Y/N: I wrote the whole chapter this time around, and it was Ken and Koushiro. Surprisingly enough, I really enjoyed writing Ken's this time around. He was interacting with actual digidestined, instead of just his co-workers (or Jenna) and he wasn't annoying me. I'm pretty sure I've been cured of my dislike for him. It's just too bad that the story's finished now (it's written anyway, not quite edited) and there's no more Ken chapters to write. Koushiro's still one of my favourites though, so nothing changed there. And it was nice to write as him without a drug addiction once again.
Title: Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine
By: YukiraKing
Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 4: Reunion
Chapter 52: The Wizard and I
Ken Ichijouji:
"Okay, take a left," Yamato called, looking to his digivice. "I think the others are going to be there."
"It doesn't look like a lot of people," Hideto commented, glancing at his own digivices which were still strapped to his wrists, even though he hadn't needed them for an entire year. I supposed he had more hope than the rest of us, since he was a part of the team that managed to break through Norn's barrier, and had known about that possibility the entire time.
I hadn't even considered it. I had thought it was a guaranteed forever this time, because it was Taichi that had declared it, and not Gennai. I was wrong. I was glad that my mourning for Wormmon wasn't necessarily necessary, but I was now more worried than before, because apparently Wormmon was gone.
"I don't know where they went," Yamato said with a sigh. "This really isn't what I was expecting when I got back from space. I wanted to relax and get used to Earth's gravity again, and I guess I wanted to watch my brother get married too, but mostly the relaxing thing."
"Gee, thanks," Takeru said sarcastically, before smiling. "I feel so loved."
"Can everyone just shut up?" Neo demanded, glancing in his rear view mirror. He winced and I turned around myself to see what was going on. Astamon was jumping over moving cars, sometimes landing on them with the full force of his movement, crushing the hood of the cars, or crashing the roof down on top of the unsuspecting drivers. I hoped none of them were killed in the process, but I knew it was unlikely. This was the most intense car chase I'd ever been in.
I hadn't actually gotten around to being in one yet on the job, and I was too responsible to be in one off duty, so this was the first one I'd really been in. But it was intense, and I wished I hadn't been forced to leave my gun behind.
Astamon ran along the top of a transport truck, and readied his gun on his shoulder. He aimed directly at our moving vehicle, and I let out a sharp command to simply move, and Neo spun the wheel and we made a sharp left turn. Instead of following Yamato's further instructions to stay straight on this road, Neo took another sharp turn, this time a right. He wasn't about to lead Astamon directly to the others. I was thankful for that. While I too noticed that most of them were apparently missing according to the digivice, I really hoped that Miyako was there, and my daughter. If Miyako had left, then Mai would still be there, because Miyako wouldn't bring Mai into a dangerous situation. We were both very protective of her, after the whole Sigma situation.
There was a loud explosion, as Astamon's bullet flew past where we would have been, had Neo not taken such quick action. It took out the corner of the bottom floor of a building, and Rei shrieked as we waited to see if the building would fall without that vital support. Thankfully, it didn't. Unfortunately, Astamon was quick to fire again. Neo pressed on the gas, and the bullet slammed into the street just behind us, causing a crater to appear when the dust settled. But the dust provided us with a protective screen that even Astamon was unable to see through.
I spotted him above it, leaping high into the air. He latched on to a window washer's stand, and the man that was up there screamed, and tried to scramble away. Astamon looked at him, and purposefully snapped one of the cords holding the stand up, causing the man to panic even more. Astamon narrowed in on us, and snapped the final cord on the right side. The stand fell sharply, while Astamon leaped down towards us.
"Yes, hello, I would like to report an emergency," Mari said into her phone. I hadn't even noticed her dialing. "There's a man, a window washer. He's going to fall. He needs help immediately. Yes, just a second. I can see the street name..."
She continued to provide the necessary information to save that man. I just hoped he was able to hold on long enough for help to arrive, and wished more than anything that Wormmon was here with me. Stingmon could save him in a snap. Even Wormmon could, with his Sticky Net, and his ability to climb up any surface, even the ceiling. But he wasn't here, and we weren't going to be able to win this. We needed to avoid him.
But was it safe to leave him here without anyone to fight to defend the human world? I didn't really think so.
I heard the sirens of the emergency team Mari had called. I looked behind us again, and paused. Where was Astamon? When I couldn't find him anywhere, I asked "Where's Astamon?" hoping someone else could point me in the right direction at least.
"He's gone," Hideto said, not believing it, but having lost sight of him, just as I had. He plastered himself to the window, and I saw Mari do the same beside me. Takeru looked out his window, wherever he could see, and Yamato tried to find him too. But it was Evelen that found him.
