by Leto
Chapter three - The first day: morning
--General POV--
All of the old digidestined - minus Davis, of course - found themselves in a strange place where there seems to be no ground or sky, just a faint glowing pink light all around them.
"Where ARE we?"
Cody, Koushiro and Yolei asked that question at the same time, beating the others to it.
"I'd say that's a good question," said Mimi, stomping on the not-ground. There was *something* solid keeping them up, but she couldn't seem to *see* it.
"Is this digiworld?" asked Tai.
"If it has, it's really been having a bad day," said Takeru.
"What if it really WAS deleted?" said Sora.
"I don't think we're in digiworld," said Kari uncertainly. Everyone looked at her, surprised.
"What are you thinking, Kari?" asked Tai.
"I'd like to hear your opinion," agreed Ken.
Everyone looked to Kari expectantly, recognising her affinity with digiworld and hoping she had some idea what was happening.
"This light almost seems like the light of hope," said Kari, "but we're not in digiworld. It almost feels... almost feels like we're not in either world, but got stuck in between."
"CorrECT!"
The young adults looked up, startled, at the sound of a new and unfamiliar voice entering the conversation.
"Ex-digidestined -" the voice began, and everyone winced at the thought of being an *ex* digidestined, "no more riddles or games. I'll be frank with you; a new Mega Digimon appeared, and the existance of Mega Digimon upset the balance of virus and vaccine."
Koushiro opened his mouth, no doubt to ask about a million questions, but Cody and Takeru both put hands over his mouth, wanting to hear what was going to be said next.
"That imbalance disrupted the flow of time between worlds, and when there is a time difference, the gate between worlds will become damaged as constant traffic between worlds in such a state simply cannot be accommodated."
Everyone was looking up, as it sounded like the voice was coming from above, although it was hard to place. Takeru glanced at Kari and froze in surprise; her mouth was forming the words as they were being spoken.
"We had shaped three new crests and we found three children who could use them, but the evil began to spread, like a virus, infecting normally friendly Digimon. The number of enemies increased, and there were too many for the children to face on their own with only three Digimon."
"So, let us help!" called Tai immediately, and, predictably.
"It isn't that simple; the reason we chose new digidestined rather than recycle you old ones is because your crests were damaged all that time ago, and three of the new digidestined - Cody, Yolei, Davis - never really had crests to begin with. We needed new individuals with new power, who could handle these new crests.
But your world has forgotten Digimon, and people are becoming selfish. We could not find any other candidates in the human world who were qualified to become new digidestined, and so we must return to you old ones in the hopes that some of you may still have what it takes.
Some years have passed since the new digidestined went back into your world to find you, and in that time, we have taken the opportunity to mend *your* crests."
"MEND them?" repeated Matt, "you mean they're not... not gone forever?"
In response, there were eleven flashes in the air, and in front of each man and woman floated a crest engraved in a small disk. Yolei and Cody found themselves presented with symbols of Love-Sincerity intertwined, and Knowledge-Reliability intertwined, respectively.
They took the disks, which, when touched, fastened themselves to the digidestined's chests, just above the heart.
"However, it has been some time since you used the crests. We did not know if you still possessed the strong characteristics required to activate them. To reactivate the crests, you will all travel together in the digital world."
"Does that mean we get to see our Digimon again?" asked Sora eagerly.
"Four of you will."
The digidestined blinked.
"Four?" snapped Yolei, "why only four?!"
"Which four?" asked Ken.
"The four of you who prove yourselves. There can be up to eight active digidestined at one time, and with the three new children, and Davis, who has already proven himself, there are four positions."
"Just great," muttered Yolei, "I bet that means TK, Kari, Matt and Tai, and the rest of us get left out as usual."
"Whichever of you four prove yourselves deserving of your crests the most times in the next week will get to see their Digimon again, and will help to save the digital world."
"And what about the rest of us?" asked Cody.
"You will go back to your world as retired digidestined and with the deactivation of your crests and your powers, the digital gate will not open for you again."
Everyone stared around at each other, shocked at this idea. Not... not see their Digimon again? Koushiro took advantage of Cody and Takeru being distracted, to pry their hands off his mouth.
"How are we supposed to survive for five minutes in digiworld without our Digimon?" he asked, "and who are you, anyway? And how were you able to repair our crests, especially if you weren't sure our qualities still existed within us? Weren't they originally manufactured from those qualities? And why did you choose those particular three children? What did you mean when - waaaaugh!"
