DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).

A/N: I’ve decided to go through and spruce up the first few books, something which shouldn’t take too long as they’re not that long to start with (at least not compared with the later books). If you’re really eager to keep reading and I haven’t got to the rewrite, just switch to the normal version. There may be a few extra chapters due to elongating some chapters, but the actual plot isn’t going to change, beyond the addition of one or two small scenes where the pace needed slowing down a lot in order to improve my writing. This’ll be a task mainly done when I don’t have the time to write up a full chapter of my current books.

Oh, by the way, if you dislike Rukato, I don’t think you’ll enjoy this series of stories. But, for the Rukato fans (and those who are indifferent)…enjoy.

This story I’ve slightly differed the dates on based on some quotes from the dub saying that it was October when they were in the Digital World, and September beforehand. The 19th October 2007 is when I’m setting out the last day of the D-Reaper battle to be, with the first scene here being two weeks later.

Rika, Takato, Henry, Jeri, Kazu and Kenta are all 13 in this story. Ryo is 14, and the younger members are the proportionate ages.

DIMENSIONS

BOOK ONE

Rewrite

Links

By Blazing Chaos

CHAPTER 1

Hazard Virus

FRIDAY, 2ND NOVEMBER 2007

DIGITAL PLANE

Unknown Time

The digital plane. A place between reality and digi-reality. A place where up is down, down is up and right is wrong. Mostly empty and white, the only interesting thing to the rare visitors it attracts is crisscrossed grids and lines of data. But, on this occasion, there was something much more significant here, namely a huge blob-like object, known as the D-Reaper. The D-Reaper, two weeks before in the human world, had been a threat to life itself. Overwhelming Tokyo, it threatened to destroy all life globally, along with the city itself. However, the brave efforts of the Digimon Tamers, humans who had become partnered with creatures called Digimon, had managed to stop it.

However, this story was not about the D-Reaper. It is, instead, about the Tamers, their Digimon, and their lives as they grew up and had to face threats beyond their imagination, fears beyond contemplation, and emotions beyond anything they, or anyone, had ever experiences before.

All stories have a beginning though, and this one was particularly unusual, at least compared to “once upon a time”.

For starters, most stories do not feature a huge destructive blob, or some small creatures known as Digimon, right behind the D-Reaper. These Digimon were once in the real world, but the destruction of the D-Reaper two weeks prior inadvertently meant they would need destroying as well. Their fate had been prolonged by the sheer mass and complication of the D-Reaper, thanks to its highly compressed and dense nature, but it would soon reach them regardless. Boredom had set in, broken only by random comments by one particular Digimon to try and lighten the mood, with little success.

“Wow, watch that huge blobby thing vanish,” said a small greenish blob called Gummimon. Despite being Terriermon’s in-training form, he lacked none of his trademark wit.

“It appears that it is nearly completely deleted, a fate likely to befall us too,” dejectedly said another blob, this one yellow with small fox ears.

The group of blobs sighed, facing the reality of death straight in the face, as the unseen wave of deletion continued to sweep through the D-Reaper. The largest, MarineAngemon, a mega Digimon, simply chirped sadly, lacking the ability to say anything else. Nonetheless, his Tamer, Kenta Kitagawa, was still able to interpret this pattern of chirps by some method unknown to all.

“Way to ruin the mood Viximon,” said Gummimon to the yellow one, his voice sarcastic and lacking the usual cheery tone.

However, not all of those floating in the Digital Plane were so quick to resign themselves to their oncoming deaths. One, formerly known as Guilmon, but now as Gigimon, had been promised to by his Tamer before he left the real world that they would see each other again. Any ordinary Digimon would have no ability to prevent their death; regardless of how determined they were to do so.

On the other hand, that rule only applied to normal Digimon.

“No, I can’t be deleted. Takato promised me that he’d see me again, and HE WILL!!” Gigimon screamed, causing the others to look at him with looks ranging from bewilderment to a rolling of the eyes.

Gummimon frowned. Guilmon could be determined all he wanted, it would make no difference.

The red blob with bat ears, Gigimon, was suddenly bathed in red light, sweeping over him and pulsing as it grew brighter and brighter, Gigimon’s determined expression not mirroring the amazed and confused expressions the others now carried.

