Ooh... antother sloppy chapter... I've got writers block. So Sue me. But really, don't 'cause that would be so not cool. I'm sorry it's taking me so ling to get this finished.

Disclaimer: You guys looking for someone to sue are lucky. You own digimon. I don't.

Through the Eyes of Friendship
Chapter 5

The path that the Digidestined had been following was little more than a roughly cleared track through the thick patches of undergrowth and the short, stunted trees that barely broke the rubble-strewn, dusty ground that formed the landscape of that region. The group had neither seen nor found any evidence of any kind of living thing since there arrival and now even the so-called path was beginning to fade away, swallowed up by the thin, moss-like grass that tried desperately to grow over the dry, unforgiving earth.

Zoe suggested that everyone take a break and, as the others sat down for a breather and a quick drink to wash away the dust in their throats, she scanned ahead. She sensed something move next to her before she turned around and gasped.

"The path is no longer clear. It's not really safe fo you to be here." Spoke an elderly looking digimon.

"Oh! A digimon! We haven't seen even one of you since we got here." Zoe conversed cheerfully.

"Turn around and nobody will get hurt." The digimon warned.

"What? But there's nothing here." Zoe turned around to look about the valley.

"See?" When she turned back to the Digimon, he was gone.

(o)o(o)o(o)

"...And we have another three and a half hours before we have to turn back? So how much time is that here in the Digital World? " Tommy asked J.P. in their conversation.

"So, we keep heading south-east 'til we run out of time or run into something." Koji and Kouchi conversed

"Takuya is expecting to find a solution to his...problem." Kouchi said in a low voice.

Koji sighed, acutely aware of his brother's gift for understatement. Returning the bottle of water to his backpack, he, and everyone else sitting about the ground jumped at the sight of Zoe running back as fast as she could.

"What's the matter Z?" J.P. asked quickly.

"I saw a digimon!" Scattered chatter was exchanged momentairly.

"Waait!" She shouted. "He said that it's not safe for us to be here and that if we turn back, nobody will get hurt."

"Where is he?" Koji asked demandingly.

"I don't know. He disappeared. He looked kind of like a Thundermon, but I can't be sure."

"But, we can't stop now guys." Takuya finally spoke. He'd been uncharaterlistly quiet for quite sometime now.

"We're so close. I can feel it, I really can. Please. Belive me."

"We do Takuya, it's just that, what if" Koji put his hand on Zoe's shoulder and shook his head as if to stop her from finishing her thought.

"We'll keep going. Don't worry." He said.

(o)o(o)o(o)

A little over an hour later and Takuya could feel that their chosen route was gradually taking them upwards. A half an hour further on and the incline was more noticeable, the land to each side also running in parallel upwards to the skyline ahead.

They kept on, the loose rocky terrain making the going slippery and their progress even slower, but Koji could now see that they only had a few hundred yards to go before they reach the ridge at the top of the incline. Pushing on, the kids struggled over the last few yards.

Kouchi watched Scaff disappear over the top as he slipped over the loose stones and then he too was over the top, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

The ridge was, indeed, a ridge, the incline up which they had walked forming one side of a hill that bordered the valley dropping away below Koji's position, a valley that would not have looked out of place in a gorgous valley back on Earth. It was breathtaking. A green, grass and woodland covered oasis, stretching for, maybe, fifteen miles across to another ridge opposite and as far as the eye could see to the left and the right. A wide lazy river ran down the middle, glistening invitingly in the planet's sunlight.

"Jeeeeeeezz," J.P whistled.

"Stupéfiant!" Zoe Exclaimed

Two sets of gasps, heralded the arrival of Kouchi and Tommy.

"What?" Takuya asked, trying to control his frustration at not being able to see what had so obviously grabbed his friends' collective attentions.

Apologizing, both Zoe and J.P fell over themselves to explain the beauty that lay before them, failing, despite their combined vocabularies, to capture its true magnificence.

"What's this?" Koji's sombre tone broke the moment.

J.P looked across in the direction Koji was indicating, fetching a pair of binoculars as he did so. Buildings. He looked about the area carefully. There didn't appear to be any 'people' but there were definitely buildings, huddled together in groups along the riverbank.

Returning the binoculars to his pocket and with a fresh enthusiasm, he said, "Okay, kids, looks like we've found something. Heads up and let's go."

They'd barely made it more than a few yards down in to the valley, when Koji felt something brush past him, causing him to stop, vaguely aware that the others had done the same. He cast a look around him. Nothing. "Did anyone see..." He never finished his sentence as his attention was drawn to wisps of smoke swirling before them. As he watched, his eyes wide with surprise, the wisps slowly coalesced into humanoid shapes wearing featureless white hooded robes. "What the...?"

Tommy, along with Zoe, leading Takuya, drew level with Koji, just to his right. Kouchi came up on his left, J.P. to his left. Scaff stood just in front of the group, his hackles raised as he emitted low rumbles of threat.

The centre figure spoke, "Why have you returned?"

Gathering his wits, Koji replied, "We've come to..." He was cut short by a short, sharp pain between his eyes.

Takuya was the first to respond to Koji's gasp of pain. "Koji!"

"I did not address you, slave. I speak only to your leader." He looked pointedly at Takuya.

Zoe lent across and whispered in Takuya's ear, "I think they're talking about you."

