Chapter 5:

In her bedroom, Daisuke, whose arms were not wrapped in bandages was wearing a dark green tank top and a pair of blue shorts, was sitting on a chair in front of her study desk.

On the desk was a stack of paper talismans she made in case she needs to fight an enslaved digimon, her holy text was laid directly in front of her, closed, and there was a few vials of strange colored liquids and powdered herbs sitting on a rack.

Daisuke sighed as she leans back on her chair, deep in thought.

'Should I go to the Digital World with the Digidestind today? They've seen my powers and they might not want me in their team anymore but what if…' Daisuke mentally debate before a beeping sound brought her back to reality.

Without turning her head to the source of the sound, the brunet throws an eraser that precisely hit the snooze button on her alarm clock.

Sighing again, Daisuke gets up from her chair and heads to the kitchen to make breakfast while she wraps bandages around her arms again.

After making breakfast and taking her shower, Daisuke wears her usual black hooded jacket, red T-shirt and pair of dark blue pants.

Before leaving her room to wait until it was time to head to school, Daisuke stashed the talismans and vials into her inside jacket pockets and left with a backpack slung onto her shoulder and her holy text in her hand.

Walking into the kitchen, she saw her family eating the pancakes she made earlier.

Sitting down at her usual seat, Daisuke paid no mind to her family members as she started reciting her holy text.

Soon it was time for Daisuke to head to school and left after giving her proper goodbyes to her family.

Since it was very early in the morning, the street to the school was usually empty; thus the reason Daisuke was slightly shocked that she bumped into the Digidestind and their digimons.

"It's you guys. What are you going to school so early in the morning?" Daisuke asks as they walk in a group.

"We wanted to talk to you and since you always appeared in school before everyone else, we assume you always left early in the morning and left early to meet you" Kari explained.

"There's nothing to really talk about, so you just wasted waking up early for nothing" Daisuke said rudely as she started quickening her pace but she was forcefully turned around to face a worried TK.

"Come on Dais, part of working as a team is trusting each other" the blond said gently.

"No".

"Why won't you talk to us?! You're acting like a spoiled brat!" Yolei yelled in annoyance.

"Shut up!" Daisuke growled and then the pavement near the computer nerd's feet mysteriously shatters.

The Digidestind yelped and jumped back in shock while the brunet tried to calm herself down.

"Dais, how do you keep doing that? Is it one of those spells that you learned?" Cody asks the older brunet.

"You guys won't stop bugging me about that until I tell you what it was, aren't 'cha?" Daisuke mused before taking a deep breath.

"No, that's not one of my spells. I was born with this ability… No, curse, where at times, things start breaking or people get hurt for no reason but it doesn't happen often" she explained.

"So then why when you destroyed the Control Spire did you suddenly start vomiting blood?" TK asks.

"That's actually a side effect of my powers; they rip my body apart from the inside out" Daisuke informed, shocking the Digidestind.

"Urgh, your powers really do sound like a curse" Yolei commented in disgusts.

"Now you understand why I don't like talking about my powers. Come on, let's hurry up for school".

The group continued on their walk and arrived at the front gate of Odaiba Elementary.

They walk across the empty schoolyard and sat down at a bench.

"It'll be a while until the first school bell rings, so what do you guys want to do until then?" TK asks the group as he puts his backpack down next to the bench.

"Well I was planning on practicing a few countermeasures I made in case we come across the Digimon Emperor but it'll have to be put on hold since you guys are here" Daisuke said with a shrug of her shoulders as she stands a few steps away from the bench.

"Wait, you made new moves that could help beat the Digimon Emperor?" Kari asks from her place on the left side of the bench.

"Their actually not that new, I already learned these things when I was younger but hadn't use them since then" the taller brunet admitted as she takes out a baton from her backpack.

"When you were younger? How old were you when you first learned how to do this stuff?" Yolei asks from sitting at the right side of the bench.

"Let's see… I started learning to become a Digital Mage after I first met Ryoki, which was about seven years ago, so… Six years old?".

"Six?!" the Digidestind exclaimed in shock just as Daisuke finished drawing a circle that looked just like the one in her room on the dirt with her baton.

Daisuke retracted her baton and kept it in her jacket pocket before biting down on her right index finger, making it bleed.

"I called upon the hunter demon of rot to come forth and bring all those who dare oppose it to eternal suffering" Daisuke chanted before splashing her blood into the circle.

Suddenly, thick black smoke emitted from inside the circle and everyone was unable to see what was happening inside it.

When the smoke cleared, standing at the center of the circle was a large bipedal creature that resembled a zombie but its head did not have any eyes and its mouth was sewed shut, it had muscular human arms with clawed like fingers, muscular torso but its feet were deformed, shaped like that of a canine's and it had a long thick tail.

