Getting down to the wire here! The plan is to have three more chapters after this and then an Epilogue. Thanks for those who've stuck with us this far (and those who are just joining)! Drop us a comment! :)
-A
Episode Seventeen:The Dungeon
Hailee
"Try this, Roo!" I laughed, tossing the ball into the air.
Roomon leapt gracefully into the air and caught it with her mouth. I grinned at her as she dutifully brought it over. She was better than the dog I had always wanted.
"What should we do now?" she asked, spitting out the ball at my feet. I kicked it away and shrugged.
"I'm hungry," I said, beginning to walk back towards the house.
"Me too!" she piped up, following me up the steps and through the front door.
I went into the dining room and grabbed a chair so that I could reach the counter. Just before I began carelessly dragging it across the floor, I heard a muffled voice from the hallway. It didn't sound very happy. Roomon looked up at me quickly and I smiled deviously at her.
I released the chair and began sneaking carefully through the house, towards the hallway. I turned the corner and started tip-toeing towards Calvin's room. When I got up to his closed door I carefully pressed my ear up against the wood.
"Calvin, if this is going to be as bad as we've heard we shouldn't go alone!" It was Gomemon who was talking. He sounded upset. That was weird, he was usually always happy.
"Who else could we take?" Calvin replied, sounding equally disgruntled.
"Hailee?" Gomemon answered.
I beamed. Whatever was going on it sounded very promising. Maybe a boring Saturday home alone with Calvin would turn into an incredible adventure in the Digital World. I was only allowed to go there if Calvin took me, and unfortunately, that didn't happen very often. I pressed myself closer to the door, eagerly awaiting Calvin's answer.
"You're joking, right?" Calvin groaned. My heart sank. "She's too small to handle anything like this. Besides, remember what happened last time we tried to take her on a mission? She doesn't listen to anything."
"Yeah...I guess you're right," Gomemon sighed. "But I still think it's too dangerous to go alone."
"We can do it, Gomemon. That's what we've been training for, right? Fighting this Arigettamon should be easy. Now come on, let's get some supplies."
I heard footsteps and hurriedly leapt away from the door. I ran across the hall to my room and shut the door behind Roomon.
I paced back and forth angrily. So that's what he thought of me? Just a stupid little kid who couldn't get anything right? I pounded my fist on my bed.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"What?" I called, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.
"Hail, could you open up? I've got to talk to you," Calvin's voice came, suddenly sounding much nicer than he had before. I shared a glance with Roomon, who blinked at me. I let out a short breath and stomped over. I swung the door open and stared up at him defiantly.
"Hey, I know that I was supposed to watch you today, but I just realized I've got a lot of homework to do."
My eyes flashed but I nodded. "You mean...you're just going to be in your room?"
"Yeah, so don't bother me, okay? I should be done by the time Mum and Dad get home."
"Fine, I don't need anyone to watch me," I answered.
I had never been lied to so directly before and I wasn't quite sure how to react. I wanted to call him out. I wanted to yell and scream at him for what he said about me. But something inside me kept me from doing it. I wasn't going to prove him right by acting like the little girl he thought I was. One day he would see. I was much stronger than that.
"Great," he said, looking relieved.
"Have fun," I muttered, shutting the door.
My eyes fluttered open and dim green light flooded my vision. I lifted my hand and rubbed them. My throat was dry. The floor underneath me was cold and hard. I slowly lifted myself up into a sitting position and instantly regretted it. My head hurt like hell. I clutched it and groaned. As the numbness wore off, I became aware that that wasn't the only part of me that was in pain. My legs felt like they were on fire. I looked down at them and gasped. My tights had been torn to shreds revealing an ugly blistered scar that decorated my left leg. I stared at it in fascinated horror for a moment before I realized where it had come from.
The Lightning Room. That's where I had gotten struck. My mind was fuzzy after that. I scooted backwards and my back hit a wall. I jumped as the floor underneath me swayed back and forth creating an eerie creaking sound. My eyes widened with realization. I reached out and touched one of the metal bars in front of me. I was in a cage. Looking around in every direction, I saw that the whole room was lined with them on either side. Each suspended ten feet off the stone floor.
"Shit, I'm in the dungeon," I breathed, taking it all in. Just as we had been escaping, that Devidramon had grabbed me. Now, I was where I wanted to be. Except on the wrong side of things. "Roomon!" I burst out suddenly. No reply. I strained my eyes in the dim light to see if she was in any of the other cages. I suddenly spotted Kanemon lying in the cage across the room, unmoving.
"K-Kanemon?" I repeated, my heart-rate rising. "I-I'm coming!"
I leaned forward and I pounded my fist against the bars which swayed the cage. I needed to get to her.
