In the Dark

Part Thirteen: The Never-Ending Power of Friendship

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingy: Yes, yes. Digimon belongs to me. Not. All characters are property of someone else. I'm only borrowing them because – because… well, because I want to write this story, that's why. They won't be returned. Sorry. The plot, for the most part, is mine, however, although this section obviously borrows heavily from the plot of the original anime. Please don't steal my original ideas, and don't sue either. I have no money.

***

The snow ended sometime after noon, and it was then finally safe to exit the cabin. Miyako sat in the upper level of the two-day old lodge and peered through the only opening in the wall, watching as most of the rest of the group departed, trekking on foot into the woods. She'd thought long and hard about her decision to stay behind, and had discovered no reason to regret it.

Hawkmon was peering with concern toward his partner, sensing what was going on within her mind but not knowing how to help her. "Miyako?" he questioned softly.

Miyako sighed weakly and stood up, wrapping her arms about herself. "I'm all right, Hawkmon," she assured him, but the expression on her face said otherwise.

***

"All I'm saying is that perhaps you could have been more sensitive," Takeru said as he walked. "I didn't say this wasn't difficult. I'm not saying it's not difficult for us. Some of us just take things harder than others."

Daisuke peered at his feet as they shuffled through the soft snow and shrugged. "All right," he answered then, sighing. "I'll apologize later. Happy?"

"I suppose that will have to do."

The small group trudged on through the forest. Daisuke and Takeru were in the lead, Iori following slightly behind, because they had ventured farthest into these woods. The entire party kept their eyes and ears wide open for the slightest sound that might indicate that an attack was imminent.

"I wish Miyako had agreed to come with us," Hikari said then, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. "Or Koushiro. I feel much too vulnerable without magic."

"Agreed," Tailmon stated with a frown. "It's way too quiet here now that the snow has fallen. Magic would definitely help us to discover which way to go."

"I don't think we'll need to worry about which way to go," Iori answered. "Most likely what we're looking for will find us. We just need to wait for it."

"I hope we don't have to wait for too long," Takeru put in. "It's awfully cold out here."

The forest they'd been trudging through slowly had been covered with a blanket of snow. Now, Iori's observant eyes sensed that the snow had melted in certain places. The sound of dripping water could be heard in the distance as the trees were beginning to shed their snowy blankets. A sudden crash startled them all as a pile of snow suddenly crashed down from the trees and landed in their path.

"It appears it's getting a bit warmer," Daisuke observed dryly, having narrowly escaped the mini avalanche.

"Doesn't feel much warmer," V-mon muttered grumpily, having not been as lucky as his partner. They had to stop for a moment then so that the blue digimon could dry off a bit. Prepared with a few dry cloths, Hikari opened the small pack she carried so he could prevent re-freezing. In the distance, another loud crash could be heard as another tree branch rebelled under the heavy load of snow.

"Let's try to avoid that happening too much in the future," Taichi frowned. "It might slow us down a bit."

"No argument here," V-mon answered, sneezing. Daisuke picked up his partner and opened his coat, making a space for him to ride in relative comfort. The others continued walking.

Within a few steps of there, Takeru noted patches of grass poking up out of the snow. As they walked further and further, the patches grew bigger and bigger. "I'd guess we're getting closer to the desert now," he commented as the snow began to recede more and more.

"Desert?" Hikari echoed in surprise, looking about. "Around here?"

Iori nodded. "We walked all the way across it when we traveled with the Geckomon," he recalled. "That's why it took so long for us to return."

"It was a big desert," Armadimon put in. "And quite hot."

"How is that possible?" Taichi wondered. "A desert so close to this snow? What's on the other side of it?"

"More snow," Daisuke recalled. "A very cold area, covered with ice, snow, and not much else. We avoided that."

"A forest, a desert, and some sort of arctic wasteland all in such a small area?" Hikari thought for a moment. "There must be some magic in this land."

"When I told Miyako, she seemed to think that it might have something to do with the towers," he answered, thinking back to a previous conversation. "That they were causing the strange variations in climate. She was going to mention something to Koushiro about it, but I don't know if she ever did."

"It's also possible," Iori put in, "that the magic in this land makes it easier to place such towers."

