Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Alternative Factor ❯ I Spy ( Chapter 5 )

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. I Spy

 

Tai wandered down the hallway following Joe who was leading him no doubt probably back to section B-11. The boy had been summoned right before his brother Jim had all but kicked him out of the infirmary—not that he was complaining about that. It had been uncomfortable with Matt glaring daggers at empty space in there with no explanation other than the implication that he bore a grudge against some person called Oikawa. He just hoped he wouldn't end up in a situation that required another visit there—he was sick of these back and forth trips between the two places.

 

“Listen,” Joe spoke up, turning around suddenly, “you shouldn't antagonize Matt like that, not when you have no idea what he's been through.”

 

“Alright, so I might have kinda been a little insensitive,” Tai admitted reluctantly. “He could have just told me to shut up and mind my own business though. He pulled the first punch. I was only defending myself and so was Koromon.”

 

“It's just if we're all going to be working alongside each other in the future, bad feelings between people make for a poor team,” Joe said.

 

“You act like I'm going to be sticking around here for some time. Work alongside each other for what? What team? What are you talking about? Why won't anyone give me a straight answer?”

 

Tai yelled frustrated. “Did Captain Ishida brainwash you too with his crackpot theory about the marble slabs and their connection to the Hikarigaoka Incident?”

 

He found himself pressed with his back against the wall suddenly with Joe hovering scant hairbreadths away holding a finger to his lips.

 

“Shhh!” Joe hissed, his eyes darting about nervously. “Don't go shouting that in corridors with the Digital Research Team on the premises! Do you want to draw attention to us? And also,” here Joe's slate eyes narrowed as a fierce, almost protective expression filtered across his face, “If Mr. Ishida has decided to confide in you about something, it shouldn't be taken lightly. You should show him more respect.”

 

Mr. Ishida? Tai thought, noticing the substitute for the man's title. In fact, he recalled Jim had referred to Matt by his first name. Did the Kidos and Ishidas have a long history together to call each other by such familiar address?

 

“The old man mentioned that all of us who received a marble slab had no previous partners and were survivors at Hikarigaoka,” Tai stated brazenly. “Is that true? Were you there?”

 

Joe's eyes widened and his face drained of color as he took several steps back away from him.

 

“Were you there?” Tai repeated and found that his heart was racing unnaturally fast. “Did you—did you see… did you…”

 

The words grew stuck halfway out his mouth. Why couldn't he finish the question? At least he knew he hadn't been hallucinating. T.K. remembered, though just how much he wasn't sure. But Joe was older than him by at least a year. His memory was bound to be sharper. So why, why were the words on the tip of his tongue refusing to voice themselves?

 

“You shouldn't ask nosy questions!” piped up a happy-go-lucky voice as a grey-finned Digimon popped out of Joe's satchel. “That's rude!”   

 

“Bukamon,” Joe said. Shaking his head as if to clear some contradiction within himself, he motioned for Tai to commence following again.

 

“Oh heck, no!  I'm gonna stand right here and shout at the top of my lungs until you people start clueing me in on some info!” Tai snapped quite irked. “And believe me, I can be loud and your evil nemesis, the Digital Researchers will find us real quick!”

 

The sound of footsteps nearing echoed down the corridor and Joe's already pale face blanched a ghastly white. Darting out a hand, he seized Tai's wrist and dragged them both through a nearby facilities doorway.

 

“What are you—” Tai started only to have Joe signal him to be quiet as he listened with his head cocked sideways towards the door.

 

The footsteps drew closer… paused at the entrance outside and Tai found himself surprised to be holding his breath… then relaxed as they continued on until they faded out.

 

“That night… of the Hikarigaoka Incident…”

 

Tai's head jerked up at the name when he realized that Joe was actually going to share his own experience.

 

“Jim was spending the night with a friend so he wasn't home when it… when it happened,” Joe explained in a careful, dead-sounding sort of tone.

 

Joe had his back towards Tai speaking with his face turned away, but as he was standing in front of the mirror above the sink, his expression was clearly visible: a bloodless blank slate capped off by two dull granite eyes.

