Butter-Fly Effect

It started with odd weather patterns. Daigo wasn't sure when, exactly, they began, though it began regularly making the news in the last week or so of July.

He didn't pay attention at first, didn't really bother looking at the screen. He didn't think it mattered, particularly compared to everything else he'd ever been through. Past a certain point, climate change didn't seem to be as much of a bother.

...Of course, that might have just been because he'd walked from a desert straight into a tundra once.

Either way, he didn't give the odd weather much thought until Riku called. "Hey, Daigo? Have you seen the news lately?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"...I think it's best if you see for yourself." Confused, Daigo did as his friend asked, switching on the TV. Currently, they were talking about rain patterns in the Gobi Desert, and in the background...

"...Is that a Seadramon?" The staticky serpent writhed on camera for a moment, before fading out of view.

"You see it too?" A sigh of relief from the other end. "Good. I'm not just going insane. There've been Digimon all over those reports. I... haven't talked to the others about it, but my cousins can't see them, and you're the leader, so..." So, of course, he turned to him. Why? Couldn't they see that he didn't have those answers himself?
"Right. Right..." Riku wanted an answer, right? He was normally the type of person to try and find them for himself, but... "Is there any sign of a portal or anything?"

"I don't know. I don't talk to Haru about those kinds of things, that seems like a really easy way to ruin a date." Okay, fair enough... "Should I talk to her about this? I'm not sure what we could do, but..." But they did know someone who could do something. And she knew someone else who could help. "...I don't know, I'm just really worried about Azulongmon..."

That was fair enough. Daigo couldn't help but fear for Baihumon's safety, and his partner was the most powerful Digimon in the world. But Sora was a child, and TK was even younger. Not that any of them had been given the choice. Why should those two be any different?

"...We'll wait for them to come back from camp." That was just a couple weeks. Hopefully, the worlds could hold off until then.

That same day, he opened his desk drawer, retrieved his old goggles. If he was going to take up the leadership once more... it was the least he could do to prepare himself for it.

---

Tai's last diplomacy lesson before he left for camp was... less than productive. Daigo was willing to admit that was his own fault, for worrying too much about a future he had far too little ability to effect. He ended up too distracted to really do anything, Tai and Kari gave up on the lesson and got out some board games.

Daigo won, of course, the Kamiya siblings weren't quite on his tactical level just yet, but things didn't really go the way they had planned, and there were close calls.

"Are you feeling okay?" Kari asked. "You don't look so good."

"Sorry..." He sighed. "I just... can't focus on anything today." What was the point of lying to them? They'd believe him, true, but... It just wasn't fair, to deceive everyone so easily.
For the past six months, nobody had questioned a thing he said. He'd sort of gotten used to it, for a while after Maki left, but now there was an actual serious situation fast approaching, and he couldn't afford to make a mistake there. Couldn't afford to ever, with how everyone listened to him, but now it was even worse.
He was pretty sure he wouldn't, though. He was experienced, he knew what he was doing, when it came to Digimon. Most of the time. It would be fine.

...Okay, so that was the kind of thinking that had originally led to MadLeomon, but that probably wouldn't be a problem, with his partner securely at the Mega level. Last they'd spoken, anyway.

"Are you sick?" This little girl was too cute.

"Course not," Tai shrugged it off. "If he was sick, he wouldn't have let us come over. That's why we can't go see Joe right now, remember?" Joe... someone Haru had tutored once, if he was remembering correctly. It wasn't all that uncommon of a name, but in this social circle? There couldn't be any coincidences.

"Joe Kido? He's sick?"

"Stomach virus. He'll be fine, but he can't come to camp." And that was all he'd needed to know.

"Oh, right, that's coming up soon... have fun, you two." It wasn't an order, not the kind that they'd mindlessly follow, but... he hoped they really did enjoy themselves.

After all... the world could come tumbling down on them soon enough.

---

The day the kids left for camp started the same as any other. Daigo woke up, checked his inbox in case Baihumon managed to get back in contact overnight, and made breakfast. His goggles felt heavy around his neck for some reason. Maybe he was just getting used to wearing them again.

Checking to see that his parents were gone, he turned on the news. For a moment, he caught sight of a Frigimon on a Tokyo report dealing with a sudden cold snap. Well, that explained that.

Still no sign of anything major, and he allowed himself to hope that maybe Sora and TK could have a normal camping experience after all.

He should have known better than to hope. At precisely ten-thirty, there was a frantic knock at his door. Opening it, he saw Haru, carrying a laptop under her arm, hood blown out of her face from running and hair stuck to the inside of her glasses. That probably meant she had been crying recently.

...Well, this wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened. Even if Haru was far better adjusted than Maki had ever been. "...Is this about the news?"

"What about the news?" His friend snapped back, taking command of his table and opening her computer. "Call the others, have them come over here. We need all hands on deck."

"...You know I'm still the leader, right?" He checked.

"Sorry, but this is important. Take a look at this." It looked like a normal email.

From the Digital World.

Sent by Koushiro Izumi.

...Was two weeks really too much to ask for?

---

For just about the first time since Izzy and Haru found the email addresses of the Sovereigns, Daigo was starting to hate the time difference between the two worlds. The new DigiDestined kept getting themselves into and out of trouble, often faster than they could read and reply.

It was nerve-wracking. Particularly as Tai and Kari were there. Getting into the same kinds of situations he had, as a kid. And Kari didn't even have a Digimon partner to protect her.

