WoS Ch3 - A Role Model

The story so far: The group is still stranded in a foreign world. At least they recruited a second fighter in Kouji who controls the Spirit of Light, allowing him to transform into laser sword-wielding Lobomon. They also have Kei and her Spirit of Fire which gives her a transformation to archer Anumon. For now, the group has finally a goal to work toward: The mysterious woman who summoned them into the Digital World has asked them to head to the far-away Forest Terminal. They even found a sentient train who agreed to take them along.

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Chapter 3 - A Role Model

-Zoe-

Of course, our good fortune didn’t last.

Kei wrapped me up in a conversation about how this time she remembered each detail about her short-lived transformation. To her it meant she was gaining control over it, despite all evidence to the contrary.

“What was that stuff that came out of your D-Tector?” JP asked suddenly.

He sat opposite us. Tommy was next to him, looking out of the window in fascination. The setting sun gave the desert surrounding us a golden glow.

“I honestly don’t know,” Kei said, now staring at her red and black D-Tector as if it would spout out the answer. It wouldn’t surprise me if it did.

After nothing happened, I said, “Did you see that it formed trees and houses?”

JP nodded. “You know I’ve been thinking. This is the Digital World. What if that is a bit more literal than we thought?”

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

Tommy slid back into his seat, looking intrigued.

JP sputtered, a layer of red taking over his face. He was faltering under our collective attention! I brought a hand to my mouth and giggled to myself but the other two remained earnest. That gave JP enough courage to rally. “We all saw the big holes in the land when we arrived.” He looked to Kouji on the far end of our compartment, shrouded in icy silence.

Kouji nodded irritably.

“Well... the digimon in Flame Terminal told us about this Cherubimon character,” said JP. Again, he impressed me with his memory. I had already forgotten that name.

He continued, “I was wondering how one digimon, no matter how strong, could cause such widespread destruction and why there doesn’t seem to be anything at the bottom of the abyss. But I think I figured out how this makes sense.”

“Well?” demanded Kei.

“What if the entire world consists of these blue strings?” JP fielded with confidence. “So if a digimon like Cerberumon destroys part of the landscape, he... kind of scans the place. And when Keisaki defeated him, she took the scanned data and re-rendered it and made the destroyed places reappear?”

“You’re right on the money, boy,” Trailmon’s voice sounded.

I started. It took a moment until I spotted a loudspeaker in the upper left corner of the room. Of course, the train could listen to our conversation.

“The Digital World is made from fractal code. Evil digimon will lay it bare and scan it to become stronger but look where that’s left us. Sometimes they even take the rails from under our wheels!” His outrage was palpable. Though over the general decay or the track theft was anyone’s guess.

“So it’s not just Cherubimon?” I asked. We’d already met the hellhound Cerberumon, after all, who had little regard for landscaping.

“Cherubimon... is the remaining leader of the Digital World. Many digimon are still loyal to him, no matter what. He’s waging war on the Metal Continent against his dissenters. But even here, a lot of digimon are collecting data for him for an unknown purpose,” Trailmon explained. “There are others who just seek the fractal codes for themselves, though I couldn’t fathom why.”

“Thanks for the explanation!” Kei said with a thoughtful frown. She looked away from the loudspeaker and addressed us, “So if we defeat this Cherubimon and his minions, the Digital World will be rid of one big problem right away?”

“He sounds like a really strong guy though,” JP said, leaning back with crossed arms.

“If that’s really what we’re all about, why are we sent to the Forest Terminal?” Kouji asked. I had almost forgotten he was with us, let alone listening.

“Maybe that’s where the next Spirit is?” Kei asked, also eyeing him in surprise. “We found you in a forest. Sorta.” She laughed and rubbed the back of her head nervously.

He rolled his eyes and turned his head pointedly back to the window.

~

The sun was low on the horizon when Trailmon announced over the speaker system, “Sorry, but you need to get out now.”

“What, why?!” JP asked.

Understandable. A quick glance outside revealed there was nothing there except desert. But the trail branched off, and Trailmon elaborated, “I would love to take you further but the quickest path to Forest Terminal is to the left where I cannot traverse.”

“So you’re leaving us in the middle of nowhere?” Kei asked, eyebrows raised impossibly high in stunned disbelief.

The doors opened, letting in a heated waft of desert air.

“There’s a village if you follow the rails for a few minutes,” Trailmon informed her with flourish. “Good luck on your journey! You should ask around for directions toward the Land of Forests!”

Kouji was already on his way outside. The words ‘quickest path’ must have struck a chord with him.

