A Different Reality Part 16
by Cybra
A/N: Howdy, y'all! Have I driven you totally crazy yet, Kyra? ;) Well, this little story line has been playing in the back of my mind for a long, long time. I just never could figure out how to do it until after I was finished with my Chemistry Honors final exam and my brain was still in thinking mode. I thought (and, no, it didn't hurt) that I could slide this story right in after I had finished "A Different Reality Part 15" and just leave aforementioned part on a cliffhanger! So, I whipped out my notebook (which I now carry almost everywhere) and jotted down the idea before I could lose it. Huzzah! This story is set at some point AE (After Emperor).
Dedication: Ah, yes! A dedication! More stalling before we get to the main story! (This ought to drive Kyra up the wall!) I dedicate this part of the "A Different Reality" series to Kyra, one of my first – if not the first – Digimon fanfic writer friends! Also, this part is dedicated to The Talismans of Knowledge Mailing List, the mailing list for both Izzy and Cody! Kyra is the list director (or whatever it is), so contact her if you want to find out more! ^^ She named it after a Sailor Moon/Digimon crossover I sent to her, which I might post up here at some point.
Disclaimer: I do not own the original idea of Digimon. I own this twisted up version of Digimon! The characters I mostly borrowed, but I twisted a few personalities and pasts in order to suit my purposes! Anyway, the show aint mine, so send your lawyers away!
Traveling through the gate to the Digital World has always been exhilarating, but it has never felt like someone was pulling on me.
We had been planning on going for a picnic with Joe and Izzy, but Ken couldn't make it at the last minute and Izzy had made plans prior to our invitation. However, Joe (thankfully) could be there for the trip into the Digital World. We'd asked all the older kids a few weeks before, but none of the others could make it either.
Once I arrived in the Digiworld, I realized the others were not with me. My Digimon partner was nowhere in sight either. I called out their names one by one, hearing them answer me from different directions.
As I walked in the direction of Joe's voice – the one that sounded closest to me and it sounded as though my Digimon friend was with him – I almost tripped over a fallen tree branch. I quickly regained my balance to be met with an unusual sight: A girl barely younger than I was lying on the ground.
She looked like a younger version of Kari, actually. She wore a yellow, tank top-like shirt with pink shorts and pink sneakers. A light pink bandana was tied around her neck along with a whistle. A golden chain around her neck glittered as a little bit poked out from beneath her shirt. I noticed a sheath for a knife tied securely around her waist. A well-made satchel lay not too far from her.
The girl was unconscious, but quickly waking up. I called out to my friends.
"Guys! There's another human here and she looks kinda like Kari!" I shouted. My voice sounded strained just like it always does when I shout.
"Don't worry! We'll be right there, Cody!" Armadillomon called, his voice sounding like it was coming closer.
How rude of me! I forgot to properly introduce myself! I'm sorry…
My name is Cody Hida.
~@~
The Kari look-alike's brown eyes swept over each of us warily. It was obvious that she wanted to make sure if we were friend or foe.
"Wow! She really does look like Kari, doesn't she?" Davis asked, starry-eyed.
"Of course I do," she snapped angrily. "That's because I am Kari."
Kari blinked. "No, you're not. You look a lot like I do at that age, but you can't be me since I'm right here."
TK stood there thinking until he snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea! Come here, uh…Kari. I need to check something out."
I noticed the girl's hand had been slowly moving towards the knife. She almost had a grip on the handle when TK grabbed her wrist. Instantly, she began to struggle and try to break out of his grasp. Veemon fidgeted beside Davis while Gatomon did the same beside her partner.
"Let her go," a cold voice ordered from behind and slightly above us.
Tentomon and a second Gatomon came out of a tree behind us and went to free Kari's younger twin. The Gatomon punched TK's arm, causing him to cry out in pain and release the strange girl. She grabbed her knife and looked ready to stab anyone who came too close. From what I could tell, she could wield her weapon well.
Davis turned around to see a kid seated on one of the tree's highly upraised roots so the pair was at eye level with each other.
The boy looked like a younger version of Izzy. However, while Izzy's red hair was short and trimmed cleanly, this boy's red hair was in a wild style and it obviously had to be longer. Coal black eyes glared into Davis' wood brown ones. The boy wore an orange, button-down, long-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts. Green socks highlighted his Lightning Bolt shoes (the shoes having gone out of style several years ago). He also wore yellow gloves on his hands and a backpack with a yellow Pineapple computer on his back.
"Woah! This guy looks like a copy of Izzy from the first time we came to the Digital World!" TK exclaimed, amazed.
That quick, the Izzy duplicate's hand reached into his backpack and pulled out a handgun, cocked it with one hand, and aimed it at Davis' head right between the eyes.
