(A/N):
Sorry I'm a week to late, but if I would've uploaded last Saturday it would've been only around 1500 words.
Well, enjoy :)


Disclaimer: Nananananana

"It's cold down here".
Koji rolled his eyes for the maybe hundred time. BlackGatomon had continually complained since they had taken the stairs down. At first he had told the digimon to shut up but he has long deemed it as useless.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" BlackGatomon grumbled. Koji continued to ignore him.
"I said hey!"
"You did! Twice! Good for you", Koji hissed with a sharp glare. BlackGatomon made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a 'humph' and punched Koji's leg.
"I. Am. Cold.", the black cat insisted. He looked around skeptically, his tail swaying nervously behind him.
"What do you want me to do?" Koji growled and kicked BlackGatomon lightly away. To be honest he could understand BlackGatomon's sentiments. It was quite cold down there and the darkness made him nervous.
He didn't know for how long they had been walking down these stairs and the darkness did not look like it would end soon.
"We should turn around", BlackGatomon mumbled and Koji could feel him walking beside his leg again.
"Wait…", Koji said incredulous, "are you afraid?!"
"What?! Of course not! It's just…", BlackGatomon trailed off and Koji groaned.
This couldn't be true. The digimon who could defend himself was scared and Koji, the useless human had to be strong and brave.
"You are ridiculous", Koji told BlackGatomon. He could the digimon hear huff.

A few minutes later BlackGatomon disturbed the silence again, this time with a long, suffering sigh.
"What are we even doing here", he asked, not angry but desperate and beaten this time.
"I don't want to go any further."
Koji sighed in annoyance. God knows how many digimon were on this base and he had to end up with the niggling one.
"We can't exactly go back", Koji said in attempt to reason with his companion.
"I know", BlackGatomon admitted and Koji could hear him kick at a small stone. "But what are we supposed to do down there? Wherever this 'there' is… you can't honestly think that we'll find a way out down here."
"It's our only hope", Koji answered dryly. He sighed again; this constant darkness was depressing.

Maybe another minute a soft tremor went through the ground, and Koji and BlackGatomon stopped.
"What was that?", BlackGatomon whispered, his tail batting against Koji's leg, but the boy couldn't bring himself to care.
Another, stronger, tremor made the ground tremble and BlackGatomon whined loudly.
"I knew it, we are gonna die!"
Koji send him a sharp glare even though he wouldn't see it. "Stop niggling!"
"I am not niggling", BlackGatomon exclaimed, his voice cracking, "I am panicking!"
"Then stop panicking!", Koji yelled as he looked around hectically in an vain attempt to find anything that could be useful in this situation.
"Don't you understand?!", BlackGatomon cried out, "We are god knows how deep under the earth, this whole thing is going to collapse. Oh my god, isn't it earthquake season in Japan? Isn't always earthquake season in Japan?! I knew it was a bad idea to build an UNDERGROUND BASE!"

A niggling, cowardly, claustrophobic digimon, Koji corrected his earlier thought.
"Alright, calm down", he told the shaking digimon. To be honest he wasn't really comfortable right now either but it wouldn't help if they'd freak out.
"Calm down?!", BlackGatomon yelled, "What do you think is gonna happen to us?! We can do nothing!"
"Right, we can't do anything to protect us so we'll just continue to do what we were doing before!", Koji hissed and lifted BlackGatomon up.
He stopped struggling and glared at Koji but didn't argue anymore.

With a little more urgency in their steps Koji and BlackGatomon walked down the stairs. From time to time there would be another tremor, some stronger, some weaker, but as they went deeper the tremors became distant and finally stopped completely.
"Do you think we are too deep for the tremors to reach? Or did they stop?", BlackGatomon asked thoughtfully. He had calmed down a few minutes prior when after the fifth earthquake nothing had happened.
Koji shrugged. "Both are possible. Wait… can you hear this?"
He stopped and leaned forward slightly. Beside him he could hear BlackGatomon stepping two more steps down.
"It… sounds like moaning", BlackGatomon said hesitantly, "where is it coming from?"
"I guess we found something down here", Koji answered humorlessly and jogged down the rest of the stairs.
As soon as his foot touched a softer ground he stopped abruptly and BlackGatomon ran into his legs.
They could see nothing around them; everything was just black.
"What's wrong?", BlackGatomon grumbled and Koji made a hushing motion, forgetting that the digimon couldn't see it.
He bowed down and poked the soft ground curiously. When he pulled back there was some slimy thing between his fingers.
"What the hell…?"
"What's wrong?", BlackGatomon asked and stepped next to him, "Ewrgh, what's that? Can't you make some light?"
Koji wiped his hand at his pants and a small light ball plopped into existence in front them. He had tried to avoid using these powers but without light they'd literally be blind.

