Digiworld Adventure

Part Ten

I slowly opened my eyes to see… brightness. I was lying on the same couch as when I had fallen asleep, but Guilmon wasn't there anymore. Around me there were digimon walking around, but they didn't move the normal way; they moved as if in a movie that only had every tenth frame. They would just slide from pose to pose and continue walking by.

The bar was strangely bright and it was difficult to see normally without squinting. When I stood up, pain coursed through my ankle and I stumbled forwards with a cry of agony. "Guilmon!" I shouted, my head whipping around desperately. "Leomon!" This didn't seem right.

Hopping on one foot, I moved slowly through the bunches of digimon and made it to the door without falling. Outside was just the same: things going on as if nothing was wrong. I called out for Guilmon again, but nothing was happening. Fear seemed to touch at the edges of my mind, but I didn't let it take over. Turning around, I hobbled back to the middle of the bar, then decided to go into the bedroom.

When making my way there, I tripped over one of the digimon's feet and went crashing to the floor. The digimon took no notice but simply kept moving. Getting up was much more difficult than I thought it would've been. Unconsciously, I put a great deal of pressure on my left foot and an overwhelming pain coursed through me, wrenching a scream from my mouth.

Finally, I dragged myself to my feet and hopped to the door. When I put my hand on the doorknob, I nearly scalded myself. It felt like it was on fire! Slipping the cuff of my shirt over my hand, I quickly twisted the knob and let the door open.

My eyes fell upon another set of eyes.

Human eyes.

They glinted maliciously behind long, black hair above a very dark grin. I knew that face… I knew those eyes however grey they might've been… and I most certainly knew that smile.

He wore completely black, and around his neck was a Tag… but the crest inside of it was…

"The Crest of Darkness," his venomous voice hissed.

I shook my head. "It's impossible," I uttered. "…You're – you're…"

"No!" I cried. My arms were wrapped tightly around Guilmon, and they were shaking violently. He was wide-awake, sitting upright on the couch and Leomon was sitting opposite us on his sofa chair. He was watching intently, his piercing blue eyes surprisingly comfortable.

"Ian-mon," Guilmon said, patting me on the back. "It's okay, you're awake."

My heart was still racing in fear at what I had seen, but my memories of the dream were fading quickly. I grappled with them, trying to pull at who had been sitting on the bed, but all I could remember were the dark, grey eyes. My fear overwhelmed me again, and I did my best not to fall to pieces again. I embraced Guilmon tightly, my face in his shoulder, and held back a wave of tears. "Why did that nightmare scare me so much? Its not like it was frightening…"

"What did you see?" Lemon's voice came from over my shoulder in a firm tone. "You called both Guilmon's name and my own."

"…I can hardly remember," I said, my voice fumbling as I tugged at my memories. "I was here… and then, I don't remember." I paused for a moment, then the eyes darted back into my mind. "He was there!"

"Who?" Guilmon asked.

I looked up to him gravely. "Him," I replied. "Darkness has taken a solid form."

Both of them fell silent at this; there was nothing to say now. Guilmon patted my back a bit, but stopped when I pulled myself upright on the couch. Leomon stood up and walked over behind the bar and started rummaging around, then started to pile some dishes on the counter. "What're you doing?" Guilmon asked.

"Well, there's no point in just sitting around doing nothing," he said, his eyes preoccupied with what he was doing. "So I'm making some breakfast. Besides, the shop will open soon so I'd better get things moving before a crowd draws at the door."

Soon there was the sizzling of eggs on a skillet, bacon drowning in fat and the occasional flipping of pancakes. The smell that wafted over was unbelievable, and it was apparent that Leomon did all the cooking here.

Twenty minutes later, when the whole bar smelled strongly of a great breakfast, Leomon called us over to the bar. Guilmon helped me over, and when we were sitting in the stools, Leomon picked up two plates piled high with eggs both fried and scrambled, bacon that looked to be done perfectly, and amazingly golden pancakes dripping with syrup.

My eyes widened at the sight of such a perfect breakfast. "Wow!" I exclaimed as he brought out the cutlery. "This looks amazing!"

"I can't believe how good this looks!" Guilmon added. "I don't know what to eat first!"

"Well," said Leomon as he produced two glasses of orange juice, "you've got plenty of time to decide." He smiled widely at this.

So, Guilmon and I started eating. It all tasted so good, like I had never had any of it before in my life. Everything was done to the perfect degree; the eggs were runny, but not too runny, the bacon was tender, but a bit crunchy at the same time, and the syrup on the pancakes was so sweet that I could hardly believe that it was actually syrup.

Guilmon, whose hands weren't made for utensils, did his best to eat politely, but he was quickly making a mess for himself. But he was smiling and having a great deal of fun, so it was hardly noticeable over his happy demeanour.

