The Crystal Gate
Part Nine: Heading into Battle
Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters, money, etc, is not mine. Plot is (mostly) mine, although some parts might be borrowed. In short, don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.
Moo.
"Takeru!" Iori was shouting. Already, Pegasmon had de-evolved, and Patamon was falling toward the ground.
Kabuterimon wasted no time with words, simply turned about in mid air and flew, wings buzzing, toward the ground at almost top speed. Koushiro said nothing, his face schooled into an expression of concentrated horror.
They reached Takeru only a short distance above the ground. Iori reached out with both arms and felt something brush past one of his hands. He squeezed his fingers around whatever it was and found that he'd miraculously managed to grab hold of Takeru's shirt.
There was a rush of cold wind nearby as the attacking Airdramon flew past yet again. This time, the rider's weapon crashed soundlessly into Koushiro's hastily raised but secure magical shield, and they could hear a wordless shout of frustration from the human.
"Stay with him," Koushiro advised Iori, who immediately agreed, not being one who enjoyed flying, especially whilst involved in battle. He climbed off Kabuterimon, Armadimon gratefully following, and took Patamon in his arms, the small digimon having safely been lowered to the ground by some magical means. A moment later, Kabuterimon was gone, and even in the dark the bright flashing lights of his electrical attacks were visible.
Takeru was already regaining consciousness, though with a massive headache and some amount of disorientation. He gingerly touched the side of his head where the unknown object had made contact and was relieved to see there was no blood on his hand.
"You all right?" Iori asked, having been rather shaken up by the sight of Takeru falling from such a great height.
"I think so," he answered. "I'm sort of seeing two of everything and my head hurts like…like, a lot, but I suppose I'll survive."
"Maybe you ought to lie down for a while," Armadimon suggested. It was only then that they took in their surroundings.
They had been flying over the valley between the northern mountains that formed the border with the Northern Kingdom and the rolling hills just to the south. At the southern portion of this valley was the village of Hida and the manor they had left. They had flown northward, toward the mountains, and were some distance from the village, about halfway to the formidable peaks ahead.
Although some of the valley was taken up by farms and some by forests, the section that Takeru had fallen into was unplowed, and knee-high grasses surrounded them. There were no trees here, only a seemingly endless field of tall grass stretching in every direction.
Another dark shadow was moving against the dark sky and a cold rush of wind told them that another Airdramon had sped overhead quickly. "I don't think that's going to be possible," Takeru admitted. He thought about running, but the very thought made him feel nauseous, and he sat down in the grass despite everything.
Iori frowned, glancing toward his partner, and even in the dim light Armadimon saw and nodded.
"Armadimon evolve! Ankylomon!"
Immediately, the small armored digimon was replaced by a much larger and more threatening version of himself, surrounded and fortified by heavy, sturdy armor plates and a powerful tail with sharp spikes on it. Iori thought he could see the Airdramon hesitate, for it hovered in midair some distance above before it attacked again.
"Spinning Needle!" called the Airdramon, its voice more like a screech than separated words.
"Get behind me," Ankylomon advised, placing his armored body between Iori, Takeru, and the flying serpent. The attack bounced harmlessly off, causing the Airdramon and its rider to hesitate.
"What do you want?" Iori called into the night sky, doubting that he'd receive an answer. "Who are you?"
"Who are you?" the rider returned, his deep voice echoing in the empty field. "Why do you trespass on our territory?"
"Your territory?" he echoed. "Who are you?"
The Airdramon came closer, and in the dim light of the sun, slowly appearing between the mountains and the hills, they could see the body of the rider, dressed in black. In one hand he carried a long pole, undoubtedly similar to the one that had made contact with the back of Takeru's head recently, and Iori thought he could make out the sight of a sword at his waist. Remembering that both he and Takeru were unarmed, he hoped the rider would not attack.
"I am Li Tan, rider and tamer of the Northern Tribe. Who are you?"
"The Northern Tribe?" Takeru echoed, the name obviously having some meaning to him that it did not have for Iori. "I thought...,that is, I was told that the Northern Tribe was all but decimated in the border wars…."
"Hmm," the Airdramon rider answered, nodding. "We were. Some of us have survived, however." He was a tall, thin man, though not without muscles or strength. His skin was a bit darker than most of those who lived in the villages and cities of the Kingdoms his tribe bordered. His hair was shaggy, and the beginnings of a beard had formed on the bottom of his chin.
"Might I ask what caused that explosion?" Patamon questioned from his partner's head.
Here, Li Tan's eyes narrowed, indicating his displeasure. "Tyrannomon. A rival tribe has been attempting, largely without success, to tame them. They believe it will give them an edge in battle, and so were using them to attack us."
