The Keystone Chronicles

Book One

Prologue

Yolei Inoue was locking the front door of the convenient store when the klaxons pierced the evening quiet. Wailing and brass, their deadpan note lifted with the hundreds throughout Tokyo; a national funeral gong heard across the bay and as far as Yokohama. The city-wide curfew was in effect. The streets of Tokyo and its waterways would be empty until six the following morning. Yolei leaned her head against the Plexiglas, looking at the deserted street wondering how the Japanese government covered up the digimon time and again.

"Something the matter, Yolei? Is it the sirens?" Hawkmon asked. Yolei straightened, pulling away from the door.

"Just wondering how the world hasn't turned upside down because of us," She said, bending down and stroking his head feathers. "Life's been normal after Malo-Myotismon."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

The klaxon pealed again and they winced. Yolei waited a breath until it abated before saying, "I don't know. Between the curfew and all this digimon merchandise appearing out of nowhere, it'd be pretty premature to let our guard down."

Kari Kamiya emerged from the back of the convenient store. Her forehead sparkled with sweat. A grease smudge streaked along her right cheek where she ground against the end of the push broom while bumping around the back. She rolled down her damp sleeves and adjusted the camera draped around her neck, straightening out the rest of her clothes. Gatomon followed astride, carrying a decorated box in both paws.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Kari agreed. "There was a curfew and a few documentaries after Apocalymon, but Gennai pulled through and kept our friends safe." She took the box from Gatomon and set it on the counter-top. "Granted, this time is a bit worse," she said, tapping it with a finger for emphasis, "but I'm sure he's taken care of everything."

Yolei frowned. "You think so?"

Kari smiled reassuringly. "Would we be here overnight if that wasn't the case?"

The girl had a point, but Yolei remained skeptical. She kept it to herself. Instead, she opened the box, revealing twenty booster packs of 'Digimon Adventure!' gaming cards. The foil was onyx with gray/white marbling running throughout. Stamped on the front, 'Digimon Adventure!' - Injection Booster Pack, in matte, gold Kanji. Each card displayed a portrait of a random digimon, some in pose or poise beneath the font. Gatomon purred, plucking one with a Mikemon giving it's signature confident smirk.

"Whoever the artist is, they have good taste," she said. Gatomon replaced the pack and grabbed another.

Kari plucked one up. "May I?" She asked.

"Go for it. My treat," Yolei replied.

Kari opened the pack and gently slid the cards out of the sleeve. She and Yolei fanned them out and awed. They could feel the high quality in the wax, see the detailed line-art of each digimon on a deeper background. There were rookies, champions, and even a foil Bastemon in an evocative pose that made the girls chuckle, but upon seeing Hawkmon's cheeks flush, it turned into steady laughter. Beneath them lay 'ability cards', which augmented the digimon in the deck further.

"Are some of these digimon even real?" Yolei asked.

"Of course they are," Hawkmon replied, "though it is curious that humans would know."

Gatomon clutched a Mikemon card, posing like the foil portrait. "I'm certainly not complaining," She said, "but he has a point. Some of these digimon are a rare sight, even in the Digital World. I doubt they appeared here in droves."

"Maybe it's Gennai," Yolei added. She noticed Gatomon tuck the card into the cuff of her right glove. "He's got clones, perhaps they're the ones who created the game. Maybe it's a secret test for future Destined."

Kari shook her head. She retrieved the booster foil, flipping it over. She pointed to the manufacturer's stamp on the back; a jester's hat with Harlequin Games underneath in English. "This company is based in our world," she said. "That logo shows up on all sorts of card games, and even the Dungeons and Dragons set I ordered for Izzy's birthday present. Besides," she paused as the klaxons sounded again. Her voice lowered, almost a hush, "I don't think Gennai's behind the Faceless Men." She widened her eyes for emphasis.

"The sirens stopped," Gatomon whispered. Her eyes shifted, looking out the front windows. "It's past curfew. Maybe we should turn out the lights and continue this conversation upstairs."

The girls nodded. As Kari scooped the cards into a neat pile, Yolei strode for the light switch next to the front door. She took gymnast's strides, swatting the lights off and ducking into the shadows. Mazing through the shelves, she avoided stepping into the streetlight shafts splaying across the linoleum. Yolei could hear the digimon scrambling in the back as she slide through the doorway, Kari directing them.

Hawkmon chuckled somewhere deeper in the room. "If I knew any better, you girls seem to think these Faceless Men are real monsters." He said to the girls.

"Well, they certainly don't help their image wearing those weird helmets," Yolei replied.

"Not to mention they carry guns," Kari added, peeking out the doorway. A minute passed and she jerked her head back. "Hide!" She whispered.

Before Yolei could utter a word, strong light splashed against the back wall, pouring in from the door. She stifled a yelp. Dragging an amused Hawkmon aside, she clamped a hand on his beak, waiting. Fear and excitement trolled her guts. She could feel Hawkmon rolling his eyes. When the light slid away from the door, Yolei steeled her nerve and leaned out, spying on the three men loitering outside the storefront.

Their molded, shock-white helmets were shaped in the visage of a skull. In the dim their eye lenses glowed an ephemeral blue, and the steel re-breathers clamped over their faces sharpened in the streetlight. One of them stood in full view in front of the door. His black flak vest blended into the shadows around him, blurring the outline of his frame except for the pistol nested in its holster at his hip. Nothing could be discerned, Yolei realized. All she could see was blackness and the hazing blue of his eye lenses, haunting back into the store.

As Civil Protection, they had come with the curfew like a threatening tide. They would appear from the shadows and harass those breaking the lockdown with boot kicks, punches, and the occasional strike of a pistol butt. The guilty cried foul, but with helmets obscuring their features, 'The Faceless Men' became slang among the youth and troublemakers.

Yolei had felt this lingering dread before. She experienced it in another world cloaked in darkness, whose mere existence threatened to overwhelm her closest friends. Denizens of the Dark Ocean, Yolei thought, watching the men drift away from the window walking down the street. Moments passed and she released the breath held in her chest. Kari's hand graced her shoulder. She turned, seeing the kind, reassuring eyes settle her nerves.

Whatever the Faceless Men were, whoever they pledged to, Yolei could not shake the feeling their origin stemmed from that terrible place with the black sand and white sky.

Author's Note: I had a long, hard think about how the story had started and what the intention was supposed to be. In the end, I was not satisfied with how it came out. It was trying to tell several stories at once, and, through some good criticism, I think it would be best to slow the story down and start at a better, more revealing beginning.

I apologize to all those who enjoyed my story up to those chapters. It is for the best of the story and for your enjoyment, I promise. I kept the Prologue roughly the same, since it accomplished what I was looking for.

Comments, criticisms, and flames are always welcome. Feel free to leave a message or a review!