Chapter 5 : Vamdemon’S Castle (1/2)

小説 デジモンアドベンチャー〈2〉

8人目の選ばれし子ども

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Chapter 5; Vamdemon’s Castle

① The Inquisitive Heart

Kous.h.i.+ro Izumi, along with his Digimon partner Tentomon, left the lake and headed for the mountains.

But when there wasn’t any development to be seen, one day he asked nonchalantly, “Isn’t it about time you told me what’s there to find on this mountain?”

He spoke as if he wasn’t the one who had suggested climbing this mountain in the first place. Tentomon panicked. “It wasn’t me who wanted to come up here!”

Kous.h.i.+ro folded his arms, getting lost in thought for a moment. Then, pointing to the heavy clouds covering the top of the mountain, he said, “I feel that there is something up there. The feeling is rather vague, but I believe that the answers to why I was called to the Digital World and what the Digital World is can be found up there…”

“In any case…”

The surface of the long and narrow Temp Lake coolly reflected the sun and the blue skies. A panorama of a richly green forest surrounded it. Here and there the forest was dotted with buildings, in some parts appearing in small clumps as villages. It was a bird’s eye view that could only be seen from the mountaintop.

“Seeing this brings home to me just how small we truly are.”

While the air was fresh on the mountain, it was also thin, so Kous.h.i.+ro’s breathing naturally began to grow heavier as they ascended. Tentomon kept suggesting that they climb back down, but Kous.h.i.+ro just as stubbornly refused. His irresistible desire to see what lay hidden behind the clouds around the mountain peak was not unnoticed by Tentomon.

But no matter how much they kept climbing, they could not reach the top.

“I think it would be faster if I evolved to Kabuterimon and flew us up there, wouldn’t you say?” he suggested, growing impatient at last. But Kous.h.i.+ro shook his head.

How many days had pa.s.sed since they had first stepped onto this mountain?

“Let’s take a break here,” Kous.h.i.+ro said.

“How far away is it to the peak?” Kous.h.i.+ro asked, to which Vadermon replied,

“Um… But it’s only natural for a mountain to have a peak,” Kous.h.i.+ro answered.

“This is your first time climbing this mountain, is it not? And yet, you have come to the conclusion that this mountain is the same as the others. You put to use your current knowledge, limited in what you only know so far, and you have reasoned that this mountain is probably no different. Is that correct?”

“I do not know the answer to that. We must not speak of what we do not know,” Vadermon responded evasively.

This mountain, he informed them, is named the “Mountain of a.n.a.logical Reasoning.” While everyone was free to reason on this mountain as much as they liked, it would never give them an answer. That was the sort of mountain it was.

Meeting Vadermon was like a culture shock to Kous.h.i.+ro.

The boy looked so distressed that Tentomon told him how he honestly felt. “You don’t have to think about this so deeply…”

“Oh, so you think so too, Tentomon? I was just thinking exactly that, as a matter of fact. There is no limit to knowledge, and it’s probably impossible for me to learn everything there is within my life span. If I want to get rid of the worry, I shouldn’t talk about it or think about it at all.”

The next day, Kous.h.i.+ro discussed this with Vadermon. Vadermon cheerfully said that he would be glad to help Kous.h.i.+ro gain peace of mind.

Vadermon first made Kous.h.i.+ro sit, in the Zen meditation posture, on top of a blue planet that looked similar to Earth, and spoke.

“I understand.”

And so, Kous.h.i.+ro dropped his “n”s.

“Te  tomo  , you should trai   with me. Why wo  ‘t you?”

Tentomon tried it out for himself.

“I see. I  deed that is a shame.”

On the second day, Kous.h.i.+ro dropped his “m”s.

“I see. That’s good.”

Tentomon smiled encouragingly.

By the seventh day, Kous.h.i.+ro had dropped his “t”s and “o”s.

Tentomon felt somewhat sad that he had been reduced to nothing but an “e”.

By the eighteenth day, Kous.h.i.+ro dropped his “e”s. Tentomon no longer had a name.

There was no mistake that Kous.h.i.+ro’s face grew more serene with each pa.s.sing day. But his eyes… His eyes looked so blank. Nowhere in them could he find that bright sparkle they once had, like at Andromon’s factory, when Kous.h.i.+ro was typing into his laptop with engrossed excitement, or within the empty well in the desert.

That’s why it was all the more painful.

