A.N.: Holy wow, it's alive! This update has taken faaar too long to write, but at least it's a fairly lengthy chapter - it was 5k, even before I started adding the notes. I'll be posting a general update on my profile to explain my absence, so if (like me) you are nosey about an author's long absence, heading over there will explain things.
I am inching my way towards Act Two, as well. This whole arc was meant to be an introduction to the story, so I have absolutely no idea how long this ride will turn out to be in the end. But honestly, we are narrowing in on the next stage of things now, and I am super excited to reach that part! A lot has changed from my initial plan between when I started and now (mostly because it's all gotten rather bigger than I had intended), but there are some major plot points which I should reach soon, and they will bring some information which ties together the various storylines.
Monday, 1:13am
Mimi sat down on the far side of the table to the others, who were clustered around the two laptops. She wasn't entirely sure she understood Hikari's hurried comment that the fairy - and he was a fairy, Mimi was pretty sure of that - was her guardian. But given that everyone was on tenterhooks waiting for another reply from Taichi, she had a feeling that explanations were going to have to wait. Mrs Takaishi was doing something in the kitchen area, apparently keeping busy.
She clung to Palmon, not wanting to let go of her partner now that they were back in the real world. They'd made it home safely, but didn't she have to go back again? What would happen next time?
"Oh, thank heavens!" Miyako exclaimed, leaning back in her chair. She looked over at Mimi, and smiled. "Taichi says they're all fine. Well, he said they're 'fine more or less', but considering everything that's been happening over there, I'll take that."
Hikari had been leaning over the laptop. Now she straightened, smiling. "I'm going to tell my parents. I know they'll want to know that he's okay."
"We'll fill him in on everything Gennai told us, "Ken said, nodding.
Mimi sat bolt upright, almost dropping Palmon. "Wait, Gennai? He replied?" She leant forward. "What did he say?"
Ken sighed. "It's not good news, unfortunately. We got his message shortly after Hikari returned. Apparently there are problems in the digital world. There's some sort of distortion appearing in a few places. Gennai… well, we all think it must be connected somehow."
"And of course, Daisuke had itchy feet so he jumped at the chance," Miyako said, rolling her eyes. "He met V-mon a couple of minutes ago near one of them and they've gone to investigate. He's promised not to take any risks though, seeing as we're down to three and Iori won't know about this until the morning."
"Down to three?" Palmon said, rubbing her side.
Miyako grimaced. She glanced at Ken, and nodded. "There's a prophecy of some sort, and Ken's crest is mentioned, so we have to assume he's going to be pulled into the other world too. Of course, no one seems to know anything else about it, not even Alwyn."
The fairy bristled, and laid his bowl down on his lap. "As I explained, it was the Fates who gave us the prophecy, and no one has seen or heard from them in more than a hundred years. My world is filled with danger. It is no simple matter to seek them out. Even our best scouts do not always return from long-range patrols, and without communication with the other cities, our knowledge of such things shrinks, year on year."
Mimi rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted - it was later even than she tended to stay up to talk to her friends back in America, and she'd been wandering around that city for a while too. There was no way she had enough energy to really think about the fact there was a fairy in the Yagamis' living room. It was like there was a wall between her and her real self - she felt all strange and detached, watching everything without really knowing how she fitted in.
"There," Miyako said, sitting back in her chair again. "I've gotten Taichi as up to speed as I can."
They sat in silence a few moments. Mimi suspected that everyone else was as tired as she felt. Maybe they were even more tired - they'd all been up the night before as well, hadn't they? She bit back a yawn as Hikari emerged from her parents' room, and pulled up a chair next to Miyako and Ken.
"Any more news?" she asked.
Ken shook his head. "We haven't long replied to Taichi. I was about to ask Mimi if she learnt anything."
Mimi shuddered. "I don't want to talk about it," she said flatly. "It was horrible."
She looked up to see Hikari smiling gently at her.
"I know it's not easy, Mimi, but if there's anything you can tell us which you didn't already tell me, that might be able to help us. I can explain the rest - I'm not really all that tired."
