Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon I just wish I did. This is done for fun not
profit.
Rating: PG
Setting: Digimon Frontier story set a few months after the season finale.
Comments: Currently unbeta'd so if you spot any errors please tell me in your review. All constructive criticism gladly received. All flames ignored. Yes, I know I should be working on my 02 fics but I write as I'm inspired to write. Note: thanks to some feedback this is now a revised version with some errors corrected. Thank you to Henrika for pointing them out.
Of Necessities and Consequences
Chapter One: Reality Broken
---------------------
"Not again!" Kouji Minamoto muttered and grabbed onto a tree for support as he nearly doubled over with a stabbing pain in his gut. "Not now!" This had been happening off and on for several weeks now and every time it hurt worse and lasted longer. His father had taken him to the doctor who had poked and prodded and run many, many tests but found nothing wrong. They had labelled it 'psychosomatic' and decided that it was caused by his 'family problems'. The diagnosis had at least got his father to stop hassling him about his burgeoning relationship with his mother and brother. He had been less than pleased when Kouji had revealed that he knew about them and had tried to ban him from seeing them. Kouji had just ignored him and had put up with the decreased allowance and the groundings. Much to his surprise his stepmother had come to his aid with a little extra money for fares and letting him sneak out to see them when his father was away. She also been angry at his revelation but not with him. Apparently his father had told her that he was a widower rather than a divorcee as well.
"Kouji?" his brother came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sick again?" Kouichii sounded concerned.
"I'll be okay. It'll pass in a moment." He gritted his teeth. "Don't tell the others about this." Kouichii was the only one of the Chosen Children who knew about his recent illness. "I don't want to worry the others." They were on their way to a picnic with the other Chosen Children in the park. While they'd all kept in contact it would be the first time since they had returned from the Digital World that they'd all been together. He didn't want to ruin it by letting them know he was ill.
"It might be a bit late for that." Kouichii said in a subdued tone. Kouji followed his gaze and swore to himself when he saw that Takuya had spotted them and was heading towards them. He really didn't want to worry his friends. The Chosen of Fire took in the sight of him clinging to a cherry tree half supported by his brother and frowned but what he said when he finally spoke caught Kouji completely by surprise.
"You too, huh?" Takuya's tone was resigned. "Well that kills any hope that it was just some wild coincidence." He wrapped an arm around Kouji's waist before looking at Kouichi. "Let's get him over to the others."
So it was that with support from his best friend and his brother Kouji walked slowly towards the others with an alarming suspicion dawning in his mind. They were seated on the grass by a small lake in the park and for a supposedly happy event like a reunion picnic they all looked rather solemn. This really didn't look good.
It was Izumi who spotted them approaching first. Her frown spoke whole volumes even before she said anything. "You're sick too, Kouji?" she asked in a soft, concerned tone. "No, don't bother answering obviously you are." Her frown deepened. "Do the Doctors say that it's stress?"
"How did you know?" It was hard to concentrate through the continuing pain but he tried. "Are you sick too?" Kouji looked his friends and noted a certain shared pallor.
"We all are?" She nodded solemnly. "But apparently there is nothing physically wrong with us."
"Nothing that the Doctors can find anyway." Junpei added. He looked like he had lost quite a bit of weight since Kouji had last seen him. He was still a bulky kid of course but noticeably thinner than he had been. Kouji had the feeling that the weight loss had nothing to do with dieting.
"You know, I'm not sick." Kouichi noted thoughtfully. "I wonder if it's because I was never physically in the Digital World?"
"That seems a reasonable assumption." Junpei agreed. "Yes, it's very possible." He paused. "Except those kids we met there briefly aren't sick either. Tomoki checked with them and they were physically there."
Kouji took a couple of deep breaths and sighed in relief as the pain finally faded. "Okay. So it's only those of us who were both physically present and who spirit evolved. Why?" He paused. "Is this why we're having this picnic? I thought that it was just a reunion."
"It was supposed to be." Izumi sighed. "But a couple of days ago I found out that Junpei was sick and Takuya found out that Tomoki was sick. We'd already run into each other at the hospital so we contacted each other and decided to bring it up and then this morning..." She broke off looking confused.
