Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Alternative Factor ❯ Theories and Revelations ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Toei Animation does.

 

Summary: AU Season 01. In a world that has co-existed with Digimon for the past twenty years, humans and their partners battle against the Virus type Nightmare Soldiers set on casting the world into darkness. Eight kids will help reshape the future.

 

Title: The Alternative Factor

 

Ch.3 Theories and Revelations

 

It was like drifting between the space of asleep and awake, the space where you dream yet are fully aware that you're dreaming. Tai heard the voices as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel, faint and broken.

 

"...what happened..."

 

"...just collapsed... think the bond... overwhelmed him..."

 

"...foolish children... told them not to..."

 

"...father's here... just arrived..."

 

"…keep him away... don't let him see..."

 

Tai awoke fuzzy and disoriented as it always was when someone woke up not expecting to be where they found themselves. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying in bed—well, not really a bed, more like a cot with a blanket draped over him. The walls and ceilings were stark white and the smell of antiseptic filled the air. A sense of déjà vu washed over him as he realized he was in the infirmary. Hadn't he just been in the cargo hold minutes ago though?

 

He flung his memory back but there appeared to be a missing gap somewhere between touching the stone slab and waking up here. What had happened?

 

Something stirred on his chest and Tai's gaze lowered to land on a round pink head with ears snoozing lightly, a small bead of drool trickling out of one corner of its mouth.

 

The stone slab with the engraving of the sun… the orange light… the Digimon… warm red eyes promising him he'd never be lonely again.

 

Tai wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to demand answers for an injustice done. He wanted time to reverse four years. He wanted… he wanted…

 

Tai stretched out trembling hands and placed them gently around the Digimon, feeling its breath hitch evenly with his own.

 

A shrill beeping made him turn his head to the side where a bluish-green octagon shaped device rested on his pillow. A red dot was blinking on the screen and the doors to the room slid open and the indigo-haired doctor who had treated his injuries before stepped in.

 

"Oh, good, you're awake," the young man said smiling in relief. "I wasn't sure how much longer I could detain your father out there."

 

"My dad's here?" Tai asked, his voice sounding hoarse to his ears.

 

"Mmm-hmm. He seems to think we're holding you under suspicion for being one of the Nightmare Soldiers' drones. I was hoping you could set him straight on that point. He doesn't believe us when we say you aren't," the doctor said in an amused tone.

 

"Why am I here?"

 

"My brother claims that after Izumi granted you all unauthorized access to the cargo hold and you touched the stone slab uncovered from Sector 12 that you collapsed soon after the transcending of your partner into this world possibly stemming from the shock of the sudden bond."

 

"Your brother?"

 

"Joe," the doctor stated. "My name is Jim Kido. What, can't you see the family resemblance?"

 

Tai could. In fact, he wondered why he hadn't before. Both of them possessed the same indo-colored hair and wore the same thick, square-framed glasses. They even had similar interests in the same field of study, if Joe's medical supply bag that he was wearing was anything to go by.

 

"I'll be having a word with my brother about his taking medical supplies without permission to go adventure-hiking in the Digital World, you can be sure," Jim said.

 

Tai wondered if he could read minds like Wizardmon. He supposed it must be doctor's intuition, but really, he didn't think anything on this base could surprise him anymore.

 

"Congratulations on your partner. It must be hard having going through life in this world without one," Jim said.

 

You have no idea, Tai thought, dimly realizing he was rubbing the soft skin behind the Koromon's ears with his fingers. The Koromon let out a contented sigh and seemed to fall into a deeper sleep.

 

"How are you up to having visitors?" Jim asked. "It would put your father's mind at ease to see you. You look a bit peaky though. Let me fix that."

 

Tai had a flashback to Joe pulling out a long, cylindrical syringe out of his bag. Then his imagination chipped in the image was exaggerated to Jim holding one the size of a rolling pin, pushing the plunger inside the tube so that liquid shot out of the tip of the needle, and cackling evilly as he advanced on his helpless victim as his glasses glinted in a Dr. Frankenstein manner.

