This isn't very well written though. It should be so much more padded out, with more plot twists etc. Sorry about that. I'm trying to get stories finished and out of the way.
I decided I didn't have the energy to finish this fic, but I've already written most of it so here it is. I sort of write it in parts, writing particular scenes... so the parts that I DIDN'T write I've just included a sentence or two in bold italics summing up what happened there, so that you can all follow it! ^_^;
Power of Two
by Leto
Part 3
The kids left the border and ventured into the mountain range. The ground before the first mountains began was white sand with some scrub. There were long rows of mountains, almost symmetrical, and although the peaks nearest them were not very high, they could see that in the distance there were other peaks which were taller.
There seemed no alternative but to start climbing the mountains, and they set to it, walking up the incline that seemed to become increasingly steeper. The kind of walking that saps your strength most quickly.
As this first mountain was little more than a large hill, it did not take very long - perhaps an hour - to reach the top. Nonetheless, the children and Digimon were well ready for a rest when they reached the plateau.
They all fell down, breathing heavily, and it was a minute or two until they bothered to look at their surroundings. Mimi gasped and pointed.
"Look down there, Joe! There are people moving!"
Joe pulled binoculars out of his bag (hey, he comes prepared) and looked down, squinting. Sure enough, there were people - quite a lot of them - standing around. Some wandered around. Most of them looked pretty mindless. They stood within the boundaries of a large, fenced area.
"There's a fence around them,' he said.
"We should go down there right away!" she said, jumping up.
"Give me a minute," he said, sweatdropping, "we only just sat down."
She waited impatiently, and he got up much sooner than he had intended as her standing there tapping her foot and sighing was something of a motivator.
The two almost ran down the hill, gravity helping them. Their Digimon ran behind, Gomamon stumbling and tripping, his limbs badly suited to this sort of activity. Finally he gave up, threw himself at the ground and slid down the hill at top speed, beating them all to the bottom.
They found themselves surrounded by people. The fences were not very high - not even as tall as they were. All of the people looked rather disinterested and spiritless. The two kids and their Digimon went around, trying to talk to various people.
"Excuse me, excuse me," said Mimi, to a girl her own age, "what are all of you doing here?"
"We are... here," she replied blankly.
"Yes, I can see that," said Mimi patiently, "but why? What are you doing?"
"We're... standing... we're... here."
"Hey," said Joe, to a boy a little older than himself, "could you please tell me where we are? Do you know where Perillin is?"
"Who cares?" countered the boy, in a slow, drawling voice.
"Hey, human!" shouted Gomamon, "what are these fences here for?"
The woman he asked looked at him, shrugged, and turned away, disinterested in the conversation.
"Don't ignore me!" Palmon was yelling, "hey! Can't you give me an answer?!"
The four of them regrouped and all sighed.
"No luck," sighed Gomamon, "everyone here's flipped."
"But I wonder what they're doing here," said Mimi, "it's like they're just animals in a paddock or something."
"PRECISELY!"
The four of them looked up, startled. None of them had noticed, but a six-armed, falcon-like Digimon wearing overalls had been hovering over them.
The Digimon glared at them. "I saw you, trying to disturb my livestock!"
"Livestock?" repeated Joe, in disbelief.
"AND JUST WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" shouted Mimi.
"I raise humans, they make a tasty profit. I must say, you two are most unusual."
"You're one to talk," snapped Mimi.
"Did you come to make a purchase?"
"What, are you kidding us?!" snapped Joe, "we're not cannibals!"
"Pity," said the falcon, "well, you must be newcomers to this world. I wonder what other-worlders taste like?"
He flew into the air, flapped his wings and screeched, "Ranch Barbeque!" Fire rained down on them, and Joe and Mimi squeaked and covered their heads.
"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!"
"Palmon, digivolve to... Togemon!"
"Have a taste of my Needle Spray!"
Togemon sent out hundreds of needles, which all ignited in the air, creating a shower of horrible sparks that were difficult to avoid. The four of them jumped around, screeching when hit. Finally, the shower stopped and Ikkakumon, Joe and Mimi all glared at Togemon.
