Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Where are we?
Davis Motomiya was bored as he listened to his maths teacher drone on and on about something, equations maybe?
Whatever the subject was, his brain just seemed to refuse to take any of it in. Instead, it began to drift towards his doppelganger who had come from another alternate world. Diana Motomiya.
It had been a month since he last saw her, when she finally returned to her world with Other TK who came to fetch her through a gateway her friends had helped to create.
Her friends... from the sounds of it, they had worked tirelessly to bring back their goggle headed leader. From how Diana spoke about them during her time here, it was clear they were all close, much closer than he seemed to have with his own friends.
Davis knew he wasn’t the brightest or smartest person out there, and he knew his personality was loud and brash. He always laughed it off when the others made comments or remarks that insulted his intelligence or belittled him, yet deep down... it hurt.
Even Diana’s own partner Veemon, seemed to share a much closer bond then he did with his own partner.
A part of Davis, a part he hated... whispered in his mind. Would his friends have worked this hard to bring him back if he got lost in another world?
Would he ever have a bond that close with his partner, who he already saw as his best friend and family?
Riiiiiing!
The sound of the school bell broke him out of his thoughts, finally signalling the end of this rather boring lesson as Davis swung his arms in the air. “Yahoo! Finally! Thought I was gonna die!”
The teacher glanced at him in disapproval, as several students sniggered and chuckled at his outburst as they began to pack away and leave. Everyone was pretty much use to the goggle wearing boy’s antics by now.
Kari rolled her eyes, smiling as she swung her bag over her shoulder. “You know Davis, if you just put your mind to it and focus, school wouldn’t be so boring.”
TK snorted before grinning as he got up next to her. “Davis and focus is like water and oil. The two don’t mix.”
“Oh har har TJ, you’re so funny, I forgot to laugh.” Davis scowled at him, as Kari giggled.
He knew the jab was just a joke, but it still made him feel slightly small, especially with his crush laughing as well.
Sometimes he had wondered if Diana’s friends were just nicer, or that he really was that dumb and slow. The fear that he was the actual problem always made him feel sick whenever he thought about it.
TK grinned, clearly amused. “It’s TK. You should know my name by now.”
“Whatever man, last one to the computer room is a rotten egg!” Davis grinned and took off like a rocket, not once glancing back at the two as he left the classroom and sped down the hallway. The hurried footsteps from behind told him the two were following.
As much as people believed he was, Davis wasn’t stupid enough to not realise his crush was one-sided. At first, he did his upmost to gain Kari’s attention, since she was the only person in school who actually wanted to give it.
She was his only friend at the time, until TK came. Then suddenly, it was like he was an afterthought. So, he became even louder, hoping it would fix things. It didn’t.
Over the months during their adventure, he fought the blonde boy for her attention, but his efforts to gain her affection grew less and less. Until eventually he only flirted for the sake of flirting, knowing he was fighting a battle he had no hopes of ever winning.
Worse was the silent looks of pity from Tai, his mentor and the person he looked up to the most.
No one could deny the way Kari and TK looked at each other, they way they always stayed together or how they acted when one was hurt or in trouble. It was only a matter a time before they started dating, everyone knew it... and so did Davis.
Yet oddly enough, ever since Diana had stayed, the two had become slightly awkward with each other.
Not a lot, but just enough to be noticeable.
“I win!” Davis laughed as he burst through the door to the computer room, which thankfully wasn’t being used this week for detention. Felt just like old times, especially when DemiVeemon came running towards him with a happy expression. “Davish!”
“Sup little buddy.” He grinned, holding out his arms and catching his partner as he leaped towards him.
“Did you really have to burst in like that?” Poromon huffed as he fluttered over. “I almost got deleted from the shock.”
“Where’s Cody?” Upamon asked as he bounced on the desk, eyes on the door as if expecting his partner to suddenly appear.
He was disappointed as Kari and TK appeared moments later, both panting slightly.
“Sheesh Davis, when did you get so fast?” TK asked, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead, as Kari pulled up a chair and sat down while fanning herself. Gatomon walked over to join her partner, as Patamon fluttered over to perch on his usual spot on his partners head.
Davis grinned and crossed his arms behind his head. “Don’t laugh, but I started taking up running around the block after school. Coach says it builds up stamina, and I thought, if Diana enjoys it, maybe I would too!”
And his twin from another world was right. Running was kind of fun. He didn’t like it as much as soccer, but there was sense of freedom when you ran as the wind whipped past you.
Kari perked up at the name. “Oh, I remember Diana, the other you right? I wonder how she’s doing?”
“Kicking butt and being awesome of course, like me.” He smirked, puffing out his chest.
“Or being a public nuisance, like you.” Yolei smirked as she appeared behind TK, with Cody beside her. The youngest member of their group looked as stoic as ever, as if he was an adult, not a child.