JP didn’t look convinced. “And if we stay in here and take the long way to the Forest Terminal?”

“That cheek!” Trailmon chuckled, taking the comment in stride. “My route doesn’t take me any closer, if that’s what you mean.”

Kei was at the door, tapping her fingers against the frame. I couldn’t see Kouji anymore.

Tommy pushed past her. “Are we going to sit here all day or are we going?”

She could only stare at the little guy.

I gave her a light clap on the shoulder before jumping outside. “He’s got a point. Let’s go!”

Gah, it was still beastly hot outside, even if the sun trailed long shadows on the dried and cracked ground. There was just desolation as far as the eye could see.

Kei went back inside the train and signalled JP. “You coming?”

After a moment of silence, JP appeared next to her. His shoulders were hunched and his expression sullen. “Yeah, yeah.”

Up ahead, Tommy had caught up to Kouji, talking animatedly. I couldn’t see the long-haired boy’s expression but judging from the hands jammed irritably into the pockets of his grey trousers, he wasn’t too happy.

“They aren’t waiting for us,” I noted dryly. While I let Kei and JP pass me, I turned to the Trailmon and said, “Thanks for taking us at least this far.”

“It was nothing, little lady!” he said good-naturedly. “I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourselves into. Even for us Trailmon, the Land of Forests is far away!”

“Oh we’ll manage,” I assured him confidently. We were already on the right track!

I had to step back, or the rush of wind that accompanied Trailmon’s departure would have blasted me off my feet. I appreciated the last breeze of its cooling air before running after the others.

- Kouji-

Trailmon didn’t have a good grasp on what distance people without wheels could travel in a few minutes. It had been at least ten minutes, and the landscape remained unchanged. At least the heat of the day was subsiding as the sky was darkening. The desolate area, devoid of life, was drenched in a stark red glow.

So much for the good news.

It wasn’t enough that the little kid had kept trying to talk to him. Kouji could at least disengage from that conversation until Tomoki gave up. The kid fell back to bother JP instead.

Kouji’s fingers itched, and he shoved them in his pocket. They brushed against the metal of his D-Tector. It was fine. He could handle the group. First time for everything.

Was it normal that he already regretted getting on that train? He was at least trying not to alienate everyone! If only they would show the same courtesy.

“Could you maybe try not to walk at breakneck speed?” Keisaki complained. She was at it since leaving the train.

Kouji huffed through his nose. “If you want to reach the village before it’s dark, you’d better hurry. It’s not my problem that you can’t keep up.”

“I can keep up just fine,” she said with an arrogant undertone that managed to endear her even less to him. “But Tommy is small, and he can’t, and we’re supposed to look out for him!”

It was obvious that she wasn’t happy with the kid either. Unlike Kouji though, she’d opted to take charge over his well-being—in the most disdainful way possible.

“Kei!” hissed her blonde friend. Izumi, right?

Keisaki opened her mouth to retort, but Kouji had more practical things to discuss. The first change in scenery was coming up.

“Never mind,” he dismissed their argument, pointing ahead. “I can see why the Trailmon couldn’t take us any further.”

In front of him, the path ended at a wide ravine. Kouji approached the chasm and peered into the murky darkness below. The sound of flowing water travelled up to meet him. There didn’t seem to be an easy way across. Broken train tracks at the edge of the cliff told him that the rails used to lead over it. While he contemplated the issue, the rest of the group caught up to him.

Keisaki shied away from the edge with widened eyes. “This is unexpected. Now what?”

Obviously, they had two options. They could go looking for another way across. Or they could use the narrow zigzagging pass to get down to the bottom of the ravine. It began just a little to their left, and possibly, there was a similar way up on the other side. Kouji was about to share his observations with the group, even if they should’ve been able to see that for themselves, when Junpei exclaimed, “Look, there’re lights over there!”

Now that he mentioned it, Kouji could see two specks of light as well. How could he have missed them the first time? He frowned.

“Maybe that means there are people?” Junpei continued, even more excited. He paused. “Huh. Maybe that’s the village!”

That spurred him into action, and the blue-clad boy started running down the path, quickly followed by Tomoki. So much for democratic decisions. Running down a narrow path on a steep cliff was completely idiotic. Nonetheless, Kouji followed suit. If the two idiots fell, it was better if he was close by to prevent them from killing themselves.

He looked ahead and bit back a curse. The lights were gone. Alarm bells started to ring in his head.

Kouji lightly jogged to catch up with Tomoki and Junpei. They’d stopped where the lure had vanished and just stood there, not looking around for enemies. Instead, they were transfixed by the wall.

