"Pitiful," said a looming figure shrouded within shadows cast by the thick trees, towards the kneeling Strabimon. This Strabimon had suffered severe wounds – slashes on his back and nape, and two punctures on his chest with liquid still pouring out of them. "I sent you an easy task to capture a powerless boy, and you come back empty handed. To think that you actually are one of the Wolfsbanes, it's unbelievable that you are trounced severely by three mere boys."
"He's not exactly powerless!" Strabimon said irritably, and groaned as he pressed the wounds on his chest to avoid his digital blood from pouring out. "You told us they would be powerless. You've told us that you have blocked them from being able to digivolve! Well guess what? The boy still retained his own power, and his partner is still able to digivolve!" The wolf man sneered. "Perhaps your power needs fine tuning, Lucemon."
"Ah," Lucemon said as he stepped out from the shadows. "That boy…Adam. A very resourceful little one, from what I have heard. And his partner Patamon is already a Champion Digimon prior to meeting the boy and becoming his partner, thus logically he would retain his power. I thought that being deleted once would wipe the Patamon out of the ability to naturally digivolve…but apparently I have gravely mistaken." Lucemon shook his head, looking untroubled at all. "But no matter – the three DigiWira could not use their Digivices, thus they shouldn't be able to become Wira Digital or aid their partners to digivolve with the powers of the Digivices. I have made sure of that." From his belt, he took out a black gemstone with the shape of a half-arrowhead. He smirked and pointed it towards the injured Strabimon, and the stone glowed with purple aura before it bathed Strabimon with the aura. Slowly, and apparently excruciatingly so, the wounds began to join together and blood stopped pouring out of the werewolf, whose face looked like it was resisting the urge to howl in pain.
"Have rest, Strabimon," the Hellion General said when the Obsidian Gem stopped glowing. He kept the stone inside his belt and turned away. "Tomorrow you'll get to have your fun, although I must warn you, the Master will be seriously displeased if you slay the boy. Adam Ariff is the apple of Master SkullSatamon's eyes; his only way of escaping his confinement and you will do well to remember that. His partner Patamon and his new friends are expendable; you may do as you wish with them. I believe your comrades are now tailing the other DigiWira and unlike you, surely you are envious of them now, they don't have any restrictions."
Strabimon snorted and stood up, the pain he was experiencing was now become bearable as it faded. "You have the powers to eliminate the DigiWira easily, Lucemon. Why do you need us, actually?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously towards the half-angel, half-demon Digimon. "What are you up to?"
Lucemon smiled haughtily and fixed his ice-blue eyes upon the werewolf's yellow ones. "Not need. Want," he sneered. "I want you to do my dirty work," he continued with surprising bluntness, "while I explore this era, where the Digital World has not come into being yet. I have to be very careful not to tamper too much with time, for it might lead to serious complications." He smiled slightly. "The time travel spell I have evoked from the Nine Negations Dark Arts is truly unstable, as Doumon has predicted…I have been here for the past five months while I only activated the spell for myself three minutes before Doumon, apparently successfully, sent you three and the three Wira Digital to this time five minutes later."
"I don't understand," Strabimon said.
"Of course, your simple mind cannot understand it. Very well, I shall entertain you," Lucemon said. "You see, Strabimon, I am not interested in barbaric slaughter. A Digimon of caliber and dignity such as I, my work has to be a masterpiece. Plain deleting and destroying do not appeal to me, not after three centuries of imprisonment. I believe I must stretch my muscles a bit, before executing the grand plan, which I can not begin until the Puaka Generals regain their former glory." Seeing Strabimon's still-confused face, he chuckled. "Also, I am a competitive 'mon. It seems like everyone who are imprisoned by Grademon has a score to settle with his heirs, with him already out of the picture now. The Puaka Generals have truly outdone themselves in fooling the DigiWira with their dark, horrible lies and disguises – and they have almost succeeded! The Shaman General's work is also good, but the Virago General's current deed to the DigiWira with the Red DigiSphere is better. I, as their leader, the Hellion General…simply must outshine them."
'That's just plain stupid,' Strabimon thought silently. 'I can never understand the minds of these generals. Loons, that's what they are.'
"How are we all going to go back?" he finally inquired, keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Oh, do not worry," Lucemon said. "Suffice to say; as long as we are loyal to the Master and his cause, we'll be able to go back. I won't go to details to spare you a headache, but bear this in mind, Strabimon…" The Hellion General fixed a sharp glare on the werewolf. "If you don't get the job done, I will leave you here in this time, with the DigiWira."
"But you said as long as we're loyal to the Master…"
"Oh, I know what I have said, Strabimon…but trust me, there's reason why I do not divulge everything to you, other than to not strain your mind…" At this, Lucemon gave Strabimon a cruel smile and Strabimon felt a chill down his spine. "Don't look too worried. If you succeed, there's no reason why I should leave you three here. But if you fail…" With that, Lucemon turned round and walked back into the shadows, his sinister chuckle softly echoed the dark woods before his visage vanished, leaving Strabimon to mull over what he had said.
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WIRA DIGITAL: The Movie – Part III
Chapter 47 – Leap of Faith
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The DigiWira girls and their new friends were now trekking a jungle, following against the river flow which according to the boys, would lead them to their destination as Mount Ledang was the origin of the river. Most of the time, they kept to the river side but occasionally they had to step into the trees. Amidst the darkness of the night, they were aided by the full yellow moon and the stars, as well as torches which each boy was now carrying with them. Kasturi accompanied the princess Tun Teja and led the way, while cousins Lekiu and Lekir flanked the DigiWira girls and their partners.
