Chapter 3: Melodye

"Okay children we have two new students in our class." Iris walked shyly into the classroom; she could feel everyone's eyes on her. It had been so long since she had been around this many children. She didn't really know how to act, or what to say.
She was followed closely by another girl her age; she looked foreign.
"This young lady," The teacher motioned towards Iris, "Is Iris?"
Iris glanced around the class quickly; most of her peers seemed to be concentrating on the foreign girl. Only two people were looking at her, Davis and Kari. She felt relieved that she at least knew someone, even if Kari's gaze still made her nervous.
"And this," The teacher muttered something to the girl in her native language, "is Melodye. She is an exchange student from America."
"Hello," Melodye said shyly. All the girls swooned and whispered to each other about how cute she was. Iris was thankful for her presence.
. The teacher again started talking to the girl in English; the girl nodded and took a seat next to Kari.
"Kari, would you be able to help Melodye while she's staying here?" The teacher asked. Kari nodded and smiled.
"Iris, dear, you can take a seat next to TK––down the back there." The teacher motioned to a blond haired boy that sat at the back of the classroom, obviously disinterested in everything that was happening around him and more absorbed in a comic book that he balanced in his lap. At the mention on his name he closed the book and slid it into his desk; his blush was obvious on his pale skin.
Iris smiled hopefully at Davis as she passed him; he turned and scowled at TK. As she took her seat next to TK, he greeted her with a smile.
"You new here?" He asked. Iris could feel the sarcastic remarks building up on the tip of her tongue; she bit them back
"Yes," she replied, setting her back pack down next to her. There was nothing in there except an exercise book and a pen, it was extremely light
"I'm TK, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and she took it without meeting his eyes.
"You got quite a firm grip there." He commented, pulling his comic book out from under the desk and setting it onto his lap
Iris didn't answer. She was glad when the teacher started talking again and TK lost interest in her.
She hadn't been to school for eight years; there was so much she needed to know. How was she supposed to explain to the teacher she'd been stuck in the digital world for a large chunk of her life? The only lessons she had learnt out there were survival and self independence. She doubted that would be much help in the classroom.
Those worries were shortly pushed to the back of her head to make way for more, less appealing ponderings. She would have gladly bashed her head against her desk until she fell unconscious than face these thoughts. Unfortunately that wasn't an option, and the thoughts came anyway.
Where were her parents? They'd ask her that for sure. She had enrolled temporarily as a friend of Kari's; her mother didn't seem to fully understand her situation, but accepted Kari's explanation and asked few questions. Iris could see it in her eyes though, the question that plagued almost everyone she had met in the real world to date. Where were her parents?
She would have gladly answered the question had she known herself. The fact that it didn't bother her as much as she would have liked scared her. Had she been away so long she no longer cared for her parents?
Her situation reminded her scarily of a fairy tale her mother had once told her. (She remembered the story better than she did her mother, she was overcome with guilt) It was the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up. He left his parents to go off the Neverland and have the adventure of a lifetime. But when he returned to his parents, they had barred the window. They had forgotten. After spending countless years in the Neverland, he, too, forgot them.
A wave of guilt rushed over Iris and she felt herself blush. Was she in the same situation? Had her parents forgotten? Had she forgotten? Desperately she tried, in her mind, to form a picture of her mothers face. She had black hair, blacker than the night. Her eyes were… Brown? Blue? Iris couldn't remember. She had smiled like a queen and her skin was as white as moonshine.
Iris shook her head, she was thinking about a porcelain doll. Her mother didn't look like a porcelain doll, did she? Iris closed her eyes and tried again. Her father, this time. Unruly brown bangs, long brown hair, strong, weathered hands. His smile was warm and harsh at the same time. Tall and strong.
Iris snapped her eyes open. That wasn't her father; her father wasn't tall and strong. Was he? Frantically, Iris' eyes darted around the room. She really had forgotten. How did Peter Pan deal with it? How did he react when he found out his parents forgot about him? He visited other windows didn't he? He wanted to steal other people's parents.
Iris' eyes landed guiltily on Kari. She didn't want to steal other people's parents; she didn't want to be guilty anymore. She had to find them no matter what the cost.
A burning sensation in her chest alerted Iris that someone was staring at her. She glanced up and met eyes with the red headed exchange student. Biting down on her lip she opened her book and began scribbling on the page. Tomorrow she would look for them, tomorrow she would remember.

**

"So what exactly do you do all day Demiveemon?" Snowmon sat on top a row of lockers outside Home Room 13 with Demiveemon.
