The Fate of the World: The Outer Triad

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: Digimon

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG

Language: English

Summery: The aftermath of Anna. The four DigiDestined approach the Cave of Destiny.

A/N: This is an important chapter. I know the last one was too, but the next few will be rather important.

Chapter 16: The Outer Triad

Justine groans loudly as she pulls herself up into a sitting position, aching miserably from the many scratches and bruises that cover her body. Her movements are pained by what feels like sunburn, thought she and Anna lathered themselves and Virginia with SPF 30 yesterday after both breakfast and lunch. Thinking of eating, Justine realizes the hunger pangs she has for not having eaten in awhile. "Anna," she manages to mumble, half opening her eyes.

Anna emits pained growl, turning her head to look at her friend, "Justine? You're alive?"

Justine touches her left shoulder, which is bare and find a sore lump of skin, a scar from the needle that pierced her shoulder. She rips off the scrap of cloth that composes the top half of her right sleeve, finding a similar lump on her upper arm. From what she can tell, the needle missed bone by less than an inch. She stands up, immediately grimacing from the sore muscles in her thigh.

Anna groans and pulls herself up, surprised to see daylight. She stands up and catches sight of the approaching digimon with Virginia in tow. Finding it best to be cautious, she attempts to make contact with her power, but falls to her knees, sending pain up her legs as her knees it the rocky ground.

"Sit down, Red-Furred One. We have no intentions of harming the infant," the dark nightingale states, in the tone of a New England aristocrat lady, confirming Anna's suspicions that the animal was indeed a digimon.

The curious Justine steps forward and quickly snaps her hand to her exposed hip, trying to catch her mangled jeans before they fall off completely, but pulls her hand away from the scar with shocked, "Ow!" Anna takes hold of the waistline of the garment from behind, and turning Justine around in the process to examine her groin area. Sure enough, just below the waistline, there is a lump of skin. "You're okay?" she asks, letting Justine hold the jeans up from the left side, which features a short-shorts length of pant leg.

Justine speaks of her sunburn, to which Anna replies about putting on sun block the day before. Anna turns her attention to the two bird digimon, "So, who are you guys?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," states the nightingale, her long tail and pall slowly waving back and forth as she speaks, "I am Novamon. My friend here is Scaradmon," indicating the bright orange and red parrot digimon with multicolored tail features, whose behavior is as bright as her plumage.

"Can I tell them why we're here?" the parrot asks excitedly, whose accent seems almost Hispanic in its passion. Anna smiles at the spitfire of a digimon.

"Go on," the purple bird replies indifferently.

"'The Sun shall rise when the full moon is high'!" screeches Scaradmon. "That is how I shall know when my DigiDestined Partner has come!"

"Fireball," mumbles Justine, "Anna, after I got skewered, you created some kind of intense fireball. I mean, look around you!" she exclaims, now just noticing the wasteland that the area had become. "Look! You practically obliterated two cliffs! That's probably what happened to my clothes," she remarks, "which reminds me, I gotta change…" she says, holding up her pants.

Anna frowns, "Assuming I didn't incinerate our backpacks," she carelessly comments as Justine runs backwards.

"Nope," she yells from afar, "the quilt's practically gone, but our backpacks survived. Miraculously," she adds.

"And dustily," Justine finished, coming back with both backpacks and a new set of clean clothes that contrast with her dirt-covered skin. Feeling the soil, she brushes it off with one hand. "I'd take a bath, but that water looks less than enticing," she comments, noticing the dead fish.

Anna also wipes one check off, but Justine grabs the other hand as she lowers herself so that she's face-to-face with the sitting Anna. "Tear streaks," she remarks.

"I'm not surprised," Anna says, lowering her eyes, "after you shielded us, or 'skewered' yourself, as you so tactfully put it, I can't say I was quite cheery," she gets out despite the lump in her throat. Justine strokes Anna's hair as she brings her closer for a hug, tears welling up in both their eyes.

