Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen Warriors ❯ Chapter I: The Masters of Courage ( Chapter 1 )

Sometimes events happen that are beyond our control. Tragedies that cannot be avoided, despite our best attempts: car crashes, fires, gun wounds. Even if these acts are done purposely, with the horrendous intent to harm, it is still a tragedy. When confronted with these acts, certain people often rise above to become heroes. What many of these people have done is truly heroic and memorable, but only a select few are true heroes, born to save and protect. My older brother may only be eighteen, but I can't think of a better or nobler person. We are being hunted, but I know that as long as he is around, we will overcome and triumph. I cannot think of a better person or hero. Well, with the possible exception of Daisuke.

I may have known my brother much longer then Daisuke, but I really know the type of person he is. Whenever we were in trouble, whenever everyone and I hate to admit it, including me, Davis would never admit defeat. He would always find a way to win, to break through, and to overcome his own fears. He was the only who was not affected by Belial Vamdemon's illusions. Even if I ignore my own, personal feelings for him, I still see him the same way, as a hero.

Daisuke and Taichi are heroes in every sense of the word. Sometimes, they even amaze me.

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The ChosenWarriors:

Chapter I:

The Masters of Courage

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When Hikari opened her eyes, she hoped that the events of yesterday had been just a dream, just a simple trick made by her mind during the night. However, when she realized that she was indeed sleeping in a cot, staring up at a simple wooden ceiling, she knew that it was far from a dream. She sighed and lightly shook the body lying next to her. "Noriko…Noriko."

The short haired girl yawned loudly as she opened her own eyes. "Morning already?"

"Yeah," the brown haired girl sighed slightly, "Let's go and see if there's anything for breakfast."

Noriko mentioned to a third cot pressed up against the wall. "Where's Sora?"

Hikari frowned. "My best guess would be that she snuck out in the middle of the night to be with Yamato."

"Oh," the other girl said. They walked out of the tent and into the Koromon village. Noriko could not help but giggle at the sight of the small orange ball-type digimon bouncing and scurrying around in front of them. "They're so cute!"

Hikari smiled at her friend. "I keep forgetting that you really haven't seen as many digimon as we have."

Noriko nodded and her smile faded. "Yeah, Snow Agumon and I spent a lot of time on Earth. We never really traveled into the Digital World."

Hikari frowned. Noriko's mention of her dead digimon partner brought images of Tailmon to her mind. The pain ripped through her heart, but she fought back the tears. Now was not the time to cry, she needed to be strong. Just like her brother.

The two girls arrived at a large circular hut in the center of the two. Upon entering, they found that the other Chosen Children were already sitting around a large wooden table, filled with a variety of food that the girls thought were not only exotic but delicious. The Agumon who was the leader of the village was seated at the front of the table, with Taichi and Daisuke on either side of him. He rose and bowed. "Priestess of Qinglongmon, welcome."

Hikari blushed slightly "Thank you."

The Agumon mentioned to the table. "Please, sit."

She saw that there was an open seat next to Taichi, so she sat next to her brother, while Noriko scooted next to Daisuke. Agumon mentioned to the food on the table. "Please, enjoy."

The Chosen Children began to eat. "Thank you very much for your hospitality," Hikari said.

"It must be really dangerous to even associate with us, huh?" Daisuke asked, grabbing a banana from a bowl of fruit in the center.

Agumon smiled. "It is no problem."

"But aren't you worried about the Digital Hunters?" Taichi asked, "They've only targeted us so far, but how long before they hunt down digimon?"

"They all ready have."

"What?" Yamato gasped.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked.

The Agumon sighed. "We have heard reports of a group of humans capturing and experimenting on digimon."

"So," Takeru said, "They're hunting you too."

"Yes, they are," the Agumon answered, "But, we choose not to live our lives in fear. Besides, you are the Chosen Children. You have saved this world many times, I'm sure you'll do it again."

Taichi crossed his arms. "Yeah, well it's not exactly gonna be easy."

