Yesterday Has Gone Away-
But Tomorrow is Still Alive
"Stingmon!" Ken hissed while caught within the storm of debris. "Can you see Daisuke!"
"I can't see anything beyond my nose," he heard the voice of his digimon.
"You don't have a nose," he informed, covering his eyes with his arms. "There!" he glanced ahead and to the left, "Daisuke and Ex-V-mon are ahead."
Daisuke heard the dark-haired youth's voice and turned back to see him. "Something's not right, Ken! Something's--"
As if on cue, both of their digimon began to weaken in strength and soon, the worst of fates happened. Their digimon de-digivolved into their feeble forms and was pushed down by the weights of their partners. Both the humans and the digimon yelled into nothingness while they flew towards the ground. Daisuke clutched onto V-mon for dear life, swearing to his breath. He was sure that Ken was doing the same while they hurled through the sky.
Ken stretched his arm out to grab a hold of Daisuke, but his fingers slipped through the air instead of him. He then returned his hold on Wormmon, feeling the heat of the fall increase. After hearing the scream of Daisuke, he closed his eyes tightly, awaiting the impact of the hard ground…
-
"Miyako!" Mimi screamed. The two girls had landed in the sandy plains. Although they were in functional health, Miyako had landed pretty roughly on the sand. Mimi crawled her way to the fallen friend and tapped her shoulder. "Oh! Please wake up, Miyako! Please!"
There wasn't a reply. Her fingers flew directly to the nook on her neck, checking for a pulse. Luckily, there was a normal pulse. The older girl squinted over the hills of grain, looking for anyone else. Palmon*Taichi*Palmon. She came up empty handed and began to worry of the worst. Her hand rested on the forehead of her friend as she sat in the unusual cool desert, letting her doubts fill her mind.
-
Dark eyes forced themselves open and immediately closed again. The boy groaned and clawed at the ground to push himself up, but found great pain when doing that. He fell back onto the ground with another groan and blinked his eyes open once more. Blades of grass poked into his eyes, but his glasses shielded him from it. At last, he sat up and took a look around.
"Where am I?" he asked, mostly to himself because he saw no other. He tilted his head up and saw no blue sky. The flowing ruins covered every inch of what used to be a beautiful sky. Another twist of pain was delivered as he pulled himself up; didn't let the bother him. His eyes searched the area again. Grass wasn't so green anymore, trees looked nearly dead. To the right of him were large mountains, then to the left of him were smaller, but still large, mountains.
"Taichi! Yamato, Sora! Anyone!" he called, hearing a faint echo. "Gomamon! Answer me! Anybody…"
Jyou staggered a little bit before collapsing under his weight again. His fist hit the ground in anger; because he was giving up on himself, because he couldn't make it. He dug his fingers into the ground, feeling pain in his stomach, thinking it was because he knocked the air out of his lungs. He stayed on the ground for a long while before realizing one member of his little duo was missing. Sora… He knew that he had been flung in her direction on impact. Now where was she?
-
Heavy breathing came from the forest; a little boy was curled into the arms of Yamato as the sky slowly disappeared from the dark debris. Yamato stared up, hoping for any sign of his living friends. Nothing reached out to great him. He bowed his head slowly, hoping, wishing, needing reassurance that everyone was okay. He wanted to know that Takeru was safe. He needed to know that he was safe.
"Yamato," Iori's trembling voice broke his thoughts. The blond looked through the darkness and at him. "Are we safe now?" he asked, the tremble breaking into tears.
Yamato hid a grimace by turning away. "We're safe." He said it to convince himself more than Iori. "But we need to get out of this place before we can't even see our hands in front of our faces."
The teenager stood up, taking the youth in his arms. It reminded him of his past so much… Takeru would always be in his arms or by his side. Now he didn't even know where he was. If he was safe… If he was alive…
-
Hikari felt the cold snow blow against her already frozen cheeks. She wanted to give up and cry into her hands, but she knew what her brother would do. Don't give up when the flame dies down. Re-light it. Let it burn with all the power it has. She sat in the frozen water for a long time, her pants beginning to let the snow reach her skin. She had to find Takeru… Her brother… Gatomon…. Gatomon!