Mimi sighed. "I think I told you everything important," she said. "Except - wait. One thing I don't understand. I travelled to this other world with Palmon, yes? Well, you had your digivice - I mean, your D3. When I got there, I didn't have any of that. It was just me and Palmon. How come Taichi could take all those things with him, and everyone else had their digivices or phones, but I got there with nothing at all? If Palmon had been able to evolve, maybe she wouldn't-"
She stopped abruptly, clinging to her partner.
"It's alright Mimi," Palmon said. "I'm fine."
"Hmmm," Miyako said. "You know, I'm pretty sure Sora said the same thing when she made her trip. I'll ask Taichi if Koushiro noticed anything out of the ordinary." She leant forward and started tapping. "Oh, wait, Taichi's messaged again. He says…" she stopped and paled, looking over at Mrs Takaishi. Ken leant across her to read the message.
"He says they're all very tired, and Koushiro and Takeru are already asleep." There was something about Ken's voice which didn't ring entirely right, but even in her tired state, Mimi could sense that neither of the pair wanted to say whatever it was for the moment. Well, they would probably explain it all later.
Hikari had also leant over to read the message, and her face was twisted with something a little like worry. Mimi was about to give in to her curiosity and ask what on earth the matter was when there was a loud thump and a gasp.
"GOMAMON!" Jou screamed, and the others surged over to check on him.
Mimi hung back. What if he wasn't okay? What if he felt as dreadful as she did, and didn't want everyone crowding around him? Besides, the urgency in his voice made him think of Palmon, and at that moment, holding on to her partner and reassuring herself that they were both okay was her main priority.
There was a great commotion for a few minutes, as Jou was helped back onto the sofa. He looked more nervous than Mimi could ever remember having seen him, even in the digital world, and he clung to Gomamon in much the same way she clung to Palmon.
The laptop bleeped. No one seemed to notice, so Mimi got to her feet and went to check. After all, what if it was something important?
Palmon stayed by her side as she walked around the table. Mimi didn't need to ask to know that her partner was every bit as shaken by the whole sorry mess as she was. Neither of them wanted to be far from the other - it was a pattern which seemed to be rapidly taking hold among all the Chosen Children. Tentomon had sunk into a deep gloom over the afternoon, and Ken looked fidgety and anxious.
She clicked the flashing icon and a conversation popped up onscreen. The last two messages caught her eye:
::Shit. It's in the Digital World too? Look, Ithel came back and he said it might be something called a "Time of Merging", whatever that means. You're gonna have to hold the fort for a while though, because we're in no shape to try and get back there. Keep this on the quiet, but Takeru's a mess, and Koushiro fractured his wrist. They're sleeping off the first round of being patched up at the moment. Apparently Ithel's people can heal them faster than in the real world, but we can't risk going anywhere just yet. We're all worn to the bone. Tell Daisuke not to take any chances, because he isn't going to have the backup he's used to.::
She swallowed heavily. No wonder the others hadn't wanted to read it aloud. She glanced over at the group around Jou, and then looked at the most recent message.
::I told Ithel the news from Gennai, and he reckons we need to go meet this Grand Council of theirs, because they're the ones who have a copy the prophecy they told us about. Only trouble is, they haven't heard anything from the Council in ages, and their last messenger didn't come back. I reckon we can get through with our partners, but we'll need to be at full strength to make the journey. Tell Hikari to rest up before she comes back at twelve, and to bring Tentomon too. Alwyn had better keep her safe til she's here. Oh, and Koushiro has his digivice but not his phone, so we'll need that as well. I'm gonna get some sleep soon. Everyone else should try and do the same. I wish we knew where Sora and Yamato were, but we can't do anything to help them right now. If they come back, Mr Ishida will call. We have to trust that they're okay, and make sure we're fit to help them when we find out where they are.::
Mimi looked around at the others. Jou was sitting upright, face paler than she had ever seen it. His glasses sat skewed across his nose, but to judge from the way he clung to Gomamon, he hadn't noticed.
