Chapter 4: Searching for Hikari
V-mon looked up at Daisuke with a shrug. "Okay, we're here," he reported. "What do we do now?"
Daisuke shrugged. "I guess we look for Hikari-chan?" he asked.
Miyako opened her D-terminal and stared at the screen. "I'm still not seeing her anywhere on the map," she reported with a concerned frown.
"That might be a bit of a problem," Hawkmon commented in agreement.
"Koushiro are you getting anything there?" Taichi shouted through the television he had come through a few moments ago.
"Not reading anything different either," Koushiro reported. "I do see Agumon is in your general vicinity, however. Perhaps he can aid you in your search."
Taichi nodded. "Thanks, Koushiro." He turned to the others. "I guess we find Agumon first, and then we get searching."
With a bit more morale than before, the six children and five digimon set out to search for Agumon. They hadn't gone far when the little yellow dinosaur came bounding out of the woods.
"Taichi!" he shouted in greeting.
"Agumon!" Taichi called back, kneeling down to greet his partner. "Long time no see, man!"
After the greeting, Taichi's face turned serious. "Listen Agumon, this is very important. Have you seen Hikari anywhere around?"
"Hikari?" Agumon asked. His face scrunched up as he thought for a moment. "Not for a while," he answered. "Why?"
"She's missing, Agumon," Taichi replied.
"Oh." Agumon's face fell. "Hey!," he suddenly realized. "Maybe Tentomon knows where she is."
"Is he near here?" Miyako asked.
"Yeah, not too far," Agumon replied. He waved a claw to his left. "That way."
"Okay, I guess we get walking then," Taichi decided.
***
Hikari awoke and stretched. The first thing she was aware of, after she had gotten the annoying kinks out of her back, was that she was rather hungry. Then she realized that she wasn't in her bedroom.
The events of the previous day suddenly came back to her in a rush of recollection. She sat up and peered around the hidden cave Wizarmon had made into a home.
She stood up off the floor and dusted herself off. Wizarmon was still asleep in the bed, and Tailmon had fallen asleep by her side. Hikari had been offered the bed, but had opted for the floor after seeing the size was just a bit too small.
All in all, the floor hadn't been too uncomfortable, considering it was stone. Hikari thought about fixing some breakfast for them, but didn't want to go rummaging through Wizarmon's supply chest, and decided she would just wait until the others had awakened.
Out of boredom, she turned to her digivice. It had been blank and useless since she'd arrived there. As she'd expected it to be. Of course she wouldn't detect any of the others. They weren't here in this universe. They were on this universe's earth. Although, would the chosen children on this world be detected on her digivice? Or were they incompatible?
Hikari decided to halt that train of thought for the while. Her head was beginning to ache. She turned to her D-terminal instead, and began to absently read through old emails. Suddenly, the device beeped.
'I've got mail?' she wondered. She noticed the mail was from Miyako. Eagerly, she opened it and read.
Hikari-san,
We thought you were dead! How could you be alive? Is it possible? Give me details, please! All the digiports were destroyed by the Kaiser. If only we had some clue as to his true identity. Then maybe we could have stopped him. I wish there was some way we could help you. Koushiro and I are hard at work on opening a new one, but so far we've had no luck. Please tell me what's going on!
Inoue Miyako
"I guess that answers the question," Hikari thought. "My email didn't go to my Miyako. It went to this world's Miyako."
"What should I do in the meantime though?" she wondered. "Should I email Miyako back and tell her it's all a mix-up? That I'm not her Hikari, and the one she was supposed to get an email from is actually dead?"
She shook her head with a sigh.
***
"Hikari-chan?" Tentomon buzzed. "Ah, that's right. Koushiro told me of your problem. No, I'm afraid I haven't seen her either."
"What could have happened to her?" Taichi demanded of the insectoid digimon. "She couldn't have just - disappeared, could she?"
Tentomon backed up slightly to avoid him. "I don't know, don't blame me. It wasn't me that took her." He waved his "arms" nervously in an attempt to placate Taichi.
"Took her?" questioned the boy. "Do you think someone could have taken her?" He turned to Daisuke. "Who would want her?"
"I - uh," Daisuke stammered for a moment.
"Did you? Do you know anything about this?" Taichi demanded. He turned to Ken. "What about you? You know this stuff. Is it possible?"
"Well - I -," Ken was at a loss for words. He knew Taichi didn't trust him. He wasn't expecting to be incriminated, but asked for advice? That confused him.
"Taichi, calm down," Agumon tried. "It's not Tentomon's fault. It's not Daisuke's or Ken's either! Calm down!"
