Play of Spirits
Chapter 27 - Castle in the Trees

The boys were both breathing hard by the time they arrived at Forest Terminal with the digimon on their backs, from climbing those steep tracks and because it had gotten too difficult for Bokomon and Neemon to reasonably manage. 'I really wish that Trailmon had given us a lift instead of speeding right by,' Junpei grumbled. His feet wished that as well, though his sneakers were holding up surprisingly well under it all.

Kouichi didn't bother gracing that with a reply. They'd both grumbled enough when the Trailmon actually had sped past and there was no use grumbling more about it now that they were where they were meant to be. Kind of.

They were somewhere definable, at least, which was progress. They'd escaped from nameless forest territory for the time being.

So Kouichi set Neemon down and plopped himself onto one of the station benches. 'Let's just sleep here tonight… unless it rains.'

There were some clouds, but they looked pretty far away and only getting further. 'Looks more like the direction the others went in,' Junpei mused, claiming the other bench with Bokomon. 'We should be safe from the rain.'

They were safe from the rain, but they awoke to a dark sky and a shaking platform.

Junpei blinked blearily as Bokomon fell with a thump. 'What's going on?' he slurred, voice heavy with sleep.

Kouichi sat up and stared hard at the darkness. 'Gigasmon,' he muttered, before shaking Neemon who somehow had managed to sleep through the commotion. 'Come on Neemon, you'll be a sitting duck!'

'We're having duck?' Neemon asked, still half-asleep and rather muddled.

'If you can find some.' It wasn't like they'd had dinner. 'But stay out of Gigasmon's way.'

'Eep,' said Neemon, though it really was too dark for the rest of them to see. He wound up tripping over Bokomon instead, before the light of evolution managed to make things a little clearer.

But that light didn't stay away for long. Wolfmon drew his saber and that helped some more – or didn't.

Junpei figured that was as balanced as they were going to get, though, and it wasn't like Wolfmon had an attack that wasn't somehow light-based anyway. That was a disadvantage Kouichi simply had to deal with – but there was just enough visibility that he thought he could fight pretty well as well.

And Gigasmon would be equally hindered… or moreso because lightning created light, too. He'd just have to be careful not to hit Kouichi or his line of vision – but at least they'd fought Snimon together… kind of.

This time they were actually fighting together. And that began with launching off the platform to meet Gigasmon's fists. Wolfmon immediately threw his weight and parried, leaving Junpei to sneak around and attack.

Which made perfect sense since Blitzmon didn't come with a weapon attached. But a beam sword wasn't made to counter brute strength so Kouichi had to break parry quickly and duck away.

Still, they managed to dance around each other easily enough, and Gigasmon wasn't exactly built for speed. The trouble was causing any damage, since both their moves were turning out to be rather ineffective. And they'd tire far too quickly. Who knew what Gigasmon's stamina was like?

And Kouichi might have an advantage in the dark, but not really with a spirit that lit up that darkness. It wasn't worth staying on to fight. The cover of darkness also afforded them the opportunity to slip into the trees and hide – even if it meant they'd have to spend the rest of the night in the trees or on uneven ground.

Junpei took to the air with the digimon and Wolfmon tucked his saber away and shot into the trees. Gigasmon, to both their surprise, simply stood and shook his fists at the retreating thunder warrior – even if he could have easily gone after the warrior of light instead.

They reconvened at a fork in the road where the canopy opened up. 'I'm not sure how I feel about being ignored,' Kouichi admitted. 'But at least we got away.'

'Well,' Junpei laughed, 'I'm just glad he doesn't have wings.'

'Agreed,' Bokomon nodded. 'You two are at major disadvantages with no beast spirits and without an element strong against earth.'

'Water or ice, I guess,' Kouichi sighed. 'In any case, it doesn't seem too hard to outrun him. The issue is avoiding him – especially long enough to get a decent night's sleep.'

'Definitely the good night's sleep,' Junpei agreed. 'Otherwise we'll be seeing shadows long before we reach the Dark Continent.'

Nobody responded.

'That was a good one, wasn't – ' Kouichi's hand slapped over his mouth suddenly.

Junpei grabbed the wrist and yanked it off. 'What the hell?' he hissed.

Kouichi wasn't even looking at him, but rather –

Okay, Junpei thought. Where did that green dude come from?

