Chapter Three: Adjusting to the New World
After Takuya managed to recover from the shock of finding out that there wasn't eleven digidestined as he had originally thought, they explained to him that they weren't all in Japan, but all spread out across the whole world with partners of their own.
The group had shared at laugh at Takuya's obvious amazement about there being thousands of digidestined around the entire world, before realizing that their parents were expecting them home soon and quickly decided to split up for the night, but not before making plans to return to the digital world the next day to discuss what to do about BlackWarGreymon and his current warpath of destruction.
Currently, Takuya and Kari were heading to the Kamiya apartment, Kari sending a quick message to Izzy on her D-Terminal to meet them there if he could. If anyone of the digidestined could figure out how Takuya had gotten here, it would be him or Willis, but Willis was at home in America, so Izzy was the prime choice.
Sending the message with a click, the digidestined of light turned to shut off the device when out of the corner of her eye saw the newest user of the device struggle hopelessly with it, glaring at it and pressing random buttons as if it would make a difference than the blank screen it had been showing the boy. Kari giggled in amusement at Takuya's expense, who turned to her with a lost puppy look.
"What? Am I not using it right?" Takuya said, glaring a bit stronger at the D-Terminal. The brunette knew he wasn't very tech-savvy, but he had at least understood the computer his family kept at home.
Although, there had been that one time when he accidentally brought four viruses onto the device in an attempt to play an online video game...
Kari nodded, the smile of hers not leaving her face. "Well, for one, your holding it upside down." She stated plainly, watching his expression turn incredulous and once again look at the device, flipping it around so then he was holding it properly. "Like this?" Takuya said, giving a sheepish grin at his own foolishness.
"Yup! And it works like this." She clicked a few buttons on her own D-Terminal, and after a few moments a beep rang out on Takuya's own. Looking back to his screen, he saw a envelope icon, and with pressing a seemingly random button to open, a one worded message popped up, courtesy of Kari.
Hello!
-Kari
Takuya stared at the message for a moment, before his eyes went slightly wide. "Oh! So its like an cell phone! Cool!" He fumbled with it for a moment, trying to figure out how to send a reply before Kari took pity on the helpless boy and learned closer to point at certain buttons. "No, you send a message like this.."
For the next three blocks Kari slowly explained to Takuya how to properly use the D-Terminal, as well as giving him not only her own address to mail to, but the other Odaiba Digidestined as well. He nodded in thanks to her help, and the human duo continued off on their walk, Salamon sleeping peacefully after a long days work in Kari's backpack.
Seeing as the conversation between them had ended and they had fallen into silence, Kari peeked her vision at Takuya, who now instead of messing with his D-Terminal like had been moments before, had returned the device to his jacket pocket, and was staring at all the people walking by across the street, a few of which were already wearing longer pants rather than shorts. The boy looked back down to his own dark green shorts, then returning his gaze to the passerby.
Unable to put two and two together in her mind, Kari gave up and voiced her thoughts. "What's wrong? Are his pants cooler than yours?" She teased, trying to lighten the depressing feel that suddenly surrounded Takuya. He chuckled for a moment, as if forgetting what was eating him alive before it struck him again, and he frowned.
Turning his head to face her as they walked, Takuya sighed, trying to figure out a way to put into words. "Its just...when I left for my adventure in the digital world it was summer, barely half-way through July...and now its getting cold enough that people can wear pants and long sleeves and not feel hot..." He trailed off. Kari's eyes widened slightly, but nodded in understanding. For their first adventure it had all really taken place in the span of a day, yet it was months in the digital world. Yet for Takuya it actually had been months, in both the digital and real world.
"Hey, it will be okay. Who knows, maybe a day hasn't even passed yet in your own world. Maybe time flows differently." She shrugged, thinking of possible solutions to keep Takuya from worrying. It wasn't his fault he was chosen to save another world, even more-so getting lost in a completely new world. The conflicted boy smiled at this, but didn't say anything in return, and once again the duo fell into comfortable silence, and Takuya seemed to walk a bit lighter than before.
The trio eventually reached the Kamiya apartment, Kari standing in front of the door. "Here we are!" She exclaimed, fumbling with the handle. "Be warned though, don't take or accept anything from my mom or the fridge. What they have may look edible, but its very far from it." The petite girl said, her tone taking a fake serious light. Finally managing to open the door. Takuya wanted to ask what she meant by that before she walked in, motioning for Takuya to follow.
