Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, nor do I own Kibomon, Aiwemon, Velinemon, or Gessmon, who were created by RoyalKnightX, Shire Folk, Silver Kitsune Lunara, and Miss Anonymous hp respectively.
A/N: As many of you know already, Miss Anonymous hp stopped keeping in contact with me back in July, and I have not seen her around the site since then. As a result I had to create Gessmon's evolution line myself in order to continue on with the story. Just to keep that in mind. I'm sure she probably would have done a better job than I have, but unfortunately we're all just going to have to make due. Enjoy the chapter, as the next one will be filled with all new Digimon Chronicles related info!
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 252: The Champions of Old
Ryoko Ishida
Hikarigaoka, Japan, Earth
Ryoko was completely stunned, so much in fact that he couldn't seem to close his gaping mouth. He had fully been expecting to hear some interesting news from Tal and his friends, but nothing had prepared him for Kenji's revelation about the prophecy of the Demon Lords.
So the prophecy about the Seven Great Demon Lords has apparently existed since the dawn of the Digital World, and twice now it has come up. Was DarkAngelicmon trying to tell us about the past, or was he warning us about the future? His actions suggest it could be both, but if he was warning us about the future then that means the prophecy was either never fulfilled or never fully counteracted. But if that's the case then...what happened to Tal and his team? And what about GranDracmon?
"What are you trying to say?" Matty demanded, glaring at Kenji. "Are you trying to tell us that you know something about these Demon Lords, or whoever they are?"
"Do you know what the prophecy means?" Mickey gasped, continuing to gaze widely at the raven-haired Digidestined.
"We have an idea," Kenji replied, sparing a look for Matty before turning his gaze back to Mickey. "But before we get to that, I'll let Tal get on with the story."
"You can't do that!" Matty snapped, clenching his hands into tight fists.
"Patience, Matty," Inca soothed, giving the younger twin a reassuring smile. "We will get to it soon enough."
Matty looked like he wanted to protest further, but Mickey placed a firm hand on his brother's arm and shook his head before turning his attention back to Tal and Kenji. In return, Matty slumped in defeat, and giving his twin a dirty look he lapsed into a sullen silence.
"When we left Seermon's house the next day we decided the best thing to do would be to find out as much about the Digital World as possible," Tal said, giving Matty a sympathetic look before continuing on with the story. "And the best way to do that was to locate some digimon who didn't mind humans and were willing to talk."
"We thought they might be able to give us clues on what we were supposed to do next," Inca laughed, shaking her head at their own naïvety. "Eventually we made it to a small village, but our excitement didn't last for very long. We were attacked by a digimon who had been brainwashed by GranDracmon's most loyal servants into believing that humans were evil, though we did not know at the time that GranDracmon was the mastermind behind everything that was going on."
"We ended up separating into two groups to confuse the digimon, and he went after Tal, Inca, and Seta," Mai explained, wrinkling her nose. "Once Kenji and I realized what was going on we knew we had to go after them. The only problem was things didn't quite work out how we planned..."
"That sounds bad," Tamami laughed.
"The dinosaur digimon we were fighting almost killed Kenji," Tal said slowly, his grey eyes growing dark at the memory. "It was then that Kibomon digivolved into his champion form of Kikoumon to save him."
"That's amazing," Rumi said softly, beaming at Kibomon.
Kibomon struck a pose, and sounding rather boastful, he said, "I was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself."
"And humble too," Halomon muttered, leaping into Tal's lap to bop his rookie friend over the head with his fist.
"Ouch! Hey, watch it!"
Tal quickly separated the two before a fight could break out, and laughing, he said, "Anyways, turns out that digimon was a DarkTyrannomon, and Kikoumon was able to defeat him."
"And that was when we started to realize the purpose of the Digivices," Seta finished, smiling at the two rookies who were still glaring at each other.
"As soon as DarkTyrannomon appeared all of the digimon in the town had gone into hiding," Inca informed them, carrying on with the story. "But after the fight was over they came out to greet us. Lucky for us the digimon in this town were friendly towards humans."
