Evils New Claim…

Part Four: Dimension Switch!

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Plot – mine. Characters – belong to the guys in office buildings in Japan. Don't sue me. Thanks.

***

"Blast it!" she shouted, slamming a fist into the computer console. "They've discovered the ring."

"They wouldn't have if that Kuwagamon hadn't attacked," another voice spoke up.

"It was well hidden. If that girl hadn't been lucky enough to find herself underneath him they might never have noticed. Now they've figured it out and that means it's almost inevitable that they discover me."

"You can't remain hidden if you want to take over the Digiworld," Ken spoke up in a slightly tired voice. "They would have found out you existed eventually." 

"Shut up," she snapped. "If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. And at the moment, I don't!"

Normally, he might have offered a snappy comeback to that remark, but he was unable to think of one at the moment, so he remained silent. Just sighed weakly.

'Great,' he thought sarcastically, having since given up his attempt to free himself from the chains that bound him. 'I come back from a months-long disappearance and what happens? I disappear again. This isn't going to go over too well with my family.'

***

Daisuke stared at the email. "It's – from me?" he realized blankly.

"I've got one, too," Miyako noted.

"So do I," Iori stated, peering at his own D-terminal. "What does this mean?"

"They need our help," Miyako observed, reading the email.

"This explains why I couldn't find Ken," Daisuke observed. "He's missing!"

"You looked for him?" she asked.

"I just wanted to talk to him," he defended. "But I couldn't find him."

"You shouldn't have done that!" Miyako shouted.

"Why not?"

"Because we haven't agreed with your idea yet!" she shrieked in response. "Who gives you authority to just go and talk to him about joining us if we don't want him to?"

"I just wanted to talk!" Daisuke insisted, shouting back. "Do I have to ask your permission to talk to someone?"

Iori sighed, reading over his own email. Whoever had sent him the email appeared to be very much like himself. The message was written very much in his own style, short, but polite.

"Are you going to agree to go to the other world, Iori?" Armadimon questioned, looking over his shoulder at the email. Iori sat down in the sand to think. Daisuke and Miyako continued arguing behind them, but neither paid any notice.

"I don't know," the young boy confessed. "I don't agree with what Ken's done, but does that mean he shouldn't be helped if he's in danger? I don't think so. But I wonder where he is?"

"Maybe with the same person who is using the rings now," his partner suggested.

"It's possible," Patamon spoke up. Takeru, with his digimon riding on his ever-present hat, stood before him. The tall blond boy sat down on the sand. "That person would have a reason to kidnap Ken."

"Are you going to go to the other world, Takeru?" Iori always attempted to address the other boy directly, even if it was always Patamon who answered the questions.

Takeru only shrugged. "We're not sure yet," Patamon replied with a slightly exasperated sigh.

Iori thought for a moment about what it must be like to be Patamon. Since Hikari's disappearance and presumed death several months ago, Takeru had slipped into something of a depression. He continued to assist in the Digiworld, but rarely spoke except to activate his Digimental. He didn't even argue with Daisuke anymore, something he'd begun to get into the habit of before Hikari's disappearance. Patamon did almost all the talking now.

Iori and Miyako hadn't gotten to know Hikari very much. Daisuke and Takeru had both known her from school, and Takeru from previous Digiworld adventures, but, as she'd been too sick and weak to come to the Digiworld very much with the younger children, neither Iori nor Miyako had seen her more than a few times. Even Daisuke didn't know her very well, because she'd been absent from school so often due to her illness. Takeru was really the only one who was very close to her. Iori couldn't imagine what it was like to lose someone that close. Miyako was one of his closest friends. He tried to think what it would be like if Miyako had disappeared. Or Armadimon. He shuddered at the thought.

"You all right, Iori?" Armadimon questioned. Iori nodded.

Miyako and Daisuke had paused in their arguments and were now standing back to back, apparently quite angry at each other. Iori knew that wasn't the case. He knew that deep inside, both cared for each other quite deeply, and that this was their way of expressing it. He didn't understand it any more than Daisuke had understood Yamato and Taichi fighting as a way of expressing their own friendship, but he had learned to accept it.

"So what are we going to do?" Iori spoke up now that the argument had ended. "Are we going to go to the other world and help Ken?"

"I'm going," Daisuke declared boldly. "Maybe I can even help them out there."