"Well, whatever the reason for it, here's the desert," Patamon spoke up. Takeru had halted his steps. The snow in the forest had completely melted away, and before them lie a vast empty area of sand. The sun was stronger and warmer here, and everyone immediately hurried to remove their outer layers. When they turned back, they saw that only a few steps back into the forest there was still melting snow, and when they looked beyond that, there was even more that had not melted.

***

As horrid as Miyako felt about the entire situation, she felt worse simply sitting about and doing nothing to help out. As soon as the others had left, she and Jun set about building a large fire outside the cabin and then filling the largest iron cooking pot they had with snow. While the snow began to melt into water and the water began to heat, they searched the cabin for clothes, blankets, and any other things that needed washing. Miyako didn't recall there having been clothes washed in the camp before, and she was accustomed to having things cleaned on a regular basis. Since there was no one else to do the work and she hadn't anything else to do, they'd both decided to make themselves useful and wash things.

Koushiro and Jyou, who'd also remained behind, were working to improve the heating system in the cabin. A fireplace was out of the question, since they had no bricks and no way to make bricks, and so Koushiro had decided to dismantle the remaining stoves they'd used in the tents. He planned to make one large stove and then, instead of a chimney made of stone, to use the thin metal to vent the smoke out through a hole in the cabin wall. This proved to be easier to plan then to actually do, so he'd enlisted the doctor's reluctant assistance with the dismantling and rebuilding. He'd also enlisted the help of his magical skills, which, admittedly, were of more assistance than Jyou, who was most definitely not mechanically inclined.

While the two groups worked – Miyako and Jun, rather soundlessly aside from the splashing of hot water and the occasional shout from Hawkmon when he got wet, and Koushiro and Jyou rather loudly, thanks to the banging of metal and the recurrent shout from Jyou when he banged his finger with the rock he was using as a hammer – a small wagon pulled by two Monochromon made its way along the road towards the camp. As with the task of improving a heating system, this was also loud and difficult because, as anyone knows, Monochromon do not particularly like snow. This required quite a bit of shouting, tugging, and general frustration, compounded even more by the fact that the wagon was rather full and quite heavy.

Jyou and Koushiro were working behind the cabin, out of view of the road, and wouldn't have noticed had a stampede of Monochromon run past on the opposite side followed by a group of screaming people and digimon because of the amount of concentration and noise involved in their task. Miyako and Jun worked on the side of the cabin, in full view of the road, but didn't notice the wagon arriving at first because they were trying to remove a very heavy, very wet, and very hot blanket from the pot and carry it to the wash line hung between two nearby trees to dry.

Jun helped Miyako to unload the immense blanket on to the rope they'd tied between two sturdy trees. Miyako stepped back to observe the soaking blanket, which was so heavy it was causing the rope to sag and the bottom to drag in the snow.

"Well, it'll be frozen, but it'll dry eventually," Jun noted.

"If only Koushiro would finish with that heater, then we could just hang it inside. It'll be twice as heavy frozen," Miyako grumbled. She sighed. "Oh well, I suppose it's the best we could hope for."

"Miyako, you don't remember that wagon being there before, do you?" Hawkmon wondered then, pulling on the end of her skirt and pointing toward the road. The others turned to see.

"No," she admitted with a frown. "I don't. I wonder where it comes from."

"And who it carries," Alraumon added.

"Both very good questions," Jun spoke up. "Only one way to find out."

***

"It is a desert," Tailmon noted in astonishment, peering across at the vast sands and shaking her head.

"Yup," V-mon nodded, warmed now in the hot sun and enjoying it. He sat down on the ground and stretched. "It's so nice to feel the sun again."

"You won't be saying that in a few hours," Patamon reminded him. "Then you'll wish we were back in the snow because you'll be too hot."

"Maybe," the blue digimon conceded with a shrug. "But for now I like it."

"As do I," Armadimon agreed, sighing contentedly. "I was not made for snow. This is much more my style."

The others had removed most of their outer garments – jackets, scarves, hats, gloves, sweaters, and the like – and were now stuffing them into their bags. "We'll definitely need these on the way back," Takeru stated.

A few moments later they were on their way across the desert. "Now I see why you said we should bring a canteen of water, Takeru," Hikari noted, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"If we were walking the whole way through the snow, we wouldn't need it," he nodded. "But in the desert, it's always best to have some water on hand." He would have continued, but there was a beeping sound just then coming from his pocket.

