both boys should look so alike, they could have been twins some of them said. The third time the brothers had passed one particular elderly couple while out walking Kouichi had heard the old lady chatter a bit too loudly about how the poor boy must be a decoy to fool kidnappers, but it would never work because that poor boy looked nothing like Kouji!

Kouji never noticed, Kouichi was sure of that. They'd been together for only about a year, but Kouichi knew enough about his twin brother to feel sure he'd have spoken up. Kouji was absolutely loyal and outspoken when it came to his friends and family. Kouji wouldn't have stayed silent in the face of the concerned, polite abuse coming from that nice old couple or any of the other neighbors he lived around, and Kouichi didn't feel the need to inform his brother what they said. Part of that was that he didn't want to ruin their time together, but it was also that he didn't begrudge his brother that ignorance. Kouji grew up in that neighborhood and he really did belong there, the rich scion of one of the Minamoto's many branches wearing his well-made clothes and walking his well-kept dog down a well-maintained street. Shabbily dressed Kouichi really did stand out. No doubt black-clad Lowemon stood out just as much.

If the City of Beginnings had it in for dark digimon there was nothing to be done. Lowemon could hardly hide his element what with his jet-black armor, and his other forms gave no better alternative. If Kouichi was to be a digimon at all he would have to be a dark digimon. It hadn't been his choice to become the Warrior of Darkness anymore than it had been his choice to miss that elevator or fall down those stairs, but it was what had happened and it was who he was.

And, if he had to, he'd do it all over again.

Well, he'd been warned so there was no use wasting time worrying about it. The railroad crossing gates had finally come up so it was time to keep looking.

It took maybe another half hour of searching through the maze of the market district before Lowemon finally found a tangle of streets that resembled the ones on his map. Sure enough, on a side street a few turn-offs from the main road Lowemon found his destination. It was a two-story building whose ground floor was given over to a restaurant with a large attached in-door patio set up as a dining area. A small sign on the front door apologized because the restaurant would not be open for lunch that day. A large sign hanging over the entrance read "Digitamamon's Nice Restaurant".

Lowemon stepped forward and knocked on the door. Footsteps came a few moments later, followed by a professionally even-tempered voice.

"My sincere apologies but we're closed for lunch today."

"I'm not here for lunch," Lowemon said, "I was told to come here, and that you would be expecting me."

"You're our boarder? Oh my apologies again sir," there was some rustling as the doornob turned, "it's nice to meet... Oh."

The speaker's voice trailed off as the door opened and he got a good look at Lowemon. Lowemon in turn got to get a look at the owner of the voice who was indeed a Digitamamon complete with the gleaming eyes peeking out from within the gray eggshell, thick green lizard legs, and who knew what else. Lowemon was considering giving some sort of vague apology for existing when the Digitamamon caught up with his thoughts and continued. "I see why I'd be the one to get a call to put up a lodger. Come on inside and I'll show you around."

Lowemon followed Digitamamon inside looking around at the inside restaurant as he did. The floor was made of flat but irregular flagstones and covered over with a carpet leading to the reception desk. The walls were brick and hung with posters, notices, and playbills. Colorful potted plants filled in the vacant corners of the room and around a large print of the menu that was perched on an easel. A few steps down from the entrance was the dining area, aglow with the noon sun that came in through huge bright windows and down onto the careful arrangement of neatly made tables. After a sweeping glance, Lowemon concluded that Digitamamon's restaurant was indeed nice. Another glance came to rest on a little niche just inside the dining room with an old piano.

"It's not much," Digitamamon said, "but I'm rather pleased with this place."

"It's very pretty," Lowemon said, honestly as the pair moved into the back of the building.

"Thank you! You came at a good time, Bakumon is out seeing about a shipment, so we're closed for right now. You saw the dining room, The kitchen is down that hallway," the egg digimon tilted its whole body to indicate the direction, "the stairs are back there," a tilt the other way, "and your room is on the second floor, it's the door at the end of the hall. If you need to leave in a hurry for whatever your business is you can use the back door down there."