'At ease, children,' said the stranger. 'I am Shurimon, and Lord Seraphimon has sent me to guide you to his castle.'

'Lord Seraphimon?' they echoed.

Bokomon, on the other hand, squeaked. 'Lord Seraphimon is one of the rulers of the Digital World – one of the Three Great Angels. He resides over law and order and the Forest Kingdom and oh it's such an honour –' He looked positively delighted, and it did rather suit the white gnome.

Junpei couldn't help bit grin, and when he snuck another peak at Kouichi, he was smiling a little as well. But his eyes were contemplative. 'Maybe he can explain things to us.'

'Hope so,' Junpei agreed. They could use a few bones of advice… and some answers while they were at it. The mystery women sending them messages was kind of helpful – but she was also the one who'd landed them in this mess to begin with.

And so they followed Shurimon, down a road in the fork, then up a winding road of stairs, past a guard Shurimon introduced as Sorcerimon (though he looked rather like a differenty-coloured Wizarmon) and then finally through two sets of double-doors and into a chamber where there is only an eight-winged angel upon the altar.

'Welcome, children.' His voice is stern – not harsh – and very worn. 'I am Seraphimon.'

The boys look at each other, not entirely sure what to do. They bow in greeting, in the end, instead, because that was their custom and, really, the only custom they know.

It seemed to do the trick, at least. Shurimon dragged some chairs in for the four of them, and then disappeared. 'You have a rather persistent shadow,' he remarked.

'Seriously?' Junpei groaned – before paling. 'We didn't lead him to your doorstep, did we?'

'It was I who invited you,' dismissed the angel. 'And my soldiers are more than capable of stalling a rogue warrior.'

'Just stalling?' And, this time, Junpei found himself flushing at the poor choice of words. 'I mean –' Great job, Junpei. Open mouth and insert foot.

It was somehow much easier to do with someone like Kouichi who just didn't go around interrupting people, generally, and talked about just as much as was necessary.

'No, it's a valid point,' Kouichi frowned. Huh, he's defending the slip of tongue. 'One of the rulers of the digital world and his army can't defeat Gigasmon. So what can?'

'A Legendary Warrior,' Seraphimon replied. 'Legend states that one can only be destroyed by another. It is their failsafe… but also their downfall.'

'Because it doesn't work if they're not all working together,' Junpei sighed, 'so we really need to work out how to beat them. Some tips would be helpful.'

'There is a hierarchy,' Seraphimon explained. 'There are human spirits… let me take Wolfmon as an example. Then beast spirits are somewhat stronger. For the spirits of light, that would be Garrumon. Then stronger still is the double-spirit evolution, which combines the human and beast spirits to create Beowolfmon. Then Unified which combines ten of the twenty spirits into MagnaGarurumon. Then, finally, the unification of all twenty spirits creates Susanoomon.'

'Susanoomon,' Kouichi repeated, 'after the war god Susanoo?'

Junpei blinked. Maybe he should amend his previous thought. He hadn't taken Kouichi to be interested in history, though. Or mythology. Whichever had led to that little tidbit of information.

'I confess myself to be unfamiliar with human literature,' Seraphimon replied, 'though Ofanimon may know. She owns a magnificent library. Or Cherubimon. He resides over all knowledge in this world.'

'…aren't we getting a little off topic?' Junpei wondered aloud… though he was surprised he wasn't saying that to Takuya instead, or Izumi wasn't saying it to him.

'You're right. Forgive me.' Seraphimon bowed his head.

'Sorry,' Kouichi, likewise, mumbled, shuffling his feet.

They both looked so awkward that it was all Junpei could do to keep himself from bursting into laughter. So he just moved on. 'Okay, so only legendary warriors can defeat other legendary warriors, but because none of us have beast spirits – or even the right human spirits – we're at a huge disadvantage?'

'Though it may be more prudent to deal with the rogue spirits already on the loose before adding to their numbers, though,' Bokomon mused. 'Dealing with just two is tricky enough, even if we outnumber them two to one.'

'The match-ups are terrible, though,' Junpei sighed. 'If it was Ranamon stalking us instead, I could deal with her easily. And if Takuya still had the water spirits, he could've dealt with Grumblemon.'

'Is it that easy though?' Kouichi wondered, 'with the beast spirit?'

