The Reign of Courage

Chapter Two: Danger for Daisuke

***

Note: The plot is mine, the characters aren't. Don't sue, don't steal. Thanks!

***

"She's very nice," Hikari stated, regarding Mama, one they were on the road again, and walking along the river. "Doesn't she have any clue who you are?"

Daisuke chuckled. "She does, I'm sure," he stated. "But she's never said anything, and I'm not about to give myself away." He adjusted his hat again, making sure it fit securely over his head.

"It must be very hard for her," Hikari noted, sympathetically. "But she's a great cook, and a great person, and she doesn't seem to be brought down by it."
He agreed, sobering slightly. "She's got helpful children, too," he reminded her.

"How old are those children?" she wondered.

He frowned for a moment, thinking as they walked. "Shijo is the oldest. I think he's eleven or so. His Koromon will probably evolve any day now. He can't wait. He's the most responsible, being the oldest. Reminds me a bit of your brother, actually."

Hikari chuckled now, agreeing. "A bit calmer, I think," she noted. "Taichi had a Koromon when he was younger," she recalled.

Daisuke nodded. "Maybe Shijo's Koromon will be an Agumon, too," he  stated. "After Shijo is Maigo. He's nine, I think. Kodo is eight, and Onna is five."

There was silence for a few moments as they walked along the river. A few of the village boys were fishing along the river, including some older children and a few men. "There's a lot of fish here," Daisuke explained. "It's one of the staples of the villagers' diet."

As they walked, they spotted Shijo and Maigo across the river, pulling at their lines. "Looks like they caught something," Hikari noted. They paused a few moments and watched the boys pull in a fairly large fish.

"Not bad," Daisuke noted. "That'll serve them for dinner tonight."

"So where are we going now?"

He pointed to a tall, bleak looking building on the opposite side of the river. "The prison," he replied. "You wanted to see it, right?"

Hikari looked at the building with some trepidation. "Yes," she agreed. "I did."

"Don't worry," he assured her. "There's nothing in there that can hurt you. You'll be perfectly safe."

They continued along the river for a few moments until they came to a small bridge. They crossed over the river and continued to the prison.

The building rose high over their heads. Hikari peered at the dirty, old, stone walls, and beaten, dead grass around the prison as she followed Daisuke.

The  entranceway was a large, metal grate. A guard nearby noted the visitors as they approached and shouted down. "Coming in?"

"For a visit!" Daisuke shouted back.

"Just a visit?"

"That's it!"
"Come on in then!" The grate began to creak noisily, and a few minutes later rose above them. Daisuke took Hikari's hand and pulled her quickly under before it closed again with a bang, startling her.

The prison, it appeared from the inside, was built quite a bit like a castle. Four thick, stone walls surrounded an inner courtyard. Cells, filled with dirty, lifeless, weak prisoners, lined the four walls. Nasty and angry looking guards patrolled the inner courtyard, preventing the option of escape.

Hikari suppressed a shudder and followed Daisuke through the courtyard to the opposite side of the prison. She peered through the bars to see that, in one of the cells, a fight was going on between two or three prisoners. One angry old man punched a younger inmate in the face. Blood flew from his mouth, and he leapt on the old man that had punched him.

A third man leapt on the younger man, attempting to pull them apart, but neither took any notice. A moment later, he was flung to the ground again, where he fell, heaving a sigh and deciding to leave them to their fighting.

"'Kari, come on," Daisuke whispered then in her ear, pulling her away. She managed to tear her eyes from the fight and followed him again. "Those happen all the time, it's nothing to worry about." A shout came from the cell with the fight then, and she glanced back. "Trust me. It's fine," he assured her.

Hikari turned from the cell reluctantly. "But – they'll hurt each other," she protested.

He sighed. "That's what they're out to do," he told her. "It relieves the boredom, I suppose. If they're not careful, they could end up in solitary for a week."

