I can't promise anything good for this chapter, no real fights (or any fights for that matter). But, as promised, the boys' crests will be named.
Disclaimer: Like many of the authors using this site, I have no claim to the legal rights of the franchise for which I'm writing.
LAST TIME:
ISAMU: When Cerberumon destroyed his own partner, well, let's just say we were stunned. For all his talk about teamwork, I finally realized he was no "real" team player. All I wanted at point was to end his reign once and for all. That must have been enough to activate my crest, right after I got it, too. Stingmon Crest Digivolved to JewelBeemon and put that dog down. But we can't relax yet. There are still other agents out there, and they will come for us.
Chapter 15
Mentor
After a day of climbing and resting for the night in a nearby cave, the Digi-Destined were nearing the peak of the mountain. What exactly they would find up there, they had no idea; but, at least for the time being, it gave them something to do. They reached the end of the trail, but it was still a long way up to the peak. Wormmon used his Sticky Thread to create a path up the wall.
As Isamu tested the line, Daichi asked, "What do you think is up there?"
"Whatever it is, it can't be any more dangerous than anywhere else," Isamu pointed out. When he felt confident, he started climbing the line. He reached the top and called for Daichi to do the same. Dracomon flew up and Wormmon simply ascended by withdrawing the string back into him.
Everyone looked around the peak. It was relatively flat, changing in elevation only at the edge where the mountain started to drop. Daichi grabbed a pair of binoculars out of his backpack and looked through them. He pointed them beyond the edge of the mountain.
"What do you see?" Dracomon asked.
"Nothing," Daichi said. "No clue as to where we go next."
"It was just an idea," Isamu said.
"And a good idea at that," said an unfamiliar, yet familiar, voice. Everyone turned to find an old man walking toward them. Despite his obviously old age, he was a little shorter than the two humans, even for being hunched over. He had little hair to speak of, save for a small, white ponytail and a large moustache of the same color. He wore a mostly blue tunic with some red on it and red, metal-tipped shoes. His eyes appeared to be closed. "Welcome, Digi-Destined," he said.
Daichi looked at the man. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Gennai!" Isamu spoke up. "How can you not recognize him, Daichi?"
Daichi looked more carefully. "Oh yeah. Guess that shows you how long it's been since I watched Adventure, huh?"
"No offense taken," Gennai said. "Come, my home is this way."
Isamu looked around. "You mean down the mountain?"
Gennai chuckled. He snapped his fingers and an old-style Japanese house appeared. "That answer your question?" The humans and their Digimon walked with Gennai into the house.
"I don't get it," Isamu said. "I thought you lived in a lake."
"I did once," Gennai answered, "but I had to move after the house began to warp."
When they entered the house, Daichi asked, "So if you're real, does that mean—"
"No," Gennai interrupted. "Most of what you see in those shows is fictional at the very core. Only some of the material made its way into the minds of the creators."
"That makes total sense," Dracomon said sarcastically.
"Then let me put it in terms you can understand," Gennai said. "The idea for the Digimon franchise in the human world was more or less the result of data from the Digital World finding its way into the minds of those who created it. Naturally, not all the data made it to the human world, but some of the key elements—the Digimon themselves, the Digivices, even me—did. Personally, I'm surprised they made as good a series as they did with so little information."
"You mean you watch it?" Isamu asked.
"I catch an episode when I can," Gennai said. "But I'm not here to talk to you about that. I'm here to talk to you about what to do next." He snapped his fingers again and two mats appeared in front of the boys. They both sat down and their partners joined them.
Gennai brought out some tea, one cup for everyone. He sat down in front of the Digi-Destined and said, "By now, I think you know why you're here."
Daichi spoke up. "To defeat the Digi-Agents, right?"
"Well, that would make things easier," Gennai said thoughtfully, "but no. Taomon told you of someone or something that brought the Digi-Agents together in the first place."
"Yeah," Isamu recalled. "What is it, anyway?"
"Taomon said no one knows that," Dracomon said.
"She said not even the wisest Digimon knows what it is," Wormmon pointed out. "And in case you haven't noticed, Gennai's no Digimon."
"Well, sorry to burst your bubble," Gennai said, "but I'm afraid even I don't know. All I do know is that it's got some agenda of its own, and that the Digi-Agents are either tools at best or distractions at worst."
"So why us?" Daichi asked. "Why did we become Digi-Destined among millions of other possibilities?"
"I'm afraid I don't know that very well either," Gennai admitted. "But I do know that you both possess qualities that will help in combating this threat. Daichi," he said as he turned to him, "you know most of the technical aspects of Digimon, how the various attributes work and what kind of move works better on any one Digimon. Isamu, you have experience with the shows, an experience so intimate, you might as well have been a character yourself."
"Maybe," Isamu said, "but for all my knowledge of the shows, there's still one thing I haven't figured out." He held up his tag. "What kind of crest is this?" Gennai walked over to Isamu and looked at the crest.
"Let's see if I remember this right. Isamu, your crest is the Crest of Justice. It goes to the one who hates evil and is able to recognize it even when no one else can. The bearer of this crest refuses to take any action against anyone unless they truly believe the person or creature deserves it. Daichi…" Daichi held his own tag… "yours is the Crest of Acceptance. This crest is for the one who accepts what he cannot change or control and changes with the situation."
