Chapter #3 - The Digital Palace

The journey had begun. The group walked on through the digital world towards a place they did not know how to find. So far most of the journey had been through the forest, but soon they came to the edge of it. Beyond seemed like a vast valley of nothingness. There was nothing but grass as far as the eye could see. Not a creature stirred and not a noise could be heard.

"This place is creepy," Davis shuttered.

"Are you afraid Davis?" Yolie mocked.

"Of course I'm not afraid!" Davis said trying to look brave but failing.

"Ya, he's not afraid... He's terrified," Ken laughed.

"Hey you're suppose to be on my side Ken," Davis protested.

"Sorry Davis... I just couldn't help it," Ken shrugged.

"I don't know you guys. What happened to all the animals? Where are all the digimon?" Sora asked.

"HELLO?!" Mimi shouts out. The group listens as her echo comes back.

"That's not a good thing is it?" Davis says.

"Let's just go… Standing here isn't getting us anywhere," Tai says as he walks into the meadow.

"The blind leading the blind," Izzy mumbles as he follows Tai.

"Let's go find TK and Kari," Cody says with a sigh as he also follows.

The others nod to each other and walk into the meadow.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!" comes a voice all of a sudden. The group looks up into the sky just in time to see a great falcon like digimon swoop down at them.

"DUCK!" Joe shouts as he pushes Mimi to the ground and the others jump to the ground as well.

"Beak breaker!" comes a shout from the creature as it opens its large beak and prepares to attack.

"Oh dear, that's Falcomon. He's very nasty and easily angered digimon. Its beak breaker attack can really cause some damage," Tentomon said.

"DIGIVOLVE GUYS!" the digidestined shout to their digimon partners.

"Veemon digivolve to X-Veemon!"

"Agumon digivolve to Greymon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to Kabuterimon!"

"Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to Aquilamon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to Birdramon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to Ikakkumon!"

"Armadilomon digivolve to Ankylomon!"

"Palmon digivolve to Togamon!"

"Wormon digivolve to Stingmon!"

The digital falcon finally let out its attack and the group watched as it headed straight for Greymon.

The large reptile digimon jumped out of the way and sent out his attack, "Nova Blast!"

The attack went at the bird and hit it but the bird seemed untouched. Garurumon and X-Veemon then went on the attack hoping to get better results then their companion.

"Howling Blaster!"

"V-Laser!"

Both of the attacks head for the bird digimon. The digimon once again lets the attacks hit it showing its strength. Nothing happens.

"This is not good," Davis gulped.

"We need to attack at the same time!" Yolie said.

"Right. Good idea," Tai nodded.

The digimon nodded as well and prepared to attack. They surrounded Falcomon.

"Beak Breaker!" the digimon shouted as it sent another attack at X-Veemon this time.

"NOW!" Tai shouted.

"Nova Blast!"

"Howling Blaster!"

"V-Laser!"

"Electro Shocker!"

"Grand Horn!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Harpoon Torpedo!"

"Tail Club!"

"Needle Spray!"

"Spiking Strike"

The attacks all head straight for the enemy. The bird digimon yelps just before it is turned into digi-dust.

"YA!" the digidestined cheer.

The digimon shimmer and return to their Rookie forms.

"That was great! You guys were awesome!" Davis cheered.

"The thing I'm worried about is where that digimon came from… and who sent him," Izzy said as he sat on a nearby rock and began to type on his laptop.

"How do we know someone sent it? Maybe we where crossing his territory?" Joe said.

"Maybe but that's rarely the case here," Izzy said.

"Maybe we should get out of this open space before something else comes," Cody advised.

"Good idea Cody," Sora said.

A figure watched as the group headed towards the forest on the other side of the open field that they had been aiming for in the first place.

"They are strong but not yet strong enough," a voice whispered. The figure then disappeared as if it had never existed in the first place.

