-x-
Prologue
Which Anniversary?
On the island of Odaiba, at noon on the first of August, three teenagers made their way to the Fuji-TV building. Walking along the river, was a tall, fifteen-year-old boy with nearly shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes and a grumpy face, followed by two younger kids, both three years younger than him. The first was another boy closely resembling him, down to the color of his eyes and hair, albeit more bustling and cut short. The last was a young girl with auburn colored eyes and brown hair, just long enough to frame her face, and a hair clip, keeping her bangs from obscuring her eyes. She also wore a digital camera on a cord around her neck, as she did for almost two years at this point.
The three were part of a group of eight kids, called the DigiDestined, a collection of chosen children, who, one day at summer camp, were washed away by an enormous tidal wave, only to wake up on a remote island – in an alternate universe called the Digital World. At least seven of them were. The young, auburn eyed girl, named Hikari Yagami, had to stay home, due to a cold, which spared her from the traumatic event - along with many others, befalling her future team-mates. Kari and the two boys, walking with her that day, the older boy Yamato "Matt" Ishida and his brother Takeru Takaishi (called TK for short), had one thing in common though: They were chosen to save the Digital World from the dark forces, threatening to destroy it. And subsequently the human world, too. All of them were paired with each one creature native to the Digital World, known as Digimon (which stands for digital monsters), who were born to fight the children's battles. These loyal companions by their side, they set out for their mission. The DigiDestined were meant to overcome, whatever the (digital) world threw at them. Together. Which would work occasionally, until their chemistry (or lack thereof) would drive them apart. Far, far apart, more often than not...
"So, where is your brother?" Matt asked Kari casually, referring to Taichi Yagami, the former leader of the group.
The girl sighed.
"Taking a nap." She said quietly.
"Again?"
"What do you mean 'again'? He wasn't up since yesterday to begin with." Kari answered somewhat dismissively, "Besides, you guys know it's his lazy season!"
"Wait, I thought winter was his lazy season" TK said confused.
"No, that's his sleepy season" Kari explained patiently, "There's less soccer training in winter, so he gets to sleep more. Easy to remember."
TK shot a puzzled glance at her.
"Look, he has his system and he gets iffy, if anyone criticizes it. He is very defensive about it."
"Yeah, because his systems always turned out to be the very best things, to happen to our group!" Matt muttered.
"First off: His systems are designed to help him schedule his sleeping patterns – he never intended them to help the group in any way!" Kari snapped at him.
"What a leader!" Matt said sarcastically.
"Second off: You voted for him as the leader!"
"Whatever" Matt huffed, "You weren't there..."
Kari ignored this comment and went ahead:
"Third off: Why don't you call Gabumon, go back to our apartment and try to murder Tai again? It's been a while! And what better way is there, to celebrate our anniversary, than you trying to beat my brother to death again?"
"Wait, I thought we were meeting up for Odaiba-Day!" TK said confused.
"He was sleeping under a tree, while Sora almost got hammered to death by Puppetmon." Matt hissed impatiently.
"So? He always slept on the job! Get over it! Joe tried to screw us over, every time he saw an opportunity to make a profit out of it!" Kari fired back, "Don't act like my brother was a spoiled brat in a bunch of saints! Oh, and don't tell me you attacked him for the greater good! What was that story again? About the magical tree, only you could see and speak to?"
"I keep telling you: Cherrymon was real!" Matt said, perplexed that she still didn't believe him, "How hard is it to believe, that there are trees in the Digital World who can speak?"
"Then how come, we never saw a single talking tree?"
"I don't know, because not all of them are sentient?"
"Okay, so why did no one except you ever see that talking tree?"
"Because Puppetmon killed him before I had a chance to introduce him to you!"
"Right… Just keep telling yourself that. Oh, and can you see Tai's reflection in the river right now? Or do you need your imaginary tree friend for that, as well?"
"Shut up"
"So speaking of the gang" TK tried to steer the conversation away from his brothers growing insanity, "What are the others up to? Is anyone else coming?"
"Let's see" Matt started reflectively, "Mimi is still in the U.S. and surprisingly they didn't deport her, yet. So my guess is: She's not coming."
"That's what we thought last time, too" TK reminded him grim.
"Scratch that. I have high hopes she's not coming."
"I talked to Sora on the phone" Kari went on, "but she hung up, as soon as I dropped Tai's name."
"He didn't even come along! Why would you mention him?"
"He said he would catch up later!" Kari explained, "Kept mumbling something about needing some more time, to reset his sleeping pattern..."
"Still, what did you expect?" Matt snorted, "He interrupted Sora while she was hitting on Mimi last year, and pretty much ruined it for her – so naturally she hates him now and forever. Why didn't you just say the team wants to meet up?"
"I know, I know…" Kari grumbled, "Well, Izzy is coming. That's… something…"
"Yeah, because surely he is there to meet up with us" Matt replied snarky.
"So, what about Joe?" TK asked.
"He's probably off sucking somebodies blood" Kari muttered.
"What is your deal with Joe?" Matt said incredulously, "Why do you always wonder about him?"
"He is the only one left!" TK countered angry, "Also he saved my live once, remember?"
"He dragged you out of the river, because he knew you had your milk money on you." Matt said, "He'd rather die than watching a single coin getting wasted!"
"Well, maybe that was part of it but -"
"No, that's it."
"You don't know that!"
"He never cared about any of us." Matt said, "Why would you be the exception?"
"Shut up!" TK yelled at his brother, "Just because nobody cares for you, doesn't mean they don't care about me, either!"
"People care about me..." Matt muttered grumpy, turning his face away from them.
"Oh, really? Who? Mom, Dad and I don't count!"
Matt remained silent.
"Wow, not even your imaginary tree?" Kari asked with a soft giggle.
Matt flipped her off without even looking at her.
They kept on walking, silent for another few minutes. When they had almost reached the TV-Station TK started speaking again.
"Can you imagine, it's been almost five years already?"
"You mean four years" Kari corrected him.
"No, I mean five years!"
