Personally, I'm pretty unenthusiastic about reading new-digidestined fics, so I wouldn't blame you if you don't want it. I mean, it's up to you, I don't care.
Prove yourself!
by Leto
The second day: dawn
--Biyomon's POV--
I remember the first day things were different. It started off peacefully enough, I still don't know quite what happened!
I can kind of swim by floating on the surface of the water, but Gomamon was trying to teach me how to dive. We went to one of the rivers running through the Document Gorge. I wasn't having a lot of luck. He said I looked very funny floundering like a Kokatorimon, as he put it, and I said I'd like to see how he'd look flying.
But we were having fun. I was hoping that Sora would get the chance to come and visit in the afternoon. I just loved the days when Sora could come! Gomamon was hoping for it too, because sometimes Sora brought news from Joe. I felt kind of sorry for Gomamon because everyone else's partners came to visit them often. He acted all cheerful about it, as usual, but I think he was kind of sad.
In those days, all of us Rookie Digimon - oh, and Gatomon, of course - were living in about the same area. That way our partners could find us easily when they came to visit! It had been nice and peaceful for a long time. Davis, Ken and Koushiro even came to live here. I kind of wished Sora would too, but I think she likes her world better. Occasionally we'd hear about a mean Digimon picking on weaker Digimon and one of us might go to check it out with our partner, but there were no real threats, y'know?
Those were the very, very best years.
We eight - or seven, I guess, I don't know such a lot about Gatomon, she won't talk much about her life before she met Kari - spent the first years of our lives just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting! And then we got a few fantastic months with our best friends, and then we were waiting again, wondering, hoping that they might come back.
Then the gate opened again and we were all so happy, but our partners didn't come as often as we would have liked, except Patamon and Gatomon... ohh, I felt so happy for them but I was kind of jealous at the same time too, you know?
But after the new digidestined finished their adventures, the gates stayed open and things became really really good. We could just have fun being friends with each other, knowing our partners were safe and that we would see them again soon. Sora came to visit at least a couple of times a week, especially after she finished high school. All of us except Gomamon got to see our partners at least every fortnight. Some more than others, I guess. Tai and Cody were pretty busy and didn't come too often, but then Yolei and Matt came every day.
So like I said, Gomamon and I were clowning around and having fun, when suddenly this big storm came out of nowhere! And I mean a really BIG storm, like the whole sky was dark, in the middle of the day, and there were big flashes of lightning!
Now, we weren't *really* scared, there have been bad storms before. I just took shelter under some rocks for a while - well, a LONG while! It was cold and the rain was really belting down for hours and hours! Gomamon's crazy, he *likes* storms and he was out splashing in the puddles and having fun. But the storm got stronger and stronger and he had to come shelter with me because I think he would have been blown right away!
Finally it blew over - as quickly as it had started - and we came out all shivering and wet. Well, I was shivering and wet - Gomamon's never cold. The sun came out again and the clouds just disappeared, but the sky was a kind of weird grey colour.
Gomamon said we should go make sure our friends were okay, so we did.
We found Gatomon and Patamon in the forest. Gatomon was shaking the water out of her fur and complaining about how much she hates being wet. Palmon was in the same forest, her legs fixed into the soil, and saying how she just loved a good shower.
Armadillomon had been sleeping underground but had to wake up when everything around him started turning into mud. He was a little grouchy from being woken up and then rained on for hours, so we didn't talk to him very long.
We found Agumon under his favourite rock. He hates the cold. Tentomon had been in Koushiro's house, under the lake, so he was okay too, except that he complained about the ceiling dripping. I just don't understand how the whole house wasn't washed away!
The only one who was hurt at all was Hawkmon - we found him lying on the ground next to Tentomon's old treehouse, the tree he'd been perched in was struck by lightning! Fortunately he was okay, just a little shellshocked, I think.
Something in the atmosphere seemed somehow different after that storm. I don't know what it was exactly but it's still here, and it's something evil.
Finally we went to Davis and Ken's house. The whole place had been blown down! I mean, it wasn't a *really* strong house to begin with but it should have easily withstood a normal storm. Gabumon had run to Davis and Ken's house as soon as the storm started, because he has this *thing* about his fur smelling bad when it gets wet. I guess that didn't work out too well, because when we got there Veemon was telling Gabumon to stay away so he couldn't smell him, and Davis was standing staring at the remnants of his house, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Wow, Davis, that looks pretty bad," said Gomamon. Davis didn't turn around, just sighed.
"Yeah, thanks Gomamon, I can see that. Man, this is gonna take weeks to fix. I think we'd better just build a whole new house!"
"When Ken comes back I'll digivolve into Stingmon," said Wormmon, "if we digivolve we can get a lot more work done!"
"We'll all help out!" I said, "it'll be fun!"
