AN: Chapters are going to get progressively longer from now on, because I'm trying to build up some momentum. That said, I am still working on the whole 'adventure' aspect of the story, which is why I need you to be a little patient; I promise it's going to get more fast-paced in a bit. Please feel free to drop by and leave a review, I would love to hear your opinions on the story!
To the guest reviewer who asked why is it always Sora: to be honest, I figured in the state he was, he could use someone taking care of him. She was the most logical choice.
The young man was panting hard, clutching his sides. He'd been running for what felt like hours, but he knew that it couldn't be more than a few minutes. Beside him, an orange dinosaur-looking creature was also panting, his large blue eyes closed tightly as he fought to catch his breath. The sun was beating hard on both of them, the ground below releasing hot vapour, his vision being obscured by the abrasive heat around him and the dull ache of his muscles. Yagami Taichi raised his head, wiping the sweat from his brow. With his hands on his knees, he looked at his partner just as he collapsed on the dirt before them.
"Agumon!" Taichi panted, reaching forward to give the Digimon a hand. "Geddup. Come on."
"I'm tired, Tai. I can't go on running anymore."
Tai knew this was true. They had been on the run for two days now, and they had had next to nothing to eat in that time. He tried to stop himself from falling, he really did, but before he knew it he too had fallen, face-first into the hot, arid ground before him. He lost consciousness, and was unaware of the two figures that approached him running, but he thought he heard someone call his name.
"Taichi! Tai!"
His eyes closed, and he knew nothing more.
When he opened his eyes again, Tai was lying on a bed of soft straw, his every muscle aching wildly at the slightest movement. He felt so weak, and this comfort was such a luxury that he didn't want to look around and find himself trapped somewhere, bound or gagged and soon made into digipulp by vicious Digimon. But then he remembered his friend, and sat up quite suddenly, head spinning painfully.
"Agumon?" he called stupidly, "AGUMON!"
"Tai, relax! Taichi, he's here, calm – calm down NOW!" A pair of hands forced him back into a sitting position, and he tried to fight them but he was so weak – and then he recognised the voice, and the hands, and there was no way he could mistake her short red hair and kind eyes. Despite himself, Tai found that he was extremely happy to see her, unaware until now of how worried he had been that they hadn't run into anyone else before.
"Sora?" he asked incredulously. "Sora, what – where – how?"
Takenouchi Sora shook her head gently, a little sadly. "I don't know Tai," she told him, "I came around two days ago, and you've been the first person I found." She held up her Digivice at him. "It had been beeping non-stop."
Tai looked around, finally aware that they were in a small cave, away from the deserted, hot weather of where he had found himself with Agumon. His dinosaur-like friend was stuffing his face in food – fruits, nuts and berries that Biyomon and Sora had foraged for and brought to their camp. Tai was tended to by Sora, who brought him food as well, and copious amounts of water. He felt that there was no amount of water that could quench his burning thirst. The first few drops had been heaven, the rest had slowly restored his ability to speak, and move and simply exist.
"Eat," she chided gently, "You need to gather your strength so we can try to figure out what happened."
He ate quietly while Sora talked. "I had just come home from visiting my grandmother," Sora said, drawing her legs to herself and hugging her knees. Her clothes – knee length shorts and long sleeved yellow shirt – were a bit dusty, but she looked healthier than Tai felt. He realised that her plush vest was what he had been using as a pillow, and wrote a mental note to thank her later. "I wasn't ready for anything, one minute I was in my room and the next I was somewhere beyond this mountain," she told him. She and Biyomon had been scouting the area, trying to find a reading signal from her Digivice, but either no-one else was here, or Tai had just been the closest one. "And then I found you."
"It's the same story for me," Taichi replied after a moment, "But we were in the middle of the desert, almost, and there was nothing to eat at all. We had some bits of cactus, but that didn't last very long," he said with a grim smile. He'd be happy if he never had to eat the damn thing again. "We were attacked a couple of times, and only ran when we were too exhausted to fight." He looked at Agumon, who was still stuffing his face but nodding at his words.
"I don't even know how I came to be here," Agumon said, "I was nowhere near this desert before Tai arrived."
"Do you think the others are here, Tai?"
He looked at Sora, bringing the roughly made bowl to his lips for another drink. "Yes," he told her, "They must be out there as well. Hopefully in better conditions, eh?"
Sora smiled weakly at him, and Tai frowned for a moment.
"Hey Sora?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving us," he murmured quietly, and then, because the moment had been too soft, too intimate – "Took you long enough."
She looked at him, shaking her head and chuckling for a bit. "Jerk," she said, "That's what I'm here for."
