Disclaimer: Don't own digimon.
A/N: Sorry for late update! I was going to post this yesterday but I kinda forgot... Please R&R!
To Anon: Ryo might come in later in the story, but not so soon...
Chapter 3: Venture into digital world!
As Lucemon prepares to make his final move in eliminating the three tamers, Takato, Jianliang and Ruki, he paused. He lifted his head up and felt an uneasy presence in the air. The colour of the skies was changing. It was changing from blue to an ominous orange. Sunset was still a long time away and the orange skies was definitely not welcomed, especially for Lucemon, who was leading an entire army of rouge digimon in a conquest to take over the Real World. He now temporarily abandons his attack on the three humans and faces his troops.
"No one moves until I give the order to, get it?" he commanded.
The digimon roars in agreement as most were not able to speak. They can only communicate through some primitive calls and language, like the animals on Earth do.
A slow moving green vortex now appears in the sky.
"Y-Yamaki-san, he did it…" whispered Takato.
"Yeah." replied the other two.
The green vortex starts to rotate at a higher speed. It contained a scent of a digimon, using it as bait for the power-hungry troops of Lucemon. They were designed such that they obeyed the laws of survival. They will fight to get data to gain power.
Several digimon were agitated. They can hardly resist the temptation to fight. Lucemon sees this and flies in front of the group of digimon which are preparing to take flight.
Takato took a look at his D-arc. "Flymon. Data type. Champion. Its special attack is deadly sting, using its poison needle to paralyse opponents."
The group of Flymon took flight.
"Grand Cross!" Ten spheres headed towards the small group of Flymon as they tried to scatter and avoid the attack. The spheres explode on contact with the Flymon as the entire group dissolved into data, leaving a crater at the point of impact. "Anyone who tries to move will experience the same fate."
The vortex, also known as Shaggai hole, continued to spin. Lucemon, now satisfied that his army will stand their ground instead of rushing to their deaths, he faces the tamers again. He stretched out his arms and legs again. The three tamers clutched onto their D-arcs tightly, hoping for a miracle to happen.
"Grand…" As Lucemon started his attack, each of the tamers' D-arc released a beam of light, shooting directly into the central vortex of the Shaggai hole. Red, blue, green were the colours of the three beams of light: the primary colours. As the three beams merge into a thin ray of white light, it vanished through the central vortex.
"…Cr-…" Two beams of light beamed out from the Shaggai hole, one pink and one golden-yellow.
"-oss." Lucemon released at his attack, aiming straight for the tamers. Before the attack can make any contact or cause any damage to any of the tamers, the golden-yellow beam of light forms a protective barrier over the tamers. The ten hot spheres from Lucemon slam head-on into the protective barrier. It explodes on impact but do not penetrate the barrier, hence the three tamers remained relatively unharmed. The barrier dissipated once the smoke around the tamers cleared away.
"Wh-What happened?" questioned the trio.
The was a moment of temporary silence.
As for the pink beam of light, it goes straight for Lucemon and wraps around Lucemon. As the light fades, a chain could be seen around Lucemon's waist. The chain stretches through into the Shaggai hole. As Lucemon was left wondering what might be happening, more chains appear from within the Shaggai hole and the chains quickly wrap themselves around any rouge digimon in the army.
As if on cue, after all the invading digimon have been immobilized and chained, the chains start to pull Lucemon and his minions through the Shaggai hole.
"Argh! What is happening here?" screamed Lucemon, extremely unhappy that his plan has been halted. "I will be back!"
The three tamers stood. What happened within the past hour just astounded them. It was a mix of fear and relief for them after two near death experiences.
Inside Hypnos
"Yamaki Sir, wild ones that appeared has been eliminated. Do we shut down Shaggai?" asked Reika.
"Confirm the elimination of the wild ones once more before you shut it down. I'll leave you in charge for now." replied the black haired man wearing sunglasses. He played with his lighter for a moment before shutting it and proceeds to exit the Hypnos building.
Entrance of Hypnos
"Erm… So what exactly did happen here?" asked Takato.
The two other tamers still continued to stare dumbfounded into space. None of the three of them could understand what just happened.
"So?"
"Takato, for once, I have totally no idea. I think something happened in the Digital World." replied Jianliang.
"Agreed. I think we need to go to the Digital World to find out what's happening." said Ruki.
"But… Don't we have school for the rest of the week?"
"Let me ask you. Is school more important or the safety of the Digital World and our world?" quipped Ruki.
"Takato, she's right. We have to check it out, for the safety of our world and our loved ones, not to mention our digimon partners."
"Hm… You have a point…"
At that moment, their D-arcs beeped in unison. They pulled out the devices once more and stared at the screen, which shows a row of strange symbols in red. The symbols were constantly flashing.
"What now?"
"I think we really need to go check out the Digital World. It's quite serious from the looks of it." said Jianliang.
"Okay boys, so what do you say we all give our partners a visit tomorrow morning?"
The word 'partners' caused a temporary silence to engulf the group.
Guilmon…
Renamon…
Terriermon…
"I… guess so."
Jianliang nodded.
