Power of the Crests: Part Six
Vigor of Spirit
Original Author: Debbie (Dai-chan)
Rewriter: Celestra (Les)
Okay, people settle down. Just because this is Matt fic doesn't mean-ooof!* gets knocked over by people screaming and trying to read* Okay, Yokata, since you're reading this, you don't have the right to complain. This is a Matt fic, and it seems A LOT of people love 'im. Now, the original author is Debbie (Dai-chan) and this is my version. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a robber, but I wanted to be the author of a version of Dai-chan's fic. So read and review, now that you've entered my domain!*bwahahahahaha!*
He just couldn't believe it. Elanna and Izzy found their powers, and he didn't like it at all. He still couldn't understand why must they change because of those strange powers. He missed Elanna's gentle blue eyes - now they were all white, giving him the uneasy feeling that she was actually blind, yet she could see everything. Izzy didn't change as much as Elanna, but his eyes did. They didn't change color, but they seemed to be more aware and clear. Flawless. They seemed to hold everything known and everything yet to be known. Matt and TK were the only ones who didn't have that kind of power. Yet.
Matt slowed down into a stop, tilting his head to one side. He heard something. A whispering voice. He gazed upward, trying to listen for the voice and trying to see where it came from. Without a thought, Matt made a humming sound, a kind of habit he developed when he pondered for a while. His hums attracted his friends' attention.
"What's the matter?" he heard Gabumon saying, lightly worried.
Matt's gaze turned to his friends. They were watching him, so many eyes. The sightless eyes of Elanna, the all-knowing eyes of Izzy, and the innocent eyes of TK. Matt felt his cheeks going hot; he was not used to all the attention. He was more solitude than companionable. He shook his head in a reassuring gesture. "Nothing. Just thinking." He gazed around the surroundings. The group was in a part of the jungle where it was difficult to walk through low branches and barren bushes. Not a good place to rest, but they had walked nonstop since morning without any rest. Matt cleared his throat. "Guys, I think we should stop for a while."
Izzy shook his head firmly. "No, Matt. We should keep going."
"You are still weak, Izzy, from your power." He remembered when Izzy found his power. He couldn't believe how weak he was. Izzy never stirred from his deep stupor in Matt's arms as the group left the ruin behind. He slept soundly all night, until he finally woke up the next morning. Matt was surprised at how weak Izzy was, and how Izzy had the determination to continue. He was often aided by the faithful Tentomon and Elanna, his strength slowly regaining. Izzy's body may be weak, but his soul was not. His eyes were very vivid, almost shining with an inner light. Matt watched Izzy, who was leaning against a tree, looking exhausted.
Izzy averted his sharp eyes away. "I am fine, Matt."
Matt sighed faintly at the redhead's hurt dignity. "It's not just that. How can we know where to find our friends? We are totally lost."
Tentomon gazed at him from his usual side by Izzy. "You say that there is absolutely no way to find them?"
Matt shook his head. "I didn't mean that, Tentomon. I mean, do we know where are we? If we don't know where we are, we would not know where the others are, either."
He saw Izzy gazing over to Elanna, awareness in his eyes. Elanna had her hands together at her waist, and she looked soft and patient. She gazed to Matt with her gentle eyes. " I can use my power to see," she offered.
"No, Elanna. You can't," He made a negating gesture with his hand. "I don't want you to risk your life for that . . . power."
Elanna's eyes seemed to shade into a sad light blue hue. "It might be our only chance, Matt."
Matt frowned, shaking his head. He didn't want to lose Elanna because of that. He stepped forward to her to settle down the argument, and then he stopped, alarmingly looking around. He suddenly heard soft mumbles from around him, so soft that he wondered if he was hearing things.
"What's wrong?" he heard Elanna saying. She walked to him, holding on his arm, looking concerned.
"Did you hear that?" he said, still gazing around.
"Hear what, Matt?" Raimon asked.
Matt looked to his friends. They were watching him, waiting. "I hear voices." The friends gazed around and cocked their heads to listen. Matt still heard mumbles, very soft.