After the initial shock of introducing Labramon and Floramon to their new friends, Liu Ying and Gayathri felt that they were now warming up to the fact that there were 'talking animals or creatures' from their time – they had tried saying that their partners were digital monsters, but had decided to just go along with their friends' assumptions as it seemed to be easier to accept for them. Now, as they watched with mild amusement as their friends shot questions one after another to the Digimon, and Labramon patiently answered most of them while Floramon just enjoyed being the center of attention.
"So there's another one of you?" Teja asked as they settled by the river to take a small break. They had been walking for the past two hours since their last break.
"Actually there are three more– all guys – and one is stranded here as well," Liu Ying said before her expression turned glum, out of worry for her friend's wellbeing in this era. "But we don't know where he and his partner are at right now, or why they're separated from us. I just hope that Adam and Patamon are alright."
"Let's hope they are," Kasturi said. He caught on the worried look on their friends from the future. "Maybe we can try looking for them tomorrow," he suggested. "We can go to villages and ask around."
"If he has made a grand entrance as you two did, chances are we might hear about it soon," Lekiu pointed out. With a chuckle, he added, "If we go to a village and the villagers are freaked out about a male witch, we'll know that it's him." He laughed, but was silenced instantly by an elbow on the rib from Lekir and pointed looks from Kasturi and Teja.
The DigiWira girls shared a look. "I don't know…Adam's pretty good in hiding himself, with his nifty teleportation power. He can easily avoid the crowd or any detection," Gayathri said. She eyed the tip of Mount Ledang, visible from where they were at despite being mostly hidden within the shadows of the night, and sighed as she rubbed her sore legs. "Times like this, I really wish my ability is teleportation," she said. "I can just say Mount Ledang and then I'll be there!"
"Tele…what?" Lekir asked. He had not spoken much, and when he did it was usually to ask the DigiWira for clarification, as he was doing now. Most of other times, he seemed to let Lekiu and Kasturi do all the talking while he kept silence. But while he did not speak a lot, it was evident that he was very curious of the Digimon. When they had their break, he was the one who asked Labramon and Floramon of what they like to eat – and their answers, being banana fritters and strawberry ice creams (although Floramon could make do with just some soil, water and sunshine), confounded him as he had never heard of them before. Nevertheless, he was thrilled to know of new facts from five hundred centuries in the future.
"The ability to transport oneself to anywhere they like," Liu Ying clarified. "Or objects," she added, remembering that Adam had mastered summoning items as well.
"Wow…" The boys were astounded, and Teja too seemed to be thinking of how the ability would benefit them in times like this.
"So, let me clarify what you've said about your…special powers," Lekiu said. "You have…" he pointed at Liu Ying and grinned at her widely – Liu Ying thought that Lekiu had never ceased smiling at her when he had stopped doing so towards Gayathri a couple of hours back. "Flick-your-hands-and-things-fly-away and invisible shield projection," he said from memory. "And you have…" he turned to look at Gayathri, his wide grin lessened ever-so-slightly to a more respectable one. "Very loud scream and you can run very fast?"
"That's putting it mildly," Gayathri said – they had not divulged the fact that they could merge with their partners, and when they were in their merged forms their abilities evolved as well. Their friends were just getting used of the fact that the DigiWira possessed special powers and were partnered to Digimon; it would be overkill if they revealed that they could merge with their partners to become warriors that were destined to protect their world and the Digital World from evil.
"Those are very useful skills," Lekir noted thoughtfully. "Compared to ours; yours can actually help you get out of some thick situations."
"Huh?" The DigiWira girls were surprised at Lekir's statement. "Compared to ours? Do you mean to say that you have special powers too?" Gayathri asked curiously.
"Well…I don't know whether it's considered as special powers, and they are nowhere as good as what we have heard you two can do," Lekir said with a mysterious smile. He took out his keris from his sash belt, unsheathed it from its scabbard, and closed his eyes. Slowly he breathed out, appearing to be meditating whilst standing. The DigiWira girls gasped when the curved blade of the keris began to emit a soft red hue. It could not be their imagination, for it was night and the only other sources of light were the moon and the stars. From a distance they could see some fireflies, but that still did not rule out the fact that somehow, Lekir had made his keris glowing.
"How…how did you do that?" Liu Ying and Gayathri both gasped in amazement, as Lekir opened his eyes, and with him doing so the lights glimmering out of his keris dimmed into nothingness once again. They had not expected this, and certainly not from Lekir, the quietest out of the three boys. Seeing Lekiu and Kasturi grinning, Lekiu patting Lekir's back, they assumed that the other two boys could also do what Lekir had done.
"We learned it from our late teacher," Kasturi said, confirming the DigiWira's assumption. The three boys looked wistful at the mention of their late teacher. "Tuk Guru Adiwira, he was our Silat master until he passed away early this year. The three of us learned our Silat skills from him. His specialty leaned more on meditation rather than combat, although his fighting skills were not to be looked down upon either. It was just that he disliked fighting that he had kept on stalling on teaching us the Silat's art of combat. We didn't get to finish our Silat combat lessons because halfway through, Tuk Guru Adiwira fell ill. He had relied on his meditative skills to help him through a difficult sickness until his time came by, so we have spent a lot of time learning and eventually mastering the Silat's meditation art. Our combat skills, however, are…well…"
"Second-rate." Lekiu practically spat the word out. The vehemence in his voice was clear and it surprised the DigiWira girls, but what he revealed next shocked them even more. "This was why those two Hang brothers Tuah and Jebat were able to practically trash us when Tuk Guru Adiwira met his older brother last year. Tuk Guru Adiputra just had to bring along those two show-offs disciples of his, and then he just had to pit us together in a friendly match, just because he and his brother were equal in skills and none could beat the other. It wasn't a fair fight at all! Those two Hangs were superb, while we were just learning our combat skills." The yellow-clad teen snorted angrily, pumping his fist in midair. "And that old man didn't even realize that his brother was sick; he was just plain excited to see who would win that blasted friendly match."
