Updated: 4/11/21
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER, OR SAVERS!
Chapter 21: Unknown Forces at Work
Tamers Digital World: Location: Level 3 - Tunnels
The travelers got a few hours of rest in before Drimogemon showed up with three other Drimogemon and two Digmon. They then proceeded to where the first Drimogemon had sensed that energy and excavation began. The digging Digimon went first burrowing with their drills to carefully pick through the dirt walls. The Labramon were small enough to work around the Drimogemon and Digmon and made sure to keep their foot space clear.
Minami watched the little dog Digimon sadly, reminded of Seasarmon when he'd dedigivolved. She hadn't known his Rookie name before. Apparently, according to Alice and Babamon, it was possible for Rookie Digimon to have more than one branch of Digivolution to follow. It all depended on the Rookie's personality, where it lived, and what circumstances figured into their Digivolving process.
She was broken out of her thoughts when one of the Digmon's drills squealed and had to be yanked out.
"Wow za!" cried the Digmon in a feminine voice.
"Ya alright?" the other Digmon asked in a southern sounding male accent, not unlike the Cody kid's Digimon when he armor digivolved into Digmon.
"Fine!" the female Digmon laughed, having a similar twang to her accent. "Just ran my drill inta somethin' an' it startled me iz all."
The Labramon and Dobermon took over, digging away around the obstruction until their soft paws uncovered a metal wall. From there the excavation team worked on finding it's edges and slowly but surely managed to uncover a huge metal shaft of some sort.
"Well, we found the lift," Kai sighed as they stood in front of a pair of doors that led into the structure they'd uncovered. "But how do we get in?"
"Ya can't," said the female Digmon. "Them doors iz magnetized. Ya'll need ta git tha power workin' before ya kin git in."
"The power?" Alice repeated.
"Sure!" the male Digmon said. "We may've found tha lift, but we need ta find tha power generator ta turn it on."
"Of course," Alice muttered. "We found the lift, but it's not the source of the energy Drimogemon had sensed is it?"
"Nope," the head Drimogemon said. "That thing's deader than a doornail."
"So no power is running through it at all," Minami mused.
"The power generator must be nearby though," GrapLeomon said. "It wouldn't do any good to be so far away from the thing it's supposed to be powering."
True," Drimogemon said. "We'll continue to dig in the area."
The group settled down again while the digging Digimon worked. Many were taking the chance to rest a bit more now that they were used to the noises of the drilling team and some even were able to fall asleep. Minami and Alice marveled that Kai and Monochromon were two such individuals, snoring away.
An hour later one of the Drimogemon and a Labramon working next to it hit something and were sent skittering back a ways by a shock.
"Found it!" Drimogemon cried with a groan while the Labramon just whimpered.
Minami wasn't sure why, but she jumped to her feet and rushed to the dog Digimon's side.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"That wasn't fun," Labramon groaned, his voice a little high, though whether that was his normal tone or because he was in pain, Minami wasn't sure yet.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked.
"No, but I ache all over," he huffed.
"And I'm fine, thanks for asking," the Drimogemon groaned, getting back on its feet unsteadily. Minami blushed, realizing that she'd been so focused on the hurt Labramon, that she forgot to ask how Drimogemon - who'd looked like he'd taken more of the shock - was doing.
"Don't be stupid," another Drimogemon scoffed. "You took a shock to the nose. Go sit down and let the Palmon look you over."
The first Drimogemon huffed, but complied, waddling over towards the large group waiting. Minami scooped up the Labramon and followed, knowing that he should be looked over as well. The Palmon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon made sure the Drimogemon and Labramon were both taken care of and once Minami was sure that both were alright, she left to rejoin Alice and an awakened Kai.
"How are they?" Alice asked.
"They'll be fine," Minami said. "The Palmon had an assortment of salves on hand and were able to treat them."
Alice nodded before returning her attention to the digging effort. The remaining three Drimogemon and the two Digmon were standing back and letting the Dobermon and Labramon dig around what Minami assumed was the generator they'd been looking for.
"After what happened to those two," Alice said, noticing Minami's stare, "it was determined that further digging with metal drills was unwise, so the canine Digimon are handling it."
"But that Labramon doesn't have any metal on him," Kai said. "Why'd he get shocked?"
"He was too close to Drimogemon when his nose drill hit the generator," Alice explained. "He got what I suppose you could call secondary sock. Even Drimogemon's toenails are metal drills, so Labramon must have been next to or working over one of his feet."
