Return
Seventh chapter of Return, and officially half-way through the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Frontier in any way, shape or form.
Notes: I've revised the previous chapters a little, so things are a bit smoother and nicer than before (like the mishap with the digieggs suddenly disappearing is fixed now). The plot for chapters 7 and 8 were switched around so I could handle some excuses, and I fixed it up so that there is no more loop-hole! YOSH!
"If we actually care about what other people need, then it doesn't matter that sometimes they need more than they can give back to us for a while." --Tommy Himi, episode 25; The Dark Heart of Friendship, English dub.
-(Chapter 7: The Castle)-
"Where... where am I?" Kouichi's breath floated into his face, making him aware of the low temperature around him, and he shivered. He looked around hesitantly, watching as his movements stirred up cloudy mist, which only hindered his vision more. Everything around him, sights and sounds, were all muffled, and a sense of dread crept into his heart.
Though a little frightened, Kouichi resolved to trek forward, crossing his arms over his chest to hold onto body heat. Things around him were so silent, so calm, that it was unnerving, and the boy shivered again. With no noise around him, his thoughts seemed too loud inside his head, most of which were bombarding him crazily. How did he get here? Where was here? What happened to the others?
"Where am I!?" He hadn't expected an answer to his call, but oddly enough, the ground shook in response. Kouichi lost his balance in the movement, falling backwards, feeling the vibrations under his feet and hands pound their way up into his head like the beat of a song. The sound was so loud and powerful, that the dark-haired boy hadn't noticed the misty ground before him making way for some sort of object bursting out of the ground. Points of some sort of roof emerged before Kouichi was forcibly tossed backwards as something huge came up from underneath him.
The dizziness slowly subsided, and when all was calm once more, Kouichi risked a peek. What he saw before him he hadn't expected to see, and he gasped.
"AH!" Startled, the warrior of darkness shot straight up out of bed, pressing a hand against his sweating face, panting as he got a hold of himself.
"A... a castle?" he asked aloud after a little while of staring at the air in front of him. Nothing answered him, except for the pounding of feet coming closer. The door burst open, scaring him even more than the dream.
"What's wrong!?" Kouji asked, running towards him in panic. "Kouichi!?"
Said elder boy shushed his brother, calming him. "It was nothing. Just a dream. Nothing's wrong."
The younger boy deflated, regaining his breath. Kouichi smiled at him patiently, then turned to look around the unfamiliar room they were in.
"Where are we?" he asked.
Kouji sat on the bed next to him, "A cheap hotel in a town that's on the outskirts of the Autumn Leaf Fair." He replied, checking out the window to watch the snow fall in the afternoon light.
"What?" Kouichi turned to look outside also, surprise filling his voice. "But, how'd we get here?"
"The digimon of the area sent a rescue boat for us when we didn't come back and then they brought us here on a Trailmon."
Kouichi paused a moment, looking down at the crisp white blankets that lay in his lap. "Then... I've been out all day?"
Kouji gave a little nod, turning away. "We've been restocking, mostly. Apparently there's a rumor that the Autumn Leaf Fair's heater is broken. Takuya wants us to check it out to see if we can help..."
"Huh..." Kouichi mumbled, not really paying attention. More so, he was just staring out the window, eyes cloudy with thoughts. He wasn't worried at all about anything to do with the Fair, but rather how he himself was doing. His spirit wasn't supposed to be hurt, and yet here he was, having been out cold for some 10 hours or whatever. He wasn't supposed to sustain damage, and yet he could feel the ache from the battle beforehand, and the pounding of a headache coming on.
"Kouichi?" Said boy turned back to reality, realizing that his twin had been watching him. "Are you... sure your okay?"
He wanted to say 'yeah, I'm fine', but he couldn't bring himself to lie to his brother anymore. He'd already tried to avoid telling the truth, and it hadn't worked out before. "I... I got a bit of a headache." He finally admitted, looking out the window again.
