Author: Fugu

Archive: ask before

Warning: I've seen the Digimon shows until Izzi's adventures as leader with TK's team, once. So it's pretty much AU and major OOC because I have very little memory of it. Major sap, possible Mpreg (if it does happen, it won't be the usual nine months with baby at the end) angst and oh yes, pretty plot less

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: purely for entertainment purposes, own no copyright.

Title: The Fool On the Hill (from the Beatles song)

Pairing: obviously most incredibly sappy Yamato Ishida/ Jyou Kiddo.

Taichi Kamiya/ Sora Takenouchi, Mimi Tachikawa/ OMC, etc.

Notes: If you have read my other fics, you know that I just write for the sake of Sap and hurt/comfort; you know that I don't start arcs chronologically either. More so, I'm not a prolific writer, but I need to finish what I start. I don't know when I'll finish this story. It's been going on for more than 10 years! This is a work in progress, meaning that at anytime I might go back to rewrite and polish this fic as I add chapters. If any of these things are peeves, then you shouldn't be reading this story. Cheers ^_^

The Fool on The Hill

8. Onion rings or TV diner?

(feb 2013)

Sandy was in the Digital World, the Digital world. The first generation was flabbergasted as well as the second. 3 weeks. 72 hours had passed well and gone and Taichi's heart had caved on itself the longer they had no news on his baby girl. Sora's inadequacy at motherhood didn't mean she meant harm to her children. The stress being to high and with her temper, hard to control. She was being kept at the hospital. Her parents were with her. He stayed behind for Sandy. The police had sweeped the house, the neighborhood watch had brought nothing, the sweep little more.

Taichi was at the table of the kitchen, having not slept for what seemed like years. Detached from the subdued conversation going on around his kitchen. His parents, Hikari, keeping the vigil with him and Takeru.

Sandy wasn't particularly tidy but things were in place in her room. The only thing the police had found maybe, suspicious was the half opened laptop on the floor. It's screen was black and they couldn't reboot it. They had taken it with them.

Almost 3 weeks and Tai felt he hadn't moved from his spot at the kitchen table. He couldn't leave anymore. Kari and T.K. Moved in. To check on him, to make him eat, make him wash. He goes to see Sora once. But her face, the way it crumbles when she realizes that there is nothing. He leaves.

"I'm sorry." He finds her parents " look after her please?" he whispers, doesn't wait for a reply. There is no way, no way to get over the chasm between Sora and he. If Sandy never... no NO NO NO! He can't think about that he wont allow it. What did his baby girl ever do to deserve this but, be born to stupid parents!

The laptop came back to them after the 72 hours. The police couldn't didn't find anything, no deep encrypted codes, nothing, no pedophilia sites, their daughter didn't even have a Facebook. They'd had to physically open it thought. Even then it had crashed pretty fast, they said. Tai caressed the laptop. Gathered it to his chest. His heart braking, the little stickers his daughter had put on it...he just...He sat on the kitchen table, stroked it for a long time. Takeru sat beside him for companionship, in silence with a bowl of soup. Soup that fell on the laptop when Takeru stumbled. Tai whimpered, frantic to wipe it. He opened up the cover, to make sure no soup had fallen in between the grooves and the computer booted up. The Hello Kitty desktop appeared. His hand shook. They had said it was dead, that it had crashed! He opened the exploitation engine and went on the wireless network.

"Takeru, wha... it's working" he breathed " the first words he had uttered in 3 weeks.

"I don't understand Tai. They said it..."

"Yes I, I" he needed Izzy. He was grasping at straws but...he needed Izzy!

To find Izzy they had to contact Mimi, the bastard had left for freaking Alaska, of all places, to save the penguins or some such with his computer skills, whatever. Mimi could reach him. She wasn't geek hacker but she knew web.

"Hikari, call Mimi right now I don't care what time it's in LA!"

Despite the distance, through the freeways of the web, Izzy had taken control by distance of Ayaka's computer and lo and behold...a message from Juno...FUCK!

The phone rang off the hook, Mimi on the land line, Izzy on Skipe. Almost simultaneous.

