I dedicate this chapter to my fellow members of the #FanFictionDeepState*
(*Watch Lindsay Ellis on YouTube if you do not get the reference)
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This chapter was a RIDE. The first half was originally supposed to be the end scene for 17. It was a fraction of its final length and, to be honest, felt way too rushed. So I cut it, moved it to the beginning of 18, and practically rewrite the whole thing from scratch. It must have taken half a dozen drafts in between adding new ideas, switching the order of certain events taking place, reassigning lines of dialogue, and even killing a few much-loved darlings along the way. RIP, darlings. You may or may not be given new life in future chapters.
Also, based on a reviewer's comment for 17, I will leave you with one extra fun fic fact: Tsukaimon was originally supposed to be a one-chapter cameo. As I was writing his scene, I grew fond of the little guy and, suddenly, he was sticking around to defend Mimi and Sora's honor in between making eternal rivals out of Tailmon, Patamon, and...idk, maybe Takeru too. (We're not entirely sure about that last one yet) So it truly warms my heart to know other people like him too.
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DIGIMON TRI: BALANCE
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Daigo's phone rang again.
He let it ring through. Again.
When it finally stopped, he flipped it open just long enough to hit the power button. Then he turned it over and slid out the battery. He briefly considered chucking each part across opposite sides of the school courtyard in a cool, casual manner, but restrained himself.
He would be in enough trouble as it was. No need to add losing government properly to the list.
Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply. And listened.
Engines. Two of them. Judging from the rate at which they grew louder, he wagered they were both traveling at close to the speed limit. That ruled out Mihoshi's group. Brightness flooded his vision, confirming his suspicions. He held up a hand to block out the worst of the oncoming headlights, and still saw spot after they cut out.
The first van door slid open. Leomon's behemoth-like form emerged. Daigo felt a pang of sympathy for the vehicle's suspension as it strained under the weight. Mimi and Sora were behind him. The rest of the group piled out from the second van. Daigo did a quick head count as he approached.
"Yo! Glad you all could make it on such short notice!"
It was a joke. Nobody laughed.
"Ouch. Tough crowd." He shot each of the van drivers a look. "That'll be all. Dismissed."
Doors were pulled shut with little fanfare and without question. The vans pulled out of their respective spaces and disappeared through the side gates, leaving the group to the mercy of a cloud-covered moon and dim starlight.
Mimi clung to the strap of her bag with both hands. "Is anybody else slightly freaked out right now, or is it just me?"
Yamato and Sora raised their hands. After a moment's consideration, Daisuke meekly joined them.
"Relax, Tachikawa-san," Daigo dismissed her concerns with a gesture towards each corner of the otherwise empty courtyard. "Contrary to popular belief, no teachers actually live at school. It's just us, and even if you didn't have be severely outnumbered, I should point out you're the ones with fire-breathing monsters and a giant, sword-wielding lion on your side."
"Does he mean us?" Agumon pointed a claw at himself.
Beside him, Gabumon shrugged.
Leomon's posture remained at ease, hand resting comfortably against the hilt of his sword but not reaching for it. "So long as you intend no harm to any of the children, you are not my enemy."
"That's...good to know." Daigo scratched at his cheek with a nervous chuckle.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the thumb drive. He then made eye contact with Koushiro as a heads-up before tossing the drive high into the air. It soared over the group's heads, landing in Koushiro's outstretched hands. Koushiro fumbled with it for a moment before recognizing it for what it was. He picked it up between his thumb and forefinger, turning it over several times in hopes of noting any tell-tale markings. He found none.
"What's on here?"
"Download it onto your laptop and see."
Koushiro was not so quick to move. The possibility he was being tricked was very real. His mind whirred with a number of scenarios, most of which ended with him introducing some sort of government-sanctioned worm into his hardware, destroying every last bit of data he had on there. Or worse, tracking his ever keystroke. The thought of him uploading such a worm manually would hit even harder than more discreet methods. Like it was meant as a punishment for the intel he'd used for Taichi's goggles.
...then again, he had multiple backups of everything on three separate hard drives, so the worst that could happen was Daigo owing him a new laptop.
He shrugged the backpack from his shoulders and got to work. Kneeling down, he set the trademark PineApple book on top. The glow of the screen flooded his vision, momentarily washing out the rest of the world around him. When the system was fully booted, he slid the thumb drive into the side USB port.
The others crowded around him, similarly curious.
Except for Iori.
"Ano..." The youngest of the Chosen lingered back. An internal war was waged before turning fully to Daigo. "Please forgive me for being so abrupt, but...you said on the phone you know where Miyako-san and Ichijouji-san are right now?"
Daigo could hardly fault the boy his priorities. He still winced: "Not...exactly."
Taichi's expression darkened. "You lied to us?"