"What is it?" Takuya asked.
"Well odd things have been happening like things not being where I left them or the pizza in the oven not being the one I remembered cooking. I thought I was going nuts... but this morning when I woke up it briefly looked like the walls of my bedroom were made of digicode and when it went back to normal there were cracks in the walls. Now we have to move out for a few weeks while it's fixed because the place has become unstable and even a moderate tremor might make it collapse on us."
"Wow!" Junpei's eyes were wide. "Nothing on quite that scale has happened to me but this morning all our cutlery turned up bent. My father's been making jokes about Uri Geller."
"The only remotely odd thing that's happened to me is my CDs and DVDs stopping working. I just thought Shinya had been messing with them."
"Yeah and my brother's computer blew up." Tomoki said. "He got some nasty cuts and lost an important paper for college." They all looked at Kouji and Kouichi. His brother shrugged and shook his head. He didn't have to say anything it was obvious nothing had happened to him. Kouji looked down.
"Nothing major like what has happened to Izumi but a catalogue of minor disasters that might just have been bad luck... I guess they weren't just bad luck."
"It's almost as if the world is twisting around us slightly." Junpei said. "But how and why? Is it going to get worse? We need to figure out a way to contact the Digital World... maybe they'll know what this is and how to stop it."
"You know I did dream about Löwemon last night." Kouichi said thoughtfully. "At least I guess it was a dream though I would have sworn I was awake at the time. I've been dreaming about him quite a lot but last night it was clear as a bell. He was fighting an evil digimon. He won but was severely hurt."
"I think we all dream about our partners." Takuya said, "But recently they've taken a more disturbing turn." He glanced round at the others who nodded, confirming the same thing. "We all have a bond to our partners. Maybe that's why we dream about them... maybe we sense what is happening to them."
"I hope not." Kouichi said worriedly. "I really hope not."
"I don't know." Junpei said. "I think it's sort of cool and if our dreams are real maybe we can use them to communicate with them."
"You don't understand." Kouichi told him. "If what I dreamed was real then the Digital World has more serious problems than we have." He stared off into the distance. "And I don't want to think that it's all falling apart on them so soon."
"Maybe it isn't so soon for them." Takuya pointed out. "I mean we were barely gone for a few minutes."
"It's possible." Kouichi conceded. "But..." He broke off as Izumi leapt to her feet with a look of fear on her face.
"Shutumon!" she cried in obvious distress.
----
"I won't let you do this." Shutumon hovered protectively over Soyokaze village as she faced down an out of control Gigadramon that was set on destroying the place and absorbing its digicode and that of the Floramon and Mushmon who lived there. "Why are you doing this?"
It didn't reply of course it just roared and attacked her. She dodged easily and fired her "Wind of Pain" attack at it before diving in and using her "Gilgamesh Slicer" on one of its wings. The perfect level digimon screamed as her attack sliced through a tendon and it lost some control of the wing but it didn't stop its course towards the village so she moved to try and distract it. "Damn it, where are the others when I need them?" She muttered as she attacked his other wing to slow him down but she knew exactly where they were. Putting out fires of their own. For the past few days chaos had been breaking out all over the Digital World. Aggressive Digimon had been appearing in every region forcing them to run back and forth trying to do their job and protect the World. The trouble was that she wasn't sure that she could handle this strong a Perfect Level on her own. Not so soon after her last battle. Not without Izumi's strength to add to her own. She had to try though. Izumi wouldn't have given up and neither would she. So she wove around dodging it attacks and getting in good hits when she could as she tried to come up with a plan. Hopefully one of the other warriors would be free to help her soon.
As the fight continued she did manage to keep it away from the village and she began to notice something strange. The Gigadramon's actions did not seem rational. They weren't random or uncontrolled but they weren't intelligent either. It was acting like an animal which made no sense because all digimon had mind and reason. Still it gave her an edge. She could only match it in a fight but she could still out think it.