Inside the quiet apartment, Kari's older brother Tai Kamiya laid asleep in the living room, sprawled out on the couch. Upon hearing the door to the apartment click open the teen slowly woke up from his nap, rising from his resting place to stand and stretch, before scratching at his scalp from underneath the mess of his hair and heading over to greet his sister.
"Hey Kari, how was the digital worr-" The older Kamiya stopped mid sentence, seeing the slightly taller boy behind his sister. Suddenly wide awake and alert, Tai realized that he was about to make a grave mistake, he caught himself mid-sentence. "-work in your computer class!"
Kari laughed lightly, seeing her brothers poor attempt at hiding their secret. "Tai, he knows." She stated simply, setting down her bag on the counter and pulling out her currently exhausted partner. Tai's expression changed rapidly, turning to look at Takuya then back at his sister multiple times, as if in disbelief. Kari and the others were very careful when it came to something like this, so finding out that this...stranger knew their most valued secret was shocking. Takuya waved nervously at the gaping older boy, a shy grin on his face. "H-hello?"
The older Kamiya ignored the boys attempt at communication, almost instantly turning his attention back to Kari, his face expressing all his utter disbelief. "A new digidestined?" He uttered to her, trying to get a grasp on the situation. The bushy haired brunette trusted his sister; Kari was smart and wouldn't just tell anybody, so this boy probably was either a new digidestined or had seen them exiting the digital world. Either was bad on its own.
Kari took a deep breath. Time to see how much her brother trusts her word. "More along the lines of digidestined from an alternate world." Kari explained slowly, waiting to see her brothers reaction to that.
It was worth the wait as Tai became wide eyed and shaky, looking once more at Takuya before back at his sister, desperately needing an explanation to this.
Kari sighed in exasperation. This would take a while...
It took nearly ten minutes for Tai to calm down after Kari fully explained what had happened, from the very moment that DarkTrailmon had shot out the strange portal that the destiny stone had created. Then it took another two minutes for the older teen to truly believe it. The digidestined were used to strange things occuring, but this anomaly just took the cake!
"So..let me see if I've got this straight." Tai said, sitting in the chair opposite to the couch. Takuya and Kari had commandeered the couch, Takuya's D-Tector and D-Terminal on the coffee table in front of them. A tired Salamon lay on Kari's lap, purring softly as the girl stroked her fur in a soothing manner.
"Takuya here is a Digidestined of another world, who while on a trip back to his own digital world ended up in ours, and is stuck here?" Tai summarized, leaning back in his chair and groaning, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming. What occurred today did not make any sense to him whatsoever, but then again, digital monsters with their own world really didn't make much sense either. Who's to say there isn't more than one?
"Yup, that sounds about right." Takuya said, laughing dryly in an attempt to lighten the conversation. Tai groaned, staring at the ceiling. "Why can't anything ever be simple? The bad guys all hiding in one place,we go in, defeat them and problem solved. But nooo...its never that easy.." Tai whined, turning in his chair so he was face down. Kari giggled, used to her brothers laziness.
"Hey, you can't really complain, you're aren't the one trapped in another world y'know." Takuya stated, grabbing the teens attention and causing him to chuckle, before blindly tossing a nearby pillow at the boys head.
"True." Tai said, grinning when Takuya made no move to dodge the incoming pillow, letting it hit his face and then fall back in an exaggerated fashion onto the couch. "So anyway, got any plans yet on what to do?" The older teen questioned.
Takuya blinked, scratching the back of his head in a nervous manner. "I'm actually sure yet...Kari mentioned someone that she thought could help me. You said his name was..Izzy right?" He asked, half-unsure. Kari nodded and he took it as a chance to continue. "Yeah, she thinks that Izzy might be able to figure out where I came from and at most find a out if theres a way back." He further explained, seeing Tai sit up straight and nod, a small, knowing grin on her face.
"Well shes not wrong; Izzy is probably the best digidestined we know to find your way back. Be warned though, when it comes to things like this, Izzy can be a bit...eccentric." Tai continued, going to explain his train of thought had the front door not been knocked on. Takuya raised an eyebrow at the description of Tai's friend, but shrugged it off and thought of it as friendly banter.
"That must be him!" Kari said, rising from her seat to answer the door. Swinging the door wide open, revealing a tired redhead standing beyond the door. The computer expert had dazed look etched upon his face. "I got your message...I've been working on a new program all day and I'm exhausted..what is it that you wanted me to see?" Izzy yawned, stifling back the urge to fall asleep right then and there.
Kari motioned for him to follow her to the living room. Slightly confused, the older teen complied and followed, ending up standing in front of the young boy who he didn't recognize. The red-head opened his mouth to ask what was going on before his eyes wandered downward to the table, seeing Takuya's D-Tector laying there.
