Intertwined Destinies
Previously in Intertwined Destinies:
The digidestined and Jade have left File Island and are currently traveling to the continent of Server. The only thing they need to do is gather the seven crests that are scattered throughout Server, and once they have the crests their digimon partners will be able to digivolve to the Ultimate level. Their mode of transport is the giant whale digimon, Whamon.
The digidestined are about to come up against their greatest challenge yet. Will they have the strength to overcome it? The next chapter of their adventure awaits...
Chapter 10: Courage or Insanity?
The following five days were like a never ending nightmare. To make time pass as quickly as possible, Jade took to sleeping as much as she could. This also helped her to shake her lingering fever, and helped her to regain her strength so that when they did arrive she would be practically healthy again.
As they were riding a giant whale, the motion of the waves wasn't as pronounced as it had been on the raft. No one threw up, though for the first day there were a few queasy faces until they became adjusted to Whamon's movements. Izzy worked on his computer and drew a map on a sheet of paper so that they wouldn't have to constantly turn on the computer to determine where they were or where they needed to be.
Sora usually sat with Jade and TK, telling stories about their world, as well as some fairy-tales that Jade had never heard before. At night they would watch the stars, or Jade would, as the others usually slept once the sun went down. The stars were constant, and Jade attempted to memorise them so that she would always have a point of reference to guide her if she was separated from the others.
On the fifth morning after they had left File Island, Tai woke them all up in excitement saying that he could see land. The only one who wouldn't wake was Mimi, but that was because she was having a good dream. Jade was almost jumping in excitement as she identified mountains and rocky shores in the distance instead of endless ocean.
Whamon got them as close as possible to the shore so that they could slide off his back. Tai and Agumon jumped first, and Jade followed close behind with a cry of delight. She was caught before she hit the ground, but Jade didn't mind and instead turned to watch the others slide down with various degrees of enjoyment. Some, like TK, enjoyed the slide a lot, but others, like Mimi, couldn't slide without screaming in fear. Mimi actually needed help to get off, and that help came when Whamon moved to dislodge her. Izzy caught her before she hit the ground, and it was with blushing red faces that the two separated and pretended that nothing had happened.
After Whamon left them on the shore, making a giant splash with his tail as he dove under the water, the children looked at each other. Even though it had taken five days to make the journey, they hadn't actually discussed what they would do, or how they would get the crests. They didn't even know where the crests were hidden.
"So what are we going to do now?" Mimi asked first.
"While you were asleep, Whamon told us where we could go," Palmon told her. Jade looked at the plant digimon curiously. She must have been asleep at that time as well. Palmon continued, "A few miles from here is a Koromon village."
"Koromon?" Mimi asked. "Why, that somehow sounds familiar."
"I was a Koromon the day you got here," Agumon told her, and Jade giggled at the slightly offended tone he used.
"I forgot!" Mimi stated with a clap of delight.
"The Koromon are a group of digimon who are always willing to help out a digimon in need," Tentomon cut in before Agumon could say something hurtful.
"Okay gang!" Tai decided. "Let's move out!"
Jade cheered with everyone else before running ahead. She was thrilled to be back on solid land, and her obvious enjoyment kept the others from trying to stop her. Not even the hot sand beneath her feet could stop her from jumping, skipping and twirling without a care in the world. Conversations started behind her, but she didn't care about what they were saying. She wasn't surprised when the complaints of the heat reached her ears, or how long it was taking them to walk to where the Koromon village was.
All around them was a hot desert, but according to Palmon the Koromon village was in the shade of a forest. Jade couldn't see a forest anywhere near them, but she knew that if they kept walking they would get there eventually. Agumon eventually convinced Jade to hop onto his shoulders. He reasoned that if the other kids were complaining about the heat, then Jade's bare feet would be burning. Jade allowed him to carry her, but not before she sighed in disappointment. Her feet were getting hot, but she didn't really mind. She had actually developed a tan during their travels, first from doing nothing but sunbaking on Whamon's back and then from walking across the desert. She looked healthy, even if she still didn't look like a nine-year-old, but that was changing.
Agumon stopped suddenly, lifting his nose and sniffing the air excitedly. Voices called out from behind them, asking what Agumon was detecting, and Agumon turned back with a grin and pointed off to the right of their current path.
"I smell Koromon over in that direction," he explained.
"Really?" Tai asked with equal excitement. He rushed up the side of a nearby dune and pulled his mini telescope from his pocket, aiming it in the direction Agumon had pointed. "A forest!"
"A forest?" the others asked behind him.
"Is that where the Koromon village is?" Matt asked.
"Must be!" Tai told him before rushing forward. Agumon ran after him, excited to see what he considered to be his brothers. The others ran after them with calls to wait up, but they didn't stop running until they reached the shade of the trees. Jade slid off Agumon's back now that the ground was cooler and walked up the front of the group.
The trees were clumped close together, but it kept the sun from baking the ground. Mimi was particularly glad that they were in the shade as getting sunburnt would ruin her complexion. Palmon and Gomamon also seemed to appreciate the shade, though Gabumon claimed that it was still a little warm for him. Jade actually felt sorry for him, his fur coat would have been a life saver in a cold climate, but the heat of the desert and the humidity in the trees wasn't helping him at all.
All of a sudden the trees disappeared, and it was like stepping into a hidden valley. The trees of the forest surrounded a little village like a security fence, keeping unwanted visitors out, but at the same time made the little village appear homely and safe. Jade grinned and was about to run after Mimi, who was hoping for a bath, but stopped when she heard Agumon make a sound of confusion and worry. Tai asked him what was wrong.
"Something's doesn't feel right," he explained. Jade quickly looked back to Mimi who was on her own, and sprinted after her before any could stop her. Palmon was by her side and they managed to catch up to Mimi as she stopped in front of several small digimon who were definitely not Koromon.
"These are Pagumon," Palmon explained. "There are definitely more to them than meets the eye."
"Where are the Koromon?" Jade asked curiously. The Pagumon were little grey digimon with red eyes and floppy ears. They looked fairly mischievous, and Jade would have also claimed they were nervous at her question. They surrounded both her and Mimi, knocking Palmon to the ground, and carried them off. Mimi cried for help, but Jade said nothing as she studied the digimon. They were definitely nervous, but their behaviour didn't seem malicious.
