Play of Spirits
Chapter 8 - The Storm's Second Layer

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Tomoki was suddenly alone in the dark. The lights that came from Izumi's and Junpei's cell phones suddenly vanished and didn't come back. It wasn't like before, when one had flicked on and off as though trying to code – but whatever it was, Tomoki didn't recognise it, and there was no response from the other so he suspected only one of the three knew what they'd been doing.

Luckily Junpei had gotten them into touch with each other. And they'd come up with a plan, even if he'd contributed nothing to it at all.

And now they were gone and he was here, unable to see Izumi's signal telling him to curl into a ball and drop. And he waited and waited and waited because he didn't want to waste all that effort and get even further separated from the others and he couldn't tell the peaks and the troughs of the wind at all and Izumi must have very sharp ears to be able to pick that up at all – or he was going deaf. Deaf at nine years old. Not that it wasn't possible, but it was still pretty unbelievable.

But that wouldn't mean he wouldn't have to listen to what everybody said about him, right?

Or maybe it was blindness instead. Maybe he'd already touched the ground and just couldn't see anything different – but no. He moved his feet in a cycling motion through the air – though it felt pretty silly in gym class – and he felt nothing but the air.

Then he saw a flash of light and wondered if he really was going blind after all. But it didn't seem like that was the case either because after some frantic blinking, he could see a little through burning eyes. A dwarf-like creature with a hammer and it swung down – onto water? There was water right under them? That explained where Izumi and Jumpei went. They were heavier so they would've fallen first.

…hang on. They fell into the water?! Tomoki scrambled and then he fell. Either he'd upset his precautious balance or the dwarf swimging the hammer did. Either way, he plunged into the ice cold water and there was only enough time to flip into a dive so he was the one in control. And then he forced his eyes open underwater and hoped whatever light source that dwarf had, it was on their side and would hold up underwater too.

It did, though not terribly well. Well enough though because he spotted Izumi straight away. But no Junpei, even if there was no time to think about that. Izumi was sinking and not moving otherwise and Tomoki was smaller and he had to manoeuvre the both of them up.

Then there was a scream above them that terrified him and almost made him lose his grip on Izumi – but then the roar faded and so did the light and Tomoki could only hope he was striking out in the right direction.

He was. He broke the surface and pulled Izumi up and the dwarf was on the shore now, back to the water. But the shore was so far away and Tomoki couldn't seem to catch his breath and Izumi didn't seem to be breathing at all.

Damn it. Couldn't he even save one person? Was he that useless?

'Help!' He choked on his own words, but somehow the dwarf heard, because it looked back. And then it was running towards them, and sinking, and slamming its hammer into the waves so the water split apart and picking the two of them up under his arms and carrying them both back to the shore. But when it goes to put its hands against Izumi's chest, Tomoki gathers his wits. "Wait!' he cried. 'You'll crush her ribs.'

'I wouldn't,' muttered the dwarf forlornly – and he sounded so familiar. Why? 'I mean, I wouldn't mean to but I – but this – ' And he buried his face into his hands. 'How the heck did I just turn into a monster? What witch did I piss of?'

And then it clicked and Tomoki paused in his own compressions (because his brother was very big on survival skills and CPR was at the top of the list). 'Junpei-san?' he asked, incredulously.

'Yeah,' the dwarf muttered sadly.

Then Izumi started coughing water and something frothy and Junpei tossed his own musings aside to calm a panicking Tomoki. 'That means water's gotten into her lungs and it's coming out now. If it all comes out, it should be fine. Just pat her back and keep her upright and coughing.'

And Tomoki tried. He really tried but he was cold and wet and tired too and smaller and not very strong, and he couldn't keep a girl two years his elder and almost dead weight upright and pat her back as well. So Junpei held her up and Tomoki rubbed her back as his mother would rub his whenever he had the hiccups and Izumi just spluttered water and white frothy stuff onto the ground and into her lap.

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Later, they started a fire and sat by it. Junpei found the wood and smashed it up with his newfound hammer and Tomoki lit the wood. His hands burned from rolling the twig between his palms by the end of it, but that was another thing his brother taught him. All those things he'd thought was a waste of time were now coming in handy, and he made a mental note to thank his brother when he got back home.

Izumi was curled up and asleep – or unconscious, but at least she was breathing now.

And Junpei was still a lumpy dwarf with a hammer. And a droopy purple hat.

'So you… don't know what happened?' Tomoki asked.

Junpei shook his head. 'We hit the water, I guess,' he said. 'Izumi and me. You must've gotten lucky since you were still hovering. Light enough to miss it. And it was freezing cold. I couldn't move at all. Almost passed out right then and there but then there was a big flash of light and I could move.'

'You swung that hammer of yours and split the water, just like that Prophet split the Red Sea,' Tomoki agreed. 'And it was because you were glowing that I could see, even underwater. I wouldn't have found Izumi otherwise.'

All three of their phones were waterlogged and they hadn't bothered drying them yet. Their bodies were more important. So they sat around the fire and dried and talked – and tried to understand. They still struggled.