Izzy's body moved faster than his mind could process it, snatching the device from the table, and investigating it from a closer perspective. "A new digivice!? Whats this part on the top? Why are there so many buttons? Why the stranger style than the others? Does it have the same digital gate opening properties? Why-"
"Izzy!" Kari exclaimed, snapping the teen from his inquisitive interrogation. His expression turned sheepish, then apologized. "Sorry, but you guys know what happens when I'm given new devices." He turned the D-Tector over in his hand. "Anyway...what is this?" Izzy asked.
"Well, it's my D-Tector." Takuya piped up, startling Izzy who had yet to see him. He held out his hand in greeting. "Takuya Kanbara, inter-dimensional Digidestined." The younger boy grinned. The red-heads eyes widened when he got to the end of his sentence, shaking his hand somewhat distractedly. "Koushiro Izumi...my friends are call me Izzy-excuse me are you really from another dimension?" He asked.
Takuya nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of a long story...basically I accidentally ended up in this dimensions digital world after trying to get back to my own." The brunet explained. Izzy nearly fainted on the spot. He really hoped this wasn't some illusion dream from not sleeping because this sounds prodigious.
"He's the reason I called you over here." Kari explained. "He's..kinda stuck here now." She simply stated.
The digidestined of knowledge blinked. "What?" Takuya sighed. "Basically after getting sent here by my ride, he ditched me here and left me with no way back." Izzy blinked again. This was lot of information to take in.
"Doesn't your Digivice have inter-dimensional gate abilities?" The redhead asked. The lost warrior seemed lost for a moment, confused at his statement before breaking it down in his head. "Nope. The way we got to the digital world was a Trailmon and a station a hundred or so feet underground."
Izzy's mind buzzed alive with new ideas, thoughts and theories. His last thought before unloading his questions on Takuya were; Oh, this is going to be fun...
In an unknown location, far away from the resting digidestined, two ultimate level digimon stood, peering into what seemed to be a small television. Upon closer examination of the t.v showed that the design of it was different of the televisions used for dimensional crossing, being sleeker in style, as well as being jet black in color.
The screen was fuzzy, static blaring from its speakers, yet a silhouette could be seen through the unclear screen.
"There has been a...unforeseen variable coming into play master." One of the beings spoke into the screen. It was feminine, yet held a small undertone, something similar to a drawl of sorts. "The destiny stone's destruction has brought forth something."
The static blaring from the screen died down slightly, just enough for the duo to easily make out their master's next words. "...Explain." The voice was obviously a man, yet was hard to place the voice to a face.
The second figure spoke up next. "As the stone was destroyed by BlackWarGreymon as desired, a wormhole of sorts occurred, and from it a train shot from it, along with a single passenger who calls himself Agunimon, the 'warrior of flame'." The second figure's voice was more relaxed, as if talking was a chore at all.
The static dimmed again as the one known as 'master' spoke once more. "Have you searched the digital worlds history for such a character?" Unseen to the man, they both nodded. "There are no texts or any legends at all talking about such a warrior. The closest thing we found was an old prophecy long fulfilled by the first digidestined."
The master seemed to ponder this, as if contemplating what actions to take. "Was he a threat to BlackWarGreymon?" The spire formed digimon was crucial in the plan laid out by him. Any threats towards the mega digimon until he completed his unknowing part of the plan was unacceptable.
"While seeming powerful, they did indeed pose no threat."
"..." The voice suddenly became agitated. "Then what was the purpose of calling me Arukenimon?" The now revealed ultimate flinched, lowering their head in shame. "I'm sorry my master, but something like this was not supposed to happen. What if Agunimon turns out to be a threat-"
"You just said that Agunimon posed no danger to BlackWarGreymon. Therefore, it is irrelevant what happens to the warrior." The voice stated calmly. "Continue with destroying the Destiny Stones, and don't stop until all are gone. Do you understand?"
At their instructions, Arukenimon and Mummymon both spoke in unison. "Yes, Master."
"Good."
Izzy seemed to get more and more excited the more Takuya explained his world.
"So, your world runs on fractal code rather than plain data? Does that mean digivolution is different there too? Different rules?" Izzy had long ago whipped out his computer and typed in every last thing Takuya stated.
Takuya shrugged. "I'm not sure. I really haven't seen anything digivolving yet minus your partners de-digivolving. So far the only difference I can tell is how much light is used."He joked.
