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As Leomon deals with Musyamon, Cheisu begins to discover that he may have been wrong in all his assumptions about the Digital World as he meets not one or two, but three new allies.

Mother, Father, and Koneko Make Three

Musyamon charged Leomon, his sword wildly slashing through the air as if trying to drive off some bother some insect instead of the single foe he now faced. "NINJA BLADE!"

Leomon's fingers tightened around the hilt of his own weapon, his feet spreading only slightly as his opponent came toward him. Time seemed to slow until it even seemed as if the ghostly flames at the edge of Musyamon's sword left a long trail through the air like a long, radiant, sapphire banner. He raised his sword high over his head and slashed downward. Leomon reacted, stepping back and pulling his own blade from its sheath. He raised it into the air, easily catching the attack.

From there time moved at its normal pace again. For awhile, the two warriors exchanged blows, their feet moving back and forth, swords slashing through the air in a kind of deadly dance that was both beautiful and frightening. Each time their weapons met sparks flew from between them.

All the while, the human girl who had appeared beside Leomon stood motionless with her gaze fixed on the fighting below. From what little I could discern of her features, her expression was emotionless, her lips straight, eyes fixed only on her partner. I found myself wondering how it was possible for her to be so calm in the midst of this chaos.

The reprieve was broken suddenly. From the edge of my vision, I saw Musyamon and Leomon stumble back from one another. They both appeared weary and out of breath, but the look of intense determination remained in Leomon's eyes. Musyamon retained his stubborn, enraged glare. Without warning the two charged one another, blades held outward. For the briefest of moments, the two came into contact with one another before once more they separated, their backs now one to the other. The two stood still and silent as statues before with a sigh, Musyamon fell to the ground, dropping his blade as his body disolved into the red data particles I'd seen before.

Leomon snorted and sheathed his blade. "Musyamon was a worthy opponent," he remarked to no one in particular, "but his fight was not a righteous one. In the end, it was his lack of honor which was his undoing." For a moment, he closed his eyes and bowed his head downward, a pair of fingers raised in front of his chest, pointing up toward his chin. It was a gesture of respect, though one I couldn't recall seeing before.

The human girl made her way down the slope of the mountain and finally I got a better look at her. She was indeed nineteen years old by the look of her, dressed in tan furs that just barely managed to keep her modest. She was by no means thin, but that didn't mean she was in bad shape either. Her lower legs and bare arms were lined with lean muscle like an Olympic Athlete. She passed us by completely and made her way to Leomon's side. "Another fine battle as always, Raion," she said softly, "not that there was ever any doubt."

"There is always room for doubt, Meiryosa," Raion answered, "A true warrior never overestimates his abilities, but... there are more important matters to tend to now." He tilted his head to where the four of us waited.

With a heavy sigh, the girl turned around, her eyes narrowed as she looked at us. I knew that look. Mother had the same look in her eyes whenever she came into the apartment and saw I'd spilled something on her newly-vacuumed carpet. It was a look that all females knew, promising certain death to any male upon which it fell.

Meiryosa stepped toward me, her body stiff. "Er... Hi," I managed, quickly remembering to bow, "I'm Shukumei Che-" I never finished introducing myself. Faster than I could react, the girl brought her hand up toward my face, and when it fell again, a stinging red blotch remained on my cheek where her palm had smacked it.

"I already know who you are!" Meiryosa growled, "Everyone knows! It's not everyday a foolish human and his partners decide to camp underneath one of the most cursed sites in the Digital World! You're fortunate that Raion and I showed up when we did, or your partner would have paid for your mistake."

She shoved me aside and made her way toward where Shori sat. Without words she placed a palm against the girl's head and closed her eyes. Raion made his way to her side and knelt down. He muttered something, and Meiryosa seemed to argue, but then Raion pointed out the state of the two other digimon beside Shori. His partner finally nodded her head.

Meiryosa turned around and walked back toward me while Raion plucked Okami and Riina from the ground. Both were exhausted, battered, and near unconsciousness as he held them carefully under his arms. Seeing Riina like that brought a tear to my eyes. I scolded myself for having even thought this would be a safe place. Okami had warned of its curse, but as always, I thought I knew best.

