Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.
A/N: Sorry for the late update! And thanks to my new beta-reader: msvosy. With that said, enjoy...
Chapter 7: Courage and Knowledge
The sight was beyond extraordinary; great canyon walls with carvings of various undecipherable symbols. A bright red colouration at the lower portion of the walls made it seem ruby-like whilst the top portion remains brown, just like the earth beneath him. The ground around him seems to bear no traces of life at all. There isn't a single speck of moss or a single spot of green. The only colours visible were brown and red.
He slowly lifted himself off the ground and inched forward, edging close to what looks like a sheer drop. Sweat began racing down his hair as he crept nearer to the cliff. There was something that was enticing him; something that he was unaware of. Drawn by curiosity, he kept moving forward as the glow of red became more and more evident.
He stopped, staring intently at the great river of red hot flowing liquid in the canyon below him. Lava.
Shocked to see what lay before him, he stumbled a few steps back and felt a pair of hands clutching onto his arms.
"Taichi?"
"Yamato?" He looked back.
"What are you doing wandering off to the cliff?"
"I don't know… I…"
As he looked up at the surroundings, he made out what was behind Yamato all along – the Chosen. They were crowding together as if having a discussion with the Tamers being left out.
Taichi and Yamato approached Takato.
"Why don't you join the discussion?"
"Well…" Takato was starting to have sweaty palms. "You guys are such a big group so it's hard…"
Taichi understood where he was coming from and called out to his friends.
"Koushiro." He turned and looked at Taichi and silently nodded.
"You can join in if you want…" Koushiro spoke, attempting to invite the Tamers into the discussion.
Takato, Jianliang, Shaochung and Juri stepped forth, with a reluctant Ruki dragged along.
"So anyone have any idea what we're supposed to do now?"
All of them shook their head in silence.
"Okay, I guess we'll need to search for a way out of this place. Let's split into 8 teams. 6 chosen teams, 2 tamers team. The plan is that we will all go in different directions and explore. Let's meet back here in three hours' time."
Everyone bobbed their head up and down and they started dispersing to various directions.
At the canyon
Taichi and Koushiro walked towards the great canyon walls that captivated Taichi earlier on.
Koushiro flipped open the cover of his laptop and begun to type away happily at his keyboard, totally ignoring Taichi, Agumon and Tentomon. Taichi sighed.
"Koushiro-han, what are you doing?" asked the ever curious Tentomon.
He mumbled a few words before continuing his job.
"What?"
He lifted his finger, pointing it straight at the canyon wall.
"Huh?" Agumon was baffled. He had no idea what Koushiro meant.
"Those symbols, Agumon. Don't you see them?"
He squinted, but is able to catch the shapes of the dark symbols against the red canyon walls.
"Now that you say it, I do…" he trailed off, examining the symbols. "I thought they were just random markings."
"Not a chance." answered Koushiro, who was still busy with his yellow laptop.
"What does it say?" asked Taichi.
"The fiery land burns, coolness hidden under. A doorway to freedom stands right under the sun. The two chosen leads the way, in view of a hidden path."
"So… Does it help? I can't really understand it."
"'The fiery land burns'. I guess that indicates the location we are at right now. I don't get the part on 'coolness hidden under'. 'A doorway to freedom stands right under the Sun' should imply that the exit we're searching for is under the Sun or something similar, maybe something symbolic or relating to the Sun. 'Two chosen' means two of us, either Tamers or Chosen Children and so those two will find the path."
"Under the Sun…"
Another area
Ruki, Jianliang, Shaochung and Renamon walked along the barren landscape that is devoid of life. The scorching heat was clearly visible as the land was obscured, seemingly by illusions of vibrating air. The wind that swept past the area contributed the only coolness that the three was feeling at that instant. The coldness of Ruki's recent attitude wasn't helping them cope with the heat either. They walked in silence against the roaring winds, similar to those that they saw back at the 'Digital World', or more accurately, the Southern Quadrant.
Dangling on Jianliang's shoulder was Terriermon, who had been awfully quiet throughout the whole journey since the day they met the Chosen Children. Even in this occasion he could understand the severity and the need to really escape from this hellhole quickly to salvage the Digital World against the evil beings that are rising from the dark.
"Jian, why have we stopped?" he questioned as the group huddled beside a large rock, away from the howling winds. Clearly, he did not feel the exhaustion of his walking companions.
Jianliang was panting away, along with Ruki and Shaochung. Renamon was seemingly unfazed by the long walk but she too, must have been exhausted. It has been an hour since they started walking and all they've seen so far were just rocks and sand.
"Moumantai, Jian." Terriermon hopped off from his vantage point on Jianliang's shoulder and gently guided himself down the short distance to the ground with his huge ears.
