The Chosen
Chapter 2
A/N: Natalie: Aren't we evil? We did a cliffy!
Iris: *grins evilly* If you thinks that's evil, wait until later…
Natalie: Um… What she said! *tries to copy Iris's evil grin but fails miserably*
Iris: *sweatdrops* Anywaaaaaaaays, we want to thank Rachel for her wonderful beta reading!
Natalie: Uh huh! And my mom for helping us with unnecessary comas! *wearing the grin of a small child*
Iris: Um... Yeah... That too ^_^;;
Natalie: Uh...I wanted to say thanks to everybody who's reading this! *still wearing her innocent grin*
Iris: And now on will the show! *leaves dragging Natalie behind her*
Disclaimer: Iris: We don't own digimon, Toei and Bandai do. *sobs*
******
Iris's POV
I groaned, my grey eyes fluttering open to meet violet ones. I was immediately awake, wondering where I was and there was some guy standing over me. I groaned again, inwardly this time. I tried to sit up and realized for the first time that I was laying on old leaves and branches.
Looking up I could see trees that seemed to reach the sky and I knew I was in a forest of some type. The violet-eyed boy rested a hand on my shoulder as if he knew I was close to panicking. That's when it all came back to me: D3's... Gennai... The prophecy... A dark force... Digi-Eggs and... Natalie!
We were in the Digital World! But where was Natalie? I stood up quickly, brushing the leaves and twigs off my clothing. The boy jumped back, startled by my sudden movement. But I wasn't worried about that right now Natalie? I asked myself mentally. Where are you?
That's when I heard it, another moan coming from my left. I raced towards the sound to find two kids around my age standing over a figure on the ground. It was Natalie, and she seemed to be waking. The two watched as I kneeled beside my friend, brushing her long blonde hair away from her face as I did so.
"Hey Natalie, are you okay?" I asked softly.
She blinked several times before sitting up. "Ouch," she moaned, clutching her head. She fell back down still holding her head. I could tell she wasn't seeing her surroundings correctly by the confused way she was looking up at me.
"Hey Nat? What's the matter?"
She shook her head as if trying to clear her vision, but it seemed to only do the opposite, and she moaned in pain. Well, what am I supposed to do? I thought, close to panic for what seemed to be the second time in under ten minutes.
She closed her eyes and opened them again, trying to see better. She sat up still holding her head.
"Iris, why does my head hurt so bad...." She trailed off, before shaking her head and asking, "Can you help me up?"
"I don't know, probably something to do with our trip." I frowned. " I'll help you up, but be careful okay!" It sounded more like an order than anything.
Slowly I helped her to her feet. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked.
That's when I remembered something. The violet eyed boy! Damn, I knew he look familiar. Ken Ichijouji! I turned to look at him, his eyes filled with worry, confusion, and... suspicion? Why would he be suspicious of us? I thought, thoroughly confused. Well... The other part of my mind told me, One, you just happened to be laying in the middle of a dark forest unconscious. Two, if you were a digidestined from their world, he would already know of you. And three, it doesn't really help when you seem to know everything about him, where he knows nothing about you!
As I looked around I noticed the other five digidestined seemed to be giving us the same looks. I sighed; this was going to take some explaining...
"Hey Iris?" Natalie asked, "could you possibly help me walk by being my crutch?" Still glancing at the watching digidestined, I walked over to Natalie and helped her stand.
"Ah.....Nat...."
I was cut off by: "Ouch," Natalie was muttering rather loudly, "you'd think Gennai could have given us a better landing pad."
"Hey!" T.K. asked us, confusion laced through his voice. "How do you Gennai?"
I closed my eyes, sighing again. Great Natalie, open mouth, insert foot. Still I let her lean on me.
I opened my eyes again. "A long story." I said simply, wondering how I was going to explain this.
The oldest one in the group frowned. "We have time. Explain." Yolei stated, rather coldly in my opinion.
"Iris, who the heck are you talking to?" Natalie asked squinting in the direction from which she heard their voices.
