The Great Canyon

[SkyCore]

((Enter Gage and Patamon, from Dragon’s Eye Lake))

A human male approximately 18 years old, with spiky brown hair and piercing blue eyes approached the entrance to the Canyon. He gazed up at the towering walls of rock, “I don’t like this, we are going to be too exposed here,” he said to the patamon that was hovering just over his left shoulder. The tamer wore black leather pants and a jacket left open, over a plain white tee shirt. Around his left wrist was an oversized, silver watch-like object that wasn’t entirely unlike a Digivice. Over his left shoulder was a brown leather strap that supported the letter carrier style bag that hung by his right hip. Around his neck hung a silver chain that supported a dog tag-like plate, which was inscribed with a strange rune. He took a few steps forward, his large black leather boots scuffing against the rocky, barren soil.

Then turning he faced his brown and white digimon, “We better go in at least half prepared...” Gage raised his left arm bent at the elbow positioning his fist close to his face. The bulky watch he was wearing began to emit a soft light as the tamer was channeling his inner strength into the device. Absorbing his energy the Digivce began converting that power into data.

The Light from Gage’s watch-like Digivice began to intensify, causing an aura of cascading data to appear around the hamster-like Digimon. Its tiny voice called out, “Patamon Digivolve to...” its tan and white form dissolved into a cloud of golden data particles. Quickly those same particles began to reassemble themselves into a large human-like form. The new Digimon was dressed completely in a skintight white garment, with gold trim on his boots and shins. Tattered blue cloth was draped from the belt around his waist as well as spiraling around his right leg and left arm. His long hair was a golden brown shade flowing down from a dome like metallic helmet with a cross-shaped pattern that took shape around his head, covering everything from his eyes upward. Six glorious wings covered in pure white feathers were spread to full span as he called out his new name, “ANGEMON!”

Gage turned once more and marched his way into the rocky ravine, his Angelic partner floating close behind. They where both watching ever angle ready to anticipate an ambush.  

[SkyCore]

After several hours of hiking through the rocky gorge, Gage stopped and sat down on a large rock, to rest. The angel that had been floating behind him came to rest on the soil, but remained vigilant making sure to keep its eyes open for possible attacks from any angle. “Gage..? Might I ask you a question?” it asked after several minutes of silence.

Gage was in the middle of a long drink of water from his canteen, but once he was finished he responded, “Yes, Alexander?”

The Angemon shifted nervously, he was hesitant to ask, “I am curious, it is most uncharacteristic of you to take a risk such as choosing a path you know to be unadventurous from a strategic perspective... why have you chosen this path for us?”

Gage let out a sigh, “You are right, I haven’t really been myself I suppose... this world, its not like we’ve never been to other worlds before, but this place... its so wild and untamed. I feel that my ‘by the books’ approach is leaving me more vulnerable here.”

“It is true that we have faced more then our share of complicated challenges since our arrival, but I am still perplexed, I do not understand why you would deviate from your normal routine?” the angel asked, not feeling his question had been thoroughly answered.

Gage was silent for a long time, “It is possible that I am no longer in complete control of myself...” his Partner was unsure how to respond so there was another extended period of quiet. “Ever since you rescued the Egg and handed it to me, I’ve been hearing a voice... A voice that I cant actually hear, however thoughts appear in my mind, and when I try to ignore then they only become more prominent.”

The Angemon was tilted his head slightly trying to understand what he was hearing. “Do you believe that the Fallen Dragon is trying to speak to you in some form?” Gage nodded. “And this voice you can not hear is now telling you to risk dangerous passage through this canyon?” Gage nodded again. There was another long period of silence before Angemon spoke again, “I would agree...” Gage appeared surprised and turned his eyes upward to look at his partner’s face, “it would seem that you have lost your senses...” the digimon finished with a joking smile. Gage gave a small laugh and turned to face the dirt again, knowing his friend was trying to lighten the mood.  

[SkyCore]

Just then Gage looks up straight ahead to the opposite side of the Canyon. There was an opening in the rocks, a cave of sorts, not unlike the many other caves scattered through out the canyon on the many rock faces, but something was different about this particular cave. Gage leap up from his rock and rushed over to it, stopping at the entrance. Looking inside all he could see was more rocks and darkness.