Koushiro was cut off in mid-interrogation by the world suddenly crashing down around them - the pink light faded, the strange nothing-landscape disappeared, and suddenly they were all on the ground in a field of digital daisies.
"That voice didn't even answer any of my questions!" said Koushiro indignantly.
"Well, at least that mysterious source of wisdom and instruction was a lot more specific and helpful than any of the OTHER mysterious sources of wisdom and instruction we've encountered," said Mimi, standing up and smoothing her dress.
"Kari, are you alright?" asked Takeru. There was a strange pinkish light in her eyes, like the one that had surrounded them all a little earlier.
"I'm... I do feel a little strange," she confessed, blinking very quickly a few times, "don't worry about me TK, I'm fine."
Tai smiled at her and then looked all around him. The digital world had an oppressive atmosphere that it didn't have the last time he came, he thought...
"I never thought I'd see this again," said Joe, looking at his crest.
"Mm," agreed Matt, looking at his own.
Then there was an awkward silence, as everyone stood there under the grey sky of the digital world, and thought about the implications of what the voice had said...
"This means we're in competition with each other," said Tai bluntly.
"Don't say that," protested Sora, "we're still friends who have to work together.
"Sora's right," said Ken, "but..."
"Whaddya mean 'but'?!" said Mimi, upset, "there's no but! We'll all just have to do our best!"
"What can we do without our Digimon, though?" asked Joe reasonably.
Matt cracked his knuckles. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm in much better shape than I was when I was an 11-year-old. If it comes to it, can't we take down the enemies by attacking them ourselves?"
"Matt, please don't crack your knuckles," said Yolei.
"I don't know, Matt," said Joe, "I can't see myself lunging at a 50-foot-tall monster and trying to wrestle them down with my bare hands. And this is my good suit."
Matt slapped his forehead with one hand. "Joe..."
"Joe's right, though," said Mimi, "there must be a better way. Maybe we could use our digivices or crests, like we did to destroy black gears. I don't want to get hurt."
"I don't think I'm any match for anything beyond an in-training Digimon, to be honest," said Kari.
"I can't believe you guys," said Matt, "where are your priorities? You're so worried about getting hurt you wouldn't even try?!"
"Shut up, Matt," snapped Mimi, "in case you'd forgotten" - she patted her stomach significantly - "and I don't want to put my baby in danger for anything."
Matt went a little red; he *had* forgotten, even though her pregnancy was starting to show. It was just *weird* to think of one of the digidestined being pregnant.
"Well, isn't this an encouraging beginning," sighed Sora, "you guys really exemplify teamwork and friendship."
Matt and Mimi both opened their mouths to say something, thought better of it, and kept quiet.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Cody, "we're in digiworld but I don't recognise this place."
Ken frowned. He didn't either, and he had seen a lot more of digiworld than Cody had. "Neither do I, at that. Koushiro?"
Koushiro, who already had his laptop on his lap, looked up. "What?"
"Were you listening to anything we just said?"
"Was I supposed to?"
Ken sweatdropped. "Do you know where we are?"
"Well, I don't recognise it, but I'm trying to find out where we are right now. It's strange but it seems as though the entire digital world is not only different, but parts of it keep changing."
"Changing HOW?" asked Matt.
"I don't know," said Koushiro, "but you can bet it's not for the better. There must be a pattern... we should get going, for all we know the ground we're standing on might be reconfigured any minute."
"Oh, that's reassuring," said Joe sarcastically.
Ken leaned over Koushiro's shoulder. "Can you find Davis on that thing?"
"Or our Digimon?" asked Yolei, leaning over his other shoulder.
"Or the new digidestined?" asked Joe, leaning over his head.
"I really have no idea where they could be," admitted Koushiro, "and could you all get off me, please?"
"Right, guys," said Tai, clapping his hands, "you heard the computer nerd, time to get going."
"Tai, we're not kids any more," said Matt, "you don't have to act like you're our babysitter or something."
"I wasn't!" protested Tai, "I just meant... ohh, shut up, Matt."
"Personally, I wouldn't mind getting a little shut-eye before we embarked on our new quest to save the world," said Joe.
"What're you talking about?" asked Matt, "it's nowhere near night time, Joe, we just woke up!"
"You did," said Joe, "but I just finished a sixteen hour shift at the hospital and I haven't slept for about a day."
"Sixteen hours," repeated Yolei in disbelief.
"I wouldn't mind some more sleep myself," said Mimi, "I was trying to sleep in when Joe called and woke me up."
"Ditto," said Yolei.
