Reversal

by Flyvarna

AU. Who would want to follow Kouji Minamoto, the class bookworm? That was how it began.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Something strange woke me up. In my sleepy state, it was hard to pinpoint what was different. Chibi, my pet canary-Chibi wasn't singing like he usually did at dawn. And then I realized I wasn't even in my bed...

I sat up as the events of the previous day returned to me in full force. That was right, I wasn't at home. We were in the Digital World, to save it from someone called Cherubimon. I stretched, feeling a little stiff from sleeping on the ground. Come to think about it, I couldn't remember the last time I hadn't slept in my bed. No, wait. There was that time a few years ago when the car had broken down at night when we'd been coming home from a friend of Dad's. By the time Dad had been able to get a tow truck, I'd fallen asleep in the back seat. It had been not too long before he'd married Satomi, which would make it just over three years ago.

Thoughts of Satomi brought feelings of guilt for not being able to get her flowers for her anniversary. I could only imagine her panic when I hadn't come home the night before. Dad, too. They probably would have called the police by now...Maybe they even called Mom. Kouichi was here too, after all.

I felt even more guilt at not being able to go home yet, but if the Digital World needed me, then I couldn't go home. I sighed and looked around. The torches which surrounded the cavern we were in were nearly out, but there was just enough light that I could see the others still asleep on the floor. Kouichi was sprawled asleep next to me, his lips moving a little. A dream? Probably.

The dim light from the torches wasn't enough to read by. I picked up my backpack and walked out to the tunnel. On the way out, I noticed a large hole in the wall. That hadn't been there the last time, had it? I thought about it for a second. It was at about the point where Izumi's Spirit had come from last night. It might have been buried in the wall and burst out when we'd needed it. That would explain why the Candlemon hadn't noticed it.

The tunnel's gloom quickly gave way to bright sunlight, as well as Takuya's loud snoring. He was leaning against the wall of the canyon outside, fast asleep. Wasn't he supposed to be on guard duty? I shook my head and moved as far away as I could while still staying in sight and pulled out my book.

About half an hour later, the others started awakening. Izumi came out of the cave to chew Takuya out for falling asleep when he was supposed to be on watch. Loudly. Takuya argued back, of course. He said that he tried to tell Izumi he wasn't a night owl last night, but she hadn't listened to him. I kept my nose in the book, hoping that they would shut up!

"Kouji?" Izumi had stopped arguing with Takuya long enough to notice me. "I didn't even notice you. What are you doing out here?"

I didn't look up from my book. "Reading."

"Yeah, I know that, but...You're so quiet I didn't even notice you were gone."

I simply shrugged. That was the point. If nobody noticed me, nobody could bother me. Luckily the others were distracted when Kouichi came out of the cave.

"Hey, Bokomon's got the fire going, and we're roasting the rest of the apples. You'd better come and get some before the others get them all." He noticed me. "Kouji, so that's where you got to. Good, I was getting worried."

So much for not getting noticed.

Still, I was getting hungry. I reluctantly put my book away and shuffled back into the cave after the others.

The fire was once again burning merrily as the others put apples on sticks to roast them. I took an apple for myself, but instead of joining the group, I moved to the other side of the fire to read by its' light. I could hear the others talking and laughing, especially Kouichi. Ironic how one brother could get along with everyone, but the other one pulled away from the world.

Once we were all finished with the apples, we set out for the Forest Terminal again. It didn't take us long to find a way up the other side of the canyon, then to find the train tracks to follow. I think it was about a half-hour later that we stumbled into a problem.

"Which way do we go?" Tomoki asked, eyeing the split track. "Bokomon, do you know?"

Bokomon flipped frantically through his book. "I have no idea. This doesn't say anything about the track splitting, just that the Forest Terminal is down one set of tracks." He then realized that Neemon was looking at the book over his shoulder.

"Back off. I don't think you can even read this!" He pulled Neemon's pants back and "snapped" them, causing Neemon to dance around in agony.

"Well, I think this is the right way." Takuya pointed to the left fork. "I mean, it looks like the other way was put in later, so this has to be the right way."

I didn't think the left fork looked like it led to anything other than more of the same deserted cliffs and canyons we'd seen since we got here. The right fork on the other hand had something at the end. I wasn't sure if they were trees or not, but they looked far more welcoming than more desert.

