I'm glad so many people like this fic!
Takeshi: Are you sure their not jus saying they like it?
Huh? Of course they like it…
Takeshi: You can keep telling yourself that.
…moving on…to Aerol, yes, I've decided to drop the Romajii. I was just trying to set a feel that they were in Japan ( Please note that Japanese terms will be used more frequently when the Japanese characters are in Japan…and likewise for all those from other countries. )
And now, the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Toei does. So…yeah.
Digimon Crusaders Episode 02 ~ Brave New World
"…" ~ Speaking,
Italicized ~ Thinking
***** ~ Change of scenes
~~~~~ ~ Change of realities
Takeshi was…confused to say the least. For one thing, it felt like his body was being pulled in every imaginable direction at once, while being withdrawn into himself at the same time. His body felt like electricity was coursing through his veins, but yet he felt no pain at all.
Damn it, this is what I get for reading a stupid email. He groaned mentally.
Soon Takeshi started to feel light-headed and sleepy, and he was just about to fall asleep when…
THUMP!
~~~~~
( The Digital World )
Takeshi felt like he'd been hit by a freight train. No, five freight trains. Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings. He wasn't in the air anymore that was certain. Now, he was lying stomach first on the ground, with his arms and legs sprawled out all over the place. He groaned.
This is definitely NOT the way to spend your afternoon…He sighed to himself, turned himself over, sat himself up…
…and finally absorbed the change of his surroundings.
Gone was the playground, replaced by a, out of all things, beach. Indeed, Takeshi had been lying on a beach. The sky was a blue that Takeshi could never have dreamed to see, and the sand was free of liter. A warm, tropical breeze picked up, blowing through his golden brown hair. Turning his head to the left, he saw the ocean – a rich, and majestic turquoise.
…this is…paradise…Takeshi thought, finally taking in every little detail. But as the feeling of awe sunk in so did the thought of
"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" shouted Takeshi.
Standing up, Takeshi turned around, hoping to see his backpack. But it was gone, except for the device he had found earlier, but that had changed as well. The gold "keyboard" was gone, and the buttons were now a gray color. The only gold left on the device was the "dial". The bottom edges were now rounded, and the top edges had been smoothed out. The fairly large screen from before had shrunk a considerable size, and was now like an LCD screen – but it retained the background that it had had before.
What the…thought Takeshi, How could it have changed like that?
Sighing, he reached down into the sand and picked up the aqua-blue device. I'd better hold on to this…whatever it is. Its my only lead outta here…wherever I am.
With a mind filled with doubt, but a heart filled with wonder, Takeshi dashed off to find mainland.
* * * * *
Takeshi must have wandered around the beach for at least an hour - and not a sign of civilization anywhere. And all the while, Takeshi kept telling himself that this was just some sort of dream; that he was going to wake up at any minute now and everything would be just fine.
But he knew he wasn't dreaming. That was the hard thing to accept.
"Damn it…" he cursed outloud. "Some day this is turning out to be. If I had known that this was going to happen, I probably never even wouldn't have selected an answer to that machine."
"That makes two of us."
"Huh?"
Takeshi turned around to find himself staring at a girl, probably around his age, possibly an inch or two shorter than he was (A/N: Have I mentioned that Takeshi is about 5'10"? So…yeah.) She was wearing a light purple sweater with black stripes, tan capris, and an electric pink sleeveless vest. Slung across her shoulder was a white leather purse. She had straightened caramel hair that fell past her shoulders, and brown eyes.
"Who are you?" asked the girl.
"Uh…I'm Shinku, Takeshi."
The girl squealed. "Oh, thank Kami-sama! ( A/N: See? I told you I would put the occasional Romajii now and then. ) And here I was beginning to worry I wouldn't find anyone who would understand Japanese!"
"So…uh, what's your name?"
The girl blinked and then started giggling. "Whoops! My name is Sakurai, Aya."
Takeshi bowed. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Aya.
"Ooh. You're a little bit of a gentleman now, are we?
Takeshi couldn't help but chuckle. It was good to have someone to talk to, and that he knew he wasn't the only one who was dragged into this whole mess. "Hey, Aya? Do you have some sort of device that came with an email, or something?"
Aya nodded. "Yeah. It was really freaky too. I don't ever remember buying something like this." She reached into her purse and pulled out a device similar to Takeshi's, only it was a pink where it was aqua-blue on Takeshi's.
"Same here."
"…its freaky isn't it? I mean…we find this device and then it talks about our 'destiny'…And now were somewhere in the middle of nowhere." Aya shuddered in fear.
Takeshi headed over to where Aya was standing. "I know. This is really weird…I just wanna go home." Aya nodded in response. "Hey, let's go find a way off this beach."
