The Reign of Courage
Part Four: Home and Discussions
***
Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Digimon is not mine. I borrowed it without permission, and I get no money. Why, then, am I doing this? ::shrug:: No one knows.
***
Hikari dived out of the way as quickly as possible, making herself flat against the ground as the Airdramon flew overhead. "He's coming awfully close!" she shouted.
"What happened to my brother?" Jun shouted from a few feet away.
"He did say to split up," Alraumon reminded her as they got to their feet to begin running again.
"Yeah, he probably meant 'every one for themselves,'" she replied sarcastically.
"Here he comes again!" Tailmon shouted the warning. The trees crashed violently, making way for the giant flying digimon. Jun let out a scream, and the group flattened themselves to the ground again.
"Fire Rocket!" a deeper voice called, and a stream of fire shot through the air, nailing the invading Airdramon in the skull. It retreated into the air, circling and preparing to attack again.
"What the - ?" Hikari questioned.
"Hikari! Jun! Get out of there! Hurry!" Daisuke's voice filtered through the forest. Without thinking, both girls rose to their feet and began to follow the sound. As they ran, Hikari spotted a blue and red colored digimon preparing to shoot another fiery attack at the Airdramon.
"Spinning Needle!" the Airdramon called. Hikari, Jun, and their digimon dodged the attack by mere inches and made it to the safety of the trees. There, they met up with their breathless rescuer, who was too busy paying attention to the battle to even notice them.
"Get him back, Fladramon!" Daisuke shouted at the new digimon, peering through the trees.
Fladramon dodged the spinning needle attack with little effort, leaping effortlessly to the higher branches of a nearby tree. "Fire Rocket!" he called again. The Airdramon cried out in pain.
"That's enough!" a voice from somewhere above called. The others turned their heads to the sky, just in time to see another Airdramon, this one with a human rider, fly overhead. "Come on!" the human called, and the Airdramon below abandoned its battle with Fladramon and flew after him.
"Hey!" Daisuke shouted, but the attacker was gone before he had even shouted.
A white glow surrounded Fladramon, and he shrank back to V-mon. A bright light shot at Daisuke, and he felt something heavy in his pocket. His digivice, in his opposite hand, was glowing, too, and it changed shape. Now, it was curved, and a darker blue color.
"It changed," V-mon observed. Daisuke reached into his pocket and removed a small flat, white box. He opened the lid on the front and saw a small picture of an egg inside, blinking slightly.
"The digimental?" Hikari questioned. He nodded.
"I figured since it was Courage, that's what I had to do to use it. And it worked," he explained. He held up his digivice. "But I don't understand why my digivice changed."
"Maybe Koushiro will have a theory," Tailmon proposed.
Her partner laughed. "Koushiro has a theory about everything," she reminded her.
***
Taichi frowned, pacing back and forth on a balcony that overlooked the front entrance to the palace. Agumon sat nearby, watching him.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
The young Prince startled, having been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed his partner. He sighed, and paused pacing to peer out at the land. "'Kari's not back yet," he reported, slipping into the nickname he had called her when they were younger.
"She's probably fine," Agumon assured him, walking across the balcony and standing beside him.
Taichi frowned. "I'm not sure, Agumon," he admitted. "She's never been late before."
Agumon shrugged. "She probably got delayed a bit," he assured him. "She's probably fine."
"She was supposed to be back this morning. This afternoon at the latest."
The yellow dinosaur didn't know how to reply. He shrugged and peered out at the road. It was past dark now, and after a few feet of light the castle itself gave off, the road curved onward into the darkness that surrounded it. "It's cold out here," he remarked, wrapping his arms about himself.
Taichi shrugged. "So go inside," he replied, hardly paying attention to his partner's complaints. Agumon peered up at him, and saw he was shivering slightly.
He didn't turn from his watch on the road as the little digimon reentered the palace. The road was still empty. Still no sign of Hikari. 'If she's been hurt,' he thought, clenching his fist almost unconsciously.
