A/N: Here it is, chapter 19. I would just like to thank Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, Ebonywolf7, Latina shewolf, EclipseStripe, and Taeniaea for reviewing my last chapter. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. :(
The Warrior of Hope
Chapter 19
Alone But Never Alone
We were walking toward the Rose Morning Star, but I was lost in thought. Why was I so weak, even with my fusion evolution? It made no sense. When I was attacking Duskmon, I was filled with power, but when I faced Calamaramon, I could barely harm her. It was like solving a puzzle without knowing what the product would look like; I had no idea what to think.
"Are you okay?" Koji asked me. We were at the back of the group. I knew that the others weren't paying attention, so I decided to tell him about my dream.
I shook my head, "Actually, I have something to tell you about."
"What is it?" Koji asked.
I told him about the dream, how different he looked, what he said, only leaving off the part where I said that I loved him. "So, what do you think that it means?" I asked.
Koji thought about it, "I have no idea, but I don't think that I was talking to you, if it even was me. He was obviously talking about someone who he followed around, who wouldn't even give him a second glance. I feel bad for the guy. But, at the same time, he wasn't only talking about himself. He spoke of him and others not having whatever the other person had."
I nodded, "That makes sense." Inside, I was relieved.
Koji noticed, "Don't worry; I won't ever do that to you. I care about you too much to hurt you like that." He grabbed my hand and smiled at me.
I smiled back, "Thanks, Koji."
Bokomon and Neemon, who were at the front of the group, stopped and turned to look at everybody, "Thank heavens you're back together again. So, is everybody ready to go?"
"But, where are we going, Bokomon?" Neemon asked.
"You're going to follow me, and stop asking ridiculous questions." Bokomon told him.
"Next stop, the Rose Morning Star, right?" J.P. asked. "I'm the leader, follow me, everybody."
We all looked at him for a second, then shrugged and followed.
"1, 2, 3, 4, follow me as we explore! 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, I cannot stand an empty plate!" J.P. chanted.
"Who elected him? Not exactly inspirational as a leader." Takuya remarked.
"Looks like he's just showing off, to me." Zoe said.
"What if we don't want to see what he's showing?" Koji joked.
"I want a turn being the leader!" Tommy said.
"I don't know, leadership takes independence, you ready for that?" Takuya asked.
"Hey, J.P. depends on chocolate, and that didn't stop him!" Tommy said.
I laughed, and then thought about depending on people. I depended on my fellow legendary warriors a lot more than I should. Is that why I'm so weak? No, that makes no sense. If I was so weak, then why would Duskmon want me on the side of evil? It made no sense. Maybe because a lot of digimon looked up to me, and he thought that I was weak enough to be controlled…
Suddenly, the ground in front of us split, separating us from Bokomon and Neemon and creating a terrible wind. We went flying into the air, and I closed my eyes. I opened them when I hit the ground, or, more accurately, when I hit Koji.
He grunted when I landed.
I hurried to get up, "Koji, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just perfect." He replied. He stood up with a wince, but other than that seemed fine.
"Do you mind? Get off me!" Zoe yelled at J.P., who happened to be sprawled on her legs.
"Sorry about that Zoe." J.P. blushed.
"I really am getting tired of falling all the time." Takuya said.
"I don't know how we got here, but it looks like we're trapped." Koji said.
"Are you serious? There's got to be a way out. Feels kind of spongy, this isn't normal rock." Takuya said.
I touched it, and felt it give way to the pressure in my hand, "You're right, that stuff is gross. It feels like the soft palate on the roof of your mouth."
"Zoe, where's J.P.?" Takuya asked.
"I saw him go that way." Zoe pointed down the hall.
We walked down the hall until we came to a dead end, a giant eyeball.
"The owner's sure got a scary decorator." Takuya remarked. "J.P., where are you?"
"Zoe, are you sure that he went this way?" I asked.
"Yeah, this is the way that he went." Zoe said.
"I'm really worried." I said.
"J.P. can take care of himself, at least until we find him." Koji said.
"Yeah, but we have no idea where we are. You never know what could happen. He could be up against Ranamon and Mercurymon all by himself." I said. Not that you could do anything to help, you're too weak. A voice inside me said. "Shut up!" I yelled.
Everyone looked at me with confusion.
"Jade, are you okay?" Koji asked.
I blushed and hid my face behind my bangs, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, um…thinking out loud." I said.
"You were telling yourself to shut up?" Takuya asked.
I laughed, trying to brush it off, "Yeah, but it's nothing."