Liu Ying and Gayathri shared a look, seemingly agreeing on one thing: they now knew why the three boys seemed offended when the girls brought up the subject about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat earlier. This revelation did not bode well with them, for as far as they knew there were five Hang brothers and they were supposedly a close-knit group, a brotherhood of fine warriors revered by good and feared by bad. They glanced at Princess Tun Teja, who looked like she was about to intervene.
"Your Silat skills are on par with some of the guards at father's palace. Why do you think my father made you three my personal guards, if you are not skillful enough to protect me?" she said in an attempt to placate the now-furious Lekiu, who looked like he was considering what the princess had said. Teja smiled. "Don't be too hard on yourself."
"Teja is right," Lekir said and laid a soothing grasp on his cousin brother's shoulder. "It's just not meant to be. We should be thankful that we have managed to learn useful skills from Tuk Guru Adiwira. And besides…you're angry not because we were beaten by them, but rather, because of Hang Jebat's final words."
"Hmph." Lekiu did not deny Lekir's accusation. "You call this useful?" He unsheathed his keris and did the same thing Lekir had done earlier. His keris emitted soft yellow radiance, but it was diminished with a grunt from the boy. "What can possibly be useful about this? Guiding our way in the dark?"
Lekir merely shook his head at Lekiu's wry remark. Silence prevailed and the DigiWira – after several coaxing from the others – braved themselves to drink the river's water, for they were quite thirsty and the others assured them that the waters were pure and that they did not exactly have any other choice. They then agreed to reassume their journey to Mount Ledang; their journeys now were aided by three glowing keris daggers, emitting soft yellow, light red and pale blue lights, providing a brief entertainment to the eyes and as extra lights to the torches they were using.
Little did they know that the lights had unfortunately attracted unwanted attentions as well.
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"We've found them," TobuCatmon said as soon as JD, Manny, Agumon and Penguinmon emerged from the TV set in the Forest Sanctum, not bothering with a greeting like he usually did. The Champion immediately pointed towards the sun-staff, but his face revealed no elatedness and his tone was grim.
They observed as the sun-staff displayed Adam in the company of two unknown boys, seemingly trekking a jungle. Patamon was seen flying above them, and they could see the unknown boys staring at Patamon with wonder. What made JD and Manny surprised was the fact that the boys were carrying weapons – keris, from the looks of it – with them. The boy in burgundy shirt constantly had his hand on his keris while the other boy, in navy blue shirt, looked more relaxed, and seemed to be the one Adam more comfortable with, judging from the way the two of them conversed. The view panned and the observers saw that Adam and his companions were heading towards a mountain where the moon peered behind it. Then the screen shifted to show Liu Ying and Gayathri, and with them were a girl draped in loose-fitting, plain brown gown and skirt, and three boys in identical outfits but of varying colors – soft yellow, light red and sky blue. Similar to Adam's companions, the three boys were also carrying keris with them. The view panned, and the girls' group was seen also heading a mountain. And the view panned even farther, giving a view from the sky and turned into grids, revealing to them white, yellow and pink dots heading towards a same location, and realized that their destination was the very same mountain.
"Where are they?" JD asked tersely, crossing his arms over his chest. He watched as Manny used his Juara Digivice to search for the others' signals.
"No sign of them on the Digivice," Manny said with surprise. "But they're on the screen. How did you find them?" he asked their mentors.
TobuCatmon smiled grimly. "The staff eventually managed to find them on its own," he answered. "It took the staff a while because the other DigiWira are not currently here."
"Where. Are. They?" JD reiterated again with gritted teeth. "Just get to the point!"
TobuCatmon sighed. "We don't know for sure," he admitted. "But we have a pretty good idea," he continued, and saw that he now had the two boys' fullest attentions. "When D'Arcmon told us about her vision, that got me thinking. If they are alive but not here…they might have been transported to another dimension. The same thing happened when you were transported to the Dark Ocean," the feline Digimon said to JD, and saw a knowing look passed the blonde teen's face.
"But then…when I tinkered around with the Digivice tracking device I've made for myself, I've found out one strange thing," Jackie said, and beckoned towards the table where a rectangular device was placed. They all went near it, and to their surprise they saw three blinking, but very faint, dots representing the signals from the missing DigiWira's Digivices. "This tracking device is set to scan the Digivice signals on this dimension," he explained. "The tracking signal is stronger than the ones in your Digivices, and with it, I've got this."
"So what does this mean?" Agumon asked.
"It means that they are still in this dimension…" Jackie said slowly, as if unsure of himself. He stared at the viewing screen, and thought that somehow the people who were accompanying the DigiWira were dressed rather oddly; it made him thinking back of the History lesson plans he had for the class he was assigned to teach. While preparing he had done some research and had come across several illustrations pertaining to the lesson plans. The device he had made had pointed out that the missing DigiWira were not in other dimensions, for if they were, the device would not have detected their Digivices' signals. Jackie and TobuCatmon had come to believe of only one possible, no matter how impossible it sounded, theory. "But they are displaced in a different time," he concluded.