"Well the best thing to do is raid the cafeteria." Demiveemon replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat
"What's a cafeteria?" Snowmon asked, vexed. Demiveemon sighed
"It's this wonderful place," Demiveemon explained waving his arms animatedly, "There are all sorts of goodies everywhere!"
"You mean food?" Polarmon asked.
"You bet!" Demiveemon jumped up from where he was sitting, "I'm getting hungry thinking of all this food, lets go."
They took off down the hallways, stopping every now and then to avoid a stray teacher or student, or for Demiveemon to regain his sense of direction. ("This school is so big" was his excuse) Demiveemon stopped abruptly, causing Snowmon to slide and slam into the wall.
"Here it is." They stood outside a door marked 'cafeteria'. "Can you give me a boost."
Snowmon walked up to the door and braced herself while Demiveemon climbed on top of her.
"Hurry up, you're heavy." Snowmon whined, trying to hold her partner up.
"I nearly got it… nearly…" Demiveemon had grabbed hold of the door handle and was trying with his stubby little hands to open it.
"I think I hear someone coming!" Snowmon said in panic. Shifting her weight, she caused Demiveemon to stumble.
"Don't move…I've…nearly…got it." He managed to open the door just in time as Snowmon fell over and Demiveemon was sent crashing to the ground.
"Jackpot!" he said, getting up and strolling in. Snowmon looked around cautiously before following Demiveemon into the cafeteria.
The smell reached her nose before she saw it. Mountains of food, everywhere. This must have been a version of heaven, if not heaven itself.
Demiveemon jumped up onto a chair and then onto a tabletop. His eyes glazed over when he saw the bountiful amounts off goodies.
"This is heaven." He mumbled, immediately starting to stuff as much food into his little mouth as possible.
Snowmon on the other hand was having enough trouble getting up on the chair.
"Help." She whined. Demiveemon's head popped out from over the table,
"Demiveemon I can't get up."
"Hold on," He jumped down onto the chair and grabbed her mitted hand, and helped her climb onto the table. When Snowmon saw the mountains of food sitting there for their dispose, she was truly moved.
"Thank you oh great and mighty lord," she whispered. She then followed Demiveemon in shoving all sorts of food in her mouth.
"Hey what do you think you're doing." They both froze in place at the ominous voice.
"Run." Was all Demiveemon said, and with that they jumped off the table and scampered off.
"Damn strange cats, they really need to stop letting lab animals free. Oh well." The cafeteria lady grabbed a wastebasket and swept what was left of the rubbish and walked off.

**

"Hey! I'm sorry I'm late guys." Cody said, running up to the digidestined group, "You haven't started without me?"
"No, were just starting." TK replied.
"So what's the meeting for?" Cody asked.
"It's the welcome of a new digidestined." Davis said proudly, wrapping his arm around Iris and pulling her into the circle of friends.
"You're the new digidestined?" TK asked, blinking owlishly at Iris. She blushed
"Yeah that's right, my good friend Iris." Davis said smiling cynically at TK.
"How do you know she's a digidestined?" Cody asked, breaking the two boys staring contest
"She's got a digivice, just like us." Yolie said holding up her own.
Yolie glanced at Iris, who untangled herself from Davis and pulled out her own digivice. The group gathered closer to view the digivice in the dim park lights. It was slightly different from there's in shape and there were different buttons in different places. All in all it looked like a digivice.
"So who's your digimon partner?" TK asked removing his eyes from the digivice
"I am." A small voice piped up. Snowmon walked proudly into the circle, standing next to Iris.
Their attention was drawn to Snowmon, who Iris picked up with haste.
"She's so cute." Yolie said patting the snow-man digimon on the head. Snowmon looked indignantly at Yolie.
So where did you come from?" TK asked Iris, "I mean I haven't seen you around here before."
"I found her in the digiworld." Davis cut in proudly before Iris could reply
"You make it sound like she's a wild animal." Kari scolded Davis, laying a hand on Iris' shoulder.
"You were in the digiworld?" Cody asked thoughtfully.
"Yeah," was her only reply.
"How did you get in there?" TK asked.
"It's a long story." She replied monotonously.
TK looked ready to demand she tell the story before Kari cut in,
"I'll tell you later." She looked at Iris, who nodded silently.
"How long were you in there?" Cody asked softly, as if trying to avoid a sensitive subject
"Eight years."
"Wow, I don't know if I could last eight years in the digiworld." TK commented, folding his arms across his chest
"It is an awful long time to be in there," Kari chimed in, "but you know what happens when new digidestined are found." She started
"It means there's trouble." TK finished.