Takuya gasped, bringing the attention away from me.
"Takuya, what's the matter?" Tommy asked.
"You hear something?" Zoe asked.
"No, more like a feeling. J.P.'s in trouble." Takuya said.
Suddenly, the ceiling started caving in. Hands appeared from the walls and tried to grab me. I dodged and ran toward the middle of the room, with the others.
"Guess that feeling was right." Takuya said.
"Away slimes, back, back!" Tommy kicked at the hands.
A hand reached in the middle of us, and grabbed Zoe's butt. She turned around and hit Takuya in the head, "Bad move, buster! Oops."
"Come on." Takuya said.
"Sorry, Takuya." Zoe said.
We all got out our D-Tectors, "Execute, Spirit Evolution!"
"Agunimon!"
"Lobomon!"
"DeviAngewomon!"
"Kazemon!"
"Kumamon!"
"Want to grab something? Try my Pyro Punch!" Agunimon said as he shot fire out of his hands.
"Lobo Kendo!"
"Evil Charm!"
"Hurricane Wave!"
"Crystal Freeze!"
"These things probably attacked J.P. too." Agunimon said.
"But where is he now?" Kazemon asked.
"The eyeball. My guess is it's some kind of portal, and he's on the other side." Agunimon said.
"Your guess? What happens if you're wrong?" I asked.
"Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." Agunimon said.
I shrugged, "I guess you're right. Let's just hope that you're right."
"Of course we have hope; we have the Legendary Warrior of Hope standing right here." Agunimon pointed at me.
I rolled my eyes, "Wow Takuya, wow."
He grinned, "You ready for this, buddy?"
I nodded, "Let's go."
"J.P.!" He yelled as he ran through the eye.
We followed behind him. Zoe and Tommy tripped as they came out, crashing into Takuya.
"Are you alright?" Takuya asked Zoe, who was lying on top of him.
She gasped and got up, "Of course I am."
I laughed.
"Oh, now that's weird." Koji said.
I looked around and noticed that there were hundreds of copies of us, all around.
"Wow, they look exactly like us, except for their eyes. They're too cruel to be us." I said.
Koji nodded.
"What is this, some kind of evil house of mirrors?" Takuya asked.
I looked around and found that we were in some sort of coliseum. In the middle, a digimon and someone else were facing off.
"J.P.!" Takuya yelled.
"Hey, about time!" J.P. yelled back at us from the middle. He started talking to the digimon in the middle, who I now recognized as Beetlemon. But, that's impossible, J.P. is Beetlemon.
J.P. held up his D-Tector, "Execute, Beast Spirit Evolution! MetalKabuterimon!"
"Slide Evolution! Let's party!" The Beetlemon turned into MetalKabuterimon, but I now saw that he didn't have any color; he was just black and white.
"Oh man!" Takuya said.
"Wow, there are two of them!" Tommy exclaimed.
"Bolo Thunder!" The false MetalKabuterimon shot his attack.
MetalKabuterimon got ready to fire his cannon.
"What are you, nuts? You blow that thing at this range; we're both going to go down!" The false MetalKabuterimon said.
"I don't care; it's a risk I'm willing to take to save my friends from you! Bye, bye, bad seed! Electron Cannon!" MetalKabuterimon fired.
"J.P.!" I yelled.
The explosion got rid of the whole stadium, but somehow, J.P. was still there in the center, lying on the ground.
"J.P.!" We all yelled as we ran towards him.
"Hey, Jeep, you okay?" Koji asked.
"Speak to me." Takuya said.
J.P. sat up, "Did Koji just call me Jeep? Hey, you really are my friends!"
"Of course, you bone head." Takuya said.
"Yeah, but don't tell anybody, all right?" Koji said.
"I was worried about you, J.P.." Tommy said.
"Yeah, I thought that you were in danger." I said.
"I'm just happy that you're all right." Zoe said.
"You mean that?" J.P. asked.
"Sure." Zoe said.
"I'm sorry." J.P. said.
"Why?" Takuya asked.
"I doubted our friendship. It was terrible, I felt like nobody cared about me." J.P. said.
"Of course we care about you." Zoe said.
"Thanks, I'll never doubt our friendship again. You guys are like family to me. You're the best friends I've ever had. Thanks for coming, I love you people!" J.P. said.
"Okay, now I'm uncomfortable." Takuya said.
"Sorry, it's been kind of an emotional day, you know? I'm just glad the gang's back together again." J.P. said.
