...
'Who was this old man? How does he know that I have the Emblem of Miracles? I hadn't told anyone I had it, except for Herissmon...'
My head went wildly into overdrive as I looked at the old man with distrustful eyes; my mind was spinning as I recalled everything that had happened since that strange dream in the church.
"Perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation in a quieter place" The old man's serene voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "I would like to talk when all the Chosen Children are present. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to tell me; I am here to help you."
Herissmon tilted his head slightly to look at me out of the corner of his eye, with clear doubt in his gaze. I didn't know what exactly to do in this situation, and honestly, neither did I.
It was then that Mimi planted herself in front of the old man to look at him curiously.
"Mimi?" I called out to her with uncertainty in my voice, feeling confused and wary at the same time.
The girl in the hat simply raised one of her fingers and brought it to the old man's forehead. Gennai, on the other hand, took a step back, easily dodging Mimi's finger, which seemed to disconcert her for some strange reason.
At this point I felt like I was missing something.
"Oh! You're the real thing!" Mimi exclaimed in surprise as she took a few steps back, looking vaguely embarrassed.
She blinked twice as I looked at her in confusion. I could believe Piximon, since both Sora and Izzy talked about the little fairy, but no one had mentioned the old man until now.
"You know him?" I asked tentatively, pointing at the old man doubtfully.
"Huh? Oh, right, I never finished telling you the story..." Mimi said, tapping her palm with her fist. "Basically, Gennai appeared just as we were defeating Devimon, he told us that we should come to the Server Continent to find the other Chosen Children and that we should collect the Emblems to face a great evil... or something like that, I don't remember that part very well."
My gaze wandered between Mimi and Gennai, the latter remaining completely silent.
"That's... convenient" Herissmon muttered, taking the words out of my mouth.
"Come on! Let's go! Pi!" The pink blob flew around everyone before stopping and pointing his small spear at the portal. "The others are waiting for us! Pi!"
""The others?" We all asked at the same time.
***
'Maybe I've gotten a little paranoid...' I scratched my head before shrugging; it didn't seem like Gennai or Piximon had bad intentions.
Changing the subject, I didn't feel very comfortable crossing a portal to who knows where; I didn't want to get kidnapped again, thank you very much.
"So-"
"Yes! Just cross over, and we'll enter my Pocket Dimension! Pi!"
'Pocket Dimension? You're telling me that little pink furball can create an entire dimension for itself? What a stage-'
When the holographic screen containing Piximon's information appeared on my face, it was as if my mind momentarily short-circuited.
I felt my eyebrows rise to my hair as I constantly closed and opened the Piximon information.
'Perfect?!!!'
This was ridiculous.
This little furball, this little fairy no bigger than my fist, was just as strong as fucking Etemon. This little shit could sweep up dozens of Digimon Adult like they were trash.
As if reading my thoughts, Piximon turned to look at me with a mischievous grin and a mocking laugh. I felt cold sweat trickle down my back as I wondered if he really could read minds.
Piximon simply put a finger to his lips before letting out an innocent chuckle. "Hihihi..."
The fairy simply turned around before quickly crossing through the portal. She was quickly followed by Palmon and Mimi, then Gennai, and finally Herissmon and me.
It was a strange but familiar feeling, somehow. It was like the feeling one had when one was about to fall but didn't.
Weird.
As I crossed the gate, I was confronted with the same scene that had been captured on the gate: a beautiful traditional Japanese house large enough to shelter three families, a large perfectly manicured field to one side with some small fountains and lakes, and beyond that, a sprawling jungle along with a river leading somewhere.
To say I was speechless would be an understatement.
This was, without a doubt, the most beautiful place I had ever been in the Digital World. Sorry, flower field in Tunomon Village, you officially lost that spot.
"This place is amazing!!!" Herissmon exclaimed with stars in his eyes as he knelt down next to a small lake with the clearest water I've ever seen.
"I've never seen these plants before..." I muttered in amazement as I looked around the villa. "Reminds me of those old Japanese villas."
As we walked around the house, my amazement only continued to grow; everything was perfectly tidy and clean. There was a large kitchen, a large living room, a sauna, and two bathrooms divided by gender.
As Piximon gave me a tour of the house, a door suddenly opened before a scowling Sora appeared in front of us.
"Where the hell were you guys supposed to be?!!!"
Having been taken by surprise, he can't help but hesitate briefly, looking anywhere else but at the angry redhead. "Uhh, there were some... minor complications that delayed our return, n-nothing too relevant."
"We fought an army of Insect Digimons! It was great!" Palmon exclaimed with a big smile and a little happy hop.
"WHAT?!!!"
I felt Sora's scream echo throughout the house.
"Yeah, someone may have lied to you a little..." Mimi said innocently as she discreetly pointed at me with her eyes.
I looked at Mimi treacherously, but she simply blinked innocently before sticking her tongue out at me. Feeling Sora's terrified gaze, I shuddered slightly as I slowly raised my hands appeasingly. "I-I can explain-"
Before Sora could start with his now usual scolding, Piximon stepped between us with an annoyed grimace on his face. "Save your troubles for later! Pi!"
The angry red-haired girl nodded reluctantly as she entered the room along with Herissmon, Palmon, and a triumphant Mimi, who was strutting around happily.
"Mimic..." I muttered under my breath, causing Gennai to raise an eyebrow before shrugging.
The room was quite a bit more spacious than I expected, though it was still a fairly normal room with paper walls, tatami on the floor, and lamps in the corners. Also, a long table with several cushions for us to sit on.