Tentomon’s sadness made him degenerate into Motimon, then degenerate even further into Bab.u.mon, a slime ball with a pacifier in its mouth.

On the 71st day, Kous.h.i.+ro had rid himself of the entire j.a.panese alphabet.

Alert, Bab.u.mon watched it travel through the air where Vadermon, who had at one point shown up next to them, sucked it in with a vacuum gun.

He quickly left the Room of the Mysterious Universe.

“Babu, babu…”

But although he couldn’t voice his thoughts, his tear-filled eyes expressed them.

Bab.u.mon’s unspoken pleas pierced through Kous.h.i.+ro’s consciousness. Kous.h.i.+ro did not wonder why he could understand. He had lost his inquisitive heart.

Relentlessly, Bab.u.mon kept vocalizing to him. “Babu, babu!”

As if he could sense that, Bab.u.mon’s eyes directed Kous.h.i.+ro to the laptop he was always carrying in his backpack. When Kous.h.i.+ro rested the laptop in his lap, he typed into the keyboard:

He did not know whether or not Bab.u.mon could read j.a.panese. But as if his feelings had reached him, Bab.u.mon jumped excitedly in place, speaking happily, “Babu, babu, babu!”

“Babu, babu,” Bab.u.mon agreed, nodding his head.

Bab.u.mon could only say “Babu, babu,” but to Kous.h.i.+ro’s ears, he could hear the nostalgic tinge of Kansai dialect in Tentomon’s voice telling him, “Of course, Kous.h.i.+ro-han!”

Kous.h.i.+ro and Bab.u.mon left the Room of the Mysterious Training on the 71st day.

“That’s too pricey. Can’t you give me a better bargain?”

“Not a chance. I just procured this inquisitive heart, so it’s very fresh. I am not lowering its value.”

Without his inquisitive heart, Kous.h.i.+ro was unconcerned about who Vadermon was talking to but he knew that the heart that they were talking about belonged to him.

The room looked partly like a cheap saloon in a Western, and partly like a specimen room.

Vadermon looked at Kous.h.i.+ro and said, “What do you want?”

The inquisitive heart returned to where it belonged, inside Kous.h.i.+ro. At the same time, the power of speech returned to him.

“Babuu!”

“Hey, what’s going on?” the Digimon customer asked Vadermon.

Vadermon took out what looked like a toy gun with a parabolic antenna attached in the front. He aimed the muzzle at Kous.h.i.+ro. “Give it back.”

“Then I’ll kill you and take it from your dead remains.”

“Run!”

Both Kous.h.i.+ro and Bab.u.mon burst out of the room and escaped into the Room of the Mysterious Universe.

Pew pew pew pew pew…

Pew pew pew pew pew…

“Just how do we beat Vadermon?”

Calming himself, he a.n.a.lyzed the situation.

“I want to know! I want to know! I want to know!” Kous.h.i.+ro shouted.

The star changed into a shape Kous.h.i.+ro had once seen before, flying like a comet into Kous.h.i.+ro’s hand.

“I have a Crest of my own!”

“How were you able to evolve through the different stages all at once?”

“I see. The size of this universe is greatly reduced, which means time here is also shortened!”

“Kabuterimon, super-evolve! AtlurKabuterimon!”

Turning to the approaching Vadermon, AtlurKabuterimon valiantly pierced him with his horn.

“Ugyaaaaaah!”

Vadermon vanished in a spray of particles.

When they left the mountain hut, they found themselves at the summit.

“I think the peak covered in clouds was an illusion made by Vadermon,” Kous.h.i.+ro answered with a sunny smile.

“Not really. It’s still a mystery why my Crest was there of all places. It’s much too convenient to have been a coincidence! Perhaps it is something that surpa.s.ses even human intellect–”

“Hey!”

“Let’s go, Motimon. Everyone is waiting for us.”

And so, Kous.h.i.+ro climbed down the mountain and rejoined his friends.

② Karaoke Princess

Long, long ago, in a country far, far away, there lived a king named TonosamaGeckomon.[18]

One day, from the eastern country, a very important sorcerer came to visit and a welcoming party was held in his honor. Chefs throughout the country used their greatest skills to prepare the most magnificent dishes and the sorcerer was very pleased.

TonosamaGeckomon had quite a bit to drink, so he was in high humor as he presented to the sorcerer his favorite medley. The sorcerer also appeared to be enjoying himself, beating in time to the music.

