Title: Restart, Rebirth, Remembrance
Author: isumi'kivic'
Characters/Pairings: Kouji + Kouichi brotherly love (it might, uh, borders a tiny little bit on twincest if you squint really really hard with the help of magnifying glass, I can't help myself sometimes), slight tiny bits of Takuya/Izumi. OCs in later chapters, but I hope that wouldn't hinder you from reading. I tried my best.
Rating: Gen, I think.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, and I don't own The Last, either. I'm just writing a fic out of another brilliant fic. This fic is a continuation of The Last by Gemini Star01, which means that you're required to read it before delving into this fic. It's an awesomely sad one-shot that you could find in her author page. And while you're at it, read her other amazing works, too.
A/N: Just to clarify things, in The Last Gemini Star01 wrote that when Kouichi first came back to the Digital World, he was once again eleven years old. According to that, then in this fic, too, Kouichi is eleven years old physically, even though technically he'd lived for more than a hundred years so mentally and psychologically he would be more mature than the other eleven years old kids. :D
And another thing: I do intend this fic to be centered around Kouji and Kouichi, but it's also necessary for me to delve into the story of the rest of the new chosen children. First, it's for the sake of characterization and character-growth. Second, because their story always had something to do with Kouji and Kouichi, directly and indirectly, I swear. I'll try my best to bring out the best in those OCs so you guys would come to like them, too. :D
Onward with the fic, then. Meet the new chosen children!
Restart, Rebirth, Remembrance
A Digimon Frontier Fanfiction
Chapter One: A Restart Line
It took him almost half an hour to figure out how the new sky monorail works.
Flipping the small card he'd gotten from one of the booths at the Shibuya Station in his hand, he followed a line, placing the card on a small scanner before stepping into another elevator that would take him up to the monorail station. If there was one thing that hadn't changed at all from Tokyo after all this time, it would be its crazy rush hour. Working adults, as well as students who had just let out from extra classes or other extracurricular activities all cramped in the spacious elevator; giggling high school girls in one corner a contrast of a serious-looking office worker in another, while a loudly crying baby was cuddled by its flustered-looking Mother. There were several younger children, too: an elementary school kid wearing a soccer team uniform, a group of junior high school children talking loudly about exams and damning teachers.
For a moment, Kouichi felt so tired and old. How many years had he lived? He'd gone through junior high and high school, gone through college and work, through the phases where little children called him Uncle Kou. Yet, here he was, standing alone amongst strangers with the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy once again.
Outside, the sun was setting, painting the sky with streaks of red, orange and yellow against the blue autumn sky. He found himself unable to take his gaze away from it once he's out of the elevator, despite above his head, the speakers blared down an announcement that the next monorail would take off in a minute. He watched, transfixed, as people's shadows danced on the floor, joining each other and separating fluidly. It surprised him when the thought of just how beautiful everything was registered in his mind. The real world had always held a different beauty from the Digital World; he'd managed to forget that, being away for so long.
Just then, he felt something bumped into his back.
Losing his balance, Kouichi flailed for a second and reflexively held on to the nearest object available—which unfortunately gave a surprised yelp as he took it down. Gravity did the rest; Kouichi found himself face flat against the hard floor, with the weight of another human being preventing the upper half of his body to move. There was a strangled, very feminine gasp and another rough, boyish voice groaning from somewhere above him.
"What the—" the boyish voice moved, as well as the weight keeping him down. Kouichi gave a groan himself, shoulders aching almost instantly as he shifted into a sitting position. He rubbed the side of his head gingerly, before realizing that the previous feminine voice had broken into blabbering apology.
"Hey, hey, girl, take a breath," that's the boyish voice again and this time Kouichi opened his eyes, turning sideways. Next to him was a brunette, clad in a black shirt and red jacket complementing his brown shorts, with a pair of goggles dangling around his neck, sprawling on the floor with a sheepish grin on his face. The boy winced once, rubbing his elbows and eyeing Kouichi curiously. "You okay there, dude?"
"Y-yeah," Kouichi muttered, his eyes locked onto the kid's goggles for a second. Then he averted his eyes down, shaking his head at the memories of a familiar brunette whose presence and eyes were as bright as a fire. "Sorry—I was trying to hold on to something and…"
"No worries, my bag was the closest one, huh?" the boy laughed. "I wasn't paying attention myself."
