Remember yesterday's chapter? Well, here's another one.
BTW, I think chapter 34 is working okay now, so if it's not, don't be afraid to PM me.
Disclaimer: I would glady claim Digimon as my own property. But, you see, that would cost me quite a bit.
LAST TIME:
ISAMU: GrandDracmon had us outmatched and outnumbered. Still, we fought our very hardest. While Daichi, Kiyoko and their Digimon searched for our Digivices, GranKuwagamon and I took on GranDracmon. During the fight, we learned that the Digi-Agents wanted to rule not this world, but the human world. This gave us a little more drive to keep going to the point where GranKuwagamon was able to Mode Change to GrandisKuwagamon. With his Gran Killer weapons, he was able to defeat GranDracmon. Now our main issue is finding our way back home.
Chapter 35
Trapped
The Digi-Destined spent that night in the castle. It had been long day, and with the leader of the Digi-Agents defeated, they could finally relax even better than they ever had before. They woke up the next morning, celebrated with breakfast, courtesy of the castle's kitchen, and focused on what they realized would be their next main issue: getting back home.
"Now that the leader's gone," Isamu said as they ate, "any reamining Digi-Agents won't be able to do anything, right?"
"Such is the theory," Daichi responded.
"So now all that's left is finding a way back to our own world," Kiyoko said. "How do we do that?"
"Don't look at me," Daichi said. "Isamu would probably have more information on that."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Isamu said sarcastically. "I'm afraid I'm not sure. In the show, it varied from season to season. We could be carried away on some vehicle or directly called back via portal."
"Well, since this isn't the show," Wormmon pointed out, "we may have to find another way."
"That could take some time though," Gatomon said. "The last time any of us went to the human world was when BlackGatomon sent me and Kiyoko there through a portal. And I doubt she's in the mood to help us." Kiyoko snickered a bit.
"So," Daichi said, "what else can we do?"
"Hey," Dracomon said. "Didn't GranDracmon say he was going to go to the human world himself?"
"Thanks for the reminder," Wormmon returned sarcastically.
"No, wait," Daichi said. "Dracomon has a point."
"He does?" were the words that passed almost everyone else's lips.
"Think about it," Daichi explained. "GranDracmon's goal was to take over the human world, but to do that, he'd need to physically be there. And to do that, he'd need a means of transportation there."
"So he must have had some sort of portal," Isamu surmised. "He'd already infused BlackGatomon with the ability to make portals from Cerberumon's data, so maybe he could have done the same for himself."
"Only one way to find out for sure, though," Daichi finished. Everyone finished breakfast and headed to the computer room. Amazingly, it was still online.
"Gatomon," Dracomon said, "do you remember how to get this thing up and running?"
Gatomon smirked. "Do cats have nine lives?" She went to the keyboard and started typing, trying to remember how to control it. It didn't take long, though, and the cursor was moving at her command. "So, where to?" she asked. As she highlighted each option, she called them out: "Digimon, Geography, Battle Tactics, Security, Communication—"
"Stop!" Daichi exclaimed. "That's a good place to start. GranDracmon couldn't have just been doing everything on his own; he'd need a network to keep in contact with to discuss their plans and progress." Gatomon selected the Communication option and the screen changed to a menu that showed previous messages.
"Start with the latest one," Isamu said. "We'll go down the list until we find something." Gatomon selected the first message on the screen.
The screen shifted and two images appeared, both similar to one another; both looked like devices used to measure the frequency of sounds. When one spoke, the line would move accordingly. The first voice, belonging to GranDracmon, said, "I have good news, my liege; the portal is nearing completion, almost 75 percent."
"Good work," another voice said. It sounded too deep for any possible voice, meaning it must have been scrambled so as to prevent detection. "You seem to have made some real progress, much more quickly than before. To what do you attribute your recent success?"
"I used one of our Agents as an experiment," the voice of GranDracmon replied. "She now has the ability to warp to and from the human world as she pleases. With this success, I was able to apply it to our own portal. Within the next few days, it will be ready for mass transfer of all our remaining ranks."
