Chapter 6: Love—Storm of Passion
Compared to the desert, Gennai's house was pure luxury. The beds were comfortable, the shower was hot, and the food was good, although I'm not a big fan of noodles. Joey, on the other hand, didn't get to enjoy it nearly as much. Since the travel was no longer distracting him, the effects of his illness hit him full on.
Chris, Agumon, and I spent our days there lounging about, sleeping for ludicrous periods of time. Gennai often made comments on our laziness, especially when somebody came to visit, which happened quite often. Various digimon of all shapes and sizes were always coming and going, bringing with them news of the outside world. Gennai would make us go to the rooms he had loaned to us whenever he found us sleeping in eyeshot. It was odd though; Gennai had always seemed more like a goofy, lighthearted person on the shows. Maybe they had toned that as well.
It was a week before Joey's fever broke and he got out of bed for something other than using the restroom. It didn't take long for him to go back to his hyper self. Once he was well though, Gennai left.
"I must go speak with the creators James. Can you control Chris and Joey while I'm gone? Agumon shouldn't need much help." Before I could respond, images flashed through my head, bringing me to the ground.
"James!" I opened my eyes and looked around. I had landed on my knees and was holding my arms over my head like something was about to fall from the ceiling.
"Nothing... just a headache. Sure, I can keep em' in check."
"Are you sure? I think the whole sky went dark just then." Gennai was distraught at seeing the sky quickly fade to black and back so quickly.
"I'm fine. Just a few too many noodles."
"Okay. I should be back in two or three days."
"Aight."
"Joey! Calm down! Quit jumping around!"
"Why?"
"Because you will mess up th... CHRIS WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!!?"
"Dude, this guy has nothing but those robes! I look like a samurai! Shwing!" Chris had walked out of Gennai's room wearing one of his robes, which was a little big on him, and was making motions like he was whipping out a sword. "So be it. Shling! Shwing!"
"Haha! You look just like Gennai!" Agumon was bowling over with laughter, watching Chris jump around, swinging an imaginary sword.
What had I been thinking when I said I'd baby-sit these two? Joey turned out to be really annoying and hyper, as if he had eaten a bowl of sugar, and Chris was just as much, if not more. I had underestimated the difference three years of age could make.
"I guess this is why my mom always had a short temper." I was muttering to myself as I tried to make some fried eggs. I had watched my mom do it many times, but it was much harder than I thought, especially with Frick and Frack bouncing off the walls behind me.
"Ahem." I turned leaned backwards from the stove to see Gennai standing in the entrance hall. I thought to myself for a second. Yep, it had been two days, just like he said. Of course, that was before I realized what Chris was doing. "Having fun you two?"
"Yeah man! This guy Gennai has the coolest wardrobe! Shling!" Chris hadn't realized who it was asking him the questions.
"Why thank you."
"Huh? Gennai! Um... I can explain! You see, James bet me that I was a wuss and so I told him 'No way man!' and to prove it I went into your room and tried on the robe and I thought it was cool and by the way he still owes me twenty bucks and please don't throw me out!" Chris was panicking faster than he could speak; slipping up on words and running sentences together. It was a lie, but I decided to play along.
"Yeah Chris, your grammar shows your unsurpassed courage. How could I have ever doubted you?"
"Don't make fun of his crest. Not until they have had a chance to try and make fun of yours at least."
"What do you mean?" I put down the spatula I was using on the eggs and walked out of the kitchen. "What do you mean 'my crest'?" Gennai reached into a pocked on the inside of his robe and pulled out a digivice. It was completely white.
"It will take a color once you take it. It will adapt itself to your personality and greatest virtue."
"Okay." I walked over, slightly shaking, and took the device. I was nervous at what I would get. I grabbed the digivice and waited a moment. It began to change colors around the edge.
"Well let's see what color you get. Hmmm... black."
"What does it mean? What about my crest?"
"Wait a moment. These things take time." Joey, Chris, and Agumon had calmed down and were watching the spectacle. As I waited, the digivice began to glow faintly, then brightly. I turned away from the light until it died down and looked back. The crest shown surprised me.
