Powers of Crests: Passion of Fire
Powers of Crests: Passion of Fire
Phyrimon met the four digimon champions with the cold eyes. “You are provoking me. Must get rid of you.” He shrieked out with horrible high-pitched tones. All agonized at the shrieks, slapping their hands over their ears without success to block. The four digimon de-digivolved into their rookie forms, their energy lost. Phyrimon silenced himself, and his fist blazed with angry flames. He slammed it at the ground. With a sudden, loud crack, the cliff spilt in two. The far end of the cliff collapsed downward - with the eight kids and digimon on it. Along with Sora, Kim, and TK, Tai heard in terror as the screams rang in the air before the sounds of splashes drowned them.
Phyrimon turned to them, looking not satisfied at all. He held up a fist and opened it, revealing a crazily spinning fireball. As one, the kids and their digimon turned to run away . . .
The last thing Tai remembered was intense heat hurtling toward him from behind, and an explosion, then all went black.
* * *
The minor pain woke her instantly. Kim moaned as her body hurt everywhere. She felt like she was thrown and crushed into something. And she remembered heat. Intense heat. She noticed that she had patches of dark burned skin on her arms. Flinching as she touched the wounds, she realized that she must be out for a couple of moments, since the burns were raw. She slowly sat up, bearing against the pain, and scanned around. Thankfully, her trustful digimon, Iyumon was near, just beginning to wake. She found herself in a partially burned part of the jungle. She saw her red sunglasses laying near, undamaged. She took them and putted them on the top of her head. She was still wearing her red bag, but finding her friends was more important then finding if her precious camera was damaged. She waited for Iyumon to gather her bearings, then suddenly, she heard a sobbing voice from behind her.
“Help. Help me.”
Standing up, Kim saw Sora running toward her. Her face was deathly pale and her eyes held fear and horror. She was alone, without Yokomon.
Kim ran to her, holding her. “What’s the matter, Sora? Are you injured?” She then saw the minor burns on Sora’s arms.
Sora still sobbed. “It’s . . . it’s Tai. He is really badly hurt.”
“How bad?”
“He - he -” Sora began to hyperventilate, shaking so violently.
Kim held her in her arms, soothing her as if she was a child. “Breathe, Sora. Breathe.” When Sora finally slowed her breaths, Kim’s brown eyes gazed in her red-brown eyes. “Tell me how bad is Tai.” She began to worry about her close friend.
Shaking, Sora held up her hands. She had her pink gloves off, and Kim saw blood, actual blood all over her hands, so much that she couldn’t see Sora’s pale skin beneath the blood.
“My goodness . . .” Kim’s heart clenched with pain.
“I try to stop the flow of blood. I try! But . . . so much blood . . .” Sora sobbed uncontrollably.
“Take me to him! Now!”
Sora led Kim and Iyumon through the burned jungle and soon, Kim saw Agumon sitting near a charred bush, looking haggard under his golden skin. Yokomon was softly whispering to him, so softly Kim couldn’t hear the words. And near, them, laid an unconscious Tai.
Kim inhaled hard through her teeth. He was moved to lay on his back; Sora must had moved him. Dark blood stained his blue shirt, darkening it into dark red. Kim knelt by him, pulling off her yellow gloves and stuffing them in the back jeans pocket. She gently touched the blood, and it was warm and wet. Again inhaling deeply, Kim carefully pushed up his shirt. The blood was streaming from open burns, the blood mingling with pieces of charred skin. The burns were on his chest and necks. Kim never saw such worse burns. Worried, Kim looked to Tai’s face. The impatient, confident face was deathly livid, his skin drained from loss of blood. He was still alive, but not for long. She must work fast.
“Sora,” Kim looked up,”do you have your medical supplies from camp?”
Sora nodded, and she got out the supplies from her pink belt pouch. She gave them to Kim, saying, “Do you know what to do?”
Kim closed her eyes for a moment. “Let us hope my attention to my father’s schooling about nursing paid off.” She began to tend to the comatose boy, careful of the wounds. She silently prayed, Please, Tai, live. Keep living for us.
“What happened?” came a small voice from behind.
Startled, the girls and digimon looked behind, forgetting all about TK and Patamon. He was also burned, but not badly. Kim and Sora tried to cover Tai from his vision, but TK saw the ghastly-paled boy with the exposed blood. His azure eyes widened at the sight.
“Don’t look.” Sora turned to him, holding him to her. She turned so she faced Kim and the others as TK looked away. Patamon hovered near, also seen the sight, but not as shaken as his human friend. “He will be okay, TK,” Sora soothed. TK said nothing, his eyes still wide.
