After Destiny
Izzy Girl 'Understand the things I say Understand what I've become
don't turn away from me It wasn't my design
'cause I spent my life out there And people everywhere think
you wouldn't disagree something better than I am
do you see this, do you see? but I miss you, I miss
do you notice, do you know? 'cause I liked it, I liked it
do you see me, oh do you see me? When I was out there
does anyone care? do you know this, oh do you know?
you did not find me, you did not find
does anyone care?'
- Ode to My Family, The Cranberries Interlude "Do you really think she's human?" "She looks human enough." "Well... you can't be sure. That Gennai dude looked pretty human... I don't think it's a good idea." "She's just a little girl!" "You don't know that!" "Well, there's really only one way to find out." Seisaku Ikari only observed the heated exchange with crossed arms and a blank expression. He really didn't care either way, but found these frequent arguments between his two travelling companions none the less fascinating. Kowai Senbetsu and Tokudai Kimagure... one would be hard pressed to find two more starkly different induviduals but sometimes if Seisaku looked deep enough, he saw a glimmer in their eyes. A shared trait, perhaps, that personality flaw that caused both to think they were undoubtedly right in all situations. In Tokudai, it was caused by over confidence. He had been a jock back in the real world, and a very popular one at that, how could he not help but be sure of himself when he had spent his life being told he was right by everyone surrounding him, even when he was long. Kowai was the exact opposite, but in her rested a self assurance that surprassed even Toku's- she was a super genius and very aware of it. Her superior intelligence gave her the right to claim clear judgement. Unlike Tokudai, who always thought he was right, Kowai usually was. Tokudai grimaced at her and refused to meet her gaze. She had won this one. The chestnut hair boy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out to the solitary figure on the hill. "HEY! YOU! LITTLE GIRL!" he paused, "ARE YOU HUMAN!?" "Oh, very subtle..." Kowai scoffed, folding her thin arms across her chest. Tokudai shrugged, "Well, at least it's to the point. She's just a kid anyways, not like she's gonna be all offended or something." he looked out at the hill again. The figure had neither answered nor moved. Toku seemed a bit put off by this. He bit his lip and turned back to Kowai, "Hey, Ko. Maybe she's not ever real." "What if she didn't hear you? Shout again." Tokudai sighed heavily and brought his hands to his mouth again, "HEY! YOU THERE ON THE HI-" he cut himself off abruptly as the girl's head jerked to look over her shoulder. He stumbled backwards into Sei's shoulder, clutching his chest, "I was not expecting that..." he said quietly. "You're certainly the mind over matter type." Kowai chuckled, "It's sad that you had yourself so convinced she wasn't going to answer... how did you ever manage to make it to thirteen?" Sei shoved Tokudai forwards and the boy glared at both his companions bitterly, "Geeze... you both hate me, don't you?" he focused his gaze sharply on Seisaku, "You've been quiet today, Seisaku, what do you think about all of this?" Sei shrugged, "I don't care either way." Toku snorted, "Hmph. Should have known better than to ask you anything in the first place. You just..." for the second time in four minutes, Tokudai was cut off mid sentence as he noticed the girl from the hill had gathered herself and was now standing among the group of three, staring up at Tokudai as if he were doing something horribly strange. He blinked fearfully before taking a step backwards. The girl still stared. From her looks she couldn't have been anything but human. She was small and delicate, her wide childish face set with large, brown eyes and framed with scraggly brown hair that looked as if it needed ot be washed. It was half hanging out of a pink ribbon that matched her shorts and the trim of her t-shirt. The shirt was decorated with a yellow illustration of a cat and the words: 'nyu nyu'. It was also smeared with dirt. She looked to be the typical Japanese child, except for her ragged apperance, but there was something in the set of her gaze that was unnerving. Seisaku boted this, and would describe it later as almost inhuman. Kowai was taken with her immidietly. She dropped to her knees, long red pigtails obscuring her profile, and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hello. My name is Kowai Senbetsu. Who are you?" The girl didn't answer, but she did stare at Kowai instead of Toku. The boy breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his shoulders to unknot themselves. "Do you understand me? Do you speak Japanese?" "Well, obviously she's Japanese..." Toku muttered, "Look at her... and that shirt..." "Shh!" Kowai shot Tokudai a dangerous glare from her black eyes before returning her attention towards the mysterious girl, "Are you scared? It's okay we're... we're human. I'm Kowai, this is Seisaku and that rude boy over there is called Tokudai." Toku huffed, "You don't have to be scared of us, we won't hurt you. We'll look after you until we can find your parents again." The girl still didn't say anything, but the shadows in her eyes lightened, as if she understood. Kowai serached her face for a few more moments before rising and facing Seisaku and Tokudai. "I think she might be mute... but she most definitely is human." Tokudai looked convinced, but Seisaku had his reservations, as he usually did. He was in the habit of studying eyes, as they often revealed things the body hid. If he were the sort to share his personal opinion, he would have told Kowai that nothing in this strange world was ever as it seemed, but Seisaku had learned long ago to keep his thoughts to himself. /Interlude. Chapter 2. He studied the rolling landscape of this strange world. It was very different from the cramped and polluted Tokyo streets he was used to. It might have been a dream. Most certainly was, as he couldn't remember exactly how he had found himself here in this strange, exotic jungle. It was a mass of thick vines, red flowers and the faint trickling of water in the back of his mind. Nothing had ever seemed real to Seisaku Ikari in his life except for his dreams. Sometimes he convinced himself that everyday he was living a monotonous purgatory of sorts, and only when he laid his head on his pillow at night did he truly wake and escape it. This is what he dreamed: A light, and then a prism of colors flashing. Fresh air and untouched land. There were faces too, fuzzy ones but still there. People who were important. He knew them as deeply and as personally as he knew himself, yet had the innate knowledge that he hadn't really ever met them. At least not in his "real life". There was a girl, sharp wit and striking dark red hair. She was beautiful, but not in an upfront way and most of it came from her highly admirable traits. Intelligence, loyalty and kindness. Then there was the boy. He was rash and abrupt; very physical. He wore his sports jerseys in arrogance rather than pride and never shut his mouth. Still, despite these irritating traits, Seisaku knew that he adored him. These were the only humans like him in the entire world, and it was strange. There more faces, not human like the brazen boy and smart girl. They were part of the world, but just as alive as Seisaku himself. One was a handsome man in long, flowing robes who was dependable and who carried himself as such. Then there was the little girl who never looked at things, but rather through and around them. The last face was warm and loving, but actually very cold. It was more a creature than a human, locked in chains yet free to roam. Sometimes, his dreams seemed symbolic, but still, very real. This place where he was now was calm. It felt like his dreams, but different. He did not acknowledge that this was a dream. His mind roamed too freely in thought and his body moved with far too much ease. He felt unconstricted and without purpose. He was lucid, but more so was aware. 'This is the place from my dream', he affirmed silently, taking in the way the hills sloped in to meet each other like a puzzle and the strange off-toned colors of the surrounding flora, 'How did I come to be here?' + Tokudai woke up with his face in the damp ground. He shot upwards quickly, coughing and sputtering on the damp grass that had somehow worked it's way into his mouth. "Did you have a nice rest?" He jumped again, spinning to find himself faced with her. That girl who had landed him in detention in the first place. She was kneeling in the grass, her hand folded on her lap and red pigtails falling over her shoulders. He glared. "What the hell is going on here!? Where the hell are we!?" The girl shrugged, "The 'other world'." she said, like it was common sense, "Where else would we be?" "What kind of games are you playing with me, Senbetsu. I'm warning you..." She shook her head and whistled in disbelief, "You really don't remember, do you?" "What are you talking about!?" The girl stood, brushing her hair behind her shoulders and placing a hand over her eyes, scanning the area, "Well, look around for yourself. Maybe it'll come back to you." Tokudai rose slowly, rubbing the back of his neck where it was sore. He cartainly hadn't fallen unconcious in a comfortable position. After observing the rich foilage around him, he turned to follow the girl's gaze and found himself floored once again, this time due to shock. "What the..." There were no buildings, no cars, no smog clouds lingering over this forest. It couldn't have even been rural Japan, as there were no moutains in sight. Aside from that, the fauna was plain bizzare, shaped unnaturally and here and there dotted with colors that just should not be applied to normal, everyday plantlife. "Where the fuck are we..." Tokudai muttered, more of a statement than an actual question. He was aware that he was growing redundant, but frankly didn't care about that sort of thing. "I told you." The girl repeated breezily, "We're in the 'Other World'." Tokudai blinked widely, "The... 