Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digidreams Do Come True! ❯ Sora’s Guilt Trip! ( Chapter 15 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This chapter features Taichi and Sora, and what happened to them. Now as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon; Bandai and Toei have that pleasure.

It was growing late, as a young Sora walked around in search of her childhood friend, since he was the last person she was with. Getting to the world was pretty strange, especially now that she’s actually in it. Just like the others, she had aged backwards. She was a lot smaller, and wearing the same blue helmet she’d worn when younger. She was still in her tennis uniform, and clipped to her skirt, was her Digivice. She always carried it around as a bit of a reminder of her Digimon and of her adventures in the Digital World by. Her gym bag was nowhere to be found, which had her phone and such, but she figured she dropped it before being pulled into the vortex.

“Do you think we’ll ever find him?” the now 11-year-old Sora asked her current traveling companion.

The pink bird walking alongside her, gave Sora a reassuring smile. “I’m sure we will,” Piyomon responded enthusiastically.

“I sure hope so.”

“It’s so great to see you again, Sora, but how come you look so young? I thought humans were supposed to get older, not younger.”

“I have no idea. I may look younger, but I still feel as if I’m the age I was before I was brought back here.”

“I’m just glad I caught you before you fell!”

Sora smiled gently. “I’m glad too. I surely would’ve died if you wouldn’t have been nearby…”
****
Sora had just been released of the strange, abducting vortex, and was falling fast...

“HELP!!!”

A short distance away, Piyomon was talking to a couple of Pyocomon (Yokomon), explaining the importance of evolution, and how she missed her human friend, Sora, and her friends, something that was pretty much constant with the small pink bird.

“I wish I had a human partner,” the first Pyocomon whined.

“Me too,” the second Pyocomon bounced, trying to keep up with the bird-Digimon, “that way, we can evolve faster, and wouldn’t have to evolve naturally!”

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” Piyomon told the two as they continued their walk through the woods. They were on their way to the ravine on the other side of the woods to pick some berries. “Maybe one day, another child, or two, will come to the Digital World, and become your human partners.”

The both hopped up and down at the thought. “I think our wish is going to come true, Piyo-neechan,” the second Pyocomon exclaimed.

“Why do you say that?”

“Look up there! A human is falling towards the ravine.”

“What makes you so sure it’s a human?” the first Pyocomon asked.

“Because I’ve never seen a Digimon that looked like that!”

“Good point.”

“Oh no! We have to help that person!”

“What can we do?” the first Pyocomon questioned.

“I thought that humans couldn’t fly, Piyo-neechan!”

“They can’t!! There’s only one thing I can do.” The bird removed the tote bag hanging around her neck, and dropped it to the ground. “Piyomon shinka...” A bright light surrounded the pink bird’s body as she grew to a huge, bigger form of herself, only her color was more so orange, and she looked a bit scary in comparison to her cute, pink self. “...Birdramon!”

“Wow!! Piyo-neechan evolved!”

“That’s so cool!”

“You two stay here,” Birdramon instructed.

The two Pyocomon obeyed for a short while, but ended up hopping along as fast as they could to the shallow water-filled ravine, to see Birdramon in action.

Birdramon flapped her wings harder, as it allowed her to fly faster. She really wasn’t concerned as to who it was or even why the person was there. Finally reaching the ravine, she dived downwards, and soared right underneath the falling human. Birdramon had just barely made it. The human was saved, yet, still ended up going unconscious from the impact of falling onto Birdramon’s muscular back.

The two Pyocomon cheered as they saw Birdramon fly back towards them and landing on the ravine’s edge to lower the human safely to the ground. After doing so, she devolved back to Piyomon, and tried to rest up a bit. It had been a good while since she’d had to overexert herself by evolving (on an empty stomach) and flying harder than usual. The reason for the trip to the ravine was to pick berries for her supper and the two Pyocomon with her, just tagged along.

While Piyomon rested underneath a nearby shady tree, the two young Digimon inspected human since neither had ever seen one before.

