Part 4: Discussion in the Forest of Lost Souls.
The march through the forest had been a grueling one for Mimi. It was tough since the first tests. Snakes, caterpillars, birds and toads have been trying repeatedly to make her body a home, and she was just plain tired of it. That is why she took refuge between Joe and Koushiro, keeping in pace with them and making sure they took the brunt of whatever attacks the forest would take at her.
Her plan had worked. Even though Joe sweat nervously and Izzy rolled his eyes at the suggestion, they both went along with it, and flanked the young girl as they marched through the forest. But even though she was content, she was also dead tired. Everyone was. They had been marching through this unknown forest for the past hour, looking for little Takeru.
"Ugh." Mimi let out accidentally. Hearing the groan was enough for Tai. He turned around slowly and looked at the others.
"All right, I think that's enough for now." Taichi said. " I think we should rest for a moment and think about this. We're not gonna do any good if we're dead on our feet."
The others stopped, but Yamato kept forward, as if he didn't even here the young man's suggestion. Taichi grabbed his arm as he was going past him, and Mat shook him off violently.
"You wanna stay? Stay." He said. "I think I'm gonna go find my brother." He turned and marched forward.
"What, are you crazy?" Taichi countered, getting in front of him. " It's getting dark out! What are you thinking, that we should go look for you too?" His voice was raising in frustration.
Unexpectedly, Hikari stepped in. "No Tai, I think we should keep looking. Maybe he's nearby!" She put to her older brother. " We can't just sit here while he's lost. We have to go find him Tai!"
"And what are you thinking of doing?" Joe said quietly. " Are you going to go through an uncharted woods in the dark, maybe hope to bump into him instead of a tree?" He bent his knees and felt the pressure leave the balls of his feet. He adjusted his glasses and continued " That's not going to work. We can't smell him, and we certainly can't seem him now. We might as well stop and wait until it gets lighter."
Yamato's dark blue eyes grew wider at the thought. " So you're saying we should just sit here and sleep while an eight year old boy is alone and lost in the woods?" He shouted. " What the- , is that what I should do? Sleep here while my little brother is crying lost in the woods?" His voice rose with every word until Sora jumped in front of him.
"And what are you thinking, Mat? That if you yell loud enough T.K. will hear you and show up?"
"YES!!" He yelled. Then, when he saw the shock in Sora's face, he sighed and sat on the grass, head slumped.
Taichi watched the exchange with narrow eyes. He looked at his younger sister, and saw the fear and concern in her face. He sighed. "Joe makes a good point Kari," he said gently. " We can't do any good. We're tired, hungry, probably a little lost ourselves, and it's dark. We wont be able to find him tonight."
Kari's frown deepened and she looked down at the ground. Gatomon nuzzled next to her. "Don't worry, Mikari," she purred gently. "We'll find him."
"Gatomon is right." Gabumon told his depressed companion. Yamato said nothing, but hid half his face in the palm of his hand.
Koushiro voice broke through the silence. "Actually, you're both right, " he started " ,because I know exactly where he is. And I know he's well."
Well of course, everyone turned and stared at him. Kari frowned morphed into a large grin and Yamato stared incredulously. " H- How do you know?" He managed.
Izzy Izumi started to explain. "Simple. I knew I couldn't track him with my digivice, but I thought if I plugged it into my laptop, and upgraded the signal-tracker, I'd find him." He gestured towards his computer screen. "And I did. It was pretty easy." Koushiro smiled as the DigiDestined crowded around his screen for a better look.
On Izzy's laptop screen, they saw a digital map of the whole forest. There were seven tiny clustered lights blinking on the bottom part of the screen, and there was one beeping light that was halfway across the screen.
"I estimate that T.K.'s about 10 Kilometers away, and still moving." Koushiro scratched the back of his head. "He's obviously well if he can still move for so long, but I'm still puzzled as to how he could have gone that far, that fast."
"If you knew he was OK, why didn't you tell us?" Mat asked, feeling pretty foolish.
"I was still setting it up. I'm not a miracle worker."
" But you are a genius." Mimi chirped. "That's great that you found T.K. Now we know where to follow him."
Koushiro actually blushed at the complement, and Tentomon buzzed around his head, laughing away.
