Knocked this one out pretty quick.
Shoutout to MadDogLucario96, DigimonAT0318, and Whiteling for the reviews once more.
Not really much to say for this one, so I'll just hop in.
Chapter 38: Encounter in Kyoto! Musyamon!
Ichijouji Residence, Tamachi District, Minato Ward, Tokyo, Japan. October 19th, 2002. 1058 Hours.
P.O.V. – Ross McGlathery
I hate it when things don't go our way. Here I thought we may have caught a bit of a break when BlackWarGreymon went rogue against Archnemon and was basically staying out of our way. According to the others, that's kinda changed. Agumon told Taichi that he actually got close to gaining BlackWarGreymon's friendship but he suddenly felt pain and took off. It was there that he destroyed the first Holy Stone; something that is very important to the stability of the Digital World. Archnemon and Mummymon tried to destroy it but failed; however, it seems the stones and BlackWarGreymon are tied together in some way. That's probably the reason why he destroyed it. That damn war machine is playing right into that witch's hand!
Now the race is on for us to find the other Holy Stones and defend them from BlackWarGreymon. He seems obsessed with destroying them so we're going to try to stop him as best as we can. The only problem is right now we're short a key member! Miyako's freaking class decided that now was a great time for a class trip to Kyoto! I mean, I know Miyako couldn't really pass on it without drawing some attention from her class and family, but still… bad timing. Would've been better if it had happened while we were rebuilding the Digital World and before Archnemon was making her moves. Anyways, she also left behind Poromon with Koushiro.
Today, Koushiro and I headed to Tamachi to meet Osamu and Ken at their place. Koushiro more or less wanted to discuss some things he learned with them and explain a few questions they still may have had. I tagged along because I had nothing better to do. We were in Osamu's room as he, Koushiro and Ken along with Wormmon were sitting at a table they pulled out while Poromon was asleep on the floor. I was with Monodramon, Guilmon and Tentomon on the floor as well but we were playing poker while listening to conversation the geniuses were having.
"'Poromon, how are you?'" Ken began reading off a message Miyako left on Koushiro's D-Terminal. "'Hello, Koushiro-san. Thank you for taking care of Poromon. This is the second day of our field trip in Kyoto! The character for 'Miyako' is the same as the 'Kyo' in 'Kyoto'. Kyoto is more modern that I thought, and the food is great!' She more or less runs on about Kyoto and promises to bring you back a souvenir, Poromon." Ken finished reading the message. "Sorry, what was it we were talking about?" Ken apologized for interrupting the conversation.
"Osamu was explaining the time he went to the Dark World and how he baptized his Digivice in the ocean." I got the conversation back on track as I upped the ante.
"Right…" Koushiro spoke up. "So it was in that dark ocean where the Digivice turned into a D-3."
"I see…" Osamu looked guilty once more.
"In order to compete with your D-3, all of us needed the same type of D-3." Koushiro placed his on the table. "Not like the ones we had before. The D-3 shape must have been something you wished for. The Digivices changed once we got our first Digimentals to match that shape."
"A shape I wished for…?" Osamu questioned as Guilmon finally folded and I took the pot.
"When the Digital World gathers data, there's a system that controls shapes. It reads the shape of a person's thoughts and organizes the data in that same way. That's probably why all our clothes change when we go to the Digital World now."
"I see… So the Kaiser's clothes were something I wished for…"
"Well that explains why I look like I'm about to raid Makin Atoll considering I plan on being a marine officer." I stated.
"I was actually wondering what that outfit was." Ken replied to my statement.
"Yes, our clothes were all brought about due to our subconscious desires." Koushiro continued to explain. "Still the main question that remains is who sent that e-mail that got you to the Dark World in the first place."
"I don't know yet… but I get a feeling it's related to Archnemon. When she was in my room, that e-mail flashed across my walls in the dark for a few moments before she vanished."
"That could explain how she's able to use the Dark Towers, Onii-san. After all, she's admitted that she used you as a pawn in her own plans. According to her, we all could've easily been the Kaiser or Kaiserin." informed Ken.