"Wait a minute," Yolie interrupted. "Just because we found a new digidestined doesn't mean that there's trouble."
"Yes it does, every time there's new digidestined, there's new evil. It's happened three times." Kari explained, "That's enough proof for me."
"I guess you're right, but what could be threatening the digiworld now? And is there any more new destined?" Davis asked thoughtfully
"I think I know who another is." Iris spoke up, her eyes flashed strangely.
"You do?" Yolie asked, intrigued, "Who is it?"
"The exchange student."
"You think so?" TK asked, biting down on his bottom lip
"I know." She replied, challenging TK silently to deny her
"How?" Cody asked "I don't think any of us have just been able to know who a digidestined is or not."
"Call it intuition." She replied hastily, breaking eye contact with TK
"How do we know we can trust you?" TK asked, Kari looked ready to scald him but Iris replied instead.
"I never asked you to trust me," She spared TK a glare before turning and walking away from the group.
"Wait, Iris!" Davis was the first to start after her. Kari, too, started after but hesitated. Instead she took TK by the arm and pulled him away from Cody and Yolie
"What was that all about?" She asked, her voice full of vehemence. She didn't wait for TK to reply before she continued, "She's been stuck in the digital world for the best part of eight years of her life and the first impression you give her is hostility. What is wrong with you TK? Have some faith in the girl; she's a digidestined just like us."
"And how can we tell? How do we know she's not a servant of another dark master come to fool us into believing we can trust her? I for one don't want to fall into that trap. She's unpredictable, she's wild. She's been living with digimon for her whole life."
"For the love of Christ TK, give her a break. I know we have every right to mistrust her because we know nothing about her. But we also have every right to believe her. I don't want to throw away this chance on suspicions, TK I don't want to ruin this friendship before it begins."
TK sighed and brought his hands up to his face.
"I know Kari, I know, I'm just being cautions. I don't want anyone to get hurt. You know those dark masters will stop at nothing to get what they want."
Kari rested her hands on his shoulders
"I know TK, but please, just trust me on this one. I have a good feeling about her."
TK smiled and nodded his head once.
"When you put it like that, how could I refuse?"

**
"Iris!" Iris heard Davis called. She contemplated stopping, then contemplated walking faster, and began to walk faster.
She heard Davis break into a run behind her
"Iris." He caught up to her and grabbed hold of her arm. Reflexes and instinct took over; she spun around and grabbed Davis' hand by the wrist, twisting it painfully. Davis grimaced in pain but said nothing; instead he stared intently into her eyes. She felt herself blush unexpectedly and let go
"Iris," he said again, rubbing his wrist
She scowled and turned her back to him. Before she could start to walk away his hand was on her shoulder again. This time she restrained herself.
"Iris what was that all about?" He asked. When he was satisfied she wouldn't walk off he removed his hand from her shoulder.
She didn't answer his question
"Iris?" This time, she turned back around
"It doesn't matter," she said, her eyes silently trying to convince him so
"Yes it does, I want to know what happened back there." He denied her, "I know TK is a jerk, but…"
"I told you, it doesn't matter."
"I know, Iris - " She cut him off before he could finish.
"No, you don't know, Davis; I don't think any of you know. I've been living in the digital world for eight years, Davis, eight years. That isn't an easy life and it tends to have an impact on someone." She stopped suddenly eyeing Davis dangerously, "I haven't been around this many people since I was eight." She finished quietly.
Davis searched desperately for words he couldn't find. What was he supposed to say to comfort her? He knew nothing about her plight. Her eyes bore into him; half filled with anger, half with an unbound, uncontrolled sadness.
Out of desperation Davis wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her into a tight hug. She didn't return it, only leant her weight up against him.
"I know I couldn't possibly understand what you're going through, but don't think that stops me from caring." Unchecked, a tear rolled down Iris' cheek, "I trust you."
"Its name is Witchmon." She said flatly, "she hypnotizes her prey, they become her slaves. Her tactic isn't that much different from the Digimon Kaiser, their goals aren't that different either."
"You know about Ken?" Davis pulled away from the hug and looked her squarely in the eyes, "You know about the Kaiser?"
"Of course I know," She snapped, "He only killed off half of the digimon population, and enslaved the other half."
Davis blinked owlishly at her description of the once Digimon Kaiser. It was true that once upon a time Ken had been like that, but he changed. Davis couldn't possibly imagine Ken committing those crimes, not anymore.