"Tame Tyrannomon?" Takeru echoed, eyes widening. "That's quite a task."
"If they succeed, it would mean they were the strongest of the tribes in this area. I would not be surprised if they headed north and attacked the king," Li Tan answered with a sigh. "Their leader, Mai Wu, is an ambitious man. This is not the way of our people. My tribe separated from them for this reason, but it hasn't protected us from the Tyrannomon." He shook his head, frowning severely. "You have the look of those of the South. Who are you?"
Iori stepped forward. Introducing himself, he said, "I believe these Tyrannomon you speak of attacked and almost destroyed the village some time ago."
Again the tamer shook his head. "I am not sure if they attacked on purpose or if the Tyrannomon were out of control. Either way, it is not likely that Mai Wu would cry much over Yagami villages. You have my sympathies."
"Let us help," Ankylomon suggested, his booming, deep voice echoing in the empty valley. Startled, Li Tan glanced upward, never having seen a digimon of that sort before. His dark eyes grew wide, and he nodded, a grin slowly spreading across his face.
Miyako landed, hard, on a stone floor and sent up a cloud of dust that had her coughing and choking for the next few minutes. When she was able to breathe, she saw that she was in a tiny, dark, underground room. Above, a few pockets of sunlight broke through the cracks in the otherwise undamaged ceiling, but there was little other light. She could see a few objects in front of her, but not with enough clarity to determine what they were. After a moment of hesitation, she conjured a floating flame in her palm and held it out to see by.
The room was much like Koushiro's laboratory that she had left the day before. It was cluttered with boxes of metal things that she could not identify, the walls lined with books and scrolls and beakers of odd liquids, some of which bubbled. There was a strange air to it, and not only because there were no windows and it had undoubtedly been buried under the ground for several months.
"What is this place?" she questioned aloud.
Daisuke was peering intently at one of the overstuffed shelves, squinting at the ancient writing on the spines of the books and trying to make out the old scripts. V-mon was rummaging through a box of odd metal pipes and wires. Shijo, mostly uninterested in books, and his partner Koromon, were examining some of the strange beakers on one of the shelves.
"I thought you were going to look for the crystal," Daisuke said, not looking away from the books. "I don't think it's here."
"I don't know," Miyako defended. "It might be. This is…what is this place?"
"How should I know?" he asked, taking one of the books from the shelf. He opened it, sending up a cloud of heavy dust, and Miyako shivered again, certain that it, too, contained dark magic.
"You've been here before, haven't you?"
"That doesn't mean I know what this is," he returned, and then sighed heavily. "I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be looking for." He sat down on an empty, overturned crate, and squinted through the dim light at the book.
For a long moment, Miyako didn't say anything. She shut her eyes and felt the magic, ancient, dark magic, ebbing and flowing through the building. Distantly, she could feel the threads of Ken – the old, evil Ken who had once resided here. The magic made her feel cold and sad and tired, but not particularly afraid.
"He didn't build this place, did he?" she said, thinking aloud to herself. The walls around her were obviously quite ancient, she noted, with years upon years of weight and erosion and the elements of the desert (and perhaps the cold wasteland in the opposite direction) having wreaked havoc upon the building. The magic was ancient and complex, certainly not something she believed Ken to have ever been capable of, although she knew little of the complexity or the true nature of his magic.
"No," Daisuke answered unexpectedly, not looking up from the book. "Wormmon said it was here."
Miyako watched him for a moment, only ever having once before seen him in serious studious pursuit. "Well," she said then, breaking the silence. "If we're to find anything, it'd likely be here, and if we're to have any hope of finding it, we'll have to look hard. So, I suppose we'll get to work, then."
"We?" Daisuke echoed, looking up in surprise. The young mage did not seem to have heard him, however, and already she had set her magic to work, removing the books from the shelves. "What are you doing?"
"I can't touch them, if they're at all like the last book," she answered, not opening her eyes. "This is where it came from, isn't it? The magic feels the same. Unfortunately, you're not likely to get very far without my help, so I suppose I'll have to work around that."
"I didn't - ," he began.
"No," Miyako agreed, interrupting him. "No, you didn't ask for my help, and you didn't ask for the boy to follow you. Yet here I am and here he is and here you are and I'm going to help. I don't know if it's going to do any good for me to help, but I'm going to, whether you want me to or not."
He was quiet for a long moment, as though not quite sure what to make of this statement. "I-," he began again, and Miyako opened one eye.
"I'm not doing it for you," she said, watching him out of the corner of said eye. "It's not because I have any sort of interest in helping you. It's because Hikari does, and I happen to be fond of her, and since she is not here to be of assistance, I'll do it. Maybe it's because I'm interested in unraveling a magical puzzle."