Izzy shrugged. "I don't hear anything."
Matt began to think he was going crazy, hearing voices that no one else heard. Trying to ignore the mumbles, Matt shrugged, "Maybe it's just me." He saw Elanna gazing to him, looking perceptive. It seemed to him that she was seeing through his soul, knowing the truth. He simply smiled back, winking. She blushed. He cherished it when Elanna blushed prettily.
Then he looked up at Patamon's voice, "It's getting dark. We need to find a shelter now."
Matt noticed that the sky was darkening with several clouds gathering together. The clouds were turning deep grey, the sign of oncoming rain. The group walked on, following each other, just trusting their faith and instincts. Matt kept Izzy and TK in his vision, deeply concerned, and enjoying Elanna's silent company as she stayed by his side. He noticed that the soft mumbles were getting louder, but not annoying, anyway. They were almost like whispers and wails of numerous voices around him. They were not displeased, and he grew curious about the voices.
He noticed his friends stopped walking after a while, their eyes on a point in far left of them. Matt turned to see, and saw a massive, ominous-looking mansion standing in a larger grove of shadowing trees. The mansion was hued deep midnight blue, looking broken-down. The windows were uncovered with no glass to shelter inside. The mansion was so solitude and abandoned that Matt wondered why it was standing alone, far from everything.
Gabumon seemed to think alike as Yamato. "What on earth is that?"
"Maybe no one's there," said his brother, sounding hopeful. "We could use it as a shelter."
"No," Matt said firmly, his eyes hard as he stared at the mansion. "I would rather stay outside."
Izzy glanced over his shoulder to him. "What's the matter? It appears vacant. It's not hazardous, it seems."
Matt averted his gaze downward from the mansion. He thought bitterly, ("I don't like the look of it.")
Suddenly, booms of thunders were heard. The friends gazed up to sudden flashes of lightning leaping among blackish-grey clouds. Raindrops fell from the clouds, showering down to the kids and digimon. "Come on!" Raimon ordered, and all ran after her toward the mansion. Matt shielded the icy rain from his eyes with an arm as he and his friends stopped at the giant doors. Izzy pushed them open, discovering them unlocked, and all entered. Izzy and Matt shut the doors and shook the cold water from their hair.
Matt looked around his surroundings. The inside was a kind of lobby with two massive stairways curling upward to the second floor. There were two doors, one at his right and another ahead of him. A narrow hall came out from his left, leading to somewhere. An unlighted chandelier hanged from the ceiling, silently unmoving, with dust all over. There was a dim light coming from somewhere that he was not certain where. The place reminded him of similar haunted houses he often had saw in horror movies.
And he could hear the voices. Inside, they were clear, mumbling only few words, but enough to make him uneasy. ("Give us your energy. Give us your energy.") He gazed around in caution.
TK moved closer to him, holding his hand. " Matt, I am scared."
Matt was nervous, too, but he wouldn't let his brother know. He gave him a comforted squeeze on his hand. "Stay by me, kiddo." He looked up at the open second floor from the stairways. He saw wide, formal paintings decorating the walls, eleven in total. He wondered what they were. Looking down, he saw Izzy and Tentomon walking by the first floor wall, searching thoughtfully. "What are you doing, Izzy?" he asked.
"Looking around," answered Izzy, not even looking back.
Elanna was studying the paintings with curiosity. She grinned almost enchantingly at him, her white eyes shining as bright as - he used the term loosely - stars. "Are you curious, Matt?" she said, her eyes flickering up to the paintings.
Matt was dumbfounded at her sudden divine radiance. He did what he thought he would never do - stammer. "Well - well, um . . . I . . ."
Elanna giggled joyfully. She held on his arm. "Come on, Matt. Let's look at some paintings." Matt let Elanna take his hand as she led him upstairs. The stairs groaned and creaked alarmingly under their sudden weight. He heard TK and the digimon following behind. Matt and Elanna stopped before a wide painting, its frame hued dark blue. Matt stood gaping at it as Elanna spoke, "Why, Matt! It's you!"
