Chapter 1, Part 1

“I usually think I hear his voice, whispering to me from my cell phone as if they're calling me again. Pathetic, isn’t it? Then again, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. I suppose, it’s better for both of us if you don’t, but I’ll tell you anyway. I am part of a very special group of kids that were granted a Spirit. These Spirits gave us the power to transform into real Digimon. It was the greatest feeling to be a Digimon, and I often mourn for it again. But I wouldn’t let anyone know this.

“My name is Kouji Minamoto. My life’s changed drastically since I’ve returned from the Digital World. Kouichi and I are closer than close now, and look out for each other constantly. We’re going to the same school and have started having that little habit of knowing what each other is thinking. It’s the twins’ disease as our friends call it. The six of us haven’t lost contact of each other yet thanks to Takuya’s badgering us into always getting together. My girlfriend isn’t part of the group, though, but she’s a great friend with everyone.

“My brother, Kouichi Kimura, is single though. He could be taken if he wished since half the female population swoons over him, but he’s kind of girl shy. He won’t admit to his popularity and says that we’re exaggerating. I’ve tried to set him up a few times, but he always blushes and refuses. It’s a wonder how much we’re alike and how much we’re different. Kouichi often struggles with his grades in Math so he has his own personal tutor, Fahn, and no matter how much he tries to deny it, I know that he has a crush on her.

“Tomoki ‘Tommy’ Himi is now the age that we were when we first got to the Digital World. He got us into the habit of always carrying our cell phones around with us wherever we went. He said that it made him feel safer even if it didn’t help him any. I guess I know how he’s feeling now since it’s just habit to carry it around with me everywhere; if I were to forget to bring it one day I know I would feel quite paranoid. Tommy’s lost his floppy hat and has replaced it with a baseball cap, courtesy of Zoe who bought it for him.

“Izumi ‘Zoe’ Orimoto was the only girl with us in the Digital World, but she didn’t feel out of place at all and still doesn’t. I remember one day last year, she showed up at school with all of her hair cut off all the way up to her ears. Everyone sort of gapped at her in shock since most of the girls envied her for her hair, but they slowly got use to it. It’s now to her chin and it looks much better than it did last year. Zoe told me that she did it to see how much Takuya liked her and if he would still go out with her if she looked like an idiot, and he did. I could have saved her the trouble and just told her he would have.

"Takuya Kanbara is going out with Zoe. Apparently he didn’t even think that he liked her until she kissed him a year after we returned from the Digital World. After the kiss, he was still hesitant to go out with her afraid of ruining his friendship with JP. He finally let his heart get the better of him with a bit of encouraging from us all and took a chance with Zoe. They clicked like we all thought they would. I always knew that Takuya was a bit dense, but I never thought he’d let his hardhead get in the way of his and Zoe’s happiness. What a prat.

“Junpei ‘JP’ Shibayama had the hugest crush on Zoe until he learned of her crush on Takuya. In the end, it was actually JP who gave Takuya that push he needed to take the chance with Zoe. He didn’t let Takuya off that easily though. From what I hear, he gave Takuya a small word of warning which went a little something like this: ‘Break Zoe’s heart, and I’ll break your neck.’ Luckily, Takuya hasn’t done that yet. JP has, in fact, found himself a girlfriend who I must admit is quite cute. I think he likes girls with pretty hair because Mo, his girlfriend, does have very pretty curly hair.

“Okay, so we aren’t exactly The Brady Bunch, but we still feel like a family from all that we’ve been through together. Our hope to return to the Digital World one day isn’t as dim as everyone would think after four years. We still have that hope to return and to reunite with our Digimon friends again. Sure, we fight a lot, but I think we can all agree in saying that there is no better team out there than the six of us.”

===============

In a natural reserve, twenty miles out of town, all was quiet. The forest was sleeping soundly and everything looked peaceful to any passer that happened to walk by. None would suspect that something wild lied within this forest, something as loud as a howler monkey and as hyper as a cheetah. This something had a mind of its own and a very unique personality. Its pack was all the same. What lied in this forest? Six teenagers.

