Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction. Thanks and enjoy!
War to End All Wars--1
The light suddenly dimmed, leaving the eleven former Digidestined in a city that went beyond imagination but was a reality.
The first thing that was noticed was the streets: they were gold. Not painted gold, actually gold. And there were no cars. There were no vehicles of any kind. The sky was clearer than any of them could ever have imagined it could have been, showing that there was no pollution. There was absolutely no garbage anywhere. And the buildings! They were incredible! The windows weren't rice paper or glass, although at first glance that was what they had assumed the windows to be made of--glass. But they were later to learn that instead of glass, the windows were made of diamonds-- pure diamonds. The walls didn't look like the normal building at all. They looked as though they had been molded--no, crafted into incredibly elegant formations that reached toward the sky, though they appeared to be made of a type of metal.
"We've been waiting for you," a gentle, fluty, feminine voice said. It sounded as though it had been carried to them on a fresh spring breeze instead of merely spoken. When they turned to see who had spoken, they were in for an incredible surprise.
The woman was beautiful beyond belief, though she appeared to be a normal person. She had black hair that hung down against her back and very dark brown eyes. She wore a light blue blouse with sparkling stones scattered across the front, which appeared to be rhinestones, but were more likely rubies. Her blue jeans were slightly flared and also had rubies around the bottom hems. Perhaps it wasn't how she was dressed or her physical features that made her so attractive. She seemed to radiate a light from her body. She also appeared to be extremely excited.
"I knew you were the ones! I just knew it!" she cried.
"What's going on?" Taichi demanded. "Who are you?"
The woman sighed and answered: "there is no possible way you could pronounce my real name. You can call me Corina, though. Oh, and welcome to Quewari, the city of angels."
"Are you an angel?" Sora inquired.
Corina nodded and replied: "everyone here is. Well, excluding all of you."
None of the newcomers had expected an angel to wear jeans. Their ideas of angels all went back to the white, flowing robes, the wings, the halos. At the most, they had thought maybe an angel would look like Angemon or Angewomon. But they had never expected an angel to wear jeans.
"And what did was meant when we were told we 'passed the test?'" Koushiro questioned.
Corina smiled happily and replied: "well…I'm assuming one of our messengers told you of the war between Dark and Light, correct?"
Eleven heads simultaneously nodded.
"That's good. It'll make an explanation much easier. The messenger didn't have time to tell you of the rumor, obviously, or else you would understand all about the test. You see, it was rumored that a certain group of people would come in contact with the Dark and survive. And not only that, they would find the gate to Quewari as well. It was also rumored that that same group of people would pass a series of tests, each to be rewarded with a crystal that would open the final gate to Quewari."
"So the ghost town…" Daisuke began.
"And the jaguar…" Mimi continued.
"And the psycho sprite…" Taichi added.
"And that smoke lady…" Sora related.
"And the hall of doors…" Hikari stated.
"And the dragon…" Koushiro said.
"And Miss Nellar…" Yamato picked up.
"And that hunter…" Miyako added.
"And those dogs…" Iori continued.
"And the ship…" Takeru related.
"And the mutant reptile," Jyou finished. "They were all a test to see if we were the right people?"
Corina nodded.
"And uh, what would've happened if we didn't pass the test?" Daisuke wondered.
"You would have been returned to your normal lives with no memory of anything that involved Quewari or the Dark," Corina stated. "Well, either that or you would've died of course," she added, shrugging nonchalantly as though the thought of death was no big deal.
"Oh…I see," Jyou muttered. "So you just put us through a dangerous test with the chance we could get killed and kick back and watch so that you know if we can fight in some war that we'll probably end up dead in anyway?"
"No, no, no! It's not like that! You see, there was a less than one percent chance that any of you could have been killed. As I stated before, you most likely would return to your normal lives! You don't think we want to kill innocent people, do you? Leave that to the Dark."
"So now what?" Takeru queried.
"Now what what?" Corina replied, answering Takeru's question with a question of her own.
"Now what happens? I mean, we made it here, so now what do we do?"