"And they were eager to talk," Kenji added, his tone growing serious. "It was the digimon in that town who first told us about the Powers of Darkness."
Mickey and Matty let out simultaneous gasps, but Sam barely even raised an eyebrow before shifting slightly in the grass to get more comfortable. His attitude was completely different from the way he had acted earlier over the Digimon Emperor, and watching him now Ryoko could tell that the darkness didn't scare him anymore.
He's so strong now. Will I be like that too after I find my Spirit Chip?
"What's this about the Powers of Darkness?" Cody asked, leaning forward in his seat.
"The digimon in the village were kind enough to tell us more about the Digital World's history," Tal explained, growing serious again. "Darkness is the power that fuels conflict and disorder in the Digital World, and it upsets the balance of harmony. In a way, it's not so different from the human world. Darkness, as we all know, has the power to claim the hearts of the innocence if they succumb to despair and deception."
"I ended up learning that the hard way," Kenji murmured, looking almost angry with himself for a moment.
Tal put a comforting hand on the raven-haired Digidestined's shoulder, and continuing with the story, he said, "A digimon named Lunamon informed us that dark digimon have been around ever since the end of what she called the Age of Light, and the current rumour was that dark digimon were appearing more frequently and trying to stop the prophecy of the Digidestined from becoming a reality."
"GranDracmon, his servants, and the human hating digimon they were brainwashing?" Makku guessed, scratching at his red hair.
"That's right, though we didn't yet know all of that. And trust me, they meant business."
"According to the digimon in the village, those human hating digimon were looking for something that belonged to us," Seta informed them. "Or in other words, GranDracmon was looking for something that was ours. Turns out later the thing he wanted was our Data Cores."
"What did he want them for?" Hikaru asked curiously.
"We'll get to that later," Mai promised.
"What's this Age of Light thingy you mentioned?" Rina asked curiously, cuddling against her mother's legs.
"Well, according to the digimon in the village it existed at the dawn of the Digital World," Tal explained. "When the Digital World was born it was made up entirely of light on the surface, or in other words it was created with the Powers of Light. That was the reason why it was called the Age of Light."
"I bet that didn't last for very long," Rosa predicted.
"You're right," Kenji agreed, nodding to Rosa. "The forces of light and darkness co-exist together. One cannot survive without the other. Eventually what became known as the Dawn of Darkness arrived, and since then the Digital World has often been at the mercy of dark digimon."
"It was during the Age of Light when digimon used to have the power to armor-digivolve," Seta added, his gaze coming to rest on Izzy. "You guys learned quite a bit about that from Azulongmon."
"You're right," Izzy said in excitement, continuing to type furiously on his laptop. "Azulongmon spoke about it to Davis and his friends whose digimon were chosen because they still had the power of an ancient form of digivolution. It allowed them to combat the Control Spires. That power, as we know now, was armor-digivolving."
"That's right," Inca replied, beaming at Izzy. "Unfortunately as the Dawn of Darkness continued to thrive, the digimon during that time lost the power to armor-digivolve. Obviously there were a few fluke exceptions, like Veemon and his friends, but for the most part it became almost obsolete. It was then that the digimon of this world developed a new type of digivolution, which is the type we use now in modern times."
"During the Age of Light, the Powers of Light and Darkness were in perfect harmony," Seta continued, his expression intense. "But the darkness started to grow stronger than the light. Because of that the Age of Light ended and digimon began to lose the power to armor-digivolve. Though they were eventually able to digivolve another way through the use of data mutation, most digimon even to this day still have trouble digivolving on their own. There are those we know who have managed it, but it isn't easy. And thus the Digital World decided to take matters into its own hands, and it eventually came up with a solution to the problem."
"Humans," Ken finished.
Mai nodded in agreement, her smile growing larger. "Bingo! Because dark digimon were becoming more common, the Digital World needed help to keep them at bay. Humans were the answer because we have the ability to help digimon who are compatible with us to digivolve to higher levels."
