Enter The Light
Part Twenty-Two: Confrontations

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Characters are not mine; Digimon is not mine, etc. Plot is mine, so don't sue, don't steal. Thanks.

Hikari was still bent over a book in one of the many libraries, her eyes flying over the words as she absorbed as much as she could. The sun had gone down fully, lamps had been lit all over the island, and the spell-casters were taking the opportunity to practice spells of colored lights and fire, dazzling each other with their skills. Hikari, though, was so intent upon her education that she did not look up when the door opened and did not hear footsteps on the wood floor nor the metal staircase that wound its way to the loft of the library. She did not notice when the footsteps crossed the loft and stopped to rest near a chair not far from her. Thus, she jumped when Miyako spoke.

"Why haven't you told him?"

Trying to calm and slow her now rapidly beating heart, Hikari blinked dumbly at her unexpected visitor. "Did you arrive by magic?" she asked.

Miyako shook her head. "You were absorbed in reading," she said. "It's common with magic books."

"Is it?" Hikari shut the book she had been reading and turned it to glance toward the cover. The words were indistinguishable, the cover old and faded, yet the words within had been clear to her. "How interesting." She stretched her arms, suddenly feeling a weariness she had not felt a few moments before.

Miyako was quiet a few moments before she asked again. "Why haven't you told him?"

Hikari paused mid-yawn and blinked, then finished yawning and fell back on to the sofa she occupied. "Told who what?" she asked.

"Daisuke," the other said simply. "Why have you not told him?"

For a moment, the princess stared blankly, blinking a few times in confusion, and then comprehension dawned. She looked down at her bare feet, dangling below her, just above the smooth wood floor. "Who he is?"

"He doesn't remember. Or he does, but he can't." Miyako shook her head, trying to clear her mind, which had begun to become a bit fuzzy from trying to understand so much magic. "I'm not sure I entirely understand," she confessed. "He knows that there was a before, but he can't access memories of it…."

Hikari nodded. She looked at Miyako a moment, and then turned away, looking instead at nothing. A torch-flame danced behind a bookcase, casting shadows on the wall. For some time, there was quiet, and then Hikari sighed deeply. "This I know," she said finally. "This he told me…told Takeru, actually."

"Why -?" Miyako began again, and then stopped.

"I think it might hurt him," Hikari answered, her voice soft. She shook her head, then, contradicting herself. "I think he must remember on his own."

"Without his memories…" Miyako said, shaking her head. "Will they return when the spell is broken?"

"I hope so."

"Without his memories – is he…."

"Is he truly himself?" Hikari finished. She sighed deeply. "I don't know."

Again they fell silent. Miyako watched the torch-flame dance. Shadows flickered. Through an open window, they could hear the sounds of laughter as one of the more experienced spell-casters obliged his fellow mages by setting off a wonderful firework in the night sky. A few appreciative sounds drifted through the night, and in the distance, the sound of the ocean waves was a constant background.

"I dreamt," Hikari said conversationally. "Do you remember that I told you that? Just before I left home, I dreamt of him. I saw him, in a dark, damp dungeon underground, and he was in a thousand sorts of pain, and I could feel it all. The closer I got to him, the more pain there was, but I kept going. I wanted to help him. He told me to go." She paused, a faint smile appearing. "It seemed so much like something he would say to me. That I should leave, to spare myself the pain."

Miyako nodded, waiting for her to finish. A small explosion sounded outside, followed by the sounds of appreciative laughter and applause.

"I told him that I would not go, that I would not leave him. I told him to come with me, but he couldn't. He didn't have the strength to free himself. 'I will,' I said. 'I'll save you.' Do you know what he said?"

Miyako shook her head.

"He said he wasn't sure I could."

Taichi and Sora were engaged in a heated conversation (a less diplomatic person might have thought it an argument) when he arrived, and so Takeru peered round the corner into the small parlor where a relieved Iori had told him to go, trying to make himself visible and yet invisible at the same time.