“Whoa…” said a small white fairy with purple tipped ears, known as Calumon.

“What’s up with Pineapple Head?” said a small purple blob that looked like an Impish face, known as Yaamon. The red light began to envelop them, sending sweeping waves out along the lines of the Digital Plane as if they were wires, or a fuse wire burning (although oddly despite this analogy the lines didn’t vanish after the red light phased over them).

“It looks like Gigimon is digivolving”, said the yellow blob, taking in what appeared to be happening as lines began to swirl around Gigimon and forming an elliptical orb around him.

“But how?” asked a brownish-cream coloured blob with three horns and small ears, known as Kokomon, but no-one was able to answer before the process began.

D-I-G-I-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N

Gigimon Digivolve to…

Gigimon dissolved into a green wireframe, before an explosion expanded it massively into a dinosaur-like figure, with an outlined mark on his chest. Skin began to form along his arms, head, leg and tail, sweeping up as the mark became solid and black. It was a mark which held much significance to those who had seen it in action.

Guilmon!

“I’m out of here” said Guilmon, his glowing red eyes filled with determination and his voice bitter, as the mark on his chest pulsed red. His sharp claws glowed red at the tip, as he swept them through the air. “ROCK BREAKER!” he roared, as a gap in the universe suddenly appeared, a sear in the plane. Through it, a desert with a bright blue sky above it stretched out for all directions, a very familiar desert that caused the other Digimon’s eyes to widen in amazement. Guilmon made no hesitation in walking through it, without any time taken to check it was stable or real. His appearance straight away on the other side made it clear to those who were still hesitating that this was a better option than waiting for deletion.

“Well, that seems like a better idea than getting destroyed like the D-Reaper. Last one through is data!” exclaimed Gummimon, bouncing through after the dinosaur. The rest followed promptly afterwards without hesitation, all except for one.

Viximon stared at the wave of deletion approaching her like a cat caught in headlights, as the last remains of the D-Reaper were wiped from existence. All that remained to be deleted was her, as the lines crisscrossing the plane continued to pulse red, an odd sight which she paused to look at. The sight was perplexing to her, and entrancing too, as if it were familiar. Was this the hazard?

Viximon looked back to the sear in the dimension, a pile of in-training, rookie and mega level Digimon slowly decreasing in height at they got to their feet, or at least the closest equivalent they had to feet. She frowned, she knew that inevitably she would have to face reality in the end, regardless of her silent hope that being deleted would finally free her from the burden she had had to keep secret ever since soon after she had met her Tamer that fateful day.

Sighing, she bounced through the portal.

DIGITAL WORLD

Lowest Level

Unknown Time

Viximon landed promptly on the other in-training level Digimon, bouncing off them and landing nearby on the sand, lacking any injuries, a stark comparison to the usual arrival in the Digital World. Her blue eyes scanned the horizon as she felt small particles of sand be whipped into her by the wind. The desert truly did expand out as far as the eye could see, and there were no signs of life or movement either, besides the data streams crossing the desert, ready to take unwilling travellers on a mystery tour.

Guilmon was sitting on his bottom, looking curiously around with his golden at the area in which they had landed. The pulsing of the mark on his stomach slowed to a stop, the sear in the universe closing likewise, something which Guilmon only gave a cursory glance.

“Whoa, did you do that?” Calumon asked, confusion in his voice as he looked at Guilmon in awe.

“Huh? What did I do?” Guilmon asked, unsure as to why everyone was looking at him in such a way.

“Typical pineapple head,” Yaamon said, rolling his eyes.

Gummimon leapt forth, landing on Guilmon’s head, to the dino’s surprise as the blob grabbed his bat-like ear to steady himself. “Hmm, from one plane to another plain,” Gummimon joked, looking around to admire the scenery as the Digimon surrounding him groaned at the pun.

“Please control your humour,” requested Kokomon. “It appears that we are going to have to get along for a while on our own.”

The group sighed, or chirped, sadly, as reality set in. Their escape from death had only created new problems in its wake, namely the fact that they had no idea of how to get to the real world, or how to access the upper levels of the Digital World at least. The Sovereigns could possibly help them, but getting there was a hit or miss prospect, and Zhuqiaomon couldn’t be expected to help those he still considered to be enemies, despite them fighting for both worlds during the D-Reaper saga.