Once in the privacy of the back hallway Digitamamon turned around and tilted itself back to look at Lowemon's face. Digitamamon himself had no face to speak of, but the digimon's gleaming eyes were animated all the same and now showed a kind of thoughtfulness. It took a few seconds for Digitamamon to decide on his words.

"Do you know how long you'll be staying here?"

Lowemon had assumed Digitamamon was going to ask why he was here. Perhaps the egg digimon was carefully avoiding the subject, which was fine by him. Lowemon wasn't totally sure how he would have answered that question.

"I think maybe a week or so, but I can't say for sure yet. Hopefully it won't be much longer than that. I'm sorry to have to intrude on your hospitality," said Lowemon. This was the polite thing to say and moreover it was true, so a moment later he followed up with a late bow.

"Oh no, it's no problem at all!" Digitamamon's voice was back to being cheerful, friendly, professional, and maybe a little bit too loud. "It's not everyday an aging ruffian like me gets a request like this! I'd be happy to be able to help you out, just say the word."

"Thank you, it's only that I wish I could pay you back for giving me a place to stay."

"Oh no, it's fine, don't worry about it. Besides, I run a restaurant! It's not like I'd expect a guest to work for me, and even if I did I'm not expecting you know anything about the business..."

"I do," said Lowemon, as Digitamamon was graciously trailing off.

"Pardon?"

"I do know about restaurants. And I think I could be able to help."

"Well that's very kind of you, but between me and Bakumon we don't really need any more staff for my little place. It's truly gracious of you to offer to help, but I'm not sure what I could have you do."

"I can play the piano," Lowemon said.

Digitamamon stopped trying to politely decline and seemed to really look at Lowemon for the first time since they'd seen each other at the door. "Really? Ya can do that? Where'd ya nab that kind of data?" Digitamamon's practiced, professional voice had broken into a rougher tone.

"That isn't important, but it's true and I can. I can show you if you like. And I want to pay you back for this. If it's something I can do, I want to do it," Lowemon said.

"Well, I guess I'll consider it... I mean if you really want to, on the side for it's own sake," Digitamamon said, haltingly.

"That's fine, you don't need to pay me anything since you're already giving me a place to stay, if I can pay you back in some way that's more than enough for me," said Lowemon.

"I see! Well that's fine and very kind of you to offer, I'm rather surprised a digimon like you would play...Er, no, wait, I didn't mean..." Digitamamon hastily stumbled over his last words.

"No, it's fine. I don't think many digimon learn how to play an instrument that isn't their own."

"Ah, yes, that's what I meant," Digitamamon said, immediately accepting the white lie. "We're going to be open for dinner, if you'd like to perform I'd certainly be gracious. In the meantime can I get you anything?"

"No thank you. I should probably get going. I need to get started," said Lowemon.

The plan had been for everyone to meet at the library a little before noon then maybe go out to a late lunch or even dinner after working on summer homework, but that hadn't happened. A volley of e-mails had gone from D-Terminal to D-Terminal relating the many reasons why the various Chosen Children would be late.

Miyako had been the first, relating the need to unpack a huge shipment for her family's store that had come unexpectedly early, and by the way she was borrowing Iori to help because he'd been coincidentally walking by at the time. Takeru had chimed up next, revealing that his father had accidentally left something behind at his home and absent Yamato he was going to go across town to pick it up and then deliver it at the TV station. Daisuke, who had initially been absolutely certain he could be there, then followed up to confirm he'd suddenly been called over by the Soccer club for some nebulous emergency planning meeting and absolutely would not be there. Finally Ken had sent a simple note saying only that he was sorry and that he would be late.

