Chapter 6 Recap

Contrary to whatever Takuya might think, Kouji and Zoe did little more than tender kisses, loving caresses across the face, and a cuddled embrace as they slept. When they woke the next morning in each others arms, they felt a feeling of utter joy and happiness settle deep inside them, and they realized they wanted to wake up to each other for the rest of their lives and existence, thought they did not voice this aloud.

Before leaving, the two of them presented all 10 Golden Tags which they collected from the others, to the 10 pedestals of light in the middle of the room. As soon as they did this, the tags started to glow with a faint golden light. At the same time that this was occurring, the 10 pedestals in the middle of the room began to retract and the 10 bright orbs golden light arose and moved across the room to stop in front them, where they then slide into the empty slots of the tags.

The two lovers eventually decided to leave the chamber and go back out into the maze to rejoin with the rest, traveling on a wooded forest path this time (courtesy of AncientTroiamon's path). Not wanting to waste any more time, Zoe tells the wall to lead Kouji and her to the others, not knowing that the symbols would actually lead to the missing DD instead.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon...and i am not fluent in French or Italian, so I had to use Google translate, so don't flame me if something's wrong...I do, however, own Dick and Zelena

CHAPTER 7

On our way back to Kazemon's chamber, we came upon a human being chased by a group of Gotsumon.

"Do you feel like the chamber is further away than it was yesterday, or is that just me?"

"No I feel it to and it most likely is further away. The maze resets itself every day, which is why I locked the others inside the chamber. Without me to light the symbols and characters on the walls, they would have just gotten themselves lost in the ever-changing maze and it would take us days, weeks, months, years even to find them, if we could ever found them at all."

"AncientKazemon really put a lot of thought, preparation, and effort into making her tomb…it practically spans the whole of the continent of light, and it magically rearranges itself every day to prevent intruders or those with evil intent from finding the secret chambers. It's really amazing." Kouji said in awe.

"Yeah, she is pretty gr – hey! Look over there, do you see that?!" I exclaimed in shock, pointing straight ahead. "Doesn't that look like a human running towards us?" I worriedly asked. Kouji squinted in concentration, then his eyes widened in alarm.

"I think it is a human! And they're being chased by several Gotsumon, too!" his voice betrayed his shock and concern. Wordlessly, we both pulled the hoods of our cloaks further down our heads to block our faces from being seen, and pulled out our weapons. I attached the claws to my gloves and prepared them for a wind attack, while Kouji readied his kendo his right hand, and blaster in the other. He made the first move and shot his blaster on the ground behind the human.

"Now, now, attacking someone less capable than you isn't very fair, now is it?" I asked them mockingly, in a voice I would use to speak to a child who did something wrong.

"Who are you?" One of the Gotsumon demanded. Kouji and I smirked, which was our only visible feature to the human and digimon.

"We are the ones who will prevent you from hurting this human, and anyone else for that matter." And with that, we broke out into full scale attack.

I used the claws to send waves of wind funnels at the Gotsumon, a method very similar to my Hurricane Gale and Hurricane Wave attacks. Kouji followed my attack with a few shots from his blaster, then ran towards the group of digimon to deliver some offensive kendo maneuvers, damaging the digimon further. As soon as I had finished my windy attack, I employed the grappling hook feature of both claws, aiming at the ceiling, and maneuvered myself to land between the human the Gotsumon, twisting my body to aim and kick at the digimon as I landed. I timed this second assault to occur right as Kouji hit them with his kendo, which worked quite nicely, with the resulting effect of the appearance of the Gotsumon's fractal code. I retracted the grapples while Kouji put his blaster and kendo away, and we both quickly scanned the fractal code and de-digitized the Gotsumon, their eggs returning to the Village of Beginnings.

We exchanged looks of triumph, Kouji smirking to my smile, and then turned to assess the human for any wounds or injuries. The human's hat fell off sometime during the fight and we could see a head of long, plaited strawberry blonde curls, marking the human as a girl. Her body was visibly shaking in fear and confusion. I stepped towards her with the intention of consoling her, but she quickly scooted back to enlarge the distance between us. I exchanged a concerned glance with Kouji, before raising my arms in the universal sign of peace.

"It's okay, they can't hurt you anymore, we took care of them." I softly spoke, taking another step towards her.

"Evadez-vous des monstres, rester loin de moi!" She fearfully yelled in French. We tried to reassure her that we were the good guys, but she continued to spew French curses and exclamations. This exchange continued on for some time before we unintentionally backed her into a wall. We tried talking to her in Japanese and English, I even tried Italian but she would not listen to us, though she did switch from French to Italian once she knew I was fluent. Still nothing worked, until finally, Kouji had the idea for us to remove our hoods, I was disappointed with both of us for taking so long to think of this idea.

"Look," he whispered soothingly as we both pulled our hoods down to pool around our necks and shoulders, "We're human just like you, and we don't want to hurt you." I repeated his statement in Italian and the girl finally started to calm down.

"E chedelle vostre armi strane? Non vuoi solo fare per me, quello che hai fatto a quelle creature appena ho abbassato la guardia?" She wearily accused in Italian.

