Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. For those of you who haven't read the Lord of the Rings (an excellent series I highly recommend), there are three books, and each book is split in half, each called a book (veterans of the actual novels know what I mean), so I'm calling this part Book II because of that.
Thank you for the reviews, and I'll try to get to the end of book IV before the next movie comes out.
***
Takato dreamed. He thought he saw faces. The angel's face, as he had first saw her, and an old man, or was it a young man? Davis, his mother, his father.
It was so peaceful, without the shadows that had been plaguing him recently.
Unfortunately, a giant red thing intruded itself into his vision.
***
Takato opened his eyes, to find Guilmon nuzzling him, like a common dog. Then again, he did always call Guilmon "boy", so in a strange way, it made sense.
He sat up, and found he was in a very soft bed, with white sheets, and Guilmon seemed perfectly safe, so he assumed this was Rivendell. Hell would be filled with sock puppets.
Napping in a corner in a chair, with his staff leaning against the wall, was Davis, looking none the worse for wear.
"Davis?" Takato asked, and was annoyed that his voice cracked. His voice hadn't cracked since he was a teenager.
Davis jerked awake. "Kari?" he asked dazedly, and then rubbed his eyes. "Oh, Takato, you're finally awake."
"Finally?" Takato asked, glad his voice was recovering. "How long have I been out?"
"Almost a week after Gennai fixed you up," Davis said, yawning. "Man, you're made of tougher stuff than even your old man. He said that a piece of the knife had been stuck in there, and it was digging deeper towards your heart. A little longer, and you would've been a walking shadow."
Takato shivered at the mere thought of that fate.
"But the old geezer managed to dig it out, so you should be fine now," Davis concluded, clapping his hands together and standing up, and also waking up Veemon who had been napping by the foot of the bed.
"Five more minutes, mom," Veemon murmured.
Takato sweatdropped. "I think he's been hanging around you too
much." His face turned serious again as
he remembered something. "Davis,
what happened to you? How come you
didn't meet us in Bree?"
Davis grimaced, but he was surprised (and relieved) that Takato's face showed more curiosity than accusation.
"Takato, there are many powers in the world. And they all have a pecking order. Let's just say a power higher above me in the pecking order got mad at me, and nearly killed me. I barely arrived here at Rivendell a day before you did."
"Wow, who could do that to you?" Takato asked.
"Don't ask," Davis growled in a tone that said back off.
Takato rose up out of the bed, and stumbled, but Guilmon quickly helped him back up and he walked towards the balcony of the room.
He stepped outside to view paradise.
He was in a valley, but there was green as far as the eye could see, with quaint houses scattered here and there. The place he was in was a mansion with intricate carvings, and an ancient feeling to it.
Takato felt a buzz by his hip, and saw his Digivice was still there.
"You are in the house of Gennai, Elf Lord," Davis said, a serious tone in his voice as he stepped out to stand beside Takato. Takato noted he was holding his staff, and looked very solemn.
Davis stood looking at the scenery for a moment, before turning to Takato. "Want to take a tour of this place?"
***
Takato was amazed by all the sights of the palace, as he saw fountains, statues, gold, silver.
When he had reached the first floor, he had been greeted with lots of cheering and crying as Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta had mobbed him.
Davis had handed them over to a tall Elf maiden, who had offered to show the four humans around, and Kazu and Kenta had been quite happy about the change. Davis in the meanwhile, had gone off to talk to somebody else.
***
"You're sure," Gennai asked, in his young form, as he handed Davis a drink in his private chambers.
Davis nodded. "Myotismon got to Kari with a Dark Seed, and she's gone evil, and is now loyal to Lucemon."
Gennai paced around the room as Davis went into greater detail of his escape from Isengard.
"This is very bad," Gennai said. "With the lost of Isengard, and Kari herself, our forces are diminished, and theirs quite increased."
Gennai looked out the window, where Kazu and Kenta were examining another of the pools, as a servant was throwing salty nuts to the fish.
"A thousand years ago, we could've destroyed the Hazard Digivice," Gennai said sadly, regret in his voice. "I wish Taichi had just destroyed it, but I think the temptation of the Digivice was a bit too much for even him."
Davis shrugged. "I didn't get here til after that happened, but Tai doesn't seem so bad."
'Tai has many memories, and the guilt of Taichi weighs on him much," Gennai said. "But that is the past, this is the present, and we have the Hazard Digivice sitting here in the middle of Rivendell, and you know what that means."
"Lucemon's coming over for dinner?" Davis quipped.
"Yes," Gennai said. "We must get the Hazard Digivice out of here fast. And that requires a council of war. The Third Age is almost over, and I'm just about ready to retire and return over the sea. The other races must own up to their destinies and defeat Lucemon."
***
While Takato enjoyed the company of his friends, many more peoples arrived at the central mansion of Gennai, where no spies of Lucemon could peek in.
Matt Ishida of Odaiba, representing the men who still guarded against Lucemon and Mordor, and who were the first (and last) line of defense against his hordes.
Janyuu Wong and his children, Henry and Suzie, of the Technomages, from the Lonely Mountain, where Takato's father had helped slay Dragomon.
They, and many others, all arrived, eager for news of the upcoming war. Gennai and Davis presided over the conference, and they met on one of the outside pavilions of Gennai's mansion.
All told, there were about 20 people there, including Takato, with all of their partner Digimon standing (sleeping in Guilmon's case) respectfully behind the chair.
Gennai stood up, in his old form (he said it was more impressive for this sort of thing), to start the meeting, even though some of the Elvish representatives weren't there yet, but before he could say anything, a loud voice intruded on the gathering.
"You are not making me go out in this, this thing!" came a semi-familiar voice from the hallway outside, and Takato leaned forward to see who it was.
His memory clicked just as a very attractive Elvish lady, in a tightfitting, sparkling dress (the types you see Galadriel and Arwen wear in the movies), being pushed out by another, older Elf with blond hair.
"Mother," Rika hissed, "I'm am not going to a council looking like-" Rika suddenly seemed to notice that she was in the full view of everybody, and hastily turned, around, and gave a formal bow.
Kazu and Kenta, hiding in the bushes, were drooling at the sight of Rika, especially since her mother, the blond woman, had made Rika let down her hair.
Rika took her seat, along with her mother, Rumiko, her expression ice cold.
Takato, though most of the time he didn't really have an interest in girls, couldn't help but stare at the beautiful Elf maiden. Problem was she noticed, and a quick glare in his direction made him snap his eyes back to the head of their council.
Gennai cleared his throat. "Now that the last members of our little group are here, then we may begin.