"I'm not going," Sora was saying. She looked tired, her hair disheveled, her dress more wrinkled than usual, as though she had just awakened. Both arms were folded across her chest, her back turned on him. "You're not going to try to protect me from things, Taichi. I'm Chosen, same as everyone else."

"I'm not trying to protect you," Taichi disagreed. He was trying to explain himself to Sora's back, thus completely facing the wrong direction to notice Takeru. His clothes, too, were disheveled, though this was not unusual for Taichi, especially in the early morning. "I just think it's a good idea for you to go home. If I wanted to protect you, I would tell you to stay here."

She turned (Takeru ducked out of sight behind the doorframe) to face him, and Takeru heard confusion in her voice. "Stay here?" she echoed.

"Whatever is behind these attacks, I'm fairly certain they're not going to attack here," Taichi explained. "In fact, with the latest one, I'm beginning to think they might be targeting the Chosen."

"Targeting?"

"Trying to draw us apart, to separate us," he continued. "There are a thousand spells on this palace, a hundred mages, and a concentration of armed guards greater than any place else within a week's journey. You and Mimi were attacked beyond the grounds, beyond the range of the spells. If I wanted to keep you safe, I'd lock you in a room and see to it you didn't leave this building."

Takeru peered around the corner, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sora's reaction. Her eyes were wide as she was giving Taichi her full attention now, following him as he made his way toward a chair and sank into it, looking tired.

She was quiet a moment, taking it all in. "Then you think…you think my home will be next?" she finally said.

"I think it's possible," Taichi conceded. "I don't know if you being home will do anything to protect the villagers, but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

Now it was Sora who sank heavily into a chair. There was silence for a moment. Takeru drew himself up to his full height and chose this moment, clearing his throat loudly before appearing in the doorway.

"You – um – wanted to see me?" he asked. Taichi and Sora both turned to face him, then exchanged glances. Feeling self conscious, Takeru wiped some unseen dust from the front of his worn tunic and tried to flatten his hair down – a difficult task, since Patamon was resting atop his head.

"There's been another attack," Taichi told him, getting to his feet. "South of here."

Takeru blinked. "Really?"

Taichi and Sora exchanged glances again. Takeru guessed that this was not the reaction they'd been expecting.

"Yes…," Taichi began to say.

"Wait," Takeru interrupted, holding up a hand. "There was an attack, south of here – and you've called me here to tell me where. It's at my home, right?"

Sora and Taichi exchanged glances yet again, and then both nodded. "Takeru," Sora said cautiously. "Are you all right?"

"I – I think so," Takeru answered. He was quiet a moment, thinking, and then he spoke again. "I have not been home in quite some time, you know."

"Yes…," they both answered, again looking at each other.

"I don't feel particularly homesick," Takeru continued, "as I never spent much time at home to begin with. And yet…and yet this morning, I was in the garden, thinking of home."

There was a moment of silence again.

"A strange coincidence," Patamon noted from atop his partner's head. Takeru glanced up.

"Is it?" Taichi wondered, one eyebrow raised in thought.

"What else would it be?" Takeru wondered, shrugging. He pushed the matter from his mind for the time being. "How bad is it?"

Taichi was still in thought, not having abandoned wherever his thoughts were taking him, and so it was Sora who answered. "There are only preliminary reports, of course. A Piyomon arrived this morning before sunrise. Two separate villages were attacked, as well as a mine."

"They attacked one of the mines?"

She nodded. "So far, no conclusion about who or what did the attacking, but I wouldn't be surprised if that crazy one wrapped in bandages was involved. He seems to be behind, or at least participating in all of these attacks so far, whoever he is. A few of the witnesses in Tachikawa report the same."

"It can't be a coincidence," Takeru concluded. "Whoever he is or whoever he works for, it seems he's after the Chosen. First Hikari, then you and Mimi, then Tachikawa, and now my home. I don't think they're random attacks."

