Chapter Text
Digital Accident Tactics Squad (DATS) HQ
Yokohama, Japan
It had been several months since the defeat of King Drasil and the restoration of the barrier between the human world and the Digital World. Or, to be more accurate, it had been several months since the members of DATS had thought that the barrier between the two worlds had been restored. While the barrier was fixed, it soon became apparent that there were still several cracks and leaks between the two worlds. Compounding matters, the cracks were appearing in places that had ever experienced any kind of incursion before. Prior to all of this, most of the intrusions were concentrated in Japan. Yes, there were many DATS organizations spread throughout the world but none of them received the level of government funding that the DATS HQ in Japan did. As such, most of the organizations around the world had begun to disband; the final mission carried out by these branches of DATS being the erasure of the memory of the nation's inhabitants who witnessed the near collision of two worlds. Following this, many of the members of these DATS branches proceeded to wipe their own memories. For some, the things they had witnessed were too much to bear, to say nothing of the everyday person who had been briefly exposed to the existence of Digital Monsters. The cracks seemed primarily concentrated into North America. More specifically in the region of northern Virginia. Reports had stated there were freak power outages and accidents that seemingly occurred for no logical reason or explanation. Other reports talked about locals seeing what they thought were very strange looking animals. Thankfully, no one was fully aware of what was actually going on. Initially, members of DATS had suspected that the presence of Digimon in this area was due to its proximity to Washington D.C. After all, given the tendency of Digimon to feed off of negative emotions, what better place than one associated with politics, the desire for power and control, and the occasional instance of corruption. However, upon further investigation, it soon became clear that this was not the case. All of the reports were confined to rural rather than urban areas, which was particularly baffling given the abundance of electrical powers in the cities. Further analysis showed that the Digimon seemed to be drawn to the immense negative energy coming from the region. Or at least it was thought the inhabitants of the region must have been experiencing negative emotions given the presence of poverty and lack of meaningful social mobility. One town in particular had many more digital intrusions than the others: Lark Creek. Wanting to acquire more information about the town beyond its population numbers and local economy, Commander Sampson dispatched the few remaining members of DATS and their Digimon partners: Marcus Damon and Agumon, Thomas H. Norstein and Gaomon, and Yoshino Fujieda and Lalamon. Their objective was to maintain a presence in the area, contain any digital intrusions and ensure the public remains ignorance of the existence of Digimon, and report back their findings to DATS HQ. Keenan Crier and his parent Falcomon were charged with protecting Japan should any possible digital incursions occur in the nation, unlikely as it seemed. The three teenagers and their digital partners were teleported from DATS HQ to Lark Creek. Except the specific coordinates made it so that they should have arrived in a secluded area where no one would spot them, allowing them to better sneak into town and come up with a plausible cover story so as to arouse suspicion. But for reasons that had yet to be explained, there was some kind of error in the teleportation. They would arrive in a secluded area, but it was not an area devoid of life. In fact, it was an area that was becoming more and more appealing to some of the newly arrived Digimon. The forest and the Digimon present there had yet to show up on any of the satellite scans of the region.
Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke were two teenagers facing the anxiety that came with the beginning of high school. Each of them being nervous about different things. In Jesse's case, there was the mixture of excitement and fear at the presence of an honest-to-god art class. It was a place where he could hone his skills and build up his portfolio. Perhaps gain the opportunity to win some scholarship money. Because Lord knows his family did not have the money to send any of their children off to college. Leslie's fear is one that has been present since her accident: Whether or not she will experience a debilitating headache that prevents her from keeping up with her peers. While Jess was able to thankfully save her after she accidentally hit her on the rocks in the bed of a creek, she still fractured her skull and lost a great deal of blood. The doctors told her that she could expect migraine occurrences for the rest of her life. Medication helped, but there were times where she could barely pay attention to anything going on in the classroom due to the throbbing of her skull. In some rare cases, the headaches became so bad that she would be pulled out of school for a few days to better recover. She didn't know what she would do without Jesse's support. In addition to showing support by always dropping off her hoemwrok on days she was absent and frequently checking to make sure she was okay in class (in spite of the Lord knows how many times Leslie insisted she was fine when she clearly wasn't), Leslie was forever grateful for his companionship and friendship. In high school, falling behind certainly carries more consequences than in elementary or middle school. And if she wants to become a successful writer someday, then she better damn well figure out how to efficiently think clearly. Terabithia was still a respite from the world at large, but it was a respite they were finding less and less time for due to the increased responsibilities that came with age. Compounding matters is the fact that with their diverging career goals, increased workload, and just the general stress and anxiety that comes with puberty, both Jess and Leslie worry whether or not their friendship will survive. Neither of them relished the thought of slowly growing out of touch with one another and being plunged back into a world of lonely isolation. As such, in the waning months of the summer, the two of them made an effort to visit their beloved kingdom more frequently. Nothing could crush them if they stuck together. Certainly not the arrival of six strange beings from out of nowhere whose very presence makes them aware of yet another hidden world neither of them knew existed.