"To summarize, we are in deep trouble. Lucemon is awake again, and his armies are growing. Hikari Kamiya has fallen to the dark side, courtesy of a Dark Seed, and now, after all this time, the Hazard Digivice has reappeared, in the middle of a nowhere country."
Takato scowled at Gennai calling Shinjuku that, but he had to admit that Shinjuku was pretty far away from all of the battles and such.
Gennai looked towards
Takato. "Will you please show them the
Hazard Digivice Takato?"
Takato didn't like it that they kept calling his Digivice the Hazard Digivice, but a quick nod from Davis, and Takato placed the Digivice in the middle of the table.
In the afternoon sun, the red and white metal of it gleamed as many eyes examined it.
Matt clenched his fist as he stared at it, visions of victory filling his head. "This is destiny!" he shouted as he stood up and addressed the assembled. "We will win, and now, when we need help the most, we get the most powerful Digivice ever created!"
"The only problem is that it is too powerful," Tai said, halting Matt's speech. "It won't work for us," Tai said, pointing at the Digivice.
"Then how do you explain that?!" Matt asked, pointing at Takato, and the sleeping Guilmon.
Takato shrugged. "I don't know."
"What Tai is trying to say," Gennai cut in, "is that if you mean to use it at full power, the power to rip apart mountains, it'll totally corrupt you. This boy is just using it as a normal D-Arc Digivice. However, if he keeps using it for too long, it will eventually consume him."
Takato stiffened, but tried to keep his fear hidden. He had the uncomfortable feeling that someone was enjoying watching him squirm, and he glanced out the corner of his eye to see an amused smirk on Rika's face.
And he had called her an angel?! He must've been delirious. Well, he was at the time, but that's not the point.
"Anyway," Gennai continued. "We have several choices. Hide the Hazard Digivice, but Lucemon will eventually be able to sense where it is, and then we're in trouble if it is still here. It is said that some of the older Dramons could've melted a Digivice of Power…"
Tai and Davis both stood up with eager expressions.
Gennai shot them a glare that made both of them sit down again. "No, neither of your Digimon, even at their highest forms could do it yet.
"As I was saying, some of the older Dragon Digimon could've melted a Digivice of Power, but not even Dragomon could've destroyed this Digivice. It is the largest concentration of darkness, chaos, and raw power on this earth. If we are to destroy it, there is but one place.
"Reaper Mountain."
That drew many gasps from the assembled. "That's in the middle of Mordor," Janyuu said worriedly. "There are many sensors, traps, and hordes of wandering dark Digimon. I don't think an army could break through."
"But a small party could," Tai objected. "Lucemon's defenses have always been aimed at beating back hundreds of defenders. A small group of ten or so could sneak through."
"And I suppose you have personal experience with wasting warriors attacking Mordor, huh?" Matt shot back bitterly.
Takato couldn't be sure, but he sensed some deeper insult in the comment, and he saw Tai flinch.
"So, you think we should send a few people on a suicide mission into the center of the enemy's homeland?" Rika asked, speaking for the first time.
Tai nodded. "It's
our only chance."
Rika gave a predator's smile. "I like it. And I volunteer to be one of the members."
"What?" Rumiko cried, shocked, but a quick glare from her daughter quieted her. Takato saw them exchange a glance that said "Later."
Gennai nodded. "The fate of the earth rests on the success of this mission, so representatives from each race should be present."
Matt stepped forward. "So be it. I have journeyed far from Odaiba, for the sole purpose of getting aid for our fight, but if this will decide the fate of Odaiba, I must go."
Henry glanced at his father, and with his assenting nod. "I will stand for the Techno-mages. We have had envoys from Lucemon coming recently, and they have been getting more and more insistent lately. We will stand with you."
"Worse yet, they threatened to cut off our candy supply from Lake Town," Terriermon added, and Henry said "Terriermon!" irritably.
Gennai held up a hand as more people were rising. "I shall decide on the party myself in private. Before we adjourn, does anybody else have any news?"
"Yes," Rika added. "Shouldn't we get a new bearer for the Hazard Digivice? This boy wouldn't last a week in the Wilderness."
"Hey!" Takato shouted indignantly. "I did fine on the way here!"
"Aside from that mortal wound you mean?" Rika smirked. "The one Renamon and I had to rescue you from?"
"Renamon?" Takato asked. "Who's she?"
"I am her partner Digimon," a voice said in his ear, and he jumped as he suddenly realized a tall yellow fox Digimon had appeared right behind him.
Rika continued smirking. "Like I said, he is just a simple human. He cannot be trusted with the burden of carrying the Hazard Digivice."
"I don't think we have a choice," Davis interrupted, and all eyes turned towards him as he stepped up. "Takato Matsuki wasn't born with a Digivice, an extreme rarity, but instead received this Digivice from his father, where he acquired it on an adventure I shared with him."
Davis' eyes clouded for a moment as he recalled fond memories, but quickly got back to the present. "I think it is Takato's destiny to hold this Digivice, and to decide its fate."
"We make our own destiny," Rika said defiantly.
"Well, yes," Davis conceded. "Besides, I don't think it would let anybody else but Takato carry it."
Rika snorted. "Yeah, like it has a mind of its own."
She stepped forward, and grabbed for the D-Arc, but to everybody's great surprise she cried out as the Digivice glowed with power, and she was thrown back into her seat. Guilmon suddenly awoke, and ran to stand between Rika and the Digivice on the table.
Rika struggled back to her feet, snarling. "What was that?"
Davis shrugged. "I guess it doesn't like you very much."
There was another problem as Guilmon seemed to be advancing on Rika and Renamon.
Renamon stood in front of Rika protectively. "Guilmon, what is with you? It's me, Kyuubimon remember?"
Guilmon slowed, but Renamon still stayed on her guard. The look in Guilmon's eyes was completely bestial, a primal instinct that no Rookie should have.
Before Guilmon could go any further, Takato was by his side, pulling Guilmon back physically.
"Sorry, about that," Takato apologized, as he strained with Guilmon. "He gets like that sometimes."
Renamon, remembering a conversation from earlier, said "Guilmon, we have barrels of peanut butter here!"
Everybody stared at her. "What?"
She sweatdropped. "Sorry, I thought it would-"
She stopped when she noticed that Takato was no longer struggling with Guilmon, as Guilmon seemed to shift from a feral dinosaur to a cute overgrown baby.
"Peanut butter? Where?!" he shouted eagerly, tackling Renamon, and lying on top of her.
Renamon pointed to her right. "That way."
"Oh boy!" Guilmon shouted excitedly before running down the stairs, and from the yells, towards the kitchen.
Takato slapped his head.
"There he goes again."
