A Different Reality Part 3
by Cybra
A/N: Part 3 already…hmm…;P (you know who you are…) Disclaimer: I know I don't have to write these anymore, but I love doing it! I could be slipping plans for world domination under the government's nose! BWAHAHAHAHA!!! I don't own Digimon. Never have, never will.
Hi!
I'm Hikari Kamiya!
You can call me "Kari"!
You know the drill. I'm a member of the Digidestined. Yadda, yadda, yadda…
Sorry. I'm just the teeniest bit impatient today.
What I'm going to tell you is how I actually met up with our mysterious friend.
Yup! I've met him! Face-to-face!
I don't know his name, but I know what he looks like!
Anyway, it all started when we were in the middle of a battle with Skullgreymon.
That's right. You heard me correctly.
Tai, my big brother, almost completely froze up. I knew about his first encounter with Skullgreymon so I didn't say anything about my brave big brother freaking out over it.
"Kari, stay back!" Tai ordered me.
"But Gatomon needs help!" I argued, still heading towards the walking skeleton.
"Kari, get back here!" he practically roared.
I didn't listen to him, knowing that I was going to get in major trouble later, but Gatomon needed my help! Skullgreymon had hit her with one of his attacks. She was down; there was no telling who wouldn't see her and squish her. I had to get my friend out of there!
I ran up to Gatomon. Her blue eyes were half-closed as she looked up at me. There were scrapes and cuts all over. She was bleeding in several places.
"Kari…get out of here…" she weakly told me.
"Not without you!"
Tai has told me that I'm incredibly stubborn…which I gleefully admit to. It makes him mad, but he doesn't usually say much about it.
I picked up my smaller friend when a large, bony claw grabbed me. I yelled in fear. Gatomon, helpless, only watched as Skullgreymon brought us closer to his mouth. I didn't think a walking skeleton could have bad breath…but the stench of this one's breath nearly knocked me out. I heard Tai yell my name, but I was too dazed to answer.
Something rammed into Skullgreymon's claw. He roared in pain and dropped me and Gatomon. I didn't even scream as I fell. Something purple flew underneath me and something else grabbed me. I heard someone shout orders to somebody else.
"Fly low over a section of forest! I'll take care of these two! You help these guys take out Skullgreymon!"
"Right!"
I vaguely recognized the second voice as the voice of Kabuterimon. The other voice was completely new. It didn't really matter. I was still a little dizzy and confused when we swooped low into a patch of forest. Whoever was holding onto me leaped out into space and landed on the ground, rolling in the dirt. Kabuterimon took off and went to help with the fight.
Whoever my rescuer was tried to take Gatomon out of my arms. I held onto her tighter, not wanting her to get hurt.
"Easy…I'm not going to hurt your friend…" a slightly cold -yet gentle- voice soothed.
For some odd reason, I trusted this voice and allowed him to take Gatomon. Finally, my head stopped swirling as Gatomon let out a small cry of pain. I whirled to see a boy tending to Gatomon's wounds. He wore an orange shirt, khaki shorts, green socks, lightning shoes, yellow gloves, and a backpack sat beside him with a computer and an attached satchel. His wild red hair stood out against the other bright colors. He was kinda pale and his dark eyes were completely focused on Gatomon.
That's when it hit me.
I was the only one to see what he really looked like.
That's when I spotted something on his backpack strap and something else around his neck:
A Crest and a Digivice.
He was a Digidestined just like us!
At the moment, his satchel was open as he pulled out something. It was some sort of jar filled with a sticky juice. Using a piece of cloth, he dipped it in the juice and wrapped it around over one of Gatomon's wounds. She hissed through her teeth, trying to control the pain.
"I need you to hold her so she doesn't struggle," he told me, his voice kind of cold in a way.
I knelt down and held Gatomon in my lap. Her eyes were closed as she winced at the pain. Even though the boy didn't smile or say anything, I felt that he was thanking me by the look in his eyes. Then, he turned his attention back to my little Digimon friend.
"Kabuterimon should be able to help your friends handle Skullgreymon," he stated.
I was silent for a moment before I said, "Thank you."
He jerked his head up, raising an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?" he asked. His voice held no emotion at all.
"Thank you…for saving Gatomon and me. Not to mention everyone else at one time or another."
He worked in silence for a few moments before he said, "You don't thank someone who is supposed to aid you."
Kind of a cold statement from somebody. He was only a little taller than I was, probably a little older as well, but he didn't act like somebody about my age. I guess that's what pressed me to ask my next question.
"Why don't you accept my thanks? I'm sure the others feel the same way."
He paused, uncertain on how he was supposed to answer. I waited.
"All right then. You're welcome."
I smiled at him, but he didn't return it. Gatomon stopped struggling in my grip as he finished up. She re-opened her pretty blue eyes and looked at our savior.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome…"
He obviously didn't want to go through that last bit of conversation again!
Gatomon stood up on her hind legs and put a paw on his shoulder. He'd rolled up his sleeves in order to reach out and grab us without getting the sleeves caught on something…at least, that's what I thought. He winced as Gatomon's paw touched his upper arm. She pulled back her paw and the boy tried to cover it up with his sleeve, but I was too quick.
"You hurt yourself while saving us!" I realized, pulling up his shirt sleeve once more.