Her blank look told him she had no idea what he was talking about. "If there are too many fights, or if you can't seem to get along with anyone, the guards will pull you away from the group and stick you in a private cell. It's dark, there's hardly any air, and there's no one to talk to. The idea is if you cannot get along, you should be separated. Each time you're put in solitary, the time increases."

"That's horrible!"

"Fights happen when you crowd ten or fifteen people into a cell designed to hold only about five," Daisuke stated matter-of-factly. "This is just a way to try to prevent it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

The fight continued violently in the cell, and four of the guards opened the door, breaking it apart. A scuffle continued for a moment and then, two of the prisoners were taken out. The guards snapped iron shackles to their wrists and led them to a heavy metal door at the end of the courtyard. The cell was shut again, and the remaining prisoners went back to their perpetual boredom.

Daisuke sighed slightly. "Those two are probably being taken to solitary," he explained. "It's in the basement, through  that door, down the stairs, under where we stand now. I've seen it, but I don't want to again. And I never want to be there." He shuddered at the memory.

"Can I see?" Hikari whispered softly, s till staring at the door that had shut behind the prisoners. She turned to Daisuke when he didn't answer, and was somewhat surprised to see the look of shock on his face.

"You don't want to!" he protested. "Hikari, this couldn't be what Taichi wanted you to see."

"He wanted me to see the horrors of the land," she replied, more determined now. "Please, Daisuke. I want to see."

***

The hallway was narrow and damp. Thick metal doors lined both sides. Hikari followed Daisuke down the hallway, as it was so thin they were forced to walk single-file. From within some of the cells, they could hear shouting and yelling, but it sounded very far off through the doors, and it was mostly eerily silent in this corridor.

At the end of the hall was a door that was swung partly open, and Daisuke pushed it open the rest of the way and stepped into the cell. Hikari followed.

It was no larger than the size of a closet, and it was damp and cold. There were no windows, and no source of light. There was no furniture, only a tattered looking blanket that had been thrown in the corner.

"The only light you'd receive is through the door," Daisuke explained in a soft, pained-sounding voice. He gestured towards the heavy metal door, and Hikari saw that it had a very small slit in it, only enough to let in a small sliver of light.

She shuddered and shook her head.

***

It was nearly dark when they finally left the prison and began walking back through the village. Daisuke wondered if it wouldn't be better to find an inn and stay for the night, as it was quite late. He didn't relish the thought of walking back to the manor in the dead of night.

He ventured a glance towards Hikari. Neither of them had spoken since they'd left the hall of solitary confinement. He wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. He was about to mention his thoughts about the inn, when he was interrupted by a shout.

"Look out! Out of the road, please!"

A small cart filled with hay, pulled by a large gray Monochromon, was barreling down the street. The driver, a funny looking creature with a pointed hat, was obviously having difficulty driving, as the cart nearly flattened a few pedestrians. "Look out!" he shouted again. "Watch out! I can't control him! Get out of the way!"

Hikari quickly jumped to the side of the road, not wishing to be run over by a slightly wild Monochromon. "Daisuke! What are you doing?" she shouted.

Daisuke had done exactly the opposite of what logic dictated – he had jumped in the middle of the road. "Stop!" he shouted.

The Monochromon paid no attention, and continued to barrel towards him at full speed.

"Are you crazy?" the driver shouted. "Get out of the way!"

"Jump off!" Daisuke shouted to the driver. "Jump off the cart!"

The driver obeyed, jumping to the ground and rolling slightly to avoid a sharp collision. Hikari hurried to see if he was all right, then turned back to see if Daisuke had been flattened. 

Daisuke jumped to the side of the road at the last minute before the Monochromon ran him over. He jumped on to the cart as it sped by, leaving Hikari and the disposed driver in the dust.

As the cart sped along, he climbed through the hay-filled cart, making his way to the driver's seat. "Hey!" he called to the Monochromon. "What ever your problem is, I can help. But you've got to stop!"

