Chapter 16: The Keys Secret
Millenniumon sat on his throne and watched the chosen children reunited together. The chosen children explained what happened during the fight. He listened to what they said and smirked when they mentioned his small intervention, without being sure it was him. He listened to the rest without a lot of interest. He grunted when he saw Mimi coming too close to him.
"Will she stop angering me? If she loves my Ryo, she will regret it," Millenniumon grunted.
He watched the group continuing talking about their short journey until Koushiro told them that he found something.
"We are finally getting to the interesting part. Koushiro found the secret of those keys. I will finally know what this dimension has that mine didn't," Millenniumon commented with a smirk.
He saw them following Koushiro to somewhere else, hopping they would escape his gaze.
"That will not work and-" Millenniumon stopped talking when they entered in a house where he couldn't hear a word. He watched PicoDevimon trying to find a way to enter, but he couldn't. "Grrrr...They prepared a place, isolated from any intervention. Clever," Millenniumon chuckled. "I underestimate them. No matter what they found, it won't change anything."
The chosen children sat in the house. They saw that Gennai was also present. He nodded at them and invited them to sit down.
Koushiro and Tentomon walked forward to explain what they learned.
"Hello everyone. I'm glad you succeed in defeating Piemon. I was worried for you," Koushiro said with a small smile.
"Me too," Mimi said looked at those who fought Piemon.
"I think you all were," Agumon replied.
"Let's move on with what I discovered," Koushiro said.
"Yes. What did you found out?" Gennai asked.
"The first I have to say, it's that those information's were strongly hidden. Whoever or whatever put the firewall clearly wanted no one to find out about those data's. It took a while, but what it contained is really impressive," Koushiro said.
"What does they contained?" Ryo asked.
"First thing that we all know. A key is used to open something. Those keys are there for that, but things get more complicated," Koushiro said.
"Let me guess. Those keys cannot be used under certain conditions?" Yamato asked.
Tentomon nodded his head negatively.
"It's not complicated that way. Those keys can be used by one chosen children when the time comes. It couldn't be us or the keys would reveal themselves much sooner," Koushiro said.
"Then the keys are destined to be in Ryo's possession," Jou concluded.
"That's my guess. No other chosen children are here and since Millenniumon appeared, the keys revealed themselves," Koushiro explained.
"I was supposed to come in the Digital World sooner then?" Ryo asked.
"That's right," Koushiro replied.
"I couldn't reach the computer immediately because- I don't want to talk about it," Ryo said dropping his head.
"I understand Ryo. You don't have to tell us," Koushiro replied. He then checked on his computer: "We need all the keys for it to happen."
"We are missing one," Yamato said.
"We'll talk about it later," Koushiro said. The others nodded, knowing he will explain it later: "I didn't really found anything about what the key contained in detail. The only thing I found is that it hides something. What's hidden is also only a piece of it. That piece gives a lot of power to a digimon and some protections. It doesn't specify anything about it."
"Maybe it can protect a digimon against the time control of Millenniumon," Ryo suggested.
"Possible," Koushiro replied.
"But what if it's not the case?" Jou asked a little worried.
"Then we will have to hope it's the case," Sora replied.
"Let's move on to the next thing. As I said, it's only a piece of it, but from the description, it must be powerful, very powerful," Koushiro noticed.
"You mean it's like a super weapon or something?" Agumon asked.
"Yes. A powerful weapon that could help us a lot," Yamato noticed.
"True, but it must be extremely dangerous if it's hidden so well," Koushiro explained.
The others looked at him and nodded.
"Am I destined to have this object, why?" Ryo asked.
"To fight Millenniumon," Yamato answered.
"I mean me?" Ryo precise.
"That's a big question. It's like us. We don't really don't know why we were chosen. I guess anyone chosen will never know why they are," Mimi replied.
"That's a simple answer," Ryo commented.
"Must be the case," Hikari replied.
"Anything else?" Yamato asked.
"There's still a lot. We know a little about what it was. I know where it can be found, but we still need the last key," Koushiro said.
"I guess it's the place where you were captured by Millenniumon," Ryo said.
"Yes. I think a false one was put near the real one. We almost found it," Sora said thinking back. "We already talk about it."
"We will return there once you finish explaining everything," Yamato said.
"I think we should rest after this Yamato. We had a tough fight and we are all exhausted," Ryo suggested.
Yamato nodded: "True. I forgot about Patamon and we are tired."
"I'll finish. The last thing I found out is where the keys must be brought," Koushiro said.
"Where is it?" Takeru asked.
Koushiro didn't say anything about the fact that he was about to say it: "I don't have the name of the location, but it is on a small island. I don't know where it is yet either."
"You can leave that to me Koushiro. I have a lot of knowledge of the digital world," Gennai finally spoke. "You have done a lot already with the mystery of those keys."
"So we are done," Koushiro said.
"Let's rest for the night. We will search for the last key tomorrow. If we search it all together, it won't be long before we found the key," Yamato said.
Ryo sighted quietly and dropped his head. He thought about the fact that he will soon return to his home. Once Millenniumon was defeated, it was over for him.