It was a nasty scrape. It must've hurt badly. I also saw a scar up near his shoulder, like an animal had scratched him. I reached down and picked up a piece of cloth; then dipped it in the juice just like he'd done.
He stopped my hand in midair.
"It's all right. I've had worse."
I shook my head. "No, it's not all right. You got that saving me and I'm going to help."
He sighed, obviously seeing my stubborn streak, and relented as I carefully wiped the juice across the cut. He gritted his teeth at the pain and hissed through his teeth, but didn't make a sound other than that. Gatomon went to go see if our friends were coming any time soon. I quickly realized that the cloth was now too dirty to cover the wound with. The scrape had had dirt and leaves in it.
I rummaged around his backpack, hoping to find another cloth for a bandage.
"It's fine…"
"No, Joe told me that stuff like that'll get infected if you don't cover it. He told all of us about it…Don't you have any other strips of cloth?"
Sighing, the boy reached into his satchel and pulled out a few strips. I chose the longest one and tightly wrapped it around his arm, noticing that he was wincing at the pain. He quickly slipped down his sleeve when I was finished.
He sat next to me for a moment in silence before he said, "Thank you…"
"You're welcome!"
He looked at me curiously.
"I never did learn your name. Or your friends' names for that matter. I know the Digimon's names, but not any of yours."
"Oh! My name's Kari! Well, it's actually Hikari Kamiya, but my nickname's 'Kari'…"
I told him who each of us was, our personalities, and stuff like that. He asked me what each of our full names were as well, but I didn't understand why. For some bizarre reason, he insisted on calling me "Hikari" instead of just "Kari". I figured that he must feel awkward using nicknames.
"So, the other 6 came here from summer camp, then went back to find you…Then all 7 of you came back to fight the Dark Masters?"
I nodded.
"That's the story."
He didn't say anything, lost in his thoughts. That's when I realized something.
"Piximon!"
"What?"
"Piximon! He was leading us to his house! I hope nothing happened to him…"
I thought I saw a faint smile on his lips, but it disappeared before I could be sure.
"Piximon got ahead of you all. He probably just realized that your group wasn't behind him."
"Oh…well, that's good."
We sat in silence before I heard Tai's distant voice shouting, "Kari!"
"Tai!" I shouted back. "Over here!"
I saw Gatomon appear first with Tai and Agumon behind her. Matt, TK, Gabumon, and Patamon were next; followed closely by Joe and Gomamon. Mimi, Sora, Palmon, and Biyomon were right behind Joe.
"Guys, this is the boy who saved us all those—"
I stopped as I turned around. He was gone. He'd also kept me distracted from getting his name. My heart sank. That's when I saw something on the ground.
The handwriting wasn't great since it'd obviously been done in a hurry, but there was a little note on the ground:
Hikari -
Sorry I left without saying goodbye.
I know you can save this world.
- K.I.
AKA "Light Child"
'He believes I can do it…' I thought happily. Then I blushed at my own thoughts.
TK leaned over my shoulder and saw the letter on the ground.
"Is his name really 'Light Child'?" he asked me.
"I dunno," I answered, shrugging. "He never told me his name, but he knows ours."
"Maybe it's some sort of code…" Matt muttered.
"Yeah, maybe," Tai said sarcastically.
That's when Gennai finally contacted us again.
"Hello, kids!"
"Hi!" we replied.
"Got any news for us?" Tai asked.
"Yes. The Dark Masters are now taking all of you very seriously…except Puppetmon, of course. Also, I've heard that your friend happens to be a large annoyance to the Dark Masters."
I quickly asked, "Gennai, what Crest has a symbol with 5 circles, 2 inside one circle and 1 inside another, that's connected by a beam?"
Gennai thought for a moment. "The Crest of Knowledge. Why do you ask?"
"That kid that helps us has it. He also has a Digivice."
Tai gave me a look of disbelief.
"He's a Digidestined?!" he asked.
"How many of us are there?" Sora wondered.
"I dunno, but I had been hoping if there were more, they'd be girls," Mimi commented.
"Hmmm…well, I suppose that answers Matt's question," Gennai said.
We all turned to Matt. He blushed in embarrassment.
"When I got my Crest, I noticed that there was a hole in the well where I found it. Like a brick or something had been removed," he explained.
"My theory is that the Crest of Knowledge was kept in that same well. Your friend managed to find his Crest before Matt found his," Gennai told us.
"Cool! Then he really is one of us!" TK exclaimed.
I admit that I wasn't really listening to Gennai or the conversation anymore at this point. I was looking up and watching a Tentomon hover near a patch of berries, enjoying their taste. However, I thought I saw something crouched behind him. Maybe a person…
I shook my head slightly. Gatomon looked up at me, wondering if she'd gone crazy.
I'm guessing that both of us thought we heard someone say, "You can do it."
~~~~~
I walked away from the group for a few minutes. I had given the excuse to Tai that I was going to use the bush so he wouldn't follow me. I looked around, but nobody was there.
Deciding it wouldn't hurt, and he might be listening, I whispered, "If you're ever in trouble…I guess I'll use 'Light Child'…just come to us. I'll help you."
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: Does anyone else think that it's bizarre that both Kari and Izzy's Japanese names have something to do with light? I mean, the translation of "Hikari" is "light" and the translation of "Koushiro" is "light child". I originally though "Koushiro" meant something like "knowledge" or something like that. Hmmm…Conspiracy!