Davis gulped as Joe stated, "A lot meaner copy of Izzy!"
Ignoring these comments, the boy asked coldly, "Who are you, and how did we get here? And answer quickly." All of us stood in numb shock until he added, "If you don't answer soon, I'm afraid your friend here will lose his life."
His words were ruthlessly cold…
…and extremely effective.
"Uh, I'm TK," TK began. He pointed to each of us as he said, "And these people are Kari, Cody, Joe, and Yolei. The Digimon's names are Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Patamon, and Gatomon. The guy you're pointing the gun at is Davis."
"Hi," Davis squeaked, eyes focused completely on the gun barrel.
Joe answered the second question. "As to how you got here, we don't know."
Our gun-wielding visitor narrowed his onyx black eyes for a moment before he un-cocked the gun and put it away. He jumped off the tree root, showing that he was only slightly taller than I was.
The Kari look-alike blinked as the Gatomon scratched the back of her head. The girl walked up to the boy and asked, "That girl over there…" She nodded towards Kari. "…looks like an older version of me."
"Hmm…this could be one of Piedmon's tricks…"
Joe flinched at the name "Piedmon". "Trust me, it's not a trick. Here, Piedmon was defeated four years ago."
The younger Kari's eyes widened with hope. "Does this mean that we've somehow been taken to our future?"
"I don't think so. I mean, I knew Izzy four years ago and he doesn't act like your friend acts," TK answered.
The redhead's eyes narrowed once more. "My name is not 'Izzy'. It's 'Koushiro'."
If there's only one thing I know about Izzy, it's that he absolutely hates being called by his first name. He thinks "Koushiro" sounds stupid.
This person was definitely not Izzy's past self.
"You guys must've come from some other universe," I reasoned, speaking slowly.
Everyone turned his or her attention to me. Davis looked confused. "What do you mean, Cody?"
"Koushiro" merely nodded in agreement with me. "This is a possibility." He turned to his human companion. "That pull we felt must've been some kind of gateway to this parallel dimension."
Wait a minute. Pull?
They'd felt a pull, too? I asked them about it.
The Tentomon nodded. "It woke us all up!"
Kari's eyes widened. "Then something must've gone wrong with the Digiport! When it sucked all of us here, it somehow pulled you along with us."
Koushiro cursed under his breath, but I still heard it. I'd always been taught that you shouldn't curse, and I wondered where he'd learned to use such language.
The younger Kari looked up at her older double. "My name is Kari, too, but I guess I'll have to go by 'Hikari' for now, just so nobody gets confused."
Our Gatomon smiled at her twin. "Looks like we're going to have to answer to 'Gatomon' at the same time until someone clarifies who they're talkin' to."
Hikari's Gatomon shook her head. "Not necessarily. In our world, there's a kind of offshoot of our kind called 'Tailmon'. I guess I'll go by that for a while. Still, if I don't answer, just yell my real name."
Hikari smiled at her Digimon partner. "Tailmon", as we were now calling her, simply smiled back. Tentomon buzzed beside Koushiro, looking worried.
"Koushiro, we need to back to our universe pronto," he murmured, thinking nobody could hear him.
But I heard him.
"Don't worry," I told him, causing him and his partner to turn and look at me. "We'll get Izzy and Ken on it as soon as possible. Maybe they know something about what happened."
Davis nodded. "Hey, yeah! When in doubt, call up the two geniuses!"
Everyone sighed at this.
~@~
About a half-hour later, Ken and Izzy were sending e-mails back and forth to us as they tried to piece together what had gone wrong with the Digiport. Izzy – who'd been caught in the middle of a computer seminar – had run out of the seminar, thankful to be free. Ken was also happy to get out of what he'd been doing. (He'd managed to finagle his way out of shooting a soft drink commercial.)
Everything they tried ended up failing.
I noticed Hikari talking with Kari about something or other while Tailmon and Gatomon were wrestling nearby. Everyone was busy, but I soon noticed Koushiro and Tentomon walking away from the group.
"I suggest we find out what's eatin' them," Armadillomon told me sagely.
"Good idea."
We ran to catch up with the boy and his Digimon. Despite the fact that Ken was no longer the Digimon Emperor and was helping us, the Digiworld was still a dangerous place. Our new enemy – Arachnemon – had reactivated the Control Spires so the digivolving process was blocked. She might try to attack us.
We walked behind the two misplaced partners before Koushiro sighed and told me, not even bothering to turn around, "I know you're there. If you want to tell me something, get up here and say it."
I exchanged looks with Armadillomon who shrugged. We jogged a bit to catch up.
Once we reached the pair, I noticed Koushiro fooling with his gun. Upon giving it a closer look, I noted that the gun had to be at least a .38-caliber handgun. My father – when he was still alive – had been issued a .38 by the police chief. However, I didn't have a good enough view to see if the gun was a .38.