"Technically, no. A half hour ago, I knew exactly where they were. But with the time dilation..." he held up his wrist, as if the watch numbers told him anything he needed to know. "...they may have already left."
Daisuke's ears perked up. "Time Dilation? So they are in the Digital World? I knew it!"
"Maybe. But not yet. Probably."
"Probably?" Yamato's brows furrowed. His calligraphy teacher's nonchalant nature was annoying on any given school day, but he was close to running out of patience with it entirely. "Could you stop acting like Gennai for one second and give us a straight answer? If they're not in the Digital World, where are they?"
Daigo shifted his weight, blowing some of the hair from his eyes. It gave him time to think. Not that he didn't already know the answer. Or some of the answer. But he suspected he was already on thin ice with the three oldest, and was banking on their younger siblings to remain on his side long enough to hear him out.
"Let me try to put it this way: would you believe me if I said there were more Worlds out there than just the Real World and the Digital World?"
"Yes."
The response alone didn't surprise him nearly as much as the fact that it came from the entire group in an oddly perfect, if exasperated, unison.
"Okay, then." Questions of his own arose he knew they wouldn't have time for. "Well, this one in particular just so happens to be exceptionally similar to ours. In fact, I'd be more inclined to call it a parallel dimension, complete with its own parallel Japan, parallel Tokyo...even a parallel Digital World connected to theirs. Which means parallel Chosen Children."
The group exchanged glances.
Several turned to Koushiro in silent question.
The bearer of Knowledge raised an eyebrow at them all: "I could offer you a summation of Max Tegmark's taxonomy of universes, as well as the four main classification levels, but I'm pretty sure at least three of you have already started tuning me out."
"Just tell us if what he's saying makes sense," Taichi sighed.
Koushiro shrugged. "It's not without scientific merit."
"Good enough for me," Taichi nodded. "So where does that leave—"
An ear-piercing screech echoed across the courtyard. Daigo shivered violently. Everybody else jumped.
A third van flew into the adjacent parking lot, sliding into an empty spare parallel to the sidewalk. Smoke rose from the two visible tires. The headlights went dark. The engine cut out. The front passenger-side door opened, and a young man emerged. His hair was askew, his tie was crooked, and there was a notable greenish tinge to his skin.
"I told you not to let Mihoshi-san drive," Daigo shook his head.
"You think you could have stopped her?" The man choked out. "It's bad enough...oh...oh, boy..."
He disappeared behind the van. Sounds of dry heaving could be heard.
Palmon, Piyomon, and Patamon clasped their paws together, bowing heads in sympathy.
"Oh, quit complaining." A young woman barely out of her teens hopped out of the driver's seat. Adjusting the dark shades she inexplicably still wore at long past sunset, she strolled over to the sliding passenger door and yanked it open. "You wanted them here quickly. I got them here quickly. Two Chosen Children, plus digimon. You're welcome."
"I think I just saw Wallace's life flash before his eyes!" Terriermon squeaked from inside.
The American blonde suck his head out the door. Once his vision adjusted, he was able to recognize Daisuke and Chibimon waving him over. He visibly relaxed. He sat back and unbuckled his seat-belt. Then he unbuckled what appeared to be a second seat-belt. His knees barely wobbled as he set foot on solid ground. Terriermon made a point of waving back from over his right shoulder.
A second figure emerged behind him.
One with long, black hair strewn in just about every direction. It was hastily brushed back, revealing unfocused daggers sent at anything and everyone in range from behind large, round glasses. Until they caught sight of Leomon's massive form. Clutching Lopmon tightly in her arms, she slid directly behind Wallace, occasionally peering over his left shoulder. She was still wearing the same yellow dress from earlier in the evening.
Koushiro's jaw dropped: "That's...not Jou-senpai."
Mimi frowned. "No. It's not." Her cell was out and against her ear almost immediately. "One moment, please."
"Umm...who's she?" Daisuke risked asking
"Keiko-san?" Hikari called to her, as surprised as the rest of the group.
Keiko gradually emerged. She recognized the voice, but couldn't put it to a face until her eyes properly compensated for the strange and vastly unhelpful light source one of the shorter boys was holding.
She blinked once. Twice. "Hikari...san?" The revelation caught her off-guard just enough that she momentarily forgot how pissed she was supposed to be. Then she saw movement. Close to the ground. Faces of a white cat-like creature and some sort of purple...hamster...bat...thing. "You know, that...actually explains so much."
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Daigo truly understood what it felt like to be Himekawa Maki on a daily basis. Surrounded by incompetence. Aggravation threatened to overtake him. His body tensed and his teeth clenched and he had to close his eyes and will away the urge to scream. Groaning was the final compromise, along with the flattest look he could muster.
"Did you two even read the file I gave you?"