I saw Yolei's gaze soften slightly as she watched Natalie struggle to see them.
"Um, the digidestined?" I said trying to not sound too concerned about Natalie.
There was a silence as Natalie continued to blink and shake her head while everyone watched.
"Iris, if your kidding I'm gonna..."
I cut her off. "I'm not. Trust me on this one."
She looked fairly shocked, and I couldn't really blame her. But we were here to help them right?
"Okay, this is great. I can't see a thing and the digidestined are right in front of me!" Natalie yelled angrily.
The digidestined looked fairly shocked at her outburst. There goes the other foot I thought lazily.
She seemed to calm down, sighed and said, "Iris I'm really not in the mood to explain much of anything and I think we should make sure even the first digidestined like Tai are present when we do."
"Agreed." Now we just need to find out how to get ourselves out of this mess... Well I guess it would be the best to start out with introducing ourselves.
I slowly stepped away from Natalie, making sure she didn't fall and hurt herself before I bowed politely. "I'm Iris, and this is Natalie." I pointed to my best friend. "We're digidestined."
The other digidestined glanced at one another suspiciously. "Digidestined?" asked Kari stepping forward.
"Yes," said Natalie trying to bow but failing miserably and tripping over herself before landing back on the ground again.
I guess the worst they could have done was laugh, but instead Kari knelt down to give Natalie a hand. "Thanks," said Natalie while Kari helped her up. "Kari, right?" Natalie asked smiling even though she couldn't see the surprised look on Kari's face.
"But-How-" She stuttered slightly. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh." She blushed slightly. "Well were we're from, you guys are a t.v. show." She turned to me for support. "Right Iris?"
I blushed along with her. It did sound pretty silly, and the six of them did look dubious. "Yes it's true. We know all your names." I pointed each one out. "Kari, Davis, Yolei, Cody, T.K., and Ken."
Davis looked at us both with surprise and confusion written on his face, before his look turned proud, and more obnoxious than anything else. "Hear that guys? We have our very own t.v. show!"
I rolled my eyes. I should have known he'd do something like this. I was sure that Davis had still not grown up.
But then he frowned. "Wait a minute. How do we know you're not just some evil digimon trying to take over the world?!"
I rolled my eyes. Well give the boy a metal...
"We knew your names didn't we!" Nat yelled.
"Well anyone could have found that out!" he shot back. "I want real proof!"
I saw Natalie roll her eyes, "Iris show them our digi-eggs will ya? That should be proof enough."
"Okay..." I hesitated. Where are they?
I looked around for a moment. There they were! I walked over to them and picked them up. Then I showed the others our proof. "Is this good enough?" I asked them.
I thought for a moment before taking off my backpack. Shifting through it I found my D3. "And if it isn't, will this help?" I held it out in front of them.
"Well what do you think guys?" asked Davis examining our digi-eggs carefully.
Yolei stepped up and began to examine Iris's D'3. "Where's your D3?" she asked looking over at Natalie.
"In my backpack," answered Natalie, "Iris, can you find my backpack for me?"
I found it where she was originally laying, taking out her blue D3 and showing it to them as well. "Oh! And our D-Terminal's!" I cried taking both Natalie's and mine, out of our backpacks.
"That proof enough Davis?" Natalie asked surprisingly calm.
"Er...yah, sorry for doubting you guys."
"Yeah, me too," Yolei added.
Natalie smiled. "It's okay, you had every right to be suspicious."
"Yeah, don't worry about it," I added, "But we didn't just come here to hang out. Gennai sent us here for a reason. There's something evil brewing in the Digital World and for some reason we were chosen to help to fight it, but we don't know exactly what it is." I sighed. "It would probably be best to explain the rest with the older digidestined present as well."
"Makes sense to me," said Davis walking over to Natalie. "I'm Davis. Wait a sec. You already knew that."
She laughed and smiled. "And I'm Natalie," she extended her hand, "But you already knew that too."
