Episode 26: Crisis Zone Rescue Team – Go!

"Well..." the Boss mused as Wild opened her eyes. He folded his fingers together on his desk and looked at them with surprise and amusement. "I honestly didn't expect that the three of you would be capable of returning. I know what Lord Andromon did for you, Wild; but I didn't think it would work."

It obviously had. The ride had been a little bumpier than before, but Wild was standing in the Boss's solar, all in one piece. Yukio and Nikolai were there as well, the both of them looking relieved that they had all made it. Yukio looked down at his 3DS and groaned.

"I'm going to have to find a different way home," he admitted. "That program used up nearly all my battery power, and there's no way to charge this here."

I'll have to work on it a bit more, Wild thought, so that it's more efficient. Yukio closed his 3DS and put it back into his pocket. Her Android wasn't lacking for battery power, and she guessed that neither was Nikolai's iPhone. But that's for later.

"When we get the Princess back, she can take us home," Wild assured him. She looked to the Boss and asked, "Do you know where she is?"

"Yes, I do," the Boss replied. Before he divulged the information, however, he growled, "How could you let her do something so stupid and reckless?! Do you realize what your folly will cause?"

"We think she planned it," Nikolai said, in the Princess's defense. "In fact, I know she planned it. But why, Boss? Why would she go with them?"

The Boss looked to KiddGarurumon, who was angrily staring out the window. He was lashing his tail to and fro with fury plain in his icy eyes. Wild frowned. She ordered you to stand down. She called you Ser Kidd. Why? Why did you listen?

"To save Kidd the trouble of explaining," the Boss sighed, "and to save you from trying to decipher that lazy accent of his, I suppose I will take up the explaining. The Princess went after her brother."

That caused the three Digidestined to blinked in confusion. Yukio raised an eyebrow and asked, "She... has a brother?"

"Metaphorically speaking, yes," the Boss answered. "When the Princess arrived here, it was not Kidd or I who found her – it was the Prince Lucemon.

"Lucemon is a humanoid digimon – if not for his wings, he would look very much human. It also doesn't help that he and the Princess look very much alike – blonde hair, fair skin, etcetera. So, they saw each other as brother and sister. Lucemon and the Princess actually believed for a little while that the Princess was actually a digimon – but they soon figured out that she wasn't. It didn't stop Lucemon from treating her as a sister, and her treating him like a brother. Kidd found them both eventually and brought them to me for safety."

"So... does that mean Loaño really isn't a Princess?" Wild wondered.

"No, she is a Princess," the Boss insisted. "Lucemon's older brother is the King of the Digital World."

"The King?" Nikolai repeated. "Well, where is he throughout all this mess? Why don't we just ask him for help?"

"The King is... without, at the moment," the Boss replied. "He is missing, and has been for a long time." He glanced at KiddGarurumon, who was still staring angrily out the window, and went on, "Kidd here was one of the King's guards, the most loyal of them all, and before the King disappeared, he charged him with guarding the Prince and Princess."

"Lotta good I did," KiddGarurumon growled. He lashed out and punched his fist into the window, but it didn't budge or break.

"Stay calm, Kidd," the Boss warned. "I have enough damage to clean up as it is, thanks to that Kimeramon." He turned his attention back to the Digidestined and told them, "I myself was one of the King's closest friends and confidants. Before he left, he charged me with keeping an eye on the Digital World."

"I still don't understand what Loaño has to do with this," Wild cut in. "She's a human, not a digimon. There's no way she could have any relation to Lucemon or the King. So why would the King name her part of his family?"

The Boss frowned at her. "This, I cannot tell you," he answered. "So don't ask it of me. I won't betray the trust of my oldest and wisest friend; not even to you three, Digidestined."

"So what can you tell us?" Yukio entreated.

The Boss stood up and leaned on his cane. He waved his hand, and a great roll of paper appeared. It was yellowed and torn, but when he unrolled it, Wild understood that it was a map of the Digital World. With another wave of his hand, the map laid itself out on the top of his desk.

