Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: Just a little note, for all those interested in the FTFOD challenge, I am now setting a date for when your stories have to be in. The main reason is because the part of the story where the winner will contribute is coming up pretty soon. So, if you are interested in writing a story, make sure you have it in by November 16th. Voting will then begin on the 20th. If you are not planning on writing a story, please do vote because there are some really amazing ones that have already been written. Remember, this is your chance to get an OC character created entirely by you into FTFOD! As usual, check my forum for details. Here's another chapter!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 134: The Call of the Ocean

Vampiramon

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

Vampiramon crept slowly towards the edge of the forest and peered cautiously through the trees. To her left, she could just make out the Digidestineds' small figures in the distance, and in the opposite direction she could see Gennai and his counterparts, along with Piximon, moving away from Infinity Mountain. Gatomon and the other remaining digimon were heading towards the shoreline and it looked as if they were arguing about whether or not to stay close to a gate by the water or to make their way towards a gate near the edge of Primary Village.

Fools, all of them. They dare to challenge the Powers of Darkness? A lot of good it will do them, now that we know exactly what they're up to. The Ruler of Darkness will be pleased, and it's all thanks to me. I wonder if he will give me a reward...

"So, they intend to climb Infinity Mountain, do they?" BlackWidowmon murmured, peering over the bushes and flexing her eight, long spider legs. "An excellent place for a Spirit Chip. Gennai certainly knew what he was doing, I'll give him that much. It's not an easy place to get to. Even digimon have trouble making it to the top of Infinity Mountain, including flying digimon. For some odd reason, misfortune tends to befall those who attempt it, and most have to turn back."

Vampiramon glanced at the spider digimon crouching beside her and made a face. BlackWidowmon was not exactly the digimon she would have chosen to accompany her, but as much as the female mega annoyed her, she had no choice in the matter. When the Ruler of Darkness gave an order, you followed it whether you wanted to or not. If she had had a choice, she would not have brought any of her four companions along for the journey. Unless it was necessary to provide a scapegoat, she preferred to work alone.

"BlackWidowmon, have you been listening to Gennai at all? He didn't choose Infinity Mountain. The Spirit Chip sort of chose that area for itself. The only thing he did was send one to File Island."

BlackWidowmon tossed her long, raven hair over her shoulder and waved her hand impatiently in the air. "Whatever. The result is still the same. We need to make it to Infinity Mountain before the Digidestined do."

I'll put up with her for awhile, but somewhere along the line she'll need to be dismissed from our master's service. The Ruler of Darkness can't afford to have too many incompetent digimon on his side. That much, at least, is obvious, especially after yesterday.

Pushing thoughts of DarkAngelicmon out of her mind, Vampiramon smirked at the dark outline of Infinity Mountain in the distance. It looked as if the Digidestined were planning to circle around the forest in order to reach their destination. The worn path they were following had clearly been used many times before, and Vampiramon was sure it was because most digimon did not want to encounter something unpleasant in the forest.

The Digidestined would have done well to watch the forest a bit more closely today, but clearly they're too full of themselves to bother with that sort of thing. All the more better for us. Every single mistake they make will bring us one step closer to the Spirit Chips.

Shortly after arriving on File Island, Vampiramon had spotted Gennai and his companions heading into the forest. The group had clearly been waiting for the Digidestined, and taking advantage of the situation, Vampiramon and her companions had entered the forest from the opposite direction and had proceeded to sneak up behind the large group of digimon and men in robes. Keeping their distance, Vampiramon and the two digimon on either side of her had waited patiently for the Digidestined to arrive, and Vampiramon had been delighted when Masato Takaishi had led Gennai and the others just inside the forest to talk. As a result, she had heard every word of the conversation, and now she knew exactly what the Digidestined were up to and what it was going to take to obtain the Spirit Chips.

And more importantly, to get our hands on the Spirit Chips, we no longer need to capture Gennai. What would be the point when there's nothing he could possibly tell us anymore that we don't already know? As much as I'd like to destroy Gennai, allowing him to walk free will speed things up considerably. I could always kill him another time. So, Daichi and his friends are more vulnerable in the human world, are they? I'll remember to keep that in mind. It will be of great use to my master when he finally puts his plans into action. Soon, the Digital World and the human world will be his. I'm sure that is his main goal...

"Well, are we going to steal the Spirit Chips today or sometime next week?" BlackWidowmon said dryly, her lips twitching into a small smile. "The Digidestined are getting closer to Infinity Mountain even as we speak."

