Chapter 1
Koushiro walked into the dark and empty computer's room, quietly sitting in front of a monitor and waiting for the others to arrive. He sure had a lot to do that day, guiding the small group that could travel to the many areas in need to be restored. Today he'd just wait for Daisuke, Hikari, Takeru, Sora and probably Yamato to join Taichi while he assisted them from the other side. Looking around the empty room, he took a deep breath before opening the digital map that would indicate where they should be working for the day.
No longer than 5 minutes passed as the younger part of the group entered the room. Hikari and Takeru were laughing likely at something Daisuke likely did or said. The girl wore a pink winter dress with a red scarf and a white beret, carrying Tailmon between her arms. The blond boy was dressed with a green sweatshirt with a light green waistcoat over it, gray shorts and his traditional white hat with Patamon upon it. The leader of them carried his partner Demiveemon playfully in his arms, wearing a new dark brown jacket he got for Christmas that just looked like the one he wore in the digital word, light blue jeans and as always his google glasses. Examining the room, he changed his goofy expression into a confused one.
"Huh? Where are the others?" asked Daisuke observing the empty room.
"Taichi mentioned something about an exam. They'll probably be here at anytime." Hakari said with a light smile, taking a seat beside Koushiro, and inviting the two other boys to join her.
"So, what are we up to for the day?" Daisuke just turned his eyes to catch up with whatever was on the screen Koushiro was working. They were still using the black towers' map as a tool to tell them where should the team go and fix whatever was needed to be fixed.
Koushiro pointed at a group of black squares grouped together in the middle of the ocean "Genai has just e-mailed me with some information about this region. There are a lot of digimons there, some of them still using an Evil Spiral from the time Ken used to be the Emperor. I think it's time for us to get there and work things out. The bad news is that Agumon, Byomon and Gabumon won't digivolve unless you take down the nine towers spread there. What do you think about it?"
"Well, I think we're already late to do so. We should get going if we want to get here by the end of the day" Answered Yamato while entering the room, holding Sora with his hand on her shoulder. The blond boy was using his traditional green uniform from Odaiba High, carrying his bass case. His girlfriend, on the other side, was wearing a cute red winter coat with a white scarf.
"I think we can hold on while Hikari, Takeru and Daisuke do that" Sora added with a light smile, giving her boyfriend a look to confirm her point of view.
"And what about Taichi? Where is he?" Asked Takeru, searching for the other Digidestined that was supposed to follow them to the digital world.
"He's being held by lovely Mai outside the building. He'll reach us later." Added Yamato with a sarcastic funny smile, glancing at his girlfriend, who rolled her eyes showing her disapproval. The girl was not on the group's scheme before the battle on New Year's Eve, but she's been involved in a thing with Taichi for over four months, and for many of the group she just didn't fit in.
Yamato was a celebrity guy in school due to his band. However, Taichi had his own charm with many girls for his outgoing and athlete style. Since he turned into the soccer team's captain, a league of girls chased him in the halls, including one of his affairs, Mai. Differently from his blond best friend, he really enjoyed making girls giving him sighs when he smiles, going out with a lot of them in the past year.
"Ok, let's go then!" Daisuke stood up, followed by his two younger friends sitting right next to him. They all took their position in front of the monitor, getting their digivices. "Digiportal, open!" They pointed their digivices to the screen, and suddenly a strong light took the whole place, carrying the five Digidestined while disappearing.
The portal guided them into a dense jungle. The high trees covered the place with large dark green leaves, weakening the sunlight that was above them. The silence was only broken by the sound of sea waves crashing nearby. Slowly the Digidestined started to wake up from their long trip, alerted by the sound of footsteps that happened to be Gabumon's and Byomon's.
"Hey guys! Time to wake up! There are many Flymon flying around here, and if they catch us like this we'll have to start a fight" Gabumon told the group while helping Daisuke moving away from Yamato's chest.
"Well, we know what to do. Me, Hikari and Daisuke will use our Digi-eggs to bring down the towers from the north, west and east in that order." Takeru carried a worried expression while explaining the plan to the older ones. "You guys have to be careful, since Gabumon and Byomon won't be able to digivolve at least for now".
