Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ El Dorado Diaries ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

El Dorado Diaries, chapter 1 October 12, 2003.
The Digital World. "Run"
"Get cover"
"He double crossed us"
The many digimon, some at Child level and a few others at Adult level, were running trough the streets of the Fortress City of Cozcu, in the middle of the mountainside at the west of the jungle.
They ran as they avoided the razing flames that enveloped the entire city, leaving it in ruins on its wake.
They were close to the main doors of the city, when suddenly a tall humanoid digimon wearing a thick looking metal armor and wielding a big sword stepped in front of the fleeing digimon.
"You really believe that you can escape from me, Knightmon El Conquistador!" said the Knightmon, his Spanish was different from the Spanish spoken by the other digimon, it was more Iberian.
"We'll have to fight our way trough!" said one of the Adult level digimon, as he and the rest of them charged at Knightmon.
"Ha ha ha ha! You uncivilized fools!" Knightmon stopped their attack with a slash of his sword, cutting the charging digimon at the front in half, deleting them on the spot.
Seeing the amazing display of power shown by Knightmon, the rest of the few digimon that had managed to escape at the beginning of the attack saw no choice but to surrender as the rest of Knightmon's soldiers quickly surrounded them.
"Okay troops, take this idiots to the cages. If we want to know the location of the thing that we came for, we'll have to... interrogate them. Ha ha ha ha ha!" Knightmon laughed as his soldiers tied the few digimon that had survived with chains.
The digimon cringed at how Knightmon had said the word interrogate, and even more when they heard that bone chilling laugh of his. The same day.
The mountain range of the Andes next to Lima, Peru. Manuel Chiclayo had been climbing the mountain for hours, and now that he was finally at the summit, he was enjoying of the fantastic view.
He wasn't alone though, next to him was Gabumon, his digimon partner.
It was Gabumon who noticed how his partner had been on edge for the most part of the day. But he really didn't know why. As a digimon, he had little to no knowledge of what happened at the world of humans. All of that information came from Manuel himself. But Manuel hadn't said anything about why he looked so... angry would be the correct word.
Finally, curiosity got the better of him. He had to ask.
"Manuel? You have been angry at something all day. Is something wrong?" asked the blue digimon.
Manuel looked at his digimon, as if surprised by the question. "It's because of the day Gabumon." he replied.
Gabumon was actually more confused, "What is wrong with the day? We have some nice weather, not too cold, not too hot"
Just then Manuel remembered that Gabumon really didn't know what day it was. Today was October the twelfth, which meant that it was an international holiday. But Manuel didn't like to celebrate it, which was why he was spending the day at the mountains.
"I didn't mean the day as in the weather Gabumon, I meant the date." replied Manuel.
"Oh." replied Gabumon, "Why?" he asked.
Manuel sat down on the ground, and Gabumon sat down next to him, waiting for the answer to his question.
"Well, Gabumon," Manuel started, "It's like this. According to history, October 12 of 1492 was the day that Columbus 'discovered' the American continent"
Gabumon listened to that and scratched his head, "1492... that's like a long time ago, right"
Manuel smiled, "About five hundred years ago, yes"
Gabumon was still confused, "I don't get it. Wasn't there people living here before that?" he asked to his human partner.
"Yes, a whole lot of people where living here." replied Manuel.
"Then how can someone discover a place if someone was living there before them? It doesn't make sense." said the blue digimon.
Manuel smiled at what Gabumon said, "You are right Gabumon. It doesn't make sense. That's why I look so angry today"
"Oh, okay, I get it now." replied Gabumon.
Manuel had to admit that he was surprised at what Gabumon had said. It was so simple, yet so deep and so right. So simple and so right that there were still people in the world that didn't see it.
To put it in a simple way, as a descendant of the Inca people, Manuel celebrated October 11, as the last day of freedom of South America, like did almost everyone else in the continent, be them natives or not. And in turn, he HATED October 12, since it represented the first day of slavery to imperialism. It was, simply, a day of mourning.
Sure, history books said that the "good" people of Spain, England and Portugal came to civilize the "savage" natives of the new continent, and bringing them the salvation of their souls trough Catholic religion.
Civilized? Yeah, right. Thought Manuel.