A cool draft blew down on my face and I pushed my bangs out of my eyes. Wait. A draft? I was at the lowest point in the fortress. The only reason there would be a draft would be if…
I raised my head to look at the top of the cage. Instead of having a top, there was a gaping black hole. Several large chains connected the cage to the carved rock hole in the ceiling. This was the trap Komodomon had been talking about. If you triggered one you got sent right down in a cage. I tried my hardest to get to my feet, but between the unstable ground and the shooting pain in my leg, I ended up falling back onto my butt.
"Damn it!" I yelled, kicking the side of the cage with my good leg.
As if in response to my action every light in the dungeon went out, leaving me in total darkness. I gasped and drew my legs in towards me, wrapping my arms around them as I backed up against the cage wall. The room sat in complete silence, the darkness around me closing in and suffocating every breath.
A soft scraping sound seeming to echo from all around. Something hard was being loosely dragged across the stone floor. I turned my head, left and right, trying to figure out where it was coming from. It got louder and louder, consuming my every thought.
As suddenly as it started, it stopped. I blinked in the darkness. A ragged sounding breath heaved in and out, sending a chill up my spine. I covered my mouth with my was another scraping sound, but this time it came from right in front of me, across the bars on the cage.
"Hello," a soft voice purred. I pressed my hands tighter on my face. There was a long moment of silence and then a soft laugh. "Aren't you going to answer me, child?"
"W-who are you?" I finally answered in a muffled voice. Not that I really needed to ask.
"My name is Arigettamon," The voice answered amiably. "Who are you?"
"Hailee," I answered simply.
"Nice to meet you. I'm so glad that we've been introduced." He answered, sounding delighted. "I do apologize for the lights. I'm afraid I'm not a very pretty sight. Would you like them back on?"
"Y-yeah," I stuttered, my mind too blank with fear to answer in any other way.
"Very well. I have them rigged to shut off when there isn't any movement in the room, but I always have the power to manually override the system."
After a bit of rustling around, the hum of the lights turning on amped up and I found myself face to face with Arigettamon.
I gasped at the sight of him and his wide smile only grew wider. He looked like a Komodomon that had been stretched, taken apart, and put back together. His arms reached the floor and ended in hideous giant claws. He tilted his head at me and his long and flexible neck bent horribly. His large eyes blinked at me and drew me to look at them with their hypnotic stare. They were red like a normal Komodomon, but much brighter and wider, with a sliver of a black pupil in the middle. They almost seemed to glow as they observed me.
"Ah, you're much smaller than any human I have seen before," he said quietly.
"Well, you're much uglier than any Digimon I've seen before," I answered. Despite his overall hideousness, it was much easier to be brave when you were staring your enemy in the eye.
"Touché," he answered with a soft laugh. "I didn't intend to insult you. Only making an observation. I find humans simply fascinating."
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Ah, what a refreshing question. But I'd rather not answer at this very moment in time. I'm afraid I'm much more interested in what you want, my dear Hailee." At the sound of him saying my name my blood went cold. He tilted his head slightly, waiting for my answer. I cleared my dry throat.
"I want-I want to save Roomon and get Adam's Digivice," I answered slowly, not really sure why I felt the need to answer him.
He smiled apologetically, but then shook his head slowly. "Tsk, tsk. Is that all? Are those menial tasks the deepest desires of your heart? Perhaps we can find the true answer together…"
I stared up at him. I was deeply unsettled by his presence, but not for the reasons I thought I would be. I was terrified. Not because I was with Arigettamon...but because I wanted to listen to what he had to say.
"Leave me alone," I answered, in a feeble attempt to shut him out.
"To be left alone?" He sighed. "Hmm, if that is what you're after, I'd say you've accomplished that quite well. No friends, no Digimon, not even any brother. You're all alone."
"Brother?"
He looked at me and shook his head sadly. "I am very well acquainted with this brother of yours. He took everything away from me."
"He defeated you," I said, the story coming back to me. "Made you weak."
"I believe we may have that in common?"
"W-what?"
"Don't pretend like you don't know," He said, his soft voice getting more intense. "He made you feel small and worthless, didn't he? But he's not the only one that's done that to you. Your entire team has made you feel this way. Hailee, I believe that all you want is to be recognized and appreciated."
I gazed up at him, my heart beating hard in my chest. I wanted to shut him out but the words coming out of his mouth were alluring to my ears. "Y-you don't know anything about me…" He reached up with his long stringy arms and wrapped his claws around my cage.
"I have a simple solution for this," He continued. "I lend you my hand in...friendship. You are intelligent, talented, and a brilliant leader. Would you like to join me?"