"I don't think that's the right way." Izumi's feelings apparently mirrored my own. "I think I can see trees where the other track's going."

"Are you crazy? Just because there's trees there doesn't mean it's where we're supposed to go. It's obvious that the left one'sthe right way."

"We're going to the Forest Terminal, aren't we? I don't see any forests over there."

Kouichi got between Takuya and Izumi before the arguing could escalate any further. "Okay, you two. Calm down. Here, why don't we put it to a vote? Who's for the left fork?

Takuya, Tomoki, and Neemon raised their hands.

"And, who's for the right?" Kouichi, Izumi, Bokomon, and after a moment Junpei raised their hands. I suspected that Junpei was going along with whichever choice Izumi took. I didn't vote myself, although I agreed with Izumi. I just preferred to stay out of it. Kouichi gave me an odd look, but didn't say anything about it.

"Well, it looks like the right fork wins." Kouichi shrugged.

"No fair, Kouji didn't vote. We don't know which one he wanted." Takuya couldn't leave well enough alone, could he?

"Well, he clearly didn't want to go with you." Izumi glared at him. "I think he would've been fine with whatever we chose and just didn't feel like voting, right Kouji?"

I looked down. That was probably the best way to put it.

"Now that that's all settled, let's get moving." Kouichi started following the tracks on the right.

"Oh, no. I'm not taking the wrong way." Takuya turned to the left fork. "Don't come crying to me when you find out you're wrong."

"Takuya, wait up!" Tomoki took off after them. Neemon started to go after them, but Bokomon grabbed him by the edge of his pants.

Kouichi stopped, realizing that we weren't all behind him. "Wait, we can't get split up like this!"

"We're not. We're just going to be split up until you guys realize you're going the wrong way!" Takuya called back. Izumi shook her head.

"Or until theyrealize they're going the wrong way. He's a real blockhead."

"I guess..." Kouichi still looked uneasy at the thought of splitting up.

Izumi smiled. "They'll be back. You'll see."

"I know." Kouichi flashed that blinding grin at her. "Let's go."

The green blur on the edge of my vision eventually revealed itself to be a forest. The closer we came, the bigger the trees got. Soon the trees were bigger than some buildings.

"They remind me of those redwood trees in America," Junpei remarked at one point.

"You've been to America, Junpei?" Kouichi asked.

"Once. My Mom had relatives out there, and we went to visit them last year."

"You're lucky. I've never been out of the prefecture before, let alone the country. What's America like?"

"Really strange, actually. The time zones are different, so that our day is their night, And English is a very hard language to learn...I'm glad I was only there for a few days, and that Mom's relatives could translate."

"Italy's like that too, with the language." Izumi said. "It took me months to learn to speak it...And by the time I got back here, I had forgotten nearly all my Japanese! Why, I..." Her voice trailed off in surprise, and she stopped walking. So did the others. I took this to mean they had spied something up ahead, and took my eyes off the ground for the first time in a while. There were walkways spiraling around the trees up ahead. And it looked like there was someone, or more likely many someones living there.

"Is that the Forest Terminal?" Junpei asked.

Kouichi started walking faster. "Let's check it out."

The train tracks went right through the trees, with a station-like platform at one point. The sign above the platform read "Soyokaze Village."

"It sounds like a nice kind of place," Izumi said. She would, since Soyokaze meant "Gentle Breeze."

"It's famous for being near the jewel tree." Bokomon flipped through his book. "There's a famous tree not far away that has a enormous diamond stuck in its' trunk. Legend says that the tree grew up under the diamond, then somehow fused around it. There, you can see it!"

Sure enough, there was a tree off in the distance which gleamed in the sunlight. I had to shade my eyes to see the diamond in the trunk.

"It's one of the wonders of the Digital World," Bokomon continued. "I wonder if they'll let me see it up close."

Soyokaze village consisted of battered, crumbling small buildings in the branches, linked by the walkways we had seen earlier. There were some small houses on the ground, in a loose circle around a central area. Most of them were too small for humans, which meant that the inhabitants were probably small. It took me a minute to see them, a bunch of waist-high plant creatures going about their business.

"Bokomon, what are those guys?" Kouichi asked.