As much as Davis liked him, he never knew how to approach Cody, as previous attempts were always met with an eye roll or a snarky comment. Normally about his intelligence.
He didn’t like the way the youngest boy would act like he was more mature and better then him.
“Ah shut up, four eyes.” Davis grumbled at Yolei who glared. “What do you know? You’re a menace to guys. Heard Micheal from America is still in therapy after meeting you.”
“What did you say spikey head?!”
TK sighed and quickly stepped in between them. “Ok that’s enough you two. We’re heading to the Digital World remember? Plenty of stuff over there that still needs fixing.”
Patamon grinned. “That’s right! Save your energy for the labour~”
Yolei pointed at her eyes, then at Davis who scowled, before walking over to the computer and raising her D3. “I already sent Ken a message to meet us over there. Digi-Port open!”
Instead of the usual Digiport turning green to indicate the gateway was open to the Digital World, it flickered and began to glitch as purple data particles began to float off the screen.
“Yolei broke it!” Davis gasped, pointing at the confused spectacled girl.
“N-No I didn’t!” She exclaimed, before taking a seat and typing away as her partner landed on her head. “Something is wrong with the DigiPort!”
“Maybe we better call Izzy.” TK said, as he and the others began to crowd around Yolei who continued to type away furiously. “I’ve never seen the DigiPort do this before.”
Davis stood just behind Cody, then paused at the strange sensation, almost like static washing over him. Before he could voice this, the computer screen suddenly cracked with a sound like breaking glass.
Then it burst outwards as an intense purple light enveloped them, making them all scream out in shock as they were sucked through the gateway.
Davis groaned as he slowly woke up, opening his eyes to see that he was still in the computer room. In fact, they all were.
He and his friends, along with their partners were scattered around the room as if they had been tossed inside. That wasn’t the strangest thing though...
Poromon, Upamon and DemiVeemon were all in their Rookie forms.
Veemon sat up and rubbed his head. “Did anyone get the number plate of that Trailmon who hit us? Ooooh my head... and that’s saying somethin’!”
Cody sat up next, looking a bit disoriented as Armadillomon remained slumped on the ground, his eyes half opened and dizzy looking.
“What happened...?” Kari spoke up next, rubbing her head as she looked around. “We’re still... in school?”
Gatomon got up and seemed on edge, her fur standing on end. “Something isn’t right, this doesn’t feel like the real world.”
“Indeed.” Hawkmon responded as he helped Yolei up. “This feels similar to the Digital World, but I don’t think we’re there either.”
TK got up and placed his hand on Kari’s shoulder, checking her over with a concern expression before looking down at his D-Terminal. “My D-Terminal is dead.”
The group gasped at his words and fumbled for their devices, only to see the blonde boy was right.
And it wasn’t only their D-Terminals either, their phones were dead too, and so were the computers around the room.
“This is super weird, what the heck are we gonna do?” Davis said as he got up and looked around. “And what’s with our Digimon being in their Rookie forms?”
“Beats me.” Veemon shrugged, as did Hawkmon and Armadillomon.
“Ummm... guys?” Cody spoke out, a slight tremble to his voice as he stood by the window, staring out. “You might want to see this.”
The group walked over to join him, and their jaws dropped at the sight that awaited. It was definitely their school, yet beyond the school grounds past the gate... was nothing.
Just an endless void, as if the whole school itself was floating in the middle of a digital space.
“Ok, definitely not the real world.” Davis gulped, his fingers twitching slightly. “Damn... did we get sent to another world when Yolei broke the DigiPort?”
“I did not break the DigiPort!” Yolei growled as she wheeled around to face him, her glasses almost sliding down her nose. “Anyone with half a brain cell would have seen-!”
She stopped as the computer door slammed open, the noise making them all jump in fright and turn around.
“Woah...” Said another Veemon as he stood there, a bandana around his neck as he looked at them all in surprise. There was something oddly similar about him, other then being a double of his partner.
Didn’t Davis meet a Veemon before who wore a bandana?
The Other Veemon stared at them, then tilted his head back to yell. “Dia! Over here!”
Dia? Wait... it couldn’t be, could it?
There was the sound of running, then Diana Motomiya came into view, standing behind her partner as she stared at the group is disbelief.
Nobody seemed to be able to move, as they simply stared, then Davis stepped forward and grinned widely, actually excited to see his twin. “Diana! What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too Davis.” Diana said with an identical grin. She walked over and slapped hands with him, as her partner followed closely.
“Long time no see other me!” Veemon beamed as he held out his hand.
Veevee nodded and shook his hand. “Yup.” The moment they let go, Veevee clung to his partners leg, looking slightly anxious.
“And nice to see everyone else too.” Diana beamed, looking around at everyone else. “I’m guessing you guys got sucked into this place too.”