"You just want my Digivice…" I breathed, my face flushing.
"Is that what you've heard? Admittedly, your Digivice would be very valuable to me. But having you join me would be worth so much more."
My breathing got heavier. My mind wheeled around in circles, attempting to prove him wrong or find a lie in his words. But I couldn't. Everything he said was true.
"You-you really want me to join you?" I asked.
"Oh, my dear Hailee...don't let their lies penetrate your mind any longer. You may be small, but if you came along side me you could be strong and powerful. Nothing would be out of your reach. You could finally prove yourself as the greatest Digidestined of all time."
We stared at each other, unblinking. This...this was what I had always wanted. The chance to be something great. To prove myself to everyone who had ever doubted me. Arigettamon wasn't who I thought he was. I reached out a shaking hand towards him and he smiled.
"I-"
"Master!" Came a raspy voice.
"Kom 21, what is it?" Arigettamon answered.
"You're needed in the control room, right away," A Komodomon huffed from the doorway.
"Very well," Arigettamon answered smoothly. "I shall return, Hailee. I am very impressed that you've considered my offer. I know for a fact that your brother or team members would not have even given it a thought."
With that, he turned and followed the Komodomon down the hall, not even giving me a second glance. I stared after him, my eyes welling up with tears.
I let his words sink in. Once again, he was absolutely right.
Calvin would have never listened to Arigettamon...Calvin would have never even considered joining him for a second. The same went for everyone else, even Jinjing.
I had been fighting it for so hard for so long, desperately trying to prove it wrong, but the truth had finally come out.
I was the most worthless Digidestined ever. I had almost accepted an offer from the very Digimon I was trying to defeat, just for recognition.
Everything I had worked for had been utterly worthless.. Everything I had tried, I had failed at. Especially leading the team. I had sacrificed them time and time again just in a vain attempt to prove myself. But in the end, it made no difference. Nothing I could do could change how weak I really was.
I finally gave up trying to fight the tears and let them fall freely from my eyes. I curled up into a ball at the bottom of my cage and sobbed.
Sandy
I blinked my eyes open to the sound of birds chirping...and Oliver yelling in my face.
"Wake up, Sandy! Hailee's been captured!" he cried, shaking my shoulder vigorously.
I jolted up. "What? Oliver, what's going on?"
Muchomon sat up just as quickly. "She's gone?"
My eyes shot to the spot Hailee had been last night-empty.
"But how-"
"We have to wake everyone up first," Oliver interrupted. His eyes were wide with fear and sleeplessness.
Though I had a million questions, I pulled my stiff body off the ground to help Oliver wake everyone.
"What the hell's going on?" Adam muttered groggily as Oliver shook him.
"Get up," Oliver commanded. "Hailee's captured."
Komodomon grunted and sat up. "Hm, don't tell me it was that damn Devidramon again."
Oliver only stood holding Rorimon in his arms.
"Jinjing," I said, bending over her. Before I could nudge her, she sat up without a word and smoothed her hair. I quickly moved to wake Jason, but had to shake him a couple of times before he even responded.
"Mum?" he mumbled, his eyelids fluttering. He seemed to finally notice it was me and sat up a little. "Are we being attacked?"
"No," I said. "But it's an emergency."
Soon we were all gathered together in front of Oliver, who stared back at us, more serious than I had ever seen him.
"So, what happened then?" Adam pressed.
Oliver explained the whole thing, from when he caught up to Hailee the night before to when she was snatched up by the Devidramon. When the tale was finished, we all sat in silence for a moment.
"Well, she got what she wanted," Jinjing finally said.
"What?" I asked.
"She wanted to be taken by that Devidramon, didn't she? Now she can finally rescue Roomon on her own."
"Harsh, Jinjing," Adam said. "Especially since it was kind of your fault she left."
Jinjing gave him a cold stare. "She made her own choice."
I blinked at her. As terrible as it sounded, a part of me wanted to agree with Adam. I wanted Jinjing to be a part of the group, but the more time she spent with us, the more hostile she seemed to become-especially towards Hailee. No one deserved to be treated like that.
Before I could say anything, Jason spoke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "There's no point in trying to place the blame. The point is that Hailee needs our help."
I took a breath. This wasn't the time to get up in arms about anything. "Right," I agreed, and stood up next to Oliver. "Hailee is our friend and we're going to rescue her. We'd like you to join us, Jinjing, but you can stay if that's what you prefer."
"Yeah," Oliver said. "Sure Hailee makes mistakes. We all do. But right now she needs us."
Jinjing frowned and stared down at the grass for a moment. "Fine," she muttered. "But I can't say she'll be happy to see me."
"It'll all work out," Jason said softly, getting up and helping Jinjing off the grass.