"Eh? What's this?" Daisuke wondered, the noise coming from his own digivice as well.

"It looks like it might be a digimental," Iori noted, taking out his own.

"I'm getting it, too," Hikari spoke up, also seeing the colored blinking dot.

"But for who?" Taichi wondered. "I thought they were all found. You all have one, don't you?"

"This must be another one, then," Takeru observed. "Shall we follow it?"

"We don't really have any other destination planned, do we?" Daisuke answered with a shrug. "With any luck, it'll be right next to Agumon and then we'll get everything done in one shot." He grinned and began to stride off, following the blinking dot on his digivice.

"That would be some luck," V-mon commented wryly.

***

Yamato had been trying to force the pair of Monochromon through the snow for nearly six hours now and was very tired, very cold, and very frustrated. He'd tried everything from soft coaxing to bribing with food to shouting and pulling and was very close to the point of simply finding the largest stick and beating them each soundly over the head. He was about to search for a large stick when he heard a shout from the wagon.

Sora had been left to the task of attempting to drive and steer the wagon while Yamato pulled, coaxed, begged, and did whatever possible to convince the Monochromon to continue moving. It was she now who shouted to him.

"What?" he demanded, utterly frustrated and exhausted. "I can't go another step," he muttered under his breath. With the absence of a stick, he resorted to hitting the side of the Monochromon with his palm.

"We're here!"

***

"I don't know where a digimental could be hiding in this place," Patamon stated. He'd flown up a bit higher than his partner's head in hopes that he could see something. "I don't see much of anything. Wait…"

"How about enemies?" Daisuke wondered. "See any of those?"

"Yeah," Patamon answered. "A whole bunch of Monochromon off in the distance. A few Gotsumon, too." He squinted in the bright light. "And a few bigger rock creatures. Golemon, I'd guess. There might be more, too, but I can't see. They're too far away to tell what they are."

"What are they doing?" Hikari questioned.

"Carrying things, it looks like," the flying digimon replied. "Rocks, stones. I'd say they're building something."

"Any sign of Ken?" Takeru asked.

Patamon landed on his partner's head. "None. No Airdramon, either. A few towers nearby, but we've seen a ton of those around so that's no surprise."

"I wonder what they're building," Iori wondered, frowning. "Maybe nothing. Maybe they're just moving rocks and stones so they have something to do."

"Maybe it's some form of punishment," Armadimon theorized, matching his partner's expression.

"Well, whatever they're doing, that's the direction the digimental is in, right?" Taichi questioned. "So let's just get this over with."

***

Sora climbed down from the wagon seat, her hands nearly frozen from holding the reins of the Monochromon for so long. She rubbed her gloved hands together and wrapped her cloak snugly about her. Then she waved in Miyako's direction and called out.

Miyako, coming closer, squinted. The light reflected off the snow. "Sora?" she mumbled vaguely, uncertain of the truth of her vision. "What are you doing here?"

"Delivering the requested supplies," Yamato's voice came from the back of the wagon, where he was bringing down a few boxes. "I heard you were low on food, so we packed some fruits and vegetables."

"Low on food is an understatement," Jun replied, rubbing her stomach as she remembered. "Breakfast was three-day old fish mashed into some sort of stew. Edible, but hardly delicious."

"Did you say you packed fruit?" Alraumon piped up, standing on tip-toes to peer into the wagon.

"Yes I did," he answered, pulling open the wooden crate. "Mostly frozen by now, but still all right to eat."

"Where are the others?" Sora wondered, looking around. "And where did this cabin come from? It wasn't here the last time I was here."

"Yes, it was built pretty quickly when we realized there was a big snowstorm coming," Miyako recalled. "It's only been here a couple of days. As for the others? Well, most ventured off in to the forest to search for Agumon.  Jyou and Koushiro are doing something dangerous behind the cabin."

"Something dangerous?" Gabumon echoed, confused. He began to climb down from the inside of the wagon, where he'd spent the trip in relative comfort.

"Trying to build some sort of heating system for the cabin," Jun clarified. "In the past two hours we've heard Jyou cry out in pain about six times." She shook her head with a sigh. "I'm not sure how successful they are."

***

"Uh, Patamon? What you said about not seeing too many enemies…," Takeru began. He and the others had hid in a lower part of the sand, making them invisible from a distance.

