Note on 2/3/14: Update on small discrepency in spirit obtained by Iori.
Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon~
Crest of Sincerity = Crest of Reliability (in the dub)
Chapter 11: Love and Sincerity
Haiz… Juri sighed as she assessed the scene in front of her. Takato hugging Guilmon, with smiles plastered on both their faces. I should be happy for him, but… She fingered her own D-ark. She sighed again and shook her thoughts away.
"Juri?" Takato removed himself from the hug and turned his full attention at her, as he watches her stare at him and Guilmon.
Guilmon tilted his head in curiosity at her.
"It's nothing." She sighed and dropped her head.
"Juri?" Takato asked again, knowing that she was troubled.
"…" Juri kept quiet and hurried ahead to rejoin the group.
Takato eyed her back bewildered, but decided to shrug it off for now. "Guilmon, let's go!"
Guilmon happily chased after Takato, who went racing towards the group that was still heading slowly down the passageway, with chattering filling the confined, but long corridor.
"You're slow, you know?" reprimanded Ruki as Takato joined the Tamers at the back of the group.
"But I…"
"Excuses, excuses." She snapped. Her eyes darted to Juri, who had her eyes glued to the ground ever since the small talk with Takato.
"Moumantai, Ruki."
"Ugh." She glared at Terriermon. "Juri, I wonder how you can ever stand Terriermon. Juri?"
From the corner of his eyes, Takato could see that the usual cheery Juri was still deep in thought and have not joined in the conversation. Something's wrong. Definitely.
"Juri!" Ruki waved at her.
She snapped out of her trance and eyed Ruki. "You called?"
"Never mind." She grumbled. "Are you okay? You seem to be distracted."
"Y-Yeah." She said hesitantly.
"Jian." Ruki called out.
"Huh?" He didn't even get the chance to speak as Ruki dragged him away, purposefully glaring at Takato before they are out of hearing range.
Takato gulped. With Jianliang and Ruki away, he moved towards Juri slowly. For the third time, he questioned: "Juri?"
"I-…" she struggled. "I- Leomon…"
"Oh." Takato shifted uncomfortably. "Juri, I know how much you miss him. Me and the others miss him too." He commented sadly. "But we shouldn't keep dwelling on him. He wouldn't want that, would he?"
"WHAT?! You want me to forget him?"
Bad move. Takato thought nervously. "N-No. I mean that you should not keep hurting yourself by remembering…" Oh.
"What!" Juri huffed, tears threatening to fall.
"Juri, I-" Takato reached for her.
"Stop." She answered cooly, before rushing ahead of Takato.
Oh god… Why did I say that. He walked silently forward. Guilmon, sensing his sadness, stood beside him, trying to give him comfort as much as he could. What if it's Guilmon gone… Would I? Oh god… What am I thinking! He mentally scolded himself. He wouldn't listen either if Guilmon was gone. He would be more depressed than she ever was and would just wail in despair. How insensitive can I be? He sighed, determined to apologise to Juri after she cooled down enough.
"Woah!" Takato was shaken out of his thoughts by an exclamation from Taichi.
Taichi slowly took his time to recover from the shock he had of the new change in environment. The corridor they exited from opened up to what looks like a huge cave, with stalactites hanging precariously from the top of the rocky cave. In front of him, in clear view, was a long, concrete bridge linking them to a giant, pyramidal structure that stood hanging in the middle of the cave. The surface of the pyramid, though rocky in nature, seemed to reflect a brilliant shine of orange-red.
The team proceeded on quietly, with most of their mouths hanging wide as they took in the spectacular scene before them. However, their awed expression turned to one of worry and hesitance when they saw a small figure sitting on the ground some distance away. Silence hung in the air as the group halted.
"We should check it out." Taichi commented.
The group silently nodded, as this was probably their only solution. The footsteps they took now no longer had the lightness from before. Taichi, who was ahead of the group, moved forward slowly with Agumon beside him. Agumon was tense and ready to jump at any sign of a threat.
"Agumon, can you see what that thing is?"
