My last chapter was void of author- babble. Why? Because I forgot it. But all there is to say is, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Also, I've started a little contest. See the details in my profile.
Disclaimer: Must I do it again? (Lawyer thrusts a handful of legal documents at her) Okay, okay, I'll do it again…I don't own Digimon. If I ever do, you will see the return of all the DigiDestined from 02, and Elvis will marry Bigfoot with Frankenstein's monster as the maid of honor…
Mysterious Child
Chapter 5: Back To The Future
By two days later, all the DigiDestined knew of Carie's kidnapping. They also knew that Kari's inner maternal aspects had taken over, and by that we mean she was worried sick.
In fact, she was so worried that some of the DigiDestined, especially Tai and T.K., were starting to worry about her. She was having trouble sleeping, even with both Gatomon and Gatamon curled up beside her for comfort, and she obviously wasn't thinking about much else. T.K., however, was taken a more head-strong approach to it: He was determined to find a way to save Carie once and for all.
Finally, Izzy called a meeting to explain what he and Gennai had been speculating in secret.
"Gennai and I met a little while ago, about 24 hours before Carie was taken." the red-haired genius explained, looking around the room. One way or another they'd managed to stuff all 12 DigiDestined into Tai's bedroom. Davis, Cody and Ken sat on the top bunk, cross-legged. Izzy was sitting facing them all in the computer chair. Yolei, Mimi, Sora, Joe, and Matt were scattered around on the floor. Tai, Kari and T.K. sat on the lower bed.
Kari was more or less leaning against T.K., resting her head sleepily on his shoulder. His arm was draped around her. Nothing had been said, there had been no dramatic 'I love you' scenes, no kisses, no nothing, but they had already been accepted as the official couple, ever since Carie disappeared. Even Davis had really accepted it, though he still wasn't happy about the idea.
Izzy cleared his throat and continued. "From what we figured out, the only hypothesis is that Carie's story was true, that she is T.K. and Kari's future daughter…"
He stooped for a moment to see how everyone would take it. Kari and T.K. didn't seam very surprised, just glanced at each other knowingly. Tai and Matt exchanged stupid grins, as if they'd known it would happen all along. Mimi couldn't help herself, she broke down into a fit of giggles, and soon Sora and Yolei were right along with her. Davis sighed and rested his head in his hands.
"Gennai suspects that she was sent here, by one of us, to find help." Izzy brushed his hair back. "The Digimon that have chased her in this time have mentioned Daemon. Most likely, that's what she's been running from."
"But how, Izzy?" Kari insisted. "How did Carie get here? And those Digimon, what about them?!"
Izzy hadn't been prepared for Kari's outburst, but he recomposed himself. "Gennai has gone to investigate that, Kari." he assured her. "He found an old legend, a little while ago…"
"Legend?" Yolei asked. "What kind of legend?"
Izzy again cleared his throat. "It's an old DigiWorld story about portals to other worlds. There are, of course, the ones we know: Gateways opened to our world, the Dark Ocean, and that place of dreams."
The DigiDestined nodded. They knew that, of course. "But there have been legends about portals with the power and direction to send people through the time stream to other…other 'worlds' if you will, in time." he paused a moment, contemplating. "It's the same theory as traveling from the Real World to the Digital World, only it would require a much greater amount of energy to a confined space. If the Digimon under Daemon found that correct frequency to create that energy, they could duplicate it."
Sora cocked her head. "So?" she asked. "Has Gennai come up with anything yet?"
"Indeed he has!"
Izzy's lap top suddenly burst to life and, with a brilliant flash, there stood the same short-haired young man as had been 2 years previously.
"Gennai!" Izzy was shocked. "I thought you said you'd warn me before coming through like that!"
"I apologize, my friend." Gennai grinned at the red-haired genius. "It must have slipped my mind." Izzy rolled his eyes. Gennai loved getting on his nerves.
Tai stood. "Well anyway, it's good to see you, Gennai." he said. "I suppose you have an answer…?"
Gennai nodded. "It took a while of tracking." he admitted. "It's not like you can pull ancient legends out of thin air an expect to find something like the Fountain of Youth, but I've done my best and prevailed."
Kari's eyes lit up. "You mean you…" she sat up expectantly. "You…found a way?"
Gennai smiled. "Of course." he said, turning to the screen. "Just follow me. I'll show you."
~ * ~ * ~
Daemon leisurely examined his wondrous collection. Dangling, crystalline gems, twelve of them now, each of a different, brilliant color of the rainbow. He gently brushed one, this of a bright blue color. These icy masterpieces, so delicate, and yet, so strong. Only a single command could cause any of them to break.
And the stories they told! Stories of sweet victory over his foes. He looked on now at the stories of the darkened figures inside. The loving father, locked in golden yellow, desperate to save his family. The brave young lady, in a sort of lilac that worked with the reddish violet of her hair, determined to help her loved ones. And his latest, in a dazzling orange, the strong leader, trying to protect the last chance they had.
