WoS Ch4 - Iris' Legacy

The story so far: Tommy stepped up and claimed his Spirit of Ice last night, using it to become Kumamon! Thanks to him, the group (still stranded in Digital World, still on the way to the Forest Terminal) has managed to secure a safe sleeping spot in the Candlemon Village. Just like Tommy, Kei has the Spirit of Fire which allow her to transform into archer Anumon and Kouji's Spirit of Light gives him laser sword-wielding Lobomon. Although the latter was banking on breaking away from the group come morning light, things always look different after a good night's sleep!

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Chapter 4 - Iris' Legacy

-Kouji-

Kouji didn’t know how, but over the course of the night, Tomoki had managed to roll off his mattress and was now half-sprawled over Kouji’s. This annoyed him almost as much as the fact that he hadn’t woken up when it happened. Usually, he was a light sleeper.

Keisaki grinned at him, dropping the stopwatch on his mattress. “Your turn!”

Stretching and yawning, she stalked back to the other side of the room where she laid back on her mattress next to Izumi’s. Kouji picked up the stopwatch. It was already running.

He gently pushed Tomoki off his blanket so he could stand without waking the kid. The little boy had his hand around his D-Tector and a serene expression on his sleeping face as he shifted.

Kouji stared at the stopwatch.

The seconds were ticking away.

Initially, his plan had been to gather his things and leave. He could clearly see that the others were slowing him down and it wasn’t like trains could take them everywhere. So Kouji had planned to quietly slip out before anyone could try and convince him otherwise. He’d even considered that he might feel exhausted and sore. That wasn’t the case, though; he was well-rested and felt better than ever.

But the others had come up with a working plan and managed to put it into motion.

They were relying on him to be there and keep watch. Ditching them turned out to be harder than he expected. He looked back at Tomoki. The kid had saved him when his digivolution failed.

Which brought another concern to the forefront of his mind: why had he transformed back? Compared to his first transformation against Dobermon and Sangloupmon, he’d been fully in control. He thought everything was working perfectly...

Keisaki also had transformed back against her will earlier. Yet she had stayed digivolved even when Anumon fell into the water and through the negotiations with the Candlemon. Kouji felt like he was missing something important but couldn’t figure out what.

A metallic clank announced an approaching Candlemon. Kouji eyed the doorway warily, but the digimon stopped in the hallway. It whispered, “We would like to serve food to the Legendary Warriors and their companions.”

“Alright,” Kouji said, and glanced at the stopwatch. It was barely fifteen minutes into his watch. “Maybe in an hour?”

“As you wish.” The candle retreated with a respectful bow. Its radically different attitude made him uncomfortable, but at least it didn’t seem to be a trick. That gave Kouji an idea. It wouldn’t do to waste an entire hour.

He stood up, shrugging on his jacket. Their room had no door; Candlemon apparently thought such trivial things beneath them. Outside, the hallway was empty save for a different Candlemon idling at the corner. He signalled it: “Hey, you.”

It came over and said brightly, “How can I help?”

“Not so loud,” Kouji said in irritation. Couldn’t she see there were people still sleeping? She raised her wax hands to her mouth, appropriately ashamed.

“I have a question about the Legendary Warriors,” Kouji said.

She clasped her hands as if she’d been waiting all her life to answer questions about the Legendary Warriors.

“Did someone else ever use a Spirit successfully before we came along?”

“Not that we have heard of,” she said primly.

This wasn’t helpful since the Candlemon hadn’t left their little comfort zone in generations. They also weren’t keen on visitors.

“But there is nothing about it in the books,” she added after she saw his unimpressed stare.

“Is there anything useful in your books?” he asked then. Candlemon opened her mouth eagerly and he qualified, “Anything that could help us reach the Forest Terminal and make sense of all this?”

That at least made her think, and he gave her a minute.

Her expression soured, and she glanced nervously around the hallway. They were alone. She leaned in and whispered, “There is a prophecy. I’m not supposed to talk about it because... it’s just too awful!”

A prophecy? Kouji wasn’t sure he believed in that.

Again, Candlemon looked around frantically as if she expected someone to appear and punish her. “It says that Lucemon will be revived when the Legendary Warriors reappear. They will do everything in their power to stop her, but they are doomed to fail!”

Lucemon? The cruel angel that once fought against the ten Legendary Warriors? Lovely.