He raced off after his partner, but then he came back, and quickly pocketed his Digivice. "Sorry, I'll try to stop him before he causes too much damage!"
Everybody couldn't help but stare stunned at the odd occurrences that had just happened.
Rika was the one who broke the silence. She looked up at Renamon and asked "Peanut butter?"
Renamon just shrugged. "He said earlier that he liked peanut butter."
Davis coughed. "Though this is all very interesting, I think we have two very important things to do- first, let's leave Gennai so he can think, and two, we'd better go stop Guilmon before he devours the entire kitchen."
Another crash punctuated his statement, along with Takato's frantic cry.
As the various races dispersed, Rika stomped off to find the nearest dressing room where she could change back into her comfortable Elvish cloak and riding clothes instead of the ridiculous dress her mother had pulled out from somewhere.
***
After the rest of the council members had left, Gennai, Tai, and Davis headed into another room.
"Tai, will you be going with them on this journey?" Gennai asked as he headed towards a locked chest.
Tai nodded. "A thousands years ago, Taichi made a huge mistake, and I still have to fix it."
Davis slapped his head. "That was another life Tai! So what if you made mistakes-"
Tai whirled around and grabbed Davis by the front of his shirt. "Mistakes?! You don't know the kind of mistakes I made! First, I lost Sora to Yamato, then; I didn't melt that damn Digivice down when I had the chance!"
"Now, calm down Tai," Gennai said, as he continued rummaging inside the chest he had just unlocked. "Davis doesn't need another life-threatening situation after he just barely got away from Kari."
Tai dropped Davis as his mind turned to other matters. "I can't believe they got my little sister! That Myotismon is definitely going to die! Again! And this time I'll make sure he stays dead!"
Davis calmly fixed his clothes, and then spoke up. "What I wanna know how do we make her good again?"
Gennai, who had moved from searching the chest to his closet, said "That is a good question. Kari bore the most holy of all the crests, Light itself, so we'll be hard-pressed to find a holy power strong enough to purify her. Only Hope is on par with Light. At least right now it is."
Gennai looked at Davis at that moment, and Davis suddenly found the floor very interesting.
"Anyways," Gennai continued, as he threw more stuff out of his closet, "Tai will definitely be going, and I assume you're going too, Davis?"
Davis nodded. "I dragged Takato into this whole thing, so I'm going to see this to the end."
"Speaking of Takato," Gennai said, as he threw a rubber ducky out of the closet that nearly hit Tai's hair, "what do we do with him? Let him keep the Digivice, or take it away from him?"
Davis shook his head. "I'm not sure we should take it away from him. It is his Digivice now, and he can use it quite ably."
"He does have a point," Tai agreed. "He is able to wield it, and his Digimon, Guilmon, can be pretty dangerous if he wants to be."
Gennai paused for a moment in his searching, and then nodded. "I guess you're right. If everything Davis told me about the boy is true, then perhaps it is his destiny to rid us of the Hazard."
Both goggleboys agreed, and then Gennai gave a shout of happiness when he found what he was looking for, and pulled out a long box, emblazoned with a sun on it.
He stood up and turned towards Tai. "Taichi Yagami, do you accept your destiny as the Digidestined of Courage?" he asked solemnly.
The other two blinked at the sudden serious behavior but Tai nodded. "Yes, I accept."
"Then take up your destined weapon," Gennai said as he opened the box, showing an intricately carved sword. The sword was over three feet long, and the golden hilt was shaped like a Wargreymon head.
Tai took up the sword, and swung it around once or twice, and was amazed at how light it was.
"When AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon fell, they left behind several relics in the dust. This sword was one of them," Gennai explained, as Tai slid it into his belt. "It was meant for the Digidestined of Courage, who has always had strong ties with the Greymon line. And remember Tai, though you are the reincarnation of Taichi, but that doesn't mean your fate will be the same as his."
Tai growled, but nodded grudgingly. "I hope so."
"So," Davis said, tapping his staff impatiently against the floor. "Who is going to go with us on our little picnic into Mordor?"
Gennai put his hand to his chin as he thought. "Let's see, your main foes on the road will be the Nine Lords. We know Impmon isn't at full power yet, though he can still cause ample trouble, but Piedmon and Myotismon are already at battle strength, and we know that means that there are at least two others wandering around if they're that bold already."
"Wargreymon can handle them," Tai said confidently.
"And if he can't Imperialdramon can," Davis said, backing up Tai.
Gennai sighed at the exuberance of the goggleboys. "No, you would put up a good fight, and then you would die. If you are going to survive at least until you reach the borders of Mordor, you're going to need more than just two Mega Digimon."
"So who else do you think should go with us?" Tai asked.
Gennai thought for a moment. "I might send a few of the council members to Odaiba, but by a separate route. They shouldn't be bothered by any of the dark Digimon if they appear as just random travelers. Shibumi is already on his way to the citadel in Odaiba, and Janyuu will probably join him. I've heard that their current steward, Yamaki, is one of the best geniuses mankind has ever produced.
"Nine people should set out. Nine is a lucky number after all, and you will be the Nine Digidestined set against the Nine Black Lords. Takato and his friends are already four, and you two will make six, leaving room for three more. Matt will probably want to join you, and I have another item for him too, so he will be a powerful member, since his Digimon can easily match Wargreymon. Young Henry Wong is one of the rising stars of the Techno-mages, and his Terriermon, though annoying, can biomerge with him. And I think Rika Nonaka will make a good final choice, especially as she already volunteered."
Tai groaned. "We
have to travel halfway around the world with her?! Do you know what she
does to anybody who makes her mad?"
Gennai held up a hand to stop Tai. "Yes, I know that she isn't the nicest person
in the world, but an Elf should be there, and you'd be hard-pressed to find
another Elf more suited to go. We were
never the most warlike of races, but she likes
war, so she'll be willing to go."
Tai slapped himself in the head. "Yeah sure, whatever."
Davis gave a weak smile. "Well, look at the bright side."
"What bright side?"
"Gennai could've decided to send both Rika and Ryo on this trip."
Tai winced. "We wouldn't make it to the Drive Pass before she would try to kill him."
Gennai clapped his hands once. "Now that that's decided, let's go gather your party to tell them the good news. You may rest here for a few days, but in one week, you should go before the enemy gets wind of our plans."
***
Kari strode into her throne room, which had recently been 'renovated' by the duel between her and Davis.
On a pedestal in the center, an orb sat, crystal clear, until a rather angelic face appeared it.
"Hikari, report."
Kari bowed once quickly. "Lord Lucemon, Davis was able to escape, but his power is diminished."
"I am surprised that the Digidestined of Light was not able to defeat a mere second generation Digidestined. Especially when she is surrounded by Dark Towers."