Kouichi shifted again, rubbing his shoulder this time and turned back to see what—or who—exactly had bumped him in the first place. His eyes found a figure of a girl on her knees before him; round blue eyes filled with panic and a worried, guilty face framed by shoulder-length, straight blonde hair. A wave of nostalgia swept over him again; this time of a blonde girl whose smile was freer than the wind itself.
"I-I'm sorry, really, I wasn't looking! I didn't mean to…" the girl stammered, looking as if she was about to break into tears any time. Kouichi stiffened a little at that—judging by the wet splotches on her cheeks, she was probably crying before she bumped him. Damn, he was never good facing a crying girl.
"No.. I was daydreaming myself. It's—not your fault." He brought himself up on his feet, and extended a hand. "Could you stand? We're going to miss the train."
"He's right," the boy piped up, gesturing to the monorail. "It's about to take off, we've got to hurry now!"
The blonde girl seemed to be looking at Kouichi's outstretched hand hesitatingly, biting her lips before taking the offered limb and pulled herself up. Kouichi gave her a soft smile, and she ducked her head down as the faintest shade of red quickly colored her cheeks. A shy girl, Kouichi thought, and wondered why in the first place this girl reminded him of his late friend—the one he dated once just to find out that not only his feelings for her wasn't love, but also that she wasn't meant for him from the very beginning.
Izumi was always Takuya's girl, through and through.
"Are you guys coming or not?"
The brunette's voice snapped him out of his reverie. Kouichi let go of the girl's hand, his head motioning for her to go ahead. The three of them managed to board the monorail at the very last second—Kouichi was the last, and as the door swished closed behind him, the three of them let out a relieved sigh.
"We made it," the brunette boy sagged onto the monorail door, ignoring the warning that beeped over their heads, a line of dear passengers, please do not lean onto the door, thank you. Several other passengers turned towards them at the beeping warning, and Kouichi watched, amused, as the girl hastily yanked the boy's arm to pull him away from the door to make the warning stop.
"Barely, right?" Kouichi replied, still smiling. The girl nodded, hesitated for a second, and then broke into a low bow. "I'm sorry for what happened earlier, really!"
"Again with the apologies?" the brunette laughed, but his eyes shone with interest. Kouichi didn't think anything of it, though. Instead, he put up his hands and shook his head.
"I really should be the one apologizing, for standing right there and daydreaming even though it is rush hour and all. Please, it's really alright." It wasn't like he was going to hold it against the girl, though. He had been at fault, too—had forgotten completely where he was and standing in people's way. And if this girl had really been crying before bumping into him, then it was understandable that she hadn't been looking at what was in front of her well, wasn't it?
The unknown brunette shifted, looking uncomfortable. "Come on, enough with the apologies already!" The protest that came out sounded like a whine, and Kouichi couldn't help but chuckle at that. It brightened the mood somewhat, as the girl followed and let out a laugh of hers as well. For a short while, the three of them were content to let the laugh filled the spaces between them, until the brunette sobered up, with a bright grin on his face.
"My name's Takuma. Kawabara Takuma," he offers, crossing his arms behind his head. "What's yours?"
Kouichi felt something in his chest leapt at the name—a bit too similar with the one he kept fondly in his memories. He turned to the girl, who looked much more relaxed now that they shared a laugh. She straightened up, the way only girls brought up in a well-off family did, and made a polite bow. "Yamamoto Suzumi," she said, her tone lighter than before.
It didn't help the weight that suddenly settled on Kouichi's heart, though. This time, not only because the name sounded too similar to Izumi's to his liking, but also because he noticed the name. Or rather, names—because Kawabara Takuma was one of the three names listed under the possible wielders of Spirit of Fire, and Yamamoto Suzumi was one out of other five listed under the possible wielders of Spirit of Wind. To have meet them so soon after he came back to the real world—was this a sign?
"Kimura… Kouichi." He said at least, catching the expectant gazes of both Kawabara and Yamamoto. "It's… nice to meet you, Kawabara-kun. Yamamoto-san."
Kawabara Takuma waves his hand lightly, as if swatting at the formality in Kouichi's tone. "Just Takuma's fine. I don't like the way my surname sounds."