It was his turn to think while Candlemon nervously wrung her waxy hands. Was this why they had to go to the Forest Terminal? To stop Lucemon from reviving? And how would one go about reviving Lucemon? Wasn’t she just banished?

That seemed like a sensible question to ask—and so he did.

Candlemon looked down in apology. “I’m not sure. It is my belief that it has to do with the vanishing regions. Fractal code is power.”

It sounded more and more like they were supposed to stop this Cherubimon character who was responsible for the vanishing regions. As someone who hoarded that much data, he had a good shot at reviving Lucemon—provided any of this was true and not mere speculation.

-Zoe-

It was with some surprise that I woke up to Kouji shaking me. I’d been certain that he’d leave us first thing in the morning.

“There’s breakfast down the hall,” he informed me curtly.

Tommy was already up and about, chatting amiably with a youngish Candlemon. Kei was rolling her mattress up next to me, so I went to do the same. Despite my late-night reading, I was fully rested. But very, very hungry. Yesterday’s soup parade really hadn’t cut it for me, and I could barely muster the energy for lifting the Italian book.

Just seeing my last-read page again caused a wave of dismay. This book was… It was…! No way was this an “Introduction”! Yesterday, I’d been so tired, I thought that was the reason why I struggled so much. Now, I saw the wall of text, horribly devoid of any pictures, and knew better. What a difficult, difficult book!

“Here, give me that.” Kei held out her open rucksack and the moment to abandon the encyclopedia passed. I smiled ruefully at her and pushed aside a big notepad to dump the book inside. She remarked in surprise, “Woah, heavy!”

I grinned weakly.

The little Candlemon led the way to another room where they had prepared a buffet of assorted foods. While I filled one of the available plates with something that looked like white bread and jam (though it had a fascinating deep blue colour) and crowned my ensemble with a banana (at least I thought it was a banana), I heard the beginnings of another argument. I was about to sigh in resignation when Kouji next to me also reached for a maybe-banana. He noticed my stare and gave me an odd look before wandering off.

I glanced back to the entrance, where Kei was talking in a heated voice. JP looked at her indignantly, but then his expression fell. I frowned. What was that all about?

Kei finished her speech and came to the buffet as well. JP followed her, eyes downcast.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing I hope... Eh... We just had a stopwatch malfunction last night, don’t worry.” She scrambled for something to say which didn’t bode well. JP’s head shot up to stare at her.

That was… odd? They both clearly didn’t want to talk to me about it. I pouted. Why was I even surprised?

I looked for somewhere to sit but couldn’t see any seats. I grumbled to myself and followed Kei to a corner of the buffet where Tommy talked animatedly at a disinterested Kouji. After a while, JP stepped next to me but I chose to ignore his hopeful look.

Kei inserted herself into the ongoing conversation by completely changing the topic. “During my shift, I asked one of the Candlemon about the Forest Temple. I mean Terminal.”

She paused so I tried some of the bread with jam. It tasted a bit stale but was edible, and I was too hungry to care.

“So?” Kouji prompted after he realized Kei wouldn’t continue and everyone else was too busy with the food.

“Well, apparently, the place is haunted, and no one wants to anger the ghosts or something.” She shrugged. “There is a castle there that belonged to a guy that Cherubimon killed, and he sounded really powerful.”

At this, a look of dismay crossed Kouji’s face. He looked around, and I had the feeling he was about to say something. Then he turned back to his breakfast, and I could only frown. One of the Candlemon approached and asked, “Is there anything else you require?”

“Uhm, do you want the data of the bridge back?” Tommy asked sheepishly and held up his D-Tector.

-Kouji-

Inside the Candlemon caves had been no opportunity to talk about Lucemon’s resurrection without getting the Candlemon girl in trouble. After breakfast, the Candlemon led them up the correct side of the cliff where Tomoki had his moment to shine. He recreated the missing bridge with the fractal code he got from Wizardmon. By that point, Kouji had decided that it wasn’t worth telling the others. The prophecy sounded vague, and, really, prophecies? Besides, he saw no correlation between Lucemon and the Forest Terminal, especially after what Keisaki had found out.

There was more desolate desert on the other side of the cliff. The air was already shimmering with heat, even though the sun couldn’t have been up for more than an hour.