"I know for a fact that about three and a half years ago when I was deep in my depression, she probably could've gotten to me." I admitted.
"It's possible it is her. Ken-kun is right about the Dark Towers as well as they probably have functions we don't know about yet. There's still a lot to look into." Koushiro said.
"I'm sorry. My memory is pretty clear… but some areas are still a haze. Probably our answers are in that haze." apologized Osamu.
"Yeah, the same thing is with me as well. My memories have cleared up as well, but there's still a fog up there." Ken added.
"No, don't worry." Koushiro assured them. "We were supposed to find you before the sender, in any case. We were careless. We never imagined a Chosen Child was so close to us, more or less two."
"So close? What do you mean by that?" Osamu questioned.
"Well, the truth of the matter is we're not the only Chosen Children. There are quite a lot of them all over the world."
"Like Michael Fox from New York or Wallace Henderson who we met not to long after we defeated you." I explained.
"Right. We still don't know all the details. Most of them meeting the Digimon when they appeared in the real world in 1999 was only the start. More that 'Chosen', they are children who have Digimon partners."
"The same went for us, Onii-san, remember? We saw Ikkakumon twice at the start of August." Ken spoke up.
"Yeah… and then we went to the Digital World about July of 2000… Ugh… why can I remember." Osamu sounded like he was beating himself up about it.
The conversation soon changed when Koushiro looked back over at Poromon who was looking pretty down.
"Hey, Poromon, what's wrong? You're not feeling well?"
"I'm sure it's because he's been in this world away from his partner for so long." Wormmon suggested.
"He's got a point… whenever you're away, Ross… I feel a bit… drained." Guilmon told me. Tentomon and Monodramon nodded too.
"I see…" Koushiro looked like he was theorizing as he picked up Poromon. "It's been three days since Miyako-kun left on her trip."
"It may only be three days, but being away from her must be tiring." Tentomon said.
"I'm guess it's because since we're not from this world… what keeps up our strength here is our connection to our human partners. The further and longer you're away… the weaker we get." theorized Monodramon.
"So my theory may be correct then. Digimon have a hard time just trying to exist in this world." Koushiro came to a conclusion.
"Well, if that's the case, then let's take him to the Digital World. Motomiya-kun and the others are already there, right?" Osamu asked.
"Yes, they got there earlier today. I've been meaning to go back myself lately just to check out what sort of distortions have been happening since BlackWarGreymon destroyed the Holy Stone."
"Then let's get going then." I stood up and grabbed the cards. "I won already anyways." I chuckled to myself when I heard the three Digimon grumble.
"By the way… Izumi-kun, why did you want me to tell you about this?" Osamu referred back to the entire conversation from before.
"Because I wanted to know." Koushiro simply said. "When I first went to the Digital World, I had my own theory about what that world was." I rolled my eyes as I was there to hear every one of those theories. "But I was younger than you back then and had little information, so I didn't quite understand it. I want to know the true nature of the Digital World. It would also give us insight into our world." Same old Koushiro, a never ending thirst of knowledge.
Kyoto, Japan. October 19th, 2002. 1153 Hours.
P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue
"Okay everyone, be back here in two hours." Our teacher informed us.
"Okay!" We all said and went our separate ways. Kyoto has been terrific and I'm so glad I came on this trip! I did feel kind of guilty about leaving Poromon behind so that's why I was currently on the lookout for the greatest souvenir that I could find to make up for it to him. I was walking along with two of my classmates when I soon saw something in the window that was perfect.
"Hey, Enko, Kaiya. Hold up a moment, I gotta buy this while in Kyoto." I quickly buy the gift and then I go back to listing what else I planned to buy to the girls. "And then, raw yatsuhashi and oil blotting paper!" I walked for a few more steps before I saw something strange from above. It looked like a weird, clear tornado. My eyes widened so fast when I saw something black forming out of it and taking on a very familiar and very disturbing shape… BlackWarGreymon.
Digital World. October 19th, 2002. 1202 Hours.