"LOOK OUT!" she screamed. Neo swerved the vehicle, and my eyes moved quickly to the front window. Astamon flew down from the sky—most likely, he actually jumped—and landed in the centre of the street, holding his gun over his shoulder and taking direct aim at us. Neo drove around him, not taking his foot off of the gas and took the nearest corner and drove into the first underground parking lot that he spotted. We hoped that Astamon was still looking for us on the street itself and we clambered out of the vehicle.
"I'll get the chair," Yamato offered, while Neo and Rei worked together to get Rei out of the car. I felt really bad for being so impatient, because Rei couldn't help that she couldn't walk. But I was getting antsy. Astamon could find us at any moment. I wasn't sure how, but I got the feeling he wasn't above threatening the general population just to draw us out. And it would work. I knew it would, and that worried me, because I wasn't ready to die without being able to fight back. I had no gun, and even if I did, mine wouldn't be able to compare to the one that Astamon was wielding. It was like a goldfish trying to fight a shark.
"Here," Yamato offered, helping Neo shift Rei from the vehicle to her chair and Neo grabbed the handles firmly. Rei wasn't used to wheeling herself along anymore. It would be faster for her to have assistance. "We've got to keep moving."
"Where are we?" Evelen asked.
"I think it's a grocery store," Hideto said with a shrug.
"I don't care where it is," Mari said quickly. "Let's just get moving."
She took the lead, and I hovered near the back. I was the trained professional, and I felt like I had to cover my friends' backs. Evelen stayed by Rei watching to make sure she stayed safe. I wondered just what the two of them went through when they were stuck in the Digital World, but I didn't think now was a particularly good time to ask. Yamato guarded Rei on her opposite side, while Hideto walked with Mari, eyes always alert. Takeru stayed nearest to me, but I didn't dare strike up a conversation. I didn't want to draw any attention our way. We piled into the nearest elevator, and it was a tight fit, with Rei's chair, but it didn't matter if we were comfortable. It just mattered that we were safe.
"They're close by," Hideto said, looking at his digivice on his wrist. "Do you think Kiyoko...?"
"He's got to be there," Mari said firmly. "He's fine. He has to be."
The elevator opened, and we were suddenly in the midst of a grocery store. I saw my mother walking down an aisle with my dad following behind her, pushing a shopping cart. I excused myself, while Yamato and Takeru headed towards their own father, leaving the others standing awkwardly in the middle of the store looking frazzled and on guard.
"Mom?" I asked hesitantly. "What are you doing here?"
"We were evacuated here, dear," she said softly, but pulled me into a tight hug. "I was invited by Satoe to have dinner at her daughter's house, but I couldn't come empty handed. Don't tell her I said so, but Satoe is a terrible cook you know."
"Mom," I said slowly. "Astamon is out there and looking for revenge against the Digidestined. Can you get everyone out of here?"
"The people won't listen to an old lady," she said softly.
"It's a good thing you're not old then, isn't it?" I countered, kissing her cheek quickly. "Dad, keep her safe. Keep as many people safe as you can. It's dangerous outside. Kimi's rounding up as many officers as she can to help evacuate the area. Get out as quick as you can."
"Will do, Son," Dad said, clasping his hand on my shoulder. "Get our granddaughter out too, okay?"
"I'm hoping she's already out," I said. It wasn't very believable though, and he didn't buy my words for a second. He squeezed my shoulder firmly before letting go.
"Miyako took her across the road, to the park," he informed me. "She might still be there."
"Thanks," I said grateful for the help. I rounded the others up, and relayed the news. Takeru and Yamato came back to us with the same information, and so we headed towards the nearest exit. We needed to alert the others to Astamon's escape before he managed to find them first.
The air was crisp and cold when we got outside, and other than the distant sounds of sirens there were no signs of Astamon or his attacks. It was almost peaceful. We could see very few people across the street. Natsuni held baby Kana, and was sitting on the ground next to the injured Meiyomon, stroking his head. Tatum sat nearby, with Chi, who was very worried about his brother—and also very protective of Tatum, and her pregnant belly. Momoe had Mai on a bench, beside her while she rocked Renjiro carefully. Jun was sitting next to her, holding Haruki, while Shuu and Otamamon were close by with Bearmon, who was also injured. Emiko was sitting next to her uncle Shuu, holding Monmon carefully on her lap, and singing gently to him, trying to make him feel better. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, who were both injured, but not quite as severely as Meiyomon or Chi, were guarding her, not planning on letting anything get to their partners' niece. I was pleased by the amount of protection Emiko had around her. She was my niece too.
But I wasn't so pleased by the general lack of protection surrounding them as a group. There were others there now, that hadn't been to the wedding. The first to catch my eye was Ryou, who looked battered and bruised and just generally unhappy. He was trying to keep happy, but it didn't seem to be working anymore. Aneko was patting his back, despite his efforts to not look like he needed it. Pal and Pul were flying around them, and Kotemon held his Kendo stick aloft. He whirled around to face us, ready to attack before he realized we weren't enemies.
"Aneko, what are you doing here?" Mari asked sharply, rushing to her sister's side.
