JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

The Fall of the Ashen Queen

Musashi let out the most pleasant sigh that she thought she had ever made. The steam which rose up from the tub and filled the little room gave off an atmosphere of security and serenity for this long needed and utterly deserved soak. With eyes closed and everything except her head completely submerged beneath in the frothy bubbles, she could not remember the last time she had felt so good. Although, quite absently, she began to hum quietly to herself in her contentment.

Even in her own world she rarely received such a treat as this. Usually she and Kojiro bathed wherever they could. In the river. In the pond. Sneaking into the pool showers when no one was looking. After all, Team Rocket had to look its best, and they cannot all lick themselves in emergencies as Nyaasu could. The only time she got to bathe like this was when they would break into the occasion vacationer's cabin off season, and even then she would be pestered for her turn to cease for the other two to have their baths.

With all thought completely pacified, she thought to herself how life certainly could not get much better than this. She even did not mind thinking that she would have to let Picodevimon go for this one. He certainly did keep his promise. This almost made up for him messing around with her earlier. Almost. Besides, he did really know where the exit was. After a long bath and a good rest in a cozy bed, she could go back to fetch Kojiro and Nyaasu. Then the trio could go back to their world and regain their lives.

This would all be over soon.

She smiled serenely with this thought, and sank just a little further into the water very happily …

Outside the bathroom, however, Picodevimon was happy too, and he did not hide it from Lickitongue who just stood outside the door with grave impatience, and probably hunger as well. The digimon grinned toothily at the pokémon, and Lickitongue cocked his head with confusion and a little fear.

With a pompous shake of his head, Picodevimon hopped onto the stair railing near at hand and leaned back against the sloping rail.

Everything was going quite well for him now. Limomon had tried too hard. The direct approach was overkill, not to mention just plain "killed" in the case of Limomon. Now that the monkey/lizard digimon was out of the way because of his humiliating failure, it was just Picodevimon, and this female human made it too easy. She was just leaping into his trap with open arms to embrace it.

He allowed himself a good chuckle.

Perhaps the next Kaiser would never be. Then again, maybe an angry, vengeful Kaiser was the wrong way to go anyway. Kaisers were too miserable and finally swayed to their friends for support and comfort that darkness and evil could never give them, but to have the ruler oblivious to her state … this was the way to keep a puppet, especially with a human as proud and temperamental as she. If a dozen desperate data could spoil a little girl rotten, how much more could a virus make an already at least half-rotten young woman into the next "Queen of Hearts"?

Oh, he just let out a round of laughter this time. Who cared if Lickitongue gave him an uneasy glare? He would not hurt him except at his master's command, and he could not tell his master of his suspicions, because he could not speak. Even if he could, Picodevimon doubted the creature would have any eloquence, and it would have to be a lot of eloquence to change this human's mind once it had been set; Picodevimon was setting Musashi's mind just the way he wanted it. There would be no stunning tongues on him any time soon.

After Musashi-sama's hot meal of her choice and some soft, pretty robe to wear, she would be his all while he hid under the guise of her servant. Life did not get any easier, or better, than this!

#

It goes without saying that the tanemon village noticed Musashi's absence. The evening of the first night after she trounced off with Picodevimon, everyone had the entire area scoured for her, but she proved nowhere to be found.

Nyaasu, coming back from a hunt that now had his sore feet, a couple burs, and a very parched throat and growling stomach, did not wish to face Kojiro alone without having found Musashi. Somehow facing a fire-red, enraged Musashi was easier than facing a leaf-green, sick-with-worry Kojiro.

A low growl caused his head to sink with its heavy sound as Nyaasu saw the lights of the village. He heard no rejoicing. He saw no sign of Musashi at all. Sure, he had not actually entered the village yet, but he knew that if they had found her, he would already have known before the village had come into view.

First one and now another! Would this nightmare ever end?

"Nyah …" moaned Nyaasu.

"Nyaasu!" cried a voice backed with the flutter of wings.

Nyaasu jumped and turned to Aeromon on a branch still shaking with his landing.

"You shouldn't be wandering alone," said Aeromon.

"I was looking for Musashi, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

"But whoever has her could kill you off or use you against her or even Kojiro-san yet," said Aeromon with deep concern. "It's not safe."

With a heavy sigh, Nyaasu leaned hard against Aeromon's tree with arms crossed idly over his chest.