Minami looked over to where that Labramon was being treated and saw that he was looking at her as well. He cocked his head to the side curiously. Minami smiled at him before returning her attention to the digging efforts.
Half an hour later the power generator was cleared and cleaned off enough for examination. A couple of Hawkmon fussed around with it for a while before flipping a few switches. At first nothing happened, but then the lift shaft they'd uncovered earlier began to hum, a shuddering clanging was heard from within before it began to whine with power and small inset lights around it began to light up. They blinked red at first but then turned green, much like the previous level locks had done before opening.
"It works!" cheered the teams.
The whining from the lift continued, much like a normal elevator did as the lift traveled down the shaft to them. They could tell it reached them when there was a loud pinging sound, but when the lift doors opened, it wasn't empty. Inside were three Dark Tyranomon. They reared their heads back and bellowed loud roars that shook the tunnels before charging out of the lift at them. Minami screamed, letting Alice yank her away behind Monochromon who roared back at the other dino Digimon and charged, pushing one away from the humans while GrapLeomon dealt with the second one, and Jijimon and Babamon tag teamed up against the third one.
Monochromon, however, being only a Champion level Digimon could only hold his own for so long against an Ultimate level Digimon like Dark Tyranomon. Kai, Alice and Minami could only watch as Dark Tyranomon dug in its heels, stopping Monochromon's charge and tossed him aside before lashing out with its claws. Before it could make contact with Monochromon, however, the two Digmon were suddenly there, blocking it with their drill hands. Dark Tyranomon roared as he pushed them back and swiped them away into Monochromon with its tail.
"There's gotta be something I can do," Kai growled, reaching into his pants pocket to pull out a case with Digimon cards inside. Minami peeked over his shoulder to see what cards he had, while also nervously glancing around at the fights.
Jijimon and Babamon were dealing with their Dark Tyranomon alright, and GrapLeomon was being supported by the Drimogemon and a few Cerberumon against the second, while the two Digmon and Monochromon were working well together to keep the third Dark Tyranomon from reaching the others.
"Ah ha!" Kai cried, picking out a card before showing it to Alice. "What do you think?"
Minami looked over at the card just before Alice nodded and Kai swiped it through his D-Power.
"Digi-Modify! MegaSeadramon's Lighting Javelin activate!"
Monochromon startled before grinning. His horn sparked as he rammed into the Dark Tyranomon, the lightning attack firing into the dino's chest. The two Digmon were quick to follow up and launch their Gold Rush attacks. The virus Digimon roared in pain before shattering into data bits, which Monochromon absorbed. That was one down.
The Cerberumon pack had now joined Jijimon and Babamon's efforts and soon had their Dark Tyranomon down as well, quickly followed by the third and final Dark Tyrannomon who didn't stand a chance against all the Digimon that had ganged up on it. GrapLeomon delivered the finishing blow himself, looking quite satisfied as he absorbed his foe's data.
"Well that was exciting," Minami said shakily.
"We certainly weren't expecting an attack after opening the way to the next level," Alice agreed, also looking shaken.
"It's not going to get any easier from here is it?" Kai sighed.
"No," Alice said grimly before addressing all the Digimon around them. "Quite the opposite I'd imagine. If anyone wants to turn back now and head back to their level, we'll understand."
"Not likely, missy," Jijimon huffed. "We Level 1 Digimon are sticking with ya."
There were shouts of agreement from the Chuchidarumon, Jagamon, Crysalmon and Infermon that had come with them from Level 1.
"We're not backing down either," croaked the Gekomon leader of the guard that had come with them from Level 2. "We promised ShogunGekomon we'd see you through to the Sovereign."
"Thank you," the three human children said, bowing to their faithful traveling companions.
"And we'll be joining you as well," GrapLeomon said, stepping forward with a few squadrons of his level's Cerberumon, Dobermon, and Labramon packs, as well as the two Digmon, and a group of Palmon. The rest of the dog Digimon pack, the Drimogemon, and the other members of the Level 3 search and dig teams bowed, wishing their leader luck.
"Are you sure it's wise to take so many of your level's fighting force with you?" Alice asked. "What if more Digimon like those Dark Tyranomon come through the lift?"
"Then we'll be ready for them," growled a Cerberumon among the pack staying behind.
"I've left orders with the other higher level Digimon in our city and they're prepared," GrapLeomon reassured. "I would be honored to join your group."
"We'd be honored," chorused the Digimon behind him, bowing.