Vampiramon scowled at her female companion, and pushing her way through the bushes, she stepped out into the open with her nose in the air. Dark and forbidding, Infinity Mountain stood on her left, and she could still see the shadowy forms of the Digidestined walking steadily along the edge of the forest towards their destination, and now that she could see the mountain a little more clearly, it was obvious the Digidestined were beginning to circle around the trees in an effort to reach the first Spirit Chip from the other side of the mountain. As usual, her theory had been right.

"Soulmon, BlackWidowmon and I are going to try and make it to the top of Infinity Mountain before the Digidestined do. We should be able to manage it since they're obviously going to walk. Dragermon is too easy to spot in the air. In the meantime, I want you to tail Daichi and his little friends, and for the love of our master, keep your eyes on them, would you? If they do anything even remotely suspicious, especially if it goes against their plan to reach Infinity Mountain before sunset, warn us immediately. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you don't. Do I make myself clear?"

The digimon hovering on her right swept off his hat and gave her a quick bow. "As you wish, my lady."

Vampiramon smiled in satisfaction and poked BlackWidowmon sharply in the ribs. "Come on. Since you clearly can't fly, we'll have to ride on Airdramon again. Lucky for you I was able to bully him into taking us to the Eastern Hemisphere."

"Yeah, well at least I don't turn into a big, ugly bat!"

Vampiramon ignored the spider digimon and the two of them made their way back towards Airdramon. Although everything was going according to plan, Vampiramon could not help feeling just a little bit uneasy. DarkAngelicmon had been mentioned several times during the conversation between Gennai and the Digidestined, and although nothing they had said was really a cause for growing suspicious of the fallen angel, she still couldn't ignore the sudden uneasiness in her heart.

I wonder where DarkAngelicmon is at the moment, and more importantly, I wonder what that foolish angel is planning behind my back...

DarkAngelicmon

File Island, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World

DarkAngelicmon stood alone on a deserted beach, gazing silently at the waves lapping gently against the shore. Although he could not actually see the continent of Server, he knew it was somewhere across the ocean, but more importantly, he knew what was no longer on it.

Lucemon, my old friend, so you have decided to come to File Island after all, have you? Foolish angel. You should have stayed where you were. You would have been safe there, but now you're in more danger than you could have ever imagined...

Turning his back on the ocean, DarkAngelicmon wrapped his arms around himself and shivered at the cool breeze blowing gently through his long, black hair. It would be awhile before Lucemon actually arrived on File Island. After all, the rookie had only just left Server, and it was a long journey. Unfortunately that little piece of information did nothing to comfort the fallen angel. He knew why Lucemon had taken so long to decide which path to follow.

I am a source of pain and misery to all those who cross my path. That is why he avoids me. He knows I'm here, and although he may long to see me, he's obviously too afraid to take that first step. Either that or he does not want to see me at all. Why else would it have taken him so long to make up his mind? He must have decided to help the Digidestined sometime last night and was planning on making the trip in the morning, but as soon as he found out I was also on my way to File Island, he started having second thoughts. There is no other explanation for his behaviour. Ironically enough, it appears his desire to help the Digidestined is stronger than his fear of me. How unfortunate for him. His terror at the thought of confronting me is probably the one thing that would have kept him alive, but it seems he is determined to die, just like Luciamon...

DarkAngelicmon smiled bitterly at a passing Falcomon and watched it fade away into the distance. Are you ashamed of me, Lucemon? Am I nothing but a black stain that has tarnished your past? If our master finds you, he will utterly destroy you. Of that, I am certain. He won't kill you. Oh no. At least, not right away. That would be too easy. He'll do much worse, and soon you won't even recognize yourself anymore. Are you willing to take that chance? He will make you suffer, and in the end you will be deleted. Is that what you want?

The Ruler of Darkness had many secrets, and although DarkAngelicmon spoke with his master quite often, there were still many things even he didn't know. Unfortunately, Lucemon's fate was one of those things his master had failed to mention to him. He knew the Ruler of Darkness had big plans for the rookie angel, but whether they were good or bad was something he couldn't quite figure out, and more often than not he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Never before had his master given him a task he did not feel he could complete, but now he was starting to wonder if maybe he had just been asked to do the impossible.

I failed to stop the Digidestined from stealing the crests and rescuing Gennai, didn't I? Who's to say something like that won't happen again? I wonder...is this a test of my loyalty? Have I been assigned to capture Lucemon in order to prove I am still faithful to the Ruler of Darkness? Does my master no longer trust me?

DarkAngelicmon let out an angry hiss and clenched his hands into fists. I would never betray my master! Never! Lucemon, why did you have to come here? Why do you keep forcing me to hurt you all the time?

