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Next Generation: …And So It Begins (Again)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: DARK ZONE

Before they even opened their eyes, they knew that they were all in danger. They were in a dark chasm somewhere, surrounded by jagged rocks and utter darkness. Not a single living thing (other than themselves) testified that there was any other types of intelligent life nearby.

"Where is everybody?" Lauren cried out. "Kina? Usaiamon!"

"We're here!" Usaiamon called to her, grabbing the hem of her shirt. "It's too dark. Rubymon, ya wanna give us some light here?"

A ball of flames shot into the air, right by Lauren's left ear. She shrieked and scuttled sideways, and bumped smack into Kim, who knocked Tina down in turn.

"Damn it, Lauren!" Kim yelled. "Where did everybody go?"

Rubymon's fireball rose above them and began to get bigger. Now they all could see eachother.

Jenna huddled closer to Leon and pulled Pikkimon into her arms. "Something's out there," she shivered. "I can feel it. It's freaking me right out."

"Don't worry about it!" Cleo snapped. "You're scaring me."

Lee peered into the darkness. "I think she's right," she mused. "I can feel it too. Someone's watching us."

As if in reply, a scaly hand crept onto her shoulder.

Lee lost her head altogether and screamed her head off. That set off Starymon, who let out a high-pitched scream and bolted. Soon, everyone was freaking out and screaming.

"Calm down!" a rough old voice said. "You'll make me go even deafer!"

Lee finally got the nerve to turn around. There behind her was Gennai, looking exhausted but happy to see them. There was still a pool of blood on his robes.

"I warned you to stay away from them," he wheezed. "But it doesn't matter. You've come."

"Why did they throw us into that pit?" Kiko asked. He pinched his nose and made a face. "That brimstone smell really stinks."

Gennai looked a little grim. "That's their sun-worshipping ritual," he explained. "Usually they gouge out their victims' hearts with tongs and feed them to the Seeress priestess, but you must have really angered them to have them just shove you in the pit."

"All we did was look in the crypt," Kinaka complained.

"Well, curiosity killed the cat," Gennai quipped. "Listen, I need you to come with me. It's not safe out here."

Tina looked a little apprehensive. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"There's a hut at the end of this chasm. I found it when I was sent to this dark place," he told them. "It's small, but it will accommodate us all."

They all began to trudge off toward the darker end of the chasm. The ball of fire Rubymon had lit was still high in the sky.

All of a sudden, Leon staggered and moaned in pain.

"What is it?" Jenna asked, alarmed.

He put his hand on her shoulder to steady himself. "It's nothing," he said shortly. "It's just my head. All of a sudden, it started to hurt where MetalDevimon hit me."

Jenna stared at him. "Weird," she commented. "The last time that happened was when Sabinemon started casting those spells on us…"

Leon just shrugged and kept walking.

They finally reached the end. There in front of them was a desolate little shack, with its windows boarded up and a fair few holes in the walls.

"That's it?" Lauren said, her eyes wide. "You could sure use a decorator!"

"It looks all right inside," Gennai shrugged. "Well, in we go, children."

He was right; it did look okay on the inside. Big, overstuffed chairs and couches were placed around the room. On one wall, there was a small television and a bookcase, and a fireplace on the opposite wall. Instead of electric lights, there were candles illuminating the place.

"See? I sure know how to make exile comfortable, don't I?" he grinned, ushering them in.

The moment Leon crossed the threshold of the shack, he doubled over like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He was clutching his head again.

"Leon!" Lee cried. "What is it?"

A chill suddenly swept through the room, blowing the fire and all the candles out.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Kinaka screamed.

The candles all relit themselves, this time with green light. The fireplace roared to life with black flames.

Jenna paled and pointed at Gennai, who was calmly standing in front of the fire on the hearthrug. "Look at him!" she yelled. "That isn't Gennai!"

Another gust of wind blasted though the room. Gennai's wrinkled old face became large and scaly…his body elongated…he was sprouting wings…

"WHAT IS THAT THING?" Mike cried out.

"Not another damn shape-shifter!" Kinaka groaned.

Suddenly, the thing that was posing as Gennai reared up. The thatched roof burst off, and they saw that whatever it was, was almost sixty feet long. It was long, scaly, and had wings and a tail. Horns sprouted from its triangle-shaped head. Its whole body was patterned with silver, purple and black scales. It had no limbs. It hovered over them, showing off its fangs that were almost three times as long as a full-grown man.

Deanna was trembling and white as she spoke. "I think we've found the final dark descendant," she said through clenched teeth.

Kinaka stepped up. "Hey! Uncle Whatever-Your-Name-Is! What did you do to Gennai?" she called up to him.

The gigantic Digimon laughed in delight. "He's somewhere where he can't make any more contact with you."

"You killed him? You bastard!" Lauren spat.

He laughed again, showering them with spit. "No," he chortled. "He's still alive…but barely. After he transported you to Corona Island, he had used up the remainder of his strength. He's hanging by a thread in another dimension…but you need not know where."

"Who, or what the hell are you?" Cleo yelled.

He bared his teeth and spat a mouthful of iridescent blue flames in the air. "I am Wrathmon," he told them. "Brother and uncle of your dearly departed mother, I'm afraid," he added to Kinaka.

"What kind of a scary-ass family was I born into?" she shrieked in indignation.

"One that you'll be joining in death. Say goodbye, Digidestined! Dark Zone!" he shouted. A black mist enveloped them.