The former ShadoWira and their partners froze in shock.
"That…that…that's impossible!" Manny sputtered. "You mean they have been transported to the past or future?"
"The past seems more like it," Jackie said while observing the sun-staff again, thoughtfully. "The lack of buildings made it seems more likely rather than the future. And the fact that those boys who are with the DigiWira…their clothes and choice of weapons just reminded me of an assignment I've given Adam and Gayathri…"
"Never mind those," JD said curtly. "How do we get them back here?"
"By using your DigiSpheres, you two can be transported to them, or them to you," TobuCatmon said as he grabbed hold on an edge of the rattan mat that was laid over the sanctum's marble floor. He yanked it up before pulling it away, revealing to everyone the circular rune underneath. "Grademon's runes," he supplied. "I've once used it to transport Adam to you, JD, when you were stuck in the Dark Ocean dimension." He saw the irritable look on JD's face soften a little. "But there was a flaw in my action. You see, I could transport Adam to you, but I had no means to recover him back," he said glumly. "That time, I hoped and relied solely on his teleportation power to bring him and you and your partners back to this digital plane. Thank goodness you both and your partners made it back."
JD snorted. "So you're saying that you can transport us to them, but you don't know how to bring us back here?" he asked as his frown deepened. "Unless Adam's teleportation power transcends time," he said with a low tone, fixing their mentors a look.
TobuCatmon nodded weakly, and an excruciating silence ensued before the sun-staff let out a buzzing sound, attracting their attentions. They saw two humanoid wolves pursuing Liu Ying's and Gayathri's group without them noticing. The screen flickered and highlighted the two wolves, and semi-transparent images of WereGururumon and WereGarurumon flashed out over the two wolves before they vanished; apparently the sun-staff had analyzed the wolves and had found matches from the earlier battle footages it had. That alerted everyone of the danger their friends were facing.
"It's them!" Penguinmon gasped. "How did they get there as well?"
"Obviously, it's those generals' doing," JD snarled, and thumped his right fist into his left palm. "Damnit!"
"We have to save them!" Manny looked at the screen worriedly, and then at JD.
"That goes without saying," JD muttered and glanced sharply at TobuCatmon and Jackie. "We'll take that risk. I know one way or the other we'll manage to get back here." He turned to look at the screen, frowning as the two wolves were getting nearer and nearer the DigiWira girls and their friends. "Two werewolves…what about that last one? ExWereGarurumon?"
As if answering his question, the sun-staff flickered once before displaying a battle scene which awed them instantly. Adam and his two friends there worked well to fend off the wolf-man that the staff immediately identified as ExWereGarurumon, but both JD and Manny noticed how Adam and Patamon failed in their attempt to Digital Access.
"What's wrong? Why can't Adam and Patamon become Aldiyamon back there?" JD demanded when the sun-staff finished showing the battle, and resumed showing Adam following the two boys as they made their way towards the mysterious-looking mountain.
"I don't know," TobuCatmon said, clearly shocked at this. "It shouldn't be a problem, with you having the Juara Digivices now."
"It could be Lucemon's doing," Ophanimon, who had been silent the whole time, opinioned. She was sitting by the artificial fountain at the left corner of the sanctum, with Rosemon and D'Arcmon standing on each side. Her statement brought everyone's attentions to her. "He released the Wolfsbanes, and I think he too is responsible in sending Adam, Liu Ying, Gayathri and their partners to the past. I don't know why he bothered to send the Wolfsbanes as well to the past, but what I do know is that he has a plan."
"If I may say so…Lucemon can be sadistic and cruel if he wanted to, while retaining his gentlemanly manner, which is very, very irritating," Rosemon pointed out. "Perhaps this is his idea of a sick joke. Send them to the past, and make the Wolfsbanes chase after them. To add to the fun, he might think…why not make the DigiWira powerless too while he's at it?" She wrinkled her mouth when the others sweatdropped. "It's just my opinion, actually," she muttered.
"Actually, I think Rosemon might be right on that," Jackie said and rubbed his chin, thinking of something. "If that's so, then Lucemon might have done something to tamper with the Juara Digivices."
"But how did he do that?" Manny said, frowning as he tried stifling a sneeze; they were not so bad after he had inadvertently infected Shawujinmon with it.
For a while there was silent. Nobody had the answer to that, but not too long after the reigning silence was broken when Ophanimon rose from the fountain's stone and walked by the sun-staff. She waved her hand before it, and the sun staff let out a pale yellow light. The scenes inside of it changed, and revealed a recollection from the grand angel's mind – a memory of her meeting with Adam for the first time. The staff was now showing Adam and his broken D3 Digivice, and how Ophanimon repaired it.
"When Adam came to me for help in repairing his Digivice, I used the power of the Ivory Gem to upgrade the Digivice into Juara Digivice. Subsequently…" The scene on the sun staff shifted to show Aldiyamon restoring the powers of the other Digivices with his Juara Digivice. "The power of the Ivory Gem is used to upgrade the other Digivices, transforming them into Juara Digivices as well. That makes all five Juara Digivices now imbued with the gem's hallowed power," Ophanimon continued to say, before she tensed a little. "The Ivory Gem is a powerful artifact, and according to Grademon only one power can overwhelm it. As far as I know, Lucemon possesses that very power which can, when infused with his own dark power, inhibit the Ivory Gem's power."
"So what can we do to help?" Manny asked.