"Oh. Well, you're going to be staying a night here and then I'll bring you before the Monarch tomorrow night. Everyone OK with that?"
Everyone nodded, half because they knew it would be best to trust Corina and half because they weren't entirely sure what a Monarch was.
"Great! Come on, I'll take you to your rooms."
Corina started down the golden streets, but stopped and muttered: "oh, I'll do it the easy way."
The next instant they were inside one of the buildings that defied imagination, standing outside a door with a gold number on it: 3A.
"How did you--" Koushiro began.
"You've never used teleportation?"
"But that's impossible! It violates practically every law of physics!"
Corina shrugged and turned to the door. "Sorry you'll have to share, so you all might be cramped," she apologized as she opened it.
After one look inside, Hikari assured: "no…I…don't think we'll have any problems."
"Oh, good!" Corina smiled as she turned to leave.
"Hey, wait!" Iori shouted after her.
Corina turned back to the group.
"What about dinner? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but we've got to eat sometime."
"Why?"
Iori blinked in surprise.
"What do you mean why?"
"Why?" Corina again inquired.
"Well, we'll get hungry sooner or later," Yamato explained.
"Hun-gry?" Corina repeated.
Yamato almost felt like laughing. The young woman's face had the same enchanted look a young child took on when learning something incredible. Her eyes were brightly glinting and an eager smile was on her face.
"Hunger is where your stomach feels empty. You have to eat when that happens or you could starve to death," he explained.
"Starve?" Corina repeated, the smile fading. "Death?"
"Starve is where you get so hungry you die," Jyou replied.
The smile was off Corina's face now. Her eyes drooped and glistened with a layer of tears.
"I didn't know there was such a thing," she said. "We don't have to eat here. Sometimes we do it just for fun, but I've never been hungry before. That's so sad. I'll get plenty of food sent to you."
Corina turned, a troubled look in her eyes and disappeared.
"I didn't realize she didn't understand about hunger. I didn't know it would hurt her like that," Iori murmured. "I almost wish I didn't say anything."
"Well, we can tell her not to worry next time we see her," Mimi suggested. "I think we should go into the room now. I don't know what she was talking about. There's no way anybody could be cramped in there!"
The room was huge. It was larger than a Presidential Suite. It was like a small mansion! Each bathroom had a spa. There were four sitting rooms, a library, sixteen bedrooms, all with two perfect beds, a hologram projector that served as a television, making the worlds it created in incredible 3-D…You name it, this house had it. And this was only an apartment!
~*~
True to her word, Corina sent plenty of food for them. In fact, she sent enough food to feed an army, the marines and the state of Texas. She also sent a short message: here's the food. I hope it's enough. Please tell me if it isn't.
Somehow, it all managed to fit in the kitchen (though it really wasn't much of a surprise that the cupboards and refrigerator could hold far more than they looked like they could).
"Hmmm…. I dunno…. Do you think this is going to be enough food?" Jyou jokingly inquired.
"Well, I'm not sure. Between Taichi, Daisuke, Yamato and Takeru the rest of us might not have anything to eat," Hikari teased as she watched the four above mentioned chowing down on the food.
Takeru looked up at the mention of his name, swallowed his bite of pizza and replied: "hey, I don't eat that much!" before cramming his sixth piece into his mouth whole.
This resulted in the other seven friends laughing long and hard before sitting down at the table and eating as well.
All agreed it was the best meal they'd had in a long time.
~*~
Night in Quewari was also amazing. The sky took on a deep aquamarine color, but never really darkened to a full black--yet somehow millions of sparkling stars were visible, winking down onto the city. Maybe the oddest thing about the night sky was that there were three moons, one the normal whitish-yellowish color, one a delicate sea-green color and the final an odd color that appeared to be both silver and gold at the same time.
Mimi thought it was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. Like something you would put on a postcard, she thought, gazing out the window of her bedroom at the incredible sky.
She felt as though she would be able to just look at that sky forever and never grow tired of it. It was so vast she would always be seeing something new and incredible for all eternity.
It was with reluctance that she let the white curtain drop, blocking her view of the sky. Of course the sky had been something to see, but it went unparalleled to the grandeur of her own bedroom.