"Ya' know what I think?" Daisuke asked, "I think the only reason the Digital Hunters were able to hunt us down is because everyone else on earth is letting them. I mean, everyone thinks we're the enemy, because they don't understand what it's like to be a Chosen Child."

"Probably," Takeru said, "But what do you suggest we do about it? Wish for everyone to have a digimon partner?"

Hikari gasped. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Taichi asked his sister.

She stood up and made sure that she could see each of her friends seated around the table. "When I was in Qinglongmon's Temple, I read an inscription on the stone walls, an inscription that said that the Priestess of Qinglongmon could read from a special book and be able to do anything! I could make every person on Earth has a digimon partner!"

The others were in silent shock. Finally, Taichi found his voice. "Hikari, I don't know…"

"Come on, Oniichan!" she pleaded, "I just know that if everyone could experience the same feelings, the same joy, that we all feel.." She stopped and corrected herself, "..that we all felt from having a digimon partner…"

"I don't think that's a bad idea," Ken said. He hesitated, then continued, "I think that part of the reason that I became the Digimon Kaiser, was because I ignored the connection I felt between Wormmon and myself. It wasn't until I really, truly remembered how it felt, that I remembered who I really was."

"It might be nice too," Sora said, "Not having to sneak around, hide who we are."

"Yeah," Yamato added, "And if the Chosen were the majority…."

"I'm not disputing it's a good idea," Taichi interrupted, "But I'm not agreeing to anything until I know what its going to do to my sister."

"Hikari," Takeru said, "You said you read this at the temple?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, why don't we just go back there to read the inscription? Maybe we can find out more?"

"That's a good idea," Taichi said, "We'll head up there after breakfast."

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Lord Sentry walked through the halls of one of the Digital Hunter's bases, nodding and giving a quick salute to every soldier he passed by. While he could be an inspirational commander, rallying his troops in the mission of the destruction of the Chosen Children, he was normally an unemotional person, except for anger, which he could display all too well. The Digital Hunters had come to know their leader had two personas: anger and indifference. Neither was particularly pleasurable, so they tried not to speak to him unless necessary. Which was fine to him, he enjoyed the solitude. He never use to be this way, however, he always use to love being the center of attention, simply interacting with other people. That was before.

He could still hear the screams, the screams of the drowning, the dying. He closed his eyes and he could still see the towering dark figure of the sea creature. This oceanic beast swung his white tentacle into the side of the boat. Lord Sentry and the other passengers ran to the other end of the boat to save themselves. They thought for sure that their lives were over, when the sea monster stopped his assault. He turned his attention to two more monsters like himself: one was flying, like an angle, but the other was a large sea mammal with white fur, swimming towards them. The passengers on the boat watched in awe as the sea mammal changed and transformed into a large creature with a spiked shell. This spiked creature slammed his head into the first creature's stomach, causing him to fall into the water. This created a massive wave that slammed into the large boat, capsizing it, everything from the beautiful ceremony, the gorgeous flowers and beautiful cake was destroyed. Lord Sentry reached for the hand of the woman next to his, but it slipped in the torrent. When he finally broke through the surface of the water, the battle had ended. He swam to the shore of the lake with the other survivors. He tried to look for the woman, but when he found her, lying unmoving under the paramedics' white sheet, he knew that he had changed forever. He had changed during that wedding ceremony that was destroyed by Angemon and Zudomon of the Chosen Children during their battle with Marine Devimon. That sea creature would have never appeared on Earth, seeking the mysterious Dark Spore if the Chosen Children did not exist. It was their fault that Marine Devimon attacked his friends and family on his wedding day, however, everyone was able to survive, everyone expect his bride, his wife of all but five minutes had drowned. He survived, he survived, and he would make sure that what happened to him would not happen to anyone else.

"Lord Sentry!"

He was brought out of his memory at the sound of his title being called. He saw Orion and a young woman with long red hair walking towards him. "Orion, Operator," he bowed.

"Sir," she responded.

"Sir," Orion said, "I think I may have an idea for finding out where the Chosen Children are."

"How?"

"I've looked over all our research and I can't find anything that even remotely resembles the Chosen Children transforming into armor. I bet that they got that power in the temple."