"What..?"
The whole floor was a black gooey mass that led into the darkness. Koji lifted his hand with the light a little bit higher but the walls and roof of the cave were still hid in the darkness.
"That's a huge cave", he muttered and stepped a few meters in the room. BlackGatomon followed him like a obedient dog.
"What is this slimy goo?", he asked in disgust. "And where is this moaning coming from?"
Koji shrugged and followed the sounds cautiously.
They didn't have to walk for long to find the cause of the moaning.
"Holy crap!", BlackGatomon exclaimed and hid behind Koji's leg. "What the hell is that?!"
Koji gulped loudly and took another step forward to examine the… something in front them.
It was a huge hill of the black gooey mass with many mouths, and it stunk badly enough for Koji's stomach to churn. Suddenly the upper part of a human figure broke out of the slime and it led out an anguished scream.
Koji and BlackGatomon took a few steps backwards just to realize that the slimy ground was pulling them towards the monster.
The hill's middle parted with a loud cry, forming a huge jaw that looked ready to swallow them.

"HOLY-"
Koji stumbled away from the black goo, nearly slipping on the moving floor, and did a turn. "RUN!"
BlackGatomon didn't need to be told twice and sprinted after Koji back towards the stairs.
"WHAT IS THIS THING?", the digimon cried out when a slimy hand shot out of the ground and tried to grab him.
Koji jumped over something that looked disturbingly much like a face with wide open mouth and nearly lost his footing.
"I have no idea!", he yelled back, stumbling over a arm, "Why don't you know? I mean it's in your basement!"
When he didn't get an answer Koji turned around scanning the blackness for the dark digimon.
"BlackGatomon?"
There was a distant mumbled groan a few meters behind him and Koji cursed inwardly. He ran back and saw BlackGatomon vanishing in the goo, apparently being pulled in by a gooey hand that was clammed over his mouth. The digimon's eyes were wide with fear as he tried desperately to escape the slime.
"God damn, wait I've got you!", Koji stuck his hands in the goo and tried to pull the small digimon out, but the slime didn't let go. He could feel something clamp around his leg and cringed. Slowly the wetness traveled up his leg up till his thighs.
The moaning grew louder and louder and in the distance Koji could see that the huge hill was quite quickly coming towards them.
With more curses Koji continued to pull at BlackGatomon until he was released with a loud, disgusting plopping sound. Koji fell backward into the slime but scrambled on his feet just in time before more hands could grab them.
With BlackGatomon in his arms and black goo over his clothes Koji crossed the rest of the way to the stairs.

Koji imagined them to be safe on the stairs and stopped in order to catch his breath.
They stood there for maybe ten seconds when BlackGatomon popped the imaginary bubble of safety.
"It's traveling up the stairs", the digimon whispered horrified and Koji let out another loud curse.
He grabbed BlackGatomon and sprinted up the stairs they had spent the last god knows how many minutes on to get down.
Ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that told him that they couldn't escape anyway since the door upstairs was closed, he jumped over the stairs, slipping on the goo under his shoes more than once, until they arrived the upper floor.
"Oh… my… crap", Koji gasped, desperately trying to get enough air into his lungs to keep on running.
"Alright, alright, we've got this", he mumbled and started to stumble through the halls in the direction of the exit. The loud moaning was a constant reminder of what was following them.
"Why are you even trying", BlackGatomon grumbled after maybe three turns -counting is hard when you barely can see and don't have enough oxygen – "the door is closed anyway, we can't escape."
At least he got back a bit of his personality – grumbling and complaining -, Koji thought.
"Well I don't want to get swallowed by this shit", he made a jerking motion to the space behind them, "So I'll try."

When they finally, and miraculously, arrived at the door Koji literally jumped against it. The iron didn't budge one bit.
"Come on", Koji mumbled while jumping against the door in a vain attempt to get it opened.
By the sound of the volume he could hear that the gooey blackness had arrived at the last corner. Koji threw a glance over his shoulder and his heart skipped a beat. The slime was creeping around the corner, arms and heads sticking out of it.
"Fucking! OPEN!", Koji screamed a last time and kicked the door as strongly as he could.

Only a second later the wall and door exploded with a loud bang and Koji and BlackGatomon were send flying against the wall by the shockwave.
The last thing Koji noticed was a sharp pain in his head and stones flying at him. Then everything went black.


