Hi, sorry this is late.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon.
CLAIMER: I own Kyousuke, Lexi, Juan, and Hydramon.
"The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." ~ Psalm 121:7-8
Mmm. Nothing like a strawberry smoothie to wash down a chicken sub. Lexi stood up, brushing the crumbs off her skirt. Only one thing could top this off – ice cream! Maybe some rich chocolate mousse with caramel drizzle and huge brownie chunks.
"You want anything for dessert, Aunt Mitzuki?" she asked.
"Just a small vanilla. But you might want to hurry. You know how I always get sleepy after eating."
"No problem." Lexi wandered over towards the ice cream stand. But before she got there, someone grabbed her by the arm.
It was Kouji. He was nearly doubled over in obvious exhaustion. "Hey," he panted, "We need… your… help."
Lexi pulled her arm free of his grasp. "Forget it," she hissed, "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm staying out of this craziness! I'm not a part of your cute little save-the-universe team! So just leave me alone!" She turned to go back, but he stopped her again.
"Listen to me. When this first started, a few of us didn't want to save the world, either. We didn't believe in destiny at all. But trust me, once you're in, you can't get out. And sooner or later, you won't even want to leave. Trust me on this: I know what it's like. But if you want to just ignore it, go ahead. Just don't blame the rest of us when everything goes south." He turned back to his car, which Lexi now saw was parked only a few feet away from where they stood.
For some inexplicable reason, Lexi didn't move. "All right. What do you need my help with?"
"An evil Digimon grabbed the others. Izumi and Kyousuke are out of reach, and I can't rescue them all by myself."
"And how am I supposed to help? I can't fight. I don't even have a Spirit-thingy."
"We found yours right before that thing attacked us. So are you coming or not?" Lexi hesitated only a little before getting into the car.
"Where is it?" Lexi looked around, but she couldn't see anything that even remotely resembled a 'Spirit'.
Kouji rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, there's one little thing I kind of left out."
Lexi threw him a glare. "What?"
"The Digimon kind of… ate your Spirit."
"WHAT? How could you leave out something so important?"
"Please, like you would've come if I'd told you!"
Lexi sighed loudly. "Fine. Then I guess we'd better start walking." She turned and began walking upstream. For some reason, Kouji didn't follow her.
"We're never going to rescue them if you keep going on like that," he called.
"Oh yeah? Why?"
"They went that way." Kouji was pointing in the opposite direction.
"Oh." Lexi blushed.
"Hey, what's this thingy?" Neemon asked, picking something up off the ground.
Kouji ran over and grabbed it. "It's Tomoki's D-Scanner!" he exclaimed, "He must've dropped it!" He stuffed the device into his back pocket and started walking. Lexi followed, but nearly tripped over Neemon.
"Maybe these guys should stay behind."
"Nonsense!" Bokomon insisted, "There's a high probability that you will be the next to Spirit Evolve, Lexi. As Keeper of the Book, I simply cannot miss it! And the others will have to come as well. It all goes crazy with them when I'm not around."
Two exasperated sighs. "Fine."
Kouji was growing impatient. This was one of those times where it felt as if he'd be better off working alone. While he was having no trouble climbing over the wet rocks on the shoreline – even with Bokomon and Neemon nearly choking him half the time – Lexi was lagging behind. Throughout the entire trip so far, she'd been constantly complaining, mostly about the fact that she was wearing high heels. Occasionally, she'd beg him to stop for a break, and he'd repeatedly say no. They had to keep going.
"Geez, how can you actually do this stuff every day?" she moaned.
"Practice. We practically do more walking than fighting. You'll get used to it." Lexi slipped and had to grab Kouji's arm to keep from falling flat on her face. "Hopefully soon," he muttered, low enough so that she couldn't hear.
They were silent for the next few minutes, just picking their way along the slippery rocks. The Digimon weren't making it any easier. Of course, Patamon wasn't any trouble; he just flew along beside them. But Neemon often squirmed, and Bokomon would scold him every time he did. And Lexi, clearly not used to carrying two Digimon on her back, would shift her shoulders every couple minutes, causing Salamon and Lopmon to cry out.
"So… how much further?" Lexi finally asked.
"How should I know? I can only tell direction, not distance."
"Well then, how can you tell direction?"
"I'm using Tomoki's D-Tector to track Takuya's."
"I just hope we get there soon," Neemon added, "I think I'm getting shoulder-sick."
"Well, you'd better not get sick all over me!"
"Neemon, don't even think of aiming at me!" Bokomon threatened.
Eventually, after about half an hour of frustratingly slippery rocks and the occasional huge wave splashing them, Kouji and Lexi finally stopped at the entrance of the dark cave. All the Digimon slid off, Neemon inevitably landing on top of Bokomon, his face green. "All right," Kouji whispered, "We'll go in, and I'll distract it, while the rest of you go and see if you can help the others. Got it?" Lexi nodded seriously. She wasn't all too eager to take on some sea monster Digimon, with or without a Spirit. Kouji pulled out Tomoki's D-Scanner and handed it to her. "Once they're free, Takuya and Tomoki can Spirit Evolve, and then we'll figure things out from there."