"TK it was at the end of last year when the crew split up... again"
"Yeah, because that's the big takeaway from that day - "
"Can we not - go into detail, about that, TK?" Kari said shuddering, "I still have night terrors, sometimes... anyway, we met Wizardmon again, the summer prior to this. And that was our third anniversary. The third. Not the fourth, the third."
"No, no I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 2000 when we got sucked into –"
"2000?!" Kari and Matt called out simultaneously, stopping and turning to look at him in disbelief.
"Wait..." TK said startled, "Shit, no... let me think!"
"Man, you look really confused, right now." Matt said, frowning.
"Fine!" TK said gritting his teeth, "It was '99... four years ago! Are we done now?"
And with that, they walked on.
"Told you so" Kari said quickly.
"Whatever!" TK hissed, "You weren't there!"
"I joined you like – two days later!"
"It's been half a year for us!"
They came across Izzy sitting on a bench facing the TV-Station. He was a skinny, pale fourteen-year-old with dark gray eyes and scraggly red hair. He had his laptop on and candy bar in the one hand that wasn't typing.
"How come, you never gain an ounce of weight, when you're eating this junk night and day?"
"Nice to see you too, Matt" Izzy replied without looking up, "Also, do you really want me to get started on genes and how sugar facilitates ones intellectual capacity?"
"I was just having small talk" Matt sighed.
"So, what are you up to Izzy?" Kari asked rather kindly.
Izzy gave her puzzled look.
"Aren't we all supposed to meet up here for – what was it - Odaiba-Day?" he answered.
"For our anniversary!" Kari said annoyed, "Also how did you know? You wrote an e-mail to all of us, that you were heading out here, to collect some data… or something. I thought about telling you about the meet up, but I figured since you are already here…"
"Right… sure you did. I've been monitoring all of the group's messaging traffic, for nearly a year now. In fact, I knew before you hit the send button."
TK sighed in frustration.
"See?" he said to his brother "What did I tell you? We couldn't possible exclude him, even if we tried!"
"And you would be foolish, in doing so." Izzy said calmly, "But I forgive you. It's not like I'm the only one, getting mobbed out of the team, anyway."
"Doesn't mobbing mean something like a group of people teaming up to insult and exclude a single person?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow.
Surprised Izzy looked up to her.
"You are absolutely right! This term doesn't fit the situation at all!"
"So what's the data you're collecting?"
"Since our last and – technically first encounter, of a rather paranormal kind…"
"Why would you even ask him something like this?" Matt asked Kari annoyed, "Remember how long this went on, the last time you asked him, what a single line on the screen of his laptop meant?"
"I'm sorry, okay? I thought he might have gotten a little more... straight-to-the-point by now" Kari answered over Izzy's still ongoing monologue.
"You are so naive!"
"Says the guy, who voted for my brother as our leader!"
"Everyone had the same idea! That wasn't my fault! I still don't get why people like him. He is such a lazy asshole!"
"Maybe it's because you are the bigger asshole, so they chose the lesser evil"
"At least I would have gotten shit done!"
"Seriously, Matt?" TK intervened, "Is this, how you're doing things now? If Tai isn't around you just fight the next available Yagami?"
"No, that's not true at all!"
"Didn't you get into an argument with Tai and Kari's mom at the grocery store last week?"
"She was talking about making fries in the oven instead of the deep fryer! Who does that?"
There was a moment of awkward silence until they realized that Izzy had stopped talking and was now indignantly glaring at them.
"I'm sorry Izzy" Kari said, chuckling nervously, "what was that?"
"Long story short" Izzy sighed, "Wizardmon showed up here, last year, so I figured, I could gather some data about him or the other digital ghosts, doomed to haunt this world, until the end of days, because we mercilessly killed them. I think, I might be able to use that data to my advantage somehow."
"Well, at least that explains Phantomon." TK muttered more to himself than anyone else, but Izzy heard him:
"What, now you're wondering about the reasons behind that?"
"I mean, uh..." he trailed off, but then he continued confused: "But they are just ghosts. How could you benefit from that?"
"Well, for starters, me being able, to prove the existence of ghosts, even if they are just digital ones, would probably help me, gaining the attention of the national science community, at least. My intellect would then do rest; ensuring me a quick rise in the world of science, to the point when my influence alone will be the foundation for my future success."
"Wow, you really thought this through, didn't you?" Matt said shaking his head in disbelief, "You and Joe should launch a league of super-villains while you're at it..."
"Nah" Izzy huffed dismissive, "He is in for the money. Me? I'm in for the power. He can have his big mansion, they call money. But after a few years, as it collapses around him, guess who's gonna laugh at him, while watching from the old stone building, that is power, which will undoubtedly last for centuries!"
"I'm getting a little uncomfortable right now…" Kari said, crossing her arms before her chest.
"I know" Izzy said now paying even closer attention to whatever his laptop was displaying, "It looks like Wizardmon or one of the others, are trying to materialize themselves. It's only natural to get uneasy about that."
"That's not what I meant..." Kari said quietly.
A dark cloud began to form in front of them. Growing a first, then rapidly shrinking into the shape of a short man with gray skin, wearing a pointy wizards hat, a tattered cloak and patched clothing. The figure had a staff in his hand, with the top part resembling a sun.
"Look at that, it is Wizardmon" Izzy said mildly surprised, "Well, that worked perfectly."
"Oh, uh... good to see you, my friends" Wizardmon said somewhat startled, "Uh, I... didn't actually plan to show myself right now, to be honest... That's weird..."
"Oh, yeah actually I did that" Izzy explained, "I've been looking at everything we learned about you ghosts, so far and I used that knowledge to get you to materialize once you were in our general proximity."
"You baited him into materializing?" TK asked baffled, "But how -"
"TK!" Matt cut in sternly.
"- is it possible, that I didn't see this coming?" he finished his sentence robotic, "Seeing how much of a genius you are, as we all know..."
"I'm flattered..." Izzy said dry.
"So, uh..." Wizardmon said awkwardly, "Gatomon isn't with you, huh?"
