13The Takaishi home was covered with an eerie layer of silence. Night had fallen, but nobody could sleep. TK and Kari couldn't help but think about what had happened to their son, who was trapped in the Digital World without any experience in fighting outside what little had taken place in the city as of late. After all those years of exploring the Digital World themselves, they were finally feeling the stress their parents had known for so long back when they had been children.
Chris was sitting upright in her room, hugging her legs to her chest wordlessly. Patamon was sitting beside her as the TV prattled mindlessly before her. She opened her mouth to say something, but words refused to leave her mouth. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know what we're going to do. My brother is stuck in the Digital World with Mila and Saki. They don't know how to keep themselves safe since they've never been there. And if that wasn't bad enough, my parents have gone silent about what happened earlier. I don't get it. Why won't they tell us what's been going on?" She let out a huff and shook her head. "I wish they would just say something..."
"I don't think it's the safest thing, whatever it is," Patamon remarked. "I have a bad feeling about what's been happening today... You should get to sleep though. Tomorrow might be Sunday, but you have school the day after. We can't have you getting sick with all that's going on."
"It'll just stress out my parents," Chris nodded. "I don't want that with Sato gone as it is... I feel so helpless sitting around here like this. Bumps on pickles are more helpful. Sato is trapped over there, and Mom and Dad won't say a thing... I almost want to go after him, but I know that isn't a good idea. We'll just end up in even more trouble if we try to do that. I don't even want to imagine how angry my parents will be if they hear I tried something so risky. It makes me feel awful knowing there isn't anything we can do... I hope they have this under control..."
"I'm sure that they'll take care of things. Everything will go back to normal soon," Patamon assured her, curling up in a ball on her bed. "I'm worried too, but we can't do anything about it now. Let's try to get some sleep for now, alright? I don't want you getting sick. Your mom will freak out if you fall ill now."
Chris nodded slowly. "Alright," she agreed, positioning herself against the mattress slowly. Her eyes slipped closed, but she knew just as well as Patamon that she wasn't going to be getting to sleep for quite some time due to all that had happened. It was going to be at least an hour before the exhaustion kicked in, so it was time to start waiting, it seemed.
The village Mila, Agumon, Saki, Gabumon, Sato, and Salamon had found was covered in smoke. Mila took a small step closer, kicking a stray pebble out of the way with a frown. "This isn't good," she muttered. "Whatever happened here, it was violent. I don't see a sign of life for miles..."
"What if it was that same Digimon that attacked us back at home?" Sato asked, pulling Salamon close to his chest. "If that's the case, I don't even want to imagine how many people could have been hurt... Well, I say people, but I think most of the casualties would be Digimon..."
"I find this place a little bit familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on where I would know it from," Saki remarked, crossing their arms over their chest. "Do you get that feeling too? I wish I knew why my gut was telling me this, but I'm clueless, I'm afraid."
"Maybe we'll figure it out with a little bit of looking around," suggested Sato. "We might as well make the most of our time here. We can't really fight, but any information we can take back to our parents will surely be useful to them. I can't imagine them rejecting whatever we find out here."
"You're right. Let's do it," Salamon agreed. "Where should we start?"
"I guess we should go from where we are now," Mila replied with a shrug. "I don't know what we'll find here, but I'm a little nervous..."
"I suppose that's natural since we're trapped in another world and just found a scene of major destruction," Sato commented with a frown. "Just thinking about what could happen to us has me scared... I hope that you are a bit more confident than I am about all of this..."
"Not exactly," Agumon admitted. "Mila seems pretty excited about it though."
"Not at all," Mila admitted with a huff. "I was hoping excitement and adventure would come in a different way. We're on the run from a crazy fire Digimon that wants us dead. He managed to not only get through the portal to the real world, but also to break us through with him after we battled him. That's some serious power."
"And some unnatural power," Gabumon pointed out. "No Digimon can do something like that on their own. A greater force would have to be at work in order for a Digimon to go through the gate. For the most part, it remains closed. A DigiDestined can open the gateway, but not many others have that sort of power."
"Then who opened it from this side? I don't know of any DigiDestined that stayed over here," Mila asked. "I can't think of any reason for why somebody would want to do that either. Isn't it risky to remain here for long periods of time? The childhoods of our parents should be enough of an example of that. We can ask when they show up to take us home. Maybe they'll have some ideas."
"If it isn't one of you, then who could it be? Who would be able to break through the gate in this way?" asked Salamon. "I don't get it. Nobody over here has that power unless they're some sort of powerful ruler. I don't know why a ruler would want to send an enemy over to our side of the gate though..."
