Disclaimer: The muses would like to remind everyone that Angel Spirit doesn't own Digimon, just the plot of this epic fic that you're reading.
Author's Notes: And yet, another revised chapter. Hey now...WHY on earth didn't ANYONE tell me that I'd put the same 'scene' in twice? Pouts...thanks you guys...ah, well, I fixed it now! This is one of those 'fixed' chapters...eh...apologies for that everyone! And thanks to all who've reviewed! I also want to apologize if any of the words below are smushed together...for some reason feature seems to like to do that! I tried to correct as many of them as I could...
Ages go as follows:
Takuya and Izumi-14, Kouji (and later Kouichi)-15, Junpei-16, and Tomoki-12
Warnings: This fic contains yaoi/slash...so if you're not a big fan of male/male pairings I suggest you hit the wonderful back button to the top left of your page there and run far, far away.
Story Rating: Starts out PG but varies throughout the fic.
Set Time: AU-rewrite of season 04.
Summary: Takuya changes everything when he hops onto Kouji's train last minute while going to the Digital World. Now find out just how different things really are...
Different Journeys
Author: Angel Spirit
Chapter II: Agunimon's Spirit Awakens-Part I
It was starting to become one of those days. One of those days where nothing but strange and awkward things happened and one would wish that they had stayed in bed instead of getting up.
Takuya was thinking this, as he and Kouji-both still stuck on the weird train that they'd boarded earlier that morning-seemed to be going up a rather high slope that served as a railroad track. Track...wait a minute, so there was just one? Didn't railroad tracks usually have two...? Now Takuya was more confused than ever.
"So where do you think we are?" Kouji asked, looking out the window once more his dark blue gray eyes indicating the same puzzlement that Takuya was feeling.They had been in that position for awhile now, just looking outside at a world that they knew was definitely not Earth. Kouji's question broughtTakuya back to the present, from his own thoughts and unspoken questions of fear.
"I've got no idea. I'm really the wrong person to be asking." Takuya answered, and cringed a little bit. He hadthe worst headache. He'd gotten it when he and Kouji had fallen over one another, when he had felt something.strange...something...powerful.
"You alright?" Kouji asked, giving Takuya a strange look, causing Takuya to shake his head quickly as he tried to bring himself into the present, and thennodded as he looked Kouji straight into his dark blue gray eyes. Takuya really loved Kouji's eyes, for.they held a certain mysterious look to them. He could loose himself forever in those deep blue orbs.
"Yeah, I'm fine.just a bit of a headache, that's all."
"You too, huh?" Takuya glanced over at Kouji, realizing that this meant that the black haired boy must have also had a headache. Nodding again, the two fell silent as they continued to watch the green scenery pass by. Once more, the train they were riding blew its whistle but by now the two of themwere getting used to the strange noise, they weren't cringing every time it hollered out. While the whistle acted like a whistle it didn't sound like a whistle. More or less, it sounded like someone hollering and imitating a whistle as they hollered-it was weird,and kind of hard to explain.
They were passing by another train station, this one more deserted than the last one had been (it was now their fifth or sixth train station since they'd last seen those kids in danger, and Takuya was starting to loose count...).The kids with those two Digimon had been the only sign of life that they'd seen in thiscrazy mixed up world so far.
As the train continued on it's course, leaving the view of the last train station behind, Kouji realized that he couldn't stand seeing Takuya looking the way he did.with that sad, pouting expression on his face.
Grinning slyly and dropping his hand from Takuya's shoulder, Kouji shifted on one foot-and than promptly started to tickle the brunette standing next to him. Hoping that Takuya was at least ticklish.
Luck was on his side as the goggle-wearing boy started to laugh. When Kouji didn't stop; he onlylaughed harder until he finally managed to back away from Kouji. Takuya gave the dark hairedboy a sly grin of his own...and wondering what it was that Takuya could possibly be up too, Kouji started to back away with his hands slightly up in defense. He had only wanted to get Takuya out of the reverie that he had been in, and his plan had worked. But...at what cost?