"O-of course I read it!" Mihoshi's arms flailed. "Look for yourself! She's still holding the same digimon she was holding when we picked them both up! How is she not a Chosen when she clearly has a digimon partner?"
Wallace smiled sheepishly. "Actually, Lopmon's my partner."
The flailing ceased. "Then who's partner is on your shoulder?"
"Oh, no. Terriermon's my partner too."
"Two partners?" Her arms fell to her sides in defeat. "Is that allowed?"
Daigo stormed forward. Several of the Chosen, both human and digimon, parted to allow him a clear path. Once he was within arm's reach, he held out one hand. Mihoshi stared at the open palm before rolling her eyes behind her shades. The manila folder was miraculously still sitting on the van dashboard. With exaggerated pouting lips, she flipped through three-quarters of the sheets, folded them back along their stapled corner, and slammed the whole packet into his hand.
"For the record—and I mean the official record—maybe next time, don't photocopy their pictures using the third floor machine."
Confused, Daigo looked down.
The photograph of Inoue Miyako looked back. Or, to be more precise, the grainy photocopied photograph of a young girl in her mid-teens with long, dark hair and round glasses.
He studied the image carefully, holding it up to compare. "I suppose, if you squint with one eye..." he did so, "...and don't look out the other..." In the next moment, he slammed the packet right back into Mihoshi's hand. "Never mind! It's too late to go get Kido-san now, but at least take her home."
Keiko retreated further behind Wallace. "Touch me again, and I swear I'll stab you with all three of Lopmon's horns."
"You know, I think I like her," Takeru stated humorously.
Hikari side-eyed him as she bit back a laugh.
The second agent reappeared. Some of the natural coloring returned to his cheeks. He crouched down, watching Mihoshi over the hood of the van to ensure she was properly distracted. He darted around the front. The driver's side door opened. He slipped inside. The door was shut. He slammed the lock in place. His seat-belt was fastened. His hands gripped the steering wheel firmly at ten and two.
Daigo shook his head at the display.
Mihoshi shrieked.
Daigo jumped, spinning on his heels: "What happened?"
"She stabbed me!" Mihoshi rubbed furiously at her left arm.
"I told you not to touch me," Keiko stated dryly. In her arms, Lopmon was similarly rubbing the top of his head.
Sora's lips twitched. "I think I like her too. Maybe we could recruit?"
Wallace tried turning around. It wasn't easy, with Terriermon's weight pulling one shoulder down, and Keiko's fist clinging to the back of his shirt.
"Kay..."
"No." She shook her head so fervently, her hair hit Terriermon in the face several times. "I know what you're going to say, Wally, and no. I'm not leaving you here." Her head tilted downward in an attempt to conceal the growing worry behind her bespectacled gaze. She clung that much tighter to Lopmon. "I don't know what's going on or why we've been brought here, and honestly, I don't really care. All I know is that I can't shake the feeling something really bad is about to happen, and I'm not going to let you face it alone."
"He won't be alone." Keiko peered down at the small voice and saw a pair of wide, warm eyes. The blue and white creature extended his paws as if preparing to give her a hug. "Wallace is one of us! We're a team!"
"Chibimon's right." Daisuke placed his hands on both his hips, nodding with confidence. He jerked a thumb towards Wallace and winked. "He's tried to get rid of us before, and you can see how well that turned out."
Keiko was less than convinced.
It was unseasonably warm that night, yet Wallace saw Keiko shiver. Her shoulders remained tense. Her arms wrapped as tightly around Lopmon as possible without causing the little digimon pain. She alternated between the group of Chosen and the adults. It was clear which of them she trusted less.
"Kay..." Wallace reached for Lopmon, gently prying him from Keiko's arms. She resisted at first, but soon gave in. Lopmon jumped to the ground. His brother quickly joined him, reaching up to give his head an extra rub."I'll be fine. Lopmon will be fine. Terriermon will be...Terriermon."
This almost succeeded in getting a chuckle out of her.
He grinned, leaning in until their foreheads were nearly touching. His hands found hers and they both held on tightly.
"Daisuke and the others...I know I haven't had a chance to tell you the whole story yet, but you have to trust me. Because I trust them. They were there for us when we needed help back at Summer Memory." Her eyes shone with recognition at the name of his childhood home. A place of so many shared memories. "Now it's our turn to be there for them. I want to help them. It's the only way I can repay them for that day."
"But what if you don't come back?" She pressed her forehead to his. His skin felt pleasant cool. "We only just found each other again, and now you're leaving. What makes you think I'll even wait for you this time?"
"Because." There was no hesitation. He grinned with full confidence as he tilted his head to brush his lips against her ear. "I know you, Kay. And I know you love me almost as much as I love you."
Her reaction was everything he'd expected.
