ZAFT: Happy Memorial Day everyone!
DarkFoxKit: And to celebrate, we got a new chapter for you to read. Well, it's more like coincidence, but still. I don't know how many people are reading this, since so far only two old readers have been reviewing. But here's hoping the story at least catches a few new people's attention.
ZAFT: Anyway, on to the next chapter!
Chapter 3: An Icy Determination
As the sun was going down, and night consumed the sky. Somewhere in the dark continent, stood a Digimon. This Digimon wore armor that was pure black with red accents, looking like skeleton bones on the upper torso, upper arms, and the legs. There were eyes on the shoulder armor, chest, knees, and feet. The lower arms were covered in black armor that looked like skeleton heads, and the facial armor and helmet looked like a skull's face. The hair was long and blonde, and the Digimon had bright red eyes that looked sinister.
This Digimon frowned as he looked up at the moons above. Night always made him feel calm, but the day made him feel uneasy and stressed.
"Duskmon," A voice spoke up from behind the Digimon. "Lord Cherubimon is summoning you."
The Digimon, Duskmon, sighed. "What does he want now?" He grumbled as he turned to face the Digimon who had spoken to him.
The Digimon in question came out into the moonlight, revealing himself to Duskmon. It was a Digimon that had green armor with red and yellow accents on it. On his arms were two mirror-like shields and he had a mirror on his chest and torso. The face was just a mirror that had a mouth on it as well.
"Lord Cherubimon never summons me unless he wants something." Duskmon pointed out to the Digimon he was speaking to.
"Does thou think I can read Lord Cherubimon's mind? I do not know what Lord Cherubimon wants from thou. So thou better go see what Lord Cherubimon wants before he loses his patience," The humanoid mirror-like Digimon grumbled.
Duskmon followed the humanoid Digimon out of his little sanctuary and into the depths of the Rose Morning Star, he always felt a bit out of place in the brightly lit hallways.
"Thou may be new here, and powerful, but thou must learn to respect thou's elders," The humanoid mirror Digimon grumbled as they stood in front of an altar.
Duskmon snorted, but he didn't say anything that would make the other Digimon angry. He knew when to keep his mouth shut for his own sake.
"Lord Cherubimon, I brought Duskmon," The humanoid Digimon stated.
The altar gave a glow before a large, dark shadow loomed over them. It was a projection, but even though it was a projection, Duskmon could sense the powerful aura Cherubimon gave off.
"Good. I'm pleased to see you brought Duskmon so quickly, Mercurymon. Duskmon, come closer," The projection of the dark shadow ordered.
Duskmon did as he was asked; he didn't want to make Lord Cherubimon angry, not with the power he was sensing from the projection.
"You have been with us for a day now. But you are still getting used to your new powers, am I right? Mercurymon informed me that you don't communicate very much with your fellow Warriors," Cherubimon stated in a deep, strong voice that was filled with malice.
"I prefer to be in my own thoughts." Duskmon replied, trying to keep his voice respectful. "It's just who I am."
"While I can respect that, it won't do to be a complete loner. It would be good to learn social skills to become a great warrior. After all, a good warrior fights alone, but a truly great warrior fights with his comrades. However, I won't make you work with the others if you truly don't want to. Instead, I've assigned you a partner to work with you," Cherubimon informed. "You will keep this partner with you at all times."
Duskmon blinked. "A partner…?" He was surprised at this. "Why would you do that for me?"
"Call it a gift for our newest member of my Legendary Warriors," Cherubimon stated.
There was another glow nearby. Cherubimon was teleporting someone next to them. Mercurymon and Duskmon watched as the new Digimon came out of the glow. To their surprise, it was a small Digimon. This Digimon looked to be cat-like, it had black fur, sharp claws, though its hands appeared to be covered by indigo gloves with red horizontal stripes. The cat had a very long, thin tail behind it that had purple and black lines, and three spiked fur at the tip of the tail. There were three purple spiked fur at the tip of the cat's ears as well. The cat's eyes had a sinister yellow glow to them. Though it was cat-like, it appeared to be capable of standing, and walking, on two feet.
"Greetings, I am BlackGatomon," The Digimon introduced itself in a feminine voice. "It's my role to be Duskmon's partner. I look forward to working with you."
Duskmon blinked, not entirely sure what to make of this development, but he wasn't about to be rude and turn away the new 'gift' he was being given. "I hope… we can work well together too…" He said, awkwardly.
What is Lord Cherubimon thinking? Why is he giving me a cat to look after? Duskmon inwardly questioned.
"I hope you will all get along~" Cherubimon said before the projection disappeared.
"I do not understand Lord Cherubimon's logic. We do not need a non-Legendary Warrior here," Mercurymon scowled. "But it is Lord Cherubimon's will, so I cannot complain, as much as I want to. But this BlackGatomon is thou's responsibility, Duskmon, as Lord Cherubimon had giventh thou her."
Duskmon frowned, but nodded. "I understand." He said. "I will do my utmost best to keep her under my care." But why? Why do I need BlackGatomon with me? I can work alone just fine, right?
Duskmon walked back outside to be under the moons. BlackGatomon followed him outside. For a moment, both of them were silent. But after a while, BlackGatomon spoke up. "I take it you like to come out here a lot to view the sky?"
"Yes." Duskmon replied. "Being under the moons helps me to think, to keep my mind clear."
"Clear of what?" BlackGatomon questioned. "It's nice out here, but there isn't much to do with just standing here."
"... I get… bouts of… fuzziness at times, when I'm under bright lights." Duskmon admitted. "Being in the dark and under the moons allows me to keep my mind clear of that fuzziness. It can… be unbearable at times."
"Not a big fan of light, huh?" BlackGatomon chuckled. "Well, once you're done clearing your mind, perhaps we should go for a walk."
Duskmon blinked, caught off guard by the suggestion. "W-why? I'm just fine right here." He said, feeling slightly awkward.
"Maybe you are, but I don't want to stand still for hours on end until morning," BlackGatomon said, rubbing her shoulder for a moment. "I get stiff and bored. Besides, I want to see more of this place I was sent to, standing here isn't going to help me get familiar with the layout of the land."
Duskmon sighed. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess I don't have much of a choice but to go with you. The Digimon here are quite strong, and you're supposed to be my partner, so I can't let anything happen to you."
"You can come with me, big guy, I doubt a lot of Digimon would wanna mess with you. But give me a little credit. I may be small, but I am still a Champion level Digimon. I can take care of myself if I must," BlackGatomon pointed out.
Duskmon just rolled his eyes, the ones on his face. "I don't doubt it. Lord Cherubimon wouldn't pick a weakling to be my partner."
"Of course he wouldn't," BlackGatomon chuckled. "You wouldn't believe the tests he put me through to make sure I was good enough to be your partner. I get the feeling we'll get along just fine~"
Duskmon found a chuckle escaping his lips. "I think we will." Maybe this won't be so bad after all…
Meanwhile, Takuya, JP, Zoe, Tommy, Patamon, and Lopmon had been walking all day. It was night time now, making it tough for the group to see. Eventually, they stopped when they saw they were at the edge of a cliff. The train tracks kept going on the other side of the ravine, but there didn't seem to be a way across short of flying.
"Well… now what do we do?" Zoe frowned.
"Maybe Patamon can carry us across?" Tommy suggested.
"No way! I can't carry all of you! Even if it was one at a time, at most I'd only be able to carry Tommy across, and maybe Zoe, but heck no to JP!" Patamon quickly said.
"Hey! Are you calling me fat?" JP frowned.
"No… I'm calling you heavy!" Patamon responded.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Takuya asked innocently.
"Not necessarily, you can be as small as I am yet still weigh heavier than metal," Lopmon explained.
"Either way, I do not have enough strength to carry all of you across," Patamon grumbled.
"So we can't get across by flight then." Zoe frowned. "How can we get across then?"
"Look, it looks like there's something down there at the bottom of the ravine," Tommy pointed out.
Everyone looked down.
"You're right, Tommy, it looks like there's lights down there," Takuya said.
"Ah, this must be the Candlemon Village," Lopmon realized.
"Candlemon Village?" Zoe asked. "Do you think there's a way down there? We do need to get some sleep…"
"Yeah, look," Lopmon pointed at some stairs that were leading down the cliff in a zigzag pattern. "Those stairs will take us down."
"Then let's get going, the sooner we get down there, the sooner we can find a place to sleep," JP said.
The group headed down the stairs. The Candlemon spotted them coming, and began to turn off the lights from their flames. They were being cautious.
The group soon reached the bottom of the stairs, only to see the lights were gone.
