The Reign of Courage
Part Seven: Refugees, Mountains, Books, and More Talking
***
Standard Disclaimer Thingy: None of the characters belong to me. They're the property of some Japanese people in suits. And some Americans, too, which is why they murdered them in that version…::breathes deeply:: This plot is Mine, all Mine! So don't take it. And don't sue, either, insults are not punishable by law. Besides, I have no money, and who wants this plot?
***
Takeru peered at the strange object before him. It appeared to be a sign.
"What does it say?" Miyako asked from behind him.
"The Village of Firsts," Yamato replied, reading from where he stood behind his brother. He shook his head. "But there's nothing here."
"First what?" Takeru wondered, scratching his head.
"Primary Village!" Patamon cheered, taking to the air. "It's the primary village!"
"I never thought I'd see it," Gabumon mused.
"What's Primary Village?" Miyako questioned Hawkmon.
"It's the place where all digimon are born," Wormmon explained.
"All digimon?" Ken asked. Wormmon nodded.
"Every digimon is born at Primary Village," Hawkmon agreed. "They all start out here, as eggs."
"How do they get to their partners?" Takeru asked.
Patamon shrugged. "I don't know. I can't remember back that far. I only know what I've heard."
"Actually," Gabumon began. "The ones who have human partners are born like children. The digi-tama is laid by one of the parent's digimon. Only the wild digimon are born here now. At one point, a long time ago, all digimon were born here, but no longer."
"This is where the old ones are reborn though, right?" Wormmon asked.
"Re-born?" Ken questioned.
"Digimon don't die, they just get reformatted," Takeru quoted, recalling one of his lessons as a child.
"And when they're reformatted, they come here," Patamon finished. Suddenly, there was a strange noise that sounded like a stampede. A strong wind blew past them.
"Oh, good, we can go in," Gabumon looked pleased as he walked past the sign and disappeared. Yamato blinked, watching his partner disappear into the air. Then he followed. A moment later, the rest of the group walked after him.
Miyako's eyes grew wide as she saw the bright colors that surrounded her. Here, there was no sign of the plains or mountains or forest that had covered the landscape. Instead, the entire area was filled with geometric shapes that were colored in bright pastel tones. "Wow…" she breathed.
All around them on the ground were small brown baskets. Strange little smiling faces peered up at them that were easily identified as baby digimon. There were also eggs with bright colored patterns on them. "Look at all the baby digimon," Takeru agreed, kneeling before one of the nearest baskets.
"HEY! What do you think you're doing?" a voice called.
Everyone turned heads to see a small red and blue digimon approaching. "Um, hello," Yamato began diplomatically. "We were just passing through, and…"
Electricity sparkled between the digimon's tail blades. "Keep – away – from – the – babies," he ordered.
Yamato threw his hands in the air. "Hey, I wasn't going to hurt them," he replied somewhat defensively.
Gabumon spoke up. "We were passing through the area. We meant no harm."
The digimon frowned as though he distrusted them, but nodded. "I am Elecmon, and I am the keeper of Primary Village," he introduced himself. "I'm very protective of the babies."
"I knew you looked familiar," Miyako recalled. "Elecmon is the same type of digimon that is partnered with the Queen!"
Elecmon nodded in agreement. "Elecmon are known for their nurturing nature," he replied. "A Queen or mother would be most ideal as a human partner."
"There's a lot of babies here," Takeru observed. "How do you take care of them all?"
The digimon blushed slightly and shrugged modestly. "I manage. But I'm very busy. And I'm afraid I cannot take any more refugees." His tone was stern again.
"Refugees?" Yamato repeated.
"We're not refugees," Ken spoke up. "We're passing through looking for a friend of ours. Why do you have refugees?"
"There's some sort of evil in the area near here," Elecmon replied. "I don't know what. I'm too busy with the babies to pay attention. I've been dealing with literally hundreds of digimon, many without their partners, that are returning here because they are afraid."
The visitors exchanged glances. "Do you mind if we talk with some of them?" Takeru asked. "We think our friend's disappearance might be related to this evil."
Elecmon shrugged. "Go ahead," he replied, gesturing to a point in the distance. "They're over there. Most of them say they've come from the village near Infinity Mountain, but there are some from all over."
