Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Diminished Light: Chosens' Quest ❯ Challenging Events ( Chapter 2 )

Diminished Light: Chosens' Quest

Chapter 2

Challenging Events

By

Sailor Janus

 

 

 

Hikari closed her eyes and smiled up in the warm sunlight. She sighed happily and for the first time in a long time actually felt alive. “It's really nice here. The weather is perfect and reminds me of spring.”

 

“Oui. It's kind of invigorating,” Catherine agreed as she spun in a circle then giggled. “I kind of feel like a little girl again.”

 

“It is nice here,” Takeru nodded grinning as the French girl continued to spin in circles as they walked. “It's definitely better than the trash file where the weather was going insane.”

 

“Don't remind me. I nearly drowned in that place,” Jyou groaned as he shuddered in reflection.

 

“Better than freezing to death.”

 

“In what way?”

 

“You'd die a lot quicker.” Takeru's response startled Catherine causing her to lose her balance mid-spin and crash into the blonde boy who caught her around the waist. He blinked in astonishment at the tears that flooded her bright blue eyes. “Catherine?”

 

Her fists pounded against his chest as she choked on a sob. “Don't talk like that. I don't want to remember that horrible place or see you like that ever again!”

 

“Catherine.” Takeru stood there and held her as she clung onto him. He glanced over his shoulder at his spiky haired friend and realized that the leader was still walking. “Daisuke?”

 

Hikari shifted her focus from the couple to her boyfriend, sprinting towards him as she called out his name. “Dai. Daisuke!”

 

He blinked as though snapping out of a trance and slowly turned around stared at Hikari's concerned face. He grinned and scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. I guess my mind wandered off somewhere.”

 

“Are you sure? You're acting a bit distant.”

 

“Don't worry about me, Hikari. Everything is fine. I'm just wondering how far we have to go before we reach civilization. That is if it exists here.”

 

“Thinking with your stomach, huh, Daisuke,” Takeru chuckled as he shook his head at his friend. “You never change.”

 

“Hey, a guy's gotta eat.” He shrugged and continued walking.

 

Hikari bit her lip and sighed as she trotted off after him. “What's wrong?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Liar.”

 

Daisuke flinched at the coolness of her words as he came to a stop. “I just think we're taking things too lightly. Yeah, the place is nice compared to where we just were but we shouldn't drop our guard. Not yet at least.”

 

“He does have a point,” Jyou said as he stepped forward. “We don't even know what kind of world this is. Looks can be deceiving after all.”

 

“I don't trust this place. Not until we get a better look.” Daisuke angled his gaze towards the others pausing at Hikari.

 

“Of course,” she whispered in understand with a slight nod.

 

“Did I miss something?” Takeru looked at the pair and scowled at them. Hikari drew a sharp breath and turned her head to Daisuke who met her questioning gaze with his own. The blonde teen tilted his head at them in question. “What are you talking about?”

 

“I'm lost too,” Jyou said as he ran a hand through his hair and pushed his glasses more firmly against the bridge of his nose. Catherine nodded in agreement.

 

Daisuke raised an eyebrow then slapped his forehead. “Sorry. You guys weren't there. I forgot.”

 

“Still lost…”

 

“Koushiro's possessed PS2 that he got for his 16th birthday,” Hikari jumped in. She chewed on her lip and avoided Daisuke's stunned expression.

 

“Hikari-”

 

“I think Jyou was visiting Shinn at college,” she cut in as she clasped her hands in front of her. “Be glad you weren't there. It was more like a nightmare.”

 

Takeru blinked as realization hit him. “Oh, I remember that! What was it again? You two, Ken, Mimi, Michael, Taichi, and your digimon got sucked into one of those RPGs that you guys were addicted to. Now I remember. Koushiro had to practically play nonstop to avoid getting you guys killed. Miyako, Iori, and I had to tag in several times before he had a nervous breakdown. He didn't play any video games for years after that. In fact, none of you did.”

 

“Is that what you're referring to, Daisuke?” Jyou inquired earning a glare.

 

The spiky haired teen cleared his throat as he stole a glance at his girlfriend before he answered. “You try living in a video game and tell me how you feel.”

 

“That sounds awful,” Catherine murmured as looked at the other couple in pity.

 

Hikari nodded with a pained expression. “Poor Mimi nearly had a split personality from being two different characters. At least they were never supposed to be on screen at the same time.” She shook her head sadly and closed her eyes in thought for a moment. “I wonder who the blonde girl and boy were. I felt as though I knew the girl but I know that I have never seen her before in my life.”

