Holy Smokes! Happy Odaiba Day everyone! I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter. I sure had a lot of fun with this one and I hope you do too. I hope it's not confusing because there is a lot of talk in this one but a lot of things happen as well. Enjoy and please review!
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER OR SAVERS!
Originally posted: 8/1/2021
Chapter 25: The Dimension Hoppers
Frontier Digital World: Location: Breezy Village
It was late into the evening as the group finally entered Breezy Village. Thankfully the Floramon were very accommodating and gave them a couple of guest rooms for the night - Rikuto, Umi and Neemon in one; Shinya, Yutaka and Bokomon in the other. Everyone was relieved to collapse into bed.
After only a few hours of sleep, however, Shinya stirred, blinking sleepily into the dark room, thankfully not disturbing Yutaka next to him. Shinya slipped out of his bed and shuffled to the door, peering out into the village. All was quiet so late at night, but there was still nature's music as the towering trees throughout the area rustled softly. Shinya felt himself being drawn to the treeline. He didn't think to wake Yutaka or Bokomon as he left the room, the door shutting softly behind him. He wandered into the woods, hands out at his sides to feel their bark as he let his feet carried him to wherever it was they were taking him.
Eventually he found himself standing in front of the famous Lung Tree where Zoe found Kazemon's spirit (according to Bokomon's stories). The energy around this tree felt different to him for some reason. He wasn't familiar with auras but if he had to guess, that was what he figured he was feeling. The hair on his arms began to stand on end and he swore it was just a trick of the moonlight or something filtering through the leaves, but parts of the tree looked like it was glowing. After staring at the tree for several long minutes, Shinya thought he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye at the base of the large tree. It looked like a red fox tail. It swished as if to get his attention, but the moment he turned to look at it, it disappeared around the tree. Curious, Shinya followed it to the other side of the tree.
Nothing.
With a frown, Shinya crouched down and began to search for a hole or something to indicate a den. Then he felt something soft tickle the back of his neck. He shot up with a high pitched squeal that echoed above him in an eerie bark. Eyes wide, he gazed up into the tree and saw, nestled contently in the U bend where the Lung Tree branched off into two sections was a large towering fox with fur that faded from a dark earthy reddish brown on it's legs up into a fiery reddish-orange over it's back, tails (there were multiple!) and head. It had bright spots of white on its feet (like socks), the tips of it's fluffy tails and the insides of its ears. What ensnared his gaze in an instant though were the golden irises against the pitch black sclera of its eyes.
Unlike Rika's Renamon when she was Kyubimon, this was not a Holy Light attribute fox Digimon, though it was certainly powerful if the energy Shinya could feel radiating off of this creature was any indication. He didn't know how long he stood there staring at this fox Digimon, but he stumbled back as it moved, legs bunching underneath it as if to jump. It lunged for him and, with a shriek, Shinya ducked but nothing happened. Heart pounding in his chest, the young boy peeked up but saw no sign of the fox. He shivered slightly from both nerves and a slight chill as the breeze that gave this village it's name picked up. Branches creaked, leaves rustled harshly, but beneath the cacophony of sounds, he could swear he heard a high pitched chittering that sounded like laughter.
"...H-hello?" Shiya gasped, looking around for the creature he was beginning to suspect was his Beast Spirit. What else could have awoken him and summoned him to this spot?
"...I am here," a high voice to match the sounds he'd been hearing whispered on the wind.
"Yeah… but where?" Shinya said, puzzled.
His only answer was another mischievous high pitched laugh fading with another gust of wind. He returned his attention to the Lung Tree. There had to be a reason that the spirit appeared to him here. He moved forward and began to climb the tree to get to the U. Somehow he found foot holds in the dark and hefted himself up slowly, but made steady progress. The tree was taller than he'd thought and when he finally managed to heft himself into the bend of the tree he realized how big the spirit had to be to fill this entire space. Maybe as tall as Korikakumon. Looking around, he caught sight of a glitter of light that he didn't think was a result of moonlight filtering through the tree's canopy.
He climbed along the tree's left bow, inching his way up toward what we could now see was an idol statue of some kind. It's fiery red, orange, yellow and white colors stood out from the dark brown of the tree bark. With a grunt he hoisted himself up those final precious centimeters and took hold of the idol. It took some finagling, (having been secured by a tangle of branches woven over it's base) but Shinya finally managed to pry it free. Due to the limited light provided by the setting full moon being filtered through the leaves, Shinya couldn't get the best look at it, but swore that it was a fox head. Clutching it close, Shinya began to make his way down, but that was proving to be harder than getting up had been. The foot holds that he's found previously eluded him and he was truly afraid of falling from what he was beginning to realize was a great height.
He tried to be careful - really, he did - but he was tired and climbing the tree had exhausted what little energy and adrenaline he'd had when the spirit had made itself known to him. Just as he was reaching the U in the Lung Tree, there was a surprising flash of light from above that startled him. Shinya dropped his beast spirit's idol to try to maintain his hold on the tree, but his feet slipped out from beneath him and his hands scraped painfully against the treebark. Just when he was sure that he was falling to his death, something snagged his arm and grunted as it took the brunt of his weight.
"Don't worry, I gotcha," a male voice huffed.
It was a heart pounding moment before Shinya could feel the tree beneath his feet again and it wasn't until the male who'd saved him aided him into sitting in the U that he began to shake. He gasped, curling in on himself as he realized how close he'd come to serious injury or maybe even death all because he'd decided to climb a stupid tree alone in the middle of the night. Or was it early morning at this point? He didn't care. That had been perhaps the most terrifying thing he'd ever experienced in his life. Watching Takuya fight and die didn't count. He himself had personally never been in any sort of danger. Even fighting the possessed Tyranamon or Yutaka's beast spirit hadn't been this scary. He hadn't been alone then.
