Gomababe:snifflingour beloved partners still haven't returned.
Lar-Lar:wails CHRYSTA!! COME BACK!!!!!!! more wailing
Gomababe:anyways, neither myself nor Lar-Lar here own Digimon. blows nose please remember to review the fic when you're finished reading...Now onto the fic begins crying again...
Chapter ten-Buried Insecurities
Sora, Tai, Matt and Alana looked up to see the effect Mimi was talking about. Matt squinted his eyes,
"Hey, wait a minute!" He exclaimed, "That is a rainbow!" Gabumon looked up and nodded,
"Yeah, it is." he said quietly so as not to wake the youngest Digi-destined and their Digimon partners. Alana, who was much more alert than Izzy, Lucy and Joe, looked up as well. Noticing a figure materializing within the rainbow she nudged the person closest to her,
"Hey look. It's Gennai!" she exclaimed as Sora shook herself awake, also waking Biyomon up in the process,
"I wonder what that old coot wants this time." Gomamon wondered aloud, getting several glares from his friends. Gennai just chuckled as he fully appeared in front of the five children as well as their Digimon that were fully awake,
"I may be old Gomamon, but I'm not senile yet." Tai just raised an eyebrow at the‡ remark, but didn't say anything. Matt frowned,
"What do you want this time Gennai? We've already figured out most of the prophecy." he stated calmly. Gennai just nodded,
"And a fine job you did too." he said, looking towards Alana and then Lucy, "But in order for the shield to be constructed from the Crests the eight of you carry, you need to be on File Island for it to work successfully." This earned a groan from most of the older kids,
"Well, we are not going anywhere until Izzy's fully rested and I'm happy with his condition." Joe said, turning to the holographic old man and crossing his arms defiantly. Izzy started protesting almost immediately,
"But I'm fine, really. I just need a good night's sleep then...." he gave a loud yawn, "...we can get going in the morning." he finished tiredly. Alana turned to the red headed boy,
"Nuh uh." she said calmly, but seriously, "you aren't going anywhere for at least another two or three days. Trust me on me on that, and tell me that you're fine tomorrow and I'll know you're lying for definite." she stated, not allowing any room for an argument. Gennai just shook his head,
"Don't worry yourself Izzy, Joe and Alana are right, you need your rest and besides," he stated, "you've got a long voyage to File Island, it'll do you all some good to rest for a few days." he said as he began to fade away, "I'll see you all soon." Izzy snorted as Gennai faded away completely,
"This is so not fair." he muttered darkly, not pleased with staying in one place for too long, especially with his friends fussing over him. Tentomon flew over and placed a claw on his partners shoulder,
"Izzy, please just do what the others say," he pleaded, his green insectoid eyes looking directly into Izzy's dark ones. Izzy sighed and nodded slowly,
"Oh all right." he muttered, "If only to keep you lot happy." Tentomon smiled as he snuggled down next to his Digi-destined partner, now happy that he wouldn't do anything rash. Tai looked around the group, seeing‡ everyone almost asleep on their feet he gave a wide smile,
"Okay then everyone, I think it's about time we turned in for the night. We've had a rough day and we'll need to conserve our strength." Mimi cheered as she settled down on one of the pews,
"Finally, I can get my beauty sleep without having to worry about my hair, make up, clothes or...." she didn't finish as she fell asleep, Palmon at her side. One by one the Digi-destined all fell asleep, until only Alana, Lucy and their Digimon were left awake.
"What a day." Lucy sighed as she bit into the cereal bar Sora had given her earlier, "Talk about your trips of a lifetime huh?" she asked, chewing thoughtfully. Alana nodded,
"Yeah I'm just glad it's over and done with." she sighed as she petted Bikhumon on the head. The little In training Digimon sighed happily as she fell asleep in her human partner's arms. Lucy looked to Izzy, who was sleeping peacefully, Tentomon at his side,
"Yeah same here. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my entire life." Alana smiled,
"And you're supposed to be the Digi-destined of Calm?" she asked incredulously, laughing lightly before yawning. Lucy gave a bigger yawn,
"Did you have to start with that?" she asked. Alana could only shrug, "Oh well then, we may as well hit the sack now." she yawned again. Alana nodded as she fell asleep where she sat, hugging Bikhumon close to her, while Lucy settled down in the pew next to her, hugging Chrystamon. Only the sounds of gentle snoring could be heard as the Digi-destined Children and there Digimon slept, safe from harm for the night.