******
Natalie's POV
I began to notice my vision clearing and all the blurs of color becoming trees, plants, and people. I saw a face in front of me- Davis.
"Well what do you know," I said happily, "I can see again." I turned to see Ken walk over to Iris.
"Hi. I guess you already know my name so I won't bother introducing myself." Was she blushing?
"T.K.?" Kari looked to him. "Do you think we'll be able to round up the older kids?"
He shrugged. "Maybe, but not today. I know Matt is at a practice with his band, and you know Tai has soccer too."
She wilted slightly. "And Mimi's still in America."
He smiled at her and the rest of the gang. "I'm sure we can work something out, and if we call Mimi and tell her it's important I'm sure she could get here by digi-port tomorrow. It shouldn't be too hard to get the rest others' attention."
"Uh, guys," said Cody looking at his watch, "It's almost 6:00 and I need to be home for dinner."
Iris looked at her watch. "He's right, Natalie." She paled visibly. "Nat, where are we going to stay?"
"Honestly, I have no clue." I answered.
"I'd let you say with me," said Kari kindly, "but we don't have any more room."
"I'm sorry." Said Yolei sadly. "I'd invite you over to my place, but after my last sleep over incident-" Her and Kari gave each other glances, and giggled. "My mom has decided that I can't have anyone over for at least a month."
I had to wonder from both Yolei and Kari's attitude. Had anything chanced since the season had ended in our world?
"Well," said T.K., "I wish you could come over to my place, but I'm going to be at Matt's."
"Uh," said Cody, looking slightly embarrassed, "My mom says I can't have a girl to a sleep over till I'm married."
Iris turned a hot pink and looked to her shoes. Some of the others did the same, and when they didn't they shifted from foot to foot feeling slightly awkward. Davis was the only one who didn't show it.
"Man, you'd think your mom was trying to turn you into a monk or something!"
I giggled as quietly as possible, and was pretty sure no one heard me, well maybe Iris, but no one else. Davis was so clueless, and it was extremely cute. Or to me at least I thought, looking at the slightly annoyed face of Yolei. Hmmm. I didn't know why, but for some reason I kept finding myself glancing at Davis. Weird... I thought blowing it off.
******
Iris's POV
I glanced at Natalie. Was she giggling? Everyone else seemed to take on a slightly different approach. Kari shook her head still not understanding Davis after all the time they had spent together. T.K. merely shook his head, more watchful than Kari when it came to Davis and his habit of not thinking before he spoke. Yolei just frowned. Davis could be such an airhead sometimes, and I wondered if Yolei would ever learn to put up with him. I doubted it of course. Cody just seemed to shrug it off, most likely feeling that Davis, was Davis, and that he just couldn't help saying what felt natural to him. Ken was the only one that looked more amused than Natalie. He didn't seem to mind it when Davis ended up putting his foot in his mouth, or when he said something that would qualify as just plain stupid. But they were DNA digivolving partners. Was that what made them closer? What made them understand each other better than most friends?
******
Ken's POV
Ken watched in only slight amusement as Davis put his foot into his mouth, not even seeming to notice. Even now he still wondered how the two had become such great friends.
Davis was easy and outgoing, Ken was quiet, and collected. Davis was often more blunt then need be, where Ken tended to beat around the bush more than necessary. Davis found it easy making friends and had many of them because of this trait. And Ken was the exact opposite tending to keep more to himself, with only few friends, most of them digidestined. So how had they done it?
He shook himself mentally. It didn't matter anyway. They were friends and that's all that mattered at the moment. Besides, he had more important things on his mind. He shifted his glance to the two newcomers. Digidestined... It was almost hard to believe that there were more of them, and even harder to believe that they had come from a totally different dimension. But there was proof, as they had shown them their digi-eggs and D3's.
His glance fell on the younger one, Natalie was her name? She was pretty, and wore her strawberry blonde hair long and in a ponytail. She watched Davis with what would have been silent amusement if she hadn't let a small giggle escape. He lifted an eyebrow. Was it just him or did someone here had a small crush on his best friend?