“Come gallant souls, we are walking,” declared Kapurimon.

“Unless…” began Gummimon, before grabbing Guilmon’s ears like a horse-rider. “Let’s go Guilmon!” he cheered. “Climb on everyone!” he called.

“Beats bouncing all day,” Yaamon decided, leaping onto the dinosaur’s back, soon to be followed by most of the other Digimon, apart from MarineAngemon, who had the benefit of being able to fly, and Viximon and Kokomon, who questioned the fairness of using Guilmon as a horse. However, the prospect of walking all day far outweighed the injustice on their friend, and they quickly joined the others.

Guilmon moaned in annoyance as he felt a sea of in-training digimon swarm onto his back. “Oh, but that isn’t fair on me, I don’t get to ride anyone,” he groaned.

Gummimon took up the job of fielding that question from his position on Guilmon’s head, a familiar position from when he had been Terriermon in the past. “Well you shouldn’t have digivolved then. Now go horsey!” he ordered, pulling on Guilmon’s ears as the saurian reluctantly began to walk.

It was going to be a long journey.

FRIDAY, 9TH NOVEMBER 2007

REAL WORLD

Near Matsuki Bakery, West Shinjuku

18:30 JST (Japan Standard Time)

A week later, the autumnal real world evening drew on as the majority of humans were completely unaware of the true nature of the other reality, if they knew of the Digital World at all.

However, a small selection of those who lived in Tokyo knew of the Digital World, some in more detail than others though. Some had even been there, along with their Digimon partners, despite only being children. One such child rushed past a group of people gathered in the street, heading towards a familiar building both to him and locals, a bakery, the Matsuki Bakery to be accurate. Unlike the Bakery’s many customers (a growing market thanks to the promotion given to it by the dinosaur that once lived there, and the new “Guilmon bread” they sold), this boy ran in through the door, past several bemused customers to the side door, and into the lounge at the back, pausing only to slip his shoes off as he noticed his mother watching his hasty return from behind the counter as she finished serving a customer.

“Hey Mum …” he quickly said, realising how he had forgotten to greet his mother, something which grated on the woman’s nerves. She put it aside for now, instead pursuing other issues.

“How was school dear?” Mie Matsuki asked, a tone in her voice asking why he was out so late at the park, despite Guilmon having “gone home” (a euphemism no doubt). She tried to side-step the issue however; it was one that left Takato saddened whenever it arose. Presumably, however, he was out playing cards or chatting with his friends, his usual pursuit before the Digimon and no doubt a pursuit he would continue, albeit now with a larger friendship circle.

“Oh…it was great…yeah, great,” Takato muttered, frowning when he said the last part as he thought that nothing could really seem all that great anymore now that Guilmon was gone. “The temporary buildings are okay, but we joke that Guilmon could easily knock them down when he is trying to raid the cafeteria,” Takato Matsuki replied, a frown and a sigh replacing his somewhat fake grin when mentioning the name of his recently lost Digimon Partner. He stared blankly at the wall as he recalled his partner, Mie frowning as her son’s sadness before being forced to serve another customer.

However, a television nearby detracted Takato from his thoughts, causing him to look up to a news broadcast, between two news anchors.

“So what’s the situation Aina?”

“The situation isn’t looking good. This new virus seems to infect computers and switch data across the network, corrupt files, and various other things, almost completely randomly. It’s chaotic, and it’s been causing problems for security companies for a week.”

“Have any of the anti-virus products found a way to combat it?”

“No, I’ve being told that they’ve tried but have failed so far since the virus seems to destroy anything that attempts to neutralise it, hence it has been nicknamed the ‘Hazard Virus’.”

Takato winced at the word Hazard, which brought back memories of when he made a big mistake and let his anger control him, creating Megidramon. He didn’t want anything to make him recall that, even if it was but a simple passing reference.

“…however, since it either deletes or misplaces all files, including its own files, the virus seems to be dying out with no intervention from others.”

Takato frowned as the news anchors moved onto the next story, as he continued through to the back of the home, further into the living area where his father, Takehiro Matsuki, worked on a computer in the corner, a look of frustration on his face being temporarily replaced with enthusiasm when he saw his son.