"Yeah." I said, just as arms popped out of the ground again. One grabbed me by the shirt and brought me up to an eye in the air. "Guys!" I yelled, before I plunged through.
I found myself on the ground, in a dark forest, similar to that from my dream. I looked around, finding that I was all alone once again. I stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes. I started walking forward, hoping to find someone else here.
As I was walking, I noticed that the trees I passed were just like the ones from my dream. I came to a thick patch of trees and hurried past them, only to find myself in the clearing, alone.
I sighed and sat on the ground.
"He's not here." A familiar voice said from behind me. I felt a strong dark aura radiating from whoever it was.
I quickly turned around and faced the voice. I was looking at a pair of purple Nikes identical to my own. My eyes drifted up, seeing skinny jeans and a green and grey striped baggy shirt with brown hair falling down to her middle. I was shaking by the time I looked into the smirking green eyes. I stumbled backward, "Who are you?"
She laughed, "Don't you recognize me?"
I shook my head, "It can't be."
She smiled, "Oh, but it can. I'm you, only I'm more powerful."
I raised my eyebrows, "I highly doubt that."
She laughed, "I know you, inside and out. I know that you really doubt yourself, not my claim to be more powerful."
I froze, how does she know that? I shook it off, "You can't be me, you are filled with darkness, while I am filled with light."
She smiled, "I am who you would be if you embraced the power of darkness."
Now it was my turn to smile, "You are obviously just a copy, I would never choose darkness over light."
She raised her eyebrows, "Ah, but you forget that darkness doesn't mean evil, just as light doesn't mean good. Hove you thought of your digivolution of DeviAngewomon? She is half-light, half-darkness. You have doubted your power, but did you notice that you didn't have nearly as much power when you were LadyBlackGatowomon as when you were Gatowomon, even though LadyBlackGatowomon is supposed to be your strongest evolution? If you used the power of darkness, you would be much stronger. Choose darkness; choose to gain the power to rule this world!"
I stood up and glared at her, "I would never abandon my friends!"
"You would make allies much more powerful than those children who run around saying that they're heroes." She said.
I shook my head, "They don't say that they're heroes, they are heroes. They are saving the digital world from evil like you."
She smirked, "If I'm so evil, how come you're listening to every word I say?"
I turned away, "I'm not considering your offer, if that's what you're thinking."
"Just give in, you can always find new people to protect you. Or, with your new power, you can protect yourself. You will no longer have to rely on anyone. You can be just as strong as you pretend to be." She said.
I thought about it, maybe I could trick her into giving something away. "But, what about my friends?" I asked weakly, as if she was winning.
She smiled, "You don't have to harm them, you can just take their spirits away and send them back to the human world where they belong."
I bit my lip, "How would I get more power?"
She smiled and her face was filled with joy, "Just let the darkness completely take over. You won't get nearly as much power if it's halfway done."
I blinked, she was lying. I was half tempted to laugh at her efforts; she thought that she could fool me? If she was supposed to be like me, then she was doing a good job, because she had a tendency to have overly emotional reactions when she was lying, just like I did. I thought about it, it made sense for me to take in darkness, at least a little bit. Looking at DeviAngewomon, I realized that hope is only powerful when it is filled with both darkness and light. As I was, it was no wonder that I was so weak as LadyBlackGatowomon; I was filled up with light, shunning the dark.
I knew what I had to do, "How can I bring in the darkness?"
She smiled, "Just absorb my dark aura."
I nodded, "Okay." I focused on her dark aura and started drawing it in. I felt the light go out of me with each bit of darkness that came. I felt when there was an equal amount of light and darkness, so I stopped letting the darkness in. I felt so much stronger than ever before.
"What are you doing? In order to get all the power, you must take it all." She was angry.
I smiled serenely, "Actually, I have more power than I could ever have with just light or just darkness. But, I must thank you. If you hadn't reminded me that DeviAngewomon is both light and darkness, I would never have this much power. So, thank you."
She glared, "If you're not going to help us, then I'm going to get rid of you."
I smiled at the challenge, "If you think that you're up for it, then I'm ready."
"Execute, Fusion Evolution!" We both yelled.
We were facing off, two cat digimon, but I was stronger, I felt it in my instincts.
"Demonic Shock!" We both through orbs of dark energy at the same time, but mine destroyed hers and still hit her. She flew back and hit a tree, knocking it down.
I walked up to her, smiling, "I'll make this quick. Wicked Claws!"
"No!" She disappeared in a cloud of data.