"Could it be a key?"
The elder brother turned to lock eyes with his twin, the thought having never occurred to him. "Now that you mention it," he said, "it might be."
Happily, the six human children along with their five digital companions sat together for supper, food being provided without cost for the brave heroes. With the little town being so close to the water, most edible items were fish and seaweed, but the kids were satisfied, accustomed to the somewhat oriental-style dishes.
"So do tell us how you managed to defeat all those Scorpiomon, Kouichi?" Bokomon prompted, an easygoing atmosphere settled around the dining room. But despite that, Kouichi went a little hot from the spotlight being turned on him, and he gulped a little.
"I... It wasn't really me. I er... the keys... Oh! The Wood and Earth keys helped out a lot." He explained nervously, and some of his friends gawked.
"You mean you got two more of them?" Takuya exclaimed.
"Well, yeah..." Kouichi fished into his pocket, pulling them out and handing them over to the fire warrior.
"Wow, that's great!" Izumi piped cheerily, "Who knew that there were three keys on one little island?"
Izumi and Kouichi exchanged quick glances, while everyone else turned to Bokomon, who noticed with a start.
"Er, right!" He opened his book up on the dining table, with Neemon, Patamon, Salamon and Lopmon gathering around him. "Well, before the world was reborn, before the corrupted Legendary Warriors started to destroy the world, it says that the guardian of the island, Sandiramon, was intent to gather any power it could. It could have taken the keys from the Scorpiomon, and that's why they were so intent to rebel."
"So, saving the Digital World and reviving it just set things back to the way they were before?" Kouji huffed, crossing his arms.
"Hm, I wonder why we never heard about any of these keys before?" Tomoki wondered aloud, earning some looks.
"Probably everything was too tremulous to even think about the Gate." Takuya muttered.
"Well, wait," Izumi said, putting a finger to her lips, "Didn't Lucemon want to get into the real world? Those keys would have done the trick, right?"
"Then they were probably destroyed before anything bad could happen," Junpei realized. "Maybe even disappeared along with the data of the Continents when they were scanned."
"It doesn't matter what happened before," Takuya finally announced. "What matters now is finding the rest of those keys."
"But there aren't any clues as to where any of them might be," Izumi countered, frustrated. "We haven't found any consistency between where we found all of our keys before. Up until now, we found them with sheer luck!"
"Don't forget that Kouichi can sense those things," Junpei suddenly reminded, and the group nodded, turning to the boy.
...who wasn't in his place.
"Er, Kouji? What happened to your brother?" Takuya asked, baffled that none of them had noticed the dark boy's absence.
"I thought he just got up to look outside," Kouji growled to himself, noticing that his brother wasn't at the window or anywhere else in sight.
Tomoki and the younger twin moved to the window to check outside, where the snow was dropping down heavily. But it wasn't so bad that they couldn't spot the distancing figure walking away from the hotel.
"What is he doing?!" Kouji muttered, rushing outside with the littlest boy on his heels, the others gathering at the window to watch them. It was easy enough to catch up to the warrior of darkness, who seemed to be just wandering aimlessly forward, his eyes misty as if hypnotized. Kouji had a moment of panic inside him, almost afraid that some dark force put a spell on his brother again or something like that, when Tomoki pulled at Kouichi's sleeve, and the boy woke up.
"Wh...what?" The elder twin looked around, surprised and dizzy. "Kouji? Tomoki? How'd I get out here?"
The other two gave each other a look, turning to Kouichi with confusion on all of their parts. Kouji just shook his head then, taking his brother by the arm, "Explanation later. Let's go back inside before you catch cold."
"Huh..." Kouichi let himself be lead back towards the little hotel, but couldn't help himself from looking over his shoulder almost longingly. What was it that had been back there...?
Tomoki saw the other turn and did so himself, staring out into the vast whiteness in front of him. Between the snow blowing in his face and the wind rushing in his ears, the young brunette couldn't differentiate between what was earth or sky, let alone try and pick anything out in the distance.
