Chapter Twelve
What had started off as a gentle snowfall quickly began to escalate. The sky had grown dark and grey, the wind began to pick up giving off a low howl, and the already freezing temperature continued to drop; all without any signs of stopping. Renamon began to fear if they did not find some kind of shelter soon then they would be left blinded, not that there was much to see.
The path Andrew and she had taken wound them through the mountains, often their view was blocked by the sharp rock faces that ran along either side of them and even when she was able to catch a glimpse of their territory there was nothing to see except for more rocks and a few splotches of evergreens dotted around vast emptiness. Unlike the forest, Renamon was coming to find, there was no place to just 'hunker down' and wait out the weather, and even if there was there was, they still the cold to contend with. Renamon had a thick layer of fur covering her entire body and that was just barley enough, Andrew had nothing to keep him warm but the clothes on his back, and thin clothes they were.
The boy had his arms crossed tightly against his chest and was vigorously rubbing his hands up and down his upper arms, occasionally stopping long enough to cup them in front of his mouth and breath into them. Renamon had wrapped one arm around the boy's waist and pulled him close, trying to share some of her own body heat and at the same keeping them from being separated. The snow wasn't blinding yet, but given enough time they would be lucky to see an inch in front of their faces and with the terrain as rocky as it was, the risk of stepping into a hole and snapping an ankle or simply slipping off a tall ledge was far too great to risk. If there was to be any hope for the two of them, they needed to find someplace to make shelter soon.
"Holding up okay?" she asked, all the while scanning the area around them looking for anyplace they could go.
"Y-yeah. Fu-fine," he stuttered through his chattering teeth "You?"
"Don't worry," she said. "I'm going to get us out of this weather, can you hold on a little longer?"
"Yeah. S-sure."
For a moment Renamon played with the idea of letting him climb up onto her back and she would race them across the Frozen Peaks, but she was too unfamiliar with this place; one overzealous jump and she could send the two of them sailing clear off the side of some unseen ledge. The cold would be the last of their worries if they were lying broken at the bottom of some valley.
You should have prepared better for this trek, stupid, a bitter little voice in her head mocked, seeming to take pleasure in her pain. You're lost in some unknown land miles from home, you have no food, and Andrew's freezing to death. What kind of Partner are you, anyway? How have you even survived this long? You should have just let the kid die in the woods; it certainly would have been more humane then slowly turning into a Popsicle.
"Renam-mon, look at that," Andrew spoke up and pointed ahead of them and a little to the left side.
Following his line of sight Renamon noticed something that she should have seen long before Andrew. She had become so lost in her own self-pity that she was just moving though the world around them rather then actually paying attention to it. Thankfully Andrew had kept his wits about him despite the numbing cold and saw what might very well be their salvation.
So that makes, what, the third time the little human boy has seen something you've missed, that mean little voice of doubt said. Seriously, how are you even still alive? How did you make it this far if you're so blind?
Shut up, She shot back, and was grateful when there was no reply.
The two drew in closer towards the thing that Andrew had seen, but as for what it was, Renamon couldn't say although Andrew looked pretty happy about it. Cocking her head to one side, she studied the device in front of her piece by piece, trying to get what made it so great. There was a large flat base under which sat four small wheels in each corner. The wheels rested on a set of tracks that were similar to the ones they followed towards Trailmon, the only difference was that these tracks were slightly smaller and had two beams sitting on the edges of the struts rather then one moving down the center. Above the wheels and base sat a metal crate from which a poll extended up, and attached on to this vertical poll was another one with handles that ran horizontal along the length of the base stopping just a little short of both edges.
Renamon took in the vehicle, if that's even what it was, trying to make sense of it all. To her it looked like some kind of half finished project left behind, and there was certainly enough snow and rust on it to confirm her thoughts.
"Okay," she said. "So... what is it?"
Andrew looked up at her with an expression on is face that seemed to question if she was serious. "It's a handcart. You've n-never seen one before?" he asked, to which Renamon shook her head. "Here, j-jump on. Let's see if this thing still works."
Andrew stepped up onto the one end of the cart. He reached out and touched the handles before suddenly taking a deep, hissing gust of air though his teeth and pulling his hands away. Renamon instantly tensed up, expecting some kind of booby-trap.
