Merlaidics: I ton'd won Dinogim.
Digimon - Second Chances For Sora
Chapter 2 - Two Sided Mystery
"Hey, Izzy! I got it!" yelled a voice.
A (very) shorthaired boy of about fourteen years of age named Izzy jerked his head up in the direction of the voice that was calling his name. He averted his gaze (that was glued to the computer screen) to the doorway of the computer room. Half running into the room was his friend, fellow Digidestined (and genius) Ken Ichijouji with his backpack in hand. Since his school had no classes today, he decided to head over to see Izzy on important business.
"Got what?" Izzy asked, very curiously.
"This!" Ken replied excitedly.
Izzy watched as Ken unzipped his bookbag and pulled out a couple of unusual looking tools, almost like they weren't of this world. And that's what exactly they were.
"Whoa! Are...are those...?"
"Yep, they're the genetic testers I used from my days as the 'Digimon Emperor'...and you said a while back that you really wanted to check them out, so...here they are!"
"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed.
"I originally used them for cruel tests, such as creating and modifying my dark ring and spires, as well as splicing innocent digimon and constructing my own. I was planning to destroy them...but then you said that eventually-"
"-they can be used to someday better mankind," Izzy finished.
"Hey, if a wondrous place like the Digital World could ever really exist, then I suppose anything's possible at this point," Ken shrugged.
"I wholeheartedly agree," Izzy cheerfully nodded.
"So, what are you up to right now? It's lunchtime...shouldn't you be having lunch with the others?"
"I decided to eat here," he said, holding up half of his peanut butter and banana sandwich. "Want some?"
Ken took a small step back.
"Uh...no, thanks."
"Anyway...I was going to go to the cafeteria, but something caught my eye when I did a preliminary scan of the Digital World earlier."
"What is it?"
"Well, I don't know exactly. I can't tell you yet, because I could be wrong about this whole thing...but I'd like you to round up the other Digidestined. Tell them to meet me here after classes are over...I really think I've stumbled onto something amazing!"
"I'm on it!" Ken said, heading out of the room.
Izzy turned back to the computer room, sighed, and shook his head at the screen.
"Boy, what a mystery this is. And if I'm right on the money here...we may have trouble on our hands real soon."
By the end of the (school) day, Ken had done just that. Unfortunately, he couldn't venture into this current "mission" with the others, as he promised to help his mother run some errands. Nevertheless, some of the Digidestined managed to make it.
Izzy was once again sitting in his chair in the computer room when a handful of the other Digidestined arrived. That "handful" consisting of Sora, Davis and Cody. The younger two of the three had DemiVeemon and Upamon with them.
"This is it? Where's everybody else?" Izzy asked, partially stunned.
"Yolei went home sick today," Davis said.
"Yeah, and T.K. has basketball practice," Cody added.
"Kari has cheerleading," Sora stated.
"Great," Izzy muttered. "What happened to the good old days when all your friends would be there in a heartbeat?"
"A lot of us have other priorities, Izzy," Sora noted. "Besides...it's better than nothing, right?"
Izzy reluctantly nodded.
"Now..." she continued. "What's the emergency, Izzy? Ken said that it was really important."
"Good question, Sora," he said. "And I'm especially glad that you're here. Earlier when I told Ken about this little...'problem' that was on my hands, I wasn't sure that the readings I was picking up were real or not. But now I'm sure that they're quite accurate."
"In short?" Sora asked, almost impatiently.
"I'm not sure I can explain it in ten words or less, but I'd all of you to gather around the computer."
Everybody nodded and did so, while Izzy tapped a few keys on the computer keyboard. Immediately, an image of a small area of the Digital World that only he and Sora would recognize.
"Does this place look familiar to you, Sora?"
The teenage girl looked at the screen for a long moment. And what she saw made her blood run cold. The image on the screen that presented itself was some sort of desert area. And deeply tucked in the sand...was a gigantic upside-down pyramid.
"It...it can't be..." she whispered.
"It is..." Izzy replied. "Etemon's pyramid."
