Chapter 11 – What Lies Below

Data disintegrated into fragments of particles floating through the air. Ryo watched wide-eyed as his white-plated armour slowly began being eaten away from Owryumon's very attacks. Defeat was never an option for the courageous Tamer, however, given the current situation, he was begging to differ. His opponent was strong; undesirably strong. With every landed blow, Justimon was closer to losing.

"Well, Buddy," Ryo whispered to Cyberdramon. "It looks like it's the end of us."

The cyborg hesitantly agreed, "it's the D-Reaper all over."

"Only we had a better chance back then," Ryo told him. He thought back to the time when all the Tamers fought together, taking down the D-Reaper; when Sakyuamon had given him all her power in attempts of a heroic defeat. Ryo stiffled a laugh, "what's going to suck most is that this is our end and I haven't even stolen a kiss from Rika."

Cyberdramon growled in response. "Think about that later. Let's give this guy what we have left."

Justimon turned away from Owyrumon and jumped onto the half-demolished hospital. With the passing time, patients, doctors, and citizens had plenty of time to flee. Justimon felt a tinge of regret and sympathy for those whom were in their sick beds.

Unfortunately for Justimon, in the midst of commotion, the United States Air Force seized an open opportunity to attack Owryumon and himself, resulting in most of the destruction of the hospital. The distraction also gave Owryumon plenty of time to sneakily attack the awe-struck mega level Digimon. Ryo shook his head, trying to temporarily forget.

He knew that he should focus more on defeating Owryumon and less time worrying about the horrified civilians. Glancing in the direction of his opponent, he was hit by another staggering blow. Justimon fell to one knee, clutching his stomach.

"Dammit, Ryo, pay attention!" Cyberdramon roared.

Ryo frowned, but apologized. "I can't help it."

Owryumon grinned sheepishly. "I heard you're the Legendary Tamer, but so far this has been easier than taking candy from a digi-egg." He laughed at his own joke.

"We're just warming up," Justimon lied, regaining his balance. "Justice Burst!" A giant orb of lightning shot from Justimon's metallic robotic arm, hitting Owryumon in the face.

"Ouch, that hurt," came the sarcastic reply. Owryumon lifted his right sword and flung it at Justimon. He barely dodged the sword before being struck by another oncoming one. The left sword had penetrated Justimon's right knee. They left out a screech of pain before falling to the ground below.

Rika rolled over in her bed, grunting in pain from rolling onto her stomach.

"Ryo?" She called, focusing her eyes. "Renamon? Anyone?" She glanced around the dimly lit room to see it was just a small mattress on the floor, of which she had been sleeping on, a small torch flickering on the wall, and what she assumed to be a urinal of some kind. I hope I don't have to use that later, she thought with the slight amusement. In front of the mattress was a cage door. So they're holding me prisoner? She stood and hobbled over to the door. Shaking the bars on the door, she shouted down the corridor, "is anyone there?" With no reply, she sunk down onto her knees and began coughing. Dribbles of blood leaked from the corners of her mouth.

Swearing under her breath, she prayed someone would come to her rescue. "It's up to you, Ryo."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Kazu roared. His fist made contact with Nico's face. Nico staggered backwards and was struck again, knocking him to the floor. Kazu placed a foot on his stomach, glaring down at him. "Spit it out, now!"

Nico spat at his foot. "I said she'll die if they don't hurry."

This time, it was Henry who hit Nico. Henry's foot made contact with Nico's face. "Why didn't you say so sooner? Take us to her or otherwise be killed here and now."

"I thought we established this earlier," Nico said, grabbing Kazu's foot. "Kill me and you'll never find her."

"How long does she have to live?" Henry asked.

Nico looked away; a tear escaped from his eye. "She's internally bleeding. I patched her up as much as I could, but when she was at the hospital, one of Shimizu's' guards was going to kill her. I had to save her before he did."

Renamon stood over Nico. "So now she's locked away and probably in her death bed while you use us to get what you want?"