"Hehehhh... sorry," she said, sheepishly.
The falcon swooped them, knocking Ikkakumon into Togemon. Ikkakumon shouted as he was impaled by dozens of needles. The enemy then sent another torrent of flames at the two.
Joe picked up his crest - it had fallen from Gomamon's neck when the Digimon had digivolved - and looked at it furiously.
"React, why won't you?! Come on! Ikkakumon, digivolve again!"
Mimi took up her own crest, and touched it to her heart.
"Togemon, you can do it!"
"Sorry, Joe," sighed Ikkakumon, dedigivolving to Gomamon.
"We just can't seem to do it," sighed Togemon, dedigivolving to Palmon.
Their attacker looked at them in surprise. "You have the crests? Sorry, I didn't realise that. Get out of here."
"Thanks for your hospitality!" said Gomamon. The falcon glared at him.
"YOU don't have a crest," he said, "don't tempt me!"
Joe picked Gomamon up and covered his mouth. "We'll be going now..."
"But what about all these poor people?" protested Mimi, "we can't just leave them here to get EATEN!"
"They won't CARE if they get eaten until we defeat Virusmon, so we really have to keep going!"
The falcon Digimon laughed, pinwheeling around the sky, holding his sides with all six arms. "Defeat Virusmon? That's great! You can't even defeat me! Your crests won't react, so you'll never win!"
"Everyone keeps saying our crests will never react," said Mimi, "but they will, you'll see! Hmpf!"
She turned, in a huff, and started stomping up the next mountain. The others followed her, and soon they were continuing their journey, both wearing their crests again. The positive effects of the crests seemed to stay with the Digimon for a while, and they were, if not in high spirits, at least fairly in character.
This mountain was taller, and steeper, but it hadn't looked so very high from the ground. They walked for a couple of hours.
"Did this mountain go into the clouds?"
"It didn't look like it did when we were on the ground..."
"It's getting misty. That means we're in the clouds."
"Look up ahead! It's almost completely white!"
"What kind of totally whacked-out mountain IS this?"
"Hey, I got an idea!" said Gomamon, "I'll digivolve into Ikkakumon. Then, you can hold onto my horn, Joe, and I'll fire a harpoon torpedo! You'll be sent right to the top of the mountain in a jiffy! Just hope that you don't explode upon impact!"
"I certainly HOPE you're kidding."
"Maybe I could digivolve into Togemon and give Gomamon a really good uppercut to send HIM flying to the top of the mountain!"
"Hey Palmon, that sounds like a super good idea!"
"Just try it and you'll soon discover the vengeance exacted by thousands of angry fish!"
"Oh no, not fish! Save me! Hahaha!"
"'Vengeance exacted'? Hey Gomamon, that's a pretty big phrase for you."
"What can I say, I'm a naturally smart guy!"
The kids and their Digimon keep walking, talking, etc. They reach the top of the second mountain and see the top of the third from there. It is becoming darker. They make it to the bottom of the second mountain with little drama. Everything is rather eerily still and quiet. The atmosphere almost seems to be becoming darker. Now they are in the valley between the second and third mountains...
They decided to take a lunch break then, bringing out cold cooked fish and cold water. Palmon declined the fish and settled her roots into the ground. She frowned slightly.
"I think we might be getting closer to this bad place, because the soil's getting worse!"
Joe scooped up a little sand in his hand and looked at it. There were dark specks mixed with the white ones. He let the sand run out between his fingers and sighed a little.
"Is something wrong, Joe?" asked Mimi, who had been watching him.
"Nothing more than usual," he said. Which, coming from him, probably meant that about a million things were wrong.
"Aw, c'mon Joe, you don't mean that!" said Gomamon cheerfully, "look on the bright side! We've got food and water, you've got brand new crests, we know where we're going for once, and we get to be heroes!"