The Inca Empire practiced surgery, but the Europeans though that they were doing human sacrifices. While the stupid Europeans had a plague, and all they did was self-punishment and mea culpa, and allowed leaches to suck their blood. Who was the savage?
Not only that, but the Incas actually washed their hands before eating and took baths every day. Europeans did neither of those things. Who was the civilized one?
And then, they actually FORCED the natives into their Catholic religion. You can't FORCE people into religion! That's just plain stupid! Manuel had nothing against the free practice of any religion. But that is the whole point! FREE practice of ANY religion! If you force someone into believing anything, then you are just loosing the whole point of religion.
Not to mention the enslavement of all the natives, the killing of the Inca, and the thievery of all the gold and silver the Inca people had.
But then again, the Spanish did conquer the Incas. They had won, and since they won, they got to write history. The winners wrote history, even if said winners were the bad ones.
Boy, this day pissed him off!
Manuel was taken away from his thoughts as he heard his D-3 beeping.
Manuel sat up and grabbed his D-3 to look at it.
Gabumon heard the beeping too, and he walked next to Manuel.
Both Digimon and Dig-Destined saw how the little screen of Manuel's D-3 was flashing a red light again and again. This could mean only one thing, there was trouble at the Digital World!
Manuel stood up and got on his bike. "Come on Gabumon, let's go"
"Yes," replied Gabumon and then got on the bike's small passenger seat that Manuel had bought just for him.
When Manuel was sure that Gabumon was safely on the bike, he started pedaling as fast as he could, getting some help from gravity as he descended the mountain.
If his D-3 was flashing, that meant that the rest of the team's D-3s were flashing as well. And all the team would gather at the usual meeting place. A while later, in another part in Lima. Ramirez Moreno, Sasha Fabianesi, Jesus Perez and their respective digimon partners were standing next to the San Martin Monument at the center of Lima, which was the accorded meeting place that the team had agreed on for this types of emergencies.
It was a good thing that there was no school today, or else it would have been very hard to get here at this time of day.
Jesus had been helping out at his house with the daily chores, while Ramirez and Sasha had been playing some street football and volleyball respectively not very far away from there.
When they saw the flashing signal on the screen of their respective D-3s, they all stopped what they were doing, made up an excuse and came running here. They were all waiting for the two remaining team members to arrive.
"Well, well, it seems that I'm not the only one that got beeped"
The three kids turned when they heard that familiar voice. Ramirez and Sasha where happy to hear it, while Jesus was anything but.
Monica Ithurralde, another of the kids that formed the Lima team, followed by Pico Devimon, approached the other three kids, holding her D-3 in her hand.
"Monica, you came!" said Sasha happily. "Yes, it's nice to see you here too Monica," added Ramirez.
Their reaction wasn't very strange, considering that most of the times that there was an emergency in the Digital World Monica usually showed up late, if she showed up at all. She WAS an active member of the Lima team, but it was more under her own terms than on the group's.
However, Monica was usually of great help to the team, and had more than once saved all of them from certain death. She was the usual type that showed up at the last possible second and saved everyone.
"Well, it's nice of her to actually show on time for a change," commented Jesus on Monica's usual tardiness, his arms crossed over his chest and his head looking away from the approaching girl.
Monica looked at Jesus, and smiled in a mocking manner, "So what? Let me guess. It's a sin to be late too right? That's the eleventh commandment right? Thou shall always be on time"
"It IS wrong to be late when you actually said you were going to be on time, its just like lying!" replied Jesus.
"Well, I'm fine then, since I've NEVER promised to be on time. Or show up for this things for that matter." replied Monica, taunting the boy.
Ramirez and Sasha rolled their eyes as they watched yet ANOTHER discussion between Jesus and Monica... well, Jesus was discussing, Monica was just mocking him.
The thing was Ramirez and Sasha ALSO found Jesus' way of being VERY annoying, but they never talked to him about it because it was just a waste of time. Jesus was a complete hard headed person, to discuss religion with him was like talking to a wall. Of course that Monica wasn't really having an argument with Jesus, she just made fun of him all the time. The problem with that was that after Monica left, the rest of the Lima kids had to listen to one of Jesus LONG speeches about how right he was and how wrong Monica was and all that, so they would have preferred if Monica didn't taunt Jesus at all, not because of him, but because of them.
