Hi everyone. Sorry I've been kind of bad at updating recently, but I've been experiencing some… erm, family drama. Nothing too bad, but. You know. Time consuming. It's all pretty much cleared up now, so I'll try to start updating more again! Hooray. x3
Anyway, onto the amazing reviewers. This story hit 72 reviews in only 5 chapters! That's kind of insane, in a good way. And I couldn't have done it without all of you (both a cliché saying AND an obvious one… sigh). Seriously, though, thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing the story this far.
The reviewers from last chapter are: Akane Naomi, Lord Pata, mel92, Booklover13, the evil sound ninja, fangsangel, Oversized Bucket, Sacred Sakura,The Illustionest, stardreamer87, Takari-Lover19, Super garurumon, Depthmon, KoumiLoccness, and .Gabby-chan182. – thank you to everyone!
Specific concerns, questions and whatnot:
Sacred Sakura: No, Shinji has no Myotismon in him. xD I see how you could have thought that though, since I wrote that Gatomon thought she recognized him… By the way, thanks for reviewing other chapters besides the latest one too! ;3
The Illustionest: Rukato it is. ;3 And as for your question about why the four were chosen… Well, I can't give that away yet, can I? (I probably don't even know myself xD)
stardreamer87: Ryuki is a pairing of Rika and Ryo… in this story, the alternative to Rukato. And you mentioned you hated Rukato, so I wondered if that meant you were casting your vote for Ryuki? ;3
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (or probably not)… The updated votes for pairings!
Taiora:
13
Sorato:
6
Sora/OC:
1
Daikari:
5
Takari:
20
Kari/OC:
2
Rukato:
11
Ryuki:
10
Rika/OC:
1
Takumi:
13
Zoe/JP:
3
Zoe/OC:
1
Now time to analyze the results! Ahem… Taiora is still beating Sorato, but the latter coupling is making a bit of a comeback… Kind of… The Takari-Daikari battle seems to be lost, but who knows? There are still many chapters left… The biggest surprise this time was the lessening of the gap between Rukato and Ryuki, and now they're nearly neck and neck! As for Zoe's pairings, Takumi still seems to sadly reign.
Okay, I'm supposed to be objective, but I almost always root for the underdog. I do have my own favorite pairings, of course, but I'm trying not to bring them into this story. ; In case you're wondering what those are… I actually like both Taiora and Sorato. I have seen some good Daikaris, but when I was ten and watched the show, I was such a huge supporter of Takari that it's been… burned into my brain, or something. xD As for Rika's guys, I waver a lot between Takato and Ryo. Sometimes I'll like her with Henry too. But I think I like Ryuki a bit more because during the whole Tamers show, Takato was basically pining over Jeri and I don't think Rika is the kind of girl to wait around for some guy to notice her. I do think as personalities Rika and Takato are cuter together though. ;3 And as for the fourth season, I have no preference really. I watched the season, but I never really got into it much. My favorite parts were honestly when Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Cherubimon were reborn as their Rookie forms, because in the other seasons I love Patamon, Gatomon (slash Salamon), and Lopmon. Um, anyway, I would probably have normally supported Takumi, but I feel bad for JP here. xD
I really need to shut up. Sorry guys. I am almost certain nobody read that. xD
Here we go. I hope you like this chapter. It's taken a few chapters to get the plot really started – meaning there's been maybe a faint trace of romance and just a whiff of future adventure. But hopefully this one starts being actiony and whatnot.
By the way, readers of 'Fast Times' will know that I'm having problems with bolding things on the editing page... Grr... And when I upload, only some things are bolded while others (like the title) aren't. Sorry about that...
The Pyramid of DarknessPart I, Chapter 6: First Mission
They opened their eyes to see that they were standing a field full of digital flowers.
"Well, here we are," Sora said. "Is this where we're supposed to meet Shinji? And what about our Digimon?"
Renamon, I'm here. "Way ahead of you," Rika said. "Call your Digimon." All guilty thoughts of Ryo were gone. It was time to save some universe here.
Sora nodded. Biyo, we're back! Please come find me.
Kari closed her eyes as well. Hello Gatomon, I'm in the flower field in the Digital World!
"Shinji said that he'd find us, so we could just transport anywhere. I picked here because… well, it's pretty, isn't it?" Kari asked with a faint smile. "This is one of my favorite places in the Digital World."
Zoe knelt to look at the flowers closer. "What kind of flowers are these?" she asked. "I've seen them before, but I'm terrible with flower names."
"African violets," Kari said with a broad smile. "Though how they got here I'll never know."