"Well yeah, me too," admitted Matt, "but now that we're up, this is no time to be slugabeds."
"Okay," said Joe agreeably, "no problem."
Matt glanced at him suspiciously. He'd gotten agreement a lot more easily than he'd expected.
"Everyone, if we're going to do something, can we please hurry up and do it?" said Takeru.
Nobody felt like arguing with that, so everyone started walking rather aimlessly toward what looked like the end of the field.
Koushiro stood, still holding his laptop, and tapping away at it as he walked.
"This was a lot easier when Tentomon flew ahead as a desk," he said.
"Ohh, why'd you have to mention our Digimon," said Mimi, "it's just too depressing to think of being in digiworld without them."
"I hope they're alright," said Sora.
"Well, if you really hope that, you have one week to prove it," said Cody, a little sharply. Sora looked at him in surprise.
"I'm sorry, Sora," he said, "it's just that I really don't like this whole idea."
"I don't think any of us do," said Ken.
They kept walking.
***
It is unusual to be able to go for more than half an hour without having an adventure in digiworld, and doubly so when the world is under threat.
Such was the case for the old digidestined. They had not even reached the end of their field when Cody stopped suddenly, muscles tensing.
"Cody, you alright?" asked Takeru.
"I thought I heard something," he said.
Everyone else froze too, trying to listen, to hear whatever Cody heard. Joe yawned and they all glared at him for daring to make a sound. After a few moments of total silence, Tai began, "well, I guess it wasn't anything -" which was the cue for the ground beneath them to shake and a huge, segmented pink arm to burst out.
"Ewww!" shrieked Mimi and Yolei in unison, and everyone moved a few steps back, as a huge, bizarre cross between an earthworm and a mole slid out of the ground and stood squinting at them all.
"So you're the ones stomping around up on the surface and making all that noise?" snapped the creature, "can't a body get a bit of decent sleep around here, you stupid cretins? I, Minermon, will not stand for that!"
"Minomon?" repeated Ken, a little confused.
"Not MinOmon, MinERmon. Listen! MinERRRRRRmon, Minerrrrrrmon, Mineeer-"
"Okay, sorry, I understand," said Ken, quickly, interrupting.
"We're very sorry to have disturbed your sleep, Mr Minermon," said Mimi, putting on her most charming face, "as a matter of fact, we were just leaving."
"We really weren't trying to be loud," added Kari, "please forgive us!"
Yolei looked around at the others; she didn't understand why they were being so nice to such a jerk. She said so. "I don't understand why you're being so nice to such a jerk! Hey buddy, you're even crankier than I am when I get up in the morning! We weren't even being loud, so don't be so over-sensitive. Just get over yourself and let us go on, already!"
Ken sighed and Kari slapped her hand to her forehead. Predictably, Minermon responded with a loud growling sound, and he stood up on his back legs, or what passed as legs.
"That's it!" he said, "NEVER have I encountered such rudeness!"
"You obviously haven't met my brother," said Yolei, standing her ground and folding her arms.
"Well, if he's as obnoxious and weird-looking Digimon as you are, I'm glad!"
"I'm not a Digimon, and I'm NOT weird-looking!"
"If you're not a Digimon, then...?"
"I'm a digidestined!"
Minermon snorted. "A digidestined without Digimon? That's a laugh. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Yolei balled her fists up and got an angry vein symbol on her head. "Don't you DARE laugh about that, it's not funny!"
"No, but it does mean I can finish you off without any difficulty at all," he said, and raised one long, webbed arm in the air.
"Just try it, ugly," she snapped.
Cody tapped her shoulder. "Uh, Yolei, don't you think it's time to back off? Do you really WANT to be attacked?'
Yolei tossed her hair in response. "I'm just speaking what's on my mind! That's sincerity, you know!"
Cody sweatdropped. "Sincerity is acting like a jerk?"
"Toxic Web!" shrieked Minermon, and he sent several long strands of thread flying at Yolei - and Cody, who was, unfortunately, standing too close. In seconds, the two were tightly trussed up, back-to-back.
"Owwww, this stuff hurts!" shouted Yolei, trying to wriggle free, "it digs into my skin!"
"Stop squirming, you're making it cut into me more!" said Cody, on her other side.
"Please, Mr Minermon, stop it now," said Mimi, stepping in between Yolei-Cody and the Digimon, "she didn't mean all that stuff she said -"
"Yes I did!" snapped the unrepentant Yolei.