She kept on trying to distract is as she searched through her memories of her time with Izumi to find the human girl's recollections about animals. What little her partner had known on the subject suggested that if faced with powerful opposition an animal would seek prey elsewhere. The idea of simply driving it off instead of purifying it didn't sit well with her since it would just wreak havoc elsewhere but she didn't see what else she could do right now. She began flying wings around it and attacking more often. Unfortunately that only served to enrage it and it dived towards her with more speed than she'd imagined its injured wings could summon. She dodged the attack desperately only to be caught a resounding whack by its tail and knocked out of the sky.
She landed on the grass with a dull thud and lay there a moment winded. Looking up she saw the Gigadramon diving towards her. Unable to get up in time she furled her wings and forced herself to roll out of the way. Diving at full speed with injured wings the Gigadramon was unable to pull up. It crashed into the ground with a sickening crunch and lay still. Shutumon staggered to her feet and hurled off her 'Wind of Pain" attack before it had time to recover. It's code appeared and she sighed in relief before scanning it. As it's egg flew off towards the Village of Beginnings she slide evolved to Fairymon.
"Thank goodness that's over." She murmured before collapsing to the ground unconscious in front of the approaching Floramon.
----
"Fairymon!" Izumi was still on her feet staring into space but after a moment she blinked and collapsed to her knees. "She'll be okay." She said looking up at the others. "I'm sure she be okay."
"What happened?" Takuya asked. Izumi shook her head to clear it and nodded.
"Oh sorry I forgot that you wouldn't know." She said. "Shutumon was fighting with this metal dragon digimon." She frowned as she tried to recall her mental impressions of the fight. "She was pretty evenly matched with the thing but got lucky and managed to defeat it. I think she was hurt though." She looked at the others again. "I think Kouichi is right. Something is seriously awry in the Digital World." She paused. "Why is it getting darker?"
"Impossible!" Junpei said simultaneously with her last comment. He was staring at the sky. "That's an astronomical impossibility!" The quiet look of shock in his eyes made the others follow his gaze to see a circular shadow partially occulting the sun and moving over it more and more.
"Is it an eclipse?" Kouji asked.
"It's impossible." Junpei repeated. "It was full moon last night and solar eclipses can only happen at or close to new moon."
"Well it sure as hell looks like an eclipse." Takuya said.
"But if this was a normal eclipse we'd have known that it was coming." Izumi pointed out. "I remember all the fuss and hype about the one in Europe back in 1999. I don't know much about astronomy but I'm with Junpei. This is impossible... another of those reality warping things I guess." She paused. "Also shouldn't we be going blind just from looking at it? Even the rest of the sun looks dim."
"She's right you know." Kouji looked at the rest of the sky and felt his mouth drop open. "Huh..." he began but was interrupted by Junpei.
"Impossible solar eclipses go well beyond bent cutlery or even disintergrating apartments." The older boy said. "I think the world is broken."
"Hum, guys!" Kouji repeated. "I think you should tear you eyes away from the sun and look at the rest of the sky." They did what he said and fell silent. For several moments all six children stood there transfixed by the sight of the Digital World spread out across the darkened sky like a giant map.
"Okaaaaay." Takuya said finally. "That can't be a good sign can it?"
"Yep," Junpei agreed. "The world is definately broken. Is that what I think it is."
"Yes." Tomoki confirmed. "But what does it mean?"
"Well, at least it looks intact... well except for the whole spread across the sky thing."
"We have to do something." Izumi said in a determined tone. "Both worlds are obviously in danger again." She picked up the picnic basket and headed for the gates.
"Izumi! Where are you going?" Kouichi called after her she paused and looked back.
"Shibuya Station of course." She replied. "Maybe the Trailmon are running again. It's got to be worth a try."
"She's right." Takuya said. "That's probably our best shot." He looked at the others who nodded their agreement after a moment. " So, let's go." They all climbed to their feet and headed after Izumi. they had nearly reached the park gates when all their phones rang simultaneously.
"Everyone." The voice sounded a lot like Ophanimon's but not quite. "I am sorry to have to ask this but we need your help again."
"Funny, we hadn't noticed." Takuya said drily then added "Ow!" as Izumi kicked him.
"Are the Trailmon running from Shibuya?"
"No, I'm afraid not." The caller replied. "We are as yet unable to reforge that link with the Human World."
"Then how?" Izumi asked.
