Litanya: I do not own Digimon or any of the characters in this fic so far
Tai: You killed me?? What on Earth possessed you to do that? And what's more, you sent me to Hell? How could you do such a thing?
Litanya: Well . . . you see it's all a part of the storyline. Everything will turn out happy in the end, sort of, well, maybe.
Tai: Well then get on with the fic and release me from my torment!
Litanya: I'll get on with the fic, but I don't know about the torment part. . .
Not Only in Heaven, Chapter 1
~FOUR YEARS AFTER TAI'S DEATH~
Hikari Kamiya knelt in front of a grave, carefully placing a bunch of flowers next to it.
"Tai, you once promised that you would always be there for me. Why did you leave me alone, why? The digidestined have split up, we've all gone our separate ways. I only keep in contact with T.K; I have no idea where the others are. You were the one that kept the team together; without you we are all apart. I think that Joe is keeping in touch with Mimi, but the others are completely alienated from each other. Sora was the first to leave, she became so distant after you left; she was like a mindless zombie. Then we all just fell apart. . . And evil has risen. T.K and I've tried to fight it, but we can't win without the rest of the destined. I hope you're hearing this, no, I know you are hearing this. You are probably an Angel in Heaven, watching out for all of us. I know that you can help us Taichi," her eyes filled with tears as she recalled her brother's ability to attract a whole variety of different people to him. It was like he was a magnet; people always had become friends with him almost instantly.
"Tai please watch over us; we need your guidance. I trust you and I wish that you were still here with us because you gave us courage. Without you here we are cowardly and . . . Without you we are not a team. Please help us Taichi," she slowly stood and gave the grave, engraved with the Crest of Courage, one last look for the day, "Goodbye Tai, I'll come again soon." The wind blew a little, as if in response to her parting, and Kari walked away quietly, meeting T.K at the gate of the graveyard.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Izzy was in the middle of a game of chess on the internet, just about to check mate his opponent, when his lap top began to make a strange whirring noise. The same noise that his lap top only made when Gennai was trying to contact him. He was surprised. The last time that Gennai had tried to contact them was when Tai had died. The fifteen year old quickly disconnected from his chess game, making the line clearer for Gennai to come through.
"Are you there Izzy?" Gennai's voice seemed to be a bit younger, as though he had decreased in age instead of increasing. Indeed when his face showed up on the screen, he was in fact younger.
"Gennai, is that you? You seem to be younger," Izzy remarked, his curious mind wanting to know the how and why Gennai was younger, but he didn't let himself get side-tracked, knowing that Gennai could only connect with him for a limited time.
"Yes Izzy, it's me. I'll explain it to you all later. Right now I need you to gather the digidestined together and get them to meet me in the digital world in about two hours. It is imperative that you do this; I can only . . . never mind, just get the digidestined to come here for 12pm, okay? This is important!" the connection broke, leaving Izzy with a load of questions. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 10am, and he had a lot of work to do before 12pm. He hunted for his address book and he finally found it under his mattress. He had no idea how it had gotten there, but he didn't ponder on it. He picked up the cordless phone and took it into his room, so his parents wouldn't hear him talking. He decided to phone Joe first, as he would then be able to phone Mimi, making the whole process quicker. He hunted for Joe's number before he typed it in and waited nervously for someone to pick up.
Izzy hadn't been in contact much with the other digidestined since Tai had died. It seemed that Tai was the connecting person of the group, the one that reminded them that they were friends all of the time and the one who had made a difference. When Tai died, they all just split apart, as his death had affected all of them. The two people that were hurt the most were Kari and Sora, Kari because she lost her brother and Sora because Tai had been her best friend for forever. Sora had changed the most though; she seemed to be lacking her soul or heart or something, she had just been impassive, hardly speaking to the digidestined and only talking to people who didn't remind her of Tai. She had never gone to his grave and had never really mentioned him ever again. She was the first to leave the group.
Kari was sad for a while, but then she realised that Tai wanted her to be happy, so she tried to be as happy as she could be without her brother. She and T.K still hung out and Izzy had a feeling that the two of them were in love, but the two of them were trying their hardest to be happy, without forgetting about Tai. Izzy knew for a fact that the two of them often visited Tai's grave; he had seen them there. Matt occasionally went there, but only when T.K dragged him. Out of all of the digidestined, Matt was the least affected. He didn't really seem to care much, but whether that was a cover or if it was actually what he felt, Izzy did not know.
Mimi and Joe had kept in touch with each other and Izzy knew that the two of them were in love, no doubt about that. They had separated from the others more because they had moved away than anything else, and when they could they caught up with the others, but that was basically once a year if that. Izzy didn't know how he had been affected himself, other than the fact that he had felt that all of his friends were abandoning him. He occasionally saw people, but they didn't say anything and they just passed by. He had grown more dependent on his computer, because he knew that it would never leave him.
