REMINDER: Check the top of my profile page for a link to the Digital Hazard forum, made by Swords and Roses.
A/N: Okay... I want to take a moment to counter any claims by readers that some of the characters, particularly the new ones, are behaving majorly out of character.
...what's that? Nobody's made that claim yet? Well, read this chapter first.
I'm fully aware how character development is progressing in this story, so if anybody questions some of the behavior of any of the characters, don't worry. It'll be answered in the next chapter or two.
Also, as I finished this chapter I realized that it isn't as long as the other ones so far. It barely scrapes the 6k word mark, while all the other chapters in Book 2 have hit at least 7k. Still, I'm churning out roughly a chapter a week at this point, so I doubt anyone's going to complain about it being a little shorter. If they do... well, get over it! I'm happy with the progress I'm making, and I'm my own biggest critic, so it don't matter whatcha think of it. =P
Chapter 4: Reckless
Hero, one part brave, three parts fool.
It took a bit of finagling on Ken's part to get in contact with the Hunters. Calling was simple enough, but he was still an unidentified signal working inside the network. If they detected him at the base they might trigger an alarm... so instead, he contacted Koushiro. The latter was then able to link Taichi and the Hunter base into the conversation without setting off any red lights.
If Iori wasn't so focused on getting back to the digital world, he might have questioned why Ken was still so stuck on trying to stay invisible to the Hunters, but right then he just didn't care. Whatever worked for the boy, as long as it was fast...
Ken quickly explained the situation. Relatively safe, but it had the potential to go very wrong... Miyako needed out of the digital world soon, and for that she'd likely need backup.
"While we were setting the call up, I told Miyako and Wizardmon to start heading toward the gate terminal south of them. According to Wizardmon it's a pretty rough area, though. Hard to travel by land."
"Why did you do that? Was that the closest gate?"
Taichi had to assume it was... no other reason to send her that way. Besides, Ken was saying they needed to get her out quickly, so speed was likely the main thing on his mind.
"No. According to the resistance, there are gate terminals scattered all over. They could use any of them to escape with. The terrain there favors them, though. They're flyers, so they can just go right over everything while any ground-based enemies will be slowed down."
That wasn't the only reason, of course. Iori knew there was another, much more important one that he hadn't told anyone yet...
"Why are there so many terminals in that area? Was there something special there during the war?"
This time Taichi's question was directed to Koushiro. After the war ended, he had created a number of terminals to allow the children easy access back to the digital world if an emergency arose. Before, the Dark Network nodes had been their primary means of connecting, but they weren't going to leave that entire system up for some other psycho to take over and use further down the road.
"They're not mine."
Koushiro answered flatly, his tone clearly reflecting his chagrin.
"I created a dozen terminals and placed them at key locations in the digital world. All the locations were at least a day apart and each was secured. Guarded by a town or village, hidden in a cave... none of them were left out in the open."
"So who the hell created these?"
"It doesn't matter."
Ken cut them off, sensing Iori's frustration at sitting back and just listening to them argue over something that wasn't even important right now.
"They're there, they work like Koushiro's... we can figure out how they got there after we rescue Miyako."
"So what's the plan, then? It seems like waiting is our best option. If they have Wizardmon's stealth, they should be able to get to the terminal undetected and get back on their own."
Taichi had gotten a bit more pragmatic since the war ended... something which Ken didn't entirely approve of. Even if his plan was sensible enough, it was... soft. Lax. Back when they fought Myotismon they had to cover for every contingency and just-in-case scenario. They assumed the worst and prepared for it. Now it was like he was just taking it easy, choosing the most convenient path... like he didn't take their new enemy seriously.
"No. Your first visit to the digital world was met with only minor resistance. Miyako and Iori were faced with an army. We don't know what the Kaiser is going to do to try to catch her, so we need to have support ready."
"He doesn't even know where she's going."
"Doesn't need to. He has enough of a force to guard all the closest terminals."