"They're called Floramon. They're gentle, meek Digimon who live peaceful lives. We have nothing to fear."

As we got closer, the Floramon noticed us, and gathered in and around the central area, watching us warily. Kouichi stepped forward with that blinding grin on his face.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you. Do you know where the Forest Terminal is?"

"I-it's about a day's walk east," one of the Floramon said. "J-just follow the train track and it'll take you there."

"I told Takuya they were going the wrong way." Izumi crossed her arms. "I suppose we should find some place to wait for them."

"Maybe we can wait here?" Kouichi turned to the Floramon. "We have some friends who went the wrong way. Would it be possible for us to stay here until we find them?"

The Floramon hesitated.

"I promise we won't stay very long." Kouichi grinned disarmingly. "Just a few hours."

"You can stay," the Floramon who had spoken earlier said. "But, please be careful. Our village isn't made for big creatures like humans. The bridges won't hold your weight. Sometimes I'm surprised they can hold ours."

The Floramon was right when it said that the village wasn't created for humans. The walkways and bridges in the trees wouldn't hold our weight, so we couldn't go into the trees. Some of the bridges were rather rickety looking. The chairs and tables in the huts on the ground only came up to out knees. If any of us tried sitting on one, it would break for sure. That had happened to Dad once. He'd tried sitting on a chair I'd had as a little kid for a joke, and it had broke. Satomi had thought it was hilarious. Dad had, after a while, laughed at it, too.

So the only place we could really sit was the ground. Still, the Floramon were decent hosts, offering us refreshments. I wasn't particularly hungry, and after a long time of being around the others, I just wanted to be by myself for a while. I slipped off to find a shady spot under a tree that was far enough away from the others that they wouldn't bother me, then pulled out a book to read.

About half an hour later, Kouichi approached me with a small plate of food and a smaller cup of liquid.

"Hey, little brother. How're you doing?"

I pointedly ignored him. Kouichi still had no idea that when I wanted to be alone, I wanted to be alone.

"Brought you some food. The Floramon made it themselves."

I lowered my book a bit. "Thanks."

"I hope you like salad...They're vegetarians." Kouichi put the plate down next to me. "I brought you some water, too. Whatever you do, do not drink what the Floramon made...They made some kind of drink out of their snot. I had to ask them what it was made of." He smirked a little. "If I hadn't been drinking that stuff, the looks on the others' faces would have been hilarious."

I glared at him and picked up my book again.

"Okay, I get the hint." The enthusiasm in his voice faded a little. "Sorry."

I listened to Kouichi's steps fading away. Sure, I was acting somewhat cold towards him, but I didn't really want to talk to him at that point.

Suddenly, there was a shrill shriek from above me, and I looked up to realize that one of the bridges between two walkways had broken under the weight of a Floramon. It dangled from the remains of one half, holding on for dear life. I dropped my book and quickly got to my feet, wondering if there was anything I could do to save it. In the end, I didn't have to do anything.

"Spirit...Evolution!" I looked over at where the others were sitting to see the Digicode swirling around Izumi. An instant later, she was the fairy-like Digimon again.

"...Fairymon!"

"That's Izumi?" Junpei asked in a shocked voice. "She's so beautiful..."

"She's a Legendary Warrior, what did you expect?" Bokomon pulled out his book. "Legendary Warrior of the Wind, Fairymon. Her attacks are Brezza Petallo and Tornado Gamba."

Fairymon flew up to rescue the stranded Floramon, bringing the terrified creature gently down to the ground. They were immediately surrounded by grateful Floramon as Fairymon de-Evolved back to being Izumi.

"It was nothing..." Izumi managed to say, as she gingerly stepped free of the group and over to where the others were.

"Izumi, you were awesome!" Junpei's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. I relaxed a little. Now that the crisis was over, I could get back to my book. I went back to my spot under the tree and picked up the book again.

I was just finishing the book up an hour or so later when Kouichi once again approached me.

"Have you seen Bokomon?"

"No. Should I have?"

Kouichi took off his hat and ran a hand through his short hair. "He went to look at the jewel tree after Izumi saved that Floramon. He should have been back by now."

"Did you ask Neemon? They usually hang out together."

"We're talking about Neemon, remember? He's so scatterbrained that he didn't even remember that Bokomon left."

