Disclaimer: Still don't own digimon~~
Chapter 12: Kindness
For a huge pyramid, the corridors actually seemed small. The group moved slowly in a straight line ahead. Noisy chatter filled the dimly lit corridor as voices echo off the walls.
"I wonder when we're getting our crests back." Takeru commented, being one of the remaining two original Chosen Children who have yet to get their crest back.
"Me too." Patamon agreed, silently hoping that it would be their turn next. He used his tiny paws to manoeuvre in Takeru's bushy blonde hair to turn around. "What about you, Tailmon?"
She just shrugged. "No idea, but I guess we probably would."
"I wonder where it'll pop up from…" Patamon questioned. He placed his black paw on his white chin, deep in thought.
Hikari giggled at the little digimon's antics while Tailmon just gave a small chuckle. It seemed that Patamon had a personality that is significantly different from Takeru's, but it is this cheerfulness and innocence that is bringing smiles to the people around him.
While the Chosen of Hope and Light are pondering about the future, Taichi struck up a conversation with Yamato at the front of the group.
"What do you think would happen next?" Taichi asked, his brows furrowing with worries. "From what we've seen, some of us had gone through tough trials just to get our crests back."
"You're worried for Hikari-chan aren't you?"
Taichi nodded silently.
"Don't sweat it. She'll be okay."
"How could you be…"
"Remember our first time here? On File Island?"
"…"
"They'll be fine, Taichi. You should be taking your own advice."
"Y-Yeah."
Meanwhile, Koushiro had a hushed chat with Iori and Jyou. "Did you guys notice something weird?"
"Huh? What? Where?" Jyou questioned in panic.
"Jyou! Quiet! Not now I mean. During the battle."
Jyou's face turned cherry-red in embarrassment. He instinctively placed his fingers on his chin. "Hmm… Now that you say it… Hmm… No. Not really."
"Do you remember how it was like when the digimon evolved back in the first adventure?"
"I guess so. That was… Oh."
"Koushiro-san, what are you and Jyou-sempai talking about?" Iori asked curiously. "Doesn't Piyomon evolve to Birdramon?"
"No. I wasn't talking about that. Did you notice that their crest had to shine for Piyomon to evolve? In the past, we didn't need that. The crest was only needed to reach Ultimate."
"Does that really matter?" Jyou asked the 'brains' of the group.
"Yes. Evolution requires energy. If we have to use the crests to allow the digimon to evolve to Adult, we may not be able to evolve them to Ultimate."
Gasps were heard around Koushiro. "B-But… That means…"
"Yes, Iori-kun. We're vulnerable."
The three digimon hearing this drooped.
"Koushiro-han…"
"No! I miss being Zudomon…"
Armadimon just gave a quiet sigh.
At the back of the group, Jianliang was interrogating the poor Dorumon, determined to find out more about the place they are currently at.
"So… How long have you been here?"
"Around a week. I didn't know how I'd gotten here. The last thing I remembered was some pink light coming from the sky." Dorumon replied shyly, after a small nudge from Juri.
"A week? Does that mean the others have been here for a week only too?"
"I'm not sure… My master took me in just three days ago. He provided me with food and shelter. He's the best, though I'm think his other followersdoesn't like me."
Ruki butted in before Jianliang could continue. "So… Who is this master of yours?"
"I don't think I should say. He's very secretive and doesn't like people to know about him, especially not…" Dorumon quickly clamped his mouth shut.
"Especially not?" Terriermon asked curiously.
Dorumon just shook his head.
The tamers stared at Dorumon suspiciously as he started mumbling under the intense glares. "I… Um…"
"Give him a break." Juri commanded. "He obviously doesn't want us to know. I'm fine with it."
"But what if…"
"Moumantai, Jian."
Jianliang shook his head and sighed. "Ahh! Jian!"
"Sorry." Takato, Ruki, Shaochung and Juri all burst out laughing, relieving the mood.
"That's not funny." Terriermon cried out indignantly.