The Digidestind looked in horror at the creature as it sniffs the air like a wolf hunting for its prey.

"What is that thing?" Yolei gasps, accidentally attracting the creature's attention.

It walked on all fours towards the lavender haired girl until their faces were just inches apart.

"Oh my god, this thing smells awful!" Yolei complained as she tries to back away from the creature but it moved closer, maintaining the distance between them.

"Hey! Come back into the circle this instance!" Daisuke ordered in a strong confident voice that one would expect from her.

The creature turns its head towards its master for a moment, like it was staring at her before turning towards Yolei and then back to its master.

It crawled away from the computer nerd and kneeled in the middle of the magical circle like it was a dog, waiting for its master to do something.

"Whoa Dais, what is that thing and how could you manage to control it?" TK asks, astonished just like everyone else.

"It's called a Digital Spirit. An entity that is made of data like a digimon but it barely possess a physical form and some of them have next to no intellectual abilities other than following its master's commands. This creature is my Digital Summoning, a spirit that is bond to me and me alone and will do whatever I tell it to do" Daisuke informed before erasing part of the magical circle with her foot.

Suddenly, the creature exploded into a mist of black smoke that smelled like decayed corpses.

"What just happened?" Kari asks after everyone got over the shock of the spirit disappearing.

"I broke the magical circle I made. Digital Summonings that are used by humans can only be called upon when a magical circle is made. Once broken, the bonds between Summoner and Summoning are gone and the spirit is returned to the unknown void of digital existence" Daisuke explained with an emotionless face but the glint in her eyes showed how amused she was from see the shocked faces.

(Flashback begins)

Ryoki and a six year old Daisuke were standing at the roof of the younger brunet's apartment building.

They were several feet away from each other both with a magical circle in front of them.

"Okay Daisuke, this is another part of the things you need to learn in order to become a powerful Digital Mage like me. It's called Digital Summoning. See these circles? I had drawn one for me to use and another one for you. Now watch how I use it" Ryoki instructed as he takes out a pocket knife and cuts the palm of his hand.

"I call upon the spirit of Hellfire to rise and cleanse the sins of the damned with your eternal flame!" he chanted before splashing his blood into his magical circle.

Smoke emitted from the circle and after it cleared, there was a large dragon made completely out of bright orange flames.

Daisuke gasps in awe at the creature and was about to step on her magical circle in an attempt to get a closer look at the creature.

"Don't step on the circle, Daisuke; it'll lose its effect. Watch" Ryoki said as he rubs away a part of the magical circle.

The fire dragon suddenly exploded into a mist of orange flames right in front of them.

"Now do you understand? Now try summoning your own Summoning. Remember; just chant whatever comes to mind".

Daisuke stares at the magical circle in front of her for a while before taking a deep breath and cuts the palm of her hand.

"From the depths of the darkness, hear my call and come forth to my aid!" Daisuke chanted as she splashes her blood into her magical circle.

Smoke appeared and after it disappeared, a large snake that was made of decayed body parts sewed together with mushrooms growing on its back appeared in the circle.

Both Ryoki and Daisuke stared at the Summoning in awe as it tastes the air with its tongue.

"D-Daisuke, your Summoning is a champion level spirit" Ryoki gasps while walking up to the creature.

"Really? Does that mean I did good for my first try?" Daisuke asks.

"You didn't just do good, you did amazingly well! I was expecting a Rookie level spirit at best from someone of your age and experience! You're a really special kid, Daisuke" Ryoki said with a smile as he ruffles Daisuke's hair.

(Flashback Ends)

The sound of people laughing and talking brought Daisuke out of her flashback and it was at that moment that she notices students start flooding through the front gate and into the schoolyard.

"Looks like I'll have to postpone testing out those other things for now. See you guys later" Daisuke said before running off to her classroom to wait for the school bell to ring.

The others followed suit and went to their classes.

The day went by at its usual pace and soon the final bell rang, signaling for all students to go back home.

As Daisuke was walking to the computer lab to go to the Digital World, she about to walk past the staircase when she saw Cody going down the stairs and leaving.

"Hey Cody, where are you going? You're not coming with us to the Digital World?" Daisuke asks.

"I have kendo class today and I can't miss it, my grandfather is the teacher" Cody explained.

"Oh, well I'll tell everyone that you won't be coming with us".

Cody nodded his thanks before continuing to down the stairs and disappearing from sight.

"Dais, where was Cody going?" asks a voice beside Daisuke.

Daisuke turns towards the source of the voice and saw Kari standing next to her.

"He had kendo class and won't be able to come with us to the Digital World" she explained before turning around and resumed her walk towards the computer lab.

When they arrive at the computer lab, they saw that Yolei and TK were already there and were looking at something on the computer while the digimons were eating some food that the computer nerd had brought from her family convenient store.