"We can think of it a bit later. For now, let's focus on trying to get out of this situation alive," Saki suggested.
"You sure are blunt," Mila commented.
"Blunt I may be, but I'm also telling the truth. If we aren't focused on trying to get home, we could end up stuck here. I doubt you want something like that with how dangerous this place is. If even your adventurous spirit can fade here, you can tell that it's serious," Saki responded.
"I'm sure that there's some information around here for us to gather," Agumon cut in. "Anything we can find will be good, right?"
Salamon's nose began to twitch. She began to frown. "I think I smell somebody nearby. I can't tell who it is, but something isn't right. I think it has something to do with the battle that took place," she declared. "Let's keep going. I'll know when we've found our person."
The pace was picked up after Salamon said that. Saki glanced around before pointing to a nearby rock. It was twitching slowly, like somebody was trying to push it away. They dashed up to the stone and lifted it from the bottom despite Gabumon's calls to get them to stop in case it was dangerous.
Saki hurled the rock out of the way to show a small Digimon. The creature was red with purple stripes on its back and bright blue eyes. The eyes met Saki's, leaving them startled. They didn't say anything, seemingly not afraid.
"Who are you?" asked Mila, coming up behind Saki. "Agumon, if he moves too much, you know what to do."
The Digimon let out a gasp and shook his head. "No, no, you don't need to do that!" he cried out. "You're DigiDestined!"
"What's it to you?" Mila questioned, suddenly hostile. It seemed she had gotten her suspicions against most things from her father.
"I was a friend of your parents!" the Digimon exclaimed, coming up to his feet. His legs began to shake, causing him to crash back into the ground. He shook his head. "I'm not exactly in the best shape now, but I promise you that I'm not lying."
"I don't think he would be able to do anything to hurt us if he wasn't on our side anyways," Salamon pointed out.
"You know, I think I just realized why this place seems so familiar," Gabumon frowned. "I couldn't put a finger on it before, but I think this might be the birthplace of all Digimon. I think this is where we were all first hatched before meeting our partners."
"Wasn't that place called Primary Village?" asked Sato. "I think my father mentioned it once. He was really close friends with the guardian of the village, a Digimon named Elecmon."
The red Digimon before them waved his arms. "That would be me," he declared. "I think I know who you're talking about. You look a lot like TK, you know..."
"That's him!" Sato exclaimed. "I guess you really did know our parents..."
"Of course, I did!" Elecmon told him. "Do you know where they are? Why are you here alone? I didn't think you were supposed to be here without them. Have any of you ever even been here?"
"Once," Saki said. "I was with my father at the time. He came by to pick up my Digimon partner, Gabumon here. He wanted me to come along with him to see the Digital World for the first time, so I came with him. I think we came to this very village, now that I think about it. I didn't even recognize the place with how much it had changed."
"How come you got to come here as a kid?" Mila groaned. "I didn't get to do that."
"My dad's just cooler than yours," Saki shrugged, making Mila sigh angrily. They responded by laughing.
"What happened here?" Agumon asked Elecmon to get the conversation back on topic. "It looks like somebody came through to burn the whole village down."
"Can you answer my questions about why you're here first, if that's okay?" Elecmon asked. "I can tell you what happened in a moment."
"We were attacked by a Digimon. He showed up at my house earlier today and attacked us. We were sort of able to defend ourselves, but it didn't work for long. He opened a portal to the Digital World that we were all caught up in. We landed a few miles away from here and started walking in hopes we'd find something," Mila explained. "Maybe you've seen him. He's made of blue fire and wears a silver mask-looking thing."
Elecmon's face grew stony and solemn. "I wish I didn't know him," he murmured. "SkullMeramon came through this very village earlier today and burned it to the ground. Countless baby Digimon died before even hatching because of it. Only a few of them are left now."
Saki looked over to Mila, who was frowning deeply. "That's not good," Mila muttered. "I wonder who told him to go through this area and kill everything. Why did he show up at my house earlier? I don't get any of this."
"More and more Digimon attacks have been taking place lately. If you ask me, this means something else is behind this. Somebody is making them attack us. There's another force out there that's causing all of this to happen. That's not good, in case you didn't already see," frowned Saki. "I don't know a thing about what's causing this, but that might be for the best. I don't know how we're going to deal with all that's happened."
