Cheshiremon shook his head. "No sharp rocks, you may only use the trout," Cheshiremon told Shintaro. Shintaro threw down the trout.
"No, this is ridiculous!" he yelled at Cheshiremon, Cheshiremon's eyes twinkled.
"Oh really?!" Cheshiremon lunged, dragging his claws down Shintaro's throat. Shintaro cried out in pain, finally Cheshiremon landed back on the ground, there was a shallow cut in Shintaro's neck. The human pressed a leaf to it to soak up the blood.
"Do you still not want to cut down the tree with a trout?" Cheshiremon asked silkily. Shintaro nodded. Cheshiremon lunged again, scratching down his arm.
"Do you still?" Cheshiremon inquired. Shintaro nodded, wincing slightly. Cheshiremon catapulted through the air once more. slashing at Shintaro's ankle. Shintaro collapsed. Cheshiremon asked for the last time if he still wanted to not cut down the tree with the trout. Shintaro let out a weak nod and Cheshiremon's third eye glowed. Neon lights spelt out "YOU HAVE PASSED THE TEST!" in the sky. Cheshiremon bowed and then his tail began to vanish.
"I must be going now, but don't worry, I am always there with you, you just don't neccessarily know it." Cheshiremon's grin was all that remained and that vanished in a puff of smoke. Shintaro pulled himself onto a rock and with the leaf still pressed against his neck, pullled out his digivice. He could see a white dot coming towards him.
"It might be something hostile, and Cheshiremon isn't here to protect me...what kind of guardian doesn't stay with the thing they have to guard!" He removed the leaf, the cut was already beginning to heal and was mostly covered up by his collar.
"Good good nobody should notice," he mused, he looked at the katana just lying on the rock and blinked. "Shouldn't that have...disappeared?" he asked himself, he shrugged and began walking towards the white dot.
Akiko and Muchomon continued to head towards the light purple dot. She was wondering if that someone was going to be hostile towards her or not.
"If anyone's gonna be hostile towards us," Muchomon said as she darted towards the person with the light purple dot. "We'll show that person what we're made of."
"Besides I practiced Kendo before at home!" Akiko agreed.
Derek noticed the dots moving around, coming dangerously near him, he started walking the opposite way, then broke out into a run. His footsteps sounded louder than usual, which intruiged him. Ducking behind a tree he heard footsteps and turned to see a body clothed in a dark robe so he couldn't even tell what gender it was. A deep voice came from under the hood.
"Welcome Derek Shan to the Digital World. You will pass a series of tests to earn you guardian, your companion, your digimon."
What the...how does he know my name? Digimon?
"Are you ready?" Derek nodded slowly, wondering what he was getting himself into this time.
"Begin."
Instantly the mountain vanished and was replaced by a scene of a ruined castle. Out of the shadows walked...David. "Hello little brother. Remember me?" He smirked and Derek's blood ran cold. I knew this was a trap!
The robed man handed each of them a sword.
"This is a battle to the death. Begin."
Shintaro soon saw the white dot. A girl with a dog, he noted I have seen stranger things here. He heard shrill laughter Cheshiremon to anybody looking at him, they would of saw a disembodied grin hovering above his head.
Sasha fell to her knees, gazing over to the other building where Phoenix stood. "His .. his soul .. ?" she whispered, and then frowned. Her eyes narrowed and she turned her head to the robed man. "What is this?"
"It's as I've said before," the man replied, his arms folded. "This boy is what is deep within your heart. What intrigues me is that your mind is like a well-guarded vault. There's no way I can read it, to find your inner most desires. Your heart is protected in much the same fashion, but when it comes to this .. Phoenix, you crumble. You need to come to terms with him. Why is he the hidden secret deep within your heart?"
Forcing herself to stand up, Sasha pulled a thin silver chain from under her shirt, which had a slender, elegant pendant. "I loved him with all my heart ... I still do .. but he committed suicide a year ago. The pain's still too near ... finding his body ... the blood seeped deep into the carpet .. the dagger stained with his blood ... and it's my fault."
The man raised an eyebrow. "His suicide is your fault?"
