Chapter 1: Lost and Separated
Yagami Hikari opened her dazed eyes and looked around, uncertain of where she was. This place was... well it was weird.
It was a bit like the Digital World. The trees looked quite a bit like the trees in the digiworld; tall, palm-like structures. The air even felt the same, though she wasn't quite sure how that was possible. But something else was different.
Tailmon was by her side, as she usually was. Hikari looked down at her, questions evident in her eyes.
"Are we in the digiworld?" the human girl asked.
"I don't know," Tailmon admitted. "It seems the same, but not quite."
"I know what you mean," Hikari agreed. She frowned. "How did we even get here?"
"Last thing I remember, we were preparing to go to the Digital world," the feline recalled. "Maybe we made it through and no one else did."
Hikari looked around. "I don't see the TV," she noticed. She reached for her pocket and took out her D-terminal. "Maybe I can e-mail someone and ask."
"Maybe," Tailmon agreed. She looked around the area that they were in and shuddered slightly.
***
"Digiport open!" Miyako called enthusiastically, aiming her digivice at the computer. There was a familiar flash of white light that faded after a few moments.
There was a pause, as she, Daisuke, Takeru, Iori, and Taichi looked around.
"What happened?" Taichi asked, confused.
"We're still here," Iori observed. "How come?"
"I- I don't know," Miyako stammered. She looked around, shocked to discover everyone was still there. Poromon was still sitting beside the computer, looking confused.
Daisuke was looking around. "Hey - where'd Hikari go?" he asked.
Taichi glanced around the room. "I don't know," he admitted. "Hikari?"
"And Tailmon," Chibimon added.
"Maybe she's in the hall," Takeru suggested, heading out of the room, Patamon riding on his hat.
The small group had agreed to meet in Taichi's apartment. His father was still at work, and his mother was visiting his grandmother for the day, so there was no risk of them being missed while they took the trip to the Digital World. They'd planned to meet Ken there, since he found it easier to go from his home computer rather than trekking first to the Yagami house.
"Do you know what's wrong, Miyako?" Iori asked, concerned. Upamon was still bouncing at his feet, eager to get started. Miyako was busily examining the Digital World screen on the monitor.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. She pulled up the map of the Digital World that Koushiro had developed while they were still fighting the DigiKaiser. "I'm not reading Hikari any where on the map."
"That doesn't sound good," Iori agreed.
"Then where is she?" Taichi asked, slightly worried.
"Maybe - maybe she disintegrated," Daisuke theorized, beginning to panic slightly.
"I really doubt that -" Iori began to point out logically.
"Maybe she got sucked into a parallel dimension and she'll never get out!" Daisuke continued, ignoring the younger boy.
"Daisuke, I..." interrupted Iori.
"What if she's lost, and cold and afraid?" Daisuke wondered.
"Daisuke, Hikari can take care of herself," Taichi reminded him sensibly.
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from worrying," Daisuke returned.
Taichi and Iori just sighed slightly. They knew that Daisuke was only worried for his friend, but as usual, he was forgetting the situation as his concern overcame his ability to reason.
"No sign of her," Takeru reported as he returned from his search of the apartment.
"She must be in the Digital World then," Taichi decided.
"But then why didn't the rest of us get through?" Takeru wondered.
"Miyako?" Iori asked. "Any ideas?"
"Not a clue," Miyako replied. She was still staring at the computer, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Maybe Koushiro will have a clue," she suggested, turning to the group and shrugging slightly.
"Good idea," Taichi replied, heading for the phone.
"Maybe we should just try going to the Digital World again," Daisuke suggested.
"I don't know if that's safe, Daisuke," Miyako replied. "There could be a virus in the computer. Or in the digiport. Until we know for sure, we can't risk trying to go through again."
"But what about Hikari?" Takeru asked. "We don't know where she is."
"I guess we'll just have to trust she can take care of herself," Iori spoke up. "There isn't really much else we can do."
No one said much of anything else for the next few minutes. Then Daisuke thought of something. "Oh! I'd better email Ken. He was supposed to meet us there." He took out his D-terminal and began to type.