Lord Sentry nodded. "Seems very reasonable."

"I think it might be a good idea to check out that place."

"Good idea. Keep me informed."

He nodded. "Yes sir."

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The Chosen Children cautiously opened the double doors to Qinglongmon's temple. "Gennai?" Taichi called, his voice echoing in the temple halls, "Gennai, are you here?" He waiting for a reply but none came. "I guess he left. Come on."

The seven other children followed him into the cathedral-style hall. "Well, Hikari," Daisuke said, "Show us that writing."

The brown-haired girl nodded. "Sure, I think it was over here." She led them to the wall behind the altar. "It was down here." They knelt down and could clearly see that one of the large stone cubes that made the wall had lines of writing on it.

"This is it?" Yamato asked.

Hikari nodded. "Yeah."

Takeru lightly rubbed his chin as he read the lines. "Read and know this, Priestess of Qinglongmon, to make your wishes come true, seek out the Digital Codex and gather the Celestial Warriors of Qinglongmon in the temple of Huanglongmon and read from the holy book. Your greatest desires will be realized."

"That doesn't seem so bad," Sora said, "She just has to read from that book."

Taichi hesitated. "I don't know.."

"Please, Oniichan?" Hikari asked, placing her hands together, "Please?"

Taichi sighed. "Okay."

She grinned and hugged him. "Thanks, Taichi."

"Of course," Ken said, "That brings us to another problem, where is the Digital Codex?"

"Maybe we should just look around this temple some more?" Daisuke said, "I mean, something's gotta be here, right?"

"Maybe we should look in the altar first," Noriko said, "That's where we found our armors and we really didn't get a chance to look the last time."

"That's a good idea," Takeru smiled. Together, the seven warriors lifted the thick marble lid of the altar. Inside they could see the seven circles where their armors once sat. The last time they had to take them quickly as the Digital Hunters were directly outside, so they did not see the rolled strip of paper lying in its one slot. Hikari grabbed it and opened it.

"What does it say?" Sora asked.

Hikari's face broke into a grin. "This is it! This tells us what we want to know!"

"Well, read it," Taichi said.

The brown-haired girl cleared her throat. "Read and know this, Priestess of Qinglongmon, to make your wishes come true, seek out the Digital Codex and gather the Celestial Warriors of Qinglongmon in the temple of Huanglongmon and read from the holy book. Your greatest desires will be realized…"

"But we already heard this part," Daisuke said. Taichi stared at him, and he was instantly silent.

Hikari continued. "To locate the Digital Codex, journey to the Mountains of Gold, and seek out the stone goddess that watches over the land. The power of the sun and the moon shall light the way. In order to enter the temple of Huanglongmon, you must gather the Digital Cores of the four Holy Beasts: Zhuqioamon, Baihumon, Xuwanamon, and Qinglongmon, as well as well as a key that is hidden in each of the four areas. The protective seal around Huanglongmon's temple will vanish, allowing you to enter….Well, the rest just tells us about the Holy Beasts and the locations of the key temples."

"I thought we were in Qinglongmon's temple," Yamato said.

"Well, this is my temple, the main temple, that belongs to the Priestess of Qinglongmon. There should be another temple in this area that has one of the keys to Huanglongmon."

"That seems really easy," Ken frowned.

"It doesn't matter," Taichi said, "If that's what we have to do, then that's what we're going to do. If Hikari wants to wish that everyone on earth has a digimon partner, then I'll do everything I can to help her." He shook his head, "I really can't order the rest of you to do this, but…"

"I'm with you," Daisuke said.

"Sora and I are in," Yamato said.

"Don't forget about me," Takeru added.

"And me," Noriko said.

"Me too," Ken nodded.

"Great," Taichi smiled, "Where should we start first?"

Hikari looked at the scroll in her hands. "Well, we're currently in Qinglongmon's section of the Digital World, so maybe we should activate those temples before trying to get the Digital Cores from the other Holy Beasts."

"Sounds good for me," Taichi nodded. "Okay, let's head out."