He then looked to the older one. The same strawberry blonde hair, but shorter this time, as she wore it to her shoulders. She seemed to lack the confidence and slight giggly tension her friend seemed to have. But that's when he noticed what he should have before, she was staring right back at him, as he stared at her. They both blushed and looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring at each other like idiots. She was pretty too, he thought as he looked to the ground. Not the same as Natalie, but pretty none the less. He put that thought into the back of his mind. He'd think about it later if he had too. Later would probably be for the best.
******
Davis's POV
Davis watched as Ken and the older girl blushed and turned away. He would have laughed, but somehow he got the impression they wouldn't like that. He turned his gaze to the long haired girl. She was a tad bit shorter than the other girl was, and she seemed more at ease. He didn't know why, but he was having slight trouble looking away. Well he could, he just didn't really want to. He remembered their little "fight" earlier. Boy, she was stubborn. Then again, so was he.
It's weird. More digidestined, and even another dimension! Now he knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but what's the likeliness of that? He looked over at Kari. He used to like her, then again, to say he liked her was a BIG understatement. But in the past year or so, he had thought more and more about it, and knew she liked T.K.
And even more shocking, he had realized that he really didn't like her. Sure, she was one of the best friends anyone could have, but not in the way he once imagined.
He wondered where the new girls, Iris and Natalie, were staying. Only Ken and him were left to find somewhere they could stay. His mother had always kept a small guestroom next to his own, though it was rarely used because whenever Ken or anyone came over they would stay in his room with him. But they weren't girls. Well, I guess one of them could stay I my place then! he thought happily.
He looked back to Natalie, and then to Iris. "Hey guys!" Davis said happily, "One of you can sleep at my place! I'd invite you both but I've only got room for one, cause my guest room's pretty small." He looked back to Natalie, and saw she was looking up at him. He saw that he was slightly taller than she was.
******
Ken's POV
Ken shifted from foot to foot, as he wondered if he should invite Iris over to his place. He knew his parents wouldn't mind. They trusted him, but still, they hadn't exactly gotten off on the right foot, and he really doubted that this would help much.
Well it's better than leaving her in the Digital World he thought to himself. He sighed inwardly. Here goes nothing... Trying to sound casual, he spoke. "You could stay at my house. I'm pretty sure my parents won't mind, and we have room."
******
Natalie's POV
I glanced at Iris; she was looking at Ken strangely. "I wonder what she's thinking," I wondered silently, "I think I'll ask her. She'll tell me if something's up." Once again I found myself looking up at Davis. He had such pretty eyes, and they were so kind. I noticed him looking right back at me, but didn't look away, he could look at me if he liked. I began to feel uncharacteristically shifty, and nervous, but there was no looking away, my stubborn personality wouldn't let me.
"Well now that's settled I guess we can go home." Yolei stated happily.
"Yep," Kari smiled. "Me and T.K.," she said as she glanced at him, "Will try and gather up the older kids for a meeting tomorrow. I'll call the rest of you guys when we have, okay?"
"Sounds good to me," nodded Cody before turning his glance on both Iris and I. "I'm guessing you didn't come all this way to have fun. I'll be interested in hearing about what you have to tell us."
Iris nodded, "Trust me. It's important, and we don't even know the full story." She shook her head sadly.
"No kidding...." I muttered. "So what were you guys doing in the Digital World anyway?" I looked from person to person curiously.
Davis shrugged, "We were just here for a picnic when we found you guys."
Kari saw my questioning look. "We've done it lots, and it's been reasonably safe for about three years already."
Yolei nodded. "Exactly three years today. Why?"
Iris shook her head again, "We didn't have a clue. Gennai obviously didn't have enough time to tell us about what had changed." She looked as if she had finally noticed something important. "Hey?" she asked, "Where are your digimon?"
"At home," Kari answered smiling, "They usually come, but sometimes we need a break from our digimon, and they need a break from us."