P.O.V. – Third Person
"Gaia Force!" BlackWarGreymon yelled out as he struck another Holy Stone with his devastating attack. Archnemon and Mummymon watched from a nearby rocky cliff at the destruction he was causing. "Destroy it…" He muttered to himself as he threw another Gaia Force. "If I destroy it, I'll get rid of this pain!" He know believed the answer to ending his pain would be the destruction of the Holy Stones.
"I don't care, but just keep at it." Archnemon wasn't concerned about his troubles, just so long as he caused untold damage for her, she was fine with it. "Destroy everything."
"Even if you leave him be, he'll just keep doing it." Mummymon reminded her.
"Gaia Force!" The stone exploded into dust upon the attack' impact. Daisuke's group soon arrived and saw the smoldering rock.
"Dammit… we didn't make it." He cursed. The others soon joined him and saw a strange black void coming from the ruins of the Holy Stone.
"Wh-what the?" Takeru questioned.
"A distortion?" Hikari guessed.
"It's losing balance." Iori observed.
The children looked closely as the void was expelling waves of this black mist while BlackWarGreymon just stood there close to the epicenter.
"When BlackWarGreymon moved before, the world looked distorted." said Iori. "By destroying that rock, the distortion will surely become worse." Takeru soon noticed something was much more off about BlackWarGreymon at the moment.
"Hey! BlackWarGreymon is…" BlackWarGreymon began to fade out like a corrupted VHS tape before he suddenly vanished; to the surprise of everyone who was there.
"What?" Archnemon shouted. Back in Kyoto, a covered up well exploded with purple energy shooting out of it; to the notice of no one but one girl.
P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue
I run around the corner after I ditched my friends and sure enough I see a distorted looking BlackWarGreymon walking the streets.
"I knew it… BlackWarGreymon!" I said to myself. Behind him walked several other black blobs that didn't really have any discernable features, but I knew they were Digimon as well. I looked around and to my complete surprise, no one was even batting an eye! It's like they couldn't see anything. "Why? Doesn't anyone notice!?" I may have spoken a bit too loud. I turned to look at a stop light and saw the thing going crazy. People were more confused about that then the damn Digimon walking through the city! The line of Digimon soon reached the bridge and I kept running right after them. "Wait!" I shouted as I tried to keep up. They just kept moving, ignoring me until they reached a park. "Wait, Digimon!" I was nearly out of breath when one of them turned around and soon revealed itself to be this large yellow ape like Digimon with a large bone tied to its back. If I recalled, this was a Hanumon; we had a run in with one of them when we were fighting Osamu a few months ago. It growled as it looked around all confused.
"Where am I?" He questioned before he immediately jumped away.
"I have to tell someone!" I exclaimed before I pulled out my D-Terminal. "Help! There are Digimon in Kyoto! Someone, do something!" I then hit send and hoped for an answer.
P.O.V. – Third Person
Daisuke's group had more pressing concerns at the moment then to answer Miyako's message; mainly the fact that Archnemon and Mummymon were staring them down from the opposite cliff.
"You want to fight? Numbers won't help you." The witch taunted. Daisuke scoffed at her words.
"We won't lose! Let's go, V-mon!"
"V-mon, evolve! XV-MON!"
"Armadimon, evolve! ANKYLOMON!"
"Patamon, Armor-Evolve! Soaring Hope, PEGASMON!"
"Tailmon, Armor-Evolve! Light of Smiles, NEFERTIMON!"
"Hiroaki-san…" A young woman was looking lovingly at a young man while they were being recorded.
"Emiko-san…" The man replied as BlackWarGreymon appeared on the camera before it started to glitch out.
"Ah! Wait a second!" The black haired bespectacled man recording the scene shouted out.
"What's wrong, Shuu?" The man asked him.
"Eh… H-huh…? Something was there just now…" Up above him, Hanumon jumped down from a roof and crushed the camera under his feet. The woman screamed in fear.
"What is that!?" She shouted as Miyako turned the corner.