Yamato nodded and turned to walk off. Takeru and Miyako remained behind, observing the baby digimon.
"They're so cute!" Miyako grinned, picking up one of them and rubbing his head.
"Patamon was this cute when he was little, too," Takeru recalled fondly.
"Hey! I'm still cute!" Patamon replied, mock-seriously.
***
Yamato observed the group of digimon. It was a very diverse group. There were large Monochromon, smaller child digimon like Plotmon, Lopmon, and Terriermon, and even a few baby ones like Nyaromon and Koromon.
"Who do you think would give us the best response?" he wondered, half to himself, and half to Ken and Gabumon, who had followed him.
"Probably the Terriermon," Gabumon predicted. "They're usually even tempered."
"Anyone but the Monochromon," Yamato decided. He wasn't willing to deal with a group of those again.
They walked towards a group of about fifteen Terriermon and Lopmon that were talking. "Excuse me," Gabumon began politely.
"Hello!" one of the Lopmon replied cheerfully. "How's it going?"
"Um, fairly well," Gabumon answered, a bit taken aback by the other's positive attitude.
"We're just passing through," Ken picked up. "And we're wondering why there are so many digimon here."
"That's easy," a Terriermon spoke up. "We're running away." He giggled cheerfully as though someone had told an amusing joke.
"Running from what?" Yamato couldn't resist asking.
"From our village," one of the more serious looking Lopmon answered. "Things are bad there."
"A Lopmon village?" Ken wondered.
"No. A human village," the Lopmon that had first spoken replied.
"What sort of bad things?" Wormmon questioned.
The serious Lopmon replied: "Something scary. All of the digimon have run away. Most of us came here."
"A big scary digimon came and moved in on top of the mountain," the giggly Terriermon continued, a bit more serious now. "We didn't want to stay."
Yamato and Ken exchanged glances. "What sort of big scary digimon?" Ken asked.
"The big, black evil kind, of course," the first Lopmon replied.
"And powerful," Terriermon added.
"Very powerful," the second Lopmon agreed.
"Did you know his name?" Yamato asked.
All three of them shrugged in unison. "We know that he's big, powerful, and he has a large army," Terriermon explained.
"And he has the power to make digimon be in his army against their will," the serious Lopmon added.
Yamato frowned. "How does he do that?"
"We're not sure," the first Lopmon replied.
"Some sort of magic," Terriermon theorized with a slight shrug.
***
"Well, we got some information out of them, but who knows whether or not that's Devimon they're talking about," Yamato sighed as he and Ken reported back to Takeru and Miyako.
"I'd say it is," Hawkmon decided. "Powerful, big, and scary fits the description fairly well."
"Exactly where is this village they're all from?" Takeru wondered. "I'd suggest we go there if we want to get any information out of them.
"Elecmon said they came from the village near Infinity Mountain," Patamon recalled.
Yamato removed his knapsack and took out the map of the area that he had brought. "According to the map, Infinity mountain is pretty far from here. At least another day's walk. It's totally in the opposite direction of the castle."
"So it would be a bad idea to go there today," Miyako stated.
"Definitely," Ken noted. "But at least we got some information."
"That's true," Gabumon agreed. "We won't have to go back empty-handed."
***
Jyou sat down on the blanket they had spread out for their picnic lunch. Behind him, Gomamon splashed in the stream they had chosen to stop near. Armadimon lounged, napping in the sun on the banks of the river, but made no move to indulge in the water.
Iori calmly refilled two canteens with water from the river before returning to the blanket. Jyou was setting out a few sandwiches he'd removed from his pack. When Iori returned, he gave the older boy his canteen and then seated himself on the opposite side of the cloth.
Ordinarily, both Armadimon and Gomamon would have come immediately at the sound of the sandwiches unwrapping, but the golden-colored digimon required a nap at the moment, and Gomamon was too enraptured in the calmness of the stream to care about eating at the moment. Jyou calmly ate the sandwich set aside for himself, watching his traveling companion with mild interest.
"It's awfully warm today," the young doctor commented casually, hoping to open the way to more conversation.
Iori nodded, pausing to swallow before he answered. "It is."
"Where should we head next?"
The younger boy shrugged aimlessly. "I'd suggest west, because no one else was heading that way."