 

Koromon was positioned at Tai's feet looking curiously back and forth between the two humans. Bukamon was hovering near Joe's shoulder, his face devoid of its usual cheerfulness as he waited for his partner to continue.

 

“I was out on the balcony looking at the stars from my telescope. It was an extra credit assignment for my school. My astrology books had nothing in them about a giant egg dropping out of the sky and hatching a Parrotmon,” Joe said and his shoulders hitched slightly. “I think… I think maybe that's the only reason I survived. I was on the balcony when the apartment complex got hit by the fire blasts.”

 

Tai felt his stomach give a sickening lurch as a spider-like shudder ran throughout his body. He knew this part of the tale very well, oh yes.

 

“We lived on the second floor so luckily the ground wasn't too far. Everyone on the first floor died though. They were crushed to death when the building collapsed… like my parents when the apartment complex above caved in on top of them.” Joe said in an emotionless, monotone voice.

 

Tai wanted to tell him to stop; that he didn't have to continue; that he didn't want to hear anymore… only he did because what happened after…

 

“The balcony I was on broke off its foundations and crashed to the ground. I didn't realize that they had—” Joe voice quavered slightly. “I was trying not to get hit by the falling debris, but there were these two Digimon fighting in front of me: the Parrotmon and an Agumon. Then there was bright shining white light and I couldn't see anything for a few seconds and when it had cleared, the Agumon had digivolved into a Greymon.”

 

Tai's hands had curled themselves into fists and his eyes had narrowed into an unfocused gaze as he recalled the images that Joe so vividly shared.

 

The light was blindingly bright.

 

He couldn't see. The breath in his lungs was trapped. His body felt paralyzed as if it were rooted to the ground.

 

Every hair on his head stood on end as the air hummed thickly with a powerful energy… and something… something felt like it was being sucked from inside him and transferred someplace else. There was an ear-splitting roar as a massive horned dinosaur rose up from its protective stance over the two humans and belted out a stream of brilliant scarlet and explosive yellow flames from its mouth that melted the feathers right off the giant green bird some distance away… melted the feathers and caused it to disintegrate into tiny black specks that resembled ash swirling up from a fire.

 

And he could only clutch his sister tightly as she lay slumped over in his arms and gape at this monstrous creature who had once been Koromon half in awe and half terrified as it turned feral, red eyes shining crazily with a thirsty blood-lust towards them, saliva dripping from its sharp glistening teeth and falling to the ground in sizzling pools that melted granite.

 

But he needn't have been afraid… because a force to be reckoned with even stronger had been drawn to the scene. Drawn to that brilliant white light and all its power that had been broadcasted like a solar flare across the sky… and a newly-evolved, unstable Champion was no match for it all.

 

And he learned the hard way that digivolving had a heavy price to pay.

 

Joe had stopped speaking. Why? The story wasn't finished yet.

 

“What… what happened next?” Tai couldn't manage to stop himself from asking.

 

“I don't really remember. I think I must have gotten hit on the head or passed out,” Joe said, eyebrows scrunching together as he tried to recall. “There were these bats I think… and red lightning… then… nothing. Mr. Ishida found me before the rescue operation team got there. I'm grateful. My legs had been pinned under some debris long enough that the blood has stopped circulating. Any longer and they would have had to amputate them. I guess he felt responsible for me because he's looked after me and Jim ever since.”

 

So that was how the Kidos were on such close terms with the Ishidas. The captain was their guardian. That explained the usage of their first names so familiarly, and also why they wandered the Self-Defense Forces base so freely. But where did Izzy fit in the equation. Joe hadn't mentioned him. Come to think of it, hadn't Wizardmon said earlier that he had come with the computer technicians? Were his parents part of that group?

 

“How about you?” he heard Joe say as if from a far away distance and Tai blinked in confusion.

 

“You seem to be very curious about the Hikarigaoka Incident, but aren't you one of the survivors too?” Joe said, studying him with scrutinous eyes from behind his glasses. “I told you my story; it's common courtesy to give your own.” Seeing Tai flinch, he frowned. “If you're unwilling, then you shouldn't press people for information without being prepared to give a ready reply.”

