Chapter II: Homecoming
It's good to be back again, Ken thought to himself. Wormmon and I have been away too long, far too long. Ken had always loved nature, but in his world it was always so tame and contained, as though the cities simply left a little bit of nature as an afterthought, an aside, a monument to times long past. Here it was all nature; here you could get lost in life.
Yes, it was nice to be back.
Tai spoke up first. "Well, come on everyone. Izzy's got Gennai's location up on his computer. It's a couple hours south of here, and it looks like the sun is already starting to go down."
Davis and Veemon pumped their fists into the air. "Alright!" Davis cried out. "We're back, baby!" Yolei and Hawkmon glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.
Kari stepped aside from the group and laid her pack on the ground. She set her eyes on the distant horizon. The sun was only about half an hour away from setting, making the whole world shine with a stunning red-gold color, and the sky swirled with all sorts of wonderful purples and oranges and pinks. Kari breathed in the deep, cool air of the Digital World. She could feel her body tingle with life.
TK walked up and settled his hand softly on her shoulder. He watched the setting sun also, too enraptured with its beauty to look at Kari…for about three seconds, anyway. They turned and looked at each other.
A pink blur dove between their faces. "Ooooh, pretty! Pink, even!" These two are soooo cute together, Mimi thought to herself. Mimi was still obsessed with pink, although in recent years she had discovered that black really brought out her favorite color. With her pink top, she wore loose, black pants. She remembered the first time she was in the Digital World, spending months here wearing a dress. That was horrible at the time, Mimi thought, but now that I look back, it was kinda fun. Not that I'd ever want to do it again. She was still wearing one of her famed hats, and her strawberry-blonde hair trailed out behind it.
She cast a sly glance at Kari and TK. "None of that, you two. Come on, we can't keep Gennai waiting!" Kari and TK both blushed and turned away. Kari picked up her pack, and she walked ahead with TK back to the group. Mimi chuckled to herself. Those two are so right for each other. I wonder why they never went out. Mimi shrugged and walked up to Joe's side and crooked her arm through his. Joe's face turned a couple shades of red. Oh well, those two will find their way eventually. She looked up at Joe. Oh, he's just so cute...
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As they twenty-four companions marched along, they all thought that this march was less like a march, and more like a pleasant stroll in the countryside. The day had passed into night, and the hundreds of colors shaded into whites and grays. Agumon and Tentomon had developed the wonderful ability to act as torches, Agumon by keeping one of his Pepper Breaths in his mouth, and Tentomon by running a bit of his own electricity back through himself. They had developed this exceedingly useful trick one time when Izzy, Tai, Tentomon, and Agumon were on a road trip and Tai lost his keys. It was a backwoods parking lot in the middle of a town you could miss by blinking, and it took them almost twenty minutes to discover they were in Tai's other pocket. But when they had been searching the ground, Tentomon and Agumon had provided some light.
Now, Tentomon and Agumon walked ahead of the group, providing a little light to guide their path. They stopped about an hour into their march to eat a small bit of food. Izzy pulled out his computer to check his bearings.
He saw that they were a bit off course, but only a bit, nothing out of the ordinary. He got a detailed scan of Gennai and saw that he was fine. There were a number of Digimon around him, also. Izzy casually flipped through them and smiled. It looked like they were going to see some old friends, too. Gennai didn't seem to be in any danger. He set about scanning the area around them. There were a number of Digimon all around, but they were spread out, and none seemed to have taken notice of them. All looked quiet on their front. So what was this emergency Gennai talked about? Izzy moved to rejoin his friends.
Matt said, "So Izzy, how's it looking?"
"Gennai seems to be okay, and I haven't seen unusual numbers of Digimon around here. It seems like we're in the clear."
"Well that's good to hear. I hope the Digital World is okay," Sora said.
"What do you think that Gennai wants?" Ken said. "We've been called, well, all of you have been called, into this world three times before now. Once it was to give up the power of your crests, and twice it was to defend the Digital World," from me, he added silently. "I still have my crest, and some of us have our Digi-eggs, so maybe he needs those for something."
Gatomon spoke up. "And we can still Digivolve to Ultimate. I've done it a few times since we defeated MaloMyotismon. Maybe he needs the power from that Digicore he used on us. Or maybe he needs my tail ring for something."
Izzy said, "That could be, Gatomon, but why would Gennai not be at home? And why would sending a message to us would be a risk for him, unless there was someone for us to fight?"
That was a sobering thought. It isn't going to be fun and games. Sure, it is great to be back here, but the road home is going to be a long, dangerous one, Joe thought to himself. Hey, none of that now. He stood up.
"Come on guys. I know you're thinking the same thing that I am. It's going to be tough, probably tougher than all of us thought. This isn't going to be a picnic. But the Digital World, and maybe our own world, needs us. This world is calling us again to help save it, and darnit, I'm going to do it!" Joe awkwardly sat back down. Mimi leaned in on his arm and whispered in his ear, "Oh, what a strong man!" Joe looked down at her, remembering when they'd just been kids, and she'd said those words. The memory brought a smile to both their faces. If we get out of this...Joe started, but he didn't finish the thought. If I'm fighting for anyone, it's for her. Not the worlds, her.
