Chapter 14: Into the Unknown
###
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
###
In a hospital, a patient's fingers started to twitch, something that the visiting nurse, a heavyset woman, noticed as she was tending to the girl. The woman panicked for a second before reaching for the phone. "Doctor, the patient's starting to move!" she exclaimed into the corded device.
"Are you talking about…? I'll call her family immediately," a man's voice said from the other side, equally excited.
The woman hung up and looked at the patient. "Alice, I hope this means you're going to wake up," she said, looking at the blonde's limp body.
###
He had hoped that this would be a worthy opponent, though he wasn't sure whether that would truly be the case since Blimpmon was merely a Champion-level digimon. Still, he had a mission to carry out, and he was going to do that.
Karatenmon was ready. He flapped his black wings just as Blimpmon's rear compartment opened up and faced two more enemies, a Firamon and a D'Arcmon. "Feather Flare!" he yelled, unleashing numerous razor-sharp feathers at his opponents.
"Agh! This is going to be tougher than I thought!" Firamon exclaimed, reeling from the attack.
"No kidding. Can't you digivolve to Ultimate already?" the angel asked.
Karatenmon smiled. This would be an easy mission. Just grab the two brats he was after and take them with him to the citadel.
Piece of cake.
###
"More hull breaches!" Taizou exclaimed, grabbing the kit he was going to use to seal up the holes in Blimpmon caused by Karatenmon's feathers. The brown-haired boy climbed up the ladder.
"There's a repair kit just under the captain's chair," the airship told the team.
"Hey, you want me to help?" Ed asked from the base of the ladder, surprisingly calm despite the situation.
"Sure, come on up." The black-haired teen did so, following his acquaintance into the balloon. The duo worked together, taking tape from the repair kit to patch up any and all holes. "It's weird. My partner's body is supposed to be more protected than this. Then again, Karatenmon is an Ultimate."
Ed nodded before asking a question of his own. "So, what's this digimon's Ultimate form anyway?"
"To be honest, I have no idea," Taizou replied. "So, status?"
"So far, my structure is fine," Blimpmon said over the intercom.
"Okay, I'll give you some help." Taizou pulled a card out of his pocket. "Digi-Modify, Speed Activate!"
As the blimp made some quick moves, everyone grabbed onto something with the exception of Gunter who was strapped into his seat.
"(This blimp is moving fast)!" the large teen commented in German.
"Man, can't this guy say anything else?" Yuji complained.
"Yuji, that's not nice!" Ayaka censured him.
"Hey, it's true," the long-haired boy said, eliciting a glare from the blonde Japanese girl.
"Is there any chance I will be seeing some action?" Sealsdramon complained, irritated that he was stuck inside this cramped airship while two of the others were duking it out with Karatenmon.
"Maybe I should slide a Hyper-wing card or something," Yuji stated.
"That might not be a bad idea," Tadashi said, turning his chair around. "I'll keep on trying digivolve to Ultimate." The blond boy looked at his digivice in frustration. "Digivolution Activate!" Nothing happened. "Come on!"
Taizou looked in astonishment at his friends. He had to help them all out somehow.
###
Outside, the three digimon that were going up against Karatenmon were having a miserable fight. "Fira Bomb!" Firamon yelled out, unleashing a fireball from the crystal on his back.
"La Pucelle!" D'Arcmon shouted, meeting the crow's swords with her own.
"Hydrogen Bomb!" Blimpmon yelled out, shooting a missile at Karatenmon. D'Arcmon got out of the way just as it struck. When the smoke cleared, there was not a single point of damage on Karatenmon's body.
"Why are you doing this?" the angel asked the crow, who gave a chuckle in response.
"I am here on behalf of my master to retrieve two of your party," Karatenmon replied.
"Your partner is brainwashed! Can't you tell?" Firamon exclaimed at the enemy digimon.
"No, he's not. Crimson is merely working with the Digimon Queen to bring about a better digital world," the crow-man explained. "And he is not my partner."