"Etemon's pyramid?" asked an innocent and curious DemiVeemon. "What's that?"
"Did some old pharaoh capture you and make you his slave?" Upamon asked.
"No," Sora replied, shaking her head.
"Then tell us already," Davis pestered.
Taking a deep breath, Sora slowly began to explain.
"During our original adventure in the Digital World, we were attacked by this singing, orange, monkey-like digimon who called himself Etemon."
Cody and Davis nodded in acknowledgement as Sora continued with her story.
"I was kidnapped by one of his prisoners, a cybernetic creature called Datamon. He ran several experiments on me, in an attempt to control Biyomon. And if the others hadn't come to my rescue when they did, he might have succeeded."
"Anyway..." Izzy said, bringing attention to himself again. "Take a look at this."
Once again working his hands on the keyboard, he eventually brought up an diagram of the structure on the computer screen.
"What is it?" asked Cody.
"It's an internal schematic of the pyramid. Do you see that little red flashing dot on the screen?"
Again, the younger boys nodded. Izzy did his best to keep the atmosphere calm.
"Well, I can't exactly explain what it is, but-"
"Wait a minute, Izzy!" Sora interrupted. "Are you saying that Etemon's still alive?!"
"I won't lie to you, Sora...it's definitely a possibility."
The girl sighed.
"Don't tell me that the only way we'll be able to know is by checking it out!"
"Okay..." Izzy replied. "I won't tell you."
Sora sighed again and pulled out her digivice.
"By the way..." he continued. "Are you sure that no one else was available?"
"Wait a sec, Izzy," Davis said. "I think I see Matt in the hallway-"
"Matt?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, and looks like he's firmly hugging some girl-"
"WHA?!" she almost shrieked. "Wait 'til I give that snake a piece of my-"
"Mind yourself, Sora! It can wait!" Izzy cut in. "Besides, we have more important things to-"
"So do I!"
Izzy sighed to himself and turned to the others. "I suppose we could give her a couple of minutes..."
Sora ran as fast as she could over to Matt and the girl. She tapped the light-brown haired female on the shoulder and went...
"Okay, little missy...whoever you are, get your paws off my boyfriend!"
"Wait!" went a panicky Matt. "You don't understand! I've got a surprise for you! This girl is-"
"Dead meat when I'm through with her! And you're next!"
"I don't believe this..." Matt whined as she focused her attention on the girl once more...
"All right, I don't know WHO you think you are, but-"
"You're in big trouble if you can't guess...Sora!" went a somewhat high-pitched voice that was easily recognizable.
Her eyes widened as all thoughts ceased, realizing who she was talking to. There was absolutely no doubt as the mystery girl turned around to face her.
"Oh, no..." Matt said as he quickly stuck his fingers in his ears, knowing all too well what was coming.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
"MEEMS!"
"SOR!"
It was more than an understatement to say that Sora was pleased to come face to face with none other than Mimi Tachikawa, the Digidestined of Sincerity! What surprised her a little more was that her friend from America wasn't dressed in her stereotypical (top fashion-based) attire. Sora found her dressed in a red T-shirt, pink skirt and possibly for the first time...sneakers!
"Mimi! What in the world are you doing here?!" Sora excitedly (and happily) asked.
"Simple!" Mimi answered, equally cheerful. "I'm on vacation! And since Mom and Dad knew that I badly wanted to visit you all...here I am!"
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you...I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too, Sora!"
Real tears of joy began to form the eyes of both girls as they didn't hesitate to grab each other into a warm hug. Izzy, Davis and Cody (and their digimon) stuck their heads out of the computer room to see what all that horrid screaming was about. Quickly realizing that Mimi was here for a visit, they too greeted her. Izzy then informed her and Matt of the current situation.
"While the three of you were yammering in the hallways..." he began, "...I made some more progress deciphering the energy signature I previously detected."
"Whaddya mean, Izzy?" asked Mimi, as curious as ever.
