Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, big surprise. But I'm going to borrow some of the characters.
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The haze before his eyes stayed with him for several minutes as he regained his consciousness. His head was pounding and he was still disoriented as he shook his head around, trying to get the hair out of his face as the strands irritated his eyes and made his nose itch. The white blur cleared from his eyes, and he looked upwards to a thick plank of wood that supported the ceiling. He hadn't been inside a building in a long time.
His head was still pounding and Daisuke had no thoughts in his mind other than the pain of his forehead. Nothing mattered other than that pain that beat against his head like his heart. He could hear each beat loudly in his temples and each beat felt like a brand of hot iron.
As his mind began to clear. He was inside a room lying on a soft and comfortable bed. It was also a long time since Daisuke had been in a bed, let alone a comfortable and warm one. His body was covered with bandages, and the pain of his head soon dulled until he could feel the pain in the rest of his body.
I must be in a hospital room, he thought. Why am I always the one that gets hurt?
He tried to lift up his head up from the soft, downy pillow, but the pain in his neck stopped him. Instead, he turned his head a little to the left, then to the right. The room was empty and there was a large window in it. He was on a two-story building, and the day was clear. It was most likely the sunlight that awoke him from his sleep.
He tried to speak but no words came out, so he lay there in thought. I'm always getting hurt.
He wondered what he was doing there, and why he was hurt. What had happened that injured him so badly? As he was lying there alone with his thoughts, flashes of the night or perhaps nights before went through his mind. It was starting to come back to him.
**
"Why won't this stupid thing work!!??" Daisuke yekked at the top of his lungs. He wasn't yelling at anyone in particular, since he was facing an empty field of corn in the middle of nowhere.
XV-mon sighed behind him.
"Stupid D-3 you don't do anything for me!" In a moment of ignorant rage, Daisuke threw his blue D-3 out as far as he could, which was only about ten feet since Daisuke was throwing from the floor over the high corn stalks. "I hate this place," he grumbled.
XV-mon picked Daisuke up without asking then held him tightly to his body. "We will go to town tomorrow, get it fixed. Won't that be nice?"
"Don't patronize me," Daisuke sulked.
XV-mon sighed. Daisuke was alive again, that was all that mattered. It was a long time since Daisuke was so sad and suicidal. Now were the days that Daisuke was happy and cheerful, much like the old days but somewhat different. He was most noticeably maturer now and he made fewer lame jokes and thought before speaking. Granted, he didn't always think before speaking, but there was a definite improvement. Perhaps it was because the others weren't around and this was the true Daisuke, or perhaps it was because of the accident. Whatever the reason, he was a new person.
XV-mon grudgingly retrieved Daisuke's D-3 before coming back to his friend who sat by the fire, staring into it with wide eyes. "That's not good for you."
"Eh," Daisuke said. "XV-mon."
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"What for?"
"For taking me away from that place."
"That was a long time ago. You don't have to thank me."
"I'm glad that you are my Digimon. You're my best friend. It all works out."
XV-mon patted him on the head. "Go to sleep and we'll go to a new city tomorrow; get that D-3 fixed."
Around midnight Daisuke was awakened by the crashing of XV-mon's X-Laser. While he slept, a Okuwamon tried to destroy the two of them. The huge silver beetle glowed in the moonlight as it fought with XV-mon hand in hand. It held him in his claws, bringing XV-mon closer to his mouth and grinding fangs. XV-mon managed to free his arms and he threw his fists down to the monster's head.
"XV-mon Digivolve to-" his transformation was cut short as Okuwamon struck him with his right claw, sending him crashing to the ground. Dirt and rocks flew in the air as XV-mon's body ripped a line through the planet.
"XV-mon look out!" Daisuke yelled, as he managed to sit himself up. Okuwamon heard Daisuke on the ground, and scanned through the tall stalks of corn until he saw his target. Moving closer to Daisuke, Okuwamon extended his arm towards him. Raising his arm to strike, Okuwamon growled downward sizing up his tiny opponent. As he swung, Daisuke covered his face in his arms so that he would not see his doom. He expected to be hit by a hard cold shell of the insect creature, but instead, the soft warmth of XV-mon's body hit him with less force. XV-mon had thrown himself in front of Daisuke once again.
He fell on me again.