Renamon appeared next to Rika in a streak of golden fur. "Here I am," she murmured. "We have a mission from Shinji so soon?" Rika nodded. "I hope he's not interrupting your school work."
"Today's Saturday," Rika said. "Though I was supposed to be doing volunteer work with Ryo today." The memory of how she'd acted to him came back and she sighed.
"Wait, today's Sunday," Zoe said with a frown.
Rika stared at her. "No it's not."
"But I didn't have school yesterday. Plus I know it was a Saturday yesterday!" Zoe argued.
Sora laughed. "You're both wrong. It's a Tuesday. Right Kari?"
Kari had lowered herself to sit amongst the purple flowers. "Yeah," she said dreamily, not really paying attention as she examined the buds.
Sora nodded. "I just came from taking a physics test. It's not the weekend."
"Different dimensions have different times," Renamon reminded them, then looked at the horizon. "Hmm? Here come Gatomon and Biyomon." Her head turned to the other direction. "And it seems Shinji and DexDorugamon are coming as well…"
Right after saying this, the giant undead Digimon appeared beside them, Shinji on his back. The boy's indigo blue eyes were bright and he wore a tight smile on his face. "Hello," he greeted them.
Kari swallowed. She felt the darkness again. Head pounding, she pulled her legs to her chest. Her maroon eyes fell on the flowers surrounding her, and she saw the closest ones to DexDorugamon beginning to wilt. It made sense – they lived on sunlight, but when darkness was this strong, it completely robbed them of the light they needed to live. She watched as the number of flowers dying increased, spreading out like a slow-moving wave over the field. Yet when it reached the vicinity of the girls, the wave seemed to stop. Kari didn't know why, but she was in no mood to wonder. She was just glad that the flowers weren't dying here.
Gatomon and Biyomon came hurrying up to the group, both reaching their human partners. Biyomon flew in the air next to Sora, and Gatomon jumped in front of Kari as if she wanted to protect her from the dark energy.
"Let's make this quick," Rika said. "I have stuff to do at home. So why exactly are we being called here?"
"Stuff to do?" Shinji repeated with a half-grin. "Like picking up poop? Or do you want to go back to that awkward moment with Ryo?"
Rika's face turned red. "That's none of your business!"
"They all do sound more vital than saving the universe," Shinji said, eyes gleaming with amusement. Rika glared at him.
"What do you need us to do today?" Sora asked. "I'm in no hurry to get back to my physics test, but I'd like to start whatever we're doing as soon as possible." She glanced at Kari, hoping that as soon as Shinji told them what he needed, he would disappear.
"I have located the first two Dimension Stones," Shinji explained. "One is a Digital dimension, the other a Real dimension." He looked pleased. "It was not easy to locate them, but I did it."
"Hooray for you," Rika snorted. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go get them."
"Not quite yet," Shinji advised. "First, you need plans. You can't just rush into things."
"We'll make them up on the way!" Rika argued.
Shinji ignored this. "I believe that you should break up into two groups so we can do this as quickly as possible," he said. "I apologize for pulling you away from your activities. Let's try and do this in a timely manner, shall we? Since one is a Digital dimension and one is a Real dimension, those who wish to fight a Digimon will stay in the Digital World. Those who cannot fight will go to the Real World."
"I vote for staying in the Digital World," Rika said. "Okay with you, Renamon?"
"Of course," Renamon said. "It's a given."
"You're forgetting that you forgot your D-Power again," Shinji replied with a slight smirk at his words. "You and Zoe should go to the Real World."
Zoe nodded, a bit sadly. "If only I had my Spirits, I'd kick that guardian Digimon's butt!"
"Wait, no," Rika said. "Renamon and I are fighters. Let's just go back to my house really fast and get my D-Power and cards! It's not that difficult!"
"No," Shinji said dismissively. "Come prepared next time."
"Are you serious?" Rika demanded, outraged. "This is unbelievable! So you're sendingthose two to fight? The girl in pink – Kari – wouldn't hurt a fly, and the Sora girl is way too holier-than-thou to do anything that might ruin her image!"
Sora crossed her arms. "Where do you get off judging us? You don't even know us!"
Rika opened her mouth to say something, then fell silent. Sora was right. Ryo had been right. She judged people, and it wasn't fair. She had to stop doing that. Why did everyone have to have a valid point??
"As I was saying, Rika and Zoe will go to the Real World, Zoe's dimension. Kari and Sora will stay here in their own Digital World dimension. Are you all prepared?" Shinji asked. Sora and Zoe nodded, and apparently that was good enough for him. "This will not be your regular experience. I regret that I cannot stay here long, but there is urgent business I must attend to. Good luck! And remember to expect the unexpected…" With that, Shinji and DexDorugamon vanished.
