The Reign of Courage

Part Nine:  The Troubles Begin

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Digimon does not belong to me. That includes all characters, digimon, and any such articles…crests, digimentals, etc.

***

The next morning before the sun was completely risen, the group of eleven children set out for Infinity Mountain. Although, perhaps, to call them children would be a bit premature…

At any rate, eleven people and eleven digimon headed for Infinity Mountain in the pre-dawn light.

Mimi was tired. She had been up late the night before, unable to sleep, and therefore had focused on completing some of the last minute preparations for the party that was to take place as soon as they returned. She trudged along, her feet dragging slightly on the ground. Palmon, too, appeared tired, though slightly less so than her partner.

Jyou was a bit more awake. He'd stayed up watching the entertainment the night before, but then had managed to turn in early, despite his own worries and insecurities for the day to come. He munched a roll as he walked which served as his breakfast, and fed another to Gomamon, riding on his shoulder.

Koushiro, as usual, had his nose in one of his recent literary acquisitions. This book was a list of ancient prophecies regarding Digimon and their relations with humans. Tentomon flew behind, calling warnings whenever it appeared his partner was about to trip or veer off course.

Iori had managed to sleep as much as was necessary to be awake, although the early awakening left him tired, too. He carried his traditional Kendo stick in one arm, and a bag of supplies in the other. Armadimon followed behind him, and both appeared focused on the task at hand.

Takeru now sported a white bandage on his right shoulder, the only visible sign of the fight that had waged the night before. Patamon and he were fully awake, but lost in thought. The boy was still concerned about what Yamato had spoken of the evening before, and was also concerned about the coming battle.

Hikari walked beside Takeru, for some reason feeling a bit of safety despite the boy's confused nature. She, too, was lost in thought, and so no conversation resulted between them. Occasionally, she would glance back at the others following behind her, but she said nothing. Tailmon appeared to be confident about the coming battle, and showed none of her partner's obvious insecurities.

Miyako walked just behind Hikari and Takeru, lost in her own thoughts as well. She appeared to be in careful study of the ground beneath her, but her thoughts lie with the previous evening.

She glanced at Ken and then at Daisuke, who were both walking behind her. Each and every one of the chosen was lost in his or her own thoughts, and they were of no exception.

'It was so…strange…what happened last night. And yet, neither of them is talking about it. I wonder what it was?'

Naturally, it had occurred to her that they simply felt as awkward about it as she and Hikari both did. And that would account for some of it. But it still didn't answer the question of exactly what had taken place. And then she felt guilty. She was supposed to be concerned with rescuing Sora – not with whatever was taking place here and now…

"Now's a good time to stop for breakfast," Yamato noted suddenly, breaking everyone out of their own personal thoughts.

"We should keep going. We've got a long way to go," Taichi replied, not slowing his steps at all.

"We'll still get there even if we stop for a bit." Yamato stopped in his tracks.

The other boy took a few more steps, and then stopped and turned around. "We've only been walking for a half-hour. We can go a little more."

"Actually, I'm kind of hungry," Mimi volunteered, raising a hand.

"So am I," Agumon confessed.

Taichi sighed. "All right. Breakfast then." He knew better than to start an argument if he expected to get where they wanted to go before midnight.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the others began to set up for the meal. Yamato and Daisuke began to bring wood for a fire, Iori and Jyou began filling the metal pails they'd brought with water from a nearby stream. Miyako and Hikari had been elected to carry the meat and eggs for the food, and they began to unpack them so that they would be able to be cooked when the fire was ready. Mimi, Ken, and Taichi began to unroll the blankets they had brought for sitting in, and Koushiro and Takeru were elected for the task of unloading the plates.

A good twenty minutes later, and the food was served. Everyone ate in relative silence. Then, a quick cleanup and they were walking again.

Taichi peered at the map in his hands. "It shouldn't be too much farther," he determined.

Iori stood beside him, peering at the same map. "Just past the Koromon village, I think."

"Deserted Koromon village, you mean," Armadimon corrected.

"That's what the sign says," Jyou observed from behind them. Taichi stopped walking and looked to where the doctor stood, pointing out the sign.

"Actually, the sign doesn't say it's deserted," Gomamon corrected.