I nodded in understanding. After three years I could understand that sometimes partners and their digimon could need a break from each other, but truthfully I don't think I would ever want to be separated from my partner for a moment. I hugged my digi-egg tightly.
I saw Iris clutch her bluish egg beside me; her eyes sparkling with joy. We had each dreamed of our own digimon for as long as we had known about them. She was looking at her egg with curiosity. I can't wait to see what my digimon is like I thought dreamily.
"Well," Davis started off, "I guess we should start heading for the digi-port. It's only a few minutes away from here."
Kari nodded. I glanced at Iris excitedly. For the first time we would be able to use a digi-port. It was almost too good to be true. Yolei began to walk and everyone followed shortly behind her. I fell back slightly, and hoped Iris would do the same. I wanted to talk to her without anyone listening.
She turned to me, slightly startled by my actions as everyone else hurried ahead of us. "What is it Nat?"
"Uh, Iris, you were looking at Ken strangely. Why?" I asked as a truly confused look washed over my face.
She looked at me, the same confusion written all over her face. "What do you mean?"
"Well," I said walking beside Iris, while everyone else was out of earshot, "You had the look you get when we watch Digimon. Like you're somewhere else."
She blushed, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Iris, you're blushing," I stated, giving her a "yes, you do know" look.
"I am not!" She still was, and she also could tell I wasn't buying it. "Fine... It's that... well he's Ken!"
I raised an eyebrow at her, "I sorta gathered that."
She looked exasperated and shook her head. "You don't understand. I spend a year wanting to meet the real Ken Ichijouji, and now that I finally have it's sorta hard. I mean, I used to have the biggest crush on him, but now I'm not so sure."
I looked up. The others had stopped in front of a small tv. The digi-port! I remembered swiftly.
Forgetting about our past conversation, I looked over at Iris, grinning broadly. By the looks of it, she had forgotten momentarily too. Yolei held out her d3. This isn't a dream, it's real! I thought joyfully.
"Digi-Port open!" She cried out loudly. One minute I remember my feet being placed firmly on the ground, and the next minute we were sucked into the t.v.
******
Iris's POV
I felt my feet planted on the ground again, and opened my eyes. I was slightly shaken, but still more than happy. The first thing I noticed was that we were in Kari's room. The second was that everyone but Natalie and I looked as if that was completely normal. I guess we'll get used to it I thought, looking around Kari's room.
"Tai should be raiding the fridge with Gatomon and Agumon right about now," said Kari looking at her watch. "If you want we could have him help, you know, like get a hold of Joe and that sort of thing."
I nodded. "That sounds good. We can use all the help we can get."
Kari led the way down the hall to the kitchen where we found Tai, Agumon, and Gatomon pigging out on the contents of the fridge. "Kari!" Gatomon shouted gleefully, smiling and jumping into her arms. Then her gaze fell on Iris and I. "Who are you?" She asked.
Kari looked at her digimon. "These are the new digidestined, Gatomon." She smiled. "They've come from a different dimension, to help us."
Gatomon frowned, and shook her head. "But that's impossible!" She protested, "Besides why would we need new digidestined anyway?!"
"Gatomon!" Kari looked at her digimon with both shock and some anger showing in her features, "What has gotten into you?"
Gatomon shook her head again, "I'm sorry Kari, but even if they are digidestined, they don't feel normal." She shivered. "There's something about them." She stared at both Natalie and I as if trying to figure out what felt so different about us. In the end she just glared. "And even if they are digidestined I won't believe it, until I see it."
The others seemed to be slightly surprised at Gatomon's outburst, but left them all wondering. Could these two be different, maybe even evil in some way? None of them voiced their opinions.
"It's okay Kari," Natalie said, I turned to look at her. She was smiling. "I would feel the same way if I were in Gatomon's place." She reached into her backpack and took out her egg. "Maybe this will help," she said crouching down and handing the egg to Gatomon, and then righting herself. "Uh...but I don't know why we don't feel normal, except maybe that we're from another dimension." She looked slightly puzzled, but proud as Gatomon looked at her egg.