The sun was almost gone now, and visibility was low. Still, the relief on the wall stood out even in the dusk. Kouji allowed himself a moment to look at what it depicted. To the right was the stone replica of a child angel emerging from the wall, to the left a circle of kanji.

“That looks like Elecmon’s altar from the Flame Terminal,” Junpei said. He drew a notebook from his pockets and showed Kouji a page full of the very same symbols. A perfect match.

“And what does that mean?” Kouji asked irritably.

“Hey, JP!” Tomoki exclaimed, pointing at one of the symbols in the upper part of the circle. “That’s what Lobomon has on his shoulders!”

“You’re right,” Junpei said, eyes set in determination, now looking over the symbols again.

Kouji hung back, mind alight with implications. He was Lobomon. Yet he’d never even seen himself. What did it mean that he now had others to make accurate observations about him?

“I think that’s Anumon’s symbol.” Junpei frowned. “She has it on her belt, but I didn’t get a good look at it. It’s the one that looks like the kanji for ‘fire’... I guess these symbols represent the ten Legendary Warriors.”

Before Kouji could ask, Junpei explained in broad strokes what they knew about the history of the Digital World. Kouji looked at the child-like angel. That was supposed to be Lucemon? A digimon so cruel, it forced ten legendary warriors to fight her to the death? Appearances could be so deceiving.

There was a tingling at his back, and it hit Kouji like a bolt. He’d lapsed in his attention! Keisaki and Izumi were not even halfway down to their position, but something else was fast approaching. It tried to conceal itself, but now that Kouji was paying attention, the clanking of metal on stone was unmistakable.

He turned around, D-Tector already in his hand. “Show yourself!”

Whatever he expected, it wasn’t what emerged from the darkness. Everywhere, flames burst into existence. They flickered at the wick of sentient candles with bodies made of dripping white wax. Arms protruded out of their solid white cores, and red eyes above a brass casing gleamed wickedly.

The candles stood on the other side of the ravine, forming a flaming line along a similar zigzagging path to the one Kouji and the others were standing on. But on the ground of the ravine were even more of these creatures, their flames mirrored in the water.

The water?

It had been too dark to see from the top, but now he cursed himself for not paying attention sooner! He’d even noticed the splashing and sloshing earlier! A river was flowing along the bottom of the ravine, and it wasn’t a small one either. If they didn’t want to swim in dangerous waters, they needed to climb back up the cliff and look for a different way across. This was exactly why he didn’t want anyone else calling the shots!

“You’re trespassing!” shouted one of the candles.

Three of the creatures had stepped forward, one of them pointing an accusing finger at them. Keisaki and Izumi finally joined the fun, the former looking a bit green around the nose, but otherwise battle-ready.

Izumi asked, “Who are they?”

“We are the Candlemon! We know you are here to steal our treasures!” the earlier spokesperson said, still outraged.

This was getting ridiculous. Kouji turned towards the blonde girl and said, “These are the Candlemon, and they like to think they have us all figured out.” If there weren’t so many of them, he would’ve let his guard down. There were at least twenty of the walking wax dispensers, not counting possible backup hiding in the darkness.

“We don’t even want your treasure!” Junpei tried to reason. If Kouji had learned one thing from his last experience with outraged digimon, it was that they couldn’t care less for reasoning.

“Why else would you come here?! Liar!” The last word all Candlemon repeated, creating an echo that in any other situation would have sounded silly. But right now, it just confirmed Kouji’s theory.

He looked at his D-Tector and paused. He didn’t know how to digivolve. Last time, an air of clairvoyance had washed over him, and he’d known exactly what to do. That was missing right now, and with some frustration, he realized he didn’t remember what he’d done to trigger the transformation. He subtly pressed the buttons while Junpei continued his fruitless attempt of getting them out of the situation without a fight.

“I’m not lying!” the boy said indignantly. “We only came down here because the bridge was missing!”

This sensible argument was easily dismissed. “That can’t possibly be! Stop your lies already! Haven’t you seen the abandoned landscape? No one comes here except for thieves!”

They made to attack, and Kouji found himself growing desperate. Why wasn’t this working?

“No!” Now Tomoki was shouting, “We just want to go to the Forest Terminal, and that was the quickest way, honestly!”

His face fell when the Candlemon started laughing. It wasn’t a nice sound. “Hah! Now we know you’re lying! Nobody goes to Forest Terminal anymore! Brave warriors of the Candlemon tribe, prepare yourselves!”

To make matters worse, the little boy’s light blue and green D-Tector started to glow. “Tomoki Himi. Find and claim your Spirit.”

