Chapter 6
I thrashed my way through the dark underbrush of the constricting forest, breathing in more rage with each step. I couldn't breathe, and it felt as if the surrounding darkness were caging me. I ran until my legs finally gave out. I cried out, punching the trunk of a tree, and pitching myself to the ground beneath it. I sighed hard, as hot tears flowed from my eyes.
"I hate you!" I yelled out Boogeymon.
As if he could hear me, as if the whole Digital World could hear me.
"What have we done to you?" I asked, panting heavily.
"Answer me?" I yelled again, and once again I was greeted with a stark silence.
I sat at the base of the tree balling myself at its feet, like a distraught child to its mother, her voice hoarse with rage.
"They didn't deserve that." I said to myself.
I felt my fingernails begin to cut into my hands, as I clinched my fists. My jaw hurt, as I gritted my teeth with frustration, and I imagined my eyes were now a dark pink from salty tears. Surrounded by nothing but uncertainty I felt such a profound sense of loneliness. I wished more than anything that Carson was here.
"Carson," I sighed to myself, "Where are you man?"
This world was quickly beginning to show us its true colors, an existence rooted strongly in one, and only one ideal, survival of the fittest. Boogeymon seemed to have such a strong grasp on this lone law that he could manipulate it, and mutate it into something all his own, something twisted – sadistic.
'I can't beat him alone.' I thought to myself.
'I need you.'
I began to shiver, my pores rising fiercely as rage began to shift to crushing fear. In my mind I kept flashing back to the fight on the train, the stabbing, searing pain that Boogeymon was able to fill my whole being with, using only a flick of his wrist. That kind of power, matched with an insanity that seemed exclusive to him alone, was truly a force of fear that I had never wanted to experience.
Suddenly I was flooded with a barrage of fears, as the darkness of the forest began to creep in. I wondered if anyone at home has noticed that we were gone. I wondered if I would ever see Carson again. I wondered if we would ever live to see home again. The fear of the loss of my own life seemed to be the least asphyxiating, no; much more suffocating was the fear of watching my friends suffering. The realization was shocking to me.
There was something else as well, something that made my heart ache down to its very core; a burning, sickening hatred. As it began to settle, I came to settle on one, single thought. I would kill him. I would kill Boogeymon, even if it cost my own life. I would do it for my friends, and for the Digital World. I would do it.
I looked down, at my filthy hands, blackened in patches by the dirt, and wiped my burning eyes. I was tired, albeit angry, but still tired; and the racing of my own heart became a lulling melody. Teeth gritted, blanketed only by the darkness of the forest, I slowly fell asleep.
I was plagued by nightmare after nightmare; each more gruesome, more twisted than the last. From watching Boogeymon turn our home world into a tundra of desolation, to watching my friends and family tortured, all the while I was forced to listen to that demented cackle. I sat bolt upright, with my fingers securely wrapped around someone's throat.
My eyes widen, partially from shock, and partially from the sunlight cutting through the cracks between the overhead leaves and canopy. Nathan's hands snapped up to his throat, he panted, and massaged it.
"What's wrong with you dude?" He exclaimed.
"I'm sorry." I said sheepishly.
I was surrounded by my friends.
"Matt," Terriermon said, hopping up onto my shoulder, "We spent all night looking for you; I thought you were lost or worse!" He wrapped his long ears around me.
"We thought that Boogeymon came back for round two." Landon said, standing up from the stump that he was sitting on.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
I nodded, "I'm sorry that I ran off last night, I just needed time alone to think."
He sighed, "Alright then," He gestured back the way that I assumed they had come through in order to find me, "We've still got a job to do."
I helped Nathan to his feet, "Let's go finish this." I said.
I hadn't realized just how deep into the forest that I had trekked last night. It took us close to two hours of excruciatingly mundane battles with the forests underbrush to finally get back to the still smoldering ashes of the Tree of New Beginnings. Sunlight clothed the grim scene, as a soft, warm breeze seemed to lift up, and spread a bit of the Tree's ashes with each breath.