"Crimson? That's that one Tamer that Ryo met here in the digital world, right?" Tadashi asked, inside Blimpmon.
"Exactly," Taizou remarked. "So, they're working together. Great and that guy's got a Mega-level for a partner from what Ryo said about him."
"What? A mega? That's insane!" Ed exclaimed, lucky that the duo was speaking English instead of Japanese for once.
Taizou knew this enemy was after his friends and he just couldn't stand that. He had to do something to defeat him. He looked at each of them.
Tadashi, who had his heart in the right place despite his prejudices and Ed who just wanted to get home to his father.
The brown-haired teen clenched his fists as Blimpmon made another sharp turn, causing him to grab onto the chair in front of him. As soon as they were level once again, Taizou ran over to the intercom and spoke into it.
"Karatenmon, you might as well go home empty-handed. There's no way I'm going to let you take my friends to give to that witch, the Digimon Queen!" he exclaimed to Karatenmon.
The enemy digimon chuckled madly. "Well, in that case, I'll just have to destroy Blimpmon first," Karatenmon stated, bolting forward and pushing both Firamon and D'Arcmon out of the way, aiming his swords straight at Taizou's partner digimon and slicing a deep gash along the left side of the airship, causing large amounts of digital hydrogen to come out. The digimon started to sink down toward the planet and it was all Taizou's fault.
The group around him looked on in terror as they fell.
"That's the last straw, birdbrain!" D'Arcmon yelled out, bolting straight toward the enemy digimon that they were up against and meeting his swords with hers.
"Yeah, Fira Bomb!" Firamon yelled out, unleashing the attack on his enemy.
Taizou was dumbfounded. How could he let them down like this? He didn't want this to happen. He had already been let down too much as it was, particularly by his father…
He didn't want to be like that jerk that he only sees once a year, if that. He got up with determination from his own comparison. He wasn't going to let them die.
"Digi-modify, Seed of Health Activate!" he yelled out, slashing the card after going through his deck. Unfortunately, the alarm klaxons were still going and they were still descending. "Crap!"
There was no way he was going to let his friends down. He looked at everyone behind him. They were all strapped in. He watched as Sealsdramon flew off with two pairs of white wings attached to his back. There was no way he was going to lose.
No way.
All the sudden, his digivice burst with the blue light of the crest program of Friendship.
And everything changed around him.
###
On his way to the battle, Sealsdramon was momentarily distracted by the sight of Blimpmon changing form. So were Karatenmon and D'Arcmon apparently, because the next thing he knew, the crow was hit head on by one of Firamon's attacks.
SUPER DIGIVOLUTION_
"Blimpmon digivolve to…" the digimon was far larger now and had the form of a giant white airship with turrets and walkways along the sides as well as a pair of torpedo bays as well. The digimon's eyes were on the bottom of the airship's living areas which were substantially larger and more comfortable than his Champion form's.
"… Zeppelinmon!"
They finally had an ultimate in this fight.
The digimon's turrets came out from the sides and shot forth. "Rapid Burst!" he yelled as Karatenmon was hit by hundreds of lasers. The digimon immediately started to try and deflect his enemy's attacks with his twin swords, but still got hit by a few.
"This is… unexpected," the crow commented, holding his swords in front of him. "Harmony Swords!" He then flew forward to try and attack the enemy digimon's weak point, but was stopped by a stab through the chest from D'Arcmon.
"Forgetting someone?" the angel asked before getting out of the way of another attack.
"Nuclear Bombardment!" Zeppelinmon yelled out, shooting a missile straight at Karatenmon at many times the speed of sound. The digimon flew off in the distance before the attack impacted with the enemy, dragging him hundreds of miles before exploding, deleting the enemy digimon for good in an amazing flash of neon green energy.
The group of digimon immediately boarded the new Ultimate through the bay in the back of the digimon before devolving back to their rookie forms.
"I'm glad that's over," Coronamon commented, collapsing on the bay floor.