"So, our old meeting place at 7.30?"
The two boys nodded.
"Should we tell the others too?"
"…"
"I think it's best to leave them out of this."
Suddenly, a cleverly made remark stunned the tamers.
"Where are we going to go when we reach the Digital World?"
The comment was by Takato.
The other two tamers couldn't believe they missed out this important detail.
"What a nice way to spoil the plan, Takato."
"Ruki, he's right. How would we know where should we go? It will take us a long time if we were to search the whole Digital World."
"What now?" asked Takato.
As if on cue, the screen of their D-arcs changed to show a compass, with its arrow pointing in a particular direction.
"I guess that now the problem is settled. The D-arc would be guiding us."
The three looked at each other as they silently nodded. They were ready to leave when the door to the Hypnos building burst opened. The three tamers turned and saw a figure with sunglasses.
"Yamaki-san?"
"Kids, what happened?"
"Something appeared out of the Shaggai hole and pulled the digimon into it. We don't know why just yet so we're setting off for the Digital World tomorrow to find out." Takato covered his mouth as he said the last statement.
"Good luck kids. Remember to inform your parents this time. I won't stop you from going. The choice of putting your lives on the line again is up to you. I will do my very best to support you if you choose to venture into the Digital World." Yamaki smiled. It was a rare sight. Yamaki hardly smiles.
The three tamers spoke in unison. "Thanks, Yamaki-san."
With that, the four went their separate ways.
In the evening, Matsuda bakery
"Thank you. That's a total of…"
Takato stood in the corridor, looking at his mother working the cash register. His mother continued to serve the customers as she smiled. She seemed to have had a happy day at work. Takato sighed. He did not wish to hurt his mother's heart again. The last time he was gone, his mother broke down as it hit her hard. He shook his head as he went back to his room, taking one final glance at his mother.
"Ring…"
"Takato! It's a call from Juri!" he heard his mother hollering from the bakery below.
Takato made his way down and picked up the phone.
"Hello? Katou-san?"
"Takato-kun, there's this strange message that kept appearing on my D-arc. Is… something wrong?"
"Erm… We've encountered a digimon army… and so we think that something has happened in the Digital World."
"…"
"And we're going to the Digital World tomorrow to find out what's wrong."
"T-Takato-kun, can I come too?"
"I-I guess you could. Since your D-arc is reacting."
"Thanks, Takato-kun." He blushed.
"Er… Ya. So we meet at the usual spot at 7 tomorrow."
"Okay. Thanks and have a good night, Takato-kun."
"You too, Katou-san."
With that, he hung up the phone and picked it up again, dialling a new number.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Is Jianliang there?"
He heard a faint voice. "Jian-niichan! Your call!"
"Hello?"
"Jian?"
"Takato?"
"Erm… I called to tell you that Katou-san would be following us tomorrow."
There was a pause.
"I thought we agreed not to let the others know?" As Jianliang said this, he felt a tug on his arm. "Shaochung, hang on for a moment."
"But… Her D-arc is reacting just like ours did earlier."
"Hmm…" He felt another tug. "Shaochung!" He turned to face her.
"Jian-niichan, how come there are strange symbols here?" She held up her D-arc.
Jianliang gasped.
"The Digital World… It's calling for you too… So I think… Shaochung, can you come to the Digital World with us?"
"Huh? I can… I guess…"
"Okay. I'll talk to you later."
"Takato-kun?"
"Lee-kun?"
"Shaochung is coming along too."
"Huh?"
"I think you should call Hirokazu, Kenta and Ryo. Ask them if they have anything strange on their D-arcs."
"Okay. Call you back later."
He hung up the phone. This time, his call was to Hirokazu.
"Takato?"
"Hirokazu, did you notice anything strange?"
"Huh?"
"I mean your D-arc…"
"Huh? I don't see anything new… Is…"
"…" The dial tone.
"Huh? Takato?"
Takato called the next number, Kenta.
"Takato?"
"Kenta, did you notice anything strange on your D-arc?"
"No… Wait, is there something I should know?"
"Er… No-Nothing important. Bye."
"Takato, wait."
"…" The dial tone.
"That's weird…"
Takato picked up the phone again.
"…"
"…"
"…"
The dial tone kept running for about one minute before Takato hung up.
This time, he made his final call.
"Jian?"
"Takato? So anyone else have D-arcs that reacted?"
"Nope."
"Hmm… That's perculiar..."
"I can't reach Ryo."
"Never mind. I guess if something happens, he can enter the Digital World by himself. I'll call Ruki to tell her about this."
"Okay. Bye, Jian."
"Bye, Takato."
Takato hung up the call for one final time. He turned back to see that his parents were ready to close the bakery and enjoy dinner. He let out a sigh again, before walking out into the bakery to help her parents to close the bakery.
Later, during dinner
"Takato, are you feeling alright? You don't look well today." his mother commented as she watches him lowering his head and sighing every now and then.
"I… I'm fine… It's just… Mum… The others… and I would be… going to the… D-Digital World…" he spoke silently.