Meiryosa's voice snapped me out of it. "Come," she said, "I don't like it, but Raion has decided that you and your friends will be our guests. Renamon and Gaomon need healing, and the sooner that little girl is away from this place, the better."

I wanted to bite out a witty remark, something about how she didn't need to state the obvious, or how getting out of here would be best for all of us, or even a simple 'duh,' but I didn't. I couldn't. From Meiryosa's tone, I knew she blamed me for this whole thing, and worse still... I knew she was right. As we slowly made our way from beneath those blackened peaks, I couldn't keep my eyes off Riina's limp form as Raion carried her. "I'm sorry, Riina," I whispered, "I failed... but I'll make it up to you somehow. I swear."

{[_]}DIGIMON{[_]}

It took until almost evening for us to finally be clear of the Warui Yokan Mountain range, and I cannot say I was at all displeased to put that cursed place behind me. Meiryosa took the lead to intercept anything that might attack us, with Raion following close behind. I took the rear. The sun turned the color of blood as it set, filling the entire sky with crimson streaks. Silence hung in the air. There was no chattering of birdsong like in the Real World, no echoing of our footsteps in the valley, and not a word passed between us. Unfortunately, after what had happened, I could not blame Meiryosa for not speaking to me.

Gradually the ebony color faded from the peaks around us, giving way to more normal brown and gray shades. The valley gradually widened. Ahead, the mountain range split into three distinct sets of peaks, dividing the valley in two. Without a word, Meiryosa took the left path. The mountains steadily shrank in size, 'til they were nothing more than a set of low cliffs and rocky plateaus, their sides flattened by ages of sand erosion. Another gap appeared in the hills and Meiryosa turned into it. From what I could tell, we were heading east, as the half-crescent of the sun was sinking beneath the mountains behind us.

The shadows grew long and the air took on a chill by the time we reached our destination. Meiryosa made a final turn, this time seeming to disappear right through a cliff wall. Without hesitation, Raion followed her, but I paused, unable to believe my eyes. "No way..." I muttered.

I remembered something like this from the television series. The first portions of the Digital World had been created with the first internet connections. As packets of data were sent and as the net grew, more and more data piled on top of itself until it formed this literal, breathing parallel world. All this data compiled like pebbles, sometimes leaving whole sections of memory space (or literal space in this world) empty, and it was this space into which viruses often inserted themselves, leading to the invention of the firewall (also used to close unwanted connections.). In the Digital World, these sometimes-literal walls were often made of stone and a periodic gap in the firewall would lead to a subterranean tunnel, often forgotten, or at least abandoned. Meiryosa and Raion appeared to have discovered one such gap.

I placed my hand against the wall. Under my touch it felt solid, but I also felt a tingling sensation, like miniature arcs of static electricity coursing through my fingertips. I wondered what it would feel like to push through it, whether it would be painful, but Raion and Meiryosa had paid it no mind. Another moment and I pushed my hand slowly through. The tingling felt more intense, but the moment my palm had completely penetrated the barrier the sting faded away, replaced by the feeling of warm, humid air. With a deep breath, I cautiously pushed the rest of the way through.

There was a moment of blindness. I felt like a hundred tiny electric massagers were rubbing over my skin, but when my vision cleared again, Meiryosa was waiting for me. We had pushed through into a tunnel beneath the desert, perfectly square but quite obviously a natural formation. There were no support beams or any constructs of a nature to suggest human design. Strange, phosphorescent crystals grew from several cracks in the walls and floor, casting pale blue light across the entire with of the cave, leaving not a single shadow. A soft breeze whispered through the length of the tunnel, maintaining a perfect temperature.

"Raion has already taken your companions ahead," she said, "He insisted I wait behind for you." I wanted to say 'thanks,' but it's pretty hard when a girl glares at you like you're her ex-boyfriend and you've been caught with somebody else. She whirled around, her long, dark hair fluttering like a cape as she moved deeper into the cave. Shrugging, I followed.

As it turned out, the cavern was far from a straight level pathway underground. We traveled up hill for several yards, then down, taking curves left and right enough to confuse the senses of even the most stone-conscious spelunker. Thankfully, Meiryosa seemed to know exactly where she was going. The crystals' color changed as we moved deeper into the earth, first becoming a gentle periwinkle, then pink, then a soft white, something like natural sunlight. The cavern steadily widened around us, and the sound of running water reached my ears. The air grew more moist, to the point where I could feel tiny droplets of water sticking to my skin. Soft moss grew along the walls.