Kari sighed and stood up shakily. She noticed her worried partner's expression and said, "I'm fine, Gatomon." She looked at Zoe and Rika. "Okay. You two ready to go to Zoe's Real World dimension?" Zoe nodded, and Rika just looked away. Kari approached them. "Okay, everyone going to Zoe's dimension join the circle!" Zoe took Kari's hand, and Renamon's paw on the other side. Rika reluctantly completed the circle between her partner and Kari. The Child of Light closed her eyes. Zoe's dimension… To the Dimension Stone. Since Shinji had located it, she assumed it would have been decloaked and she could transport there.
Kari was right. The four found themselves in front of a huge black-and-white building. It was split completely down the middle, and even the windows were painted black or white.
"What a weird place," Zoe noted. "I don't know where we are…" She looked around. They were surrounded by rolling green hills for miles. There were no signs of civilization as far as the eye could see.
"I'm going back now," Kari said. "Good luck!" She smiled and vanished.
Rika rubbed her palms together. "Let's do this, shall we?"
"Gladly," Renamon said. The three walked towards the building, ready to do whatever it took to get the Dimension Stone.
-x-
Kari appeared back in the Digital World flower field. "I'm back! So where are we supposed to find our Dimension Stone?" she wondered. "Shinji didn't tell us anything…"
"Maybe he expected we'd know," Sora said. "What seems to be a place where it would be?"
"If it's anything like the Destiny Stones, there's no rhyme or reason to where it is," Gatomon remembered. "It could be in a big bowl of soup for all we know."
"There's only one of these and there are a bunch of those," Biyomon reminded her. "What about somewhere important to us?"
Kari looked around at the field of flowers. "You don't think… it's here, right?"
Gatomon shook her head. "No, or else a guardian Digimon would have attacked us by now. It certainly would have attacked DexDorugamon for killing the flowers."
Kari glanced at the dead flowers sadly and nodded. "You're right. But where else?"
"Gennai's house?" Sora guessed. "He's pretty important here."
"Unless he's the Digimon guardian, I doubt it," Kari said, giggling at the thought of Gennai Digivolving. "What's a really important place?"
Sora and Biyomon had the same thought at the same time. "File Island!" they exclaimed.
Gatomon smiled. "Purr-fect! That sounds right to me!"
Kari nodded. "So let's go!" She hesitated. "Except… how will we get there?"
Sora grinned at Biyomon and pulled her Digivice out of her messenger bag. "Ready, Biyomon?"
"Yeah!" Biyomon replied happily. "Biyomon Digivolve to…" The pink bird was covered in Digivolution light. She grew much larger, and when the light faded she'd turned into a phoenix-like Digimon with talons and fangs. "…Birdramon!" Sora cheered and hopped onto Birdramon's left foot.
Kari glanced at Gatomon, who frowned. "The crests were destroyed… I don't know how I'd be able to Digivolve, despite what Gennai told us about the crests only being what was in your hearts."
"It's fine," Kari said, picking up the white cat Digimon. "Sora, can we get a ride?"
"Of course!" Sora replied. "Hop on!"
In a few minutes, they were soaring through the sky towards File Island.
-x-
"What is with this place?" Rika asked, peering around at the weird house they were in.
Zoe shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it," she said. "These masks are starting to freak me out… a lot."
They walked down the black-and-white hallway, which was lined with black-and-white masks. The masks were almost all the same, except for their expressions, which changed slightly with each one.
"Don't let them get to you," Renamon said. "They're just trying to scare you."
Zoe gulped and tried to obey, but she couldn't keep her eyes off the masks.
"So where's the riddle in this?" Rika complained. "This is boring. Walking down a long hallway when we could be fighting?"
"I'm sure you'd feel differently about it if you were the one who had to do the fighting yourself," Zoe said cheerfully. Oops. Did that just come out badly?
Rika raised her eyebrow at her. "I fight alongside Renamon. We Biomerge to create Sakuyamon."
"Um, I have no idea what that means, but I'm sure you're great!" Zoe said quickly. She was kind of scared of Rika and didn't want her to yell at her or anything. She also didn't want to have to split up, because Renamon would of course go with Rika and she would be left all alone. That was what sucked about not having a Digimon partner.
Rika's cold violet eyes just stared at Zoe unnervingly. "Yeah. We are."