Kim exhaled as she putted the last bandages around Tai’s neck. The blood stopped flowing, and some of it came back in his face, coloring his cheeks. She pushed down the stained shirt over the bandages. She would take the shirt off, but she would not want to damage the wounds farther, risking Tai’s life by doing that. Standing up, Kim turned to Sora. “Sora, we must find materials to build a stretcher. We are in no condition to carry Tai. We need two thick, strong branches and leaves to carry him. Also, we need to find a shelter for protection.”
“But - but what about the others?” TK’s innocent eyes gazed up to her. “My brother?”
Thinking she was crying, Kim reached to wipe a teardrop from her cheek. Looking down at her hands, which were covered with blood, Kim realized that she must had left traces of Tai’s blood on her cheek. She was way too sensitive, easy to cry in any situation. She remembered Tai telling her that she must learn to hold her composure in control. Oh, Tai, she thought sadly, how can I keep my cool when you nearly died? Sighing, she squatted to the little boy’s height, saying, “It’s best to get better before we go and search for them. I know they are alive somewhere. I know it in my heart. TK, your brother would want you to help Tai first if he is here.”
TK gazed to the still form of Tai and nodded.
“TK, you can help me gather materials for a stretcher,” Sora said, trying to encourage the boy’s low soul.
“I will find a shelter,” volunteered Iyumon.
“Are you sure, Iyumon?” Kim said with concern.
“I am the only one who can.” Her red eyes swept over small Yokomon and weak Agumon.
Patamon hovered over to her. “I will go with you.”
Kim watched the lizard-like digimon and small orange digimon entering a part of the jungle as Sora and TK entered in another with Yokomon following behind. It was up to her to guard Tai and Agumon. She sat by him and brushed away a lock of dusky hair from his still face. Despite the pale skin and injuries, Tai looked like he was peacefully sleeping. She looked up at Agumon, who sat unmoving, his face a twist of pain, his eyes glued on Tai’s face.
Kim reached to hold on Agumon’s golden claw. “He will be fine, Agumon.”
Agumon shut his eyes, grimaced. “I know, but he is so weak.”
Kim’s brown eyes turned to her dear friend, confidence in them. “He won’t give up.”
* * *
Sora, TK, and Yokomon came back with the materials. Sora and Kim thoroughly built a stable, secure stretcher. TK and Yokomon helped; even Agumon helped a bit, but too weak, he remained at Tai’s side. Soon, Iyumon and Patamon returned, acknowledged that they found a shelter - a small cave at the base of a mountain range. Eventually, paying attention to their surroundings, the group were farther from the cliff than to the mountain range. Carefully, Tai was lifted on the stretcher, and Kim and Sora carried him, following Iyumon and Patamon to the shelter. It took them a couple of hours to get there, for there were hazards and often Kim and Sora have to switch places at the ends or lifted the stretcher to avoid bushes and a swift-moving, small stream.
As Kim and Sora again checked on Tai, Patamon and Iyumon went foraging for food and brought the same fruits they had ate last night. The group ate hungrily, to help heal their burns faster. Remembering about her father’s schooling, Kim chewed pieces of fruits and putted the mush in Tai’s mouth, helping him swallow reflexively. Night was coming quickly and, even though none of them was fit enough to keep watch, Sora volunteered to stand guard, then she would wake Kim for the last watch.
Habitually, Kim woke a few hours before dawn. She sat up, checking her burns. They were healing pretty fast, due to the food and rest. The healing process went faster in Digiworld than in the real world, Kim had noticed. By her side, Iyumon woke, stretching all her slender body. Kim scanned around and found that the cave was empty except for a gently blazing fire, the sleeping forms of Tai and Agumon. She walked up to them, and, with what a bit left over, changed Tai’s stained bandages. She had the chance to clean the wounds with water dripping from a single stalactite to avoid infection. She again wrapped the wounds with fresh bandages. As she worked, she heard a soft humming from outside the cave.
Finished, Kim and Iyumon went out. They found Sora sitting cross-legged, leaning back against a boulder, with a sleeping TK in her arms. Yokomon and Patamon were nestled together, seeking warmth and comfort. Kim knew Sora loved to sing, and she probably sang a lullaby to soothe TK. Sora pushed back the single lock of fair hair from the boy’s forehead, and, again, the lock fell back in place. Hearing the soft footsteps, Sora looked up to Kim. She looked really fatigued from lackof sleep.
