Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Passage Through Shadow 2 : Heart of Sincerity ❯ Chapter 3

PART REVISED 6th February 2003

Firebird: This is a really long part so I'll keep this brief. I still don't own Digimon.

Ken: Long? It's nearly twice the length of the average part.

Firebird: I know. One note. Yes I know that at at least one point it's said that Digimon only hatch at Primary Village but at other points it's at least insinuated that they sometimes hatch at villages of their own kind and that's what I use.

Ken: Fair enough.

Firebird: Also a big thank you to Chris (aka ShatterStorm) for sketching out a fight scene for me. I'm afraid I didn't use much of it as it stood but it was VERY helpful to me as a framework for writing the battle scene. Thanks, Chris, this part is for you.

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Passage Through Shadow 2

Heart of Sincerity

Part 3

Bastemon looked over her troops thoughtfully. It had been a long time since she'd last led an army of virii. Back then she'd obeyed Vamdemon out of fear and nothing else. Now she was following Hikari not out of fear but love. After a moment she turned her attention back to the village. From her vantage point she could see the Penguinmon playing. They seemed so innocent but she knew that a few short days before these same rookies had helped destroy the Minomon. For what had happened there must be a reckoning.

She motioned to her land troops to surround the village and once they were in position she calmly walked into the heart of it. The Penguinmon were horrified to see a virus in their oh so pure village and broke off from their games to attack her. The attacks were all useless of course. How could these rookies hope to harm an Ultimate? They'd have been better advised to flee. She almost felt sorry for them. Almost, but in the circumstances, not quite.

When she reached the centre of the village she unleashed her Vampire Dance upon them. Within moments the entire population of the village, except for the few guarding the nursery, were in her thrall. They stood motionless watching her dance even when the Numemon and Bakemon entered the village and blocked the escape routes. Meanwhile another unit headed to the nursery and attacked the guards. Caught by surprise and totally outclassed the guards were swiftly reformatted to eggs in the very nursery they were supposed to be protecting. Another wave of attack fell on the entranced Penguinmon in the village. Several were reformatted and many more were knocked back to their in training or baby forms. For the most part, however, they concentrated on property damage. After all the whole point of this attack was to be obvious about it.

As the smoke began to rise the Saberdramon became aware that the village they had all hatched at. The only village in the region that Saberdramon did come from was in serious peril. They rushed to its defence led by Parrotmon an Ultimate who had also originated from that village.

When they came into view Bastemon smiled to herself. This plan of Hikari's was working out very well. Though the presence of an Ultimate was a definite fly in the ointment. Still if a champion like a Greymon had fought one successfully in the real world she was sure that she could handle it. Deliberately, she stepped out where it could see her and prepared to dodge the attack that would surely come. She was more than a little surprised when it spoke to her instead.

"The Digital World will be purged of evil and the human cancer. Do you not see, sister, how your so-called partner has betrayed your trust to become the Shadow Queen? She has forced you into this unnatural form but I know that in within you still beats the heart of a vaccine. Please, sister, recover your true nature. Join with us and you will survive the cleansing."

"You really understand nothing of the bond between a Chosen Child and their digimon do you?" Bastemon had never been so insulted in her life and yet she couldn't help being amused. "I could never leave Hikari. Never." She threw her Helter Skelter attack. Initiating the fight in order to ensure his attention remained on her until it was too late.

The Saberdramon, in the mean time, were using their aerial advantage to attack the ground troops. The black bird digimon were completely unaware of the trap they had flown into. Even though she was concentrating on her battle with Parrotmon Bastemon knew the moment it snapped shut on them. Her second army, the aerial one, swooped down into the village and attacked. The Saberdramon found themselves outnumbered and surrounded by Devidramon and Boogeymon. As they switched their attention to the attacks now coming in from the sides and above the ground troops began firing upwards. Caught in that hail of fire from all sides the Saberdramon could not hope to fight back. Scant moments later not one of them remained in the sky and several had dedigivolved or been reformatted. The remainder lay in a heap near the centre of the village, surrounded by enemies and unable to fight further.

