Intertwined Destinies
Gennai has given the digidestined bad news: there is an eighth digidestined in Japan, and Myotismon, their new enemy, is on his way to get her. It is now a race against time to get home. If they lose this race, it will be more than the Human World that is in danger...every world will be facing its destruction. The children and digimon have opened the Gateway to the Human World and are now home. All they have to do now is figure out who the eighth child is, and protect the child from Myotismon. Simple right?
The next chapter of their adventure awaits...
Chapter 22: The Eighth Digidestined
Tai stepped out of the elevator onto his floor of his apartment building. He was beyond exhausted, what with battling against Mammothmon, figuring out they had all seen two digimon fighting in Hikarigaoka four years previously, navigating through the subway, spending all their money, fighting against Gesomon and then finally arriving home and making sure the others got home too…it was too much. He was also worried about Jade, she didn't really have any allies amongst her classmates. Koromon looked up at him in concern, but Tai just smiled at him and continued on. He didn't bother knocking on the door, he just opened it and walked in.
"I'm back!" he called out, hoping that his parents were home. His mother, Yuuko Kamiya, was the first person to see him, and her eyes had widened at the sight of Koromon in his arms.
"Taichi?" she asked. "Why are you here? What happened at camp? Are you alright?"
"Camp was cancelled because it snowed," he told her as he slipped his shoes off and put Koromon down.
"Snow? The weather is getting so unpredictable these days," his mother determined. Her eyes narrowed in on Koromon, and the little digimon squirmed slightly under her gaze. "What is that?"
"I brought Hikari home a present," Tai said with a nervous smile. "I didn't want her to miss out because of her cold."
"Great," Yuuko answered suspiciously. "Well, give me your dirty clothes and I'll wash them for you."
It was such a 'mum answer' that Tai felt relieved. Sure, his mum was hard on him at times, and she loved Kari just that little bit more than him, but she was still his mum. His eyes filled with tears and he couldn't help himself but throw his arms around her. She hugged him back in concern, her arms tight around his shoulders.
"Taichi?! What happened? Is something wrong?"
"I missed you mum," he muttered. "I'm glad you're here."
"Of course I am," his mother soothed. "What's this all about son?"
"Is something wrong?" Susumu, his father asked as he walked to the front door with Kari by his side. Kari was looking at Tai in worry, but when her eyes found Koromon she smiled in delight at seeing him returned.
"Dad," Tai muttered before giving him a hug as well. His parents looked at each other in concern over his head, and Kari lifted Koromon from the ground so that he was out of the way. She decided that it would be best if her parents and her brother had some alone time, so she took Koromon to her room so that he could tell her about what had happened since she last saw him a few hours previously.
"Taichi, this isn't like you," Susumu muttered as he steered Tai into the living room, forcing him to sit on the couch next to him. He kept his arm around Tai and Yuuko sat on his other side, her hands resting on his left forearm.
"What happened son?" she asked in concern. "Did something happen at camp? Did one of those older kids bully you? I'll call up their parents and have words with them."
"Nothing like that," Tai said with a shake of his head. "Can't I have just missed you?"
"You've been to camp every year since you were eight," his father reminded him. "You've never acted like this before, and I haven't seen you cry since you were eight either."
It was true, Tai had stopped confiding every detail of his life to his parents after his mother blamed him for Kari getting sick. He didn't tell them when he was hurt, or not feeling well, and he definitely didn't let them see him cry. Neither one of them knew why he had suddenly stopped coming to them, but they had figured that it was faze he was going through.
"I just, never realised how lucky I was," Tai muttered as he wrapped his right arm around his waist as his left was being held by his mother. "Having the two of you as parents, I mean."
"You've lost weight, son," Susumu observed as he tightened his grip on his son. "You were only gone for two weeks, how'd that happen? Did the camp forget to feed you?"
"You're skin and bones," Yuuko added as she wrapped her whole hand around his wrist. "Taichi? What happened to you?"
Tai pulled away from the two of them, standing up while they remained sitting. The conversation was getting that little bit too close for what he was comfortable talking about. His dad went to stand and reach out to him, but Tai stepped back further to discourage him. Though his actions were defensive, and he had been doing them to everyone for years now, it seemed to have a different meaning for the two adults on the couch.
"Are you afraid of me Taichi?" Susumu asked tentatively. Tai blinked in shock before shaking his head.
"What are you afraid of?" Yuuko asked. "We're not going to hurt you."
Tai laughed bitterly before he could help himself. He sank onto the coffee table in front of them and rested his elbows on his knees. He felt so messed up.
"I talked with one of the guys at camp," he said softly, aware that his parents were hanging onto every word he said. "He said that I bottled everything up too much. We figured out that my anger was a cover for my doubt."
"Doubt about what?" Susumu asked softly.
"Doubt about my belonging in this family," Tai whispered, even softer. "It's been going on for a while, but I guess I really started to notice after Hikari got sick three years ago. I guess I just thought that I wasn't as important as she was, and that you didn't really want a son, just a daughter. So I got angry at others, but I figured, that if I kept Kari safe you would love me just as much as you loved her."
"My God," Susumu breathed. He dropped to his knees in front of Tai and pulled him into a hug even as Yuuko covered her mouth in horror. Tears appeared in her eyes, but with his eyes closed, Tai couldn't see them. He just rested his head on his dad's shoulder.
"But then I met Jade," he continued. "And even though she never said anything, I know that there is no love in her house. She has no idea what it is, and it hit me after talking with her, that I am lucky."
"We love you son," Susumu promised. "More than anything. The day you were born was the proudest day of my life. I have never regretted having you in my life, nor have I ever stopped loving you."
"I'm a horrible mother," Yuuko suddenly breathed. Tai looked up at her, even as Susumu turned to look at his wife in confusion.
"Mum?"
"I promised myself when you were born that I wouldn't become my own mother, but I did!" she explained. "My mother favoured my sister, your aunt, over me from the day she was born and I hated it. I promised that no child of mine would feel unloved, but I broke my promise. I failed you Taichi."
Tai slipped out of his dad's arms and wrapped his own around his mother. They both shed some tears, but Tai had to admit that when he pulled back from her he felt a lot better. Susumu pulled them both into a hug, and for several minutes they just sat there. Yuuko separated herself from them and disappeared into the kitchen to cook dinner for them, but Susumu stayed where he was. He loved his wife, he really did, but he loved his son just as much.