"Where'd you get that, anyway?" I asked.
Koushiro shot me a quick glare. "That's classified information."
Okay…
Tentomon glanced at Koushiro before a sudden crashing noise caught our attention.
"Oh, great! Not Cyclonemon!" Armadillomon snapped angrily.
The redhead next to me gripped his Digivice. I began to shout a warning, but it was already too late.
"Tentomon digivolve to…"
Just like normal, the digivolving process was blocked. Tentomon remained in his Rookie form. Koushiro raised an eyebrow, then aimed his weapon and began to open fire on the large Digimon in front of us.
I knew what I had to do. I didn't like it, but I'd do it.
I guess this is why I had received the Digiegg of Reliability.
You see, since Ken was no longer the Digimon Emperor, the Dark Rings and Dark Spirals no longer existed. Arukenimon was using the remaining Control Spires to create Digimon of her own.
"We're gonna need Digmon for this job!" I told my partner.
Armadillomon nodded.
"Digi-Armor Energize!" I shouted as my D-terminal opened, releasing a purple light and activating the Digiegg of Knowledge.
"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to…Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!"
The first display of emotion that I'd seen from Koushiro crossed his features. His eyes widened in complete and utter shock and amazement.
"Digmon can take care of this," I told him.
Koushiro blinked and lowered his weapon, his eyes returning to their normal emotionless state. However, he still held the gun in his hand, ready to aim and fire when needed. Tentomon hovered beside him, ready for action.
Briefly, my mind wondered why Tentomon had been unable to digivolve. It was obvious that Arukenimon had transformed a Control Spire into Cyclonemon. I looked around.
There. I could see it through the spaces in-between the trees.
Another Control Spire.
Obviously, Arukenimon had not been pleased with the natural digivolving of Veemon, Armadillomon, and Hawkmon and had decided to block that ability.
"Gold Rush!"
Digmon's attack brought me back to the present where Cyclonemon and Digmon were locked in a fierce battle. Cyclonemon had attacked with his "Arm Bomber" attack. Thanks to Digmon, the evil Digimon's attack didn't hit us.
"Digmon can't keep this up for long. He needs backup," Koushiro stated. I nodded.
As if on cue, a familiar voice shouted, "Fire Rocket!"
Fire balls flew past us and hit Cyclonemon in the side. He roared angrily and turned towards Flamedramon.
Flamedramon had not come alone. In the air above him flew Nefertimon, Pegasusmon, and Halsemon. I smiled. The whole team was here.
Kari rode on the back of Nefertimon as the sphinx swooped in to attack.
"Queen Paw!"
It seemed to me that Nefertimon's attack had more of an affect on Cyclonemon than Digmon's constant attacks.
"Of course," Koushiro muttered, "That sphinx must be at a higher level than Digmon, like Cyclonemon most likely is."
It made sense. Technically, when Armadillomon, Veemon, Hawkmon, and Patamon Armor Digivolved, they were moving up to a kind of Champion level. Gatomon was already at the Champion level, so that must mean that she digivolved up to a kind of Ultimate level. Still, after facing Okuwamon, we knew she wasn't exactly like an Ultimate, but strong enough to face off against one and do a little more damage than the rest of our Digimon could do. If her attacks were more effective than Digmon's, Cyclonemon's level had to be at least Ultimate.
"Wind Mane!"
"Tempest Wing!"
"Fire Rocket!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Rosetta Stone!"
Gato…uh…Tailmon added her attack along with Tentomon.
"Super Shocker!"
"Lightning Claw!"
That was just enough to take out Cyclonemon. I now noticed Hikari standing next to Koushiro.
Soon, our Digimon partners had de-digivolved into their normal forms. The Koushiro Izumi of another dimension turned to me.
"You and Armadillomon handled the situation well," he complimented.
"Thanks."
My D-terminal beeped before anyone else said anything. I pulled it out and noticed I had a new e-mail from Izzy. It read: "Cody, we're ready to try again. Try passing through the Digiport. If this works, it should send the two extra Digivice signals back to their original place. Sincerely, Izzy."
"Izzy says that he and Ken might've figured it out. We're supposed to go back through the Digiport," I told them.
Kari walked over to Hikari and held out her hand. "Then we should at least say 'goodbye' in case this works."
Hikari smiled and nodded. She held out her own hand and shook Kari's. "It was nice to meet you, Kari. And thanks for everything."
I had little idea what the younger girl was talking about, but I had a vague idea. Kari must've told Hikari about how the older kids defeated the Dark Masters. We finished saying our goodbyes quickly, then walked over to the nearest TV after grabbing our picnic items.
"All right, guys! Digiport open!" Davis shouted.
