I was looking forward to this chapter since it does introduce three important characters. It's also delved more into the plot, but it is shorter than usual so sorry about that.
Away from the forests and lakes, deep into a desert stood a small village, that was littered with small houses, markets and Digimons, all mostly Rookies. Three Gazimon's were running through the houses and markets, snickering with their fist raised in their air, a gold badge squeezed between the Gazimons fingers.
"Hey!" A Lunamon was chasing after them, running far behind them. Her arms were outstretched, tears forming in her eyes, the bunny panting heavily as she runs through the thick cold air. "Give it back!"
Her eyes trained on the badge in the air that was meant to be placed on the pink ribbon wrapped around her chest. The Gazimon in the middle looked past his shoulder, sticking his tongue out at her.
Clash! A cold metal sunk into the sand, stopping the three Gazimon's. They gasped as they slowed their pace, a sword half the size of the planted in front of them blocking their path. Behind the sword were furry legs covered by a pair of black pants. They gulped as their eyes travelled upwards, revealing the rest of the beast.
It was a Leomon, a bipedal lion. "L-Leomon!" The three Gazimon's gasped as they strolled backwards, sweat dripping down their fur. Lunamon watched in awe at the Leomon, watching her bullies coward back. Leomon was the role model for all the young Digimons who lived in this small village. He was also their protector, helping the Rookies and protecting the village from any evil occurring from the outside. And with that, he stops any bullying occurring inside the village. Leomon didn't say anything, by the looks of the situation he could already tell what the three Gazimon's had done to the Lunamon. He took out his hand, shoving it into the middle of Gazimon's face, who had to lean back.
"Here!" He gulped as he stuffed the badge into his hand, before taking off with his friends. Leomon watched them scramble away, before sighing and kneeling in front of Lunamon.
"Here," He said softly, stretching out his hand. Lunamon smiled, rubbing the tears away before taking her badge.
"Thank you," She sniffled, adjusting the badge back onto her chest.
"Leomon! Leomon!"
A small Digimon was flying in the air, its small paws stretched out, its ears flapping in the air. This Digimon resembled Tsukaimon, except he was orange, not purple, and his eyes were blue and filled with young innocence.
Leomon turned his attention to the callings of his name, finding the flying hamster fly towards him. "Patamon?" He asked, quirking a brow.
Patamon reached him, breathing heavily from his quick flight. Leomon stretched out his arms letting Patamon fall into them.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be at Primary Village with Elecmon?"
Patamon continued to pant and cough, trying to get his breath back. He shook his head, his wing-like ears flopped down beside his head.
"It's the babies!" Patamon shrieked, pressing his little paws onto Leomon's chest. "The babies are hurt!"
Primary Village was a small village located deep into this forest, where new Digimons were reborn into these Digieggs. They were raised there until they reached the In-Training level, the only Digimons who were above the In-Training level, were Elecmon and Patamon, but that was only because Elecmon was their caretaker and Patamon was his assistant.
Leomon jogged through the forest right outside the desert, jogging past the trees to get to Primary Village. Patamon sat on top of his mane, the small Digimon squeaking as he stuffed his head into his fluffy hair, squeezing his paws into it. The wind brushed past them, pulling Leomon's hair and Patamon's ears back.
Leomon slowed down as they reached closer to Primary Village. The giant colourful blocks became clearer and clearer and so were the multiple carriages and colourful eggs littered on the soft grass. Leomon panted as he stopped right in front of the village, pressing his hands onto his knees. Patamon heaved as he dropped his head onto Leomon's mane, his ears flopped beside his head.
"Patamon!" Patamon blinked as he sprung his head up, to see Elecmon, a red bipedal rabbit with purple markings running to them with five baby Digimons chasing him.
Leomon kneeled on one knee, Patamon jumping off of Leomon's head and into Elecmon arms.
"Elecmon!" Patamon giggled as he hugged the red rabbit. Elecmon sighed, patting Patamon's back.
"Patamon," Elecmon pulled him out of the hug and to the babies. They were hiding behind Elecmon, shivering in fear. "Bring the babies to their cribs."