As the three of them fell into an easy, mundane conversation, Kouichi found himself recalling the List Bokomon had shown him back in the Digital World. The Angels had given him the task to deliver the digivices and spirits to the new chosen children, but he had no idea which one of the children in the List he should give the spirits to. Bokomon had told him that the spirits would choose them, that they would react to the chosen children, and that Kouichi would know when to give the digivices. He hadn't been given more information, though, and to be honest, it was rather unnerving how the two possible wielders he'd met seemed to be a bit too similar to his old friends.
Out of desperation to seek for familiar comfort, he reached deep into himself to find Lowemon's presence. The Spirit of Darkness was quiet, but steady and real, comforting. Kouichi put a hand on Kouji's bandanna on his arm, fingering the slightly frayed edges absently. Kawabara was telling them a funny joke he'd gotten from his friend, and Yamamoto was laughing softly. He gave a chuckle, out of politeness, then looked up when the monorail slowly slid into a stop. They'd reached the next station. Realizing that they were still in front of the door, Kouichi quickly moved to the other side of the compartment. The other two followed him—there were no seat left, so they still had to stand.
"Hey, uh—sorry," another voice, this time from behind, made him turn. Another boy, this time with a bigger built, though obviously this one was made from muscles rather than fat, looked up to him with a straight gaze. There was something familiar in his gaze that made Kouichi nearly took a step back, earning him a curious glance, but the boy didn't stop from inquiring. "I kinda need to get to Kanagawa, but I'm not sure if I took the right monorail. Do you know if—"
"Ah!" Kawabara Takuma exclaimed in surprise, eyes glinting with recognition. "Kanpei-kun? You're Mashiba Kanpei, aren't you?"
Kouichi did take a step back this time. Yamamoto Suzumi raised her eyebrows, curious. The new boy—the so-called Mashiba Kanpei—gazed past Kouichi's shoulder. He stared at Kawabara Takuma for a moment, face scrunching up in an attempt to remember. The goy with goggles grinned, obviously trying not to laugh out loud at the face Mashiba Kanpei made. "It's Takuma! We met at the soccer mock tournament a few months ago, remember?"
Recognition dawning on his face, Mashiba broke into a wide grin. "Oh, yeah, Takuma-kun! Sorry, I almost forgot how you look like—it's been a long time, hahaha." The bigger-built boy scratched the back of his head and eyed Yamamoto and Kouichi curiously. "They're your friends?"
"We just met." Takuma shrugged. "This here's Yamamoto-san, and that's Kimura-kun." He gave a nod towards both Yamamoto, who gave a slight bow, and Kouichi, who gave a polite nod.
"Oh, hi. Name's Mashiba Kanpei, you heard him." Mashiba beamed, and then turned all-serious again. "Really, though, is this the right monorail to Kanagawa prefecture?"
"No it's not," Yamamoto answered with an air of amusement and Takuma laughed. "That's okay, Kanpei-kun. You can get off at the next station with me, and get on another train to Kanagawa."
Kouichi, now feeling rather uncomfortable, thinned his lips. Mashiba Kanpei—another name he recognized from the List, this time from under the possible wielders of the Spirit of Thunder. Surely this was a sign—or maybe this was how Fate was planning to play around with him again—it should be no coincidence that he already met three of the possible wielders not even an hour after he stepped out of the elevator in Shibuya Station. Surely—
As if answering his silent questions, the monorail suddenly screeched into a halt.
Surprised screams mingled with angry yelps, and all Kouichi could do was grab the nearest handle to prevent himself from falling. He managed to grab Yamamoto's arm, noticing that Takuma had scrambled to grab another handle, right at the time he felt Mashiba's weight smacked his side. He tumbled, barely registering the flickering lights in the compartment before the lights shut off altogether, and the compartment shook threateningly as something obviously hit the side of the monorail with a sickening crash.
More screams reverberated in his ears, that Kouichi nearly didn't hear the strangled gasp from under him. He'd fallen onto one of the people on the seats, and whoever it was, Kouichi must be bigger than him. Scrambling off and sliding onto the floor, he turned to look at the poor victim: a boy younger than him, slender and small-built, as terrified light green eyes met his dark blue ones.
