This chapter takes place solely in the Adventure DigiDestined's Earth/world and the main POV is Yuko Kamiya's. Enjoy!

Updated 4/6/21

I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS!

Chapter 1: Glued to the Television

Adventure DigiDestined World: Location: The Kamiya Apartment

Yuko Kamiya was cleaning up around the house before she settled down to enjoy a quiet afternoon to herself. Her husband Susumu was at work and their son and daughter were at the park with their friends for their DigiDestined anniversary. So far she had vacuumed the living room and the hallway, washed the morning's dishes, and now she was going into bedrooms to gather the dirty laundry. She nodded in approval when she saw all of Kari's clothes in her hamper, but sighed when she found Tai's strewn all over his room.

"That boy," she muttered. "He's got a hamper. Why doesn't he use it?"

Yuko found that most of Tai's clothes were in fact near the hamper, but few had actually made it in. She could just visualize her son tossing his clothes from beside his desk in the direction of his hamper as if he were playing basketball. If the number of clothes were anything to go by, he was a lousy shot. Soccer was more of Tai's thing. Soccer posters lined the walls with trophies and ribbons he'd won while growing up. Yuko blinked back tears. There were seventeen years worth of memories in this room. This coming year would be Tai's last. Her son was now a senior in high school and would graduate before she knew it.

Yuko quickly gathered up all of the dirty clothes before hurrying out of the room. She just couldn't see Tai moving out. She found him irresponsible and still a child in so many ways. How was it that he'd become the leader of his group of friends? It just didn't make sense to Yuko. …Or did it? Was she in so much denial about having to let him go at the end of the next school year that she simply refused to see her son for the adult that he'd become? As she separated the laundry and put it in the wash, Yuko began to realize how much Tai had grown up. Now that she thought back on her son's achievements she realized that he'd managed to hold on to his position as a team captain for his soccer clubs all through middle school and high school and had even helped coach a team for a younger division for the last three years as part of a community service project. And wasn't he a candidate for a few sports scholarships this year?

Yuko sighed. Yes. She was in denial. Her son was growing up and proving to be a good man.

After she folded the clean laundry and returned them to their owner's rooms she sat down and turned on the TV. She watched the news for a little bit before the telephone rang.

"Hello," Yuko answered. "Kamiya Residence."

"Hey big sis!"

Yuko sighed. It was her sister Machi. This would be the second of three calls that Yuko usually got from her sister every day.

"Hey Mach," Yuko sighed.

"So how's your day been?" Machi's bubbly voice asked.

"Alright I guess," Yuko said. "I just finished cleaning up the apartment. How are things in Hokkaido?"

"Fine," Machi sighed. "Matsu is late picking me up for lunch though."

Yuko looked at the clock on the TV and realized that it was indeed time for lunch. Had it really taken that long to clean up her home?

"Helloooo!" Machi's voice cried. "Anyone there?"

"Huh?" Yuko blinked. "Oh. Sorry Mach. What were you saying?"

She could just visualize Machi pouting on the other end.

"I was saying," her sister huffed, "that I was bored and had decided to call. I was wondering how my niece and nephew are doing. It's been forever since you brought the family out to visit me."

"They're fine, Machi," Yuko laughed. "Tai and Kari are out at the park with friends. Today's a big anniversary party for them. Their friend Mimi has even flown out here from America for the week."

"Sounds like fun!" Machi laughed. "How's Susumu?"

"Fine." Yuko smiled. "He's working late at the office a lot though and usually comes home tired."

"He should take a vacation," Machi said. Yuko could easily visualize Machi's head nodding firmly at the sentiment.

"He can't," Yuko sighed. "You know how busy the travel agency gets this time of year. Summer is the big tourist season."

Machi huffed again, sending static though the receiver.

"Well he should book a nice vacation for himself, you and the kids. Tai's graduating next summer isn't he? This is the summer to go do that big family vacation you want so bad, Yuu."

"I know Machi, but-!" Yuko was saying but Machi suddenly cut her off.

"Oh my gosh!" Machi gasped. "Yuko! Do you have the TV on?!"

"Yeah, why?" Yuko blinked, glancing at the screen only to discover that the news was no longer on. Instead, she was watching a girl who looked remarkably like Tai's childhood friend Sora Takenouchi falling against a dark backdrop. Puzzled, Yuko changed the channel. Odd. It was the same scene only this time instead of Sora it was another of Tai's old friends, Matt Ishida. In the background she could see someone who looked like Matt's little brother TK. Yuko froze. TK was holding someone close to him. Yuko flipped through the channels. They were all playing the same program, except each channel was focused on a different child or teen, many of them she didn't know. Finally she found the channel starring TK. Her heart nearly stopped. Kari was wrapped tightly in his arms clutching at the front of his shirt.