Another round of laughter chorused from the tamers. This time, the digimon joined in too, along with a hesitant Dorumon. All but one of them was laughing. The one, being a toughened warrior, couldn't ignore her instinct and the huge cry of danger from her heart. Renamon eyed the laughing Dorumon silently. I'll be watching.
As the group moved on deeper into the pyramid, the corridor grew wider and the walls grew darker.
A gasp was heard from Dorumon as they entered a large, empty room. Why…
"You're here." A voice bellowed from above.
Another gasp was heard, this time collectively from the Odaiba Chosen. "P-Piemon…"
Ruki raised her D-ark and her eyes turned wide in disbelief. She shuddered as she read out the details. "Piemon. Virus. Ultimate. His special attack is Trump Sword, using his swords to skewer his enemies."
"U-Ultimate?" The Tamers were in shock.
Piemon grinned at the group below them. "Nice of you to have brought them here, Dorumon."
"!" Everyone whipped their heads around and looked at the poor purple digimon, who was cowering in fear behind Juri.
Taichi was enraged. "YOU!"
"I-I… Didn't…" Dorumon mumbled incoherently.
Taichi marched straight towards Dorumon. All of the Chosen and Tamers hesitantly back away from Taichi. Dorumon too was backing away, but it didn't help that an enraged Taichi was heading for him at his top pace.
Three… Two… Dorumon estimated as he gave up, hoping that he'd be alive after this entire face-off with Taichi. One…
CLANK!
A sword stood between Taichi and Dorumon, stuck firmly to the ground. Dorumon sighed in relief and his eyes shone in awe and gratefulness at what his master said.
"No one hurts my followers." Piemon warned.
Taichi, despite being irate, knew he couldn't fight the Ultimate. Not now anyways. He growled angrily at the clown-like digimon.
"Now… Kill them, Dorumon." Piemon commanded.
"W-What?!" Dorumon cried. "I-I…"
What should I do… The guys who saved me… "B-But they saved me, master."
"Kill them." Piemon insisted.
"B-…"
"Kill them!" Piemon screamed. "Or you'll be the one that's killed."
Fearing for his life, Dorumon has no choice. A ball of burning hot iron erupted from his jaws as he cried, "Metal Cannon!"
The ball headed towards Taichi. He shut his eyes as the ball of impending doom headed straight at him.
"Taichi!"
Red and blue light shone from Yamato's and Sora's crest.
EVOLUTION_
"Gabumon evolve! Garurumon!"
"Piyomon evolve! Birdramon!"
"Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in H!"
With a sudden burst of speed, Renamon dived in and pulled Taichi into safety. The ball of melted iron harmlessly travelled the span of the room and collided with the wall.
Now facing two adult digimon, Dorumon knew that hope was probably lost for him as he fired another iron ball at Garurumon.
"Fox Fire!" Garurumon's attacked ploughed through the iron ball, obliterating it. The attack continued and collided into Dorumon, burning him.
"Argh." Dorumon gritted his teeth at the pain.
"Trump Sword." Two swords unsheathed from Piemon's back and hit Garurumon and Birdramon, causing them to revert to their Child forms.
"Take this energy and use it wisely." Piemon released a dull grey light from his hands.
"Dorumon… Dark evolve. Death-X-Dorugamon."
"Death-X-Dorugamon. Virus. Adult. Undead digimon." Jianliang read.
"Huh? No other details?" Takato asked.
Jianliang shook his head.
Death-X-Dorugamon snarled at the group. He flapped his metallic wings slightly, testing out his new form. He opened his jaws wide, charging up an attack.
"Agumon!" Taichi cried as the attack that was charging was aimed right at the Tamers, Juri in particular. His crest shone a bright orange.
EVOLUTION_
"Agumon evolve! Greymon!"
Greymon rushed towards the Tamers as the attack is released, arriving just in the nick of time to use his body to shield the group. Greymon winced as the attack struck him head on, damaging him heavily.
"Cannon Ball!"
A weaker ball of iron struck Greymon this time, but he was unable to withstand the attack and reverted back to Agumon. "Sorry, Taichi."
