There isn't really much to say except that I do intend to finish this story now. I hope you will all read and review this and chapters to come, Thanks.
Disclaimer-I don't own digimon or any of it's characters.
-Rebirth of Courage-
-Chapter Four-
I lead them that day towards New Tokyo, that is to say, I gave them directions and went ahead to scout the way, the Digital World could be as dangerous as it was beautiful if you weren't prepared. I was in a more difficult spot than I was used to, I had one semi-injured, relatively useless young man, and a girl with two weakling digimon, although she and her digimon did show potential. Now there was a situation I could possibly remedy, when I returned to them this evening and we made camp I would offer to teach her more on how battle with her digimon. After all, she has two, if she can be taught to control them well, she could be a formidable warrior.
As I walked on further I began to think about our destination. New Tokyo was the largest city in the Digital World and it was the headquarters of Church of the Prophet, although no one on earth outside of the church hierarchy knew about it. I had been there several times during my travels, although I always tried to avoid it if possible. It was a nice enough city, but whenever I went there the higher up priestesses would always start spouting prophecy and trying to get me to join them in whatever the hell it was they spent their time doing. Once I had accidently run into head priestess, who's official title was simply the Daughter, and she actually got down on her knees and prostrated herself before me. Several of the lower priestesses saw this and after that they all began bowing and scraping whenever I came near. Since then I've made a point of not returning to the city.
As I walked on, lost in thought, the day passed by around me. I realized that I had better start back if I was to make camp and have time to start the girl's training, plus, it was sort of pleasant to talk to her, I haven't really talked to that many humans during my life.
So, with that in mind I turned and started back, calling to Guilmon who seemed just as lost in thought as I had been, and probably would have continued walking if I hadn't called to him. It took us about a half hour to make our way back to Marena and her companions, when they were in close enough, I called to her.
"Marena, we'll make camp over by that little spring about a mile east of hear, ok!"
"I hear ya!"
I went ahead to the chosen site so that I could have the place cleared by the time they got there. They had to move pretty slow because of Marena's brother (I can never remember his name) so by the time they arrived I had a fairly impressive fire going and was beginning to cook the meal, a hearty beef stew tonight.
"Mmm... what smells good?" asked Marena.
"It's stew, my special recipe, it took me..."
... "Davis, I'm hungry!"
"Yeah, me too, I guess I'll make some stew, Veemon could you get me our pot and the ingredients for my stew out of the supplies."
"Ok, I'll go get them right now."
Once he brought me the pot and ingredients, I got right to work at my stew. In about a half-hour, I finished the stew and we all sat down to eat.
"Oh Davis, this is delicious," said Kari. (Who's Kari, why do I feel like I know her?)
"Thanks, it took me four years to get the spices just right."...(Wait, don't stop, I need to know who Kari is!)...
... I came to and the force of it all caused me to fall on my back, Marena immediately ran and kneeled down next to me, trying to see what was wrong. I ignored her questions, knowing full and well what was wrong, and knowing that it would pass momentarily. I was right, in a few moments I sat up and, without comment, went back to work on my stew. Marena was not about to be left in the dark though.
"Don't worry about it 'Rena... huh?" I stopped then, because she had suddenly turned bright red.
"What is it?"
"It's just that, well, no one's ever called me by a nickname before."
"Okaaay," I thought to myself, "maybe she won't be such a great warrior if she loses her cool so easily. Ah well, never gonna know until I try."
"Is there a problem, do you not want me to call you that anymore?"
"No no, it's nothing, I just had a flutter."
"Okay then," I said, and then turned my attention whole-heartedly upon the stew.
"'Rena, I was wondering, how would you like me to train you to be a better warrior, to teach you how to use the cards among other things."
"I'd like that, no one at Knowledge ever taught... Huh?" At her mention of Knowledge my whole body had tensed, and my hand with the spoon it had literally begun to shake.
"David, what is it, what's wrong?" asked 'Rena, concern lacing her voice.
I had to mentally take control of my body and get it to settle down, "I'm sorry 'Rena, I don't know what came over me. It's just that Knowledge is responsible for most of what's wrong in my world, so I guess even the mention of them makes me a bit tense."
"Oh, sorry."
"Not a problem... soup's ready."
"Great I'm starving!"
"Good, go get your brother while I fill some bowls."
"'Kay," she said before walking over to lend the boy a hand. It was strange, that whole conversation had been just plain weird, I was beginning to feel almost... domestic. What was worse though, was that I didn't seem to mind, well, as long as it was her. No matter. I had finished filling the bowls by the time that she, her brother, and the digimon had sat down beside the fire. We each grabbed a bowl and began to eat. There were appreciative comments all around, so my pride inflated just a bit.
When the meal was finished, the boy volunteered to wash the dishes so that 'Rena and I could begin our training. I could sense that he did not trust me entirely, but he knew he was in my debt and that 'Rena trusted me completely, so there was little he could do.
I led 'Rena a small distance away, so that we were separated from the others. I didn't want any interruptions for what we were going to do. I sat down and indicated that she sit down directly across from me, leaving a small area clear between us.
"Now 'Rena, the first thing you have to learn is that these are the keys to the power of a true digidestined," as I said this I drew my deck of cards out of the small, card-shaped pouch on my belt and laid them on the ground between us. She took them and quickly skimmed through them before laying them down again.
"But I know these, there just cards from a card game the kids play back on Earth."
"Yes, that is what they have become now, but that is not what they were created for."
At this point she became really interested, "What are they for?"
