hikari9

Chapter 9: Found

Taichi paced back and forth in front of his computer for a good fifteen minutes. Back and forth, back and forth he went past the computer, not ceasing in his frantic moments.

"Taichi-san, you should really try to relax," Iori tried to help.

Koushiro shook his head slightly in the direction of the younger boy. "Don't bother, Iori-kun," he told him. "Taichi is way to nervous right now to relax."

"I don't blame him," Takeru agreed from where he sat in a chair nearby. He was calm to the outward observer, but inside he wanted to jump up and down and scream, he was so impatient.

Miyako stood next to Koushiro, who sat at the computer. "I don't think my brother or sisters would be this crazy if I was missing," she commented.

Daisuke nodded. "Jun and I get along okay, but I don't think she'd be so hysterical either," he agreed.

Takeru shrugged. "Well, when you know your younger sibling is in constant danger, you tend to worry more." He frowned slightly. "Since Hikari and I both went to the Digital World when we were rather young, Taichi and my brother had to take care of us a bit. Sometimes, I guess, it's hard to realize we've grown up."

Taichi paused in his pacing and stared at Takeru for a long moment. "Yeah," he murmured. "I guess that's part of it." He resumed his pacing. "But at the same time, Hikari is in a world that I know nothing about. I can't help but worry about her. I'm sure if your siblings knew that you were in another world, risking your life, they'd be a lot more worried." He continued pacing back and forth, his nervousness making him restless.

"That's true," Daisuke admitted. "Jun doesn't know I go and fight monsters." He glanced upwards at Chibimon with a grin, who sat on his head. "Not that she'd have to worry if she knew you were with me," he added, and Chibimon grinned in response.

Before anyone else could continue the conversation, the computer in front of Koushiro chirped. Immediately, Koushiro turned to open the awaiting email.

***

The boy paced back and forth in front of his throne. Only a month earlier, he would have been contented to sit on that chair and simply be pleased with his progress. But much had changed in a month.

The most important change, however, was the one that had occurred only a few hours earlier. He had spotted that girl, the one he'd thought he'd gotten rid of. She had challenged him. And she had mentioned a name that had continued to crawl at the edges of his subconscious, demanding attention.

"What have you done with Wormmon?"

The Digimon Kaiser knew with absolute certainty that he had never heard the name 'Wormmon' before, yet he couldn't put it out of his mind.

There was only one thing to do, therefore, and that was to immediately search out who this Wormmon creature was and decide why exactly that annoying girl had been so worried about him.

But should he? Perhaps this Wormmon, despite the annoyingly useless sound of his name, was actually a powerful digimon that would destroy him the moment he located him. Some part of him was quite afraid of that.

But another part of him doubted that. And that same part thought that this Wormmon would be a help.

And so, in the end, it was the boredom of ruling so many easy to control slaves that made him opt for the excitement of searching for Wormmon.

With a wave of his cape, the Digimon Kaiser turned and stormed down to the darkest dungeons of his base, hoping that one of his slaves would know something about this Wormmon.

***

Taichi read the garbled reply email from Hikari over Koushiro's shoulder. "Why is this so hard to understand?" he wondered.

"Going through dimensions probably altered the data," Miyako suggested. She peered closely at the screen. "At least you can understand most of it."

Taichi nodded. "Well, we've got to go through and try to help her out," he decided after he was done. "She can't do this on her own."

The others agreed. "Daisuke should go," Koushiro stated. "If it wasn't for V-mon evolving to Magnamon, Kimeramon wouldn't have been beaten."

"But there's no proof that Kimeramon exists in that world," Takeru reminded them. "If he doesn't, there's no need for Magnamon."

"How many do you think we can send through safely?" Miyako asked.

Koushiro shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think all of us should go." He glanced towards Hikari's email. "According to this, the digital gates between the digital world and the real world were sealed. There is still no real way for us to bring her or anyone else back if those can't be opened."

"Is there any hope that your counterpart in that world will be able to open them?" Miyako asked. Koushiro merely shrugged.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't know the whole situation."

"Hopefully, if Hikari-chan can manage to defeat -," Daisuke glanced nervously at Ken, who had remained silent. "If Hikari-chan can succeed," he tried again. "The same thing will happen there that happened in this world."

"Meaning that the Digi-Kaiser will return home," Iori spoke up, deciding not to tiptoe around the situation any longer.

Daisuke stole a glance back at Ken, but the former Kaiser didn't appear to be affected by Iori's words. Then again, he reminded himself, Ken was good at hiding things.

"Let's decide who should go through," Taichi spoke up, getting them back on track. "I should stay here," he offered. "Even though I want to go, I think it'll be best if I stay here and reassure my parents."

The others nodded. "I still think Daisuke should go," Koushiro stated. "If you don't need Magnamon to fight Kimeramon, you may need him for some other purpose."

Daisuke nodded. "Besides, V-mon and I are a fighting force even without Magnamon!" he reminded them with a triumphant grin.

"So Daisuke goes," Taichi stated. "Who else?"

The others glanced around at each other. "I think Ken should go," Miyako spoke quietly but assuredly.

Everyone stared at her, even Ken himself. "Why?" the boy in question managed to whisper, eyes wide.