"Hello, Kido residence, Joe speaking," Joe's voice was deeper than it had been four years ago, but it still had the same half-cheery, half sarcastic tone to it that it had had before. Izzy smiled at the thought of Joe cleaning his glasses whilst answering the phone.
"Hey Joe, it's Izzy. I just got contacted by Gennai and he wants us all to meet in the digital world at 12. It sounded really important. Are you able to come?" Izzy asked quickly, knowing that he would have to hurry to contact everybody if he wanted to get to the digital world on time. There was a silence for a few seconds whilst Joe thought about what he had to do that day before he replied.
"Of course! I haven't been there for a while and it'll be good to see Gomamon again. I'll call Mimi for you, so then you have more time. I'll see you then," he hung up before Izzy could reply, but he knew that Joe had a long way to travel to get to a portal able to carry them to the digital world. It only occurred to Izzy then that Gennai hadn't mentioned anything about a meeting place. He sighed, hoping that they would all just meet up in the same place magically and dialled in the next number. He only hoped that everything turned out okay.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora sat in front of the T.V, not really seeing what was on the screen in front of her. She was watching a soccer game; well, she was staring at the screen on which a soccer game was being shown. Her thoughts went had moved from the soccer game to the day that she sincerely wished that she could forget. It was the day of the soccer match, the day that Tai had died. She kept on running the events again and again in her head, looking for any way that she could have made it so that the accident was avoided. Deep down she knew that it wasn't her fault, but she still blamed herself for it. If only she hadn't phoned him, maybe he and his family would have left sooner and then the accident would not have happened.
"Sora," her mother called from the kitchen, "Izzy's on the phone for you." Sora stood up, her thoughts whirring again. Why would Izzy be calling her? She hadn't spoken to any of the digidestined since a few days after Tai's death. It had been too hard for her to speak to them; they reminded her of Tai too much. She walked slowly into the kitchen and grasped the grey plastic of the cordless phone.
"Hi Izzy," this statement, however small it was, told Izzy that she was still cut up over what had happened to Tai. He had hoped that she would have at least realised that she was acting stupidly and that she would begin to act normally, but she was still in her 'mindless zombie' phase.
"Hey Sora, Gennai contacted me about half an hour ago and told me that all of the digidestined must go to the digital world and be there at 12, which is in an hour and a half. Can you get there?" there was a suspended silence on the other end of the phone as Sora thought for a second.
"Is everybody else going?" she asked finally, her tone still the dull emotionless tone that she had continued to use since the day Tai died. Izzy nodded over the phone until he realised that she couldn't see his nod.
"Yeah, they're all going. I don't know where we're going to meet, but I'm sure that we'll all find each other. Please come, it sounds really urgent! I already know that the digital world has been under attack and I have a feeling that the evil that is doing it is soon going to turn to Earth too. Please come, we'll really need you there!" there was that same suffering silence, but this time Sora was actually considering it. She hadn't been there for such a long time and maybe seeing Biyomon would help. She took a deep breath and let it out it before she answered her friend.
"I'll come," she said this quietly and Izzy was surprised to hear a bit of cheerfulness in her voice, "It's been such a long time . . . and I know that Biyomon's probably wondering where I disappeared off to." Izzy smiled, glad that her attitude had changed, even though she had only become slightly more positive. He had called Sora last because he knew that she would be the hardest person to get to go and he felt that he needed the confidence of the answers of all of the others to give him the courage to call her. Courage . . . was it possible that when Tai died their courage disappeared and left them? Or was it just their imaginations, their sub- conscious beliefs that without Tai and his courage, their courage would leave as well? He shook the thoughts out of his head and looked at the time. It was 10:35am and he had a few things that he had to do before entering the digital world.
"Thanks Sora, I'll see you there!" she agreed with him and then she turned off the phone, finding her mother staring at her in astonishment.
"Why are you staring at me mum?" she asked, feeling uncomfortable under her mother's gaze. Even though she was feeling uncomfortable, she was also feeling happier than she had ever felt since that day four years ago. She was still sad deep down, but she realised that she had been acting stupidly and she was determined to get her old life back. This change shone through in her voice and even in her eyes, although they still held a tiny speck of her sadness.
"You actually sounded happy just then! That is the first time in four years that you have sounded cheerful!" her mother exclaimed, praising God for helping her daughter to see the stupidity in the way that she had been acting. Sora just smiled back at her mother.
