Chapter 37: Temples in the Sky
Digital World, Fourth Plane
10:00 A.M
February 7th, 2010
Iori braced himself as the data stream tossed him and the rest of the Digidestined through the portal and into a new world. He landed on his feet, slowly stumbling away from the event horizon as his eyes began to adjust to the new lighting. He gasped once he was able to see the world around him. It was like nothing he'd ever encountered in the digital world. He was standing atop a reddish stone platform that stretched out for 100 meters in every direction. Past the drop off was nothing but bright orange clouds, rolling across the landscape as far as the eye could see.
The boy twirled around, taking in the rest of the scenery. A wooden bridge was tethered to the edge of the platform, which led to another platform slightly higher in the sky. He was startled to see that the other platform had no bottom. It sloped down to a point as if the floating islands had been ripped from the earth long ago and were suspended in the clouds. Three more bridges opposite each other on the circular island led to other platforms, other floating islands held afloat by nothing more than the magic of the digital world. Although Iori assumed there was a logical, scientific explanation, just this once he let himself appreciate the majesty around him.
Once the portal closed, Iori turned around to regroup with the rest of the Digidestined. Free from the glaring light imposed by the portal, he now noticed a small wooden temple built in the center of the island. Iori recognized the style. It was similar to Japanese pagodas, shrines built in the Shinto-Buddhist tradition back home, a tradition that his family had taught him, and that he had also learned about in class. The building sparked a peculiar curiosity from him. He had never been too concerned with the myths of the past, but something about this building piqued his interest.
"Twelve," Jeri said softly as the group congregated together, "There are twelve islands in all." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'll bet that each of these islands belong to a different Deva."
"Look at that one over there," Kairo nodded to the left, where a bridge led down to a massive platform with an enormous Egyptian style pyramid, "That's probably where SkullSatamon or SkullMammothmon lived."
"So to whom do you think this one belongs?" Iori pointed at the small temple before them.
"There's only one way to find out." Joe answered. The group nodded to each other in silence and made their way up the temple steps and onto the patio. The building was very welcoming, with wide, long sliding doors that opened up into a wide and empty interior. As they made their way inside, Iori pulled to the side and slipped off his shoes before crossing the threshold.
"Iori, what on earth are you doing?" Coronamon said with bewilderment.
"I'm just being polite." Iori replied, setting his shoes neatly against the wall and then making his way inside.
"Do I really need to point out the vast number of issues I have with your logic?" The fiery lion looked at him, his eyes glazed as if in a stupor.
"There's nothing downstairs," Joe observed, "Everything must be on the upper levels." He turned around to where the rest of the group was huddled. "Some of us should stay down here and keep a lookout. There are still a few Devas left and we need to be cautious."
"I can stay." Jeri volunteered. "If that's alright with you, Lunamon." She stared down at her partner.
"Of course," The rabbit nodded, "We'll let the curious minds roam about upstairs." Joe, Kairo, Iori, and their partners then started towards the stairs that spiraled around the central pillar. They slowly made their way up to the second floor, careful to peer around corners in case something was to jump out at them.
The second floor was as bare as the first, so they made their way up the next flight of stairs. The third floor housed a small kitchen, with a refrigerator, oven, and cabinet for spices and dry foods, collected around a simple counter and sink. It provided no useful information, so they moved on. The fourth floor was walled off, and only a single door let them out of the stairway. Joe pulled at the door handle, shaking it fervently. "No good, it's locked." He sighed.
"There's only one more floor," Kairo noted, "Let's check upstairs first and then try to find another way in." Joe agreed, and they started up the steps once more.
"Hold on Coronamon," Iori grabbed at his partner's shoulder. The lion halted and turned his head to see the boy face to face. "Do you think you can use your claws to break the lock?" He slid a finger down the seam between the door and the wall.
"I can try," He replied. He extended a claw and wedged it into the seam, working his way around the area with the handle. Settling his paw in one location, he tinkered for a few seconds until finally they heard a click.
"Success!" Coronamon said quietly, not wanting his voice to echo through the air. He grabbed at the handle and pulled. This time the door slid open easily, and the two stepped into the room.
