Digimon: The Year of Reckoning
Chapter 11
"The Search For The Key"
Narrated by Brandon
"Talon Crusher!"
Two Flymon were vaporized.
"Deadly Sting!"
"Talonmon!"
My digimon was down. As his body was filled with poison he dedigivolved back to Spikemon.
"Don't worry Brandon, we'll take care of them."
Mya was on her digimon's back soaring above a group of Flymon, sprinkling her suffocating dust over them.
Three Flymon began to swoop down picking at my fallen digimon.
"Get away from him!" I yelled drawing my sword.
SLASH! One Flymon chopped in half. SLICE! Another was wingless. But where was the third one?
"Ugh."
I was tackled from behind.
"Ice Blast!"
Several Flymon were frozen solid.
"Pearl Katana Strike!"
More fell to the ground, one piece at a time.
This was a massacre. I mean these digimon were pure evil and they attacked us first, so I shouldn't feel guilty about killing them. But we were slaughtering them.
As I brought myself to my feet another Flymon came careening towards me. I reached for my sword, but it wasn't there. It had been knocked away! The Flymon was only a few feet away.
But he was knocked off course. He landed in a heap with an arrow through his heart.
"Bulls-eye," I heard JT say.
This had to stop. I felt like I was going to throw up.
"Guys, stop killing them!"
All of my friends looked at me with shocked expressions.
"If we don't kill them, they'll just kill us," Nick argued.
I knew he was right. But I couldn't stand seeing another digimon die.
"AHH!"
It was Faith! I looked to see her cornered by a Flymon. There was a large tear on her shirtsleeve and blood was seeping out of it. That Flymon had tried to kill her.
"You bitch!" I yelled retrieving my sword and running at them.
"Deadly Sting!"
Another stinger flew at Faith. But it glowed with pink light before being thrown off course. I had to remember to thank Mya.
I closed the distance between us as the Flymon looked surprised by his stinger flying away. When he finally noticed I was there it was too late. His head was already rolling in the sand.
I looked at his body fall to the ground. I looked around at all the fallen Flymon. They just lay there for a few seconds, as if to taunt my insecurities. Then finally they exploded into data that flew away into the salty sea breeze.
I dropped my sword and just stared at my hands. These hands had done this. Nick came and put his hand on my shoulder.
"I wasn't your fault. They attacked us first. And you didn't do it all by yourself. We all did."
I should have believed him. He was right. But something about this was all too wrong.
"Brandon, thanks for saving me," Faith offered.
"Huh…oh yeah, no problem."
"You know what Brandon, it's okay. We all feel weird about having to take these "innocent" lives. But it's why we're here," Mya said. "None of us like it, but it's what we have to do."
She got nods from the other digidestined and after a slight pause, I nodded too.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I got so uptight about it. I'm fine now."
"That's good," JT said, "because we finally have a way off this beach. Those Flymon cleared a path when they tore out of the forest."
We looked at where he was pointing. He was right. There was a definite, clear path.
"What are we waiting for?" Spikemon said.
And with that we all walked off the beach and into the forest. There was a definite drop in temperature, because only scattered rays of sun peeked through the dense tree branches.
"So, what's it like to medallion digivolve?" Sandmon asked Spikemon.
"Oh, it's so awesome. I was so strong and fast as Talonmon. It was the best!"
"I can't wait till I medallion digivolve," Betamon smiled.
"I'm gonna be one hot mama!" Catermon beamed.
Mya snickered. She was so beautiful. I could stare at her for…
"Whoa!"
I had walked right at the top of a steep hill and my right foot slipped down. I flailed my arms trying to grab onto something. I felt something grab my arm. Pink. It was Mya. But she wasn't strong enough. I was already falling and taking her with me.
Down we went. Rolling and rolling, over rocks and fallen branches. The pain was almost unbearable. It seemed to last an eternity. But I finally stopped, lying sprawled on my back. I was about to get up but Mya's body rolled on top of mine.
I looked up in her eyes. She forced a smile.
"Thanks," I finally choked out.