"It took me a long time to realise it, but Tai wouldn't have wanted me to be sad all of the time, he would have wanted me to win the championship for the soccer team and for me to be happy. It took me four years to realise that, and all because of a phone call from Izzy. It made me realise that I am needed and that I need to be happy to help. It just hit me all of a sudden when I was on the phone . . . and now I have to go. I'm supposed to meet the others in the digital world in an hour. I'll see you later mum!" Mrs. Takenouchi was still staring after the sixteen year old as she walked out of the door, leaving Mrs. Takenouchi to wonder after the unexpected change in her daughter.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tai picked up another of the heavy rocks, wishing to God that he was anywhere else than where he was. Ken was working next to him in the pointless task of moving the rocks. When the container was filled with rocks, it would be turned upside down by one of the Devil's Guards as they called themselves, making all of the rocks flow back down onto the ground. Then the Ken and Tai would have to pick the rocks up again and place them in the container. The two of them shared a container, and others didn't go near them at all. Everyone was paired up and it was dangerous to even talk to the person you were paired with, never mind going across the cavern to talk to someone you didn't know. One of the Devil's Guards stood next to the container with a whip in his hands, a cruel sadistic smile on his face. Only the exceptionally cruel people got accepted into the Devil's Guards and it was shown by the brutality of them. If either Tai or Ken faltered for a second when picking up their rock, they would get whipped fifty times across the back, whilst still being expected to work. Both Ken and Tai had deep wounds on their back, from the merciless whip.
"YOU TWO, YEAH, THE TWO OF YOU THAT ARE DIGIDESTINED. YOU TWO COME WITH ME!" the guard next to the container shouted suddenly, causing both boys to drop the rocks they were carrying. They obediently followed the guard down the side of the cavern and into a small red room, not even daring to glance at each other.
'I didn't know that Ken was a digidestined, I never saw him in the digital world,' Tai thought to himself, ignoring the temptation to ask the other boy how he had become a digidestined, 'Then again, all I know about him is that his name is Ken Ichijouji and that he had a friend named Yolie. I've been working next to him for what seems to be forever, and yet I only know that much about him. That's pathetic!' The silence continued as the guard gave the two of them a new set of clothes. This usually happened regularly, after certain periods of time. Tai was unsure how long they waited before getting new clothes, to him it seemed like forever every time. Tai was handed a green jacket, a light red shirt and a pair of jeans. Ken was handed a blue t-shirt and also a pair of jeans. He was given no jacket. The two boys quickly changed and then they were lead to another room, where there was a big throne. Tai hadn't been expecting this; he thought that they would just be returned to their work station after getting the clothes.
"You two are digidestined?" a sinister voice growled from the throne. It was turned so that the back of it faced Tai and Ken, so they had no idea who was actually speaking.
"Y-yes," they both stuttered, having trouble making their voices work after all of the time that they had spent not talking. The voice didn't seem to be very happy.
"You are going to be leaving here for the day. All of the digidestined, wherever they are, have to meet in the digital world for some reason. The note stressed the 'wherever they are' so you are going. You'll come back when I say, or you'll pay the price for disobedience to me. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" the voice thundered and Tai and Ken immediately nodded, hiding their happiness of being out of Hell for a time, even if it was only a day, "NOW GO THROUGH THERE AND IF YOU DON'T COME BACK . . ." the voice trailed off and they both understood. They hastily walked to the door that a guard was holding open and exited through it. They found themselves in a room with the same blood-red walls that the cavern was made of, but that disappeared in a second and they found themselves in the digital world.
"Wow, look at the sky!" Ken exclaimed happily, staring up into the deep blue void above them, they both smiled as they realised that they were free for the day. Something told Tai that they had to stay where they were for the minute, so he sat down on a wooden fence that was as high as his waist. He gazed at the sky before speaking to Ken.
"So, you're a digidestined. I didn't know that. You weren't with the eight of us when we fought the Dark Masters and Apocalymon. How did you become digidestined?" Ken came and sat down on the fence next to him before answering.
"I found the Crest of Kindness and my dark green digivice one day whilst I was looking for my soccer ball. My computer turned itself on and zapped me into it. I met my digimon Wormmon as soon as I got here; I almost landed on him. There was a girl there too, Yolie. She had her Crest of Loyalty and a dark pink digivice, with her digimon Hawkmon. We teamed up together and defeated quite a few evil digimon on the continent of Server, before we moved to a small island called File Island and stopped some more evil there. We heard that there was another bigger group of digidestined, but we never caught up with them," he told his story whilst staring up at the sky, drinking in the vivid blueness, happy that there was no red around them.
"Ah, I see. I was in the bigger group of digidestined. I was the leader in fact and I have the Crest of Courage. We were given our digivices at summer camp, when they fell from the sky. We were then sucked into the portal and we all met our digimon partners. We had to search for our crests though. My digimon is Agumon, he's the greatest. I never saw him again after I left after the fight with Apocalymon. I hope he's okay," Tai stared at the wildlife around them, drinking in the green grass and the brightness of the sun, trying to memories these images so that he would remember them when he was forced to go back.
They both tensed as they heard voices float over the hill from where they were sitting. Tai thought that the voices were familiar and soon a group of seven teenagers came into his sight. He could hardly believe his eyes. The rest of his group of digidestined was here. He would recognise them even if he hadn't seen them for millions of years. The fact that they were only teenagers made Tai realise that it hadn't been forever since he had last seen them, it had only been a couple of years, but it still seemed to have been forever. The group was only five meters away from the pair when they noticed the two boys sitting on the fence. Kari's eyes went wide as she thought that she saw a sixteen year old version of her brother sitting on the fence in front of her. She hardly noticed the boy that was sitting next to him, she only saw him.
