Chapter 32:
The Field of Impossibilities
A sprawling wasteland of burnt-out plains in a certain part of the Digital World sat forlornly, the silence of centuries eating away their edges. Ruins dotted the landscape, remains of numerous fires and explosions. Scores of dead, burnt trees were scattered across the land.
Then, a large blue beam shot across the sky, traveling at a very high speed. It zoomed across the prairie, through the burnt-out trees, then slowed to a stop at the edge of a large clearing. The beam reconfigured itself into an enormous blue sphere, then slowly landed, gently displacing its occupants.
“What a ride!” Kei exclaimed and she and Terriermon stepped out of the fading sphere and into the clearing.
Akira and Kodamon looked at their surroundings. “Not exactly welcoming,” Akira said softly.
“It looks like a battle was fought here,” Jun added, “A long time ago, judging from how old everything looks.”
“Why would the emergency exit take us here?” Tian asked.
Akira shrugged. “Maybe there’s something here we need to know about.” She pulled out her Digivice and pulled up the map. The blinking white dot looked incredibly close. “We’re almost to where we need to be,” she continued, “Just a few more miles, maybe.”
“Good!” Mana said, “That means we can stop and rest. It’s getting dark, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to be walking around a place like this at night!” She looked around at the ruins and shivered.
Akira nodded.
The group set up camp in the clearing, and were soon huddled around Jun and his laptop, checking if any more information was unlocked in the database.
“More Crests have been unlocked,” Akira said, pointing at the screen.
Jun nodded. “Spirit,” he intoned, looking at Akira. Then he looked at Rion. “Destiny.” Last, he looked at Seita. “Loyalty.”
“Cool!” Seita said, looking at his second Crest.
“The names of the others have unlocked as well,” Jun continued, “Serenity, Reliability, Kindness, Fate, and Miracles. As for who gets them,” Jun shrugged. “We’ll have to see.”
He clicked and scrolled for a few moments, then came to the Digivices. “There are updates here too,” he said, pointing to images of the new Digivices, and the set of English words under them.
Digivice S2 – D-Coder
“D-Coders,” Akira murmured, pulling hers out.
“So I’m guessing eventually ours are going to change as well?” Tian asked, staring at her Digivice.
“Looks like it,” Jun agreed.
“Anything else?” Akira asked.
Jun clicked and scrolled again. “That’s it for the stuff that’s directly unlocked. The rest need a little finagling…” His voice faded as he pulled up several programs and concentrated, typing long strings of code.
Mana took that as her cue. “All right! Dinnertime!” She pulled out several cups of instant ramen and plastic bags full of wild berries and fruit. “Who wants to help?”
Kei and Yuka immediately volunteered, and Mana looked over at Rion. “Want to help out too?” Rion smiled and nodded.
An amicable silence fell over the campsite as everyone ate around the campfire. The only sounds were soft whispers, and Jun’s typing and muttering to himself.
After a while, Jun made a surprised noise and turned from his laptop. “Hey, Akira.”
Akira looked over at him. “Yeah?”
“Remember those carvings in Andromon’s Pyramid? Three lines of Digicode that looked different from everything else?”
Akira nodded.
“I put together a Digicode translator and ran those lines into it, and got something understandable.” He pushed his laptop over to Akira. “Look.”
Akira looked at the translated phrases, and a chill went down her spine. “No way.”
“What?” Seita asked.
“I got an email with those exact words in it, right after we defeated the impossible mission in Digital Adventure. Before we all got here.”
“What words?” Mana queried.
Jun cleared his throat and recited:
“All journeys have a beginning and an end. The end is close at hand, but the journey has only just begun. The times of trouble will soon come, and then only spirit will save us all.”
“Wait,” Tian said suddenly, the color draining from her face. “Say that again?”
Jun repeated the lines, a worried look crossing his face. “Is everything okay, Tian?”
Tian shook her head. “It can’t be true…” She looked back at Jun. “Can you get my memory disc and load it up?”
“Sure…” Jun said, confused. He pulled the disc out of his backpack and inserted it into his laptop. The list of saved memories loaded up.