"Taichi, " Izzy's long face half hidden behind a shaggy red beard appeared "I don't know what to say. What are you going to do?"

"What I'm going to do? What do you mean? Fuck I'm going to go get her!"

"But she could be fulfilling her adventure, You know like we did."

"Hello, but when we left it didn't fucking last for 19 fucking days Izzy! Even for Hikari's gang, the time lapse was shorter than this, hours, a day max. 19 days Izzy!" he gasped, "I don't even know if there are other children with her. Are there other children?" He clenched his teeth " dammit."

"Calm down Taichi," Hikari admonished. He sent her a black stare and went back to Izzy " Well! Are there any other children Izzy?"

Izzy winced and his gaze dropped down as his shoulders bunched. The sound of typing could ne heard fast, nervous clatter. Taichi didn't apologize.

"As far as I can tell, from Japan no other. But, but I see lines opened to other countries. It's a small group for now, two other lines opened" more clatter " unless there were previous ones or future ones that will open. Even I don't have the skill to hack that history."

Taichi swallowed. Three, his baby girl was alone with two other kids in the Digital World? Sandy was in the DigitalWorld, his babygirl was in the fucking DigitalWorld! Heads would roll!

The plan. The plan was to go in there find and retrieve. All of them had kept their old pagers. The problem was that they weren't working. Used to be you just had to stick it to the screen and you di-materialized. The pagers were dead. They didn't shine, didn't even rattle. They stayed cold. They couldn't get in.

Taichi wanted to throw the computer out the window.

Then Izzy, brilliant son of a bitch that he was, got an idea. But they would have to act fast. Two days had already past and the lines were disappearing. Still, he said he could possibly get them to piggyback the European and South American line.

Taichi was all for it. It was damn risky thought. Izzy was good but they had never done this before and they were taking a huge leap of fate.

Hikari and Takeru were ready to go only after a few seconds of hesitation and Izzy had assured he would contact Mimi and piggyback her from where she was at the moment. She, Joe and Matt were supposed the arrive from the States in 3 days but by that time it would be too late. They had no idea if the way would open again.

"Once you piggy back us, how are you joining us?" Taichi asked absently as he checked his gear : some clothes for his daughter and him, her favorite plushie, energy bars, water bottles. He was dressed in jeans, t-shirt and thick leather coat. No goggles this time, he had given them to Daisuke and really, he was 25 now. Bad enough he hadn't grown out of the hair.

"I'm not coming."

Taichi froze. "What, I don't think..."

"You heard me, I can't come Taichi." Taichi's face became somber. "Hear me out!" hasten to exclaim Izzy " First off, there is no way I can disappear from the base I am currently residing. We're only three men, a small team and the project we are working on is urgent and" Taichi's face became murderous and his mouth opened to blast " AND secondly," Izzy spoke over him " If I piggyback in, I can't check the coding and make sure the travel is safe. More so, how are you guys coming back? Have you thought about that? I'm not even sure I can but, I'm going to work on that problem, communication and retrieval. Think of it like in the Matrix."

Taichi was mollified " I knew that we could always count on you Izzy you backed up my sister and her team when it was time." he grudgingly concede.

"Speaking of which I'll try to remember the old codes I used to communicate with Hikari's team, but they are surely out-dated."

"Fine" Taichi cut impatiently. "Time for the show." he looked back at his sister and T.K. "you guys ready?"

"As ready as can be" answered Hikari as she grabbed for Takeru's hand.

Izzy was already clattering, "Alright hang on a bit...There" and taking the whole screen, seaming to expand and finally becoming an holographic projection, never mind Sandy's computer didn't have the hardware for such task. The Digi symbol appear tattooed in the center of a hand indentation.

"Put your hand on the print Jorge." the words said over it.

Taichi grabbed Takeru's hand and slapped his on the imprint. For a few seconds it burned and felt like it was pushing him away, was going to reject him and then the imprint changed slightly to replicate his hand and they were pulled.

The transfer was instantaneous. No falling, no travelling by circuitry, a blink. They were in the Japan, seconds later the were...going to get crushed under a crumbling avalanche.

To be continued