Taichi at this point had moved on from Ken and Daisuke and Tentomon and was babbling to himself.
"Taichi-san - " Takeru tried. Before he could get in a word, a loud beeping noise sounded from Taichi's vicinity.
"What the?" Taichi wondered. He lifted his digivice from its position on his belt. "I'm reading someone," he realized in shock.
"Are you sure it isn't us?" Agumon asked, relieved his partner was sane again.
"No," Taichi replied. "It's not. I don't know who, though."
***
"Good morning," Wizarmon stated as pleasantly as possible.
"Morning," Hikari replied with a smile.
"I guess I'll get breakfast going. Anyone hungry?"
"I am," Tailmon answered, rubbing her stomach.
The three made their way to the table in the "kitchen" area, and Wizarmon began to rummage through his storage chest for some food.
"Wizarmon," Hikari spoke up, still concerned. "I got an e-mail from Miyako today. It seems she got my email."
"The one you sent when we first got here?" Tailmon asked in surprise.
"Yes. Only it went to the Miyako of this world." She opened her D-terminal and read the e-mail to Wizarmon and Tailmon. "Should I e-mail her back? Should I explain who I am? Or let her know that I'm not her Hikari?"
"Perhaps you should," Wizarmon replied as he continued to search for food.
"Are we going to fight this world's Ken, too?" Tailmon questioned.
"I'm not sure that we should. It's not our world. Should we interfere?"
"The DigiKaiser does need to be stopped," Wizarmon replied. "Perhaps you were brought here for that purpose."
"That's another good question," Tailmon spoke up. "Who brought us here?"
Neither Hikari nor Wizarmon had a reply for that. "I guess that defeating this Kaiser would help to restore the balance to this world," Hikari answered her own question finally.
"There are probably hundreds of enslaved digimon in this world," Tailmon agreed. "We could save them."
"More like millions," Wizarmon replied. He turned back to them with a few plates of food. "It's not much," he commented. "But it tastes good."
"Thank you," Hikari replied. As they ate, she remained silent, thinking about what to do.
***
"The signal is getting stronger!" Taichi half-shouted. They had been walking for close to an hour now, and they hadn't gotten much closer.
"Maybe we should evolve and fly?" Miyako suggested. "We might make more progress."
"It seems to be pretty far away," Iori agreed.
"With Holsmon and Lighdramon we can get there in no time at all," Daisuke reminded him.
Taichi paused for a moment. "Alright," he agreed. He looked around. "I'll go with you, Daisuke. Miyako and Iori can take Halsmon."
"I'll take Pegasmon," Takeru spoke up. He glanced towards Ken. "And you?"
"Stingmon can manage me," Ken replied quietly. In his arms, Wormmon nodded confidently.
"Good," Taichi nodded. "Everybody evolve!"
"V-mon armor evolve ! Lighdramon - rumbling with friendship!"
"Hawkmon armor evolve! - Holsmon - flapping wings of love!"
"Patamon armor evolve!Pegasmon - the hope that gallops across the heavens!"
"Wormmon evolve! Stingmon!"
***
"Thanks for the food, Wizarmon. It was delicious," Hikari commented.
"I didn't know you were such a good cook," Tailmon agreed.
Wizarmon shrugged. "It's something I picked up out of necessity. I couldn't find anyone to do my cooking."
"So, are we going to fight the DigiKaiser?" Tailmon questioned Hikari without much preamble.
Hikari replied: "I think so. We really don't have much of a choice. We don't know how long we'll be here, and defeating the Kaiser might be our best way of getting home."
Wizarmon nodded. "Good," he replied, pleased.
"So where do we start?" Tailmon wondered. "Do we have any allies?"
"There are few digimon that remain free from the Kaiser's control," Wizarmon answered sadly. "I know of only a few."
"Good. Take us to them," Hikari decided. "We need to have as many allies as possible. Then we can start working to free the others."
***
Author's Notes: Wow, this is moving along nicely. ^_^ What is appearing on Taichi's digivice? Who are the digimon who will be allies to Hikari, Tailmon, and Wizarmon? Will the alternate Koushiro and Miyako discover a way to re-open a portal to the Digiworld? Will they find Wormmon? Will the questions stop?
The answer to the last one is yes. Don't worry. More will be explained soon. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the story.
Thanks to Lord Archive, because his stories, Izumi Asks and NeoDigimon- Digital War, provided the information about the Japanese names and attacks. I haven't yet used any of the attacks, but don't worry, fighting will occur eventually. I also got some information from megchan.com. ^_^
V-mon looked up at Daisuke with a shrug. "Okay, we're here," he reported. "What do we do now?"