"I want you to promise me something Taichi," he whispered.
"What?"
"If you ever feel like we're treating you poorly, or that we're ignoring you, I want you to tell us."
"What if it's not important?"
"There is nothing more important to me than your happiness."
"What about Hikari's health?"
"I have more than enough love in my heart to care for both of you at the same time, and there are two of us to look after you."
"I love you dad," Tai muttered.
"And I love you, my son."
Tai leant against his father for several more minutes before realising that unless he moved he was going to fall asleep. He forced his dad away and told him that he was going to have a shower. Susumu watched him go, but once he was gone he walked up behind his wife.
"Where did we go wrong?" he whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"He acts just like I did when I was little," Yuuko whispered tearfully. "He had no idea about consequences for his actions. And when Hikari came down with pneumonia I hit him. Do you think that it's my fault he doesn't think we love him? How badly have I let him down?"
"You haven't let him down," Susumu reassured her as she started to cry. "I guess we can be thankful that we know what he's feeling, rather than him bottling it all up like he has been. We know what we can fix now."
"You're right," Yuuko finally agreed as she turned around to face him. "What did I do to deserve such a wonderful man like you in my life?"
"You agreed to marry me," Susumu whispered as he kissed her. She laughed and pushed him away with a smile, telling him that she was going to prepare dinner and he should find something to do in the meantime. From the door to Kari and Tai's bedroom, two head disappeared and closed the door quietly behind them. Kari exchanged looks with Koromon, tears in her eyes.
"Tai doesn't think mum and dad love him?" she asked quietly.
"He does now," Koromon told her, slightly uncomfortable. He did not want to have this conversation with Kari.
"Is it because of me?"
"No!" Koromon reassured her. "He loves you more than anything. He's always talking to me about you."
Kari was still sad, but she vowed that she would talk to her brother later.
Tai stumbled out of the shower half an hour later. The hot water had felt wonderful, and he had kept being distracted by the lack of scars on his arm. It wasn't that he had wanted them there, but they had served as a reminder that he was alive…that he could still feel. He didn't have to hide it now, and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. He pulled a long sleeved shirt over his head and pulled his goggles on so that they hung around his neck as opposed to on his head.
As he was putting on his pants he thought about their task. Earlier that day they had figured out that the seven of them had seen the digimon fight in Hikarigaoka four years ago, which meant that the eighth child must have been there too. The only child that Tai could think of who had been there was Kari, and she had remembered Koromon when they had met earlier. He wasn't sure how he felt about Kari being a digidestined, it would be great to have more help, but she was his little sister.
With a wide yawn Tai walked into his room to see Kari and Koromon sitting on his bed. Kari looked close to tears and Koromon looked really uncomfortable. Tai paused for a moment before shutting the door behind him and holding out his arms to his sister for a hug. With a sob she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, ignoring his grunt from the force of the impact.
"I love you Tai," she whispered.
"And I love you," Tai told her. "What's wrong? Has Koromon been telling you stories of our adventures since we last saw you?"
"She was listening at the door," Koromon told him.
"Ah," Tai uttered. He lifted Kari with some difficulty and held her tightly as he sat on his desk chair. He knew that if he sat on his bed he'd fall asleep, and he needed to get Koromon something to eat.
"I think you're important," Kari whispered.
"I'm glad," Tai told her with a smile.
"Mum and dad love you a lot."
"I think I've always known that Kari," Tai revealed. "It's just that some days it's harder to remember than others."
"Why haven't you been eating?" Kari asked. "You didn't used to be this skinny."
"There wasn't always food available in the Digital World. I'm fine."
"Dinner's ready!"
"Come on, let's eat," Tai said as he put Kari down. "At this rate I'm going to fall asleep in my food. I'm exhausted."
"You look tired too."
"I'm hungry," Koromon told him. "Do you reckon I could have something to eat too?"
"I'll make sure that you eat whatever mum made," Tai promised him. "It smells good too. I've missed home cooked meals."
"Jade's a good cook," Koromon pointed out as he was lifted off the ground. "What she made for breakfast yesterday…man, I have never had anything so good before."
"It was pretty amazing," Tai agreed.
"Jade can cook?" Kari asked as she opened the bedroom door.
"Yeah, her relatives make her, but I don't think they let her eat what she cooks."
"Why do you say that?"
"Something she said when she sat down to eat with us," Tai mumbled. He dropped into his usual chair and placed Koromon next to him out of sight. "Smells great mum."
"Sure does, dear," Susumu agreed as he slid into place next to Tai. Tai rubbed his eyes sleepily, but he was determined to eat something and get some food into Koromon. Kari sat on his other side, with Koromon between them to sneak food to, and Yuuko sat opposite him. They started to eat, and for a moment everything felt normal.
"So, Taichi, you mentioned a Jade before?" Yuuko began. "Is she a new girl at school?"
"She's my Pen Pal from England," Tai told her. He smiled slightly, and he recalled that he hadn't actually spoken about the Pen Pal Project with either one of his parents. "As part of the program her class came to Japan to experience our culture and meet us face-to-face. They're at the school now, camping out in the gym because of the snow storm."
"And, Jade is the one who doesn't have a nice home life?" Susumu asked.
"She lives with her aunt and uncle, because her parents died when she was younger, but they didn't want to take custody of her."
"What happened to her parents?" Yuuko asked.
"Well, I don't really know," Tai admitted sheepishly. "Her aunt and uncle told her that it was a car crash, but her teacher told Sora that her parents had been murdered by a terrorist. And I know that Jade doesn't know for sure, as her dreams keep telling her something different."
"Did she like her bracelet?" Kari asked after holding her bowl below the table for Koromon to eat.
"She loved it," Tai told her with a smile. "Said it was the best present she had ever gotten. Thanks for helping with it."
"Today's her birthday, isn't it?" Kari continued. "Did you have something planned?"
"I was going to have a party with her and my friends tonight, but with the snow storm and our evacuation, she's spending tonight with her cousin and classmates."
"At least she has some family around," Yuuko attempted to reassure him.
"If he doesn't kill her," Tai sighed. "I'm worried. I know she was trying to be brave and all, but I know she was scared when we separated."