Angemon followed quickly behind his human friend as they walked slowly into the cave. After several moments of walking around in the darkness they could see a faint glimmer of light. Gage moved toward it quickly and found a small orb slightly smaller then a basketball, it was a dull, golden color and it was emitting a powerful aura, it almost looked like it was made entirely of light. Gage picked it up and held it in his hands, the Digivice on his wrist began to hum in reaction to contact with this objects energy. “Is this is why I was told to come here?” Gage asked, mostly to himself.

The Angemon lowered its hand toward the orb, but quickly drew it back, “Incredible, being near this artifact gives me the same sensation that I experience each time you help me digivolve!”

Gage could only smile. “Baihumon... for some reason that name just appeared in my mind, this must belong to him...”

The angemon took a closer look at the orb, “I believe I remember seeing similar Orbs surrounding the Great Dragon that GranLocomon destroyed, perhaps there is a connection?”

Gage nodded, “Yes I think you are correct! Azulongmon’s voice must have brought us here to claim this Orb, but why would Baihumon leave it here of all places?”

They thought for a while and the Angemon finally came to a conclusion, “If Lord Azulongmon and Lord Baihumon are in deed connected, then it would stand to reason that Nagato would be hunting Baihumon as well. It’s possible Baihumon was aware that his life was in danger, and left one of his Orbs here knowing that only someone guided by this voice you claim to hear, would be able to find it.”

Gage became very still and silent, his entire body swelled with disappointment, “That would mean, Nagato has likely killed Baihumon already... We have failed once again!” out of frustration he slammed his fist into the cave wall.  

[Wolfdaemon]

Phell appeared at the mouth of the cave, Gazimon standing defensively beside him. The silver haired teen turned to his digimon. "Ha, he believes that ancient digimon are telling him to find parts of them. I guess the heat of this canyon is getting to him.

Anius chuckled, pulling on Phell's white scarf lightly. "Yeah, and the Angemon sounds more logical than the tamer..."  

[SkyCore]

“Alexander!”

The digimon spun around and trust his long slender hands forward until partials of white data began to accumulate into his open palms, quickly forming into a long golden staff. “Understood!” the angel spun his weapon around several times before slamming the end of the rod into the cave floor. This action raised an energy barrier of silver light from the floor of the cave up to the ceiling, leaving no way for the intruder to get to Gage or his digimon, however this also left them trapped in the back of the cave with no way to escape.

The orb was giving off enough light that Gage turned off his torch and returned it to his bag. Slowly standing up he turned toward the silver haired tamer and the gray bunny-like digimon that was standing defensively in front of its partner. He was still holding the dull golden orb, however he wasn’t so much holding it as it was floating several centimeters above his hands. Gage’s eyes where drawn to the digimon, “Fascinating!” he reached back into his bag and removed a device which he affixed to his left ear. The screen that was now covering his left eye blinked on and began displaying all available data on the Gazimon. “One Rookie? Since we’ve arrived in this world practically everyone we’ve meet has seemed insistent on assaulting us with a small army of mega level digimon. Alexander, should we be insulted?” he asked the tall angel digimon standing by his side. Gage was trying to make the silver haired tamer believe they where being underestimated, to see how they would react.  

[Wolfdaemon]

Phell raised his eyebrow at the tamer behind the energy field. "Hardly. We may not look like much but tactics help in all battles no matter what your level is. So about that orb... what the heck is that?"

Gazimon snarled at Angemon but remained in front of Phell since he had not been instructed to attack. Turning his head slightly to his tamer, Anius' red eyes questioned Phell's actions.

Patting his digimon on the head, he grinned at him telling Anius that these two were not their enemy.  

[SkyCore]

Gage quirked and eyebrow in return, “Tactics you say? Sounds like we have something in common then.” He said with a smirk, half wishing this boy was his enemy so they might match wits. But there where more urgent matters to address, so the spar would have to wait. “Alexander, that will be quite enough of that.”