"Nope." Kari said crossing her arms, "Damn tragedy, I know!"
"Yeah, if you couldn't tell already, our team is in great shape" Izzy said.
"Well, I don't wanna be rude and it was nice seeing you all..." Wizardmon said, "But I really didn't plan on this, so if you guys have anything to discuss, that's okay... but otherwise..."
"You got anymore prophecies for us?" TK asked.
"Well, I've..." Wizardmon started, obviously not enjoying to be put on the spot like that, "I've heard something about an infection, a few years down the road..."
The four kids looked at him eagerly.
"That's it. That's all I know."
"You suck" TK said.
"I died for you guys!"
"You died for Gatomon." Kari corrected him.
"But I knew it would also trigger your crest. I even told you, what feelings to focus on, so it would actually work!"
"Oh, that's what you were doing!" Kari realized, "I figured those were some weird last words..."
"Well, you died as you lived" TK said, "Giving us important information and/or prophecies – man, I'm really sorry... now that I think about it like that, you really don't suck."
"Pretty much" Izzy said, "Wizardmon, if I find a way to resurrect you, can we have you as our support instead of Gennai? I mean, honestly, everyone would be a step up from him, but having Mr. Exposition instead would be like winning the lottery, in return for killing a retarded coworker."
"I..." Wizardmon said, taken aback by Izzys analogy, "I guess so... Can't see why not. Anything else, you wanna talk about?"
"Well, I don't have anything" TK shrugged, "What about you guys?"
"Nope" Matt and Kari said in unison.
"In that case, nice seeing you again" Wizardmon said, waving them goodbye – before freezing.
"What?" he said perplexed, "Why can't I -"
"I figured, you would try that" Izzy said calm, "Look, I'm sorry, it had to come to this, but I got a lot of data to collect from you and I needed to make sure you wouldn't just disappear in the middle of it, so -"
"You fucking trapped him, dude?" TK asked half laughing.
"Essentially"
"One could really say" a voice behind TK chimed in, "He didn't stand a ghost of a chance, he he."
"God dammit, Phantomon!" TK barked.
"Hey, couldn't you have used him for your experiment, instead of – well, luring me into a trap?" Wizardmon said, now somewhat annoyed about this turn of events.
"That's a legitimate question" Izzy nodded, "Let's just say this: I would have, if somebody told me, he was here!"
"I didn't know!" TK defended himself, "He showed up less and less lately, I thought he was... I don't know – fading or something! Also we just talked about him! Why didn't you ask me? Most of the time, I'm the only one who can see him, anyways!"
"Ugh, fine!" Izzy said, "You know what Wizardmon? I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have used him over you. Because contrary to you, he never delivered even a fragment of a prophecy. I was hoping that I would get you, because frankly, you are the most interesting subject around."
"Now I am flattered" Wizardmon said, almost as dry as Izzy before him, but not quite.
The ghost sighed.
"So, how long do I have to stay?"
"Oh, not that long" Izzy said, "It should only take until... let's see... sunset, I think."
"Izzy, it's 1 p.m." Matt said, "And it's August."
"Well, it's not like he's running out of time, right Wizardmon?"
"Uh huh..." Wizardmon groaned, having thrown his head back and slouched his shoulders.
"So..." TK started awkwardly, "Since we have some time to kill, what have you been up to, lately, Wizardmon?"
"Not much..." Wizardmon said, "Afterlife isn't as eventful as some people make it out to be..."
He sighed again.
"What about you guys? I saw, you got some new team-mates."
"Well, not anymore..." Izzy said, "But sure, that story should be enough, to keep us entertained until the process is done."
"Right!" TK huffed, "Buckle up, Wizardmon! I'm sure we gonna need eight hours for this one."
Chapter One
Crap. We're getting rookies
"Well, so much for the meet up." TK said annoyed and sat back in his chair. It was roughly thirteen months before Izzy's ghost experiment. The eight DigiDestined had planned to meet in the computer lab of their school. Kari's brother Tai had initiated the appointment, surprisingly, considering he was usually the one to point out a problem, while Izzy would organize everything, to deal with it. TK and Kari made it, as well. But that was about it.
Despite his general laziness Tai was in very good shape, which was mostly due to his soccer training. He was tanned and had brown eyes and equally brown, voluminous, chaotic hair, standing off his head giving it an unexpected easily recognizable shape. Around his neck he wore a pair of goggles, an item that had become a signature feature of his.
"Yeah, this is crap." Tai said out louder than expected, probably in order to prevent himself from dozing off, "How come, we never get the band together?"
"Well, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with your crappy leadership…" TK muttered sarcastically.
"Or your constant whining and complaining." Tai answered grumpy.
"Shut up" TK said gritting his teeth, "You know I'm past that!"
"Past the whining" Tai agreed, nodding, "Not past the complaining. Seriously not even your brother is here! At least my sibling had the decency to join us!"
"You do realize, he most likely didn't come because he hates you to death, right?"
Tai silently glared at him for a few seconds - then he shrugged.
"Yeah, touché…"
"Okay, so what's the deal?" Kari asked rather impatiently. She had been checking her watch for the past twenty minutes.
"Not yet!" Tai growled, "I am not in the mood to tell this story more then once! So we will wait until everyone's here and -"
"Tai, I'm sorry, but nobody else is coming!" Kari said insistently, "We have a life, too. Please, tell us what is going on!"
"We need more people to deal with this problem anyway!"
"So what's the plan then?"
"Wait"
"For what?"
"Okay, I have a plan B in case the others won't show up." Tai said.
"They didn't show up" Kari said quickly, "Tell us!"
"Right soooo"
"You are so lucky, I actually care to help you." an disembodied voice said calmly, "And thus we actually have a plan B"
"Izzy, is that you?" Tai said confused and looked around in the room.
The voice sighed.
"No, it's the other smart guy who likes to help you", he said sarcastically.
"Gennai?"
"Pft – good one!", Izzy huffed, "Shut up and listen! I got you some -"
"Where are you?" Kari asked extremely confused.