Agumon squinted. "No. Why can't you use your scope to see?"
"Oh yeah." Taichi said sheepishly and fished out the small contraption. "Let's see."
Looking into his scope, he could see a small, purple dinosaur-like creature sitting on the ground. It has a long tail that seemed to be curled around itself. It also seemed to be carefully cradling one of its foot.
"I don't know what it is," Taichi commented truthfully. "But it seems to be injured."
"We should help it then." Sora commented from her current spot beside Taichi.
"Wait… We need to make sure it's friendly first." Taichi held Sora back.
She sighed. "You're right."
The team continued forward cautiously, though they are visibly more relaxed than before. This time, however, Sora was at the head of the group, trying to urge the group to speed up. As they came close, Sora could see the small digimon cringing. It must have seen us then. She moved closer to the digimon, which was now struggling to stand and escape from them.
"Hey. We're not going to hurt you." Sora cooed.
It eyed her sceptically, but reluctantly fell back onto the ground.
Ruki, from behind, pulled out her D-ark. "Dorumon. Data type. Child. Its special attack is Metal Cannon."
Sora took a step forward. Dorumon continued hugging his tail, afraid of the group of 17 humans before him.
"Wh-Who are you?" he croaked out.
"We're the Chosen Children, and the Tamers." She said as she signalled to the group behind them. "Are you hurt? Do you need help?"
Dorumon eyed her cautiously. Seeing her bright smile, he softened. "Yes."
Sora slowly closed the gap between her and Dorumon, with Piyomon beside her. She moved her hands towards its legs, brushing away the fur covering the wound that was staining the purple fur red. "I-I got hit by my master…"
Sora looked at him sympathetically. Jyou came beside her and handed her a piece of cloth. "Tie it over the wound."
Sora proceeded to treat the wound, whilst Juri started talking to the lone digimon. "Why are you here alone?"
"Master just left me here. He told the others to help me back, but being the loner I am, they didn't." He sighed, opening up to the girl as he felt more comfortable.
"Oh." Juri could empathise with Dorumon, since she was the only one in the group without a digimon partner. "I understand…"
Dorumon looked perplexed. "I don't have a partner."
Dorumon looked at the others in the group, each having a digimon beside them, except for the poor girl in front of him. He nodded, but decided against continuing with their current topic.
"So, who exactly are you guys?"
Juri brightened up slightly. "I'm part of the Tamers. We're the ones who helped to stop D-Reaper, she said as she pointed at her friends. The Chosen Children are the ones who stopped BelialVamdemon and Apocalymon."
Dorumon looked awed. "Wa… So you are the legendary groups I've heard of in tales…"
Juri nodded. "We only did what we should." She smiled at Dorumon.
"The bandage is done." Sora exclaimed.
"Thanks." Dorumon smiled at the two girls.
"You're welcome." They replied.
"Can you move?" Sora asked.
Dorumon stood up on his uninjured foot, before trying to apply pressure on his injured one.
"AH!" Dorumon tumbled forward, falling onto the ground. "Ouch."
Sora and Juri, who were beside Dorumon, pulled him up and supported him with their hands. He grunted a thanks.
"Where are you heading?" Juri ask curiously.
"There." Dorumon pointed at the huge pyramid.
"We'll help you there then." Juri said.
"B-But…"
"You're injured. We can't just leave you out here now, can we?" Sora interrupted.
"B-"
"Okay, so it's decided." Juri said.
The two girls practically dragged Dorumon along. Dorumon remained silent as he let them help him forward.
BOOM! A loud explosion came from the group. The ground shook violently.
"Wa!" Dorumon fell to the ground for a second time.
"Run!" Taichi cried from afar. "The cave is falling!"
Without hesitation, most of the group had sped forth towards the pyramid, which seemed like the only protection the group have against falling rocks. However, Sora, Juri, Piyomon and Dorumon were left stranded behind.
"Quick, Sora! The Crest of Love!" They could hear Taichi screaming from afar.