"Shield…" mumbles Justine, then "…tear… Tear!" She grabs Anna's shoulder and pushes her back so that they can face each other. "The prophecy mentioned 'The Inquirer with the Shield of Procurare,' 'The Shield of Sacrifice,' and 'the Sanguine with the Tear of Nitorio,'"

"Notorio?" the parrot responds. "Nitorio is where my kind resides. It is called the 'The Brilliant City,'"

Justine smiles, "'The Tear of Brilliance.' That means we have found our Treasures."

Scaradmon scoots up to Anna, "And you may have found your digimon. If you indeed caused the sun to rise when the moon was high, then you must be my partner." She flies up and gets tightly hugged by Anna.

Justine looks to the reverent Novamon, "And what was said to you about your DigiDestined partner?"

"'She shall be to another as one is to you, and they shall be as you and she are."

Anna snorts, "Talk about vague and cryptic,"

"And Scaradmon, despite herself," Novamon says, the slightest hint of sarcasm in her flawless voice, "is my closest companion and friend,"

"As I am to Anna. I am 'to another as one is to you.' That means we are as they are, DigiDestined partners."

Novamon bows reverently before leaping into the air to land delicately on Justine's shoulder. Virginia, quite bored with all the talking, waddles up to Justine hugging her leg and reaching out for Anna's leg, but quite displeased that her arm span is inadequate. Anna, however, shifts Scaradmon to her shoulder and picks up the giggling Virginia, and sharing a secret smile with Justine.

: : :

Christopher, motionless, takes in a deep breath, his chest moving the most it's moved in a while. He is jarred to alertness by a tight hug on his neck. The certain shade of blond tells him the identity of his hugger. "Diana, what's going on?"

: : :

"What's going on?" I ask.

Diana practically shouts in response, "You've been in a trance for ten hours!" I look to the left and indeed see dawn becoming morning. I turn to Diana again, noticing the goldenrod stream in her hair. I purse my lips.

"I thought Jessica was in trouble, so I tried to help her," Realizing that I just accepted some blame that will not lighten Diana's mood, I start to control my words, "She pulled me into some kind of trance," There we go, pulling the blame away from myself, allowing it to be Jessica's fault, even an accident on her part. "We discussed what's going on in the various parties. She'll be going with the guys into the Cave of Destiny soon, which means that they can try to renew it and bring us closer to fulfilling the prophecy," Direct, unexpected turn mixed with good news. Very clever.

Diana calms herself down, "That's good. I'm sorry for being so erratic. I was just worried." I pull her in for a hug, knowing her pain. Diana's family is close-knit, and she prefers her friends that way, too. And her social circle isn't that large at that. Our constant letters to one another have brought us very close, a closeness that is almost lost in the fury of the events that's happened recently. I forget how close she is to me. Not that I'm not as close, but for her, it's just different. And I have to respect that.

I open my laptop, wanting to read the prophecy again to plan our next move, but I notice something odd. I put an image of Diana's depiction of the Symbol of Symbols as my background. It was fairly simple: white lines connected to white dots on a textured background—rough stone, in fact, to match her drawing on the stone wall.

But what catches my eye is that several of the white dots are gone, and in their place, images of different colored glass beads. I show this to Diana; she remarks, "Both partners, the cross, and one from the Inner Triad."

The colors seem familiar, but a noise from outsides shifts our attention elsewhere.

: : :

Jessica's eyes suddenly open and the first thing she sees is another pair of eyes: Daniel's tan-sprinkled sky blue irises. Daniel falls backwards and Jessica scoots back.

Matt leans down by her side, helping her up, "Jay, you've been out since about ten last night. It's almost eight in the morning right now. What happened?"

"I was communicating with Christopher. It started as a vision, but I got caught in a trance. Sorry 'bout that."