"Could we get some food while we're waiting? Could we? Could we, Iori?" Upamon asked, bouncing up and down even more.
"You just ate," Iori reminded him.
"Yeah, but I could eat more," Upamon replied.
"I could use a snack, too," Takeru agreed. Patamon, still perched on his hat, nodded his agreement.
"But we had some food before we opened the digiport," Iori protested.
"That doesn't mean anything," Takeru replied. "I'm a growing boy. I need some food."
"Still growing?" Miyako asked. "You're gonna be as tall as Tokyo Tower by the time you stop."
Daisuke looked up from his email for the moment. He couldn't resist a chuckle. "Be hard to get in doors if you're that tall, Takeru," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'll do great in basketball," the tall blond replied cheerfully, undaunted by his friends' good-natured jeers.
Taichi re-entered the bedroom. "Koushiro says that we shouldn't try to open the digiport from this computer. There could be a virus or something."
"Right," Miyako agreed.
"Ken says we can all come over and try it on his computer," Daisuke reported. "His mom is out shopping, and she'll probably be gone for a long time."
"Yeah, but it'll take a long time to get to Ken's ," Taichi reminded them. "He lives pretty far. And it's already getting late."
"Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow," Iori suggested. "It is Saturday. We'll be able to get going early."
"Yeah, I guess we'll have to," Taichi agreed. He frowned slightly. "I really wish I could find Hikari tonight, though."
The others agreed, sympathetically. "If it helps, you can tell your parents she's staying with me tonight," Miyako offered. "That way at least they won't worry."
"Thanks Miyako," Taichi replied. "That helps a lot."
"Well, I guess I'd better get home then," Iori excused himself. "My mom will get worried if I'm late for dinner."
"Dinner?" Upamon asked, excited.
"We can all meet at Koushiro's in the morning," Taichi reported. "Afterwards, he'll come by and check out the computer for himself."
"Good idea," Takeru agreed. "See you tomorrow."
"We'll find Hikari then," Patamon added optimistically.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Taichi," Miyako stated. "Bright and early."
"Bright and early," Poromon echoed. "We'd better get to sleep early then."
"I really wish we didn't have to wait until tomorrow to look for Hikari," Daisuke commented unsurprisingly. "I hope she's okay."
"So do I," Taichi agreed.
"Hey, if we get up early, does that mean we can have a big breakfast?" Chibimon asked, bouncing eagerly on Daisuke's head.
"Maybe, maybe," Daisuke replied. "Depends on if Mom's cooking."
Taichi shook his head slightly as he saw the group out the door. Strange bunch he hung out with, he thought to himself. And that was minus the digimon. Not that he could be considered normal himself.
He sat down on the bottom bunk of his bed and stared out the window. "Hikari. I hope you're okay," he whispered, hoping that, in some way, his sister could hear him.
***
"Well, it's sent," Hikari reported, closing her D-terminal. "Now we just have to see if anyone gets back to us."
"Right," Tailmon agreed. "But that could take a while. In the meantime, it's getting pretty late." She pointed a paw in the direction of the sky. "Looks like the sun's going down."
Hikari nodded her agreement. "Let's start walking," she suggested. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to find a place to spend the night."
***
"Wow Mom, thanks for the dinner!" Daisuke said as cheerfully as he could manage. He found it hard to be cheerful while Hikari was still missing, but he knew he had to keep up the act.
"You sure ate enough," Jun remarked. "You'd better watch out or you're going to gain weight."
Daisuke shrugged, oblivious to his sister's taunts. "Yeah, well, I can't look any worse than you do," he shot back. This served to annoy the elder Motomiya sibling to the point of chasing Daisuke, who beat a hasty retreat to his room, where he locked the door and shut it tight.
"Whew," he commented to Chibimon as he leaned on the closed door to catch his breath. "Good thing I'm in soccer. Teaches you how to run."
"Did you bring me anything?" the little blue digimon asked. Daisuke opened his pockets and emptied a few rice balls and some meat on to the bed for his companion to devour.