Patamon nodded as he gathered the babies. They snuggled into his arms, shaking. Patamon brought the babies back to their cribs, Elecmon turning around to Leomon once Patamon and the babies were out of sight.
"What happened?" Leomon asked as Elecmon dropped his shoulders.
"I don't know!" Elecmon shrieked, Leomon flinching at his loud tone. "I took a few of the babies with me to find food, and when we passed this cave, they went crazy!"
Elecmon continued to scream and shout, throwing his arms around. Leomon sighed as he pinched his forehead, Elecmon's wails giving him a headache.
"Shut it!" He growled, letting his anger take control. Elecmon froze, shutting his mouth.
"What happened to the babies?" Leomon asked again, letting out a sigh. Elecmon blinked, rubbing his head.
"Oh...right." Elecmon hesitated for a second, trying to remember what happened. "They went crazy! They started biting and jumping over each other, no matter what I do I couldn't help them! They were even-"
Elecmon fell into endless shouts again, shrieking about his hurt babies. Leomon scoffed, as he concentrated on what could've happened to them.
'-and when we passed this cave, they went crazy!"
Leomon bit his lip, as he thought of what Elecmon told him. The babies went crazy after passing the cave, maybe it was something from there?
"Where is this cave?" Leomon asked as he rose up. Elecmon cocked his head. "Cave?" His eyes widened, realizing which cave Leomon meant. Elecmon swung around and pointed to the mountain that was buried behind a crowd of trees. Leomon squinted his eyes and trained them on the mountain.
"The cave is on the top of that mountain." He moved his hand across through the trees. "There you can climb up the mountain at the end if you want to check the cave."
Leomon nodded his head, and without a second thought, he dashed through the trees.
Leomon huffed and panted as he climbed up the rocky, slippery mountain, sweat slipping down his fur. He grunted as he squeezed onto his sword that was stabbed into the rocky mountain, pushing himself onto the edge.
Leomon jumped onto his feet, his right fist panted onto the rocky surface. He shifted around, grasping his sword and pulling it out of the edge. He slipped it back into his sheath, examing the mountain.
There was a cave right beside him, dug deep into the wall. Leomon squinted his eyes as he stared deep into the cave. It was pitched black, cool and dark energy emitting from it. Leomon shivered as he rubbed his arms, a cold breeze hitting him. He shook his head as he rose, stalking into the cave.
Inside these shrub bushes that crowded together near the edge of the mountain was someone who was watching Leomon. This Digimon narrowed his eyes, letting out a snarky snigger. Leomon didn't notice him and continued to be cautious as he slowly made his way closer to the cave.
The Digimon spying on him scowled, squeezing his bone club, jumping out of the bushes.
"Leomon!" The green ogre shrieked, his bone club raised in the air. Leomon quickly dashed around, his eyes widening at the sight of his rival jumping onto him. He swiftly pulled out his sword and swung it in front of it, his rival's bone club clashing into it.
"Ogremon?!" Leomon growled, his teeth bared. Ogremon snarled as he clenched his bone club, pushing himself off Leomon landing onto his knees.
Leomon steadied himself as he glared at Ogremon, who rose to his feet, brushing the dirt off his pants. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?!" Ogremon smirked, knowing what to say to bush his rival buttons. Leomon gritted, clenching his sword.
"I'm here because of the complaints coming from this cave!" He growled, his sword pointing to the cave beside. He quirked a brow, an idea popping into his mind. "Do you by a chance have anything to do with this?"
Ogremon chuckled, crossing his arms. "Oh please, why would I care about some stupid cave?!" He rolled his eyes, as he smirked at his rival. "But now since we're both here, why don't we finish this rivalship?"
Leomon squinted his eyes, as he steadied his sword in front of him. Ogremon dashed towards him, his bone club pointed out to him.
"Bone Crudge!"Electricity emitted and surrounded his bone club. Ogremon swung it towards Leomon, the beast-man wielding his sword to stop the attack.
The weapons clashed together, the two attacks countering each other. They both jumped back, snarling at their rival.
"Pummel Wack!"
"Fist Of The Beast King!"