"For what? Letting you fall down a hill only to be squished by my body at the bottom?"
I laughed.
"Hey at least you tried. And also for saving Faith from that Flymon's stinger back there."
"It was nothing. I know how much she means to you. And I kinda feel like she's my little sister too."
We gazed into each other's eyes. She had the same striking green eyes I had. I felt connected to her in a different way then ever before. She slowly leaned downward eyes closed. I closed my own eyes and awaited my first kiss.
But instead I felt a thud, heard Mya groan, and opened my eyes to see Nick lying on top of me smiling.
"Who would have thought we'd end up like this?" he said in a mushy voice.
"Get off me," I said pushing him off before standing up and going to help Mya up.
Nick just lay on the ground laughing his ass off. But his laugh was cut off when JT crashed into him. Faith was last with all the digimon and they all landed gracefully on the leaf-covered ground.
"Great, now that you're all here, I have some important business to discuss."
I knew that voice. It was Genevra. She appeared in front of us smiling from ear to ear.
"First off, I would like to congratulate all of you on getting your orbs. Now that your digimon can go to ultimate and you have your special powers I'm sure you can handle almost anything Darkmon throws at you. I would have come sooner, but I was tied up at the office. But I kept a close eye on you, watching almost every move you made."
I noticed Mya stiffen up. What was wrong with her?
'I wonder if she knows about my deal with Devilmon,' Mya thought to herself.
"Secondly, I would like to say well done to Brandon for finding the first of twelve medallions, and not only that, but unleashing its power and helping Spikemon digivolve. These medallions will be the only chance you have to defeat Darkmon himself, so be on the lookout."
"There's twelve of them?" JT looked shocked. "So, do we each get three of them?"
"That is correct."
We all registered this on our to-do-list.
"Now for the important part," Genevra continued. "I have come into contact with something monumental, something that could mean the end of the digiworld, if you don't find what it speaks of."
"What is it?" we all wondered.
She pulled a small piece of parchment from her pocket. Very small actually. But I could tell it had been ripped from the frayed bottom.
"This is an ancient prophecy. I found it during an archeological dig yesterday. Now I only found half of it, so its true meaning is still quite a mystery, but I think I understand the gist of it."
"Well what's it say?" I asked.
"Oh, well, read for yourselves."
She passed me the piece of parchment and the others hovered around me as I read it:
"That's it?" Nick asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
I read it over again, trying to decipher it.
"It means that somewhere out there is a key!" Genevra said pointing out the obvious. "A key that opens the gate that separates the real world from the digital world. Don't you remember the first day you came here, I explained about the gate that the original digidestined erected?"
We all thought back to that day. The lake, the whirlpool, meeting our digimon, meeting Darkmon, and finally meeting Genevra and finding out why we were in the digital world to begin with.
"Yeah, we remember," Faith said speaking for all of us.
"Well, this key is the thing that Darkmon's been looking for," Genevra said. "If he gets a hold of it…"
"He can enter the real world and destroy it," I finished for her.
She nodded.
"But wait," Mya said, "the prophecy says that the key will bring the beginning."
"True, but that's where it's cut off. It could be the beginning of something bad," Nick pointed out.
"Well good or bad," Genevra went on, "you must find the key before Darkmon gets wind of it. For the time being he doesn't even know there is such a thing, so don't let him get a hold of this information."
"We won't," we all promised.
"Good. I'm leaving this in your hands, but if I find out anything, I'll come to you in an instant. Goodbye for now."
We all said goodbye as she disappeared.
"So no we have to keep Darkmon at bay, find eleven more medallions and unlock their power, and find this key while not letting Darkmon know about it," JT summarized.
"Nothing to it," I said meekly.
What was I smoking? This wasn't gonna be some walk in the park, that's for damn sure. I just hoped that I wouldn't get freaked out again over killing digimon. It could cost the lives of me and my friends.
What is this key the prophecy speaks of? Will the digidestined find it before Darkmon? And will Brandon overcome his fears? Or will they bring the end to the him and the others?