("It is me.") In the painting, a strikingly replica of Matt in similar clothing was sitting in a brownish background, one leg up and an arm resting on the knee. The replica leaned on the other arm, long bangs of ash-blond hair shadowing his rare smiled face. The eyes were powerful grey-blue, seeming to stare straight down to the kids.
Matt's eyes flickered to the painting by the Matt paintings' right. He pointed to it, saying to Elanna, "And that is you, too!"
In the blue-green-turquoise-aqua-framed painting, Elanna's head was showed, her chin resting on her crossed arms, looking peaceful and gentle with her soft blue eyes. She was smiling, too. Her long, golden colored hair fell across her cheeks, giving the picture of Elanna a mysterious, intelligent look.
The rest of the group arrived to them, also gaping at the paintings. "It's all you humans," remarked Gabumon.
Sure enough, every kid was in the paintings. By Matt's paintings' other side, was the black-framed painting of Joe. He was leaning against a wall, hands in his khaki shorts pockets, an unusual gesture for the nervous boy. But Matt remembered that when Joe found his power, he was composed, just like the replica of a calmly smiling Joe. By Elanna's paintings' side, was the red-framed painting of Sora. Her head was showed, like Elanna, but her back was facing them. She was watching over her shoulder, her amber eyes hooded in a divine, wise way. Her blue hat was not present, and her red hair curled over her shoulders. The next painting was TK's. He was the only one who had his eyes upward. He was standing, hands together, looking like he was praying, looking so heavenly. His green hat was gone, and the single lock of fair hair curled over his forehead, giving him an innocent, angelic appearance. The frame was, Matt noticed, hued bright gold, like it was polished nonstop.
At the other end of the eleventh painting, was the green-framed painting of Mimi. She knelt, her pink dress flowing around her. She was smiling radiantly, with hands together in her lap. She had no pink hat with her, and her light brown hair flowed around her shoulders. The next painting was of Izzy. He looked ecstatic; his head leaned a bit to one side, his arms crossed. His grin was bright, eager. The frame was hued deep purple. And, the sun orange-framed painting belonged to Tai. He was a standing, fists on hips, feet apart, looking every inch as the determined, persistent boy Matt remembered. He had his favorite goggles off, and his usual unkempt hair clouded his sharp eyes, but not shadowed him. He had a courageous grin.
Matt felt the creeps running up his back. The painted kids were the exactly same as the real kids, with their characteristic features and distinctive traits. He wondered why or how did the digimon know about the kids? Was it because of the so-called legends of the Digidestined? Why was Digidestined so well known that the digimon chose to paint exact replicas of them?
Matt and Elanna walked over to where TK was. The boy was staring at the last three paintings between the paintings of Tai andTK. The frame of the one beside Tai was muted magenta, the one in the middle of Tai and TK was muted sky blue and the one beside TK was muted silver. There were a faces on them, but there was no way to tell if they were female or male. The paints were waterlogged, dripping over the faces in a rain of colors, making it impossible to see the details.
"Wonder who these people are?" TK asked when Matt and Elanna arrived, his azure eyes curious.
Patamon spoke in wondering awe, "Could there be eleven Digidestined, not eight?"
Matt gazed at him in surprise, then turned to the paintings, trying to see the details. "If so, I don't know who."
Then Izzy's voice rang from the first floor, sounding excited. "Hey, guys! I found a fascinating room!"
The kids and digimon ran downstairs. Matt stopped in the middle of the stairs and looked back for a last gaze to his painting. The grey-blue eyes seemed to stare at him, and then something happened. The posed Matt's faint smile abruptly changed into a devilish sneer as the grey-blue eyes shifted into burning red. Matt started and shook his head. Looking again, he saw the posed boy back to normal. ("I'm dreaming things,") he thought. Turning around, he ran downstairs. He heard clear voices from behind, hissing softly, ("The Guardian is here at last.") Matt didn't look back, running faster to the first floor. He entered the door between the two stairs.
It was a massive chamber, lighted by somewhere he could't find from above. The walls were hued dark blue, the same as the outside walls of the mansion. The group was gathered together, gazing around as Izzy and Tentomon walked to the other side. And the room was empty.
