This chapter, contrary to what I've said about this book so far, is light on action, but it does give the reader the opportunity to hear more of the legend which drives this story. An alternate version of the story that Mechmon briefly touched on. After the Digidestined meet up with their old friends, Dokugumon, Birdramon and Tuskmon, Dokugumon is able to recount the legend. She remembers it even though she really doesn't, as if her memories of the legend come from another source. This is a clue to something, but honestly there are, like, no other clues, so I don't expect anyone to get it.
Chapter Four
Reunited with Old Friends
We continued our journey to the desert region. We soon came to Digital Bridge, leading off into the Oasis Demi-Region. We crossed the bridge, into the lush trees, and followed the river upstream.
After walking for awhile Sarah, now out of breath, said, “Wow, this Demi-Region seems a lot less ‘demi’ when you don’t have a raft to ride on.”
“It’s really hot in this area too,” said Jen, “and we have a ways to go.”
I was feeling pretty tired myself, so I decided that it was time to stop for a rest. We quickly finished off the water, so I walked to the river to refill the water bottles. I filled two of the three bottles, turned around to pick up the third, and found myself face to face with a massive green beast with huge curved horns. I recognized him at once, “Hey, Tuskmon! Buddy!”
Tuskmon blinked, looking surprised, “Hey, John the Human. I didn’t expect to see you here. What ya been up to?”
“Not much,” I replied casually. “Just more of the usual. How about you?”
“Same here.”
Tuskmon stepped up beside me and drank from the river. As he did, I took the chance to fill the last of the water bottles. When the two of us were finished we walked together back into the thick of the forest.
“Your friends are up ahead?” Tuskmon asked.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“That’s pretty close to where Dokugamon and Birdramon were waiting. Maybe they met up with each other.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I replied, thinking how cool that would be.
We stepped through the trees, and sure enough my friends were waiting for me along with the giant fire bird Digimon, Birdramon, and the giant poison spider Dokugumon. They were busy telling my friends a story. As usual, the sight of Dokugumon gave me a shiver, as I'm fairly arachnophobic.
“And now, with Manipulamon gone, this world’s Digimon are beginning to come out of hiding and return to their natural habitats,” said Birdramon. “And it’s all thanks to you humans.”
"But now," Dokugamon added, "something strange seems to be happening again. Birdramon saw large storms in the distance, near the ocean. We are on our way to investigate."
"There's no need for that," I said from my place at the edge of the clearing.
“Hey John!” said Jen when she saw me standing there. “Look what we found!”
“Yeah,” I said, as Tuskmon emerged from the trees behind me, “I found one too.”
“So what’s going on?” Dokugumon asked. “I expected you to have returned home to your world by now, but here you are, and with another human as well.”
The smile that I’d been wearing disappeared. I took a deep breath, “Sorry guys, but we have bad news.”
We circled up and sat down like old times, and I told Dokugumon, Birdramon, and Tuskmon all about Tyranterramon and what we suspected was his plan.
After hearing the story that my team and I had to tell Dokugumon looked up at the sky, as if collecting her thoughts. We gave her our full attention. She looked at us and said, “There’s a story of a Digimon from ancient times who behaved in a similar fashion to Tyranterramon, even though I’m not really sure where I heard it. But I remember it.”
“I know this story,” said Mechmon. “The story of a Digimon who was able to use the cores and even sought them out.”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Dokugumon. “That story is a fairy tail. It’s similar to the story I have to tell, but not the same. The story I’m talking about is the story of the Tyrant and the Five Regions’ Guardians.”
“The Five Regions’ Guardians,” said Mechmon. “You mean the Digimon that the ancient Sovereign assigned to guard the cores?”
Dokugumon nodded her creepy spider head, and I struggled not to inch away.
“Okay,” I said instead, “you two have lost me now.”
“The Guardians,” Dokugumon explained, “were a group of Child Digimon of great integrity and potential power, one or two per region, who were chosen by this world’s Sovereign centuries ago in old time, long before the time in this world slowed to match time in your world. These Digimon were given portions of the Sovereign's data, helping them to develop almost instantly. Some of them DNA Digivolved together and others Digivolved naturally until they were six Ultimate Level Digimon: one for the Desert, one for the mountains and the volcano, two for the forest, one for the ocean, and one for the final core, said to be the most important and well hidden of all. The Sovereign chose them because he was incapable of protecting every core at once, but in Digivolving these Digimon the Sovereign weakened himself so that he only had his full power when the Guardians came together.