Besides the previously mentioned holographic television and perfect beds, there was something else that interested Mimi immensely. The closet was huge! And it was full of clothes--all in her size! There had to be enough clothes and shoes in there to wear a completely different outfit every single day of the year (never wearing the same shirt or pants twice) for a decade! Heck, it would take a decade to walk through the whole thing on foot!
Of course she wanted to try some of the clothes on, but she curbed the desire and lay down in one of the beds before closing her eyes.
I can't believe we finally made it….
~*~
Daisuke yawned heavily. I didn't mean to stay up this long, he thought as he snapped off the holographic television set. Then again, I didn't expect them to have about 200 sports channels, either!
There were specific channels for football, soccer, baseball, basketball and every other sport you could imagine. Plus there were many channels that covered sports Daisuke had never even heard of--let alone seen--that appeared impossible, yet were very much possible, as demonstrated by the athletes onscreen.
He wished he could try a couple of those new sports, but at the same time realized that wasn't the reason they had come to Quewari. They had come to Quewari to fight a war, not play games, and that was what they were going to do.
He yawned again and closed his eyes, thinking: hope I won't be too tired in the morning. Within seconds, he was peacefully sleeping.
~*~
"Hey, what's the fountain for?" Miyako inquired of Corina the next morning.
The eleven former Digidestined and the angel were outside a building that was enormous, the walls of which appeared to be crafted out of clouded crystal to prevent anyone from outside seeing in. It had a scalloped roof, fashioned out of more of the crystal and the windows were also made of diamond, though this diamond was tinted the faintest shade of blue.
Corina had looked rather anxious and sighed with relief when the door was opened when she knocked only minutes ago. Upon being questioned why she seemed so happy to see them, she replied: "I wasn't sure if I sent enough food. I really didn't want you all to starve." After several assurances that there had been plenty of food, she had teleported them to this castle-like place.
Miyako was pointing to a gigantic fountain. Its many spouts appeared to be crafted out of gold and silvery water was continually flowing from them into a swimming pool sized basin at its bottom.
"Oh, that's the Fountain of Youth," Corina replied. She sounded as though she were only telling somebody the time of day.
Miyako nodded, dismissing it for the moment before she realized what Corina had said. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, she thought.
"Come on, the Monarch doesn't like to be kept waiting," Corina stated. "And he's been doing that for a few millennia."
She led them through a set of heavy doors that were made of opal and into the castle. Sora looked all around as she followed Corina through its halls, wishing she could stop and look at some of the sculptures that lined each side of the hall more closely. She noticed they all were made out of some type of precious metal or gem, though it didn't surprise her all that much.
After walking down a complicated series of halls, they came to a set of doors made of emeralds and blue diamonds with a pattern cut into them.
"Now don't be nervous. You'll do just fine," Corina said as she pushed open the doors.
A voice came from inside the room: "ah, so you are here at last! Come in, come in!"
Slowly, the eleven people walked inside. Corina followed and closed the doors after her. The Monarch rose from his chair that was fashioned of every single type of gem known to man and slowly approached them.
If he's been waiting for millenniums, he looks pretty young, Hikari thought. Young was an understatement. He wore jeans, as did Corina, but his did not have gems in them. His shirt matched his jeans and was also void of any gems, but to make up for the lack of gems on his clothes was a small blue diamond embedded in his face, near his left eye. Other than the diamond, he appeared to be a normal man.
The Monarch circled the group of former Digidestined, taking in their every trait before stepping back, sighing and stating: "I'm sorry. You aren't the ones."
Corina groaned in disappointment and replied: "and I was so sure they were the ones!"
The eleven adults could hardly believe it. After all they had been through, this man says they were wrong and it's all over?
Yamato frowned and angrily questioned: "do you know what we've been through to get here?"
A faint smile played on the Monarch's face and he said: "no. Not entirely. Relate your adventures to me, pray tell."
"We were attacked by the Dark," Yamato began.
"Three times," Koushiro chimed in.
"We were split up, we faced your crazy test that almost ended in all of us dead," Yamato continued.