"Wow, it really is like we're gathering an army," Kai chuckled.
Alice sighed, but was smiling all the same.
"We are grateful for your assistance," she said, bowing back.
"Very grateful," Minami added, also bowing.
"You guys have already proven you're going to be useful in a fight," Kai commented, grinning at Monochromon who grunted approvingly. "Welcome aboard!"
"So let us continue on to the next level," Alice said before they all began to board the lift.
The lift was big, but not big enough, however, for everyone to ride up at once. It took two trips for everyone to make it up to Level 4, but they managed. After the dark tunnels and being underground for most of their stay on Level 3, it was a nice change to find themselves on a grassy field after the lift opened out of a tall hill and there was a nice breeze in the air. The Digital World's core could be seen clearly above them with three beams touching down far off in the distance.
"Well this is by far the most pleasant level we've been on so far," Minami sighed.
"Pleasant doesn't always mean safe, though, Minami," Alice said, eyes scanning their surroundings. "We're out in the open and we don't know what kind of Digimon live on this level."
"True," Kai said, "But we might as well rest now while things are peaceful."
"I agree," GrapLeomon said. "Best break camp now and rest before venturing further and seeing what this level has to offer."
And so the now very large group of Digimon and the three humans made camp and set up guard shifts before going to sleep.
Adventure Digital World: Location: Gennai's Base
Jun Motomiya looked around in awe as she and the others were led through a part of the base they'd never been to before. Not that that was strange in itself because there was a lot of the base she was sure no one in her group - except perhaps Mr. Ishida - had seen since they had been living in only a small part of it. This area of the base was full of Digimon moving around in addition to all of the digital men that looked like Gennai. Some were rather cute looking, like the flying pink Digimon with fairy wings, while others were rather scary, like the humanoid Digimon covered in flames.
They were led to the very back of the large space towards a counter where five digivices (like the ones her brother had) and five tiny Digimon were waiting for them.
"Those are your new digivices and partners," Gennai said as they went around a group of Digimon who looked like they were gathering supplies of some kind. "To be honest we've been working on this for a while now ever since MaloMyotismon's defeat. A lot more children were selected to become DigiDestined after that event, and the five of you were candidates. Unfortunately, those younger than you were given a higher priority and were made DigiDestined before our worlds became sealed off from one another."
"That's right," Jim mused from where he walked beside Jun. "There are thousands if not millions of DigiDestined children all over the world."
"If that's true why are none of them here having to deal with this mess?" Momoe asked. "Why just Tai and Davis' teams here in Japan? Those two Americans only seem to have gotten dragged into this because they just happened to be with their group when they were all summoned to that other world."
"It is because those children are unique," Gennai sighed, glancing over his shoulder at Hiroaki and his team who were following just behind the teens. "Tai and his original team of 8 were the first DigiDestined chosen since Hiroaki Ishida's time. They were the first of a new generation of DigiDestined. Davis and his group and all of the children chosen to become DigiDestined after that, had all witnessed and even interacted with Digimon during Myotismon's reign of terror and the chaos that occurred afterwards with the Dark Masters when this world could be seen in your world's sky and vice versa. I believe that the groups that were summoned to that other world, were chosen specifically by the Digital Deities that oversee that Digital World. They had to have known of the success those children had at facing and destroying our world's enemies and hoped that those same children could succeed in facing their world's enemies as well. "
"That doesn't explain why other already established DigiDestined aren't here right now like we are," Mantarou said, frowning.
"It's because we can't reach them," Gennai sighed. "I'm actually surprised we were able to reach Michael and Willace's parents before communication and travel between our worlds was completely severed."
"Can't you reach out and get in touch with some of them, like you did with us?" Mr. Yoshimura asked, his Agumon nodding next to him.
"Not as we are right now," another digital man said, joining their group as they finally reached the counter where the new partner Digimon and digivices were awaiting them. "Those Control Spires need to be dealt with first before we can even attempt to reach the other DigiDestined of the world."
"So let's get started," Mr. Hiroko said, his Tentomon buzzing in agreement.
"Let's introduce the new DigiDestined to their partners first," Gennai suggested, picking up the digivice on the end of the counter closest to him. It's grip was a dark navy blue that almost looked grey. He handed it to Jim. The device lit up, it's screen flashing before darkening once more.
"It has accepted you. Excellent," Gennai said, looking relieved, before turning to the partner Digimon. The little guy had a grey body that reminded Jun of a seal with bright blue eyes and a fiery orange tuft of fur on the top of it's head.