Another tremor went through the ground and this one was strong enough to knock Cody and Mimi from their feet.
Davis barely managed to fall down too. He frowned at the huge mansion from where the tremors seemed to come from.
"Should we really wait for the others?", he asked loudly, "If this is a digimon we should go and investigate."
"I agree", Matt said, "if it's an evil digimon TK, Koji and Izumi could be in danger."
"The others should be here soon", Tai argued, "and TK Izumi and Koji can surely look out for themselves".
Davis made a disgruntled noise and Veemon started pacing next to him.
Luckily, only after maybe three more minutes and two tremors they could see Birdramon at the sky.
"Finally", Davis groaned and waved back at Sora and Joe.
Birdramon and Aquilamon landed in the exact moment when the ground shook again and they both stumbled lightly.
"Wow, what was that", Gomamon asked while jumping down from Birdramon's back.
"This is the reason why we have to hurry right now!", Davis yelled and punched the air. "It's coming from their base and it feels like a digimon."
Joe gave him a confused look. "So we'll just storm in, guns blazing? Or do you have a plan."
"Our plan is to storm in", Davis said while grinning. "We don't exactly have time so let's move!"

Gabumon, Gomamon, Wormmon, Palmon, Agumon, Tentomon, Armadillomon and Veemon digivolved quickly and they entered the old mansion.
When they entered however, no one besides them was there.
"Hello? Anyone home?", Davis called and Ken made a hushing motion. "We should use the advantage of surprise", he said quietly and Davis rolled his eyes. In his opinion they should just find the evil digimon and fight them.
"Wait… do you hear this?", Kanrei asked suddenly. He wandered towards a door near the stairs. The others followed him skeptically, wondering what exactly Kanrei was hearing, but when they stood in front of the foul door Davis could hear it too.
It was very distant but there were quite sounds of fighting.
Kanrei pressed the door open. Behind it were stairs that lead into the ground.
"Maybe they have an underground base", Izzy suggested and peered in the darkness.
Davis shrugged and stepped past Kanrei on the first step.
"Somehow or another we'll have to find them, and this is our best hint."
The rest agreed and followed Davis and Kanrei down the stairs in the darkness.

"Isn't here some sort of light?", Mimi moaned after a while.
Cody nodded. "This darkness could be dangerous, anything could lurk-"
He was cut off abruptly by a small but loud explosion a few meters farer down. Where had been darkness before was now a hole in the wall and a iron door on the ground.
"Wha-?!", Joe yelled at the same moment Mimi screamed.
In the hole appeared a tall creature – maybe a bit higher than an average man. It turned its head towards them and let out a horrifying screech, then it ran out of their sight on claw like feet. Behind it there where two huge bird wings that ended as the ones of a bat. The feathers looked sharp and ready to kill.
Davis and the others where speechless for a moment.
"Wh-what was that?", Izzy broke the silence finally.
"I think it was a digimon", Ken answered slowly, his voice a bit higher from the shock. He cleared his throat. "Should we follow it?"
"I think we should try to find TK and the others first", Tai announced after a moment of hesitation. "If this thing is running around, they could be in danger".
Matt nodded in agreement and Patamon flapped his wings excitedly.
But next to Davis Kanrei shook his head. Denki and Tenshi who stood behind them seemed equally unpleased.
"I think we should follow her", Denki said, empathizing the 'her'.
"Why?", Davis asked confused, looking from Denki to Tenshi and back.
"Because we think that it's Zoe", Takuya's voice came from the back.
"What?!" Tai and Sora yelled. "Why would you think that?", Izzy asked a little calmer.
"I think I saw the sign of the Warrior of Wind on her arm", Kanrei explained.
"I just have a feeling", Takuya added helpfully and elbowed his way to Davis at the front.
"If we follow her we should be able to find the others too" Takuya said with a grin and ran down the rest of the stairs in the destroyed corridor.
"It's safe", he called up and Davis shrugged and followed him. The sooner they'd found them the better.