Kari's hand tightened around her staff, but that was her only sign of frustration. "His Golden Armor Digimon was able to thwart my efforts to exterminate him."
"No matter, he most likely will be journeying with my Digivice's carrier, until the brat carries it back to me, and then my resurrection will be at hand. I will be sending out my Royal Knights to intercept him, and, Hikari, if you wish to truly serve me, I want you to create the most powerful warriors this Middle-Earth has ever seen."
Lucemon's face was covered once again by his wings before the image faded again.
Kari stood there for a moment, before she stomped to a lower level, the enslaved BlackSeraphimon following her.
"If he wants a bunch of super-powerful Digimon, I'll give it to him," Kari said as she stared at the 20 statues in the room. "I'm sure the Ancient Digimon wouldn't like their Spirits being used like this, but since they haven't moved in the last century, I'm sure they won't mind, don't you agree, BlackSeraphimon?"
The fallen angel didn't reply, and just followed her as she left the room. Kari snapped at a Black Ring wearing Bakemon "Bring me all the dead human bodies you can find!"
***
Tai stood in the twilight of the day, just enjoying the peace. Tai had grown up in Rivendell, and feared that this might be the last time he would ever be here.
"Penny for your thoughts?" a voice asked from behind him, and Tai looked behind him, and then did a double take.
There stood Sora, wearing a white dress, showing very little skin, but still hinting at many curves. Tai could count the number of times Sora had worn that kind of dress on one hand, so this was definitely an important event.
"What's the occasion?" Tai asked, trying to keep his eyes to himself- and failing.
"I know that you're going to go on the quest to destroy the Digivice," Sora said, walking towards him. "I know that you're going to be facing temptation, and I just wanted to see you off before you left."
Tai stood and turned away. "We already went through this a thousand years ago, so I don't think we need to do this again, do you?"
Sora sighed. "Tai, that was another lifetime ago. I chose Yamato a thousand years ago, but a thousand years changes a lot of thing."
"I saw the way you were looking at Matt," Tai said, before his voice softened. "I thought we might've had a chance, but I don't want to stand in your way Sora-"
Tai was surprised when Sora's arms wrapped around him, and she leaned her head on his back.
"Tai, just because we're reincarnations doesn't mean history has to repeat itself. I loved Yamato, but I loved you first but…"
"I was too damned scare," Tai said and snorted derisively. "Me, the Chosen of Courage."
"We're only human, Tai," Sora corrected. "And having Courage doesn't mean that you can't feel fear, you just have to overcome it."
Sora paused for a moment, a moment that Tai wanted to go on forever, because it was perfect, with Sora there…
"Tai, I think that if I had chosen you, then you would've had the willpower to destroy the Hazard Digivice a thousand years ago," Sora said quietly.
Tai winced. "So, to
make sure that this time that I don't go power-mad, you'll say you love me?"
Sora shook her head, and turned Tai around slowly so
they were facing each other now.
"No Tai," she said firmly. "Because I don't want to lose you again. I made a mistake last time,
a mistake that had repercussions for all of Middle-Earth. I was tired of waiting, and decided to take the next best thing."
"My best friend."
Sora nodded guiltily. "Tai, please, I've lived for nearly a thousand years regretting that decision, not because of what you did afterwards, but because I missed my best friend."
"Only your best friend?"
"And my true love," Sora said, her eyes watering just a little.
Tai couldn't help himself, as he leaned his head down, and for just a moment they shared a brief kiss before he pulled away.
"I'm sorry Sora, but I can't," he said. "Not yet. Not when I'm going to leave soon."
"I'll wait for you," she said. "I've waited a thousand years, I can wait a few more months. Besides, I'm not going to just stay here and sew either."
"What about Matt?" Tai asked, his voice hardening.
Sora nodded sadly. "I don't want to hurt him, but, the spark between us died. He's still the same Yamato, but I just don't have any love for him anymore. Friendship, yes, but not love. I just hope he understands."
"Sora, the Elves are leaving, once this war is over, for better or for worse, the ago of the Elves will be over. Whether you want to or not, you can't stay here."
"Not unless I give up my immortality," Sora said.
Tai whirled around, surprised. "Sora! You cant' do that, not just for me!"
"Yes, just for you," Sora said resolutely. "I promised myself that if we ever met again, here, in this mortal plane, that I would stay with you as long as possible, even if I had to stay behind when the others left."
"Sora…" Tai stirred into her eyes, and they almost kissed again, before Tai pulled back. "Sora, I promise, after this is over, I will, will, do something! I'm not sure what, but I will do it, and not just stand by like before."
"Tai…" Sora reached for him, and Tai gently took her hands.
"Sora, with someone like you here, I will come back!" he said confidently.
Sora laughed. "Who said I'm going to stay here? I'm going to fight too, after all, I'm a Chosen too."
Tai stroked her pointed ears. "Sora… I love-"
Sora placed a finger on his lips. "You said later, Tai. But just to give you a little motivation…"
The two locked lips once again, two crests shining beneath clothes.
A little away from them, a blond warrior watched grimly.
***
Takato, being the curious young human Tamer that he was, had decided to explore. He would've been exploring with his other friends, but Jeri had made many friends among the Elves already, so he hadn't wanted to bother her. Kazu and Kenta weren't suited for the quiet type of wandering he wanted to do. Guilmon came along with him, of course, but he was pretty quiet, considering the huge amount of bread he had ingested earlier.
He had entered a part of Gennai's house that seemed very ancient, and was deserted.
He passed by a room, and then backtracked as he spotted something inside.
"Whoa," he gasped, as he stepped inside and walked towards the podium at the center, where two weapons rested. A long white lance, with red trim, and a wide circular shield with a star symbol in the middle.
He picked them, and was surprised that they were so light. "Hey, Guilmon, I wonder what these could do?" Takato asked, turning towards his Digimon, but was surprised to see that the red dino was sniffing at a corner.
"Hey boy, what is it?" he asked, walking over, still carrying the weapons.
Guilmon's head was moving around, and then he seemed to swat a claw at empty air, but Takato heard a distinctive impact as he hit something.
He was very startled when a tall yellow fox Digimon appeared.
"Found you!" Guilmon shouted happily. "Wow, you're good at 'Hide and Seek.' Want to play again?"
Takato realized that the fox Digimon was the partner of the redheaded Elf he had seen at the council earlier. At the moment, she was looking rather irked.
"How did you find me?" she asked, eyes narrowing as she stared the red dino.
"I smelled you out, though it was hard," Guilmon said, pointing at his large nose.
The fox turned her head towards Takato. "And what, may I ask, are you doing with those?"