"Oh."

"Look, if you see him, tell him to check in on me, would you?" Kouichi put his hat back on.

"Right."

About twenty minutes after that, I was once again interrupted, this time by all three of the other humans. Going by the worried expressions on their faces, I guessed the news wasn't good. I mentally sighed and put down my book.

"I'm guessing you haven't found Bokomon yet?"

Junpei crossed his arms. "It's worse than that, now Neemon's missing. We think he might have left the village to try and find Bokomon."

"We need to search for both of them now." Izumi added. "The Floramon are afraid to leave the village, since there might be something that can hurt them out there so it's just us who can search for them."

We walked outside of the village, to the path which, according to the Floramon, led to the jewel tree.

"We're going to have to cover both sides of the path," Izumi remarked. "Why don't we split up into pairs, and meet back in the village in an hour?"

Junpei's eyes lit up. "Izumi, would you like to go with me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Junpei, this is serious!"

"I...I know, but..."

"You can go with her," Kouichi said. "Kouji and I'll take the left side of the path, you guys can take the right."

"Thanks a lot, Kouichi." Izumi grumbled. He merely smirked at her.

"Any time."

The search was pretty much fruitless. After about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to find our wayward companions, we decided to head back to the village to see if the others had any luck.

"You know something?" Kouichi asked at one point. "I think the Floramon are hiding something. I mean, there's what, thirty of them there? And yet, none of them saw Neemon leaving."

"We can't jump to conclusions, you know." I told him. "Maybe they were just busy repairing that bridge, and didn't notice."

"Oh, I'm sure an entire village was busy repairing one bridge."

"I don't know, okay Kouichi? Besides, we only think Neemon left the village to try and find Bokomon. I said we can't jump to conclusions. All I know is that our friends are missing...And that we have to be careful."

The Floramon hadn't been idle while we were searching. They had been searching their village for any sign of Neemon. We stood there by the village entrance waiting for Izumi and Junpei, listening to the Floramon report, one by one, that they hadn't seen any sign of Neemon. Kouichi didn't take the negative responses well. He was acting utterly unlike the way he usually acted, I thought. Normally he seemed to be all bright smiles and cheerful chatter, but now he was glaring and scowling at the Floramon, who huddled as far away from us as they safely could.

It was when the twentieth Floramon brought the news of its' failure to find Neemon that Kouichi exploded.

"What do you mean, you can't find him?" He picked the unfortunate Floramon up and brought it to eye level. "I know you guys are hiding something! Now, stop playing games, or..."

This was going too far. I put a hand to my brother's shoulder.

"Put him down, Kouichi. You aren't making things any better by hurting him."

Kouichi glared at me, then dropped the Floramon, who scurried over to join his friends as quickly as possible. I had to get Kouichi away from the Floramon before anyone else got hurt.

"C'mon, let's go see if Junpei and Izumi found anything."

I grabbed him by the arm before he could object and pulled him outside the village. Once we were out of earshot, I let go.

"You need to calm down, Kouichi. I don't think they'll want to tell you anything if you keep threatening them like that."

"You don't get it, do you Kouji? They acted all nice welcoming us into their village, just like the Candlemon. They're taking us down, one at a time until there's nobody left."

"Or maybe it's not the Floramon that made Neemon and Bokomon disappear but someone else."

"Like who?"

"I don't know."

"That's a lot of help."

"We just got to this world yesterday, Kouichi. There's a lot we don't know about it. I told you we can't jump to conclusions!"

"We can't sit here doing nothing! If we sit here moaning about all the poor Floramon, they get another change to strike!"

There was a panting sound from up ahead. I saw Junpei stagger out from the brush, flushed from the effort of running.

"Junpei, what..." Kouichi began.

"Izumi. She...I only had my back turned for a minute..."

Kouichi's face drained of all color.

"She disappeared, too?" I asked quietly.

Junpei nodded glumly. The woebegone expression on his face would have been funnier if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"I asked her if we should Spirit Evolve earlier, but she said that since Neemon and Bokomon are so short, it might be easier to search for them on the ground than in the air. I wish we had evolved!"

"We should have all stayed together," Kouichi's voice shook with rage. "If we'd gone with Takuya and Tomoki, we'd all be together now!"