"Turn on the monitor of the only running PC in the lab" Izzy said moderately annoyed, but by Kari interrupting him and not the fact, that everyone surrounding him was consistently clueless. He got used to that years ago.
After a quick search, the trio turned on the monitor of the Computer closest to them. On the screen, there was an open window displaying Izzy in his room – in astonishing one to three frames per second.
"How can you hear us?" Kari asked in awe.
"I bought small microphone and taped it under the desk. It's quite cheap but it should do the trick. I can hear you clear... -ish. Just – don't talk over each other... While we're on the topic, I hid a webcam in the locked drawer of the desk. Key's in the teacher's desk. Just plug it in, the cable is already connected to the PC, I can do the rest from here."
TK walked over to the teachers desk.
"In the meantime -" Izzy said but Tai cut him off.
"Hang on" he said in a mix of disbelief and wonder, "Did you turn on that PC remotely from your home?"
"Don't be ridiculous" Izzy answered dismissively, "I hacked into it and prevented it from turning off. But it appears, someone turned off the screen manually, so there's that."
"Well, good thing they didn't turn off the speakers as well or otherwise you would have had a problem." TK pointed out smirking, after he plugged in the webcam.
"Not at all." Izzy argued seemingly surprised about this assumption, "I could have easily called you or send you a text. You are still underestimating the powers of technology, aren't you? Haven't you learned anything from our time in the Digital World?"
"It's okay, I get the point" TK said eyes rolling.
"Splendid. Now listen -"
"One more thing"
"TK, I swear, if you interrupt me again..." Izzy hissed
"I'm sorry! But why are you pulling this Back-to-the-Future-II-crap instead of just, you know, dropping by the school? Seriously this is way too much effort just to talk to us."
"It isn't for me..." Izzy muttered, "Well, first off: Back-to-the-future-II-crap? These aren't the eighty's anymore. And don't act like you were even alive back then. Also, do you expect me to work with this prehistoric – let's call it 'technology' for fun – the school has to offer and get anything done in less than two years? Also, I like to work with you people remotely, that way I'm able to mute you whenever I want. I suppose, I don't have to explain to you how that wouldn't work, if you were right next to me!"
After a short pause, following Izzy's rant, Kari spoke out:
"He's got a point there"
"Let's not go down that rabbit hole" Izzy replied, "If we were to count every point I get during our conversations, we would be here for at least another three hours."
"So, while we're on the topic, tell them what's our plan B" Tai said winking, signaling him to play along.
"Excuse me? Our plan B?" Izzy said, clearly offended.
"Yes" Tai winked again, nodding, "Our plan B. Come on man tell them, we've been here for like... hours!"
"Oh, now you're hustling!" Kari muttered.
Izzy silently stared at Tai for a solid ten seconds, almost making the other three believe, his program had crashed.
"That's it" he said, sounding like a man who just gave up, "This is the last time, I'm letting you, Taichi Yagami, take credit for my work!"
"Wait a sec!" Tai protested, "I didn't take credit that often!"
"Before today, you did it twice!" Izzy said cold, "And I can tell you precisely when and how!"
"Yeah... no it's okay I can see that"
"So, now everyone, I've decided" Izzy continued, "this is the last time I am going to help you, as long as he is the leader!"
"Really? That's all it took?" Tai said raising an eyebrow, "Three times of me stealing your ideas, is enough to make you wanna stop working with us?"
"Since you put it like this – yes! I think three times is way more than enough!"
"Fine! Tell us your plan B then"
"You think this is going to change my mind?"
"Am I the only one thinking, it's a tad too early, to talk about plan B, when we don't even know what plan A was?" TK argued, arms crossed.
"You might think that" Izzy said, "Until you realize, that plan A was operating with the full crew."
"Okay, my bad" TK said, "What I meant was: What is the mission and why does plan A always suck?"
"That's fair" Tai said.
"Izzy, please! Just tell us!" Kari begged.
"Alright, I'll tell you, but no interruptions this time around!"
The trio nodded eagerly, except for Taichi, who nodded normally (which, on the other hand, could be considered eagerly, in his case).
"So basically, I got you backup."
"Backup? - Oh!" Tai said confused, but then quickly raising his hand, as Izzy furious glare hit him.
Izzy sighed.
"Yes, Tai?"
"Soooo... you got us the military?"
"What is wrong with you?"
"It's a legit question!"
"I am thirteen! How am I supposed to make the military support us?!"
"I don't know – because you helped saving the world and stuff?"
"Right, as if anyone remembers that!" Izzy said sarcastically, "No, I got you kids, who are bound to be DigiDestined at some point."
"Rookies?" TK moaned, "Are you serious?"
"What do you mean other DigiDestined?" Tai said incredulously, "There are no other DigiDestined. There's eight: us!"
"Also, if they are future DigiDestined, how did you find them in the first place?" Kari asked.
"I... I had help, okay?" Izzy said begrudgingly.
"Wait, you needed help for something?" TK said chuckling, "Isn't that, like, a sign of the apocalypse or something?"
Tai fist-bumped TK.
"I cannot track down DigiDestined, you should know that! Otherwise, I would have tracked down Kari, the minute we learned about the eighth DigiDestined! I would need data, which is out of my reach, for that task!"
"So who helped you?" Tai asked.
Izzy sighed again
"Gennai... yeah, yeah! Laugh it up!"
Tai exchanged looks with TK and Kari.
"Seems legit, to me"
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, Gennai always helped us out" TK added shrugging, "Why would we laugh?"
"Oh, where do I even start, there's so much wrong with that sentence..." Izzy said face-palming, "Let me phrase it like this: Etemon helped the progress in our journey more, than Gennai did."
"Now that's a bit harsh!" Kari argued.
"Is it? Everyone compare the time loss we suffered by dealing with Etemon, to the one we experienced by Gennai not telling us important information or forgetting about such, entirely."
Silence.
"Don't say it, I know I have a point!"
"So where's your backup?" Tai asked grinning, "Are they outside waiting for their cue to come in?"
"Actually, I don't know" Izzy admitted.
