Episode 11: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
"Koushirou-san, where are you going?" Miyako demanded, struggling to keep up with him in the dense underbrush. He heard her curse as a tree root reached out to trip her.
Koushirou didn't answer, too busy scanning the breaks between the trees for the structure had had seen last night. He had caught a glimpse of something from the ocean before its relentless waves had thrown him onto the shore. But in his struggle to stay afloat, he had forgotten all about the strange, dark formation he had witnessed poking above the tree line—until a few moments ago when Miyako had gone on a long-winded rant about the irony of there being no random human edifice around when for once, they could have actually used it.
Behind him, Miyako huffed in annoyance. Koushirou felt a twinge of guilt which he elected to ignore. He suspected that if he stopped to explain himself, Miyako would deteriorate into full meltdown mode. She had come close on the beach when she had found him staring at the dripping remains of his laptop. Too busy mourning the fourteen hundred thousand some yen* piece of technology which had served him faithfully for the past three years, all he had caught of her spiel was something about their being doomed and a volleyball named Wilson*. That is, until she had commented about the Digital World's unorthodox infrastructure. Or current lack thereof.
He knew that a brief, half-conscious glimpse of a large, stone structure in the dead of night while salt water was burning in your eyes and your life was at stake wasn't the most rational impetus for wandering recklessly into unknown territory, but really, what other choice did they have? If it was some sort of building that he'd seen, then perhaps they could find help there. Or at the very least, shelter. Then, once they had regrouped and come up with a plan, they could set out in search of the others. At least, this was what Koushirou kept telling himself.
He wasn't ready to have that conversation, the one Miyako had been bubbling with hysteria about on the beach. He could think of a dozen possibilities for the others' fate, but only a handful of them were endurable, much less desirable. They had to remain calm if they wanted to survive; they had to remain calm if they were going to find the others as well as their partners.
"Koushirou-san!" Miyako protested from behind him as she stumbled again.
Koushirou was about to turn around and offer a word of motivation—however feeble it may be—when he saw it. He stopped in his tracks, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. He backed up and peered through the branches of the leafy trees surrounding them. There it was, a few yards away by his estimate. Just the corner of an ornate stone roof. From here, it was impossible to tell what it was. All he could ascertain was that it had to be fairly large and that he had not been crazy when he had seen the structure looming from out at sea.
He turned around to face Miyako, prepared to tell her about his discovery of the building and his rationale for heading to investigate it, when he noticed her thunderous expression.
"Are you finally going to talk to me?" she demanded before he could even open his mouth to speak. She crossed her arms, glaring at him and reminding him strongly of Mimi.
Dammit, why was this always happening to him?
"I'm sorry, Miyako-chan," he rushed to mollify her. He told her about the structure, and his hypothesis that they might find Digimon who would be able to help them there. He didn't mention that he had known about it since last night, nor that he had no idea what it might be.
"I don't see anything," she grumbled, squinting through her round-rimmed glasses in the direction that he had indicated. But at least she was no longer leering at him.
"You can only see the corner of it from this angle."
Miyako stood on her toes (which was rather silly, Koushirou thought, given that she was taller than him). "I still don't see it," she said after a moment of gazing into the distance.
"It's there," Koushirou assured her. "I think that we should check it out."
Miyako looked unconvinced. But at last, she nodded.
Koushirou was relieved. He couldn't stand the thought of sitting idle, waiting for chance to decide their fate. He led the way forwards and Miyako followed him. For a while, they were silent. Only when the trail began to get rough and well, not much of a trail, did she start to complain. Koushirou couldn't blame her. The vegetation grew thick and it tore at their clothes as they navigated through it. He grimaced as one thorny branch left a gash across his shin.
They walked for too long. They should have come across it by now, he thought. He was beginning to second guess himself when the trees opened up and the grey sky appeared above them. The two of them came to a stop at the edge of a large field. Around it, a thick ring of trees formed the boundary of the forest. Except for the long grass billowing in the breeze, there was nothing inside but emptiness. Koushirou stared at it, his mouth dry with disappointment.
"There's nothing here," Miyako remarked.