They were carried to a tower and Mimi gave a cry of delight as she spotted a bath. Within moments of the Pagumon putting her down, she was stripping off her clothes, dumping them in a nearby basket, and eagerly sliding into the hot and steamy water in front of them.
"Come on Jade, the water is wonderful," Mimi told her. Jade bit her lip nervously, but she couldn't deny that having a bath would be nice.
"Is it deep?" she asked. Mimi looked at her with a smile.
"Nope, it only comes up to my waist," she explained. "And there's a seat here so that we can relax."
Jade placed her back pack in another basket before stripping down, folding her clothes to rest on top of her bag, before sliding in next to Mimi who grinned at her happily. From behind them Jade could hear the others calling for them, and she wondered what thoughts were running through their minds. She also knew that it wouldn't be long before they barged in on them, so she sunk down on the seat in the bath, the water coming to her shoulders, and turned to see who would come in.
"No Tai! Don't go in there!" Sora suddenly cried. The curtain that was separating the bath from the area the two girls had stripped in was suddenly wrenched open to reveal Tai. The boy had frozen as soon as he saw that she and Mimi were naked in a bath, and his face went a vibrant red. Izzy appeared next to him, his face turning red as well. Jade giggled, alerting Mimi to the fact they had an audience. Mimi quickly covered herself as she turned, her own face going red in embarrassment.
"Ah! Haven't you two ever heard the phrase 'knock before entering'?" she screamed at them.
"We're here to rescue you!" Tai replied, moments before Mimi threw a bowl at him. A bottle of shampoo was thrown at Izzy and the two boys disappeared out of sight as Sora closed the curtain again. Jade giggled before sliding deeper into the water, being careful to keep her head above the surface.
Once the boys were gone, with the warning not to go back in until all three girls came back out, Sora joined Mimi and Jade in the bath. The two older girls teamed up to play with Jade's hair, washing it and braiding it, before doing the same with their own hair. By the time they got out of the bath, not only were they squeaky clean, but their hands and feet were all pruned. They dried themselves before getting dressed again, before they went outside so that the boys could have a bath if they so desired. Tai and Izzy couldn't look at Jade or Mimi without blushing, but Jade just thought that it was funny.
That night, the Pagumon threw a party for their guests. The Pagumon danced as much as they could for digimon with no arms or legs, presented them with fresh foods, and sung catchy songs. Jade couldn't help but listen to the Pagumon, their way of speaking was only slightly creepy and the way they were behaving was almost too nice to be real. There was something fake about them, but Jade had no idea of what it could be.
"This is definitely a Pagumon village," Gabumon told Agumon, who he was sitting next to at dinner. Jade was sitting on Agumon's other side, staring at the Pagumon curiously.
"Something's wrong here Gabumon," Agumon replied. "I know what I smelled was Koromon. I bet my nose on it."
Food was presented before them, and it seemed that everyone aside from Jade and Sora were completely at ease. Sora was concerned about the village being a trap, but Tai dismissed her concerns in favour of eating. While Jade wasn't convinced of a trap, she agreed with Sora that there was something going on.
"This is really strange," Tentomon was saying to Gomamon. "I've heard that Pagumon are awful pranksters."
"You were just hearing an awful rumour," Gomamon dismissed easily enough. Something about that sentence seemed familiar to Jade, but she had no idea of what it might be. Who had she known who was known as a prankster?
"Poyomon digivolve to – Tokomon!"
Jade turned slightly as she felt the baby digimon digivolve. She smiled brightly as congratulations were called out, and Tokomon's happiness at being one step closer to normal almost covered over a different emotion, this one from the Pagumon. She couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but it made her nervous.
After dinner, the children and digimon all curled up in the same room, but for Jade the rest was not peaceful at all. She tossed and turned all night, shadows calling to her from the edges of her mind, and cold laughter chilling her to the bone. So it wasn't really a surprise when she woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. She looked around quickly, checking to see if everyone was still in the room with her. Her worry only increased when she noticed that Tokomon was missing.
Without waking the others she crept out of their room and looked around to see if Tokomon was anywhere nearby. She cocked her head to the side, trying to hear anything over the soft snores of her companions or the breathing of the Pagumon. A strange sound caught her ears, one that sounded like Tokomon, but it was too far away to make out. So, she walked in the direction the sound had come from.
The darkness made the trail she was following scary, and she considered going back to the warmth of the village, but she knew that she would never be able to forgive herself if she didn't find Tokomon. She had a feeling that he was in danger, and since he was also he would also be scared. Being alone and scared was the worst feeling that Jade could think of, and she had felt like that so often in her childhood that she knew she didn't want others to go through that if she could prevent it.
The path that she was following led almost directly out of the village, and under the light of the moon Jade could just faintly make it out when she turned around to see how far she had gone. She hoped that she and Tokomon would be back before the sun rose, because otherwise the others would never find them. Shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts, Jade turned back and picked up the speed a little whilst trying to also stay as silent as possible. She could feel them ahead of her, the Pagumon, though she had no idea how. Tokomon's fear, however, was like a beacon to her now, and she knew that she had to hurry.
"What did I do?! Why are you picking on me?!"
Jade ducked as Tokomon's panicked voice reached her. She ducked into the trees and crept closer still until she spotted a group of fourteen Pagumon surrounding a tied up Tokomon.
"Because you digivolved," one Pagumon told him with a malicious grin.
"You were so easy to fool," said another. "What a bunch of losers!"
"What do you think you're doing?" that came from above the Pagumon. Jade's eyes moved upwards until she spotted three rabbit like digimon who resembled the Pagumon slightly. She figured that these digimon were the digivolved form of the Pagumon.
"Gazimon!" the Pagumon cried in horror.
"Where did that Tokomon come from?" one of the Gazimon asked. Jade frowned. There was fear coming from the Pagumon now, and it was clear to her that they were afraid of the larger digimon…but why?
"Well, this Tokomon came to the village with some humans," one Pagumon explained. "But I–"
"There are humans here?!" the same Gazimon interrupted. They looked at each other without saying a word. Clearly, they hadn't known that the digidestined had arrived on Server, which was a good thing as it meant the Pagumon weren't trying to separate them for some malicious reason, but they knew now so the plan that the Pagumon had was now bound to change. Jade knew that she should return to the others to let them know what she had found out, but the thought of leaving Tokomon alone prevented her from moving.