They were in a bedroom. In the corner was bed, larger than any bed Iori had ever seen, fit for a Digimon much taller than any human being. Across from the bed on the opposite wall was an enormous mahogany cabinet. The rest of the room was simple and blank, with no features on the walls. Iori checked around central pillar to the other side of the room and found it to be blank as well.
"This room is almost as empty as the rest," Coronamon observed, "What sort of Spartan lifestyle were these Devas living?"
"Not empty enough," Iori said curiously, "This bed shouldn't be in here. It's too extravagant for this type of temple." He patted at the mattress, feeling its quality. "It takes away from the theme of simplicity that the rest of the tower has."
"Maybe somebody moved in here recently and decided they didn't like simplicity," Coronamon pondered, walking over to the cabinet. He pulled open the doors, revealing more items that were far out of place. A small television set was placed in the center, with a multitude of papers lying across the shelves.
Pinned to the inside of the doors were photographs. Iori and Coronamon came in for a closer look. Tai and Kari were in one of the photographs, along with two boys that neither of them recognized, and a group of four Digimon that they assumed was the original Digidestined's partners. The group was walking down a crowded street in a village filled with Digimon, somewhere the pair also didn't recognize. Another picture was of Tai and Kari in the human world, boarding a train to Odaiba. A slew of other photographs showed Tai and Kari in both the human and Digital worlds in various locations.
"Well this is weird." Iori scratched his head. "Whoever was staying in this room was keeping a close watch on Tai and Kari, and the rest of the Digidestined from the looks of it."
"I'll bet it was Etemon." Coronamon surmised. "These photographs were probably his attempt at surveillance so that he could narrow down their location." He reached for the power button on the television. "This is probably how he determined where to attack the human world." Pushing the button, the television came to life, showing a news report from Tokyo, discussing the recent 'terrorist' attack.
"He's been keeping tabs on the human world, probably for years." Iori realized. "I wonder how he was able to get such close intel on Tai and Kari though," He pointed to the picture of the two Digidestined boarding the train, "He must have sent scouts into the human world to track them. It's a miracle they weren't discovered."
"I suggest we make our way upstairs and report this to the others," Coronamon suggested, turning off the television set. Iori nodded in agreement, and they both slipped out of the room and quickly made their way up the staircase, onto the top floor.
"Hey guys, you'll never guess what we found downstairs." Iori announced as they left the stairway and entered the smaller third floor. Joe and Kairo had their attention focused on something else, however. A large shrine, decorated with colorful murals and trimmed in gold and silver, took up a third of the room. Joe and Kairo were examining the murals in depth.
"What's this?" Coronamon inquired excitedly.
"It's the destined key," Joe said bluntly to Iori and Coronamon's surprise.
"What?" They said simultaneously.
"Look at this." Joe stopped observing one of the murals and turned to the center of the shrine, where a flat platform was located. On top of the platform were two things: a stone panel positioned on the back of the platform, decorated with intricate, abstract carvings, all focused around a large, brass-like key, that was implanted into a slot in the panel, and a circular lock, made of the same materials as the key, located in the center of the panel.
"Woah," Iori leaned in against the platform, brushing his fingers against the carving. "I can't believe it; this is what turned us all into Digidestined?"
"Yeah," Joe nodded.
"Me and Iori determined from the evidence downstairs that this was Etemon's temple," Coronamon added, "How did he not try to destroy this shrine?"
"It looks like he did." Gomamon replied, nodding up to the platform.
"If you look around both the key and the lock," Joe answered, "It looks like they were heavily tampered with. The stone is chipped in both places. Somebody, probably Etemon, tried to remove the key and the lock from their place." Iori checked the region around the key, and sure enough, the stone was damaged around the edges, ruining the pattern of the stonework. Down at the base of the lock, the stone was also chipped, a large depression circling the brass-like structure.
"He tried to remove the key, but couldn't." Iori proposed. "It must only be removable by Makuramon, or maybe a being made of non-corrupted data." He reached for the key, lacing his fingers around the shaft, and pulled gently. It peeled away from the panel with ease, surprising even Iori, who stumbled backwards a bit.
"It came right out," Joe said with surprise as he reached for the key. Before he could touch it, however, it began to glow.