“Aw. C’mon. It was not that funny.” Zoe said with a small smile toward the storyteller.

"Yes it was!” JP said countering her.

Zoe shook her head and sighed, “Well, it was kind of funny, but still! Must you tease him about it!”

“I’m fine with it.” Kouichi said, though his face was flushed with embarrassment. Kouji was sitting beside him, nearly doubling over in fits of laughter.

He was able to regain his composure, however, and add on, “Kouichi, you are such a bad liar. You know as well as I do that you have a crush on Fahn. Just like JP said, you always carry her books for her, you walk her home, and you blush—just like you are now—whenever she smiles at you.”

“I’m not going to admit to anything!” Kouichi said as he stood defiantly, and sighed as he stared up at the sky.

Takuya stood beside him and stared up at the sky as well. They were all silent now, listening to the night noises of the forest. All of them were more or less thinking the same thing. They were remembering their adventures together. How dangerous everything had been, but how they had all came out of it okay. How they had helped save a world unknown to everyone together as a team. And how close they had become because of this incident.

Kouji smiled as he looked at Takuya and caught his eye, “Remember when you got your Beast Spirit?”

He laughed and grinned, “How could I forget?”

JP smiled and stood as well, “Most frightening for me. I just happened to be on the other end of his claws.” JP gave an exaggerated shudder making everyone laugh.

Takuya rolled his eyes and looked back at Kouji, “Yours wasn’t a very pleasant experience either, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh, you remember correctly alright.” Kouji said as he leaned back on the log that he was using as a chair, “I couldn’t control myself. That was scary, even for me.”

Zoe grinned and said, “Yes, but I saved all your butts when I got my Beast Spirit! And, I was able to control it easily enough.”

“I still want to know how you did it.” Tommy whined.

“And I’m still not going to tell you.” Zoe said with a mysterious smiled as she stood and walked toward the smallest tent that surrounded the clearing. “I’m going to bed now, everyone! G’night!”

***

It was several hours later when the rain began to pelt down on the tents, but the teens were oblivious. It was only when Zoe’s squeals echoed from her tent because she just happened to wake up to find out that her tent leaked and had dampened her pyjamas did she wake the rest of them. The five of them squeezed into Takuya’s tent, which was the biggest when you were sitting, trying to last out the storm. Zoe was able to borrow a big T-shirt from JP to throw over her damp pyjamas to remain warm.

“That was sudden,” Tommy said breaking the silence that had settled among them as they sat there in a circle.

“Yeah, the skies were clear earlier.” Takuya agreed as he continuously rubbed Zoe’s arms to try to warm her up which she appreciated.

Kouichi knitted his eyebrows together in confusion and said, “The weather forecast didn’t predict any rain all this week.”

“In fact,” Kouji said finishing his thought, “they predicted drought like temperature instead.”

“This is very weird.” Zoe commented as she looked at the walls of the tent and watched the rain slam against them, as if yearning to get in. The wind from outside was beginning to howl and sound almost like a lone wolf.

Tommy gulped and looked around at the tent, “If the storm gets worst, we’ll need to get out of this forest. It’s not very safe to be in the middle of a forest in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

The others nodded and chorused, “Agreed.”

There was a clash that almost sounded like a gunshot that made all of them jump. Tommy jumped up and said, “It’s time to leave.” The others were hesitant to go out into the rain even though they had agreed only seconds earlier. Finally, Takuya stood when a bright flash lit up the sky and leered down on the tent. The others followed pursuit as they grabbed what was only important to them; among these things were their cell phones.

Kouji led the way out of the forest as he squinted down at the compos. He was the one that knew this reserve the most, but he still needed a little help while travelling through it. He heard someone stumble behind him and he stopped and turned to look what had happened when he heard one of the guys say, "Keep going!” So he went on.