After a few days rest, the ten children and their digimon partners began the long walk towards the ocean. They had re-stocked their food from some of the places Sora had visited earlier and after much discussion, and much complaining from Izzy, it had been decided that Garurumon would carry said red-head and so Gabumon had been given a healthy portion of food. Finally settling off on their way, Lucy trailed behind, Chrystamon riding on her shoulder, just staring up at the sky and thinking to herself. Alana had noticed this was most unlike her friend but after sensing she wanted to be on her own for now, she continued walk nearer the front with Matt, Tai and Izzy. Joe, Mimi, TK and Kari were somewhere in the middle, each with their digimon partners by their sides. Chrystamon Lucy had been silent for awhile now and this bothered the rookie,
"Are you okay Lucy?" She asked, noting that as Alana had not come over it was likely she was putting out a 'leave me alone' vibe. The girl blinked.
"Huh?" She asked, being pulled back out of her thoughts. She smiled slightly as she saw the concerned look on her partners face. "No worries, I'm fine." Chrystamon nodded slowly, wondering if she should push it or not. "I was thinking about back home, that's all." She told her partner. "Really, you don't have to worry about me, I may look small and helpless but I can pack a pretty mean punch when I have too." She winked at the rookie, causing her to giggle but almost as soon as the grin had appeared on the young girls face, it faded again.
"So really, there's nothing else?"
"Nothing you can help me with buddy, people stuff, you wouldn't understand." She said, staring up at the sky again, her voice sounding a million miles away.
"Well you could try me at least." Chrystamon replied, getting annoyed at her partner's lack of faith in her, or so she felt anyway.
"Could but I'm not." She told her stubbornly. "Look, it's nothing personal buddy, I just don't want to talk about it, right?" This exchange was starting to cause the others to look back and wonder what was happening.
"Why are Lucy and Chrystamon arguing?" Kari asked, looking back at the other two. Joe shook his head but said nothing. Alana frowned, she could still tell her friend was not up to a chat but she also could feel her sadness and knew she needed to talk. Before she could do or say anything, Izzy slipped down from Garurumon's back, standing still to caught his breath a moment before heading to the back of the group.
"Where do you think you're going Iz?" Matt asked, causing Tai to look round and yell too.
"Izzy, get back here!" The red-head kept walking, only waving a hand at the two showing he had heard but had no intention of listening. Matt shook his head.
"Do you ever get the feeling you're good intensions are going entirely to waste?" He asked no-one in particular as they began walking again, knowing they could not force their friend to rest. Alana was secretly glad, Izzy was probably the best person to deal with Lucy right now, she was less likely to yell and scream at him after what he had been through. She smiled knowingly and made a note to keep an eye on both of their moods.
Chrystamon poked her partner in the neck when she saw Izzy walking towards them, a determined look on his face.
"Ouch! What was that for bug brain?" She asked rubbing the point of impact and causing Chrystamon to giggle as she climbed down from her partner's shoulder. "Hey where are you going?" She called after her.
"To see Tentomon, You'll be okay, you pack quite a punch or so I've heard." Lucy stuck out her tongue at the digimon, although she was secretly impressed at her quick comeback. It was not until that point she actually noticed Izzy walking up to her.
"Koushiro! You should be resting what are you doing back here?" The boy shrugged as he fell into step with her.
