New digidestined
Chapter 11: Rhea's knowledge
"I can't believe him!"
"Calm down Tai."
"NO! Izzy, my only daughter is stuck in the digital world and Gennai won't tell me where she is! I need to find her!"
After Gennai left Tai and Izzy to check on the young digidestined, all the emotion that Tai had been holding back over the last few days had finally erupted in the form of anger. Isaye sat in her chair watching this. She had never witnessed Tai be so aggressive. He was usually so laid-back. Obviously Emiko being missing was getting to him. Eventually, Tai calmed and sat down with his head in his hands.
"What am I supposed to tell the other parents?" He asked no one in particular, "They think that their children had been abducted by some mainiac."
"I don't know, Tai," Izzy replied, "We just have to hope that they will find their way home the way we did."
Then Tai had an idea.
"We can get Davis or one of those guys with a D3 digivice to open the gate and we can rescue them!"
Why hadn't Izzy thought of that before? It was a thing they hadn't tried in a long time but it had to be worth a shot. Tai pulled out his cell phone and called Kari. 'Hold on Emiko, I'll have you home soon.'
Meanwhile, the new digidestined were walking through an old, dried-up riverbed looking for the crests. The recent victory over Boogeymon had brought back the optimistic and relaxed aura that was around at the very beginning. Fluttermon was perched on Agumon's head. As they walked, they were playing a game of 'who am I?' They each had a go of doing an impression of each other and the others had to guess. Sammy was first. He lifted his hands to his head and mimed adjusting something on his head. He was imitating Emiko's nervous twitch and it got a big laugh. The brunette acted insulted but actually grabbed his head and gave him a noogie. Next it was Jayko's turn. He held the bottom of his shorts, batted his eyelashes and skipped forward. The other children started laughing and Rhea and Emiko had tears. However not everyone was laughing. Chloe glared at Jayko and her face was started to go red.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" She roared at them all.
Rhea and Emiko froze and stared at each other. Jayko stopped and stared wide eyed at her.
"Chloe, it's just a bit of fun." He said.
"It doesn't mean to cause offence." Sammy told her
She just stuck her nose up and marched away with Floretmon right behind her.
"Jeez, some people can't take a joke." Jayko muttered under his breath.
The game was stopped and they returned to their mission. Just then, there was a surprised noise. Everyone looked behind them and saw Rhea had stopped. Fluttermon flew off Agumon's head and over to her human partner. The rest of the team walked closer to see that Rhea's tag was glowing.
"What's happening?" She asked.
"There's a crest close by." Agumon explained.
"But where?" Emiko asked looking around.
Rhea held her tag in her hand and turned on the spot to find the direction that the glowing was strongest. Finally she came to it and ran in the direction.
"Rhea, wait!" Kiyo called.
Everyone started running after her.
Soon they ran straight in to a dead end. The cliffs were too high and literally vertical. But worst of all, there didn't seem to any sign of a crest or of any life.
"Now what?" Chloe moaned, "There's nothing here."
"The crest must be on the top of the cliff." Kiyo concluded.
"No, it's around here some where," Rhea assured them, "The tag is glowing more intensely here."
Emiko stared at the wall and tried to remember what the original digidestined told her about finding their crests. But she only knew how two of the crests where found. Kari's was found by Wizardmon. But T.K.'s was found on the side of a cliff like now.
"Guys, it could on the cliff face." She announced.
"What?" Sammy replied.
"Nothing would surprise me about this place," Jayko said, "Let's try it."
They all spread themselves along the wall of cliff and started feeling the rock for anything out of the normal.
Suddenly the riverbed echoed to the sound of Rhea's screaming. Everyone turned just in time to see the blonde disappear in to a hole in the ground.
"Rhea!" Fluttermon yelled.
Everyone surrounded to hole and looked down. They could only just see her as it was dark and it certainly made them panic more.
"Rhea!" Emiko called, "Can you hear me? Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Rhea's voice replied.
Everyone sighed with relief and smiled. Now they had to get her out.
"Hey guys, there's a carving here. It looks like a pair of glasses."
"How can someone carve something under the ground?" Kiyo asked.
Then a thought came to Emiko's head.
"Anyone got a pen and a piece of paper?"
"Sure, here." Kiyo handed them to her.
She quickly drew a picture that she remembered then handed it to Fluttermon.
"Rhea, Fluttermon is bringing down a picture. Tell me if it matches the carving."