"Look, it happened, we can't change that." I told him. "We just need to stay together. They've got to be out there, and alive. The Floramon would have seen an egg float off if Neemon or Bokomon had gotten scanned, right? We have to stay together and keep searching."

"The Floramon are in on this, I know it. We need to go and make them tell us where they hid the others."

"Kouichi, are you okay?" Junpei asked suddenly. "I know I haven't known you for very long, but you're normally a lot more pleasant than this."

He had voiced the very question that I'd wanted to ask...That I should have asked when Neemon went missing. I cursed myself for not asking him earlier.

Kouichi's eyes dropped to the ground, then closed.

"It's easy for me to make friends, but it's the hardest thing for me to lose them. Even if I've only known them for a day. It's one thing if they're going to go away for a few hours, like Takuya and Tomoki. But when someone I know just vanishes..." He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "It might not have been the Floramon. If it's not, I owe them an apology. But someone's behind all this. Someone has Izumi, Neemon, and Bokomon...And I can't rest until they're safe."

"Wow..." Junpei cleared his throat. "A-anyways, we'd better get back to searching for them. We were near the jewel tree when I lost sight of Izumi. Maybe whatever took them is there."

The jewel tree was about the same size as the trees around it. The only differences between it and the others was the huge diamond embedded in the trunk, and that the brush had been cleared out from under it.

"We were over there, by those bushes." Junpei pointed out a bunch of scrubby bushes "She was standing right there. I tripped over a root, and when I looked up, she was gone."

"Where was the root?" Kouichi asked. He walked over to the place Junpei indicated, then knelt down to take a good look. I joined him.

"There isn't any root here, but I see a hole...I wonder if that's where it used to be." Kouichi pulled some of the grass back from the hole. "I don't think you tripped by accident, Junpei."

There was no response. I looked up to the spot where he had been to see that it was empty.

"H-he's gone too, isn't he?" Kouichi's voice had none of the confidence he usually had. I turned to see that he had his hands on his head, eyes wide as he shook. "Everyone keeps leaving me...No matter what I do or how much I love them..."

I got to my feet, only to have Kouichi grab my hand.

"Don't leave me! Please!" His voice caught on a sob.

"I wasn't. I think we should go back to the village, before anything else happens."

He didn't release my hand. "Don't leave me alone..." A soft whisper, but the fear in his voice made me pause. What did he mean by that? That was when I remembered him saying something about following his grandmother's last wishes the day before we'd come to the Digital World. His grandmother had died, then. Or was dying. I didn't know. If his grandmother had died recently, then what he'd said about everyone leaving him made sense.

I turned to face him. "I'm not leaving you, Kouichi. You promised to stay with me until we got home, right? That goes for me, too. I'm staying with you."

Kouichi looked up at me, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"R-really?"

I stuck up my finger like I'd seen him doing the other day.

"This is how you do it, right? The 'Pinky promise?'"

His eyes widened, and he took his hand off mine, extending his own pinky. Then his body suddenly jerked, like something was pulling him. I didn't stop to think. I grabbed his still-extended hand, and we were both pulled along, or in my case dragged along, by whatever had grabbed him. We went flying through the air and towards the jewel tree. Before we could crash into it however a hole opened up in the trunk, swallowing both of us before closing. I landed on a hard, stump-like floor hard enough to knock the breath out of me for a minute.

"Kouji!"

Kouichi was just in front of me, bound by a rope-like root which seemed to be growing around him, in spite of his frantic struggling. The root was almost to his mouth. I gasped in horror and pulled myself to my feet to grab the root, but while I could stop it from covering his mouth I couldn't break it. The root started growing around my own hand, causing me to yelp and pull my hand away. Desparate, I looked around. Maybe there was something I could use to break the root. A rock, or something...

"Kouji! Look out!"

I looked down to see another root growing around my feet. I tried to move, but it was too late. The root held me securely enough that all I could do was fall over.

"Don't bother fighting back, human. The more you struggle, the tighter the root grows." A nasty laugh followed this. I felt a chill of terror shiver down my spine, and stopped struggling. That voice hadn't sounded like it cared if I lived or died, and I wasn't about to dig myself in deeper. I couldn't do anything other than look around, trying to find out what had kidnapped us.