"Wait, you don't know?"
"Shut up TK" Izzy said in passing, "They should have been here" he added checking the clock on his monitor, "Half an hour ago!"
"So?" Tai shrugged, "I've been late twenty-four hours once"
"Oh, yeah" TK recalled smiling, "I remember you asking how Myotismon got so huge all over sudden... Good times"
"No, it's not." Izzy corrected him, "It's the polar opposite. Back to the topic at hand, I gave them very specific directions. I send them the damn coordinates, for crying out loud!"
"So, they are not very good with directions" Tai said, "That's not unheard of, in our team. I mean, maybe not that extreme but..."
"The thing is, this very much confirms the suspicion, I got by communicating with them via text messages. To me it seems like they are not… how do I put this… up to par, okay?"
"Whoa" Kari said and turn pale.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Tai asked his sister, concerned.
"What's wrong? He said they aren't up to par" Kari explained, "We didn't exactly set up a high bar, to begin with. Am I the only one here, who is seriously freaked out by this?"
"You're not" Izzy reassured her, "I did the math"
"Relax" Tai said, "I'm sure it won't be that bad"
"Well based on the conversations, I had with all of them, I think it's very likely that two of them are dumb as bricks" Izzy argued.
"Well, how many kids you got us?"
"Three"
"Okay sis, I'm with you now. We are probably fucked."
"Now, there was a fourth candidate." Izzy said contemplative, "Appeared to be smart, but A: They declined my offer and B: I don't know who they are."
"But" Kari said confused, "How did you contact them if you don't even know who they are?"
"Gennai gave me some stupid, convoluted method to contact them all, without revealing their identity to me."
"That's dumb" TK huffed, "Why?"
"I don't know some privacy bullshit" Izzy growled annoyed, "This whole thing could have gone a lot smoother, if I could just monitor them, like every other DigiDestined!"
"Wait – What?" Kari exclaimed.
"My point is" Izzy said quickly, "I – I don't even know what went wrong with that kid! Gennai gave me profiles of their personalities, so I would be able to persuade them, more efficiently, to convene with us today"
"So you could do – what?" Tai asked.
"Ugh! I made promises to them, so they would come here to meet us! I promised that kid power! You know what their response was? It was quote, unquote: Nah, I'm good"
"That's weird" TK said, "Are you sure, you made the right offer?"
"I had a psychological profile of them, so I'm pretty fucking certain I knew, what I was doing!" he yelled.
"Alright, alright, geez…"
"You are one to talk…" Izzy muttered.
"So, what should we do now?" Kari asked.
"Since we have no way of dealing with the threat in the Digital World right away" Izzy started, "I'd say we have not much of a choice, than to wait for the rookies to arrive"
The others stared at him eagerly, almost expecting him to continue.
"Meaning we have no other options, than to wait." Izzy clarified.
Silence fell upon the group.
"Again with the waiting!" TK groaned, "So, I guess it's back to square one than."
"What are you talking about?" Izzy asked, "I mean we didn't exactly accomplish much but -"
"No, I mean the screensaver just came on"
"Great... somebody move the mouse" Izzy spoke from behind the computer-animated aquarium, now gracing the screen, "And Tai? Tell us your story, would you? Since we apparently have some time to kill, we might as well make it worth while."
"Dude, I told you I wont -"
"I know, I know" Izzy said soothing, "I'll debrief the rookies once we completed our objective. Just go ahead."
Tai hesitated.
"I mean I will explain everything to them once we are done! Go!"
"O- kay... I guess" Tai said before clearing his throat, "So there I was, just hanging out with Agumon in the Digital World and -"
"Wait!" Izzy interrupted him annoyed, "How did you get there?"
"The hell would I know?"
"Are you serious right now?"
"I am!" Tai answered, "My Digivice started beeping, then I just pointed it at the monitor of my dad's PC, and just got sucked in."
He shrugged.
"That's it?" Izzy asked, "Just like that? Did it give you any instructions, to do so?
"No man, I just had a feeling, you know?"
"A feeling... That's just great we can't even reconstruct the situation!"
"Wait a minute, of course we can" Tai said standing up, "I just need to point my Digivice at this monitor and see what happens."
"Wait" Izzy intervened impatiently, "You really shouldn't do that"
"Why not?"
"Because there is so many ways this could go wrong! For starters, you said we would need more people to deal with the situation there"
"Well, I don't wanna deal with it myself, I just wanna, like, poke my head in, you know?"
"Okay, then what? After you 'poked your head in' how are you planning to return? For all we know, you could easily end up trapped in there."
"No – I mean yes! Yes, I do know how to get out again."
"You don't say" TK huffed sarcastically.
"All I need, is a TV or a monitor or something, then I point my Digivice at it and bam – I'm back."
"What if you end up somewhere entirely different than last time? What if there is no Agumon and no monitors near by?"
"It's the Digital World! There's monitors everywhere!"
"No, you're wrong" Izzy argued face-palming, "You seriously should not do this."
"Nah, don't be a baby, it'll be fine!" Tai said pointing his Digivice at the monitor.
"Tai..." Kari said worried.
"Look man, I'm with Izzy maybe you shouldn't..."
But Tai didn't back down. Determined he held up his Digivice, not caring about the possible consequences.
For maybe half a minute.
"Eh, didn't work" he shrugged and sat back down.
"Well, that was pointless" TK mumbled.
"I disagree" Izzy said, "I think we still learned something from Tai's little self-experiment."
"That my plans suck and I shouldn't be the leader anymore?"
"Huh, maybe hope isn't lost for you, after all." Izzy said mildly surprised, "Anyway, now with that out of the way, continue Tai."
"Wha- oh, yeah. The story." Tai said.
He cleared his throat again.
"So anyway, Agumon and I were just hanging out, catching up, you know -"
"We don't care about your happy reunion!" Izzy interrupted vigorously, "Tell us what we need to know!"
"I was getting there" Tai growled back, "So we were chatting and then suddenly some douche bag came riding in on an Airdramon, a human by the way, and started throwing some weird black rings at the Digimon around us, making them all aggressive and shit."