So it came with great annoyance that, despite the steadily rising temperature, the others were walking at a pace that would put a snail to shame. Kouji knew he was being impatient, but something told him they had to get to the Forest Terminal sooner rather than later.

“Maybe we can ask a passing Trailmon?” Junpei whined, grating on Kouji’s nerves.

“Don’t be silly,” Izumi rebuffed him. “The bridge has just been repaired; there is no way anyone knows the route is open again.”

The worst part was the nervous little boy at Kouji’s side who tried to engage him in a conversation. It was harder to ignore him this time around. Tomoki now had the added leverage of having saved his life.

“I want to be more like you,” the kid said. It would’ve been impressive if he’d said it quiet and determined. Instead, he sounded like a star-struck fan.

“That’s not a good idea,” Kouji said.

“Why not?” Tomoki asked. “I bet you wouldn’t let anyone push you around! You’re so cool and strong, no one would ever dare to bully you... Not like me.” He looked down to the ground with shadowed eyes.

An unwanted memory rose inside of Kouji. He’d had a less than pleasant school year when he’d been the only child in his class who’d shown up without a mother. Shortly after, his father had signed him up for martial arts classes to get rid of his bottled-up anger and frustration.

Not like Tomoki would understand. The kid had a healthy family life and it annoyed Kouji that he wouldn’t see it that way.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kouji told him without mincing his words.

Tomoki’s resolve wavered and water stood in his eyes. Oh lovely. Was he about to cry?

He didn’t. Instead, Tomoki rallied, and his voice came out strong. “Can’t you show me how to be like you?”

There were several things Kouji could say to that. Mainly that Tomoki really didn’t have what it took to start on that path. He paused and thought back to yesterday, when the little boy was the one who walked over a dangerous river, determination set in his eyes...

Kouji huffed. Tomoki’s situation was very different from his own, and the kid needed to understand that that was a good thing. As long as he refused to acknowledge that, there was no point in teaching him anything.

So Kouji settled on something else and said, “The first step is to toughen up, get some endurance, and walk faster.”

Junpei and Izumi had already fallen back, and Keisaki was hovering somewhere in the middle, trying to resettle the weight in her backpack. Her head snapped up and she abandoned her project. “Alright, that does it. You are a jerk, and you shouldn’t talk to Tommy like that.” A brief look of dismay washed over her face.

“I think Kouji is right,” Tomoki said quietly.

This caught them both by surprise, and Keisaki said, “What?”

“We need to save this world... We need to be strong for that,” he elaborated, then realized what he said to whom and blushed.

Kouji re-evaluated his opinion of the kid.

Keisaki waved a hand and said, “Kouji, can I talk to you for a second?”

They were following the railways that led away from the Candlemon village towards what they hoped was the Forest Terminal. A little while off, Kouji could see the first change in scenery for at least half-a-day: the glistening of green treetops. But Keisaki just wanted to move a few spaces off the railways. She addressed the kid while she started walking, “Tommy, stay here, okay?”

This should be good. Kouji was looking forward to venting some of his frustrations. That he was even in this position was largely her fault.

Keisaki walked further than he expected, making sure they were fully out of earshot. Kouji remembered her taking Junpei aside earlier too. She seemed to have a thing for private talks. Izumi and Junpei reached Tomoki on the railway, but the kid held them back when they made to follow them.

“What do you want?” Kouji asked, impassive.

“I don’t get you,” she said without preamble.

Now this was the shock of the century. He didn’t lessen his stare.

“You say you do things on your own and that everyone just slows you down. And then you go out and protect Tommy with no regard for yourself! Then you’re cold and indifferent again as if nothing happened!”

Kouji was losing interest. “So? If that’s all, we better get back on track. We need to hurry and get to the Forest Terminal!”

She remained unimpressed. “Forget the Forest Terminal for one minute! You can’t expect the others to keep with you! Especially Tommy! He’s just a little kid, and he shouldn’t have to toughen up! We have to protect him until there’s a way to send him back home!”

So, that’s where she was coming from. There was just a slight flaw in that plan. “We can’t slow down just because you think he needs a break. You’re the one that said this world is dangerous. We can’t watch out for him all the time. He needs to pull his weight.” Kouji turned away from her. If Tomoki hadn’t digivolved into Kumamon, who knew what could’ve happened to him. “Besides, he’s the one who wants to get stronger.”

“No, you listen! I said it’s not just Tommy!” Keisaki shouted, stomping her foot in frustration. “It’s everyone! I-”

She stopped, but not willingly.