I shook my head, "I never want to be like that. She was trying to use my emotions against me. That's just wrong." I made a silent promise to myself to never use people emotions to get what I wanted.
I changed back into my human self and an eyeball appeared in front of me. I stepped through, and then I reappeared outside. I saw Tommy talking to Bokomon and Neemon.
"Guys!" I yelled and ran up to them.
"Jade!" Tommy hugged me.
I smiled down at him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, a digimon tried to take advantage of me, but I remembered some advice from my older brother and was able to defeat him. Then, a portal opened up and brought me here." Tommy said.
"That's great." I said.
"What about you, how did you get out?" Tommy asked.
"Well, a copy of me was trying to get me to join Cherubimon, but I used the combined power of light and darkness to defeat her and finally realize my true power." I said.
"The others must still be inside of that thing." Tommy said, looking up at the mass of green balls with eyes on them.
"Yes, let's just hope they make it out in one piece." Bokomon said.
"A piece of what?" Neemon asked.
"You've got to have faith, if I was able to make it out, then so can they." Tommy said.
"I hope you're right, Tommy, but if they could, then why haven't they?" Bokomon asked.
"They probably need to defeat somebody first and that person might not be easy to find." I said, and then my stomach rumbled.
"You must be hungry from all that fighting." Tommy said.
I nodded, "I'll go look for food. You guys stay here and wait for the others."
"But, won't it be more dangerous for you to go off on your own?" Tommy asked.
I shook my head, "I have so much more power with my Fusion evolution. I'll be just fine. I'm more worried about what might happen to you while I'm gone."
Tommy smiled, "I'll be alright. Someone else is bound to come out soon. Just make sure that you bring some food back, just in case anyone else is hungry."
I nodded, "Alright, see you guys soon." I started walking away.
I walked through the dark forest, thinking about what might be happening to the others. What if Koji was in danger? What if he was up against Duskmon? Would he be alright, or would Duskmon completely destroy him? Based on their last battle, I'm guessing that Duskmon has a reason for keeping him around, at least for now. But, if Duskmon's opinion has changed, Koji didn't have enough power as either Lobomon or KendoGarurumon to defeat him. Koji would need a fusion evolution to even have a chance at defeating him.
I sighed, I had no idea how he could even get a fusion evolution. My power came from BlackGatomon, but I had no idea how her power made me so strong. If she was really that powerful, then she could have held off Duskmon.
Then it hit me, I was the Warrior of Hope. If she had so much belief that I would save the digital world, then that may have been where my new strength came from. Her hope that, one day, the digital world would once again be peaceful. I had no idea whether or not this had anything to do with it, but I thought it was a pretty good guess.
This still didn't help me with the fact that Koji might be battling Duskmon as I walked around looking for food. I remembered how Tommy had defeated his enemy; he remembered some advice from his older brother. I wished that my family had some amazing advice, but they mostly treated me as a burden. I knew that my brother was always trying to help me, but my parents and older sister always acted as if I should be grateful to them for even feeding me. It confused me. My brother always said that they were just wishing that all their kids were as perfect as our sister, but I wasn't so sure. Our sister, Veronica, went to college in Utah and she had always gotten straight A's. My parents always forced me to take similar classes to the ones that she had taken, but I was always resentful. I had completely different interests than her. She loved doing sports and FACS, but I was more interested in theater, dancing, and singing. My parents didn't understand why I was so different from her, or if they did, they weren't sharing.
I sighed, it wouldn't help me to think about my family now, and I needed to focus on the task at hand. I finally found a tree with fruit on it. I grabbed a bunch of them and started heading back to the others. I wondered if anyone else had escaped. If they had, was Koji okay?
I made it back to Tommy only to find that both J.P. and Zoe were there.
"I thought they'd be here by now, but I'm starting to wonder if they'll ever get out." Tommy was saying.
"They will, I hope." Zoe said.
"Don't worry; you'll drive yourself crazy if you do." I said.
They all turned around, "Jade!"
I smiled, "I brought food."
J.P. cheered, "You're the best!"
Everyone grabbed one and started eating, but Zoe kept staring at the two pieces that were meant for Koji and Takuya.
I put my hand on her shoulder, "You have to give them time. I'm sure that they will be fine."
Zoe wasn't convinced, but she nodded, "You're right, it will drive me crazy to sit and worry about them."
"Let's just hope that they will get out soon." I said as I stared at the giant beast that held our friends.
A/N: Okay, there you go. I hope that you were satisfied. Please review and tell me. :)