"The Princess was taken to the Crisis Zone," he told them. He pointed with the top of his cane to an area on the map that was, well, blank. It was labeled CRISIS ZONE, but that was all it said or showed. "There is a castle there that houses our enemy, and she was taken there."

"But why would she go?" Wild wondered. "Why is Prince Lucemon there in the first place?"

The Boss looked at KiddGarurumon again. The huge wolf growled, "Jus' tell 'em."

Looking back at them, the Boss explained, "Not three months before you came here, Wild, Kidd here was with the Prince and Princess in the Forest Zone. They were just walking around, nothing particularly important. They were attacked by a group of digimon controlled by Aws. Kidd tore through them all but three, but he lost nearly all his strength doing so. In the end, they charged to capture the Princess... but Lucemon jumped before her and they took him instead. Kidd stopped all but the one holding Lucemon – he had gotten too far away. Both he and the Princess have been blaming themselves for Lucemon's capture ever since."

"So he threw himself in front of her to save him?" Nikolai summarized. "Sort of like she did for us; but why?"

"Because that's what brother's do," Wild replied quietly. She closed her eyes, images flashing behind them. She saw a dark shape standing before her, tall and strong and smiling at her. The shape then disappeared, and she shook herself out of it. She opened her eyes and thought, What the hell was that? I don't really remember seeing that before...

"Wild, you OK?" Yukio wondered, patting her on the shoulder.

"I'm fine," Wild insisted. She stepped forward and looked at the map. She frowned at the Crisis Zone. "What kind of digimon are in the Crisis Zone?"

"There aren't any there," the Boss told her frankly. "Digimon young and old know to avoid this place at all costs. The Crisis Zone once held a great evil power that ravaged the Digital World near to the point of total destruction many hundreds of years ago; but a group of Digidestined like yourselves and the King were able to seal it away here. After all this time, the seal has broken – all thanks to Zen, Aws, and Sin. Now it's going to try and do what it did last time – destroy the Digital World. When it completes that task, it will infiltrate the Human World through your technologies and ruin it as well."

"So we just stop it before that happens," Nikolai declared. "It won't be easy, but we can do it!"

"I should hope so," the Boss sighed. "Or we're all doomed." He gestured to the map and then said, "Your partners are in the infirmary. They should be fully recovered by now. I want you to head out immediately – there's no time to lose. KiddGarurumon will accompany you, whether I tell him to or not. Birdramon and Aquilamon will get those of you who can't fly as close as possible; but expect great resistance once you enter the Crisis Zone. Kidd, I would like you to take one of them and infiltrate the castle where she is being held and get her out."

"I'll go," Nikolai volunteered immediately, his fists clenched.

KiddGarurumon nodded his approval. The Boss nodded back and then went on, "It will be dangerous, but very well – Nikolai, Strabimon, and Kidd will do the infiltrating. Wild, I want you, Yukio, and your partners to do as much distracting as possible. Attacking the castle itself should bring out its defenses."

"What about you?" Yukio wondered. "Will you aid us?"

The Boss blinked at him. "Maybe," he replied. "If I see that you need it desperately. I'm not too keen on showing my face around the Crisis Zone, to be honest... but it may be worth it to show that vile thing that I'm still alive."

Wild pulled at her ascot and thought, He knows way more than he's telling. He's hardly scratched the surface on the explanation of this place and what's happened with it. But we don't have time. Every moment we waste here doing all this planning is a moment where the Princess and the Prince are getting hurt.

"We understand," Wild declared. "We need to get going."

"But, what is this thing that lives in the Crisis Zone?" Nikolai wondered.

"Too many questions, not enough time," the Boss decided. "Get going – and hurry. There isn't much time."

Wild nodded. She turned away and the others followed her as they left the solar. The Boss and KiddGarurumon remained inside. KiddGarurumon lashed his tail and growled to himself. The Boss sat back down and told him, "Don't keep blaming yourself. You're only one digimon. No digimon but you could have taken on this burden."