"There's gotta be something that we can do about this." Nathan said.
Suddenly I remembered how my Fractal Code had helped to repair Elecmon's house back in the village.
"Maybe there is," I said, "Back in the Village of Beginnings, when I met Terriermon after a fight with a monster called ShadowToyAgumon, I was able to help a friend repair his house that was destroyed using my Fractal Code."
"Hey," Terriermon exclaimed, "That's right! You fixed Old Mon Elecmon's place!"
"So do you think we can do the same thing with the Tree of New Beginnings?" Nathan asked.
"I'm hoping so," I said, pausing, "The thing is, if everything in this world is composed of Data; then this place must be where all of the Data from defeated Digimon gets filtered to be reconfigured, which is why Digi-Eggs appear to grow here!"
"Whoa," Landon said with a sigh, "That's gotta be a ton of Data concentrated on this one area then."
"Do you think that there's any chance that we can repair something like that?" Tentomon asked.
"There are four of us," I said, "That's four Fractal Codes; if we all work together I'm sure that it'll work!"
"If I've learned anything from this crazy trip," Ben began, "It's that when we work together, we're so much stronger than when we're alone."
'He's right,' I thought to myself, 'Look at everything that we've been able to accomplish by working together. That must have been Boogeymon's plan to defeat us all along; to divide and conquer. I had been playing into his hand with my anger, trying to beat him all on my own.'
I clenched my fist, "Let's do it you guys," I said through gritted teeth, "Then we're gonna go find our friends, and we're gonna end this once and for all."
"I'm with you Matt!" Terriermon exclaimed.
"We're all with you man." Landon said putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't be so hot headed," He said, punching me lightly, "You don't have to face this thing on your own, we all wanna put Boogeymon down, avenge our friends, and save the Digital World but we have no chance of doing that if we aren't completely together."
I nodded.
The four of us approached the tree, creating a circle around the enormous smoldering wreckage that it had become.
"You guys ready?" I shouted.
"What do we do?" Ben shouted back.
"Bring out your Fractal Codes," I yelled, "Sort of imagine a light, bring back all of the memories that you can about this place, imagine rebuilding it!"
As we all summoned our Fractal Codes, I remembered Swanmon and all of the Digi-Eggs that were destroyed in the fire; I wanted to save each and every one of them.
Suddenly my Fractal Code stretched from my hand beginning to wrap itself upwards around the area the tree would've stood. Landon's and Ben's were doing the same thing, and they began to intertwine with my own, until what stood over the place of smoldering ashes was a giant egg much like the one Terriermon was surrounded by when he digivolved.
The egg shattered apart raining down shards of the silver and blue squares, and in its place stood a new and even bigger Tree than had been there before.
"No way!" I breathed in astonishment.
"We did it!" Ben shouted.
"Heck Yeah!" Landon cheered in agreement.
A large egg appeared to have spawned from the Tree came floating down and lay in the soft grass at my feet. In seconds it had hatched, and it immediately began to absorb the falling shards, it digivolved once, twice, and standing before me was Swanmon.
"I-I'm alive, and not only that," She said fluttering her wings, "But I feel stronger than ever!"
'This is what it really is to be a Digidestined,' I thought to myself, 'To protect not just my friends, and our world but all beings from anyone who would try to harm them.'
"You all did this?" Swanmon said, tears brimming in her eyes.
I sighed in astonishment.
"My Tree," She exclaimed, "It's all fixed up again."
She hurried inside.
"I can't believe that worked! Landon said.
"I've never seen anything like this in all my time!" Tentomon said.
"It's like we have all of the power of the Digital World in our hands." Nathan said.
"This truly is a legendary spectacle!" Hawkmon hooted.
"The eggs are all here too, they've all been saved!" Swanmon shouted from a point high up in the tree.