"Hey Kari look at this, there's an emergency signal coming from the Digital World" TK waved to Kari without removing his gaze from the computer.

Daisuke and Kari walk towards the computer and saw a map of the Digital World that had a bunch of white, grey and black squares.

One of the black squares that was surrounded by other black squares was blinking red.

"The signal's coming from an area that's farther than anywhere we've ever been" TK said.

"Well there goes our frequent flyer miles" Kari mused.

"Hey, where's Cody?" Upamon asks, sitting on a chair with a frown on his face.

"Cody couldn't make it, he had kendo class today" Daisuke informed the In-Training digimon.

"What's kendo?".

Daisuke resist the urge to sigh, knowing that digimons like Upamon would not know what kendo was and she took out her baton.

After extending it, she got into a defensive stance before doing a few attack and defense moves.

Everyone in the computer lab stared in awe at Daisuke's kendo demonstration and was still staring even after she kept the baton.

"Those that answer your question?" Daisuke mused but suddenly everyone heard footsteps coming towards the computer lab door.

They waited in silence as they watch the door slide open but it was not Cody that walked inside but instead it was a tall blue haired man with glasses wearing a blue jacket over a white shirt and a pair of grey pants and carrying a plastic bag filled with something.

"Joe!" Kari and TK exclaimed with joy.

Daisuke and Yolei stared at the bluenett in confusion seeing as they do not know all of the older generation of Digidestind.

"Oh, I forgot; you guys haven't met Joe yet" Kari said.

"Hello, my name's Joe Kido" Joe said politely.

"Hi, I'm Yolei and this is my partner, Poromon" Yolei introduced as she shakes the older boy's hand.

"I'm Daisuke but you can call me Dais, I don't have a partner" Daisuke said in a formal manner while shaking Joe's hand.

"Ah, so you're Daisuke Motomiya, I heard a lot about you from the other older Digidestind" the doctor-to-be said and just then the door slides open again but this time it was Cody that walked inside, tired and breathing heavily.

"Cody, what are you doing here? I thought you had kendo class?" Kari asks as the smaller brunet tries to catch his breath.

"I did but I found out that saving the Digital World and stopping the Digimon Emperor was more important, so I quickly came back before you guys left" Cody explained.

"You came! You came!" Upamon chanted as he bounces around his partner's feet.

"Sorry about him".

"My partner is just as energetic" Joe reassured the smaller boy.

"Hey Joe, did you receive a distress signal?" TK asks.

"Yeah I did. How did you know?".

"Because when Gabumon got injured, Matt's digivice started reacting to the distress signal".

"Then Gomamon must be in trouble!" Joe said before everyone got sucked into the computer.

The group soon appeared in on a snowy hill next to a forest.

"Wow, it's freezing here" Yolei complained as she and Cody hug themselves to stay warm.

'These two aren't used to the Digital World's freezing tundras' Daisuke thought as Joe started handing hand warmers to everyone.

Yolei was struggling to open her hand warmer and it slipped out of her hand, landing onto the snow, melting it away.

When she lifted the hand warmer, it revealed a white seal creature with purple markings and orange hair from the top of his head to his back.

"Gomamon!" Joe exclaimed as he and the others dig his partner out of the snow.

"Joe…" the seal, Gomamon, mumbled in pain.

"What day of the week is it?".

"Saturday?".

"Actually it's Tuesday, but you were never that good at telling what day it is. So I guess you're alright" Joe concluded as he takes out his first aid kit to heal his partner.

"Hey guys look, a Control Spire" Daisuke said, pointing at the black tower in the horizon.

"Let's go take it down!" Yolei said with enthusiasm but was shot down by Daisuke.

"We can't just rush in; there's a giant empty field between us and the tower, we'll never make it and none of my spells, talismans or Summonings can hit it from this range. We need to get closer somehow".

"Too bad I didn't bring any snowboards" Joe mused.

"Hey Joe, do you have any rope inside that bag of yours?" Daisuke asks while inspecting a tree from the nearby forest.

"Yeah, why?".

Daisuke did not anything as she takes a few steps back.

"The sharp wind of the heavens will cleanse thy soul from darkness!" Daisuke chanted while doing some hand movements.

Compressed gusts of wind fly out from behind Daisuke and cut the trees down.

Joe immediately understood what Daisuke was planning and took out the rope from his bag before tying two logs together.

The others soon figure out what the plan was and started helping in tying the logs together.

A moment later, the group made a large sled with the logs and all the humans except Daisuke climbed onto it while the digimons had ropes tied onto them.

"Are you guys really going to use your digimons to pull this sled all the way to the Control Tower?" Daisuke asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Well how else are we going to get to the Control Tower?" Kari asks.

Daisuke sighed in annoyance as she takes out a talisman from her jacket but instead of a digital code being written on it, there was a roughly drawn magical circle on it.