###
The Tamers, along with Guepardomon and Ranamon found themselves on a big fancy bridge toward the front of the airship, each sitting in various chairs. All in all, it reminded Taizou of the Enterprise Bridge from that Star Trek show that Keith lent him to help with his English, only fancier and white.
"Sir, I'm not reading any transmissions," Ranamon said with a giggle, sitting in the communication chair with an earpiece in her right ear.
"Ranamon! Don't do that. It's nerdy," Miki complained, glaring at her partner.
"Aw, come on!" the sea digimon objected.
"Besides, Miki, don't you know that in the future, the nerds will rule the world?" Tadashi joked from the bridge chair as Coronamon and the others made their ways onto the bridge. The short-haired girl just rolled her eyes.
"Of course, you would say that," Miki shot back.
"So, how long can you hold this form?" Taizou asked his partner.
"For as long as I need to. Indefinitely, actually," the airship replied.
"Indefinitely?" Taizou asked, surprised at his partner's response to his earlier question.
"Yes, due to the fusion reactor inside of me, I can maintain this form for as long as possible," Zeppelinmon responded.
"Funny, this seems more like a spaceship than an airship," Ayaka commented. "I wonder what the rest of this thing is like."
"First things first, take us down to the planet as quickly as possible," Taizou ordered his partner, who acquiesced, heading straight for the planet at high speed. Since the digital world didn't have an atmosphere, he didn't have to worry about burning up in it. They made it down in record time and the digimon reversed thrusters in order to slow down as soon as they reached the lower atmosphere. The group looked down at the derelict world beneath them. They were flying over an abandoned city, it seemed. Or not quite abandoned, since all its inhabitants were killed by the D-Reaper more than a decade before.
"Wow, it looks like there was quite a civilization here," Ayaka remarked. "How sad."
Miki seemed to be affected by it as well. "It sure is."
"Any info on this city?" Taizou asked his partner.
"None. It is unnamed. I'm scanning the area but I can't find any signs anywhere that are legible."
"La Ciudad de los Muertos," Ed said. The others looked at him in confusion before he gave an explanation. "City of the Dead. It was supposed to be a setting in a game I was making with some of my friends. Unfortunately, I never got around to making it past the planning stage." He chuckled a bit. "This place just reminds me of that, that's all."
"That would take a lot of work," Taizou commented. "What was the team?"
"Me, my friends Gus and Mario, and my dad, who was working on the game engine. I guess it was difficult even for him," Ed chuckled at the thought.
"Your dad's a teacher, right?" Tadashi inquired and getting a nod.
"Yeah, he teaches at the local college." He hoped that by downplaying his dad's job, he could keep the blond from finding out who he was.
"Oh, okay. And where in America are you from again?" Tadashi asked, somewhat confused.
"Las Vegas, Nevada," Ed replied before heading towards the exit. "Now, if you're like me, you're all itching to find out what's in this place."
The others soon followed with the exception of Taizou, who was still working with his partner. "So, any signals from other digimon that you can detect?" the brown-haired boy asked his partner.
"About 12,000 kilometers from here there's a Mega-level signal along with some strange readings."
The brown-haired Tamer pulled out his digivice and looked at it, using it to see the area that his partner had indicated. There was a signal for a digimon alright along with a signal indicating a portal to another world.
"Set a course," Taizou ordered. He didn't know what this was, but he was going to find out.
###
Yamaki was surprised to see the heavy blond man in the meeting room. It was obvious who Kurita was related to and the director wondered if the man receiving a partner was partially due to his relationship with his brother.
The director glanced over the paperwork that Kurita had. Since he had just turned eighteen, he could now check for anonymity, which he did, meaning that his parents wouldn't have to know. Also, since he was eighteen, he most likely already had a savings account where his funds would go straight to.
The blond man in his thirties sat down across from Kurita and adjusted his sunglasses. The heavy teen finished his paperwork less than a minute later and looked up at the Hypnos director with a smile. "Hey, how's it going?"