 The wind threatened to knock them off their feet as it whooshed through the trees and crashed into them. The rain pelted down on them, feeling more like needles then water. As they got deeper and deeper into the forest, they had to grab each other’s hand as not to get separated. Kouji could hardly see the compos anymore and only knew to keep going forward.

The lightning that flashed against the sky seemed to be following them, taunting them. It seemed to be travelling through the clouds instead of from the ground just so that it could sail above them. The thunder rocketed in their ears as if a thousand drums beating at once. It followed the lightning in a ritual only a few seconds after it shocked the sky. The storm was atop of them.

None of them saw it coming as a lightning landed on the ground and with it, at that second, came the thunder as well and they knew that it had been less than a few feet from where they stood. However it was Kouichi that shouted out and cried, “Fire! I can smell smoke! We’ve got to get out of here! Quicker, Kouji!” And so they broke into a run.

Kouji began to smell the smoke too as he ran and for a horrible second he thought that he was running toward the fire, but as he looked over his shoulder out of fright for himself and the others he saw the sky glowing red form the rapidly spreading fire. He tried to speed up, but none of the others could match his speed so he had to slow down to let them keep up with him. They began to lag as members of the party began to tire, but they continued on.

They could nearly feel the heat on the back of their necks now, and yet the rain still pelted on, feeding the fire instead of extinguishing it. Kouji was just starting to see the edge of the forest when another lightning hit, no more than five feet in front of him and taunted him before disappearing and being replaced by fire. He stumbled backward out of shock and the deafening noise that accompanied it deafened him for second. All he knew is that the rest of the gang fell backwards as well, and the next thing he knew, he was surrounded by fire.

For some odd reason, though, the fire wouldn’t come near them. It just encased them in an ever-ending circle with no escape, and as if on cue each of their cell phones began to glow colours of brilliance that reached out into the sky. They stared in wonder at their little devices and before their eyes each of them changed into once lost D-Tector as if welcoming them back. The six of them huddled together, unsure of what to do, and as one looked up when another crack of thunder was heard. They spotted the purple lightning that went with it and it sailed straight toward them. It seemed to go in slow motion before branching off into six different strands of lightning.

Each strand stopped in front of them and seemed to hover there, waiting for their reaction. They needn’t to wait long before something happen and they heard a short cry of surprise from Tommy. Each of them turned just in time to see him get encased in a purple light and be carried toward the heavens. As if trying to build the tension, slowly, one by one, they were each knocked out and carried upward. Takuya grasped Zoe’s hand in his tightly as he waited for one of there’s to do something. It was Zoe’s that shot forward and took her next. Takuya tried to stand and grab her back down, but he never had a chance as the lightning that guarded him took him next as well. JP tried to make a run for it, but the lightning took him without hardly any effort.

Soon, only the twins sat there, staring fearfully at the lightning that hovered in front of them. They looked at each other and both took a deep breath.

“Whatever happens,” Kouichi said his voice coming out as a gasp.

“I’ll always be there with you, I know.” Kouji said quickly, his voice no more than a whisper and even through the howling wind Kouichi still heard it. He smiled and gave a curt nod, which Kouji returned. As if on that moment, the lightning shot forward through his chest and encased him in a purple orb. Kouichi cried out and turned toward his brother and never saw the lightning pierce him from the side, making him lose consciousness instantly. The last purple figure was carried upward, almost disappearing in the rain and wind, and disappeared with a wink of a star.

________________________________________

“Most people think the same thing that everyone else thinks when they see my brother and me. They think, ‘Aw! That’s so cute! They’re twins!’ If only they knew. My brother and I are in fact twins, but we aren’t exactly the type that you would fuss over if you really knew us. We are completely different, my brother and I. We have a few similarities in our personality but we use those traits to our advantage and not to match each other. We’re nearly as different as Ying and Yang, but neither of us are evil. Well, I would like to think so anyway.