Parrotmon's attention was so riveted on his battle with Bastemon that he didn't notice the loss of his fellow troops until he became aware of the fact that he was under almost constant bombardment from above. The Champion level attacks didn't phase him that much but he knew that they would eventually wear him down and allow Bastemon to delete him if he stayed around. This battle was undoubtedly lost. All he could do now was flee and warn Athenamon about the Shadow Queen's counterstrike. He barely made it out of there, however, Bastemon's Helter Skelter struck him twice as he fled and he was only just fast enough fast enough to avoid deletion.

Bastemon watched the severely injured Parrotmon flee with a sigh. Taking out an Ultimate would have been a powerful blow to their enemy. She hoped Hikari, who was now on her way to the village, wouldn't be too disappointed in her.

-----

"There's been a -- hmmm -- development since you left." Tapirmon seemed very serious when the Chosen Children arrived in the rebels' base early that afternoon. "Well just before you arrived actually."

"What sort of development?" Miyako asked before Daisuke could speak. Taichi had told them that Hikari had gone to the Digital World immediately after their parents had left that morning and she was certain that this 'development' had something to do with that.

"You aren't going to like it." Tapirmon predicted and led them to a ridge that overlooked the chasm that had once been the site of a Minomon Village. Miyako sighed as her suspicions were confirmed. This 'development' was something to do with Hikari all right. Undeniably so since the it was one of the sinister and yet oddly beautiful black diamonds that apparently formed their erstwhile companion's control system which was currently hovering over the chasm.

"My dream…" Takeru whispered. He sounded stunned. Miyako glanced over at him. He had mentioned something about a strange dream but she'd been more interested in the mystery of the untraceable email from the Digital World and hadn't paid much attention to the rest of what he was saying.

"You dreamt this?" She hazarded seeing no other reason for him to say that in such a tone. He said nothing but he did nod. "Hmmm…." She was musing on what this might mean and was about to ask for details when she became aware of what sounded like a battle coming from the direction of the coast. She tried to locate the source but it seemed to be coming from beyond some hills a couple of miles away. She looked at the others. "Do you hear what I hear?" She asked. The other exchanged worried glances and nodded.

"I think that it's coming from the Penguinmon Village." Tapirmon said after listening for a moment. "They're allies of Athenamon." He added icily.

"We'd better go and investigate anyway." Daisuke decided after a moments thought. He had Veemon armour digivolve into Raidramon and was just climbing on to his partner's back when a familiar voice yelled

"Wait for us!"

"Mimi!" Miyako ran to embrace the girl she considered a friend even if she had only met her once before. "It's great to see you again! Who are your friends?" She looked with more than casual interest at the two good-looking boys whom Mimi had with her.

"Hi all!" Mimi said as she hugged Miyako back. "I'd like you to meet my friends Elliot and Michael. They came with me."

"Erm… just how did you bring them here, Mimi?" Koushiro asked.

"They have digivices just like us." She replied happily. "Digimon too." She turned and pointed to the two boys' companions. "That's Betamon with Michael and Tsukaimon with Elliot."

"It looks like a purple Patamon." Miyako said as she looked at Elliot's partner. Then added. "You mean that they are digidestined like us?"

"Exactly!" Mimi said and then saw the dubious look on Daisuke's face as he looked at Elliot. "You don't trust my judgement either!"

<Either?> Miyako wondered but before she could ask what Mimi meant Elliot spoke up.

"Don't you think we should investigate that?" He said mildly. Pointed to where smoke was now rising from behind the hills. "We can discuss anything else later. Right?"

"I hate to say this but he's right." Ken said. For some reason he seemed suspicious of the cute purple-eyed boy as well. In fact none of the other Chosen Children seemed particularly comfortable around him. Which was odd because he seemed ok to her.

"Elliot-san." She said because Mimi had only told them his personal name. "Would you like to ride on Halsemon with me?" she asked hopefully.

"I think that I'd like that." His smile seemed warm but he also seemed to be studying her thoughtfully and with mild surprise.