"Tai?" she squeaked out, unable to believe what she was seeing, "Sorry, you can't be him, he died four years ago. I'm sorry." She babbled on, not even noticing what she was saying. The other digidestined were just as shocked. Their leader, whom was dead, was sitting right in front of them with his trademark grin on his face. It was either him or his identical twin.
"Hey Kari, long time no see. It is me, of course. How have you all been doing?" Tai's smile grew as he looked at all of them, trying to memories their features so that he wouldn't forget them. His eyes locked with Sora's for a second and he had to look away quickly. There in her eyes was a look of pain and confusion and hurt. He didn't want to see that and remember that once he was back in Hell. It would give him a feeling that could easily be turned against him and then he would actually start to turn into one of those cruel monsters that lived down in Hell. He desperately didn't want that.
"But, but this is impossible! You're dead! You can't possibly be here, unless you didn't die at all," Matt's voice was accusing, as if he thought that Tai had faked his own death or something.
"Yeah, you're right, I am dead and I thought that it was impossible to get here too, until today. All of the digidestined are needed here today, even if they are dead. The two of us were called up from where we were and there is another one coming, but I don't exactly know where from," he watched as they all took in this news and he saw silent tears roll down both Kari and Sora's cheeks.
"Who is that next to you Tai, and who is the other person that is still to come?" Joe asked, cleaning his glasses and nodding towards Ken, "How did he get here?" Tai was about to answer when there was a flash of white and when that cleared a girl the same age as Tai and Ken was standing where the light had originated. Her hair was straight and almost reached down to her waist. It was a light purple in colour and it shone in the sunlight of the digital world. She had large round glasses that made her eyes look a little bigger than they were and she wore a cheerful smile, though there was a look in her eyes that spoke of sadness.
"Yolie," Ken greeted her, a bit stiffly. It was forbidden for an Angel and a person from Hell to touch or really meet with each other, but as this was a day for breaking the rules he spoke to her, but stiffly, as if he knew that he couldn't do anything other than speak to her.
"Ken," she replied, glancing at him for a second before looking away at the ground. They didn't speak to one another again, and Tai motioned to Ken for him to introduce himself to the other seven digidestined, to take his mind off Yolie.
"My name is Ken Ichijouji, digidestined of Kindness. It's nice to meet you all," he told them, feeling the pressure of standing near an Angel. Both he and Tai inched slowly away from Yolie, uncomfortable around her.
"I'm Kari, Tai's sister. I'm the digidestined of Light," the other digidestined followed Kari's example and introduced themselves quickly.
"My name is Yolie Inoue, and I'm the digidestined of Loyalty. Ken and I weren't in your big group of digidestined, but we were digidestined and we fought evil that was once here," Yolie introduced herself last, standing still as if she wasn't bothered by the presence of the people from Hell, otherwise known as 'demons.'
"Tai, I have a question for you. What is it like being dead?" Tai stopped moving and glanced at Ken quickly, trying to figure out an answer.
"Umm . . . well, it's uh . . . it's different for every person. I really can't say to tell you the truth. It's against the rules to say anything," he was glad that he was able to find an excuse that would seem acceptable for his lack of response. He didn't want the digidestined to know what it was like in Hell; he hoped that none of them ever knew what it was like there.
"*Your* rules may say that you can't tell anyone what it's like to be dead, but *I* can tell them what it's like," Yolie told Tai a little bit smugly, before she turned to the other digidestined, "There are two places that you can go to when you're dead; Heaven or Hell. I don't know much about Hell, but Heaven is a good place. It's where all of the good people in the world go when they die. The only way to get there is to be truly sorry for any sin that you have committed and then to try and make yourself a better person." The digidestined nodded, they knew all of what she had said already. They wondered why Yolie had different rules to the other two. Mimi decided to find out why.
"Why are your rules different to the rules that Tai has? I don't get it," Tai took a deep breath and looked once again to the sky before he answered.
There was a moment of silence until it was broken by Gennai, who suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Tai thanked God that he hadn't had to answer and he just prayed that he wouldn't have to answer Mimi's question.
"Digidestined, you are probably wondering why I brought you here . . ."
End of Chapter 1
Well, this turned out differently than I thought it would, but I'm happy with it. I've been writing this whilst I was supposed to be doing a geography project, but my internet has been acting up, so I can't go on it. Next chapter will probably include why Tai and Ken were sent to Hell instead of Heaven, and some questions will probably be answered . . . I hope. Anyway, you know the drill; press the little square button at the bottom of the page and REVIEW! Even if you flame me, at least I'll know that someone is actually reading this! And if you flame me the flames will be used to burn my little brother . . . or they will be used to cook sausages! Anyway, I'm on a sugar high at the minute, so please review!!!!