"Well, I didn't see too many before," Patamon defended himself as the shadow of three Airdramon flew overhead. Between them they carried a large, orange-colored, dinosaur-like creature.

Takeru and Iori worked quickly, throwing themselves on Taichi's back before he could move to follow. "Get off me," he muttered, struggling to get up, but neither moved.

"You'll only end up getting hurt," Iori defended their actions. "Don't you see there's a dark ring about his arm? Your partner is under the Kaiser's control now – he won't even recognize you."
"If you go after him, you'll only get hurt, too," Takeru agreed. "So stay here."

"We are going to have to do something though," Hikari frowned, peering over the edge of the sand. "I wonder why he's brought Greymon here?"

All were silent for a few moments as they thought about this, and then suddenly, Daisuke spoke: "He knows we're here."

"What? How's that possible?" Takeru demanded.

"His magic's powerful enough, I'm sure of it. He wants us to come after Agumon. That's why he's brought us here. There's no way we make a move in his territory he doesn't know about. We couldn't have come this far without being seen."
"Then Agumon was brought here just to fight us?" Hikari asked, horrified.

"That would be my guess, too," Iori agreed. "What better way to defeat your enemies than to strike the death blow with one of their own?"

That statement had the effect of enraging Taichi even more, and Daisuke was forced to aid in the restraint. Before anyone else could move or speak, there was a flash of light nearby and then a cacophony of sound arose from the previously quieted digivices.

"What?" Takeru questioned, shading his eyes.

"The digimental!" Iori recalled. "It must be here!"

"That wasn't hard to find," Armadimon noted. The light soon ebbed, and a strange, blue, egg shaped device could be seen poking up over the sand.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's the digimental of friendship," Tailmon observed, noticing the markings on the side of it.

"But who does it belong to?" Patamon wondered.

"Let's hope it's belongs to Hikari," Daisuke stated. "The rest of us have our hands a bit full right now!" Another shadow flew over them at just that moment.

***

"I'd love to say I'm glad to see you," Jyou stated as he lifted a heavy wooden crate from the back of the wagon. "But I must confess I'm much more pleased to see these supplies. We're so desperately low it was getting to be a real problem."

"Yeah," Gomamon commented, watching his partner do the heavy work. "We'd much rather see food than you guys." Gabumon and Piyomon glared in response, but were ignored by the impish digimon.

"Especially since most of the provisions were destroyed in the ambush," Koushiro agreed, taking the other end of the crate. "Food and medical supplies were much in demand."

"Well you needn't worry for a while, then," Piyomon spoke up. "We packed enough food to supply an entire village for a year."

"Providing there are no more ambushes, this should be enough to last us a while," Hawkmon observed, looking over the crates and noting the food, bandages, and other supplies. Among the items included two more small stoves, which Koushiro immediately began to inspect.

Yamato had been looking over the wizard's project with some curiosity. "I'm not exactly certain this will work," he confessed. "I like the idea of using the metal as chimneys to vent out the smoke, but I don't know about building one large stove."

Gabumon agreed with his partner. "Maybe it would be better if you left the stoves as is and simply used all of them?" he suggested.

Tentomon liked the plan. "One in each corner, perhaps? To better heat the cabin?"

Koushiro was interested. "I'd never thought of that," he admitted, scratching his chin in thought. "Might be a good idea."

Jyou was very thorough about the organization of medical supplies, and he was making careful records of exactly what had been delivered and how much of each. He was eager to get to work at that and gladly left Yamato and Koushiro to the setup of the stoves.

***

After several moments of strained pulling, Hikari stepped back, wiping her hands and shrugging. "Sorry. I can't budge it, so I'd guess it doesn't belong to me." She grinned apologetically.

"Well, use the one you do have," Tailmon advised, peering over the edge of the sand. "Because I think they might have discovered us!"

Hikari turned to where her partner was pointing and saw a long line of digimon hurrying towards them. As Patamon had described, the main participants were Gotsumon, and the now-controlled Greymon was in the middle of them. Several Airdramon now hovered along the side of the crowd, and a few angry Tyrannomon were along for extra firepower.

Taichi gasped in astonishment. "Does he think we're an army?" he wondered. "I'd say that was a bit of excess!"

"It's better to be safe then sorry, I suppose," Iori answered, gripping his digivice in his hand. "Armadimon! Digimental Up!"