"Ryou noticed a second group of digivices after you left. We came to see what was wrong," Aneko said simply. "We didn't have a phone to call you. We brought back up." She gestured to the small digimon surrounding her.
"Get home," Mari ordered, sounding as stern as she was able to, while looking over her shoulder, expecting Astamon at any moment. "Hurry."
"I want to help," Aneko protested. "Ryou gets to help."
"He's a Digidestined, it's different," Mari said softly. "We might need him."
"No," Jun said quickly. "You won't. He's dead on his feet. He's just going to slow you down. I'm thinking you're here to find the others, but they left through that portal thing over there."
"The Digital World?" I asked, hopeful, following her gaze. I didn't see anything just yet.
"No," Tatum corrected. "It's Sidhendor. Norn gave a warning, and they need to be there. I wasn't allowed to go." Ah, there it was. A glowing yellowish tear in the air. I wasn't quite sure how we were supposed to squeeze through it though.
"Lucky," Hideto muttered darkly. I knew he didn't really like Sidhendor, when he'd been forced to stay there, but I couldn't imagine it being worse than the Land of Dreams.
"I'm going too," Ryou said. "I've never been there."
"How old are you, Ryou?" Jun asked him, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Fourteen," he said. She didn't look very impressed. "I've been fourteen for a really long time though."
"You're a kid, and you're hurt," she pointed out. "You don't need to go out there."
"But—" Ryou tried to protest.
"Without Cyberdramon, you'd just be in danger," Rei said softly. "Let them go do this. I'll be with you," then to the rest of us she added, "We'll be waiting for you when you get back."
"Go to the library," Mari suggested. "I want Aneko to be at home. I know she'll be safe there, and you've got children with you. You can't stay out here. Astamon's on a rampage."
"We'll figure something out," Tatum said confidently. "Now go help Michael, please? I'm afraid. I think something might've happened. They're taking so much longer than I thought."
"They were just supposed to deliver a warning," Shuu murmured. "But they've been gone a long time."
"We'll get them back," Hideto said, rolling his eyes. "They can't do anything without us."
"I cannot fathom how they survived before we came along," Neo agreed.
"We did just fine," Yamato said defensively.
"Guys, there's no time for that," Takeru said sharply. "Hikari's in there, Yamato. I need to find her. I can't marry her if she's dead. I really hope she's not dead."
"Me too," I whispered, already making my way towards the tear that would lead us to Sidhendor. I'd never been there before, but that was okay. It was a day of firsts for me. First car chase, first time to Sidhendor. I really hoped there weren't any horrible firsts waiting for me on the other side of that portal.
"It's really not stable," Tatum warned the others, as I stepped closer to it.
"It was not meant to be open this long," Neo replied, but I didn't hear anything more. I was passing through the worlds and ended up in a castle. It seemed strange that the walls and floor were vibrating like with the heavy thumping of a some kind of massive footsteps or more likely, a battle raging somewhere...but I couldn't see it. Why was there fighting already if they were just planning to warn the fairies?
I didn't like this at all.
Takeru and Yamato appeared behind me, before I started exploring, and I managed to make quite a dent in the distance of the hallway before Neo, Mari and Hideto followed behind them. I half expected Ryou or Evelen to show up, just because they actually knew what was going on, and were able to walk outside of the Digital World. But they didn't. I didn't mind too terribly much, because it meant there were more people protecting my daughter. They were going to escape just fine. I was going to find Miyako, and I was going to get her out of this alive, and for the sake of Tatum, I was going to find Michael too. If Iori, Daisuke, Kurayami and Jou could be found as well, for the other children, then that would be amazing.
Of course in a perfect world, we would all get out okay. I was just...being a bad friend I guess, since I was putting some ahead of others. They were all important, but I couldn't help that I was thinking like a father, instead of a friend. The kids needed their parents. I just wanted the kids to be happy—especially since we weren't ever going to get that chance. Just when we think we finally get to be happy, the rug is ripped out from under our feet and we're left to flounder around in uncharted waters until we could understand what was happening well enough to get a grip on matters.
There was always a part of me though, that knew we couldn't leave Gaia unresolved. We'd trapped her back in Witchenly—well, Hikari did that—but obviously that wasn't enough. We needed to defeat her. We'd learned that lesson when we left Fanglongmon undefeated after beating the sovereign. We couldn't just do things halfway and hope for the best. We needed to finish was we started. I didn't have to like it—and I really didn't—but we needed to do it for the good of the world, for our families, for our friends, for our children...for our digimon partners.
"Hideto, have you been here?" Mari asked. "I don't want to wander around pointlessly."
"I've been here, but only once really," Hideto admitted. "We were here for a ball. It was kind of horrible. Mimi would be the better bet, since she and Tatum found the Looking Glass with Merlin. They've at least been through the halls twice."
"That is entirely unhelpful," Neo said with a sigh.
