Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Passage Through Shadow 2 : Heart of Sincerity ❯ Chapter 5

PART REVISED 6th February 2003

Firebird: I haven't fallen through a hole in reality into a parallel universe yet so I still don't own Digimon. (sigh)

Ken: It's a little shorter than the last two.

Firebird: It's still well over 2000 words.

Ken: True

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Passage Through Shadow 2

Heart of Sincerity

Part Five

Hikari had the Devidramon fly to meet Pegasusmon as Devimon flew off to check that her airborne virii were coming to her aid.

"Can I help you?" She asked coolly when she came within speaking distance. Her mount shifted direction to fly along side.

"That's exactly what I was about to ask you." Michael replied. "It seems to me that you are trying to avoid a fight here."

"I am." She agreed. "So?"

"A fight in this situation would be a bad thing and Betamon thinks he can help prevent one." He patted his digimon affectionately.

"Really?" Hikari raised an eyebrow and looked at the little digimon. "Can you?" She asked. From the corner of her eye she saw that Takeru was startled at how gentle her tone was.

"I think so." It replied. "I know them quite well. They would much rather play than fight." Betamon replied. "But," it added firmly. "I am not going to lie to them."

"I don't expect you to. What's on your mind?"

"What's going to happen to their hatchlings?" He asked. "That's what's worrying them."

"To their hatchlings?" She emphasised the 'their'. "Well, providing I can figure out how to tell them apart from the Saberdramon's hatchlings, nothing. Assuming they weren't among the Penguinmon who attacked the Minomon of course."

"They won't have been." Betamon's tone was worried and she knew it wasn't about what she might do. She regarded him thoughtfully.

"You think something's happened to them?" She asked.

"Worse. I think that Athenamon has done something to them. I don't think she'd have tolerated any dissent. I hope I'm wrong." He paused. "But if I'm right they need to know." He indicated the growing number of Dolphmon.

"You're right." She told him softly. "Talk to them. Tell them that and tell them what I told you. Maybe they'll listen. It's worth a try."

"I will…" He said. "But…" Whatever it had been going to say it trailed off uncertainly and looked at her nervously.

"But?" She asked encouragingly.

"Will you let me digivolve?" He asked hopefully. "I think that they'd probably listen better to my Champion Form." Hikari had to force herself not to laugh at the question. Instead she looked at him consideringly.

"Ok." She said finally. "But no funny business."

"Thank you!" It leapt into the water. Michael used his digivice and Betamon digivolved. Hikari looked over at the American boy and raised an eyebrow.

"You're partnered with Seadramon?" She asked in surprise.

"Obviously." He replied. "Thank you." He added as Takeru had Pegasusmon fly down so Michael could climb aboard Seadramon's head.

She watched as they approached the Dolphmon. The dolphin type digimon seemed to be listening to them at least. Once she was certain that they weren't going to attack Seadramon she looked back at Takeru.

"TK-kun." She smiled at him. "I wouldn't have thought that you'd have gone along with this idea."

"I didn't want to see the Dolphmon mangled the way the Saberdramon were." He replied. His tone was cool but he did return her smile albeit in a somewhat strained fashion. "There's no way they'd win if it came to a fight so this seemed like the only way to do it."

"I see. A practical rationalisation if ever I heard one." She said and looked down again. Seadramon and the Dolphmon were still talking.

"I didn't know Seadramon were that bright." Takeru said as he followed her gaze.

"They aren't usually. It's because he's a chosen digimon." She replied absently. "I never heard of a Seadramon partnered with a Chosen… except…" She glanced down at Michael in surprise. "Oh!" A look startled comprehension flickered across her face for a moment. "Now isn't that interesting." She murmured before looking down at the Dolphmon again. "I hope this works."

"Did you have to hit that village quite that hard?" Takeru asked suddenly.

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think so." She replied. "I was very angry. I still am. But that's not why I did it. Hitting them hard now means they won't be in a position to rebel and I won't have to hit them harder later."