"Oh," Takuya said, surprised. "We're Digidestined! And ledgendary warrior"

"Lies! You are no Ledgendary Warrior! You are evil and are not worthy to carry the name! You've only come back here to plunder us, the Aciesmon, and enslave us."

"What!"

"Yes, we know the hate your kind possesses," he said, his own voice full of hate.

"But, we're not evil, we're digidestined, sent here by Ophanimon, Serphimon, and"

"More lies! Do you think we are stupid? We trusted your kind before and when they found they could not control our will by means of force, they brought a more of your so-called ledgendary warriors to destory our home! Our beautiful valley was nothing more than void after they got done! There was only one peice left unscanned.

" He swept his hand towards the valley behind him. "But many of my kind vanished during those desperate times. Now we do not wait to hear their empty words, we simply take the sight of the one whose eyes show the fire of war and hate.

"But it's true," Takuya's wondering eyes pleaded. "We're not the evil ledgendary warriors. They don't exist anymore. We returned the peace here a long time ago. We gave you back what you lost!"

"Do not waste your words, I saw your eyes. They were full of the fire."

Takuyafrowned, "No, no. That's my spirit. It's a part of me. And we all have spirits. Tommy, show him!"

Tommy reached into his pocket, retrieving his d-tector and showing them to the Aciesmon. The leader studied them for a moment and then dismissed them, "Enough of these stories. You will be sent back to the lake and return to your own region, telling your kind never to come to this one again. If you return to this place, I will kill your slaves."

"No, wait! We're..."

Everyone watched in horror as Takuya was engulfed by a bright light and vanished. Koji turned on the figures before them, "You bast..." Suddenly, his world too was engulfed by a bright light and a strange tingling sensation flowed through his body.

Slowly, his abused sight returned as the bright light receded. The valley was gone, replaced by a stone walled room approximately twenty-feet square with an archway in one side. His d-tector was gone as were the rest of the items he carried with him. He scanned the room, "Everyone okay?"

Three short affirmatives, then Tommy's anxious voice, "Takuya's gone, Koji. Scaff's not here either and my d-tector is gone."

"Mine too." Zoe added, her own voice reflecting Tommy's sentiment.

"Ours are gone too, Koji." Kouchi told his brother, indicating J.P.'s struggle to find his d-tector among his many pockets of his jumpsuit.

"Damn! Let's get out of here." Koji strode towards the archway. As he drew level with the walls, there was a flash of blue light and he was knocked backwards on to his butt. "Shit!"

"It's some kind of barrier, or forcefeild." Zoe informed

"Ya, think?" Koji snapped. "I hate these stupid digimon!"

(-)-(-)-(-)

Scaff stood, bemused by the sudden disappearance of his owner and the strangers. He sniffed the air then quartered the ground around where the pack had last been. Confused, he searched the ground further down into the valley. Nothing. No familiar scents. He returned to the only scents he could pick up. Where everyone had last stood and where they had come from. He stood still, unsure, his ears flicking back and forth in the vain hope of hearing the voice of his master. Nothing. He glanced momentarily over his shoulder at the green valley and then followed the only clue he had, the scent they had laid coming to this spot in the first place.

"...ledgendary warriors..." Takuya's words trailed away as he felt a strange tingling sensation wash through his body. He waited until the feeling had dissipated and then he asked, "Koji, what happened? Guys?"

No reply.

He tried again, "Kouchi?"

Still no answer.

Locked in his own dark world, he could feel the panic begin to rise from the pit of his stomach. "Zoe! Tommy! J.P.? Is anyone there?" The silence was almost deafening. "Hey!" he shouted, trying to control the emotions circling around his insides. Instinctively, he reached out and stepped forward, hoping to touch something familiar and reassuring.

Crunch! His hip connected with something hard and he gasped with pain. He ran his hands over the offending obstacle, realising quickly it was the region marker.

A region marker was something that was invented while the kids were absent in the digital world. It marked where certain villages were in the world, for easy reference.

The stone? I must be back at the Region Border. But how did I get here? Remembering the strange tingling sensation, had he been transported here? Did these digimon have powers? For a moment his spirits soared at the thought if they could do that they surely they could fix his sight, then he came back to reality with a bump as he remembered his current situation.

What had those guys said? He tried to remember their words. I was to return to the lake and if I came back to this region, they would kill my slaves. Shit! They must still have the others. He stared sightlessly at the stone. Come on, Takuya, options? Go, to the rose morning castle, get reinforcements, get everyone killed! Not an option. Go home, forget coming back! Definitely NOT an option. Okay, don't go home, find the others but first, call for reinforcements!

"Man! I wish I had a better plan than this!"

What Zoe said up there was "Amazing." Sorry it's in french, i'm on a tight schedule and i haven't got an Itaillian translator handy.

Takuya was really quiet becase 1, I couldn't think of anything for him to say, and 2, he's depressed. I'm mean, sheesh... the dude lost is sight!

And the fire in his eyes thing... well, when he has great spirit, and he acts couragous, the fire of the ledgendary spirit burns in his eyes. I would have added that to the story, except I couldn't find a place to squeeze it in.

The same goes for light in Koji's, Thunder in J.P.'s... ect. (don't ask how you can see thunder in J.P.'s... you just can... okay?)