“Hey son,” he greeted, Takato walking over as something odd caught his attention.

“Hi Dad…um…you do know that you are meant to turn the computer on before you can use it…right?” he asked, a bit concerned for his father’s current mental state.

“Yes, I’m not that much of a technophobe, but whatever I do it doesn’t seem to be working. It must be this Hazard virus thing everyone is talking about. You’re the expert at computers, you give it a shot.”

“Well, I’m hardly an expert, even if I did fight alongside a Digimon…but…I’ll try it,” he said, bending down onto his knees by the tower of the computer and reaching out, pressing the button. His father frowned as nothing happened, so, like everyone, Takato pressed the button again, and again, before he felt a scorching pain in his finger. Gripping it quickly, and not noticing the red glow on his finger subsiding, he was distracted from the shock-like pain by the computer whirring on above him.

“Hey, it worked,” his father noted, not realising that his son had somehow injured himself in the process.

“Yeah,” Takato answered distractedly, staring at his finger periodically before shrugging and standing up.

“Computers do seem to have a mind of their own, don’t they?” Takehiro joked.

Takato nodded, looking at the screen as the operating system booted up. “Hey, can I get online; I want to check my emails. Mrs Asagi said that to save on paper they’re sending all our work by email. The way she gives out homework, I think it’ll save a whole rainforest,” he joked. His father nodded, standing up from the chair.

“Yeah, sure, doesn’t look like I’ll get our accounts done today anyway. When I was a kid, we just used pen and paper, now its all data this, email that…” Takehiro said, walking away out of earshot as Takato watched him blankly, knowing that this is the kind of thing that would embarrass him if he had a friend over at that point. Then again, Rika would’ve probably called his father a nut, and Henry would probably not have minded (although Terriermon inevitably would hammer the point home).

“O…kay…” Takato said bemused. “Right, let’s see…” he began, sitting down to use the login screen.

Username:

T-a-k-a-t-o

Password:

Takato glanced around to check that no-one was looking, concerned that someone could guess his password, although he doubted his parents would be interested anyway.

“Okay, G-u-i-l-m-o-n,” he thought, typing in the letters and hitting the return key. He chuckled as he appreciated the obvious nature of his password. “I’m surprised my parents haven’t guessed it yet. Okay, here we go, email. Ugh, that much homework. Hold on…email 1 of 9?!” Takato thought, before groaning in annoyance.

Reluctantly, Takato saved the attachments to the desktop, knowing that he would only forget them otherwise. However, once he was done with this, something else caught his eye, something that definitely wasn’t there the last time he had used the computer.

“Huh? Where did that come from?” he thought out loud, shrugging as he clicked the file. “Huh…” he asked, as it opened, revealing a long text file, headed with a date.

8th November 2007

Dear Diary,

Well, looks like life is back to normal after that thing. And by back to normal I mean back to horrible. And yet…I think something has changed. You see, I seem to suddenly have feelings for…him. He may be a total doofus and a walking disaster but…I like him…a lot. But…he likes her. Of course he does, everyone knows that, oddly except those two themselves. Hey, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two morons hadn’t figured it out yet. Meh, regardless, makes no difference to me.

Sigh

Hold on, did I just type Sigh? I must be going insane. I wish she were here, life is so boring without anything happening.

Rika

Takato blinked several times upon reading the name. And then several times more. And finally, for good measure, he blinked a few more times, before rereading the email to check he had read it right, and hadn’t made another big goof-up, something which had become somewhat of a trademark for him.

…feelings for…him…

…walking disaster…

…I like him a lot…

…but he likes her…

…makes no difference to me…

…I wish she were here…

And then he read the name again to check he was really looking at what he thought he was looking at.

Rika

Takato leaned back in his chair, contemplating what he was reading. He stared at the screen and stared off into space. What was Rika trying to say? Was she…was she writing a diary about her innermost feelings? Was this something he was really meant to see? Who was he kidding, if Rika knew he was looking at this, she’d kill him? Or would she? Takato groaned, gripping his head in irritation as he felt the sudden flip of his reality disorientating him.

“What’s up son?” asked his father, noting his son’s distress.

