A Kernel of Truth

“We’re almost there,” John said as he could see a glow a short distance in front of them. The group had moved quickly to get away from the battlefront. Their digimon had joined them shortly afterwards, with only Gryzmon that had substantial injuries. John, however, had taken it upon himself to assist Gryzmon as the digimon directed them to the temple.

“There...in that opening,” Gryzmon said as it gestured towards a break in the treeline. The glow was far greater now that they were about to break through the treeline. The group moved slowly as they reached the treeline. John peaked out first, to scan the temple exterior and see if there were any potential enemies there. Instead, all John saw was the ruins of what seemed to be a once glorious temple. There, in the exact center of where the temple once stood, was a pedestal where a golden ball the size of a coconut, around 6 inches in diameter.

There, John noticed what he assumed was a digimon as it stood near the Kernel. It was a feminine digimon who looked like a young adult woman. The digimon had armored knee high boots, a loin cloth attached to golden panties, with various weapons strapped to its back with leather belts that crisscrossed its chest, that ended just below its modest breasts that were protected in golden boob armor. On its back were two wings with gold feathers while a scarf seemed to wrap around its head and neck. In its left hand was a sword and in the right hand a staff, ready to fight at any second.

The digimon used its staff to walk as the sword rested on its left shoulder as the digimon paced around the Kernel, in a clear patrol maneuver. This could go one of two ways, depending on that digimon’s demeanor. John thought to himself as he came up with a way to approach this digimon without a fight.

“I’m going to slowly approach that digimon and try to state our case. I expect it to probably try to attack, so can I count on all of you to help out if that happens?” whispered John to the group, to which everyone nodded. “I suspect we’ll need its help to get the Kernel to do anything,” he told them, to which they all agreed.

John slowly approached the digimon as it patrolled around the fallen temple where a shard of the Kernel rested. He made sure to not make any sudden movements as to not startle the protective digimon. The creature was on the opposite side of the temple when John started his approach, something he made sure to do, so that way he’d cover the most ground as he could before the digimon would spot him.

“Halt! Who goes there?!” announced the digimon as it spotted John in the field between the forest and the broken temple. Before John could answer, the digimon quickly made a decision. “You are a human! You must be aligned with her, like the rest of your kind! Die, human!” it said as it readied its weapons and charged at John.

“Puppy Howling!” two voiced said in sync as two powerful sonic blastwaves came from either side of John towards the digimon that attacked him. The digimon quickly stopped its advance and used its two weapons to block the attacks that came at it.

“What? Two Plotmon sided with a human? But they are too pure to side with evil…” the digimon said in confusion. It’s thoughts were interrupted as more attacks came its way.

“Corona Flame!”

“Tear Shoot!” Two more attacks came at the mysterious digimon, who had to dodge out of the way.

“What?! Lunamon and Coronamon also sided with this human?!” The disarray in this digimon’s voice was noticeable as it realized digimon that would not side with evil had sided with this human.

“We won’t let you hurt John!” the two Plotmon said in unison.

“Mimi cares for John so I won’t let you hurt him and make her cry!” Lunamon told the digimon.

“Yatina is tied to John’s existence, so to protect her I must protect him!” Coronamon told the digimon.

“I believe all of you,” the digimon said as it lowered its weapons. “I am Darcmon, entrusted to protect this shard of the Kernel from those who wish to **** it, such as the Digimon Empress,” Darcmon told John and the digimon.

“So, the goddess of the battlefield?” said Gryzmon as it and the rest rushed to John’s side after Darcmon lowered its weapons.

“You were sooooo cool!” Mimi announced as she hugged Lunamon, who blushed.

“You went all ‘boooosh!’ and then there was a huge explosion!” Yatina said as she made wild hand gestures, much to Coronamon’s amusement.

“I have been called that, yes,” Darcmon admitted as it eyed the newcomers. “Quite a lot of humans in the Digital World lately,” remarked Darcmon.

“Well, it wasn’t by our choice,” John told it.

“Is that so?’ asked the angelic digimon.

“Yes. We were evading an enemy and decided to hide in a room. Turns out the room door lead to the portal that took us here,” John explained to Darcmon.

“I see. Although there haven’t been many humans here lately since the Empress and her Generals appeared. There were more but they all seemed to disappear,” Darcmon noted. John noticed that Gryzmon looked distraught at what Darcmon just said. Curious that Gryzmon would react like that. I’ll have someone keep an eye on it. I have a feeling it knows more about what’s going on then it’s letting on. John thought to himself as the others introduced themselves to Darcmon.

“So, you all wish to use the shard of the Kernel to regain your ability to use magic here?” asked Darcmon.

“Yes, that was our plan,” Gali told Darcmon.

“Like tots needs that mag plz,” Sam asked Darcmon.

“I don’t care what you say, I will use that Kernel to get my magic back. I will save my sister. And I will kill anyone who gets in my way,” Shelly informed Darcmon with no cares about its answer.

“I can sense your determination to reunite with your sister. It is a noble goal but the lengths you may go to in order to achieve your goals may take you down a dark path. Would you still do it?” asked Darcmon.

“My sister is my only family left and the most important person to me. I’ll do anything to make sure she’s safe,” Shelly said with pure determination in her voice.

“Very well. I’ll allow you all to communicate with the Kernel. Be warned, there may be unintended consequences to what you all shall do,” Darcmon told the group.

“I’ll risk it,” Shelly said as she walked towards the Kernel.

“In order to be of use to my king, I must take the risk,” Gali said.

“Like tots need to protect Kingy,” Sam decided.

“Very well. Let us catch up to your friend and I will assist you all in this choice,” Darcmon told the group as they all made their way to the Kernel shard. The group quickly made their way to the Kernel and the three girls made a semi-circle around the Kernel shard as Darcmon stood between them and their last hope to fight back.

“So, what do we have to do?” asked Shelly, whose impatience begun to show.

“You stand before a shard of the Kernel, which is the holy land of us digimon. For it is there that Yggdrasil resides, which controls the whole of the Digital World. It is by Yggdrasil’s grace that your magic may be transformed into a usable form here in the Digital World. However, if Yggdrasil finds you unworthy, you will have to face the consequences of Yggdrasil,” Darcmon explained to the group of girls that stood before it. “Now, who shall go first?” asked the digimon.