When Davis looked around he realized that it wouldn't be too hard to follow the digimon.
It- or she – had left a pass of destruction.
"Why would Izumi act like this?", Kari asked as they walked down the corridor.
"Well, this wasn't her normal spirit so I guess it's the beast one", Koichi explained and peered around a corner to check if there were any digimon. "She must have lost control of it."
"But I wonder why she digivolved", Takuya butted in, "I mean, it didn't work before; why now?"
"Maybe they forced her", Izzy suggested. Takuya shrugged carelessly in response but grew serious quickly.
"I wonder where Koji is, he should've at least tried to stop her", he mumbled and then turned around abruptly to face the rest of their group.
"Listen when we catch up to Zoe, and she sees us and attacks us, you run."
Davis gave him a bewildered look and opened his mouth to protest but Takuya cut him off.
"We already dealt with the beast spirits. They are just afraid and lash out. You are unfamiliar with Zoe so she won't trust you and attack you. We may have a chance to bring her back."
"But what will you do if she does not recognize you?", Gatomon asked skeptically.
Takuya stared evenly at the digimon. "Then we'll fight her." Koichi, Denki, Kanrei and Tenshi nodded grimly.
Davis was taken aback by their resolve for a moment, but Tai reacted immediately. "Isn't she too strong for you? Koichi shouldn't fight yet and Takuya can't digivolve."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it", Kanrei said with a shrug that was meant to be untroubled, but it just looked forced.
Just when Davis wanted to start to argue again they hear a loud cry and everyone froze.
"That was TK!" Matt yelled and started to run in the direction from where the scream had come.
"Matt wait", Sora called and followed the boy, Biyomon running after her while saying something about safety.
Tai cursed loudly and motioned the others to follow Matt and Sora, and soon there was a horde of people and digimon running through the corridors, calling for TK or Matt.

When they slid around the maybe fifth corner they all came to an abrupt stop. In front of them stood TK with a big glass bowl in his arms, his back to an opened door.
"TK", Patamon and Matt yelled at the same moment but it was drowned by the loud screech that the creature from before made.
She lunged forward and Davis' breath got caught in his throat when TK fell back through the doorframe with a yell.
"TK!"
The digimon followed TK in the dark and in the next second their group was running again too.
Davis sprinted through the door after Matt, and nearly ran into him.
"Wh-?" he started but Kari cut him off. "Where did he go?", she asked from next to Davis.

Just then Davis saw that they were in a stairway. Both the way up and the way down were equally damaged and there was no sign of Izumi and TK which made it hard to deduct which way they had gone.
"Down", Koichi and Takuya said at the same time and then had already jumped over the first broken step.
"Why down?", Izzy asked as they followed Koichi and Takuya down the stairs.
"The spirit in the glass bowl that TK has is definitely Koji's beats spirit", Denki explained, "and this means that this digimon really is Zoe."
"She is following the other spirit because it gives her comfort", Tenshi added, "I can feel it too and I haven't spend so much time with them yet."
Then suddenly there was a loud clashing sound from below and a cloud of brown dust flew up.
"TK!", Matt called and leaned over the railing but the dust was too thick to see anything. With a battle cry Patamon flew out of Matt's arms and dove into the dust. Matt nearly followed him in a vain attempt to catch the digimon, and only avoided falling thanks to Sora who pulled him back.
"Patamon!", Garurumon yelled angrily. "Come back that's dangerous!", Gatomon cried too, but Patamon didn't listen.
Takuya cursed and continued to run down the stairs.
"Come on we have to hurry!", he yelled and the group followed.
Finally, after two more stories they arrived at the cause of the dust. There was a huge hole in the wall, huge chunks of stone everywhere. On the ground, half buried under stones and sand laid a unconscious TK, the glass bowl had rolled a few meters away but was still intact. The blue light danced hectically around. A little bit deeper in the new hallway Koji laid unconscious next to what looked like a BlackGatomon.
But behind them was the real horror. A mass of black, moving goo was groaning and reaching with slimy arms for Koji and BlackGatomon.
Izumi, who stood protectively in front of the glass bowl, was screeching and hissing at the goo, but didn't dare to get closer.

"What the fuck is that?"
The questions lingered in the air for a moment before all hell broke loose.


(A/N):
Sorry I'm a week to late, but if I would've uploaded last Saturday it would've been only around 1500 words.
Well, enjoy :)

Disclaimer: Nananananana

(A/N):
Isame Kuroda: For what are you sorry? :o

Ultimateblack: Thank you so much for all your reviews! Especially for the constructive critic! I hope that you'll review more :)

So a short but important announcement.
For the next three weeks I won't be able to upload in any way. I'll be able to write but can't upload because I'm on a vacation.
So, I hope to greet you with a looooong chapter when I come back :)

See you guys then!
And thank you for all the views and reviews and favorites! I don't check so often on them, and then I forget to mention it, but you guys are really awesome!

Anyway,
Likes it? Hate it? Want to hit me with a chair?
Let me know :)