"Um, I think someone ought to see this," she said, making heads turn in her direction. "Taichi's going to sleep now, but he has some information about what they're all going to do next. And, well. He seems to be planning for quite a stay there."
Miyako raced over, rubbing her eyes. "What?" She almost fell over in her haste to sit down, and Mimi watched with fascination as her eyes raced back and forth across the screen.
Hikari and Ken followed at a more sensible face, but Jou remained on the sofa. She glanced over at him and frowned. He looked awful. Tentomon appeared to be trying to comfort him, but if there was an individual less capable of offering comfort than Tentomon in the midst of worrying about Koushiro, she had yet to meet them. Sighing, she got to her feet and walked over.
"It was bad, then?" she asked, sitting down next to him. She glanced over at Alwyn, who sat in the armchair watching them curiously. Or, more accurately, he seemed to be watching the digimon curiously. It seemed a little silly for a fairy to be surprised by things, but then, she'd been surprised to see him despite the fact that her own partner could evolve into a fairy. So it sort of evened out.
She had a few seconds to muse on that thought, because Jou didn't seem to have heard her. In the end it was Gomamon who replied.
"We wound up in some kind of mountain range, and then there was an earthquake," he said, shrugging. "I think half the mountain came down. Just as well we got out of there before the dust made my fur all dirty. Jou's family hates me tracking stuff through the house, right Jou?"
Jou nodded absently. Mimi had a feeling he wasn't really listening.
"Jou," she said sharply. Experience had taught her that there was no one better at working Jou into a frenzy of panic than Jou himself. If she could stop that from happening, so much the better.
He looked up, not loosing his grip on his partner at all.
"Look, Jou, I know it was bad. But you can't sit there worrying over it. Taichi wants us to sleep, because we need to do things tomorrow."
Jou snorted. "Go back, you mean?" he said, with more than a trace of bitterness in his voice. "And what are we meant to do then?"
"Well, I don't know!" she snapped. "But we've got to do more than just sit and feel sorry for ourselves!"
"She has got a point, Jou," Gomamon said. "Besides, the landslide already happened. How can we get trapped in it twice?"
Jou took a deep breath, then sighed. "There is that, I suppose."
He shook his head, and appeared to notice his glasses for the first time. Straightening them, he looked up. "Thanks Gomamon. And… thank you, Mimi."
She shrugged. "No problem!" she said, with as much of a smile as she could muster. "After all. It's happened to almost all of us now. We just need to find out a way to avoid whatever it is that's so dangerous. And then maybe we can find Taichi and the others there. They did say they found a map, after all."
Jou frowned. "I don't know how I'll find them, mind. I was in a mountain valley, and I couldn't see any sign of a forest, or the ocean."
Alwyn cleared his throat. "Perhaps I could help?" he said. "It has been many years since I travelled outside the bounds of the Forest, but I do have a good knowledge of the lands of my birth."
Mimi nodded. "Of course! We could-"
"It can wait for the morning," Miyako said, walking over. "Taichi's right. We need to sleep. We have ten-and-a-half hours until you're going back, and you need to rest so we can make plans. "Mimi, as long as you don't alert the guards, you should be fine. Jou… We'll think of something. But we can't make plans while we're this tired. I don't know about you, but I would kill for some real sleep."
A grating sound caught Mimi's attention and she looked round at the table in time to see Daisuke fall out of the digital world in a heap. Ken had just managed to pull the chair out of the way in time. Miyako whirled on the spot, and squeaked with obvious excitement.
"Poromon!"
As Daisuke got to his feet, Minomon hopped free and was scooped up by Ken.
Tentomon sighed. "I hope Koushiro's okay."
Mimi looked down at Palmon anxiously. Her partner's expression matched her own. But what could she do? Tentomon was anxious enough already, without knowing how things stood.
She forced a smile to her face, and did her best to sound cheerful. "Don't worry. Taichi wants you to go with Hikari, so you'll be back with him soon."