Koushirou couldn't tell if her tone was irritated or baffled. Perhaps a blend of both. "Maybe we bypassed it in the forest..." he suggested, not sure that he believed this himself.
Miyako was quiet for a moment. He couldn't blame her.
"Are you sure you saw something?" she asked.
Koushirou didn't answer. He wandered out into the field, searching the tree tops for any sign of the building he had seen before. But it was pointless. He couldn't see anything over the towering circle of trees surrounding them. He didn't understand. It should have been there.
"Koushirou-san!" Miyako gasped, staring at him with shock across her face.
Alarmed, Koushirou started to turn back towards her. As he did, he felt the air around him move. Literally move, as if there was a gossamer curtain hanging before him that he couldn't see. He froze where he was standing, facing the centre of the empty field. The air shimmered in front of him. He stretched out a hand and gasped as his fingers disappeared before his eyes.
"What's happening?" Miyako bounded over to him.
Koushirou withdrew his hand and then extended it again, watching it wink in and out of existence. "It...it appears to be an invisible barrier of some sort," he observed in astonishment.
"A barrier for what?" Miyako asked.
Koushirou's eyebrows drew together. He wondered...? He heard Miyako's sharp intake of breath as he stepped forward, eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of the unknown.
A queer sensation fled through his body as he stepped across the invisible boundary. It was like walking through a cool sheet of water, without the consequence of getting drenched. Koushirou's heart thudded as he opened his eyes on the other side and saw what lay before him.
The structure appeared to be a temple or some sort of ancient ruin. Steep stairs led up to the main compartment; a curved, slanted roof sat atop it. The stone was weathered, as if it had stood centuries at the mercy of the elements. The building seemed to resonate with silence. As Koushirou stood before it, he had the sense that no one had been there for a very long time.
He turned around to face Miyako. She was staring at the place where he had (presumably) vanished. Her mouth hung open in thought. Her eyes searched in vain.
"Miyako-chan, can you hear me?"
Her head lifted, as if she had heard something. But she didn't respond.
Koushirou could feel his heart racing, the way it sometimes did when he was onto a new discovery. He reached out through the barrier, marvelling at the way the cool fluidity spread through his fingers. Miyako gasped as he emerged back on the other side and bade her to follow.
"What the—" She gasped as she stepped through. "What is this place?"
Koushirou nodded at the stairs. "Let's find out."
He counted thirty-eight steps on their ascent. Both of them were out of breath by the time they reached the top. A foot away from the topmost, two stone doors barred their path. Carved above them in fading kanji were the characters for spirit and strength—kiryoku*.
For a moment, the two of them stood frozen before the doors.
"Should we...go in?" Miyako asked.
Well, they had come this far.
They both pushed open the doors, which dragged against the stone floor as they moved. Exchanging a brief, cautious look, they stepped inside. Koushirou was immediately struck by the stillness of the place. They sounds from the forest outside and the roar of the distant ocean seemed to fade away as they walked into the room. A musty smell hung in the air; it was evident that the doors had not been opened in some time. There were no windows to let inside the light.
Sitting in the centre of the room was a dais upon which sat something that resembled an altar. There was nothing on it except for a thick coating of dust. Koushirou stopped before it and looked around him. Around the edges of the room, carved into the walls, were several odd symbols. Koushirou had seen something like this before on File Island, a temple filled with old hieroglyphics. But these were different. The symbols upon these walls were not digi-code of even kanji, he realized, moving closer to examine them. His heart leapt as he spotted the crest of sincerity etched upon the stone. They were all there—the symbols of their crests. Plus a few that he didn't recognize. Koushirou reached out to trace the teardrop-shaped lines but hesitated.
"Where are we?" Miyako asked, staring at the crest of love.
"I think that it's a temple," Koushirou remarked, mesmerized.
"A temple for what?"
"I haven't determined that yet..."
The two of them met back in the middle of the room.
"This place is eerie," Miyako commented, folding her arms across her chest. She looked around suddenly, her glasses flashing as they caught the light. "Do you hear that?"
He did. They both stood stock still, listening to the voices float up through the temple doors. Without a word, they both rushed outside to look. There, just visible inside the fringe of the forest, were a troop of Digimon marching through the trees. Gazimon, Koushirou recognized.
