A Digital Destiny
A/N: Wow, it's been a while. The style of writing has probably changed a little due to the length of time I've had this fic on hiatus. Growing up does things to people, I guess. Still, I hope it doesn't disappoint. Enjoy.
Chapter Five: And Carrying On…
Not for the first time, Jun wondered how long exactly had she and her friends been in the DigiWorld. Days? Weeks? Months? She'd lost track. In any case, time seemed to fly by as she and the others fought Digimon after Digimon in their attempt to get home. Privately, she wondered if she was the only who found herself having fun even if they were in constant danger. How many kids ever got the chance to experience something like this?
It'd been exactly two weeks now since they'd left Twilight Castle and Lunastar Castle. Jun was still reeling from Penguinmon's awesome transformation to Sabirdramon. But that hadn't been the only time Penguinmon had been forced to digivolve to fight--and it certainly wouldn't be the last. A lot had happened in those measly fourteen days (fourteen by Jun's count anyway).
First off, Palmon had digivolved to Togemon to face down Monzaemon in the colorful, appropriately named Toy Town when they'd stumbled upon him. After that, Jun and the others had made it to Infinity Mountain where Gomamon digivolved to Ikkakumon to fight the crazed, black-gear possessed Unimon. They'd assessed that the island they were on was called File Island, at least.
Now the children and their Digimon were in the process of climbing the trail up Infinity Mountain, searching for something…anything, really.
"OH! No more! I'm tired of walking!" Mimi wailed suddenly after a few hours of hiking. She threw her hands up and stubbornly plopped to the ground. "My feet hurt!"
Joe dramatically felt his forehead. "I think I'm going to come down with something after all this walking in the sun."
"Matt, Patamon's tired too!" little TK piped up worriedly to his brother, his Digimon lying limply in his arms.
Jun wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and glanced over at Tai. "We have been walking all day…"
"And getting no where," Sora added with a light frown.
The children's unofficial leader, Tai Kamiya, took one glance at his exhausted Digimon partner Agumon, who was slumped against Biyomon on the ground and nodded at them. "Yeah. Let's take a break. It's not like we were making progress anyway."
They quickly situated themselves under the meager shade the overhanging cliffs offered. Jun found Izzy sitting near the base of a boulder engrossed in his laptop, typing away. Curious, she peeked over his shoulder. "Izzy, what are you doing?"
Izzy jumped. He turned to look at Jun quickly as if realizing for the first time that she was there. "Huh? Oh, I'm compiling all the data I've picked up from the time we've been in the Digital World up to now."
"Why?"
"So I can maybe make a map. Not a very detailed one, mind you, but a basic layout of File Island in general," Izzy told her as he typed something in. On the screen, a plot of land appeared with several icons dotted on it. Izzy pointed to it, "See? That's File Island. That big triangle there is Infinity Mountain--which is where we are currently as you can see by that blinking digivice icon."
He continued pointing out various symbols that represented other places they'd been. A teddy bear for Toy Town. There were two little wizard-like icons side by side that were for Lunastar Castle and Twilight Castle. At the bottom there was even a legend for the various others. Impressed, Jun blinked and remarked, "Wow. That's pretty cool."
"And a really good idea," Matt said. Jun was surprised to find that he'd joined them without her even noticing. "It might come in handy."
"Yeah," Jun agreed. She looked over when Penguinmon came waddling up to her.
"Jun, we have a problem," the Digimon stated. She pointed one clawed flipper to Joe. "Joe says we're out of food."
"And everyone is starving!" Tentomon added despairingly.
"That's not good," Jun said. She made her way over to where Joe was hastily digging through his bag. Tai and Sora hovered by.
"Well?" Tai asked Joe impatiently. The older boy came out empty-handed.
"I told you, we're completely out…unless you like stale, three day old crumbs," Joe answered, turning his back upside down to accentuate what he was saying. The kids groaned.
"Great! Like things couldn't get any worse!" Tai exclaimed.
"Uh…Tai?" Joe spoke up hesitantly. He held the container they'd been using to hold water up and turned it upside down. Empty. "We're out of water too."
That was met by a collective groan.
"Great. Now what? We're no where near any water sources and we can't eat rocks," Sora grumbled kicking a small pebble in her frustration.