Kouji soon found out, as Takuya pounced on top of hima second laterand started tickling his ribs...no doubt as payback. Kouji tried not to laugh. Ever since he had been a little kid he hadn't really been big on the whole tickling thing...but Takuya seemed to hit the right place, and soon Kouji was laughing so hard he was crying and writhing on the floor as he tried to get out from underneath Takuya.
"Say mercy!" Takuya said with a wild grin on his face, one that reached his dark eyes as they shined with laughter.
"NEVER!" Kouji gasped aloud, and finally got the better of the situation when he managed to reverse their positions so that way Takuya was once again underneath him and he was on top-stradling him.Takuya, being playful, managed to writhe out from Kouji's grip and knock Kouji softly to the ground and off of him. They looked at each other, lost in their thoughts for a few minutes.before they started getting closer minute by minute, secondby second.
And then...
The train stopped.
Takuya wanted to curse the train right then and there, he really did. They had been so close...!
"All aboard that's going ashore!" A loud, obnoxious voice hissed out as the doors to the train creaked opened, and Takuya stood first extending a hand toward Kouji to help him up. The dark haired, blue eyed teen gratefully took it and got up himself, then started for the nearest opened door as he brushed himself off and pulled himself back together. Takuya did the same, making sure to retrieve his hat that had fallen off onto the floor during their playful skirmishing.
"Wow...look at this placeTakuya-kun." Takuya blushed a little as he readjusted his hat, at the 'kun' that Kouji had attached to his name. As he came up behind Kouji, heplaced his head on the other's shoulder and suddenly got the courage to wrap his arms around hisslim waist as well...looking out into the beautiful scenery with him. Kouji shifted a little so that Takuya could see better, and the brunette smiled in awe.
The place where the train had left them off at was definitely gorgeous. It was a forest, full of beauty and life. In the distance lay a mountain range and from where they were standing, they could see that one of the mountains held a waterfall.
"This place.is.incredible." Takuya muttered as suddenly the train lurched forward, dumping the two boys in a heap on the ground. This time Takuya landed on top of Kouji, who let out a slight moan of pain and they had started to argue...when the train actually talked to them. Scaring them both out of their wits.
"Well boys, this is the end of the line for me! I've got more runs to do, so good luck! Maybe we'll see each other again, and maybe we won't...who knows in this place." As the train started to go backwards from its current position, the two teens on the ground just shifted position so that way Takuya was sitting in Kouji's wide stretched out legs, and they just stared at the train in wonder and astonishment.
"Did you...did you just talk?" Takuya gasped as the train slowly continued to back up.
"Of course I just talked! Who else did you think could talk to you around here? There's no Cherrymon's around so the trees certainly don't talk!"
"Cherrymon's?" Kouji asked, looking slightly confused and a bit disoriented as well.The train rolled his eyes...eyes.it had EYES! Both Kouji and Takuya let out a yelp of surprise, and fell backwards again. Takuya landing on top of Kouji, both sitting up minutes later blushing as Kouji found his arms around Takuya's waist...for some reason though, he didn't put his arms down. It felt comfortable this way...it felt...right.
"Who...who...no, wait-what are you?" Takuya questioned, eyes bugged out wide as he stared hard at the train.
"I'm a Trainmon. Welcome to the Digital World! Adios Amigos!" The train hollered as it rolled away much quicker and was soon out of sight, leaving the two boys alone at the edge of the forest.
"So what do we do now?" Takuya asked, looking fairly confused...and...quite tempting actually. Or so that's what Kouji thought as he glanced at his direction. The lost look in Takuya's eyes made him look even cuter than before. And Kouji couldn't help but think about how close they'd come earlier before that damned Trailmon had interrupted them. It made Kouji wish that they could get that close again...
What is with me so far today? I've never been interested in guys or girls for so long...and nowhe comes along and look what happens! Even though Kouji was trying to ignore the feelings that he wasalready starting to have for Takuya, it wasn't helping...especially with the fact that he had just met the guy today.
"...so?" Takuya had been talking to him, and Kouji hadn't even realized it! Mentally giving himself a wake up call, Kouji justlooked overat Takuya, and shrugged.
"So...what?"