It took a while to finish such a grand feast, and when we were done, I too had made a mess out of myself. "That was astounding!" I said, looking up to Leomon. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

The lion digimon smiled as I said that. "It comes from years of constructive criticism," he replied, collecting the dishes from the counter. "You two can go wash up while I do these dishes. The washroom is just down the hall there."

Guilmon and I made our ways over to the bathroom, him helping me still. I was thoroughly annoyed at my ankle, but there just wasn't anything I could do but wait for it to heal and do my best to stay off of it.

The washrooms were nothing extravagant, just a couple of sinks, paper towel dispensers and a few stalls. The walls and floors were made of soft blue tiles, and the sinks must've been marble. It wasn't long before we were up to our elbows in soap and hot water. We both laughed at how silly it was for a while before rinsing off. When we were dried off, Guilmon helped me back to the main room where we found Leomon sitting patiently in his sofa chair.

"Well," he said, "now that breakfast is done, is there anything that you'd like to do?"

I looked at Guilmon who returned my questioning glance. He shrugged, so I asked, "are there any parks around here?"

He nodded placidly. "It's actually a rather large park," he said. "Riodosa Park is only a fifteen minute walk away. There's a big pond, an open field for games, and a small forest. I think you'd really enjoy it there."

"Well that sounds great!" I replied.

"And what would you like to do for lunch?" he asked. "You could come back here, but there's usually a vendor or two in the park."

"Ooh!" Guilmon exclaimed. "Can we go to the vendors, Ian-mon?"

"We don't have any money, though," I pointed out. "Besides, it's only a ten minute walk. How hard could that be?"

"Would you like some digi-dollars?" Leomon asked, "there's more than enough profit in the register for lunches for the two of you."

My guilt kicked in here. "Are you sure that's okay?" I asked. "I don't want to impose."

"Nonsense," Leomon said, waving it off as he made his way to the register. "I make plenty of money a day from this bar and its mine to do with as I wish." He returned with a few bills in his hand that he promptly put in mine. "Don't worry about it. It's all right." He smiled again.

"Thank-you very much," I said gratefully.

"Now you two had better get going," he said. "There's only so much time in a day!"

I thanked him once more before we made our way out the door. Guilmon helped me hop down the one step before we started walking up the already busy roads.

As we walked, a few digimon would look curiously at us, then burst into whispers once they thought we were out of earshot. Guilmon didn't seem to notice, but I sure did. There were a couple that smiled at us, and I was quite happy to return the smile, but they were outnumbered by the people who openly gawked. I felt like something from a freak show that people were lining up to just get a look at.

"How do they all know that I'm different?" I asked Guilmon after a pair of brown robots walked by. "None of them look the same, but they don't stare at each other."

"I don't know," Guilmon answered, "maybe they can smell-" He stopped in his sentence as he spotted something. Then he pulled me over to a nearby shop and looked in through the front window. It was then that I too noticed what he was looking at. "This is how they know," he said, pointing a claw at the newspaper behind the glass.

The newspaper had a picture of Dragomon on the front in black and white, and the heading read, "Human Child and his Digimon Take on Dragomon at Southern Populous Beach." The article below explained that my magic was the source of many digivolutions that took place at the beach two days ago, and although it was a great feat, that I had unbelievable strength and people should take caution around me.

My eye twitched a bit at reading this, but I didn't let it get to me. With a snort, Guilmon led the way back to the main part of the street and we continued to Riodosa Park.

Fifteen minutes later, we reached a large set of rod iron gates with the park's name inscribed over it. It was a walled park, but the trees inside were so tall that even the eight-foot walls could barely reach their lowest branches. A refreshing scent came from the park, and I eagerly kept us moving forwards through the gates.

A large smile ran across my face and my eyes glimmered at the beautiful sight before us. The park was everything that Leomon had said, but a hundred times better. The golden sun shone on the bark mulch pathways that were surrounded with ankle deep grass and dotted with fancy benches. There were flowering trees and bushes there, and many more trees that I didn't recognise.

As we entered the park, the few digimon that were in it looked over at me. I smiled a bit, but stuck with Guilmon.

"Lets go lie in the field," I suggested, keeping us moving. I didn't like to feel everyone staring at me – judging me. It made me feel like I had done something wrong, or that there was something hideously wrong with me.

We hobbled through the field, passing under giant, shade giving trees making me feel a little bit cooler when we did so. There was a slightly smaller tree that sort of resembled a maple tree that we decided to rest under. I smiled at how beautiful everything was again before sitting down against the tree trunk. Guilmon said down beside me against the tree, and we both looked up into its dense branches.

For a while, we let the breeze do all the talking, but I quickly became bored of it. "Guilmon," I said, "what do we do when my ankle is better? Where do we go?"