Before they left, he- he'd told them to have fun. Like things were going to turn out normal, for once, that the Digital World would let him have just this one thing without either tainting it or snatching it away. And now they were out risking their lives while he sat around his apartment, helpless to do anything.

The goggles he wore felt more like a noose now. He was leader of the DigiDestined, the one who decided on all the plans, who had to be right all the time because nobody would do anything but listen to a word he said. And here, in the Analog World... all of that power was useless. At least in DigiWorld he could recruit an army or something, he was sure he could manage it on prestige alone... here? It was all he could do to hope those kids didn't get themselves killed.

And then a small hope appeared, in the return of Sora and Izzy.

Just Sora and Izzy. And their Digimon, of course. And Daigo quickly found himself briefing Joe Kido before he had to throw this kid into the equivalent of a warzone with no way out.

"If it's so dangerous," Joe started, glancing around the table, "Then why do you want it saved so bad?"

"...Because as terrifying as it was, in a way, that was the best year of our lives." He'd never forgive himself if it turned out that his saying that was what convinced Joe to give the DigiDestined thing a shot. So he'd never ask, and maybe he could pretend that it wasn't a possibility.

---

"...Do you really think we should have sent them like that?" Riku asked, as the four of them sat staring at the place that, just moments before, had held three DigiDestined and two partner Digimon. "I don't know, it just... feels sort of wrong, to send them in and not go there ourselves."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing with him..." Kaz sighed. "But he's right. Sora's a tough girl, and Izzy knows what he's doing... but that Joe kid?" The one piece none of them were sure about.

"...Still better off than we were," Haru pointed out. Like that was some huge accomplishment. Anything would be better off than they were. Just as long as they didn't go in blind.

Daigo still couldn't bring himself to look away from where the portal had been. Had he been fast enough, could he have gone back? He'd have been dead weight in a fight without a partner, but... well, maybe he could have done something useful. Talked a few Digimon around to their side, used his honed conversational skills to recruit an army for himself... done something, other than simply allow himself to remain in this world.

...Was this what Maki had felt like?

Either way, for the DigiDestined's elected leader... he certainly wasn't feeling like it right now.

...Maybe that was why the goggles were so heavy.

Well, you suppose there's one thing you can do to make up for burning the forest that won't raise too many questions. ....About what you're worried about, anyway, you'd be surprised if there were no concerns raised from this at all.

"You say it's not a problem, but... well, it'd be more fair if we made this a trade of information." Izzy and Joe both glance at you, as though they're worried about what you're about to say. Really, you're not entirely sure about this, either, but... it's only fair. "We have reason to believe that there may be a Machinedramon about that is evil enough to want to work with the Dark Network."

"Machinedramon?" Piximon crosses his arms, which is amusing to look at when he's just a pink puffball. "What kind of Digimon is that? It sounds familiar, but I just can't place it!"

...Right, time difference. And this Digimon doesn't seem to be much of a history buff. "Big metal dinosaur. Has control over machinery. One of them earned a Hazard symbol once, we're sort of worried he might have come back... one of the Dark Masters?"

"...That does seem about right. But a Dark Master? Really?"

You shrug. "Well, we found a note when we went to destroy the Dark Network... it said that the final product would be marketed to a Machinedramon, though I don't know if he knew it existed yet or not... given that the desert's still there, though, I'm going with 'not'. It might not be the one that was a Dark Master, but... Can't be all that nice, either."

"No, I suppose not..." Piximon seems to be lost in thought. "I suppose I'll have to up my training regimen, then, just in case. I'll have to get started immediately... good luck finding your friends!"

He flies away, leaving you with the other present DigiDestined in the middle of the desert. You guess you're not getting food or anything out of this after all.

"So, who wants to walk through more sand?" You ask. Your friends just groan. "...Flying out it is, then."

---

Once you're back at the forest's edge, Biyomon and Tentomon promptly veto any more multi-day flights. Honestly, you can't blame them. But you think you've arrived at a place that was more or less worth it.

Fruits on the trees, bright leaves of both green and blue... it looks like some sort of wild orchard. The sun's going down already, so you check your Digivice to see what time it is.

...Far too early for sunset this close to the equator, but that's the Digital World for you. It's not the most sensible place when it comes to things like time and climate. Not the most sensible place in general, though there are time when you feel you understand it better than your own world.

...But then, your world is complicated. Physics, and politics, and a variety of life that you'd never even had the chance to know about. At least Digimon have a fairly predictable life cycle.

"That's really pretty, don't you think, Sora?" Biyomon asks, staring out across the forest. "But we're out of the desert, what do we do now?"

"I don't know, find the others, I guess."

"So, what are those fruits, anyway?" Joe asks, looking up at the objects on the trees, in a variety of colors that would probably hurt the eyes if the light was any brighter.

"We've never seen them before," Izzy tells him, just as caught up in the scenery as the rest of you. Then again, given the desert you just left, that's not exactly a surprise. Anything would be incredible compared to that. "I don't know if they're safe to eat, or..."

"Well, I'm sort of hungry, so maybe we could test it out," Tentomon suggests. His partner shakes his head.

"I don't think so. As MegaKabuterimon, you're the strongest fighter we have." Admittedly, that's out of two right now, so it's not quite as impressive as it would be otherwise.

But if those fruits are edible, they look like they'd be really tasty...


[ ] Stop to pick the fruits.

[ ] Keep going.