Naturally, the crazed digimon paid no attention to him. Daisuke climbed through the cart and finally managed reach the reins. Suddenly, he noticed they were heading in the direction of a small hut, and the Monochromon showed no intention of slowing down.

"You've – got – to – stop!" he gasped, grabbing the reins and managing to steer them away from the hut. They barreled along the open road for a few moments. Daisuke pulled at the reins with all his might. "Please!" he half-begged the Monochromon. "Stop!"

Finally, he managed to halt the digimon's rampage. It stopped near the edge of the river and promptly began to drink the cool, clear liquid. Daisuke sighed and fell back into the cart, exhausted. He quickly made sure his hat had not become dislodged in the ride, and then climbed out to see that Hikari and the driver of the cart were running towards him.

"Oh thank goodness," the driver stated, relieved. He went immediately to the Monochromon. "Don't do that again," he scolded the Monochromon.

"What happened?" Daisuke gasped, still exhausted from the chase. Hikari was hugging him tightly, relieved to find him all right.

"Let me thank you for your assistance," the driver stated then, turning away from the Monochromon. "I am Wizarmon. Monochromon and I were coming back from delivering some food to the villagers and were resting further up the road. I went to get my bag from the back of the cart," he held up a small leather bag, "and these nasty looking  boys approached my cart. Apparently they fed Monochromon something spicy, because took off at high speed for the river. It's very lucky no one was hurt."

Laughter came from somewhere nearby, and three boys emerged from behind a dark hut, each flanked by their own digimon. The tallest boy had a Gazimon, the second boy, standing to his left, had a Lopmon, and the third, a bit smaller than the others, had a Dokunemon hovering near his head.

"And they say Monochromon can't run fast," the tallest boy noted jokingly. He laughed again, and the others joined him.

"That one sure ran fast," his Gazimon agreed.

The other two boys laughed as well. "Maybe you should enter him in a race," the one with the Lopmon noted.

"Yeah," Lopmon added. "All you'd have to do is feed him some peppers." The three boys laughed again, and the third boy held out his hand, revealing some spicy bright red peppers.

Daisuke felt his anger boiling. "Is that your idea of fun?" he asked. "People could have been hurt!"

"There's a reason Monochromon don't run fast," Hikari agreed sensibly. "They're too big. They could flatten whole buildings."

The tallest boy laughed and sauntered forward, the other two following him. He positioned himself in front of Hikari and said, "That's right, girl. You're pretty smart."

"Leave her alone," Daisuke  warned. The other two boys stepped near him and grabbed his arms, preventing him from doing anything. "What do you want, anyway?"

"I haven't seen you around here before," the tallest continued, paying no attention to Daisuke. "New in the area? I could show you around."

"Thanks, but I've already got a tour guide," she replied, stepping away.

"I said, leave her alone," Daisuke stated again with more determination.

"Hey, Tori," the boy with the Lopmon partner called. "I think the boy with the funny hat has a problem with you."

"Is that so?" he questioned, turning to Daisuke. "You have a problem with me?"

"Yeah," Daisuke agreed. "I do. How about calling off these guys and fighting me one-on-one. If you can, that is."

"Daisuke!" Hikari protested. He just smiled and didn't answer her.

"I can take you with one hand tied behind my back," the one identified as Tori stated boldly. Immediately, the other two boys released Daisuke, who only grinned confidently, and stepped back.

"What are you going to fight for?" Hikari shouted. "This is stupid!"

Wizarmon stepped forward. "Let him fight," he advised. "You probably won't be able to stop him." Hikari sighed, frowning.

Before Daisuke could make a move, Tori leapt forward, throwing both of them to the ground. A scuffle continued for the next few moments, with both boys trying their hardest to hit the other, but neither succeeding.

"Daisuke!" Hikari shouted again as the two fighters managed to kick up enough dust to obscure the scene. "This is ridiculous," she commented to Wizarmon, who only shrugged in reply.

