Well its the next day and up goes another Chapter. Honestly ther's not much to saw at this point, so just sit back and enjoy the next chapter.
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Chapter 11: The Rescue
Jenn
I stood in my room panting heavily with Penguinmon clutched in my arms. Once again we'd just narrowly avoided death from Phantomon and Ladydevimon. This time was different though; this was the first time we had fled from them that not all of us were here. Both Elecmon and Kris had been left behind, defiantly not by choice. I still couldn't believe I had left him, I couldn't believe I had just left Kris there, ready to die. I'd thought we were about to get him back, Janine Starmon and Elecmon had gone up to the base to make the exchange, but instead of coming down with Kris Janine and Starmon flew down towards us Janine simply yelling. "Run!" with Ladydevimon and Phantomon chasing her, and with out even thinking, without even realizing that I was leaving my best friend and his Digimon I listened, I ran I got to the Digiport with along with everyone else, except Kris and Elecmon of course, and made it back to the real world and back into my room with the rest of my teammates, except the one person I really wanted to be here.
"What happened back there Janine?" I asked my words coming out in spurts because I was completely out of breath.
"I knew they couldn't be trusted," Sean said. "I really knew that the second we gave them those plans and crests they'd take them and attack us."
"Could've mentioned it before," Tapirmon said.
"It's not like we had much of a choice," Sean said in his defense. "If we didn't at least try they would have killed Kris."
"That wasn't it," Janine said. "They didn't attack because they double crossed us, it was because we double crossed them."
"We what!" I yelled. "What are you talking about?"
Janine shot Dan a cold glare. "The plans that Dan got for us were a fake. It was just a rolled up piece of paper."
Soon all of us were giving Dan that cold stare. I could feel my blood boiling; he had just taken a gamble with Kris's life, and didn't seem to care. I couldn't hold back my anger anymore. I jumped at him intending to tackle him and pin him to the ground, however he was stronger than me and just grabbed my wrists stopped me from doing anything.
"How could you?!" I screamed. "They'll kill him now!"
"Look," he said. "I was only doing what I thought was best for the war. Kris said himself that he didn't want us to give them the plans, and you all know that he was right, you all know that Kris would sacrifice himself so we could win the war and save those Digimon in a second. I knew that you guys weren't about to refuse our enemies offer so I switched the plans, I was the only one who listened to Kris's order."
"You care more about winning this war than you do about Kris!" I screamed.
"You know that's not true. Yes I'll admit there are times when Kris and I don't get along, but that doesn't mean I want to see him dead. I hated seeing him shackled to that pole as much as you did, but I knew that Kris would rather be up there than see those two get a hold of the plans and enslave thousands of Digimon. I was only doing what I thought Kris would do, all of you were too blinding by concern to do it so I had to."
He released his grip on my wrists; assuming that I'd calmed down enough that I wasn't going to attack him again. I wanted to, I was so mad at him right now, but I got control of my anger, pushing it aside knowing that in some weird stupid way he was right.
"So what do we do now?" Rob asked. There was a long pause after he said it. He sighed. "Normally Kris would answer that almost immediately, and now Elecmon's gone too so we don't even have our second in command either."
"So we need a new temporary leader," Gotsumon said.
Each of us glanced at one another.
"Don't look at me," Janine said. "I'm no leader, I couldn't make those kind of decisions."
"I'm a little too young to take on that challenge." Sean said.
Rob sunk his head. "I may be perceptive, but I could never know what to do with what I saw, Kris always did that for me."
I guess that left Dan and I.
"I'll do it," Dan said.
"Hey there's another person here," I said.
"No offense Jenn, but I don't think you'd be able to make the right decision considering the circumstances."
"What circumstances?" I asked knowing perfectly well what he was talking about, and praying he wouldn't say it out loud.
"You know what I'm talking about. We all know how much you care about him, in fact Kris is the only one who doesn't, the only person who was more concerned about Kris than you when we saw him all beat up was Elecmon your feelings for him would get in the way. Like they did today, you almost lost control over your anger, if that happened in a battle it could cost your or one of our lives. No one else is willing to do it so I guess I'm stuck with the job."
"Fine," I groaned. "Be leader, just don't get us killed."
I probably sounded like I didn't approve that he was going to be our temporary leader, until - or if - we got Kris back, but I did. Of all of us Dan was the only one willing to make the hard decision we all knew that Kris would've approved of.
"Don't worry," Dan said. "We'll get Kris and Elecmon back, don't worry, but we can't go now, they'll be expecting us right away, tomorrow right after school we'll go in and get him back. Honestly I don't know how we're going to do it but we will I promise."
I nodded quietly desperately trying to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes. Everyone agreed that we were going in tomorrow, and soon Penguinmon and I were alone.
"You took that better than I thought." Penguinmon said.
"No I didn't," I said. "I'm going to get Kris back and a lot sooner than tomorrow after school."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to get Kris and Elecmon tonight, I'll tell you the details later, but are you with me?"
"Of course," Penguinmon eagerly agreed. "I'd follow you anywhere."
"Good," I said.
My teammates wouldn't like it but I was going to get my best friend back, and I was doing it tonight. If I waited until tomorrow after school I might never get him back and there was no way I was going to let that happen.
* * *
"Are you ready to go Penguinmon?" I asked my partner.
"Yeah," she answered. "If you are, but are you sure you want to do this alone?"
"Yes," I said. "If I told anyone about this they'd try to stop me."
"Maybe you should just wait until tomorrow with the others."
"You heard what Tyrannomon said, they're landing tonight only, and we won't get another chance like this. Besides Kris might not be alive tomorrow."
"But I'm sure if you told them what was happening they'd be willing to go on with it."
"It's too late for that, besides this is something I need to do alone, with the exception of you of course."
"Let's go," I said holding my Digivice up to the computer. "Digiport open."
The same old thing happened. The Digiport opened Penguinmon and I were sucked inside the computer, and then transported into the Digital World. I observed my surroundings, a small forest with dozens upon dozens of fruit bushes and trees, with a fresh water lake nearby. This place was rich with food and water, the perfect place to stock up on supplies. Which was exactly what Andrew and Emily where going to be doing anytime now. Privately I'd gathered some information from some of the Digimon who had volunteered to be spies. They said that once a week Emily and Andrew landed here for about an hour and took fruit and water from this area for supplies, and when they landed Penguinmon and I would board the base, and get Kris and Elecmon out of there. I hadn't asked the others to come with me for two reasons, first of all it would be easier to sneak only one of us onto the base, second like I had told Penguinmon before, this was something that I felt I had to do alone.
I didn't have to wait long, after about five minutes the dark Diamond shaped base emerged from the star filled sky of the Digital world, and landed in the lake, the bottom half of the base completely submerged in the water, just like it had been in the cove, almost the entire lake had been taken over by the base. I quickly hid behind a fruit tree as the door to the main entrance opened. The first to emerge from the base was Demidevimon, who flew to the closest fruit bush and began harvesting the fruit. Blackgatomon came out next, and began to do the same thing. The next out was Emily and Andrew.
"Why do we need food if this is just a game?" Andrew asked.
A game?
"It makes it more realistic," Emily said. "Just play along. You two, hurry up we don't have all night!"
"We shouldn't rely on those weaklings," Andrew said smiling. "That's why I brought our newest Ultimate Digimon to help with the harvest."
"Are you suggesting we use Panjamon to do our own Digimon's work?" Emily said.
"I'm just trying to make this go faster."
