Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, big surprise. But I'm going to borrow some of the characters.
> Scroll to bottom for location of other chapters
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A leaf fell from a tree from high above, waving in the air and catching the wind in the shape of a teardrop. It swayed left and right, back and forth, as it made its decent from above to the ground below. A gust of wind blew it off its fall, and it waved in the air for several minutes. It caught itself in the web of a spider, but a stronger gust of wind blew it away. It was tattered now, broken and confused. It's parent tree was far behind, and what lay before was uncertain. It came closer to the ground, falling to its doom. It fell before Yamato, who caught it in mid air.
They were walking through the forest, silent, tired, and annoyed. Jintaria was three days behind them now, and to conserve what little money they had, the three travelers decided to walk through the forest to the next city of Tolleria. V-mon de-evolved back to Chibimon, and sat atop Daisuke's head as they walked. Daisuke didn't mind all too much, although with his spiky hair it might have been less than comfortable for Chibimon.
The West Province was on the other side of the country, on the western coast of the continent. The distance seemed an insane amount to travel, but their one lead to a fellow Chosen Child was somewhere there.
The world as far as Yamato and Daisuke knew was still large and unexplored and primitive. Many countries dotted the land and some where still myth to most people. Distant lands waited to be explored, and although adventure was exciting to Daisuke, the idea of walking all over the world was tiring.
Daisuke breathed hard. "This is so boring, Yamato."
"Yeah, I know."
"Can we please chart a ride to the next city?" he whined.
Yamato's right eye was twitching. "You know that we can't afford it, Daisuke."
"But I'm tired," Daisuke complained.
"Tolleria is only twenty miles away," Yamato said.
Daisuke winced. "That far?"
Chibimon lifted his head up, "You know Daisuke, you sure do complain a lot."
"Tell me about it," Yamato added.
"Hey you aren't one to talk," Daisuke snorted. "You don't have to walk. HEY! How about we make Chibimon evolve so he can fly us there!"
Yamato sighed as he was really getting annoyed. "I told you, Daisuke, we need to keep Chibimon ready to fight in case we get attacked."
"But it won't take that long to fly there, Yamato. Then we could feed him and be ready for the next city," Daisuke complained.
"Yeah, but then you'll just ask to fly to the next city."
"No I won't!" Daisuke exclaimed. "I promise I won't."
Yamato stopped in his tracks and turned to Daisuke. "How do you expect to get anywhere always complaining and getting so tired!? We haven't even walked that far and you're already complaining!"
"Hey man!" Daisuke snapped. "I'm just trying to make this easy."
"Well it's not easy, Daisuke!" Yamato was really getting mad at this point. "How could you end up being a Chosen Child?! You wouldn't have lasted a week in the Digital World with our group."
"You know what Yamato, you've just been nothing but a jerk ever since you found me! What is your problem man? Just mellow out!"
Yamato snapped and punched Daisuke in the face. As he started to fall to the ground Chibimon jumped off his head onto the ground. Daisuke winced as he touched his face where Yamato had punched him. Daisuke sat up and looked up to Yamato with teary eyes.
"Okay," Yamato smirked. "We fly with XV-mon to the next city, but after that we walk."
Daisuke was rubbing his face. "Huh?" Chibimon had already evolved to V-mon, and was waiting for Daisuke to give him way. Daisuke grabbed his D-3 and held it out. "Go ahead V-mon."
"V-mon Digivolve to … XV-mon!" XV-mon stood above the smaller trees, about 12 feet tall. He looked like a mature V-mon. Like a large blue lizard with a white belly, along with two silver wings. XV-mon picked Daisuke up and placed him on his right shoulder. Yamato went on the right.
"Okay, hold on you two," he said. His voice echoed even though he spoke softly.
**
"Sorry I punched you back there, kid," Yamato said.
"It's okay," Daisuke's face was now noticeable red. "And I'm not a kid."
Tolleria was like no city Daisuke or Yamato had been to before. Scattered against the horizon, massive solitary buildings cut through the air with miles in between them, leaving lush green spaces in between. Rivers and aqueducts cut through the landscape and passed under massive walkways that seemed to span fifty feet across and go on forever. The architecture of the whole city seemed organic and grown right out of the land.