“What’s that weird thing on the human’s head?” the first one asked while taking a closer look.

“Is this human a boy or a girl?”

“It has to be a girl! It has a skirt on!”

“Oh yeah, that’s right; but that still doesn’t explain that blue thing on her head.”

“Hey, look at that thing on her skirt,” the first Pyocomon cried out in excitement, hopping up and down once again,” it’s a Digivice! I know what those look like! I bet this human is going to be my new partner!”

“No she’s not! She’s going to be my new human partner!”

“Wait, wait. Doesn’t this human seem a bit old looking with those clothes to be a human child? She has a body like some perfect (ultimate) or ultimate (mega) leveled Digimon that looks a little human, like Lilymon, or Rosemon, or Angewomon, or that scary LadyDevimon. She just doesn’t look as old as them.”

“Maybe she’s a weird looking Lilymon, and just found that Digivice,” the second Pyocomon frowned in disappointment. “That blue thing on her head looks like that hat Angewomon wears; it just doesn’t cover her eyes.”

Piyomon was only half-listening to the conversation between the two children, and looked over towards them and the human. She finally got a good look at the “blue thing” the two kept going on about.

“That blue hat reminds me of Sora’s one.” Piyomon rose from her spot and joined the two. She then gasped as she recognized the facial features, as well as the Digivice clipped to her skirt. “This is Sora!!”

“Sora?”

“You two, stay here while I get her some fresh water.”

Piyomon went through the tote bag she’d been carrying, and pulled out a water flask she was planning on filling with water anyway. She then flew down to the ravine, and filled it with the pure crystal water, and made her way back up to Sora.

When she returned, Sora had begun to stir. She opened her eyes slowly, to find the pink bird, with two small onion-looking things, hovering over her. “P-piyomon?”

“Hi, Sora.”

Sora sat up quickly, though held her head from doing so. She was a bit lightheaded. She then hugged her Digimon partner tightly. After the hugs, Piyomon explained to the girl how she randomly fell from the sky, and how she had to evolve to save her. Sora then explained about how she was playing Tennis with Taichi, and their abduction.

After the greetings, the two went off in search of Taichi...
****
“I’m forever grateful to you, Piyomon.”

“That’s what friends are for.”

“So, do you have any idea as to why I’ve been brought back to the Digital World, or why I seem four or five years younger? I have my old blue hat I wore when I first met you, but I’m still wearing my tennis uniform I was practicing in before that weird vortex sucked Taichi and me in.”

“I’m not too sure, but there has been some stuff going on around here.”

“Like what?”

“Sudden Digimon attacks, evil Digimon in general, the usual,” the bird responded nonchalantly, due to the fact that it had become quite routine.

“That’s usual? How long has this been going on?”

“Hmm, I’d say for the past couple of weeks; maybe longer. There are rumors going on about some Digimon wanting to take over the Digital World for whatever the reason. He’s sending out troops to conquer different areas for him.

“It’s almost like we’re dealing with the Digimon Kaiser again, but I, as well as the others, know that it’s not him. No human has been in the Digital World since you and the others left two years ago. The Digimon are also not being controlled who attack. They’re attacking on their own.

“Because of these attacks, all of the other Digimon and I have decided to protect an area, since we are the only few who have the power to evolve at will due to our having had human partners. We can’t evolve to our perfect (ultimate) forms anymore, since you guys gave up your crest powers years ago to create that barrier, and evolving to that stage on our own is a bit difficult without the extra energy boost, but we can still help to keep any attacking Digimon away until the Digimon in the area are safe and out of danger.”

“You all have been through a whole lot. Do you think Taichi and I were brought back to help you get rid of the Digimon who have been attacking your areas?”

Piyomon hugged Sora. “That would be great! It’ll be just like old times!”

“Yeah, old times...” the girl murmured while trailing off.

Piyomon noticed the distant look on Sora’s face, curious as to what was wrong. Sora was still a bit upset over Taichi’s being separated from her, but not as she was over his being hurt. It obviously bothered him that she and Yamato were dating.

