Recalled to Life

part one: Introduction

by volta arovet

This story takes place in an alternate dimension, very similar to the 02 universe except for the very end. In it, the Big Bad is indeed defeated, but not everyone knows about digimon, and the digidestined's parents don't know about digimon. When this story solidified in my mind, none of this stuff had happened. I'm sure you'd pick up on this, but it's nice to know up front, and it's hard to give clues as to what has not happened, as compared to what has happened.

This story is dedicated to shimmercat. She has had very little personal contact with me, but while lurking on the Jyori list, it was her kind words that prompted me to actually post the first part of this story, and to keep writing. Thank you.


Once the dark forces had been defeated, Cody made the responsible, reliable decision to stay behind for three days. No one was truly worried about Cody. He had Upamon and his various incarnations to protect him, and he had more than proven himself in the final battle. The parting of the younger group of digidestined was uneventful.

"You're sure you want to stay behind?" Yolei asked once again.

"It's only for three days," Cody replied, having explained himself before. "I'll look around, make sure everything's fine, then come right back."

"But you'll miss the party!" Davis cried, his priorities firmly in place.

"Yeah," Veemon added, "and all of the food!"

Armadillomon cast an imploring look at Cody. "Can't we go to the party first and then come back here? The thought of all that food makes my tummy growl." His stomach rumbled at that moment, as if to make his point.

"You're always hungry," Cody pointed out, mirth apparent in his voice when he saw that Armadillomon didn't see how that made any difference.

"Are you certain you'll be able to get back all right?" Kari asked in a motherly fashion.

Cody resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Just in case, make sure that Izzy's computer is on three days from now. If there's a problem, you can just open up a digiport and get me."

Yolei ruffled Cody's previously immaculate hair. "All right, then. You take care of yourself, okay?"

Cody straightened his hair, acting annoyed although his eyes showed that he was in good humor. "I'm the reliable one, remember? You try to take care of yourself while I'm away," he joked.

"We'll do our best," TK smirked.

Davis threw an arm around Ken's shoulders. Ken seemed extremely awkward at the friendly touch. "Okay, Ichijouji, we're going to show you what a real party is like." He turned to TK for confirmation. "Right, TJ?" TK opened his mouth to protest, but Davis cut him off. "Just kidding, TK." TK smirked.

"Very funny, Davish." Davis made a mock-threatening gesture at TK but, surprisingly, Ken threw his arm around Davis's shoulders.

"I'll tell you what, Motomiya. I'll go to your little party only if you promise to serve my mom's special chocolate cake at it."

Davis tilted his head to the side and remarked, "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

Ken gave a lopsided, evil grin, reminiscent of his days as the Digimon Emperor. "It absolutely is. Once you've tasted my mom's chocolate cake, you'll realize that other cakes just don't compare. You'll never be happy with normal cake again."

"Mm-hm," Wormmon agreed emphatically.

"Dibs on Armadillomon's piece!" Veemon cried out.

"Oh no, you don't," Armadillomon drawled. "I'm expecting you to save me a piece for when I get back."

Cody put his arm around Armadillomon's head in a semi-hug. "I promise to buy you an entire chocolate cake of your own the very day we get back."

Armadillomon grinned. "You just said the magic words. All right, I'll stay here a few more days."

"Speaking of magic, what say we make ourselves disappear?" TK proposed.

"Yeah," Gatomon purred. "Some of us desperately need to take a cat nap."

"And a shower," Yolei added.

"And some of us need some food!" Veemon felt compelled to shout.

Davis held his hands to his ears. "Okay, okay, I get the point, you want to eat." He held his D3 out. "Digiport, open!" he yelled.

As they passed through the gate, everyone shouted their goodbyes to Cody and Armadillomon. Cody waved at them until the light from the port faded away, then turned to Armadillomon with a matching grin on his face. "Let's go explore," he announced happily, and the two marched off to see what had become of the old digital world.

***

Three days later, Joe and Izzy were situated in front of Izzy's laptop, ready to welcome Cody and Armadillomon back. The younger set of digidestined had hoped to be there as well, but they were forced to run last-minute interference to prevent adults from seeing Cody and Armadillomon's return. They hadn't kept the digital world secret from their parents for so long, just to be found out now that the threat had passed. Izzy casually held onto his borrowed D3, given to him just in case the digital gate had to be opened on this side.

"Here goes nothing," he announced, turning on the computer.

"Let's just hope everything's all right on the other side," Joe added, taking a step back from the laptop so he would be out of the way of the new arrivals. Taking Joe's cue, Izzy also took a step back. "I'm really looking forward to seeing them again."

Izzy nodded, his black eyes shining with excitement. "Me too. I can't wait to hear what new information he has about the reformatted digiworld." Joe chuckled. "What? What are you laughing at?"

"You," Joe admitted. "You haven't changed since the day we first met. You're always trying to gain new knowledge."

"What's wrong with that?" Izzy said defensively, shrugging. "It comes with the crest. So, why are you so excited?"

It was Joe's turn to shrug. "I just like seeing Cody. He's my friend, and I want to congratulate him on defeating the dark forces and then taking the responsibility to make certain the digiworld is safe afterwards. I guess it's a crest thing, too." Joe's grin faded, and he rubbed a spot on his chest absentmindedly. "Plus, I need to talk to him about something. This might concern you, too. Tell me, Izzy, when our crests reappeared during the final battle, did you—"

Joe was cut off as a young man came flying through the portal. Unlike most travelers, this person was not dumped unceremoniously onto the floor in an undignified heap. He caught himself as he tumbled to the ground, twisted his body around in midair, and landed in a ready crouch. He straightened to his full height—taller than Izzy, but not as tall as Joe—and surveyed the room. His mouth hung half open in shock. He ran a shaking hand through his long, straight, brown hair. He couldn't be much older than 16 years, but the way he held his body made him seem older.

His eyes focused on the person before him. "Izzy?" the boy asked in wonder. He pulled nervously at the sparse hairs growing from his chin. He turned his eyes to the other person in the room. "Joe?"

Izzy shook his head in confusion. "Who…"

As Joe's dark eyes met the deep green eyes of the other person, he knew who the stranger was. "C-Cody?" he asked, his voice cracking on the last syllable.