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And now one of the children had found their spirits. It was a mix of luck and necessity and it wasn't the most appropriate one but that was on purpose as well. They needed to understand their antithesis before they could fully understand themselves. And they would. They would realise the parts of themselves that were lost to them before because they'd made the strong bits even stronger but barely scratched the surface of their weaknesses and that was their failing, the failing of humans.

Then again, digimon didn't go out of their way to try and correct their failings either. It was the way of nature, to take the path of least resistance and the path that was the least time consuming and ended in the least sacrifices – but they couldn't usually see that far and wound up losing more than they were prepared to in the end.

The ability to see the future that could occur was as much a gift as it was a curse. And if she could use that knowledge to spare them all that future, then it wasn't a curse at all.

They struggled now, but it would save them in the long run. She was sure of it.

She was so sure, that she could turn a blind eye to the way they suffered now, knowing there'd be smiles at the end of the road.

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Izumi awoke and she was just as confused as the rest of them where, except Junpei had calmed down a bit by then and didn't go running off waving that unwieldly hammer of his. But Izumi was gaping at him so long that Tomoki couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Junpei, to bear all that scrutiny.

And all he said was a small and meet: 'Hi, Izumi-chan.'

'You – you're – ' she spluttered, before shaking herself. 'I'm dreaming, right? Tomoki-kun, why aren't you something weird as well?'

'You're not dreaming,' Tomoki said, as Junpei visibly drooped.

But Izumi seemed to have figured that out herself, and she covered her mouth with both hands and pitched forward. 'Oh, I'm so sorry, Junpei-san, I didn't mean –'

'Just call me Junpei,' Junpei offered. 'Then we're cool?'

She stared at him. 'Junpei?'

'Yeah?'

She shook her head and there was a small smile playing on her lips. Tomoki knew what that meant. Izumi felt sorry for Junpei-san as well. 'Okay, Junpei it is. And Tomoki. And just call me Izumi.'

'I can't do that!' Not it was Tomoki's turn to splutter. 'You're both way older than me!'

'That'll be less of a big difference once we've all grown up,' Junpei pointed out, 'but if it bothers you, you can always call me Junpei-nii. I've kind of wanted a little brother.' At the silence, he drooped again: 'Unless you don't want…'

'I have an older brother,' Tomoki interrupted. 'But you're far nicer than him already.'

Junpei brightened up visibly.

Izumi smiled as well. 'Just as long as you're not a bratty little brother, I'm cool with you calling me Izumi-nee as well,' she said.

Tomoki nodded. 'Junpei-ni and Izumi-nee.' He was feeling a little safer already.

Then Junpei flopped on the ground and there was a far bigger question than what to call each other, especially when Izumi tried to climb over the log and tripped. She was still too cold. And Junpei was stiff from the cold as well.

Couldn't dwarves handle the cold? Tomoki thought he remembered a story where they lived in the cold mountains – or was it only the top of the mountains that were cold? Wasn't it the same story where gold poured out from under the mountains because of how warm it was inside? Or was that something different?

And he was the only one who could stand on his two feet for the moment.

And then he realised why. They'd been talking and not keeping an eye on the fire and it was starting to cool down. And the ice that sparkled in the distance seemed even closer now – though he was sure that was just an illusion. Ice couldn't form that fast. Not over so wide of a space.

And if he wanted wood, he'd need to go closer to the ice anyway. Hopefully the wood was brittle and easy to break, because he couldn't carry Junpei's hammer.

And hopefully there wasn't anything scary in the forest, because neither Izumi nor Junpei were in any condition to go with him.

He took a deep breath and crept towards the sparse forest, and put a hand against the first tree. He pushed it. It groaned but held. He pushed with his shoulder. It groaned a little more but still held. He tried pushing some more. Punching it. Kicking it. His knuckles bled and the trunk stayed straight and tall.

Then again, could he have even carried the trunk? And didn't Yutaka tell him that lighter wood burnt better? He should be looking for twigs.

He ducked his head, embarrassed, and plunged a little deeper into the forest until crunching leaves turned into crunching twigs, and then he picked them up. Or tried to. It was pretty dark that far from the fire and it was only serving as a beacon back now. He couldn't go too much further without losing it entirely and that would be bad. He'd freeze to death – or he'd make a fire in the middle of the forest and potentially burn it all to a crisp. Either choice was a bad idea.

He just had to make sure not to get out of sight of the fire or out too long. And it shouldn't be too hard. He could only carry so much anyway, right? And when he couldn't pick up another stick, he headed back to the glow.

Except there was no Izumi nor Junpei there. There was just a little crater in the soil, and something glowing underneath.

'What in the world?' he said, staring at it. It was warm, like a fire – but it wasn't a fire. And, more importantly, it wasn't their campfire.

He was lost. Oh boy. He opened his mouth to shout for someone – and his voice got caught in his throat. What if it was a trap? What if there are monsters just waiting for someone to trip their trap? What if it was spirits who wanted to feast on foolish souls or robbers thinking he had riches… Well, he certainly didn't have those and he didn't think he had a very tasty soul either. He was only nine years old!