“Sora, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just wondering where Taichi could’ve ended up.”

“We’ve been all around this area, Sora, and no one from the village I stay in has noticed anything either. Remember how I asked before we left?” Sora nodded somberly. “I don’t think he’s anywhere around here. We should probably get back to the village and look for him when there’s more light out to see by. And you should eat and rest, too.”

“But Piyomon, we have to find Taichi!”

“Maybe since you ended up with me, maybe Taichi found Agumon.”

“Hey, you’re probably right! Let’s go find Agumon!”

“It’ll take a long time if we go by foot. It’d probably take almost an entire day to get there and it’s getting a bit late now.”

“Oh...” she uttered dejectedly.

“But, I could evolve to Birdramon, and fly you there easily. If I fly fast enough, we could probably get there in about an hour.”

“Could we go now?”

Piyomon looked hesitant, and shook her head slightly. “I rather we didn’t, Sora. Who knows what we’ll run into, and I’m still not fully recharged from when I evolved earlier. Since I was hungry when I evolved, and was already a bit tired, my strength pretty much left me after I saved you.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to protect you, unless I get some more rest.”

“Oh no, Piyomon, that’s okay. If you need your rest, you need your rest. Taichi can wait, especially if he is with Agumon. We’ll just go out sometime in the morning.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Your health is important, Piyo.”

“Okay, let’s head back to the village. The other Digimon there that you haven’t met yet will be very pleased to meet you since I’ve told them so much about you! And we can make you a place to sleep and maybe do something about those over-sized clothes of yours. Babamon lives in our village, and she’s good at cooking and sewing and everything. Jijimon is good at some of that stuff too, and fishes really well.”

With that, the two headed back towards Piyomon’s village, Sora a bit discouraged over not having found Taichi. ‘Taichi, I’m sorry I hurt you, but please be all right...please be with Agumon right now...’
****
Back at the secret orb room...

“Another child has found her Digimon Partner,” the silky-haired woman told her partner happily.

“That’s good. Soon, all of them will be together, and defeat our enemy, and all of his followers. I wonder how he managed to get so many in the first place.”

“He probably either threatened those who currently follow him, or either promised them something for their help and cooperation.” She studied the orb again, frowning slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have this grave feeling dealing with one of children. I can’t seem to locate the child who has nothing to do with Digimon; the extra person. No matter how much I concentrate and focus my mind, it just doesn’t help.”

“You don’t suppose that he or she has been found by our enemy, do you!?”

“I’m afraid so,” she nodded dismally. “All I sense from that person is extreme negativity.”

“Oh dear, just what we need.”

“But there is hope,” she reminded her partner.

“There you go with the hope again. Always the optimist.”

“Hope is a very powerful thing; and is one of the grandest, purist devout powers ever. Without one having hope, he or she cannot help to create his or her own miracles. You can’t have miracles unless you have the light of hope first.”

“That is true, but this child’s life could possibly be in danger. What can we do to help?”

“There’s nothing we can do until the child destined to find us, arrives here.”

The Digimon sighed crestfallen. “I really hope you’re right.”

“I know that I am,” the woman replied with confidence. “I have relayed my visions and such to the Holy Beast Guardians and they agree with all that I’ve predicted so far. They’ve never been wrong before, and I doubt they’ll start doing so now...”
****
At the time Sora had first awakened to discover Piyomon, Taichi was still out cold. A small, orange-reptilian Digimon watched over him, hoping that he would soon awaken.

The Digimon paced around anxiously, the seconds turning to minutes. After a good while, Taichi finally started to stir.

“Taichi,” the Digimon called to him in his trademark scratchy voice, while giving him the biggest hug known to Digimon kind, “I’m so glad that you finally woke up!”

The boy managed to rub his eyes, and instinctively held his head. “It’s hot, and my head hurts,” he muttered. Memories began to flood the young boy’s mind of what he had just encountered. “Sora!! I have to find her!” He tried to get up, but realized he couldn’t. He finally noticed the Digimon hugging his middle. “Agumon?”