 

Tai couldn't meet his gaze. Joe didn't understand. He couldn't tell his version of the events. The reason for the Hikarigaoka Incident… the reason behind it all…

 

The door to the restroom swung open suddenly, effectively giving Tai the interruption he needed, however the figure that stepped in made his relief a poor consolation.

 

The man was sallow-faced with high cheekbones and a square jaw. Locks of stringy black hair hung down around his shoulders and dark circles rimmed his obsidian eyes staring at them with intense interest.

 

Tai saw Joe's body convulse in alarm from his peripheral vision and wondered if the word “zombie” had just flashed across his mind as well.

 

“Well, hello there,” this hybrid between alive and the undead greeted them. “I didn't know there was a waiting line in here. Perhaps I should see if another facility is available.”

 

“There isn't! A line, I mean,” Joe all but yelped. “We were just leaving! Come on.” The boy made for the exit, skirting as widely as possible around the man but skidded to a halt when he spoke.

 

“Joe Kido, am I right? You've grown up since I last saw you.” The man was smiling—if you could call it a smile—it resembled more of a cross between a sneer and a smirk. “And your partner, I presume?” he said glancing at Bukamon briefly before locking an inquisitive gaze onto Tai and Koromon. “Another pair is it? Captain Ishida neglected to tell me such vital information. Disobeying orders is treasonous.”

 

“We only just found Tai yesterday!” Joe interjected rushing to the captain's defense. “It's not like we've been keeping him a secret! And you were coming here today anyway. The captain was probably going to inform you at the meeting!”

 

“So you knew of my arrival beforehand then? Hahaha, my reputation precedes me!” the man laughed in a rich amused baritone.

 

And Tai had a very good inkling on who the man was suddenly.

 

“Mr. Oikawa!” shouted a frantic voice just outside and a frazzled-looking, red-faced Mantarou Inoue barged through the door.

 

There was an awkward moment as the young soldier gaped at the restroom's occupants and they stared back. Tai rather got the impression that when Jim had told Mantarou to keep Oikawa away from section B-11, he indirectly had meant the children that usually resided there. In any case, he would bet that Mantarou was going to get an earful from Joe's brother later on due to this slip-up. But then again maybe so would he—it was partially his fault that he and Joe weren't where they were supposed to be.

 

“M-Mr. Oikawa,” Mantarou stammered, trying to regain composure, “Umm, the meeting… it's about to start. If you would please follow me—”

 

“So tell me, how are young Yamato and Takeru doing?” Oikawa asked, directing the question at Joe. “Are they faring well with their recent addition?” Here, his eyes slid towards Tai.

 

Joe appeared to be biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from answering as he began fidgeting rather nervously with something around his neck.

 

Tai saw Oikawa's eyes zoom in on the motion like a hawk catching sight of its prey and in the space of an eye blink, the man had reached out a hand and lifted up the chain that had been hidden down the front of the boy's shirt to reveal what resembled the dog-tags military personnel were required to wear. But this tag was not silver but golden in color and had a clear surface in its middle where beyond its glass frame, Tai caught sight of a small square tablet with an antiquity cross engraved upon it.

 

“I see,” Oikawa murmured quietly, thumbing the tag almost tenderly. “So that's what it was for…”

 

Joe snatched the tag out of the man's hand and backed up several steps, stuffing the chain back within the folds of his clothes, his face flushed an angry, humiliated red.

 

“Mr. Oikawa, we really should be going…” Mantarou pressed with a note of desperation in his voice.

 

“Yes, yes,” Oikawa waved at him, turning to leave. “Well, be sure to give them my regards, Kido.”

 

“I think it would be better if I didn't,” Joe said, an odd chord in his tone that sounded akin to contempt.

 

Oikawa paused at that, and for a moment the air of good humor about him seemed to vanish and a hint of a frown appeared at the corners of his mouth. With a squaring of his shoulders, the man continued forward until he had passed through the doorway not giving a backwards glance, leaving Mantarou to scramble after in his wake.