"No biggie, but we've got to tackle this Cave of Destiny. We got the three guards to challenge in addition to the other stuff hanging over our heads. Is everyone else having as hectic of a time as we are?"

Jessica replies, "Christopher said he's making a lot of progress on the intellectual front, but he hasn't done much fighting. And he hasn't heard from anyone else."

Matt laughs, "Okay, whose bright idea was it to go to the Cave of Destiny? So far, it's been the most perilous."

Jessica shakes her head, saying, "No, well, yes, but I have a feeling that the others are going to encounter some struggles pretty soon. The places they're at should be infested with the Darkness's evil. And we're the largest group. And Daniel and Matt, and now you, James are very strong. As tacky as it sounds, this is how it's meant to be tricky for us."

"Regardless," James jumps in, "we gotta get going on this renewing the Cave of Destiny stuff."

"Is anyone beside me wondering exactly how one 'renews' a cave?" Daniel prompts.

James sighs and comments, "Hopefully, we'll find out when we get there. C'mon, we're wasting time,"

It's a short walk to the cave, too short for Jessica's tastes. The eyes of all four are darting around. Their ears are open, trying to pick up any noises. Their breathing is regulated: slow, deep breaths. The stand before the Cave of Destiny, exactly as Jessica saw it in her vision. It has a rather small opening, a roughly round entrance of eight feet wide and tall. It's rather simple and unadorned, emerging neatly yet conspicuously out of the mountain. The colored light from the DigiDestined's crests burn beneath their shirts.

Just as the DigiDestined feel they might be able to enter without a fight, two glowing red eyes emerge from the darkness of the Cave's entrance. The creature as it reaches the sunlight is seen to be a large green- and brown-striped snake. It coils up just outside the cave, its aerodynamic head held high but looking downward at the poised DigiDestined. Its tail features a rather large rattler at the end of its thirty-foot length, which features dull spike-like protrusions, not gleaming like polished steel, but rather like thick, coarse iron.

Its blood-red eyes gleaming, it starts to speak, "Welcome to the Cave of Destiny. Entrance is strictly forbidden." With this, he lets out an annoyed hiss accompanied by a brief menacing rattle. "In my experience, I have found that most accidentally come upon us. They quickly leave as ordered. Others came to the Cave of Destiny with the purpose of trespassing on its provinces and exploiting its power. They will return in the next age."

Matt comments, "Next age?"

Jessica replies, "Digimon don't die a lot of them time, according to Christopher. They become eggs again. It's their equivalent to being reborn. It might take awhile though."

"Your continued presence here, Unmon, displeases me," says the snake. "You know the code. I have no other choice but to assume the Darkness has taken you if you do not depart from this place."

Matt rolls his eyes, commenting, "Anyone besides me getting tired of being mistaken for an Unmon? I say we kick this snake's butt… tail. Anyway, we need to get in, Fangface."

"Entrance is strictly forbidden," quotes the snake, rattling again. His scales, which are long, stiff flaps, flare out from his body, much like threatened cat's fur.

"Not an option!" Matt runs forward. The snakes strikes down, rows of fangs emerging in its open mouth, and bites Matt, whose leaf-green aura protects him. Vines emerge from the ground, wrapping around the snake, which slithers out of most, but is slowly fighting a losing battle to capture.

The mighty roar of a great beast causes the mountainside tremble. The sounds of heavy footsteps and breaking branches emerge from the forest on the mountain above the cave, getting louder. A huge shadow comes over the scene as a great, dark mass blocks out the sun, which lands forcefully on the ground, causing all of the DigiDestined to brace for a fall, but they manage to maintain their balance. They look at the heavy form that causes the quake now standing beside the struggling snake digimon. It stands up on its hind legs; it's a bear-like creature.

As it rises, it stands fifteen feet tall, covered in long, dark brown fur. Its breast however, is a lighter cream color, which spreads around its body, flowing around its arms and legs. Its ears are not bear-like; they are triangular, still furry, but lying flat against the bear's narrow head. Its snout seems longer than a bear's, closer to a wolf's snout. Its eyes, of course, are circular, humanoid eyes, like most digimon's.