"Those digimon in the village thought only Seermon and Sorcermon knew the exact words of the prophecy about us, but they were wrong," Inca spoke up. "Gennai and his counterparts, along with the Four Guardians and the Entity that watches over the Digital World also knew the words of the prophecy, and it was the groundwork for everything they did for us to become Digidestined."
"Anyways, that was pretty much all those digimon could tell us, but it was then when Kenji began to suspect that someone was leading those human hating digimon into believing that humans were evil," Tal continued, glancing at Kenji. "And he was right. Those digimon were being tricked into believing that by destroying us they would be saving the Digital World instead of harming it."
"Lunamon was able to tell us that the small orbs we carried were called Data Cores," Mai interrupted, as if only now just remembering. "She didn't know what that meant, but apparently she overheard Gennai and Benji talking about them when they had come for a recent visit. She also told us that Gennai and Benji help watch over the Digital World with all the others, like Seermon and the Four Guardians."
"To us it sounded as if this Gennai might know a lot about what was going on, so we vowed then that if we ever came in contact with him we were going to get some answers," Tal laughed.
"In the meantime we ended up staying the night in the village where Tal consulted me for guidance on a certain dark-haired friend of ours," Inca said softly, taking her husband's hand again. "He was worried about Kenji, and I couldn't blame him. Earlier Kenji had been unable to accept the fact that Kibomon had digivolved to save him. The fact that Tal obviously seemed to care about him didn't sit well with Kenji, and needless to say he wasn't taking it very well."
"It was one of the longest nights of my life," Tal said softly, smiling at Kenji.
"And that was when Tal told me what he had seen in Seermon's crystal ball," Inca said slowly, squeezing her husband's hand. "But as Tal said, we'll go into detail about that later when it becomes more relevant."
"After that Halomon was the next digimon to digivolve to his champion form of Gabrielmon, but we're going to leave Kenji's experience for last," Tal spoke up, giving the raven-haired Digidestined a meaningful look.
Kenji silently nodded in agreement, and glaring at them, Matty asked, "How come?"
"You'll understand why once we get there," Kenji said shortly, indicating for Tal to continue.
"After Halomon, Aiwemon was next," Tal said, smiling down at his wife. "Kenji was still freaked out about why his partner had digivolved, and we ended up getting into a pretty big argument about it."
"I take it Halomon's digivolution had something to do with you?" Kara asked, giggling.
"As if it could be anything else," Mai joked, laughing at the memory. "I remember it like it was yesterday. After throwing a big hissy fit, Kenji stomped away from us in a huge huff, and not really watching where he was going he ended up falling through a hole in the ground into a labyrinth of tunnels that had been dug out deep beneath the ground. Naturally we all freaked out because we were scared that Kenji had killed himself in the fall."
"Tal, being the caring person that he is, decided to go down after Kenji," Inca said happily, beaming at her husband.
"Of course, we couldn't let Tal go down there all by himself, so being our stupid selves we all jumped in there after him," Mai laughed, winking at the golden-haired Digidestined. "Tal found Kenji unconscious at the bottom, and when he managed to wake Kenji up, we were relieved to find that the fall had cooled him down enough not to throw another fit."
"You sure do know how to paint a lovely picture of me," Kenji said dryly, rolling his eyes at his wife.
"Unfortunately there was only one way down and no way to get back up," Tal continued, giving Kenji as teasing smile. "Our only option was to head down one of the four tunnels that led off into the darkness."
"Sounds kind of like the place where we found Alopemon," Dai commented.
Ryoko realized that Dai was right, and laughing, Tal said, "Yeah, it was kind of similar, wasn't it? It wasn't the same place where you guys found Alopemon, as we weren't in a canyon, but it was a ruin that was similar to the tunnels where you found Alopemon's pedestal."