 

“Yeah. I kinda know the feeling.” He turned on his heel ready to continue walking when something caught his eye. “Oh, shit. I was expecting to find a baby digimon or some other type of digimon but not that!”

 

Takeru looked as well and gasped at the sight of an army clad in shining armor carrying swords and lances as they descended on the small group. “What are we going to do? We can take on that many people. Not to mention how exactly would we be able to defend ourselves? We don't have any weapons.”

 

Catherine cringed as she shrank back to Takeru, her blue eyes wide and fearful. “Maybe they won't hurt us.”

 

“We're strangers in a strange land. Somehow I doubt that,” Jyou said bitterly as they crowded together.

 

Hikari bit her lip as she step back closer to her boyfriend. “Do you have any ideas, Daisuke?” She looked at him after receiving no reply to find him frozen, his breath shallow and his eyes extremely wide.” “Daisuke! Snap out of it!”

 

Takeru turned his head and stared in disbelief at their leader. “What the hell's wrong with him? Daisuke!” He glanced helpless back at the approaching army and swore. Things just seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

 

*~*~*~*

 

Miyako squinted as she stared out into the distance of what appeared to be a gold colored building. “Is that… a sand castle?”

 

Ken frowned from her side as he too looked. “I'm not sure. It kind of looks like it though.”

 

“But who would live in a sand castle?”

 

“I don't know the answer to that either.”

 

Miyako raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend and poked him in the shoulder. “I didn't expect you to, smart-ass.”

 

“I'm glad you noticed, though I think my intelligence comes from a different region of my body.” He smirked as she elbowed him then stuck out her tongue.

 

“This place is peculiar though,” Tani commented softly. “I wonder how long it'll take before we find the digimon.”

 

“There's no telling.” Koushiro shook his head and took out his D-Quad. “I can't seem to be able to make it track anything down yet.”

 

“I'll feel better once I know Gabumon and the others are safe. After seeing what happened to the Digital World…” Yamato paused as his eyes hardened in anger. He clinched his hands into fists and looked at his feet. “We should have been there to help.”

 

“Don't blame yourself,” Tani said gently. “We don't know what was going on there and life well, I don't know about you guys but it kind of went out of control.”

 

“Right.” Koushiro agreed, his dark eyes shining with determination. “And now we're going to make things right.”

 

Yamato nodded slowly, his face very solemn. “It still doesn't change the fact that we weren't there when they needed us most.”

 

“Guilt will not help us in the least,” Ken said softly. “Trust me, I know.”

 

Miyako grabbed her boyfriend's hand and squeezed it, aware that he was referring to the death of his elder brother Osamu. “We still have another chance.”

 

“Right. Sorry, man.” Yamato replied, his voice now sober as he took the genius's words to heart.

 

“Well, now that we're all depressed, shall we continue on?”

 

Tani blinked not even realizing that they had stopped walking. She turned her head and stared at into the ocean as through entranced by something. “What type of world do you suppose this may be? It's not the Digital World or our own. I wonder if there are even people here and if they are friendly or not or will see us as a threat.”

 

Koushiro's dark eyes widened at the female leader's speculation. He opened his mouth then shut it as though contemplating how to provide the most logical answer. Finally he sighed. “I presume that the only way we'll find out is to actually meet the natives and hope that they don't attack us.”

 

“I love that kind of answer,” Miyako grumbled as she folded her arms over her chest. “I have seen one too many movies where someone transported to another world ends up imprisoned or sacrificed to some sort of deity or whatever. I really don't want to be thrown into a volcano.”

 

Ken chuckled. “Or you could be worshipped as a queen or goddess.”

 

“That would be Mimi's luck. Me? I'd become a slave or a sacrifice.”

 

It was Yamato's turn to laugh. “Ah yes, Princess Mimi. Taichi and Jyou told me all about that and how she locked them up when all the Gekomon and Otamamon wanted her to do was sing so she could wake up Tononsama Gekomon. After acting like a stuck up brat for awhile, she finally did.”

 

“That was her?” Tani stared at him in amazement. “I would have never guessed. At least she did what was right in the end. During our first adventures Akina was kidnapped and almost got married.”

 

Koushiro tripped over his feet, nearly falling face first to the sandy ground. “What?”

 

“She was only ten, but Shina and I had to crash the wedding then figure out a way to get Ami out of a mirror. It was a big mess but… our digimon helped.” Her eyes glistened with fresh tears as she hugged herself. “Oh, Penmon. Whatever happened to you?”