"Well, I've found that whatever this signature is, it's virtually identical to our digivices. It's giving off the same kind of readings we get when another one is in the vicinity."
"Sorta like the way we can track each other down with our digivices when we're separated, right?" Matt inquired.
Izzy smiled briefly and nodded at Matt.
"Exactly," he confirmed.
"Hey, Izzy...that little red dot is moving, I think," Davis pointed out.
"Yeah, that was the other thing I was going to mention," Izzy replied.
"What's going on now?" Cody wondered.
Once again, the teenage genius provided a quick, albeit cryptic answer.
"For the last few minutes, I noticed that this signal has been alternating its position at random intervals."
"And that means...?" demanded an impatient Matt.
"This energy signature definitely belongs to some sort of life form."
"You're saying...?" Sora began to ask.
"That's right," Izzy firmly stated, nodding. "Someone...or something is down there...alive."
A brief silence followed that last comment. But it was quickly over as Matt cleared his throat.
"Uh, listen...normally I'd love to stay and investigate this mystery with all of you, but I got band practice. See ya!"
Mimi cheeks flushed a bit as she watched Matt with what looked like a expression of disappointment and longing as he kissed Sora affectionately. She sighed to herself as she until he disappeared out of eyesight.
"Okay, everyone ready?" Izzy asked.
Everyone nodded, then Izzy turned to face Mimi.
"Mimi, would you mind staying behind and monitoring our progress from here?"
"Huh? Why?"
"While I don't feel comfortable walking into familiar enemy territory, I do know the layout of the place pretty well."
"And if anybody can spot anything out of the ordinary, it's good 'ol Izzy," said a confident Davis.
"Plus, I'll need someone to remain here to warn us if any trouble arises."
Mimi warmly smiled and nodded with a look that said...
"You can count on me!"
"Great, thanks," Izzy said, smiling back.
"Hey, Sora...let's hang out after you get back, okay?" Mimi asked.
Sora wore a playful smirk on her face at that moment.
"Well, I don't know...I just booked about a MILLION dates with my boyfriend, Matt..."
At that moment, Mimi was real glad no one saw her glare briefly at Sora.
"...but I think I can squeeze you into my busy schedule."
"Perfecto!" Mimi went, quickly switching back into "cheerful" mode giving a "thumbs-up" sign.
"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" asked Davis.
"Yeah...get moving, guys!" Mimi agreed.
"Mm-hm!" everyone else said.
And with a bright flash of light from the computer screen, they were gone.
Semi-fierce winds of sand kicked up rather sporadically when the Digidestined arrived. But something in their heads told them that these conditions were pretty common in this part of the Digital World. That is, given the unchanging weather, it probably wouldn't have mattered when they came.
"Ugh," Sora began to complain. "I can't believe I agreed to come back here."
Izzy and Cody moderately chuckled and entered the pyramid with the others following.
It came as no surprise that Sora was (and continued to be) uneasy while cautiously walking through the dark corridors of the bizarre complex. She had less than fond memories of this place and Sora just couldn't quite block them out. Although it seemed as if the building was now clearly uninhabited and abandoned, this fact still didn't help Sora's predicament.
Izzy had previously mapped out the insides of the pyramid and memorized them to an extent, so he didn't feel as nervous as Sora did.
"Okay, we're not too far from what used to be Etemon's main control room."
"So?" Davis asked.
"What's that mean?" asked Veemon, Davis's digimon partner.
"It means that if I can get that old computer up and running, I might be able to better pinpoint the origin of those energy readings I picked up. Sound good, Sora?"
"I guess it's worth a shot," she replied. "But regardless of what we find, let's just get out of here quickly. I don't mind telling you that this place seriously gives me the creeps...something here just doesn't seem right."
"Don't worry," Izzy said in a calm tone. "I promise that we'll try to make this as brief as possible."
Within seconds, they entered the control room. Izzy flipped on what appeared to be a light switch. As soon as Sora got a look at the gigantic room (as it lit up), the memories of her encounter and imprisonment by Datamon (as well as the fiasco with Etemon) flooded her brain rapidly. But thankfully, those rather unpleasant thoughts were quickly interrupted by Cody's voice.