'Other World'?..." + "BITCH!" the boy sputtered as he stumbled backwards clutching his raw cheek. "Fucking bitch!" Kowai bit her tounge, reminding herself that someone with such a minisculy pathetic grasp of the Japanese language he must resort to using the most primitive, unintelligent and profane words in it, was not worth her time. Like he would understand half of what she had said... That's what had led to this. Mr. Ikkuya KNEW she didn't work well with *his* type. He KNEW she didn't work well with anyone not at her level of comprehension. He KNEW she was intolerant of idiots who insisted on bantering on about some stupid concert or movie instead of DOING THEIR WORK ... but then again Mr. Ikkuya KNEW she didn't belong in Junior High. She turned her back to her fuming lab partner, and sighed heavily. Another day, another pointless detention. Who cared, it's not like she had anywhere to be. Not like anyone else in the school wanted to be friends with Kowai Senbetsu. Hell, no one even wanted to be caught withen the same ten foot radius as her. The 'orphan'. The 'orphaned stuck up bitch.' They didn't think she heard what they said about her. It's not as if they were exactly discreet about it. ** "What a bitch." "She thinks just cause' she's got a 100 average in, like, EVERYTHING, she can go around treating the rest of us like shit." "Hmph, like she's the ONLY one who's ever been on the Principal's Honor Roll..." "Why don't they just skip her ahead to High School so we don't have to LOOK at her anymore!" "Yeah. Those teachers'll eat her alive. The don't tolerate bitches like her in High School." "I bet she thinks she belongs in Collage or something!" "I KNOW! She is SO full of herself! She's probably thinks we're all clamouring to work with her and her 'genius'!" "Eww... I don't care if she's smart, I never want to be her lab partner again. She's just... weird." "Well, what do you expect. She never knew her mom, and her dad was a total freak." "What do you wanna bet she was happy when he died?" "Huh?" "People like her leech off pitfalls in life like there's no tommorow. She's not likable, so she walks around all like 'woe me, I have no parents' so people'll at least feel sorry for her." "Oh, that is SO true!" ** But it wasn't. When had Kowai even talked about her parents? The only reason everyone knew was because of Mariko Wa, who came over to work on a project, only to discover Miss. Genius lived alone. The room swirled and Kowai allowed herself to swirled with it. She had stopped listening to Mr. Ikkuya and the stupid boy long ago, but now their faint voices melted together into one continuous blur. "... and if I don't see you two here this Saturday cleaning that floor... SENBETSU! KIMAGURE! Are you even listening!?" Kowai snapped back to reality, if for only a moment. "Yeah, whatever." She exited, just like that, not caring that Ikkuya was still screaming at her, and ALLOWING the *idiot* to call after her using those primitive words, especially 'bitch'. Her nickname, it seemed, she heard it whispered among the masses and she walked confidently down the hall. She didn't have to cower. No one came near her. It was if there was some invisible force feild surrounding her, and the path cleared as she walked. Respect through total hatred. She allowed things to blur even further as she fiddled with her locker combination. The world faded in and out and around until the only thing solidifyed in her mind was the lock and it's code. -23- Ever since her father had died, it had happened almost daily. It was if she were bing drawn into some paralell dimension, or some other reality. She felt almost like her being was flickering from one to the next. Like she was living a double life. -16- Sometimes she could even 'see' this paralell world. Not all at once of course, just flashes of it here and there, as if she were looking through a picket fence. One thick strip of reality, blocking her freedom, and one strip, however thin and fleeting, of a marvelous world of depth and life. -32- But when she would work up enough courage to reach for it, it seemed to fizzle at her touch, dissolving instantly, leaving her stranded again in her own reality. -click- The locker swung open, breaking the spell this time. Kowai shook it off, her ragged pigtails tickling her neck. She slowly became aware of the bodies and voices around her as she shoved her schoolbooks into her book bag. She was sure, quite sure as she was everyday before and probably after this, that many of those voices, whispering decietfully, nervous eyes glancing constantly, that they were talking about her. But she didn't care anymore. She slammed her locker shut, and shrugged the bookbag onto her shoulder, regally stalking her way through the halls towards the door. They didn't understand. She was almost there... that other world... + "You really don't remember, do you?" she came closer to Tokudai and tapped on the head. He reeled back, rubbing his head defensively. "Hey! Don't touch me!" "She 'tsk'ed under her breath, "How hard did you hit your head, really? Don't you remember science class?" "The science class?... I think I might..." + The red-head reeled back and slapped him. Tokudai back away a few steps, clutching his cheek where it throbbed red. What the hell had he done to deserve that? "You... bitch!" he stuttered, "You fucking bitch! How DARE you!" "What's going on over here!?" 'Oh great, that's it. I've done it now.' Tokudai pressed his wam palm harder into his wounded chin and bowed his head, 'I've gotten the teacher involved in this. I can just hear the phone call to my mother already: "Mrs. Kimagure! Would you believe that your son was mentally damaging our school's brightest student, nevermind that she's a totally self-righteous BITCH, by screaming powerful obscenities at her!" Like red-head there's ever going to get in any toruble. She's smarter than all the students and staff put together. She's practically go the teachers eating out of her hand... and she started it in the first place. If she hadn't slapped me...' "... and if I don't see you two here this Saturday cleaning that floor... SENBETSU! KIMAGURE! Are you even listening!?" "Yeah. Whatever." the girl rolled her dark eyes and left. Just like that. "HEY!" Tokudai hollered after her, restrained only by Mr. Ikkuya's strong, chemist's hands on his shoulders, "YOU BITCH! COME BACK HERE AND APOLOGIZE TO ME!" "Save it for detention, Tokudai." Mr. Ikkuya muttered, "In the meantime, you're getting a call home." + "Yeah, I remember science class." Tokudai growled, "I remember that you slapped e and landed my ass in detention. Now, anything else you'd like me to thank you for while we're taking this lovely trip down memory lane." The girl sighed dramatically, "The actual class was not what's important here. Do you remember anything about the detention itself." Tokudai thought hard. + "You bitch." "Bastard." "Bitch." "Bastard." "Fucking bitch." "Just concentrate on mopping, Kimagure. Stop being such an intolerable bastard." "Only after you stop being a bitch." "I am going to terminate this conversation now, as there is no possible objective to it that I can see." Tokudai blinked, 'What the hell did she mean by that?' "Bitch...." + "Yeah, I remember the detention like it was yesterday." "It WAS yesterday genius." "It was a figure of speech." "No, it was a cliche. Big difference." "That's not what they taught us in Literature class." "Yeah, well don't take everything you learn in school for granted." The girl sighed and plopped herself down in the grass again, studying the sky intently, "And obviously you don't remember the detention because you're still wondering why we're here." "What does the detention have to do with anything." "Think, Kimagure, THINK! What happened during the detention." Tokudai scratched his head, "We... exchanged insults." "And very unimaginative ones at that. I mean AFTERWARDS." "Um, well...." + "Looks like all the floors are clean. Good as new! Time to go home and play video games!" + "What kind of a dumbass question is that?" Tokudai chuckled brashly, "We stopped talking and finished cleaning the floors. So I went home to play some Famicom and you... probably lurked in an alley somewhere, waiting for hapless victims to wander by so you could suck their blood." "Ha ha, no." the girl's expression turned dark, "Think harder, Kimagure. I know it's an effort, but please try. This is important. Don't you remember what happened when we were cleaning the computer room? Don't you remember..." here she paused and her infalliable voice cracked, "Do you remember.... Gennai?" + "Gennai!? What kind of weird-ass name is THAT!?" "A very fine one, if I do say myself." "I agree." "That's only because your father programmed it." "Not it. Him." Gennai corrected kindly, the plastered smile never leaving his youthful face, "And eventually even you will learn to appreciate my presence." "Okay, I still don't get it." Tokudai pouted, his lower lip coming up to cover the upper and giving him to apperance of a lost puppy dog, "So, what, you're a computer program come to life and your here to take us to some video game made real?" "No, no, NO!" Kowai shook her head vehemently, "It's not like a video game at all! Weren't you even listening, Kimagure!? It's a world. A REAL world, just... a shadow world. Not like ours, a world made up of entirely data." "But... isn't that just what a video game is?" Tokudai winced, fearing a violent retort from the fiery girl. "No. Video games are digital, this is physical. A real, true, living, breathing world just like our own." "Whoa." Tokudai nodded slowly, not quite sure he understood anything Kowai had just said, "Trippy..." + "I remember... something about a GennaI?" He raised his arm and leveled his hand above his head, "About yae tall? And kinda dressed like some guy from a Star Wards flick?" Kowai stood and made a strangled, fustrated noise, stamping her foot in the dew-laden grass, "No! That's right but you're focusing on the wrong things!" "But you TOLD me to focus on Gennai!" "I didn't tell you to focus on anything!" "But you said: 'Do you remember Gennai?' " "I didn't mean for you to literally remember Gennai and only Gennai! I meant to use his name as a rememberence guide!" "Well, I'm sorry but we all can't be as smart as you!" Kowai smacked her hand against her forehead