"Just wander around," Yamato suggested, coming up behind me. "It can't be that big of a place."
"You'd be surprised actually," a man said. I instantly reached for my gun on my belt. But, of course, I wasn't on duty, and I'd left my gun on the floor in the church—I really hoped someone mature found it an turned it in before something bad happened with it. The man was confusing. He looked quite young, with sparkling green eyes that swirled with the wisdom of the ages. But his hair was silvery, and his face was covered by a beard that reached down quite far. It was down to his waist, and his hair was just as long. The shimmering, silver strands seemed to be swaying in a non-existent breeze. He wore a blue cloth hat, and long robes that might've looked like a dress had they not looked so medieval.
"Merlin!" Hideto exclaimed. "You've got to help us. This guy is great guys. He helped when I cut down a beanstalk. Okay, Merlin, our friends are here somewhere, and we need your help to find them. I don't know what's going on exactly, but I think Gaia's coming. You need to get out of here."
"She's already arrived Hideto," Merlin said. His lips curled into a smile, but the smile lost all warmth and soon turned sinister. "She's asked for me to dispose of the Digidestined. I do hope you realize it's not personal."
"What?" Hideto asked, just before Merlin launched himself at Hideto. Hideto jumped back, and Merlin's hands started glowing with magic of some sort. He straightened his fingers and kept them stiff, and seemed to be trying to stab them right through Hideto's chest. He was actually trying to dispose of us.
"I thought you said he was friendly," I asked, sharply, moving in and punching the guy quickly on the chin. He staggered backwards, and I shoved Takeru and Mari ahead of me. Neo and Yamato moved of their own accord, and I was left to drag Hideto out of Merlin's sight myself. I waited just long enough for Merlin to stand up straight again before I punched him harder in the chin again. He fell to the floor, disoriented, and I raced after the others.
"So, I hate to say I told you so," Hideto said. "But I did tell you that Sidhendor sucked."
"Yeah, yeah," Mari said, sounding irritated. "Next time we'll listen to you. But you know this is like one time that you've been right, as opposed to the dozens you've been wrong."
"Screw you, I'm not wrong that often," Hideto said in good humour.
"We're running for our lives," Yamato reminded them. "Maybe less chatter and more running?"
We raced through the halls, and kept making turns that I knew I should have kept better track of, in order to actually get back to the portal, but I was too busy trying to keep a safe distance between us and Merlin, who I was pretty sure Miyako had talked about, and she also seemed to think he'd been an alright guy before. Maybe he was just having a bad day. But it was much more likely that Gaia had gotten to him before we could and had done something to him. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't know how to fix it.
After awhile, one of our turns led us to an open archway that appeared to be an exit to the castle, since we ended up outside. There were two people peeking around an arch, and when we got closer, we were able to identify that it was a man and a women: Kiyoko and Kurayami.
Hideto raced passed us all towards Kiyoko and caught him from behind. Kiyoko reacted accordingly and elbowed Hideto in the gut. Hideto let go, and held his stomach, and Kiyoko whirled around to deliver a second attack, only to have his eyes widen in horror when he saw that it was a friend and not a foe.
"I guess you're not happy to see me," Hideto said awkwardly. Kiyoko reached up and covered his mouth, while Kurayami finally looked away from whatever she'd been staring at in order to glare at him. I nodded to them. Obviously we needed to be quiet. Whatever was on the other side of this wall wasn't something they wanted to attract the attention of. I walked passed Kiyoko, who had been grabbed by Mari and looked into the arch way. I swallowed hard.
"Gaia," I whispered. Kurayami elbowed me and I blanched, realizing I said it aloud. Takeru silently laughed at me. I could feel it in the way his breath hit my neck. He was lurking behind me, wanting to know what was going on too. I touched Kurayami's arm lightly and looked to her, trying to ask where Miyako was, and at first I really didn't think she understood what I wanted, but eventually she shook her head and looked sad. I tried not to panic. Just because she didn't know where she was didn't mean she was hurt, or dead or anything. They probably just split up.
I wished I could convince myself of that.
"You promised to give me—" a man's voice said. I glanced back into the courtyard, only to realize I'd completely ignored Bitoru's existence due to Gaia's frightening one.
"I know what I promised," Gaia said coldly. "And I will deliver on that promise. I am not a cruel ruler. I reward those that deserve it. I am fair and just."
"Then please give it to me," Bitoru pleaded.
Gaia was silent, and she had two orbs circling around her. She was holding a weird crystal that cast rainbows across the ground. One orb shone with the brightest, purest light, and the second was an inky black. When it rotated around Gaia and became the closest to us, Kurayami started walking forward as if in a trance. The black orb reached out spidery tendrils towards her, and she reached her fingers out, longing to touch them. But Takeru had followed her out there, and grabbed her, tugging her backwards. Gaia turned sharply and eyed the darkness that was trying to flow back to its true master, and glared at Kurayami.