"Huh? Hey, where are the lights?" JP asked. "Those lights looked like they were coming from this area."
"Watch your step now," Patamon warned the group as they were hopping on some stepping stones in the river.
"Did the lights go out?" Zoe asked.
"They shouldn't be far from here," Lopmon said. "Maybe the Candlemon turned in for the night just as we came down here."
"I don't know…" Takuya frowned. "It seemed like the lights were getting fewer as we got closer. Maybe something spooked the Candlemon?"
"What could spook them? Now you have me spooked!" JP grumbled.
"Hey… guys?" Tommy spoke up. "Look at the wall."
Everyone turned to see what Tommy was looking at. They were surprised when they saw carvings. There was a big carving of an angel of some kind. And next to the angel were 10 different looking symbols.
"Whoa…" Zoe breathed.
"What is that?" Takuya wondered. "It certainly looks impressive."
"Hmm…" Lopmon and Patamon looked at the carving on the wall.
"I don't think Bokomon told you the full story of why the Digital World needs your help, did he?" Lopmon asked.
"No…" Takuya admitted. "Just that Agunimon was one of ten powerful Digimon called the Legendary Warriors and the story about Cherubimon."
"Then this might be a good time to tell you, at least from what we know," Patamon said before he pulled out the book from his belly warmer's pocket dimension.
Patamon opened up the book and flipped through the pages before finding what he was looking for. "Those markings up there, those are the symbols of the 10 Legendary Warriors.
"The 10 Legendary Warriors?" The group of 4 repeated in unison.
"Yes. Back in ancient times, according to this book, there were terrible wars that were constantly being waged between human type and beast type Digimon. Both sides wanted to rule the Digital World with their own rules, but neither side could ever agree on anything. But then, one day, an angel Digimon called Lucemon appeared. Lucemon was able to teach the two sides how to resolve their differences. This gave an era of peace and co-existence between the two types of Digimon. Lucemon was a benevolent ruler. However… the peace couldn't last forever," Patamon paused for a moment to take a breath.
"Lucemon started to become corrupted by his power among the Digimon. He started to believe his way was the only way, and those who don't follow it would be punished severely. He ended up tormenting the very same Digimon he helped make peace in the world. This had been going on for a long time, and all hope was lost… that is until 10 brave Digimon stood up to Lucemon. These Digimon were granted the power to use the intellect of humanoid Digimon, and the raw power of beast Digimon. Together, they battled against Lucemon for the future of the Digital World. After a long, grueling battle, the 10 Digimon managed to defeat Lucemon and sealed him away, restoring the peace."
"But this victory came at a great cost. The 10 Digimon, due to their strength and bravery, were now known as the Legendary Warriors. And they had lost their bodies in the war against Lucemon. But they knew their power would be needed again one day. So the Legendary Warriors sent out their Spirits, entrusting them to the 3 Celestial Digimon, who would be giving the Spirits to someone worthy enough to use their powers in case their powers would be needed again." Patamon frowned for a moment. "The 3 Celestial Digimon are made up of two humanoid Digimon, and 1 beast Digimon. Seraphimon, Ophanimon, and Cherubimon. The 3 of them are to govern the Digital World, and make sure it doesn't fall to ruin again."
"Wait, really? What about the Royal Knights?" Lopmon asked.
"They're not mentioned in this book," Patamon replied before putting the book away into the belly warmer again. "Maybe they don't exist here…?"
"Hey…" Tommy spoke up, looking at one of the symbols on the wall in particular. "Doesn't that symbol at the top look familiar?"
Takuya blinked. "Hey, that does look familiar. That's what appears on my D-Tector when I become Agunimon!"
"That is the same symbol." Zoe agreed. "Wow… I didn't think we'd see it here!"
"That one next to it… isn't that the one that appeared on Lobomon's shoulder?" JP asked as he pointed at said symbol.
"Yup, like we said, these are the markings of the Legendary Warriors. Agunimon and Lobomon are two of those," Lopmon chuckled. "Their Spirits must've found Takuya and Koji to be worthy enough for their powers and forms."
"I wonder if I'll be next," Zoe remarked. "I hope I'll become a cute Digimon!"
"Would you really want to be a Digimon?" Tommy asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Zoe asked back. "I mean, did you see how cool Agunimon and Lobomon were? I want to be like that too!"
"Calm down, Zoe. I mean it's not likely we'll all get to be Digimon anyways," JP remarked.
Lopmon looked at Tommy, wondering what the boy was thinking.
"Not with that attitude," Zoe huffed at JP.
"Is it getting warmer here or is it just me?" Patamon questioned.
Takuya perked up, feeling a bit uneasy. "Not really… but I am getting the feeling something is behind us…"
Everyone quickly turned around to see the lights from before, only they were much brighter up close. They saw they were surrounded by these candle-like creatures. They all had flames on their heads, the flames themselves looked to have their own faces.
Three of these candle creatures looked directly at the group. The one in the middle appeared to have a mustache wax.
"Why have you humans come to our village?" The candle in the middle asked in a deep voice. "You are not welcome here."
Takuya looked nervous, as did the others in their group.
"And I thought these guys were supposed to be welcoming…" JP muttered.
"They were when we first met them… I wonder what changed?" Patamon frowned.
"Then again… when we met them, things were different. There wasn't a war against Cherubimon…" Lopmon mumbled.
"We're not here to cause trouble. We just wanted a place to sleep, but if you don't want us here, we can leave," Takuya said politely.
"You're melting my heart," The Candlemon with the mustache sarcastically said. "Do you think we'd fall for something like that? You're here for the ancient artifact that we've been protecting for generations, aren't you?"
"What ancient artifact?" Zoe frowned.
"We didn't know about any ancient artifacts, we promise," Tommy spoke up.
"Please, we mean you no harm." Takuya said, trying to calm the situation down. "We're just kids, what can we do against you guys?"
"I don't know if these guys will listen." JP frowned.
"Wait, please hold on!" Patamon spoke up quickly. "These humans aren't here to steal any artifacts, they're here to help us save this world!"
Takuya balked. "W-wait! We didn't agree to it yet, right?!"
Patamon whacked Takuya's leg with his wing. "Shut up. Why else were you going to the Forest Terminal? Just for funsies?"
Lopmon cleared his throat. "As hard as it might be to believe, this young man was infused with the Spirit of Agunimon. So that already proves that the world needs their help."
"Did you say 'Agunimon'?" The supposed Chief Candlemon replied, sounding surprised and unsure.
The other Candlemon spoke out in doubt about the possibility that Agunimon would choose a human child of all things to wield its power.
"If you don't believe me, then Takuya can prove it. He can turn into Agunimon right here and show that he can use the Spirit's power," Lopmon stated.
Takuya paled. "I… I don't think I can. I only did it twice before, and the second time I couldn't hold that form…"
Lopmon looked back at Takuya. "Not with that attitude…"
"Well… isn't this interesting?" The Chief Candlemon remarked before he huddled with the other two Candlemon, whispering to them for a moment, before turning his attention back on the group. "Please forgive our rude behavior, my young friends. We are the Candlemon tribe, it's been our sacred duty to protect the ancient artifact hidden deep within a frozen cave. So… which one of you inherited the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior?"
"It was this one," Patamon pointed at Takuya. "His name is Takuya."
Takuya stood stiff as the Chief Candlemon floated up to his face to study him for a moment. "Well, you certainly have a brave face, young man. On behalf of the Candlemon tribe, I bid you all welcome! Please, be our guests!"
The Chief Candlemon floated away, going over to the other Candlemon.
"That was… a little too easy," Tommy noted.
"Yeah…" Takuya frowned. "I'm getting the feeling something's off…"
JP grumbled. "When is anything not feeling off in this world…?"
"No need to be so pessimistic, JP." Zoe scolded gently.
"Come on, now, don't dottle," The Chief Candlemon said as he was hopping away. "You said you needed some rest, right? We can give you some shelter and beds to sleep in."
"Let's go ahead and trust them, unless you guys prefer to sleep on rocks or dirt instead tonight," Takuya suggested.
"Fine, but if they jump us, we're counting on you to keep us safe, Mr. Legendary Warrior," JP huffed.
Takuya grumbled. "Someone's grumpy…" He muttered.
The group continued to walk after the Chief Candlemon, but they were on alert for if anything seemed off.
The Chief Candlemon led the group to some tents. The tents themselves were made out of rock, however, probably to make it so the Candlemon didn't set their own houses ablaze.
"You kids can stay in these tents for the night. They're not much, but they'll keep you warm and comfortable while you rest for the night," The Chief Candlemon stated.