"Black devices that turn Digimon into aggressive killing machines. Haven't heard that before." Izzy said.
"Well, you gotta admit though, riding on an Airdramon is pretty bad-ass." TK argued impressed.
"Shut up! This guy is a fucking asshole, I hope he dies in a fire!" Tai snapped at him, furious.
"Oh my god" Kari said startled, knowing that her brother wasn't easily upset, "What did he do to them?"
"Well, for starters he treated them like shit and he called them all Jews!"
The group hesitated, not knowing how to respond.
"That..." TK started confused "... Doesn't sound too bad -"
"No, you don't understand!" Tai explained hastily, "He said it in a very spiteful way! Like, if I was calling you an asshole."
"I feel like you should be more specific than that" TK chuckled.
"Hey, take this fucking seriously, okay?!" Tai barked, "This guy is an antisemitic prick, who need's to be dealt with! We need to go in there and take him out, now!"
"Tai, I agree, using the term Jew as an insult is indeed very stupid" Izzy said calmly, "Still, I don't understand why you of all people would get so unreasonably furious about this."
"Me of all people?!" Tai shouted, now starting to fly into a rage and, surprisingly, jumping up from his chair.
"Calm down!" Izzy said sternly, "You fell asleep in combat before. It's not exactly hard to be of the assumption, that stuff like that, is usually not tangent to you."
"ME OF ALL – You know what you sound like, right know?"
"Enlighten me"
"You sound exactly like the people, who enabled Hitler to take over Germany, back in the thirties!"
"Oooh, now I get it!" Kari said suddenly, "They're talking about German Death Camps in Tai's history class, right now!"
"Keepin' up the great mood, I see..." TK said grumpy.
"Seriously, what kind of a fucked up society are we living in, where people, even after all the bullshit happening in history, think of the word Jew as a fucking insult?! People like him are cancer! Fuck racism! Fuck antisemitism! Just kill 'em all, man!"
"Considering the context, I am not to sure, if that would be an appropriate response." Izzy argued.
"Well it's appropriate to me asshole..." Tai murmured sitting back down, "That's it. I'm done. I'm gonna take a nap until the rookies arrive."
"Excuse me?" a female voice said, from behind Tai.
"GOD DAMMIT!"
Tai spun around Three kids had just arrived and were now standing in the door, uncertainly.
The Girl who had spoken out was rather tall and thin, wore glasses and had long purple hair. Next to her were two boys. The first one was just as tall as her, with spiky brown hair and (much to Tai's displease) a pair of goggles on his forehead. The last kid was shorter and appeared a bit younger. He had his hair in a straight bowl cut and, in stark contrast to his companions, he wore rather unremarkable clothes with muted colors. In addition he had quite an expressionless face.
"Ah, look who finally arrived!" Izzy said with false enthusiasm, "How can it be so hard to find a damn computer-lab in this school?!"
"Where did that voice come from?" The goggle kid asked scared.
"Oh, for the love of – turn the monitor back on!"
Kari rushed to the screen and a few seconds later Izzy was visible again.
"Oh, my gosh, it's Izzy Izumi!" The new girl squealed suddenly, and started bouncing up and down excitedly, "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"
"Izzy Izumi? Wow, way to prove my point..." Izzy said baffled, shaking his head.
"Hey, dude" the goggle-kid started, "not trying to be rude or anything, but what's with the directions you gave us?"
"The perfectly reasonable and easy to follow guidance I gave you?" Izzy asked in a threatening tone.
"Uh, no?" goggles said defiantly, "It was just a bunch of numbers. What the hell was that about?"
Izzy's head was on his desk at this point. They heard muffled groans, it almost sounded like he was in pain.
"Plus" the goggle-head continued, ignoring Izzy's suffering, "we had to deal with this annoying kid for like... hours!"
Izzy slowly rose his head back up, looking at the smaller kid the boy was pointing at with his thumb. The shorter boy was staring blankly and silently back at Izzy.
"Yeah, I see you went through some serious torment to get to this point" Izzy said putting his head back down, "Congratulations! You passed. You're part of the crew. Happy fucking Birthday!"
"Well, we don't even know if that's really them" Kari said soothingly.
"Yeah, I mean" The girl said hesitantly, "Where is the food, Izzy-Senpai?"
"Oh, god it's them!" Izzy cried out.
"Wait, food?" TK asked puzzled, "What did you tell them, this meeting was about Izzy?"
"Ugh, I told you I made all of them promises, so they would come here." Izzy explained now slowly recovering his composure, "Well, the girl I promised pizza, the – annoying one, I guess – I promised justice and that moron with the goggles, I promised Hikari."
"Wait, what!?" Kari and Tai shouted in unison.
"Relax" Izzy said, "Do you see Italian food or the Dark Knight in here?"
"No, but I see my sister in here!" Tai countered.
"Point is, nobody is getting what they were promised. Hey rookies!"
The new kids looked around confused.
"Are you... talking to us?" The boy with the goggles asked confused.
"No! I'm talking to the other three rookies who just came in!"
The goggle-boy and the girl hesitantly turned their heads around toward the open door.
Izzy banged his head on the table again.
"Somebody please come over here and kill me!" he cried in agony, "I have now witnessed, what I believe to be the absolute low of the human mind! I don't wanna be proven wrong by seeing anything lesser!"
"Well, it depends" Tai said contemplative, "How would you want to -"
"I was exaggerating, Tai!"
"Hey, man cheer up" TK said positively, "We were also pretty stupid back when you met us, remember?"
"Still are" Izzy sobbed lifting his head again, "But at least you already knew what sarcasm was back then."
"Oh! That was sardellism!" The kid with the goggles exclaimed, "Now I get it! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
The pain on Izzy's face vanished. He stared at the rookies.
"I changed my mind" he said, "Kill them, not me. It's for the greater good."
"Wait wha- ?" the girl said afraid.
"He's just kidding." Kari quickly said to her, "Right Izzy?"
"I don't know" Izzy said cold, "Am I?"
