Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction. Thanks and enjoy!
The Test--Chapter 10
Where am I? Am I in Quewari? I don't think the others are with me. I can't hear them. Why am I so tired? My eyes just don't want to open, Taichi thought. I want to get up, but I just…can't.
Taichi realized just how cold it was wherever he had ended up and shivered before trying to open his eyes again. It wasn't just cold. It was dark. Even though his eyes were closed, Taichi knew it was extremely dark. Too dark. Way too dark. He heard something that sounded like somebody walking through pebbles and for a moment thought that was what it was. But then something small hit his arm.
He forced his eyes open, but was only met with darkness. No--it wasn't dark. In fact, come to think of it, he was able to see quite well. The walls and ceiling--they were way was dark. He picked up the something that had hit his arm. It was small and in the shape of an irregular sphere or oval and it was a dark black color. The spot where it had hit his arm was smudged a grayish color, like chalk or charcoal or coal, he thought.
And that was what had hit him--a piece of coal. The walls and ceiling were dark because they were made of earth that had more of the black coal in it, as was the ceiling. He was lying on a huge pile of coal underneath a large chute.
A rumbling noise above him suddenly began to build and Taichi looked up. Something was falling down the shoot. Something…big. Something…black. He sucked in his breath, realizing belatedly what the something was. It was more coal. A lot of hard coal.
Quickly, he began to run off of the mountain of coal, only to trip. The coal didn't stop him from sliding down to the bottom, but it did give him plenty of scratches and cuts on the way down.
The moment he was at the bottom, the coal coming down the chute fell into the room. The incoming coal rolled down the sides of the mountain and Taichi quickly covered his head with his arms to prevent any of the coal falling on his head. This ended up scratching his arms badly, but luckily, it was only his arms that received the injuries and not his head.
Once the rain of coal had ended, Taichi got to his feet and looked around. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't any way out.
Maybe I can climb out the chute, he considered. But the pile's not high enough for me to reach and the chute's too wide. How can I get out?
More rumbling sounded and he quickly moved away from the pile of coal to avoid any more of it falling on him. He watched as more coal hailed down into the room.
Maybe I can…wait…until the coal fills the room…. But how do I get up the chute? Wait for the chute to get filled? He wondered. No, I'd just end up getting squished underneath all the coal. So then how do I get out of here? Unless…there isn't a way out.
Taichi felt a cold chill wrap around his spine and fan out to every part of his body, forcing him to shake involuntarily. The room was constantly filling with coal. Eventually, there would not be anywhere else for the coal to go. And there was no way out.
There's a good chance I'll end up dead, he realized. The thought didn't frighten or alarm him. At least, not yet. Death may be approaching, but it wasn't knocking on his door yet. There was still a chance that he could make it out alive and that chance was the only thing that was keeping him from panicking.
More of the coal flew into the room, rolling down the sides of the huge mountain of black and causing a huge cloud of soot and dust to rise. The addition of more coal caused him to look around once again, searching for any type of exit at all.
The level of coal was climbing at a rapid pace; as it was it had reached halfway up his legs. He quickly stepped on top of the ocean of coal. Things were not looking up for him. Things were definitely not looking up for him.
He looked about, once again trying to find a way out. Nothing, he bitterly thought. Wait a second…. He looked back up at the earthen ceiling and saw that there was a small hole in it. Not a large hole, but a hole nonetheless.
More coal fell into the room and Taichi stepped on top of it. I think I've got a way out, he thought.
After a few minutes of waiting, the coal had nearly reached the ceiling. Being careful to stay away from the coal-spewing chute, Taichi moved over to the hole in the ceiling. He raised his arms above his head and into the hole in the ceiling, feeling for a hold he could use to pull himself out of the room.
The hole was more like a long, vertical tunnel or tube. It was smooth and the loose dirt slipped in his hands. But the coal was rising higher. I've got to get out! Taichi desperately thought.