"You're kidding me."
"No, the digivice chooses the virtue greatest in you."
"Well why can't I have knowledge? I'm a smart guy."
"You are either not as smart as you think you are, or are just more hopeful than you are intelligent." The Crest of Hope shined brilliantly from the screen of the D-3. I may not have shown it, but I was beaming with pride knowing I finally could boast that I was the new digidestined of hope. Gennai kept on talking while I drifted about in my thoughts. "Besides, two digidestined in the same group can't have the same crest. That would be nonsense."
"What do you mean? Neither of us have the Crest of Knowledge." Chris took my place asking the questions while I stared into my new digivice.
"None of you do, but another does. The remaining digidestined have been found not far from here, but they need your help. I'm afraid it is your time to leave here."
"Well why don't you go help them!? You have the whole sword thing going on for you! We would have been killed against three Meramon."
"Because it is not my place to fight and that was not a great show of power against the Meramon. They are arrogant, much like you Chris, and underestimated my strength. However, they overestimated it once I destroyed one of them. Besides, this would be an excellent opportunity for all of you to finally get acquainted."
"Who is out there?" I had finally broken my gaze away from the digivice and had put it in my pocket.
"A young girl about Chris' age named Kristen and another girl about your age James."
"Jennifer?"
"Yes, but I don't know what crest she carries with her yet. For all we know, she might not know either. Kristen carries the Crest of Knowledge."
"Alright. Where are they?"
"In a town jail a few miles north of here. Go up to my attic and you should see some backpacks lying around somewhere up there. Bring them down and you can get ready for your journey. Make sure to get two extra for them."
"You mean we have to carry their stuff too?" Chris grimaced at the idea of more work than was necessary.
"No. After you get the girls out, bring them here. I still need to tell them what I've told you. I would just like to have the backpacks prepared by the time you get back."
"Aight." I ran upstairs into Gennai's attic and found the backpacks piled up next to a large crate. Each of them had a pair of thermoses, a large canteen, and heavy duty sleeping bag. I figured that the thermoses were for soup or something since the canteen was there. I ran back downstairs and tossed the backpacks on the floor.
"You won't need them for this trip, but I will need some time preparing for your journey when you leave here for good."
We left Gennai's house and ran north for as long as we could. We were ready to get the girls and get back.
"Hey James."
"What?" It was the first thing Chris had said to me since I had gotten my digivice and the Crest of Hope.
"Are they hot?"
"Say what?"
"You know, the girls were going to save. Are they hot?"
"How would I know, I've never met them."
"You're lying."
"Excuse me?"
"You're lying. You knew Jennifer was one of them before Gennai even said her name."
"Whatever, just shut up." This was only the beginning of what would be a long conflict over Jennifer and Kristen. Joey and Agumon simply sniggered as they trotted along behind us.
It was nightfall by the time we reached the village. We were hiding behind a bunch of bushes and looking around. The town was crawling with a bunch of grayish looking blobs with fuzzy ears, and a bunch of what looked like rabbits—ghetto style rabbits.
"They're Pagumon and Gazimon; babies and rookies. This should be a cinch."
"They may be weak, but see how many of them there are?" Agumon sounded worried.
"Don't worry, it's not like we will have to fight them all, we could just sneak in."
"Or maybe we won't have to do that either!" Joey was showing why he had the Crest of Friendship again.
"You can't just run in there and say 'hey guys, would you let my friends go?' There must be a reason they are being held prisoner."
"Oh yeah, just watch me." Before we could stop him, Joey hopped out from behind the bushes and began to run into the village square.
"Hey! Come back!" Chris stood up and began to shout at Joey, calling attention to him. "Wait up!" He ran out to catch up with him, Agumon following in tow. I just crouched down lower and hoped I wouldn't be seen. We couldn't all get captured. As the three ran out into the middle of the village, all of the Pagumon and Gazimon stopped what they were doing and turned to see my friends dash into their midst.
