Chapter Text
A world Reborn
An evil Revived
Eight lights Recalled
One shadow Revealed
The true balance Restored
The ultimate sacrifice Required
The first thing that Charlotte was aware of was an uncomfortable sticky perspiration coating her back and limbs. She shifted to try to stop the dampness from pressing against her skin. More details came into focus as the gears in her brain began turning; she was on her back with sunlight shining down on her. It wasn’t full sun though, it had a dappled quality, meaning that a leafy tree was overhead. Gentle vegetative rustling confirmed it.
Then she was hit and nearly overwhelmed by the smells. Air, so fresh and clean that it felt wrong in her lungs. There wasn’t even a hint of car exhaust or cigarette smoke or garbage stink. Instead her nose was filled with natural scents: moist earth, intense flower pollen, and a slight hint of rotten fruit underpinning it all. And the air was thick with humidity, amplifying the smells and nearly drowning her with every breath. She had to focus strictly on breathing for a few moments until she had the hang of it.
But for all the new sensations to puzzle out, she had a feeling that something important was missing. Something so ubiquitous that she couldn’t place it until she opened her eyes and took her first real look around.
She was in a forest. No, wait… the plants didn’t look right. They were huge and the flowers on them were as big as her head. Faded memories of TV shows and movies bubbled up - a jungle? No, that was impossible.
She sat up, brushing automatically at her short blonde hair and fair skin to clear clinging dirt. Contrary to her silent denial, the trees and underbrush of a jungle crowded in around her. The call of an unknown bird sounded overhead, then again farther away. Otherwise the scene was peaceful.
At a complete loss, her mind grasped for any explanation of the situation. Where were there jungles? Mexico? Was she in Mexico? But literally how?! And, wherever this was, how would she get back home?!
Then a more immediate concern presented itself: a bush directly across from her began to shake and rustle. Instantly she was up on her feet. In her neighborhood, a disturbance in the bushes could be the only warning you got that a vicious “guard” dog had escaped its dirt yard and chains. You had to think fast and run faster to avoid losing a chunk of flesh. Or worse. Memories of a thousand dog attacks flashed through her mind as she readied to run. Who knew what kind of horrors this jungle was going to throw at her in place of pit bulls and rottweilers.
Out of the scrub burst a pink guinea pig.
Tension leaked out of her stance from pure surprise. Why the heck was a guinea pig in a jungle? And why was it pink?
The strange creature paused, staring directly at her, but it showed no sign of either fear or aggression. It seemed to be appraising her presence the same was she was its’.
However, as she had nearly come to terms with its odd appearance, it spoke. In a high-pitched childlike voice it cried, “Charlotte! You’re here!”
That frightened her, much more than any number of enraged pit bulls would’ve. She tried to fling herself backwards without thinking and slammed into a tree directly behind, temporarily knocking herself senseless. Blinking away the stars, she focused on the creature again, going rigid as she realized that it was approaching her in short hops.
“Stop!” she commanded, throwing out a hand.
Shockingly, the mutant obeyed. Barely a meter in front of her, it stood on stubby legs and stared up at her with dark round eyes. Two long ribbon-like ears arched over its back, twitching slightly.
She took a shaky breath. “What are you?! How do you know my name?!” she demanded.
Deepening the unreality of the moment, the creature giggled. “I’m Tokomon!” it answered in a chipper tone. “I’m your digimon!”
“Digimon?”
“Digital monster!”
“Digital monster?”
“Yes, digimon!”
She pressed her lips together in annoyance at the non-asnwers. The hell was a ‘digital monster’? And why was it in a jungle with her? “So how did you know my name? I’ve never heard of ‘digimon’ before.”
“Because I’m your partner. I’ve been waiting here for you forever!”
That just raised more questions! She raked her fingers through her bangs in a habitual gesture of frustration. A ‘digital monster’ in a jungle, to be… “Partner for what?”
It misunderstood her question. “A partner is like a friend!”
“Okay, but what do I need a friend for?”
Once again it missed her point. “Don’t you… want to be friends?” it whimpered. The dark eyes glistened with moisture.
“Huh?! Well, I…” Her response faltered in the face of those big eyes and tiny mewls, the first cracks forming in her defensive façade. It was like a cute baby animal - she couldn’t resist!
She sank to her knees in defeat. “Okay, I’ll be your friend.”
“Yay!” In one giant leap it closed the distance between them, coming to rest directly in front of her knees, close enough to touch. “Charlotte and Tokomon, best friends forever!”
The quick movement made her jump, even though the creature - Tokomon - didn’t seem like it was going to attack her. But it was still a wild animal - wasn't it? Was it wild? Or an animal? It was friendly and it could talk. It was like some sort of four-legged featherless parrot.
