Chapter 5 – The Game Begins

Kari regarded Mister Shibumi quizzically as he paced the floor of their cell back and forth, the words flowing trippingly from him as he brought her up to speed on the nature of the situation they found themselves in. As he used phrases like "matter displacement" and "multiversal reality theory", very quickly Kari began to feel her head spin at the enormity of what she was hearing. The idea of alternate realities was nothing new to her, after all she'd spent a decent amount of her life so far travelling between realities, but to realise the full extent and implications of what was being explained to her, it boggled the mind. Kari began to realise that as much as she and her friends had adventures in the digital world, there were no doubt countless other kids who had spent time in other digital worlds.

"So, you're saying you're actually from another reality Mister Shibumi?" Kari asked. "Oh yes," said Shibumi, stopping in his tracks and turning to Kari. "And that reality has its own digital world?" she asked next. "Indeed, it does, in fact me and my colleagues are somewhat responsible for that…after a fashion" he said, before continuing "To be honest, more and more I'm beginning to be of the opinion that thoughts shape reality- our digital world exists as a reflection of our reality just as your digital world exists in reflection of yours. And if our thoughts collectively have the capacity to create whole worlds- who knows what else they can do…"

That thought hung in the air between them for a moment, and in the silence, Kari couldn't help but think her nightmares of The Dark Ocean. Just over a year ago, her friends had managed to seal the villainous digimon Daemon there by allowing Ken and Kari to open an actual gateway into that reality their own. Though at the time everyone had simply moved on and forgotten about the leader of The Daemon Corps, Kari's mind had eternally wandered back to him, and his vow to one day return. Looking up at Shibumi, she put the thought from her mind for the moment and returned to her one remaining question.

"So are we in your digital world, or mine?" Shibumi at this point went silent, looking despondent. He then staggered slowly over to the far side of the cell and began groping at the wall. For a moment, Kari couldn't tell what he was looking for, but then his hand gained purchase of something solid in the dark. Pulling, a small opening was revealed in the far wall. The slot was crossed with thick bars of black metal and far too narrow for any human or digimon to leave or enter the cell, but all the time it provided some light and to the otherwise pitch-black room, which now illuminated- Kari could see was made of a strange, maroon-coloured stone. Shibumi peaked out from the small crevice into what lay beyond.

Sighing, he said mournfully "I believe this is my digital world…but I wish it wasn't…". Rising from the ground, Kari looked out at the view beyond. The world she saw outside shocked her. The earth hung in the sky with its beams of pink digital energy bursting through as Shibumi had described to her earlier, but otherwise all she saw was barren wasteland. The landscape for miles out was cracked and creviced, with huge canyons leading down to flows of lava far below. On the few instances of even ground, great towers of twisted red stone dotted the horizon. Kari could only presume the tower she and Shibumi found themselves in now was the same, though theirs was undoubtedly taller than the rest. As far as Kari could see, great storms seemed to abound in this world, whipping up dust and rocks in terrible tornados on the horizon. What a terrible place, Kari thought.

"That's not even the worst of it," said Shibumi, pointing at a great crowd of digimon on the largest and most unbroken section of the plains below. Even at such a distance, Kari could make out some of them. She saw multiple Devidramon, DarkTyrannomon, and great crowds of Bakemon, Vilemon and DemiDevimon filling the sky around them. She could make out Ogremon, Goblimon, SkullMeramon, multiple Devimon, a small forest of Cherrymon and Woodmon, and as well as thousands of other digimon Kari either couldn't name or couldn't make out. "But what are they all here?" she asked. "They serve Barbamon…" replied Shibumi.

Turning away from their small window and back to the dark of the cell, Shibumi continued "Some have been corrupted, but many now serve willingly, they see Barbamon as the lord of this world, because he destroyed-" At that moment, the door to their cell swung open and LadyDevimon floated through. "Come humans, it's time to make yourselves useful." She said with a devilish smile.