Her eyes widened as she lost her footing and the ground around her caved in. Kouji’s hand shot out to catch her wrist before she could fall into the rapidly opening crevasse. For a second, they were in vertigo, her brown eyes staring desperately back at him, then the last foothold broke apart, and they both fell in a shower of rocks and sand.

-Zoe-

We were too far away when the ground swallowed Kei and Kouji. My body tingled with dread, and Tommy couldn’t stop me from running past him.

“Zoe, stop!” JP shouted, but he wasn’t anywhere near fast enough to catch me.

The ground had calmed down when I reached the place and I frantically looked around. Huge chunks of the earth had overturned and there was a heap of rubble at the base of a crack. Sand seeped through the loose rocks.

“Kei! Kouji!” I shouted, falling on my knees at the edge.

Nothing moved in the rubble. I had to get down there, and... and start removing the rocks! Never mind that it’d probably just make it worse.

“We’re fine,” came Kouji’s muffled voice.

I almost cried in relief. “Where are you?”

“We’re stuck!” He sounded strained. “I’m trying to get— to get Keisaki out.”

A part of the rock pyramid caved in, and I rushed to my feet, hands pressed against my mouth.

“That was a close one...” This was Kei. She sounded scared. “Zoe?”

“I’m here!” And so were JP and Tommy; they’d arrived and peered down the crack worriedly.

“Can you get us out?” she asked from below the rubble.

I had no idea how to tackle the problem. Some of those rocks looked really heavy. I turned to the others and my eyes fell on Tommy. The kid stood at the edge, shoulders hunched and breathing too fast. Maybe...? I snapped him to attention. “Can you transform into Kumamon?”

I knew deep down that it wouldn’t really help, but digivolving had already done amazing things to get us out of trouble.

“I- I don’t know how!” he said, hands buried in the hem of his shirt. He caught my stare and drew his D-Tector but wasn’t looking at it.

Nobody told him? Kei had told me and not him?

I had my own D-Tector out, useless as it was without a miracle Spirit. “Here, you need to press this button and then... ‘call upon the power of the Spirit’.” Saying it like that made it sound stupid. Keisaki had been so confident in her explanation... “You... eh... you should feel it...?”

Now Tommy did look at his D-Tector in concentration. Did it help?

“Yes! I do feel it!” he said excitedly.

“Wait!” JP interrupted before he could surround himself with a data cocoon. “This isn’t a good idea. Kei? Are you alright?”

“As fine as anyone who had a bunch of rocks dropped on her head!” she said.

“If she can be sarcastic, the rocks should be stable for now...” he muttered. He looked around and spotted what he needed. “Hey, do you see the forest over there?”

Involuntarily, I followed his gaze to the green treetops not far off. “Yes?”

“I talked to some Candlemon at the buffet. They said there’s a tourist attraction in that forest. We can’t get Kei and Kouji out, but they may!” he rushed out.

I didn’t wait for him to explain further; I was already on my way and quickly pulled ahead of the others. It had been a long time since I had to go all out and run as fast as I could. Now adrenaline fuelled me, and I pushed myself to even greater speeds. Long distances weren’t my strong suit, but this time I didn’t even notice the distance melting away. I was past the tree line in what felt like no time at all, and I could have continued at that speed for at least another minute—if I weren’t forced to a stop at the destruction happening right before my eyes.

JP was right: this branch of the rail did lead to a small village. Several houses surrounded a gigantic, leafless tree. Aside from the small forest, the landscape was devoid of greenery.

That alone would’ve given it a desolate appearance but there was also a more general state of decay. The houses showed huge cracks, some roofs were caved in. Demolished benches and upturned, broken flowerpots littered the village, as well as heaps of unhealthy tree branches.

An explosion sounded, and I snapped my attention to the train station.

There, a trio of mushroom digimon laughed to themselves, summoning mushroom-shaped grenades into their gloved hands. They really were talking mushrooms with a yellow stalk and purple mushroom caps. Sturdy arms and legs grew out of their stems. One of them threw a grenade through the window of an abandoned house where it exploded in a cloud of yellow spores. Maniacal laughter and more grenades followed. There were more explosions.