"Doors," Renamon suddenly said. "Up ahead of us. Look…"
The end of the long hallway was in sight, and split into two doors. One of them was white, the other black. They approached them warily.
"I guess we have to decide which one to take," Zoe said as they walked. "Let's go with the white one. This is probably symbolic, and symbolically we should always go with the one that represents light, not darkness."
"Are you serious?" Rika asked. "This is supposed to be a test. They're expecting us to pick the happy one. We can't do that or we'll fail the test! Of course we have to go through the one that represents darkness. That's why this is a test."
"Maybe it's a test to see what side we're on!" Zoe argued. "And we're not the bad guys. We're the good guys."
"Oh, yeah, like that's not obvious," Rika snorted. "They wouldn't make a test that easy."
"Well then you go through that one!" Zoe exclaimed, impatient and sick of Rika. "I'll go through this one. And we'll see who passes the test then."
"Fine," Rika snapped. "Come on, Renamon. We have a test to pass." Rika opened the door and stepped into the dark room, and the foxlike Digimon followed, shutting the door behind them.
"How stupid can you be?" Zoe growled to herself, then threw open the white door and entered into the light-filled room, slamming the door behind her. She didn't care that she was alone now.
As soon as she did so, the door behind her vanished. "Oh crap…" Zoe said. The light in the room faded and it turned pitch black. What? How could I be wrong? I picked the wrong one? A humming noise began, and Zoe recognized it as the background sound of her nightmares.
"Hello, Zoe," came a whispering voice.
Zoe screamed and threw her hands in front of her, searching for anything but finding nothing. "Let me out of here!" she yelled. "Someone… anyone! Rika! Help!"
-x-
"There's so much fog," Sora said, squinting into the blankets of mist that lay before them. "I can't see anything!"
"We should be close now," Birdramon called down to them.
"There!" Gatomon said, pointing with one gloved paw towards a large, dark shape that was appearing out of the fog. It was the huge funnel mountain of File Island.
Birdramon flew closer and landed on top of the peak's flat top. The girls and Gatomon jumped off the phoenix Digimon.
"There's nothing around here," Kari noted. "I hope we weren't wrong about File Island being the place…"
"We can't be," Sora said decisively. "Maybe it's just not at the very top or that would be obvious. But I feel as if it's going to be somewhere in this mountain."
"You three walk down the mountain path and I'll follow in the air," Birdramon instructed. "I'll watch out for any Digimon from up here!"
"Okay. Let us know if you see anything," Sora said, then led Kari and Gatomon to the mountain's descending path.
"It sure is cold up here," Kari said as they made their way down the mountain. She hugged her arms to her.
Sora nodded. She was wearing the summer version of her school uniform, which didn't help much. "I guess it's autumn in the Digital World too. Darn! That means winter will be soon, and we'll have to bundle up when we come here."
Kari gave a slight shrug. "Oh, I dunno… I like the winter," she said with a smile. "Though the spring's nicer."
"Give me the summer any day," Gatomon said. "Ahh, I could go for a catnap in the warm sun right about now."
"Sounds nice, but we have a mission to focus on," Kari replied. "If only Shinji had located a Dimension Stone in front of a warm fireplace…"
"SORA!" Birdramon suddenly screeched, diving towards them. Gatomon leapt in front of the girls, looking around for whatever Birdramon was warning against.
Suddenly, a huge green dinosaur-like Digimon appeared from what looked like the side of the mountain – but Birdramon could see from her aerial view that it had come out of a cave. It had huge red and black tusks on its back.
"Oh no – Tuskmon!" Kari gasped. She couldn't help but remember that it was Tuskmon that had beaten Garurumon so badly when Myotismon was searching for the eighth child – and how Kari had sacrificed herself so that Tuskmon, and others like it, wouldn't hurt any other people or Digimon. She swallowed, remembering how terrified she'd been when she saw the Digimon fighting. It was horrible.
Sora evidently remembered too. "It can't be the same one," she said. "Don't worry. Besides, it's just one Champion-level Digimon against two of ours! We can't lose!"
"Unfortunately for you, this Champion-level Digimon has something you didn't expect – a Dimension Stone inside of it!" Tuskmon roared at them.
"What does that mean?" Kari asked, worried.
"It must mean he's stronger than the others," Gatomon said, blue eyes narrowed. "And I can't Digivolve!"
Sora thought quickly. "Can't you Armor Digivolve?" she asked.
Kari shook her head. "No, not unless she doesn't have her Tail Ring. And there's no point in taking it off just so she can Armor Digivolve – except for the fact that Nefertimon can fly, she's just as strong as Gatomon with her Tail Ring."