 

There was a notable change in the atmosphere in the absence of the man's presence. The air felt lighter, devoid of the thick tension that had subtly brewing, and Tai felt he had narrowly escaped the wringer. Avid curiosity about what that exchange had been all about—what exactly was that tag around the boy's neck—gripped him, but he held his tongue in check. He already overstepped his boundaries too far prying painful information from Joe. Speaking of which…

 

“Tai, you were infirmary with Matt. Does he know Oikawa's here?” the indigo-haired boy asked, anxiety showing clearly upon his features.

 

“Uh, yeah. Soldier-boy over there kinda spilled the beans,” Tai said. “He, ah, didn't take it vey well.”

 

Joe looked torn in half. “I have to take you to B-11,” he recited as if trying to convince himself not to deter from his goal, but it was obvious he wanted nothing more than to go to his friend's side.

 

In hindsight, perhaps if Joe had been in his right frame of mind with stress and concern not clouding his rational thinking, he might never have done what happened next. Not even a full minute had passed since they had left the restroom and continued on their way when they ran into T.K. The fact that the small boy always seemed to have someone looking out for him be it his brother, friend, or the unlucky Wizardmon, but in this instance was completely alone should have jarred Joe's responsible senses fully awake. All it did was present a solution to a rather unstable situation.

 

“T.K., great!” Joe exclaimed, face lighting up. “Here, take Tai back to B-11! I have to go see Matt!”

 

Tai found himself pushed from behind and practically shoved into the smaller boy's arms as Joe took off speeding down the hallway, Bukamon flapping frantically to keep up with his pace.

 

“Is Matt O.K.?” T.K. asked worriedly and Tai realized the last time the boy had seen him and his brother, they had both been rather beat up.

 

“Yeah, he's alright. He's just resting,” Tai said, resting a comforting hand on the top of the kid's head, pulling back sharply when the hat pushed back against it and Tokomon peered out from beneath the brim.

 

“Fighting is bad!” the little Digimon reprimanded him in a shrill voice.

 

Great. Now he was getting lessons in manners from a piglet, Tai thought feeling chagrined before his mind latched onto another notion.

 

“T.K., earlier… you mentioned something about a Crest. What is it?” Tai asked, anticipation coiling in the pit of his stomach, because slowly the pieces of a gigantic puzzle were all coming together if…

 

“This is a Crest!” T.K. shared excitedly, eager to please the older boy. In his hands he had drawn out a chain from around his neck and a familiar-looking tag, the only striking contrasts between it and Joe's being the symbol carved within the tablet. T.K.'s resembled a sun peaking over the top of a mountain.

 

“The marble slabs turn into these, don't they?” Tai said recalling the boy's words from before.

 

“Just the tablets,” T.K. said. “Daddy gave us these tags that they fit into. I'm not supposed to know where he got them, but Izzy said the Digital Researchers made them.”

 

So that's what it was for… Tai remembered Oikawa saying. But the man had seemed surprised. Did that mean he had no idea about the Crests when the tags were being created? Who would create something that served no purpose that they could see and then give it away to be used though?

 

It was all so confusing.

 

He didn't notice he had said that out loud until T.K. tugged at his shirt and whispered breathlessly, “You wanna go to the meeting between Daddy and the Digital Researchers? I bet we'll learn some stuff there!”

 

“I don't think they'll let us in, kid, not even if you are the captain's son,” Tai said smiling faintly.

 

For an instant, the angelic, innocent aura that lingered about the small boy vanished as an almost-devilish smirk spread across his face.

 

Tokomon began giggling in fiendish cahoots.

 

Tai suppressed the chill that was traveling down his back and wondered what exactly he had gotten himself into this time.

 

oOo

 

Air vents, that's what, Tai thought as he pressed forward into the small crawl space and tried hard not to think about the walls on either side of him closing in even though it felt like they had eased in an inch since the last time he had glanced at them.

