Chapter 2 – Hope and Desolation
Odaiba, Japan; August 22, 2010 – 7:46pm
Kari Kamiya was enjoying a leisurely walk with Gatomon in the warm summer breeze and admiring the sunset over Tokyo Bay. She was wearing a light pink sleeveless shirt and flowing white skirt decorated with cherry blossoms. She couldn't stop watching the sky, how the magnificent cloud formations shifted with the air currents in the upper atmosphere and scattered the beautiful golds and reds of the fading sunlight. It was mesmerizing, and all felt right in the world.
As the sun slipped slowly over the horizon, the reds shifted to purple and the warmth began to fade from the air to be replaced by an uncomfortable chill. She shivered. "Gatomon, I think we should head home now—"
"Wait." Gatomon interrupted, ears twitching. "Something's wrong."
"What is it? Do you feel something?"
Gatomon sniffed the air. "I'm not sure. But something's terribly wrong. I'd bet my nine lives on it."
The wind changed, and brought something with it over the air—a faint sound coming from far away. Kari couldn't quite make it out, but a sudden uneasiness sent gooseflesh running over her arms. "I think you're right, Gatomon."
The sound had a stronger and immediate effect on Gatomon, whose ears were keener than Kari's. "Come on—this way!" she cried, and sprang forward down the boardwalk.
Kari hurried after the feline digimon, the uneasiness growing with every stride. When they'd come a few dozen yards the noise became clearer, and Kari realized it was someone shouting. It sounded like they were in great distress. The cry was masculine, and...familiar. Kari's brow creased as she concentrated on listening, then she redoubled her pace. She recognized that voice.
"Onii-chan!" she called. She could see a small crowd forming up ahead, and she and Gatomon sprinted toward them. As she reached the back of the crowd, Kari pushed against the wall of bodies in her way in an attempt to get past. "Excuse me—please let me through! That's my brother!" At her insistence, the crowd gradually peeled away and Kari was allowed passage.
Suddenly she was inside a circle of people roughly twenty feet in diameter, several of whom were recording video on their smartphones, and in the center of it lay Tai, rocking back and forth wide-eyed and tear-stained, hoarsely crying over a small rock-like object in his hand. It was then that Kari experienced a new kind of fear. Gatomon had been right; something was unequivocally wrong here.
She hurried to his side and knelt down. "Tai! Tai, it's me! What's wrong?!" She pleaded, shaking him by his shoulder. It was not immediately effective. But at her persistent prodding and cajoling, his wild, uncontrollable screaming abated and he turned his eyes to her as if noticing her for the first time.
"Kari..." She'd never heard such grief in his voice.
"I'm here, brother. It's all right."
"Kari, he..." Tai sobbed helplessly, holding out his hand to show her his ruined digivice. "He's gone. Agumon's gone! Gone forever!"
Kari's eyes widened as she realized what he was holding, and Gatomon gasped beside her.
"Oh, no! No!" She shook her head in disbelief, on the verge of tears herself. I need to get him out of here, Kari realized. She hooked her elbows under his armpits and stood, hoisting her elder brother to his feet, and wrapped his arm over her shoulders so she could support him. "Back! Get away, all of you! Leave him alone!" She waved her arm so the crowd would give them some room.
But they weren't moving fast enough for Gatomon's liking. She hissed, and her fur stood on end as she scurried around the circle's edge swiping her claws at whoever was closest to entice them to hasten their departure. The crowd began to disperse. Kari struggled to support her brother and gently led him to a bench nearby. She had to get him home, but she needed help. She pulled out her cell phone.
T.K. Takaishi was at his desk. He had just come home from his Literature class not long ago, and now that his homework was finished, he decided to do some work on his novel. Unzipping his backpack, T.K. placed his laptop on the desk and booted it up. He sat back and stroked his chin as the document loaded, considering it. The chapter he was working on now was tentatively titled, "The Legend of the Digidestined." It was all about how they first learned of their purpose in the Digital World from Leomon, and their battle with Devimon. And it's where I first had to say goodbye to Patamon, T.K. thought, feeling a twinge of old pain at the memory. He swiveled his chair to look behind him where Patamon was curled up on the edge of his bed, fast asleep and snoring quietly.
T.K. smiled fondly at his partner. Then: I wonder if what Menoa said could really be true? He turned back around and found himself reaching impulsively for the drawer on the right side of his desk. Opening it, he found his old D3, as well as his white bucket hat that he'd worn so often during their second adventure, right where he'd left them. No sign of a ring of light anywhere. He sighed softly in relief.
T.K. felt a small gust of wind and a familiar weight settle on his left shoulder. The noise of the drawer opening had roused Patamon.
"Whatcha doin'?" The little winged pig asked.
T.K. smiled brightly. "Nothing, really. I guess I was just feeling a little nostalgic. Sorry I woke you, bud."
"It's okay, T.K. I already slept a lot today anyway, and now I want to be with you!"