"Excellent," the mysterious voice said. "Also, there is something you should know; the humans who have been destroying your Agents are heading over the mountain toward your castle."
"I shall deal with them presently, Great One." With that, the transmission stopped.
Everyone simply stood in silence, taking in what they had just heard. "Well," Daichi said finally, "I don't think we'll be going home anytime soon."
"And not because the portal wasn't finished, right?" Kiyoko asked.
"Why?" Dracomon asked. "What's wrong?"
"We may have beaten the Digi-Agent leader," Daichi answered.
"But not their Unifier," Isamu finished.
"So let me get this straight," Kiyoko said. "The thing that brought the Digi-Agents together is still out there somewhere?"
"Right," Isamu confirmed. "And from what Gennai told us, it's especially dangerous. He actually put it at an evil above the Agents, and that they might have been just tools to begin with."
"Well, that's good," Dracomon said, head bowed in disappointment.
"So what do we do now?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Kiyoko said. "We find it and destroy it."
"Easier said than done, Kiyoko," Gatomon responded. "This thing won't even tell us where the transmission came from. We're pretty much going in blind." Suddenly, the screen began to twitch and turn to static.
"What's happening?" Dracomon asked.
"I don't know," Gatomon answered. "I didn't touch anything." The screen continued to shift about and the images seemed to rearrange themselves. Finally, the shaking slowed down and a full-colored image appeared. Everyone nearly screamed in surprise when they saw what it was.
"GranDracmon," they all whispered.
"Greetings, Digi-Destined," he said from the computer. "This prerecorded message is set to play should you try to access my computer after my unlikely, but admittedly possible, destruction. However it happened, I must congratulate you; you are either more skilled than I gave you credit for or simply lucky. But your fortune has run out. My body may be destroyed, but my intelligence will be your end. As soon as this message ends, it will trigger an explosive set to blast this castle, everything in it, and the immediate area to oblivion within the half hour. And don't try running; as we speak, an impenetrable barrier is being formed around the castle, allowing nothing to go in or out of it. So, prepare to say your goodbyes, Digi-Destined. In the end, I won."
GranDracmon's image disappeared, replaced by a timer counting down from thirty minutes. "Okay," Dracomon said. "I think we have a new problem."
"Yeah, forget about trying to get you home now," Gatomon said. "We need to get out of this castle."
"How?" Wormmon asked. "GranDracmon closed us off from the outside world."
"Gatomon," Isamu said, "can you locate the bomb?" Although the timer continued to count down, Gatomon was still able to use the computer. She pulled up maps of every floor in the castle.
After a quick scan, she turned and said, "Sorry, but GranDracmon obviously doesn't want this bomb to be found."
"So that's it?" Kiyoko almost yelled in distress. "We can't just give up! There has to be something we can do."
Daichi, who had been silent for the time being, suddenly snapped his fingers. "I got it! Instead of trying to find the bomb, let's look for something that powers the bomb. Gatomon, lock on to the strongest source of energy within the castle." Gatomon quickly complied, pulling up the maps again and redefining her target. She finally reached a map of the lower level, with a red dot marked in one corner.
"Looks like it's on our floor," Gatomon said.
"That's gotta be what powers everything in the castle," Daichi said. "Knock out the power source, we knock out everything powered here, including the bomb."
"Let's get going then," Wormmon said. "I had more time to study this map when I was pretending to work with GranDracmon, so I know where we are and how to get there."
"Just lead, Wormmon," Isamu said. "I'll carry you so we have speed on our side." He picked Wormmon up and ran out the door, with the other Digi-Destined and Digimon following them. Wormmon pointed and they ran down the corridor.
They ran for what Daichi thought was at least ten minutes. After a while, they noticed a faint beeping. Isamu, realizing he'd heard that sound once before, pulled out his D-3. He noticed a small purple dot on the screen.
"What are you doing, Isamu?" Kiyoko asked. "We're kind of in a hurry here."
"Sorry," he said. "But the last time my D-3 did this, it led me to something special." He looked at the screen and the location of the dot. "Besides, this shows that whatever's grabbed its attention is in this direction as well."
