Gate Way of Life

I don't own Digimon

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'Thoughts'

"talking out loud"

'-----' scene change

(V)(V) different point of view

'+' flash back

Chapter 22

He and the others stop. Takato and Zoe land, Zoe becomes human. IceLeomon and Guyver got off Kouji's and his back. They transform back into humans. "What is that? It looks like some kind of web, but it doesn't seem to have a pattern. What could the source be? Did some kind of Digimon do this?" Kouji asks. "I don't think I know what kind of Digimon could make this. Whatever it is, we don't know if it's growing, so be careful you guys. Don't touch it, you don't know what it can do." Takato says. They all listen to him about this, they remember that Takato did save the world from this D-Reaper, and they're hoping that this isn't like the D-Reaper.

Only IceLeomon didn't know about Takato's encounters with something like this, but he trusted Takato's judgment about the web like strains. They had try reporting in this morning, and they couldn't get through. Wizardmon had helped them along by using a teleportation spell. They also knew that it wasn't the survivor of the enemy army, for they were at their old base. So they had no clue about what could behind this.

They all felt uneasy about this. They might be dealing with a new enemy. That thought made him want to groan, for if it's not one thing, it's another. He could see the same expression on Kouji's face. Zoe just looks worried. Takato's face was unreadable, and his tail wasn't moving. They'll be listening to Takato, he knew, and didn't mind, really. He knew that Kouji had come to trust the human turned Digimon. IceLeomon and Guyver will follow Takato's lead for the simple fact that Takato seemed confident about all this.

After a few minutes of being silent has Takato asks, "Zoe, could you fly above the city and see any Digimon? Kouji, could you go around the city to see if any of the strains are coming out of the city? We'll wait here for your return." Zoe and Kouji nod their heads. Zoe becomes Zephrymon, and takes to the air. Kouji becomes KendoGarurumon, and heads off to the left of the wall.

Takato looks around and then says, "Try and relax. I know that you guys want to go rushing into the city. But it's not the right time for that. So, just relax, for you might need all the energy you can get later." Takato finds a log and sits on it. He knew that what Takato says makes a good point and he does try to relax, but he really wants to do something. He sees IceLeomon and Guyver to sit down. He sighs and sits in the shade of a tree. They were a mile away from the gate. They had a clear view of the gate and wall.

They didn't have to worry about others coming to investigate, for Takato had asked Wizardmon to alert the others about what they were doing. He hopes that they'll listen to what Wizardmon tells them. They didn't need more Digimon getting harmed or deleted for no good reason. He knew that Takato had been a leader where he lives, but it was odd that to see him in action. He could see that Takato was really bothered by these turns of events. And yet Takato had keep his head clear and came up with some way to scout out the problem. He knew that Takuya might have tried rushing in and then retreat back. Then they might have tried to come up with a plan of action. He didn't feel that he was betraying Takuya in preferring Takato's way. He knew that Takuya's way had some how, always seemed to work out in the end, but he did have to admit that it was a good idea to gather information about what has happened and to then maybe test things out without having people get harmed.

After waiting for three hours, Kouji and Zoe came back together. They all got up to greet them, hope to hear good news. Kouji and Zoe turned back into humans and it was Kouji that spoke first, "The strains don't seem to expand beyond the wall. I asked Zoe to recheck the areas that I've already check." Zoe nods and adds to the report, "I also can't see any Digimon. Plus these strain seem to go through walls, and at the end of the strains, they connect to the ground. They didn't seem to have any pattern to them. That's all that I can find out without getting any closer." Takato nods his head, "Thanks. Now this might be tricky. We're going to see if we can't get rid of one of the strain. I don't know if it'll attack or what, so be very careful, ok?" They all nod in agreement. They head to the gate and IceLeomon with Guyver helping him opens the gate, they look around and find one of the strains is four feet away from the entrance.

They all look around and then at each other. "I'll give it a go." Guyver says and he walks over. He takes out his sword, and stops about a foot away. Then Guyver says, "Void Cutter!" The swing of Guyver's sword sends a blue energy towards the strain. It cuts it easily and there seems to be ice on what remained. Then Guyver and the others hold their breaths. When no attack came, Guyver moves back. Takato moves forward and then says, "Black Fire!" Takato's attack burned away more of the strain and then something reacted to Takato's attack. Takato dodged the attack and they backed out of the city. There were more strain coming, but they didn't get any of them. After ten minutes, the strains just retreated.

"It's weak to ice attacks, then." Kouji states. "IceLeomon, would you have a go?" Takato asks the ice Digimon. IceLeomon nods his head and moves to where the strain that Guyver and Takato had practice on. "Fist of Ice!" IceLeomon says. The attack works and more of the strain breaks apart. They waited and when not new strains appeared to come and attack them, they relaxed a bit. Then they continued walking into the city. With Guyver and IceLeomon attacking the strains that got in their way. They stayed on guard the whole way.

(V)(V)(V)

He looks around, he was hoping to see Digimon around the city, but there seems to none around. He was hoping that they weren't deleted for if they were, then that means that Takuya and the other Digidestine were gone as well. He hopes that's not the case. He had attack cards of ice and hopes that he doesn't have to use them. They found a building to rest in; they planned on having lunch now. He hopes he's not leading them into a trap.

As Zoe and Guyver begin lunch, IceLeomon checks out more of the building. He noticed that Kouji and Kouichi were just sitting together; he wishes that Guilmon could be here with him. One that thought, his thoughts returned to that door that LoreApemon revealed to him.

'+'

He opens the door, and he walks through it before he could change him mind. He walks in for a few feet and hears the door close behind him. It was Thursday and four more days before they go back to the keep. He continues to walk down the hallway. He stops at the entrance of a huge room. He looks and sees stone statues. They were all different types of Digimon. Closest to him were what he decided were statues of rookies.