"If you are willing to return here and help us again," a second, almost familiar voice sounded from the phone. "then you need only join your hands in a circle and concentrate. In the current situation your bonds with the warriors should allow you to reach the Digital World again by force of will alone."
The kids stared at their phones and looked at each other.
"Well," Takuya noted. "The worst that will happen is we'll look like fools." He held out his hands and Tomoki and Izumi grabbed them. The others hesitated only a moment before joining them. All six closed their eyes and focused on their partners, the Digital World and their honest desire to help. Each of them experienced differently what happened next. For Takuya it was a sudden warmth and the feeling of flames burning round him with out even singeing him. Kouji experienced it as a sudden lifting of the darkness of the eclipse as he was surrounded and immersed in light while his brother conversely sensed a warm and pleasant darkness like a return to the womb. Junpei felt like the air was charged with static that popped over his skin in a pleasant way while Tomoki felt intricate patterns of frost being drawn on his skin without any sense of discomfort. For Izumi it was a pleasant sense of lightness and of being buoyed up by the wind and of the six she was the first one to open her eyes. The first thing she say did not really surprise her given what she'd felt, they were all surrounded by an aura of their partner's element, the second thing was unexpected however and she clutched Takuya and Kouichi's hands tighter as she realised it.
"Guys, don't look now but we're flying." Her comment made the others open their eyes and of course they all looked down to find she was right. They were in the sky above the city and gradually floating higher towards the Digital World in the sky. Below them they could see people pointing and staring, though it wasn't clear if it was at them, the manifest Digital World or the mysterious eclipse. Of course as they floated higher Takuya couldn't resist making a joke.
"I can see my house from here."
The others groaned and Izumi resisted the urge to let go of his hand and punch him only because she had the strongest feeling that breaking the circle at this point would be disastrous.
Higher and higher they floated until they reached the midway point between the two worlds. Below them they could see Earth spread out and above them they could see the Digital World. For an eternal moment everything seemed frozen and then reality seemed to ripple and flex and then the Digital World was below them and Earth above. For another moment they hung suspended and then gravity reasserted itself and they found themselves clinging onto each others hands until their knuckles turned white as they plummeted towards the Digital World...
---
Read and Review
Rating: PG
Setting: Digimon Frontier story set a few months after the season finale.
Comments: Currently unbeta'd so if you spot any errors please tell me in your review. All constructive criticism gladly received. All flames ignored. Yes, I know I should be working on my 02 fics but I write as I'm inspired to write. Note: thanks to some feedback this is now a revised version with some errors corrected. Thank you to Henrika for pointing them out.
Of Necessities and Consequences
Chapter One: Reality Broken
---------------------
"Not again!" Kouji Minamoto muttered and grabbed onto a tree for support as he nearly doubled over with a stabbing pain in his gut. "Not now!" This had been happening off and on for several weeks now and every time it hurt worse and lasted longer. His father had taken him to the doctor who had poked and prodded and run many, many tests but found nothing wrong. They had labelled it 'psychosomatic' and decided that it was caused by his 'family problems'. The diagnosis had at least got his father to stop hassling him about his burgeoning relationship with his mother and brother. He had been less than pleased when Kouji had revealed that he knew about them and had tried to ban him from seeing them. Kouji had just ignored him and had put up with the decreased allowance and the groundings. Much to his surprise his stepmother had come to his aid with a little extra money for fares and letting him sneak out to see them when his father was away. She also been angry at his revelation but not with him. Apparently his father had told her that he was a widower rather than a divorcee as well.
"Kouji?" his brother came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sick again?" Kouichii sounded concerned.
"I'll be okay. It'll pass in a moment." He gritted his teeth. "Don't tell the others about this." Kouichii was the only one of the Chosen Children who knew about his recent illness. "I don't want to worry the others." They were on their way to a picnic with the other Chosen Children in the park. While they'd all kept in contact it would be the first time since they had returned from the Digital World that they'd all been together. He didn't want to ruin it by letting them know he was ill.
"It might be a bit late for that." Kouichii said in a subdued tone. Kouji followed his gaze and swore to himself when he saw that Takuya had spotted them and was heading towards them. He really didn't want to worry his friends. The Chosen of Fire took in the sight of him clinging to a cherry tree half supported by his brother and frowned but what he said when he finally spoke caught Kouji completely by surprise.