Wait... what was that...?
"Tomoki! C'mon!" Kouji called, and the warrior of ice shook his head, and thus the odd mirage disappeared. He blinked, then turned around and ran to the twins' side, soon returning to the warmth of the hotel.
Kouichi was huddled on a soft, low, green couch, sitting in front of the fire with a hot cup of steaming tea held between his hands and a blanket around his shoulders. The snow outside hadn't let up, and instead gotten worse throughout the day, trapping the team inside the hotel for the time being. They had decided to head towards the Autumn Leaf Fair as soon as they had the chance so they could help out with the heater, and then they'd see where Kouichi's 'sense' would lead them next.
The dark-haired boy sighed, sipping slowly on his tea. Ever since he woke up, he'd had one of those aching headaches pounding in the back of his head. Kouji might have been right about him sensing a key, but the problem was that he had no idea where the pounding was coming from. There was no specific direction, just a very deep and annoying ache behind his eyes that made him dizzy.
"Still not feeling well?" Kouji asked softly as he sat next to his brother on the couch, his own cup of tea held in one hand as the other pat Kouichi's shoulder lightly.
"Mm," The elder twin shook his head, staring into the fire quietly. "I don't know, Kouji. What if it's not a key, and I'm just feeling after-effects of the fight?" He asked, worried.
"Then the ache will go away soon," Kouji promised, watching as his twin turned his eyes down into his cup.
"I keep thinking about what happened earlier," Kouichi whispered slowly. "I wonder what's out there? Why can't I remember what I was looking for?"
Kouji turned to look outside, the storm howling and everything covered in white. "I'm not sure. But you can't go looking now, it's too dangerous." Kouichi stifled a little chuckle, grinning at his younger twin's over-protective nature.
"Okay, Nii-chan."
"Hey, I'm serious!"
Kouichi laughed aloud, nodding his head, and Kouji grinned too, feeling happy that he could make his brother smile.
The merry atmosphere was cut short when the power went out, everything suddenly thrown into darkness. The twins frowned, putting down their cups and stood together, gazing through the darkness.
"I bet the storm outside did this," Kouji grumbled while his eyes adjusted to the firelight. Kouichi was easily able to see in the dark, peering around for some sort of sign, and looking for the others.
"Where is everyone?" He asked finally.
"Upstairs probably, or in the dining room. C'mon," Kouji found his brother's arm, tugging him towards the hallway, surprised to find Kouichi resisting.
"Wait," He said, a certain odd... sleepy quality slowly creeping into the elder twin's voice. "Wait... there's something... something out there," He mumbled slowly, walking towards the window.
"Kouichi, we can't go out in that storm!" Kouji protested.
"No, look! Out there!" Kouichi pointed, and the younger tried to look through the raging snow to pick out what his brother was talking about. "It's out there! The castle!"
Kouji turned on his brother, his brows scrunched together half in suppressed anger and half in overwhelming concern. "Kouichi, there isn't anything out there but snow! Especially not some weirdo castle! You're just tired."
"No!" Kouichi tried to head towards the door, but Kouji blocked the way, forcefully dragging him away. "No, there is something out there! There is! Kouji!!"
"Kouichi, no! I'm not letting you go outside in this!"
The warrior of darkness was about to yell again, when something roused him of his sleepy rationalization. It sounded like a door opening.
The twins turned when they felt a blast of freezing air hit them, watching numbly as Tomoki rushed outside into the storm and closed the door behind him.
"I must be crazy," Tomoki muttered to himself, holding onto his hat that was threatening to blow off of his head for all the wind. The snow didn't hinder him, and in fact, the cold seemed to be helping his strength, but he was faring badly against the harsh gales. He wasn't sure what direction that... mirage... castle was, but he had a suspicious feeling that the wind was blowing him away from it. So he had to fight the headwind with all his might.