"Makes sense," Daichi pondered. "When Coredramon Digivolved into Groundramon, I told Cerberumon I didn't care about not knowing everything. And before he became Wingdramon, I was ready to accept that he might become Groundramon again despite the disadvantage and danger."
"And when Cerberumon destroyed Gigadramon," Isamu said with the same wonder, "I wanted to put a stop to his evil deeds once and for all."
"We both did," Wormmon said.
"Uh, Gennai," Daichi said, "now that I think about it, what went wrong with Dracomon the first time?"
"I'm sorry?" Gennai responded.
"When Dracomon Digivolved to ultimate for the first time," Daichi clarified, "he became Groundramon. Did I do something wrong?"
Gennai chuckled. "Actually, it was all perfectly natural. Nothing wrong with it at all."
"Natural?" Dracomon asked, amazed at Gennai's statement. "You mean to say that becoming a rampaging monster and destroying a mountain wall, possibly causing an avalanche, was natural?"
"It was your first time as a virus who has a natural tendency to be violent," Gennai said. "You couldn't control it. Here, let me give you a Digimon biology lesson, strictly 101." He snapped his fingers and an image appeared out of thin air, almost as though an invisible screen had appeared. The image was of Dracomon. "Nice, huh? I can also use this to find the nearest pizza joint."
"I don't know," Dracomon said. "The picture takes me look bigger."
"Trust me," Wormmon said, "it's not the picture." Dracomon just glared at him.
"Anyway," Gennai continued as the picture shifted from Dracomon's image to a silhouette, "imagine this as the inside of Dracomon's body, with all the unimportant details removed." The inside of the image showed a small sphere with swirling blue and green.
"What's that ball?" Daichi asked.
"That's his Digital Core," Gennai answered, "the part that keeps his data together in one body. Now let me bring up Wormmon for comparison." Wormmon's outline appeared next to Dracomon's with another sphere, but this was solid green. "Don't think I need to go over any differences here." The Wormmon image disappeared. "Now the core of Dracomon is unique in that it changes with the location. When he's in a forested area or an area with a lot of earth…" the green in the sphere started to replace the blue, "the virus attribute becomes more noticeable. If he's in a rocky region or a more open area…" now the level of blue began to rise, "his vaccine qualities are more apparent."
"Wait a minute," Daichi said. "Forest, virus, Green Coredramon, Groundramon; mountains, vaccine, Blue Coredramon, Wingdramon."
"Starting to get it, eh?" Gennai asked. "What happened with Groundramon was nothing more than a shock at being a full virus type. He'll get used to it, I'm sure."
"Let's hope," Dracomon said. "I don't think I'd like it very much if I killed my friends."
"Well, like you said," Daichi pointed out, "you were still aware of what was going on. Maybe you'll get the hang of it."
"And if worse comes to worse," Wormmon added, "I can take care of it again, now that we know you can live through it."
"Well, that's almost all the wisdom I have for today," Gennai said as the screen disappeared. "But before you go, I have a couple of things for you." He walked to a shelf and pulled out two objects. He walked over to Daichi first with both hands behind his back. "Daichi, as illiterate on the show as you are, I bet you'll recognize this." He revealed his left hand and handed Daichi a card. It was colored blue and on one side was a stylized letter "D" with the silhouette of a Digimon on it.
"A Blue Card?" Daichi asked. "Well, you're right in that I know what this is, but I don't really need it. I mean, I'd think you'd remember about Dracomon reaching the ultimate level. We only just finished talking about it."
"Well," Gennai said, "while the Blue Card itself was one of the things that made it into the human world's TV show, the proper function wasn't. You'll see." He then walked to Isamu. "Isamu, use this wisely." He revealed his other hand showed a gold object that was shaped like an upright, octoganal prism, except for the top part, which became narrower. On the top was a design that looked like a stylized letter "M" with four points leading away from it.
"The Digi-Egg of Miracles," Isamu said as he took it from Gennai.
"What does that mean?" Wormmon said.
"With this, we can access Golden Armor," Isamu explained.
"Just the name makes it sound good," Wormmon said.
"But it shouldn't be used lightly," Gennai said. "Once you use it, you'd have to find it again. And it gets trickier every time."
"I'll keep that in mind," Isamu said. He pointed his D-3 at the Egg. Without any effort, the Egg flew into the D-3. Daichi put his new card in his pocket, placing it next to his decks.
"Now that we got that settled," Gennai said, "I suggest making your way to the Flower Fields. You might find your next step there."
"So does that mean we walk back down the mountain?" Dracomon asked.
"I only have three parting words for you," Gennai said as he held his hand up, looking like he would snap them again. "Hold on tight." He snapped and suddenly the floor sank under the Digi-Destined into the ground, taking them with it. As he looked down the hole, he said to himself, "Those six are our only hope to save both worlds."
"Six"? What does he mean by that? And what exactly will the Digi-Destined find at the Flower Fields? These answers and more as Digimon: Digital Monsters continues!
There you have it. No-Prizes to Jackpot 2 for getting both crests right. Well, technically he called Isamu's crest "Judgment," but that may have been my fault, since, if you'll notice, both crests' names are the last two chapter titles. But anyway, good work, Jackpot.
This is CF, signing out.