and spoke even, "Whatever. Forget it. It's not important, anyways, you'll remember eventually. For now, just follow me." she began receeding into the trees. "Wait!" Tokudai jogged a few steps to catch up with her, "That's not fair. At least tell me what's going on! Where are we! I don't understand!" The girl stopped and stared at him with narrow, black eyes, "We are in a digitally constructed shadow-world created by the sudden increase in global computer use and the beginning's of something known as 'The Internet'. Although it is a real and physical place where we can touch, feel, hear, see and smell while interacting with the enviroment, it is still essentially made up of raw data being processed by millions upon millions of computer's worldwide. So, it's a 'Digital World'." "A Digital World..." Tokudai repeated, totally not getting it, "Digiworld!" "Or you could say it that way." Tokudai inhaled sharply and rotated his view of the exotic landscape. He could find nothing else to say except, "Whoa. Trippy." Interlude. "Daisuke?" Ken trailed his bloody fingers through his friend's hair while staring absently at their dark surroundings. Daisuke was curled beneath the ceiling of rock awkwardly, his arms twisted beneath him and his legs sprawled in opposite directions, but Ken couldn't find enough room between them to adjust his position. "Daisuke, you're going to die..." he let out a raw sob as his hands travelled downwards, feeling the battered skin beneath torn clothing. He found the wound again, and covered it with his cold hands. It was too dark to see anything, but Ken could imagine what the gaping hole in Daisuke's stomach would look like- skin raw and yellowish around it, the edges collapsing inwards like a sinkhole in the middle of a body. Ken knew what these things looked like. He knew what death looked like, having spent a good portion of his childhood obsessed with it. "Why do you always have to play the hero?" Ken pressed his hand deep against the cut, willing it to stop bleeding as the warm liquid seeped between his fingers and trickled down his knuckles, "You even do it when no one needs a hero. It's selfish, Daisuke, you're just a selfish person always trying to fufill your own personal idea of what a good person should be like just so you can feel good about yourself." the blood wouldn't stop, causing Ken to feel helpless, like a cracked damn beneath the pressure of a great flood, "You know what? The world didn't need a hero today. You didn't have to run towards the light and maybe if you didn't you wouldn't be dying right now." He gave up on the wound, pulling his now red hands away quickly and burying his tear-soaked face in the, not caring that he was smearing blood on his face. His eyes began to sting and he could take it no longer, so he ripped his hands away and bent over, resting his cheek on Daisuke's chest. He sighed shakily, "This death is meant for me. The death is always meant for me... Osamu's, Wormon's and now yours. I don't fear death, you know that. I'd welcome it's embrace, but the bullet always misses and somehow finds it's way to those I need most." he closed his eyes and grimaced, "The world may not need you to be a hero right now, Daisuke, but I do. That's why you're dying right now." he chuckled sharply, bitter, "Maybe I'm selfish too. But here's the difference- you're selfishness saves lives and mine take thems." He reopened his eyes and stared ahead listlessly. It was dark, but there must have been light sneaking into the cavern from somewhere since Ken could see Daisuke's outline clearly and he could trace the pattern of collapsed rocks above, below and around them. Somewhere, there was a faint echo of dripping water. Things weren't right anymore. Ken could feel it in that connection between the worlds he still held from his days as the Kaizer. It was over, lost. Somehow this was both the real and digital world. Ken remebered something. "I've never told anyone this." he whispered into Daisuke's neck, his hand finding the boy's wound again, "But I can do things... it's strange, but in the Digiworld I could always make things happen just by thinking about them. I wonder if..." /Interlude. "You want me to what?" It was seven-o-two in the morning and Koushiro Izumi was tired and cranky, having been rudely forced out of a unrestful slumber by the insistant pounding at his small apartment's front door. He slid into his slippers and stumbled towards the door only to find a characteristically exeburant Daisuke Motimaya grinning back at him from the other side. Koushiro hadn't even realized the goggled boy was capable of being awake that early in the morning. "I want you to fix up a motorcycle for me." Koushiro rubbed his eyes sleepily and stared, "Okay, run that by me a third time, Daisuke, because I could have sworn you just said you wanted me to fix up a motorcycle for you." The younger boy nodded, just barely curbing his enthusiasm, "That's exactly what I said. I, um, happened to come by one, but it needs some work. You know, tuning and fixing." Koushiro just shook his head, "I'm a genius, Daisuke, not a mechanic." "What's the difference?" "An idiot could fix a motorcycle. Intellectual types usually dedicate their time towards more... civilized pursuits." "So... you're saying you're too good for my motorcycle." "Yeah." Koushiro yawned noisily, "Something like that." Daisuke shrugged and scratched the back of his neck, smiling apologetically, "Okay. That's cool. Sorry I woke you up so early in the morning." Daisuke turned to leave, but Koushiro blinked and with lightning fast processing skills rethought the entire situation, arriving to a very different conclusion. "Hey! Daisuke, wait." "Hm?" the younger boy looked back. "Forget what I said before. Might be an interesting project." + Fifteen minutes Daisuke and Koushiro stood together under a gray sky in a dusty, abandoned parking lot looking over the vehicle. "Not bad." Koushiro's voice was appraising after having inspected the motorcycle for some minutes, "Considering the brakes are shot, the gear shift broken, the engine unusuable and steering almost non-existant. This thing barely works, Daisuke! Please, please, PLEASE tell me you didn't spend any money on it!" "No, of course not." Daisuke assured hastily, "Some guy was going to chuck it and I just happened to be walking by. He was actually kind of reluctant to give it to me, even for free, but I told him I had a smart friend who would know how to fix it up real good." Koushiro rolled his eyes, but couldn't help allowing a small smile to grace his lips, "Wow. I never knew you held me in such high esteem. I'm honored." Daisuke's eyes widened to saucers, "You mean... you'll really fix it?" Koushiro crossed his arms and sighed, defeated, "Er... yes. Yes. I'll fix it to the best of my limited abilities." Daisuke jumped excitedly, but Koushiro froze his outburst with a dark gaze, "BUT don't expect it to be done anytime soon. It won't be anything more than a side project when I've got some free time off more important matters." "Of course, of course." Daisuke's voice was rushed and impatient and he was practically dancing around, "But the point is that you ARE going to do it." "Yes." "Thank you SO much Izzy! It really means a lot to me. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to go tell Miyako! She didn't believe me when I told her the first time." As Daisuke left, Koushiro knelt down beside the motorcycle's exposed insides and began mapping it out in his brain, unconciously connecting gears and wires until he understood how the machine worked. It was very different from a computer, but still worked on the basic principle of any machine. It was strange, however, the delicacy of the small vehicle when compared to the general air of manliness it radiated. In a strange way, it was somewhat like Daisuke himself- all brash and hard and coarse on the outside, yet just beneath the skin it felt and frayed very easily. Which made sense to Koushiro, since from his observations people tended to be attracted to inanimate objects that resembled them in indirect ways. They would give these objects names and personalities- just another way of relating to the world around them. 'I guess I do that a bit myself.' Koushiro chuckled lightly as he turned towards his makeshift toolbox, searching for a wrench, 'I always have seen a computer's brain and cold mechanalism in myself a bit...' he paused, then sighed, thinking fleetingly of the previous night's meeting and Hikari's cold words. He tightened his hands around the wrench and unfocused his gaze, allowing it to lift slightly, 'Though I doubt that's a good thing...' + "You're late." Daisuke shrugged and fell into a messy sitting position in the middle of Takeru's living room floor, "Aren't I always?" he retorted, closing his eyes. Miyako sighed and rolled her eyes. "And I don't suppose you remembered your Digivice?" Daisuke's eyes snapped open and he glared at her sharply. He pulled the device out of his pocket and shoved it in her direction, "Hey, you should know that I don't forget the important stuff." he pulled the digivice back and cupped it in his hands protectively, "Anyways, I take V-mon with me everywheres." "I still don't agree with this." Hikari said softly, "It's wrong." "Oh, not this again." Miyako muttered, then coughed loudly as Hikari looked up at her in alarm. "I don't really see a point in it." Ken said quietly, staring at the floor, "It's not really like it's going to change anything." Daisuke shot his friend a severe look, "Ken, what are you talking about. It changes everything!" Ken looked up, "We don't know that Daisuke. If it doesn't work it'll be like you guy are throwing half your lives away for nothing. I don't think I could stand that." "You guys...?" Daisuke raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth as if to say something, but Hikari cut him off. "None of that really matters. All that matters is that this is wrong and we shouldn't even be considering it in the first place. How can we save our world while killing the Digiworld? it goes against all morality!" "Why are you here if you think it's so wrong?" Miyako challenged, standing up and adjusting her glasses, "If you were really against it, you wouldn't have