Home Again

Part Three: Of Sci-Fi, Wings, and Dark Beings

Standard Disclaimer Thingies: 1. Digimon, all related characters and whatnot are not mine, but the plot is.

2. This story contains romantic relationships that some people may be uncomfortable with, specifically same-sex relationships. These are major plot points and unavoidable.

3. This story is very, very strange. And in this chapter, the weirdness begins.

***

Doctor Fujiyama cleared his throat and opened his copy of the folder. "All the information you'll need to know is in these folders, but I'll go over the main story so you won't be so confused." He paused again, and each of the children appeared to be on the edge of their seats.

"About seven years ago – give or take a few months – a group of orphans much like yourself was brought to this base. At that time there were no facilities here for children like the rooms you now inhabit. They slept in barracks that were being unused. They were also next to a building in which quite a bit of scientific testing was happening."

"What sort of scientific testing?" Jyou wondered, paranoid instincts blaring full-blast now.

"I'm not sure exactly," the doctor replied. "And, to be honest, I'm not sure exactly of how this happened – it's been a long time you know…" he cleared his throat again. "One of the experiments that was being conducted was rather unstable. It was also very unauthorized. None of the commanding officers on the base knew what was going on."

"How is that possible?" Taichi wondered.

The doctor shook his head with a disgusted expression. "I'm not sure," he replied. "A complete lack of security, it seems."

"What exactly was this experiment?" Takeru questioned.

"That I can't tell you either. In fact, no one can. The three people that were conducting the experiments are – indisposed."

"Indisposed?" Mimi repeated.

"He means missing," Miyako explained, frowning.

"Why are they indisposed?" Daisuke asked.

The doctor sighed. "I'm not sure. I'm not told very much about this, you know." He grinned nervously, but all could see that he was sweating slightly. "At any rate, somehow or another the group of orphans on this base somehow made its way into the room where the experiment was being conducted."

There was a long pause as the doctor let the information sink in and prepared himself for the next part.

"There was some sort of explosion, and the room was nearly destroyed. The children were never seen again. After some amount of research and investigation, we discovered that the researchers on that unauthorized experiment had, intended or not, discovered a portal to another world."

"Another world?" All six repeated in disbelief.

Miyako chuckled somewhat nervously. "Sorry, doctor, but your story sounds like it comes from a science fiction movie."

Daisuke agreed. "You don't expect us to believe that, do you?"

"Believe it or not," the doctor replied, undaunted by their skepticism. "The information and evidence is all in the folders I gave you."

"This is all very interesting, but what does this have to do with us?" Taichi questioned, getting to the point.

"Since the – incident, we've managed to recreate several times the exact experimental conditions. We've theorized that the device was successful and that the children were somehow sucked into another world. We've also tried to go after them."

"And?" Jyou prompted nervously.

"It would appear that a major flaw in the device's development is that it cannot be used by adults," Fujiyama replied. "Each officer we've tried to send through has suffered extreme physical injury."

"Why?" Mimi asked.

The doctor sighed. "It would appear that adult bodies are simply unable to handle the conditions that the inter-dimensional travel places on them. We've also noticed a few – unique characteristics that the first group had which you six share."

"What sort of unique characteristics?" Takeru wanted to know.

"It's very complicated, actually. I don't understand all of it myself. Certain parts of your DNA are similar, some of you may actually have been distantly related to the first orphans."

Miyako shook her head. "Not possible," she said. "I know personally that I have no living relatives."

"Distantly, distantly. Possibly very distantly," the doctor assured them.

"So – you're saying you want us to travel to another dimension in search of a bunch of kids," Taichi concluded.

"Through a machine that no one else has managed to successfully use," Jyou added.

Takeru shook his head. "Doesn't make sense. Why would you be so worried about a bunch of orphans?"

The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Miyako interrupted. "They're not," she noted. "They're just interested in trying to get to another world. If we manage to find the first orphans, great, but that's not our actual mission. Is it?"

Daisuke snorted slightly. "Dirty game."