All of this left Hikari in limbo. She had no pressing issue preventing her from meeting up, and that irony meant she was now all on her own, not counting Tailmon. Regardless, there was nothing stopping her from going to the library working in silence, but right there on that gorgeous summer day somehow going all by herself just felt wrong. And besides that she was nearly done. It would be nice to finally get finished a full month early, but part of the point of going out to do homework was being together with everyone. If she finished up it would be awkward to just hang around. That was a good enough reason for her to hang back and enjoy the sunshine in the park, so she did.

The park had a name, but it was a boring one, something like "Odaiba Municiple Public Park Number 3". To be honest, though, it wasn't a very exciting park either. There were some hanging bars and a spinning globe and a swingset, but it was sparse and a little bit rusty, and worst of all disappointingly urban. The whole play area was on hard concrete tile which made Hikari vaguely uncomfortable when considering the climbing bars, and the only real nature were the trees and bushes confined to manicured little plots. On the whole it looked like it was just a block of the city where someone had left a jungle gym, so it was really no wonder people rarely came here. At least that meant Tailmon could come out of her bag and stop playing stuffed animal.

Yet somehow, at the same time, it was their park, "the" park. It's where Hikari had gathered with her brother and the rest (minus Mimi) that first day when Daisuke had gone to the Digital World and become a Chosen Child. Somehow, this unexciting little park had become a place they all knew even if they didn't give it a name or even spend much time here. When important things were happening they met up at school or in someone's apartment or in the Digital World. On the other hand when they were celebrating they usually met at the cable car park where the eight of them had come home at the end of their first adventure. Yet they still came here, on occasion. The plus side of being in the middle of the city was that the park was conveniently located, and that was why Hikari and her generation had all picked this place to group up before going onward towards the library. In fact, the group only ever seemed to meet here when they were going to do something else.

You didn't meet in the park for its own sake, you came here to start something, and, indeed, this park was the starting point for their second adventure.

This is a place for beginnings. The realization hit Hikari with an odd twinge. The call had come last night in that dream, and now she was here, waiting. For what? Her friends? Someone else? Something else? Was something going to start? Something to do with that awful world? Had it already started last night? What was beginning?

Hikari did her best to hold herself steady and maintain composure. It was just an odd coincidence she was here now, nothing else, nothing besides a curious observation that put her on edge. It was just one of those odd things she picked up on, odd things she would somehow just realize and know deeply. She knew, somehow, inside of herself, that this place was a starting point, but that didn't mean anything was going to happen. She was fine, sitting here on a somewhat shady bench with Tailmon sprawled out beside her. It was just a coincidence, serendipity, nothing more.

Much later, Hikari would reflect she had been right about at least one thing: it had been serendipity.

More than anything, Kouichi wanted to see his brother.

It hadn't even been 24 hours and Kouichi already desperately missed Kouji. Since they'd met last summer the boys had talked almost every day, by phone if not face-to-face. Most days they hadn't said much more "hello", but even that would have been enough right now. Kouichi had known he'd be alone here, but it wasn't until he'd come to another Tokyo to realize how alone he really was. And how much he'd come to cherish his brother's voice.

Wandering around Odaiba, Kouichi had more than once found his hand on his cell phone and more than once had to force himself to let go of it. It hurt every time to let go, a grinding, stabbing needle of worry that jammed right through his heart, but Kouichi forced himself through it to anyways. He had no idea which would be worse, to call Kouji's number and get no answer, or for someone to pick up on the other end. Either way it wouldn't help, Kouji wasn't here.

What would Kouji say if he were here? Well that was easy actually, Kouji would say Kouichi was chosen so obviously he was there for a reason and Kouichi was smart and talented and better at making friends than Kouji was (assuming he remembered to smile for once), so he should just trust his instincts and things would probably work out. Of course that was easy for him to say, or for Kouichi to imagine him saying. Kouji was at ease wherever he went, he had the self-confidence to never worry about being out of place. The brothers shared faces, but anyone could tell at a glance Kouji was cool and Kouichi wasn't. Everyone said Kouichi worried too much, and sure enough here he was worrying.