"Hey, it's alright. You're alright. I won't let anything happen to you. Promise," the male voice said again, a human shaped hand coming to rest on his back and began to rub comforting circles on it.
"T-t-t-thank y-y-you," Shinya stuttered, swallowing a sob. He was not going to cry. He rubbed his eyes tiredly before turning to try to get a look at his rescuer.
He couldn't make out much in the dark and quickly disappearing moonlight, but his rescuer didn't look like a Digimon. He was human shaped and appeared to be wearing a large cloak or long coat of some kind. Like those duster jackets in westerns. But instead of a cowboy hat, he had a hood covering his head and out from under it was a green glow of some sort of night vision goggles.
"No worries," the man said, voice light and sounded familiar to Shinya but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it. "Let's just get out of this tree before something else happens."
"R-right," Shinya chuckled weakly and let the man help him out of the tree.
"What were you doing up there anyway?" the man asked once they were safely on the ground.
"Oh!" Shinya gasped, looking widley around. "The Beast Spirit!"
"Beast Spirit?" the man repeated, watching Shinya as he looked around the base of the tree for the idol.
"I dropped it," Shinya groaned.
"...Do you mean this?" the man asked, walking a meter or so away from the tree to bend down and pick something up.
"Yes!" Shinya sighed with relief as he took the idol from the man. Once it was back in his possession his D-Tector went off, startling him. As he pulled out the device, the idol began to glow, showing that it was indeed a Fox head - like the festival masks - with nine wavy tails fanned out behind it. The idol hovered out of his hand to float in front of him. Quickly realizing what he had to do, Shinya took a step back and pointed his D-Tector at the idol, hitting the scan function. The idol was quickly absorbed into the device and showed the image of the fox, a profile popping up naming it Kitsunemon.
"Why couldn't this happen in the tree," Shinya grumbled. "I would have had both hands available to climb down with."
"Digi-world likes to test its chosen," the man chuckled. "Are you sure you're alright? How are your hands?"
"My hands?" Shinya said, looking down and realized that they weren't scraped up and full of splinters as they should have been. A side effect of being the Warrior of Wood perhaps? "They're uh, fine."
The man came over and examined Shinya's hands for himself. Nodding in satisfaction, the man stepped back to give Shinya space.
"Where did you come from?" Shinya asked, realizing that his rescuer had literally appeared out of nowhere. Only he had been in that tree. Of that, he was sure.
"I came from another world. A human one, much like yourself, though my homeworld is several dimensional corridors away from this one," the man sighed. "I'm just glad the portal dumped me in the tree in time to help you. Though I was expecting to end up in the Celestial Digimon's palace. It's where we usually arrive when we travel to Takuya's homeworld."
"...You knew Takuya?" Shinya asked.
"I know a Takuya," the man answered. "A different one from your brother, though I suppose not too different. Just another version of him. Hopefully he had a smoother trip than I did. At least I didn't end up falling into a lake or the ocean. I hate making dimension jumps to worlds that don't have proper gates. This world should have one though, so how'd I end up here and not at the palace? Maybe the state of this branch of the DC is more unstable than we thought. I'm probably lucky to have made it here at all. Just my luck I ended up assigned to Takuya's parallel homeworld. I hope the others arrived safely."
Shinya stared at the rambling man, wondering what he was talking about. It sounded like there were many more worlds out there than he thought. Well, fair. Before Takuya and his friends disappeared and he'd come to the Digital World, he hadn't known that were was more than his own world. But just how many were there? A hundred? A thousand? Millions?
"Where are we exactly?" the man asked.
"Uh, Breezy Village," Shinya responded.
"Oh! I know where that is," the man said before looking at the tree they'd just gotten out of. "That makes this the Lung Tree. Looks the same as the one I'm familiar with. Well, shall we make our way back to the village proper? I'm sure there are people worried about you if they've realized that you're missing."
Shinya immediately felt guilty. If Yutaka had woken up while he was climbing the tree, he was sure that the older boy would be going crazy with worry and would have woken the others.
Nodding frantically, Shinya turned to head back from the village, but paused when he realized that he didn't know what direction it was in. Thankfully, the strange man from a different world apparently knew the way after getting a decent look at the stars and got them out of the forest after only a few minutes of wandering. Shinya took the lead back to the inn he was staying at with the others, flinching with guilt as he heard raised voices coming from their rooms. The sky was beginning to grey with dawn swiftly approaching.
"Shinya!" Umi's voice cried out as the door to his and Yutaka's room flew open.
Yutaka was right behind her and ran straight for Shinya, grabbing hold of him in a tight hug.
"Where have you been?!" the eldest boy cried. "I woke up half an hour ago and you were gone!"
"I'm sorry," Shinya said, again trying to hold back tears. "I woke up and felt like something was calling me. I don't remember how or why, but I went to the Lung Tree."
"Why?" Umi asked gently while Rikuto, Bokomon and Neemon hung back.
"My Beast Spirit was there," Shinya said, pulling out his D-Tector to pull up the profile of the fox Digimon. "I think he called out to me in my sleep."
"So you were sleepwalking?" Rikuto asked, coming forward to rest a hand on Yutaka's shoulder. The touch seemed to bring Yutaka back to himself. He quickly released Shinya, realizing that he was smothering the boy and looked away, embarrassed that he'd lost his composure like that.
"Kind of?" Shinya said. "I don't really remember much before finding myself in front of the tree."