He gave her a long, thoughtful look. "I believe you." He said finally. "I just wish I understood what is going on." He told her softly. "I've been told to trust my heart but I'm so confused."

"You'll understand one day." She replied equally softly. "Of all of them you are going to have to understand. Unless you decide you don't want to… and that would be a disaster."

Takeru looked confused by her words and did not reply directly. Instead he looked down at conference occurring beneath them. "I think we should go down." He told her. "Michael's waving for us… or maybe for you."

Sure enough Michael and his partner both looked straight at her when they reached sea level. "They want to talk to you."

She looked over at the Pod leader. "I'm listening. Just don't make any impossible demands."

"I'm sorry about the Minomon. We didn't know." He said. "We understand why you are doing this now but how do we know that we can trust you?"

"Do you have a choice?" She asked. "I don't want to fight you but if it does come down to a battle you can't win. I assume your friends told you that?" She gestured to Michael and Seadramon.

"Yes… and it's true that we don't want to fight if we can avoid it but how do we know that this is true? That you aren't controlling them somehow? We're afraid." He admitted. "And we don't want to leave our nursery in the hands of the da…" He broke off suddenly as he realised that what he had been about to say might offend her. Hikari just chuckled.

"The dark?" She asked. It looked away but didn't reply. "I do understand… but would you rather have your nursery in the hands of Athenamon?"

"That would be… just as bad… or quite possibly worse." He replied thoughtfully. "Yes, I think it would be worse. " By now the pod had grown to be a superpod of over twenty Dolphmon. "But that doesn't tell us how we can know that you really could defeat us?"

"Even if you could win, which you can't, it'd be a pyhrric victory but how can I prove it?" She considered the question. "I'll have to show you." She looked over at Michael who was sitting on his digimon's head. "I'd hold on if I was you." She advised. He gave her a puzzled and slightly alarmed look. She tried to give him a reassuring smile as she let her strange energy flow into his digimon but given the way she became surrounded by a shadowy aura it probably didn't work. There was a splash as he let go in shock as his partner digivolved into WaruSeadramon. "I told you to hold on." She laughed as the Ultimate used his mouth to pick his partner out of the water carefully and placed him on his back. Michael recovered quickly and clambered back up to his digimon's head. His eyes were wide.

"If there's a next time could you be a bit more specific?" He spluttered. "I wasn't expecting him to digivolve."

"Sorry." She said lightly and turned back to the Dolphmon. "Well?" She asked. There was no immediate reply since they were discussing what they'd just seen. Eventually the leader turned back to her. His eyes held a mixture of respect and fear. The other Dolphmon looked just plain terrified.

"You're right." He admitted unhappily. "We can't fight you and win." His tone became pleading. "Please don't hurt our hatchlings."

"If I know they are yours I won't." She said reassuringly. "You can come and check regularly if you wish."

"You'd let us do that?" He asked.

"Of course. I've nothing to hide from you and maybe you'll be able to identify your predigivolutions and eggs so I don't get them mixed up with the others. They are the same kind after all."

"We should be able to help with that. They'll feel slightly different." He agreed and then turned and followed the rest of the Pod back out to sea.

Hikari looked over at Michael and WaruSeadramon. "Thank you!" she called and took back the energy so WaruSeadramon turned back into Seadramon. "Have your Digimon back." She grinned then ordered the Devidramon to carry her back to shore.

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As the two boys headed back to shore Takeru looked down at Michael who was still riding his partner's head.

"What are we going to do about Elliot?" He called over to them. Michael looked thoughtful.

"You were right we can't just come out and say it. I doubt either Mimi or the purple haired girl will believe it if we just come out and say it."

"You're right. We'll have to get him to reveal himself somehow."

"Easier said than done." Michael muttered. "I've been trying for months but he's good at what he does. He always has been."