Daisuke was badly hurt, but managed to open his eyes wide enough to see Okuwamon get hit by a beam that came from out of sight. It was shaped like an arrow. The Okuwamon disintegrated and Daisuke lost consciousness.
**
Daisuke managed to yawn despite the pain in his jaw. XV-mon had managed to make Daisuke's whole body sore this time, but luckily everything that use to move still moved. The pain in his body was numbing, and was starting to even out between his appendages. As he lay on the bed, he realized that he could feel the pain in his legs. He could feel the sheets against his skin. He could also feel something warm and slick like metal on each of his ankles.
Summing up all of his strengths, Daisuke tried to lift his body up from the bed, not to get up, but to shift the sheets below him as the folds were starting to get uncomfortable. His attempts were futile, and he lay there thinking for some time. He must have dozed off, because when he awoke it seemed to be afternoon outside. His sores were less sore now, but they still hurt.
That room reminded him of the room he had at the monastery. This disturbed Daisuke and he again tried so sit himself up. This time he managed to do so, but only barely. He was more or less leaning against his right arm. There was a creak at the door and it slowly opened. Daisuke didn't move.
"You're awake!" V-mon exclaimed. He ran over to Daisuke's bedside. "How do you feel?"
"Like a big stupid lizard fell on me," Daisuke joked. "What happened?"
"Okuwamon hit me, and I fell on you," V-mon explained. "But then I got help."
"From who?"
"A friend," V-mon snickered. He was obviously keeping something from Daisuke. He demanded to know what. "I'll go get them."
A few minutes later (which felt like a few years), V-mon returned to the room and a figure stood behind him in the doorway where it was dark enough for Daisuke not to see. The figure stepped forward. He was holding a Digimon in his arms, about the size of a dog. It was a white seal….thing, that smiled at Daisuke. The man holding the Digimon stood with a smile as well, and behind his glasses were the eyes of an old friend.
"I'm glad to see you're feeling well, Daisuke," he said.
"Jou…" Daisuke was speechless.
Gomamon hopped out of Jou's arms and onto Daisuke's bed where he gently patted him on the legs. "How ya feel buddy?"
"Gomamon…"
Jou came to Daisuke's side. "We were afraid that you were going to sleep all night. I was anxious to hear you're voice again. It's good to see you."
"Jou," Daisuke blinked stupidly a few times. "How did you know?"
"I got a reading from your D-3 last night, but then it went out like you just disappeared. By the time me and Gomamon here tracked you down, you were already under attack."
"I had to Digivolve to Zudomon," Gomamon said triumphantly. "It's been a while."
"You're in a hospital now," Jou explained. "I'm a doctor here."
Daisuke looked at him silently waiting for him to continue.
"This is a primitive world, Daisuke. I might be young, but my medical knowledge is probably much greater than most doctors around here. They welcomed my services."
"The others, have you seen any of the others?" Daisuke asked.
Jou shook his head. His long blue hair was now tied back behind his head revealing hi face and his glasses. He paused for a moment, and said, "I never had the chance to go out and look for you guys. This is a busy place."
"It's alright. That's what Koushirou said."
The shock of seeing Jou was now passing, and Daisuke took a deep breath. "What did you do to my legs," he said, pulling the blanket from his body. He saw at his ankles, two golden rings with Digicode carved on the outside.
"That's Sorcerymon's handy work," Jou announced. "He runs the local magic shop and apothecary. After V-mon told us what happened to your legs, I had him create these golden rings. They'll give you a good amount of your motor ability back."
"I- I," Daisuke sputtered, "I, I can walk again?"
"Well, not right now," Gomamon said. "You got banged up pretty bad. XV-mon must be fat."
"Hey!" V-mon snapped. "If Ikkakumon had fallen on him he'd be dead! And I fell on him twice and he's still relatively okay."
"Relatively," Gomamon repeated.
Jou laughed, hten picked up Gomamon. He said to Daisuke, "Get some more rest. You should be up and running, or walking at least, by tomorrow. Are you hungry? I can have some food sent to you."
"If it's not a bother."
Jou laughed. "It'll be up in a few minutes. I have some work to do, but I'll check back in tonight."
"Okay," Daisuke said. Jou walked towards the door, and just when he was almost out Daisuke said, "Thanks for saving me and XV-mon."