Well, at least they considered themselves lucky. Things could be MUCH worse. As they watched Jesus give another speech to Monica, who totally ignored him, they started to think how it could have been like have they been born in another place, say, the United States. From what they know about the United States, religious fanatics were all over the place, practically FORCING people to think like they did. Now THAT would have been unlucky.
At least in South America, people that were religious fanatics like Jesus were very rare.
"Okay you two, enough arguing"
Everyone there, humans and digimon alike, turned around when they heard that familiar voice.
Manuel and Gabumon were standing there, both of them still riding Manuel's bike.
The kid and his digimon partner got off the bike as they approached the rest of the Lima team members.
"Hey, Manuel, what took you so long?" asked Monica.
"I was at the mountains when I got the signal," was Manuel's answer, "So, I see that everyone is here," he said as he looked at the other four members of the Lima team and their digimon.
"Manuel," exclaimed Jesus as he approached Manuel, "Sorry about that, Monica started. She's always bothering me and"
Manuel rolled his eyes, he wasn't in the mood to hear one of Jesus' little speeches about how he was good and Monica was bad and all that stuff. "Save it Jesus, I really don't want to hear it," he said.
Jesus was a little surprised at this, "Huh? But Manuel, I didn't"
"I said I don't want to hear it, shut up already for a change," said Manuel to Jesus as he made his way towards the others.
Manuel was also VERY annoyed at Jesus ever since the beginning. He was tired of his endless speeches about what was right and what was wrong, and some times he wished that he had the courage of Monica to actually stand up and tell him to be quiet. But if he did so, then he would become the target of Jesus' endless and annoying scolding, and he REALLY didn't want to hear that now, especially on this day.
"Okay," said Manuel, addressing all of the Lima kids, "since we're all here, I guess that we can get going"
Manuel siganled the others to follow him at the usual spot for entering the Digital World. There was a computer store right about the corner, where they could use one of the computers to transport themselves and their digimon to the Digital World. To be continued... Okay, now for some very important author notes, which will help anyone who's not familiar with the history of South America to understand the story better.
First of all, let me tell you that in all of South America, they teach us at school the history of the Inca Empire like they would teach you about Luis XV if you were french.
We consider the Incas as a very important part of our history. Even consider them part of our national identity. (For example, Argentina's flag has a sun in it)
Countries like Equator and Perœ (where the main Inca cities were) still keep the Inca names for the cities they made. Quito, Equator's capital, is the name of one of the four main cities of the ancient Inca Empire.
Here's a little info about the Incas so you can get a better point of view.
The Empire of the Inca (Tahuantinsuyo), was the biggest civilization of the American continent before the coming of Columbus. It was founded by the people that lived in the highlands of the central Andes. The Inca people came from the high-low lands of Bolivia, where a culture called colla (centuries XIII to XV) developed, their way of life was rather primal and their language was the Aymara. A group of families had to move from the colla territory to the Cusco valley, located in present day Peru, where they managed to settle well, and where they adopted the language that would be later used trough the Incan Empire, the quechua language (this is the other language that Manuel knows appart from Spanish.
According to tradition, the first king (or Inca, which means The Son of The Sun), Ayar Manco, that ruled with the name of Manco Capac, founded the city of Cusco at the end of the XIII century. At the beginning, the Incan Empire was nothing more than a rural estate that never surpassed their original territory (in other words, the Cusco valley) until the reign of Capac Yupanqui, the first conquering king.
Inca Roca, the last of the Hurincuzco dynasty and the beginning of the Hanacuzco dynasty, organized the first waterworks and a net of sewage that was used all trough the history of the empire.
One of the most important actions was taken by Viracocha, the king that during one of his military expeditions clashed against the only other nation in the region that was a match for the Inca empire, the Chanca confederation. His son, Yupanqui, who adopted the name of Pachacuit (or Pachacutec), managed to drive the chanca people out of the Cusco valley, and named himself Inca while his father was still alive. This happened in the year 1438, and it signaled the beginning of the Empire of The Inca.
Until that date we speak of the legendary time and of a historical time of the empire (sort of like the history of Japan before the first emperor and after the first emperor.
In its prime, at the year 1500, the Empire of The Inca was around a million square kilometers in size, and had twelve million inhabitants. Which meant that they were one of the biggest empires in history, as big as the roman empire.