Joe looked at Gomamon, cocking his head to one side slightly. Gomamon beamed. He had always wanted to be a hero, always wanted to fight and show lots of courage. Keeping Joe safe and happy was more important, however, and with the personality his partner had, he didn't usually get the chance to fight as much as he would have liked.
"Seriously Joe, what's on your mind?" asked Palmon.
Everyone was looking at him expectantly so he sighed and started babbling. "Well, we're in this world and we don't know where we are, and there's just the two of us and we can't get our crests to react and we know people don't get reconfigured, we don't have much food left, that pterodactyl Digimon thought we couldn't beat Virusmon, if he DID show up, we're lost, I should be studying instead of wasting summer vacation, and I just wanna go home!"
Everyone looked a little surprised at this outburst. Gomamon rifled through Joe's bag and pulled out a biology textbook. Palmon sweatdropped.
"You brought your homework to the digital world?"
"Here, Joe!" Gomamon said brightly, "I'll help you study! I'll quiz you! What's a... umm... hey, this thing kinda looks like me, except weird."
"You're the weird one," said Joe, looking at the picture, "that's just a seal, Gomamon."
"Hmm."
"And that walrus, that's probably what Ikkakumon is based on."
"There is NO WAY I'm as ugly as that thing!"
"Yeah, you're worse."
"Joooe, don't be mean!"
"Well, aren't you gonna quiz me?"
"Well, I was gonna but I can't actually READ..."
"Oh, that's a minor setback..."
"Hey, maybe I can quiz you on the pictures!"
"Yeah, I'm sure that'll be real helpful. There's definitely going to be a question in the exam like 'what does a seal look like'?"
"I'm sooo sorry!"
Joe and Gomamon stopped their joking to look at Mimi in surprise. She looked upset.
"What for?" asked Joe.
"It's all my fault! If I hadn't been so stupid and made you come with me, we never would have shown up in this stupid world in the first place!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Mimi," said Joe, "if anything, it was my fault for getting the keycards wrong."
"If we're here for a reason, then neither of you should blame yourselves," said Palmon, "this was obviously meant to happen."
"That's right," said Gomamon, "and besides, aren't we all having a lot of fun on this adventure?"
"Oh sure, endless walking, it's a blast," said Joe drily.
"Better than shopping," agreed Mimi with equal sarcasm. Palmon frowned; Mimi was so rarely sarcastic, maybe something was really on her mind.
"That's the spirit, guys!" said Gomamon happily.
The two talk a little more and then set to work climbing the third mountain. This is a lot of work, and by the time they reach the top, dusk has fallen. The top of the mountain is an enormous plateau with a forest. They walk for a while and meet a Digimon who doesn't attack them because of their crests. They ask him where Perillin is.
"This forest BECOMES Perillin. If the trees become darker, you'll know you're going the right way!"
"But the trees are already black..."
"Yeah, but... well, you'll know it when you see it. You really shouldn't go any further. Very few creatures live around here, Perillin is a stronghold for evil even beyond the level of most virus Digimon."
"But at least we're on the right track!" said Gomamon happily, and they continued on their way.
Joe glanced at the others. "I don't know about you guys but I'm becoming really suspicious. People like me shouldn't be having such a run of good luck."
"You call this good luck?" said Mimi.
"All the little things. Like that our crests changed into something that would protect us. The fire hydrants actually squirted water when we needed it, instead of producing a Numemon or orange juice or actual fire, like the sort of thing you become used to in the digital world. And now, after only two days of travel, and not really knowing where we're going, we've found ourselves in the exact place we wanted to be."
"I don't want to be here," said Mimi.
"You know what I mean..."
They wander around lost for a while and finally find Perillin. The whole place has a terribly dark, oppressive atmosphere. Around midnight, the darkness takes a form, Virusmon, and challenges them. If the carriers of the crests die, that will enable whoever kills them to be transported to their world in their place, and like all mega villains, he is megalomaniacal. He tries to kill the children but their Digimon digivolve to fight.
Virusmon easily gets the upper hand, and Ikkakumon and Togemon start losing their light, becoming infected with his virus effect, the one that turns all Digimon in that world evil.