Ken turned away to another screen then, forcibly ending the argument right there. He didn't much care that Taichi was an officer in the Hunters now and was, technically, still the leader of the Digidestined. Screw protocol... Ken didn't answer to either of those things. He was an independent. Always had been.
"Iori's digivice was able to connect to several terminals in this area. The one I directed Miyako to was the closest one to the signal from Iori's digivice."
Ken pushed a button on cue and two blips appeared on the screens of Taichi and Koushiro, marking both the digimental signal and the terminal.
"His digimental and partner are there, somewhere in that rocky area. They have about an hour to find them before Miyako arrives, and with a full team of three-"
"Hold it!"
Taichi found himself facing a rush of that same frustration that Yamato must have felt hundreds of times during the war... reckless people making reckless plans and rushing in head first, ignoring all common sense. Worse was the fact that Taichi was, at least in theory, the team leader and Ken was working around him like he wasn't even there.
"That's if they manage to find his partner. If the Kaiser is sending guards to that gate, they could be jumping right into a trap! I won't authorize what could be a suicide mission!"
"I don't need your authorization."
To everyone's surprise, it was Iori who was the first to speak in outright defiance to Taichi's command. He was responsible for Miyako being trapped, so he was going to make it right... and Daisuke was going to help him... probably.
He wasn't certain, but he got a sense from that boy that he wasn't the kind to leave any of his friends in danger. Even if he barely knew Miyako now, they were both still digidestined and comrades in arms. They needed each other, just like the first Digidestined did... and besides that, he was the one between them that was actually able to fight. Would he leave Iori hanging? Maybe... but not likely.
Iori didn't give Taichi time to respond. He had already donned the comm headset again and was ready to go, so... he went. The computer was connected, so he activated his digivice and jumped through, leaving the others to figure themselves out.
Koushiro and Taichi were both caught off guard by Iori's recklessness, enough so that when Daisuke moved up to activate the gate on their end and jump through Taichi wasn't able to react fast enough to catch him.
Hikari, on the other hand, was.
She didn't actually try to stop him, though. Instead he only felt a hand firmly grab his arm before the jump, and upon arriving he found Hikari and Gatomon right there next to him. She couldn't travel to the digital world with just her digivice... she also needed the help of one of the new children, so there was no way for her to get there if Daisuke jumped in ahead of her. She had to make sure she went with him, otherwise she'd be left behind and stuck just watching and waiting for them to return.
Besides, if Taichi complained about it later she could claim she was trying to stop him and got pulled along by accident.
Daisuke was rather surprised to find her going along with this, but he wasn't going to question it just now. He wasn't a genius, but he was smart enough to know that as soon as they got back the shit would hit the fan and everyone was going to made to answer for recklessness. No reason to sit here and question it when they were going to just end up talking over the whole thing again later.
Iori was there as well, already checking his digivice to figure out where they needed to go. Unfortunately, if the directions were right, the journey looked to be a bit more tricky this time... the area was just as rough and rocky and Wizardmon had warned. Very few plants around, so if they were going to hide they'd have to do so under rocks or in caves.
As always there was nobody around which indicated that this region, like the others they had visited, was under the Kaiser's control. Wherever his forces were, though, they weren't at the gate, much to the fortune of the children. Either they'd arrived before the enemies or the enemies simply weren't coming. Either way, they still had a job to do and limited time to do it with, so they'd best get to work immediately.
"So, uh... how are we doing this?"
Daisuke felt a little awkward... Taichi wasn't here to lead, so he wasn't sure who was in charge. He was the one with the strongest partner, but Iori was the one who knew where they were going...
"I'm in charge."
Hikari put an end to his train of thought right away. They didn't have time to sit and argue over what they were doing, and besides that, she knew Taichi would be angry later if she let either of the rookies lead. Might as well take charge...
"I've fought before, I was in charge of a Hunter division for at least a little while... I have the most experience, so it's easiest if I command."