"Daisuke can take care of her," another voice said from behind him. In shock, he whirled around.
"Sora. You're not supposed to – !"
"Know about where Hikari is. I know." She stepped out on the balcony, holding something in her arms. "Why don't you come inside? It's cold."
He shook his head absently. "I'm fine," he replied. "Who told you about Hikari?"
"Agumon. Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret."
He turned his head away, back to the road. "He wasn't supposed to tell anyone," he grumbled. He noticed a weight on his shoulders.
"If you won't come inside, at least don't freeze out here," Sora explained as she wrapped the blanket over him. "Agumon didn't give it willingly. Piyomon and I had to wrestle it out of him."
He chuckled slightly. A silence covered them for a few moments, and Sora leaned on the railing beside him. "I'm just worried," he explained. "She's never been out there – alone – like this."
Sora didn't take her eyes off the darkened road when she spoke. "Hikari's not a baby anymore."
Taichi sighed. "I know. That's what she told me."
"Daisuke won't let anything happen to her. Nor will Tailmon."
"I hope not." He pulled his eyes away from the road for a moment. "Sora – do you think I'm being unfair to her?"
"Unfair?" She turned to him and met his eyes, then shook her head. "No. You're worried, Taichi. That's normal."
He nodded and then looked at his feet for a moment. "I'm just – I suppose I'm a bit scared."
Sora put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You have every right to be," she assured him. "You're growing up, and you're facing a tough task." She gestured to the outside world again. "This is all yours, and you're still young. But you can handle it. I know you can."
He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "I hope so," he repeated, meeting her eyes again.
"Tai! I see something!"
Both Sora and he turned their heads. They hadn't noticed, during their conversation, that Agumon and Piyomon had both wandered out to the balcony with them. Now Agumon was pointing out at the road. A small shape was moving in the darkness.
"That's her!" Before anyone could move, Taichi had darted back inside and was racing through the palace to meet his sister. Sora and the digimon followed a moment later.
***
Hikari forced her tired eyes open. "We're almost there," Daisuke spoke, shaking her shoulder lightly. "Jun," he whispered to his sister. "We're arriving."
"It's about time," Jun mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "I feel like we've been traveling for the past year."
"How late is it?" Hikari wondered.
"Almost midnight, I think," he replied. She groaned.
"Be prepared for a big scene with my brother," she warned. "He might nearly flatten you. I was supposed to return this afternoon."
"We would have, if we hadn't stopped," Daisuke reminded her. "But we have a digimental. Hopefully that'll save me. And we did send that messenger."
"That's true. Maybe."
Jun patted her brother's shoulder and grinned. "Don't worry, little brother. I'll come to the funeral."
Daisuke groaned.
A few minutes later, the carriage crawled to a stop. Daisuke stretched and yawned, then climbed out, holding the door the for the others as they exited.
"Hikari!" a voice called almost before she was completely out. Something that Daisuke could only identify as a blur rushed past him and latched on to the Princess.
"I'm fine, Taichi, don't worry," Hikari assured him as he helped her out of the carriage.
"You were supposed to be here this afternoon," he admonished. "What happened?"
Jun stepped out of the carriage and whispered to her brother. "How come you're never that worried about me?"
Daisuke forced himself not to laugh. "You've never done anything dangerous and stupid," he replied.
"Oh, that's right. That's your job," Jun replied, chuckling now.
"I'm sorry we're so late, Tai," Hikari explained, yawning. "We got stopped by something. We'll explain in the morning. I'm too tired right now. Didn't you get the message?"
He frowned and shook his head. "Message?"
"We sent a message ahead of us so you wouldn't worry to much," she replied. "It didn't arrive?"
Taichi glanced at Sora, who shook her head as well. "No. No message," he repeated.
"That's strange…" Hikari mused. Then yawned again. "I'm going to bed, Tai. Good night."