"We'll go see her tomorrow then," Susumu decided. "If their holiday has been cut short, I see no problem in a couple of well-meaning parents offer to act as tour guides. Your mother speaks fluent English you know?"
"Really mum?" Kari asked. "That's so cool. Can you teach me?"
"And me," Tai added. "I learnt a little throughout the year, but it is a very complicated language and I don't think I got it right."
"I'd be happy to," Yuuko promised. "But maybe once you're both completely recovered. You look exhausted Tai. Camp must have worn you out."
"Something like that," Tai told her. He rested his head on one propped up arm, and he tried to finish his food. Susumu and Kari retreated to the couch, but Yuuko remained at the table and watched as her son slowly became more and more tired, until he finally allowed his head to rest on the table, one hand still holding onto his bowl. He was unconscious.
"Susumu," Yuuko whispered to attract his attention. "Could you carry Taichi to bed? He's too tired to do so, on his own."
Susumu looked over to the table and nodded, a smile on his face. Like he had done when Tai was younger, he easily lifted him off the chair with his head resting on his shoulder. Susumu frowned at how light Tai was, and his expression of concern had tears appearing in Yuuko's eyes. He gently placed Tai down onto his bed, and Kari peaked around the door with Koromon in her arms.
"You need to go to bed too young lady," Susumu whispered.
"Okay daddy," Kari agreed.
"Hikari," Yuuko called before she disappeared. "Why don't you leave your new toy out here? I'll have it cleaned up for you to put on your bed in the morning."
Kari looked reluctant to part from the digimon, but at her mother's stare she placed him down on the table and disappeared into the bedroom. Susumu looked at his wife curiously, but she just kissed him and told him to watch television while she did the laundry. She picked up Koromon and carried him to the laundry where she put him down on the machine and stared at him.
"Alright Koromon," she began sternly. "Start talking. Who the hell chose my son as a digidestined, and why wasn't I told?"
Izzy couldn't believe that he was doing this for the sake of secrecy. He hated comedians, and now he was attempting to tell jokes. Out of everything he could have thought of to allay their suspicions, he picked comedy. He knew that he sucked, but the reaction from his parents was heart-warming. They were supportive of his "new" interest and encouraged him to keep practicing. He didn't know many people who would do the same. By the end of his performance though, he was stressed out and eager to get some food to his partner. So he praised his mother for her cooking and retreated to his room with the remainder of his dinner.
As he watched Tentomon eat he couldn't help but think on how lucky he was. He knew he was adopted, but he had no idea what had happened to his birth parents. Either way, he knew that not all children were treated well after being adopted or fostered. Jade was a prime example of this. He wondered how different she would be if she had known what love was before being rescued and sent to the Digital World, or even if she would have been sent there at all.
"Your mum is an awesome cook!" Tentomon told him with a grin. Izzy brought his thoughts back to the present instead of focusing on the "what ifs".
"She sure is," he confirmed.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Oh, just how lucky I am," Izzy said without explaining much.
Tentomon finished off the rest of the plate without saying another word, but as soon as he was done he declared that he was tired. Izzy wanted to inspect the new programs on his computer, so while he worked on that Tentomon curled up next to him and started to snore instantly. With a smile, Izzy sat down at his desk and turned on his laptop. There were several programs that hadn't been there previously, so he clicked on them one by one to see what they did.
The first one was labelled 'KANKAN', and when it was activated it showed the picture of a Frigimon, Monzaemon and Numemon wearing bright skirts and doing the cancan. That was what the program did, and Izzy shut it down almost immediately with a shudder.
"Too bizarre," he muttered. His cursor moved over to the next program, this one labelled 'BALLOON'. This was a cartoon of a Chuumon pumping up a balloon until it exploded. Izzy covered his eyes in disturbance. That wasn't something that he needed to see. The next one was labelled 'RADAR' and he hoped that it was something helpful instead of bizarre.
"It's a map of Tokyo," Izzy said aloud. On the map was a red flashing light, and in his curiosity he clicked on it with his cursor. The map zoomed in and an image of Gennai popped up on the bottom right side of his screen.
"There's an unidentified digimon that just landed on Shiba-ura!" Gennai said urgently. "You're the only one that's still awake!"
Izzy baulked and quickly darted out of his room to grab the phone. Even though Gennai had said that he was the only one awake, he needed to see for himself. Tentomon woke up while he was hurrying, but didn't say anything as Izzy started dialling. He would call Tai first, and then he would try the others.
"Hello Mrs Kamiya," he said as the phone connected. "This is Koushiro, I was wondering if Tai was available to come to the phone?"
"Hello Koushiro," Yuuko greeted. "He's sleeping at the moment. Would you like me to wake him for you?"
"No, I'm sorry to bother you," Izzy told her. "Could you tell him I'll see him tomorrow?"
"Not a problem, goodnight Koushiro."
"Goodnight," Izzy said before hanging up. He cursed silently before dialling the next number. No one was awake, and it seemed like the ringing of the phone hadn't woken them at all. He could feel desperation leaking into his mind, and he wished that he could call for Jade, but as she was at the school there was no chance that she would be let out just to help him deal with a renegade digimon.
"What are we going to do?" Tentomon asked as Izzy put the phone on his desk.
"We're going to have to do this alone," Izzy told him. He counted the money in his piggybank and grabbed what he needed before picking up the phone again. "I'll call a taxi to take us to where we need to go, and we'll make up a plan as we go along."
"I'm ready when you are," Tentomon announced. As Izzy was calling the taxi company, the digimon went to the cupboard and pulled out a jacket that he could use as a disguise. Moments later they were out the door and heading off to fight another battle.
Jade walked around aimlessly, humming different tunes softly as she moved. She hadn't seen another soul as she walked, nor did she have a destination in mind. She was hoping to find a park or something with tall trees she could hide out in, but she was fairly well rested despite having only slept a few hours, if that. From her brief look into the location of the digidestined, she recognised that all of them bar Izzy were sleeping. She hadn't interfered with Izzy's thoughts, just brushing them gently to see what he was doing, and she hadn't been surprised to see that he was on his computer.
That had been an hour ago, and now Jade was well and truly lost. She was next to a river, though she didn't know which one, and as her senses reached out she noted that there was a digimon in the water making its way towards her slowly. She heaved a sigh of regret before beginning her walk along the river. It appeared that even after the sun had gone down Myotismon's forces were searching for the eighth child.