"Maybe," he echoed, one eyebrow skeptically raised. "Maybe not."
One of the books hovered in front of her, opened wide. Miyako overturned another empty crate and sat on it, the book lowering to a comfortable reading level. Daisuke watched her for a moment, and she sighed. "Fine," she said, feeling his gaze. "Maybe it's because of something else."
"I don't care why you're doing it," he told her, and looked back toward his book. "Help, don't help. It's not as though something will come of this."
"Don't say that!" she scolded. "Don't talk as though you've already given up!"
Whatever Daisuke might have had to say to this was interrupted by a loud crash at that precise moment. V-mon had been peering over the edge of a particularly tall crate and had lost his balance and fallen in. He panicked momentarily, his small blue feet waving in the air, and then Shijo stepped forward and pulled him out by the ankles. Hawkmon, who had perched on a nearby bookshelf, merely rolled his eyes, but Koromon found the entire thing hilarious, and was giggling almost uncontrollably.
"I'm all right," V-mon assured them all, looking a bit dizzy.
For some time, there was quiet in the underground room, both Daisuke and Miyako busied with their reading. Having grown bored with the crates full of pipes and wires and other strange objects, Shijo, Koromon, and V-mon had fallen asleep in a pile beneath one of the large bookshelves. Hawkmon had proceeded with his usual afternoon nap perched a few shelves up, occasionally opening one eye to see that his partner and all else was the way he had left it a short while ago.
Having rummaged for some time through a heavy volume that was mostly filled with spells the purpose for which made him slightly nauseous, Daisuke finally shut the book and set it down on the ground, feeling more tired from that work than from trekking across the sands to get to the book. He yawned leaned back against the pile of crates behind him, causing a few of the metallic parts within to creak loudly. He stared up at the ceiling until a stray breeze above caused a few granules of sand to fall through the cracks into his eyes, and then he went back to the shelf full of books.
"It's fascinating," Miyako noted, glancing briefly up from the book she'd been perusing. "I'd almost be tempted to try one of these if I wasn't more afraid of them than I'd like to admit. That and I haven't the right sort of magic…."
This statement was so startling that Daisuke turned back toward her with a surprised expression. "You want to try a spell of dark magic?"
"Well…not really…only…almost," she answered sheepishly, turning back toward the book. "It's…hard to explain."
"What sort of spells are you reading, anyway?"
"Ah…um…mostly," she glanced back toward the book. "Well, it's all rather destructive, of course, but think of how amazing it might be to conjure a storm of fire in the midst of a battle…." He stared blankly at her for a moment, and Miyako went on. "This one is for a lightning storm…it would take an amazing amount of magic, of course, but an awesome sight to see. It could be focused intently, too, on one single object…."
"That doesn't sound too dark…."
"Yes, well, those are the nicer ones," Miyako admitted. "There's also a ton of others I'd rather not read about or mention," she paused here and shivered, "thought it's interesting to see how they're done."
"Is it?" he questioned, trying to sound as though this was a causal inquiry. Before he turned back to the bookshelf again, however she saw that strange look in his eyes again.
"It's only to…to try to understand the enemy," she went on, feeling as though somehow she had done or said something rather horrible and wishing to explain herself. "If I understand how that magic works, I can better work against it."
Daisuke said nothing for a long moment, pulling out another book from the shelf. "Do you know how one gets to become a dark mage?" he asked, again with a voice of barely recognizable forced casualness.
Miyako stared at him for a long moment, as though he were unrecognizable. "I…," she began, and then shook her head. "Koushiro once said that magic alone is not dark…it's the person who uses it that makes it dark," she recalled. "Are you saying that if I tried to use one of these…?"
He shrugged, taking his seat again and opening the book in his lap. "I'm no mage," he reminded her. "I don't know much about how magic works."
"You don't have to be a mage to know something about magic," she answered, glancing down at the book in her hands. The words within were scratched out in dark ink, and the lines seemed to have a harshness to them.
Miyako looked down at the spell written on the page before her. It was a spell designed to cause pain, and the person who had transcribed it had described in vivid detail precisely how a person might react to the spell. There was a mathematical formula the sort which would make one's brain hurt which allowed the spell caster to calculate how much magical energy needed to be expended, and how much pain it would be expected to cause in a subject depending upon height and weight and magical ability. Simply looking at the page made her feel a strange sort of cold, and she wondered if Daisuke had once had firsthand experience with this spell in particular.
There was then a loud explosion overhead that jolted the sleeping boy and the digimon in the corner into alertness and sent a shower of dust and sand into the room.