"They didn't update the sign then," Takeru observed.

"Maybe we should," Patamon proposed.

"How?"

"Like this!" Mimi poked Koushiro in the shoulder. "Have any ink?"

"Um, yes, I think so." The wizard rummaged around in his sack for a moment before he located a jar of black ink.

"Then we just need a stick," Palmon mused. She glanced around the ground for a few moments and then located one on the ground and handed it to her partner.

Mimi opened the jar and dipped the stick in. A moment later she had scratched the word "DESERTED" over the sign marking the Koromon village.

"Kind of ominous, isn't it?" Miyako noted.

"Well, at least everyone will know there's no one there now," Hawkmon stated.

"Whatever." Taichi sighed. "We've got to get going, come on!" He marched forward, paying no attention to the sign. A moment later, the others followed him, leaving the piece of wood with markings on it behind.

***

The moment they had entered the Koromon village, the true meaning of the word deserted became evident. Only a few small huts remained, scattering the landscape. The straw which had once formed the roof of the huts was burnt, dead, and in some cases still smoking.

"Whatever scared off all the Koromon didn't leave long ago," Ken observed.

"So it's a recently deserted village?" Miyako questioned. "I hope that doesn't mean whoever destroyed it isn't still here."

Before anyone could respond, there was a loud rumbling sound and the ground began to shake.

"Earthquake!" Daisuke shouted, and flung himself to the ground, covering his head. It wasn't long before the others followed suit. The quake lasted a few moments before then a crack began to appear in the ground.

"What the – " Yamato shouted, but his words were drowned out by the loud rumbling sound. He struggled to regain his feet, but was unable due to the continuous shaking. A huge amount of dust rose to the air, and it suddenly became nearly impossible to see.

When finally the dust had cleared, the holder of the crest of Friendship rubbed his eyes and coughed. "Takeru?" he called, searching for his brother. "Taichi? Gabumon?"

"Right here, Yamato," his partner digimon replied from the ground beside him. "What happened?"

"I'd say an earthquake," the other replied. "Somehow we got separated. Hello? Anyone here?" he called again. 

"Yamato?" Mimi questioned, emerging from the smoky dust nearby with Palmon. She, too, was coughing. "What happened?"

"An earthquake, we think," Gabumon answered. "We've got to find the others."

Mimi nodded in agreement. "I wish we could get rid of this dust," she complained. "It's so hard to see."

As if in response to her comment, a large digimon suddenly appeared in the dust. It appeared to be a white colored animal with four legs and wings. A metal mask was over its face and a horn protruded from its nose.

"Unimon?" Gabumon questioned.

Said Unimon did not answer. Instead it reared up on to its back legs and screamed a sort of war cry. Then it began to charge.

"Augh!" Yamato dived out of the way just in time. "What's he got against us?"

"You are chosen. You must die!" the Unimon finally replied, though that statement didn't answer much. Its eyes were glowing red.

"Didn't those Lopmon say that Devimon had the power to make digimon battle against their will?" Gabumon wondered. "This could be one of them."

 "But if it is, then we'd be fighting – maybe killing – an innocent digimon," Mimi protested.

"It's either kill or be killed," Yamato replied. "Let's get him, Gabumon."

"Right. Gabumon evolve! Garurumon!"

Yamato blinked in surprise as the small blue and white striped digimon transformed next to him. "Wow. I didn't expect it to be so easy."

"Evolving gets easier with practice," the giant wolf-like creature replied with a strange grin.

The blonde nodded in comprehension. "Get him!" he repeated.

"Fox Fire!"  Garurumon shouted, and blue-colored flames flew from his mouth.

"Augh!" Unimon shouted, not expecting a retaliation. It flew into the air and then dived at the Garurumon, who managed to dive out of the way just in time. Then the Unimon flew in the opposite direction, back into the sky to escape another attack.

"What's that?" Mimi wondered.

"What's what?" Palmon asked.

"That black thing in his back. It looks like it hurts."

"Maybe that's why he's so mad," the plant digimon suggested with a slight shrug.

"Maybe," Mimi agreed. "Yamato! See if you can get rid of that thing on his back! Maybe then he won't be quite so mad."