"…Yuko?!" Machi's voice exploded out of the phone's earpiece. "Yuko! Are you there?"

But Yuko didn't answer, the phone slipping from her hand as she clutched at the remote in her other. Slowly she began to flip through the channels once more, taking care to see if she recognized any of the other children.

"Honey! I'm home!" a voice called from the entryway, startling Yuko.

She dropped the remote just as it was changing to the next channel …Tai's channel. Yuko froze for a second time, staring numbly as her son fell through darkness unconscious.

"Yuko?" Susumu called again as he stepped into the living room. "I was able to get off work early today…"

Susumu froze at the sight on the TV screen. He was stunned, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. He finally snapped out of it when he heard staticy yelling. It was then that he noticed the phone that Yuko had dropped. Machi was still on the other end calling out frantically for her sister to pick up.

"Hello, Machi?" Susumu said as he held the receiver up to his ear. "This is Susumu. Look, Yuko will have to call you back. I just got in and I'm not sure what's going on, but I've got to go now. Bye."

He set the phone down on the coffee table and sat beside his wife, picking up the dropped remote in the process. He slowly flipped through the channels much like Yuko had done only moments earlier before he came back to Tai's channel. He picked up the phone again and called Tai's cellphone. It went straight to voicemail. He then tried Kari but with the same result. He tried their phones again and again, but couldn't reach either of his children. Yuko had been watching him make the calls with fearful eyes, tears threatening to overflow with every failed call.

Susumu finally gave up on trying to reach Tai and Kari. He glanced at the TV where Tai was still falling on its screen. His son looked so peaceful falling. Any trace of fear or worry was absent from Tai's features. Suddenly the phone rang in Susumu's hand. He paused for a moment, bewildered, before he quickly answered it hoping beyond hope that it was either Tai or Kari. But it wasn't. How could it be? Both were unconscious at this point if the TV was showing them live feed.

"Hello?" a woman's voice called out. "Is this the Kamiya residence?"

"Yes," Susumu confirmed. "This is Susumu Kamiya. Who is this?"

"This is Natsuko Takaishi," the voice answered.

"Hello, Nancy," Susumu said, smiling sadly, recalling the woman's nickname from their younger years. Nancy was an old friend of Yuko's from high school and they'd both been a bridesmaid at each other's weddings. "It's been a while. Look, Nance, I'd love to chat but-!"

"Are you watching TV?" the woman demanded softly, getting right to the heart of the matter.

"Yes," Susumu said grimly. "I've seen our children. We're watching Tai right now. Do you know what's going on?"

"I was hoping you would know," Nancy sighed. "I've just called Hiroaki about it and he wants us all together. Do you have numbers for any of the other children's parents? I've got the numbers for the Motomiyas, the Hidas, the Inoues, the Ichijojis, and a contact number that TK was given for the Tachikawas, but I don't have everyone else's."

"That's fine," Susumu replied. "We've got the Izumi family's number, as well as the numbers for the Kido and Takenouchi families. Do you want me to call them and tell them to come to your apartment or Hiroaki's?"

"We're meeting at mine," Nancy sighed, relieved. "And yes that would be a big help."

"I'll make those calls and then Yuko and I will be right over," Susumu promised before hanging up.

Yuko had already launched herself off the couch and was gathering some things while Susumu called the three families he'd promised Nancy he'd call. Soon the Kamiyas were racing to their car and driving furiously to the Takaishi's apartment. When they arrived the nervous single mom greeted them.

"Come in," she said, bowing as she quickly ushered them into the living room.

Yuko immediately recognized Yolei Inoue's parents (she went to their convenience store often) and assumed that the teenage boy and the two young women with them were Yolei's older brother and sisters. Cody Hida's mother and grandfather were present as well. Because the two families lived only one floor above the Takashi apartment, Yuko wasn't surprised to see that the two families were already present. As she looked around the room she noticed that someone she'd expected to see wasn't there yet.

"Where's Hiroaki?" Susumu asked, his thoughts along the same lines as his wife's.

"He's coming from work," Nancy stated, explaining her ex-husband's absence. "The TV station is in an uproar right now and he's trying to get out. He took the van today though so he'll be a little while."