Hm. Well, Daisuke couldn't argue with that. Glancing over, he wondered about Iori's reaction, but it seemed like he wasn't even paying attention. Though before Daisuke could say anything the boy cut him off, speaking without taking his eyes off the rocky path ahead of them.
"So what's the plan?"
"Get the digimental, get back here, hide as much as possible. Iori, you lead. Daisuke, Veemon, be ready to fight at any second. Gatomon, keep both eyes and ears open. Go."
Daisuke was taken aback slightly at Hikari's shift in demeanor. He'd seen it before when they were back at the school, but this time was so much more... intense. Her eyes were cold. The tone of her voice made it sound like they were walking to their deaths... he understood the principle of preparing for the worst, but... dear god, this seemed a little extreme.
As soon as they started on the path they found that the risk of combat wasn't going to be the worst part of their search. It was a relatively easy start, but as they worked into the winding paths over and between mesas both small and large they found that this area was far from anything that might be considered civilized. If anything resembled an actual road, it was purely by chance. The only digimon that could have lived in this area were diggers or flyers. Nobody else in their right mind would make this region their home.
Still... they made good progress, all things considered. It took less than half an hour to track down the main plateau from which the signal was emanating. Climbing onto a rocky outcropping nearby to get a look at the top, they spotted nothing of note, so... looks like it was going to be another cave.
That was the tricky part. There was obviously a path leading to the space under the main plateau, but they had to work their way around until they actually found it. Given its size, that was likely to eat up a good chunk of time...
Daisuke opted for an easy solution. Evolving Veemon, he sent him to go ascend one of the more forgiving cliffs and search around from the top edge, looking for any sign of paths leading up or into the rock formation.
Thankfully, Flamedramon was fast enough that the task didn't take too long. Soon enough he was bounding back down the side of the cliff with directions to a rough path leading up one side of the mesa to some caves.
Perfect. The way leading to the path was a little tough to work over, but Flamedramon was able to help them over the worst parts of it. Soon enough they were ascending the final path to the main cave where they assumed Iori's digimental waited.
Now Hikari just had to wonder if they would be able to get back in time... if it took this long to get to the cave, how would it be going back, especially if the Kaiser's forces showed up?
Iori and Daisuke weren't worried about that, though. They rushed ahead, the former intent on finding his partner and the latter making sure to protect him just in case they were ambushed. Not that Hikari expected an ambush...
The others were still novices. They had a tendency to forget everything they had on hand, particularly their digivices which could pick up hostile signals well before they arrived. They also hadn't started using the devices for communication yet, depending instead on Ken's tech to help them along.
She'd have to make sure they all got trained to use these things before their next mission. They couldn't just keep stumbling around the digital world like this and expect to fight off someone with an army of comparable size to what Myotismon's had been.
The path inside was fairly simple. It was actually far less rough than the cliffs outside, though that wasn't too much of a surprise... like the pyramid from before, this place had clearly been carved out with a single purpose in mind – it was there to house the digimental. Everything outside was affected by the weather and other natural occurrences, but the inside looked like it had been untouched since it was made.
As they headed to the back of the cave, Iori noted a few familiar symbols carved into various parts of the cave walls. Nowhere obvious, but definitely there. More of those things... they seemed to be everywhere in this world. He'd have to ask Koushiro about them later. They might be important to their fight.
As expected, they found the digimental at the back of the cave, marked with another symbol on the front. Iori took a few seconds looking it over, studying the symbol, much to Daisuke's confusion.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to remember which crest this is. Ken showed us a list..."
"Knowledge."
Hikari cut in, having rounded the corner a few seconds before and spotting the symbol.
Hmm... that didn't seem right. That sounded more like something Miyako ought to have. She was the smart one. He was just the... what was he? The careful one? Was there even a crest for that?