"Good. Now, from what I understand, you received your partner from an unconventional source?" Yamaki asked, eliciting a nod from Kurita.
"Yeah, this guy showed up at my door and gave me a digi-egg, claiming to work for Hypnos. He said his name was Hideaki Nakamura," the blond teen explained.
"The name doesn't sound familiar, but I'll check the databases," Yamaki stated. "I would watch out for any suspicious individuals. You did the right thing by coming to me about it."
Kurita nodded. "Good to know."
"Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing who this man who gave you a partner is or how he got it in the first place, unless…" Yamaki shuddered at the thought.
"Unless, what?" Kurita asked after a few seconds.
"A scientist in Yokohama who was working with digimon research recently went missing. There's a chance that this may be connected to that," the Hypnos director suggested. "Satsuma is supposed to be working on the case; however he reached a dead end."
"So, you want me to help out?" Kurita deduced. "I gave you guys as thorough of a description of that dude as I could. I'm not sure that there's anything else I can do."
Yamaki nodded. "What you can do is let me know if you are ever contacted by that Nakamura figure ever again." Kurita smiled and gave a nod. The meeting was adjourned.
###
"Jackson, make a search for someone going by the pseudonym of Hideaki Nakamura. Apparently he gave Tadashi's brother a partner digimon," Yamaki ordered the American, who was working on an upgrade for the probe program. The suggestion startled the twenty-something-looking man, but he got to work immediately.
"Yes, sir." Then he thought of something that could work in his favor and get him a team of Tamers of his own. "Oh, and by the way, I think you should see something," he said, reaching toward his bag. Yamaki looked to see a certain red digimon with bat-ears.
"Gigimon?" the Japanese director questioned.
"Yeah, I just found him yesterday," Keith explained, leaving out that he had the digimon long before that. "He was just wandering around."
"We did detect one of those so-called rapid-burst bioemergences yesterday, so he may have come from that," Yamaki deduced. "Do you have a digivice?"
He wasn't ready to show the man his digivice just yet, so he lied, hating the number of sins he had to commit just to keep his identity a secret. "Not yet, but I'll keep on the lookout for one." The American had an uneasy smile.
"Good. If you don't get a digivice soon, we're going to have to take in this digimon for examination on the possibility that it may be Takato's partner, somehow having come home without him."
"Yes sir," Keith said before turning away from his boss with a bit of a glair. He continued to work on Yamaki's suggestion, knowing that he wouldn't find anything since he had simply made the name Hideaki Nakamura out of thin air. And the mention of a 'rapid-burst bioemergence' meant that they had detected his use of a computer to go to the digital world, meaning he would have to figure out a way of masking that if he was going to get any more Tamers. "Oh, and if I can keep Gigimon," the American started to say just as Yamaki was about to leave the room, "is there a chance I can join a team or something?"
The director was thinking of something. "I have an idea. How about you work with Kurita Nakabayashi? You two might do a good job of training each other using that training system you designed."
Keith looked over at the man in surprise as he left the room and shut the door behind him.
###
Ayaka sunk into the bath, feeling the warmth of the water cover her skin. She had wanted this for quite some time but due to Blimpmon not having any facilities other than a basic bathroom, she couldn't get it. So she sat there and relaxed, savoring the moment. Her friend Miki was on the opposite side of the bath, rubbing down any and all dirt while Syakomon swam underwater, only surfacing every so often. The only one who wasn't bathing was Salamon who was lying down on the tile next to her partner.
The blond savored the warmth, at least until Miki started talking. "So, what do you think of the new guys?" she asked.
"I haven't really talked to them that much, although Ed seems like a nice guy. Then there's Alice, who… Well, I don't know. She doesn't seem like the talking type." The blonde's face became downcast all the sudden. "I'm the most concerned about Gunter. I can't believe how cruel Marie had to be to first brainwash him and then screw up his mind so much. It's absolutely horrible what she did."
Miki didn't seem to want to hear all that, but she wasn't going to say it. "Yeah, no kidding. I just wish that there was a cute guy in the group."