We were in a large cavern within the trunk of the tree. There was light, something I hadn't noticed when trying to rescue Kouichi. It was coming from what looked like the diamond in the cavern's roof. The gem probably reflected the sun's light through the interior of the tree, casting a spotlight-like beam down on us and leaving the rest of the cavern in shadow There were several creatures moving around in the shadows. I looked harder, seeing Junpei, Izumi, Neemon, and Bokomon. All of whom were bound in the same manner that my brother and I were, although the roots had covered their mouths...

"Leave my brother alone!" Kouichi started struggling harder than before, which had the effect of making the root grow tighter around him.

I cringed. "Kouichi, stop! That's not going to work..." The vine crawled around my mouth, cutting off my words. All I could do was watch my brother stuggle even harder.

"I promised I'd protect you, little brother. I'm gonna keep that promise...!" As soon as he'd said that, his Digivice lit up in his pocket. Overhead, the light from the diamond got brighter and brighter until I finally had to close my eyes. As I did however I felt the root around me loosen, then pull off me.

"A Spirit..." I opened my eyes again at Kouichi's voice, squinting against the brightness. The light had freed my brother, too. He was standing directly under the light with his Digivice held out. Sure enough, there was another one of those statue-like objects materializing out of that bright light. Had it been hidden in the diamond? It turned into data, and went into his Digivice.

"Commozione!" I sat up to see Izumi and the others had also been freed by the light. She and Junpei pulled their Digivices out as the ring of data appeared around Kouichi's hand.

"Spirit...Evolution!"

The light around my brother grew and swirled around him, making me throw a hand in front of my face. What emerged looked like something out of one of my fantasy books. A wolf-themed knight in glowing metallic silver armor.

"...Wolfmon!"

"The Legendary Warrior of Light, Wolfmon!" Bokomon, who now had his book out, made his way to my side as Izumi and Junpei also Evolved. The three of them now stood, or hovered, in a protective circle around me, Neemon, and Bokomon. "His attacks are Licht Sieger and Licht Kugel. His swords are made of pure light concentrated into two glowing blades."

The light from the diamond expanded, giving us all long shadows. It also had the effect of exposing our enemies, showing them to be three tree-like creatures.

"What are those?" I asked.

Bokomon flipped some pages in his books. "They're Woodmon. They can blend in to any tree-like surface...Which was how they captured me."

"Everyone else, too." Neemon added helpfully.

The Woodmon shrank back into the remaining shadows, but the light didn't stop them from attacking the others when they tried going after them.

"Branch Drill!" The Woodmon swung their wooden limbs like clubs. Wolfmon and the others dodged them, or in Wolfmon's case parried the limb with a sword. One of the Woodmon plunged its' roots into the ground beneath it; an instant later, the root smashed out of the ground a foot from where Fairymon was.

"Brezza Petallo!" Fairymon sliced the root with a blast of wind, then prepared to launch another blast of wind at the Woodmon himself, only to have the Woodmon move back to the wall behind it and vanish.

"Brezza...Huh? Where'd it..." She got no further as another branch hit her from behind.

"Fairymon!" Blitzmon tried to attack the Woodmon who had hit her, only to have it once again blend into the tree and vanish.

"You okay?" Blitzmon asked.

Fairymon rubbed her back sourly. "I'll be fine. Let's just beat these guys."

"But, how do we see them?" Wolfmon asked. "Every time I try hitting one, he goes into the wall and I lose him."

"I told you, they can blend into any tree-like surface." Bokomon said irritably.

"That doesn't explain how we beat these guys," Fairymon pointed out.

She was right. The Woodmon were too hard to fight inside the jewel tree. Getting out of the tree probably wouldn't help either, since we were in a forest. What could we do? I looked down at the ground. It wasn't like I could Evolve to help...Wait, hadn't the roots that had bound us gone away when the light had hit them? That was it!

"They don't like the light!" I realized out loud. "If we can make it even brighter, they won't be able to hide!"

The others paused, then Wolfmon held up his sword. It started shining, growing bright enough that I had a hard time seeing again, and had to shield my face with an arm. The Woodmon shrieked in pain, trying in vain to scrabble back from the light. Wolfmon held up his arm, revealing a small laser cannon.

"Licht Kugel!" He cried, aiming at one of the Woodmon.