"Wolf of the damned, I call upon your immortal assistance!" Daisuke chanted before biting her thumb and smearing the blood onto the talisman.

Smoke appeared and soon a large wolf made from decayed canine parts.

"Your digimons are needed for fighting the Digimon Emperor, so we can't let them get injured on the way to the Control Tower. I'm letting you use my Summoning as a replacement for your digimons" Daisuke said as she kept the talisman in her jacket pocket.

"Urgh, Dais; why are all your Summonings walking corpses?" Yolei asks in disgusts as she holds her nose.

"Because that's the only type of Summonings that I'm good at controlling; Summoners generally have only one type of Summonings that they can control, very few can control more than one type".

"Why did you have to be so good at summoning spirits that reek?" TK commented as he and Joe helped Daisuke tied the rope around her Summoning while holding their breaths.

"You'll get used to the smell, I do".

Everyone climbed onto the sled and with whistle from its master, the Summoning started running towards the Control Tower at fast pace.

But as the group were running across the frozen field that separated them from the Control Tower, their route was blocked by a row of large snowmen with black dots for eyes and nose and two big red dots on their chest.

"Frigimons, plow right through them boy" Daisuke ordered before summoning a shield to protect everyone from oncoming attack.

The snowmen, Frigimons, started firing blasts of cold air that freeze on contact with the shield but did not harm any of the sled's occupants as they easily went pass them.

"Yeah, we made it!" everyone cheered in excitement except for Daisuke.

"Don't celebrate to soon guys, we're about to hit the water!" Daisuke exclaimed as her Summoning tried to stop the sled before they fell into the ice cold water.

The sled stopped just before it could fall into the water but Cody accidentally fell out and Gomamon had to jump into the water and save him.

Later, the group was sitting in a cave by a fire.

Cody was sitting by the fire, shivering.

Daisuke, who was leaning against the cave wall, could tell that the smaller brunet will get sick if nothing was done.

Daisuke took off her hooded jacket and covered Cody with it, shocking everyone with the gesture.

"Your body isn't used to Digital World's freezing winds, let alone its freezing cold waters. So you'll need my jacket more than I do" Daisuke explained for actions while taking out a hand full of paper talismans from the inner pockets.

"Hey Dais, how could you stand being in this freezing weather?" Yolei asks, shivering slightly from the cold air.

"Part of learning to be a Digital Mage requires you to be able to live through harsh environments like it was nothing. Hesitation and doubt would mean death for people like us" Daisuke said as she keeps the talismans in her pants pockets.

"Dais, what is a Digital Mage?" Kari asks.

"Digital Mages are humans who study and practice abilities and knowledge that was thought to only be privileged to digimons. Spell reciting, Talisman sealing, Spirit summoning and Digital pharmacology, were general classifications of the things that we learn and use. The first five humans to enter the Digital World used these things to defeat a powerful digimon many years ago and saved the world".

"Wait, so the first Digidestind that came before Tai's group were actually humans that learned to use digimon's abilities?" TK gasps at the new information that was given to them.

"Yep, now come on guys; we have a Control Tower to destroy" Daisuke said before walking out of the cave.

Everyone except Joe, Cody and their partners followed her out of the cave and into the cold.

They ran through the remaining distance towards the Control Spire, but were attacked by a bunch of Frigimons.

"I don't have time for you walking snowmen!" Daisuke growled in anger as she slaps two seals onto her arms before flames engulf them.

Daisuke charged at the front most Frigimon with her arms raised to block any of the incoming attacks.

The Frigimon fire a blast of cold air at the brunet but it evaporated instantly when it came in contact with the flames.

Daisuke dived down and punched the black ring on the snow digimon's leg, just as Halsemon destroys another dark ring from another Frigimon.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon bind several Frigimon together before hitting them with their attacks, destroying the dark rings.

With all the Frigimons freed, the group turned their attention towards the Control Spire.

"The eternal burning flames of the rising phoenix, cleanse this land of thy filth!" Daisuke chanted as she made some hand movements before a stream of fire emitted from the ground and destroyed the Control Spire.

"No matter how many times I've seen you done that, it still amazes me how you can make stuff appear out of thin air" TK mused as the group went back to the cave.

But when the group arrives back at the cave, they saw Digmon and a large white furry creature with a black horn just finished battling a large lobster like creature.

"Hey guys, we destroyed the Control Spire!" Kari called out as they reached the smaller group.

"We saw it, nice work guys" Joe complimented before turning towards his partner, who had de-digivolve back to his Rookie form.

"Gomamon, you have to protect this place in case the Digimon Emperor tries to capture it again" he instructed.

"Great, just what I wanted; my own frozen wasteland!" Gomamon cheered sarcastically.

Everyone except Daisuke, who was putting back on her jacket, laughed at the seal's joke before returning back to the Real World.