"This is your partner, Bukamon," Gennai said, and Jun and the others watched in amazement as the little guy flew off the counter to hover in front of Jim's astounded face.
"Nice ta meetcha!" the little guy said, waving a flipper. Jim tentatively shook the flipper.
Gennai moved on to the next digivice - this one with a choral pink grip - and handed it to Jun. Like with Jim, the screen lit up before darkening, only now that she was holding it, she could see that it was now displaying the time on the screen. Her partner turned out to be a Bukamon as well, only this one spoke more timidly and had a female voice.
"Hello," the girl Bukamon squeaked, bowing her head. "I'm so happy to finally meet you."
"Likewise," Jun said, bowing back.
Mantarou's digivice had an orange grip and his partner was a little yellow bird with orange eyebrows and a thick long tail of hair coming out of the top of his head called Chichimon. Momoe's digivice had a plum purple grip and her partner was a green and brown chrysalis/caterpillar Digimon called Minomon. Chizuru's Digivice had a light icy blue grip and her partner was called Koromon, a pink head with two streamers on the top of it's head for ears, large red eyes and a large gaping mouth with a lot of teeth.
After getting introduced to their partner Digimon, the teens were then instructed to pair off with an adult DigiDestined. Jun found herself standing next to Mr. Yoshi and his Patamon. Jim was with Mr. Ishida and Gabumon, Momoe was with Mr. Hiroko and Tentomon, Mantarou was with Mrs. Yoshimura and Biyomon, and Chizuru was with Mr. Yoshimura and Agumon who was already talking excitedly with Chizuru's Koromon. Apparently Koromon tended to digivolve into Agumon. From there the pairs were divided into teams of four and paired off with some of the Digimon that they'd seen gathering supplies earlier.
Jun, Chizuru, Mr. Yoshi, Mr. Yoshimura and their Digimon partners were team one. Their guide was a large yellow teddy bear called Monzaemon. They were going to the forest sector where Monzaemon's Toy Town was located to meet up with the locals before taking out those control spires that Gennai and Mr. Ishida had talked about.
Team two was Momoe, Mantarou, Mrs. Yoshimura, Mr. Hiroko and their Digimon. They were leaving with a large centaur Digimon called, appropriately, Centarumon, to a jungle where some temple was and more Digimon that could help them deal with the control spires appearing in the area.
That left Jim, Mr. Ishida and their Digimon on team three with the tiny pink Digimon Jun had thought was cute earlier - Piximon, a Unicorn Digimon called Unimon, and a few more that she couldn't remember the names of, but Mr. Ishida appeared to be familiar with them, having apparently traveled with them up the big mountain when he'd left the base the first time nearly a week ago.
"Our first priority is to deal with the Control Spires here on File Island," Gennai said after the assignments were made. "Then we'll make our way to Server Continent and deal with any trouble that might have cropped up there. Be careful and keep an eye out for whoever might be building these things. Good luck. Team One, we're approaching your stop so please be ready to depart."
Jun and Chizuru picked up their partners and followed Mr. Yoshi and Mr. Yoshimura towards a large door neither girl had noticed before. They waved goodbye to the others (Chizuru getting quick hugs from her older brother and sister) before the massive door opened and revealed a large empty stretch of grassland with a forest just a kilometer or so ahead of them. Also in the distance was a tall black obelisk.
"So that's a Control Spire," Mr. Yoshimura mused.
"Don't worry, Saito!" the man's Agumon cried. "We'll cut that thing down and reduce it to rubble."
"Right!" Patamon, Koromon, and Bukamon cheered.
Chizuru and Jun smiled at the little guys' enthusiasm.
"Lead the way, Monzaemon," Mr. Yoshi said.
The large teddy bear nodded and began walking towards the forest. It was a little hard keeping up with the Digimon's large strides, but they managed a lot better once they reached the forest and Monzaemon was forced to slow down to avoid knocking down too many trees. Jun was surprised to find out that Toy Town was a large area with many human buildings that looked like they'd be right at home in an amusement park like Disneyland. When they arrived, a bunch of block looking Digimon came racing out of the buildings to meet Monzaemon. Mr. Yoshi was kind enough to inform Jun and Chizuru that the Digimon were called Toy Agumon.
It wasn't until the initial hubbub died down that the girls noticed a small Digimon that came up to the Toy Agumon's shoulders. He also looked like a teddy bear, though he clearly resembled a panda rather than an ambiguous kind of bear like Monzaemon.
