Chapter 20

Beelzemon

The tamers and their new acquaintances continued on their way to the Crystal Mountain. Ai and Mako seemed perfectly at ease in their new surroundings, though Impmon still seemed a little mad that his life was in danger whilst in the company of these people, and Lopmon was extremely nervous. Every little noise made her jump. Reddevilmon had done nothing about her betrayal yet, and something told them it hadn't gone unnoticed. While all this was going on, they seemed to be getting no closer to the mountain.

" How did I get myself in this situation?" moaned Kazu after hours of walking.

" Do you really want us to tell you, or are you just asking stupid questions?" snapped Rika.

" Sorry," he mumbled. " Hey, Guardramon, will you give me a lift?"

His Digimon looked down at him. " That wouldn't be fair on your friends, would it?" Guardramon replied.

Kazu scowled and continued walking.

Reddevilmon was also having a bad day. She had sent out Antylamon to 'play' with the Digidestined, and what happened? Her servant had joined forces with them! She was still plotting a revenge on the traitor. And then there was the issue of when the Digidestined what actually turn up at the Crystal Mountain. They were taking forever! Reddevilmon was impatient. Guarding a seal for hundreds of years should have made her very patient… it had had the opposite effect. She liked things to be interesting, and the girl she had kidnapped was so boring. All she did was sit in the corner and sulk.

" You!" Reddevilmon spat at Jeri. " Why are you so dull?"

Jeri merely looked over at Reddevilmon, gave her a slightly incredulous look, and returned to sulking.

"Makuramon!" Reddevilmon cried.

From the shadows came a strange, high-pitched laugh.

" Yes, Reddevilmon?" said a voice in the darkness.

" I know that you will remain faithful to me. Go stir things up for me. Do not kill the Digidestined, just… make things a little more interesting."

" Of course," replied the voice.

" Okay, I swear we've already passed this lake," said Kenta as the tamers carried on their seemingly endless walk.

" They all look the same," sighed Kazu. " We could be walking in circles for all you know."

" That does it!" yelled Impmon suddenly. Everyone stopped walking.

" I'm tired, I'm hungry, my feet hurt, I'm short, I wish I could Digivolve, this isn't helping, it's just a pointless waste of time, I'm not putting myself in danger!" he exclaimed, and without warning, he ran off.

" Impmon!" Ai and Mako called, but he didn't look back.

" Come on, we have to keep going," Ryo told them.

" But what about Impmon?" Ai demanded.

" We're much better off without him, to be honest; he wasn't exactly the life and soul of the group," replied Kazu, but was then silenced by a glare from Rika.

This was the sorting of thing Reddevilmon had wanted to see, and the sort of thing Makuramon took advantage of. He found Impmon sitting by one of those lakes, sulking just like that girl at the mountain.

" What's wrong, little Digimon?" Makuramon asked Impmon, who jumped at the sight of the monkey-like Hybrid.

" Don't call me little!" snapped Impmon, very wary of Makuramon.

" Ah, I see I've a touched a nerve," smirked Makuramon. " But you seem to have a lot of nerves… like, for example, that you can't digivolve?"

" How do you know that?" Impmon demanded.

" Because I come from the Crystal Mountain, and you can see everything there," he replied. " Do you want to digivolve?"

Impmon didn't hesitate for a second. " Of course I do," he replied.

" I can give you the power to digivolve," said Makuramon, a gleeful smile on his face. " On one condition."

" What?"

" Kill the Digidestined."

Reddevilmon nearly had a fit.

" No!" she screamed. " I said I didn't want them dead yet!"

But Makuramon couldn't hear her.

" So, if I kill the Digidestined," said Impmon slowly. " I'll be able to digivolve?"

" Well, you can digivolve first," Makuramon explained. " And if you manage to kill them, you can keep the ability to digivolve."

Impmon hesitated. He thought it through for quite a while. Finally, he said:

" I'll do it."

" Excellent!" said Makuramon.

" You… idiot…"

Impmon was bathed in another light, except this time, he digivolved. When the light vanished, he was completely different.

" Thank you so much," he breathed. " I can feel so much power coursing through my body…"

" Go get them then!" hissed Makuramon, and he immediately left.

Makuramon was alone by the lake. The sky overhead darkened, and Reddevilmon appeared by his side.

" I told you I didn't want them dead!" she shouted at Makuramon. Without further warning, she pierced the Digimon's stomach with her claws. Makuramon dissolved with a pitiful scream. But it didn't help. Beelzemon was approaching the Digidestined...