"You weren't paying attention to what I was saying, were you?" Takuya grinned at this, and Kouji grinned back sheepishly.
"So what if I was or not? You wouldn't know."
"Ah, aha, and that's where you're wrong buddy! Tell me what it was I just asked you." He asked playfully and Kouji did a face fault, deciding that Takuya would now know that he indeed hadn't been paying attention to him. But, that didn't mean that he'd tell the brunette what it was he had been thinking about...and Takuya sighed when he caught the suddenfrown on Kouji's face.
"I was asking what you wanted to do next. Should we continue on into this forest and head up toward those mountains over there?" Kouji thought about it for a few minutes. He had originally gotten on the train to be alone...away from the other kids. And yet, here he was... stuck in some kind of strange world known as the Digital World, and he had Takuya with him. Who had leapt off of the train that he had originally chosen last minute...and onto his. It made Kouji want to believe in fate. But, he hadn't believed in fate or love for so long...
"Yo, earth to Kouji!" Kouji blinked several times and turned a little red in the face after realizing that once again he had been spacing out...what was wrong with him today? He never acted this way. He wanted to blame it all on the overly cheerful brunette standing next to him...
"Uh, sure, yeah that sounds fine. We can do that!" He blurted out, definitely not wanting Takuya to ask why he was acting so spacey. It would be way to embarrassing, and Kouji was starting to feel like he'd been through enough embarrassment for one day.
"Alright, fine...then let's go." Nodding at him, Kouji followed Takuya through the miniature forest before they hit the mountains. There wasn't much of the forest, it seemed as though the Trailmon had dropped them off at the end of it. Which, was a good thing for the two of them because it meant that they didn't have to go through it...
Taking out his cell phone...or what had been his cell phone, and was now some kind of device, Kouji was wondering what it was for when he heard the voice again. Takuya must've heard it from his as well, because the next second the brunette had his own device out and was staring at it, dumbstruck.
"It-it's talking again Kouji!"
"So listen to what it's saying Takuya." Kouji snapped back, feeling a little irritated as they had missed half of what the voice was saying already. It was the female's voice again...but who was she?
"-You are now the Digi Destined. You must find your spirits..." Their devices crackled, making it harder to hear the woman through the static.
"Spirits? What spirits?" Kouji asked, frowning. He had had the feeling that something strange was going to happen today, but hehadn't thoughtthat it was going to be this strange.
"Spirits that will help lead you back home." The feminine voice replied.
"So, in order to get home we have to find these spirits, is that what you're telling us?" The voice paused at Takuya's question, but answered a minute or so later.
"Essentially yes, that is what's to happen. Now you must be on your way, but be careful of the Rose Morning Star, it's caused much heartache to those before you...steer clear. I'll leave you now. What you do next is up to you."
"Wait a minute, what are these devices called? Can you at least tell us that?" The voice replied once morebefore fading away.
"They're called Detectors. They'll help guide your way." And with that, the voice was gone, and the glowing from their Detector screens vanished and went dark once more.
"Hmmm...okay, that was certainly very interesting." Takuya commented,as he and Kouji had started walking again and were now starting to head upa trail that they had found-one that looked like it would lead them deeperinto the mountains.
"I'm just wondering what that voice meant by the Rose Morning Star." Kouji wondered aloud, and Takuya shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is if it comes our way I'm positive we can handle it!" Takuya gave Kouji one of his goofy grins, and Kouji couldn't help but smile back...Takuya's grin was contagious.
They walked on and on, for what seemed like an eternity. Occasionally theystopped to rest here and there, usually when Takuya complained of his feet hurting or something like that. Kouji didn't mind it though...he had to admit that it was nice to take a break, and he probably would never have stopped as frequently, if Takuya wasn't there with him.
Now that they were walking again from the last rest they'd taken, there was one of those damned awkward silences between them. They had been talking for a good part of the way already, and had just fallen quiet a few minutes ago anyway. Mainly they talked a little about families and stuff. Kouji had learned that Takuya had a rather large family...two younger brothers and one older sister. Both of his older siblings were now away at college so they weren't home very much. His younger brother, Shinya was the baby of the family at age 10. His dad worked in a lawfirm, and his mother was one of those stay-at home mom's. Takuya had used to share his room with his older brother before he had moved into the dorm rooms at the local University...and now Takuya was grateful to have the rather large room to himself.