"Gatomon!" Hikari yelled, slightly out of relief. Rising to her feet, she then ran in the direction of her frozen little cat friend, then dropping to her knees to lift Gatomon up. "Oh, Gatomon! Are you okay? Oh…" She knew the answer. Her best friend was even colder than she was. And they were only outside for maybe less than ten minutes.
Hikari slid the digimon into her sweatshirt for warmth. Convincing herself to rise again, she started to walk against the snow. Every few seconds, she called for someone. Whether it'd be her brother, Miyako, Sora, or Takeru; it didn't matter, but she called for them in hopes for not being alone. It was only a matter of steps before she descended to the snow.
"Taichi, where are you?" she murmured quietly, the cold finally reaching to her mind.
-
Taichi fell hard to the ground, sand pelting into his eyes. A second agonizing thump sounded somewhere in the distance and Taichi's hand clamped shut. It must have been Koushiro, his hand couldn't feel the other's, so it had to be him. Just as he was ready to get up and find Koushiro, he found himself unable to move. The first thought that came to mind was that he was paralyzed. That quickly faded as a strong pain swept though his entire body. He was just too tired. Too tired to open his eyes or lift his head; too tired to call a name… too tired to even breathe.
An eternity drifted while Taichi laid there, listening for something. Somebody. He found out that he was on the beach; first by feeling the sand, then by listening the waves crash onto it. Taichi then felt the breeze drift down to his level, making him shiver. He finally gathered enough strength to push his face out of the sand. And soon, he was sitting on his knees.
His eyes scanned the area for Koushiro, or anyone for that matter. The sky was darkened and it had become cold. He couldn't remember whether he fell asleep or if he was in too great of pain to nod off. Maybe he had imagined hearing the second thump, maybe an echo. Maybe it was his mind that made that second thump. It could have been all in his head. No… he remembered Koushiro trying to grab a hold of his arm while their hands were linked in the sky. Taichi clenched his eyes shut, remembering the massive pain within Koushiro's scream as something jerked the two away. He had turned his head just in time to see his fingertips lose their touch from Koushiro's hand.
The wind blew harshly against Taichi. It reminded him of the impact he had made on the ground. Hard and cold. Everything to him was cold now.
"Koushi'o!" Taichi tried to yell his friend's name. He found out that his voice was slurred because of a possible injured jaw. "Kou-shi'o! Iz--" He stopped short and glanced at a fallen log--or tree, whichever way you looked at it. If he glanced hard enough, he could see some type of clothing. Another hard glance and he saw red-stained sand…
-
Miyako opened her eyes and shivered. Her body trembled from the pain in her mind and it made her think she was in some kind of danger. The hold around her frightened her even more as she tried to escape the grasp of whoever was holding onto her. Her eyes fixated on Mimi's and her breathing returned to normal, though her body didn't stop trembling.
"Miyako, Miyako," Mimi was cooing gently to soothe the mind of her friend. "It's okay. Everything's going to be okay. No need to be frightened."
The gentleness of her voice made Miyako gain her composure and she clenched her hands into fists, each one grabbing a good amount of sand. "What happened? Where are we? Did I die? Where's Hawkmon!"
"Shh," Mimi closed her eyes. "I don't know what happened. I don't know where we are aside from a desert in the Digital World. You didn't die… And… I don't even know where my digimon is, let alone yours."
"I'm… I'm dreaming aren't I? Because I know that we were going to a picnic… I must have dozed off and dreamt there was a fireball just hurling towards us… Just coming down on us…" Miyako knew it wasn't a dream, but she wanted to convince herself that it was. "And I remember hearing Hikari worrying about the digimon… then… then… Oh! Mimi! Are we lost?"
Yes… "No." She lied to keep herself calm. "We're just fine. All we have to do is find… some people… and…" She lowered her head and a tear from her eyes spilled onto Miyako's cheek.
Winds began to pick up from seemingly nowhere. Sand danced around them, causing them to close their eyes and shield each other from the little bothersome specs of grain. It was a sandstorm. As if things couldn't get worse…
-
Daisuke groaned, hearing his own voice blare inside of his head. He winced and clasped his hands over his ears. That didn't help much. When the rattling of his brain settled, he opened his eyes to find a little fire in front of his little leaf bed. The sky began to get dark. It failed to give warmth. Sitting up, Daisuke turned his head to find any sign of Ken or V-mon. His eyes settled on Ken.