"What's going on?" Iori gasped.
"Hey guys, something weird is going on with the walls." Monodramon alerted, turning around to observe the rest of the room. The group huddled together, watching as the dull brown of the walls melted away and was replaced with absolute darkness.
"What is this?" Kairo whined. Soon, however, small faint lights began to appear. They encircled them, location random, impossible to count. Eventually one of the lights began to get brighter, and larger, and eventually the entire room was enveloped in the light. It faded just as quickly as it appeared, and the group looked down in shock at an aerial view of downtown Tokyo.
"I don't understand, what in the name of Yggdrasil is going on?" Coronamon asked with extreme concern in his voice.
"The key, or the shrine, it's trying to show us something." Iori replied. He was not confident in his answer, but he could think of no other logical explanation. As he said this the image of Tokyo began to zoom in on one building, a skyscraper huddled in the middle of the city. A large neon sign was strung across the side, but from their view point they could only see part of it.
"Factory…" Kairo mumbled. "What kind of factory is that?" He was interrupted. The skyscraper suddenly exploded in a violent shower of fire. Glass shattered as fumes burst from the windows, and the building creaked and moaned in agony as the explosion tore through its frame. The building began to collapse in on itself, crumbling under its own weight, leaving only a massive cloud of dust in its wake.
"What the hell. Is this happening right now?" Kairo inquired.
"No, I think it happened in the past." Joe replied. "Everything in the city just looks so much older, even the cars. He bent down to try and get a better look, but before he could the image changed again, zooming out away from the earth and into space, replacing the imploding tower with a field of stars once more. The image sat suspended in nothingness for a few seconds more, stars twirling around them, until it finally stopped, and one of the lights began to glow brightly again. They zoomed in on a new planet, this time over a battlefield.
"What the hell are those?" Joe gasped at the sight of a series of titanic creatures. Their teeth were sharp and rotten looking; their three fingered hands had sharp, wicked claws. Their necks were against their chest, head hunched over with bony protrusions sticking out of their forehead and back. Joe felt the most fear when he saw their eyes, deep black and full of hatred. Two of the creatures were slamming against each other, locked in mortal combat in a rocky battleground. "I've never seen Digimon like that before."
"If they even are Digimon," Kairo said coolly.
"No, they definitely are," Jeri appeared from the darkness, staring intensely at the monsters as they tore at each other viciously. "I've seen them before, painted on a mural at the bottom of the Gulag on Reboot Island." At that, the image disappeared, melting away into darkness once more. Light then returned to the room, revealing the dark brown walls and the shrine behind them. "Anyone want to tell me what that was?"
"We're not sure," Joe answered, "Iori picked up the destined key, and the room suddenly turned to black, and we saw that along with a building in Tokyo exploding. Wait, what are you doing up here?"
"Oh yeah," Jeri laughed nervously. "You see, Lunamon spotted a Digimon coming. I came to warn you guys."
"What?" The group said in unison.
10:20 A.M
The tamers and their partners piled out of the stairway and onto the bottom floor, where Lunamon was waiting.
"It's about time," She groaned from the window, waving them over. The group quickly got down to the floor to meet her, hiding behind the wall as she peered around the edge. "He's almost here." She pointed outside, where a small white figure was slowly strolling down a wooden bridge towards their platform.
"Can you tell what kind of Digimon it is?" Gomamon asked.
"I couldn't before, when I sent Jeri up," Lunamon answered, "But now that it's gotten closer, I can kind of make it out. I think it's… actually, I'm not really sure. But it seems to be an in-training form."
"In-training, are you sure?"
"I'm not positive, but I'm not feeling much power coming out of this Digimon. I think it might be safe to go outside and greet it in person." She replied.
"We shouldn't all go out," Joe interjected, "Only some of us. Just in case its concealing its power, we need to make sure we have the element of surprise if need be."
"That's a good idea." Lunamon agreed. "Joe, perhaps you and I, and our partners, should venture outside, leaving Iori and Kairo in here."
"Good plan," Joe concurred, "Let's go." Lunamon led the way, with Joe, Gomamon, and Jeri following. They slowly exited the temple and made their way down the steps, walking towards the bridge where the Digimon was coming from.