"We're saved!" Miyako exclaimed.
"Miyako-chan, wait!"
But Miyako was already racing down the steps. With a resigned sigh, Koushirou hurried after her. He felt an odd chill leaving the temple behind, the doors still standing wide open.
The Gazimon must have heard their footsteps on the stairs. They paused beneath the shade of the trees, looking around with perplexed expressions on their ferine features.
"Do you hear that?" the one at the head of their group asked.
"Yeah, sounds like someone's prowling nearby!"
"But I don't see anyone..."
Miyako was about to cross over the invisible boundary, but Koushirou reached out and snagged her elbow. She jerked to a halt and then stumbled backwards, landing on the step behind her. "What are—" she started to hiss, but Koushirou shook his head frantically. He had just noticed the whips in the Gazimons' paw-like hands. A couple of them held thick, rope nets.
"What was that?" the Gazimon demanded.
"I told you there were still Digimon hiding in this region!" one said.
"There's nothing here. Not since we rounded up those Geckomon."
"Yeah, you only said that so we didn't have to stay at the fortress," another added.
"Not true!"
"Is true! Admit it, you're just scared he'll pick you next!"
"Am not!"
"Are so!"
"Shut up! I think I smell something."
Miyako and Koushirou's faces transformed with horror. Slowly, they started to inch backwards up the steps, trying to remain as silent as possible. They had gone about five steps when something odd happened, something that could not have happened at a worse time.
The barrier flickered.
The Chosen froze, hoping against hope that the Gazimon hadn't seen them. But the Gazimon were staring right back at them. Their eyes swept across the stone steps.
"What was that?"
"There was somebody there!"
"I saw them, you dolt!"
"But what kind of Digimon were those?"
"They weren't Digimon! They were Demons! Let's get out of here!"
"They're not Demons, you idiot. They're—look!"
The barrier flickered again. It shimmered white under the sunlight. Koushirou watched in dismay as it blinked out of existence, leaving them exposed*.
"There they are!"
"Get them!"
"Run!" Koushirou shouted, turning to run back up the steps. But it was too late. One of the Gazimon's whips lashed out and snagged him around the ankle. He hit the stone steps hard.
"Let us go!" Miyako screamed. "What do you want with us? We're here to help!"
"Help us?" the Gazimon cackled. "Now why would we need help?"
"Shut up!" their leader snapped as he threw the nets over the Chosen and bound them inside. Koushirou fought against the trap to no avail; the ropes cut into his skin. "Don't talk to them until we know what they are! He'll tell us what he wants us to do with them."
"Who? Who are you taking us to?" Koushirou questioned as the Gazimon hoisted them over their shoulders. He and Miyako were jostled into each other; their heads clunked together.
But the Gazimon didn't answer, obedient to their orders. Their leader glanced back and Koushirou saw him sneer through the thick ropes bound across his face. "You'll see."
"We didn't know what they were or where they came from. One day they were just here."
Jou and the others sat gathered around the small cluster of Digimon in the dank prison cell, listening to Palmon speak in the greying tones of someone who had lost almost everything. Biyomon's head lay cradled in Jou's lap. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and faint. Every now and then she would wake for a short spell, but her bouts of consciousness were short and fleeting—consumed with cries for Sora and the terror that they were coming for her.
Who they were, Jou didn't know, but the mere mention of them sent shivers down his spine. He had tried to talk to Biyomon, to assure her that Sora was out there somewhere, but his efforts were in vain. She couldn't hear him. She was turning, and there was nothing he could do.
"What did they do?" Wallace asked, his voice low with intensity. "The Demons?"
"They spread their darkness. Digimon fled from their presence. Most went into hiding. They would attack us if they found us. A lot of Digimon died. Others turned...bad. They don't act like Digimon anymore; they don't speak. There's...something in their eyes. Something broken. Well...you see..." Gabumon explained, his devastated gazed landing on Biyomon.
Jou was having a hard time forming the words to speak. He cleared his throat several times without success. "How...how do they do it?" he finally managed to choke out.
Palmon shook her head. Her glossy green eyes shone with tears. "None of us know. Sometimes we're attacked...but other times...it's like all you have to do is be near them."
