Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Ethereal ❯ The Potential Within ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter XIV

"What the hell are we going to do? Sora's been kidnapped by a great snake digimon and we're just standing here like idiots!"

Taichi shook his head in annoyance at Miyako's outburst. Beside him, Hikari was doing her best to try and calm the raging girl. "Please, Miyako! You have to compose yourself. If you want to help Sora, we need to be collected and cool. Overreacting won't get us anywhere," she practically shouted out. Miyako finally ended her ranting and crossed her arms haughtily.

"I'm really beginning to regret in agreeing to come here."

"Well, that's fucking great but right now we have a bigger problem to deal with," commented Daisuke as he glared at the older girl. He didn't recall Miyako being this temperamental but then four years could do a lot to change someone. Sighing, he rubbed his temples fiercely. Thinking up of rescue plans was never his forte and the longer they stayed there, the smaller their chance at rescuing Sora would become.

Just then, Taichi popped up with a suggestion. "Instead of sitting around here thinking up of plans, I say we at least try to go in the direction Snahhanmon went in. We might be able to meet up with him and then we can think of something then," he said.

Daisuke jumped up at that idea. "Yes, that is a fucking brilliant idea! Snahhanmon didn't leave much of a trail to follow but right now Taichi's plan is the only good thing we have," he agreed, his tone enthusiastic. The others nodded dimly and stood up to follow the two leaders. Daisuke shook his head and glanced at the older man beside him. "You know I don't remember ever having to do this much ordering around. I'm beginning to think these guys lost their spine in the last couple of years," he remarked with a frown.

Taichi snickered and glanced behind them where the rest of the Destined were trailing them. Miyako, Hikari, and Mimi were all huddled together, Hikari obviously doing her best to reassure the other two. Ken, Koushirou, and Iori walked in their own quiet group and Jyou and Yamato followed close behind. All of them wore troubled and confused looks on their faces. Taichi sighed deeply and turned to face Daisuke.

"Half of us still have incomplete memories of this place, Dais. They're probably just confused and scared. I remember faintly leading them in the past but it's still a blur. Just give them some time," he replied softly.

The younger boy remained silent and Taichi looked down at him wonderingly. Part of what he remembered was Daisuke being louder and brasher than now. Taichi smiled faintly at this. Daisuke was more considerate and open to different ideas and solutions at present. In fact, all of them seemed to have changed from what Taichi could recall. Four years…the thought saddened him. All that time wasted. At least now they were together again and back to the crazy adventures in the Digital World.

"HEY! WAIT UP!"

The entire group briefly came to an abrupt halt and looked behind them to see two small digimon running towards them. One was blue and the other yellow. Daisuke's face immediately broke into a wide grin. "V-mon!" he cried out just as the digimon jumped into his arms. Taichi looked at him in wonder before the yellow digimon did the same move on him, knocking him down to the ground in shock.

"Taichi!" the digimon squealed in happiness. The dark-haired man looked down at him curiously before petting his head awkwardly. Looking up at Daisuke, he saw the younger boy grinning at him amusedly.

"What the hell is that?" cried out Miyako before anyone of them could speak.

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "They are digimon, Miyako. And don't be too surprised because you have one close companion of your own as well. Though I don't know where the hell Hawkmon and the others are now," he explained, his grin widening at Miyako's shocked expression.

"I missed you so much, Taichi!" the yellow digimon exclaimed, attracting the attention from the rest of the Destined, including Taichi who was still at a loss for words. Hikari giggled quietly at her brother's baffled expression and leaned down next to him.

"He's one of your closest friend, Tai," she offered.

Taichi stared at Hikari dubiously before looking back at the digimon in his arms who was now staring up at him hopefully. "Agumon?" he finally squeaked out. The effect was immediate. Agumon hugged Taichi harder until the man was gasping for air. "A-Agumon! Air!" he choked out. The fire digimon finally let him go, a look of guilt on his face but still grinning broadly.

"I knew you would remember me, Taichi! We had too many good times together for you to forget me completely," he said cheerfully. Taichi nodded stiffly, though a small smile was on his face as he stared into the face of his newly reacquainted friend.

