Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Digimon. I am only using them for this fanfic. Please do not sue me.
Acknowledgement: First of all, I would like to thank devilgurl, Teeny, Kaye, CocoBeans, Trista-chan, digimon fan, Tachikawa IVIimi, Jen, Withering Rose, mark, and Shy-Lil-Deamer: Thank you all for telling me what you prefer and for giving me advice. However...I just discovered, that the question that I posted at the end of the last chapter, in fact, already have a definate answer to it. I just didn't realize that my original plan was going to contradict what I was intending. As for Mindy: Sorry...but I don't have AIM. To my name: I know who Yolie is going to end up with. If you ever read Revelation of Destiny or the sequel to it, I tend to like to put Davis and Yolie together. Sorry, if you are pending on Ken. To Aoi Senshi: Thanks for your advices. However, hehehe...I already planned out what is going to happen to Hasuma (even before I start writing this fic). I just didn't know whether she should stay with the group or not. The next paragraph will show how I came up with the conclusion.
As for Hasuma...most people said they want her out of the way and some said that I should keep her. As I stated before, I discovered that the answer to that question have already been firmly established by the first few chapters that I have written. So...the answer to whether Hasuma will stay or not...SHE WILL NOT CONTINUED ON WITH THEM ON THEIR JOURNEY. YOU WILL SEE WHY BY THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. Now...with that said...now on to the story.
The Two Faces of Curiosity
"That should...ugh...do it," Ken grunted. He gave the screw one last twist before he stepped back from the hovercraft and wiped the sweat trickling down his face. He shivered slightly from the cold wind when it ruffled the shirt he wore. His coat laid discarded on the floor and beside it, laid Cody's coat. He turned to look at the young boy and found him seriously tightening up the bolt with all of his might. Cody lifted one of his hands and wiped the sweat on his face before he continued on with his work. "Need any help, Cody?"
Cody turned to look at him and bowed his head. "I will appreciate your help. Thank you." Ken smiled at him and patted him on the back.
"That's what friends do for each other," Ken replied, while taking a screw from Cody's hand. They were almost done when Joe walked up to them. He tugged his coat and leaned on the side of the hovercraft with one of his hand fanning himself.
"Brr...today is just freezing," Joe pointed out. "But...I am hot." He looked at them before he walked up to their coats and picked them up. "You guys better put these on or else you will catch a cold."
"Uh...Joe," said Ken, pointing to his face. "We happen to be sweating and as you said, this work is making us sweat. "
"That's the point," said Joe. "You need to keep yourself warm or else the combination of your sweat and the cold weather will freeze you to death. And beside, we can't have you two getting sick at this moment. We already over stay our time in Silic and the last thing we want is to waste more time over here."
"I know what you mean," said Ken, taking his coat from Joe's hand and slipping into it. "These three months sure cost us a lot. The hotel fee and..." He punched the hovercraft and the metal board vibrated from the impact. "This pile of junk sure cost a lot."
"We wouldn't have stay this long, if these parts were easier to find," Cody reminded them. He stepped back from the hovercraft with a satisfactory smile on his face, while he scanned over his finish work.
"I know," Joe agreed. "And these pieces took a huge chunk out of our pocket." He frowned at the hovercraft and lightly punched it. "These pieces cost more over here than it does in Guardinia."
"That's because Guardinia is known for its high technology," said Sora. They turned to look at her as she approached them with a basket. "And Silic is a city formed by the combination of the traditional way of living and the convenient way of living formed by technology."
"Why is that," asked Davis as he strolled up to them with Yolie growling at him. TK and Kari were following right behind them. A small smile was plastered on each of their faces.
"Let me guess," Ken started, his lips quirked upward into a smile. "You both got kick out of the shrine again." Yolie scowled and Davis flushed bright red.
"No," Yolie snapped. "They didn't even bother to let us in." She pointed one of her finger at Davis. "They just took one look at him and turned us away before we could even take one step into the shrine."
"You can't blame them," said Kari with a giggle. "The first time you were in there, Davis almost started a fire by firing a fireball right at you and ended up burning the curtain instead."
"Yeah," added TK. "And do you remember how you both disturbed the passing ceremony for the dead due to your arguments."
"Hahah," laughed Joe. "Mimi was so embarrass when Genai went to the main chamber and told her that her two guardians were disrupting the ceremony."
"Oh, shut up," growled Davis, while Yolie leaned back on the hovercraft, sulking. "We weren't the only one that caused all those commotion. Come on, don't you guys remember what Matt did?"
"Of course, who can forget," Cody said warily. "He came out of the main chamber after hearing what Genai had said and threaten to shoot you two if you didn't shut up. And then the next thing we knew, the daughter of the decease man came walking in during your conversation and started to scream out in horror when she saw Matt holding a gun." All of them, beside Cody, who remembered how angry Mimi had looked at that time, were laughing in mirth when they recalled how hysterical the people were when they saw the daughter lying on the ground in a dead faint with Matt hovering over her with his gun, unconsciously pointing right at her chest. Luckily, he managed to tuck his gun safely away in his holster before the guests decided to relief society by arresting this dangerous man. Hasuma and Mimi stormed out of the main chamber with TK, Tai, and Sora following right behind them, and walked right to the crowd of people where Matt, Yolie, and Davis were hovering above. "It took a long time to convince them we meant no harm," Cody reminded them. "And Mimi...she was so mad that she practically ignored Yolie, Davis, and Matt for two whole weeks."
"I know," Yolie cringed and inclined her head toward Davis direction. "Davis and I spent the whole two weeks compensating for the mess we made by helping out the deceased family, until Mimi was willing to forgive us."
"And Matt..." TK whistled and shook his head. "He acted like Mimi's silent treatment meant nothing to him and kept on telling me he was glad to finally have some peace for himself."
Kari shook her head in disagreement. "But he was snapping at everyone for those two weeks. I never saw him so cranky before."
"And...that is what I am afraid of." They all looked up when a mysterious voice inserted his opinion into their conversation. They were surprise to find Tai standing on top of the hovercraft, grimly looking down at them. He lightly tossed the screwdriver to the side of the road and jumped downward toward them. He landed right next to Sora and quickly gave her a small peck on her cheek, causing her to flush up. Tai immediately noticed they were all looking at him with confusion written all over their faces. He shrugged his shoulder and placed his arm over Sora's shoulder. "Forget what I had just said. It was nothing." Davis and Yolie shared a questioning look but they didn't push the matter further. Kari just frowned and continued to stare at Tai, who ignored her gaze.
"Anyways," Davis started to change the subject. "Sora, you were saying something about Guardinia's technology, right?"
"Huh?" Sora stared at him, momentarily lost in what he was implying. She suddenly snapped her fingers when she recalled what she said earlier. "Oh yes, I remember. You asked me about Silic's condition, right?" Davis nodded his head and listened to her carefully, with his fist unconsciously pounding lightly on the side of the hovercraft. "You remember the war, right?"
"Hmph...who wouldn't," Davis answered bitterly. "We wouldn't be stuck in this situation in the first place if it wasn't for the stupid war."
"Then you should know why the city is divided like this," snapped Yolie.
"Hey, Ogermon," Davis growled, while turning around to look at her. "I didn't ask you." Yolie squared up to face him in a head on challenge.
"I am not insulting your intelligence by asking you that question," Sora quickly cut in before those two can start their verbal war again. "I am just trying to draw your attention to the fact that our technology is the one that helped us created the Magi in the first place."
"Technology," Davis questioned. "Yeah...I know that. But what does it have to do with Guardinia's condition and Silic's economy?"
"The answer is simple," Yolie said with a sigh. "You would know it if you have paid some attention to your teacher when you were at school?"
"Well EXCUSE ME," Davis emphasized in a sarcastic tone. "I am not as lucky as you." Yolie backed up a little bit, surprised at his sudden out burst. "And I am not as rich as you! I can't help it if my parents died when I was three and my older sister wasn't able to support me because she is cripple." He took a threatening step toward her. "I have to start working since I was a little kid. I don't have time for school! Unlike you..." His flame was immediately extinguished when Yolie suddenly took two long strides toward him and threw her arms around him. Davis was too shock to do anything when Yolie pulled him into a light hug. Nor was he able to see his teammates reactions. With their mouths hanging and their eyes bulging, they watched in shock when Yolie lightly patted Davis on the back.
"I'm sorry," Yolie said sympathetically. "I didn't knew that you went through so much hardship in your life." Davis opened and closed his mouth but no words came through. "But..." Yolie stepped back from him and held him away from her in arms length. The next thing Davis knew, he was sprawling on the floor and clutching his bruised right cheek. He stared straight at Yolie in shock. Yolie lowered her fist and shook it slightly to ease the prickling pain she felt when her fist connected with Davis's lower jaw. The rest of the teammates were still gaping at Yolie when she walked up to Davis and glared at him. "But...that isn't a good enough answer. Just because you have a hard life, it doesn't mean that you can go around and use it as an excuse to hide all of your problems." She paused. "I lost my whole family when I was very young and I never did let it stop me from doing what I have to do. So...stop being a baby and grow up."
Davis stared at her for a moment and looked at the hand she extended toward him. He slowly took her hand and she helped him up. Still rubbing his cheek, Davis eyed her warily. "Did anyone ever tell you that your moods are just as horrible as Matt's attitude, Ogermon?" Yolie clutched her fists in anger. "Wait..." He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. "Or are you having PMS right now?"
"WHY YOU!!!" Davis quickly stepped out of the way when Yolie swung her fist right at his face. Her fist connected with the side of the hovercraft, causing the metal board to resonate a loud booming sound. The others were too busy watching Davis and Yolie's fight that they didn't even noticed Izzy appearance, as he slid out to the street from right under the hovercraft. His face was covered with dirt and his shirt contained a lot of oil stains. He looked at the fight with annoyance and glared at them.
"Could you guys stop using the hovercraft as your punching bag," Izzy growled at them. His voice started Tai and the others and it managed to stop Yolie and Davis's fight. Everybody, except Davis, who unfortunately can't turn his head toward Izzy because Yolie managed to pull him into a deadly headlock, turned to look at Izzy as he sat up from the floor. "It is already freezing down there and the last thing I need is to have a drum booming besides my ear, every single second!"
"Sorry, Izzy," Sora ruefully apologized. "We didn't know you were there."
"Yeah, Izzy," said Kari. "We won't do it again."
Izzy sighed and nodded his head. "Alright...just don't do it again." He laid back down on the floor and slipped back right under the hovercraft. An evil smile graced Tai's face when he saw Izzy disappearing right under the hovercraft.
"Oh well...I think I am going to take a shower right now," said Tai. He took one step toward the hovercraft with his side leaning slightly on the hovercraft. "I'm all cover in dirt and it is freezing out here." He leaned downward. "Bye, Izzy." Izzy's muffled reply could be heard by them, when Tai straighten back up from his position. To everyone's horror, Tai lifted one of his fists and punched the hovercraft. The immediate effect of his action could be heard when Izzy let loose a string of curses. Not wanting to see how Izzy would react when he emerged from the bottom of the hovercraft, Tai swiftly took Sora's hand and jammed right into the hotel. "He need to learn to relax," Tai laughingly told them before he disappeared within the double doors of the hotel. Not wanting to face Izzy's wrath, the others made a hasty retreat right after Tai. By the time Izzy resurfaced from his work, the place where they were standing was only occupied by a cat, who innocently stared back at him and meowed softly.
"I still haven't gotten my answer yet," Davis complained once they were safely backed inside the lobby of the hotel and each of them have ordered their drinks. The waitress instantly strolled up to their table and placed their drinks on the small round wooden table. Yolie sighed and shook her head.
"I have to give you credit for being persistent," Yolie mumbled as she took a sip of her hot chocolate. They all winced when Izzy's sudden scream of frustration penetrated into the lobby and startled the people around them. "We don't know him." Ken and the others silently agreed.
"Anyways," continued Yolie as she placed her cup on the table, which was located right in the center of the circle they made with the sofa. "Sora has already given you the clue to the answer of your question. She indicated the war is the cause." She leaned back on her sofa and was surprise to find Ken, Cody, Joe, Kari, TK, and Davis all have their eyes focus on her. "Why are you looking at me like this? Kari knows why too."
"I do," said Kari. "But I'll let you explain."
Yolie scowled. "Fine. Alright...the main reason why we have the war in the first place is because we strayed from our goddess's teachings. Although our goddess's teachings consist of nothing but basic codes of moral, family values, laws, etc., it is still the guidance our goddess has intended for us to follow. But instead of following it, we end up trusting in technology. And that...is what we use to create the Maji. And..." She sighed. "Least to say, we all know that the Maji are the cause of our problem. So...right after our goddess has entered her eternal sleep, some of our people revert back to the old teachings. And yet, some of the people, like us, prefer technology. The people that have reverted back to the traditional life style blame our thirst for technology for spurring our desires to create the Magi. The people that like technology thought otherwise. They claim the creation of the Maji was just a wrong decision caused by us because we were too eager for the war to end. It has nothing to do with technology."
"But the traditional group argue back by reminding them the main reason our goddess turned her back on us is because we turned away from her teaching," said Ken.
"And...as you can see...their arguments have no connection with technology," said Cody. "So it is irrelevant and not a lot of people listen to them."
Yolie raised her eyebrows and smiled at them. "It seems like you both know about it."
"Well...some," Ken said with a slight blush on his face. Davis noticed his reaction and a smirk appeared on his face. Yolie, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice it at all.
"Anyways," Yolie continued. "So there you have it. Two groups emerge...uhm...actually three. One strictly believes in the traditional teachings. They stick with the old ways of living and that is why you still see wells and carriages being use." She paused as she thought of an example. "Use Teria as an example. Teria is located right in the forest and it is the place where most of the people go for spiritual guidance. People that love the traditional style of living migrate to there."
"The second group consists of people that entirely believe in technology. They don't believe in our goddess." Yolie shook her head and rolled her eyes. "They believe the only solution to the problem can be obtain only through technology. They also believe they can solve the problem by relying only on technology." She waved her hand. "And let's just say that group isn't quite that popular and they aren't really accomplishing anything because our situation haven't improve at all."
"Let me guess," said Davis. "The third group of people is like us."
Yolie whistled. "Getting smart there, aren't you?" Davis growled at her and she sweetly smiled to him. "Yes...you are right. Majority of the population is like us. They believe technology is essential and so is the goddess's teachings." Davis opened his mouth but Yolie quickly cut him off. "And to answer your question about why Guardinia is more technologically advance than Silic, the answer is quite simple. It is because Guardinia is the area where the chosen shrine priests and priestesses are born. In order to assure those priestesses or priests will succeed in their journey safely, all of the top engineers and scientists are gather there to provide the best new kinds of transportation available for the trip. That's why Silic, even though it is the center of all trades, does not have the greatest technology."
"And that is why we are still here," said Ken. "Not only did we have a hard time finding all of the needed materials, Cody, Izzy, and I have to re-modify them to make them better."
"I wonder how we are going to pay for all of these," said TK.
Joe smirked and took a sip of his coffee. "Tai is sending all of the bills to Mayor Shinomori." They all stared at him in shock.
"But...," stuttered Kari from disbelief. "But...he is not g..going to pay for it right?"
"He better pay for it," Matt said flatly when he walked up to them. He was adjusting his hand guards as he looked at them with his icy blue eyes. TK hastily slid closer to Kari, and Kari turned to wave a waitress down so she could order a drink for Matt. Matt silently sat down next to TK and ignored the smiles the waitress was flashing to him as she gave him his cup of hot chocolate. "He said he is going to pay for all of our expenses for this mission. If he knows better, he will keep his words."
Yolie raised her left eyebrow and shared a look with Cody, before she addressed Matt. "But don't you think you guys are taking his words to the extreme? I don't think he really think he would be using his money to buy a whole new hovercraft."
"If that is the case," Matt replied. "Next time, he better rephrase his words better so we won't have this misunderstanding."
"I guess so," TK said nervously. "Uhm...by the way, Matt. How did the morning praying go?"
Matt shrugged his shoulder and leaned back on his chair. "The usual."
"Then where are Mimi and Hasuma?"
"Back in their rooms."
"Oh," said Joe as he played with his cup. "By the way, Tai said he would be taking over your position from now on. As..." Joe paused when he noticed the dangerous glint shining in Matt's eye. He swallowed and forced himself to continue on with his unfinished sentence. "As the leader of our team, he feels it is his responsibility to look over the priestess. Not yours. He don't want to trouble you and force you to..."
"I will talk to Tai," Matt said sternly. He stood up as an indication of the end of the discussion. "I will continue to guard Mimi, personally." Matt turned around and started to head out of the lobby. "Beside, I don't trust Tai with her. I don't want to take any risks that might cause me to lose my ten million dollars." He smirked when a ceramic cup came whizzing across the lobby and crashed on the wall, just missing his head by a mere inch.
"That jerk," fumed Yolie as Cody and Ken both held her back before she could hurl another cup at Matt's direction. "All he ever care about is money! Damn him!"
"I can't agree with you more, Ogermon," said Davis. A frown appeared on his face. "But...for a moment there, I thought he changed."
TK sadly stared at the door Matt used when he walked out from the lobby and sighed. "Matt," he whispered.
*******
"At last, the masterpiece is finished." Izzy stepped back from the hovercraft proudly and wiped the droplet of sweat that was flowing down his face. He shivered slightly and grabbed his coat from the floor and put it on. "So...what do you guys think?" He turned to look at the rest of his teammates. "Prodigious, isn't it?"
"It looks exactly like our old hovercraft," Joe pointed out flatly, as he looked at the hovercraft. It hovered above the ground with a little humming noise coming from the engine. Shaped like a bullet, except only flatter, Izzy and Ken decided to shape the hovercraft in that design in order to lessen the air friction, allowing it to move faster in the air. However, unlike the bullet smooth exterior, the rugged exterior of the hovercraft allowed Izzy and the others to easily reassembled the hovercraft into seven motorcycles. A smile appeared on Joe's face when he recalled how Izzy reacted when he told him the air friction would increase because of the rugged exterior. "If only I have told him sooner," thought Joe. "He wouldn't have screamed like a banshee and told me that he is not going to rebuild the hovercraft all over again from scratch, especially when the hovercraft was nearly done." He grimaced. Least to say, Joe and the others were quite surprise when Izzy...ahem...released a flow of colorful words, which they never knew had existed in Izzy's range of vocabulary.
Joe's musing where brought back to reality when he saw Izzy fuming in anger. Picking up from where he left off, the rest of his crews were diligently slipping into his position and using their wits to the fullest in order to tease Izzy. "Are you sure this one is safe," Davis teased. "It won't blow up will it?"
"ARGGGG!!!! Since none of you trust my creation so much, you might as well...ARGHHH!!!! Why are you guys laughing?!" He glared at his teammates as they laughed out loud. Matt only smirked at Izzy's outburst and glanced at Mimi's direction.
"Sorry, Izzy," laughed Kari. "But you are so easy to tease."
"Amusing," said Matt, while he strolled toward the door. "But I do plan to finish this mission as soon as possible. I don't have time to horse around."
"He sure cuts the humor dry doesn't he," Hasuma muttered. She took a glance at the huge baggage Mimi was carrying on her back and patted her softly on the back. Mimi turned to look at her in surprise. "You need any help?"
Mimi shook her head and gave her a gentle smile. "I'm alright." Hasuma returned the smile but a look of concern appeared on her face.
"It's almost time, isn't it?" Sadness momentarily appeared on Mimi's face but she quickly replaced it with a sweet grin.
"Yes. One more trial and our world will be liberated from the nightmare that have haunted our people for so many years."
"So close but yet so far," Matt muttered. His sudden appearance managed to startle Mimi and Hasuma. Before Mimi could react, Matt took Mimi's baggage away from her and slung it right on his back. "Are you ready, priestess?" He leaned toward her and looked intently at her face. "For a moment there, you look sad."
"It's nothing Yamato," Mimi replied lightly. She smiled at him and tried to reach for her bag. "I can handle it."
Yamato shifted away from her grasps and cupped one of his hands under her chin, which startled her completely. "I don't want the source of my wealth to die before we finish this mission. So...you better let me take care of you, okay?"
"But," Mimi started to protest but stopped herself. She silently nodded her head and Matt immediately released his hold on her. He turned toward the hovercraft and took two steps forward, before he looked back at her.
"Aren't you coming priestess? Everyone is waiting." Mimi nodded her head and silently followed him. Little did they knew, Hasuma was watching them intently with a frown on her face. She shifted slightly when she felt another pair of eyes focused on the pair.
"Tai," Hasuma called out softly. When he turned to look at her, she noticed the same expression reflecting on his face. Tai slowly approached her and they both slowly walked toward the hovercraft. Sora and the others were already in the hovercraft and she gave them both a puzzling look when they whispered with each other.
"I'm worry," Tai said softly. "I'm worry about Matt."
"I know," Hasuma replied. "Tai...you don't think he have fallen for Mimi yet, do you?"
"I don't know."
"The last trial really seems to affect him greatly."
"Not really," said Tai. "Only toward Mimi." He stopped his walking and shuffled his feet. "On each passing days, he is getting closer to her. Is...is it true that Mimi can't fall in love?"
Hasuma stopped and turned to him with a grim look on her face. "Unfortunately, yes. He will end up hurting himself. And...hurting Mimi while he is at it." She stood there and waited for Tai to catch up to her.
"Wha..."
"Because Mimi will feel guilty for causing pain to someone, especially to a person she cares about."
Tai sighed and shrugged his shoulder. "Well...at least he is calling her priestess instead of her name."
"That's because she told him to call her 'priestess' instead of her name." Surprise flashed through Tai's face as he looked at her. "I was there when she told him to call her 'priestess.' Mimi said she was use to hearing him call her that." She closed her eyes when she remembered how surprise Matt looked when Mimi told him that. Her eyebrows knitted together when Matt secretly smiled to Mimi and said he will think about it.
"That's bad, isn't it," asked Tai. Hasuma opened her eyes and nodded her head slightly as she stepped into the hovercraft. She headed straight to Mimi, indicating the end of their conversation. Sora gave Tai a questioning look but he just sat down next to her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Izzy tapped his foot on the floor impatiently as he waited for Hasuma and Tai to settle down, before he slammed the door shut.
"Alright...listen," commanded Izzy. "Listen carefully and I don't want to hear any witty comments or I will throw you out. Do you understand me?" Davis was about to mutter something, but instead, he ended up coughing violently when Yolie jabbed her elbow right at the side of his waist. He glared at her but she ignored him. Izzy strolled pass them and plopped down on a chair right next to the driver seat. Joe, who happened to be sitting on the driver's seat, turned to look at Izzy when he rapidly typed something in his laptop. "Observe outside." Everyone, beside Izzy, Joe, and Cody, turned to the four windows on the west and east side of the hovercraft and peered outward. For a moment there, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. That was until they heard a woman screaming out in anger when her vendor was mysteriously pushed backward from the hovercraft. A cat screeched out loud when it was rudely awaken from its sleep because an invisible force pushed against the wall she was sleeping on and caused it to crumble. She hissed at Cody when she saw him staring at her. "I think this is enough," said Izzy as he tapped a key on his keyboard. He smiled proudly at them when they turned to look at him with an empty expression on their faces. "So...what do you think?"
"An invisible barrier," Hasuma said.
"Yep...and that is not all. I managed to convert the barrier projected from my laptop into this hovercraft. I also increased the endurance time for it because the hovercraft has a better energy output than my laptop. The barrier could now last for thirty minutes and...it only needs a minute to recharge." His grin widen when he noticed the astonishment on their face. He was practically jumping with glee. "And most of all, we can generate it as much as we want...err...that is, as long as we have enough fuel and battery to generate it. Absolutely prodigious isn't it?!"
"Yeah...really amazing," Davis murmured in shock. "How you manage to think of these things never cease to amaze me."
"Hey, stop taking all of the credit for yourself," Ken protested. "Cody, Joe, and I help you out on this incase you've forgotten."
"I remember," Izzy said irately. "I was just about to tell them..." He stamped his foot on the floor in anger when Matt interrupted him.
"Hey, we got no time to talk about this." Matt pointed his finger at the back window and to everyone's horror, a crowd of people was gathering around the hovercraft. Some of them did not look please at all, especially the woman who owned the vendor that Izzy nearly destroyed in his demonstration. "We better get out of here as soon as possible because I have no desire to start our mission fighting off an angry mob."
"Oh my goddess," gasped Mimi when she saw the mob. "Maybe if we just apologize."
"No time for that, priestess," said Matt. "Hey, Joe. Step on it."
"Gotcha," said Joe as he turned on the engine. He pulled on the steering wheel and the hovercraft lifted upward. Izzy quickly dissipated the shield when Joe pressed on the gas pedal and sped off. "What the heck," screamed Joe when they burst forward in an amazing speed. Sora, who was sitting next to Tai, was thrown into his lap when the hovercraft shot forward. Grumbling and curses were heard within the hovercraft as each of the members were tossed roughly from their seats. Matt, who was standing on his feet when Joe pressed the gas pedal, was knocked off his feet and landed on Mimi and Hasuma's lap. A loud slapping noise could be heard coming from Yolie's direction when she found Davis's face pressing firmly on her chest.
"Ogermon!!!!" Davis screamed out in anger. His words were left unfinished when Joe stepped on the brake. More screams and curses were let off when each of them was violently thrown forward. Davis laid sprawling on the floor with Yolie on top of him. Matt grumpily told Mimi to get off his back before he pushed himself upward. Hasuma was lying on the floor with her face planted flat on the floor. Tai had wrapped Sora protectively within his arms, so he looked a little banged up when he found himself lying on the floor with Sora staring at him in concern. TK laid next to Hasuma and Kari was tucked safely within his arms. In the front of the hovercraft, Ken was lying right next to driver seat and Cody's face was smashed against the back of Izzy's chair. The only people that seem to survive this little incident without any scratches on them, were Joe and Izzy, who sat on the only few seats within the hovercraft that have a seatbelt.
"Why," growled Matt as he stood up. He unconsciously raised a hand downward and lifted Mimi back on her feet, before he turned to TK.
"Not my fault," Joe defended himself. "I just pressed the gas pedal like usual and instead of starting out steady, like it was suppose to, the hovercraft decided to go on a rampage."
"That's because," Izzy began, while turning to look at Cody. Gaining a bloody nose from the incident, Cody was too busy preventing himself from bleeding to death to pay any attention to the conversation. "I forgot to tell you guys that we also modify the engine and give it more power than it used to have. All Joe have to do is to give the gas pedal a little tap and it will automatically speed up to thirty five miles per hour."
"No, Yamato," Mimi pleaded when Matt pulled out his gun and aimed it at Izzy's laptop, after he made sure his brother was alright. Mimi placed her hand on the gun and he slowly lowered it. His eyes still burned with anger and Izzy somehow found it hard to swallow the lump that appeared in his throat. Mimi walked up to Cody and placed her hand on his nose. Slowly it started to heal. "Please, tell us next time, Izzy."
"I'm sorry," Izzy apologized. "I just forgot. I also expect Joe to know about this because he helped me out with the engine." Joe blushed. "I guess he forgot too."
"Next time," said Tai, while tenderly rubbing the bump on his head. "Please invent some seat belts for us. If you can invent a shield that mirrors the goddess's power, you ought to be able to create some seatbelts. Right?"
"Yeah," said Ken. He dizzily found his chair back and slumped down on it. "That will be a good idea."
"Hey, Ogermon. You alright there?" Davis slowly pushed Yolie up from him and found her unconscious. He rubbed the part she slapped him and frowned. "Maybe a good slapping will wake you up." But instead of slapping her, he picked her up gently and placed her head on his lap when he sat back down his seat. Ken looked at him oddly and Davis raised his head defensively. "What? I am not the kind of guy that will attack a girl when she is unconscious." He grinned evilly. "I'll get her back once she wakes up."
"Thank you, Mimi," said Cody when his nose stop swelling and reverted back to its old size.
"It's my pleasure," Mimi replied. "Are everyone alright?" A few of them winced in pain but otherwise, they told her they were fine. Before Mimi went back to her seat, she stopped by Yolie's side and was relief to find her suffering from a small bump on her head and no eternal injury.
"She's too thickheaded to kill," Davis reassured Mimi.
"S..say tha again," murmured Yolie as she slowly opened her eyes. She groaned and put one of her arm on her forehead. Her violet eyes stared into Davis's chocolate brown eyes as he looked down at her. She smiled at him and the corner of his mouth curved upward slightly, before he stood up abruptly, causing Yolie to tumble off his lap and landed on the floor roughly. She stood up angrily and glared at him. "What is the meaning of that," she yelled at him. Davis shrugged his shoulders and sat back down.
"Just feel like stretching. And...beside, you slapped me. This is what you get, Ogermon."
"Why you!!!" Yolie grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and started to shake him violently, while Ken and Cody scrambled off from their seats and tried to calm her down. Everyone watched in amusement, when Yolie was pulled away from Davis and he started to laugh out loud. A few more taunts were thrown before the both of them were able to settle down. Yolie and Davis faced away from each other, while Ken and Cody tiredly slumped back onto their seat.
"Well..." murmured Joe. "That was interesting. Great way to start a new day. We are already banged up even before we meet any Maji."
"And we will be meeting them soon if we continue to stay here," Izzy said after realizing where they were for the first time. While they were busily healing up their injuries, they failed to notice they have burst out of Silic's barrier and were just hovering right outside of its protection.
"It's amazing the Maji haven't attack us yet," said Sora."
"Not exactly," said Tai. "It will be suicidal for them to come near Silic's barrier."
"Why?"
"Because Silic places some guards with weapons near the barrier," TK answered her. "Don't you remember how it was like when they attacked the merchants that were coming in before the festival?"
"I remember," said Kari. "No wonder there was no report of attack for these past few months."
"I am glad that we are having such an interesting conversation over there," started Hasuma as she healed the bruise on her arm. "But can we get going now? I have no interest in running into any Maji at the current moment."
"Neither do I," Matt agreed. He leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And Joe, easy on the gas pedal."
"Yeah, I think I would rather stay with the old method for practicing somersault," said Tai. "This method is hazardous."
"Alright already," said Joe. "No need to stress the point." He eyed the gas pedal warily before he stepped lightly on it. The hovercraft steadily speeded forward and for a moment, they drove in silence.
"You can increase the speed you know," Izzy said in annoyance when the hovercraft continued to slowly crawl through the grassy field for the last half hour. "Just steadily press the gas pedal."
"Alright," said Joe in frustration as he slammed his foot downward on the gas pedal. The hovercraft spurred forward and angry voices could be heard coming from the back of the hovercraft.
"Do you happen to know what 'steady' means," yelled Izzy when Joe released the gas pedal, forcing the hovercraft to slow down.
"No time to think about that now," said Joe as he pressed the gas pedal again. He pointed his finger at the radar where twelve glowing dots appeared on the screen. "We have company. Hang on!" As Joe pressed down on the gas pedal, Tai, Hasuma, Mimi, Davis, TK, and Kari stuck their weapons into the floor of the hovercraft to brace for the sudden burst of speed. Izzy immediately duck below the dashboard and emerged with three silver rods. He gave one to Cody and handed another one to Ken. Izzy detached the screen from his laptop and slipped the rod into the hinges where the screen and the keyboard united. Cody and Ken reached down to the bottom of their seats and took out a portable keyboard. They pulled out a wire from the side of the keyboard and attached the wire into one of the plug located right next to them. Following Izzy's example, they slipped the rod into the hinges located right on top of the keyboard. Immediately, three holographic screens were projected right in front of each of them. They simultaneously closed the left screen and moved the two right screens to the middle.
"Cody, you scan the right side of the field," ordered Izzy. Cody silently nodded his head and lightly moved his finger to the right corner of his right screen. A blue dot appeared beneath his finger and he lightly pushed on it. A humming noise could be heard on the right side of the hovercraft. Matt leaned toward the window and looked toward the direction of the noise. He watched in awe when the metal boards, surrounding the right side of the hovercraft, slid slightly apart from each other, revealing a lens. In a bright flash of light, a screen, similar to Cody's screen, was projected out from the lens. Images from the right side of the field immediately filled Cody's right screen.
"I can't shoot," Cody said flatly as he moved his right screen aside to look at the radar image that was projecting out of his left screen.
"I know," said Izzy. "Move it to Matt." Cody nodded his head and with his right hand, he touched the right screen and lightly made a sweeping motion toward the back of the hovercraft. Matt watched in silence when the screen came flying toward his direction and stopped directly right in front of his face.
"Izzy, wha...," Matt started.
"Hey Matt, ever play any shooting game," interrupted Izzy.
"Hmph...you think?"
"Of course you do. Well...time to test your skills because I want you to take out your gun and start to shoot any Maji you see in the screen."
"What? And blow up your screen?"
"No it won't," Izzy said with a grin as he turned to look at him. "This screen is specially made. Just do what I say and you will get the surprise of your life time." Before Matt could ask him what did he meant by that statement, Izzy already turned toward Ken and started to bark some orders to him. "Ken, you will take the left side of the field and leave the rear side of the field to Sora." Ken nodded his head and tapped the right corner of both of his screens. The same humming noise could be heard coming from the left and rear side of the hovercraft. Images from left side appeared on Ken's left screen and the rear image appeared on his right screen. Imitating Cody's previous action, he pushed the screen backward and it floated toward Sora.
"I guess, my skill with my gun is also being tested too," said Sora as she took out her gun and recharged it.
Izzy leaned back on his seat and looked at the radar. "They are coming closer. You should be able to see them in a few seconds. But before that happens...Davis, I need you to take over the driving for Joe."
"What the heck is...," started Davis.
"Just do it," growled Yolie as she pushed him toward the driver seat. Joe slipped off his seat, while Davis stumbled toward it. Davis grumpily sat down on it, but not before giving a deadly glare toward Yolie's direction. Joe sat down on Davis's seat, and Izzy didn't waste anytime to slip a screen in front of him.
"I'm sorry Joe, but you will have to take over my place," Izzy murmured without taking his eyes away from the screen in front of him. "You will have to do the shooting for the front, while Cody and I check our surrounding."
"No prob," Joe answered. He took out his gun and recharged it. He pointed it at the screen with determination on his face.
"Hasuma," said Izzy. She stood up from her seat and walked toward him. "Can you open the top hatch and attack our enemy with your energy ball? I will activate the shield once we have a clear view of them."
"Sure," said Hasuma.
"Can I do anything to help," asked Mimi.
"Sorry," said Izzy. "But we are trying to keep them in a distance. We need long range attackers."
"Then give me a gun," said Mimi. Surprise registered in Izzy's face when he heard her demand. "I know how to use a gun."
"Yeah," Matt admitted coldly. His face blushed slightly. "She beat me in shooting before." The others looked at him in shock, but he ignored them.
"When did...," asked TK.
"Shut up," snapped Matt. TK decided it would be wise to drop the subject.
"Give me a gun too," said Tai. Izzy looked downward at the dashboard and grabbed a suitcase. He tossed it toward Tai and Tai opened it. He took out a gun and handed one to Mimi, just as Hasuma opened the ceiling hatch.
"I need one too," TK called out.
"Me too," said Kari. "I might not be as good as you two with the gun, but I can at least hit some targets." Tai hesitantly gave her one. He offered one to Yolie but she shook her head.
"Don't need one," said Yolie as she stood up. She smirked and an energy ball appeared in her hand. "Don't you remember I can also generate energy ball?" Tai smiled and slid the close suitcase back to Izzy. Kari, TK, Yolie, Tai, Mimi, and Hasuma painfully squeezed through the small ceiling opening.
"One of us need to lose some weight," winced Yolie. She stifled a groan when her waist sharply struck the metal side of the opening. "I can't even breathe properly."
"There is no need for all of you to be up there," Izzy called out to them. "Mimi, why don't you go back inside and help Matt."
"I am able to take care of things myself," Matt stated coolly, lowering his gun. "Beside, this is ridiculous. Why are we even staring at these stupid screens?"
"You'll see, Matt. And...stop being so arrogant. You will need all the help you can get." Matt snorted and Mimi slowly slipped from the hatch and returned to Matt's side.
"If you don't want me here...," Mimi started sincerely, while standing right next to him.
"Just look at the screen," Matt told her. She smiled and sat down next to him.
"Tai, why don't you help Sora out and Kari can help out Joe," suggested Izzy. Kari and Tai looked at each other before they retreated from the opening. Yolie, TK, and Hasuma sighed in relief and savored the empty space beside them. Their pleasure were cut short when Hasuma saw a shadow appearing from the left field.
"Izzy," she called out to him. Izzy didn't need a second warning and immediately activated the shield.
Realizing their enemies have spotted them, the Maji abandoned their ambush and boldly leaped toward their preys. Davis steadily pressed on the gas pedal and the hovercraft moved forward.
"We are surrounded," shouted Davis when a batch of Maji suddenly appeared in front of them. He pulled on the steering wheel and the hovercraft floated higher. Sounds of fleshes being ripped open were heard when the Maji sprouted out their wings.
"Run them over," Izzy ordered Davis. He turned to the rest of his teammates. "Start shooting in the screen." Matt and Sora looked skeptical but Ken and Joe wasted no time in pointing their gun at the Majis that have appeared in their screens and fired their first shot. Yolie, TK, and Hasuma were busily firing their energy balls and gun outside, so neither one of them knew what was happening within the hovercraft. But if they were there, they would have been as surprise as some of them were when they saw what happened next. The energy shots, Joe and Ken fired into the screen, were absorbed by the screen. Davis watched in shock when the holographic screen located right in front of the hovercraft released an energy shot. From the corner of her eyes, Yolie saw an energy bullet appeared from the left side of the field. She didn't bother to pause to think of it.
Izzy noticed Matt, Sora, Tai, Kari, and Mimi were not shooting and he jumped up anxiously. "What are you guys doing?!!!! Shoot! Shoot!!!!" They snapped out of their shock and started to shoot at the targets projected in their screens. Their shots disappeared into the screens and were immediately transferred to screens located right outside of the hovercraft. Energy bullets flew out from them and pierced the Majis. Tai watched in surprise when the Maji he was shooting in the screen fell down on the floor in a pile of blood.
"I'll be damn," he said while he continued his shooting.
"Don't curse yourself while we are n a battle," Sora scolded distractively.
"Hey," cried Ken, when he realized the amount of enemies gathering around his field started to become a little bit overwhelming for him. "I need help over here."
"TK," shouted Izzy. "Come down from there and help Ken." TK, Yolie, and Hasuma, who were fighting up there, were shocked to find a massive amount of energy bullets suddenly appearing from the four sides of the hovercraft. TK finally knocked out from his daze when Izzy shouted for him for the third time. He slipped into the hovercraft and immediately sat down next to Ken. Hasuma and Yolie could hear his exclamation of surprise coming from inside.
"What kind of sorcery is this," Yolie murmured as she produced another energy ball and tossed it to the right. It struck the ground and exploded, killing four Majis that happened to be near it. She looked at the energy bullets that were flying out of the hovercraft and raining down on the Majis.