Still, it was somehow… familiar. Like hearing faint strains of a nostalgic childhood song, she couldn’t place where or when her memory was from. Its form was disturbing compared to her everyday life, but not completely alien to her. It looked warm and soft.
The unexpected thought drove her hand out, reaching hesitantly for Tokomon’s head. It watched her, unmoving: perhaps it recognized her nerves. Or it was confused about what she was doing. The tips of her fingers brushed the fine fur on its back. The hide was softer than anything she’d ever experienced before in her life. This must be what angels feel like.
Suddenly the sky lit up a retina-searing white and roared furiously at the two of them. She snatched her hand back in alarm as the light coalesced into the two falling stars low over her head. They streaked by, heading for the other side of the jungle - she braced herself for an explosion. But the glow died away in silence.
“What was that?” Her voice was tiny in the eerie stillness.
“I don’t know. Let’s go find out!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hikari woke sprawled on her back with gentle light shining down on her through the forest canopy. Instantly she knew where she was - it had been a year but she recognized the feeling of the digital world.
As she pulled herself up into a sitting position, she spotted another person lying nearby. It was a fellow digidestined and dear friend, Takaishi Takeru. Immediately she reached out to try and wake him. “Takeru-kun! Are you all right?”
“Mm,” he groaned. “Hikari-chan?” Groggily he sat up and adjusted his hat. “Did we make it?”
“Yeah, we’re back in the digital world.”
“Where’s Yamato-nii?” he asked, growing more alert.
“I don’t know. I don’t see Taichi-nii either.”
The two of them sat for a moment, listening for the familiar voices of their older brothers. But nothing stirred the silence of the peaceful glade - it was as if every living creature had been frightened away.
“I guess we’ll have to go find them,” Takeru announced. He hopped to his feet and offered a hand up to Hikari.
“Which way should we go?” she asked, accepting.
“Umm…” A good question. Outside of their sunny patch, the forest was thick and dark, lacking paths or other indications of direction. There weren’t any signs of humans or even of digimon, but with child-like faith they believed that finding their brothers was just a matter of looking.
Surprisingly, the answer came from their digivices. Both chimed in concert and displayed a blinking red dot on their central screen. There was no information on distance or identity, but it was enough.
“Look! There’s someone nearby!”
“Let’s go find them,” Takeru reasoned, “then we can all look for the others together.”
Privately he hoped it was either Taichi-san or Yamato-nii being indicated: Hikari-chan would be reassured having her big brother to protect her and Takeru wouldn’t have to bear the responsibility alone. Same for if it was his brother - the two of them could look out for her together until they found the other. Of course, any of the older kids would be fine, but they were all single children in their families. They were reliable, but didn’t quite have that “sibling” mindset.
They pushed their way through heavy undergrowth, following the faintest hints of paths in the direction of the lone dot. Slowly the sounds of wildlife began returning - a bird called here and there as small scurrying feet dashed by invisibly. They both began to lose some nervousness at this, feeling less like two small mice in the jaws of a cat.
“Why do you think we’ve been called here again?” Takeru wondered aloud.
“Something must’ve gone wrong,” Hikari replied. To herself though she wondered if that was really true. Nothing here felt amiss. But maybe old man Gennai would contact them once all the kids and partner digimon were together and explain why they were here. So all they had to do now was find everyone.
The two of them pushed past a wall of leaves and vines to discover a small empty clearing suffused with daylight. The beeping of their devices had risen to a frantic tempo, meaning the person they were looking for had to be nearby.
“Nii-chan!” Hikari called.
“Yamato-nii!” Takeru shouted.
They paused to listen but no reply came back. Several more times they tried to get the person’s attention, watching the indicator screens of their digivices. The dot drew marginally closer, but for some reason there was no response to their voices.
Then suddenly the undergrowth shook violently and a Tokomon burst out! Both kids yelped in surprise at the unexpected arrival as the digimon stopped and looked around. Hikari recovered quickly and tugged on Takeru’s sleeve excitedly.
“Look! It’s Tokomon!”
“Tokom-“ he began happily but cut off with a puzzled expression. “Wait, that’s not my Tokomon.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, more humans!” it said cheerfully. “Charlotte! I found more humans!”
From the same direction came a person, a girl with short hair who looked about the same age as Taichi and Yamato. Unlike her digimon, she stepped into the field with almost no sound, watching them closely. Gliding through a stream of sunlight, her pale blonde hair erupted like a white flame, winking out as she re-entered the shadow of the trees. There was a long pause as the two groups studied one another curiously.
Then the girl focused on the Tokomon and said something; Hikari recognized it as English, but didn’t catch the meaning of the words. She wondered if the girl was somehow from America - but how had she gotten to the digital world? Could there be gateways in other countries?