"Yolei, SHUT UP!... ahem, well, at least, don't you think you've taught her a lesson now? We promise we'll leave right away and not disturb you again if you'll let us all go!"
Minermon frowned, saw Joe yawning, and couldn't help giving a huge yawn himself. "Well... I wouldn't mind getting some more sleep..."
Kari and Ken moved to cover Yolei's mouth and smiled nervously at Minermon as Yolei struggled and tried to bite their hand.
"Yolei, stop it, that hurts!" said Cody again.
"That's right, some more sleep would be really nice," agreed Sora, "I hope you have a really good day's sleep, Mr Minermon!"
"Fine," muttered Minermon, "just get that annoying purple-haired thing off my property as soon as possible." It was all Ken and Kari could do to subdue Yolei at this point. The Digimon put his head to the ground, wriggled a few times, and disappeared into the soil.
"Well, that was good work, Yolei," said Cody.
"Shut UP, Cody, I just couldn't let those guys be so nice to such a jerk, it wouldn't have been sincere, and -"
"Isn't your other crest supposed to be love?" snapped Mimi - Mimi, snapping? - "you could have been kinder."
"We were just trying to get out of it without a battle, we're not equipped for one," said Ken, "is diplomacy a completely foreign concept to you?"
Yolei scowled. "Isn't anyone on my side?"
Tai grinned at her. "Well, I just say it's too bad your crest isn't Courage, but really, you beat me to it!"
"Don't encourage her, Tai," said Kari.
"Come on, let's just go," said Matt.
"Just one *little* problem," said Cody, nodding to the threads holding them.
"Not to worry, I've come prepared," said Joe, opening his briefcase.
"Why does that not surprise me," said Sora.
Joe rifled through it for a while and then produced a pen knife. "Right, just hold still, I'll have you free in a... uhh... this is tough stuff... grr..."
"Ow, ow, cut it out, you're making it worse!" shouted Yolei. A head came out of the ground.
"I thought you said you were going to be quiet!"
"Right, right, sorry, we're leaving right now!"
Takeru and Kari moved to start prodding Cody and Yolei along; they walked back-to-back and stumblingly, but after a couple of minutes, they got out of the field.
Joe sighed. "I don't think I can cut through this stuff."
"Let me try," said Matt, and tried, producing more peculiar squawks from Yolei and gritted teeth from Cody.
"This bites," said Tai, as he tried to snap the stuff with his hands, "if Agumon were here he'd slash through this stuff with one Pepper Breath."
"Well, that's just great, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?!"
Surprisingly, nobody felt too sorry for Yolei - Ken was secretly trying very hard not to laugh - but they knew something had to be done.
"Maybe we should go back and see if Minermon will help us to break the webs off," suggested Joe.
"I don't think that'll work, he'll be even more cranky about being woken a *second* time," said Mimi.
"I wouldn't accept that creep's help if he were the last mon on earth!" said Yolei.
Cody sighed. "Well, with your attitude it looks like we'll be tied up for a long time."
"Tai, what do you think we should do?" asked Kari.
Tai looked from Cody and Yolei to the area around them; they seemed to be near the beginnings of a forest.
"Well, there's sure to be a lot of dangerous Digimon in that forest," said Tai, "so I think they'd better come along with us, it's not safe for us to leave them here."
"Nobody was suggesting we leave them here," said Matt.
"Great, now I'm a liability," muttered Cody.
"You two will just have to do a kind of three-legged partner thing until we can find someone to break the threads."
Yolei sighed and Cody bowed his head. "I was afraid of that."
--Davis' POV--
Something weird happened a few nights ago. This weird light started flashing and a crest dropped in my lap. I've never had a crest before, but it had the symbols of Friendship and Courage on it, so I assumed it was mine.
It reacts, anyway, and that's the main thing. It's been really useful, and ExVeemon learned to go Ultimate without Stingmon. His Ultimate's called ExExVeemon, can you believe it. What a stupid name. I said so and Veemon got mad at me. What's his Mega gonna be called, ExExExVeemon? Sounds like a dirty word or something.
It came at a good time 'cos nothing good has happened around here for months, I was starting to get worried. Veemon's always tryin' to be cheerful but even he was starting to get overwhelmed by the feeling that we're the only good guys left in the world.
I wish the others would come back... but I've lost hope they ever will, t'be honest. Veemon still has faith in them, and I know that there's still some chance, but... it's hopeless to sit around waiting for something that's not gonna happen. I'd rather take action.
I glance at the sky; there's about one fifth of the sun left, it looks like a big black bite got taken out of it.