Tai: You killed me?? What on Earth possessed you to do that? And what's more, you sent me to Hell? How could you do such a thing?
Litanya: Well . . . you see it's all a part of the storyline. Everything will turn out happy in the end, sort of, well, maybe.
Tai: Well then get on with the fic and release me from my torment!
Litanya: I'll get on with the fic, but I don't know about the torment part. . .
Not Only in Heaven, Chapter 1
~FOUR YEARS AFTER TAI'S DEATH~
Hikari Kamiya knelt in front of a grave, carefully placing a bunch of flowers next to it.
"Tai, you once promised that you would always be there for me. Why did you leave me alone, why? The digidestined have split up, we've all gone our separate ways. I only keep in contact with T.K; I have no idea where the others are. You were the one that kept the team together; without you we are all apart. I think that Joe is keeping in touch with Mimi, but the others are completely alienated from each other. Sora was the first to leave, she became so distant after you left; she was like a mindless zombie. Then we all just fell apart. . . And evil has risen. T.K and I've tried to fight it, but we can't win without the rest of the destined. I hope you're hearing this, no, I know you are hearing this. You are probably an Angel in Heaven, watching out for all of us. I know that you can help us Taichi," her eyes filled with tears as she recalled her brother's ability to attract a whole variety of different people to him. It was like he was a magnet; people always had become friends with him almost instantly.
"Tai please watch over us; we need your guidance. I trust you and I wish that you were still here with us because you gave us courage. Without you here we are cowardly and . . . Without you we are not a team. Please help us Taichi," she slowly stood and gave the grave, engraved with the Crest of Courage, one last look for the day, "Goodbye Tai, I'll come again soon." The wind blew a little, as if in response to her parting, and Kari walked away quietly, meeting T.K at the gate of the graveyard.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Izzy was in the middle of a game of chess on the internet, just about to check mate his opponent, when his lap top began to make a strange whirring noise. The same noise that his lap top only made when Gennai was trying to contact him. He was surprised. The last time that Gennai had tried to contact them was when Tai had died. The fifteen year old quickly disconnected from his chess game, making the line clearer for Gennai to come through.
"Are you there Izzy?" Gennai's voice seemed to be a bit younger, as though he had decreased in age instead of increasing. Indeed when his face showed up on the screen, he was in fact younger.
"Gennai, is that you? You seem to be younger," Izzy remarked, his curious mind wanting to know the how and why Gennai was younger, but he didn't let himself get side-tracked, knowing that Gennai could only connect with him for a limited time.
"Yes Izzy, it's me. I'll explain it to you all later. Right now I need you to gather the digidestined together and get them to meet me in the digital world in about two hours. It is imperative that you do this; I can only . . . never mind, just get the digidestined to come here for 12pm, okay? This is important!" the connection broke, leaving Izzy with a load of questions. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 10am, and he had a lot of work to do before 12pm. He hunted for his address book and he finally found it under his mattress. He had no idea how it had gotten there, but he didn't ponder on it. He picked up the cordless phone and took it into his room, so his parents wouldn't hear him talking. He decided to phone Joe first, as he would then be able to phone Mimi, making the whole process quicker. He hunted for Joe's number before he typed it in and waited nervously for someone to pick up.
Izzy hadn't been in contact much with the other digidestined since Tai had died. It seemed that Tai was the connecting person of the group, the one that reminded them that they were friends all of the time and the one who had made a difference. When Tai died, they all just split apart, as his death had affected all of them. The two people that were hurt the most were Kari and Sora, Kari because she lost her brother and Sora because Tai had been her best friend for forever. Sora had changed the most though; she seemed to be lacking her soul or heart or something, she had just been impassive, hardly speaking to the digidestined and only talking to people who didn't remind her of Tai. She had never gone to his grave and had never really mentioned him ever again. She was the first to leave the group.
Kari was sad for a while, but then she realised that Tai wanted her to be happy, so she tried to be as happy as she could be without her brother. She and T.K still hung out and Izzy had a feeling that the two of them were in love, but the two of them were trying their hardest to be happy, without forgetting about Tai. Izzy knew for a fact that the two of them often visited Tai's grave; he had seen them there. Matt occasionally went there, but only when T.K dragged him. Out of all of the digidestined, Matt was the least affected. He didn't really seem to care much, but whether that was a cover or if it was actually what he felt, Izzy did not know.
Mimi and Joe had kept in touch with each other and Izzy knew that the two of them were in love, no doubt about that. They had separated from the others more because they had moved away than anything else, and when they could they caught up with the others, but that was basically once a year if that. Izzy didn't know how he had been affected himself, other than the fact that he had felt that all of his friends were abandoning him. He occasionally saw people, but they didn't say anything and they just passed by. He had grown more dependent on his computer, because he knew that it would never leave him.