He had been very worried over Kouichi the whole time, and he could tell that everyone around him was nervous. If the warrior of darkness was a spirit and could still be hurt from using spirit-evolution, then what did that mean for the rest of them? But of course, no one was that selfish, they were all just worried over him. Without the overwhelming task of saving the world on their shoulders, their own problems seemed heightened.
The brunette hadn't been exactly sure what that mirage really was before, but after a long afternoon of contemplating, he was sure it had been in the form of a castle. And even if it was just a mirage, he chose to believe what Kouichi was seeing. There was something out here, and he was the one crazy enough to go find it. Besides all of that, he could just feel something out here, calling to him, somehow like the beating of his heart.
Another step against the harsh icy wind and Tomoki could feel his ears starting to go numb, the whistling of the air starting to sound like it was a song as it whooshed passed... wait. That didn't sound like the wind at all anymore. It sounded like some sort of flute, and it was making him dizzy. The younger warrior of ice took a deep breath of the cold air around him, feeling the chill stir and fill him with new strength, enough so that he regained his senses and was able to push forward once more. Without at doubt, the wind wasn't making that melodic tune, it had to be an instrument of some sort.
The wind and the music suddenly stopped, and Tomoki heard a distinctly female voice speak, "Hah? A human child has gotten through my spells? How unusual."
The snow was falling gently now and the boy blinked, gazing curiously up at the one who had spoken, hovering 6 feet above the ground with the help of a tattered old broom. The woman - a digimon, no doubt - was dressed in the likeness to that of a witch of western culture, with long red robes and a pointy hat, along with blond hair and some black boots. And behind her, a fading mirage of a giant castle of ice stood tall and proud.
"Who are you?" Tomoki asked untrustingly, hand poised over his D-Tector, yet knowing full well that he should take care not to use up his strength digivolving.
"I, my dear little friend, am Witchmon, the sorcerer of this place. Now, who are you? One so strong as to actually get passed my barriers must truly be strong." The demon digimon twirled her pipe instrument around with nimble fingers, red lips settled in a content smirk that Tomoki didn't like one bit. He guessed that the harsh storm must have been her doing, trying to drive away those who came close, probably because she was protecting something.
"I'm the Legendary Warrior of Ice." He answered strongly and braced himself when Witchmon's eyes lit up and she sat straighter on her broom.
"Oh! A Legendary Warrior! Then you've come to get the power? I knew this place attracted strong opponents, but never did I expect a real Legendary Warrior." Witchmon gasped, her broom hovering a little higher, as if to try and get a little further away from him.
Tomoki was still processing the information about the power that 'attracted' him, wondering if Kouichi had been drawn in by the same thing. "Then, Witchmon, are you guarding this power?"
The woman tilted her head curiously before she answered, "I am a sorceress, not a guardian. I play my Pipes to drive ones like you away - the music and the winds are a fierce combination, are they not?"
"Then it must have been the music that made Kouichi dizzy," Tomoki reasoned, remembering how the melodic tune had affected him before. He himself had only been able to come this far because of the power boost of the ice around him, fueling his Spirit because of the harmony it had with the element. "Then, this power," the brunette wondered carefully, "is it the Ice key?" Kouichi had said it had been a key, after all, but he hadn't been too sure, and the boy needed to make sure that if he was going to fight, that he'd gain what they needed.
"A key?" Withcmon stared a minute before bursting into laughter, throwing her head back, giving the boy the impression that she was taunting him. "There is no key here! So sorry to disappoint you, Legendary Warrior!" She sneered, before aiming her broom at him and charging.
Tomoki barely had the time to whip out his D-Tector, digivolving quick enough for Kumamon to dodge out of the way.
The demon digimon swooped up from hitting the ground, glaring at the little bear, "So you really are a Warrior, then? But to get the power, you'll have to get passed me first."