"I beat an insane sprite!" Taichi burst out. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?!?"
The other ten people in the group fell silent and looked at Taichi and he timidly defended: "well, I did."
"We got the crystals because we passed the test," Mimi continued, holding in laughter. Taichi versus a sprite. This I've gotta hear about…, she thought.
"I found my way through that stupid maze," Sora added.
"Yeah, and I found my friends in the hall of doors," Hikari said.
"And we all made it through the gate," Jyou broke in.
"Do you think we would've done it all if we knew you were going to just say 'nope, go home?'" Miyako angrily inquired.
"And finally," Yamato finished, "we got here so you could take one look at us and tell us 'oops, we screwed up.' Well, lemme tell you something! I'm not going to take it!"
The corners of the Monarch's lips were now turned upward in a barely suppressed smile. "And what are you going to do?"
"There are eleven of us…" Daisuke started.
"And one of you," Iori finished.
"I don't think your odds are all that great," Takeru added.
The Monarch finally allowed his smile to break through as he said: "that's all I need to hear. Congratulations. You are the ones."
"Excuse me?" Jyou reacted.
"You're the ones."
"But how--" Hikari wondered.
The Monarch sighed and began: "I suppose I should explain. You see, there was a part of the rumor that Corina could not tell you. In addition to passing the test, the chosen ones would also have to stand up to me. You're the first group that's come through here that had the nerve to do that."
"You mean more people have gone through that test?" Miyako unbelievingly inquired.
The Monarch nodded. "They made it through the hardest part, and might I add the pointless part, yet failed to fulfill the important part, the final deciding factor."
"Wait just one second," Koushiro broke in. "Do you mean to say that the test in which we acquired crystals didn't mean anything? Do you mean all we really had to do was stand up to you?"
"Correct," the Monarch replied. "At least, that's mostly correct. You see, the physical test was nothing more than something for us to determine your physical capabilities. It had little to do with determining if you were the correct people.
"I know I have not given you near the amount of information you would like to know, but it is safer that you know the smallest amount possible. Our soldiers will explain anything else you need to know. The army shall set out immediately and you shall accompany them. Goodbye. And good luck."
With those final words, Corina ushered them all out the door. Her face was literally glowing with excitement and ecstasy.
"I knew you were the ones! I knew it!" she happily cried. "Sorry I had to deceive you earlier, but we had to be sure."
"What do you mean 'deceive' us?" Takeru inquired.
"I had to act as though I knew nothing about humans. I had to act as though you were the ones undoubtedly and as though you were the first humans I had ever seen," Corina explained.
"Oh. Well, you did a good job of it," Mimi replied. "And it was kind of funny when you sent all that food!"
Corina smiled even wider and she replied: "I'm glad it worked. And I'm truly happy you're the ones." After a brief pause, she added: "come on, I'll take you to the army. You have no idea how long they've been waiting for you guys to show up."
Seconds later, they were standing in another room in the castle via teleportation. It was the largest room any of them had ever seen and it was packed full of angels like Corina and the Monarch.
Corina took a deep breath and shouted only three words: "we found them!"
It took only those three words to send the relatively peaceful room into a flurry of excitement, all of the angels clamoring to get a look at the people they had waited for so long to show.
"Settle down!" a booming voice cried out.
A male angel stepped forward. He was large and bulky with sharp-cut muscles. If they hadn't been in the city of angels, the former Digidestined would have not thought this guy was an angel at all. He wore a pair of camouflage pants that were tucked into a pair of heavy army boots and a camouflage jacket over a white muscle shirt. His dark hair was slicked down neatly. He also had an emerald embedded into the back of his hand.
"That's the leader of the army," Corina quietly explained. "He's not as harsh as he sounds. His name is…eh…well, you can call him Al."
"We've got our orders from the Monarch. It's finally time to battle the Dark and end this war!" Al shouted.
A collective cheer went up through the thousands of angels gathered in the room.
"Move out!"
The angels began teleporting out of the room until only Al, Corina and the former Digidestined's remained.
"So you're the group we've been looking for," Al muttered. "Come on, I'll take you to our camp."