Takuya and the others looked at the tents before slowly entering them, one after another.
"Huh… it does feel warm." JP noted. "Like I want to cuddle under a warm blanket."
Takuya felt sleepy. "I think this should work for sleeping tonight." He agreed with a yawn.
"Go ahead and choose one for each of you, we have plenty to spare," The Chief Candlemon stated with a smile.
"I'll see you boys in the morning then. A girl's gotta have her beauty sleep," Zoe said as she yawned and headed into one of the rock tents.
"Yeah, I guess I'll try to get some sleep myself," JP mumbled, going into another rocky tent.
Takuya looked over at Tommy, who had been pretty quiet.
"Tommy? Are you okay?" Takuya asked. "You've been pretty quiet lately."
"Oh… I'm just… a little anxious, is all… I've never slept away from home before," Tommy admitted sheepishly.
"Do you want to sleep in my rock tent with me?" Takuya asked. "Just… for someone to be with you?"
"I must warn you, the rock tents were made for Candlemon, I don't think it can fit two humans at once," The Chief Candlemon informed.
"I can sleep with you, if it'll help you feel better, Tommy," Lopmon volunteered.
Takuya grinned. "Hey, that's a good idea." He chuckled. "You're certainly small enough to do it."
"Yeah, and I can sleep with Takuya and keep an eye on him," Patamon said.
Tommy nodded. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine, Patamon and I would've just slept outside anyways," Lopmon replied.
Takuya grumbled at Patamon. "Why would you need to keep an eye on me? I'm 12 for crying out loud! I can handle myself…"
"You're also the only one who can really fight back if anything bad happens," Patamon said. "Can't have you sleeping in in case the others are in trouble, you know."
Takuya groaned. "Of course…" He sighed. "But I get it…" Why do I get the more mature Digimon?!
Takuya felt a yawn escape him as he decided to head into his rock tent. "Then wake me if trouble shows up…" He said with another yawn,
Patamon looked over at Lopmon. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then."
"Yeah, see you in the morning," Lopmon replied back to Patamon.
Patamon followed Takuya into the rocky tent. Lopmon walked over to Tommy. Tommy walked into the rocky tent himself.
"Not that I'm ungrateful, but… why did you decide to sleep with me?" Tommy asked.
"You looked like you needed it. Mature or not, you're still an 8 year old boy who was taken away from home. That's much for anyone, especially for a kid," Lopmon explained. "Besides, as your Digimon guide, it's my responsibility to try to help you 4 any way I can."
Tommy smiled. "That's nice. Thanks, Lopmon."
Tommy laid down on the ground. There was a thin, scratchy sheet that was supposed to be a bed, but it was pretty uncomfortable. The Candlemon weren't really built to sleep on beds. They usually sleep standing up due to their nature. Lopmon, seeing Tommy's discomfort, moved closer to the boy. Lopmon noticed that Tommy looked a little cold due to the lack of a blanket. Lopmon wrapped his furry ears around Tommy's neck and shoulders. He was too small to really cover Tommy, but he hoped this would give the young boy some comfort.
At some point in the middle of the night, Lopmon was awoken when he felt movement. He opened his eyes, seeing Tommy sitting up. Lopmon groggily blinked his eyes, and rubbed them a little.
"Tommy?"
"Sorry… couldn't really sleep," Tommy sighed. "Is it alright if I just… go out for a walk?"
"Uh… I guess? Probably best not to go too far though. I'll stay with you," Lopmon said.
Tommy nodded. "That would make me feel better, knowing I have someone who can fight back on my side."
The two of them crawled out of the rocky tent. Tommy walked closer to the river with Lopmon following behind him. Tommy wanted another look at that wall carving. He carefully jumped onto the stepping stones, trying not to slip into the water. Lopmon managed to stay close to him.
"Is there something about this carving that bothers you?" Lopmon asked as Tommy was looking at the wall carving again, though the young boy seemed to be especially interested in the markings for the Legendary Warriors.
"No, it just… feels familiar in a way." Tommy replied. "Like I've seen these markings before."
"You have seen them, at least two of them," Lopmon pointed out. "On Agunimon and Lobomon, remember?"
"I remember." Tommy agreed. "But even then, I felt like I had seen their symbols before, even though it was my first time seeing them."
Lopmon blinked as he looked at Tommy, then at the wall carvings. "Hmm… I wonder if…"
"What?" Tommy asked.
"... It's probably nothing, don't mind me," Lopmon sighed.
Tommy frowned for a moment. "You know… you and Patamon sometimes talk about things that don't make a lot of sense, but… it feels like there's something you're not telling us… Something you know that we don't."
"You're very observant, aren't you?" Lopmon said. "But even if I were to tell you, it won't do you much good, and would only serve to stress you out more than necessary. There's only so much we can do, however, we're limited in what we can do. But even so, we want to do what we can to help you guys."
Tommy frowned again, but he nodded. "I guess that makes sense." He conceded. Maybe we'll find out what they're hiding as we travel together? I sure hope so…
"Just know that we're on your side," Lopmon reassured. "Even when you… don't need us anymore."
"You keep saying that," Tommy said. "When would we not need you anymore?"
"I'm sure… there may come a point where you guys will be strong enough to fend for yourselves, and find out on where to go on your own," Lopmon said quietly.
"But even so… that doesn't mean we won't ever need you." Tommy frowned. "At least you guys are useful. I'm not… I'm just a kid who gets in everyone's way."
"Do you really think that way about yourself?" Lopmon questioned.
"I'm just a kid. I'm the youngest here, and I'm not able to become a Digimon." Tommy pouted. "My older brother also says I'm just going to hold everyone back…"
Lopmon frowned at that. "You may be a kid… but you're here because you chose to be here, right?"
"Not really… I was pushed onto the Trailmon…" Tommy admitted.
"Regardless, you chose to stay here, right?" Lopmon pointed out. "You feel that there's something you must do here, despite being the youngest one here, and wanting to go home earlier. You shouldn't start doubting yourself now."
Tommy smiled a bit. "You're right, Lopmon." He then sighed. "It's just hard because you, Patamon, and even Takuya can fight back against the Digimon here."
"Well, Patamon and I are Digimon, though we're weak," Lopmon said sheepishly. "And Takuya has the Spirit of Agunimon. But Zoe and JP are as human as you are too, but they still want to find a way to help any way they can. If you ask me, that's more admirable. To want to fight and find a way to help without relying on the powers of a Digimon. It takes great skill and courage to fight as a Digimon. It takes greater courage and determination to fight as a human."
Tommy blushed. "You're just trying to make me feel better." He then frowned some more. "But I'm not brave… I don't know if I could find the courage to fight back against a Digimon…"
"Well, the only way to know is if you're put in that situation," Lopmon said. "You care about the others, don't you?"
Tommy thought back on how Takuya recklessly, but bravely, put himself in danger just to save Tommy from Cerberumon. And how he did it again when Raremon attacked them. Both times, someone had to save Tommy from a Digimon. Tommy had been feeling guilty about it, because he put Takuya, and Koji, in danger. He hadn't been able to do anything about it except cower in fear. His brother's words haunted him, which was the real reason why he had trouble sleeping.
"Jeez Tomoki, you must drive your friends crazy if you have any. You think that everyone's just going to take care of you, but that's not how the world works."
Tommy frowned to himself when he thought back on his brother's words. But am I expecting them to take care of me? I mean… I'm in a new world, and have no idea how to get home…
Tommy shook his head. That wasn't entirely true. He knew how to get home, he was given the chance to, but he rejected it. He and the others chose to stay.
"I think you need to rework your way of thinking," Lopmon spoke up suddenly, almost as if knowing what Tommy was thinking. "Instead of coming up with excuses why you can't do something. You should ask yourself what you can do, and how you can do it."
Tommy blinked. "H-how… Can you read minds?"
"No, it's just your doubts were written all over your face," Lopmon pointed out. "And I've had such thoughts myself many times before."
Tommy blushed. "It must be easy to read me like a book…"
"I wouldn't say that you're easy to read. Just that I know how you feel and what you're going through," Lopmon commented. "Now… how about you give it a try then?"
Tommy blinked, before understanding what Lopmon meant. He nodded and thought back to when Cerberumon attacked them. Tommy had been scared, very scared. He clung to Takuya, crying his eyes out with fear. Takuya bravely fought back despite being clearly outmatched before he got Agunimon's Spirit. Lopmon and Patamon, despite being weak, still fought back as well, trying to slow down the large dog. Tommy knew there wasn't much he could've done, but… maybe he could've helped Takuya fight back, or get somewhere further away and tried to distract Cerberumon by throwing rocks at it.