XV-mon stopped in the air over the city. Close by, a large building sat next to one of the walkways. Very few people could be seen on the streets and everything had an eerie calm to it. They set down next to the large building, and XV-mon reverted back to Chibimon and hopped onto Daisuke.
The few people that they could see wore prestigious robes and carried many scrolls with them. All looked like scholars, and Yamato and Daisuke stood out like sore thumbs. Yamato's pocket was beeping, he quickly took out his Digivice and found that it was beeping the whole time, but unable to hear from flying so quickly in the air.
"What is it?" Chibimon asked. Daisuke took out his D-3, which started to beep as well.
"An old friend, hopefully," Yamato said. "Somewhere in this city. Let's go into this building, find out where we are."
The building within was empty in the sense that there was no one floor. It simple spiraled from the front door and a path curled around the walls of the shell of the building until reaching the ceiling, where a massive stained glass window was held suspended over the empty center. In the middle of this building was a statue of a man holding a book and reaching towards the ceiling. The colored light from the windows above shined over him.
"Hello!?" Daisuke yelled. Yamato glared at him for a moment. "Anybody here?" he shouted.
"Quiet, Daisuke," Yamato snapped. Yamato walked over towards the wall of where the spiral walkway began. The walls were lined with shelves, and all shelves where filled with books and scrolls. Yamato looked forward and then upwards. The entire buildings' walls were lined with books, all the way to the top. This must have been a library of some sort. An unattended library apparently.
"Come on, Daisuke," Yamato said. "No one's in here."
"Look at all these books," Daisuke said, walking around with his head in the air. "Gives me a headache just looking at it." Daisuke rubbed his eyes.
"Let's try another building," Chibimon said.
XV-mon flew them to the next building. All of these buildings were round at the base and towered many stories high. There were variations in the buildings, some were darker colored, some where lighter. It could obviously be seen which were older, as some of the buildings had plenty of plant growth at their bases. A few buildings were totally overgrown with green vines dotted with flowers.
The next building was like the first, filled with books and no people. And now, there were no people on any of the streets. It may have been prudent to ask the few people that they saw earlier. Yamato wondered if they could still find them.
A few miles down there was one large building that looked like none of the others. It was a golden dome surrounded by flat green land dotted with ponds and trees. Walkways cut through the greenery and were totally empty. So many paths but no one on them.
They came to the ground outside the main doors. Around the side of the building was a strip of writing that seemed to circle the entire structure. Each character was about a foot tall and a foot wide. The characters were Digicode and Chibimon could read it, but the words made no sense. There were no guards and there was no indication of this being a forbidden building. Yamato pushed the large doors open and gave way to the interior. Like a punch in the face, the sounds of loud talking cut through the silence that consumed the entire city.
The inside of the dome was a gigantic stadium lined with seats with their own desks. The seats totally surrounded the small stage at the bottom where a man stood and tried to speak over the crowds. Each seat seemed to be filled.
Daisuke held Chibimon in his arms and he followed Yamato in. It seemed to be some sort of forum for discussion. Everyone in the city must have been there. All of them seemed to be scholars. In a moment, they all fell silent and the man at the bottom began to speak again.
Yamato and Daisuke couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was obvious that he was a high figure of that society. Everyone watch him attentively. Yamato squinted to try and see if there was anyone recognized.
No one saw it coming.
Above Yamato and Daisuke, the wall came crashing inward in a blast from the outside. Both were able to jump out of the way of the falling ruble, and when they looked up they saw something neither had expected to see.
A giant Digimon pushed his head through the door. It's skull covered with an exo-skull and horns that looked like tree branches. It was an Airdramon, but not one of the royal ones. People were running all around, screams and shouts filled the massive arena.
Enough of the ceiling had been torn apart that the Airdramon's wings could be seen. "Spinning Needle!" it shouted and its voiced echoed loudly.
Spikes came from its wings and they stormed through the room, hitting several people. Yamato looked up in terror to the beast.
"I have come," the Aidramon said, "by order of my master to destroy and of the Digidestined!"
Daisuke's eyes widened, someone on that world knew of the Digidestined and sought to destroy them.
"Well you'll just have to come and get me!" a shout came from the stadium. Yamato and Daisuke looked down, most of the crowds had filtered out in the madness, and down below one boy stood. Yamato almost didn't recognize him, as the boy wore a heavy black robe and carried scrolls in his hand. The Digimon that stood by his feet was a Tentomon. "Tentomon!"