“My name is Jinjiro Ozama. I don’t do very well in my class and I’ve had to have tutoring countless times. I think all of my teachers have given up on me, but they still put up with me because I do try hard. It just doesn’t stick which I suspect comes with the Ozama name. But I know something that never leaves me and I can use that talent over and over again. I’m an excellent artist. The only way that I can understand anything is if it’s explained to me through art form. Only Fei knows how to do that for me. She’s the only reason why I’m still passing most of my classes, but don’t think anything of it. We don’t like each other, we’re just great friends. Besides, she has a crush on my brother and I have a crush on this girl named Ayari.

“My brother is Tanjiro Ozama. I suppose my parents thought that it would be cute to have our names rhyming the way they do, but all it does is confuse the teachers with ‘Tinjiro’ and ‘Janjiro’. My brother has the same Ozama curse and doesn’t do well in school. He hardly tries though and still seems to pass. I guess he gets tutoring as well, but I wouldn’t know. You would think I would, wouldn’t you? His only talent is music. No one would believe that bad ‘I don’t give a care’ Tanjiro is a great pianist. He is, though, and he can swoon any girl with his music. I once tried to ask him if he liked Fei in return, and all he said was ‘Bug off.’ Some brotherly relationship, eh?

“I personally don’t think that we look that much alike. Sure, we both have dark blonde hair with golden tint, sure we both have light green eyes, and okay, so we both have the same oval face, but other than that we are completely different. Tanjiro is taller than me by two centimetres. I have wilder hair while Tanjiro’s is completely straight. His bangs fall into his eyes and he looks like one of the bad boy punk rocker dudes that you hear and see walk about everyday. I’m just your average kid and you wouldn’t be able to pick me out as ‘odd’ in a group of normal teenagers.

“Our family is even different. Our parents are filthy rich and we basically live in a mansion, but our parents are never home. Their jobs lead them to both have to travel the world all the time. Once, I remember them coming home when we were five and then looking at us with wide eyes as if they forgot there were two of us. I’m pretty sure that I heard our dad mutter ‘Twins! When did we have those!’ but I can’t be sure. Lekki is the one that raised us. She’s our maid. Ziro acted as our father and Rune and Motoharu were both like aunts. Even some of the other guys acted as our family and even sometimes brought their little brothers, sisters, and children as if they were our cousins. Sure they’re great and everything, but they aren’t the same thing as a real family.

“Ayari Nakahara, my crush, is two years younger than me but she’s in the grade under me. I met her through Fei’s friend who happened to be in Orchestra with her. I hardly know anything about her other than that she’s the youngest person in her grade and the youngest ever Orchestra player to be in advanced Orchestra. She plays the Viola and is the first chair, first violin player. I saw her perform once, and it’s almost as if she had been born playing the Viola for she never once messed up or even seemed to be struggling. She was, though, the only one that seemed to be greatly underdressed. She doesn’t seem to have much money and her hair is always frizzy and tangled horribly, but it’s always clean. I also noticed that her brother always seems to check her pack that she wears around her waist constantly. I often wonder what could be in it.

“Her brother is Adaruriku Nakahara, though everyone knows him as Riku. He doesn’t go to our school, but he’s quite popular at the one he does go to. He’s smart and from what I hear, a lady’s man, but he doesn’t seem to show it at our school though several girls do have a crush on him. The one thing that he seems really good at is engineering. He can get anything that’s mechanical and broken to work again. It may take a few tries, but he’ll get it. I’ve actually lent him my Walkman that had been skipping and scratching my CD’s since my brother had blasted my headphones for a full hour, and a few days later he returned it to me as good as new. His services aren’t free though, so I had to of course pay for it, but it’s not like I couldn’t anyhow.