With Raremon, Tommy had been scared again. He and JP weren't sure what to make of the whole Spirit Evolution thing, and they were being chased by chocolate crazed Pagumon that were trying to eat them. Then one of them turned into that giant sludge monster. Koji, despite only being human, bravely fought back against it. He even saved Tommy from the Acid Sludge attack. Once again, Lopmon came in to help, and so did Labramon, though they were clearly outmatched, that didn't stop them from trying. Maybe Tommy could've pushed Koji away from the danger himself, or maybe he should've just told JP to stay with the others in the first place.
There were a lot of things Tommy could've done, and what he had seen the others do, instead of standing there like a helpless little child, waiting to be rescued. They had gotten lucky so far, but… Tommy didn't want to have to purely rely on Takuya, or someone else, to protect him again. There had to be something he could do.
"I can already see the sparks of fire in your eyes," Lopmon chuckled. "Looks like my advice is working."
Tommy blushed again. "I… was just thinking… that's all!" He exclaimed. "I didn't do anything except consider what I could have done during those times I was in trouble…"
"Well keep those thoughts in mind," Lopmon encouraged. "I'm sure they'll be handy the next time you're in trouble."
Lopmon's ears raised up for a moment, then he looked back at the village before frowning. "Speaking of which… that may be sooner than we expected…"
Tommy frowned before he looked at where Lopmon was looking at. They saw the dim lights of the Candlemon's flames. They appeared to be moving towards the tents, where the others were sleeping.
"Um… why are the Candlemon heading towards the tents of the others?" Tommy asked worriedly. No… instead of asking a question Lopmon can't answer, we need to investigate.
"Come on," Tommy quietly said to Lopmon.
Lopmon followed after Tommy as they quickly but quietly moved closer to the village. Tommy and Lopmon hid behind one of the cliff's walls.
"Are you sure about this, Chief? What if the one who supposedly has Agunimon's Spirit wakes up?" One of the Candlemon whispered.
"That's the point, isn't it? To see if he truly does have Agunimon's Spirit, and if he's worth wielding it," The Chief, the Candlemon with the wax mustache, replied back quietly.
"Oh no…" Tommy whispered. "They're after the others…" Tommy wanted to just hide away, but that wouldn't do him, or the others, any favors. No… I have to see what the Candlemon are planning first, then act.
"Get the sleeping clovers ready, in case they wake up and put up a struggle," The Chief Candlemon ordered.
"Yes, chief!" The Candlemon with the chief Candlemon replied before going to get the sleeping clovers, whatever those were.
"Lopmon… we need to act…" Tommy whispered. "The Candlemon are getting something called 'sleeping clovers'."
"Hold on, let's not be rash," Lopmon whispered back. "They'll likely drag the others out first. We want them out in the open, so we can get them all out to safety at the same time. Otherwise they could get trapped and surrounded in those rocky buildings."
Tommy frowned, but now that he thought about it, Lopmon's plan made more sense. "Okay… But we can't wait too long… We don't know what the Candlemon have planned."
"Remember, Tommy, you're still only human. We need to think of how we'll get them out. The best way we can get them out…" Lopmon frowned.
Tommy looked up ahead. The Candlemon were fire based Digimon from what he deduced, so they likely couldn't handle water that well, despite living right next to a river. If they wanted to get the others out of harm's way, the best way was probably… shoving them into the river. That… was definitely not an ideal situation to be in. Waking up to being under cold water, not to mention the tiny, problematic fact that Tommy himself… didn't know how to swim. But I can't hesitate. If I hesitate, then we're all in trouble no matter what we do.
"Lopmon… will you help me?" Tommy asked.
"Of course, you do still need me after all," Lopmon replied.
The Candlemon began to slowly drag the others out from their rocky tents. JP, Zoe, and Takuya all appeared to still be sleeping. Patamon was being carried by one of the Candlemon since he was small.
Takuya snorted a little, feeling like something was wrong. He groggily began to open his eyes as there was a large fire being lit under a giant candle.
"W-whazzgoinon?" Takuya muttered to himself as he tried to shake off the cobwebs of sleep.
Takuya rubbed his eyes, and saw the Candlemon dancing around the flames, all of them holding what looked to be giant clovers in their hands.
"Huh? Keep it down, would you?" JP groggily said.
"I need my beauty sleep…" Zoe mumbled.
Patamon opened his eyes as well. "Why's it so hot all of a sudden? Could someone turn down the giant flame?"
Looks like they're all waking up. Tommy noted.
"Hey… what's going on?" Takuya asked as he was starting to wake up more.
"You claim to inherit the Spirit of Agunimon, have you? Bah! I don't believe it!" The Chief Candlemon spoke up, holding what looked like a giant match stick in his hand.
Takuya's eyes went wide when he realized he and the others were in serious trouble. Crud… Something was wrong after all! "W-wait! This has to be a misunderstanding!"
"Sir! The youngest human and Lopmon don't appear to be in their tent!" One of the Candlemon called out.
The chief Candlemon frowned. "The youngest human and that Lopmon must be looking for the artifact then!" He declared.
"Wait! What's going on!?" JP shouted, now fully awake himself. "Hey! Hey! I hope you're not planning to barbecue us!"
"Was this all a trick!?" Zoe shouted as well.
Patamon frowned before he used his wings to hit the Candlemon holding him, and he flew up. "Candlemon, explain yourself!"
"These humans, here to save us?" The chief Candlemon snorted. "That's just what they probably told you. I don't believe that one of these humans has the Spirit of Agunimon! That Spirit hasn't claimed any holder for generations!"
"Even so, that doesn't mean it's impossible! You're making a big mistake, Candlemon!" Patamon warned.
"You think so? We'll show you that these humans are nothing but trouble, Patamon. They might even be working for Cherubimon for all we know!" Chief Candlemon replied back.
The Chief raised his arm with the match stick. The other Candlemon threw their clovers into the fire, creating a fog of green. The Candlemon waved their arms, making the fog go towards the humans.
"What is this?" Zoe frowned as she felt her eyes starting to drop. "I suddenly… feel so sleepy…"
"Y-yeah… me too…" JP groaned. "At a time… like this too…"
"We… need to get… away from here…" Takuya said, feeling sleepy as well despite his attempts to stay awake.
"Now, Lopmon!" Tommy shouted.
Tommy and Lopmon ran to the group as fast as they could, surprising the Candlemon. Tommy tackled Takuya into the river, while Lopmon, despite being smaller than Tommy, was stronger than the average human, headbutted JP in the side to have him fall into the river. Lopmon would have to apologize about the horns likely jabbing at poor JP later. He grabbed onto Zoe's hand and pulled her quickly. This got Zoe awake enough to get on her feet and stumble into the river as well. Patamon, who had been flying above the fog of the sleeping clover, quickly dived into the river himself, just as Lopmon jumped into the river.
Tommy was sinking, however, as he didn't know how to swim. He let out bubbles from his mouth as he struggled to get to the surface.
Takuya felt Tommy was squirming while holding onto him, so the older boy grabbed Tommy and swam to the surface to get Tommy some air.
JP and Zoe surfaced first, both having been shocked awake by the icy cold river.
"That's one way to ruin a nap time…" JP grumbled. "This isn't turning out to be the restful night's sleep I was looking forward to."
"Ugh… Talk about a wake-up call…" Takuya grumbled before looking back at Tommy. "Are you okay, Tommy?"
"Y-yeah, thanks," Tommy replied back, glad for the air.
"No, thank you, you just saved our skins back there," Takuya said.
"Is everyone okay?" Lopmon asked as he and Patamon surfaced as well.
"Yeah… I think so." Zoe replied. "But the sudden dunking didn't do us any favors really, aside from waking us up again."
"It was the best way we can get you guys out of there," Tommy explained.
"What were you doing up at this time of night?" JP asked.
"Lava Loogie!" The Candlemon began firing fireballs at them from the air, trying to hit them.
"This isn't the time to be asking such questions! We need to get to safety!" Patamon called.
"Duck under the water!" Takuya instructed the rest of the group. "Then swim for it!"
The group all took deep breaths and ducked under water, swimming away from the Candlemon that were chasing them down.
Takuya was looking for a place where the group could hide out to try and plan, and he saw what looked like a secluded alcove in the cliff face. He gestured with his free hand that wasn't holding Tommy for the others to follow him.
The Candlemon continued to hop along looking for the group. "Find them!" One of the Candlemon shouted. "Don't let them get away!"