Suddenly, a tall man came running. He was dressed in dark clothes, and Hikari could barely see him through the night. "All right, break it up. Tori!"

Almost immediately, the boys stopped fighting. The man (Hikari assumed he was Tori's father) reached out and grabbed both Tori and Daisuke by the collar. "Both of you, break it up," he ordered firmly. "Tori, your mother wants you. You," he looked over Daisuke with his eyes, "should probably be somewhere else, too. Go." With that, he turned and left, Tori and the other two boys following behind him.

Daisuke dusted himself off and wiped the blood from his nose. "Not much of a fighter," he commented.

"You shouldn't be fighting," Hikari scolded.

He shrugged again. "Nothing came of it," he replied. "I knew it wouldn't last long. Besides, I would have looked like a fool if I'd walked away from it."
"He didn't have much of a choice," Wizarmon agreed. Hikari sighed in reluctant agreement.

Daisuke straightened his hat. "Well, glad I could help out," he stated to Wizarmon.

"So am I," the other stated. "Can I give you a ride back home? It's late."

"Actually, I was thinking about getting a room in an inn," Daisuke stated, more to Hikari than to Wizarmon. "It is late. Would you mind?"

She shook her head. "I'm not looking forward to walking at night, either," she agreed. It was now quite dark.

Wizarmon nodded. "There's a nice inn not far from here. I'll take you there."

Daisuke agreed. "As long as the Monochromon behaves himself," he joked.

***

The inn turned out to be a fairly far distance away, and it took them nearly fifteen minutes to get to the inn. Once they had arrived, Daisuke and Hikari hopped down from the hay filled cart and turned to enter the building.

Before Daisuke could move an inch in the direction of the door, however, they found themselves surrounded by four tall, broad-shouldered men. They were each dressed in black, and they appeared quite angry.

"Now what?" Daisuke grumbled slightly, sighing in exasperation.

"What's this about?" Hikari questioned.

"Step aside, girl. This one's trouble," one of the men stated.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just move aside, girl. This doesn't concern you," another snapped, slightly angrily.

"All right, then who does it concern?" Wizarmon questioned.

"It concerns us and the imposter," the third man in the circle declared.

"Imposter? What imposter?" Hikari repeated blankly.

"This one," the final man stated. He stepped forward. Before Daisuke could move an inch, he had ripped the shabby looking hat from his head, revealing the young boy for who he really was. His spiky red hair, inherited from his parents, was the sure sign of anyone born into the Motomiya family.

Wizarmon's eyes grew wide. Hikari gasped aloud. "No! You leave him alone!" she shouted.

"Now would be a good time to get out of here, 'Kari," Daisuke stated, meeting her eyes.

"He has a point. Come on," Wizarmon gripped her hand and began to pull her aside.

"We can't just leave him," she protested.

"I'll be fine, Kari, just go," Daisuke insisted. "You don't need to get caught up in this."

"We'll be back for him, don't worry," Wizarmon assured her.

As Hikari and Wizarmon watched, the four men led Daisuke away. Outnumbered, he had no choice but to follow them into a cart pulled by a dozen fast-moving Kiwimon. They were gone before Hikari could move.

"Daisuke!" Hikari shouted at the empty road. She turned to Wizarmon. "What are they going to do to him? Where will they take him?"

"I think I know where," Wizarmon replied. "There's an old abandoned building up the river, past the prison. I'll bet they took him there. It's been a thieves' hideout for a long time." He climbed into the cart behind Monochromon and they started up the road, Monochromon moving slightly quicker than usual.

Unbeknownst to Hikari, Wizarmon, or the Monochromon that pulled the cart, they were being watched by a figure in hiding. As soon as they had departed in the slow moving cart, he was gone, speeding ahead of them to the abandoned building.

***

Daisuke struggled faintly against the tight ropes that bound his hands behind his back. "Just what to do you plan to do with me?" he questioned, the slightest bit of fear running through his veins.