At first, Kouichi had thought it would be easier being around the people in Tokyo among people instead of around digimon in the Digital World. The digimon in the City of Beginnings had been on edge around Lowemon, wouldn't it be easier to just be in Odaiba were being one ordinary kid among many wouldn't get a second glance? But Kouichi wasn't an ordinary kid. Ordinary kids weren't sent to other worlds on missions of grave importance. Kouichi was here for a reason, but right now in Odaiba's sea of faces he couldn't have put words to what that reason was.

Of course he was here to find that girl and try and keep her safe and so it had seemed like a good idea to come here, to visit the other Tokyo where the girl had been from and then... And then what, really? Tokyo was home to ten million people, Odaiba alone had thousands and thousands of them, and Kouichi was just going to pop in and find one girl among who knows how many? A girl whose name he didn't know, a girl he'd seen only once, a girl he knew next to nothing about. And how did he even know she was in Odaiba? Sure he'd ended up here when he'd come from the digital world, but did that mean anything? How could he be sure she was here and not in Shinjuku or Ikebukuro or Setagaya or Shibuya? And if he did find her, a needle in a thousand haystacks, what then? Go up and introduce himself? Which himself? What on Earth had he been thinking to come here?

Nobody spared a second glance for Kouichi, and that more than anything was what reminded him he was alone. No matter how big a crowd he'd never fit in here. This wasn't his world, his home with his friends and his family where he knew people and knew what he was doing. Kouichi was a stranger, nobody noticed him and nobody cared. He was just some kid, somebody else's problem. If something happened to him here who would miss him? Anyone who cared about him was a world away.

It was almost funny, in an ugly way, a digimon always belonged in the digital world but a human couldn't always fit in among other humans. Right here, right now, being ignored was so much worse than being hated. If people hated you then you existed, you weren't just a a fleeting shadow.

Kouichi wandered. He couldn't say where he was going, if he was following some instinct or just moving to move or just moving because he couldn't bear to stay still. It took him barely 20 minutes before he was certain he wouldn't find this girl, but he was also certain he didn't want to turn back, so he kept moving.

Kouichi passed ceaseless crowds at both seafront and storefront. He crossed gleaming walkways and in front of massive buildings. He passed by the rail station and the big amusement park. He crossed small streets and took a walkway over a large road. Once or twice he cut through a mall, but soon enough they were so full the crowd was maddening. Step by step, one foot in front of the other, Kouichi walked.

There were other kids here, of course. Some were running and laughing and playing outdoors in parks, others were walking with their families on errands, and many more standing or sitting or waiting in lines. Kouichi kept his eyes out for them of course, he was supposed to be looking for the girl (even if he had stopped believing he'd find her). As Kouichi wandered across the man-made island he couldn't help but wonder if some of them were also warriors like him and the girl, and moreover wonder about what this world was really like. The message he had received said this world had warriors, but it had also said the world was "familiar, yet distinctly different" and that its warriors fought in a way different from his friends. As he walked wherever Kouichi had plenty of time to ponder what that really meant. In his world there had been the ten warriors based on the ten elements, was that how they were different? The girl's element was "light", but were the other elements the same? Or maybe her element had really been "holy" and rather than elements of the world the warriors here represented different families of digimon? Were their spirits different? Did they use them differently somehow? Maybe some only evolved into human-types and others only into beast-types. Or maybe they didn't evolve at all somehow?

After nearly an hour of walking aimlessly the knot of anxiety in Kouichi's gut had relaxed enough for a little perspective. Yes, this trip had been a waste, but it was fine because there would be plenty more chances. For one thing Kouichi could probably still protect her as long as he kept an eye out for the shadows from that other world, if he kept up his watch he might even be able to follow those things right to her. For another thing the girl was one of this world's warriors, maybe Kouichi would be able to find out more about her from the digimon.