Takato looked down at the lance and shield he had picked up earlier, and was surprised that now they were smaller. Almost a perfect fit for him now, instead of a six foot tall guy.
"If I were you, I would put those back," said another voice, and Takato jumped as he looked towards a shadowed corner, and saw one of the shadows there rise. For a moment, he tensed, but relaxed when he saw that it was a just a person wearing a cloak. The voice sounded familiar now that he thought about it…
"Hey, you're that girl, Rika, from earlier!" Takato exclaimed, as the Elf pulled down her cloak showing the spiked ponytail. "The one that saved me!"
"Yeah, so?" she asked, as she stepped into the dim sunlight that lit up the center of the room.
"Well, I never got a chance to say thank you," Takato said, giving one of his hyper-genki smiles.
Rika waved his thanks away. "Whatever. I couldn't very well just take your Digivice and leave you dying there."
Takato scowled. "Will everybody stop trying to take it? I mean, it doesn't seem so dangerous now, right?"
"Now, right," Rika said, "but an ambitious Digimon could use to easily digivolve to Mega if he wanted to."
Takato blinked. "Really? Whoa…" He put down the shield, and pulled out his Digivce from where it had hung on his belt. "Never knew it could do that. But another thing I want to know is why it keeps shocking people. It definitely didn't like Piedmon, and I don't know why it shocked you."
Rika glared at the D-Arc. "I'm not the authority on Digivices, but if I had to take a wild guess, it's a security device."
"Security device?"
Rika nodded. "Yeah. For some reason I can't fathom, it's decided that it wants you, and only you to be carrying it- back to Lucemon it seems."
Rika reached towards him, and Takato instinctively pulled back his Digivice, remembering their earlier altercation, but she instead just picked up the shield, and walked towards the center and put it back in its original place.
"Will you put that lance back before someone finds you touching something you shouldn't?" she asked, pointing towards the remaining weapon.
"Come on, don't tell this is another thing that can cause the end of the world," Takato, pointing the lance upward so he didn't accidentally impale her or something.
"Not quite, but that was the weapon of the Royal Knight Dukemon, one of the followers of Lucemon," Rika said.
Takato blinked. "Royal Knight? But I thought they were the good guys!"
"Royal Knights usually are."
"Then how come he was on Lucemon's side?"
Rika sighed. "Don't you know any history gogglehead?"
"Sorry, they didn't cover evil Digimon who want to take over the world in my high school history class," Takato said sarcastically.
"Okay, this is the story," Rika said, sitting down on a step. "Lucemon is, or rather was, an angel Digimon from over the sea, where the Four Holy Beasts still dwell supposedly. Originally, the high Elves and Humans both came from there too, and later on, a few more angel Digimon came, like Seraphimon, Ophanimon, Cherubimon. Lucemon was their leader, and was extremely powerful, even though he was only a Rookie. As the head of the holy Digimon, he had several Royal Knights personally serving him, including Dukemon. The other two Knights came from over the sea with him, but they say Lucemon may have created Dukemon somehow after he arrived here.
"Anyways, Lucemon was a nice 'mon in the beginning, but then he started liking his power a bit too much, and didn't like how the world was developing, so he decided to start enforcing a totalitarian state, with him at the head of it. He learned the secrets of the Digivices from a couple of my ancestors, and then made his own- the one you're holding now. Several of his original holy Digimon followers split off from him after that, like the Three Great Angels. The two other Royal Knights, RhodoKnightmon and Dynasmon stayed loyal to him, even after he started slaughtering Digimon. But Dukemon opposed him, and tried to fight him when he first showed his corrupt nature publicly, while he was holding court with several other races. He tried to convince Lucemon to give up his insane goal- and then the other two Megas shot him in the back for 'treason.' Delusional fools.
"After that, the Elves present managed to recover his weapons, the Garm lance and the Aegis shield, before Lucemon went totally berserk, and started the Great War. They've been kept as a keepsake until hopefully one day, Dukemon gets reborn somewhere, so he can reclaim them."
"Do they still work?" Takato asked, swinging the lance around once or twice. Strange, he thought, this seems almost familiar…
Rika snorted. "Nope, and believe me, I've tried," she said. "Anyway, you should put that back. 'Playing with holy weapons is not nice'," she said in a mocking tone, as if she were imitating someone else. "'Holding those horrid things could break your nails.'" Rika scoffed at an old memory of hers.
"I wonder what his attack was," Takato mused, as he swung the lance around once more. "What would sound cool? Hmm…"
"Come on, gogglehead, drop it," she urged as she stood up again and walked towards him as Takato reluctantly gave up the lance.
The redhead Elf placed the item back on the pedestal, and then walked towards the exit. "I'd advise you not to come here again," she said over her shoulder, as Renamon loyally followed her. "Sometimes the Elven guards can be rather jumpy."
She smirked when she heard a yelp from behind her coming from the gogglehead.
Takato looked around nervously after Rika left, checking that there was no one else there.
"Hey, boy," he called towards Guilmon, who trotted over to him. "How many people have been here recently?"
Guilmon sniffed at the air. "Well, aside from Rika and Renamon, nobody but us."
"Do you know how often they come here?" Takato asked.
Guilmon sniffed a bit more, and then leaned closer to the ground before answering. "They came today, and the last time before was about three weeks."
Takato nodded and looked towards Garm and Aegis. "Well, I'm sure nobody will really miss these two…"
***
Kari strode through the labs of the Isengard tower, filled with enough computers to make even Izzy happy. And when Izzy had been there, he had been happy. The room had been one of Izzy's main labs, but when Kari had forcefully 'evicted' him from her stronghold, he had left behind much of his data.
A group of Datamon, with an Ebemon overseeing them, all wearing Dark Spirals, were taking notes around a large pool filled with a strange liquid.
"Report," she barked. The Ebemon came over to her, and bowed once. "Lady Hikari, we are almost ready with the first finished product."
"How does he look so far?" Kari asked, the sound of her black staff tapping on the floor eerily loud in the laboratory.
"Well, as predicted, the Hybrid will be powerful, because of the fusion of the human body with the item, but we are unsure how much of the consciousness will be retained by the original human. Reanimation is always a tricky business."
"How powerful will he be?" Kari asked, as they stopped in front of a smaller tank.
"Our projections show that he will be somewhere between a Champion and an Ultimate in strength, similar to how an Armor Digimon is a variation from the normal evolution line," Ebemon said. "But he will be far closer to an Ultimate's strength than an Armor usually is."
"Excellent," Kari said, before noting the troubled expression on the Mega Digimon's face. "And the catch is?"