"I'm guessing you didn't find Musashi then either, nya," said Nyaasu.

Aeromon looked down strangely a moment, just off to the side of Nyaasu, but only long enough for Nyaasu to cock his head curiously. He did not even have the chance to worry really before Aeromon's beady eyes returned to the pokémon.

"Piyomon might have found her," he said quickly.

"What do you mean, 'might', nya!" Nyaasu demanded sharply. "Either she did or she didn't. Nyah!"

Aeromon nodded readily. "Well, it's the Ashen Queen. Sandlynxmon."

"She has Musashi, nya!" Nyaasu gasped. His idleness left instantly as he leapt up in fear.

"Uh … I don't think so …"

"Did she whoop her butt for making fun of her hair?" Nyaasu snapped dryly.

"Uh …"

#

"If you help us," said Picodevimon to a koemon, "you'll be working under a far more superior ruler." He grinned, showing his very sharp, deadly teeth. "Not to mention the fact that you won't have to work in this awful desert. I know you just pick up slaves for Sandlynxmon here, but if you work under the new ruler, you'll be working toward an empire far bigger than the Grey Desert!"

The koemon eased his slingshot, which he had been about to use on Picodevimon without the slightest hesitation. He roped it behind his back where it usually resided, save when the queen wanted them to use spears instead. Now a broad, eager grin formed on the koemon's face, and holding out his gloved hand, he said, "It's a deal, Picodevimon!"

Picodevimon held out his claw to shake, but suddenly the koemon stopped, tapping a finger at his forehead. "But we get to use our sling shots right?"

A chuckle escaped the disgusting creature with which the data digimon dared to do business.

"Koemon!" exclaimed Picodevimon. "All of your race can use all the sling shots they want!"

"Then it's definitely a deal!" cried the koemon, and he snatched up Picodevimon's claw with a violent shake. "When do we start?"

"Right now," said Picodevimon, and he showed the koemon what he and his fellows were supposed to do.

With glee, the koemon did just what was asked of them, for they had no love or loyalty for the vile queen.

The turbines, the conveyer belts, and all the machines in the lower levels of the Ashen Queen's domain all exploded, sabotaged by the koemon, and a few other viruses and data that worked for her. Even some foolish vaccines helped, thinking this to be the only way to escape. And the entire kingdom was destroyed in the flame that Picodevimon stoked in the human he now possessed.

After all, Sandlynxmon had been cruel to Kojiro. Sandlynxmon had lied and tricked Musashi and her little band. Sandlynxmon was a creep who enslaved other digimon, and now she was destroyed in her sleep by those flames. Now there was nothing left of the Ashen Kingdom, for it really was now only ash and rubble.

The rise of a new ruler would take her place in the steamy, green jungles beyond the desert; an Aztec city of a new empire was in the making!

What a show for Vamdemon, Picodevimon thought, and he laughed in triumph amidst the fools that had helped him and the fools that were destroyed.

"Yatta!" he cried gleefully. "Take that, Limomon! Take that, Sandlynxmon!"

Only one or two digimon that were not in on the plot escaped, and it was one of those two who met up with Piyomon and told her all that he had learned.

#

"No!" Kojiro cried.

He leaped up in panic and snatched Tailmon off the ground. He could not be hearing this he could not. They could not have Musashi. They could NOT HAVE MUSASHI!

"I don't believe you!" he cried. "Tell me Musashi's okay! They don't have her! They don't, they don't, they don't, they don't! You hear me?!" And he began shaking the cat wildly, and his voice was even wilder.

"Put me down!" cried Tailmon, but even as she spoke, she pulled out of his grasp and leapt neatly onto the ground.

They were outside the hall and dawn barely woke the village before Kojiro heard the news. That the sun would rise on such a sour day as this was a mockery as far as Kojiro or anyone else was concerned. He kicked the hall wall, and slammed his head against it in defeat.

"Kojiro-san," said a tanemon sadly, but Kojiro did not respond.

Instead he turned abruptly to Nyaasu.

"We're going to get her back!" Kojiro cried.

He might have been quite heroic, save that his exaggerated facial expressions kept one from taking him overly seriously, but then again, that was what perhaps made it all the more impressive in a way, not that Kojiro noticed or cared.

Nyaasu only noticed momentarily. In fact he had been roused up right along with him.