come. We all know you a little better than that, Kari." Hikari turned her head towards the strangely silent Takeru and balled her hands into fists. Miyako rolled her eyes and produced her digivice from within the folds of her jacket, "Well, Iori said that it works something like this..." she closed her eyes and scrunched up her brow as if in deep concentration. She held her digivice forwards and waited. And waited, and waited. "Hey, Miyako!" Daisuke piped up suddenly, "I just remembered something! Do you remember when I told you about that Motorcycle I got?" "MOTIMAYA DAISUKE!" Miyako screeched, opening her eyes and stomping her foot. She very nearly threw her digivice at him before she caught herself and lowered her arm, "What the hell!? You just broke my concentration!" "Not like you were doing anything." Daisuke snorted. "How do you know that!?" she demanded. "Anyways, were you listening? That Motorcycle, right? I took it to Koushiro and he said he'd fix it and stuff. You can ask him- it's true." "I don't care." Miyako groaned and sat down in the tattered armchair she had been sitting in when Daisuke had arrived. She raised her hand and stared at her digivice longingly, "This is harder than Koushiro made it out to be. What exactly are we supposed to do." she paused, then gasped, "You guys don't think that maybe we lost it or something?" "Lost what?" Daisuke wondered. Miyako shrugged, "I don't know. Our qualities- those defining aspects of our crests. Maybe we've changed too much to be able to do it anymore." "It's possible." Takeru hmm'ed, speaking for the first time. "No it's not." Ken interjected. Everyone turned to look at him. He heightened his gaze sheepishly, but continued, "Even if we have changed, it's not so much our virtues that affect our relationship with the Digiworld itself- it's just our predestiny. Er..." he trailed off, "It's confusing, I guess, but no matter what we do we can still manipulate the data. We're digidestined, it's what we're meant to do." "How do you know all that?" Daisuke blinked rapidly and Ken blushed slightly. "I... I don't know." he hesitated, "Well... it was something I-I mean the Kaizer was interested in." "Can you do it?" Miyako asked. Ken nodded. "Yeah. It's not difficult... but it's not the same for everyone. I don't need Wor-" he cut himself off and stood, "Well, I can show you. Just watch." He took a few steps forwards and pressed three fingers to his temple and extended the other hand. He closed his eyes and tightened his lips. Without much forewarning, the space near Takeru's door began to twist and distort until it became dark and muddy, mixed with flashes of water and blue sky. Daisuke leapt to his feet and looked as if he couldn't decide whether to go to Ken or jump off the balcony. Hikari and MIyako both jumped from their seats as every light in the house switched on simultaneously with a loud spark. Takeru, however, remained seated on his sofa, watching Ken with a focused expression. With a gasp, Ken dropped his hand and let it go. With as little commotion as things changed, they went back to normal. Ken wavered on his feet, paler than usually and shivering. Daisuke acted quickly and rushed forwards, catching Ken by the shoulders as the boy fell. He allowed his hands to linger there as Ken gained his composure- it was a tender gesture, which was not exactly out of place in the rather ambiguous interactions of Daisuke Motimaya and Ken Ichijouji, but Daisuke still blushed when Ken leaned back into him, taking a deep breath and wiping his brow. "What the fuck just happened?" he asked under his breath. "Language, Daisuke." Ken whispered, his voice shaky and his body still trembling. "Right. Sorry, Ken." Hikari slowly lowered herself back into her seat, but Miyako remained standing, shaking her head slowly, "Ken, whatever you just did... it was some seriously mondo-stuff." she stopped shaking her head and stared at the black-haired boy searchingly, "What... what exactly was it that you did?" Ken spun out of Daisuke's arms and faced the group, "That's what I was hoping you could tell me, Miyako. It's what Koushiro was talking about- you should have been able to see how it was done." "Well, we DID see it." Daisuke interjected helpfully, "Some weird shit went on and then all the lights went haywire, but what does that have to do with anything?" "Language, Daisuke- and that's not what I meant." Ken sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling as if by staring at the ceiling he could explain himself better, "I meant that you should have felt or sensed something different in the air as I shifted the data, then figured it out from there." "Yes, that's exactly it." Takeru stood and nodded gravely, "I think I understand. I can do it." "Takeru!" Hikari gasped, shooting her boyfriend a betrayed look, "You can't! You of all people should know this is wrong!" "That's enough Hikari!" Takeru didn't quite yell, but his voice contained a sharp and hostile edge to it that caused the child of Light to draw back and let out a wet sob, "What's wrong with you? Don't you understand that this is the only chance we have! You're acting totally out of character here! Who was it used to soothe the group whenever we had to do something difficult? You're playing my brother's part now- festering dissention and feeding our doubts." Hikari wore an expression of horror intertwined with terror. For a few seconds, it seemed as if she were going to cry but it must always be taken into account that Yagami Hikari was cut from the same mold as the invincible Taichi, child of courage. She gathered herself and stood, standing almost toe-to-toe with Takeru and painting on her face a most formidable expression, "What's happened to me? What's happened to you, Takeru Takaishi? Gaurdian of Hope going for the quick fix? You're playing MY brother's part, TK, jumping immedietly at the quickest and easiest solution without even the slightest consideration for the lives affected as long as it isn't your own!" she spun on her heel and stuck her nose in the air, "I've never heard anything so selfish in my entire life! You all whine about how much you want to see the Digimon again, but in the end if it comes down to us or them, you're all ready to forget about that friendship and save your own tails. DIsgusting." Takeru seethed. He was deathly still and the tension in the room rose. Miyako and Daisuke, looking on, thought perhaps that Hikari had won this particular battle, but just as the assumption was beginning to take root, the blonde boy grabbed Hikari's shoulders and violently spun her to face him. "Dammnit, Hikari! Would you quit being so ignorant! Don't you understand, it's not us or them- it's us or nothing!" "That's just an excuse." Hikari scoffed. "No it's not!" Takeru shook her and Daisuke and Miyako shot each other surprised looks, "It's taken me two years to understand, but you're alot smarter than me. If you'd just open your eyes, you'd see that it's not about perserving us at the expense of them... it about perserving ANYTHING! Both worlds are falling apart and it's impossible to save both, the least we can do is save ours!" "But... but the Digiworld..." "Is already too far gone!" Takeru shouted, "It's dead, Hikari! We can never get it back! It's gone forever and as much as we sit here and we hope and we pray there is no way in HELL that we are ever going to be able to see Patamon and Gatomon again!" Takeru reeled back as he said these words, as if he were shocked that he had said them. The life seemed to flow out of Hikari and she went as pale as a sheet. Miyako made a strangled noise and fell back into her chair while Daisuke simply clutched his digivice to his heart. There was a long moment of stagnent and painful silence before Hikari began crying. Takeru's face softened and he gulped, awkwardly placing a strong hand on Hikari's shoulder, "I... I'm sorry, Kari. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean what I said, I just..." "Don't touch me." Hikari hissed, wrenching herself from his grip, "Never touch me again, you bastard." she refused too look at him as he attempted a stuttering apology, "You make me sick." she cried through tears, "You all make me sick!" she grabbed her jacket and burst out the door and leaving it slamming shut loudly in her wake. Takeru sat down numbly, his face void of expression. His head dropped and his shoulders heaved once, "Shit." he muttered. "I've never seen Kari so angry." Miyako murmered, amazed. She reached into one of her jacket pockets and pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. She fiddled with the joint on the lighter three times before producing a flame. "You'd better not light one of those up in here." Daisuke said tonelessly from where he was slumped against the wall, running his thumb and and down the length of his digivice, "Ken will have your head, right Ken?" Miyako let the flame fall from her lighter and blinked, "Where did Ken go?" she wondered, alarmed. Takeru and Daisuke both looked up to see that Ken was, indeed, gone. Takeru shook his head sadly, "He must have left when Kari and I were arguing." "I don't blame him." Miyako commented, finally lighting her cigarette. Daisuke sighed and returned his attention to his digivice worriedly, "The world is fucked up." + Ken sighed against the wind and examined the graying sky with minimal interest. He almost spoke before Hikari passed him, but managed to catch her just as her shoulder brushed his on her way out of the apartment complex. "Do you mean to tear us apart?" he asked quietly. She turned and set upon him a vicious gaze, "And what makes you think you're qualified to ask that question, Digimon Emperor Ken." Ken winced as if the words stung him physically, "Hikari, this is nothing like you. What's happened?" Hikari shrugged nochalantly, "Times change, Ichijouji, and people change with them. Are you on my side or not?" "It's not that simple, Hikari, and you know that." Hikari threw her arms into the air, "Everyone assumes I know everything! You know what, I think I'm tired of being the voice of reason no matter what my personal beliefs in the matter are! Maybe, sometimes things are just that simple, Ken. So, either you're with me, or your with my brother!" and with that she was gone.