The blonde glared daggers at her friend. "Is that all you think about? What everyone has to look like?"
"Come on, it's important to look good," Miki stated nonchalantly.
"The thing is that in the scheme of things that doesn't matter. In the end, we're all going to grow old and not look as good as we used to." Ayaka thought up another thing. "And besides, Gunter's not what I'd call bad-looking at all."
"Are you kidding? That guy looks like he's on steroids," Miki shot back.
"You don't know that. For all you know, he had to work really hard to get all that muscle. And, really, we don't know anything about him yet because of what Marie Cauvin did to him." The blonde's opinion was followed by a rather uneasy silence. Still, Miki didn't seem to get it and promptly got up out of the bath, carrying her partner with her. Before leaving, she turned toward Ayaka and spoke some more.
"Whatever you say, I'm not going to accept these guys just yet, except for maybe Alice." The dark-haired girl then walked into the nearby changing room, grabbing her towel on the way.
Ayaka just sighed. She didn't know what she was going to do with that girl. If Miki didn't change soon, she was just going to hurt the team.
###
On the bridge, Ed just sat and watched the landscapes fly by with Prokyomon on his shoulder. At the current rate, he calculated that they were going approximately 200 miles per hour. Alice sat nearby and spoke.
"So, I see you're not joining the others for a bath," the blonde said.
"I don't bathe with others." He paused for a second, realizing that comment wasn't accurate. "Okay, whenever my dad and I went to the gym, we would take showers toward the end, but I didn't like it that much and there were partitions that gave us privacy. And besides, I already took a bath just before heading to the Sovereigns' level."
Alice nodded. "I understand. It's not part of our culture." After a pause, she mused a bit. "I wonder why."
Ed shrugged. "Who knows? To be honest, it doesn't really matter that much."
"Yeah, you're right. At least you don't have to wash Gunter like Tadashi does," the blond said with a smile.
"Not for several days, at least. When I have to do that, I'll be wearing swim trunks," the black-haired boy said.
The duo paused for a couple seconds until Alice asked a question. "So, what was Gunter like before this… thing happened?"
Ed thought about it for a second. "He seemed like a pretty goofy guy but he was at least really nice. Basically he got all the way into the orphanage I was staying in and talked to me, asking me where I was from and everything. I told him the whole truth and he said he was going to go straight to the nearest payphone to get a hold of Echelon to come and retrieve me. After that, I didn't see him again and two days later I made the point to escape."
"And you think that Marie Cauvin captured him right away?" the blonde asked.
"More or less. I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Either that or the anti-digimon group that was connected to that orphanage got a hold of him." Ed thought about it all sadly. "It's horrible that something like this could happen to him. He was a teenager, just about in the prime of his life, and that was all taken away from him and now he has the intellect of a three-year-old. Marie is just despicable."
That was when he noticed Alice starting to fade. "Alice!"
She solidified. "Ed, what is it?"
"You were about to disappear," the black-haired boy said in a panic.
Then, suddenly, her hand started to fade again and she started to hear voices. "Ed, I think I'm returning home."
The chubby boy didn't quite believe it. "What if you're lost forever?"
"I won't be. You and the others, you gave me something to live for," the blonde told him. "Thank you, Ed."
He was still frozen with fear. "This can't be happening." Then he paused for a brief second, still not quite believing it, but wanting to do something anyway. "If you are going to the real world, can you do something for me?"
Alice heard even more voices and Prokyomon noticed, being afraid himself. "Yes, you may."
"Find my dad and tell him not to come to the digital world until I'm on the surface level," Ed said, remembering what Taizou had told him earlier about the Digimon Queen's hatred of his father.
"I'll try my best to remember that," the blond said just as the doors to the bridge opened and the others walked in, all shocked that she was starting to dissolve. "Thank you for everything."
"What's going on?" Tadashi asked, just as shocked as the others.
"She's waking up," Ed responded. "She's going home."