"Hello, Kido residence, Joe speaking," Joe's voice was deeper than it had been four years ago, but it still had the same half-cheery, half sarcastic tone to it that it had had before. Izzy smiled at the thought of Joe cleaning his glasses whilst answering the phone.
"Hey Joe, it's Izzy. I just got contacted by Gennai and he wants us all to meet in the digital world at 12. It sounded really important. Are you able to come?" Izzy asked quickly, knowing that he would have to hurry to contact everybody if he wanted to get to the digital world on time. There was a silence for a few seconds whilst Joe thought about what he had to do that day before he replied.
"Of course! I haven't been there for a while and it'll be good to see Gomamon again. I'll call Mimi for you, so then you have more time. I'll see you then," he hung up before Izzy could reply, but he knew that Joe had a long way to travel to get to a portal able to carry them to the digital world. It only occurred to Izzy then that Gennai hadn't mentioned anything about a meeting place. He sighed, hoping that they would all just meet up in the same place magically and dialled in the next number. He only hoped that everything turned out okay.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora sat in front of the T.V, not really seeing what was on the screen in front of her. She was watching a soccer game; well, she was staring at the screen on which a soccer game was being shown. Her thoughts went had moved from the soccer game to the day that she sincerely wished that she could forget. It was the day of the soccer match, the day that Tai had died. She kept on running the events again and again in her head, looking for any way that she could have made it so that the accident was avoided. Deep down she knew that it wasn't her fault, but she still blamed herself for it. If only she hadn't phoned him, maybe he and his family would have left sooner and then the accident would not have happened.
"Sora," her mother called from the kitchen, "Izzy's on the phone for you." Sora stood up, her thoughts whirring again. Why would Izzy be calling her? She hadn't spoken to any of the digidestined since a few days after Tai's death. It had been too hard for her to speak to them; they reminded her of Tai too much. She walked slowly into the kitchen and grasped the grey plastic of the cordless phone.
"Hi Izzy," this statement, however small it was, told Izzy that she was still cut up over what had happened to Tai. He had hoped that she would have at least realised that she was acting stupidly and that she would begin to act normally, but she was still in her 'mindless zombie' phase.
"Hey Sora, Gennai contacted me about half an hour ago and told me that all of the digidestined must go to the digital world and be there at 12, which is in an hour and a half. Can you get there?" there was a suspended silence on the other end of the phone as Sora thought for a second.
"Is everybody else going?" she asked finally, her tone still the dull emotionless tone that she had continued to use since the day Tai died. Izzy nodded over the phone until he realised that she couldn't see his nod.
"Yeah, they're all going. I don't know where we're going to meet, but I'm sure that we'll all find each other. Please come, it sounds really urgent! I already know that the digital world has been under attack and I have a feeling that the evil that is doing it is soon going to turn to Earth too. Please come, we'll really need you there!" there was that same suffering silence, but this time Sora was actually considering it. She hadn't been there for such a long time and maybe seeing Biyomon would help. She took a deep breath and let it out it before she answered her friend.
"I'll come," she said this quietly and Izzy was surprised to hear a bit of cheerfulness in her voice, "It's been such a long time . . . and I know that Biyomon's probably wondering where I disappeared off to." Izzy smiled, glad that her attitude had changed, even though she had only become slightly more positive. He had called Sora last because he knew that she would be the hardest person to get to go and he felt that he needed the confidence of the answers of all of the others to give him the courage to call her. Courage . . . was it possible that when Tai died their courage disappeared and left them? Or was it just their imaginations, their sub- conscious beliefs that without Tai and his courage, their courage would leave as well? He shook the thoughts out of his head and looked at the time. It was 10:35am and he had a few things that he had to do before entering the digital world.
"Thanks Sora, I'll see you there!" she agreed with him and then she turned off the phone, finding her mother staring at her in astonishment.
"Why are you staring at me mum?" she asked, feeling uncomfortable under her mother's gaze. Even though she was feeling uncomfortable, she was also feeling happier than she had ever felt since that day four years ago. She was still sad deep down, but she realised that she had been acting stupidly and she was determined to get her old life back. This change shone through in her voice and even in her eyes, although they still held a tiny speck of her sadness.
"You actually sounded happy just then! That is the first time in four years that you have sounded cheerful!" her mother exclaimed, praising God for helping her daughter to see the stupidity in the way that she had been acting. Sora just smiled back at her mother.