"So what are we going to do now?" JP asked in a hushed tone.
"I don't think these Candlemon are going to let us go so easily," Zoe warned.
"We can't just keep running." Takuya replied in a hushed town as well. "Someone has to distract them Candlemon, or at least prove them wrong about us. If I can just Spirit Evolve into Agunimon, maybe I can buy you guys some time to get Tommy to safety."
"Hold on, I don't remember electing you to be our leader here," JP protested. "If you go out there, you're going to get creamed!"
"JP's right, you're not very good at fighting yet," Zoe agreed. "If you get taken down, we won't be able to save you."
"Guys, I'm just going to slow you down, you should go on without me," Tommy said.
"No, that's not an option." Takuya replied back to Tommy. "Leaving you behind will only leave you in danger."
"Here they come! Duck!" Patamon warned.
They quickly held their breaths and pushed their heads underwater as the Candlemon began passing by. They were still looking for them. After a few seconds, they lifted their heads back up.
"We don't have a lot of options," Patamon said. "Look, I'll go with Takuya to back him up. Lopmon, you stay with the others to keep them safe."
"Okay… but are you sure about this?" Lopmon asked, worried.
Patamon smiled. "I'm sure. Don't worry about us. We can handle it."
"Just make sure you guys get Tommy out of here, okay?" Takuya requested as he pulled his goggles onto his eyes, for once they'll be useful.
Takuya and Patamon dived underwater, heading back to shore. JP turned to the others.
"Okay, let's try climbing out of here," JP said.
The group started to climb up the cliff behind them. Lopmon looked back at Takuya and Patamon as they were starting to climb out onto the shore. He turned back around and started climbing up the cliff with the rest of the group.
As the group was climbing up the cliff, they could hear the Candlemon had spotted Takuya and Patamon.
"I see one of them! It's the one who supposedly holds Agunimon's Spirit!" A Candlemon shouted. "Get him and Patamon!"
JP was the first one to make it to the top of the rocks. He helped Zoe and Tommy up as well. Lopmon jumped onto the top himself. They quickly watched to see Takuya holding his D-Tector, but he hadn't been able to Spirit Evolve yet. He was running from the Candlemon as they were spitting out their Lava Loogie at him. He tripped and fell, causing his D-Tector to fall to the ground.
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shouted, shooting out the air bubble at the front of the Candlemon, knocking him back into the Candlemon behind him.
Seeing how he had a brief respite, Takuya ran and grabbed his D-Tector. Now with his D-Tector in hand, Takuya hoped he would be able to pull off his evolution this time. "Alright… Spirit Evolution time!" I hope…
Takuya held up his D-Tector and the blue digital form of his first Spirit appeared visible on the screen of his D-Tector as he formed a ring of fractal coding on his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital, and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. Red armor formed and latched onto his body as his hair changed to blonde and became long and wild. His height increased, as did his strength and agility. His eyes snapped open, now a brilliant blue instead of brown, and his canine teeth were sharper than a human's as well. He landed, crying out his name. "Agunimon!"
Now evolved, Agunimon glared at the Candlemon that had tried to attack him and Patamon. "You just made a big mistake…" Agunimon growled out.
The Candlemon that had been chasing Takuya earlier stopped in their tracks when they saw Agunimon before them.
"Do you see now that we've been telling the truth?" Patamon pointed out.
"No way! This might just be a trick!" One of the Candlemon shouted. "We're not going to fall for it!"
"Can you fight all of us I wonder?" Another Candlemon sneered.
Agunimon felt something in his chest racing at the thought of fighting so many enemies at once. He had barely won against Cerberumon in his first fight, and that was with Patamon and Lopmon helping him! He gritted his teeth nervously, but he didn't back down. I can't just stand down… Tommy, Zoe, JP, and Lopmon need to get to safety. I'm the only one who can do this…
Regardless of how nervous he was, Agunimon got into a fighting stance in response to the challenge. "We'll just have to see then, won't we?"
The Candlemon jumped at Agunimon and Patamon.
"Lava Loogie!" The Candlemon shot out fireballs at the two Digimon.
Patamon yelped as he quickly flew away from the incoming fireballs to avoid getting scorched.
Agunimon saw the incoming fireballs, but he was able to knock the fireballs aside; the fireballs didn't do much damage to him since he was the Warrior of Flame. A smirk crossed Agunimon's lips. "Looks like your little fireballs won't do much against me." He said as he then slammed his fists together as fire formed on his fists. "Let's see how you like real fireballs! Pyro Punch!"
When Agunimon punched at the nearest Candlemon, the Candlemon fell back an inch or two, but he hardly looked phased from the attack. In fact… It looked like the fiery punch may have made the Candlemon stronger. The flame on its wick looked like it was burning brighter and hotter.
"Thanks for the juice~" The Candlemon grinned.
"Agunimon! Don't use fire on Candlemon!" Patamon shouted.
Agunimon paled. Crud… If I can't use my fire attacks… we're in trouble… That's my only offense! Agunimon felt sweat running down his exposed lower face in nervousness. "So much for that plan… I really need to not get overconfident…"
"You may be able to take fire, but can you take wax?" One of the Candlemon remarked.
"What?" Agunimon frowned.
"Paraffin Paralyzer!" The Candlemon shot out some kind of white hot wax at Agunimon.
Agunimon gasped and jumped to the side, avoiding getting the wax on his body. The wax sizzled as it landed on the ground. Crap! If that hits me, it won't be good…
The Candlemon tried again, shooting out more of the white hot wax from their bodies at Agunimon, who kept dodging, at least until he found himself backed against a wall, literally.
"Nowhere to run~" A Candlemon snickered before shooting out more wax. "Paraffin Paralyzer!"
Agunimon gasped as he felt the hot wax hitting his arms and legs. "Crap…"
The wax hardened really quickly, making it impossible for Agunimon to move. He tried to use his flames on the wax, but that only made the wax hot, it didn't let him move any easier.
"Agunimon!" Patamon called out.
"How do you like that?" Candlemon grinned.
The Candlemon began to gang up on Agunimon and started to throw more fire at him. Despite being the Warrior of Flame, Agunimon wasn't completely immune to fire attacks.
"Get away from him!" Patamon shouted as he flew at the group of Candlemon, tackling one of them to the ground, causing the others to scatter around.
"Patamon…" Agunimon grunted out. "G-get away from here… There are too many for you to handle…" Of all the tricks… I can't believe I fell for that…
Patamon didn't stop, however, he jumped up, avoiding a Lava Loogie from another Candlemon, and shot out a Boom Bubble at two of them. But one of them got behind Patamon and shot another Paraffin Paralyzer on him. Patamon yelped as hot wax hit his back and he hit the ground.
"They got both Agunimon and Patamon! How is this a fair fight?" JP frowned, having watched what was going on.
"We have to do something!" Zoe quickly said.
"What can we do? We're only human." Tommy frowned.
"I could try to help them, but I'll more likely end up covered in wax myself," Lopmon said worriedly.
"Surely there's a way we can help them. We have these D-Tector thingies like Takuya does, right?" JP said as he looked at his D-Tector and began pressing buttons on it.
"Maybe there's something in this cave we can use to he-aaah!" Zoe yelped as she stepped into the cave, only to slip on ice.
Tommy and JP reacted quickly, and caught Zoe before she could fall on her back.
"Are you okay, Zoe?" JP asked in concern.
"Y-yeah… Thanks…" Zoe replied, feeling better now that she wasn't slipping. Looking ahead, Zoe whistled. "Wow… Who knew there was an ice cave here? We should be safe from those Candlemon in here."
"Whoa…" Tommy blinked as he slipped a little on the ice.
"Careful Tommy, it's really slippery," Zoe warned.
Lopmon looked around. "How odd… why is there an icy cavern here of all places? In a village filled with fire Digimon?"
"Maybe this is where they kept that ancient artifact they were protecting?" Tommy guessed.
"I do remember something about an artifact in a frozen cave being mentioned." Zoe realized. "Is… Is this that very cave?"
"If it is, it's the perfect place to hide out from those hot-headed Digimon." JP grumbled.
"I don't know about that, if this is where they keep their precious artifact, won't they come in here to see if we tried to take it?" Tommy questioned.
"Besides, at this point, do you want to hide from the Candlemon? Knowing Takuya and Patamon are in danger?" Lopmon asked.
JP grumbled. "Hiding would be better, but I don't want to lose the only one who can defend us either…"
"Takuya needs our help." Zoe agreed. "We can't just hide away. There has to be something we can do!"