They walked out of the double doors and stopped short. They stared in horror at the Digital Hunters, standing at attention. "Oh no," Hikari gasped.

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Nimrod groaned loudly as he climbed the path up to Qinglongmon's temple. "Why do I have to be stuck on this stupid research assignment? I'm a fighter, not a scientist!"

The young woman walking alongside him groaned. "I know, I know! You've been saying it since Lord Sentry found us, since basic training, since we got our cybernetic enhancements and since we planned our first attack! I'm getting tired of hearing it!"

Nimrod glared at her. "Do you have a problem with me, Artemis?"

"Just your attitude," she glared at him, "You're gonna have to learn that there's more to this then simply fighting! We need to learn about our enemy."

He gave a small laugh and turned his head back towards the temple. "You can keep your beakers and nerdy textbooks; I'd rather rip an opponent apart and see what's inside."

The other Digital Hunter shook her head in annoyance before mentioning in front of her. "Here's the temple, I presume?"

"Yeah, this is it," he frowned, "This is where those Chosen brats defeated me!"

Artemis started laughing. "A couple of kids beat you? Ha!"

He glared at her. "Shut up now, or I'm going to shut you up!"

She continued laughing and he charged towards her. She suddenly stopped and lightly tapped her eyepiece. "I'm reading bio-energy from inside."

"What?"

She nodded. "Yeah, eight of them, approximately 14-16 years of age."

Nimrod grinned. "The Chosen Children. Excellent."

Artemis mentioned to the trees surrounding the temple. "We should hide and ambush them when they come out."

"Forget it!" Nimrod shouted, "I don't hide and cower!" He grinned, "But, I occasionally learn from my mistakes. We won't tell them we're here, then when they come out, we'll get them!"

Artemis sighed. "You're going to get yourself killed one of these days, you know?"

He just smirked. He heard the door creak and he grinned. "Here they come." He stared straight forward as the doors opened and the Chosen Children appeared. "Hello."

"Oh no," Hikari gasped. Taichi instantly stepped in front of her.

"What do you want?" Daisuke asked.

Nimrod grinned. "Guess."

He sighed. "All right, stupid question, but we're not going down without a fight."

Nimrod crossed his arms. "You might have beaten me last time, but I've got reinforcements." He mentioned to Artemis. "She might be more of an nerd, but I'm sure she can kick your butts."

Daisuke frowned. "Hey, was that a…?"

"Quiet!" Taichi ordered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sphere. "Ready?"

The others held up their own spheres. Taichi grinned. "Great. Evolve!" The orange sphere that he held in his hand exploded, covering his body with a red armor. The other Chosen Children were soon covered by their own armor, each in their own color: Daisuke in gold, Yamato in blue, Sora in red, Takeru in yellow, Noriko in black, and Ken in green. Taichi, Yamato, and Sora ran to fight Nimrod, while Daisuke, Ken, Takeru and Noriko fought Artemis.

Unfortunately, they did not last long. Nimrod made his wrist-based blades shoot out from his metal gauntlets. Taichi tried to punch him in the stomach, but he twisted around, making Yagami fall off balance. Yamato attempted to attack him from behind, but Nimrod spun around, slicing Yamato's stomach.

"Yamato!" Sora shouted, running to his aide. This left her wide open for an attack by Nimrod's wrist launcher. Both armors glowed brightly, then vanished, leaving Yamato and Sora as they were before.

"Yamato!" Takeru shouted, "Are you okay?"

"You should worry about yourself," Artemis laughed. She used one of her daggers to slash his stomach, just as Nimrod did to Yamato. Noriko and Ken ran to his aide, but they were quickly disposed of as well. All three glowed the colors of their armor, then returned to their normal selves.

"What happened?" Hikari gasped.

"Best guess," Ken said, struggling to stand, "Our bodies aren't used to this kind of stress. We did it yesterday, but we must still be recovering. We need to get use to it before we have enough energy to keep doing it."

"Just like our digimon," Takeru said.

"And now only Taichi and Daisuke are left," Sora said, "Why only them?"

Taichi ducked to avoid having his head cut off by Nimrod's blade. "Who cares? Look, just get out of here!"