If she tried her hardest, she could even focus on that happy thought, and not worry about what on Earth she was going to do when she ended up back in that city.
Monday, 8:30am
Yamato woke slowly. He hurt all over, and something hard and straight-edged was digging into his wrist. Had he fallen asleep playing his bass? It was hard to focus on anything. Hard to remember what he'd been doing when he fell asleep. The last few days were all a blur in his mind. There was something, though. Something about Sora, and Gabumon… Gabumon!
His eyes flew open as memories flooded back. He was lying on a cold stone floor, with shackles on his wrists. Where was he? Where was Cahir? The surge of panic welled up, but before it could take hold, Gabumon was there in front of him, reaching out a paw.
"Yamato, you're awake! Thank goodness. You've been asleep a very long time."
The relief was so great that he couldn't even speak. He hardly even noticed the tears rolling down his cheeks, or the stiffness in his back and neck as Gabumon helped him sit up. His partner was alive. Alive and unharmed, despite everything.
He clung awkwardly to him while the adrenaline and fear ebbed away. Gabumon was safe. Whatever else he'd done, whatever effects his forced interrogation had, at least his actions hadn't betrayed his partner.
"What happened to you?" Gabumon asked. "Those men brought you back, but they wouldn't tell me anything."
Yamato looked around the cell. There were one or two differences to indicate the passing of time. Someone seemed to have provided a couple of rough blankets - which Gabumon had wrapped around him - and there was a chipped mug sat by the door. Aside from that, the whole thing could have been a dream. He wasn't entirely convinced that it had happened.
"I…" He stopped, coughing. Just how long had he been out for, that his throat had gone bone dry?
Gabumon leapt up and fetched the mug, which was half-filled with water. "Here," he said. "Drink this, Yamato."
His hands shook as he tried to take hold of it. Between hunger, shock, and the pain of the shackles rubbing his wrists raw, it was hard to grip anything. In the end, Gabumon held the mug and Yamato tipped it enough to take a few sips. The water was stale and had an unpleasant tang to it, but he was too thirsty to really care. He finished the mug long before his thirst was quenched.
"How long?" he asked, letting his hands fall into his lap with a clink of metal. "How long is 'a very long time'?"
Gabumon shook his head. "I don't know. But you were away for… quite a while. More than an hour, I suppose. And then an hour or two after they brought you back, the guards walked by with someone else. They came by with food twice more after that. But they took it away both times when they saw that you were asleep still."
Yamato looked up. There was something about his partner's expression which bothered him. Something off.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Yamato, what happened while you were away?"
He opened his mouth to reply, then shook his head. Cahir's face loomed in his mind, cold and menacing. Shuddering, he inspected the mug rather than answer. It was metal and enamel, with chipped paint around the lip, and one or two small dents in the side.
"It was bad," he said at last. "I don't want… I don't think I can talk about it."
Gabumon sat down beside him. "It's okay. You know you don't have to say anything. I'll always be here for you."
They remained there for a few minutes in silence. It was one of the best things about Gabumon, really. He always seemed to know when Yamato needed mental space. Some of his fondest memories were of sitting around, neither of them talking or moving. Just taking comfort in each other's company.
And yet… there was something wrong. He didn't need to ask to know that - his partner was tense, agitated. He could see it in the careful way which Gabumon avoided meeting his eyes. By how perfectly still the digimon was sitting. There were none of the little movements which he normally didn't even notice, but were all too obvious in their absence.
"Gabumon… what is it?" he asked, not entirely sure that he wanted to know. If it was bothering his partner this much, it couldn't be good.
Gabumon sighed. "The guards," he said. "I couldn't see the person they carried, but as they walked back I heard them mention a giant pink bird, and a girl."
More memories. The shuttering of the world as his senses turned off and on. A warm hand on his. Shuttering again - and then a blur of movement and sound before two icy blue eyes had pushed their way into his head, and everything had faded into darkness.
Yamato groaned, deep in his sore, parched throat. Sora. They had Sora - and Piyomon - and it was all his fault.