"I'll infect all of you! I'll infiltrate your world!"
"You will NOT!" shouted Mimi, "we simply won't let you!" The thought of Virusmon winning, the thought of him killing them all, the thought of those humans continuing to be mindlessly slaughtered, the thought of him hurting her family and killing her friends... she was filled with passion, and fury. But her crest still didn't react. Why? WHY?!
"You don't have a choice, girl," said Virusmon.
Joe watched the horrible creature with a disgusted expression. Somehow, somehow, they had to win... they'd get back to their world, having saved it, and they'd be happy... he realised, suddenly, that for the first time he really wanted to live. Since he had met Mimi... since they had become better friends... there was more of a reason to stay alive.
Joe's crest suddenly flared to life, actually burning a hole through his shirt, but not harming him. Mimi felt something, pulled her crest out and held it in front of her. It burst into light as well.
"I get it," said Mimi, "I get why they said my crest would never react... but they were wrong."
"Huh?"
"They're linked!"
"We're linked."
"Our crests had to react TOGETHER."
Now the light shot around their Digimon. The petals of Togemon's wilted flower unfurled, stretching out perfect and healthy. Ikkakumon's eyes faded to their usual serene blue. And then...
"Ikkakumon digivolve to... Oceamon!"
"Togemon digivolve to... Floraemon!"
From Joe's crest came a torrent of blue light which took the form of waves, sweeping over and surrounding Ikkakumon until a new Digimon emerged. From Mimi's crest came a yellow light which enveloped Togemon, hiding her from view until it faded and a new Digimon emerged.
Oceamon was a beautiful, powerful cross between a seal and a dolphin, pure white all over except for his tail, which shimmered all the colours of the spectrum. He hovered in the air, head back, black eyes glinting.
Floraemon was difficult to see, exactly. Dark, kind eyes, similar to those of Lillymon, shone out from behind a light canopy of leaves, but her whole body, which seemed vaguely human-shaped, was covered with flowers of all kinds, trailing their stems all around each other. The flowers gently moved their petals inwardly and outwardly, as though in sync with her breathing.
(A/N: I did a little sketch of Oceamon and Floraemon, can be found at http://members.nbci.com/IanThorpe/florocea.jpg)
Both Digimon had long, white, feathered wings sprouting from their backs. Oceamon's glittered with water droplets, and Floraemon's had slight leafy veins threaded through hers.
"Tsunami Spiral!"
A white tidal wave burst out of the ground, and at a gesture from Oceamon, condensed into one pale blue beam which emitted the sound of crashing waves. It flew through the air and hit Virusmon.
"Photosynthesis!"
"Photosynthesis?" mouthed Joe in disbelief, wondering what sort of attack that was. The plants seemed to glow in the sunlight and then every flower shot a beam of light that combined into one and hit Virusmon.
Virusmon did, actually, seem to feel these attacks. He howled in pain and was thrown back, crashing through the black trees. The two kids felt some relief at this; enemies that effortlessly brushed off attacks were always a little scary.
The three Digimon fought, exchanging blows and attacks, dodging, spinning through the air, deflecting, being struck. Floraemon and Oceamon had the advantage of perfect teamwork, but Virusmon was a lot stronger, and beat them down.
But they continued to get up. Even when their wings became tattered, ripped, torn, even when Oceamon's tail began to lose some of its colour, when Floraemon's petals wilted, when the two were flung into the ground again, they continued to get up.
Virusmon became impatient, and targeted the children instead. Oceamon flew in front of Joe, Floraemon in front of Mimi, and the two were struck again and again with beams of darkness.
"Oceamon!" shouted Joe, "give it up!"
"Oh no, Floraemon!" screamed Mimi.
From the black, fairly shapeless form that was Virusmon came two long arms, and taloned hands, which wrapped around Floraemon and Oceamon, choking them. He picked them up and flung them into the distance. They struggled, and got back up, and started to make their way back.
Virusmon's sulfur-yellow eyes glinted happily, and he laughed, a hissing, horrible sound.