"I don't know," Hasuma answered. "But it must be Izzy's doing." She scanned her surroundings and grimaced. Just ten minutes passed since the beginning of the battle and already, the ground was filled with piles of Maji's dead bodies. But the Maji paid no heed to the increasing amount of their falling companions. The density of Maji's appearing on the grassy field continued to increase rapidly. Hasuma easily formulated two energy balls in both of her hands and tossed it toward the right side of the field. She watched in silence when her energy balls connected with the ground and enveloped approximately more than a hundred Majis in its explosion.
"Ugh...I can never get use to this," Yolie groaned in disgust, when she watched some of the Maji scrambling toward their fallen comrades. A fight erupted between them as they each tried to get the largest chunk of cooked meat. Yolie almost threw up when she saw one of the Maji greedily gnawing on one of his comrade's leg, before his head was blown off by an energy shot. Four more minutes of massacre continued before the amount of Maji started to dwindle away. Davis pressed on the gas pedal and the hovercraft speeded forward and entered a forest.
"We can hide behind the shadow," said Izzy. He swung his chair to face his teammates. "We might want to lower the amount of firepower we are putting out there, because I don't think we want them to know where we are, now that we have the forest to hide us." Tai nodded his head. "So...I'm leaving everything to you two." He waved his hand to Hasuma and Yolie. "The others can stop firing." Matt lowered his gun and the others followed his example. Sora leaned backward on her seat tiredly.
"Can I kill him," asked Yolie when she noticed Izzy smiling right at her.
"I'll help," Hasuma volunteered. She fired another energy ball. Nine minutes passed when Cody finally informed everyone there was no Maji being detected by the radar. Hasuma and Yolie stopped their attacks and shrank back into the hovercraft. Yolie quickly closed the hatch and Davis slowed down the hovercraft. Everyone, beside Cody, Davis, and Izzy were exhausted from the battle.
"I don't think I can recharge another gun," Ken mumbled. He tossed his gun on the ground and sigh. "I think I used up almost all of my energy."
Mimi sighed and wiped some sweat from her forehead. She saw Matt staring at her and she smiled reassuringly to him. "I am fine, Yamato." Matt turned his head away from her and stood up.
"I don't care about you, priestess," he informed her in an icy tone. He walked up to TK and TK gave him a thumb up sign.
"Where are we now," asked Kari.
"And would someone tell me what just happen," asked Yolie.
"Well," said Izzy with a huge grin plastered on his face. He slipped the silver rod from the hinge of his keyboard and the screens in front of him and Joe disappeared. "This is my newest invention. As most of you just witnessed, the energy shots that you fired into the holographic screen were absorbed and were immediately transferred to the outside screens that were being projected by the lens. That is because..."
"Oh no," moaned Tai. "Not again." He grimaced when Izzy slipped into one of his scientific lecture mode. For half an hour, he lectured them in regarding to how he had used the goddess energy barrier and adapted it into an offensive weapon, thereby, creating these rods. Yolie highly regretted ever asking her question when Izzy continued to lecture her about the way he managed to manipulate the energy being absorbed by the screen and used them to project them into different area.
"You see," Izzy winding off his lecture. "By using the goddess barrier and knowing the requirement to harness energy, I am able to build this rod." He smiled at Yolie. "Do you have any other questions?"
Yolie looked at him warily. She noticed the others were either asleep or pretending to listen to Izzy's lecture. Only Ken seemed to understand what Izzy was saying. "I'm sorry, Izzy," she confessed. "But...I don't get even understand half of what you were saying."
"Which part do you not understand," asked Izzy.
"Uhm...well...uh, you got me lost by your tenth sentences," Yolie shyly admitted.
"Oh that...," said Izzy. "Here, let me explain it to you more clearly." A horrific looked appeared on her face. To her relief, Tai, who was watching this scene with amusement and decided Yolie had suffered enough, came to her rescue.
"Izzy, you can tell us about your brilliant invention once we find a place to rest. Right now, we need you to keep your eyes on the radar." Izzy scowled and turned back to his screen. Yolie gave Tai a grateful smile before she sat down next to Joe.
"Where are we," asked Kari.
"We are in the middle of Vedina Forest," Cody answered.
"We are," Hasuma exclaimed from astonishment. "But...it usually takes us a whole day to arrive to this place."
"Usually," Izzy grinned. "But this hovercraft is built for speed. It will usually take us seven days to reach from one city to another, but with my invention, all you need is three days."
"Good," said Matt. "The sooner this is over, the better." He patted TK softly on the arm before he walked back to his original seat. Mimi sat there with a thoughtful expression on her face. Matt immediately noticed it but before he could ask her about it, she turned away from him and started to talk to Hasuma.
"What was that," thought Matt. He glanced at Mimi again and found her giggling at Hasuma's joke. He shrugged his shoulders and leaned back on his seat. Crossing his arms in front of him, he slowly closed his eyes. "Must be nothing."
*******
For the rest of the day, they were fortunate enough to avoid any contact with the Majis. By the end of the day, Davis brought them out of Vedina Forest and into Calir, an abandon city.
"Wow," said Izzy as he looked out the window. He whistled softly as he observed the ruins. "Who would have ever thought this city used to be the source of all technology."
"Calir," Hasuma murmured, while pressing the gas pedal lightly. A few hours ago, she relieved Davis from his duty and took over the driving. Davis sleepily thanked her and immediately fell asleep on his seat. The others were already snoring softly inside the hovercraft. Usually, they would have formed a camp for the night, but since they have entered into the city, Tai felt it would be safer for them to drive pass the city before they settle down and camp.
"What," asked Izzy. "You know something about this city?"
"The same thing you know," Hasuma answered him. "This city is the second strong hold for the human race during the war with the digimon."
"Actually, a lot of people believe this city 'IS' the primary stronghold for the human during the war," Izzy corrected. "Because no one ever found the city Xatha after the war. Nobody knew where it is located because everyone that once lived in that city was all killed off by the Maji.or that was what they believed to be true. Some people rumored that Xatha was the birthplace of the first Maji." Izzy shrugged his shoulders. "But...there is no proof to support the existence of Xatha. Neither is there any proof to support any of the rumors."
"That's not true," said Hasuma. "Xatha exist."
Izzy was startled when Hasuma voiced her opinion firmly. "How do you know," he asked.
"Because the ancient weapon Mimi is using right now came from there," answered Hasuma.
"But...but I thought you don't know where he got it," Izzy exclaimed.
"I lied," Hasuma simply admitted.
"Why?"
She snapped the auto drive into position and turned to look at him squarely in the face. "I promise my master I would not tell people about that area."
"Then...then why are you telling me about it," Izzy wondered.
"Because I know you would not go and destroy that place." Izzy looked flustered and stared at her in disbelief. She sighed. "You don't know human as I do. Think about it. Xatha is the source of where the Maji are produced. And the Majis are considered to be the worst human invention in this world. It is like an ugly scar in our history. Political parties will do anything to erase this scar from the face of our planet." She switched the auto drive to manual when she noticed how slow they were going. "None of us know exactly how the Maji were created, except for the few scientists that have experimented with them. All of them were killed during the war and the data in regarding to their experiments were destroyed. The only place that contains those knowledge is the government and we can't entirely trust in everything they tell us."
"Oh...I get what you mean," Izzy said slowly. "You are scared the political parties in our society will destroy Xatha once they knew of its existence, right?"
"That's what my master is afraid of. But...I know you, Izzy." Izzy blushed from shyness. "You are a seeker of truth aren't you, Izzy?"
"Of course," he said proudly. "I believe that knowledge is essential."
"Yes, it is. But now that you know Xatha exist, what will you do? I trust you enough with the secret."
Izzy scratched his chin thoughtfully before he answered her. "Nothing." He smiled at her and flipped open his laptop. "Although I have to admit, I really want to explore Xatha. If I ever get a chance to do that, I will reveal all of our errors to the world. That way, we won't make the same mistake."
"You're right but if you do that, you will be sure to have a bunch of politicians hounding down on you. Your life is going to be in danger too."
"If I want an easy life, I wouldn't have become a mercenary at the first place. It is not like my life is not being threaten every single second."
Hasuma shook her head sadly and sighed. "After hearing that, I wish my master would have told me where it was located before he disappeared."
Izzy shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it wouldn't matter anyways. It probably is reduced to nothing but dust by the Majis after all these years."
"Not exactly," said Hasuma. "My master told me there is a barrier, which is similar to the goddess's barrier, protecting the city." Izzy almost fell of his chair.
"What?! But...but!"
"I know. We all thought that the goddess only formed a shield for the five major cities we all know today. But we never expected she would form a barrier around Xatha."
"Amazing," Izzy murmured. His eyes flashed with excitement. "How is the condition of the city?"
Hasuma waved her hand around their surrounding. "What do you think?" Izzy sat down on his seat in defeat.
"Oh well, we still might be able to find something interesting over there," he said brightly.
"In case you have forgotten, we don't know where Xatha is located at."
"Oh darn." He glanced at his screen and sat up abruptly. "OH DAMN!!! WAKE UP EVERYONE!" His shout jolted everyone into the conscious world. Ten dots were moving toward them in Izzy's radar. "We need shooters," said Izzy as he scanned their surroundings. "We are surrounded by huge buildings. A huge explosion will bring them down on us, and I don't think I would like that to happen. So...Matt, Joe, and Sora. If you are ready, start shooting."
Joe groggily stood up from his chair and opened the top hatch. He rubbed his eyes and looked around him. He shivered slightly and he could feel Sora shuddering right beside him. Matt grumpily appeared from the opening and rapidly took out his gun. A few seconds, their enemies were spotted and the three of them hastily finished their enemies off.
"Wow," said Kari as she watched Matt accurately shooting down his enemies in their vital parts. "He is a better shooter when he is cranky."
"We discovered that a long time ago," Tai grumbled.
"Alright," said Izzy when the radar registered no nearby presence of Maji in their area. "You guys can come down now." Joe and Sora quickly slipped into the hovercraft. Once they were in there, they huddled against their seats and rubbed their arms. Tai wrapped his arms around Sora to keep her warm. She smiled at him. Matt took one last glance around his surrounding before he went back into the hovercraft. He closed the ceiling hatch with a slam and strolled to his seat. Disregarding the cold and the glances he received from the others, he shut his eyes.
"How long will it take us to get out of this city," asked Tai.
"Don't know," Izzy replied. "But it won't be long."
"Are you sure we are going the right direction," asked Joe.
"Quite sure." He slid his chair away from his laptop screen so the others could see what was being displayed in the screen. Izzy pointed at a green dot on the screen. "You see this dot? This is us." He then proceeded to point at a blue dot, which was located at the upper left corner of his screen. "And that dot represents the crystal in the shrine of Zelphir. You must be wondering, how I did it, huh? Well...the answer is quite evident. All I have to do is to use the energy barrier that I have created from the power of the goddess and convert it into a homing device for the crystals that are powering the barrier surrounding the cities, I am then able to use it as a compass for our direction."
"Amazing," praised Kari. "You really are a genius, Izzy." Izzy blushed under her praise and shyly looked down on the floor.
"I can see the exit," Hasuma announced. The hovercraft swerved leftward to avoid a huge statue in the middle of the path. Izzy looked out of the window shield and nodded his head in confirmation.
"No Maji sighted."
"Good." After another fifteen minutes of driving, Tai finally told Hasuma to stop at a clearing in the middle of the forest and set up camp. Slowly and stiffly, they proceeded out of the hovercraft and stretched themselves.
"It will take us another day and a half to reach to Zelphir," Izzy yawned out.
"I don't care," grumbled Hasuma. "As for now, I just want to go to sleep." And with that said, she plopped down right into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. The others followed her suit, leaving Joe and Tai with the responsibility for the first watch.
******
Night passed smoothly for them without any disturbance. By the time they woke up, it was already in the late morning. They ate a quick breakfast and entered the hovercraft. Matt and Tai stayed outside to fly for a while when they took off. But after a few seconds, they came knocking at the door when they realized the hovercraft was going far to fast for them to follow. By late afternoon, Izzy pulled his eyes away from his computer to tell them they have managed to reach to Mervia Road.
"Then we are almost there," Yolie said with a smile.
"Yeah," said Joe. "I guess we will be arriving there ahead of schedule. If I drive for the rest of the night, we might be able to reach there before dawn."
"That's good to hear," said TK. "I sure need..." His sentence was left unfinished when something rocked the right side of the hovercraft and pushed him right off his seat. Kari immediately stood up from her seat and helped him back onto his feet. "What happen?"
"Oh damn," cursed Izzy when he did a quick scan on the hovercraft. "A sharp object has just pierced one of our gas tank." He frowned when he saw the gasoline spurting out of tank rapidly.
"Izzy, raise up the shield," shouted Joe when he noticed another set of flying rocks heading toward their direction. Izzy hastily typed in the password for the barrier and activated it. The barrier radiated out of the hovercraft and protected it before any of the rocks could do anymore damage.
"Majis," announced Cody when dots started to appear in the radar.
"Damn smart ones too," Izzy growled. "Okay...I need some of you to move to the right side of the hovercraft because I am going to release the fuel in our right gas tank. I need your weights to even out the balance of the hovercraft. And...I have no interest in having my invention exploding into pieces." When Mimi, Matt, and Hasuma scrambled to the right side, Izzy reached over to the driver seat and grabbed hold on a lever that was located right next to the steering wheel. He jammed the lever to the right and pulled it downward. The bottom of the right gas tank started to open and gasoline flowed freely down onto the dirt road. Once the gas tank was empty, Izzy jammed the lever right back to its old position. Without wasting any second, Izzy bent downward and grabbed three silver rods. Cody and Ken immediately took it from his hand and slid them into their keyboard. "Same position," commanded Izzy. Cody and Ken solemnly nodded their heads. Joe stood up from the driver seat and Davis immediately took over for him. Yolie have already jammed open the ceiling hatch and were tossing energy balls rapidly toward their predators.
Matt took out his gun and started to shoot into the screen once Cody slid it toward him. Sora and Joe also followed suit. Hasuma joined Yolie whereas, TK, Kari, Mimi, and Tai leaned toward the right side of the hovercraft so it would not tilt to one direction. Thousands of Maji appeared from their hiding space and roamed pass the grassy field. They charged the hovercraft swiftly and silently, intently watching their prey.
"Oh goddess," exclaimed Davis when a bunch of Maji formed a barrier in front of them and started to fire energy balls toward their direction. The energy balls collided with the barrier and to Izzy's shock, the barrier started to waver.
"Holy condemn them," cursed Izzy. "I never saw a Maji firing energy ball before!"
"That is because the ones we were fighting before were low level Maji," Ken reminded them.
"Damn, this is bad," exclaimed Izzy. He looked at their gasoline storage and frowned. "With the speed we are going and the energy we are using for these battles, we might not have enough fuel to take us to Zelphir."
"How about switching it to the electrical output," asked Joe while he fired rapidly away.
"If we finish this battle within the next half an hour and there are no further attack, we might barely be able to make it to Zelphir."
"YOLIE WATCH OUT!!!" Hasuma pushed Yolie's head downward when one of the energy ball fired by the Maji pierced the barrier and headed dangerously toward their direction. The energy ball skimmed their back and slammed at the end of the barrier. The impact caused a small explosion that rocked the hovercraft. Sora was thrown out of her seat and landed right on Cody's lap. The others were almost jostled from their seat but they managed to hang on.
"Joe!!! Get rid of the front line," shouted Izzy.
"I'm trying," Joe shouted back. "I need some help over here!!!" TK and Tai scrambled toward him and helped him shot down the Majis that were guarding the road toward Zelphir. But the more that they shot down, more Majis rose to replaced the fallen one.
"Hasuma. Yolie," commanded Izzy. "Direct your attack on them!" They nodded their heads and started to rapidly fire their energy balls at them. Davis pulled on the steering wheel and the hovercraft rose higher. The Majis launched their attack upward when Davis flew over them and passed their offensive line. A wave of ferocious screeches were heard when Davis managed to plowed through their front line, killing a few dozen of their members while he was at it. They abruptly turned around and gave chase to the retreating hovercraft.
Swerving to the right, Davis managed to avoid a colossus energy ball that was formed by the combine power of ten Majis. When it touched the dirt road, it exploded, obliterating a big chunk of the road and created a gigantic pitfall. The explosion rocked the barrier and tossed the hovercraft off from its course and into the forest that was located right beside the road.
"Oh great," groaned Izzy as he rose himself off the floor from where he felled during the impact. "I know I should have wore my seatbelt. Is everyone alright?"
"No," Davis snapped. He looked around him and found Joe lying on the floor and rubbing his busied head. "Joe! Take over!" Joe blinked at him for a moment before he slowly nodded his head. The Majis were screaming in rage and were rushing into the forest. "Keep it steady," Davis ordered when Joe finally got on the driver seat. Izzy watched Davis as he walked toward the side door. Before he reached there, he briefly helped Ken stood up on his feet.
"What do you think you are doing," asked Izzy when Davis slid opened the door. Davis angrily turned to look at him before he jumped out of the hovercraft. "Are you nuts!!!" Izzy rushed toward the door, while ignoring Tai's unconscious figure on the floor. He was about to give Davis a piece of his mind when he reached there, but his words were lost when Davis flew back up to the hovercraft door with an unconscious Yolie in his arm. Hasuma floated right next to him. Blood tickled down her forehead and she angrily wiped them away. "Holy..." Izzy immediately stepped backward and let Davis and Hasuma in. An energy ball, fired by the enemy, managed to pierced through the barrier and would have hit them if Izzy hadn't took out his gun and fired right at it. He slammed the door and another shock wave rocked the hovercraft, almost threw him off his feet.
"Joe," called out Davis as he set Yolie down on the floor. Hasuma, who stayed close to her, lifted her hand and placed it on the gash on Yolie's head. They both were thrown out of the hovercraft when the huge explosion rocked the hovercraft. Luckily, they both landed on the ground within the barrier. Joe looked at Davis as he strolled toward him. "Go help Mimi heal the others and I will take us out of here." Joe nodded his head and walked up to Tai. Sora, who Tai protected during the impact, continued to watch over him with concern written all over her face. When Joe told her Tai was alright, she sighed in relief and helped Ken with the offense. Cody, who was smart enough to wear his seat belt, was fortunate enough to escape the impact without a scratch. But the impact managed to flare up his anger and he was firing at the Majis with Ken's gun, which he found lying on the ground. Mimi placed one of her hand on Matt's left arm. He ignored her as she healed the sword wound he received when he skid across the other side of the hovercraft from the explosion and jammed his left arm at TK's unsheathed sword. The pain brought him to the brink of insanity and he almost didn't control his anger when he pointed his gun at Mimi's head when she touched his wound. Luckily, TK stepped in front of her and that stopped him or else he wouldn't knew would he have enough control to not shoot Mimi at that time. After TK finished healing Kari's injured leg, he and her quickly scrambled toward Yolie, who was fairly injured during the impact. TK took out his gun and started to rapidly fired into Cody's screen and Izzy ignored his computer screen completely to help them out. Kari settled down next to Yolie and immediately placed her hand on the wound on Yolie's waist. Hasuma had sealed the wound's opening to avoid any external bleeding, but it still needs further healing. Joe, Hasuma, and Kari watched her with concern when her face became paler every second.
With all the commotion going on, Izzy failed to notice that Davis did not directed the hovercraft back to the road. Instead, he dived deeper into the forest. By the time he noticed what was going on, he was screaming in madness.
"DAVIS!!! ZELPHIR IS THAT WAY!!!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!!!"
"I am doing what I think is best for the team," Davis said calmly, keeping his concentration on his driving. "Before we were blasted away by that damn explosion, I looked at the road and it is ugly. There are so many Majis over there that it would be plain suicide if we keep to the road."
"But this is Wendito Forest," Izzy exclaimed in great aggravation. "No one...and I mean no one ever explored this forest because there are so many ancient traps set up during the war that it would be dangerous to come in here at all. Even the Majis are afraid to come in here!!!"
"That's the point," said Davis as he turned to the right to dodge a huge oak tree. "Not even Majis will come over here and what we need right now is to get rid of these pests. And..." His face was set with great determination as he took a quick dive, causing a bunch of flying Majis to ram into a tree that Matt's shot happened to chop down. "I don't mind running into one of those trap right now. It might end up helping us."
Izzy looked at the radar and grinded his teeth when he noticed Davis was right. The amount of Majis pursuing them was decreasing. Some of them were dying due to their firepower but majority of them have hesitated and turned back to the road, for they were afraid to enter the forest. "Oh man, we'll still be dead because we don't have enough fuel. If we only stayed on the road..."
"I rather die later than now," Davis answered flatly. "Beside, Izzy, now that you are not doing anything, can you open the barrier thingy before we become their supper. It was already down for one whole minute and I had one heck of a time dodging all of their energy balls." Izzy hurried to his laptop and typed in the code for the barrier. A wire, connecting Izzy's laptop to the hovercraft, lit up for a moment. When the light disappeared, the information from the computer entered into the hovercraft main energy storage and in a second, it stared to form another barrier around the hovercraft.
"Done," Izzy told him.
"And not a moment too soon," said Davis. "Because I think I just activated one of the trap you were talking about." To prove his point, a bunch of fireballs were heading toward their direction. "Everyone, stop firing and hold on to something!" Hasuma jammed her rod into the floor of the hovercraft, much to Izzy's protest, and she, Joe, and Kari held onto the rod while keeping a strong grip on Yolie's body. Ken didn't need another warning to make him snap on his seat belt. Tai, who just recovered and was not anxious to be knock out again, moved toward the rod that Hasuma stuck to the floor. Sora took Yolie's rod and jammed it right through the floor of the hovercraft and held on to it. TK joined her and Tai, realizing it was too cram on his side, joined her too. Mimi, following their example, jammed her rod into the hovercraft floor. She muttered a quick apology to Izzy, who's face was filled with agony as he looked at the holes that were punched into his hovercraft, and placed her body quite close to the floor when Matt put his healed left arm around her shoulders and shielded her with his back. He silently held on to the rod with his right hand.
While they were securing themselves for the rough ride, Davis slowed the hovercraft and backed up the hovercraft. The Majis, that were rapidly pursuing him, flew right passed him when they were unable to stop themselves. Surprise registered in their grotesque faces when their prey, which was ahead of them, was suddenly right behind them. Before they could turn back, a hoard of fireballs engulfed them in flame. Those that were fortunate enough to avoid them or were protected by their armor, immediately fled from the place. Some of them were unfortunate when spears, shot mysteriously from somewhere in the forest, slew them and pinned them to the forest ground.
Once his team members have secured themselves for the rough ride ahead, Davis burst from the line of Majis he used for a shield and headed right toward the on slaughter. The spears tossed at him did no damage for they bounced right off the hovercraft. Davis silently noticed the fire balls were also kept out of the barrier but after today's battle, he was not willing to risk one of them entering into the barrier and causing more damage than what they already obtained.
"Davis," Ken called out to him, catching the boy's attention. "Whatever those weapons are, they seem to have a sensor specifically made to target the intruders. You see how that fireball followed that Maji over there?" Ken pointed his finger at the Maji he was talking about. Davis took his eyes away from his driving for a brief second to witness the Maji trying desperately to evade the fireballs thrown at him but ended up bursting into flame when a dozen of fireballs were fired right at him wherever he went. "All we need to do is to pass the range of their sensors and we will be fine."
"Easier said than done," muttered Davis as he swiftly moved the hovercraft to the left and pulled upward to avoid another hoard of fireballs coming directly to him. Explosion from those fireballs that have landed on the ground, caused Davis to pulled higher up to the air. Massive portion of the forest around this area were burning from the explosive fireball. Davis looked around him and cursed when he swiftly pulled to the right to avoid a nearby fireball. "Hey, Izzy!"
"What?"
"Put down the shield!"
"Are you nuts," screamed Izzy while he glared at him.
"It is slowing us down," snapped Davis.
"But if one of the fireball hit us, we might receive massive damage!"
"I know, but I think I got its pattern down, and I think I know where those stupid machines are located at."
"Then what about the spears? Are you sure you can dodge those?"
"Damn," growled Davis. "Forgot about those. I was letting the barrier do the job that I forgot they existed."
"Stop complaining," said Ken as Cody handed him back his gun. "Tell Izzy and I where the machines are located and we will take them down."
"Oh right, but...I am not good at giving direction," Davis complained. "But you will know where it is when it fires a fireball. Watch closely where it is coming from and you will know, because before every time they fire a fireball, you can see a red light flashing to indicate it is going to attack. Just aim you gun over there and shoot."
"Over there," cried Cody, pointing his finger to the right. Ken spotted the place where Cody was talking about and shot at the red dot. An explosion could be heard coming from the area Ken just barely shot. While Davis focus on their get away, Ken, Izzy, and Cody focus on taking out the machines. They left the back field open since Joe was fairly occupied with hanging on to his life, and Davis thought they could just neglect it for they are traveling forward and away from the sensor's range. In mere minutes, they managed to locate all of the fireballs firing machines. With them gone, Davis smoothly drove the hovercraft from the fiery forest and out of spears range. Once they have reached to a safe place, Izzy lowered the barrier and Davis pulled the hovercraft down to the ground. Joe jumped out of the hovercraft and placed his left hand on the ground. Underneath his clothing, his digimon symbol started to glow. He closed his eyes in deep concentration and after two seconds of silence, water sprouted from the ground and spiraled around him. Joe rose up from the ground and stretched out his left hand to the direct of the fire. As if under his command, the water rushed from his side and flew toward the raging fire. Matt jumped out of the hovercraft and raised his left hand up to the air. In the clear blue sky, a black cloud suddenly appeared. With a snap of Matt's finger, the black cloud started to hail small blocks of ice onto the burning forest. Cody was the last to come out of the hovercraft. He attempted to aid them by spreading his left hand on top of the ground and in a mere second, the ground started to shake and the land, that was near the burning portion of the forest, rose up in a wave and crushed the fire. A mere minute passed by and the huge forest fire was extinguished by their help.
"Amazing," said Izzy as he stood there recording their works with his laptop. "Absolutely astounding." Tai and the others have been watching Joe, Matt, and Cody's performances in awe. Only Yolie missed their amazing feat, for she was lying on the floor of the hovercraft, although fully healed, but was unconscious at that moment. Izzy strolled up to them when they have finally placed their hands to their side. "How did you...." His sentence was left unfinished because once Joe, Matt, and Cody released their power, they collapsed on the ground, and Izzy was definitely not please to have Matt lying on top of him, crushing him and his laptop.
The others rushed to their comrade's aid and for the next three days, Matt, Joe, and Cody remained in a coma. Neither Hasuma, TK, Kari, nor Mimi was able to revive them with their healing. TK spent those three days pacing around the campfire in great aggravation and one time, he almost smacked Izzy right on the head when Izzy attempted to run a scan on his brother. Yolie, on the other hand, recovered quite quickly and by the second day, she was up and running. She was surprise to find out that Davis was the one that saved her. It took her two whole days to finally have the courage to walk up to him and thanked him for his deed.
"Thank you," she said to him. Davis just shrugged his shoulders and tossed a wood into the fire.
"We're even," he said. Yolie raised her one of her eyebrow and gave him a questioning look. "You save my head from being chop off by Majis when we were in Silic, so we are even, Ogermon."
"Well, in that case..." Before Davis could react, Yolie pounced on him and pulled him into a tight headlock. "You can at least be kinder to me," she growled at him. "Is this how you treat a person that is sick?"
"Ack...yo..you seem pret...tty strong f..ff..for a sick per..son, Ogermon," Davis choked out.
"Shut up!" TK jumped up in surprise and Tai stood up from the tree he was sitting under when Matt slowly raised himself from the sleeping bag and glared at Yolie and Davis. "Shut up or I will blast your heads off." Yolie released Davis and they both scrambled toward him.
"Matt," cried TK, throwing his arms around his brother. Tears fell down on his face and Matt silently held his brother as he looked at the bunch of eager faces, staring right at him. TK pulled away from him and gripped his brother's shoulders. "Are you alright?"
"How are you feeling," asked Tai.
"Fine," Matt replied bluntly. He looked at their eager faces and frowned. "What's up?"
"What's up," Mimi echoed his word. "Yamato, you have been sleeping for four days now."
Surprise registered on Matt's face when he heard her words. "I did?" He winced as he tried to stand up. "Hmph...no wonder my body aches everywhere." For the first time he noticed Joe and Cody's unconscious forms lying right next to where he laid. "What's with them?"
"They still haven't wake up yet," answered Hasuma. "After you three performed that amazing deed, the three of you just collapse down on the floor."
"Talking about that incident," said Izzy as he moved toward Matt. "How were you able to do that?"
"Izzy," TK growled in a warning tone. Izzy immediately back off. Unfortunately, he tripped over Joe's foot and landed on top of him and Cody. The others watched in amazement when Joe and Cody opened their eyes and swiftly attempted to push Izzy off of their bodies.
"Damn it Izzy," Joe said hoarsely. "Can't you think of a better way to wake us up?" Cody silently agreed with Joe and pushed Izzy off his already numbed limbs. He stood up and stretched himself.
"I'm sorry," Izzy apologized as he scrambled back on his feet. "I accidentally fell on both of you."
"One advice for you," said Joe, while Davis helped him up. "Lose some weight. You are heavy."
"If I lose anymore weight, the wind will be able to blow me away," Izzy answered dryly. "But enough of my weight problem, what I really want to know is how you three were able to generate so much of your digimon power." He quickly turned to TK and shook his finger. "I know they just barely woke up but the powers that they used to extinguish the fire was beyond human ordinary capability."
"I would like to know how they did it too," said Hasuma.
"Can't you two just let them rest a little bit before they answer your questions," TK asked angrily.
"Three days of sleep should be enough rest for them," Hasuma replied as she looked at Matt, Joe, and Cody. "And beside, they seem perfectly fine to me."
"And we are," said Matt. He patted TK softly on the shoulder. "We're fine, TK." TK nodded his head in defeat. Matt attempted to stand up again and this time he managed to succeed. Although his body ached, his mind felt clear. "Besides," he told them. "I want to know what happen too."
"Me too," said Joe and Cody nodded his head.
Izzy stared at them in bewilderment. "You..you mean you don't know how you guys generated those power," he asked in disbelief.
Matt, Joe, and Cody shook their heads. "I don't know how I did it," said Joe. "But somehow I just know I can do it."
"And why is that," asked Sora.
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "It might sound weird but right when we landed the hovercraft, I heard a voice inside my head. He was speaking to me. He told me if I want to save the forest, all I have to do is to place my hand on the ground and concentrate on calling the element of water to me. So...that is what I did." He sighed and looked at his teammates faces. "That is what I did and when the water appeared to me, the voice told me to extend my hand toward the direction of the fire. He told me the water would follow my biding as long as I have the desire to extinguish the fire. So...I followed his instruction. But once the fire was over, I...I don't remember anything at all."
"A voice," Sora said in wonderment.
"The same thing happened to me too," Cody said quietly.
"Yeah," Matt agreed. For a moment, everyone, except Davis, Kari, and TK, stood there in deep contemplation.
"But I don't see what is so significant about this," TK cried out loud.
Ken sighed and strolled up to them. "Come on, don't tell me you don't know." TK shook his head.
"Well, I don't know either," Kari said indignantly.
"Me too," said Davis.
"Why am I not surprise," Yolie murmured as she looked at Davis. Davis glared at her but she looked away.
"This is a surprising event because the powers that Joe, Cody, and Yamato have displayed cannot be possibly for human to perform," Mimi explained. She paused and shook her head. "No...it is possible in the past but not in the present."
"And why is that," asked Kari.
"It is because all of the digimons are dead," Izzy said in aspiration. "Come on, I thought a guardian would at least know this."
"Izzy, shut up," warned Tai, stepping in to defend his sister. He turned to his sister and lifted up his left sleeves to reveal his digimon symbol. "The digimon symbol we are born with does not only allow us to use the power of the digimon that is represented on our arm; it also form a connection between the digimon and the human." When Kari gave him a confusing look, he ran his hand through his hair. "How should I explain this. Okay...look. When the goddess gave some of the digimon their powers, she drew them from the elements of Gaia or from nature itself. For the others, she gave them power from the element of light or from the element of darkness. At that time, digimons were able to control the wind in the sky, the waters in the ocean, move the land on Gaia, and other elements within Gaia."
"Basically, they are like god," said TK.
"Almost," said Tai. "The goddess, of course, is the most powerful being. But...yes, they are almost like gods themselves. When the digimon created human, they also passed on their powers to their creation. But...there was a limitation to the amount of power they passed on to their creations because they fear the human would turned against them. And if they do, their powers will be equally match." Tai sighed. "Least to say, their fear is understandable."
"But there is a way humans can obtain the same power as the digimon," said Ken. "Whenever a human baby is born, he is automatically bonded to a digimon through the symbol on his left arm."
Davis looked at his symbol and shook his head. "That isn't right," he said. "Because my symbol is marked on me after they discovered I have the power of Veemon within me."
"Yes," said Ken. "The way they determine to mark you with which digimon symbol is determined by the power within you. But...let me ask you this. Why can't they detect what your digimon symbol is right before you are born?"
"I don't know," answered Davis.
"It is because you don't have any powers before you are born. But once you are born, you are immediately bonded to a digimon and his power will manifest within you. How did it happen, we don't know. And why do we still have those powers within us even though all of the digimons are dead? I don't know the answer either. No one knows the answer to it."
"Just in case you want to know," said Hasuma. "The way they distinguish your digimon symbol from other digimon symbols is because the power within you repels other symbol from being marked on you left arm besides the right one. For example, Agumon and Meramon are both fire type digimon." She pointed at Tai's left arm. "When they mark Tai's left arm, the priests from each cities will first have to use a scanner and scanned Tai's body. That will tell them what kind or type of digimon they should be expecting. They will take a wooden stick and started to draw each digimon characters one by one on Tai's left arm. When they reached the right digimon symbol, the digimon symbol will automatically appeared on Tai's upper left arm."
"Interesting," said Izzy. "I didn't know that."
"Err...back to the main topic," said Tai. "Anyways, as I was saying...the powers passed on to the human are fairly limited. Well...and remember Ken told you that there is a way human are able to use the same power as the digimon? This possibility all lies within the bond formed by the human and the digimon. If a human stay faithful to the goddess and have no intention of rebelling against her teaching, he or she will be able to enhance their regular power to a higher form of power after years of training under the supervision of the digimons. For people that are not willing to train, they are just subject to have the same amount of powers that we have today." He formed a fireball and tossed it in the air. "See." As everyone watched him nervously, Tai easily caught the fireball and extinguished it within his hand. "In those time, people that have trained under the digimon's supervision could awaken the wrath of the volcano and manipulate the movement of the magma as they like."
"But when the human rebel against the digimons," continued Mimi. "The bonds between human and digimons began to weaken. Because of that reason, we are just only able to wield the powers we have today."
"If that is true," asked Davis. "Then why did the war remained in stalemate for all those years? From what you had said, it seemed like the digimon could destroy us as easily as snapping their fingers."
"True," said Hasuma. "But you neglected to count in technology. Digimons are highly in tune with their natural surrounding and their powers lie within nature. Humans, on the other hand, are not in tune with nature so they rely on technology to aid them in the war. So you see...two deadly forces fighting against each other." She shook her head.
"Now do you get it," asked Yolie. She looked at Davis and addressed him next. "You really need to brush up on your history."
Davis opened his mouth to retort back to her but he closed it immediately when he realized the truth in her words. "Damn her," thought Davis.
"Out of curiosity," asked Cody. "Majority of the humans in this world has lost their digimon power. Although they still have the symbol marked on them, they are not able to invoke the power. Is it due to the weaken bond and the death of all digimons?"
"It might," Matt answered when he recalled his conversation with Mimi during the night of the festival. "It also might be the fact that humans have stopped to use their powers and eventually lost their knowledge or the ability to use them."
"Or they have lost their faith in their goddess," Mimi said softly, while looking at the floor. Everyone turned to look at her and silently ponder about that possibility. It was not a pleasant thought for anyone of them, and Matt, who never did care for any of these matters, did not even want to venture further into this path of thinking now that he has swore to protect the priestess and help her accomplish this mission.
"Oh well," Izzy said, breaking the silence. "So..." He turned to look at Joe, Matt, and Cody. "Neither one of you know how you did it, huh?" Joe and Cody shook their heads. Matt, on the other hand, crossed his arms in front of his chest and coldly stared at Izzy.
"You think I was joking," he challenged Izzy. Izzy quickly shook his head.
"Nope...never doubt it." Matt glared at Izzy for a moment before he finally released him from his gaze. Relief immediately appeared on Izzy's face when Matt turned toward TK and started to speak to him in a low tone. "Damn...don't you ever mess with those two brothers again," Izzy mentally warned himself.
"Err...come to think of it," said Joe. "Now that we are awake, what do we do now?" He looked around him and there was nothing but trees. "Have you guys come up with anything yet?"
"Yeah," Izzy replied. He walked up to the two gas tanks lying beside one huge oak tree and gave one of them a kick. "This one is empty because of..." He turned to nudge a sharp edged rock with its size as big as a fist. "This rock. I found it when I finally got the chance to look at the damages they caused." He grimaced and pointed his finger at the hovercraft. The beautiful metal plates covering portions of the hovercraft were filled with dents. Majority of the hovercraft were covered with black soot and charred. "And damn it," cursed Izzy. "They did a good job at it. I never thought they would toss a stone at us. So primitive!"
"And yet effective," Tai muttered.
Izzy glared at him. "Yeah, and that is why I am so..."
"Mad," said Joe.
"Peeved," volunteered Cody.
"Pissed off," Davis suggested with a grin.
"Stop taking all of my words," growled Izzy. He shook with frustration with he saw the rest of them with a smile plastered on their faces. "Damn it! You guys are so damn..."
"Irritating," Matt interrupted, joining in the fun. Izzy screamed out in anger. For the rest of the day, he refused to speak to anyone. As for the plan for the rest of the journey, Tai and Hasuma told them they will talk about it tomorrow once Izzy would talk to them because he was the only one that knew about the status of the hovercraft. So for the rest of the day and night, they sat around their campfire and relaxed. Although the forest was quite safe from the Majis, due to their fear for the traps set within the forest, precautions were still needed just in case something bad would happen.
Hasuma and Yolie were sitting in their post for the watch for tonight as everyone fell into a peaceful sleep, when Yolie finally popped the question that bugged her for these past few days.
"Hey." Hasuma turned her head toward Yolie's direction and slightly inclined her head upward to indicate she was listening. Yolie poked the fire with a wooden stick and frowned slightly when it started to burn. She tossed it into the fire and leaned back on the tree she was sitting right below. Yolie glared at Davis, who happened to be sleeping right next to her and snoring. Ignoring him, she addressed Hasuma again. "I was wondering...why was I the only one who was severely injured when we were both thrown out of the hovercraft?"