"I should have been able to save him!" Sasha suddenly cried out, clutching the pendant. The man was taken aback at the sudden outburst. "If I wasn't so stupid, then he wouldn't have taken his life! I would have gotten there sooner!" She clutched the pendant tighter. "...but now I have the chance to give his soul peace. So be it ... I'll play your twisted game."
Akiko turned to look around as Muchomon kept her guard.
"If anyone wants to be my friend," Akiko said to Muchomon, "they need to earn my trust, loyalty and honesty. I can't put my trust in someone who will stab me in the back, like Sayuko and Haruna did."
"It will take time, Aki!" Muchomon told her. "I know you're strong and tough, but you need to trust the people we're going to find, regardless if they stab you in the back."
The disembodied grin laughed maniacally. "Why Muchomon! Long time, no see!" Another shrill laughter echoed through the trees. Shintaro's face was in its normal expression, cold, piercing, horrible glare. Eyes appeared above the disembodied grin and Cheshiremon's violet gloved paws below them, no more of Cheshiremon's body appeared.
Akiko faced the boy pulling a sai up to his face. She gave him a cold stare like she gave those who bullied her at Kendo practice. Muchomon recognized that voice.
"Nice hearing you again, Cheshiremon," Muchomon said critically. "Who's the boy?" Uh oh! Aki is planning to fight him. Gotta control her before she scars the boy.
"Very good," the man smiled, "let us begin." He snapped his fingers and nine tiles appeared in a square in front of her. "This is just a warm up...but if you do not figure it out within the time frame, the boy will take one step forward."
Sasha gritted her teeth. "How much time do I have? And why is there one extra tile?"
"You have five minutes," the man replied. "The extra tile is a mirror. The tiles are a picture of the monster. You must figure out the identity of the monster. However, you cannot turn any tiles over in this little game. For every wrong guess you make aloud to me, the boy will take one step forward. So you have a lot to think about, don't you? Begin!"
He snapped his fingers and a timer appeared above the nine squares. The central square was the missing link, Sasha knew that much. But what she didn't realize was that a statue of the monster was behind her.
The identity of the monster ... what the hell does that mean? She stared at the tiles, completely blank. The statue cracked a bit more. But if I'm not right, Phoenix's soul won't ... clear your head! Alright .. the picture of the monster... then the eight tiles must be parts of it! Pairs...? Wait! She began to think aloud, confident in the train of thought, as the statue cracked a little more. "You said the picture of the monster .. then there must be pair tiles of the body parts ... "
Incredible, the man thought, blinking at her. She's already figuring it out. "...Go on." The monster's statue was half-cracked, an arm moving, a tongue flicking from side to side.
"Then there must be two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and two hands! That ninth tile, because you can have only one, is a mouth!" Just as the snarling monster was about to chomp down on her, it vanished with a comical 'poof!'. She looked over and saw that Phoenix didn't move an inch, and sighed in relief.
"Very well done," the man praised. "Your quick mind is impressive. Your Ushebti are intact still. But the boy still teeters between heaven and hell. Let us talk to him ourselves, mm?"
Cheshiremon shrugged,the rest of his grey and black body appearing. "Some digidestined I have to guard." Cheshiremon saw Akiko preparing to fight Shintaro and let out a low laugh. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Cheshiremon chuckled, his eyes glowing menacingly, his third eye lit up. "Illusion Eye!" A ripple spread across the air and a huge dinosaur digimon appeared in front of Shintaro, roaring. Shintaro took a step back from the illusion and Cheshiremon jumped to the tree, his claws glinting dangerously.
"Aki, put that sai away," Muchomon told her as Akiko reluctantly put the sai away. "Uhh Chesiremon, thanks but I think I could've dealt with her. That's your digidestined."
"The name's Akiko!" Akiko called out to the boy.
Cheshiremon nodded and the illusion vanished. Shintaro sighed, he despised making conversation. "And why would that interest me?" he called back.
Cheshiremon sweatdropped. "Ah Muchomon, isn't that just like you," Cheshiremon drawled, suddenly grinning malevolently.