"It took me a long time to realise it, but Tai wouldn't have wanted me to be sad all of the time, he would have wanted me to win the championship for the soccer team and for me to be happy. It took me four years to realise that, and all because of a phone call from Izzy. It made me realise that I am needed and that I need to be happy to help. It just hit me all of a sudden when I was on the phone . . . and now I have to go. I'm supposed to meet the others in the digital world in an hour. I'll see you later mum!" Mrs. Takenouchi was still staring after the sixteen year old as she walked out of the door, leaving Mrs. Takenouchi to wonder after the unexpected change in her daughter.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tai picked up another of the heavy rocks, wishing to God that he was anywhere else than where he was. Ken was working next to him in the pointless task of moving the rocks. When the container was filled with rocks, it would be turned upside down by one of the Devil's Guards as they called themselves, making all of the rocks flow back down onto the ground. Then the Ken and Tai would have to pick the rocks up again and place them in the container. The two of them shared a container, and others didn't go near them at all. Everyone was paired up and it was dangerous to even talk to the person you were paired with, never mind going across the cavern to talk to someone you didn't know. One of the Devil's Guards stood next to the container with a whip in his hands, a cruel sadistic smile on his face. Only the exceptionally cruel people got accepted into the Devil's Guards and it was shown by the brutality of them. If either Tai or Ken faltered for a second when picking up their rock, they would get whipped fifty times across the back, whilst still being expected to work. Both Ken and Tai had deep wounds on their back, from the merciless whip.
"YOU TWO, YEAH, THE TWO OF YOU THAT ARE DIGIDESTINED. YOU TWO COME WITH ME!" the guard next to the container shouted suddenly, causing both boys to drop the rocks they were carrying. They obediently followed the guard down the side of the cavern and into a small red room, not even daring to glance at each other.
'I didn't know that Ken was a digidestined, I never saw him in the digital world,' Tai thought to himself, ignoring the temptation to ask the other boy how he had become a digidestined, 'Then again, all I know about him is that his name is Ken Ichijouji and that he had a friend named Yolie. I've been working next to him for what seems to be forever, and yet I only know that much about him. That's pathetic!' The silence continued as the guard gave the two of them a new set of clothes. This usually happened regularly, after certain periods of time. Tai was unsure how long they waited before getting new clothes, to him it seemed like forever every time. Tai was handed a green jacket, a light red shirt and a pair of jeans. Ken was handed a blue t-shirt and also a pair of jeans. He was given no jacket. The two boys quickly changed and then they were lead to another room, where there was a big throne. Tai hadn't been expecting this; he thought that they would just be returned to their work station after getting the clothes.
"You two are digidestined?" a sinister voice growled from the throne. It was turned so that the back of it faced Tai and Ken, so they had no idea who was actually speaking.
"Y-yes," they both stuttered, having trouble making their voices work after all of the time that they had spent not talking. The voice didn't seem to be very happy.
"You are going to be leaving here for the day. All of the digidestined, wherever they are, have to meet in the digital world for some reason. The note stressed the 'wherever they are' so you are going. You'll come back when I say, or you'll pay the price for disobedience to me. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" the voice thundered and Tai and Ken immediately nodded, hiding their happiness of being out of Hell for a time, even if it was only a day, "NOW GO THROUGH THERE AND IF YOU DON'T COME BACK . . ." the voice trailed off and they both understood. They hastily walked to the door that a guard was holding open and exited through it. They found themselves in a room with the same blood-red walls that the cavern was made of, but that disappeared in a second and they found themselves in the digital world.
"Wow, look at the sky!" Ken exclaimed happily, staring up into the deep blue void above them, they both smiled as they realised that they were free for the day. Something told Tai that they had to stay where they were for the minute, so he sat down on a wooden fence that was as high as his waist. He gazed at the sky before speaking to Ken.
"So, you're a digidestined. I didn't know that. You weren't with the eight of us when we fought the Dark Masters and Apocalymon. How did you become digidestined?" Ken came and sat down on the fence next to him before answering.
"I found the Crest of Kindness and my dark green digivice one day whilst I was looking for my soccer ball. My computer turned itself on and zapped me into it. I met my digimon Wormmon as soon as I got here; I almost landed on him. There was a girl there too, Yolie. She had her Crest of Loyalty and a dark pink digivice, with her digimon Hawkmon. We teamed up together and defeated quite a few evil digimon on the continent of Server, before we moved to a small island called File Island and stopped some more evil there. We heard that there was another bigger group of digidestined, but we never caught up with them," he told his story whilst staring up at the sky, drinking in the vivid blueness, happy that there was no red around them.
"Ah, I see. I was in the bigger group of digidestined. I was the leader in fact and I have the Crest of Courage. We were given our digivices at summer camp, when they fell from the sky. We were then sucked into the portal and we all met our digimon partners. We had to search for our crests though. My digimon is Agumon, he's the greatest. I never saw him again after I left after the fight with Apocalymon. I hope he's okay," Tai stared at the wildlife around them, drinking in the green grass and the brightness of the sun, trying to memories these images so that he would remember them when he was forced to go back.
They both tensed as they heard voices float over the hill from where they were sitting. Tai thought that the voices were familiar and soon a group of seven teenagers came into his sight. He could hardly believe his eyes. The rest of his group of digidestined was here. He would recognise them even if he hadn't seen them for millions of years. The fact that they were only teenagers made Tai realise that it hadn't been forever since he had last seen them, it had only been a couple of years, but it still seemed to have been forever. The group was only five meters away from the pair when they noticed the two boys sitting on the fence. Kari's eyes went wide as she thought that she saw a sixteen year old version of her brother sitting on the fence in front of her. She hardly noticed the boy that was sitting next to him, she only saw him.