Izzy Girl 'Understand the things I say Understand what I've become
don't turn away from me It wasn't my design
'cause I spent my life out there And people everywhere think
you wouldn't disagree something better than I am
do you see this, do you see? but I miss you, I miss
do you notice, do you know? 'cause I liked it, I liked it
do you see me, oh do you see me? When I was out there
does anyone care? do you know this, oh do you know?
you did not find me, you did not find
does anyone care?'
- Ode to My Family, The Cranberries Interlude "Do you really think she's human?" "She looks human enough." "Well... you can't be sure. That Gennai dude looked pretty human... I don't think it's a good idea." "She's just a little girl!" "You don't know that!" "Well, there's really only one way to find out." Seisaku Ikari only observed the heated exchange with crossed arms and a blank expression. He really didn't care either way, but found these frequent arguments between his two travelling companions none the less fascinating. Kowai Senbetsu and Tokudai Kimagure... one would be hard pressed to find two more starkly different induviduals but sometimes if Seisaku looked deep enough, he saw a glimmer in their eyes. A shared trait, perhaps, that personality flaw that caused both to think they were undoubtedly right in all situations. In Tokudai, it was caused by over confidence. He had been a jock back in the real world, and a very popular one at that, how could he not help but be sure of himself when he had spent his life being told he was right by everyone surrounding him, even when he was long. Kowai was the exact opposite, but in her rested a self assurance that surprassed even Toku's- she was a super genius and very aware of it. Her superior intelligence gave her the right to claim clear judgement. Unlike Tokudai, who always thought he was right, Kowai usually was. Tokudai grimaced at her and refused to meet her gaze. She had won this one. The chestnut hair boy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out to the solitary figure on the hill. "HEY! YOU! LITTLE GIRL!" he paused, "ARE YOU HUMAN!?" "Oh, very subtle..." Kowai scoffed, folding her thin arms across her chest. Tokudai shrugged, "Well, at least it's to the point. She's just a kid anyways, not like she's gonna be all offended or something." he looked out at the hill again. The figure had neither answered nor moved. Toku seemed a bit put off by this. He bit his lip and turned back to Kowai, "Hey, Ko. Maybe she's not ever real." "What if she didn't hear you? Shout again." Tokudai sighed heavily and brought his hands to his mouth again, "HEY! YOU THERE ON THE HI-" he cut himself off abruptly as the girl's head jerked to look over her shoulder. He stumbled backwards into Sei's shoulder, clutching his chest, "I was not expecting that..." he said quietly. "You're certainly the mind over matter type." Kowai chuckled, "It's sad that you had yourself so convinced she wasn't going to answer... how did you ever manage to make it to thirteen?" Sei shoved Tokudai forwards and the boy glared at both his companions bitterly, "Geeze... you both hate me, don't you?" he focused his gaze sharply on Seisaku, "You've been quiet today, Seisaku, what do you think about all of this?" Sei shrugged, "I don't care either way." Toku snorted, "Hmph. Should have known better than to ask you anything in the first place. You just..." for the second time in four minutes, Tokudai was cut off mid sentence as he noticed the girl from the hill had gathered herself and was now standing among the group of three, staring up at Tokudai as if he were doing something horribly strange. He blinked fearfully before taking a step backwards. The girl still stared. From her looks she couldn't have been anything but human. She was small and delicate, her wide childish face set with large, brown eyes and framed with scraggly brown hair that looked as if it needed ot be washed. It was half hanging out of a pink ribbon that matched her shorts and the trim of her t-shirt. The shirt was decorated with a yellow illustration of a cat and the words: 'nyu nyu'. It was also smeared with dirt. She looked to be the typical Japanese child, except for her ragged apperance, but there was something in the set of her gaze that was unnerving. Seisaku boted this, and would describe it later as almost inhuman. Kowai was taken with her immidietly. She dropped to her knees, long red pigtails obscuring her profile, and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hello. My name is Kowai Senbetsu. Who are you?" The girl didn't answer, but she did stare at Kowai instead of Toku. The boy breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his shoulders to unknot themselves. "Do you understand me? Do you speak Japanese?" "Well, obviously she's Japanese..." Toku muttered, "Look at her... and that shirt..." "Shh!" Kowai shot Tokudai a dangerous glare from her black eyes before returning her attention towards the mysterious girl, "Are you scared? It's okay we're... we're human. I'm Kowai, this is Seisaku and that rude boy over there is called Tokudai." Toku huffed, "You don't have to be scared of us, we won't hurt you. We'll look after you until we can find your parents again." The girl still didn't say anything, but the shadows in her eyes lightened, as if she understood. Kowai serached her face for a few more moments before rising and facing Seisaku and Tokudai. "I think she might be mute... but she most definitely is human." Tokudai looked convinced, but Seisaku had his reservations, as he usually did. He was in the habit of studying eyes, as they often revealed things the body hid. If he were the sort to share his personal opinion, he would have told Kowai that nothing in this strange world was ever as it seemed, but Seisaku had learned long ago to keep his thoughts to himself. /Interlude. Chapter 2. He studied the rolling landscape of this strange world. It was very different from the cramped and polluted Tokyo streets he was used to. It might have been a dream. Most certainly was, as he couldn't remember exactly how he had found himself here in this strange, exotic jungle. It was a mass of thick vines, red flowers and the faint trickling of water in the back of his mind. Nothing had ever seemed real to Seisaku Ikari in his life except for his dreams. Sometimes he convinced himself that everyday he was living a monotonous purgatory of sorts, and only when he laid his head on his pillow at night did he truly wake and escape it. This is what he dreamed: A light, and then a prism of colors flashing. Fresh air and untouched land. There were faces too, fuzzy ones but still there. People who were important. He knew them as deeply and as personally as he knew himself, yet had the innate knowledge that he hadn't really ever met them. At least not in his "real life". There was a girl, sharp wit and striking dark red hair. She was beautiful, but not in an upfront way and most of it came from her highly admirable traits. Intelligence, loyalty and kindness. Then there was the boy. He was rash and abrupt; very physical. He wore his sports jerseys in arrogance rather than pride and never shut his mouth. Still, despite these irritating traits, Seisaku knew that he adored him. These were the only humans like him in the entire world, and it was strange. There more faces, not human like the brazen boy and smart girl. They were part of the world, but just as alive as Seisaku himself. One was a handsome man in long, flowing robes who was dependable and who carried himself as such. Then there was the little girl who never looked at things, but rather through and around them. The last face was warm and loving, but actually very cold. It was more a creature than a human, locked in chains yet free to roam. Sometimes, his dreams seemed symbolic, but still, very real. This place where he was now was calm. It felt like his dreams, but different. He did not acknowledge that this was a dream. His mind roamed too freely in thought and his body moved with far too much ease. He felt unconstricted and without purpose. He was lucid, but more so was aware. 'This is the place from my dream', he affirmed silently, taking in the way the hills sloped in to meet each other like a puzzle and the strange off-toned colors of the surrounding flora, 'How did I come to be here?' + Tokudai woke up with his face in the damp ground. He shot upwards quickly, coughing and sputtering on the damp grass that had somehow worked it's way into his mouth. "Did you have a nice rest?" He jumped again, spinning to find himself faced with her. That girl who had landed him in detention in the first place. She was kneeling in the grass, her hand folded on her lap and red pigtails falling over her shoulders. He glared. "What the hell is going on here!? Where the hell are we!?" The girl shrugged, "The 'other world'." she said, like it was common sense, "Where else would we be?" "What kind of games are you playing with me, Senbetsu. I'm warning you..." She shook her head and whistled in disbelief, "You really don't remember, do you?" "What are you talking about!?" The girl stood, brushing her hair behind her shoulders and placing a hand over her eyes, scanning the area, "Well, look around for yourself. Maybe it'll come back to you." Tokudai rose slowly, rubbing the back of his neck where it was sore. He cartainly hadn't fallen unconcious in a comfortable position. After observing the rich foilage around him, he turned to follow the girl's gaze and found himself floored once again, this time due to shock. "What the..." There were no buildings, no cars, no smog clouds lingering over this forest. It couldn't have even been rural Japan, as there were no moutains in sight. Aside from that, the fauna was plain bizzare, shaped unnaturally and here and there dotted with colors that just should not be applied to normal, everyday plantlife. "Where the fuck are we..." Tokudai muttered, more of a statement than an actual question. He was aware that he was growing redundant, but frankly didn't care about that sort of thing. "I told you." The girl repeated breezily, "We're in the 'Other World'." Tokudai blinked widely, "The... 