He was sitting at the edge of a cliff, apparently in deep thought since he didn't hear Daisuke rustling about. Daisuke curiously went to his side and sat down beside him. There was a spectacular view of the Digital World. Or the ruins of it. There was fire, spreading wildly through the forests, caused by the collision of their digital fireball. Oceans still carried on as they were, rolling in and out of their bays. He wondered where everyone was…
"Ken?" he whispered, afraid to speak any louder. "Where are we? Where's everyone else?"
"What hurts?" he intercepted the questions with his own.
"Everything," the brunette pulled his knees to his chest to comfort himself.
Ken nodded. He didn't know what the nod meant, but he nodded. "Do you know where our digimon are?" there was a hint of fear in his voice.
"I thought you would." Disappointment.
"I'm sorry," Ken murmured. I failed to protect…
Daisuke blinked, "For what? You didn't plan this."
"But I couldn't hold onto Wormmon… If I did, we wouldn't be stuck up here." Ken held out his hands, dried with blood. "I let him slip out of my grasp…"
"Snap out of it, Ken! You can't help it if accidents happen."
"But I had him… I--I failed him. I failed you. I failed us." Ken looked down with out another word.
"We have to do something… I'll do something… I'll find food… Just keep the fire going." Daisuke dropped his head as well. I failed you, too, Ken.
I'm sorry. Ken looked up at the other, then watched him leave. "Daisuke, no. Don't…"
Daisuke looked back. "Why? Do you want to live or starve to death?"
"Let's stay here," Ken looked back down the cliff. "We can't go and get ourselves lost."
"Fine," he whispered, feeling a strike of doubt in his mind. "We'll just wait…"
-
Jyou's eyes flashed open to the sound of crying. It was the first sound that didn't come from him that he heard for a long hour. He struggled to get up; only got to his knees before getting tired. His blue hair wasn't so blue anymore; it was full of dirt, from falling, from landing. From doing everything but getting up. The sobbing noise filled his ears again.
"Who's there!" he cried out, his voice cracking from pain.
"J-Jyou-Jyou!" Sora's innocence filled the air and brought a sign of relief in his eyes.
"Where are you, Sora?" he kept his voice high, to let her hear.
There was a moment of pause before she answered, "I… I can't feel my legs, Jyou…"
His eyes widened under the thin-framed glasses. This triggered his mind into thinking she was in grave danger and he rose to his feet, stumbling just a little to catch his balance. "Keep talking to me, Sora!" he demanded.
"Wh--what happened, Jyou?" she asked. She kept saying his name as if it brought her less pain. "Who else is with you, Jyou?"
"N-nobody," he fought to keep his balance.
"You're a doctor, Jyou…"
"Not yet, but I will be." He took that determination into his steps.
"Then why can't I feel my legs, Jyou?" her voice faded to a pathetic whimper and Jyou finally found her. She was sprawled in front of a tree; her legs were bent by their knees. She looked as if she were asleep. But the way her body shuddered told him otherwise. Jyou knelt down beside her, taking her hand into his. Sora jerked her head to see him, her eyes filled with tears, large, and red.
"Sora, I'm going to press down on your leg, tell me if you can feel anything, okay?" Jyou kept one hand with hers and set his other on her ankle. He gave a slight squeeze and asked if she felt it, nothing. Moving up a little farther, he asked again, still nothing. Once he reached her thigh, he asked one last time in a hopeful tone. She shook her head as a no, more tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes.
"I'll try the other leg," he muttered, more to himself than to her. He went through the same procedure, each time asking her, each time getting an answer of no. Jyou tenderly touched her knee and she yelped in pain. Rather than holding the pain over her head, Sora began to laugh and try to sit up.
"Jyou! Does that mean it's just br-roken, Jyou?" her voice quivered with joy and pain.
"Most likely. Do you know what happened?"
She shook her head.
"Well, for now, I say that it's just broken… Your left more than your right of course." He gave her a smile that told her she was going to be okay and she set her head on the ground.
"Jyou," she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared…"
So am I. Jyou glanced away. "Everything will be fine." He took her other hand to warm them and tried to ignore her near-silent whimpers. They sat for a long time without saying anything, hearing utter silence. Then small specks of light began to appear in the sky. Some small and dim, others bright and large. He tilted his head to get a better look. As if Sora knew something was wrong, she tried to do the same.