"S-sorry—" was all he could say, before another impact shook the monorail again. Next to him, Yamamoto was screaming, and he was about to turn to calm her down when the boy before him grabbed his arm, looking horrified as his eyes stared past Kouichi's shoulders.
"What the hell is that!" Takuma hollered, right as another impact hit the compartment and they rode another wave of shaking. Something inside Kouichi's chest froze, as if knowing that this was probably a turning point, and slowly, he turned around to see what was hitting their compartment outside.
Through the window, he caught a sight of red, huge wings—and a glimpse of a familiar shape of a humongous flaming bird zooming away towards another compartment.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, and an involuntary gasp escaped him: "Birdramon….?"
-o0o-
"The spirits choose the wielders, Kouichi," Cherubimon laid one of his massive hand on his shoulder, though only his thumb managed to stay there. "Don't you worry about which children from the list would get the spirits."
His chest tightened. "Does that mean—there's a possibility that the spirit won't choose Kouji?"
"But Kouichi-han," Bokomon cut in before Cherubimon could even open his mouth. "You know that it couldn't be Kouji-han."
His eyes lingered on the List, once again trying to commit the names into his memories. There were only two names under the words Spirit of Light—only two candidates, and yet he fervently wished that the Spirit of Light would choose the one named Kouji. Something in his chest clenched. Bokomon was right, it couldn't be Kouji—couldn't be his Kouji. Kouji was dead, he left years ago and Kouichi couldn't ever follow him, couldn't ever see him again.
He was going to start a futile chase of his past. It was going to be painful, and despite knowing so, he couldn't bring himself to stop.
-o0o-
It took him a moment to realize that his digivice was shining.
Hands trembling, he took it out of his pockets. The people in their compartments were too distraught and panicked now to pay proper attention to what was the thing emitting lights in Kouichi's hands, but the children closest to him didn't miss it. Four pairs of different-colored eyes followed his hand, gazing at his digivice in dumbstruck confusion.
"K-Kimura-kun?" Yamamoto squeaked, and Kouichi could see Takuma and Mashiba's eyes widened dramatically. Kouichi stared at them, taking in their innocent stares, before turning back to the youngest between them. Giving the younger boy a soft smile, he murmured in a hushed voice, "What's your name?"
"M-me..?" the kid looked so scared, Kouichi almost didn't have the heart to hear the answer. "H-Himi—Himi Tokiya."
Ah. Kouichi closed his eyes, grasping his digivice tighter. Another name, this time under the list of possible wielders for the Spirit of Ice. Destiny, he figured, had its own way to create meetings and separations. He should know better—after all, what would he call his meeting with Kouji in the Digital World a long time ago, if it wasn't Destiny's doing? Before his eyes now were four candidates for the Spirits. There was a Birdramon outside, causing chaos and fear, and Kouichi would be damned if he didn't do anything.
This was why he came back to the real world, after all.
"This is going to sound crazy," Kouichi said; and just as the words left his mouth, his digivice shone brighter. Out of nowhere, four different-colored digivices appeared before the four children, floating gently in the air as if waiting to be held by their hands. Kouichi swallowed the lump in his throat again—he was giving his friends' spirits away. He felt like he had no right to do so—it was Takuya's, Izumi's Tomoki's and Junpei's digivices floating in front of his eyes, and he was giving them away because they weren't here. Not anymore.
"There's something outside," he continued, ignoring the wide-eyed confusion directed at him. There was no time, lest people would notice or the Birdramon outside would tear this monorail down and send all the people inside down to the ground. He would have to get them out and fighting quick. "And there's power inside these digivices—the only power to defeat that something outside. They've chosen you—the four of you. Only you guys would be able to reach them and wield this power." His gaze flicked towards the window, catching another glimpse of Birdramon before another impact hit the compartment. "We don't have much time, I'm afraid."
He took a breath, and let out his question—the question of Fate itself, a question that once had changed the lives of six other children: "What will you do? Will you fight? Or will you not?" (1)
He watched some sort of understanding dawned on the faces of these children, and wondered what kind of thoughts running through their heads right now. He didn't have the time to stay and find out, though. He had done what he had to, and there was a much more pressing matter outside, threatening everyone's lives. So he drew himself up, straightening his form, tightening his grip on his digivice. He'd have to break the monorail's door to get outside later, but there was no time to hesitate.