"Who are you and what do you want?" A rather old, rough looking Gazimon stepped out and stopped Joey in his tracks. Chris and Agumon followed suit. Before any of them could answer, the Gazimon's glance meandered down to the D-3 clipped to Joey's jeans. "So, you're here to save those other two, aren't you?" A slow chuckle leaked out of the rabbit's mouth as Chris searched for words to respond with. "Guards! Take them to their 'friends.' They can join them for the execution. The more the merrier!"
"Hey wait a minute!" Agumon wasn't about to go down without a fight. "Chris!"
"I've got ya buddy!" Chris' digivice glowed red and Agumon digivolved.
"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!" As the light died down, the four Gazimon guards who had come to take them away hesitated. "Heh heh heh, who wants roasted rabbit?"
"Grrr... Everybody! Get them!" At this, a swarm of Pagumon and Gazimon tackled, shocked, and blew bubbles at Greymon.
"Nova Blast!" The ball of flame hit a Gazimon right in front of Greymon's face, destroying it, but backfiring on Greymon.
"Keep it up boys! He's going down one way or another!" Why was I still here behind the bush? Why didn't I go out and help them?
"Digivolve to... Kumamon!" Joey had digivolved to help, but in moments he was being overwhelmed as well.
"Psst! Hey you!" I looked up. Somebody was whispering to me. "Yeah you! Get us out of here while they're distracted!"
"Where are you?" I called out in a low voice, not able to find where the voice was coming from.
"Up here in the second floor of this jail!" The girl was shouting now, not worried about the Gazimon and Pagumon dealing with Kumamon and Greymon. "Get us out of here quick!"
I looked up at the girl and saw that indeed, she was waving at me from behind bars. I didn't recognize her at all, so I figured it was Kristen.
"Is there anybody else in there with you?"
"Yeah! Just hurry!"
I ran up to the wall of the jail and looked up. I didn't see how I was supposed to get them out. I could hear the others beginning to lose the fight. "I hope they make it." At this my digivice began to glow slightly, reminding me that I had Hope. I looked around and found some wooden crates around a corner of the jail, lying in an ally. I dragged them around and stacked them up, making a quick stairway up to the window. "Stand back."
"You're going to try to pull the bars? What are you stupid?" The girl standing at the window was wearing a skeptical look on her face. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a cap on backwards. "Tomboy" I thought to myself.
"I hope this works." It was halfway forced the way I had said hope that time, but I think it helped anyway. As I gripped with my gloves onto the bars, I felt a cooling sensation about my hands. I looked down and saw what looked like light blue fire dancing about my gloves. "And he said I was in over my head." I yanked as hard as I could and fell backwards off the crates. The bars I had grabbed hold of fell away almost effortlessly.
"Oh my god! I can't believe he did it! It defies physics! Jennifer! Wake up!"
"What? Oh. What now?"
"We're free, come on!"
"Free? How?"
"This kid just broke us out." Kristen climbed out of the window, stepped onto the crates, and jumped down to the ground without stepping down any of the others. Oh yeah, she was a tomboy. The Jennifer climbed out. I felt dizzy.
"Long time no see, eh?" Jennifer turned around as she stepped on the highest crate and gasped as she saw me.
"What are you doing here?"
"No time, we gotta get out of here."
"But what about our digivices!?" Kristen was standing beside me, looking at me like I was stupid. "You don't think we would have been locked in there unless they took them from us, do you? And what about Tentomon!?"
"You have a partner?" I recalled the name.
"Yes, I think he's in another cell. He was busted up when we got here."
"You should have told me that beforehand. Come on!" I began to climb the crates to get into the cell. Jennifer got the idea and climbed back in the jail while Kristen followed me. I hopped in the window and looked around. There were two tables, on opposite walls, being supported by chains hooked into the concrete walls; they must have been the beds. Other than that there was a toilet, a sink, and that was it.
"Now what? Are you going to pull that little trick of yours on the cell door?" Kristen was being a real smart-ass, something I never expected from a girl.