“You need to get some sleep, Sora,” Kim spoke gently. “Here, let me hold TK.”
Sora stood up and gave TK to Kim. TK mumbled in his sleep, the name of his brother included, before settled his cheek on Kim’s shoulder, once again dozing. Iyumon curled around Patamon to keep him warm as Sora picked up the still sleeping Yokomon. Sora made a move to enter the cave, then stopped in the entrance. “Kim?” Kim looked back.
“Are you positive that we will find our friends?” she asked.
Kim nodded. “Of course, Sora. We must keep faith that we will find them. I just know.”
Sora smiled. “ I think you should have the Crest of Faith instead of the Crest of Empathy.”
Kim chuckled softly. “No, I will leave the faith to little TK. The Crest of Empathy is just right for me?”
“Why is that?”
“Well, just more than caring about our friends, I can understand what do they feel. How and why do they feel. I have insight, able to see and understand.”
Sora’s amber eyes studied Kim’s brown eyes. “Do you know what am I feeling right now?”
“You are sad. Sad for Tai.”
Sora sighed. Kim can see more than feelings. She can see souls. She gazed down, distressed. “I am. I just hope he will survive.”
“He has a very powerful, strong-willed soul unlike I ever see before. He won’t give up. It’s not him to let go that easily.” Kim gave a comforted squeeze on Sora’s hand. “Go to sleep, friend.”
Sora yawned and nodded. With Yokomon, she entered the cave. Her heart clenched at the sight of the unmoving Tai, but she was relieved that he was looking a bit better than before. Agumon was getting well, too. Sora sat by Tai and laid down. Soon, she heard, from outside, Kim humming another lullaby from her childhood, hoping to soothe the groups’s depressed souls. Sora smiled, knowing that they will be all right. Her eyes drooped and she slid into a rested sleep.
* * *
Two eyes of blazing flames glowed fiercely in the darkness, floating so near that he could feel the scorching heat on his face. A crackling voice that seemed to speak through flames came out of nowhere.
You are the Master. You must be destroyed.
Suddenly, a ball of roaring fire burst toward him . . .
Gasping, Tai snapped his eyes open. His vision was blurred, but slowly, his eyes adapted to the darkness. Where is he? What happened to him? His eyes met a rock ceiling and immediately assumed he was in a cave or something. But where are his friends? Lolling his head to one side, he saw his digimon, Agumon rolled up into a ball near him, sleeping restlessly. Slowly, he turned his head to another side and found Sora and TK sleeping near, their digimon also dozing.
Tai tired to crane his head up to see better, but a slice of red-hot pain stabbed through his chest, leaving him gasping for breath. Calming himself, he waited for the pain to go away. The pain took its time to leave. The pain throbbed inside his chest, and he panted in short breaths to ease the pain. He heard soft footsteps coming closer and the concerned face of Kim filled his vision.
Closing his weary eyes, he was so relieved that the pain was immediately gone. He felt the familiar, empathetic squeeze of Kim’s hand on his hand. Opening his eyes, he saw Kim was wiping her eyes, also looking relieved. “Hey, Rascal. You scared me for a moment.”
“What . . . happened?” Tai struggled to speak, his voice so dry and harsh. He was thirsty, too. He tried to raise his head, but another shot of pain burst in his chest.
“Don’t move,” Kim said, resting her hand on his bandaged chest. The warm touch soothed the pain. “You have serious burns on your chest and neck.”
Tai noticed that he had his shirt off, and coils of blood-stained bandages wrapped around his chest and neck, looking half like a mummy. Kim had a small wrap on her left forearm, probably covering a burn, few patches of charred skin covering her arms, not as worse as his. The tan eyes gazed up to the brown eyes. “The others?”
Kim’s brown eyes flickered at the sleeping forms of their friends. “Sora and TK are all right.” Her eyes lowered for a while, her fingers fidgeting with the knot of her bandage. Tai knew what was she thinking. The others have to be all right.
Tai weakly squeezed Kim's hand to get her attention. “Who tended my injuries?”
“I did.” Tai beamed at her. “I always know you are a doctor at heart, not a photographer.” Kim answered with a modest smile. She always appeared timid whenever someone praised her, but he knew she does enjoy it. “Well, Dr. Kimberly, will I walk in no time?”
She answered with a teasing smile, “Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.” Then she rested her fingers on his forehead, her eyes sympathetic. “You do really need sleep, Tai.”
Already, his eyes drooped, and he nodded. Kim was still at his side when he snoozed into an empty, dreamless sleep.