"No no no no, non a tutti, vi aiutiamo, non male. Noi di solito non attacchiamo il Digimon in quel modo, ma quei Gotsumon eravamo a caccia e si attacca, e non siamo riusciti a far loro del male che ti piace quello, o peggio." I warmly assured her in Italian. This girl felt familiar to me, like I knew her from somewhere, but couldn't recall where, after all, not very many people fluently spoke French and Italian in Japan. My heart ached when she looked at me with eyes filled with distrust, fear, and weariness. Her gaze seemed to look straight through me, as if I was a regular stranger she had passed on the street. She still seemed a bit skeptical and hesitant with us, but she was no longer shaking or leaning heavily against the wall, in fact, she had even scooted a few paces towards us.

"If we tell you our names, will that help you to trust us?" Kouji asked her calmly. She hesitated for a moment then muttered a weak "yes." Kouji nodded his head.

"Good. My name is Kouji, I'll be 18 in a few months, and I've been to this world, the Digital World, before. This is Zoe," The girl's familiarity finally clicked in my head and I loudly gasped in astonishment.

"Lena?! Is that you?" I asked hesitantly, afraid of how she may react. Needless to say, now she looked even more confused.

"No one 'as called me 'zat in a long time, not since 'ze last time I saw my baby sis- oh!" her confusion was quickly replaced with a look of pure flabbergast, eyes wide with shock.

"Zola? Is 'zat really you? W'at are you doing 'ere? 'ow did you get 'ere? 'ow did I get 'ere?" She rapidly fired off questions one after the other. I smiled with relief. It had been years since I had been called Zola, and years since I had last seen my older twin sister.

"Zola?" Kouji asked in confusion. I shot him a look that told him I would explain later.

"Zelena! I haven't seen you since you transferred to that private all-girl French boarding school when we were 11! How did you get here? You shouldn't even be here. This is the Digital World, my friends and I came here once before when we saved it, and we came back again just a few days ago through a portal our parents created." I quickly helped her off the floor and embraced her, talking quickly and excitedly.

"Forgive me, but I am not very sure 'ow it is 'zat I got 'ere." She frowned slightly.

What's the last thing you remember?" Kouji asked her.

"'As it been 'zat long already? It feels like just yesterday you, Mama and Papa left for Japan and I went to France." She sighed before tilting her head in thought. "Let's see, 'ze last 'zing I remember is receiving a strange message on my phone. 'Zen my computer started beeping and lines of numbers and data flashed all over 'ze screen and I blacked out after 'zat. Next 'zing I know, I wake up on 'ze ground in 'ze middle of a forest, and no one else is 'zere." Kouji exchanged looks with me, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.

"What did your message say?" He asked her.

"It said some'zing about playing a game, and I said yes. 'Zen it told me I was needed to save 'ze world and I would 'ave to meet up with nine o'zer people. It was very vague in directions, and I didn't know w'at I was supposed to do w'en I got 'ere, so I mostly just wandered around. 'Zen I stumbled upon 'zis wretched maze, and I 'ave been lost ever since."

"Come with use Lena, the other people that were mentioned in that message, refers to ourselves and some friends of ours. But besides that, I am the only person who knows how to get out of this maze." I smiled warmly at my sister and took her hand in mine. She smiled back and nodded.

"Ok, I will do just 'zat."

"Before we go much further, do you have a D-tector?" Kouji asked her. She looked at him with a puzzled face.

"It looks like the devices your sister and I used to digitize the Gotsumon's fractal code." He explained, holding up his own D-tector.

"Is 'zat w'at 'zis is?" She asked, holding up a sea blue-green and Ravenclaw blue D-tector.

"Yes that's it!" I exclaimed. Kouji started pressing buttons and messing with his own for a minute or two before turning to us.

"Alright, hold out your D-tector with the screen pointed away from you." She did as he instructed, and he pressed one more button. When he did, a segment of fractal code shot out from his D-tector and connected to Zelena's, and then two spirits traveled the code into her D-tector.

"There, now you have the human and beast spirits of Water, which are rightfully yours." We then proceeded to explain the spirits and everything we knew about them, the Digital World, and what little we had learned about the Demon Lords and Crests to her. It took well over an hour to explain everything, but when we had finished, she fully understood her responsibility to the Digital World and the Spirits. In fact, we even gave Lena her key tag and Crest to keep.

We walked further through the maze and were surprised to encounter, not just one, not just two, but three more humans. We were shocked, mainly because all three were together and not separated.

"Isn't that Shinya and Yutaka over there?" Kouji whispered to me, I nodded affirmatively, slightly weary. We approached them and confronted all three about their presence here in the Digital World. They told us everything they recall about arriving here, and thankfully, their story matched up with Zelena's; they had received a weird text message about playing a game, then saving the world with 9 other people, then their computer screens acted up and next thing they know, they're sitting on a bench seat of a passenger car of a speeding train that talked and called itself trailmon. They got off in a forest and wandered around for a couple days before finding this maze and have been lost ever since. In response to their story, Kouji and I proceeded to explain everything about the spirits, Crests, Digital World, Demon Lords and whatnot to them just so we could get it out of the way

"Tell me we aren't crazy, and this is all just one big elaborate dream? Or a prank, tell me it's a prank and I won't get mad at you, because damn, best prank ever." the other guy with them, Richard pleaded.