Yamato turned to her in confusion, and then looked at the Unimon. "A gear," he nodded, getting a better look at it than she had. "Garurumon! See if you can destroy that gear!"

"I'll try," Garurumon shouted in response. "Fox Fire!" '

His attack, however, managed to miss the Unimon by a fraction of an inch. The Unimon prepared to charge again.

"Palmon, let's help him out," Mimi decided.

"Yea! Palmon evolve! Togemon!"  A moment later, the small plant was replaced with a larger plant covered in spines and wearing red gloves.

"We've got to get him from behind!" Garurumon shouted.

"I'll distract him!" Togemon replied. "You get him from behind. Hey, dummy! Over here!"

The Unimon,  too annoyed by the insults to realize it was walking into a trap, charged Togemon.

"Prickly Bang Bang!" Togemon shouted, needles spraying out to cover the Unimon, which shouted in pain from the direct hit.

"I've got it! Fox Fire!" Garurumon shouted, firing his own attack, which quickly destroyed the black gear protruding from the enemy. It then deleted, disintegrating and floating off into the air.

"What - ?" the Unimon asked, confused. It landed beside Togemon. "Where am I?"

*

Coughing, Koushiro pushed himself to his feet. Dust was all around him, even, he suspected, in his lungs and therefore hampering his ability to breathe. "Tentomon?"

"Right here," the small red bug replied, fluttering beside him in the thick dust.

"That was some earthquake," Koushiro observed. He gathered his bag again and peered through the thick smoke. "What happened to the others?"

"I don't know," Tentomon replied. "They must be around here somewhere." The small wizard could hear the doubt in his voice.

"Yeah, somewhere," Koushiro frowned. He pulled his digivice from his pocket, but it returned only a blank screen. "Terrific."

"You think the dust is hampering its ability to function?" Tentomon theorized. Koushiro nodded.
"Probably," he replied, frowning deeper. "Wait, I'm getting something. Two dots. One coming from the left, one from directly in front of us."

"Hello?" A voice called from the left. "Koushiro? Is that you?"

"Hell Jyou," Koushiro called back, and a moment later the doctor and Gomamon appeared in the clearing, emerging from the smoke. "Have you seen anyone else?"

Jyou shook his head. "No," he replied. "Just Gomamon and you two."

"Someone else is up ahead," Tentomon filled them in.

"We should probably try to get to them, then," Gomamon decided. He began to flop in the indicated direction. A moment later, the others followed.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon called, and a moment later, a ball of fire hit the ground, sending up even more dust.

"Scissor Arms!" A giant red bug that Koushiro quickly identified as Kuwagamon flew in, waving large pincers that protruded from his face.

"You'll have to do better than that, little boy Prince!" a digimon that appeared to be a giant monkey shouted from atop a nearby hill. He laughed eagerly.

"Hey, this isn't your area. Devimon rules this land!" A green, somewhat ugly digimon shouted. "Bone Club!" It leapt into the air and swung a large club at the monkey.

"Heh, not so fast, Ogremon," a Gazimon replied, stepping between the monkey and the green digimon. "Etemon plans to take over this area, and he's stronger than you, so get lost!"

"Actually, this area belongs to neither of you!" Greymon interrupted. "Mega Flame!"

The giant fireball caused the Gazimon and Ogremon to run quickly away, but Etemon stood his ground and was barely singed by the fireball. "Try this one, fans!" he shouted instead. "Love Serenade!" With that, the giant monkey began to sing. The loud, off-key singing created sound waves. Taichi squinted and put his fingers in his ears.

"That's horrible!" he noted when the monkey had finally silenced again. "If you sing that to someone, they won't fall in love, they'll run away!"

"Hey, who asked for your opinion, Prince-boy?" Etemon taunted.

"Most likely the same person who asked for yours," Koushiro replied dryly. "Though he has a point. Kabuterimon?"

"Mega Shocker!" A giant blue digimon shouted from somewhere behind the monkey.

"Augh!" Etemon shouted, in some sort of pain from the surprise attack.

"Want some more? Harpoon Vulcan!" A giant white, hairy digimon attacked from another direction.

"That's it Ikkakumon! Get him!" Jyou called from somewhere behind his partner.