"Similar to how Aldiyamon has done to restore your Digivices, you can also do the same thing with yours to help restore theirs," Ophanimon deduced, before the sun staff buzzed wildly and returned to displaying Liu Ying and Gayathri's Digivice signals. To their alarm, two dots representing the Wolfsbanes were slowly gaining on them. The staff shifted in showing real images, and they saw two wolf men darting past the jungle, one leaping on tree branches while the other sprinted.
"We have to go, now!" JD exclaimed. "They need our help!"
"Remember, DigiWira," TobuCatmon cautioned. "I have told you that I do not know, as of yet, of how to recover you back, should I send you to the others using Grademon's runes." He gulped slightly. "There's a risk of all of you being stuck in the past, even if you are able to beat the Wolfsbanes."
JD and Manny shared an unspoken understanding as with determination, they said, "We'll take that chance."
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After another hour of walking, the DigiWira girls and their friends had arrived at a higher ground, by the river where the waters were now shallow that even with the moonlight they could see the pebbled base. Their destination was visible, dark and mysterious, with the full moon peeking from behind its cloudy peak. They had no intention to stop for long, but the boys needed to find new firewood to replace their almost used-up torches. While the boys searched for firewood, the girls sat by the shallow river.
"How much longer do we have to walk until we reach Mount Ledang?" Gayathri asked and rubbed her somewhat sore calves.
Teja cast a look at the said mountain. "Two hours, at most, according to the boys," she replied with a small smile. "My legs are aching too. I've never really walked this far, this long," she admitted with a sigh. "Being a princess, that pretty much limits my movement."
"Really?" Liu Ying asked, surprised. "If you ask me, you seem pretty much street-smart. I'd never have thought you were a princess when we first met."
Teja grinned. "Other princesses would be offended to hear your remark, Liu Ying, but I take that as a compliment." She cast a long look at the river, admiring the pale orange moon's reflection on it. "My father is very overprotective of me, especially after my mother passed away when I was ten years old," she began. "I'm all he has. And now, I'm reaching my fifteenth birthday soon and my father has decided that it's time for me to be betrothed to someone, if not married." She made a face before going on, "I personally think that I'm too young for all that. Don't you?" she asked Liu Ying and Gayathri, who both looked somewhat repulsed at the idea of being married too young. "What's the normal age for women in your time to get married, I wonder?"
"Umm….mid twenties?" Gayathri hazarded a guess. "My mother got married to my father when she was twenty five."
"Twenty five?" Teja practically yelped, wide-eyed with shock. "Here, I mean now, it's considered too old!"
"My mother married just fresh out of school," Liu Ying supplied. "That's about a bit older than seventeen," she clarified. "Now at thirty three, and I'm your age…some people have commented that we're more like sisters than mother and daughter."
The three girls chuckled, although to Teja that was quite normal. "My mother married when she was my age," she said. "If she's still alive…she and I will be like you and your mother, Liu Ying. Anyway," she said with a grim expression. "My father thinks that I'd be a perfect bride for my second cousin, the crown prince Mahmud Shah." She made a disgusted face.
"I take it you don't like the arrangement?" Labramon asked casually; she and Floramon had been listening to the conversation with curiosity. After all, Digimon did not marry, so this human custom was foreign for them.
Teja gave the canine Digimon a strange look, thinking that it was odd for a dog to be asking a human about marriage. But then she remembered that Labramon possessed pretty much a human's mind. And she was not a dog, but a Digimon with intelligence akin to her partner. She sighed. "I respect my uncle a lot, who is all for the idea because I think he already thinks of me as his daughter. I've been making visits to him and the prince since I was eleven," she said, hinting her displeasure but not exactly opposing the idea. Then a conspiratorial look crossed her face. "You're from the future…" she began. "Tell me, who am I going to end up with?"
Liu Ying and Gayathri sweatdropped, but knew that they could not divulge the future as by doing so they could alter it, which would have serious implications. No matter how small a change was made in the past, the future would probably gain a drastic change. They shook their heads, while actually knowing that Teja would end up becoming a Sultana to the future Sultan of Malacca, which would be her cousin the current crown prince. "It's five hundred years, Teja…" Liu Ying said carefully. "I…I don't think I know."
"Oh," Teja said, clearly noticing the hesitation in her friends from the future. "But, you seem to know about the boys…and also about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat."
The DigiWira clammed uncomfortably at this; they knew they had blundered when they mentioned about Tuah and Jebat to Teja and the boys. Would it change history in some way, they wondered.
Teja thought about something as she gazed at Liu Ying and Gayathri. "I think you do know something about me, and the others…but I understand if you decide not to mention what you know about us. I think…if I know my future, I might want to change the bad things, significant and non-significant both. This will change the future, and perhaps, your time will be changed." She sighed in acceptance while gazing up at the full orange moon, peeking out from the peak of Mount Ledang. "If I know something about my future and I don't like it, I can never rest easy, knowing that whatever I do will lead me to that, whether I like it or not. So it's better if I'm ignorant about it…so that I can shape my own future."
"Wow, Teja…" Gayathri said with amazement. "You're our age, but you seem so much more mature."
Teja smiled appreciatively at Gayathri's compliment. "When my mother passed away, I think my father wanted to groom me to become queen as soon as he could, fearing that I'd be left all alone without proper knowledge to become queen when he too passed on. He'd called on the best of the knowledgeable scholars to become my teachers. I learned a lot," she admitted. "Perhaps too much, I think…which makes me want to rebel sometimes. That, my friends, explain why you're seeing me here in these ragged clothes and that I'm here, sitting with you, instead of what I'm supposed to do – stay at the palace, and study…hmm…"
"What, Teja?" The DigiWira girls thought that it was strange when Teja suddenly appeared trance-like, as if a thought had crossed her mind and she was seriously thinking about it.