Davis stood up. "Joe's right! We can't give up now, we've got to fight whoever and whatever it is, no matter what!"
Matt joined him. "Yeah, let's go everyone!"
As everyone got up to gather their things, Davis noticed that Yolei seemed a little distracted. He sat down beside her, "Something wrong, Yolei?"
Her voice was distant and quiet. "Not really...well, I was just thinking--
"And we all know how dangerous that can be."
"Oh, Davis! Ugh...I swear, boys can be such jerks at times, especially you!"
"Okay, okay, sorry. What were you thinking about?"
"Well, Izzy said he scanned the area around us for other Digimon, right?"
"Yeah, he did. So?"
"Didn't he also say that his program can only track Digimon we've already met?"
Everyone froze and looked sharply at Yolei. Izzy dashed to his computer and flipped the top up. As he panned around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and breathed a sigh of relief. But just as he finished the scan, he noticed a large patch where there were no Digimon at all. It was a few hundred meters wide, and growing by the second. What's more, all the blue dots of Digimon were running away from it. One blue dot fell behind the others and winked out. Izzy slammed the top of his laptop down hard and winced as he did so, but there was no time to worry about it now.
"Move it!" He called. "Something's coming, something big!"
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By the time everything was packed up, the Digidestined had begun to hear faint crashing noises. Biyomon had silently gone back to see what it was, and was just returning when they began to leave. She dropped quietly into Sora's arms. Everyone started to run, but clustered around Sora as Biyomon talked.
"Oh, Sora, it was incredible. Hundreds of Digimon are coming! It was terrible; they trampled the forest and killed all the Digimon they ran across. And they had these strange, red, glowing eyes. We've got to get away from here right now!"
As they kept running, Izzy called out, "Make for that hill over there! I'll explain when we get there!" As they mounted the summit of the hill, they saw the light of Izzy's computer screen. He wasted no time.
"Do you see that mountain about three miles south of us? Gennai's signal is coming about half a mile further south of that. We should split up by twos, and meet there. Four people can evade an army like that much more easily than twenty-four. Split up and let's move!"
Matt paired up with Ken, Sora grabbed Tai, Joe went with Mimi, TK and Kari nodded at each other, and Izzy and Cody partnered. They wished each other good luck, and ran off into the forest. Davis looked back and forth. Yolei was the only one left. Davis sighed.
Yolei grabbed his arm. "Aw, come on Davis, this'll be fun, running for our lives. It reminds me of one of our dates!"
Davis just sighed again. "I didn't know he was a cop, okay!"
It's good to be back again, Ken thought to himself. Wormmon and I have been away too long, far too long. Ken had always loved nature, but in his world it was always so tame and contained, as though the cities simply left a little bit of nature as an afterthought, an aside, a monument to times long past. Here it was all nature; here you could get lost in life.
Yes, it was nice to be back.
Tai spoke up first. "Well, come on everyone. Izzy's got Gennai's location up on his computer. It's a couple hours south of here, and it looks like the sun is already starting to go down."
Davis and Veemon pumped their fists into the air. "Alright!" Davis cried out. "We're back, baby!" Yolei and Hawkmon glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.
Kari stepped aside from the group and laid her pack on the ground. She set her eyes on the distant horizon. The sun was only about half an hour away from setting, making the whole world shine with a stunning red-gold color, and the sky swirled with all sorts of wonderful purples and oranges and pinks. Kari breathed in the deep, cool air of the Digital World. She could feel her body tingle with life.
TK walked up and settled his hand softly on her shoulder. He watched the setting sun also, too enraptured with its beauty to look at Kari…for about three seconds, anyway. They turned and looked at each other.
A pink blur dove between their faces. "Ooooh, pretty! Pink, even!" These two are soooo cute together, Mimi thought to herself. Mimi was still obsessed with pink, although in recent years she had discovered that black really brought out her favorite color. With her pink top, she wore loose, black pants. She remembered the first time she was in the Digital World, spending months here wearing a dress. That was horrible at the time, Mimi thought, but now that I look back, it was kinda fun. Not that I'd ever want to do it again. She was still wearing one of her famed hats, and her strawberry-blonde hair trailed out behind it.
She cast a sly glance at Kari and TK. "None of that, you two. Come on, we can't keep Gennai waiting!" Kari and TK both blushed and turned away. Kari picked up her pack, and she walked ahead with TK back to the group. Mimi chuckled to herself. Those two are so right for each other. I wonder why they never went out. Mimi shrugged and walked up to Joe's side and crooked her arm through his. Joe's face turned a couple shades of red. Oh well, those two will find their way eventually. She looked up at Joe. Oh, he's just so cute...
______________________________
As they twenty-four companions marched along, they all thought that this march was less like a march, and more like a pleasant stroll in the countryside. The day had passed into night, and the hundreds of colors shaded into whites and grays. Agumon and Tentomon had developed the wonderful ability to act as torches, Agumon by keeping one of his Pepper Breaths in his mouth, and Tentomon by running a bit of his own electricity back through himself. They had developed this exceedingly useful trick one time when Izzy, Tai, Tentomon, and Agumon were on a road trip and Tai lost his keys. It was a backwoods parking lot in the middle of a town you could miss by blinking, and it took them almost twenty minutes to discover they were in Tai's other pocket. But when they had been searching the ground, Tentomon and Agumon had provided some light.
