Title: The Other Three
Author: Settiai
Disclaimer: "Digimon" and other related characters are all properties of Saban Entertainment, Toei, Akiyoshi Hongo, and other related corporations. No infringement is intended. This story, such as it is, was written as a sign of respect and love for the characters, the show, and their creator. I claim no ownership of the aforementioned show and characters.
Rating: PG
Summary: Eight young children first saw Digimon on a cold night, but they weren't the only ones. Three other children's lives were changed that night… and this is the beginning of their story.
Feedback: Comments and helpful criticisms are always appreciated.
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Eight-year-old Ryo Akiyama stared out his window, his gaze focused on the apartment across from his. The two boys who lived there, seven-year-old Osamu Ichijouji and his four-year-old brother Ken, were outside blowing bubbles again. A smile played at the corners of his lips as he watched, a strange feeling rushing through him. Watching them play with each other had become one of his favorite pastimes, mainly because he was an only child and had never truly had anyone to play with.
Suddenly, the brightly lit sky seemed to darken, as if the moon overhead had been blocked out. A confused expression on his face, Ryo let his gaze move away from the two boys and shift upward. A startled gasp escaped his lips as he did, and he felt the blood suddenly rush from his face.
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Osamu tried his best not to stare at the apartment across from his, but it was becoming harder and harder to resist the temptation. The first time he had seen the boy watching he and Ken play, he hadn't been sure what to think. He had recognized the other boy from school, but he didn't know much about him. Akiyama-san was one of the few students who apparently didn't think it worthwhile to throw himself at the "genius" of the school.
After a while, Osamu had realized that he had never seen any other children in the apartment. It had take been fairly simple for him to deduce that the other boy was merely curious about he and Ken, and he had eventually began to consider their spectator as another player in the games he and his brother played.
Still... At times such as this, when he and Ken were doing nothing but blowing bubbles, he wondered just what the other boy was like. Did he not have any friends? His curious thoughts ended abruptly as the sky seemed to become even darker. A chill shot up his back as the moon's light was completely blocked out. He saw the amazed look on Ryo's face as he stared up at the sky, and Osamu quickly looked up to see what was up there. When he looked upward, however, he suddenly wished that he hadn't. He clutched his younger brother closer to him and tried to stifle a gasp of fear.
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Ken stared up at the huge dragon-looking creature that was flying above them, unconsciously taking a step closer to Osamu. The simplified questions of a child ran through his mind. What was that thing? What did it want?
He felt no fear as he looked up at the creature, and he gave a quiet, childish laugh as the creature kept flying away from them. It wasn't evil, of that he was certain. He didn't know how, but he could tell.
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Ryo let out a quiet sigh of relief as the monster flew away. The worry he had of it attacking either him or the Ichijouji brothers faded away. A sudden thought entered his mind, and he quickly glanced back at the two boys. Though the younger one was still staring up at the sky, a look of wonder of his face, his older brother was staring directly across the street.
At him.
Ryo quickly slipped back into the shadows of his room, uncertainty running through him as he did so.
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Osamu gave one more look in the direction that the monster had departed in before loosening his grip on Ken's shoulder. He glanced at the boy across the street, unsurprised to find him still standing in the window, staring in the same direction they were. When he noticed Osamu staring at him, however, he slowly slipped back away from the window.
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Ken watched in wonder as the dragon-like creature disappeared into a rift in the sky. He glanced at Osamu to see if he had noticed it, but his older brother was staring at a shadowy figure in one of the windows in the apartment building across the street. Ken strained to see who was there, but he couldn't tell. Had someone else seen the monster? He grabbed Osamu's arm and pulled down on it as hard as he could.
"Onii-san, did you see that?" he asked breathlessly. "The sky opened up, and it just flew right in!"
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Ryo knew that the older brother, Osamu, was still trying to see him in the shadows of his room. He didn't care anymore though. A single thought was running through his mind, one that now seemed more important that anything else. The three of them had just seen... something. A monster. What should they do? What could they do?
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as his mother's voice rang through the apartment, yelling for him to come watch the news with his father and he. With one more brief glance at the sky, and the Ichijouji brothers, he quickly left his room.
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Osamu caught a glimpse of the boy moving away from the window, and he stared for a moment. His attention was brought away from it, however, by the distant sound of sirens ringing throughout the city. A gasp escaped his lips as he suddenly noticed the thick black smoke that was coming from another part of the city.
Grabbing Ken's hand, he practically dragged his younger brother back into the apartment. Without even pausing, the two of them made their way to the main living area. Though he wasn't certain about what was happening, he knew that the smoke he had seen would be on the news.