The creature uses its oversized arm to break through the snake's confines with claws that seem extra-long, even for its size. Daniel and Matt gulp loudly, but defend themselves by transforming into their earthy forms. James and Spiremon fly overhead and James throws down a sword, which glows with energy before emitting a huge flash.

The guards aren't fazed by the light. The bear rips the sword from the ground in its paw, enveloping it completely, and launches it at Spiremon. James leaps off and deflects the blade with his arm and Spiremon swoops underneath him before landing.

"They're not overcome by the Darkness, Matt," James whispers to his friend.

"Well, duh," Matt says loudly, "they think we are." But the conversation ends at Daniel extends his arm to point at the digimon guards who are taking turn attacking the other. They see Jessica on the cliff, her eyes white, smiling. The guys laugh and immediately regret it. Both digimon close their eyes, the snake smelling with his tongue, the bear sniffing the air.

James sighs, then shouts, "Well, guys, let's show them what real DigiDestined are made of! Endurance of Steel!"

"Victory of Stone!"

"Might of Forest!"

The resulting fury of vines and stone shooting from the ground turns out to be too much for the struggling beasts. Spiremon swoops in and knocks the two over. The ground has settled; leaving a disheveled patch of terrain in front of the cave, with the huge beasts lay weakening. The crests of the three boys glow brightly, Matt and Daniels shooting beams at the two monsters, who are engulfed by the glow, and shrink into two ostrich-sized eggs, one decorated by brown rings, the other by green almonds.

The tranquility of the scene is hardly interrupted by a fox's head poking out of the cave, quietly grabbing each egg in its mouth and pulling it back into the cave. There is a soft growl, almost a purr, then…

"Mage's Fire!" The cave is lit up from the inside by white light, which seems to rush out. James, Matt, and Daniel are knocked down by the sudden explosion with throws their own rock and stone into them. Jessica crouches down above the entrance of the cave, seeing the briefly uneven area below her flattened, along with her three friends.

Spiremon glides down to face the bronze-furred fox, who steps out of the cave slowly, teeth bared, and a violet almond shape on her forehead. Jessica recognizes the creature immediately from her vision after facing the Rival; it is Aneramon. Aneramon speaks, in a low treble, feminine voice, "I'm surprised at you, fellow digimon. You challenge the Outer Triad. Those renegade Unmon with their stolen powers may have defeated the first two, but they fall short of the third."

"We only want in. They are not 'renegade Unmon' as you say. They are DigiDestined."

Aneramon scoffs and says caustically, "DigiDestined? Really? DigiDestined with no digimon partners. And no prophecy foretelling their coming. Not that the prophecies come true anymore." At this, it almost seems as if Aneramon is hiding sadness with her anger. "I refuse to accept your lies."

"I am the light-haired one's digimon. The other three have been given Powers. Mine has too."

"Powers? As in the archaic Powers of Crests? The Unmon created the Crests long ago as vessels of the DigiWorld's natural power. I see no reason why Unmon could not call upon these Powers easily." Aneramon crouches to attack. Spiremon remains standing in a non-combative way.

"I am Spiremon, an armor-digivolved digimon. The Unmon may have designed the Armor DigiEggs, but they do not control them. The Armor DigiEgg represents a quality, like the Crests. The DigiWorld will not grant power to any receptacle of power without come goodness by its owner, such as the virtue contained in the Crest or DigiEgg." Spiremon looks down on the fox sternly, his point made.

"Spiremon, I'll let you in on a secret of the Cave. I don't care because you won't be telling anyone. The Cave is the residence of many Unmon. I know how clever they are. And ones here are dedicated to goodness." The vixen's legs are now tight, ready to strike at any moment, but they loosen. Her sneer becomes a smile, "Wait. You said, 'three others,' beside the Unmon you claim to be your DigiDestined partner. I see two. Where is the other one?"