Oh sure now the mysterious woman deigned to contribute. Did she have to make everything more difficult?

Every Candlemon took a deep breath and spit out a hot piece of wax. “ Bonfire!”

One would’ve been easy to avoid, but Kouji saw the wax rain approaching and moved.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to.... Anumon!

Keisaki had figured out how to do the transformation. Kouji gritted his teeth but was thankful for the winged digimon flicking the shots out of their way.

The sudden appearance of a passable fighter among the humans seemed to stun the Candlemon. Kouji blinked, releasing a surprised Tomoki from his hold. He hadn’t even realized that he’d jumped in front of the kid to keep him out of harm’s way.

Anumon groaned in frustration. “I should’ve digivolved and flown us to the other side! We could’ve avoided all this! Why was I so stupid?!”

“Eh, because you’re afraid of heights and didn’t think of it?” Izumi deadpanned.

Kouji shot her a look. The blonde girl just shook her head in a ‘you don’t want to know’ fashion.

“ Bonfire!” The Candlemon had recovered. While Anumon took care of that, Kouji had a staring contest with the dull screen of his D-Tector. What was he doing wrong? Keisaki had figured it out without help. He had to be at least as good as her!

“ Pyro Shot!”A burning arrow rushed towards the nearest Candlemon. It didn’t even flinch when the projectile struck its body. It just smirked, and oozing wax excreted the offending object. “What!? Why isn’t this working?”

Damn, Anumon wasn’t useful as a front-line fighter. Lobomon, on the other hand...

“Don’t you want to help?” Izumi asked. She sent Kouji a pointed look that he couldn’t ignore.

“I’m trying.”

A very ugly and completely uncalled for grin appeared on her face. “What, you’re telling me Kei can do things you can’t? Where did all this ‘I can handle myself. I work alone’ attitude go?”

He would’ve told her to shut up if it weren’t beneath him.

“ Melt Wax!” With that call, the entire battle shifted. One of the Candlemon spun around on its brass socket, letting loose big globs of hot wax that stuck to Anumon. It hardened rapidly and fixed her orange feather wings in place. Letting out an undignified shriek, she fell like a stone, straight into the river.

“Nononono, water, water, water!” The liquid was doing more damage to her than all the Candlemon combined! Unable to escape, the current carried Anumon downstream.

Just like that, Kouji was the only line of defence. Think! What had he done when he was under the influence of the Spirit? The world had seemed so clear... He’d felt very calm, very intent on what he had to do...

-Tommy-

Tomoki didn’t like Keisaki very much. He still felt bad when Anumon shrieked and fell into the water. He flinched. She didn’t deserve that.

From one moment to the next, Zoe was at the riverside, chasing after the fire digimon. She was so fast; she easily avoided a stray attack and vanished around the curve of the ravine.

Kouji was facing their enemies again, his knuckles white around his D-Tector.

Seeing the device sent a jolt through Tommy. No one had noticed that his D-Tector spoke to him! His Spirit was close by! He had a Spirit, and he was supposed to find it! He looked around, but he didn’t really know what a Spirit looked like. All he saw were the Candlemon posing to strike. Uh-oh!

It wasn’t him that made a move.

Kouji muttered, “That’s how it is...” And then there was data all around him.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to... Lobomon!

The Spirit Warrior stepped out of his cocoon, his laser swords slashing out with cold precision, and destroyed the incoming Bonfire. He made across the river in a single jump, spinning his swords. “ Zwillingslaser!”

It was like a literal wolf appeared amongst a flock of sheep. Candlemon and wax were flying everywhere. The evil creatures quickly shifted their focus, but Lobomon was much, much faster than them.

Tommy couldn’t help but watch. Lobomon was so cool when demolishing his enemies and it was so fascinating. At that moment, Tommy decided to become more like him. He thought back on how Kouji had jumped forwards to protect him even if his Spirit Digivolution wasn’t working. Kouji could’ve gotten hurt. He acted disinterested and aloof, but he didn’t want anything bad to happen to Tommy or the others. Yes, that’s what Tommy also wanted to be like. Cool and collected but also brave and kind!

(Meanwhile downstream, a cold and wet Anumon dragged herself out of the river, thankful for Zoe’s helping hand. They frantically started patting down her wings to get the damaging water away from her.)

There was only one Candlemon left that Lobomon hadn’t put out of commission and the wolf warrior turned towards it, his sword raised.

“You’ll pay for that!” the Candlemon spat, a mad glint in his eyes.