"Oh, wait a sec!" Corina shouted. She reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on a small gold chain that hung around her neck before holding out a small feather that was made entirely of amethyst. "Here, I want you guys to take this. For good luck," she said before handing it to the nearest person to her; Hikari. "Goodbye."
And then in the next second the room and Corina disappeared. The place they ended up was…quite different from the castle they had been in less than a second ago. Trees that at one time had been large and full were charred and black, bent over and dying. The sky was filled with a thick, acrid smoke that discolored the sky to an ugly gray color. Besides the blackened trees, there was nothing to see. All plant life had been destroyed, either by some type of battle or the lingering effects of one. If the battle hadn't destroyed the plant life, the choking smoke did it. It was barren and ugly.
"Real cozy and happy, huh?" Al stated.
"Yeah…just great," Daisuke hesitatingly replied.
"And this isn't even the front. We're over 7,000 of your miles away from the actual battle."
That was definitely a wakeup call. Even when they were so far away from the fighting, the landscape was still utterly destroyed. It was scary.
Hikari found herself holding the amethyst feather so tightly her knuckles turned white. She put the small crystalline feather into her pocket, but still kept her hand in her pocket, keeping a finger on the feather at all times. It gave her a sense of safety, and almost of power. Her fingers seemed to tingle when she touched it and she could nearly feel energy surging into her body through her fingers from the feather.
She was startled when Al began talking: "well, I guess the Monarch didn't tell you much about this war. That's a good thing. What you do know about the enemy is nearly all you need know. But there's one final important thing about the Dark you must know. It may come as a shock to you, but the effects of our battle in this parallel dimension to your own are beginning to seep through into your dimension."
"Y-you mean all this that's happening here is starting to happen where we live?" Koushiro shakily inquired.
Al nodded. "But don't worry too much about it. We're going to finally kick the Dark's rear end!"
"Why do you need us?" Sora inquired. "What can we do?"
"That I'm not 100% sure about. All I know for sure is that you survived numerous encounters with the Dark. Normal humans can't do that. I am sorry you have to be dragged into this, but without your help we may never end this war. And I know that all of you are capable of defeating at least one demon apiece by yourselves, even if you have to struggle to do so. That too is a quality rarely found in humans.
"You should rest now. Tomorrow we make our attack to end this war and you're going to need every last bit of strength you can acquire."
The eleven adults agreed and were soon sleeping….
~*~
Taichi's eyes fluttered open. Sure, he was tired, but for some odd reason he couldn't sleep. A feeling in the pit of his stomach kept awakening him, keeping him awake. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep.
But something was bothering him. Something was wrong. Something was badly wrong. He could feel it. A sense of foreboding was tugging at him, forcing his eyes to open.
Something wasn't right. And that was when it hit him: a black tornado was approaching. At least, that was what it appeared to be at first. But when he realized what it really was, it sent a chill down his spine. The tornado was composed of thousands of demons, banded together. It was close. Way too close.
Taichi sucked in his breath and felt sweat pooling on his face. He wanted to shout out, to scream that an attack was coming, but his voice wouldn't come to him. It felt as though his throat had had all the moisture sucked out of it.
He rolled onto his back and swallowed, trying to clear his throat so he could shout out a warning. His throat was like sandpaper and no sound would come out. This scared him. He'd never been the type to panic like this and here he was, so afraid he could only watch the black tornado approaching them.
Wind was beginning to whip his hair across his face and dirt was getting into his eyes and mouth. He coughed and very slowly sat up. The cyclone had to be less than a half-mile away by now and it was giving off more of the dark smoke that clogged the air. It was causing him to cough and choke.
And it was then he was finally able to cry out: "attack!" between a fit of hacking. The tornado had covered half the distance to them by this time and the smoke was stinging his eyes.
Immediately, the camp became a scene of chaos, though it was nearly invisible through the smoke. Al's voice cut through the air: "all groups, defensive! NOW!"
Angels were running by them, forming a long, narrow rectangle between the former Digidestined and the demons.
Jyou could hear snatches of what the other angels were saying: "there's so many of them!"
"We've got to hold them off!"