"Bitoru," Gaia said. "You will have what you wish if you destroy these pesky Digidestined for me. You will not see it if you do not accomplish this simple task. Mark my words, you will be ruined if you cannot do as I ask."
"Yes, my lad—queen," Bitoru said, correcting himself when Gaia glared at him.
Gaia called the orbs back to her, and Kurayami reached out, stretching as far as she could, and the darkness was reaching back to her, but Gaia fled, taking the darkness with her. I imagined that she would have stayed to fight us herself if she hadn't thought she would lose her darkness. Kurayami let out a whimper and fell to her knees, crying for what was almost hers once more.
"I don't want to kill you," Bitoru said, wringing his hands together. "That would make Spring even angrier with me. I didn't think she could get angry. I can't hurt you. But Gaia has what I need. You understand my dilemma, yes?"
"Don't kill us then," Takeru suggested. "Let us help you get what you want. We could do it."
"You don't understand," Bitoru said, shaking his head sadly. "She's carried it with her for a long time. I need it. It's for Spring. I need to get it for Spring. She's the most important person to me. I need to make her happy. This could make her so happy. But killing you would not. She would never forgive me. I would never be able to earn her trust back if I killed any of you. She handpicked two of your numbers, so she has a deep attachment to your safety."
"Why not just lie?" Neo suggested ironically. He would never lie. But I supposed this suggestion was much more pleasing than actually being killed by Bitoru.
"You would have to hide," Bitoru warned. "You go away now. You stay away. Don't show your faces until the worlds are fused. I need what she has and if you spoil this ruse, if Gaia sees you, then she'll never give it to me." I couldn't believe that he had simply skimmed over the idea that the worlds were going to fuse. I looked to the others, but they seemed focused on Bitoru still. Despite this, my heart still felt a deep dread forming in the deepest corners.
"I don't really care if you get what you want," Yamato said with a shrug. "You're on the wrong side. But I'm pretty sure Spring would support this choice."
"You deserve this chance to make things right," I told him. "Sometimes, it only takes a second chance to truly do good in the world." Most of the people I stood with had been offered that second chance. I'd even been given a third, when I'd regressed to the Kaiser under Fanglongmon's influence.
"Let's get going," Kiyoko suggested. He reached forward tentatively, for Hideto's hand, and then decided holding hands was okay, even if they weren't dating anymore. Hideto looked like we'd won the war or something, he was so happy, but I didn't think Kiyoko noticed that. He was too busy looking towards his little laptop, trying to identify where the others were.
"Let's go find our friends," Takeru announced. We glanced back towards Bitoru, who was looking over his shoulder anxiously for Gaia, and waving his hands for us to hurry along. We did as he asked, because there were people we needed to find. I needed to know that Miyako was alright. And looking ahead of us towards a war zone with strange looking soldiers and guards and digimon all fighting one another to the death, I knew there was a possibility that Miyako wasn't okay.
Koushiro Izumi:
"Hurry up people, you're gonna die, show some self-preservation!" Mimi screamed over the din. There was a woman there standing across the narrow street from Mimi that was glaring at her. She didn't approve of Mimi acting so unladylike, and she also didn't approve of Mimi shouting untruths to the people. I couldn't understand where her logic came from, but it didn't matter. She was wrong, and Mimi was right. It was simple, really.
"They are causing chaos," the woman called, in a loud voice that was decidedly not a scream—because yelling and screaming were two different things and yelling was far more ladylike in her opinion—that the people actually stopped to listen to. "They brought the monsters of legends. It is them that is fighting our queen and country. They are trying to send us into a frenzy so that we will stop being loyal to our monarch. Do not fall prey to their idle threats. They don't want to save us. They want to rule us."
"Shut up Mother," Mimi snapped. "You're trying to get all of your neighbours and friends killed aren't you? Oh wait, you don't have any friends because you're the wicked step-mother and nobody likes her!"
"Mimi," I sighed. "Don't fall for her tricks."
"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked me. I gestured to the frightened townspeople that had been on our side, until they heard Mimi's outburst.
"We can't help it if they won't listen to what we say," Sora said with a sigh.
We'd given up trying, until Hikari made us go back to try again. She was stressed beyond belief, and was currently in the running for worst wedding ever—her only real competition remaining was Jou and Momoe, actually, since they had two disasters for weddings—and no one wanted to upset her any further. The idea of leaving the town to fend for itself when we could at least be trying to evacuate them, was too much for Hikari to take, and so, when Daisuke suggested we give it another go, and Hikari's eyes lit up, we all headed back for the town, hoping that Morganna wouldn't try to look for us here.
It had been very difficult to make our way back to the village without Morganna spotting us, but we'd done it. I was quite impressed really, since Hikari's dress really didn't blend in well with the surroundings, and was therefore a giant target. Morganna, however hadn't spotted us. I wasn't going to question our good fortune. I didn't think we'd be getting any more good luck any time soon, and I didn't want to complain.