"Besides, it's my good luck charm!" Gatomon added, then leapt at Tuskmon. "Lightning Paw!" Her paw balled up into a fist and collided with the dinosaur Digimon, but he just stepped back to brace himself. There was no visible damage.
"I've felt that attack back when you were on the bad side, and it's one strong punch!" Birdramon said. "This is going to be tricky… Meteor Wing!" Two tiny flaming meteors flew from each of her wings and hit Tuskmon, who didn't react much more than an uneasy step back.
The dinosaur Digimon lowered his head towards Birdramon. "Horn Buster!" he yelled, and a laser beam went flying towards the giant bird, colliding with her before she could move. Birdramon cried out and was pushed back, losing control of her body. She was sent hurtling towards the ground, at the bottom of the mountain.
"Birdramon!" Sora yelled, racing to the edge of the cliff. "Birdramon, you have to fly!"
Just in time, the phoenix Digimon spun around and flew back up to the cliff, though she was obviously tired and injured. "Don't worry, Sora… I'll protect you. Meteor Wing!" She fired another pair of fiery attacks at Tuskmon, but he just threw another Horn Buster laser beam at her, colliding with the attack and canceling out both.
Gatomon used this time to leap back up at Tuskmon. "Lightning Paw!" Before she punched the Digimon, though, it lowered its head at her.
"Slamming Tusk!" Tuskmon's horns rammed into Gatomon, sending her flying back with a yelp.
"Gatomon!" Kari rushed several steps forward and caught the little cat in her arms. "Are you okay?" she asked her hurt Digimon.
Gatomon nodded, though she was panting. "He's strong," she told her partner. "He's like an Ultimate… a powerful Ultimate, at that…" She sprang out of Kari's arms to stand between the attacking Digimon and the girls.
"Kari, come back here!" Sora called, worried. "We have to keep our distance… And you're too close to the edge!"
Kari looked back at Sora, and nodded, about to hurry back over to her friend. But all of a sudden, Tuskmon pointed his tusks at the divide between the girls. "Horn Buster!" A laser beam was shot out fast, too fast for Gatomon to block. She jumped up, but was too late – she was moving too slow because of her injury.
Sora gasped at seeing the laser beam flying towards them. "Kari! Watch out!" she called, backing up against the mountain. Kari stepped away from the attack quickly, but it brought her even closer to the edge. And then the laser beam hit the ground.
The ground underneath Kari's feet shifted, then gave way. She scrambled to find anything that could support her, her hands finally grabbing a large, protruding rock on the cliff's edge. Sora and Gatomon both ran towards her.
"Horn Buster!" Tuskmon shouted again, aiming for Sora. The attack grazed her side before she jumped out of the way towards the inside of the mountain. Sora winced at the pain and grabbed her side, sinking to the ground.
Gatomon was still running towards Kari. "Hold on!" she called. But her partner was losing her grip.
"Gatomon! Behind you!" Birdramon called, seeing Tuskmon lowering his head at Gatomon before summoning another attack: "Meteor Wing!" It barely fazed Tuskmon, but he glared up at her.
"Horn Buster!" Tuskmon yelled at Birdramon, firing another laser beam. The phoenix Digimon tried to avoid it, but this attack came quicker than most of the others. Birdramon's eyes widened as she took the attack. She was already hurt, and this beam was stronger than the others. She realized she was losing consciousness… She didn't think she'd be able to keep her form much longer. Sure enough, she turned to Biyomon and was able to fly towards Sora with the last of her strength. She fell next to her partner, unconscious. Sora reached out and picked up the little pink bird. "Oh… Biyomon."
"Horn Buster!" came Tuskmon's voice. Gatomon, still running to Kari, was afraid he'd do that. She turned around just in time to leap out of the way. But her blue eyes widened when she realized she'd just avoided the attack, leaving Kari to take the hit.
"No!" the cat Digimon gasped, racing towards Kari on all fours.
The beam hit the ground just above Kari, the crumbling edge of the cliff that she was desperately hanging onto. The last uncertain rocks tumbled off the cliff as even more of the ground gave way. Kari screamed as she realized she was falling.
Towards the jagged-looking rocks further down the mountain.
"Kari!" Gatomon cried. She reached the cliff's edge and dived off after her partner, only one thing in mind: saving Kari. No matter how impossible it seemed.
End of Part I, Chapter 6: First Mission
(again, sorry about the lack of boldness...)
Now that's what I call a cliffhanger! Har har… okay fine, it was a cliff-faller. I hope you liked it! Please REVIEW!!!