I felt a sudden pull on me as we began to pass through. I heard the surprised shouts of Koushiro, Hikari, Tentomon, and Tailmon behind us as we were sucked into the blue light coming from the TV.
~@~
As I began to fly out of the computer, the first things I saw were Ken and Izzy's faces. Izzy gave a yelp of surprise at the same time Ken made what sounded like the squall of a startled alley cat. Both of them twisted and tried to leap out of the way, but it was far too late.
We all landed in a heap on top of them.
"Hey! We made it!" Davis reported.
"Wonderful. Now get off!" Ken ordered. His voice sounded strained.
I turned my head to see Davis' elbow jammed into Ken's stomach. That must've been painful.
After a few moments to disentangle ourselves, Izzy straightened his tie, standing up at the same time like most of us were. TK sat down in one of the computer chairs.
"So, Izzy, what happened?" TK asked.
"It's actually very simple," Izzy began. "When you opened the Digiport, there was an unexpected power surge which increased the power of the Digiport. This caused a slight malfunction."
Ken picked up the slack when Izzy stopped. "Apparently, Koushiro, Hikari, and their Digimon were close enough to the location you wished to be transported to in their world which caused the Digiport to recognize Koushiro and Hikari's Digivice signals. The two universes must've chosen that moment to briefly converge on one another, causing them to be sucked to our version of the Digiworld along with their Digimon."
"Of course there's another reason why as well. The power of the Digiport could've been recognized by a powerful being and whatever that being was directed it towards those two," Izzy added, shrugging. "In order to send those two back, we needed to reverse the process which brought them here."
"This included having to send a power surge into the computer as you traveled from the Digiworld back here," Ken stated. "By repeating the accident, the Digiport sent them home. Apparently, the two universes were still slightly converged or it never would've worked."
That's when I noticed the slight burns on both of our friends' hands. "Where'd you get those burns?"
The older one of the two shrugged. "That's what you get when you mess with wires and shock yourself a few times."
A slight whimper from one of the Digimon – Demiveemon to be specific – alerted us that the Digimon needed something to eat. Everyone sighed. In-training Digimon can be bottomless pits.
Our former enemy stood and stretched. "I'd better go. Goodbye."
"See ya. And thanks, Ken!" Izzy called after him as he left.
"No problem."
I'm still a little uncomfortable around Ken, but I guess I'm getting better at it. I gave him a wave as well as he walked out of the door before I turned my attention back to Upamon.
"Come on, Upamon. Mom's making macaroni and cheese tonight for dinner," I told him.
"Oh boy! I love mac and cheese!" Upamon told me, bouncing merrily up and down.
I smiled as I picked him up. Saying goodbye to my friends, I left as well.
I still wonder what became of Koushiro, Hikari, and their Digimon. Kari told me later that she and Hikari had swapped knowledge during the brief time they'd talked. It's a pretty interesting story that I'm sure you'd like to hear sometime. Maybe you should ask her at some point.
I hope they made it home okay and were able to defeat Piedmon.
Oh, wait. If the Digidestined of our universe could defeat that evil clown, I'm positive that the Digidestined of another could defeat him as well.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: giggles Did you enjoy that, Kyra? I think I mangled poor Cody, and I hope did his POV okay. ^^ Anyway, this special edition of "A Different Reality" is finished at last! Homework, high school, writer's block, and just plain laziness are a deadly mix. @.@ Wow…this fic's as old as I am! ^^
Kudos to…
Kyra – I drove you absolutely up the wall and enjoyed every minute of it! This is for you, my friend! J
Vyse (formerly known as "Her Royal Weirdness") – Nice name change, but I miss callin' you "HRW" sometimes. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble and keeping this a secret!!! :::grins as Kyra fumes:::
Kelly Moon – :::bows::: Thanks for bein' a cool friend, Kelly! You are awesome!
Aquarius – You are one cool person! Thanks for everything! J
My muse Izzy – Man, you really pull me out of a hole when you want to! Not to mention get me off my lazy butt to work. Thanks, Izzy! J
Shameless Promos…
gensou no haato – Vyse's new webpage! Spiffy new look and everything! Just plain cool! J
Power of Knowledge – Splash page to "The Crest of Knowledge" (an Izzy shrine) and "Heir to Knowledge" (a Cody shrine)! Both shrines need to be updated though! So be nice and send some stuff to Kelly-chan! J
Aquarius' Kawaii Domain – Small, but (hopefully) growing! It's Aquarius' homepage! I shimmer with pleasaure! J
Spam: Reality With a Twist – My sister's new webpage! Huzzah! It will contain several different types of shrines including a Izzy and Matt shrine called "Y2K" and also include all of my fanfics thus far! Be nice and visit! J