“Um…nothing…nothing at all” Takato said, quickly removing his hands from his head and minimising the diary entry, ironically increasing suspicion in his father.

“Okay…sure, I believe you” his father replied sarcastically, returning to the bakery.

Takato sat and thought for a short while, contemplating what he was to do now, particularly since he didn’t want to break Rika’s trust by not telling her about having it. Rika’s trust was hard enough to earn in the first place.

“Well…if it is her, I suppose I should give the entry back to her. Hmm, what’s her email? Damn, I don’t know it; I’ve got to find out everyone’s at some point. Hey, there’s an idea! I know what I’ll do; I’ll stick it on my memory stick and give it to her personally. I haven’t spoken to her for a while; she never turns up at the park…I’d like a chat. Whether she’d want one after me giving her the diary entry back is another question…she doesn’t really strike me as the kind of person who’d write a diary to be honest…although it’s not like she has anyone else to talk to now with Renamon gone.”

Takato, sighing, plugged in his memory stick and dropped the file onto it, making sure to cut and paste it to avoid it being left on his computer. He unplugged the stick and put it in his coat pocket, before putting the item of clothing on and walking towards the door.

“Hey Mum, I’ve got to go out…I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he called out.

“You’d better be. You know that dinner is at half 7.” replied his mother, a clearly nagging tone in her voice.

“Yeah, I do,” he replied, pausing where he stood at the door.

“Where are you go…” she began, sighing as she heard the door slam.

“What’s wrong dear?” asked her husband from round the back of the bakery, stepping out from making bread.

Mie sighed, feeling a touch of familiarity in the situation. “Ah nothing, some kids actually tell their mothers where they are going when they go out”

“Hmm…” Takehiro pondered, before returning to work.

Shinjuku Park, near Utility Storage Cupboard 14, AKA Guilmon’s Hideout

19:00 JST

The darkness had well and truly set in as Takato walked through the Shinjuku Park, oddly lacking any fear of those who were said to lurk in the darkness at night, probably due to the fact he had learnt to be afraid of far worse things in his adventures. He passed the hideout where Guilmon had lived for about a month, up until three weeks earlier when he and his fellow tamed Digimon had to make a saddened departure, contrary to everyone’s wishes. He sighed at the happy memories which they had had, despite all the fighting and emotional battles, which had been brought to such an abrupt end. He could only hope that one day he’d see all of them again, but Janyuu’s comments when they had to go had weakened his hope, with suggestions of deletion hanging in the air. The concept that they had survived and reigned victorious in so many battles, only to fall thanks to a friend, was a concept that haunted Takato. He’d seriously contemplated several times the prospect of never seeing them again.

He decided to get back to the subject of what he was doing, talking to himself in his usual way. “Now, I think this is the quickest way to her hou…huh, what’s that noise?”

Takato paused in his walk, noting an unusual noise that was just out of the range of hearing. It almost didn’t sound like a noise, but at the same time it was clear he wasn’t hearing nothing at all. Turning to face the hideout nearby, and walking cautiously towards it, up the stairs and into the box, he sighed at the sight of nothing but a few dirt piles and a hole at the back, another reminder of his partner.

“Nope, nothing here. Hold on, maybe…nah, can’t be…I may as well look,” he wondered, bending down onto his knees as he pondered the stability of what was only a dug out hole, with no supports for if it were to collapse, a likelihood given recent heavy rainfall which had only served to dampen his already dour mood.

Nonetheless, Takato crawled into the hole in the hideout that had been dug by his former partner, only to pause and gasp at what he saw.

Ahead of him was a glowing ball of data.

The portal to the Digital World, one that was thought to have closed up a few weeks earlier.

But what it represented was far more significant to Takato than the semantics of what it was doing there. It was a way back to Guilmon.

Speechlessly, he climbed out of the hole and sat down on the concrete floor of the hideout.

“Guilmon…” he muttered, smiling as he recalled all of the Digimon, before deciding that it was time to contact a few of his friends…

Nonaka Household

19:10 JST

The ornate, traditional household was one of elegance. The actions of the redhead sitting by a laptop placed on a table in her room on the other hand, was not.

