Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digital Awakenings ❯ With the Dawn ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5:With the Dawn

"Aw, fuck," Takeru cursed as his car sputtered. With a final moan, the '13 model finally broke down. Now of all times, Takeru thought grimly. He took his keys and left the car. He could call a road service, but he didn't know the numbers of any in Australia. Even if he did, they might be based in Sydney, and no one was leaving there for a while. Takeru had only gotten out in the chaos after the attack.

Grimly, Takeru left the road and started to enter the wilderness. He figured the only help he could find would be a farm or something somewhere. He could try to hitchhike, but given the amount of traffic coming from Sydney, it didn't seem likely.

Takeru was supposed to be the Digidestined of Hope-a title he had all but forgotten up until last night-but he wasn't very hopeful now. How could I be? How can we fight something that could . . . the line of thought's potential continuations let the feelings of loss rise to the surface once again. Tears began to well up in his eyes.

The past six months had been hard times for Takeru. Yume had divorced him, and taken their daughter Pata with them. Takeru had picked the name, naming his child after his Digimon partner. He loved her dearly, but supposed that it had been the right thing to do. He knew he could be a bit solitary sometimes. At least Pata could visit him on the weekends.

Of course, then a job had opened in Sydney. It paid better than Takeru's current job, and his boss had heavily intoned that he should apply. Being fluent in English, and needing some time to think, he had applied and got the job. Besides, he had thought, maybe Australia would give him a new perspective that would help him finish his book.

He had been in the middle of writing a novelized version of the Digidestined's adventures. It was guised as fiction, with names changed to protect the innocent. With last night's events, Takeru could have taken it and used it as an autobiography. That is, if the attack hadn't wiped out the computer on which the story was stored.

It had started around nine, when darkness had just set. Digimon had appeared out of the water, attacking civilians. They were all marine Digimon, with most of the land troops being Divermon. But the ocean had roared up and devoured half of Sydney, leaving the civilians to the mercy of the sea Digimon. Oddly enough, a few Digimon had appeared to battle the enemies, but not enough. When Takeru hoped for more, Angemon appeared, who had digivolved to MagnaAngemon.

MagnaAngemon killed many of the enemies, but eventually a powerful Digimon-stronger than most Megas, Takeru was sure, had attacked. He thought he heard her call herself Negadramon. Knowing he was no match for her, MagnaAngemon had tried to lose her. However, he was sandwiched between her and an even more powerful Digimon, who had declared himself ruler of the city and called himself MarineDaemon.

Caught between the two powerful attacks, MagnaAngemon had been completely destroyed.

Since then, Takeru's emotions had switched between great sadness and strange numbness. He had lost so much. He longed for when he had first met Patamon. He could almost see his partner now. Wait a minute, Patamon was right in front of him!

"Patamon?" Takeru asked, incredulously.

"Eek!" Patamon responded, in a squeaky voice. "Who are you?"

"How did you get here?" Takeru said, lost in his own train of thought. "I saw you die!"

"Patamon!" a stern voice said. A preteen girl with straw-coloured hair appeared. The girl turned to Takeru. "Sorry mister. This is . . . um . . . well it's kind of complicated, you see." Takeru noticed a Digivice hanging at her belt.

"Why do you have a Digimon?" Takeru asked. It wasn't his Patamon. That made sense, he supposed. There were tons of Patamon in the Digital World, why should this one be his. It was a let down. Still, why was it here instead of in it's own world.

"You know what they're called?" the girl replied incredulously.

"I think we both have to do a bit of explaining," Takeru admitted.

"All right," the girl said. "I'm sure my parents will be interested to hear how you know about Digimon. Come on, my house is just over that hill."

* * *

As the sun rose, casting light against the desert sands, Reile moaned and collapsed onto these same sands. Kou hadn't told them they would be in a desert. Reile would have dressed for warmer weather, but she wasn't sure there was anything that could protect her from the scalding heat. When her skin touched the sand, it was like touching a hot stove. Any second now, Reile was sure she'd ignite in flames.

"I'm never complaining about winter again," somebody murmured. Apparently, to get to the artefact, they had to go through this desert, with its mind-numbing heat. They had travelled by night, which was probably a good plan. Even at night, the heat rose up from the ground in waves, and sweat trickled down in buckets.

Because of the night travel, Reile hadn't slept all yesterday, and even with the sands scalding her skin, she drifted into a sleep. It seemed only a second later though that she awoke, the sun scorching her skin like sausages on a barbeque. Reile wished she hadn't thought of food, as all she had eaten since dinner were a couple trail rations, and her stomach told her it was time for breakfast.

Reile heard Miyako laugh. Right, she was on watch with Kou. "Are you trying to seduce me, Kourisho?" Reile heard Miyako say.

"No no no," Kou protested. "All I'm saying is, that if I died, I'd like to give you this first." Reile couldn't see either of them, but she presumed they were close to her.

"Thank you," Miyako said. "What's that symbol supposed to mean?"