"Exactly." I stood in front of the gate and closed my eyes. I relaxed for a second and could feel a slight chill running down my arms to my hands. I opened my eyes and saw the light blue flame around my gloves again. I grabbed hold of the door and yanked as hard as I could again. It gave way without much effort and I tossed it aside. "They don't build jails like they used to."
"Quit doing that! It doesn't make sense!"
"Haven't you figured it out yet? Nothing makes sense here!" I laughed and ran out into the hall. There were four cells and at one end of the hall there was a table with two digivices on it; one pink & white, the other yellow & white. You two get them and I'll find Tentomon." They nodded in agreement and ran down the hall. I looked in the cell next to the one we had been in and found Tentomon lying unconscious on the ground. "Hey man, wake up." The bug jumped up at the sound of my unfamiliar voice.
"Who are you?" I found his voice just as annoying as Agumon's. "I'm your ticket out of this place. Now stand back." I focused and removed the door the same was as the other, but I was beginning to get tired, fast. It was easy and awesome the way I could make the flames appear, but it wore me out. "Come... on... now." I was gasping for breath. I had to quit using the digivice so much or I wouldn't have anymore energy to get away from the village.
"Kristen!?" Tentomon ran out of the cell and called out to her. "There you are! I was worried they might have hurt you!"
"Don't worry, they wouldn't hurt a girl." She turned to me and winked. It bothered me; it felt like the twelve year old girl was flirting with me. Three years difference still makes a difference at that age. What bothered me more was that Jennifer wasn't saying anything, she simply followed Kristen around, even tough she was the older one.
"Jen?" It was as good a time as any to try calling her that. She looked up at me. "Are you okay?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure."
"No you're not. I can tell. Say something. If you can stand to talk with those air-headed girls and jocks at school, you can stand to talk to us, to me." I thought to myself, where was this coming from? I always fumbled with words around girls like Jen and here I was, huffing and dizzy, talking like some poet. She smiled.
"Thanks. I'll try to remember that." There was a glitter in her bright green eyes, replacing the dull look that had been present just a moment ago. Before I could say something back we heard a crash outside, followed by a hurrah.
"Oh no, I forgot about the others! Come on! They need us!"
"Others?"
"Others here to help break you out. Come on!" She waited a moment.
"Okay."
We hopped out the window, Kristen and Tentomon waiting for us outside. Once we were all together, we rounded corner only to find Agumon, Chris, and Joey tied together. They had been defeated and devolved. Groups of injured Gazimon and Pagumon lied against the walls of buildings around the town plaza.
"You won't get away with this! Just wait until I turn back into Kumamon!"
"Yeah right kid. I'll be taking that now." The older looking Gazimon from earlier approached Joey to take his digivice as we rounded the corner of the jail and came in sight of them.
"Hold it, biatch." I called out to the elder Gazimon with Kristen, Tentomon, and Jennifer in two.
"What? More of them? Ha! We finally have all... wait. There are too many of you! There are only supposed to be four!"
"Not this again." I muttered to myself. The fact that I was here was complicating things again. "You're wrong, there are five of us and there is no way you can take us down."
"Yeah!" Kristen had stepped up beside me along with Tentomon. "You ready?"
"Anytime! Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!" They had already figured out how to digivolve. I had hoped they would but I had my doubts. Jen was standing behind us. "Let them go!" Kabuterimon began to fly into the air for the fight. As he flew forward, Kristen ran with him. I ran back to Jen.
"I thought you were fine? Aren't you going to help us?"
"I can't."
"Why not? You have a digivice! Hell, I'm not even supposed to be here and I'm helping."
"BECAUSE I'VE GOT THE CREST OF LOVE! IT ISN'T RIGHT! THERE'S BEEN A MISTAKE!"
"Nonsense. People love you and I know that you must love somebody." I still didn't know where I was coming up with these words.