"Yah!" a voice shouted, laughing gleefully, and they could hear a shower of tiny explosions, miniature bombs bouncing off the stone walls of the ruins.
"Mummymon," Daisuke realized, getting to his feet.
"They'll get the crystal," Miyako said, releasing her magical hold on the book she'd been reading. It fell to the ground with a quiet thud. "How do I get out of this place?" she demanded.
"The stairs, if they still exist," he answered, pointing to the far corner of the room. It was, unfortunately, blocked by a pile of fallen stones, as the building above them had caved in onto the steps.
"Doesn't look like they do," V-mon noted, having crossed the room to join his partner. "We could go out the way we came in."
Shijo was looking upward through the chute they'd slid through. The exit was clearly visible, but the tube was made of a polished material and it would be nearly impossible to get a foothold on the smooth surface. "Um, no, I don't think we could," he disagreed.
"Only one option left," Miyako decided. The small granules of sand that had fallen on the floor from between the cracks began to lift themselves into the air and speed about the room. The mage herself had already shut her eyes and an expression of concentration was forming on her face.
"Not in here!" Daisuke shouted over the sound of the wind, which was rapidly increasing in power. "The roof will cave in!"
Miyako didn't seem to have heard him, or if she did, she didn't seem to be heeding his advice. Quickly, he grabbed Shijo by the arm and pulled him into the corner of the room, as far away from the center as possible, and thus out of reach of the tornado of small metallic parts, wires, pipes, and books that were now caught up in the massive cyclone. They took shelter behind one of the empty crates and tried not to let the sand get in their eyes. The tiny metallic parts bombarded the stone ceiling at such a high rate of speed that they were making small but significant dents in the rock and it would not be long before they broke through.
"Wow," Shijo said in amazement. "That's amazing." He'd never before had much of an opportunity to watch a mage at work, and was so eager to watch.
"Stupid," Daisuke muttered. "She's going to exhaust herself, the roof will cave in, and we'll all die, and then Mummymon will be sure to get the crystal." He'd pulled the hood of his cloak over his head in an attempt to shield his eyes from the sand, but it had immediately blown off. He was now holding it on with one hand, holding on to Hawkmon (who'd retreated with the rest of them) with the other.
"I doubt it will be that bad," Hawkmon shouted to him over the noise, but he, too, had a grim expression.
After what seemed like an eternity, the light burst through the ceiling and Miyako ceased the wind. "Hawkmon!" she called in the stunned silence that followed. "Let's go! Digimental up!"
"Hawkmon armor evolve! Hawkmon!" called the bird, leaving Daisuke, Shijo, and their partners behind in the corner.
"That was amazing!" Shijo said again, brushing the sand from his clothes. "Amazing! Wow."
"She'll get herself killed," Daisuke mumbled to himself as he crossed the room and peered up at the bright sunlight that was breaking through the large hole Miyako had departed through. "Killed. And then I'll be killed," he finished, shaking his head.
"You can say that again," said a woman's voice, and the sorceress, a thin woman with silvery hair and a red dress, appeared in basement room. "How nice that you've returned to me. You can give me the crystal now, and we won't have any problems. Once I have it, it'll be so much easier for me to find the one that's here."
"I told you before you can't have it, and I'm not changing my mind," Daisuke answered, already having removed his digivice from his pocket. A high pitched, repetitive noise could be heard over the sounds of Miyako's distant battle.
"V-mon evolve!" shouted the small blue digimon, lunging forward. "XV-mon!"
Shijo gasped out another, "Wow!" from the corner where he'd hidden as he watched the others leave.
By the time the sun was fully risen and the midmorning sun had shed light on the battle, Takeru was high above the fields yet again, this time hitching a ride on Li Tan's Airdramon. The tamer's partner, a cheerful yet ferocious looking Lopmon, rode upon the head of the Airdramon as a lookout.
Trying to ignore both the pain in his head and his long-standing distrust and fear of Airdramon, Takeru squinted ahead of them. Below, he could see Ankylomon and Iori hurrying toward some far off point on the edge of a lake. Some small bursts of fire could be seen illuminating the shadows of the trees that surrounded the water, and the sounds of Tyrannomon attacks could be heard intermingling with Airdramon attacks.
"Strange," Takeru mumbled, mostly to himself. He'd never thought that he'd be riding on the back of an Airdramon, nor flying to help a tribe of people he'd been told were entirely destroyed in the border wars of more than twenty years earlier.
"Which part?" Li Tan questioned, grinning. "The part about us existing or the part about the Chosen existing, who I was told were mere myths."