The Pagumon picked up Tokomon again as the Gazimon ordered them to keep the humans in the village. The Gazimon left and Jade continued to follow the Pagumon to a waterfall, where she waited for the Pagumon to leave again. She planned on going in once they were gone to free Tokomon, and then they would be back with the others before dawn.
That plan failed the moment she stepped out of her hiding place. The Pagumon hadn't gone far from the waterfall, and she had the misfortune of being spotted and surrounded before she could blink. She was tied up like Tokomon had been in moments and being carried to the waterfall. There was a collection of cages, much to Jade's apprehension, but she was glad that she was put into the same cage as Tokomon.
The Pagumon left, bragging about someone named Etemon and how he was going to crush them all. Jade glared at them until they disappeared before turning her attention to Tokomon. He burrowed into her side, crying and shaking, and Jade wished that her arms were free so that she could hug him. Instead, she lay on her side and curled her body around Tokomon protectively.
"I don't like it here Jade!" Tokomon wailed. "I want to get out of here!"
"Me too," Jade told him. "But don't worry, once the others wake and see that we're not there, they'll come searching for us."
"You think so?"
"I know so."
Jade looked up around the back of the cave, trying to see what was in the other cages. All she could make out in the darkness were red eyes, but she wasn't afraid. She could tell that the red-eyed digimon were just as scared as Tokomon. She bit her lip before asking Tokomon to bite into her ropes so that they could get out. Tokomon's teeth were sharp, and only once did he bite into her skin instead of the rope, but eventually the rope came off. Jade dismissed Tokomon's apologies, not blaming him at all, and worked at freeing him of his ropes.
Once that was done she studied the lock on the cage. Her lock picking tools were in her backpack, which was still in the village, but she had been able to break locks before by staring and wishing really hard. She reached through the bars and concentrated, focusing all her attention on the lock before her. She wanted it to break, no, she needed it to break.
Jade had no idea how long she sat there for, but she knew that she had succeeded when there was small 'bang' and the lock crumbled in her hands. She gave a cry of delight and quickly opened the cage for her and Tokomon. Then she ran to the back of the cave where the other cages were. She noticed that much time had passed, for now she could see the back of the cage and the digimon that were held captive there. The others would have already woken to find them gone, but at that moment Jade didn't care about what the others were thinking, she could only stare in horror at the many Koromon looked up.
"Agumon!" Tokomon suddenly cried in joy. Jade spun around as Agumon lifted Tokomon off the ground in a hug. He hadn't seen her yet, but as soon as he did he ran over and hugged her. It was then that he spotted the Koromon.
"Koromon!"
"The Pagumon came and locked us in these cages," one of the Koromon explained.
"About three days ago they came and took over our whole village," another continued.
Agumon stared at them in horror before moving to unlock their cages. Jade left him to it as she had noticed something else that the others hadn't. Agumon had apparently been followed by two of the Gazimon, and they didn't look like they would allow any of them to leave.
"Agumon," Jade began softly. "We have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" Agumon asked, turning around slowly. "Oh, that kind of problem."
"You really think that we'd just let you undo all of our hard work?" the Gazimon on the right began.
"We are going to be giving the humans as a gift for Lord Etemon," continued the one on the left. "We can't have you interfering with that."
"No you're not!" Agumon told them. "I won't let you."
"Neither will I!" Jade added, raising her fists threateningly. Her confidence was just an act, she really didn't want to fight but she wanted the Koromon to be set free as well. And then there's the fact that this Lord Etemon sounded like bad news.
"Why don't we teach the lizard a lesson?" the right Gazimon suggested.
"And the human too," said the left Gazimon. "Lord Etemon only wants the digidestined. The tag-along is useless to him."
Jade winced at the insult. Granted, she didn't want to see Etemon, but being thought of as a tag-along hurt. Agumon glanced at her quickly before stepping in front of her protectively.
"Don't talk about Jade like that!" he ordered. "She's worth ten of you!"
"Thanks Agumon," Jade whispered. "You take the left one, and I'll take the right one?"
"You sure?"
"No, but I'm not letting you fight alone," Jade looked quickly at Tokomon. "Tokomon, once they're occupied, run back to the village and get help."
"You can count on me!" Tokomon replied confidently. Jade nodded before turning her attention back to the oncoming attack.
As she was short, the Gazimon were just about the same size as she was. She had no advantage, and she was also human which made her more vulnerable than Agumon. Still, she rushed forward at the same time as Agumon and swung her fist. Her opponent howled as her fist hit his shoulder, but he followed up with scratching her across her arm. She gasped in pain, but wasn't quick enough to move as the Gazimon followed through by kicking her feet out from under her. She hit the ground hard, her breath knocked out of her.
Gazimon's eyes flashed red, and Jade threw her arms up just in time to protect herself as punches rained down on her. She screamed, she knew that she had, and cried out for help. She was nine, she didn't want to fight!
"Tai! Help me! Tai! Where are you?! Help!"
Far away in the village, the other children were searching for Jade and Tokomon. Tai was standing on the roof of the tallest building, studying the landscape with his telescope. Agumon had gone off shortly after they realised that two of their number was missing, and he hadn't returned yet. The Pagumon were helping as much as they could, and Izzy was coordinating the searches. He had drawn a map in the dirt and was crossing off various locations that had already been searched.
"You see anything Tai?" Sora asked in concern.
"No! Nothing!" Tai called down. "But they're around here somewhere, I know it!"
His attention returned to the landscape. He didn't know how he knew it, but he knew that Jade was in trouble. Something bad had happened, and she was alone. He hoped that Agumon had found her, but with Agumon missing as well he had no idea where to look. It was at that moment that two things happened. The first was that he could see steam clouds in the distance. A puff of cloud would rise into the air, followed by another, and another, all at odd times. The second was a voice screaming in his mind. He cried out suddenly, his hands reaching up to cradle his head as the foreign voice ripped through his mind.
"Tai! Help me! Tai! Where are you?! Help!"
Distantly he noted that others were calling his name, and that he was on solid ground instead of the roof, but how that had happened didn't matter. He opened his eyes, confused as he hadn't realised he'd closed them, and sat up with the help of Joe and Matt. The voice in his head, he had felt it before but it was softer and more pleasant then. Phoenixmon had spoken into their minds, as she hadn't been able to use her voice, but this felt more desperate. And then he knew.
