Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The War to End All Wars ❯ The Characters ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The next morning, Takeru was still bothered by the intrusion. He didn't even notice it when Kari sat down next to him.
"It wasn't your fault TK." She tried to assure him.
He shook his head. "But it was. I should have been on my guard. I should have seen something like this was coming, with the wedding coming up and all."
"No one could have seen this coming."
"I could have, and should have." He replied stubbornly.
"What did they take?" The princess asked, trying to take TK's mind off of his failure.
"Mostly gold items, such as rings, candlesticks, saucers, and just plain gold. They also took two tapestries."
"How could they take two tapestries?" Kari asked incredulously.
"We guessed that one handed them off to the man on the wall. Thieves will take anything they can get their hands on."
"What about that one you captured?"
"Your brother, Ambassador Izumi, and myself are going to interrogate him soon."
"Why Ambassador Izumi?"
"I do not know. That was your brother's decision." There was a short silence, as both didn't know what to say.
Kari was the one who broke the silence. "Are you going to compete in the festival games?"
"Probably not. I'll just stay with the Royal Family." Just as the words left his mouth, he looked up and spotted Taichi and Izumi coming down the stairs. Taichi gave him a curt nod. TK was immediately out of his chair, Kari forgotten. Kari sighed. He was always like that. Well, she had better find out what she was going to wear this afternoon.


They walked down into the lower parts of the castle, guards coming to attention as they went. They came to the first gate, the guard there jumping to open it. They walked a little while longer, going down another flight of stairs. They came to another guard station. The guard didn't even have to ask who they were going to see. He simply gave them the key to the intruder's cell. Ken Ichijoji was leaning against the back wall when the door was opened. He briefly glanced up.
"Can I do something for you?"
"Yes. Who else was with you last night?" Tai asked without preamble.
Ken gave a bark of laugh. "You expect me to tell you?"
"Either that or you will sit in here until hell takes over." Tai replied, crossing his arms.
Ken's eyes clouded over. "That may be sooner then you think." TK and Tai exchanged glances.
"Was that a threat?" TK asked.
Ken shook his head, looking into TK's eyes. "Only a warning."
"Tell me, what were your friends doing last night?" Izumi asked, taking over the interrogation. He bent his knees and went down to Ken's eye level.
"Isn't that obvious by now? We were stealing. Even citizens of Fere should have figured that out."
"Then let's ask a different question. Why were you stealing?" TK couldn't help but be annoyed at the question. They were greedy thieves of course! Why else would somebody steal.
Tai obviously felt the same. "They are thieves, what other explanation do you need?"
"There are many different reasons, besides greed, to steal. This may have been one of those instances, but I am not sure. He has worked hard to kill all traces of accent in his voice, but I can still hear the story they tell. It tells me he is from Zeai." Izumi spat the word. He glanced over at the other two. "What does that suggest to you?"
"They could have been spying." TK suggested instantly.
"And stealing just to cover up that fact." Tai added.
Izumi nodded grimly. "Perhaps that is the hell that is taking over. Tell me, will your friends return?" Izumi asked, turning his attention back to Ken. Ken glanced up.
"They are Zeai, does that answer your question?"
"It does. It tells me you would leave one of your own kind to rot in prison. They will not come back for him." Izumi stated confidently.


At that moment, a small boy riding a pony was approaching the main gate. It appeared they had ridden a long way, if the foam on the pony's mouth was any indication. A guard came out of the small house that stood to one side of the gate.
"What's your name?"
The boy wilted under the guard's gaze. "Cody Hida, sir."
"Where are you from?"
"I came from Edom." The boy replied fearfully.
"Well, go along with you then." The guard waved his hand, apparently pleased at himself for scaring a kid. However, as soon as Cody was past eyeshot, he straightened up, disgusted. He never liked playing the scared little kid. But if it was the only way to get in with as little trouble as possible, so be it.
He leaned down to the pony's ears. "You like acting almost as much as me, right?" The pony nodded in answer. He smiled.
He, of course, wasn't really from Edom. But no simple guard would pick that up. Besides, if he need someone to believe that, he could just put on the accent and walk of the people of Edom. It was a requirement that you have all accents mastered, as well as walks, if you were in the business he was. It was the same thing for everybody that was with him. A sudden thought struck him, and he frowned at the thought of the action he was missing at Helan.



