Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. The chapter titles come from "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Po Chu-i.
Chapter 13: Only Fog and Dust
An hour or so before noon, Izzy and Tsukiyo reached the gates of Gruesomon's castle. The raven Ash gave a final caw and flew off over the forest.
They saw the message Yolei had written on the wall. "I guess we should wait here," Izzy said.
"They don't say anything about Tora or Opalmon," Tsukiyo said. Izzy thought there was a note of concern for her brother in her voice, but he might have imagined it.
"They must not be here yet," he suggested.
They heard an explosion near the castle, and a cloud of dust burst from the desiccated garden. Tsukiyo and Izzy watched curiously as Opalmon and Tora climbed from the tunnel Opalmon had cut to escape the dungeon. When Tora saw them, he ran to them.
"We have to leave, now," he said. "Opalmon and I were trapped by Gruesomon in the dungeon. She'll come looking for us."
"Where are the others?" Izzy asked.
Opalmon frowned. "We haven't seen them. Gruesomon might have..."
The castle door opened. Davis and Kari walked out, followed by a green-skinned female demon.
"Izzy, Tsukiyo, Tora, Opalmon!" Kari shouted in happy greeting. "We found Phytomon."
"And I suggest we not linger here," Phytomon said. "Gruesomon keeps herself informed of everything that goes on in her castle; she must know you're here by now."
"Since we have you, we can leave any time," Tsukiyo said. "We know Xylomon isn't here. We just need to find Ken and Yolei."
"They're not back yet?" Kari asked, suddenly worried. "They should have finished searching before we did. They could be in trouble."
Davis turned back toward the castle. "Well don't just stand there; let's go find them."
At that moment, Ken and Yolei raced out of the castle, panting and clearly scared. "Run!" Yolei shouted at them. "For goodness sake, run!"
Izzy turned to Phytomon. "Do you know where we can find the Linden Tree Path?"
"Of course. It's just on the other side of the castle from here. We can go around the castle wall." She was watching Ken and Yolei. "If that's the way we're going, I suggest we hurry. From the looks of those two, I'd say Gruesomon definitely knows you're here."
The group was deep in the forest again, miles down Linden Tree Path, before they finally started relaxing and stopped glancing over their shoulders to see if Gruesomon or her minions were following. Tora and Opalmon told about their capture, then Yolei talked about the ordeal she and Ken went through (leaving out some details). Later, when Phytomon told them they'd left the boundaries of Gruesomon's fiefdom and their fear faded, the digidestined took turns telling what happened to them on the way to the castle.
"It seems that several myths from Earth have parallels here," Izzy said. "It could be that some Earth legends actually originate from ancient contact between humans and the demons of the Underworld."
"I've heard the Underworld dimension used to be closer to ours," Ken mentioned.
"I was thinking," Tsukiyo said, "Some ancient stories may hint that humans can form partnerships with underworld demons like we can with digimon."
"Preposterous," Opalmon scoffed. "For starters, what would be the point? These underworlders can't even digivolve. And they're generally evil by nature. No offense," she quickly added to Phytomon.
"None taken," Phytomon said. "We're not good, but I wouldn't say we're generally evil. Good and evil don't really matter to us. But there are exceptions: Gruesomon is definitely evil."
"What do you think, Phytomon?" Tsukiyo asked. "Do you think humans and underworlders can be partners?"
"I have no idea. I'm not sure if I would really like a partner."
Kari yawned heavily. She was used to going without sleep on her sojourns in the digiworld, but her lack of sleep did take a toll.
"We should stop for a rest," Davis said.
Phytomon turned toward him. "We might be out of Gruesomon's lands, but we're not out of danger yet. We should keep moving until nightfall."
"I agree with Phytomon," Opalmon said. "The more ground we cover, the better."
"I'm definitely getting my workout," Yolei joked.
"I think we all are," Kari said.
Ken remained mostly quiet as they journeyed down the shaded path. He could barely believe that Yolei finally knew how he felt about her, but the memory of the kiss was still vivid, seared into his mind by the fear of the moment. His lips still tingled. It hadn't been his first kiss, but it was their first kiss. Maybe it wouldn't work out. Maybe when they weren't in a life-or-death situation, Yolei would decide she wanted remain just friends. He would accept that, and still treasure the memory for the rest of his life.
Yolei, too, was thinking about the kiss. I can't believe I'm so lucky...that Ken would actually choose me! He's so amazing... wonderful... handsome... perfect... indescribable, and I'm just plain, old, ordinary Yolei. It doesn't make any sense. Not that I'm complaining... She glanced surreptitiously at Ken and smiledShe recalled her siblings teasing her when Davis was trying to convince them to invite Ken to join them. "You should give him a second chance. After all, he is your boyfriend." "Your horoscope says you'll be lucky in love this week." If they only knew!