"I'm glad you've returned, Monzaemon," the little bear Digimon said. "The Toy Agumon have reported that there are five Control Spires in the area."
"When did they appear, Pandamon?" Monzaemon asked.
"Overnight, sir," Pandamon said. "Two appeared yesterday, much closer to the town, but we've already dealt with them."
"Any idea of who's behind this?" Mr. Yoshimura asked, stepping forward with Agumon.
"None," Pandamon sighed.
"Have any Digimon in the area been acting weird or been seen wearing dark rings?" Mr. Yoshi asked.
"Not yet," Pandamon said, "but it may only be a matter of time."
"It's just like it was when the Digimon Emperor appeared," muttered a Toy Agumon near where Jun and Chizuru were standing.
"No, that happened a lot faster," another Toy Agumon said. "I heard that as soon as the first few towers were up, the Digimon Emperor was capturing Digimon left and right. No one's gone missing or started attacking yet."
"True."
Mutterings and conversations were starting to circle around the group of worried Digimon.
"We should deal with the Control Spires first," Mr. Yoshimura said, speaking up above the buzz of conversation.
"Agreed," Monzaemon said. "I'll take a patrol of Toy Agumon to a spire and Pandamon will take another with a patrol of his own."
"And we'll do the same," Mr. Yoshimura said. "Haru, you and Jun head for the one we saw on our way to the forest. I'll take Chizuru and head for another. Then we'll meet right back up here."
"That'll leave just one control spire in the area," Monzaemon said. "Whichever groups make it back here first can decide amongst themselves who goes after that one. I also suggest that your groups take a patrol of Toy Agumon with you too."
"Sounds good," Mr. Yoshimura said as the Toy Agumon divided up into five groups. One group stayed behind in the town to act as a reserve in case reinforcements were needed at one of the spires.
Jun swallowed as she and her Bukamon partner followed Mr. Yoshi, Patamon and their Toy Agumon Patrol. This was it. Her first mission as a DigiDestined. She was both excited and petrified.
Frontier Digital World: Location: Flame Terminal
Umi groaned as she settled into a chair back at their small house in Flame Terminal. The Tyranomon that they'd fought had been confused and very apologetic after Riku and Yutaka had destroyed the ring on the digi-dino's tail. Tyrannomon had informed them that he had been traveling on his way to Flame Terminal to see the new Warrior of Fire shine and had been passing through a cave system of some kind further north before blacking out and recovering his senses in the canyon the Warrior DigiDestined had fought him in.
"So now what?" she asked, looking over at Shinya who was seated next to her and then over at Riku and Yutaka who were both still in their beds, being the most battered out of the four of them. She and Shinya had gotten off lightly, having only to distract the possessed Tyrannomon out of reach.
"At the moment? Rest," Yutaka sighed. "Sorcermon is looking over the remains of that ring and will get back to us."
"Which'll probably be soon," Riku yawned. "The dude's had all night. Betcha anything he'll show up with Bokomon and Neemon when they return with breakfast."
Not even a few minutes later, Bokomon and Neemon did indeed show up with Sorcermon in tow. Sorcermon didn't say anything though until after they were eating.
"So what's up, Sorcermon?" Shinya asked.
"What I've learned about this ring was most disturbing," Sorcermon said solemnly. "I believe that the ring is not of this world."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Riku asked, frowning.
"You mean it's alien?" Umi asked.
"Who needs aliens when there's Digimon in the world," Riku muttered.
"What I mean is that it was not from our dimension," Sorcermon said in a patient manner. "Though the design appears to resemble that of a Holy Ring, like the one that can be found on a Gatomon's tail, it is a crudely made device with an evil purpose. It enslaves its wearer and turns them into a mindless puppet for whomever it is that created the ring. It also boosts the captive Digimon's normal strength, hence why Tyrannomon was so large when you encountered him. However, I believe that because this device is so far away from its home dimension, the ring didn't act as it was intended to. Tyrannomon was unruly and didn't have a goal or target in mind, meaning that not only was he not in control of his actions, but no one else was either."
"So what, this ring just happened to fall into our world and caused a good Digimon to go berserk for no reason?" Riku said, scowling.
"Essentially, yes," Sorcermon sighed, nodding. "I believe that this warrants investigating."
"Which I suppose you want us to do," Yutaka sighed.