"Absolutely not! There's no way I'm letting you use his soul like some plaything!" Sasha exclaimed, glaring. "Leave him there. I've had about enough of your stupid games."
"Hm..very well ... I'm amused .. tell me .. what is going through your mind?" the man asked, lowering his arm.
"...A fallen angel, despite failing heaven, should be allowed to return there. Phoenix may have left me physically, but he's always with me inside my heart, and memory. I won't allow his soul to be used in your games!" Clenching her fist, she glared at him.
The man took a step back, intrigued and taken aback. "And just what are you going to do? You know nothing of this world, of Digimon or your destiny."
"...Something I should've done a long time ago," Sasha replied. "Free his soul."
"But you haven't passed my last test. The boy's soul remains stuck on the stairway to heaven."
Sasha walked up to him. "...I don't know who you are, but I know what you're trying to do, to show me what I've been hiding. Fine... with Phoenix's death ... I've been afraid of my own death. Going before my time. I've been playing against fate, even though I see it before me. But seeing him there...has made me realize that while his life was cut short, I'm still here ... so there must be a reason for that. And...I'll live my life for him. To right the wrongs fortune played against him, I'll go on." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "But I'll have my vengeance against you."
"Against me? What could you possibly do?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sasha smirked a little. "Don't think I didn't see your Ushebti. It's dark but more frail. Like your heart ... hidden behind your power!"
Akiko grumbled as she left again with Muchomon. Leaving Shintaro and Cheshiremon.
"I was trying to be nice," Akiko grumbled under her breath.
Akiko and Muchomon left the anti-social boy with Cheshiremon. That boy really bugs me. I'm used to people I can talk to not anti social ones. She thought about it as she remembered her friend Sayuri dying in a car crash.
Cheshiremon whirled on Shintaro. "You complete fool!" he cried, his fur becoming streams of flame. "You need to team up with these people!"
Shintaro growled and turned away. "Why? I hardly need another person to constantly tell me that I'm-" Shintaro cut himself off.
"That you're?" Cheshiremon inquired. Shintaro shook his head.
"Nothing," he muttered. Cheshiremon sighed and turned away.
"I'll talk to Muchomon, for crying out loud I thought he had more sense than to let his tamer walk away!" Cheshiremon vanished and reappeared in front of Muchomon and Akiko, grin first, tail last. "May I talk to the dog who left his common sense on a tree stump?" Cheshiremon asked, manic grin rather thin.
"How dare you speak to me that way! You have no idea who you're dealing with!" The man glared, suddenly enraged.
Clutching the pendant, Sasha responded, "Your true nature, the ultimate illusion, is a flower on the outside, but on the inside ... you are nothing but a snake!"
"Calling the kettle black, are we? --- WHAT?!?!" the man exclaimed, seeing his Ushebti shatter into a thousand pieces. He fell to his knees. "H...how...?"
"Simple. Your heart is easily angered, broken...funny how you test my heart but yours is more frail than one would imagine. Hiding behind power makes you an empty shell," Sasha replied.
"...You have passed my tests," the man said, sighing. "And have shown me the error in my ways, opened my eyes. But alone you cannot triumph." He waved his hands, and a small black cat, with pale blue eyes, broken angel wings tinted silver appeared before Sasha. "This is Seraphmon...your digimon partner, guardian...Farewell, Sasha Janre..until we meet again."
Sasha stared down at the little cat. She looked up to Sasha and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you. But .. look over there." She did and saw that Phoenix was gone, yet the key was there. A black feather was left on the plank. "I think his soul is safe."
She smiled. "I'm glad...so .. your name's Seraphmon? That's a pretty name.."
"I've been waiting a long time for you, Sasha. I'm very glad we've finally met," Seraphmon replied, as Sasha picked her up. "But we must find the other digidestined."
"Digiwhat...? Okay, you have a lot of explaining to do," Sasha replied, as she unhooked her digivice, and pressed until she saw the dot screen. A white dot walking away and a violet dot were the closest, with a green dot furthest, and another dot far away. "We have a long walk ahead of us."