Regardless, he had to keep in mind that they were on a time budget, so he grabbed the digimental and stepped back, waiting for the inevitable flash of light and the appearance of his partner. It proceeded much the same as Miyako's had... right up until the digimon actually came into view.
The light quickly faded, leaving behind a small yellow mammal creature, curled up in a ball. Was he... asleep?
Iori nudged him a couple times, stirring up awake. The little ball slowly uncurled, yawning as he stretched for a few seconds. When he finally opened his eyes and looked around, he didn't have the keen focus that Hawkmon immediately possessed. Rather, he seemed much more... confused.
"Hm...? Who're you people, dagyaa?"
He glanced between each of them a few times, eyes briefly settling on Flamedramon as a hint of recognition crossed his features. Then he looked up to Iori, noting the digimental in his hands.
"Oh. Are you the one who woke me? I guess that makes you my partner! Nice to meet you, dagyaa!"
Uhhhhh... o-kay...?
"Um... nice to meet you. I'm Iori."
"Iori? Oh, right. I'm Armadillomon. Thanks for waking me up."
He stretched again, yawning wide and shaking his whole body a bit to try to stir himself completely awake.
"Ahhh... I had a good nap. Anyway... guess it's time to go then, dagyaa?"
Iori sighed lightly to himself. He was rapidly becoming accustomed to everything in the digital world being exactly what he didn't expect... this was just the latest example of that phenomena. For a moment he almost humored the idea that this was a mix up and that he and Miyako had each gotten the wrong partner. But no... their digivices were clear on what was what. He'd just have to figure out what was up with this whole mixed-partner business after they got back to the safety of their own world.
Iori nodded, motioning back to the others. Like his partner said... time to go. This time Daisuke led the way and Iori followed up at the rear, holding his digimental with a bit of... confused curiosity. A fact which Armadillomon apparently noticed.
"What's wrong, dagyaa?"
Iori snapped out of his brief, distracted stupor and glanced over to his partner, then back to the digimental, sighing lightly.
"I guess... I'm just wondering why I got this digimental. Some of the other kids are a lot smarter than me... why was I given knowledge?"
Armadillomon actually laughed at the question. Not exactly the reply Iori expected... but then, lately nothing was as he expected, so... this was getting to be fairly normal.
"You just answered your own question, dagyaa!"
"What? I was given knowledge because I don't have any?"
The little digimon laughed again and shook his head. Apparently he was going to be the free spirit of their group. Oh well... he was still more likely to be a voice of sanity than Daisuke or Miyako.
"No no... you're wondering! Knowledge isn't just knowing stuff, it's wanting to know stuff. Smart people ask questions, dumb people think they have all the answers, dagyaa."
Hmmm... so his ignorance actually made him... more knowledgeable? That seemed like an odd paradox, but it made a weird sort of sense, at least the way that Armadillomon explained it.
"So it's not so much knowledge as... curiosity?"
"Sure! But don't forget, you keep asking questions and eventually you'll get all that knowledge, dagyaa."
"So it's not so much about where I am as where I'm going..."
"Yup! See, you're sounding smarter already, dagyaa!"
Iori nodded. Free spirit or not, Armadillomon was no fool. Maybe they'd make a good team after all... however, those thoughts were suddenly cut off as Iori nearly ran head-first into Daisuke. At first he didn't know why the boy had stopped, but the beeping from his digivice and a quick glance around revealed the answer.
Crap. Surrounded. There were digimon up on the surrounding plateaus and down in the crevices surrounding their elevated path. Several of them were already climbing up and down the cliffs in order to get close enough to attack.
On the bright side, there were no bees this time. All the digimon looked fairly small... little stone men standing or climbing nearby. They didn't seem too tough, but Iori also knew that size didn't matter for digimon. Gatomon was roughly as powerful as a full grown dinosaur form of Taichi's partner, so this horde could be just as dangerous as the bees, if not more so.
"How tough are these guys?"
