Author's Note: Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm glad that many/all of you like my fanfiction! I couldn't have made it this far without those who contributed. Thanks again!

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Chapter Five

The Journey Begins

Lina suddenly dropped to her knees. "We're so cruel!" she sobbed. "We overpowered it! We used too many attacks! We're so…we're so cruel!"

Jessie put a hand on Lina's shoulder. "It's okay. We did what we had to do. If we didn't destroy it, it would've gone off to wreck havoc on other villages. We did a good thing. We saved that Nyaromon's life." Jessie gestured to the little Digimon that Snimon had attacked. "Besides, when Digimon die, their data gets reconfigured and they return as eggs in Primary Village."

Lina wiped away unshed tears. "Okay. I think…I think I'm okay now."

Mikara nodded. "That's good." She looked at the ground. "Hey, the solar eclipse is moving away!"

"How can you tell? You're not even looking at it!" Josh wanted to know.

"Well, it's a lot brighter, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah."

Mikara grinned. "See what I mean? Hey, it's Jijimon. Jijimon! We defeated Snimon!"

The short bearded Digimon shuffled towards the Tamers. "Yes, hm-hm, you did, hm, whatever-your-name-is,"—Mikara opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself—"you did. Hm-hm. All is well. Come to my hut. I think you should know something."

The Tamers followed Jijimon to his hut. Jijimon opened an ancient book, the edges frayed and the pages crinkled, and donned a pair of reading glasses. With utmost care, Jijimon turned the pages of the book until he stopped, read a few paragraphs, then looked up.

"Yes, hm-hm," he said. "Of course. Prophecy says that…hm…the evil is known as Satanmon and VileDevimon. Hm, yes, of course. Rumor has it that they reside at Devimon's Castle at the top of…hm, what was the name?"

"Mount Infinite?" Terriermon suggested.

"Ah, hm, yes, that's the name! Hm-hm…" Jijimon read a few more paragraphs. "Hm, yes, Mount Infinite is at the center of this island."

"Then let's go to Mount Infinite!" Riku exclaimed.

Lina nodded. "Right." She turned to Jijimon. "Thank you, Jijimon, for your hospitality. We hope to see you again some day!"

"And I wish you good luck on your, hm-hm, what's it called again? Ah, yes, journey! Good luck on your journey," Jijimon told the kids.

The Tamers grabbed their bags, which had been packed with extra food as well as other necessary things, and left the hut. As they left, they said goodbye to the friends they had made at the village.

Jijimon smiled. "They are good, hm-hm, yes they are." He adjusted his reading glasses and skimmed through the pages. Suddenly, he stopped while he was turning a page and flipped back a couple of pages. His eyes, hidden underneath thick locks of gray hair, widened. "Hm! Oh no! I didn't tell them about this!"

—————

"We're the—" Lina sang, slightly off-key.

"DEEE-STINED TAMERS!" the others chorused.

"And we will—"

"SAAAVE THE WORLD!"

"So don't you—"

"STAAAND IN OUR WAY!"

"Yeah, coz nothing—"

"STAAANDS—"

Riley coughed suddenly. The others stopped singing to see what was wrong.

"It's okay," Riley said hoarsely. "My throat's just dry from singing."

Gabumon suddenly yelled, "I can see Devimon's Castle! We're almost here!"

The Tamers walked on, this time without singing. When they reached the front steps of the castle, they looked up in silence.

"This doesn't look like a castle," Josh stated. "This looks like the Lincoln Memorial in America. I remember seeing it when I visited Washington D.C. in the States."

Jessie started walking up the steps, followed by Terriermon. "Well, let's go. Satanmon and VileDevimon aren't going to conquer this world while we sit and chitchat about some places called America and Washington D.C."

"You've never been there?" Josh asked as the others walked up the steps too.

"No. I've lived here as long as I can remember. My parents disappeared two years ago, so I'm the only one left. It's a good thing Terriermon's with me."

The Tamers walked up the many steps. Nekomon kept count, and she tallied a hundred. Tired and out of breath, they finally reached the top and sat down in front of the door.

"Great," Riki said flatly. "Now we've got to open a door that's probably ten times our height."

Mikara wearily stood up. She pulled on a brass ring in the center of the door. The door didn't budge. "What a load of crap!" she cried. "First we have to climb up hundreds of steps—"

"Only one hundred, Mikara," Nekomon corrected. "I counted them."

"Whatever. Anyway, we climb up one hundred steps to find out the door's locked! Damn it all!"

"We could try kicking it down," Wormmon suggested.