I was frozen in shock, unable to comprehend why this was happening. It took someone stumbling into me to notice there were more digimon present than just the three attackers. I looked down at the crying face of a flower. It was one of a dozen tulip-like digimon with a sturdy plant body and vine-like legs. Red petals covered half of its head like a helmet. It wrapped the violet flowers it had instead of hands around my waist. “Please... please help us!” My heart broke a little. How dare they!

“Who are they?” I asked, anger welling up in me.

The little tulip shifted behind me and pointed panicky at the three attackers laying waste to her life’s work. “They are the Mushroomon brothers. They used to work with us, but... I don’t know why they’re doing this.” She started crying harder.

Tommy and a panting JP finally arrived at the scene. The little boy had heard her last words, and his eyes were too hard for such a young face. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them.”

He drew his D-Tector and summoned the blue fractal code.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to... Kumamon!

Out of the data cocoon stepped a small polar bear in green armour, eyes just as hard as in his human form.

The spiralling fractal code caught the Mushroomon’s attention and one after another they lined up at the platform in front of the huge, dead tree. They peered at us curiously.

“I don’t like what you’re doing,” Kumamon said. The Mushroomon laughed, so he took his blaster from his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the tulip digimon approached me. I let them drag me out of the immediate line of fire. “We’re Floramon. Thank you for helping us!” one of them whispered with an urgent undertone. I whispered back an introduction, eyes on the platform.

A Mushroomon summoned his mushroom grenade and threw it at one of the round houses surrounding the hollow tree.

Kumamon reacted by firing a single snowball which hit the bomb in midair. There was a harmless explosion. “I won’t let you continue what you’re doing. This is your final warning.”

In response, all three Mushroomon threw their grenades at him. “Fungus Crusher!”

Kumamon drew a deep breath and released it with a rush of arctic air. “Crystal Freeze!”

The little mushroom grenades froze in mid-air and clattered to the ground without exploding, but Kumamon wasn’t done yet. He pointed his gun at the evil trio. “Blizzard Blaster!”

Seeing the volley of snowballs heading toward them, the Mushroomon scattered. Kumamon focused his fire on the one not running for something breakable until the fiend crumbled under the attack. The other two evil digimon threw their exploding miniature mushrooms directly at Kumamon.

“Careful!” I shouted in warning.

The bear warrior looked away from his target, noticed the danger, and jumped out of the way. The resulting explosion swept me off my feet, but Floramon caught me before I hit the ground. I hadn’t expected it to affect me this far away!

I half-expected Kumamon to seal us in his wall of ice. He didn’t though. Much later, Tommy would tell me that he’d been in control this time and simply didn’t think of it.

Instead, Kumamon dashed towards the closer Mushroomon, who was standing in front of a broken window. The face on the mushroom stem screwed up into a scowl, and Mushroomon began running towards the Spirit Warrior, gloved fist raised. That was a mistake. Kumamon coated his fist in ice and smashed it into his enemy. “Icicle Punch!” It sent the Mushroomon flying against one of its companions. The three regrouped, faces twisted in anger.

“This can’t be happening! We, the great Mushroomon brothers, can’t be pushed around by such a wimp!”

Hah! Newsflash: they were facing one of the ten Legendary Warriors!

But a flicker of uncertainty appeared in Kumamon’s brown eyes. Was that Tommy having second thoughts? I decided to squash any doubts.

“Good job! Go for it...” Tommy? Tomoki? Kumamon? “...Kumamon!”

“Blizzard Blaster!” Kumamon shouted and I wasn’t sure if I imagined the grateful hitch in his voice.

“Fungus Crusher!” came the answering cries. The grenades exploded when they crashed into the snowball volley and created a cloud of gas. No one was in any danger of inhaling it, but it did create a distraction. When the smoke cleared, the Mushroomon had climbed on top of each other like a totem pole. “We refuse to submit to you!” And one data cocoon surrounded all three of them.

Mushroomon Digivolve to... Woodmon!

I stumbled back when the data cocoon burst open. Back in Italy, I’d attended my six-year-old cousin’s school play. Woodmon looked exactly like one of the scary-tree-props the primary school had used in Little Red Riding Hood. It was a tree, at least twice as tall as I was, cut off just before the crown began. A creepy face had been carved into the brown bark, but in the hollowed eyes lurked a dangerous intelligence. It had two different arm pairs, one small and kept close to its body, the other large and little more than two hollow branches. Woodmon raised the latter like a pair of clubs to block another Blizzard Blaster. The snow pelted the bark but didn’t do any damage.

