The New Protectors
Chapter 2: The Search Begins
"What?" screamed the five.
"It is something of a long story. You see, just after Myotismon returned, I was contacted by Centaurumon. He resides in a temple that lies inside the mountain you stand on. It was he who found the prophecies that told us about the trials that the digidestined would face. He told me that another had been discovered. He said that it could hold the key to defeating Myotismon. The moment I saw the prophecy I knew that we had to gather certain digimon for the task at hand. The prophecy said this:
When the times of darkness come once again
And the former champions are left powerless
A new force must be called.
They will have the power necessary to vanquish the darkness
The Rage of the Beast
The Fury of Flame
The Swiftness of the Fox
The Strength of Steel
And The Power of the Heavens.
But these powers must be understood
Only then can an even greater power be found
And only then will the Darkness fade again.
Before I had learned of this prophecy I had been searching for a way around the field of energy that Myotismon has activated. This prophecy confirmed what I believed, that others were needed. And with this information I began locating the digimon that would be necessary. I had gathered four of them together, and was about to meet up with the fifth. But then He struck. Myotismon sent attack forces that overwhelmed and captured the four digimon. And when I learned of this, the fifth went into hiding. I have yet to find her again."
Zack stared at him incredulously, "So we have to find our partners in order to fight, but to find them we have to fight. How did we get stuck in this catch 22?"
"Actually, you do not need your digimon to fight. The armor that you have is makes you stronger and faster than you were. And all of you are fighters, in spirit if not in training. That is why we chose you."
TK looked to Zack first. "You were taught how to fight by your father weren't you?"
"Yeah, he is on the New York Swat Team. He said I should know how to defend myself."
"And you Kenda, have been training your entire life. Ryoka, you are a gutter fighter, you learned to fight on the streets, and you are very skilled with that blade."
As he spoke, Ryoka reached back, and surprisingly still felt the handle of her knife at the small of her back.
"Torrie, you are considered a world class martial artist from what we understand. You are very skilled for you age."
The well built blonde said nothing but continued to stare.
"And you Tyler, you have learned a style of fighting as well. Haven't you?"
"Well yeah, I work out with Uncle Jesse anytime we go to visit and he has taught me a few things."
"See, all of you have knowledge of how to fight. And the armor will give you added strength. Now we know the where two of the digimon are being held. They are not too heavily guarded. Mainly it is small gazimon. Those are basically evil overgrown rabbits. They can fight, but you should be able to deal with them and free the two digimon. But time is of the essence. They will probably be moved soon."
Zack looked at the four others and they all nodded. "Let's get a move on then."
Gennai led them to a room inside the temple. He told them that it was a portal room, from which they could reach almost anywhere in the digital world. He then rotated some of the stone tiles that lined the walls, and suddenly a bright light appeared at the center of the room. Gennai motioned toward the hole, and without a word the five armored teenagers stepped through the portal.
The five teens could see the town from where they arrived. They found a grove of bushes and sat down to wait.
Torrie glanced through the bushes at the town. Then he turned to the others, "So, now that those two weirdoes aren't here, does anyone have any idea why we are listening to them?"
Zack stared at the Australian boy, "Well, I thought that the story sounded rather convincing, and they did give some seriously good proof," he touched the button on the watch like digivices, and his battle suit covered him, "I would call this some serious proof. Wouldn't you?"
Ryoka stared at the watch; she then stood, hit the switch to activate her armor, and moved towards the town. "I don't care if nearly everything they told us was a lie. As long as I can find the bastard that killed my sister and get revenge for her death. I can do that myself, the rest of you can go to hell for all I care, but I will get that demon." And with that, she drew her knife, stepped through the brush, and ran for the town.
Zack shook his head, and ran after her. The others quickly activated their armor and followed, although Kenda looked a little worried.
Ryoka arrived at the village alone and at first it seemed deserted, then she saw them, and saw that the description of them as being evil little rabbits fit rather well. The first one to see her began to raise the alarm.
"INTRUDERS. HE..."
His cries were cut off as he was struck down by a swift kick from Ryoka. She then grabbed him by the ears and hauled him up into the air.
"Where are the two digimon being held captive?"
"Why should I tell you?" the little monster replied.
"WRONG ANSWER!" And with that she brought her knife around stuck it straight through his head. He screamed before exploding into a cloud of data.
It was at this point that the others finally caught up with her. And all stared horror struck when she killed the gazimon. They stared in silence for a moment. Zack was clenching his fists so tightly that if he wasn't wearing his battle suit, his knuckles would have been pure white.
Slowly words came from his lips, "Why? Why did you just do that?"
She stared at him with an air of nonchalance, "He wouldn't answer my question, so he was of no use." With this she turned off in the direction of the largest building in the town, and began stalking down the alley.
Zack started to say something more, but he kept silent, and chased after her. The other three gazed at each other, and then spread out to search the town.
