Chapter Nine: Ignorance is Your New Best Friend
Location: Home Base. Dimension 033. August 5th, 2008. 1:48.
A dark, curly hair boy laid under a palm tree inside the base's courtyard, smirking to himself. Moments prior, he managed to complete the main objective set to him by the master. It took him only two short months to gain the trust of the stupid girl, and he wasted no time in taking advantage of it. The Master would most certainly be pleased. Within minutes, the entire base would awake to the sound of an emergency alarm. It should then be divulged that their database was not only completely whipped out, but that it was none other than that Alice girl's fault. He closed his eyes as he eagerly anticipated the commotion.
Location: Home Base. Dimension 033. August 5th, 2008. 1:58.
Dressed in pajamas, the entire base lined up for roll call in the mess hall at the sound of the emergency siren. Many tried to express their concerns to their friends but were only denied due to protocal; everyone must remain silent.
A few minutes later, a few Gennai clones gathered at the front with Gage. He surveyed the crowd until his eyes landed on a girl. He signaled to his group and they grabbed her and led her from the hall.
"We have been deceived and betrayed," Gage's voiced echoed around the large room. "One of our own has hacked into our information systems and erased out entire database." Looks of shock spread throughout the room. After taking roll once more and reading through a laundry list of warnings about misbehaving, the Council dismissed the room and retreated to the room where Alice Raybeck was being held.
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"I swear to you that it wasn't me."
"We have undeniable proof, Raybeck. Your fingerprints where everywhere!"
"Now, now, Gage. Let's hear the lady speak," Gennai calmly intervened the raging argument with lines of worry on his face.
"But she's a criminal, sir! She must be deported at once," Gage looked surprised at Gennai's behavior and was about to add more before he was silenced by Gennai's raised hand. He sighed and looked towards Alice with warm eyes.
"Okay, Alice, here's what we're going to do. Although we have solid proof that you committed the crime, I know you. You would never do something to jeopardize us, especially when it comes to being informed. I will grant you a month in which you can prove your innocence. If you fail to do so, we will have to send you away. Understand?" Alice nodded weakly and she was escorted out of the room. The Council sat in silence for a few minutes, contemplating the events of the night.
"Sir, we're going to have to work twice as hard to recover all the lost information," Ginny spoke. Gennai merely nodded, gazing off to the distance.
"Do you really think the girl had nothing to do with it, sir?" Gabe asked.
"Yes. I know Alice. She would never do this."
"Well...if she didn't," Ginny said, "then who did?"
Location: Room 713. Home Base. Dimension 033. August 5th, 2008. 2:37.
May calmly stroked Alice's hair as she cried on her pillow. Although the entire group had promised to help catch the real miscreant, Alice was not easily consoled. The others paced the room searching their brains for possible suspects. The night wore on slowly, and the rising sun cast rays of light through their blinds. A knock on the door alerted them, and May turned to answer it.
"Hello," a boy said. "I was just wondering if I could check up on Alice." May nodded, not surprised by their visitor.
Isaac and Alice talked quietly in the corner while May watched them curiously. She noted that the usually friendly boy seemed somewhat uptight. Perhaps it was her lack of sleep, but she could have sworn that he seemed almost joyful and the young girl's state. She mentally hit herself at these thoughts. The boy had been so kind for last few months; there's no reason why he wouldn't be now.
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Everywhere she went, Alice was followed with hateful stares and snide comments. She thought she would be able to turn to her best friend Isaac, but even he seemed to become more distant from her. Depressed, she spent her days doing her review lessons and sitting in the dorm. She was urged by her friends to try to find who framed her, but she honestly didn't feel like doing much of anything, and even started to believe that leaving didn't sound like such a bad idea.
One day, she was making her dreaded walk to a late review session when she noticed Isaac walking down a different hall. Wanting to confront him about his weird behavior, she followed after him. She was about to call his name when she noticed that he seemed to be sneaking around. Distracted, Alice gave up on going to her review and stealthily followed after him. She hid around a column while he took out what seemed like a cell phone and began talking. Alice strained her ears to listen to the conversation.
"I did...no clue...she can't...yes...never..."
Impatient, Alice managed to sneak her way closer to clear up his voice.
"Yes. In two weeks, Alice will be sent home and no one will know it was me."
She let out an involuntary gasp, causing Isaac to look around the courtyard he was in. Satisfied that he was alone, he ended the conversation and left the area, whistling a tune.
Alice sat leaning against the pillar for quite some time.
'He betrayed me...I thought he was my best friend. I was actually starting to like the idiot...'
She furiously wiped her blurry, watery eyes and set off for the dorm to alert everyone of what she had witnessed.
Location: Room 713. Home Base. Dimension 033. August 27th, 2008. 18:07.
"That bastard! Let me at him!" Brian sped towards the door only to be blocked by May.
"Brian, calm down. We can't let him know that we're on to him. We have to tell Gennai or another Council member," she said, struggling to keep him from passing through. Carol sat on Alice's bed, wrapping Alice in a one armed hug, rubbing the young girl's shoulder sympathetically. The rest of Wallace's group sat with worried eyes and hateful stairs, waiting for action to be taken. Michael was the first to volunteer.
"I'll tell Gage," he suddenly stated. "He's the one who will get stuff done, and I'm obviously the only one comfortable speaking to him." Taking silence as an agreement, he left the room and headed to Gage's office. No more than ten minutes later came an announcement over the intercom, calling a mandatory meeting in the mess hall.
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The room was filled with whispers and questioning looks as the Council filed in one by one. After roll was quickly taken, they silenced the room and Gage stepped forward to being.