Both Sora's and Piyomon's hearts skipped a beat from the excitement from the possibility of regaining their crest. She turned back, eyeing on Dorumon sitting on the ground. "Come on."
Sora and Juri helped Dorumon up and continued forward once again, but their journey is getting increasingly dangerous, with rocks of increasing size raining down on them.
"Sora!" Taichi screamed again, urging her to leave Dorumon with Piyomon and Juri. "Your crest!"
Sora looked hesitantly at Dorumon, but decided to turn a deaf ear towards Taichi.
"Sora!"
A large rock fell right where the small group were just seconds ago, causing them to stumble forward and huddle together on the ground. Rocks were falling right around them, effectively blocking their way of escape. Dorumon shed a small tear, guilty of burdening the two girls. "You could have escaped…"
"But we can't just leave you here." Sora said truthfully, struggling to smile in the midst of impending doom.
"T-Thank you."
A sharp bright red glow grew from the chest of Dorumon. The four present were stunned and speechless. The glow slowly softened and a symbol of a heart appeared. The heart began to shrink and move towards Sora's chest. The red light continued to bathe her as she moved her hands to the crest.
"M-My crest…" She held onto the crest gently, blocking out the eye-piercing light temporarily. "Save us."
Red light shone from the crest, coupling with pure white light from her D-ark.
EVOLUTION_
"Piyomon evolve! Birdramon!"
The giant fiery bird took flight almost immediately after its evolution, forcing the small group to huddle tightly together.
"Meteor Wing!"
Small bursts of flames shot right out of Birdramon's wings as it destroyed the rocks which were blocking the group's exit.
"Hurry!" Sora urged as she and Juri carefully brought Dorumon to where Birdramon has landed, which was near the opening she created. The group stumbled up on Birdramon's feet before she took off, carrying the two girls and the injured digimon towards where the others have gathered: the pyramid.
Birdramon gently lowered herself onto the ground in front of the pyramid, before she reverted back to the pink Piyomon. Now back to safety, Sora eyed her crest, which secured within the tag hanging over her neck. It's good to have you back. She smiled to herself, before moving to join the rest in the pyramid.
"Sora, are you okay?" queried Taichi as she moved back into the group.
"Yeah." She shrugged. She left Dorumon with Juri as Taichi informed Sora what the group encountered whilst she was away.
"This guy here," Taichi pointed to the huge digimon standing in front of the group, "doesn't want to let us in."
Sora raised an eyebrow at Taichi and pulled out her D-arc. "Pharaohmon. Virus type. Ultimate. Its special attack is Necromist."
She looked up to the gigantic figure again and can't help but to be awed by the pure gold skin donned by the magnificent figure, with huge red rubies as eyes. The cane, much taller than Pharaohmon himself, seems to garner great command and respect towards the figure that held it.
Sora shook her head. "So what are we going to do?"
"The rest are trying to convince it to let us in."
"Let us in!" Daisuke shouted at the figure, which stood un-wavered by the threat.
"Wait a day before you can enter." The booming voice from Pharaohmon commanded.
"We've got no time to fool around! Let us in!" Daisuke screamed in frustration.
Pharaohmon remained silent and continued placing himself in front of the small door, effectively blocking any chance for the group to sneak in.
"Daisuke." Ken placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.
"Arh!" Daisuke screamed.
"Maybe we should just listen and wait." Jyou commented.
"What?" Daisuke hissed, obviously angry that the group have to be stuck here for another day if no one can come up with ideas.
"We should just listen." Jyou stated.
"We should attack it."
"No!" Hikari cried in protest. "We can't."
Pharaohmon whipped his staff onto the ground, eyeing Daisuke dangerously.
"What?!" he snapped.
"Necromist."
A shroud of purple mist came out from Pharaohmon's staff as it surrounded Daisuke. He panicked. "W-What is this?"
Pharaohmon shrugged. "Deadly gas."
Daisuke screamed, in fear of his life. "Okay sorry! We promise to wait and not fight!"
"Good." Pharaohmon withdrew the gas back to his staff.
Daisuke huffed in defeat, agitated at the large undead being.