It was not entirely uncomfortable to ride on the back of a tamed Airdramon. This one in particular sported a saddle-like riding seat, with a special spot in the front for Li Tan's Lopmon partner to keep watch and, Takeru supposed, occasionally add to the attack in mid-air.
As they flew closer to the other members of Li Tan's tribe, he could see that they, too, had saddles fastened to the back of their Airdramon, and helped to control their mounts by way of a complex system of reins. Many of the riders carried long pikes, spears, or poles, with which they attempted to knock their enemies to the ground, as Takeru had discovered the hard way. Others carried maces, axes, or large bows and a full quiver of arrows. At least two or three dozen Airdramon flew in the sky above a group of six Tyrannomon. In the midst of the battle, Takeru caught sight of a large red bug-like digimon, and saw that Koushiro and Kabuterimon had followed their previous adversary into the battle.
The Tyrannomon were largely rider-less, save for one fortunate soul, whose rider was perched atop his head with a long whip, struggling like mad to avoid falling. The others had not been so fortunate, for Takeru could see a number of people on the ground who were injured, tending to the injured, or trying to stay out of the way of the Tyrannomon, who seemed to be throwing flames without caring who they head. Even in the sky, he could hear the clash of swords, and saw that the members of the tribe who were not airborne were battling on the ground below.
Ankylomon had reached the battle scene as well. Iori climbed down from his partner's back and surveyed the battle with a serious frown. After a moment of thought, the large digimon shouted a battle cry and stormed into the fray, swinging his armored tail, leaving Iori on the edge of the battle, where he immediately went to help the wounded.
"Should I let you off here?" Li Tan started to ask, but before Takeru could answer, another Airdramon broke from the skirmish and sped towards them, its rider swinging a long scythe-like weapon. Immediately, Li Tan pulled on the reins with one hand, raising his spear in his other, moving quickly to block the attack.
"Watch for the arrows!" Lopmon warned, and Takeru leaned forward to avoid a speeding missile. He could hear the tear of fabric, and guessed that the arrow had been so close as to rip the sleeve of his shirt.
"Sorry," Li Tan apologized, as his adversary broke away, flying off to come around for another attack. "I didn't mean to get you caught up this way." He pulled on the reins and the Airdramon flew higher, avoiding another few arrows.
"Don't worry about it," Takeru assured him. "Give me something to fight with and I'll help you out."
"Can you shoot?" Lopmon questioned, his own arms being a bit too short to wield a bow and arrow.
"Not so bad as some," he answered. "I can manage."
"Good enough for me," Li Tan answered, and his Lopmon immediately produced the bow in question from a pouch hanging from the saddle. It was longer than what Takeru was used to, and the string was different as well, but otherwise it seemed to be an ordinary bow, and when Lopmon produced a quiver of arrows, he swung it over his shoulder and prepared to fire.
It's not so easy, he soon found, to fire an arrow from the back of an Airdramon as it is to fire one from the ground. Although he knew how to shoot, Takeru had never done so in combat – mostly in competition with his brother, for amusement, safely on the ground – and the jolting movements of the Airdramon didn't make his task easy. Before long, however, he had managed to notch and fire without too much difficulty. Whether or not he hit his intended target was another matter altogether. Behind him, he could hear clanks and grunts as Li Tan's spear clashed again and again with the weapon of his enemy. The scene was so chaotic that Takeru wasn't sure if the rider he was aiming at was his enemy, but he also wasn't sure if he was hitting anything at all. After some time, he decided it would be better to try to stop the Tyrannomon, and so aimed his arrows toward the fire-breathing dinosaurs on the ground.
"Maybe I should help?" Patamon suggested. Being that he could fly, Takeru's partner didn't much have to worry about falling, or staying put aboard the Airdramon, and so hovered near his partner with no more difficulty than he did when he was closer to the ground.
"Maybe," Takeru admitted reluctantly.
For anyone who's wondering (i'm sure there are millions of you) Li Tan doesn't mean anything, so far as I know. I can only say about two things in Chinese, so while I'm sure it means something, I don't know what. I got the Li from Card Captor Sakura and the Tan comes from Amy Tan, one of my favorite authors. I needed a name and rather than spend three weeks debating or looking things up or leaving the poor guy nameless, I threw them together.
The promised battle will definitely get into full swing in the next chapter. I was going to end this chapter with Daisuke and Miyako heading off to fight, but then I realized that it's been so long since anything really happened and I did promise action, that I had to add a little something else. Not much, but...
Next chapter, I swear, gets exciting, as I've got not one, not two, but technically three battles to write about. Also, unless things change drastically, Ken should reappear, too, and get to take part in some action.
Thanks for reading!