“Why does everyone insist on that today?” Lobomon grumbled. He rushed forwards for a finishing blow when the flame on Candlemon’s head grew large. Brilliant fractal code appeared from the fire, surrounding the entire digimon. He was digivolving, too!

Candlemon Digivolve to... Wizardmon!

For some reason, Tommy had thought that digivolution only happened with the Spirits. But when the fractal code retreated, the candle was gone. In his place stood a scarecrow with a wizard’s hat and a blue cape. Its long staff had a metal sun on top.

Lobomon narrowed the brown eyes visible behind his metallic mask.

“I will avenge my comrades,” Wizardmon shouted and raised his staff. “ Thunder Ball!”

“ Lichtkugel!” Lobomon reacted just as quickly. A ball of electricity shot out of Wizardmon’s staff and met the ball of light in midair. In a short explosion, the two attacks cancelled each other out. But Lobomon was already closing the distance between the magician and himself, swords ready.

Wizardmon noticed the approach, and the blue eyes deep below the brim of his hat focused. He stretched out his free hand. “ Blink Breeze!”

A blast of wind rushed toward Lobomon and forced him to evade. Tommy watched with dismay how Wizardmon created copies of himself to fool Lobomon. All six of them were smirking. “You’ll never figure out which one is real! Just give up!”

Lobomon’s head swivelled back and forth, but he couldn’t see through the illusion. The Wizardmon attacked from multiple directions and Lobomon weaved around the crackling electricity without being hit once.

“We have to help him!” Tommy said. There had to be a way to counter the spell. He made a step towards the river, but JP’s hand shot out and grabbed him at the shoulder.

“We can’t go there! We’ll just be in the way!”

His words stuck with Tomoki. Useless. Just in the way...

“Hah! You can’t create tangible copies!” Lobomon exclaimed. He confidently stepped through a string of electricity and wasn’t hurt. It was his turn to smirk. “Only one of you has a shadow!”

Tommy would never forget what happened next. Fractal code erupted around Lobomon, and a second later Kouji stood in his place. His eyes widened with the sinking realization that something went terribly wrong. “Why...?”

Wizardmon hesitated only for a moment. He raised his staff, electricity crackling. His hooded eyes sparkled with glee. “ Thunder Ball!”

Kouji screamed as electricity ran through him.

“Stop! Stop!” Tommy cried. In a daze, he freed himself from JP’s hold and ran the last few meters to the edge of the river. “Stop hurting my friend!”

Wizardmon did stop attacking and let Kouji drop to the ground, still twitching and groaning in pain. The digimon turned to Tommy, cold blue eyes looking over his features. Not seeing any threat, he looked back to Kouji.

Tommy didn’t care. He hated how much the older kids were deciding for him. He didn’t want to be pushed around! No, he hadn’t wanted to come into this world, but he was here now, and he wanted to help! They didn’t have to do everything on their own; he wanted to fight too!

When he stepped into the river, he barely thought about how it should have been too deep for him to walk. He paid no attention to the water freezing beneath his feet to give him a way over.

Kouji needed him. Tommy needed to help him!

It was like his entire being was calling out, come, come, come and give me the strength to save him!

And his Spirit came. Tommy stood on a patch of unmoving ice when the glowing orb appeared in front of him. The orb slowly lost its brightness, showing him its true features. The figurine of a white bear in green armour. It had black, empty eye sockets staring back at him.

With new resolve, Tommy raised his D-Tector, fractal code surrounding them both.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to... Kumamon!

In a shower of fractal code, a small, white bear stepped onto the ice float. This was the Warrior of Ice, and he wasted no time drawing his rocket launcher, Romeo, from his back. “Blizzard Blaster!” A volley of snowballs sailed towards his enemy, but Wizardmon had duplicated once again. He didn’t hit the real one. It didn’t matter. He was a threat now.

Still, he couldn’t trust Wizardmon to not use Kouji, who was struggling to get up, as a convenient target. Kumamon stepped in front of the person he would admire for the rest of his life and spread his arms wide. A wall of ice appeared around them, and he locked eyes with Kouji. “It’s my turn to protect you. Rest up!” Then he walked through his barrier, because Kumamon was ice, and his element would not hinder him.

“You have no honour!” he said outside, Romeo pointing unwaveringly at Wizardmon. “Where’s the justice in striking an enemy when he’s already down? This is unforgivable.”

There were still a multitude of copies left. He drew a deep breath. “ Crystal Freeze!”

He released the held air, infused with the power of winter, and it went through three copies without doing any harm. Where was the real one?

Kumamon set his face in annoyance. He had to wait for the light of the Thunder Ball, since the bottom of the ravine was too dark for visible shadows.