"I see." He said softly.
Iris nodded distractedly, bringing her thumb up to her mouth to chew on the nail.
"That means," Davis started pensively, "we were in the digital world while you were still in there."
"Of course." She replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I knew all along you were there, I saw you on occasion, you and your friends. When you defeated the Kaiser it was hard not to hear about your victory. When you befriended the Kaiser the outrage was unmistakable.
"How could I not have heard about when you helped in the rebuilding of the digimon villages? When you stopped Arukenimon and her spire digimon, when you saved the destiny stones, when you prevented Malomyotismon destroying both worlds, how could I have missed it? You were the heroes of the digital world. You think I didn't know you were there?"
"Why did we never see you?"
"You never saw me because of the same reason TK dislikes me so. I mistrusted you. Who in their right mind would befriend the Kaiser? How much had the real world changed since my time? How tainted had its population become?
"I had witnessed the destitution left behind after the destruction of Apocalymon. I was standing there while humans built their viruses and released them there like a jungle, I was watching patiently as those viruses took on digimon form and began their reigns of chaos. Nothing that came from the human world benefited those digimon, only you and your friends. How ironic that the cause of their suffering should save them from it.
"Yet still, I was taught at a vulnerable, manipulative age that the digital world had been created and destroyed by humans and their viruses. They were the cause of suffering and destitution. How could I trust you with those thoughts in mind?" Iris sighed and rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hands, "When I saw you in that TV, when you came through, I was so confused. I knew only digidestined could pass into the digital world. I knew the instant I saw you, you were a digidestined. What was my position? How could I trust you? I didn't know how tainted the real world had become. All I knew was there was another evil in the digital world. If there was so much evil there, then surely some of it must be represented in the real world.
"Then when you saved me from that Geniemon. I knew then that the real world was a better place than the digital world. Somehow, I had known all along. There were times when I didn't know if I wanted to go back, I knew what humans were capable of. But at that time, I knew for sure."
Iris finished abruptly, glancing around the almost deserted park. Kari had left. In fact, she and Davis were the only of their group that remained.
Davis hadn't interrupted her during her scattered speech, only now did he ask his question.
"Do you regret coming back?"
The question shocked Iris. She looked, dumbstruck, at Davis, like a deer caught in car headlights. She blinked owlishly a few times before turning her gaze to the ground.
"I don't remember my parents, Davis; I don't remember what they look like." She paused, bit down on her bottom lip and squeezed her fist shut, "How do I know they'll remember me?"
Davis didn't answer, only nodded once and smiled crookedly at Iris. She didn't want an answer anyway, didn't want to know she was forgotten. She forced a smile back.
"It's dark," she commented. "I better go back. Kari might be worried."
Davis nodded again, his half smile still in place. His eyes were sincere. Iris nodded once and began walking in the direction of the Kamiya apartment. Not long after Iris left, Davis left as well.

**

"I've had it with you good for nothing idiots." Witchmon bellowed, pounding her hands dramatically on the table, which her crystal ball sat glowing like the moon. She had just disposed of another useless digimon, "if you want something done right you have to do it yourself." She stood up form her throne, causing it to creak painfully.
"You!" She shouted to a passing digimon.
"Y-yes mistress Witchmon," the unfortunate digimon stuttered.
"Get me my broom and I might just let you live."
"Yes your evilness." The groveling digimon scuttled off in search of her broom.
"You're actually going out? I'm surprised?" A cool, composed voice asked. Out of the darkness, a small black Gatomon with blood red eyes and silver ring around its tail appeared.
"Those incompetents don't know what they're doing and at the rate I'm going I'll have to disintegrate every digimon in the world before those blasted digidestined are stopped."
"That's good I've been itching to get my claws into action," the Gatomon said, scratching the air with her razor sharp claws.
"Well be expecting lots of action. I too have been itching for battle. Those digidestined won't know what hit them." Witchmon started cackling with glee; the black Gatomon flinched and screwed its features up into that of disgust.

**
If Iris had thought her indifference with TK was over the next day at school, she was sorely mistaken. Kari had told her, after her returning home, that she had talked to TK about her 'situation.' It became glaringly obvious that Kari's persuasive skills weren't as good as Iris had expected.
Before class started, Iris sat obediently in her desk, while Kari sat on the desk in front of her and talked airily about a trip to the shopping mall they were apparently going to make after school. It didn't exactly sound riveting. However, Kari insisted she get new clothes.
"I just don't have a big enough wardrobe to share with you."