Her brother nodded and motioned to Sora. "Can you go with them?" he asked.
"Come on," Sora stepped forward, smiling politely, leading the girls into the palace. She could tell that the tour-guide role was only so that Taichi could be certain Hikari was all right. And, he probably wanted a word alone with Daisuke. "Don't be too hard on him," she whispered as she left.
Taichi pretended to ignore her, even though she was certain he had heard.
"I guess you want to talk to me, huh?" Daisuke said with a nervous laugh.
***
"So with the digimental, V-mon was able to armor evolve, and that Ogremon was no match," Daisuke concluded.
"What about the Airdramon?" Sora wondered, having rejoined the boys in the study where they were talking.
"That's the strange part," V-mon replied sleepily. "I didn't think I'd be able to take him on my own. But, just as I was making progress, he left."
"He left?" Agumon was skeptical.
"He did," Daisuke nodded. "Another one flew overhead, with a rider, who shouted 'That's enough!' and they both took off."
"More tamed Airdramon?" Koushiro muttered. He was examining the digivice and the strange white box which now contained the digimental.
"More?" Daisuke repeated.
"It's along story, but Miyako and I were attacked by a group of tamed Airdramon. They flew off when Piyomon was able to evolve and didn't cause any damage," Sora explained.
"We thought it might have been an isolated incident, but now it appears their efforts could be .organized," Koushiro added helpfully.
"We'll discuss it in the morning," Taichi spoke up, yawning. "It's late now. After breakfast, we'll meet back here. Everyone," he added for good measure. Then he turned and left the room, Agumon trailing behind him.
Daisuke blinked. "That's it?"
"It is late," Koushiro reminded him as he returned the digivice and the strange white digimental container. "Get some sleep." With that, the little wizard was also gone.
"Come on, Daisuke. I'm going your way," Sora said. She held open the door and they entered the hallway. "You know, Miyako wanted me to ask you something," she added as a conversation starter once they were in the corridor.
"Ask me something?" he repeated, sufficiently surprised.
"I woke her up when I was bringing your sister to our suite," she explained. "When she heard you were in, she wanted me to ask you about Ken." Sora chuckled slightly, as if to a secret joke. "I think she may be worried about him," she added in a whisper.
Daisuke grinned. "I think her feelings are stronger than just worrying," he confided. "And I think they might be returned. But don't get him to admit it." He laughed to himself as well.
"No, Miyako's too stubborn to confess it either," the other agreed. "But there's something there. She wanted me to ask you if he was all right."
He sighed and shrugged. "I wish I knew," he replied in a serious voice. "I had thought he was coming here, but now I'm not so sure. I haven't heard from him since he went home to be with his mother."
Sora nodded. Miyako had told her that Ken's father had recently passed away, and about the trip to the manor he called home. "I'll tell her," she replied. By this time, they had reached the corridor where their rooms were located. "I suppose I'll see you in the morning then? Good night." She retreated into her own bedroom.
"In the morning," Daisuke agreed, yawning again and heading to bed. It was not long after his head hit the pillow that he journeyed to dreamland.
***
"The only thing I don't understand is how those men knew who you were," Hikari confessed. She, Daisuke, Taichi, Sora, and their respective digimon were meeting early that morning to discuss what she had been sent out to do.
Daisuke shrugged. "I'm not sure either," he admitted. "I've been in that area hundreds of times. A few times without hiding who I was, and quite a few more hiding. It makes sense that some of the villagers would be able to put two and two together."
"Wearing a hat isn't the best disguise," Tailmon commented dryly, her arms folded across her chest.
He shrugged again. "What else would I do? No one else has hair like this," he gestured to the 'mop' on his head, "so I had to hide it. The best way was to wear a hat."
"Did your father make many enemies?" Sora questioned.
The boy shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of," he replied. "Sure, he could have made some before I was around, but none that I knew of, and I try to be pretty aware of what was going on. I think that some of them just resented authority figures. Father is just the authority in the area to avoid."