"That's easy," answered Hasuma as she wrapped her coat closer to her slim body. "Although we were both thrown out of the hovercraft, you were knocked unconscious right when you collided against the top of the tree. I managed to use my ability early enough to float in mid-air before I hit the tree." She smiled sheepishly at Yolie as she touched her forehead. Although the wound was mended through her healing, it still was tender. "As you can see, I didn't escape any injury. A sharp branch managed to take a lucky swipe at me when I went after you." She looked down and ruefully told Yolie she was sorry for not arriving to her sooner or else she would escape from receiving so many injuries from the trees when she fell down from it. A smirk appeared on Hasuma face when she recalled how courageous Davis looked when he slammed opened the hovercraft door and looked down at them. "You know what, Yolie?"
"What?"
Hasuma pointed her finger at Davis. "He was really worried about you." Yolie raised her eyebrows in surprise. Of all the things she expected Hasuma to say, she was not expecting this. "I could still remember how he look when he saw you lying on the ground and with me holding your unconscious body. His aura...I can feel it roaring around him when he picked up your body softly without a word. His face was so serious. I never saw it so serious before. Wait...hold on. I just remember something." Hasuma glanced at Yolie and although Yolie turned her face to the forest, her attention was entirely focused on every word that Hasuma was saying. "I did saw him looking that worried before. It was when you were lying on the ground from our recent trial. He was so worried about you."
Yolie shook her head and chucked slightly. "You're reading too much on it." She pointed her right thumb at him. "I know why he did that more than anyone should know. As the second in command of our team, I know my responsibility and so does he. It is our duty to protect everyone in the team. Tai was unconscious at that time and that was what he did. He would have done the same thing for anybody in our team." She smiled. "And beside...." Her face wringed up in horror when Davis suddenly grabbed her right leg and wrapped his arms around it. He pulled her leg toward him and tucked it right under his head. A smile crept up his face as he rubbed his cheek softly on her leg and contently continued his sleep. Hasuma burst out in laughter when Yolie continued to stare at him in bewilderment. However, her laughter was cut short when she saw Yolie flaring up in anger. In a split second, Hasuma was able to teleport right beside Yolie and covered Yolie's mouth with her hand before Yolie could scream at Davis.
"It's alright," Hasuma said softly in her ear. "Let him sleep." She smiled at Davis. "He looks so happy."
"Nhf wif mth..," Yolie cried.
"Shhh..." Yolie glared at Hasuma in anger as she leaned toward her. "Quiet down. You don't want to wake up everyone do you?" Hasuma could feel Yolie muttering some silent curses right under the palm of her hand. "Tell you what. I'll let you go if you promise me would will not raise an uproar about this." Yolie stared at her in dismay for a minute before she reluctantly nodded her head. "Good." She lifted her hands away from Yolie's mouth and grinned at her. "It seems like I am right. He does have some affection for you."
"Arghh....Hasuma," growled Yolie. She turned to Davis and lifted her right hand to slap him right at the face. As she swung her hands downward, Hasuma stuck out her left arm to block the blow.
"It's not his fault that you were sitting so close," Hasuma said softly when Yolie's hand stuck her arm.
"I didn't tell that little pervert to grab my leg," Yolie hissed.
"He is asleep," Hasuma said flatly.
"Well, I'm not going to let him hold it any longer." She tried to softly extract her leg away from his grip but he only held it tighter. By the nth tried, Yolie was so frustrated that Hasuma was holding on to her two fists before she could punch Davis right on the head.
"Just...just think of this as a repayment for him," Hasuma panted out as Yolie wiggled in her grip. She was amazed Davis was still sleeping so peacefully. "He did take care of you for the last few days." Yolie froze in her grip.
"He did?"
"Yeah. Ken, Mimi, him, and I took care of you, but he watched over you most of the time you were unconscious. He won't admit it, but he was relief when you are alright."
"He was?" Hasuma nodded her head and released Yolie when she heard the calmness in her voice. A thoughtful expression appeared on Yolie's face. She shrugged her shoulders and leaned back on the tree. "Oh well. In that case. I'll let him use me as a pillow this time." She glared at Hasuma and wagged her finger at her. "Don't you dare tell anyone about it."
"Alright...I promise." She stood up and walked back to her position. "Go to sleep, Yolie. I'll take the watch for the rest of the night."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. Go to sleep." Yolie nodded her head and quickly thanked her before she closed her eyes. In a moment she fell asleep.
*******
"AAAAAEEEEEIIIIII!!!!" Everyone in the camp, beside Hasuma, woke up at dawn when they heard Davis screaming in terror. He was staring at Yolie's leg in terror and everyone were wondering what was going on, except Matt, who was willing to shoot Davis head off for waking him up, until Yolie slowly stood up and stretched herself. Davis stared at her in disbelief, while Hasuma started to giggle. Yolie looked at Davis with a puzzling look of her face. She cutely inclined her head to the left, with her arms stretched upward and arched her back, revealing her beautiful figure. Ken, Izzy, and Cody looked at her in awe. The beautiful vision was ruined when Davis clutched his hands into a fist in anger and stalked up to her.
"What is the meaning of that," he screamed at her, while shaking his fist right at her. She quickly stopped her stretching and looked at him in dismay.
"What do you mean, you idiot," she asked calmly.
"What do you mean what I MEAN!!! I woke up with YOUR LEG IN MY ARMS!!! I thought I was holding a dead corpse or a decapitated leg, and it scared the living daylight out of me!" Yolie glared at him and everyone that was near them, decided it was wise to move away from them before she exploded.
"DAMN GOOD YOU GOT SCARED," Yolie roared as they glared at each other. "YOU GRAB MY LEG WHEN YOU WERE SLEEPING!!!"
"WHY WOULD I DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT STUPID, OGERMON!!!"
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW, YOU MORON!!!"
The other sighed and came to the conclusion they would not be able to grab anymore sleep with those two throwing insults to each other from the top of their lungs. Ignoring their argument, which was heating up extremely rapidly, Tai and the others slowly packed their stuff while Mimi, Hasuma, TK, Kari, and Ken cooked their breakfast. Mimi looked a little bit concern when Yolie grabbed Davis by the neck of his shirt. Davis quickly knocked her off her feet, and Yolie angrily yanked him to the ground once she landed on the floor.
"Should we stop them," Mimi asked Hasuma. Her face was filled with concern as she watched Yolie and Davis rolling around in the grass.
"Don't worry. They are just playing around." She sighed and shook her head. "I just can't believe Tai and I have choose two childish people as our second in command."
"But, Yolie...," Mimi started to defend Yolie but Hasuma shook her head and smile.
"I know," she told Mimi. "That is why I...no...we choose her." She shrugged her shoulder and bend down to flip the eggs on the frying pan. "And I am not questioning Tai's judgment. Davis shown himself to be a great leader when Tai was down. And...I know Yolie can do the same thing too."
"We all know that," said Sora, joining in with the conversation. "But I can't say the same thing for you, Hasuma."
"Huh?"
Sora crossed her arms and glared at her. "We all need to eat and here you go and ruin our meal! Look at the eggs! They are burning!" Hasuma looked at the eggs she was cooking and dismay flashed in her face when she noticed they were all turning crispy black on the frying pan. Before she knew it, Sora grabbed the pan from her hand and Kari, with TK's help, pushed her out of the cooking range, which was around the fire, and told her they would take care of the rest. So, while they were cooking for the team, Matt and Tai cleaned their weapons and helped Izzy and Joe as they took apart the hovercraft. With Cody's help, they easily assembled the hovercraft into seven motorcycles. Izzy took the only partially filled gas tank, and started to pour the gasoline in each of the motorcycles. By the time he was done, breakfast was ready and Yolie and Davis have stop their fighting to eat their meal. Ken, who happened to be sitting right between them, fidgeted throughout the whole meal when neither Davis or Yolie talked to him, because neither one of them wanted to look at the other person's direction. Cody noticed Ken's discomfort and sighed.
"Ken," said Cody. "If you are finished, can you help me load something on our motorcycle?" Ken nodded his head vigorously and started to stand up, when Yolie silently took his hand. Yolie looked up at him and smiled slightly.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and Ken smiled at her. With that done, she released his hand and he walked to Cody. A glint appeared on Davis's eyes when he saw what occurred but he quickly put on a scowled when Yolie glared at him.
Once they were done with breakfast and Cody and Ken have finished up with their packing, they all sat around the campfire to talk about their plan. Izzy cleared his throat and took out his laptop. He disconnected the screen and placed a green rod into the hinges that connect the screen with the keyboard. A holographic screen appeared in front of Izzy. Kari looked at the rod with confusion written all over her face.
"Izzy," she called out to him as he typed rapidly on his keyboard. "This rod is different from the other rods that you were using, am I correct?"
"Of course," he answered her. "Because this one allow me to...here." He entered the last key and everyone watched in awe when a holographic image of the screen appeared in front of each of them. "This rod allows me to share the information that I have on my screen to as many people as I want. I just think this will be easier for me to explain things."
"Go ahead," said Tai.
"Alright." Izzy typed in 'location' and the image in the screen changed into a map. Majority of the map was filled with black space, because many portion of the land were uncharted due to the Majis that were roaming around outside of the city. Two shinning dots appeared on the screen. "Don't need me to tell you what they are again, right?" They all nodded their head and were frustrated to find them locating farther from Zelphir than they have expected.
"Damn it, Davis," said Joe. "If you haven't drove into this forest, we might be closer to Zelphir than we are right now."
"Yeah," Davis agreed dryly. "We will definitely be closer. But I rather be alive than to lose my life just so we can be closer to Zelphir and not reaching there at all."
"Davis is right," said Tai. "He made the best decision during that situation."
"Although I didn't agree with it at the beginning," Izzy admitted. "I think he made the right decision too. Wendito Forest is one of the zones the Majis are not willing to enter. So this is one of the best place for us to avoid any of their attacks."
"That's true," said Mimi. "But what about the traps that are set around this forest?"
"We didn't forgot about them either," said Ken. "Nor have we forgotten about our limited amount of gasoline we have." He pointed his finger at the motorcycles stationed right behind him. "That is why we reassembled them into seven motorcycles."
"You see," said Izzy as he pointed to the map. "Wendito Forest is located right next to Mervia Road." He zooms in the image in the map and they could see Zelphir's location better. "Around two miles or so from Zelphir, Wendito Forest diverges from Mervia Road."
"Yeah, so," asked Matt impatiently.
"What I am thinking is this. The hovercraft expends too much energy and gasoline. That is why we reassembled them into motorcycles. For the next few days or so, I am planning to have us use these motorcycles instead of the hovercraft. But...I don't mean that we are going to ride them. What we will have to do is to roll them with us while we walk out of this forest."
"What?!" Besides Ken, Joe, and Cody, everyone looked at Izzy in disbelief.
"This is the best way," Izzy said firmly. "We need to conserve as much gas and energy we can have in order to make the final two mile dash toward Zelphir. If I am correct, the Majis would be waiting to ambush us right at that place." Izzy pointed at the map where Mervia Road diverges to the right before it hit Zelphir. The gap between Wendito forest and Zelphir was the most ideal choice for them to move out, because this provided the shortest route to the city. "We need all the energies we can get in order to survive that assault. You understand what I mean, do you?"
Hasuma and Tai sighed and nodded their heads. "You're right," said Tai. The other silently agreed.
"I am going to reassembled the motorcycles into a hovercraft right before we leave the forest. The hovercraft will provide a better protection for us. For the rest of these few days, I will try to generate as much of my electrical energy into our hovercraft's energy storage area, so we can use the energy to help us formulate the barrier during the assault."
"Is there anything we can do to help," asked Mimi.
"Yeah," said Izzy. "All I need you guys to do is to pair up again and help me push the motorcycles for the rest of the journey. I mean...until we reached to the edge of the forest."
"Alright," said Tai. "Who will pair up with who?"
"I am not pairing up with him," Yolie said venomously, pointing her finger toward Davis direction.
"Like I want to pair up with you, Ogermon," Davis shot back.
"Okay, I guess we got our first pair," said Hasuma. "Thanks for volunteering." Davis and Yolie looked at her in disbelief. "I think Sora would want to go with Tai, right?" Sora blushed and Tai shyly scratched his head. "I'll take that as a yes."
"I'll go with Kari," said TK.
"We got three teams," said Tai. "Do anyone of you have any other preference."
"I'll go with Ha...," started Mimi.
"I'll go with Mimi," Matt interrupted her. Mimi looked at him in shock, while he stared back at her in defiance. "You got a problem with that?"
"No, but..."
"Good." Mimi opened her mouth to protest but shut it when she noticed the determine look on his face.
"Okay," said Izzy. "From the way things look like, it will look like we are going with the old pairing. In that case, why don't I stick with Joe again and Cody and Ken could stick together." He turned to address Hasuma. "Do you mind sticking by yourself again?"
"No prob...I guess," she answered when she looked at the motorcycle in doubt. "Although I am not that eager to tug that lug of metal by myself," she muttered to herself.
"Now that we got that settle," said TK. "Who is going to take those two gas tanks with them? I don't think Izzy would want to leave them behind, right?"
"Of course not," said Izzy. "I will haul one of them. Who will haul the other one? They aren't really that heavy."
"I'll do it," Hasuma volunteered. With that said, Izzy and Joe helped her hauled the empty gas container onto the back of her motorcycle. "Alright...now that everything is settle. What proposal do you have for us when we encounter a trap?"
"What else," said Izzy as he flipped open his laptop. "We will rely on the barrier that is formulated by my laptop. That is what we did in the past."
"But won't that drain away a huge portion of our energy supply," asked Kari.
"Not really," said Izzy. "I've already equipped the laptop with the old energy barrier as a backup, just in case our new barrier fails. The laptop is already charged with energy it needs to formulate ten of those barriers."
"I see," said Sora.
"But remember, the barrier would only last for five minutes and it need fifteen minutes to recharge. So...if we do run into a trap, we need to eliminate our obstacles as soon as possible."
"Gotcha," Matt said grumpily. "Now lets get a move on it already."
"Fine with me," said Yolie. "The faster we are out of here, the lesser time I have to spent with him." Davis scowled when he noticed she was pointing at him. In less than a minute, they loaded their stuffs onto their motorcycles and began to roam around the forest. Because Hasuma, Izzy, and Joe were lugging the gas tanks, their luggages were evenly divided amongst the rest of the team.
*****
For three days, they wandered in the forest blindly. Although the days were uneventful, the cold wind of winter chilled their bones, causing them to huddle close together. The shades provided by the trees in the forest did not help the situation. Their long branches and thick foliage, blocked most of the warm sunlight the group needed to warm their freezing body. Besides battling the harsh weather condition, several times, they found themselves on the verge of triggering one of the ancient traps located within the forest. If it weren't for Yolie's sharp eyes, Hasuma's experience, and Tai's knowledge in regarding to ancient traps, they would have already expended all of the energy stored in the laptop for the barrier.
"Oh...what I wouldn't give for a hot drink," muttered Davis as he huddled closer to the campfire he just made for the night. Yolie grumbled behind him and slowly pushed the motorcycle toward the right edge of the temporary camp they made. Davis didn't bother to help her, because it was her turn to push the motorcycle. The others, that were not responsible to push their assigned motorcycle, huddled closer to the welcoming campfire. Only Tai stayed away from it, long enough to help Sora guide the motorcycle toward the left side. Izzy stood there in silence as he examined each of the motorcycles condition. Mimi tried to take the motorcycle from Matt, but he shifted it away from her out reaching hands. She stared at his back as he walked away in silence to turn in his motorcycle. When Matt finally turned to look at Mimi, he caught her eyes. His cool composure faltered for a moment when he saw the anger flashing in Mimi's eyes. Without a word to him, she turned her head away and headed toward the campfire.
"What the heck was that," Matt thought to himself. He frowned when Mimi turned to talk to TK. "Probably my imagination. And...why do I care," he told himself. However, he somehow found himself sitting right next to her. He unconsciously grinded his teeth when he noticed Mimi was intentionally avoiding his eyes. The others were busily rushing around the campfire, organizing their luggage and cooking their supper for the day. Unwilling to lift a finger to help them and irritated with Mimi's attitude, Matt continued to sat there with his arms cross right in front of him. When supper was ready, all of them sat there, huddling closer to the fire to keep warm, while they ate their dinner. Halfway through their meal, Izzy made an important announcement to them.
"We only need to walk two more days and we can make it to the boarder of this forest," he told them. "Once we are near there, I will reassemble the hovercraft."
"Good. Anything to get out of this cold weather. I'll help," Ken volunteered.
"We'll all help," Tai said firmly.
"Alright," said Izzy as he stood up and stretched himself. A yawn escaped from his mouth. "All we have to do is to avoid any other traps and get out of here safe and sound."
"Sounds easy but in case you haven't notice, it is hard," said Joe. "Especially when most of us is freezing," he added.
"We would have been there already if we weren't avoiding the traps," Izzy reminded them. "We took a lot of unnecessary turns just because of those traps."
"No use complaining about them," said Tai. He yawned and placed his plate down on the dirt ground. "Right now, I want nothing more than to get some sleep. Man...I never felt so tired before." He walked toward his sleeping bag and was about to enter into it when he remembered they have not assigned the night watch for this night. Sitting up on his sleeping bag he looked at all of the weary faces staring right at him. "Let's see..."
"I'll take the watch," Mimi volunteered softly. Her voice was so soft that most of the words were lost in the howling wind. Tai didn't realized she was speaking until he saw Matt sharply turning his head toward Mimi's direction.
"You want to take the night watch," Tai asked doubtfully. When Mimi nodded her head, he knew he had guessed right. "Alright. Then who will partner up with her?"
"I'll do...," Matt said quickly.
"NO!" Mimi's sudden firm exclamation managed to startle the everyone that was there. Even Matt's cool exterior was replaced with a shocking expression on his face. Mimi blushed slightly but she didn't look at them. Matt immediately snapped out of his shock and fury flashed in his eyes. His face contorted into anger and it took him a few seconds to compose himself. He stood up abruptly, while everyone stared at him and Mimi.
"Fine," he said in an icy tone. He turned away from her and walked up to his sleeping bag. Without another word, he kicked it open and plopped down on the ground. Everyone winced slightly, except Mimi, when a ripping noise could be heard coming from Matt's direction, when he jerked his sleeping bag and covered himself with it. Not daring to make any sound and give Matt any reason to shoot their heads off, the others quietly finished their meals and headed for their sleeping bag. Even Davis swallowed an angry retort when he found out his sleeping bag was 'accidentally,' or so Ken said, placed right next to Yolie. Fury flashed in Yolie's face but she kept her mouth shut. As if by common sense, the one that end up being Mimi's partner for the night watch was Hasuma. Sitting opposite from each other, Mimi continued to look at the fire, while Hasuma observed her.
"So...what is it," Hasuma asked her once she realized everyone was asleep. She eyed Matt's still form for a moment and a smile crept up her face, when she noticed his body became slightly ridged when her voice broke through the silent night. "Guess someone wants to know the answer as much as I do," Hasuma thought.
"I...," Mimi hesitated.
"You know you can tell me anything."
Mimi sadly looked down on the floor and fidget in her seat. "I shouldn't have said that," said Mimi. "I will apologize to him tomorrow."
"I don't care whether you apologize or not," said Hasuma. "I want to know what caused that outburst from you. Mimi, I know you. You normally don't act like this. I just want to know what is the problem." She paused and took a quick glance at Matt before she continued. "Are you just worried about the upcoming trial? Is that it?"
"No. I am not worry about the next trial," Mimi sighed. "I am...I have no right to yell at Yamato like that. It is just that..." She stood up and started to pace around. "Whenever he is around me, I feel so useless."
"Useless?" Hasuma cleared her throat when she heard a rustling sound coming toward Matt's direction. Luckily Mimi didn't noticed.
"Yes, useless." She turned to Hasuma with a desperate look on her face. "When I am near him, he reminds me of my weakness. I've never realize how weak I am and how much of a burden I am for everyone until now."
"Why do you say that," Hasuma asked calmly.
Mimi walked up to the campfire and tossed a wood into it, before she walked toward Hasuma. She sat down next to Hasuma and looked down on the floor. "I can't do anything," Mimi said softly. A tear started to drop down her face. "Everyone...everyone always protect me. They put their lives in danger just to protect me. And...I am always causing so much pain to people that are beside me. None of you would have to be here if it weren't for me. If..." Matt jolted from his sleeping bag when he heard a loud slapping noise coming from Hasuma's direction.
"What the heck just happen," thought Matt. Although he was tempted to sit up and look at their interaction, something told him to remain as he was. He noticed TK had his eyes opened and were looking at him. He quickly shut it.
Meanwhile, Mimi was clutching softly to her cheek and looking at Hasuma in shock.
"Don't ever say that," Hasuma said coldly. "Everyone of us choose to follow you because we each have our own reason. There is nothing you can force us to do if we don't want to do it." She stood up and loomed over Mimi. "We choose to protect you because we believe in you. Some of us...well, might do it for some other reason, but they are still following their path." Dismay appeared on Hasuma's face and she shook her head. "I can't believe you, Mimi. How can you say those things when you have done so much. Useless...ha! That is sure a laugh. You are the one that is keeping us together and helping us reach our goal."
Hasuma lowered herself to Mimi's level and touched Mimi's red cheek with her left hand. A glow appeared in her hand as she healed Mimi's cheek. "Mimi," she said softly. "I for one, am willing to give my life to protect you because I truly believe you are going to be the one to liberate our world from the nightmare they are living. Having you said those words is hard for me to hear, and I bet, it will be hard for the others to hear them too. We all trust in you. If you give up on yourself, then what can we go on believing? Have we all faced all of our trials in vain?" Tears started to fall down on Mimi's face and Hasuma hugged her. "Don't cry. Don't ever say that you are useless because you are not. You are the strongest girl that I ever know."
"I'm sorry," Mimi cried. Mimi held her tightly and for a minute, Hasuma silently comforted her. When her sobbing finally dwindled down, Hasuma pulled back slightly, still keeping her hands on her shoulder, and looked at Mimi in the eyes.
"Mimi...I don't want to hear you say that you are useless anymore, do you understand," Hasuma asked softly but firmly. Mimi nodded her head, and Hasuma smiled at her. She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and gave it to Mimi. Mimi giggled slightly and took it to wipe her face. "Mimi." Mimi looked at Hasuma and found her with a serious expression on her face. "I..." She hesitated. "I mean, if you really don't think you want to..."
"I'll do it," Mimi said firmly.
"But..."
Mimi smiled and patted Hasuma on the head. "Now who is the one that sounds doubtful?"
"I am always doubtful about this mission," Hasuma said seriously. "It is your determination that I don't doubt."
"Then you should know my answer will always be the same," Mimi said softly.
"I know," Hasuma said softly. For a while they sat there in silence. During their silence, Matt was wondering what was going on. Somehow, their conversation had become a blur to him. He wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. And from the frown appearing on TK's face, he has no idea what they were talking about too.
"Thanks Hasuma," said Mimi. "Thanks for listening to me. You've always been there for me. I don't know how to thank you."
"Hey, that is what a guardian is for," Hasuma teased her. Mimi smiled and stood up.
"I think I better get back to my position." As she walked away, Hasuma called out to her.
"I think I know why Yamato makes you feel so unworthy," said Hasuma. Mimi turned around and a frown appeared on her face. "I've noticed recently he have been over-protective of you. In fact, he was so protective of you that he made you feel useless. For example, instead of doing what the other teams are doing, Matt have never allowed you to push the motorcycle during the journey." Matt stiffened in his sleeping bag when he realized the truth in it. "I make you feel weak and because of this reason, you refused to have him as your partner for tonight's watch, right?"
The fire flickered in the night as Mimi stood motionless near it with a thoughtful expression on her face. She slowly nodded her head.
"Yes," she said firmly.
Hasuma smiled and turned to glare at Matt. Somehow Matt knew she was doing that and his body became more ridged than ever. "Well, I guess someone got to learn you are not as weak as they think you are. And if that person had been awake during most of our journey, he should have noticed your ability a long time ago. That is...unless he is blind." Hasuma coughed when TK muffled the laughter that was threatening to erupt from him. Matt scowled in anger and shifted in his sleep. He stifled the surge of annoyance washing over him when he heard Hasuma's insults. Hasuma was amazed Mimi didn't notice any of these. She waved her hand in one careless movement and shrugged her shoulder. "I think you have to worry that much about it, because I don't think he is that blind. I think he will learn from this lesson."
Mimi looked at her with a puzzle look and when Hasuma told her not to worry about it again, Mimi smiled and nodded her head. "Alright."
"Anyways, go to sleep," said Hasuma. "I don't think I can sleep for tonight. I got a feeling you will need all of the strength you have for tomorrow journey." When Mimi looked at her with confusion written all over her face again, Hasuma just told her firmly to go to sleep. Mimi slightly shrugged her shoulders and walked up to her sleeping bag.
"Good night," she called out to Hasuma, when she was all tuck in. Hasuma waved her hand to acknowledge her, and Mimi closed her eyes. Darkness easily consumed her and she slept peacefully for the rest of the night. Noticing that Mimi was asleep, Hasuma walked up to Yamato and crouched next to him. He opened his eyes and looked up at her.
"What," he challenged.
"If you want Mimi to hate you, I will suggest you to continue on with your tactic."
Matt smirked and closed his eyes. "Good." With that said, Hasuma stood up her position and walked up to the campfire. She tossed one of the woods into the dying fire. The fire eagerly reached out for it and consumed it. She yawned and stretched herself.
"It's going to be a long night," she thought to herself.
******
Astonishment was the only word Mimi could use to describe her feeling when Yamato suddenly handed over the motorcycle to her in the mid-morning.
"I'm tired." That was all he said to her, before he walked away. As to substitute his absence, Hasuma swooped right into the empty space and simply told Mimi she told Matt about the problem, before she walked back to her old position, leaving Mimi all by herself. Early on, in the morning, Mimi had apologize to Yamato and for some reason, which escaped her ability to comprehend, he seem offended when she apologize to him. Now that Hasuma informed Mimi about her conversation with Matt, Mimi finally understood Matt's behavior.
Tugging the motorcycle in silence, Mimi watched Matt's back as they walk. Whether he felt her eyes on him or not, he did not acknowledge it. However, his back somehow seemed stiffer than it usually was. He did not quicken his pace nor did he slow it down. It didn't took long for Mimi to realized he was still keeping a close distance between them, so he could rush to her when she is in any bit of a danger. For a moment there, she felt a surge of frustration but she quickly smite it down when she realized Matt was just following his duty. So when Matt turned around to look at her, she gave him a smile, which surprised him a whole lot.
"Now what," he thought to himself as he continued to walk.
After walking for two more hours, they finally settled down for a short rest when Cody told them he was tired. Although it was a short rest for them, Tai and Davis still went to find some woods for them to keep their warmth. Shivering in the cold, the others waited patiently for Tai and Davis to return. In a minute, they returned back to the campfire with two bundles of wood. Tai plopped them on the floor and Davis quickly tossed a fireball at it. The woods burst into flame and everyone gathered over there to enjoy the inviting heat. Hasuma took out a canteen of hot water from her supply and handed it around the circle.
When Davis was taking his share of the drink, he noticed something gold gleaming at the edge of the tree he was sitting next to. Without looking, he tossed the canteen to Yolie, who managed to catch it in time, and walked up to the object he had spotted. He bent downward and picked it up. To his surprise, it was an ancient golden pocket watch. A golden chain dangled from the dirty surface of the cover of the watch. Standing up from his position, Davis slightly ran his hand over the cool surface and brushed away some of the dirt. A beautiful image of the goddess praying was engraved on the surface of the circular cover of the watch. With his new discovery in his hand, Davis quickly walked back to the circle and sat back down.
"Hey," he called out to them. "Look what I found." He stuck out his hand to them and they all peered at the golden watch within his hand.
"Hmph...probably left by one of the travelers over here," said Izzy, while sipping the hot water in his hand.
When Davis noticed the unenthusiastic expression on their faces, he withdrew his hand and look at the golden watch. Touching the clasp located on the bottom of the watch, the watch sprang opened to reveal the face of the watch and a picture of the man, which this watch once belonged to. The man in the photo had a serious expression on his face. Although his expression was hard, his kindness could be shown in his dark brown eyes. His short black hair was comb neatly to the side. A neatly trimmed beard decorated the boarder of the lower portion of his face. Although he was reaching to his late middle age, his handsome features were not blemished by age.
"I wonder who he is," said Davis. He turned to show it to Yolie. A sharp gasp came from her direction, and before Davis knew it, she snatched the pocket watch from his hand and held it to her eyes. "What the..." Davis didn't have a chance to finish his word when Yolie tossed the watch to Hasuma and looked at her eagerly.
"Hasuma," she said with excitement. "That's our master!" Hasuma looked startled for a moment, before she took the watch that had landed on her lap, and looked at it. The canteen slipped from her grasp when she peered at the photo with great intensity.
"Master," Hasuma whispered. She closed her eyes and stood up. "He had this with him when I last saw him. It was with him before he disappeared."
"Do you think he is around here," asked Mimi.
"I don't know," Hasuma answered.
"And I don't know either," said Yolie. "He just told me to take care of Mimi, before he disappeared."
"Why don't we try to look for him," Kari suggested. "We might be able to find him here."
"I am not going to search an entire forest just because of a stupid watch over here," Matt said firmly. "Look at it! It is cover with dirt. Who knows how long it has been here. If you want to search for your master, you better do it after the mission, because I am not interested in it."
"Ooookay," Tai said, while watching Yolie, Hasuma, Sora, Kari, and Mimi's angry faces. "Matt," he hissed to him. "Can't you put it in a more nicer way?"
"Don't have time to waste on courtesy," Matt snapped back.
"That was so cold of you, Yamato," Sora said bitterly.
"Not the first time someone told me that," Matt replied.
"But he is right," Hasuma said softly. Astonishment flashed in people's faces when they heard her words. "He had disappeared for ten years. We don't know how long this watch had been lying there. It might have been lying there for three years or more. He might not even been here. It will be stupid of us if we went and search for him without any other clues," she said in defeat. "And besides, this is not the best place to do a search for him. With all these traps, including the hard weather and our current condition, the percentage of us safely finding him would be slim."
"Right," said Yolie. She squared up her shoulders and determination flashed in her eyes. "And beside, our master told Hasuma and me to take care of Mimi. We can't back up on his words. Once this mission is over, I will certainly make it my duty to find him."
"Alright already," said Matt as he stood up. He kicked some of the dirt into the fire and headed toward his motorcycle. "Enough speeches made. It's time we get moving."
"I guess you're right," Izzy sighed. Cody lifted one hand and an extended in front of him. The ground beside him shook slightly, before the ground under Cody's extended hand rose up to mid air. Cody pointed his index finger to the fire and the dirt flew toward there. Closing his hand in a fist, the dirt fell down on the fire, extinguishing it. With that done, the others rose from the ground to continue on with their journey. For the next two hours, they tugged along silently. Sometime Izzy would stop for a moment to check their location. On the third hour, the group was suddenly pulled to a halt when Izzy cursed out loud.
"What the heck is going on," Izzy growled, while staring at his laptop. The others were resting in the middle of the road, waiting for him to tell them where to go. "The radar is going nuts. I can't even find where our location is."
"Why is that," asked Joe.
"I don't know," said Izzy, while staring at the fuzzy image on the screen. "The battery is full and all of the other programs are working. Why the heck is our tracking device going haywire?"
"When did it start acting like this," asked Tai.
"He won't know because he fell asleep," Joe answered dryly. Izzy blushed. "He has been sleeping for the last hour. He only woke up when the laptop started to beep."
"Yeah...and the next thing I knew, the tracking device went haywire," Izzy complained. "And the main thing is that, I don't know why!!!"
"Great...this is great," Matt said in frustration. "Now we are definitely lost." He slapped the seat sharply, causing Mimi to jump. "Sorry," he whispered to Mimi and placed his hand over her hand. Her gaze immediately snapped toward him but he turned his head away.
"So what do we do now," Cody asked quietly.
"I don't know," said Izzy.
"Man...without your laptop, you're pretty useless," teased Davis.
"Shut up!"
"Maybe we should back up," Hasuma suggested. "Since Izzy fell asleep a hour ago, we might be on the wrong track the whole time."
"That's right," Tai sighed. "We better go back." He turned his motorcycle and helped Sora onto the seat. She sat on it tiredly and leaned on him. A few of them grunted in displeasure, but they kept their silence. Fifteen minutes later, Izzy pulled them back to an erupted stop.
"Now what," Matt growled.
"The tracking devise is working now," Izzy exclaimed.
"You've managed to fix it," asked Kari.
"Nope," said Izzy. "It just started to work by itself."
"That's weird," wondered TK. "Anyways...where are we now, Izzy?"
"Hmmm." Izzy stared at his computer and pointed his finger at the direction they have just appeared from. "We should reach Zelphir through here."
"Argh!!! We were going at the right direction," scowled Ken.
"No use complaining," Yolie grumbled. She shifted the motorcycle in her hands. "We better get..." She spared Davis a look of surprise when he took the motorcycle from her tired hand and pushed it. "...moving."
"Yeah," said TK. "I don't want to stay here longer than we need to." Everyone quickly turned their motorcycles toward the path they have just left and started to walk down the road. They have not taken ten steps when Izzy cursed out loud.
"What the heck! The tracking device went haywire again!"
"Not again," Joe groaned in frustration. "Damn it! Your invention is very reliable, Izzy!"
"I don't think it is Izzy's fault," Hasuma said slowly.
"Me too," Tai agreed, while he stared at Izzy's laptop intently. He extended his hand to Izzy. "Give me your laptop, Izzy." Izzy silently handed it over, but not before he gave Tai a questioning look. Tai took the laptop in his hand and started to walk back to the spot they have stop a moment ago. He paused there for a moment before he walked back to them. Mimi looked at Hasuma, but she only stared at Tai as he walked back and forth between their group and back to that vacant area. "Just as I thought," said Tai as he approached back to them. "There is nothing wrong with the laptop."
"Let me guess," said Yolie. "There is a barrier around this area that prevents any tracking devise to work properly."
"I think you are right," Tai replied.
"What," Yolie exclaimed. "I was just joking," she told him in disbelief.
"Believe it or not, your guess is really accurate," said Hasuma.
"If that is the case," said Mimi. "Someone definitely doesn't want this place to be found."
"I think the other questions will be why they don't want this place to be found," added Ken. "And who put up this barrier?"
"Like heck we know," said Matt. "All I just want to know is how do we get Zelphir when the tracking devise is dying every single second."
"I guess we all just have to walk straight," TK said as he leaned back on a tree. However, he missed and fell backward on the grassy ground. Kari shook her head and reached downward to pull him up. As she pulled him up, she saw a glint flashing from a distance. Noticing Kari's distraction, TK stood up quickly and followed her glance. "What was that?"
"I don't know," said Kari. She turned to the rest of the team and waved them toward her. "Look," she pointed out toward the shinning object. "What do you think is over there?"
"I don't know," said Joe as he stared down at the grassy ground. "But I don't want to know what this device do," he said in scared tone. They all looked down and were shocked to find out that TK have stumbled over one of the old trap. Before they could all scrambled away, Mimi peered at it and bent downward.
"Priestess," shouted Matt when he noticed Mimi was not beside him. He growled in anger and in fear when he noticed she was crouching near the device. Hasuma was standing protectively over her, but she too was staring at the object. "Priestess!!!" Matt rushed to her and to his surprise, she turned to smile at him with the device in her hand.
"It's deactivate already," said Mimi. She tossed the device in her hand and softly caught it. "It has been deactivated for a long time."
"That's true," Hasuma confirmed.
"Damn it," Yolie said in aspiration. "Now I feel like a fool." She looked down to her waist and blushed when she realized Davis had one of his arms wrap protectively around her. "Uh...would you let me go now?"
Davis looked downward and released her like a hot potato. "Damn it," he muttered. "I thought you were Kari." Somehow that comment really infuriated Yolie, and the next thing everyone knew, Davis was crouching behind the motorcycle while Yolie gave him a deadly glare.
"YOU PERVERT!!!!!!"
TK sighed and shook his head when Davis and Yolie started to warm up on their argument. "Come on, just ignore them," he told the others. They nodded their heads in agreement. "What I am more interested in is that shining object over there."
"Do you think it is a trap," asked Kari.
"I'll go and see," said Mimi. To Matt's horror, Mimi stood up quickly and started to head toward the object. He dashed right after her with Hasuma, Sora, and Tai in toll.
"Damn it priestess," growled Matt when he caught up to her. He grabbed her left wrist and pulled her next to him. "Don't you understand the meaning of danger."
"Of course I do, Yamato" Mimi answered. "I looked at the surrounding before I walked in here. Uhm...I can take care of myself, Yamato, so you don't have to worry." Matt stared at her for a moment. He felt confuse and frustrate when he stare at her innocent face. Matt released her hand and turned to glare at Sora, Tai, and Hasuma, who were watching this scene with interest.
"What," he snapped at them. They quickly shook their heads and muttered nothing. When he turned back to look at Mimi, she was already walking toward the shinning object. Suppressing an urge of panic that rose within him, he stomped angrily right after her. "I'm going to kill her one day," he thought to himself. Why the heck was he so worried about her? He doesn't know, and it frustrates him when he couldn't come up with the answer.
When they finally reached to the area, Mimi gasped at the sight. Matt, who was rudely snapped out of his thought, swiftly put his body in front of her to shield her from any harm. When he noticed what have startled her, he growled and glared at Mimi. "You got scared over this thing!"
"I was just surprise," Mimi said quietly.
"Sheesh Matt," said Tai as he, Sora, and Hasuma approached them. "What happen to you? You're so moody." Matt clenched his teeth but he didn't snapped back at Tai.
"Oh goddess," said Sora as she stared at the skeleton they found. She bent downward to observe the human skeleton that was lying there. His clothes were torn and he lay there like he was asleep. Grasses grew around him, indicating it has been there for a long time. His hands were propped up on his chest. Sora pointed at the ring that was dangling on one of the finger. "I guess this was the shinning object."
Hasuma peered at it and gasped. "MASTER!!!" She bent downward and looked at the ring. Although it was not that different from other rings except for the dragon that was engraved on its surface, Hasuma recognized it immediately. However, as she bent downward to look at it, she didn't recognized the little blue stones that are embedded in the ring to represent the dragon's eyes in the carving. To make sure it belongs to her master, she gently pulled the ring off the skeleton's finger and looked at the inner side of it. Tears fell down her face when she read out the word. "Tokiyoma Daijou." The grass behind them rustled when Yolie came bursting out of the wood. She stared at the scene in front of her in shock. Her eyes landed on the skeleton and on Hasuma's face.
"Is..is it true," she whispered. She slowly walked toward Hasuma and crouched downward. Her heart clutched in fear when Hasuma nodded her head. Without a word, she threw her arms around Hasuma. Unable to cry, she held on to Hasuma tightly. By the time she was done, everyone was gathered around them. Mimi placed her hand on Hasuma and Yolie's shoulder to comfort them.
"We have to perform a proper burial," Hasuma said softly as she pulled Yolie away from her. She stood up and respectfully bent downward to her master. Yolie stood up slowly and paid her respect to her master too. Ken stood beside her and patted her on the shoulder.
"But before we do that, let's check what killed him," said Tai. He bent downward and frowned. "Can't tell much from a skeleton. Joe, can you tell what happen to him?"
Joe bent downward to look at the skeleton. "No limbs are missing," he told them.