“Hi, pal!”

“It really is you!!!!” He returned the fire reptile’s hug. “Oh my gosh!! What are you doing here? What’s going on?” Before Agumon could answer, his childhood friend came to mind once again. “No wait, we have to go find Sora.”

“Sora?”

Taichi broke his embrace with Agumon and stood. He jogged off, figuring that Agumon was right behind him, but didn’t get very far due to his tripping and falling. His long gym shorts now fit him like a pair of pants.

“Taichi,” Agumon ran to his side, and helped him up, “are you okay?”

Taichi looked himself over, a bit confused. “I wasn’t wearing pants before that weird portal sucked me into the sky. I was wearing my gym clothes playing tennis with Sora.”

Agumon looked him over. He scratched his head. “Taichi, don’t you notice something else different about yourself other than your clothes?”

He shrugged slightly, but then finally noticed what Agumon had. He was a whole lot shorter; he had his round blue goggles atop his head - the pair he had given to Daisuke years earlier - along with his blue sweatband he’d wear underneath it. His sneakers, though, were the same that he’d worn when he first met Agumon.

“What happened to my body!! I’m a kid again!” The boy obliviously dug through the pockets of his shorts, and pulled out a couple of very familiar objects. “My Digivice? My pocket telescope?” He stared down at the objects in extreme mystification. “Why do I have these things? I gave my goggles to Daisuke, I haven’t seen my pocket telescope in years, and I left my Digivice in my gym bag, since I didn’t want to accidentally break it while playing Sora. I wonder why I have these, and why I seem to be younger.

“I wonder if the same thing happened to Sora.”

“I don’t know about Sora, but you’re the only one here, Taichi. You were just laid right out here when I showed up. I don’t know how long you were here.”

Curious as to where he was, Taichi started to study his surroundings. He sweat dropped nervously, and grew a bit uneasy. “Agumon, where exactly am I, and why are there so many fiery pits here?” He gulped slightly. “I’m not...dead, am I, and I’m not where I think I am, am I?”

“No, you’re not dead,” Agumon laughed. “You’re just as alive as I am! I don’t know what you’re thinking, but we’re at a hot spring for reptile Digimon such as my self.”

“A...hot...spring? It’s a little hot, don’t you think?” he sarcastically muttered.

“Not for me it’s not. Instead of it being filled with water, these pits are filled with fire. I use it to keep my strength up just by sitting by it and taking in the heat. It’s very therapeutic for Fire Reptile Digimon like me. That’s what Gennai told me, anyway. I’m not the only Digimon who comes here, but this is my area to protect. This is my new home. I live a little ways from here, and come here every once in a while to relax.”

“Your new home? What’s happened in the past two years? Do you have any idea why I’m here, or why I’m a kid again?”

“I’m sorry Taichi; I don’t know why you’re here or why you’re younger.”

“Hmm, I guess you wouldn’t know. So, how is Gennai doing?” Agumon looked at the ground, his cheery disposition, slightly dropping. “Yo, Agumon, what’s the matter? Has something bad happened to Gennai?”

He nodded slowly. “No one seems to know where he is, or what’s happened to him. He’s been missing for a good while.”

“Missing? Okay, Agumon, I want you to tell me about everything that’s been going on, and don’t leave out one single detail.”

“Right. I don’t know why you’re young again, but there has been some trouble here lately...”

Agumon explained to Taichi of all that had been going on lately, just as Tailmon did with Hikari, Takeru, and Daisuke, and Piyomon with Sora, the main difference being that he explained about Gennai, and of his going in search of the head Digimon causing all of the trouble since only he and a couple of others knew about it.

“So it seems that we were brought back to help you get rid of whoever is causing the trouble, but for some strange reason, we ended up younger than what we currently are.”