Her head shot up. Eyes wide and lips parted. She didn't blush. Emotions welled inside her, each fighting for dominance. Unable to determine if she was annoyed at him for pulling such a low trick where his friends could sill see them...or if she was still too scared and angry...or merely resigned to the fact that he was completely right and there wasn't a single word she could say to refute it.
He kept grinning.
Then he kissed her cheek. Slower and longer than when he'd kissed Hikari earlier that evening. And significantly closer to the outer corner of her lips.
"I really will come back. I promise. So...no more stabbing government agents until then, alright?"
Keiko choked back a laugh. Her eyes glistened in the dim light of Koushiro's laptop monitor. She nodded.
Wallace stepped back. Their hands remained clasped until he dared let go.
Mihoshi (wisely) chose to maintain her distance, jerking her head towards the van. Keiko moved of her own free will. A lingering glance was spared over her shoulder towards Wallace. Then the twins. She reached the open van door and slipped into the back passenger seat. Mihoshi slammed the door shut just as she was reaching for the double seat-belt.
Narrowed glares were exchanged between Mihoshi and the self-appointed driver as she walked around the front of the van and pulled herself into the front passenger seat.
A moment later, the van disappeared through the parking lot exit.
Daisuke waited until he was sure Keiko was completely out of earshot before letting out a low whistle: "Very smooth."
Wallace sent him a smile that didn't quite reach his ears.
"So...where were we?"
"Parallel Dimension," Daisuke told him.
Wallace's brows furrowed. "You mean the Digital World?"
"Apparently not."
Daigo took that as his cue to step in. "I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that." He shoved his hands in both pockets. His left brushed against the cool metal device sitting at the bottom. Out of habit, his fingers toyed with the buttons. "You see, all those digimon you kids have been fighting recently might be coming from the Digital World...but, before they came here, they were being sent through portals into a parallel Real World."
"The one you mentioned before," Sora clarified. "Why were they ending up there?"
"We figure it's because their world might be the source of the infection."
Daigo awaited signs of confusion and was not disappointed. Several pairs of eyes turned towards Leomon, and it was then Daigo realized what had seemed different about him. The bandages. It would have been reasonable enough to assume they were the result of some recent battle well-fought, but given the current context, he was ready to suspect otherwise.
Leomon gave little away. His arms, bandaged and bandaged, remained firmly but relaxed at his sides.
"You also mentioned something before about a parallel Digital World," Koushiro was typing. Taking notes while the downloaded program sat patiently in a minimized window. "If they're really that similar, how do they know the infected digimon in their world were coming from the Digital World connected more closely to ours?"
"Excellent question, Izumi-san!" He heard Taichi and Yamato groan at his 'teacher tone', and ignored them as if they were all sitting in class. "It's actually pretty fascinating. You see, digimon from their dimension give off different energy signatures than the ones we all know. They even abide by different rules of bio-technical existence. One the one hand, it made things that much harder to solve on our end because we essentially had to collect energy and data readings from scratch, rather than use any of what they'd sent us. On the other hand, it made it so much easier to figure out which digimon were coming from where."
"Fascinating or not," Yamato cut in. "It still doesn't explain why an infection in their dimension ended up attacking digimon in ours."
Daigo shrugged. "That's a question you'll have to ask them once you get to the Digital World. I'm told they'll be waiting there for you. As will your friends."
Iori's eyes widened.
"Except there's one problem with that idea." Taichi's expression was uncharacteristically grim. "Our digivices don't work anymore. We don't have any way of getting to the Digital World."
"They still work," Daigo insisted.
Taichi's brow rose. "No. They don't. We've tried—"
"Have any of you evolved your digimon recently?"
Taichi blinked back his initial response, instead turning back towards the group. Wallace, Hikari, and Takeru were each sharing a knowing look between them, while their four partners smiled proudly.
Daigo had his answer.
"I thought so. Your connection to your partners is still there, which means your connection to the Digital World is there too. The problem is that someone...or maybe something...has cut you off from the power source." He rounded the group, coming within a few meters of Koushiro. "You wanted to know what was on the thumb drive. It's a program we've been developing with data collected from every portal we could get a proper reading off."
Something in Taichi's memory clicked: That'swhat those agents were talking about in Haneda!
He'd assumed—and not without justification—that his suited pursuers had been solely after the Chosen. They'd spent more than a half hour chasing them through the streets, after all. Yet partway through, one of them claimed to have 'gotten what they came for' and abruptly gave up.
They must have somehow gotten to the portal that opened down by the docks.
"We still need to find a reliable catalyst to activate it," Daigo continued, "Something that can tap into all that raw energy found in the barriers between worlds. That's where you all come in."
Koushiro looked to the device clipped to his backpack strap. "You're talking about our digivices."