Matt gazed at the redhead with disbelieving puzzlement. " Izzy, you brought us to this 'fascinating room,' which is empty?"
Izzy turned to grin at him. His eyes were suddenly shining, seeming to be the only source of light in the room. He silently gestured around with a sweep of his yellow-gloved hand.
Matt didn't have a chance to take a good look around. He saw the symbols of the kids' crests on the walls, two on each. The crests were painted with their own colors.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight," TK counted them out. "Eight crests." He then yawned, holding Matt's hand.
Tentomon also gestured to the floor. "Look under your feet."
Looking down, Matt saw the crests' symbols, also engraved into the floor, seven of them set into a circle around one crest. His symbol was in between of the Crest of Bravery at its right and the Crest of Knowledge at the other. At the other side of Knowledge, was the Crest of Reliability. The next was the Crest of Sincerity. Next was the Crest of Love. Then the Crest of Courage was set in between Love and Bravery. In the center of the circle, was the Crest of Hope.
Izzy was standing near his symbol, pointing down at the symbol of Hope. "See that the seven crests encircle one crest - Hope."
Matt shrugged. "So?"
"So, the circle must be set like this for a particular reason." Izzy sat down, opening his green backpack that contained his yellow-white laptop.
Matt watched him with an arched eyebrow. He heard TK yawning and looked down to him. His brother's eyes were drooping, looking weary. "Tired?" TK looked up and nodded. Matt knelt down, saying, "Get on my back." TK climbed on his back, setting his cheek on his shoulder, his arms around his neck. Holding him up by legs, Matt stood up easily under his brother's light weight. He watched Elanna kneeling by her symbol, her hand fingering the edges, looking thoughtful. Raimon sat by her side, also studying the symbol.
Matt listened to his digimon as he asked Izzy a question, "But, Izzy, there are eight crests symbols here, but eleven pictures of the Digidestined upstairs. Why? Why are those other three Digidestined not involved in this yet?"
"That's what we are trying to find out," answered Tentomon as his human friend tapped at his computer, his sharp eyes concentrated.
Matt looked down to his symbol on the floor. It looked exactly the same as his crest. A circle with two half-circles within, along with two curved points at both sides, was carved in the floor, its diameter approximately a couple of feet across. Holding up TK firmly on his back, Matt reached to touch the symbol with his foot. The very moment the foot touched the edges, the symbol suddenly brightened with a dark blue light, its rays shining upwardly. Startled, Matt withdrew his foot, and the glow quickly faded, leaving the symbol back to normal.
Matt gazed to his sides to see if his friends saw it. Izzy was focused as he worked at his computer. Elanna kept studying her symbol with her hand. No one saw it. He looked down to Gabumon. The blue wolf was gazing back with anxious concern, perhaps wondering why he was startled. He didn't see the glow.
Matt flushed and averted his eyes to something else. His gaze lay on the Crest of Hope in the center. It was surprisingly small, compared to the other crests. A small sun stood above a small pyramid. The appearance made it seem heavenly, angelic. Matt wondered. He knew his brother was special in his way. TK was always generous, kind, and so pure. He had so much faith that he seemed to have his own light from inside, radiating from his pure azure eyes. His childish smile seemed to hold wisdom beyond his age. ("TK may be special,") thought Matt, ("but he is still my brother.")
Matt looked over his shoulder to see TK peacefully sleeping, his cheek on his shoulder. The single lock of fair hair fell over his eyes during sleep, so innocently. Matt smiled warmly and lovably at his brother. Turning around, he found something unexpected. Elanna and Raimon were gone.
"Elanna?" Matt was startled. Hysterically, he gazed around. "Where did you go? Elanna!"
Izzy looked up from his computer. "What's wrong?"
" Elanna and Raimon are gone!"
Izzy gazed around. "She must had left the room earlier."
" Elanna!" Holding up his brother on his back, Matt ran out of the room with Gabumon by his side. He ran back so he could see upstairs from the first floor. He couldn't see anything else except the paintings of the Digidestined.