"Izzy look" TK said insistently, "We don't even know if that's the real deal"
"Oh, it's them! Trust me!"
"No, I mean, maybe Gennai made a mistake"
"Ha!" was Izzy's cynical reply.
"All I'm saying is that we have no proof that they are really meant to be DigiDes-"
TK was interrupted by three glowing orbs shooting out of the computer-screen, one red, one blue and one yellow. The orbs flew through the room and straight at the rookies. Albeit surprised, they instinctively caught them with their hands, where they transformed into three newly designed Digivices, each with accents in their respective colors. Goggle-head had the blue one, the girl the red one and the shorter boy the yellow one.
"You were saying?" Tai said looking at TK, eyebrows raised.
Now it was up to TK and Izzy to speak in unison:
"Crap!"
Izzy took a deep breath.
"Okay, now that we know that you're -" he let out a short and humorless laughter, "- actually meant to be DigiDestined -"
"We're gonna be DigiDestined?" The goggle-head call out excited, "That's so -!"
"Shut up." Izzy interrupted him, "Fuck it, since we apparently have to work together now, tell us your names. I suppose at this point it wouldn't cause much damage."
"Why would it... cause damage?" The girl asked, clearly still nervous because of Izzys death threat.
"Well, I was trying to handle all of this, the way you would if you had, say, a stray animal in your apartment. Once names get involved, the possibility of emotional attachment arises, something I desperately wanted to avoid the second you first opened your mouths" Izzy said, before pausing and looking at the boy with the blank stare, "Well, since - most of you did. In other words, once you name it, you're fucked. But, eh... communication's still a necessity, so let's just get this over with."
"Alright!" the goggle-kid said enthusiastically, "My name is Davis and ever since the crazy stuff, you guys pulled off three years ago, I wanted to become a DigiDestined myself. And now that I am, I wanna be the very best, like no one -"
"Great!" Izzy interrupted annoyed, "Next!"
"Oh, come on, Izzy." Tai said, apparently amused by the unfolding situation, "At least we now know there are people actually remembering, what we did back in the day!"
"Whoop-dee-fucking-doo!"
"Okay" TK interfered, "Why don't we just skip the introductions and just give you shitty nicknames - I mean code names! Goggle-head -"
"Is this my code name?"
"No! I was getting there!"
"Oh, so... why didn't you say Davis then?"
"Because I don't care about your real name wannabe! There... that's your code name - Wannabe. Done."
"So" the girl started somewhat hesitantly, "Are we still doing introductions? Because I wanna go next, can I go next, Izzy-Senpai?"
"Scratch that" TK sighed, "She is Wannabe now, you're Discount-Tai... I don't care"
"I feel kinda offended by that" Tai said grumpy.
"You should" TK reassured him, nodding.
"Okay, so my name is Yolei and I'm like you're biggest fan, Izzy-Senpai. When I saw how you defeated Diaboromon by sending him e-mails, it totally made me wanna learn coding – "
While she was still rambling, Izzy sighed and clicked on something with his mouse. A second passed and suddenly his facial expression relaxed. He closed his eyes, leaned back and let her continue for another ten to fifteen seconds before waving dismissively with one hand, saying, "Sure... next"
Yolei stopped dead in her tracks before looking to the floor, saddened.
Now, the short boy stated his name.
Izzy sat back up, clicking his mouse again.
"Come again?" he said.
"Cody" the boy simply said.
"See? That right there is a good answer! Short and to the point. I don't care about your fucking hobbies..."
"Hang on" Kari said suspiciously, "Did you just mute us?"
Izzy stared at her.
"Never mind... dumb question." she said in defeat.
"Okay, so you are... Blank. Who cares..." TK said.
"Well, great" Izzy said, "Now, as we already established, I'm Izzy, our OG-goggle-kid over there is called Tai, the blond one is TK -"
"What's that stand for?" Davis interrupted.
"Do you mind?" Izzy asked angrily, "I am trying to get this over with!"
"It's short for Takeru." TK explained.
"Then where does the 'K' come in -"
"Moving on! And finally the girl is Tais sister Kari"
"Thanks for labeling me 'the girl'" Kari muttered.
"Oh, yeah? Try 'the blond one'." TK argued.
"You would have had a point, if it wasn't for the fact that there's no other girls or blond people on our side to introduce." Izzy said calmly.
"Oh..." TK said, "Right..."
"So, now that we know each other" Izzy started, clearly forcing himself to sound like nothing of annoyance happened, "Let's all stick to the plan of getting this over with quickly. Get to the Digital World, take out that antisemitic prick Tai encountered and then let's all go our separate ways. And let's make them as separate as humanly possible."
"Ah, they don't have any Digimon." TK pointed out.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll bump into them along the way." Izzy said, "That's usually how it works in the Digital World..."
"That sounds weird coming from you" Tai said, "Shouldn't you consider the worst-case-scenario, as usual?"
"Well, it doesn't look like their partners are going to emerge from this screen, like their Digivices did. So, I don't think they've got much of a choice, but to go in there and search for them."
"About going in there" Kari said, "I know you wanna explain everything to them after we're done, but wouldn't it be more helpful, if we told them now? You know, about the situation and who our enemy is?"
"Yeah, man" Davis said, "I'm like, really lost right now"
"Alright" Izzy sighed, "Tai can you take this one? Just bullet points, you don't have tell the whole story, again"
"Why not you?"
"Because, I feel like you're better at – how do phrase this – speaking there language."
"Thanks... I guess..." Tai grumbled, "Okay, listen up! In – Digi-World – evil – dickhead – ensla- wait, is there an easier word for 'enslave'? Cuz I feel like he won't get that." he added pointing at Davis.
"Yeah, I'm still lost"
"And there I was, thinking, my life hit rock bottom on August first 1999." Izzy said slowly shaking his head, "You know, stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, in another dimension. Surrounded by deadly monsters and a bunch of morons. Of all the times I could have been wrong about something... so sad."
"Oh, my god!" TK said annoyed before clearing his throat, "Guys! Apparently there's an evil human kid in the Digital World."