Instead of dying away, the breeze continued to pick up and the air around him began to turn almost chilly. Oddly enough, the sun was still shining, but its warm rays failed to caress his pale skin. It was almost as if the light from the sun was having trouble reaching the beach. The sand, the sky, and even the hulking form of Infinity Mountain in the distance all looked a little more gloomy than they had before.

Unable to suppress a faint twinge of curiosity, DarkAngelicmon turned to face the ocean and blinked in surprise. It looked darker somehow than it had the last time his gaze had rested upon its deep blue surface. Before his very eyes, the beach began to lose all its colour and even the ocean began to take on a greyish, almost washed out appearance.

It looks...familiar. I've been here before. The darkness. The World of Darkness. Lucemon, I made a promise. I vowed to protect you from...from him. I kept my promise, but it will mean nothing if the Ruler of Darkness gets his hands on you. How can I save you when I couldn't even save myself?

"DarkAngelicmon!"

DarkAngelicmon jerked around at the sound of his name and spotted Jestermon and Spritemon hurrying towards him. For some reason he felt rather annoyed by their appearance, and turning his back on them, he once again focused his attention on the ocean. It looked the same as it always did. The water sparkled a serene blue and he could feel the warmth of the sun between his shoulder blades.

What the...it can't be. Unless...maybe I was only imagining things, but no...it was real. What just happened here? What was I saying before? I can't remember...

"Hey, angel boy, have we got some good news for you!" Jestermon cackled, coming to a stop at the edge of the beach and doing a little victory dance.

DarkAngelicmon quickly put his back to the ocean and gave his companions an expectant look. "I suppose that's a start. What have you found out?"

Spritemon glared at him and tugged irritably on her dark green ponytail. "Just who do you think you are making us do all of your dirty work? If you want to know what Vampiramon is up to then why don't you follow her yourself?"

"You know as well as I do that would have been a very foolish thing to do. If I was following her and she came in contact with the Digidestined, Halomon, Celestimon, Patamon, and Gatomon would have known I was there."

"Not Patamon. He isn't here. He's still in the human world with his nuisance of a partner."

DarkAngelicmon felt his blood turn to ice at the mention of T.K.'s name and sent the sprite digimon a whithering look. "Even so, someone would have discovered my presence. Tell me what you've managed to discover."

"Well, we followed Vampiramon and her companions just like you wanted us to and they somehow managed to stumble upon the Digidestined," Jestermon interrupted, much to Spritemon's obvious annoyance. "Basically they got lucky. They spotted Gennai's gang going into the forest and pretty much assumed the Digidestined would arrive there soon after. They were right. We heard the entire conversation between Gennai and the Digidestined, and-"

"We know where the first Spirit Chip is!" Spritemon blurted, frowning at Jestermon. "It's at the top of Infinity Mountain."

"Infinity Mountain? Interesting."

"Quite interesting, I would say, but unfortunately Vampiramon also heard the entire conversation and she's on her way to Infinity Mountain right now," Jestermon grumbled.

DarkAngelicmon listened in silence as Jestermon and Spritemon took turns explaining what they had overheard. When they were finished, the fallen angel could not help himself from smiling triumphantly at the sky. "Well, well, I was right all along. We do need to keep the Digidestined alive in order to get our hands on the Spirit Chips. I believe someone owes me an apology."

Spritemon scowled at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's no need to rub it in! Let's just hope Vampiramon heard that part and takes it seriously."

"Yes, indeed, otherwise I'll have to delete her. Interesting that the humans are more vulnerable in their own world. I'm sure our master can use that information sometime down the road, but as of now, it is not something we need to worry about. After all, at the moment we're not trying to kill the Digidestined. We're trying to keep them alive. I see Gennai has told Daichi and his friends a lot of interesting history about the Digital World."

"Including his theories about Lucemon and Luciamon," Jestermon said slowly, watching him closely.

"I wonder what did happen fifteen years ago to make the gates to the Digital World finally close," Spritemon said nonchalantly, a dangerous sparkle in her deep brown eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

Daemon...

"Well?" Spritemon insisted. "They didn't say it in so many words, but...I got the impression that the Digidestined are very interested in your past. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if maybe they think you might once have been on the same side as them, at least as far as Makiya Takaishi is concerned."

"Excuse me?"

"Makiya Takaishi, remember him? Yes, well, he didn't say anything exactly, but something about the look in his eyes whenever he talks about you makes me wonder. I don't think the other Digidestined, including his brother, have noticed anything out of the ordinary yet, but they will, DarkAngelicmon. It's only a matter of time. So, is there anything you'd like to tell us before we make our next move?"

DarkAngelicmon stared at the little mega and felt his heart skip a beat.