When TK entered the room he skirted around Iris' desk to reach his own (which was, conveniently enough, right next to Iris'). He avoided her eyes at every cost.
"Morning TK," Kari said happily, obviously oblivious to his nervousness concerning Iris, "I was just talking to Iris about the exchange student."
Maybe she hadn't been talking about their shopping trip. Or maybe she had already stopped, either way Iris opened a comic book Kari had given her titled "Angel of Love" and tried her best to ignore them.
"Have you talked to her about it yet?" TK asked
"Well, it's not exactly a topic you can bring up in the middle of class." Kari replied tapping her fingernails rhythmically on the desk top, "What am I supposed to say to her? 'Hi Melodye, I was wondering if you were a digidestined?' She probably wouldn't understand me if I did."
"I guess so," TK said thoughtfully, "But how else are we supposed to approach her?"
"Maybe we should just make friends with her first." Kari suggested, "Well let her into it lightly."
"That is, if she is a digidestined." TK muttered. Iris frowned, but continued her façade of ignorance.
Their conversation came to an abrupt stop as the topic walked into the room. She looked nervous, more so than the previous day, and made a beeline to her desk. Kari stopped her.
"Melodye." She called, stopping the shy red head in her tracks. Melodye turned, Kari waved her over.
"Good morning," she said softly smiling slightly,
"Good morning," Kari replied, followed by TK. Iris stayed silent and, hopefully, oblivious.
"How are you today?" TK asked slowly, as if talking to a child
"I'm fine thank you." Melodye replied confidently, flashing him a sassy smile. TK smiled back and his cheeks flushed, "I can speak Japanese fluently; my father was Japanese."
TK nodded once and Kari's smile widened.
"Have you met Iris?" she asked gesturing to Iris, who looked up quickly and met the red heads eyes.
A brief moment of constriction swept over her stomach making her wretch. If TK could feel this he wouldn't have doubted her. She forced a smile through the queer feelings in her stomach.
"Hello," Melodye said politely. Iris nodded and returned to staring at the comic.
"Melodye," Kari started, breaking the tension Iris felt building up around her, "Iris and I are going to the shopping mall this afternoon, after school. Would you like to come with us?"
Iris tensed unnoticeably but continued to stare at the book.
"I'll have to go home first and get some money," Melodye replied thoughtfully, "but my place is on the way."
"Great, I'll probably bring some other friends as well, if that's okay with you."
"That's fine."
The bell rang and Kari and Melodye went to take their seats. Moments later, the teacher arrived and the feeling of constriction in her stomach was gone.
**
"You've already met Davis. This is Yolie, Ken and Cody." Kari introduced Melodye to a smiling Yolie, a shy Cody, and an indifferent Ken. Iris had never seen Ken like this before, but the moment she saw him she knew he was the Kaiser. It was unmistakable. It made her want to punch the look on his face. Melodye only smiled politely and said:
"Hello."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Yolie," Yolie said, taking Melodye's hand and shaking it. "Where are you from?"
"San Francisco, in America." Melodye replied. Iris cringed at the memory associated with that place.
"Well, now that every one is here, how about we get going?" Kari suggested
"Oh, but I have to get some money first." Melodye said, "I'll have to go back to the apartment."
"That's okay, we'll go ahead, you can meet us there." Yolie said, taking Cody's arm and walking slowly away from the group.
"I'll go with them." TK said smiling apologetically, he made eye contact with Ken, who nodded silently and looked back at them.
"I'll go with them too." Iris scowled at him but he didn't notice. She knew he had changed since his days as the Kaiser but she couldn't ever forget what he had done. So many friends, so many innocent digimon. It was barbaric, unforgivable.
"Okay then, we'll meet you there."
It didn't take them long to make it to Melodye's apartment. It was nice and clean, and stirred up memories of Iris' past, her parents. The thought made her flinch; she was supposed to go look for them today. There was really no excuse why she wasn't; Kari had only offered to take her shopping, she could have easily refused. She wasn't about to admit it, not even to herself, but she was scared, petrified, of what she would find. Nothing.
A muffled scream resounded from Iris' bag. She cringed and then blushed as all eyes turned to her. She had leant against the door frame while she pondered her parents' fate. Big mistake.
"Did your bag just scream?" Melodye asked suspiciously
Iris shoved her elbow hard into the side of the bag, there was another muffled cry, and then it went quiet. Davis' eyes were wide and pleading as he stared at her, Kari was silent in her surprise.
