Butter-Fly Effect

"Yeah, I- I think I want to hear about this." It's the kind of incredible coincidence that you'd never expect to happen, even if the world you've found yourself in laughs in the face of conventional logic. "What happened?"

"Well, it was back when we were leaving the desert," Mimi begins. "A lot of us were just glad to see trees again, so we didn't really think about what else it meant... like dealing with hostile Digimon. I mean, there were those in the desert, but they generally stayed away, so we didn't have to deal with them all too much, aside from that time we stole a cruise ship."

"I... think that might have had a bit more to do with you stealing the cruise ship. And where did you even find one of those?"

"Well, there was this Kokatorimon that liked turning random Digimon into stone... he decided to target Gabumon... and it ended with us taking his ship." You don't think you want to hear the full story. "Aside from Biyomon, we just don't have any luck with birds..."

"Apparently not," You agree, though you can't help but wonder about that. "So, about the homicidal parrot?"

"Oh, right. Well, I'm not really sure what happened, really... there weren't really any other Digimon around to tell us what his deal was. Just... well, he was called Parrotmon, he didn't seem to like DigiDestined in general, and once Greymon came out he sort of... went psychotic?"

You're just about at the top of the ferris wheel now. You wonder, for a moment, if you could see where the castle is if you turn to face it, or if it'd just be blocked out by mountains and trees.

...Probably the latter. You're content to just look and make sure there's no explosions over in the direction that you came from.

"Really? In what way?" Honestly, you can't think of why anything would react to Greymon in particular like that.

"He didn't seem interested in attacking anyone else anymore. Just Greymon. Which was how Angemon and Ikkakumon were able to take him down, but... it was pretty scary. Like, even compared to Devimon, it was still..."

You sort of get it. Thinking back, Devimon wasn't really your fight. You just happened to be there, and helping out the side that didn't like Black Gears. And you don't really know what Etemon's problem was, other than that he was probably just fighting you by sheer principle of being an evil Digimon. Compared to that, someone who had personal reasons to fight the DigiDestined...

Even if you're not sure why anyone would have those anymore. You haven't really been here that long, and nobody really knows for sure what happened to Maki, other than that she no longer seems to be active.

"Yeah, I get it. The Parrotmon that appeared four years ago was trying to get at the Sovereigns by targeting their partners, and Daigo was right there. It... things could have been a lot worse." And you're comfortable admitting it now, the event softened by time and the knowledge that everything did, in fact, turn out okay in the end. Things could have turned out worse, and every time your friends send you a message through the walls between worlds, you're glad it didn't.

You have no idea how your life would have turned out if you hadn't met them all those years ago, but you're imagining that you'd be a lot less prepared to take on the Digital World.

"Right, you're friends with them. I never asked before, but... what are they like, really?"

"Well, Daigo's the leader. No matter what he says, you'll always agree with it in the end. He has goggles like Tai's, but he ended up putting them away for a while... I'm not sure, but I think he only started wearing them again in the past couple of weeks outside. He's... really helpful, and the reason Tai doesn't just go around offending everyone in the vicinity."

"Compared to simply offending half of the Digimon around."

"And that's still an improvement, right?" Mimi doesn't seem amused. "Anyway, next is Haruka. She- well, she taught Izzy everything he knows, that should give you a good idea on how smart she is... Great with computer codes, less great with people, terrible at keeping things neat and tidy. She's dating Rikuto, who I'm pretty sure has some sort of ability to manipulate luck, given that the others don't play cards with him anymore. He's the one to ask about things like Digivolution, probably to make up for the fact that sending him to the kitchen is a horrible idea."

"How bad is it?"

"He once blew up a cake... and it turned out to be the wrong flavor. And, finally, there's Kazuya. He's the cook, can make anything as long as there's fish in it. He's got some pretty good survival skills in general, but his specialty is in exercising. I'd say something about Maki, but I only really met her twice..."

"That's fine." Mimi shrugs it off, watching the landscape as you descend. "It sounds like they're all pretty interesting."

