Digimon: The Year of Reckoning
Chapter 21
"So Close Yet So Far"
Narrated by Brandon and JT
Brandon
I was beyond angry. Beyond scared. Beyond sad. My life was falling apart it seemed. If this prophecy was correct, my sister, my own flesh and blood, was destined to die. And there was not much I could do to stop it. Except try and rescue her from Darkmon's castle before the ritual. But as far as I knew the ritual could be going on right now.
And to top it all off, I had no idea where Nick and JT were. After Mya had found me and we escaped from MetalClownmon's temple, she told me about how Nick had told her to look for me. We got on Talonmon and Buttramon and flew to the place she had left them, but they were no where to be found. I hoped they were okay. How stupid was it to leave them behind? Why did I go out on my own? I put everyone's lives in jeopardy, and now it might cause the death of my sister.
"Brandon, I can tell that you're blaming yourself. I can see it in your face."
"Can you blame me? This is all my fault."
"No it's not. You were scared and worried, you weren't thinking straight. It's understandable."
"I doubt Nick will understand. He was so mad at me for leaving."
"Sure he will. He would have acted the same way if it had been JT rather then Faith. Let's forget about the past and focus on the present and future. We need to find Darkmon's castle and save Faith."
She was right. First we needed to find Faith, then I could kick myself in the ass.
"Okay. Spikemon, do you think you could give us a ride?" I asked.
"Sure thing."
"Spikemon digivolve to…Rhinomon!"
Mya, Catermon, and I hopped onto the back of the huge digimon. He jogged forward. Not too slow, not too fast.
I had never seen so many trees before. The forest seemed to stretch on and on into forever. I was sick of it. As soon as I got home I was going to shred some paper.
I saw Mya tense. She looked scared.
"What's wrong? Do you see Darkmon's castle?"
"No…I just…it felt like someone was walking over my grave. I sense danger."
"Danger? Do you think we're close to Darkmon's castle?"
"Maybe. I see a castle."
"Where?!"
"In my mind. I think it's another one of my powers. It's vague. But it seems close. And it's surrounded in darkness."
"So we're almost there! Alright!"
"No. It's not a good thing. I see danger and pain and…"
"And what?"
"Death."
JT
It had been a pretty good day so far. Nick found his next medallion and Crustmon digivolved to SnowCrustmon and defeated Minotarumon. Then I found my next medallion. It's blue with a wolf on the front. But I haven't found a reason to use it yet.
"JT, we need to hurry."
"I'm sorry bro, but I'm tired. We've been walking all day."
"And we're gonna keep walking. We don't have much time before sundown. And that's when the ritual starts. I know you like Faith. You don't want her to die do you."
"I don't like that…that…girl!"
Truth be told, I did. A little, I guess. Either way, she was a good friend, and I didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
"Fine, we'll keep walking."
"No, you're right. We're all tired. Maybe you guys can give us a ride," Nick said to our digimon.
"I'll do it!" Betamon offered.
"Betamon digivolve to…Seadramon!"
The three of us piled on his back and he "swam" through the air using his tail. I prayed that we could find the others, Darkmon's castle, and save Faith in time. The problem was, we didn't have time.
Brandon
"Death? You...you see death?"
"Yes. Horrendous, painful death. Brandon, someone's going to die. Tonight."
"Tonight? It's gotta be Faith. That means the ritual must be tonight. We have to hurry. Rhinomon, step on it."
"You got it boss."
He tore through the forest, knocking rocks, branches, even whole trees out of the way. I just hoped we were going in the right direction.
"Right."
"What?" I asked Mya.
She had a weird pink glow in her eyes.
"Go right."
Rhinomon followed her orders and turned, almost knocking us off.
"Left. Right. Right again."
He followed her orders as quickly as she barked them out.
"We're almost there. Just through those trees."
"Let's do it," I said.
Rhinomon charged through the trees and we were finally out of the forest. We were now in a big clearing. In the middle was a huge mountain. I'm talking huge. Rhinomon was big, but he was about the size of a pebble compared to this thing.
Sitting on top was a castle. Even though it was bright, sunshiny daylight down here, it was pitch black around the castle. I could feel the evil that Mya was talking about.
"How do we get up there?" Catermon asked.
"I guess we fly."
Rhinomon was Spikemon again and him and Catermon prepared to digivolve.
"DigiMedallion energize!" I yelled.
"Spikemon medallion digivolve to…Talonmon! Talons of love and sincerity!"
"Catermon digivolve to…Buttramon!"
Once on our digimon, they took flight. The top of the mountain seemed impossibly far away. It didn't even look like we were moving up.
"This could take awhile," Mya said.
"You can say that again," I replied.
"This could take awhile."
"Very funny Mya."
"I didn't say anything," she argued.
"Well then who…"
"It was I, Phantomon!"
"Not you again," Talonmon grunted.
"I cannot let you ruin the master's plans. You will not interfere with the ritual. Soul Chopper!"
We dodged.
"Talon Crusher!"
"Suffocating Spore!"
It was no use. There was too much space for him to evade the attacks. We had to close up the battle.