"Safe is what I'd opt for, too," his partner replied, nodding. "Armadimon armor evolve! Digmon!"

"Considering what damage we've managed to do in the past, he's not going to take any chances," Takeru agreed with Iori's assessment. "Digimental Up!"

"Patamon armor evolve! Pegasmon!" The small orange digimon was soon replaced with a powerful flying digimon, and took to the air.

Hikari watched him soar higher, and then raised her own digivice. "Digimental Up!"

"Tailmon armor evolve! Nefertimon!"

"Don't leave me for last!" V-mon called. "C'mon, Daisuke!"

"Right. Digimental Up!"

"V-mon armor evolve! Fladramon!"

***

"When did you say they left?" Sora questioned asked, frowning concernedly for about the fifth time since she'd arrived. She was helping Jun and Miyako to make "rooms" within the cabin by draping heavy material across the rafters, sectioning off the large downstairs.

"First thing this morning," Miyako replied, taking a metal spike in one hand and a rock in her other hand and driving the spike through the curtain and into the rafter. She was in the upper sections of the cabin and in charge of securing the curtains so they wouldn't fall. "I'm sure everything's fine. It's only been a few hours. Chances are they haven't gotten very far."

"They won't recognize the cabin when they return, that's for sure," Jun observed cheerfully, stepping from one of the smaller curtained-off rooms.

"I hope you're right," Sora sighed, tossing the next bolt of cloth toward the ceiling.

"Of course I'm right," Jun replied, not having heard the previous conversation. "There weren't any rooms before. If we finish the curtain hanging today, we can hang some more along the walls to help keep out the draft."

"Yes!" Miyako agreed enthusiastically, nearly dropping the cloth she'd just received. "Like tapestries! That might keep in the warmth even more than Koushiro's stoves help heat it."

"It was rather cold in here last night," Hawkmon agreed, a nervous expression on his face as he watched his partner crawl along the upper rafters to secure the next part of the curtain. "Miyako, please be careful," he pleaded.

She waved a dismissive hand, shrugging off his concern. "I am, I am."

Sora was still thinking deeply. "I don't know, Miyako. I'm wondering about how wise that plan was. What if they're walking directly into a trap?"

There was a pause in activity for a moment. Miyako frowned in thought, reaching into the pocket of her apron for the next metal spike and placing it in the correct spot. For a few seconds, the only sound was the clank of stone on metal.

"It would be nice if there was some way to communicate with them," Jun sighed, leaning against the wall and looking up toward the ceiling. With each clank of Miyako's hammer-stone a few pieces of snow and sawdust fell from the upper rafters and floated down to the floor, resting on the ground. There had been no time to build a floor in the hasty construction of the cabin, and their only insulation from the cold dirt had been blankets and cloths scattered about the ground.

"There is, sort of," Sora answered, reaching for the small blue box she carried with her at all times. She looked at the silent device for a moment before returning it to her pocket. "But the digivices only have a limited range, and we can't detect from that far away."

"Besides, all that does it tell you where they are," Piyomon added. "It wouldn't alert us if they were in some sort of danger."

Miyako struck the final blow with her stone and sat back on the rafter. "The air…" she mumbled softly. Both girls on the ground turned to look at her.

When she didn't respond after a moment, Sora echoed curiously: "The air?"

The younger girl nodded. "After the ambush, we were separated," she began. "Takeru, Taichi, and Daisuke were out somewhere, still fighting, but the rest of us were here at camp, trying to pick up the pieces and figure out what to do. We didn't have any idea what had happened to them."
Jun nodded in agreement. "That wasn't easy. There were these huge rocks dropped on us from the sky. The Airdramon carried them."

Miyako continued: "One of them fell on to a tent, and everyone, even the Gotsumon, were trying to move it, but it wasn't doing much. Koushiro said something about wishing he had enough energy to do more magic. He'd used too much energy earlier producing shields."

Alraumon shuddered. "Don't remind me. Those shields were all that kept us from the Airdramon attacks."

"So I offered to use the magic, and I managed to lift the rock. But – there was a side effect I didn't expect." Miyako paused in her story to slowly make her way down from the rafters by way of a rope that had been securely tied on one of the beams. Hawkmon watched nervously, not taking his eyes from his partner until she was safely on the ground once more. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"What sort of side effect?" Sora wondered, confused.