Ebemon gulped, before saying, "Well, as you know, the Spirit's are the representatives of the Ten Ancient Digimon, and the Elements. Also, each element has two parts, a human element, and a beast element. Our Hybrid's primary form will be the Human form, as the Beast Spirit is very primal, and there will be a short adjustment period, during which, the Hybrid will go berserk.
"The problem is that, depending on the environment, their strength can vary. We think that for nine of the ten spirits, the absence of their particular element doesn't lower their strength significantly. But the spirit of darkness is far more susceptible to this. For instance, in a light-filled room, the spirit of Darkness barely gives off any energy, but when there is a large absence of light, it arguably becomes the most powerful of all the Spirits of that level."
Kari glared at him. "Are you telling me that if someone shines a spotlight on him, the Warrior of Darkness will be helpless?"
Ebemon hesitated, then said "Basically, yes."
Kari stalked over to the vat holding the human form of the spirit of darkness. "Well, we can't have that. Ebemon, can the spirits be remolded?"
"With our resources, no," Ebemon said. "If we gave any particular spirit a huge infusion of their element, it is possible that they would mutate, but whether the mutation would be an improvement or not is unknown."
"Well, then let's see how much Darkness this Spirit can take," Kari said, smiling maliciously as her raised staff glowed with dark power before shooting a dark beam of intense power at the spirit.
Its screams made everybody in the room, save for Kari and BlackSeraphimon, shiver.
***
"Now, son, I want you to be careful. Hopefully I'll see you in Odaiba," Janyuu said to his son, as Henry hefted an axe.
"You'll bring back Terriermon, right?" Suzie questioned as she stared up at her older brother.
"Don't worry, we'll make it back, I promise," Henry said as he laid a hand reassuringly on Suzie's shoulder.
"Momentai, Suzie!" Terriermon said from his perch on Henry's shoulder. "After all, we're just going into the center of the stronghold of the most evil guy since-"
"Terriermon!" Henry said, seeing Suzie's hopes were crashing at Terriermon's words.
"I will be back," Henry promised once again, before turning away, and heading for the gate of Rivendell.
He was so busy trying to walk away quickly, before Suzie could stop him, or before Terriermon could say something worse, he crashed into somebody walking around the corner.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Henry immediately apologized as he hurried to help the other person pick up their stuff.
"That's okay," she said, as she finished putting the rest of her stuff away. She stood up again, and Henry noticed that she was quite pretty- for a non- techno-mage of course. The techno-mages usually went through a bit of genetic modification before they were born, so though they weren't quite as numerous as normal humans, they made up for it in genetic potential.
She held out a hand. "I'm Jeri Katou," she introduced herself.
Henry took her hand and shook, nodding. "Right, one of Takato's friends that were coming along on the quest."
She nodded happily, glad that he remembered her. They started walking out of Gennai's mansion, when Henry noticed that her pack was rather large.
"What's all that stuff for?" he asked, pointing at her bulging knapsack.
She blushed in embarrassment. "Well, you see, you remember Guilmon right?"
"The peanut butter obsessed Rookie Digimon that nearly attacked Rika?"
Jeri nodded. "Well, since we're going on an extended journey, we're packing a lot of bread for him. If Guilmon doesn't get some bread every day, he's, well, it won't be a pretty sight."
Henry nodded, and then noticed the Digivice at Jeri's belt.
"Where you'd get that Digivice from?" he asked reaching for it, until Jeri slapped his hand away.
"No touching," she admonished, and Henry didn't get it for a few seconds until he noticed Jeri's shorts, and then he started blushing.
"Well, could I look at your Digivice please?" he asked again.
Jeri shrugged. "Sure" and she detached it and handed it to him.
Henry examined it for a bit, and then took out his own Digivice.
"Hey, you have one of those too!" she said, when she saw Henry's D-Arc.
He nodded, as he continued tapping buttons on Jeri's Digivice. "Hmm, I thought this looked familiar. This was made by Techno-Mages."
"How can you tell?" Jeri asked, blinking.
"Here, hold this," Henry and handed Jeri back her Digivice. "Now hold it up," and the girl did so, and then Henry pulled out a cord from his D-Arc, and connected it to another port in Jeri's Digivice. Lines of binary started scrolling past on the screens of both Digivices.
"What does all that mean?" Jeri asked, the computer language flying past too fast for her to read.
"It says it was made by a Techno-Mage, one of the Lost Digivices actually, though I wonder how it transformed into a D-Arc form."
"Well, we found it back in Shinjuku, in this crypt, and it merged with my original one," Jeri explained.
"You know that this is a Digivice of Power, right?"
"What?" Jeri shook her head. "Do they all look like this?" She had heard Davis' explanation of the Digivices of Power back in Shinjuku, but it had been very vague.
"No, actually the Digivices of Power, or the Prime Digivices as they are more commonly known, can change configurations, its part of what makes them so unique and powerful."
Henry tapped his own D-Arc, and Jeri was startled when it seemed to remold itself, and was suddenly a normal white Digivice.
"You have a Prime Digivice too?" she asked.
Henry nodded, and then smiled wistfully. "Most of the Prime Digivices have been lost over the centuries, in fact, the Techno-Mages only have two of the original Seven, and an ally holds another one, but I think this is one of the lost ones. Did you see if any other Digivices like yours were there?"
"Well, Kazu and Kenta also got ones just like this," she said nervously.
Henry blinked. "All of you had your Digivices assimilated?"
"Uh, yeah," Jeri said uncertainly.
Henry frowned in deep thought. "Gennai said that things were coming to a head, and if almost all of our lost Digivices have been found, by the close friends of the Bearer of the Hazard Digivice, then I really hope the deck is stacked in our favor- cause even with all these Digivices, Lucemon still has an advantage in raw power."
"Uh, wouldn't you want them back?" Jeri asked timidly.
Henry thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "Nah, you guys can keep them. But I don't advise telling any other Techno-Mages. My family has always been more tolerant of the other races, but quite a few of our number look down on the other races, especially the humans, and wouldn't be happy about hearing mere humans holding some of our races' oldest and most powerful relics."
Jeri nodded, and smiled at Henry. "Thanks."
Henry found himself blushing, and quickly turned his head away. "Uh, no problem," he mumbled, as he walked ahead.
"Ya know, Henry, for a human, she's pretty cute," Terriermon said, before Henry covered his Digimon's mouth forcefully with his own.
"Terriermon, if you finish that thought, I am throwing out all the candy you snuck into my pack."
"Hey, how'd you find out about that?" Terriermon protested. "Momentai! I'm sure she doesn't mind."
"Yeah, but I do," Henry grumbled.
***
"'Let's see, cards?"
"Check."
"Food?"
"Check!"
"Bread?'