"I promis'd 'em 'at I'd protec' 'em," KiddGarurumon snarled. "I promis'd the King I'd protec' 'is brother; I promis'd... I promis'd 'im 'at I'd protec' his daughter."

"Then go and do it," the Boss told him. "Kidd, you know as well as I do how dangerous that monster is. Go; get them away from that beast before it can do to them what it did to the King. What it did to all those Digidestined..."

"Master; the Princess of the Digital Twilight has come, as you've requested," Aws announced. He pushed Loaño roughly into a dark room. She stumbled, but didn't fall. The darkness was chilly and discomforting, but she embraced it as much as she would the light. She had to – there was nothing to do here but befriend the darkness. "I will be outside; send her out when you're done."

Then, the door shut behind her. The Princess was left in almost total shadow. She let her eyes adjust and then looked about the room. It appeared to be a completely empty room – there was nothing in it. It was huge, however; yet Loaño felt like the walls were closing in on her. Shadows and darkness shifted around her like smoke filled with life, and she stepped back, only to find that she was locked in. The door was gone.

I will not fear, she told herself. Aloud, she said, "I do not fear you."

It responded, "You should." She felt tendrils of shadow caress her cheek, and she pulled away from it. "So willful, so stubborn. How could I expect any less?"

"What are you, and what do you want of me?" Loaño demanded, her fists clenched. There was an enemy in this room, and she would fight it with all she had... just as soon as she could find it, that is.

"I have been rude," the shadows hissed. "I am known as Crisis, Princess. I glad to have seen you again, after all these years..."

"I don't know you," Loaño growled. She figured she would remember it, if she'd seen it before.

"You don't know me, yes; but I know you," Crisis replied. "As for what I want of you, it's very simple, Princess – a very simple request. Tell me where the King of the Digital World is."

"No," Loaño replied. "Never. I wouldn't tell you even if I knew where he was!"

"You're a horrible liar," Crisis determined. "Much like someone else I once knew." She felt it wrap its shadowy arms around her, as if it were hugging her. She wriggled away from it and backed away, her fists raised. It was a solid when it wanted to be, but a mist most always. Though she knew her fists would do nothing, she felt comfortable with the ability to raise them anyway. "You speak with the King's voice, child."

"I do not," Loaño insisted.

"Liar," Crisis hissed. "You may want to stop lying to me, child; I don't like that." She felt Crisis worn a hand with fingers around her throat. It tightened briefly, and Loaño gasped at them. She tried to pull it away, but it turned to mist when her fingers touched it; yet the grip remained, just as strong. It lifted her up off the ground a little. "Where is the King?"

"I will never tell you," Loaño spat. DigiPower surged through her body and rose from her fist. She struck Crisis with it, and it let her fall to the ground. The blast brightened up the room and revealed the great, shadowy creature. It screeched terribly and dodged the blast she'd shot. It struck the walls of the castle and was absorbed.

Loaño stood up, but was knocked down. Crisis held her down like a vice and he hissed, "Very well – I was hoping you would be smart and simply tell me. But I already know where the King is, and I will tear him out of you if I must!"

"What the hell do you want with the King, anyway?" Loaño demanded, crushed beneath Crisis's hand.

"I want to devour his power and make it my own..." Crisis told her. "I will take your body for my own and use you to destroy the Digidestined and the Digital World! I want revenge for what he did to me – revenge! He sealed me here and forced me to sleep for hundreds of years... Now I have awakened, and I will tell you this – I did not sleep soundly."

"I will never give you the King," Loaño growled. "Let me and Lucemon walk free, and there'll be no trouble."

"You are in no position to negotiate, child,"Crisis snarled. "Impudent wretch. You have until the sun comes up for you to surrender yourself to me. If you do not, I will take what I want by force."

Crisis released her, and Loaño sat up. She was catching her breath as Crisis hissed, "Aws; get her out of my sight."

Aws opened the door, and Loaño saw Crisis recede into the shadows. She stood up and pushed Aws when he tried to grab her by the arm. She turned to Crisis and growled, "If you think that I'm that easy to break, then you've got another thing coming, Crisis."