Monday, 9:24am
A faint humming sound was the first thing Koushiro was aware of. The second was pain. His whole body felt like one solid ache, and he wasn't entirely sure he remembered why.
Opening his eyes revealed that he was in some sort of dormitory, lying on a bed with worn, soft sheets. Memories trickled back as he lay there. Of course. Their captors had turned helpers. Seemingly they had made good on their promise of assistance. These were certainly better quarters than the prison cell. He rolled over and made to sit up, yelping as he tried to brace himself on his wrist. Not only did it hurt, it wouldn't move either.
The lack of movement turned out to be down to the fact that someone had wrapped it with a curious arrangement of bandages and strips of wood. He blinked stupidly at it for a moment, before the realisation that it was in fact a splint sank in. Great. Just great. Not only was he trapped in another world - again - but he'd managed to break his wrist. And of course, no doubt Taichi would be crying "I told you so," until the end of time.
Using his uninjured right hand, he managed to lever himself upright into a sitting position and look around. There were five other beds in the room, but only one of them had an occupant - Takeru lay asleep in the bed opposite, with Patamon curled up on the pillow beside his head. The younger boy's face was a patchwork of bandages and dressings. Apparently their former captors had meant it when they had offered medical treatment. They certainly appeared to have been thorough.
He gave himself a minute or two to take stock of his surroundings. It was more than a little disorienting to wake up in an unfamiliar environment with no real memories of arriving there. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything past their meeting with the Elders save some vague recollections of staggering down a hallway with someone helping him stay upright.
Even more disconcerting was the discovery that his clothes were folded neatly in a pile on the cabinet beside his bed. Thankfully, whoever had undressed him had left his underwear alone, and given him some sort of long, baggy shirt to wear instead.
The room was lit by electric lamps - and they had to be called lamps, and not lights, thanks to their curious shape. The bulbs were wall-mounted, and surrounded by leaf-shaped white shades, which helped to offset the slightly yellow glow they gave off. They seemed to be the source of the humming sound, too. All in all, the longer he sat there, the more curious he became about where he was and what had happened while he had been unconscious. Somehow the word "asleep" didn't seem all that appropriate.
His first move had to be re-dressing himself. No doubt his wrist would prove a complication there, but still. He'd have to manage it at some point, so there seemed no purpose to delaying. The cabinet was close enough for him to reach over and drag the pile onto the bed. Someone had apparently washed and pressed his clothes while he slept, because there was no trace of dirt. That was a blessing, at least.
Throwing back the covers revealed that his legs were covered in deep, blue-purple bruises, with long scratches in the centres of the largest ones. He stared at them in dismay. After all their adventures in the digital world, he'd spent less than a day in this one and somehow looked worse off than he had ever been in his life.
This isn't the digital world though. So I'm not data here, he thought. Could that be the difference?
He shook out his trousers, and managed to pull them most of the way up before his wrist really became a hindrance. Muttering to himself, he shuffled out of the bed and stood, shakily. His feet burned, and he pulled the waistband into its position quickly before sinking back into a seat on the mattress with relief. Apparently walking was going to be something of a complication as well.
Appallingly, just putting his trousers on was enough to wear him out. He had to fight the urge to lay back down and close his eyes. This wouldn't do. He had to keep his wits about him, and find out what was going on. After all, he was in an unknown room in an unknown city, Takeru looked as out cold as a person could, and there was no sign of Taichi anywhere. He needed answers, and he needed them fast.
He gave up on his shirt after struggling to take the one he had been provided with off. The sleeve was loose, but still not loose enough to easily go past the splint, and there was no way his own shirt would fit past it. It hurt far too much to want to try, anyway.
A few more minutes to regain his breath, and he attempted to stand again. He managed three steps before retreating to the comfort of the bed, cursing under his breath. Apparently their long march the day before had taken a greater toll on his feet than he had realised at the time. Of course, the fact that he had been dragged into this world without his shoes meant that he probably should have expected something like this.