"Don't worry. We'll follow you carefully on the ground, and as soon as we can use our digivices, we'll help you out with those digimon" Added Sora. "We are texting Taichi so he could meet us on the northern area, and then we'll get to the Southern area." She said once more.
... ... ... …
As Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke with Pegasumon, Nefertimon and Raidramon left to the to the West, East and North respectively, Yamato and Sora headed north carefully, followed by Gabumon and Byomon.
The couple walked accompanied by an uncomfortable silent, that was only broken by the quick chat Gabumon and Byomon made with their partners. "Yamato how is the band going?" the blue digimon asked. "Oh, it's fine. We'll have a rehearsal today after we're done here. Will you join us Sora?"
The blond boy stared at his girlfriend, unsure of what would be her answer. "I don't know yet, but I think so. Let's see how tired we'll be when we get out of here" The girl gently smiled, staring at his blue confused eyes and then facing the ground one more time.
Things were doing just fine between them before Valentine's day. They started dating on Christmas's Eve and since then, everything was leading them into a serious and strong relationship. Since both of them have similar thoughts about dealing with people's feeling, there was no heavy discussion or any lasting argue for what matters. Sora just wondered why and how did it happened so fast.
On Valentine's Day, Yamato came out of nowhere with three words that she was definitely not ready to handle. The three words that on that moment, she could never say back. She liked him, otherwise she'd never have gone after him on Christmas. But still, her heart was not sure about how far she could go with it. And unfortunately, Yamato had the feeling that something between them just started going down the hill after that.
"Did you tell Taichi where we are going to meet him?" The pink digimon asked her partner to break another silence between the group.
As Yamato took another glance at her girlfriend, waiting for the answer, she figured out someone had probably asked her something that she didn't pay attention to. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Sora asked embarrassed. Yamato gave her a soft look, and asked the question that her digimon did first "Did you tell Tacihi where to meet us?"
"Oh! Yes, I texted him just a while ago." She faced the ground once again, feeling awful for flying deep on her thoughts while he talked to her.
"I'm sorry, I think I might be on a bad day." The auburn tried to justify herself and smooth the dense air between them. The digimons, followed by her boyfriend, both gave her a friendly smile and kept on going.
The darkness caused by the huge leaves was starting to diminish as they approached a cliff right beside a beach area. They walked cautiously, trying not to make any noise enough to call the Flymon's that flew above them. All they could hear was the sound of wind bumping into the trees' limbs and what would probably be the attack from Raidramon crashing a black tower.
Suddenly their digivices started glowing, giving them the sign that their partners could digivolve from that moment on. It was time for them to start working and hold back the digimons that tried to pull Daisuke back. Yamato gave Sora a look indicating they should go, allowing their partners to evolve to Weregarurumon and Garudamon.
Each of them took different directions with their partners, calling the attention of many Flymons and two Okuwamon, each following one of them. "Please, take care!" Yamato shouted at the auburn while leaving towards the west. Sora headed in the opposite direction on the back of Garudamon. They were supposed to defeat those digimons and head north after that.
... ... ... …
Taichi just entered the room with a "Help me" stare, searching for the rest of his friends. He changed his expression into an annoyed one, wondering where was the group that was supposed to meet him. He was wearing a long black coat with dark jeans, always with his blue band on his head, though giving him a more serious expression then the one he usually carries. Koushiro showed up behind a monitor at the back of the room, giving him an angry look due the fact that he was late.
"I'm sorry, Mai held me for a couple of minutes downstairs. Where are all the others?" Taichi gave him the classic I'm sorry look of his, one that didn't quite worked well on his smart friend.
"They have already left, and they need you there now." He answered with a light stressed tone.
"I know they need me, I'm already here." Taichi gave him his typical self-confident smile, trying to relax him.
"I mean it Taichi. There are a lot of digimons there, and only five of us to face them. We definitely need more to help them." The short auburn boy stared at his monitor, a drop of sweat streaming on his right cheek, indicating that he was actually concerned about it. Taichi changed his relaxed stare to a more serious one, and approached the computer.