"Why'd she leave without letting us know?" Gabumon said, looking around.
Matt looked around, worried. "It's not like Elanna." He gazed around and found that Izzy was not with him as he thought. " Izzy!" He ran inside the room.
"What?" Izzy said. He was just putting on his green backpack.
Matt grunted impatiently. "Come on! We must search for Elanna and Raimon!"
"But -"
"Your curiosity can wait!" Matt snapped. Izzy fell into silence, his aware eyes suddenly as sharp as ice. Matt sighed. He didn't mean to snap at him. "Finding our friends are more important, okay? Let's go." He turned to get out of the room, and he heard the running footsteps of Izzy following from behind.
The group went in the hall, which went underneath the ground. Matt quickened his pace, anxious to find the girls. Izzy ran behind, trying to keep up with his pace. Gabumon, Patamon, and Tentomon followed.
" Matt, Elanna will be fine," said Izzy. "She can take care of herself."
Matt ignored him, his lips tightning. All he wanted was to find Elanna completely safe and not harmed. They continued until they stopped at tall, wide doors at the end of the hall. Matt made a furious grunt.
"Calm down, Matt," Izzy tried to soothe him.
Matt turned to him with such fury in his grey-blue eyes that they seemed to change into pure steel. Izzy stared back in astonishment, along with the digimon. Unable to say anything, Matt knelt and let go of a sleepy TK to the floor. He went to the doors and pulled on the metal rings that acted as knobs. The doors wouldn't budge at all. He then pushed on with all his strength. The doors wouldn't move again, either.
Matt sighed, unconsciously slammed on one of the doors with a fist. He turned around, saying, "I guess we have to find -" He paused in mid sentence. Izzy and Tentomon were gone.
" Izzy!" Matt gasped. "Ok, guys! It's not funny! We are not here to play foolish games!"
As if answering back, he heard a feminine voice, ravishing and tempting, laughing from everywhere. The laugh echoed in his ears. Then he suddenly felt a breezy draft touching his cheek, seeming seductive, playful. Matt started, holding his hand over his cheek.
" Matt?" Gabumon gazed up to his human friend with worry.
Matt never felt so shaken before. He took a deep breath. "We need to find our friends and get the heck out of here." He hasted to his brother, kneeling. " TK, wake up! There is no time to sleep."
TK rubbed his sleepy eyes, sitting up. "But, Matt, I am so tired." He stifled back a yawn. "Can't we rest for a while?"
Matt's grey-blue eyes stared right in TK's azure eyes, different colors for the eyes of brothers. "What got into you,TK? Our friends are gone, and we must find them."
TK blinked upward to Matt with confusion. "Gone? What do you mean? They are here. Look." He held up a pointing finger behind Matt.
Matt whirled around. He saw the hazy images of Elanna, Izzy, Raimon, and Tentomon in the hall. Their backs were to him, walking away. " Elanna! Izzy!" He stood and ran after them. "Come back!" Then he skidded into a stop. The kids and digimon lazily faded into thin air like ghosts.
A sudden thought came to him, and he turned around, afraid to know. TK and Patamon were gone. Unexpected, Matt screamed in fear. " TK! TK!" Panicked, he ran to the doors, trying to open them as his digimon called his brother and digimon's names.
Then Matt heard voices. They were laughing, giggling high-pitched, taunting. Matt let go of the rings and cautiously gazed around. ("Where are that voices coming from?!")
(". . . Guardian . . . Guardian . . .")
Matt whirled around, voices were so aggravated and irksome. "Stop it! Stop it!" He slapped his hands over his ears, screaming to drown the awful voices. He stepped back, and suddenly, he fell backward through the open doors. He laid there in shocked silence. Gabumon ran to him, concerned. Then he heard laughing voices from behind him. Matt hastened to his feet. Many floating misty physiques drifted in silence. They were too vague in detail to tell which ones were digimon or humans.
"What are they?" Gabumon murmured.
Matt looked down to his digimon. "Aren't they digimon, Gabumon?"
Gabumon shook his head. "No, they aren't."