Before Etemon could respond to either of these attacks, a dark shape appeared somewhere above them.

"You are useless to me. A nuisance and a menace. Be gone. Death Claw!"

The singing monkey barely had time to respond before it was deleted.

"Hey!" Taichi shouted. "Just who are you?"

His only response was a deep mocking laughter that surrounded him.

*

"Whoa," Takeru groaned, rising to his feet. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Patamon admitted, taking to the air and flying a few feet over his partner's head. "I don't see anyone."

"It's really dusty," he noted, coughing a few times. "Hey, wait, my digivice." He removed it from his pocket and saw that, as expected, a blinking dot was on the screen, only a short distance away.

"Only one?" the flying digimon questioned. "What happened to everyone else?"

"I don't know," Takeru replied. "I guess we find one and maybe we'll find everyone else after that." He turned and began walking, but they saw no one, human or digimon.

"It's really quiet," Patamon observed. "Too quiet. I hope everyone's all right."

"Me, too." Takeru agreed, but said nothing more.

After a few minutes of walking, they came upon a small stone building. "I know I didn't see this in the Koromon village," Patamon stated.

"I didn't either," Takeru agreed. "I wonder where it came from. Should we go in?"

"Do you have anything else planned?"

"No," he admitted, and began to walk around the building, searching for an entrance. There didn't appear to be one.

"How can there not be a door?" Patamon wondered, thoroughly confused. Takeru shrugged. He sighed, feeling useless and lost, and sank to the ground beside the building.

"I wish I could do something," he sighed. "I feel so…"

"Takeru, don't give up now!" Patamon scolded his partner before he could begin his self-depreciation. "We can help, I know we can!"

The boy shook his head and peered at his digivice. "Whoever's around here is in that building, I'm sure of it." He frowned and sighed deeply. "I just hope the others are able to get Sora back – what?"

Suddenly, the wall behind him was glowing. "What's that?" Patamon wondered. Then they both noted a symbol that appeared on the side of the wall. "A crest!"

"Crest? For me?" Takeru stared. "But I don't even have a tag!"

His partner shrugged. "Maybe that doesn't matter."

"I guess not," the boy observed as the crest shrank to a size just small enough to fit into a tag. It floated into his palm.

***

"Yah! Help!" Miyako gripped the side of the rocks with both hands, but she could feel her fingers slipping. "Hawkmon – do something!"
"I don't know what to do," the bird admitted with some trepidation. "Oh, wait," he sounded more relieved now. "Daisuke's coming this way. Maybe he can help."

"Yeah, get him!" Miyako shouted, desperate now. "Daisuke!!"

The boy in question was at her side a moment later, gripping her wrists and using all of his available strength to pull the girl to safety. "What happened?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I was standing here one moment, the earth started shaking, and then I was hanging on for dear life the next moment! What happened to everyone? Where'd the dust come from? And what caused that earthquake?"

Daisuke shrugged. "I didn't see anyone else except you," he reported, holding out his digivice, which registered only two dots – himself and Miyako.

"Same here," Miyako observed. "Hey – wait, there's another dot. But this one's blinking…"

"Well, there's only one thing to do," Daisuke decided with a grin. "Let's follow it."

***

Takeru held the newly-found crest in his hand and peered at the strange glowing symbol. It appeared to resemble a sun, a shooting star, or perhaps a medal. "Which crest is it?" he wondered. But he didn't have time to wonder for long, because now there was an entrance to the nameless building. He put the crest in his pocket and entered.

"Hello?" Patamon called, peering into the darkness. "Anyone home?"

"Who goes there?" A voice called from the darkness of the building. Takeru squinted and was able to make out the form of a strangely shaped digimon. Its body was a small metal container, with long metal arms that protruded from it. Two beady little eyes stared back at him. The head was encased within a clear glass tube, and it appeared to be merely a mass of spongy pink material.

"I do," Takeru replied, not thinking to mention who he was. "Who are you?"

"I am Nanomon," the digimon replied. It didn't appear to have much of a mouth, yet it spoke as easily as anything else. "And you have interrupted classified experiments. How did you get in here, anyway?"