Shu, T. – 6/2058 – Nanjing, China
Shu, T. – 6/2058 – Nanjing, China
Shu, T. – 7/2058 – Shanghai, China ***njngchntmlndstspot2057-12prmlckpassphrs***
Shu, T. – 7/2058 – Sea of Japan
“Look at the first memories on the list,” Tian said. With a resigned sigh, she added, “Look at the one for “Shanghai, China.”
“The one with the weird code,” Jun replied, moving the mouse cursor over it.
“Play it.”
Renamon looked at Tian, alarmed. “Tian…”
“Just do it,” Tian said sharply, “We all need to know.”
The memory played, showing a five-year-old Tian with her parents, on the run from the Chinese police and looking for a way out of the country.
“Tian,” her father spoke up.
“Yeah?”
“If anything happens to me or your mother…” he began, looking very serious, “there’s something important you must remember.”
Tian’s eyes widened. “If anything happens…? What’s going to happen?”
“Don’t worry about it now,” he answered, “It’s only just in case.”
Tian thought about it for a moment, then looked up at him seriously. “What do I have to remember?”
“These words…” Her father took a deep breath, and recited:
“All journeys have a beginning and an end. The end is close at hand, but the journey has only just begun. The times of trouble will soon come, and then only spirit will save us all.”
Tian listened, and tried reciting the phrases over and over.
“…and then only spirit will save us all,” she finished, with a breath.
“Right.” Her father smiled. “Can you remember that?”
Tian frowned. “I don’t know…” Then she brightened. “But I’ll try!” she answered cheerfully.
“That’s the spirit!”
“You can stop it there, Jun.” Tian said in a tight voice. Her fists were clenched until her knuckles were white.
Kei looked over at Tian. “What happened after that?”
Tian closed her eyes. “The police caught us, and my father was killed. He died telling me to remember the words he had told me.” She sighed. “And even after all these years, I’ve never forgotten them. I could never have dreamed they had anything to do with the Digital World.”
Jun’s laptop beeped, and a message popped up on the screen.
Passphrase?
Three long blanks appeared in the box below the word.
Jun passed the laptop over to Tian. “Want to do the honors?”
Tian nodded, and typed each of the three sentences into the blanks.
Passphrase accepted.
Maps of the Real World and the Digital World appeared, with coordinates from a multitude of satellites positioned all over the earth. Each coordinate matched to a point in the Real World and a point in the Digital World.
“It’s all here,” Jun said softly, “Every gate to the Digital World, matched with places all over the world. This is what Mataymon wanted.”
“And he has it,” Rion said hopelessly, “I helped him get it…”
Guilmon grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“That may be, but I doubt he’s put two and two together to come up with the passphrase,” Jun answered, “Brute-forcing something like this would take years!”
“He’s got the entire Digital World at his disposal, though,” Rion countered, “I wouldn’t put it past him to crack the code and get what he needed…”
“We may not have to worry about Mataymon yet,” Akira added, “I mean, no one’s come to bother us since Rion and Guilmon joined us-”
“Except the Jekuhaimon,” Seita interrupted.
Akira made a face. “That was different. They were just hungry, and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“The Midnight Army hasn’t come for us yet,” Jun corrected, “So maybe they’re stuck on decoding the maps, and that’s bought us some time.”
The conversation soon died down as everyone dropped off to sleep.
Tian lay down for a while, wide awake. She stared up at the sky, into the multitude of stars and constellations spread out across the night. She sighed and got up, being careful not to wake anyone else, and slowly walked away from the campsite.
She continued until she reached a small lake, nothing more than a shallow pool surrounded by ruined trees. She looked across the lake absently, trying to sort through all the thoughts tearing through her mind.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Renamon asked, suddenly appearing beside her.
Tian shook her head.
“That was a very brave thing you did,” Renamon said, “letting everyone see your memory.”
“It was hard,” Tian said softly, “but it was necessary.”
The two of them said nothing for a while, then Tian spoke up.