Tomoki disregarded the fact that what she said practically made her the guardian, even though she believed she wasn't, mounting his weapon on his shoulders and preparing to fire. "Blizzard Blaster!"
The other twirled the pipe like a pinwheel, and when the snow hit, it was redirected away from her, falling harmlessly to the sides. "You'll have to do better than that, little bear. Aquari Pressure!" Following her hand movements, the water from the snow moved on its own, unfrozen, combining until a mini tidal wave had formed, crashing into the smaller fighter forcefully. He tumbled, doing back-flips until his head hit something and he had stopped, the water slowly subsiding just as a headache started to form.
"Just what kind of power is she trying to hide? Because I really think a power boost would be handy right about now." Tomoki thought to himself, standing shakily and bracing a hand on the hard wall that he'd previously fell into, finding it cold. He soon found that he'd tumbled straight into the side of the Ice Castle's walls, and he knew straight away that Witchmon wasn't lying about the power concealed there. There was definitely a certain hum of strength inside the walls, held strong and powerful, that there was no wonder it had a sorcerer protecting it.
Tomoki suddenly remembered he was in the middle of a fight and turned quickly to where Witchmon was hovering, the pipe lifted up to her lips. She played a mismatched chord and a smog formed out of the open end, growing in synch to the note's crescendo, before finally cutting off. "Poison Storm!" Witchmon declared, sending the fog towards the small warrior, who was only now scrambling away from the ominous black cloud, but he had nowhere to hide, and it was only a matter of time before he was hit, sending Kumamon to his hands and knees. He found himself staring blearily at human hands covering purple snow, wondering just how she's managed to make him dedigivolve with only a few hits, when just a few days ago he could stand up to Lucemon's Chaos Attack.
"I need to be stronger. We're only going to be here for a little longer, but until then I have to stay strong! I can't let my strength fail me now. I have to stay strong!!" Tomoki could breathe once again, a beeping alerting him to the crazy antics of his D-Tector, buzzing with light and flashing uncontrollably. The boy stood up with the device clasped in both hands, stretching it towards the castle. "Give me the strength I need! Please!" Tomoki asked, and the castle shimmered in response, the snow on the ground twirling around in the air.
The next thing he knew, Kumamon and Korikakumon were facing one another on either side of him, the power to bring them together coursing at the tips of his fingers. He grasped the intense strength and brought out his D-Tector, feeling empowered. "Execute!" He shouted, "Fusion Evolution!"
Just as Tomoki had gained his power to evolve, Witchmon had also experienced some of that surge, and when the new warrior stepped out of his evolution, not only was he different, but so was his opponent.
"LadyDevimon!"
"Daipenmon!"
Tomoki's form was big, but otherwise looked pathetically harmless compared to the evil, black woman that Witchmon had transformed into. Daipenmon was just a penguin with a little white hat and two popsicles for weapons, while his opponent was a devil, dressed in dark black with lots of chains, death white hair streaming behind her.
"Hahah!" LadyDevimon cackled and Tomoki resisted the urge to cover his ears - the devil's voice had grown scratchy and dark. "Not only have you gained the power, but so have I! This fight won't be so easy, Legendary Warrior! Evil Wing!" A wave of flaming little bats came at the fusion warrior, who did not even attempt to move out of the way, instead crossing his popsicle weapons and waiting until the blow hit.
The darkness was strong and it took away his energy to hold it off, but he had not even needed to move. Still, it would be good to finish this off quickly, before he lost all of his strength. The penguin digimon held out his pink popsicle sword, pointing it towards the curious LadyDevimon, his voice rumbling deeply, "Strawberry extinction!"
A powerful pink light twisted through the icy air, just grazing LadyDevimon's right arm as she leaped out of the way. The lightning-like beam wrapped around her arm and she screamed as a pink frost started to cover it until her fingers were numb. She shook the beam off fiercely, but not in time to save her frozen limb. Her eyes darkened as a wicked grin spread across her devilish face. "Sorry, my dear little friend, but that was the wrong hand!"