"I've just thought of something, from what I have mentioned earlier…" she murmured. "You know, whenever I rebelled I have the tendency to run away from the palace. Temporarily, not permanently. A year after my mother passed away, my father began hiring scholars to become my teachers. I was ten…I was very young….so I could not take it. So, I ran away without thinking about it." She smiled slightly, reminiscing her past as the DigiWira girls waited patiently for her to continue her story. "Naturally, I got lost. It was my first time alone out of the palace and I did run quite a distance away, until I reached deep in the forest. Even until now, I still don't know how exactly I managed to run that far from my palace…but I'm glad I did it."
"Why?" Gayathri asked curiously.
"When I was lost, and alone inside the forest, I cried because I was scared. My cries attracted the attentions of three boys who happened to roam around the forest, hunting," Teja said with a smile.
"Let me guess – Kasturi, Lekiu and Lekir?" Floramon said.
"Obviously," Teja chuckled fondly at the memory. "They were shocked to see me, actually. They didn't know that I was a princess, but figured that I must be from a rich family. It was already night that time, almost like this kind of hour, and they could see that I'm starving and afraid. So they took this mousedeer they had hunted, slaughtered and cooked it for me." She smiled. "That night, I gained three best friends, and since they're younger than me I thought of them as my little brothers too. I'd never seen that coming – who would have thought that a princess would be best friends with three village boys? But that's us." She exhaled a long breath out. "What would have happened when someone from the future told me that time, should I run away I would have gotten myself lost? I wouldn't run away from the palace for I'd be afraid that I would get lost….and if that happened I wouldn't have met Kasturi, Lekiu and Lekir. So…good or bad the future is for me, I guess it is better that I just find it out for myself."
The DigiWira were stunned. "So that's how the four of you met," Liu Ying said finally. "It is a wonderful story, Teja."
"And speaking of the boys…here they come now." Gayathri gestured towards the trees, where they could see lights coming from burning torches, held by three boys.
"Did you miss us?" Lekiu said with a grin as they sat near the girls, forming a circle. He took a seat beside Liu Ying, who quickly crept between Labramon and Gayathri, much to his disappointment. Lekir saw this and patted Lekir's shoulder with mock pity, while Kasturi merely shook his head.
"Ready to resume our journey?" Kasturi asked, eyeing the tip of Mount Ledang. "We should be reaching there…."
ARRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
The chilling howl stopped Kasturi, and everyone looked around, alarmed at the howl and thought that a wild animal must be around. The boys stood up quickly and with the aid of their flaming torches they looked around, while Labramon and Floramon both let out nervous growls. Liu Ying and Gayathri saw their partners' reactions and stood up quickly, just as the lights from the torches fell on two figures standing across the river. They were both humanoid standing at equal heights, with furry bodies and heads similar to wolves. One had silver-gray fur while the other dark blue, both wearing brown leather pants. Both looked eerily familiar, but with some differences.
"What in the world are those?!" Lekiu gasped, shocked.
"Digimon!" Labramon and Floramon both said, alarmed. It didn't take them long to figure out who were those wolves, for even though their appearances had changed, for Labramon she could easily catch familiar scents radiating from the humanoid wolves. "They…they're those werewolves! WereGarurumon and WereGururumon! I can recognize their horrid stench everywhere!" Labramon said. Hearing that, both Liu Ying and Gayathri took out their Digivices.
"Right, but not quite!" the werewolf with grey silvery fur said. "We're called Strabimon now! Dedigivolved from our Ultimate forms, but we still pack quite a punch!"
"It took us quite a while to track you while in daytime…" the other Strabimon, with blue fur, said, baring his fangs dangerously. "But we knew that it would be easier during nighttime. You'd need lights to get around," he chuckled, before tapping his nose. "Besides, the nose knows."
"Are they your friends?" Teja asked nervously as she backed away unwillingly – her hand was being pulled by Kasturi. She had never seen creatures like the two 'werewolves' before, and thought that they looked malicious compared to Labramon and Floramon. She looked at the DigiWira girls who tensed as the two werewolves introduced themselves.
"Friends? No way! They're our enemies from the future!" Gayathri said. This revelation startled the others.
"Teja, Kasturi, Lekir, Lekiu…run!" Liu Ying said. "These two are dangerous."
"Floramon, ready!" Gayathri's command overlapped with Liu Ying who was addressing Labramon, and together they initiated their fusion Digivolution sequence.
Digital Access Digivolution, HAAA!!
"I see no difference," the blue Strabimon said with a laugh, when nothing seemed to be going to take place. "It seems to me that you can't digivolve here, kiddies. All the better for us!"
The DigiWira were startled. "We can't Digital Access!" Gayathri cried. "Why?" Their Digivices let out a soft purple glow as a strange symbol was displayed on the screens. They did not know what to make out of it. "How can this be? Without Puspamon and Xianamon…we can't…"
Liu Ying was surprised too, but was quicker in assuming other strategy. "We're not beaten yet! Let's try normal and DNA Digivolution!"
Again, nothing happened. Labramon and Floramon didn't feel the energy rush, nor did any light came out from the Digivices other than the creepy purple glow and the strange symbol.
The two werewolves laughed. "I've always liked to play with my food," the gray Strabimon commented with a sneer. "Don't you?"
