Chapter 24: Seeking Spirits

"The most powerful of elements,
The hybrids born in three;
Only the truly dedicated and gifted
Can master such power.

And only the full force of one,
Can turn the tides of another,
And rescue the lost."

Year: August 1, 2308
Location: Nature's Wind, Americanus North Tri-Border

Leo watched the dark ones retreating, his eyes narrowed at the suddenness of it. One ear perked as he registered the message from Crystal, shaking his head as he sent back a quick reply before dropping back to street level where the other destined were gathering.
"Where did the others go?" Ryan shifted his gaze to the beast digimon as it joined them, his own partners back in their rookie forms on either side of him.
Leo shook his head again and turned back towards their current home, "There is trouble, we must return to base immediately…"
"Is that why they left so suddenly? They let us win…" Rachel turned to her partner then as she digivolved Feather to aquilamon and climbed on the eagle digimon's back. She helped Wild up behind her, insisting he store his own partner so they could move faster, and glanced down at the others, "Hmmm…you get up here too Ray, Leo can take the twins…"
Leo sighed, his ears folded back now as he lifted Lucy and Marcus into his arms, pausing a moment for them to store their partners, and took off back towards the base.
Ryan watched him a moment before climbing up behind Wild, both of his partners returning to his digivice as he settled on the eagle's back, "Let's hurry…Leo didn't seem very talkative but he's got me worried now…"
Rachel nodded, her fingers tightening at her partner's neck as Feather took off after the beast digimon.

Peckmon slowed as he approached the house, ducking his head under the porch's roof and stepping through the open door to stop at the edge of the living room.
"I'm glad this place is digimon friendly… Help me get him on the couch…" Crystal dropped to her feet and turned quickly, grunting under Strike's weight as the water-neko leapt down beside her. Peckmon twisted his head to catch some of the weight, his beak holding Strike by the collar as they maneuvered him onto the couch. Crystal devolved her new partner then and set Flare beside the collapsed destined before running off to find the master of the house.
Ariel sat down on the floor before Strike, keeping guard as she released her own partner again to give her company. The ocean-dweller said nothing as her blind gaze trailed towards the still open door, her senses alert to the return of the others.
Crystal found Mrs. Garrison in the back study, her partner Floramon sitting on the desk beside her as she quickly programmed a carrier robo-pigeon to deliver the message.
"Don't look so worried…I'm sure one of the gypsy branches will join us as soon as it's daylight…" the twins' mother turned to her visitor as she finished with the little robot, hitting the send button as the little mechanical pigeon shot out the open window above her.
"He's in bad shape, even if he survives 'til morning…" Crystal shook her head as she turned and headed back towards the front of the house, Mrs. Garrison following with the strange plant digimon.

Year: August 2, 2308

Ryan blinked open his eyes as the hour neared four in the morning, rolling over on the mat he had been given to sleep on as he spotted Crystal standing over Strike again. She hadn't left his side since they got back, leaving the explanations to Ariel as she tended their fallen leader. Her tag was visible in one hand, the crest of vision giving off a faint glow as she tried to channel its protective powers to ward off the virus, while her other hand was covering the wound as her element cooled the inflamed skin.
"She's been at it all night; doesn't she plan to sleep?" Impmon yawned beside him, rolling over to try and ignore the constant disturbance.
"She's the only one with even a partially activated crest…I guess she feels responsible…" Ryan sighed and rested his chin on his hands as he watched her circle the couch several more times before collapsing into a chair she had pulled up beside it for a brief break.
"How long have you known him?" The voice was quiet as Ryan shifted his gaze back to where the ocean-dweller was sitting against the outer wall, her legs curled up to her chest as she cocked her head towards Crystal.
Crystal blinked, focusing on the neko as she registered the question in her sleep-deprived brain. After several moments of silence she finally spoke, her voice equally quiet, "We got our crests around the same time I guess but we didn't run into to each other until about eight years ago…"
"You met Zev then too right? How many chosen were there in the beginning?"
"We came across Zev a few months later…hiding out in one of the back alleys near our first base… The three of us were the only ones I knew of at the time, there were others before us but Pride had already had her fun with them…" Crystal cast a wary glance at Strike as she spoke but for now the virus seemed to be contained and there was little more she could do, "Honestly even her lackeys aren't safe from her wrath…the only original remaining besides her is Greed…"
"But she doesn't want to kill us right now, she prefers knowing where the crests are…" Ariel sighed, her blind gaze shifting to Strike, "This attack isn't intended to kill, she did something to his crest… What did the vision show?"
Crystal shook her head, her eyes straying back to the neko as her fingers tightened around her tag, "Many things…they always do but they often take too long to sift through…"
"It didn't take long this time, you took off running almost before you got your breath back…"
"That doesn't mean I completely understand it yet…"
Ariel sighed, hugging her knees tighter as an owl suddenly hooted in the forest outside. She shifted her head towards the sound, registering Crystal's reaction as the younger girl seemed to calm at the night-time visitor. "I keep forgetting your spirit is an owl, you don't act like the other avians I've come across… Mmmm, what was it like when you first found the crest? No one seems to talk about the destined before the fall…"
"There isn't much to talk about before the fall, we were together barely two years and failed… Back then though…we were a lot closer to the digikids and wild digimon…" Crystal closed her eyes as her mind drifted back to an earlier time, a time before chaos ruled the digital world, "We were all running from something back then but…it seemed happier when we could escape this world for days or weeks without fear…"
"I can imagine…the 'extremes' as the gypsies call them have never been easy places to live…"
Crystal's eyes snapped open again as she regarded the neko, a wary smile visible now, "When did you figure that out?"
"When I first saw him, the felines have been quiet about the issues surrounding the lion alpha but such a strong spirit could only come from the packs…which means you grew up in the machine-land?"
"You know how the machine-land is, you can hardly call it growing up…locked in a cage for years until they deem you 'worthy' enough to walk among the scientists and royalty…" Crystal sighed again and stood before crossing over to the window that overlooked the edge of the pack-land's forest.
"Daylight isn't for a couple hours yet, you should try to get some sleep…" Ariel's voice had dropped further as she finally uncurled and draped her blanket across her legs, "I'll never get used to living on land…"
Ryan blinked again as the room returned to silence, watching the two remaining leaders a moment before he rolled over and let sleep take him again.