"Tentomon Digivolve to….Kabuterimon! Quickly Koushirou, get under cover!" Kabuterimon said. The insect champion jumped forward and pushed the Airdramon out of the dome and outside where they could battle.
"Koushirou!" Yamato yelled at the top of his lungs.
The boy looked up. His red hair had started to grow long and draped over his eyes. He stared up at Yamato for a moment until he realized who it was. Joy came onto his face as he waved with both his arms, "Yamato! Daisuke!"
"Chibimon, go help Kabuterimon," Daisuke said. Chibimon evolved and jumped out of the building and went to fight along side Kabuterimon. Yamato and Daisuke ran down the remaining stairs dodging the large chunks of stone and wood until they met Koushirou. Yamato threw his arms around his old friend.
"I thought I'd never see you guys again!" Koushirou said. "Where did you come from?!"
"Well, it all started-" Daisuke began.
"Not now Daisuke!" Yamato snapped. He grabbed Koushirou by the arm, "C'mon, we need to be out there."
"Koushirou nodded and they ran outside.
XV-mon and Kabuterimon both took to the air around Airdramon. Kabuterimon used his Mega Blaster attack and electrocuted the Airdramon, and before it was able to totally recover, XV-mon used X-Laser. A beam of light shaped like an X came from his chest and struck the Airdramon on its head and it started to fall from the sky.
It hit the ground hard and twitched for a moment before its data reconfigured and the creature disappeared. Kabuterimon and XV-mon came back down to the ground and reverted back to Tentomon and V-mon. Tentomon saw Yamato and Daisuke and ran over and jumped into Yamato's arms.
"Yamato! We finally found you!" he said. Yamato smiled and patted him on the head before setting him down.
"It's good to see you too."
**
Koushirou, Yamato, and Daisuke all sat in the grass outside of the home of the teacher that had taken Koushirou in. Their Digimon were not far away. When he arrived in that world he found himself inside a library. Before he even began to question where he was and why he was there, a book was in his hands and he was in it very deeply despite Tentomon's complaints.
By night, a man asked him what he was doing there, that there were no children in the city of Tolleria. It was a city of scholars, of people who spent all their time learning more about the world around them, and for whom had no time to raise families.
Koushirou was in a world where he didn't belong. "I don't come from here," Koushirou said to the man.
"It is quite obvious to me, my young man," he said. "Your clothing is quite foreign, and your Digimon companion is rare and royal."
"Well, I'd like to think I was special," Tentomon said.
"I mean," Koushirou said. "I don't think this is my world. I don't think I belong here."
"You intrigue me, boy," the man said. "Please, tell me your story."
He was an enlightened man, and he hung on Koushirou's every word. Each story about the Real World and the Digital World was more and more interesting to him. He asked Koushirou if he had any place to stay, which was a stupid question either way. "You must stay with me in my home. You have no place to go."
"Oh, I couldn't impose," he said.
"No, no," he said. "I can tell you have a great mind. You must learn our ways if you wish to survive in this world. Tolleria is a city of knowledge. We are all scholars here, and we spend our time attempting to understand our world. Please, I insist."
Koushirou excepted. It was too early to find his friends if they were around. He had no way to find them. Perhaps with the help of his new friend and the other minds of that city, he could get close to being reunited with his old friends.
**
"It's safe to assume that we are all somewhere on this world," Koushirou said. "You've already confirmed that Hikari is or was somewhere on the Western Province. If we keep looking, then eventually we may all be reunited and then find some way to get home."
"So you'll come with us to the west, right Koushirou?" Daisuke asked.
"Of course," he said. "Just give me a few days to prepare. A trek that far must be prepared for."
Yamato stared out into the stars. "That Airdramon said he was looking for the Digidestined. Who on this world would know we were Digidestined?"
They fell silent.
"Maybe one of the others was captured by evil forces," Koushirou said.
"But why would they want us?" Yamato said.
Koushirou shrugged. "Maybe it was one of the others."
Daisuke looked up sharply. "Don't even think that."
Yamato looked out into the sky and thought about those words.
Authors Notes: Well, so they found Koushirou. This chapter kind of wavered and didn't seem all that good to me but I'll let readers judge it. Please review ^_^