"It's considered bad etiquette," the blue Strabimon said as he brandished his gleaming crimson claws. "Which is why I love doing it!"
"One, two, three, four, five, six…SIX main courses! And two desserts!" the gray Strabimon laughed as he counted his preys. "Oh, this sure is our lucky day! Remind me to thank Lucemon for this!" He rubbed his taut stomach and ran his tongue across his mouth, gazing at his foes hungrily.
"RUN!!" Liu Ying and Gayathri cried. "Run, run, RUN!" Their four friends immediately made way towards the woods, with Kasturi and Teja leading, followed by Lekiu and Lekir, but the DigiWira faltered when their Digimon partners remained at where they were standing.
"Ying, Gayathri, go with the others! We'll hold them off!" Labramon said, and planted her foot firmly on the ground. She narrowed her eyes as the two Strabimon began to leap across the river and opened her snout wide. "RETRIEVE BARK!!" she howled, and her voice carried over loudly as if amplified by a megaphone. The two werewolves were blasted with the supersonic waves, but Labramon's attack didn't do much in faltering their movement. They were forced to land into the shallow waters, looking absolutely annoyed, but suffered no other consequences.
"Rain of Pollens!" Floramon sprayed pollens onto the two Strabimon, who immediately leaped out of the pollen's path. They then plummeted and one landed a forceful kick upon Floramon, throwing her into the waters, while the other almost slashed upon Labramon if it weren't for a sudden gust of invisible force pushing him out of the way and he was sent flying into the river.
"Thank you, Ying!" Labramon said gratefully, for it was her partner who had saved her. Liu Ying nodded; from the corner of her eyes she saw Gayathri sprinting with her enhanced speed to retrieve Floramon inside the shallow waters, and prepared herself should the werewolves attack Gayathri while she was distracted. She raised telekinetic barrier to shield herself from the blue Strabimon, who looked at his fallen, drenched comrade with disgust.
"Silly tricks won't stop me!" the blue Strabimon snorted, and charged upon her telekinetic barrier. He clawed the barrier viciously and Liu Ying cried out, slightly feeling the pain. Strabimon saw that his attack was hurting his prey, and his strikes became deadlier. "I wonder, how long you can actually stand this, girly…" he snarled, and with another strike the barrier shattered and he loomed victoriously over Liu Ying, who had lost her balance when her telekinetic barrier was shattered and fell on her backside. "Well, well, well…my first meal of the day!"
Liu Ying was about to flick her hands in defense to throw off the werewolf, but before she could do so screams were heard as two figures jumped over her and tackled the werewolf, pushing it away from her. Labramon skittered to her side and helped her up just in time to see Lekiu and Lekir, keris unsheathed, now grappling with Strabimon. "Get away! He's dangerous!" she cried to the cousins.
"We know! But we can't just leave you to fight this creature!" Lekiu shouted back. "Powers or no powers, we're going to help you anyway!" With a snarl he stabbed his keris at Strabimon's left hip. "Lekir!"
Lekir slid down and swiped his feet upon Strabimon, sending the werewolf falling, and it would have hit the ground before with a roar Lekiu slammed his body upon the bigger Strabimon, elbowing its guts before launching flurries of kicks and punches. But the werewolf remained standing, unaffected for it was bigger than the boys, and with a snarl he clawed on Lekiu over the chest, sending the boy flying. Seeing his cousin fallen, Lekir panicked, and accidentally left himself open for attack, which Strabimon took advantage of quickly. Lekir too was sent flying just a fraction of seconds later, and would have collided with Lekiu midair before both of them hovered in stasis. Bewildered, Lekir and the injured Lekiu heard soft sounds of a bell chime, and saw Liu Ying with her arms thrust towards them. Her hands glimmered with soft yellow aura as her face contorted with concentration. She then let out a loud grunt and the two boys fell on the ground harmlessly.
"Lekiu, Lekir, quickly, move aside," Liu Ying said, and she was glad that the two boys did as they were asked, for it then left her with a clear path against Strabimon. She was touched by the cousins' concern over her, and especially for Lekiu who was now injured for protecting her. Angrily she made a whipping motion with her right arm, and grunted in satisfaction as Strabimon was sent flying into the river, causing a huge splash as he landed. An earsplitting scream was heard, and she saw the gray Strabimon flew towards a large tree close to the riverbank. It slammed upon the trunk, and a streak of pink darted close towards the tree before it reverted into Gayathri and Floramon.
"All together now, Floramon!" Gayathri cued, and once more released her super scream. Floramon joined in with her Rain of Pollens and together the pair of pink attacked the gray Strabimon relentlessly, proving that they were a team to be reckoned with. However, the gray Strabimon also proved that he would not go down easily. Whilst sneezing horribly due to the allergic reaction induced by Floramon's pollens, he resisted Gayathri's scream as he pushed forward. Horrified and feeling that her throat becoming dryer, Gayathri was forced to stop with her scream attack.
"Where's your pretty voice now, DigiWira?" Strabimon jeered, and made a move to clutch Gayathri's throat, but was stopped when…
"Not so fast!" On Gayathri's sides, Kasturi and Teja rushed forward. Teja had taken off her shawl, and lashed it towards the werewolf's face before drawing it back, and then lashed it again. It was not a forceful attack, and it was obvious from the clumsy strikes that Teja was not a trained fighter, but it provided enough time for her to pull Gayathri away to safety. Then, she threw her shawl over Strabimon's head, momentarily blinding the werewolf before Kasturi charged, keris ready on hand. He managed to slash Strabimon over the chest, but was knocked away as Strabimon pulled the shawl off his head and shredded the shawl to pieces.
