Digiworld Adventure
Part Twelve
I was walking through a dark cave with rough and jagged walls. My footsteps echoed loudly off the walls letting me know that I was clearly alone. That was all I did: continue walking. There was a purpose to it, but I didn't know it.
"Where are you going?" a familiar voice asked in a hiss. The voice was unbelievable unpleasant, but only because I recognised it. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Of course I am," I replied calmly, not letting my fear show. "Nobody wants you here anyway."
"I think that you do," he continued. "I can see that you're far too unsure of what will happen if you do this. You'll never have the gall to do this. You're weak. That's why you need me. Your body will be too unstable without me and you're going to have the same fate as I if you try it."
"Better that we both die than we both live," I said vehemently. "My life is nothing in comparison to the damage you could cause. I would rather die than let you do anything to harm Guilmon or anyone else in this world."
"You're so naïve," he snarled, anger rising in our chest. "Without me you're nothing but a defenceless and pathetic human. You'll be alone."
At this I actually laughed out loud. "You must be mad!" I laughed. "I'm never alone as long as I have Guilmon. He can protect me if I'm so defenceless anyway. You still can't hurt me even emotionally, you worm."
"You're pushing it, you rotten child," he growled. "I still have power. You can't neglect that after what I did on the mountain.
"Well aren't you special?" I said sarcastically.
Silence fell upon us again, and as I walked, the tunnel became gradually hotter. As I walked further, the tunnel got to be sweltering hot to the point that I was sweating from the heat of it. "This feels like the desert all over again,"I thought indignantly. Still, I pressed on.
Suddenly, I rounded a corner and saw them.
"The Gates of Fire," I whispered in awe. "You see that? No more darkness!"
No voice returned my cockiness.
There I stopped and knelt in a prayer position, but instead of my palms together, I folded my arms in front of me to form a rectangle, my right forearm resting on top of my left forearm. "Take this soul," I wished valiantly. "I give it up freely, in hoping to quell the darkness of the Digital World."
"You don't want to do that," he dared suddenly.
"Or what?" I asked snidely.
He chuckled darkly. "I still have power, as I said before. I can make far more pain than death. You just try it; you know I will."
Out of nowhere, I smiled. The smile turned into a bit of a laugh, then finally into all out laughter. When I stopped, I could feel his resentment it was so strong. "You know what?" I asked indifferently. "I don't care. If getting rid of you even causes me to die, then it's worth it." I looked up to the blazing fires while he tried to argue with me. "TAKE THIS SOUL!" I roared to the fires. "I GIVE IT UP FREELY!"
"YOU FOOL!" he snarled.
"TAKE THIS SOUL!"
The fires roared back at me, blasting forwards and consuming me. It felt like the desert again, but I wasn't afraid anymore. There was a light tingling from all over my body, and I could see the darkness hovering around my body, being torn out by the flames.
"BURN!" he screeched.
Pain – unimaginable pain – seared through my entire being, grating at every organ, every bone and every vein. My blood felt like it was boiling, and my bones felt like they were being scratched at with knives. My skin… my skin felt as if it was being peeled off layer by layer. A scream was wrenched from my lips as the pain started to really seep in. This was worse than death; this was worse than torture. Death would be mercy to this.
A smack to the head from nothing and then scratches on my face. These weren't just feelings anymore. These were real. Blood leaked down my face, blotting my vision as my hair was torn at. Then, some invisible force like the one that had cut me, kicked me in the gut, knocking whatever little air that was left in my body out.
The scream was eternity.
The pain was unceasing.
This was my reality: Darkness in its final hour will vanquish Life.
Then came a cooling glow. There was still pain, but it subsided enough for my thoughts to process. I looked down to the light and found that the Crest of Life was glowing again. It started to drive out the darkness, pushing it farther into the fire.
I heard him screaming, and I took delight in it. Not for revelling in his pain, but for what it meant for the world.
"We're saved," I whispered.
And then there was nothing.
The flames were gone, the darkness was gone… all that was left was me in an empty tunnel.
Blood still clotted my vision, my breathing was pained, and everything stung terribly, but it was over.
"Guilmon," I whispered.