Tommy looked down as he took out his D-Tector. He wasn't sure why, but he kept having this feeling that he should be using it to help Takuya and Patamon somehow. But there wasn't anything he could do with it. JP and Zoe had been trying earlier, and nothing was happening. What difference would it make if he used his now?
They turned their attention back to the battlefield, getting out of the icy cavern. None of them were dressed for the cold anyways, Zoe was already freezing her butt off. They could see Agunimon was looking worse for wear as the Candlemon were now just tackling Agunimon as they seemed to be doing more damage than their fire attacks. Patamon struggled to get out of the wax, but one of the Candlemon kept an eye on him, and stood on top of the smaller Digimon to keep him from moving. And making it harder for Patamon to breathe, so he couldn't use his Boom Bubble attack.
Lopmon took a step forward before looking back at the group. "I'm going in. I can't just watch this anymore."
Zoe frowned before she sighed. "Then don't forget me. I'm coming too. I won't let this continue."
JP clenched his fists. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's ganging up on someone who can't fight back."
"I'll-" Tommy began.
"You should stay here, Tommy," Zoe spoke up.
"But I want to help too!" Tommy frowned.
"You'll only get in the way, squirt," JP said. "You should stay here and let us handle this."
Tommy looked like he was on the verge of pouting. "It's not fair! I have one of those D-Tector things too! I should be able to help in some way!"
"You all should stay here. I can't protect you three while fighting back at the same time," Lopmon spoke up. "Don't do anything reckless!"
Lopmon didn't stick around for them to argue, he jumped off from the hill, and used his ears to glide him towards the battlefield.
"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon shot out his icy wind at the Candlemon that were crowded together on Agunimon.
The Candlemon yelped as the icy wind was freezing their bodies. When Lopmon got in close, he began spinning in the air.
"Tiny Twister!" Lopmon created a small light brown and pink tornado of himself.
The Tiny Twister that was Lopmon grabbed onto as many Candlemon as he could, spinning them around while slapping them multiple times with his ears. He then flew out of the little twister he created that would last a few seconds longer, keeping the Candlemon preoccupied, as he ran over to Patamon first.
"Hold on, I'll try to get you out of that," Lopmon quickly said.
Lopmon fired a weak Blazing Ice on the wax, trying to break it apart from the sudden coldness. With Patamon, it was easier, since there wasn't a lot of wax on him. With Agunimon, that was going to be a lot tricker. Which was why Lopmon started with Patamon first, he was going to need all the help he could get. Lopmon tore the frozen wax off of Patamon.
"Thanks, Lopmon." Patamon said gratefully. "I am seriously going to form a dislike of wax soon if I get hit by more of that stuff."
"We gotta get Agunimon out, but that's a lot of wax on him." Lopmon frowned.
"And you're not done dealing with us!" Candlemon shouted as the twister had died down.
"Oooh, you're making us really heated!" A Candlemon in the front of the group growled.
Lopmon and Patamon stood in front of Agunimon, wanting to protect him from these Candlemon.
"Stand aside, Patamon, Lopmon, you aren't our targets, the human children are!" The front Candlemon pointed out.
"These children are our responsibilities for as long as they need us," Lopmon stated.
"If you want them, you'll have to go through us first," Patamon finished.
"Aww, you must care for them then. How cute, but it will only doom you to be reborn." The front Candlemon said.
Agunimon felt his face growing pale. "Patamon, Lopmon, just get out of here!" He pleaded. "It's not worth it!"
"Really? Protecting one of the wielders of the Legendary Warriors isn't worth it? Get your priorities straight," Lopmon grumbled.
"Lava Loogie!" The Candlemon shouted, shooting out fireballs.
Patamon and Lopmon jumped away from the fireballs.
"Get some new tricks guys! You're getting predictable!" Patamon taunted.
"And you don't like the cold, do you? Well, have a bit of taste of my Blazing Ice!" Lopmon fired more icy winds from his mouth, this time he aimed for the flames on their wick.
The flames looked to be in distress as they were dimming from the icy wind, weakening the Candlemon considerably.
Unfortunately for Lopmon, there were more Candlemon where that came from. He was hit by a Lava Loogie from the side.
"Ow!" Lopmon groaned, rubbing his singed side.
"I've got this! Boom Bubble!" Patamon blasted the Candlemon that hit Lopmon with his air bubble, causing them to hit the rocky cliff's wall.
"The two of them seem to be working pretty well together," Zoe noted, watching the fight from the rocky hill.
"Yeah, but even so, they are still only two Digimon against a village of Candlemon." JP frowned. "The sheer numbers will overwhelm them if we don't do something to help."
"We need to find a way to free Agunimon. If we can do that, then we may have a chance." Zoe realized.
Tommy was frowning as he watched the two fight. They were small compared to Agunimon, and their power wasn't as impressive. But even so, they stood by Agunimon to fight when he couldn't. Despite the fact they weren't strong enough, they kept trying.
"Alright, I've had enough of you two! It's time to take this to the next level!" One of the Candlemon growled, the one in front.
Fractal code surrounded the Candlemon. Lopmon and Patamon's eyes went wide in shock and horror.
"Crap!" Patamon hissed.
"What's happening?" Agunimon frowned.
"That Candlemon is digivolving." Lopmon frowned.
"You mean the Candlemon is getting stronger?" Agunimon asked, hoping he was wrong.
"That is what digivolution tends to do," Lopmon grumbled.
When the fractal code dissipated, there was a new Digimon in Candlemon's place. This Digimon wore a blue hat that had a white skull above the brim with a black band behind the skull itself. The Digimon's hair was sandy blonde and the skin was a light, almost pale, blue color. The eyes were blue, and the Digimon had a blue cape with a high collar covering the mouth. The inside of the cape had odd symbols on it, and the Digimon had a pale yellow jumpsuit on with a ton of zippers scattered all over the jump suit. The gloves and boots were brown in color, and the jumpsuit had red accents on the chest and on the left leg. In the Digimon's right hand was a wand/scepter of some kind as well. The wand top was a golden color and shaped like a sun too.
"What is that?' Agunimon gulped.
"That's Wizardmon from the looks of it!" Patamon frowned. "A wizard Digimon, Champion level, capable of using different types of magic."
"Great, we go from a fire candle to a wizard, because that makes sense," Lopmon sarcastically grumbled.
Agunimon gritted his teeth. Dang it… if only I could move…
"Okay… I don't think a Candlemon turning into a wizard is a good thing…" Zoe frowned, having seen the evolution taking place. "I didn't know Digimon could change forms like that!"
"It doesn't matter. We still have to help them out!" Tommy exclaimed.
"And how are we going to do that? Lopmon told us to stay here." JP frowned.
"Let's see how well you two can deal with me!" Wizardmon said to Lopmon and Patamon. "Electro Squall!"
Waving his wand around, Wizardmon summoned lightning, which struck down on Lopmon and Patamon. Neither had a chance to get out of the way.
Agunimon paled in the face, feeling his form shaking. "No… Patamon, Lopmon…" He said softly, feeling scared now. If this was what happened to the two Rookie-level Digimon, what did that mean for him?!
Agunimon attempted to break out of the wax that was still holding him down. The other Candlemon noticed this and began shooting out more Lava Loogie attacks at him.
"None of you stand a chance against us. You're not worthy to hold the Spirit of a Legendary Warrior, human!" Wizardmon accused as he glared at Agunimon. "Especially since you let two young Digimon fight for you."
Tommy frowned as he saw Agunimon getting hurt, and both Lopmon and Patamon were on the ground, injured. This can't go on… someone has to do something.
A strange image flashed before the young boy's eyes. For a moment, he saw different people with different Digimon being overwhelmed by Candlemon. Tommy blinked, shaking his head. He didn't recognize those people, or Digimon… and yet… he felt like he should. They felt… familiar somehow.
That wasn't important anyway, what was important was that the friends he made now, the ones who could fight, were down and in trouble. He may be a little kid, but if there was something he could do, then he shouldn't hesitate. Tommy looked down at the river below, even though they had a Wizardmon with them, most of them were still fire-based Digimon. They may not take too well with water.
"Okay, that's it," Tommy said.
"What?" Zoe frowned.
Tommy jumped and slid down the rocky hill.
"H-hey! Are you crazy!? Get back here!" JP shouted.
"They need our help! And I won't just be a little kid who gets in the way!" Tommy shouted back as he ran into the river.
Thankfully, this part of the river was shallow, so Tommy didn't have to worry about drowning here. He was up to his waist, and he took off his hat and filled it with water. He threw the water at the Candlemon, to weaken and distract them.