The giant butterfly did as she was asked and sailed down to her partner. A few seconds later, Rhea confirmed Emiko's suspicions. It was the crest of Knowledge. That's when the hole filled with an entrancing purple glow. It soon faded.
"We've found a crest!" Gaomon cheered.
The gang back above ground cheered and danced with happiness only to be stopped by hearing Rhea's voice.
"Guys!" She called, "Where the crest was, there is now tunnel. I think it's a way out!"
"Wow!" Sammy called back.
"Ok, we're on our way down, Rhea," Emiko called, "Let's go down, guys."
Slowly the rest of the digidestined joined Rhea at the bottom of the hole. Before them was the tunnel.
"I don't like the look of this." Kiyo said nervously.
"I know," Kamemon said, "It looks scary."
It's our only way out," Sammy pointed out, "so let's go."
It was darker in the tunnel than in the hole so the team walked in single file with their left hands against the wall of the tunnel. They had to walk steadily and slowly to prevent any one tripping up on each other. But it could only work so well.
"Ouch!" Emiko groaned, "Jayko, that's my ankle."
"Well, I'm sorry THAT I CAN'T SEE!" He retorted.
"Ok you two don't start arguing." Sammy warned.
"There must be a way to do this without standing on each other." Scratchmon pondered.
Then, true to her new crest, Rhea had an idea.
"Chloe, how many ribbons do you have?"
"Ten, why?"
"We'll take a ribbon each and tie an end to belt of person in front. When that person walks on, the ribbon will tighten. When it gets tight enough, the next person will move and so on until we are all moving."
"Great idea, Rhea," Emiko praised, "Let's do it?"
Jayko, Rhea, Sammy, Kiyo and Chloe all took a ribbon each. Jayko tied on end of his to Emiko's shorts, Sammy tied his to Jayko's, Rhea to Sammy, Chloe to Rhea and Kiyo to Chloe's belt. Once everyone was securely tied together, Emiko started to continue walking with her left hand on the wall. As soon as Jayko felt tension at the other end in his right hand, he set off after her. Soon all six digidestined were walking, left hands on the wall of the tunnel and right hands holding the ribbons. The six digimon walked on the other side of the tunnel. However, the six digidestined were not alone.
After two hours, the tunnel ended and the six digidestined found that they had walked right in to an unpleasant place. They were in the digital world's underground sewer. The water running in the middle of the sewer had a green tinge to it. It was light enough to see but still dark and it was damp.
"Eww!" Chloe squealed, "This is disgusting."
"Unfortunately," Kiyo said, "This is the only way out."
As they could see now, they all untied the ribbons and handed them back to Chloe. They all then started walking through it, following the flow of the water. Agumon, Fluttermon and Scratchmon stopped. Agumon and Scratchmon had their noses on the air and Fluttermon's antennae were twitching madly.
"What's the matter, guys?" Jayko asked.
"We sense something." Scratchmon replied.
The three digimon turned around to where they had just come from and stared at the distance. The kids and the other digimon turned and watched as a huge green blob came rushing towards them. The blob then started to take shape and little creatures were charging at them.
"RUN!" Emiko shouted.
They all did as suggested and starting running away from them. The blobs slowly became a gang of little green digimon with large mouths and tongues.
"What are they?" Rhea asked.
"Numemon, now keep running before they start throwing." Fluttermon said.
"Start throwing what?" Jayko asked.
"You don't want to know!" Kamemon replied.
"Ok boys," One of the Numemon ordered, "Let rip!"
Suddenly the sewer was filled with pink, curled sludge being flung at the digidestined.
"EWW! WHAT IS THAT!" Chloe screamed.
"It's called digi-sludge," Emiko called back, "Digimon poop, basically."
That's when Rhea had another idea. As she ran, she put it together.
"Scratchmon, digivolve," She called, "I have an idea."
"Right!" She replied.
"Scratchmon digivolve to…Molemon!"
The sudden digivolve made the Numemon grind to a halt and stare at the larger digimon before them.
"Now, Molemon use you earth shaker to make a hole to stop them following."
The digimon did as she was told. She raised her sharp claws then, quickly and forcefully, slammed them in to the ground. There was suddenly a huge gap between the Numemon and them. With the little digimon blocked, Molemon returned to rookie, caught up with the rest of the gang and the digidestined until they reached outside. The bright daylight and smell of fresh air was a welcome relief. Now they finally had a crest leaving five more to find.