Then a sudden clapping brought Taichi out of his reverie. Everyone looked up to see Yamato. "I'm sorry to break this very special reunion but we do have a friend of ours in need of rescuing," he reminded, his tone cool yet demanding. Suddenly everyone was moving again, V-mon and Agumon trailing along happily.

After a few more minutes, it was Jyou who came to a stop. Daisuke turned around to look at him irritably. "Aye…Jyou! What is it now?" he whined. The blue-haired man looked at him and everyone else guiltily.

"Sorry, a thought came to me," he began, "but couldn't we use V-mon and Agumon to help track down Snahhanmon? I'm assuming it would easier for digimon to track each other down."

There was a silence for a moment before Taichi literally pounced on top of the taller man. "You are an absolute genius, Jyou!" he exclaimed before looking at Agumon and V-mon expectantly. The two digimon looked confused for a moment before finally getting the idea.

"Oh yeah! We can track down Snahhanmon easily!" remarked Agumon brightly. V-mon nodded by his side.

Daisuke shook his head and shared a glance with Ken that clearly said, "We are idiots for not thinking of this sooner." Ken grinned and shrugged. Daisuke turned to face V-mon and Agumon. "Now you're sure you can track Snahhanmon?" he inquired. Both digimon nodded. "All right. Go for it."

The two digimon then at that moment evolved, a blinding light rushing forth as they did so. The Destined all covered their eyes at the brilliance of it before it died down, revealing two nearly completely different digimon standing in their wake.

"D-Dinosaur!" screamed Mimi as she pointed at the newly evolved Greymon. The digimon merely looked at her curiously. Beside her, Hikari laughed and even Miyako managed a grin.

Taichi grinned at Greymon. "Wow…now it's all beginning to come back to me," he murmured quietly so that only Daisuke heard it. The younger boy grinned before sending the two digimon off on their search.

"Come back when you have news, okay?" he called out. The two nodded and went off into the distance, already picking up on some sort of trail from Snahhanmon. After a few long seconds, Daisuke sat down on a boulder, a solemn look on his face.

He had never imagined Piximon to actually go this far just for them to get some training. But then again the digimon always did have some very scary methods of "teaching a lesson." Daisuke managed a small smile at that but at the same time it could not quell the worry in his heart. Sora had been kidnapped by a seemingly dangerous digimon and hopefully she was still all right. Piximon was a bit insane at times but he would never let them get hurt intentionally…unless it was part of the training of course. Daisuke frowned at that. Oh, fuck it. Either way we're going to get hurt some way or another, he angrily told himself. There was no point in try to deny that factor.

"How do you think Takeru is doing?"

Blinking, Daisuke looked up and saw Yamato regarding him carefully. His question managed to register in his mind for a second before he crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Well, I imagine Piximon is dealing with him in some weird, crazy way. I don't think he's dead if that's what you wanted to hear," he replied casually.

Yamato frowned slightly at the lofty tone Daisuke had spoken in. "You don't seem to like Takeru much do you?" he inquired curiously.

The latter stared at him placidly. "Well, when you leave someone to die, it does cause some issues-especially when you thought that someone considered you a friend," he remarked coldly.

How Daisuke hated to be reminded of the past. He wished in vain to let go of it but he just couldn't. Every time he heard Takeru's name, it washed up memories of being abandoned. Takeru was the main reason why now he didn't trust anyone anymore. Save Wallace and his digimon friends, Daisuke was pretty much aloof with everyone else. Even now, though he knew that the others had no fault in this whatsoever. He blamed Takeru for everything and he blamed himself for not being able to handle it.

"I'm sorry."

That was all Yamato said before walking away, leaving Daisuke to himself.

"Hey…Greymon's back," a quiet voice interjected.

Daisuke turned and saw that it was Iori who made the comment and then at the towering yellow digimon that came running towards them. "Did you find any-?" he began before Greymon cut in.

"We found Snahhanmon! Fladramon is trying his best to distract him right now," the digimon exclaimed.

Taichi stood up. "Well, then what are we waiting for?" he called out. Suddenly everyone followed suit and for the first time, showed signs of true drive and determination. Daisuke smiled at this and followed them as Greymon began leading them out in the vast field.