As the sun sank low in the sky, they approached a stark cliff face. Half way up the cliff was a large cave.
Phytomon looked at the cave longingly. "Xylomon's up there."
"You're sure?" Davis asked.
"She's my sister. I'm sure." She knelt and touched the ground. A moment later, a green leaf burst from the ground at the cliff base. It grew into a vine that wound its way up the rock. It reached the mouth of the cave. But instead of Xylomon, an enormous and terrifying creature emerged. It had leathery wings, large horns on its head, spikes along its spine, and smoke curling out of its nostrils.
"It looks like a dragon, except mean," Davis said.
"Everyone, stand back," Opalmon advised. She and Phytomon stood side by side, waiting to see what the beast would do.
It took one look at them—one long, chilling look—then blasted a plume of flame down the cliff.
The force of the blast knocked Opalmon and Phytomon back. Tora broke from where the humans watched from the tree line and ran to his digimon. "Opalmon," he said, "are you okay?"
She nodded. "Tora, I have to digivolve."
"Maybe we should retreat; that thing's too powerful."
She glared at him. "We have a mission to complete," she reminded him.
He sighed. "Okay."
"Opalmon digivolve to...Lazulimon!"
The dragon swooped toward Lazulimon and Tora.
"Lapidation!" Lazulimon sent a shower of stones against her foe. They bounced off its thick scales harmlessly.
The dragon landed in front of them, looking at Tora hungrily.
Phytomon put her hands to the ground again, and vines sprouted and wound themselves around the dragon's legs. Lazulimon took the opportunity to grab Tora and escape to the safety of the forest. Phytomon ran after them as the creature thrashed to escape its bindings.
"Okay, I think maybe we need a plan," Davis said once they were gathered together.
"We need to find a way to distract the dragon while someone climbs up the cliff," Yolei said.
"But the question is how." Izzy glanced at Tsukiyo, hoping she could come up with an idea. He was surprised to see that she had brought out her gift from Laetusmon, the jade carving. "Tsukiyo?"
"I have a feeling..." she said, confused, "that it's time to use this. But I have no idea how."
They caught glimpses of the dragon circling over head, trying to spot its prey through the trees.
"You'd better think of something fast," Yolei said. She added mentally, If we die now...it would be really lousy timing.
Ken examined the sculpture's detail. "Some of the symbols on it are ancient Mayan."
"Can you read any of it?" Tsukiyo asked.
"A little," he admitted. "I took an interest in the Maya after my first visit to the Underworld. I believe this hieroglyph," he indicated one that looked like a hand grasping a rock, "means 'to touch the earth', which is a metaphor for birth."
Tsukiyo thoughtfully and carefully placed the jade object on the ground. Almost immediately, it began to glow. A bubble of iridescent light expanded from it. Tsukiyo stepped back. Everyone watched in amazement.
"It's a birthbloom," Phytomon whispered in amazement.
The energy bubble grew until it was over a meter across, then burst in a brilliant flash of white. Where it had been, a new demon now sat. It looked like a furry blue lizard the size of a large dog, and had long arms and legs connected with flaps of skin like a flying squirrel. It looked around at them with sparkling white eyes. It chirped.
"What is that thing?" Tora wondered.
"You got me," said Izzy.
"Oh, it's so cute!" Yolei gushed.
The demon looked around at the humans, then fixed its eyes on Tsukiyo. "Reimeimon," it said matter-of-factly.
"Reimeimon?" Tsukiyo repeated, confused by the creature's sudden appearance.
Reimeimon nuzzled her hand.
"It looks like you have a partner, Tsukiyo," Ken said.
The dragon, which had been nearly forgotten during Reimeimon's birth, crashed through the trees nearby and spat fire in their direction. The newborn Reimeimon nimbly scampered up the closest tree and shrieked at it.
The dragon snapped at Reimeimon. It jumped off its branch and spread the flaps between its arms and legs, gliding swiftly past the dragon's head, then grabbed its horns. It started trilling annoyingly. The dragon thrashed its head, trying to dislodge the baby demon.
As the humans and Lazulimon watched Reimeimon, Phytomon slipped away to rescue her sister while the dragon was distracted.
"Reimeimon!" Tsukiyo shouted with deep concern she didn't understand as the dragon began hitting the underworlder with its wings.