Daisuke shrugged. "I guess we look for Hikari-chan?" he asked.
Miyako opened her D-terminal and stared at the screen. "I'm still not seeing her anywhere on the map," she reported with a concerned frown.
"That might be a bit of a problem," Hawkmon commented in agreement.
"Koushiro are you getting anything there?" Taichi shouted through the television he had come through a few moments ago.
"Not reading anything different either," Koushiro reported. "I do see Agumon is in your general vicinity, however. Perhaps he can aid you in your search."
Taichi nodded. "Thanks, Koushiro." He turned to the others. "I guess we find Agumon first, and then we get searching."
With a bit more morale than before, the six children and five digimon set out to search for Agumon. They hadn't gone far when the little yellow dinosaur came bounding out of the woods.
"Taichi!" he shouted in greeting.
"Agumon!" Taichi called back, kneeling down to greet his partner. "Long time no see, man!"
After the greeting, Taichi's face turned serious. "Listen Agumon, this is very important. Have you seen Hikari anywhere around?"
"Hikari?" Agumon asked. His face scrunched up as he thought for a moment. "Not for a while," he answered. "Why?"
"She's missing, Agumon," Taichi replied.
"Oh." Agumon's face fell. "Hey!," he suddenly realized. "Maybe Tentomon knows where she is."
"Is he near here?" Miyako asked.
"Yeah, not too far," Agumon replied. He waved a claw to his left. "That way."
"Okay, I guess we get walking then," Taichi decided.
***
Hikari awoke and stretched. The first thing she was aware of, after she had gotten the annoying kinks out of her back, was that she was rather hungry. Then she realized that she wasn't in her bedroom.
The events of the previous day suddenly came back to her in a rush of recollection. She sat up and peered around the hidden cave Wizarmon had made into a home.
She stood up off the floor and dusted herself off. Wizarmon was still asleep in the bed, and Tailmon had fallen asleep by her side. Hikari had been offered the bed, but had opted for the floor after seeing the size was just a bit too small.
All in all, the floor hadn't been too uncomfortable, considering it was stone. Hikari thought about fixing some breakfast for them, but didn't want to go rummaging through Wizarmon's supply chest, and decided she would just wait until the others had awakened.
Out of boredom, she turned to her digivice. It had been blank and useless since she'd arrived there. As she'd expected it to be. Of course she wouldn't detect any of the others. They weren't here in this universe. They were on this universe's earth. Although, would the chosen children on this world be detected on her digivice? Or were they incompatible?
Hikari decided to halt that train of thought for the while. Her head was beginning to ache. She turned to her D-terminal instead, and began to absently read through old emails. Suddenly, the device beeped.
'I've got mail?' she wondered. She noticed the mail was from Miyako. Eagerly, she opened it and read.
Hikari-san,
We thought you were dead! How could you be alive? Is it possible? Give me details, please! All the digiports were destroyed by the Kaiser. If only we had some clue as to his true identity. Then maybe we could have stopped him. I wish there was some way we could help you. Koushiro and I are hard at work on opening a new one, but so far we've had no luck. Please tell me what's going on!
Inoue Miyako
"I guess that answers the question," Hikari thought. "My email didn't go to my Miyako. It went to this world's Miyako."
"What should I do in the meantime though?" she wondered. "Should I email Miyako back and tell her it's all a mix-up? That I'm not her Hikari, and the one she was supposed to get an email from is actually dead?"
She shook her head with a sigh.
***
"Hikari-chan?" Tentomon buzzed. "Ah, that's right. Koushiro told me of your problem. No, I'm afraid I haven't seen her either."
"What could have happened to her?" Taichi demanded of the insectoid digimon. "She couldn't have just - disappeared, could she?"
Tentomon backed up slightly to avoid him. "I don't know, don't blame me. It wasn't me that took her." He waved his "arms" nervously in an attempt to placate Taichi.
"Took her?" questioned the boy. "Do you think someone could have taken her?" He turned to Daisuke. "Who would want her?"
"I - uh," Daisuke stammered for a moment.
"Did you? Do you know anything about this?" Taichi demanded. He turned to Ken. "What about you? You know this stuff. Is it possible?"
"Well - I -," Ken was at a loss for words. He knew Taichi didn't trust him. He wasn't expecting to be incriminated, but asked for advice? That confused him.
"Taichi, calm down," Agumon tried. "It's not Tentomon's fault. It's not Daisuke's or Ken's either! Calm down!"