But because TonosamaGeckomon had not had his fill of singing, he did not let go of the mic. Reluctantly, the sorcerer allowed him carry on but when TonosamaGeckomon did not stop singing even when the sun rose the next morning, he finally lost his temper.

The sorcerer waved his staff once and immediately TonosamaGeckomon fell into a deep, deep sleep. He sank through the stone floor, until only his topknot stuck out from the pavement like the bud of a large plant.

“What should we do, tama?”

And so, three hundred years pa.s.sed.

Although she was indeed very beautiful, she did not appear at all like a Digimon. And so it was, for Mimi was something called a human being.

Raising her delicate pinky finger as she held the mic, she began to sing.

The girl kept a high score on the karaoke screen as she sang.

“The sorcerer’s prophecy came true, ribbit!”

The Digimon began to raise excited voices. But–

All of a sudden, Mimi stopped singing.

“Well, I’m bored of this,” Mimi said nonchalantly. “Also, I’m hungry. Isn’t there something to eat?”

Once Mimi and Palmon had their fill, they asked, “Now, sing for us once more, tama.”

But her stomach full, Mimi gave a big yawn and said, “I’m sleepy from eating so much. Get the beds ready.”

From there, Mimi’s selfishness began.

What’s more, she called together all of the tailors throughout the country so they would make her a gorgeous dress of gold and silver thread, studded with jewels.

Reluctantly, Mimi would sing, but she would always stop midway.

“Anything but that, tama.”

She made up many strange laws, such as ordering everyone to call her Princess Mimi, and cheer “L-O-V-E, Princess Mimi” whenever she showed herself on the balcony, and use camera flashes whenever she walked along the walkway.

The Digimon servants were very much troubled indeed. They would whisper furiously among themselves,

“We’ve tried everything but nothing works, tama.”

Two humans who were also accompanied by Digimon, just like Mimi, arrived at this country.

“It’s Mimi-chan.”

And then, they asked the Geckomon and Otamamon to take them to Mimi.

“Hey, this is no time to be fooling around. Get out of those funny clothes right now,” the boy who called himself Taichi said. From his brisk way of talking, he must be a knight.

“Funny clothes?” she demanded angrily. “How rude! Besides, why do I have to change?”

“Why do I have to walk?”

“Why do I have to go to the others?”

Unable to watch any more, Jou’s companion Gomamon said, “Come on, Palmon. Say something.”

As you would expect, those words upset Mimi greatly.

“Mimi…”

“Crying isn’t going to help,” Mimi said sharply. She turned her back to leave.

And then, Taichi and the others, along with Palmon were locked in the underground dungeons.

As she was sleeping in bed, somebody approached her. When Mimi sensed that presence and opened her eyes, she was greeted by a familiar face.

Sora was a beautiful girl who was of a different type from Mimi. With a face full of love and tinged with sorrow, the girl Sora said to Mimi, “You understand what you have been doing, right?”

The truth was that Mimi herself felt that she had gone overboard.

But since the Geckomon and Otamamon obeyed her every desire, she began to give in to her selfish whims.

And now she had locked Palmon and her friends in the dungeon.

That is the sort of person Sora is. She was like a wonderful big sister, who treated everyone with kindness without any favoritism.

Mimi apologized honestly.

“…Yeah.”

“That’s great. Mimi-chan, you really are a good girl.”

In doing so, sleep suddenly came to her.

It could have been because she acknowledged for herself that she was a good girl. As if surrounded by the smell of freshly baked bread, she fell into a comfortable sleep.

When Mimi woke the next morning, she found herself gripping a Crest in her hand.

Mimi released Palmon and the others from the dungeons and prepared to sing. To atone for all that she had done to them, she decided to sing to the very end.

Palmon and the others forgave her with smiles on their faces.

They all listened to her, spellbound.

“Ribbit!”

It was TonosamaGeckomon.

“I didn’t know he was such a tyrant, tama!”

Agumon evolved to Greymon, Gomamon to Ikkak.u.mon, and Palmon to Togemon to stop him, but TonosamaGeckomon was too powerful. TonosamaGeckomon saw Mimi standing on the stage with a mic in her hand and realized that she was the girl who had woken him up.

“S–So you can sing with a loud voice, right?” Mimi answered, but TonosamaGeckomon burst out laughing.