A truck zoomed passed her, and she gasped as she recognised the feel of a digivice. The digimon in the water had increased its speed, so Jade did as well. Usually, a digivice meant that a digidestined was nearby, but Jade didn't think that that was the case this time. The digidestined had a certain 'feel' in her mind, but there was none of that present, it was just the digivice.
Jade couldn't help but gasp in shock when whatever digimon was in the water tipped over a water taxi. She heard the screams from the passengers as it flipped over, and even though she couldn't swim she could use her magic to pull the taxi closer to the shoreline. Heads started to pop out of the water, and screams were soon mixed in with the other noises of the night. She called out to them, giving them a direction to swim in, but as soon as police and ambulance forces started to arrive she ran off. She didn't want to be asked questions about what she saw, and she was annoyed that she had lost the digivice.
She followed the screams that she could just make out in the distance, before another familiar presence made itself known to her. Izzy's presence was strong in her mind, and he was easy to track, though she couldn't help but wonder how it was that Izzy knew he needed to be near the water. She hadn't called him, and she doubted that he was tracking the digivice.
As she came around the corner she spotted Izzy near the fence, staring up at the digimon who had previously been in the water. It was huge and disgusting, and the smell was awful. This digimon, Raremon, was like a pile of mush that happened to have sharp teeth and claws. Jade shuddered, but then she noticed that Raremon was chasing something. It looked like a cat, but this cat had a digivice in its mouth. Jade stepped into its path and held out her arms for it to leap into them.
Once she had the cat she turned and ran. Izzy and Tentomon could take care of Raremon, right now she needed to take care of the little cat in her arms.
Izzy gapped as his digivice suddenly activated to let him know that the eighth child was somewhere nearby. He pulled it off his bag and held it up, explaining to Tentomon that the child they were looking for was nearby.
"That's great news!" Tentomon told him excitedly. "You should run after him! If we lose him now we won't know where we'll find him next."
"Will you be alright here?" Izzy asked as he started to back away in the direction of the eighth child.
"I'll take care of Raremon!" Tentomon promised.
"Alright, I'm counting on you," Izzy said. "Digivolve, and good luck."
"You too," Tentomon called. He turned to face Raremon, and as he flew up into the air he digivolved into Kabuterimon. Izzy watched for a few seconds before turning and running. He couldn't let any of Myotismon's forces get a hold of the eighth child, the world as they knew it would end.
Jade shook her head as she realised Izzy was chasing her. She had removed the digivice from the cat's mouth and was now carrying it in her hand. What she needed to do was get out of the area and quickly, otherwise she would be overrun. Raremon was behind her, with Izzy in front of him, and off to the side she could sense Demidevimon. She was curious as to how they were able to track the digivice, but figured that Myotismon had figured that out before journey to this world.
"Well little cat," she muttered. "I'm just going to have to teleport again."
"You! What are you doing here?!"
Jade turned her head and frowned as she saw Demidevimon appear in her line of sight. He had been flying faster than she had first thought. She stopped running and glared at him, mentally noting that if she didn't disappear soon Izzy would spot her. But if she did leave soon, Izzy would be all alone with Demidevimon, and that she couldn't allow. So she telepathically sent a message to Izzy in the hopes that he would turn back to where Kabuterimon could help him.
Koushiro, it's too dangerous for you here. Go back.
Jade?
You are in great danger, go back to your partner.
But-! The eighth child! He's here somewhere!
No, she is not here and you are running into a trap.
Izzy stopped running, and while he was seriously debating running forward more or not, he eventually decided to trust the voice in his head and turn back. Jade didn't show any indication that she had just had a conversation with someone, and achieved what she wanted. Instead, she tightened her grip on the cat and wished with all her might to be at the park. She had seen it from the bus, but hadn't been able to find it walking. Moments later she and the cat were gone, and Demidevimon's cry of outrage was all that lingered.
Still going back the way he had come, Izzy flinched at the cry and decided that he had made the right choice. He was no match for Demidevimon, it would be better if he went with his partner. Still, the knowledge that the child they were looking for was female was a good sign, though he wondered if Jade actually knew who they were looking for. She hadn't said anything about it before.
Yuuko put the phone down after talking to Koushiro and returned to the laundry room. Koromon was still sitting on the washing machine, and he looked really nervous. He hadn't really been able to answer her questions, and he hadn't told her anything about the digidestined or the status of the Digital World. It was at times like this that she wished Lily were still alive, she would have been able to get Koromon to talk within minutes.
"Koushiro called," she said quietly as she shut the laundry door again. "He wanted to speak to my son, any idea why?"
"Maybe their clothes got mixed up at camp?" Koromon suggested nervously. "I don't know."
"This would go a lot easier if you would just tell me what I want to know."
"But I can't answer you. It was agreed that we would keep everything a secret from everyone aside from those who already know about us."
"And you don't think that because I recognised you and waited until we were alone to talk to you, that I have no idea about the Digital World?" Yuuko stared down at Koromon in annoyance as the little digimon thought about her statement. "And for that matter, why are the digidestined needed in the Digital World again? What force is out there that Lucemon can't handle? Why weren't we called in before summoning children?"
"You were the one who abandoned our world?!" Koromon suddenly realised. "You're the digidestined who turned her back on us after your friend died! Why? Tai's not going to believe this!"
"You can't tell him," Yuuko warned him. "I didn't just turn my back on the Digital World. I turned away from everything that got Lily killed. It was magic that killed her, and it was magic that allowed us to go to the Digital World. I haven't spoken with the others in seven years, and I haven't seen Gennai in nine years. And Guilmon…"
By the end of her warning her voice had changed to resemble regret. Koromon understood her sadness a little. When Tai had died during the battle with Etemon, he had thought about running away so that he didn't have to watch his friends and their partners all the time, but Guilmon had been alone and both of them were probably missing each other. He had never met Guilmon, though he knew that there was a resemblance between them when he was Agumon, and for the first time he realised that it was because Tai was just like his mother. So he told the former digidestined everything he thought she needed to know.