"Are you parents on their way to take you home? The Digital World has never been the safest place for humans, but I can't trust anything after what happened earlier," Elecmon said, looking down at the ground.
"Do you blame yourself for what happened?" asked Sato, crouching down next to Elecmon. He placed on hand on the Digimon's neck and stroked him gently. "You don't need to. It wasn't your fault. SkullMeramon did this by invading the village to begin with."
Elecmon let out a deep sigh. "I need to talk to your parents when they come into the Digital World to pick you up. They need to know about what's been happening. We might need their help again. We might even need your help to fend off this new threat, whatever it is," he told the group. "You'll have to be careful though. You're still young and don't know what you're doing. Rushing into fights without any experience will just result in you getting hurt. Your parents don't need that with how much stress they're already under as DigiDestined."
"We'll stay out of trouble," Sato assured him. "Everything will be fine. Don't worry one little bit."
"Do you think we'd be able to stay here for the time being?" Saki asked. "We could help you clean up the wreckage. We can even take care of the remaining babies if you need it. I know that you're not exactly in the best state because of the attack. We'll be glad to help, okay?"
Elecmon pondered this before nodding. "Alright. I can't exactly defend this place if somebody else shows up at this point. It's far too dangerous. I don't know how well we'd fare against SkullMeramon if he returned, but I could still use the help regardless," he replied. "The babies are all hiding in a building at the center of town. It was one of the only ones to stay standing in the attack."
"Do you need any help getting over there?" asked Mila, extending a hand down to Elecmon. "You still aren't looking too great."
Elecmon got to his feet shakily. "I'll be fine," he replied. "Let's just go and see the babies. They'll be happy to see friendly faces after what they've been through today."
"What's going to happen to the babies that were killed in the attack?" asked Sato. "Are they going to come back someday?"
Elecmon nodded. "Thankfully, the village wasn't poisoned by the attack. If it ends up poisoned, no babies can be born until a cure is found. They'll all be back within the next few days, but they're bound to be scared. Until your parents come back, any help you can give me with taking care of them will be appreciated," he told them. "I'm sure they won't mind pitching in a little bit if they need it."
"Is this the first big attack like this?" Gabumon questioned. "Have any others taken place recently?"
"No, not at all. It was just this one today," Elecmon replied. "I haven't heard of anything else on this scale taking place in years. The last time the village was attacked, it was before you all were born. Your parents weren't even married yet at the time."
"That was ages ago," Agumon gasped. "I guess they were pretty good at restoring peace to this place when it needed it."
"You got that right. I've lost count of how many times they were here to save the world from destruction of some sort," Elecmon said. "Regardless of how much it's happened, they've always been a huge help."
"It's probably getting later back at home," murmured Saki. "I wonder when they'll be able to come out of the real world to rescue us. It will probably be tomorrow at the latest. They won't want to leave us here for too long given how dangerous it can get."
"I wish they'd come soon," Sato admitted. "I don't like being here. With what Elecmon said happened earlier, I'm more scared than ever. I never really wanted to come here and fulfill whatever digital destiny awaited me, and now, I don't want to do it at all. I wish we didn't have to get tied up in this mess."
"We can still make the most of it," Mila told him. "Don't worry yourself too much. If we ever need to take care of things, we'll all be together. Plus, we'll probably be able to come back and forth between this place and home, which will take away a lot of the pressure. Just being here is a bit stress-inducing since it happened against our will."
"That's putting it lightly," Saki murmured. "Let's start walking back to the center of the village. We won't be able to get anything done if we stay around here. Those babies are waiting for help. I don't want them to be alone for any longer than they have to, especially considering how young they are."
Elecmon nodded and began walking back towards the center of the village. "Most of them are a little bit shy because they're so young. Also, be warned. They like to spit bubbles when they're scared. With what's happened, the place will be filled with bubbles. They don't hurt, but there's going to be a lot of them," he cautioned. "I hope you don't mind that."
"It's fine," Mila assured him. "I'm sure they're going to be adorable."
"I remember the days when Patamon only spit bubbles," Sato giggled to Salamon. "I was really little at the time, but there were always bubbles all over my sister's room because of it. It was nearly impossible to find something dry because of all the bubbles..."
"That sounds like a baby Digimon alright," Elecmon remarked with a laugh. "They're cute, but they sure do love those bubbles..."
"I'm sure we can handle it. Bubbles are probably the least of our worries now," Saki remarked. "This will be a nice break from all that's happened today."
A few hours had passed since the three children had disappeared through the gateway. Back in Odaiba, plans were already being made for the Digital World expedition despite the late hour.