"We know that," Matt said in dismay.
Joe lightly pealed off the clothing and to his surprise, a journal fell down from the inside pocket of the coat that the skeleton wore. He picked it up and handed it over to Hasuma. "Maybe this will serve as a clue." He inclined his head toward the body. "It will take a while to discover the real reason behind his death."
"I understand," said Hasuma. She opened the journal and glanced through it. While she was looking at it, Izzy was looking over Daijou's ring. No one paid attention to him as he stared at the ring and back at his laptop. He moved the ring back and forth from his laptop and nodded his head. Izzy sat down on the ground and started to type rapidly on his laptop. He took out a wire and attached it to the ring.
"What does the journal say," asked Yolie. Hasuma silently handed it over to Yolie. Her face was pale. Yolie took the book with confusion all over her face. She opened the journal and turned to the page Hasuma was reading. Yolie shook in surprise and the book fell out of her hand. The pages fluttered on the ground as she stood there in shock. "Xatha," she whispered.
"What," shouted Izzy. His head shot up from the screen he was staring at and stood up abruptly. He cursed slightly when he noticed his laptop accidentally slipped off of his lap. He scrambled to gather it and check it, but he still spare some glances at Yolie. "Did you say Xatha? Xatha, the forgotten city?"
"But...but that city doesn't exist," stammered Joe.
"It does exist," Yolie muttered. "Our master mention it once to me."
"And Mimi's weapon came from that area," Izzy primped.
"What," Mimi exclaimed. "How do you know?"
Izzy nervously glance at Hasuma but she shrugged her shoulder. "Err...she told me." When she noticed the questioning look on everyone's face, she sighed and spent the next few minutes telling them about her conversation with Izzy.
"If that is the case," started Ken, once Hasuma have finished her storytelling. "Then Xatha really did exist and your master is the only one who knew where it is located at." He turned to Yolie, who was holding the journal. "Did he mention anything about where it is located at?"
"Hmmm." Yolie flipped open the pages. "Nope. The only thing he said was he was going to find Xatha again." She pointed at the journal and read it out loud. "I wonder how those two are doing? Hasuma...my oldest student. I have entrusted her with a huge burden, but it is nothing compare to the burden that priestess Mimi is carrying. Sometime when I look at her young face, I can't help but feel guilty. Despised by others and turned away from civilization because she was not given a digimon symbol. But she is strong...stronger than most people I know. I know she will be able to help the priestess accomplish her goal." Yolie looked at Hasuma while she was staring at the ground. "Yolie...my second student. Ah...such sprit. Such will to live. I've never seen that much fire in a person's eye. Shhh..." Yolie pulled the journal away from her and started to choke. Her shoulders trembled but no tears fell down from her face. Davis softly took the journal from her and continued from where she left off.
"She would grow up to be a great warrior...no...a great leader. I am so proud of those two. But...alas, I have to go on this journey. I hope those two understand." Davis flipped over to the next page. "I left them without any word. Ah...I am getting old. Really old. So old that every time I stop, I reminisce about them. But right now, I have something more important to worry about. Xatha...the forgotten city." Everyone perked up when they heard the name. "I must see it one more time. It must be protected, so none of its important information will be destroyed. If only everyone in this world is willing to face the scars they have created. So many people are corrupted and so many people are willing to sacrifice anything just to hide their error. If only I can invent something that can protect Xatha from those kind of people and let only those who are willing to accept their past into the city. But...not everyone can handle the truth. I know...I can't. That is why I can't follow his dream. I can only trust Hasuma and Yolie with the burden I can't carry. Once I am done over here, I will tell them the truth. I know they have a stronger will then I do. They will be able to show the world what I am not able to do." Davis flipped open the next page and shook his head. He then closed it. "That's it."
"What do you think he mean when he said the 'truth.' What truth," Cody asked.
"I don't know," said Yolie, her voice regained back its steadiness.
"Neither do I," Hasuma said solemnly.
"We know that," said Joe. "Because your master said he was going to tell you once he got back. Obviously, he didn't finished what he came here to do. Or maybe he did, but he died along the way back here."
"He also said that he want you two to spread the truth about our past," said Davis. "I wonder what did he mean."
"Something that will affect our politics," said Izzy. "Isn't that what you told me, Hasuma?" She nodded her head. He smiled and shifted the laptop in his hand. "What it is...we don't know, but I do know it got to be something really important."
"Why don't you state the obvious," said Matt dryly.
"I am," said Izzy, missing the sarcasm in Matt's tone. "Now here is where the exciting part is. I think I know where Xatha is located at." To his pleasure, they reacted like what he expected them to react. Gaping at him in disbelief, Izzy picked up Daijou's ring and showed it to him. He placed it close to his computer. "When I came here, I noticed the tracking devise was going more ballistic than every. I was trying to find the source that caused the disturbance and due to my intellect..."
"It was that ring," Tai finished it for him.
"Preciously." He dropped the ring into Yolie's hand. "The ring your master wore was actually distributing a wave that disturbed the tracking device I have. So, during the time you were talking, I took the ring and started to run a check on my laptop. I was trying to find the same wave pattern the ring was emitting. After the third scan, I finally found the right pattern. And..." He turned his laptop around and shown them the screen. He placed one of his fingers at the dot, shown on the screen. "Look. This place is also emitting the same wave pattern. If I am not mistaken, your master must have converted the wave pattern of the barrier protecting Xatha into this ring. He used this ring to find Xatha."
"Is that so," Kari said in awe.
"I think that must be it," said Izzy. "Now that I have the wave pattern inputted in my laptop, I am sure we can find it."
"Good," said Matt. "Now let's get moving to Zelphir. You can go and explore Xatha when our mission is over."
"Actually, I think it would be best if we go there first," said Izzy. "Uhm...you see, we might find some supply if we are over there. And...well, to tell you the truth. By converting the laptop wavelength to the same wavelength as the ring, I basically...err..."
"Spit it out," Matt growled.
"I used all of the energy stored to form the barrier," Izzy confessed. "It takes time to recharge it until I am able to convert it back to the old wavelength. And...well, this might take me days to do it."
"Does that mean that we also won't be able to formulate any barrier to protect us," asked Tai.
"Uhm...exactly," Izzy admitted. He cringed when groans escaped from his teammate's mouths.
"We're doom," cried Davis.
"What make you do such a stupid thing like that," scolded Joe.
"Curiosity," Izzy meekly answered. "Well...look at the bright side. We get to see Xatha."
"That is, if we don't run into any traps before we reach there," Kari reminded him.
"And not get blow up while we are at it," TK added.
"Come on," said Izzy as he strolled back to the motorcycles. "Why are all of you so pessimistic?"
"Because the situation seems fairly bleak to me," Sora answered him back. "We are surrounded by traps and there is no way to track them. Also...I am sure that Xatha would be surrounded by traps."
"That's true," said Mimi. "If I am correct, these traps must be made to protect Xatha. So, it is safe to assume Xatha will be surrounded by these traps."
"But as long as we keep our eyes open, I am sure we can avoid those traps," said Tai.
"But don't you think we should head for Zelphir instead," asked Kari. "Wouldn't it be safer."
"Can't do that," growled Matt. "Because the laptop is not set to detect the wavelength of Zelphir's barrier. At this rate, we don't even know where it is located."
"That's true," said Ken.
"Hmph. I came here to fulfill the mission," said Matt. "Not to go hunting for lost city."
"Actually, your duty was to protect the priestess and help her accomplish her mission," Tai pointed out. "Uhm...Mimi, do you want to go to Xatha?"
Mimi looked at Matt and then at Yolie and Hasuma. "Since we have to wait until the laptop can be fully recharge, I don't see any harm in going to Xatha. I mean, we can find something in there." She turned to Matt and touched him on his arm. "Can we go there, Yamato?"
Matt stared at her for a moment. His facial expression flashed from anger, shock, bemusement, and finally reverted back to his cool exterior. "What ever you say, priestess."
"Thank you."
"Then I guess that is it," said Tai. He formulated a fireball in his hand. "Hasuma. Yolie?" They looked at him and nodded their heads. Tai gave a small bow to Daijou and waited patiently when Hasuma, Yolie, and Mimi went to gather some woods. They placed them carefully around the remains of Daijou and when they were done, Tai tossed the fireball at it. The wood immediately engulfed in flame. Silently, they watched the burning, while Mimi stood before them. Her hands were placed over one another with her palms faced upward. She slowly brought her hands straight outward to the fire and bent her head downward.
"May you find peace," she prayed. Mimi slowly sank down to her knee and lowered her hand to her laps. Her head was still bent downward. No words escaped from her mouth, even though she was moving her lips. Her silent prayers could only be heard by the dead soul. While they stood by the burning burial, Izzy gently tugged the diary from Yolie's hand and slipped into the back of the group. By the time the ritual was over, nighttime fell upon them. Yolie never did notice Izzy took her diary during the ritual because he slipped back next to her feet when the group started to move away from the dying fire. Tai ordered Matt, who was reluctant, to go with Joe and Davis to find some woods. Meanwhile, Mimi, Hasuma, and Yolie gathered Daijou's ashes and placed them into an ivory container. Sora, Ken, Kari, and TK were left to cook the dinner, while Tai and Izzy discussed about tomorrow's journey. After dinner, Tai and Matt volunteered for the night watch. Like the nights they have spent in this forest, everyone, beside Matt and Tai, slept peacefully.
On the next morning, Izzy told them all it will take them a whole day to reach to Xatha. "We should make it there by night fall." He lifted his laptop on the seat of the motorcycle and started to push it. "Come on. Hurry up!" The other tugged along. None of them tried to talk to Hasuma or Yolie. Even Davis managed to prevent himself from provoking Yolie. He even slammed his mouth shut when Yolie accidentally pushed the motorcycle over his foot. Mimi gave one look at Matt and he slowly took the motorcycle from her hand. He slightly nodded his head and she smiled at him before she walked toward Hasuma. Unable to find any words to comfort her, Mimi just strolled beside her.
"I'm fine," Hasuma solemnly told her.
"Let me stay."
When she didn't say anything, Mimi continued to stroll right behind her. Although she didn't spare her a glance, Mimi knew she was grateful for her presence, and she expressed her gratitude after a few steps. She spoke the words softly but the wind helped carry her voice to Mimi. "Thank you." Mimi lifted her head to stare at Hasuma's back. She beamed. Matt didn't turn his head toward her direction but he did continued to watch her with the corner of his eyes. Sometime he will glance at TK's direction and caught him briefly kissing Kari's hand to reassure her. Kari's eyes often roamed toward Hasuma and Yolie. She dropped her gaze when Yolie caught her looking.
"What," Yolie commanded. Kari opened her mouth to say something but shut it when Yolie turned her attention to Davis when he ran smacked right into her. Blinking innocently, Davis received the full load of Yolie's anger. The others just continued on the road, leaving the both of them behind. Only Ken and Kari tried to stop them. But when Kari tried to walk to them, TK briskly slipped his arm around her waist and softly told her to let Davis handle it. Ken opened his mouth and tried to sooth Yolie's anger, but a glare from her cause him to shut it and walked out of there as fast as he could. Once Yolie's yelling started to wind down, Davis cleared his throat and placed one of his hands on her shoulder.
"Feel better," he asked her. Yolie glared at him. She wheezed slightly and breathed deeply. A smile slowly appeared on her face.
"Better," she smiled at him. He patted her on the shoulder and took the motorcycle right under her hand. Yolie stared at him and it took her a moment to realize that Davis was waiting for her to sit on top of the motorcycle. "Davis," she whispered his name as she sat down on it. All of her affection and gratitude for him immediately plumaged down the cliff when he released his hold on the motorcycle, causing her to tumble off of it and landed on the ground. By the time she got over this initial shock, Davis was already pushing the motorcycle away in a happy run. Once, he turned back to look at her and laughed.
"Come on Ogermon," said Davis, before he broke into a run.
"DAVIS!!!!!" The birds in the trees were rudely awakened from their sleep when Yolie's voice boomed through the silent forest. The others sighed and savored the peace they currently have. In a second, Davis came running toward them, screaming from the top of his lung. Yolie was closed behind him, with her rod dangerously posed to strike him. Their antic forced Mimi ("Yolie...please stop this!") and Izzy ("Watch out! Don't smash my motorcycle!") to desperately chase after them. Joe stared at Izzy and felt amazed he even left his laptop unguarded. Their antic managed to elicit a smile from Hasuma's face. With the smile on her face and Yolie's outburst, the solemn mood surrounding the group was lifted.
"Can't stay gloomy while we are still on this mission," Hasuma told Tai when he looked at her. Davis yelped right beside them when Yolie's rod barely missed his head. Matt kept his cool exterior and it only faltered when Mimi tripped on a rock and fell down on the ground. Growling with concern, Matt rudely picked her up and plopped her on their motorcycle seat. Ashamed, Mimi didn't refuse his order when he coldly told her to sit there. Joe spent a few minutes causing havoc for Izzy by constantly reminding him his laptop was tipping over. Split between worrying about Davis and Yolie's motorcycle and his laptop, Izzy always paused for a moment before he rushed back to his laptop and placed it safely back on the platform he had connected on the seat. Very often, Izzy would spare enough time to direct an icy glare to Joe before rushing back to Davis and Yolie. One time, Cody asked Joe why couldn't he pushed the laptop back to the platform when Joe called out for Izzy again.
"What? And miss out on all the fun," Joe asked Cody in disbelief. Cody shook his head and Ken chucked.
When they finally settle down to eat their lunch, Izzy plopped down on the dirt road and clutched his stomach in pain. He glared at Yolie, who immediately apologized to him again. TK growled at Davis and promptly dropped Davis motorcycle right in front of Davis's feet. During the chase, Davis used the time that Yolie was apologizing to Izzy for accidentally striking him on the stomach to dump the motorcycle into TK's hands. With a brief 'thank you' Davis just left the astonished TK standing there, staring at the load he suddenly gained.
Davis rubbed the bump on his head gently and gratefully thanked TK for his aid. TK just waved his hand to acknowledge his gratitude, before he turned his back on Davis and headed toward Kari. He gently took the motorcycle from Kari and helped her placed it with the other motorcycle. Kari thanked him and plopped down on the ground, exhausted from today's excursion. Ken, Mimi, and Sora immediately started to cook their lunch when Tai ignited a fire for them. Halfway through their cooking, the woods they gathered for the fire began to diminish. Yolie and Hasuma hastily volunteered to gather some more woods and disappeared into the thick foliage of the forest. They others waited patiently for them to return but fear started to befall upon them when they were gone for more than an hour. Davis was pacing around impatiently and Cody was poking on the dying flame, when Yolie came bursting out of the wood. She panted and eagerly took the glass of water Sora handed to her. Her eyes flashed with excitement and pointed her finger toward the place where she just left.
"We...we..f..ff..," Yolie swallowed and took a deep breath. Cody tried to tell her to take it slow but she shook her head violently. "We've found Xatha!" Her outburst gained its wanted effect. Ken and Kari immediately dropped the pans they were holding. The glass cup in Sora's hand slipped down to the dirt floor and shattered as she stood there in shock. Matt abruptly stood up and stared at Yolie in disbelief. But the person that was highly affected with her word was Izzy. He stood there gapping at her and quickly grabbed his laptop. He peered at it in disbelief.
"It can't be," stammered Izzy. He pointed his finger at the direction, opposite from where Yolie was pointing. "The radar indicates Xatha is located at that direction, instead."
"Do I look like I am lying," Yolie questioned him indignantly.
"But...but the radar," Izzy exclaimed.
"Hasuma is staying there." Yolie turned her back toward the forest. "She just told me to run over here and tell you guys about it. And beside, your invention has been going haywire for these past few days. It might not be working properly." Without another word, she just rushed into the forest. Matt just cursed out loud and scrambled to grab his motorcycle. He snatched Mimi by her hand and yanked her off her feet. The others scramble right after her. Joe gave Izzy one sympathetic look when the others left him to take care of Hasuma's motorcycle. Izzy cursed and tugged her motorcycle, while keeping his laptop balanced on the seat. For a while they followed rapidly behind Yolie in silence. The only noise that erupted from the group was the constant mumbling from Izzy. One-third of the way, Izzy abruptly stopped them from their journey.
"What," snapped Matt. He glared at Izzy, who stared at his laptop in disbelief.
"Look," he said in daze. He flipped over to his laptop toward their direction. It didn't took them long to find out what caused Izzy's exclamation. Three blue dots were flashing prominently in the screen. Joe pounced on it and stared at the screen.
"This is nuts! What the heck happened! What are all these dots!"
"That's what I want to know," grumbled Izzy.
"See...I told you your laptop is going haywire," said Yolie.
"Actually, it is not." Matt immediately jumped in front of Mimi and turned to the voice that addressed them. The others also turned abruptly when they heard a voice coming from right behind Yolie. Stepping out of the shadows of the trees, Hasuma frowned and shook her head in dismay. "I can't believe you still can't recognize my voice."
"Forget about that," Izzy rudely interrupted. "I want to understand what you just said."
Hasuma rummaged in one of her coat pocket and took out a small stone. She tossed it to Izzy and to Izzy's amazement, a blue dot appeared on his screen. "I accidentally stumbled upon this stone while I was coming to meet you. I noticed it resembled the stones that are embedded in my master's ring."
Joe took the stone Hasuma just tossed toward Izzy and examined it along with the stone embedded in her master's ring. "They don't look different from any other stones." He passed it back to Izzy.
"That is because you cannot feel the power that is resonating from it," she told him. "When I touched my master's ring, I can feel the powers of the stone resonating. When I found this stone, it was resonating with the same power as the stone on my master's ring."
"Why are you the only one who can feel them," Sora wondered.
"I don't know." Hasuma shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe...it is because I don't have a digimon symbol and my power is more connected with the goddess herself. Maybe these stones were made to protect Xatha by the goddess herself. And...somehow, in this case, I think my guess is correct." She turned back to toward the road she appeared from and waved her hand for them to follow her. Clutching the stone firmly in his hand, Izzy trotted right after her, with the others following close behind. "I believe I once told you Xatha's barrier is similar to the barriers the goddess used to protect our five main cities, am I correct, Izzy?" Izzy nodded his head. "I knew it was exactly the same power because when I stepped into Xatha, I was able to use my powers to its full extent."
"But if that is the case," Izzy doubtfully started. "Then why wasn't I able to detect Xatha when the wavelength of my computer was set on the same wavelength as the barrier from the other cities?"
"That is simple," said Hasuma. "Let me ask you. When two waves that are in different frequency clash together, what happen to them?"
"They combine to form a different wave," Ken answered.
"Correct. This is the same for Xatha's barrier. Normal wavelength formed by radio, noise, or anything made by humans, birds, or animals can't disturb the wavelength of the barrier the goddess has formed. So the barriers from Silic, Guardinia, or other cities are constantly emitting the same wavelength. However..." Hasuma pointed at the stone Izzy was carrying. "If I am correct, I can assume these stones were also created by the goddess. And if I am right, they are scattered around this forest to help hide Xatha. Because these stones are created by the goddess and its function is to form a barrier that distort tracking device, it is safe to assume, in which Izzy have proven to be true, these stones are also emitting a specific wavelength as well. As I said before, normal objects that are emitting waves could not possibly disrupt the wavelength of the barriers created by the goddess." She turned to take the stone from Izzy's hand. "However, these stones can. Therefore, I assume they are made by the goddess herself."
Izzy nodded his head. "I am getting the drift, but isn't it curious I am able to emit the same wavelength as the barrier and these stones from my laptop? If I put these wavelength to the goddess's barrier, would I be able to disrupt it?"
"Not exactly," said Hasuma. "You see, the barrier you created from the goddess power is similar but yet different. It is weaker than the power being emitted by the barriers the goddess created."
"That is true," Davis said thoughtfully. "If Izzy's barrier were as strong as the goddess barrier, those Majis would have attacked the cities a long time ago. Why? Because their energy balls were able to pass through Izzy's barrier. The indication they didn't eliminated the human race yet is a demonstration that the barriers surrounding the cities are stronger." He scratched his head. "But in that case, why are you able to use your power to the fullest potential when you are within Izzy's barrier?"
"I don't know," Hasuma said frankly. "When I am in Izzy's barrier, I felt the same kind of power flow I receive when I am within the defended cities. Maybe they are synchronized with the same wavelength but one is weaker and one is stronger. Or..."
"Maybe the goddess is somehow allowing this to happen," Mimi whispered. They all paused to stare at her. "Maybe she is lending us her power." Hasuma slowly turned back to her path and continued to walk down it.
"Maybe you are right. But whatever it is, we don't know the exact answer." For a moment, they stopped their conversation due to the thick foliage that surrounded them. Tai took out his sword and started to cut through branches that were blocking him. TK and Davis aided him in the process. Once they have passed that area, they returned back to their conversation.
"But...but I still don't understand what is going on," said Cody.
"Okay...let's get this straight," explained Hasuma. "First of all, do you all know what these small blue stone does?"
Matt snorted. "Of course we know."
"It destroy the tracking device that are within their range," said Joe. He snapped his finger. "Oh...I get it. It is use to prevent people from finding Xatha. Oh wait..." He paused as he thought of something. "If that is the case, they could just do what Izzy did and just adjust their tracking device to the same wave length as the blue stone."
"Yeah," said Hasuma. "And all they would find is the location of the other blue stones that are discarded within this forest. They won't find Xatha because the crystal within Xatha is emitting the same wavelength as the other barriers. But...the main reason why Izzy can't detect it at the beginning, even when he was emitting the same kind of wavelength as Xatha, is because the wavelength Xatha is emitting is distorted by the wavelength emitted by these blue stones." She frowned when she saw their puzzled face. "Don't you guys get it? Okay...this is why Xatha's defense is considered to be the best. The crystal in Xatha is able to prevent Maji's from coming in. The stones outside are able to prevent any tracking device from finding Xatha. But since the stones and the crystal is made by the goddess, they are able to affect each other's wavelength when they hit each other."
"Oh...," Ken exclaimed in awe. "I think I get it. In order to really detect Xatha, you need to combine the wavelength of the crystal and the stones and emit the wavelength that is formed by these two different sources. Am I correct?"
"Correct."
"Why is that," asked Kari.
"It's because the outer most layer of Xatha's barrier is being affected by the blue stones," Joe explained, when he caught on to what they were talking about. "Therefore, the outer most layer is emitting a different wavelength. But the blue stone does not affect the inner portion because the outer layer have blocked out any interference. When the Maji penetrated through the outer layer, they are not able to penetrate the inner layer of Xatha because the inner layer of Xatha is protected by the pure energy of the crystal."
"But how is that possible," asked Davis.
"Remember what Hasuma said," asked Mimi quietly. "She said the wavelength created by the goddess are not affected by normal means. So...in a way, I think it can penetrate through our body with no effect on the frequency of the wavelength. Is that true, Hasuma?" Hasuma shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
"None of us know the truth. This is all speculation."
"But so far, your speculation seems to be sound," said Izzy. He picked up the two tiny blue stones and examined them. "But I wonder, wouldn't the wavelength from these two stones affect each other?"
"Or course it would," said Ken. "They cancel each other effect. If the stones were put in a right distance and if you know the wavelength of the stones, then you can either cause the projection of those wavelength to be cancel or enhanced."
"If that is the case, then there might be a weakness in the design," said Davis. "Because, there might be some area where the waves are canceling each other out."
"There might," agreed Yolie. "But the main question would be, do you know where the weakness is located at. We don't know. It might take forever for us to figure out their location. Ah..." Yolie exclaimed from excitement, when they reached to a clearing. "We are here." She stepped out from the shades of the trees and extended her hand to the ruin city that stood in the middle of the forest. Moss covered the once forgotten city. On the grassy ground laid massive chunks of cements and debris left when the city was destroyed. Izzy glanced at the city in awe. The tall buildings that were so prominent in the old days were shattered and fell down to the ground in waste. "Shall we?" Without waiting for their approval or answers, Yolie strolled toward the city. Immediately, the rest of them followed right after her. When she reached to the edge of the barrier, she suddenly halted and crossed her arms around her chest. Davis and Matt, who wasn't watching her, continued to walk right ahead of her. To their surprise, except Hasuma and Yolie, Davis and Matt, who stepped into the barrier, were immediately thrown out of the barrier by an invisible force. They landed on the grassy ground in a painful thud.
"Hey are you alright," asked Ken as he helped Davis up on his feet. Davis rubbed his head and glared at the barrier standing right before him. Matt brushed the dirt clinging to his shirt and stood up from the ground by himself. He ignored Mimi's hand and TK's question as he tried to savage any dignity he had just lost.
"I swear," said Davis as he approached the barrier again. "That barrier just spit us out like we are some rotten candy or something."
"Maybe you are," teased Joe. He laughed slightly. His laughter was cut short when he saw Matt pointing his gun at him. Waving his hand helplessly in front on him, Joe quickly apologized. However, when Matt put his gun away, Cody could swear he heard Joe muttering right under his breath about the hilarity of the scene.
"Joe! Since when did you start being such a smart ass," asked Davis in anger.
Joe shrugged his shoulders and smirked, earning another deadly glare from Matt. "Learned it all from you guys."
"Damn it! If I ever get my hand..."
"Shut up," snapped Yolie. "There is a main reason why you two were tossed out of there."
"No kidding, Oger..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Yolie immediately whacked him on the top of his head. "You idiot! Finish listening before you start talking! You're always so impulsive! When will you learn..."
"Yolie," whispered Kari. Yolie snapped her attention toward Kari, but found her staring at the barrier in awe. Her finger trembled as she pointed her finger toward the barrier. Yolie turned around and smiled at what they saw. Hovering ten feet right in front of them and within the barrier was a woman. She looked around the age twenty or so. She smiled and glided toward them. Izzy stuttered and even dropped his laptop on to the floor.
"Im...impossible," stuttered Izzy. "A...a..ghost?" He stared at the pale and translucent woman that floated toward them. Her beautiful, long, jet-black hair fluttered right behind her. Dressed in a pale white gown, with no decoration on it, she landed on the ground, right at the edge of the barrier. As she reached her hand toward them, Matt instinctively stood in front of Mimi and took out his gun.
"NO!" Mimi pushed Matt away and made a desperate grab for his gun. Matt could only stared at her in shock and quickly hid his gun before she could hurt herself with it.
"What the heck is the matter with you, priestess," asked Matt. To his dismay and anger, Mimi didn't answer him right away. Instead, she moved away from him and walked slowly and shakily toward the glowing woman. To TK, Matt, Joe, Tai, Izzy, Ken, and Cody's amazement, Mimi fell down on her knee and bowed down to the woman. Kari and Sora immediately followed right after, while the others just looked on.
"Goddess," Mimi shakily addressed the ghostly figure in front of her. "You have awakened from your slumber." The beautiful woman smiled and raised her hand above Mimi's head. For a moment, Matt, Davis, Tai, TK, Cody, Joe, Ken, and Izzy stood there gapping at Mimi's revelation. But after that initial shock faded away, Matt cursed out loud and started the chain of motion. He jammed right in front of Mimi and before she could ask him what was going on, he yanked her up on her feet and pulled out his gun and aimed it at the ghostly figure.
Davis, who was the nearest to Yolie, grabbed her and pulled her in his arm. Her angry screams were muffled by Davis's chest and her hands were waving frantically when Davis securely had his arm wrapped around her two arms and slim waist. Ken stood in front of Yolie to defend her and aimed his gun at the beautiful woman. TK, following Matt's example, pulled Kari on to her feet and pushed her behind him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Tai yanking Sora to her feet and holding her protectively behind him. Cody slipped right next to TK and took out his sword.
"TK," gasped Kari, when she noticed he had unsheathed his sword and was pointing it at the goddess. "Don't do it!"
"Yamato, don't," screamed Mimi. She reached forward for his gun but he pushed her hands away. Joe rushed toward her and forcefully pulled her arms behind her. "Joe!"
"I'm sorry, Mimi," said Joe. "But this is for your safety."
"No...you can't," cried Mimi as she struggled against Joe's grip. "You can't hurt the goddess."
"We aren't going to hurt the goddess," Matt said coldly, without taking his eyes off the ghostly figure in front of him. "But you see...she is not the goddess."
"What," gasped Sora, while trying to push through Tai but with no avail. "What do you mean she is not the goddess! She looks exactly like the statue we have in our shrine main chamber!"
"She looks like it," Izzy said calmly, fiddling with his laptop. "But she is not the goddess, right Hasuma?"
Hasuma smiled at him and nodded her head. "Guess you are the only one that notice."
"Of course," Izzy boasted. "You and Yolie seem so calm about it. Of course nothing can happen. Beside, Yolie said you two have been in there before. I was just a little bit surprise and ashamed to have forgotten Xatha, as a defense mechanism and to trick the digimon, intentionally projected a holograph of the goddess and used that holograph to distract and kill the digimons that appeared at this city."
"EXACTLY!!!" Yolie roughly pushed Davis away from her when Davis's grip around her started to lose its grip. She glared at him and pointed her finger at the holographic projection of the goddess. "Hasuma and I knew it when we saw this projection. And...well, we reacted the same way too. We heard this holographic image is not only use to distract and kill digimons, it also is use for killing off human beings whom opposed the experiments, as well."
"We know that," Matt said dryly. Although the others have lowered their weapons, he still has his gun pointed at the ghostly figure. Joe released his grip on Mimi and she stood there in a daze. Matt took one glance at her and placed his free hand on her shoulder. "What else do you think we reacted like this."
"Alright," murmured Yolie. "I guess I found another one who is impatient." Ken stifled a giggle when he heard what she said, causing Yolie to spare him a smile. "Anyways," she continued. She pointed at the hand of the ghostly figure. "Look at the wrist." Tai and Ken, moved forward and peered at the place Yolie was pointing at. An inch of wire was dangling from it. "That wire is connected to the holographic image. Although this image is only a projection, you can see how far technology have gone in our time to be able to connect a non substance material with a substance material. This wire, as most of you know, is where the people, who were responsible for monitoring the outer walls of Xatha with the goddess, transferred their energy to the holographic image and allowing the holographic image to easily formulate an energy ball to kill their enemy. As you can all see, the wires have been disconnected, so the threat is gone."
"Besides," said Hasuma. "Don't you think the goddess, who had put the barrier at this city, would have gotten rid of this mechanism when she put up this barrier? This kind of sneaky defense does not help with her image."
"If that is the case," said Cody. "Then why is this image still doing here?"
"The goddess actually reprogram it," said Yolie. "Instead of killing off the enemies, this figure is left here to perform a judgment on each of the people who wants to enter Xatha. Without her approval, no one will be able to enter Xatha." She smirked and nudged Davis on the rib. Matt scowled when he saw her grinning at him. "That is why you two were tossed out of there. You haven't got her approval."
"What do we have to do to get her approval," asked Matt, while slipping his gun back into the holster, which was attached to his belt.
"As long as your soul is pure, then you may proceed," answered the ghostly figure. With all of their attention concentrated on their conversation, her statement managed to cause them to jump up in surprise. Smiling serenely at them, she raised her two hands to them, beckoning them to come toward her. Mimi and Matt exchanged a look before they both walked up to her. Hasuma and Yolie quickly followed after, while the others hesitated before they crowded around the barrier. "I will run a scan of you. If the goddess approve of you, you may enter Xatha." Right when she finished her sentence, a yellow circle appeared from the ground. Light emitted from it and burst upward to the sky.
"Out of curiosity," started Izzy. "How can the goddess approve of us if she is sleeping all this time?"
"That is simple," she told him. "She has always been watching you."
"Watching," murmured Kari.
"Us," TK said in awe.
"IMPOSSIBLE," exclaimed Joe. "Come on, we all know she is sleeping in her...whatever place she is living! It is written in the legend!"
"Yes it is," the figure agreed. "But when the goddess say she will go to her eternal sleep, it does not mean she will literally sleep. Instead, she hid herself from this world, waiting for the one to pass the tests she have set for them to arrive to her." She smiled serenely to them. "To all of you, she is asleep. But...for these few hundred years, she have been aiding your race."
"Aiding us? How have she been aiding us," asked Tai.
"Have not she protected your race with her barrier for these past hundred years?"
"Oh...that," said Izzy. "I thought she meant something else." A few of them nodded in agreement.
"But," cried Mimi as she walked forward. She clutched her hands into a fist and looked pleadingly at the lady. "If she is not asleep, why isn't she helping us? Can't she see her children are suffering? Why won't she help us destroy the Maji?!"
"Because, you human, must pay for the sins you have committed. You caused the destruction and you caused the suffering your people are enduring. The goddess will not help you solve this problem until one person can prove herself to be worthy of her help."
"Why not," demanded Yolie. "Come on! The goddess is supposed to be merciful. Why isn't she willing to help?"
"Your goddess is merciful," said the projection. "But nothing will be gain until the chosen one has arrive to her palace and passed her test."
"What do you mean by that," asked Hasuma.
"You shall see." With a wave of her hand, the yellow glowing circle surrounding them immediately disappeared. She nodded her head and bowed to them. "The goddess have approve of your entrance." Before they could say anything, she disappeared into thin air.
"Damn it," cursed Matt. "There is still something I want to know from her."
"Me too," said Izzy. "Me too. But...there is nothing we can do about it. No use sitting around here and do nothing. So..." He bent downward and grabbed his laptop from the floor. "We better go in. Oh yeah..." He waved his hand to Joe. "Take the motorcycle in will you, Joe." Before Joe can uttered any complain, Izzy already disappeared into the barrier. The others went to retrieve their motorcycle, while their respective partner entered the barrier. For a moment there, Mimi stood there, staring down at the floor. She only moved and followed them into the barrier when Matt tapped her softly on her shoulder.
"I'm find," she told him when he asked her was she all right. She smiled slightly at him.
Matt frowned when he saw her smile. "Damn it," he thought to himself as he watched her enter the barrier. "She is acting again. I don't want to see her smiling at me if she didn't mean it." That thought caught him off guard and to his dismay, he can't quite figure out why it bothered him so much. He shrugged his shoulders and entered the barrier, right after everyone. "Hmph...not my problem."
Once they were all in there, they stared at each other for a moment before they proceeded toward the ruin wall that served as a gate for Xatha in the old days. The walls have been known to secure Xatha from many attacks attempted by the digimon and was believed to be invisible by their creators, now laid in ruins. Its ivory color was covered with soot. Piles of rubbles of its remain, laid carelessly around the ground. The metal gate connecting the two sides of the wall, was bent out of shape. Only one side of the gate remained standing. As they pass through the gate, a voice called out to them. Although they were not able to see who addressed them, they knew that voice belonged to the holographic image they just met.
"Maybe by talking to him, you might know why the goddess choose to act this way."
"Huh," asked Cody. "What do you mean? And who is him?" The empty air echoed his questions but no answers were given to him. The projection had performed her duty and was gone after giving them this last clue.
"Damn it," said Izzy before Matt could say anything else. Matt glared at Izzy and coolly told Izzy he had stolen his line. "Then get a new one," Izzy snapped back. "Right now, I want to know what did she mean by 'him.' I also want to know what your master mean by the 'truth.' And I also want to know what cause the goddess to act like that."
"The legend said," started Davis.
"Forget the legend," snapped Izzy. "There got to be another reason why the goddess is reacting like this. If there isn't, then the projection will not have given us that last clue in the first place."
"Izzy, is right," said Ken. He laughed slightly and patted Izzy on the back. "But I don't think we should worry about it. I think we will be able to fine our answer in here."
"That's right," said Tai. "But at this rate, we might not find anything." He scanned his surrounding and grimaced. Bleak. It was the only word he could use to describe this place. Covered in dust and ruins laying everywhere, it did not look good. At some area, he could see the remains of a burned down building. The charred tiles and rubbles lay next to it. Sora clutched his arm and pointed her finger toward a pile of rubble that laid to her right. Next to it, laid the skull of a human skeleton.
"Oh boy," said Davis, as they walked slowly ahead. As they proceeded into the city, piles of remaining skeleton of human and Maji's laid on the floor. Blood stains from the past still lingered on the ruins they have passed. The cold air and dark clouded sky did not work to ease their anxiety. "This place is creepy."
"I know what you mean," Yolie murmured. "That was why I went to find you guys." She shivered slightly. "This place gives me the creep."
"Yeah," Hasuma agreed. She glared at Yolie and shook her head. "And you left me here by myself! You ran out of here before I can say anything."
"I did told you I was going to bring them here," Yolie answered meekly.
"Yeah, and hightail out of here faster than a speeding energy ball," Hasuma retorted. She then playfully teased the rest of the boys. "And why weren't anyone of you protecting me when you faced that projection?! All of you went to protect Kari, Sora, and Yolie. Mimi...well, she is acceptable because she is the priestess. But, come on, all of you just left me to fend for myself!"
"Hey, hey," Joe said nervously. "We thought you could protect yourself."
"Yeah right. You just protected the girls you think is important to you." At that phrase Tai, Ken, and TK turned red from embarrassment. Matt looked offended and Cody stared at Kari in amazement. Davis, on the other hand, turned purple. Izzy just picked up the motorcycle Joe have released in shock and watched the scene with amusement.
"Wha...what did you say," Davis trembling asked her while pointing his finger, shakily, at an annoyed Yolie. "Important to us! Like heck," he spat. "She was just next to me!"
"Like I need your help in the first place, you idiot," screamed Yolie.
"Fine! Then I won't protect you anymore, Ogermon! And beside, I think you won't need any protection from anyone because you are so ugly you can scare everyone away!" Yolie screamed in fury and tossed the handle of her motorcycle to Sora, before she went chasing after Davis. Annoyed by their constant bickering, Matt took out his gun and shot at the ground near where Yolie and Davis were struggling at. They quickly stopped their fight and turned to look at Matt as he tucked his gun back into his holster.
"Stop acting like children for once," said Matt. "If you continued to act like this, I won't miss the next shot."
"Yamato," said Mimi. She touched him softly on the arm. "They are just playing around. Don't be so harsh."
"Yeah, Yamato," said Yolie, releasing Davis from her headlock. "This is how I show my affection to Davis."
Davis rubbed his neck and silently mumbled something he was fortunate Yolie didn't hear. Looking at Mimi's gently look, Matt could only nodded his head and continued on down the road.
"He's cranky," whispered Kari.
"I heard that," Matt told her. She decided it was wise to stay quiet in regarding to this matter.
"Where do you think we should go, Tai," asked TK.
Tai shrugged his shoulder and looked around him. To his surprise, they reached to the center of the city...or what was remained of it. Even though it was covered with decay buildings and bodies laid around there and the rubbles from the remaining buildings; the flowery garden, that was planted in the middle of the city, still flourished in the small circular space located in the middle of the city and became the monument, reminding the visitors of the glory of this ruin city. Located right in the center of the flowery garden, was a water fountain. The statue, decorating of the fountain, was shattered, leaving only a pair of human legs remaining there. The water has long since dehydrated.