"The wall – opened," Takeru began, but realized quickly that he wouldn't be able to make his explanation believable. "I don't mean to interrupt, but you see, I'm looking for a friend."

"If you could open the door, you probably work for Etemon," Nanomon decided. "I didn't know he had any human forces, but I guess they come in handy, at any rate. If you do work for Etemon, I'll have to destroy you."

"What? Who's Etemon? I don't work for anyone. Like I said, I'm looking for someone, there's no need to destroy me!" the boy protested.

"It's true, we don't even know who Etemon is," Patamon agreed.

"Oh, well, then I guess you'll be all right," Nanomon appeared to relent somewhat. "Etemon and I have a – rivalry of sorts going back many years. He imprisoned me in this building after we battled last. I have been secretly repairing myself while locked in here, however, and through honing my magic, was able to obtain limited contact with the outside world."

"What sort of limited contact?" Takeru was curious.

"I can see some of what's going on," the digimon explained. "For example, up on the hill, there is – or was – a large digimon by the name of Devimon. He managed to kidnap one of those chosen, and I saved up enough of my energy to bring her here."

"Sora's here?" Patamon repeated. "Where?"

"Ha! So you are with the enemy!"

***

Hikari shook her head lightly to clear the stars. "Ouch," she muttered slightly. "That was some fall." She peered at the cliff that had somehow appeared to her left.

"What happened?" Tailmon wondered, rubbing her head slightly.

"Earthquake, I guess," the girl answered. "But what happened to everyone else? And where'd all this dust come from?"

Before her partner could respond, she was interrupted by the sound of coughing and a crunching noise coming from nearby. "Hello?" someone called.

"Ken! Oh, good, at least someone's alive," Hikari greeted. "Have you seen anyone else?"

The boy shook his head as he emerged into the clearing. "I can barely see Wormmon, and he's right here," he replied. "This dust is too thick."

Before anyone could reply to that statement, a loud roar came from the opposite direction. "The Chosen must Die!" a deep voice shouted gruffly, and the next moment, Hikari and Ken found themselves staring at a giant feline digimon which was holding a sword. 
"Leomon!" Tailmon gasped.

"We'd better get out of here," Hikari decided. She took a few steps backward.

"We won't be able to outrun him," Ken noted with obvious fear in his voice.

"Maybe we can slow him down," Wormmon decided, taking the initiative. "Sticky net!"

"Diamond Shell!" A small round golden colored object crashed into feline's feet, only to unroll a moment later. "I'm dizzy," Armadimon complained, holding his head with one claw. 

"Iori!" Hikari shouted a warning as Leomon turned to face the smallest Chosen.

"Not so fast! Sticky net!" Wormmon had reached the top of a nearby tree and threw his net down from the higher branches.

"Run!" Ken shouted as loud as his lungs would allow, and a few moments later they had taken advantage of the distraction, as all three humans and their digimon dashed away.

***

"A cave. In the middle of nowhere." Miyako sighed. "And, wouldn't you know, whatever I'm looking for is right inside!"

"Well, I guess we go in then," Hawkmon stated.

Daisuke shrugged and entered the cave. Despite the nature of the cave, there was enough light to see by. He followed a corridor, ducking slightly to avoid the low ceiling. "What would be in here?" he wondered.

"Maybe another digimental," V-mon suggested.

"Digimental?" Miyako paused. "Really? You think so?"

"Only one way to find out," Hawkmon replied pragmatically. "Find what ever it is we're looking for." He walked past his partner, in something of a hurry.

A few feet further and there, indeed, was the digimental. Exactly as the previous digimental, this one was placed on a raised platform with a sign posted in front of it. Miyako, with some amount of nervousness, peered at the sign. "Digimental Aijou. Aijou?"

"Love?" Daisuke's eyes were slightly wide. "Whoa. That's a tough one."

"I'll say," V-mon muttered under his breath.

"Well, are you going to pick it up?" Hawkmon questioned with a slightly impatient tone.

"I – I don't know," Miyako admitted. "How am I supposed to make the digimental of love work?"

Hawkmon shrugged. "There are many different types of love," he reminded his partner. "Love for friends, love for family, love for good food." He coughed. "I'm sure any of those would suffice."