"Please," Hikari cried out. "Gaia is here, she wants to take over your home. She's a horrible woman, and she wants to dethrone Winter. Please just get yourselves to safety. Don't fall for her tricks! Don't let yourselves get hurt because of your inaction. We're trying to help you. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Did you hear?" the cruel step-mother said with glee. "Gaia returns to us. She was a kind and glorious queen. We have been long awaiting her triumphant return. She will bring us back to our glory days. She will make Sidhendor prosperous again! She can do so much more for us than Winter ever could. She's cold and bitter, and she'll bring us all to ruin. But Gaia, she can do so much."
"That's treasonous talk," Daisuke warned her. "She's speaking against your queen in favour of the traitorous queen that was banished long ago."
"Remember how Gaia deceived you last time," Mimi said in a cautious tone. "She wasn't what she appeared. She led you all to believe she was kind but she only wanted power. She was using you all to get it. Don't let her win. Escape her now, while your lives belong to you. Don't let her rope you into her schemes. So long as you remain free, so does Sidhendor. Long live queen Winter! Let Sidhendor remain free."
"You're not even of Sidhendor," the step-mother sneered. "You're of Pangaea, are you not? I heard your midnight mutterings with the wench and the others. You're from Earth. Pangaea has fallen. It's shattered, and you want us to follow your guidance? Sidhendor is in one piece still."
"Gaia was of Pangaea," another person recalled. "Are you working for her?"
"They can't be," a woman argued. "They're belittling her."
"But she really was kind," an older man reminisced.
"I don't know what's happening," Jou commented. "But I really don't think they're seeing things the way we were hoping them to. Can't they see the giant battle going on? Aren't they scared of the digimon? I would be. I have been. Digimon can be terrifying."
"But nothing's more frightening than Gaia," Hikari added, while nodding.
"Sigma was pretty bad," Miyako muttered.
"Why can't any of you think for yourselves?" Mimi shouted out. She was whining. It wasn't good when she was whining. That meant she was giving up hope and was getting upset because things weren't going her way. I knew, because I got whined at a lot when I got caught up in my work back home.
"And listening to you is thinking for ourselves?" the step-mother asked with a snort—that was decidedly not delicate or ladylike—and looked around to everyone. "They want us to obey their every command. We cannot allow that."
"Quiet," the older man told her. She shut her mouth, stunned that they were no longer eating out of her hand. But the older man looked towards the castle. I followed his sights, and found myself looking at a beautiful woman on a balcony. This beautiful woman was wearing a crown, but she was not the queen I expected, nor was she the queen the people had when they awoke that morning.
"Gaia," the step-mother said in awe.
"I am Gaia," Gaia called, using magic to project her voice across the entire town, over the loud battling taking place below. I could feel her words vibrating through my bones and echoing inside my head. "I have come home, my dear people. I am once again ready to sit on the throne and rule this land, bringing to you more power and more wealth than ever before. I will also be expanding our borders. For too long have we sat aside and let the other lands continue without a strong commander, without a strong queen. But no more. I will be that queen just as I am now yours."
There was not as much cheering as she'd obviously been expecting, as most of her previous subjects still remembered the aching of her last bitter betrayal and could no longer trust her. She hesitated for a single second before casting her voice over the land once more.
"You believe you have a choice," she said. "But you are wrong. I am your queen, and you will serve me. I have the power to destroy you without a second thought. Have care of how you treat me, have care of how you speak. I have eyes and ears at every corner. You will never know who to trust. Be loyal to me, and you will not encounter any a problem. Those that choose not to will be executed."
The cheering was much louder this time, as everyone looked from side to side, from neighbour to neighbour, already growing suspicious of who was a spy for Gaia. I knew that she hadn't been here long enough to actually have spies all over the kingdom yet, but the people hadn't been listening to us, and simply could not see it.
"I want you to prove your loyalty to me," she called when the cheering eventually died down. "I want you to bring me the Digidestined. I want them. They will suffer for their impertinence. They have dared to defy me, and they conspire against my life—against your queen's life. If you will not comply, then you are finished. "
There was a long silence, as they looked to her. They didn't really want her to be their queen, and if the Digidestined were trying to get rid of her, then they obviously didn't see a problem with keeping them around. Gaia clearly noticed this, as she summoned the dark orb, and held her hands high. The darkness struck out of the orb towards the nearest man, and stabbed him through the heart, before it picked him up into the air, and waved him around, sending his blood down to rain upon the other villagers as he screamed as death took him from this immortal land.
Mimi grabbed my arm but I could do no more than reach out to her as I stared in horror at Gaia.
"I want the Digidestined," Gaia said coldly. "And I don't care how many of you I need to kill until I get them."
"They won't hand us over," Mimi said sounding confident. "They're good people. We saved them from the curse. They owe us."