Tai was pulling together all of the supplies he thought he would need. It was nearing two in the morning, but despite his exhaustion, Tai didn't bother sleeping. He knew it wasn't going to be working anyways with the knowledge Mila was trapped on the other side plaguing him. He might as well be useful if he couldn't sleep.
Sora walked into the room and let out a sigh. "I finally got Xen down for the night. He was too nervous to sleep," she told Tai, picking up a flashlight and dropping it into the bag he was packing. "He doesn't want you to go into the Digital World to keep you from getting hurt."
"We don't have a choice," Tai whispered with a shake of his head. "We can't just leave them over there. They can't defend themselves from what lies on the other side."
"Why are you packing so much?" Sora asked, looking down at his bag. "Isn't it supposed to be a simple operation?"
"Izzy wanted us to be prepared. He said there was something wrong in an area near where they were, about six miles from the village. Plus, if the Digimon there can open and close the gate, we need to make sure we're prepared in case we get trapped over there," Tai explained.
"That's just making me even more nervous," Sora admitted. "I wish I could come with you, but I know I should stay and watch over Xen... Plus, somebody will have to call Mila in sick if you can't bring them back in time for school on Monday. If nobody else will do it, I guess I have to."
"We'll be back soon, Sora," smiled Tai. "It'll be fine. Matt, Izzy, and I will have them back in a few days."
"I would have expected TK or Kari to come along to make sure Sato was okay," Sora frowned.
"They were going to come, but they can't exactly risk leaving the house at the moment with Isara back again," Tai told her. "I'm going to do my best to take care of him for them. You can go and check on them if need be, right?"
"Of course. I'll try to drop by after school each day to make sure they're doing okay," Sora nodded. "How soon are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning. Izzy has a few last-minute preparations to finish up before we can head over there, so we're going to let him take care of that stuff before heading out," Tai replied. "The Digimon are already asleep, right? I don't want them getting exhausted with what we have to go and do tomorrow."
"Speaking of exhausted, I think it's time for you to go to sleep as well," Sora said. "I can finish up packing for you. You have somewhere to be tomorrow. I'm only going to be hanging around here. I can afford to stay up a little bit longer if I need it, but you're going to need all the rest you can get for the big day."
Tai let out a sigh. "Alright," he murmured. He wanted to fight back and tell her that he was fine, but he knew that fighting against Sora when she went into her motherly bear mode was fruitless. She was simply too stubborn like this. "I'll go to bed, but you shouldn't stay up for much longer, okay?"
"I won't," Sora assured him with a smile. She placed a gentle kiss against his cheek. "It's going to be okay. I'm sure that you'll bring them all home. I believe in you. I know you're worried, but we have it all under control."
Tai nodded slowly. "Thanks," he said gently, unsure of what else to say. He leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes, finally letting exhaustion take him.
Sora placed a small box of bandages into the front pocket of the bag on the bed before approaching Tai one more time. She brushed her fingers against his face and let out a sigh. A few tears formed in her eyes, dropping down onto his face soundlessly. Sora rubbed them away before turning back to the bag. She left the room not long after, off to get whatever supplies Tai had forgotten about thus far.
Mila found herself awakening from a fitful sleep she hadn't even realized she'd sunk into. She shook her head and rubbed at her eyes. Saki was curled up with Gabumon and a few baby Digimon in their arms. Sato was holding Salamon in one arm and Elecmon in the other as a few Poyomon snored softly from his hair.
Agumon was nearby, practically drowning in slumbering Botamon. Mila glanced around for a moment longer before she remembered where she was and what had happened. Instantly, she felt a pang of fear tug at her heart.
Mila shook it off the best she could and got to her feet, stretching her arms out. She got the feeling she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep after that, so she might as well take a small walk. Her legs were itching for something to do. Mila had always paced when she was nervous, and this time was no exception.
Mila slowly exited the building at the center of Primary Village. She hadn't realized how ruined this place had been before. Pain and pity pulled at her heart for the babies and eggs that had been destroyed in the attack. Mila shook her head to banish the painful memories at the back of her mind. Everything was going to be fine. She shouldn't think all negatively like that. It would only cause more problems for her later on.
Mila suddenly felt a small tremor in her feet. She looked down and saw the ground was shaking ever so slightly. She didn't know what it was, but she was already getting a bad feeling. Mila glanced around, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. She decided on east, so she began walking in that direction.