"Jade's in trouble," he said shortly. "Something bad is happening to her. Agumon is with her, I know he is, and they're by a waterfall."
"How do you know?" Joe asked as Tai brushed away his hands.
"Jade, she's calling out for help," Tai explained as he tried to stand up. "It was like when Phoenixmon spoke to us, remember? But I don't think that Jade realises what she's doing, because it hurts! For a moment there I could see out of her eyes."
"Was Tokomon with her?" TK asked urgently.
"No," Tai told him. "Come on! We have to hurry!"
"Electric Stun Blast!" the two Gazimon roared as lightning erupted from their bodies. Jade and Agumon screamed in pain, but through the pain Jade knew that Tokomon had escaped. She could only hope that the little digimon would make it back to the others, and that they'd be on time to rescue her, Agumon and the Koromon.
"Jade? Are you alright?" Agumon asked as the attack faded.
"Yeah," Jade replied, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "How about you?"
"I've been better."
"You know, the smoke cloud was a good idea while it lasted," Jade told him.
"Thanks," Agumon replied, struggling to get to his feet. "We can only hope that Tai and the others are on their way here. Then I should be able to digivolve."
Jade smiled softly before rolling onto her back. Her entire body ached, her arm was bleeding where it had been scratched, and bruises covered both her arms from where she had shielded herself. She was just glad that the Gazimon had stopped before causing any serious damage to her. Granted, the electricity wasn't very nice, but other than that she was fine. There was also something else in the cave with them, though she had no idea what it was. It felt like a forgotten memory, something warm, but also just out of reach.
"Agumon! Jade!"
Jade tilted her head back so that she was looking towards the entrance of the cave. She could have sworn that she heard Tai calling for them. Agumon seemed to gather a little more strength at the cry, and both of them smiled as Tai burst into the cave.
"Agumon, Jade, are you alright?" he asked as he spotted the two of them on the ground.
"Now we are," Agumon told him. Jade waved a hand lazily.
"Did you find Tokomon?" she asked.
"Yeah, he's with TK and the others. They'll be here shortly," Tai replied. His tone was casual, but both Jade and Agumon could pick up the underlying tension.
"So you're one of the digidestined?" one of the Gazimon asked.
"Digivolving time, Agumon get up!"
"You got it!" Agumon replied, forcing himself to his feet. "Agumon digivolve to – Greymon!"
Jade smiled and forced herself to sit up. Greymon focused his attention on the two Gazimon, both looking rather scared as they stared up at the giant dinosaur, and let Tai rush to Jade's side to help her stand. The Gazimon were blasted into the river where they were carried away by the currant, much to everyone's joy. The other digidestined and their digimon entered the cave, and Jade was thrilled to see that Sora had her bag. She immediately got to work picking the locks of the other cages, freeing the Koromon, before returning to Tai's side so that she could lean on him.
"Are you alright Jade?" Joe asked, seeing her tired appearance.
"I've been better," Jade told him, echoing Agumon from earlier. "But the Gazimon are gone now, so everything's great."
Meanwhile, Sora was standing with the Koromon explaining how the Pagumon had left their village so that they could return home. The Koromon were naturally excited at the thought of going home, but the arrival of yet another digimon ruined that plan. To Jade, he sounded like a poor version of a human rock star. She had heard a similar voice in school, and she was pretty sure that the rock star's name was Presley.
"Oh great, a digi-rock star," Joe muttered. The sound of a microphone coming too close to an amplifier echoed painfully in their ears, and they all ran to the edge of the cave so that they could see who was addressing them. To Jade, he looked like an orange monkey wearing dark sunglasses with a toy-sized Monzaemon attached to his waist and holding a purple guitar and a microphone.
"You measly digidestined humans, thank you very much, hello," the orange monkey said. He had somehow managed to create a giant projection of himself, so Jade knew that he was several times smaller than the projection. The Koromon all cried as one that the orange monkey was Etemon.
"You little bratty kids messed up all my big beautiful plans," Etemon continued. "So now I'm going to have to punish you all by playing a little number I just wrote. It's called Wrecking the Whole Place!"
"Wrecking the Whole Place?" Tai repeated in disbelief.
"Do you think he can actually do that?" Izzy asked. Jade had a horrible feeling that the monkey could, and really didn't want to stick around to find out.
"Dark Network Concert Crush!" Etemon cried. He started to laugh hysterically as black cables ripped themselves from the ground to float in mid-air. Electricity rushed over the cables, crackling as it moved. When the electricity got too close to something on the ground, like the Koromon village, it blew it up. Jade watched in horror as the small houses the Koromon lived in were blasted into tiny pieces. Gabumon digivolved into Garurumon to join Greymon in fighting, but it was like the very air was against them.
"So you say you want a digivolution?" Etemon asked. He strummed his guitar. "Well the answer is: NO! Dark Network Concert Crush!"
The cords played on the guitar took physical form as it reached the digidestined and the digimon. Greymon and Garurumon cried out in pain as they were forced back into their rookie forms, and Jade cried out as she grabbed her head. The music was attacking her mind, and it hurt!
"Concert Crush took our power," Agumon explained apologetically as everyone looked at him and Gabumon.
"Does rock 'n' roll have that effect in your world?" Tentomon asked curiously.
"Only on our parents," Sora told him.
"That really hurt," Jade confided as the sound of the guitar died down. She kept her hands on her head but her eyes were now opened and gazing at everyone around her. "It kind of felt like a Black Gear, but a little less cold a lot more painful."
"So there's no way for us to fight this monster?" Izzy asked, his eyes jumping from Jade to the digimon.
"As we are, no," Tentomon told him. "If only we could digivolve a step further."
"A step further?" Matt asked curiously.
"That must be what Gennai was referring to," Sora said in understanding, "When he told us about finding the crests and tags."
"Gennai?" Jade asked, her eyes darting from person to person. "When did you meet him?"
"After we defeated Devimon," Tai explained. "It's a sort of long story. I'll explain it when we're safe, alright?"
Jade nodded and lowered her hands. She had no idea what the others were hoping to achieve, and she had no idea why they wanted tags and crests to begin with. What she did understand was that the digimon could apparently digivolve beyond their Champion forms, but they needed a little more power to do so.