Miyako snorted in disbelief, but didn't comment on the slightly ego-inflating statement. "I'll go, too," she decided. "I could use a bit of a vacation from this place." She waved her hand as if to encompass not only the Digiworld, but her whole reality.

"It won't be just for a vacation," Hawkmon reminded her. "You'll have to take the place of the Miyako in that world. She's probably got problems just as difficult as yours."

Miyako shrugged. "As long as she's not in classes that are about twelve grades above me I'll be fine," she decided.

"What about you, Iori?" Armadimon wondered. "Will you go?"

"I suppose," he decided. "But someone will have to stay here. And someone there. Our world will be very different from theirs, and we'll need someone to tell them the differences. And we'll need someone to show us around theirs."

"We'll volunteer for that," Patamon decided. Takeru nodded in agreement, a look of grim determination on his face. The other three frowned.

"Are you sure, Takeru?" Iori questioned.

The blond boy nodded. "We're sure," Patamon spoke up.

"Okay then," Daisuke decided. "Let's send the e-mails back!"

***

Miyako turned when the computer at the desk let out a beep. "Oh! There's a response!" she declared. Hurriedly, she opened the e-mail and began to read. The others crowded around.

"All right!" Daisuke cheered happily. "I'm going to the other world." He frowned slightly. "I wonder if he's just like me?"

"Let's hope not," Miyako replied dryly. "I couldn't deal with two of you."

Daisuke just groaned. "Who else is going?"

"I am," Miyako announced.

"So am I," Iori read.

Takeru read over the email. "I guess my counterpart will be tour guide there," he noted, frowning slightly. "I would have liked to have gone to another world."

"We've got enough work to do here," Patamon reminded his partner from his perch on his hat. He'd flown up there to get a better look at the e-mail.

"That's true," Takeru agreed. "I hope they're up to it."

"I'll have to stay, too," Hikari reminded him. "Since I don't have a counterpart in that world, I'd be missed too much here."

"Hey – what about Ken?" Miyako wondered. Everyone turned to her, including Ken himself. "I mean – won't you be missed, too?"

Ken frowned. "That's true," he realized. "I'll be able to reassure the parents in that world, but what about mine here?"

Daisuke put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell them you're staying with me a few days," he decided. "They'll probably be glad to know you're in such good hands."

The other boy looked slightly disturbed by the idea, but had to admit there was no better option.

***

In the digital world – the next day…

Miyako peered around him at the place they'd just landed. "Looks pretty much the same as the Digiworld back home," she observed.

"I guess the Digiworld is the same everywhere," Takeru noted with a shrug. He had followed along so that he could meet up with the others before leading them back home.

"Okay, so where are the others?" Iori questioned. He looked at his digivice. "I'm not reading anyone nearby."

"I'm not either," Daisuke observed. "Maybe we're early?" Suddenly, a few colored bleeps appeared on the screen. "There they are!"

"Let's go meet up with them!" V-mon declared. A few moments later, the group was running across the desert in the direction of the bleeps.

Miyako was first to spot them. "I see them!" she shouted as they neared the top of a sand dune. "Whoa," she shuddered. "It's almost like looking in the mirror."

"Before we go down there, we should find some way of telling ourselves apart," Iori spoke up before anyone could take another step.

"No problem," Miyako decided, removing her helmet and letting the air blow through her hair. "If I'm not wearing this, there won't be a problem."

Takeru removed his hat and tried fruitlessly to straighten his hair. "Okay, Daisuke, you know what to do," he grinned. The red-head grumbled but reluctantly reached up and pulled his prized hand-me-down goggles from his head.

"Happy?" he grumbled. Takeru only grinned an even bigger grin.

"What about me?" Iori questioned. He had no extra clothing on him to remove, nor hats.

"I know!" Miyako decided. Before Daisuke could stop her, she had taken the goggles from his hands and put them on Iori's head.

"Hey!" Daisuke shouted in protest.

Iori looked with some confusion at the goggles on his head. Then he giggled slightly. Miyako laughed outright, and Takeru joined in. Before long, even Ken was laughing. Eventually, even Daisuke had to join in. The youngest Chosen did look quite silly wearing the goggles that had once belonged to Taichi.

A short time later, the two groups joined together. There was a moment of silence as everyone but Ken blinked and stared, trying to make sure they weren't peering into a mirror.

"Whoa," the Daisuke still wearing his goggles noted.