"Is there any word from Hikari?" Daisuke wondered, going to his D-terminal. Sadly, there were no new email messages. "I hope she's okay."
"What if they run into a bad digimon?" Chibimon wondered. "I hope Tailmon will be okay." He momentarily paused shoveling the food into his mouth to frown thoughtfully.
"They should be," Daisuke assured his partner with false cheerfulness. "Let's just get some sleep early so we can get up in the morning and look for her."
"Good plan. I'm so stuffed I'm ready to head to dreamland," Chibimon agreed, moving over and making room for Daisuke to sleep.
***
"The others must be really worried," Hikari said thoughtfully as she and Tailmon trekked along. "I wonder why I made it through the port and they didn't."
"I'm still not sure we're in Digiworld," Tailmon confessed. "It feels different."
"Yeah," Hikari mused. "Hey, I know what's weird. We haven't come across anyone else."
"That's right!" her partner agreed. "Usually by this time we've run into someone. Tentomon, Gabumon, Agumon, or a big evil guy. But no one. Not even a lowly little Yukimibotamon."
"And there aren't any TVs, either," Hikari continued. "I wonder where everyone is."
"Maybe there isn't anyone," Tailmon considered. "Maybe we're not in Digiworld. Maybe we're somewhere else."
"But where?" Hikari questioned.
Before the feline digimon could continue her theories, a voice called from the darkness.
"Hello?" it called. It sounded far away and strangely familiar.
Tailmon recognized it immediately. "Could that be?" she asked.
Hikari was a little more cautious. "Hello?" she asked. "Who's there?"
Two eyes peered at them from the darkness. "Tailmon? Is that you? It couldn't be!"
Author's notes:
This is my absolute first Digimon fic, although I've read countless others. Feel free to flame, review, or insult as you wish. And if you have any theories as to what will or has happened to Hikari, feel free to guess! This idea was one I don't think I've seen before, so I figured I'd try. I hope you all enjoy it. More will come soon.
Yagami Hikari opened her dazed eyes and looked around, uncertain of where she was. This place was... well it was weird.
It was a bit like the Digital World. The trees looked quite a bit like the trees in the digiworld; tall, palm-like structures. The air even felt the same, though she wasn't quite sure how that was possible. But something else was different.
Tailmon was by her side, as she usually was. Hikari looked down at her, questions evident in her eyes.
"Are we in the digiworld?" the human girl asked.
"I don't know," Tailmon admitted. "It seems the same, but not quite."
"I know what you mean," Hikari agreed. She frowned. "How did we even get here?"
"Last thing I remember, we were preparing to go to the Digital world," the feline recalled. "Maybe we made it through and no one else did."
Hikari looked around. "I don't see the TV," she noticed. She reached for her pocket and took out her D-terminal. "Maybe I can e-mail someone and ask."
"Maybe," Tailmon agreed. She looked around the area that they were in and shuddered slightly.
***
"Digiport open!" Miyako called enthusiastically, aiming her digivice at the computer. There was a familiar flash of white light that faded after a few moments.
There was a pause, as she, Daisuke, Takeru, Iori, and Taichi looked around.
"What happened?" Taichi asked, confused.
"We're still here," Iori observed. "How come?"
"I- I don't know," Miyako stammered. She looked around, shocked to discover everyone was still there. Poromon was still sitting beside the computer, looking confused.
Daisuke was looking around. "Hey - where'd Hikari go?" he asked.
Taichi glanced around the room. "I don't know," he admitted. "Hikari?"
"And Tailmon," Chibimon added.
"Maybe she's in the hall," Takeru suggested, heading out of the room, Patamon riding on his hat.
The small group had agreed to meet in Taichi's apartment. His father was still at work, and his mother was visiting his grandmother for the day, so there was no risk of them being missed while they took the trip to the Digital World. They'd planned to meet Ken there, since he found it easier to go from his home computer rather than trekking first to the Yagami house.