"Anything, Izzy?"
"Not much, I'm afraid," he answered somewhat glumly. "Either some sort of coded program has locked up this computer's database, or it simply malfunctioned beyond repair after all these years of being unused and inactive."
"What'll you do now?" asked Sora, partially out of it.
"Well, since that energy reading was so hard to find, I was hoping that Etemon's main computer would provide some data on what it could be, since it probably has information on the entire pyramid."
"But no such lick...er, I mean luck...right?" Armadillomon inquired. "Sorry...I'm kinda hungry."
"That's okay," Izzy continued. "Anyway, you're right...no such luck. I can't access the computer...not without a better insight of how a more advanced and elaborate computer such as this one works."
"Hey, check this out!" Cody exclaimed as everyone turned their heads.
"What is it, Cody?" Sora asked.
"There a small bed here...about the right proportions for a human..."
The short boy got a bad feeling as he felt the bedsheets.
"Something wrong, Cod?" asked Davis. "Did its last user wet the bed?"
"No, but these sheets are warm..."
"Meaning?"
Cody sighed.
"Meaning that someone's slept in this bed recently!"
"Oh, yeah...I knew that."
"Let's get outta here, you guys..." said a wary Sora.
At the same time, Davis was starting to get hungry and also wanted to head home.
"I guess there's not much else we can do but pack up and head for ho-"
"Wait!" went Sora, in an alarmed voice. "I'm getting a reading on my digivice!"
"Me too!" Izzy agreed.
Davis and Cody, and Sora crowded around Izzy, as he pointed out what was going on. He held up his digivice to everyone as he began to explain.
"Okay, do you all see that big red dot?" he asked, pointing to a specific spot on his digivice.
Everyone nodded.
"That's all of us. Our digivice signals are all converging in this room, at this single location, creating one big signal."
Everyone nodded again.
"Now...see that one tiny red dot on the opposite side of the screen? That's undoubtedly the signal I detected today. Now it's approaching in this direction."
Cody eyes widened in realization of what was happening.
"It's heading towards us," he said in an alarmed voice.
"Whatever it is, let's hope it doesn't find us!" Sora cautioned. "Izzy, isn't there any other way out of here?"
Izzy frowned and shook his head. "There are two other doors exiting this room, but they both quickly lead to dead ends."
"Great..." she muttered.
"Don't worry, I have another idea. Davis, I want you and Cody get by the entrance and switch off the lights, while Sora and I hide. At least this way, you two can be ready for whatever walks through that door."
"Right!" they both said.
The boys and their digimon did what they were told, while Izzy pulled Sora behind a nearby computer console, but not so far away that they wouldn't be able to see whatever came in.
The pair continued to glance at their digivices, watching as the signal got closer...and closer...
"Okay...this is it," Izzy said, with some degree of nervousness clearly being heard in his voice. "The signal is practically right on top of us...so to speak..."
"Get ready, Veemon!" Davis whispered.
"You too, Armadillomon!" Cody ordered.
Footsteps could be heard as whoever this was entered the room. Izzy and Sora were itching to get a good look as to entered as the previously dark figure swiftly turned on the lights. All of a sudden, time seemed to freeze for all of the room's occupants, especially for Sora, was rendered completely speechless and motionless as the individual that had just walked in. Sora's face of pure shock was equally exchanged with the face of the mysterious figure.
"Oh...my..." was all she could get out.
It immediately became clear that Izzy was right. There was someone living all the way out here in the desert, inside the pyramid. But it someone much more shocking than Etemon or Datamon.
It was...a girl.
A young girl.
A human girl.
A girl wearing Sora's face.
(MOST DEFINATELY) TO BE CONTINUED...
I don't have much to say at this point, so I'll just let you readers choke on this cliffhanger for a while. Btw, I'm sorry I haven't had as much time as before to post new chapters more quickly. Y'know...house chores and whatnot. See ya next time!