Ryo saw Mimi looking at him and he knew she wanted to talk to him. He followed her as everyone walked outside with their digimon partner following them. Ryo took a small glance at Koushiro and saw he exhausted himself with his long hacking. He then followed Mimi until they reached a spot.
"You want to say something?" Ryo asked.
"I wanted to know how you were feeling Ryo. You seemed a little down," Mimi said.
"It's still about the fact that I'm soon returning home without seeing my partner for a long time," Ryo said. There was something else, but he wanted to keep it for himself.
"Is there something else?" Mimi asked. She wasn't insisting.
Ryo looked at Mimi. He trusted her enough to say it, but remembered what Millenniumon said in his message: "Yes. I want to tell you, but Millenniumon is always watching us. I don't want him to know how I'm feeling. Especially when we will soon fight him."
Mimi smiled when he replied that: "I'm glad you said that. Do not worry, we are all fighting him together once w- once we are ready," she corrected herself before talking about the key by accident. "It's problematic that Millenniumon's watching us anytime."
"Yeah. His letter still's creeping me out," Ryo replied.
"I'm sure he's only provoking you. He said weird stuff and I'm still sure he lies about the tainted light," Agumon grunted.
"I'm not so sure about it," Ryo whispered. He didn't say it out loud.
"Millenniumon cannot be trusted in his words," Palmon warned.
"I know," Ryo replied nodding at them.
"I'll check on the others. Tomorrow's going to be a search day," Mimi said.
Ryo nodded and she walked away with her partner.
"SHE'S TRYING TO HIT ON HIM!" Millenniumon screamed furiously after stopping time so no one hear him about it or it would be troublesome. Once he was calm enough to stop screaming, he let time move forward. "She's trying to charm Ryo. I'm sure of it! She interrupted herself because of that!"
Millenniumon stood up and turned around. He tried to calm himself. He wanted to punch someone, but the problem was that he had no excuse to hit anyone.
Instead, Millenniumon took very deep breath until he coughed because he breathed too much: "Calm down. None of them brushed. Remember, Ryo is too young for that. He won't answer to her charm because-. That's pointless. None of them brushed and she is surely talking about something else," he forced his mind to focus on something else. He focused about something else Ryo said to Mimi: "You trusted her enough to almost say something in your heart. Although I already guess what it was, you didn't say it because I was watching you," Millenniumon grunted a little and added: "I shouldn't tell them I was watching them. I would have been sure about what happened and not guessing."
He watched his partner. He thought back about the Ryo he left behind and this one. Two Ryo's, they were similar, but they clearly didn't have the same childhood. The one from his reality had an easier childhood than this one Even so; his heart remained the same despite a more painful childhood. Ryo heart's remained pure. That was how powerful he was. That was why Ryo was his destined partner.
The darkness claimed the digital world once again as he spoke in his mind. He saw Ryo and Agumon walking out together. Millenniumon wondered why Agumon was with him this time. Usually, Ryo walked outside alone.
"What are you doing now?" Millenniumon asked himself. He knew PicoDevimon wasn't there now. He only watched them laying down on the herbs and watching the digital stars.
Ryo and Agumon watched the dark sky with the beautiful stars shining in the sky. They said nothing and enjoyed it.
"Soon. Taichi will be saved," Agumon said.
"It's not over yet. We will have to defeat Millenniumon," Ryo replied.
"We won't lose against him. He said he's the dark god, but he won't defeat us this time. We will have the objet the keys are hiding," Agumon replied.
"That's right. We cannot give up, no matter what," Ryo replied.
They stayed silent for a few minutes before Ryo broke it: "Agumon. Does it bother you if we tried to find my partner first?"
Agumon turned his head at Ryo and replied with a smile: "I don't mind. I know you want to see him and maybe he'll be strong enough to help us. Also, Millenniumon won't use him as hostage if we save him."
Ryo smiled and said: "Thank you Agumon. I'm glad you understand me."
"Ryo. You should smile more often," Agumon said.
Ryo looked at Agumon surprised and chuckled: "That's true."
"Ryo. Are you happy to be a chosen child like the others?" Agumon asked.
"Did you ever ask your destined partner?" Ryo asked.
"No. At the beginning, almost everyone was scared of us. It was funny a little, but they are our friends and I can say they are. We cried a lot when we part away," Agumon replied.
"That must be sad, but also wonderful to care that much. I like you a lot Agumon. I'm honest that I want a relationship with my real partner too. I know it would make me cry, but I won't regret it," Ryo replied.
Agumon smiled: "I won't see Taichi again for long. I'm going to be happy to know he's safe from Millenniumon."
"True. I'll be honest; I'm still wondering why he said everything to me. I know he must be lying, but why wasting time saying all of this?" Ryo asked.
"He wants to confuse you," Agumon simply replied.
"Yeah. I just can't put this out of my head," Ryo replied.
Agumon didn't reply. He knew he couldn't say anything else. Deep down, he was also wondering it. He never heard any of his enemies saying something like that or saying that the light was tainted.
They watched the sky silently until they were too tired to stay outside. They returned inside to sleep.
AC: This is the end of chapter 16.
Chapter 17: The last key.