"It's time for me to go then. Sora already texted me where to meet them. Would you do the honors and open the portal for me?" The boy gave his friend his brave, strong smile and waited for him to do his job.
"Just go." Koushiro gave him a I give up on you smile, which disappeared with the strong light that entered the room.
... ... ... …
The guy could feel sand grains scratch his face as he slowly recovered his consciousness. The smell of the ocean, joined by the sound of crashing waves echoing somewhere nearby told him it was time to stand up and move. He opened his eyes, observing there was nothing in front of him but a blue sky that indicated he had just a couple of hours before sunset. He was next to a cliff and there was no sign of his digimon partner.
"Where the hell is Agumon? I thought Koushiro would send him here." He told himself while exploring the place with his dark brown eyes. His digital compass indicated he was on the extreme north of the island, exactly where he should be. He could hear a very distant sound of what could be bombs exploding, indicating some of his friends were close. The young guy searched for a sign of smoke or whatever that could tell him where the digimons were fighting, when he was interrupted by the sound of bees approaching him.
"Oh man, now I might say where the hell is Agumon." He carried his tense expression while taking the sound as an impulse to start running away from the cliffs, watching a group of Flymons and an Okuwamon emerging from the board of it. A strong light coming from where the portal was once opened made the image of an orange dinosaur appear, followed by the guy's digivice glowing. His friend quickly digivolved to his Metalgreymon form, ready to stop the insects that chased him.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Koushiro transported me from a portal to another". Metalgreymon headed up, forcing the digimons to do the same and leave the ground. It could be an easy battle for him, since a group of three Flymons and just one Okuwamon would take him a short time to take the evil spirals off.
Taichi analyzed all the place around them trying to find any sign of his friends, while Metalgreymon easily took care of his job. All of a sudden, a loud insect noise coming from the cliff called his attention, making him run at the edge of it to find out how many bees he should be expecting. As he approached the edge, a light bolt popped up in his direction, centimeters from his left side, some of its sparks hitting his cheek and shoulder. Taichi could feel the strong heat warm on his face, as he felt a warm liquid run down his cheek. He was front by front to three Okuwamon.
"Metalgreymon! This is a battle for a Wargreymon!" Taichi shouted at his friend, who immediately returned to the ground and came back to Agumon's form. As the boy ran away from the three Okuwamon, the orange dinosaur evolved into his mega form.
"Taichi, I'm going to move those four Okuwamon away for now! We should find a safe place for you to be at!" The mega digimon told his friend while giving them a Dramon Killers attack. "Come, step on my back so we can get out of here". Taichi ran towards his digimon, holding on his iron wings and heading up to the sky.
"I don't think we can beat them alone. We are stronger, but there are many of them." Taichi carried a tense expression, feeling a growing pain coming from his shoulder as blood dripped from his face. He felt awful for running away from a battle, but he knew that if he didn't do that, it could get worse. The boy examined the area from above, noticing a smoke sign far away by the eastern area.
"Look, Wargreymon! Someone's is fighting over the east side!" The older group's leader pointed to the direction they should take, dodging away from the attacks of chasing Okuwamon. He could feel his injured shoulder getting heavier as the increasing pain started to bother him. Taking a look back, he noticed the evil digimons were distancing from him, what could give him some time to think about an offensive strategy. Figuring out he could use some backup, he moved his right hand carefully into his coat's pocket, grabbing his D-Terminal.
Maybe Yamato's or Daisuke's help would be enough to hold the group of Okuwamon, but he needed to check if his friends were having a hard time on the digital world too. Deciding he had no time to text all of them, he quickly typed a message to Koushiro.
"Koushiro, don't have much time to explain. I'm alone chased by a group of Okuwamon. Need backup heading to the side. Help me out here!" As he finished typing the message, he noticed that as he approached the smoke sign, he was no longer flying above sand fields but a dense forest through which he couldn't see anything below its large leaves. Wargreymon lowered the altitude, so they could be out of sight from the far away Okuwamon that were still on a chase after him. The two started to distinguish what could be Garudamon setting fire against a group of bees and another Okuwamon and another sign of smoke more far away, from where probably Sora stood.