 

"I'm okay!" he yelped, struggling to sit up, however the Koromon's weight was slowing his efforts down considerably.

 

Then a small pink head with big green eyes peeked out of the pocket of Jim's long, white doctor's jacket.

 

"Pu!" it cooed.

 

Tai blinked startled.

 

A tiny pixie-like creature with a golden ring around its neck and red heart design on his stomach rose out of Jim's pocket and flapped fuzzy wings as it curved its 'W'-shaped mouth into a smile and babbled more nonsense at its audience.

 

"Be ba bee bu bay!" it chirruped in a rhythm faintly reminiscent of singing.

 

"This is MarineAngemon, my partner," Jim introduced fondly. "He helps me out with healing the more seriously wounded. He also heals those who are hurt beyond the physical as well."

 

Jim leveled a piercing stare at him over the top of his glasses.

 

Tai shifted self-consciously. Was his suffering really that obvious? He did feel rather drained and haggard though. He didn't want his dad to see him like that.

 

"Alright," he said giving in.

 

MarineAngemon seemed to understand. Flying over to him until they were nose to nose, the little Digimon smiled and cried out, "Pu! Pu! Pu!"

 

Three heart shaped bubbles came spitting out of his mouth and floated in the air until they impacted lightly upon Tai's face and popped. A burning pink aura surrounded him and Tai gasped as he felt something invisible, some leaden, heavy burden he had not know he was carrying, lift off him and a feeling of peace settled over him.

 

"Better?" Jim asked.

 

Tai nodded, laying his head back down on the pillow. He didn't feel drowsy, just rested.

 

"Good. I'll send your father in then," Jim told him turning to leave.

 

"Bay be ba!" MarineAngemon said in farewell as he floated near his partner's shoulder, waving one small, pink fin at him before the doors opened to reveal a familiar face.

 

"Tai!" his father exclaimed, rushing in and over to his bedside. "Are you alright? Did they torture you thinking you were some Bakemon in disguise?"

 

"I'm fine. They just brought me here because I got caught up in a surprise Nightmare Soldier attack, that's all," Tai said.

 

That apparently wasn't the right thing for a child to say to a concerned parent.

 

"What! Are you hurt? Did you get hit? Anything broken?" his dad demanded.

 

"Dad, stop, it's no big deal. I'm—"

 

"No big deal?" Susumu Kamiya repeated incredulously, cutting him off. "No big deal? It's nighttime and my kid is hours overdue for coming home and I wonder if he's dead somewhere or captured by Virus types, then I get a phone call from the Self Defense Forces telling me they have my son in protective custody with no further clarification. Then I arrive here and they refuse to let me see you and all I can think is... is..."

 

Anguish was shining in his father's eyes. Tai wished MarineAngemon would come back and do that pink heart thing of his again for his dad this time.

 

"Where's Mom?" Tai asked.

 

A weary, resigned look came over Susumu's face. "She didn't come," he sighed. "She... it was one of her bad days. You understand."

 

Yes, Tai understood. He understood there was a difference between didn't and couldn't.

 

"Where's Gotsumon?" he asked, referring to his father's partner.

 

"He's outside in the hallway," Susumu said. "He'd just get in the way here anywhere."

 

Tai smiled at that. Gotsumon was forever tripping over his large rock feet and crashing into things. He also had a loud voice, which he had trouble lowering or shutting up. His father liked to joke that Tai had gotten his hard head and bad manners from him.

 

Susumu's eyes widened as he finally noticed the Koromon sleeping on his son's chest.

 

"Is that…?" he spoke in a hushed tone.

 

"A Digimon," Tai said reluctant to use the words "partner" just yet.

 

"They told me you had bonded with one but I didn't… I'm glad," Susumu stated bluntly. "I'm glad you finally have a partner. Maybe if you had had one four years, things would be different now."

 

Tai winced, shrinking a little and feeling guilt gnaw at his insides.

 

"Well, Captain Ishida has informed me that due to 'extenuating circumstances surrounding your son's unique bonding' that you will not be allowed off-base anytime soon," his father shared in a wry tone.