It took them over an hour to reach the Penguinmon village because the terrain was rough for the landbound digimon and some of the older digidestined were having to walk. During the journey they were overtaken by two dozen Saberdramon led by a single Parrotmon also heading for the village. They seemed to be in a desperate hurry.

"That was virtually all of Athenamon's current aerial strength." Tapirmon, who was also riding with Miyako, said thoughtfully. "Is it just me or does anyone else smell a trap?"

"You mean for us?" Miyako asked her small passenger.

"No." It replied in a tone that suggested she was being silly. "For them." It gestured after the flying digimon.

"It could very well be." Elliot said from behind her. They flew in silence for a few minutes and then the American boy added. "Are you sure that carrying the two of us and two rookies isn't too heavy a load for Halsemon?"

"Of course I'm sure!" she snapped then realised that she hadn't actually checked with her partner. "You are okay aren't you, Halsemon?"

"I'm fine, Miyako-san." He replied.

"See." She grinned over her shoulder at Elliot who smiled back.

"Good, I'd hate to fall out of the sky." He said and then looked down and frowned. "I think your friends are talking about me." Miyako followed his gaze and saw that Takeru and Pegasusmon were flying quite low and very close to Raidramon. There seemed to be a conversation going on between Ken, Daisuke, Takeru and the other American boy, Michael, who was riding with Takeru. She couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Looks like it." She conceded. "I'm really sorry about them."

"That's okay. It's not your fault." He replied. "Michael's being trying to turn Mimi against me since we met. Now it seems he trying with your friends as well. I'm afraid I don't trust him at all."

"There is something fishy about him." Tsukaimon agreed.

Any further discussion was halted when they crested a rise and got their first view of the village where the Penguinmon lived. Miyako had Halsemon land by the others and they surveyed the scene in shock.

"Kami-sama." She whispered softly. "I don't believe it."

"Oh, Hikari!" Mimi said in a choked voice. "What sort of an answer is this?" Miyako looked at the pink haired girl and saw that she was close to tears.

"A well thought out one actually." Tapirmon said. The small Digimon seemed surprisingly calm in the face of what it was seeing. "I'd guess that the attack was aimed at little but luring in the Saberdramon."

"Are you saying that all this…" Yamato indicated the ruins of the village with a sweep of his arm. "Was just for bait?"

"Well not just for bait. The Penguinmon were involved in what happened at the Minomon village and most Saberdramon round here digivolve from them." Tapirmon looked over at Mimi. "And I don't think the Shadow Queen meant this as an answer, Child of Sincerity, she meant it as a challenge and a declaration of intent."

"Well at least the village is still there." Takeru said in an odd tone. "Even if it is pretty much flattened. She hasn't eaten it or whatever."

"And," Sora announced after examining the beach and sea near the village through the binoculars she had brought with her. "The nursery seems pretty untouched so any deleted digimon should reconfigure as digieggs. That's something anyway."

"I still can't believe that she did this." Mimi still sounded like she was about to cry.

"Believe it."

-----

"Hmm… looks like we aren't going to be trying them outside of combat first." Ali said as she looked at the black diamond. "What on earth is all this?"

"We do appear to have walked into a warzone." Logan agreed. "But a war between who and whom exactly?" He wondered as he looked into the chasm. Ali consulted her map.

"That used to be a Minomon village. Doesn't seem like a likely target for either Kamiya or her former companions. This is really strange." Ali sat down on a rock and began typing. "I'm emailing Chiharu. We need to know what happened here and why our spies didn't report it."

"Chiharu's weak." Logan muttered. "The spies probably couldn't be bothered to report to her." Ali sighed and gave him an amused look.

"She's only weak in the Physical sense, Logan." She laughed. "And Denbe isn't weak at all and she listens to him. It's not that. Something has gone badly wrong here and while I'm not really adverse to pieces of the Digital World vanishing into thin air I'd kind of like to know why. There's something very strange going on here and we have to find out what. It might require an alteration of our plans."

"I guess." He said dubiously. "But we do have more important things to do remember."