Wizardmon, all of them, cackled and put forth one hand. “ Blink Breeze!” A harsh wind caught Kumamon and spun him against the ice wall. Where had it come from? That must have been the real one! He pushed away from the ice and turned around, only to see the copies had switched positions already.

Inside the barrier, Kouji had risen to one knee, but he was too injured to transform again. With whatever had forced him back to human form, Kumamon doubted he’d manage a second digivolution.

The Warrior of Ice raised his blaster. He knew that Wizardmon wasn’t a strong fighter. One hit, one decisive hit of Romeo would end the haunting. But his enemy was smart, and he was adapting. Kumamon brought up his rocket launcher but hesitated. How was he supposed to find out which one was real when Wizardmon refused to use his Thunder Ball?

“ Fiery Rain!”

Anumon was in the sky! Above her, a multitude of dots glowed, growing larger. Then, it rained arrows and the Wizardmon were unable to evade. Kumamon narrowed his eyes. Only one had flinched back in pain.

“You’re the real one!” There was no time to waste. “ Blizzard Blaster!”

Wizardmon raised his staff in defence, but the snow projectiles broke through his guard. A ring of data appeared around his rapidly fading form and Kumamon summoned his D-Tector. “You have greatly outstepped your boundaries, Wizardmon! Now you will see justice! Scan!”

As the ring of data broke apart to allow him to purify the corrupted fractal code, Kumamon nodded to himself. He’d won. Justice was served. The lonely DigiEgg made its way up into the sky.

Anumon landed next to him, bow at the ready. “Anyone else?”

There were Candlemon left, but the demise of their strongest fighter had them cowed. Kumamon only gave them a disinterested glance before letting his ice protection melt around Kouji. The boy was standing now and looked better than just moments ago.

“Thank you,” Kouji said tentatively, though his face showed turmoil. He still hadn’t fully processed what had happened and how he should feel about it, that much was obvious.

“No, thank you,” Kumamon replied evenly and held out his hand. Kouji took it after a short pause. “Now we’re even.”

Kouji’s features smoothed out, his inner conflict settled. He gave him an additional curt nod.

An old Candlemon holding a sceptre of all things approached Anumon. The archer didn’t relax her stance. Kumamon shared her distrust.

The elder digimon turned to its tribe and said, “Brave warriors, cease your battle.” It was an empty phrase since there weren’t any Candlemon left to fight. Kumamon didn’t know where this would go and remained wary.

“I apologize to you, Anumon of Fire. We hadn’t realized you were one of the Legendary Warriors. We couldn’t believe the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors have come back into our world...” He trailed off and looked at Kumamon. “But the treasure we’ve been guarding for generations clearly has come to this boy’s help. It truly belongs to him.”

“What are you talking about?” Anumon was unconvinced of their sudden willingness to talk.

The Candlemon elder noticed her suspicion and nervously rubbed his hands along his sceptre. “It means that we are your enemy no longer. The Spirits have clearly chosen you! Please forgive our rash actions... We ... eh... simply thought to test you!”

But Kumamon was no fool. He could hear the obvious lie. “Your guardian has hurt my friend! Even after it was no longer necessary!”

Kouji narrowed his eyes. He had his D-Tector out, as if he contemplated another digivolution.

“I also apologize for that, Kumamon of Ice!” Candlemon said hastily, “I charged Wizardmon with protecting our village. He held the data to our bridge. He... must have gotten a bit too caught up in his line of duty.”

A scoff escaped Kouji, too low for Candlemon to pick up on it.

Kumamon agreed with him. Wizardmon’s attack on him in human form had been uncalled for.

It fell to Anumon to be diplomatic. She could be since she hadn’t been present for the incident. She hesitated only a moment longer and dismissed her bow. “So, where does that leave us?”

-Zoe-

“Where have you been?!”

That was Kouji confronting Kei.

As I expected, her temper flared. “Oh I don’t know, I may have just almost drowned, thank you very much!”

“I was electrocuted!” he shot back. A much harsher argument.

I knew how much it had taken out of Anumon to get rid of the effects the water had on her, but hearing what happened meanwhile still shook me.

Keisaki, though, was angry and didn’t realize it was better to shut up and let Kouji have this one. “Well, sorry! Get off my case; you’re still fine as far as I can see! You even had a knight in shining armour to take care of you! And why did you even need rescuing? I thought you were all powerful!”

That again. As I had predicted earlier, Kouji’s personality clashed with Kei’s, and they hadn’t done anything but argue ever since they got off the train. The recent fight had just poured oil into the fire.