"What?" Takeru gasped.

"Run, get out!"

"But we can't leave you!" Hikari shouted.

"Go!" Taichi shouted, "You can't fight, Daisuke and I are the only ones who can! Run!"

"Taichi's right," Daisuke said, "Go! We'll handle these guys ourselves!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Hikari shouted.

"Get her out of here, Yamato!" Taichi shouted, ducking another punch from Nimrod, "Now!"

Yamato nodded, lightly placing his hands on Hikari's shoulder. "Come on."

She glared at him. "I'm not leaving my brother!"

"Hikari, please!" Taichi shouted, dodging attacks from Nimrod.

"Just go," Daisuke said, dropping to the ground to avoid Artemis's attack, "Please!"

Taichi turned to give his sister another order, but this left his back wide open for Nimrod. The Digital Hunter took his chance and punched the back of Taichi's head with all his might. He stumbled forward, and fall onto the ground.

"Taichi!" Hikari screamed.

"Taichi," Daisuke shouted, "Get up!" Once again, he did not watch his own battle, and Artemis was able to execute a roundhouse, sending her foot into Daisuke's face and he was thrown to the ground as well.

"Oh no, Daisuke!" Ken shouted.

"Daisuke, Taichi," Hikari shouted, almost sobbing, "Get up, please!"

"It's no use shouting," Nimrod chuckled, walking over and towering over the fallen Taichi, "They'll both be dead soon."

"No!" Hikari shouted, "Taichi, Daisuke! Get up, GET UP!"

Suddenly, both Taichi and Daisuke's armored body began to glow in the same manner as the other's. However, their armor did not fade and vanish as the others did, but something else entirely. The armor began to crack and it soon completely shattered. In place of the fallen Taichi and Daisuke stood two new but familiar figures. They stared at one another in shock.

"Taichi, is that you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. What just happened, and what am I wearing?" He looked down at his body, which no longer had armor covering it, but an orange gi.

"What about me?" Daisuke asked, mentioning to his outfit of blue short, stripped short sleeve shirt and a red bandana in his hair. He was no holding a long metal blade, which he held by means of a handle in the center.

"You look like a character in a video game I played," Taichi said. Suddenly, realization dawned on his face, "Holy crap!" He looked down at himself again, "I don't believe this!"

"What?"

"You're Serge from Chrono Cross, and I'm Goku from Dragonball Z!" He grinned as he looked himself over, "I don't believe it, I'm really Goku! This is pretty cool!"

"Just because you turned into him doesn't mean anything!" Daisuke said. He held up his two-sided sword, "I think I can do a lot of damage with this."

Taichi had intended to give another reply, but could not as Nimrod came running at him with his sword blades out. Taichi jumped to the side to avoid the attack. "Hey!"

"You turned your back on me, remember?" Nimrod grinned, "And I don't take time outs!"

Daisuke turned to stare at Artemis. The Digital Hunter shrugged. "I don't either, but I'm not as rude as him." She pointed her long daggers at him, "If you're ready to continue."

He grinned as he held out his long blade, "Sure, why not?"

The female Digital Hunter charged at him, swinging her daggers at his chest. Daisuke swung his new sword in a circle, easily knocking the daggers out of her hands. He stared at the sword in amazement. "Wow, I can use this? Let's see." He began his assault on Artemis by jabbing her in the stomach with the pointed edge of his sword, then slicing downward before spinning around and hitting her with both ends of the sword. The female Digital Hunter stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground.

Nimrod either did not notice or did not care that Artemis had been defeated. He was too busy fighting Taichi, who now had the power of Goku. The Digital Hunter charged at Taichi with his sword blades extended. The Chosen Warrior's agility had been greatly increased, and he was able to dodge Nimrod's attack with simple ease. He then went on the offensive and assaulted the Digital Hunter with a barrage of punches at lighting speed. Nimrod stumbled backwards. "You're dead, do you hear me?" he screamed, charging at Taichi with his blades out, "I'll rip out your heart and shove it down your dying mouth!"