Biyomon's condition lay unspoken between them.
"What about Veemon?" Daisuke demanded, looking up from the ground which he had been staring at up until then. His jaw was set but his expression was full of terror. "Did they turn him? Did they...?" He didn't say the words, but Jou heard them echo in the following silence.
A fleeting image of Gomamon passed through his mind.
"I don't know. I'm sorry," Palmon sobbed. Her tears fell upon the ground, staining the stones black. Inside Jou's arms, Biyomon trembled, her pink feathers fluffed against the cold.
"We were attacked one day near Rail Town. The Demons came out of nowhere. We were split up. I don't...I think that we all managed to escape," Gabumon tried to assure them.
Daisuke pounded the ground with his fist. Wallace was silent, the candlelight reflecting in his eyes as he considered the far wall. Jou stroked Biyomon's shivering body, letting the horrible reality of what their partners had been through sink in. To think that a couple of days ago, he had thought that the four years of separation had been hard for him, for all of the Chosen.
They had had no idea.
"Try to remember," Daisuke urged. "Veemon, which way did he go?"
"It was all so confusing...the screaming and the running..."
"But did you hear him at all? Was he fighting back?"
"I don't—"
"Gabumon, please! Think hard!"
"He says he doesn't know, Daisuke!" Wallace snapped.
Daisuke rounded on Wallace, eyes blazing.
"You be quiet!" he snarled. "This isn't any of your business!"
"Why? Because I'm not part of your stupid team? Yeah, you've made that plenty clear enough already. But it doesn't mean I have to watch you go around harassing these Digimon—"
"Harassing?" Daisuke demanded. "Just because I care—"
"I never said you didn't! You just have a stupid way of showing it," Wallace retorted.
Daisuke lunged at Wallace, who seemed to have been expecting it. He dodged out of the way. Daisuke whirled on him, panting hard. "I-I have a stupid way of showing it?" he spluttered. "Who's the one who handed over his digivice so he could see his lousy Digimon—"
Wallace's restraint evaporated. He flew at Daisuke.
"Poison ivy!"
Palmon's vines wound around Wallace. Gabumon knocked Daisuke aside.
"Please don't fight," Palmon begged.
"You're not going to help anyone this way," Gabumon said.
But the boys were undeterred, pushed beyond the brink of madness by what Jou knew was worry for their partners. And everything else besides. He watched, overwhelmed, as they fought to escape the Digimons' restraints. Wallace writhed against Palmon's bonds. Daisuke tried to dive around Gabumon. He skidded across the floor as Gabumon blocked him again.
"STOP IT!" Jou bellowed, his fingers clutching at his hair. "I can't take this anymore!" With blood pounding in his ears, Jou set Biyomon gently aside and rose to his feet. His face burned scarlet as the others stared at him, but he stole himself to speak anyway. "This is no time to be fighting!" He gestured at Biyomon. "We have to do something for her...and the others..."
The boys glared at Jou as he trailed off. For a moment, he thought that they would ignore him and keep fighting. Or worse, that they would turn their frustrations on him. But just as he was wondering what the use of being six feet tall was if he couldn't even defend himself, they detached themselves from the Digimon and stalked to opposite corners of the room.
Daisuke plunked himself down against the wall. Distress burned openly across his face. "So how did you get here then?" he asked the Digimon. "I thought you said you escaped."
"We did..." Gabumon nodded. "For a little while."
"But?" Jou asked, sensing that the caveat was coming.
"It wasn't the Demons who brought us here," Palmon explained tearfully. "No one's seen them for a while now. It was the other Digimon, the ones they've turned. And some that haven't. Not all of them are bad. Some are just serving him. And he used to be such a good guy..."
"Who?" Jou asked. "Who are you talking about?"
Gabumon and Palmon exchanged a look.
"You mean you don't know?" Gabumon asked.
But what they didn't know, the Digimon didn't have a chance to explain because at that moment, the door at the end of the corridor grated open. Daisuke and Wallace hurried over to the bars and peered between them. Jou remained where he was, a queasy feeling inside his stomach.
"The Vegiemon are back," Daisuke hissed.
"They're coming this way," Wallace noted.