Izzy typed that down too and kept on asking questions. "You yourself can digivolve? How does that even work? Like a symbiosis relationship or a take-over power or a-"
Tai coughed loudly, gaining the redheads attention. Seeing the stare from Tai, he blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry about that. It's just when new data is exposed its always something really interesting and I just have to find out everything about it." Izzy stated.
Takuya waved it off with a flick of the hand."Eh, it's no problem. I don't think I'll be a lot of help- if you wanted someone who knew a bit more about the digital world you probably should have ended up with Kouji or Zoe- but I can try to answer as many as I can after this." The brunet promised. Izzy blinked dumbly at him. Usually people didn't really openly give him data on something like this. He had to go searching.
To openly say he would indulge him...that was a Tai characteristic. A gogglehead characteristic. A grin spread across his face. Izzy thinks he will enjoy spending some time with this newcomer.
"Anyway..." Izzy typed a bit more into his computer, jotting a few notes. "So you entered this world during the time that your own form was in between dimensions?" Takuya nodded dumbly, unsure wither or not to answer. The digidestined of knowledge paused for a moment, thinking of how it could have worked before it made sense.
"Ah...The destiny stone." He stated simply, finding the answer. His companions stared eagerly, awaiting an explanation. Coughing, he continued. "I think that the destruction of the destiny stone caused the worlds barriers to waver again, only a bit further. It caused Takuya to 'take a wrong turn' I guess and wound up here."
Kari was the first to speak."So how does that help us?" Izzy simply continued to type. "With the knowledge of how he got here, we can figure out the 'entry point' you could say and track it back to Takuya's world. With that done it should be simple to devise a program that would modify the digigate program on one of your D-3's and send him back." Izzy frowned. "The hardest part though will be to figure out where exactly Takuya came from. We are walking into unknown territory, you know." He pointed out.
The group sat in silence for a moment until the dimension hopper himself spoke up. "So...what now then?" He said. Izzy typed a few final words before closing his laptop. "For now, I think you should get used to this world. It will take a while to find the source...I'll try to contact Gennai and see if he has any ideas." He raised from the couch, yawning as he stuffed the laptop back into his bag. "Next time you guys are going to the digital world, contact me. I'll split up and go to the spot of the broken destiny stone and look for clues. If that's all, I'm really tired and need to get going."
Kari nodded, opening the door for Izzy. "If anything comes up we'll call. Thanks for your help!" She replied as the boy trudged down the halls, already deep into his thoughts.
After the door was shut and Izzy's foot steps faded into the night, the trio plus digimon stood there, wrapped in silence before Kari decided to make a move. "Well, this has been a rather weird day, and I'm starving. How about you Gatomon?" The formerly silent digimon nodded in agreement, jumping over to the table. "DNA-digivolving takes a lot outta me. I could eat a Whamon!" The feline replied. Her partner chuckled in response, and moved to start making food.
Takuya once more looked over at Tai, a nervous look on his face. He was about to speak up before the teen made the first step. "Our parents went out on a business trip for the next week, so you can stay here for now, seeing as you don't have a place to stay." The brunet moved to take a seat at the table, motioning for Takuya to follow. "In the meantime, why don't you tell us about your adventures in the digital world?"
Grinning, Takuya took a seat opposite to Tai, placing his Digivice back in his pocket before starting his tale. "Well, I guess it started a few months ago, on August First, my brother Shinya's birthday..." He barely noticed Tai's ear-splitting grin at the mention of the date.
After finishing his current tale, the group ate in peace, save for the small talk that the group shared.
Soon, the food was eaten (and many compliments given to the chief on her great cuisine, from brother and boy alike) and they decided to nod off for the night. Takuya was lent a pair of Tai's old pajama's, and given a few blankets for his bed on the couch. Good night greetings were shared all around, and this lead forth to the current time, where the warrior of flame was staring at the ceiling, his mind running a million miles and hour.
He was stuck here, in an unknown world, currently staying with people he barely knew and joining in on a war that was not his.
Kouji would have a field day if he found out. Takuya mused, seeing as his friend new Takuya's knack for getting himself into these kind of situations.
As his thoughts slowly faded, his mind latched on to a single thought.
I hope they're all okay...
Wow. What a boring chapter. But, it had to be done. I promise that next chapter will have some action in it.
Also, NEW DIGIMON ANIME!? TAI IN HIGH SCHOOL!? Single Word;Yes.
Next Time, on Crossing the Data:
The digidestined move out once more, a new comrade in their mists and a stronger chance against BlackWarGreymon. Will their efforts prove to be all for naught? Will Takuya find a way home soon? Stay Tuned!