 

The others fell silent knowing that they could not answer sorrowful leader until they had heard the details from the digimon themselves. Ken sighed and gazed out into the ocean, the wistful glaze in his eyes slowly morphed into speculation as a large wave formed and continued to rise. He unconsciously stopped in his tracks as he stared in horror as the water soon revealed glowing eyes glaring menacingly at the group of Chosen. “I think we may have a problem…”

 

Koushiro did a doubled-take and froze in shock at the water. All the color immediately drained from his face. “I would have to say that assumption is a firm affirmative.”

“I will second that motion with a `Oh shit,' and `what the hell are we going to do?' as well,” Yamato clenched his hands into fists as Tani and Miyako drew back in a mix of fear and contemplation. “I don't like the way that thing is looking at us.”

 

“And we can't even tell what it is,” Miyako growled in frustration as they edged back from the creature that was still partially shrouded in water. “It's like it's taunting us by hiding!”

 

“I don't think we could even take something like that on,” Tani whispered, her voice shaky.

 

A rather sinister snicker coursed from the water before the glowing eyes disappeared down below, leaving the group of Chosen puzzled by it's departure.

 

*~*~*~*

 

Leaves crunched under the Chosens' feet as they wove their way around the various trees that made up the autumn forest. Mimi shook a newly fallen leaf from her wavy hair and closed her eyes. She had grown accustomed to the change in colors in the leaves as the weather changed as well. After many years living in New York, autumn had become her favorite. “It's pretty here.”

 

“Yeah,” Michael sighed as he tipped up his head. “It feels perfect for a nice game of football.” He then made a grab for Mimi who quickly sidestepped and skirted away.

 

Sora laughed at their antics and shook her head. “Those two.”

 

“Sí. They're lucky they got to stay together.” Rosa pouted a bit. “I already miss Iori.”

 

Taichi chuckled at the teenaged girl. “You definitely flipped his world upside down.”

 

Mimi came to an abrupt halt as she overheard the conversation sending her boyfriend who was still giving chase careening into her. They both tumbled to the ground in one big heap. She groaned as she lifted her head and looked at the trio who had formally traveled together in the Digital World garbage files. “Did I hear that right? Does Iori actually have a girlfriend?”

 

Rosa's face turned beet red. “I'm not his girlfriend. At least I don't think I am.” She turned speculatively to Sora. “Am I?”

 

“I don't know.” The red head gave her a shy smile. “It seems he does like you though.”

 

“Wow. The litt-er big guy sure has grown up,” Michael commented as he helped Mimi to her feet. “It seems like just yesterday that he had split his Kendo pants during a match thanks to his growth spurt.”

 

“Michael!” His girlfriend scolded as she smacked him upside the head. “That was mortifying enough for him as it was. You don't need to tell his would-be girlfriend!”

 

“If he didn't Taichi probably would have,” Sora shrugged as she tried to stifle a giggle.

 

“Right. Hey!” The leader glared at his best friend. “I can be discreet.”

 

Everyone else began to snicker.

 

“I can too. I'm serious.”

 

Sora clamped a hand on her friend's shoulder and wiped the tears from her eyes from trying too hard not to laugh. “No offense, Taichi, but you're no more discreet than a ninja clad in a glow in the dark suit with a flashing strobe light attached to his head wearing squeaking clown shoes.”

 

Mimi giggled. “That creates a rather colorful mental picture. But Sora is right. We love you, Taichi but you and the word discreet do not compute.”

 

“Gee, thanks.” The elder leader grumbled as he folded his arms over his chest. His brown eyes suddenly brightened as he turned to the red haired young woman. “Hey Sora. I am going to be the best man for your wedding, right?”

 

“Wedding?” She blinked in confusion at him for a moment then shrieked. “That's right! I'm going to be marrying Yamato after all this is over. I'm having a wedding! Oh wow. What am I going to wear? Who am I inviting? Ah! Who's going to be my maid of honor and my bride's maids? I have a wedding to plan for and I have no clue what I am doing!”

 

“Sora!” Mimi raced to her friend and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Don't worry. We'll help you out. I'm sure it'll be a lovely wedding.”

 

“But I don't even know what Yamato is going to want. What if he hates the flowers? I haven't even picked out any flowers yet!”

 

Taichi stared in horror at the two young women and moved towards Michael who stood nonchalantly watching them as well. “”Do all girls overreact about stuff like this?”

 

The American snickered. “Mimi isn't as bad as she used to be. Never seen Sora go this far overboard before though.” Michael raised an eyebrow at him. “Why? You aren't thinking of popping the question to Tani, are you?”