Ogremon and Leomon both sent out an attack that was quite similar to each other. Leomon pumped his fist forward, orange energy surrounding his fist, punching out an orange light that was shaped like a lion's head.
Ogremon pumped his fist back and threw it forward punching out a purple light shaped like an ogre's head.
As the two continued their battle, the dark energy inside the cave, the energy that was corrupting the babies swelled up. It swirled around inside the cave, more and more energy emitting from it, bright blue eyes shining in the darkness.
"That's enough!" A dark musty voice caught their attention. They both swung their head to the noise, a sharp stick dashing towards them. They jumped back, as the stick stabbed into the tree.
Darkness swirled outside of the cave. Leomon stared at it, his eyes swelling up and his head pounding in pain. He gasped as he grasped his head, the pain thumping in his head. Ogremon cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong with you?"
A human figure stepped out of the cloud of darkness. His sandals clapped against the ground, his long brown hair tied into a ponytail swaying behind him. He smirked, as he revealed himself through the dark cloud. Leomon stared at the tall man in shock, the man made of darkness taking the shape of a human, but certainly was not one.
"Gennai?" Leomon gaped, Gennai chuckling at him. But he was nothing like the real Gennai, he was Gennai in his prime, and was filled with darkness. Ogremon quirked an eyebrow, scratching his chin. "Gennai? But he looks so young.."
Leomon sighed as he stood up. "That's how Gennai looked in his prime," Leomon pulled his sword out of the ground, pointing it to the young Gennai. "Who are you and what are your intentions?"
Gennai chuckled as shot his arms in the air. "What are you doing with that sword? I'm not gonna hurt you."
The young Gennai said it in a teasing way. Leomon snarled as he narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" He asked again, the young Gennai sighed, shrugging his arms.
"Just a creation of Millenniumon." Leomon's eyes widened as Gennai's lips curled into a menacing smirk. Ogremon blinked, his lips formed into an 'o'.
"Millenniumon?" He cocked his head to his side. "You were created by him?"
"The one and only!" He chuckled as he spread his arms open.
"So then you're like a Dark Gennai?" Ogremon asked. "Can I call you that?"
Gennai's smile faltered as he snarled at the ogre. "Don't you ever call me that again,"
Leomon's hands shook as he blanked out. Millenniumon? Leomon had heard stories from the real Gennai, stories from the war and how it shaped and ruined the Digital World. He knew that he was still alive, but he didn't know he possessed any power, especially the power to form an entire Gennai.
Leomon clenched his hands and he dashed to the Gennai, fury and anger written all over his face. Gennai's eyes widened, a crease appearing on his forward his face taking a look of distress. Leomon pinned him to the wall, his sword pointing to his neck. He gagged, like a bruise formed on his back.
"Why did he create you?" Leomon asked in a low voice, his eyes narrowed. Gennai smirked. "Just to follow orders!"
Leomon growled as he pressed his arms deeper onto Gennai's neck, who gagged in response. "What orders?"
Gennai let out harsh breaths, as he bit his lip. "Orders to help his Digidestined..." Leomon's eyes widened. Millenniumon's Digidestined were already here?
Before Leomon could think properly, Ogremon jumped and attacked him, kicking the lion in the face. Leomon gagged as the kick pushed him off of Gennai, throwing him to the tree. He groaned as he pressed his hands onto the dirt, pushing himself onto his feet, blood seeping through his lips.
Gennai smirked at Ogremon, as he rubbed his neck. "You seem pretty strong," He noticed, Ogremon blushing at the comment. "How about you work for me?"
Ogremon shrugged his shoulders. "Sure," He decided. "I have nothing better to do,"
Gennai smiled. "Good, I want to guide Millenniumon's Digidestined to me, now."
Ogremon blinked. "Right now?" He asked, pointing to the floor. Gennai rolled his eyes. "Yes, right now. Now shoo!" He waved his hand, ordering Ogermon to leave. The large green ogre pouted, already regretting the decision to work under Gennai.
"Fine," He sulked, as he jumped off the cliff. Gennai smiled at himself, turning around to face Leomon, wondering what to do with the Noble Hero.