 

He focused on T.K. a little ways ahead and hoped he didn't lose sight of him. Getting lost and dying in the air vents and having his body dragged out like some dead rat when the smell started leaking out was not on his agenda for his future anytime soon.

 

“So, how often do you use these things exactly?” he called out as loudly as he dared.

 

“Anytime I want, but I have to wait until no one's around,” T.K. answered cheerfully. “Matt and Daddy don't think I can take care of myself, but I have Tokomon now.”

 

So the boy hadn't ever showed anybody his secret passageways around the base? So why show me? Tai wondered. He wasn't sure why, but he was distinctly getting the impression that the kid possessed an unhealthy dosage of hero-worship aimed towards him—enough that would probably send Matt into a fit of jealous rage if he ever found out.

 

It's the goggles, Tai thought grinning to himself. Kids love the goggles.

 

Up ahead, T.K. had stopped in front of an air duct covering. The vent ran in a straight line past it and continued on with no end in sight. Scooting over slightly to make room, the boy made waving motions with his hand for Tai to come closer while peering through the cracks of the metal wall cover into the room below.

 

Tai could hear the voices as he crept forward bit by bit. Drifting through the air vent's walls, they sounded thin and hollow… and angry.

 

“Your proposition is riddled with holes, Oikawa. This meeting was configured to find a solution to a haphazard situation, not to listen to the deranged ramblings of a computer programmer. This isn't a game!”

 

“Isn't it?” Oikawa's voice sounded annoyed. “Isn't this all one huge game? Digimon and digivices. Gateways to another world. Science fiction until twenty years ago. I was one of the first humans to form a bond. I remember the war that broke out over these creatures invading our world. Parasites, I believe we called them. Parasites because they attached themselves to their partner and afterwards the human could not live without them. No indeed, their mind slipped into chaos if the bond was severed.”

 

Tai reached T.K.'s side and lowered himself on his belly so he could better observe through the wall covering's metal slates.

 

There were twelve occupants in the room that he could see, humans that is. The number increased if he counted their Digimon, however not all were present by their partner's side. Tai supposed some were on-duty or were too large to fit into the office space. His heart quickened a beat when he spotted Captain Ishida and Wizardmon, and he hurriedly tried to make his mind go as blank as possible. A futile attempt since it was brimming over with curiosity and excitement. All he could do was hope that there were too many people's thoughts in close vicinity for Wizardmon to pick up a few more that weren't supposed to be there.

 

“All of this is common knowledge. Issue your point quickly, Oikawa. There are other voices here waiting to be heard with more solid propaganda than your ludicrous proposal.”

 

Far too late, Tai realized that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to go along with and encourage T.K.'s illicit activities. If Matt had had such a violent reaction to Oikawa's name then what would his brother do when he was faced with the man's appearance? But T.K. showed no outward sign that he even recognized the name Oikawa and Tai supposed that he had been too young to remember whatever it was that had caused the enmity between the man and the Ishida family.

 

“My point, gentlemen,” Oikawa said forcing the word out, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “is that is that you are so focused on fixing the stabilization of the gateways that you do are not searching for the cause of the problem itself.”

 

“We know what's causing the destabilization,” said one of the men in military uniform, a touch of haughty boredom laced within his tone. “There is no need to send out valuable men and resources looking for something that everyone knows the answer to.”

 

“You are so quick to blame the Nightmare Soldiers over this, aren't you?” Oikawa said, his facial expression twisting into disgust. “It's always the same. Never looking for another alternative explanation. Your prejudice knows no bounds. Mark my words, gentlemen, your blindness will cause this world to fall to ruin at your careless hands.”

 

“I would like to remind you, Mr. Oikawa,” spoke up a grey-haired man with a general's insignia inscribed upon his uniform. “That you have only been allowed privy to this meeting for your diligent labor on constructing the Tags and that is all. You and your companions,” the man issued towards the two people seated on either side of Oikawa—a man and a woman, “are here only to carry our decision on the matter back to your Digital Research Team so there will be no more interferences with top secret military projects. As such, you have no legitimate grounds to speak, do you understand?”