Everyone nodded absently. The living room TV was currently on and turned to one of the channels showing TK, Kari and Matt falling. Nancy tried to keep herself busy by preparing refreshments for her visitors but was quickly becoming a nervous wreck each time she glanced at the TV screen. None of the others in the living room had the heart to change the channel on her even if it was to check on their own children. Fifteen minutes after the Kamiyas had arrived, Sora's mother, Toshiko Takenouchi, arrived. This distracted Nancy for a couple of minutes from her worrying, but it wasn't long before she was fretting again. The mood didn't improve when a distraught Keisuke and Satoe Tachikawa arrived. If anything, it only increased Nancy's worry for her sons. Apparently the Tachikawas had been visiting family in the area while their daughter, Mimi, met up with the other children in Odaiba Park in the company of two of her American DigiDestined friends, Michael Washington Jr. and Willace Globerman. Yuko tried her best to calm her friends, but nothing really seemed to work.

Despair had set in rather quickly amongst all the families present. It was only when Hiroaki finally arrived that they started to feel hopeful. Nancy's ex moved about the apartment with a determined purpose, collecting as many television sets and computer monitors in the apartment as he could, – most of them small portables – including a few monitors that had been in his van. Susumu and Mike Inoue offered him a hand and soon the three men had gathered up a total of fifteen viewing screens and organized them so that fourteen surrounded the biggest one they had. Hiroaki then began to connect them to the cable network while everyone else sat back and watched Hiroaki set each screen to a different channel so that as other families arrived they could see the condition of their child. By the time everyone was present, he had the fourteen children they knew the identities of up on the fourteen outer screens, but for some reason he had left the screen in the middle blank as he scanned the other monitors.

Yuko caught a flash of admiration in Nancy's eyes as the woman observed her ex-husband's actions. Yuko had never asked why the once happy couple had broken up, but she could tell by the look in Nancy's eyes that Nancy still had feelings for Hiroaki.

"Why is this happening?" Nancy whispered, startling Yuko out of her musings. "What have our children done to deserve this?"

Yuko then turned her attention to Tai's screen. He was still falling, but suddenly the darkness around him lightened up a bit and he landed hard on the floor of some kind of cave or cavern. Hiroaki hadn't turned any sound on yet, but Yuko shuddered as she watched, her traitorous imagination supplying the sounds for Tai's crash on it's own.

"I don't know," Yuko whispered, her own despair starting to well up inside. "I can't believe this is happening. I thought all of this nonsense had ended last year after what happened with that MaloMyotismon Digimon and those kids."

She saw many of the other parents nod their heads in agreement.

"Hey!" Hiroaki suddenly called out. "Davis is awake."

Those who weren't already gathered around the screens rushed over. Hiroaki had finally turned on the middle screen and had tuned it to Davis' channel. The boy was no longer falling or unconscious. He appeared to be in a cave of some kind like Tai and was sitting up with his Digimon partner Veemon crouched beside him. The two of them appeared to be talking, but as Hiroaki moved to turn on the audio, the middle screen suddenly had a whiteout and a bright light flooded the room, blinding them all. When the light subsided a tall young man stood before them in front of the improvised wall of screens. He was tall with short brown hair on the front and sides of his head, but when he threw off his white hood they saw that the back was long and tied in a ponytail. There was a serious look on his face as he stood before them all wearing a black tunic underneath a white robe with tan trim, matching boots and a black belt tied around his waist. Yuko was utterly bewildered. Who was this man and how had he gotten there? Had he come through the television?

"You're Gennai, aren't you?" Hiroaki asked.

The young man before them smiled grimly.

"I am."

Yuko blinked. She knew that name. She'd heard Tai and Kari talk about someone by that name before in passing when discussing the Digital World. Then it clicked. …This man was connected to the Digital World!

Gennai glanced around at the families of the DigiDestined gathered. Yuko saw the worry in the man's eyes but his face was set in hard determined lines. She didn't know who this Gennai man was to her son and daughter and the other DigiDestined children, but she had a sense that this man knew something about what was going on.

"I'm afraid that I have grave news for you all," the mysterious digital man said. "In the past, my kind have tried to conceal the existence of the Digital World from yours, but now that has become impossible. Something far more powerful than us has taken control. Your children were called upon to help save the Digital World in the past, and now they have been summoned to a different Digital World for the same reason. I'm not sure if Izzi ever caught on after what happened with MaloMyotismon, but there are other alternate versions of the Digital World as well as your own world that exist. I have been in contact with these other worlds recently and it is my belief as well as the belief of many other guardian protectors and rulers of those other Digital Worlds, that your children have been summoned to what may have been the very first Digital World to come into existence. It is an old world, far older than our own Digital World, and its existence is being threatened. Two other groups of chosen children from different versions of your world have also been summoned. That is how grave the situation has become."

"You mean to tell me that all of those other children are from different worlds?" Masami Izumi whispered.

"Yes," Gennai nodded. "Not a different planet mind you, but a different version of Earth in a separate dimension. An alternate reality."