He tried to back away but that was when his knees gave out and the twigs tumbled from his arms. That was bad – no wait, it wasn't a fire, right? It shouldn't catch –

But it caught. They all caught: those twigs, one at a time and he could only watch the fire quickly grow and he tried to roll over the burning twigs because you drop and roll when there's a fire, right? And if he put it out quickly, then nothing else would get burnt.

But the fire was hot. Really hit. As soon as it touched his shirt it seemed to turn it into ash and leave a blister underneath.

And this time he did scream. If there were spirits or thieves or monsters waiting to eat him, it would be better than being burnt alive. Though he wasn't thinking about spirits or thieves or monsters right then. He was only thinking of the fire. Getting it out. Getting away from it. Honestly, he didn't know which direction he was rolling in anymore. He didn't know if he even was still rolling.

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He woke up and his entire body was still burning. 'Sorry. I'm sorry!' That was Izumi's voice, but why was she apologising?

He opened his eyes. It was bright, like there was a sun in the sky now and they'd slept the day away and that was good. They'd survived a night and everybody was okay.

Then he tried to sit up but really couldn't because neither of them could move when he'd left. He'd gone to look for firewood for them. He'd dropped it all and it had burned because of that weird glowing thing –

And now what?

'You scared us,' Izumi said softly. She stroked his hair. Where was his hat? And his hair wasn't quite that long, was it? Something was strange. Something was wrong. 'You were on fire and screaming and rolling but Junpei was smart. He pushed you towards the water and it cooled you down. But you couldn't stay in the water all night. You'd catch hypothermia. So we pulled you out and then you warmed back up.' She laughed a little. 'It's been a bit of a juggling act, honestly. But you were a nice warm heater for me, you know. Bet you never thought you'd get a cuddle from a cute girl.'

'I would've thought about it one day,' Tomoki defended himself. 'Maybe when I was thirteen.'

'Are you saying I think about it now?' Junpei – still the dwarf by the sounds of things – asked from somewhere nearby.

'No…' Tomoki paused. His voice sounded weird. Was that from screaming? Or from rolling into the water again?

Izumi must have noticed something in his expression because she helped him up.

And he was taller than her. What in the world?

'You can see your reflection in the water,' she suggested.

He followed that suggestion because it sounded extremely reasonable when he was feeling completely out of proportion. And he stumbled all the way because his height was all wrong and that made his gait all wrong as well. He stumbled but at least he didn't trip. It would be even harder to stand up again. It was like he'd slept for years and had a growth spurt to boot. Or wound up in his brother's body.

Or had a transformation much like Junpei had, because now he had red armour and oily skin underneath and blond hair and fire humming in his fists and in his feet.

He stared at his fists. There were black over the top of his hands and when he shook one, sparks flew out.

He did fall with that one. But who could blame him? Sparks came right out of his fist!

'It's not as cold anymore,' Izumi added, from somewhere behind him.

Wasn't she scared?

…well, she'd had a good amount of time to come to grips with it, he supposed. And it would've been cool – because he was tall! And he had fire… darts? He could throw around if any monsters came up on them.

But he definitely remembered everything burning. The forest. And maybe the ice they'd seen beyond it too.

'What are you thinking?' Junpei asked.

He'd been silent too long, hadn't he? 'I thought… the glacier must've been really beautiful.'

'Really? I'd think the sky's the best of them all. Though it's too bad you slept through the sunrise.'

Tomoki just stared at him. He'd completely missed the point! But no, Izumi was nodding as well. 'Yeah, the sky's the best – except when we're tossed into it completely blind. But there are lots of beautiful things on earth too. Do you want to check out the glacier?'

Did he want to? He could've melted it entirely. And he'd have to go through the forest and he knew that had burned. But maybe that was what Izumi was asking.

Didn't his brother always say he should face his problems instead of run away?

Even if not running away from bullies meant he got shoved onto the train that tossed him into this nightmare.

'There isn't much else here,' Junpei said, after a pause. 'Our only other choice would be to try and swim through the water. And the water's still too cold.'

Oh. Oh. The water wasn't an option after all so the only way they could go was through the forest and to the glacier.

They were asking him. If he was ready. If he wanted to know.

Not that there really was a choice this time around. 'Did I burn the forest down?' Please tell me I didn't, even if it's impossible.

'You didn't,' said Junpei, 'though honestly we have no idea why not.'

And Tomoki spun around in time to see Izumi shoot Junpei a glare – and see the forest standing, exactly as it had looked when he'd first walked into it except less dark.

'I have no idea what's going on anymore.' He sunk down onto the soil. 'Everything I follow winds up getting me into trouble.'

'At least you didn't fall right on top of whatever it was,' Junpei sighed. And then did a double-take. 'Wait, what do you mean: followed? You know what caused – ' He waved a hand at the both of them, looking decidedly not-human.

All Tomoki knew about was that glowing thing he'd thought was a fire.

'Well, we were already going into the forest,' Izumi sighed. 'We may as well check it out.'