"It's not like that," Nico defended. "I don't want her to die any more than you guys do, but if they don't hurry soon, she will die."

"Why don't you take us to Rika? You know Takato will hold up his end of the deal." Kazu said. Every moment he looked at Nico the sicker he felt thinking about Rika. He took his foot from off of Nico.

Nico sat up. "How do you suppose we're going to get to her without Shimizu's guards noticing?"

Henry looked at Terriermon. "It doesn't matter how, as long as we save her." His partner nodded in agreement.

"Lightning Joust!" The attack from Gallantmon's blade struck the unaware Owryumon in the back of the head. The Digimon turned to look at the knight.

"Another joins the battle, I see." Owryumon said with awe. "This will be fun. Kill two for the price of one. Of course, it was originally supposed to be two killed...but then again, I'll be killing four all together."

"Shut up, will ya?" Cyberdramon growled in annoyance. "You've got a big mouth for an ugly Digimon."

"Don't forget he's an ugly human, too." Ryo mocked.

Gallantmon suppressed a laugh. "Let's get serious here, guys. Justimon, are you alright?"

Justimon gave a thumbs up. "Nothing a little band-aid can't cure," he lied, pulling the sword from his leg and tossing it aside. Blood gushed out. "Let's end this guy soon, ok?"

Owryumon laughed, "it'll take the whole lot of you to stop me."

"We'll see about that," Gallantmon said, firing another Lightning Joust his way. Owyrumon dodged swiftly but was struck with a Justice Kick in the side of the face.

"Ow," he said, turning his attention to Justimon. "Golden Armour!" Justimon jumped out of the way and ran for cover under a piece of the broken hospital.

Gallantmon raced toward the guardian Digimon. Owryumon repeated his attack at Gallantmon, who lifted his shield. ""Shield of the Just!" Both attacks collided mid-air, creating mass dust. Justimon ran up the side of the building and kicked Owryumon under his stomach.

The strike of Justimon's kick was so intense it had snapped his already bleeding leg. Justimon left out a shriek of unbearable pain before falling to the ground. Owryumon, however, was not phased. He brought down one of his swords, impaling Justimon in the back.

"You meet your end, Tamer."

"So Rika is in the Colosseum?" Kazu asked, hanging onto MegaGargomon. He, Nico, Renamon, and Kenta were sitting on the shoulder of Henry and Terriermon's mega evolution.

"Yes." Nico said, staring straight ahead. Digimon swarmed the skies.

"Why there?" MegaGargomon wondered. He swat away several Tentomon and stepped on a Snimon.

Nico tightened his grip on the giant Digimon. "There is a portal under the Colosseum that Shimizu is after. He released his guardian Digimon to protect him whilst he attempted to open it. I don't know what kind of portal, though, so don't ask."

Kazu and Kenta exchanged glances. "Why would you hide her there?"

"Are you saying I should have left her in some house? I locked her up so she couldn't leave. I was planning on going back after I met up with you guys." Nico argued.

Kenta leaned over and whispered in Kazu's ear. "His story is getting more dodgy by the minute." Kazu nodded.

"The place will probably be swarming with guards," Nico told them. "Shimizu will probably be in the main area of the Colosseum. We'll have to split up from the entrance." He turned to Kazu, "You and Kenta will follow me, I'll lead the way. We may have to leave MegaGargomon by himself. Sorry."

"I understand. I'll let you all down here, we're about a block away from the Colosseum. I'm big enough to distract attention." MegaGargomon said, letting everyone down. "Good luck."

"Thanks, be careful man." Kazu said, slapping the toe of MegaGargomon in a friendly gesture. He turned to leave with the others. "Let's move...and quickly."

The four listened as MegaGargomon headed in the opposite direction. Kazu turned to Nico. "Why do we have to sneak in? Didn't you get her in there in the first place?"

Nico nodded. "Yes."

"Why don't we wait here for you?" Kazu asked. "You can take Renamon with you."