"Precisely." Daigo nodded. "The second you activate the program, it should trigger each of your digivices and you'll be on your way back to the digital world."
"The hell they will!"
An extremely unpleasant chill trickled down Daigo's spine. He swore under his breath. Outwardly, he put on the most charming mask he could muster as he slowly turned to face Maki.
"You found me quicker than I figured. Considering there was no way for you to trace my phone."
"I didn't trace your phone." Maki jerked a thumb towards Mimi. "I traced hers."
Mimi's eyes narrowed as she mouthed the word rude before sticking her tongue out at Maki's back. The phone was still pressed against her ear, lowering only when she needed to end her latest call attempt before hitting the redial button.
Daigo made a point to avoid direct eye contact. Maki was alone, with no signs of any other agents in view. Her face was flushed. Beads of sweat glistened near her hairline. Strands of bangs were plastered to her skin. Her breathing was labored.
On the far end of the courtyard, a bicycle he didn't recognize lay flat against the narrow pavement.
"How did you know?" he finally asked.
"The coffee." She hastened her approach until less than a meter was left between them. The glow from Koushiro's screen reflected off her eyes in such a way that resembled fire burning. "You only ever buy me coffee when you know you've done something even stupider than usual. Given our last conversation, it wasn't hard to put two and two together."
"Umm..." Daisuke preemptively winced. "We're not in trouble, are we?"
Maki leaned over Daigo's shoulder. "Not if you all go home right now." She straightened, jabbing a finger into the middle of Daigo's chest. "You, on the other hand, are in all kinds of trouble."
"But, Hime-chan..."
"I told you not to call me that!"
Leomon stepped forward. "If you'll permit me, ma'am." He bowed his head as a show of respect. "While I am certain we can all understand your hesitations regarding our current situation, the truth is that the children are greatly needed right—"
"Oh, shut up, Leomon." Maki snapped.
The Noble King of Beasts was stunned into silence.
"Let's ignore the fact that you did all of this behind my back for a moment." Maki had to crank her neck to properly glare. Somehow, that didn't make her appear any less intimidating. "You entered a highly restrictive area you're not even supposed to have access to," she poked him again—harder, this time—to emphasis her point. "You used multiple levels of false pretenses to steal a top-secret experimental program, utilized government agents without the proper authorization channels to kidnap a group of children again, all in hopes of achieving something that more than a dozen tests runs overseen by top scientific minds haven't been able to."
"You know why the tests didn't work," Daigo stated gently.
Maki bristled. His insinuation was obvious.
"There are no words in the Japanese language to describe the fury I'm feeling right now."
"...but it's more than that," Hikari cut in. "Isn't it, Himekawa-san?"
The air around them grew still at her delicate soprano; even Maki gave pause, turning to the teen girl in silent question. As did the rest of the group, digimon and human alike.
Tailmon's lips twisted into a small frown. She recognized her partner's tone all too well.
Hikari broke away from the group. She was staring in Maki's general direction, but her eyes were seeing something far beyond the physical. One fist was pressed firmly to her chest. Her knuckles were white.
"You're angry at Nishijima-sensei for going against your wishes. But you're also afraid. You know he wants to send us to the same place where you lost your two most precious persons. You're afraid we might end up the same. Lost and hurting." Her gaze briefly flickered towards Daigo. They read of pity. "It's as if...you think being able to protect us means Itsuki-san and Tapirmon's deaths won't be in vain. Even though you're already made sure they weren't."
Daigo inhaled sharply through his teeth. Had it been anyone else—himself included—daring to invoke such a painful memory, they would have invoked the full wrath of Himekawa Maki.
It never came.
"How?" Maki asked.
Hikari smiled, but it was a smile tainted with vicarious sadness. "By surviving. They would have wanted you to keep going. To never give up. I don't think you have. And...I don't think you will."
Cracks in the facade Maki spent more than a decade building up appeared. Her fingers twitched. A hand started to rise, and she had to resist the urge to…
"You sound so much like her." Maki's voice quivered. "You look like her. You talk like her. But...you're not really Itsuki-chan, are you?"
Hikari shook her head.
So did Maki, if only to clear it. "No. Of course not." Inwardly, she admonished herself for daring entertain such a ridiculous notion. Her hand fell to her side, where she clenched it so tightly, she could feel the sting of her fingernails digging into her palms. "We fought the Dark Masters for less than ten weeks one summer, and we lost two of our own. You've all been fighting on and off for ten years. You've been lucky until now. Doesn't it scare you to think that luck could run out at any time?"
Hikari nodded. "Sometimes. But then I remember that it's more than just luck. It's because we're all at our strongest when we fight together." She looked back towards the Chosen. Her friends. Her family. "I've had Oniichan to protect me my whole life. Tailmon and Takeru-kun have always been there when I needed them most. Miyako-san will always be my jogress partner, no matter how far away she is. But I also have Daisuke-kun and Iori-kun...and Wallace-san...and Yamato-san and Sora-san...Mimi-san...Koushiro-san..."