Mila only had to walk for three or so minutes before she found what she was looking for. Mila crouched down against the ground and looked around, using a smoke-coated block as a shield from whatever was before her. She glanced around once again, hoping she could see what was causing such a tremor.
Mila's eyes shot open the second she realized what was going on. Any sleepiness she had been feeling before drained away in the blink of an eye, leaving her more alert than she had ever been before. She got to her feet instantly, ready to fight until she realized Agumon wasn't by her side at that moment. He was still back at the building in the center of town with the others. Mila wasn't able to do a thing without him, so she had to retreat.
She turned on her heel and began to run as quietly as she could. She held her breath to keep from letting out a scream of panic. She slid up to the building where everybody was and finally released the air she had been holding inside. The others were still asleep. Mila threw open the door loudly, letting the handle slam against the wall.
Mila cringed at the sound, instantly regretting how noisy she had been. She saw Elecmon open his eyes slowly as she shut the door, hoping that their soon-to-be assailant wouldn't find them. Her heart was pounding faster than she had ever heard it before, feeling like it was skipping beats everywhere.
"What's going on?" Elecmon grumbled. "Is something wrong?"
"It's SkullMeramon," Mila explained, letting out a heavy breath. "He's here. I don't know how he figured out we were here, but he came back. We are in so much trouble right now..."
Elecmon was awake fully in the blink of an eye. He got to his feet and began to nudge at Sato's arm to wake him. The young boy was conscious not long after. "Get up. SkullMeramon is back," he hissed to Sato as the boy and his partner woke up completely.
Saki, who had been disturbed from sleep by the door before, got up as well. Gabumon followed suit a few seconds later. The babies on Saki were still asleep, so they placed all the small Digimon on the ground together carefully. "We have to go and fight him, don't we?" they asked with a frown. They made sure all the children were bundled together closely to make up for the lack of warmth previously provided by her body.
"We don't have a choice," Mila told them. "We said we would help out here, and that includes protecting the village from SkullMeramon."
"I should probably get the babies out of here. I don't want to chance them getting hurt in the fight," Elecmon said. "I'm going to sneak them out of the village through a back entrance in the area."
"There's a back entrance?" asked Saki. "I had no idea."
"I only ever use it if something happens to the village and it isn't safe anymore for the babies inside. I had been hoping they'd leave the village alone after that attack, but I guess not," Elecmon sighed. "It's dangerous for them outside too, but I think I'd rather chance being out there than in here."
"That's probably wise," nodded Mila. "We can take care of this."
"Can we? We've only got two Champions against an Ultimate Digimon. Like I said before, sometimes, it takes more than six Champions to topple an Ultimate," Saki pointed out. "It's not going to happen unless we're saved by some sort of miracle."
"We don't have a choice," Mila reminded them. "If we don't fight him, then he's just going to follow us and try to destroy more of the children. I can't have that. We need to make sure everybody here is safe. It's part of our duty."
"Duty or no, we should probably get ready to fight them off," Sato suggested.
"I actually don't know how well that's going to work out," frowned Salamon. "It's been hours since we had anything to eat. We won't be able to fight off SkullMeramon without any food. We don't have enough energy to pull it off."
Mila felt her stomach drop into her feet. "Oh, my," she frowned. "I don't know how we're going to deal with that then. We can't really fight SkullMeramon like this. Rookies stand even less of a chance... We're as good as screwed."
"I hadn't even realized we hadn't eaten anything with all that's happened. I've been feeling sick ever since we got here, so food was the last thing to cross my mind," admitted Saki. "We don't seem to have much of a choice though. We're going to have to go with Elecmon and go on the defensive. Offense is out of the question, so this is our only option."
"I hate this," Mila grumbled, picking up three sleeping babies in each arm. "I guess we have to do it though... Man, this is awful. I wish there was more we could do."
"Until our parents show up, this is the most we can do," frowned Sato. "Let's be as careful as we can."
Elecmon began to walk out of the building through the back door. He gestured with his head to get the kids to follow after him. "This way, everyone. We're going to be okay," he assured them, allowing four babies to clamber up his tail and onto his back.
Despite his words, Mila knew that he was lying just to make the babies feel a little bit better. She wasn't sure if they were going to be fine like he was telling them, but she was praying. It was all she could really do at that point.
I know this chapter was a bit on the filler side, but it's mostly set-up for the next few chapters. Chapter fifteen gets into Digital World expeditions and sixteen has all sorts of fun. Yay.
I'm updating QATH and DOD next week, which is pretty cool. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed!
-Digital