Guilmon leaned against my shoulder, turning a bit as he wrapped his arms around my right arm. "I don't know," he answered. "Maybe we should find the Gates of Fire that Gennai suggested. Then maybe you wouldn't have to have those terrible night terrors anymore."

I contemplated the idea for a minute. "That sounds like a good possibility," I said. "The only problem is that we have no idea where the Gates are. We'd have to spend some time looking for someone who did."

"Well, it's a big city here," Guilmon continued, "there's bound to be someone who knows about them."

"True," I added. "Very true."

I smiled as a group of tiny digimon bounced by with a bigger digimon bounding after them. It was truly beautiful here in the Digital World. I had everything I needed here, and then some. Whatever had been holding me back from being 'entirely here' was beyond me, for I had never been as happy as I was now. So, when my ankle healed, I knew that I would be set for the world.

There was a rustling from above causing both of us to look up. Then, a small bowling ball with wings and legs floated down in front of us. "I hear you're looking for the Gates of Fire," he said in a tone that made me thing bad news.

"That's rather rude of you to have been listening, Demi-Devimon," Guilmon said, not making eye contact with the little digimon. "Eavesdropping seems just like you."

I was shocked at how Guilmon had reacted to the digimon's greeting. "Do you know this guy, Guilmon?" I asked.

Guilmon shook his head. "No, but there's enough bad rumours about him that you could write a long novel with," he replied bitterly. "He's not a good digimon to be talking to; just ignore him."

"Hey, that really hurts my feelings!" Demi-Devimon said indignantly. "I'm just trying to be a good person and this is the thanks I get? I guess I'll just leave!" He turned around and started to fly away.

"Good riddance!" Guilmon snorted.

Still appalled at Guilmon's behaviour, I looked back to Demi-Devimon. "Wait!" I called after him. "What can you tell us about it?"

He looked back with a gleam in his eye. What Guilmon had said started to seem not so impossible, but I was willing to at least listen to what he had to say. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess I can talk." He turned around and landed on the ground in front of us. Guilmon turned his head so he didn't see him. "If you have to know, the Gates of Fire aren't really that far away. You just have to go a day or two down the side of the grasslands before you come to some mountains. There's a particularly large peak called Mt. Chinera, and you just have to climb about halfway before you come to a cave. Follow the passageway and you'll be at them in no time."

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Were you expecting more?" he retorted.

"Well, kind of," I answered. "Everything that we've done so far in the Digital World has taken a considerable amount of time and effort. This seems like the easiest by a long shot."

"What can I say?" he boasted. "When you talk to Demi-Devimon, you get the best of the best!" At that, he turned around and flew off, chuckling to himself.

I turned to Guilmon to say something, but he cut me off. "Don't even say it," he said, his eyes closed tight. "He's a bad digimon and he shouldn't be trusted."

"Guilmon!" I exclaimed, looking at him with an irritated expression. "I won't take directions from someone I don't know! I'm not stupid! I was going to suggest that we find someone knowledgeable who would really know with maybe maps or something."

After that, he calmed down considerably. He relaxed once more and leaned on me again. "Thank-you, Ian-mon," he sighed.

Everything was quiet again. I could hear a fountain splashing nearby, and the park got gradually more and more crowded. It wasn't uncomfortably packed, but in a way that was noticeably full. There were friends playing games with balls and frisbees, couples walking slowly down pathways, but it was mostly kids playing around.

I wished that Guilmon and I could join them, but my ankle was really keeping me down. That, of course, made me feel guilty because Guilmon could've been up having fun, but instead he was sitting here with me and my broken ankle. When I tried to voice this, though, he brushed it off. "All we've been doing since I brought you back here is running around and getting in danger. It's nice to finally just have some quiet time to ourselves."

A smile spread across my face. I was really glad that he felt that way; it made me feel way better. "Thanks Guilmon," I said quietly.

About an hour and a half later, we decided to try walking again. Since I had awoken my mind had had its guard up for trouble or danger, but as the day had progressed, I found myself starting to relax.

We walked down along the pathway, moving off the path most of the time so we weren't obstructing the people who could walk normally. It didn't take long to come upon the pond, and it was the most extravagant water feature I had seen since my trip to Scotland the summer previous to last. In the centre of it was a beautiful fountain that constantly changed its pattern, while the main body of water was a centre ring of water with four small streams breaking off of it and turning into their own separate bodies. To add to the effect, each new circle of rings was a half-step down from the last one, giving it the look of a rounded pyramid.

Within this fountain was the occasional plant or two, each one considerably different than the last. Whether it was a different colour or style of plant entirely, it was a real rainbow displayed across the waters.