 

"What?" Tai said. That didn't make sense. The only excuse for holding him here had been because he was un-partnered and now that factor was null and void. What was the captain thinking? "He can't do that!"

 

"I believe I can," proclaimed a voice from the doorway.

 

"You!" Susumu roared pointing at him. "I demand you let my son go at once! He's no sympathizer or mind-slave of the Nightmare Soldiers!"

 

"I never said he was, Mr. Kamiya," Captain Ishida said. "And I'll have you remember that as a civilian you have no authority or grounds to be issuing orders on a military base least of all to me. Now or you quite finished throwing un-false accusations about or do I have to listen to more emotional tirades before explaining?"

 

Susumu crossed his arms, sat down on the bed opposite Tai, and proceeded to scowl viciously at the man.

 

The captain did another one of his trademark arching of the eyebrows aimed at Tai, his amused expression clearly saying, So this is where your defiant streak comes from?

 

Tai resisted the urge to slide under the covers and pull them over his head in embarrassment.

 

"As I've stated before, your son's bonding is unique," Captain Ishida said. "His Digimon did not merely hatch from an egg nor did they run into each other of their own accord. It emerged from a stone that fell from the sky."

 

"What?" Susumu said surprise crowding his features. "Like a comet or asteroid—?"

 

"No, no, nothing like that. Just a marble slab with an undecipherable hieroglyph carved into it—from outer space apparently."

 

Tai thought the captain was doing his best at trying to be confusing. If it hadn't happened to him already, he would be having doubts believing the man.

 

Susumu was casting dubious, speculative looks in Koromon's direction. "Are you telling me that thing's some sort of alien?"

 

"No, that's a Digimon alright about as ordinary as any other one of his kind," Captain Ishida stated smoothly. "It's only its 'birth' so to speak that sets him apart. Then there is your son's interesting un-partnered history, of course."

 

"Define 'interesting', please," Susumu said coolly as Tai tensed. Being partner-less for most of his life, he had caused a lot of ridicule and trouble for his family. Interesting was not a word he would use to describe it.

 

"Don't you find it amazing that no Digimon was ever drawn to him for eleven whole years?" Captain Ishida asked. "Most children meet their partners by the time they are six, eight at the most. I've even heard of cases where an egg appears at the side of a newborn infant shortly after their birth. Didn't it worry you that your son was at risk for a Nightmare Soldiers' attack, one which finally occurred last night—and was long overdue in my opinion?"

 

Tai started. It was a new day already? But then, everything that had happened had taken place late yesterday. Then he had been interrogated and had escorted to B-11, where after he had romped about the base with a group of non-too informative kids and shown the marble slab that had started it all and been knocked unconscious—he refused to admit he had fainted. He must have been out for most of the night.

 

"Of course, I worried about him!" his father shouted. "I worry about him every single second of every single day—that hasn't stopped! But he has Gotsumon and my wife's partner to look after him at home and his teachers and their Digimon to protect the children at school. I just assumed his partner hadn't been born, created, formed—whatever you call it—yet. And look," he said motioning to the still-snoozing Koromon. "I was right. And I despite the 'unique bonding', I highly doubt that reason is valid enough to detain us here in this manner."

 

"Oh, I'm not detaining you, Mr. Kamiya," Captain Ishida said. "You're free to leave anytime you please. I only notified you of your son's location so you would not worry. But I'm afraid he's staying here for a period, valid reason or not. I have my orders from above."

 

"Whose orders?" Susumu was turning red in the face from refrained anger. A purple vein had popped out of his forehead and was throbbing agitatedly.

 

A loud crash came from just outside the infirmary then along with several harried shouts and swearing. The doors slid open wide enough for Jim to poke his head inside, hair askew and glasses tilted lopsided, hanging from one ear, and say, "Excuse me, Captain, but there's been an incident with Mr. Kamiya's partner."

 

"Well?" Captain Ishida pressed.

 

"Um... an incident concerning an overturned coffee cart and an offended Crabmon who's demanding an apology, but Gotsumon claims he didn't do it on purpose and then he called Crabmon a 'bumbling codfish' to which Crabmon responded that Gotsumon was a 'pile of brainless gravel' and now..." Jim trailed off looked rather flustered.