Finally the tunnel came to an end, and we found ourselves standing uphill from an underground lake. Such wonders were not unheard of, even in the Real World, but what surprised me was that an entire ecosystem seemed to have sprung up around this single body of water. Clean water flowed through an inlet on one side of the lake, and the other carried old water out, creating a safe, sustaining source even down here. A number of plants I could not name grew at the edges: shrubs with snowy white branches and violet leaves, unusual blue reeds and pink flowers. Insects flitted from one plant to another, their bodies glowing just like the crystals, shifting colors dependant on the plant upon which they chose to alight. Overhead, the ceiling rose upward until it opened to the darkening sky. I wondered whether we were perhaps beneath a mountain, or an extinct volcano. Given the strange nature of the Digital World, perhaps it was both.

Meiryosa made her way easily down the sandy hill, and I stumbled after her. Loose debris scattered down the slope, creating miniature paths of its own. The ground underneath my feet was hard as the rock from which the cave was made at first, but as we traveled closer to the lake, it became softer and more loamy.

I wondered if perhaps this too was a natural result of erosion, but as we neared the water, I quickly decided otherwise. On the opposite shore a series of three small buildings were arranged in a loose crescent formation, each one looking toward a wooden dock which led into the lake. Much like those in the Primary Village, these appeared to be homes constructed by human hands, if such a thing were possible.

They were set on foundations carved from the stone around them, high enough that even the occasional desert rain that made its way over the mountains would not flood the home. Whereas the homes around Primary Village had been composed of wood, these were primarily built of brick, with roofs slanting straight toward the lake, covered in tin. Two of the homes appeared abandoned, though not as in as bad a state of disrepair as the ones before.

In the center, the third home (a two story home that looked like something out of a bread and breakfast catalog) was in much better condition, repaired many times over until it seemed a strange combination of human materials and the Digital World's indigenous plant life. The original door, for example, must have been warped or otherwise destroyed, because the new door was made up of the same purple-blue wood as the trees on File Island, and it shimmered with a life much the same as the rest of the fauna around us. Several of the same crystals as those that filled the tunnel had grown into the home's foundation, apparently reinforcing it, rather than causing it to crumble. Thin, silvery-white tree trunks took the place of at least two key support beams. A thin wisp of pale, greenish smoke rose gracefully from the chimney. Perhaps that was due to the strange plants around here?

Meiryosa led me to a narrow section of the river inlet over which a plank bridge had been constructed. From there, we moved toward the center home. As we neared I thought I could smell something baking, like fresh bread mixed with a hint of some plant I could not recognize. "Smells like Raion has our evening meal almost ready," Meiryosa mumbled.

Finally we reached the home and made our way up the steps, toward the door. Meiryosa toward the knob, but before she could turn it, the door flew open. An indigo-colored ball of fur shot out, practically tackling Meiryosa. The girl quickly took hold and spun around a few times. When she was still again, I saw what had pounced her: a little Wanyamon! "Okaasan!" he cried, "You're home!" His bright yellow eyes shimmered as he nuzzled close against Meiroysa.

I found myself feeling a little bit confused. Okaasan means "mother." Never before had I heard a digimon refer to anyone, especially a human in this fashion. More than that, I could not recall ever before seeing or hearing of a little digimon like this. His shape was that of a young Wanyamon: a little ball of fluff with a kitten's face, ears and tail. However, far from being the normal blue-grey shade it normally was, this Wanyamon's fur was a dark indigo, almost black. His stripes and muzzle were a dark tan, almost-brown color. "Koneko, how many times have I told you not to throw yourself like that?" Meiryosa scolded, "You could hurt someone, or worse, you could be hurt yourself!"

Koneko flattened his ears. "I'm sorry, mother," he mewed, "Otoosan said you were bringing guests home, so I guess I got a little too excited."

"Wait... Otoosan?" I questioned, "Is he talking about Raion?"

"Yes," Meiryosa answered tersely, as if the answer should have been obvious. "Cheisu, meet Koneko... Raion's and my son."