Thank you everyone for all the support you've given me in this fic, it means a lot. I'm glad no one was annoyed by Hana's brattiness, sheesh being the child of Joe and Mimi has turned her into a scary combination. Miss Anonymous hp, thank you for the criticism, but one thing to bear in mind is these are the first few episodes. Tai and the others weren't exactly developed from Episode 1 onwards either. In fact, Matt's main development started in the second last arc of the series. Thanks to Angel's Sins for betareading this chapter!

4. Into the Digital World

Hanako 'Hana' Kido

"So? We're waiting." Hana had her hands on her hips as she looked down at the small pink mouse that called himself Chuumon.

"Hana!" Ai groaned, and Hana huffed at her friend. Honestly, they might be kids but they weren't that naïve. Well, maybe except for Nobu who was only eight but that was beside the point.

Before Chuumon could really explain, the computer behind Taysuke, the one where Chuumon popped out of, actually flashed a bright blue colour and the light separated into eight separate beams of light.

Hana yelped when a small pink digital watch appeared around her wrist and she gaped at it. Okay, what was that? How did a watch come out of the computer? She looked up to ask Katsu but he was staring at his own apple green watch. Although like a normal digital watch—it had the time—it had three grey broken lines above the flashing numbers. Clearly miffed that everyone seemed to be absorbed in looking at their watches, she turned to Chuumon.

"What is this?" Hana raised an eyebrow. "Is this some sort of prank?"

"The D-Toners…" Chuumon was staring, tiny eyes wide. "The legend is coming true."

Taysuke was the first to speak. "Okay, little mouse guy, now you really need to explain. What legend? What are these D-Toners?"

"And people say I ask too many questions," Katsu said, lips quirking.

Taysuke rolled his eyes at him. "It's not like everyone else wasn't thinking the same."

Nobu grabbed Mickey's sleeve. "What are they?"

Mickey shook his head but still offered Nobu a small smile. "I'm not sure, but I'm sure we'll find out." He frowned. "Sam, are you alright?"

Hana followed Mickey's gaze and she noticed that Sam didn't have one of the D-Toner' things. He appeared rather puzzled by this himself and frowned.

"Why don't I have one?"

Hana had to admit that she wondered the same thing. She twirled a lock of her brown hair and had to refrain from chewing the end. Really, what was she supposed to say? Should she even say anything at all? Personally, she thought it was a relief Sam didn't get one of these odd-looking D-Toner things, but her dad always said people viewed things differently so maybe Sam wanted to have one.

"I'm not sure," Chuumon admitted. "The legend speaks of nine DigiDestined so there should be nine D-Toners."

"Then why don't I have one?"

Hana winced. He looked almost panicked as if this wasn't supposed to be the case. What was the big deal anyway? She glanced at Mickey, their eyes met, and he nodded

before placing a hand on Sam's arm.

"Calm down, Sam, we'll figure it out," Mickey said firmly. "Don't worry. This doesn't change anything between us."

Matty smiled. "Yeah! Besides, maybe your D-Toner thing is just slower to come through or something!"

Taysuke waved his hands impatiently. "Okay, okay! Now tell us more about this legend thing and what it has to do with us and what these thingies are."

Hana couldn't help but roll her eyes. People said she was self-centered but she had nothing on Tay. At least she was concerned with Sam's feelings even if she thought it was odd to feel that way. If anything, he should be feeling relieved to be out of this freaky situation, whatever it was.

Chuumon gave one anxious glance towards Sam before looking at the others. "There is a parallel world to the human world, the digital world, my world. It's in a lot of danger right now though. Humans once before saved our world and the human world from danger and brought peace to both worlds."

"Right, nice story, we've never heard of this digital world?" Hana huffed. "What is that, a world inside a computer?"

"Hana!" Ai and Mickey exclaimed.

Hana scowled. What? It was clear she was the only one willing to speak her mind here, even if she was being rude. Well, sometimes you had to be rude to get your point across.

"I take that back, you're worse than Mimi," Chuumon said irritated. "Mimi was blunt but she wasn't this rude."

"How do you know my Mom anyway?" Hana retorted to Chuumon. "You never answered it."

"I can't answer that," Chuumon said flatly. "Gennai's orders."

"Whose Gennai?" Katsu piped up.

"You guys ask too many questions!" Chuumon snapped. "I'm the one telling the story remember?"

"Alright, alright geez," Matty grumbled. "Go on."

"But once peace was brought to the two worlds, digimon and humans lived in harmony for a short period of time," Chuumon said. "That was when the digimon partners of the humans were sent back to the Digital World and the gates closed. Those humans have not had contact with the Digital World since then and things have fallen into chaos. New enemies have come and there's no safe place in the digital world. There was a prophecy that when things became too out of hand, new children would come into the digital world with devices called D-Toners and drive away the darkness that has spread. Gennai sent me here to try and find them and send a message."

"So you're the one who sent that message!" Taysuke said, clamping a hand to his forehead. "And I thought it was one of Dai and Matty's pranks!"

"We told you it wasn't," Dai said quietly.

Taysuke was the only one taking all this in stride. Hana didn't believe a single word of any of this and the others were all quiet. Katsu glanced suspiciously at the computer, which was a relief.

He's not gone completely mental like everyone else in this room has at least! Hana thought.

"And you automatically assume these humans are us?" Katsu said skeptically. "I mean, I understand we've received these devices, but Sam didn't receive one at all so isn't it possible it could be some sort of mistake?"