"It doesn't even have to be personal," Hikari spoke up. "If they knew who he was, they'd know that they would be able to get some sort of ransom for him. I just wish we'd been able to get some answers out of them. But they all got away." She sighed.
"Just be glad they recognized Daisuke and not you," Taichi advised. He sighed and massaged his forehead. "You were both very lucky."
There was a knock on the door. Iori entered a moment later. "Breakfast is ready," he informed them before slipping out again.
***
As soon as breakfast was over, Koushiro, Iori, Jyou, and Mimi had to return to their work. Koushiro wanted to further analyze the strange new digivice that Daisuke had. Jyou needed to deal with some patients and avoid Mimi, who was in the crucial phase of flower selections. Iori had diplomatic duties to attend to, as other guests were beginning to arrive. Mimi needed to go over a few of the flowers and some wardrobe choices for Hikari.
Miyako and Sora had planned to spend the morning walking leisurely around the grounds, but Taichi decided that it would be a good idea to discuss what had occurred on the trip back. He convinced Takeru and Yamato to postpone the fencing duel they had planned for that morning and join them.
This time, the group met in the empty throne room. It was much as Miyako had remembered. The huge wooden doors opened into the room and a long red carpet trailed down to where four elaborate marble thrones overlooked the area from a raised platform. The room was empty now, but full of flowers of every kind. Banners and decorations covered the walls.
"I'm guessing this is where the party will be," Yamato noted dryly.
Taichi just sighed and gestured to the abundance of flowers. "I wouldn't mind so much if she would just decide," he stated. "There are flowers of every kind. And she can't decide which to use!" He massaged his forehead again. "I hope Hikari can help."
"Well, it's certainly – colorful," Takeru noted, trying to be optimistic.
"Yeah – so colorful it hurts my eyes," Yamato agreed with his brother, though with a less optimistic stance.
They walked to the very end of the throne room, past the huge amount of flowers and banners and decorations. Miyako half expected Taichi to sit in the throne, but instead he seated himself on the raised platform and peered out at the group, most of whom sat on the floor or stood.
"Koushiro should be here any second," he said. "But before he does, I guess you should begin, Daisuke."
Daisuke began, telling the story of how he and Hikari had been traveling to the palace. He neglected to mention where they had previously been, but no one asked. When he had finished, he showed everyone the little white box that now held the power of the digimental.
Before anyone had a chance to comment, the doors at the opposite end of the room opened. Koushiro entered, carrying an impossibly large book and Daisuke's digivice in his arms. He appeared as though he were about to drop the book. Quickly, Takeru jumped to his feet and dashed across the room to assist the wizard.
"Thanks," he replied, wiping his brow. He gestured to the flying digimon beside him. "Tentomon was trying to help, but it was too heavy for us."
"Why did you bring it, then, if it's so hard to carry?" Patamon wondered.
"It has vital information in it."
A few moments later, Takeru managed to carry the large book to the front of the room. He placed it on the floor in front of Taichi. It hit the ground with a loud thud.
"That's heavy!" he noted, sinking to the floor again beside his brother. "I don't know how you were able to carry it as far as you did, Koushiro!"
The young wizard shrugged. "I'm not as weak as I appear," he replied with a somewhat mysterious expression.
"All right, Koushiro, what's so important about the book?" Yamato questioned.
He didn't reply immediately. Instead, he opened the book and began to flip through the pages. "Just a second, I'll find it." After a moment, he stopped and pointed a finger at the page he had stopped on. "Here it is!"
Daisuke peered over the wizard's shoulder. "That's my digivice!" he realized.
"It is," Koushiro nodded. He held up Daisuke's actual digivice and gave it to its owner. "These are known as D3s."
"D-3?" Miyako repeated. She looked at her own, ordinary-looking blue box. "What makes them different from ours?"