Fujiyama pulled nervously on his tie and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps, perhaps," he replied. "I'm just given orders and I follow them. I don't make any decisions around here. The decision to go on this trip is entirely yours. If you don't want to, you don't have to."

"So then what happens to us if we refuse?" Mimi asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, actually. Perhaps you might be placed with a family, or taken to another base."

Now Taichi snorted in disbelief. "Not likely to be placed with a family this late," he noted. "Families adopt and take on babies and younger children. Not fifteen or sixteen year old orphans that have no place to go and require time and money."

"I say we do it," Takeru put in. "The other world can't be too horrible, if we succeed at getting to it. It can't be that much more horrible than this one, except this one doesn't have any place for us."

"Why not?" Daisuke shrugged slightly. "If we get killed in the process we've at least saved someone money, right? And if we survive, we've got something to do besides hang around a military base and watch the troops march."

"I'm not sure I want to do anything this dangerous," Mimi sighed. "But you have a point. There's no place for me here, either. I've spent enough time being shuffled between distant, uncaring relatives just because they don't have any place to put me."

Miyako frowned in thought for a moment. "It seems to have benefits," she observed. "I don't particularly like the thought of being shuffled around some more. I liked the stability at the old base. But if we can't go back there and we're not wanted anywhere else – I'd say we really have no choice."

"I'm concerned about what sort of preparation we're going to have for this trip," Jyou spoke up. "What if the other world isn't civilized? What if there are – dinosaurs, or monsters or something? Diseases that we have no defense against?"

"You'll be given quite a bit of medical supplies," Fujiyama informed him. "As for the other things? Well, I can't guarantee your safety against that. We don't know anything about that world. There are definite risks."

"There are risks in this world, too," the boy noted. He looked hesitant for a moment. "But Miyako's right. We don't have a choice." He sighed.

"Come on Jyou, aren't you looking forward to the adventure?" Taichi questioned. "I am. Life here's too boring. In that world, we have a chance to make some sort of a difference and hopefully save some kids. I say we do it." He glanced around the table, and noted that the others were less enthusiastic, but still agreeing.

"Fabulous!" Fujiyama smiled too cheerfully. "Now, what I need you all to do is to first read over those folders I gave you. We'll get started on the preparations tomorrow."

***

Hikari absently scratched the spot on her back that was beginning to itch as she scribbled something on a piece of paper. Suddenly, the enhanced cat-like ears atop her head detected movement elsewhere in the building. She put the paper in a box and turned to face the entrance. A moment later, the purple-blue cloth that covered the doorway parted to reveal an auburn-haired girl a few years older than her.

"Sora. What brings you here?" Hikari greeted her.

Sora was dressed in pink and blue colored cloth that almost resembled the traditional kimono. In the hot climate, light clothes were necessary, and the loose wrap was worn by almost all of the females. This particular one hung just past her knees. It had short sleeves that could be pulled up to allow the shoulders to be visible, or hung low during the cold nights. There was also a hood that could be pulled up to protect the wearer's head from the harsh sun.

"I wanted to see how you were coming along," the older girl replied. "I see your ears are working well now."

"I heard you from the moment you entered the building," she informed her. "It's really amazing." As if to prove that statement, the brown ears twitched slightly.

"Just wait until you're finished," Sora told her, smiling. "Then you'll really be amazed." The ears atop her head were an auburn color a few shades darker than her hair, and they'd been there for three years now.

"So the theory is now that they develop with the onset of puberty, right?" Hikari turned to the pitcher of water she had resting in the shadiest part of the room.

"Seems to be so," she replied, removing a few clay, handmade cups from the table nearby. There was a pause as Hikari poured the water, and then they both took a drink. "Very cold. Nice."

"Then I suppose Iori will look human for a few more years then," Hikari noted, sipping the water and sitting in one of the chairs.

"Most likely," Sora agreed. "He's got a bit of time remaining." There was a moment of silence then as both drank the water. "I wonder if it's that we were never human to begin with or that this place does this to all humans?"

"Maybe it does," the younger girl mused. "We're the first to come here, as far as we know, right?"

"As far as we know," she nodded. "But there was something here before. Something that built this very building."