Only to find Leomon gone. He had run away.
Izzy was still tense from the words that were spoken to him. He couldn't think of anything else. Tentomon rubbed Izzy's shoulders, noting that something was wrong. The group of sixteen continued their trail through the forest, the sun slowly lowering. Tai peeked up, watching the sky grow darker and darker.
"Should we stop?" Tai asked, patting BlackAgumon's head who was already half asleep.
"Yes," Sora said simply. He turned around to see both TK and Kari sleeping, Matt carrying his brother while Sora held Kari. Tai cocked his head to the side. "They're asleep?"
Matt glared at him. "No shit." He spat out sharply. Tai blinked and rubbed the back of his head as he laughed nervously. It seemed as though anyone could say anything and Matt would still be annoyed. Well, with the only exception being Takeru. Matt was not amused, however.
"Blind ass moron" He muttered under his breath with a scowl, but that was loud enough for Tai to hear.
"I heard you, you ass!" He yelled, with his fists raised in the air. Matt rolled his eyes at him. Sora hushed at Tai like an angry mother.
After placing TK and Kari on a makeshift bed, the rest of the kids made a fire and gathered around it. Their Digimons fell asleep almost immediately, cuddling next to TK and Kari. The older kids were wide awake, all huddling around the fire. Tai picked up a stick, throwing it into the fire, the flames flaring in contact with the wood. Tai took a big breath in as his eyes trailed to BlackAgumon, memories of the past four days flooding into his mind.
'This is crazy...' Tai thought as he strained his neck up, staring into the night-blue sky that was flooded with stars. 'At first, I was at home, being a normal kid with a normal family, and now I'm friends with a monster that can transform.'
Tai sighed as he looked back to TK and Kari. He didn't understand them. They weren't scared by this situation, they were only calm and in TK's case, very excited. Or maybe they are scared, they were just putting on a facade.
He scowled, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. He should probably talk to them when they wake, or at least Kari. He didn't want to get Matt mad or make TK feel uncomfortable.
'I also need to get everyone closer together...' He furrowed his eyebrows, a crease appearing on his forehead. He hadn't realized it until now, but they are barely friends. They know nothing about each other, heck Tai keeps on forgetting Mimi's Digimons name, he was even afraid that he might make some eight-year-old uncomfortable.
You are the only one who can continue my destruction, you must lead the other Digidestined to their goal.
He cringed, as he squeezed his head. He hated that voice. He hated it so much. It keeps on replaying in his head over and over again, he couldn't stop thinking about it and he was getting sick of it.
But then Tai realized, wouldn't that make him the leader? He was told that he is the one who must lead the others, which makes him the leader! His lips curled into a smile, as he flings his head up to the other Digidestined, who were either staring at the ground or the fire. As the leader, Tai wonders what he should do next. He chewed the inside of his mouth. He can order them to bed, but then that'll just make him some boring parent.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Matt asked, snapping Tai back to reality. Tai stared at him dumbfounded.
"You'd need more than a penny before I tell you anything," Tai said, the words sounded cold but his tone was quite the opposite. "Besides, I thought you didn't care."
"Yeah cool guy," Joe added cooly but flinched when Matt glared at him and retracted back into himself. "I-I mean-"
"Forget it. I'll go back to being an asshole."
"More like angsty preteen." Tai said at the same time Sora muttered, "At least he admits it."
After a few more minutes of silence, Tai spoke again.
"Did you guys get this weird voice in your head?" He asked without thinking, his cheeks reddening as the other kids stared at him as if he was insane.
"What?" Matt asked, his body stiffening. Tai coughed awkwardly, as he shifted onto his knees.
"Well..." Tai huffed. He didn't want to tell anyone this, especially since he seems to be the only one who heard it since he is the leader, but now he kind of has no choice. After all, Matt had asked. Tai knew he'd get pissy if he didn't get his answer sooner or later. "After BlackAgumon digivolved for the first time, I heard this weird voice, and suddenly everyone's gone and it's all black, and he told me to lead you guys to destruction or something."