"The ruins we were in had strange carvings all along the walls. Most likely from what Izzy has told us, the writing we saw was the computer language of the Digital World," Inca continued. "After we'd been walking for some time we started to hear sounds up ahead. Something crashed into the wall further down the tunnel, causing stone chips to fly everywhere, and by then we knew we weren't alone down there. Around the corner up ahead the path split again, and our digimon raced off to chase after whatever was hunting us."
"Unfortunately with the path splitting up ahead, we had no idea which way our digimon had gone," Kenji said, sending Halomon a disapproving look. "We were forced to split up. Seta, Mai, and I went one way, while Tal and Inca went down the other path."
"Yeah, that wasn't one of our finer moments," Velinemon said sheepishly, smiling apologetically at her partner.
"Inca and I ended up running into Halomon, who was unconscious, but when he woke he told us he'd gone with Aiwemon. Unfortunately they had somehow gotten separated, and that was why Halomon was alone," Tal said slowly, frowning at the memory. "According to Halomon, the other three, Kibomon, Velinemon, and Gessmon, had taken the other path. Halomon told us he and Aiwemon had been attacked by a digimon, but before we could find Aiwemon the ground gave away beneath us and we fell deeper into the tunnels."
"Seta, Mai, and I ended up finding Kibomon, but when we went to find the other two we also fell through the ground and ended up deeper into the tunnels," Kenji explained. "The digimon hunting us down there was digging up everything in sight, and because of that the tunnels were starting to grow unstable."
"After falling through the floor we found Aiwemon, who was also unconscious. As we said earlier, he had gotten separated from Halomon when they were attacked by that large digimon that was stalking us," Inca spoke up. "That was when we realized we were in this huge stone chamber. It had a really high ceiling you could barely see, so we were lucky we hadn't gotten hurt while falling."
"That was thanks to your human data taking on a digital quality in the Digital World," Izzy explained. "That's what saved you. If you'll recall, Gennai told us all about that sort of thing when we were concerned over Mimi coming to the Digital World while pregnant."
"That's right, I remember," Tal replied, smiling at Izzy. "Makes a lot more sense now. The chamber was so big you couldn't see where it began or where it ended, and it echoed like crazy. The digimon that attacked us turned out to be a Drimogemon, who had been brainwashed by one of GranDracmon's most loyal servants into believing that humans were the enemy."
"After Kenji, Seta, and I woke up, we ended up running into Gessmon and Velinemon," Mai continued, cheerfully carrying on the story. "We heard a crashing sound in the distance and figured that Tal and Inca were in trouble, so we followed the sound and eventually ran into them."
"But before they found us we were having some serious issues," Inca said, smiling faintly at the memory. "With Halomon unable to digivolve without Kenji and Tal without a partner, Aiwemon was all we had. Tal ended up getting hurt really badly, and just when Drimogemon was about to kill him, Aiwemon digivolved to his champion form of Ohtarmon to save Tal."
"All because of how much you love me," Tal said softly, leaning down to kiss his wife's cheek.
Inca smiled at him in return and squeezed his hand, which earned the married couple a few good-natured groans from Anna and Toma.
"That was about the time we showed up, and together we were able to defeat Drimogemon," Mai finished, smiling at Inca. "Unfortunately, though, Tal was injured pretty badly, which means that hit probably would have killed him in the real world. Eventually Gabrielmon had to carry Tal as we wandered through the tunnels searching for a way out."
"By the time we got out of there it was dark and we found ourselves in an abandoned digimon town," Kenji said quietly, a shadow passing over his face. "We ended up staying there for the night so Tal could recover, and in the morning we set off again on our journey. Eventually we ended up reaching the ocean where we were attacked again by another digimon who had been brainwashed by another one of the evil digimon in GranDracmon's inner circle."
"This time it was Inca who ended up getting herself into trouble," Mai said, making a face. "An evil witch of a digimon named Kinkakumon attacked us, and she almost killed Inca! Luckily Velinemon digivolved into her champion form of Nekomon and saved Inca before it was too late."
"Just thinking about how close it was makes my skin crawl," Tal murmured, wincing at the memory.