"Not more important." Ali shook her head with a wry smile. "More urgent maybe. It can't wait and I suppose this can… but not more important. I'll send the email and then we'll get on with what we came here for." She took out a digital camera and snapped a couple of shots of the scene and sent it all to Chiharu.

"Where do you suppose we should start looking for them anyway?"

"Well, he hasn't emailed me yet but I'm guessing there." She pointed towards where she could see billowing smoke above the horizon. Logan looked in that direction.

"What the hell is going on over there?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure that the Chosen Children will have gone to investigate it." She said. "So if we go to investigate it too we should find them right?"

"Right." He agreed. "Let's go."

-----

Hikari waited until the others had turned to face her. "Believe it." She said again in that same soft tone. "Denial won't get you anywhere." She knew that she must look pretty impressive as she stood atop a hovering Devidramon with her hair whipping around her in the wind. Indeed they were staring at her in shock. "You're looking well, Mimi-san." She added in an amused tone.

"How could you do this?" Was Mimi's only reply.

"In the circumstances quite easily." Hikari let some of the icy anger she was feeling slip into her tone. "I needed to weaken Athenamon's air capability and they deserved exactly what they got. They need to be taught a lesson."

"Is that what you call this?" Daisuke asked. "A lesson?"

"No, I call that a battle. The lesson comes later." She replied succinctly and had to repress a smile when he shuddered. "What's wrong, Daisuke-kun?"

"You know very well what's wrong! You've destroyed their village! Isn't that punishment enough?"

"Who said anything about punishing them? I said that I was going to teach them a lesson. It's a subtle difference, I admit, but an important one."

"So you say." He said coldly. "But why should I believe you?"

"Be like that then." Hikari let her glance flow over the group. "I was going to tell you something you'd find worth knowing… but I think I'll leave you to discover it for yourselves." She glared momentarily at the red haired boy standing next to Miyako and then had to suppress another grin as Takeru noticed this. "I'll see you around no doubt." She said and ordered the Devidramon to carry her down to the village.

-----

"Did anyone else just feel their blood freeze?" Daisuke asked as they watched her leave.

"I didn't believe it until I saw it." Mimi whispered. "That wasn't Hikari. She's possessed. She must be…"

"No." Takeru said almost to himself. "She's not possessed. She's angry."

"Are you defending her now?" Miyako snapped. "Just look at what she's done!"

"I can see very well, Miyako-chan!" He replied. "And I'm not defending her I'm just saying that whatever she is she isn't possessed. We know that she reacted physically to what happened at the Minomon village for some reason. I have a feeling that reaction is what's behind this response."

"You think that she's overreacting because of how much it hurt her?" Ken asked.

"Yes… No… I don't know." He admitted. "It's just a feeling."

"I think that you're trying to make excuses for her." Miyako said. "All this proves is how far she has fallen. I mean what sort of lesson can she possibly think this will teach them? The only thing they'll learn from this is that Virii really are their enemies and that humans really do support them?"

"She did say that wasn't the lesson." Tapirmon pointed out. "I think I know what she intends to teach them… I'm just not sure how she intends to do it."

"What?" Takeru asked.

"The value of Balance." It replied as if that should explain everything.

"Balance?" Takeru mused. "The prophecy said that 'balance is it's own reward' whatever that means." He thought about it some more when Iori interrupted him.

"Devimon!" He said pointing towards where the dark digimon was circling down into the village.

"Oh, hell." Takeru said. "Just who I did not want to see." He watched as Devimon spoke briefly to Hikari and then she and the Devidramon followed him out to sea. "Sora-san, lend me your binoculars."

-----

"Hikari-sama, you have a problem." Devimon told her as he landed in front of her. "I've just flown in over the sea. There's a pod of Dolphmon heading this way."

"There is? How large?" She looked out to sea. "This must be their village of origin too. Are they siding with Athenamon or just coming to try and save their hatchery?"

"There's only five, probably and I don't know." He said.

"I suppose we'll have to go and find out then." She sighed and ordered the Devidramon to take off again.

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Hope you enjoyed this extra long part.

Please R&R