“What I don’t understand,” she started, “is why my dad had information on the Digital World. I thought the Chinese police was after him – after us – because of something against the government. But the Digital World? It feels so unreal.”
Tian picked up a rock and threw it, skimming it against the lake.
“I wonder if my mom knew about it…” she continued, “She had to have known, for her to leave so quickly with my dad and take me along.” She was silent for a moment, then laughed.
Renamon’s ears perked. “What’s so funny?”
“My parents knowing about the Digital World. I’ve spent all this time thinking we were the only ones who knew about this place, that it was our secret, aside from the kids who were here long ago.”
“If you find a way back home,” Renamon said, “you can ask your mother.”
Tian nodded. “Not if. When. With the information we got today, the next step would be to go back to the Real World and… do something about those gates.” She sighed. “Do what, and how, I don’t know. And I don’t think we have all the pieces of the puzzle yet.”
Renamon nodded. “So we finish following the Way…”
“And hope whoever sent us gives us answers,” Tian finished.
They both looked up at the brightening sky. “Time to go back,” Renamon spoke up.
“Yeah.” They walked away from the lake, through the dead trees, and back to an empty campsite.
“Huh?” Tian blinked and looked around in the pre-dawn darkness. “Where is everyone?”
The campfire had long since burned out, and blankets and sleeping bags were strewn everywhere. Jun’s laptop sat on top of a large stump, with a message blinking on the screen.
Data Copied.
“Someone else was here while we were gone,” Renamon said darkly, looking around with narrowed eyes.
“But where did everyone go?” Tian asked frantically, “There’s nothing around here but ruins for miles! There isn’t anywhere for 14 people to hide!”
A hot wind blew, causing the trees to rustle. A weird, distorted ring echoed through the field, almost like wind chimes in a storm. Tian and Renamon looked around, seeing nothing.
As the wind chimes continued to ring, Tian could also hear the screaming, shouting and pleading of her friends. The noises ripped through her mind, causing her to clutch her head in pain.
“Where are you?” Tian called out, “I can hear you, but I can’t see you!” She took off running toward the sound of the wind chimes, but the closer she got, the louder the screams were and the greater the pain became. She sank to her knees, continuing to clutch her head.
Tian felt the firm pressure of Renamon’s paw on her shoulder. “Keep calm,” Renamon intoned, “Take deep breaths, and focus on what’s important.”
“Focus on what’s important…” Tian repeated, “What’s important… Finding where everyone is.” Not that they’re screaming. Filter that out. “Finding out who did this.” Tian opened her eyes and looked at Renamon. The screaming and clamoring were still there in the back of her mind, but they no longer overwhelmed her.
They were in another clearing, surrounded by numerous burnt trees. Ahead of them was a larger tree, with wind chimes tied to its broken branches. They approached the tree and examined the wind chimes. Renamon lifted a claw and fired an attack toward them.
“Fox Leaf Arrowhead!”
The wind chimes were severed from the tree branches and tumbled to the ground. Since they had stopped blowing in the wind, the screams abruptly stopped. Tian and Renamon picked them up.
“Tian! Renamon!”
“You found us!”
“Get us out of here!”
The voices of the other kids and Digimon echoed through their minds, and Tian and Renamon could piece together exactly what happened.
“We were ambushed while we were sleeping and were trapped in the wind chimes! Jun called out.
“Watch out for the shadows! The shadows are Digimon!” Guilmon pleaded.
As the sun climbed high into the sky, it shone through the trees, casting long shadows everywhere. Tian and Renamon looked closely as the shadows twitched and began to move. A moment later, they zoomed across the ground, moving toward Tian and Renamon at high speed.
As the shadows landed on Tian, she felt multiple hands grab her and pull her down. She heard high-pitched evil chuckling in her ears and saw several sets of bright, beady eyes staring back at her from three-dimensional shadows.
“Let go of me!” she shouted, trying to fling them away from her. She reached for her Digivice, grabbed hold of it, and shot a beam out, causing the shadow Digimon to scatter. “What are these things?” she asked, holding up her Digivice defensively.