"ME TOO!" Tai flinched as the other five children yelled simultaneously. They all stared at each other with wide eyes.
"You guys heard it too? So I'm not alone?!" Joe asked frantically, looking around the group.
"Ohh Tai, I'm so glad you said something!" Mimi said sweetly, like her old self again.
"I thought I was going insane," Izzy muttered to himself as everyone began to talk among themselves. Tai let out a sigh of relief.
"What did they tell you?" Tai asked as he leaned forward, poking Joe's shoulder. The older boy flinched, rubbing his shoulder.
"Oh..." Joe said, deflating as he remembered what that voice told him.
There's no point in helping others!
He furrowed his brows. The voice told him that right after he saved Kari, suggesting that saving her life was pointless. Kari was Tai's younger sister and remembering how mortified Tai was that day, he didn't want to upset him anymore.
"It's nothing," He laughed nervously, fixing his glasses. "He just...I don't know. Wants me to be selfish? Yeah! That!"
Tai cocked his head to the side, clearly not believing him. "Well that's stupid," He turned to Sora. "What did that voice say to you?"
Sora blinked, before shifting uncomfortably. She sighed, as the words replayed in her head.
What does matter is your love, it's useless!
She cringed at hearing those words, hard. Growing up with parents who were too busy for her, Sora never felt loved most of her life and wasn't sure if she could ever give it to someone else. If anyone else would even want it that is.
"It's nothing," She laughed, forcing a tight smile awkwardly. Her smile faltered, as she rubbed her arm. "He just thought love was useless."
"Because it is!" Matt yelled from the back, everyone swinging their heads to the blonde who sat a few feet away from them. The Digidestined just turned around casually, ignoring Matt.
"Anyways," Izzy said, used to Matt's antics already. But Sora wasn't.
"What are you talking about?" She scoffed. "Everyone needs to be loved, it's something that keeps us going."
Matt rolled his eyes. "Well isn't that the corniest thing I ever heard."
"Ignore him. It's just Matt being Matt." Tai grinned, as he turn to Matt. "Let me guess; love is useless. There is no hope in humanity. All is lost and we should all just roll over and die right now. Is that all?"
Matt glared at him.
"Wait no let me do it," Tai said as he dramatically rolled his eyes and scoffed, imitating Matt the best he could. He was so dedicated to his role that he nearly tumbled over. Sora glared at the two of them as she crossed her arms. "Well, what did that voice tell you?" She asked, Matt, let go of the stick he was fidgeting with.
You should've left, you should've protected yourself, you shouldn't have dragged the others with you.
Matt was trying to be careful. The voice was basically telling him that he should've abandoned them, and who knows how serious they would react to that. How would that affect TK? Matt knows for sure he wouldn't leave them without his brother, and he knows that it's safer to stay with them anyways. This is about him and TK, not them. Or, at least that's what he tries to tell himself.
"I don't want to talk about it," Was what he settled on, as he picked up the stick and continued to play with it between his fingers. Tai pouted as he poked Mimi.
"What did the voice tell you?" He asked her. The girl flinched as she stared at Tai with wide eyes.
"Don't poke me!" She pouted, pushing Tai back hard. He cried as he fell to his back, Mimi letting out a huff as she crossed her arms.
Izzy squeezed his eyes shut, as his mind repeated the message that voice had sent to him. It had shaken him to his core, scaring the 10-year-old, but Izzy must admit, he felt much better knowing that the rest of his friends went through it too.
'I'm not alone,' He sighed as he laid his head on the tree behind him.
Like I said before, this chapter had introduced three important characters and they are Leomon, Ogermon and Dark Gennai. Dark Gennai is the same Gennai in Tri, and I'm just gonna refer to him as such so we don't mix him up with real Gennai.
Leomon and Ogermon kind of switched roles in this too. Ogermon is pretty much the Leomon for the Dark Digidestined, guiding and helping them while Leomon will do the same but for the 02 kids when they get introduced.
And that's all I really have to say. The next chapter will hopefully be out before New Year. I am looking forward to writing the next couple of chapters so there is a chance it will be out in late December.