"Do you know what's wrong, Miyako?" Iori asked, concerned. Upamon was still bouncing at his feet, eager to get started. Miyako was busily examining the Digital World screen on the monitor.
"I'm not sure," she admitted. She pulled up the map of the Digital World that Koushiro had developed while they were still fighting the DigiKaiser. "I'm not reading Hikari any where on the map."
"That doesn't sound good," Iori agreed.
"Then where is she?" Taichi asked, slightly worried.
"Maybe - maybe she disintegrated," Daisuke theorized, beginning to panic slightly.
"I really doubt that -" Iori began to point out logically.
"Maybe she got sucked into a parallel dimension and she'll never get out!" Daisuke continued, ignoring the younger boy.
"Daisuke, I..." interrupted Iori.
"What if she's lost, and cold and afraid?" Daisuke wondered.
"Daisuke, Hikari can take care of herself," Taichi reminded him sensibly.
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from worrying," Daisuke returned.
Taichi and Iori just sighed slightly. They knew that Daisuke was only worried for his friend, but as usual, he was forgetting the situation as his concern overcame his ability to reason.
"No sign of her," Takeru reported as he returned from his search of the apartment.
"She must be in the Digital World then," Taichi decided.
"But then why didn't the rest of us get through?" Takeru wondered.
"Miyako?" Iori asked. "Any ideas?"
"Not a clue," Miyako replied. She was still staring at the computer, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Maybe Koushiro will have a clue," she suggested, turning to the group and shrugging slightly.
"Good idea," Taichi replied, heading for the phone.
"Maybe we should just try going to the Digital World again," Daisuke suggested.
"I don't know if that's safe, Daisuke," Miyako replied. "There could be a virus in the computer. Or in the digiport. Until we know for sure, we can't risk trying to go through again."
"But what about Hikari?" Takeru asked. "We don't know where she is."
"I guess we'll just have to trust she can take care of herself," Iori spoke up. "There isn't really much else we can do."
No one said much of anything else for the next few minutes. Then Daisuke thought of something. "Oh! I'd better email Ken. He was supposed to meet us there." He took out his D-terminal and began to type.
"Could we get some food while we're waiting? Could we? Could we, Iori?" Upamon asked, bouncing up and down even more.
"You just ate," Iori reminded him.
"Yeah, but I could eat more," Upamon replied.
"I could use a snack, too," Takeru agreed. Patamon, still perched on his hat, nodded his agreement.
"But we had some food before we opened the digiport," Iori protested.
"That doesn't mean anything," Takeru replied. "I'm a growing boy. I need some food."
"Still growing?" Miyako asked. "You're gonna be as tall as Tokyo Tower by the time you stop."
Daisuke looked up from his email for the moment. He couldn't resist a chuckle. "Be hard to get in doors if you're that tall, Takeru," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'll do great in basketball," the tall blond replied cheerfully, undaunted by his friends' good-natured jeers.
Taichi re-entered the bedroom. "Koushiro says that we shouldn't try to open the digiport from this computer. There could be a virus or something."
"Right," Miyako agreed.
"Ken says we can all come over and try it on his computer," Daisuke reported. "His mom is out shopping, and she'll probably be gone for a long time."
"Yeah, but it'll take a long time to get to Ken's ," Taichi reminded them. "He lives pretty far. And it's already getting late."
"Maybe we should just wait until tomorrow," Iori suggested. "It is Saturday. We'll be able to get going early."
"Yeah, I guess we'll have to," Taichi agreed. He frowned slightly. "I really wish I could find Hikari tonight, though."
The others agreed, sympathetically. "If it helps, you can tell your parents she's staying with me tonight," Miyako offered. "That way at least they won't worry."
"Thanks Miyako," Taichi replied. "That helps a lot."
"Well, I guess I'd better get home then," Iori excused himself. "My mom will get worried if I'm late for dinner."
"Dinner?" Upamon asked, excited.
"We can all meet at Koushiro's in the morning," Taichi reported. "Afterwards, he'll come by and check out the computer for himself."
"Good idea," Takeru agreed. "See you tomorrow."