TK who had been staring with a strange expression, blinked. “Uh, oh, yeah. You know what happened?”
“Yeah, what is this place?” Davis added.
Diana pulled up a seat and sat down, as her partner stayed by her side. “No idea. Me and the others were getting ready to go to the digital world, when something weird happened to the DigiPort. Next thing we knew, we ended up here. The school pretty much looks identical to our school, except for the cafeteria.”
“We?” Yolei asked, raising an eyebrow. Then her expression changed to one of wonderment and excitement. “Wait... is other me here?!”
“And another Cody?” Armadillomon added, looking just as excited.
Diana laughed and nodded. “Yup, so this is going to get super weird.”
The computer door slammed opened again for the second time, revealing Iori who looked panicked. His expression changed to shock however, when he saw the group, especially Cody who stared back with his mouth open.
“Holy smokes, another Cody!” Davis exclaimed, pointing before being smacked at the back of the head by Yolei.
“We can see, you dolt!”
“Iori! Isn’t this super cool?” Diana beamed at her friend. “Davis and his friends got trapped here too!” Then she paused, before looking sheepish. “I m-meant cool that you get to see them, not because they’re trapped like us.”
“Well, would you look at that Iori.” Armadillomon beamed. “Another you and me! Wait until the others see this!”
“You were right Diana.” Armadillomon said next to his partner Cody, who still looked shocked. “This is weird.”
Iori seemed to gather his bearings as he sucked in a breath, before turning to face Diana. “You shouldn’t wander off on your own, you had me worried.”
“Awww, I’m sorry Iori. I got bored hanging around and wanted to check out the place.” The goggle wearing girl said sheepishly.
Then to Davis’s surprise, he watched his twin get up and walk over to the Other Cody, her hand reaching out to ruffle his head with affection.
Instead of a scowl or some snarky comment, the boy actually smiled, his expression full of affection for his leader. The way he looked at her, was like a younger brother looking up at his older sister.
The difference was startling, and something Cody seemed to pick up on as well, as he glanced at Davis with an odd look, before returning his gaze to his doppelganger.
Diana then turned around and suddenly grabbed Davis’s arm. “I can’t wait for my friends to meet you Davis, come on!”
“Heck yeah!” he grinned, eager to follow and meet these other versions of his friends. He’s been secretly wanting to meet them since he first met his doppelganger in his world.
As the group began to leave the computer room and head in the direction of the cafeteria, Iori looked up at Davis with a warm smile.
“It’s very nice to meet you Davis. When Diana said she met a male version of herself, I found it quite hard to believe. Thank you for looking out for her, and let’s work together to figure out what’s going on.” Iori held out his hand.
Davis was taken aback by the warmth and friendliness of Other Cody, before grinning and shaking hands with him. “No problem Iori! We're figure this out, and lay the smack down on whoever decides to mess with us!”
Iori chuckled, looking amused. “You sound just like Diana.”
“Yeah, great... we have to deal with two of them now.” Yolei grumbled as she crossed her arms. “As if things weren’t bad enough.”
Iori paused, then suddenly stopped as he glared at Yolei. Actually glared at her. “Excuse me?”
His voice was sharp, catching them all by surprise as everyone stopped as well. Veevee, Diana’s partner was glaring at Yolei too, his red eyes narrowed as a slight growl issued from his throat.
“Woah, I was only joking.” Yolei blinked as she raised her hands slightly. Hawkmon stepped in front of her, nervously watching Veevee.
“Yolei doesn’t mean any harm by it.” Her partner quickly said, trying to defend her.
Iori narrowed his eyes. “Let me make this clear, I won’t tolerate any kind of bullying towards Diana, and that includes Davis too. Frankly, I’m quite happy there’s two of them here.”
Yolei spluttered. “I wasn’t bullying them!” she looked around the group, as if waiting for someone to back her up. “Right?”
Diana looked uncomfortable as she glanced at Davis, then at Iori who glanced back. Both of them seemed to communicate with each other silently before looking back.
Davis scratched the back of his neck, feeling weird that another version of Cody was actually sticking up for him, while his Cody just stood there silently with a strange and almost troubled expression on his face. “Awww come on guys, lets not fight. I wanna see the others.”
Iori glanced at him, then nodded as his expression soften. He turned and began to walk again as the others followed.
Veevee gave one final hard look at Yolei, then strangely enough, gave his own doppelganger an evil look before walking after Diana with his nose in the air. Veemon simply blinked in surprise.
“Well, that was intense.” TK joked, trying to lighten up the mood as he glanced at Kari.
Kari slowly nodded, looking troubled as she glanced at Davis.
When they finally arrived at the cafeteria, they instantly saw what Diana had meant by looking different.
It was like someone had renovated the entire room to be a living space. In the centre of the room was a long circler couch big enough for well over ten people. One corner was a very small designated cafeteria area, with only a few tables and chairs.