T.K. frowned slightly. He felt guilty that Patamon was bored so much of the time and spent most of it sleeping while T.K. was busy in class, or doing homework, or writing his novel of their adventures together. Also, that meant the little digimon was likely hyper now and would probably be bouncing off the walls well into the early hours of the morning. Sometimes having Patamon stay with him in the Real World could be problematic. Then again, it was a problem that T.K. ultimately welcomed, and one he hoped he could always have. Living life with his best friend was its own special kind of adventure.
"Hey, Patamon?"
"Yeah, T.K.?"
"We'll always be together… right?"
The little digimon nodded energetically. "Yeah!"
"And you'll never go away, right?"
Patamon shook his head with equal enthusiasm. "Never ever!"
T.K.'s cell phone rang. Actually, it was a combination digivice-phone (sometimes referred to as "digiphone", or simply "D4" as Izzy liked to call it, thinking of it as an advancement from the second-generation D3 digivices—he even claimed that D4 was the name on the patent he was in the process of trademarking). Izzy had given one to each of their team as a gift shortly after inventing them a few months back. He said he was planning on creating a whole mobile phone branch of his company, which would mass-produce them around the world. Anyone would be able to purchase one as a mere smartphone, but those who were Digidestined could sync it to their digivice's unique signal and unlock an app with all the capabilities of their digivice at its disposal.
T.K. didn't have to look at it to tell who was calling. He knew it was Kari by the ringtone; he'd set it to the chorus of "I Turn Around", the first single from Matt's old band, The Teenage Wolves. He picked up his phone and couldn't help smiling affectionately at the girl's thumbnail picture set against a backdrop of the Crest of Light. He swiped to accept the call and put it to his ear.
"Hey, Kar—"
"Takeru!"
T.K. was instantly on his feet, the desk chair sent spinning across the floor. She was the only one that ever called him by his full name, and only either as a display of affection when they were alone...or when there was an emergency. And the frantic urgency in her voice made it clear it was the latter.
"Kari, what's wrong?"
"It's Tai! He—I don't know. But I think something's wrong with Agumon!"
T.K. blanched, and a sour feeling churned in his stomach. Oh no. "Where is he, Kari? Is Agumon there?" There was a lot of noise in the background; it sounded like someone was crying. Is that Tai…?
"No, I don't see him anywhere, and Tai keeps saying he's gone. T.K., he's got his digivice with him, and it looks like it turned to stone somehow!"
T.K. turned to his partner. "Patamon, let's go!" he called, and burst from his room, Patamon following close behind.
"T.K., you don't think that..." she trailed off. "What you told me about...you don't think this is it, do you?"
T.K. didn't answer. "Kari, where are you?"
"We're down at the waterfront a few blocks from my place."
Then something else occurred to T.K. A light ring had appeared on Matt's digiphone at the same time as Tai's. If Agumon is gone, then…
"Kari, is Matt with you? Do you see him anywhere?"
Kari scanned the surrounding area for any sign of T.K.'s brother. "No, I don't see him. Why—?"
"Because this all started when Omnimon's fusion broke up. If something's happened to Agumon, then—"
"Gabumon!" Kari finished, her already fair complexion growing paler than usual.
Tai stirred. "Matt..." he whimpered, gesturing weakly up the hill in the general direction of the t.v. studio. "He was up there..."
"Tai says Matt was somewhere nearby, further inland near the shopping centers."
"Thanks. I'm notifying Izzy now. Sit tight and stay with him Kari, until help arrives."
"What are you going to do?"
"I need to find Matt."
"Okay. Hurry, T.K. And...be careful."
"I will. Bye."
The call ended, and T.K. composed a text to Izzy as he ran. Please, let it be wrong. Please, let it not be what I think it is. T.K.'s thoughts drifted back to his conversation two days ago, when this all started…
"Where are you going?"
"Wait, Matt!" Gabumon called, barely making it past the door before it shut.
"Poor Matt," said Tai. "This is awful. Does this mean we all have to say goodbye to our digimon…once we grow up?"
"I have to agree with Matt," Izzy announced. "I'm not going to let this happen even if what you say is actually true. I'm going to find a way to fix this no matter what."
The others talked for a little bit more while T.K. leaned back against the far wall. He felt numb; this couldn't be real. Menoa had to be wrong, or lying. But then what was that mysterious ring of light on Tai and Matt's digiphones? A vibration in his hand told him he had a text from Kari.
"Hey, T.K. Wanna grab lunch in half an hour at our usual spot?"
T.K. distractedly typed a brief reply: "Yeah. I need to talk to you about something anyway."
T.K. snapped out of his reverie as Menoa was taking her leave.
"I'm staying in a hotel on the mainland not far from here. If you need anything, or manage to track down Eosmon, please let me know." She left the address of the hotel and her suite number on Izzy's desk and left.
Izzy sighed heavily as he slouched against his desk, running a hand down his forehead. Tai stayed crouched down by the floor, miserably staring at the ring of light on his digiphone. T.K. looked at the two older Digidestined, hoping for some sort of guidance. "What do we do now?" he asked.
They both looked up as if suddenly remembering he was there. Izzy spoke first. "I need to analyze the fragment of data we recovered from Eosmon and see if I can glean any answers from it. I should brief the other members of INDICON as well and warn them about Eosmon's ability to steal their consciousnesses."
