Chapter Five – Devastation
By morning the five humans and their six Digimon received the surprise of their lives. The once lush wilderness that had surrounded them the day before was now brown and smelled of decayed, death and devastation the only remaindered of what was once a beautiful jungle.
"What could have done this?" Kari asked, more to herself then the others as she picked up a crisp dead leaf off the ground.
For all but Seto, their hearts were broken. Whatever evil could have done this to the Digital World must be very powerful indeed. It made their blood boil with the thirst for revenge and retribution. Indifferent and silent as always, Seto stood away from them as he stared out into the abyss. At his side Nakuroamamon was explaining to him that it was their duty to discover what was threatening her world and put an end to it. But he really didn't care – all he wanted was to go home.
"So where to Tai?" T.K. finally asked, disrupting the silence. "Which way do we go?"
"Well…" Tai began and scratched his head. "Umm…"
"Follow the destruction"
Ten heads turned to cast ten pairs of eyes on the young CEO.
"What do mean? – There's destruction everywhere!" Kari cried in confused disgust only to receive a pointed glare in return from the older boy which shut her up.
"Look around you and I mean really look around you" Seto replied icily. "The leaves and tree branches are blown and bent facing a westward angel meaning whatever did this was from the east. Also if you follow it, you find the degrees of damage will become worse the farther you go"
Stunned by the perfectly clever revelation, they let him continue.
"I do remember hearing something about what you lot called the DigiOcean. If my assumption is correct, then it would be very vast, allowing anything to stakeout and begin to poison an entire world"
"The edge of the Digital World" Agumon nodded. "No one travels there because so little is known, even to us"
Gatomon shivered. "Even if that is where our destination lies, we must be very careful. All Digimon have been warned not to venture too close…"
Interrupted by a noise behind her, the small cat looked up and gasped.
"Seto, what are you doing?"
The older boy had just collected up all his stuff and had turned to leave.
"What does it look like kitty?" he sneered. "I'm getting started"
"What about making plans?"
"I make them as I go"
Without waiting for a response, Seto turned and began to walk away eastward.
"Seto! Wait for me!" Davis shouted, springing up from his spot on the ground and ran after his older friend, followed closely by Veemon, Ariamamon and Nakuroamamon.
And not having much of an option in the matter or wanting to get left behind, Tai, Kari, T.K. and their Digimon were forced to follow.
Four Hours Later…
During the day their travels had taken them down into a dried up canyon where backing sunlight shown down from above to hinder their progress. It had gotten to the where the five humans had been forced to carry their small exhausted partners who had long since grew too weary to move on. From the looks of thing, they weren't going to get were they were going in just one day.
They had also not run into any other Digimon either, having seeming fled along with the spreading death of their homes. But that didn't stops the annoyingness of a cretin purple haired boy with goggles…
"Its been hours and be haven't found anything thing yet" Davis complained for the fiftieth.
"That's why it's called a quest Davis…" T.K. grumbled.
"But I'm hungry!"
"We all are Davis…" Kari growled, barely able to hold herself off from beating him.
"And I'm tired too!"
"As are we Davis…" Tai added, his nerves on their frayed ends.
"And I'm also very thirsty too!"
"You just drank the last of our water five minutes ago Davis…" Seto retorted irritably.
"And –"
"Davis – SHUT UP!"
Eleven frustrated and parched bellows filled the canyon. The sound echoed and reverberated off the walls like a child's rubber bouncy ball. Then the rumbling began.
It was soft at first before it raised in pitch, getting so loud that no one could ignore it.
"Avalanche!" Patamon screamed as he flung himself off T.K.'s shoulders.
It was a solid panic; everyone's minds freezing in the face of immanent danger.
"Kari!" Gatomon cried as she gazed about the horror around her. "I need to Digivolve – now!"
The brown haired girl snapped out of her momentary shock and ripped her Digivice off her belt as fast as she could.
"DigiArmor Energize!" she screamed.
Gatomon smiled wearily as she rose into the air.
"Gatomon DigiArmor Digivolve into – Nefertimon!"
The great winged sphinx spread her mighty wings and launched over to Kari side, helping the girl hoisted herself up and together they took off into the sky. Likewise was happening elsewhere. After seeing that Kari was safe on the back of Nefertimon, T.K. had gotten the hint and Patamon had been more then happy to Digivolve to Pegasusmon and get him out of there too.
Davis was third to notice that his friends had transportation out of the shacking canyon, he had to do the same. Wings… he needed wings…
"Hey buddy, you ready to get us out of here?" he asked as he dropped Veemon to the ground as he avoided getting hit with falling rocks.