It was decided that they would gather what food and water they could and leave in the morning, before the sun was high. They'd get out of the desert, already convinced that they were the only ones in the area, since their Digivices hadn't reacted to any new signals. Though they had been in the Digiworld countless times before, Taichi and Sora agreed in something – this Digiworld seemed different, somehow more hostile. And far too quiet for their taste. The fact that he had encountered a couple of Mon was astounding in itself, for mostly they had fallen victims to the inclement sun, and lack of food. Biyomon and Agumon had told them that in the past few months, Digimon seemed to come out but rarely, hiding mostly, though no one knew from what. They just all agreed that there was something strange in the air, and nowhere felt really safe.
Taichi thought about all they told him, turning his Digivice between his fingers as he laid back on the straw bed that they had made for him. He and Sora had been nowhere near close, yet they were both here now, though they had appeared in very separate points. It made sense then, to assume that the rest of them were here too. Taichi sighed, closing his eyes as he stuffed the little device back inside his pocket. "I just hope Hikari's okay," he murmured quietly, drifting into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
He awoke to the sound of chatter and movement around him. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that Sora wasn't immediately there. Biyomon and Agumon where having breakfast (an extension of their dinner, really) and Sora was fetching more water for them. Taichi got up, grunted a hello to his friends and walked out of the tiny cavern, intending to find the stream himself. Sora was kneeling at the edge, filling a hollow sort of wooden bucket and only looked up with a smile when she heard him.
"You're up," she said, "And I didn't even have to scream at you." Taichi had always been a rather heavy sleeper, and didn't even budge at her comments. More than once he had been rudely awakened by children jumping at him, having cold water dumped on him, or Mimi yelling into his ear, or, once or twice, Koromon licking his face.
"Oh, shut up," he muttered, crouching and splashing some cold water on his face. Tai cleaned himself as much as he could; the water felt fantastic on his dry, dusty skin. He stood, running his fingers through his wet hair and feeling much fresher than he had since they had first arrived at the Digiworld. He helped Sora carry the water back to their little camp.
It did not take them too much to prepare for their trip. They shared what was left of the food they had found, saved some for later and filled the only water bottle that they had on them while they discussed the best route out of that place. After a while of bickering they decided that they would walk through the woods, not around them. There were two main reasons for this. One, the tall canopy would provide shelter from the sun, shield them from being seen by airborne foes, and provide food in the form of fruits and nuts. The second reason was that they figured that following the stream they'd eventually reach a river, or the sea, and that was their best bet as to where they would follow from there.
The landscape in the Digiworld seemed to have changed considerably, though the Chosen Digimon hadn't really noticed at first. Yet distances seemed to have grown larger; their surroundings were much harsher than they remembered on this side of what they assumed was the continent of Server.
"Come on Sora!" Taichi exclaimed with a grin, "I'd like to get out of here someday."
"Oh, shut up," she retorted, but she was smiling as she picked up the pace.
o - o - o
On a corner, about a two-day trip away from them, more Digidestineds were finding each other. Koushiro, with his spiky red hair, was typing away furiously on his laptop, a large red beetle-like Digimon nodding expectantly by his side. Izzy and Tentomon had not moved from their semi-secluded camp since the day before, having been too busy trying to decipher this new landscape before adventuring on it by themselves. He plugged in his Digivice and his fingers fired away once more.
"Hmm," he murmured absently.
"What is it, Izzy?" Tentomon asked curiously, scratching his beetle head.
"It's nothing yet … I think," he answered without looking up, "I'm just trying to expand my Digivice's range with my computer. I figure if it works then – " Izzy grinned, throwing a triumphant fist in the air with a 'whooping' sound.
"You found the other Digidestined!"
Several red points appeared at once, spreading themselves thin throughout the map and Izzy and Tentomon exchanged a happy look for a moment, before he frowned. "That can't be right …" he started, "Those are … far too many red points. I think we're not alone, Tentomon."
o - o - o
They had been travelling together for three days now. The road had not been particularly difficult, they had plenty of shelter, plenty of food and water and they could rest whenever it was necessary; but there was a growing anxiety around them, a certain unspoken worry. The last three days had been a haze of activity, though the group didn't show it at the moment. They had met Jyou and Gomamon two days back, and he'd already met Koushiro on his own, though he was not with them when they chanced upon each other. Izzy had insisted there was something he needed to do, and that Jyou should trust that he'd find him. Very reluctantly, Jyou had agreed to this arrangement. He had been surprised to find them, immensely grateful as well. It was a good thing they'd found him, too, because Jyou was carrying his emergency supplies bag and they had a feeling they would be needing a lot of that. Jyou Kido had been on his way to his med school practice the day they were all sent to the Digiworld. He too, had no idea what had prompted this trip.