"In the days right after the founding of Knowledge Inc. it was run by one of the first Digidestined, a young genius name Izzy who had been paralyzed during the War for Existence. He created these cards for the use of the true Digidestined, so that they could unlock all the power of the Digimon."
"Amazing."
"That is not all. Some say that these cards are not simply the product of technology, but also contain some of the essence of the universe. There is even a legend that Izzy did not come up with them himself, but that their design came to him in a dream. I personally don't put much stock in that sort of superstition, although...."
"Yes, although what?"
"Well, there have been several occasions where cards that I could have sworn I didn't own showed up in my deck exactly when I needed them and then disappeared soon after."
"Really, then all those legends might be true!"
"It doesn't really matter whether they're true or not, because we're not here to discuss philosophy. The question is have you ever learned to play the game?"
"No, I never had the time, I've been on the run pretty much since I met you, and my previous owners(that concept still bothers me) never let me have much in the way of toys or games, they said it made me soft."
"Hehe, the truth is they were afraid of what you might be capable of, were you to get your hands on the cards. Well, enough of that, it's time for you to learn the basics. First things first, here, you take half of my deck...."
I continued to tutor her on how to play the game and it's applications to the real world until long after the others had fallen asleep. Even Guilmon, who usually tried to wait for me to go to bed, was snoring peacefully over next to Renamon and Gatomon. She was a fast learner, as well as an avid one, so we didn't actually stop until an hour or so after midnight.
"You did well tonight and learned a lot," I told her as I gathered up all my cards.
"Thanks, you make a great teacher."
"Tell you what, when we reach New Tokyo, I'll buy you a deck of cards so that you'll have your own when battles come your way."
"You don't have to do that."
"Don't worry about it, you're going to need them if you're going to survive out here, and I doubt you have any of the money they use around here."
"I guess you're right, thanks in advance then," she said as she made to go grab her pack.
"Sleep well then," I replied, before sitting down next to a large rock. I sat there, my eyes closed, until I was certain she was asleep and then I stood up and walked off into the distance. I still wasn't used to sleeping with such large groups and if I had walked off while she was awake, she would have asked questions I didn't really feel like answering.
* * *
I awoke the next morning feeling wonderfully rested, despite the fact that David and I had stayed up really late. When I thought about it a moment, I realized that I had woken well rested every night I'd spent in the Digital World so far. It was probably just that I didn't have to fear pursuers around every corner here.
Ah well, no time for that, I had to get all washed up before any of the others awoke. I hated missing a bath, it just made me feel grimy when it happened. I stood up and looked around, checking on all my friends like I did every morning. As always, David was not there, but I'd gotten used to it by now, so I didn't let it worry me.
I walked away from our camp to where the spring formed a large, clean pond hidden behind a convenient rocky outcropping. As I took off my clothes and slipped into the cool water I reflected on my recent accomplishments. I had finally managed to really escape my pursuers, possibly forever. I had also made it into a world where just about anything seemed to be possible, and where I could live a reasonably normal, happy life. Last but in no way least, I had found the boy who had plagued my dreams for as long as I could remember, even before I met him the first time. He was still an unsolved mystery, but at least he was near at hand, so I could try and solve the mysteries which seemed to cloak his existence.
It was about this time that I realized just how damn cold the water was, so without any further ado, I finished washing myself and leapt out of the pond. I dried off just as quickly as possible and put my clothes back on, trying to ward off the chill. I made my way back to camp then, suddenly overcome with a fierce hunger. I wish somebody had already made some food, but I guess nobody was up besides me. I set about making enough oatmeal for all of us, so it'd be ready when the others had woken.
While I was stirring the food, I thought I heard a soft footstep. I began to slowly look around the clearing to see where it had come from when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Aaaaahhh!" I screamed as I leapt three feet into the air.
"Wait, it's just me," came the familiar voice of David from my rear.
I lay on the ground panting from my fear, "Don't do that!"
"Sorry, I guess I've just gotten used to walking softly."
"Oh, that's okay," I said, seeing how depressed he'd looked when I yelled at him.
"So, is the food done, it smells great," he said politely.
"Just a few minutes more."
"Ok."
By the time the food was done, everyone was up (Actually, only Guilmon had managed to sleep through my scream as it was). We all ate our fill and then quickly packed up our meager camp. The entire party was eager to begin since David had said we would arrive at our destination, the Holy City of New Tokyo, sometime this afternoon.
We set out very early and walked across the hilltops when possible. I had asked David why there were no roads a few days before and he had told me that there were, it's just that my portal had opened into one of the deeper wilderness areas. I thought about many things as I walked, mostly though, I tried to picture what New Tokyo would be like. Would it be like the polluted and overcrowded cities of my world, or more like one of the cities of the old days of the First Ones. Maybe even a Castle city like the ones in the storybooks. I was still deep in my fascinating dream world when I realized that I could see David ahead of us standing before the edge of what I thought was a cliff, though it was difficult to see from this angle.
"Come over you two, and get your first look at the Holy City."
And so, we did.
It was like nothing I had ever seen or imagined before in my entire life. The building were all fluidly designed, more like sculptures than pieces of architecture, and there were glowing rings of 0s and 1s surrounding the tallest towers. The whole glowing city was situated on a rocky outcropping, surrounded by waterfalls from the sparkling canals that ran through the city.
"Wow," was all I could say.
To Be Continued...
I know this chapter was kind of a filler. There is a reason, you see, I'm trying to write this on the scope of a real novel, and I felt that in a novel, they would have had a chapter about going to the city. Once again, please read and reply.