He shrugged. "I'm dealing with mostly speculation here," he replied. "Most of these stories – especially this book – deal with D3s – with digivices even – as mere myths. They were handed down so many times over the years that eventually they lost some of their truth. This particular book is over two-hundred years old and it has absolutely no information about crests. It does, however, have extensive information on the digimentals."
"All right – what can you tell us?" Sora asked.
"There are nine different digimentals," Koushiro explained. "Daisuke found the first, yuuki, or courage. The others are friendship, love, purity, faith, knowledge, hope, light, and kindness. According to some research I've done, the crests have similar qualities, but I can't be sure. As I said, this is all very ancient information. Mythology almost."
"But Koushiro – there are only eight tags," Yamato reminded him.
"That's one thing that all these books have in common," Koushiro replied with a suddenly grave face. "The existence of the crest or digimental of kindness is very clouded. They all refer to 'kindness in the dark.' I don't know what that means, but I think it means that whoever possesses that particular attribute is somehow different."
"Different?" Miyako and Daisuke spoke in unison.
"Courage, friendship, love, purity," Taichi spoke the words as if in a trance. "When we were on that hill -."
"The King referred to us by those terms," Sora continued.
"Does that mean that he knew about the crests and digimentals?" Takeru wondered.
"No," Yamato replied. "He was referring to a prophecy – wasn't he?"
"That prophecy must have somehow been related to these attributes," Koushiro theorized.
"My father – he used that exact same phrase -," Taichi recalled. "'Kindness in the dark.' But who is that?"
"I thought he referred to Iori as kindness," Koushiro spoke up. "But I don't remember very much."
"I remember that, too," Takeru spoke up. "But then he called him Faith."
There was a moment of silence. No one spoke.
"I don't remember very much at all about that night," Sora admitted. "At least not before Leomon de-evolved."
"I don't either," Yamato stated.
"It's all blurry," Takeru agreed. "I don't remember who he referred to as each."
Koushiro cleared his throat. "What I can tell you about digimentals is all theory, of course. But this is what I get from this book is this. Digimentals are activated by using the attribute assigned to them. As you discovered, Daisuke, courage activated the digimental of yuuki. Feelings of love or friendship would activate those digimentals. The digimental also protects the digimon – though I'm not certain how. As you could probably tell, digimon don't evolve ordinarily to adult level, but to armor level through use of these devices."
"Armor evolution," Daisuke nodded. He looked at V-mon. "That's what you called out when you evolved." V-mon nodded.
"Is there any way you could demonstrate?" Miyako asked before she could stop herself. "I'd love to see how they work."
"So would I," Takeru admitted.
Daisuke looked at V-mon, who shrugged. "I guess so."
"Wait!" Sora spoke up. "Will there be room in here?"
Piyomon looked at her partner. "Room?" she asked. "It's the biggest room in the palace." She gestured to the large expanse.
"If you evolved in here, we'd be short on space," she reminded her.
"No, it's fine," V-mon stated. "I don't get that big."
Daisuke looked at Taichi, who shrugged. "If you can, evolve in here," he replied with a casual shrug. He, too, was excited to see how this new evolution worked, though he wasn't showing it.
"Great," Daisuke grinned. "Ready?" V-mon nodded. The boy held the digimental container in the air. "Digimental Up!" he shouted.
The bright light that followed was ordinary enough. "V-mon armor evolve!"
A few moments later, the light faded, and the taller blue digimon appeared, complete with the stylized armor. "Fladramon!"
"See?" Daisuke reported. "I told you he's not very big." Fladramon stood only a foot or so taller than he was.
The others were too surprised to speak.
"It's so – easy!" Koushiro noted.
"No element of danger required at all," Yamato agreed.
"No last minute rescues," Taichi stated.
"And the power has to be comparable, right?" Sora spoke up.
There was a pause. Koushiro peered at the page in the book. "'Armor evolutions had slightly weaker attacks than the ordinary adult evolution. But they had greater defensive power,'" he read. "I guess that's what the book means about the armor protecting the digimon."