"Oi! Don't forget about me!" Tsukaimon puffed his cheeks in premature indignation.
"...and Tsukaimon, of course."
Hikari giggled once, and the sound brought about a long forgotten memory for Maki. One of a preteen girl who was always acting as perpetual peacemaker between hot-headed teammates. The calm and grace that radiated from her presence.
"You're right, Himekawa-san," Hikari continued. "I have been fighting for most of my life. We all have. And that's how we know there isn't anything that could stop us for very long. I'm sorry to say this so bluntly, but...not even you."
Daigo wondered just how much of Hikari's speech Maki heard, or if she was too lost in her own past. Hikari's resemblance to Itsuki was not uncanny. Her hair and eyes were different colors. Her voice, though similar in tone, was lower. The two would hardly pass for sisters, let alone twins. Yet there was that familiarity to her smile and demeanor that had been difficult for even Daigo to ignore.
For that reason alone, Daigo knew the argument was over. Maki had never been able to say no to Itsuki. Not even the mere idea of her.
"Izumi-san?" He called to the younger boy. His motive was clear, but when he looked to Maki for signs of continued resistance, he found none. "I believe you can activate the program n—"
"No!"
Yamato jumped. Then groaned. "Now what?"
Mimi made no attempts at concealing her annoyance: "What do you mean 'now what?' Isn't it obvious? We still have to wait!"
Yamato was confused.
Sora wasn't.
"Mimi-chan..." she turned to her best friend in sympathy. And guilt, for also having forgotten.
"He's not here yet." She swung her free hand aimlessly in every direction. The other was still clutching tightly to her cell. "I've called and called and left, like, three voicemails and called again. He has to know what's happening. He has to know we're waiting. We just...need to give him a little more time."
Her voice grew weaker the longer she went on. Knowing the argument was a losing one.
The seconds ticked passed.
No one knew what to say.
Finally, Sora came up and gently took the phone from her hands. She closed it, slipping it back into Mimi's bag. When Mimi slumped in resignation, she brushed some of the strands falling in the younger girl's face.
"You tried your best, Mimi-chan. We all know it."
"I told him to come to Taichi-san's." Mimi's eyes were dry, but she wore her misery on her sleeve. "It's not fair. Why does he have to be the one to miss this? Why is he always the one being left out?"
Sora bit her lip. She knew the answer. What she didn't know was if Mimi really wanted to hear it.
"Because he's the oldest."
"You're only a year younger than he is," Mimi pointed out.
"And you're only two years younger." In hindsight, Sora had no idea if pointing that out would help or hurt more. "You also know him better than most of us. He'd been preparing himself for adulthood since he was twelve. We're supposed to be the Chosen Children, and if he doesn't think of himself as a child anymore..." she trailed off, stumbling over her own words. "...that is...if there's a chance his priorities have changed that much...if he can't come with us this time...then we're just going to have to accept it."
Mimi did not want to accept it.
(If she were being honest with herself, Sora didn't either.)
She pouted childishly. "But I don't want to go to the Digital World without him."
"I know." Sora pulled her into a hug. "I don't want to, either. But it looks like we don't have much of a—"
A distant beeping sound reached the courtyard. Small and mechanical. It grew progressively louder and louder until a large moped appeared at the parking lot's entrance. There were two helmeted passengers aboard.
Mimi recognized them both immediately.
"Oi!" Jou waved from the back. He waited for Shin to pull up alongside the grassy area before removing his helmet and dismounting. The large cross-body bag slung over his shoulder had a very pleased Gomamon peeking out between the zipper. "Oh, good. I wasn't sure we were going to make it in time. Traffic wasn't so bad, but Shin-nii-san still had to...take..."
Mimi was glaring at him.
He wagered a guess: "You...called again after that voicemail, didn't you?"
Her eyes narrowed. One foot tapped against the grass.
He winced. "I'm in trouble, aren't—gah!"
Mimi threw her arms around his neck without warning, leaving Jou frozen in place and unsure whether he should reciprocate or if it was safe to even more his hands. Or breathe.
Behind them, Palmon and Gomamon snickered conspiratorially.
"Better him than me." Shin gladly joined the two digimon. Resting his arms over his helmet, he lifted a lazy hand towards the rest of the group. "Long time no see, everybody."
Mimi let go so she could half-lead, half drag a still-flustered Jou over towards the rest of the group. At the same time, Hikari resumed her place by her brother's side. With Wallace and Daisuke coming up on the left, the group gathered around Koushiro, who sat with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes closed.
Until he peeked one open. "Can I activate it now?"