Taichi at this point had moved on from Ken and Daisuke and Tentomon and was babbling to himself.
"Taichi-san - " Takeru tried. Before he could get in a word, a loud beeping noise sounded from Taichi's vicinity.
"What the?" Taichi wondered. He lifted his digivice from its position on his belt. "I'm reading someone," he realized in shock.
"Are you sure it isn't us?" Agumon asked, relieved his partner was sane again.
"No," Taichi replied. "It's not. I don't know who, though."
***
"Good morning," Wizarmon stated as pleasantly as possible.
"Morning," Hikari replied with a smile.
"I guess I'll get breakfast going. Anyone hungry?"
"I am," Tailmon answered, rubbing her stomach.
The three made their way to the table in the "kitchen" area, and Wizarmon began to rummage through his storage chest for some food.
"Wizarmon," Hikari spoke up, still concerned. "I got an e-mail from Miyako today. It seems she got my email."
"The one you sent when we first got here?" Tailmon asked in surprise.
"Yes. Only it went to the Miyako of this world." She opened her D-terminal and read the e-mail to Wizarmon and Tailmon. "Should I e-mail her back? Should I explain who I am? Or let her know that I'm not her Hikari?"
"Perhaps you should," Wizarmon replied as he continued to search for food.
"Are we going to fight this world's Ken, too?" Tailmon questioned.
"I'm not sure that we should. It's not our world. Should we interfere?"
"The DigiKaiser does need to be stopped," Wizarmon replied. "Perhaps you were brought here for that purpose."
"That's another good question," Tailmon spoke up. "Who brought us here?"
Neither Hikari nor Wizarmon had a reply for that. "I guess that defeating this Kaiser would help to restore the balance to this world," Hikari answered her own question finally.
"There are probably hundreds of enslaved digimon in this world," Tailmon agreed. "We could save them."
"More like millions," Wizarmon replied. He turned back to them with a few plates of food. "It's not much," he commented. "But it tastes good."
"Thank you," Hikari replied. As they ate, she remained silent, thinking about what to do.
***
"The signal is getting stronger!" Taichi half-shouted. They had been walking for close to an hour now, and they hadn't gotten much closer.
"Maybe we should evolve and fly?" Miyako suggested. "We might make more progress."
"It seems to be pretty far away," Iori agreed.
"With Holsmon and Lighdramon we can get there in no time at all," Daisuke reminded him.
Taichi paused for a moment. "Alright," he agreed. He looked around. "I'll go with you, Daisuke. Miyako and Iori can take Halsmon."
"I'll take Pegasmon," Takeru spoke up. He glanced towards Ken. "And you?"
"Stingmon can manage me," Ken replied quietly. In his arms, Wormmon nodded confidently.
"Good," Taichi nodded. "Everybody evolve!"
"V-mon armor evolve ! Lighdramon - rumbling with friendship!"
"Hawkmon armor evolve! - Holsmon - flapping wings of love!"
"Patamon armor evolve!Pegasmon - the hope that gallops across the heavens!"
"Wormmon evolve! Stingmon!"
***
"Thanks for the food, Wizarmon. It was delicious," Hikari commented.
"I didn't know you were such a good cook," Tailmon agreed.
Wizarmon shrugged. "It's something I picked up out of necessity. I couldn't find anyone to do my cooking."
"So, are we going to fight the DigiKaiser?" Tailmon questioned Hikari without much preamble.
Hikari replied: "I think so. We really don't have much of a choice. We don't know how long we'll be here, and defeating the Kaiser might be our best way of getting home."
Wizarmon nodded. "Good," he replied, pleased.
"So where do we start?" Tailmon wondered. "Do we have any allies?"
"There are few digimon that remain free from the Kaiser's control," Wizarmon answered sadly. "I know of only a few."
"Good. Take us to them," Hikari decided. "We need to have as many allies as possible. Then we can start working to free the others."
***
Author's Notes: Wow, this is moving along nicely. ^_^ What is appearing on Taichi's digivice? Who are the digimon who will be allies to Hikari, Tailmon, and Wizarmon? Will the alternate Koushiro and Miyako discover a way to re-open a portal to the Digiworld? Will they find Wormmon? Will the questions stop?
The answer to the last one is yes. Don't worry. More will be explained soon. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the story.
Thanks to Lord Archive, because his stories, Izumi Asks and NeoDigimon- Digital War, provided the information about the Japanese names and attacks. I haven't yet used any of the attacks, but don't worry, fighting will occur eventually. I also got some information from megchan.com. ^_^