"Good-bye," she said before disappearing.
The whole team just stood there speechless. They couldn't believe what was happening.
"She's really gone?" Taizou asked.
"She did say she was going to the real world," Prokyomon replied. "I hope that was what really happened."
"I hope so too," Ed told his partner.
###
In a hospital room, Alice's eyes opened for the first time in more than a year. She glanced at everyone around her from her parents to her grandparents on both sides. She also saw some more relatives and a couple of kids from school that she knew. Light was shining in from outside and it looked like it was a beautiful day.
She tried sitting up before being prevented from doing so by her grandfather. "Take it easy."
The girl looked at everyone and smiled. She didn't know why she took so long to go home, but here she was. "Grandpa, do you know someone named Antonio Urrutía?" she asked, surprising Rob McCoy.
The man knew that what she was going to say was something sensitive, so he told everyone to get out for a couple of minutes, though her parents decided to stay instead.
"Antonio was a former student of mine while he was studying for his master's degree," the red-haired professor explained. "How could you possibly know who he is?"
"I met his son while I was in the digital world," the girl explained, surprising McCoy and her parents.
"Honey, chances are that that was just a dream," her father tried assuring her. "You have been in a coma for over a year."
Rob knew that something was up. There was something about her story that made him believe her. Plus, he had heard the reports from Takato's team in Shinjuku during the D-Reaper invasion about how she gave them the power to reach Mega. Then there was the case of how Shibumi spent some time in the digital world while he was in a coma himself.
"The fact that Antonio Urrutía's son is in the digital world isn't common knowledge," the man said. "In fact, the information was deemed classified by every intelligence agency that detected him there."
His son had a shocked look on his face. "You mean you actually believe her?"
"Yes, under one condition. What is his son's name?" Rob asked, turning toward his granddaughter and looking her in the eye.
"Ed, short for Eduardo. His partner is Prokyomon, a raccoon-like digimon," she added the rest for emphasis.
"You don't mean... My baby!" Alice's mother embraced her daughter, frightened at the things she may have seen.
"Ed wanted his father to know that he shouldn't come to the digital world. He said that the Digimon Queen wants to destroy him," Alice told her grandfather point blank. The middle-aged man nodded.
"I'll make sure he gets the message, though he might not believe where it came from," Rob told her. "Still, I'm going to do whatever I can to prevent him from going there to get himself killed. His mission was cancelled as it was, but I wouldn't be surprised if he tried a fast one and went anyway." The man's eyes narrowed. "He was just reunited with his boy. He shouldn't have to go through this."
Alice felt a tear go down her face, feeling sorry for her friend as well as his father.
###
The airship landed right outside a pulsating purple energy field. This was the location of the mysterious digimon signal, and the team hoped they weren't committing suicide by doing this. They immediately got off Zeppelinmon, who stayed in his Ultimate form just in case they needed a quick getaway, walking down the ramp that led from the airship's cargo hold. The group moved along cautiously, heading straight for the shield.
On the other side was a giant of a digimon. He was humanoid, but had dark skin and golden armor along with a large, golden helmet that looked about twice the size of his head. The giant digimon was also carrying a massive sword made of gold and platinum.
Immediately, the energy field opened up and the Viking spoke with a thunderous voice. "I am Heimdallmon, guardian of the Dimensional Corridor. What do you seek?"
"Heimdallmon?" Taizou asked, pulling out his digivice and examining the new digimon. "Warrior Digimon, Vaccine Attribute, Mega Level. Attacks: Blade of the Valkyries and Odin's Judgment."
"The Dimensional Corridor? Can you send us back to the real world?" Ed asked, hopeful.
"No, I cannot," Heimdallmon responded, dashing the black-haired teen's hopes to pieces. Then again, he thought about how at least he was with a group of people who could act as a defense against Marie Cauvin. "The Dimensional Corridor only leads to other digital worlds."
Tadashi decided to ask something. "Did anyone come through here recently?"