"Get away from my friends!" Tommy shouted. "Don't hurt them anymore!"
One of the Candlemon jumped back from the water that was thrown in its direction. "Hey! That's wet!"
Tommy kept throwing water at the Candlemon. "Then leave my friends alone!"
Up in the icy cave's area, something beneath the ice glowed, making Zoe and JP look back behind them in confusion and surprise.
"W-what's that glowing, and where is it coming from?" Zoe asked, confused and nervous.
"I think… it's from beneath the ice!" JP realized.
The ice broke, revealing a figurine that floated up from underneath it. The figurine looked like a white bear that had a headband that was green, a red shoulder guard on the right side, and a gray one on the left side. It sat on a hexagonal base.
"Whoa…" JP blinked in awe. "Is that this artifact the Candlemon mentioned?"
"If it was here, then it must be." Zoe realized. "But what is it?"
"Another… Spirit maybe?" JP frowned.
"You think so?" Zoe blinked.
"Enough of this foolishness, human!" Wizardmon shouted, irritated at the water Tommy was splashing his comrades with.
"T… Tommy…" Lopmon weakly said as he lifted his head up to see Tommy at the river.
"Play time's over, kid! Electro Squall!" Wizardmon shouted as he summoned the lightning attack at Tommy.
"Tommy!" The others shouted in worry.
Tommy shut his eyes and braced himself.
The figurine flew out of the cave and down to the river, coming to a halt right in front of Tommy. The figurine blocked the lightning attack completely, canceling it out before it even touched Tommy or the water he was in.
"What is that?" Agunimon blinked, shocked that Tommy was not only okay, but this strange figurine just protected him. Is that… another Spirit?
Agunimon definitely felt a familiar power radiating off of that figurine.
"It can't be… the artifact we've been protecting for generations…" Wizardmon said in shock. "It's reacting… to the boy?"
Patamon looked up from his position on the ground as well. "Could it be…?"
"Y-yeah… I think so…" Lopmon replied quietly.
Tommy opened his eyes, feeling the water had gotten a lot colder. He saw the strange bear-like figurine floating in front of him. It was unfamiliar… and yet it felt like he was seeing an old friend after a long time.
"Did… you save me?" Tommy asked.
A transparent form appeared before Tommy. The form looked like a humanoid white bear wearing the same armor on the figurine, and it had brown eyes, along with green and red boots on its feet and a gray weapon on its back.
Tommy stared, recognizing the base the figurine was on. "Is that… another Spirit?"
As if in a trance, Tommy had a flash enter his mind of himself merging with the bear-like form. Small snowflakes appeared in Tommy's eyes, as if he was being drawn to the figurine.
Tommy had been on the fence about the whole 'turning into a Digimon' thing. But right here, right now, that didn't matter to him. He knew what he had to do, especially if he wanted to protect his friends. He pulled out his D-Tector and held it out to the figurine. The D-Tector shot out a beam of light at the figurine, pulling it into it. Once that was done, Tommy saw one of the symbols from the wall appearing on the screen of his D-Tector.
"It is time." The familiar woman's voice said.
The light green digital form of his first Spirit appeared on the screen of his D-Tector and he formed the familiar ring of fractal coding around his left hand. He swiped the D-Tector over the coding, calling out the familiar phrase he would come to know by heart. "Execute! Spirit Evolution!" His clothes ripped away as his body became digital and the process began. Coding surrounded him as the power of the Spirit flowed into his body. He lost his hair and his body became white as snow. His fingers became like paws almost and he gained a more cub-like appearance to his body. Green chest armor formed on his body and his feet gained green and red boots. A headband that had the image of a bear on it formed on his head, and he gained a shoulder pad on each side, but one was red while the other was gray in color. He slid down and landed as a mushy pile before he reformed and grinned, calling out his name. "Kumamon!"
Zoe and JP, having seen the evolution from the cave, were in shock.
"That's amazing!" Zoe exclaimed. "That Spirit must've been meant for Tommy!"
"That's impossible!" JP exclaimed. "Err… The evolution thing happening to another one of us anyway…"
Agunimon was also in shock. Did Tommy just… Spirit Evolve too?
Despite being his first time being a Digimon, Kumamon knew what he had to do, and what he could do. He got out of the water, and ran into the battlefield. "Alright, you were able to take on Lopmon's ice. Let's see how well you deal with my ice!"
The Candlemon frowned, but they began charging at Kumamon.
"Crystal Breeze!" Kumamon fired out a much stronger icy wind than Lopmon was able to, completely freezing all the remaining Candlemon. "There, now they won't interfere. It's just you and me now, Wizardmon."
Wizardmon growled before he launched himself at Kumamon in a kick. "We'll see about that, teddy!" He exclaimed as he kicked Kumamon back.
Kumamon hardly looked phased by the kick, in fact, Wizardmon quickly realized trying to attack this bear with a physical attack was a mistake. Kumamon's body was very malleable, and he had Wizardmon's foot stuck in his side. Wizardmon's eyes went wide as Kumamon smirked at him.
Kumamon grabbed a gun from his back and aimed it at Wizardmon's face. Though Kumamon didn't call out the name of his attack, he fired out snowballs from the gun at a rapid pace. This pelted and covered Wizardmon's face in snow until his foot wiggled out of Kumamon's body.
"Ugh… Talk about a sneaky bear…" Wizardmon grumbled as he shook his head to get the snow off of it.
"Kumamon! Be careful!" Agunimon warned. "Wizardmon's stronger in this new form of his!"
"You keep quiet!" Wizardmon shouted as he aimed an Electro Squall at Agunimon.
Agunimon let out a gasp as he shut his eyes. But he didn't feel any pain. Instead, he heard someone else crying out in pain. He opened his eyes, and was shocked to see Kumamon was in front of him, taking the electric attack himself. Kumamon let out a shout of pain before hitting the ground.
"Kumamon!" Agunimon cried. He was shaking badly at what he was seeing. First Patamon and Lopmon, and now Tommy?! "Please… don't do this… Please, get up!"
"Hah! Legendary Warrior or not, you're no match against me!" Wizardmon snickered.
Kumamon looked up at Agunimon. "It's not… over yet… I saw what Lopmon was doing…"
"Huh?" Agunimon frowned.
Kumamon aimed the gun at Agunimon. "Sorry… this might… be a little cold."
Kumamon fired the snowballs at Agunimon, or more specifically, at the wax that was covering Agunimon. With the coldness hardening the wax to a brittle point, Agunimon found he could easily break through the wax now.
Agunimon found he could move again, and wasted no time in breaking free of the wax. "Thanks." He said with a small smile to Kumamon. "I was really in a tight spot back there."
Wizardmon growled as he began to approach the two Legendary Warriors. "You may have freed your friend, but you will not keep a hold on the Spirits for long!"
"Well you're not made of fire anymore, so you're no longer immune to my attacks! Nor can you spew out wax to trap me! Kumamon already frozen the rest of your buddies," Agunimon stated.
"Don't think I'm out of tricks just yet!" Wizardmon hissed.
Wizardmon waved his wand and suddenly created several illusions of himself. "See if you can find the real me! All the while I'll be attacking you! Electro Squall!"
Agunimon gasped as all of the Wizardmon shot their lightning at him.
Agunimon grabbed Kumamon and dodged the attacks by jumping to the side. The two Digimon landed on the ground, Agunimon on his back and holding Kumamon close to his armored chest. "Ugh… This is so not my day…"
Agunimon looked back at all the Wizardmon. He tried to kick the nearest one, but his foot only went through it.
"You'll never be able to tell which one's the real me! You might as well give up!" Wizardmon sneered.
Agunimon gritted his teeth.
"Stay calm, Agunimon," Kumamon whispered from his back. "There's a solution to this."
"But what?" Agunimon frowned.
Kumamon looked up at the other Wizardmon. "Keep fighting him."
Agunimon frowned, but nodded. "Okay…" He said as he let go of Kumamon. Agunimon then got to his feet and into a fighting stance. I hope whatever Kumamon had planned works…
Agunimon had fire form on his fists and he punched at the closest Wizardmon, hoping to get a hit on the real one. Agunimon couldn't get the real Wizardmon, all of his attacks went through any Wizardmon he targeted. This was getting him nowhere. Lopmon and Patamon frowned as they watched. Lopmon looked at the illusions as Wizardmon used another Electro Squall, and for a brief moment, he saw only one shadow. But it was too brief, and the Wizardmon were too scattered.
I see what you're doing, Kumamon. Lopmon realized. "Agunimon! Jump up as high as you can!"