Kouichi was about ready to head back to the digital world and maybe ask Digitamamon or even Devidramon about this world's Legendary Warriors like he probably should have done to start with, when he saw a line of water fountains running down the sidewalk. It wasn't a particularly hot day, but being under the sun for so long had still left him tired, sweaty, dusty, thirsty, and a little achey all the same, so Kouichi crossed down a block and a half of warm summer concrete. The water had an unpleasant metallic tinge to it, and it was barely cool let alone cold, but after criss-crossing the city, Kouichi gulped it down gratefully. He had filled up a fourth mouthful of water and was turning to go when a glint of gold caught the corner of his eye. Kouichi turned his head, and choked.

It was her! The girl! She was in a t-shirt with a neckerchief and wasn't wearing those long gloves, but it was unmistakably the same girl with the short hair and brown eyes from the previous night sitting on a bench sorting through a backpack in a little parklet just down the way. Kouichi stared. He could practically hear his brother's "I told you so."

Kouichi started walking towards her, still staring in amazement. He stopped at the edge of the park where his astonishment redoubled when he realized what was next to her. From a distance it had looked a little like a stuffed animal, but no, as Kouichi watched he saw it move and blink. There was no mistake, lying backwards across the seat of the bench next to the girl was a digimon. It was a Tailmon, a beast-type digimon in the shape of a white cat wearing yellow gloves and with a suitably long purple and white tail that was wrapped with a holy ring. As the digimon lay on its back its tail flicked back and forth, the gleaming ring catching the light of the sun when it passed in between the shadows cast from the tree branches overhead. The girl sat completely at ease with her companion. Occasionally she would gently stroke the cat's belly or scratch behind its ears.

Kouichi couldn't help but stare. Then he looked around, utterly baffled. A nearby stop light dutifully turned from red to green. An unassuming lamp post sat there silently. Cars honked in the distance. The light in a storefront window way across the way stayed lit. After a moment Kouichi took out his cell phone and flipped it open. Nothing happened. It was just a digimon, here in the real world. But that couldn't... This wasn't how anything...

"It's okay! Tailmon is a good digimon!" The girl's voice cut through Kouichi's thoughts. The girl had seen Kouichi staring. Her words came a little bit too quickly and a little bit too loudly, but more than that she sounded worried. Maybe even a little scared.

Kouichi caught the direction of her gaze at his hand, closed his phone and put it away in his pocket. The girl seemed relieved.

"I'm sorry, I was just surprised to see someone with a digimon," Kouichi said, lamely. The girl nodded understandingly.

"Tailmon is my friend. I know that after everything that happened some people don't always believe that, but it's true so you don't have to worry. She's my partner," the girl said the last word in English, did that mean something special? The Tailmon had leapt to its feet, its eyes keenly focused on Kouichi appraising him warily.

"I'm not interested in fighting, but I am here to protect Hikari," said the Tailmon. The digimon spoke with the mature and dignified voice of an older woman, and raised a paw to her side, between Kouichi and the girl.

"Tailmon..." the girl seemed sheepish.

"It's okay," Kouichi said to Tailmon, "and I think I understand what Tailmon means, you're important to her, right?" the Tailmon nodded made an approving noise. Kouichi's eyes moved from the digimon to the girl. Her eyes met his and she smiled.

"Sorry about that, but thank you. For believing me. I'm Yagami Hikari," she said sweetly.

"Kimura Kouichi," he nodded politely to her.

Kouichi took a tentative step forward to the bench, then looked towards Tailmon and waited. After a moment's consideration the cat relaxed her stance and sat down. Taking this as approval, Kouichi walked the rest of the way and sat down next to Hikari with the digimon between them.

"I'm sorry about that, Tailmon can be overprotective sometimes, but she's very precious to me." Hikari said.

"No, I understand," Kouichi said, "I know someone who can be just like that when he's with the person he likes. His name is Junpei, and he's crazy for a girl I know named Izumi..."

Kouichi had imagined all the things he would have liked to have asked and said to the girl when he finally met her, and he had even more questions after seeing a Tailmon (her Tailmon?) and hearing her mention "Everything that happened" but face-to-face with Hikari what they actually did was start talking about their friends.