“Then came the Tyrant. He first attempted to seize the power of the cores when he was freshly Digivolved and still weak in his form. He attacked the Volcano Guardian, Phoenixmon, the only Guardian whose name is still widely known today. The Tyrant was defeated without much trouble. Afterward he disappeared, training to become more powerful. He challenged the Guardians years later, but they summoned the Sovereign, known as the Great Protector. The Protector supposedly sealed the Tyrant away beneath the fabric of another world. He was hoping that the Tyrant could be rehabilitated. I'm not sure why. He assumed that he would be around if and when the Tyrant returned, but he was wrong. There was an imbalance in the equation governing his matrix, and he degraded. He is long gone now.”
“You said that this Protector sealed the Tyrant away in another world?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” said Dokugumon, “why?”
“Because,” I answered, “Tyranterramon didn’t emerge here in the Digital World. He emerged in the real world.”
“So the Tyrant is Tyranterramon?” Kris asked.
“It would seem so,” said Dokugumon. “If he is then we could be in trouble. The Protector is no more, and most if not all of the Guardians are long gone as well, and any who are still living are hidden away, no longer involving themselves in the events of the world at large. If this Tyranterramon really is the Digimon Tyrant from the story, then there isn’t a single Digimon alive who can match his power.”
“Even so,” I said, “I don’t think anyone here would disagree that we have to try.”
We began our journey again soon after, now with three more in tow. Dokugumon, Tuskmon and Birdramon agreed to carry us, so we were through the Oasis Demi-Region and into the Desert Region in under half an hour. But as we entered the Desert we immediately realized that we didn’t have any idea where to go from there.
“So we’re here,” said Sarah. “Now what?”
“My calculator seems to think that we’ll be able to detect the core with our Digivices,” said Jeremy, “but only at extremely close range. We’ll have to scan the entire desert yard by yard.”
“Wow,” said Sarah sarcastically, “that sure sounds like fun.”
“Don’t worry,” said Tuskmon, “we’ll carry you. It should take no time it all if we break into teams. Compared to the other regions, the Desert Region is quite small.”
“That works for me,” I said, “but where do we start?”
“Well,” said Mechmon, “it never hurts to start a search from a fixed point.”
I smiled, “I’ve got just the one.” I started walking, “Here we go, to Desert Tower!”
As we made our way to the tower I looked at the Digicomp’s map of the Desert Region. It was long and thin, with the Desert Tower near one end. If we were to split the region into three sections we could cover the entire area in less than an hour.
I split our group into three teams: me, Sarah, our Digimon, and Tuskmon, Jen, Kris, their Digimon, and Dokugumon, and Jeremy, Amanda, their Digimon, and Birdramon.
I turned to my team. “Now let’s get going,” I said. I assigned each team a section on the map, and we were on our way.
Each team scoured their areas, keeping tabs over the Digivice communicators, until we were all nearly done. There was just one problem. Sarah and I weren’t able to finish our area. We’d left our water back at the Tower with our packs, and we’d had to turn back about half way through.
“I can’t believe we did this,” said Sarah, chastising herself and staring daggers at me, “we’re holding up the entire team.”
I was about to reply when my Digivice beeped. Jeremy was trying to get in touch with us. “We’re finished with our section,” he said, speaking over the audio communicator built into each of the small devices. “Even having to skim the ground, a flying Digimon like Birdramon is faster than a land Digimon. No sign of the core in this section”
“Okay,” I said. “On your way back can you check the last half of mine and Sarah’s area?”
“Already on it,” he said. “I’d already planned to after you said that you had to turn back.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem.”
It was about fifteen minutes later when we received a message from Jen. “We’re on our way back,” she said. “No sign of the core.”
“That’s weird,” said Sarah, taking a swig from the water bottle and leaning back against the cold stone of the shady side of the Desert Tower. “The core must be in the last stretch of our section then.”
“I guess so,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure. Call me a pessimist.
Another ten minutes later Jeremy called again. “We’re well past half way,” he said. “Nothing.”
I only nodded as Jeremy continued, “We can get some altitude now, so we should be there any minute. Any word from Jen?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You need to get back here.”