"No problem. What're friends for?"
**
"You've gotten better at this, Daisuke," Jou said. A chair was pulled up to Daisuke's bed and a small table with a chessboard sat atop it. A large candle lit the room as Jou and Daisuke played. He was now strong enough to sit up and dangle his legs over the bed.
"I wasn't very patient with stuff like this," he said, "back home."
"Check," Jou said.
"Guess patience isn't much of a virtue," Daisuke grumbled.
"Actually, we've been playing for almost an hour. The old you would have gone mad by the first ten minutes." He moved another piece.
"Crazy what a place like this can do to a person."
"You were never trapped in the Digital World," Jou explained. "Faced with something like that, a person can change."
Daisuke nodded. "I always had the option to come home. We were never really in any danger in the Digital World."
"Whereas I and the older kids couldn't come home. At first, we had no idea where we were. It was very scary. I myself was quite eccentric those days."
"Tai told me once that you almost had a heart attack over the ways the others liked eggs."
Jou straightened his glasses. "You should pay more attention to the game. Checkmate."
"Aw man," Daisuke sighed. He helped Jou to replace the pieces into their box and pushed it underneath Daisuke's bed. "Jou, when do you think we can leave?"
"Leave?"
"Ya know, to go find the others."
Jou stopped to think for a moment. "I'm not sure I can leave this place."
"What do you mean you can't leave?" Daisuke snapped.
"I have responsibilities here," Jou said. "I can't just get up and leave."
"You're first responsibility is to your friends!"
"Calm down. The others will find each other even if I don't go."
"What if they all had your attitude? No one would find anyone. These are your friends, man. You can't just turn your back on them!"
Jou stared at him for a moment.
"You can't abandon them. At least you would have your Digimon, but Gabumon is out there all alone! What if they did the same to you, back in the Digital World? Would you have survived?! They need you!"
Jou sighed and sat back down across from Daisuke. "I would be leaving everything behind."
"Don't be so selfish," Daisuke scowled, "the other's are everything."
"You need time to recover. We could leave in two weeks, no sooner!"
Daisuke's eyes lit up and he shook Jou's shoulders, thanking him for coming back to his senses. It was then settled that they would go and find those that they lost. Gomamon and V-mon were both told of the places. Both agreed to the plans obediently.
**
"So these dark forces," Jou said, "have been chasing you and Koushirou and Yamato?"
Daisuke was getting use to using his legs again. It was a strange sensation to walk after so long of not being able to. They walked through a dense forest with Gomamon and V-mon following behind them. It seemed as if Daisuke had spent a lot of time in the forest. A town was said to be about ten miles pass the growth.
"Pretty much," he said. "We were attacked after we found Koushirou, and again at the monastery."
Jou thought for a moment. "Perhaps these forces are tracking you through your Digivices. It's plausible that when two or three Digivives are together, they become easier to track."
"I never thought of that."
"It would explain the attacks. But we would have to know the patterns of attacks that the others had to face before the theory could be more concrete. Have you tried to email the others?"
"I don't have my D-Terminal," Daisuke sighed. "Neither did Koushirou. I think they were taken away from us when we came to this world."
"Hmmm," Jou thought out loud. "That would stop any of you younger kids from Armor Digivolving."
Daisuke didn't say that he never thought of that. There were many things that Daisuke didn't think about, so why bother to tell Jou. "If Digivice signals increase with proximity, then it might be easier to find Yamato and Koushirou if they have found some of the others."
"Yeah, but they could be anywhere now. It's been a long time since you have seen them. Over half a year. You might have not been traveling the same direction as them."
Daisuke kicked a rock that lay in his way. It bounced off a tree and settled back to the ground. "There must be something we can do other than walk around."
"Not by the looks of it. All we can do is continue on to the north since that was where you said Koushirou and Matt were going."
"At least my D-3 works now." Daisuke fiddled with the controls cycling through Digimon, Detect, and Discover. He was foolish enough to get excited when a Digivice reading came onto the screen, but soon realized it was just Jou.
Jou rubbed the hair on Daisuke's head. "You're a good kid."
Authors Notes: -This story is kinda getting repedative. Im thinking really hard of ways to make it interesting, but for now just deal with the same 'found another one' theme that this story seems to be taking.