Did they just say what I thought they said? If they did we were all in big trouble.
"Okay, we'll use him, it would be nice for him to get a warm up before destroying the Digidestined."
I slunk back even more, if they saw me now I wouldn't stand a chance, I had to do this as plans sneak in and sneak out. Emily and Andrew stepped aside onto the grass close to their Digimon and within minutes their new Ultimate Digimon emerged from the entrance. At first all I could see was a Dark silhouette of the Digimon, but as it began to emerge into the Digital world's moonlight I saw a very familiar Digimon.
"Leomon," I whispered marveling at the Digimon that looked amazingly similar to Leomon.
Except this Digimon was entirely black, except for his mane that was a lighter shade of gray, aside from the colour this Digimon was much bigger and bulkier than Leomon he was at least two or three feet bigger than Leomon, and probably had a good twenty or thirty pounds on him too. Another thing about this Digimon you couldn't help but notice were the red glowing eyes and the Dark Prism on his arm, but there was something different about this one, it was shaped more like a cube than a triangle. This Ultimate unlike Ladydevimon and Phantomon was being held against his will. A horrible thought entered my mind. Emily and Andrew had caught Elecmon, it was possible that they'd turn him into a slave, but Leomon couldn't Digivolve into Ultimate yet. Or maybe he had and Emily and Andrew took advantage of it to turn him into their slave, but even if they had Kris wasn't with him now so how was he even maintaining his Ultimate state? No it just couldn't be Elecmon/Leomon in there.
"Panjamon, we'd like you to gather us some fruit from these trees and bushes." Andrew said.
"Yes master," the Digimon Andrew had called Panjamon said.
With amazing speed Panjamon drew a sword much bigger than Leomon's and sliced down dozens of fruit of the trees into one pile. I had to move fast, with Panjamon gathering the food it wouldn't take long before they'd have all the fruit they needed. As Panjamon gathered the fruit and the others were distracted by how fast he was doing it. Penguinmon and I slowly snuck our way towards the base's entrance. As stealthy and as quiet as we could be Penguinmon and I made our way to the entrance, took one last look at our enemies, and one of them, which could possibly be our friend and ran inside the base. I continued to run down the dimly lit hallway, giving it a dark atmosphere, how painfully appropriate for those two. I looked at my Digivice in radar mode, giving me the location of two Digidestined outside: Emily and Andrew, three Digimon outside: Demidevimon, Blackgatomon, and Panjamon. Lastly there was one more Digidestined on it: Kris. I followed that yellow dot on the D3 weaving through numerous forks in the hallway ignoring the several doors, until the D3 led me to one room in particular.
"I'm assuming it's locked." I said.
"I'll take care of that," Penguinmon said.
"Better Digivolve, I know you could take it down as you are now but it's best that you're prepared in case we run into something."
Penguinmon nodded as I prepared my Digivice.
"Penguinmon Digivolved to……………………….Kiwimon!"
"Drill Bill!" Kiwimon yelled as the door in front of us toppled down, revealing a stairwell.
"Uh oh," Kiwimon said.
Now this was just great. It could take us a while to find Kris now, the radar mode of the Digivice only gave a horizontal location, vertical was all the same to it.
"So where do we start?" Kiwimon asked.
As she said that a sudden realization hit me.
"I've got a bad feeling," I said. "I think we should go to the top."
"But we've been there before remember, that's just the control room."
"I know I just want to confirm my bad feeling."
"If you say so."
I led the way and began running up the stairs, I didn't pay attention to how many flights I went up, I'd gone up the full amount before, from bottom to top I could handle half of them. I don't know how long I ran up them, that was just another thing I wasn't paying attention to, all I knew was I had to get to the top as soon as possible, but eventually after I don't know how long since I wasn't paying attention to it I reached the top. The door that Kiwimon had knocked down before was still knocked down, apparently they didn't care that they didn't have doors to some of their rooms.
"So why are we here?" Kiwimon asked.
I turned my attention to the display case; the glass on it was still broken. Just as I thought inside it was Kris's Digivice and crest, and it was Kris's Digivice that was giving off the signal, now he could be anywhere.
"I was afraid of this," I said picking up the Digivice and crest.
"The radar gives the location of the Digivice not Kris himself."
"Why don't we just check the dungeon where all those Digimon were the last time we were here?" Kiwimon asked.
"Are you sure that they'd keep Kris in the same spot that they kept the Digimon?"
"It's worth a shot, and if he's not there we can free all the Digimon then find Kris."
"Okay, let's go."
I didn't even think about hesitating, ran out of the room and took off down the stairs, Kiwimon not far behind. I tore down the stairs taking even less time going down than it had me going up, which I guess is to be expected since I was going down. I reached the bottom within minutes, but as I reached the bottom of the stairs I defiantly noticed something different, there were two doors there instead of one. One with the door knocked off its hinges, and the other still standing.
"The knocked down door probably leads to the dungeon where the Digimon are being kept," Kiwimon said.
My eyes met the new door. "And the other one probably leads to Kris, let's knock it down."
"But what about the Digimon?"
"We'll get them after we get Kris," I said, but couldn't help but notice the look of concern in Kiwimon's face. "I promise we'll get them out of here, they said themselves that the Digidestined are the only ones who can save them, and Kris is one them so I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we saved him first."
"Your right, but you don't have to convince me Jenn, I'd follow you anywhere."
"I just didn't want you to think I didn't care about those Digimon."
"How could I ever think that? You've got the crest of Assistance."
"Come on, let's get Kris, you better knock that door down."
"Pummel Peck!"
A smaller Kiwimon shot out of Kiwimon's mouth and exploded on contact with the door. The door didn't just fall down, exploded along with Kiwimon's attack. The room lit up as the door collapsed, and I saw in the center of the room exactly who I was looking for.
* * *
Kris
Once again I was shackled to this stupid, stupid, pole! Like I had been for the past few days. No sooner had I gotten off of it I had been shackled to it again. The worst part, it had been my own Digimon that had put me back, the same Digimon that had freed me in the first place had put me back up. I hated Emily and Andrew for making him do this, and soon they'd have him doing worse things, starting with destroying my friends, then using him to conquer the Digital World. It had been a few hours since Leomon had been turned into a slave become Panjamon and forced to put me back on this pole. He'd stayed with me for a while, then Emily and Andrew had called him for something, they were probably making Panjamon help them capture innocent Digimon, and forcing him to do things deep down I knew he really didn't want to do, this was probably the worst torture for him, he was probably hurting Digimon, Digimon that were his friends, they were making him hurt his friends, and he was perfectly aware of it with nothing he could possibly do about it. He was going through the worst torture imaginable, he was seeing his friends in pain, he was causing it, and he couldn't do anything about it, and - and it was all my fault! There were dried tears staining my face, I'd continue to cry but I couldn't anymore, my eyes were bloodshot and completely dry. Panjamon being here was almost as painful of the thought that he was doing something that was torture to him. When he was here I found myself looking at his arm, just looking at that Dark Cube and I couldn't stop crying, I hated the fact that he was one of those Digimon suffering at the hands of Andrew and Emily, and I couldn't do anything to stop his suffering. I could just sit here, sit here and watch it happen, just the thought about it made me want to cry, but I couldn't anymore. I had to get out of here somehow; I had to off of this pole and save him somehow, but how? My question was answered the next second as the door just in front of me exploded. Literately exploded, and it had only been a few hours since Andrew had fixed it after Elecmon had knocked it off its hinges. The lights came on automatically like they did whenever someone entered the room. My eyes met the doorway, then lit up when I saw who was there.