"Hey, Taichi! I think Sora is having a little fight over there. Should we get closer?" Wargreymon flew towards the auburn Digidestined, but ready for his friend's answer to maybe change their route. The boy tried to hold back a blue cheerless look that could evince he was not really sure if he should do that, but he had to. They could help each other out, and besides the girl's help could really make things fast enough so he wouldn't need to be around too much.
"Just keep going Wargreymon, we really need their help now." By the time he ended his answer, the two noticed a group of Flymons emerging from the heavy amount of leaves beneath them, attacking them with a dense cloud of poison that slowed down the mega digimon.
"Taichi, they are too many. I'm getting weak!" Wargreymon started feeling a little dizzy. He needed to attack the group of bees immediately but for doing that he needed to get his friend off his back.
"We need to go down as fast as possible! Just try to-" The guy was interrupted by a strong crash coming from a strong light of a bolt. He could feel butterflies flying crazy on his stomach while the cold wind scratched his face. He could barely see the dark green colors of the forest underneath him getting closer as he blinked heavily. His head was madly aching. He was losing consciousness.
... ... ... ...
"Garudamon, let's take care of the Okuwamon first! He is the strongest one!" Sora shouted as her friend, standing up on an isolated mountain in the middle of the forest. The girl was doing her best trying not to catch the Flymons' attention as they were distracted by the presence of the bird digimon setting fire on them. She felt a noise coming from her pocket, indicating a new message has just arrived in her D-Terminal.
"Sora-chan! I don't know if you're too busy, but Taichi is headed to your direction, and it looks like he has a hudge squad after him. Could you give him a hand?" Sora opened a curious concerned expression. She knew that Taichi is not the kind of guy who would easily ask for help, unless he really needed it. And definitely she would be one of the last he could ask for, considering how jerkier than usual he had been to her lately.
Their friendship was shaken since a few days before Ken kidnapped Agumon to take him into evil spiral experiments back in August. She did her best to fix whatever happened between them, but as much as his friend tried to be nice to her, they always ended up arguing or even stop talking to each other for a while. But there was no time to think about Taichi again, she needed to speed up things with Garudamon and the evil digimons so she could help her friend in trouble.
"Garudamon! We need to hurry up! Taichi is in trouble and he's close to us!" She started scanning the air in a search for her old best friend, suddenly identifying a flying yellow point in the air coming in their direction. She also noticed four gray points after them, assuming they were Okuwamons like the one Garudamon was just finishing.
"Sora, step up and hold tight! We're flying as fast as possible to help them." The girl rushed onto Garudamon's hands, holding on one of it's big fingers. She could feel the wind cross quickly through her hair, assuming they were really traveling at high speed. Making light moves so she could keep her balance well, she raised her head slowly behind one of Garudamon's fingers, allowing her to observe her friend's approach. She was surprised by a strong light hitting the yellow point that now could be easily distinguished as Wargreymon.
"Oh my god! Garudamon, I think they're falling!" The girl shouted at her digimon friend, ripping a shocked glance. It was not necessary to ask the big bird to try catching them, it rushed towards a falling Taichi and a dedigivolving Agumon, almost not fast enough to grab them. Sora rushed to hold Taichi, noticing his left cheek and head were bleeding, while the big bird digimon quickly entered the forest, hurting itself by the scratch of branches to protect their friends.
"I could notice Metalgarurumon coming in our direction from above. I think we can take care of those four. Stay here with those two and scream if you need to, ok?" Garudamon told her partner quickly, taking a positive stare from her allowing it to fly up into the sky. As the girl could hear the sound of limbs being crashed above her, she looked down to an unconscious Taichi, resting his head up on her legs. As Agumon stood up walking in their direction, she told him quickly to run into a stream about 50 meters beside them and bring water, giving him her coat so he could soak it.
The many sounds of attacks above them suggested that Metalgarurumon had probably arrived, and Yamato was likely taking care of the situation with his partner and Garudamon. Agumon arrived with her soaked red coat, handing it to the girl. They could hear the sound of Raidramon's attack, indicating Daisuke had joined the team. Sora started cleaning Taichi's wounds, trying carefully to wake him up so he could once more make his partner to digivolve and help the fighting digimon.