Figures Daisuke would ask... running away obviously wasn't his first option. Then again, he probably thought the same as Iori did regarding the danger.
"One on one? Nothing. Fifty at once...?"
Fair enough. Still, they had three fighters here, and it was tough terrain. The enemies couldn't all attack at once. If they could break a few rings and get the freed digimon to help, they might be able to hold them-
A roar echoing over the mesas silenced that thought right away. A large dinosaur-like digimon climbed around one of the nearby cliffs, holding itself up on the side of the rock wall itself so that it appeared to be standing sideways. Though it walked on all fours it moved with surprising ease and grace. Quite agile... and likely fast as well.
None of the children had seen this sort of digimon before, so they didn't know what to expect. Thus, when Hikari gave a quick command for Iori to prepare for a fight, he didn't hesitate. Digimental time. Evolve his partner and get ready for a drawn out fight...
However, he was surprised to see the form his partner took. Large, clad in gold armor, apparently an insect now, and armed with five large drills.
"What..."
"Digmon! Let's rock, dagyaa!"
Hikari noticed the change as well, and her mind immediately went to the big picture strategy. Heavily armored... it was doubtful he was agile enough to counter a bunch of small gotsumon and an extremely lithe reptile. On the other hand, five drills on a rocky path? Yeah, this was a no-brainer...
"Iori! Clear a path back to the terminal!"
Wait, what?
"No! I'm not abandoning my friends again!"
"Iori, get that stupid path clear and get back to the terminal! That'll give us a path to retreat. Besides, Miyako will be there soon – get her over here to help us!"
Iori grit his teeth. Dammit... he hated doing this, especially after what happened before, but... Hikari was right. Digmon could cut their travel time down to a fraction of what it might otherwise be, and if he could get them extra backup...
Alright, fine. He'd go... but he sure as hell wasn't leaving the digital world unless they were all together. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.
Digmon ducked as Iori ran up behind him, jumping up onto his back. Then he started down the path back to the gate terminal – or rather, what was about to become the path. There were a few steep drops, a number of scattered rocks or boulders in their way... but those were no big deal. Four drills were enough to cut a rough path through to a more clear area. Heck, he didn't even have to use his nose! That made it a lot easier to keep moving while he drilled.
Oddly, the rock-men didn't pursue him. Maybe the others were just an easier target because they were stationary, or maybe they just didn't want to divide their forces. Either way, he got away free of trouble while the first of the little digimon got to the children's level.
"Can you can handle this, Gatomon?"
Gatomon actually smirked as she bared her claws.
"Please..."
Really? Gostumon? Yeah... this was no big deal to her. The only challenge these guys posed was in hitting those stupid rings around their necks. The big chins would probably get in the way... otherwise, she could take these guys on blindfolded.
Then the reptile leaped off the cliff, landing a few feet above them on the path to the cave, opposite the bulk of the gotsumon horde. Okay... so apparently it had crazy-good jumping ability, too.
"Can you two handle that?"
Flamedramon glanced back for a second, claws opening.
"Please."
Hikari couldn't help but chuckle a little. Even so, it was clear that Daisuke's end of the fight would be quite a bit tougher... though Flamedramon put up a facade of strength and confidence, he nevertheless shifted into a battle-ready pose, apparently expecting the worst.
And the enemy had the high ground. Best not to give him the first strike, then.
Gatomon rushed forward, swiping out at each of the gostumon that approached. Their tough skin gave her some leeway – fortunately, though she might hurt them a little, she didn't have to worry about causing any serious accidental injuries if she brushed them too close. Her claws on a human neck would be outright fatal. Rocky necks? Maybe leave a mark, but nothing too serious.
First swipe, second swipe... two swipes at once. Four down already. Five, six, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen. All around her the freed gotsumon stumbled as they returned to their senses and she continued down the path, clearing a way for Hikari and Daisuke to follow.