Daemon laughed as he looked at the frozen features on each of their faces. So determined, and yet…so helpless…
~ * ~ * ~
"This…is it?"
It was easy to understand why Tai couldn't believe what he was seeing. They'd come in through the DigiPort, hiked for about two miles through rather rocky forest terrain, and finally ducked inside a cold cave to find…this thing.
It was a single, stone loop, about 7 inches thick all around and six feet in diameter. Next to it was a stone square, a consol, about three feet high with a top about one and a half feet squared, covered with buttons about and inch wide and marked with odd symbols.
"Yes indeed, Matt." Gennai said smartly. "It would have to be this small to compress all the energy needed to make the jump across the space-time continuum."
"But how do we know where they took Carie?" T.K. asked.
Gennai opened Izzy's yellow pineapple lap top and showed them a single line. At the middle, it was white, then black for a small stretch, then white again, black, white, black, stretching for a while now, then white stretching for about twice as long, a stretch of black, then white. On the left side of these blotches, it was pure white and stretched on, seemingly forever. Towards the other edge of the screen, it got darker and darker, turning to black and giving off a dark gray aura. As he scrolled to the right, it got dark and darker until…nothing.
"What is that, Gennai?" Cody asked in an awed whisper.
"This is the Digital Time line." Gennai explained. "Using the power of portals like this, the four Guardians of the Digital World…That would be Azulongmon and his fellows…can tap into the timeline in times of great necessity."
He continued typing and explaining. "See the dark areas? These are periods of time that evil Digimon took over the Digital World." he pointed to the first black space. "This would be Devimon, then Etemon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters. Then the space of white is peace, before the Digimon Emperor, Owikawa, and MaloMyotismon."
"So what's that darkness over there?" Ken pointed. "The big one, at the end?"
"That." said Gennai firmly. "Is Daemon. And that is where they took Carie."
"Really?" Mimi asked, still confused.
"But Gennai…" Ken insisted. "There's so much time in there, how can we be sure where Carie went too?"
"Each of these lines is 1 Digital Year." Gennai said, pointing out some small lines no one had noticed. "Around here, the end of the Dark Masters, this world time realigned with the Real World time. We can assume that Carie was six years old, am I correct?" Everyone nodded. "We add that in with the fact that her memories would have only been at full energy at two years old, then we can assume that she was taken…here."
He pointed to a place about four years into the big darkness. "But why there?" Yolei asked.
"Because," Izzy answered. "Carrie remembered all of us, each one, to the end."
"Note how it gets darkest right here." Gennai was still pointing to the same spot. "The less DigiDestined there are to protect, the darker the time line would get. If all the DigiDestined were eliminated, as Carie said, this is the point it would be. And each year goes at the same time, all on top of each other, so it would be this same time of year."
"But that means…" Kari muttered, disturbed. "Carie's been trapped…for two days now…" she shook her head worriedly. "She's probably so scared."
T.K. squeezed her shoulder to comfort her. "Okay then." he insisted. "Turn it on, and let's go!"
"I'm afraid it doesn't exactly work that way, T.K." Gennai said with a sigh. "Unfortunately, due to the frequency of the portal's wavelengths, only Digimon and the Destined with D-3 Digivices can go through."
There was the expected silence, then Matt spoke. "So we…us older ones…we can't help?"
Gennai nodded grimly. "I'm afraid not."
There was another silence, then Kari took a step forward. "Alright then." she said, determined. "The more time we spend here, the less we have to help Carie. So let's go."
Gennai shut the laptop. "Right. Izzy, Ken, come over here and I'll show you how to work this…"
He stood by the stone consol. The two boys looked over his shoulders. "Now watch." he instructed. "Each of these nine buttons here are numbers. You have to type in three coordinates: The year, the world, and the place. The you push this one with the star and…vola."
He pressed several buttons so fast that only Izzy and Ken could have remembered what he did. Around the ring, white bits of Digi-Code appeared, and then disappeared. The center of it began to glow a bright blue-purple.
Gennai nodded and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, which he handed to Ken. "These are the coordinates to get back here." he instructed. "Come back as soon as possible, understand?"
Ken nodded and joined the other younger DigiDestined in front of the portal. Izzy held up the laptop. "We'll be monitoring the time line the whole time you're there." he assured them. "So, the only thing left to say is…Good luck."
They nodded, and amongst many good-byes and good-lucks, they began to leave. First Davis, then Cody, Yolei and Ken, each stepped into the portal with their partners and vanished.
Kari took a deep, steadying breath as she stepped forward, Gatomon beside her and little Gatamon in her arms. She felt a hand grip her shoulders and looked up to find T.K. smiling at her.
"Ready?" he asked.
She sighed. "As I'll ever be."
Together, with a deep breath, they stepped through the portal and began the journey through time.