"Yeah, real fun, working in the mud," said Davis, "Ken's not gonna be happy. All the chairs he bought in the human world are totally crushed!"
"Maybe we can build a stronger house this time," said Veemon, "let's build a castle! With turrets and flags and a drawbridge and moat!"
Davis sweatdropped. "Veemon, we're not millionares. And what on earth would we do with a moat?!"
"Swim in it!" said Gomamon excitedly, "that's a great idea!"
"You don't need a moat to do that," said Gabumon, "you can almost swim on the ground right now."
He was right; the rain had fallen so heavily that we Digimon were standing knee-deep in it.
But we all stuck around and helped to fish things out of the swamp of Davis' ex-house, and the afternoon started to pass, and Wormmon started to get worried.
"Ken said he'd be back a couple of hours ago! He only had lectures in the morning! What if something's happened to him?"
"Chill, Wormmon," said Davis, "he's probably just met up with a friend or something. He'll be back soon."
"Don't worry, Wormmon," agreed Veemon, "the human world is a lot safer than this one, what could possibly happen?"
Wormmon did not look convinced, and as the hours passed, Davis started to get a little worried too.
"Where IS that guy? He'd better show up soon so we can figure out what we're going to do tonight. I don't wanna be standing around here in the mud waiting for him all night."
Then Tentomon came flying up. "Oh, hello," he said, "what happened here?"
"Use your imagination," snapped Davis. I don't really blame him for snapping; it was cold and he had been waiting for a while.
"Now now, no need to yell," said Tentomon, "I was wondering if any of you had seen Izzy? He was supposed to be back by now."
"Come to think of it, Matt usually comes to visit me by this time," said Gabumon.
This did nothing to reassure Wormmon! But I don't think any of the rest of us were *really* worried at that stage.
"Alright, Veemon, ready to go?"
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Back to the human world. There's no way I'm sleeping here all night. I'll make sure to tell your partners that you're waiting for them, okay?"
"Please find Ken," said Wormmon, "I have a really bad feeling, Davis, what if something awful has happened to all of them?"
"Never happen," said Davis. Because there wasn't really anything else to do, we all walked (waded, really) with him to the nearest TV monitor.
It wasn't there.
We stared at the empty spot where it had stood.
"It's gone," said Veemon.
"How can it be gooone?" moaned Wormmon, "it's never been gone!"
I put a wing on his shoulder, reassuringly. "Don't worry Wormmon, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation!" But I was beginning to feel a little worried by then.
"Maybe... the Mechanamon stole it for their latest experiments?" suggested Gomamon. "Maybe it got struck by lightning in the storm and dissolved into ashes and they're all buried in the water? Maybe it got reconfigured and now it's somewhere else? Maybe one of our friends hid it for a joke?"
"Maybe the digital gate closed," said Gabumon.
We all looked at him, aghast.
"Don't even say that, Gabumon!" snapped Gomamon.
"Yeah, it's not funny to make jokes like that," said Davis.
Of course, we all knew that Gabumon wasn't joking, but we didn't want to think that he was serious or that he might be right, I guess.
But after we walked all the way to where the next closest monitor was, *that* wasn't there either. We all looked at each other. I can't speak for the others but I was starting to feel really sick. If this was a joke, it was really, REALLY not funny. And the look on Davis' face, I'd never seen him look quite like that before.
"Try your D3, Davish," said Veemon.
"Oh... oh, right," said Davis, as if Veemon had startled him. He pulled out his D3 and stared at it.
"Hey, one of the buttons is missing."
"Which one?"
Davis spoke slowly, reluctantly I think. "The one I pressed to open the digital gate..."
None of us said anything as Davis stood there pressing buttons on his D3 and then shook his head.
"It wouldn't let me connect to Ken's D3. It's like he doesn't even exist."
Davis should have known better than to say something like that in front of Wormmon. Wormmon just freaked out. I knew just how he felt, though. What did this mean? Was Sora... why didn't she come? Was she trying? Of course she was... Sora wouldn't just leave me here or forget about me.
The next week was pretty horrible. Days passed and still no sign of our friends. We worried a lot and even Gomamon couldn't cheer us up. In a way, I guess it was easier on Gomamon than on the rest of us. He didn't get to see Joe very often as it was. But then... I knew he used to live in daily hope that maybe, *maybe* Joe would manage to come soon... and now that hope was looking less likely of coming true.
Over the next few days, Davis spent a lot of time messing around with computers, or his D3, and he even went on a short journey with Raidramon to check places where there had been other monitors. At least, it was supposed to be a short journey. I don't know if he ever found a gate back to the human's world, but I do know I haven't seen him since.
All of us digidestined Digimon - except Veemon, of course - decided we'd better stick together. Some new Digimon started to appear, which was okay because there was a Primary Village on our continent, but it seemed like all these new Digimon were virus-types, and a lot of them were Champion or Ultimate-levels.