'In truth,' Seraphimon interjects, 'Grumblemon found that beast spirit on the mountain. Likewise, Ranamon found hers in the river by the school. There was the smallest window of opportunity with both of them –'

'…which we really couldn't capitalise on because we didn't have a clue what was happening,' Junpei muttered. 'Still kind of don't.' Then his words caught up with him again and he winced. Geeze, Seraphimon probably thought of him as terribly rude.

But still, can't blame a guy for being frustrated.

'I'm afraid we don't, either,' said Seraphimon apologetically. 'This hasn't… well…' he checked himself, 'there is nothing in the legends or prophecies. Likewise, we can't say if Agunimon was an exception or if something similar will happen with Wolfmon and the spirits of darkness.'

'The spirits of darkness?' Kouichi repeated. 'You mean they're with Kouji at the moment?'

The great angel nodded.

Bokomon, however, frowned. 'Hold on,' he said. 'The human spirit of darkness is supposed to be Lowemon.'

'That is true,' Seraphimon agreed, 'however the spirits of darkness were corrupted long ago by Lucemon. It was his final stand, if you will. Some think of it as his petty final strike, accomplishing nothing.'

'But you said "corrupted",' Junpei frowned, when Kouichi didn't comment further. 'That doesn't sound like nothing.'

'No, it's not.' Seraphimon closed his eyes. 'Like how you children were able to use spirits aside from the one you are most attuned to, some digimon are also capable of evolving with those spirits.'

'And yet we weren't able to use them all,' Junpei pointed out. 'We passed the spirits of wind and ice on the way, but those ones didn't react.'

'The spirits are sealed,' Kouichi stated, before Seraphimon could reply.

The great angel coughed. 'Yes, Ofanimon sealed the spirits that way. She felt that, if given the chance to battle with spirits least suited to you, you would grow stronger… and strong enough.'

'In other words, you guys have been leading us along so we can level up enough for the big boss.' Junpei couldn't say he was very happy about that, and Kouichi didn't look very happy either, but it made enough sense. They had, after all, agreed to play a game and at least they weren't just thrown into the deep end and expected to save the world.

Still, it would've been nice to have known what he was agreeing to before he agreed to it. But that was also on him, agreeing without thinking first.

'We just want you all to be as safe as possible, and have the highest chance of success.' The angel looked inexplicably sad.

They wanted to ask… but they also didn't. If other people had attempted this and failed, they should have been told before they even tried themselves. But knowing now… Knowing now was pointless. It was just more baggage; baggage they could do without.

'We have kept watch,' Seraphimon continued. 'Minamoto Kouji is at Cherubimon's castle in the Dark Continent. Your other friends are nearing Breezy Village where the wind spirit slumbers. We have allies everywhere. After all, most of us want to see our world saved.'

'Well, that's nice to know,' Junpei sighed. Though it didn't really help against the rogue spirits, apparently.

Seraphimon nodded. 'Is there anything else you would like to know?'

'Is Kouji okay?' Kouichi asked, after a moment's silence.

Seraphimon shrugged delicately. 'For now, yes. But a corrupt spirit is far harder on the mind than it is on the body.'

Kouichi chewed at his lip. He didn't look particularly comforted, but… well, he'd asked. Sucks that one of the ten spirits were corrupted though, and it was one they wound up needing. Couldn't it have been the spirit of metal or something? That one hadn't turned out at all yet, and didn't sound like any of them really needed to claim it either.

Sorcermon suddenly burst in. 'The earth spirit approaches!' he cried.

Seraphimon stood, tall and casting a shadow over the entire room. 'Then you must go now. Over the mountain and to the Dark Continent.' He looked at Kouichi a moment. 'You are the only one who can purify those spirits. That's the battle you face ahead… but in doing so, you'll gain something more than a greater appreciation of yourself and greater strength.'

'My brother, right?' Kouichi said rhetorically.

'… go how?' Neemon asked, when nobody said anything after.

'There is a Trailmon waiting,' said Seraphimon. 'Sorcermon will take you.'

And Sorcermon did take them, to a cute little yellow one called Kettle. And he sped off, tires screeching.

Kouichi and Junpei just stared out their respective windows, processing what they'd learnt. There wasn't really much to see, with the outside being so dark, but Kettle had lights strung all over and inside the carriages too. They had better conditions, really, despite it being later at night. And the seats were far more comfortable.

They just weren't sleepy, though. Their minds were too full.