Death-X-Dorugamon growled at the Tamers as they huddled together. He paced slowly forward, charging up his attack. The seconds ticked by as his jaws glowed red, ready to release the burning ball of iron.
"Renamon!" Ruki cried in a last ditch attempt. "Card Slash! Taomon!"
As the iron ball is released from Death-X-Dorugamon's jaws, Renamon stood in front of the group, raising an invisible shield in front of them.
"Ngh." She grunted as the attack hit the shield. She strained under the pressure. She was, in reality, a Child level only and having to use a Perfect level's attack stressed her body heavily.
The power struggle between Renamon's shield and the hot iron ball kept stagnant as Death-X-Dorumon headed straight towards the group, as its crimson red claws glowed white.
"Everyone, run!" Renamon cried out. The Tamers obeyed and ran for the Chosen Children. With the Tamers safely away, Renamon used the last of her strength to push the ball of molten iron away, before collapsing to the ground, at the mercy of the steadily approaching metallic digimon.
"Jian! Shaochung!" Terriermon cried as he and Lopmon leapt forward to Renamon.
The two siblings nodded to their partners and cried in unison. "Card Slash! High Speed Plug-in H!"
Terriermon and Lopmon stood before Death-X-Dorugamon before starting to spin in unison with their long ears spread wide. With the boost from the cards, the two tiny twisters pick up speed rapidly.
"Double Typhoon!" The call of attack from the two digimon released two separate twisters, one green and one brown, before they merge to form a colossal cyclone, heading straight at Death-X-Dorugamon. However, Death-X-Dorugamon didn't even flinch when he saw the attack heading straight for him. The attack hit him head on and he screeched loudly in pain, but he wore through rather unscathed, bearing only a few scratches on his metallic armour.
This would prove deadly for the 17 teenagers and their partners. Death-X-Dorugamon, if he was annoyed previously, was now enraged. His bright red eyes shone with a stronger glare than ever before. Before the group knew it, he charged, straight at the two which offended it.
"We've got to help them!" Daisuke cried.
All the digimon that were uninjured rushed into the fray and engaged the Death-X-Dorugamon. The keen senses of the sole dark digimon picked up the commotion and shot a stray iron ball at the new digimon. The lucky shot struck Hawkmon as he plunged straight into a wall.
"Hawkmon!" Miyako cried.
The poor bird digimon grunted as he lifted himself precariously off the crumbling wall.
"Hawkmon! Haw-…" Miyako stopped her cries as Hawkmon flew, but her silence was due to what was peeking out from behind Hawkmon. "Hawkmon. That…" she pointed.
Hawkmon steadied himself and swung around in mid-air. He nodded in delight as he saw what was in front of him: the Human spirit of Wind.
Meanwhile, Guilmon had latched onto Death-X-Dorugamon and started a tug-of-war with him. It gave time for the others to reach the fight.
"Now!" Tailmon cried from afar.
Guilmon shifted his weight to the side and ducked away from Death-X-Dorugamon. A mix of attacks then hit the Adult digimon once Guilmon was out of the way, after a bunch of shouts from the digimon.
"Fireball." Guilmon added a close range shot.
Smoke obscured the view of the digimon in it, but it still stood even after the massive wave of attacks. "Cannonball."
This time, the ball was aimed dead at the group that had just shown up. The huge blast rocked the chamber as the digimon were either left lying on the ground, groaning, or barely standing. Tailmon is the only one who could still hold her ground.
"Tailmon!" Hikari urged as Death-X-Dorugamon emerged out of the smoke.
Tailmon rushed forth and tackled Death-X-Dorugamon, but to no avail as a swipe of his tail caught Tailmon, slamming her into the ground. Hikari nervously took out the digimon cards she had and sieved through it. Ruki quickly grabbed her own card pile and handed a card to the panicking Hikari.
"Use this!" Ruki commanded.
Hikari took the card and quickly slid it through her D-ark. "Card Slash! Alias!"
The claws of Death-X-Dorugamon sliced into Tailmon. Gasps were heard from some of the chosen, but their faces changed when the image of Tailmon disappeared.