"You too, huh?" Takuya's tone was resigned. "Well that kills any hope that it was just some wild coincidence." He wrapped an arm around Kouji's waist before looking at Kouichi. "Let's get him over to the others."
So it was that with support from his best friend and his brother Kouji walked slowly towards the others with an alarming suspicion dawning in his mind. They were seated on the grass by a small lake in the park and for a supposedly happy event like a reunion picnic they all looked rather solemn. This really didn't look good.
It was Izumi who spotted them approaching first. Her frown spoke whole volumes even before she said anything. "You're sick too, Kouji?" she asked in a soft, concerned tone. "No, don't bother answering obviously you are." Her frown deepened. "Do the Doctors say that it's stress?"
"How did you know?" It was hard to concentrate through the continuing pain but he tried. "Are you sick too?" Kouji looked his friends and noted a certain shared pallor.
"We all are?" She nodded solemnly. "But apparently there is nothing physically wrong with us."
"Nothing that the Doctors can find anyway." Junpei added. He looked like he had lost quite a bit of weight since Kouji had last seen him. He was still a bulky kid of course but noticeably thinner than he had been. Kouji had the feeling that the weight loss had nothing to do with dieting.
"You know, I'm not sick." Kouichi noted thoughtfully. "I wonder if it's because I was never physically in the Digital World?"
"That seems a reasonable assumption." Junpei agreed. "Yes, it's very possible." He paused. "Except those kids we met there briefly aren't sick either. Tomoki checked with them and they were physically there."
Kouji took a couple of deep breaths and sighed in relief as the pain finally faded. "Okay. So it's only those of us who were both physically present and who spirit evolved. Why?" He paused. "Is this why we're having this picnic? I thought that it was just a reunion."
"It was supposed to be." Izumi sighed. "But a couple of days ago I found out that Junpei was sick and Takuya found out that Tomoki was sick. We'd already run into each other at the hospital so we contacted each other and decided to bring it up and then this morning..." She broke off looking confused.
"What is it?" Takuya asked.
"Well odd things have been happening like things not being where I left them or the pizza in the oven not being the one I remembered cooking. I thought I was going nuts... but this morning when I woke up it briefly looked like the walls of my bedroom were made of digicode and when it went back to normal there were cracks in the walls. Now we have to move out for a few weeks while it's fixed because the place has become unstable and even a moderate tremor might make it collapse on us."
"Wow!" Junpei's eyes were wide. "Nothing on quite that scale has happened to me but this morning all our cutlery turned up bent. My father's been making jokes about Uri Geller."
"The only remotely odd thing that's happened to me is my CDs and DVDs stopping working. I just thought Shinya had been messing with them."
"Yeah and my brother's computer blew up." Tomoki said. "He got some nasty cuts and lost an important paper for college." They all looked at Kouji and Kouichi. His brother shrugged and shook his head. He didn't have to say anything it was obvious nothing had happened to him. Kouji looked down.
"Nothing major like what has happened to Izumi but a catalogue of minor disasters that might just have been bad luck... I guess they weren't just bad luck."
"It's almost as if the world is twisting around us slightly." Junpei said. "But how and why? Is it going to get worse? We need to figure out a way to contact the Digital World... maybe they'll know what this is and how to stop it."
"You know I did dream about Löwemon last night." Kouichi said thoughtfully. "At least I guess it was a dream though I would have sworn I was awake at the time. I've been dreaming about him quite a lot but last night it was clear as a bell. He was fighting an evil digimon. He won but was severely hurt."
"I think we all dream about our partners." Takuya said, "But recently they've taken a more disturbing turn." He glanced round at the others who nodded, confirming the same thing. "We all have a bond to our partners. Maybe that's why we dream about them... maybe we sense what is happening to them."
"I hope not." Kouichi said worriedly. "I really hope not."
"I don't know." Junpei said. "I think it's sort of cool and if our dreams are real maybe we can use them to communicate with them."
"You don't understand." Kouichi told him. "If what I dreamed was real then the Digital World has more serious problems than we have." He stared off into the distance. "And I don't want to think that it's all falling apart on them so soon."