“It makes sense, but I can’t fight these Digimon alone. None of the Digimon attacking are being controlled. It’s the same for the others too, so we either have to lead them away, and hope for the best, or either...delete them.”

“Let’s find Sora; maybe she’s with Piyomon. That way, we can work together as a team, and beat all of these Digimon!” He bawled up his fist in determination. “No one messes with our pals, and get away with it! And while we’re at it, we can go find Gennai!”

“Yeah!!”

‘At least this way, I can prove to Sora that we make a great team when together.’

“But Taichi, it’ll take a long time to get to Piyomon’s area. It would take us all night to get there if we were to leave now on foot, and, unfortunately, I can’t fly unless I evolve to my higher forms. The power that I used to have from Qinlongmon, which allowed me to warp evolve to WarGreymon to fight against BlackWarGreymon, was a one time only thing.” He lowered his head in shame. “I’m weak and can’t do that anymore.”

Taichi patted the reptile on the back consolingly. “That’s okay, buddy; you are anything but weak! I refuse to let you think of yourself in that way. I’m sure we’ll come up with something to get rid of all those evil Digimon, and a way to find Sora.”

“I hope we can all come up with something.”

“So, Agumon, since I’m here, and you obviously don’t want to go find Piyomon tonight, could I have a bite to eat,” he blurted out with a lopsided grin.

“Sure, just follow me back to where I’m staying. We have to leave this clearing, and go back out into the woods. I have a place set up out there.” Agumon trotted off with Taichi a short ways behind. “Watch yourself, Taichi, and please try not to fall into any of those pits.”

“Come on now, Agumon. I’m older now, sort of,” the boy stated arrogantly. “I’m not as clumsy as I was when I was a kid.”

Right after he said that, he tripped over his untied shoelaces. Agumon sweat dropped, and shook his head. “You were saying?”

“Um, just gotta tie my shoes here...ehehehe.”

“Let’s go. We can both get ourselves a bite to eat, and then rest up for the long trip we’ll have to take tomorrow, but before I go, I’ll have to have someone watch over this area for me. I guess Tyrannomon could watch it for me while I’m gone.”

With that - the boy’s laces tied - Taichi tugged on his “pants”, and strutted off behind Agumon, who led him to another clearing that was nearby. The trunk of the tree had a supply of food and water, which Agumon gladly shared. While dining on the fruits and such that Agumon had, the two began to reminisce, and contemplating on the quickest way to meet up with Piyomon...
****
Meanwhile...

“Ne, Koushirou-kun...”

“Yes, Mimi-san?”

“Do you have any theories as to why we’ve been brought back to the Digital World?” She wanted to discuss something other than Miyako, which he had been obliviously doing since their journey began. The topic of Miyako had grown tiresome, and a bit annoying with the way he seemed to be overly praising her skills and abilities. She had no idea why it bothered her so much that the boy talked about Miyako in such a fashion; it just did. She constantly wondered, though, if it had been any other person, a male, particularly, would it have been as bothersome to her. Their earlier conversations had been about their Digimon, and how much both missed them and the adventures they had with them, but, the subject of Miyako would always seem to creep into it.

“Not really,” he stated bluntly, shaking his head, “but I do have this feeling that we will find all of our answers once we reach our destination.”

“How do you know that?”

“I don’t, really. It’s just a feeling that I have.”

“That doesn’t really sound like you. You usually go by logic and facts before coming to any type of a conclusion.”

“Having all of the facts doesn’t really mean anything, and one going by instinct and intuition is a good thing too.”

“It’s starting to get a bit dark, and it’s getting cooler out too. Are you okay with just that short-sleeved shirt?”

“I’m fine, but this is a bit problematic. I don’t think we’ll be able to reach that building before the sun sets. We may have to find someplace to camp out until we get the opportunity to travel again.”

“But where can we camp? We’re still out in the open!”

“Maybe we should change direction, then.”

“What do you mean? The building is straight ahead from us...just far away.”

“My intuition says we should go off-path for a while.”

“But that’s not logical!!!”