Lord-General Daisuke Motamiya urged his horse to go faster, as he saw another potential target. He brought his sword down on another Helan soldier. The soldier was running towards the city, his back making a perfect target. Davis brought his sword down, slicing through the meager armor he was wearing, through his clothes, through his skin, and down to his backbone. The man jerked and fell as Davis pulled his sword out of the man's back. He glanced up, just in time to see a second soldier turn toward him, intending to knock him off his horse. Davis, however, brought his sword up and around, slicing through the man's neck and jugular. The blood spat onto Davis's already bloody uniform. Some of the blood was his, most was his enemies. This was what he lived for. His life threatened every second, enemies all around, and he and his men were tearing through them. The Thern army had been met with victory after victory, with only small setbacks. Of course, his colleagues didn't see them as minor setbacks.
He pushed all political thoughts out of his head as he saw several of his men trapped. He spurred his horse toward them, running down another soldier as he went. A soldier, Garh, this time, picked up a spear and planned to run Davis through. His spear would have gone straight through Davis's stomach, had Davis remained on the horse. As it was, he jumped off the other side, doing a flip as he did. He landed with his sword out. Without any hesitation, he swept the sword around, knocking the feet out from under the soldier. As he ran toward his men, he finished the soldier off. One of his men saw him coming and pushed the enemy toward Davis. Two men appeared to block the general's path. The general ducked under one sword and caught the man full in the stomach. He slid his sword out of the man as the second one tried to cut Davis's head off. Davis tilted his head enough for the blade only to take a little skin off his cheek. A wide margin in this business. Even as the blade continued downward, the soldier knew it was a fatal mistake. Davis twirled and thrust the sword through the man's back. He glanced over at his men and pulled the sword out. The man that had pushed the enemy toward Davis did so again. Davis dispatched those two quickly. They then turned to the others. Another of his soldiers saw him.
"It's Daisuke!" He cried out. Everyone within hearing distance turned. The tide of the battle within a battle swiftly turned. Soon, the enemy soldiers were beaten off. Davis breathed heavily as he glanced around. It seemed another battle was won. They had been the last ones fighting.
"Lalt! You wounded?" Davis asked his second-in-command. He was the one that had pushed the soldiers towards Davis.
"Just fine sir. Although I may have a splinter or two in my shoulder." The commander replied, indicating he had been hit by an arrow.
"Go get that bandaged up. And I will want a report of how many we lost."
"Yes sir." Lalt saluted and turned to tend to the other men. The sounds of hooves behind him brought him around.
"Sir, King Polarth wants to meet with you in his tent." The messenger relayed the message, getting off the horse.
"Very well." Davis sighed as he mounted the horse. "Oh, and find my horse." He ordered. The messenger nodded as Davis rode off. When he arrived at the tent, he already saw most of the other generals and lords gathered. He also noticed, with a chill, that Sorcereress Yolei Inoue was standing to one side. He hated Druids.
"I tell you, these rogue brigands are breaking our supply lines!" One lord raged.
"They are nothing more then mere flies stealing food. The supplies they take are of no consequence." Another general replied calmly.
King Polarth rose from his seat. "No consequence? Have you not seen the last report, Gifar? They stole a whole shipment of gold that I was going to use to hire spies! Spies that would have been used to find out Helan's weaknesses, and use it against them!"
"My king, there is a question of how many rogues there are." One of the more sensible lords announced. "There could be only one, with several men working out from that one. Or, there could be too many for one trap to capture."
"I have spies that assure me that it is one band of renegades. We must find out what trap to lay."
"Sir, you called me here?" Davis asked, breaking the conversation and approaching Polarth. Polarth was in his mid-twenties, a young king by all accounts. Polarth got his name partly from his eyes, which were as cold as the polar ice caps.
"Yes. I wanted your advice on what to do with these renegades."
Davis frowned. "I am at my best on the battlefield, and planning battles. Such treachery as traps are best left up to her kind," here, he nodded over at Yolei, "which deceit and treachery runs through."
"You say deceit and treachery runs through my kind, Lord Davis. But you must know that a war is not won through brute strength on the battlefield."
"Yes, I know it is not won by that. It is won by planning, and execution of that plan on the battlefield. If your enemy comes up with a better move, you must use cunning, not deceit, cunning, to win." Davis shot back quickly.
Yolei opened her mouth, but Polarth silenced her. "Quiet! Both of you! You each do your jobs excellently, and that is more then I ask. Back to the matter at hand, what kind of trap should we use?"
A general stepped forward. "King, only one person can come up with a plan like that. But Lord Hida is not here. May I inquire about his whereabouts?"
"No you may not!" Polarth thundered. Davis briefly wondered why Polarth tensed at the mention of Cody Hida. He must be working on something that could win the war. "Now, all of you, out. Except for you, Davis." The king ordered. The others obeyed him. "You have no plan to give in this matter?"
"As I said before, I am at my best on the battlefield. The king knows this, and so I would not think he would bring me here to discuss something that is not my forte."
The king chuckled. "You are right Davis. That is not why I called you here. I called you here to question you on our supplies. How well stocked are we?"
Davis formed his answer before he spoke. "If we were somehow surrounded, with no way for other supplies to reach us, we would be able to hold for a very long period of time."
"Good, good. And how about our men? Would they be able to take on another army?"
"I don't know sir. We are already fighting two armies now. Granted, we are winning, but taking on another army, we would probably be matched."
"That is exactly what I wanted to hear, Lord Davis. I have numerous reinforcements on their way."
"It would be even tougher, since this third army has not been in the war at all, and therefore not weakened any."
"That is just fine, General."
"Would this third army belong to Fere?" Davis asked.
"That is not your concern! Now get back out on the battlefield, to where your concern should be!" Polarth snapped. Davis straightened, turned, and walked out. Polarth chuckled again at the insolence of Davis. He hadn't bowed when he came in, or when he went out. He probably would have had a less competent general executed. But Davis was too valuable for that.
But now, he turned his attention back to his latest brain project. The infiltration, and invasion, of Fere.