***
Miyako sat lazily on the wall overlooking the palace gardens. "It's so nice," she observed, feeling the sun on her face. "I'm glad we could be outside today."
"You'd be glad if you lived outside," Hawkmon reminded her.
"Ech, no. Not in the winter," Miyako replied. "I don't like freezing to death."
"No one does," Piyomon spoke up.
"Sora! Good, you're back. Ready to go for that walk?"
Sora nodded. "Yes. Let's go before it gets too late," she agreed.
"We certainly picked a good day for it," Miyako smiled contentedly as she hopped off the wall.
The two girls began walking along the outside wall of the grounds. The expanse of gardens around the palace was quite a large amount of land, but if they stayed within the walls they might possibly be back within two hours.
They passed the area near the greenhouse where they had picnicked several weeks earlier. Miyako recalled the fight that had followed the eating, and noted that Takeru, Yamato, and Daisuke were using the land now to hold their own fencing tournament. Currently, Takeru and Daisuke were battling while Yamato observed, both as judge, spectator, and referee. The younger boys were too busy, but he waved to the girls as they passed, and Sora and Miyako waved back.
They continued walking along, past the archery practice area, where they had held an archery tournament Miyako's first day of visiting the palace. The long tournament that had resulted had gone on for nearly an hour, but only between two of the competitors. Miyako mentally reminded herself never to get into such a contest with either Taichi or Ken.
For quite some time, they walked in silence, each girl immersed in her own thoughts. It was Sora who finally broke the silence. "I've not seen Momoe lately."
Miyako nodded. Her pregnant older sister had been sharing a suite of rooms with Mimi and was becoming friends with her and Jun. "She's been having morning sickness the past few days," she replied. "She doesn't like to come to breakfast."
"I don't blame her. Is she worried?"
"Not especially. She saw Jyou yesterday, and he said she seemed to be doing fine. She's still very early, and he's a good doctor, so there's no real concern – yet."
"That must be a relief," Sora noted. "Not only for her but for your parents."
"Mama can't understand why she would want to travel when she's got a baby on the way," Miyako confessed. "But she and Nouka haven't been getting along very well, she told me. If she were to be at home, the stress might damage the baby."
"That makes sense. Hopefully this trip will be calming for her."
"Unless there are more Airdramon attacks," Hawkmon stated.
"Or crazy people running around trying to kill us," Piyomon added with a sigh.
Miyako frowned. "I really don't think a band of rogue Airdramon tamers would attack the palace," she stated.
"But you don't know much about Airdramon tamers, do you?" Hawkmon countered.
"Do you?"
"No," he admitted. "But it could be in their nature to attack palaces on foolhardy missions."
"I sincerely doubt they are that foolhardy," Sora noted, and Miyako couldn't help agreeing.
Before anyone could speculate further, they were nearly knocked over as three boys and three digimon quickly darted past them. "Hey!" Miyako called.
"Oh! Sorry!" Daisuke called over his shoulder.
"What's the hurry?" Piyomon demanded.
"Yamato thinks he might have found his crest!" Takeru shouted.
"Crest?" Sora repeated. "Wait for us!"
Both girls and their digimon started quickly after the boys, who were darting across the grounds as quickly as possible. Yamato was in the lead, holding his tag that he wore around his neck in front of him, letting the glowing pendant guide him. Gabumon trailed behind him, panting as he tried to keep up with his partner. Daisuke and Takeru jogged a few feet behind, unable to keep speed. V-mon was at his partner's heels, and Patamon flew near Takeru's head.
Miyako lifted her cumbersome skirts and she and Sora quickly reached Daisuke and Takeru. "Gave up on the fight already?" she asked.
"He made us stop when the tag started reacting," Takeru replied, panting slightly. Miyako could see that sweat still dripped down his brow – not only from the running but also from the fight before.
"Yeah – you owe me a rematch!" Daisuke reminded him.