Without thinking, Spiremon shifts his eyes to look at Jessica, sitting atop the cave, just above the listening Aneramon. Aneramon emits a wicked laugh before making a few quick jumps, landing her the other way around so the can pounce on Jessica. Spiremon is too quick for her. As she jumps, he grabs her in his talons and throws her into the woods, then glides back over to Jessica, screeching, "Jump!" just in time to bring her off the cave as the agile Aneramon races from the forest and onto the cave, missing Jessica, but using the roof of the cave entrance to leap into the air, grabbing the ascending Spiremon's leg in her mouth. She doesn't last long and falls back to the earth for a soft landing.

"Spiremon, spin back around! I think I can talk some sense into her!" Jessica screams into Spiremon ear.

He turns around, replying, "You're crazy, but I'll stand beside you." He pauses, adding, "I'm worried about James."

"His Power will protect him, but not indefinitely. Aneramon is our first priority. She poses a larger threat to us all that our wounds."

Spiremon lands carefully, lightly on his injured foot, but keeps a menacing glance to keep Aneramon from taking advantage of the situation. Heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, Jessica walks forward toward Aneramon, though keeping her distance. "Aneramon!" she calls, "let's talk. Whether you believe it or not, we're DigiDestined. We're not these Unmons you and every other skeptical digimon talk about. We came here to destroy the evil intruder. We're not his minions."

Aneramon gives Jessica a look that clearly declares the message, "Liar!" which soon becomes, "I could kill you in a split second." Jessica bravely continues, "I am the Sister. The bearer of the Crest of Care with the power of Illusion. I have visions. They're painful sometimes." Aneramon replies by crouching lower, lowering her eyelids into a keener position, and starting to emit a rumbling growl under her breath.

"I had a vision of you once." Aneramon's eyes reopen, but her position remains firm. "The reason you're so bitter is that you were supposed to become one of the DigiDestined digimon." Aneramon's growl tapers off, but she remains ready to attack. "I saw you grow up. You were as fast as you are now. I saw the races with Tobalmon." Aneramon's body doesn't change, but the body language does. She remains crouched, but the tenseness of her muscles is gone. Aneramon's face is interested, her poker face defeated.

Jessica's poker face, however, stays strong, and thankfully, Aneramon doesn't seem to notice her profuse sweating. "Tobalmon, your brother. The one you left to fulfill your destiny of selecting the three guards, the Outer Triad, that was to protect the Cave of Destiny. I didn't realize that you'd given up and selected yourself for the Head Guard."

"Given up? I did not give up. The digimon of the land know the rules. Defeat a guard and you take his place. I always fight the challengers first, and I always claim victory."

"What about your next challenger?" Jessica asks, indicating Spiremon behind her. Jessica smiles and notes, "He did defeat the other two. But since he had help and he was supposed to challenge you first, let 'im at it." Spiremon regains his composure, caught off-guard by Jessica's signing him up to be a challenger for the position as part of the Outer Triad. Aneramon looks unimpressed. "Plus," Jessica adds, "If you win, I'll be unprotected."

Aneramon make a quick leap over Jessica and onto Spiremon, who frees himself with a few graceless moves. But once flying, he has the advantage. He grabs Aneramon again with his talon and throws her into the side of the mountain. She gets lost in the trees, but catches Spiremon off-guard as she emerges quickly from the forest.

Spiremon makes a quick dive, gets Aneramon around the flanks with his talons, and starts to ascend into the air. He does a midair backflip, releasing the terrified fox halfway through the flip and dives below, leaving Aneramon to fall her to her doom. She quickly reorients herself, but the fall is too great for her to land safely. She closes her eyes, howling, knowing her doom is near and embraces the quick deceleration that whips her body like a rag doll. It doesn't hurt as much as she anticipated. She doesn't feel the ground below, thinking she has been instantly numbed. As she senses the feeling of flying, she awaits her rebirth, not knowing if she will retain the memories of her past life. No young digimon has ever expressed such memories.