He started with what he knew about the history of the Digital World, and their Sovereign, because the last time that Yuuko had been there it had been Lucemon was the ruler of the Digital World. He mentioned there being a battle, and when it was over Phoenixmon and Horcruxmon took over the ruling of the two worlds. He briefly outlined the tasks that they had been a part of, but didn't mention anything about any injuries Tai or the others had gotten. He spoke of Devimon, finding the crests, fighting Etemon, Myotismon, and now their quest to find another digidestined.
"So there is a child out there who needs to go fight a war in the Digital World because the Sovereign isn't strong enough to do it alone?" Yuuko asked once he was done. "Who is the child? Where is the child? How many digidestined are there?"
"We don't know who the child is," Koromon told her. "We know that the child's in Japan, and Myotismon thinks that they're in Hikarigaoka, but he hasn't had any luck yet. And there are seven of us at the moment, we're looking for the eighth."
Yuuko took in a steadying breath to control her desire to scream. Eight innocent children were being enlisted to fight in a war that shouldn't be happening in the first place. She needed to make a phone call, and possibly arrange for her former teammates to make a trip to Japan so that she could kill them. Her eyes focused on Koromon, noticing that he was exhausted and his blinks were getting longer. Her anger faded, she couldn't really blame any of the children for not knowing any better, but the adults were another story. She would call them as soon as Koromon was back with her son so that he could sleep.
"Remember Koromon, not a word of what we discussed," she cautioned.
"You have my word," Koromon muttered.
"Am I correct in assuming you would like me to put you with Taichi instead of Hikari?"
"Yeah, that would be nice."
Yuuko smiled and walked back into her children's bedroom. Hikari was still awake and playing with her dolls, but Taichi was dead to the world and still in the same position as he had been when his father set him down for the night. She was concerned about her son, and she knew that Koromon hadn't told her everything about what had happened. Months would have passed in the Digital World, and that would explain why Taichi had lost weight, but from what she could remember there had been plenty of food. She had never gone hungry, but times must have changed a lot.
"Sleep Hikari," she whispered as she set Koromon down next to Taichi. The boy immediately curled around Koromon protectively, yet he remained deeply asleep. Hikari smiled at her before burrowing under the covers.
"Mama," Hikari whispered back, before she shut the door. "Meeko hasn't come home."
"We'll look for him tomorrow," Yuuko promised. "Now go to sleep."
"Yes mama," Hikari agreed. Her eyes closed and soon she was just as dead to the world as her brother was in the bunk-bed below her. Yuuko quietly closed the door and walked back out to her husband. She mentioned that she needed to use the phone and would probably be a while. Susumu just smiled and decided that he would go to bed early so that he would have enough energy for work in the morning. Yuuko watched him go before she picked up the phone and dialled an almost forgotten phone number in Nairobi, Kenya.
"Goeie middag, dit is Akili, hoe kan ek jou help?"
"Akili, this is Yuuko Kamiya, have you updated your will recently?" Yuuko asked pleasantly in English. It was the one language all original digidestined knew fluently, and the language they usually communicated in.
"Yuuko? This is a surprise," Akili told her, now in English. "I update my will once a year. Why?"
"Because they next time I see you I am going to kill you, then Michael, and then Gennai if I can get a hold of him."
"What did we do?" Akili asked in a shocked tone of voice.
"How dare you choose my son as a digidestined and not tell me about it!" Yuuko hissed into the phone so she wouldn't wake her family. "I just received the shock of my life when Taichi walked through the front door with a Koromon in his hands. I don't want my son to be a part of a war in another world!"
"…I'm going to make this a three-way call with Michael," Akili said nervously. "Please hold while I play around with my phone."
Yuuko was glaring, and even though he couldn't see her, she knew that he could feel her displeasure. The minutes ticked by in silence, and Yuuko just knew that Akili was briefing Michael on her state of mind before putting her on to join the conversation. The phone clicked and suddenly there was a new voice that sounded just a little apprehensive.
"Yuuko, my dear friend of Compassion, please don't kill us," Michael begged. "We did try to contact you, but at the time you wanted nothing to do with us and didn't want to take part in the selection process."
"Why choose my son?!"
"Taichi possesses the same passion as you did," Akili explained. "He, and his sister, both had the ability to assist in the digivolution process."
"Are you telling me that my eight-year-old daughter is also a digidestined?!"
"The Protector of Light," Michael stated. "You didn't know?"
"From what I was able to convince Koromon to tell me," Yuuko began frostily. "The digidestined are searching for the eighth member of their group before Myotismon destroys Japan and uses my daughter to take over the Human World and the Digital World!"
"…I think it's time I took a holiday," Michael admitted. "Akili, I can pick you up in fourteen hours. I just have to get the plane fuelled first. Yuuko, the two of us will be in Japan in about twenty-seven hours, if I remember my flight time correctly. I'll give you a call when we make it to the airport and we can discuss this face to face."
"You had better have your will sorted as well," Yuuko warned him. "I am not happy with either one of you at the moment."
"Cheer up little sister!" Akili ordered. "Soon we're going to be together again! We haven't been together since you, Lily and Michael brought your off-spring to the Digital World to gloat to Gennai. This will be great!"
"I'm still going to kill you both," Yuuko warned before hanging up the phone. She rested her hands on the bench and heaved a great sigh. So, both her children were digidestined and her daughter was being hunted? She would see about that, no one hurt her children and got away with it. Now if she could just remember where she hid her digivice…
Jade stumbled when she finished her teleporting and allowed her body to sit on the ground as she concentrated on not throwing up. It hadn't felt like that the last time she had teleported, but this time it felt like her body was being dragged through a straw. The cat in her arms showed his dislike of the act and scratched her arm in an attempt to get away. She allowed him to drop to the ground and watched as he ran off. She slid the digivice into her bag where she wouldn't lose it before slinging her bag onto her back and standing up.
Several loud cracks echoed around her, and she just about screamed when the first thought that went through her mind was that someone was shooting at her. She ducked and covered her head protectively, but when she didn't feel like she had gotten shot she opened her eyes and looked up at the tall man who was now standing in front of her. Her eyes darted around nervously and she noticed another three men were behind her, effectively trapping her.
"Isn't it a bit late for you to be wandering around on your own?" the man in front of her asked. Jade said nothing. These men had appeared from nowhere, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of them. Her default response was to be silent, it made others underestimate her.
"You're scaring her, boss," a man behind her said. "She's shaking like a leaf in a tornado."