"Maybe it isn't so soon for them." Takuya pointed out. "I mean we were barely gone for a few minutes."
"It's possible." Kouichi conceded. "But..." He broke off as Izumi leapt to her feet with a look of fear on her face.
"Shutumon!" she cried in obvious distress.
----
"I won't let you do this." Shutumon hovered protectively over Soyokaze village as she faced down an out of control Gigadramon that was set on destroying the place and absorbing its digicode and that of the Floramon and Mushmon who lived there. "Why are you doing this?"
It didn't reply of course it just roared and attacked her. She dodged easily and fired her "Wind of Pain" attack at it before diving in and using her "Gilgamesh Slicer" on one of its wings. The perfect level digimon screamed as her attack sliced through a tendon and it lost some control of the wing but it didn't stop its course towards the village so she moved to try and distract it. "Damn it, where are the others when I need them?" She muttered as she attacked his other wing to slow him down but she knew exactly where they were. Putting out fires of their own. For the past few days chaos had been breaking out all over the Digital World. Aggressive Digimon had been appearing in every region forcing them to run back and forth trying to do their job and protect the World. The trouble was that she wasn't sure that she could handle this strong a Perfect Level on her own. Not so soon after her last battle. Not without Izumi's strength to add to her own. She had to try though. Izumi wouldn't have given up and neither would she. So she wove around dodging it attacks and getting in good hits when she could as she tried to come up with a plan. Hopefully one of the other warriors would be free to help her soon.
As the fight continued she did manage to keep it away from the village and she began to notice something strange. The Gigadramon's actions did not seem rational. They weren't random or uncontrolled but they weren't intelligent either. It was acting like an animal which made no sense because all digimon had mind and reason. Still it gave her an edge. She could only match it in a fight but she could still out think it.
She kept on trying to distract is as she searched through her memories of her time with Izumi to find the human girl's recollections about animals. What little her partner had known on the subject suggested that if faced with powerful opposition an animal would seek prey elsewhere. The idea of simply driving it off instead of purifying it didn't sit well with her since it would just wreak havoc elsewhere but she didn't see what else she could do right now. She began flying wings around it and attacking more often. Unfortunately that only served to enrage it and it dived towards her with more speed than she'd imagined its injured wings could summon. She dodged the attack desperately only to be caught a resounding whack by its tail and knocked out of the sky.
She landed on the grass with a dull thud and lay there a moment winded. Looking up she saw the Gigadramon diving towards her. Unable to get up in time she furled her wings and forced herself to roll out of the way. Diving at full speed with injured wings the Gigadramon was unable to pull up. It crashed into the ground with a sickening crunch and lay still. Shutumon staggered to her feet and hurled off her 'Wind of Pain" attack before it had time to recover. It's code appeared and she sighed in relief before scanning it. As it's egg flew off towards the Village of Beginnings she slide evolved to Fairymon.
"Thank goodness that's over." She murmured before collapsing to the ground unconscious in front of the approaching Floramon.
----
"Fairymon!" Izumi was still on her feet staring into space but after a moment she blinked and collapsed to her knees. "She'll be okay." She said looking up at the others. "I'm sure she be okay."
"What happened?" Takuya asked. Izumi shook her head to clear it and nodded.
"Oh sorry I forgot that you wouldn't know." She said. "Shutumon was fighting with this metal dragon digimon." She frowned as she tried to recall her mental impressions of the fight. "She was pretty evenly matched with the thing but got lucky and managed to defeat it. I think she was hurt though." She looked at the others again. "I think Kouichi is right. Something is seriously awry in the Digital World." She paused. "Why is it getting darker?"
"Impossible!" Junpei said simultaneously with her last comment. He was staring at the sky. "That's an astronomical impossibility!" The quiet look of shock in his eyes made the others follow his gaze to see a circular shadow partially occulting the sun and moving over it more and more.
"Is it an eclipse?" Kouji asked.
"It's impossible." Junpei repeated. "It was full moon last night and solar eclipses can only happen at or close to new moon."
"Well it sure as hell looks like an eclipse." Takuya said.