"Hey, Daisuke…" Ken murmured, trying to ease his friend out of his bad mood. "Maybe… Maybe we could carve out another exit on our own?"
"Yes!" Daisuke cried out loud. "That'll work."
Ken nodded.
"There. We can try to drill through there!"
Ken nodded again. He reached into the card pouch that was given to each of them by the Holy Beasts. He only took a second to flip through the cards before selecting the right card. He looked at Wormmon, who looked back at him with a knowing nod.
"Card Slash! Digmon!"
White light engulfed little Wormmon as two of his small appendages turned into miniscule drills. He shuffled forward slowly towards the huge wall beside Pharaohmon and began drilling.
"This is slow." Ken muttered.
"Can Armadimon help?" Iori asked.
"Go ahead."
Armadimon went forth and began digging through the surprisingly soft ground. The digging process seemed to be going real well as Armadimon is already underground, but Wormmon's attempt at drilling wasn't making much progress.
"Oh the wall stretches under." Armadimon commented from within the tunnel. "Don't think I'd be able to get under it but… Oh."
"Armadimon?" Iori panicked as the tunnel was silent.
"Armadimon!" Iori bent down and tried to use his hands to widen the tunnel to reach Armadimon.
"Iori!" Armadimon muttered as his head popped out of the hole, causing Iori to fall back.
"What's that?" Iori questioned as he eyed the item held in Armadimon's mouth. His eyes widened. "Spirit…"
Iori pulled out his D-ark and the spirit shrank as it rushed into the D-ark. A clearly identifiable Chinese character of 'earth' was then shown on the screen. "Spirit of earth…"
The group remained stunned at Iori's discovery.
"Daisuke?" Taichi called out, effectively shaking everyone out of awe/shock.
"Yes?"
"Did you settle the guy?"
"Ugh. He doesn't allow us to pass."
"We'll just have to fight our way through then."
"B-But…"
Taichi ignored Daisuke. "Everyone come here!"
The group wandered towards Taichi, most of them in confusion. When everyone is within hearing range, Taichi spoke. "We should attack."
"What?!" Protests were coming from many within the group, with Jyou being the one with the strongest objection.
"But Daisuke promised Pharaohmon we wouldn't attack!" Jyou complained.
"It's the only way we can move on." Taichi argued.
"No! We can't go back on our words."
Taichi was shocked. Jyou had never used this tone of voice with him often and he only uses that when he is absolutely pissed with somebody.
"B-But that's our only…" Taichi's confidence in his decision was wavered.
"No. A promise is a promise. We should keep it no matter what. If not, who's going to believe you the next time?"
"I-…"
"Okay, now let's just wait." Jyou commanded.
"Wow Jyou, you really are becoming a leader." Gomamon commented.
A small blush appeared on his cheeks, but he refused to answer the small seal.
Gomamon wasn't going to give up. "Aww Jyou… Don't be shy. You-"
"Jyou." The booming voice came again.
"Hey!" Gomamon cried. "Why'd you interrupt me?"
"Jyou." Pharaohmon called.
"Yes?"
"You may pass. And this is my gift to you."
Pharaohmon held out his giant palm, opening it to reveal a shine of metallic grey. The shine dimmed, then the object slowly floated to Jyou, landing nicely on his chest.
"My crest."
"Wow Jyou! You're good, buddy. Thanks, Pharaohmon!" Gomamon cried out loud in happiness.
Pharaohmon removed himself from the small door and into a majestic sarcophagus by the side. And so, with six crests and three spirits in the hands on the group, they moved through the doors, as more challenges await our young heroes.
A/N: Chpt 11! Finally after a month+ I'm done with it... Hopefully it's not too lame.
On another note, I might be going offline till Nov for a while cause of MAJOR exams coming up. (Really sorry! I'll try to write but no guarantees...)
Not to forget, a big THANK YOU to people who reviewed: pokemon-35055 and 10th Squad 3rd Seat. And to Vic for proof-reading :)
Till next time. Cheers!
~Hita-kun