“I don’t know,” the digimon responded to the girl, recapturing Hikari’s attention. “Don’t you know them? You’re all humans.”
The girl frowned and replied in a sharp tone, Hikari only making out a couple of familiar words. However, it was clear that they were discussing her and Takeru.
“Excuse me!” Her call interrupted whatever they were starting to say to one another. “Um, are you also a Digidestined?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Char considered the young girl’s question. The words had been Japanese: interesting. She and her brother had grown up in a neighborhood bordering the area of the city known as “Asiantown”, and they’d had dealings with the gang that claimed the region. That gang had primarily spoken Japanese, so they’d had to learn it too by necessity. There was only one word she didn’t understand.
“What is a ‘Digidestined’?”
The expression of distress on the young girl’s face melted into relief. “Oh, good! We haven’t learned much English yet.”
“Are you an American?” the boy chimed in. His eyes were wide and filled with curiosity.
“Yes.”
“Cool! I’m Takaishi Takeru!”
“I’m Yagami Hikari.”
“I’m Redding Charlotte.”
“And I’m Tokomon!”
Properly introduced, Char tried to circle back to her question. “So, what is a Digidestined?”
The two kids exchanged a look before explaining. “Digidestined are children summoned to this world to save it from danger,” Hikari said. “We partner with a digimon and help them evolve to face the threats.”
For a moment Char couldn’t process what she’d heard. “Another world?” Her gaze moved from the jungle branches on the left to the hanging vines on her right. “I thought it was Mexico.”
The circuit ended on Tokomon, who cocked his head to one side with a questioning noise. Well, maybe this being another world wasn’t so hard to believe…
However accepting what they said as fact, while answering a few questions, ignited a firestorm of others. Ones far more difficult to answer. Char struggled to collate them into a clear order in her mind. “But how-”
“Ah!” Tokomon exclaimed. “Someone’s coming this way!”
That immediately got everyone’s attention. “What is it?!” Char demanded, thinking of jungle monsters.
“Is it a person?” Hikari asked hopefully.
“No. It’s a digimon.”
The kids’ faces had turned serious and Char tensed up. “Do we run?” she asked them.
“They might be friendly,” Hikari said.
“Most digimon are,” Takeru added.
But Char wasn’t willing to trust ‘might’ and ‘most’. She surreptitiously scoped out any escape routes she could use if the incoming visitor wasn’t as nice as they hoped. She’d take off and find a place to hunker down or a tree she could quickly climb. If it was an animal, that might be enough to outmaneuver it.
The rapid calculations stalled however when she noticed that the kids didn’t seem to be doing the same: they were just waiting. She mentally scoffed - that was a great way to get bit by a stray dog. Or jumped. Although it would make for a fantastic distraction while she got away.
Clear as a bell, a voice came to mind: her conscience. ‘The strong should look after the weak.’ It spoke in an authoritative-but-tremulous tone, that of a boy just beginning the journey to manhood.
Self preservation fought back against conscience, holding her paralyzed with indecision. She normally had few qualms about leaving others to a fate she could see coming but… these were just kids…
Then the bushes trembled with imminent arrival as the moment for choosing passed by. Out burst a white cat and an orange… rabbit?
Char’s uncertainty deepened at the reactions of the newcomers and the two kids. They all cried out with joy and recognition, rushing forward to embrace one another. Excitedly they chattered overtop each other and so fast that Char couldn’t catch more than a few words of the exchanges. She hung back awkwardly to wait.
The new arrivals were the first to remember her presence. They looked back at her with suspicion, though not hostility. Her eyes flicked to where Tokomon was standing alert at her feet - were these monsters partners like him?
“Charlotte-san!” Hikari called cheerfully. “This is my digimon, Gatomon!”
“And this is Patamon!”
“Hello.”
Gatomon eyed her sharply. “I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”
“I’m Charlotte. But call me Char.”
“She’s a new Digidestined,” Hikari explained.
Patamon flapped towards her - oh, his ears were wings - and landed beside Tokomon. “You must be her partner digimon.”
“Yeah! I’m Tokomon!”
The two struck up a friendly chat and it seemed to ease Gatomon’s nerves. She looked around and then took up a protective stance beside Hikari. Instantly Char felt better having another watchful set of eyes in their group.
“Gatomon, have you seen our brothers?”
“No, but they must be around here. Strange things have been happening in the digital world and I figured you would all be called back.”
“Is it Devimon?” Takeru’s happy attitude was suddenly gone and his big eyes were solemn.
“There haven’t been any Black Gears,” Gatomon said. “But suspicious stuff has been going on.”
The young boy still looked troubled and Patamon noticed; he flapped over and perched atop the boy’s green hat. “Don’t be sad, Takeru.”
“Yeah…”
“Wait!” Char exclaimed. “What about getting home?!”