I opened my eyes to find myself sprawled out over the bed and my upper body lying on Guilmon. He was still asleep, but then the sun was barely up so it didn't matter.
After rubbing my eyes, I tried to remember the dream I had been having. There had been a tunnel… and fire? I couldn't remember it. It was already leaving me and I had just awoken. At least it hadn't been another night terror.
I sighed, my head in a comfortable niche in Guilmon's shoulder. Never before had I been so comfortable with someone. Sure, a few of my friends from my world had been pillows and vice-versa, but not to the point of actually falling asleep on them.
From behind the door I could hear Leomon making breakfast. It was then that I remembered the attack from the night before. "Is everything alright? I hope that he doesn't lose his good business because of me…"
Guilmon's tail twitched and I heard his stomach growl, and then he was awake. We sat up and looked out the window at the sunlight that was glowing over the city. "Good-morning," he said sleepily.
"Morning, Guilmon," I said, patting him on the shoulder as I stuck my feet out of bed. My bad foot was still tender, but it seemed to be getting way better. Then Guilmon walked over to my side of the bed and helped me up, still the living version of a crutch.
I still don't know what it is about the Digital World, but I feel more at home than I ever have. Everything here is just so right even when it's not.
At any rate, when we both sat down at the stools, breakfast was almost done. Leomon seemed happy enough, but I couldn't tell if he was really happy, or just faking it for our sake. "And how did everyone sleep last night?" he asked. On two occasions he had awoken to my screaming and found me still deep in sleep.
We both nodded. "Good," Guilmon said.
"No nightmares last night," I said jovially.
Guilmon was surprised at this, but he didn't press it.
"That's good to hear," Leomon said, piling fried eggs onto two plates. "Or rather, not hear." He chuckled a bit to himself.
I smiled at the pun, but my eyes darted to breakfast. Fried eggs, toast with peanut butter and yoghurt. It looked unbelievably healthy, and I was strangely excited about it. Not that we had been eating unhealthy meals, I just liked how plainly healthy it was. Carbohydrate breakfast. "Looks great, Leomon," I said, picking up my knife and fork.
When we were done, we headed out once again to the library, the heavy book under my free arm.
Terriermon and Lopmon didn't show up until an hour after we got there, but we had left earlier than we normally did, so I wasn't surprised. We had some quick idle chit-chat, but we got to work quickly.
By lunchtime, I thought we had made some considerable progress, although we didn't learn anything that was particularly helpful. We decided to go out for lunch, but since I didn't know any of the shops, Lopmon and Terriermon showed us around.
When we came to a small little coffee shop, we stopped there and sat down at one of the six tables. The place was called 'Applethorn's,' and it only had one other table filled.
I got a tasty Ruben on Rye, Guilmon got a small pizza, and Terriermon and Lopmon both got a salad. We ate quietly, trying not to disturb the peace of such a quaint place, but Terriermon had to break it.
"Don't look now, but I think that Golligamon has been watching us," he said, his eyes suggesting the storefront window.
"Who?" I asked, not daring to turn my head.
"Look now," he said in a flash, "he's got his head turned."
I glanced back, Guilmon's gaze following, and our eyes came to rest on the digimon who had caused the trouble at the bar the night previous. We whipped back into place, a pained expression on our faces. "Saw him," Guilmon spat.
"Do you know who he is?" Lopmon asked, noticing our faces.
I nodded, the quickly recounted the story of last night. Both of the little digimon were quite perturbed. "Shouldn't we get out of here then?" Lopmon asked, a little worried. Overall she seemed much more mature than Terriermon.
"Why?" I asked. "I don't want some drunk to spoil our work."
"We can work at the bar," Terriermon pointed out.
A deep sigh poured from my mouth, my eyes rolling in annoyance. "Fine," I said, giving in.
"Let's try and lose him," Guilmon suggested, a smile coming to his face.
"Now Guilmon," Lopmon warned, "let's not go looking for trouble."
"There's a back door," Terriermon said. "Pretend like you're going to the washroom. We'll follow in a minute. Wait for us at the end of the hallway."
I shared Guilmon's grin, looking to him. "Can you help me to the washroom?" I asked, pushing my chair out a bit.