“Where is it?” she asked, alarm sweeping into her expression as realisation dawned on her. “No…” she muttered. “No, not that one! Anyone could have it if it’s that damn virus!” she groaned, slamming the monitor down in a huff. “I hate computers,” she muttered, standing up and falling onto her futon in a huff. The past few weeks had been nothing but hell, not least because she’d lacked her partner in the shadows, reassuring her that she was never alone. She’d wanted to visit the other Tamers more often, but a combination of a surge of catch-up homework and a nagging feeling that she was being too open with them held her back in most cases. She’d last seen Takato and the others a week ago, when they’d met up to discuss any hope of getting their Digimon back, a meeting which had ended sadly when Henry decided to be realistic, bursting their hopes, and his as well.

“Rika dear, you have a call…” called a voice, breaking Rika out of her thoughts as she looked up to her grandmother, holding a portable phone out to her where she lay face-down on the futon.

“Huh?” she pondered, having not heard her grandmother enter the room. She put the phone to her ear.

“Hey Rika, it’s Takato!” greeted a voice, possibly too enthusiastically for his own good. What was wrong with him? When she had last seen him, he was still recovering from the sadness of losing Guilmon. All of them had yet to truly get over losing their Digimon, and she doubted they ever truly would, not least Takato, who was arguably the closest to his Digimon. He had created Guilmon, after all.

Rika, still pondering Takato’s enthusiasm, replied with a bemused tone. “Oh…hey Gogglehead,” she greeted, using her usual name for him in place of his real name, something she rarely used (primarily since Terriermon or one of the other annoying members of their group would point out any time when she called him by his real name).

“Long time no talk eh?” he began, a hint of nervousness in his voice for some reason. He would always try to make conversation, no matter how rambled or spontaneous, when he was nervous, one of his flaws to some extent.

“Uh huh,” Rika replied, noting that it had only been a week, even though at the moment a week felt like a month. “Sorry for not turning up today…I was…busy,” she replied, recalling how she was meant to have met up with some of the others in the park, but had decided against it in the end.

“That’s okay,” Takato answered, leaving Rika pondering why he wasn’t questioning what she had said at all.

“So why are you calling?” Rika asked, realising that she wasn’t going to get any answers otherwise.

“TO CONTINUE, INSERT 50 YEN.”

“Takato?” Rika asked, pondering what was going on at first until it dawned at her that he was using a payphone. But, if he was using a payphone, where was he?

Click.

“Sorry about that,” Takato answered. Rika rolled her eyes, sighing to make her frustration audible.

“Just get to the point Goggles.”

“Oh…right…well, anyway, I’ve made an interesting discovery.”

“That no-one has ever worn Goggles who isn’t an idiot or a swimmer?”Rika teased, the slight smile on her face and more upbeat voice being the subtle hints that she wasn’t actually trying to be mean.

“Oh ha ha,” Takato replied sarcastically, not really pulling it off properly and instead sounding nervous. Anyway, I think you’ll like this news. It’s back.”

“What do you mean “it’s back”? What is “it”?”she asked, raising an eyebrow. What could he possibly be talking about?

“The portal to the Digital World,” he said happily.

“Oh,” Rika replied, pausing as the words fully registered in her mind. “Wait, what?!” she asked in surprise. The portal? To the Digital World?

To Renamon?

“TO CONTINUE, INSERT 50 YEN.”

“Gogglehead, stick more than 50 yen in for once!”

Takato chuckled nervously. “I’m all out…can you call Henry and meet me at the park?”

Rika sighed in annoyance at Takato’s usual antics. “Okay,” she resigned. “I’ll see you…” she began, before she was interrupted by a tone.

Beep.

“Takato?” Rika asked. “Takato?” she asked again, sighing as she heard the constant tone and pressed the button on the phone, turning it off. She stood up, pausing briefly as she thought through the concept of seeing Renamon again, a faint smile crossing her face.

This day wasn’t going to be so bad after all. She’d almost forgotten about losing her diary entry as well.

Almost.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Thinking about it, rewriting the old books will give me a chance to notice any plot holes in the current stories, so should prove to bring better writing in the long run. There's a lot of stuff that's completely escaped my mind, and by rewriting it'll help me bring it back.

Anyway, I'll avoid the urge to become very sentimental on the fact this is the first chapter of a huge series, but instead, I'll just leave you to read on.

Until next time...

B.C.