"I caught up…" She muttered. "But now what?" The ape turned his club towards Shuu and looked like he was ready to attack.
P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue
I stood there helpless to do anything as I watched the yellow ape Digimon get ready to bash that poor guy's skull in. Oh, why did I not just take Poromon with me!? However, my fears were hurriedly quashed when I heard a buzzing noise and then out from a tree behind the man came Stingmon! Hanumon jumped up and swung his club at him before the two of them landed on different roofs and stared at each other.
"Stingmon?" I shouted as I ran over closer to the fight.
"Miyako-san!" I heard Ken's voice and turned to see him running towards me with Poromon in his arms.
"Ken-kun!" He stopped in front of me. "Why?"
"Miyako-san!" Poromon cheered as he jumped into my arms.
"I'll explain later." Ken told me. He then turned to Stingmon. "Stingmon! That's not a Dark Tower Digimon, so we can't destroy him!"
"Leave it to me, Ken-chan!"
Stingmon turned his attention back to Hanumon. The monkey made the first moved and jumped towards him but Stingmon got above him and punched him in the back; sending him crashing into the ground in front of us. Stingmon then soon got him in an arm lock.
"Ken-chan, hurry!" Ken turned to me.
"Miyako-san, I leave the rest to you."
"L-leave it to me!? Wait!" I shout. He gives me a wink and then runs off with Stingmon and they soon leave my field of vision. Three things were on my mind. The first was how was Ken here and with Poromon no less. Two, what exactly am I supposed to do? The third thing was… after saving me last week and that wink he just gave me… I think I'm really falling for him.
"What should we do?" Poromon questioned.
"I don't know… By the way, why are you here?"
"W-well…"
"Ah, there she is. Professor, over here!" I looked up to see the glasses wearing man from earlier looking at me as an older gentleman, perhaps in his late 30s or early 40s, walked up next to him.
"You there! You're the one who said something about 'Digimon' before, right?" Oh, great, I'm busted. I nervously nodded. "And what you have in your arms… That's a Digimon, right?"
"Eh… yeah…"
I don't know how, but I soon ended up following these men to a yellow Volkswagen New Beetle and was driving through town.
"Sorry for the late introduction." The older man apologized to me as we sat in the backseat while the younger man was driving. "I'm Takenouchi Haruhiko." Wait a second, Takenouchi? "I teach folklore at a university in Tokyo, but I've been doing research in Kyoto since last year. And he is…" He turned his attention to the driver.
"Kido Shuu, second year student." Kido? Oh, no way… "I was actually studying for medical but after attending one of the professor's lectures, I switched to humanities. My older brother is in his final year of college before heading to med school and my younger brother is also studying to be a doctor."
"I… I'm from Tokyo, sixth grade. Inoue Miyako. I'm here on a field trip…"
"I knew it! I've heard of you from my younger brother." Haruhiko chuckled then.
"I've heard my daughter mention you, too." Okay, that probably confirms it.
"Um… by any chance… Um, are you talking about Kido Jou-san and Takenouchi Sora-san?"
"Bingo!" Oh, I'm gonna die of embarrassment now! Hearing Sora's dad use my catchphrase… oi.
P.O.V. – Third Person
"X-Laser!" XV-mon's attack hit the cliffside and engulfed Archnemon and Mummymon in smoke. When it cleared, they were in their true forms.
"Now it's my turn!" Mummymon shouted as he opened fire. He fire chased XV-mon across the sky, the mummy cackling as he took sick enjoyment from trying to kill the Digimon.
"XV-mon!" Stingmon shouted as he flew into the area.
"Guys!" Ken shouted at the gang as he, Osamu, Koushiro and Ross followed behind him.
"Heh, what kept you guys?" Daisuke joked.
"Sorry, had to stop for lunch!" Ross chimed in with him.
"Didn't bring anything back for us? Ah, you owe us later! Ken, Jogress time!"
"Right!" Ross and Osamu looked at each other as well and nodded too.
"XV-mon!" "Stingmon!" "Jogress Evolve! PAILDRAMON!"