"This is really weird," his mirror image agreed.

"I was just gonna say that!" the first realized.

"Weird," the second breathed, astonished.

"Hey -," both V-mon partners spoke at once. "We're the same!" Both human partners laughed.

"Wow, I look pretty good," Miyako grinned. "Though I have to admit, I do look better without the helmet."

"You're telling me," the other agreed, holding the aforementioned headgear in her arms.

Hawkmon politely bowed to himself, who bowed back.

Iori shook hands politely with himself. "Pleased to meet –,"

"Me?" Iori questioned, pushing the goggles out of his eyes. "This is rather strange."

"It is."

Armadimon peered closely at his counterpart. "Good to meet a digimon as good looking as myself," he grinned.

"I'll say," the other agreed with an identical grin.

Takeru solemnly put out his hand in greeting and studied himself, but neither he nor his partner spoke. Somehow, the boy without the hat was able to tell that something was not quite right, and knew better than to say anything.

"Hi!" Patamon called cheerfully the head of the boy without the hat.

"Hello!" the other called back in an equally cheery voice.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Daisuke with goggles questioned once everyone had finished greeting themselves.

"You guys can head back with Takeru," his counterpart explained. "Ken's supposed to be staying with me while we're gone, so don't forget that if anyone asks. He's cleared it with his parents, so there shouldn't be too much trouble."

"Not much is happening in the Digiworld," Miyako picked up where he'd left off. "We're still working on taking down the towers. I guess if you guys want to work on that, you can. Any specific problems, you can always send an email. Koushiro knows how to alter the program."

"If there's any major difference between the two worlds, I should be able to explain. Of course, you all will have to meet Hikari, and get used to her before school tomorrow. It'll look pretty strange otherwise," Takeru spoke up. There was an awkward silence for a moment as the others took in his words.

"Meeting Hikari – I never thought about that," Iori confessed.

"That is going to be weird," Daisuke agreed.

"Is there anything we need to know?" Ken questioned after a short awkward silence had passed.

"Nothing important," Miyako decided. "I suppose we're at the same stage as you in the Digiworld." She glanced at her counterpart as she spoke. "Although yesterday we did have an encounter with a vicious Kuwagamon that was ring-controlled."

"They've been reactivated?" Iori questioned, the seriousness of the situation making his appearance look a bit less comical.

"We've theorized that this world's Ken may be with whoever sent out the rings. The towers are probably reactivated, too," his double explained.

"Entirely possible," Takeru agreed thoughtfully.

"I guess that's it, then," Daisuke spoke up. He gestured towards the blond boy standing off to the side. "Patamon can explain everything else you need to know, and of course, Koushiro will help, too."

"We'll keep in touch if anything serious comes up," Patamon added cheerfully.

A few moments later, goodbyes were said, and the second group was gone. Daisuke took his goggles back from Iori, who relinquished them happily.

"Do you guys want to look around here first or should we go back to the real world?" Patamon asked.

***

"Well, the computer room looks the same," Iori noted after the Chosen had disentangled themselves from the pile.

"Yup," Takeru agreed, straightening his hat. He looked around. "Hikari and Koushiro should be here soon," he noted.

"Some things never change," Daisuke noted with a sigh, peering at the complicated list of homework written on the board.

"Homework's probably the same in every world," Miyako sighed as well.

"Hey Takeru," a voice came from the door. "Have they arrived yet?"

"Yup, everyone's here, Koushiro," Takeru waved. "Where's Hikari?"

"She's coming," the red-headed computer whiz replied. "She wanted to stop home first, I think." He turned his attention to the three chosen. "So – you're the ones from the other world?"

***

Standard notes: This is the sequel to my story "A Stranger Digiworld." If you haven't read that yet, it's advisable to do so. This one might stand on its own, but it probably won't. Read that one first. It's at:

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=326235

If there's anything here that doesn't make sense to you – (like Osamu being alive in one world, and the skipping getting confusing)- my advice is…READ THE PREQUEL!

Some of the stuff in here is confusing, I'm trying to make it not. Hopefully it will make more sense now that they've switched. ^_^

In the next part, the group in the other world heads out to check on the Digiworld, while the others meet up with Hikari. Will it be a confusing reunion? And, soon, something dramatic happens, causing 'our heroes' to meet up with the Digiworld's new master – er – mistress. Will they be able to save Ken?