“But like you said, if we do have to stop because it gets too dark, or stop due to the fact that we don’t have the endurance or energy to hike around all night without any food or water, we should do so in an area where we can find those things.”

Mimi refused to argue anymore. She was growing tired anyway. “Fine, do whatever you feel is right,” she told him hotly.

“W-well, I feel we should just go this way.”

“From here, it looks like, well, nothing, but more open space.”

“Strange, I just have this feeling we’re supposed to go that way.”

The two started off in the direction Koushirou felt was right. Mimi couldn’t say much of anything as she followed behind the boy, still a bit amazed over Koushirou’s change of character. Growing tired of carrying her sweater around, she tied it around her waist, and stuffed her bra into the pocket of the jacket. When doing so, she felt a metallic object within it, and pulled it out. Koushirou noticed, as he’d taken that particular moment to glance back at her.

“I see you found my Digivice.”

“So you keep yours with you too?”

“All the time.” He faced forward again, his hands behind his head. “It helps me to remember Tentomon and the others by, and of how much fun we had when with them. Even after all of this time, I’ve still never gotten used to not having Tentomon by my side.”

Mimi caught up to Koushirou, who had stopped to wait for her. She handed him his Digivice and then unclipped hers from her overly big skirt. Staring down at it, she said, “I do too. Michael keeps his with him also. We both figured that if we can’t see our Digimon friends anymore, it wouldn’t hurt to have something to remember them by.”

“Just like us. Miyako-kun always keeps her D-3 and D-Terminal with her in a pocket she made for her uniform. She still uses the D-Terminal to send out e-mail messages to everyone.”

The two started their walk again. It was very late evening now, and the moon was starting to creep up in the sky, though it was tough to see since it was pretty cloudy. ‘Too much air pollution around here,’ thought Koushirou sourly as they continued walking.

“Koushirou, look up ahead! It looks like some kind of an oasis. Look at all of that tropical stuff around it, and there’s also a spring!” Her eyes shined as she stared up ahead. ‘I can finally take a nice cool bath!’

“Yeah, you’re right, but how could we not notice that earlier?”

“Who cares! This is the Digital World! Unexpected stuff like that is expected! Gomamon would always say stuff like that!”

Knowing the girl was right, the two started to run. Koushirou was hoping beyond hope that this wasn’t some type of late evening, early night mirage. The boy was in the front, but soon tripped, which caused Mimi to fall as well.

“Next time you stop, how about giving me a little warning!”

“I’m sorry, I tripped over something.”

Mimi stood first, and helped the smaller boy up. She then gasped at the objects the redhead had fallen over.

“What’s the matter?”

“Koushirou...look!” she pointed.

His eyes grew wide when he saw what the girl was referring to. “It’s my laptop and its carrying case!”

“And my old pink hat! I lost this after our first adventure here!”

Koushirou picked up his laptop, while Mimi put on her hat. “I haven’t worn this in years. It’s the perfect thing to wear when walking out in this type of area, since the sun is constantly out. It helps to block the sun’s rays. That’s why I got it before going to summer camp all those years ago.”

The boy was only half-listening, as he was checking out his Pineapple Laptop. When turning it on, he checked the computer’s stats. The battery was curiously fully charged, and seemed to boot up faster than usual, like it’d had an upgrade of some sort. “Peculiar...”

“I wonder how these got here.”

“Yeah, this is highly unusual and strange, even for the Digital World. You somehow obtained something you lost, and I obtained something that was left back in our world.”

“Well, we’re getting closer to the oasis. Let’s hurry up, get there, and rest up before going back to that building we saw. I sense a long walk ahead of us.”

Koushirou shutdown the laptop, slipped it back into its case, and strapped it to his back and decided to check out its connectivity later, or if he could tap into a wireless network or ‘hotspot’. “I know what you mean. We probably should rest up and also try to come up with a solution to our predicament.”

Mimi nodded, and the two headed towards the oasis, both relieved that it wasn’t a mirage...