 

"If they insist on brawling in the hallway, then make them go outside in the courtyard and battle it out there," the captain said in a bored tone.

 

"You'll do no such thing!" Susumu snapped springing up and rushing for the doors. "I'll be back shortly."

 

"Nice diversion," Tai said when the doors had closed again.

 

"Why, I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Captain Ishida said evasively, a secretive smile hanging about his lips. "But now that we can talk freely, what was your impression of B-11?"

 

"You mean the kids there?" Tai inquired. "The ones who had no partner for most of their lives like me and had a marble slab fall out of the sky for them too? Did I understand all that? That's thing that we all have 'a lot in common', am I right?"

 

"That is correct, Mr. Kamiya," Captain Ishida said. "But that's not all you have in common with them. I take it you didn't converse with them much before they showed you the stone?"

 

Tai shook his head and wondered how the man would react if he told him he thought his oldest son was a stuck-up human version of a snow-machine.

 

"Like you," the captain continued. "They are all surviving eye-witnesses to the Hikarigaoka incident."

 

A lightning-like shock raced throughout his body at this revelation. Tai was aware of the captain watching him closely with that cool blue gaze that seemed to peer into his innermost thoughts and with Wizardmon for a partner, who knew?

 

"I have a theory," Captain Ishida imparted as he paced the length in front of Tai's bed back and forth. "These marble slabs from the sky... so far they have all been discovered by eyewitnesses of the Hikarigaoka Incident. There were only twenty-six who survived, twenty-six out of a building population that housed four hundred, seven of which were children. So far, not only have these slabs been discovered by eyewitnesses of the Hikarigaoka Incident, they have been discovered by five of the seven surviving children. It's possible that there are seven slabs in all and these last two will end up near the proximity of wherever these remaining children are and its logical to assume they also are partner-less."

 

Only twenty-six who survived... seven of which were children.

 

Children... who survived...

 

Fire.

 

Heat, licking at his skin. The biting smell of flesh filled his lungs.

 

"We have a survivor!"

 

A voice loud and grating vibrated harshly off the inside of his ears, which had been ringing with an eerie silence for the past hour. His limbs were too numb and heavy to move much, and what little he could felt as if it were pinned under something. A light was shone into his face and pain exploded behind his closed eyelids at the sudden brightness. He let out a half-whimper, half-moan and lifted a sluggish arm to shield himself against it, and agony flared up in his exhausted muscles.

 

"Oh, damn those Nightmare Soldiers all to hell, it's a kid!"

 

Suddenly, the weight pinning him down was lifted off him and hands were grabbing at him, dragging him back up into a destroyed and catastrophic city. He twisted against them, kicking and flailing feebly, because he couldn't be captured yet. Not until he had reached them. They needed him. He had to fight, fight like he hadn't been able to before...

 

"Calm down, it's alright! You're safe now," the voice said in a kind and gentle tone. "You need to stay still. You're injured."

 

He was vaguely aware of the blanket being draped about his shoulders, but he was too dazed to protest, too stiff to react.

 

"I've found another survivor. Kid, male, looks around seven," the voice was speaking into a communicator. "Get me a Digimon with healing abilities now or send me some blasted medical assistance!"

 

He was shivering, his body wracked with violent trembles that were not caused by the coldness of the air nor by the sight of the scorched apartment complex with its walls crumbled inwards and a skeletal frame still smoldering thickly with fire and smoke. No, it was the gaping hole he felt inside himself, a place that had once been filled by another presence, now it was achingly empty—and it burned raw and bled at the frayed edges, and he knew in that instant he'd never find peace or happiness again...

 

Captain Ishida was still talking.

 

"It's all very perplexing yet fascinating. Like some higher power has chosen you children and set you all on the road to your destiny. I wonder what will happen once all you children and the Digimon you've released from the slabs are gathered together—"

 

"Get out," Tai whispered clenching the covers into tight balls with his fists.