They know too much, and so do the Digidestined. That could be dangerous. You fool, Gennai! Do you realize what you've done? All of the things I've worked so hard to achieve could be taken away from me in an instant because of you!

"DarkAngelicmon, you...uh...you don't look so good," Jestermon said slowly.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" Spritemon snapped.

Mickey, is that what you really believe or is Spritemon only seeing what she wants to see?

DarkAngelicmon smiled at the female mega and placed his right hand on Jestermon's shoulder. "What the Digidestined believe is of no concern to me. The past is the past, and it will not secure our future."

"But-"

"Enough, Spritemon! Let the Digidestined believe what they want to believe. In the end, it will prove to be their greatest weakness. Won't they be surprised when they find out I can be just as vicious as Vampiramon, if not worse. If what you say is true, the Digidestined, particularly Mickey, are beginning to think I'm not a threat to them. They're starting to believe I'm harmless, and that could work in our favour."

"That's all well and good, but what about Gennai's little history lesson?"

"I told you, it is of no importance. The only thing we need to worry about is the information Gennai gave the Digidestined about the Spirit Chips."

"Yes, of course," Jestermon murmured.

"You know, it could just be Mickey who believes you're not evil," Spritemon sniffed. "He's the one who seems to show the most interest in you. I doubt the others were really paying all that much attention to your past. I could be wrong about them, but then again, I could be right."

DarkAngelicmon wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but somewhere along the line Gennai's little history lesson had become extremely dangerous, and although he wasn't exactly sure why he felt that way, he knew it to be true. "What did Vampiramon and BlackWidowmon have to say about Gennai's information?"

"You mean, about all the stuff that happened between fifteen and thirteen years ago?" Spritemon smirked.

DarkAngelicmon remained silent and kept his gaze focused on the sand beneath his feet. For the first time in his life, at least as far as he could remember, he was starting to wonder if what he felt was fear inside his heart. Never before had he known what it felt like to panic, but now he was starting to realize just how unpleasant a sensation it could be.

"I think Vampiramon was a little too focused on the Spirit Chips to pay much attention to that part of the conversation," Jestermon said slowly, apparently coming to the conclusion that Spritemon's question would remain unanswered. "She certainly never mentioned it, and she didn't mention your name either. The only thing she seemed to care about was making it to the top of Infinity Mountain before the Digidestined could get there first."

"Speaking of Infinity Mountain, what are we going to do now?" Spritemon asked.

DarkAngelicmon barely heard her. The relief he felt at Vampiramon's outrageous lack of attention was almost overwhelming. In fact, it was so powerful he almost let out a sigh of relief, but somehow he managed to keep his feelings under control and was pleased when his voice came out calm and steady. "What do you think we're going to do? We finally have all the information we need on the Spirit Chips and it's all thanks to Gennai. And to think he was so determined not to tell us what he knew. I wonder how he'll feel when he finds out he ended up telling us anyways, whether he wanted to or not. Well, what are you two waiting for? We need to get to the top of Infinity Mountain before Vampiramon can mess everything up."

Spritemon's mouth dropped open and she stared at him as if unsure of whether or not he was still entirely sane. "Are you crazy? What about Lucemon? Have you forgotten our master's orders already? We're supposed to be capturing your worthless little friend!"

DarkAngelicmon glanced over his shoulder at the ocean and briefly closed his eyes before allowing them to fly open again. Earlier, when Lucemon had still been on Server, he had told Spritemon and Jestermon there was a chance the rookie angel was already on his way to File Island in order to convince them to go along with his plan, but now that Lucemon actually had left Server, he wanted nothing more than to keep that information a secret. Unfortunately, though, for his plan to work, that was not an option. "I have not forgotten. Lucemon is coming, of that I am sure, but until then we will do what we can to stop Vampiramon from ruining our master's plans."

Spritemon and Jestermon exchanged looks and silently shook their heads. Both of them appeared curious as to how he could possibly know Lucemon was heading towards File Island, but neither one of them appeared to want to bring it up. Both megas knew angel digimon could sense one another, but obviously neither one of them was aware of the fact that angel digimon who were close friends could sense each other even at great distances.

Pushing between his two companions, DarkAngelicmon strolled across the sand towards Infinity Mountain in the distance. At the edge of the beach, he stopped, and the two megas nearly walked straight into his dark wings. "Oh, and Spritemon? If you ever question my loyalty again, I will delete you. Do I make myself clear?"

Spritemon let out a squawk of outrage, but he ignored her and continued to make his way towards Infinity Mountain. He could hear the sound of the ocean ringing in his ears and whispering softly in his mind, but despite the fact that it was calling to him, he did not look back.