A group of Candlemon was leading us to their village upstream for a place to sleep and a late dinner—courtesy of diplomacy. I didn’t trust these things as far as I could throw them, but Elecmon’s tomato soup had been hours ago. I also wanted to sleep. I was so tired... which made it doubly impressive that Kei and Kouji were still going.

“I don’t know what happened,” Kouji admitted, but added before the smirk on Kei’s face could fully sink in, “though, I distinctly remember you falling out of the sky earlier. So get off your high horse.”

Her mouth was working, but I could see her arguments were drying up. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if we woke up tomorrow to see Kouji gone. Possibly alongside his new follower, Tommy. The kid was trailing the older boy like a star-struck puppy, and I knew for a fact that it made Kouji uncomfortable.

The focus of the argument shifted.

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to trust these digimon?” Kouji asked in a tone that said Kei was a complete idiot if she did.

I looked at the Candlemon further in front (none were behind us. Kouji had insisted). They were quietly talking amongst themselves. I’d been against following them. Then Kei had said they had food and beds, were protecting the Spirits which had allied itself with us, and they were also ready to show us their library.

What was so special about a library? As JP put it, we were stuck in a world we didn’t know much about. Everything consisting of fractal code might just be the first of many curveballs. There was also the fact that we really didn’t know what our purpose here was besides reaching the Forest Terminal. If we could find a book about the Digital World in there, it would make our job, our journey, much safer. And JP was all for safety.

“I think we can digivolve and beat them again if push comes to shove,” Keisaki said, sharply, as if she resented Kouji for ever doubting her diplomacy skills.

He facepalmed and said slowly, “How are we supposed to digivolve if we’re all going to be asleep?”

That made Kei pause. She struggled to come up with an answer that would satisfy him. I blinked. She really hadn’t thought this through, had she?

I decided to rescue her and turned to Kouji. “So why are you coming then?”

“To take a look at the books,” he said immediately.

“Huh?” I made. He hadn’t seemed like the type. I couldn’t get a read on him. JP sent him an appraising stare.

I rallied and pressed him further: “And then? Are you going to camp outside? It’s not like you can go far in the darkness.”

Something in his answering stare told me he planned exactly that.

“We could set up a night guard?” Tommy offered. “I saw that on TV!”

Keisaki stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. I didn’t know why; this was sound advice and said so.

Something in Kouji’s resolve wavered, and I remembered he’d been electrocuted just ten minutes ago. Maybe he was more tired than he would like us to believe.

~

There was a bit of a commotion over the meagre dinner that the Candlemon threw together. Only after they had demonstrated the safeness of their herb soup, Kouji was ready to eat it. For my part, I poured my effort into not pouting over having soup the second time today. At least it was filling.

By contrast, the library was a real let-down.

The Candlemon village was a set of caves with one bigger cave as an assembly hall. Behind the statue of a giant Wizardmon, a hallway led to a small room full of bookshelves. The Candlemon claimed to be the keepers of all digimon history, but as it stood, the books could’ve just contained the Digital World’s raddest soup recipes. We couldn’t tell the difference, since they were written in the Digital World’s squiggle language that had driven JP to desperation at the train station.

“We could read them out for you?” our guide Candlemon offered. I recognized him as the one who threw the first punch. Either he was regretting his actions and trying to make it up to us, or the Candlemon were planning to kill us in our sleep. We might really need a night watch.

“Are all the books written in... in DigiCode?” Keisaki asked.

“Actually...” Candlemon looked a bit nervous. “We do have a set of books in languages the Candlemon cannot read.”

I raised a brow.

Candlemon began leading us further into the library while JP asked, “Why do you even have books like this?”

“Oh, they’ve been passed down the tribe from the ancient beginnings, much like the order to protect the Spirits.” Candlemon shot an admiring glance at Tommy. When the kid noticed the stare, his cheeks glowed bright red. The candle pointed at a dusty, unused looking shelf. “Here we are.”

Immediately, I could see these books were different: some had Latin letters on their spines. We each picked one up and began leafing through the pages. I sighed just a second after. Mine was in French. I doubted anyone could speak French, and I’d decided not to learn it in Italy.

“So... does anyone know Chinese or English?” Keisaki asked, holding an English book while pointing at one still on the shelf with kanji that I, too, recognized as Chinese.

“My English is kinda rusty,” I admitted even though I had studied it for more than two years. It was a shame really that I had no opportunity to use it. I kinda liked learning languages.

To our dismay, there wasn’t a single Japanese book in the library. Kouji looked very annoyed for having wasted his precious ‘walk away from the village to a place to crash’ time.