"But if this was a normal eclipse we'd have known that it was coming." Izumi pointed out. "I remember all the fuss and hype about the one in Europe back in 1999. I don't know much about astronomy but I'm with Junpei. This is impossible... another of those reality warping things I guess." She paused. "Also shouldn't we be going blind just from looking at it? Even the rest of the sun looks dim."
"She's right you know." Kouji looked at the rest of the sky and felt his mouth drop open. "Huh..." he began but was interrupted by Junpei.
"Impossible solar eclipses go well beyond bent cutlery or even disintergrating apartments." The older boy said. "I think the world is broken."
"Hum, guys!" Kouji repeated. "I think you should tear you eyes away from the sun and look at the rest of the sky." They did what he said and fell silent. For several moments all six children stood there transfixed by the sight of the Digital World spread out across the darkened sky like a giant map.
"Okaaaaay." Takuya said finally. "That can't be a good sign can it?"
"Yep," Junpei agreed. "The world is definately broken. Is that what I think it is."
"Yes." Tomoki confirmed. "But what does it mean?"
"Well, at least it looks intact... well except for the whole spread across the sky thing."
"We have to do something." Izumi said in a determined tone. "Both worlds are obviously in danger again." She picked up the picnic basket and headed for the gates.
"Izumi! Where are you going?" Kouichi called after her she paused and looked back.
"Shibuya Station of course." She replied. "Maybe the Trailmon are running again. It's got to be worth a try."
"She's right." Takuya said. "That's probably our best shot." He looked at the others who nodded their agreement after a moment. " So, let's go." They all climbed to their feet and headed after Izumi. they had nearly reached the park gates when all their phones rang simultaneously.
"Everyone." The voice sounded a lot like Ophanimon's but not quite. "I am sorry to have to ask this but we need your help again."
"Funny, we hadn't noticed." Takuya said drily then added "Ow!" as Izumi kicked him.
"Are the Trailmon running from Shibuya?"
"No, I'm afraid not." The caller replied. "We are as yet unable to reforge that link with the Human World."
"Then how?" Izumi asked.
"If you are willing to return here and help us again," a second, almost familiar voice sounded from the phone. "then you need only join your hands in a circle and concentrate. In the current situation your bonds with the warriors should allow you to reach the Digital World again by force of will alone."
The kids stared at their phones and looked at each other.
"Well," Takuya noted. "The worst that will happen is we'll look like fools." He held out his hands and Tomoki and Izumi grabbed them. The others hesitated only a moment before joining them. All six closed their eyes and focused on their partners, the Digital World and their honest desire to help. Each of them experienced differently what happened next. For Takuya it was a sudden warmth and the feeling of flames burning round him with out even singeing him. Kouji experienced it as a sudden lifting of the darkness of the eclipse as he was surrounded and immersed in light while his brother conversely sensed a warm and pleasant darkness like a return to the womb. Junpei felt like the air was charged with static that popped over his skin in a pleasant way while Tomoki felt intricate patterns of frost being drawn on his skin without any sense of discomfort. For Izumi it was a pleasant sense of lightness and of being buoyed up by the wind and of the six she was the first one to open her eyes. The first thing she say did not really surprise her given what she'd felt, they were all surrounded by an aura of their partner's element, the second thing was unexpected however and she clutched Takuya and Kouichi's hands tighter as she realised it.
"Guys, don't look now but we're flying." Her comment made the others open their eyes and of course they all looked down to find she was right. They were in the sky above the city and gradually floating higher towards the Digital World in the sky. Below them they could see people pointing and staring, though it wasn't clear if it was at them, the manifest Digital World or the mysterious eclipse. Of course as they floated higher Takuya couldn't resist making a joke.
"I can see my house from here."
The others groaned and Izumi resisted the urge to let go of his hand and punch him only because she had the strongest feeling that breaking the circle at this point would be disastrous.
Higher and higher they floated until they reached the midway point between the two worlds. Below them they could see Earth spread out and above them they could see the Digital World. For an eternal moment everything seemed frozen and then reality seemed to ripple and flex and then the Digital World was below them and Earth above. For another moment they hung suspended and then gravity reasserted itself and they found themselves clinging onto each others hands until their knuckles turned white as they plummeted towards the Digital World...
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