Kenta frowned, "why don't you want to go with him?"

"Isn't it obvious? Nico is..or was, one of them. If they see him, he'll be fine. If he sees him with us, who knows what will happen. Renamon can't take out a hundred Digimon by herself. We'll wait across the street, in that flashy building there," he pointed to a half-demolished building before continuing, "bring her here. We'll get Megagargomon's attention when you get back and we'll head to Takato. Sound like a plan?"

"It's a reasonable decision," Renamon agreed. "Don't you move from that building. Be safe."

"I think I finally got it," Dolphin cheered. He jumped up, out of his seat. "I figured it out!"

Janyuu rushed to his side, "what? What did you figure out?"

Dolphin hit a button on his computer, printing off a page. He grabbed the warm page from the printer and shoved it in Janyuu's face. "The portal! The yellow dot! It's not a portal to the Digital world, that's why it wasn't showing up with all my other scans. It's amazing, you'll never believe this!"

"Will you get to the point?" Janyuu patiently asked.

"It's a resting place for the ancient legend. You know, the Legand of Leon?" Dolphin said, glowing with excitement. Janyuu shook his head. "I was looking up ancient legends of Italy, to see if there may be a hint in history as to something about the Colosseum."

"Wasn't the Colosseum used for gladiator battles, back in the medieval era?" He asked, not sure where Dolphin was going with his information.

Dolphin nodded, "it's true. The Colosseum was once a famous amplitheatre for battles, and animal slayings, and so on. I came across this myth, or legend if you will. Take a look at the paper. Back in 92 AD, there was a famous gladiator battle between a hero named Phanes and another Leon . The legend was written down and placed inside of the Colosseum as a display, if you will. When the Colosseum was struck by an earthquake, the legend was lost with it. The legend was recovered back in 1733 when a group of archeologist dug it up."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

Dolphin put the paper down and crossed his arms. "I'm getting to that. The legend goes like this; Phanes brave and heroic, destined to slay for his life, sought the battle of Leon. Leon, a traitor to the Emperor, savage and unwise. The two fought, spear and spear in the crowds of the theatre. Leon was struck through the chest of Phanes' spear. Furious for losing his life, Leon lay, dying. He looked into the eyes of his killer and said, 'lions, spirits and guardians, will avenge me.'

"His body lay still before, what some said a miracle, others said a work of Hades, Leon changed into a feriocious lion. He attacked Phanes and killed him. The Emperor commanded his men to kill the lion. They did. Laying beside Leon's body was something they had never seen before. It was described as 'imbuing power of light, that blinded a man.' This light was buried with Leon, in the middle of the Colosseum."

"Interesting," Janyuu said. "So what Shimizu is after is a light from a legend? That's a joke."

"But what if this light is real. What if..what if somehow this light was from a Digimon? We know magic isn't real. What if this light was caused by Spirit Evolution?"

"There is nothing to suggest that Digimon were alive so long ago!" Janyuu argued.

"Except legends." Dolphin countered.

Janyuu shook his head. "A legend is a story passed on from person to person. It's context distorted by every person's words. Have you never heard of a grapevine? One person says one thing and it's entire meaning changed?" Janyuu grabbed the paper off the table. "This one person is killing hundreds and destorying Rome..Italy, and probably the world all over a legend? It's preposterous."

"That may be so, but it's a motive." Dolphin said, getting impatient. "Look, I'm not saying that's what's really under there, but maybe it's true. Maybe, somehow, Digimon were alive before humans. Who's to say we're not the alternate universe?" He shook his head, "Janyuu, I'm not asking you to agree with me on this, but I'm asking you to think about the facts. People die all the time over legends and myths, treasures, and greed. This could be what he's after."

"I'll call Yamaki, but I'm not saying I believe this." Janyuu growled. He left the room, paper still in hand. Leaning against the door, he read over the legend before calling Yamaki.

A/N I apologize if there are any spelling mistakes. My OpenOffice won't correct my words now. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. Still more to come.