As Gatomon looked Natalie's egg I watched her warily. Could she feel something that we couldn't? It left me wondering, but I wasn't interested in finding out exactly what was different about us. It was mostly likely something I really wouldn't want to know in the end.
Finally Gatomon handed back our egg. "It seems to be real enough," She amended. Still it didn't look like she could bring herself trust us. She was still too suspicious.
I looked into the kitchen and saw Tai and Agumon wolfing down their food, oblivious to the discussion we had just had or to Natalie and I all together.
I shook my head sadly. "Sometimes you two can be worse than Davis."
I looked over at Kari and the rest of the digidestined. They were staring at me. Okay, I thought nervously, What did I do now...
Natalie sent me a halfhearted glare. "He's not that bad, Iris."
Damn it Iris! I yelled at myself mentally, You weren't supposed to say that out loud! "Sorry."
"It's okay," Natalie was smiling again, and Davis had walked over to us.
"Yah," he said smiling like Natalie, "It's okay. I don't mind."
"Still, I need to learn to keep my big mouth shut."
"Dude! Don't worry about it, okay? Everything's fine! I've gotten insulted so many times I don't really care about it anymore."
I blushed, while the rest of the gang did anime style sweatdrops. Tai and Agumon finally seemed to notice us for the first time.
"Hi guys!" Tai said noticing the group of people a few feet away, "How was the picnic?" He didn't seem to have noticed Natalie and me yet.
"Well," Yolei answered, "it was fun, but we ran into something we weren't expecting." She glanced over at Nat and me.
Tai looked at the two of us strangely. "Who are you?" he asked, more than a little confused. When no one answered he looked at use closer. "And why are you holding digi-eggs!?"
"Uh, well we're digidestined," Natalie answered seeming to hope for reactions unlike Gatomon's from Tai and Agumon.
"Whoa..." They both stared at her, before looking to the others, "Really?"
"Yes, from what we know," Cody answered matter-o-factly. "They even have digi-eggs and D3's."
Tai shook his head in amazement as we both held them out to him. "I never thought we'd see the day where we'd find more digidestined on our hands. I didn't think there were anymore left out there!"
I shifted uncomfortably under Tai and Agumon's gaze. They keep looking from me to Natalie and back again. It was a little nerve wracking.
When the boy's gaze was just starting to become a little less unbelieving, there was a growling noise. It was T.K.'s stomach. He turned a little pink in the cheeks and then said, "I think I should get going to Matt's house, and get some dinner." Personally I agreed with him. I was starving! In our hurry to meet Gennai we had forgotten all about lunch!
Ken's looks seemed to agree with both T.K.'s and my stomach. He frowned slightly, before looking a little worried. "We should probably be heading home then. It's almost dark, and my parents and Wormmon are probably already wondering about me."
Everyone seemed to agree on that one.
"T.K.?" Kari asked.
"Hmm?" he answered looking at Kari.
"Will you tell Matt about the meeting?"
"Okay," replied T.K., once again seeming to think of the food waiting for him.
"What meeting?" Agumon asked, seemingly not thinking about Natalie's and my arrival any longer.
"Iris and Natalie," Yolei told Tai and Agumon, "need to tell all of the digidestined something, but it's a long story so they want to wait until we're all together. That's why we're holding a meeting."
"I can call some of the gang, like Sora and stuff," Tai said, reaching for the phone.
"Thanks Tai," Kari smiled at her brother, then asked, "What's for dinner?"
"Oh," He looked a little startled at her question, but then shrugged. "Whatever you want. Mom and dad are working late tonight," he exclaimed.
I wondered if this was a good thing, and saw from Kari's bright smile that it was. That's when I remembered their mother's cooking. No wonder they were happy to be making their own meals!
But still their was still two things that were bothering me- Gatomon's reaction to Natalie and me, (which I had no interest in debating about now), and the other thing... We still hadn't decided who was staying at Ken's house and who was staying at Davis'!
******
Iris: Do you see what I'm getting at?
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