"Hmm...," wondered Izzy as he looked at the garden in front of him. "I wonder how these flowers managed to stay alive, after all, this place don't have any water supply." As to answer his curiosity, the projection of the goddess suddenly appeared, hovering above the garden. She swept her arms widely in front of her and disappeared. To their astonishment, a dark cloud in the sky, moved away from his group and floated down toward the city center. Hovering thirty feet above them, it elicited a roar before it started to shed its tears violently. Caught in the unexpected storm, Izzy quickly yanked off his coat and carefully cover his laptop. Cursing and screaming, they jammed out of the cloud range to find a shelter. Blindly, they followed Tai as he led them down the right path. They only ran for fifteen minutes till they reach to the outskirt of the cloud and safely away from it. As they stood there shivering from the cold wind, they stared at the downpour that was still raging at the center of the city.
"You just have to ask," Joe growled angrily at Izzy.
"It was just a harmless question," Izzy retorted.
"Wh...wha...what du..do..wee.we..do nnnn...now," stammered Cody, his teeth chattered noisily. He smiled gratefully when Mimi and Sora started to rummage through their luggage and pulled out some clothes. After making a pile of it, Tai and Davis tossed a fireball at it.
For a while, they rested there. Neither one of them spoke for they were concentrating on keeping themselves warm and drying their clothes. And, least to say, all of them were quite cranky at this moment. Even Mimi, who usually will try to ease the tension between them, retained her silence. The small campfire slowly dimmed and they reluctantly stood up from the floor.
"Where do we go now," Tai asked Izzy. Before Izzy could answer him, the small campfire they built suddenly extinguished itself. The ground gave a little rumbled, before both sides of the street ignited into fire from where they stood. Fortunately, neither one of them and their motorcycles were standing at the edge of the street or else they would have been caught in the dark blue flame. Rising ten feet up from the ground, it flickered steadily, warming their body, dehydrating the last remaining waters that were stuck to them, before it slowly died down, until it was only five inches off the floor. But that was not the end of it. When the fire decreased to five inches in height, it started to shoot out little fireballs into the air. The fireballs landed on the edge of the road, forming a line parallel to the road.
"Are we suppose to go down this road," asked Cody, his finger pointing down the road where the blue fireballs have aligned next to.
"I think...," started Izzy, but shook his head in aspiration when the nearest fireball leaped out from the line and formed an arrow on the middle of the road, point straight down the path where the rest of the fireballs were aligned with. "Never mind," he said when the fireballs returned back to their position.
"Where do you think...," started Davis but Joe clamped his hand over Davis's mouth.
"No more question," Joe hissed. "From the way things look, this place is answering all of our questions."
"Not all questions," Tai pointed out. "It didn't answer Cody's question when we stepped into the barrier. It is just being selective."
"In that case," said Izzy. "Maybe we can use it to our advantage." He walked to the front of the group and intensely eyed the fireballs. "Can you tell me where you store all of the gasoline?" To his delight, the ten nearest fireballs jumped out of their position and bounced to the middle of the road. Dismay quickly replaced his happiness when the fireball repeated its previous action. All it did was just pointed at the direction down the road, before retreating back to its position. "Uh...I guess the supply is located down this road."
"Do you know where we can find food," asked Davis. They watched in silence when the same thing happens again. After giving them the same answer, the fireballs retreated back to its position and refused to budge even when they started to fire questions after questions toward them. They finally stopped asking their question when Matt tugged Mimi slightly on the wrist and headed down the road with his motorcycle, without their consent. Tai noticed his action and immediately dragged his motorcycle right after him and halted Matt from going further.
"We have to think things through," Tai told him, while the others took this opportunity to catch up to them both. "We might be walking into a trap."
Matt snorted and pointed his finger toward the city's center. Following the direction of his finger with their eyes, they were surprise to find the blue fireballs blocked off the road they came from. "You guys were too busy playing around to notice," Matt criticized them. He lifted one hand to Mimi and she gently laid her hand on top of it. While keeping his eyes on TK, Matt guided Mimi toward the motorcycle. With her feet aching and shivering from the cold weather, Mimi gratefully sat on it. When she settled comfortably on the seat, Matt started to push the motorcycle forward. "We got no other choice but to go ahead," he told Tai.
Tai chewed his lower lip thoughtfully and reluctantly nodded his head. "Guess we don't have any choice." He ignored Matt when he sheepishly reminded Tai he was copying his word. A cool wind blew at them and he shivered. He was sad to note neither one of the fireballs were actually emitting heat. But they were real enough when Cody tested it out by setting one of his spare T-shirt on fire when he place it on the fireball. "Better get going if we ever want to find a place to stay warm."
A few of them muttered their agreement, before they set off on this journey. Numbed from the coldness and tired from the long journey, they silently struggled against the roaring wind as they make it down the road. Only Izzy took time to realize the blue flames, which were guiding them, were unfazed by the roaring wind. They just sat there steadily facing the unyielding wind.
At first Joe closely observed the road they were taking. He silently marked the turns they took and the noted the landmarks within his memory. But the coldness and fatigue gradually drove those memories away from his head. After walking about half an hour on the winding road, he was just as lost as the rest of them. It didn't make him felt any better when the road they just treaded pass were immediately blocked off by the blue fireballs to prevent them from turning back.
Joe wasn't the only one who was worried about the blocked path. Tai immediately tensed up when that happened. His sense of awareness was at its peak as he slowly walked down the road. Tai could tell Matt was in the same state as him. He saw Matt scanning his surrounding swiftly with his eyes. His eyes caught Tai's eyes and they both nodded their heads slightly to indicate their awareness. Knowing Matt was at least there to help him kept watch of things, help lessen Tai's burden a little. His worries decreased a few more notches when he saw Hasuma, Yolie, and Davis scanning around them in an inconspicuous way. They each have one of their hands placed near their weapons, so they can draw their weapons immediately if they were ever attacked. Tai pulled out a blanket from his bundled and wrapped Sora, who happened to be sitting on his motorcycle, with it. she smiled at him and snuggled closer to him. Following his steps, TK took no time to do the same, earning him a smile and a hug from Kari. Matt looked on with dismay as he thought of his brother's condition.
"He should worry about himself first," he thought as TK smiled at Kari. A scowled appeared on his face when he found Tai staring intently at him. "What does he want?" He thought to himself. "What," he snapped at Tai. His voice aroused everyone from their thoughts and they all turned toward his direction. They quickly reverted to their old state when they noticed nothing important was going on.
"Nothing," Tai answered him. "I was just wondering..." Matt waited patiently for Tai to finish but for some reason, he seemed reluctant to do so. "Nothing," Tai repeated himself. There was no way he was going to tell Matt that he was worried Matt was going to treat Mimi the same way as he and TK did for Sora and Kari. If Matt did, it might meant he have fallen for Mimi or worse, caused Mimi to fall for him. Neither one was good. Nor did Tai, ruefully admitted, wanted to face Matt's wrath if he had guessed wrong. So he decided to leave his unfinished sentence hanging.
Least to say, Matt was extremely annoyed by Tai's behavior. "First he stares at me and now he has perked my curiosity and refuses to say another word," Matt though angrily. "What is the matter with him?" The motorcycle in two hands shifted slightly and he looked down to see the cause of it. He had totally forgotten Mimi was sitting on it. Her small frame shivered when the icy wind relentlessly attacked her. Looking at her, Matt finally came up with his own conclusion to describe Tai's behavior. "That's preposterous," Matt thought. He looked at TK and Tai before he turned to look at Davis. "Come on, what did Tai expect from me! Mimi is not my girlfriend so I don't have to be so caring as he did for Sora." He glared at Davis. Davis somehow felt his resentment, even though he didn't look at Matt's direction, fidget slightly as he grabbed the motorcycle from Yolie's hands and started to push. Usually, she would criticize him for his rudeness, but she was to cold to bother with this matter. Matt continued to keep his eye on Davis for while before he turned his attention back to the road.
"Why was Tai only staring at me and not Davis," Matt continued on with his thought. "Yolie is also a girl and Davis..." This chain of thought was shattered when he recalled every single encounter between Yolie and Davis. Neither one of them were pleasant. "I guess Tai knew it was impossible to expected Davis to take care of Yolie," he mused to himself. "But he couldn't expect me to do the same for Mimi. She meant nothing to me. I only care about the..." He paused when he realized what he was saying inside his mind. "Is that what I really think?" He didn't need the answer to the question. He knew it was not what he thought. In the past, he would not have hesitated to admit it was the money that drove him. But now, no matter what he did to convince himself otherwise, he knew he changed. He no longer did considered Mimi as a commodity. She had become his priestess. A person he would willingly die to protect. The person who have the power to change him. And it astonished him and shocked him very much when he realized the truth. Matt turned and glared at Mimi. "I resent this change, and I hate her for causing it. Damn it, I hate her!" These words struck true to his heart. "No one can change me except myself." But as much as he resented her, it was incomparable to his admiration to her. Her resolution, her strength, her kindness, and her devotion have formed cracks in his defensive wall and managed to make it crumbled away into dust. He knew, when Diana had tested him, there was nothing he wanted more than to help her finish her mission and to fulfill the promise he made with her.
Why was this promise so important to him? He doesn't know. He knew he had broken a lot of promise in the past. Breaking this one would be really easy for him. "So why is it so hard," he wondered in great frustration. He didn't know. Nor did he knew why he would willingly risk his life to help her fulfill her goal. Ten million dollars was the reason in the first place. Providing for TK had always been his ultimate goal. And now, here he was. Here he was willing to throw his lifetime goal away and he didn't knew why. It frustrated him and it annoyed him. Admiration for Mimi would not drive him far enough to willingly risk his life for her. There was another force pushing him and he didn't knew what that force was. He couldn't describe it, but it was there.
"But why do I have to take care of her," Matt thought stubbornly as they made a right turn, leaving the civilian area and into the military and research sections of the city. He pushed the jumbled thoughts away and decided he could try and figure out the meanings of them later. "I am not her father. I don't have to baby-sit her. If Tai expected me to do it then that's too bad." He gave Tai one challenging look, which indeed startled Tai a little bit because he didn't knew what Matt was thinking, before he looked down at Mimi. Seeing her trembling form managed to break all of his resolutions and this infuriated him. "Why am I doing this," he thought as he snatched his package from the back of the motorcycle and took out his neatly folded blanket. He dropped the green blanket on Mimi's lap. Surprised by Matt's behavior, she just sat there staring at the neatly folded blanket like she had never seen a blanket before in her life.
"Wrap it around you before you freeze," Matt told her.
"Th...th...thank...u...you," Mimi stammered. Her teeth chattered and her numbed fingers fumbled clumsily as she tired to open the blanket. Without a word, Matt just snatched the blanket with one of his hand, while using his other hand and his body to keep the motorcycle from tipping over. One powerful shook from him was enough to immediately force the blanket to release its folds and revealed its full surface to the cold wind. He heard Tai gasping but he ignored him. He was finally doing what Tai wanted and he should be satisfied. Or so he thought. It took Matt three pathetic attempts before he managed to securely wrap the blanket around Mimi. The wind didn't help ease the task. Gusts of wind blew at him as he swung the blanket around. It was as if those gusts of wind were trying to figure out which one of them would be strong enough to rip the blanket away from his grasp. When he finally got Mimi all wrapped up, he ignored her thanks and pulled her closer to his body. My goddess, he was only human and the cold wind was not doing him well. Ice has been his specialty and because of his digimon symbol, his ability to withstand coldness ranked higher than his team members. But he was still human and since he was at it, why not keep the priestess warm and him warm as well.
Matt turned back to look at Tai and expected to see Tai's face glowing with approval. However, to his dismay and confusion, Tai stared right back at him with a solemn look on his face. "What does he want," Matt thought. "He is looking at me like I am marching to my funeral." He felt Mimi snuggled closer to him and the corner of his lips unconsciously quirked upward. "I thought Tai wanted me to keep Mimi warm. If that is the case, then why is he looking at me like that?" After trying to ponder about Tai's behavior and coming up with a bunch of ridiculous conclusions, Matt just stamped his foot and decided Tai was just too hard to please. He earned his next surprise when he glanced toward Davis and Yolie's direction. Walking right beside Davis, bewilderment plastered all over Yolie's face as she continued to stare at the blanket Davis tossed to her ten minutes ago.
"Put it on," he told her. "The last thing we need is for you get sick and cause us to slow down, Ogermon." His behavior astonished Yolie so much she failed to hear what he said. Ken, who also took out his own blanket and began to stroll toward Yolie, turned back when he saw the interaction between Davis and Yolie. He dropped his blanket on an unexpected Cody and thoughtfully pushed his motorcycle in silence. Cody looked at the blanket blankly before he muttered his thanks to Ken. His gratitude was left unheard. Joe and Izzy promptly offered Hasuma their blankets when they heard her muttering they were leaving her out again. She smiled at them and declined their offer, explaining to them she was only teasing them.
Their pace gradually decreased as they proceeded down the road. Although the harsh weather partially caused the problem, the main reason for their decrease momentum was actually due to their surrounding. The road they happened to be on, cut right into the center of the research section of the city. Izzy would often stopped them whenever he found something fascinating lying within the ruins. Joe, Cody, and Ken automatically assigned themselves with the duty to retrieve Izzy whenever he decided to go on these explorations. Kari followed them on of their expeditions, and was forbidden to attend on any further ventures when she accidentally tripped over on a loose pedal and landed on a bloodstain human skeleton. Izzy took the opportunity to examine the transmitter he found, while TK and Tai franticly disentangled Kari from the skeleton. Trembling and shaken from her experience, Kari decided it would be wise to stick with the group. Izzy's escapade ended when Matt and Tai teamed up to find Izzy when he disappeared into the rubbles again. It didn't took them long to find Izzy and dragged him toward the rest of the group. They both ignored Izzy's convincing arguments about the historical values of the artifacts. Tai almost released Izzy when he claimed those ancient technologies would help him upgraded the teams weapons and barrier. Matt almost released him when Izzy told Matt to think of how much money he could gain if he ever sold one of these historical artifacts. Relentless and determined not to be persuade, Matt and Tai gripped Izzy firmly and plopped him on top of his motorcycle. Joe watched in amusement when Matt took out his gun and pointed it right at Izzy's head.
"I'll make you into a historical artifact of Xatha if you ever do that again," Matt warned him. He then turned his gun toward Joe, which immediately wiped out the smile on Joe's face. "And I will turned you into one if you ever let him escape again." Izzy scowled, while Joe suddenly discovered he was having trouble swallowing. Satisfied with their reaction, Matt strolled back toward Mimi and tucked his gun away.
Not long after that incident, Matt found himself falling into the same desire as Izzy when he saw a nice looking gun lying next to a pile of rubbles. He started to head for it and Izzy, who took some time to decide on whether his curiosity or pride was more important, stormed right after him. Tai, TK, Kari, Yolie, Ken, Cody, and Davis roared into laughter when Izzy dragged a disgruntled Matt back to the group. Joe sniggered and Mimi, Sora, and Hasuma grinned when Izzy repeated Matt's threat to him.
"Why are there so many weapons lying around," asked TK as they continued down the road. He gently kicked the broken sword that lay on his path to the side of the road. His action earned him a glare from Izzy. He didn't waste any time to scold TK for damaging historical artifacts. Izzy flared up when Matt retorted back by indicating the weapon was already damage beyond repair and a small kick would hardly be noticeable on that miserable pile of lump it had became.
"Because this section is highly guarded," answered Mimi, raising her voice higher to drown down the heated argument raging between Matt and Izzy. Both of them were still sour from the previous incident. "The civilian were hardly protected when the Maji attack this place," she sadly told TK.
"This was where all the valuable data was store," said Kari. "Most of the fighting took place over here."
"I see," said TK. His body trembled from anger. "So the Maji slaughtered the people over here before they reached to the civilians. Good." He shook his head and pointed his finger to the human skull lying next to the remains of the Maji that killed him. "Maybe they deserved to slaughter in the first place."
"TK!" Kari gasped at TK's outburst. Even Matt and Izzy stopped their argument and turned their heads to him.
"Why not," TK heatedly demanded. "They obviously care more for their researches and science rather than caring about other people's life! They left the civilians to fend for themselves, while they protected their precious researches! The inhabitants don't have the weapons or the abilities to fight. How can they do that to their own citizens?!"
Izzy shifted on his seat and patted TK sympathetically on the shoulder. "Wouldn't be saying this if you know the truth."
"And you know," Matt retorted. Izzy glanced at Hasuma and shifted on his seat uncomfortably.
"Actually, I do," he mumbled. Whatever they expect to hear from him, they didn't expect to hear this. He pointed a shaking finger at Hasuma's direction. "I read it from Daijou's diary."
"You read it," Yolie said in awe. "But...but when?"
"Err...well, I kind of borrow it when you guys were busy looking at the burning," he squeaked when Yolie flared up in anger and started to approach him with menace radiating out from them.
"You borrow it," Yolie growled. She slightly noticed Davis was holding her back. "I don't recall you asking for it! You thief!"
"I just did a scan," said Izzy, scrambling off his motorcycle in panic. He tried to avoid Yolie's outstretched hands reaching for his neck, ready to strangle him. Davis looked astonish with her strength when she dragged him along with her.
"It's alright," Hasuma softly comforted Yolie. Yolie looked flustered and she can't help but felt violated when Izzy, who have no connection to her master, read his diary before her or Hasuma have even got to look through it. And she told her feeling to them.
"I'm sorry, Yolie." Izzy scratched his head shamefully. "I wasn't thinking in that way. I thought his diary would be able to provide us some useful information."
Yolie huffed and opened her mouth to scream at him. At the last minute she decided not too. It was no use getting angry over this matter since it happened already. Right now, what matter to her the most was the information Izzy obtained from the diary. It might be beneficial to them. "So, did you find anything," she asked calmly.
Her sudden shift of mood startled Izzy quite a bit and it took him a moment to digest what she just asked him. He cleared his throat and turned the screen of his laptop toward their direction. "Actually, I did." He touched the screen to close the radar and moved his finger to the right corner of the screen. Tapping his screen twice, a new file popped out into the screen. Hasuma gasped and Yolie looked surprised when their master's writing were display within the screen. "I didn't have time to read all of his diary when you guys were watching the burning, so I scanned it into my laptop instead. I've been reading his diary while we were traveling to here."
"In the beginning of his diary, he basically wrote about his journey toward Xatha. I mainly skipped those." Izzy clicked open another files that contained Daijou's writing in them. "The middle part is where it started to get interesting. He basically wrote about the history of Xatha. I didn't get to read all of it because I was busy chasing after Yolie and Davis. But from what I read and through some skimming and scanning, I think I can answer TK's question."
"You see," he continued. "There is a reason why Xatha is such a mysterious city. There is a reason why it became a myth. From what Daijou wrote, no one knew of Xatha's existence except for the top government officials that govern over Calir and the people that live in Xatha. Actually, to be more precise, the top government officials from Calir promoted the rumors of Xatha."
"What do you mean," asked Sora.
"Okay, since no one know that Xatha exist except from the top government officials in Calir, Xatha is basically does not exist in the main population of human. From our history book, we know Calir was wiped out in a few hours right when the Maji's first rebel against humans. That revolt also wiped out all of the top government officials who knew about Xatha. So, if that is the case, then why do we have rumor of Xatha's existence when everyone who knew of its existence never did survive or told anyone?"
"Whoa," said Tai, while he rubbed his temple. "Quit going in circle and get to the point."
"Okay, Tai." Izzy leaned toward them. "The main reason why people knew of Xatha's existence because the government officials from Calir have been spreading rumors about it." He noticed their confused look and he hurried on with his explanation. "Okay, I know all of you must be wondering why did they spread rumor about Xatha's existence if they are trying so desperately to keep Xatha a secret. The answer is simple. It is a strategy they use to scare off their enemy. From what Daijou wrote, the government officials in Calir have sent out notice to their citizens and told them to spread a rumor in regarding to Xatha. They were instructed to tell travelers coming into their city about a mystical city the human have built. This city, named Xatha, was especially designed to harbor intellectual scientists, researchers, and technicians. That city was especially built for them to work on a weapons that can wiped out all of the digimon race." Izzy paused. "That was the rumor the citizens of Calir were instructed to tell. It was a strategy use to intimidate their enemies and cause them to think twice about their attack. This strategy also diverted the digimon's attention away from Calir, because, at that time, it was believe Calir was the main strong hold for the human. If they take out Calir, then the digimon would basically have the upper hand. Since the citizens in Calir thought it was a rumor and neither one of them ever saw the city, they gladly spread the rumors, believing it was fake. Little less do they knew the rumor was true."
"But haven't people investigate into this matter," asked Cody.
"They did," said Izzy. "But none of them find out anything about it. Xatha's location wasn't mention within the official notice. It can be located anywhere in Gaia. No one was going to go on a wild goose chase while war was raging in every single direction. Besides, every human living within Xatha were forbidden to leave Xatha alive. And no visitors were let into the city. In fact, all human visitors and digimons that have stumbled upon Xatha were immediately eliminated by the holographic goddess or captured by Xatha's officials."
"If that is the case," Davis said thoughtfully. "Then how do we know about the holographic projection of the goddess was used as a defense mechanism in Xatha. I remember reading it in a book. If no one ever survived, then how do we get these accurate information about Xatha in the first place?"
Izzy shrugged his shoulders. "I guess ever perfect defense have their flaw. But whatever information that got leaked out to the people, it wasn't really important." He tapped the keys on his laptop twice and two new files popped up on the screen. On the left screen, the file revealed a record of all of the trades happened between Xatha and Calir. The right side of the screen contained the second file, which shown an old burnt copy of the official notice the Calir officials have sent to their citizens in regarding to the rumor about Xatha. Izzy pointed his finger at the right side of the screen. "People, outside of Calir, really believed Xatha existed at that time. However, after the Maji's revolted against their creators and plowed down Calir, historians and evacuation crews were sent there to find out the reason for the Maji's revolt. That was when they discovered this notice within one of the crumbled home. This notice sealed Xatha's faith. With this notice in their hand, the historians wasted no time to reveal this notice to the public. No doubt, this news did not sooth the people's heart."
"Why is that," asked Kari.
"I can see why," said TK. "Since the people outside of Calir and Xatha believed Xatha existed, they also believed the ultimate weapon Xatha was working on also existed too. That is why, when Calir was destroyed, no one really worried about it because they still have Xatha." When Matt was about to ask him how did he knew about it, TK quickly told him he read it from one of the old history book. "You can basically guess how surprise the people were when they realized their only hope of fighting the Majis and defeating them were all a lie."
"No one took the news lightly," Mimi continued on from where he left off. "The records stored in the main temple recorded this part of the history. With their last resort gone, the humans were in a state of panic. The anxiety of the people rose even higher when the news about the destruction of the two highly guarded military base were destroyed by the Majis have reached their ears."
"That was when they requested for the digimons help, right," Yolie concluded. Mimi nodded her head.
"That is how Xatha became a myth to the people and Calir is considered to be the birth place of Majis," said Izzy. "Because of that notice, Xatha's name basically plunged downward in the people's mind. It was regarded as the most insulting thing they have ever heard of for a few hundred years. Even now, some people held resentment for the lie. Hey, Joe! Watch where you are going!" Izzy exclaimed when Joe pushed the motorcycle over a human bone and almost caused his laptop to flip over. Joe muttered a small apology, while Izzy closed the right file on his laptop screen. The moved the left file into the center of the screen. "From the records your master had gathered," Izzy pointed at Hasuma and Yolie. "And from the information he recorded in his diary, it indicated the Maji's originated from Xatha, not from Calir. The so-called ultimate weapon the notices have been saying was actually referring to the creation of the Majis. These records clearly show the amount of Majis that were secretly shipped off to Calir. Because Calir was the only place where Majis roamed around, Calir's civilians and people from other cities thought Majis originated from that city. They have no idea Xatha was sending the Majis to Calir."
"And now, we reach to TK's question," Izzy continued. "Now you know Xatha is where Majis originated, you can basically guess what have happen. At that time, the Majis were designed to be smarter than us and exceeded us in many other aspects. According to what Daijou wrote, no one knew when they have collaborated to revolt against their creator." He paused when he heard Matt mumbling the Majis were quite similar to us. Mimi looked startled but she didn't say anything to deny the truth behind his words. Izzy cleared his throat. "Uh...anyways, this news might come as a surprise to you. Xatha and Calir was wiped out in a matter of minutes."
"What!" They exclaimed in astonishment. Yolie gasped and claimed it couldn't be true. Mimi, extremely shock by the news, laid her hand on Matt's shoulder to stable her.
"But...," stammered Cody. "The records claimed the revolt lasted thought out the whole night. That is what I read from all of the books that recorded about Calir's destruction. How can it be so wrong?"
"Well, you should remember no one ever saw Calir's destruction," Izzy reminded him. "In fact, the only way they deduced the time it took to wipe out Calir was through a journal a man had written right before he was slaughter. He clearly recorded the hours he spent praying to goddess when the Maji first started to revolt."
Hasuma shifted the heavy motorcycle in her hands and turned it to avoid a rock in the middle of the road. "And what kind of human would be standing in his home, praying to the goddess, who he denied, while the Majis attacked the whole city. I would be running if I were him. And isn't it suspicious the diary was found so intact. No burns were found on it, whereas, the house where this journal was found was burnt to ashes."
Yolie nodded her head. "Why do you think they hide the facts?"
"I can only make one assumption," said Tai. "The rumor of Xatha was exposed at that time. And we all know, the people, at that time, were in a huge state of panic. No doubt, if the truth of Calir's destruction reached the people's ear, the world will go into an uproar."
"That make sense," said Davis, with his hand tucked right under his chin. "If the people found out how easy Calir was destroyed and how strong the Majis were, there will bound to have a lot of chaos. The only thing they could do to calm the people down, was to make them believed they have a larger possibility to win against the Majis. By exaggerating the time it took for the Majis to defeat Calir, it gave the people a higher hope for defeating the Majis."
"Oh...," Cody murmured.
Mimi slammed her fist on the motorcycle seat and caused everyone to jump up in surprise. She looked frighten and angry. Matt placed his hand on her shoulder and Hasuma quickly approached her.
"Are you alright," asked Hasuma. Matt didn't look at her but he listen intently on what she was going to say.
"After hearing all of this," Mimi shook. "I don't know what I can believe anymore." She jumped up from her seat and started to pace around. "There are so many hidden facts our government are hiding. How..." She approached Matt and grasped the front of his shirt desperately. "How can I fight for something I am starting to doubt? Our history is shrouded with fake details and I..." She trembled and tears started to fall down her face. Matt stared at her in awe and froze under her desperate plead. "I believe in them. I...I believe in it. I trusted the lies they gave us. What if...what if the prophecy written within the book is a fake? Is all my hope, all my dreams, are fake too?"
Her questions manage to stump them all. Neither one of them could answer her. Matt snapped out of his daze when Mimi started to silently cried in front of him, while clutching tightly to the front of his shirt. A sympathetic look appeared on his face and he pulled her into his arms. He held her tightly while she cried into his shirt.
"We can't be definite," Matt told her softly. She looked up and he wiped the tears from her face. A weird feeling washed over him as he stared at her tearful face. He can't identify it nor did he like it. He just knew he had to protect her more than ever.
"Yamato," Mimi whispered.
The softness disappeared from his face and he pushed her away in arms length. "Be strong, priestess," he told her. "As long as you believe in your path, I will walk it with you." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked away from her. "Remember the conversation we had before we even started this journey?" Mimi nodded her head. When she realized Matt was not looking at her, she whispered a soft yes. "Good." His expression was cold and Sora shifted from her seat, because Matt was staring at her direction. Little less did she knew, he was not really seeing her in that gaze. "Because I told you right at the beginning, I don't believe in your dreams. I don't even believe in what you are fighting for. Ha...what a laugh. I don't even think we even deserve to have a second chance because we are just a bunch of greedy bastards that are out for our own good."
"Then...I guess you are right," Mimi said in defeat. Her hands slipped off from Matt's shirt.
"But I am still here right," Matt snapped. He turned to look at her and grabbed her roughly by her shoulders. She gasped when he pulled her toward him. "I am here right? I am fighting to protect you, am I? Tell me! Why am I doing this? Why am I willing to risk my life just to protect you?!"
"Because...because..."
He pulled her into a hug. "Because I am starting to believe in you. Damn it priestess. You are one of the most stupid girl I ever met. I can't believe there is one person in this world who is so determine to chase a dream that is basically impossible." Mimi shuddered in his grip and Tai was watching this scene in discomfort. "But...I want to help you accomplish this dream now." He pulled her softly away from him and stared deeply into her eyes. "I will help you walk your road. If you continued to believe in your dream, I know it will happen."
"Yamato," she whispered.
"He's right," said Kari. "Besides, I don't think the prophesy is wrong. Why else would we be put into all those trials."
"The history might be fake or alternated," said Izzy. "But by finding the truth, we can tell the world about it." He stood up and closed his laptop. "That is what we can do."
Yolie walked up to Mimi and patted her on the shoulders. "We are all walking in the same path with you. If you crumbled, we will also crumble. We all believe in your dream, and we fight with you to accomplish your mission. If you disbelieve in them then..."
"I'm fine," said Mimi. She turned around and smiled at Yolie. "Thanks for all of your encouragement. I am so happy to have you all supporting me. With all of you walking beside me, I know I can pull through. I can't break down right now." She smiled at Matt. "Thank you, Yamato."
Matt rolled his eyes and patted the seat of the motorcycle. "We have to go. I have no intention of staying out here and freeze to death." Mimi looked at the seat and he waited patiently for her to sit down. Once she did, he slipped his arms around her to secure her safety and pulled her closer to him so she could keep warm. Yolie and Davis exchanged a worry look and Tai shifted on his feet. Tai couldn't help but wonder whether Matt have fallen for Mimi. Matt spared Izzy a glance before he started to push his motorcycle forward. The others followed in suit. "I think you went around enough circles already, Izzy. Why don't you indulge us with the truth?"
"Oh yeah...," said Izzy. Mimi's outburst has momentarily caused him to forget about their previous conversation.
"I think we can basically guess what happen," said TK. "And I take back what I said before, because from what Daijou revealed from the diary, the whole inner city of Xatha must be destroyed before we can even start to fight back."
"Yep," affirmed Izzy. "That is true." He looked at the diary tucked safely inside Hasuma's package. "Prodigious. That diary was really a rare find. I might be able to find more things in there if I have more time to read the sections that I scanned. Think of all of the things I can reveal and know. The world has the right to know..." His words were left unfinished when Joe abruptly stopped the motorcycle. "Why did you stop all of the sudden," Izzy demanded.
"Because we are here," Tai answered dryly. He pointed at the white laboratory standing right in front of them. They were amazed to find it still maintaining it's ivory complexion after the war. The main portion of the laboratory still stood sturdily in front of them, while the left side of the wing lay on the floor in a pile of heap. The half of the east side of the wing was sliced into half. TK whistled as he looked at the pile of bones scattered across the floor. Blood stains decorated the east and west wings and charred blocks of stone laid blocked the front passage.
"Why are we here," asked Izzy. He waited patiently for the answer but none came. Joe reminded him about the lack of answers they have been receiving after their horrid of questions. Izzy scowled. "Great time to have them stop answering us right now," he mumbled in disgruntle.
"Are you sure we are at the right place," asked Kari. Cody pointed his thumb to the back warily, where the fireballs connected with each other and formed a huge firewall, blocking their passage. Ken answered her question.
"I believe we are. That is...I hope we are." He scoffed. "I am not that eager to burn myself to death. Not this soon."
"Never, if you ask me," Davis retorted.
Matt pulled up his coat's sleeves and proceeded toward the piles of rubble that lay between them and their destination. He huffed when he lifted up a huge rock and wobbled it toward the side. When he plopped it down on the floor, the ground shook slightly. Matt wiped the sweat on his head and he glared at Tai and the others as they stood there, watching him.
"Well," he demanded, waving his hand toward the rest of the rubbles. "How long are you guys planning to stand there?"
"Uh...actually, we are just waiting for her to do something," said Cody, pointing at the holographic goddess floating above Matt. Matt glanced upward and was startled to find her smiling down at him. He blushed when he realized he could see her underwear from where he was standing and hastily retreated from his position. He was about to threat her but he realized instantly, there was nothing he could do can hurt her. She was...indeed, just a holographic image.
"Would you mind," Matt started, his hands unconsciously straightening up his coat. "Warn me next time if you are going to appear next to me." Although he was annoyed, his face remained impassive when the image giggled in pleasure.
She nodded her head. "If it will make you feel better, then I will." She floated down to the ground and pointed at the blocked path. "Allow me to assist you." Lifting her hands to the same level of her head, she snapped her fingers twice and Tai did a double take when their obstacles disappeared from sight. "Please proceed forward. Your answers await." She bowed to them and disappeared before either one of them could say another word to detain her.
"Damn it," cursed Matt, slamming his fist on the head of the motorcycle. He ignored Izzy's plead in regarding to how harsh he was treating his motorcycle. "I want some answers from her."
"We all do," said Tai. He dragged his motorcycle from behind him and rotated his strained shoulders. He grimaced. "My muscles are so sore." Sora spared him a sympathetic glance before she started to massage his shoulders. He smiled and quickly cleared his throat when the others were grinning at him and Matt rolled his eyes. "I think we better go," he said. Tai roughly pushed his motorcycle toward the decay laboratory and avoided the scattered bones lying on the ground. Matt just kicked it to the side without any regard. Tai paused at the door and looked at the cracked glass door. Placing a hand on the door handle, he gave it a light push. Shock displayed in their faces when the door shattered upon his touch. "I only touched it," Tai protested when Izzy glared at him.
"No use worrying about it," said Matt, proceeding toward the entrance when Tai stood firmly in front of the entrance, refusing to move. He probed Tai on the back and nudged his head toward the interior of the laboratory. "What are you waiting for? Stop holding the line." A brief frown appeared on Tai's face when he stared at the dark interior. No lights illuminated the place. As far as Tai can see, the whole inner portion of the laboratory was just a dark and empty void. And that, was the cause of his hesitation.
While Tai pondered about the danger that might occurred to them once they enter into the dark room, Mimi slipped off the motorcycle without Matt noticing it, because he had his whole attention focused on badgering Tai to budge from his position. Tai was not fat enough to block the entrance, but the fact his motorcycle was plopped right beside him managed to block them from entering with their motorcycles. Mimi, who happened to be skinny and unburden with a motorcycle, easily slipped pass Tai and entered the laboratory. Least to say, Tai was displeased with her action, and he didn't need to wait for Matt's angry cries to erupt from behind him before he plunged right into the laboratory, right behind her. Sora yelped slightly when Tai jerked the motorcycle forward. Luckily he decided to move at that precise moment because Matt was willing to plow him over if he refused to move from his position.
Mimi stepped timidly into the darkness, and she only took ten steps forward before Tai shook of the initial shock of seeing her stroll so casually pass him and went chasing after her. Matt caught up to her just as Tai grabbed her on her arm. The others tumbled in, following Matt closely. "Mimi," scolded Sora in aspiration. She jumped off the motorcycle and stood protectively beside Mimi. Sora couldn't see that well in the dark, but she can heard the sound of metals hitting the tile floors, when the others released their motorcycle roughly down to the ground, while successfully ignoring Izzy's plead to be gentle to his inventions, and pulled out their weapons.
"You shouldn't be that impulsive," scolded Davis. He chose to ignore the mumbles coming from Yolie when she stated he should follow his own advice. But dismay clearly shown on his face when Ken and Cody, who happened to be next to her, nodded their heads in agreement. "We might be...," Davis cleared his throat. "We might be walking into a trap." In affirmation to his thought and suspicion, the entrance where they entered was sealed off by a huge boulder. Normally, this would serve to be a minor problem to them, however, the boulder not only sealed off their escape route, it also blocked off the only light source they have.
TK was not pleased, nor were the rest of them except, surprisingly, Mimi, Hasuma, and Yolie. "You just have to say it, Davis," TK hissed.
"No need to worry," Mimi said calmly. She shrugged off Tai's hold on her shoulder and dashed into the darkness.
"Mimi," exclaimed Tai. He groped the darkness around him but he only bumped into Sora and found her frantically looking around her for any signs of Mimi. Matt wasted no time in grabbing the nearest person, who he assumed was Tai, but unfortunately it was Joe, and started to shake him.
"How can you let her go," Matt demanded. Joe started to protest but his words came out in little whimpers due to the ferocious shakes he was unfairly receiving. Davis wasted no time in providing a little illumination in this dark room by forming a fireball in his hand. Tai did like wise and Kari, clasped her hands together and formulated a little ball of light. She placed it on the floor and it immediately lightens up the small space they were standing around.
Joe slumped down the floor in dizziness due to Matt's harsh treatment, when Matt released him immediately when he realized he was not Tai. Matt turned to Tai's direction. Before Matt could grab him, Tai pointed his finger toward north.
"She's over there," Tai said quickly before Matt could dealt him a blow. Matt followed the direction his finger was pointing and was surprise to find Mimi kneeling in front of a slab of stone tablet. Yolie and Hasuma, each were standing at her side. Hasuma and Yolie mouths were slightly opened and their faces displayed utter shock, as they both stared at the pale figure floating right in front of them and above the stone tablet. Mimi lowered her head in respect.
The ghostly figure, with an image of a middle age man, smiled at Hasuma and Yolie. He rubbed his hand on his beard and grinned sheepishly at them. "I'm glad you two made it," he addressed Yolie and Hasuma. They could only stand there, gaping at the sprit as he adjusted his long blue robe.
Davis recognized him immediately. He was, indeed, the first person to discover his lost item. Pointing his finger rudely at the ghost that floated in front of them, he took two steps backward and shakily called out his name. "Daijou?"
Daijou lifted his gaze from his two students and turned to place them on the boy who just called him. "Yes," he asked Davis. That was all they need to confirm his identity. Hasuma, who was unusually strong for a girl, fainted dead away when the sprit of the stone tablet answered to Davis call. Mimi pounced up from her kneeling position to catch her before she could hit the ground. Yolie's legs buckled and she slid ungracefully to the floor. Tai and Matt rushed forward to help Mimi ease Hasuma back on the floor. Daijou just blinked innocently at them and asked them did he said something wrong.
"No," answered Ken, managing to keep a safe distance from the ghost. "We...I guess we just were surprise to see you." From the corner of his eyes, he could see Joe hesitated for a moment, before he headed forward to Hasuma and aided Sora in reviving Hasuma back. Daijou looked a little bit surprised at Ken's word. But when he took a good look at himself, he laughed heartily and floated down to the ground.
"I guess I forgot that I am dead sometime," Daijou said in amusement.
"Master," Yolie murmmured in awe. Daijou looked down at her and patted her on the head.
"Yes, Yolie." The daze looked on her face disappeared when her master, the person she respected the most, called out to her. She tried to stand up but stumbled a little bit. Ken reached out to help her but she gently pushed his hands away. Two attempts afterward, she was standing face to face with her master. Hasuma was starting to revive herself and was looking around the room in daze, while Joe and Sora called out to her. Daijou spared a brief look of concern toward Hasuma's direction before he focused his attention to Yolie. Spreading his arms wide open, he smiled at Yolie. "Come here and give me a hug."