The demons were upon them. Then: "what about the humans?"
"A and B groups! Take the humans and RETREAT!" Al's voice frantically called through the smoke.
"What's going on?" he heard Mimi sleepily mutter. "Why are we--oh my God!"
Mimi's last remark was brought on by her seeing the tornado break through the last line of soldiers and blast straight toward them. Less than a second later, they were inside the vile cyclone, spinning in midair, out of control no matter what they did.
The demons were flying in quick circles to give off the illusion of a tornado, but inside their cylindrical formation was a huge hollow space where all eleven of the adults ended up. Iori found himself unable to open his eyes as the wind created from the demons circling him forced them closed. But it wasn't like it would do him much good if he opened them. It was horribly dark inside; the smoke was so thick it was difficult to breathe. The only thing that pieced the horrific darkness was an occasional crackle of red lightning that existed for only a millionth of a second.
Iori heard: "we can't find them, sir! It's got them!"
He wanted to cry out: "I'm here! Right here!" but his words were thrown back into his mouth by the wind.
Then he heard: "there's too many of them! We can't hold them off!"
In addition to the sounds of the angels shouting, he also heard the demons. Some were laughing quietly, others were whispering to each other. All he knew for certain was that it wasn't a very nice sound. He tried to force his eyes open to try and see what was happening, but they were practically glued shut.
And then there was a flash of bright silver light that cut through the tornado, scattering the demons in every direction and allowing Iori to open his eyes again. He was falling from fifty feet in the air toward the ground, the wind from inside the tornado no longer supporting him.
"There they are!" he heard an angel shout.
"Retreat! Now!" Al's voice was heard.
The wasteland disappeared quite suddenly. The first thing Iori saw of his new surroundings was green. A tremendous amount of green. He realized he was looking up into a canopy of bright green leaves formed by tropical palm trees. The grass underneath him was green and spongy. Quickly, he got up off of his back on the ground and looked at the rest of his surroundings. There was a lake so blue it looked like it had been painted directly ahead of him. A thin strip of sand lined it, like a small beach.
"You guys OK?"
Iori snapped his head toward the voice and saw that it was Al. He saw the rest of his friends getting to their feet and breathed a sigh of relief. All eleven of them nodded.
"I'm real sorry about that," Al apologized. "I didn't expect them to attack us like that."
"Where are we?" Jyou wondered.
Al smiled and said: "one of the few places that's totally safe from the Dark. This is a tropical valley that demons can't live in."
"How is that possible? What do you mean 'can't live in?'" Koushiro questioned.
"There are some places demons just can't go. The reason for this is unexplainable. Anyways, this happens to be one of those places."
Iori furrowed his brow and curiously asked: "what saved us?"
"Huh? Oh, you must be talking about Paragon," Al replied, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "He's a mystic and nobody's really sure which side he's on. Guess you could call him the Medium force, if that's how you want to put it. Pretty much fights on whichever side he feels like, which is a pity. If we could just keep him on our side, we would win for sure. It's a good thing he decided to side with us back there or we'd all be goners now."
Al paused a moment before his eyes lit up and he enthusiastically suggested: "hey, why don't a couple of you go and talk to him? You know, try and convince him to stay on our side?"
"Couldn't that be dangerous?" Yamato skeptically replied.
"No, he doesn't hurt humans. Sure, he's a little crazy, but he doesn't hurt humans. Besides, he lives in this valley."
Hikari stepped forward and offered: "I'll go."
"Yeah, me too," Takeru added.
One by one, all eleven of the former Digidestined offered to go. Al shook his head and replied: "Paragon hates crowds. He'd feel a lot more comfortable if only two people went. And since you two," (he jabbed his finger at Takeru and Hikari) "volunteered first, you can go."
"So where exactly does he live?" Takeru questioned.
"Well…he doesn't always stay in the same place," Al explained. "See, his house moves around. You'll find it, though."
Hikari and Takeru started toward the ring of trees and Al called after them: "one other thing! He likes to play around a lot. Just warning you, he might get on your nerves."
Sora watched the two disappear into the trees and thought: good luck.