The digimon around us, however, were if possible, more different than the plants in the water. Everyone was just so different in size, colour and general look. "Imagine if humans could act this way," I thought, my mind straying back to my old world. "So completely different from each other, but not even noticing the differences." I sighed enviously, wishing that I had not been brought up in a society that was discriminative to other people. "I guess I'll just start to learn."

Then we spotted two digimon that we clearly recognised from the bar the night before. They were the two little digimon with giant ears; one was white and green while the other was brown and pink. They looked like twins. Both of them came right up to us, stopping us in our tracks. "Good morning!" they said in unison. "Getting a tour of the park?" the white one asked.

"We were," Guilmon answered. "Can we help you?"

The brown one took over here. "I'm Lopmon," she said, her voice high giving away her gender, "and this is my brother Terriermon. We just wanted to take the time to say thank-you for helping us before with the Dragomon."

"We probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Terriermon jumped in. "Whatever you did, it certainly helped. If there's anything that we could do for you…"

I shook my head with a smile on it. "It was nothing," I said. "But thank-you for coming all this way to thank me. That was very kind of you."

The two little digimon looked at their feet after this, apparently not used to the compliments that were being passed back and forth. "Well, we'll probably stop at the bar once in a while," Lopmon said, "so we might see you there. How long are you staying in South Populous Beach?"

"Just until my ankle heals," I replied. "Then we need to go and find the Gates of Fire. Hey, while you're here, do you know where we might find some information on them?"

Both Terriermon and Lopmon looked at each other for a moment. "The Library is probably the best place to go," Terriermon replied. "If you want, we can go there."

Guilmon nodded. "We just need to get some lunch before we go. It must be getting close to lunch time anyway."

"The vendor is going in the same direction as you," they said in unison, pointing down the pathway. Lopmon took over again, "you'll have to pick up your pace if you're ever gong to catch it."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance at our situation, but I didn't have to be bothered by it. Guilmon, in one quick motion, slipped me onto his back in the way that I had carried him in both the desert and the forest. He caught me by surprise, and my arms automatically went over his shoulders to avoid falling off. Laughing, he said, "hold on! It's finally my turn to carry you, and not the other way around!" With that, he started forwards at a fast walk while on either side of us, Terriermon and Lopmon ran, also laughing. With all of the joy around me, it was only a matter of time before I too was laughing.

During the run, digimon on the pathway moved out of the way with confused looks on their faces. I supposed that people around here didn't normally act this way, but for the most part I ignored them.

It didn't take very long at all to catch up with what could only be the lunch vendor. It was a tall, yellow trolley with large cartwheels on the sides and a canopy over it. There was a sweet smell that came from it, but I couldn't tell what it was from the strange runes that were sprawled across the canopy. The cart was being pulled by a small digimon whose legs looked like a cloud.

When we got up beside the cart, Guilmon let me back down to the ground and helped me stand again, while Lopmon leapt up onto my shoulder and Terriermon on Guilmon's. "That's Tapirmon," she said quietly. "He owns the noodle cart here."

"Tapirmon!" Terriermon called out, catching the digimon's attention. "Can we get some noodles?"

He stopped the cart and smiled at us. "Sure," he said, "how many bowls?"

"Just two," Guilmon answered.

Tapirmon nodded kindly and aptly prepared two bowls and stuck a set of chopsticks in both. He also dropped a few vegetables on both of them, then spread a quick dash of soy sauce over them. "Nine digi-dollars, please," he said, handing the bowls to us. Guilmon held both of them while I rummaged through my pockets for the money. Leomon had given us twenty, and I handed Tapirmon two fives.

"The rest is a tip," I said, declining the change he started to prepare. "Great service here." I smiled at him happily.

He bowed swiftly, then added, "thank-you very much, human child. I believe the press needs to get their stories straight before they publish them."

The four of us sat at the first bench we found and ate our lunch, finding that the noodles were surprisingly tasty.

After lunch, we headed for the library with Terriermon and Lopmon. We were only about eight blocks away from Leomon's bar, and it looked like the walk would be really worth it. The library was three stories high, and all the windows were jammed with books that ranged from ancient, giant and tattered, to small, shiny and new. There were more strange runes painted beautifully on the windows and awnings, but there was nothing else that this building could've been.

When I had lived in my world, I had been a bookworm. I would pour through thousands of pages at a time, then stop for a week or two to let my mind cool down before going at it again. I would fall in love with these books, finding myself at night, hunched over the book with a faint light letting the world within the pages jump out at me.

Guilmon had to give me some extra help to get up the steps, but I was too excited to worry about my ankle. The smell of knowledge was strong, blowing fiercely in my face, and I loved it. I put my hand on the metal bar, opening the large oak doors, and I gasped slightly in anticipation.