Silence. Silence filled the tables as his mother sat there, stunned. It seemed like history repeating itself as it had only been two years ago since she let go of her son to face D-Reaper. She couldn't bear to come close to losing her son again. She did the only thing she could do now: cry. She knew she would never change Takato's mind and she had no way to prevent him from going to the Digital World.
"Mu-Mum…"
"I'm… fine… Just… go…" she cried.
"Mum…"
"Just do what… you think is best for you… I won't stop you." she cried even harder.
"T-Thanks mum."
She leaned onto her husband who was silent all this while. He certainly looked like he agreed to let Takato go, just like he did the first time. He nodded his head at Takato. Takato continued his dinner as his mother continued crying on his father's shoulders.
He sighed. Sorry… Mum… Dad… It's just something that I really need to do…
Lee Apartment, at night, after dinner
"Dad?"
"Yes, Jian?"
"I… I want to talk to you about something…"
"Go Ahead…"
"In private…"
His dad nodded as he led his dad back to his room. His dad entered his room and sat on the chair. Before Jianliang entered, he called out "Shaochung!"
Lee Shaochung, Jianliang's younger sister came out of her room and followed his brother into his room. The door was shut.
"Dad… Shaochung and I… We will be going to the Digital World tomorrow."
"What? Why?"
"Well… Takato, Ruki and I met an army of digimon that tried to attack the Hypnos tower so we believe something might have gone wrong in the Digital World. I was… almost killed… but…" he lowered his head. Those memories of being seconds away from death proved to be too tough to handle.
"Jian-niichan…"
"Jian… I understand your concerns but…" he paused, not knowing anything to give as an excuse to bar his son from leaving. The last thing the world need is an attack by digimon. If Jian and his friends could get rid of the problem in the Digital World and prevent it from affecting the Real World, it would outweigh his desire to keep Jian safe and him being missing from school.
"But… what does Shaochung have to do with your plans to enter the Digital World?"
"Dad, my D-arc have been reacting to something and I feel like Lopmon is calling me or somebody is calling me from the Digital World."
He sat silent in thought. "All right. I'll talk to your mother about this but you can leave but come back soon… And Jian, take care of Shaochung."
"Thanks, dad." they both said in unison.
After the private conversation and consent from his father, Jianliang picked up the phone and dialled in a number.
"Hello?" asked the other person speaking through the phone.
"Erm… Is Ruki there?"
"Wait a second…"
"…"
"Hello?"
"Ruki?"
"Yes, Jian?"
"I wanted to tell you that Juri and Shaochung are joining us for our trip tomorrow."
"What? I thought we decided to keep this from the others?"
"Don't get so agitated. Their D-arcs reacted so I guess they should come with us."
"Well okay if that's the case… See you tomorrow then."
"Goodnight, Ruki."
"Goodnight."
He hung up the phone.
Next morning
Tapping of feet could be heard near a small concrete structure looking like an isolated prison cell in the middle of Shinjuku Park. This tapping of feet is coupled with constant voices of complaints.
"Why isn't he here yet?"
"Ruki… calm down. He'll be here soon."
"Yeah I believe Takato-kun would make it here in time."
Standing beside the three conversing youths is a younger girl at nine years of age. She eyed the trio as they continued talking. Haiz… It's still early in the morning and there they are having a 'nice' conversation… I don't think I'll ever be able to understand them…
Leaning on the concrete structure is the impatient girl that kept complaining. Although after these two years her choice of clothes began to shift and change a little, her clothes today were still her normal: a simple T-shirt and jeans. She kept tapping her foot and the ground and with fists clenched.
"Why… must he be so late?"
Standing beside the complaining girl is a young teen. His choice of an orange vest really made him stand out from the rest. He used his hands to comb through his black hair.
"Something must have cropped up for him… He isn't usually late you know…"
"Everyone!" someone shouted from afar.
The four tamers recognised his voice as they all turned to face him.
"Hi, Takato-kun."
"Takato!"
Ruki leaned away from the wall of the concrete structure as she marched towards Takato, who was still running to his friends. As the two of them met, the panting Takato asked, "R-Ruki?"
He immediately felt a pair of hands grabbing his shirt collar. "Why are you late? You very well know the fate of the worlds could be at stake here!"
Takato stammered in his reply. "I was… just… trying to… get some food… in case we got… hungry… in the Di… Digital World…"
Ruki looked at him in a serious manner. He quickly turned his gaze away from her threatening eyes.
"Sorry, Takato." Ruki said as she looked to the ground. "I guess I was just too agitated and excited to have the chance to see Renamon again."
"Don't worry, Ruki."
She nodded as they both went towards concrete structure.
"So, are we ready to go? Lee-kun? Katou-san? Ruki?"
Everyone nodded.
It's the start of a new adventure for the tamers as they climbed into the hole previously dug by Guilmon. The Digital World awaits them.
Digital World
Right after touchdown, a blinding stream of pink light swept them away, into another part of the Digital World. Before they left, they could clearly see a dark sky, indicating that it was nightfall.
Next update: probably in early Sept. Story focus would be switching to a certain trio in the Odaiba Chosen.