Lazulimon bounded toward the dragon. "Lapis claw!"
The dragon's tail whipped her. She smacked into a tree trunk and dedigivolved.
Vines began growing up the dragon's legs and tail. The surrounding trees bent out of shape to trap it. With a frightened squeak, Reimeimon jumped off and ran behind Tsukiyo.
As the dragon tried to find a way out of its woody prison, the digidestined turned around to see Phytomon and a tall humanoid demon with dark brown skin, long grey hair, and the turquoise gem that characterized the sisters. "Humans, Opalmon, this is Xylomon," Phytomon introduced.
"Great to meet you. Let's get out of here."
A safe distance from both the dragon's mountain and Gruesomon's castle, the group stopped to rest for the night. Kari, Tora, and Opalmon went straight to sleep. Phytomon and Xylomon, who obviously had a lot of catching up to do, offered to stand watch for the first part of the night. Reimeimon had learned the word "why" and was testing the depths of Tsukiyo and Izzy's considerable wells of knowledge.
Davis yawned as he rolled out his sleeping bag. He was very tired, but he still noticed Yolei and Ken exchange secretive glances and then slip off into the woods together.
Ken and Yolei found a place out of earshot of the camp where a fallen tree provided a place to sit and a gap that allowed in moonlight.
Ken looked at her for a moment, admiring the tint of her strawberry blond hair in the moonlight. Then he spoke. "I've been trying not to think about how much I don't deserve you, but it's true. It's always been true, but you insisted on being my friend anyway. I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to say, but I'm...I don't want you to feel like you're obligated to return my feelings because of our friendship or anything. I'll understand if you don't; I won't hold it against you, and it won't hurt our friendship."
Yolei looked at Ken, then quickly down to where her hand rested on the whiteness of the log. He was so beautiful in the moonlight. He gave her flutters in her stomach...and certain other organs. "Ken," she said quietly, "I used to...when I didn't know you, except from television, I had a crush on you..."
"I know. Davis told me."
"What!" she fumed angrily. "I made everyone promise never to tell you! Errg! Davis is going to get it!" Ken's smile made her anger evaporate, and she continued in a normal tone. "If you know I had a crush on you, why do you think I wouldn't want to be your girlfriend?" He gave her one of his looks—one of those expressions of deep and silent emotion that only he could pull off—and she realized she shouldn't even have asked. Once again, it was the Emperor, and the guilt that would not die. "I've told you..." she sighed. "It's true that I felt that way when you first turned good, but I changed my mind when I got to know you better. The truth is...I thought you liked Kari. And..." She hadn't wanted to tell him about her crush on the Emperor, because she didn't want to do anything to hurt her chances with him, but she knew if they were going to take their friendship to another level, she had to be up-front, otherwise they would both suffer for her secrecy later. "...when you were the digimon emperor, I dreamed about kissing you, and I felt like that made me a horrible person who doesn't deserve you." She was afraid of offending him, or that he would think less of her, so she panicked and started rambling. "You're wonderful, Ken, and the Emperor was terrible, and I'm sorry I can be so stupid, and then I hated you because of those stupid dreams, and then you turned out to be so great. I'm so sorry..."
Ken put his fingertips to her lips, instantly silencing her. "You never have to apologize to me. Not for anything. Understand?"
Yolei's eyes fluttered closed as she luxuriated in the feeling of Ken touching her lips. She slid her hand over his and kissed his palm. Then she held his hand against her cheek and gazed at him. She could see the moon reflected in his eyes, his black hair stood out sharply against his pale cheeks. "I can't believe there was a time when I hoped I'd never see you again. Now I can't imagine life without you."
Ken wondered if this was a dream. It seemed too good to be true. He wanted it to be real; he wanted to be Yolei's boyfriend, instead of just wishing he were. He wanted this to be perfect. He had to be careful, to take it slow. "Are you...um...do you have plans for next Friday...night...or..."
"No, I don't have any plans. What would you like to do?"
"Maybe we could...maybe we could have...dinner?"
Yolei smiled softly. He was so shy. He'd never had a serious relationship before, or even been out on a date with the same girl twice. She was willing to go at his pace. "Okay. What time should we meet?"
"I'll have to check my schedule. But whenever's convenient for you."
"When we get home, check your schedule and call me." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight Ken," she said and she stood up and began making her way back to the camp through the trees. It was hard for her to leave when all she wanted to do was kiss him more, but they both had a lot to think about. And, anyway, waiting was part of the fun.
"Goodnight Yolei," Ken called after her. He didn't move yet. His hand lifted to the spot on his cheek where her lips had been.