Daipenmon was suddenly being charged by a raging woman digimon, left arm transformed into a long black spike that twinkled at the ends threateningly. Slow but graceful, the warrior of ice took a step to the side and blocked the attack with his popsicles, using them as swords to keep LadyDevimon at a stand-still. Unfortunately she was way too fast, and after a successful block, Daipenmon was suddenly being slashed at from all sides by the spike, too quick for him to comprehend.
It only took him a slight pause in the devil's onslaught to grip his stick-weapons and swing it, throwing her out of her momentum and into the air. Dizzy, she was unable to straighten herself as the Legendary Warrior pointed his blue popsicle towards her.
"Blue Hawaii Death!" a strong blast of blue rushed towards LadyDevimon and the only thing she could do was gawk as the attack rushed around her, covering her whole body with icy shards. Her wings were left immobilized and she fell to the ground, groaning with the effort of moving her numbed limbs. She just barely was able to sit up as Daipenmon lumbered over to her.
"You've lost, LadyDevimon," He rumbled, "This power is mine alone." He swiped both of his popsicles as one over her chest and her fractal code immediately made its appearance, along with a horrified shriek. "Rest, and let my digivice purify you. Fractal code: digitize."
LadyDevimon's egg flew up into the sky just as Tomoki landed onto the ground, panting and exhausted. His eyes brightened when his D-Tector beeped, and as soon as the young boy pressed the "render" button, the snow on the ground evaporated in a splendid wonder of white sparkles, and the ice castle broke down into flakes that mixed and danced with the wind. Slowly, the last of the castle was broken down, and when all the sparkles had finally evaporated or flown off with the breeze, Tomoki was left in a frost-bitten field with harmless white clouds floating across the sky. The storm was finally over.
Tomoki saw the group out a ways, running to meet him, and he smiled proudly, hurrying towards his friends.
"Tomoki! You got the storm to stop!" Izumi exclaimed, gathering the younger boy into her arms for a hug.
Said boy laughed brightly, "Yep! And all I had to do was beat LadyDevimon with this," he presented his D-Tector, and an image of Daipenmon flashed across its screen, lighting up the other's faces.
"Let me see! I wanna see!" Neemon complained as the others gasped and awed over their youngest member. Tomoki showed them proudly, and Bokomon gave the boy a pat on the head.
"Oh, Tomoki you've done splendid! You're fusion evolution must have been very powerful! And you don't even look tired," he rambled and the boy nodded slightly.
"Well, I am pretty tired, no doubt about that," He muttered modestly, then turned to Kouichi. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't find any keys. LadyDevimon was making people confused so that we didn't get the power. The Ice Castle disappeared when I rendered her code."
"Don't be sorry," Kouichi smiled, "I'm just glad you're alright."
"So there was a castle?" Kouji spoke up and Tomoki nodded. "But no keys. Hmm,"
Junpei waved his hand dismissively, "That doesn't matter. Tomoki got his fusion! Now we can go and find his key."
"Right," Takuya agreed, "but first we have to go to the Autumn Leaf Fair."
-(to be continued)-
I'm very very sorry for the prolonged wait!! I didn't realize how much the summer would effect my writing. Gomen nasai!
Anyway, I'm very pleased with the content of this chapter! Elaborated on lots of random things that I hadn't expected to go into detail about, and so the chapter came out pretty decent-sized. It wasn't all about the one thing that was supposed to happen, and instead had a lot of other little stuff in there. Good for me. Oh, and I drew some sketches for this chapter (one where Kouichi just wakes up, and another where Tomoki is looking up at the castle of ice), so I want to put the URLs in sometime (when I get around to scanning them in, that is). So, hooray! Stick around for the next chapter! Too bad there wasn't any kind of cliffhanger to make you want to go read the next one... hrm...