It seemed like no one had heard the one gazimon's shout, so they were able to search unnoticed for a time.
Ryoka was hiding in an alley as several small yellow and red digimon hopped by. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see Zack creeping towards her.
"Why the hell are you following me?"
"You shouldn't have killed him." Was his simple reply.
"Fuck, are you going to obsess about that? If I knocked him out he could have woken up and told them we were here, and he wasn't going to help me, so killing was the simplest thing to do. Now why the fuck are you following me, I don't need help."
"Simple answer, I want to keep an eye on you, cause after what I just saw, I am not sure how far I trust you."
"Oh great, well just stay the fuck out of my way."
She then turned back to the street, and swiftly ran across the street and ducked into the alley behind the large building. Zack sighed and continued to follow her. She came up to a small locked door that was not guarded. Zack watched as she reverted to her normal clothes and reached into the inside her jacket. She then drew out a small pouch and withdrew two small pieces of wire. She then proceeded to pick the lock on the door, when she heard it click, she returned the lock picks to her jacket, and reactivated her armor. She then crept through the now open door, and Zack continued to follow her.
They inside seemed to be some kind of warehouse. Crates were stacked in odd piles all over, and with the poor lighting, this made it easy to creep through it. The two teens wandered through the vast building until they found an area that had been cleared of most boxes. And tightly strapped to two of the crates, were two digimon.
One of them looked like a giant candle with a face, sitting in a candle holder. The other, looked like a lion cub wearing pants.
They were being guarded by four of the gazimon, and one other digimon. He was about four feet tall, and his head and body seemed to be connected so closely that they seemed to be one and the same. Over his shoulder, shoulder being the place behind his arm since he didn't really have a shoulder, was strapped a sword. And in one hand he carried what appeared to be an overgrown shuriken.
"I just received word that the location where the other two were being kept has been attacked; we don't know anything beyond that. We should prepare to move the prisoners."
"Yes lord ninjamon." Replied one of the gazimon.
After hearing this, Zack and Ryoka ducked back behind a crate.
"Did you here that? Something attacked the place where they were keeping the other digimon. I wonder who it could have been." Zack said rather worriedly.
"Well it wasn't Gennai and Gilligan, so I don't know. But we need to act fast, otherwise they are gonna have lots of guards here to move them. If we are gonna free those two, we need to do it now."
"I know, lets try this. You circle around and prepare to get those two down. I am gonna show myself, and see if I can get some of those guards to chase me around this maze. Once I do that, free those two, then get the hell out ah dodge. Got it?"
Ryoka offered no reply, she just nodded and began moving. Once she was out of sight, Zack got into position to make his move.
Zack watched the gazimon for a few moments as he saw them preparing a strange set of manacles that he figured were for the two digimon. He took a deep breath, then leaped over the crate he was hiding behind, right into the center of the room.
"Hey Shit for brains. Let them go now, or I am gonna kick your ass."
One of the gazimon who looked slightly bigger than the other three, glared at him, and bellowed. "Get Him."
The three gazimon immediately charged after the armored teen, as he turned and bolted deep into the massive warehouse. Once he and the three gazimon were making a lot of racket farther back in the warehouse, Ryoka dropped from her hiding place, right onto the remaining gazimon. He fell in a heap as her mass came down on top of him. Ryoka had braced herself for the impact and was still standing as she landed, she gave a swift kick to the temple of the gazimon, then turned to the two captured digimon. She saw the locks that held the chains in place. And dropped out of her armor to get at her lock picks again. She reached into her jacket again for the familiar bag. She had it in her hand, and turned to the giant candle and began to work on the lock. After a few short moves there was a click and the lock dropped off. The chained slackened the moment the lock was removed, and the candle, hit the floor with a thud.
The candle slowly moved and turned to look at his rescuer, he seem surprised to see a human in black leather with bright pink hair. He was silent as she walked over to the second lock the one holding the small lion. She opened this one just as quickly as the first and the lion cub sank to the ground. Just as with the candle, the moment the chains were removed the lion began to wake up. The candle watched as the girl replaced the lock picks back in her jacket, and then he watched as she hit a button on her watch and her clothing changed to armor, with a symbol he had been shown before.
"You are one of the new chosen warriors."
Ryoka turned to the candle. "Yes, I am. Who is your partner supposed to be; maybe we can get you together now."
"I am the digimon of honor."
"Okay, so you get the aussie. He is around somewhere." She turned to the lion. "What about you?"
"I am the digimon of Fate."
"Oh, your partner is in here somewhere with a couple of gazimon on his tail…"
She was interrupted by a loud voice, "Actually, he is right here. I think Myotismon will be very pleased with me now that I have captured, not only two of the digimon, but two of the warriors." Ninjamon stood at the on top of a crate, and in one hand he was holding Zack, who had a discoloration slowly forming on his cheek, by the back of the neck. "Now surrender; or this one is dead."