"All right, then, I guess I don't have anything to lose." Miyako took a deep breath and removed the digimental with ease. "Hmm. That was easy."

Daisuke grinned. "Yup. Now, let's go see if we can't find the others."

***

Iori was doing his best to run as quickly as he could, but the youngest of the Chosen was not trained for neither speed nor stamina when it came to this activity, and he soon found himself lagging behind. He glanced behind him quickly as he ran behind Ken and Hikari. The feline Leomon was getting closer and closer. He could almost feel the large digimon's breath on his back, could imagine those fierce claws reaching down and scratching him, causing any number of pains.

The small boy groaned as he fell to the ground, his legs having inadvertently tripped over a rock that had been lodged in the ground while his eyes were watching his pursuer. Quickly, he rolled over on to his back and drew his legs and arms in front of him, hoping that he could offer some sort of defense.

Leomon prepared to attack, but was interrupted by a squealing sound. Iori's digivice, clipped securely at his waist, was emitting a bright light and a loud, high pitched squeal. As if in pain, the large digimon covered his eyes and ears and stepped back, groaning aloud in pain.

Alerted by the noise, Hikari and Ken had turned in their steps and were prepared to jump in and intervene in what they assumed would be a massacre of the smaller boy. Surely he had no chance against a larger and more powerful digimon. And an adult digimon at that! With sharp claws, and teeth, and muscles!

But they needn't have worried, they saw, for somehow, with the simple aid of a digivice, the boy was managing to inflict actual pain on the fierce monster. It was Hikari who, in the stunned silence, realized what was happening and vocalized it.

"The digivice! It hurts him!"

"Well then, use it!" Tailmon declared vehemently. Hikari nodded determinedly and raised her own digivice, stepping forward. The light created by the digivices grew more intense, and Leomon appeared to be in even more pain. He fell to his knees and shouted out.

Some sort of black shadow appeared to seep from his back.

Ken needed no words to announce his own presence, being fully aware that anything he said would be not only redundant, but obvious. So he simply stepped forward and raised his own digivice, which then worked in harmony with the other two to cause their opponent to be in even more pain.

The third digivice appeared to be what did the trick after all. The black cloud that had been seeping from Leomon's back grew greater and then dissipated. The lion lost the red-eye glaze that had been clouding his vision, and the digivices stopped squealing with such vengeance. Hikari and Ken lowered them and waited for the response from their opponent. Would he attack? Was the darkness that had apparently been polluting him completely gone? Was he therefore friendly now?

They would, apparently, never know, because Leomon's only responses were to groan, holding his head in pain, and then stare at the three youngsters that stared back at him. There was an awkward moment as he surveyed each of them, and then he was gone as quickly as he had arrived, disappearing into the dust.

"Wait!" Hikari called, but the dust cloud swallowed her cry, and there was an eerie silence afterward.

"That was strange," Tailmon noted as Ken helped Iori to his feet.

"Hmm," the boy noted. "I didn't know our digivices could harm them."

Wormmon spoke up. "Those Lopmon that we met said that Devimon, or whoever this evil was, could make digimon fight for him against their will. I think he used that darkness to control them, and the digivices somehow got rid of it."

Hikari nodded. "I think so, too, but I wonder…" She was silent for a few moments.

"Wonder what?" Ken asked, interested now.

"I wonder why he ran off. If he was on our side, then he would have…he would have stuck around and tried to help us. But he didn't. I wonder why."

***

For the record, I won't tell you about Ken's evil status as yet. You'll have to wait for that. ^_^

Finally, I get into the actual battle part. There's still some logistical details I need to work out in this – like exactly when they fight who and what happens, but I've almost got a plan for the ending! Wow! It won't come for a while, though.

Why did I include Etemon (and destroy him) in this part? Well, for time, really. I could draw out the whole Nanomon-Etemon crisis and everything, but then this story would be about eighty years long. Besides I need to finish this story arc with Devimon (and the evil dude that comes after) before I start the next sequel.

Anyone have any guesses as to who the main enemy will be in the next story? I'm hoping it's not that obvious. Anyway, thanks, loyal reviewers, for all the kind comments. Stay tuned, cuz this one's not over yet! ^_^