"J-Jenn," I said happily as I saw Jenn and Kiwimon standing at the doorway.
Jenn's face just as happy as I felt right now. "Kris. You have no idea how worried I've been about you. I didn't know what to think."
"Well I'm alive anyway," I said. "Could you get me down?"
"Leave that to me," Kiwimon said. "Pummel Peck!"
Kiwimon fired two pummels pecks each landed on my shackles, exploding them on contact. I fell to the ground immediately onto my hands and knees, unable to stand up not because I was physically weak but because I couldn't concentrate on anything but what was happening to Panjamon.
"Kris are you okay," Jenn said immediately running up to me and kneeling at my side.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just feeling a little weak right now."
Jenn stayed on her knees by my side, but still turned her head to Kiwimon.
"What were you thinking!" she yelled at Kiwimon. "You could have really hurt him!"
"S-sorry," Kiwimon said almost weakly.
"It's not that," I said staring down at the floor still on my hands and knees. "Physically I'm fine, it's just-"
"Kris, what's wrong?" Jenn asked.
I didn't answer, I really didn't want her to know what had happened, I didn't want her to know I'd let Elecmon get captured, let him become a slave.
"Kris?" she said again. "You can tell me, I'm your best friend, we've told each other everything since we were seven years old."
"It's-" I began to explain but stopped myself.
Jenn grabbed my chin and lifted my face to look at her own; her face was filled with nothing but concern.
"Kris you've been crying, what's wrong. What did that bitch do to you?"
"It's not what they did to me," I said. "It's what they did to Elecmon."
Shock filled Jenn's face now. "Elecmon? Did they-"
"No," I said. "They didn't kill him they-"
I couldn't say it; I hated even thinking about it. My partner my best friend a slave of The Digimon Emperor and Digimon Empress."
"Kris I saw a Digimon outside that looked like Leomon, was that him?"
I nodded. "Yes, they tricked me into making Leomon Digivolve, then they through a new tool of theirs called the Dark Cube onto his arm and used their dark Digivices to make him Dark Digivolve into Panjamon, his Ultimate form, now he's their slave now, and it's - it's all my fault. He came here to rescue me, if I hadn't let my stupid hormones get the best of me I wouldn't have been captured of the first place and he wouldn't have ended up in the place of the Digimon that we're trying to save. He's being tortured as we speak. And it's all my fault!"
Tears streamed down my face in steady streams now. Jenn's face now looked even more concerned than ever.
"No, no," she said her voice filled with total comfort. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly, almost as much as she did after I had escaped Gesomon. I embraced it wrapping my own arms around her accepting her comfort. "It's not your fault. None of us saw through Emily's plan. Elecmon chose to come in here after you, absolutely none of this is your fault."
Tears continued to fall from my eyes. "They got him, you have no idea how painful this is."
"We'll get Elecmon back Kris I promise." Jenn said. "I promise we'll get him back."
"Thanks," I said. "I'm so glad you're here, I hated being locked in those shackles knowing there was nothing I could do to."
All was silent for a while, she I just knelt there in her arms her comforting me, and I accepting it, until she finally broke the silence.
"You know you broke your promise."
"What promise was that?"
"After you escaped from that Gesomon before you said you'd never worry me like that again."
I smiled at that. "Sorry, I promise I won't do that to you ever again."
"Kris, don't make promises you can't keep."
My smile only grew wider. "Sorry."
I broke the uh, taking my arms from around her, and stood up, making her do the same.
I wiped the tears away from my eyes. "This isn't the time to cry. We've got a war to fight, and right now I'm dead set on helping Panjamon."
"Now?" Jenn said. "Kris I know you want to help Panjamon but he's an Ultimate Digimon, not to mention that Blackgatomon and Ladydevimon can Digivolve any second to help them, that's three Ultimates, we've had enough trouble with just two. Plus none of the others are here right now, just us and Kiwimon's the only Digimon here, they'd destroy us in a second."
"You came alone?" I said. "Where are the others?"
"I didn't tell them I was coming," she answered. "If I told them what I was doing they would've tried to stop me. They wanted to wait until tomorrow after school, but I just couldn't stand waiting anymore. So I secretly went to our spies and found out that Andrew and Emily were landing tonight to pick up some supplies, so when they landed and were distracted I snuck in. I thought it would be best if I came alone since it would be easier to sneak one Digidestined and one Digimon in than five, but that's not the point, the fact of the matter is we can't fight now, I understand you want to help Panjamon I know I'd want to help Kiwimon if it was her, but you have to keep in mind that if we try as we are now we'll fail, then we'll just be captured too, or worse."
I sighed. "I know. We can't fight now; I never meant that we help him now. As much as I hate the idea we've got to leave without Panjamon, then we figure out some way to save him and then come back and get my Digimon back, now are you sure no one saw you?"
"Yeah, they were using Panjamon to gather fruit outside and were marveling at the speed he was gathering them at, they didn't notice me sneak in, but they should be back inside any moment so we better get moving."
I breathed a sigh of relief, that's all they were making him do, gather fruit. He wasn't hurting any of his fellow Digimon he was just gathering fruit. But how long was it until that's what they had him doing, and now I was going leave him, I hated having to do this but I knew deep inside Panjamon would rather that I escaped than was recaptured trying to save him.
"Okay let's get out of here," I said. "Lead the way."
"Actually," Jenn said shyly, which was strange as she rarely spoke shyly to me. "I no that it's important that we get out of here, but just in the next room there are hundreds of Digimon being held captive, the ones I failed to save when I was here before, some of them even gave their lives so that Kiwimon and I could escape. I was wondering if before we left-"
"Say no more," I interrupted. "If they're just in the next room then it shouldn't take long to save them, we failed them once we're not going to do it again, just show me where to go you're the one who's been here before."
"Okay, just follow me." She said. "But first I found these in the control room."
Jenn handed me my D3 and crest. "Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever see these again, now let's free those Digimon and get out of here. Jenn and Kiwimon led me out of the dungeon that I was more than happy to be out of, into a hall, which we only stayed in long enough to do a U-turn into another door, which had been knocked off it's hinges, and was now lying on the floor a few feet away from the doorway. Now we stood in another hallway, or what I thought was a hallway at first, it stretched for a while I could barely see the doorway at the other end of the hallway. On both sides of the 'hallway' were two cages taking up the entire length of the hallway, inside of which were hundreds upon hundreds of Digimon, just like Jenn had said. I looked in horror at the Digimon in the cages, all depressed, sulking almost all hope gone from their faces, the only thing that looked worse than this was seeing that Dark Cube on Panjamon's arm.
"It's even worse than before," Jenn said.
"They've doubled the numbers of the Digimon here," Kiwimon said. "Soon the entire Digimon population could be in here."
"No if I have anything to say about it," I said. "This torture has to stop, and now that I've seen it happen to my own Digimon I'm even more dedicated to stopping it."
We began to move further down the hallway between the cages. As we did the Digimon inside the cage began to notice us. They flooded to the front of the cage, ran up to the bars. Most of them recognized Jenn and Kiwimon.
"We knew you'd be back," a white furry Digimon said, it was a Mojiamon I think.
"I told you I'd get you out of here, I'm just sorry that we had to leave you behind before." Jenn said. "Kiwimon you know what to do."
Kiwimon fired a Drill Bill along the edges of all the bars, as she finished going along the bars they toppled onto the ground with a very loud clang, the Digimon inside rushed outside happily.