"It's cold," he said, almost apologetically and began to breathe into his hands once more. Relaxing, Renamon made her way to the other end of the cart. Unlike Andrew, she touched her set of handles for only a few seconds to test them. When she decided that her fur would keep her palms warm enough, she took hold and waited for Andrew to tell her what to do. Right now he was the only one with the plan, best to leave to show up to him in this case.
"Alright," he said taking hold of the handlebars once again, only a little more carefully this time. "I'm going to push down on my end and when your half is raised up as high as it can, you push down and we repeat. Got it?"
"Oh, I think I can remember," she grinned.
"Okay, here we go!"
Andrew pushed down on his half of the handle… and caused nothing to happen. Neither the cart nor the pipe they both held moved and inch.
"Um... lemme try again," he said and this time threw all of his weigh down on the handle and succeeded only in lifting himself off the cart, causing Renamon to chuckle, despite of herself.
"I think the cart's, um, frozen."
"Look's like it," She said. "I'll tell you what, strongman, how's about I push and you pull?"
"Worth a shot, I guess…" Andrew murmured.
Renamon interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms out in front of her so her palms where facing towards Andrew, then stretched them up and over her head, showing off a little before putting her hands back on the bars and pushing down with all her might. At first the pipe wouldn't give and inch, and Renamon started to worry that this handcart had frozen solid when there came a sudden series of sounds from underneath the cart like shattering ice, and then her end of the handlebars went down, Andrews went up, and they were moving; slowly at first, but with each pump they began to pick up speed. Glancing up at Andrew, she saw that his face was positively beaming.
"Good job, Rookie," she called to him "Now what?"
"Now," he called back, "we follow these tracks wherever they lead us. If my guess is right, these were probably built to move people and tools quickly in and out of the mines. All we have to do is then is hold up inside whatever cave we end up in until the storm blows over."
"Not a bad idea," she said, honestly impressed with his ingenuity. "But are you sure that's where we're going to end up?"
"Not at all," Andrew answered. "But I'm cold and willing to try anything to get warm again."
Renamon rolled her eyes. It was a heavy gamble, but at least Andrew had some sort of plan; which was better than her idea of just aimlessly following the long forgotten path. They had already gotten the cart moving again and seemed to have hit a steady speed. Nothing to do now but keep on moving and hope the tracks were still in working order.
At first the tracks almost ran perfectly along with the path they had taken; Renamon facing forwards toward where they were going, and Andrew facing backwards looking at where they had been, and both of them starting to work up a sweat. She knew they would have to make sure to be careful when they came to a stop or else the action that was now keeping them warm would soon cause them to freeze to death.
Soon the tracks began to branch away from their path, just slightly at first, however it wasn't long before they were just about traveling in almost a compete right angle from the road they had been on. Renamon didn't feel too comfortable leaving their footpath behind. If something were to go wrong with the tracks or with the cart it's self, they were going to be in for a long walk back. Yet of whatever reason (maybe luck or maybe fate) the handcart took them exactly where Andrew guessed it would.
The trip itself was relatively short, lasting only a few minutes, but between the snow and biting wind the time felt to stretch on for hours before they came around the final bend and the tracks disappeared into a cave either dug or blown into the side of one mountain. When she told Andrew to turn around and take a look, he gave a brief cry of triumph before turning his pumping. Good thing they had reached a safe place as soon as they did, Renamon could see the sweat rolling down Andrew's face and hear the deep breaths he was taking. The boy might have been a clever one when he needed to be, but he didn't seem to be much for physical labor.
I'm going to have to toughen him up, she thought, enjoying the idea.
They slowed the cart to a stop at the mouth of the cave. From here she could see some burnt out lights strung along both sides of the cave, but whatever source had been powering them had long since died out leaving them with just a hole leading into utter blackness.
Andrew shifted back and forth on his feet slightly, as his arms once again crossed over his chest as the wind blew the snow around them so hard it was almost moving sideways.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he suggested "Let's get back in the cart, huh?"
Renamon shook her head "Not a chance. The storm's getting worse than ever. We'd never make it back to the road before being completely blinded. Even if we did, we're both tired and cold. At least in here we'll be out of the wind."
Her tone was flat and stated that her word was the final one. The harsh winds and freezing temperatures had most likely made the boy forget all about the ghost stories he had been told, or at least pushed them far back into his mind, but now that he was standing right here at the mouth of the cave, he seemed to be having second thoughts, ones that she had no intent on entertaining.