Behind them, the lizard was clawing at Flamedramon, quickly pushing him back. The ring was around its torso, which made it a tricky target. With the way they were positioned it was impossible to get a good angle on it. He could always jump over to a mesa on the side, but then there'd be nothing between that thing and the children...
He managed to fire back and singe its front claws, though. Mind controlled or not, the pain was still able to distract it so that it had a hard time moving forward. Eventually, though, it got fed up with the games and decided to launch itself at Flamedramon and the children, apparently intent on simply running them over and taking them out all at once.
"Hit now!"
Daisuke shouted just as the creature drew back, just before the launch. Flamedramon reacted instinctively, throwing a spear of flame right between the beast's eyes. The hit did just what Daisuke had hoped it would. When it jumped forward, it had to do so with its eyes closed and while distracted by the searing pain on its face.
Its trajectory went wildly off course, throwing the beast onto a nearby cliff wall before falling into a small valley between it and them. It clawed wildly to grab the rock wall and slow its descent, ultimately succeeding it catching itself, but by the time it was able to work its way back up to the the children were already breaking out into a full run after Gatomon, who was well ahead of them on Digmon's trail, at the bottom of the path that led up into the mesa cave.
"Twenty-onetwothree! Five! Sixseven!"
Gatomon was blazing a path through the enemies. The more fell, the more came, and she just upped her speed to match it. Hell, she was was actually enjoying herself. She'd not been able to fight like this since back in the war.
She and Hikari had taken a couple trips back to the digital world to help Koushiro with taking apart the Dark Network, specifically with dealing with the other lowlifes who tried to take control of it. However, in each of those cases she had evolved in order to drive them away. Sure, that was all well and good... she was much stronger as Angewomon form than she was now, but she just couldn't have the wild fun that came with having a tail and claws. Plus she didn't have to feel guilty about killing anyone either since all her enemies would ultimately survive this encounter.
Once down on the lower level again, the children rushed ahead of their partners, leaving them to hold back the tide of enemies while they tried to move to a safer position.
That was cut short by the giant lizard jumping clear over the entire fight and landing on the far side, blocking their escape, but hey... they tried.
Fortunately, Flamedramon was no slouch when it came to jumping. He was able to dive over the enemies and land in front of the children before the beast could get a swipe at them.
"S'matter? Don't got enough barbecued talons yet? Need me to char a few more for ya?"
The beast growled and lunged forward, trying and failing to take a bite out of Flamedramon's torso. Jump and dodge – too slow!
Hikari noticed the reaction, though... and it seemed a bit odd to her. The creature was angry? If it was being mind controlled, it should have just been a puppet... no emotion or personality to speak of. So why was it able to react like it actually felt anything?
There was no time for her to speculate. Too much fighting still going on all around them, and she had to be ready to run for cover at any moment... but she had a question. Something to investigate. That would help them later, once they started working on figuring out just who the hell the Kaiser was and what he or she was after...
Fortunately, as dangerous as the big lizard was, it was starting to feel the hurt from Flamedramon's hits, and Gatmon was holding firm against the gotsumon swarm. They were trapped, but they weren't actually in much danger...
The fight continued and Hikari began to notice another abnormality. The gotsumon that were left were... scattering? No... they were... making a path? Wait-
"Daisuke! Out of the way!"
Fortunately, the boy didn't need to ask why. He simply dodged and rolled to the side as the lizard came diving past them once again. Flamedramon jumped clear at the last moment, attempting to hit the ring with a quick shot, but that was a miss. Oh well. At least that thing missed all its targets.
Hikari wasn't quite so happy about that outcome, though. The gotsumon moved well before the creature prepared to jump. They knew it was coming. Somehow they were able to coordinate without any verbal communication, visual signals... that was even more confusing. It would make sense if it was mind control and someone was manipulating them like pieces of a game, but... that conflicted with what she had noticed only a minute before.
Just what the hell was going on around here?