Aya smiled. "Lucky you. I came here from a path that's just over there. I landed in some rainforest or something."
Takeshi smiled. "Alright. Lead the way."
* * * * *
"Are you positive you know where you're going?" asked an annoyed Takeshi. He and Aya had found the path out of the beach sometime ago, and it did lead to a rainforest. But that wasn't the problem anymore.
"Well…I guess…"
Takeshi groaned.
"Hey! I just got here too, you know? Cut me some slack…jeez." She replied hotly, "ugh! I hate this!" In a spurt of anger, she swung her right fist into a neighboring tree. "I hate this…." She sobbed. Sure enough, tears of fear were streaming down her tan face.
Takeshi sighed mentally. As much as he wanted to help, there wasn't much he could really do to help an emotional teenage girl – he had had enough problems trying to console Sakura. Still, he couldn't help but feel bad over his current situation. Anyone would have felt the same…
…right?
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device. Damn this thing! I can't believe I fell for that "destiny" crap! Ugh…some help its turning out to be.
And as if proving it could help out a new message appeared on the screen.
Take the path west.
"What the-??? How am I supposed to trust you?!" he shouted at the device, half-expecting it to answer.
And it did, to his surprise.
Because your life depends on it. You and Aya, obviously, have no idea how to survive here, or where you are.
Well…whoever keeps sending me these messages…sure knows how to get right to the point…
"Alright, alright. We'll do it."
I knew you'd say that.
"…right. Um…what is this thing called anyway?"
The D-Gear.
"D-Gear, huh? Well…thanks for the info." Takeshi stuffed the D-Gear back into his pocket, and then walked over to Aya, whose sobbing had stopped a while ago.
"Hey, Aya."
"…?"
"I got another message on that device."
"Oh, great!" she said sarcastically, "What does it say this time?! To go throw ourselves over a cliff, because its destiny?!"
"…um…no…it says to take the path west."
"But…by the looks of it…that path seems to go back towards a different area of the beach…"
"Let's risk it then."
Aya smirked. "Ah, a gentleman, yet with a dangerous streak, ne?"
Takeshi smirked as well. "You could say that."
Aya sighed. "Alright, alright. Let's take the west path. What more harm could it do?"
Takeshi nodded in agreement. Extending his hand, Aya grabbed it and Takeshi hoisted her up. Nodding her thanks, Aya started off towards the west path with Takeshi close behind. Silence followed.
"Um…Aya?" asked Takeshi.
"Hm?"
"I'm just wondering but…what were you doing when you got the message?"
Aya stopped in her tracks, and looked pensive. "Well…if I remember correctly, I had just come out of the hair salon after getting my hair straightened," she said, flipping her hair to further prove the point, "When I hear this beeping noise coming from my purse. Of course, I didn't bring my cell phone with me to the salon. So I opened my purse anyway…and I found this pink palmpilot with a message on it that was talking about my destiny. Then, I went to the place it told me to go , and I blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm in the middle of some rainforest, and the palmpilot has changed in form." She started walking again. "But, tell me Takeshi: how did you get here?"
"Well…I was stuck with cleaning duty at school, and my twin sister went to refill the water bucket. After that, I started daydreaming until I heard that beeping sound, and it was coming from my backpack. I opened it up, found a blue palmpilot, did what the message said, and here I am."
Aya sighed. "Whoever thought this up has a sick sense of humor."
Takeshi chuckled. "I guess."
It wasn't long until the two found themselves at a beach, like before, with some differences. There seemed to be a circular marble structure in front of them, with a rainbow light streaming from it. Along the circle, were nine strange symbols that revolved around the structure.
"Amazing, isn't it?" came a new voice.
Takeshi and Aya turned their heads to see a boy, also around the age of 15, and he was slightly taller than Takeshi. He had jet black hair, combed down the front, and a pair of ice blue eyes that screamed how calm he was. He wore a thin, red long-sleeved jacket, and baggy dark green sweat pants. He paused, and turned his head towards Takeshi and Aya.
"It is truly amazing."
Takeshi was the first to speak. "So…you got sent here too, huh?"
The boy nodded and pulled out a red version of the D-Gear. "Yeah, I've got one too. And we're not the only one who got pulled here too, I see."
"Oh!" said Aya, "Then there are more of you?"
The boy nodded. "Mmhmm," he motioned for them to come over to the other side of the structure, "By the way, the name's Kenichi. Hino, Kenichi."
Aya smiled. "I'm Aya Sakurai, and this is Takeshi Shinku."
Kenichi nodded his hello. "Well, I found two other people besides you two already. Look over there." He pointed.