Jeremy’s team landed about three minutes later. “What’s up?” he asked.
“No one found any sign of the core,” I replied.
“But that’s not possible,” said Tuskmon. “Even centuries after the deaths of the Guardians the Digimon of this world know at least the general locations of the cores. The Desert Core is here, in the Desert Region.”
“There has to be somewhere that we haven’t looked,” said BlackColtmon.
And that’s when it hit me.
“Did anyone bother to scan the Tower?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jeremy answered.
I aimed my Digivice at the Desert Tower, “What if all this time the core’s been right here under our noses, but we never thought to look.” As I spoke the Digivice chimed brightly. “Bingo! I’m reading a core signature beneath the tower!”
“We found it,” said Serpentmon, looking away from the rest of the group, at the horizon, “and just in time, because we have company.”
I followed my Digimon’s gaze and I saw it. A massive humanoid figure was just coming into view.
We were out of time, and we hadn’t even had a chance to come up with even the simplest plan to prevent Tyranterramon from gaining possession of the core. There was only one thing left to do.
“Alright boys and girls,” I said, turning to face the oncoming foe, “we make our last stand here!”
Next Chapter >>
“Hey John!” said Jen when she saw me standing there. “Look what we found!”
“Yeah,” I said, as Tuskmon emerged from the trees behind me, “I found one too.”
“So what’s going on?” Dokugumon asked. “I expected you to have returned home to your world by now, but here you are, and with another human as well.”
The smile that I’d been wearing disappeared. I took a deep breath, “Sorry guys, but we have bad news.”
We circled up and sat down like old times, and I told Dokugumon, Birdramon, and Tuskmon all about Tyranterramon and what we suspected was his plan.
After hearing the story that my team and I had to tell Dokugumon looked up at the sky, as if collecting her thoughts. We gave her our full attention. She looked at us and said, “There’s a story of a Digimon from ancient times who behaved in a similar fashion to Tyranterramon, even though I’m not really sure where I heard it. But I remember it.”
“I know this story,” said Mechmon. “The story of a Digimon who was able to use the cores and even sought them out.”
“That’s not what I mean,” said Dokugumon. “That story is a fairy tail. It’s similar to the story I have to tell, but not the same. The story I’m talking about is the story of the Tyrant and the Five Regions’ Guardians.”
“The Five Regions’ Guardians,” said Mechmon. “You mean the Digimon that the ancient Sovereign assigned to guard the cores?”
Dokugumon nodded her creepy spider head, and I struggled not to inch away.
“Okay,” I said instead, “you two have lost me now.”
“The Guardians,” Dokugumon explained, “were a group of Child Digimon of great integrity and potential power, one or two per region, who were chosen by this world’s Sovereign centuries ago in old time, long before the time in this world slowed to match time in your world. These Digimon were given portions of the Sovereign's data, helping them to develop almost instantly. Some of them DNA Digivolved together and others Digivolved naturally until they were six Ultimate Level Digimon: one for the Desert, one for the mountains and the volcano, two for the forest, one for the ocean, and one for the final core, said to be the most important and well hidden of all. The Sovereign chose them because he was incapable of protecting every core at once, but in Digivolving these Digimon the Sovereign weakened himself so that he only had his full power when the Guardians came together.
“Then came the Tyrant. He first attempted to seize the power of the cores when he was freshly Digivolved and still weak in his form. He attacked the Volcano Guardian, Phoenixmon, the only Guardian whose name is still widely known today. The Tyrant was defeated without much trouble. Afterward he disappeared, training to become more powerful. He challenged the Guardians years later, but they summoned the Sovereign, known as the Great Protector. The Protector supposedly sealed the Tyrant away beneath the fabric of another world. He was hoping that the Tyrant could be rehabilitated. I'm not sure why. He assumed that he would be around if and when the Tyrant returned, but he was wrong. There was an imbalance in the equation governing his matrix, and he degraded. He is long gone now.”
“You said that this Protector sealed the Tyrant away in another world?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes,” said Dokugumon, “why?”
“Because,” I answered, “Tyranterramon didn’t emerge here in the Digital World. He emerged in the real world.”
“So the Tyrant is Tyranterramon?” Kris asked.