He and Daisuke shrunk away from the bars as two Vegiemon appeared outside of their cell. Their red eyes gleamed in the dull light as they started to unlock the door.
"What do you want with us?" Daisuke asked, balling his hands into fists. "Let us out!"
"Daisuke, get back—" Gabumon started to warn him, but it was too late. The door swung open and a Vegiemon's vines shot out, coiling around Daisuke's arms and pinning them to his sides. One wrapped around his mouth, cutting off his indignant shout. Wallace and Jou leapt forwards to seize him. The Digimon remained where they were, their expressions drooping with resignation. The Vegiemon were quick. They yanked Daisuke outside and slammed the door.
"Wait! Where are you taking him?" Jou pleaded as Daisuke's muffled protests echoed down the hallway. The sound of the Vegiemon sliding against the stone faded into the distance.
"Shit!" Wallace turned and paced across the cell. He continued to mutter under his breath, a stream of vulgar words (including some Jou had never heard before). Jou watched him, trying to battle the panic rising inside him and losing. He felt sweaty and feverish. He was pretty sure that he was going to throw up. What was going to happen to Daisuke? To all of them?
"You knew this was going to happen," Jou murmured weakly, turning to the Digimon and remembering how they had warned Daisuke at the last second. Palmon and Gabumon stared back at him, a morose look in their eyes. But it was neither of them who answered.
"They take us...try to turn us..." Biyomon wheezed.
Jou fell to his knees at her side. Her cloudy eyes met his.
"Turn you?" Jou asked. "What do you mean? How?"
Wallace stopped pacing, standing rigid in the centre in the room.
"The room..." Biyomon breathed. Her eyes fluttered shut. Jou reached out to her, grabbing hold of her trembling wing in a desperate attempt to comfort her. But she had already lapsed back into unconsciousness. Her quick, quiet breathing filled the somber room.
"What did she mean?" Wallace asked the other Digimon.
Palmon shook her head. Her petals looked wilted and dull in the dim light. "They'll probably interrogate him first. And then there's..." she trailed off, unable to continue.
"Then there's what?" Wallace pressed.
Palmon took a shaky breath. "There's a room they bring us to... All of us, in turns. They leave us alone in there. It's horrible... It feels like... I can feel myself start to fade..."
"Is that what happened to...?" Jou stared at Biyomon's still body.
No one spoke.
"We have to get out of here," Wallace said after a long silence.
"How?" Jou asked, the word falling flat and dull from his mouth. The words of the Digimon they had met in the previous cellar floated back to him. Can't escape. No way out.
"There has to be a way," Wallace insisted, but he didn't sound as if he believed it.
They waited. And waited. And waited. Jou didn't know how much time passed. His chest ached with emptiness. He never would have wanted to come back to the Digital World if he had known that this is what it would be like. But how could they have not? They had to do something. They were the chosen ones. At least, they had been, at one time... Jou wasn't sure what they were anymore. For the first time, in his heart of hearts, he wondered if they weren't doomed to fail this battle. How could they fight against something that they couldn't see?
After what felt like an eternity, the Vegiemon returned. Daisuke's body hung suspended between them. He no longer fought. Jou jumped to his feet as they opened the door and tossed him back inside the cell. He rushed to Daisuke's side, as did the others, and stared down at him.
Daisuke was awake. He groaned when he saw them and made a feeble attempt to push them away. "Get away from me," he mumbled, pulling himself into a sitting position. "M'fine."
"What happened?" Jou asked, unable to keep the quiver from his voice.
Wallace was watching Daisuke intently.
Instead of meeting their eyes, Daisuke looked to the Digimon. "How come you didn't tell us?" he asked, his voice echoing loudly in their hollow space beneath the earth.
Palmon stared at the ground. Gabumon was quiet.
"What? What is it?" Jou asked.
Daisuke turned to face them. "This castle...it belongs to Piximon*."
They had been sitting by the water for hours, baking under the livid sun. Sarumon sat just feet away from them, gorging on a stash of melons he had unearthed from the ground. The squelching of the fruit's flesh between his teeth echoed on the soundless breeze.