 

The general's tone was sharp with a threatening edge to it and Tai watched as Oikawa's eyes flashed and jaw muscles clenched angrily, before he relaxed and inquired, “I understand I have heard a human's opinion on the matter. Would you deny a Digimon's voice then also?”

 

There was a stirring in the room as Digimon shifted and became more alert. A subtle undercurrent of tension seemed to hover in the air as the realization that there were two intelligent species present and that one group may think themselves superior to the other settled amongst them all.

 

“Of course not, we humans would never be so patronizing as that, Oikawa,” the general said, trying allay any fears or suspicions on the Digimon's part. “By all means, we welcome any personal opinion or insight a Digimon might have on the subject.”

 

“Pipimon,” Oikawa called and a small, round, green-skinned creature popped out from within the folds of the man's overcoat to stand on his shoulder. Looking at it, Tai was reminded of an acorn, an unripe, green acorn with tiny eyes and feet.

 

“Pipimon, if you would be so kind to enlighten everyone here of the theory our Digital Research Team has come up with,” Oikawa said.

 

“We believe,” Pipimon spoke up in an even higher-pitched voice than Tokomon that Tai hadn't thought was possible, “that the destabilization of gateways might be caused, not by the Nightmare Soldiers forcefully ripping holes through dimensions, but in fact, by the very digivices our partners possess that control our evolution process.”

 

The reaction from this statement was instantaneous chaos. The general's shout for order was lost in the exclamations of disbelief and denial that rang rampant.

 

A blinding flash of light filled the room finally managing to achieve silence as human and Digimon looked for the source of this phenomenon until their eyes landed upon Wizardmon holding his still-glowing staff upright.

 

“I hear rumor is you're working on a new model of a digivice,” Captain Ishida said calmly, his fingers laced together in front of him as he bored piercing blue eyes into Oikawa's own obsidian ones.

 

Oikawa started, his mouth opening in demand for how he knew, and then his gaze darted towards Wizardmon. “Hmph,” he scoffed, half-smiling, “I thought it was against your morals to resort to espionage, Ishida.”

 

“It wasn't your mind I read,” Wizardmon declared.

 

Oikawa's eyes darted to his own partner. Pipimon's little green face was turning a pinkish-red color in embarrassment.

 

“What is this heresy, Oikawa?!” demanded one of the military personnel, leaping to his feet in outrage. “Are you striving to play God? Our digivices are transcended naturally into this world when we form a bond with our partners. You dare attempt to try and recreate that process and substitute it with an inferior man-made device?!”

 

“You fools!” Oikawa snarled. “Can't you see how the Nightmare Soldiers are able to locate us so easily? They track us through the digivices of the other people they have captured!” there was a look of pure desperation in the man's face as if he was too proud to beg for the people to see what was so obvious to him and furious that he wasn't being taken seriously. “There's never been any suggestion otherwise that we don't need digivices for our partner's to digivolve. Our very dependency on them thus far has been our greatest weakness. I'm not asking you to cast aside your digivices entirely. I'm offering a solution to a grievous situation that calls for no errors lest we not get a second chance and all you do is run down the very hope of your salvation!”

 

There were outcries of dissent, dissatisfaction, and accusations of insanity that flew back and forth in the room after Oikawa's tirade, but Tai no longer could focus properly upon them. His heart thumped wildly in his chest as his breathing became shallower. The air around him was too hot, too heavy, too suffocating.

 

“Tai, what's the matter?” whispered T.K. as he noticed the other boy's skin break out into a cool sweat and his limbs begin to shake with violent shivers.

 

“There's never been any suggestion otherwise that we don't need digivices for our partner's to digivolve,” Oikawa's words were recalled to Tai's mind.

 

oOo

 

“This is Chibomon… you should see my digivice… but I forgot it at home today.”

 

Davis thrust the small Digimon into his face without warning.

 

He cried out in alarm, putting his hands out in front of him as a defensive reflex, and felt his fingers brush over the smooth surface that was Chibomon's skin.

 

Chibomon was glowing with a strange, golden light…

 

oOo

 

His first partner had digivolved at an incredibly rapid rate.