"This is a crest," Kou explained. "The symbol symbolizes Compassion."

"So . . . this is one of those things that you were telling me about?"

"Yes."

"I'm honoured you'd think of me as compassionate."

"I didn't pick it, the crest was created to match you."

"So this thing lets my Digimon become an Ultimate?"

"In the right circumstances, yes."

"Where did you find it?"

"Somewhere here in the Digital World. Took a bit of searching. If I was any more specific, it'd be like leaving the price tag on, right?"

"It must have been hard. Thanks for it again. Most guys would have got me some useless jewellery, but you got me something that's nice and useful at the same time."

"Well, you know me, always practical."

"Am I really that compassionate?"

"You know you are, Miyako." There might have been more conversation, but Reile drifted off into sleep and didn't hear it.

* * *

For a brief second when Kei woke up, he thought he was back home, in his own bed. That illusion lasted a second, but afterwards Kei wished he could get it back. He and Lily had rode Paladimon across the plains until dusk yesterday, and Kei was suffering from a number of mild ailments that all seemed to add up and just make him miserable. These included homesickness, confusion, hungriness (they had eaten the last of Kei's lunch yesterday), being saddle sore, and a nasty cold.

Before Kei knew it, he and Lily were riding Paladimon's giant horse again. Because of the horse's width, Kei had to stretch out his legs while bending his knees to straddle it, which was quite painful. After an hour or so of this position, Kei wanted to just walk, but of course then he would lose them.

They were moving south, by Kei's calculations. Away from the dot he had been chasing, but at least now they had found someone who could guide them around this world, if it was another world. It had to be, Kei thought. On his own world, there were no vast plains with creatures that made you see a patch of food instead of a vicious monster, or giant men in armour riding equally large horses. And he had never heard of this Emporomon guy either.

It was all like something out of a TV show. Briefly Kei wondered what had happened to Ryo. He hoped that Ryo had found someone like Paladimon, but hey, Kei wouldn't have minded if an Oasimon had eaten him either. It would have served him right for deserting them.

The horse rounded a hill, and below Kei could see Paladimon's camp. Dozens of large white tents were arranged in a neat circle, with one gold-coloured one in the centre. Two creatures identical to Paladimon stood guard.

"Brother!" one said. "Have you found the Shrine?"

"Alas, my search was fruitless," Paladimon replied. "No, I may have found something of interest. I rescued these two strange Digimon from an Oasimon. They do not seem to be very powerful, but I have never seen anything like them." Paladimon gestured towards Lily and Kei. Kei felt slightly insulted at being called not very powerful, but he supposed that compared to someone like Paladimon he was weak.

"If any know of those creatures, Loremon will," one of the others said.

"That is whom I was planning to ask," Paladimon replied, marching past the guards. He led his large horse into the circle, stopping right outside the centre tent. "Dismount." Thankful for the chance to get off the horse and save his legs, Kei leaped off. As he was stretching to get the kinks out of his legs, another creature that looked just like Paladimon emerged from the tent.

"What business do you have with those inside, Brother?" the new creature said.

"I wish to speak to Loremon," Paladimon said, motioning to Lily and Kei. "About them."

The creature that looked like Paladimon nodded and went back into the tent. A few seconds later, a new creature appeared from within the tent. This creature was as tall as Paladimon, though he was not riding a horse and this made Paladimon seem taller. This creature wore blue armour, and his armour seemed to be thinner and more flexible than Paladimon's. Through the helmet, Kei could see an aged, blue face. Lily looked to be taken aback by the skin colour. In his left hand, the creature clutched a large book.

"Greetings, all" the new creature said in a deep voice. "I am Loremon. What do you wish to know, Paladimon?"

Paladimon bowed to Loremon. "Loremon, what do you know of these creatures." Loremon leaned forward and studied Lily and Kei. Lily stepped back uncomfortably.

Loremon's eyes widened. "Is it possible? Paladimon, these creatures that you bring me…these are known as Humon! They come form their own world. The last they appeared here was almost a quarter century ago!"

"Um, we're humans, not humans," Lily corrected.

"It makes little difference," Loremon said. "May I have your names, I hear that humans use their given names exclusively."

"I'm Kei and she's Lily," Kei said.

Loremon nodded, fascinated. He flipped his book open to a seemingly random page, and took a feather pen out of nowhere. "Now, Kei, can you please tell me something about yourself?" Kei felt as if he were at a doctor's appointment, the way Loremon talked. It reminded him of home. He was all ready getting homesick, and he had just been gone for a little over a day.

A trumpet blared. Loremon snapped to attention, shutting his book and tucking it under his arm. Another creature ran into the centre of the camp. This one would have seemed to be a normal human except for its blue skin. The creature wore silver chain mail armour. Kei noticed it was gasping for breath and bleeding in several places. Bleeding blue blood.

"Master Loremon," the creature wheezed. "We found . . . the shrine . . . we were coming back to tell you . . . DarkKnightmon . . . coming this way . . ." The creature then collapsed upon the ground.