"I'm gonna go back upstairs." Kairo announced after they had left. "I want to take another look at the destined key, see if I can find any more information about what we just saw."
"You should stay here to back up the others if they get in trouble." Iori said irritably. "They think we're both here to back them up."
"Don't worry," Kairo waved him down as he started lightly stepping towards the stairs, still crouched to avoid being seen, "I'll leave Monodramon down here just in case, and if anything starts to go down you can just yell for me and I'm sure to hear it." He didn't wait for Iori to respond, instead dashing up the stairs and out of sight. Iori groaned in anger, rolling his eyes as he turned back to watch the rest of the Digidestined.
Outside, Joe, Jeri, Gomamon, and Lunamon were slowly walking shoulder to shoulder towards the bridge at the end of the island, where they could see a small, white and purple Digimon happily bouncing down the bridge. It was mouse-like, with large ears trimmed in purple, bright green eyes, and a red triangular symbol embedded on its forehead. It didn't take long for the Digimon to notice them. It stopped, ears twitching as it stared at them intensely. Then, suddenly, it jumped up into the air, let out a loud cheer, and flew towards them, hopping over the bridge railing and using its oversized ears to glide across the open gap to the island, landing a few yards in front of them.
"Ugh!" Joe grunted in surprise.
"HEEEEEEYYYYY!" The Digimon cheered again, jumping back up to glide towards them. He started circling the group, using his large ears to stay afloat. "Who are you guys? I've never seen humans up here before!" It said rapidly. "Why do you have Digimon with you? Huh!? Are you the Digidestined?"
"Yes, we are." Jeri said with a nod. "And who are you?" She held out her hand. The little Digimon flew over to her and stretched out his short paw, shaking it as vigorously as he could.
"My name is Calumon!" It smiled widely.
"Nice to meet you Calumon." Jeri smiled in return.
"So what are you all doing here?" Calumon inquired. "Don't you know it's dangerous up here for humans? Ete… I mean our leader Etemon has a real distaste for you guys." Calumon looked uncomfortable as he corrected himself.
"Your leader?" Joe gasped. "Wait, does that mean you're one of the Devas?"
"Uh-huh!" Calumon nodded excitedly. "Been one since the beginning, way back before Etemon took over."
"It sounds like you don't really like Etemon that much." Lunamon observed.
"Well, I'm not really supposed to speak negatively of him but…" Calumon scratched the back of his head, staring at the eyes of the four Digidestined, who all looked eager for him to continue. "Well, he's really mean! He started a big fight with all the other Devas and threw Makuramon and some of the others into Vikaralamon's dungeon. Then he and his friend Mammothmon said they were in charge, got some evil Digimon to replace some of the Devas we'd lost, and then just went and attacked the human world!"
"Didn't really agree with that, did you?" Jeri asked calmly.
"No," Calumon shook his head, "Makuramon and the other Devas were my friends. Now the ones that aren't dead or locked up in the dungeon all follow Etemon's orders, and are really mean to me now."
"Aw, that's terrible." Jeri sighed.
"Yeah," Calumon mumbled solemnly, "But enough about me!" He began to cheer again. "What are you doing here?"
"We were in Tokyo when Etemon and the Devas attacked," Joe explained, "We fought them back and managed to defeat them all."
"Did you really?" Calumon's eyes widened in excitement.
"Mhm," Joe and Jeri nodded.
"YAAAAYYY!" Calumon flew up into the air, spinning in circles as he danced in joy. "I can't believe it, he's finally gone!" Calumon lowered himself back down to the Digidestined's eye level. "It's really sad about all my friends that were with him, but they were jerks anyway. I'm sure once they get reconfigured they'll be all better!"
"Yeah, hopefully," Joe smiled, "But in the meantime we have to make sure that there are no other Devas up here that agree with Etemon and might want to attack the human world again. Do you know if there are any left up here besides you?"
"Well, yeah, actually." Calumon nodded. "Makuramon, Vikaralamon, and Antylamon are all still locked up in the dungeon, over in the pyramid." Calumon pointed down to the island where the Egyptian-style pyramid stood. "I'll bet they'll be ecstatic that Etemon's finally gone!"