"Yes," Sorcermon said. "Though you all could use more formal training, I believe experience is only something that you can truly get by journeying around the Digital World. The caves that Tyrannomon passed through happen to be on the way to Ophanimon's Castle. It'll be a bit of a journey, but I'm sure it'll be well worth it. You still need to find your Beast Spirit counterparts after all and I'm sure they'll reveal themselves along the way."
"Don't worry, we'll be your guide," Bokomon said, and Neemon nodded enthusiastically beside him.
"Our stay here sure didn't last very long," Umi sighed as she helped the others gather supplies for their journey after Sorcermon left.
"It really didn't," Shinya laughed. "Taka and I've only been here a couple more days than you have."
"So what's Ophanimon's Castle like?" Umi asked. "You've been there before, right?"
"Yes. It's like something out of a fairy tale," Shinya said. "It's got all sorts of Digimon moving about inside, there are murals of the other's first adventures here, and then there is Lady Ophanimon, who's this really pretty angel Digimon. She's really nice and was the one who asked us to become the new Warriors of Wood and Steel."
"Your parents are there too, aren't they?" Umi asked.
Shinya looked a little sad as he nodded. "Yeah. Mom and Dad are there. They didn't want me to leave, but I left anyway. I… I just couldn't stay there after… after my brother died. Not with all those murals around reminding me what a hero he was."
Umi bit her lip, knowing that Takuya's death still left a huge open emotional wound on the boy. Umi wasn't sure what she would do if that had happened to Riku. She found herself hugging Shinya.
"We'll make him proud," she whispered. "We'll make all of them proud."
"Yeah," Shinya sniffed before pulling away and putting on a brave smile. "We will."
"Are you two ready?" Yutaka asked, shouldering his pack.
"Ready!" the younger two cheered.
Umi was surprised when Shinya grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him on the way out, but squeezed the younger boy's hand reassuringly. He squeezed back before letting go and like that they were off. Bokomon and Neemon were in the lead and Riku and Yutaka brought up the rear. Umi waved goodbye to the Digimon that they passed on their way out of the Digimon village, excited to start exploring this strange new world.
It wasn't long before they left the forest behind and found themselves traveling along some train tracks through open country under a bright blue sky. The Digital World was truly amazing in Umi's eyes. In spite of all the strange and scary Digimon out there, there were so many more cute and nice Digimon too. And the land in the small section of the Digital World that she'd seen so far was like something out of a story book.
She knew that it all wouldn't be as nice as it had been so far. The fight with Tyrannomon was proof enough - and they were just beginning! - but Umi knew that they could handle it. She hadn't known Yutaka and Shinya long, but they were already good friends. She and Shinya especially. Even though he was four years younger than she was, the two of them got along great. Riku and Yutaka got along really well too. It was funny. Umi felt as if she'd gained another older brother and a little brother.
"Umi! Look!" Shinya suddenly cried out excitedly, pointing towards a canyon where the tracks went right over the edge along a narrow bridge over to the other side.
"How is that possible?!" she gasped. "How can that small bridge and track support a train?! Wouldn't it break the moment the train begins to cross?"
"I don't know how, but anything is possible in the Digital World it seems," Yutaka sighed. "Shinya and I took the Trailmon over these same tracks on our way here from Breezy Village."
"How are we gonna get across?" Riku asked, looking at the bridge.
"We could walk across," Shinya suggested. "Just stay in the middle."
"And what happens if one of us falls?" Umi gulped, looking down over the ledge to see how far down it went. It went pretty far, though there appeared to be a river snaking through. "None of our spirit forms can fly."
"It'll take a while, but I suggest we take the trail down into the canyon, cross over down there and climb back up the other side," Yutaka suggested, pointing out a winding path a little ways away from where they were standing.
"Great idea, young man," Bokomon cheered. "That's just what Takuya and the others did when we came this way. In fact, if I remember right, there is a Candlemon Village down below."
"Our brothers traveled this way?" Yutaka asked.
"Indeed," Bokomon said. "We're practically retracing their footsteps. If memory serves, down there is where Tommy found the spirit of Kumamon, the Warrior of Ice."
"Think we might find one of our Beast Spirits down there?" Umi asked.
"Who knows?" Neemon said shrugging.
"Why don't we just move on and find out rather than speculating?" Riku suggested and led the way down the path into the canyon.
It was a long trip down, but nearing sunset they reached the bottom and crossed over what turned out to be more of a stream than a river. On the other side they found some interesting carvings in the cliffside wall of what looked like an angel and a circle of ten symbols. Umi recognized a few of them, namely the Warrior Symbols for Fire, Water, Earth, Steel, and Wood.
