Chapter 36: Magnadaemon

Matt swung the massive hammer as hard as he could, bring it down toward the pavement and earring with incredible speed, but very little accuracy. He missed the earring by almost half a foot, which sent everyone into fits of laughter as Matt's face turned bright red. He had insisted on being the one doing the swinging, since it was his hammer, but my older brother had obviously been trying to hard to show off, and succeeded only in making us laugh.

"Alright, stop already," Matt said angrily. "I missed, it happens, get over it!"

"Sorry Matt, we just . . . you . . ." Tai couldn't finish because he was still laughing too hard.

"Give it another go, Matt," Sora said, recovering from her struggle to contain her laughter.

"Yeah, maybe this time he'll crack the pavement," Gomamon said.

"I'm gonna crack your head if you don't watch it!" Matt yelled at the digimon as everyone tried to stifle their laughter.

I felt kind of sorry for Matt when he missed the second time. Nobody could keep from laughing at that, and I tried my best to be supportive, but it was hard when I couldn't seem to stop laughing myself.

"Alright, let's see one of you break this thing then!" Matt yelled, holding out the hammer as if to challenge us. He was surprised when a hand actually grabbed the hammer, and Shark stepped forward. It was another one of those times when body language told the entire story, and Matt reluctantly handed over the hammer.

Shark pulled off his sweater and picked up the hammer. I stepped back, rather surprised by Shark's appearance. His white T-shirt tightly hugged a torso that seemed to be nothing but muscle, tightly wrapped to his body, giving it a lean and powerful appearance. His arms, masked by the sweater, seemed to bulge with well-sculpted muscles. I wasn't the only one who was surprised, most of the group was staring wide-eyed, amazed at his appearance.

"If Shark isn't in a swimming pool doing laps, he's probably at his . . . friend's house," Michael paused before the word 'friend's' apparently unsure of whether or not it fit in the context, "lifting weights on a few old machines. He doesn't take very many things seriously, but he's serious about swimming."

"That is serious," Davis commented.

Shark hoisted the hammer and positioned his feet, preparing to swing. He raised the hammer up behind him and then, using the entire weight of his body and the strength of his arms and torso, swung the hammer over his head and down at the earring. The hammer connected on the dot, making a loud sound almost like a thunder clap, but when he pulled the hammer away, the earring was still intact.

"Is that thing made of steel?" Cody said, staring at it.

"It seems to be more durable than I'd initially assumed," Izzy said.

"So how are we gonna break that thing, throw it into a volcano?" Joe suggested.

"I don't know," Izzy said. "If a sledge hammer can't break it then it's got to be pretty solid. We'd almost need diamond cutters."

"Where are we supposed to get diamond cutters?" Sora asked.

"I don't know. I'm sorry guys, but we're in a pretty big pickle, and I'm out of ideas," Izzy said. Everyone sighed. Izzy bent down and picked up the earring. He stared at it for a few seconds, twirling it around. He suddenly stopped and looked at it very closely.

"What do you see, Izzy?" I asked, leaning forward.

"Prodigious. I think there's writing on here!" Izzy said. He was staring at the back of the skull. "Yeah, there is, very small writing. It would look like a scratch if I wasn't looking closely."

"Well what does it say?" Mimi asked curiously.

"It seems like some kind of encryption, or something," Izzy said as he began.

A long wooden stake,

Was driven through his heart,

But not of any tree,

Was this stake ever a part.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Tai asked.

"It's got to be some kind of riddle. I bet that whatever the wooden stake is, we have to find it in order to destroy this thing," Izzy theorized.

"But how can we find it if we don't know what it is?" Davis asked.

"We'll just have to solve the riddle," Matt said.

"But how do you find a wooden stake that was never part of a tree?" Tai wondered.

"The answer to that must be in the part about the heart. Perhaps the wood is metaphorical. Think of things that can cut through a heart," Izzy suggested.

"Could it be the sword that hit Kari?" Yolei asked.

"That didn't go through her heart, thank God," Izzy said. Everyone scanned the faces of those around them, hoping that someone else would come up with an idea. Unfortunately, everyone was completely out of them.

"Well, now what?" Tai asked.

"Seeing as we don't know how to destroy this thing, the only thing to do is keep it safe until we can think of a way," Izzy said. "The next step was to find Gatomon, so I say we move on to that and hope that we can come up with the answer to the riddle later."

Shark gave Will a quizzical look as if to ask what had been said, and Will summed the conversation up quickly in English. Shark nodded and put the earring back on, and then pulled his sweater back on. He offered the handle to Matt with a sarcastic smile, and Matt rolled his eyes and took it, heading up to his apartment to put it away.

"So how do we find Gatomon?" Kari asked, turning her eyes to Izzy and directing the question to him.

"Well, Impmon caught me off guard before, but I think I'll be able to undo what he did to my tracer program. Ken, I'd really appreciate your help with this," Izzy said.

"I'd be glad to," Ken said.

"Okay, then we're heading to the computer lab again. As soon as we find anything, we'll call you guys," Izzy promised. He and Ken then separated from us, heading back to the school.

"So what are the rest of us going to do?" I asked.

"Pretty much just veg out until Izzy calls," Tai said. "What else can we do?"

"How long do you think it's going to take them?" Sora asked.

"I hope not too long, I hate waiting around not doing anything," Joe said.

"How about we go grab something to eat?" Matt said as he returned.

"Great idea, I'm starving!" Davis said.

"It is almost lunchtime. How about we walk around the city and find a restaurant?" Sora suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Yolei replied.