"Are you hurt?" Yutaka demanded gruffly, looking him over.
"No. I'm fine thanks to… uh…" Shinya looked back at his rescuer and realized that he didn't know the man's name. "Sorry. I don't think we introduced ourselves."
That was when the others realized that Shinya hadn't returned alone.
In the light provided by the buildings surrounding the inn, Shinya could make out the faded denim blue of the man's long hooded coat (though it looked to be made of some sort of leather and not denim material). He wore black gloves and boots, but there was a splash of golden yellow color in a symbol on the man's coat over his left peck. The hood he was wearing came too far over his face to get a good look at him, but he was definitely wearing goggles of some sort, light reflecting off its lenses.
"Apologies," the man said, reaching up to tug the goggles down around his neck and pushed back the hood to reveal short mousy brown hair and bright reddish-brown eyes in a round face. "My name is Takato Matsuki and I'm the DATS Representative from Earth designation 032001 HW dash 3."
Adventure Digital World: Location: Gennai's Base
It was early morning when Yumi woke up with her husband and prepared to head out and (hopefully) wipe out the remaining control spires. They were meeting for a debrief and to determine pairs for today's raids. Keisuke was (no surprise) already awake and talking with Gennai and Harry. Haru still looked half asleep where he sat off to the side, talking quietly with Jim and Hiroaki. Yumi had a feeling that Hiroaki would take Jim with him since they'd already worked together.
"Good morning, all!" Saito greeted cheerfully. "Ready to tear down more control spires?"
"That's what we're trying to determine," Keisuke huffed. "Gennai and I think we have figured out which of the remaining three spires left is the main spire for the area, and which are merely acting as relays."
"Sweet! Lay it on me, Kei," Saito beamed, pulling up a chair, eyes riveted to the hologram displays that Gennai and Harry pulled up.
"My people have been keeping an eye on the spires," Gennai reported. "Of the three, those labeled Ocean Spire and Frigi Village spire appear to be relays. Lake Spire has had a lot of activity happening in the area and is radiating the highest energy readings."
"So the question is, do we split up and take out the relays first and then unite to take out Lake Spire, or do we target Lake Spire first and hope that we can recover some more information first before destroying it and moving on to take out the relays?"
"Or we take a third option," Hiroaki suggested. "The six of us target Lake Spire and leave the remaining two to our Digimon allies? If we stagger the attacks and make it seem like we're moving from one area to the next, those in control of Lake spire will both lower and raise their guard."
"How so?" Haru asked.
"I gotcha," Saito said, grinning. "If the enemy thinks we're moving from one site to the next, they will know we're making our move, but will think that they have time to prepare as our allies take out the other two. This'll give us an opportunity to infiltrate Lake Spire and see what we can learn before taking it out. Maybe find out who is running this circus for Iramon in our world. For that to work, though, it needs to appear that we are with the attacking party. If only Digimon are a part of the raids on the other two spires, they'll wonder where we are and might catch on sooner than we'd like."
"Which is why I suggest sending one or two of us and Jim with our allies and whichever of the other kids has managed to persuade their parents to let them come overnight," Hiroaki recommended.
"Bold of you for assuming that they're going to ask rather than just sneak out," Haru chuckled, looking pointedly over his shoulder at the doorway where Jun and the three Inoe siblings sheepishly shuffled in with sleepy looking partners.
"We're going with you!" Mantarou declared.
"Right!" his sisters agreed.
"Please let us help," Jun implored.
"Do you have your parents' permission?" Yumi asked.
The four shuffled nervously but kept their determined stares as if daring the adults to deny them. Their Digimon appeared to be more awake now and stared back equally determined.
"Well, if you're coming," Saito chuckled, "then let's make a compromise that your parents will hopefully agree to."
"Let's use Hiroaki's plan," Keisuke declared. "We'll send Haru and Yumi with the kids and our ally Digimon to attack the two relay control spires. That leaves myself, Saito and Hiroaki to spy on and take out the main spire."
"I suggest we take Ninjamon and a few Palmon with us as backup," Saito declared. "He can really help us in the stealth and infiltration department if Hiro's reports are accurate of his abilities."
"So few of you?" Yumi said, glancing at her husband with concern.
"A small team is usually best for infiltration jobs, you know that Yu," Saito said gently.
"For infiltrating and getting information, yes, but you still have to be able to take out the control spire at the end of the day. All three of you have large partners that won't be able to Digivolve inside if you run into trouble after you disable the spire," Haru noted. "Piddomon is the only one that can do that. And we know from our experiences in the Forest Spire outside Toy Town, Sai, that even then it's going to be hard to take out the literal army of those grey gasmasked Digimon they're creating under the main spires. They gave all of us trouble in our small groups yesterday."
"I think that's where I can be of assistance," a voice spoke up from the doorway behind the teens.
Everyone gaped as a young man in a dark red hooded duster coat entered the room and went to stand before Gennai and Harry. No one could make out his face because of the large hood that shielded him from the nose up but there were the letters D.A.T.S. stamped in white over his left peck on top of some elaborate flame design in orange.
"And you are?" Gennai asked.
"How did you even get in here?!" Harry gasped.
"I believe I can answer that," Martian snapped as he hurried into the room looking annoyed. "This intruder just appeared in our base moments ago from the monitoring room with the correct access codes and strolled on through like he owned the place! I don't know why our alarms haven't gone off."
"Because I have the proper access codes," the hooded figure laughed. "You literally just said that."
"I demand to know who you are!" Martian exploded.
Apparently the digital man had caused quite the commotion in his pursuit of the intruder because the rest of the parents and families arrived behind him looking curious.