 

“No! I mean not yet!” Taichi nearly yelled as though he was about to jump out of his skin in fright. “I-she-we aren't ready and we just got back together and we should really get moving because we have to find the digimon or else we wouldn't be here in the first place.”

 

“Whoa. Cool down, man. Didn't mean to put you on spot. I was just curious.” Michael held out his hands in a gesture of peace as Taichi seemed to become even more frazzled.

 

“I'm fine. Perfectly fine,” he replied, chuckling nervously. Just as he opened his mouth to add something an ear-piercing scream had shattered anything that had come to mind. Instead he spun around and found Rosa backing away from a large pile of leaves in fear.

 

“Some-something moved and tried to grab me!” Her dark eyes were wide as she clutched onto Taichi's arm. “I wish Iori were here.”

 

The other Chosen stood still waiting for whatever it was to make its move the only question in their minds was if it was a friend or a foe.

 

*~*~*~*

 

An icy breeze whipped through the mountainside as the Chosen ascended the steep path in search of civilization. Akina folded her arms over her chest, hugging herself as she trailed behind her siblings as Wallace led the way. Iori hung in the back and gave her a small smile. She nodded shivering slightly. “It was very cold where I was before. Despite having been stuck there for three years, I at least had clothing that was more suited to the climate.”

 

“You're still doing well,” he reassured her.

 

“I'd prefer wearing something a little less dressy.” She swept her dark hair from her face and scowled down at the long skirt of her olive and cream colored dress. “Tani is more accustomed to this stuff than I am.”

 

“I don't like this outfit!” Ami wrapped her long multi colored cloak around her bare midsection and looked back at her dark haired sister. “At least the only part of you that is exposed is your shoulders. My shirt should be for summer weather not winter!”

 

“Quit whining, Ami.” Shina rolled her eyes at her curly haired sibling.

 

“Easy for you to say. You are actually dressed appropriately for this weather.”

 

“Complaining isn't going to make things any better.”

 

“Akina started it.”

 

Akina shook her head with a sigh.” Not again.”

 

Wallace swore and turned on his heel and swore again at the sight of the three sisters bickering as Iori helplessly watched. “Hey! This isn't the time to argue. We have digimon to find!” He slapped a hand to his face and pondered how he was cursed with being stuck with the triplets in the first place. “This is so pathetic that it's not even

funny.”

 

“Hey!” Shina shouted her blue eyes darkening icily at him. “Butt out, jerk. I don't know what your issue is but if you're going to act like a barnyard animal then don't talk to us.”

 

“What are you? The queen or something? Should I bow or kneel in your presence, oh mighty one?” He sneered at her as she dropped her jaw in outrage.

 

“Only if it means that you'll bending over so I can kick your ass!”

 

“Oh God, not again.” Akina covered her face with her hands. “I'm going to get a headache with all this yelling.”

 

Iori however stepped between the two and shoved them apart. “Now is not the time to fight. You can settle your differences later.”

 

Ami stepped back bumping into Iori then quickly apologized. “Sorry, but I don't like the look of that cave.”

 

The others looked as well and frowned at the sight of what appeared to be black ice framing the mouth of a cave. Jagged stalactites and stalagmites edged the top and bottom like deadly teeth giving a rather foreboding appearance.

 

Shina rolled her eyes and pushed her way past her sisters. “You're such a fraidy-cat, Ami. It's just a stupid cave like any other that we have seen.”

 

“But. It looks evil,” the redhead argued back, wrapped her long cape tighter around her body. “Don't go in!”

 

“Nothing is going to happen.” Shina strolled towards the cave and spun around once she had had made it towards the entrance. “See? There is nothing to be scared of, you wimps.”

 

A loud crack suddenly echoed through the air as Ami screamed in fright. Wallace bolted towards Shina as he shouted, “Get down, you idiot!” He quickly grabbed the confused young woman and rolled each other to safety as a large shard of ice crashed where she had once stood.

 

“Holy, shit,” Shina gapped in shock as he yanked her to her feet. Ami and Akina shrieked in pain and horror as they were pelted with a shower of ice. Iori grabbed both of their arms and raced away from the cave in the search for shelter as Wallace and Shina followed.

 

*~*~*~*

Author's Notes: This chapter was so stuck that it's not even funny. That plus getting burned out at my old job (I found another one right before I was ready to walk, and I never walk on a job…. Well I kinda did this time. It was that or completely losing my mind) But I've finally gotten this chapter down so, yay. Things are going a lot smoother so hopefully my next update won't take nearly as long as this one did.

 

Hope you enjoyed it.