An explosion disrupted her chain of thought, and after watching the entrance to the cave become sealed off they ran down one of the side tunnels. The Koromon were the ones leading the way, so Jade knew that wherever they were going was a safe haven for them. That feeling in her mind though, the one that felt like a forgotten memory, was getting closer. This was the opposite to a Black Gear, but had more power and felt warmer. The pain from Etemon's attack was fading the closer they got to the object, and Jade was able to run without much difficulty.
After a few minutes of running, the children and digimon came to a dead end. Jade stared in fascination at the wall that now blocked their way. This was what she had been sensing, but what was it? The carving on the wall looked like a sun with eight rays.
"What's this?" Tai asked.
"This is a safe place where we hide when anything bad happens to our village," the Koromon explained.
"Long ago a being of great power put this wall here," another Koromon added. "Nothing bad has ever happened to us here."
"A being of great power?" Sora asked curiously.
"We have stories about the time when this world was under attack by the darkness," the explanation continued. "It is said that a power being put walls in random places so that the darkness would be kept chained away."
"What do we do now?" Tai asked as the others thought over the words. Jade tilted her head to the side as the wall started to glow a vibrant gold. It shrank down until it was smaller than the tags the children carried around their necks, and Jade's eyes followed it as it flew towards Tai. A whisper in her mind made her smile as the newly discovered crest slid into Tai's tag.
The crest of Courage – will shine for true bravery.
Jade wasn't surprised to learn the name of Tai's crest, he was one of the bravest people she knew and he was always protecting her. What she was surprised to learn was that she could sense the crests, and if she concentrated she could feel where the others were. She resolved to try and find the others when they stopped for the night. Until then, they really needed to leave the cave and go somewhere else.
With the crest gone from its home in the wall, a new opening had suddenly appeared. This one led out to a lush forest with mountains in the distance, and with no hint of Etemon anywhere nearby.
"Didn't this use to be a wall?" Joe asked deadpan.
"Yes, but the crest must have brought us here!" the Koromon cried in delight. "These mountains are a long way from our village."
"Alright! Frequent flier miles!" Joe shouted happily. Jade grinned at him before taking a few steps forward.
"This place is the bomb!" Matt agreed.
"It's beautiful," Mimi added.
"With this crest," Tai began. "We could do anything we want. You know guys, I think this is the first step on our trip home!"
There was something about that statement that worried Jade. It wasn't that Tai was excited about his crest, it was something in his tone. She vowed to keep an eye on him, and hoped that he wouldn't do anything stupid. As much as she doubted the others would admit it, they needed Tai to keep them together. If he suddenly disappeared or ran off, they would be lost without him.
Of that she had no doubt.
The group travelled a fair distance from the cave before settling down for the night. The Koromon had gone in the opposite direction so that they could get back to their village and begin repairs, but they had wished them luck before going. Joe had wrapped some bandages around Jade's bleeding arm, but the cuts were shallow and would heal quickly. Tokomon had apologised for leaving them when they were fighting, but because it was Jade had ordered him to do, she wasn't worried about it. She thanked him for doing what she asked, even when he wanted to stay.
During the walk the others had explained to Jade what Gennai had said in his message, when he had appeared, and asked her if she knew who He was. Jade was at a loss as to who Gennai was warning them about, but she knew that she trusted him and left it at that. She wished that she had gotten the chance to see him, but if Gennai was paying attention to their journey she knew that it wouldn't be long before she saw him.
As they settled down for the night, Jade perched on a rock next to Tai with the intention of talking to him about his crest. She didn't get a chance however, as Tai told her to go to sleep so that she would have enough energy to walk all day the next day. He then got up and walked away. Jade frowned before sliding onto the ground under her blanket. She wanted to see if she could find any other crests.
Her mind reached out, like she had done with the Black Gears before, and instantly she could sense nine crests. That confused her, as there were only seven tags, but there were an extra two crests floating around. There was one that was nearby, it glowed a light grey colour with a black outline. There was a blue one and a purple one together; there was golden white one not far from that; a green one further out; a red one and a yellow one semi-close together; and far off in the distance was a light pink one. Tai's crest, the golden orange one, was naturally the closest and shone the brightest in her mind.
Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find the crests after all.
The next morning the children and digimon continued walking and before lunch they had left the shade of the forest to end up in the desert again. Jade frowned at that, she didn't really want to walk in the desert, but it wasn't like she could rip her clothes or blanket to tie around her feet. However, she did have the bandages around her arm, and while there was blood on them the fresh air would be good for them. So she stopped walking and quickly tied the bandages around her feet before running after the others. They didn't appear to notice that she'd stopped, which was fine because now she could walk without burning herself on the ground.
"How far do we have to walk?" Mimi asked in a whining tone as Jade caught up with the group.
"Until Etemon can't find us anymore," Joe told her, ignoring her tone.
"I don't think there is such a place!" Mimi snapped at him.
"We certainly can't stop here in the middle of nowhere," Matt said over his shoulder. "For one thing, if we were attacked there'd be no place for us to run to."
After Matt spoke the group, for some reason stopped walking. Jade peaked around Sora, who was just in front of her, and looked at everyone in confusion. Tai, who was leading, didn't seem to understand why everyone had stopped either.
"Hey, come on you guys!" he said. "Why'd we stop? Why is everyone so scared? After all, we do have a crest you know!"
"That's true," Matt agreed. "But do we really know that the crest will be able to help Agumon to digivolve?"
"Of course," Tai told him without hesitation. "Right Agumon?"
Agumon looked at Tai without much confidence. He clearly didn't know if he could digivolve further, even if that was what Gennai had promised they could all do once they had the crests. Jade's brow furrowed, maybe Gennai had meant that the digimon would only be able to digivolve further once everyone had gotten their crests. How would the crests work? That voice that was in Jade's head…was that telling her how to make the crests work?
"Listen buddy, this is your big chance," Tai said sternly. "Don't let me down. You're the only one who can digivolve further so either you try to digivolve to the next level and save us from Etemon, or I'll go and get myself a new digimon."