"Oops! Forgot you lot wouldn't be familiar with me. Where are my manners?" the man chuckled, reaching up to lower his hood, revealing chestnut brown hair and brown eyes in a face that looked to be in his early twenties. "I'm Takuya Kanbara, DATS Rep from Earth designation 042002 DW dash 5 and I've come to help."
Hiroaki's gaze swept over the young man again, realizing that this man could indeed be an older version of the 14 year old that had died in the other Digital World. The other parents and the teens were all staring in shock at the cheerful man who waved at them before turning to address Gennai.
"You'll have to forgive my abrupt arrival but my friends and I only had a very small window of opportunity to work with if we wanted to make it to the necessary worlds involved in this fiasco. As the only people with the means and ability to travel to this branch of the dimensional corridor at this moment in time we decided to take our chances even if it meant we could be stranded here," Takuya declared suddenly, looking very serious. "I'm afraid that your situation and the fate of the missing DigiDestined is a lot more dire than you think."
"What do you mean?" Gennai asked grimly as the parents around them murmured to each other worriedly.
"If the missing DigiDestined fail to defeat Kyushamon and save the Genesis Digital World, all other worlds are doomed. At first only the worlds in this branch of the Dimensional Corridor will fall, but sooner or later the other branches will fall one after the other. As a member of DATS' Dimension Hoppers, my team and I hope to help you send aid to better their chances."
"What team?" Martin scoffed. "There is only one of you."
"Are you sure?" Takuya smirked, pulling out a digivice very different from anything anyone had seen before. It was a rectangle shape that was about the size of a handheld cordless phone. The middle third of the device had a large square screen that was the size of their world's original digivice model. Below it was a white circular touchpad that reminded the families of those new ipod things that were getting popular. Takuya turned and faced it's screen towards an area no one was standing in. "Reload, Agunimon, Lobomon, Beetlemon, Löwemon, Kazemon, Kumamon."
The device beeped and in a quick flash of light six Digimon suddenly appeared, all of them familiar faces. It was very strange to see Agunimon and Takuya standing side by side.
"I have eighteen more friends waiting inside," Takuya said casually, "but it's cramped enough as it is in here to let everyone out."
"Brash as always, young Takuya," Lobomon sighed.
"Now, now," Kumamon giggled. "I'm sure our General has his reasons."
"Why are you acting so surprised?" Beetlemon asked. "Taky has always been this way."
"Hard to believe he's grown up at all," Kazemon huffed. "He's only matured in appearance."
"Unless we are on the battlefield," Löwemon spoke up soothingly. "General Kanbara has his moments of seriousness and displays the experience and growth he has achieved since our group formed."
"Always so formal," Takuya laughed. "Low, we've been friends and traveled across the DC together for how many years now? I've told you several times that you can call me by my given name."
"It is not a sign of disrespect, Takuya," Agunimon sighed. "We are here on a mission and Lowemon is merely addressing you formally as a commanding officer that a person of your position deserves as an ambassador of our world. Honestly, you could take this at least a little seriously. Did you not learn anything from General Kamiya in all of the years we've fought beside him and his Brave Strikers?"
"I'm not the politician Tai is. That's why Gennai and Yamaki made him the Commander of the Dimension Hoppers Corps," Takuya said, brushing his partners words off before turning to face Gennai with a serious expression once more. "War is coming to your world whether you like it or not and the missing DigiDestined are already in enough danger without the trouble the Zaiogu are stirring up to attack them on another front. I implore that you accept our aid and allow us to help give them a fighting chance by enabling you to send them help."
Gennai shared pensive looks with Martin and Harry while Saito, Hiroaki and their team looked around at the families. After a moment Saito squared his shoulders and stepped forward and held his hand out to the young man.
"I'm Saito Yoshimura. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. We'll take all the help we can get to bring those kids back."
Martin looked ready to disagree, but Gennai hushed him and stepped forward to welcome the unexpected visitor to their world. He had a lot of questions for the dimensional traveler.
Tamers Digital World: Location: Unknown
Alice held in a weary sigh as they finally came to a stop and set up camp. They'd been wandering for hours after arriving on whatever level the DigiGnomes had led them to, but their surroundings hadn't appeared to have changed at all. It didn't help that the DigiGnomes had seemed to have vanished the moment they'd all arrived. Gigimon and Babamon weren't sure what level this was, but told them that it had to have been near the top. It was great to learn that they'd skipped some levels going from 5 to whatever this one was, but now they didn't know where they were or how many were left. There were also no Digimon that appeared to inhabit this level. Alice had written up her reports as usual, but none of them had been sent since they'd arrived on level 5. She hoped that their parents back home weren't too worried yet. They'd been making steady progress and had managed to send reports every few "days". Time was hard to gauge in the Digital World since it was stuck in perpetual twilight and it wasn't like they had a set sleep schedule.
"Are you alright, miss?"
Alice looked up from her reports and saw one of the many Dobermon that had joined their group from Level 3. She wasn't great at telling Digimon apart when they kept with their fellows, but she was starting to become more familiar with this particular Dobermon. He always kept close to her and had always been nearby when things became uncertain and possibly dangerous. She hadn't noticed at first, chalking up his actions to being protective since Grapleomon had ordered the Dobermon and Labramon accompanying them to keep an eye on the humans, particularly Alice herself and Minami who didn't have partners yet like Kai did.
"I'm alright," Alice responded, not wanting to worry the Dobermon. "Just concerned about our location more than anything else. We haven't come across anyone or anything at all on this level."
"I believe that we could be on the 9th or 10th level," Dobermon mused, gaze looking up at the Digicore glowing in the sky with it's pink beams touching down far away beyond the horizon. "The core is a lot closer here than anywhere else we've ever been. The closer we are to the Sovereign's domain, the closer we're going to get to the core."