"We'll find Hikari then," Patamon added optimistically.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Taichi," Miyako stated. "Bright and early."
"Bright and early," Poromon echoed. "We'd better get to sleep early then."
"I really wish we didn't have to wait until tomorrow to look for Hikari," Daisuke commented unsurprisingly. "I hope she's okay."
"So do I," Taichi agreed.
"Hey, if we get up early, does that mean we can have a big breakfast?" Chibimon asked, bouncing eagerly on Daisuke's head.
"Maybe, maybe," Daisuke replied. "Depends on if Mom's cooking."
Taichi shook his head slightly as he saw the group out the door. Strange bunch he hung out with, he thought to himself. And that was minus the digimon. Not that he could be considered normal himself.
He sat down on the bottom bunk of his bed and stared out the window. "Hikari. I hope you're okay," he whispered, hoping that, in some way, his sister could hear him.
***
"Well, it's sent," Hikari reported, closing her D-terminal. "Now we just have to see if anyone gets back to us."
"Right," Tailmon agreed. "But that could take a while. In the meantime, it's getting pretty late." She pointed a paw in the direction of the sky. "Looks like the sun's going down."
Hikari nodded her agreement. "Let's start walking," she suggested. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to find a place to spend the night."
***
"Wow Mom, thanks for the dinner!" Daisuke said as cheerfully as he could manage. He found it hard to be cheerful while Hikari was still missing, but he knew he had to keep up the act.
"You sure ate enough," Jun remarked. "You'd better watch out or you're going to gain weight."
Daisuke shrugged, oblivious to his sister's taunts. "Yeah, well, I can't look any worse than you do," he shot back. This served to annoy the elder Motomiya sibling to the point of chasing Daisuke, who beat a hasty retreat to his room, where he locked the door and shut it tight.
"Whew," he commented to Chibimon as he leaned on the closed door to catch his breath. "Good thing I'm in soccer. Teaches you how to run."
"Did you bring me anything?" the little blue digimon asked. Daisuke opened his pockets and emptied a few rice balls and some meat on to the bed for his companion to devour.
"Is there any word from Hikari?" Daisuke wondered, going to his D-terminal. Sadly, there were no new email messages. "I hope she's okay."
"What if they run into a bad digimon?" Chibimon wondered. "I hope Tailmon will be okay." He momentarily paused shoveling the food into his mouth to frown thoughtfully.
"They should be," Daisuke assured his partner with false cheerfulness. "Let's just get some sleep early so we can get up in the morning and look for her."
"Good plan. I'm so stuffed I'm ready to head to dreamland," Chibimon agreed, moving over and making room for Daisuke to sleep.
***
"The others must be really worried," Hikari said thoughtfully as she and Tailmon trekked along. "I wonder why I made it through the port and they didn't."
"I'm still not sure we're in Digiworld," Tailmon confessed. "It feels different."
"Yeah," Hikari mused. "Hey, I know what's weird. We haven't come across anyone else."
"That's right!" her partner agreed. "Usually by this time we've run into someone. Tentomon, Gabumon, Agumon, or a big evil guy. But no one. Not even a lowly little Yukimibotamon."
"And there aren't any TVs, either," Hikari continued. "I wonder where everyone is."
"Maybe there isn't anyone," Tailmon considered. "Maybe we're not in Digiworld. Maybe we're somewhere else."
"But where?" Hikari questioned.
Before the feline digimon could continue her theories, a voice called from the darkness.
"Hello?" it called. It sounded far away and strangely familiar.
Tailmon recognized it immediately. "Could that be?" she asked.
Hikari was a little more cautious. "Hello?" she asked. "Who's there?"
Two eyes peered at them from the darkness. "Tailmon? Is that you? It couldn't be!"
Author's notes:
This is my absolute first Digimon fic, although I've read countless others. Feel free to flame, review, or insult as you wish. And if you have any theories as to what will or has happened to Hikari, feel free to guess! This idea was one I don't think I've seen before, so I figured I'd try. I hope you all enjoy it. More will come soon.