Digimon: Digital Monsters

‘Mirror, Mirror’

By 7 of 11

Part One

Takeru Takaishi unfolded the morning newspaper. He glanced at the headlines. Something about a fire in downtown Tokyo, schools were getting packed to the brim with kids, nothing new. Something suddenly caught his eyes. Down at the bottom of the page, was a drawing of an animal. The humanlike figure, dinosaur head, gleaming metallic armor…if Takeru hadn’t known any better, he would have said it was WarGreymon.

He looked at the caption below the drawing. ‘Artist’s rendition of a monster sighted in the Greater Tokyo area, as described by multiple witnesses’. Takeru turned back and walked into his apartment. "Honey, you might want to take a look at the front page of the newspaper," he called to his wife, who was at this moment getting out of the shower. "There’s something you might find interesting." He tossed the newspaper onto the kitchen counter.

"I’ll be there in a moment, Takeru!" Hikari called. His pretty wife walked out of their bedroom and they kissed. As she turned to where he had left the paper, Takeru went to the door of his daughter’s room.

"Kana? Time to get up!" he knocked on her door.

A shout responded from inside the room. "I’ll be there in a second, Dad!"

The phone rang from inside Takeru and Hikari’s bedroom, and Takeru strode to pick it up. "I’ll get it!" He grabbed the receiver and pushed the answer button. "Hello? Oh, hi Taichi! Sure, one second!" He walked back out of the bedroom, and handed it to Hikari, who was examining the drawing intensely. "It’s for you, hon. It’s Taichi."

"Taichi? Great!" She took the phone and began talking with her brother. At that moment, the doorbell sounded.

Kana burst past her parents. "I’ll see who it is!" Although Takeru couldn’t see the alcove where the door was situated from his position, he heard the door open, and then Kana’s squeal of delight. "Uncle Taichi!"

Hikari felt her blood run cold at Kana’s proclamation. "Taichi?" She whispered, into the phone. "Where are you?"

"I’m at my house, where else would I be?" her older brother responded. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Because you’re over here…" Hikari said "And if you’re at your house…who’s at the door?"

A shriek from Kana cut through the ensuing silence. "You’re not Uncle Taichi!"

Takeru jumped to his feet in one leap. "Kana!" he shouted. Their daughter came tearing around the corner, followed closely by what seemed to be millions of blood-red energy beams, which scorched the wall past the ten-year-old girl. Smoke shrouded the doorway, but Takeru could see through it. Striding calmly through the haze, Taichi Kamiya was flanked by several robot-like creatures. It wasn’t the Taichi that Takeru knew, however. A cape of pure black was draped across his shoulders, and it was clipped at his throat with a frightening brooch-a human skull. His eyes glimmered with malevolent energy.

"Quickly, into the bedroom!" Hikari yelled. The trio dove into the adjoining room, and shut the door behind them. And not a moment too soon, because the wood hissed as lasers struck it behind them. She leaned against the wall, panting in terror. "Is everyone all right?" The rest of her family nodded.

"How do we get out of here?" Takeru looked around the room.

Kana pointed. "The window."

Hikari looked at her daughter. "Are you crazy? There’s a 10 story drop if you fall!"

"And a painful burning death if you stay here!" Kana retorted. "It’s the only way."

"Hikari, you and Kana go." Takeru grimaced. "I’ll hold them off."

Kana’s mouth opened. "What? We can’t leave you here! You’ll die!"

Takeru shook his head. "It’s the only way!" He paused to listen. "Now hurry! They’re getting closer! Go, now!" Ignoring their protests, Takeru ushered his family to the window. As soon as Hikari was out on the narrow ledge fringing the building, Takeru slammed the window down and locked it. Not that the lock would do much good, but it might buy the two women a crucial few seconds more. Then, the door leading to the main room of the apartment shattered into splinters, and smoke billowed in.

"Mom…Dad will be okay, won’t he?" Kana trembled.

Hikari held onto her daughter as they traversed the small path like two tightrope walkers. "Yes, he will be." She lied. "He’ll be fine." However, soon it wasn’t just Kana who was shaking. Then, Hikari’s foot slipped. With twin cries of terror, the mother and daughter slipped off the edge.

They had barely enough time to scream, when they suddenly felt strong hands grab them, and they stopped falling, and started rising. "It’s okay, I won’t hurt either of you." Whispered a voice from Hikari’s past. She turned and looked. What she saw made her gasp.

"Angewomon!" The seraph smiled down at the person who had once been her partner.

"That’s me." Angewomon flew higher into the sky. "I’ve missed you. But there’s no time to chat, I need to get you two to safety!" As they cleared roof level, Kana and Hikari could see around themselves. The entire world seemed to be burning, growing darker by the second. It was if Evil was visibly permeating their realm.

Kana looked at the Angel. She didn’t know who this was, but she had heard stories about the Digital World. "If you’re Angewomon, that means that this has something to do with the DigiWorld, right?"

Angewomon looked at Kana, then at Hikari. "Your daughter is quite intelligent, Hikari. However, it’s not as simple as that. I’ll get you to where the others are, and then everything will be explained to you."

But Hikari wasn’t listening. Her vision was still affixed to the small window where they had exited. "Takeru…" she sobbed.

What will happen to Takeru? Who are these new enemies? Is Taichi really against the Digidestined? Find out next time!