"See," the same Mojiamon said. "I said the Digidestined wouldn't fail us."
"None of us doubted you for a second." A Frigimon said. "Your just like the Digidestined that saved us from the Dark masters."
"We can celebrate later," I said. "You're just out of your cages right now, you won't be safe until you're out of the base. Now it's going to be really hard getting all of you outside. The Digimon Emperor and Digimon Empress may not have noticed one little human and her Digimon but I think they'll notice all of you."
"We can sneak them out the other entrance," Jenn suggested. "The entrance Kiwimon and I used to get in when it was in the cove, it's in the next room at the other end of the hall."
Jenn pointed to down the hall where there was another doorway missing a door.
I smiled. "This is almost too perfect, let's get you guys out of here."
I spoke too soon; almost right after I said 'this is almost too perfect' the base began to shake.
"They're taking off!" Kiwimon yelled.
"Okay we've got to get you guys out of here and NOW!"
The Digimon began to panic, and started running towards the door where the alternate entrance was. I couldn't let this happen, if they panicked then something very bad might happen, like give away our location to Andrew and Emily.
"Hold it!" I screamed. The Digimon stopped at my command. The Japanese Digidestined had developed a good reputation for all Digidestined so I guess they were eager to listen. "Look we're not going to get anywhere if you panic, everyone line up single file and jump out of the entrance, the Digimon who can fly last, Jenn Kiwimon and I will leave last to make sure you all get out."
The hundreds of Digimon listened instantly, and lined up single file just like I had said. Jenn Kiwimon and I took the front of the line and led them to the next room, where there was a romp that led outside and had once been the underwater entrance. The Digimon began to slide down it onto the ground fortunately this time they were lifting off slowly so all the Digimon who couldn't fly made it to the ground safely. We were pretty high by the time all the Digimon had gotten out, and Jenn Kiwimon and I were the only ones left. I looked down the ramp at the ground below; it was pretty far away and getting farther all the time.
"Ready," Jenn said climbing onto Kiwimon's back. "It's going to be a nasty fall."
"I guess," I said, also climbing on. Kiwimon wasn't exactly the biggest Digimon so the two of us barely fit on her.
Jenn wrapped her arms around my waist tightly; I grabbed her hands and hung on.
"Hang on tight!" Kiwimon said.
Kiwimon jumped down the ramp and soon we were plummeting towards the ground. Not half as far as Jenn and Kiwimon had fallen from before right before Starmon caught them, but still far enough to scare the hell out of us. Kiwimon had made sure to aim her jump and actually succeeded in landed where she had aimed. There was a defining SPLASH! As we hit the water. The three of us separated as we hit the water, I broke the surface and immediately swam to land breathing the sweet beautiful air. I scanned my surroundings; beside me Jenn was spitting out water, and beside her Penguinmon was shaking the water off of her.
"Everyone okay?" I asked.
"I've been better," Jenn said.
"The water doesn't bother me," Penguinmon said. "It was the fall that bothered me."
"I think the fall bothered all of us," I groaned. "Let's just get home, and see if we can figure out how to help Panjamon."
"I do not need assistance." A cold voice said.
I looked up fearing what I might see, and I saw what I was fearing, Panjamon, his giant sword drawn just a few feet in front of us, staring at us with his glowing red eyes.
"It is you who needs assistance." Panjamon said. "I have orders from my master to retrieve you and destroy the girl and her Digimon."
"Panjamon I know you're being controlled by the Dark Cube, but you have to try in fight it. I know deep down there my partner is still there and doesn't want to hurt anyone, come on fight the Dark Cube I know you can beat it."
"I needn't fight anything," Panjamon said. "Except for you! Ice Beast Fist!"
Leomon punched at the air and shot a beam that looked almost exactly like his first of the beast king except that it was an icy blue colour straight at Jenn and Penguinmon. It all happened in a second I jumped at them and pushed them out of the way of the attack, the icy attack just skimming my arm, ripping apart the sleeve of my shirt and taking some of the skin off the side of it.
"Ah," I screamed grabbing my bleeding arm.
"Kris!" Jenn yelled. "Are you okay?"
"Just a scratch." I said, releasing my arm and grabbing hers. "Just run!"
I began to run as fast as I could to where my Digivice's radar mode said the nearest Digiport was, fortunately it wasn't very far away just few yards away, pulling Jenn with me, as she scooped Penguinmon up with her free arm. I continued to run as fast as I could, pulling Jenn and Penguinmon along with me. I tried to ignore the fact that Panjamon could easily outrun us. I looked ahead, and breathed a sigh of relief the TV that would bring us home and to safety. I readied my Digivice, and held it out in front of me.
"Digiport- "
The TV and the area around it suddenly exploded sending the three of us flying away, all landing in about the same spot. Panjamon jumped down from a try and held his sword in his hand ready to strike at any second.
"P-Panjamon," I stuttered in total fear.
This really was it, there was no way out, we couldn't even fight back, Penguinmon was weak after taking that fall she couldn't Digivolve, and it was my Digimon that was going to do it.
"Ice slide!" Penguinmon yelled as she pathetically fired her attack.
It not only didn't do anything but it missed, all Panjamon needed to do to avoid it was move his head to the side as the attack flew by his head.
"I have orders to retrieve you and destroy the girl and her Digimon." Panjamon said. "I must fulfill my masters orders."
Suddenly before Panjamon, could do anything a palm tree about as thick as his chest landed on his head.
"Ah!" he screamed as the tree landing on him caused him to fall to the ground.
Penguinmon's ice slide had hit that tree and caused it to fall over. She wasn't trying to hit Panjamon at all that wasn't a miss it was a direct hit!
"Don't just stand there!" Penguinmon yelled. "I provided a distraction now let's use it!"
We didn't need to be told twice, the three of us ran from that spot as fast as we could, I seemed to be a lot of running today, I couldn't believe that it was my own Digimon my best friend that I was so afraid of. We eventually hid behind some bushes unable to run any more too out of breath to even move, I think we waited there for half an hour, I continually looked down at my Digivice, but the only Digimon it showed in this area was Penguinmon, we'd lost Panjamon and I'd finally escaped my prison.
"I think he's finally gone," I said
"Good," Jenn said. "At least we're safe for the time being anyway, where's the nearest Digiport I really want to go home. I'm assuming because the TV blew up we can't use the same one I used to get into the Digital World."
I sighed. "You're right we'll have to find another one, and that's the bad news the nearest Digiport is at good seven kilometer walk from here."
"That's pretty far," Penguinmon groaned.
"Not incredibly far," I said. "It should only take us an hour to get there."
Jenn looked up towards the sky, it was pitch black aside from the Digital World's full moon and the stars.
"We should get some rest," she said. "It's getting late."
I nodded. "Yeah you're right, we can start walking towards the Digiport in the morning, any ideas where we can find a place to get some sleep."
"I saw a cave a while back while we were running for our lives," Penguinmon said.
"That sounds good," Jenn said. "At least it should keep us safe from Emily and Andrew."
I only nodded in agreement, as I got up. "Lead the way Penguinmon."
Penguinmon and Jenn got up and they led us towards the cave. I wasn't home, I didn't have my Digimon, but at least I was free of that prison, and I got some sense of comfort knowing that the Panjamon deep down may not be happy that he was a slave of The Digimon Emperor and Empress, but at least he was happy that I was free.