Kouichi talked about Junpei, friendly, reliable, popular Junpei who had big bones and an even bigger heart who was head over heels for another friend, Izumi, and would panic at the thought of her ending up in trouble or spending time with someone he didn't know, even though he always gave into Izumi in the end and everyone agreed he was worried over nothing and making a fool of himself. Hikari giggled appreciatively and began to talk about Daisuke, who was a good and reliable, if over-excitable, friend who also fawned over her on and off. She admitted she felt bad about maybe leading him on too much, but Hikari also said she hadn't wanted to hurt him by being blunt about it and that she really did admire him. He was warm-hearted, forgiving, and an excellent soccer player besides. Kouichi was surprised to hear about Daisuke's habit of wearing a pair of goggles talking about how similar he sounded to Takuya, a rising soccer star himself. Kouichi related Takuya as similarly passionate and courageous, but also insightful and analytic. Takuya was an older brother figure to their younger friend, Tomoki, who loved video games and electronics and was a lot more grown up than you'd think the first time you saw him. Hikari contrasted Kouichi's friend with a story about Iori, also a friend who was also a few grades younger who was taciturn, intelligent, and serious minded. By Hikari's account Iori was practically a samurai of old, incredibly dutiful and faithful. That lead Kouichi to bring up Kouji, who also lived by his own personal code. Kouichi related how his twin brother never forgot a favor he was owed, and while solemn and even a little intimidating was also kind and supportive to people he cared about (he hoped inwardly that his melancholy wasn't too noticeable in his voice). Hikari nodded approvingly hearing about Kouji and spoke of Ichijouji Ken (had Kouichi heard of him? he's not like how he seems on TV, no? Nevermind then) who was kind-hearted and ached over some of the (unspecified by Hikari) bad things he'd done despite having done more than enough to make amends (Kouichi silently sympathized). Seeing that speck of gloom Hikari tried to lighten the mood by bringing up Miyako, her best friend and Ken's probably girlfriend who was flighty and disorganized and amazing with boundless energy who seemed to know something about everything and be good at anything she put her mind to. By Hikari's account Miyako was a mood-maker of their friend group and that had Kouchi returning to Izumi who was also an incredible girl, a returnee from Italy with striking blond hair who was vibrant in a way nobody else he knew was and did whatever she thought was interesting. That lead finally to Hikari talking about Takeru, also blonde haired, one of her oldest friends who was an unfailing gentleman being polite, smart, even-tempered, and understanding to everyone, leading Kouichi to say he'd like to meet someone as incredible as Takeru someday.

It was a little ways into the afternoon now, the sun was right at its peak, the shadows from the trees had thinned out, and Tailmon having satisfied herself to Kouichi at some point was lying on her back occasionally being stroked by her partner. Having shared stories and marveled at each others friends, so similar and yet so different, Kouichi and Hikari had finally hit a lull in their conversation.

"Do you know about the Digital World?" Hikari asked after a while.

Kouichi thought for a moment. "I've heard it's another world where the digimon are supposed to come from, but that's all... Why? Have you ever been there?"

Hikari nodded. "I have. And that's right, it's where digimon like Tailmon are from. It's a beautiful place. Me and Tailmon have been working together to protect it."

Looking back a little later Hikari wasn't sure why she had asked the question, why she had started talking, and why she kept going. Usually she didn't talk about about the Digital World to outsiders, and Kouichi, however nice he was, was still a stranger unconnected to digimon or the Digital World or the Chosen Children.

Maybe that had that been why? Because he was an outsider? A handsome stranger? He did look a little bit like Ken, and Miyako was always ready to brag about how good looking her (mostly) boyfriend was.

Maybe. But maybe it had been something else. Maybe it had been in how he talked and how he listened. Kouichi had a gentle voice and a kind smile, and he really knew how to listen to what Hikari said. The way he had talked about his friends, people who were all so different from each other, and the way he listened to her talk about her own friends made him seem like someone who was worth talking to, someone who was understanding.