"Dad! Mom! What's going on!?" he called out. "I see smoke, and we just saw a..."
His voice trailed off as he noticed that his parents' attentions were focused on the television screen, and he felt his heart sink when he saw the image that was being shown on the news. What appeared to be the remains of a large apartment building was in flames, and the reporters were talking about a terrorist attack in the background.
Sam stared at the television in shock, his voice forgotten. He could see two monsters fighting in the rubble, similar to the one that had flown by overhead. Without even being aware that he was doing it, he slowly reached up and rubbed his eyes.
The monster was still there.
His gaze drifted toward his parents, and he knew just from looking at their faces that they didn't see the same thing he did. All they saw was the smoke and the fire. His voice was barely even loud enough to be considered a whisper when he spoke. "What the hell?"
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Ken stared at the two monsters on the television screen in shock. His parents didn't see them, he was certain of that. In fact, no one seemed to notice them. None of the reporters or the bystanders or anyone... Just him and Osamu.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he caught sight of a hint of movement to the side of the screen, and he focused his eyes on it. After a few seconds, the image cleared enough for him to see several kids in the background. They were staring at the scene in front of them with shocked expressions on their faces, expression that mimicked both his and Osamu's.
His eyes wide, Ken slowly pulled on his brother's sleeve.
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Across the street, a similar scene was unfolding. Ryo's parents were watching the television in horror, while he stared at the fight that was going on in the background. Terrorist attack... Since when did terrorists look like giant monsters?
Shaking his head, he felt a brief moment of confusion rush through him. It was obvious that most people couldn't see the creatures, but he knew that he did. And the two boys from across the street, Osamu and Ken, had seen the one that had flown overhead... which meant that they most likely could see these as well. The three of them couldn't be the only ones who saw them though.
He stared at the screen a moment longer, smiling slightly when he saw several other children, obviously residents of the apartment building, standing around in the background. Their families were oblivious to the fight going on, but the kids were staring at it with expressions of wide-eyed terror on their faces.
They could see the creatures too.
He quickly counted the children who seemed to be staring at the fight between the two monsters. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Was that all?
A sudden flash from the window of a building that lay on the very edge screen caught his attention. He quickly glanced over at the VCR to make sure that his parents were taping the news like they usually did, nodding as he saw that they were, before slowly walking back to his room.
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Osamu felt a sudden tug on his arm, and he glanced down to find Ken pulling on his sleeve and gesturing towards the screen. A curious expression on his face, he glanced back at it. He could already see the monsters, so what did his brother want him to see? Realization flooded through him as caught sight of the various children pointing at the creatures and talking excitedly.
Pulling Ken down with him, Osamu sat down on the floor in front of the television. He stared at the screen closely, trying his best to count the children who seemed to notice the creatures. Seven? Or was it eight?
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Ken stared at the screen, a quiet cry escaping his lips as one of the monsters fell to the ground. There was a sudden flash of light, and then they were both gone. He knew instantly that they had been killed, and -- for some reason -- sadness seemed to flood through him.
The fear he had been holding in since they had seen the monster fly over their balcony suddenly broke loose as he burst into loud sobs. His parents shared a knowing look before slowly guiding their two children to bed. They didn't know that neither boy would get much sleep.
Or that they were too busy thinking about the life-changing events they had just seen, not knowing just how important that were.
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Late that night, long after his parents had gone to sleep, Ryo crept down to the television. Making certain that it was muted, he quickly rewound the tape to the coverage of the "terrorist attack." The instant he saw the flash in the corner of the screen, he immediately paused it.
Pulling out a small magnifying glass, Ryo carefully put it up to the screen. Squinting his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the sign on the building where the flash was coming from.
Orphanage.
The second thing he noticed was a small, petite-looking girl taking pictures of the scene before her, long blonde hair hanging down in her face as she frantically snapped picture after picture.
"And that makes twelve," he said softly.
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Several hours later, Ryo lay in his bed wondering about the events he had witnessed earlier that day. He thought about the other ten... no, eleven counting the strange girl... children who had seen the monsters. Why had the twelve of them seen the creatures, and no one else had. What were those creatures anyway?
Ryo sat up suddenly as a freezing cold breeze blew across his room, though his window wasn't open. He felt a shiver crawl down his back, as a strange word suddenly popped into his head. His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke.
"Digimon," he said slowly, testing the feel of the word in his mouth. "That's what those monsters were. Digimon. How do I know that, though?"
As he slowly fell into a fitful sleep, he didn't notice the bright flash of light coming from his computer. If he had, he might have seen the round, glowing object that shot out of it onto his computer desk. Or he might have even heard the shallow laugh that seemed to fill his room with darkness.