Agunimon glanced at Lopmon and nodded. He crouched down before jumping up as high as he could. If Lopmon had a plan, then he had to trust the smaller Digimon.
Seeing this, all the illusions gathered into a circle as they held out their wands. "You just trapped yourself! Electro Squall!"
As the lightning flashed, that was when Kumamon saw it. Only one Wizardmon had a shadow.
"Down there, at 12 o'clock, Agunimon. Only one has a shadow," Kumamon pointed out.
Agunimon glanced down and saw what Kumamon was talking about. He smirked when he realized this had to be the real Wizardmon. "Thanks!" He called back before he then flipped in the air, coating his left foot in fire as he brought it down in a drop kick right at Wizardmon. "Game… over!"
Agunimon felt something solid hitting his foot, which made him grin as it just confirmed this was indeed the real Wizardmon. Wizardmon let out a yell of pain.
"M-Magic… Heal-"
Kumamon jumped off of Agunimon's back before Wizardmon could use his healing spell on himself, turning himself into an icy tundra and landing on Wizardmon's wand, making him unable to use it. "I don't think so."
"W-wah!? My wand!" Wizardmon yelled.
Lopmon and Patamon managed to get to their feet and walked up behind Wizardmon.
"Remember us?" Patamon grinned.
"Time to finish it," Agunimon said. "Pyro Darts!"
"Crystal Breeze!"
"Boom Bubble!"
"Blazing Ice!"
All the attacks hit Wizardmon, who had no chance of escape. Wizardmon cried out as a ring of code appeared around his body.
Agunimon looked at the ring of code before glancing at Kumamon. "I think you can do this one, Kumamon." He said, gently nudging Kumamon.
Kumamon looked at Agunimon, who gave a small smile and nodded.
Kumamon looked at the ring of code again and knew what he had to do. He held up his D-Tector. "This magic show is over!" Kumamon declared as he pressed the button on the side of the D-Tector, the symbol for Ice appearing on the screen as the scanner at the top lit up. Kumamon swung his arm, dragging the scanner across the fractal code. The code now collected, the scanner went dark.
Instead of turning back into an egg, however, Wizardmon just simply turned back into a Candlemon.
"YAY!" Zoe cheered, and said something in Italian.
"Yeah! What she said!" JP cheered as well.
"Whew… looks like we won, I hope," Lopmon said.
Agunimon smiled down at Kumamon. "You did well out there, Kumamon."
"Thanks, Agunimon. I'm glad I could help." Kumamon smiled back.
The other Candlemon, the ones that had stayed out of the battle, were trying to defrost their warriors.
"Well, I guess this proves they really are worthy of being Legendary Warriors after all," One of the Candlemon said.
"Yes. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it." The Chief Candlemon agreed. "The two of them really did prove themselves today. Especially since Kumamon has chosen the boy before our very eyes."
"So does this mean you're done trying to chase us?" Patamon asked.
"Of course, you may relax now," The Chief Candlemon confirmed.
Upon hearing this, both Agunimon and Kumamon surrounded themselves with fractal code, changing back to their human selves.
"Takuya and little Tommy, two boys who are chosen by the Legendary Warriors," The Chief Candlemon remarked in awe.
Both boys blushed.
"Heh, now you two are becoming celebrities," Lopmon chuckled.
"I don't want to be a celebrity though…" Takuya pouted. "I'm not that comfortable with the idea…"
"Well, get used to it, because as a holder of a Legendary Warrior's Spirit, you will be considered as such." Patamon snickered.
Takuya grumbled.
"Oh, uh… that Spirit though," Tommy spoke up as realization hit him. "Wasn't that the ancient artifact you guys had been guarding? Is it really alright for me to just take it away?"
"The Spirit of Kumamon couldn't be in better hands." The Chief Candlemon replied with a smile. "I think Kumamon would appreciate being able to help save the Digital World."
"Besides, the Spirit of Kumamon has chosen you. It'd be difficult to get it away from you after that," Lopmon added with a chuckle.
Tommy blushed. "Y-yeah, I guess so."
A little bit later, the Candlemon gathered back up in the heart of the village. JP and Zoe joined up with the rest of them. Some of the Candlemon gave some medical herbs to Patamon and Lopmon to heal some of their wounds and burns from the battle earlier, since they couldn't just 'revert back to human' to heal like with Takuya and Tommy.
"I must apologize to you all," The Chief Candlemon said. "The truth is, we believed you might've possessed the Spirit of Agunimon, but we had to be sure if you were truly worth wielding it. After all, the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors could fall into the wrong hands, and then we'd all be in trouble. I'm sorry we didn't trust you, especially since you have Patamon and Lopmon with you."
"So you're saying all of this was just a test?" Tommy deadpanned.
"Be glad I'm not in the mood to snuff your wicks out." Takuya huffed. "That was a sneaky trick."
"Jeez, you nearly roasted us alive with that!" JP grumbled.
"Heh, sorry again, you have every right to be angry," Chief Candlemon chuckled sheepishly. "But it was more than just a test. We also wanted to see if the Spirit of Kumamon would react to any of you as well. And the best way to do that is for the Spirit to see what you would do if someone you care about is in danger. If we hadn't done that, there was a good chance Kumamon wouldn't have reacted at all."
"I guess I can see why testing us was a good idea, but it was still dangerous to the rest of us." Zoe huffed in annoyance. "I mean we're not as durable as Digimon, one stray fire or thunder bolt would've killed us."
"At least it didn't turn out that way," Patamon said.
"By the way, if you want to get across the ravine, you should render the fractal code you took from Wizardmon," Chief Candlemon explained, looking at Tommy. "Wizardmon took the fractal code in order to protect our village when Cherubimon started taking over the Digital World. However, that time has passed, now that the Legendary Warriors are waking up once more. We hope that this bridge will guide you to where you need to go."
Tommy blinked before taking his D-Tector out and pushed a button on it.
"Fractal code, rendered." A woman's voice spoke up from the D-Tecot just as the long stream of code went up to the broken bridge.
The fractal code created the bridge, making it look as good as new, including the train tracks on it.
"Wow! I guess coming down here was worth it after all!" Takuya grinned.
"Yeah, but now it means more walking…" JP groaned.
"So this will lead us to the Forest Terminal, won't it?" Patamon asked.
"Yes, but the journey is still long and perilous. You will likely run into Cherubimon's minions or corruption," Chief Candlemon warned. "So prepare yourselves, my friends."
"Hey, we can handle it!" Takuya said. "We've got a long way to go, but I think we can get there."
Zoe giggled. "Well, I for one can't wait until we get going again."
"I don't, we still can't quite defend ourselves, Zoe," JP huffed.
"Come on, JP, don't be such a sour puss. Or maybe you're just jealous that Tommy found his Spirit?" Zoe teased.
"Oh, come on, why would I care about that? I just don't like to do more walking," JP grumbled.
"Hey… we can help keep you guys safe, especially now that Takuya and Tommy can use their powers as Digimon to help us too," Lopmon said, trying to keep things light.
Patamon nodded. "Yeah, we're not letting the two boys get all the glory!"
Just then, a loud sound that sounded like a train horn echoed, making the group look up as a Trailmon was observed crossing the bridge.
"Looks like someone else gets to cross that bridge first," Zoe noted.
"They sure got lucky that the bridge was fixed before the Trailmon went through then," Lopmon remarked.
"Yeah, but I wonder who it could be that's going across the bridge." Takuya wondered. "I don't think any Trailmon have been this way in a long time,"
"Well, whoever crossed it, I'm sure we'll likely see them later," Patamon remarked. "For now, maybe we should stay the night."
Patamon looked back at the Candlemon Chief. "Of course, that is assuming you don't plan to do any more tests on us, do you?"
"No, no." The Chief Candlemon chuckled sheepishly. "No more tests, I promise."
"Good." Patamon smiled.
"The tents are still free for you all to use as you wish," The Candlemon Chief stated. "We promise we won't bother you anymore, you've proven yourselves to us."
Tommy smiled before he looked at Lopmon. "Would you mind… sleeping with me again?"
"Of course I don't mind, Tommy." Lopmon smiled. "It looks like you feel a little happier now than before."
"I do?" Tommy asked, surprised. "I just… I didn't want anyone else to get hurt because they had to protect me… and for once, I was able to really help."
"Good. Don't forget about that feeling," Lopmon said.
Tommy smiled back. "I won't. And thanks… for your help…"
Titanic X: ZAFT: You will see soon enough! XD
pokemon fan 1991: DarkFoxKit: Heh, well it shouldn't be difficult to figure out once we get to a certain chapter.