At his statement, 'boss' knelt down so that he was at her height and smiled reassuringly. Jade didn't smile back. Her lack of response was obviously unnerving the men around her, but she didn't care.
"Well," 'boss' said as he cleared his throat. "Do you know what you just did?"
Jade furrowed her eyebrows. She had no idea what the man was talking about. Was she in trouble?
"Boss, you are terrible and talking to children," another man behind her said. She turned her head slightly to look at him, and tried to think of a way to get out of the situation she was in. She vaguely remembered Mimi telling her something about how to get a boy to do what she wanted, but she didn't think 'flirting' would get her out of this situation. That only left bursting into tears, but she hadn't really cried in years.
"You do it then, if you think you're so clever," 'boss' ordered.
"Great," the new man knelt down so that he was also at her height. "My name is Haru. My boss here, doesn't have kids of his own, and sometimes forgets that not everyone understands what he's asking."
A disgruntled 'hey!' brought a slight smile to Jade's lips, and she started to relax as Haru continued to talk to her.
"We're here, because you did something that we call 'apparating'. It is something like teleportation. Do you remember teleporting?"
Jade nodded. These people were obviously magicians if they knew what she had done. They must be a part of the Japanese magical community.
"Great!" Haru said with a smile. "Have you ever teleported before?"
Jade nodded again. This was her third time, if she remembered correctly. There was that one time at school when she was running from Dudley and his gang when she was seven and had ended up on the school roof, and then there was the time in the Digital World where she panicked at being inside a chest.
"Incredible," another man breathed. "How old are you?"
Jade held up nine fingers.
"Nine years old?" Haru asked. She nodded. "Where are your parents? It really is too late to be out on your own."
Jade felt her good mood fade away. Her shoulders slumped and she allowed a few tears to pool in her eyes, but didn't let them fall. She thought about how she could tell them everything, but she really didn't want to talk about what she knew. She remembered what had happened, vaguely, and she knew that she could force the images into Haru's mind. So she stared into his eyes and forced the dream of green light and cold laughter forward, followed by living in the cupboard under the stairs at her aunt and uncle's house, her trip on a plane to get to Japan, camp, and then Dudley and his friends dragging her out onto the road.
By the time she was done she had a slight headache and Haru had fallen over backwards in shock. His friends started to ask him what happened, two of them pulling out sticks that Jade assumed were wands. She rubbed her head slowly, wincing minutely as she brushed against the lovely bump she had gotten courtesy of her cousin. Haru was rubbing his own head as he brushed aside his friends' concerns.
"What's your name child?" he asked her, silencing the other comments. Jade sketched her name out in English in the dirt.
"Jade Potter?" Haru tried to confirm. Jade had only written her first name in the dirt. The fact that he apparently knew her last name as well made her nervous. Still, she nodded slowly and brushed over the dirt to get rid of her name.
"Potter?" 'boss' clarified. "This is Jade Potter? The Girl-Who-Lived?"
Jade frowned in confusion. Girl-Who-Lived? What type of name was that? She wanted to ask them, but at the moment she sensed another digimon nearby, this one from Myotismon's forces. Her eyes darted away from the men still surrounding her and up to the sky in time to see Phantomon and a group of Bakemon heading towards her. The magicians around her followed her line of sight and cursed at the sight of ghost digimon.
"Look what we have here," Phantomon crowed as he spotted Jade on the ground. "Lord Myotismon will be very pleased to see you, child."
Jade glared and set her feet apart so that she could move quickly when she needed to. Haru stepped in front of her protectively, much to her surprise, and in her moment of distraction the Bakemon struck. Jade stepped out from behind Haru and threw a fireball at the Bakemon in the lead. It burst into data particles instantly, and Jade told herself that she could mourn later.
"Fire spells will work!" 'boss' cried. "Get them!"
Jade pivoted to see the Bakemon coming from the other side and before the others could move she rushed forward to shield them. As she was facing the opposite way, she was unprepared for the attack that came at her from behind. She turned at the last moment, and instead of being scratched against her back, she received three claw marks down the left side of her face. She cried out and covered the injury with her hands. Haru had obviously thought through their battle, for he suggested a tactical retreat. He lifted Jade from the ground, and then disappeared with a loud 'crack'.
Jade passed out.
Each of the seven digidestined woke with a start, their hearts racing. As it was late at night, most of them were able to drop back off to sleep again, but Tai, Matt and Izzy remained awake. Matt walked around his apartment, noticing that his dad was home and snoring softly in his sleep, before checking all the doors and windows. Tsunomon watched him as he moved from his place on the couch.
"What is it Matt?" he asked quietly.
"You didn't just feel that?" Matt asked him in response.
"Was it a nightmare?"
"No, I don't think so," Matt muttered as he checked in on TK. The boy was still sleeping with Patamon curled up against his chest. "I have this strange feeling that something bad just happened, but I don't know what."
"You're meeting up with the others in a few hours," Tsunomon reminded him. "Go back to sleep and you can discuss it with them, see if they felt anything."
"You're right," Matt muttered. "Goodnight Tsunomon."
Izzy had just gotten in from fighting against Raremon, and his thoughts were on Jade. He knew that she had been in the area, protecting him, but he had no idea what had happened to her afterwards. The racing of his heart was telling him that she was in trouble, but the feeling had disappeared so quickly that he couldn't be sure that he'd felt anything like it before. He promised himself that in the morning he would check on Jade at the school before meeting up with the others. Decided, Izzy curled up under the covers and dropped off to sleep, hoping that nothing bad had happened.
Tai, on the other hand, knew instantly that Jade was in danger. His heart was racing against his ribs but he was shivering. Koromon slept on, and he made a mental note to thank Kari for setting the little digimon down on his bed. He got up quietly and snuck out onto the balcony for some fresh air.
Jade? Are you alright? What happened?
His mental questions went unanswered, which worried him more than he thought it would. It could have been that Jade was sleeping, but it could also mean that she had been knocked unconscious or…
"Tai? What are you doing out here?"
"Go back to bed Kari, everything's fine," Tai muttered.
"I woke up and you weren't in bed," Kari continued as she walked up to his side and leant against him. "I got scared, and I had a nightmare."
"Me too," Tai admitted, resting one arm across her shoulders protectively.
"Something bad happened," Kari continued.
"Yeah, but I don't know what."