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"But you see…my brother was always known as the tough one in the family. Well, I'll show them now!"

"How…nice."

Struggling a smile, Sora did all she could from yawning as the snake digimon stared down at her. He had been talking on straight for about an hour now and quite frankly, she was beginning to get a little more than bored. Snahhanmon had encased her in a bone cage and she didn't think to wonder on where those bones came from; many looked human and that was enough to keep her from examining them any further.

"I remember one time when we were in our rookie stages…"

Oh dear…another story, thought Sora miserably. All the digimon ever spoke about was his brother-how his brother was this or how his brother was that, and how his family just adored him and how he himself hated him. Apparently, the two digimon had some issues. Sora sighed and sat back down on the cold ground. Snahhanmon's lair was much like a cave and extremely high up from the ground. She shuddered when she remembered her flight up. The digimon was careful enough but that didn't keep Sora from sighting the ground far below and nearly fainting in the process.

The lair was a mixture of stones. On the outside it had an ordinary entrance but once inside, Sora saw that it was not the case. Onyx ceilings and floors glimmered all about and the walls appeared to be made out of opal from what the fiery-haired girl could gather. There were also numerous tunnels that led to places unknown to her for Snahhanmon kept them detained in the main room. Sora could almost say the place was beautiful if not for the filth and stench the snake digimon produced. Dripping from the ceiling was a slimy, yellowish substance that Sora really did not want to know about. Fortunately, fresh air blew in frequently from the gaping hole that was the entrance but Snahhanmon would often cover it up when he went into one of his rants, snorting out a fowl odor.

Where are you guys? Sora leaned against her bone cage miserably and hoped for them to appear soon.

"ARRG!"

With a start, Sora stood up only to see that Snahhanmon had somehow managed to get one of his own claws ensnared in that slimy mess. She frowned and shook her head. "He really is a hopeless digimon," she muttered to herself.

"WHAT?!"

"Umm…"

Sora stuttered in complete shock. She hadn't expected Snahhanmon to be able to hear from that far. Now she faced a raging digimon whose red eyes were glowing dangerously. "I…uh…wasn't talking about you!" she said helplessly. "I was speaking of…uh…V-mon! You know, he really is such a naïve digimon. He would follow someone off a mountain!"

Snahhanmon sneered and Sora cringed. Not good, she thought before suddenly, a large gust of wind blew in, knocking her against the wall. Snahhanmon roared in anger.

"WHO DARES INTERRUPT ME?!"

"It is I, Fladramon!" exclaimed a blue digimon heroically.

Sora looked up and broke into a wide smile. "Fladramon! I'm sorry! I take back everything I said before!" she said happily. The digimon merely smiled back.

"It's-"

"OUT, NOW!"

Suddenly, without warning, Snahhanmon leapt forward and tackled Fladramon to the ground, his large fangs flashing in the air. Sora screamed and watched as the enraged digimon sank its teeth into Fladramon's skin. The fire digimon let out a horrific cry before managing to push Snahhanmon away. Blood dripped freely from his wound and he looked slightly dazed.

"Fladramon!" screamed Sora as she watched the digimon sink to the ground in a dead faint, reverting back to V-mon. "Where in the world is Greymon?" she cried out just as the large dinosaur digimon jumped into action. The other Destined were amounted on him.

"MORE INTRUDERS!" yelled Snahhanmon. It was not just his eyes that were glowing now; his entire body was shedding off an eerie red light as he hissed at Daisuke when he ran to the fallen V-mon. "Don't be in such a hurry to join your pathetic digimon, human," he warned sadistically before firing a bright sting from his claws.

Daisuke looked up just in time to see the object flying at him before letting out a large fireball from the palm of his hand. The two attacks met in midair and cancelled each other out. "This is for V-mon!" he shouted as he let out another fireball, this time bigger and much more powerful.

Snahhanmon merely took once glance at it before flying upwards, dodging the attack completely. Daisuke cursed before placing V-mon into his arms and hurrying away towards Sora. "Are you all right?" he inquired urgently as he melted the bones away with his hands. Sora nodded faintly. "Good. Now take V-mon and get over to where Greymon and the others are. I'll take care of snaky," he instructed as he pushed Sora.