"Digivolve, dammit!" Lee managed to tell Starymon, choking out every word.

Within moments, all the Digimon were in their Ultimate forms and were attacking Wrathmon. They used their best attacks, but even their best didn't even faze him. He floated there, with barely a scratch on him, laughing at them."

"You fools!" he taunted them. "You thought you were so good. Well, guess what? You're history! Dimension Drop!"

A huge hole ripped open underneath their very feet. It sucked them down fast, even plucking their Digimon out of the air. Time and space seemed to meld together as the hole closed over their heads, sealing them in darkness.

When they had all stopped screaming their heads off, they realized that their feet weren't touching the ground. In fact (as Chris was quick to point out), there didn't seem to be anything to touch down on. There was a bit of light, enough so that they could see eachother, but other than that it was pretty much dark.

"Where are we now?" Holly groaned. "First we're sucked into Corona Island, then into that fire pit thing, now here…"

"If I knew where we are, I'd probably have told you by now," Cleo griped. "This is even worse than Fire Cloud Mountain. We're floating in a freaking nothing place, for crying out loud."

Jenna elbowed her sister sharply. "Maybe we can practice aerobatics, or whatever they're called," she laughed. She turned a few backflips and bumped smack into Leon.

"Whoops," she giggled. "But hey, it's fun!"

"Who really cares?" Hikaru sighed. She got into a sitting position and sat cross-legged, floating in space. "And why bother trying to get out? That thing is going to eat us. Or charbroil us alive. Or swallow us whole, or something."

Kinaka nodded. "She's right," she agreed. "I'm not facing that thing again. Everywhere we go in this damn planet, I'm related to someone evil. This is just so not fair!"

Everyone nodded, and made agreeing remarks.

"She's right."

"We can stay here and rot for all I care."

"Who cares if there's a way out? I'm not taking it."

"Me too. I'm just going to make myself comfortable…"

All of them stretched themselves out into comfortable positions, and stayed there floating. Everyone, that is, except for Kiko and Mike.

"What are you guys doing?" Mike cried. "Come on, guys, we need to get out of here!"

Lauren turned to look at him. "Face it, squirt. We're not getting out of here," she said dully. "Look around you. Do you see a door outta here? Didn't think so."

"Hikaru, don't just sit there! Get up!" Kiko screamed at his sister.

Hikaru didn't answer. She just looked at Kiko and grunted.

Kiko yelled in horror. His sister's bright blue eyes were starting to fade. Her pupils were dilated into slits, and the whites were completely gone. Her eyes were now a murky shade of greyish blue.

"What's going on?" Mike cried in alarm.

Kiko looked scared. "I don't know," he told his friend. "But even our Digimon are doing it. Look at them."

It was true. Tyumon and Empramon were curled up into little balls at their feet.

"What do we do?" Mike asked in a hushed voice.

"Hmmm…I don't know."

"You don't have any plans?"

"Nope."

"Well, neither do I."

The two little boys stared helplessly at their comrades. They were all floating there, looking apathetic and colorless. Their bodies suddenly began to fade into black and white.

Kiko and Mike knew that they had to think of something, and fast.

What do we do now? Kiko thought. That's my sister over there. I have to help her…I have to help all of them. But how?

We have to get them to get up, Mike thought. We just have to! If we don't, that guy who's Kinaka's uncle will eat us up or something! I have to think…have to think… He rubbed his eyes wearily.

"WAKE UP!" Kiko suddenly screamed at them. "WAKE UP, OR I'LL MAKE YOU WAKE UP!"

Mike joined in. "WAKE UP, YOU GUYS!" he shouted. "I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU SIT THERE WHILE THE WHOLE DIGITAL WORLD GOES TO PIECES!"

Lauren fixed her murky green eyes on him.

It's working! they both thought with glee.

"Get up! Get up!" they chanted in unison. Their Crests glowed with silver and gold light on their chests.

"Get up! Get up!"

Tyumon and Empramon stirred…uncurled…stretched…

"GET UP! GET UP RIGHT NOW!"

Suddenly, the light from their Crests blasted them backwards. The light shone and enveloped all the Digidestined. They all woke out of their reverie, their eyes returning to normal. Color flooded their faces again. They blinked and looked around them, dazed.

Lee was the first to speak. "Wha…what happened?" she asked.

"I felt kinda blah, and then…well, I don't remember," Kinaka said, rubbing her eyes. "One hell of a catnap that was. I'm still tired!"

Everyone laughed.

Mike suddenly noticed something. "Hey! We're on the ground!" he realized.

It was true. As they watched, the darkness around them began to disintegrate. They were back in the dark chasm, but Wrathmon was no longer there.

"We're back," Kim said disdainfully. "Well, at least we can find that creep and kick his ass! Right, guys?"

Jenna wasn't paying attention to her. Instead, she was looking at the other end of the chasm.

"Look," she said in a quiet voice. "Over there. There's something at the end of the chasm. Do you see it?"

They crept closer, in case it was Wrathmon playing tricks again. Once they were near enough, though, they saw that a small figure was tied to a boulder.

"Who is it?" Holly asked.

Jenna dared to go up and see who it was. She lifted the person's head up, and gasped in horror.

"Guys…it's Gennai!" she called back. "For real this time! Look, when it was Wrathmon showing us an illusion, he looked okay. But this is the real Gennai, I know it is!"

Gennai lifted his head and gazed at her. His currant-black eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. "You must…listen," he wheezed. "I have a…prophecy…but there's not much…time…"