Jyou nodded. "Makes sense." He pulled a map from his bag and studied it for a few moments. "It looks like there's a Koromon and Pyocomon village over there."
"Maybe they would know something," Iori agreed optimistically.
"Hopefully."
***
The dirt road wound through the trees, heading west and curving amidst the dense foliage. The light flickered between the leaves on the four solemn travelers.
"I sure hope Sora is gonna be okay," Gomamon stated suddenly, breaking the serene silence.
"Me, too," Jyou agreed. He and Gomamon weren't very close to the young girl, but they knew her well enough to worry.
"It's my prediction that the Prince won't let whoever's taken her get away with it," Iori stated.
"He's gonna track her down and get that Devimon or whoever did it," Armadimon agreed with a fierce nod.
As they continued along the road, it became evident that many feet had passed along previously. "I wonder why so many people or digimon would be going to a Koromon village?" Jyou wondered aloud, voicing his questions.
"It doesn't look good," Gomamon agreed. "We should be ready for an attack."
"Isn't that a bit premature?" Jyou asked nervously. He did not like to fight.
"We should be prepared," Iori agreed. He removed his pack and produced a long, thin staff.
"What's that?" the other boy questioned.
"My grandfather trained me well in the art of Kendo," Iori replied as he began to walk again. "It is how I was able to secure my position at a young age."
Jyou blinked as he watched the younger boy move ahead of him. Iori was nearly ten years younger then him. It had often crossed his mind to ask how a boy that young was able to get a position within the castle – and as one of the King's higher advisors at that! Now his questions were answered – at least partially.
"Jyou?" Gomamon questioned from the path in front of him. "Hello Jyou! Are you coming?"
"Huh? Oh yes, I'm coming." Jyou replied, hurrying to catch up.
***
"Well that sign said that this is a Koromon village, but I don't see any Koromon," Gomamon observed.
"No. No Koromon," Jyou agreed, peering around. A few dozen straw huts filled the clearing in the woods, and a sign near the entrance identified it as a village of Koromon.
"Hello?" Armadimon stuck his head into a small hut. He came out a moment later, shaking his head in bewilderment. "I don't see anyone."
"You don't suppose it's possible that they all went on vacation at the same time, do you?" Jyou wondered, scratching his head.
"More likely someone scared them away," Iori replied quietly. He was studying some burn marks on the ground. Nearby, a circle of scorched earth appeared to be all that remained of one of the huts.
"Whatever it was it must have been pretty powerful," Gomamon observed.
"Let's split up and search the village. See if there's anyone left, and if there's any hints that anyone got away," Jyou decided. Iori nodded solemn agreement and walked to the left, while Jyou headed the other way.
"Hello? Is there anyone here?" Gomamon called out as he scampered between the huts. Jyou noticed a few crumbs scattered about the ground, but no real supply of food.
"Doesn't look like there's anyone here," he stated glumly. "We'd better head back."
As the group of four turned to leave the village and head back to the palace, they were aware of the imposing shadow of a large mountain, towering over the immediate landscape.
"I think I've seen this mountain from the palace," Jyou mused. "Do you think we should check it out?"
"I'm not sure," Iori admitted. "It looks kind of – frightening."
"Ah, don't worry about it," Gomamon spoke. "It's just a mountain."
Armadimon looked reluctant as well, but said nothing. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," Iori finally agreed. "There's nothing to be afraid of regarding a mountain."
And so, the younger boy swallowed his fear and trudged after his companions in the direction of the huge mountain that seemed to tower infinitely into the sky.
***
"Any progress?" Tentomon questioned, entering the small underground room that served as his partner's lab.
"Not much," Koushiro admitted, looking up from the large book that was on the table in front of him.
"This books are so very big!" Momoe's Terriermon commented from where she stood, trying to look through a book with her partner. The book was larger than the small digimon, and she was obviously frustrated.
"There's quite a bit of information to search through," Momoe agreed. "And it's old, so it's somewhat degraded by age."
"Like I said, a lot of this stuff isn't even regarded as fact," Koushiro stated. "Ancient mythology at best."
"Naturally much of the information has been lost over time," Lady Takenouchi agreed. "But we must carry on as best we can."