'Other World'?..." + "BITCH!" the boy sputtered as he stumbled backwards clutching his raw cheek. "Fucking bitch!" Kowai bit her tounge, reminding herself that someone with such a minisculy pathetic grasp of the Japanese language he must resort to using the most primitive, unintelligent and profane words in it, was not worth her time. Like he would understand half of what she had said... That's what had led to this. Mr. Ikkuya KNEW she didn't work well with *his* type. He KNEW she didn't work well with anyone not at her level of comprehension. He KNEW she was intolerant of idiots who insisted on bantering on about some stupid concert or movie instead of DOING THEIR WORK ... but then again Mr. Ikkuya KNEW she didn't belong in Junior High. She turned her back to her fuming lab partner, and sighed heavily. Another day, another pointless detention. Who cared, it's not like she had anywhere to be. Not like anyone else in the school wanted to be friends with Kowai Senbetsu. Hell, no one even wanted to be caught withen the same ten foot radius as her. The 'orphan'. The 'orphaned stuck up bitch.' They didn't think she heard what they said about her. It's not as if they were exactly discreet about it. ** "What a bitch." "She thinks just cause' she's got a 100 average in, like, EVERYTHING, she can go around treating the rest of us like shit." "Hmph, like she's the ONLY one who's ever been on the Principal's Honor Roll..." "Why don't they just skip her ahead to High School so we don't have to LOOK at her anymore!" "Yeah. Those teachers'll eat her alive. The don't tolerate bitches like her in High School." "I bet she thinks she belongs in Collage or something!" "I KNOW! She is SO full of herself! She's probably thinks we're all clamouring to work with her and her 'genius'!" "Eww... I don't care if she's smart, I never want to be her lab partner again. She's just... weird." "Well, what do you expect. She never knew her mom, and her dad was a total freak." "What do you wanna bet she was happy when he died?" "Huh?" "People like her leech off pitfalls in life like there's no tommorow. She's not likable, so she walks around all like 'woe me, I have no parents' so people'll at least feel sorry for her." "Oh, that is SO true!" ** But it wasn't. When had Kowai even talked about her parents? The only reason everyone knew was because of Mariko Wa, who came over to work on a project, only to discover Miss. Genius lived alone. The room swirled and Kowai allowed herself to swirled with it. She had stopped listening to Mr. Ikkuya and the stupid boy long ago, but now their faint voices melted together into one continuous blur. "... and if I don't see you two here this Saturday cleaning that floor... SENBETSU! KIMAGURE! Are you even listening!?" Kowai snapped back to reality, if for only a moment. "Yeah, whatever." She exited, just like that, not caring that Ikkuya was still screaming at her, and ALLOWING the *idiot* to call after her using those primitive words, especially 'bitch'. Her nickname, it seemed, she heard it whispered among the masses and she walked confidently down the hall. She didn't have to cower. No one came near her. It was if there was some invisible force feild surrounding her, and the path cleared as she walked. Respect through total hatred. She allowed things to blur even further as she fiddled with her locker combination. The world faded in and out and around until the only thing solidifyed in her mind was the lock and it's code. -23- Ever since her father had died, it had happened almost daily. It was if she were bing drawn into some paralell dimension, or some other reality. She felt almost like her being was flickering from one to the next. Like she was living a double life. -16- Sometimes she could even 'see' this paralell world. Not all at once of course, just flashes of it here and there, as if she were looking through a picket fence. One thick strip of reality, blocking her freedom, and one strip, however thin and fleeting, of a marvelous world of depth and life. -32- But when she would work up enough courage to reach for it, it seemed to fizzle at her touch, dissolving instantly, leaving her stranded again in her own reality. -click- The locker swung open, breaking the spell this time. Kowai shook it off, her ragged pigtails tickling her neck. She slowly became aware of the bodies and voices around her as she shoved her schoolbooks into her book bag. She was sure, quite sure as she was everyday before and probably after this, that many of those voices, whispering decietfully, nervous eyes glancing constantly, that they were talking about her. But she didn't care anymore. She slammed her locker shut, and shrugged the bookbag onto her shoulder, regally stalking her way through the halls towards the door. They didn't understand. She was almost there... that other world... + "You really don't remember, do you?" she came closer to Tokudai and tapped on the head. He reeled back, rubbing his head defensively. "Hey! Don't touch me!" "She 'tsk'ed under her breath, "How hard did you hit your head, really? Don't you remember science class?" "The science class?... I think I might..." + The red-head reeled back and slapped him. Tokudai back away a few steps, clutching his cheek where it throbbed red. What the hell had he done to deserve that? "You... bitch!" he stuttered, "You fucking bitch! How DARE you!" "What's going on over here!?" 'Oh great, that's it. I've done it now.' Tokudai pressed his wam palm harder into his wounded chin and bowed his head, 'I've gotten the teacher involved in this. I can just hear the phone call to my mother already: "Mrs. Kimagure! Would you believe that your son was mentally damaging our school's brightest student, nevermind that she's a totally self-righteous BITCH, by screaming powerful obscenities at her!" Like red-head there's ever going to get in any toruble. She's smarter than all the students and staff put together. She's practically go the teachers eating out of her hand... and she started it in the first place. If she hadn't slapped me...' "... and if I don't see you two here this Saturday cleaning that floor... SENBETSU! KIMAGURE! Are you even listening!?" "Yeah. Whatever." the girl rolled her dark eyes and left. Just like that. "HEY!" Tokudai hollered after her, restrained only by Mr. Ikkuya's strong, chemist's hands on his shoulders, "YOU BITCH! COME BACK HERE AND APOLOGIZE TO ME!" "Save it for detention, Tokudai." Mr. Ikkuya muttered, "In the meantime, you're getting a call home." + "Yeah, I remember science class." Tokudai growled, "I remember that you slapped e and landed my ass in detention. Now, anything else you'd like me to thank you for while we're taking this lovely trip down memory lane." The girl sighed dramatically, "The actual class was not what's important here. Do you remember anything about the detention itself." Tokudai thought hard. + "You bitch." "Bastard." "Bitch." "Bastard." "Fucking bitch." "Just concentrate on mopping, Kimagure. Stop being such an intolerable bastard." "Only after you stop being a bitch." "I am going to terminate this conversation now, as there is no possible objective to it that I can see." Tokudai blinked, 'What the hell did she mean by that?' "Bitch...." + "Yeah, I remember the detention like it was yesterday." "It WAS yesterday genius." "It was a figure of speech." "No, it was a cliche. Big difference." "That's not what they taught us in Literature class." "Yeah, well don't take everything you learn in school for granted." The girl sighed and plopped herself down in the grass again, studying the sky intently, "And obviously you don't remember the detention because you're still wondering why we're here." "What does the detention have to do with anything." "Think, Kimagure, THINK! What happened during the detention." Tokudai scratched his head, "We... exchanged insults." "And very unimaginative ones at that. I mean AFTERWARDS." "Um, well...." + "Looks like all the floors are clean. Good as new! Time to go home and play video games!" + "What kind of a dumbass question is that?" Tokudai chuckled brashly, "We stopped talking and finished cleaning the floors. So I went home to play some Famicom and you... probably lurked in an alley somewhere, waiting for hapless victims to wander by so you could suck their blood." "Ha ha, no." the girl's expression turned dark, "Think harder, Kimagure. I know it's an effort, but please try. This is important. Don't you remember what happened when we were cleaning the computer room? Don't you remember..." here she paused and her infalliable voice cracked, "Do you remember.... Gennai?" + "Gennai!? What kind of weird-ass name is THAT!?" "A very fine one, if I do say myself." "I agree." "That's only because your father programmed it." "Not it. Him." Gennai corrected kindly, the plastered smile never leaving his youthful face, "And eventually even you will learn to appreciate my presence." "Okay, I still don't get it." Tokudai pouted, his lower lip coming up to cover the upper and giving him to apperance of a lost puppy dog, "So, what, you're a computer program come to life and your here to take us to some video game made real?" "No, no, NO!" Kowai shook her head vehemently, "It's not like a video game at all! Weren't you even listening, Kimagure!? It's a world. A REAL world, just... a shadow world. Not like ours, a world made up of entirely data." "But... isn't that just what a video game is?" Tokudai winced, fearing a violent retort from the fiery girl. "No. Video games are digital, this is physical. A real, true, living, breathing world just like our own." "Whoa." Tokudai nodded slowly, not quite sure he understood anything Kowai had just said, "Trippy..." + "I remember... something about a GennaI?" He raised his arm and leveled his hand above his head, "About yae tall? And kinda dressed like some guy from a Star Wards flick?" Kowai stood and made a strangled, fustrated noise, stamping her foot in the dew-laden grass, "No! That's right but you're focusing on the wrong things!" "But you TOLD me to focus on Gennai!" "I didn't tell you to focus on anything!" "But you said: 'Do you remember Gennai?' " "I didn't mean for you to literally remember Gennai and only Gennai! I meant to use his name as a rememberence guide!" "Well, I'm sorry but we all can't be as smart as you!" Kowai smacked her hand against her forehead