"Ah, the carvings of Lucemon and the Ten Legendary Warriors," Bokomon sighed. "That brings back memories, and not all of them pleasant ones. We didn't know back then that Takuya and the others would have to fight Lucemon like the original Ten Legendary Warriors did."
Umi listened as Bokomon began telling them all about the other six children's fight against Crusadermon and Dynasmon while they made their way towards the winding path that would take them back up the canyon. Before they got there, however, they ran into a couple of Digimon that looked like candlesticks.
"Candlemon!" Bokomon cried. "How have you been?"
"It's Bokomon!" one of the Candlemon said. "And Neemon."
"What are you two doing here? And who are they? They look like humans," the second Candlemon piped up.
"We're on our way north to investigate something on our way to Lady Ophanimon's Castle," Bokomon said, spine straightening with importance.
Umi swallowed back a giggle. For a little guy he was sure full of self-importance and purpose. It'd be annoying if it weren't so funny.
"And these are humans," Bokomon continued. "They are the new Warriors of Earth, Water, Steel and Wood."
"New Warriors?!" the Candlemon cried.
"Indeed," Bokomon said, chest puffing out with pride. "And Neemon and I are their escort."
"Whoa," the Candlemon awed.
"It's getting late, though," the first one said.
"Surely you must rest," the other cried.
"Please come stay the night at our village!" they said together and bowed. "We'd be honored."
"What do you think?" Yutaka asked the others.
"We have been traveling all day," Riku mused.
"Maybe they know something about the caves we're heading to and what happened to Tyrannomon," Shinya said.
"It couldn't hurt to learn more about the area," Umi mused. "I say let's take them up on their offer. I don't really want to do any climbing or hiking in the dark anyway."
"True," the three boys said in unison before turning to the Candlemon.
"We accept," Yutaka said.
The Candlemon cheered and led them further down the canyon where they came to a series of small caves in the cliffside where dozens more Candlemon flooded out to greet them and prepared a feast. The Candlemon chief was very hospitable and informed them of his people's previous encounter with Warrior DigiDestined and regaled them with the tale of Agunimon and Kumamon's fight against Wizardmon.
Umi kept an eye on Shinya throughout the story and saw the conflicting emotions that showed on his face as he listened to the candle Digimon tell them about one of Takuya's numerous heroic tales. She made sure to sleep near Shinya when they bedded down for the night. She woke when she sensed him stirring in his sleep, and reached out and held his hand. The boy whimpered softly in his sleep, but settled down. Umi smiled when she spotted Yutaka's arm wrapping around the boy from where he slept behind Shinya. It made her more aware of where Riku was sleeping only inches away, feeling a faint hint of his body heat. Content, satisfied, and surrounded by her brother and new friends, Umi slipped into a peaceful sleep.
Tamers Human World: Hypnos HQ
Mizuo Yamaki sighed, watching the monitors as the children set up camp for the night. It had been a really stressful day after Tai, TK and Koichi had been attacked by one of the Zaigou in the middle of the previous night. When Tai had been stabbed, all of the parents who'd been awake at the time had really freaked out. Many of them had rushed off to check their children's channels if only to reassure themselves that their children were safe. Everyone could only imagine how Tai's parents were handling things in their world.
It had been bad enough when Takuya had been killed a week ago (Gods, had it only been a week?), but even though the boy's death had been very traumatizing, his death had been relatively quick. With Tai, they hadn't known if he was going make it until late morning. And if the teen's situation weren't bad enough, no one knew what was going on with TK and Koichi. Though Koji seemed to be sure that his twin and TK were fine because of some psychic bull, they couldn't know for sure because their channels were as black as Takuya's. Their fates were unknown and that was almost worse than what was going on with Tai. Tai, they could at least monitor his condition by watching his or Joe's channel.
It was a huge relief though, that Joe had proved to be an excellent medic and Tai had recovered well enough to travel that afternoon. All of the parents were still a little on edge, however, because that was five kids now that had been singled out and attacked by the Zaigou, and none of them had been one of their children yet. With everything that was coming at these kids, it was only a matter of time before one of their children got hurt.
Which was why Yamaki was so relieved when his communications device beeped that evening, informing him that he had received another report from Alice and her group. Two of them in fact. The first one was a short missive informing him that they'd made it to the third level of the Digital World. The second one was a lot longer and gave him something good to tell the parents, which now included the families of the three children they'd sent to their Digital World to find the Sovereign.