“It would seem so,” said Dokugumon. “If he is then we could be in trouble. The Protector is no more, and most if not all of the Guardians are long gone as well, and any who are still living are hidden away, no longer involving themselves in the events of the world at large. If this Tyranterramon really is the Digimon Tyrant from the story, then there isn’t a single Digimon alive who can match his power.”
“Even so,” I said, “I don’t think anyone here would disagree that we have to try.”
We began our journey again soon after, now with three more in tow. Dokugumon, Tuskmon and Birdramon agreed to carry us, so we were through the Oasis Demi-Region and into the Desert Region in under half an hour. But as we entered the Desert we immediately realized that we didn’t have any idea where to go from there.
“So we’re here,” said Sarah. “Now what?”
“My calculator seems to think that we’ll be able to detect the core with our Digivices,” said Jeremy, “but only at extremely close range. We’ll have to scan the entire desert yard by yard.”
“Wow,” said Sarah sarcastically, “that sure sounds like fun.”
“Don’t worry,” said Tuskmon, “we’ll carry you. It should take no time it all if we break into teams. Compared to the other regions, the Desert Region is quite small.”
“That works for me,” I said, “but where do we start?”
“Well,” said Mechmon, “it never hurts to start a search from a fixed point.”
I smiled, “I’ve got just the one.” I started walking, “Here we go, to Desert Tower!”
As we made our way to the tower I looked at the Digicomp’s map of the Desert Region. It was long and thin, with the Desert Tower near one end. If we were to split the region into three sections we could cover the entire area in less than an hour.
I split our group into three teams: me, Sarah, our Digimon, and Tuskmon, Jen, Kris, their Digimon, and Dokugumon, and Jeremy, Amanda, their Digimon, and Birdramon.
I turned to my team. “Now let’s get going,” I said. I assigned each team a section on the map, and we were on our way.
Each team scoured their areas, keeping tabs over the Digivice communicators, until we were all nearly done. There was just one problem. Sarah and I weren’t able to finish our area. We’d left our water back at the Tower with our packs, and we’d had to turn back about half way through.
“I can’t believe we did this,” said Sarah, chastising herself and staring daggers at me, “we’re holding up the entire team.”
I was about to reply when my Digivice beeped. Jeremy was trying to get in touch with us. “We’re finished with our section,” he said, speaking over the audio communicator built into each of the small devices. “Even having to skim the ground, a flying Digimon like Birdramon is faster than a land Digimon. No sign of the core in this section”
“Okay,” I said. “On your way back can you check the last half of mine and Sarah’s area?”
“Already on it,” he said. “I’d already planned to after you said that you had to turn back.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem.”
It was about fifteen minutes later when we received a message from Jen. “We’re on our way back,” she said. “No sign of the core.”
“That’s weird,” said Sarah, taking a swig from the water bottle and leaning back against the cold stone of the shady side of the Desert Tower. “The core must be in the last stretch of our section then.”
“I guess so,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure. Call me a pessimist.
Another ten minutes later Jeremy called again. “We’re well past half way,” he said. “Nothing.”
I only nodded as Jeremy continued, “We can get some altitude now, so we should be there any minute. Any word from Jen?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You need to get back here.”
Jeremy’s team landed about three minutes later. “What’s up?” he asked.
“No one found any sign of the core,” I replied.
“But that’s not possible,” said Tuskmon. “Even centuries after the deaths of the Guardians the Digimon of this world know at least the general locations of the cores. The Desert Core is here, in the Desert Region.”
“There has to be somewhere that we haven’t looked,” said BlackColtmon.
And that’s when it hit me.
“Did anyone bother to scan the Tower?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jeremy answered.
I aimed my Digivice at the Desert Tower, “What if all this time the core’s been right here under our noses, but we never thought to look.” As I spoke the Digivice chimed brightly. “Bingo! I’m reading a core signature beneath the tower!”
“We found it,” said Serpentmon, looking away from the rest of the group, at the horizon, “and just in time, because we have company.”
I followed my Digimon’s gaze and I saw it. A massive humanoid figure was just coming into view.
We were out of time, and we hadn’t even had a chance to come up with even the simplest plan to prevent Tyranterramon from gaining possession of the core. There was only one thing left to do.
“Alright boys and girls,” I said, turning to face the oncoming foe, “we make our last stand here!”
Next Chapter >>
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