Chapter
5
Takeru and Hikari sat by the door of
Koushirou's house, holding hands, and almost falling asleep on each other's
shoulder.
Takeru then noticed that there was an
awkward shaped bird heading towards the manor, seemingly coming from the
castle. He sat up, causing Hikari to wake up from her tiny nap.
The bird was orange and flying
erratically towards them. It was rather large to be a bird, but Takeru couldn't
think of what else it could be.
"TK!" He barely
heard. Takeru strained his ears, had he heard someone scream TK?
"Did you hear that?" He asked Hikari.
She now was paying close attention to the world around her.
"TK!" This time
for sure, they both heard TK, and Takeru realized that the funny orange bird
wasn't a bird; it was Patamon!
Takeru shot up from his seated position
and headed towards Patamon. The small orange Digimon flapped his angel wings
hard, but he wasn't able to hold himself any more. He fell to the ground,
spinning, causing the wind to blow his ears straight up.
Takeru saw this and his jog turned into
a sprint and he raced towards his falling friend. When he was sure that he
would catch him, Takeru made a baseball slide (although baseball hasn't been
invented) towards his friend and caught him just before he hit the ground.
The dust cleared and Takeru coughed. He
looked down at the little bundle in his arms and shook it softly.
"Pata?" He said softly. The orange
Digimon coughed, and looked up at Takeru with his big blue eyes.
"The King—he's going to come and get
your wives…he's going to kill them…." He whispered, falling unconscious. Takeru
gasped at these words, and stood up quickly, Patamon still in his arms. He ran
out of the field and into the court of the manor where Hikari was still
standing.
"We have to get away!" He screamed.
Hikari looked confused, and met her husband in the middle.
"What ever are you talking about?" she
asked, looking at Patamon and frowning.
"Patamon, he just told me that the King
was going to kill our wives!" Hikari looked up from Patamon and caught Takeru's
eyes. Hers were wide and filled with fright. She turned around quickly, running
into Koushirou's house and up the stairs.
Meanwhile Takeru tried to wake Patamon.
"I need to sleep…" He whispered, and he
changed into Tokomon. Takeru sighed. He placed Tokomon in the flower bush,
giving the tired Digimon a makeshift bed.
Takeru looked at his friend for a
second, and then ran inside the house.
"HURRY IT UP WE NEED TO GET OUT OF
HERE!" He screamed. The upstairs door slammed open, and the groups stormed out
down the stairs stormed Koushirou, Dr. Jyou, Yamato (carrying Mimi for who knows what reason "Put me down Yama!"), and
Hikari wasn't far behind. Takeru was surprised when he saw Gatomon and two
other Digimon hop (well, at least one did, the other flew) down the stairs
behind the group.
Koushirou stopped in front of Takeru,
letting the others run out the door (except for Hikari, she stayed with the
two).
"Is what Hikari says true? The King
is—" Takeru nodded, taking hold of Hikari's hand. Koushirou sighed, "I sent
them to the Church. Father Ichijouji will hide you all in the Church's bell
tower." Koushirou placed his hand on his forehead. "Oh Lord, we are in some
serious trouble." Takeru nodded, taking in a deep breath.
"Thank you Koushirou, you've been a
friend through thick and thin. We will
prevail."
~*~*~
Gabumon ran down the hallways of the
dark castle. "Where is the King??" He thought to himself. "He couldn't have
gotten that far!!" His padded feet made a soft tapping sound, causing the two
princesses (who had run to the powder room after the princes' outbursts) to
come out of the room and see who was running around.
"What's the matter Gabumon?" Sora
asked, bending down to look the Digimon in the eyes.
"The King, he's out to kill the
princes' wives!" The girls gasped, Sora standing up and banging into Miyako.
"Why in heaven would he do that?!"
Miyako said, getting frightened. Gabumon sighed.
"The two maidens are disrupting the
treaty! He needs to dispose of them!" The two princesses shared a look. They
had each discussed with each other their situation with their knights…it
wouldn't be fair to the princes or their loved ones if they went through with
this marriage.
"I think I may know where he is.
Gabumon, you do know that we each brought our Digimon, correct?" Gabumon
thought for a second, then he remembered the two unknown Digimon he had seen in
the courtyard the other day. He nodded. Sora breathed again. "Tell them to meet
us in the front of the castle, it's time to finish this once and for all."
Miyako and Gabumon's eyes widened but the Digimon nodded and ran off. Then
Miyako remembered something,
"OH!! GET IORI'S DIGIMON!
ARMADILLOMON!" Gabumon raised a hand, acknowledging that he heard her.
Sora ran back into her room. She pulled
off her dress (she was wearing her long undergarments), Miyako walked in after
her, a confused look on her face.
"What are you doing Sora?" Sora
rummaged through a chest and pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt. She pulled
both of them on, and after she was done, she released her hair from the top of
her head, in one single gesture.