"I'll teach you for messing with me!" Strabimon opened his snout and sprayed Kasturi, Teja and Gayathri with black mists. In that moment, Teja managed to push Gayathri out of the mists, sending her rolling on the ground, unharmed. The princess and her bodyguard coughed horribly before both of them fell limp onto the ground, unconscious.
"No!!" Gayathri shrieked, but was no longer strong enough to scream, her voice came out hoarse. The gray Strabimon laughed loudly, seeing that it was now victorious.
At the same time, the blue Strabimon leaped out from the waters, made a somersault in midair before landing beside the gray Strabimon. Both of them saw that their foes had fallen; the DigiWira girl with the loud scream could no longer scream, while the one who was attempting her telekinesis power on them was ignorable for she too looked tired. The Labramon and the Floramon, without the ability to digivolve, were not a threat to them. And the strangers – a boy and a girl had fallen prey into their poisonous mists, one boy was injured after being clawed while the other, unharmed, was tending on him.
"Why, I think dinner is served!" the blue Strabimon snickered. "After some hard work, it's pretty rewarding to have fresh meats laid down upon us!"
Gayathri stood up quickly and went to defend the unconscious Teja and Kasturi, while Liu Ying protected Lekiu and Lekir with the last remains of her telekinetic power, forming a barrier. The barrier flickered feebly before it went out. Nevertheless, the DigiWira girls would not give up, for their friends who had fallen in order to protect them from harm.
"We won't let you win!" Liu Ying shouted, her voice strong with determination.
"No matter what, we'll beat you, if it's the last thing we ever do!" Gayathri exclaimed.
Everything else happened rapidly thereafter; yellow and pink lights erupted from the DigiWira girls and bathed their Digimon; Labramon and Floramon became motes of light of yellow and pink before both became green; they swirled around, soaring towards the sky before a flash of light burst in the night sky like a supernova, illuminating the area; a woman emerged, sylphlike and elegant, draped in soft yellow and pink floral dress and tiara, her vine green hair fluttering as her leaf-like wings kept her airborne, her deep green eyes eyed the werewolves with righteous anger and softened upon gazing at the DigiWira and the other humans. Without another word she joined her arms together and a lily bloomed around her hands, before gleaming metallic cannon emerged. A shining green orb materialized before the cannon, hovered momentarily, before it sped towards the two Strabimon, ignoring their desperate howls.
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"What was that?" Tuah exclaimed, after witnessing a flare-up of greenish white light coming from afar, seemingly erupting from the ground before it soared towards the sky and exploded. They were approaching Mount Ledang, and now they were at a higher ground clearing where the light explosion was clearly visible. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the mountain.
"It can't be a shooting star, for it came from the ground," Jebat muttered, mouth half-opened as the lights subsided. Then he caught himself, snorted, and crossed his arms over his chest, pretending to look unimpressed.
Adam felt the fine hairs on his arms tingle with excitement, as a sense of familiarity coursed through his very being. "It's them!" he said excitedly, practically leaping in joy. Patamon too, confirmed it by squealing happily. "It's my friends!" Adam said to Tuah and Jebat, already having explained about them to his new friends. "I know it's them! We have to get there, please?"
"Well…" Tuah and Jebat shared a look with each other before observing their friend from the future's ecstatic reaction. "It came from the other side of Mount Ledang," Tuah said. "Whoever's out there, be it your friends or someone else, you can be sure that they are also heading towards the mountain. I would know." He laid a comforting hand on Adam's shoulder. "We'll probably meet them on our way up to the mountain anyway," he said. "Come on."
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Even from the town square of Malacca, the explosion of light was visible, and somewhat audible. The strange phenomenon attracted the people, who wondered of what was going on as the light, which had momentarily illuminated the dark sky, eclipsing the moon briefly before it faded. Out of all people, it was unlucky that it had caught the attention of one nobleman, who had been looking for certain someone.
"It's the witches!" Baron Lucifer announced, pointing towards the direction where the moon was. "And they're heading to Mount Ledang!" His exclamation attracted the attentions of the royal guards and the people. "Look! They have already escaped us, and now they have displayed their powers, to strike fear in our hearts! That explosion is nothing ordinary, only strong magic could have conjured such light! That is the signal that they will initiate the attacks of your children soon! Be well prepared, my dear friends! Be ready for them, for they will attack at any moment now!" Scandalized murmurs ensued. Fearful whispers passed around. Children crept behind their fathers and mothers, fearful of what the foreign nobleman had just claimed, while their mothers tried to calm them down. The fathers and many young men however, looked livid.
"Be ready for them?" one man shouted incredulously. "Why should we be waiting for them to come to harm our children and destroy our town?!"
"I say we gather all our men and go to Mount Ledang right now!" another man deplored. This was followed by a chorus of agreement from everyone that was gathering at the town square.
"Those witches cannot beat all of us!" another man cried spiritedly.
A smile crept on Baron Lucifer's face. Nobody saw the ominous glint shining from his blue eyes. "Yes! Yes! You are right!" He pumped up his fist to the air. "Let's do it!"
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Author's Notes:
More background stories about the characters, which I've made up pretty much all of them, and some action with what I think an unexpected ending. I didn't want for it to be the same as Adam's fight with Strabimon, hence I decided to go with Lilymon for the surprise element. It's been quite a while since I feature Labramon and Floramon as separate individuals so this chapter gives them their moments, although they ended up being beaten.