"All humans break," Crisis promised her. "All it takes is some bending."

She was tossed back into her cell most ungraciously. Loaño spat at Aws's feet, but all the boy did in retaliation was shut the door in her face. The door flushed with the wall seamlessly, and despite the fact that she knew the fruitlessness of such a thing, she slammed her fists against it. She glared at Aws out the little window until he was gone.

Frustrated, Loaño looked for any sort of seam or crack in the walls surrounding her. There was nothing – it was as if her cell was one single organism. She kicked the ground, wishing she knew if it felt pain. Was the inside the only part like this? Or was the entire castle made of this stuff?

She leaned against the wall and pressed her ear against it. Faintly, she could hear something akin to a heartbeat. She couldn't tell if it was her's or someone else's, though. If Crisis has a heart, then I'll rip it out before I'll let it have you, she told the voice.

"So you've met our gracious host," Lucemon surmised, appearing before the bars that opened their cells to one another. "Crisis, it calls itself."

"I heard," Loaño groaned. She told him, "It wants the King."

"I know," Lucemon admitted, sighing. "When I got here, it asked the same of me... only, I didn't have my brother."

"Lucemon, it said that I had until the sun rose again to give him up," Loaño told him. "I can't do that. I won't." She clenched her fists and growled, "I promised that I wouldn't..."

Lucemon sighed and then said, "I agree. If my brother falls into its hands..."

"I know," Loaño told him. She raised her fist and looked at it. "Crisis was afraid of my DigiPower. I don't think it likes bright lights... like sunlight."

"If it gets the King out of you, it won't have any cause to fear anything," Lucemon warned her. "Crisis has been siphoning my power so that it can stand in the sunlight... but that's not its main concern. It needs a form. A body... and the one it wants has no vacancy."

Loaño shivered on the inside. She shook her head and said, "I won't let it have me, either."

"You're either very strong, sis, or very stupid," Lucemon admitted, sighing. "I have no idea which."

She crawled over to him and took his hand through the bars. She promised him, "We'll get out of here. I know it, all right?"

"Whatever miracle you're hoping for, sis, you'd better hope that it comes before sunrise," Lucemon pointed out. "Or Crisis will get what it wants."

So this is the Crisis Zone... Wild thought. The sun was setting red and fiery on the horizon, just behind the Crisis Zone.

She found herself thinking that it ought to have been called the Pillar Zone – because of all the pillars. It was a huge swath of blackened land that looked like it could hold no life. Zones touched it all around, but they went absolutely no further than the multitude of pillars that surrounded the Zone in a huge circle. There were eighteen pillars in all – eleven were colored simply: red, white, pink, green, yellow, green, gray, dark brown, light brown, blue, and black. Three pillars stood higher than these ten, with two colors on each: blue and gold, pink and white, and finally green and gold. Finally, four stood at each cardinal direction: a black pillar with golden orbs surrounding it faced north; a vermillion pillar surrounded by red orbs faced south; an azure pillar surrounded by white orbs faced east; and finally, a white pillar surrounded by yellow orbs faced west.

That was the last of the pillars she counted. Aquilamon was landing. He touched ground just in front of one of the pillars. It was the great red one, and upon closer inspection Wild realized that it was decorated with carvings of flames. When they dismounted, Agunimon approached the flaming pillar and looked at it, mystified. He reached out and touched it.

"It's warm," he commented.

"Each pillar with only one color is said to represent one of the Legendary Warriors," Lobomon explained as he and Nikolai hopped off of Birdramon's leg. Kazemon and Yukio followed shortly after, landing nearby and walking to meet them. Lobomon pointed to one of the two-toned pillars and said, "Those are said to represent the Celestials – Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Cherubimon. The pillars facing in the cardinal directions are the Sovereigns, the four digimon who guard the Digital World from disharmony."

"So why all the pillars?" Yukio asked.

"When tha' monster firs' show'd i's ugly face," KiddGarurumon began, clambering off of Aquilamon, "the King'a the Digital World us'd 'eir powers ta crea'e a seal 'round it."