"Shut up!" one of the men snapped.

"He has a point. What are we going to do with him?" one of the other men asked.

"We're going to hold him for ransom," the other man replied.

"Ransom?!" Daisuke half shouted. He was rewarded for this outburst by having a dusty old rag shoved in his mouth.

"You keep quiet, I said!" the man who had snapped at him before shouted. The cart jolted sharply to a stop, and Daisuke found himself face down on the hard wooden floor.

"Grab him," one of the  men shouted, and climbed out of the cart. Two other men took Daisuke by the arms and hauled him upright. Then they half led, half dragged him into an old, run-down looking building. Daisuke didn't recognize where he was at all.

The inside of the building was dark, and two of the men lit candles. The other two placed their prisoner roughly in a chair and bound him to it. Daisuke didn't even bother struggling. Against four men, he would be quickly beaten. Especially since each and every one of them was bigger and most likely stronger than he was.

"So how long you guys think we should leave him here before we write that letter?" one of the men asked as soon as he was secured.

"I say a couple of days," another replied.

"Only a few days?" the first questioned. "I think we should keep him a week."

"I don't know. He probably won't last that long," another man spoke up. He shot Daisuke a rather angry glare. "You know, too much of that rich food. Not that we'd know what that's like."

Daisuke made a face at the man, but he only laughed.

"Let's settle on three days, then?" the man who was obviously the leader stated. "Three days, we'll keep him here, watch him, and then we'll send the letter to his 'Papa' and get our money."

"How much you reckon we should ask for?" one of the other men questioned. Daisuke let his mind wander, and tried to focus on something else. He didn't want to know how much he would be bargained for. He tried to think of some way to escape. He tugged fruitlessly at the ropes and wished he could loosen them.

'Some bodyguard I turned out to be,' he sighed. 'Hikari didn't get hurt, but I got myself kidnapped. I wonder how they knew who I was?'

He had no way of knowing the answer to that question, and so decided to abandon that train of thought. He observed the building he was in. Despite the candles his kidnappers had set out, the old abandoned shack was quite dim and dark. It was only slightly larger than the residential huts, and he assumed it must have been used as a hiding place for some time.

There was a crashing sound from somewhere overhead, and Daisuke startled. The men stood up.

"What was that?" one of them shouted, fear in his voice.

The leader of the group turned to Daisuke with anger again. "Somebody trying to rescue him already?"

"Not a chance," one of the others insisted.

"You think that little girl was going to come after him? She don't stand a chance!" one of the others shouted. Another bang sounded.

"I think it might be a good idea to get out of here," another man decided.

"Good plan," the leader agreed, looking somewhat shaky himself. "Let's get going."

Before he could say or do anything more, however, an even louder sound crashed. A hole appeared in the wall next to the door, and Wizarmon and Hikari stood there, Wizarmon holding his glowing staff, ready to fire another attack at a moment's notice.

"What the?" the leader wondered, but before he could continue a large black shape flew from the ceiling and crashed into him.

A second later, all hell broke loose. Hikari swung a large staff of her own, dispelling the notion that she was only a helpless girl. Wizarmon lobbed his attacks, succeeding in hitting one of the kidnappers and scaring off the other two. Hikari followed him out the door as they chased after the escapees.

Daisuke noticed none of this, however, as his eyes were currently on the dark figure now involved in a vicious, fists-flying battle with the leader of the kidnappers.

Unfortunately, due to Wizarmon's devastating attack, the structure of the building was rather unstable. A few of the rafters were loosened, and small splintered pieces of wood came down from the roof. Daisuke tried to make note of this, but was still unable to speak. As a result, neither of the combatants noticed his warnings.

The leader of the kidnappers was becoming quite frustrated by the interlopers who had ruined his plan. He couldn't hit the intruder – who was dressed all in black – even with a black hat – except for a ludicrous purple scarf around that hat. He despised those who hid, and as this person wore a mask, he obviously had something to hide.