and spoke even, "Whatever. Forget it. It's not important, anyways, you'll remember eventually. For now, just follow me." she began receeding into the trees. "Wait!" Tokudai jogged a few steps to catch up with her, "That's not fair. At least tell me what's going on! Where are we! I don't understand!" The girl stopped and stared at him with narrow, black eyes, "We are in a digitally constructed shadow-world created by the sudden increase in global computer use and the beginning's of something known as 'The Internet'. Although it is a real and physical place where we can touch, feel, hear, see and smell while interacting with the enviroment, it is still essentially made up of raw data being processed by millions upon millions of computer's worldwide. So, it's a 'Digital World'." "A Digital World..." Tokudai repeated, totally not getting it, "Digiworld!" "Or you could say it that way." Tokudai inhaled sharply and rotated his view of the exotic landscape. He could find nothing else to say except, "Whoa. Trippy." Interlude. "Daisuke?" Ken trailed his bloody fingers through his friend's hair while staring absently at their dark surroundings. Daisuke was curled beneath the ceiling of rock awkwardly, his arms twisted beneath him and his legs sprawled in opposite directions, but Ken couldn't find enough room between them to adjust his position. "Daisuke, you're going to die..." he let out a raw sob as his hands travelled downwards, feeling the battered skin beneath torn clothing. He found the wound again, and covered it with his cold hands. It was too dark to see anything, but Ken could imagine what the gaping hole in Daisuke's stomach would look like- skin raw and yellowish around it, the edges collapsing inwards like a sinkhole in the middle of a body. Ken knew what these things looked like. He knew what death looked like, having spent a good portion of his childhood obsessed with it. "Why do you always have to play the hero?" Ken pressed his hand deep against the cut, willing it to stop bleeding as the warm liquid seeped between his fingers and trickled down his knuckles, "You even do it when no one needs a hero. It's selfish, Daisuke, you're just a selfish person always trying to fufill your own personal idea of what a good person should be like just so you can feel good about yourself." the blood wouldn't stop, causing Ken to feel helpless, like a cracked damn beneath the pressure of a great flood, "You know what? The world didn't need a hero today. You didn't have to run towards the light and maybe if you didn't you wouldn't be dying right now." He gave up on the wound, pulling his now red hands away quickly and burying his tear-soaked face in the, not caring that he was smearing blood on his face. His eyes began to sting and he could take it no longer, so he ripped his hands away and bent over, resting his cheek on Daisuke's chest. He sighed shakily, "This death is meant for me. The death is always meant for me... Osamu's, Wormon's and now yours. I don't fear death, you know that. I'd welcome it's embrace, but the bullet always misses and somehow finds it's way to those I need most." he closed his eyes and grimaced, "The world may not need you to be a hero right now, Daisuke, but I do. That's why you're dying right now." he chuckled sharply, bitter, "Maybe I'm selfish too. But here's the difference- you're selfishness saves lives and mine take thems." He reopened his eyes and stared ahead listlessly. It was dark, but there must have been light sneaking into the cavern from somewhere since Ken could see Daisuke's outline clearly and he could trace the pattern of collapsed rocks above, below and around them. Somewhere, there was a faint echo of dripping water. Things weren't right anymore. Ken could feel it in that connection between the worlds he still held from his days as the Kaizer. It was over, lost. Somehow this was both the real and digital world. Ken remebered something. "I've never told anyone this." he whispered into Daisuke's neck, his hand finding the boy's wound again, "But I can do things... it's strange, but in the Digiworld I could always make things happen just by thinking about them. I wonder if..." /Interlude. "You want me to what?" It was seven-o-two in the morning and Koushiro Izumi was tired and cranky, having been rudely forced out of a unrestful slumber by the insistant pounding at his small apartment's front door. He slid into his slippers and stumbled towards the door only to find a characteristically exeburant Daisuke Motimaya grinning back at him from the other side. Koushiro hadn't even realized the goggled boy was capable of being awake that early in the morning. "I want you to fix up a motorcycle for me." Koushiro rubbed his eyes sleepily and stared, "Okay, run that by me a third time, Daisuke, because I could have sworn you just said you wanted me to fix up a motorcycle for you." The younger boy nodded, just barely curbing his enthusiasm, "That's exactly what I said. I, um, happened to come by one, but it needs some work. You know, tuning and fixing." Koushiro just shook his head, "I'm a genius, Daisuke, not a mechanic." "What's the difference?" "An idiot could fix a motorcycle. Intellectual types usually dedicate their time towards more... civilized pursuits." "So... you're saying you're too good for my motorcycle." "Yeah." Koushiro yawned noisily, "Something like that." Daisuke shrugged and scratched the back of his neck, smiling apologetically, "Okay. That's cool. Sorry I woke you up so early in the morning." Daisuke turned to leave, but Koushiro blinked and with lightning fast processing skills rethought the entire situation, arriving to a very different conclusion. "Hey! Daisuke, wait." "Hm?" the younger boy looked back. "Forget what I said before. Might be an interesting project." + Fifteen minutes Daisuke and Koushiro stood together under a gray sky in a dusty, abandoned parking lot looking over the vehicle. "Not bad." Koushiro's voice was appraising after having inspected the motorcycle for some minutes, "Considering the brakes are shot, the gear shift broken, the engine unusuable and steering almost non-existant. This thing barely works, Daisuke! Please, please, PLEASE tell me you didn't spend any money on it!" "No, of course not." Daisuke assured hastily, "Some guy was going to chuck it and I just happened to be walking by. He was actually kind of reluctant to give it to me, even for free, but I told him I had a smart friend who would know how to fix it up real good." Koushiro rolled his eyes, but couldn't help allowing a small smile to grace his lips, "Wow. I never knew you held me in such high esteem. I'm honored." Daisuke's eyes widened to saucers, "You mean... you'll really fix it?" Koushiro crossed his arms and sighed, defeated, "Er... yes. Yes. I'll fix it to the best of my limited abilities." Daisuke jumped excitedly, but Koushiro froze his outburst with a dark gaze, "BUT don't expect it to be done anytime soon. It won't be anything more than a side project when I've got some free time off more important matters." "Of course, of course." Daisuke's voice was rushed and impatient and he was practically dancing around, "But the point is that you ARE going to do it." "Yes." "Thank you SO much Izzy! It really means a lot to me. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to go tell Miyako! She didn't believe me when I told her the first time." As Daisuke left, Koushiro knelt down beside the motorcycle's exposed insides and began mapping it out in his brain, unconciously connecting gears and wires until he understood how the machine worked. It was very different from a computer, but still worked on the basic principle of any machine. It was strange, however, the delicacy of the small vehicle when compared to the general air of manliness it radiated. In a strange way, it was somewhat like Daisuke himself- all brash and hard and coarse on the outside, yet just beneath the skin it felt and frayed very easily. Which made sense to Koushiro, since from his observations people tended to be attracted to inanimate objects that resembled them in indirect ways. They would give these objects names and personalities- just another way of relating to the world around them. 'I guess I do that a bit myself.' Koushiro chuckled lightly as he turned towards his makeshift toolbox, searching for a wrench, 'I always have seen a computer's brain and cold mechanalism in myself a bit...' he paused, then sighed, thinking fleetingly of the previous night's meeting and Hikari's cold words. He tightened his hands around the wrench and unfocused his gaze, allowing it to lift slightly, 'Though I doubt that's a good thing...' + "You're late." Daisuke shrugged and fell into a messy sitting position in the middle of Takeru's living room floor, "Aren't I always?" he retorted, closing his eyes. Miyako sighed and rolled her eyes. "And I don't suppose you remembered your Digivice?" Daisuke's eyes snapped open and he glared at her sharply. He pulled the device out of his pocket and shoved it in her direction, "Hey, you should know that I don't forget the important stuff." he pulled the digivice back and cupped it in his hands protectively, "Anyways, I take V-mon with me everywheres." "I still don't agree with this." Hikari said softly, "It's wrong." "Oh, not this again." Miyako muttered, then coughed loudly as Hikari looked up at her in alarm. "I don't really see a point in it." Ken said quietly, staring at the floor, "It's not really like it's going to change anything." Daisuke shot his friend a severe look, "Ken, what are you talking about. It changes everything!" Ken looked up, "We don't know that Daisuke. If it doesn't work it'll be like you guy are throwing half your lives away for nothing. I don't think I could stand that." "You guys...?" Daisuke raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth as if to say something, but Hikari cut him off. "None of that really matters. All that matters is that this is wrong and we shouldn't even be considering it in the first place. How can we save our world while killing the Digiworld? it goes against all morality!" "Why are you here if you think it's so wrong?" Miyako challenged, standing up and adjusting her glasses, "If you were really against it, you wouldn't