"I guess." Honestly, to you, they just seem like... regular people. As much as that's possible. The Digital World may have messed up your definition of normal a bit.

At the same time... you really wouldn't have it any other way.

---

Once you're done with your ferris wheel ride, you and Mimi set off to find your Digimon, hoping that they didn't gorge themselves too much on cotton candy. They're probably going to be extremely hyped up on sugar, but you'd realized that was a hazard as soon as the possibility of sweets was mentioned.

Thankfully, while they're all over-energized, they don't seem to be too interested in wandering off, so you should be fine with just staying in one place until they crash.

"I'm glad there's no one working here," Joe comments. "We'd make so much of a scene..."

"Joe, we're the only humans here," Matt reminds him. "We make a scene anywhere we go."

"For this reason?"

"Okay, maybe not..."

"But we're not," Kari speaks up. Everyone turns to her. "We're not the only humans. We're just... the ones that can actually do things."

There's something not right about that.


[ ] What does she mean, you're not the only humans?

[ ] The ones that can actually do things? What's that supposed to mean?

[ ] How does she know any of this?

[ ] Ignore it. Let someone else handle this, if they want to. You don't feel like dealing with this today.

"Not the only humans?" The words come out so easily, and you're sure that, if you didn't, someone else would have said it. "What do you mean?"

Kari's not looking directly at anyone right now. She's fiddling with her whistle and her Crest, tangling them together in a knot that's actually pretty impressive, if you were to judge. "You've all heard the stories. We've never been the only ones who could be here."

Joe shrugs. "Well, yeah, but... the others wouldn't come here on their own. Not without Digimon, anyway."

"And we still don't know what happened to their friend," Matt adds. "I mean, nobody's seen her in how long?"

"Long enough," Izzy replies. "And while Sora and TK are proof of the possibility of more DigiDestined existing out here... how would they even get here? We were fortunate enough to be near a portal... though with how things are in the Analog World, any group of at least four could probably power one open."

Given how rare Digivices are... you don't think you have to worry about another random group of four. At the very least, you're sure that you know all of the DigiDestined that live in the same city as you, and given that nobody seems to have found any others... it should be fine.

"There... probably aren't that many other DigiDestined out there," Mimi states. "Then again, nobody seemed to realize Sora and TK existed, so..." So there's options. "Go on, Kari."

"There's not... a lot to say. Just... there's someone besides us in this world, and... they can't do anything. It might be just one, but it could be more. I don't know. It's just... something I can feel?" That sounds strange, and like something that nobody back home would believe.

Then again, just about everything about the past few months has been inherently unbelievable, at least given what your own world claims is and is not possible. Something which you yourself defy just about every time you go outside with your partner. So it's not like the reactions of people from your own world has any say in what is and isn't true.

"Is it like the partner thing?" Tai asks. She shakes her head.

"No. It's more... solid? It's not like it's pulling me or anything, it's just... there's at least one other human here, and they're helpless. That's it." She doesn't seem entirely happy with this turn of events. You can't blame her.

You also get the feeling that nothing more is going to come of this conversation, if it keeps circling around like this. At least you figured that out before you got stuck on the same topic for hours on end.

---

You end up deciding to leave early the next morning, because as much as all of you enjoy the amusement park, you're all half-afraid that some big Digimon is going to come around and insist that you pay for all of that cotton candy. And you don't have any bits on you.

As you set off along the lake, Joe poses a question. "Hey, do you remember those odd Digimon that we met around here?" Oh, right, Opossummon and her friends.

You nod. "Yeah, they were pretty strange, weren't they? Not in a bad way, but..." Well, there's only so much of that particular brand of madness you can take.

"You think the others would like to meet them?" Well, their antics would probably help Kari cheer up and start acting like a kid again... on the other hand, learning that you have fangirls would probably stroke Tai and Matt's egos, and you don't really need that right now.


[ ] Bring the others around to where Opossummon and her friends live. It'll be fun!

[ ] Maybe raise the idea to the others and see what they think. Sadly, it means that the element of surprise will be lost.

[ ] On second thought... maybe you should keep going.