***

"I'll handle the Tyrannomon," Digmon shouted. "You can worry about the big guy, Fladramon!" He pressed his drills to the ground. "Big Crack!" Immediately a miniature earthquake split the ground under the massive red dinosaurs, causing them to loose balance.

"I see it!" Pegasmon called, referring to the dark ring about the arm of the Tyrannomon. "Shooting Star!" The ring snapped, setting the dinosaur free. It roared in triumphant pain.

"That was much to easy," Digmon commented.

Takeru was trying for the digimental of friendship. "Maybe it runs in families," he theorized with a shrug, but found that despite a great deal of tugging on his part, the egg-shaped object remained firmly in the ground. "Guess not."

Iori was trying to coach his partner on the finer art of dodging fireballs. As Digmon was a slow-moving creature, this wasn't easy for him. "Look out!" he called suddenly.

Nefertimon decided to assist. "Rosetta Stone!" she called, and the well-aimed attack ensured that Digmon would get no more harassment from that particular Tyrannomon.

"Thanks!" Digmon called in appreciation, and turned his attention to the numerous Gotsumon.

"Is there a factory or something producing these things?" Fladramon shouted in frustration at the large amount of rocky creatures.

"It's not mine," Takeru reported to Iori concerning the digimental. "You want to try?"

"If it'll help us in this battle, I'll try anything," Iori answered simply, striding toward the object. He walked past Daisuke, who was being uncharacteristically silent during the battle.

***

Koushiro frowned. "I'm not sure it's wise, Miyako," he admitted. "The spells with air take a lot of energy, you know."

"Yes, I know," she replied. "But I can handle it. I've used one before. And you know that none of us will have any piece of mind until we know for certain what's happening."

The elder wizard continued scowling for a moment, hesitating slightly. "I don't know…"

"Koushiro, please," Sora interrupted. "If you won't let Miyako perform the spell, then do it yourself. I have to know if they're all right."

"Sora has a feeling they might perhaps have walked into a trap," Jun explained.

"A trap?" Yamato was concerned. "Is that possible?"

"Anything's possible," Koushiro replied simply. He sighed. "I suppose you're right then. Let me find the book."

***

Iori gripped the edge of the egg-shaped device and planted his feet squarely on the ground. He tried to think positive, friendly thoughts, and then tugged with all his might, grunting slightly.

The digimental Yuujou refused to move.

With some amount of disappointment, Iori stepped away from the digimental and turned to Daisuke. "It's yours then, I suppose," he reported, sighing.

The older boy didn't respond. His eyes were on the battle. The three Tyrannomon had been neutralized and the Gotsumon were slowly being freed. There was no progress, however, made on Greymon.

"Daisuke?" Hikari interrupted his thoughts to tap him on the shoulder. "Did you hear Iori?"

He didn't give any indication that he had heard her, instead turning his head slightly toward the three Airdramon that were continuously hovering overhead.  Atop one of them was a dark figure, a cape flowing behind him in the wind, surveying the scene with a triumphant expression. Seeming to sense his eyes upon him, the figure turned toward Daisuke. Their eyes would have met for a moment, if not for the distance and the glint of the tinted spectacles the Kaiser wore.

"Daisuke?" Iori spoke again, following his glance as the boy turned away from the Airdramon toward the massive dinosaur once more.

Daisuke shook his head. "I don't deserve that digimental," he answered.

***

"Ah, yes. I do believe this is the spell you're thinking of. You're lucky I have it with me. It's not one I often find a use for," Koushiro reported, passing the large volume to Miyako.  The others had gone outside to wait for him to search through his belongings, and he now returned from within the depths of the cabin with a single, yet thick, book.

"You don't often find a use for most spells," Tentomon commented from his hovering spot behind his partner's head. "You're too busy studying."

Koushiro turned to glare slightly at his partner, who pretended not to notice. "Yes, well. It's not one that any wizard would find a use for," he continued, clearing his throat. "It's not a difficult spell, really, but it's hard to get precisely right."

"Precisely right?" Miyako echoed.

"Yes. Wind in general flows the way it wants. From here to where you wish to communicate is not the natural flow of air. Magic has to redirect it. And so you must redirect it in the correct direction."

"I see," she nodded. "But how do I do that if I don't know where it is I'm trying to communicate with?"