"Why are you here?" The smile on Daijou's face flickered off. Whatever greetings he thought he would be receiving from Yolie, it was not this. Yolie stared at him steadily.
"Are you disappointed in seeing me here," he asked her.
"Of course not," Yolie protested violently. By now, Hasuma finally came to her senses and with Mimi's support, she stood steadily on her feet. "I want to know, why are you here?"
"Who disturbed your peace," Hasuma asked.
"Why aren't you resting in peace," Yolie fired.
"Who locked your soul in this city," Hasuma quickly thrown the next question. By this time, everyone was staring at Daijou with great intensity.
Baffled by the flood of questions fired right at him, Daijou just stood there with a blank expression on his face. Slowly, laughter erupted from him. Stunned at this reaction from him, they could only blinked at him. Matt, on the other hand, was the only one annoyed. While everyone was busy with the sudden appearance of Daijou, he kept his mind clear and focused on the darkness surrounding them. The fireballs in Davis and Tai's hand have already disappeared when they lost their focus in creating them. Only Kari's light ball remained the only source of illumination for them.
"I think all of us will really appreciate it if we can get some light in here," said Matt. His demand cut Daijou's laughter short.
"Oh...sorry for my rudeness," said Daijou. Embarrass for keeping them in the darkness and in the cold enviornment, he gave them a slight bow before he floated toward the tablet. Snapping his fingers twice, the room immediately lit up and the temperature inside the room increased. The light pouring into the room came from the eight highly dense light bulbs decorating each of the four walls. On each of the walls, two of these light bulbs were placed there. Air vents on each of the corner of the floor, emitted hot air into the environment.
With the room lit up, they can now see the interior of the building. Sora immediately let out a gasp and Kari jaws dropped open. Only Yolie and Hasuma didn't realized how the interior of the laboratory looked like because they were busy staring at Daijou and waiting patiently for his answers. The others took this opportunity to see the destructions bestowed upon them.
When they first saw the exterior of the laboratory, they knew a great battle had taken place in this laboratory. Nonetheless, they didn't expect the interior of the center of the laboratory to be in such a mess, especially when its exterior maintained its almost undamaged image. So, no one bothered to pay attention to the uncharacteristic curse that Cody managed to mutter when he first glimpse at the destructions laid before them.
The eight stories laboratory they entered were just a hollow shell of what remained from after the war. Each of the floors ceilings and ground were carved out, leaving on the first floor ground intact and the ceiling of the highest floor intact. Only edges of the floors and ceilings of the eight levels were left there hanging, to symbolize their past existence. Otherwise, other indications of the levels in this laboratory have been wiped out. It was a wonder why the ceiling didn't collapse after its most stable foundations have been blown to pieces.
"Is the ceiling going to collapse on us," asked Davis nervously. The idea of having only four walls filled with cracks supporting the heavy ceiling did not provide enough security to him.
Daijou chucked and patted Davis's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry," he told them. "What you see is just only a temporary shelter in which Val and I have created. We created this so we can provide you a warm shelter from the harsh weather. It won't collapse on you unless I want it to. Once you are gone, this place will revert back to rumbles."
"Val," asked Cody.
"Created," Izzy asked anxiously.
"Val is the name for the woman you met," said Daijou. "She is the holographic image of the goddess herself. As for creating this place, hmmm...maybe I should explain my presence to you before I start into that. So..." He waved his hand on the floor. "If you may all sit down, we may proceed on with the reason why you are here and why I am here."
"Go on," said Matt, sitting right next to Mimi. "I'm waiting."
"Alright," said Daijou. He floated down from the tablet and settled down in front of it. The others shifted from their seat to form a semi-circle in front of him. "I know you have found my journal." He peered at Izzy. "And I believe you read some part of it, am I correct?" Izzy nodded his head. "So, you must all know I have left Guardinia in search for Xatha."
"Yes," Yolie said quietly.
Daijou looked up to the ceiling with a whimsical expression on his face. "Ah...Xatha. How I search for you. Your past glory and the horror that you hide. It is about time they know the truth."
Matt grimaced and leaned forward. "Can't you get to the point old man and stop your reminiscence?" At that, Hasuma and Yolie spared him a glare and Daijou startled out from his thoughts and laughed slightly.
"Right...right," he said. "Should not keep you waiting. But...first things first. I want to know something." The merriment disappeared from his face and was replaced with a serious expression. His brown eyes looked piercingly into theirs. "I want to know, what would you do if you find out something extremely horrifying about your past? What if it can ruin all of your ideas? What if it can cause the world to be in great turmoil?"
"I will hide it," said Izzy firmly, earning everyone's gaze. "If it does nothing but destruction, then it won't be any use to the world if I unleash the knowledge."
Daijou nodded his head in approval. "What if it does help someone if you reveal it? What if it helps you realized you past mistake? Will you unleash the knowledge even if it causes problem to exist within your community?"
"I will," said Izzy. "I said this to Hasuma before and I will not back out from my words. If it is something that is beneficial to us, then I will reveal it. Whether it is an error made by us humans, I will reveal the error so everyone can learn from the mistakes we have made."
"Good," Daijou beamed. He slapped his hand on his knee. "You are the one I am seeking." He looked at the rest of them. "How about you guys?" Yolie and Hasuma nodded their heads without any hesitation. So did Mimi, Kari, and TK. Matt shrugged his shoulders and said he have no interest in it. But he quickly agreed to Izzy's words when Daijou told him to go back outside since he had no interest in what Daijou was going to say. Tai looked at Sora before they both nodded their heads. Joe, Davis, Cody, and Ken were the last to agree. With their vow to spread the truth, Daijou leaned back on the stone tablet in satisfaction.
"Now can we get on with it," asked Tai, tapping his fingers on the floor impatiently. Sora knocked him softly on the arm for his rudeness and he quickly shut up.
"Hmm...let's start with why I am here," said Daijou. "I left Guardinia ten years ago. Before I left, I gave Yolie under Hasuma's care." He patted Yolie softly on the head. "You definitely grown up very well." Yolie nodded her head. "I also instructed Hasuma to watch over Mimi." He smiled at Mimi. "I see she is following my orders."
"Of course," said Hasuma softly. He eyed her warmly before he cleared his throat. He wanted to asked Yolie and Hasuma about their lives but Matt's glare increased in great intensity in every passing second.
"I guess I better get to the point," he said. Matt muttered something that earned a disapproval glance from Mimi. "I left Guardinia in search for Xatha. For what reason?" His face became solemn. "That...you will find out later. And I hope you will keep to your words."
"Pray continued," said Mimi.
"Ahm...as I was saying, I went in search for Xatha. It didn't took me long to find it because I knew exactly where it was located at. When I reached here, Val, didn't trust me. She let me through once because the goddess told her to."
"The goddess," Mimi said. Everyone perked up when they heard about the goddess. "Was she..."
"Wait patiently and I will explain," said Daijou. "I did not see her. As most of you experienced, the goddess wishes were mediated through Val. You entered here so you should know how it works." Sora nodded her head and the others mumbled the truth behind it. "Ten years ago, Val, didn't have a name. I named her because I want her to be an individual instead of someone that looked like the goddess herself. She accepted the name and eventually let me within Xatha after I told her my reason for my presence."
"Your reason," asked TK.
"To protect Xatha's secret from people," said Izzy, recalling what Hasuma told him a while ago.
"Partially correct," said Daijou. "If that is true, then Val wouldn't have let you in. What I promise to do was to help the goddess guard Xatha's secret from people and Majis until the rightful people came over here." He looked at them. "And here you guys are." Joe shifted his seat uneasily and Tai actually blushed. Matt's face clearly indicate he didn't like how this was going.
Daijou tapped his finger on the floor and pointed his finger at Izzy. His ring, which Izzy was hiding, flew out from his coat and landed in front of Daijou. While Izzy looked at the hole the ring made when it flew out from the inner pocket of his coat, the ring raised from the ground. A light flashed from it and the rock that was embedded in it disappeared. The ring fell down to his hand and he handed it over to Yolie. "The stone should go back to where it is." He cleared his throat. "After pledging to aid the goddess, I helped Val in distributing those stones." He drew a circle in front of them and an image of Xatha and the forest appeared before them. A blue dot appeared on the southern part of the forest. He pointed at the blue dot. "This is Xatha." A lot of yellow dots appeared in an image. They circled around Xatha. Within that circle, a hundred green dots started to flash. "The green dots are the tracking stones you happened to pick up. I assume you managed to figure out they disrupt your tracking device and their wavelength could not be disrupted by normal means. Each of these stones could destroy each other's wavelength and each of them can formulate a different wavelength. They must be placed in specific place in order to balance the wavelength emitted from them. Val and I regulate these stones."
"But Izzy picked up your stone," said Kari. "Did it disrupt your pattern?"
Daijou waved his hand carelessly. "That stone was just a small portion. It is only emitting a weak wave. The real stone is as big as a six-foot boulder. They are basically non-destructible. The small stone will not affect their normal wavelength. The stone on my ring was just put there to mislead the people who happened to pick it up. They might assume Xatha would be emitting the same wavelength." Joe nudged Izzy and Izzy flushed slightly.
"And the yellow dots," asked Mimi.
"These are small stones embedded deep into the ground. It formulated a thin barrier up into the air. These stones work to absorb any waves coming toward their direction. I believe you all must wonder why these tracking stone did not affect the other shrine, right? Well, it is because of these absorbing stone. They absorbed all waves around them and because of this, the waves spread by the tracking stone were absorbed by them. The waves coming from the shrines were also absorbed by them."
"Oh...," Ken said.
"Besides planting these stones and regulating them," Daijou said, the image disappeared when he waved his hand. "We also regulate the efficiency of the traps we set within this forest."
"What," choked Davis. "You guys put those crazy machine out there?! Those things almost killed us!"
"Then you should have been more careful. Besides, we didn't put them out there. Those weapons have been there since Xatha's fall. We just regulate them." Davis swore and Daijou chuckled. "Ah...the youth."
"Can we stop going around circle and get to the point to why we are here and I definitely want to know what is so important that you want us..." Matt slammed his mouth shut and he glared at Daijou when he pointed his finger to the door.
"I can always open it for you, you know," Daijou said pleasantly.
"And besides, his explanation helped explain some of the things that confused me," said Izzy.
"How did you die, master," asked Hasuma.
"Me?" He pointed his finger at himself. He smiled. "I die naturally. I was setting up a trap and I fell asleep beside one of the tree. It was then when my heart stopped."
"It...it just stopped," Joe asked in disbelief.
Daijou nodded his head. For a person that was dead, he seemed happy about it. "I have been having heart problem for quite a while and well, I was not that surprise. I died a peaceful death." He looked around him and found Yolie and Hasuma with a solemn look on their faces.
"I'm sorry we weren't with you," said Yolie. "I wish we could be by your side."
"But there was nothing you both can do for me," he said. "At that time, the most important thing for you was to protect the priestess. And besides, my death allowed me to meet her."
"Who," asked Tai.
"The goddess herself."
"What?!!!!" His claim caused Tai and Izzy to jump up to their feet. Mimi looked astonished and Sora looked baffled. Only Matt looked calm.
"He meant Val," Matt said dryly. Matt's words would have calm them down if only they were true. Matt's cool exterior disappeared when Daijou shook his head.
"The real one," he told them. He smiled at their stunned faces.
"Bu...but ho..how," stuttered Cody.
Daijou leaned forward and peered keenly at them. "When our goddess told us she will go into eternal sleep, she meant she would not aid or cause any trouble happening in Gaia. However, it does not mean she is not watching over us. What we do in this world is transferred to her palace. And from there, she is always watching over our overdoing."
"Does this mean she knows Mimi is coming," asked Kari.
He nodded his head. "Of course. She also knew you guys are approaching over here. Val must have told you she needed the goddess approval to let you in." Mimi opened her mouth but Daijou raised his hand to silent her. "I know what you are going to say. If she is watching over us, why isn't she willing to lift her hand to aid your people when they are suffering so much." His piercing gaze landed on her. "I have no right to tell you why. For that, you will have to face the goddess judgment."
"The goddess...," started Davis.
"You will know more when you reach there," he interrupted. "It may do you good to come up with some reasonable answers for your own question. As for now, lets just say I am here because the goddess asked me to reside over here so I can help Val guard this place. I am also responsible to show the truth to the people the goddess have approved. And maybe, this information will aid you in coming up with the conclusion to your questions." He stood up and stretched. "Now then..." He turned and headed to an empty corner of the room. "Would you all step this way?" Looking at each other while they stood up, they silently trudged toward the corner.
"What do you want us to see here," asked Izzy, when they reached to the appointed area. "There is nothing here but an old..." His sentence was left unfinished when a portion of the brick wall extended outward to formed a table. A rusty old computer magically appeared on top of it. Below the table, another portion of the wall extended outward to form a chair. A human skeleton appeared on the seat. His bony body laid over the desk and his right arm laid tucked under his head. His left hand extended outward to the keyboard. The computer beeped softly.
"This is," said Daijou, as he pressed the enter key on the keyboard. "Is what I am going to show you." His fingers ran rapidly through the keyboard. "This man, you see over here, is Scott Frey." Daijou nodded his head in approval when the computer screen blacked out for two second, before it was replaced with a blue background and a list of files. "Scott Frey is the inventor of the so call species you know as Maji." Astonishment appeared on their faces. What they expect to hear was not that.
"That man," pointed Izzy at the remaining skeleton. "Is the inventor of Maji?"
Daijou nodded his head. "Indeed he is."
"How can you be sure," asked Davis skeptically.
"Because, of what you will be seeing," he answered simply. He scrolled down the list and highlighted the 'show all' file. He turned to look at them. "If I know my words can convince you, I will tell you about our horrible past. But, I know it wouldn't work because all of you will want to have proof, and this computer will show you the proof you need." He placed his finger on the 'enter' key. "I want to warn you to be prepare for what you are going to see. These are the facts our government is trying to hide and trying to erase. Once you gain this knowledge, it will be wise for you to think twice before you tell this information to other people. But...this is the truth and I trust in you to spread this truth to the world." He paused for a moment. "I hope you will be able to find your right path after this. Watch closely." Without another word or warning, he pressed the enter button and disappeared. The room was immediately filled with a mechanical voice streaming out from the computer's speaker.
"Access granted," a mechanical female voice reported to them in a monotone. "Opening file 181." The screen flashed before two files were shown in the screen. One of the files flipped opened and displayed a list of status to them. At the right upper corner, taking up 1/8th of the screen, was a picture of a digimon. The mechanical voice of the computer simply read out the status to them.
Specimen #1
Specie: Digimon
Type: Fire
Name of Specie: Meramon
Result of Status Check Ran: Excellent condition
Results: Failure
"Accessing video clipping of recorded experiment."
"What do you think it is going to show us," Ken asked nervously, his eyes glued to the computer screen. The others didn't bothered to answer him as they anxiously waited for the computer to download the video. The screen remained black for three whole seconds before the black background was replaced with the video. Three men, dressed in white laboratory coat, have their backs turned to them. The one to the furthest to the right was holding a clipboard. He was flipping through it, while mumbling something incoherent. He turned to the man standing to his right. When he moved, they could catch a clear glimpse of his face and stature. His face looked haggard, even though he was only twenty years old. He was fairly slim but well built. Thrusting the clipboard to the man to his left, he ran his free hand through his messy black hair before he addressed him.
"I don't think this will work, Dr. Frey." To emphasize his meaning, his blue eyes flashed with doubt.
Scott Frey, the man he just addressed, merely spared him a glance. Although the same age as the first man, Frey obviously held higher authority power than him. His cold black eyes shown no emotion and his handsome face registered a slight disgust when he heard his associate's doubtful remark. "It will be fine, Dr. Kyle."
"But...," stuttered the man to Frey's left. He wiped the sweats pouring down his chubby face with a white handkerchief. His handkerchief darted swiftly around his face, over his slightly baldhead, before it was stuffed back into his pocket. "Dr. Kyle maybe right." He looked nervously through the glass window they were standing in front of and looked into the laboratory that was on the other side of the glass window, opposite from them. There was nothing in the laboratory, except for the lone digimon that was strapped on a white stretcher and a medical examiner. The stretcher's foot was glued tightly to the floor. Located on the middle of the room, the three doctors, who were looking into the laboratory on the other side, could clearly see the stretcher and their research specimen. Their research specimen proved to be a living creature, because ever since he was caught, Meramon wasted no time in trying to find his way to escape. Right now, he paid no heed to his situation and attempted to break the bonds holding him down. "And...will the government approve us to use digimon for our experiment."
"The government have told us to use any method we deem as possible for this experiment, Dr. Anges," Frey replied. "As long as we can provide a sufficient weapon for the government, they do not care how we formulate it." He raised one hand and the medical examiner in the laboratory looked up to him. Frey nodded his head to signal the start of the experiment. The medical examiner, walked out of the laboratory. A minute later, she reappeared back into the laboratory with a tray in her hand. Laying on top of the tray was a syringe and a bottle of chemical. She walked out of the camera's view for a moment and reappeared again with the syringe filled with the chemicals inside the bottle. Stepping cautiously, she approached Meramon carefully. Meramon glared at her and struggled against his bond with no avail. A small growl escaped from Meramon when the female medical examiner thrust the needle into his skin and rapidly injected the chemical substance inside his body. She pulled the needle out of his body and hastily retreated from the room, slamming the laboratory tightly shut behind her.
For a moment, Meramon continued to struggle against his bind. No changes seemed to be made on his behavior. On each passing minute, Frey's impatience grew.
"I guess the serum was not strong enough," said Dr. Kyle. He pushed his glasses higher to the rim of his nose.
"No...," Dr. Anges disagreed, staring at Meramon intently. "Look, he is reacting now!" To the truth of his word, Meramon began to shudder violently. His eyes rolled backward and the violent tremors spreading down his body caused him to bounce against his bind and on the stretcher. Dr. Anges screamed when a three-feet claw burst through Meramon's chest, cutting some of the binds. Meramon screamed in agony when spikes erupted from every part of his arms. Meramon produced another scream before his body exploded, scattering chunks of his bloody flesh all over the white laboratory. The glass window shook when pieces of flesh and blood slammed right at it.
Dr. Kyle vomited violently when he saw the explosion. Dr. Anges was fortunately enough to miss the violent moment of Meramon's death, for he fainted dead away when Meramon started to elicit those horrible scream. Even Frey was rendered into shock. The clipboard slipped from his hand without his knowledge.
The last thing they saw on the clip was Frey's trembling form before the computer reverted back to the black background. Baffled and shocked by what they have just witness, neither one of them scarcely heard what the computer was stating. They have witnessed enough of these violent scenes in their battle, so the violence within the clip did not shock them enough. However, what caused Matt to feel weak on his legs and Izzy to turn thoroughly pale was the remembrance of what Daijou told them before he left.
"Daijou said...," stuttered Tai. Sora leaned heavily on him and he found he was having a hard time supporting her even though she was fairly light. "He told us Scott Frey was the inventor of Maji. Do you..do you..." He was unable to finish his thought.
"It can't be," Mimi said in a whispery voice. Her cold hand clutched Matt's hand and she leaned slightly on him. Matt didn't noticed how close she was standing next to him until now. He silently noticed how close she was to the brink of collapsing. Matt cursed silently and thrown away his shock. Right now, his concern fell on her. Wrapping one of his arms tightly on her waist, he supported her with his strength. He looked at TK and found him holding on to Kari too.
"That's enough," said Matt. He stepped backward, pulling Mimi with him. "We watched enough." Tai slowly nodded his head in agreement when he noticed how everyone looked. Cody eagerly retreated backward and away from the screen. Even Izzy, who was eager for knowledge, did not seem eager to continue to watch the screen when the clip for the second experiment began to play on its own. Everyone was turning their heads away from the screen, when Mimi suddenly shouted out loud.
"NO!" They froze. Mimi, to Matt's surprise, pulled away from him with great strength and headed straight to the screen. "I need to know," Mimi told them, her body trembling. "I need to know how the Maji's were made." She flinched slightly when another digimon exploded from the experiment. Matt grabbed her arm and violently turned her around.
"I don't care if you need to know or not," said Matt. "We are leaving right now."
Mimi yanked her hand from his grip. "I have to watch this. And so do everyone of us." Matt opened his mouth to protest, but she stubbornly shook her head. "I don't want to watch it," Mimi admitted. "But...don't you understand, Yamato?" The computer voice drone on as it read off the status of the third specimen. "All this time, our government has been lying to us. They told us Majis were made by manipulating the DNA structures from different species. They told us they were made from cultivated cells made from those manipulated DNA structure. But now...this clipping. These information. It renders everything I know...everything I believe into nothing." She trembled slightly. "I need to know, Yamato. I need to know how our enemies were formulated. I need to know whether this path I am walking or not have been a lie." A tear flowed down her face. "Because right now, I am starting to doubt my belief. I don't know...I don't know can I continue on with this journey like this."
Matt stared at her. "So what if they were made by digimon? So what if Majis were not formed by cultivate cells? What are you going to do about it? Does it make any difference?" Mimi stared at him.
"Of course it does," Joe answered. "Well...for one thing...this destroyed most of our moral aspect in regarding to their creation. If they were created by cultivating cells, then...well, they were formulated into another species. But...if they were created by injecting a chemical substance into a digimon and violently distorting their DNA to change them into another species..." Joe shuddered. "Well, that method is fairly inhuman and practically immoral."
"So according to how they were created, that does have an effect in regarding to the morality of our government," said Izzy.
"But...that isn't the only thing that mattered," Cody said softly. "I...I don't think I can kill them now I know Majis were once digimons. It...it just doesn't feel right. Do you get what I mean?"
Davis nodded his head. To his annoyance, Yolie quickly answered no. She rolled her eyes and stared at Cody straight in the face. "You feel uncomfortable killing Majis now you know they originated from digimon, and yet, you feel fine killing them when you know they were experimentally cultivated by the genetic genes we made in a laboratory." Yolie sighed. "Doesn't that sound wrong to you?"
"I get what you mean," said Sora, after she shook off her fear. "Because they are digimon, does it make their lives worth more than a laboratory made specimen?"
"Shouldn't they all be the same," asked Ken. "Is one life more precious than another? I wonder." He looked at Cody but Cody didn't say anything. "Of course not."
"But I won't deny my feeling," Cody defended himself. "I know each lives are precious, but I can't help feeling a little bit hesitant after knowing this information."
"I understand what you mean," Kari admitted. She touched the digimon symbol on her arm. "We feel hesitant because we have a stronger connection to digimon than the Maji. That connection make it harder for us to kill a race that originate from digimon." She smiled slightly. "Kind of funny isn't it? We are created by the digimons and the Majis are also created by the digimons. In a sense, you can say we are quite similar. We both originated from the same ancestor."
Davis shivered. "I don't know about you guys, but that sound weird to me."
Matt huffed. "Frankly, I don't give a damn." He ignored TK's exclamation. "I don't care how the Majis originated. And...neither should you guys."
"Yamato," Mimi started to protest, but Matt raised a hand to stop her.
"Listen! To me they are my enemy. And in case you guys have forgotten, we are fighting a war against them." Matt reminded them. "In a battlefield, it is either you die or your enemy. There is no other choice. If you hesitate to kill them, you will end up dead."
"But don't you feel any remorse killing them, now that you know they came from digimon," Hasuma asked quietly.
"No," Matt answered frankly, earning him a lot of disapproving look. "They might originated from digimon, but they didn't inherited any of their traits." He leaned back on his motorcycle and spoke to them in an icy tone. "You fought with them. You should know their behaviors better than anyone else." His eyes were cast downward. "They were not the digimons of the past. They lost all the qualities that made them, in our term, humane. The Majis were invented to help us win war. They are programmed to help us destroy our enemies. So...there is nothing in them except the concept of destruction."
"With destruction implanted in their mind," Matt continued. "It is impossible to turn them back. Killing satisfy them and nothing else will do." He looked at Mimi straight into the eyes and directed the next line to her. "Whatever you try to do, you can't change them. It is impossible." Mimi looked startled. "So...the only thing we can do is to kill them," Matt said with a shrug. "If you ever want human to live in peace, then you will have to kill them. There is no other choice."
Neither one of them knew what to say because they knew Matt have spoken the truth. Mimi shook slightly and Hasuma placed her arms around her shoulder to comfort her.
"I never thought of this," Mimi said softly. "But...now that I think of it. Is it right for us to sacrifice a whole race just so we can save another race?"
"No," Tai answered softly. "It is not right." Mimi expression became even more sorrowful. "But we have no other choice. Matt was right, you know. They are inhumane." He walked up to Mimi and patted her shoulder in a brotherly way. "If we give up on this journey and let them live, they might end up eliminating our race." Tai paused for a moment, because he was about to tell her he really didn't care if the human race got eliminated after all of the things he just recently discovered. "Guess Matt really influenced me," he mused. "But I can't tell Mimi this or her mind will be in a greater state of turmoil." So instead of speaking his mind, Tai focused his words on another factor. "Mimi, there is something you have to understand. Besides saving our race, there is another reason for your journey." Mimi looked surprise when he said that. "The other reason for your journey is to save Gaia."
Hasuma nodded her head in affirmative. "That's true. Majority of the lands, which are under Maji's rule, have deteriorated beyond repair." She looked intently at Mimi. "You should know that." Mimi nodded her head. "If this land do land into the Maji's hand, they will ruin it."
"I understand," said Mimi, doubtfully. She smiled at Tai when she noticed worries shown in his eyes. "I am fine, Tai. Thank you for reminding me about my duty." She glanced down at the floor. "I will continue my path as a priestess." She then turned to Matt. "You are right, Yamato. Even though they were once digimon, their horrible actions and destructive mind cannot be looked over. We have to put an end to this...even if it means we have to kill off all their race."
"Hmph..." With that expressed, Matt looked away from her. There was pain written within her eyes and somehow, it hurt him to see her in pain. He knew she can withstood physical pain but...since this was a mental pain, there was nothing he could do.
"I wonder," said Davis. "If Majis were made to destroy, then why didn't they destroyed each other and save us the trouble of doing it."
"That's wishful thinking," said Daijou, appearing suddenly behind Davis, which end up scaring the living daylight out of him. Ignoring Davis's curses, Daijou proceeded to explain. "Eventhough they were created to destroy, they were also given a brain. By combining their powers, they know they can overthrow our race. With that knowledge in their mind, they suppressed their urge for destruction and band up to fight against us. Also, because they were created by human for the war, it is natural they gain the most pleasure in killing digimon. Now that the digimons are gone, they rather much prefer killing humans than their own race." He paused. "Oh yeah, and this is one reason why the digimon were exterminated in the first place," he added. Davis nodded his head with understanding.
Matt huffed and pulled his motorcycle back into balance. "Now we've seen what you wanted us to see," he addressed to Daijou. "We are leaving."
"Wait," said Izzy. He pulled out his laptop. "This information is an important part of our history. And beside...I did promise I would reveal the truth to the world. I can't leave here empty handed." He placed his laptop next to the rusty computer. "Just give me some time to download it."
Ken peered at the computer and whistled. "For goddess sake, Izzy! There are practically two hundred files in here. It will take at least a few hours downloading all these information."
"Not exactly," said Izzy as he attached a core from his laptop to the hard drive of the computer. "I have been watching this while you guys were arguing. A huge chunk of these files in here are damaged or inaccessible. We started in file 181 and now we are in file 328. So far, I noticed only file 181 and file 240 worked. The others were just duds." He reached over to the keyboard of the computer to stop the program, but Daijou grabbed his hand and stopped him.
"You haven't watch what I wanted you to see yet," he told them. "The file that I want you to see is in file 335."
"Huh," wondered Sora. "The main reason why you wanted us to watch these information, because you want us to know the origin of the Majis, right? From what we seen, the Majis were created from digimon, right?"
"No," answered Daijou. "The Majis were not created by injecting digimons with a chemical substance."
"Then that means the digimon were created by cells manipulation," Cody said hopefully. Daijou shook his head. Confused, Cody asked him what did he mean.
"I think I can answer for him," Izzy said softly. Everyone turned to look at him. His face was pale and he slowly lifted his hand to the level of the computer screen. Trembling, he pointed his finger at the screen. The computer voice, which they ignored all this time, started to drone into their ears once again.
Specimen #H15
Species: Human
Name: Terry Gale
Digimon Type: Patamon
Physical Status: Perfect Condition
Mental Status: Perfect Condition
Results: Success.
Silence and disbelief filled the room as they stared at the data in front of them. Only the sound of the computer humming could be heard as it downloaded the clip.
"This is going to be the last attempt," said Frey as the computer camera gained its focus. Frey sat next to it as he stared at the same laboratory, shown in the first clip. He was sitting in the same room as before, and instead of Anges and Kyle that were with him before, there were two new people strolling around the room. One of the unknown new people was a female. She wore the same white laboratory coat as everyone and her black hair was tied up into a ponytail. Her eyes filled with excitement as she talked to the other new member, which happened to be an attractive man, about the coming experiment. The man looked annoyed with her endless chattering but he didn't complained.
Frey sighed and leaned back on his chair. His usual nicely combed hair were rustled and left untamed. His laboratory coat, which he used to value very much, were wrinkled and looked like it have been slept on. He left it unbutton and it revealed his rustled black shirt underneath it.
"Hey Dr. Frey," said the man as he approached him. The woman was frowning. Somehow, he must have told her off when Frey wasn't paying attention to them. The man gave Frey a disgusted look and pointed at his rumbled attire. "You shouldn't slouch like that. It is bad for your image. And look at the way you are dress. You look like a mess. The way you dress reflects on how much respect you have for your work." He wiggled his nose. "Man, you reek too! I can't believe you are the inventor of that serum. If this really works, you will be the creator of 'Maji.' You will be famous for it. And here you are dress like this and displaying this kind of attitude."
"Ah...," said Frey nonchalantly, while sitting back up. "You said the key word. You said...'if it works.' Since you don't like me that much, you can just start praying and hoping this experiment will fail."
The handsome young man looked at Frey with disapproval. "I think," he said slowly. "You are the one that is praying this will fail, aren't you."
Frey chuckled. "Very perceptive of you."
"Why? Why would you want your experiment to fail?"
Frey narrowed his eyes and gave the young man a piercing look. His face looked grave. "Are you blind? You were with me for the last few experiments. Haven't they shown you the reason why?" Frey looked away from the camera. "I developed the serum to help increase our strength, agility, and intelligence by disrupting our DNA and increasing our muscle capacity and brain cell usage. I never expect it to get this far." He shuddered. "I never expected the government would have alternated my serum into this...thing!" He ran his hand through his hair. "We are creating monsters. Damn monsters."
"Not monsters," the woman gushed, joining in with the conversation. Her eyes brighten. "We are creating the second evolution of our race. Your serum allows us to evolve to a higher state."
Frey snorted. "Evolution! That's bullshit. Your stupid idealization of this experiment will come to haunt you." Frey stood up abruptly. "Because this isn't some kind of glorifying work. We aren't helping them to evolve. We are forcing them to be a hideous monster and using them for a stupid war that shouldn't have started in the first place."
The young man took a step closer to Frey and stared at him in the eyes. "You should watch what you are saying," he warned. "If you continue on with this thought, our government can lock you up for conspiring against them."
"Like heck I care," Frey retorted.
"The experiment is ready, Dr. Frey," said a voice coming from the laboratory. Frey looked at the laboratory room and saw their experimental specimen lying on a white stretcher. Why they bothered to keep it white seemed ironic to him because it would soon be stained with that man's blood. The man, their specimen, looked nervous when the woman medical examiner drawled in the chemical substance and stood next to him. Frey just stood there staring at them with a solemn expression on his face.
"You have to say it," said the man. "Say it and this experiment will start." He smirked. "It might have a chance of failing. The others failed before. If this fail, then the government will stop their experiment."
In silence, Frey stood there for a moment longer. "Better end this nightmare." He raised his hand and pressed the intercom. "Begin experiment." With his command given, he turned his back to the window and strolled back to his seat. His eyes focused on the white wall across from him.
The medical woman nodded her head and injected the man with the serum. After the injection, she ran to gather up the tray before she left the laboratory, slamming the door right behind her. Terry, the man injected with the serum, laid in silence as he waited for the serum to work. In a few minutes, his body started to jerk violently.
Frey closed his eyes in agony, when he heard Terry screamed. Armor plated scales were erupting all around Terry's body and breaking through his feeble skin. Blood streamed out from his body from the broken skin, but the blood flows were immediately inhibited due to the man's digimon healing power and the serum's enhanced healing factor.
Terry screamed again when his arm became bloated and his hands exploded, just to replaced them with a new set of claws. His legs grew painfully longer and the bones from his toes pierced through the skins to become claws. Terry clutched his face in agony when his skins started to peal off, reveal bloody patches of his flesh. It was quickly replace with hard-scaled plates. His cheekbones grew drastically and pierced out of his skin. Majority of his upper portion of teeth grew sharp and his upper incisors grew so long it puncture two large holes in his lower lip. Bloody wings sprouted from his back and portion of his bones appeared in the exterior when it grew. Chunks of his hair laid in a pile of heap on the floor as his head started to transform.
During this whole time, Terry stormed around the laboratory, screaming and crashing into things. Half an hour later, he finally collapsed on the floor when the transformation started to slow down significantly. The man and the woman looked on anxiously as the medical examiner stepped cautiously back into the laboratory. She lifted the unconscious Terry and carefully made her way back to the stretcher, avoiding the piles of flesh scattered around the floor. She plopped him on the bloody stretcher and took his pulse and checked his status. After she was done, she walked up to the intercom to pronounce the news.
"The transformation is a success," she announced. "His heart rate returned to normal and his status is in good condition."
Frey groaned as the woman and the handsome young man screamed in delight. "Do you know what this mean," the woman asked excitingly.
"Yeah," said the man, his grin grew larger and larger. "We have just witnessed the first creation of 'Maji'."
"No not Maji," the woman corrected breathlessly. "The next evolution of human kind."
"Both of you are wrong," said Frey, his voice ringing clearly. "We just witness the first creation of a monster and the beginning of our own nightmare."
The clip ended there. Izzy sat there staring at the computer screen in shock, while Joe looked extremely pale. Davis, Ken, and Cody were throwing up on the floor, while Yolie brushed their backs. Kari was screaming at the start of the transformation, but her screams were reduced whimpering when TK blocked her view and pulled her safely into his arms.
"This can't be," Mimi murmured. Stunned and shocked by the news, she stood there, unconsciously holding on tightly to Matt's arm. Matt stared at her face. Although he displayed no expression, he was worried about her.
"Mimi," he called out her name. When she didn't answer him, he shook her softly. To his surprise, her legs give away and she fell down into his arms. He cursed when he realized she have fainted away. Hasuma, who seem slightly pale, came to help him when he notified all of them their priestess just fainted.
*******
Nighttime fell and it cast its darkness into the room. Coldness started to seep back into the room, as the fires on the wall started to dim. Davis, Tai, and Sora wasted no time to rekindle the dying flames. Soon, the room reverted back to its warm atmosphere. Ken pulled out some spare firewood he found in the woods and with Cody's help, the started a nice bon fire. Now that they were warm, their stomach reminded them of hunger. Kari, TK, and Tai settled down to cook their dinner, while Joe sat next to Izzy's laptop and the rusty computer, waiting for the downloading to be complete.
A moment ago, when Mimi fainted, they just sat there in silence, contemplating about the information they just witness. True to his word, Izzy closed the files and started to download them into his computer. Not wanting to wake up Mimi, they whispered amongst each other in regarding to their future journey.
"Mimi is already in doubt," Yolie had said. "I don't know whether she will follow the path or not. If she choose to end the journey over here, it will be useless if we continued on with the journey. So whatever conclusion we come up with, it will be useless if she doesn't agree. So...it all depends on her, since we all follow her lead." They all agreed. Only Matt stayed silent and Hasuma didn't paid any attention to it. So...no decisions were made between them as they waited eagerly for Mimi to wake back up from her unconscious state. They didn't have to wait long. She woke up in a matter of minutes and strolled out of there without a word. Sora was about to go after her but Hasuma stopped her and told her Mimi needed time to think for herself. Unaware by anyone but Tai, who happened to be keeping a close eyes on him, Matt glanced at TK to make sure he was fine before he disappeared into the shadows. A moment later, the front door of the room opened and closed noiselessly. Daijou asked Hasuma to take a stroll with him and he told Yolie to stay there with the other group when she said she would like to go too. So...Hasuma and Daijou left their group too, leaving the rest of them here, preparing for dinner.
Izzy, on the other hand, took the opportunity to investigate the area. Before Daijou left with Hasuma, Izzy asked him whether there was any spare gasoline around the area. Daijou pointed to the left wall and told him about a hidden storage room located right there. The Majis didn't discover the hidden room so there were plenty supplies in there. Izzy thanked him and proceeded to drag the two-gasoline containers to the left wall. After examining it for a moment, he finally found the switch to the hidden room and jumped backward when the wall swung open. He disappeared in there, only to returned back after a few minutes. He told Joe to help him look over the downloading and Tai went and helped him refuel the container and repaired back the damage container.
"Luckily there are some metal containers over here," said Izzy, dragging the container into the room. "We can just dismantled them and use them to replace the hole. Thank goddess you can produce fire." When Izzy and Tai disappeared, Cody shook his head and walked up to the motorcycle. He took out the tool kit and waited patiently by the hidden chamber's door. Tai emerged immediately and Cody handled over the tool kits to him without a word.
"Thanks," said Tai before he disappeared back into the darkness. A soft banging noise echoed into the main room chamber after a moment later. Kari stood up from the bon-fire and announced that dinner was ready. Just as they began to wonder who should go out and tell Mimi about it, she walked back into the room with a smile on her face. Matt followed closely behind her. In silence, the others sat down on the floor with their food in their hands. Mimi took the plate Sora gave to her and thanked her.
"If you don't mind," said Mimi. They all turned to look at her, except for Matt, who knew what she was going to say, and Tai and Izzy because they both were still hounding on the metal container. "I would like to continue on with this journey."
"Of course we don't mind," Yolie reassured her, patting her friendly on the shoulder. "Hey...we said we are going to follow you and that is what we are going to do." Sora and Kari nodded their heads. "And what about you guys," asked Yolie, directing her question toward Joe, Ken, Davis, TK, and Cody.
"I'm going with her," Matt said flatly. "I am not going to let all my work go to waste."
"You are really devoted to Mimi," Yolie said sarcastically.
"We are going," said Davis. "Even if I have to put up with your obnoxious behavior." Yolie growled at him. "I'm going because...well, I don't know about you guys but I view Mimi as my friend. I don't want to abandon her."
"Yeah, right," Yolie mumbled softly. "You just want to stay next to Kari." Davis, who happened to be sitting right next to her, heard what she said but he didn't say anything. The others nodded their heads.
"I don't like abandoning my friends either," said Cody.
"And I think Tai will agree to go with you too," said Ken. "And since Tai is our leader, we go where he goes."
Mimi bowed her head and thanked them. They proceeded to eat their dinner. Midway through it, Tai and Izzy finally resurfaced from the storage room with the two empty gasoline containers. Izzy settled down to eat his dinner, while Tai went back and forth between the main chamber and the storage room. He gathered liters and liters of good gasoline and poured them into the two containers. While he was doing that, TK told Tai about Mimi's decision and asked him about his decision.