Candlemon sensed his displeasure and was frantic to look for a way to pacify him. “Eh... You’re humans... Do you even know the history of the Ten Legendary Warriors?”

I idly looked over the book titles while JP summarized in a bored tone, “There was a war. Lucemon ended the war and became all powerful and evil. Then ten warriors defeated Lucemon and left their Spirits behind. Did I miss anything?”

Candlemon fished for something to say.

Suddenly, Kouji asked, “Do you know what the ‘true history’ is?”

Candlemon widened his eyes and pointed an accusing finger at him. Oh boy. This looked like a repeat from our first encounter. “You! That’s something only followers of Lucemon ask!”

“Calm down, a digimon I defeated mentioned it,” Kouji said. He probably didn’t want to provoke another fight.

“Then you did well.” Candlemon calmed down. “The followers of Lucemon believe that the Ten Legendary Warriors were wrong in banishing Lucemon.”

“Wait, they ‘banished’ her? She wasn’t... you know... killed?” JP interjected worriedly.

“Oh! Not even the Legendary Ten could defeat Lucemon!” was the dramatic answer. “They gave their lives to seal her away!”

“If Lucemon was so evil, why does she even have followers?” Tommy asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly. It had to be way past his usual bedtime, and he’d fought Wizardmon earlier.

I was about to draw attention to him when I laid eyes on a certain book. A book with a title I understood perfectly.

I pulled it out excitedly while Candlemon explained, “They believe the digimon need Lucemon in charge so that there would be no more fighting.”

“And with Lucemon gone the war began again?” Kouji asked with a thoughtful expression.

“Guys,” I interjected and presented my discovery. “Look what I found!”

It was a book called L’enciclopedia del mondo virtuale with the subtitle guida al mondo della anime. The others seemed sceptic, so I informed them smugly of my perfect command of the Italian language.

“It says here, it’s an encyclopaedia of the virtual world, which I guess means Digital World,” I explained.

JP frowned, drawing his notebook to write a quick line.

Candlemon sensed an opportunity to appeal to us. “You may take this book with you if you find it useful for your noble quest.”

Yeah, the great quest to reach the Forest Terminal. I failed to summon the necessary enthusiasm. I was just tired.

The jury was still out on the book’s usefulness, but it did sound promising just by its title. It could be interesting to read and find out more about the Digital World! There were still so many things we could do today, but I had to put my foot down. Tommy was already sitting on the ground with droopy eyelids.

“Maybe we should go to sleep first,” I announced with a pointed look in his direction. Then I saw a solution for my current dilemma and added, “I could be the first night guard.” Actually, what was I thinking?! I didn’t like reading that much! Then again, everyone looked beat, especially the three who had received Spirits today. At least I had a book to read and keep me awake.

Keisaki nodded slowly. She addressed the Candlemon: “Alright, can you take us to wherever you want us to sleep?” Then she said directly to me, “If there is trouble, wake me first.”

“Yeah right, because Anumon is so useful against the Candlemon,” Kouji scoffed, clearly implying that he thought he was the only one capable enough to deal with them.

I let them have their moment and decided to give Tommy the honour of defending us first. Just to spite them both.

We arrived at one of the smaller rooms near the library. The Candlemon provided us with five mattresses and blankets, they had just casually lying around. While everyone got ready for sleep, Keisaki came to me and handed me a stopwatch.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

She just pointed at her rucksack. “I have some stuff in there, though sadly nothing for camping in the wilderness. But you should always have a stopwatch! It only goes up to an hour, but you can just stop and start again.”

We had decided that Tommy wouldn’t be part of the rotation, which had each of us older kids on guard for two hours.

I would wake up JP after my shift, then he would wake up Kei. Kouji had the last shift, and I was a bit worried he would walk out on us. Then again, he also didn’t trust the Candlemon. Would he really abandon us?

I stretched out comfortably on my mattress and yawned. Two hours seemed like an awfully long time. But the wall behind me was cool, and there was a heavy book on my lap, waiting to tell me about the secrets of the Digital World.

“Good night everyone,” Keisaki said and pulled her blanket over her shoulders. There was a soft murmur of similarly spirited replies. Then everything was silent except for the pages I turned and the occasional Candlemon guard that hopped past our room. They never approached, and I was left alone to struggle through the book’s preface and the following introduction:

The Digital World is at the precipice of glorious combat. Resourceful, enlightened Human digimon and ferocious, overwhelming Beast digimon live in fragile harmony, …

I found my eyelids drooping but the ticking of the stopwatch brought me back each time.
It was a long night.

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