"Ever since the D-Reaper invasion, only one digimon has passed through here, though she came back with more Digimon as well as humans," the guardian explained. "She needed help in her world and so she came here and recruited them."
"And you let her through, even though she kidnapped them?" Tadashi asked angrily.
"They seemed to be following Kuzuhamon willingly," the Viking stated, though the others suspected something else, something that they had seen way too much of lately: mind-control, something a powerful Mega like Kuzuhamon was more than capable of.
"Those humans were our friends," Taizou explained. He couldn't believe he was saying this since he hadn't wanted to go on this trip in the first place, but here he went. "We need to know what world they went into."
"Come, follow me," the digimon beckoned.
During the long walk up the mountain, Taizou had Zeppelinmon come up and de-digivolve to come with him, though he admittedly wished they would have taken the airship to wherever they were going instead. Ayaka held Gunter's hand while Coronamon held Keramon in his arms and Miki held Syakomon. Prokyomon was perched on Ed's shoulder like a parrot.
Eventually, the reached a building that looked like a temple. "Behold, the Dimensional Corridor," Heimdallmon said as they entered into the vast building. In the center of the large structure, there was a circle of circles, lines coming from a center circle going out along the wooden flooring, each glowing with numbers.
"Welcome to the multiverse," Ed mumbled under his breath.
"The world that your friends went to was World 2-4," the Viking explained. "However, sometimes dimensional travelers mask their paths and they may have gone to a different world after arriving in 2-4. As far as rules of dimensional travel, you aren't allowed to go to World 6."
"What's World 6?" Tadashi asked, curious.
"The Dark Ocean," Heimdallmon said with a sense of dread. "The world has been taken over by dark forces and, because of that, is quarantined."
"You've been there?" Yuji asked.
"No, but I've had to divert refugees from there while the D-Reaper controlled the digital world. As a Heimdallmon, I can't travel the multiverse." The powerful digimon felt a twinge of regret. "Instead, I'm here, stationed to prevent the multiverse from coming into danger. For instance, that shield that I had up earlier prevented the D-Reaper from coming here."
"It was that powerful, huh?" Taizou asked in surprise.
"Crazy," Ayaka commented, in awe about this place.
"So, can you send us to Digital World 2-4 so we can find our friends?" Tadashi asked the powerful digimon, eliciting a single nod.
"Yes, and I will send you there right now." The powerful guardian of the multiverse stabbed his sword into the glowing circle that was marked with the numbers two and four, creating a powerful stream of energy that flowed into a nearby archway. "It's time. You have a minute. May Yggdrasil bless your journey."
The group then hurried their paces, heading straight into the gateway in pairs, but not without trepidation. The group of tamers was ready for whatever came their way, though.
This was when their journey truly began.
###
A/N: Complicated… Well, this ends the second arc. I'm probably going to follow up this chapter with a bit of a side chapter that patches up a few of the loose ends that have shown up so far. I don't want this to become a kudzu plot or something. That would suck. So far, though, I'm proud of what I've written. It's definitely one of my better stories. Possibly my best.
The next arc is going to be called the Two Emperors. I have to admit that when I initially planned this story, I was going to keep Tadashi's team in the real world for a little bit of extra time. The original second arc would have had them dealing with their reality's version of Ryouma from Xros Wars Hunters. I'm kind of glad it didn't pan out. Then the digital world would have been the third arc, but it became the second instead. And now the original third arc, which was going to involve fighting Sakkakumon in the Dimensional Corridor was altered to accommodate another plotline that I've been wanting to try out instead. Said Sakkakumon would have been an agent of the yet-to-be-revealed third member of the Triumvirate. At first, I was going to have Greg Schroder, a villain from the fic World Tournament, show up in that regard. However, I decided that there just aren't enough red-heads and that guy has brown hair (a color that just a bit too common in this fic in my opinion. Yeah… )
Plus, this new version of the third arc isn't going to introduce nearly as many characters as the original idea for it. Instead, Ayaka and Miki will get more focus.