Takeru was about to ask how he knew that when his dream suddenly rose up in his mind and he couldn't think of anything else. "When we get back to the others." He heard himself say. "Be careful."

He must have sounded odd because Michael gave him a quizzical look. "Any particular reason?"

"My dream… last night… you were in it." Takeru desperately tried to pull his thoughts together. "At one point you were hurt. It looked like you'd been in a fight."

"This is the dream where you saw that black diamond thing?"

"Yes." Takeru nodded. "It was a weird dream."

"Sounds like it… but since you dreamt it before you ever met me I promise I'll be extra careful. But if it really was a premonition it may not do much good." Michael paused. "How do you think the others will react?"

"To your helping Hikari talk down the Dolphmon? I'm not sure." Takeru replied, He was finding it hard to concentrate and shook his head trying to shake the strange disjointed feeling that was creeping over him.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked. He sounded concerned.

"Everything's strange. The world is…. Echoing."

"Echoing?"

"Like Deja vu." He tried to explain. "I feel like I'm seeing everything a few seconds before it happens." He paused. "Something is going to happen. Something important." Takeru didn't know why he said that but he knew it was true. He could feel it in every fibre of his being. He could almost taste it on the wind like an elusive fragrance. "But I don't know what."

"Was that your voice?" Michael said. "You sounded really strange when you said that… hey don't fall off!" That last was because Takeru was so disorientated that he nearly lost his hold on Pegasusmon's neck. "Let's get back to shore as quickly as possible."

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"Who were you riding?" Miyako asked when they reached the others.

"Seadramon." Michael told her.

"It's my champion form." Betamon piped up.

"Huh? How did you… What happened out there? Hikari got back ten minutes ago."

Michael and Takeru looked at each other. "It's… ah… a long story." Takeru said and then proceeded to explain what had happened. When he finished the digidestined were silent for several moments.

"It was the right thing to do." Yamato said finally.

"What!" Miyako shrieked. She could not believe what she was hearing. "How can helping her be the right thing to do?"

"Helping the forces of darkness, even in an apparently noble cause, can lead to no good." Iori agreed. Miyako smiled at her young friend.

"You should have blasted her off the Devidramon." Miyako's eyes blazed. Then she put her hand over her mouth. "No… I did not just say that. I'd be as bad as she is if I did that."

"Worse." Yamato said. "Humans don't get reconfigured."

"Huh?" She looked blank. "Reconfigured? Sora said that earlier when she was babbling on about the nursery."

The older digidestined looked at each other. "You don't know?" Sora asked finally. "Digimon don't really die, except in very rare circumstances, their data just gets reconfigured and they turn back in to digieggs."

"So that's why…" Comprehension entered Miyako's tone. "I see… It was still the wrong thing to do."

"No good will come of it." Iori said again.

"We should get back to the rallying point." Tapirmon interrupted. "Or do you want to put off attacking Athenamon?"

"We may need to rethink our strategy at the very least." Ken said. "Hikari's actions have changed the dynamics of the region. We need a new plan."

"Agreed." Daisuke said. "Let's get back to the base camp and look at the maps again."

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"How did he get his digimon to digivolve?" Ali wondered out loud as they watched Michael and Takeru return. "And what's wrong with Hope? He looks positively shaky on his feet."

"Hurry up and separate them, Elliot." Logan growled. Ali rolled her eyes. She was being ignored again.

"Give him a chance. They've only just got back."

"He's got five minutes."

Ali buried her head in her hands.

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Firebird: I was going to put another scene in this part but I'm having trouble with it. That's why, as Ken noted, it's shorter than the previous two. I wanted to get this out.

Ken: Why are you bashing Miyako? I'm just asking before someone else does.

Firebird: I'm not. What I am doing is playing up her negative character traits for a reason. Bashing is when an author plays up a character's negative traits (or worse creates negative traits out of misperception or thin air) because they don't like said character.

Ken: Don't forget to review.