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Okay chapter the next chapter should be up - well hopefully in a few minutes. Once I have the author's notes written then they should be up.
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Chapter 11: The Rescue
Jenn
I stood in my room panting heavily with Penguinmon clutched in my arms. Once again we'd just narrowly avoided death from Phantomon and Ladydevimon. This time was different though; this was the first time we had fled from them that not all of us were here. Both Elecmon and Kris had been left behind, defiantly not by choice. I still couldn't believe I had left him, I couldn't believe I had just left Kris there, ready to die. I'd thought we were about to get him back, Janine Starmon and Elecmon had gone up to the base to make the exchange, but instead of coming down with Kris Janine and Starmon flew down towards us Janine simply yelling. "Run!" with Ladydevimon and Phantomon chasing her, and with out even thinking, without even realizing that I was leaving my best friend and his Digimon I listened, I ran I got to the Digiport with along with everyone else, except Kris and Elecmon of course, and made it back to the real world and back into my room with the rest of my teammates, except the one person I really wanted to be here.
"What happened back there Janine?" I asked my words coming out in spurts because I was completely out of breath.
"I knew they couldn't be trusted," Sean said. "I really knew that the second we gave them those plans and crests they'd take them and attack us."
"Could've mentioned it before," Tapirmon said.
"It's not like we had much of a choice," Sean said in his defense. "If we didn't at least try they would have killed Kris."
"That wasn't it," Janine said. "They didn't attack because they double crossed us, it was because we double crossed them."
"We what!" I yelled. "What are you talking about?"
Janine shot Dan a cold glare. "The plans that Dan got for us were a fake. It was just a rolled up piece of paper."
Soon all of us were giving Dan that cold stare. I could feel my blood boiling; he had just taken a gamble with Kris's life, and didn't seem to care. I couldn't hold back my anger anymore. I jumped at him intending to tackle him and pin him to the ground, however he was stronger than me and just grabbed my wrists stopped me from doing anything.
"How could you?!" I screamed. "They'll kill him now!"
"Look," he said. "I was only doing what I thought was best for the war. Kris said himself that he didn't want us to give them the plans, and you all know that he was right, you all know that Kris would sacrifice himself so we could win the war and save those Digimon in a second. I knew that you guys weren't about to refuse our enemies offer so I switched the plans, I was the only one who listened to Kris's order."
"You care more about winning this war than you do about Kris!" I screamed.
"You know that's not true. Yes I'll admit there are times when Kris and I don't get along, but that doesn't mean I want to see him dead. I hated seeing him shackled to that pole as much as you did, but I knew that Kris would rather be up there than see those two get a hold of the plans and enslave thousands of Digimon. I was only doing what I thought Kris would do, all of you were too blinding by concern to do it so I had to."
He released his grip on my wrists; assuming that I'd calmed down enough that I wasn't going to attack him again. I wanted to, I was so mad at him right now, but I got control of my anger, pushing it aside knowing that in some weird stupid way he was right.
"So what do we do now?" Rob asked. There was a long pause after he said it. He sighed. "Normally Kris would answer that almost immediately, and now Elecmon's gone too so we don't even have our second in command either."
"So we need a new temporary leader," Gotsumon said.
Each of us glanced at one another.
"Don't look at me," Janine said. "I'm no leader, I couldn't make those kind of decisions."
"I'm a little too young to take on that challenge." Sean said.
Rob sunk his head. "I may be perceptive, but I could never know what to do with what I saw, Kris always did that for me."
I guess that left Dan and I.
"I'll do it," Dan said.
"Hey there's another person here," I said.
"No offense Jenn, but I don't think you'd be able to make the right decision considering the circumstances."
"What circumstances?" I asked knowing perfectly well what he was talking about, and praying he wouldn't say it out loud.
"You know what I'm talking about. We all know how much you care about him, in fact Kris is the only one who doesn't, the only person who was more concerned about Kris than you when we saw him all beat up was Elecmon your feelings for him would get in the way. Like they did today, you almost lost control over your anger, if that happened in a battle it could cost your or one of our lives. No one else is willing to do it so I guess I'm stuck with the job."
"Fine," I groaned. "Be leader, just don't get us killed."
I probably sounded like I didn't approve that he was going to be our temporary leader, until - or if - we got Kris back, but I did. Of all of us Dan was the only one willing to make the hard decision we all knew that Kris would've approved of.
"Don't worry," Dan said. "We'll get Kris and Elecmon back, don't worry, but we can't go now, they'll be expecting us right away, tomorrow right after school we'll go in and get him back. Honestly I don't know how we're going to do it but we will I promise."
I nodded quietly desperately trying to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes. Everyone agreed that we were going in tomorrow, and soon Penguinmon and I were alone.
"You took that better than I thought." Penguinmon said.
"No I didn't," I said. "I'm going to get Kris back and a lot sooner than tomorrow after school."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to get Kris and Elecmon tonight, I'll tell you the details later, but are you with me?"
"Of course," Penguinmon eagerly agreed. "I'd follow you anywhere."
"Good," I said.
My teammates wouldn't like it but I was going to get my best friend back, and I was doing it tonight. If I waited until tomorrow after school I might never get him back and there was no way I was going to let that happen.
* * *
"Are you ready to go Penguinmon?" I asked my partner.
"Yeah," she answered. "If you are, but are you sure you want to do this alone?"
"Yes," I said. "If I told anyone about this they'd try to stop me."
"Maybe you should just wait until tomorrow with the others."
"You heard what Tyrannomon said, they're landing tonight only, and we won't get another chance like this. Besides Kris might not be alive tomorrow."
"But I'm sure if you told them what was happening they'd be willing to go on with it."
"It's too late for that, besides this is something I need to do alone, with the exception of you of course."
"Let's go," I said holding my Digivice up to the computer. "Digiport open."
The same old thing happened. The Digiport opened Penguinmon and I were sucked inside the computer, and then transported into the Digital World. I observed my surroundings, a small forest with dozens upon dozens of fruit bushes and trees, with a fresh water lake nearby. This place was rich with food and water, the perfect place to stock up on supplies. Which was exactly what Andrew and Emily where going to be doing anytime now. Privately I'd gathered some information from some of the Digimon who had volunteered to be spies. They said that once a week Emily and Andrew landed here for about an hour and took fruit and water from this area for supplies, and when they landed Penguinmon and I would board the base, and get Kris and Elecmon out of there. I hadn't asked the others to come with me for two reasons, first of all it would be easier to sneak only one of us onto the base, second like I had told Penguinmon before, this was something that I felt I had to do alone.
I didn't have to wait long, after about five minutes the dark Diamond shaped base emerged from the star filled sky of the Digital world, and landed in the lake, the bottom half of the base completely submerged in the water, just like it had been in the cove, almost the entire lake had been taken over by the base. I quickly hid behind a fruit tree as the door to the main entrance opened. The first to emerge from the base was Demidevimon, who flew to the closest fruit bush and began harvesting the fruit. Blackgatomon came out next, and began to do the same thing. The next out was Emily and Andrew.
"Why do we need food if this is just a game?" Andrew asked.
A game?
"It makes it more realistic," Emily said. "Just play along. You two, hurry up we don't have all night!"
"We shouldn't rely on those weaklings," Andrew said smiling. "That's why I brought our newest Ultimate Digimon to help with the harvest."
"Are you suggesting we use Panjamon to do our own Digimon's work?" Emily said.
"I'm just trying to make this go faster."
Did they just say what I thought they said? If they did we were all in big trouble.