"Are there digimon who look like ghosts?"
"Bakemon."
"Oh…a Bakemon attacked me in my dream and scratched my face," Kari muttered. "I was in the park, and there were people around me trying to protect me, but the Bakemon got through and there was blood on my hands. Then I woke up."
Tai listened to her explanation, and while he didn't say anything he had a suspicion that Kari's nightmare had been more than just a dream. What he didn't understand was why Kari had had that dream. He pulled out his digivice and stared at the screen. There was so much he didn't know about it, about what it could do. Surely it had to be more than a device to help digimon digivolve.
"What's that?" Kari asked, staring at the device.
"A digivice," Tai muttered. "Have you ever seen one before?"
"No," Kari stated with a shake of her head. Tai sighed partly in relief and partly in disappointment. If Kari had seen one before, the chances were high of her being the eighth digidestined, but as she hadn't seen one before it could mean that she wasn't the child they were looking for or that her digivice was missing and they needed to find it as well. Tai knew that it wouldn't have been that easy, but he had hoped that it would.
"Let's go back to sleep," he suggested. "It's late."
"Goodnight, big brother," Kari said, giving him a tight hug before hurrying off to bed. She climbed up to the top bunk and waited until Tai was lying down in his own bed before going back to sleep herself. Tai remained in his bed, but he didn't sleep for the rest of the night. Something had happened to Jade, and he wanted to be awake the moment she woke up, just so that he would know she was alright.
Jade opened her eyes a few hours later to find that she was wrapped up on a soft bed and that she wasn't sore. She sat up and looked around for her backpack, sighing in relief when she saw it nearby. Without hesitating she slipped out of bed and picked it up, noticing that her clothes were folded neatly next to it. She was wearing a white nightie, and her feet were bare, and she had no idea how she had gotten to where she was. Her eyes darted around the room rapidly, and she froze when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror.
It wasn't often that she got to look at herself in a reflective surface, but she knew she looked greatly different from the last time she had seen herself. Her skin was lightly tanned from all the time she had spent in the sun in the Digital World, and her hair looked clean even if it was tangled up from sleeping. She still looked like she hadn't had a lot to eat, but that wasn't what had garnered her attention. It was the three claw marks on her face that looked weeks old, but still stood out. She walked closer to the mirror as she reached up to touch her face. Her fingers brushed over the minute scars before she traced them from her left eyebrow to her cheek.
"Ah, good morning. I didn't expect you to be awake this early."
Jade spun around to look at her visitor. She recognised Haru instantly, and nodded to him her own greeting before looking back at herself in the mirror. Haru walked up behind her and led her over to the bed so that they could both sit while he talked.
"Do you remember what happened?" Haru asked to start with. Jade nodded and crossed her legs on the bed. Her attentive position encouraged Haru to continue. "Well, the government is working on hunting down those creatures so that no one else gets hurt. We just haven't had much luck so far."
Jade raised one eyebrow. Of course they wouldn't have had much luck, the digimon would have hidden themselves in their secret base. If she had to guess, it would be in Odaiba somewhere because that was where they thought the eighth child was after the previous night's adventure.
"Our focus is currently in Hikarigaoka," Haru continued. "The monster attacks yesterday are definitely linked to our attack last night, but as Hikarigaoka was the first place they attacked we assume that that's where their base is. At the moment, we have no idea what they want or if they're capable of intelligent thought. We also have no idea who or what 'Lord Myotismon' is."
"He's an evil genius determined to rule the Human World," Jade told him, shocking him enough that he jumped slightly. "He, and his minions, are hunting for a special child in Tokyo somewhere. Last night's ambush was my fault. I'm a thorn in his side that he needs to get rid of in order to succeed in his assignment."
"Where do they come from?"
"Another world that you cannot gain access to," Jade explained. "Not all 'monsters' you come across will be evil. There are a few that are here to protect the humans of this world."
"And you?"
"They'll try to protect me. What time is it?"
"Um…just passed eleven in the morning. Can you tell me the best way to fight against these monsters?"
"Don't," Jade suggested. "Run from them because most you come across here won't give a damn about bystanders when they start blowing things up. The only thing that can stop them are the digidestined."
"Digidestined?"
"If you want to help, then let them do what they need to without getting in the way. Now, I need to get out of here before my friends start up a search party for me. They worry when I'm not with them, and they'll worry more when I'm not where I'm supposed to be."
"Where are you supposed to be?"
"At Odaiba Elementary, but my cousin tossed me out onto the road and I decided that it was safer if I found somewhere else to be."
"Before you go," Haru began as she stood up. "Could you give me a description of these…digidestined…so that we can keep an eye out for them and provide backup if they need it?"
Jade agreed to the demands, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake, and gave Haru the names of each digidestined and their partners. Haru also explained that there was some kind of poison or substance in the claws of the Bakemon that prevented the scars on her face from completely healing. In time, they would fade until they would be barely noticeable, but for now she would have to make do. He also gave her a way to contact him if she needed help. So her backpack now had a cell phone that apparently ran off magic.
At twelve-ish, Jade managed to get away from the magicians to search for the digidestined. She scaled a tree and made herself comfortable in the branches before stretching out her mind to look for Tai.
Tai was worried. He and his parents had walked to Odaiba Elementary, he to look for Jade and his parents to offer the school a tour of Tokyo, but he hadn't succeeded. There were a few students who expressed interest in a tour, so they went with the nice English teacher and Tai's parents, but the others remained in the school. Jade was also nowhere to be found and she still wasn't responding to his mental cries. Agumon, who had digivolved in the night after having eaten and slept, was tailing him and wearing a 'disguise' of a blue hoody. When Yuuko and Susumu left with the English students, Agumon caught up to him and they walked to where they were meeting the others.
Matt and TK were already there and waiting, and after Tai arrived Izzy showed up. Sora arrived after having run the whole way, with Biyomon flying above her, and then Mimi arrived with Palmon in a pram. The only one they were waiting for was Joe, so they all made themselves comfortable on the ground in order to discuss what had happened since they had last seen each other.
"Alright, I'm a positive that the eighth child we're looking for is in Odaiba," Izzy started off. "Last night, when Tentomon and I were down at the bay, my digivice went off. I theorised that the eighth child was near the bay last night, but I was unable to find her as I received a warning from Jade to abandon my search and return to Kabuterimon."