The group stayed silent as they caught their breath and began assessing the situation they were currently facing.
"It's been almost an hour since we left, should we go back?" asked Jianliang, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Yeah." replied Ruki.
She stood up and took a few steps forward.
"AH!" she screamed like she's falling to her death. Indeed, the situation was similar as she found herself falling into a pit and her fall was broken by the solid floor which was unusually cold, freezing to be exact. A sharp pain shot up her body as she clutched her foot.
At the pit hole, Renamon and a panicky Jianliang are pacing around, wondering what they should do as they heard Ruki's yell trailing off deep into the pit. It would be unsafe to venture down the hole without a plan as a straight fall might lead to injury or even death. However, as the clock ticked, it seemed to be less probable for Ruki to escape to safety by herself. There was silence in the pit. The darkness from within doesn't help in the situation either.
The situation grew tenser as seconds turned into minutes and the thought being unable to help Ruki began gnawing on their hearts. Suddenly, Jianliang paused for a second; Renamon too had stopped, as though reading his mind.
He eyed at her carefully. She nodded silently. The mutual understanding seemed to spread out to the two long-eared digimon still sitting down. Terriermon hurried up to Jianliang's shoulder and Lopmon stood by Shaochung. A simple nod showed the connection between the five.
Wordlessly, Jianliang jumped into Renamon's arms as she dived into the pit hole.
"Jian-niichan!"
The voice, however, wasn't able to stop him from acting in a possibly suicidal manner. It was already too late.
He felt the wind blow against his face as the pit seemed endless. It somehow seemed to remind him of the hole where poor little Alice fell into. However, he felt the comfort of having Renamon holding him, trying her very best to keep him safe. Terriermon pitched on Jianliang's shoulders as a giant grin plastered on his face.
The long ride came to an end with a great shine blasting towards them in the face, before a thud was heard as Renamon landed, hard on her feet. She let her grip of the boy loosen as she gingerly stood up and inched forward.
"Wh-Where are we?" Jianliang shook as a chill went up his back.
He jumped off the ground and Terriermon was unfortunately caught in his sudden manoeuvre and fell.
"It's cold." his comment was as straight as it is going to be.
Jianliang bent down to scrutinise the ground and immediately drew back his hand from the freezing touch he felt. "Ice… But…"
"Hey, Jian, shouldn't we get going?"
"Yeah." he said as he ran forward with the short-legged Terriermon tried to keep up.
"Wait up, Jian!" he screamed helplessly before sighing and slowing his pace.
"Ruki!"
Renamon was the first to reach Ruki.
"Renamon!" she hugged her partner tightly.
Renamon swore that she could feel her fur getting wet, but decided that it was best to leave it as it is. Ruki slowly let go of Renamon. She smiled at her.
"Ruki!"
"Jianliang, you're slow." she said, trying to sound irritated.
Jianliang sighed but stood forward. "Are you fine?"
"I'm fine but…" A sudden chilling wind blew past her and her eyes narrowed in fear. "Hi-Him… Again?"
Jianliang and Renamon perked up, eyeing for any signs of danger within the cave-like structure they are in. They probably failed to notice the elegance of the ice crystals there, which seemed virtually like diamond as it sparkled in the light.
A sudden flash of blurring light from one of the ice walls blinded the trio.
"Watch out!" Renamon screamed, but it was useless when none of them could see a single thing.
"Jian!" Terriermon ran as fast as his tiny legs are able to carry him after hearing screams coming down from further down the hallway. The sudden silence after the screams are worried him more than the actual screams did, afraid that his partner and friends had landed in deep trouble.
Further down, the two humans and one digimon stared in awe as a small figurine with clearly visible bear features on it. The bear was white as snow, but strange costumes decorated it. The small figurine with its dull, grey base was suspended in the air, shining its blue radiance on the trio.
"What's h-… Oh wow." Terriermon was left speechless too.
A silent vibration shook Jianliang back into reality. He fished his D-arc out of his pocket. Its vibration stopped. It began pulsating in a deep blue light, similar to those beaming off the figurine. The pulsating grew stronger as the figurine started to move towards Jianliang, forcing him to take a step back.
Without any notice, a beam of white light shot out from his D-arc straight at the curious-looking item and absorbed it. A symbol or rather, an ancient Chinese character of 'Ice' appeared on the screen of his D-arc. It hit him suddenly. "The spirit of ice."
The silent atmosphere brought a chill to everyone in the small ice cave as the climax of the event is over and attention was returned to their surroundings.
"We better head out."
"How?" A glow suddenly appeared on his D-arc as the ice around them shifted, forming a long staircase up to freedom.
"Moumantai, Jian."