The gypsies were a welcome but strange sight as they slipped quietly into the mansion. The branch leader was a deer-neko, his antlers curled back over his head with dangerous points visible, while the other two were both humans, one an older lady in a flowing dress and the other a young boy with wide eyes. As gypsy branches went they were a small one, some of the larger groups numbering seven to eight members, but not completely unusual as almost all the branches carried some spread of the two dominant races.
"I had hoped you were still in the area Willow, with so few virus elementals your spirit power is his only hope…" Mrs. Garrison greeted the visitors as she guided them into the living room, leaving the kids to their breakfast and out of the gypsy's way.
As they entered the room Crystal watched them from her seat beside Strike, the only one who declined food to remain with him. She stood slowly and stepped away from the couch where she could watch without being in the way, saying nothing as the deer-neko sat down before Strike.
"I will do what I can Amanda but do not expect a cure, I fear only the crest's awakening can provide that…" He turned his attention to his patient then, his hands slipping into the prayer position as the other two gypsies stood guard on either side of him.

Year: August 5, 2308
Location: Howlin' DigiClub, Asiana Pack-Neutral Border

"No sleeping in the diner, there's a lounge in back you can use."
Zev blinked open his eyes to regard the gypsy waiter but she had already moved on to another table where a group of rowdy digikids were starting a brawl, the tense atmosphere partly due to the corrupt data he could sense coming off the oldest.
"Haven't they learned to use the protection charms yet? Such boastfulness to throw themselves at her feet so easily…" Kudamon uncurled from his neck and stretched to see the problem, several more gypsies running past them to pull the boys apart.
"They're not so easily available when the higher ups can only maintain one mine…and the DarkDestined encourage it…" Zev's gaze trailed back to the small table setup at the back that the DarkDestined occasionally used to exchange data bits for gems and tokens, thankfully it was closed today, "Let's just get to the back, come on Growl…"
"And what would bring the grey-blood back to canine-lands? I still can't figure out if I hate you or not for dragging me into this…"
Zev snapped around at the new voice, his claws raised and his teeth bared as he regarded the younger neko that had followed him.
"Relax, you're still so jumpy…" the younger canine slipped past him into the lounge, his tail flicking for the wolf to follow.
Zev sighed as he followed, relaxing for now as he recognized the coyote, "You're late, we were supposed to meet last night when the place was less packed…"
"Not a problem, I'll just clear the place out…" The coyote-neko flashed a dangerous smile as he wove to the center of the lounge, more of the beast coming through as he growled at the kids that dared to look at him. Within moments the two canines were the only ones in the lounge area and the coyote resumed his more human appearance before dropping onto a couch.
"The gypsies will get you for that Cody…" Zev shook his head as he dropped onto a couch opposite the coyote, Growl leaping up beside him as they regarded the smaller canine.
"Not my fault I couldn't get away earlier, the alphas are suddenly in a tizzy over something that mutt's done…" Cody draped himself lazily over the couch, stretching to his full length as he studied the wolf, "Not that you'd know about that, it must be nice not having to report to an alpha all the time…"
"You know it's not, and we're not meeting about Pride…"
"Oh, but we are, the wolves are close to a frenzy now…the elder won't last much longer, then the canines will be at each other throats like she wants…"
"Has it gotten that bad?" Zev sighed as he cast a glance back towards the door, one of the older gypsies poked her head in for a moment before retreating towards the main room.
"You might be a grey-blood but you're still a red-fur, the greys will take decades before they're back at full force and the other wolves aren't going to wait…"
"The packs don't need a war right now…"
"Take that up with them…just because the rest of the world is in chaos doesn't mean the packs will change, there will be another war before this business with the mutt is over…the only question then is who they fight… At this point the elder is the only one who can resolve the land issue, which brings us back to why you called be out to this stinking club…"
"Yes, I know you hate it here but I'm not exactly welcome in canine-lands, I need you to take a message to the elder…" Zev cast a glance at the door again before rummaging in his bag, pulling out a small scroll tied with a thin vine and bearing the wolf symbol stamped on one side.
Cody rolled off the couch and jumped back to his feet before taking the scroll and teasing at the edges of it, "Sure, sure…I can make the trip in a few days, but you're lucky our families are so close…" The coyote turned then and dropped the scroll in his own bag before disappearing out the door.