“The Nakahara siblings look nothing alike except for a few aspects here and there. Ayari’s super long hair is a deep red and her eyes are navy blue. She’s petite for her age, which makes her even more noticeable in her grade, but from what I hear, she’s feisty and holds quite the punch. Riku has brown hair and hazel eyes. At least, I think they’re hazel from what I can tell. He’s tall and could be a good basketball player if he wished. Ayari is usually optimistic and quite hyper though she does keep it down to a non-annoying hyper while Riku usually is reserved and seems to think that something bad is going to happen around every corner. Ayari is nearly a genius and her brother average in the brains area.

"Neither of their hair seems to ever have a good combing and their clothes are never of the best buy. In fact, their clothes are usually soiled and cleaved up a bit with a few punctures here and there. They never accept charity and usually work for the money that they earn. I’ve never seen them go inside a house and they never ride the bus. I’ve noticed that Ayari never walks to school from the same direction, and when her brother comes to pick her up they never leave in the direction that she came; it’s always random.

“Life isn’t exactly normal, but at least it isn’t boring all the time. I know life won’t ever be exciting like you see on those TV shows where people go from place to place saving countless of people’s lives day by day. I’m not saying that I want my life to be like that, but it would be pretty cool to be whisked away to another world. After all, the same old routine can get quite boring after a while.”

===============

It was the first day of summer and all ready the sun beat down on the city, torturing the citizens. Many were sauntering with umbrellas trying to walk around with portable shade, while others kept a water bottle with them at all times. The hottest day of the summer just happened to be the last day of school as well for the city’s district, and all the kids had to walk home with their book bags loaded with books and old supplies that was needed to be taken home over the summer.

The few who had been smart enough to have all ready taken their supplies were quite content with walking home without anything to carry, but even they felt the torture of the sun. So, the countless number of kids who were hauling their bags were practically dragging themselves along with it. The courtyard of the school as the bell rang was one of chaos as all the kids celebrated their last day, but sorrowed at the heat. Among these kids was one of specialty that threw their overfilled backpack down on the bench, removed their ball cap, ran a hand through his already sweaty hair, and replaced his cap.

It was so natural that it almost seemed like he had done it countless times before, which the truth was that he had. He scanned the crowd in search of somebody as another that looked similar to him exited the building, his book bag lighter than his twin’s, but still full of supplies that needed to be taken home. This, however, did not seem to phase the first boy who looked right over him and instead let his eyes land on a girl. This girl, who had been one of the lucky ones to have nothing to take home, smiled in his direction and he grinned back, but before he could go up to her and greet her, a boy much older than he walked up to her and kneeled down to her height. He checked her pack that was around her waist before nodding and grabbing her hand and led her away. The first boy sighed as his twin walked up to him.

“It’s not polite to stare, you know.” Tanjiro jeered.

 Jinjiro glared at his brother and said defensively, “I wasn’t staring. She looked at me and smiled, so I smiled back, that’s it.”

His brother raised a sceptical eyebrow and kept walking on. He paused for a second before shouting back over his shoulder, “Oh, Jin, by the way, Lekki expects us home before five.” He looked at Jinjiro’s discarded book bag and grinned, “Better get a move on.”

As Tanjiro walked off, Jinjiro glowered at his back before swinging on his book bag and starting on home. He and his brother took the same route, but for some reason they never ran into each other. Whether it be for the reason that they both try to remain as far from view as they can or that one of them is always just too far ahead from the other, it was always like that.

Fifty-five minutes and six rest stops later, Jinjiro reached the gate of his house. He pushed the button for the COM system and said into the box, “It’s Jinjiro. Could you open the gate.”

“Yes, sir,” A voice said back to him that sounded like Ziro, their butler, “But hurry up, you’ve only got five minutes left and Lekki’s in a foul mood.”

“Coming.” was Jinjiro’s quick reply before he slipped through the only partly open gate. He ran, more like jogged, up the driveway and ran up the many steps to the front door before throwing open the door and skidding inside. He turned toward Ziro who was leaning next to the doorway and panted, “D-did I m-make it?”