The two children, suddenly alone, were now both very scared. Even their crests hadn't been enough. There was no chance of anyone else coming to save them. And this terrible, powerful evil was in front of them.
There has to be something we can do, thought Mimi, desperately, crying.
Their two Digimon were almost back, winging their way through the trees, but Virusmon was not into delay. He was not the sort to play with his prey and possibly lose his chance at victory. A sort of black mace materialised, and swung through the air at Joe.
Joe was paralysed, terrified, but Mimi didn't hesitate, running in front of him and knocking him down. The weapon tore through her, a horrible ripping sound echoing through the forest, and she gasped in silent pain, before falling.
"MIMI!" screamed her travelling partners in unison.
She slumped there on the ground, face very white, breathing heavily.
"Joe," said Mimi quietly, "I was glad to do something for you."
"Wha-what do you mean? You did so much already!"
"Sorry... I tried to be helpful, but... I wasn't... good enough."
"Mimi, don't ever say that! You were more than good enough! You were - you were - Mimi... MIMI!"
"I didn't want to go," she said, with a sob in her voice, "I wanted us to be able to... live out the eternity rings, Joe."
"We can live them out," said Joe, desperately, grabbing her hand in his, "please, Mimi! You shouldn't have done that, not for me!"
"But I had to..."
Virusmon stared as Mimi's legs began to disappear. "That is impossible. I eliminated reconfiguration. She should leave a rotting corpse!"
"How horrible," said Oceamon, "is that what was really wrong with this world? That no data could be reconfigured? That there was no second chance?"
"Exactly," said Virusmon.
"Oh, Mimi!" shouted Floraemon, and tried to use her Photosynthesis attack. But she felt as though her strength was leaving her. She dove to her friend's side and leaned next to her, shielding her with her wings, her petals and leaves gently brushing against Mimi's skin.
Mimi was wide-eyed with horror. It didn't hurt, exactly, but she could feel herself slipping away, feel life being dragged out of her. She could SEE her body disappearing, couldn't feel her legs. It was spreading up her torso. She held her crest with both hands, and with the full power of her passion for living, her crest erupted in its most spectacular reaction yet.
Joe's crest mirrored it, and their Digimon launced themselves high into the sky, with sudden, new strength.
"Ocean of Life!"
"Passion's Bloom!"
The two Digimon held hands - or more precisely, a vine looped around a flipper - and fired both attacks in sync, each feeding off each other, each strengthened by the other. The two Digimon felt as bonded as the two humans and their crests. From Oceamon exploded all the power and passion of the ocean, from Floraemon the power of living, growing things.
This attack - for the two attacks had become one - struck Virusmon and the sheer beauty of it could not do anything but destroy him. He screamed, and writhed, and complained, but was reconfigured.
The sky, which until then had been a dull greying colour, brightened by shades until it was the more traditional blue. The plants seemed to regain life, spreading their leaves to the sun. From the forest came the sound of laughter. The world became beautiful, as Joe and Gomamon stood there.
Joe, very quietly, stepped over to the egg lying on the ground in front of them and picked it up. On the ground nearby lay Mimi's crest, which once again bore the mark of Sincerity. Joe didn't want to touch it. It was about the only thing he had that gave him proof that Mimi had ever existed. There was a small droplet on the symbol, a teardrop that she must have shed when she died.
Neither of them spoke for a long time. Gomamon could see that his partner was crying, although he had his face lifted to the sky. The beautiful, ordinary summer sky. For once, the cheerful, happy-go-lucky Digimon could find no words of encouragement.
"Gomamon," said Joe finally, very slowly as though he didn't trust his voice, "let's go back."
Joe supported the egg against his waist and bent to pick up the digivice, and crest of Sincerity. He looped it around his neck, and Reliability glowed to welcome it. The teardrop resting on Mimi's crest fell onto his own, and both crests reacted once again, shining light around the two of them, and they disappeared from that world.
They both missed the small ring that lay on the ground, made clumsily from a daisy pushed through its head.