"Well, I'm hear to take orders for lunch," Tentomon declared. He held up a small notebook in his small front claw. "The kitchen is rather understaffed, but Mimi has just returned, and she and Jun have offered to assist with making lunch."
"Some food would be nice," Momoe agreed.
A few moments later, the small bug-like digimon flew off to deliver the orders to the kitchen.
"I think I've found something," Lady Takenouchi noted shortly after their 'waiter' had departed.
"Really?" Momoe looked up eagerly.
"Go on, read it," Koushiro encouraged.
"I think it's supposed to be some sort of prophetic poem. I'm not quite sure. But this is what it says: 'When the darkness rises, the seven will be called to action. The battle will be long, and will test their teamwork. The first battle shall be won by the smallest. True victory of the risen darkness comes from an unknown eighth. Protection of the loved with Hope and Light shall defeat the end darkness.' But it goes on: 'The darkness shall return.'"
There was a long pause. "That doesn't make much sense," Momoe noted. "Aren't there a lot more than seven or eight chosen?"
"There's twelve all together," Koushiro replied. "It's possible, however, that only seven or eight of us will be called for this battle. It's also possible that the first eight refers to those who will possess a crest."
"I thought you had said there were nine crests?" Lady Takenouchi questioned. Though she and Momoe had not been there for the initial discussion, the young wizard had filled them in later.
"There are," Koushiro replied. "But the ninth is very strange…"
"Strange how?"
"Kindness is not always listed as one of the evolutionary traits," he explained. "And it is often said to be controlled by the darkness."
"That doesn't make any sense," Terriermon voiced her confusion. "How can a trait like Kindness be controlled by darkness?"
Koushiro was about to theorize, when he was interrupted by a warm feeling on his chest. He looked down and saw that his tag was glowing brightly.
***
"It certainly is a very tall mountain," Jyou observed. Suddenly, he reached into his pocket.
"What is it?" Iori questioned.
"My digivice – " the elder replied. "It's going off." He held the small blue box out to the younger boy. "I wonder if we've found Sora?"
"Should we climb the mountain?" Armadimon wondered.
"That is the way it appears to be pointing," Jyou observed. "And I'd hate to leave her hear if this is where she is. But I don't think the four of us will do much good."
"Especially with only Gomamon to evolve," Iori agreed. He frowned in the direction of the mountain.
"Well, it's not a total loss," the doctor tried to reassure him. "We can at least tell them we got a signal." Suddenly, the beeping from his digivice ceased. "Lost?"
"Oh no!"
***
Koushiro followed the glowing aura of his crest as it led him down the hall outside his laboratory. He ran quickly, having left Lady Takenouchi and Momoe back in the lab. The hallway curved many times, and as Koushiro hurried, he found that he passed many of the exits from the basement. Instead, he discovered he was being led deeper into the hallways – to an area he'd never been before.
He stopped, finally, his legs about to give out, in a narrow corridor that was quite some distance from his starting point. The glowing of the tag increased when he pointed it at one particular door, so the young wizard assumed therefore that his crest must be behind that door.
The door, however, was made of a thick metal. Most likely the room behind it either was used to store something important or as a dungeon cell. Koushiro took a moment to wonder about that before returning to his immediate task.
The first obvious thing one does when confronted with a door is to grip the handle and try to open it. This young man was like his peers in that respect, but he quickly discovered that his physical strength would not be enough. So he resorted to his brain, which was one of his true strengths.
Since Koushiro also happened to be a wizard – and a rather accomplished one at that – he focused on attempting to remember a spell he'd not had much use for – a spell to open a door.
Ordinarily, Koushiro preferred to simply study and expand his knowledge, so he used very few spells on a regular basis. He'd recently become quite proficient at creating the classic energy ball. This was useful not only for knocking out enemies – which had been truly helpful in the recent battle – but also for imploding doors or walls. This thick metal door, however, was not something he thought his energy balls would have the strength for.
And so he searched his memory for a good fifteen minutes. Eventually, he remembered the spell, and began to form the complex hand movements that went with it.
Unfortunately, his first attempt was an utter failure. A puff of smoke emerged from the air, and that was it. Koushiro quickly went over his movements and realized he'd made a mistake. Instead, he'd accidentally performed a rather useless spell to turn one's hair pink.
A few moments later and he'd corrected himself. The door swung open easily at his command.