"Spirit Evolution!"
-o0o-
Kawabara Takuma was quite a gamer himself.
It didn't stop him from being surprised to see someone he'd barely known for half an hour transforming into a strange, unknown being—it looked human, at least, even though it seemed to be wearing a lion-shaped helmet of sorts and black armors, holding a long staff—wait, Kimura transformed into this? How did he—did he just use the so-called digivice? His mouth fell open, gaping at the dark figure resembling a humanoid lion, and could only scramble back when the dark figure leapt to the door, causing more passengers to scream in fright. It broke the monorail door, and easily leapt off again as the humongous bird-looking creature swept through.
"What—what was that?" Yamamoto Suzumi gasped from his side, and Takuma turned back facing the digivices. His amber eyes met Kanpei's brown ones, sharing confusion and amazement for a moment, but then Himi Tokiya's voice broke off their entranced minds: "Look!"
They snapped back towards the window, gaping as they watched Kimura—that was Kimura, wasn't it?—bounded towards the humongous bird creature, stabbing his staff through one of its wings. It let out an earsplitting screech, and Takuma gaped as he saw the humanoid lion Kimura had transformed into scrambled up, trying to hold on before letting go and jumped onto the suspended rail. He heard Kanpei releasing a frightened sigh, and turned around again. The red digivice was still floating before him.
Tentatively, he closed his fingers on the digivice. There was a sharp intake of breath coming from Himi Tokiya, and Yamamoto's gasp of "T-Takuma-kun!", but Kanpei was watching him closely. He took a deep breath, and grasped the digivice tightly.
The surge of power that ran through his very being was more than shocking. A power so raw and a bit terrifying, but also warm and inviting, and it was all he could do to reach out and let the power embraced the core of his being. It banished the fear residing in his heart almost instantly, alighting something inside him that he didn't even know he had. A confident smile broke through his face, and he looked up to see the other three's horrified face.
"I'm doing this." He stated, not an ounce of tentativeness left in his voice. Kanpei seemed to be hesitating a little, but with a swift movement he took his own digivice into his hands. Takuma could see understanding and confidence crept onto the bigger-built boy's face; he turned to look imploringly at Himi Tokiya and Yamamoto Suzumi, encouraging them with a smile.
"I—I don't—" Yamamoto stammered, but her hands were already reaching up to take the digivice. Himi was doing the same—eyes wide and gestures speaking of indescribable fright of something unknown and yet fascinating, but Takuma knew, this power would help them. This power he held in his hand, the same power that Kimura had used—it wasn't evil. It wasn't something they should be scared of. It was something that would change everything, and Takuma was excited to see where it would take him.
Now what should he do?
Something inside the power was grinning excitedly at him, and for a second he had a flash of a face—a confident grin framed by brown hair with a faded-green hat nestled on top, adorned with a pair of goggles—the boy was grinning, he was saying something, and Takuma found himself echoing the words:
"Spirit Evolution!"
Four different colors of lights blinded the whole compartment.
-o0o-
"Endlich Meteor!"
Lowemon inwardly cursed; for the umpteenth time, his attack was easily avoided. That Birdramon was unusually fast, and since he couldn't fly himself, his best shot was to engage battle from afar. He wasn't a rash fighter—attempting a close combat with a flying enemy up in the air when you had not the ability to fly wasn't a good choice. Leaping off towards a higher rail, he took a blind spot to shoot out once again. "Endlich Meteor!"
Birdramon let out another screech, halting on its trail, before turning and sped towards Lowemon instead. Lowemon started; he barely had the time to block his enemy's attack using his staff. The bird-type Digimon hit him full face, pushing him off the railings. Losing his footing, Lowemon quickly spun himself up, trying to reach the closest rail and get his leverage back, but as he floated in the air, Birdramon had already turned towards him and swoop down—
Lowemon cursed out loud, preparing for the impact—but it never came. Instead, another shout joined the fight as several globes of fire attacked Birdramon from the side. It gave Lowemon another moment to grab the side of the closest railings, and he watched in surprised as his eyes caught four familiar Digimon figures appeared—two of them flying and two others running along the rails. His chest tightened; memories of old days assaulting his minds, but the next attack sent him back to his senses.