An hour later, back at the meeting place
"What? An ice cave?" Taichi asked. Even Koushiro had the same look of confusion, which he rarely had.
It was certainly unbelievable that an ice cave would be found in the hot, barren desert. Worse still, the lava flow further down made it is unimaginable how ice and fire could possibly coexist.
"Yes, an ice cave. It contained a spirit, the spirit of ice." Jianliang answered cooly.
Taichi nodded, still trying to take in what he just heard.
"Well… Here comes the rest." Terriermon chimed.
One by one, the various groups appeared: Miyako and Hikari, Takato and Juri, Sora and Yamato, Takeru and Iori, Ken and Daisuke, Joe and Mimi.
"What do you all have, guys?" asked Taichi, who assumed the leadership position since yesterday.
"Nothing." The groups reported.
"Okay, well Koushiro and I here have found some interesting stuff. Did anyone see a symbol of Sun or something that resembles a Sun?"
"You mean like that?" Daisuke pointed out to the cliff behind Taichi.
"Yes, I… Eh? You mean…"
He turned around and looked. Sure enough, the Sun is shown as one of the symbols in the code that Koushiro deciphered.
"Koushiro?"
He nodded.
"I think you just found our exit, Daisuke."
"Me?" he pointed to himself. "Oh I did… I found our exit! See that, Hikari-chan?"
She giggled at his antics. "Yes, Daisuke-kun."
He danced around for a little while bragging about his triumph, with V-mon telling stories about Daisuke's achievements in the past.
"He looks goofy."
"Terriermon!" Jianliang harshly reprimanded him.
"What? Isn't it true?"
He looked at Daisuke and sweatdropped. "Yeah but it's just not very nice…"
"Moumantai, Jian."
"Hey, your name's Lee Jianliang, right?" asked Iori.
"Yes, and you're Hida Iori, right?"
He nodded. "I would like to ask you about how the others are like. You know, Juri-san, Takato-san, Ruki-san and Shaochung."
"Well, Juri is shy but her mind is toughened during the battles with D-Reaper when she was captured. I have no idea about her family but her father really cares for her. She once had Leomon, I think you know, but he died and it was really a huge trauma to her. She accepted the fact when she's in the D-Reaper but she still thinks about Leomon now and then."
"She's close to Takato, right?"
"By the looks of it, yeah. Takato seems to have affection for her but I'm not sure what her thoughts are. As for Takato, he's our leader, although we don't really call him that. He's just like your average kid when we just started but he grew to have a deep friendship with his partner Guilmon and us. He's always trying his best to keep the group together, especially Ruki, who is always a loner then. He's courageous and it really showed the first time he and Guilmon evolve together."
"Hmm…" Iori quietly tried to absorb what the bigger boy was telling him. "What about..."
The conversation went on as the group paced towards the cliff edge.
"How do we reach the exit?" questioned Shaochung.
Obviously, everyone had the question in their minds but no one voiced it out. Having found an exit only after a frustrating 3 hour search was awful enough and they didn't want something more to worry about. The Digital World was already under threat and what they were doing was merely searching for one single exit which had all along stood right in front of them.
"…" No one answered. They had no idea.
"We could fly you there." exclaimed Piyomon, trying to brighten up the atmosphere.
"True." Koushiro noted. "Tentomon, could you fly there and scout for the exit?"
"Yes, sir." He did a mock salute, trying to cheer up his friend who was deeply entranced in his own thoughts.
"Well, I guess we should stop and wait…" announced Taichi.
The team began to chatter amongst themselves as they settled down near the cliff.
"Hikari-chan, right?"
"Yes." she replied shyly.
"Erm…" Takato nervously played with his fingers. "How's the Chosen Children like?"
"Well… My brother Taichi is supposedly the leader, sometimes playful and childish like Daisuke here…"
"Hey!" Daisuke cried out.
"They're both rash but are good in leading us. Yamato is sort of like a loner in the past but he's cool now. Sora is like a mum to me and she cares a lot about the members in the group…"
As the Chosen Children chatted amongst themselves, the small beetle was flying around the symbol in search of an exit.
"Just where could it be?"
He flew a second time around the area but has not seen anything close to being an exit. It was just masses of rocks.
"Could Koushiro be wrong?" he slowly wondered as he watched the small group from afar, chattering heatedly but smiles were on their faces.
He was backing up and he hit the cliff face. He fell straight through the wall as if it was invisible and saw a room. It was one which was apparently empty and plain. There were no furnishings around and the only things inside the room were pillars, walls and two podiums. The thrilled Tentomon flew back quickly, his wings beating like those of a hummingbird as he flew.
A little later
"Everyone!" screamed Tentomon. "I've found something! There… There's a way in through that wall…"
"Finally!" everyone cheered.