The inside room was glowing so brightly the wizard had to shield his eyes. It dimmed a bit, and he took a step forward. A side of the wall had a large symbol on the side of it – two interconnected circles. "Chishiki!" Koushiro realized breathlessly as the symbol transformed to a crest and connected itself with his tag. "I should have known."
Now that the glowing crest was gone, the room was easily visible. It was – or had been – a small, circle – shaped room with strange symbol markings covering the walls. Now, with one of the walls disappeared, the room was slightly larger. Koushiro made his way through the gap in the wall.
***
"Well, maybe it is a total loss," Jyou sighed pessimistically. "Darn. I know I had something." He shook his blank digivice a few times, but to no avail. "This is just great."
"Jyou, beating yourself up over it won't do any good!" Gomamon chided his partner. "We'll just head back and tell them we got a signal here, it's not your fault."
"I know – " the doctor admitted. "It's just – " he sighed. "I really wanted to help Sora."
"Jyou – your tag!" Iori and Armadimon exclaimed in unison. "It's glowing!"
The dark – haired doctor peered in astonishment at the tag, and then began to hurry in the direction it pointed.
***
"I think he went this way," Momoe spoke. "But I'm not sure."
"Koushiro!" Mimi called. "KOUSHIRO!" Her voice echoed through the halls.
Jun, carrying the tray of food they'd prepared for the young wizard before he'd disappeared, sighed. "I think maybe we should split up."
"An excellent idea," Lady Takenouchi agreed. She was about to suggest which way each person should head, when they heard a crashing noise.
Immediately, the group headed down that hallway. After a few minutes of walking, they found a heavy metal door which had been opened wide into the hall. They peered into the doorway and found a huge pile of books covering the floor.
"Koushiro!" Mimi gasped. "What the - ?"
The boy in question sat in the midst of the books, rubbing what must have been a very sore head. He grinned sheepishly. "Hi Mimi," he said. "I – uh – found some books."
"What is this room?" Jun wondered.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I was following my tag and it led me here." As he spoke, he stood up and began to gather some of the books into piles. "I needed to use a spell to open the door. My crest was part of the wall there. When I got my crest I discovered this room, which was full of books that promptly spilled on me."
"Don't you think perhaps you should find out if it's all right for you to use those books?" Lady Takenouchi questioned.
***
Iori watched nervously as the doctor began to scale a rocky outcrop at the bottom of the tall mountain. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Doctor?" he called to the figure a few feet above him.
Jyou grinned, hiding his nervousness. "Of course it's not!" he replied. "But I've got to find my crest." The tag around his neck was still glowing.
The smaller chosen and the two digimon watched from the bottom of the mountain as he climbed. Suddenly, Iori was able to see a bright light emanating from the side of the cliff.
"Found it!" the doctor shouted from above. A short while later, he was safe on the ground again beside Iori, the crest secured in his tag.
Iori nodded. "Let's head back."
***
Taichi blinked at the young wizard surrounded by piles of books. "There must be – hundreds of books here! Where did they all come from?"
"I was hoping you'd know that," Koushiro replied, shoving several more into a pile. He had made considerable progress, but was still unable to escape the small room.
The brown-haired boy shook his head. "I've never seen this room before." He turned to Jun. "Do me a favor and fetch my mother. Hopefully she'll know."
"What are the books of?" Agumon questioned from behind his partner.
"As far as I can tell – everything," Koushiro answered. "There are quite a few books about Digimon prophecies and such that I might find useful. A few books of beginner spells, a book of geographic area maps, an index of Digimon, a family history of the royal family of Yagami beginning about a thousand years ago – and ending six hundred years ago, a few math books, some stories, and a few that appear to be journals of some sort." He frowned slightly. "It would take me ages to go through all of them."
"I should say so," a female voice noted from behind Taichi. "There are no less than six hundred and twenty four books in that room."
"Mother, what is this place?" Taichi questioned.
"It was a hidden room. Your father and many generations of ancestors before him had been searching for it for quite some time."
"I can certainly see why," Jun observed. "But why was it hidden?"
"A long time ago, when relations between the varying kingdoms in this area were not so peaceful, it was believed that whoever had the best information about Digimon would be best able to evolve them. From what I can tell, this is around the time your original chosen appeared, Koushiro," the Queen began.