"Like in the new Star Trek movie?" Yolei's brother Mantaro asked.

"I suppose that's an accurate enough example." Gennai smiled. "Each Earth is a different variation of another. On some Earths, technology is more advanced, creating a more turbulent parallel Digital World. Some of them have primitive technology and therefore have an unstable and incomplete Digital World that is in need of constant maintenance. Every version of Earth has a digital shadow world except for those that have only just begun to develop life and some sort of technology. But every Earth is it's own and there is no way to travel between your worlds."

"Yet there is a way to travel between the different Digital Worlds," Hiroaki stated, sounding so sure of himself. "That's why you're here; to tell us that our children are not only gone from this Earth but from its corresponding Digital World as well. They aren't even in this dimension – or reality as you called it – anymore, are they?"

Yuko and many others could only stare in surprise. Where did Hiroaki learn all of this? Everyone was looking around at each other wildly. They might as well have just been told that their children no longer existed.

"Calm down," Gennai sighed. Yuko wanted to roll her eyes. Easy for him to say. He didn't have a child who was constantly being summoned to other worlds to solve its problems. How on earth were they all supposed to be calm?

"Yes, it's true, but there is a way to bring them back."

"But," Hiroaki pressed, "there is a condition that must be met before they can come home, right?"

"Right again," Gennai grimaced. "They must complete the task that they have been summoned for."

The families looked around at each other again fearfully.

"What can we do?" Nancy whispered.

"Can we do nothing but sit here?" Toshiko asked.

"Is there no way to help them? They are all just kids!" James Kido exclaimed.

"Weren't a few of them toddlers?" Nancy worried.

"Those poor kids!" Laura Ichijoji gasped.

"Can you imagine how their parents must feel?" Mel Motomiya fretted.

"I can!" Yuko sobbed, turning to Susumu, allowing her husband to hold her.

"Hold it!" Gennai said, raising his voice. "I didn't just come here to give you this information. You're the DigiDestined's families. You know more about them than I do. I came here for your help. I need you all to come with me. A good friend of mine is already in contact with Michael and Willace's families. If you come with me, not only can you help me find a way to bring them all safely home, you will be able to keep better track of them. In this world it is possible that your technology could fail if events were to escalate and then you'd lose track of your children. It is your choice to come or not of course, but I strongly recommend that you do."

They all looked around at each other. Yuko knew that there was no way in hell that she was staying here on Earth and she could see that the others felt the same. Over the past few years their children had saved the world time and time again. Very few of them had been able to really help their children at all, but here was someone who was telling them that they all had a chance to help this time. How could they say no when it meant that if they didn't, it was highly likely that they'd never see their child, brother, or sister again? Without even needing to confer with each other they all returned their gaze to Gennai, determination set in their eyes.

"Alright then," Gennai smiled. "Come with me and I'll take you to this world's digital parallel."

He reached his hand out to Hiroaki who took it. When Yuko saw this, she instantly sought out her husband's hand. Now she was nervous. She'd never even tried to imagine what the Digital World was like until now. She only knew of the monsters that had come from it and knew that the world they were now going to would be crawling with them. Could she do this? Could she really travel to another world and possibly never come back to this one? …Yes. She could and she would! For Tai and Kari.

Once everyone was holding hands in a clustered group, Gennai flipped a switch on Hiroaki's switchboard and that blinding light appeared again. When the light faded, they found themselves in an observation room where there were screens on every wall containing the images of every child and their partner Digimon. There were other men throughout the space but they all looked exactly like Gennai. There was another flash and suddenly four other adults appeared with their own "Gennai" escort.

"Harry," Gennai nodded.

"Gennai," the look-alike nodded back.

"Families of the DigiDestined," Gennai called out suddenly, making everyone jump. "Welcome to my people's home in the Digital World! This world contains your children's best dreams and their worst nightmares. Follow me and Harry, and we will show you where you will be staying and how you can help."

What is it that Gennai believes that the parents may be able to help with? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

I don't know how many of you noticed this reference, but in the english dub of the 2nd Digimon movie: Our Children's War Games (part 2 of Digimon the Movie) Yuko mentions that her sister calls her three times a day and I thought that I'd incorporate that in for you English dub fanatics. :P

As a reminder, if I couldn't find the names of the parent characters in the English dub I used their Japanese names and if I couldn't find their names at all in either version I made them up. Example: James Kido. I use this name in DM as well :P

Another thing that some of you readers may have noticed (if you've read UGotD) that not only was the title for UGotD's chapter 20 taken as the name for this fic, but that the last half of this chapter was taken from the Adventure part of the chapter, only this time in Yuko's POV since I did Hiroaki in the prologue. Just a fun little tid bit. :P