Guilmon got up and helped me walk to the hallway. It was a short one, only a few metres long, but it was enough to get out of Golligamon's eyesight. We paced down past the three doorways: Girls, Boys and Staff washrooms, and made it to the end of the hall where we found a last door with an exit sign on it.
It was only a couple minutes before Terriermon and Lopmon joined us, our smile only reflecting on Terriermon's face. Lopmon seemed a bit more nervous than she should've been, but she was usually like that. "Come on," Terriermon said in a hurry, pushing at the door. "It won't be long before fatso out there realises we're not coming back." The door swung all the way open and we moved swiftly through it, finding ourselves in a back alley. When my hopping became pained as we tried to pick up the pace, Guilmon again plucked me off the ground and onto his back and caught up with the other two who were already at the end of the alley looking onto the street.
"Thanks," I said in a hush as Guilmon's head rounded the corner.
"No problem," he replied, following the two little digimon out of the alley towards Leomon's bar.
It only took five minutes at the most to get to the bar, and when we came in there were only a few digimon scattered over the room. Leomon looked up from behind the bar, knowing immediately that something was wrong. "What's up?" he asked, motioning us to sit down at the stools in front of him.
Once we were sitting, Lopmon explained about Golligamon.
Leomon punched the counter upon hearing this, a visible dent left in it. "I knew something would happen," he snarled. "I just knew it! Now all of you are involved in it too!" His frustration was blatantly apparent.
"It's okay, Leomon," Terriermon said, being more adult-like for a moment. "We're good enough to keep away from him."
"Of course," Guilmon added. "I can protect of Ian-mon."
"I'm not questioning that," Leomon sighed. "It's the principle here."
"I know," Lopmon said in an attempt to console the lion digimon. "It's difficult, but we can keep out of trouble."
He left for a moment to fill up another digimon's glass, then returned with a new face. "If Golligamon is ever following you, or if anyone suspicious is doing that, you need to come back here. I don't want to see you getting into trouble on my account."
We all nodded in agreement. None of us wanted anything to happen either. From there we went to the bedroom; we had left the book in the library in planning to return to it, but is seemed that we would have to wait a while before we could go and get it.
I slumped down onto the bed and sighed deeply. "What if they're watching the bar?" I asked suddenly. Guilmon was also lying on the bed with Terriermon and Lopmon at the foot of it.
"Then we'll have to fight," Guilmon replied. "They can't keep us here forever."
"But last time we tried to fight, you couldn't digivolve!" I exclaimed. "What happens if you still can't?"
He smiled. "I'm strong in this form," he said. "You don't need to worry about me."
Another sigh escaped my lips. There wasn't anything I could do about that. "If only I knew how to make him digivolve… but that's not the right thing to do. It's him; it's his body; I don't own him. We're partners, that's why we're supposed to work together. And what have I done?" I knew that was just too dramatic, though. "Well, I have helped, I guess. I did carry him to safety from the mountain. And I did help him in the desert… I suppose those count. But he's saved my life so many more times! In the first ten minutes of knowing him, he saved me at least three times! And then he brought me here, which was the greatest gift anyone's ever given me. Maybe I shouldn't be looking at debts, though. At any rate, this is far too off topic." "I just don't want anything to happen to you," I sighed.
"And it won't if you're there to help," he said. "We're partners. I save you, you save me, we save the Digital World. It's not as complicated as you're letting yourself believe."
"How is he so right? I thought I was supposed to be the realistic one." I smiled, my confidence building up in me.
"And if you've got friends like us looking out for you," Terriermon piped up, "then you've got nothing to worry about."
After a while, the subject turned to my world and where I had come from.
"Is it true that there are millions of human children in your world?" Lopmon asked in awe. Apparently in the Digital World, humans were revered and sometimes thought of as legend.
I shook my head with a smile. "Nope," I answered, "there are billions of us. All over the planet in different colours, religions and languages. It's quite amazing really once you take the time to look at it."
"Do you think you'd ever take us there?" Terriermon asked.
My face and voice became very serious here. "No," I replied. "I don't think that I would."
"Why not?" he asked, looking up from the bed at me.