There were arcade games, a pool table and a few doors that were never there in the original layout of the school.
One was labelled, sleeping quarters. Another labelled Pool Area.
On the couch sat Takeru, Hikari and Miyako with their partners, all looking worried as they muttered.
“Guys!” Diana called out, looking positively excited as she gestured to Davis. “Look who got trapped here too!”
Her friends looked over and their faces instantly filled with relief as they got up and walked over. It was clear they had all been worried about their leader, and Davis couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you’re ok.” Miyako's partner Hawkmon said as he gestured his wing towards Diana and Iori. “You shouldn’t wander off and... Oh my! Another me!”
“Yes.” Hawkmon said as his partner Yolei stared at her doppelganger with her mouth open. “This is rather strange isn’t it? Seeing another version of yourself.”
Miyako raised an eyebrow at her doppelganger. “Ummm, hello? Quit staring would ya?”
Yolei closed her mouth and frowned. “Well sooorry for being shocked at seeing another version of myself.”
Davis watched as Takeru walked over and placed his hand on Diana’s shoulder, looking her over with an expression of concern, much like TK did with Kari.
It was clear that not only Diana liked him, but this Other TK liked her back. It made his stomach feel funny as he watched them.
Hikari had walked over to Diana’s other side too, before she looked at him and smiled softly. “Oh my gosh, you look like Dia’s twin.”
“I said the same thing before.” Kari giggled, looking amused, as both their partners began to square each other up silently.
“Yup! Pretty cool right?” Davis grinned. “Nice to meet you Hikari! I remember Diana being really worried about you, last time we saw her in our world.”
Hikari nodded, her expression filling with warmth and affection as she linked arms with the goggle wearing girl. “So I was told.” She chuckled.
“Well of course.” Diana grinned, rolling her eyes. “Like I said last time, Hikari is my best friend, and like a sister to me.”
Davis watched both girl beamed at each other, and felt another stab of jealousy. That’s how he and Kari use to be, best friends. If TK had never showed up, would his crush on the girl eventually vanished on its own? Would he had seen Kari like a sister too?
Anything would be better then his obnoxious older sister Jun who teased him all the time.
“Well, since we’re all together now, let’s try and work out what’s going on.” TK said, crossing his arms.
“Agreed.” His doppelganger Takeru said as he looked around at the group. “I’m going to assume you guys got dragged here the same way we did. It can’t be a coincidence that two groups from alternate worlds, happens to be the same group Diana came into contact with. It’s got to be linked somehow.”
Davis crossed his arms as he thought. This other TK was right, there had to be a reason both their groups were bought together in this strange alternate world of their school. “Do you think it has something to do with the gateway between our worlds?” he spoke up, gaining everyone’s attention. “I remember Izzy mentioning that since it was forced open, our worlds are more connected then normal. I think...”
Takeru blinked, then grinned. “Woah Davis, I didn’t even think of that! Nice catch man.”
Miyako beamed at him as well, as she raised one hand while her other rested on her hip. “Oh hooo~ Excellent observation, that could be a key element to consider. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s related to our situation.”
Davis became flustered, not expecting to receive praise for his comment. It felt... nice. “Oh well ah... of course!” He grinned and puffed out his chest.
I see you are all finally here... Welcome to the In-Between. A Digital pocket dimension of my creation.
The voice rang out from around them, as if coming from the school itself. They could even feel the vibrations in the air as each word was spoken.
“What the heck?” Diana gasped, as her partner grabbed onto her leg and growled, his eyes flickering around for any signs of danger.
The In-Between? Digital pocket dimension? None of them made sense to Davis as he raised a fist. “Alright loud voice from the sky, you better start talking! What’s going on here?”
I bought you all here for one simple reason, my amusement. Everything here has been created by my hands, and you... are my toys.
If you wish to return back to your worlds, play by my rules and win the game. Starting tomorrow, a doorway will open at noon every day... which will lead to a labyrinth of my making. Reach the end and face off against one of the seven Demon Lords.
Win, and you will receive their keystone. Collect all seven, and the path home will open.
Of course, the Demon Lords are fake copies, no doubt the real Demon Lords will utterly destroy you before you even have time to blink.
Good luck, Digidestine. I will be watching.
Silence followed as the loud booming voice finally came to an end, leaving everyone staring with slack jaws as they tried to comprehend what had just happened.
Demon Lords? Keystones?
“WHAT!?” Everyone exclaimed at the same time, their voices mingling as one, before they all stared at each other with matching expressions of disbelief.
It was Cody’s partner who finally spoke up, breaking the tension. “So ah, anyone feeling hungry?” Armadillomon asked, looking around.
“Good idea other me.” Armadillomon beside Iori smiled, giving his tail a little wag. “I’m famished!”
Both Cody and Iori sighed at the same time, before pausing and looking at each other.