Without our partners, the only way we could beat these Digimon was by working together. We'd become pretty experienced fighters and we even took down a couple of really mean Ultimates, although we couldn't have done *that* without Gatomon.
But we were being outnumbered and we started to worry. Every day there was a new battle. There's a human world saying that "whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger", but in the meantime those things can wear you down, and that's just what happened.
Hawkmon and Tentomon were sort of co-ordinating things at that time, because they were the fastest flyers and also pretty smart. Patamon and I had just come back from fighting some really nasty Gazimon. We'd been the ones chosen because we could stay in the air and avoid their attacks, and we both have long-range attacks. See, we had a pretty smart system.
"Last time things got bad like this, our humans came back," said Patamon.
"Do you mean when the Digimon Emporer started taking over the digital world?" I asked.
"Yeah. We kept running and hiding and trying to fight but it wasn't easy without our friends. Ohh, do you think they might come back?"
"I'm sure they're trying right now. Don't worry Patamon, they'll figure something out!"
Patamon brightened. I wished I could convince myself so easily!
"Hey, weren't Tentomon and Hawkmon supposed to be waiting for us back at this tree?"
I frowned a little. "I thought so too. Well, I'm sure they must be gone for a reason, they should be back soon."
"Okay."
Patamon settled onto one of the tree branches, stretching his wings over his back. He had a couple of bruises forming from the last battle, and an injured leg from a previous one. I felt a little sad. Digimon don't age except by digivolving; Patamon was still a little kid. He shouldn't have to live like this. But then, at least... Patamon still had hope, and that was the most important thing he could have.
There was still sign of Hawkmon and Tentomon. After a while, Gomamon, Gatomon and Palmon came back from another fight.
"Hahahaaa," called Gomamon, "here come the returning digi-world champions! BlackUnimon will never make fun of seafood again!"
I flew down to meet them. Gatomon was calmly licking one of her paws, holding the glove in the other paw. Palmon just looked tired. Gomamon was cheerful but suddenly I thought it was an act, and -
"Gomamon, you're bleeding!"
"Nah, just a scratch! Remember, I'm the great Gomamon! I'm invincible!"
"And loud-mouthed," smirked Gatomon, "if you didn't keep taunting the enemy to get them so mad, I bet we'd finish the battle in half the time."
"And it's really hard to hold down a Champion-level Digimon with Poison Ivy while he's mad!"
"Ahh, you guys don't know how to have any fun!... hey, where are Hawkmon and Tentomon? Weren't we all supposed to meet here so we could plan how to attack the new Warumonzaemon?"
"I just don't know where they are, Patamon and I have been waiting for a little while..."
Hawkmon and Tentomon were the first ones to go. I really don't know what could have happened to them. None of us ever talked about the possibility that they might have been reconfigured. It was just too awful to think about!
For the rest of us, without Hawkmon and Tentomon, it was too dangerous to stay on the island any more! It wasn't okay to stay in one place, and we thought maybe we could find the others if we went off on a new journey. So we all stuck together and travelled for a little while.
Then one night, we were all sleeping in a field with Gatomon keeping watch. She suddenly screeched and we all woke up; there was a dark THING sweeping over the field, and as it passed over the grass it turned it into a kind of rocky canyon. It was coming closer to us, and too fast for us to escape; it swept right over us and reconfigured the ground under us, and when it was gone, so was everybody else!
I found myself on a beach that I didn't even recognise, and I was all alone. I missed Sora so much! But since I'm okay, I'm hoping everyone else is too!
That was a long time ago. Since then I've travelled all over this whole country, I think! It's hard to tell because things keep changing, it's just important not to be standing on the ground when it gets reconfigured. There was one good day though.
I was flying over the trees of a forest, looking all around as usual.
"Sora!" I called, "Davis! Palmon! Gomamon! Soraaaa!"
There was a flurry of movement down below. I just froze in the air and hoped it wasn't another enemy! I'd had too many near-misses for comfort!
"Soraaaaa!" I called again.
"Biyomon!"
It wasn't Sora's voice - but it was a familiar voice, and a familiar voice after so many months alone was just wonderful! I flew down through the trees like a stone!
"Gabumon!"
"Biyomon, it's really you! Have you seen Matt?"
"No, have you seen Sora?"
"No, have you seen Agumon?"
"No, have you seen Gomamon?"
It went on like that for a while but we were just happy to have found a familiar face!
Right now we're trying to decide how to cross the ocean; we have to keep looking. It's been so long but we just can't give up hope!
Don't worry Sora, I'll find you soon! Today's a brand new day!
--Davis' POV--
What... happened? Where am I?
"Davish! DAVISH!"
That's DemiVeemon's voice...