Iris cleared her throat, took her backpack off and set it on the ground
"No, that was me." She forced a smile, caught a glimpse of her reflection in a mirror on the far wall, and stopped.
"What's in your bag?" Melodye asked apprehensively.
"School books" Iris said simply, staring Melodye in the eyes, challenging her to deny her.
"Can I see?" She asked going for the bag.
"No" Iris snatched the bag off the ground again, "That's an invasion of my personal space."
Davis gaped at her behind Melodye's back; Kari groaned silently and covered her face with her hands.
"Yeah right, give me a look." Melodye tried to grab the bag off Iris but found it was much too heavy for her. She dropped it to the ground with a thud, it cried out in pain and started moving of its own accord.
Melodye unzipped it and jumped back in surprise as a small snowman digimon jumped out and started rubbing it's back
"You nearly broke my vertebrae, you heartless…" Snowmon stopped, looked around itself at a shocked Melodye, a disappointed Kari, and an angry Davis and Iris
"Digimon?" She mumbled.
"You know about digimon?" Kari asked removing her face from her hands
"They were on the news a few years ago." Melodye said, her voice airy and her gaze mysteriously glazed
"Melodye?" All heads turned to a small, round, bird like digimon, much like Poromon, as it flew daintily across the room and landed on Melodye's shoulder
"I guess it's safe to say you know about digimon." Davis pointed out, blinking owlishly at the tiny, bird like digimon.
"Yeah, I just didn't know anyone else had them, let alone my new friends." Melodye replied still staring disbelievingly at Snowmon
"I knew from the first moment I saw her." Iris said, "You're a digidestined aren't you?"
"A… digidestined?" Melodye asked, finally removing her gaze from Snowmon to stare at Iris, "I don't know about that."
"But you are." Iris argued, her voice taking on a slightly desperate tone, "I can feel it."
"But…" Melodye seemed to be having a hard time grasping the situation, "I've never done anything special."
"Do you have a digivice?" Davis asked, pulling his own out of his backpack
"No." Melodye replied simply
"But you have to be." Iris said forcefully, "You have a digimon partner; that means something. And I know you are. I can feel it."
"But.." Melodye began to protest
"You are." Iris repeated biting down on the inside of her cheek and challenging Melodye with her eyes
"How can you tell?" She asked
"It's a feeling I get whenever I'm around any of these guys, I just know."
"So you're all digidestined?" Melodye asked
"That's right; everyone you've met today is a digidestined," Kari replied
"And so are you." Iris repeated again
They are? So all of them have digimon, just like Flamon?"
"Yes." Kari replied, "Every digidestined has a digimon partner
Her situation finally seemed to register in Melodye's brain, she blinked owlishly a few times, let her gaze wander from Kari, to Davis, to Iris; then asked:
"So, what does beings a digidestined involve?"
No one answered at first. Iris wasn't sure herself what it involved. In fact, she hadn't ever really thought about it. She knew digidestined were chosen children destined to save the digital world but how they accomplished that was well beyond her.
Saving all of them, Kari answered
"The digidestined are a special group of people who are destined to save the digital world. Surely you've heard of some of us, a few years ago, all of there world digimon were attacking."
"Yes, yes I've heard about all of that but… what exactly do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything at the moment," Davis answered. "Not until there's a new enemy in the digital world."
Melodye silently pondered her new position. Iris could read the apprehension on her face. Indeed, being a digidestined wasn't the best job, from what Iris had gathered, and she could completely understand why Melodye wouldn't want to accept the responsibility. Then again, it wasn't really her choice. If she was destined to save the digital world then, by God, she would save it no matter how much she tried to avoid it.
After a moment of silence, she smiled and nodded
"Cool," she said, nodding her head slightly.
Davis sighed in relief, "But one other thing. As you said, a few years ago there was a big thing about digimon in the real world. I know they tried to cover that up, but it was a big hard to forget. Exactly how many digidestined are there?"
Kari thought for a moment, "I can't remember all of them, but I can tell you some of our closest friends. The first digidestined to go into the digital world were my older brother Tai, myself, and some friends of ours." Melodye gestured for Kari to continue, "other than us there was: TK, Sora, Joe, Matt, Izzy and Mimi. We were the first group to go into the digital world. The second time TK and I were joined by Davis, Yolie and Cody. Apart from us, there was digidestined all around the world. It would take me all day to name them all and we have to meet TK and the others at the mall."
Melodye laughed and signaled for them to follow her out. Iris silently pondered the complexity of the digidestined story, and at what point she actually entered it. If there was indeed so many digidestined, all around the world, how exactly did they determine there was a new evil (even though she knew it to be true) only because two new ones had been found?