Seraphmon perched herself on Sasha's shoulder, and peered down at the device. "Hm! Muchomon and even that annoying git Chesiremon have found their partners. Interesting." Sasha chuckled and walked out of the now-normal forest.
Akiko and Muchomon saw the girl with the cat digimon. Muchomon recognized the cat digimon as Seraphmon. I hope she's not as anti-social as Shintaro is. Aki thought about it as she came face to face with the girl.
"Seraphmon it's been a long time," Muchomon told the cat as she faced Akiko. "I don't know how I got landed with her, but she passed my test."
Akiko looked at the girl. Hai! At least I hope she's not like Shintaro. "My name's Nishi Akiko." she said. "I'm known as Aki to my friends. What's yours?"
Seraphmon gave a little smile and nodded to Muchomon. "It has been a very long time, indeed." She looked at Akiko. "I'm very glad she found you. My partner passed the robed man's tests of the heart, even taught him a few things."
"Name's Sasha Janre, known mainly as 'hey you!' to my friends," Sasha joked, laughing a little. Shaking Akiko's hand, she looked at Muchomon, but then noticed a grin floating above Muchomon's head. "Uh .. am I the only one that sees a Cheshire grin floating in the air?"
Seraphmon sighed heavily. "Oh great, it must be Cheshiremon."
A shrill laughter echoed out from the grin and Shintaro ran up, looking for his partner. "Why Seraphmon, if I didn't know better I would say you weren't pleased to see me!" Cheshiremon's eyes appeared, glittering dementedly.
Shintaro rolled his eyes and strode off somewhere where he hoped the other digidestined wouldn't follow. "Find me when you are done Cheshiremon," he sighed.
"Even after all these years, it's still too soon to deal with you," Seraphmon quipped. "And I see you've worked your charm on your partner. Driving another one away with your insanity are you?"
Sasha leaned against a near-by tree. "Watch your step, Shintaro."
The rest of Cheshiremon's body appeared. "Still too soon to deal with me is it? Well Seraphmon, old buddy, you may not have noticed, but the digidestined are here now and since they are, you don't have a choice!" Cheshiremon laughed and leapt down off the branch. "Hmmm, I really need to get my partner to come back, however that will be difficult... since he isn't exactly the type I thought the DigiGods would choose: paranoid, and very anti-social," Cheshiremon sighed. "Be back in a minute."
Seraphmon shuddered and Sasha patted her head. "Good luck, Chesiremon," Sasha said, still leaning against the tree. "And when you come back, we can all travel down the rabbit hole together."
"Believe me, you do not want to engage in conversation with that nut," Seraphmon frowned. She folded her front paws in front of her chest.
"He's the last one I'll ever make conversations with," Muchomon agreed with Seraphmon. "Besides trying to make friends with that joker was one of the biggest mistakes I made." She nodded to Seraphmon in agreement.
"I don't mean to be rude," Aki told Sasha, "but don't you think we should find the others?"
"Aki, don't mind Chesiremon," Muchomon told her partner. "He puts his foot in his mouth more often than not. Baka, joker!"
Sasha sweatdropped and waved her hands placingly. "No, no, that's not what I meant. You guys, don't be so mean. Everyone's quirky. Chesiremon reminds me of myself."
Seraphmon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Aha .. well I'm a bit disjointed myself." She turned to Akiko. "Now I'm just placing a guess .. but if there are others here, I'm sure they're going through the same tests we did. Right now, we need to stick together, and that includes Shintaro." She put her hands on her hips. "Besides, if anyone can get Shintaro back, it's his digimon."
Muchomon peered at Sasha as her partner twitched before continuing her Kendo practice in calming down.
"I didn't mean it like that," Muchomon told Sasha. "I meant that in a good way."
"Do you think we should find Shintaro or not?" Akiko asked Sasha.
Shintaro leaned against a large oak tree and sighed. Why me? His thoughts were interrupted by Cheshiremon jumping down from a branch.
"Hello," Cheshiremon yawned. Shintaro glared at his digimon.
"What is it now?" he growled. Cheshiremon began to trim his claws.