"No," Taichi said, finally having abandoned his previous thoughts, at least for the moment. "I don't think they are either. How soon can you leave?"

"This afternoon."

The largest building on the Sanctuary Island was the one that held the offices of the Wizards Council. The largest gathering spot was within this building – inside a massive, circular hall that easily held nearly three hundred people. Today, however, it held two dozen, which was far more than Miyako thought needed to be present.

She was quiet, standing near the doorway, eyes watching Hikari, who was at the moment speaking with two or three other mages, tall women with long hair and pale skin who looked weak to normal sight and strong in magic to Miyako.

"Do you suppose it will work?" Hawkmon questioned of his partner. Miyako, arms folded and a frown on her face, shrugged lightly.

"I hope it will," she answered. "I think we are needed back home."

"Yes," Hawkmon agreed patiently. "Do you think it will work?"

She sighed, quiet a moment before she answered. "I don't know. The spell is not perfect, of course, but it will do something."

"Will it do enough?" he wondered.

"It will not break the spell," Miyako said. "I don't think it's strong enough, and I don't think any of the others think it will, either, but I think this will untangle some of it."

The room had gone quiet at some unspoken signal. Most of the mages moved to the sides of the circular room. The men were dressed in long white overcoats, their hands tucked into their sleeves, their arms folded in front of them. The women stood in the same position and wore white gowns. Their partners sat on their shoulders or stood upon the floor beside them, quietly watching. All was quiet. In the center of the circle stood Hikari, dressed in a similar white gown, and Daisuke, still enspelled. Tailmon, blue eyes wide, observed the whole thing.

Outside of the circle was Miyako, Hawkmon perched on her shoulder, both watching through the spaces of the circle.

"Anything new?" Mimi questioned. Yamato shook his head.

"There are so many footprints and tracks around the outside of this village that it's impossible to distinguish any of them. And, there's no other clues as to what might have been here or done any damage," he answered. "Have you had any luck?"

Yamato sat on a small wooden bench and began to pry off his boots, which had been completely covered with mud during his trek around the outside of the village. For the purposes of their investigation, he and Mimi had set up shop in a small building that served as the offices of the village magistrate. Although it was designed as an office, it was large enough so that both could set up cots for sleeping and not have to travel back to Mimi's parents estate in the evening – a great help as it was some distance from the village.

Mimi had been spending her time interviewing every person and digimon who had been witness to the attack. It had been dusk when the attack had come – making the accounts not only greatly varied but also very vague and confused. She sighed deeply and sank into a large wooden chair behind the magistrate's desk.

"Yes and no," she answered, yawning. It was after dark now, and it had been a long day. Gesturing to a tall pile of papers precariously perched upon the edge of the desk, she said, "I wrote down everything that everyone had to say – or at least most of it. We'll have to go through it and see if we can draw any conclusions. So far the only thing any of the reports have in common is that they were big and there were a lot of them." She yawned again, leaning back in the chair.

Boots now removed, Yamato rubbed his tired feet. Gabumon was yawning twice as wide as Mimi, and leaning against the edge of the bench as Yamato said, "So we have basically about the same conclusion as we had before we left?"

"Well, not exactly," Mimi said, but before she could continue her defense there was a knock at the door. It creaked open and a soldier poked his head around the frame.

"This arrived just now from the palace," he reported, holding up a scroll of parchment bound together with a piece of string. "Orders were to bring it straight to one of you two."

"I'll take it," Yamato said, as he was closer, and stretched across the space between himself and the door so he could take it without having to get to his feet. Mimi yawned again and leaned back in the chair, eyes partly closed, as he read the message.

There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the crackling of the fireplace that lit the small office and another yawn by Mimi. Yamato sighed deeply and got to his feet, slowly.

"Something wrong?" Mimi wanted to know.

"Yeah," he answered, walking past her. "I've got to go home. I'm leaving first thing in the morning."