"Everyone get your backpacks, I don't think we'll be back here," I said, grabbing mine.
"Okay, but who's going to lead the mission?" Oliver asked, glancing around at us all. "I think we all know that a team without a leader is bad news."
Oliver apparently wasn't up to the task, and Jinjing was none too thrilled about this. I looked at Jason, who shook his head. He pointed at me, and I shook my head in return. We both turned our heads to Adam.
"Fine, guess I'll do it," he sighed, finally standing with the rest of us. "Komodomon knows the way."
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Jinjing asked.
"As much as any of you," Adam replied with a snort.
With that, we all turned and followed him and Komodomon through the forest. Oliver was totally silent this time as we went, and I fell into step beside him.
"We're going to save her," I told him.
He nodded resolutely. "I know. I...I shouldn't have let that happen. I guess I was just so worried about myself that I didn't think that something could happen to her."
"Hey, it's not your fault," I told him. "It sounded like you were very brave in there."
He gave me a weak smile. "Thanks, Sandy."
There wasn't much other conversation during the arduous two-hour trek back into the desert. Even Muchomon stayed pretty quiet, trudging along in the sand next to me. He had suggested that the Digimon Digivolve so we could get there faster, but we decided it was better to save their strength, especially since Rorimon was still exhausted.
The sun was getting higher in the sky as we neared the fortress. The foreboding walls reached up into the desert sky like giant thorns, warning us to stay away.
"Hailee is in there, huh?" I asked as we all came to a halt in front of the structure.
"Under there, to be precise," Komodomon said.
"So what's the plan?" Oliver asked.
Komodomon nudged Adam, and he blinked, coming out of his thoughts. "Plan. Right. Well, Hailee is going to be in the dungeon, which is at the far end of the fortress. Komodomon, why don't you tell them what we're up against?"
Komodomon explained the basics of the fortress and how we needed to follow the correct path to reach the dungeon. We also had to watch out for guards, as most of the army had likely returned from Avalon by now. I tried not to think about Hailee sitting locked up in a cage or Avalon sitting destroyed as we headed for the door, and just tried to stay focused on the task ahead. The fact that Adam kept lagging behind like he didn't want to go inside didn't help matters.
As we descended into the dark passage, I whispered to Muchomon, "Does Adam seem a little unfocused to you?"
"I dunno, maybe he's just scared of Arigettamon," Muchomon whispered back, louder than necessary. The name echoed down the passage, and I shivered. I could only hope we wouldn't run into him down here.
As Komodomon said, at the bottom of the passage were several floor indentations. We stepped into the jagged line one and followed it through the dimly lit fortress.
"We'll just have to be extra careful when we reach the lightning room," Oliver said from ahead of me.
I stared down at my feet as I made my way slowly on the path. It was a miracle that Hailee had survived that room; I just hoped Komodomon knew how to go through it safely.
I didn't realize that it had been strangely quiet until shuffling and voices echoed from ahead. "Brace yourselves, there's someone coming," Komodomon barked.
Of course, there was nowhere to hide; we would have to fight. I took a deep breath and looked down at Muchomon.
"You ready?"
"Ready!" Muchomon cried, and rushed forward just as a group of Komodomon appeared from around the corner of the passage.
"Looks like the guests have arrived," one of them said, lunging forward with a grin.
"Try not to leave the path," Komodomon called out, hurrying to counter the other Digimon. "There's traps everywhere."
Slothmon rushed into action, followed by Popimon.
"Be careful," Jinjing called.
"If I Digivolve to Bakimon, I can fly over the traps," Rorimon said from Oliver's arms.
"Just stay with me for now, mate," Oliver said, patting his head. "You're still weak."
Meanwhile, the bad Komodomon shoved Adam's Komodomon off the path, but he jumped away just as the tiles beneath him began to drop.
"Don't think I remember where the safe tiles are?" he grunted, slashing at the other with his claws.
"Wait, where's Adam going?" Oliver said.
I tore my eyes away from the fighting to see that, sure enough, Adam was navigating around the fight, rushing down the passageway without even looking back.
"He-he's just leaving us here?" Jinjing said, her eyes widening. Then she quickly narrowed them again. "Of course. He only came to get his Digivice. What did we expect?"
"Jinjing-" Jason began.
"No," she said firmly, starting to back away. "It's always going to be the same."
"Don't go," Jason said, reaching out for her arm as she turned. She pulled away and, in her haste, stumbled out of the rut.
"Jinjing, no!" I gasped. Her foot landed on a tile that immediately gave way.
"Jinjing!" Jason yelled, lunging for her, but it was too late. She was already tumbling into the darkness below.