When her eyes caught the first streak of light, she looked at Jyou, "Are those what I think they are, Jyou?"
"No… not again," his eyes squinted in ache and the girl gasped. "We have to…"
Larger, faster, and brighter meteorites coming through the atmosphere and choked back his words. Sora looked up at him in confusion as he tried to lift her into his arms. And as he tried to escape them both from danger, the first meteorite struck the solid ground, probably miles away, sending them back to the ground…
-
Flames chased Yamato and Iori through the forest, trapping them when they thought they were released to freedom. No matter how much Iori cried into his shoulder, Yamato didn't slow for a second. His steps were solid; pounding wildly while one arm was kept around the little boy. He finally began to run out of breath and collapsed onto the dirty ground.
"Yamato!" the youth's voice echoed in his mind. But he couldn't take it anymore. The smoke, the running, the pain… "Yamato! You have to get up!" Iori's green gaze set on the flames; watching them grow and dance a dance of death. His hands gripped onto the other's arm, shaking it to wake him up.
"You have to get up and find T.K.!"
Yamato blinked his eyes open. Takeru. "What?"
"Get up, Yamato, get up!" Iori pulled on his shirtsleeve, his tears beginning to clean his soiled cheeks. At last, the blond pulled himself to his feet, pushing away the pain. He reached his feet and held out his arms to Iori who gladly climbed back into protection.
His first few steps were dizzy; he stumbled because of the amount of smoke. When he got the hang of it, he began to step his way out of the smoke and away from the flames. Soon, they were back up and running their way out of the forest. But just as they began to see the end of the trees, something struck through the trees… It caused more flames, the ground around them to shake, and trees to be blown from their spots.
"Sh…" Yamato's eyes widened. He was sure Iori's did to from the way he gripped his arm. "Iori… we don't have anywhere to go…"
-
Taichi stared at the reddened sand on the beach. "Shit," he would have said another word, but his mouth couldn't function to get the "F" out. Fear formed a lump in his throat, but his courage pushed it down. Taichi stood for only a second before falling into the sand. He groaned but forced himself up again. Shaking away the pain, he slowly made his way across the sand. Every gust of wind stung his eyes, but he still took his steps strongly. When he reached the log, he finally fell to his knees, not because he was in pain, but because of what he saw. Koushiro had landed with him on the beach…
"Koushi'o!" he felt tears leak from his eyes, letting the wind blow them dry. He dusted the sand off of his friend's face and body, beginning to see more blood stained sand. The tears kept coming; kept being dried by the wind. At last, Taichi lifted Koushiro's head, ever so gently. Then he heard something he never expected to hear… he looked down at his friend. His ears hadn't deceived him. He heard the boyish sobs of Koushiro and felt relieved for the first time since he fell.
"Koushiro," he managed to say his name, ignoring his own pain. He fastened his arms around the boy. Taichi was glad that he was alive, even if he was in tremendous pain. He hugged him because they were both survivors; hugged him because it brought him comfort. But most of all, Taichi hugged his friend because it meant he wasn't alone….
"Man, you scared me half to death." Taichi kept Koushiro's head up with one arm while he used the other to clear the remaining sand off the youth. His hand eventually uncovered enough sand to see that Koushiro's right arm and leg was trapped under the log. Muttering words of reassurance to the sobbing redhead, Taichi began to dig beneath his leg to let it free from weight.
"I-I'm sorry, Taichi," Koushiro murmured between gasps of air. Neither of them knew what the apology really meant. At last, his leg was out of danger, but his tears still came like a lost boy in search of his mother. When Taichi set his arm free, he struggled to sit up. Pain was smeared over his quivering face and it only increased when he looked at his arm. Blood covered every inch of his forearm and dripped of his fingertips like poison. A nasty gash stretched from his wrist to his elbow, on the tender side. Koushiro made some sort of a sound that stood for pain and buried his head in Taichi's shirt; he couldn't feel his right arm at all.
Taichi tried his best to soothe his friend; he rocked him gently like a parent would to a child and kept telling him everything was going to be okay.