The had a policy of expansion, which relayed in their perfect social organization and economy. The Empire was divided into four provinces, called suyu, each one of this provinces were ruled by the local governor. The land belonged to the state, and there was no currency. The produce of the land was divided in three, one part belonged to The Inca, the other to the priests and the third part belonged to the people, which were the ones that cultivated the land. Their main produce was the potato, and everyone worked the land regardless of their gender.
One of the reasons that kept the empire in one piece was a very complete net of communications trough couriers, which traveled trough the long and transited roads made of perfectly flat stone. This is amazing considering that the Inca people had never discovered the wheel.
The military campaigns of Pachacuit took him to Bolivia and the northern parts of the Andes. In this campaigns he was followed by his son, Tupac (or Topa) Yupanqui, that managed to reach as far as present day Equator, and after being crowned as Inca, in 1471, he settled the limit of his vast empire on the 40 parallel. His successor, Huayna Capac (1493-1520), settled the empire, which reached its maximum extension, which was the shores and mountains of present day Equator, Peru, Bolivia and the northern lands of Argentina.
After the death of Huayna Capac, the empire was divided by Huascar, his eldest son, and Atahualpa, his favorite son, born from him and a princess of Quito. Soon a civil war started between these two heirs to the throne to see who would be the next Inca.
Is in this state of civil war that the Spanish reach the Inca Empire, commanded by Francisco Pizarro. They took advantage of this situation and managed to destroy the empire (1532-1533) . Pizarro "allied" himself with Atahualpa, to "help" him defeat Huascar.
Huascar was defeated at the battle of Quipaypan (near Cuzco), by the troops of Atahualpa, so he was named Inca.
Pizarro offered Atahualpa the chance to have a victory celebration, where it was agreed that both parties will be without weapons.
Atahualpa agreed, he went to the accorded place with his main troops, about 1200 people, all of them were unarmed. But when they got there, they realized that it was a trap, but it was too late. The Spanish, all of them armed with firearms, killed all of them, leaving only Atahualpa alive.
Pizarro told Atahualpa that if he wanted to stay alive, he would pay a ransom of gold and silver for his freedom. The ransom was to fill two rooms, one with gold and one with silver. Atahualpa complied, and did so, filling the two rooms with tons and tons of gold and silver from his empire (the gold and the silver had no monetary value to the Inca people, it was more of a religious significance.
Pizarro let him go, but killed him anyway soon after that because Atahualpa refused to convert to Catholicism.
Atahualpa is then, the last of the Inca.
Despite all this, the culture and language of the Inca Empire survived to this day, and their cities and buildings, built especially to withstand floods, earthquakes and storms, are still standing today, whilst the churches and other buildings made by the Spanish are long gone.
As for their culture, the Inca Empire had made amazing advances in architecture, they built their structures with irregular solid rocks, that they managed to fit perfectly together like one giant puzzle. Perfect examples of this would be the fortress of Sacsahuman, on a hill over Cusco, and the fortress-city of Machu Picchu, built by the Inca people that tried to escape from the Spanish (XV century). The manufacture of pots and father arrangements was also very high. It is amazing the advances that the Inca people had made in scientific fields such as medicine, the development of a calendar and a decimal numeric system, plus an incredible skill to apply all of this things was one of the backbones n their imperial organization.
The society was divided by groups, being at the top of the pyramid the Inca and his wife, then came the main priest and the main general. After those came the four governors of the four provinces, then the rest of the priests and other government officials, after those came the craft-mans and sub-officials. And finally the working class such as farmers and soldiers.
As for religion, they had a main popular religion, which worshipped the main forces of nature and local spirits, and an aristocracy, which was kept secret. At the top of the rest of the gods was Viracocha or Pachacamac, a shapeless and faceless god who developed an interest in the matters of men. At his orders were the deities of nature: Inti (the sun), Quilla (the moon), Mother Earth, Kon (fire), Vira (water), Pacha (haven and earth), and so on. This deities competed for supremacy. Finally, Inti (the Sun) won. The Inca, his son, was a god like he was and as such he was superior to the rest of mortals, every city had a temple to the sun, being the most important the one located in Coricancha in Cusco. The priests were divided in classes, there was the main priest, amauta (wiseman), who had imperial blood. The Inca people believed in divination and in huacas, beings that had the power of transforming to something else. They also worshipped their dead ancestors, who kept all their earthly privileges. Persona.