"You all are truly incredible."Armadillomon said.
"Oh thank you Digidestined," Swanmon said, fluttering back to the ground, "Thank you!"
"Well we couldn't just leave our friend like that could we, all scramblified in who-knows-where, right?" Terriermon exclaimed.
"Never." Ben added.
"Well on behalf of all of the Digimon here, I thank you all. These little ones are so lucky to have friends as good as you." Swanmon said.
"If only we could find our other ones." I muttered.
"I may be able to help with that as well." Swanmon said.
"You mean you know where Carson and Jessica are?" Landon exclaimed.
"No," Swanmon said, "I don't but I have a friend who may. He informed that you all would be coming here soon."
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Are they a human?" Nathan asked.
"Well no not exactly, but he's not a Digimon either, his name is Gennai. He's the Guardian of the Digital World, and I believe he may be the one that can help you all find your friends, defeat Boogeymon, and return home." Swanmon said.
"Are you serious," I asked, "How do we meet this guy?" I asked.
"Can you give us a map or something?" Armadillomon asked.
"No," Swanmon said, "But the Digital World knows what you're looking for, all of you thoughts and emotions every bit of you is encoded in it right now. Being the Digidestined children gives you special benefits; the Digital World will help you in your quest. I promise you you'll find Gennai when you aren't looking for him."
"What is that," Hawkmon asked, "Some kind of riddle?"
"It's more like a failsafe, to ensure the safety of Gennai, if someone like Boogeymon could find him imagine the damage he could do to the Digital World if he were to obtain the knowledge that someone like Gennai has!" Swanmon said.
We nodded.
"He's a very kind person though," Swanmon said, "Gennai will take good care of you and your friends, I promise you that."
I was confused but thanked Swanmon anyways.
"So where should we start looking?" Terriermon asked.
"Remember the only way to find is not to seek," Swanmon replied, "But through the forest may be a good place to start."
I scratched my head, "Well okay then."
"Safe travels," Swanmon said returning to the Tree, "And thank you again!"
We began heading towards the nearest tree line.
"Well that was tons of help." Tentomon said.
"She might as well have written us a road map straight to this Gennai guy's house." Nathan replied.
"Think about it though guys, if Swanmon is pushing us to meet Gennai, then maybe someone somewhere is pushing Carson, Jessica, and their partners to find them too!" Landon said.
"That's ruling out the possibility that they may already be there waiting for us!" I said, moving some hanging tree limbs out of my face.
"Does anyone have any idea where we're going?" Armadillomon asked.
"The way that I see it," I replied, "Swanmon said we must not seek to find what we're looking for; it's sort of like the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter it will find you when you need it the most."
"Who's hairy what?" Terriermon asked.
"Harry Potter," Landon said, "He's a character from a book and movie series in our world."
"That's beside the point," I exclaimed, "The point is the way I see it, we've got to get lost to be found."
We pushed through the heavy underbrush of the dark forest for what seemed like hours before we finally decided to rest.
"Well," Hawkmon said, "I'd say we're sufficiently lost."
"I'd agree with that." Nathan said.
"I don't even remember where we're going anymore." Armadillomon said.
"To find that guy," Ben said.
"Janet, we've gotta find Janet!" Terriermon exclaimed.
"Perhaps," An elderly voice said from behind us, "You mean Gennai?"
We turned around to see an old Caucasian man in a regal robe standing off to the left of us.
"My god," I said falling back with surprise.
The man let out a deep laugh, "You a little jumpy there my boy?"
"Who is this guy?" Landon said, quickly shifting into an attack stance.
"I don't like this creep." Terriermon said.
"Well Terriermon," The man said, "Then perhaps this creep won't lead you to your friends."
"Wait a second you're," Ben began.
"Janet," Tentomon exclaimed, "We've finally found you."
"Close," The man said with a chuckle, "My name is Gennai and I am the one you seek."