Chuumon pondered it for a moment before saying, "The D-Toners wouldn't have come to you if you weren't the new DigiDestined. Don't you want to help us?"

"We'll help you," Matty spoke up.

Hana frowned at him and Katsu made to protest but both of them fell silent when they realized that Matty wasn't looking at them. In fact, Mickey and Matty were both looking at one another.

"Mickey," Ai murmured weakly. The girl's face was pale and her eyes were wide. Hana was worried that she might collapse from the way she looked right now. "This…" She just hoped the other could hold it together because as much as Hana wanted to protest right now, something about the way the twins were looking right now made her hesitate.

Aiko 'Ai' Ishida

Ai felt faint at all the information being thrown at her. Had she fallen unconscious or hit her head somewhere? This was strange and what was worse was this whole digital world thing made her feel as if she had heard the term somewhere and that made this all even more confusing. Why were Mickey and Matty going along with this? Didn't they think this was all strange and hard to believe?

"Ai," Taysuke's voice was surprisingly soft and calm, breaking her out of her shocked reverie.

Ai blinked at Taysuke. "Tay, this is all…"

Taysuke placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned closer. Ai felt her cheeks turn pink at how close the two of them were right now.

"Ai, I know this is all hard to believe," Taysuke said softly. "I know it's weird and really unbelievable but we're in this together, you know. We all got these D-Toner things so don't be scared, okay? No matter what happens, I'll always look out for you."

Ai stared into Taysuke's eyes, seeing the fire shining in them. Seeing that firm look in his eyes and his gentle smile made her calm down a little; it was like a small light bubbled inside of her and her racing heartbeat seemed to slow down. Maybe she was panicking and worrying for no reason. Everything would be alright and Mickey must have a reason for what he was thinking…right?

"But Mickey…" Ai murmured. She needed to say it; she trusted her cousin, she really did, but right now this was all too confusing.

"Mickey would never do something if he didn't have a reason for it, you know that," Taysuke said. "I'm sure you remember him bringing home the injured rabbit just because it had a small scratch on its foot."

Ai smiled at the memory. That was true and Taysuke seemed confident that Mickey had something in mind, so she'd just believe in the other too.

I can't afford to be selfish, not when Nobu is trying so hard not to cry and look brave, she thought.

The redhead tilted her gaze to look at the younger boy, seeing he was no longer crying. Granted he still looked scared but was trying to keep a brave face and that made Ai smile a little. If the little kid can be brave about this, I can too. I have to, for all of them.

"Right," Ai said, managing to steady her voice. She looked at Mickey and he smiled at her. Tay was right, after all. Mickey must have a reason. "Okay then. I'm ready to help."

Nobu just silently took Mickey's hand in his own, staring down at his own D-Toner. Mickey squeezed the younger boy's hand before looking at the others.

"I know what I'm going to say is probably not going to make much sense," Mickey said. "But I'm probably one of the few people here who've read Dad's books in detail. Sam, Matty, and Katsu have probably read a page or two from them and well…a lot of Chuumon is telling us is written in those books."

Ai stared at Mickey, her eyes widening at his words. She had never read her uncle's books all that much, mainly because the ideas that Mickey talked about in them seemed rather surreal. But now that she recalled, she had skimmed through them once but could not remember the word digital monster popping out at her at all. It seemed the others recognized the word.

"So are you saying it wasn't just a story?" Katsu said, eyes wide. "That's just not possible, is it?"

"Story book characters do not suddenly become real," Hana pointed out, raising an eyebrow at Katsu.

"But that's the thing, Hana," Matty said impatiently. "They weren't characters to begin with. Dad was trying to tell us, warn us through those books somehow about these Digimon creatures. Humans have saved the digital world before from evil. Maybe our parents knew those people who saved the digital world and that's why they wrote about them…and now it's our turn!"

Hana opened and closed her mouth, then huffed.

"So are you all willing to help?" Chuumon asked, looking pleased.

"Of course!" Taysuke said enthusiastically. "Mickey and Matty have awesome points after all and this sounds really cool!"

Ai rolled her eyes as her heart began beating fast again. "I'm ready, but Nobu's so young. Should he really be a part of this? I'm not worried about myself but I am worried about him."

Mickey seemed torn. "I don't want him involved either but—"

"There's no choice," Chuumon said. "The Digital World has chosen him to save it, it's his destiny. If you're all ready, then hold out your D-Toners. Sam, stay close with your brother or someone who has a D-Toner. Maybe your D-Toner will be found in the Digital World."

Noburu 'Nobu' Hida

Nobu…really didn't understand why he was chosen. He wasn't kind like Mickey or brave like Taysuke; why had this place chosen him? He couldn't even stand up for himself against the bullies. Hika had to do it for him. Then why him?

However, as Chuumon instructed them, he didn't want to be the odd one out, so he held out his D-Toner, along with the others. He didn't understand what was happening though as a bright light flashed across the computer room. His eyes widened. Everything was disappearing! Nobu felt his lip quiver and tried to desperately to keep a hold of Mickey's hand but felt it slipping from his as he met the ground. Hard. He covered his face as best as he could with his small hands when debris nicked his skin. He coughed after he landed, looking around.

"Ow!" He heard Hana complain from besides him. "I think I broke a nail. Did we just get sucked into a giant computer or something?"

Nobu looked around him and noticed they weren't in Mickey's school computer room anymore but in a forest, which seemed really weird. This didn't seem digital at all. He had thought digital was like the stuff on Mom's phone but all this looked real.

"No," Taysuke breathed. "I think…we're in the Digital World."