"Growmon!" "Strikedramon!" "Jogress Evolve! MECHARAPTORMON!"
P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue
"I do research like this, so I travel all over Japan. Sometimes I even go overseas, so I can't easily go home.." Takenouchi-san kept explaining who he was to me. "For a while, it caused my daughter to rebel against her mother. But three years ago, my daughter suddenly changed. When we talked about it, she said it was thanks to something called Digimon."
"Thanks to the Digimon?" I questioned as I looked to Poromon.
"How to put it... When she was with the Digimon, she experienced a lot and matured. She learned to view things with an open mind." I really couldn't say anything in response that. "I'm grateful to these Digimon."
"Ah, well…" Poromon blushed.
"I don't understand all that much, but… I'm glad."
"So that's a real Digimon…" Shuu spoke up. "I didn't think I'd ever see the real thing. Three years ago, I was at training camp away from Tokyo, and I saw the images in the night sky. But it was so far I couldn't recognize my younger brother… or that my older one was also giving a hand to all the Digimon stuff that went down in Odaiba."
"Still, why did Digimon appear in Kyoto?" I asked mostly to myself.
"Since it became the capital, it's had a deep affinity for 'Kori' and spirits." Takenouchi-san said.
"Kori?"
"It means foxes and tanuki. My current research is about finding facts in these spirit stories, basically."
"I… see…"
"When Kyoto became the capital, it was chosen due to its land being suitable for the four gods. Have you heard of that?"
"Kind of." I shook my hand slightly.
"To the north, Genbu the turtle of Funaoka Mountain. To the east, Seiryuu the dragon of the Kamo River. To the south, Suzaku the bird of Lake Ogura. To the west, Byakko the tiger of Sanindo Road. In other words, a land at the base of a mountain, with accessible lakes and roads and the opening to the south making it fit to be the capital is how one can understand the interpretation." I can see was Shuu switched majors then. This man certainly draws you in with his lectures.
"In addition…" He continued. "In order to protect the capital from the 'demon gate', important shrines and temples were built. It was thought that evil spirits would appear otherwise."
"Demon gates… evil spirits…" I muttered to myself as these phrases were sounding quite familiar.
"Professor." Shuu chuckled.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Takenouchi-san quickly apologized. "It just slips out. Well, Kyoto has changed anyway. It's not like it used to be anymore. In any case, whether a demon world or a strange world, that is, a world different from ours, Kyoto's land may be quite similar."
"Strange world, demon world…" I muttered once again.
"The Digimon you saw and the Digital World's distortion may have affected Kyoto more than Tokyo." I gave him an awkward smile.
"The way you say it… it sounds like the Digimon are related to the spirits."
"Aren't they?" That took me by surprise. "As long as they exist here, they can't just be a bunch of data, can they? The Tsukomogami, or artifact spirit in simpler terms, are said to be items that became spirits a hundred years after being created by humans. They may have started as simple data in a computer, but they're alive now." I just had to stare at Poromon upon hearing that. "Just like the Tsukomogami, don't you think?"
I soon looked back forward when I saw BlackWarGreymon and the other Digimon on the road. I rolled down Shuu's window.
"Wait a second! Wait!" He hit the brakes and one of the shadows became normal like with Hanumon. This one, however, looked more like a shogun as he turned around and jumped on the side of the bridge above us.
"Wh-what's that?" Shuu questioned.
"That would be Musyamon! He's an armored samurai Digimon, though he looks more like a fallen warrior. His special attack is Kirisute Gomen, a strike with his sword that he calls White Bird." Poromon explained.
"So avoid the sword, got it!"
"Miyako-san!" Poromon turned to me. "Poromon, evolve! HAWKMON!" He then flew out of the window of the car.
"Go, Hawkmon!" I cheered while I gipped the seat.
"So this is a Digimon's evolution…" Both men were quite amazed with the sight they had witnessed.
"Feather Slash!" Hawkmon threw his feather at the samurai, only for him to swing his sword and sent the feather back to Hawkmon. It's gonna take a samurai to combat a samurai.