"Yes!" The group collectively exclaimed.
He reached for the keyboard and hit the 'enter' key.
Taichi felt the metal clipped to his belt warm. The screen came to life. When his fingers touched the surface, they were bathed in a soft, orange glow. To his right, Yamato was witnessing the same thing with his digivice, only in blue. As was Sora in red. Koushiro in purple. Jou in gray. Mimi in green. Hikari in pink. Takeru in yellow. Wallace, Daisuke, and Iori in white.
The rainbow expanded in a wash of Crest colors that grew brighter and brighter until the night seemingly turned to day.
It shot up towards the clouds. The air swirled. Ripples formed. Electricity crackled.
The hairs on the backs of their necks all stood on end. Even Leomon's mane tickled. Chests and shoulders felt lighter as gravity relinquished its hold. Their feet lifted off the ground. Higher and higher the group floated towards the open portal awaiting them.
"You knew it would work," Maki stated softly.
Daigo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "So did you."
"Talk about your strange cases of deja vu." Shin commented as he watched his youngest brother disappear into the blinding light.
Seconds before the portal closed, Daigo pulled out his digivice. His fingers grasped the cool metal tightly as he willed himself the strength to look down. Unsurprisingly, the screen remained dark, just as it had every other time he and Maki had tried testing the program.
Maki didn't take out her digivice. She had no intention of doing so; that was an answer to a question she wasn't yet ready to ask.
Daigo doubted she ever would be.
o
o
o
Wallace wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Green skies. Futuristic buildings. Seas made out of visible electricity. Holograms made out of 0s and 1s. Whatever his imagination might have been able to come up with in time, it certainly wouldn't have been for the Digital World to look so…
Natural
He awoke on his back. His fingers flexed against the ground. Dirt crumbled beneath them. Sparse blades of grass tickled his neck. An orange and pink sky spanned as far as he could see in every direction, save for the sparse stars peppering hints of purple to the east. And trees. So many treetops. They had landed in some sort of digital forest, except it looked exactly like every other forest he'd ever traveled. Full and lush and green.
"You'd think one time...just one time...we'd get to land on something nice and soft," Taichi mumbled somewhere beyond the wall of bark.
He wasn't alone in the sentiment; Wallace turned his head to one side and saw Jou sitting cross-legged, using the hem of his shirt to polish his glasses. Sora was a few meters behind him, brushing dirt from her skirt. Takeru was helping Hikari to her feet. Daisuke was adjusting the googles atop his head, pausing to smirk when he caught Wallace looking his way.
"Pretty cool, right?"
Nodding, Wallace sat up and pointed to the sky. "Is it always that color?"
"Nah." Daisuke shook his head. "That just means we made it here a little before sunset, local time." He stuck out his lower lip dramatically. "Last time, the worlds were at least all in sync, so this part's new to me too. It's going to suck trying to keep track of how long we're gone for back home."
Wallace had every intention of asking Daisuke what he meant by that.
Then the wind picked up. A strong gust ripping through the trees, pulling branches and showering the ground below with leaves.
Mimi shrieked. "Up there!"
Everybody looked up.
A flash of yellow appeared. Too fast to discern size or shape. A fierce roar reverberated in each of their chests as a larger, shadowed figure appeared. Silhouetted broken wings flapped against fading daylight. The flash reappeared beside it, revealing itself to be a fox-like creature with blue fire emitting from its paws and all nine tails.
The shadow swiped. The fox dodged, putting enough space between them to unleash a wave of flames that engulfed its foe.
Another roar, from somewhere deep inside the swirling inferno.
"Please tell me everybody else is seeing what I'm seeing." Jou's eyes were wide.
"Talk about your warm welcomes," Yamato quipped, still brushing leaves from his hair.
Koushiro was close at his heels. His laptop was still out. One hand flew at a blurred speed across the keys. Blue and grey windows flashed on the screen, each scrolling lines of digital code. A third window appeared, overlaying all others in big, red font flashing an error message to any that could understand.
"Not again!" Koushiro looked seconds from tossing the machine into the nearest digital river in disgust. "We're in the Digital World! Don't tell me there's no data here! This place is nothing but data! The only way you could possibly not have any data would be if they..."
He trailed off as something Daigo had said earlier struck him. As did a stark realization.
"Koushiro-kun?" Sora called to him in concern. The younger boy was frozen in place.
"Should I get a stick to poke him?" Mimi joked.
"We can't stay here," Taichi stated firmly. His eyes scanned the immediate area. "They get any closer, and half this place will end up in smoke."
"Nah, that won't happen." Terriermon insisted from behind Wallace. "They're just sparring."