My eyes grew distant and clouded as I thought back to that world and what I had learned on the Trainmon. "My world is too slow for me now. Even if I wanted to go back, I wouldn't know how. BUT I DON'T! So I won't think about it." "Because," I said slowly, "I could never take the risk of not being able to come back here. I don't want to leave this world. Your world."
The two little digimon looked at each other in confusion. "Don't you ever want to go and visit your friends and family?" Lopmon asked.
I sighed yet again, then looked out the window. Brushing the hair out of my face, I continued. "I had many friends in my world," I said quietly, "but they wouldn't understand me anymore. I really enjoyed being there with them, but I think it was because I still hadn't found the right friends. As for my family…" I shuddered. "I wouldn't return to them if they paid me. My first day here in the Digital World, I was attacked by a swarm of little puffballs called Pagumon and became covered in cuts and bruises. Then I spent the night in a cave with a stranger. From the second I woke up, I knew that I was really home. I don't want to go back, and I hope that I never have to. I'd rather face ten Dragomon alone then have to return. I don't think that I loved my family anyway."
Here, Guilmon looked at me, then leaned his head on my chest. "Don't worry, Ian-mon," he said, joining the hush. "We're your family now."
A tear reached my eye, and after I wiped it away, I embraced Guilmon tightly. "Thank-you, Guilmon," I said. "You're the best friend I've ever had."
When the sun started to set, Lopmon and Terriermon decided to return home. They were given explicit instructions from Leomon to avoid danger at all costs. Even though Golligamon probably wasn't after them, it wasn't impossible that he would use them as bait to lure their real prey out.
Once they were gone, Leomon made up some dinner for Guilmon and I before returning to work. Since the ordeal last night, there weren't many customers in the bar, and even fewer had been there the night before.
Night came, and Guilmon and I were both in bed when Leomon entered the room. He was still working, as there were still a few stray customers left, but they would be good on their own for a while. He sat down on the end of the bed and looked at us with a sad look on his face. It took him a moment to do anything, and at that case, he spoke.
"I just want to take a bit more time to talk to you about the danger," he said, his gaze falling to the floor. "Golligamon, even though the two of you could probably beat him on your own, has many allies on the street. Although he may not have much power on his own, he has many people who support him and they will probably be on the lookout for you too. That means that you're not just looking out for Golligamon, but also for anyone else who might be looking at you funny. Don't take any chances; there are powerful digimon out there, and you're a human child and a rookie digimon. I don't want anything to happen to either of you."
"Don't worry," I said again. "We'll be fine. We've got Lopmon and Terriermon with us too, so I think that we're pretty well safe. But, I'll be on the lookout anyway."
"Thank-you," Leomon said in a sigh. He stood up, bade us good-night, then closed the door and returned to work.
I looked to Guilmon who was already staring at the ceiling, ready for sleep. "Do you think we're in any trouble?" I asked, lying down beside him and pulling the sheet up.
"Probably," he responded. "But it couldn't be anything worse than what we've already been through."
"Yeah," I went on, "but then you could digivolve. What would happen if another champion level digimon attacked us?"
"Then I'd just have to defeat them," he said with a grin. "You've got to see that these people are nothing. These digimon can't digivolve because they don't have a human partner to help them. That's what makes us stronger than all of them."
"But those other digimon," I pointed out, "when we were fighting Dragomon; they digivolved."
"Because of your Crest," he said gently, putting a claw on it for a moment. "We needed help, so you helped them digivolve. It's the same idea, just on a larger scale."
"I guess I just don't understand," I sighed, holding up the tag and Crest before my eyes. "How can this object make them digivolve? It's inanimate; it doesn't make any sense."
"It will in the end," Guilmon said, closing his eyes to sleep.
I tilted my head and looked at him. My mouth stayed closed for a moment, but then I had to ask. "What end?"
But Guilmon was fast asleep.
"You surprise me, Guilmon," I thought. "Sometimes you're more childish than I am, and then at other times you're far more mature than I probably ever will be." My eyes closed also, trying to fall asleep. "In the end… I hope that's far away as much as I wish it were here. This adventure just can't end, but then if it doesn't, how will I ever understand it?"