He walks up to one that looks to be a horse type Digimon. It was smaller then him and had a tail with a blade on it. The next one was one that looked to be an Agumon but with a single horn on the forehead and markings around the horn. He continues down the line, after about fifty-three rookie statues, he came upon statues of champions.

One that catches his eye was a bear type. This bear was about his height and on the left hand, had a weapon on it with three long claws. This Digimon had a pair of pants. He knew that this one was more based on cunning then strength. He had notice that the rookies too, head to be cunning too. He continues to look at more. There was one that looked to be a Greymon, but instead of just having a helmet, this Greymon had what looked to be tattoos on the fore arms. The helmet had designs on it as well.

"I guess you were MysticGreymon, huh?" He asks the statue. He got no reply, but he didn't need one. He continues looking among the statues, he finds a Garurumon that had a row of five blades on the back. He has seen sixty champions, and had found that most of them were less than eight feet tall. He had also spied an angel type as well.

Soon he came to the ultimates. These were a whole lot larger then the champions and rookies. They all stood over ten feet and were monstrous. He found a statue of Hippogryphomon, but it looked to be the undead type. For he could see part of the backbone very clearly. Looked unhealthy and in a mess. He wouldn't want to meet this Digimon, not one bit.

He saw one that looked to be Mihiramon, the tiger Deva. Like all the other Digimon here, it had it's own twist to it. The wings look to be like a bat wings and had spot and stripe patterns to the Digimon. Where the bandana was to be, there was an iron collar with about two-foot chain. Where the armor plates were, there was nothing. The guards on the feet, they now look to be bulkier then they should. He looks at it for about five minutes, memories of the first time Growlmon had digivolve into his ultimate form came back to him.

He finishes with the ultimates, all hundred of them. What remained for him to look at were the megas, and it seems that they have a room to themselves. He sees the entranceway to the room. He takes one look again around the room and then walks to the entrance to that room.

He walks into it and just stops before he was a foot in. The sights of the twelve megas were overwhelming. Only two were humanoid looking, he notices that one was an angel mega. An odd angel, but an angel nonetheless, for he could see the feathers on the wings. The other humanoid Digimon look to be a kind of huge Leomon. The mane of that Leomon had two braids and the rest of the mane was short. The look on this mega's face reminds him of Leomon, GrapLeomon, and IceLeomon. This Digimon was modeled after the Leomon Digivolution line. He didn't know if that was encouraging or not. This Leomon had a vest and had a gigantic sword on the back. Other then the size and what he saw, the rest of this Leomon was the usual.

He finally looks at the others statues. He saw a great three-tailed scorpion Digimon. Most of the others were beast types, and he did see a statue for Megidramon. He sighs, know that the great dragon Digimon would always be a part of the history of the Hazard. He also comes to the conclusion that with only twelve mega forms, the Hazard didn't see the need for more. He didn't know if that was a good thing of not. He again looks to the Leomon mega. He just couldn't get over the fact that here stood a Digimon that was noble and just. It just didn't seem to fit in with the others, which included the angel mega as well. It just puzzled him that two symbols of good stood here in this chamber.

He then sees a stairway by the Megidramon statue. He heads to it, and walks down it without really thinking about it. He finds a room at the bottom. And here he is greeted with a ghost of a Digimon.

The ghost or maybe echo of a Digimon stood looking at him. A flash of light and the echo now stands in the form of Renamon. He looks puzzled about it.

"Why Renamon?" He asks the echo. "It was a form you feel comfortable with. You don't fear it and you have feelings connected to this form." The ghostly Renamon answers. He pauses and gets what the echo means. "Then why are you here?' He asks. "I'm an echo that was created when you first entered this dimension. You need answers and Guilmon can't give them to you. So, I was created. I'm here to tell you want you want to know and then I'll go back to being a part of the Hazard." The echo states.

He sighs, 'Why aren't I surprised?' He thinks about something and then decided to go for it. "I want to know how to create more doorways." He says to the echo in the shape of Renamon. "To create a doorway will take a lot of energy. It might be a while before you recover most of your energy. For now that you can become a Digimon, you'll be able to. You didn't make Guilmon into a magic user, so now you must take up the part. As you are, you have the ability to do magic. You just need to use it. It's like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger you get. Most of these books and items well help you with that. It would be better if you Digivolved into champion form or even better if you become an ultimate. The higher the level, the faster you recover your energy." The ghostly Renamon says to him. "What do I Digivolve into?" He asks the echo. "That's not something I know. You'll have to Digivolve first, to find out what your higher forms are. I also believe that you can also become a different mega as you are." The echo says to him.

That surprised him, for he always thought that he'd become Gallantmon if he ever Digivolved to mega. Now here he was, getting told that he could become a totally different mega. Not only that, but he was also being told that he could become a Digimon. "You mean, even if Guilmon and I split up, that I can become a Digimon?" He asks the ghostly Renamon. "Yes, you can. You'll be given the means after you and your partner split up. Now that I have answered most of your questions, I'll be going. I wish you well Takato. You have some much potential, I hope you realize that." The echo says and fades away.

He looks around at the books and sighs. He finds one for beginners and begins to read it. For the next three days, he reads and practices what he reads. He was able to master four simple spells and two harder ones. He had much to learn and he plans to learn what he can.

'+'

He snaps out of it and looks to see IceLeomon come back from exploring the building. He gets up and head to talk to IceLeomon. He notices that Kouji and Kouichi were napping.

"I got what I can. I have notice that it becomes thicker closer to the keep. We better be careful." IceLeomon tells him. He nods and turns to see that lunch was ready. Zoe was now waking the twins up. He smiles at the sight.

To be continued …