"The Boss said the seal broke," Nikolai pointed out. "But all these pillars look to be in fine shape."

"There're two more," KiddGarurumon explained. " 'At castle's been built 'round 'em. The mons'er ain' strong 'nough ta lea'e 'is place, so 'e uses i's humans ta do the dir'y work."

Wild looked at the great black castle. A chill ran through her as she got the feeling that storming it wouldn't be easy. When night fell, it would be one with the dark sky. It was tall and flawless – it looked like it was made of obsidian or some smooth, dark rock.

"So how do we get in?" she asked.

"Nikki an' I will sneak in while you an' Yukio attack direc'ly," KiddGarurumon replied. "I'll fin' a way in... or I'll make one." He punched one fist into his other open hand and Wild got the message. He would do anything he had to do rescue the Princess... and the Prince.

Wild looked to Agunimon. He looked nervous, but his smile showed confidence. She tugged at her ascot and said, "All right – let's knock on the door. Hard."

Agunimon gave a toothy smile and his fists roared with balls of flame. "Ready when you are, Wild!" he declared.

"Me, too!" Kazemon offered, fluttering up to join Agunimon. The two of them smiled at one another, and a calming breeze flowed through the limbs of the Digidestined.

Wild looked to Yukio and said, "Stay back; conserve your DigiPower and use it to heal them if you need to."

Yukio nodded and stuffed his hands into his duster jacket's pockets. He looked ready – as ready as he would be. Wild wondered if she looked confident at all. She directed her attention to Kazemon and Agunimon and ordered, "I want you two to combine your attacks when we assault the castle. Only break apart when necessary. Stay together, and don't be afraid to draw upon Yukio or myself if you have to."

The sky was beginning to darken and stars shimmered in the sky, but Nikolai seemed to glow with his own inner light when Wild looked at him. He was staring at the castle with such a conviction that Wild realized, He blames himself for the Princess being here. He was the last person to talk to her – the last person to convince her not to do this... and she didn't tell him. He wants to save her.

"Nikolai," she called. The boy looked at her, his olive eyes shining. "Be careful. We don't have room to fail this time. Get the Princess and her brother and then get out. Don't linger."

"I don't plan to," Nikolai told her.

KiddGarurumon cracked his neck and decided, "Le's get 'is show on the road, eh?"

Wild nodded and watched him as he digivolved. His long white cape flowed from his shoulders as KnightGarurumon stood in KiddGarurumon's place, his massive sword in hand and pale eyes shining in the darkness. He grasped his sword by the hilt and threw it over his shoulder. "Le's go, Nikki," he rumbled.

Nikolai nodded. Wild stared at the white beast and wondered just how he could digivolve without Loaño giving the command. Were digimon partners capable of forcing themselves to digivolve, if their partner was at stake? Flamemon had changed to Agunimon when Wild didn't want him hurt – it seemed to be the same for the others, too. Could it possibly work in the opposite way? Or was Loaño and KnightGarurumon's partnership different somehow?

She didn't have time to think about it. The time had come. They were all ready. She pointed at the front of the castle and ordered, "Kazemon, Agunimon – attack!"

"Salamander Wave!" The two shouted in unison. Kazemon waved her fingers and ten tornadoes plumed from her fingertips and flowed, twisted, and spiraled towards the direction that Wild was pointing. Agunimon shot flames into the windstorm, and suddenly flaming tornadoes were snaking and speeding their way towards their target.

When it struck, it blew a great hunk of the castle away. Debris rained on the blackened, ruined ground. Kazemon and Agunimon rushed forward, continuing their combined attack. Wild and Yukio ran after them, through the pillars and officially into the Crisis Zone.

KnightGarurumon followed, dragging his sword behind him; Nikolai and Lobomon ran ahead and through the smoke that was created from the flaming tornadoes, looking for a weak spot to make their entrance.

"Knock, knock," Yukio asked with a smirk. "Anyone home?"