Woodmon started to laugh, and its cragged mouth moved, even though that shouldn’t be possible. “Haha! Pathetic! You cannot pierce my armour!”

Kumamon looked shaken, but he rallied valiantly. “Are you sure?” He jumped up, his humanoid form blurring as he transformed into an icicle that fell towards the towering wood monster. “Frozen Tundra! ”

The living tree raised its arms to swat him out of the air but was too slow. The icicle’s sharp point clanked against the bark surrounding its hollow body. And nothing happened. The attack wasn’t strong enough to pierce the wood.

Woodmon reached out with its smaller arms, just as Kumamon transformed back into his bear form and grabbed him by the leg. I inhaled sharply.

“Haha, I told you! Nothing can get through my armour!” It plucked Kumamon off like an overly eager cat and dangled him in front of its face.

In response, Kumamon aimed his gun. “Blizzard Blaster! ”

Woodmon howled in pain and almost, almost, dropped him. What a reaction! I felt a bit better.

And then felt worse than ever.

Kumamon also saw that he was more successful at point-blank range and was about to shoot again. But the brilliant blue of fractal code surrounded him. A moment later a fearful Tommy stared back into Woodmon’s frowning face which rapidly cleared into glee. Without wasting a moment, Woodmon slammed the little boy onto the ground, eliciting a high-pitched scream.

I think my heart may have stopped for a second and I screamed in horror, “Tommy!”

I... I had to... Somebody had to do something! I had both of my hands over my mouth, frozen in place.

“Get away from him!” And somebody did something. Junpei was running towards Woodmon, a shovel in hand (Where had he found that?!). 

The shovel crashed against wood. It broke in two without doing any damage, but it gave Tommy an opening to crawl towards me and the Floramon. JP was standing there with the broken shovel, shaking and afraid, but right at this moment I couldn’t recall anyone more heroic.

Sadly, Woodmon wasn’t impressed and shouted, “You get away from me!” It raised its branch-like arm and knocked JP off his feet with enough force to send him crashing against the platform’s wooden wall. That did it. Everyone was being brave. The Floramon had just admitted Tommy, and he looked so shocked and small... and I... I was tired of feeling so useless.

I was fast. If I had to, I could evade Woodmon all day until (...if?) Tommy recovered. I knew he could win this! In the back of my mind, a tiny part of me remembered that we had come to this ravaged forest resort for a reason, but most of me knew that this was more important right now .

I freed myself from Floramon’s grip and rushed towards Woodmon who watched my approach with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “Another brave fighter? And what do you have to throw against me? A flowerpot?”

Its demeaning attitude only fuelled my determination. “I’d like to see you try hitting me with those slow, slow branches you have there.”

On second thought, I shouldn’t have phrased it like that.

Instead of swinging at me, it drew a breath. “Leaf Slider!”

A multitude of tiny, razor-sharp leaves hurled towards me. I barely got out of the way while they decimated the sickly grass left on the ground. I stared at the destruction. If I got hit with that...! No, now wasn’t the time to freeze again. I quickly checked on Tommy whom the Floramon had helped to his feet. He had his eyes screwed shut and gripped his D-Tector tightly, tiny wisps of blue data flickering in and out of existence around his free hand. Either he needed more time, or he couldn’t digivolve anymore. I dearly hoped it was the former as I ducked under a swing of Woodmon’s arm. Somewhere in the distance, I spotted JP slowly getting to his feet, using the wall for support. I shuddered at the ring of fractal code around his waist. It meant that I was the only one here in any condition to move, they were relying on me!

If only I had something to hit Woodmon...

My frantic escape brought me to the centre of the clearing, where the huge tree rose into the sky.

And there it was: a sudden feeling of understanding. I closed my eyes for a moment to bask in the healing wave that washed away all my fears. Somewhere close was my Spirit. Almost by itself, my D-Tector appeared in my hand, and I sidestepped Woodmon’s branch arm with floating clairvoyance. I turned to the giant tree in the centre and called, “Spirit, come to me!”

It was like a part of me that I didn’t know had been missing was returning. In a burst of wind, a glowing orb broke free from somewhere within the dead tree. My Spirit was a lavender figurine with butterfly wings. I instantly fell in love with it and absorbed it gratefully. It was our turn to fight back.