Alice hummed contemplatively, looking up at the core herself. It was no longer the red and black colors that it had been when they'd arrived. It was a murky bluish green now like ocean water when there's been a minor oil spill. It was also much larger in the sky, she could admit. It was easily three to four times larger in the sky than it was when they'd first arrived in the Digital World so many days ago. And how long ago had that been? A week? Two? Surely it couldn't have been three yet?
Concerned, Alice checked the date on her communications device. If it was accurate, she, Kai and Minami had been in the Digital World for ten days. Alice frowned. Ten days. That both felt like a lot of time to have passed and no time at all.
"Miss?"
"I'm fine," she reiterated. "Just worried. We've been making great progress when you think about where we've started, but the last several hours… it doesn't feel like it."
"True," Dobermon sighed, stretching like all dogs do with their front end down and back end up, before plopping down in place. "It's hard to see any progress when you have no landmarks to go by but be assured that it is being made. We just have to remind ourselves that we are near the top now, easily shaving off the many days it would have taken us to reach this level without the DigiGnomes' intervention."
"You're right of course," Alice said, smiling at the canine Digimon before directing her gaze towards Kai and Minami who were resting against a sleeping Monochromon. Nearby was a trio of Labramon, one of which was the Labramon Minami had tended to back on level 3 after he and one of the Digmon got zapped when they found the level's power generator for the lift. He was the Labramon closest to her two friends if Alice wasn't mistaken.
Dobermon suddenly perked up, his fellows and the Labramon did the same, some even getting to their feet and growling.
"What's wrong?" Alice asked, also getting to her feet.
"I'm not sure," Dobermon murmured before barking, "There!"
Alice followed his gaze and watched with amazement as part of the sky in the distance appeared to stretch down like a string of taffy, oozing down before breaking off and landing far in the distance, but close enough that they could make out a cloud where whatever it was impacted.
"What was that?" Kai could be heard gasping. Clearly awoken by the commotion the Labramon had apparently been making and had seen part of the sky melting.
"We should investigate," Babamon declared, getting astride her broom with Jijimon doing the same on his staff. "That did not appear to be from our world."
In spite of having only gotten a short time to rest, everyone was quickly on their feet and packed, ready to face whatever awaited them in the distance. Alice rejoined Minami and Kai aboard Monochromon's back flanked by the pack of Dobermon and Labramon. Everyone was tense and battle ready as they continued their trek across the desolate landscape that made up this level. As they were approaching the impact area, Jijimon and Babamon halted in midair and shouted, "STOP! GET DOWN!"
Everyone stopped as directed, but were slower on that last order. It seemed like the entire area exploded in an instant. Dirt was flying in the air, obscuring their view followed by a shockwave that sent Jijimon and Babamon reeling in the air and threw the three human children from Monochromon's back.
Alice landed in a heap with Minami landing somewhere beside her. Dobermon was by her in an instant and she felt a light stab of longing in her chest, remembering her old partner. He'd acted just the same. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, guarding her while Minami remained motionless beside her. Had she hit her head? It was hard to tell with all the sandy clouds hanging in the air.
"Minami?" Alice called out, coughing. "Minami?!"
"ALICE LOOK OUT!" she heard Kai scream.
Alice looked ahead of her and saw a dark shape dashing her way, the glint of a metal weapon poised to slice her to ribbons. She immediately threw herself onto her back, the blade slashing the air where her head had been seconds ago. Dobermon was sent flying away from her with a pained yip that tugged at her heart strings.
"DOBERMON!" she cried, rolling aside to avoid a downward slash by the figure standing above her now.
"VOLCANIC STRIKE!" Monochromon's voice shouted, balls of fire sailing overhead and forcing her assailant to back off. The attack also had the added effect of clearing the air of dust, allowing her to get a good look at their attacker. Kai rushed to her side while Monochromon engaged in battle. His digivice recognized the demon samurai looking Digimon as Musyamon.
Musyamon turned to face the larger dino Digimon, but was blindsided from behind by the pack of Dobermon, Cerberumon, and Labramon, the wounded Dobermon that had been attacked with Alice retaking his place by her side.
"Dobermon," she murmured before staring in shock as a golden light started to shine above her and a black and silver D-Power floated down to hover before her.
"Is that…?" Dobermon murmured, trailing off, suddenly feeling refreshed.
"A D-Power," Kai breathed, grinning. "You two are partners!"
Alice regained her feet, staring at the D-Power with wide eyes as the device started to vibrate in her hands, the screen glowing and emitting red and blue data particles. The data particles swirled around her before engulfing Dobermon.
Alice stared in awe at her partner. And he was her partner. She would know her Dobermon anywhere. The data particles had been his, just like the day she'd lost him.
"I remember… I'm back, Alice," he said. "Now we can be proper partners."
"Yes," Alice said, holding back tears before she was distracted by another flash of light beside her. A Labramon was standing over Minami's prone form, looking determined to defend her. Another golden glow was shining down on the pair as yet another device appeared, a white and light blue D-Power appearing above her. Minami finally regained consciousness, blinking up in confusion at the device hovering above her before taking it in hand and staring at Labramon. The poor girl looked so confused (did she have a concussion?) but before anyone could react, Monochromon let out a cry of pain before he was thrown back towards Kai, glowing and shrinking back into Gotsumon before colliding with his human partner.
"KAI!" Alice and Minami screamed, hurrying to his and Gotsumon's side.
"Girls! Watch out!" Babamon's voice shrieked.