"I'm not sure everyone feels the same way," Miyako said, disagreeing with my wife. Mimi looked hurt that Miyako didn't believe in the people, but Miyako was proven right not long after she spoke.
"They are over here my queen!" the step-mother shouted. "They try to discredit you, but I wouldn't allow it. They want us to run, to flee your rule, but we should embrace it."
"SIEZE THEM!" Gaia snarled, when the woman chose to keep speaking instead of acting. We took that as our cue to leave, and we raced off, down the path, heading for the nearby woods.
Mimi finally felt comfortable enough to lead us, and had kicked off her heels, in order to gain speed as we ran from the mob of terrified villagers. Miyako threw her shoes back at them, and Hikari tripped. Daisuke and Sora grabbed her arms and dragged her back to her feet whenever she tripped over the many layers of her voluminous dress. Jou and I were at the rear. I wasn't sure whether it was because we wanted our friends—and in my case wife—to be safe more than we cared about ourselves, or whether we were simply horribly not athletic. I feared it was the latter.
The mob had sufficient motivation, and would not give up the chase. Mimi led us straight out of town and passed a farm house with an overrun garden and an old water pump and down a path into the forest. The main issue with that decision was that the mob could follow the path the same way that Mimi could. Mimi noticed that not long after we ran by an old cottage, and let out a whimper before charging off of the path into the woods themselves. She let out quiet pained noises as she ran along the broken sticks and rocks in her bare feet, and Miyako was having the same difficulties, but they were still quicker, even with their pain.
"After them!" the step-mother crowed behind us. Mimi took a sharp left, but Sora and Daisuke took Hikari to the right. Miyako followed Mimi as fast as she could, and since the mob was closest to Jou and I, we kept going straight, hoping to at least distract them from the others.
"This is the worst day," Jou commented as he tripped over a rock and caught himself of a low tree branch before he could smack his face against the ground. "I had high hopes, but it's not living up to my initial plans."
"I hadn't planned on running at all," I said, huffing and puffing. I was not athletic. Any athletic capabilities I'd gained from our strenuous search for Trust in the Land of Dreams were gone now. I'd lost them over the previous year. I'd spent a lot of time rehabilitating myself after my mishap with the amphetamines. That was the lowest point in my life, and I hadn't been thinking of much except getting over that habit—and getting married—for a really long time. Cardiovascular training wasn't even on my list of things to bother with.
I made a mental note to make sure it was, because this was simply ridiculous.
Jou and I stumbled our way to the bottom of a ravine, and panicked for a moment or two as we realized we'd have to climb the other side if we wanted to escape the mob that was still chasing after us. They were running down that hill faster than we'd managed, and I knew they'd be able to climb faster too. Jou and I shared a look and started running along the bottom of the ravine. There was a small stream at the bottom, which slowed us down, but it wasn't as big as it could have been.
"There are more of them!" Jou gasped, pointing ahead of us. It wasn't fair that they were trapping us. They could at least give us a fair chance at surviving. But had I been on their side of this altercation, then I would have been using similar tactics. There were only seven bodies ahead of us. They were too far away for us to identify them, but there were too many to be Mimi, Miyako, Daisuke, Sora and Hikari. They were most likely going to be hostile.
But seven was less than thirty—probably more, but it was a rough estimate and I wasn't going to take the time out of running for my life to get an accurate count—and we figured they were the safer of the two groups of hostile forces.
"Oh," I said when we got closer. They weren't hostile forces at all. It was Taichi, Iori and the others we'd left behind in the castle. Winter was washing her arms and face in the stream, and Taichi was pouring water over the back of Iori's head, washing away the blood that was flowing there. Taichi was soaked, which left me to deduce that he'd already washed himself. Jenna was leaning against Michael, with Spring on one side, and Summer on the other.
"Taichi!" Jou called. "Help!"
"What's going on?" Winter demanded, standing shakily in the middle of the stream. The mob was closing in on us. They really were faster, and I was getting a cramp in my side. It hurt like crazy. I didn't know how much longer I could run. I was running out of steam.
"Gaia," Jou gasped. "Kill Digidestined."
"That won't do," Spring said simply. She got to her feet and held her hands in the air. Vines and branches and grass all sprouted from the ground and started weaving together. Jou and I got tangled at first, but we manage to get free, and by the time we stopped running, when we reached Taichi, we turned to see that the ravine was now blocked off entirely by a tightly woven net of nature.
"You okay?" Taichi asked, looking over us both. "Where's Hikari?"
"Daisuke and Sora," I said, not having enough breath to form full sentences. "Mimi with Miyako."
"They will be able to break through," Spring said.
"Then I suggest we aren't here when they do," Winter decided. She grabbed my hand and Taichi's and flew into the air. I let out a startled scream that was swallowed up by the rushing wind that surrounded us. Jenna and Michael flew alongside us with Summer, while Spring flew beneath us with Jou and Iori.