According to Alice, Kai had a partner now. That was good. At least one of those kids had a partner to help them on their journey. Not that finding help seemed to be an issue for them. They appeared to not have run into any danger at all so far. He wasn't sure how much of their travels were left out of the reports, but they didn't seem to be having a lot of problems. According to Alice, they would be on their way to Level 4 when he got her reports due to the fact that apparently unlocking a level allowed communications between the worlds to go through until they reached the next locked level.
Happy to have something good to report, he made his way out of the monitoring room down to the communal floor where the families were staying. It was just after dinner time and most would be getting ready to settle down for the night. When he got there he saw Janyu with his family. The Nonakas were there with the Matsukis and a few of the other parents as well.
"Yamaki?" Janyu said, getting up from his seat. "Is everything alright?"
That got a lot of attention from the families fast and they all gathered around.
"Everything is as well as it can be for the moment," Yamaki reassured. "I just wanted to inform you all that I received another report from Alice, Kai and Minami informing me that they have unlocked another level in the Digital World and are traveling to the next one."
The McCoys looked relieved.
"What did the report say?" Dolphin demanded. He'd been a little high strung since Alice's departure to the Digital World with the other two children. Every attack on Takato and his group in the other Digital World put the man even more on edge.
"That they are fine and have encountered no problems as of yet," Yamaki told him. "In fact, Alice reports that Kai has found himself a partner Digimon. A Gotsumon, I believe."
"What's a Gotsumon?" Mie Matsuki asked.
"A mineral type data attribute Digimon," Janyu explained, pulling up information on the Digimon from the TV show and video game series and showed the stats to those who wanted to see. "His special attack is Rock Fist and he's known for being mischievous, making lower-leveled Digimon ally with him, and romping about the system like a jovial-natured sergeant. Although he's known for being a little selfish, he will rage violently like a volcanic eruption once he gets angry. The aforementioned mineral type and data attribute will change depending on where he was born and bred, thus hiding the potential to digivolve into various beings."
"That's interesting," Takahiro Matsuki mused. "Knowing Kai, you'd think he'd get a water type Digimon."
"I think it suits Kai perfectly," Kai's grandfather, Wataru Urazoe, said. "He can be hard headed and stubborn."
"True, Dad," Mie chuckled. "Just like his father."
"And Minami?" Takahito Uehara asked.
"Is fine as far as I can tell," Yamaki said. "As I said, they don't appear to have run into any dangers or difficulties since starting their journey. They have gathered quite an escort of Digimon to join them in their travels along the way though. Alice says that Kai has taken to referring to their growing group as an army and they're expecting even more Digimon to join them from the third level as they travel up to the fourth."
"They're making good progress," Rumiko Nonaka mused. "They've only been gone a week and already they've managed to unlock 3 levels."
"Out of 10," Dolphin added more grimly. "They still have a ways to go."
"But still!" Seiko Nonaka protested. "That's one third of the way cleared."
The others murmured in agreement. Yamaki held back a sigh of relief as he saw some of the tension that had been hanging around the whole day begin to lessen. He'd given them something positive to focus on and could only pray that Alice and her group continued to have the same good fortune and progress in the coming days. At least they were three kids they didn't have to worry so much about… right?
Will Yamaki's prayers be answered? Will Alice, Minami and Kai's journey continue as smoothly as it has been? How will Jun and her friends be able to handle their first job as DigiDestined? And how will the new Warrior DigiDestined's journey and investigation go? I guess we'll just have to stay tuned and find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
So what'd you think? I'm sorry that there was no Savers part this chapter. I really was going to write Savers, but my inner Masaru declared that they weren't ready yet and chucked Yamaki at me and told me that I should show some more parents (other than Hiroaki) in this story, which makes sense because this IS called Parent Worries. :P So blame my inner Masaru muse for there not being a Savers part, I guess. :P But now all groups are definitely moving forward now and I can't wait to write their adventures.
And now I feel the need to defend my choices for Jun, Jim, Mantarou, Momoe, and Chizuru's partners. I just want to say right off the bat that just because we have some repeat In-Training Digimon (which turned out to be the same in Jun and Jim's case), that doesn't mean that their digivolutions are going to follow the same paths. You'll see in next few chapters what these little guys are going to be digivolving into. I honestly put a lot of thought into what Digimon would be partnered with these characters and I spent a good while going through the DMA (Digital Monsters Almanac) online to find good partners and digivolution lines to follow. Just trust me guys.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! See you next time!