Movement on the other side of the room caught his attention, and he looked over sharply. Patamon was stirring beside Takeru, stretching and yawning. The little digimon looked first at Takeru, and then around the room. When he spotted Koushiro staring at him, he smiled and took to the air.
"You're awake!" he said, landing on the end of Koushiro's bed. "They said you'd sleep a long time."
Koushiro sighed. "I don't know how long I've been asleep," he said. "Even if I knew the time now, I have no idea of when we arrived here."
Patamon nodded. "Taichi might know," he said. "He sent a message to the others. Where is he now?"
"I don't know," Koushiro replied. "I woke up a few minutes ago, and I haven't seen signs of anyone else. I'd go and look for him, but when I try to stand…" He trailed off, and sighed again.
Instead of answering, Patamon nodded again, and took to the air. He flew over to the doorway, but stopped short of leaving the room. Koushiro could guess the reason for that from the expression on Patamon's face as he turned to look at Takeru.
"Is there anyone in sight, Patamon?" he said. "Someone who can go find Taichi?"
Patamon nodded. "Oh, wait, he's here! Taichi! Koushiro's awake!"
Heavy footfalls preceded Taichi's appearance at the door.
"Koushiro, you're up!" he said, walking over and sitting on the bed. "I thought you'd be out longer. They gave you something to make you sleep - not that you needed it."
Koushiro stiffened. "They drugged me?"
Taichi rolled his eyes. "It was a precaution so you wouldn't wake up while they sorted out your wrist. They said you needed sleep. Hell, all of us did. Agumon's sleeping off breakfast, or dinner, or whatever you want to call it when it's morning on Earth, night here, and we're all waking up."
With the mention of food, the source of one of Koushiro's many discomforts became clear. When was the last time he had eaten? The ache in his stomach and slight nausea were apparently from hunger rather than injury.
"How long was I out for?" he asked.
Taichi shrugged. "Not sure exactly, but it's about half nine now. I'm waiting for the others to wake up so we can sort out a plan. With any luck that will be soon, because we're gonna run out of time otherwise."
"Run out of time?"
"Ahh, right, yeah. You were asleep," Taichi said. "Well, I spoke to the others last… before I went to sleep, and basically everyone but Ken's been here once now. Mimi and Jou might need some help when they reach this side, so Miyako was saying that we should work on a plan once we'd all had some rest."
There was something about Taichi's voice which rubbed him up the wrong way. It was too bright and cheerful, especially considering the news he was breaking.
"What's wrong?" he asked, noting the way Taichi froze for a moment.
Taichi sighed. "Look, I dunno when Takeru's gonna wake up, okay? And I don't want him hearing all this right away. He's too young to have it all on his shoulders."
Koushiro raised his eyebrows a little. "He's older than we were when we got stuck in the Digital world."
"That's not the point," Taichi said, frowning. He looked around at the sleeping boy, then at Patamon. "Not a word of this, until I say so, okay?" he said to the little digimon.
Patamon nodded.
"Good. We'll break it slowly, not all at once," Taichi said. He kept his voice low as he continued. "The fact of it is, Sora's missing too, along with Piyomon, and I woke up to a message from Miyako saying that wherever it was that Mimi wound up, someone tried to shoot her. With guns, not bows and arrows like they have here in the Forest. Jou almost got trapped in a landslide, and Hikari has to make it out of that cave they sent her into, carrying a load of batteries for backup power, and towing Tentomon, who's never even been here before - and Alwyn, who has to make it because he's the one carrying the bribe for that monster in there. Oh, and as if things weren't bad enough, the others got a message from Gennai saying that there's something wrong in the digital world, which has to be connected, and we're down to Daisuke and Iori to check it out, because there's every reason to suppose that Ken's going to wind up here sometime soon, and we need Miyako to fill in for you and keep tabs on everyone. So yeah. You could say I'm a little tense."
Taichi's phone bleeped, making them jump. Koushiro watched as Taichi flipped it open and frowned.
"Oh, yeah," Taichi said, with evident resignation. "And now there's the fact that we're all late for school. Apparently our parents want to know what excuse we should give."