"What do you think," asked Tai, while pouring in the last bit of gasoline available. "Of course we will finish this mission." He smiled at Mimi. "I am not going to let my friends and teammates go to danger and sit back and do nothing." Mimi thanked him, while Sora walked up to Tai and kissed him on the cheek. Hasuma and Daijou came back just then, and Hasuma just nodded her head when she heard Mimi's answered.
That night, they slept peacefully. Izzy wanted to reassemble the hovercraft, but after dinner, he fell into a deep slumber. Since there was no danger around this place, there was no need for night watch. Amongst the people that were sleeping, only Hasuma laid wide-awake. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the conversation she had with Daijou.
She sighed. When Daijou asked her to take a walk with her, she knew he had something important to tell her. What surprised her was the fact he told Yolie to stay behind. When they walked outside, she paused beside the door a little when she saw Mimi and Matt, standing with their backs toward her. Neither one were speaking.
"I want to see what is going on," Hasuma whispered to Daijou. He didn't disagree and they both went and hid behind a rock, observing the two people standing there like a statue. The silence lasted a moment longer between them both.
The wind lifted Mimi's hair and it flowed behind her in a graceful wave. Matt leaned next to a boulder and kicked a stray bone away from him.
"Do you remember what you said to me when we were in Guardinia," Mimi asked Matt softly.
"Yes."
"You said I was naive." She chuckled softly. "You asked me, do I think human deserved to be save." She waited for his answer but he kept his silence. "After watching these clips, I started to wonder myself. Do we really deserve to have a better life?" She smiled sadly. "Isn't it ironic? I am on this journey to save our human race and yet, the Majis I seek to destroy are also once human. To save a race, just to sacrifice another. Is it really worth it?"
"You heard Tai," Matt replied.
Mimi nodded her head. "I know. I know it is wrong. I also understand what Tai said. I know that by doing this, I can help my people and help our planet. But..." She hesitated. "I never thought of this. Not when I set out on my journey. So many questions keep coming up. So many unanswered questions and so many lies I have been deceived with. I don't know what to believe in anymore." Her arms encircled herself. "I am so confuse. I don't know whether I am doing the right thing or not. Yamato!" She turned abruptly to him. Despair was shown in her eyes. "Tell me, Yamato. What should I do?" She grabbed him by the arms and pleadingly looked at him.
Matt, unmoved by her gesture, slowly lifted his hands and pulled his arms away from her grasps. He took one stepped backward. "You already know which path you are going to take," Matt told her. "Why ask me?"
Mimi lowered her arms to her side and slowly nodded her head. "You're right, Yamato." She turned away from him. "No matter what happen, I still believe there are something good within us. And...while I was watching that clip, I was filled with despair. But when I saw how Frey acted, I know..." She turned back to him. A slight smile, a genuine smile, appeared on her face. "I know that my belief must be right."
"Since you know your answer already," he said. "Why don't you go in there and tell them about it. I bet everyone must be worry about you." Mimi was surprise.
"I'm sorry," said Mimi. "I didn't know I got everyone worry." She started to head back to the laboratory. She paused halfway and turned back to Matt's direction. A beautiful smile appeared on her face as she stood there, with her hands clasped behind her back and her hair gently floating around her. "Thank you, Yamato." An indescribable expression appeared on Matt's face when he watched her turned away.
"I know that will be your answer," Matt thought, following her back to the laboratory. "I know, even if I told you to forget about your journey, you couldn't do it. Because..." He stared at her retreating form. "Because I know you still believe in your childish hope."
Hasuma and Daijou watched in silence as they both disappeared into the laboratory. "I guess we know her answer now," said Daijou.
"I knew she would continue on with this journey," said Hasuma. "I already knew her answer." They started to take their stroll in the opposite direction, away from the laboratory.
"You never doubt her?"
Hasuma shook her head. "Never." Daijou nodded his head. "By the way," she started. "What do you want to talk to me about? Why can't Yolie come with us?"
He smiled and floated right next to her. "Because I want to talk to you alone."
"And I blacked out," thought Hasuma, her conscious returning back to the present when Yolie, who slept right next to her, kicked Hasuma in her sleep. Hasuma moved slightly away from her and continued on with her thinking. "Why did I black out?" She shifted in her bed. "And what did master wanted to talk to me about?" She remembered she asked Daijou the same question when she regained back her conscious, but he told her it was not important and refused to say anymore. She sighed. "No use worrying about it. I might as well get some sleep or else I will not have any energy for the journey up ahead."
******
The aroma coming from the delicious food woke Mimi up on the next morning. She sat up from her sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes. Kari, Hasuma, Ken, and Izzy were already up. Kari and Ken were cooking breakfast over the dying bon fire, while Hasuma and Izzy sat, hovering over Izzy's laptop. Davis and Yolie, came walking into the room with armful of firewood they just gathered from outside. Davis plopped his pile on the floor, waking Tai up in the process. Giving Davis a glare for the rude awakening, Tai slowly shifted Sora off from his chest and stood up with a yawn. Yolie joined in to help with the cooking and Mimi tossed in the firewood to rekindle the fire. Soon everyone started to wake up from their slumber when the smell of bacon filled the room.
At this time, Daijou floated in with Val and he expressed great remorse for being dead. "I miss eating food," he told them when they settle down for their dinner.
"Out of curiosity," asked Izzy. "What do you eat?"
"Nothing," said Daijou. "We don't get hungry. We don't have the urge to eat...and we don't have the ability to eat. The food just tends to slip pass us."
"Oh..." Izzy continued on with his meal. "And if you don't mind," he said after taking a few bite. He placed his unfinished breakfast on the floor. "I would also like to know a few things."
"Go ahead."
"Well, for one thing, if Xatha was created by the government and the government know about this place, then why isn't this place heavily guarded by the government? Since..." Izzy shrugged his should. "Since there are some mighty important information in this place the government didn't want us to discover."
"Good question," said Daijou. "Val, do you want to tell them or do you want me..." She disappeared before he could ask her. He sighed. "I guess I am left with the job." He floated down to the ground and sat down next to Izzy. "Well, before I answered that question, I think you should watch one last clip the computer have recorded. I wanted to show it to you yesterday, but it seemed like you have a hard time handling the last clip you saw."
"Is it anything gross," asked Davis nervously. Yesterday's experience was not one of the things he wanted to go through again. Placing his food down on the floor, he was not that eager to empty his stomach all over again.
"No...nothing too horrible," said Daijou, floating to the computer and setting it up. "It just showed the destruction of Xatha." He clicked on one of the files and turned around. "Are you ready?" The sounds of clattering plates hitting the floor could be heard as everyone abandoned their meal to watch the clip. Mimi nodded her head and Daijou clicked it. Immediately, the screen was filled with images from the recording.
For a moment, the images within the screen were in a blur. Only screams coming from human and Majis, explosions, gunshots, and sounds of tearing fleshes and bones could be heard. When the screen focused its image, it was recording the scene from the main entrance of this huge laboratory structure. Frey was lying on the floor, to the right side of the camera. Terror was plastered on his face as he stared at the Maji hovering right above him. In the background, the slaughtering of humans could be seen. Neither Frey nor the Maji looking at him were aware of their surrounding as they stared at each other. Frey didn't bother to spare a glace at the fresh human head rolling toward his direction.
Swallowing slowly, Frey stood up slowly on his feet to face his creation. "Are you going to kill me?" Surprisingly his voice came out steadily.
The Maji stared at him for a moment before he shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because...you are our creator," he said.
Frey laughed bitterly. "Is that so?" Sadness filled his eyes. "You really are more intelligent than us humans. If only we respect our creator, the digimons, as much as you do to your creator, the war and all these problems wouldn't have existed."
To Frey's surprise, the Maji chuckled softly. "You humans are so naive." It snared at Frey. "Do you really think I am not killing you because we respect you? You are wrong." The Maji raised its claws and grabbed Frey by his arm. "Look around you." Frey diverted his gaze when one of the Maji picked up one of his colleague and slowly sliced his skins off piece by piece. His colleague's agonizing screams penetrated into his mind and shook his bone. "You have created us to be superior to humans. We are your evolution. Do you think we are going to stay under you humans command, while we know we are far more superior than you are?" The Maji flung Frey down to the ground and laughed. "Why do you seem so horrified by us? You did create us. We are your masterpiece. We are the one that will end up ruling this world. Is not this what you wanted?"
"No...I never wanted this," said Frey. "The serum I created was only used to enhance your speed, strength, and intelligence. It only works to change your DNA." He smiled bitterly. "The people who created you were the people who took my serum and re-modify it." Sighing, Frey turned to look at the camera's direction. "My serum was not good enough for them. My serum allowed the humans to retain their physical appearance with only the slight changes in their abilities. But...the government felt human skins were to fragile and it would be better if they could alternate the serum so it will change the physical aspect as well." His eyes lifted upward, toward the Maji's face. "So...I am not your creator because I never wanted, nor, created you."
"But they couldn't do nothing without your serum," the Maji reminded him. "Your serum was the foundation for their formula. Without your serum, then wouldn't be able to create us. If it weren't for you..."
"Yes, if it weren't for me," Frey echoed. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his lab coat. His hands were cover with blood from the blood flooding the floor. "Now that you know I am not your creator, what are you going to do to me? You have every right to kill me."
The Maji didn't say anything, nor did it move an inch. A smile slowly crept up on its face. It knew it was staring at a man seeking for death. Turning its back to Frey's direction, the Maji took two steps away from Frey. "I won't kill you. No...I won't let anyone of us kill you. I won't kill a man who wants to die. To do that, I am helping him instead." A sneered appeared on its face. "You will live to see the destruction of your race. You will have to live to see all of the destruction your own creations have made. You won't die, because you are too much of a coward to take your own life." It nodded its head. "Yes, you are. You are just a coward." It laughed and walked out of the bloody laboratory. "Live in misery! This will be your torture. And we...your superior, your evolutionary form, will take over this world. We will accomplish what you humans cannot accomplish!"
Frey slumped back down to the ground when the Maji left the laboratory, leaving only piles of dismantle corpses lying around him. Trembling, he reached outward to grab the gun lying beside him. "Too much of a coward, huh?" He lifts it to the side of his head and released the safety hatch. "I won't kill myself, huh? Is that what you think?" A tear fell down his face as he lowered the gun. He tossed the gun across the room. "You are right. If I were not a coward, I would have stopped this experiment a long time ago. The Maji wouldn't have been created in the first place. But...I value my life much more than anything." He looked up to the ceiling. Outside, the explosion and the screams have ceased to exist. Already, the city lay in ruins and its citizens laid dead on the ground. "Oh goddess! What have I done? What can I do to erase my sins? Please help me! Please save me from my misery!"
A bright white light appeared before him. Basking in its warmth, Frey slowly turned to it, allowing it to ease the coldness in his heart. The white light landed on the floor. Once it touched the ground, it turned into a figure of a woman. Her face and her attire were unclear for she seemed to glow in a bright golden light that hid all of these features. She extended her hand toward Frey.
"My goddess." That was all Frey said before he reached his hand out to her. The image became a blur again before the camera died out.
"What was that," asked Ken, tearing his gaze from the computer screen. "Was that the goddess?" Daijou nodded his head. "What is she doing there?"
"Watch and you will see."
Another image appeared on the computer screen. This time, only Frey was present. He was still sitting in the same area. The corpses have decayed already and Frey looked twenty years older than he was before. He turned the camera and started to talk to it.
"I have buried as much bodies as I can. Most of them have already decomposed before I reach there. Now...there are nothing but a pile of skeleton left over here." He shifted in his seat. "I just recently looked over all of the things I have recorded within you. You held so many secrets. I bet...the government will be glad to laid their greedy hands on you. But...they won't."
"I might as well use you as my diary, now that my job is done here." He sighed. "You might be wondering what happened twenty years ago. You remember do you? The day Xatha was destroyed? Of course you do. I just saw the clip." He looked up to the ceiling. "That was also the day when I first met her. I don't mean, well...the holographic image of her that we used for our defense." He reverted his eyes from the ceiling and directed his gaze to the camera. A serious expression appeared on his face. "I mean the goddess herself. She told me...she said she heard me calling for her."
He chuckled slightly. "I was surprise to see her. No...I was actually glad to see her. I didn't know what to say to her, and she didn't say anything. She only held me and gave me warmth." He smiled. "I never felt that warm before. And well...I kind of fell asleep. The first peaceful sleep I had in years."
"When I woke up, I found her standing next to me. I asked her why was she here and she told me she was here because she heard me calling. She said she could hear and feel the pain within me." A sweet smile appeared on his face. "And then she asked me is there anything she could help me with. I was shocked. How can she care about a human, who have created these horrible beasts. How can she care about a human that have abandoned her and seek to destroy her faithful followers? I don't understand! I just don't understand at that time. I asked her why. I asked her those question and do you know what she said?"
"She said...because she just care." A tear fell down his eyes. "She said she care for all of the creatures in this world. She knows we are wrong but since I was willing to repent for my wrong, she will always be there for me. After hearing those words, I cried. After I finish crying, she asked me could I do something for her. I agree to it."
"I would like to seal off Xatha, she told me. I agreed with her. She and I both knew if the government were to ever get their hands into this city, they would do whatever they can to cover up their mistakes. I was given the duty to guard over this city. She then placed a barrier around this city and implanted the stones you see today. To insure the Maji stayed out of this forest, she also set up traps all over this place."
"I am the only one who knows the formula to the serum. No one else knows about it. The government never did have any information. But to make sure this place will be a secret, she burned all of the documents within the government buildings that contained any information about Xatha. Do you remember the fires, which broke out in each of the government departments 20 years ago? That was her doing. But she made sure no one got hurt from them. So...that only leaves me with all the secret of Xatha."
He looked around him. "With all of the traps set around here and the Majis roaming around, no one dares to approach over here. The location of Xatha is known amongst the government official, who have lived at that time. Any maps made to locate Xatha were immediately destroyed. So no living copy was made. Although only twenty years have past, Xatha's location is gradually disappearing. Even the government officials are losing their memories about it. Maybe it is the goddess doing or maybe, they knew they have no way of protecting Xatha so they promoted the idea in regarding to how Calir have made up this mysterious city."
"No matter what, I still have to perform my duty. When the goddess left me, she asked me to help her do something and I have finally performed it." He paused and sat back from his seat. "Those that are watching this, you must know, the goddess have chosen you to pass on this information to the world. You must be have deem worthy to do this." He lifted up a folder. "As you must have notice, the computer only has information starting from file 181. The files before them are within a disk." He took the disk out from his lab coat and slid it across the table. "And this folder. Both of these contain the same information. The hard copy will be given to the goddess and she will put it in her castle. The disk will be hidden somewhere safe. If you are the chosen priestess or priest for this pilgrimage, I wish you lucked on your journey. For those that are not, you will have to find this disk. This disk and this folder contained the formula of the serum, which was used to make the Maji. The rest of the information are regarding to their behavior, their status, and any of the experiments we have conducted on them." He leaned forward. "If you are truly the one who are destine for it, you will be able to use these information to destroy the Maji."
He leaned back and weariness swept across his face. "I now leave this up to you. I hope...you will use this wisely. If you are not worthy for it, the disk wills automatically self-destruct. To find the disk, you will have to find me. After finding me, I will tell you where it is located at." He smiled. "I am finished with my duty. And now...I get to see her again."
The image faded and the computer stopped its humming. Leaning back, they moved away from the screen. "That...explained a lot," said Ken.
"I still have one more question," said Izzy. Daijou groaned slightly.
"Don't you ever get tired of asking question?"
Ignoring his question, Izzy continued on. "I want to know why are the Maji able to talk at that time, while the ones we fought before could just only squeak? Have they developed a newer way or more efficient way of speaking?"
Daijou shrugged his shoulder. "Whether they have developed a newer efficient way of talking is questionable to me. As to why they lost the ability to talk, I don't know why."
"What did he mean when he said he is going to see her," asked TK. Daijou shrugged his shoulders.
"He said he will leave the folder to the goddess. He must have seen her in order to give the folder to her. So...I believe that is what he mean."
"And what did he means by finding him," asked Kari. "He is dead. How can we find him?"
"Although I know the answer to it, I can't tell you. You will have to figure it out for yourself. If you are destine to find it, then you will know the answer."
"Hmph," Matt huffed. "Why worry about it? If we succeed in our journey, the goddess will wipe out the Maji. Why worry about it. And talking about this...when are we going to start our journey. I think we wasted enough time here."
"He's right," said Daijou. "And my energy is about to be spent. I don't think I can maintain this structure in this condition any longer. Now...if you will all stepped outside." They hastily gathered their motorcycles and ran out of there. The two containers were plopped on top of Hasuma's motorcycle and Tai's motorcycle. Once they reached out there, portions of the roof and walls collapsed with a loud thud. Daijou floated out to them and bowed. "Now that you know everything, I will leave everything up to you. I entrust you to pass on these information to the public. As for now, I am tired. I go take my rest now."
Hasuma and Yolie walked forward and bowed to him. "Good bye master," said Hasuma.
"Will we see each other soon," Yolie asked hopefully.
"I hope not," said Daijou. "Don't want you both to die so young." He smiled at them. "Take care you two and fulfill your duty to the priestess." They nodded their heads and he was about to disappear, when he remembered something. "Oh yeah...I want you each to remember what you said in Xatha. It will be important to you in the future." With that said, he finally left them. They looked at each other with puzzlement written all over their faces. Unable to decode his meaning, they disregarded it for the moment and focused on things in the present.
Out back into the coldness, the boys wasted no time in reassembling the hovercraft. Sora, Hasuma, Mimi, Yolie, and Kari sat around in a circle and discussed things.
"I felt sorry for master," said Yolie. "He was using his digimon power to keep the building enclosed so we can have a warm place to stay. He must have used up most of his energy. If I knew about it..."
"There was nothing you can do about it," said Hasuma. "He wanted to make sure we have enough energy to continue on with our journey. That is why he did it." Yolie nodded her head in understanding.
"Isn't it ironic," Mimi said suddenly. "The Maji revolted for the same reason why the human revolted. Both of them believe they were superior than their creators."
Sora smirked. "The Maji came from us, what do you expect? They acted just like their creator. They sure got all of our ambitions."
Kari scratched her head thoughtfully. "If that is true, then why aren't we like the digimons?"
"Like the teaching said," said Yolie. "Nothing is destine. We choose our own path. So...we will have to face the consequences of our own choices."
"Hey!" Tai waved to them. "The hovercraft is almost done. Izzy said we should be able to reach to Zelphir by mid-day if we hurry." Sora and the girls stood up as Joe attached the last gasoline container back to the hovercraft.
Sora smiled. "I can't believe I actually would be so glad to see a machine. I missed the hovercraft so much."
"Yeah, I understand what you mean," said Kari. "Especially when we are pushing the motorcycle."
"Why are you complaining," asked Yolie, as they all walked up to the hovercraft. "TK did all of the pushing and hauling." By the time they reached there, almost all of their members were in there. Only Tai, TK, and Matt stood outside, waiting for the girls to reach them. Tai took Sora by her hand and lead her inside. TK followed right after him with Kari in his arm.
"Are you ready priestess," asked Matt as Mimi stood there staring at the hovercraft for a moment. She smiled at him.
"Yes."
"Good." He watched her walked into the hovercraft before he followed her in.
Yolie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we both are the only unwanted ones over here. huh, Hasuma?"
"Hey Ogermon," scowled Davis, sticking his head out. "Come on and get inside, you slowpoke." Just as he expected, Yolie growled and ran into the hovercraft just to give him a piece of her mind.
"You're wrong, Yolie. I am the only one," Hasuma whispered before she walked into the hovercraft. Joe closed the door once she got in. When Hasuma strolled passed him, he patted her on the shoulder.
"About time you got in," he said reassuringly. She nodded her head and turned toward Izzy's direction.
"Are you going to use your laptop?"
"Nope," Izzy answered her back. "Since all of the waves are being disturb over here, I will just set it back to the Zelphir's wavelength once we reached outside the yellow circle.
"Yellow circle," asked Cody.
"Yep." Izzy turned his computer over to Cody and pointed at the yellow dots forming a circle around Xatha with Xatha located in the middle. "Remember Daijou told us Xatha and a huge portion of this forest are surrounded by a specially made stones embedded into the ground? And do you remember he said these stones were made to absorb all kind of wavelength coming toward their direction?"
"I remember," Ken recalled. "He said those stones were implanted there to prevent the tracking disturbance stone's wavelengths and the waves from the barriers around our cities from clashing together. It is also use to keep Xatha a secret. Right?"
"Exactly," said Izzy. "If I set up my computer over here, it will just be in the wrong wavelength. I just have to go outside the yellow area and then set it up from there."
"Then how are we suppose to know where are going," Tai exclaimed.
"Easy," said Joe. He pulled out a map from his coat pocket. He tossed it to Izzy. "We do it the old way."
"When did you get that?" Izzy flipped the map open and looked at Joe with a questionable expression.
"I got it from Daijou, yesterday night. He knew I was the driver so he gave it to me. And since you don't have to look at the laptop for quite a while, I will leave you with the map. Just doing get us lost!" Izzy grumbled something only he and Joe could hear. Whatever it is, it caused Joe to smile. Hasuma walked back to her seat, which was located right next to Mimi. "Oh yeah," said Joe, while starting the engine. "Do you see this mark over here?" He pointed at the map and Izzy used his eyes to follow the direction of his finger. At the mid-Northeast direction of the map, an 'X' was marked over one of the road. "That, is where one of the yellow stone is placed. Once we reach there, you can start tracking Zelphir's direction from then on. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Alright...then let's go." The hovercraft roared into life and it lifted up into the air. All of them relaxed on their seat as Joe drove through the forest. In a matter of minutes, they zoomed pass Xatha's barrier. Kari looked back in time to find Val waving goodbye to them. She smiled and waved back. TK slipped his arms around her shoulder and they both waved back to Val as they disappeared into the forest. Joe lifted the hovercraft higher into the air to avoid the huge boulders lying around the road. Izzy patiently directed Joe in regarding to the direction they were to take.
An hour into the forest, Joe accidentally triggered a trap. Izzy turned on the barrier, but nothing happen. "Daijou must have deactivated it for us," he told Joe. Joe just nodded his head and continued on with his driving. A few minutes later, Cody took over with the direction, when Izzy almost told Joe to go down the wrong direction. Weary from days of journey, majority of them were sleeping. Kari slept with her head on TK's shoulder. Mimi was smiling secretly when Hasuma unconsciously used her shoulder as a pillow. She didn't dare to move when Matt, who happened to be sleeping upright, accidentally slid down toward her and his head softly landed on her shoulder. Tai had his head on Sora's lap as he snoozed. And Ken, who looked at Davis and Yolie's direction nervously, found them huddling close to each other. He sighed and silently hoped this ride would be smooth. Neither he nor anyone was in the mood to hear one of their arguments again.
Izzy's computer bleeped after a while. He sat up straight on his chair and began to type rapidly on his computer. "Prodigious," he shouted out loud, waking up everyone in the hovercraft. Joe inwardly thanked him because he was starting to fall asleep too. "We have a connection!"
"Now that we do, let's get to Zelphir," said Joe. He shifted the gear and the hovercraft lifted high up into the air, above the trees. Since they were using the map, they need to stay low to watch the road. But now that Izzy have his laptop's tracking device working again, Joe could just soar through all of it. Joe slowly tilted the hovercraft toward Zelphir's direction.
"Oh no...!" That was all Cody was able to say when Joe pressed on the gas pedal. Crashes, screams, and sounds of people bumping into each other could be heard when the hovercraft burst forward in an incredible speed.
"JOE!!! You damn idiot," growled Matt as he lifted Mimi off of him. "I will blast your head off once we got off this place."
"Waste your energy on the Majis," said Joe, pointing to the front window screen. Izzy, Ken, and Cody already activated their screens. Davis jumped upward and took over the driving, while Joe and Sora settled on one of the screen.
"Better get them while they are not aware," said Izzy, sliding the screen to Matt. Hasuma looked at Yolie before they both headed toward the hatch and popped it open. "Barriers activated."
"Now lets get started," said Joe.
"Wait," Matt commanded. Everyone turned to him and found him staring at Mimi. "Are you ready, priestess?" He slid a gun to her. Mimi slowly lifted it up and stared at the gun for a moment. A determine look appeared on her face.
Mimi pointed the gun steadily to the screen and nodded her head. "I'm ready."
"Alright," said Matt, nodding his head too. "Then what are we waiting for."
Tai snorted. "You were the one who told us to wait."
"Hang on tight," said Davis, as he pressed on the gas pedal. They zoomed toward the group of Majis that were waiting at the boarder of the forest. Davis could see Zelphir looming right behind them. A familiar humming noise could be heard from the front, left, right, and back of the hovercraft as the screen projections appeared. Hasuma initiated the surprise attack. She tossed an energy ball into the crowd of Majis even before they even started to fire. Her energy balls blasted the Majis around it and killing them instantly. Surprised at the sudden attack, the Majis could only squeak when Davis ram right into them and flew away in a ferocious speed, heading straight to Zelphir. Three Majis charged up energy balls, ready to throw it to them. But TK saw their actions and shot them down before they could damage the barrier. The charged up energy balls fell to the ground when their owner died and killed those Majis surrounding it.
As fast as they appeared outside the forest, they disappeared exactly with the same speed. In a matter of minutes, Davis and the others left behind them piles of dead corpse of Maji as they entered into the city and within its barrier. "We're lucky a portion of the forest boarder is located right next to Zelphir. I am not that eager to fight those Majis again," said Cody.
"Forget about them," said Davis, pointing outside. "Look at the city. Everyone is staring at us!" True to his words, the citizens of Zelphir were staring at the hovercraft looming above them. Rarely have they seen a hovercraft and much more rare, travelers to the city. Joe, done with his shooting, took over the driving and slowly guided the hovercraft to the ground. He gave enough time for the people to move out of the way before he settled the hovercraft down to the floor. Curiosity filled the air as the people surrounded the hovercraft, hoping the catch a glimpse of it.
Izzy beamed. "I seem people are fascinated with my creation."
"Give them a car and they will be fascinated," Matt retorted. "Look at this place. I think Zelphir is like Teria, a city that is devoted to worship the goddess."
"I guess you are right," said TK, while he observed the dirt road they were hovering over and the wells located half a miles away from each other. The buildings were old and run down. But many of the buildings they passed by slowly were filled with historical value. Izzy even pointed out one building he believed to be as old as a thousand years ago.
"And to think they kept it in such good quality," Izzy murmured as he stared at the polished water-stained stonewalls and the refurnished windows.
"Forget about sightseeing," snapped Joe with great irritation. "The people are blocking us from moving." He pointed to the front window and Ken leaned forward to have a closer look. Their arrival have caused quite a stir in this city and by this time the hovercraft was bombarded with a huge crowd, gathering in every single direction. So loud were their murmurs that they penetrated through the walls of the hovercraft. Joe flicked a switch and it opened a microphone to his left. "Excuse me kind citizens," he spoke in it. His voice projected out to the crowd. The crowd's was immediately stopped their murmuring when they heard Joe's voice. "I would like to pass by. May you please make a passage for us? Thank..." His gratitude was left unfinished when a person from their right, hurled a ripe tomato at their hovercraft. Before Izzy and the others knew it, they were staring at the crowd in utter shock when the air suddenly became filled with flying vegetables heading toward their direction.
"GET THIS VILE THING OUT OF OUR CITY," shouted one man.
"TECHNOLOGY IS THE KEY TO EVIL!"
"THE GODDESS WILL CONDEMN YOU FOR THIS!"
Izzy's amusements were immediately replaced with horror, when he realized they were condemning his invention instead of admiring it.
"I don't know about you," shouted Davis, raising his voice over the shouting crowd. "I am not enjoying this. Let's get out of here before they pull this thing apart!"
Joe didn't hesitate to follow his command. He pulled the hovercraft high up into the air and speed away. For a moment there, the crowd chased after them, shouting curses at them and throwing vegetable right after them. But soon, the crowds were lost in their sight because they were not able to keep up to the hovercraft speed.
"My goddess," exclaimed Tai. "We were lucky Teria's citizens weren't like this!"
"They took the teaching to the extreme," Sora pointed out.
"Thank goddess they didn't do any real damage," said Cody. "We just need a nice wash to clean up this mess. Luckily they didn't throw rocks at us."
"With all of the citizens like this, where can we go," asked Kari.
"We can go to the shrine," said Hasuma. "No one will start a riot at the shrine. And besides, we need to go there anyways."
"Where is the shrine," Joe snapped. Izzy could tell he was in a foul mood. Hasuma walked up to the front and scanned their surrounding. With the hovercraft floating above the city, she could see it clearly. She pointed at a structure located at the center of the city. It was a small structure and it was indistinguishable amongst the other buildings. How she knew it was the shrine, Joe had no idea, nor did he care. He drove there under her instruction and sure enough it was the shrine. He landed on the shrine's huge front lawn.
Cody was the first to step out of the hovercraft. He looked up at the rectangular white building looming right before him. "Ah...the crystal," he murmured. "That is how she knew."
The others slowly emerged from the hovercraft. TK and Kari were the last to get out of it, because they happened to be sitting the furthest away from the entrance. An old familiar face came hurrying out from the shrine and headed toward their direction. It didn't took them long to recognize the old man, who was huffing and puffing, running toward them.
"Hi Genai," shouted Tai. The old priestess paused in his running and stared at them as they slowly approached him.
Kari, who strayed a little behind the group, tapped TK on the shoulder to gather his attention. "I wonder," she said to him. "Since the hovercraft can float so high in the air, why didn't we stay in that altitude? It would have avoided some of the Majis in the first place."
"It's because the higher the hovercraft goes, the more energy it uses," TK explained. "The air pressure changes as we go higher. It takes a lot more energy for the hovercraft to hover high in the air than it is, when it is in a lower level. Joe and Izzy think ahead. They rather risk running into the Maji and conserve the energy for emergency usage."
"But don't the barrier uses up our energy too?"
"Yes...but we would be expending more energy if we are hovering high up in the air and with the barrier activated. Don't forget, Kari, some of the Majis know how to fly." She nodded her head in understanding. By the time they finished with their conversation, Tai have already reached Genai and introduced Mimi. Genai bowed to Mimi and she did the same.
"I'm very sorry my priestess," said Genai, pointing at the hovercraft. "It seems like you appear on the wrong side of the city. If you were to appear on the Western side of the city instead of the Eastern side, you would not be rudely accepted."
"How come," asked Davis.
"Because the Western side favors technology," Yolie explained in great aspiration. "You can basically deduces the reason after hearing Genai's explanation."
Genai nodded his head in agreement. "I am sad to say, the city is highly divided." He shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry to bore you with these unimportant matters, priestess. You must..."
"Unimportant?" Hasuma interrupted him with disapproval written all over her face. "My dear priest, you seem to have forgotten the goddess teaching. She values unification and harmony between different species and within each species. Divisions usually cause animosity. And indeed, this city certainly has an issue with animosity. If you value unification and harmony and performed your job dutifully, the animosity between the citizens that live with in this city would not have rose to this degree."
Genai, baffled by the sudden lecture, just stood there, gawking at her. Although Mimi, felt Hasuma could put it in a gentler way, she, nonetheless, strongly agreed with her. The others have a solemn look on their faces. Only Matt smirked when Genai remained dazed by the verbal assault dealt toward him. It was about time someone shut them up, he thought. The first two encounters with the Genai family have been pleasant to Matt. But his last encounter with the one in Silic had been sour. This one seemed to fit in the latter category.
"My dear," he gasped. "I never thought it that way. But it doesn't matter..." He paused when he realized his words were looked upon with disapproval. "I mean...uhm...I will deal with this matter later. Right now, I believe you would like to take the trial?"
"Correct," answered Yolie.
"Then please come with me," he said, while leading the way into the shrine. There was nothing elaborate about the exterior of the shrine. Only the crystal protecting this city standing high upon the roof of this rectangular building differentiated it from the other run down structures surrounding it. The interior decoration was also simple. Its white walls laid barren, without any decoration. It was noticeably vast for its size, because prayers and sermons took place in this room. The only thing that seems significant within the room was stationed in the back wall. There, embedded within the back wall, consisted a golden door with the crest of curiosity engraved on it. The door led to the main chamber of the shrine. When they reached there, Genai paused by the door and turned toward their direction.
"Oh my priestess," he cried out in an over exaggerated tone. "How I dream of this day to come. If you pass this trial, all of our dreams will be answer."
"Get on with it," snapped Joe.
"Oh..yes," he muttered, suppressing his annoyance for the interruption of the wonderful speech he prepared for this occasion. "Please proceed." He pushed open the door and they entered. Mimi only paused long enough to give Genai her gratitude and a bow before Matt pushed her into the main chamber.
Once in there, they were not surprise to find the simplicity of the room. To the right of the wall, there laid a staircase leading upward. Where it lead to, they have no idea for a barrier blocked the entrance to it when Izzy tried to enter it. Unlike the praying room, which was painful to see due to its blinding white walls, the main chamber shrouded in darkness and portrayed a gloomy setting. Four flower shaped lamps, located on each side of the walls, lit up the room. In the middle of the room laid a familiar stone tablet. It held the sprit of the ghost responsible for this trial.
"Have the test started yet," asked Kari nervously. According to her experiences, the test usually started once they entered the main chamber. And from the way things look, it seem like nothing have occurred yet.
"I don't think so," TK answered her. "He looked at the rest of the teammates. Tai and Matt cautiously surveyed their surroundings, while Sora, Yolie, and Hasuma stayed close to Mimi. Izzy wasted no time in trying to crack open the barrier surrounding the entrance to the staircase, while Tai, Cody, and Ken looked on. Davis, with nothing to do, walked up to the stone tablet and tapped on it.
"Hey, anybody home," he called out to the stone tablet. He squeaked when a ghostly sprit of an old man rose up from the tablet. He yawned and slightly adjusted his green robe with his eyes closed. Bald and filled with wrinkles on his forehead, he hovered slightly above the stone tablet. Mimi quickly rushed forward and kneeled down in front of him. The others followed her movement.
"My name is Mimi Tachikawa. I am the chosen priestess from Guardinia. I come here to take the trial." With her introduction done, they waited patiently and in silence for his reply. Dismay immediately filled their faces when fifteen minutes later the sprit answered them with a snore.
"My goddess," roared Izzy. "He fell asleep!"
"You...you...," growled Matt.
"No need to call me name," said the sprit, interrupting whatever Matt intended to call him. "I am awake now." Doubt filled their minds when he started to yawn again. He reached into his robe and took out the crest of curiosity. They were extremely surprise when he just handed it over to Mimi. "Here you go," he said.
Mimi looked at it doubtfully. "But the trail..."
"You guys already pass it," he said. "Remember Xatha? Daijou told me about your deeds over there." Surprise and shock hanged over them as he continued with his words. "In Xatha, you have proven your worth by showing you have the courage to seek the truth and to reveal the truth to the world. That is the purpose of this test. Truth might be hurtful and sometimes people tend to want to run away from them. That is cowardness. You guys choose the harder path. You choose to face them and accept them. That is the quality the goddess admires. And for that reason, you deserve to have the crest of curiosity."
"I think he is just lazy," Davis whispered softly to Ken.
"And that too," the sprit admitted with a yawn, causing Davis to blush. "And now that you have passed all of the trials, it is my duty to open the teleporter which will lead you to the goddess's castle."
"Really," Kari exclaimed from excitement. The others looked on with eager, except Matt who pretended to not care.
"That's what I am here for."
"Alright," cheered Tai. He hugged Sora happily. "We are finally done with this mission." The others jumped happily around, except Hasuma, Mimi, and Matt. Hasuma patted Mimi softly on the shoulder, while Mimi smiled softly to her. Matt would have joined in with the celebration, but luckily, he kept a close watch over Mimi and his observance allowed him to see the sadness in Mimi's eyes when she first heard the news. It puzzled him to a great degree. Currently, she was smiling with Sora and hugging Kari. He knew, he did not imagine her expression. Hasuma's behavior was also very peculiar. She seemed tense about something, and he didn't know why.
"Something is definitely wrong over here," he thought. From the corner of his eyes, he caught Tai's eyes. He had to give Tai some credit, because Tai noticed the expression Mimi shown in that brief moment. Although he displayed a cheerful expression, his eyes maintained its focus on Mimi.
The sprit, weary of their shouting and noises, yawned and shouted for them to quiet down, because he still have something important to tell them. How he knew he have there attention was a mystery to them, especially when he have his eyes closed during this whole time. "Alright, although you have the right to meet the goddess, I can't operate the teleporter unless it is the morning. Why? Because the goddess wanted to give you some time to say your last good-bye to the priestess before you go to her castle."
"Wait a minute," said Sora. There was one word in there that caught all of their attention. "What do you mean by 'last' good-bye."
Whatever he was expecting, he was not expecting this question. The sprit cracked open one eye and his beady black eye landed on the priestess. "Don't you know what happen to the priestess once you accomplish your journey," he asked them slowly. Everyone, except Mimi and Hasuma, shook their heads. He closed his eye and chucked softly. "My...my...this is interesting. Now this will make a nice trial." He turned to Mimi. "I believe they have the right to know, priestess," he told her seriously.
She nodded her head. "Yes they do," Mimi whispered.
"The right to know what," asked Sora. Dread started to fill her. Somehow she felt this was not going to be a good news.
Mimi looked at Hasuma and she nodded her head. "I will tell you," said Hasuma. "This is a secret passed only to all of the priest or priestess chosen by the goddess to go on this journey," said Hasuma. "The priestess or the priest have the right to tell their guardians and no one else. The priest I protected chose to tell me."
"Forget about it," TK burst. "I want to know what is going to happen to Mimi." Kari gripped Mimi's hand tightly.
Mimi lifted her head and determination appeared on her face. "As the chosen priestess of the goddess, I will sacrifice my life to restore Gaia." Everyone was stunned by the sudden announcement, except Hasuma and the ghost. Even Matt was not able to hide his surprise.
"What are you talking about," whispered Sora in disbelief. She grabbed Mimi by her arms. "You are lying right?"
"You know Mimi don't lie," said Hasuma. She pointed the star on her right arm. "The reason for these trials is to gather energy. Every trial Mimi passes, it will mark her purity and her righteousness. These are the qualities the goddess needs to revive the world. Once she finished with her journey, she will be sacrifice and the purity she received from the trials will be converted into a pure energy, which the goddess will use to eliminate the Majis and heal the world."
Izzy even abandoned his laptop at the news. "You mean to tell me," he said slowly. "That we have been helping her and keeping her safe just so she could die?!"
Hasuma frowned and looked down on the ground. "Yes," she said regretfully. Chaos erupted and before they knew it, everyone, beside Matt, started to shout.
Yolie grabbed Hasuma by the front of her shirt and pulled one of her arm backward. "You knew about this," she growled. She ignored the others as they held on to Mimi and asked her to tell them the truth by herself. Hasuma nodded her head. "Why didn't you tell us?! Why?!"