Alice and Minami spun around to face Musyamon who'd shaken off the pack of canine Digimon and was making another charge their way. Dobermon and Labramon stood before them, ready to intercept. Alice and Minami tried to pull out their cards to help their partners but the attack was coming so fast!
"I DON'T THINK SO, UGLY!" a man's voice suddenly shouted, announcing a newcomer before he suddenly appeared a second later. A tall muscular human man with long red hair in a red t-shirt, black baggy slacks, and a large coat of some kind tied around his waist seemed to have materialized out of nowhere and punched Musyamon in the face, coming at him from the Digimon's left side. To everyone's surprise the blow sent the samurai Digimon flying and the man smirked, the fist that had hit Musyamon glowing with an orange pixelated fiery aura. With his other hand he pulled out a strange device Alice had never seen before and said, "Reload, Agumon!"
A large Agumon wearing red braces on his claws materialized and looked battle ready.
"I'm ready, Aniki!"
"Take him! Digi-Soul Charge!" the man ordered, the aura around his hand disappearing into his digivice and allowing his Agumon to Digivolve into a different version of Greymon that Alice hadn't seen before. GeoGreymon? Once his partner had finished digivolving the man relaxed his stance while GeoGreymon engaged before dismissing the fight and turned to the three human teenagers. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. "Are you alright?"
"F-fine," Minami stuttered while Kai just moaned from where he was on the ground.
"Might wanna get Gatsumon offa him," the man said, reaching down and lifting the rock Digimon with ease. His muscular arms were clearly not just for show. "You good, kid?"
"Yeah," Kai groaned, blinking his eyes open and stared at the man for a moment. "...Wait… who are you? And what happened to Musyamon?"
"I'm Masaru Daimon. As for Musyamon," Masaru said before casually looking over his shoulder in time to see his partner smack the samurai down to the ground with his tail hard enough to leave a crater and then roasted him with a close range Mega Flame attack. "He's finished. He was no match for GeoGreymon. Agumon probably coulda handled him as he was, but sometimes it's best to just take these jerks out before they cause more trouble. Especially when you're onna time crunch."
"Geo … Greymon?" Kai repeated, looking as confused as Alice had been upon hearing the Digimon's name.
"Yeah, it's a digivolution not normally seen in your version of the Digital World, but pretty common in mine," Masaru said.
"Our version of the Digital World?" Alice said, eyes narrowing. "Are you claiming to be from another world?"
"Is that really surprising considering the shit storm the multiverse is in?" Masaru sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "Your friends are stuck in another world themselves, aren't they? I'm here to give you lot a hand, though I was expecting to end up in the Sovereigns' domain and not outside it on level 10. Takato warned me that this might happen though, so I guess I'm not surprised. It turned out to be a good thing, though, because I was able to meet you out here and take care of Musyamon for ya."
"Wait, you know Takato?" Kai said, looking skeptical.
Masaru cut a pretty intimidating figure with his tall and muscular physique. Kai knew Takato best (as his cousin) out of the three of them, but Alice couldn't imagine the sometimes timid and shy Takato getting along with a man who might be twice his age and was clearly his opposite in every way.
"Ah… technically?" Masaru sighed. "I know a version of your cousin at any rate. I know another version of you three as well."
"Then what are our names?" Minami asked. "We haven't introduced ourselves."
"Easy!" Masaru grinned before pointing to each of them in turn. "You're Kai Urazoe and your partner is Gotsumon. Goth gal is Alice McCoy and her partner is Dobermon. Then lastly we have Minami Uehara and her partner Labramon."
The three shared mystified looks with each other before looking down at the Digimon beside them (or on the ground next to Masaru in Gotsumon's case). Alice placed her hand on Dobermon's head smiling as he closed his eyes contentedly. Minami by contrast looked down glancing between Labramon and the D-Power in her grasp, her confusion still apparent.
"Something wrong?" Masaru asked, looking at Minami.
"No!" Minami said. "Just… the last several moments were so… crazy that I'm not quite sure of all that has happened. I only just got this, meaning that Labramon and I are partners, but how…"
"Ah," Masaru hummed, crouching so that he could look up and meet her downward gaze rather than tower over her. "Sometimes our partners are chosen for us before we meet, or we meet our partners in the heat of battle, and then there are other times where it just happens because a bond forms slowly over time. Often it's a combination of all sorts of circumstances."
Kai nodded, thinking of how he'd befriended Gotsumon before they'd become partners. Alice similarly thought of her and Dobermon's relationship. Though they hadn't been partners in the sense that she'd had a D-Power of her own, they'd always thought of each other as a team. As for Minami, she had perhaps the most complex relationship with the two Labramon she was acquainted with.
Unlike with Alice and her Dobermon, Minami knew that this Labramon was not the rookie form of the Seasarmon she'd known for such a brief time. She'd still been grieving the death of her dog, Mei, at the time and hadn't wanted to acknowledge the Digimon as Mei's replacement, because he couldn't replace her beloved dog. But with hindsight and after some counseling she wished that she'd been nicer to Seasarmon. That she could have become the partner he so clearly wanted her to have acknowledged him as. Now she had a second chance. She could be a proper partner for this Labramon.
"Thank you," Minami said, smiling at Masaru.
"Don't know what you're thanking me for," Masaru said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm just saying that it doesn't really matter how you become partners. You're a team now and that's what you should be focusing on."
"Right," Minami said, nodding in determination before turning to Labramon. "Let's do our best!"
"Agreed!" Labramon nodded back, his tail wagging.