Every now and then, the Digimon's eerie, mechanical eyes would swivel towards them and a grin dripping with pulpy pink juice would flash beneath the rim of his kabuto. Ken had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. They both knew what this wait was leading up to.
Beside him, Taichi sat with his chin resting on his knees. He had remained uncharacteristically quiet, complaining only once when Sarumon had first started on the melons without offering them any. Ken supposed that his silence was necessarily uncharacteristic. He didn't really know Taichi, except for the excessive gushing he had heard from Daisuke. Of course, those stories were all told in the usual exaggerated style of the Motomiyas which meant that they couldn't always be counted on for accuracy. Even so, Taichi's silence was unnerving.
Whatever was going through the older Chosen's mind, Ken hoped that it involved a plan to keep them alive because his own thoughts were useless. Whenever he tried to think of how they were going to get out of this situation, he became sidetracked of images of a swirling vortex of black water...dragging him to the depths of the ocean and crushing him beneath its tremendous weight. Blurred images swirled around the whirlpool. Osamu, Wormmon, Kimeramon...
He could feel the Dark Ocean calling to him.
Ken shuddered and wrapped his arms tighter around his knees to hide it.
"Look!" Taichi said suddenly, staring into the distance. "Do you see that?"
Ken followed his gaze out to sea, where the inlet flowed out into the open water. He couldn't see anything on the horizon at first except for the sunlight reflecting off the water. But then he noticed the dark shape, bobbing up and down with the gentle motion of the waves.
"What is it?" he asked, nerves stirring.
As it drew closer, they saw that it was just a stick of misshapen driftwood. Taichi slouched back in disappointment. Ken could feel the older boy's impatience growing. He wondered if Taichi was wondering the same things he was—where the others were now and if the raft had carried them safely to Server. Were they looking for them even now? Or had something happened to them? He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that it was possible.
The prospect made him feel sick.
Taichi was growing restless. He was tugging grass up from the ground, depositing the blades in a heap near his sneakers. He was wearing an expression that reminded Ken of Daisuke.
He wondered how long it would take before Taichi did something stupid. More stupid, he amended, since the situation they were currently in probably wasn't the brightest to begin with.
He prepared himself to say something about the stellar season the Kashima Antlers were having*. An effort at distraction. But he was spared the need to use it by the arrival of the Bushumon from the trees. They were shrieking, their high-pitched voices a flurry of excitement.
Sarumon flicked his long tail irritably behind him. "What is it?"
"He's coming!" the Bushumon trilled. "They found him! The Gizamon!"
Sarumon's face stretched into a grin. "Excellent."
"The Gizamon want to be rewarded..."
"We will deal with that later," Sarumon said.
Ken's stomach flip-flopped as the monkey turned towards them.
"That was fast," Taichi remarked sarcastically.
Sarumon didn't appear to catch his tone. "Whamon has always been elusive to us as a Digimon of the sea. But lately, he has been sticking closer to the land. The Gizamon are happy to find him for us. It won't be long now before he's here." His leer grew even wider.
"Great," Taichi said.
Ken couldn't even muster a grimace.
They all turned to watch the water before them. For a long several minutes, it was still. The ripple of the waves remained undisturbed. But eventually, something appeared in the distance. A bump floating atop the water. As it grew nearer, it became apparent that it was something much larger than a mere bump. It was a whale's head, rapidly approaching the shore.
Ken glanced at Taichi, waiting for him to put into action the miraculous plan he had (hopefully) been developing for the past few hours. But Taichi stood firm. His face was blank, his hands curled into fists as his side. Ken took a deep breath. Whamon was getting closer.
The Bushumon tittered with anticipation. Waves barraged the beach. He was almost upon them now... It was only a matter of seconds. Ken looked around, trying to locate an escape route. The only exit he could find was the pathway, happily guarded by the tribe of monkey Digimon.
Whamon burst from the sea. A sheet of water seven feet high rose up to engulf them. Ken ducked as the water pounded down over his head. The Bushumon shrieked and went scurrying back up the path. Sarumon slowly backed away from them. He gave them a mock bow as he inched his way backwards up the narrow trail. "Your chariot awaits, evil ones."