"We have come to publicly apologize for a previous misunderstanding," he started somewhat begrudgingly. "We made an assumption that Alice Raybeck was responsible for wiping our databases out. We were incorrect." Whispers again filled the hall but quickly stopped with a disapproving look from Gage. "We now know the real culprit. Ginny, please bring the boy."
Ginny walked up wearily to Gage and whispered something quickly in his ear.
"Gone?!" he shouted at her. "What do you mean he's-"
Gage was interrupted by an explosion from the east wing and rumbling through the hall. The Warriors immediately began to take battle stations, and the Council led their respective teams to their areas of duty.
The only thing that greeted them when they arrived at the scene was dust and smoke. Visually impaired by the air, all of the fighters quickly took a defensive stance against the unknown. Minutes passed in silence before a loud roaring echoed through the base. The smoke cleared to reveal an enormous dragon, nearly thirty feet tall. Its scales had a dark royal purple tint, and its fifteen foot tail was covered in spikes. Its teeth resembled those spikes, and, just like the Fatum, its eyes were bloodshot red. It gave off an eerie feeling similar to that of Kimeramon, and perched on its shoulder was none other than Isaac, a smirk spread across his face.
"I see you're rather impressed with my Tenebra, here," he shouted gleefully, watching the shocked faces of the people below. "Wait until you see what he can REALLY do!"
As if on cue, the dragon opened its mouth to attack the group with a large wall of green flames. Warriors gifted with water attempted to douse it, but the fire prevailed.
"Hah! It's no use. That fire cannot be extinguished. You'll have nothing to do but to watch this place burn!" While Tenebra continued to use its fire attack, Wallace and Daisuke's group managed to meet each other and frantically weigh the actions they could take against the enemy. Their effort was in vein, however, as they rarely got together long enough before the dragon figure would attack their way. For hours the Warriors played what seemed like a game of tag with the monster, running away from it and attacking with no serious effects. Before long, they were panting, and as their bodies fatigued, they slowed down, making them more susceptible to its attacks. One by one, the Warriors started being singed and at times burned by the everlasting flame. Gage desperately called back to IGS but no information could be given about the enemy. It was as if they were fighting with a blindfold.
Alice shook with fear as her comrades began to fall. Her eyes widened greatly before fiercely closing shut, tears straying down her face.
'What good am I supposed to be if I can't even come up with a stategy in battle...' she thought through gritted teeth. At the sound of a scream, she dropped to the ground in hopelessness. 'You wanted to prove that you're not ignorant. You wanted to boast of your knowledge. Now look at you. No help and you're crying on the floor like a baby. How useless...' she let out a soft whimper. 'All of your friends are going to die...all because of this stupid everlasting fire-'
She paused. Her mouth dropped as she wiped away her tears and strongly stood on her feet, remembering a mythology book she had read in her school library. She smiled fiercely and sprinted to Brian, who was taking shelter behind a piece of debris.
"Brian!" she shouted excitedly. Without letting him respond, she continued. "I know how to get rid of this fire! I read it in a book. In order to get rid of the flames, we have to destroy its source-"
"Yeah...that's...great, Alice," he panted annoyingly. "But how on earth are we supposed to even kill this thing?"
"Haven't you ever read a fairy tale?" she asked excitedly. "You have to stab its heart!"
"This isn't an ordinary dragon-!"
"No, it's not. It's a dragon made of dark Genesis. In order to stab through him, we have to use LIGHT, Brian. A sword of light!"
"How are we supposed to get the sword of light? According to the instructors, the only ones capable of summoning it are the bearers of Hope, Light, and the Golden Powers-" She smiled knowingly at him and gestured towards Daisuke. He looked at her and his eyes widened.
"He's- how do you- how can you be sure?"
"I just know. Trust me."
That was all he needed. The raced to inform his friend, and, although shocked at the leaked knowledge, consented to the plan.
Daisuke closed his eyes and relaxed, letting the Genesis energy electrify each nerve. An ironic thought came up about how Hikari would have been the perfect one for this job before he pictured the sword in his mind. His body began to glow a warm yellow tint before a white light shot from the palm of his right hand. A sword formed out of the light and he grasped the white handle with a firm grip.
The weapon was long and majestic. The blade was a smooth, silver color with a blindingly clean polish that gleamed even in complete darkness. The handle itself was a pure white color. It was shaped like an hourglass to make it easier to firmly drip, and it had what felt like a magnetic attraction to the wielder's hand. On one side of the blade was an engraving of the symbol for the crest of light, which carried a slightly pink tone, much to the dislike of Daisuke.
Everyone around was suddenly mesmerized and astonished by the object, including Isaac. Daisuke took this opportunity to pounce at the large creature. It swung its claws at Daisuke, but he managed to swiftly dodge him thanks to his Rusher training. They aimed at each other back and forth, Daisuke become weary at the energy he was exerting. Finally, with the help of his team mates, he managed to corner the being. Isaac spit curses out at them, but seemed unwilling to retreat from the creature. Daisuke stabbed the creature in the heart with his sword, and with a bloodcurdling roar, the dragon disintegrated, much like a digimon would in the Digital World.
Isaac attempted to limp away from the scene, but ended up being caught by Gage himself. Alice confidently walked up to him with a serious look.
"I trusted you," she began. He paused his struggling against Gage's grip to spit at the girl. She them smirked. "But you were wrong."
"Wrong? I am NEVER wrong!" he screamed at her.
"You thought that no one would figure out your little plan. That all of us were idiots. That was your mistake, Isaac. Or should I even call you that? I'm positive that it's not your real name."
"Damn right it's not. You better release me. I can do things you wouldn't even dream of-"
Alice slapped him, and he threw a venomous look towards her.
"I'm sorry, Ignorace. But you won't play a fool of us anymore."
His eyes widened as she reached for her digivice and with a quick gesture, it shone a light that swallowed him up.