At any rate, she wouldn't have a chance to gather any more information about the whole matter. Suddenly, right out of the clear blue sky, a pair of red lasers came down, hitting the creature's back and shattering the ring. Who- ah, yes... Miyako, with Wizardmon right there beside her.
Sometimes it seemed like the wizard was a more valuable asset to them than even the digidestined... but that was yet another matter best saved for another day. The main enemy was down and much of the gostumon horde had been neutralized. Time to make their great escape.
"Everyone, head to the gate!"
Not that the command really needed to be given this time. Most of them were already moving before she said a word. Only their partners were waiting, holding the line until the children got far enough from danger, then they ran, and they didn't stop for anything.
Hikari knew the gotsumon weren't fast enough to keep up, so perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise when they ended up not even trying to pursue the children at all. Still... the oddities she noticed before had gotten her thinking, and now her brain was working overtime to try to pick up every tiny thing it could about their behavior so she could figure out what was going on.
It was far, far too soon to jump to any conclusions about what was going on or how they should approach the war, but Hikari had a hunch... something she couldn't quite place. This whole situation seemed just... off. Like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. The odd part was that she almost felt like she knew the answer... like it was sitting right there at the edge of her mind and she just couldn't remember it.
Regardless... the ringed enemies were retreating, the freed digimon were fleeing into the rocks, maybe to find a place to hide or escape to, and the children seemed to have a clear path for an easy escape. Of course, she wasn't going to make that call just yet... too easy to jinx with a last-second attack from the Kaiser. It wasn't until they were finally at the bottom of Digmon's path and reunited all together in front of the terminal that she let herself breathe a sigh of relief.
Then she noticed Iori, eyes toward the horizon rather than on any of them, even though he had been the most passionate about this mission when it started. Maybe it was too early for that after all...
"Iori, what is it?"
He said nothing, but his hand rose to point to the target in question. Not an enemy... something on the horizon, up at the top of another distant mesa. A glimmer of light... not moving, though. That was... wait, was that... another tower?
"There's one here too?"
Iori finally turned as Daisuke spoke, eyes reflecting his surprise and confusion. He didn't know what that was, but apparently it wasn't the only one of its kind...
"They're everywhere."
Wizardmon answered as Miyako came down to land beside the others and dismount her partner, practically throwing herself at Hikari to give her a hug. It didn't matter that the other two had the stronger partners... seeing Hikari there was the biggest relief of all. Just knowing that the girl was nearby helped make her feel more safe. Enough so that she didn't even bother looking toward Wizardmon as he continued.
"They're the mark of the Kaiser. If there's land that he or she controls, it almost certainly has a spire built in it. If there are any exceptions, I haven't heard of them. I don't know what purpose they serve as nobody has managed to destroy one yet... perhaps they're just symbols of the Kaiser's vanity. A sign of their control of a region... but I have a hunch that they're more important than that."
Gatomon hissed, recalling Myotismon and the way he had seized control of Odaiba, sector by sector. He didn't leave markers in the form of towers, but he had other methods... feeding on the innocents who had been left behind was one of his favored methods of celebrating a new conquest.
"If everyone wasn't exhausted, I'd say we should go and tear that damn thing right now..."
"Patience. Everything must happen in good order. It is only our first day and we already have three new digidestined, each with partners and weapons, and the resistance has made it to the safety of the human world. If we continue making progress like this, the war won't last long. For now, however, it's best that we rest and start planning our defense of the digital world in earnest."
Gatomon nodded, still displeased but not looking to argue. He was right... compared to the first war this was downright easy, and if they continued progressing like they were they'd probably be rolling up the Kaiser's forces by the end of the week.
Finally, exhausted from all their combined ordeals and not looking to have another ambush arrive, the children drew together with their partners and opened the gate, heading back to the human world... back to Hunter HQ. One battle was over, but their troubles weren't yet at their end. As the gate lit up to open the way back to their world, Hikari only had one thought hanging in her mind.
Boy... Taichi was going to be pissed.