 

oOo

 

Uncertain murmurs floated up from the room below into the ventilation shaft. Oikawa's hypothesis seemed to have had struck a chord of doubt in some people's mind.

 

“These digivices, do we really need them?”

 

“What if they're only hindering our Digimon's fullest potential?”

 

“If we can harness that power…”

 

oOo

 

The sky was ripped in half like someone had peeled the paper wrapper off a crayon. Shrill, inhuman screeches and a multitude of whirring wing beats split the air.

 

Blue eyes glittered with malice and amused surprise.

 

“Oho? What's this? Two little human insects are the cause of that surge of untapped power? No, I see. One is the holder and one is the wielder…”

 

oOo

 

Not everyone had been thoroughly convinced however.

 

“All you have is a theory, Oikawa! Nothing but insufficient data!”

 

oOo

 

Ruby-red lips twisted upwards in a cruel smile revealing glistening, pointed fangs.

 

A mane of golden hair framed around snow-white skin.

 

Mocking laughter ripped free from the pallid throat, pealing out madly over the wrecked and rubble-strewn streets.

 

Blue eyes glittering like twin sapphire jewels portraying the depths of their stone coldness narrowed in undisguised disdain zooming in on him.

 

“You are… insufficient!”

 

oOo

 

Tai's throat tightened, blocking his ability to breathe. There was a crushing weight upon his shoulders.

 

The air vent's walls were closing in around him. Soon he would be squashed, squashed like an insignificant, insufficient, useless bug.

 

Something tugged at the goggles fastened to his head. A stringy pink ear passed over his face before his eyes bringing him back to full consciousness.

 

Koromon. It was Koromon that was the weight on his back, Koromon, who was whimpering quietly because of his partner's obvious distress.

 

Slowly his surroundings came into focus. He was in the air ventilation shaft in an un-located Self Defense Force military base, not staring at the fiery skeleton of what once had been an apartment complex in Hikarigaoka. He was here, safe with Koromon and T.K. and Tokomon who were all casting frightened looks at him.

 

“M-maybe we should go back,” Tai managed to rasp out, chuckling weakly. “I don't think I like enclosed spaces much.”

 

And then a voice in his head, issuing a decree:

 

Stay.

 

Tai jolted in shock. Wizardmon? He asked hesitantly, recognizing the voice. Had the Digimon known about their uninvited presence all along then?

 

Stay, Wizardmon said again and Tai saw his eyes flicker briefly towards the air vent covering he and T.K. were looking through before he glanced aside. There is more you need to hear.

 

To Be Continued…

 

A/N: Now you have a bit of Joe's story to go on for his experience in the Hikarigaoka Incident. There's more but I'll have him share that later. Yes, I know that Joe has two brothers in the Japanese version and the English dub combined them both into Jim. I have planned this fic with only one brother in mind for Joe. So even if I was going by the subbed version, I would have killed off one of the two older Kido brothers. At least this way, Joe only lost his parents.

 

Yes, I am using the original name of Oikawa's partner. Not only because Pipimon fits it more than Datirimon, but because I remember watching the finale of 02 on Foxkids when it first came out and I swear, Oikawa called his partner Pipimon, not Datirimon as I've seen in later versions. Between words, no, the man and woman with Oikawa are not Mummymon and Arukeniemon, folks. I know some people were thinking that. Those are genuine humans! I'm not sure if I am going to have Mummymon and Arukeniemon in this fic. I am planning a sequel to this story, don't forget. They will definitely be in that, but there is no need for them to be in here since Oikawa has his real partner. Which of course makes you wonder, why will they most certainly be in the sequel then, hmmm? Oh dear, dear, kekeke.

 

I hope it's becoming a bit clearer on what exactly happened at Highton View Terrace. I debated on how much information I should reveal. I think it was too much, but I'm sure you all think it's too little^^ And of course, the plot has surfaced and shown it's head, finally. This chapter was longer than I expected and I had to cut it in half even from where I wanted to cut it off!

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this! Please review and share your thoughts. 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!^^