Rion’s voice echoed through their minds. “Madilimon. I’ve only seen them in action once, and that was enough. They live in the shadows and keep themselves hidden until they attack and drain their victims of energy. They trap their victims in sacred objects like wind chimes, and after that… you don’t want to know. Consider them Mataymon’s special forces.”
A large Madilimon appeared, with what looked like a data drive around its neck. Tian thought back to Jun’s laptop and the words “Data Copied” on the screen. “We need to get that data drive!” she called out to Renamon, who was busy blasting more of the shadow Digimon away.
Tian ran over to the large Madilimon, but a couple of shadows zoomed over and tripped her. She landed on the ground, knocking the wind out of her, and struggled as more shadows sped over to her.
“Renamon!” Tian yelled out. She looked over and saw Renamon covered in shadows, not moving. “Renamon, wake up!” Then she felt an intense pain rip through her, as if she was being torn into pieces, and she screamed. She felt herself grow weaker and weaker.
This can’t be happening! Tian thought, terrified, This can’t be the end, not here, not now! Then Renamon’s words came back to her. Keep calm. Focus on what’s important.
Focus on the Madilimon. Drive them away. Don’t focus on the weakness or the pain. She reached out to her Digivice, which had fallen to the ground nearby. She stretched her arm out, unable to reach it, and was overcome by weakness. A metal barrier formed around her, as the Madilimon started making a wind chime around her. She tried one more time, and managed to touch the Digivice with a fingertip.
A bright light enveloped Tian, breaking the barrier around her and causing the shadow Digimon to skitter away. Her Digivice transformed and became a silver device with yellow accents and a yellow strap. A second Crest appeared alongside the first – yellow with two back-to-back crescent moons carved into it.
Renamon glowed brightly with energy, more than enough to drive away the Madilimon draining her.
“Renamon, warp evolve to… Sakuyamon!”
A humanoid Digimon with a fox helmet, yellow and purple armor, and a staff with multiple rings appeared.
Tian looked back at Sakuyamon, amazed. “So pretty…”
Sakuyamon turned to the shadows that were quickly coming her way, swung her staff, and struck the ground with the bottom. The rings chimed.
“Izuna!”
Four fox spirits erupted from the staff, each the color of fire, wind, water and thunder. They slammed into the growing shadows of Madilimon and shattered them. The rest of the Madilimon clung to each other, building each other up into a large shadow.
Sakuyamon raised a hand, and a sacred paper seal appeared. She jumped up, and in midair, she threw the seal onto the giant Madilimon’s forehead.
“Fox Seal Paper!”
The Madilimon roared and froze in place, unable to move. Sakuyamon landed and swung her staff again.
“Fox Pipe!”
A large fox spirit erupted from the staff and charged at the giant Madilimon. It shattered, obliterating most of the shadow Digimon and causing the remaining ones to flee. The Madilimon with the data drive around its neck was one of the few to get away.
Sakuyamon turned to the wind chimes scattered on the ground and struck the ground with her staff. A healing barrier appeared around the wind chimes, and they slowly reverted to Akira, Kodamon, and the others.
Then, a bright light enveloped Sakuyamon, and she quickly reverted to Renamon.
“Thanks,” Akira said, relieved.
“That was close,” Seita said, “If Renamon hadn’t warp evolved, we would have been stuck in those wind chimes forever!”
“No problem,” Tian answered. She and Renamon looked at each other and smiled. Then, after a moment, Tian gasped. “The data!”
“What?” Jun asked.
“The Madilimon copied the data off of your laptop!” Tian said, her face falling. “They got away with it, too. Now they have everything – the pass-phrases, the maps, all of it!”
Everyone fell into a fearful silence.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” a voice called out from the trees.
Everyone looked toward the voice as a girl with long black hair, violet eyes, and clear-lensed yellow goggles appeared.
“Sorry for the delays,” the girl said in an echoed voice, “Your travels end here.”
Akira walked up to the girl and looked her over from head to toe. She was at least half an inch taller than the girl-program, but other than that, they were virtually identical.
“So you’re Naoko Magami.” Akira said with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”