Matt returned his gaze to the images. "Then they must be ghosts."
The ghosts seemed to stop drifting and slowly turned to face the duo. Their eyes were misty and lifeless. Their mouths were moving, and he could hear them. ("Guardian . . . Guardian . . .") Matt began to shake in paranoid confusion. ("What do the ghosts want with me?!") Matt stepped back and was stopped by closed doors. They were locked inside! Matt and Gabumon pounded on the doors. They wouldn't open.
Matt looked back and saw the ghosts drifting toward them, their misty hands outreached. And the voices kept coming, calling for him. He couldn't stand it! He screamed, slapping his hands over his ears, running away. He heard Gabumon calling his name, but all he wanted was to get away from the voices. He ran blindly, unaware he was running down a narrow stairway.
The voices grew louder, taunting and calling, until they were ringing shrilly in his ears. He dropped to his knees, hunched over, trying to resist the voices. He felt the concerned, comforted touches of Gabumon on his arms. He shut his eyes tightly, shaking his head to defy the voices.
"Why, how nice of you to bow to me, Guardian."
The voices abruptly stopped, and Matt popped his eyes open. ("Where was that voice coming from?") He gazed around and found himself in some empty chamber. To his shock, he found his friends in the center.
"Guys?" Matt stood and ran to him. To his confusion, his friends were sleeping. They were in a row, eyes closed. TK laid in between Elanna and Izzy, all breathing deeply and regularly. Matt knelt and shook his little brother gently. "Wake up! Please!" He tried to shake Elanna and Izzy, too, but they seemed to refuse to wake.
"It's like they have no energy," said Gabumon from the row of his sleeping digimon friends.
Matt looked up to him in perplexity. "No energy?"
"They were so kind to give me their energy."
Matt started at the feminine voice. It was the one who first laughed at him. He gazed around, demanding, "Who are you? Where are you?"
Then he saw a misty, white-robed female ghost drifting downward. She was as large as Garurumon, floating in mid air. He could see the details: crystal eyes set in a pale face, a robe covering her body, a lip-less smile at the boy.
"She is a digimon," said Gabumon, creeping closer to Matt in order to protect him.
The ghost digimon slightly bowed her head. "I am Banshemon, and yes, I am a digimon. The phantasm you seen earlier are nothing but mere energies passed on from useless bodies. You might call them ghosts."
Matt stood, guarding his sleeping friends. "What is your right to take their energies?"
Banshemon hooded her crystal eyes. "I didn't take them. They gave them to me."
"How come?"
"Because you failed to guard them, Guardian."
Matt scowled at the digimon. His hands slowly clenched into tense fists. Banshemon saw what he did and simply smiled blankly. Her voice was taunting, however. "Face it, Guardian. You cannot fight me. The Guardian of Friendship never fights."
Matt's scowl deepened, but he lowered his fists. "I may not fight, but I do protect. Is that why I am called the Guardian? I am supposed to protect my friends."
Banshemon shrugged. "But you didn't. You let your guard down and they came to me."
Matt took a deep breath, trying to ease his anger. "Is there a way to get my friends' energies back?"
Banshemon remained silent.
"Let me fight her, Matt," growled Gabumon. "I will shake the energies out of her."
Banshemon chuckled lightly.
"No, Gabumon," Matt said, his eyes on the ghost. Gabumon looked back in concerned puzzlement. Matt shook his head at him. "You cannot fight her. I cannot fight her. But there must be a way to defeat her." He saw Banshemon smirking in amusement. "Well, Banshemon? Is there a way?"
Banshemon unhooded her crystal eyes, and they seemed hungry. "To give back your friends' energies, you have to give up yours. Your energy alone is immense, powerful. I want it."
Matt gazed down to his sleeping friends. They looked so peaceful like that. Elanna looked almost pretty, all deep concern fading from her face. Izzy's intelligence remained in his face even in sleep. Even TK looked innocent, peacefulness and harmony among his face. They were helpless like this, and it was up to him to protect them. He knew he was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. Looking up to Banshemon, Matt spoke calmly, "I will."