Mai gave him a thumbs up, and growing serious for once, she said softly, "Even though Inca is three years older than I am, that was when we became best friends."
"Your strength and determination blew me away," Inca said quietly, reaching around Kenji's legs to give Mai's hand a squeeze. "I had never met another girl like you before, and I knew then that I always wanted you to be a part of my life."
"We're complete opposites, but that's what makes us work so well together," Mai said happily, returning Inca's gesture of affection. "Just like Tal and Kenji."
"Just like Tal and Kenji," Inca agreed.
Ryoko couldn't help but smile, and speaking up, he said, "I take it Gessmon then digivolved next?"
"That's right," Seta confirmed. "While we were battling with Kinkakumon, a passing Seadramon witnessed the fight and came to our aide to help. After the battle he asked us if we were okay, and then he told us a little bit more about the Digital World."
"So you finally started getting the information you were searching for," Hawkmon butted in, looking very intrigued.
"Exactly," Kibomon replied. "He told us that there seemed to be a group of five shady looking digimon causing havoc on File Island in recent weeks. They had been spotted quite a few times by a lot of digimon, and rumours had started to spring up. We had an idea of who a few of those digimon might be, but we couldn't be certain. Seadramon thought we might be able to find out some more useful information on Server, since apparently those five digimon had often been spotted coming and going from there. He even offered to give us a lift, so off we went to the continent of Server."
"Turns out they had a base of operations there, which was a convenient location for them to spy on Gennai's house," Kenji snorted. "But we'll tell you more on that later."
"Anyways, true to his word, Seadramon gave us a lift over to Server, and while walking through yet another forest we came across yet anther digimon who had been brainwashed by GranDracmon's servants," Mai complained, rolling her eyes. "And let me tell you, for being such a cute digimon he sure could pack quite a punch!"
"He wasn't that cute," Kenji grumbled, wrinkling his nose.
"Aw, you're just jealous because I said he was cuter than you," Mai teased, winking at her husband.
"Really, Mom? Really?" Kae groaned, smacking a hand against her forehead.
"That digimon's name was Aegiomon, and if he hadn't tried so hard to kill us all, I think we would have been really good friends," Seta said sadly, regretfully shaking his head. "All of the others were in trouble, and I knew I needed to save them. It was then that Gessmon digivolved to his champion form of Porcumon and proved he's a lot braver than he gives himself credit for."
Gessmon blushed at the praise, and beaming at his partner, he said, "Tal, Inca, Mai, and Kenji were all in trouble. It was your wish to save all of your friends that helped me to digivolve to the champion level."
"I'm glad," Seta said softly, giving Gessmon a tight squeeze. "Even to this day they're still family to me. They were my big brothers and sisters in the Digital World, and it felt good to know that I could return the favour by giving something back to them."
"We spent a lot of time traveling over Server where we visited several digimon cities and villages and learned a lot of useful information," Tal continued. "Apparently Gennai and his counterparts had been seen coming and going from Server several times, but we still had yet to meet them, and they didn't seem to stick around for very long before leaving again."
"During our travels we battled other digimon who had been brainwashed by GranDracmon's servants, and it was during that time that we at last met all five of GranDracmon's most loyal servants," Inca explained. "Although, I suppose I should say his most loyal servants at that particular time. And remember, we didn't yet know about GranDracmon at this point."
"We were often lucky to escape with our lives during that time," Seta said.
"Three fallen angel digimon, and two others who were just as vile," Kenji said quietly, his voice taking on a hard edge. "Those were our foes who were brainwashing the other digimon."
"Three...fallen angels?" Matty gasped.
Kenji's gaze came to rest on the younger twin, and nodding his head, he said slowly, "Yes, three, along with two others. All ultimates, and all of them deadly. I'll never forget their names. Wisemon, Astamon, NeoDevimon, Mephistomon, and last but certainly not least...LadyDevimon."
There was a collective gasp around the courtyard, and staring at Kenji, her face pale, Kari said, "LadyDevimon?"