"Yeah!"
"Then get ready!"
As they were tossed back and forth, Davis was able to pull his Digivice free and shoutthe comand, allowingVeemon smiled in utter relief.
"Veemon Digivolve into – ExVeemon!"
Cheering his friend on, Davis was quick on hope on ExVeemon's back as they then rose into the air to join Kari and T.K. Away from the fray, they watched as Tai was next to go.
But at the same moment Seto was doing the same. With his two partners unable to Digivolve yet, he was in big trouble. To allow him more speed, Ariamamon jumped off his back while his sister remained. The dodged the rocks and tremors beneath their feet as the struggled to escape the danger.
"What are we going to?" Seto cried out in fear, feeling it for the first real time since he had come to this strange place.
"I don't know" Ariamamon confessed, his fear equal to that of his partner. "The others have used their Digivices to let their partners Digivolve, but we cant do that until you receive your Crest"
"What's a Crest?"
"It is the symbol of your power" Naku whimpered as they were jolted forward and she was knocked t the ground. "There are only nine know Crest so far. The first that are with us now are Courage, Hope and Light – Tai, T.K. and Kari owns them. The others are Friendship, Love, Kindness, Knowledge, Reliability and Serenity – Matt Ishida, Sora Takenouchi, Ken Ichijouji, Izzy Izumi, Joe Kido and Serenity Mimi Tachikawa owns them"
"What about Davis?"
"Davis is different" Ari replied between breaths. "He and two others don't own a Crest of their own, but rather they represent a combination of two. Davis represents Courage and Friendship, Yolei Inoue represents Love and Serenity, while Cody Hida represents Knowledge and Reliability"
Seto was too confused to answer as they three continued to run, searching for a path to higher ground. He was about to ask Ariamamon what he thought that his Crest might be when a small voice that grew into a roar more deafening then the quake around them froze him in his tracks.
"Agumon Digivolve into – Graymon!"
Numb to the point of senselessness, the young man stared in slack-mouthed denial as the creature, which had haunted his dreams for most of his young life, became real. He continued to watch as the gigantic orange and tiger striped lizard bent down on one knee and held out a hand, in which a much dwarfed Tai leapt on to. Unable to resist, Seto slowly began to back away, an unrational fear like he had never before felt welling up inside him.
Then with Tai safely on its shoulder, the great monster that was Graymon turned towards them.
"You guys need a ride?" Tai called down them.
"Yes!" the twined replied readily, unaware that their young partner had already backpedaled a good five feet.
"What about Seto?"
The four of them, as well as Davis, Kari, T.K. and their Digimon ten feet away, turned to see that their newest addition was whiter then a sheet and slowly shaking his had mouthing the words 'its not real, its not real' over and over again.
"Come on!" Naku cried urgently as she ran to his side to tug on his arm, but Seto was completely oblivious to her even being there.
"He's gone crazy," Kari shouted as she and Nefertimon swooped down beside Tai and Graymon. "Someone grab him before he gets hurt!"
But it was useless. Even as they watched helplessly, the ground beneath the other boy's feet began to crumble.
For Seto, their screams were only an echo in one corner of his subconscious. The mantra he kept repeating was keeping him from accepting that what he saw before him was really truly real. But it was a whisper of something he could not put his finger on that caused him to snap out of it. Eyes no longer glazed, but rather filled with recognition and realization were the only indication that he was once again sane when he spoke the words 'it is real' before the world suddenly exploded into light and everything went black.
Tai Kamiya groaned as he came too, his eyes feeling like heavy sandpaper. As he opened them, he believed the force of the explosion must have fried them. All round him, and his scattered friends, lay tones upon tones of mountainous boulders and dirt. But they were safe – protected only by one large golden bubble.
He turned to look over at his sister and friends as they lay in a still unconscious heap, and past them where one older brown haired boy lay curled up with the twins. It wasn't that which had caught his attention, but rather the small glowing object that was resting in Seto open hand. Upon standing up to investigate, Tai realized that it was a Crest.
It was golden with the symbol of the Egyptian Eye of Horus as its symbol. Even though he could not have known what Crest it was, Tai instinctively knew.
Destiny…
Well I hope I haven't outdone myself. Did I have any references or facts wrong? If I did, please let me know so I can correct them. Please review. Later!
Gijinka RenamonThanks! I'll do as much as I can.
Nunofyorbiz: I'll giveyou a hint – the villain of this story isn't human, but rather something very vast…
Manders1953: Ooh, I made you happy I see! Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter in order to see your 'lover boy'. As for the Ring doing what it did, I don't know if it could or not – I just made that up (fiction here!)