Savers Digital World: Location: Royal Knight's Unity Hall
Masaru watched from his position against a wall where he was out of everyone's way in the Communications Room in the left wing of the RKUH, but was still able to see what was going on around him. It was strange to see the older Tai in his travel worn clothes next to the pristine lab coats and suits that Tohma, Suguru and the other scientists were wearing as they worked with him to get communications up between worlds. If the excitement in the air was any indication, Tai was helping them make great progress.
"That should do it for our end. Hopefully my friends made it safely to the other worlds and are helping to open communications on their end of things," Tai sighed after hours of work.
"Which of your friends are in the missing DigiDestined's home worlds?" Tohma asked.
"Takato was sent to the Warrior's Digital World," Tai said, frowning. "He's the last one I expect to get the world's communication channels cleared. Unfortunately whatever is causing the lockdown on the Dimensional Corridor is focused mostly on that world, which is fair I guess from a strategic standpoint. As they currently are, the Warrior DigiDestined are the strongest of their fighters and reinforcements from that sector could put a bad kink in the enemy's plans. I'm confident that he'll succeed, though. Takato's been my Jump partner since the beginning of our careers with DATS and he's well versed in how to get a call line going through the DC."
"Our dimension's Masaru was sent to the Tamer's Digital World," Tai continued, shooting an amused look in Masaru's direction. "They're dealing with a similar situation to the Warrior's world, but that problem is more internal than due to any constant outside influence. All the enemy needed to do was shock the core of the Tamer's Digital World enough to force a lockdown. With all of their known DigiDestined off world, the enemy probably figured it would be impossible for their home worlds to reestablish communication and reconnect to the DC in time to send any aid. Thankfully, our timelines are several years ahead of this branch and we knew that there were other prospective Tamers yet to be chosen and thought that those kids would be trying to do just that. I'll know more when he makes contact."
"Lastly there is Takuya who was sent to my parallel world's Digital World. While Takato and Masaru mostly have to deal with closed off worlds, I decided that Takuya was the best of us to handle a world being invaded," Tai said grimly. "While we were waiting for the right opportunity to jump to your branch of the Dimensional Corridor, we detected a lot of movement from the Genesis Digital World to the parallel of my home dimension's Digital World. We're expecting trouble there and Takuya is one of the best Generals we've got."
"Second only to yourself of course," a voice pipped up from Tai's waist.
"I think you're a little biased," Tai laughed, pulling out an orange digivice that looked like a larger version of their iC Data Link with a lot more functions. "Reload, Agumon."
A flash of light later and an Agumon half a head shorter than Masaru's own partner appeared beside Tai.
"That's a different model of digivice from the one we've seen your parallel using," Tohma noted.
"I got it upgraded when I got recruited by DATS. It allows me to make Jumps through the Dimensional Corridor. All Hoppers have one. It's come a long way from the basic model I got in the beginning though. A benefit of having friends and connections from different worlds is the sharing of technology. This baby has a scanner installed by Tamer's Hypnos, a DATS Digi-soul reader from your guys' parallel world, and a blessing from the Celestial Digimon of the Warrior's world that allows me to BioMerge with Agumon. There's also the original DigiXros ability that allows members of my team to merge with each other."
There was a surprised murmur around the room at that.
"Team?" Tohma said, looking curious.
"It's more than just Agumon inhabiting this digivice," Tai said, waving his Xros Loader. "Starting out, it was just me and Takato and the Digimon we brought with us. Only one Hopper is normally assigned per World, though there are a few exemptions. Because we're not with a team of peers like we normally are, these digivices allow us to have more than one partner. Agumon is still my primary, but I have several more Digimon companions to aid me in my adventures. It's the same for Takato, Takuya and Masaru."
"Do they have the same functions installed on their digivices?" Tohma asked.
"For the most part," Tai said. "I don't think Masaru elected to get the blessing that would have allowed him to Biomerge with his Agumon. He prefers to fight alongside his partner and I think they prefer it that way. With Burst Mode there's really no point in them having it really. If he does have it, I've never seen him use it."
"What is Biomerging?" Masaru asked, speaking up and entering the conversation for the first time. It had been weird to hear Tai refer to a Masaru that wasn't him. Then again, it was just as strange to be talking to a slightly older version of someone he'd been watching in another world.
"It's an ability that allows certain Tamers to merge with their partners to attain their mega level form. Only Takato, Henry, Rika and Ryo are capable of it. For Takuya and I, it allows us to merge with our primary partners to attain a level greater than Mega - a Mega-Ultimate level if you will - no different from Digimon like Omnimon, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, Gallantmon Crimson Mode or your Burst Modes."
"You said that Takuya was one of your best Generals. What did you mean by that? Does he work for you? Do they all work for you?" Tohma asked.
Tai grimaced. "Sort of? The reason we all became Dimension Hoppers was because of a war brewing in our Dimensional Corridor branch and we were all chosen to become Generals to lead teams of Digimon in that war. It's a long story and I don't want to go into details, but by the end of it there was a lot of cleanup that needed our attention across several worlds and the four of us and a few others had the ability to travel and provide aid. I was elected leader of our crew and given the title of Commander while the others remained Generals. It's my job to determine where our aid is needed and who to send to get the job done."
"But with you here, who's holding that position now?" Tohma asked.
"Taiki Kudo is acting Commander in my absence and Davis is in charge of the sector that Takato and I normally run. Taiki and his world's second, Tagiru Akashi take turns cycling through their sector and Takuya and Masaru's. There are a couple of other, but their new Hoppers and they're stretched thin, but our branch of the DC is relatively peaceful at the moment with the Third Xros War settled. That could all change though if we don't help you guys out with the war brewing in your branch of the DC."