Daisuke's muffled cries grew louder, but still, neither the kidnapper nor the intruder noticed him. He struggled against the ropes, but, despite his panic, he was still unable to loosen them.

Outside, Hikari and Wizarmon had lost sight of the other two men, who had disappeared into the forest. "We tried our best," Wizarmon noted with a voice of consigned defeat, and they turned back to the building just in time to see it crumble to the ground.

"Daisuke! Oh my gosh!" Hikari shouted for about the third time that day.

***

Daisuke slowly managed to open his eyes to discover a pounding headache assaulting his brain. Relieved at his survival, he noted that he was no longer tied, no longer sitting up, and no longer gagged. He tried to sit up and found he was lying in a bed of hay. Then he noticed he was lying in a bed of hay in the back of a cart.

He sat up sharply, and then quickly regretted it. "'Kari?" he questioned tentatively.

"Daisuke!" she was there a second later, squeezing the very life out of him in relief. Behind her he could see that the leader of the men who had kidnapped him was lying unconscious on the ground, closely guarded by the large Monochromon. Wizarmon was talking animatedly to his rescuer, a young man he was able to identify quite easily. When he noticed Daisuke was awake, the Dark Bandit tossed a barely concealed wink in his direction. Puzzled and still dazed, Daisuke said nothing.

"What happened?" he questioned of Hikari once she had released him. She was eager to tell the tale.

"Wizarmon and I came, intending to save you, but right after we broke in, he showed up." She gestured over her shoulder, and Daisuke didn't need to ask who. "Unfortunately, the stupid old shack fell right down after a couple of weak attacks from Wizarmon, and you, the Dark Bandit, and that guy were buried underneath."

Daisuke nodded. "That explains the headache," he realized, rubbing the back of his head.  "Let me guess who saved me."

Hikari only smiled in response.

***

Mimi strolled pleasantly through the woods, pausing now and then to examine a pretty flower or a strange digimon that caught her eye. Palmon followed behind her, humming pleasantly.

Koushiro sighed. He had given up on trying to persuade Mimi to walk faster, so he had decided to amuse himself with a book he had brought along. He peered up from it now, watching as Mimi and Palmon examined a flower, and paused in his walking to read.

Tentomon flew overhead, enjoying the fresh air and sunshine for once. Normally, because his partner liked to be inside – in his underground laboratory even – he got little in  the way of outside entertainment, although he did separate from him for a bit at least once a week.

From his vantage point in the sky, Tentomon watched as Koushiro tried, for the umpteenth time, to politely request that they get their journey over with before the sun went down. Mimi protested, saying that she didn't think it was that much farther to the strange little man's house, and that she wanted to enjoy the outside air, was that a crime? The wizard merely sighed in response and returned to his book.

"Don't you ever pull yourself away from books?" Mimi demanded, ripping the book from his hands.

"That book, Lady Tachikawa, is over one hundred years old. If it were to be destroyed, it would not be replaceable," Koushiro reminded her as politely as possible.

"For the nine millionth time, Mister Izumi, call me Mimi," she insisted. "I'm not a Lady, really. It's just a title. Besides, it's easier to pronounce."

"Fine. Mimi, could you give me back my book, please?"

"As long as you promise to put it away and keep your nose out of it as long as we're out here," Mimi insisted.

Koushiro sighed. "Fine. I shall cease reading if you can speed up our trip," he declared diplomatically.

Somewhat reluctantly, Mimi returned the century-old book, and Koushiro placed it in the sack he was carrying. They resumed walking, with a little more direction this time. About ten minutes later, they were in front of a small cottage.

"This is it," Mimi declared. She stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Oh, Gennai!"

"So this is the area in which you found the digivices," Koushiro noted. "Fascinating. It doesn't appear to be any different than the rest of the forest."

"Actually, we found them over there," Palmon pointed off to the east. "They were in a box on a tree stump."

Mimi peered through the windows of the house. "It doesn't look like he's home," she reported cheerfully.