_ xx _ xx _ xx _

Yamato "Matt" Ishida was loving his life. His band were halfway through a sold-out tour of America, playing fifty dates all throughout the summer. Most nights he was either playing music or partying, sometimes both. The rock and roll lifestyle suited Matt, he'd decided. Though once he'd been an anxious and over-serious kid, now he felt more at ease with himself than ever. Though right now, at this moment, Matt was not feeling at ease. As he sat on the bed of his hotel room and read the email his friend Tai had sent him, he felt a familiar pit of guilt and worry building inside. Clearly his friends were dealing with something serious, and here he was on the other side of the world playing rock star. What a jerk, he thought. It was at that moment, while Matt was processing that emotion, that his partner and best friend Gabumon entered the room. The small furry digmon shuffled merrily into the room carrying a large honey-baked ham on a silver tray. "Look what the hotel gave us Matt!" he said happily. Rising from the bed, Matt looked at Gabumon sceptically, "They gave us a whole ham, why?". For a moment there was silence between them, and then Gabumon answered "Well, I did ask for it…". More for than anything, Matt pressed the issue. "And who did you ask exactly?". Gabumon had at this pointed placed the ham down on the table and was in the process of carving himself a large slice. "Room service…" he said absent-mindedly.

"So when you said "The hotel gave us a ham" what you in fact meant was "I ordered a whole ham on room service" … the record label are going to love this…" said Matt. "That's show business." Said Gabumon between bites of ham. Matt loved his friend, but never more than when he managed to brighten Matt's mood, which he did almost every day. Since the moment they had met, Gabumon had everything a lonely and anxious kid like Matt had needed. A big brother, a confidant, a protector, an ally. And as time went on, that friendship only grew stronger. "Listen pal, there's something I need to tell you." Matt filled Gabumon in on Tai's email. The little digimon listened attentively, and then pushing aside his tray he rose from the table and said "Ok, lets go!".

"Wait, go where?" asked Matt. "Back home of course, our friends need us." Replied Gabumon immediately. "I can't just leave, I'm on tour, the record label will go crazy!" said Matt anxiously. "Is that more important than our friends?" asked his partner earnestly. "No, of course not, but that doesn't mean we can just drop everything. I don't like it, but I made a commitment." In response Gabumon simply furrowed his brown, unhappy with Matt's answer but clearly unable to argue against it any more than he already had. It was just then that the phone in Matt's hand began to buzz and light up. Matt looked at it, perplexed as various symbols flashed across the phone's glitching screen. Then the buzz turned into a vibration so violent that the phone leapt out of Matt's hand and landed on the floor.

As soon as the phone lay still, its screen shot out a bright white light so powerful that it filled the room. Matt yelled and reached for Gabumon, and in a moment they were both sucked into the light, leaving an empty hotel room behind them.

_ xx _ xx _ xx _

Mimi and Palmon burst out of a tv screen, landing on soft and bouncy multi-coloured surface. Looking up, they gazed upon a set they new very well indeed. Primary Village, a place of rebirth and innocence in the digital world where all digimon egg were hatched. It had been many years since Mimi and her friends had taken a picture with their digimon friends in celebration of their victory over the Dark Masters and Apocalymon. Though overjoyed to be back here, Mimi and Palmon were still very confused at how they had come to be here. One moment Mimi and Palmon had been taking a picture together with Mimi's digital camera on the streets of Milan, and in the very next moment they were landing here. "Mimi, are you ok?" asked Palmon, extending her vines to help straighten Mimi's hat on her head. "I think so…except…" Mimi's lips curled into a deep frown and then opened wide "…except why am I not on my trip to Milan?!" she cried.

It was at this point that another television a few feet from them illuminated, spitting out the forms of Matt and Gabumon. Drying her eyes, Mimi ran over without a word and helped Matt to his feet. "Matt, it's so good to see you- it's great to see a familiar face- well done on the American tour by the way- do you know why we're here?" Matt was somewhat baffled as Mimi spoke to him, for a moment only standing there wordlessly before managing to express two syllables. "Mimi?" he said dumbly.

"Yes- I'm Mimi, you're Matt, we're both digidestined, do you know why we're here?". It was at this point that Gabumon helpfully interjected. "Maybe it has something to do Tai's email?". It was Mimi's turn to look clueless. "Email, what email?" she said innocently. "You didn't see the email Tai sent everyone?" asked Matt, surprised. Palmon raised her arm to get Matt's attention. "Mimi says a holiday where you check your emails is really just a business trip!". Matt ran his hands through his blonde hair, resigned and almost happy about the fact that his friend Mimi was never going to change.