"If Koushiro-sempai in that world can't get the digital gates to open again, Ken might be able to help," she explained. "Besides," she added with a grin. "It might freak out his counterpart to see himself."

"And Wormmon," Iori remembered. "Hikari-san said that there wasn't a Wormmon in that world. If that Ken's Wormmon isn't there, maybe this Wormmon will help." He looked up at the still shocked Ken, and, more importantly, Minomon in his arms.

Ken looked down at Minomon and then back to Miyako with surprise.

"You really think I should go?" he asked, barely meeting her eyes.

Miyako nodded.

"It is a logical idea," Koushiro agreed.

"Good. Anyone else?" Taichi asked, the matter settled.

"I'll go," Iori volunteered. He glanced at Daisuke and Ken. "I want to help, too. Submarimon is the only water-type we have. He might come in handy."

"Good. It's settled then. Koushiro, Takeru, Miyako, and I will stay here." Taichi glanced around the room. "Good luck," he told the other three.

"Thanks," Daisuke replied, shaking hands with his mentor. "We'll take good care of Hikari-chan."

"We'll indeed do our best, Taichi-san," Iori added politely, bowing slightly.

"We'll save Hikari-chan, won't we Iori?" Upamon asked.

"We'll try," Iori promised. Upamon grinned, bouncing up and down in Iori's arms.

***

"They're on their way," Hikari told the room full of Digimon. "Unfortunately, I don't know where they're going to land. Most likely not here."

"We can track when they come in," Tailmon added. "But we need to be above ground."

"Then we'll head above ground," Wizarmon decided. "I'll go with you to offer some protection." He glanced around. "I think that everyone else should stay here and rest. There's a long fight ahead, I fear."

"Most likely," Andromon agreed. "We'll remain here."

A short while later, Hikari and Tailmon found themselves above ground again. Nearby, they could see a several Alraumon passing through the forest.

"I hope they land in the forest," Tailmon whispered. "It'll be easier for them to hide then."

"It would be nice. But things usually don't go quite so simply," Wizarmon replied. "They'll probably land quite a distance from here."

"Anything yet, Hikari-chan?" Tailmon questioned.

Hikari shook her head, glancing at her digivice again. Suddenly, it came to life, three different colored dots appearing on it.

"They're here," she announced as quietly as possible. "They're far, but just in range of the digivice. I'd better send them a message." She took out her D-terminal and began to furiously type an email. Within seconds, it was sent.

A short time later, the device beeped, and she received an answering message.

Hikari-chan,

We're in the middle of a desert. Reading you on the digivice, but
just barely. Want us to stay here or move towards you?

Daisuke

Hikari frowned. "It would save time if they were to start moving, but there's a big risk they'll be seen," she debated.

"If they stay, we'll be seen going for them," Tailmon replied. "Either way we risk a fight."

"Good point. I say they go," Wizarmon declared, and Tailmon agreed.

"Okay. Move it is," Hikari decided. She quickly returned to her D-terminal and began typing.

***

"Hikari-chan says we should start moving towards her. Either way we're going to get a fight, so we might as well get it over with," Daisuke read.

"Should we get walking then?" Iori asked.

Daisuke nodded. "Lighdramon can't carry all of us, Digmon and Submarimon aren't much help with speed, and Wormmon can't evolve," he reminded them. "It's best if we walk until we have to fight."

And so it was agreed. The three allies began trekking across the desert, following Hikari's signal on their digivices.

It wasn't long before they spotted a group of Monochromon. Most of them were carrying heavy rocks, boulders, or pieces of wood, and they were being herded into lines by various other digimon.

"Well, we didn't get very far, did we," Daisuke commented somewhat sarcastically. "Do we avoid or fight?"

"Avoiding is best," Iori stated. "We'd be outnumbered in a fight. Badly."

Daisuke nodded. "There's no way to avoid them, though," he grumbled. "Hikari-chan's signal is coming from the other side of that big group."

"What are they doing, anyway?" Armadimon wondered, watching the group of digimon parade past them in the distance. The group was safely hidden behind a large sand dune, watching their opponents.

"Looks like they're carrying stuff," V-mon noted.

"Yeah, but where to?" the other questioned. "And why?"

V-mon shrugged. "Maybe they're building something?"

"What would they build all the way out here?"

"I don't know. A new summer home?"

"It's entirely possible," Iori commented. "Maybe he's thinking about getting comfortable and he's building a new base."

Daisuke shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. If this world's Kaiser wanted to build a summer home, he'd be out here supervising the entire thing so it all came out perfect. But he's not anywhere near." He glanced towards Ken, but the dark haired boy didn't appear to be paying any attention to the conversation. Instead he was staring off into the distance.

"Ken?" Wormmon questioned, following his gaze.

"I see something," the boy mumbled softly, still gazing at the sky.

"I don't see anything," Daisuke commented. "You must have really good eyes."

"Is it Hikari-chan?" V-mon asked.

Wormmon shook his head. "I really doubt it," he replied.

"No," Iori agreed. "It's something much worse."

"What?" Daisuke asked. "What is it?" He peered past the others, squinting in the bright digital sun.

"It's the enemy," Ken replied. Indeed, in the distance, Daisuke could now make out the distinctive and unmistakable silhouette of a single cape-wearing individual atop an Airdramon.

A collective shudder ran down the spines of the three allies hunched in the desert.