"We'll deal with that after we take out the power source," Daichi said.
Isamu continued to run ahead of the others, with Wormmon pointing when needed. "Actually, Daichi," he whispered, "if this is what I think it is…"
The group finally entered a long stretch of corridor with no turns in sight. Isamu looked at his D-3 and found that the dot had gotten closer to the center. Almost there, he thought. He ran down until he came to a dead end. He let Wormmon fall from his arms and stared with amazement at what he saw; on the ground was a system of flashing technology, almost like what one might see on computer's circuit board. Lines were spreading from it along the floor and the walls, eventually going into the ceiling. The main core of this system was arranged in an interesting design, like a set of eyeglasses with one side bigger than the other. Inside the larger circle was an object: flat bottomed, a peculiar shape he couldn't describe, and a hole on top with a needle sticking through it. The object was yellow and bore the glasses design in purple.
Daichi and Kiyoko caught up to Isamu soon after he stopped. "Well, did you find it?" Daichi asked.
"I think so," Isamu answered, pointing to the object in front of them. Daichi looked and gasped.
Kiyoko just stood there in blank confusion. "What is that?"
"The Digi-Egg of Knowledge," Isamu answered. "It's another Digi-Egg that allows for Armor Digivolution. And if I'm not mistaken, it's also the power source were looking for."
"Makes sense," Kiyoko said. "Wizardmon said that the Digi-Egg of Kindness had some sort of untold power. Wouldn't surprise me to hear that GranDracmon actually found a way to tap into that kind of power."
"So if one of us were to lift it," Daichi said, "we might shut the entire system down and gain a new power."
"You go for it, Daichi," Isamu said. "You're the smartest one out of all of us." With no argument, Daichi bent down in front of the Egg and clasped his hands around it. He pulled up and expected the egg to move with him.
It didn't. "Uh, Daichi," Dracomon said, "if this is a dramatic pause, I'd say the moment has passed."
"You guys aren't going to believe this," Daichi said, "but I can't lift it!"
The others all gasped in shock; Daichi, arguably the smartest member out of all of them, admitted that he couldn't lift the Digi-Egg of Knowledge.
"Now what?" Kiyoko said. "If you can't pick it up…"
"Calm down," Daichi said, "we still have time." He paused for a second. "So far, we've tried going by personality, but you two have Digimon that we know can Armor Digivolve."
"So who should go for it?" Isamu asked.
"Who cares who goes for it?" Dracomon responded. "Just go for it! I'd rather remain in one piece!"
"Isamu," Kiyoko said, "you try. I admit that everything I've done so far is about full speed ahead, not bothering to plan it out. Trust me, you deserve it more than I do."
"And if I don't?" Isamu asked.
"This isn't another one of your 'I'm not worthy' moments, is it?" Wormmon asked. Isamu realized where this was leading and, not wanting to start an argument with the kind of time they had, walked up to the Egg. He wrapped his hands around it and lifted; the Egg came up easily. As soon as the Egg left its place, the system on the floor stopped flashing and there was a sound of machines powering down.
Isamu, meanwhile, stared in amazement and curiosity, as did everyone else. "So," Wormmon said slowly, "what do you think this means?"
"It means that whatever Digi-God left these Eggs is playing some sort of bad joke," Isamu said.
"You sure do like to doubt yourself," Wormmon said.
"This time is different," Isamu replied. "Courage, sure. Friendship, no problem. But knowledge isn't as innate as those traits."
"Maybe we'll figure it out later," Daichi said, wanting to stop the argument. "Right now, let's get out of here. The barrier should be gone by now."
"But where do we go?" Kiyoko asked. "We know just as much about where the so-called Unifier is as we know what it is."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Gatomon said.
Whew, they really dodged a bullet there. What kind of Digimon will Wormmon become with that egg? And what about the Unifier? We'll find out soon enough on Digimon: Digital Monsters.
Bet you all thought it was over, huh? Come on, you expect me to only give you guys one ultimate bad guy? I mean, you know, it's like... uh... Yoda, help me out.
YODA: Always two, there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice.
Thanks, dude.
This is CF signing out.