Execute Spirit Digivolve to... Kazemon!

And We were free. Free from the ground’s hold, free from the pressure, free to do what We pleased. We spread Our wings and soared to the sky, enjoying the wind hugging Our slim form. We were tall and We were beautiful. Our armour was decorative because We knew We were so fast We would never get hit. Our long hair was of a wonderful violet colour and Our eyes perceived so much more now. They were hidden behind a metal visor to give Us focus. It didn’t hinder Us. We saw everything. We saw the enemy.

It attacked with its arms, We flowed around it.

It spat leaves at Us, We blasted them back at its face. We were invincible. But even as We flew around, scanning for an opening, We couldn’t find any. Before Us was an impenetrable fortress. We were about to give up and just attack it until it yielded when a voice We remembered called out.

The boy in blue had come closer. We knew he’d admired us when We’d emerged, but now he said something important. “Zoe! There’s a crack in the bark, where Tommy hit it earlier!”

We were Zoe no more, but We appreciated the hint and looked harder.

Indeed, We saw it. The crack was barely visible, where an icicle had punctured the enemy’s defence. This would be its downfall.

“Storm Fingers!” We brought Our hands down, the spiral gloves summoning ten rose-coloured streaks of wind that united to clear away any obstacle on Our way to the weak point. The tormenting storm threw its branch arms out of the way. We appeared before the enemy with a knowing smirk and spun around. We delivered a devastating kick right onto the cracked wood and cried, “Tornado Kick!”

The wood yielded, and Our boot sunk deep inside the emptiness that was Woodmon. It howled, and We had to retreat lest it hit Us with its flailing arms. We knew Our work was done. Pieces of wood were cracking away at rapid speed. The enemy was dissolving, and over its shrieks it turned into a shadow of itself. A ring of fractal code appeared around it. We materialized Our D-Tector and intoned, “May my storm clear the darkness that clouds your souls! Scan!”

Three white eggs rose towards the sky. Hopefully, they would find peace in the Village of New Beginnings. That section of the book suddenly made a lot more sense to Us. The DigiEggs would fly towards a sacred place and await their rebirth.

“That was so cool!”

We turned around and faced the blue boy that had spoken with a small smile. We let fractal code surround Us to return to Our human form.

It was like waking up from a very, very strange and disconcerting dream. I opened my eyes and blinked. That... had been the trippiest thing I’d ever done. It took me a while to disentangle from Kazemon’s all-encompassing presence and find an acceptable sense of me again. Once I was sure it was just me and only me, a sudden weakness brought me to my knees.

JP was at my side, but I brushed off his helping hand, having focused enough to figure out what was really important now. “How’s Tommy?”

-Kei-

They sat in darkness for a while after the others left. There was dust in the air, and Keisaki coughed awkwardly when it got into her lungs. She didn’t want to cause the rubble to collapse some more—Kouji might not get her out of the way a second time. Her restraint just worsened her coughing.

That was when Kouji announced: “There’s a tunnel here.” Unlike Keisaki, shaken from her near-death experience, he’d been busy scouting the area. Very carefully, naturally. A big slab of rock was currently protecting them, but one wrong move could send the whole thing crashing down on them.

“A tu-tunnel?” she managed despite her itchy throat. She felt around until she reached Kouji and made the same discovery. “Should we follow it?”

She could almost feel his condescending stare.

“Fine, I will follow it,” she said decisively and was pleased to hear him fall in step with her.

Keisaki had a bit of trouble remembering why she’d been angry at him, with him saving her life and all. “About earlier...” she trailed off, unable to recall her train of thought.

He reminded her on his own. “Why aren’t you annoyed with them?”

Oh right. Well, why wasn’t she annoyed about adjusting to a group? “Do you do any sports?”

For him, the question must have come out of nowhere, and he grumbled, “Why do you want to know?”

She took a page out of his book and remained silent. Her strategy was rewarded, and he sighed in annoyance. “Kung Fu.”

“Oh!” She would have loved to have some light so she could stare at him appreciatively. He did have a certain confident stride she should’ve connected to some sort of fight training... “But no team games, right?”

“No.”

Just like she expected. She left one hand trailing along the tunnel wall, using the other to gesticulate uselessly in the darkness. “I love basketball. I love the game and I love playing. I like to think that’s why they made me team captain.” Her team wasn’t particularly good. The girls in her school didn’t share her passion, but she still mentioned the position with pride.