Agumon whimpered, and Jade's jaw dropped open at the tone Tai had used. She had never heard him speak like that before, and she had never expected him to treat Agumon that way. She walked up to the front of the group and put her hand on Agumon's shoulder in comfort. Tai turned his attention to the others, asking how the crests actually worked. While Izzy was busy explaining what they had already figured out about digivolving, Jade wrapped her arms around Agumon's neck. She had a bad feeling about what Tai would be attempting to get Agumon to digivolve.
It seemed that her bad feeling was spot on, as Tai was taking his new responsibility as the holder of a crest to extremes. As the others weren't doing anything to stop him from giving all their food to Agumon, Jade put a stop to it by standing between the two. She knew that she was doing the right thing when Agumon whimpered and gripped her shirt with his claws.
"What are you doing Jade?" Tai asked her with a tinge of anger in his voice. "Agumon needs energy."
"So do the other digimon," Jade told him with a glare. "Are you going to starve them while you force Agumon to eat more than he can stomach? We don't even know when Etemon will attack next. The others need energy to keep going; we can't rely just on Agumon. And we're hungry too! None of us have eaten since this morning and we've been walking all day!"
"Agumon is currently the only one who can digivolve to the next level!" Tai snapped back at her. "He needs a lot of energy to get there, which is why the others gave him their food!"
"You took that food from them!" Jade yelled back. "And at the rate you're going Agumon is never going to be able to digivolve to Ultimate! You forget that the digimon need your energy to digivolve! You are the only one who can help Agumon to digivolve as he needs your energy! Forcing him to eat is only going to slow him down!"
"What do you mean Agumon won't digivolve?!"
"You're being selfish and arrogant!" Jade cried at him. "I wouldn't be surprised if Agumon can't digivolve into Greymon because of your attitude!"
SLAP
Jade froze, her head tilted to the right from where Tai had slapped her. She had been slapped before, but it wasn't often. Her relatives preferred to lock her up and not feed her as opposed to actually touching her. The fact that Tai had given in to his anger and hit her hurt far more than anything her relatives had ever done. She knew that they didn't care about her, but she had honestly thought that Tai did care.
Apparently not.
There was silence from the group as the sound of the slap faded, though it was mainly due to shock that they were silent at all. They had no idea how to react, especially as they all had suspicions about what went on at the Dursleys. Jade turned her head so that she was looking up at Tai, took in his wide eyes, pale face, and absolute self-loathing, before turning and running in the direction of one of the crests.
Tears blurred her vision and she did her best to supress her sobs as she ran. She didn't want to talk to anyone, to have them touch her or tell her that Tai didn't mean it. He had meant it, even if he now regretted it he had meant to hit her. She could hear them calling after her, the thump of their feet in the sand as they ran, and hitch in her own breath as she struggled to breathe through the tears. But she wasn't going to stop.
In time the sounds behind her faded as she continued to run. This was probably the first time that the others could actually see what her endurance and stamina was like, what all those years of practice running from Dudley and his friends had caused, and she found that she didn't care. Her eyes had dried during her run, but her legs were now shaking from exhaustion. In the distance was a group of ruins and in the centre was a colosseum of sorts.
There was a crest in the colosseum so that was where Jade angled her path. She walked inside and tilted her head in slight confusion. By all accounts, this colosseum was just like the one in Rome, but with a few differences. First, it looked almost brand new, there was a giant television screen on the upper levels, and the arena area looked more like a soccer field complete with soccer goals.
Jade walked up the stairs so that she would have a good view of the arena whilst also being hidden from view. It wouldn't be long before the digidestined arrived so that they could get the next crest, and maybe they would have slapped some sense into Tai before they arrived. As she sat down she pulled her knees to her chest so that she could curl up into her ball form. She hadn't used her ball form much aside from the first few days in the Digital World, and she had hoped to not use it again either, but she wanted to feel safe now.
The digidestined ran into the colosseum several minutes later. Jade was only marginally surprised. They had been closer to the colosseum than she had first thought. That or they had lost track of her and were following the pull of the crest. Tai's tag had glowed when they were close to his crest, so whoever's crest was in the arena, their tag was glowing.
Tai was at the back of the group looking very much like a little boy who had been severely scolded. Joe's tag was glowing, and he ran off from the group once they stopped. Tai ran off in the opposite direction to get away from everyone, while the remaining five children and their digimon rested on the ground. Not one of them looked up in Jade's direction, and she couldn't figure out why that hurt.
The television screen activated and two hands were shown clapping excitedly. Jade paled as Etemon's laughter echoed from speakers that were scattered around the arena. The hands faded from view after a moment to reveal Etemon holding a microphone and staring at them.
"Who's the King?!" he asked them and struck a pose.
"Ah! He's here! Etemon's here!" Mimi cried as she ran to where Joe was standing by one of the soccer goals. The others all followed her, except for Tai and Agumon who were on the other side of the arena. Tai started to run to them, but hesitated as no one called out to see if he was joining them or not. They were clearly made at him. The soccer goal suddenly collapsed forwards, trapping the six children and their digimon. Jade uncurled from her ball and watched with interest to see what Tai and Agumon would do.
"GOAL!" Etemon cried as the net fell. "I sure did it! I scored a goal!"
"The whole thing was a trap!" Sora cried in dismay.
"Does he really think he can trap us with a simple net?" Tentomon asked before flying right into the mesh. The part of the net that the little insect digimon crashed into came to life in a shocking manner, electrocuting Tentomon and throwing him back into the children.
"Now, now, listen up," Etemon ordered. "If you do that you might get hurt. You see, there's electricity running through that net, it's a shocker I know. I really want to be there in person to do this myself, but I'm way too busy. You know how us rock 'n' roll legends are. But don't worry the act substitute for me is a very rare treat. Let's see if you can put your puny heads together and figure out who our special guest star is. Well?"
"How would we know who it is?" Tai asked from the centre of the arena. Agumon stood by his side faithfully and the two of them were looking up at the television screen angrily.
"I'm sure you'll all be surprised!" Etemon told them. "Here he comes!"
From one of the exits of the arena appeared another digimon. Jade gasped as she recognised a Greymon, but this one had a thick black cable around his neck. It looked painful, and Jade wanted to get it removed but could see no way that she could. The others still hadn't noticed her off to the side, but that would change when the fight began.
"See, I knew you'd be surprised!" Etemon crowed happily. "Why I'm so evil! Muhaha! Let's get started, it's time to go. Okay, here's the show! Get rid of the boy first Greymon, and then you can have some fun!"