"Well, there is one per..." Her digivice interrupted her; it glowing a brilliant pink and shaking. She began to be surrounded in light. "What's happening!?" She was digivolving. When the light cleared a much taller figure stood where she had. She had wings now and what looked like a visor over her eyes, but it had no slits to look through. She wasn't wearing much other than what was necessary to keep things PG-13, along with a pair of tall white boots. Her hair had changed color to purple as well. I whipped out my digivice.
"Hi... Kazemon... Champion digimon. You going to help us or not?"
"Wow! This is amazing! I can feel stronger!"
"Then come on!" We caught up with Kristen and Kabuterimon, who were holding their own, but just barely. Kristen had untied the others, but they couldn't seem to digivolve. Chris was screaming at the Gazimon until he saw Kazemon, at which he promptly got a vacant, drooling look on his face. I walked up behind him.
"Quit that you pervert." I whacked him on the back of his head and he came to.
"Ow! Hey! I wasn't doing anything wrong! I was just..."
"I won't say what you were doing because Joey is here but believe me, I'm three years older than you, I've done just about everything you've done and then some. Don't lie to me about something stupid like that." Chris just blushed, turning redder than his digivice. "Come on, we still have a fight to win."
Kazemon and Kabuterimon were amazing. The winds and lighting they fired upon the remaining Gazimon were beginning to blow in clouds. "Hurricane Wind!" Another blast of wind tore through the Pagumon, throwing them into the walls of the street and into other Pagumon and Gazimon.
"Electro Shocker!' The ball of electricity hit the ground, now covered in water from busted pipes beneath the ground. We all know what happens when lightning is conducted across water. Dozens of digimon fell.
"We need reinforcements!" The Gazimon leader shouted out among the few remaining digimon and made a run for it. I gave chase while the others mopped up the Pagumon.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Back off kid, I can take you one on one easily."
"Oh really? Come on; give me your best shot."
"Electric Stun Blast!" The shock hit me harder than I thought it would. It was the first time I had ever actually been hit head on by a digimon's attack; it hurt. I kneeled down for a moment. I'd like to say that it was from exhaustion, but then I'd be lying.
"Oh, did I hurt you? You poor thing, let me put you out of your misery."
"You've got it backwards." I dashed up to him. "Lights out." I focused the rest of myself into that last punch, the light blue flame flickering to life, and watched—somewhat pleased and somewhat horrified—as the Gazimon burst into data.
"You're kidding me! You fought off the entire village?" We were back at Gennai's—all of us. We had told him the story, but didn't exactly get the response we had hoped for. "You will have to fight of evil digimon, yes, but those Gazimon and Pagumon were innocent!"
"What!? How can you say that? They jailed us! We were set for execution!" Kristen was shouting and stomping about at Gennai's response.
"You were set up for execution by the head Gazimon, who according to you guys, was also destroyed. He was the only one that needed to be... dealt with. The others should have been let be."
"But they attacked us! We just wanted to talk!" Joey was mad now. "They attacked us first! They started it!"
"But who ordered them to attack?" We all hesitated at this; we knew it had been their leader.
"Why did they follow his orders? They could have easily disobeyed him!" Chris, for the first time in a long time, said something that made sense. Shocking, if you think about it.
"You think he was alone? You are all very naïve. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe somebody with greater strength was keeping him in power? Why else would he want to have you killed? He personally would have no reason, but say somebody with something to gain from your death, somebody with more power would love to see you stopped."
"Then why didn't Daemon fight us himself?" I slipped.
"Excuse me?"
"Um... I retract my previous statement."
"Who?" Jennifer shot me in one of those 'you're hiding something and I know it' looks that I always saw in movies.
"All of you to bed, now. You have had a long day and it is beginning to get to your heads. You too James. I know you are exhausted after your arrogant display of your digivice."
"But..." Gennai cut me off. He was furious that I had mentioned Daemon.
"Now, before you really piss me off." We all stood there in shock. Never did we think that Gennai, friendly, crazy, wise Gennai, would ever say something like that. His next outburst was just as much so.
"NOW!" We all ran down the hall and into our rooms.