"So the rest of the world wanted to make their Digimon evolve, too," Jun nodded in understanding.
"Precisely. They believed that by studying and researching they might one day be able to succeed. Unfortunately, this created much conflict in the area. I'm sure you've all heard of the Great Wars?"
Jun frowned a moment in confusion. "Vaguely."
"I don't remember much," Taichi admitted.
"I don't know anything about them," Momoe stated.
Koushiro nodded in understanding. "More than six hundred years ago," he agreed. When the Queen nodded for him to continue, he did. "The time I was talking about before, when they tried to use different forms of de-evolution spells to weaken the enemy. Almost no human soldiers were used. Stronger wild digimon were tamed."
"That's right," Jun remembered. "There were more than a hundred little wars in each year. The peace wasn't reissued until all the kingdoms agreed to never use the digimon for battle again – except for soldier partners, of course."
"And then the knowledge they'd been researching on was sealed away," Taichi finished. "That explains why the books treated the first chosen as myths. The true histories were sealed away so no one would be tempted to try to evolve digimon and start new wars."
Koushiro nodded. "Precisely."
"But then – why did the room reveal itself to you again?" Momoe wondered.
"Probably because the knowledge is useful to the new Chosen," the Queen stated. "And so the knowledge was revealed to the bearer of the crest of knowledge."
"This is an awful lot of knowledge for one person," Koushiro sighed, peering at the six hundred and twenty four books surrounding him.
***
The great table was covered with a hefty amount of food. Despite the large number of people currently in the palace preparing for the coronation celebration, this table seated a small percentage of those present.
Only thirteen people sat at this table.
Taichi sat at the head of the table, currently forgetting his duties as host and the reason he'd decided to have this table set up, therefore devouring his food as though he hadn't eaten all day. Which was partially true. He hadn't eaten very much, since he disliked being the only one to remain behind while the others were searching for Sora and he had been worrying. Agumon sat beside him, devouring his food just as eagerly even though he hadn't missed a meal.
Hikari sat at the opposing end of the table, shaking her head slightly at her elder brother's behavior and eating her food calmly as only a princess possibly could. Tailmon rolled her eyes and shared a knowing glance with her partner.
Beside Taichi on his right sat Yamato, talking eagerly with his brother as he devoured his food. Gabumon and he exercised a bit more restraint than the Prince.
On Taichi's other side was Koushiro, who was peering over a book as he ate. This particular one was the most interesting of the six hundred and twenty four books he'd recently discovered. It was, so far as he was able to tell, a description of the various enemies the first chosen had fought. Koushiro was eagerly searching the book, hoping to gain some knowledge about what they might be up against. Tentomon ate his food while he peered at the same book.
Ordinarily, Mimi might have found it slightly annoying that Koushiro was reading while eating, but today she was too involved in a conversation with Jun, who sat beside her. Palmon and Alraumon were also eagerly conversing as they ate.
Momoe sat beside Jun, occasionally adding to the conversation, but mostly talking with her sister and Hikari, who sat on her opposite side. Terriermon was too interested in her food to care too much about things she was positively certain would be discussed again later, but Hawkmon and Tailmon paid close attention and occasionally added things.
Meanwhile at the opposite side of the table, Daisuke and Ken were arguing eagerly about some matter that no one was really able to distinguish. Their partners, however, appeared uninterested in the discussion.
Iori and Jyou sat between Ken and Daisuke and Yamato and Takeru and managed to stay clear of both discussions. Both instead ate calmly and deliberately as though nothing unusual were going on, though their partners chatted eagerly.
Eventually, the food was nearly gone and Taichi had eaten his full. The empty plates were taken away, and it was decided that everyone would detail what they had discovered that day. This way they could save time instead of having to repeat the same stories and possibly have information lost.
"Yamato? You first."
"We discovered the village of firsts," Yamato stated, and then waited patiently for the questioning responses to quiet down.
"The village of firsts is where all digimon that aren't partners are born and where all digimon are reborn," Takeru continued where his brother had left off. "It's run by an Elecmon who is extremely protective of the babies there."
"There also happen to be a large number of refugee digimon there," Ken picked up the account. "Lopmon, Terriermon, Monochromon, Nyaromon, Koromon. All kinds. They appear to be hiding from sort of evil force."