She brushed the thought aside while they waited for the elevator. It wasn't her place to think of those sorts of things.
She walked in silence with them to the mall. Davis attempted small conversation with her, but she couldn't compel herself to answer him. After five minuets of useless attempts, he gave up and walked in silence beside her. Kari and Melodye talked like they were old friends. Iris was glad for the lack of attention they gave her; she relished it.
When they made it to the mall, it was almost dark. They met Yolie, TK, Ken and Cody there. TK and Ken eyed her with interest, especially Ken. She ignored them. She could tell they had been talking about her. Kari filled them all in on their recent discovery. TK stared at her through Kari's explanation as if he expected her to start preening herself and declaring how incredibly amazing she was. She scoffed silently and matched his stare.
After Kari had finished talking, she took Iris by the arm and led her through various clothing boutiques, stopping at each one for at least half an hour and forcing her to try on numerous outfits. At some point during their shopping escapade, they had lost their male counterparts. That was, except for Cody, who followed silently and obediently.
When Kari was finally satisfied at the amount of money spent and clothes bought, she declared they leave. Iris couldn't have been happier; she could tell Cody felt the same. Between Kari, Yolie and Melodye they made enough idle banter to compensate for Iris and Cody.
Before they left, Kari got a call from her brother. Iris could have screamed when she told her he had ordered a meeting in the park. Not only did she have to endure an entire two hours shopping for clothing which she couldn't pay for, but she wasn't able to rest afterwards. Not even the digital world had been so cruel.
Cody, at least, had been able to weasel his way out, saying if he stayed out any longer his mother would start to get paranoid and he would never live it down. They met up with the other three boys at the park, they were standing around with another large group of people, of whom Iris knew none.
"Hey guys we're here." Kari yelled running up to the group, Iris and Melodye following close behind.
"Good, now we can begin." A short, red headed boy declared. He was sitting on a park bench with a lap top perched purposefully on his knees. He didn't look up as he addressed them; he was too intent on his computer to pay them much mind
"These must be the new digidestined we heard so much about," a tall blond haired boy said, stepping up to shake Iris' hand. His fingers were cold and his shirt untucked but he didn't seemed to worried about his appearance. He carried a guitar case across his back.
"Iris, Melody," Kari started, "this is Matt; he's TK's older brother."
Melodye smiled noticeably as Matt took her hand. If it weren't so dark, Iris could have seen her blush better.
"New digidestined?" A man with long blueish hair asked while fixing his glasses on his face, "That can't be good."
"You mean there's more trouble in the digiworld?" A woman with short red hair and bright eyes said, biting her thumb nail pensively.
"Witchmon," Davis said seriously. He wasn't looking at any of them but rather stared out into the darkness of the park.
"Yes, I got an email form Gennai the other day." the red head with the laptop said, he raised his eyes from lap top and surveyed the group. His eyes lingered on Iris.
"Gennai?" she asked softly, disbelievingly. It couldn't be the same Gennai, could it?
"You know him?" Matt asked
"Yes, he aided me on many occasions," she replied biting down on her bottom lip
"You must be Iris," the red head started at length, "he mentioned you."
"He knew all along didn't he?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.
She had no doubt in her mind Gennai had known her power. The old man kept secrets like old magazines. Why hadn't he told her earlier though, why had he procrastinated until this time? What could he have gained? And why had he never implored her to reveal her knowledge about the digidestined. Surely he must have known of her intelligence; she wasn't ignorant.
"You know of this Witchmon, don't you?" the red head asked. She raised her eyes to his; they looked like black holes against his porcelain skin.
"Yes," Iris replied, "I have heard of her."
He nodded and returned his gaze to the lap top
"What do you know about her?" A boy with wild brown hair, whom Iris knew as Kari's older brother, asked.
"She hypnotizes her prey into doing her bidding. They become her slaves until they are destroyed. I don't know of any way, as of yet, to reverse the spell."
The former Kaiser shivered and turned his face away to the darkness. Iris frownedl she was tempted to mention the Kaiser, but the way Ken looked convinced her otherwise.
"So, I'm guessing you newest digidestined are going to have to take care of the problem?" The long blue haired man said
"It's been such a long time since we last went into the digital world." The red headed woman said, "I sometimes wish we had never come back."
"What are you talking about Sora?" Matt said. "When we were there, all you could think about was coming back. You wouldn't want to meet up with Apocalymon again would you?"