"Its pitch black in there," Andrew was still trying to protest, but the insincerity in his voice said that he already knew he lost. "How are we going to see anything? For all we know this cave could end in a fifty foot drop."
"Maybe," she said. "But that's why you've got me."
Renamon raised her right hand before her and closed it into a fist. Very slowly, she took in a deep breath; the chilly air filling her lungs and burning her nose. She held in this breath for several moments, focusing only on her closed fist before forcing out that breath through her nose in one soft 'woosh'. At the same instant her paw lit up in a blue flame that burned strong and bright, much like the one Andrew had saw during the fight with Datamon, despite the wind.
Andrew's face wore an expression of both shock and admiration. "Wow. I didn't know you could control that at will."
"There's a lot about me you don't know. Stick around for awhile and maybe you'll learn more."
The two started into the mineshaft, the flame from Renamon's paw providing them with enough light to confidently move forward. If there was something haunting these caves than it better watch out; Renamon was here.
O O O
They made their way deeper into the cave, Renamon's fire casting an odd blue-tinted light over the walls around them. As they walked they would occasionally come across remnants of a time long ago when these shafts must have been bustling with miners, all working for their chance to hit the big strike: a shovel with a missing handle, a pickaxe still half buried into the wall of the cave, a miner's helmet with its light missing. Mostly what they saw was a lot of interesting, but useless piles of rusted junk, at least until they came across an overturned mine cart; the same kind that one would fill with their day's finding and then push in and out of the mine.
Renamon carefully ran her free hand over its splintered wood side.
"It's dry," she said. "And I think this is as good of a spot as any to camp."
Andrew nodded. They had moved far from the mouth of the cave to get away from the snow, and he thought it was a little warmer here, but that might have just been getting out of the bitter wind that made him believe that. Whatever the case, she was right; this was as good of a place as any.
Renamon motioned towards the wood card with her head. "Help me break this thing down so I don't have to put out our light."
Placing both his hands around the top plank next to the one Renamon could spare, they both began to pull. The wood gave a tiny creek as if in resistance before snapping off. They repeated this process several times until they had collected a nice pile of timber which Andrew arranged and Renamon ignited using the flame from her right hand.
For a short time the fire actually kept the bluish tint, but by the time it developed into something large enough to provide adequate heat and warmth the standard red and orange colors had returned and taken over.
Shame, Andrew thought. A blue fire would have been cool.
Just as she had earlier on the path, Renamon sat down next to Andrew using her body to warm his with her arm around her shoulder and her puffy tail wrapped loosely about his stoamch. Andrew found this a little embarrassing, though he wasn't quite sure why, but said nothing. He was just thankful that she was trying.
"We're going to have to find you something warm to wear," she said.
"Unless they've opened up mountain top shopping malls I think we're out of luck."
"We'll figure something out. Maybe we can even find something in this cave to use, who knows?"
"Maybe," he said, suddenly feeling very tried. The slow trek though the snow mixed with pushing the rusty handcart had taken a lot out of him. Right then he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes for a few minutes.
Andrew's head began to feel too heavy to hold up on his own. Without really thinking, he rested it upon Renamon's shoulder, half expecting her to shrug him off, but instead she tightened her grip around him, even her tail, wrapped around his cold skin to help keep him warm, seemed to squeeze a little. Andrew was surprised by her gesture, but also so grateful. The cold he felt around his bones began to thaw as a new heat seemed to fill him in a strangely pleasant way. Several minutes later he began to doze.
Renamon's body jerked as if taken by surprise, snapping Andrew awake, but not in time to catch his balance. As Andrew thudded onto the stone floor, Renamon was leaping to her feet, trying to look in every direction at once. Andrew thought he had only shut his eyes for a second, but when he saw how low the fire had burned it was obvious it had been much longer than that.
"Renamon, what is it? What do you h-"
Andrew was pushing himself back up to his feet as he was talking, but both actions were cut short by a deep, disturbing moan that resonated from father down the cave. It started low at first, and then rose to such a high level that Andrew had to cover his ears. Another moan quickly followed the first this time accompanied by rattling chains.
It was the ghosts; the ones that had driven out the Digimon who worked these mines years ago. They had awakened again, and they sounded angry. He had tried to think of them as just a story, like Renamon said they were, but now...
He moved in closer to his friend. She never flinched; her face showed not a drop of fear as her cold blue eyes stared into the darkness.