"What about you? Can't Greymon help you?" Sora asked worriedly.

Daisuke shook his head. "Don't worry! Greymon will take the rest of you down. I can take care of Snahhanmon myself," he urged.

"But-"

"Go!" exclaimed Daisuke before Sora finally ran away.

He watched as she greeted the others and sighed before turning his full attention on the floating digimon, who was still glowering down at him. He wondered faintly why Snahhanmon allowed the others to leave but pushed the thought away. I guess he just wants to deal with me. Daisuke smiled at the thought. And that's fine with me! Raising both hands before him, he focused all his energy. A small white ball appeared before his hands and slowly increased in size.

"Let's see how you like this!" he shouted before releasing the ball of energy. It flew at an alarming speed towards Snahhanmon, but the digimon made no motion to dodge. The attack landed on him squarely, leaving a trail of dust and smoke. Daisuke lowered his arms and watched as the clouds cleared out. Nothing was there.

Frowning, Daisuke looked around him and saw that the lair was now completely empty. Snahhanmon was not in sight. He couldn't have been destroyed by a blast like that… With sudden comprehension, Daisuke ran towards the entrance and looked down. Below him, he saw Snahhanmon and the others sprawled out on the ground. Cursing, Daisuke curled his hand into a fist.

"Fuck," he muttered angrily. "How could I have let him…? That snake was planning this the entire time!"

With a hiss, Daisuke backed away from the entrance slowly. There was no way he could get down now without Fladramon or Greymon to help him. Where in the world was Aero? The spiky-haired youth took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The others didn't have the skills to take on a digimon like Snahhanmon-hell, he didn't have the skills yet. If they all remembered how to use their powers, then it would be a different story. Daisuke opened his eyes and sighed deeply.

"There's only one way then," he murmured.

It had been a technique that Daisuke always feared in using. It required a great deal of concentration and most of the times, he had only been able to do it in emergency situations where it was either life or death. Daisuke closed his eyes and relaxed his posture. If all went well, though, he would be able to turn his entire body into fire and land safely on the ground and revert back to his normal self. This was one of the few things that Daisuke wished he had spoken to Piximon about. The digimon most likely could have taught him how to better control it. The dark-haired boy smiled bitterly. Well, now it was too late for any of that.

Walking up to the edge of the cave, Daisuke looked down. "It's all or nothing," he whispered before leaping off the edge.

The air was cold and biting and Daisuke shut his eyes tightly, concentrating with all his might to bring forth his power. Turning himself into a figure of flames was no easy task and he only succeeded in doing it twice. The first time had been a complete accident when he was falling down to the ground after Aero had taken a direct hit from one of Pathogen's henchmen. In all his panic and blind fear, he had somehow converted to fire and merely landed on the ground as a few sparse flames here and there before rejoining to become one and then back to his regular form. It was a strange sensation to become fire. All Daisuke ever felt was warmth and a strangely invincible aura.

Spinning around wildly, Daisuke felt the rising power from within him. Please, oh please just let this work for once! Opening his eyes, he spotted the ground only good few yards away and hissed.

"Fire and Ice! Courage and Friendship!" he yelled out unconsciously.

Then, like the way a caterpillar slowly makes its way out of a cocoon only to reveal itself as a butterfly, Daisuke felt a change within him. He felt heat-wonderful heat-envelop him in a comforting manner and he embraced it. He closed his eyes and focused on his crest, which had begun to glow a sheering reddish-blue tone, and gradually, licks of fire edged themselves onto the tips of his hands and feet. They then flowed upwards and all around to completely enflame his entire body until it became a bright blue tone. The shape of Daisuke's body was still evident and his eyes had turned to an eerie amber color. With a mighty shout, he landed on the floor with a tremendous splash of flames before collecting himself slowly.

"DAISUKE?!"

Once down, Daisuke found that instead of reverting back to his normal self like he usually did, he remained in that fiery form. He looked at himself in surprise and wonder. Never had he seen himself in blue flames before. In the transformations that had taken place before, he had always appeared in reddish-orange flames…never bluish-white. But before he could ponder anymore on this new revelation, Snahhanmon lunged at him with a wide snap of his teeth.