'All the same, I don't know why we're here any more than you do," he said with gravity. They looked around at Primary Village. The place seemed exactly as they had left it some years ago, but why was nobody around. Normally Elecmon would be fastidiously looking after the many unhatched and recently hatched digimon. "Maybe we should look for Elecmon?" said Matt, turning back to Mimi. "You will not find him I'm afraid" said a voice from behind them.

Turning around on their guard, the two digidestined and their partners looked up and saw someone they truly did not expect. Mimi ran forward, her hat falling onto her shoulders as she leapt through the air, right into the arms of Leomon. With a dry chuckle, the proud lion wrapped his strong arms around the small form of the girl. "It is good to see you too, dear child." Looking up at him through happy tears, Mimi said "Leomon, you were reborn, right?"

Nodding sagely, Leomon set Mimi back down next to Palmon and said "Yes, I was returned to life here in Primary Village, but because I had been a friend to the digidestined in my previous life, I was brought back with even greater power than before. Now, I serve a worthy master under a new title."

"A title?" asked Palmon, "So are you like 'Lord Leomon' now or something?" she said with a little laugh. "Nothing so grand as that Palmon," replied Leomon. Raising his huge fist, he said "I am now Leomon, Deva to the Digimon Sovereign, serving the great warrior Baihumon." Said Leomon with not a small amount of pride in his voice. "Lord Baihumon recently awoke from his long slumber, and now he and the other sovereigns have need of you, Mimi, and Matt. I have been sent here to bring you to them. The fate of the digital world depends on it!"

Matt has so many questions, the foremost being what his band and record label were going to make of his sudden disappearance, but somehow he didn't think Leomon would be able to help much with that. Swallowing his own self-interest, Matt simply nodded and said "Well, we're off to see the Digimon Sovereign then!"

_ xx _ xx _ xx _

Takato was thinking of his friends. In his travel to this new dimension, he had been running on adrenaline, but now that that had subsided his thoughts flew back to the battered and unconscious forms of his friends. Barbamon had destroyed his entire team with hardly a second thought, and when it came time to get his revenge, Gallantmon hadn't even come to close. A small flame of rage flickered deep within Takato at the injustice of it. He knew one thing though. If he got another chance, this time he wouldn't lose.

As his thoughts dwelled on these dark topics, Takato and Guilmon stepped out into the schoolyard. Luckily empty as it was a weekend during the summer, they stared out across the running track and sports field and into the peaceful city in the distance. Their own tranquil world had been turned into a warzone by Barbamon. Takato resolved that he wouldn't let that happen to this one. He felt a hand on his back and turned to see Tai beside him. The teen gave him a reassuring look as the digidestined assembled behind him. "So Takato, what's the plan?". By now someone had gone back to the Kamiya family apartment and fetched Gatomon, who stood in the centre of the group, holding Kari's pink digivice. Takato was about to respond to Tai's question, but he couldn't help but be distracted by the golden glimmer coming from the end of Gatomon's tail. Walking past Tai, he knelt down and pointed at the ring on Gatomon's tail. "Excuse me, but how did you get that?" he asked with some trepidation. "My tail ring?" responded the cat digimon, "well I've always had it, as long as I can remember anyway?"

"Why do you ask Takato?" said Yolei, who had been standing nearest to Gatomon. From her side, Hawkmon raised a wing "A most relevant enquiry in my opinion, I have always found Gatomon's tail ring very snazzy!". From beside Hawkmon, Armadillomon chuckled "Well it ain't no shell, but it sure is pretty all the same" he said. "Somehow I don't think that's what our new friend is getting at!" said Izzy, turning back to Takato. Without saying another word, Takato took two almost identical golden rings from his pockets.

"These are the Digibands me and Guilmon used to travel here, but they were made in our world by people, not digimon!" he said, confused. Staring intently at the bands, Gatomon reached out with her paws. Almost the exact moment she contacted the bands, they began to glow, with digital runes flashing across them. At the same time, her own tail ring began to glow in the exact same way, and rising into the air with the two Digibands now affixed to her wrists, the golden light enveloped Gatomon's whole body, turning into a cocoon of pure energy.

The digidestined covered their eyes, nearly blinded by shining power above. Finally, from within the bubble of power Gatomon's voice called out.

GATOMON, WARP DIGIVOLVE TO….OPHANIMON!"

Continued in Chapter 6

Thank you all for reading, and as always you are very much appreciated. A special thanks to reader Sadow30 for being the first person to leave a review.