"Now this!" Ruki handed Hikari another card.
"Card Slash! Boost Chip!"
Tailmon now appeared behind Death-X-Dorugamon, unbeknownst to him. Her paw charged a brilliant white as she clenched it. "Neko Punch."
Death-X-Dorugamon roared in pain as the fist connected to his back. He grunted as energy drained from him and he reverted back to Dorumon. The flicking tail of Tailmon made contact with the purple digimon lying on the ground. Her tail ring gave a brilliant display of light as a dark shadow is removed from Dorumon's body.
Seeing that there is no longer a threat from Dorumon, Taichi's anger returned and he marched to the poor, battered digimon. "YOU! We almost died!"
"S-"
"You!" he growled. The flashbacks of the torture he went through watching his team nearly fall into pieces with Piemon hardened his resolve. "You are as good as dead."
"Taichi!" Yamato rushed to the angry Taichi, trying to pull him away and prevent him from doing anything he would regret.
"Taichi-san!" Ken and Juri had also made it, using their bodies to shield the poor Dorumon from Taichi.
Taichi clenched his fist.
"S-Sorry…" Dorumon murmured.
Taichi raised his fist.
"S-S-Sorry…"
SMACK!
A slap hit Taichi's face. He froze. The rest of the observers froze.
"S-Sorry." This time, the voice came from a different source. "I-I can't let you… He apologised. And he didn't mean harm."
"J-Juri…"
"Taichi-san, remember back when I was the Kaiser? You all… Did forgive me. I believe that he should have a chance too." Ken supported.
"I… I… Sorry, Dorumon. I didn't mean to… Sorry." Taichi said.
"Sorry." Dorumon firmly responded. "I wasn't planning on this. It just happened. I-I was tasked to track and destroy you guys. Intruders. Murderers. But after joining you guys… I realised you are not what master think you all are."
A genuine smile appeared on Taichi's face. Then, he frowned. "Where's Piemon?"
Everyone shrugged as Piemon had seemingly disappeared during their brawl with Death-X-Dorugamon.
"Thank you." Dorumon softly complimented Juri for standing up to Taichi.
Juri was still stunned by her actions to respond coherently.
"Juri." Dorumon called out to the girl.
Juri turned and her eyes grew wide as a ball of light flew into her hands, revealing a purple D-ark. "W-What?"
Juri took out her yellow D-ark. He placed the two side by side and the yellow one broke into data. "Goodbye, Leomon."
It was time for her to move on. To move past from the dead Leomon and accept the fact that the only thing left of him would be the memories he left in everyone's mind, as a selfless, noble warrior. She looked down to Dorumon and hugged him lightly, delighted to finally have a partner again. "Dorumon…"
A pinkish light flew from the heavens in front of Juri.
"The Crest of Kindness." Ken said, astonished.
Juri took the crest and held it, before turning to Ken. "Here."
Ken looked at her, then at Dorumon. "N-No… I think you should have it. You have the heart to forgive and be nice to one that you have just met and stood up for him. You deserve it."
Juri nodded. "Thank you."
She hung the tag and crest over her neck. "Crest of Kindness…"
By now, the group was by her side with a few words from some of her friends to congratulate her.
"Didn't know you had it in you, Juri." Ruki chuckled.
Jianliang and Shaochung nodded in agreement.
"K-Katou-san, you're good… and kind." Takato blushed as he complimented her.
"T-Thank you." Juri's face turned red.
"We should continue." Taichi announced.
The group agreed and began continuing their adventure, chatting about the recent events that befell them.
A/N: Wrote a chapter whilst temporarily out of hiatus. Hope you've enjoyed it. :)
And thanks to the reviewers: pokemon-35055, 10th Squad 3rd Seat (What does this name mean?), MitzvahRose (To ans yr qn: I don't really know. I've not actually planned that far ahead tho I have a rough overall plot).
And special thanks to my beta-reader, msvsoy!
Cheers and good luck to people with upcoming exams! (like me!)
~Hita-kun