"Okay, we'll use him, it would be nice for him to get a warm up before destroying the Digidestined."
I slunk back even more, if they saw me now I wouldn't stand a chance, I had to do this as plans sneak in and sneak out. Emily and Andrew stepped aside onto the grass close to their Digimon and within minutes their new Ultimate Digimon emerged from the entrance. At first all I could see was a Dark silhouette of the Digimon, but as it began to emerge into the Digital world's moonlight I saw a very familiar Digimon.
"Leomon," I whispered marveling at the Digimon that looked amazingly similar to Leomon.
Except this Digimon was entirely black, except for his mane that was a lighter shade of gray, aside from the colour this Digimon was much bigger and bulkier than Leomon he was at least two or three feet bigger than Leomon, and probably had a good twenty or thirty pounds on him too. Another thing about this Digimon you couldn't help but notice were the red glowing eyes and the Dark Prism on his arm, but there was something different about this one, it was shaped more like a cube than a triangle. This Ultimate unlike Ladydevimon and Phantomon was being held against his will. A horrible thought entered my mind. Emily and Andrew had caught Elecmon, it was possible that they'd turn him into a slave, but Leomon couldn't Digivolve into Ultimate yet. Or maybe he had and Emily and Andrew took advantage of it to turn him into their slave, but even if they had Kris wasn't with him now so how was he even maintaining his Ultimate state? No it just couldn't be Elecmon/Leomon in there.
"Panjamon, we'd like you to gather us some fruit from these trees and bushes." Andrew said.
"Yes master," the Digimon Andrew had called Panjamon said.
With amazing speed Panjamon drew a sword much bigger than Leomon's and sliced down dozens of fruit of the trees into one pile. I had to move fast, with Panjamon gathering the food it wouldn't take long before they'd have all the fruit they needed. As Panjamon gathered the fruit and the others were distracted by how fast he was doing it. Penguinmon and I slowly snuck our way towards the base's entrance. As stealthy and as quiet as we could be Penguinmon and I made our way to the entrance, took one last look at our enemies, and one of them, which could possibly be our friend and ran inside the base. I continued to run down the dimly lit hallway, giving it a dark atmosphere, how painfully appropriate for those two. I looked at my Digivice in radar mode, giving me the location of two Digidestined outside: Emily and Andrew, three Digimon outside: Demidevimon, Blackgatomon, and Panjamon. Lastly there was one more Digidestined on it: Kris. I followed that yellow dot on the D3 weaving through numerous forks in the hallway ignoring the several doors, until the D3 led me to one room in particular.
"I'm assuming it's locked." I said.
"I'll take care of that," Penguinmon said.
"Better Digivolve, I know you could take it down as you are now but it's best that you're prepared in case we run into something."
Penguinmon nodded as I prepared my Digivice.
"Penguinmon Digivolved to……………………….Kiwimon!"
"Drill Bill!" Kiwimon yelled as the door in front of us toppled down, revealing a stairwell.
"Uh oh," Kiwimon said.
Now this was just great. It could take us a while to find Kris now, the radar mode of the Digivice only gave a horizontal location, vertical was all the same to it.
"So where do we start?" Kiwimon asked.
As she said that a sudden realization hit me.
"I've got a bad feeling," I said. "I think we should go to the top."
"But we've been there before remember, that's just the control room."
"I know I just want to confirm my bad feeling."
"If you say so."
I led the way and began running up the stairs, I didn't pay attention to how many flights I went up, I'd gone up the full amount before, from bottom to top I could handle half of them. I don't know how long I ran up them, that was just another thing I wasn't paying attention to, all I knew was I had to get to the top as soon as possible, but eventually after I don't know how long since I wasn't paying attention to it I reached the top. The door that Kiwimon had knocked down before was still knocked down, apparently they didn't care that they didn't have doors to some of their rooms.
"So why are we here?" Kiwimon asked.
I turned my attention to the display case; the glass on it was still broken. Just as I thought inside it was Kris's Digivice and crest, and it was Kris's Digivice that was giving off the signal, now he could be anywhere.
"I was afraid of this," I said picking up the Digivice and crest.
"The radar gives the location of the Digivice not Kris himself."
"Why don't we just check the dungeon where all those Digimon were the last time we were here?" Kiwimon asked.
"Are you sure that they'd keep Kris in the same spot that they kept the Digimon?"
"It's worth a shot, and if he's not there we can free all the Digimon then find Kris."
"Okay, let's go."
I didn't even think about hesitating, ran out of the room and took off down the stairs, Kiwimon not far behind. I tore down the stairs taking even less time going down than it had me going up, which I guess is to be expected since I was going down. I reached the bottom within minutes, but as I reached the bottom of the stairs I defiantly noticed something different, there were two doors there instead of one. One with the door knocked off its hinges, and the other still standing.
"The knocked down door probably leads to the dungeon where the Digimon are being kept," Kiwimon said.
My eyes met the new door. "And the other one probably leads to Kris, let's knock it down."
"But what about the Digimon?"
"We'll get them after we get Kris," I said, but couldn't help but notice the look of concern in Kiwimon's face. "I promise we'll get them out of here, they said themselves that the Digidestined are the only ones who can save them, and Kris is one them so I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we saved him first."
"Your right, but you don't have to convince me Jenn, I'd follow you anywhere."
"I just didn't want you to think I didn't care about those Digimon."
"How could I ever think that? You've got the crest of Assistance."
"Come on, let's get Kris, you better knock that door down."
"Pummel Peck!"
A smaller Kiwimon shot out of Kiwimon's mouth and exploded on contact with the door. The door didn't just fall down, exploded along with Kiwimon's attack. The room lit up as the door collapsed, and I saw in the center of the room exactly who I was looking for.
* * *
Kris
Once again I was shackled to this stupid, stupid, pole! Like I had been for the past few days. No sooner had I gotten off of it I had been shackled to it again. The worst part, it had been my own Digimon that had put me back, the same Digimon that had freed me in the first place had put me back up. I hated Emily and Andrew for making him do this, and soon they'd have him doing worse things, starting with destroying my friends, then using him to conquer the Digital World. It had been a few hours since Leomon had been turned into a slave become Panjamon and forced to put me back on this pole. He'd stayed with me for a while, then Emily and Andrew had called him for something, they were probably making Panjamon help them capture innocent Digimon, and forcing him to do things deep down I knew he really didn't want to do, this was probably the worst torture for him, he was probably hurting Digimon, Digimon that were his friends, they were making him hurt his friends, and he was perfectly aware of it with nothing he could possibly do about it. He was going through the worst torture imaginable, he was seeing his friends in pain, he was causing it, and he couldn't do anything about it, and - and it was all my fault! There were dried tears staining my face, I'd continue to cry but I couldn't anymore, my eyes were bloodshot and completely dry. Panjamon being here was almost as painful of the thought that he was doing something that was torture to him. When he was here I found myself looking at his arm, just looking at that Dark Cube and I couldn't stop crying, I hated the fact that he was one of those Digimon suffering at the hands of Andrew and Emily, and I couldn't do anything to stop his suffering. I could just sit here, sit here and watch it happen, just the thought about it made me want to cry, but I couldn't anymore. I had to get out of here somehow; I had to off of this pole and save him somehow, but how? My question was answered the next second as the door just in front of me exploded. Literately exploded, and it had only been a few hours since Andrew had fixed it after Elecmon had knocked it off its hinges. The lights came on automatically like they did whenever someone entered the room. My eyes met the doorway, then lit up when I saw who was there.