"Great, it's good to hear that Makuramon's still around," Gomamon added, "But is there anyone else that was on Etemon's side that's still up here?"
"Well," Calumon scratched his ear, "Technically there is. Cerberumon is still here. He was brought in by Etemon after the big fight where Makuramon and the others got locked up, but he never really seemed that interested in helping Etemon attack the human world. After Etemon and the others left, he went up to Antylamon's library and locked himself in there. He hasn't been out since."
"If he wasn't interested in helping Etemon, then he might be an ally." Lunamon suggested.
"He's really stand-offish though," Calumon explained, "He doesn't like talking to others, and he wouldn't talk to me once Etemon left. I don't think Etemon really liked him that much either, but Cerberumon is really strong, like crazy strong, so I think that's why Etemon kept him on as a replacement Deva."
"Do you think you could take us to him?" Jeri asked. "Actually, do you think you could show us the way to both Cerberumon and the dungeon where the other Devas are kept?"
"Sure, no problem!" Calumon nodded. "But finding Cerberumon is really easy. Antylamon's library is right up there!" Calumon pointed up. Joe and Jeri's eyes followed the bridge that led off the side of the island to another floating platform, which itself had a staircase that wound up to another island much higher in the sky. Joe and Jeri could see what looked to be a Greek temple on the island, though it was too far away to see any real details.
"Well, it's a long walk, but it does look pretty straightforward." Gomamon gulped.
"What you really want me for is finding the dungeon," Calumon continued, "The inside of the pyramid is a winding maze, and only those who know how to navigate it can do so without getting lost."
"Alright then, we'll split up." Joe proposed. "Lunamon, you should go inside and get Iori and Kairo. We need to cover more ground." Lunamon nodded, and then ran off towards the temple.
"Oh, you have more friends?" Calumon inquired.
"Yeah, sorry, we didn't know how friendly you'd be, so we had them stay inside just in case you tried to attack us." Joe apologized.
"I guess it's fine, you can never be too careful when Etemon's involved." Calumon smiled. He seemed unhurt by the information. Steps behind them alerted the group's attention towards Lunamon, Coronamon, and Iori, who were now joining the group from inside.
"Where are Kairo and Monodramon?" Jeri asked.
"Kairo went upstairs to look at the destined key again," Iori said irritably, "He wanted to try and see if he could try to figure out what was up with those images we saw. Monodramon just went upstairs to get him." They waited a minute until Kairo and Monodramon finally exited the building. Kairo had an irritated look on his face.
"Did you find anything?" Joe yelled out to him as they crossed the distance between the temple and the edge of the island.
"No, sorry, it wouldn't even respond to me." Kairo shook his head.
"It is fine, no worries," Joe shook his head, "Now, I'd like you all to meet Calumon." Joe introduced Iori, Kairo, and their partners to the Deva, giving a quick recap of what they had just discussed.
"Okay then, we should split into two groups." Iori agreed. "Kairo and I can go with Calumon into the dungeon and look for the other Devas, while you and Jeri and go and find this Cerberumon and see if he's on our side or not."
"Sounds good to me, everyone else good with this?" Joe asked around the group. He received all nods. "Okay then, let's go." He and Jeri, along with their partners, then broke off from the rest of the group, heading up the bridge that led towards the library. Calumon took the lead of the other group, leading them down to the pyramid on the island below.
10:40 A.M
Cerberumon watched the humans down below as they split into two groups. Calumon led two of them down towards Vikaralamon's pyramid, while the other two came up another walkway that led to the island directly below the library, the platform that he was on now. "Interesting," the hound growled, grinning wickedly, "I wonder what the Digidestined are up to here on the fourth plane. I wonder if they're here to see me." He pulled the book out from under his shoulder plate, flipping it open with his claw to the desired page. A sketched drawing of Reboot Island was on the first page. On the second, a detailed map of the quasi-gulag's inner passages was drawn, with a marker drawn around a particular room. "I've waited millennia for this; I guess I can stick around for a few more minutes." The Digimon closed the book, stuffed it back under his shoulder plate, and then slowly walked towards the staircase to the island below.