"We're
going to stop this foolishness right now!" She stood up straight, after tying
her hair back with some sort of string. "What are you waiting for? Get dressed
into something comfortable!" Miyako raised an eyebrow.
"You really thought I brought something
like that to wear?" Sora rolled her
eyes and placed a hand on her hip. Miyako blushed and nodded, crossing the room
and pulling out a chest from under the table, and flinging it open and
searching for her 'play' clothes.
~*~*~
Father Ichijouji couldn't believe what
was going on. He rushed the group up towards the bell tower, whispering many
different prayers under his breath.
After the hidden door was locked, he
went back downstairs, and acted like nothing was happening. Although you could
tell by the nervous shaking of his hands that he knew something no one else
did.
Wormmon sat by his friend, at his feet
trying to calm him down.
"Don't worry Ken, it'll be ok, you're
just helping friends." Ken sighed and leaned his head on his podium.
"I'm betraying my King." He sighed,
combing his hand through his long hair. Wormmon sighed and leaned on Ken's
foot.
"Well, if what they say is true, he's
the one that should be worried. The Lord
won't like what he's doing." Ken sighed in agreement, falling back to land in
his chair. He leaned his elbow on the armrest, and rested hi head in his hand.
"That is true, but I think the King has
gone so far off the deep end that he's not going to worry about morals." Ken
shook his head. "What I don't understand is why he hasn't realized that his
family is more important then some peace treaty? He should have realized before
hand that his sons were not going to agree with this and it just wasn't
right…oh if only I had listened to my father and become a noble…but no I had to choose becoming a priest! I
do love it of course, but I think I would have more of an effect on the country
if I was closer to the king…" The young priest sighed and looked down at his
Digimon.
Wormmon sighed and laid his head on
Ken's shoe.
"We'll just see what we can do." The
worm-like Digimon replied.
~*~*~
Sora and Miyako ran through the castle,
making sure that they were not seen by any of the knights (although they
would've loved to run into Sir. Taichi and Daisuke). The two princesses passed
the guards of the gates, too easily for comfort, and they made it outside, into
the sunlight.
"Where are the Digimon?" Miyako asked,
shading her eyes for the sun was right overhead. Sora turned around, looking
each and every way.
"I…don't know. I would think they'd be
here by now." Then a loud squawk from around the castle wall caused the two
girls to jump in place. They watched as Iori walked with the four Digimon,
Gabumon, Armadillomon, Biyomon, and Hawkmon.
"You stepped on my foot!" Hawkmon
screamed, hopping over towards Miyako. The girls smiled, meeting the group
halfway. Iori crossed his arms and tapped his foot.
"What's the meaning of this arrangement
your highness? I know of the King's intentions, but what are we to do about it?" He asked, clearly
annoyed. His brown hair was wet, and Miyako assumed by the look of him, he had
just been taking a bath. Miyako bit her lip and turned to Sora for an answer.
Sora sighed and started,
"We need to settle this whole marriage
thing now. The King has gone off the deep end and wants to kill two innocent
girls. We can't let him do that." Iori gestured for her to continue. Sora
breathed in deeply. "Back home, I used to read old myths, and prophecies. One
spoke about the destined children, the ones who are believed to be sent here by
unknown forces to help this world and the problems that occur in it. These
children were able to befriend and control their Digimon without the Digimon
reacting strangely or running away. These Digimon have been with the children
since birth, though no one knows why or how they were joined." She looked
towards Miyako, then back at Iori. "From what I've seen, each of the people
involved with this entire situation has a Digimon and sees it as a friend, not
a pet…I don't think it's a coincidence that we all came together. I think we are the chosen children." Iori let
out his breath.
"How many of 'us' are there supposed to
be?" He asked. Sora looked up at the sky and thought for a second.
"I think around twelve, not positive
though." Iori tugged at his chin and thought for a moment.
"Takeru and his wife…Yamato and his
wife…me…" He looked up at the two princesses, each of the girls blushed.
"We too have a special someone waiting
for us." Miyako whispered, turning away, embarrassed. Iori sighed.
"Okay then…you two and your men…who
else?" Sora raised her hand slightly.
"Lord Koushirou, I'm sure. And the
doctor that we saw earlier." Iori nodded.
"So if the people we said, including
the doctor, are the destined children, who is that last one?" Sora thought as
hard as she could. Who was connected to at least one of these people? Maybe
more? Then Miyako gasped. The others turned to her and asked,
"What??" Miyako bit her lip.
"The priest! He performed the marriages
of both Takeru and Yamato! He has to be!" Sora's face brightened.
"Of course! That explains the Wormmon
my Taichi saw in the flowerbed!" She clapped her hands together. "Listen, if
this is going to work, we have to keep the King here for as long as possible."