INDICON was the shorthand term for the "International Digidestined Coalition Network". After the first battle on the Internet with Diaboromon, Izzy had become acquainted with many other Digidestined around the world, and quickly realized he needed a system he could use to keep in touch with them all. It had started out as a simple chat room, but it slowly expanded and evolved over time until it became what it was today: a website and database that was part social network and part news site for all things digimon related. You had to be a Digidestined to access it—in order to create a profile, you had to connect your digivice to your computer. Izzy had simply called it , but a few members who'd recently joined the U.S. army had taken to referring to it as INDICON. Izzy had been highly amused by it and started using it himself, and before long the name stuck. It was now used colloquially by the majority of its users.
"Izzy, wait," Tai blurted.
T.K. and Izzy's heads snapped to Tai's position in confusion. "Huh?" they asked simultaneously.
"I mean...you should warn them about Eosmon, of course. But don't say anything about the ring of light, or the possibility of losing our partners one day. I don't want word to get out and cause a panic among the Digidestined community. And I don't want the others to worry; we don't have any proof other than Menoa's word. We need to check this thing out for ourselves and see if we can stop it from happening if it's true."
"Hmm, I see your point," said Izzy, stroking his chin. "If that's how you want it, Tai, I'll keep it quiet for now. But if it turns out to be true, we'll have to tell them."
"It won't," Tai snarled.
"What should I do?" asked T.K.
Tai's furrowed brow softened. "T.K., I think you—" His phone buzzed. "It's Matt. He's following Kyotaro to see what he's up to."
"Good ol' Matt," said Izzy. "I didn't like the look of that Kyotaro character myself, he seems kind of shady to me. In any case, there's got to be more going on here than what's on the surface; maybe Matt can help uncover this mystery. But tell him to be careful, Tai."
"Already done," Tai said as he finished typing a reply. Then he stood and returned his attention to T.K. "Honestly T.K., I think between Izzy, Matt, and myself, we've got things covered here. So I want you to lay low, keep your eyes and ears out for anything suspicious while we're busy with this stuff. That way if we miss anything, you can let us know."
"But Tai—"
"Besides, if we get into trouble, I want to have you in reserve to bail us out. You and Angemon will be our secret weapon."
From his perch on T.K.'s shoulder, Patamon straightened his posture and bent a pudgy arm in a mock salute. "Aye, aye, sir!" the little digimon squeaked fiercely.
T.K. nodded reluctantly. "All right."
"And T.K., please keep this a secret for now. Don't tell the others just yet."
T.K. grimaced slightly. He'd already told Kari he needed to talk to her, and he could never hide anything from her if she wanted to know something, no matter how hard he tried. But what he told Tai was,"Okay. I won't tell them."
"Thanks. Come on, Agumon."
Tai looked as if he were about to leave, but T.K. stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Tai. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. I'm here for you. We all are. Don't lose hope."
Tai smiled gratefully. "Thanks, T.K." They pulled into a rough embrace, and then Tai and Agumon left.
T.K. turned to Izzy. "Is there anything you need from me?"
Izzy shook his head. "Negative. I've got to start my analysis and compose a statement to the IDC regarding Eosmon. But if something comes up, I'll contact you."
"All right. I'll leave you to it, then. I've got somewhere I have to be anyway. Good luck, Izzy."
"See you later, T.K."
A/N: [Edited slightly on 08/31/24] This chapter finally begins to explore one of the main reasons I began this fanfic: the question of what immediately happens after LEK, as well as beginning to give a little context into what other characters may have been up to in the background at the time. This chapter exists almost entirely to answer my own questions about things like 'Why weren't the other Digidestined more involved beyond the 02 kids helping Matt with some detective work?' and 'What did T.K. do after leaving Izzy's office?'
Japanese references: Kari calling out to Tai as "Onii-chan!" which is a Japanese term for one's elder brother, and her calling T.K. by his full name of "Takeru" are examples of my fanfiction being colored by the Japanese version of Digimon Adventure.
Retcons to LEK: INDICON/Izzy's computer database. This is a minor retcon I felt was necessary and made sense that the "database", as Izzy refers to it in LEK, of the Digidestined around the world would be more than just a bunch of email addresses Izzy has collected over the years. I expanded it to be its own network that Izzy created and maintains as a website that is basically a Digidestined-exclusive version of facebook. The presence of a large number of Digidestined worldwide in Zero Two was a game-changer, the implications of which I feel never got fully explored. Such a large group of people with a common link uniting them needs a name, so I thought "The International Digidestined Coalition", or "IDC" for short, seemed fitting (a bit militaristic perhaps, but not necessarily a bad thing if handled delicately), and the social network quickly became "INDICON".
Digimon episodes referenced: s1, ep 13 "The Legend of the Digidestined". (I want to add this isn't meant to imply that T.K. would name all of the chapters of his novel after episode titles from the show, I just thought this was one that would conceivably carry over and that it would be a fun reference.)
Next time on Digimon Adventure: Continuing Evolution—Chapter 3. Reminiscence.