"I don't have any proof, but I believe the LadyDevimon we battled with is the same one you fought not once, but twice," Kenji replied, his green gaze watching Kari closely. "You fought against her with Angewomon twenty-nine years ago, and then again four years later with Yolei by your side. Judging from the story Izzy told us, I'm sure you fought the same LadyDevimon twice. And everything about her, I just know she's the very same LadyDevimon we fought. I can't explain it. It's just this feeling I have."
"I feel it too," Kari said slowly, bowing her head. "And I believe you may be right."
"NeoDevimon was the one who brainwashed Aegiomon, and it was Mephistomon who got to Kinkakumon. DarkTyrannomon was the work of LadyDevimon, and Drimogemon was the work of Wisemon and Astamon," Tal informed them. "We had already known Astamon and Wisemon's names because of Drimogemon by the time we met Seadramon, and a third we had already met personally by that time. That was why we already had our suspicions when Seadramon told us about those five mysterious digimon who appeared to be up to no good. We would eventually find out that these five were responsible for trying to turn all of the digimon in the Digiworld against us. It was a result of their work that digimon began to grow mistrustful of humans when before they had been merely curious, positive, or indifferent."
"And that was why some digimon were no longer in favour of humans and why they were becoming suspicious of us," Seta explained.
"The other brainwashed digimon we fought on Server were also a result of those five digimon," Inca said sadly. "And after finding out the truth about LadyDevimon and her gang we were determined to stop them at all costs."
"You said you had already met one of them before you got to Server," Mickey said slowly, looking rather frightened. "Which one did you meet?"
"LadyDevimon," Kenji replied, his dark eyebrows narrowing into a frown. "After Kibomon's digivolution we spent the night in the village, and then the next day we went to visit a huge city that our friend Lalamon said was east of the village."
"Hoping to gather information, I assume?" Taniko asked.
"You're every bit as smart as your dad," Tal laughed. "That's exactly it. Unfortunately Lalamon and her friends in the village hadn't been to the city in a long time, so we didn't know what to expect."
"When we got to the city, what we saw wasn't what we had expected to see," Inca said quietly, exchanging a meaningful look with Kenji.
"What do you mean?" Taysuke asked eagerly.
"The city was completely in ruins," Kenji said softly, staring at his hands. "The whole place had been destroyed, and there weren't any digimon left in the city to tell us the tale of what had happened."
"That's horrible," Matty murmured, his amber eyes sparkling with sadness.
"For the first time in the Digital World we saw for ourselves what the Powers of Darkness can do. Conflicts break out and then innocent digimon are caught in the crossfire," Tal said, gazing sympathetically at Matty's tragic face. "It was in the ruins of the city where we first met LadyDevimon."
"She basically admitted to us that she was one of the ones responsible for tricking innocent digimon into hating humans," Mai said indignantly, still looking outraged after so much time had passed since then. "And she had hinted there were others like her. She also hinted that they were determined to destroy us humans and make sure that Seermon's prophecy about the Digidestined wouldn't come to pass. And on top of that she wanted to steal our Data Cores!"
"And it was then when she hinted that they also wanted the human world," Kenji said darkly, shaking his head.
"Don't they always?" Davis snorted.
"During our battle with LadyDevimon she tried to corrupt Tal with the Powers of Darkness," Inca informed them, earning herself another simultaneous gasp from the Takaishi twins. "And it was then when Halomon digivolved into his champion form of Gabrielmon, and with his light and the light from Kenji he was able to help Tal triumph over the darkness."
"And that was the reason for our fight later that ended with Kenji falling right into Drimogemon's lair," Tal finished, smiling in amusement.
"I couldn't accept the fact that I cared enough to want to save Tal's life that badly," Kenji explained, smiling softly at the memory. "I wanted to hate him, but he was making it very hard for me to convince myself that he meant nothing to me. Something else also happened that day, but we'll get to that later."
Tal gave Kenji a look, and nodding, he said, "And now that you know exactly what we were dealing with it's time to talk more about the prophecy of the Demon Lords."