 

Captain Ishida paused in his vocal musing to stare at the boy. A tinge of regret passed over his face. "Look, son, I'm not trying to be insensitive. I've done a background check on your family. I know the loss you have suffered—"

 

"GET OUT!" Tai screamed hurling the nearest object at hand—his newly-appeared digivice.

 

It narrowly missed the captain's head and bounced harmlessly off the curtains used for separating the beds, where it landed with a dull thonk on the floor.

 

Captain Ishida walked over and picked it up. "You shouldn't be throwing things as important as this," he said calmly.

 

"I don't need it. Digivolving causes nothing but trouble!" Tai shouted.

 

He knew he had let his anger reveal too much information again by the way Captain Ishida's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up, but he really didn't care at the moment.

 

"Get out," he said again. It was almost a plea this time, broken and wavering. "Please get out."

 

Thankfully, Captain Ishida took pity on him. Nodding curtly, he pocketed the digivice and turned to head out, but not before he had asked one more question, "Your father, your parents—they don't know you had a partner before this, do they?"

 

"No," Tai said not bothering to hide or deny this information any longer.

 

"I won't tell them, but think on this. You're not the only one who has endured a personal tragedy in the Hikarigaoka Incident. Those other kids have too, as well as myself and my sons. You're not alone in your suffering... in more ways than one," Captain Ishida stated gazing purposefully at the sleeping Koromon who had miraculously not awoken at raised voices.

 

Tai stared at the captain's retreating back and realized he was not the only one keeping dark secrets locked away within him. Someday they would be spilled out into the open for all to see and their holders would be punished for their transgressions. Sometimes he wished it would all be over; so that the guilt would cease flaying him alive.

 

But not today... no, today held the promise of a new beginning. Of an old would finally healing.

 

"Everything will be fine," Tai murmured to the Koromon bending over so that their foreheads touched.

 

Inside him, the gaping hole had been sizably reduced. Something tugged and pulled and threatened to expand even larger to fill the void patches that lingered. It wrapped around him and encased him like a blanket, everywhere at once and almost smothering but not quite.

 

"Everything will be fine," Tai repeated willing himself to believe his own words. "Just please, please... never digivolve."

 

To Be Continued...

 

A/N: Updating sooner than I though, though I'm still serious about that 2-3 week deal. Sometimes, it just all flows at once. This chapter was to set up foreshadowing (if you haven't already seen enough through Tai's flashbacks). Reviewers were voicing concerns that the girls had been killed off (or so they had assumed). Kekeke, I may be an evil author, but I'm not that heartless. (Besides, I'm sure ratings would go down if I did that). So, as I detest giving away future plots, read between the lines here: Captain Ishida has a theory that there are seven marble slabs and they are meant for the seven kids who survived the Highton View Terrace Incident, etc. The boys have all gotten their partners and giant rock. Who's next do you imagine?^^ And since I'm sure people are wondering if I've offed Kari… what does the summary for this fic read as? Think on that and then this: appearances can be deceiving. Ooh, cryptic! But not too much I hope—there, feel better everyone?

 

So, about MarineAngemon being Jim's partner: don't tell me just because he was in Season 03, he can't be in this story. There's more than one of his kind out there, and he makes a perfect doctor's partner with his healing abilities. It's never been stated or proved anywhere in the series that a child can not have such a high level partner, therefore even if my story wasn't AU, I wouldn't be straying off-canon. Besides, it is not like MarineAngemon goes off to battle in the front lines. He simply heals people. What can I say? The little guy has an obsession/fascination/fixation with indigo-haired boys with square-framed glasses (coughkentacough). X3

 

Rereading this chapter, there's so many subtle hints of what is to come. You all have no idea! The simplest lines can have the most meaning and everyone has a back-story to be told. I'm still debating whether or not to keep this story strictly within Tai's POV or allow others in. As of now, I'm sticking with Tai's because he's like you guys—he has absolutely no idea what's going on while the others do. So until they plot starts to unmask itself and becomes a bit clearer, there will only be one POV.

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this! Please review and share your thoughts. I love hearing what you liked best and it's the only reward a fanfic author gets. If you have any questions just ask, and I'll try to answer to the best of my capabilities without giving anything away. Thank you!^^