"Taichi! Taichi!" She gingerly shook her friend's shoulders, her worried eyes examinating any sign of response. The girl gently caressed the boy's not hurt cheek, trying to make him regain his consciousness as his orange dinosaur friend kept calling his name continuously, them both worried about the possibility of their friend being seriously hurt.
He could feel a strong pain hitting his shoulder as he felt his body slowly shaking. His head was too heavy for him to try moving it, and so were his eyes to be opened. He could smell the scent of moist soil and leaves and no longer noticed the restless butterflies in his stomach, making him sure he was on the ground. Something warm nicely touched his cheek, letting him wonder if he was dreaming. His name was being called repetitively and leisurely he could sense his thoughts being organized, bringing him back from his parallel mental universe. Taichi opened his eyes, slowly identifying a blurred orange dinosaur and his best friend's faces, noticing the warmth caressing his face was actually the girl's hand.
"He's waking up! Taichi! Taichi! How are you?" Agumon shouted as his friend slowly blinked, trying to clear his blurred vision. The boy was not sure if he could stand up by that time, he could use some more minutes of sleep. As he started figuring out where he was, he immediately moved his left hand to stop his friend's caress, feeling another pain hitting him on his shoulder. Sora gave him a worried but not less annoyed look, showing him he should just stand where he was.
"I need to digivolve now, Taichi! Grab your digivice please! Our friends are fighting upon us, and they need me there." Even knowing his partner was in no good condition to fight, the digimon was really worried about their other friends getting hurt. Taichi gave him a stunned in pain glare, instantly trying to move his head off of Sora's lap and grabing his digivice. Holding his pain back, he withdrew his digivice off his pocket, looking at it with one of his eyes barely opened.
"Go!" The boy spoke at his partner, making his best not to say it in a weak tone. His digivice glowed once more, allowing Agumon to digivolve into Wargreymon. The mega digimon flew towards the long branches upon them, breaking some branches while many leaves fell from the sky. Taichi felt dizziness reach his mind once again, trying his best to ignore it as he stood up. Standing, he closed his eyes, feeling all his blood drain away from his head, completely dizzy. Sora stood up quickly, trying to hold him so he wouldn't fall.
"Why do you have to be such a stubborn?" The girl gave him a very annoyed glance, trying to hide her worry about him. That stupid way of his really drove her into madness, making her barely hold her mood calm so she could help him. Although they were still friends, dealing with him in the past few months was getting harder. He was day by day getting more distant, and she could swear he was avoiding her, even if they had still shared nice moments together.
"As you can see, our friends are too busy while we chat. We can do better helping them, don't you think so?" He gave him a kind, soft smile, as she could sense the almost imperceptible irony in his tone. He tried to take a step forward from where he was, but the dizziness brought him on his knees.
"See? If you help them this way, you'll be their worst trouble!" She told him nervously, trying to help him stand on his knees. A little bit more of this, and she would break into madness and ask him what the hell was going on with him. She was waiting for a long time to do that, but everytime they were alone he always kept a distance. Knowing that was not an appropriate time for that, she just kept staring at him just in case he needed her help one more time.
"There is a stream about 50 meters away from us. I can help you walk there, so you can drink some water and wash your face. It can help you get better, I guess." She tried to sound as kind as possible, pointing at the stream's direction. As Taichi gave up being stubborn, he nodded trying to stand up once again. He was feeling too dizzy to give his friend another response. Although he wanted to keep some distance from her, he actually needed her and there was no harm letting her walk him. The girl helped him get on his knees once again, so he could reach the clean transparent water running off the stream. He held the deadly cold water in his hands, driving them to his face as the cold started to wake his senses, making him more alive. The dizziness started to vanish as he turned his face to look at the auburn girl.
"If you're trying to kill me by freezing an injured me, you got your fingers burned." The boy gave her a playful smile, letting his eyes show her a sweet friendly stare. At first, she didn't know if he was just being sarcastic as always, or the cold water had just froze his brain and killed some of his neurons. Raising her right eyebrow and keeping a serious look, she approached him to examine how bad he was.