"Nya!" he cried, leaping up onto Kojiro and climbing up onto his head. Now he could be high enough to feel superior over the crowd. "Musashi's our partner, and we're getting her back right now, nya, nya!" He shook his fist with emphasis, his tail swishing like a whip behind him that hit the back of Kojiro's head.

Kojiro looked strangely up at the paws clutching the top of his head.

"I'm tired of all this, nya! We're going to find Musashi, and we're gun-nya leave right ny-ow, nya!"

"But how?" Kojiro demanded.

"No," said Tailmon, shaking her head. "You two aren't going anywhere. All three of you could get caught! I won't allow it!"

Nyaasu leapt from Kojiro's head and brushing himself off a bit under a pair of haughty lids, he laid a paw across Tailmon's shoulders.

"Tailmon, Tailmon, Tailmon," said Nyaasu in such a way that Tailmon could only close her eyes in disgust and await Nyaasu's next phrase with as much patience as she could muster. He smiled smugly. "This is Musashi we're talking about." Here he let out a good-natured laugh. "I think we kny-ow how to handle Musashi on a little tantrum."

Kojiro squinted as if anticipating some electric shock in the near future.

"We do?" he asked.

With a quick glare behind him, Nyaasu shouted, "Of course we do, nya!"

Then he found himself losing his balance as Tailmon pushed Nyaasu's paw from her shoulder.

"No," she said simply. "No, you can't and you don't, especially not Kojiro. Not in his condition."

"I'm better!" Kojiro protested.

"It's too dangerous," said Tailmon.

Gomamon rolled his eyes.

"Tailmon," he said entering in on the scene outside the hall. "I hate to interrupt, but whether or not he's really here to save the Digital World, he has a right to help his friend."

"But he has no digimon to protect him!" Tailmon said. "No!"

Agumon could not help but agree. "We're all only child and smaller except for Tailmon," he said.

"But we'll all be there," Gomamon pointed out.

"N-yeah!" agreed Nyaasu. "Besides, you don't kny-ow her like we do. We kny-ow how to handle her."

An uncontrollable smile graced Gomamon's face.

"Besides!" said Gomamon. "They're a team, aren't they?"

Leaping up in excitement, Nyaasu cried, "Yes, yes! We're a team, Tailmon! Team Rocket forever, nya!"

The anticipated jolt seemed to go through Kojiro right now, and only Neamon noticed. Kojiro saw him out of the corner of his eye, looking up at him curiously. But he could not return the look, instead pretending he did not see him, and pretending he was just fine, even though he knew he wasn't.

Tailmon let out a heavy sigh.

"Nyaasu," she said, "just …" she shook her head. "Let us scout it all out first, at least."

Why couldn't he be okay? Why could he not be all right enough to go save Musashi from a similar fate as his own? It wasn't fair! He knew Tailmon was right. He was in no condition to help Musashi as he was still so weak and recovering himself from what had happened to him. The heart-wrenching fear of Team Rocket proved how ridiculous he was being, but he could not help it. He could not count the number of times he forgot he and his friends even were Team Rocket members really, but every time he remembered he felt sick enough to throw up, and shaken enough to scream at the top of his lungs. The only thing Team Rocket seemed to conjure up in his mind, besides yana kanji, and well, no matter what it made him think, it was all yana kanji. Nothing good ever had come out of it. Had they ever had even one full day of feeling good about themselves? Very rarely. And it usually had nothing to do with the fact that they were from Team Rocket.

It's just not fair, he thought miserably, but he tried desperately to clear his face when Nyaasu turned to see why Kojiro had suddenly gone so silent in his resolve to come with the rescue party. Hopefully, Nyaasu would just think he was disappointed that Tailmon would not let them come. He was positive that's all Nyaasu would think. He hoped. Sort of. No. Nyaasu knew he wasn't okay, but Nyaasu was too busy with his own resolve to bother about it now. At least that was something.

"Then you come back and get us, nya?" Nyaasu demanded.

"Oh, let them come," said Gomamon. "Come on, Tailmon. Just because you're stronger than the rest of us, doesn't mean you get to make all the orders."

Kojiro closed his eyes, clenching his teeth tightly, and finally unable to contain himself anymore, he stomped his foot down.

"YAMERO!" he snarled.

Everyone turned to look, and Kojiro lowered his head, his cheeks flushing.