"Where will we go?" Summer asked her eldest sister.
"I'm not sure yet," Winter said. But before any of them could brainstorm a location, the sound of my wife's scream filled the air, and I instinctively tried to move in her direction, which was a terrible decision while flying through the air. My sudden movement made Winter let go of me. I slipped out of her grasp and fell towards the ground. It was a horrible experience but it was blessedly short, as Winter swooped down for me, and headed towards the sound of Mimi's screams.
We landed on the ground, and Winter let go of Taichi and I, while she moved towards an enormous wolf that was looming over my wife. Mimi was holding her hand up in front of her face, scratching at the wolf's chin. Suddenly, I realized that Mimi wasn't in danger at all, and had simply been frightened, but Winter hadn't noticed yet evidently as she was holding her hands in front of her, summoning some ice magic that she intended to shoot at the beast. Miyako jumped in front of it though. Her feet, like Mimi's, were torn and bloody, but she stood her ground.
"He's not hurting her," Miyako declared.
"He's not," Mimi agreed. "I thought he would, since he chased me every day while I was here, but he's not so bad. You were just under the spell too, weren't you boy? Yeah. I thought so. What a sweetheart."
"Mimi, we can't take a wolf home," I warned her. She sighed longingly but agreed. We already had Jezebel and Oswald. We didn't need any more pets.
"He's wild," she said. "He deserves to stay that way, if that's what he wants." The wolf licked Mimi's entire face, and I hoped she'd wash it off before trying to kiss me. I didn't want to know what wolf slobber tasted like.
"Okay, so we just need to find Hikari, Sora and Daisuke," Taichi said looking around. But he quickly shook his head. "Kurayami and Kiyoko are missing too."
"Right," Michael said pointedly. He had been ready to correct Taichi, before Taichi figured it out. "How do we find them?"
"We don't," Winter said. "I do."
She closed her eyes, and her eyelids fluttered as she looked through the eyes of all the people in the woods around us. She frowned and her brows pinched together. She was anxious, nervous, afraid. But her fear melted quickly as it made way for new emotions that fit the new view she was seeing through someone else's eyes.
"Morganna is in these woods," Winter said ominously. "She nears your friends. We must away, quickly. We cannot let her catch them unaware, and at this point, that's what will happen."
"We can't carry them all," Summer said.
"Grey Wind can carry us, right boy?" Mimi asked the wolf, having named it already. I sighed but remembered that she'd agreed to let him stay wild, and knew that this was the compromise she'd decided upon. It was better than her trying to sneak a giant wolf through the back door and hoping I wouldn't notice.
The wolf was eager to help, and so the fairies picked up their cargo—aka us—and flew low to the ground so that "Grey Wind" could keep up, and see where to go. We flew along quickly and silently, other than Grey Wind's footsteps, but even those made very little sound. The fairies stopped only once, and that was when we caught sight of Morganna wandering in the distance. But the moment her back was turned, the fairies flew quick as lightning—not quite, but as close as they were able—passed her, and towards our friends.
They weren't alone, like we expected them to be. There were others with them. But they weren't hostile—well, some of them were, but they weren't being hostile at that particular moment. Takeru was standing with Hikari, holding her close and whispering in her ear. Sora was lingering near Yamato, but neither was saying a word. Daisuke was holding Kurayami's hand, as he talked with Ken. Neo, Mari and Hideto were with Kiyoko. They all looked rather solemn.
"What happened to Astamon?" Iori asked, looking to Takeru with confusion.
"He got away," Takeru said bitterly. "I missed him. I shot the wall."
"That's okay," Hikari insisted.
"Except he's terrorizing the town," Yamato pointed out. "We were supposed to be keeping everyone safe from him, and instead, we made it worse."
"And Merlin tried to kill us!" Hideto said in outrage. "What's with that? Since when did he work for Gaia?"
"Since Gaia had Morganna take his heart," Summer said softly.
"We can't win this," Taichi said angrily. "We came here to save your world, and instead we could do nothing as it fell."
"The fault does not lie with you alone," Winter said. "I was queen. I was meant to die protecting my kingdom. But my mother stole my crown and scolded me as though I were a mere child. She didn't even try to defeat me."
"Maugrim did the same to me, in the Digital World," Taichi admitted. "I think they want us alive. They want us to see them achieve their goals. They want to rub their triumph in our faces and they want us to watch while they destroy everything we hold dear. They want me to see them kill all of the other Digidestined just like they made me watch the final partners be absorbed. I couldn't save them. And I still can't. They know that. They're trying to humiliate us."
"And then they will allow death to come to us," Winter sighed.
"If we could be that lucky," Taichi said.
Next on Digimon Adventure 08: Tatum is up next with one of her final chapters, and while I'm pretty sure it's not exactly the most action packed chapter, it's kind of a good break from what's been going on. Daisuke is coming along for the ride too, and he's about to hear a pretty exciting tale!