Kouji had told him that much of his life had been living in the same run-down house year after year. Normally when Kouji had wanted something fixed (be it a light bulb, a leaky faucet or what not), he'd be the one who'd have to fix it. His stepmother worked twenty-four seven and he rarely saw his dad anymore. It was as though his father didn't even exist. As for his real mother, she'd passed away years ago when he was just a baby...while Kouji's father had never quite said it, Kouji had the feeling that she'd died giving birth. And that the reason why his father never paid much attention to him, was because he blamed him for her death. Takuya had declared this not to be true...but...it still didn't chase away the constant thought that had been stuck in his mind for many years.
What Kouji hadn't told Takuya, was that sometimes when his dad was home he was drunk as a skunk (usually either after a rough day at work...sometimes for no apparent reason at all), and ready to beat the living hell out of him. When this happened, Kouji would high-tail it out of the apartment (having learned the hard way not to be around his father when he was like that), phone hisstepmother at herwork place from a nearby pay phone and tell her not to go home that night. Kouji had never really told anyone much about his life before...or himself. He tried to keep as closed off from people as much as he possibly could. But, for some odd strange reason, he felt like he could really talk to Takuya and that he'd actually listen. Maybe not completely understand, but he'd at least listen and offer some form of comfort.
"It looks like it's going to rain or something." Takuya murmured, as Kouji nodded and followed his path of vision so that they were both looking upinto the sky.A sky that was darkened to the color of charcoal, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
"I think it's time we found some shelter or something..." Kouji replied back, as a raindrop suddenlyhit him in the forehead.
"Well if you think that, then we'd better look fast, because.it's gonna pour!" Takuya hollered and took off with a mad dash. How Takuya had figured out that it was going to pour from a mere slow starting drizzle was beyond Kouji. But sure enough, not seconds after Kouji had started to chase after him, lightning cracked through the sky illuminating both their dashing figures...and then the clouds let loose.
"The inevitable." Kouji muttered, as he was soon right on Takuya's heels. The mountain trail that they were on was narrowing so now only one person could be on the trail. They couldn't run next to one another so Kouji settled for second best, and vowed not to loose the brunette from his sight. It'd be bad if they got separated...especially in this kind of weather.
"You're telling me. Hey! Look up there!" Takuya hollered back into Kouji'sdirection, pointing at what he'd seen. As Kouji brushed a few strands of wet hair that had fallen from his bandanna, he saw what Takuya was looking at. A little ways ahead of them, there was a slight cliff face, with what looked to be a medium-sized hole stuck off to the side...a cave.
"Anything to get out of the rain, let's head for it!" Kouji suggested, as the two of them were both now drenched to the bone and hehimself was starting to shiver as a cold wind started to pick up. As the two boys made a mad dash for the shelter that Takuya spotted, the rain seemed to come down even harder.
Eventually, they made it up to the hole in the rock that Takuya had spotted.and sure enough, it was a cave.
"Thank god!" Kouji exclaimed, starting to wring outhis wet hairas they headed inside. Itlooked a little worse for the wear, but they could make do with it. What bothered Kouji now, were two things: 1-his hair was wet, and his bandanna had fallen off sometime during their run (so now it was hanging loosely around his neck), and he hadn't had time to put it back on. So now his hairwas hanging all over the place. 2-his clothes were soaking wet, sticking to his lithe body...and he doubted that he-or Takuya-wouldbe dry anytime soon, unless a fire was built.
Near him, Takuya was silent but shivering as well. Somehow they had to get a fire started.or else they'd both freeze. Takuya had come to the same realization the same time Kouji did, but Kouji was the first one to make the move.
"Come here Takuya." Nodding, Takuya did as he was told and stood inches away from Kouji so that they were standing face to face, noses just barely inches apart.