Digging his hands into the soft dirt, Taichi pulled himself into the smooth tunnel-like way out. He buried his feet in the soil and took one of his hands out of the edge of the tunnel. Inch by inch, he worked his way up the smooth sides, being careful not to slip and fall back down to the coal-filled room.
Eventually, he made it to the top of the tunnel and found himself in a long, dark underground hallway. Great…so I'm in a mine, he thought. No problem, I can just find my way out.
And his plan would have worked perfectly…if at that moment a paroxysm of pain had not invaded his senses.
Taichi gasped in surprise, taken aback by the assault of pain that stabbed through him, threatening to disable his ability to breathe, to move. It was like needles jabbing into his eyes and through his throat. He was trying to breathe, but no air was reaching his lungs and he was trying to cry out, but of course he was unable to.
He barely noticed when his head met the ground, causing a resounding thud to echo through the hallway.
The application of pain had stopped, but it kept throbbing. He was gasping for breath now, his ability to breathe returning quite suddenly and sweat was pooling around him. Then he began shivering violently, convulsing on the ground.
The pain slowly subsided, leaving Taichi with a lingering cold feeling. Very slowly, he got to his feet, holding the wall for support as his weak knees nearly buckled. He wiped a layer of sweat from his face and sighed.
What was that? He wondered.
His question was abruptly answered when a small, high-pitched voice replied: "That was me!"
Light suddenly flooded the hallway and Taichi cried out, rubbing his stinging eyes and looked around.
"Down here, moron!" the voice shrieked. "On the ground!"
Taichi looked down and nearly burst out laughing. A tiny, sprite-like creature was dusting itself off and looking rather miffed.
"Well, then just sit there staring instead of saying an apology for stepping on me, you clumsy ox!" the sprite yelled.
"Sorry," Taichi smiled, trying desperately not to laugh and failing.
"Laugh at me again and I'll have to hurt you again, you miserable fool!"
That was all Taichi could take. He laughed, unable to hold it in. The thought of something that small hurting him was ridiculous! But his laughter was quickly halted when the unbearable pain returned, replaced instead with the throbbing.
He managed to gasp: "stop, please" and the pain resided.
"Now SHUT UP, and LISTEN you naïve."
Taichi nodded, the laughter no longer threatening to burst from his throat.
"I'm glad I got your attention," the sprite said. "We are going to fight now. Winner takes all, loser dies."
"You know, I could just…step on you," Taichi warned.
"Go ahead and try it," the sprite encouraged. "Just try it."
Taichi looked at the sprite and decided against it, as the creature was smiling maliciously.
"Never mind," he muttered.
"That's what I thought," the sprite muttered. "And now we start on the count of three. One…"
"Uh…maybe we should talk this over," Taichi suggested, realizing the small creature was more than likely going to use its ability to hurt him to every extreme.
"Two…"
"Really, people don't like violence," Taichi desperately tried.
"Will you shut that hole in your face?"
Taichi smiled, knowing he had at least momentarily distracted the dangerous thing.
"No. So why do we have to fight?"
"It is required."
"Really? Required? By who?"
The sprite frowned and answered: "it's just required!"
"Oh. Well then you don't really know why we have to fight?"
"I…"
"Nope, didn't think so."
All this time, Taichi had been edging closer and closer to the sprite. As he continued speaking, he very slowly reached his hand out toward the creature.
"So, why do you want to kill me?"
Quite suddenly, the sprite flew straight up in the air, away from Taichi's reach. It laughed a squeaky laugh as it whizzed over his head.
"Thought you'd outsmart me, did you? Nice try," it sneered. Unfortunately, it was unable to regain control of its flight and it hit the ceiling of the hallway. Half the ceiling collapsed, leaving only the part that was above Taichi intact. The sprite was smashed and a pure crystal floated up from the rubble and into his hands.
Taichi barely had time to wonder what the crystal was for before a glowing door underneath him suddenly opened and he fell through….