have come. We all know you a little better than that, Kari." Hikari turned her head towards the strangely silent Takeru and balled her hands into fists. Miyako rolled her eyes and produced her digivice from within the folds of her jacket, "Well, Iori said that it works something like this..." she closed her eyes and scrunched up her brow as if in deep concentration. She held her digivice forwards and waited. And waited, and waited. "Hey, Miyako!" Daisuke piped up suddenly, "I just remembered something! Do you remember when I told you about that Motorcycle I got?" "MOTIMAYA DAISUKE!" Miyako screeched, opening her eyes and stomping her foot. She very nearly threw her digivice at him before she caught herself and lowered her arm, "What the hell!? You just broke my concentration!" "Not like you were doing anything." Daisuke snorted. "How do you know that!?" she demanded. "Anyways, were you listening? That Motorcycle, right? I took it to Koushiro and he said he'd fix it and stuff. You can ask him- it's true." "I don't care." Miyako groaned and sat down in the tattered armchair she had been sitting in when Daisuke had arrived. She raised her hand and stared at her digivice longingly, "This is harder than Koushiro made it out to be. What exactly are we supposed to do." she paused, then gasped, "You guys don't think that maybe we lost it or something?" "Lost what?" Daisuke wondered. Miyako shrugged, "I don't know. Our qualities- those defining aspects of our crests. Maybe we've changed too much to be able to do it anymore." "It's possible." Takeru hmm'ed, speaking for the first time. "No it's not." Ken interjected. Everyone turned to look at him. He heightened his gaze sheepishly, but continued, "Even if we have changed, it's not so much our virtues that affect our relationship with the Digiworld itself- it's just our predestiny. Er..." he trailed off, "It's confusing, I guess, but no matter what we do we can still manipulate the data. We're digidestined, it's what we're meant to do." "How do you know all that?" Daisuke blinked rapidly and Ken blushed slightly. "I... I don't know." he hesitated, "Well... it was something I-I mean the Kaizer was interested in." "Can you do it?" Miyako asked. Ken nodded. "Yeah. It's not difficult... but it's not the same for everyone. I don't need Wor-" he cut himself off and stood, "Well, I can show you. Just watch." He took a few steps forwards and pressed three fingers to his temple and extended the other hand. He closed his eyes and tightened his lips. Without much forewarning, the space near Takeru's door began to twist and distort until it became dark and muddy, mixed with flashes of water and blue sky. Daisuke leapt to his feet and looked as if he couldn't decide whether to go to Ken or jump off the balcony. Hikari and MIyako both jumped from their seats as every light in the house switched on simultaneously with a loud spark. Takeru, however, remained seated on his sofa, watching Ken with a focused expression. With a gasp, Ken dropped his hand and let it go. With as little commotion as things changed, they went back to normal. Ken wavered on his feet, paler than usually and shivering. Daisuke acted quickly and rushed forwards, catching Ken by the shoulders as the boy fell. He allowed his hands to linger there as Ken gained his composure- it was a tender gesture, which was not exactly out of place in the rather ambiguous interactions of Daisuke Motimaya and Ken Ichijouji, but Daisuke still blushed when Ken leaned back into him, taking a deep breath and wiping his brow. "What the fuck just happened?" he asked under his breath. "Language, Daisuke." Ken whispered, his voice shaky and his body still trembling. "Right. Sorry, Ken." Hikari slowly lowered herself back into her seat, but Miyako remained standing, shaking her head slowly, "Ken, whatever you just did... it was some seriously mondo-stuff." she stopped shaking her head and stared at the black-haired boy searchingly, "What... what exactly was it that you did?" Ken spun out of Daisuke's arms and faced the group, "That's what I was hoping you could tell me, Miyako. It's what Koushiro was talking about- you should have been able to see how it was done." "Well, we DID see it." Daisuke interjected helpfully, "Some weird shit went on and then all the lights went haywire, but what does that have to do with anything?" "Language, Daisuke- and that's not what I meant." Ken sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling as if by staring at the ceiling he could explain himself better, "I meant that you should have felt or sensed something different in the air as I shifted the data, then figured it out from there." "Yes, that's exactly it." Takeru stood and nodded gravely, "I think I understand. I can do it." "Takeru!" Hikari gasped, shooting her boyfriend a betrayed look, "You can't! You of all people should know this is wrong!" "That's enough Hikari!" Takeru didn't quite yell, but his voice contained a sharp and hostile edge to it that caused the child of Light to draw back and let out a wet sob, "What's wrong with you? Don't you understand that this is the only chance we have! You're acting totally out of character here! Who was it used to soothe the group whenever we had to do something difficult? You're playing my brother's part now- festering dissention and feeding our doubts." Hikari wore an expression of horror intertwined with terror. For a few seconds, it seemed as if she were going to cry but it must always be taken into account that Yagami Hikari was cut from the same mold as the invincible Taichi, child of courage. She gathered herself and stood, standing almost toe-to-toe with Takeru and painting on her face a most formidable expression, "What's happened to me? What's happened to you, Takeru Takaishi? Gaurdian of Hope going for the quick fix? You're playing MY brother's part, TK, jumping immedietly at the quickest and easiest solution without even the slightest consideration for the lives affected as long as it isn't your own!" she spun on her heel and stuck her nose in the air, "I've never heard anything so selfish in my entire life! You all whine about how much you want to see the Digimon again, but in the end if it comes down to us or them, you're all ready to forget about that friendship and save your own tails. DIsgusting." Takeru seethed. He was deathly still and the tension in the room rose. Miyako and Daisuke, looking on, thought perhaps that Hikari had won this particular battle, but just as the assumption was beginning to take root, the blonde boy grabbed Hikari's shoulders and violently spun her to face him. "Dammnit, Hikari! Would you quit being so ignorant! Don't you understand, it's not us or them- it's us or nothing!" "That's just an excuse." Hikari scoffed. "No it's not!" Takeru shook her and Daisuke and Miyako shot each other surprised looks, "It's taken me two years to understand, but you're alot smarter than me. If you'd just open your eyes, you'd see that it's not about perserving us at the expense of them... it about perserving ANYTHING! Both worlds are falling apart and it's impossible to save both, the least we can do is save ours!" "But... but the Digiworld..." "Is already too far gone!" Takeru shouted, "It's dead, Hikari! We can never get it back! It's gone forever and as much as we sit here and we hope and we pray there is no way in HELL that we are ever going to be able to see Patamon and Gatomon again!" Takeru reeled back as he said these words, as if he were shocked that he had said them. The life seemed to flow out of Hikari and she went as pale as a sheet. Miyako made a strangled noise and fell back into her chair while Daisuke simply clutched his digivice to his heart. There was a long moment of stagnent and painful silence before Hikari began crying. Takeru's face softened and he gulped, awkwardly placing a strong hand on Hikari's shoulder, "I... I'm sorry, Kari. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean what I said, I just..." "Don't touch me." Hikari hissed, wrenching herself from his grip, "Never touch me again, you bastard." she refused too look at him as he attempted a stuttering apology, "You make me sick." she cried through tears, "You all make me sick!" she grabbed her jacket and burst out the door and leaving it slamming shut loudly in her wake. Takeru sat down numbly, his face void of expression. His head dropped and his shoulders heaved once, "Shit." he muttered. "I've never seen Kari so angry." Miyako murmered, amazed. She reached into one of her jacket pockets and pulled out a cigarette and her lighter. She fiddled with the joint on the lighter three times before producing a flame. "You'd better not light one of those up in here." Daisuke said tonelessly from where he was slumped against the wall, running his thumb and and down the length of his digivice, "Ken will have your head, right Ken?" Miyako let the flame fall from her lighter and blinked, "Where did Ken go?" she wondered, alarmed. Takeru and Daisuke both looked up to see that Ken was, indeed, gone. Takeru shook his head sadly, "He must have left when Kari and I were arguing." "I don't blame him." Miyako commented, finally lighting her cigarette. Daisuke sighed and returned his attention to his digivice worriedly, "The world is fucked up." + Ken sighed against the wind and examined the graying sky with minimal interest. He almost spoke before Hikari passed him, but managed to catch her just as her shoulder brushed his on her way out of the apartment complex. "Do you mean to tear us apart?" he asked quietly. She turned and set upon him a vicious gaze, "And what makes you think you're qualified to ask that question, Digimon Emperor Ken." Ken winced as if the words stung him physically, "Hikari, this is nothing like you. What's happened?" Hikari shrugged nochalantly, "Times change, Ichijouji, and people change with them. Are you on my side or not?" "It's not that simple, Hikari, and you know that." Hikari threw her arms into the air, "Everyone assumes I know everything! You know what, I think I'm tired of being the voice of reason no matter what my personal beliefs in the matter are! Maybe, sometimes things are just that simple, Ken. So, either you're with me, or your with my brother!" and with that she was gone.