Hikari shivered slightly. "I wish we knew what happened to them."

Before Sora could reply, the sky suddenly became very dark. 

***

Daisuke was in his room, flipping through the papers in the folder he had been given when a knock came at the door. Setting the file aside, he stood up and crossed the room to open it.

"Any progress?" Takeru questioned.

"Some. What are you doing here?"

"It's lonely in my room," the blonde boy confessed. "I'm not used to being alone. Besides, some of this stuff is really outrageous."

"Outrageous?" the other echoed. "Like what?"

Takeru crossed the room and sat down on the bed while Daisuke closed the door. "Like that experiment they were trying to run. Apparently the three guys trying to do it had no idea what was going to happen. Being successful was completely by chance."

"Why do you say that?"

"Look at this file," Takeru held up a paper. "One guy was a graduate of the University in Tokyo, but had a degree in Languages. The other went into the military after barely passing his last year of high school on the third try. He didn't even attempt university."

"And the third worked part time at his father's fish market," Daisuke read from the paper. "He wasn't even in the military and had no education past high school." He looked up, confused. "How did they even get access to the science labs?"

The other boy shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But I'd say they had some real security issues on this base."

"I wonder how they managed to cover up the kids' disappearance," Daisuke thought aloud, frowning in thought. "They couldn't have told the rest of the military that they'd been lost in an accident."

"Probably did what they could to keep it silent. Would explain why we hadn't heard anything about it."

"Aside from the fact that we were four years old when it happened?"

"We still would have heard something. Especially living on a military base," Takeru countered. "With security blunders like that, the rest of the bases would have been under pressure to crack down."

"They might have even gone far enough as to prohibit children. But they didn't," Daisuke mused. "And that's another thing. There's no information in here about the children."

"They might give it to us later."

"I'd think they'd give it to us right away," he disagreed. "You know, show them the pictures of the poor lost children and they'll agree to go. But they didn't. Why not?"

Takeru frowned. "They're definitely hiding something," he noted. "But the question is – why? And what are they hiding?"

***

Koushiro was hard at work at trying to make sense of the machinery he'd assembled in the building he called home on this strange world when the sky went dark.

"Everybody underground!" Yamato was shouting from somewhere in the sky. "Hide!" In a daze, the resident science expert thought that perhaps it might be best if Yamato weren't giving that particular advice while flying through the sky. Still, he didn't have time to ponder, he knew that the advice was worth taking even though the one giving it wasn't following it. So, quickly, he began to make his way down the stairs and into the basement of his home.

He didn't get very far, however, because on the way down the steps, something flew in from behind him and grabbed the red-brown tail that had only finished growing a week ago. Instinctively, he spread the similarly colored wings and leapt into the air, but he had no hope of gaining enough leverage to lift off the ground.

"Help –!" he yelled as loudly as possible, but before he could see if anyone had heard his cries, he was lifted into the air and had left the ground far below.

Sora had just finished helping Hikari into the basement when she heard the desperate shout for assistance. "Koushiro!" she called, and spotted the black – thing – go flying away. "Yamato!" she called to the boy who had just landed on a nearby rooftop. "It's got Koushiro!"

"Shit," Yamato cursed under his breath and spread his own magnificently pale yellow wings. "I'm on it."

"I'm helping!" another voice called, and a girl with short, dark-red hair leapt into the air after him, spreading her own maroon-colored wings and soaring through the clear sky after the disappearing figures.

"Jun!" another female shouted, and a girl with shorter purple-colored hair watched her go. "Be careful!"

***

Told you this was weird, didn't I? Sorry for the short chapters. They're necessary, believe it or not, because of the suspenseful nature of the story. If I give away too much in one chapter, other chapters will have less to talk about.

Also: apologies for the possibly clichéd science fiction devices. I have little knowledge of inter-dimensional portals. If everything seems convenient, well, that's because it is. This is not just because of me, this is a part of the story! Besides, the real excitement happens once the two groups are connected.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for all the great reviews on this chapter. Hopefully now that I'm done with this semester of school, things will progress more quickly. ^_^