The Greymon strode further into the arena, heading right for Tai and Agumon. They held their ground, though Jade wished that they would run for it. Tai, at least, took a few steps back to give Agumon some room, but before Agumon could digivolve Greymon spun on his foot and used his tail to send Tai flying into the other soccer goals. Agumon had ducked as soon as he saw the Greymon move, but Tai hadn't and he went flying right into the electrical net. Those goals collapsed forwards as well, trapping Tai.
"Agumon!" Tai called. "It's time to digivolve!"
His voice sounded pained, but anyone's would be after flying however far it was, crashing into something solid, and then being electrocuted. Jade bit her lip nervously as Agumon digivolved so that he could fight the other Greymon. What could she do now? The others seemed to be trying to find a way out of their cage by digging, so Jade left them to it and focused instead on the fight before her.
The two Greymon's appeared to be equally matched, but for some reason their Greymon had a slower reaction time. Could it be because of the fight earlier? Or was there a lack of trust between Tai and his partner? Anything could explain why Greymon was having trouble against Etemon's Greymon.
Jade shrieked in fear as Etemon's Greymon sent his opponent flying into the stands, right where Jade was hiding. She was able to dart to the side just in time, but the move had brought everyone's attention to her. They screamed her name in fear, seeing that she was alone, but Jade rushed to Greymon's side to see if he was alright.
"Jade," Greymon croaked. "Get to safety."
"What happened?" she asked in fear. "Why aren't you fighting like you normally fight?"
"I can't seem to get enough energy," Greymon admitted as he stood up. "Don't worry, I will protect you and the others."
With that Greymon charged back towards his opponent and started to wrestle. Lack of energy? Agumon had eaten a fair bit of food before Jade had stepped in, but not enough to have overeaten. Why couldn't he get enough energy? Was Etemon using his Dark Network to zap the digimon of their powers?
Jade looked to see if the others had gotten out yet and blinked as she realised that they had found another crest. Joe was holding up his tag and a grey crest slid into the slot just as Jade heard that same voice again.
The crest of Reliability – will shine for those who are truly trustworthy.
Jade thought reliability suited Joe, he was always looking out for everyone, but maybe he just needed to trust in himself that little bit more. He needed to believe that he was worthy of that crest, and of the others' trust in him. With the crest removed from its hiding place, the children in that cage disappeared from sight to appear on the other side of the arena to Jade.
"This may be over sooner than I thought," Etemon stated, and Jade turned back to the two Greymons fighting. It wasn't looking good for them. Greymon was losing, and Etemon's Greymon seemed to have unlimited energy. Jade looked to where Tai was standing in his cage, looking completely helpless. His hands were clenched in front of him as if he wanted to punch something, and Jade could see the anger in him growing.
"ETEMON!" he screamed. "YOU COWARD! IS THIS THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN WIN YOUR FIGHTS?!"
"Yoho! You certainly have an attitude on you," Etemon observed. "You have a problem with my battle tactics?"
"YOU'RE A DISGRACE!" Tai screamed back at him. "WHEN I FIND YOU I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU DOWN FROM THAT PEDESTAL YOU'VE PUT YOURSELF ON!"
"You'll have to find me first!" Etemon laughed. "Greymon, fire your Nova Blast at that girl on her own. Teach those no good brats a lesson!"
"NOOO!" Tai screamed, this time in horror. Everyone's eyes turned to Jade as Etemon's Greymon prepared to unleash his fiery attack. Jade flinched, raising her hands to protect herself, but the attack never came. Instead, an intense feeling of cold and darkness rushed through her and her hands moved to grasp her head as she screamed in pain. The cold was horrible; it invaded every pore and deafened her to everything around her, then Greymon digivolved.
"Greymon dark digivolve to – SkullGreymon!"
Opening her eyes, Jade gazed in horror at the digimon before her. Greymon was gone, and in his place was a giant dinosaur made from bones. A weapon of some kind was attached to his back, and his eyes glowed with darkness. He looked like a monster. There was nothing in him that resembled the friend Jade had come to know, this was an enemy plain and simple.
"Biyomon digivolve to – Birdramon!"
"Gabumon digivolve to – Garurumon!"
Birdramon and Garurumon ran across the arena to fight against SkullGreymon. SkullGreymon turned his attention to the now punt sized Greymon, and with one flick of his giant hands sent the Greymon flying into the television screen. Jade screamed in horror when a missile from SkullGreymon's back rocketed into the television, deleting it and the Greymon. She felt Greymon's life end like someone had silenced the radio in one move. She staggered, horror-struck.
SkullGreymon then turned his attention to Birdramon and Garurumon, and despite how much they clearly didn't want to attack, they did their best with no effect. They were too small to do much damage, and even when Tentomon digivolved to help them nothing could harm the fully evolved monster. SkullGreymon threw Garurumon into Tai's cage, breaking it and allowing Tai to go free, but injuring Garurumon so that he couldn't fight anymore.
Jade couldn't stand it anymore. She ran forward and punched SkullGreymon's foot, the only part of his body that she could reach, and then she was held tightly in his giant hands. It hurt when he squeezed, but all that mattered was stopping him. She didn't want anyone else to die.
"STOP IT!" she screamed at him. "FIGHT BACK AGUMON! DON'T DO THIS!"
Her body went hot as energy rushed through her to hit SkullGreymon. He screamed as the energy hit him, and then his whole body started to glow as his energy disappeared. Jade fell through the air at the same speed as SkullGreymon's de-digivolution. Vines wrapped around her before she could hit the ground, and she knew that Palmon had caught her. SkullGreymon became Koromon, and Jade could feel how ashamed and guilt-ridden the small digimon felt.
Once Jade was safely on the ground again she stumbled. Tai had rushed over to Koromon, tears in his eyes and probably feeling guilty and confused. Jade was confused as well, there should have been no reason for Greymon to digivolve, but for some reason he had.
"Are you alright Jade?" Joe asked as he rushed to her side. Jade reached out and grabbed a hold of his arms before her legs buckled. She was feeling very weak and her vision was tunnelling with black spots appearing.
"I'm going to pass out," she told the older boy. His concerned and alarmed face was the last thing she saw before darkness enveloped her.