"How do we get there?" questioned Ruki.
Silence.
Daisuke eyed V-mon and nodded.
"V-mon evolve… XV-…? Huh?"
He stood there, wondering why he is unable to evolve.
"Why?"
"No idea." said Koushiro.
"Well… We need to find ourselves another way to travel then." added Taichi.
Koushiro held his finger under his chin. "Hmm... Could we use the cards? Gennai did say that it can allow us to fly."
Daisuke pulled out the deck of cards they were given and started examining them.
"Leomon, Devil's chip, YukiAgumon… Hey! Here's V-mon." Daisuke spoke as he flipped through the cards.
"One of the cards called White Wings can allow for flight." Takato said truthfully.
"Alright!" Daisuke exclaimed as he pulled the card out. "All you have to do is slide the card through the digivice right?"
"D-ark," Takato corrected. "But, you're right."
Daisuke gestured to V-mon.
"Wait!" Jianliang cried out.
Daisuke ignored the interruption as he slid the card through his D-ark. "Card Slash! White Wings!"
A pair of wings grew on V-mon's back. "Hey, I can fly!"
He immediately grabbed Daisuke and straining with all his might, slowly ventured out over the river of red hot flowing lava.
"Wait!"
"Don't worry." Daisuke called back.
"Wait! The effect doesn't last long!" Jianliang screamed.
Gasps was heard.
"What?"
Looking up, he saw that the white glow on V-mon's back slowly shrunk and faded. "Oh my… Ah!"
"Daisuke!" the group screamed.
Curse it… Why ever did I try that? Now V-mon's going to… No! Must think positively. He eyed the glowing lava speeding towards him. How can I have hope? "V-mon, I'm sorry."
At the cliff
Jianliang exhaled a breath of air as he picked up a card from his deck. "Card Slash! MarineAngemon!"
A blue heart-shaped bubble miraculously appeared from Terriermon's belly and sped down.
After a brief moment of silence, the blue bubble emerged again with a terrified Daisuke and a cheerful V-mon.
"That was fun!" V-mon exclaimed. "More exciting than any park rides Daisuke have brought me to."
The group sweatdropped.
Daisuke solemnly stepped onto the cliff and kicked a handful of dirt off the cliff. "Daisuke-kun…"
"…"
"Daisuke-kun, it's not your fault. You didn't expect it to be like this. Stop…"
"Shut up, Hikari."
She backed away from him.
"Leave me alone."
Her hands wanted to reach out to him, but held back. She could tell from the fiery rage of his eyes that he was blaming himself for what almost happened.
"Dai-…"
"Just leave me alone!" he screamed, kicking dirt off the ledge again.
She moved back towards the crowd now eyeing at Daisuke. Takeru placed a hand on her shoulder. Silent tears fell.
Shaochung held tight to Jianliang, clearly fearful of that outburst by Daisuke. The group began to back away to give Daisuke some alone time.
"Wait! I think Daisuke found us a way to get across."
"Huh?"
"Explain yourself, Koushiro."
"See that? The stone there that Daisuke kicked off the ledge is floating, which means… an invisible path ahead."
"Ah… How do we see it then?" asked Jyou.
"Simple. Use the dirt we find to see."
"Let's go then." Taichi proclaimed.
Taichi picked up a handful of dirt and proceeded carefully on the invisible path. "Tentomon, Piyomon, Tamers, help whoever fell off the cliff, got it?"
"Yeah."
The walk was terrifying, not only for the youngest, Iori and Shaochung, the girls, Hikari, Mimi, Sora, the others, and even the one who once possessed the Crest of Courage and the one who held the Digimental of Courage, who just escaped a near-death situation.
Silence accompanied the nerve-wrecking travelling as the flowing magma looms miles beneath their feet and they seemed to step on empty air every step they took.
"We're reaching, guys."
Taichi took another step forward and stood on solid ground, although the invisible path did seem sturdy enough to hold the entire group. One by one, the group stood on the ground Taichi stood a moment ago and sighed with content.
"What is that?" Juri pointed to the two glowing orbs, one purple, and one orange that is floating directly above two separate podiums.
The purple orb shot a beam right into the hands of an unknowing Koushiro. He stood stunned, before the familiar purple light engulfed him. A crest and tag sat on his palm. The Crest of Knowledge.
"That means that must be the…"
The orange glow grew and blinded everyone for a moment.
Small shrieks can be heard once the light died down.
"Where's Taichi?" cried a female voice.
"Motomiya-kun?" asked a panicked male voice.
"Takato-kun?" asked a girl who was clutching onto his hands just a moment ago.
A/N: Well... You must be wondering what happens to the three boys... I can't say when the next chapter would be up (hopefully soon...).