"Mya! Keep him busy! I'm gonna land on the mountain and try to bring the battle to the ground!"
Talonmon flew down and we landed on a ledge, big enough for a battle.
"The terrain's rough here. We need Tankmon."
Talonmon dedigivolved.
"DigiMedallion energize!"
"Spikemon medallion digivolve to…Tankmon! Armor of reliability and knowledge!"
I looked up to see Phantomon and Buttramon in a rumble.
"Shadow Scythe!"
Buttramon was hit! Mya fell of!
"MYA!"
But she stopped falling. She calmly floated back up and landed beside Tankmon and me.
"I'm starting to like the digital world," she said.
But that thought disappeared as we looked up to see Buttramon getting her butt kicked. She was sliced over and over again. Her wings were tattered and her body was cut and bleeding.
"Buttramon!"
The digimon became Catermon again and Mya used her magic to float her safely to the ledge. Phantomon followed quickly.
"Tail Cannon!"
Phantomon was pelted by large boulders. Things were heating up.
"No more messing around," he said before letting out a shrill whistle.
From on top of the mountain flew two digimon. One was a huge praying mantis, the other a long dragon with wings.
"That's Snimon and Airdramon," Catermon informed.
"Get them!" Phantomon ordered.
"Twin Sickle!"
"Spinning Needle!"
The ground around us exploded. We used Tankmon's bulky body to shield us.
"Catermon, we're gonna need your help," Mya said. "DigiMedallion energize!"
"Catermon medallion digivolve to…Fireflymon! Flames of love!"
She flew at Airdramon while Tankmon faced off against Snimon.
"Tail Cannon!"
Snimon chopped the boulders in half with his sickles.
"Twin Sickle!"
Tankmon crashed into the mountainside.
Meanwhile Fireflymon was flying circles around Airdramon slicing at him with her clawed feet.
"Spinning Needle!"
"Flaming Hurricane!"
Fireflymon had hoped that the flames would burn the needles to ashes. But they merely caught fire and continued to sail at her, stabbing into her body. She fell from the sky and landed in a heap beside Tankmon.
"We can't beat them. We're so close to Faith, and now we're gonna die before we can get to her," I cried. "What if we were the people you saw dying?"
"I don't know…it could be."
"Shadow Scythe!"
"Twin Sickle!"
"Spinning Needle!"
The three attacks flew at us signing our death.
JT
I heard screaming.
"Nick did you hear that?"
"Yeah, it's coming from that direction. Seadramon, speed it up."
My digimon zoomed through the trees and broke out into a field. There was a mountain with a castle on top and halfway up the mountain I saw three digimon floating.
Another scream. It sounded like…Brandon and Mya!
"UP!" I yelled.
We climbed through the air and the digimon came into view. Phantomon, Snimon, and Airdramon hovered over Brandon, Mya, and two digimon, which I assumed were Spikemon and Catermon.
"We'll save you! DigiMedallion energize!"
"Crustmon medallion digivolve to…Holymon! Angel of Hope!"
Nick's digimon flew at them and used his claw to block the evil digimon's attacks. Seadramon dropped Nick and me down on the ledge.
"You guys are okay!" Brandon cheered.
"Yeah, we're fine. But it looks like you guys could use some help," I said.
"Holy Claw!"
A well-placed beam of light destroyed Airdramon as Seadramon became Betamon again.
"Let's do it Betamon! DigiMedallion energize!"
"Betamon medallion digivolve to…Wolfdramon! Speed of Friendship!"
Wolfdramon was the bomb. He had the body of a wolf with powerful legs and a huge tail. His back was covered in armored fur just like the wolf on the medallion. On his face was the same mask worn by Seadramon.
"Get them Wolfdramon!"
Two of the pieces of fur elongated into large wings. With a quick gallop he flew into the air. Once there, he moved at the speed of light. A mere blur shooting through the sky. He stopped behind Snimon.
"Dragon Ball!"
He opened his huge jaws and a ball of icy blue light formed before firing at Snimon destroying the big bug.
"Who's next?" he asked looking at Phantomon.
"We shall meet again! Darkmon will be ready for you!"
He faded away. Wolfdramon landed again becoming Tadpolemon, while the other digimon changed into rookie form.
"You guys found more medallions?" Mya asked.
"Yeah one each, you?"
"Same here. And we ran into an old friend. MetalClownmon," Brandon informed.
"Not that guy again, I thought we killed him," I said.
"It was another illusion. But enough with that. We found the rest of the prophecy."
"Yeah, Genevra told us. We know about the ritual. We also found out that it takes place tonight. At sundown."
"Shit," Brandon cursed. "Mya said she sensed death near, it's a new power. If the ritual's tonight, then Faith could die before we get there."
"We'll make it," Nick assured. "But we need to hurry. Let's get a move on."
"DigiMedallion energize!"
"Spikemon medallion digivolve to…Talonmon! Talons of love and sincerity!"
We all got on Brandon's digimon and flew higher up the mountain. It was only a matter of time before we faced off with Darkmon. And the odds weren't good.
Will the digidestined make it in time to save Faith? How will the battle with Darkmon go? Will they win? Or is Mya's prediction right?