Koushiro pointed to his head. "Your thought process," he responded. "If you focus your thoughts to the ones you are trying to communicate with, it will direct the magic as much as it needs to." He had a very serious expression on his face as he spoke: "Good luck."

Somehow, Miyako got a foreboding sense of doom from the way he stated those last two words.

"Do you think she'll have trouble with it?" Sora wondered, as the small group stepped back slightly and Miyako set the book on the ground before her.

"Oh… perhaps," the wizard replied mysteriously, and would say no more.

***

"You're the only one left," Hikari argued rationally. "It has to belong to you."

Daisuke shook his head. "I've already gotten enough friends hurt," he returned, turning his gaze back towards Greymon, who was at that moment tossing a large fireball in the direction of Pegasmon, who managed to narrowly avoid it. "I don't need to hurt anyone else."

Takeru, having overheard the argument, put in his own thoughts: "Sometimes hurting people is the only way to help them," he pointed out. "If Agumon gets hurt but we manage to free him then it's all the better."

Stubbornly, the boy shook his head. "I'm not going to hurt him," he defended, looking toward the ground.

"If you don't, then the rest of us will probably get hurt!" Iori half-shouted in frustration.

The other shrugged his shoulders, peering steadily toward the sand now. "At least I didn't cause that," he answered.

Suddenly, some distance away, the controlled Greymon fired his largest yet attack of the day. "Mega Flame!" The gigantic fireball headed directly for Fladramon, who managed to narrowly avoid it, but de-evolved to V-mon in the process, the tips of his ears singed slightly by the fire.

Not surprisingly, this triggered another enraged reaction in Taichi, but astonishingly he didn't attempt to run for his partner. This time, he rushed directly for Daisuke and grabbed him by the shoulders, ignoring the stunned responses of the others.

"Are you insane?" he shouted, shaking the younger boy. "If you don't evolve, then we'll all probably be killed. We can't stop him without you. Without the digimental. So just pick up the damn thing!"

V-mon appeared nearby, having dashed quickly across the desert to find his partner. "Please, Daisuke," he pleaded. "Let me fight."

***

Miyako read over the instructions to the spell several times to become familiar with it. Then she began the hand movements required to call the air to her. They were very much similar to those at the beginning of the spell she'd used to levitate the rock off the ground, and the feeling of familiarity was comforting to her. She could feel the wind blowing through her hair and her skirts. With the cold of the snow still on the ground, the chill ran down her spine, but she refused to be distracted.

***

Before Daisuke could respond to the pleas of the others, a light began to glow brightly from the digimental again. Immediately, all present who were not fighting in the battle turned to the source. The blue egg-shaped digimental rose into the air slowly and made its way toward the boy who was its reluctant recipient.

"See?" Takeru stated. "It is yours. It's come right to you. You know the digimentals don't react to those who aren't worthy."

"The rest of us couldn't even lift it," Hikari agreed. "But it's come right to you."

"You can't deny it now," Iori added. "It belongs to you."

V-mon spoke then. "Come on Daisuke. Let's save those that we can save."  His partner looked toward him and finally appeared to understand. He reached out his hand and gripped the digimental. Immediately, the glowing light subsided, and the boy then wasted no more time.

"Digimental up!"

***

There now. That wasn't too bad was it? A shorter wait than last time, like promised. I do apologize for not getting this out sooner, anyway, but school has a tendency to do things like that to me. ::sigh::

A good amount of action in this chapter, I'd say. Will Miyako discover the location of the others? Will they be able to free Greymon? Will Taichi go completely off the deep end? (As opposed to just having one foot of the dock as he does now…) And, while all this is going on, who is running the country?  More importantly, will this story ever come to a close?!

::shrug:: Who knows?!

In the next section, soon to be arriving at a computer near you, expect more action! Wahoo. Now that Daisuke has found the digimental of friendship, those of purity and faith must of course be on the way. While I try to keep at least parts of this series modeled after the original show, it has been some time since I last saw it, so expect much more deviation. Also, because of the modern facilities involved with Miyako and Iori's second digimentals (a diner, an oil drill), I'm going to have some definite originality (gasp!) involved with those two. Keep reading, you might be surprised!

Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing (you're all so nice!), and thanks for keeping with it this far. 'Til next time! ::waves::