"Jade was at Shiba-ura?" Tai asked instantly.
"I never saw her," Izzy told him. "But she did warn me that I was walking into a trap. I lost the signal shortly after. I figured that I could ask Jade about it when we saw her today. Weren't you going to bring her here Tai?"
"Jade is not at Odaiba Elementary, I think she disappeared sometime last night, probably just before you heard her," Tai admitted. "I have this horrible feeling that something bad happened to her, but she isn't responding to my mental calls. She's never not answered before."
"I felt that something was wrong last night," Matt spoke up. "I woke up and walked around the apartment to make sure that everything was alright."
"I woke up like that last night too," Sora revealed. "But I went right back to sleep when I noticed Biyomon was still asleep."
"Me too," Mimi added. "It was like I'd had a nightmare but I couldn't remember it when I woke up."
"Kari and I were awake as well," Tai said. "And now I'm positive that we all felt something happen to Jade, and I think I know what."
"What?" everyone asked him.
"I think she was attacked by Bakemon and they injured her. Oh man, she's probably a prisoner of Myotismon and that's why she's not responding. He probably thinks that she knows who the eighth child is and kidnapped her to get her to tell him."
"Calm down Tai," Matt ordered. "When we're out searching today we can keep an eye out for Jade as well."
"Right," Izzy agreed. "Now, I have a theory about who we need to look for."
"Wait! Don't start without me! I love Izzy's theories!"
The children turned from their comfy positions and watched as Joe ran as fast as he could to join them. It wasn't until he was sitting with them and panting to regain his breath that Izzy continued with his explanation.
"Alright, so we've already concluded that each of us saw the same event in Hikarigaoka four years ago. We can safely assume that witnessing the two digimon battle is what allowed us to be chosen to be digidestined. This means, that the eighth child would have had to have been there too. I'm also certain that the eighth child is a girl, as that is how Jade referred to them."
"That makes sense," Sora agreed.
"But what do we need our address books for then?" Mimi asked as she held up her pink address book.
"We all lived in Hikarigaoka four years ago, that means that the eighth child lived there too," Izzy explained. "We need to call everyone in those books to see if they moved or if they remember what happened. Time is of the essence."
"I can do some calling," Joe said as he raised his hand. "But I have a test this afternoon that I really need to study for. It's been months since I last studied."
"The fate of the world is at stake and you're worried about a test?" Matt asked him as he stood up. "You can call all the names in my book while I search on foot."
He dropped his address book onto Joe's lap, and he picked it up with an expression of disbelief on his face. Izzy also seemed to agree and passed Joe his book, followed by Mimi and then Sora. TK didn't have an address book as he had been too young at the time to go to school, but with five address books to go through already Joe nearly had a heart attack as Tai stood in front of him as well.
"Not you too Tai!" he begged.
"You're busy enough as it is," Tai told him.
"Oh thanks Tai, you're a great guy!"
Tai grinned sheepishly. Truthfully, he had lost his address book years ago. He also didn't think that the answers were in the address books, and until they found proof for the location and identity of the eighth child, he would assume that it was his sister and act accordingly to protect her from Myotismon. He was about to speak again, ignoring the comments of the others who were walking away, when a familiar presence appeared in his mind. A smile lit up his face and he cheered.
"Jade's alive!" he called to everyone. "Yes!"
That was an 'over-the-top' reaction Tai, Jade told him.
Tai sat down on the ground again and closed his eyes so that he could talk with her without looking like he was staring off into space. Joe remained next to him, and the others stopped walking in order to hear how Jade was when Tai saw fit to tell them.
I've been trying to contact you for hours! Where have you been?
Unconscious. Did you know that the Bakemon had a type of oil or something on their hands that make it impossible for their scratches to heal?
You were attacked by Bakemon? Then Kari wasn't having a nightmare based off the stories Agumon and I told her.
Kari dreamed about me?
Were you in Shiba-ura last night? Izzy said that you warned him out of a trap.
Yeah, I was chasing a cat that had somehow gotten a hold of a digivice, and I know that it wasn't one of yours. I have the digivice with me now, and I've arranged for us to have some backup if we get into a fight that our digimon can't handle alone.
Who?
The Japanese magicians! They are real, and they are willing to follow your lead when it comes to matters of 'dealing with the monsters'. They also tried to heal my most recent injuries, and I'm now ready to look for this eighth child.
We're breaking up into groups, but Joe's going to be calling up people we used to know to see if they remember the digimon battle four years ago.
What?
Joe will be at his apartment, join him and he will explain everything.
Alright, I'll see you later!
Tai opened his eyes to find that TK had gotten closer to him and their noses were almost touching. TK yelped as he saw that Tai was now back with them and scrambled backwards. Tai briefly explained that Jade would join Joe and that if they saw people tailing them they would be the Japanese magicians who were going to help them if they needed it. The group accepted his explanation, though after they left Tai whispered to Joe that apparently Jade had a new injury and that she had the eighth child's digivice. Joe promised to take care of it, and then Tai rushed off to join Izzy.
It was time to find the eighth digidestined.
And out comes another chapter! Next we will see the reunion between the original digidestined, possibly a reunion between Wizardmon and Yuuko, something that will cause Dudley to have a change of heart about his cousin, and some other stuff that's buzzing around my head at the moment. Congratulations to everyone who guessed Yuuko as the Digidestined of Compassion! Surprise to those who hadn't guessed it!
We're leading up to the end of the first season (Yay!) but I won't be starting the second season for a while. There is so much that happened between the end of the first season and the start of the second, and in this story we also have Jade starting her magical education. So much to do, so little time. Let me know what you think of everything!
"Goeie middag, dit is Akili, hoe kan ek jou help?" = "Good afternoon, this is Akili, how can I help you?"
Answers for my reviewers!
ultima-owner: In time. A lot of things are going to change for the children of Surrey Primary.
KhaalidaNyx: Sort of. The children are essentially mundane-born children, and will start to learn about magic when they turn 11 (except for Joe who turned down the invite). Joe is also the only child who is mundane-born, everyone else has at least one parent who has magic.
DIGI-MASTER-FAN: Kari, but Jade will have her part to play when that moment arrives.
Next up in Intertwined Destinies:
Chapter 23: The Fog of Odaiba