"We came all this way for nothing?" Tentomon half-complained.

"No, there's still something useful to get out of it," Koushiro decided. He turned to Mimi. "Show me where you found the digivices."

"Sure," Mimi replied. She turned and marched through the woods. "Let's see, we turned and headed west when we left the road. I don't think we moved north or south at all, did we, Palmon?"

"I don't think so," Palmon replied. "No, just straight west when we saw that Monzaemon."

"Monzaemon?" Koushiro repeated blankly.

"He was a big guy," Mimi replied. "Very bad-tempered. Gennai said that the King had put Monzaemon there to guard him."

"I wonder why he would do that," Koushiro wondered.

"I don't know ," Mimi confessed. She shrugged, and they continued walking.

After a short period of time, they came upon a little old man who was sitting on a stump. "Gennai!" Palmon greeted.

"Oh, greetings!" the old man replied, waving cheerfully. "I was hoping for some visitors. Rather lonely out here in the woods."

"Gennai, this is Koushiro," Mimi introduced.

"He's a wizard," Palmon added as though that explained everything about him.

"Rather young for a wizard, aren't you?" Gennai wondered, peering through squinted eyes at the young man.

"Yes, well, I'm talented," Koushiro replied, blushing slightly.

"Gennai, what are you doing all the way out here?" Palmon wondered.

"Actually, I was looking through some old books and things," Koushiro's ears perked up at the mention of books, "and I recalled mention of something else that's supposed to be hidden around here."

"What's that?" Tentomon buzzed, flying in for a closer look at the area.

"Well, the book was so old that exactly what was supposed to be here I couldn't make out," Gennai replied. "But I know it was supposed to be near where the digivices were located."

"So it's important, whatever it is?" Palmon questioned.

"I think so," the old man answered. "Of course, I could be wrong. It could just be an old list of things I'd lost out in the woods. Come to think of it, I was on a picnic recently and lost a ham sandwich."

Koushiro sighed. "Well, how are we supposed to find it if we don't know what it is?"

Gennai shrugged. Mimi kicked aside some leaves, Palmon peered at the base of a tree. Tentomon soared a bit higher in the air to see if he couldn't see something from above.

Koushiro sighed again, wandering off into another section of the woods, ostensibly to search for the unknown object. In truth, he couldn't see the point of looking for something and not knowing the point of their search. Even if they were to find this – whatever it was – they'd have no way of knowing they had completed the search simply because they wouldn't know if it was what they wanted. The very thought made the young wizard's head hurt.

He trudged along, feeling slightly depressed about having had Mimi lead him out to the woods only to meet a senile old man. Suddenly, his left foot connected with something hard. He shouted aloud and sat on the ground, clutching his injured foot.

"What did I walk into?" he wondered. He expected to see a rock obstructing his path, or a tree root, but saw nothing. Curious, he moved his hands through the leaves that covered the forest ground, until they, too, hit something hard.

It was square, and apparently had been buried under the leaves for quite some time – perhaps years. Koushiro lifted whatever it was from the ground and saw that it was a metal box. Suddenly, he felt that they might have found what they were looking for after all.

***

I think the only character named in here is Tori, which means leader. Since he's the leader of the boys, his name fit. Wizarmon's appeared now, and he'll be back later. But, what has Koushiro found in the woods? I'm sure you have some idea. And what about those Airdramon? Stay tuned to find out.

I had great fun writing this part – I love Koushiro. ^_^ For anyone who's wondering *looks pointedly at Kaeera*, Demon will be back. I'm not sure yet how this story will end, so I can't say what he'll do, but he'll be back. Ken's not going to be evil…yet. ::grins secretively:: He does appear, eventually, I promise!

Sorry for the slow update process on this – entering exam time. To quote Takato (approximately): Too bad there aren't any classes on Digimon, I'd probably ace. Thanks for reading the story, and for all the great feedback, I really appreciate it!