"Look," he said. "It's okay. We'll stay here until you figure out things."

"Ny-o!" Nyaasu snapped.

"Yes!" Kojiro snapped sharply back with fists tightly clenched at his sides and his teeth set with determination. Then he calmed his voice again and turned to the digimon. "We'll stay."

"Are you sure?" asked Gomamon. "You can do what you want."

"Yes, I—I'm sure," said Kojiro with an unsteady nod.

Nyaasu glared but surprisingly did not protest for the moment. This made Kojiro uneasy. Silence in Nyaasu usually meant trouble, but he could not worry about it now.

"Just come back soon, and tell us what we can do then if you can't get her right away," Kojiro said with far more control than before. "And hurry!"

"We will," Agumon promised.

#

Inside the hall, Nyaasu peered out the window. He looked one way and then another. Then very carefully he made to leap outside, but just as his feet were about to leave the window ledge, a voice suddenly sounded from behind and deterred his flight.

"Nyaasu, what are you doing?"

Nyaasu jumped with a meow of surprise and nearly fell head first off the ledge. Waving his arms frantically he managed to grab hold of the side of the window frame before throwing a disgruntled pout to Kojiro.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Nyaasu demanded. "I'm going to follow Tailmon and them before they get too far ahead, nya!"

Kojiro shook his head. "But Nyaasu …"

With a roll of his eyes, Nyaasu steadied himself back onto the ledge and crossed his paws staunchly.

"But nya-othing, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

They did not have time for this arguing. The more he stalled here, Nyaasu knew, the further up ahead the rescue party to the home of the new digimon ruler. They knew it would not be hard to find if she was already powerful enough to break the Ashen Kingdom.

"They won't even kny-ow we're following, nya," said Nyaasu. "We kny-ow how to shadow people. We've been doing it for at least two or three years ny-ow. Once we find the castle or whatever, we'll find out where Musashi's sleeping, give her a good bop on the head." Here he slammed his fist into a paw with passion. "Then we drag her out of there, and nya!"

A slow frown covered Kojiro's face, and Nyaasu's enthusiasm felt a temporary snag.

"Uh, Nyaasu … are you sure that would work? I mean, that sounds kinda …"

"Hey, hey, Kojiro, nya!" said Nyaasu, waving his paws out in front of him. "Who's the brains here?"

"Uh …" Kojiro paused. "You are?"

"N-yeah!" said Nyaasu. Leaping out the window, he landed with feline finesse onto the ground outside. "All we ny-eed's a good stick or something to whack her with, nya."

Picking up a little twig from the ground, Nyaasu held it up for Kojiro to see him whack it at an imaginary Musashi which happened to be rock. The stick snapped, and Nyaasu brought in to his face.

"Hmm," he murmured, and then turned to Kojiro looking uneasily at the stick in two as if it were an omen of the near future.

Yet, with a shrug and a careless toss of the stick over his shoulder, Nyaasu began to creep into the bushes, but it was not long before he stopped suddenly. Kojiro, he realized still stood on the other side of the window.

"Are you coming or what, nya?" Nyaasu demanded. "You said so yourself you're better ny-ow, nya?"

"Well, I …"

Again, they didn't have time for this. Why did Kojiro have to be so confusing when bad stuff happened to him? What was the big deal? What was not to get? They break in. Grab Musashi. Knock some needed sense into her. Leave. Find their way home. It couldn't be much clearer.

"I can't carry Musashi by myself, nya," Nyaasu pointed out.

Nyaasu's eyes widened in disbelief as Kojiro still seemed unwilling to come.

With eyes closing ponderously, and arms crossing firmly, Kojiro looked about to muse over the situation for another half hour at least.

"Kojiro!" Nyaasu hissed. "We'll lose them, nya!"

Opening his eyes again, Kojiro let loose an odd pout.

Finally, he had given in! Nyaasu knew that look, and it made him grin with satisfaction.

"Fine," said Kojiro as he swung a leg out the window pulled himself outside, "but I still don't like this. We told them we were going to stay."

"You told them, nya," said Nyaasu bluntly. "I changed your mind. Nya?"

"Right …" Kojiro sighed.

And together Nyaasu and Kojiro made their way as quietly as possible through the village without arousing the attention of any koromon or tanemon. Then they raced off into the night to follow Tailmon and the rest of the rescue party with the usual Team Rocket stealth and speed.