Although Whamon had no eyes with which to see them, he seemed to sense them standing there. He turned his great head towards them and let out a beastly scream that Ken had heard no animal or Digimon ever make before. It rang of pain, of anguish, of hatred. Water began swelling at the Digimon's sides and Ken knew that he was about to launch an attack.
"Taichi-senpai, we have to get out of here!"
But Taichi wasn't listening. He took a step towards the water. "Whamon, stop! Listen to me. It's Taichi. And this is Ken-kun. You remember us, don't you? The Digidestined?"
Whamon screamed again. A jet of water shot towards them. Ken yanked Taichi out of the way, towards a few boulders standing near the pathway. They ducked behind it as water poured down around them with enough force to splatter craters against the muddy ground.
"Whamon, try to remember!" Taichi shouted from behind the boulder.
"Taichi-senpai!" Ken gritted his teeth from a combination of nerves and impatience. "It's no use. He's corrupted. There's nothing we can do for him. Trust me. I...I would know."
Taichi met his eyes just briefly. "And look at you now."
Ken opened his mouth to argue. He wanted to remind Taichi about how much it had taken to get through to him when he had been the Emperor. But Taichi was already gone. He vaulted over the boulders and walked slowly towards the water, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender. Ken could see the water gathering around Whamon, preparing for another attack.
"Whamon, listen to me," Taichi's voice was pleading but firm. "This isn't you."
Whamon roared. His rank breath blasted Taichi. Ken could feel flecks of saliva spray him from where he remained, half-crouched behind the boulders. Watching in horror.
"Something terrible has happened to you...but it's not too late."
Whamon turned, his massive tail slicing through the water. Ken didn't have time to shout out before it swung towards Taichi. Taichi ducked at the last second and threw himself to the ground. Ken rushed to him and helped him up as Whamon wound up for a second blow.
"Taichi-senpai," Ken said, clutching his arm. "Listen to me. We're never going to get back to the others if we get ourselves killed. Think about them... the Digimon... your sister..."
Taichi shook him off. "You don't get it, do you?" he demanded, eyes flashing. "This isn't just about getting back. There has to be a way to stop this. Don't you see? If we can't—"
"Look out!" The two of them ducked as Whamon's tail passed over their heads. But it was just a decoy. They were unprepared for the tidal wave of water which rushed up to meet them in the seconds after. The wall of water enveloped them and ripped them out into the bay. Ken struggled against the current, trying to propel himself back to shore but the force was too much. Whamon whirled around to face them in the water. A whirlpool began to form.
It was just like the visions he'd been having. The dark water swirled around, catching him in its wicked spiral. Out of instinct, Ken let go. His muscles released; the tension left his body. He closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable. He could hear Taichi shouting somewhere nearby. The Bushumon were screaming in delight. Someone, Sarumon perhaps, was laughing.
The noise stopped. He was submerged in the water. Ken opened his eyes...to discover that he had been swallowed by a rainbow. A myriad of colours flashed around him. He stared at it, stunned, wondering where all this colour had come from in his dark torment. And then he realized what they were. Schools of fish. Thousands of them. Pushing him back to the surface.
Ken gasped as his head broke the surface and air rushed back into his lungs. His eyes burnt from the salt water. Through the tears streaming down his face, he saw Taichi hovering on a similar bed of fish just feet away from him. They were being carried away from Whamon, out into the ocean. The land was shrinking away. And Whamon let them go, distracted as he splashed helplessly at the Digimon flapping around his head. Ken stared at them in astonishment.
"Super shocker!"
"Feather strike!"
Ken glanced over at Taichi. A head popped out of the water between them.
"Gomamon!" Taichi exclaimed, nearly falling off of his raft of fish.
The purple and white Digimon grinned up at them. "Hi guys! Thought you could use a flipper...or two! But I guess Tentomon and Hawkmon don't really have flippers, do they?"
For a moment, neither Chosen knew what to say. The tension melted from Taichi's face. He began to laugh, then groaned as a wave from Whamon's distant flailing rose over his head.
"How did you find us?" Ken asked as Taichi emerged, spluttering from the wave. He couldn't stop staring at Whamon, growing ever more distant, and the two Digimon hovering above him. Whamon screamed and dove beneath the water to avoid Hawkmon and Tentomon's continued attacks. From the distant cliff, Ken could see Sarumon's red eyes watching them.