"Not unless you have an overactive imagination." Kouji deadpanned sarcastically. He "omphed" and rubbed the back of his head and neck when I elbowed him in the side for his callousness.

"Richard, was it?" Lena turned to him.

"Yes, but most people just call me Dick." He grinned with a creepy toothy smile that was slightly predatorily.

"I 'ate to break it to you Dick, but 'zis is as real as it gets. I may not know much about w'at's 'appening, but 'ze little I do know from my sister and 'er boyfriend is proof enough 'zat we shouldn't take 'zis lightly. You remember 'ze message, we were brought 'ere to save 'ze world with 9 o'zer people. Well so far I see 6, and Zola said she had some o'zer friends, w'o I imagine will be 'ze o'zer 4 people we need. So you can ei'zer toughen up and get over your qualms, or you leave and we will find someone to replace you." Lena was very straightforward, but somehow, what she said got through to Shinya, Yutaka and Dick, because they glanced at each other, stood up, backs straight, and nodded their heads, agreeing to join our cause. I exchanged looks with Kouji that basically screamed 'it couldn't be that easy, could it?'

"If you ladies are done gossiping and ready to move on, we have to find the chamber. Again." Kouji sarcastically deadpanned with his usual smirk, to which Lena and I exchanged small smiles and the other three huffed indignantly. I walked over to the wall and placed my hand on the characters and symbols.

"Alright, you found us the other Digidestined, you're incredibly smart and exceptionally helpful, filled with surprises at every turn and all that jazz, but now I need you to lead us to Kouichie and the other Warriors who are still locked in Kazemon's chamber. And the fastest, safest route you can find would be greatly appreciated. Please and thank you!"

"Why was she talking to the wall?" Shinya asked stage whispered to Kouji.

"Because it can show us the way out." Kouji deadpanned, his patience quota met for the day.

"Okay…but why did she talk to it." Dick asked being, well, a dick about it.

"Because she 'as to ask it for directions to lead us to 'ze o'zer 'umans." Lena said in frustration.

"But couldn't she have just thought it? Or somehow ask it mentally, as in without verbally speaking? Did she really have to ask it out loud?" Dick questioned again, this time being a Richard.

"Just let it go dude, when you have a crypt with a giant bad-ass maze dedicated to your spirits with magical glowing symbols on the walls that lead you places, then you can ask questions mentally rather than verbally. Until then, just, don't ask…" Yutaka sighed, rubbing his forehead. He covered Dick's mouth with his hand so he couldn't ask any further questions and dragged him along ahead so to get him far away from us. Kouji and Lena simultaneously sighed in relief. Kouji walked contently on my left with his hands in his pockets, and Lena walked close to me on my right.

"I can't believe you go to a French all-girl private boarding school for 6 years, and the first time we see each other is in the Digital World." I mentioned, weaving my arm through the crook of my sister's own arm.

"Oui, it is very strange for me, as I 'ave never been 'ere before." She admitted.

"Ya know, if you came back home to Japan with Mum, Papa, and I, this would have been you're second trip." I casually pointed out.

"Maybe, maybe not. You never know, per'aps I would not 'ave gone with you 'ze last time ei'zer."

"She has a good point, Kouichie never got the text the first time but he still came, but only because he followed me from Dad's house." Kouji pointed out, to which I couldn't help but agree with them.

We walked silently for a few minutes more, 20 – 30 max, before we finally, finally, reached our destination.

"Step back boys, I still have to unlock the doors first." I maneuvered through the mass to reach the doors, promptly unlocking them, and then slowly pushed them open. Kouji and I entered first.

"Hey guys!" I greeted them cheerfully.

"Zoe! Kouji!" the others swarmed around us excitedly.

"Did you find the Crests?" Kouichie asked us. We exchanged amused smirks.

"We found a little more than just Crests." Kouji hinted, sharing a brief smirk with myself as they looked towards us in anticipation.

AN: Below are the translations I got from Google Translate...sorry if I offend anyone with incorrect translations! PLEASE REVIEW!

No no no no, non a tutti, vi aiutiamo, non male. Noi di solito non attacchiamo il Digimon in quel modo, ma quei Gotsumon eravamo a caccia e si attacca, e non siamo riusciti a far loro del male che ti piace quello, o

- No no no no, not at all, we help not hurt. We typically do not attack the digimon like that, but those Gotsumon were chasing and attacking you, and we couldn't let them hurt you like that, or worse.

E che delle vostre armi strane? Non vuoi solo fare per me, quello che hai fatto a quelle creature appena ho abbassato la guardia?

- And what of your strange weapons? Will you not just do to me, what you did to those creatures as soon as I let my guard down?

Evadez-vous des monstres, rester loin de moi!

- Get away you monsters, stay away from me!