"They weren't able to tell us what they were running from," Yamato continued. "But there was definitely some sort of evil."
Taichi nodded. "Miyako? Anything to add?"
Miyako shook her head. "They said it all. Elecmon seems to think that Primary Village is overrun with refugees."
Taichi nodded. "Mimi?"
"Well, Gennai didn't have any real useful information for us," Mimi replied. "But I was able to find my crest – Junshin."
"Gennai did tell us that Devimon isn't the real evil, and that there's something more sinister behind it all. But Koushiro could have told us that," Jun added.
Again, Taichi nodded. "Jyou? Iori?"
"We wandered around until we got to a deserted village. The map said it was a Pyocomon and Koromon village, but there was nothing there," Iori began.
"The village was at the base of an extremely tall mountain. I thought I had a signal for a moment on my digivice, but it disappeared a moment later," Jyou continued.
"It's possible something could be blocking the signal," Koushiro noted with a frown.
Jyou nodded in agreement. "Anyway, I found my crest. But I have no idea what it is." He held up his tag, now attached to the crest.
Koushiro peered at it for a moment. "I'll have to double check the book," he replied. "But I do believe that is Seijitsu."
"Seijitsu?" Taichi repeated. "Faith?"
Koushiro nodded.
"Excuse me, doctor," Daisuke interrupted. "But did you say that village was at the base of a mountain?"
"Yes," Iori replied. "A very tall mountain."
"That could be Infinity mountain," Miyako stated. "That's where those Lopmon were running from."
"That's where you'll find Devimon," Hikari said in a small voice.
"What?" Taichi asked.
"That's what the old man in the village told me," she said, clearer now. "That an evil came down from Infinity mountain. When that happened, all the partner digimon were forced to leave."
"The two old people had to stay because they couldn't leave. But their digimon did. They knew better than to stay," Daisuke nodded.
"The old man said that when the evil came down from the mountain, all the digimon, wild and partner, tamed and untamed – they all fled. He said that if we wanted to find the evil, that would be where to look."
"Then – if Sora was taken by Devimon – as the note said – that would be where to look," Yamato summarized. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, frowning.
"Doesn't sound like great odds," Koushiro noted. "Perhaps this will be of assistance."
There was a moment of silence. "What?" Yamato wondered.
"This book," Koushiro replied. Quickly, he went over how he had discovered his crest and the room full of books. Then he began to read the entry on Devimon.
"'Devimon. Adult level. The first true enemy of the Seven Chosen. Only through the evolution of the smallest were they able to defeat him. This required the elder to release his hold on the younger. Only then was evolution possible through the child who would be later known as Hope.'"
"Well, that was about as clear as mud," Yamato grumbled sarcastically.
"They don't refer to the Chosen by names," Koushiro explained. "They refer to them by the power of the crest they would eventually inherit. Unfortunately, that doesn't help us much because we don't know what everyone's crest will be. Also, this particular book doesn't explain anything about the digimentals."
"That doesn't make any sense," Daisuke frowned. "Did the first Chosen not have digimentals? Or were there only seven of them?"
"No, they must have had them," Koushiro replied. "They were mentioned in the other books I had, so they must have existed. Remember, Daisuke, I have six hundred and twenty four books to go through. This is only one."
Daisuke blinked.
***
What's my favorite literary technique? Give ya three guesses…Ah, no I won't… I'll tell you. It's foreshadowing.
Foreshadow : verb [T] ESPECIALLY LITERARY
to act as a warning or sign of (a future event)
In literary terms, it means I'm telling you about stuff that hasn't yet happened. There's not a lot in this chapter, but there will be quite a bit in the next one! If any of you can spot it, you get…well, you get brownie points. That's about it. Oh well.
Why didn't Momoe know about the big war thing? Well, since Miyako and her siblings didn't spend very much time in the castle, they didn't get as much education as some of the others. Jun and Taichi would have, naturally, but as neither of them appear to me to be very studious, I figure that they wouldn't have remembered much about what they had learned.
Coming soon will be a fight. And then another fight. And maybe some other stuff. ^_^ The end? Stay tuned, I still have no concrete plans!
Thanks for reading and reviewing. I love readers.^_^