"I'm here to convince you to join the group," Cheshiremon admitted.
"Well forget it!" Shintaro snarled and turned round only to find Cheshiremon staring at him again.
"Shintaro, those people back there have been through the same tests as you, they all have digimon partners, they are all trapped here in the Digiworld," Cheshiremon reasoned.
"Digiworld?" Shintaro asked. Cheshiremon waved a claw.
"I'll explain later, the point is you need to stick with these people, if you want to have a hope of getting home," Cheshiremon waited for Shintaro to react.
"Fine," Shintaro sighed. "I'll join the group, but only to find a way home, understand?" Cheshiremon nodded triumphantly.
"Then come on, I'm sure you are dying for an explanation!" Cheshiremon chuckled and bounded off towards the group.
Sasha shook her head. "Chesiremon is probably bringing him back now. If Shintaro has problems trusting people, all of us rushing to find him would only make it worse."
Seraphmon licked her paw and seemed to be intrigued. "You sound as if you've dealt with this before."
"Sort of," Sasha admitted, scratching the back of her head. "I don't even know what's going on here, but going with the flow of things usually seems to work for me." She looked at Muchomon and Seraphmon. "And when Chesiremon comes back with Shintaro, all three of you have a lot of explaining to do."
"I think after all you three have been through, you deserve an explanation," Seraphmon chuckled, looking at Muchomon.
"Maybe!" Muchomon said as she returned to her partner. "We have to take our time with Shintaro. Sasha's right, if we rush him, he never trust us."
"I'm not patient with people," Akiko said silently as she saw Chesiremon return with Shintaro.
Cheshiremon returned with Shintaro. "Now that we are one big happy family again, I believe you all wanted an explanation?" Cheshiremon grinned and his third eye glowed. The world swirled around and Shintaro found himself, the other humans and the other digimons in the middle of an image of people running about. "It began, 352 years ago!" Cheshiremon began, "when the first prophecy was formed." The images Cheshiremon had summoned showed a person sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed and another person scrawling away at a scroll.
Akiko joined the group with Muchomon. They looked on as people were running about and one was working on a scroll.
"What kind of prohecy is it?" Akiko asked, exasperated.
"One of our destiny, one would presume," Sasha replied, and recieved odd looks from everyone. "What?"
Seraphmon continued, "It was a civilization that was thriving. However, their time was soon running out. They had survived by passing down the legend and ways of their people through the generations. The Digimon were not pleased that these creatures had taken over their land, and sought to exterminate them. We are usually very docile and loyal creatures, but there are those that had been corrupted."
"Corrupted?" Sasha questioned, looking confused. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, the Digimon that hated these humans wanted them gone. And by any means necessary," Seraphmon replied. "It is then that the dark elemental DigiGod came down in human form. He led them in an assault against this civilization. But," she looked at Chesiremon, "a group of humans had befriended the friendlier Digimon and fought against them."
"These Digimon who hated us, teamed up with the Dark God who was corrupted," Muchomon continued. "One of those digimon that teamed up with that god attacked my tribe. I think it was a mega."
"We have to fight?" Akiko asked her digimon. "I mean isn't there any other choice?"
Muchomon shook her head before continuing. More people gave her and Aki a wierd, nasty look.
"We're the only ones who stand in the way of that god," Muchomon said at last.
"The small group of humans and digimon fought bravely against the dark DigiGod, but soon enough, like all other humans who tried to oppose the DigiGod, the humans died, naming the digimon who had been their allies as those who would guide and protect the people who were foretold in the prophecy, those people were given the name Digidestined," Cheshiremon showed six silhouettes each with a different coloured light around them.
Cheshiremon continued the tale: "Knowing that without our human allies to help us we couldn't win we went into hiding until the prophecy came true and you arrived in this world, for the first time in years we all came out of hiding and we tested you, to see if you were the ones, you passed the tests and proved yourselves to be the DigiDestined."
Shintaro decided to speak. "I don't see how it changes anything that we are here," he told Cheshiremon. Cheshiremon shrugged.