Blitzmon held up a sparking fist. "Mjolinir Thunder!"

"Brezza Petallo!" Fairymon threw a blast of wind. All three attacks hit the Woodmon, and rings of Digicode rose out of them.

Wolfmon held up his Digivice. "Evil souls, be purified by my Digivice! Digicode, scan!"

The digicode disappeared into his Digivice as the Woodmon disintegrated into eggs, which floated off through the ceiling. I wondered where the eggs went when they were scanned. Maybe later I could ask Bokomon about it. The others shimmered, then shrank back into their human forms.

"Is everyone okay?" Izumi asked.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling much better." Kouichi flung his arms around Junpei and Izumi. "It's great to see you guys again. I was really worried, y'know." That dazzling grin was back on his face again, I noticed. He looked over at me.

"And I need to thank you too, Kouji."

I looked down at the ground, feeling my face grow hot.

"It...Was nothing. You don't have to thank me. You're the ones who defeated the Woodmon."

"What are you saying?" Kouichi's voice grew closer until he was standing next to me. "You didn't do any actual fighting, but you saved us all." His voice dropped to an undertone. "Especially me. Thank you, Kouji."

"How are we going to get out of here, anyways?" Junpei asked. "There's no door, and I don't want to just blast our way out." From the stricken looks on the others' faces, I guessed that they hadn't thought about that.

Bokomon pulled out his book again. "Try the Digivice." He said. "If the Woodmon were living here, there's a good chance they were had the tree's Digicode on them."

Kouichi shrugged and pulled out his Digivice. "It's worth a try. It worked for the Flame Terminal and the tracks last night." A stream of Digicode to flow out of his Digivice, going through tree's wall and transforming it into an arching doorway to the outside. I could see the Digicode moving on towards the village.

"Well, that certainly did it," Kouichi remarked. "Let's get out of here. I gotta work on my apology to the Floramon."

Kouichi, it turned out, didn't have to work on his apology too hard. The data from scanning the Woodmon had fixed Soyokaze Village up, reinforcing their bridges so they didn't have to worry about anyone else falling off. Besides, as Bokomon pointed out the Floramon were so gentle-natured that I think they didn't even know the meaning of the word "grudge."

I watched Kouichi talk to the Floramon, all bright grins and happy laughter again. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like there was another Kouichi lying just under the surface, another him that had briefly shown itself to me earlier when the others had disappeared. Why did I feel that way, I wondered. Was it because we were twins?

A Floramon came down from the higher platforms to tell us that it had spotted two more humans heading for the village.

"Sounds like Takuya and Tomoki finally made it here," Junpei remarked.

"About time," Izumi crossed her arms. "Honestly, I was beginning to think those two had gotten lost or something."

Takuya and Tomoki entered the village a few minutes later. They were worn out and covered in sweat.

"What took you so long?" Izumi asked them teasingly. "Did you lose the train tracks or something?"

Takuya glared at her. "Shut up, Izumi."

"We had some trouble with the ground beneath us collapsing...We couldn't go any further, so we decided to find you guys." Tomoki sank gratefully to the grass.

"As much as I hate to say it, it's a good thing you guys came when you did," Izumi told them. "We had trouble with some talking trees. If Kouichi hadn't found his Spirit..."

"Wait, Kouichi found a Spirit?" Takuya looked over at my brother.

"Yes, and he..."

"That's so cool!" Tomoki exclaimed. "What does he Evolve to?"

"I was getting to that..."

"What element is he?" Takuya didn't notice the fact that Izumi was now scowling. At least, he didn't until she irritably grabbed both him and Tomoki in a headlock.

"I can't tell you the story if you two keep interrupting me! Now shut up and listen!"

Takuya struggled in her grip. "Izumi, I can't listen to you if you've got me like this!"

"Maybe that will teach you to not interrupt her!" Kouichi called. Everyone laughed as she let Takuya and Tomoki go and started her story again. Since they were all huddled together to hear what had happened, I decided they wouldn't miss me, and slipped off to a quiet spot at the other end of the village to read a bit. As I pulled out my book, I couldn't help thinking about what has happened today. Four of us had Spirits now. Tomoki and I both had Digivices, so it made sense that we would get them, too. What would I get?

And what about the other four?