Joe cried out as Jade went limp in his arms, and he quickly lowered her to the ground to see what it was that was wrong. Aside from the bruises on her arm from the Gazimon, the scratch on her right arm, the red hand print on her face and the new bruises from SkullGreymon, she seemed perfectly fine. There was no reason that she should have passed out. Unless…
"Is she alright?" TK asked as he appeared at Joe's side.
"Yeah," Joe told him as he lifted Jade off the ground, holding her behind her back and under her legs. Her head rested against his shoulder. "I think she just exhausted herself again, like she did with the Black Gears, but this took more energy than normal."
"So, what did she do?" Matt asked, standing behind TK.
"I think she drained SkullGreymon of his energy so that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else," Joe theorised. "She should be fine once she wakes up again."
There were sighs of relief from everyone, including Tai who was standing a little ways apart from the group. He was cradling Koromon in his arms, but he was still pale and shaking. Joe frowned at Tai, being pale he could understand, after all, SkullGreymon had nearly killed them all, but the shaking? Was Tai in shock?
"Are you alright Tai?" he asked in concern.
"I don't know," Tai admitted fearfully. "Why did Greymon digivolve? I wasn't in danger and his energy level was lower than normal. He shouldn't have been able to digivolve."
"Admittedly, we don't know everything about digivolving," Izzy stated. "Maybe there's something that we overlooked?"
"I'm sorry Tai," Koromon spoke up. "I didn't want to digivolve, even though you wanted me to. But during the fight it was like a rush of energy crashed into me and I had no choice! I tried to stop it but I couldn't. I'm sorry!"
"A rush of energy?" Matt asked, even as Tai told Koromon that it wasn't his fault. "Isn't that what Jade does when she's fighting against the darkness? Did Jade cause him to digivolve?"
"Did you feel anything during the fight Tai?" Sora asked. She didn't think Jade had done it, she had been in too much pain to cause that, and she didn't even know if Jade could make a digimon digivolve.
"I was angry," Tai admitted, lifting his eyes from Koromon to the others. "Etemon just makes me so mad, and then he turned on Jade and it was like my fear exploded out of me. I can't really explain it very well."
"No, that makes sense," Izzy told him. "Your energy made Greymon digivolve. It's possible that our emotions play a big part in our digimons' ability to digivolve. We were told the first say that we were here that something about us helps our digimon to digivolve, maybe that's it."
"You mean…my anger and fear forced Greymon to digivolve into SkullGreymon?" Tai asked, his face paling further. Joe was concerned that Tai would pass out, he really didn't look good.
"It's possible," Izzy told him.
It was possibly the worst news that Tai could have gotten. He remembered the last time he had been the angry, and three children had nearly died because of it. Those three boys who had been bullying Kari were fine now, but he knew that he had been the one to attack them. He had vowed back then that he would never get angry again, and now he had nearly killed his friends, and he had been responsible for the death of the other Greymon. He felt sick. He was dangerous, he shouldn't be around others. They'd only get hurt if they stayed with him. And Koromon was now weak and feeling guilty for something that wasn't even his fault.
"No Tai," Sora stated firmly, seeing the expression on his face. "Running away is not going to solve anything. Where would you go?"
"But I–"
"No Tai," Matt agreed. "You've been doing this since we got here. You are not to blame for everything bad that happens to us."
"My anger caused this," Tai whispered, gesturing to the damage around the colosseum. "And even before we got here, my anger and stupidity caused me to lash out at the one person who I had no reason to hurt. She's never going to want to talk to me again. I'm a danger to everyone."
Mimi, TK, Izzy and Joe stood back while Sora and Matt tried to stop Tai from doing something stupid. They had no idea how deep Tai's self-loathing went, and seeing him like this was scaring them. Sure, he had been acting weird throughout that day, but what they were seeing now went way beyond any of their preconceptions about him.
"Tai," Sora began. "Why were you so insistent on Agumon digivolving to the Ultimate level?"
"I had to protect you," Tai told her, hugging Koromon closer to him. "Etemon is dangerous, and no one else had a crest. If digivolving to the next level would get rid of Etemon, then it would have been safer for us to travel this continent. There would be less danger. I just wanted to protect us."
"Tai, we're a team," Matt told him. "We're in this together, all eight of us. Don't push us aside. When we go up against Etemon, we will do it as a team, and nothing will be able to stop us. We worked as a team against Devimon and won, why is this different?"
"I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen," Tai told him. "I can't shake it and it scares me. I don't think I could stand it if anything happened to you guys while I could stop it."
"Oh Tai," Sora sighed. "We're going to have to work on this 'everyone matters more than me' thing that you've got going on. You are not all powerful."
"How do you think we'd feel if something happened to you?" Matt asked.
"Matt's right Tai," Joe spoke up. "I don't know what happened to you in the past to make you think like this, but we're all in this together."
"Yeah!" TK cried with a smile. "As long as we all work together, we'll all be able to get home."
"I really want to go home," Mimi added. "But only if we get to go together."
"It really is unanimous," Izzy told him. "We're not alone if we're together."
"When you're feeling a little freaked out talk to someone," Sora told him. "We're all prepared to listen. Bottling it all up inside of you is not healthy."
"You're not alone," Matt finished. "Alright?"
Tai smiled at them, though it would probably take a bit more than that to get him out of his self-loathing. He nodded before his eyes rested on Jade and his smile faded.
"Don't worry about Jade," Joe told him. "She'll be fine with a little rest and TLC."
"What's TLC?" TK asked Mimi in a whisper.
"Tender Loving Care," Mimi whispered back. TK nodded his understanding and returned his attention to the older kids. Tai seemed calmer now, but the knowledge that his anger and fear had caused his partner to digivolve into a monster had shaken his confidence. They could only hope that he recovered, they needed him.
Readjusting Jade in his arms, Joe started to lead the others out of the colosseum. Staying in a place where Etemon knew they had been was just asking to be caught. They needed to get away, and soon. The others followed him eagerly enough, even Tai despite the fact that he brought up the rear of the group. Joe vowed to keep an eye on him. They needed to stick together, and Tai's bad feeling about going up against Etemon had Joe nervous. He didn't have the same bad feeling about Etemon, but he did have a bad feeling about separating. They needed to be together, though he didn't know why.
How much more danger would they find before they were able to go home?
Would they ever be able to go home?
Next up in Intertwined Destinies:
Chapter 11: Sincerity