Herissmon quickly broke away from me to head towards Patamon and Gabumon, both of whom seemed to be playing with each other; it seemed the silver hedgehog never tired of playing. Mimi, along with Sora, went to talk to Joe, while Palmon and Gomamon seemed to be lying on the floor together, relaxing. Matt was in the corner with his eyes closed, but clearly irritated by the scowl on his face, and finally Izzy was already sitting at the table along with his laptop.
AND TK...
"Noah!" TK quickly approached me with an excited greeting.
"Hey, TK" I returned the outgoing one with a weak smile before raising an eyebrow. "You know what this is about?"
"Nope" The little blond boy shook his head, but without losing the smile on his face. "But I'm happy to be here again; it reminds me of my grandparents' house! It's amazing! Oh! By the way, Piximon used his magic to speed up BlackGarurumon's healing; he said he should recover within a couple of days!"
"Really?!" I blinked in surprise before exclaiming with a smile tugging at my lips.
TK nodded with a wide grin on his face before looking sheepishly down at his feet. "Although he said a lot of the healing was thanks to you, so... thank you, BlackaGarurumon helped me a lot, you know?"
Before he could ask what that meant, a pair of loud claps echoed in the room, drawing everyone's attention.
Clap! Clap!
"Okay, now that we're all gathered, please take a seat," Gennai pointed to the long table with several seats, enough so that we could all sit next to our fellow Digimon. "This might be a bit of a long and deep conversation for you guys."
TK and I looked at each other briefly before shrugging and sitting down at the table with the others. Gennai was right in front of everyone, acting as speaker, while we were all seated on the sides along with our Digimon.
The old man with the funny hairstyle looked at all of us blankly, at this point I wondered if he always had that expression or if he was just really good at keeping that face.
"I think I should introduce myself again," Gennai said, giving a small bow. "My name is Gennai, The Watcher."
"What does that mean, 'The Watcher'?" I asked curiously. Izzy nodded, having the same question as me.
"That would be my race," Gennai replied softly. "While I may look human, I am certainly not, nor am I a Digimon or some system. I am a unique entity in the Digital World charged with reporting 'bugs', monitoring movements of Virus and Sacred Digimon on all continents and islands, overseeing the status of Emblems, and..."
Gennai paused for a few moments as if considering his words very carefully.
"...in charge of guiding and training the Sacred Forces."
"Sacred Forces?" Patamon asked with interest.
Angemon was literally an angel, so it made sense that he was a Sacred Digimon, but what about the others?
Gennai remained silent as he looked meaningfully at Piximon, who was right across the table from the funny-haired old man.
"Hihihi! I only told Tai part of the story, pi!" The fairy replied nonchalantly. "I didn't expect him to disappear into The Grid, pi!"
The room was silent for a moment before a sigh came out of Gennai's mouth.
"That's inconvenient..." Coughing to himself, Gennai looked at Patamon and TK. "To answer your question, the Sacred Forces are the forces that yield directly under the command of God: the Sacred Beasts, the Royal Knights, the Cherubim, the Ten Legendary Warriors, and many others."
"They sound like fairy tale names," Matt scoffed with a snort. "What, you're going to start talking about Amaterasu and her legendary army?"
"All these names are Digimon that existed and served God with their lives in the so-called Mythological Epoch of the Digital World" Gennai replied, unperturbed by Matt's tone. "And no, I'm not talking about the Japanese gods or the Christian god, but the one and only Digital God: Yggdrasill."
"That's the tree from Norse mythology..." Izzy pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"That's just one of the many names we address it by," Gennai replied with a shrug. "Scion, 7D6, Host, King Drasil, Dejitaru Wārudo no Kami: these are all just names or ways of addressing the same individual. The one who controls the digital information."
"Any other questions?" The mysterious old man asked. When no one said anything, he nodded to himself before continuing. "Well, we are here to discuss the new threat looming over the Sever Continent."
That made everyone in the room focus their gaze sharply on him.
"What do you mean by 'new threat'?" Mimi asked with bloodshot eyes and a hint of desperation in her tone. "Wasn't Etemon the dictator of the continent? Defeating him cost us Tai! And you want us to face another Digimon?"
"Yes," Gennai nodded nonchalantly. "Because this time there's a lot more at stake than this continent; I know I sound pretentious, but this time you'll be fighting not only for the Digital World..."
"And what or who is this new threat?"
"Vadandemon, the Vampire King and General of the Nightmare Soldiers" Gennai's deep voice echoed in the room, silencing everyone immediately; for an old man of small stature, he certainly had a large presence. "Vandemon is not like the average Digimon; he doesn't brag about his strength or his wealth; he doesn't need to have the continent enslaved like Etemon to make a name for himself. He doesn't enslave the Digimon; he tames them and makes them believe that it's because of him that they were able to achieve greatness."
The old man let out a tired sigh, suddenly stopping his chatter and increasing the tension in the room. He could feel and see Herissmon's barbs bristling more and more with each passing second.
"He's a cunning and pragmatic Digimon who knows exactly what he has to do to achieve his goal," Gennai said, catching his breath.
The room hung in the tense silence; each of us looked into each other's eyes uncertainly. No one knew what to do or say; some didn't even want to listen anymore.
Finally, Matt mumbled through his teeth. "And that goal... what is it?"
Gennai simply took another look at all the people gathered around the table before opening his mouth.
"His goal... is to invade the Human World."
Chaos erupted in the room.
...
A/N: Phew, sorry for the delay. I had some complications with the last chapter and a little writer's block. Also, I had to go on a little vacation with my family :p
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