"Mmrph?"
"Guilmon, save some for later, we won't be getting much after this point," Takato pulled the bread away from Guilmon, and stuffed it back into his pack.
"Well, I guess that's everything," Takato said, fastening the latch on his pack. He put the backpack on, and deemed the weight acceptable, and started marching towards the eastern gate.
"Are you going on a quest gogglehead, or a camping trip?" a snide voice asked from behind Takato, and he turned around to see the by now familiar face of Rika Nonaka, Elf, Tamer, and generally not a girl anybody should mess with.
"Well, I'm just trying to be well prepared," Takato said, gesturing at his overstuffed pack. "Guilmon fights best when he has at least a semi-full stomach."
Rika snorted. "No wonder the Digivice chose you, since you're too much of a moron to use it effectively."
"Hey, I can fight just fine!" Takato retorted, his hand going towards his waist and cards.
"Yeah, right," Rika snorted derisively. She looked him over once, and then asked "Aren't you carrying any weapons?"
"Of course I am," Takato said, and shifting his pack a little so that she could now see the sword Tai had given him earlier.
"And how are you going to get to it quickly if we're ambushed?" Rika asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I assume that while we're still near to Rivendell, we'll be safe, and after a few days, this pack is going to be mostly empty anyways, so then I can get it out easily."
Rika rolled her eyes. "Only a gogglehead would come up with that type of logic."
"And what's the big deal about goggles anyway?" Takato asked, adjusting his own set of goggles self-consciously.
"Well, considering two of the most powerful Digidestined wear goggles, and you just incidentally also happen to be wearing goggles, I assume that you also share quite a few traits with them, including arrogance, idiocy, stubbornness, and bullheadedness. And the ability to land in trouble quite often."
Takato frowned. "Hey, I'm not like that, well not all the time."
"Three goggleheads, if we weren't trying to save the world, I wouldn't even be going."
"But I thought you wanted to go?" Takato asked, remembering the Council meeting.
"Sure, I wanted to go, but that was before I found out I would be stuck with Tai Kamiya and Davis Motomiya. There's an unofficial law that those two aren't allowed to be in the same room for an extended period. And add to that fact that Matt Ishida is also joining our little tour group means that this is not going to be a nice vacation."
Takato blinked. "Why?"
Rika looked at him, about to say some scathing comment before remembering where Takato was from. "Never mind, you wouldn't know about it, being from the middle of nowhere."
Takato protested "Hey-" but then dropped it, deciding that there was no way he could change the strong-willed Elf's mind, and that if they just continued on the current subject, he would just lose more face.
Knowing that they were going to be traveling together for quite awhile, Takato tried to change the subject. "Uh, anyways, could you tell me what the big problem with Tai, Davis, and Matt is?"
"What am I, your history teacher?" Rika asked. "But since I don't think anyone, except maybe a certain 'legendary' tamer deserves this kind of treatment, I'll tell you.
"Please pay attention, gogglehead, because I'm only going to say this once. Okay, you know that Taichi defeated Lucemon a thousands years ago?
Takato blinked. "Any relation to Tai?"
"You could say that. Actually, Tai is the reincarnation of Taichi. You do know what a reincarnation is, right?'
A stunned nod from Takato, as he tried to take in the news that and Rika continued. "Anyways, before Taichi went off on the great big crusade against Lucemon, Taichi had a girlfriend named Sora."
"Sora? Is the Sora that was with Tai her reincarnation too?"
"No, that's the same Sora that the original Taichi fell in love with."
"But I thought Taichi lived a thousand years ago" Takato started to say before Rika cut him off.
"Haven't you seen her ears? She's an Elf too, just like me, so a thousand years isn't that long."
Takato eyes were just swirls at all this new information, but was valiantly trying to keep Rika from noticing. Of course, from her satisfied smirk, he wasn't hiding his confusion very well it seemed.
"Does that mean you're a thousand years old too?" Takato asked shakily.
"No, I actually look my age," Rika said, amused. "But don't get any ideas, gogglehead."
And now Takato was also blushing. "What, what gives you that idea?"
"All that stuff you kept muttering about angels earlier," she said. She then frowned as she remembered another mystery. "And you also called me Ruki Makino, the Digimon Queen. Where'd you hear that?"
Takato put a hand to his head, to try to remember the feverish race to Rivendell from Weathertop, but found that most of his memory was blank. He shook his head. "Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Why, I thought your name was Rika?"
"Never mind," Rika said, and to change the subject, she continued with the history lesson. "Anyways, Taichi was in love with Sora, which just about everybody but Sora knew, and same with Sora, with everybody but Taichi in on the little secret. The problem was Taichi couldn't get himself to tell her, and instead ran off to war. When he came back for a little vacation, he found his semi-girlfriend seeing his best friend, Yamato Ishida. Now, Taichi wasn't exactly happy, but he thought Sora was happy, so he then ran off to war again, and actually defeated Lucemon.
"Some say that because Taichi wanted to please Sora, he kept the Hazard Digivice as a trophy, and you probably know what a big mistake that is.
"Now, here where it becomes like a soap opera. Tai is the reincarnation of Taichi, and Matt is the reborn Yamato. Now, after Taichi died, Sora broke it off with Yamato, as it had been mostly done to get Taichi interested in her, and Yamato died bitter about it. Now, here we are a thousand years later, and their two reincarnations, who only partially remember the whole thing, and they are going along together with this quest, and who knows what Sora has said to either of them. So, this isn't going to be pleasant."
Takato nodded, now understanding the barb Matt had thrown at Tai at the council. "But what's so bad about Davis?"
Rika rolled her eyes. "Goggle Boy II is one of a special Second Generation Chosen."
At Takato's blank expression when she mentioned the word Chosen, Rika gave a sigh of exasperation, and then explained. "The Chosen are a highly select and special group of Digidestined, ranging across the various races, and also including one or two reincarnations. Tai and his group are the First Generation, who fought in the last Great War. Davis and his group arrived from over the sea, about 200 years after that, 800 years ago from now.
"The annoying thing is that he's almost a carbon clone of Taichi, and has occasionally been mistaken as Taichi's reincarnation. He's brash, arrogant, and generally is a pest. And those two get along way too much for my tastet."
(Author's note: I like Davis, but remember, this entire narrative is from Rika's point of view.)
Takato looked wounded at the insults to his old friend, but also decided to drop the subject, as Rika now looked interested in something else.
"You didn't do anything with Dukemon's stuff, right?" she asked in a low voice, as she leaned closer to him.
"Uh, no, of course not, he he, whatever gives you that idea?" Takato stammered.