Suddenly, Yamato stopped running. They were near the edge of the Monochromon enclosure.
Though many digimon could be used to pull carriages, these large gray digimon were the ones most often used. They were not especially fleet-footed, but they were strong and usually even-tempered. At the palace, a herd of no less than three hundred Monochromon were kept, not only for useful tasks such as carriage pulling and assistance in the plowing of the fields, but also for defense and for the simple show of wealth.
At the palace, there were extensive stables built to keep them safe during the winter months, and there were also large fields, separated from the rest of the grounds by fences, in which they could roam and relax when not working.
Yamato stared blankly at the huge field. "Do we have to go in there?" Gabumon wondered.
He peered at his crest. "I think so," he replied. "But where? There's nothing in there except Monochromon. Hundreds of them. Maybe more."
Daisuke, Takeru, Miyako, and Sora arrived a moment later. "Maybe one of the Monochromon has it?" Daisuke wondered.
"Why would a Monochromon have a crest?" V-mon questioned. Daisuke didn't have a response.
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out," Yamato decided. Without another thought, he climbed over the wooden fence and entered the enclosure. Gabumon followed a moment later.
"Yamato!" Sora warned. "Be careful! Monochromon can be short tempered if you anger them."
He shrugged and waved aside the warning. "I know, Sora. You don't have to worry about me."
Takeru looked worried about his brother, but said nothing. The observers leaned against the fence to watch.
At first, all was uneventful. Yamato wandered deeper into the Monochromon enclosure, wisely avoiding any of the large digimon. "It's getting closer, Gabumon, I know it is. I just don't know where."
Gabumon said nothing, but followed his partner, keeping his eyes out for anything that might resemble a crest. Suddenly, he noticed, ahead of them, a small pile of stones arranged in a circle. "Yamato!" he spoke up, tugging on his partner's leg. "I think it might be in there."
The tall blond boy turned in the direction his digimon pointed. "A well? Maybe."
A short time later they had reached the well. Yamato could see something glowing a far distance inside it. "It's definitely down there, Gabumon," he noted. He observed a pile of rope beside the well. "I'm going to climb in. You hold the rope."
"Are you sure?" Gabumon questioned. "It looks awfully far down."
"I'll be all right," Yamato assured him. "Just hold the rope."
"All right," the digimon relented. He held the end of the rope securely in his paws and watched as his partner slowly maneuvered into the well and began to climb down.
It would have been very dark inside the well if it wasn't for the tag around his neck glowing brightly. Yamato slowly made his way deeper and deeper into the earth. The well was very deep, he couldn't see the bottom, and wondered if it even had water. He doubted it, since there had been no buckets nearby. Most likely it was abandoned and had not been used since before the Monochromon had been moved there.
Suddenly, he noticed something. Directly in front of him on the wall was a strange symbol. Almost without thinking the action through, he raised his tag to meet the symbol.
The large stone the symbol was etched into suddenly became much smaller. It hovered in midair – by what power he couldn't tell – and then merged itself with the strange tag on his neck. Yamato lifted the tag and stared blankly at the symbol. "I guess this is my crest," he noted, feeling somewhat important even though he had no idea what the symbol – or his crest – meant.
"Gabumon!" he shouted. "Pull me up!" There was no response from the rope, so he assumed that either the digimon hadn't heard him or else lacked the strength to pull him to the top. He sighed and began the arduous task of climbing back up the side of the well.
***
Yea! I updated!
No cliffhanger this time, as you can see, and still no Ken. Sorry 'bout that. I promise that he'll be in the next chapter, along with a semi-humorous scene or two that could be interpreted as romance-hinting. Ah! Too much info. Oops. Oh well, you'll have to wait for it, won't ya? ^_~
Coming very soon will be more drama-stuff, and that humor I was talking about. Everyone starts to find their crests and someone is kidnapped. Nope, not telling you who it is. ^_^ Plus, the Chosen will discover who their next enemy is.