Takeshi and Aya turned their heads to the direction that Kenichi was pointing. There were two other children, a boy and a girl. The girl appeared to be around 13, and stood about three inches shorter than Aya. She had long blonde hair tied into two braids at the back of her head, and warm sapphire eyes. She was wearing a red miniskirt, a black leather belt, and a seafoam green blouse. A forest green D-Gear was buckled onto her belt.
The boy appeared to be around 16, and looked very menacing. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of gray-tinted sunglasses, and his hair was dyed peroxide blonde, with the sideburns and back of the neck brown. He wore a sleeveless gray T-shirt, and blue jeans.
The menacing boy turned to look at Kenichi, "Hey, Kenichi! Who are those guys!"
Kenichi forced a smile. It was obvious that he didn't like the other boy. "Well, if you want to know, Saito, why don't you ask them?"
Saito scoffed. "Like I'd actually care anyway."
"Saito!" came the young girl. Unlike the others, however, her voice hinted an American accent. "That isn't a very nice think to say anyway!"
Saito turned to the young girl, eyes glaring from under his tinted shades. "Shut up, Megan."
Megan stuck her tongue out. "Make me!"
"Maybe I will!"
"Okay, okay! That's enough!" shouted Aya.
Saito turned his head to Aya this time. "Hey, you're hot and all, but could you please but out!"
Aya gasped and jogged over to Saito. "Don't you talk like that to me!"
Saito scoffed. "Heh, whatever."
Kenichi sighed. "Its been like this since I found those two…"
Takeshi chuckled. "A colorful bunch of us then, huh?"
Kenichi chuckled as well. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"That is quite enough, children." Came a woman's voice.
The five children turned to the altar and saw the image of a beautiful woman, possibly in her early twenties, stand above it. She had flowing blonde hair, beautiful green eyes, and wore a white robe.
"The Crusaders should not fight amongst themselves." She said.
"Crusaders?" said Saito.
The woman nodded. "Yes, the Crusaders."
Megan scratched her head. "But the only Crusaders I know of are the ones back in the twelfth century…"
"Thanks for the history lesson, genius."
"Shut up Saito!"
"Ahem…" coughed Takeshi.
The woman nodded her thanks. "Thank you, Takeshi. Now as I was saying, I have called you to my world for a reason."
"Wait a minute," said Kenichi, "did you just say your world?!"
"Yes. I did. You are no longer on Earth, but instead the Digital World."
"Digital World?!" said the children.
The woman sighed. "Please stop asking your questions and let me finish."
The children reluctantly nodded, not really knowing what else to do.
"Thank you," said the woman. "Anyways, you have been called into our world for a reason: You alone are the humans who contain the virtues to an exactness that's so scary of our world's saviors, the Crusaders. Each Crusader represents a different Element, and a different Virtue. But, that's not the point. The point is that a revolt within our government has caused our world to become unstable, and "Wild Type" Digimon roam more free than ever. We need you to find the Temples that are buried over the death site of each Crusader, and obtain their 'souls', if you will, and reach a level of power you never could have dreamed of."
Takeshi gaped at the woman. "…and we're supposed to be the ones who have to go to these temples?"
The woman nodded.
"Hold on a second!" shouted Saito, "why do we have to do this! Why not someone else?!"
"Would you rather this fate be burdened on someone else, so you could be free of it?" asked the woman.
"Well…yes! I would!"
"Saito!" yelled Megan, "that's so selfish!"
Kenichi nodded. "She's right Saito. If there's someone who has to do this, it might as well be us."
Saito stared aghast at Kenichi. "What are you saying?! You'd want to risk your life for some stupid world!?
Kenichi thought for a moment. "Well…"
Saito smirked. "I thought so."
Kenichi glared at him. "But that still doesn't excuse us from the fact that we're the only ones who can do it!"
Aya nodded. "I agree with Kenichi."
Megan smiled. "Me too!"
Takeshi opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it abruptly.
Saito turned to him. "Well? What were you going to say?"
Takeshi sighed. "I agree…with them, Saito. Okay, maybe we don't like what we have to do…but we should just accept it, yanno? Better than having someone else do it."
Saito groaned. "Grah! There's no way I'm doing this!"
The woman smiled. "If you can at least head north to the capital of this continent, perhaps you can go home then? See if you want to stay or not?"
Saito's expression turned pensive, and then he sighed. "Fine. Whatever."
The woman smiled again. "Very well then, Crusaders. You're paths have been choson."
Five orbs of light flew from five of the nine symbols and flew towards where each of their D-Gears were kept.
"Those orbs contain the locations of each Temple. As you near them a map feature will show you where it is. Good luck." And with that, she vanished.
Takeshi sighed. I knew it was going to be one of those days…
End of Episode 02.
* * * * *
Alriiiiiiiight. We're done with the second episode. Okay, please remember to review on your way out and…if at all possible, let me know who your favorite character is so far? Bye!