Sora sat, watching the games take place on a field in front of them. To her left was Taichi, and to her right was her family. TK stood behind her, and a little to her left, standing almost directly in between her and Taichi, but behind them. As usual, the men watched the sword fights with interest, while the girls talked about something else. Sora glanced at the crowd, milling around. Laughter rung out almost every second, as jesters and acrobats entertained the small children. She was about to turn to Taichi to ask him something, when her eyes fell upon a small boy. He didn't look like he was even TK's age, much less her own. The boy was looking directly at her, his brown eyes staring intensely. Then, he broke the spell by looking away, and immediately Sora lost him in the crowd. She almost stood up, so surprised that she had lost him.
Taichi looked over at her. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "I was just looking for someone." Tai shrugged and looked back over at the swordplay. Sora wasn't interested in it, until she saw the same child approach the field. She straightened to make sure it was the same one. It was. Tai noticed her interest, but shrugged it off, considering it was because he was so young. But it would be his turn to show interest as the child started to fight. Not because he was beating all comers, which he was, but because his fighting style mimicked the intruder he had fought last night. As more opponents came, and left, Tai noticed more and more similarities in the small boy in front of him and the intruder last night. Surprisingly, he beat everyone who challenged him. Tai's father stood and called the boy. The boy knelt in front of him.
"What is your name?"
"Cody Hida, King."
"Well, Sir Hida, you have beaten all comers."
"Please sire, I was never dubbed knight."
"Well, you should have been. You fought better then many of my knights."
"I do not know about that, King Kamiya."
"I do. Many of those whom you defeated were my knights."
Cody looked back at the field in surprise. "I was fighting knights?"
"Fighting and defeating knights, actually. Your reward for showing amazing skill in swordsmanship, you will be able to pick a weapon from my personal stock." There were gasps from all around. No one had known what the prize was, but they all knew it would be good. Someone not of royal blood, being able to pick a weapon from a king's private armory, that was almost unheard of. "You will also sit with the Royal Family tonight during the feast." Cody's mouth fell open. "Now come, sit here." The king beckoned to his side, an empty chair that was beside Taichi. Cody sat down.
"Where are you from?" Tai asked.
"I am from Terla. I came to see my princess get married." Cody replied. Tai nodded, returning his attention to the other festivities going. Perhaps he would be able to catch the intruders last night after all.



Yamato Ishida finished tuning his instrument, and looked around at his group of musicians. There were about fifteen or so, with around five girls. Every single one of them was an excellent musician and, incidentally, an excellent warrior. Matt looked for one person. The person he most trusted.
"Willis! Come here!" Willis turned and ran toward his leader.
"Yes?"
"Is everybody ready? We don't want to mess up in front of the royal families of both Fere and Terla."
"Everyone's ready. You do know we'll have to leave our weapons at the door to the banquet hall." Willis informed him, obviously unhappy of the order.
"That's just fine. You'll stay with them." Matt replied.
Willis smiled, pleased by the thought. "I can handle that."
"But please don't get in a fight with any of them. We don't want to make trouble." Mimi Tachikawa pleaded. She was Matt's singer.
"Don't worry Mimi. That only happened a couple of times. So who is going to play flute?"
"Elessar can handle that. Elessar! You're playing flute!" Elessar turned and nodded. Elessar was another one that Matt trusted completely.
A paige came running up to them. "King Kamiya requests your presence."
"Well, we don't turn down a request like that, now do we?" Matt asked, turning to his team. He looked at one person. "Michael! Make sure you don't break a string on that bodhra like you did last time! We want to look best for the royal families."