Jun cautiously scuttled to the side of the path and scanned the massive expanse surrounding them far below. Her heart sunk. They were stuck on the side of a mountain with no food. Even if the Digimon could forage and find food where would they do that on the bare rock of the mountain? Sighing, she turned and was about to volunteer herself and Sabirdramon to fly down and dredge up some food and water for them when a flash of white in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
"What…" She whirled and was surprised to find that further up the path, a figure clad in a plain white hooded robe stood silently, watching them. The hood cast over the head blocked Jun's view of seeing the figure's face. What startled her was that the figure looked very human. Before she could call out to the person, the figure suddenly pivoted and began walking up the path and away.
"Hey! Wait!" Jun yelled and took off after the person. Behind her, she heard the others call after her. They were probably going to follow her anyway so she didn't spare any time in stopping to explain.
"Jun! What are you doing?" Tai demanded in a puzzled voice.
At least Penguinmon was still by her side, running as quickly as she could to stay in beat with Jun's mad dash. They were gaining on the person. Jun could see the white robe whipping back and forth in the wind. To her surprise, the figure was standing perfectly still again once Jun and Penguinmon had made it halfway up the slope. He or she was now facing them again, regarding them through hidden eyes.
"Jun…Jun Motomiya…"
A chill ran down Jun's spine at the soft, husky voice that suddenly filled her head. But before she could react, the figure was turning again and now running away from them. They were running and running FAST.
"What's the rush?!" Penguinmon cried at the fleeing figure as they struggled to climb the rugged mountain path after it.
"Wait!" Gasped Jun. "We're not going to hurt you!"
"Don't be so sure of that. Honestly, making us RUN up this mountain…" Jun heard Penguinmon mutter darkly.
It was like a demented game of cat and mouse. It quickly became apparent to Jun that the figure wanted them to follow as he or she would stop and wait a few times before running away again. Of course, as Jun and Penguinmon were no mountain climbers, it was hard to keep up. Finally, there was a point when the path twisted off to a dead end where the figure now stood waiting.
Jun and her Digimon stumbled clumsily into the small, circular clearing, the rocks of Mount Infinity looming around them. The figure quietly watched as they gasped for air.
"Hey…stop…" Jun choked out. The person was patient, silent. Once Jun had regained her breath enough, she spoke, "Who are you?"
Again, the robed figure did not answer. Instead, he or she turned and began walking…directly into the rock wall and disappearing right before Jun's eyes. Least to say, Jun was shocked.
"B-but what-" Jun stammered uncomprehendingly. "Did he just walk into the wall?"
Penguinmon edged forward and sniffed suspiciously at the place where the figure had disappeared. Then, she reared back and smiled. "No. It's not a real wall. See?"
The Digimon lifted a clawed wing and place it right through the wall, waving it around to prove her point. The image of gray rock and stone did not waver one bit.
"You've got to be kidding me," Jun murmured as she experimentally stuck her hand through the holographic wall. Her hand encountered nothing. "Think it's safe to go in?"
"I don't know," her Digimon partner replied, "but it did seem like he wanted us to follow him."
"It could be a trap of some sort. Things like that seem to happen a lot around here," Jun wryly stated. "What do you think is in there?"
Penguinmon titled her head at the mock wall. "A cave maybe? I've heard that there are secret tunnels in Mount Infinity. They were left from the ancient days of the First Reconstruction of the Digital World."
"The what?"
"The First-"
"HEY JUN!!"
They whirled to see the others stumbling into the small clearing in which they were standing. Jun winced guiltily. She had forgotten all about them and it seemed that they had taken to running up the impossible slopes of the mountain as well.
Tai, gasping desperately for air, was glaring at her disapprovingly. "Mind…telling…us…what…that was…all…about?!"
So she did. She recounted for them the sighting of the mysterious figure and how she and Penguinmon chased them up the mountain. She pointed to the mock wall and added the bit about the person disappearing inside. She even told them about hearing the odd voice that said her name, but that was where she was surprised.
"Wait, you heard a voice say your name?" Penguinmon asked. "When?"
Jun looked down at her and frowned. "When we were chasing them. You were standing right next to me."
Penguinmon stared at her.
"You did hear it…didn't you?"
"Maybe he's telepathic," Joe's wobbly, anxious voice suggested. "Oh my, that can't be good. He could standing nearby reading our thoughts right now!" He put his hands over his head and glanced around apprehensively, eyes fearful.
I don't think it was a HE. Jun thought but decided not to say anything. By the way Penguinmon was looking at her, it didn't seem that even in the Digital World, hearing voices in one's head was not a good thing. Especially coming from strange, cloaked figures.