"J-Jenn," I said happily as I saw Jenn and Kiwimon standing at the doorway.
Jenn's face just as happy as I felt right now. "Kris. You have no idea how worried I've been about you. I didn't know what to think."
"Well I'm alive anyway," I said. "Could you get me down?"
"Leave that to me," Kiwimon said. "Pummel Peck!"
Kiwimon fired two pummels pecks each landed on my shackles, exploding them on contact. I fell to the ground immediately onto my hands and knees, unable to stand up not because I was physically weak but because I couldn't concentrate on anything but what was happening to Panjamon.
"Kris are you okay," Jenn said immediately running up to me and kneeling at my side.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just feeling a little weak right now."
Jenn stayed on her knees by my side, but still turned her head to Kiwimon.
"What were you thinking!" she yelled at Kiwimon. "You could have really hurt him!"
"S-sorry," Kiwimon said almost weakly.
"It's not that," I said staring down at the floor still on my hands and knees. "Physically I'm fine, it's just-"
"Kris, what's wrong?" Jenn asked.
I didn't answer, I really didn't want her to know what had happened, I didn't want her to know I'd let Elecmon get captured, let him become a slave.
"Kris?" she said again. "You can tell me, I'm your best friend, we've told each other everything since we were seven years old."
"It's-" I began to explain but stopped myself.
Jenn grabbed my chin and lifted my face to look at her own; her face was filled with nothing but concern.
"Kris you've been crying, what's wrong. What did that bitch do to you?"
"It's not what they did to me," I said. "It's what they did to Elecmon."
Shock filled Jenn's face now. "Elecmon? Did they-"
"No," I said. "They didn't kill him they-"
I couldn't say it; I hated even thinking about it. My partner my best friend a slave of The Digimon Emperor and Digimon Empress."
"Kris I saw a Digimon outside that looked like Leomon, was that him?"
I nodded. "Yes, they tricked me into making Leomon Digivolve, then they through a new tool of theirs called the Dark Cube onto his arm and used their dark Digivices to make him Dark Digivolve into Panjamon, his Ultimate form, now he's their slave now, and it's - it's all my fault. He came here to rescue me, if I hadn't let my stupid hormones get the best of me I wouldn't have been captured of the first place and he wouldn't have ended up in the place of the Digimon that we're trying to save. He's being tortured as we speak. And it's all my fault!"
Tears streamed down my face in steady streams now. Jenn's face now looked even more concerned than ever.
"No, no," she said her voice filled with total comfort. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly, almost as much as she did after I had escaped Gesomon. I embraced it wrapping my own arms around her accepting her comfort. "It's not your fault. None of us saw through Emily's plan. Elecmon chose to come in here after you, absolutely none of this is your fault."
Tears continued to fall from my eyes. "They got him, you have no idea how painful this is."
"We'll get Elecmon back Kris I promise." Jenn said. "I promise we'll get him back."
"Thanks," I said. "I'm so glad you're here, I hated being locked in those shackles knowing there was nothing I could do to."
All was silent for a while, she I just knelt there in her arms her comforting me, and I accepting it, until she finally broke the silence.
"You know you broke your promise."
"What promise was that?"
"After you escaped from that Gesomon before you said you'd never worry me like that again."
I smiled at that. "Sorry, I promise I won't do that to you ever again."
"Kris, don't make promises you can't keep."
My smile only grew wider. "Sorry."
I broke the uh, taking my arms from around her, and stood up, making her do the same.
I wiped the tears away from my eyes. "This isn't the time to cry. We've got a war to fight, and right now I'm dead set on helping Panjamon."
"Now?" Jenn said. "Kris I know you want to help Panjamon but he's an Ultimate Digimon, not to mention that Blackgatomon and Ladydevimon can Digivolve any second to help them, that's three Ultimates, we've had enough trouble with just two. Plus none of the others are here right now, just us and Kiwimon's the only Digimon here, they'd destroy us in a second."
"You came alone?" I said. "Where are the others?"
"I didn't tell them I was coming," she answered. "If I told them what I was doing they would've tried to stop me. They wanted to wait until tomorrow after school, but I just couldn't stand waiting anymore. So I secretly went to our spies and found out that Andrew and Emily were landing tonight to pick up some supplies, so when they landed and were distracted I snuck in. I thought it would be best if I came alone since it would be easier to sneak one Digidestined and one Digimon in than five, but that's not the point, the fact of the matter is we can't fight now, I understand you want to help Panjamon I know I'd want to help Kiwimon if it was her, but you have to keep in mind that if we try as we are now we'll fail, then we'll just be captured too, or worse."
I sighed. "I know. We can't fight now; I never meant that we help him now. As much as I hate the idea we've got to leave without Panjamon, then we figure out some way to save him and then come back and get my Digimon back, now are you sure no one saw you?"
"Yeah, they were using Panjamon to gather fruit outside and were marveling at the speed he was gathering them at, they didn't notice me sneak in, but they should be back inside any moment so we better get moving."
I breathed a sigh of relief, that's all they were making him do, gather fruit. He wasn't hurting any of his fellow Digimon he was just gathering fruit. But how long was it until that's what they had him doing, and now I was going leave him, I hated having to do this but I knew deep inside Panjamon would rather that I escaped than was recaptured trying to save him.
"Okay let's get out of here," I said. "Lead the way."
"Actually," Jenn said shyly, which was strange as she rarely spoke shyly to me. "I no that it's important that we get out of here, but just in the next room there are hundreds of Digimon being held captive, the ones I failed to save when I was here before, some of them even gave their lives so that Kiwimon and I could escape. I was wondering if before we left-"
"Say no more," I interrupted. "If they're just in the next room then it shouldn't take long to save them, we failed them once we're not going to do it again, just show me where to go you're the one who's been here before."
"Okay, just follow me." She said. "But first I found these in the control room."
Jenn handed me my D3 and crest. "Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever see these again, now let's free those Digimon and get out of here. Jenn and Kiwimon led me out of the dungeon that I was more than happy to be out of, into a hall, which we only stayed in long enough to do a U-turn into another door, which had been knocked off it's hinges, and was now lying on the floor a few feet away from the doorway. Now we stood in another hallway, or what I thought was a hallway at first, it stretched for a while I could barely see the doorway at the other end of the hallway. On both sides of the 'hallway' were two cages taking up the entire length of the hallway, inside of which were hundreds upon hundreds of Digimon, just like Jenn had said. I looked in horror at the Digimon in the cages, all depressed, sulking almost all hope gone from their faces, the only thing that looked worse than this was seeing that Dark Cube on Panjamon's arm.
"It's even worse than before," Jenn said.
"They've doubled the numbers of the Digimon here," Kiwimon said. "Soon the entire Digimon population could be in here."
"No if I have anything to say about it," I said. "This torture has to stop, and now that I've seen it happen to my own Digimon I'm even more dedicated to stopping it."
We began to move further down the hallway between the cages. As we did the Digimon inside the cage began to notice us. They flooded to the front of the cage, ran up to the bars. Most of them recognized Jenn and Kiwimon.
"We knew you'd be back," a white furry Digimon said, it was a Mojiamon I think.
"I told you I'd get you out of here, I'm just sorry that we had to leave you behind before." Jenn said. "Kiwimon you know what to do."
Kiwimon fired a Drill Bill along the edges of all the bars, as she finished going along the bars they toppled onto the ground with a very loud clang, the Digimon inside rushed outside happily.