The digimon lifted his staff, which quickly dissolved the energy barrier. The angle pulled the staff toward his side, maintaining a sentinel like stance. Gage took several steps forward, “Pardon my rudeness, but as I mentioned before we have not received what you might consider to be the warmest of welcomes in this world.” He said while bowing his head slightly, “I am Gage Lightforge, Omega Task Force, Special Operations. And this is Alexander, my partner.” He motioned toward the Angemon behind him with his free hand. Gage was about to explain what he knew about the orb but something was bothering him, “I am curious though... there are hundreds of caves that line this Canyon, and yet you just so happened to find the hole that we crawled into..?”  

[Wolfdaemon]

Phell took a step forward and Anius began to seem more relaxed. "Well, I guess you can call us treasure hunters. We've been going through all of these caves, some of which had some nice things. Like another one of your orbs," the teen explained, pulling it from his messenger bag. "I'm Phellan Eziran by the way, but you may call me Phell. And this is Anius," he explained, motioning to Gazimon.  

[SkyCore]

Gage wasn’t sure he entirely bought this explanation, but decided not to press the issue. He appeared concerned once he was shown the second Core. “I’d be careful who you show that too, because of my involvement with the owners of these objects, there is a Tamer who is at present seeking our deaths.”

Gage’s eyes where drawn to his orb, “As for what they are, well I cant say that I completely understand what exactly this is, however, I believe that it belongs to a digimon known as Baihumon. Orbs similar to this also belonged to a digimon called Azulongmon, who was killed by the Tamer who is currently hunting us. From what I understand these two digimon where members of a group known as the Sovereigns, but I’m afraid I have little other information about who they are or what their purpose is...”  

[Wolfdaemon]

Phell nodded, remembering a picture he had seen of the dragon and lion-like digimon. "About the person hunting us, are they much of a threat? I mean, with two people with these "celestial orbs", it adds up to better odds in a battle."  

[SkyCore]

Gage motioned toward the entrance to the Cave, “Shall we?” he asked, suggesting they leave the unpleasant dankness of the dark cave. He began walking toward the entrance, “I believe I heard someone call him Nagato, he commands six Mega level digimon, and while he does not seem to be very skilled at commanding them, six on one has still provided to be difficult odds.”

He placed the Core over the watch on his left wrist, the D-Conn began emitting a beam of energy and the orb was absorbed into data storage. “So, do you mean to tell me you believe these objects can be used as weapons?”  

[Wolfdaemon]

Phell shrugged. "I'm sure they'll come in handy at some point. Anius felt an immense amount of power emanating from the core of the sphere, so I'm sure that when the time comes, they will show their power. What you said about the megas though is going to be problematic. His lack of tactic will be his downfall."  

[SkyCore]

((damn your quick...))

“Perhaps, though I am relying on his overconfidence, commanding that many digimon at one time should not be possible for one human to physically handle. Unless he has some form of augment, I would guess that each digimon’s overall power level is relatively diminished” as Gage reached the mouth of the cave and peered out slowly, looking around for signs of ambush. “Alexander!”

“Understood...” the angel took off flying only centimeters from the ceiling, passing over Phell’s head. Rushing out of the cave and into the light of day the angel took a defensive flying position as he slowly circled around in a stationary position. “All clear!” he shouted after a few moments of scanning the canyon walls.

Gage walked out into the open gorge, giving one final look around before he was ready to keep moving. "So, what do you plan to do now?"  

[Wolfdaemon]

((*grins* I don't have much of a life...))

Phell walked up behind him with Gazimon following. "We could find the rest of the orbs I guess, before they're found by Nagato. With all the power stored in these things, it wouldn't be in our best interest if he got to them first," the teen suggested, repositioning his long white scarf about his neck.  

[SkyCore]

Gage sighed, “I don’t think He knows about the Cores yet, besides chances are if they were any more, they where destroyed with Baihumon. I need to find the other Sovereigns, and warn them of the danger they are in. Nagato has already killed two of them, if I can protect the others then I have to find them.” He started walking toward the east exit of the canyon, the Angemon flying close behind. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the other Soveriegns?”