"Things aren't going to be okay…" Koushiro whimpered after his tears calmed a little, "are they, Taichi?"
"No! No…." He responded, "We'll be okay. We'll find everyone and get back home. Things will be all right." Taichi glanced down at Koushiro's trembling body and held him closer, being careful of his arm. "Heh, where's Jyou when you need 'im?" Where's Hikari… Yamato… Agumon…
-
Hikari opened her eyes, expecting to see death in front of her. But she didn't. Her eyes stared straight up, staring into darkness. Oh my god… It is death… She forced herself to sit up. There was a faint flame in the corner of her right eye; she turned to see a fire. Okay… Maybe it's not death.
"Awake at last?"
She jumped to her feet and searched for the source of the voice. A cave… she was in a cave! Oh what luck! Her hands clenched into fists and she began to cough wildly. Two hands clamped over hers but instead of screaming, she fell back from the shock and landed against another's body. Her eyes shut weakly but she made a little sniffle and felt her knees give up on her. Still, the body behind her braced her.
"Are you okay? What hurts?"
"Takeru?" she still had her eyes shut, but the way his voice came into her mind… It was almost melodious. He laid her back down and looked down at her, his eyes full of worry. "How did I get here?" she questioned, still to dazed to open her eyes.
He set his hand on her forehead. "When we fell, I kind of found this place. But I wouldn't go in until I found you. And to sum it all up, I did." His voice was still quiet.
"Gatomon?"
"She's here, too."
"Patamon?" she felt his grip tense.
"I haven't found him yet."
She finally opened her eyes; afraid she might never be able to look into his after this. "Takeru…"
"Is something wrong?" his eyebrows furrowed.
Hikari's eyes filled with tears when she saw how much he was worrying. "I just don't feel good, Takeru."
"So just rest…" Takeru began to get up but Hikari reached for his hand.
"Please don't leave me, Takeru." The tears finally spilled from her eyes. He sat back down, letting her hold his hand as if it gave her hope. Honestly, it also helped him knowing that he was of importance to someone. He began to wonder what had happened to the others. Yamato. Maybe they were in the mountains, too. He hadn't seen anyone else when he and Hikari were falling….
Takeru shivered and looked down to speak with the girl again, but she had already drifted off to sleep. With another shiver, he laid down beside her and closed his eyes. He fell asleep still holding Hikari's hand. Neither of them were awake long enough to see the deadly meteorites fall to the earth.
-
Taichi and Koushiro were still in the sand, the brunette still holding the redhead closely. There was a long moment of silence where only the sobs were heard. Koushiro's frightened and trembling breath finally let him speak again. "I want to go home, Taichi, I just want to go home…."
Faint streaks of light started to appear in the sky. Koushiro's already wide eyes stared into the sky as he told Taichi it was a meteor shower. Only now, these meteorites were falling towards the ground in tremendous speeds.
"Why?" Koushiro whispered, the tears getting heavier and thicker, the fear increasing every second. He stood with the support of Taichi but felt helpless on his right side. They began to make their way towards the ocean, but Koushiro stopped. "Not water… stay 'way," his mouth couldn't even form the words from trembling so much.
Taichi turned to look at him. "Where else are we going to go!"
The ground shook beneath their feet, signifying that meteorites already begun striking the world. Complete and utter fright was seen in Koushiro's eyes. A fireball could be seen within the pool of fear, heading towards the ocean.
The loud crash echoed inside Taichi's mind. His only instinct was to get Koushiro out of there. Rumbles of the earth beneath their feet made the redhead lose his balance. Taichi made it just in time to grab a hold of Koushiro just before the deadly waves pushed, then pulled them into the boundless ocean…
That's as much action I can do for a story. ^-^; Sorry for the slight absence of the Miyako and Mimi moments. I can't work well with Mimi. -_- Anyway… Does it still sound interesting? I'm going to branch off with the separate groups now… Who to start out with? Hey, Seth Turtle… See any self-flaming? ^-^; Mwaha! I hath improved-ith! … Riiight. Okay…. ^-^;;;
Notes for the story: Italics mean the character's conscience is talking. That's right, the li'l cricket thing that you see in Pinocchio. You probably figured that, though… If not, I'm sorry. I guess that's it for now. But which duo should I branch off to first? Hum…