"What?" Mimi sat up a bit straighter and turned in her chair. "Why?"

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, one foot on the first step, heading to bed. "There's been another attack. I'll take whatever you've got back with me. Come if you wish, but I'm leaving tomorrow."

With that, he was gone.

For a long moment, there was a light, so bright that it was only with great effort that Miyako did not look away from the center of the circle, although many of the others did. Then, the light faded, but the magic did not. Miyako pushed up her spectacles, which had been hovering at the edge of her nose in case they were needed.

Hikari appeared drained even without magical sight. She wavered and wobbled on her feet, looking pale and weak, and as though she was about to fall. Miyako thought about stepping forward to help her and saw that many of the other mages had similar thoughts and had taken a step or two forward, abandoning their previously stoic positions. Before any of them could reach her, however, her knees went weak and her legs failed to support her.

Two arms reached out to grab her before she fell.

It was with great reluctance that Sora had entered the carriage and it was with greater reluctance that she had not told the driver to turn around at least seventeen times previously. With the sun nearly set, she found that she had never been less pleased to see her home appear before her.

Within sight of Sora's home– and Miyako's, only a short walk away – the carriage suddenly stopped short, and a pained cry pierced the cool pre-dusk air. Sora was flung forward from her seat and slammed into the front wall of the carriage. Before she had time to collect herself and realize what had happened, another cry rang out. Hurriedly, Sora got to her feet and flung open the door of the carriage, Piyomon right behind her.

"HAHA!"

The creature she had become so familiar with of late was before her, laughing maniacally and firing off a barrage of miniature missiles, same as he had done when she had last seen him.

Sora wasted no time with words, no time with contemplation of the situation. Her digivice was already in one hand; Piyomon already taken to the sky.

"Piyomon evolve!" called the pink bird. The light was bright for a moment and then it faded to reveal that "Birdramon!" had appeared in midair.

The shout of pain that she had heard had evidently come from the carriage driver, who was slumped over, unconscious in his seat. The pair of Monochromon that had pulled the carriage had apparently been destroyed and deleted, as there was no sign of them.

Birdramon flew toward the bandaged digimon, crying "Meteor Wing." The creature easily evaded, however, with little difficulty, and more of his laughter rang out.

The driver was alive, but badly injured. From what Sora could tell, three or more of the tiny missiles had hit him. His partner Plotmon was lying on his chest, also unconscious. Sora thought it would be best to get them both inside the relative safety of the carriage, but was not quite sure if she could manage to bring him by herself.

Before she could consider dragging the driver out of his seat and into the carriage, however, Sora was distracted. Something in the air felt strange, and when she looked up to see how her partner was faring, she saw that an army of digimon had appeared from nowhere.

There were easily three dozen Tyrannomon, two score Mushmon, another dozen Lopmon, three Woodmon, two Mammothmon, and one rather ferocious Golemon. For a brief moment, Sora couldn't move. The army was humongous, far more powerful than anything she could hope to defeat on her own. Above them all, standing upon the head of one of the Mammothmon, was the bandaged digimon, laughing maniacally and pointing in the direction of the village nearby.

"No!" Sora shouted, but they paid her no mind, and the massive army before her began to slowly lumber in the indicated direction. She bit back a curse under her breath. "Birdramon!"

Her partner landed beside her a moment later, and a moment after that Sora was in the air, flying over the army below. "We have to stop them somehow," she told her partner, who agreed.

"Yes, but how?"

"With fire," Sora decided after a moment of thought. "Birdramon, can you make a wall of fire between them and the village? Maybe that might stop them…."

"It's worth a try," her partner agreed, flying closer.

Woo-hoo. Action! Sort of.

So. There's progress being made, there's a cliffhanger, there's a little bit of action.

To come? The next part has more action, a bit more violence, and a bit of a surprise. No, no I won't say what the surprise is.

Still making good progress on this, so I'll try to have that next part out soon. Until then, ja ne!