Andrew thought he heard an odd 'twang' sound just underneath the moans as something came flying out of the darkness. Andrew had just enough time to register it as a bucket before it hit the ground at their feet, the years of cold causing the plastic to shatter upon impact.
Renamon seemed to take this as some kind of signal. "Stay here," she said before darting deeper into the cave, towards the sounds. Andrew tried to call after her, to tell her to stop, but she didn't listen. Instead her just yelled at him to 'stay there' once again and then was gone, swallowed up by the black.
Andrew remained where he was, feet planted to the floor and ears open. Becoming all too aware of the dark and cold, Andrew quickly scooped up a handful of leftover wood and absently threw it on the fire. From somewhere beyond the blackness the moans suddenly cut off and was just as quickly replaced by the sounds of a scuffle. He heard Renamon's voice, but was unable to make out the exact words. Either way, she sounded angry, but not in trouble. There came another 'twang' and then something smashing. Renamon cried out again, and this time he thought he could make out the words 'you little'.
The noises of feet shuffling against the stone floor and things breaking lasted for several more seconds. Just as Andrew was working up the courage to run down there himself to help, they stopped. In their place he could hear footsteps making their way towards their camp in a slow, almost leisurely pace. He then heard a new voice; high and gruff, but very similar to the now shushed moans.
"Down!" it said. "Put down! Want down! Down! Down! Down!"
Strolling out of the darkness was Renamon. In one hand she was holding a Digimon that looked like a small monkey by the scruff of its neck while it tried to thrash its way free. It its body was covered with green fur expert for its face and stomach, underneath his eyes were two lines of what looked to Andrew like red war paint. It wore a yellow leopard-print cloth over one shoulder which draped down to its feet and a pair of brown gloves. The Digimon's hair (if you even could call it hair) was up in a wild ponytail by thin rope. In her other hand Renamon was holding a comically oversized slingshot.
"Down!" The green monkey kept chanting like a child having a tantrum. "Down! Down! Down!"
"Shut up," Renamon said in that icy tone of her that sometimes even gave Andrew the chills. All at once the creature shut its mouth, but crossed his arms over his chest and pouted to show his disapproval. Renamon seemed to ignore this, instead turning his attention to Andrew.
"Here's your ghost, Rookie." She said. "Bet you didn't think they looked like this."
"You mean all of that noise was just... this little thing?" he gaped.
"Not little!" It shouted back at him in protest.
"Shut up," Renamon repeated, looking back to the creature. "You scared my friend here, and I think you owe him an apology."
Andrew lowered his head and blushed slightly. "I wasn't that scared," he said under his breath, sound a bit like a child himself.
The little monkey, however, only gave a prissy grunt and kept his mouth shut.
"Do it," Renamon said as she dropped the slingshot to the ground and raised one fist up to its face. The monkey looked at the clenched fist, seeming to weigh its options.
"Sorry," it grunted.
"It's okay," Andrew said. "So, um, what's your name?"
"Koemon!"
"Koemon?"
"Koemon," it confirmed.
"So what's the big idea making all those noises?" Renamon pressed.
"Make you leave," Koemon answered, his voice firm. "Digimon come. Dig caves. Blow holes. Want all Digimite for themselves. Almost destroy Koemon Villiage!"
"You mean you live in these caves?" Andrew asked.
"Not in caves, beyond caves. We thought we safe at last, but then you come! You no have more digimite! Is useless! Is ours!"
"Woah, woah, calm down," Andrew said, raising his hands up to the green monkey. "We're not here to take anything."
"N-not want Digimite?" Koemon asked, sounding like he wasn't quite sure if he believed that.
Andrew shook his head. "Not to take, no. Renamon, put him down."
She raised an eyebrow at him and he nodded to say she heard him right. Renamon rolled her eyes and dropped Koemon back down to the floor, but she seemed to be ready to snatch him up again if he made a run for it, but the Digimon only dusted himself off and took his slingshot back.
Andrew got down on one knee to be face-to-face with Koemon, thinking about how nice it was to finally be speaking with a Digimon that wasn't at least a foot taller than he was.
"Koemon," he said, "I promise we're not here to take even one piece of digimite, but there are people coming who are going to try and take it. My friend and I are here to stop them, and if there's any way you can help us we'd be very grateful."
The monkey looked him up and down; his expression was not exactly distrustful, but still very curious. "Who you?" he asked.
"My name's Andrew and that's Renamon. I'm the... well, I'm what they called a 'DigiDestined'."