Kouji was silent. That was pretty much his modus operandi, so she just continued, “At first, I was so excited that I pushed everyone too far and demanded too much. I couldn’t understand why fewer and fewer girls showed up with every training session.” That memory still hurt. To realize that she had a noble goal worth fighting for, but no one to support it. “Turns out nobody likes being shouted at when they could spend their free time elsewhere. I thought I was better off without the quitters.” She frowned at the darkness as if it had something to do with that backwards thinking. “What I didn’t see was that I couldn’t do it alone.”

And that was when she realized she had no way to make Kouji understand. How devastating it had been to come to the gym and find it empty. How it stung to understand that she failed. Keisaki blinked, then said what she thought might be more interesting to him, “The point is, you have to adjust to others if you want to go anywhere in life. You gotta work with what you got. And hey, the others adjust to you, too!” Considering Kouji’s standoffish behaviour, they were doing really well on the ‘accepting him’ front. And it wasn’t like she fully understood the life lesson she was trying to impose on him either.

“They could do a better job,” Kouji said simply.

Keisaki balled up her hands, glad he couldn’t see her frustration. He was like a wall, refusing to listen! But getting angry had landed them here, separated from the others. So Kei held her tongue. Maybe, she just didn’t explain her point well enough. He clearly thought he didn’t have any flaws the others could cover. She bet he didn’t have any friends back in the real world.

It wasn’t the first time that Kei wished, one of her friends had come along. Raiko or Anzu would have at least agreed with her when it came to Tommy! A kid like him would just get hurt, and Kei refused to accept that. She suddenly remembered hotly that the little boy was the only one defending the others right now. Shoot. Hopefully, she was worrying over nothing. She walked a bit faster.

The tunnel was sloping slightly upwards, which she took as a good sign. That meant they would reach the surface soon, right?

-Kouji-

A few more minutes had to pass before a tiny slice of light lit up the way ahead. Kouji was glad they’d reach an end to the darkness soon; it had made him more introspective than he was comfortable with. He had enough trouble with his home life and no patience for Keisaki.

The light source grew, and while their time spent in complete darkness had Keisaki shielding her eyes, he experienced no discomfort. Their tunnel ended in sturdy undergrowth that delayed them for a bit. But once they’d cleared the obstacle, Kouji noted with relief that they’d returned to the outside world. A fresh wind danced through the trees around them. Keisaki was panting next to him, her bare arms and legs scratched with proof of her valiant battle against the bush. Kouji knew he didn’t look much better and opted to search for his next course of action. A distant explosion sounded.

Keisaki’s head snapped up. She’d heard it too. They didn’t need to trade a confirming look; they immediately ran towards it.

It took them long moments to navigate the resisting brushwood growing around the trees until they reached a clearing with a gigantic tree in the centre. Kouji stopped in his tracks. On the clearing’s other side, a much smaller, much more mobile tree was rapidly disintegrating. A flying figure dressed in little more than purple straps of clothing scanned the tree creature. Her huge, translucent wings reminded him of a butterfly, but her entire attire brought the image of a mysterious fairy in his head. After the tree was gone, she landed lightly in her purple overknees and turned around to look at someone ...Oh, there was Junpei.

Kouji suddenly had a very good idea who the new Warrior was and wasn’t surprised to see the familiar data cocoon. Even from the huge distance, he could spot Izumi’s blond hair under her purple hat.

Keisaki made the same connection and surged forwards in a burst of speed. “Zoe!”

They were of course still too far away to be heard, and Kouji made to follow her.

Then he paused.

With Izumi, the group now had three people who could Spirit digivolve. If the pattern continued, Junpei would also find his Spirit soon.

Kouji pulled out his D-Tector and tapped his fingers against the rubber handle. It was highly unlikely that the group still needed his help. That was, after all, the only reason he tagged along.

Kouji still didn’t know where to find the Forest Terminal. But it wasn’t like the others knew. They just stumbled from Trailmon to Trailmon, and he could do that more efficiently on his own. He didn’t know much about the world, and Izumi had a book with answers. Then there was the matter of the prophecy. He inwardly rolled his eyes. He had no good reason to stay. Not a single one. He put his D-Tector away and started walking. So what if he’d lost control of his transformation for a mysterious reason? He would make sure that wouldn’t happen again.

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