"Yeah" Palmon continued Mimi's thought, as was her regular routine. " but I don't get how he could have gotten so far."
"Maybe he grew wings!" Biyomon suggested. It seemed to be a fantasy of hers to see someone with wings, besides the angels that is.
" Heh, Maybe" Joe said. " Or maybe he got a ride."
"Whatever the case, I think it'd be a good idea to rest at least until sunrise." Taichi put the group. " We should prepare to search for him as soon as light breaks. Even if T.K,'s got a ride, it's gotta stop sometime." He looked to his blonde-haired friend, slumped against the tree. "You OK man?"
"Whatever." Yamato grunted. He made no move to leave though. Even while the thought of T.K. being so far away from him grated at his conscience, he knew the others were right.
Taichi sighed, and looked Sora. She sat down next to Biyomon. The others settled down as well. It seemed like the plan was set. They'd wait till Sunrise.
************
The patch of weed T.K. and FallenAngemon had been riding seemed to blaze through the forest at an amazing speed. Takeru grinned. It was almost like riding a magic carpet…except without the flying part. Dawoemon piloted the moving piece of earth with a few looks in certain directions. At this rate, they'd be out of the forest in no time.
She was pleased with the work she had done, but knew there was a lot more left to do. However, the appearance of FallenAngemon left her with a great discomfort. She had planned that she and the boy would be alone on this quest, that she would be left alone with him to further warp and contaminate his young mind. She had no idea that Patamon would suddenly be warped with him, and not only that, but Digivolve as well! Dawoemon frowned. This was a real kick in the pants.
She glanced back at the tall dark angel and shivered. The power of the Crest of Despair flowed through both of them. She would need to take extra care in dealing with that one.
Fortunately, she had an idea of how to do it, however, It would require a brief stopover. She put her mutli-limbed arms down and panted. Then turned to the two in the back. "This is far enough, I cannot go any further, Takeru-sama."
"Aww" Takeru complained. "That was actually fun." He hopped off the grass and looked up at his fearsome protector. "Now what do we do?" He asked.
"We can have a camp-out , Takeru-san." Fallen suggested, smiling.
"Cool, a camp-out! OK then, we'll have to make a tent…or some sleeping bags!" T.K. jumped off the patch of weed and starting searching for a suitable area to rest. FallenAngemon followed him wings shedding glistening feathers in the partial moonlight.
Dawoemon stared at the two. She was flabbergasted. "Can these two be the ones with the power? They're…..imbeciles." she thought to herself, when suddenly T.K. stared at a bit of grass. A shock-wave burst out of his body, reverberating through everything in the area. Dawoemon shuddered, and saw that Takeru was now standing next to a carefully patterned sleeping bag, instead of the strip of grass that was there before.
Dawoemon gulped. She made a mental note to keep her insults to herself.
Fallen tucked Takeru into the sleeping bag, then settled into one himself. T.K. looked up at the plant-mon and asked "Well, you going to sleep?"
"Uh, yes Takeru-sama." She said mildly. " But I need to sleep near that small patch of water over there. Have a pleasant evening." Bowing graciously, she left the two to their slumber.
************
Dawoemon bent over the small pool of water and concentrated. The image of a white and black striped Automomon appeared. It bowed and waited patiently.
"I will be going to Sector" ,she whispered quickly. " Send Celamon to meet me on the path." With a quick thought she added "And send several Automomons to the DigiDestined and have them attack. They should be weaker now that they are fewer in number." With that, the picture in the forest wavered and dissipated completely.
Events were now set in motion, and the plant-mon hoped that they would lead to the ultimate end. With a sigh, Dawoemon leaned against a nearby tree, closed her eyes, and let the darkness consume her.
NEXT: Part 5: THE REAL KING OF DESPAIR!!!
-Oy. I gotta apologize for that one. All talk I know, but it got too long so I got to cut it.And I got tired…not to mention I'm a little ill..ALL LAME EXCUSES I KNOW. The next one will be better I SWEAR! Anyhoo. Please review, even if it's to tell me how much of an idiot I am. The plot thickens! What does Dawoemon have planned? Who is this Celamon? Will the DigiDestined survive an attack without T.K.? Stay tuned! O_o - Incognito.