"See," the same Mojiamon said. "I said the Digidestined wouldn't fail us."
"None of us doubted you for a second." A Frigimon said. "Your just like the Digidestined that saved us from the Dark masters."
"We can celebrate later," I said. "You're just out of your cages right now, you won't be safe until you're out of the base. Now it's going to be really hard getting all of you outside. The Digimon Emperor and Digimon Empress may not have noticed one little human and her Digimon but I think they'll notice all of you."
"We can sneak them out the other entrance," Jenn suggested. "The entrance Kiwimon and I used to get in when it was in the cove, it's in the next room at the other end of the hall."
Jenn pointed to down the hall where there was another doorway missing a door.
I smiled. "This is almost too perfect, let's get you guys out of here."
I spoke too soon; almost right after I said 'this is almost too perfect' the base began to shake.
"They're taking off!" Kiwimon yelled.
"Okay we've got to get you guys out of here and NOW!"
The Digimon began to panic, and started running towards the door where the alternate entrance was. I couldn't let this happen, if they panicked then something very bad might happen, like give away our location to Andrew and Emily.
"Hold it!" I screamed. The Digimon stopped at my command. The Japanese Digidestined had developed a good reputation for all Digidestined so I guess they were eager to listen. "Look we're not going to get anywhere if you panic, everyone line up single file and jump out of the entrance, the Digimon who can fly last, Jenn Kiwimon and I will leave last to make sure you all get out."
The hundreds of Digimon listened instantly, and lined up single file just like I had said. Jenn Kiwimon and I took the front of the line and led them to the next room, where there was a romp that led outside and had once been the underwater entrance. The Digimon began to slide down it onto the ground fortunately this time they were lifting off slowly so all the Digimon who couldn't fly made it to the ground safely. We were pretty high by the time all the Digimon had gotten out, and Jenn Kiwimon and I were the only ones left. I looked down the ramp at the ground below; it was pretty far away and getting farther all the time.
"Ready," Jenn said climbing onto Kiwimon's back. "It's going to be a nasty fall."
"I guess," I said, also climbing on. Kiwimon wasn't exactly the biggest Digimon so the two of us barely fit on her.
Jenn wrapped her arms around my waist tightly; I grabbed her hands and hung on.
"Hang on tight!" Kiwimon said.
Kiwimon jumped down the ramp and soon we were plummeting towards the ground. Not half as far as Jenn and Kiwimon had fallen from before right before Starmon caught them, but still far enough to scare the hell out of us. Kiwimon had made sure to aim her jump and actually succeeded in landed where she had aimed. There was a defining SPLASH! As we hit the water. The three of us separated as we hit the water, I broke the surface and immediately swam to land breathing the sweet beautiful air. I scanned my surroundings; beside me Jenn was spitting out water, and beside her Penguinmon was shaking the water off of her.
"Everyone okay?" I asked.
"I've been better," Jenn said.
"The water doesn't bother me," Penguinmon said. "It was the fall that bothered me."
"I think the fall bothered all of us," I groaned. "Let's just get home, and see if we can figure out how to help Panjamon."
"I do not need assistance." A cold voice said.
I looked up fearing what I might see, and I saw what I was fearing, Panjamon, his giant sword drawn just a few feet in front of us, staring at us with his glowing red eyes.
"It is you who needs assistance." Panjamon said. "I have orders from my master to retrieve you and destroy the girl and her Digimon."
"Panjamon I know you're being controlled by the Dark Cube, but you have to try in fight it. I know deep down there my partner is still there and doesn't want to hurt anyone, come on fight the Dark Cube I know you can beat it."
"I needn't fight anything," Panjamon said. "Except for you! Ice Beast Fist!"
Leomon punched at the air and shot a beam that looked almost exactly like his first of the beast king except that it was an icy blue colour straight at Jenn and Penguinmon. It all happened in a second I jumped at them and pushed them out of the way of the attack, the icy attack just skimming my arm, ripping apart the sleeve of my shirt and taking some of the skin off the side of it.
"Ah," I screamed grabbing my bleeding arm.
"Kris!" Jenn yelled. "Are you okay?"
"Just a scratch." I said, releasing my arm and grabbing hers. "Just run!"
I began to run as fast as I could to where my Digivice's radar mode said the nearest Digiport was, fortunately it wasn't very far away just few yards away, pulling Jenn with me, as she scooped Penguinmon up with her free arm. I continued to run as fast as I could, pulling Jenn and Penguinmon along with me. I tried to ignore the fact that Panjamon could easily outrun us. I looked ahead, and breathed a sigh of relief the TV that would bring us home and to safety. I readied my Digivice, and held it out in front of me.
"Digiport- "
The TV and the area around it suddenly exploded sending the three of us flying away, all landing in about the same spot. Panjamon jumped down from a try and held his sword in his hand ready to strike at any second.
"P-Panjamon," I stuttered in total fear.
This really was it, there was no way out, we couldn't even fight back, Penguinmon was weak after taking that fall she couldn't Digivolve, and it was my Digimon that was going to do it.
"Ice slide!" Penguinmon yelled as she pathetically fired her attack.
It not only didn't do anything but it missed, all Panjamon needed to do to avoid it was move his head to the side as the attack flew by his head.
"I have orders to retrieve you and destroy the girl and her Digimon." Panjamon said. "I must fulfill my masters orders."
Suddenly before Panjamon, could do anything a palm tree about as thick as his chest landed on his head.
"Ah!" he screamed as the tree landing on him caused him to fall to the ground.
Penguinmon's ice slide had hit that tree and caused it to fall over. She wasn't trying to hit Panjamon at all that wasn't a miss it was a direct hit!
"Don't just stand there!" Penguinmon yelled. "I provided a distraction now let's use it!"
We didn't need to be told twice, the three of us ran from that spot as fast as we could, I seemed to be a lot of running today, I couldn't believe that it was my own Digimon my best friend that I was so afraid of. We eventually hid behind some bushes unable to run any more too out of breath to even move, I think we waited there for half an hour, I continually looked down at my Digivice, but the only Digimon it showed in this area was Penguinmon, we'd lost Panjamon and I'd finally escaped my prison.
"I think he's finally gone," I said
"Good," Jenn said. "At least we're safe for the time being anyway, where's the nearest Digiport I really want to go home. I'm assuming because the TV blew up we can't use the same one I used to get into the Digital World."
I sighed. "You're right we'll have to find another one, and that's the bad news the nearest Digiport is at good seven kilometer walk from here."
"That's pretty far," Penguinmon groaned.
"Not incredibly far," I said. "It should only take us an hour to get there."
Jenn looked up towards the sky, it was pitch black aside from the Digital World's full moon and the stars.
"We should get some rest," she said. "It's getting late."
I nodded. "Yeah you're right, we can start walking towards the Digiport in the morning, any ideas where we can find a place to get some sleep."
"I saw a cave a while back while we were running for our lives," Penguinmon said.
"That sounds good," Jenn said. "At least it should keep us safe from Emily and Andrew."
I only nodded in agreement, as I got up. "Lead the way Penguinmon."
Penguinmon and Jenn got up and they led us towards the cave. I wasn't home, I didn't have my Digimon, but at least I was free of that prison, and I got some sense of comfort knowing that the Panjamon deep down may not be happy that he was a slave of The Digimon Emperor and Empress, but at least he was happy that I was free.
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Okay chapter the next chapter should be up - well hopefully in a few minutes. Once I have the author's notes written then they should be up.