"Because I have no right to tell you," she said. "This is Mimi's secret...not mine." Yolie's hand trembled and her fist shook slightly.
"Give me one good reason, why I shouldn't punch you," she growled.
"I..."
"You could have stopped her," Davis screamed at her.
To his surprised, Hasuma laughed out loud. Her laughter drew everyone's attention. Yolie flared up in anger and thrust her fist right at Hasuma's face. However, before it made its contact she teleported away. They looked around just to find her standing behind the stone tablet.
Yolie rushed to her in anger, but Mimi pounced on her. "No," she screamed, clinging on to Yolie. "I told her not to. I told her not to," she cried. Tears fell down from Kari, TK, and Sora's faces. Yolie wasn't the only one that was glaring at Hasuma. Basically almost everyone was. Matt's gaze was the coldest of them all.
Hasuma watched this in silence but distress appeared in her face. It was immediately replaced with anger. "You think I didn't tried to stop her," she screamed. Least to say, they were quite surprise. Hasuma hardly lost her cool, but this time she flared up with anger. "You can try to ask her why she ran away ten years ago! You can ask Mimi why! It is because I tried to stop her. That is why she ran away." She banged her fist on the stone tablet, so hard it actually shook and knocked the sleeping sprit right off of it. He blinked his eyes with surprise.
Sora looked at Mimi in disbelief. Mimi slowly released her grip on Yolie and wiped the tears from her face. "But...you told us you ran away because you have an argument with the priest," Sora said softly. Ken and Cody looked back and forth between Hasuma and Mimi. With Mimi looking shamefully down the floor and Hasuma angered face, they knew Hasuma had spoken the truth.
"I lied," said Mimi. She walked up to Hasuma and hugged her. "I'm so sorry, Hasuma," she wept. "I'm so sorry." All anger and injustice Hasuma felt before vanished immediately. She held Mimi softly as she wept. Hasuma turned to the others and told them the real reason behind Mimi's departure.
"After the last priest fail on his journey, I knew Mimi will take his place in this journey," she told them. "I also know the danger of this journey. That is why I rushed back as quickly as I can once I realized my comrades have failed in their mission. I needed to tell her about the danger of this mission. I wanted her to quit," she admitted. "I already lost some of my most precious friends, I do not want to lose Mimi like this." Hasuma shook her head sadly. "But when I reached back to Guardinia and asked her to quit, she refused me."
"I told her," Mimi said in a quivering voice. "I told her I understand the danger I will be facing, but for my people I will take the risk." She smiled sadly. "She then threaten to tell..." She pointed at Sora. "To tell you about it. She said you have the right to know the truth." Mimi smiled softly. "I knew if she tell you, you would try to stop me. So...I promise Hasuma I will quit being a priestess."
"I believed her," said Hasuma. "I did believe her. That was...until I start thinking at night, when I was lying on my bed. I should have known Mimi would not have quitted that easily. I should have known how determine her personality is. When I thought it over, I hurried to her bedchamber only to find she was gone and all of her stuffs were missing. I knew, she have ran away then." Hasuma smiled at her fortune. "But I was kind of lucky, because this happen when Mimi was only eight years old that time. I ran and woke up my master and we both searched for her."
"They found me lost in the middle of a street. Quite pathetic, huh?" The others were lost for words.
"I knew then," said Hasuma. "I knew there was nothing I can do to stop her. Even if I told Sora about it or anybody about it. I knew if we pressure her about it, she would end up running away. That is why I didn't tried to stop her." She patted Mimi softly on her head. "That is why I spend so many time training her and reminding her of the goddess teaching. If I can't prevent her from going, then I will help her accomplish her goal. I don't want Mimi to die without accomplishing her goal."
"It's not Hasuma's fault," Mimi defended her. "I asked her to not tell anyone about it. I wanted everyone of you to be happy instead of thinking you are sending me to the grave."
"If...if I have known about this," said Davis. "I wouldn't have protected you. Without us protecting you, you won't be able to go on your own."
Hasuma snorted. "Haven't you learn anything, yet? When Mimi ran away on her own, it already shown she was willing to go on this journey on her own even if we didn't protect her. Even if none of us would protect her, she will continue on with this journey. Her running away taught me that." Silence filled the air. Neither one knew what else to say to each other. The sprit, opened his sleepy eyes when he noticed the silence hanging in the room. Used to their constant shouting and noises, the silence actually felt awkward to him.
He cleared his throat. "So...are you still going to go to the goddess tower now?"
"OF COURSE NOT," Sora shouted. She ran up to Mimi and looked at her desperately. "Mimi is not going!"
"Yeah," Tai agreed. "We are not going to let Mimi sacrifice herself." Only Matt and Hasuma retained their silence when the others shouted their reasons why Mimi shouldn't go. Matt's eyes caught Hasuma's eyes and they both knew there was nothing they could do to stop her.
Matt sighed inwardly. "Now I know the true meaning behind Diana's word. I might not get a chance, she said." He banged his fist on the stonewall he was leaning on. "She knew Mimi was going to die. She knew there was not going to be another chance." He blinked his eyes and was frighten when an overwhelming feeling of despair erupted within him. Matt shuddered slightly as he tried to suppress his feelings. "What the heck..." He left his thoughts end there, because Mimi suddenly, in a clear voice, announced she would continue on with the journey.
"Why," asked Sora desperately. She shook Mimi slightly on the arms. "Why are you going?"
"Aren't you afraid of death," asked Cody.
"I am afraid," Mimi answered.
"Then don't go," pleaded Ken. "I don't want to lose a friend." A few of them nodded their heads in agreement.
Mimi smiled serenely at them. "You don't want to lose a friend, Ken. But what about the people who are losing their friends and family to the Maji's every single day?" Ken looked stunned. "Is it fair for them?"
"But it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your life," Kari said stubbornly.
"Someone else can do it," said TK.
Mimi shook her head and patted TK on the shoulder. "I know you don't mean it. TK, you have a kind heart. Even if it was someone else, you would not let them sacrifice their life so they can save you." TK closed his eyes because he knew she have spoken the truth. It would just be as painful for him if someone were to do that for him.
When the others opened their mouths to complain, Mimi raised her hand upward to stop them. "Listen," she said. "I choose to walk this path, knowing the consequences of my decision."
"But...," started Joe.
"I know what will happen to me," Mimi continued. "And still I continue on with this journey, because I want nothing more in this world than to help my people." Mimi her right hand and touched her heart. "I can hear it coming from deep inside me. It is telling me and encouraging me to walk this path because I know this path is right." She smiled and patted Sora on her arm. "I know there can always be another person to replace me. I know you must think if I don't do it, another chosen priest or priestess can replace me. But...but I can't live my life thinking like that because I know my people are suffering every single day. The more I stall, the more will suffer and I can't live my life in happiness, while knowing I could have been the one to change the world and give them peace, but because of my selfishness, they are suffering." Misery, an emotion she never did once revealed to them, appeared on her as she pleaded to them for their understanding. "Can't you see? I can't abandon my people. Even if I live, I won't be happy, knowing I can do something and I didn't. Please...if...if you really care for me, don't stop me. Let me walk my own path."
"Mimi," Sora sobbed, she threw her arms around her friend. Kari could do nothing but to cling on to TK as she broke down and cried. Tears fell freely down from their faces when they all knew she have chosen death.
The sprit cleared his throat. "Now that you have chosen your answer, I will activate the teleport the next morning. You can stay inside the shrine for tonight, if you want to." With that said and with his mission done, he went back into the stone tablet. A snore shortly rose from it.
******Night Time******
Neither one of them were in the mood to speak, as they contemplated on tomorrow's event. Joe, tired from today's emotional event, just tossed one last firewood into the campfire, before he huddled next to it and fell asleep. Kari and TK have both fallen asleep too, while Izzy played with his laptop, distractively. At this given time, they would have eagerly used this fleeting time to talk to Mimi, but Mimi chose to stay within the main chamber to pray.
She told them, before she entered into the main chamber again when they decided to sleep outside in the front lawn instead of the stuffy shrine, "it would have been better if I stay in here. It will make it easier for us to part." She was right. With her presence, the atmosphere of the camp would have been awkward and filled with worries for neither one of them could help but stare at her and worrying about her. They would also have spent the day and night trying to take care of her, which would eventually made her feel uncomfortable.
Tai understood her reason and because of this reason he did not object to Mimi's choice. "Yes, it will be easier for all of us this way," he said to her, while the others, beside Hasuma and Yolie, looked at him in disbelief. And now...he sat here, with Sora sleeping next to him and Cody and Ken snoring right next to him, he couldn't help but wonder where did Matt go. After they got out of the shrine, he just disappeared without a word. "Come to think of it," he thought to himself. "Hasuma is also gone too." He looked around him and softly covered Sora with a blanket. Watching her sleep had became one of his greatest pleasures, now they were in love; but today, it brought him sorrow. It hurt him to see her cry and here he could clearly see the trails of tears on her face. He wiped them and gave her a fluttering kiss on her cheek, before he stood up to look for Hasuma or Matt.
Before Tai started his search, he grabbed his blanket and lightly laid it on Izzy's sleeping figure. To his surprise, he found Davis and Yolie huddling close to each other. Both of them were fast asleep. Tai couldn't help but smiled as he walked across the vast front lawn, when he recalled how Yolie paced around the camp in great irritation and poor Cody, who happened to stray across her path, received an earful before he knew what was going on. Davis was valiant enough to save a confuse Cody from Yolie's tirade and stood there in silence as she vented her anger at him. "I was so lost in my thought I didn't even notice their voice have died down a while ago," he mused, as he took a left turn around the corner of the building. He was ashamed to admit, he actually took some time to wonder about the structure of this place. On the eastern side of the building, a huge amount of exotic trees and plants were planted around the eastern side and halfway across the back yard. However, on the western side, it contained nothing but a storage room for materials and early signs of construction works.
"Even the shrine is divided," Tai thought, while maneuvering passed the plants and trees placed within this side of the lawn. "No wonder the people are divided." After walking around the seemingly man-made forest, he stumbled upon a small clearing. In the clearing, a beautiful water fountain laid in the middle of it, and to Tai surprise, Matt happened to be there too. Tai could see Matt was busy with something as he chopped off a slice of wood and puncturing holes through it. So concentrated was he on his work, he didn't noticed Tai approaching him. Midway in reaching him, Tai decided to leave him alone. After all, he knew Matt for a long time, and he knew Matt would like nothing more than to be alone at this time. Tai moved away in silence, not wanting to disturb him and not eager to give him any reason to use him as target practice, and started to head toward the southern side of the forest. Or...what he believed to be the southern side. It didn't took him long to lose sight of Matt and discovered he was thoroughly lost.
This particular predicament did not scare him though for he knew the size of this mini forest. So, he kept on walking straight, hoping to reach to the edge of it soon. Instead of finding his way out, he stumbled upon Hasuma. He would have missed her if the clouds up in the sky did not moved slightly and allowed a few rays of moonlight to shine on her figure. She was also lost in her thoughts for she did not realize he was approaching her until he stood next to her.
"Hasuma," he whispered. It was enough to startled her. She looked upward, from where she sat and smiled at Tai. "What are you doing over here?"
She patted the soft ground next to her and Tai took her invitation. They sat there, hiding within the shades of the tree. "I thought everyone would be better off without me there," she told him. "And beside...I need to think."
Tai gave her a sympathetic smile. "You must have had it hard, huh?" She raised one of her eyebrow and gave him a questioning look. "I mean, we are the lucky one, while you are the one that suffered through all this time." He sighed. "None of us knew about this condition. No one but you and Mimi. Mimi was determined to reach her goal, so this condition did not bother her. But you...you have to spend all of your life worrying about her." From the corner of his eyes, he watched her as she lowered her gaze to the ground. "We all have a carefree journey." He laughed slightly. "That is, if we can forget about the Maji's attacks. We can be careless because we didn't know what would happen to Mimi. But...you on the other hand, knew about it, and it must be painful for you to watch this happening."
Hasuma laughed slightly. "You are very understanding, Tai. No wonder you are the leader of your group." Tai blushed slightly. "Not only are you understanding, you are also very observant too." She gave him a dazzling smile. "I am so happy Sora found someone like you."
Tai blushed deeply under her gaze. "Come on," he said, slapping her softly on the shoulder. "Don't joke with me like that."
"I am not joking," she said. Her voice suddenly became serious. "I mean it." Tai didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. For a while, they sat there in a comfortable silence, until Tai started to fidget. "What is bothering you," asked Hasuma, noticing his discomfort.
"Actually, I wanted to know what you were just thinking," asked Tai, glancing at her. Her face became grave.
"I was thinking, about Mimi's symbol," she said softly. "The star symbol marked her as the chosen priestess not only collected energies from the each of the trials she had passed. It also forms a connection between her and the goddess."
"I see," said Tai. "And what about it."
"I wonder...since the chosen priestess or priest is often accompany with a guardian, why can the goddess only sacrifice the priestess and not the guardian?" Surprised etched on his face as she turned to look at him. "I think, it might have to do with the connection the priestess have with the goddess. Maybe, because of this reason, the goddess can use her as an energy source to heal the world. If that is true..."
"If that is true, you can also be the source too, because your power comes directly from the goddess," Tai finishing her thought. A frown appeared on his face. "You are thinking to take Mimi's place, aren't you."
"If that is true, then yes."
"Mimi will not let you," he said. "You heard her. She will not be happy if she knew you were going to sacrifice your life so she can live."
Hasuma laughed and shook her head. "You don't understand. My life has no meaning. I live only to protect Mimi. But Mimi...she is different. She is vibrant and full of life. She has courage and sincerity."
"But you have..."
She raised her hand halfway to stop him. "Don't you understand, Tai? Those trials do not only embody the values the goddess belief in. It also contains the qualities a leader must have, and I know Mimi have the quality to become a good leader." She stood up and looked up to the starry night. "The world needs a leader like her. They don't need me." Tai looked down at the floor before he stood up and walked up their side.
"You have decided then," he asked her.
She nodded her head. "If that is the case, then yes." Simultaneously, they started to head back to the camp. "I will need your help though."
"My help?" Tai wondered.
"Yeah. I need you to help me restrain Mimi when that happens. I need you to explain to Mimi about why I am doing this."
"You are asking quite a lot," said Tai.
"I know," she said. "But I know you can do it." She paused from her walk and turned to look at her left side. Tai turned to the direction of her gaze. To their astonishment, they reached back to the clearing Tai had saw Matt earlier before. But this time, he was not alone. Sitting on a swing was Mimi and Matt stood closely behind her. They were whispering to each other and Tai was quite surprise to find Matt laughing slightly. "Let's leave them alone," said Hasuma. Tai nodded his head. Worries filled him and Hasuma noticed it right away. "I know Mimi will not fall in love with him, because she knew of her destiny. As for Matt, I was worry about him because he was going to be the one who would end up getting hurt. But now..."
"If your plan doesn't work, Matt will end up getting hurt," said Tai. "Do you think it will be wise?"
She shook her head. "I don't think Matt is at that stage yet. But Mimi sure is amazing. She managed to open his heart and embedded herself inside his heart. He won't ever forget about her." She nodded her head, and determination flashed in her eyes. "That is why she must live, because there can be no other leader like her."
Tai shook his head. "No, I can think of one." He grabbed Hasuma by the arm and stopped her from her stroll. To her surprise, he kneeled down before her. "I have never met a more valiant and wise leader like you. In my mind, I held high respect for you." He looked upward and found her smiling, with tears in her eyes. "I believe, none of us will ever forget you."
"Come on, Tai," she said, suddenly hurrying out of the forest. "Now you are embarrassing me." Tai smiled, but quickly realized he would be lost in the forest if he didn't follow her. With this knowledge, he went chasing after her.
**********
"I promise her I will bring her back to Deme's Day festival," thought Matt as he looked around the forest. "But now that I know about this...I know I can't do it. I hate breaking my promise...especially to her." He walked blindly into the man-made forest, unsure of what he was looking for. He finally stumbled upon a clearing where a water fountain stood in the middle of the clearing. "This brought back memories," he thought. Matt strolled toward the fountain and sat on the edge of it. Before they started on the journey, he had sat next to Mimi beside a water fountain. It was the first time she heard him playing his harmonica. The meeting, no doubt, was not pleasant because it ended in an argument. But now...he stood here, staring at the trees before him, things seem to be going back into a circle. But this time, she will be gone for good.
Matt slammed his fist on the cemented boarder of the fountain. "I hate her," he muttered out loud. "I really hate her. She and her cheerful self. I can't believe she is willing to sacrifice her life just to save us. That stupid girl!" Jumping up on his feet, he started to pace around the clearing, wearing down the grass. Colorful words, escaped his mouth as he cursed Mimi. After venting his anger for a moment, he finally settled down and sat back down on the edge of the water fountain. "There was no use denying to myself," he thought. "I hate her so much because...I hate her for leaving us. After...after I finally trust in her. After I finally decided to protect her." He jumped up on his feet. "She played us for a fools! Damn her!" He angrily strolled out of the clearing and into the forest. Darkness started to fall down upon them as the sun descended down the horizon to let the moon replaced it. Half an hour later, Matt found himself out of the forest, but at lost at what he was supposed to do. He didn't want to go back to the group, nor did he like doing nothing. So he took a stroll around the shrine, with his mind blank from any thoughts.
It so happened he stumbled upon the storage room, located on the western side of the shrine. "Bunch of junks," said Matt, until he tripped over a pile of woods. His eyes landed on them and he came up with a thought. Matt quickly scrambled back up to his feet and took one of the woods. "I can use this." With that thought, he tucked it under his arm and looked around the area. He found what he was looking for. Now with a new purpose in his mind and with the right equipments, Matt strolled straight back to the forest and entered it. He didn't know how long it took him to find the fountain but when he found it, he started to work on his purpose.
Matt dropped the piece of wood onto the ground and cursed when he realized he forgotten to grab a saw. "I guess I have to use my power then." Concentrating his power to his hand, ice started to formulate and solidify into one huge sharp edge. He took two swift swipes at it and the wood fell apart, just to form a smooth wooden board. Matt kicked the two unwanted parts aside and took out his gun. The degree of the shot fired was determined by a gauge located on the side of the gun. Matt lowered it to the lowest level and pointed it carefully at the left and right side of the board. The first shot he fired at it pierced a small hole to the right. Matt grabbed the rope lying beside him and measured the hole made. It fitted perfectly. He tied a deadly knot on one of the end and flew upward. Once he made it to the lowest strong branch of a tall tree, he tossed the rope around it and flew downward. Careful measures were made as he determined the height of the swing and the length of the rope, before Matt made the next hole and tied the knot. With that done, he gave a satisfying nod.
He patted his hand to let loose the dusts. Matt shrugged off his coat and ripped it into pieces. He tied one of the pieces to a tree and proceeded straight out of the forest. During the whole time, he would pause constantly to tie a piece of his coat on the branches of some lower tree. He was quite surprise to find himself out of the forest in a matter of minutes, in which this deed once took him half an hour to accomplish. He mused how absentminded he must have been at that time. But now, he hurried back to the shrine without wasting any precious time. He passed Genai, who was sleeping on one of the benches and entered into the main chamber. There Mimi laid, on the floor, fast asleep. He breathed deeply and softly walked to her. Doubt filled his face. "Should I wake her up, or not?" He didn't know, but he found his hand moving on its own. It touched her shoulder gently. The sudden pressure on her shoulder managed to wake up Mimi. Her eyes fluttered open and widen when she saw a shadow looming over her.
Matt was quick to notice the terror in her eyes and he leaned forward, within the light of the lamps, to reveal his face to her. Mimi sighed from relief once she got a glimpse of his face.
"Yamato," she said, but quickly closed her mouth when he shushed her. He grabbed her arm and lifted her upward.
"Come with me," he whispered. He grabbed one of the lamps and lit it before he proceeded to drag Mimi out of the shrine.
"Yamato," she huffed, trying to keep up with his running pace. "Wh..where are...you..taking me?"
Matt smiled at her, which caught her off guard quite a bit. "It is a surprise." He paused by the edge of the forest for a moment so he could locate the rag from his coat. Once he located it, he continued to pull Mimi gently through the forest. It didn't take them long to find the clearing, now that he marked the way to it. When Mimi reached there, Matt waited for her response. Her glance roamed around the surrounding and she gasped when her eyes landed on the swing. She turned to Matt with wonders in her eyes.
"You made it for me," she asked in a whispery voice. Matt grinned and nodded his head.
"Come on," he said, lightly drawing her to the swing. Although it was nothing magnificent, Mimi deeply loved it. She sat down softly on it and Matt stood behind her. Mimi looked upward to Matt and found him smiling down at her.
"Thank you, Yamato. I really..."
"Call me Matt." Mimi was shock, to say the least. "Call me Matt," he repeated.
This earned him a beautiful smile from her. "Thank you, Matt."
Matt laughed. "Do you want to try it?" Mimi's eyes widen.
"Can I?"
"Of course. I made it just for you." He pulled Mimi upward on the swing and gave her a slight push. Mimi suppressed a squeak of surprise when she moved against the wind and swung in the air. Every so and then, she could felt Matt's gentle push. Her laughter mixed with his.
"For the first time," thought Matt as he watched Mimi enjoying the swing with a smile on his face. "For a long time, I have not laughed like this. Right now...I feel so peaceful. I just want to forget about everything." And he did...for a moment as he pushed her and watched her. Soon, he grew tired and Mimi requested to get back down. Matt helped her slowed the swing, and he stood behind her when the swing came to a full stop. They breathed deeply for a moment to allow their racing hearts to slow down for a moment. "Did you enjoy it," asked Matt, looking down at her.
Mimi lifted her head upward and nodded her head. "I enjoy it, Matt. I never had so much fun in my entire life." Her smile disappeared when she noticed the frown appearing immediately on Matt's face. "I'm sorry. Did I upset you?"
"Yes," he answered frankly. "For a moment there, I forgot what is going to happen tomorrow." He paused when he noticed the sadness in her eyes. "I never told anyone about this before," he said suddenly. "It will be a secret between you and me. Even...even TK doesn't know about it."
"Yamato...I mean Matt. I don't know should you tell me about it," Mimi said, feeling a little bit flustered.
"I want to tell you. Maybe...it will explain to you how come I became the person I am today." Her eyes widen and she silently nodded her head. Matt moved away from the back of the swing and kneeled down before her. To Mimi's surprise, he reached for her hands and held them gently within his grip.
"I was eight years old then," he started. "TK was only five." A gentle smiled appeared on his face. "My father loved my mother a lot and she loved him too. We...I guess, you can say we have a normal family. That was until...my father passed away, when I was eight," Matt said grimly, while Mimi expressed her sympathy. "My father was a mercenary. A rich person from Teria ordered an antique from him and he needed it deliver to his place. My father values his customers a lot so he was adamant in watching over this whole transaction, insuring nothing will go wrong. But...mid-way to Teria, a group of Maji caught them with a surprise attack and my father died because of it." Matt shuddered slightly as he tried to control his emotion. Mimi wanted to lift her hand to pat on his head, but he held onto her hands. After the initial wave of emotion past by, he continued his story, but this time in a cold and icy tone.
"My mother said she would love him forever but she lied. Only two months have past and she was already dating someone. A few more months later, she agreed to marry him." Anger flashed in his eyes. "I hated her for betraying my father, but what I hated more was when I overheard her conversation with her fiancé. He was a rich man in Guardinia and the last thing he wanted was to take care of a widow with two young sons. He requested my mother to abandon us or else he will not marry her. She...wanting wealth and someone to take care of her, so agreed to his demand. So...I left her with TK."
"You just left her," Mimi asked in disbelief.
"Yes," said Matt.
"But...what if she decided not to abandon you? What if she..."
"I know my mother more than anyone can ever know her," Matt said flatly. "I know she will do it. She is desperate for love and it was the kind of love my brother and I cannot give her. She view us a burden and I know that she does because I overheard her talking to the servants several times about this."
"TK doesn't know about this," asked Mimi.
Matt shook his head. "I lied to him. I told him our mother died in a car crash and the police are here to separate us and that was why we have to run away." Mimi gasped and shook her head. "You don't understand, priestess. TK loves his mother. He loves her more than anything in this world. In his mind, his mother is the best and the most virtuous woman in this entire planet. If I were to tell him the truth, he would have been crushed."
"But...he still have the right to know," Mimi said softly.
"I know. I will just tell him when the time is ready," said Matt. Unconsciously, they both squeezed each other's hands.
"What did you do afterward, Matt?"
Matt smiled bitterly. "What else can we do? We end up where our mother wanted us to end up. The orphanage was the only place that will take us. TK was sad because he lost a mother and a father in such a short time. As for me...I didn't believe I could trust again." Their hands clasped closer together, he seeking comfort from her and she trying to console him.
"From that day on and today, I vow to take care of TK and I am still fulfilling my oath. I swear I will give him the happiness he didn't received when he was young."
"That is why you cherish money so much," she said. "But Matt, don't you see? To TK, having you beside him has been the happiest thing in his life. No money in this world and no one can separate the bond you both share with each others."
"I know," said Matt with a smile. "I cherish money not only because I want to give TK what he wanted, I also cherish money because it seems to be the only thing I can trust." Mimi opened her mouth, but he shook his head. "Priestess, trust in me. My obsession for money has diminished quite a lot since I met Tai and the others." He chuckled. "Do you know how I met Tai?" She shook her head, but she can't help but smile when she saw the merriment in his eyes.
"I met him when I was nine years old. Tai's family moved into the abandon house right next to our orphanage. I happened to be in the same class as him and I always found him annoying because he can be such a loud mouth when he wanted. One time, I was walking with my brother back to home, and my brother spotted a large lollipop in a store. He wanted it but I didn't have enough money to buy it for him." He smirked. "That was, until I saw Tai walking out of the store with two lollipops in his hand." He released Mimi's hand for a moment to rake his hand through his hair before he grabbed her hands again. "I know Tai is horrible at math, and I even heard the teacher threatening to give him a detention if he didn't pass the next test. So..."
Mimi innocently blinked at him. "You offered to help him with math?"
Matt shook with laughter and shook his head. Somehow her innocence always managed to amuse him. "No...I went up to Tai and whispered to him and told him I have a secret potion which can help him with math." Mimi's eyes widen significantly. "The idiot believed me. I said I will give it to him if he will give me a lollipop he just brought."
"You didn't," gasped Mimi. Matt nodded his head.
"I went back home and stole a fancy perfume bottle from one of our caretaker. I emptied out the perfume and refilled it with water. In exchange for the bottle, Tai stayed true to his word. He gave me the lollipop."
"My goddess," Mimi gasped. Although she disapproved his actions, she couldn't help but laughed with Matt. "Did Tai ever found out about it?"
"Yeah," Matt grinned. "Actually, he is smarter than I thought. Or...maybe, he was just anxious to try it out. I only took three steps away when Tai took a little taste of it and asked me why did it taste like water. I told him it was the benefit of this potion. It works and yet it didn't have a taste. Tai..." He shook his head. "He pretended to believe in me and without me knowing, he trailed right after me. He saw me giving the lollipop to TK and heard me calling him a sucker."
"And what happen next," Mimi asked eagerly.
Matt smiled slightly. "Tai didn't expose my action in front of my brother. Instead, he waited until I was alone and then he confronted me. So..." Matt paused for a moment just so he could observe Mimi's anticipation. "We started to fight each other." Mimi looked stunned. "Yeah...we started to beat each other up...that was until Kari and TK started to run outside and pulled us apart." Matt laughed. "It was so embarrassing. Kari and TK end up having to apologize to each other for our actions. Can you believe it? Kari called her brother childish, and TK said I was immature, and yet those two kids are younger than us. Tai and I couldn't stop laughing." He laughed, while Mimi giggled happily in front of him.
"Did you became friends after that," asked Mimi.
Matt shook his head. "No...because of that fight, both Tai and I flunked the math test because the both of us were too busy healing up our bruised bodies to actually spent time to study for the test. I usually got good grades, so I didn't have to stay behind. Tai did. Tai blamed me for it and so...he and Izzy ganged up to trick me." Mimi's mouth lifted into a smile. "Tai dunked a huge bucket of water over my head, and I was dumb enough to chased after him. They set a trap for me, in which they dug a hole in the ground and Izzy was responsible for pulling the wooden board covering it, once I am over there."
Mimi laughed with mirth. "You fell into the hole?!" Matt nodded ruefully.
"Tai and Izzy were laughing their heads off until I picked up some mud and thrown it at their faces. Joe came walking by then and told them he will tell the teacher if they didn't pull me up. Well...after that, the four of us became friends." Sadness filled his eyes. "And...Tai joined the orphanage with Kari when their parents died in a car crash a few days later. They moved into the same orphanage as Izzy, TK, Joe, his brother, and I lived." He shrugged his shoulders. "We then meet Ken, Davis, and Cody at school. And well...Tai wanted money to support his sister and I wanted money to support my brother, and that was why we started to be mercenary. Izzy helped us and so did Joe, and gradually, Ken, Davis, TK (to my disapproval), and Cody joined us. And now...here we are." He looked at her. His face suddenly retained back its solemn expression. "Here we are."
"Yes...you are here," said Mimi softly. She looked at their clasped hands and smiled. "And I don't regret ever meeting all of you. I am so happy I get the chance you have such wonderful friends as you guys." She smiled. "Sora...Sora was the only friend I have when my parents abandon me to the shrine. She is like another sister of mine. And...well, then Hasuma came. She is like an older sister I never have. Yolie shortly joined afterward and then Kari became my guardian when she turned 12 years old. I view them as my family." She smiled shyly at Matt. "And then you guys came. You became a part of my family too."
Matt looked down to the floor and released her hands. He took out his harmonica and started to play it. She listened to it in silence. For a while, she sat on the swing, but after the first song, she slid down from it and sat down next to Matt. She leaned her head on his shoulder as he played songs after songs. The night sky began to cast off its dark coat. Light slowly lit up the blue sky, when Matt played the last note. He slipped the harmonica back into his coat and stared ahead.
"You've changed me, Mimi," he said softly.
"I am glad," she said happily. Before Matt can react, Mimi cupped his cheeks with her two hands and turned his face toward her. Her eyes looked pleadingly into his. "Promise me you will not go back to what you were in the past? Promise me you will be happy."
Matt softly pulled her hands away, but continued to maintain eye contact with her. "I don't know. I will try, but I don't know." His hands held tightly onto her's. "I can't promise you because how can I start believing in this world when a person like me live and a person like you have to die?"
A sweet smile drifted on her face. "Then believe in the world I willingly die to save. I believe in you, Yamato. I know you can live a wonderful life. I know you can."
Matt nodded his head. There was no time to spend between them for the sun rose from his slumber to replace the moon. Matt stood up with his hands still holding her hands. He gently guided Mimi upward to her feet. To Mimi's astonishment, he kissed her softly on the forehead.
"I won't forget you my priestess," he whispered softly against her skin before he pulled away. His face reverted back to its icy exterior. "The others are waiting." Mimi nodded her head and allowed him to lead her out of the forest.
Yolie let one of her eyebrow rose up significantly, when Mimi appeared with Matt, both unconsciously holding onto each other's hand. Sora stifled her feeling of despair and forced a smile on her face. She walked up to Mimi and hugged her. Mimi smiled and patted her on the back.
"It's time," Mimi said. They all nodded their heads solemnly. Reluctantly, they followed Mimi into the shrine and into the main chamber. Davis was silently praying and hoping the old ghost would be sleeping, but unfortunately for him, he seemed to be wide awake when they reached into the main chamber.
The old ghost saw their solemn faces and sighed. Only Mimi looked determine and ready to face her destiny. He pointed his finger to the stairway. "It is open to you, priestess. You may proceed." Mimi nodded her head and bowed to him.
"Thank you," said Mimi. The ghost nodded his head and he watched them in silence as they walked up the stairs.
Once they reached to the top of the stairs, they entered into a room painted with light blue paint. A huge white circle was drawn in the center of the floor. Drawn with the circle were the crests of kindness, hope, and light. They formed a triangle within the circle.
"I guess we have to step within that circle," said Ken. He hesitated and so did the others. Mimi and Hasuma proceeded into it without any hesitation. Unable to delay this any longer, they followed right after them. Once they were within the circle, the circle flashed in a bright white light. In a blink of an eye, they were teleported from the room into a garden full of plants and flowers.
"What the heck," exclaimed Davis as he looked around him. Beautiful noises came from the birds singing to them. Butterflies flew freely around them. And before them, stood the castle. A white palace, reaching twenty feet up into the air. A golden door decorated the entrance to the palace and the crests of kindness, light, and hope were carved on the door. Before the door stood a four feet pedestal. Mimi walked up to the pedestal and observed it. Six insignias were carved in it. Hasuma took out the crests they received from their journey and gave it to Mimi.
"I think the only way you can open the door is to place these in there," she told Mimi. Mimi nodded her head. Sora opened her mouth to protest, but she quickly closed it. Davis felt Yolie's arm holding him back, when he almost ran up there to knock the crests out of her hand. Agony filled their faces as they watched her putting those crests into the pedestal, sealing her fate.
"Don't stop me," Mimi said softly. "Please...let me do this. Please support me." Matt walked up to her and touched her shoulder. She turned to look at him and he nodded his head. A feeling of gratitude washed over her when she saw him standing next to her. With his support, she gathered all of her courage and placed in the last crest into its rightful place.
At once the three crests carved on the door began to shine dully, before it opened. Mimi, leading the way with Hasuma to her right and Matt to her left, entered the chamber with the others in toll. To Mimi's surprised, the chamber looked really similar to the decoration in Guardinia. On the walls, pictures of digimons were drawn everywhere in the wall, except this time, the pictures also contained humans and Majis. In the middle of the chamber, was an alter.
A red carpet flowed from the top of the alter and down to the front door. Placed on top of the alter, laid the goddess bed. A lacy white canopy obscured their view, but they could clearly see a woman standing with her back to them. Her long black hair flowed down to the ground and it contrast drastically with her white gown. Mimi trembled slightly before she bowed downward.
"My goddess," Mimi addressed her. TK grabbed Kari's hand and they both bowed before the goddess. Izzy almost dropped his laptop at the sight and Joe had to pulled him down to his knee, because Izzy was too shock to move. Sora solemnly, with Tai, Ken, and Cody bowed down to the goddess. Davis and Yolie also bowed. Matt and Hasuma were the last to bow, but before Matt went down on his knee, he caught a small smile appearing on Hasuma's face. That puzzled him. Mimi looked upward and announced her presence. "My name is Mimi Tachikawa. I am the priestess you have chosen to accomplish this journey. I have fulfilled my journey. As the prophesy..." Mimi left her sentence unfinished, and cried out in horror when the goddess started to sway back and forth for a while before she hit the floor, breaking herself into a thousand pieces.
Izzy swore, causing Joe to look at him, and the others immediately reached up to their feet. Mimi rushed up the stairs leading to the alter with the others running right after her. She pulled apart the canopy and her eyes widen in surprise.
"What the heck," screamed Tai in disbelief as he stared at the remains of the goddess. The others were just as dumbfounded as him, when they saw the broken figure lying before them. Before them, laid the scattered remains of a statue of the goddess. Tai lifted the statue's head and turned to look at them. "What is going on?"
"This is our goddess," whispered Kari.
"Well...she is one fragile one," Davis joked, earning him some glares and groans.
"Actually, she is not the goddess." Their attentions were drawn away from the statue and toward Hasuma, who was sitting on the bed. She smiled at them and right in front of them, she started to transform. Her black hair grew longer and fell down on the floor. Her dark attire transformed into a simple white gown. Her face changed too. It discarded its youth and was replaced with wisdom a beauty. Her voice became more musical and softer as she spoke to them. A smile materialized on her face, while staring at their astonished faces. "I guess, I should welcome you to my realm."
Author's notes...kind of important.
ALRIGHT: Final revision for this chapter is finished. I'm sorry. It is a day or two late. Sudden obligations came up in the last minute. And...this chapter took a longer time to revise than I expected it to. As promise, here is the answers to your question:
From the beginning...even before I started on this story, I have intended for Hasuma to be the goddess. So...I never intend to kill her off. Hehehe. As for whether she should continue on with the journey or not, well, it will be explained in the next chapter. I know this chapter brought in a lot of questions and it revealed a lot of secrets. The next chapter will be the same. I assume there will be three more chapters...might be a little bit more. But...it will take me time to write it. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh yeah...feel free to email me at digi_03@yahoo.com for any comments or criticisms.
*To Shy-Lil-Dreamer and Laura-chan: Thanks for the review. I will try to update a new chapter as soon as I can. However, I need to finish the chapter for my other fic, Revelation....Goddess War, before I can start with this. Please bare with me. Thank you.
*Trista-chan: Thanks for your review. I'm glad to hear I managed to surprise you with Hasuma's real identity. As for why I didn't make Matt confess at the last moment...well, it is because Matt doesn't even know his own feeling right now. There are subtle hints indicating his love for Mimi, but Matt can't identify those feelings as love. He just felt it is a wierd emotion raising from him and because he can't identify the feeling, he choose to supress it. I hope I am doing a good job in showing how Matt grew to admire, respect, and eventually love Mimi. Although this process is slow, it is present.
*Teeny- Thanks for your review. I'm glad to hear you like the swing scene.
*Mae- Yep...I love Final Fantasy X and X-2. However, FF7 rank the top of my list. But what inspired me to write this fic is Final Fantasy X. I'm glad to know another Final Fantasy Fan and I really appreciate your review. Thank you.
*To a: Hehehe...thanks for the compliment and for the review. I hope my imagination doesn't fail me at the last moment.
*Aoi-Senshi: I'm glad you like this chapter, and thanks for the review. I didn't make Matt kiss her on the lips because it would be out of character for him at the moment (because right now...he only admire and respect her...love is there but he can't identify with it). As for a sequel, there won't be any. I'm sorry. This story will end once it is finished. There will be (for sure) three more chapters and one epilogue.
*mimato_biggest fan- I will email you when I finish a new chapter. Thanks for your review. I really appreciate it.
*Trailmaker: Alas....you asked me two questions pertaining to my future chapters. But...I will try to answer them as much as I can. As for whether Mimi will die or not, I can tell you for sure...She will not die on the next chapter. For the future chapter...it is questionable. As for your next question...this is definately a Mimato fic. Mimi and Matt will be together...but whether Matt will be Mimi's boyfriend is questionable too. I already have the other chapters planned out but...I want to surprise you with them. So, please bare with me.
If you are interested, here is a glimpse of the next chapter:
A smirked appeared on Hasuma's face when she watched their reaction. Matt kneeled down on the floor when Mimi collapsed down to the ground. He placed his arms around her shoulder and shook her slightly, but Mimi refused to respond to him. She just stared at the floor in disbelief. "So...," Hasuma left her word hanging, as she waited for their attention. "Now that you know the answer to your question, tell me; why should I help you?"
That's all for now. Oh yeah...the last paragraph in this section is for Savoan Locc. It is quite unpleasant.
*After careful thinking, I have removed Savoan Locc's review. Reason: For the slightly racist comment and the excessive use of curse words.