Sora scowled at him, "I didn't mean like that."
The red head interrupted, "I have a map of the digital world on the screen. If we can locate Witchmon's base, we could simply send them in and hopefully catch her by surprise." He locked eyes with Iris again, and she shook her head softly
"It's not as simple as that, I know the digital world back to front and I haven't heard any rumors of a base. She is as much of an enigma to the inhabitants of the digital world as to you and me."
"So you've heard nothing? No clues?"
Iris smiled, "I'm not completely ignorant. As I said, I know the digital world back to front. There is a place she may be hiding, but I'm not completely sure. There are some caves on the Northern island, old shrines to forgotten gods. There are runes there which I'm positive Gennai could translate. I'm pretty sure they lead to an underground cavern of some sort, or to a labyrinth. There's a chance she might be hiding in there."
"Can you locate the ruins on this map?" He asked and gestured for her to look at the map on the screen.
She obliged and pointed out the position on the north island, near the polar caps, where she knew the cave lay hidden amongst the glaciers and ruins. He nodded and began tapping away at the keyboard. In a few minuets, the caves were brought up on the screen, just as she remembered them.
"I'll email Gennai and see what he can do about those ruins."
Iris nodded and glanced over at Davis. Like the rest of the digidestined groups (apart from Ken, who was looking at the computer screen a well), he was involved in a reminiscing conversation about their first travels to the digital world. Melodye listened in silent amusement.
"Oh, and by the way," the red head started carefully closing the lap top lid and standing, "my name is Koushirou Izumi, you can call me Izzy." He held his hand out and Iris took it, smiling slightly
"Iris." She said softly, Izzy smiled.
A shiver ran suddenly down her spine and a feeling of foreboding and dead washed over her. She didn't notice Snowmon had climbed out of her backpack until she whispered into her ear.
"In the tree."
Iris' gaze flicked to a nearby tree, in which a small silhouette of a black cat sat. Before the cat scrambled away, Iris saw a flash of red. She followed it's quick, lithe movements with her eyes and once it landed on the top of a nearby building, next to another imposing shadow, her instincts took over.
In a flash of bright light a huge ball of fire was heading strait for her. She let out a warning yell, grabbed Izzy by the shoulders and pulled him to the ground. She heard the rest of the group let out various yells as the great fireball passed over them in an awesome wave of heat.
The fireball slammed into the nearby tree, sending charred bits of wood and leaves raining down on them. Iris hastily rolled off Izzy and turned her attention back to the shadows. She had no doubt in her mind who one of them was.
"I'll get you yet digidestined!" Witchmon's voice echoed throughout the park. In silent shock, they watched as a hole opened up in the atmosphere and the two shadows disappeared into it.
"That was her." Davis pointed out, blinking owlishly at the place where the atmosphere had parted to allow their escape.
Immediately the group broke out into a loud and quite obscene account of what had just occurred. Izzy hurriedly scrambled to his feet and, blushing furiously, offered Iris a hand.
"Thank you, "he said. Iris shook her head in dismissal.
"There is no way we can let her get away with that." Kari's elder brother commented, punching the air
"I just hope you guys know what you're getting yourself into." The blue haired boy, whose name still remained anonymous, said
"Not to worry," Davis started, "We can take anything on, isn't that right guys."
Yolie and Kari both nodded, their faces set in determination. Ken smiled and TK mumbled "Yeah," under his breath. Melodye looked like she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide and locked on the sky just above the nearest building.
They really didn't know what they were getting themselves into, did they? Sure, TK, Davis, Kari, Yolie and Ken had all been in there before, they'd experienced it, but how much did they really know? They hadn't spent year after year somehow managing to scrape through existence while the harsh and unpredictable digital world did everything in its power to stop them. They had only tasted the destructive nature that the digital world could dish up.
And Melodye, not once had she seen the inexorable torrential downpours that came and went as fast as lightning. She had never scaled the sands of the MX560 desert in search of things she didn't even know she wanted to find. She hadn't chased her prey through the knotted, twisted veins of the Gene forest.
How could she prepare herself for something she knew nothing about? Nothing was expected in the digital world; nothing could be predicted or guessed. It could change from the lush, peaceful valleys and villages of the love preserving Tanemon to the never ending battle between Tyrannomon and Greymon or the fierce attempt of genocide the Ogremon tribe commit on the Unimon. There were no choices in the matter, you have to take it as it comes, and Iris knew it came at you harder than you could ever expect.
If she was sure about one thing, it was they had no idea of what they were getting themselves into.