"Are you okay? I'm really worried this water already froze your brain." She was staring at him curiously, and worried at the same time, as he responded to her with another smile and stood up. The boy looked around to analyze better the place where they were standing, feeling a lot better after the cold water impact. He was no longer dizzy, but the pain in his head and shoulder's wound still bothered him enough to let him with a bitter mood.
"See? As long as I'm okay, you're always trying to kill any kindness of mine." He gave her another playfully glace with a light smile on his face, changing it quickly into a more serious one as he turned his eyes to observe the branches upon them. "Again, no time to chat. Our friends are too busy to wait for one of your insults." He looked at her one more time, now with a more serious but playful expression.
"My insults? Do you at least pay attention to yourself while you breath?" She started to get pissed off at him once again. As she hurried her mind to formulate a better answer instead of just yelling at him, she was interrupted.
"It's too late! We already took care of everything while you were sleeping, baby." The sound of her boyfriend's voice made her turn around to find him right behind her, as Taichi ignored her mad expression and placed his right hand on her shoulder.
"Just dreaming about your beautiful blond hair swinging as the wind passes through it during the battle." Taichi answered his friend carrying his happy warm smile, one that could make many girls lose their mind. He was trembling, feeling a little weak to walk fast. Sora once more held him so he could walk into Daisuke and the others direction. As he got rid of her again, Yamato approached her.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, carrying a worried glance. He was always worried about her, making her feel secure and warm, what she indeed appreciated. Yamato was a nice boyfriend, what made her like him a lot. She smiled at him, looking around to notice if anyone was staring at them. With a negative answer to her own wonders, she gave him a shy quick hug.
"Yes, I am. I can see you did well up there." She said as she pulled apart from him. The blond boy smiled, blushing, and before he could say anything Daisuke jumped into their direction.
"Hey, lovers! Time to go! As you can see, our friend here needs to see a doctor." The young leader spoke to them with a goofy smile, that they could swear was a poor imitation to Taichi's. They decided to leave with Taichi, letting Daisuke, Takeru and Hikari to take care of the rest. The quick walk to the closest portal was filled with Taichi's and Yamato's jokes, many of them involving the dark brown haired boy's new affair Mai, what apparently didn't bother him that much.
"Oh my god! What happened to him?" As the three arrived in the computer's room feeling a little dizzy from their long trip, they immediately stood up scared by an acute voice coming from a pink dressed girl, wearing a pink coat and white jeans. Mimi hurried up to hug Taichi, quickly pulling apart to examine his injured face.
"Hi, Mimi-chan." Taichi gave her the same warm smile he usually did when he just wanted to play with someone. Yamato led his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes in disbelief, followed by Sora's laught at her boyfriend's reaction. Taichi was really unbelievable. Miyako showed up behind one of the monitors and smiled to the three that just got there. She and Mimi were just getting ready to help Hikari, Takeru and Daisuke.
"I have to go, I have a rehearsal in about 15 minutes and I'm already late to get there." Yamato looked at his watch, quickly grabbing his bass case on top of Koushiro's desk as all of the group observed him. "Are you going with me?" He then looked at his girlfriend, curious about the answer she did not give him when he asked her in the digital world. She looked around, observing a Mimi's denying expression that she could well understand.
"I'm sorry, I think I just should help Taichi to get to hospital now." Sora then looked at her injured friend, trying to avoid any stare from her boyfriend that could actually make her feel bad about it. As he nodded, he kissed her forehead quickly and left.
"So, do I need a babysitter now?" Taichi gave her a curious look, smiling after that.
"Would you go to a hospital if any of us don't take you to one?" She responded impatiently, pulling him out of the room.
"Of course I wouldn't. But what makes you believe I'm letting you take me there?" Again, he started to annoy her, but instead of being serious and ironic, he just gave her the great lovely smile of his.
"I'm keeping my silence. I'm definitely not arguing with you today anymore." She responded seriously, making him look at her curious. Did he really piss her off again?
Thank you for the reviews. I once again apologize for the the grammatical errors but I'll try reviewing it with Grammarly or something similar to it.