Gabumon whirled to him in alarm. "No, Matt!"
"I have to," he said quietly. He stood taller, braver. His grey-blue hardened into steel. "I will do everything to protect my friends, for their friendship means the most to me. The power they have over me is sweet and reverent. Without them, I would be lost. That's why I am the Guardian because I devoted to protect them, so they wouldn't lose themselves."
His crest began to glow with a night-blue dark color. The aura surrounded him, giving the appearance of a cloak of night around his body. The aura was misty, soft and silent. Matt looked at his hand, smiling at the nightglow. Matt returned his secretive grin to a now tense Banshemon and said, "No one will make me lose myself. I will protect them with all my heart and energy. You want my energy? Take it! Vigor of Spirit!"
Matt let go of his power. The aura radiated brighter until the chamber was illuminated with the misty, night-blue aura. He couldn't see anything because his power was blinding him. However, he could hear Banshemon screeching with a thousand voices screaming along. They came from everywhere. Matt felt his energy draining from him in rapid speed, but he couldn't stop it. In the middle of his power, he collapsed to the floor, his energy gone.
* * *
He felt a soft draft on his cheek when he woke up. He must be outside somewhere. He fluttered open his eyes and saw that it was night. The sky was night-black with few stars twinkling dimly. ("How long have he been sleeping?") Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see the dancing light of a small fire near. He lolled his head to one side, and his gaze met the sleeping face of TK. He was holding Patamon in his arms, huddled near Matt. Gabumon snoozed at the little boy's other side. Nearby, Matt could see Izzy and Tentomon sleeping. Raimon curled near Gabumon, her snout buried by her paws.
Matt smiled to see his friends safe, then he was startled. He felt two sharp teeth in his mouth, seeming unnatural. He felt them with his tongue, startled to find them curled, not straight. He sat up, gazing for something to reflect off his face. He saw that the group was sleeping near a small pond. He silently stood and hastened to the pond. He looked at his reflection.
He was shocked at his changes. Somehow, he grew two small fangs in place of his front teeth, making him look like a wolf. His grey-blue eyes were unchanged, but his pupils had shifted into slits, again making him look like a wolf. For moment, he seemed to look like his digimon, Gabumon. And also, he had a lock of snow-white hair among his blond hair, few bangs of white clouding over his wolf-like eyes. Matt stared speechlessly at his reflection, then he heard soft footsteps coming closer to him. He shut his mouth and eyes, turning away.
"Stay back, Elanna," he said ashamedly. "I look horrible."
He felt the kneeling of Elanna by him. "Why would you look horrible, Matt?" Her voice was gentle.
Matt shook his head. "You don't want to know."
"I think that no matter what changes, you are still Matt. Tell me, when I got my power, did I change?'
Matt faintly smiled. He remembered her white eyes. She may be changed from outside, but she was still the same inside. "No. You are still Elanna." Then he grew somber. "But I am really changed."
"Let me see." Matt opened his eyes and gazed up to Elanna. She was not looking alarmed or frightened. She gently held his face in her hands, her thumbs touching his fangs. Her white eyes studied his eyes with slit pupils. She touched the white lock with two fingers. She looked so quiet and gentle.
Elanna let go of his face and smiled. "Well, Matt, you are changed." Matt flushed lightly, beginning to look away, but Elanna stopped him, gently pushing his face to hers. "But it doesn't matter. You are still Matt, aren't you? You are still our Matt. My Matt. The same Matt who always protects us." She smiled almost lovingly, her eyes soft.
Matt smiled back warmly, and he hugged her, a gesture he rarely used to anybody. He welcomed her compassion and warmth. She warmly embraced back. Then Matt felt a cool breeze touching his cheek. Both looked up at the sudden breeze, watching it swaying the branches. Slowly, Matt could feel something. He could feel three different spirits filling his body like warm drinks in his chests. He can recognize them. His power allowed him to sense spirits, and he felt the spirits of the other friends in a distance. They were coming closer. Soon, they would be back together.
Matt secretively smiled. "I am the Guardian."
TO BE CONTINUED!