"At least I have my notes," he said lamely, holding up a notebook and making the group roll their eyes and chuckle. Then things had turned a little graver as the inevitable seemed to dawn on everyone. They had been sent back to the Digiworld, but they had hardly seen any Digimon around. Sure, there were occasional run-ins with wild Mon who attacked them for seemingly no reason, but so far, nothing told them where they needed to go, or what they needed to do. That was … new. They weren't used to being left in the dark for so long, it made no sense and it was slowly driving them crazy.
Mimi could feel the air charged around her, and she took her Digivice out to stare at it for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Still no signal, none at all … she sighed, lowering her oversized hat to cover her face for a minute.
"I hope Tai's okay," she said, "I miss him." The truth was, Tai was one of the persons she missed the most when she had left Japan. At first it hadn't been so obvious, because she hadn't known what exactly what she missed. He had always been an optimist, though perhaps a little more down to earth than she was. And he was so fiercely protective of his friends, that Mimi could look up to that when she felt about to despair. His presence was soothing, and they all fell apart when he was not around. They just weren't as good a team without him.
"Maybe he's met up with Izzy," Takeru said hopefully, "Or Sora."
Beside her, Hikari lowered her face for a moment, a shiver running down her spine. "I'm sure he's fine," she said, and she smiled because that was the sort of thing Hikari would do. "We'll find them in no time."
"Oh, Hikari," Mimi stumbled to find the right words, "I didn't mean anything," she said, waving her hands to and fro, "I really just meant I missed him. Things get awfully quiet without him, don't they?" She flushed red, looking down at her shoes. It was terrible enough that Tai was missing still for her to worsen things by noting on his absence. But Mimi felt so lost, and though she wasn't lonely anymore, she felt as though they were walking aimlessly, without a purpose. And Sora – oh, Mimi missed Sora so much. She cared deeply for Hikari, almost as if she was her little sister too, but Hikari hadn't been there at first – she hadn't spent the first cold, scary nights with them in that strange place. She and Sora had a bond that time and distance had not been able to weaken, let alone break.
Her brow furrowed for a moment, and she was just thinking of something that hadn't occurred to her before. Of course! How silly she'd been!
"Hikari, Takeru?" Mimi began, "You should try opening a Digi-Port!" She clapped her hands together, unable to keep her excitement to herself. It was obvious from their lack of reaction that this did not seem such a great idea to them.
"Don't you think we've tried?" Yamato said, without even turning to look at her. "Come on Mimi, even you should know better than that."
"Oh, fine," she replied, pursing her lips. "It was just an idea."
"It was a good idea," Takeru said with an encouraging smile, "Just … not a working one."
"We tried that when we first came, but … it didn't work. We couldn't get any portals to open." Hikari bit her lip absently. "Maybe if Koushiro was here … or Ken …"
Mimi felt a little stupid, but the feeling was overwhelmed by the realisation that they were well and truly trapped here. She hadn't wanted to think about it, though the thought had occurred to her once or twice, when she was on the brink of sleep. It was just so … disheartening. "It'll work," she said after a moment, and even Yamato turned to look at her.
"What - ?"
"We probably just need to defeat some impossible new evil and risk our necks two or thirty times." She was smiling, and Jyou even chuckled at the look on her face.
"Always the optimist," he said with a roll of his eyes.
"You know me."
They all shook their heads, but there were tiny smiles there too, as if the girl's antics had somehow reminded them that, despite the seeming impossibility of the present situation, they'd somehow figure it out. They always did.
As if out of habit, Mimi fingered her Digivice again, turning it loosely on her palm, except this time, the little device beeped once. Mimi blinked, looking closely at the red dots. "They're close," she said quietly, and then her smile broke into a laugh as she started running. She couldn't believe it. They were close, they were here. Finally, they were all going to be together and the sooner that happened, the sooner they'd get to leave. Because Mimi was sure by now that the only reason why nothing was happening was because they weren't together yet, something had gone wrong and they had been sent to different places almost as if somebody had wanted to stall for a moment, and didn't know how.
"Oi! Where the hell are you going?" Yamato yelled, while the others looked around in confusion, not knowing what had made her break into such a run. Mimi raised her Digivice over her head, waving her hands frantically. Yamato turned to look at his, and so did everyone else and surely, they could see the dots moving closer and closer to them. They never agreed to it, but before they knew it they were all running and trying to catch up with Mimi, who'd had a decent head start. She could hear them behind her, first confused and then just as ecstatic as she'd been. Palmon was laughing, and the sounds of laughter grew louder in her ears; her hat fell off but she didn't stop to pick it up, and still she kept running.
She didn't know what made her run. Maybe she was still feeling a little stupid about her idea, or maybe she was just excited at the prospect of seeing her friends again (because she just knew it was them), or maybe she just wanted to show Yamato that being an optimist paid off – but when their faces came into view and he broke into a grin, Mimi knew that she had been running because of him.
As her arms went around Taichi's neck, almost tumbling both of them to the floor, Mimi knew that they were not lost anymore.