"I don't remember, it has been years since the humans died, it has something to do with that purple device you have," Cheshiremon told him.
Shintaro reached into his pocket and pulled out the digivice. "This?"
"You mean like this thing I got," Akiko said as she pulled out a white digivice.
She watched Muchomon nod her head.
"I just have a question ... this place is still very much alive. If you went into hiding and your allies were dead, how is this place not under the Dark DigiGod's control?" Sasha asked.
Seraphmon answered this question, "The Dark's opposite, Light, came down and put him under control. But since they were of the same 'blood' if you will, she could not vanquish her sibling. She stagnated his soul and placed it in a dark crystal. It was she that made the prophecy that our partners would return, reincarnated."
Sasha stared down at the dark purple digivice. "So for us to be needed, then this world is in danger. And that crystal you spoke of has been taken?"
"Released," Seraphmon supplied, sighing a little. "That is about as much as we know. There is much to be discovered and revealed. You all still have a long way to go in your journey. That is why we must stick together. Find yourselves in this world. We are here to help and guide you to the best of our ability."
"We're here to stay together," Muchomon continued. "The only way the evil could be defeated is that we bind together and fight together."
She watched Aki nod slowly.
The illlusions all became figures of violet light and flowed back into Cheshiremon's illusion eye. "And that's all we can explain to you right now," he told them simply. Shintaro took a look through his digivice, he noticed the white dot, the light purple dot and the dark purple dot were together.
"I think the map tracks our devices, but I am not sure what these bars are supposed to show." He took a look at the map. "There's a green dot quite near here."
Cheshiremon took a look at the device. "So there is," he mused.
"I see that." Aki said as she checked her white digivice. "There also a neon green light too."
Muchomon nodded as she faced Cheshiremon.
"There are two green dots," Muchomon told him. "But the neon green light is too far away."
"Let's go to the green dot," Aki suggested.
Seraphmon hopped onto Sasha's shoulder and peered at her Digivice. "What's the matter?" The question caused the others to stop.
Sasha didn't answer right away, staring at the screen that displayed their location. There was a dot quickly approaching them. It was black, and not slowing down. "...Duck!" she suddenly exclaimed.
David lunged forward while Derek stepped nimbly back. That move had been obvious. David was aggresive, cruel, and in matters other than school, very stupid. Derek knew he'd have to play this safely. While they were twins, David was much stronger that he.
They parried for a few moments, until David knocked his sword onto a higher ledge. Derek was forced backwards, ducking David's attacks. Then, back flipping onto the ledge, he retrieved his sword and leaped down to continue the fight. David slashed upwards quickly, slicing Derek's thigh.
They parried again, Derek losing blood and strength from the open wound. Derek again had to retreat from the onslaught of his brother's sword. Seeing a bridge connecting to the highed platforms, he ran to the other side.
Muchomon and Akiko ducked after they heard Sasha yell at them to do so. Looks like there's another digidestined trying to earn his digimon. Aki thought about it as the puppy digimon stared at her with her green eyes.
"Akiko, that is the Illusion at those who tested you did," Muchomon said as she and Aki looked on the battle.
Shintaro ducked at Sasha's warning, Cheshiremon vanished. Shintaro sat up and saw Derek and David in the distance. "I wonder which one would be the digidestined of those two," Shintaro mused.
Cheshiremon appeared next to him and pointed his claw at David. "That one is the illusion," Cheshiremon told him.
"How do you know?" Shintaro asked. Cheshiremon laughed slightly.
"You don't become a master of illusions without learning to recognise them," he explained, Shintaro nodded.
Akiko and Muchomon continued to witnessed the fight between Derek and David. Thank God, I don't have a twin unlike somebody I knew, she said in thought as the two continued to spar it out.
Shintaro watched the illusion of David battle Derek, he turned to Cheshiremon. "Hide us!" he told his digimon.
"Excuse me?" Cheshiremon asked incredulously.
"If that boy fighting the illusion sees us, it might distract him, use your illusions to hide us." Cheshiremon nodded and his illusion eye glowed, a moment later if you looked towards the digidestined, you would see a rather large tree.