"Good idea," David said. He stood in front of the door and looked it up and down. He looked at the ground and picked up a splinter of wood. He then said, "But it's too big for us. Why? One, we don't know its elevation. It could be ten meters or more. Two, the wood is too thick to kick a sizable hole through." He held up the splinter. "See? This is at least six inches thick. Furthermore, this door is probably as old as this mountain. It's stuck, like most doors get to be when they're twenty or more years old. So—"

Lina, who had been covering her ears, abruptly interrupted. "David! What did I tell you about ranting?!"

David sighed. "Sorry. I got carried away again. I'm always like that—too obsessed with science and observation to slow down so others can understand."

Lina uncovered her ears. She grinned at her brother. "It's okay. Next time, just say, 'We can't open the door by kicking it, so there'. Okay?"

David ignored her.

"So…how do we open the door?" Riku asked.

Patamon flew to the door and peered at it. "Look, there's something written in Digicode. It's says, 'To open, push'." Patamon pushed the door, and it slowly creaked open

The Tamers stared at each other. Compass broke the silence by saying, "We are so stupid, and this door is so lame. What's the point of a brass doorknocker-slash-whatever-it-is if you have to push the door?"

The Tamers and their Digimon entered the door. Lina and Riku were at the front with Josh, Compass, and Riki behind them. Daiki, Riley, and Jessie followed, and David and Mikara were at the back.

"Is she always like that to you?" Mikara asked David.

David gave her a confused look. "Who, Lina?"

"Yeah."

David shrugged. "She's my sister. She's always yelling at me for being such a techno-geek that it's not funny anymore."

Mikara frowned, feeling much pity for the boy. "I'm sorry."

"That's what everyone says, but most don't mean it."

—————

The castle was deserted. The Tamers had checked every room they could find, including the throne room and the Great Hall. Seven Tamers were currently in the entrance hall.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Riku exclaimed angrily. "We've found nothing!"

Compass, Daiki, and Josh came in from a side room. Compass carried a cardboard box in her arms and a grin on her face.

"Look what we found!" Daiki exclaimed.

"It's super!" Tetramon added.

"Eggs!" Josh chirped. "Cool ones too!"

Compass set the box in the center of the entrance hall and picked up an egg. "This one looks neat."

"It says 'Digieggs: used for Armor digivolution' on the side," Patamon translated, peering at the box.

Every Tamer picked up a Digiegg.

"What's Armor digivolution?" Lina wanted to know.

"It's when a Digimon digivolves to the Armor stage," explained Jessie. "When a Digimon Armor digivolves, they are stronger than Rookie but slightly weaker than Champion. There are also Golden Digieggs, and the Digimon yielded from one of them is slightly weaker than an Ultimate."

Riku smirked. "Awesome."

Suddenly, Jijimon came running in through the main door.

"Jijimon!" everyone yelled in surprise.

Panting, Jijimon nodded. "Hm, yes. I forgot to tell you—Satanmon and VileDevimon no longer live here. They moved a year ago to the continent of Server."

There was a moment of silence. Mikara then yelled, "Then why didn't you tell us?"

"Hm? Oh, well, I am…hm-hm, how old am I?…oh, yes, I'm five thousand years old. Hm…I have a very short memory span."

"We can tell," Riku said curtly.

Jijimon ignored her. "Come," he said. "Airdramon will fly you to Server."

—————

Four days passed as the Tamers flew to Server. Those who were afraid of heights were happy to land on the fifth day. The Tamers said farewell to Airdramon, who flew back to File Island, and continued on their quest. After walking across a field, they reached high cliff walls.

"Oh great," Riki muttered. "How are we going to get up there?"

"Beats me," said Jessie. "I know some of our Digimon can fly or climb up, but I'm not so sure about us. I could scale maybe twenty feet, but this is probably twenty yards!"

Lina peered at the top of a cliff wall, shielding her eyes from the sun. "We have to find some way up. Come on—let's start climbing. Our Digimon can help too."

So the Tamers, none of them expert mountain climbers, started up the cliff wall. Their Digimon helped them along the way, flapping their wings or digging their claws in the rock. They were, however, getting nowhere.

"This is useless!" Riku cried, hanging onto Petalmon's vines. "There's no way we can climb this wall!"

A sudden rumbling noise diverted the Tamers' attention. The cliff wall shook violently and split straight in the middle.

"Wha…what's going on?" Josh screamed, clinging to the cliff face.

A purple digital stream erupted from the gap in the cliff and followed the wind, heading east. The stream hit Riki, Compass, Jessie, Daiki, Riku, and their Digimon and sucked them into the sky. The other five Tamers clung onto the western cliff face.

"Rikuuuu! Come baaack!" Lina cried, knowing that her friend could not hear her.