She turned to Iori,
"Iori, we need our two knights, they
are in the town, in the hotel, there is only one hotel in the town, so it won't
be so hard. Look for Tai and Daisuke, tell them Sora and Miyako need them."
Iori nodded, waiting for more directions. "When you find them, bring them
to…the Church, we will be waiting." Iori agreed and nodded towards
Armadillomon.
"Yes, your majesty." And the two were
off, racing down the main road towards the town. Sora watched as they ran off
and then turned to Miyako.
"You and Hawkmon have to keep the King
away from the Koushirou's manor for as long as possible! He needs to be kept
away!" Miyako shivered. Would she be able to do this? She took in a breath and
nodded.
"Okay, you have my word." Hawkmon
joined her, and the two set off back inside the kingdom, in search of the King.
Biyomon then came up to Sora.
"Sora, what are we doing?" She asked
her friend. Sora sighed.
"We're going to get the other destined
children…and hopefully the priest is one of them."
~*~*~
Iori and Armadillomon ran down the hill
that leads to the town in full speed.
"I…hadn't…realized…how…far…the…castle…was…from…the…town!"
Iori said, gasping for breath. Armadillomon nodded, just a little behind his
friend.
"You've…got…that…right!" The yellow
Digimon gasped. After about fifteen minutes of running at full speed, the two
reached the entrance to the town. There was a lone guard standing in the middle
of the road eyeing Iori and Armadillomon carefully.
"Halt! Who goes there?" The tall guard
said. Iori dusted his clothes off and bowed.
"I am Count Iori Hida, advisor and
friend of the Inoue Kingdom. I need to get to the…um, hotel, right away. It's
an emergency." The blonde guard watched him carefully.
"And why may I ask, do you need to go
there? That is where the knights live, a rowdy bunch if you ask me." The guard
said with an odd accent. Iori sighed.
"I need to speak with a couple of
knights, would you mind taking me there?" The guard bit his lip, and pushed
some of his blonde hair out of his face.
"HEY WILLIS!" Someone from behind the
group called. The guard turned around and saw another armed man heading towards
him. "Your shift is over, go take a break!" The guard, Willis, looked back at
Iori and Armadillomon,
"I guess I can take you there. My
name's Willis, I'll take you to the hotel in no time." Iori smiled and motioned
for Armadillomon to follow.
The streets of the town were crowded
and busy. People were pushing carts and selling their items ("FRESH FISH HERE!
GET'EM WHILE THEY'RE FRESH!" "UNIQUE CRYSTAL NECKLACES! RUBIES THAT ONLY A
QUEEN SHOULD WEAR!" "THE MAGIC CRESTS OF THE DESTINED CHILDREN!") The last shout caught Iori's attention. He
turned towards the voice, and saw a little old man behind a stand.
"Hold on Willis." Iori said, heading
towards the old man. Willis and Armadillomon shared a look, but they followed
Iori to the stand.
Iori stood in front of the old man, and
looked at the crests. They were each surrounded by a golden rim and tied onto a
black string.
"Excuse me sir," Iori said to the old
man. "Are these supposedly the crests of the
destined children? The destined Digimon children?" The old man smiled and sat
back in his seat.
"The DigiDestined to be exact." He
said, laughing. "I've been waiting for you Iori, I knew you were the one that
was going to find me." Iori stepped back; this old man knew his name! But how?
He's never been here before in his entire life!
"How do you know my name?" The old man
smiled again.
"I know everything about the
DigiDestined children, although they aren't children anymore, are they? You, a Count at the age of fifteen! Amazing!"
Iori blushed.
"I am only a Count because my father
died in battle." He said softly. The old man nodded.
"I know, what a terrible invasion. Damn
those Norseman." Iori eyed the man carefully, not noticing Willis and
Armadillomon come up behind him.
"Hey!" Willis said, pointing towards
the necklaces, and also causing Iori to jump. "Those necklaces, they look like
mine!" Willis dug into the neck of his shirt and pulled out a necklace that
shimmered a bright purplish color. "I've had this forever." He said, admiring
it. The old man's eyes widened.
"You! You are the thirteenth child!"
Willis stepped back; looking around as if he didn't know who the man was
talking about. "I've been searching for the thirteenth necklace, it was lost
many years ago…when I first received these, they had flown down from the
heavens and the crest of Destiny
was blown away by a strange gust of wind. " Willis looked at his crest, or
whatever the man had called it, thinking that he never thought it would be
something special.
The old man, taking all the crests,
stood up and turned towards the door behind him. Iori now realized how short he
was, not that he was one to talk, but still, even he was taller then him.
"Come with me, oh, by the way," The old
man turned around to face to them. He smiled at the three. "My name is Gennai."
A/N Hehe. I
love Willis, I had to throw him in there somewhere!!