The restaurant we found was close to the harbor, with large windows looking out on the open expanse of water. We could see many different ships floating lazily in and out of the port through a thin mist that was rising off of the water, left over from the early morning and able to hang around until noon because the sun had been blocked out by clouds. The restaurant had a calm, quiet feel to it, with walls painted soft blue and dim lights that didn't really make the pace any brighter at this time of day. The plants planted all around gave off a barely perceptible aroma that suggested sleep but subtly hinted that you should stay awake lest you stop smelling it.

As we waited for our food and everyone else chatted, I found myself staring up at the gray, cloudy sky again. I wanted to forget what I had seen five years ago, the entire digital world floating high above us in the sky. It was an awful memory, and I wanted to make it disappear, but I knew that it never would.

"Whatcha thinking about TK?" Patamon asked, alighting on my head.

"I was just looking at the sky," I told him, which was true enough.

"Is something bothering you, TK?"

"I'm just worried, Patamon. Everything's been kind of weird lately. I guess I should be used to this stuff by now, by I'm still worried," I said.

Patamon fluttered down onto my lap and smiled at me. I returned the smile.

"I wonder when our food will get here," I said, turning back towards the group,"

"Hey what's that?" I heard someone else in the restaurant say.

"It looks like a big pillar of smoke," someone else said. I turned to the window and looked out across the harbor. A huge pillar of smoke, or rather, steam, had appeared over the harbor. A ship was sailing just in front of it, and I could see some of the crew staring at the phenomenon.

"Where'd that come from, TK?' matt asked when he noticed it.

"I don't know, it just sorta appeared out there," I said.

Suddenly, a bolt of fire rocketed out of the pillar and struck the ship. Instantly the entire thing was ablaze. A collective gasp followed by various exclamations of surprise filled the restaurant, shattering the atmosphere of calm.

"It's him, Patamon," I said.

"Let's get him!" Patamon said.

Patamon digivolve to...:::::Angemon!

Angemon smashed through the window and rushed out toward the pillar. He swung his fist toward the pillar, releasing a bright beam of energy that cut through the steam and sent it swirling around and away, revealing the evil digimon who had hidden himself within.

"We've got to help the people on that ship!" Tai said.

"I'll take care of it," Gomamon said, leaping out of the hole in the window.

Gomamon digivolve to...:::::Ikkakumon!

"Shark, we've got to help, too!" Michael yelled to the other boy. Shark nodded as Uniquemon and Betamon also jumped through the window.

Betamon digivolve to...:::::Seadramon!

Uniquemon digivolve to...:::::Armatsumon!

Armatsumon was basically a much larger Uniquemon, a ball about fifteen feet in diameter, with a face and an enormous tentacle covered in suction cups rising from the top of its body. All three of the digimon rushed toward the ship to try and save as many people as they could.

"You ready to fight, Agumon?" Tai asked, looking at his digimon.

"Of course I am!" Agumon said.

Agumon warp digivolve to...:::::Wargreymon!

Wargreymon flew out to the middle of the harbor to join Angemon, who was facing off against Daemon in a monumental staring contest. Daemon, however, seemed quite sure of himself.

"Matt, it might be a good idea for me to digivolve also," Gobumon suggested.

"Wait for just a second, Gabumon. We've got to see what he plans to do first," Matt replied.

But Daemon didn't seem to be doing anything. It appeared that he was content to stare at the two digimon who had flown out to oppose him.

"I don't get it. What's he playing at?" Sora wondered.

"He's obviously after the earring," Michael said. He looked toward Shark grimly. Shark pulled the earring out and clenched it tightly in his left fist. With his other hand, he pulled his switchblade, as if it would do any good against a digimon as powerful as Daemon.

The evil digimon still didn't do anything. Ikkakumon, Seadramon, and Armatsumon were swimming away with the crew of the ship he had just ignited, and he couldn't have been more indifferent.

Finally, the digimon looked up at his challengers. "You are so predictable. It makes my job shockingly easy," he said emotionlessly.

"What the fuck!" Shark screamed behind us all. I spun around, understanding only that he had screamed, and saw Daemon there, both of his hands slowly prying Shark's clenched fist opened. I did a double take upon seeing the second Daemon, and then realized that the one in the harbor was a fake that he had created to distract us.

"Gabumon, help him!" Matt yelled.

Gabumon warp digivolve to...:::::Metalgarurumon!

Shark suddenly twisted and slammed his knife into Daemon's body, right where his heart should have been. For a split second, Daemon lurched backwards, but his hands continued to claw at Shark's until Shark couldn't hold onto the earring any longer. Matt and Tai both dove at it as it fell to the floor, but Daemon snatched it out of the air and swiftly floated back into the middle of the restaurant, dislodging Shark's knife in the process.

The fake in the harbor had disappeared, and now all we could do is watch as Daemon reached under his hood to put the earring on. A great fire suddenly engulfed him, and it began to grow, spreading the flames throughout the restaurant and forcing us to run as fast as we could out the nearest exit. We turned back to the building, and the flames burst through the roof, sending a shower of scalding debris up into the air and down onto our heads. We could only watch in horror as the beast took shape above us, bursting out of the restaurant as he grew larger and larger.

The flames receded slightly, revealing a demonic skull for a head, with fire flowing freely out of the eyes and nostrils, the earring dangling from where his ear should have been if he had flesh. He raised one massive skeletal arm, wreathed in flame, and smashed through a wall of the restaurant with the vicious claws on the end of it. He raised up his other skeletal arm, and this one held a golden staff with an odd black jewel gripped by some kind of claw fastened to the top of it. With a swing of this devilish staff, he brought down the remaining walls of the building in a mass of fire and dust, sending sparks flying up into the air. He stood up to his full height of almost ten stories, revealing a rib cage filled with raging red fire, and skeletal legs which were also wrapped in a burning inferno. He was a massive skeletal demon covered entirely in a hellish fire, and we could do nothing to stop his transformation.