Maybe it was even more than that, maybe it had been the way he had been willing to accept Tailmon so easily. People were still scared of digimon, so it had been a relief he hadn't panicked or called the police on her. And he even seemed to understand Tailmon when she talked about her mission, and maybe a little bit about them being partners. Maybe he could understand even more?

Maybe it was in his eyes. He had pretty blue eyes, that was true, but more than that occasionally she caught a glimpse of something in them like, what? Duty? Purpose? Conviction? It was something she usually only saw in her fellow Chosen Children, a look wholly distinct from her other school friends. Kouichi's eyes made it seem like he could understand what it was like fighting to protect something, what it was like to try and keep a whole world safe.

Or maybe it wasn't any of those things, not his voice or his words or his eyes, maybe it was in his entire feel as a person. Something about sitting there and talking with Kouichi felt comforting. Being there on that bench under that tree in that moment sitting next to him made the sound of the rest of the world seem much farther away. The roar of engines, the voices of people, the crying of cicadas, they all seemed so distant on that bench in this moment. The thin shadows seemed deeper and cooler now, the shade around him felt so much more inviting. Right now, near Kouichi and Tailmon she felt safe. And maybe that was the real reason why.

But all these thoughts came afterwards, right there in that moment she started talking about it. Them.

"But," Hikari went on, "there's another Digital World."

Tailmon's eyes shot open, staring hard at Hikari. "That world, the other world, it's awful. It's a dark world, with black ocean. There's no sun or moon, it's nothing but shadows," Hikari shivered, "I'm supposed to protect the Digital World, but I'm scared of that place. It called me once and the creatures in it and I'm scared. They aren't digimon. If they call me, I'm not sure I could come back this time and they want me and I don't know why or what they'll do so I..." she trailed off.

"I am here to protect Hikari", suddenly the digimon's words made so much more sense to Kouichi. Maybe the girl did need extra protection, maybe she really wasn't strong enough for how important she she was. For an instant he wanted to say who he was, say what he had done there in the bleak world last night, but Kouichi pushed that thought down. After Devidramon and the digimon of the city the grim warning in the message on his phone was even more stark: "In this world you will be received with hostility..."

Hikari stared downward, her arms crossed tight on her chest. Tailmon still stared, hard, at her, afraid in a wholly different way. She looked so so pale. Kouichi put a hand forward and hesitated, struggling for words. He opened his mouth to say something and in the moment the words that fell out were the first to come to mind:

"A world made of darkness sounds tragic. Darkness is the soil of worlds, but it will never grow into anything by itself."

Hikari turned at him, mouth hung silently half open, eyes sunken in blinking back fearful tears.

Silence fell again. Tailmon looked from Hikari to Kouichi and back again. Hikari rubbed her eyes and was about to say something when her pocket beeped. Pulling out her D-Terminal she opened it with a click, leaning it down so Tailmon could see it as well. In a moment the color was back in her face like nothing had ever happened. Smoothly, Hikari gathered up her digimon and her bag.

"I have to go meet with my friends, they're the ones I told you all about," Hikari gave a polite nod and a worn smile, "It was really nice to meet you Kouichi."

Then she stood up with Tailmon hanging out of her bag and walked away.

I didn't expect it to take this long to come out with the second chapter, but I also didn't expect to suffer a wrist injury so I guess I'm even. Take that me!

But seriously, to those who reviewed, to those who favorited, and to those who watched, thank you. Hopefully it shouldn't take so long to progress from here, and frankly this chapter likely would've been out a month or two ago if not for my own particular fit of pique (and I am sorry about that). I know where I'm going with this, I swear.

I also made a couple of small changes to the first chapter. Nothing astonishing or plot redefining, just making one thing conform to canon and changing the wording a little bit. Reread it if you like, or don't if you don't want to.

See you next time, hopefully.

Next: Sparks Fly