She stared at him strangely, before looking him over once more, and then shrugging. "Just warning you, we don't take kindly to thieves, and those two have a mind of their own at times. They don't like it when strangers hold them for too long. But since you could probably use the shield as a shelter, I really doubt you could carry something like that without anybody noticing."
Takato chuckled again nervously, as Rika walked ahead of him, with Renamon giving him one more piercing stare before moving forward also.
"But Takato, didn't you-" Guilmon asked before Takato clamped his mouth shut.
"Shh, Guilmon, I know its wrong, but I just feel its right," Takato said, and then fished in his pocket, pulling out a miniature Aegis and Garm. "Besides, Rika said that they don't like it when strangers hold them too long, but they haven't shocked us or anything yet, so I think its safe."
"So its wrong, but its right? But how can it be right if its wrong?" Guilmon pondered, and Takato sweatdropped.
"Listen, Guilmon, this is just a one-time exception, otherwise, every other time, what's wrong is wrong, and what's right is right, got it?"
Guilmon thought for a moment, and then shook his head. Takato slapped his forehead before saying "Ah, just forget the whole thing ever happened, okay?"
"Okay, Takatomon," Guilmon said cheerfully.
Takato nodded, relieved. "Good, cause I definitely don't want to have to face the Digimon Queen."
Takato had started walking forward when Guilmon asked "But why do you call her a Queen?"
Takato opened his mouth to answer, and then realized that he didn't know.
***
Kari looked at the five Digimon and five humans standing in a line in front of her.
"Ebemon, why are there only five humans? I thought I specified that I wanted all of them to have human forms."
Ebemon winced, and prayed silently for his continued survival "Well, you see, six of the spirits did assimilate the human bodies, and chose them as their natural form, and also modified the original humans' Digivices into a different model. The other four didn't react with any of the human bodies at all, so we merely programmed them directly."
Kari frowned. "You said six of the spirits chose human hosts. What happened to the sixth?"
"Well, the Spirit of Darkness absorbed one, but I'm not sure if the new form, Duskmon, even can dedigivolve into a human. I think the infusion of darkness may have scarred its mind, but it is still loyal to you."
"Have you tested their strengths?" Kari asked, examining each Digimon. The five Digimon looked competent, while the other humans looked completely normal in some clothes they had dug up from somewhere. But where did the boy with the red jacket find a pair of goggles?! Didn't the world already have enough goggle boys?! Kari just shrugged the matter off as somebody's idea of a joke. Though she made a note to kill that person later.
"Well, their strengths meet our projections, though Mercuremon's style of combat depends more on the strength of the opponent, but still very effective. The only anomaly is Duskmon."
"Who cares about strength, just as long as everybody knows I'm the fairest of them all?" the blue Digimon said as she admired herself in one of Mercuremon's mirrors. "Much more attractive than that blond bitc-"
"Why I oughta-" the blonde human shouted as she sprang towards the blue Digimon, before the goggle boy managed to restrain her, though barely.
"Come on, Izumi," he said, as he struggled to hold her back, "Lady Hikari is here, you don't want to make a bad impression, do you?"
"This coming from the little baby?" Izumi retorted as she got out of the chokehold and turned to face him directly.
"Baby?!" Takuya shouted incredulously. "I was created first!"
"Yeah, but you were originally born three months after me!" she shouted triumphantly.
"What difference does that make?"
"Everything!"
"Well, does that mean we should listen to Junpei or Tomoki more then because of their ages?!"
"Of course not, they know their places, you don't!"
Kari sweatdropped as Izumi started slapping Takuya around, which led to more shouting from the other humans, except for the blue dressed one who's face basically said "I'm too cool to be seen with you".
"Well, as long as they can lead my armies, I guess the project is satisfactory," Kari said, as she left the bickering children to themselves. "Well done, Ebemon."
Ebemon sighed in relief, before suddenly finding himself being lifted up by the neck from behind.
"Wha?" he managed to get out before he managed to turn enough to see a black sultry dressed woman Digimon.
"I'm sure you remember Gatomon, though she's Lillithmon now," Kari introduced. "It took me awhile to convince her, but it wasn't that hard."
"But I thought I succeeded," Ebemon managed to say, as Lillithmon's hand, belying her appearance, slowly choked him.
"You did, but it wasn't perfect, and I want everything perfect," Kari said, ,as she held up her glowing staff, which was now pitch dark.
"Please, mercy," Ebemon said, as he stared straight into Kari's now ebony black eyes.
Perhaps it was a trick of the light, from the chemicals in the lab, or something else, but for just a moment, there was a glimmer of color in those eyes, and then the staff lowered again.
"Release him," Kari ordered, and Lillithmon dropped Ebemon. "Don't fail me again."
Kari walked away, followed by the unholy duo of both BlackSeraphimon and Lillithmon. She shook her head, as if to clear it, but then strode purposely forward, to plan her attack plans, not noticing the tiny glimmer of a crest mark above her heart.
***
"I wish you all luck," Gennai said, as the Fellowship of the Digivice stood in front of him, grim expressions on most of their faces.
"There's isn't anything else I can do for you, after this point," he said. "You nine are some of the most powerful Digidestined and partners ever. If you can't do it, then no one will. Good luck."
They all nodded, and then turned away from the beautiful valley towards the wasteland to the east. This was it.
"So, are we there yet?"
"Terriermon!"
Takato shook his head, and then held his Digivice tightly. "I hope I survive this."
To be continued…
Well, after about, three months, give or take, here's another chapter. I'll get the next one whenever, as my muse-
Trimon: Hi everybody!
Meet Trimon, rookie level, attacks, combo shot. At the moment, his main champion form is Pyramimon, attack, Sandstorm Wave. I'm still thinking up his Ultimate and Mega forms. Its so hard to think of an original muse these days, as it seems almost all the good ideas have been taken.
Trimon: Well how'd you come up with me then?
Well, I was hanging this clock above my sofa, when I slipped and fell, and I had a vision.
Trimon: Of what?
A giant steak, but considering that no one would take a steakmon seriously, I came up with you in my second vision when I knocked myself out again after slipping on that sock.
Tri: ^-^; (sweatdrop)
Oh well, now that I've got an imaginary muse like the rest of the great authors, I can finally get around to writing seriously.
Tri: But, AF, that's what you said last month.
Quiet you! Or no more Kingdom Hearts!
Trimon: I'll be quiet. But I was just about to hit that major Sora x Kairi scene! Wait, that sounds wrong in a Digimon fic.
Never mind, for those of you who haven't played Kingdom Hearts (I'd even recommend getting a Playstation 2 just so you can play this game), Sora's the main boy character, while Kairi is his semi-girlfriend.
Anyways, see ya next time!