"I never said, he was a kid" Tai replied.
"Oh, they're letting in adults now?" TK asked facetiously.
"Point..." Tai sighed.
"Apparently he's mind-controlling Digimon, making them all evil and shit. We need to go in there and take him out so everything goes back to normal."
"What do you mean take him out?" Yolei asked concerned.
"Kill him. It means, kill him!" Izzy said insistently, "Do we really need to spell everything -"
"What?" Yolei shrieked, causing Izzy to grimace from pain, "We can't just kill people! That's wrong!"
"Here we go..." Izzy whispered rolling his eyes.
"Uh, yeah we can." Tai said defiantly, "And you better get used to it. Because that's how we roll. Although, coming to think of it, I don't think we ever killed a human before... We killed Digimon in the real world before, does that count? Because they, sure as hell, ain't coming back"
"Just open the damn gate!" Izzy answered face-palming.
"Oh yeah, Einstein? How?"
"He has a point, you know" TK shrugged, "We couldn't recreate the way Tai got in, so..."
"Except he doesn't, because we haven't tried it with the new Digivices yet. Now: Blank, Wannabe, Discount-Tai" Izzy continued addressing the rookies, "line up in front of the monitor and point your Digivices at the screen."
Davis complied, but Yolei and Cody didn't move.
"What?" Izzy asked through gritted teeth.
"I told you, I won't kill anyone!" Yolei replied stubborn.
"Me neither" Cody added.
"Fine! You're the support then."
"I won't help you killing people, either!"
"Me neither"
"Only one person!" Izzy barked, before taking a deep breath, "But fine! We'll just capture him and – show him the error of his ways somehow, I don't know."
While still talking, he typed something on his keyboard for a moment.
"Wait, have we ever turned someone before?" TK asked concerned, "Do we even know, how to do that?"
Tais cellphone buzzed, so he checked his text messages, only to find one from Izzy:
Keep rookies in the dark!
Killing still the priority
Show this to TK and Kari, too
Tai smirked and showed the message to TK and Kari.
"What is it?" Yolei asked curiously and leaned toward them to see the message, but Tai pulled the phone away from her.
"Not for you, rookies" he said, "It's an inside joke, so you wouldn't get it anyway"
He exchanged quick looks with his sister and TK. TK nodded, smirking, too. Kari, on the other hand look concerned; apparently she wasn't to eager, to kill somebody either. But after a stern look from her brother, she nodded begrudgingly. But one thing didn't add up.
"Huh" Tai said before texting Izzy back:
How did you text me?
You didn't use your phone
Once the message was sent Izzy grabbed something off screen, presumably his phone, and glanced at it for a moment before putting it back.
"From my computer" he said short.
"What?" Yolei asked confused.
"I wasn't talking to you" Izzy said gruff, "Do you really think you have my undivided attention?"
"No! Of course not Izzy-Senpai!"
"Splendid" Izzy said disinterested, "So: Now are we good to go? Ready to stop that asshole in the Digital World?"
"As long as we're not killing him -"
"We won't! We went over this! So now, rookies: One of you point your Digivice at the monitor" Izzy demanded, "Tai, Kari and TK: Each pick one the rookies and put your hand on their shoulder"
"Why?"
"Because we don't know how this type if gate works." Izzy explained, "For all we know it could grant only them access to the Digital World unless you, well, hang on to them. Although, even that might not work."
"Sounds like fun..." Tai moaned.
TK was quick to put his hand on Cody's shoulder, while Kari chose the lesser of two evils in Yolei, leaving Tai with -
"I hate you guys" he sighed, placing his hand on Davis' shoulder.
"Everybody ready?" Izzy asked.
"I was born ready" Davis said excited. In fact so excited, that Tai felt the need to say:
"Before you get anymore giddy, while I have my hand on your shoulder, just remember that I could easily add my other hand and strangle you instead!"
"Got it!" Davis nodded confidently.
"I would bet money, that you don't"
Yolei raised her Digivice and pointed at at the screen. A few seconds passed before a small window appeared on the monitor.
"Ah, Izzy-Senpai? A window just popped up and -"
"I know I started monitoring your screen since the last time it turned off"
"What's it saying?" TK asked, cracking up, "Cannot compute, idiocy overload?"
"Good one" Kari chuckled.
"No..." Yolei said staring at the screen, seemingly not even a little bit offended , "It says: Gate to the Digital World. Open?"
"Subtle" Izzy said.
"B-but there's nothing to click on!" Yolei panicked, "W-what am I supposed to do Izzy-Senpai?"
"Relax" Izzy insisted, "Try a vocal command."
"Right" she said nervously, "Uh... Open, gate to the Digital World!"
"Maybe try being less cheesy next time" Izzy said eye-rolling.
Nothing happened.
"You mean like - now?" TK asked.
But suddenly they heard a scream, out in the hallway followed by a loud swooshing sound.
"What is that?" Kari asked worried.
"What is what?" Izzy asked, "The mic on your end sucks"
"Sounds like water" Tai said.
"Yeah, tons of it" TK said uneasy.
"Oh, yeah" Izzy said as something seemed to dawn on him, "I figured this could happen again."
"What do you -" Tai started but was cut off by an enormous tidal wave, bursting in through the door, swallowing all of them whole.
Author's note:
So, yeah. Here you go. The Prologue and the first chapter of Digital Morons 2.0 (As the title was intended to be written, until I realized, this website doesn't support punctuation in story titles - hooray!).
Feedback is very much welcome, especially in regards to word choice and grammar, seeing how English isn't my first language.
As for new chapters I am planning on releasing them on a monthly basis, which should hopefully give me enough time to write all this. I have written a few chapters in advance, so I should have a nice head start. I was planning on releasing this yesterday already, but I hadn't made my account yet, so the 12 hour waiting period kinda took me by surprise. For future chapters I'll try to stick to the 26th of the month as an upload date - no promises though... we'll see how well this goes once I'm running out of pre-written chapters...
That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this at least as much as I did writing it!
Thanks for reading!