Andrew still hadn't gotten used to the idea that he was supposed to be some kind of hero. He sure didn't feel very special. While Andrew didn't knew exactly who had come before him wearing the same title of DigiDestined, but he often imagined them to be very brave and strong children; full of confidence and purity. In short; nothing that he was. There was a part of him that to this day was still sure that this was a mistake.
Koemon just looked at him with a confused stare. "No know that word. Does it mean human? You human? You Cree?"
Now Renamon was the one who spoke up. "How do you know about humans?" she asked.
Koemon closed his eyes and smiled a big grin. It was a little goofy looking, but as far as Andrew could tell there was no malice behind it.
"I take you!" Koemon said. "Take you to Koemon Village! You see village! You see Cree! Come! Follow!"
Snatching a piece of wood from the fire and holding it before him like a torch, Koemon took a few quick, excited steps back the way he had been dragged from before stopping and looking over shoulder at them.
"Come!" He repeated and was then off again.
Renamon and Andrew looked at one another, shrugged, and then followed.
O O O
The mine turned out to be more like a labyrinth with tunnels branching off left and right every few steps, yet Koemon never slowed his stride. Taking turns with no hesitation the little monkey lead them deeper into the mines. Andrew began to wonder if this was some kind of trap. If Koemon did decide to leave them here, it would be a long time before they found their way out.
If they found their way out.
At first Andrew tried to keep track of the twists and turns in his head just for that reason, but it didn't take long at all of his brain to get tangled up and making him lose all track of where they were. He could only hope Renamon was able to keep a better mental map than he was.
Suddenly Koemon stopped. Before them was a dead-end; nothing but a large bolder blocking the path.
"No further, right?" Koemon said with a smile. "Wrong. Watch."
Using the slingshot he rapped on the bolder three times in rapid succession and then cried out a series of 'eeks' that would have been musical if it wasn't so shrill. Amazingly enough there came two voices on the other side of the boulder crying out the same melody, and then the rock began to move. It started to roll the left in big, slow rotations as a light began to pour though from the opening it was making, and Andrew had to squint his eyes so they could adjust.
When he finally dared to open them up again Andrew saw he was standing at the top of a tall mountain path above a huge open space. Above them thousands upon thousands of yellow stones glowed like a massive sun giving off light and, Andrew suddenly realized, heat. It was like stepping into a warm summer's day. And below all of this sitting at the bottom of this impossibly warm and sunny room resting a Koemon Village; a collection of a dozen or so huts of various sizes all build around a small pound. The word 'oasis' popped into Andrew's mind, it certainly felt like the right term for such a place.
"Welcome!" Koemon announced. "Come! See Cree!"
Koemon took a hold of Andrew's hand and enthusiastically began to pull him through the opening and down the path past the boulder and the other two Koemons on the other side which, Andrew guessed, where the ones who had opened the way for them.
Having to almost run to keep up, Andrew (with Renamon close behind) was lead down the road and then through the village where the Koemon stopped in the middle of their daily lives to stare at the newcomers.
He was quickly lead to one particular hut that sat near the middle of the town and then stepped aside. This hut was much bigger than the others, almost seeming gigantic compared to those around it even though it was actually fairly normal in scale for Andrew's use.
"Go in! Meet Cree!" Koemon urged.
Andrew stepped through the door (with was nothing more than several palm levels draped over an opening) noticing that this one doorway was also taller than those on any of the other huts.
As they entered the other side Andrew was stuck by what he saw. He wasn't sure what he was expecting the inside of these homes to look like, but it wasn't this. What he was looking at reminded him of his school's science lab. It had a lot of the same equipment only instead of glass and metal, it was all made of stone and wood. Covering the walls were dozens of pieces of paper stuck in by pieces of sticks like pushpins. Many of the papers seemed to be notes or blueprints, but the handwriting was so atrocious that Andrew couldn't read them.
"What the heck is this place?" Renamon asked as she studied the papers. Andrew opened his mouth to answer, but found he couldn't even start to explain since he had no idea himself.
"Hello?" A voice called from the other room. "Yes, is someone there?"
Andrew noticed that this voice was very different from any of the Koemon he had heard talking as they were lead to this hut. For instance this voice sounded a bit, well, nasally, as well as able to speak complete sentences. Andrew, who had also been busy trying to decipher the papers on the wall, turned to see someone step into the room with them.
This person was tall and thin.
This person was human.
To be continued.