Wallace turned around and saw his partner lounging against the base of a tree. The entirety of his upper body weight slouched against the bark. Feet stretched out in front of him. He was grinning widely, ears and paws thrown upward in amusement. All he was missing was a cup of soda and bowl of popcorn.
"Are you sure about that?" Wallace asked.
"Of course I'm sure! They'll be done when one of them gets tired. Hopefully Cyberdramon this time. He can be pretty cranky when he doesn't expel enough pent-up energy."
Cyberdramon?
Wallace silently echoed the name, wondering how Terriermon had known it. He glanced up in time to see the digimon in question burst out of the inferno. The tips of his wings and claws still smoldered. He dove head-first into his opponent, knowing them both far out of few of the Chosen. A crash in the far distance reached their ears not long after.
"Ouch." Wallace winced in sympathy as he crouched down. "You sound pretty sure of yourself, Terriermon. How do I know you're not making it all up to sound smart?"
It wasn't outside the realm of possibility.
But, rather than loudly protest the accusation as Wallace expected him to, Terriermon looked confused. A paw rose to his mouth as his head tilted to one side.
"You know my name?"
Wallace rolled his eyes. "See, this is why it's hard to believe you sometimes. You're an even worse actor than you are a liar. You'd think after being partners all this time, you'd get better at it."
Terriermon's next response was even more bewildering. He laughed. Head tilted back, ears flopping against the ground. His belly bounced with every deep inhale. When he tried to hold it in with both paws, he lost his balance and flopped onto his side.
Wallace was at a complete loss. More than that, there was an unease welling in the pit of his stomach. He straightened, staring down at his hysterical partner for a long moment. Waiting for the 'gotcha!' or some other tell that the joke was over. The longer he waited, however, the more he suspected Terriermon wasn't joking. He really had no idea who Wallace was, as if years and years of memories shared between them had been erased in a single moment.
Something was wrong.
Terriermon, too, sensed this and sat up. The laughter faded, and a more somber expression appeared. He saw the human boy's visible distress at the situation.
So he smiled as brightly as he could and exclaimed, "Moumantai!"
Wallace's mouth opened. Then closed.
"Mou...mantai?" He echoed, not recognizing the foreign word.
"It's Cantonese," a voice he didn't recognize answered for him. "It more or less translates to 'relax', or 'take it easy'."
The boy that appeared from behind a tree looked barely older than Wallace. His short, dark hair shone blue in the evening light. The similarly blue-tinted shades he wore were pushed up onto his head, revealing apologetic gray eyes as he offered Wallace a weak smile.
"I think there's been a bit of a mix-up."
He glanced down; Wallace followed his gaze and saw Terriermon poking his head out from behind the mysterious boy's legs. Identical in every way to the Terriermon sitting by the tree, save for one clear difference: the moment he saw Wallace, his face lit up with recognition.
"Wallace!" He ran over, throwing his arms around Wallace's leg. "I think I'm having one of those weird dreams again."
The unease in Wallace's stomach settled. "You and me both." He bent down to offer his partner a reassuring pat on the head. At that angle, he noticed Lopmon continuing to hover near the other boy. But this time, he knew enough to ask: "I don't suppose…?"
A heavy sigh. "You have no idea how much I wish he was."
"JIAN-NII-CHAN!"
Bird type digimon scattered from the tops of the trees.
A preteen girl darted into the clearing. Her face was flushed. There was a Lopmon in her arms. She clung to the child digimon in desperation, visibly upset. Once she reached her brother, she allowed less than a second's pause to catch her breath before straightening. Her lower lip quivered.
"Jian-nii-chan, there's something wrong with Lopmon! He's acting..."
She trailed off when she realized her brother was pointing downward.
The Lopmon at his feet waved awkwardly.
Her lower lip stopped quivering. Mouth forming a small 'o', she alternated between the two Lopmons several times before unceremoniously dumping the one in her arms and reaching for the other. Neither Terriermon nor Terriermon could decide which brother to feel more sorry for as she proceeded to smother the life and air from her partner. A grin brighter than the sun appeared.
"Nevermind! We're okay."
"Not the word I'd be using right now." Jian crossed her arms over his chest. He sent his littlest sister a disapproving look. "You were supposed to stay at HYPNOS with Juri."
Xiaochun didn't flinch. "We both knew that was never going to happen."
Wallace straightened. The sound of footsteps behind him indicated the others were gathering. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daisuke and Taichi come up on his left side. An unfrozen Koushiro stood past them, fascinated by the twin sets of twins.
Admittedly, Wallace was equally curious.
"Are you two Chosen also?" he asked the brother and sister.
There was a notable pause before the boy offered a nod.
"Sort of." He extended a hand towards Wallace. His grip was strong. "I'm Lee Jianliang. The one who doesn't listen is my sister, Lee Xiaochun. And in the Dimension we come from, we prefer to call ourselves Tamers."