"What about you?"
"It took my D-Scanner, too. I'll have to deal with it the old-fashioned way."
"Are you crazy? You'll be fish food!"
"I'll be fine. Just trust me on this."
"Why are you always asking me to trust you? You think I don't already?"
His eyes widened, and an awkward silence filled the air. Lexi never noticed the exact shade of his eyes: deep blue, just like her little sister's favourite dress, the one Lexi had made for her by hand. Alisonne had wanted pink, but Lexi liked that colour. A coughing noise from Bokomon, and a retching sound from Neemon, followed by a cry of disgust from the former, brought the two back to their current situation. The dead-serious expression and Kouji's face returned. "Look, we just have to stick to the plan and pray it all works out, alright?"
The small group slowly crept through the dark, twisting tunnel until it opened up into a large cavern. Lexi gasped at the sight. The cavern was somewhat beautiful; light came from a big crack in the ceiling, reflected off a huge pool of water and illuminated the entire space. But the beauty of the scene was completely tarnished by the various bones scattered about – probably the remains of any poor, unsuspecting Digimon who'd wandered in – and, of course, the huge monster sleeping in the water. It had seven long, snaky heads on seven long, snaky necks. The creature was entirely covered in shiny green scales, even the two huge fins on either side of its body. One mouth hung slightly open, revealing rows of needle-sharp yellow teeth. Bokomon pulled his book from his weird pink body warmer and began flipping through it. "That's Hydramon," he noted, shuddering. Seriously, how did he fit a whole book in there? Lexi felt a light weight on her shoulder and realized it was the little winged Digimon, Patamon. The little guy looked absolutely terrified. He buried his face in her hair, shaking like mad. Lexi couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Poor little guy.
"Look!" Kouji whispered, pointing. Lexi followed his finger to where Takuya, Tomoki, Junpei, Kouichi, Juan, and Shinya were stuck to the wall with some sort of vomit-coloured goop. Shinya was looking rather nervous, and Juan looked close to hyperventilating, while everyone else remained calm.
"Why are your brother and all the old Warriors so relaxed?"
"Because," Bokomon explained, as if it were obvious, "what makes them Legendary Warriors so strong is their belief in not only themselves, but also in each other. They know we're coming to rescue them. They have faith in us."
"Exactly," Kouji added, "We stick together, we look out for each other, and we trust each other. Part of being a Legendary Warrior is being able to trust your teammates with your life, and to be trusted with theirs. You don't abandon the fight just because you're afraid you might not make it, because someone always has your back."
"Has anyone every gotten seriously hurt?" Lexi asked.
A shadow crossed over Kouji's face. "Yeah. In our second fight against this guy Duskmon, I took a bad hit and was out for a long time. That was our last fight with him as a team. The other battles were just one-on-one against me, except Takuya helped me beat him for good."
"Why you?"
Again, Kouji got a weird look on his face. "I-I don't know. He just had it out for me, I guess. Never found out why." Lexi knew he was lying. But now was not the time to get into that.
"I guess it's now or never," she breathed. Right away, Kouji jumped up and quickly crept over to the side opposite their friends, on the other side of the pool. He then picked up a small rock and chucked it at one of the sleeping Hydramon's many heads.
The stone hit the monster's thick skull with a dull thunk. Hydramon opened all fourteen eyes – beady yellow ones that sent shivers down Lexi's spine – and glared at Kouji, each head uttering a guttural growl. One dove at him, but Kouji jumped out of the way. The head crashed into the wall, temporarily stunning it.
Bokomon tugged on Lexi's arm. "Now would be as good a time as ever," he hissed. Right, time to get to work. Lexi took a deep breath before hurrying along the cavern's edge. Part of her wanted to just make a mad dash for it, but there was too great a risk of being spotted. By the time she was there, Kouji had the monster's full attention.
Takuya and the others hadn't noticed her; they were all focused on Kouji, too. Shinya nearly jumped out of his skin when she stopped next to him and tapped him on the shoulder. She pressed a finger to her lips and started tugging at the substance gluing him to the wall. Try as she might, she couldn't get him loose. The thick gunk was stubborn, and all she succeeded in was getting her hands covered in it.
A shout came from behind her. Lexi turned to see Kouji flying through the air, tossed by the third head from the left. He hit the ground on her side of the pool, then slowly got up and started running again.
But it was too late. Hydramon had spotted Lexi.
Last chapter coming next Friday, but then there won't be anymore from this series until probably summer. Sorry.
"A word after a word after a word is power." ~ Margaret Atwood.