"Tai?" she squeaked out, unable to believe what she was seeing, "Sorry, you can't be him, he died four years ago. I'm sorry." She babbled on, not even noticing what she was saying. The other digidestined were just as shocked. Their leader, whom was dead, was sitting right in front of them with his trademark grin on his face. It was either him or his identical twin.
"Hey Kari, long time no see. It is me, of course. How have you all been doing?" Tai's smile grew as he looked at all of them, trying to memories their features so that he wouldn't forget them. His eyes locked with Sora's for a second and he had to look away quickly. There in her eyes was a look of pain and confusion and hurt. He didn't want to see that and remember that once he was back in Hell. It would give him a feeling that could easily be turned against him and then he would actually start to turn into one of those cruel monsters that lived down in Hell. He desperately didn't want that.
"But, but this is impossible! You're dead! You can't possibly be here, unless you didn't die at all," Matt's voice was accusing, as if he thought that Tai had faked his own death or something.
"Yeah, you're right, I am dead and I thought that it was impossible to get here too, until today. All of the digidestined are needed here today, even if they are dead. The two of us were called up from where we were and there is another one coming, but I don't exactly know where from," he watched as they all took in this news and he saw silent tears roll down both Kari and Sora's cheeks.
"Who is that next to you Tai, and who is the other person that is still to come?" Joe asked, cleaning his glasses and nodding towards Ken, "How did he get here?" Tai was about to answer when there was a flash of white and when that cleared a girl the same age as Tai and Ken was standing where the light had originated. Her hair was straight and almost reached down to her waist. It was a light purple in colour and it shone in the sunlight of the digital world. She had large round glasses that made her eyes look a little bigger than they were and she wore a cheerful smile, though there was a look in her eyes that spoke of sadness.
"Yolie," Ken greeted her, a bit stiffly. It was forbidden for an Angel and a person from Hell to touch or really meet with each other, but as this was a day for breaking the rules he spoke to her, but stiffly, as if he knew that he couldn't do anything other than speak to her.
"Ken," she replied, glancing at him for a second before looking away at the ground. They didn't speak to one another again, and Tai motioned to Ken for him to introduce himself to the other seven digidestined, to take his mind off Yolie.
"My name is Ken Ichijouji, digidestined of Kindness. It's nice to meet you all," he told them, feeling the pressure of standing near an Angel. Both he and Tai inched slowly away from Yolie, uncomfortable around her.
"I'm Kari, Tai's sister. I'm the digidestined of Light," the other digidestined followed Kari's example and introduced themselves quickly.
"My name is Yolie Inoue, and I'm the digidestined of Loyalty. Ken and I weren't in your big group of digidestined, but we were digidestined and we fought evil that was once here," Yolie introduced herself last, standing still as if she wasn't bothered by the presence of the people from Hell, otherwise known as 'demons.'
"Tai, I have a question for you. What is it like being dead?" Tai stopped moving and glanced at Ken quickly, trying to figure out an answer.
"Umm . . . well, it's uh . . . it's different for every person. I really can't say to tell you the truth. It's against the rules to say anything," he was glad that he was able to find an excuse that would seem acceptable for his lack of response. He didn't want the digidestined to know what it was like in Hell; he hoped that none of them ever knew what it was like there.
"*Your* rules may say that you can't tell anyone what it's like to be dead, but *I* can tell them what it's like," Yolie told Tai a little bit smugly, before she turned to the other digidestined, "There are two places that you can go to when you're dead; Heaven or Hell. I don't know much about Hell, but Heaven is a good place. It's where all of the good people in the world go when they die. The only way to get there is to be truly sorry for any sin that you have committed and then to try and make yourself a better person." The digidestined nodded, they knew all of what she had said already. They wondered why Yolie had different rules to the other two. Mimi decided to find out why.
"Why are your rules different to the rules that Tai has? I don't get it," Tai took a deep breath and looked once again to the sky before he answered.
There was a moment of silence until it was broken by Gennai, who suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Tai thanked God that he hadn't had to answer and he just prayed that he wouldn't have to answer Mimi's question.
"Digidestined, you are probably wondering why I brought you here . . ."
End of Chapter 1
Well, this turned out differently than I thought it would, but I'm happy with it. I've been writing this whilst I was supposed to be doing a geography project, but my internet has been acting up, so I can't go on it. Next chapter will probably include why Tai and Ken were sent to Hell instead of Heaven, and some questions will probably be answered . . . I hope. Anyway, you know the drill; press the little square button at the bottom of the page and REVIEW! Even if you flame me, at least I'll know that someone is actually reading this! And if you flame me the flames will be used to burn my little brother . . . or they will be used to cook sausages! Anyway, I'm on a sugar high at the minute, so please review!!!!