"C'mon Veemon," I say, standing up. We're in the Eclipse Valley right now, and we've been hiding behind these rocks all day, waiting for the first eclipse to happen. When it's dark, evil things come out. And so will we. Back to waging a one-mon war...
--Yolei's POV--
Sometimes I feel like the youngest one here. I get the weird feeling like everyone's grown up a little more, like everyone else is in on some secret of how to act, how to keep their cool. I don't *want* to keep my cool. It feels healthier to shout and complain.
Weird though, I'm usually more composed than this. Since I heard those horrible words - "only four" - there's been this kind of horrible panic. What if I'm not chosen? I know I won't be! Everyone else has always been a lot better at this whole digidestined thing than I have, they're always two steps ahead and I'm left here feeling like I just want to scream!
And won't it be harder for me anyway, with two qualities on my crest? Does that mean it will react if I show either quality, or only if I show both?
Love... ohh, why did I ever have to get the crest of Love?! I'm gonna die an old maid, I can't even get a guy to ask me to marry me! So what am I supposed to do? Should I ask Sora? But she doesn't have a boyfriend either! Uggggh it's confusing!
I might have taken the sincerity thing a little too far 'cos now I'm in this utterly ludicrous predicament. Well, at least it's Cody, we've been friends for years after all. It would be embarassing if it were Ken, or Koushiro... oh! That gives me an idea.
Hawkmon, we'll help save the world, just hang in there! You can do it, Yolei... I hope, I hope, anyway...
--General POV--
Joe yawned, and was glad they were walking again. It made it easier to stay awake when he was moving. But they weren't moving very *fast*. Yolei and Cody were scuttling like an unco-ordinated crab as best they could, but it didn't make for a very efficient pace.
"Hey, genius," said Tai.
"What?" asked Koushiro, Ken, Cody and Joe in unison, not sure who he was addressing. Tai sweatdropped.
"I meant the genius with the laptop. Any idea where we're going?"
Koushiro didn't really care where they were going; he would rather see for himself than spend ages trying to find out something that probably wouldn't mean anything to him anyway. But he squelched that thought as being undeserving of the crest of Knowledge.
"I'll try to figure it out," he said, and started tapping away again. "It's difficult, though - so much of digiworld has changed."
"You're right, I don't recognise any of these plants," said Mimi. She paused and knelt down, carefully pulling up a small leafy clump and turning it over in her hands. The leaves were ash-grey.
"Either this is a new species or a very unhealthy-looking bryophyte," she said, "well... I'd better keep it for further study when I go back to the real world. Joe, would you carry this for me?"
"Why me?"
"Well, you're always such a helpful guy and you know, I'm in a delicate state, you wouldn't want me to strain myself, would you?"
"Of course not," said Joe, rather drily, an eyebrow twitching as it usually did when he found himself talking to Mimi. He yawned and accepted the plant.
-Five minutes later-
"Oh, this is just ridiculous," said Cody finally, stopping. "We've got to find someway to get this off, or at least rest for a bit."
"I'm all for resting," said Joe - or at least, Joe's voice, from behind the enormous pile of bushes, flowers, cones and ferns he was carrying. "Mimi, we have a whole week ahead of us, don't you think that if you're going to uproot half the digital world's vegetation, it would be better to do it closer to the end?"
"Ohh, I suppose so," she sighed, "I just hope we can find all these species again."
Joe sighed in relief and unceremoniously dumped the lot.
"Right guys," said Tai, "I think it's about time we split up."
"No, we don't want to do that," protested Kari, "splitting up is never a good idea."
"We have to look for something or someone to help us break the web," insisted Tai, "right. Koushiro, Kari and I will go in one group, Ken, Mimi and Takeru can take the other, leaving Joe, Matt and Sora to stay with Cody and Yolei."
"You're just trying to take charge to sound like your old self," said Matt.
"Well, it sounds okay to me," said Ken.
"Not me," said Takeru, "I don't want to be separated from Kari."
"And I'd rather be doing something than sitting around," said Matt.
"And I want a rest," said Mimi.
Tai rolled his eyes. "Fine then, Kari, Takeru and Matt in one group, Koushiro, Ken and I in the other. That way there's someone with a D3 in each group so we can send each other emails. We'll meet back here in an hour, if someone's not back by, oh, 12:30, the others should go look for them. And if anyone finds something to eat, don't hesitate to grab some for the rest of us."
Nobody had a problem with this, and so they parted ways.