"Hawkmon, Armor-Evolve!" I shouted.
"Yes!"
"Digimental Up!"
"Hawkmon, Armor-Evolve! Bursting Purity, Shurimon!" Shurimon took to the skies once more. "Autumn Wind!" His attack knocked Musyamon right off of the bridge as the two exchanged steel.
"Wow! Seeing an evolution with my own eyes…" Shuu was impressed.
"Kido-kun, follow them!" Takenouchi-san ordered.
"Okay!" We all got back into the car and followed.
Both Digimon looked at each other as they ran across the roof tops like it was movie. They'd jump towards each other, clang their weapons together and land on the opposite roof and repeated the cycle. There was only one way to stop the fight.
"Professor, did you bring a laptop?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Kirisute Gomen!"
"Kusanagi!" The large shuriken won the fight and the samurai was paralyzed at the moment which allowed Shurimon to throw him into the small lake that we parked next to. Shuu opened the laptop and I held up my D-3.
"Digital Gate, open!" The computer lit up. "Shurimon, the gate is open!" Shurimon responded by tossing Musyamon towards Shuu and the laptop and he vanished into the computer. "Close it!" Shuu complied and Musyamon was successfully returned to the Digital World.
"It disappeared…?" He questioned.
"No, it didn't disappear." The professor explained. "It went to the Digital World." I just sighed in relief as Shurimon devolved all the way back to Poromon and flew back into my arms.
"Good job." I congratulated him. "Oh right, BlackWarGreymon and the others…" I looked ahead and saw him and the other Digimon begin to fade out before they vanished.
"They're all leaving." Shuu observed. Huh? I guess they can see them now considering they saw Poromon and the others.
"But why… did they appear in the Real World?" I questioned once more. "What for?"
"Even if it doesn't make any sense to us, they must have had a reason." Takenouchi-san believed.
"Now we can open a gate to the Digital World and send them over there, but back in Taichi-san's days, they couldn't do that…"
"Miyako-chan." Shuu broke me out of my thoughts. "I'll take you back. You won't make the assembly time, right?" I checked the clock and realized the time.
"Oh, look at the time!"
P.O.V. – Third Person
Back in the Digital World, Archnemon and Mummymon disengaged from fighting the Chosen Children. As they pulled away, they saw BlackWarGreymon returning once more.
"He's back." The spider witch said. "Mummymon, let's go!"
"Okay!" The two of them got back in their car and got away from the Chosen Children.
"Cowards!" Ross screamed at them as the Chosen started to catch up.
"We've got some more important things to worry about, like destroying the five remaining Holy Stones!" Archnemon taunted them.
"What did she say?" Daisuke questioned.
"There are five more Holy Stones." Takeru answered.
"If they destroy them all…" Iori said.
"The Digital World will lose more and more balance." informed Hikari.
"And that means problems for Earth." Koushiro added.
"This is what you were worried about right, Koushiro-san?" Ken asked him.
"If the Digital World loses its balance completely… Something terrible will happen." Osamu concluded.
"Then that means we need to draw a line in the sand and protect those stones." Ross determined.
P.O.V. – Miyako Inoue
Shuu and Takenouchi-san dropped me off not too far away from the meet up point.
"Well then, say hi to Sora when you're back in Tokyo." The professor requested.
"Jou too." Shuu also asked.
"Okay! Leave it to me!" I then waved and ran back to my class.
"You're late!" Enko shouted at me. "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Nowhere really…" I said.
"Huh? What's that?" questioned Kaiya looked at Poromon.
"Eh? Oh! It's just a stuffed animal!" I lied as I patted him on the head.
"No way! How cute!"
"Let me see!" The two of them grabbed him and started to tug, and he clearly was looking in distress.
"Hang in there, Poromon."
I just hope the rest of this trip can go off without a hitch, or a Digimon incursion…
Let's just hope so, Miyako.
I've got almost nothing to say at all about this chapter surprisingly so I'll just say take care.
"Push the button, Frank."