"So you said this really isn't a wall? It's holographic? Fascinating…" Izzy chimed up as he ran his hand through the mock wall.
"Should we go inside?" Sora asked sensibly.
"What? There could be icky monsters on the other side waiting for us to step in and gobble us up!" Mimi shrieked. "There is NO WAY I'm going in there!"
"I say we go check it out! There could be food or water in there!" TK piped up.
"In a cave? Come on, TK. And there is no way I'm letting you go in there," big brother Matt automatically replied.
"Well, standing around out here isn't getting us anywhere," Tai said at last. The others turned to face him as he paced in front of the mock wall and stared at it. It wasn't hard to see why he'd gained the unspoken title of leader among them. "I say we go in."
Immediately, the arguments started up again.
"NO! NO! NO! I hate walking around in caves! They're so dark and scary!" Mimi burst into tears and Palmon quickly moved in to comfort her.
"We don't even know what's in there!" Joe shouted.
"I wanna' go too!"
"No way, TK!"
"But Matt-"
"TK, it could be dangerous! You're not going in there."
"It's a good opportunity to explore this region more," Izzy was already adding the data about the cave's location to his laptop.
"In a cave? Give me a break, Izzy," Sora said.
"How do we KNOW that it's a cave, though?" retorted the computer genius.
"We certainly won't by standing around here arguing all day," Jun said. She glanced over to where Tai and Agumon stood apart from the group, examining the wall.
"What do you think Agumon?" Tai asked his Digimon partner.
"I guess it couldn't hurt to take a peek," Agumon answered.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, buddy! Now if only we can get the others to agree…"
Jun joined them. "Who says we have to?"
"Huh?"
"Look. It doesn't look like we'll be getting anywhere soon by standing around here. I want to see what's inside. If the others don't want to go, why not just let them stay out here and wait?" She said logically to him.
Tai thought about this for a moment. "You know, Jun. That's not a bad idea." He waved to get the others' attention. "Hey guys! How about this? We'll split up. A few of us can go inside and take a look around while the rest stay out here just in case something goes wrong."
"Something goes wrong? What if you don't come out?" Sora demanded.
"Then someone can come in and get us," Tai said, which didn't seem to help any.
"You'd also have the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so'," Jun quipped.
It took a little convincing but in the end, they prevailed. Tai, Jun, and Izzy would go in while the rest of them waited outside. The three of them and their Digimon faced the wall hesitantly and, at the same time, stepped through it. It was a tunnel, plain and simple. It stretched far ahead in front of them and into more darkness.
"Let me put a little light on the situation," Tentomon said, wings buzzing as he hovered beside Izzy. Jun heard a static-like sound come from his direction. Small sparks of electricity crackled from his wings and a faint glow of light then emerged from him, just enough for them to see better in the gloomy tunnel.
"Ah, prodigious! Thanks Tentomon," Izzy commented.
"Okay, come on, you two. Let's be careful, though. If there is something in here waiting to gobble us up, I'd rather not give it an advantage," Tai said and pressed forward.
Luckily, no such monster was present. The tunnel, however, was another story. Though it was not long, after a good while of walking, it felt to Jun as if they were getting no where. Despite the odd noise they heard that sounded strangely like gears turning somewhere nearby, there seemed to be no danger. It was starting to feel disappointing, really. But then--
"Hey, what's that ahead?" Penguinmon said suddenly. They stopped and peered forward. Tentomon graciously added more juice to his wings, and the halo of light extended slightly farther out before them. The tunnel stopped and spread out into another small, circular opening.
Jun gasped. In the opening, the hooded figure was waiting. "That's him!"
"You there!" Tai called. "Who are you?"
No reply. Instead, the person whirled silently and began walking away, right towards the wall.
"Oh not again! Come back here!" Jun darted forward, hearing the boys and the Digimon right behind her. They charged after the figure into the clearing. But suddenly, he just stopped moving. Then he turned back around to face them, startling them into a halt.
Then Jun heard the same husky, chilling voice again, this time not like a whisper in her head but magnified to echo in the cavern they now stood in.
"Going down?"
And the floor disappeared under them.
I told you so!! A wry voice in Jun's head said as she felt herself plummet down through the dark nothingness. Funny how it sounded like Matt when I thought it'd be more like something Joe would say…
A/N: As always, I'd love to hear feedback. Constructive criticism, ranting, raving, I love them all. Let me hear your honest thoughts, people.