Kouji stripped out of his windbreaker, and laid it down so that it could dry. It helped a little, for even though his yellow and blue T-shirt was wet, it wasn't as hopeless as his windbreaker was. Takuya did the same with his red over shirt that covered his own yellow shirt with a intricate black spiral design. Kouji was tempted to ask Takuya what the symbol stood for, since he also wore it on his hat as well...which, came off next. As Takuya shook his head to try to let loose the water.it sprayed all over Kouji.
"Takuya! Cut it out!" Kouji snapped, now even more wet and feeling more irritated than before,and then saw Takuya grin sheepishly.
"Sorry buddy." Kouji was in the process of continuing towring out his own black hair to dry it as much as he could. The black mass was slowly starting toturn into little small ringlets at the bottom, causing Kouji to make a face. That was the one thing he that he hated about having long hair...but for some odd reason, he could never bring himself to cut it.
"We should explore this cave while we're here...maybe see if there's some dry wood in here or something?" Takuya suggested, in the midst of Kouji's despair about his little ringlets.
"Sure, whatever." Kouji hadn't meant to sound offensive at all, but apparently Takuya had sensed it. So Takuya just shrugged and moved forward, not really mentioning it-leaving his over shirt and coat behind. Kouji found himself doing the same, as he followed Takuya deeper into the cave. Besides, who would want a pair of gloves, over shirt, hat, and windbreaker anyway?
Along they crept, their footsteps making barely any sound in the sandy floor of the cave. Until the bottom seemed to drop out from underneath Takuya and the brunette disappeared. Kouji reacted fast, but not fast enough as he reached out frantically-trying to grab ahold of one ofTakuya's flailing arms.
"KOUJI!" WhileTakuya desperately cried out his name, the youth disappeared into the sand.
"No, Takuya!" Seconds later the ground rumbled underneath him, and Kouji gasped in stunned surprise as he also disappeared swiftly into the sandy ground and he held his breath.
Quick sand...? Kouji thought, and was just starting to panic when he started to run out of air...before he fell onto a hard, solid ground, striking his head...and the world went black around him.
Takuya had been the first one to come too. He was lying on his stomach, with one arm outstretched in front of him and the other trapped underneath his body.
Bringing himself further to the state of consciousness, he glanced around and saw Kouji a few feet away, who was still unconscious...and lookedin slightly worse shape than himself. Worried about his dark haired friend, Takuya went over to him and shook him a little. The boy groaned softly, but didn't appear hurt to be seriously hurt. Sighing in relief after checking Kouji over for any possible injuries that might've been hidden, Takuya lightly shook him again.
This time he got a reaction as Kouji's dark blue gray eyes opened slightly, before blinking several times to adjust his eyesight to the dark lighting of where they were...Takuya assumed that they now had to be below the cave.
"Wha-?" Kouji mumbled, lying on his back. He had one hell of a headache that was pounding into his skull,and he sat up a little too quickly-causing it tothrob even harder he fell backwards again. Takuya caught him before his head could strike the ground once more, as Kouji closed his eyes tightly.
"Kouji...you okay?" Takuya's face swam into view, and Koujiwas lead to believe that he must've hit his head harder theneither of them originally thought. Gulping and taking a breath, Kouji nodded as he accepted Takuya's outstretched hand and allowed the brunette to help him up.
Staggering to his feet, andallowing himself to lean slightly against Takuya for support as the world spun around him once more, Kouji tried to take agood look around. They were in a darker part of the cave than before, and the air was stale here. Making it seem that no one had been here for many days...maybe even years.
"Well...what next?" Takuya asked, and Kouji had no answer as he tried to slow the throbbing pain he still felt. Wondering why Takuya always had to ask him what to do...
Reaching up to his temple, Kouji probed it lightly and winced as he felt a bump along it. He was sure to get a bruise or something there...just great.
"Well, we've already explored this far, haven't we?"
"So you want to keep going?" Takuya questioned, concern filling his voice as he looked as deep and as far as he could into the cave, squinting his eyes as though he could get a better look if he did so.
"Sure. Why not?" Shrugging, Kouji started leading the way-not wanting Takuya to see just how bad he still felt-and Takuya followed.
They had just started down the new path in front of them when suddenly light exploded from all around them...
TBC