Now, Tentomon and Agumon walked ahead of the group, providing a little light to guide their path. They stopped about an hour into their march to eat a small bit of food. Izzy pulled out his computer to check his bearings.
He saw that they were a bit off course, but only a bit, nothing out of the ordinary. He got a detailed scan of Gennai and saw that he was fine. There were a number of Digimon around him, also. Izzy casually flipped through them and smiled. It looked like they were going to see some old friends, too. Gennai didn't seem to be in any danger. He set about scanning the area around them. There were a number of Digimon all around, but they were spread out, and none seemed to have taken notice of them. All looked quiet on their front. So what was this emergency Gennai talked about? Izzy moved to rejoin his friends.
Matt said, "So Izzy, how's it looking?"
"Gennai seems to be okay, and I haven't seen unusual numbers of Digimon around here. It seems like we're in the clear."
"Well that's good to hear. I hope the Digital World is okay," Sora said.
"What do you think that Gennai wants?" Ken said. "We've been called, well, all of you have been called, into this world three times before now. Once it was to give up the power of your crests, and twice it was to defend the Digital World," from me, he added silently. "I still have my crest, and some of us have our Digi-eggs, so maybe he needs those for something."
Gatomon spoke up. "And we can still Digivolve to Ultimate. I've done it a few times since we defeated MaloMyotismon. Maybe he needs the power from that Digicore he used on us. Or maybe he needs my tail ring for something."
Izzy said, "That could be, Gatomon, but why would Gennai not be at home? And why would sending a message to us would be a risk for him, unless there was someone for us to fight?"
That was a sobering thought. It isn't going to be fun and games. Sure, it is great to be back here, but the road home is going to be a long, dangerous one, Joe thought to himself. Hey, none of that now. He stood up.
"Come on guys. I know you're thinking the same thing that I am. It's going to be tough, probably tougher than all of us thought. This isn't going to be a picnic. But the Digital World, and maybe our own world, needs us. This world is calling us again to help save it, and darnit, I'm going to do it!" Joe awkwardly sat back down. Mimi leaned in on his arm and whispered in his ear, "Oh, what a strong man!" Joe looked down at her, remembering when they'd just been kids, and she'd said those words. The memory brought a smile to both their faces. If we get out of this...Joe started, but he didn't finish the thought. If I'm fighting for anyone, it's for her. Not the worlds, her.
Davis stood up. "Joe's right! We can't give up now, we've got to fight whoever and whatever it is, no matter what!"
Matt joined him. "Yeah, let's go everyone!"
As everyone got up to gather their things, Davis noticed that Yolei seemed a little distracted. He sat down beside her, "Something wrong, Yolei?"
Her voice was distant and quiet. "Not really...well, I was just thinking--
"And we all know how dangerous that can be."
"Oh, Davis! Ugh...I swear, boys can be such jerks at times, especially you!"
"Okay, okay, sorry. What were you thinking about?"
"Well, Izzy said he scanned the area around us for other Digimon, right?"
"Yeah, he did. So?"
"Didn't he also say that his program can only track Digimon we've already met?"
Everyone froze and looked sharply at Yolei. Izzy dashed to his computer and flipped the top up. As he panned around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and breathed a sigh of relief. But just as he finished the scan, he noticed a large patch where there were no Digimon at all. It was a few hundred meters wide, and growing by the second. What's more, all the blue dots of Digimon were running away from it. One blue dot fell behind the others and winked out. Izzy slammed the top of his laptop down hard and winced as he did so, but there was no time to worry about it now.
"Move it!" He called. "Something's coming, something big!"
______________________________
By the time everything was packed up, the Digidestined had begun to hear faint crashing noises. Biyomon had silently gone back to see what it was, and was just returning when they began to leave. She dropped quietly into Sora's arms. Everyone started to run, but clustered around Sora as Biyomon talked.
"Oh, Sora, it was incredible. Hundreds of Digimon are coming! It was terrible; they trampled the forest and killed all the Digimon they ran across. And they had these strange, red, glowing eyes. We've got to get away from here right now!"
As they kept running, Izzy called out, "Make for that hill over there! I'll explain when we get there!" As they mounted the summit of the hill, they saw the light of Izzy's computer screen. He wasted no time.
"Do you see that mountain about three miles south of us? Gennai's signal is coming about half a mile further south of that. We should split up by twos, and meet there. Four people can evade an army like that much more easily than twenty-four. Split up and let's move!"
Matt paired up with Ken, Sora grabbed Tai, Joe went with Mimi, TK and Kari nodded at each other, and Izzy and Cody partnered. They wished each other good luck, and ran off into the forest. Davis looked back and forth. Yolei was the only one left. Davis sighed.
Yolei grabbed his arm. "Aw, come on Davis, this'll be fun, running for our lives. It reminds me of one of our dates!"
Davis just sighed again. "I didn't know he was a cop, okay!"