"You looked like you could do with some company." He said. "And not of the digimon type." He smiled slightly at that, remembering how Tentomon used to bug him when he was thinking about this and that back the first time they were in Digi-world. Lucy looked at him curiously for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"When I first got here and Chrystamon told me I was the child of calm, I laughed. I mean, I'm anything but calm and my life just seems to crawl from one crisis to the next but she told me that we never really know ourselves or what we are capable of until other people get involved." She let out a bitter laugh. "Which really goes to prove my point." Izzy frowned at her, not really understanding. "When I was trying to bring you back, I was panicking big time. I could hardly breath at one point calm is so not my thing." Izzy nodded slowly, understanding what she meant and trying to think of something he could say to help her as she had helped him. "No need to worry though, I'll be okay I just think too much that's all." She grinned at him. "I mean, it's over now isn't it? We got you back in one piece and ourselves too, triple score bonus!" They both laughed quietly at that before Izzy spoke up again.
"That's true. But Lucy, you did what you were supposed to do. You made it through didn't you? You may not have felt calm but you did it anyway." He thought for a moment. "Maybe your crest isn't about yourself? Maybe it's your ability to calm others?" Lucy thought for a moment, it made sense, her mum had always told her she had this way of helping other people when there was a crisis going on.
"Kinda like the eye of a storm huh?" She wondered out loud, then grinned, turning back to Izzy. "Yeah, I like that. Thanks." He nodded to her, a small smile on his face.
"There was one thing I wanted to ask you." He began, hoping she would not take this the wrong way but she just waited for him to finish, not looking at all fazed. "What you said before, about not letting my family and friends go through losing me... I got the impression you've been through something like that yourself?" Lucy winced, she really should have seen that coming.
"Well yeah." She said slowly, wondering just how deep into this he wanted her to go. "My auntie lived with us pretty much, she was very ill when she was young, she had polio and was disabled so couldn't live on her own." She paused and waited, but he was silent so she continued. "Well, she lived with her parents, my grandparents, but she was in her forties and they drove her kinda crazy so she stayed at our place a lot. Anyways, she was like a sister to me and my little sister Vicki." She stopped again, this time not wanting to go on.
"I take it she's no longer with us?" Izzy asked quietly, feeling bad that he even started this. Lucy just nodded slowly.
"On my tenth birthday." She muttered, then shook her head, replacing the frown with a smile. "But no worries, don't feel bad for asking. Every cloud has it's silver lining you just have to look harder for some than others." He nodded, smiling back.
"You found this one yet?" he asked, lucky shook her head again but the grin reminded.
"Nope but that doesn't mean I'm about to give up looking. No matter how hard things are of how bad things get, it's not until you give up that you're really in trouble."
"So that's why you said nothing's hopeless." She nodded.
"Because nothing ever is. As long as there's bad stuff happening, there will always be hope. After all, the sky is always at it's darkest before the dawn and the sun always rises from it."
"What on earth are you two talking about back there?! Come on, get a move on!" Chrystamon yelled, she was now herself riding on Garurumon's back. Tentomon's voice piped up.
"Yeah Come on Izzy, you should be resting!" Izzy rolled his eyes, then turned to Lucy with a grin.
"Race you." He said, she returned the grin.
"You're on!"
Megadramon shivered as the figure in the shadows moved towards him,
"You have failed me drastically Megadramon, I can not allow this!" it roared. Megadramon cowered before the throne in‡ which the figure sat,
"I'm sorry master." he squeaked, "But there was nothing I could have done. The Crest of Determination is too powerful." The figure shifted a little, seeming to think for a moment,
"True, but you could have at least tried to Damage the Crest of Calm, without it the Crest of Determination can not glow." Megadramon looked at the shadow fearfully, knowing what was coming,
"P.. Please Master. You have to give me another chance." the orange Dramon cried. The figure clicked his tongue,
"I've given you too many chances now Megadramon, Hurricane Tempest!" Megadramon screamed as the attack deleted him on the spot. The figure looked at the spot where Megadramon had been floating only seconds before,
"Digitalismon!" he called out to the darkness, the lizard like Digimon rushed into the room, bowing before the figure in the throne,
"Yes Master Hurricanadramon, you wish me for something?" he hissed as he raised his head. Hurricanadramon nodded,
"Yes my little servant. Destroy the Crest of Calm. The others will fall without it. Do not fail me." he threatened. Digitalismon bowed again before scurrying out of the room his three tails lashing around behind him...