Moving away with surprising agility, Daisuke grinned at the seething digimon. "I have a bone to pick with you, snaky," he taunted as he threw himself at the digimon.

For that instant, his body narrowed into a bullet-shaped figure and pierced Snahhanmon squarely in the chest. The digimon let out a roar of anguish and recoiled painfully as Daisuke withdrew himself. Hissing weakly, Snahhanmon quickly retreated before the boy could make any other attack and glided up back to his fortress, leaving the others in shock.

There was a brief pause among the Destined before Ken gingerly made his way to the flaming form that was Daisuke.

"Daisuke? That…is you, right?" he inquired in pure awe.

The former looked at him before seizing up suddenly. The bluish flames dissipated with a single motion, leaving a smiling Daisuke. "Yep!" he replied back cheerfully.

"What happened to you?" voiced Miyako almost fearfully.

The spiky-haired youth sighed and scratched his head. "I can't really explain. I just basically willed myself to turn into fire…but I've never managed to stay in that form for so long," he explained slowly, looking at the faded crest symbol in his hand. Why had he shouted out those words before he transformed? It came to him involuntarily yet at the same time, felt so natural.

"That was so cool," remarked Taichi ecstatically.

Daisuke grinned whimsically until he remembered Sora. He turned to her in worry. "Are you all right?" he inquired.

Sora gave a short laugh. "Well, Snahhanmon wasn't exactly the best of companions but he didn't do anything to me other than bore me half to death," she replied before turning to the horizon. "I'd say we should start getting back on track. We've lost the day."

The group turned to the setting sun. Reddish-purple hues painted the sky and the warm orange sun was already halfway down the horizon. Glancing up, Daisuke thought to himself. Snahhanmon's cliff seemed to appear friendlier at that moment with the soft light hitting against it. The rest of the sky was already turning to a dark blue-black color, small stars glittering here and there. Piximon's home was indeed a wondrous and peculiar place.

"I guess we should find some place to camp for the night," suggested Taichi as he scratched his head. He looked at Daisuke. "You think Snahhanmon will let us stay with him?" he inquired jokingly.

Daisuke snickered but Sora, on the other hand, was horrified.

"We go back to him and I can assure you, his ranting is all he needs to kill all of us," she warned.

They all laughed merrily. A wave of relief washed over them and Daisuke was able to relax now. They had survived the first test thus far but how long would they have before another challenge crossed their paths? If it was going to be anything like Snahhanmon, he was certain they would be in trouble. Piximon always tended to push the limits with his training.

And for a small second, Daisuke found himself wondering on the fate of Takeru. Considering the blond was most likely with Piximon, he would probably have to endure even harsher treatment from the red digimon. Daisuke snickered. Even he had to feel some amount of sympathy for Takeru. Being alone with Piximon was a dangerous thing but then again, perhaps that would enable the blond to finally make up for lost times. All of the other Destined knew their talents and abilities but Takeru was always a mystery. Daisuke figured that there had to be more than just his teleportation. Hope was quite possibly the most powerful attribute out of all of theirs-Takeru had to have something more.

"Hey, Dais, you coming or what?"

Blinking, Daisuke turned and saw Hikari watching him strangely. The others were already walking on ahead. He shook his head and smiled brightly. "Yeah. Let's go," he replied as he hooked his arm with Hikari's. The brown-haired girl laughed lightly but allowed this gesture.

A while ago, Daisuke would have killed to be this near Hikari. Now all he felt was companionship. His feelings for her had diminished ever since he had been left in the Digital World. In fact, his entire heart seemed to have iced over. Even when Wallace had appeared, Daisuke had lost a part of himself. He became cynical and overly pessimistic. It made him think that now he was with his friends again, he would be able to regain that lost part of his soul. But then there was that constant whisper in his mind that told him as long as Takeru was there, he would never be happy. And he believed it.

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TBC

Eh, sorry for such a long delay. Well, this extra long chapter makes up for it, right? Hopefully…. Ehehehe. -.-;; There was also a bit more of Daisuke's bitterness towards Takeru in this part. It makes you wonder how this will work out to be a Takedai, no? Hehehe.