'Don't know if I like being watched and yet left to my own devices,' Junpei mused. 'I mean, I'm not that religious and I kinda do think there's are gods out there… but they're not the sort we're supposed to see and hear, you know. They give abstract signs and stuff, and a lot of it is just believing or no. But that Seraphimon… he's more a king than a god.'

'And we're humans, not digimon,' Kouichi agreed. 'I don't like it either, but we're here now and we have to manage it.' He paused, then added. 'I don't know what's worse: the corrupt spirit, or the fact that others have gone through this before us.'

It was more obvious to Junpei, since Kouji wasn't his twin brother. But he sure as hell wasn't going to say that out loud. He had enough tact.

'We can't worry about any of that now, though,' he pointed out. 'We're just in it too deep.'

'Yeah…' Kouichi sighed. 'But whoever set this up from the real world… Well, it can't be legal, right?'

'Assuming someone did set it up in the real world…' They trailed off at that. Why their world? Why them? Why did they stand a chance of succeeding when others had failed. Or had they misunderstood? Was it the digimon who'd tried and failed and so they'd turned to the human world instead? That was easier to stomach, and made perfect sense. After all, why involve another world in internal world troubles, even if that did mean the end of the world, if they had the resources to deal with it themselves?

'He seemed pretty confident whatever he and the other angels are planning will work, even with the blind spot of the rogue spirits,' Kouichi spoke up suddenly. 'I wish I'd thought of more questions to ask him, but… well…'

Junpei shrugged. 'At least you managed one. I was still processing all of that!'

'It was a selfish one,' Kouichi muttered. And Junpei supposed it kind of was. Important, yes, but selfish. They could have asked about the others too.

'But that's okay, isn't it? Kouji is the one we know next to nothing about, at the moment.' Processing that, Junpei realised how right that statement was. 'Actually, what can you tell us about him?'

'Well…' Kouichi turned to the window again. 'I don't know him personally, of course, but he lives with our father and stepmother. And dog. And plays a guitar.'

'Cool,' said Junpei. 'I mean, I'm not a dog person but playing an instrument is cool. That takes dedication.'

'That's true.' Kouichi smiled a bit. 'And I'm more of a cat person myself. The – ' He stopped suddenly, eyes whipping as they caught sight of something.

Junpei had a good guess of what when there was a thud, jerk, and then the train wheels screeching. 'Gigasmon grabbed the train, didn't he?'

'Well, more like Grumblemon jumped onto the train but same thing, I guess.'

They listened to the sound of things being smashed. Grumblemon was crushing the carriages looking for them. Great.

They evolved and lunged at Grumblemon the moment he entered their carriage. The result was the three of them tumbling onto the tracks and the Trailmon speeding away with Bokomon and Neemon.

Well, Junpei thought, a little guiltily. At least they'll be safe.

They'd chosen a pretty poor place to fight, in the end. On the tracks where another Trailmon could easily come, on a mountain where they could easily slip off and was Grumblemon's domain.

But it wasn't like they chose the place. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and all.

But they were no better off than the last time. In fact, with the steep drop and lack of wings, Wolfmon was worse off.

Which was probably why it was inevitable that he slipped, especially with Grumblemon's hammer causing the mountain to shake every time he swung it down.

'Kouichi!' Junpei screamed, diving – before the hammer caught him round the middle and he was thrown up instead. He frantically tried to righted himself – then dodge the boulders coming for him…

And in the end, the mountain path was broken and blocked and he didn't even know if Kouichi had gone left or down.

Hopefully left. And left enough to avoid those boulders.

He'd at least managed to give Grumblemon the slip for a little bit. And Grumbelmon wasn't attacking anymore, so Kouichi really was better off. Hopefully.

It would help if they had their phones.

Hang on… He'd contacted the others before, through the devices. Maybe he could do it again.

Except Kouichi wasn't responding. Darn it. You better be alright!

Because it was his fault for not catching the other if he wasn't. Because he couldn't in good conscience blame whatever god existed in the digital world for not giving Wolfmon wings. Not when he'd been that close and hadn't grabbed him.

He kept trying, holed up in the nice little hole he'd found that'd, hopefully, keep him away from Grumblemon for just a bit. But he'd be screwed if Grumblemon did catch him.

Or he could just fly up, because it wasn't like Grumblemon could fly either.