A sudden pain jolts her. She hits what feels like the ground after a short fall, skidding along, with the dirt infecting her nostrils. She opens her eyes to see the Cave entrance. Her body aching, she tilts her head around and realizes the truth of her situation. Spiremon had caught her in midair and released her to tumble on the ground. She tries to lift herself up, wanting to keep her post in the Outer Triad, but she feels… defeated. And it tastes rotten.

The female Unmon rebel comes up to her, to boast probably, but she lowers to one knee and examines the fox's body. "Aneramon, are you okay?"

"Give my congratulations to Spiremon. He is now part of the Outer Triad. Leave me; my body will soon deteriorate." But the girl pulls out her digivice and its purple light shines upon Aneramon, acting as an anesthetic, releasing her into the unknown. Aneramon feels small again. The warmth of the DigiEgg is comforting. But a soft breeze alerts her. Something is wrong. She wakes up, seeing her furry body. It's smaller somehow.

"You must be Jeamon," Jessica says, looking caringly into Jeamon's eyes. The fox pup sighs at the name she has not heard in many years. "But how was I able to dedigivolve?"

"This crest was meant for me… and for you. I think your destiny was more than to find the members of the Outer Triad. You also are DigiDestined, and I am your partner."

Jeamon curls up, pondering the words carefully, emotions brimming over. "Jessica," she begins, surprised by the childish voice she finds foreign but distantly familiar. "I'm very happy to finally meet you. The years have hardened my heart. Garlmon and Rattlermon both spoke of how each was to have a brother who was to be DigiDestined, but the partners never came. No one has believed the prophecies since, but yet we protect them."

"Protect them? Is that what was in the Cave? The prophecies?"

"That and much more. You may come in. The presence of four DigiDestined and two strong digimon make the Cave more than safe. I assume you'll be able to digivolve me?"

"If what Christopher tells me of the DigiWorld is true, then I believe so."

"Christopher? Is he a DigiDestined or an Unmon?"

Jessica almost laughs, "DigiDestined. He's my brother of destiny. Which gives me a sneaking suspicion about… I'll tell you later. Let's go get the boys."

Jeamon starts to run along, but is swooped up Jessica, who cuddles her. It's a foreign feeling to Jeamon, and she tries to resist, but quickly becomes accustomed to it, and even begins to rub her head against Jessica's shoulder. This is the Day of Days for her and even the blood flowing through her veins feels warmer. She is overwhelmed by how quickly it changed.

Jessica, on the other hand, is on alert. Though extremely happy about finding her partner digimon, something is nagging her in the back of her mind. She feels someone eyes on her back. It's much unlike her connections with Christopher, which usually produces something like an out-of-body experience, but this feeling makes her more than overly aware of the shell that surrounds her soul and the desire to retreat into it is overwhelming.

For a split second, the image of the Symbol of Symbols flashing before her eyes, with dots of colors giving it luster. But the next image does the opposite. It's a pair of watching eyes. The irises were a dull blue color, but the pupils were gleaming. The incomplete face seems familiar but Jessica just can't place it.

She helps the waking Daniel on the ground, her neck almost aching from the feeling of it being stared at. Christopher, be on the lookout. I think something's going down…

: : :

A/N: Whew! The longest chapter so far. By limiting the number of story arcs I include, the chapters become longer. Something's not happening right. Anyway, I'll try to get the rest of the series finished as soon as possible. I should stop making promises, because you'll need to forget my promise about keeping the story under twenty chapters, 'cause I'll probably go over a little bit. But it'll be worth it. I promise.

(Sonriso) - Oh, I get so excited over Creedog's stories. There so good and he puts a lot of work into them just to introduce little ol' me, the hero of it all.