Before he could reply, he heard a loud shrilling from upstairs, “JINJIRO MEI OZAMA!” He winced with an inward groan, before plucking off his book bag and throwing it into Ziro’s hands.

“Yes, Lekki?” Jinjiro replied, knowing that remaining silent would only be worst. A silver haired woman appeared at the top of the staircase, her brown eyes boring into his.

“What are you doing home late?” She demanded as she began to descend the stairs, each step’s echo bouncing off the walls.

“He was waiting for a girl to come out of the building so that he could flirt with her.” A voice said from the Dining Room doorway. Jinjiro glared at his brother who was innocently sipping a glass of lemonade.

“I was not.” He growled, but Lekki always knew who her favourite was.

“I will not hear it, Jinjiro! You come home late and you expect me to listen to your petty excuses!? I raised you as my own son, and this is how you repay me!? I’m insulted! You will be punished. Ziro! Grab the cleaning supplies, Jinjiro will take Rune’s job today.” Jinjiro felt like shouting out and protesting, but he knew that his punishment would only get worst with each snide remark, so he dutifully held his tongue. After all, Rune’s job wasn’t so bad. All she did was clean the bathrooms and he was quite use to that. Except when it’s Motoharu’s day off which was on—

***

The sun no longer shined when Jinjiro finally finished with the last bathroom. He knew he would be scrubbing well into the night, and just knew that in the morning Lekki would make Tanjiro and him go, if not only him, to Saturday Tutoring. Every summer she made them study extra hard so that they could keep up in pace with the other students, but the Ozama curse never let them. They were destined only to be good at one thing and one thing only. They’re father was only good at flying airplanes so he became a pilot, their uncle with persuading people so he sold houses, their grandfather with singing so he became a solo singer that was once famous, and the list went on.

The stable was pitch black when he entered, so he silently thanked himself for remembering to bring a flashlight. He flicked it on and flashed it around the stable that smelled of horse dung. He pulled a face when he landed the flashlight on the first stable that seemed to be nothing more than droppings. Plugging his nose, he walked into the stable and grabbed the hoe before setting to work.

By the time he reached the last stable, the moon was all ready starting to disappear into the west. Covered in filth and smelling horrible, he didn’t notice the oddity that was going on outside. The sky was being covered in the darkness of black haze and a funnel like cloud was forming in the middle of the city, but there was no wind. He didn’t notice the constant lightning that flashed overhead but was followed by no thunder. All he saw and all he focused on was the finishing of this stable, which was drawing nearer and nearer.

It wasn’t until a ‘BOOM’ like a gunshot shook the whole city and threw him off his feet did he even take any interest in the strangeness. He ran out of the stable and took off his cap for a better view of the sky. He seemed to be transfixed by it as he stared, and back at the mansion, his twin was staring with the same amazed expression.

Four balls of light developed in the sky: orange, silver, bronze, and yellow. They seemed to stay like that, watching them like a magnificent eye, before beams of light stretched out from them and pressed into the hands of four kids a device. Jinjiro stared as the light of bright orange raced toward him and probed his hands which it placed an object; a device of dark orange and dark maroon stared back up at him.

A crash of thunder made him tear his eyes away from the little device that rested in his palm and what he saw made him gasp and stumble backwards. A streak of purple lightning was painted across the sky and as he stared, two braches broke off and headed for his house, one in particular toward him. Out of instinct, he turned around and began to run, but he wasn’t fast enough and before he knew what hit him, a burning sensation as if fire busted through his whole body before his mind and body went limp.

It didn’t take long for three other figures to join this one up in the sky. Once they were gathered, they seemed to rotate in a circle before coming together and disappearing, darkening the night once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Whoa. That sure is bizarre! What is up with that purple lightning and where is it taking everyone? And who are those last few kids? Could they be new Digidestined!? Find out next time in Digimon: Digital Monsters – Together We Fight; Together We Fall.”