"The fishes of course!" Gomamon said as if this were obvious. "They heard that something fishy—ha!—was going on between the Bushumon and the Gizamon. We figured that it could be nothing good. Those monkeys are nothing but a bunch of troublemakers!"
"Hooligans," Hawkmon sniffed as he swooped down beside them.
Tentomon was buzzing along not far behind.
"Hawkmon! Tentomon!" Taichi crowed in delight.
"What happened to Whamon?" Ken asked.
"He won't be bothering us for a while," Hawkmon announced.
"Not after we sent him packing," Tentomon agreed.
Ken gazed around at them, still stunned. "You're all okay? Where are the rest of you?"
"Armadillomon is waiting for us back on the mainland," Tentomon reported. His bulbous eyes were gleaming. "But we should be talking about you! How did you get back?"
Taichi and Ken exchanged a brief look.
"It's a long story," Taichi said.
"Have you seen any of the others?" Ken asked. "We were separated in the storm..."
Gomamon's eyes lit up. "You mean you're all here? Jou too?"
"And Miyako?"
"Koushirou?" Tentomon piped hopefully.
"I guess you haven't seen them then," Taichi sighed.
There was silence for a moment. Ken couldn't quiet the question burning inside of him. "You said that Armadillomon is back on the shore...but what about the other Digimon?"
The Digimon's expressions faded. Gomamon ducked beneath the surface. Tentomon and Hawkmon glanced away. For the first time, Ken realized how ruffled Hawkmon's feathers looked. The long scrape along Tentomon's red shell. He felt his apprehension rising...
"I'm afraid we don't really know..." Hawkmon finally admitted.
"We haven't seen the others in a while now," Tentomon added.
"What do you mean?" Taichi asked. "Where could they be?"
Ken had a vision of Wormmon wandering by himself...injured and lost...
But the Digimon just shook their heads.
"We don't know," Tentomon said apologetically.
"There is...one possibility." Hawkmon sounded nervous.
"What's that?" Taichi asked, seizing on the faint chance inside these words.
"Well...if they've been found...they'll most likely be brought to the fortress..."
"The fortress?" Ken asked.
Tentomon nodded, looking grave. "It's the centre of the corruption, we think. All the bad Digimon have gathered there. They've been taking prisoners, trying to turn us all..."
Ken could see it in his mind, a barren place with hundreds of Digimon gathered inside. Just waiting for the darkness to infect them. It was too close to those other memories...his past...
But Taichi seemed undaunted by these words. Or at least, if he was, he didn't show it. He nodded at the Digimon, gazing out at the open sea before them and spoke just one word.
"Hurry."
Chapter Notes:
1) Anyone seen Castaway?
2) Around $1500 CAD or slightly less than that in USD.
3) Kiryoku means inner strength in Japanese.
4) I just want to clarify that at its proper strength, the barrier prevents beings on the outside from seeing OR hearing each those on the inside. The reason Koushirou was able to see it before was because the barrier was already weakening, flickering in and out. It's for this same reason that the Gazimon were able to hear the Chosen coming down the steps.
5) Daisuke never did meet Piximon...but he's heard stories of his existence.
6) The Kashima Antlers are a Japanese soccer team who came in first in their league during 2007. I know nothing about soccer/football in Japan so please feel free to correct any mistakes I may (and quite possibly will) make.
Next Episode: Taichi and Ken manage to escape the diabolical Sarumon and his henchmen with the help of the Digimon. They hurry back to Server, where they have learnt that a dark fortress has been established by none other than their former friend and mentor, Piximon. Will they be in time to save the Digimon locked away there? Will they be re-united with their friends? And what is the significance of the mysterious temple hidden away in the middle of the forest? Find out on the next episode of Digimon, Digital Monsters!
And so the plot thickens... I'm glad to have this chapter over with. I feel like itwas pretty dense. I hope you're all still with me. I'm pretty excited for the next chapter/s. Many exciting things coming up! Thank to everyone who reviewed! I can't thank you enough for your support and I would be endlessly grateful if you would leave me with your thoughts. Stay tuned for chapter twelve!