"DAVIIIISH!"
It's cold. Feels like morning. Dim light... my head...
C'mon Davis, I scold myself. Something's happened, y'can't just lie here like a weakling. Get up get up get up get up.
My body's aching, my head's pounding, but I think I can open my eyes. Sure enough, there's DemiVeemon, although he looks kind of wobbly.
"Davish, you're alright!"
"Sure I am," I mumble, my voice tasting strange. I make myself sit up. It hurts.
"What happened? DemiVeemon?"
DemiVeemon frowns. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry, pal. Don't worry 'bout me, you know I'm invincible!"
Sure don't *feel* invincible, but being a hero's not about how you feel.
"That Digimon really wiped the floor with you, Davish!" says DemiVeemon, "I was all busy taking on a couple of Serpamon but that Phantomon jusht came from nowhere and knocked you out before I could even reach you!"
"So what happened?"
"He was about to drag you off but then..."
"But then...?"
Spit it out, DemiVeemon!
"Sheadramon came and ice blashted him right out of the shky!"
"Seadramon? Y'mean Michael's old partner?"
"That'sh right. There was a big battle and it was kinda hard 'cos the mon kept going after you and you couldn't keep out of the way!"
Oh, man... the last thing I want to do is hold anyone back from winning. I nod at DemiVeemon to tell him to go on.
"A flock of DemiDevimon came up then and thingsh were looking really bad but then the eclipse ended and the sun came out again, and they went back into hiding. So I had to lug you out of the way here and you are reaaally eating too much Davish!"
"So where'd Seadramon go? It's been a while since we've seen him around."
DemiVeemon frowns again. "Well... it wasn't an EASY battle, Davish..."
"Yeah, you already said that," I say, "so what... wait a second... are you saying...?"
DemiVeemon nods. I can't believe it! Well, it shouldn't come as a big surprise by now. Plenty of our friends got deleted trying to help us... but... Seadramon was digidestined, wasn't he? And he was... I dunno... and trying to save me!
"It'sh alright, Davish," says DemiVeemon, "I'm sure a Primary Village will reopen real soon."
"No, it's not alright," I snap. I'm feeling very angry. "It's not alright at all! And you always say that! What if it never reopens? And even if it does, all the virus Digimon we've defeated will just show up again!"
"Don't give up," says DemiVeemon, "we hafta keep fighting!"
"I know," I sigh. I look down at my crest. I must have it for a reason... but... it's so hard, and I don't know if we'll ever win, if we'll ever see our dead or lost friends again.
"We'll win because we have to," I say. And stand up. Time for another day, another round of battles, again and again and again, just like every other day. We'll fight because we have to, because this world needs someone to save it.
But really, I still just want to go home.
--Kari's POV--
"Kari, help me!"
"Where are you, Gatomon? I'm coming, but I can't find you!"
"I'm right here! I'm right here in the digital world, Kari!"
"I can't see you!"
"Look harder!"
"It's too dark!"
"So light it up! Come on, Kari! What are you afraid of?"
"I... I'm not afraid!"
"Don't lie to yourself. Sometimes I think I know you better than you know yourself!"
"What... do you mean?"
"Kari, don't you realise, the digital world is afraid?"
"Afraid... yes..."
"Fear is the ultimate darkness. Only the light, hope, can beat that."
"Gatomon, I'm sorry, I don't understand..."
"You're feeling the fear of the digital world. Kari, our world - and it is OUR world, both of our's - is in pain. You've always... always... been tied to the digital world."
"But I'm not bound, Gatomon. You make it sound like a bad thing."
"It's your love that binds you, Kari. You'll never escape being a part of the digital world, because you care about all the Digimon so much."
"Gatomon, why can't I see you?"
"Kari, you have to remember your power! Before we even met, before you even went to the digital world, your power was inside you, and you USED it!"
"G-Gatomon! Don't leave! Please! I'm scared to be alone!"
"You're not alone, Kari... please remember your power..."
...
It's morning. So early that it's barely light, and it's cold. It was... just a dream. It was a dream. But my heart is beating quickly. Nobody else is awake - kind of amazing considering how loudly Matt and Takeru snore. I'd better go back to sleep. But it's cold, and I'm afraid. I lean in closer to Takeru and put my head on his chest. He makes a snorting noise in his sleep and unconsciously moves his hand to my back. Gatomon was right when she said I wasn't alone.
But... what did she mean by my real power, that I used?
There is one thing she is right about though. I am tied to the digital world. Sometimes, when I stop long enough to think about it, I can almost... feel its heartbeat inside my head. I never even told Takeru. It made me think I was going insane, but now, suddenly, I realise what it is, what I've always known it was.
And the digital world is in pain. I have to remember my power, whatever that is. If I can save this world that I love, I have to do it.