Taichi was about to roll out of the way when he remembered one of Goku's abilities. He jumped into the air and hovered over Nimrod's head. "I can fly!" he grinned, "I can fly! I'm really flying! I can't believe it! This is so cool!"

"You're mocking me!" Nimrod screamed with rage, "Get down here and fight me!"

"I don't need to go down there," Taichi grinned, "I can take you out from up here." He put both of his hands together, pointing his open palms at the Digital Hunter. A small ball of energy formed in the cup of his hands as Taichi called out a familiar attack, "Kamehameha!" The ball of energy transformed into a glowing beam that slammed into Nimrod, knocking him into Artemis, and rolling both of them down the mountain. Taichi slowly landed on the ground and landed next to Daisuke. Both of them glowed the color of their armor, then changed back to their normal selves.

"Taichi!" Hikari cried, running over and hugging him, "You were amazing!" She turned to Daisuke and blushed slightly, "You were pretty amazing too."

The younger goggle-boy chuckled slightly as he scratched his head. "Heh, heh, yeah."

"But how did you do that?" Takeru asked.

"It had to be the armor," Ken said, "I guess it changes you into characters from television shows of video games. Pretty interesting if you ask me."

"I wonder who I'll become," Yamato asked.

Daisuke looked at the path of flattened grass and overturned trees that the two Digital Hunters caused by falling down the mountain. "I think we should get out of here before they get back."

"He's right," Taichi said, "Hikari, got that scroll?"

She held the rolled-up paper so her brother could see. "Right here."

The Chosen leader nodded. "Great. Let's get out of here."

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High above the Digital World, in a holy realm of magic and power, the four guardians watched the events occurring in their world through a large viewing glass. Each of the four Holy Beasts stood in their own area: Zuqioamon to the south, Xuwanamon to the north, Baihumon to the west and Qinglongmon to the east. These last two guardians were opposing each other in another way then simply their own directional areas.

Baihumon stared at Qinglongmon. "So, now your Chosen Warriors are going to attempt to give a digimon partner to every human on earth?"

"Yes," the dragon nodded, "What of it?"

"I can't believe you can be so blind!" the tiger shouted, "Those humans, those 'Digital Hunters," are not the only ones on Earth to believe that way! There are hundreds, nay, thousands of humans who would kill a digimon, worse, a Chosen Child! Humans would hunt down and kill humans because of their connection to the Digital World! How long before the humans invaded the Digital World, and make it their own? How long?"

"Not everyone believes that," Qinglongmon replied, "My warriors want to find a peaceful solution to this problem. If everyone is a Chosen, then perhaps they would understand."

"Bah!" the tiger shouted, "I will ask you this only once, will you change your views and order your priestess to abandon her quest?"

The dragon stared him straight in his eyes. "I will not."

Baihumon growled. "Very well. Then I will create my own group of warriors, to stand against you." He turned to the giant golden dragon hovering above them. "Great Huanglongmon, God of Gods, do I have your permission?"

The gold dragon stared down at the other two guardians. "Xuwanamon, Zhuqioamon, do you have any opposition?"

"Nay, I do not," Xuwanamon said, "I do not believe strongly in either side. I will not interfere."

Huanglongmon turned to the giant phoenix? "Do you, Zhuqioamon?"

The bird shook his beak. "No, I do not. I do not wish to get involved with this, but would rather focus on protecting my own section of the Digital World. Let the humans destroy each other."

"Very well." Huanglongmon said, "Go, create your own team. Qinglongmon, Baihumon, I wish you both success."

The tiger guardian stared at the dragon before turning around and disappearing into the darkness. Qinglongmon sighed. "Hikari, Taichi, Daisuke, Sora, Yamato, Ken, Noriko, your greatest challenge may yet lie ahead. I pray that you will succeed."

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My friends and I have decided on our course of action and we have found the way to do it. It's going to be a long road and hard road ahead of us, but the reward at the end will hopefully be a world where everyone will have a friend, a partner to stand by them forever. I know it's hard, but we can do it. As long as Daisuke, Taichi and the others are with me, I know we'll succeed.