"That's great and we're happy to have you and all," Masaru said, "but why are you here and not helping out the parallel of your home world? I understand why you'd send Takuya there, but why not go yourself? And why send Takato and the other me to different worlds and not their parallels? Wouldn't they be the most familiar with their home worlds even if it is a different version of it?"
Tai sighed.
"While it's safe to visit parallel worlds, it is inadvisable to interact with parallel counterparts. Reality warps, like it's detecting a glitch in the Matrix, and tries to correct itself. For example, if Masaru was sent here and interacted with you there would be dire consequences. Maybe not at first, but eventually reality would try to reconcile the existence of two Masaru Daimons and would either try to eliminate the one it deems is the extra, or merge the two of you together in a mish-mash of memories and experiences. While we are aiding you and until Kyushamon is defeated and his interference with the DC is fixed, we cannot return to our home worlds. Our goal is to help everyone return to their home worlds and if my friends and I are still stuck here until the crisis is over and the proper pathways through the DC are fixed we'd just be creating another problem after those kids have already been through so much. It's just safer this way. It's also easier for the families of those involved."
"How so?" Tohma asked.
"...I'm aware that this dimension's Takuya Kanbara was killed and that my parallel was seriously injured recently," Tai said softly. "Those families are grieving. Takuya thought it was best if he didn't go there, not wanting to upset them more than they already were. To have them see a version of their son and think of what could have been had he lived and grown up would be torturous. I felt the same. I know my parents and seeing someone who was and wasn't their son would have complicated things for similar reasons. It's best if they interact with relative strangers only able to hear second hand accounts of what-could-have-beens."
"...You came even though it could mean that this is a one-way trip for you without a way home?" Masaru asked, clenching his fists. "You left your homes, your families, your worlds just to help? Why?"
"Because if this branch of the world falls, all of the others are doomed to follow," Tai said grimly, meeting his gaze evenly before looking around at everyone else in the room. "There is a reason why I refer to the Digital World that the missing DigiDestined were called to Genesis. It is the original Digital World to have come online. This branch of worlds are originals and all others are variants thereof."
"Wait," Tohma said, frowning. "If our worlds in this branch of the Dimensional Corridor are originals, and others out there like yours are variants, why are you - and I'm assuming your friends - older than us?"
"Time is different and a tricky thing to pin down when jumping branches in the DC," Tai explained. "Our branch's time flow simply runs faster than yours. Think about it this way: If there is a psychic in your world trying to predict the future, they would reach out their senses to the Universe - which would actually be the Dimensional Corridor - and seek out all possible outcomes. How do they see these outcomes? They will be trying to see what has already happened in parallel worlds on nearby branches in the DC. The closer worlds will only have minor differences while others farther out will have major ones."
"By that logic, can I assume that you come from a nearby branch rather than one from far away?" Tohma reasoned.
"From what we've seen happening in your dimension's worlds and what we've gleaned from listening to conversations our parallels have had, I'd say we're pretty close. We couldn't have traveled here otherwise, let alone find out what was happening here."
"How did you find out?" Masaru asked. "Were your world's TVs broadcasting it too?"
"No," Tai said, shaking his head. The Sovereign in my world alerted me to the problem and worked together with the other deity Digimon in charge of other Digital Worlds to gain a bigger picture. We Hoppers gathered in Takuya's world to see things with our own eyes through Ophanimon's Viewing Globe. When we came to the decision to lend our aid, we then had to find a way to access your branch of the DC. We admittedly don't have much experience traveling outside of our own branch, but we were all aware of the dangers due to those few experiences we do have."
"Including the chance of never making it back home," Masaru said grimly.
"Yes," Tai said, holding Masaru's gaze. There were no regrets there. Just steadfast determination. A lot was at stake. Masaru only hoped that they could do their part and pull through, helping those trapped in the Genesis Digital World and allow everyone to return home, even their allies who'd come so far to help them with only a small chance to return home themselves one day.
Will these travelers from another dimension be able to aid the DigiDestined's home worlds and enable them to send help in time? I guess we'll just have to find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
Happy Odaiba Day everyone! I also want to thank all of you that took the time to reach out to me during these last few years encouraging me to continue writing and relight my passion for these stories. I'm glad to be back and hopefully updating at least semi-regularly now. I'm so happy that I'm able to post the 3 chapters for PW, DM and UGotD like I used to back when I was starting out and in college. I can't remember the last time I did this. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it because the Olympics are on and I've been wanting to keep updated with the coverage for all the sports I want to watch, but I somehow managed to do it anyway! I'll be posting Drowning Memories next, so if you're reading this note soon after I post this chapter, wait a couple of hours for me to edit and then upload that chapter. When that's up, I'll get around to editing and posting Ultimate Gathering.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't too confusing with all of the Dimension Hoppers making their appearances. I've been waiting to work them in for a while and I actually had them planed before writing and posting my General of Courage fic (where they are from and the next fic I hope to update).
I actually wrote the Adventure part of the chapter first, but timeline wise I felt that Tamers should come first. I'm trying to line things up to happen alongside where UGotD is timeline wise so I realized (especially with Tamers) that I had to speed some things up and the Hoppers are going to help with that. I hope you guys enjoy seeing these new characters. They won't take the spotlight away from the DigiDestined showcased thus far in this fic though. They are more of a means to an end, but I wanted to build and set up just how these new DigiDestined teams are going to meet up with the main ones in UGotD. If you have any questions please let me know!
Fun Fact:
While looking up possible names for a fox digimon for Shinya's beast spirit, I looked up fox sounds and they sound like people screaming. My housemate thought that someone was being murdered down the street because I had the volume on low and we couldn't hear properly. XD