"Brezza Petalo!" From above, Fairymon attacked, and Chakkmon followed —the small, white stuffed bear on his belt, oddly, didn't look out of place even here in the real world—blowing icy winds to freeze Birdramon's movements. The flaming bird Digimon thrashed in the air, as Agunimon sent out his Burning Salamander again, and Blitzmon charged up with his Thor Hammer, making the blue jacket tied around his neck flap like a hero's grand cape.
"This is amazing!" Agunimon leapt up to where he stood, grinning. Lowemon stared at him for a moment—how easy it was to believe that the one grinning at him right now was Takuya in his human spirit form, especially with the goggles around his neck. But the eyes that met him were those who had no experience—it wasn't Takuya. Takuya's eyes were deeper, having experienced pain and loss and what it felt to win after struggling so hard for life.
He smiled nonetheless. "Thank you," this one came out earnestly; he was grateful for the children had chosen the path of fighting, not running away. Turning his attention back onto the fight, he readied his staff. Now that there were others fighting together with him, he wouldn't have to worry about close-combat. The Spirits would guide them in battle, and they wouldn't let him fall. "Let's go! Ewig Schlaf!"
His attack successfully tore the right wing of Birdramon. Blitzmon followed suit, charging up and brought down another Thor Hammer upon the enemy. Birdramon thrashed, blindly attacking everyone in its way—Lowemon managed to dodge another ball of fire aimed his way, but then froze.
He forgot that the monorail was right behind him.
Almost in cue, frightened screams shrilled into his ears, and Lowemon turned back. The fire ball had hit the edge of a compartment, making it short-circuit and creating small explosions. Frightened passengers visibly pushing back one another, trying to run back into another compartment, and just like that, the compartment door suddenly swished open.
Right there, a boy was accidentally shoved off by the panicked mobs, lost his balance and fell off the compartment.
"No!" Fairymon shouted, quickly changing direction and shot off, trying to reach for the falling boy. Her purple hair ribbon fluttered as she surged down through the wind, and Lowemon stared, transfixed, at the blur of long, midnight blue hair, at the all-too familiar face that looked so identical to his own—feeling something in his stomach lurched in recognition, and as if unable to hold it any longer, the ball of emotion he'd kept tightly in his chest before burst out.
"KOUJI!"
His digivice flared up.
There was a blinding light as a digivice appeared before the falling boy. Out of desperation to stay alive, perhaps, the boy reached up to take the digivice into his hands, and Lowemon heard a familiar voice—one that had haunted his dreams nonstop for nearly a hundred years (or had it been more than that? He couldn't remember..) and echoed in his ears whenever another memory played behind his eyelids—shouting out the crucial words: "Spirit Evolution!"
Wolfmon came into being, leaping up with his light swords in his hands, leaving a stunned Fairymon behind. He was a blur as he sped past Chakkmon and Blitzmon, knocking Agunimon aside as he charged head on.
"Licht Seiger!"
Lowemon could not just stand. Almost in a daze, his feet leapt off after Wolfmon, expertly spinning his staff and attacked with another Ewig Schlaf. Wolfmon spared him a surprised look, but it was not the time—Birdramon was defeated as its circle of data appeared. Lowemon landed on another rails, taking out his digivice, and swiftly scanned it.
The silence that came afterwards was deafening.
-o0ochapteroneendso0o-
A/N: I sucked at fighting scenes. ;A; Forgive my inability to write well. Also, I apologize if the story is progressing a bit too fast; I just wanted to get the introduction chapter over with. I've never been good in introduction chapters, haha.
(1) "What will you do? Will you fight? Or will you not?" ("Dou suru no? Tatakaimasu ka? Shimasen ka?")—Plotmon, quoted from Digimon Frontier episode 47.
I purposefully named the new chosen children similar to Takuya and the others for convenience sake. I mean, since Takuya and Takuma sounds a lot similar, it'd be easy for you guys to remember that Takuma holds the Spirit of Fire, right? The same goes for the rest of them. So yeah, it doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't mean that Takuya and the others wouldn't have any role in this fic, though, ufufufu.
Please leave a review to let me know what you think? :D