The group walked to the end of the field and sat down to think about things. They still had no idea where they were going or who might be after them. Under the shelter of the trees they felt safer though they were still very cautious.

"Which way do we go now?" Matt asked.

"This is useless. How are we suppose to find a place if we don't know where to look?" Ken asked.

"Remember Ken. This is the digital world. When you're here anything can happen," Wormon said.

"Wormon's right. The digital world never ceases to amaze me," Izzy added.

"I don't know why we don't just look for TK and Kari instead of this castle," Davis said.

"We don't know where they are or where this castle is. Lets just hope we find one or the other soon," Cody said.

"Well… We might as well get going again. We have about two hours of daylight left," Tai said.

The others nodded. They were all tired but they weren't about to rest while their friends might be in danger so they headed straight towards the unknown once more. After two hours the group decided to rest for the night.

"Who's taking watch?" Tai asked the group.

"I will," Cody said.

Yolie looked a bit worried but said nothing. She didn't believe that Cody would be able to handle the job alone but she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"I'll take the next watch," Matt said.

"Ok… I'll finish then," Tai yawned as he settled down to sleep.

The others settled down to sleep as well and Cody sat down by a tree with Armadilomon. The two sat quietly and went to search the perimeter every little while to make sure everything was ok and to keep themselves awake as well.

"Guess it's about time for Matt's watch," Cody yawned.

"Ya… Lets wake him up and get some sleep," Armadilomon said wirily.

Just as Cody was about to wake Matt they saw a sort of glow coming from a ways off. Cody's jaw dropped, "What… what is that Armadilomon?"

"I don't know," Armadilomon replied as he stared at the glowing.

As the two watched the glowing seemed to form into something… a building… a very large building.

"Guys…" Cody whispered to the others. No one answered so he shook Matt and repeated, "Guys."

Matt opened his eyes and sat up and the others slowly awoke as well. Their eyes soon fixed on the building before them that had now completely taken shape.

"It's… It's a castle!" Sora said as she stood up wide-eyed.

"Do you think it could be the digital castle that Tremblemon had told us about?" Davis asked.

"Most definitely," Izzy said, "This is truly amazing. A castle that just appears out of nowhere."

"Only in the digital world," Mimi smiled, "I wonder if they have bathtubs in there? We could really use time to freshen up."

"Mimi," the group laughed.

"Well… I guess we just… Knock on the door…" Tai said as he began to walk up to the castle. The others followed close behind.

"What if the digimon in there aren't friendly?" Davis asked.

"Just be ready to fight at a moments notice," Ken said.

"Biyomon… have you ever seen this castle before?" Sora asked.

"No… Never… It was only a legend to most digimon," Biyomon replied.

"Ya… I heard about it but I never thought I'd ever get the chance to see it," Gomamon said.

The group soon reached the doors of the castle. Tai went to knock but stopped, "I don't know about this. What if it's a trap of some kind?"

Davis sighed and walked up and knocked, "We wont know if we don't try."

"Welcome digidestined… We've been expecting you," Came a voice, not from the castle, but from directly behind them. The group quickly turned to see a small white wolf pup like digimon with silver armour standing there, "I am Caninemon," she replied to the question they hadn't yet asked.

"Expecting us?" Yolie asked.

"Oh yes… The queen told us that you would be coming. She is waiting for you in the throne room," the digimon smiled.

The group turned all of a sudden just as the doors to the castle opened. Bright light shone through the open doorway and the group stared in awe at what they saw inside. It was a great big flourishing city inside the great castle. Digimon went this way and that on their daily business.

"This place looks amazing… it looks so much bigger inside then it does outside though," Izzy said.

"Yes… this is a very magical place. Come now… Follow me and I will take you to my queen," Caninemon said.

The group walked into the castle slowly looking around and taking in the beauty of this world within a world. They followed behind Caninemon ready to meet this queen of hers.

What will the future hold for the digidestined? Stay tuned and find out on the next chapter of "An Everlasting Circle"