Episode Eighteen: First of the Fallen
Hailee

I rubbed the crust out of my eyes with my fists. I didn't have any tears left, they had all dried up. I blinked. The lights were off again.

The metal my cheek rested on was no longer cold. I heaved a shaking sigh. I didn't know how much time had passed since I had come here. But it didn't matter. I deserved to die here alone.

Alone...all alone…

A scraping sound suddenly filled the room, jolting me out of my stupor.

It wasn't Arigettamon's claws this time. It was rock against rock. Coming from...above. I squinted up into the dark passage that I knew was above me. The scraping stopped and was replaced by another sound. Some kind of high-pitched...screaming?

Before I could lift myself off the floor, or even scoot to the edge of the cage, something or someone had fallen through the hole, right on top of me.

I protested with a great yell, but I was too weak to even attempt to crawl out from underneath the crushing weight. The weight on top of me groaned and shifted slightly, putting more pressure on my blistered leg. The pain was agonizing and I yelled even louder to send the message. My hands flew up and made contact with a face and a pair of glasses.

I gasped and finally managed to get out from underneath. This couldn't be happening. I backed up against the cage bars, breathing heavily.

"Jinjing?! What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"H-Hailee? I-I fell..." Her voice trailed off into a whisper.

We both lapsed into silence, too stunned and horrified to say anything.

The door to the lightning room slid open a crack, and a Komodomon scuttled quickly through the dungeon, towards the hallway that Arigettamon had come from. Green lights slowly flickered on, one by one, leaving me staring directly into Jinjing's shocked face. She was covered in dirt and sand and her usual tidy bun was a total disaster.

"You look horrible," she breathed, her dark eyes growing wider.

"So do you," I answered, my lip curling. I grabbed my knees and drew them in closer to my body. There was barely any space in this cage for one person, let alone two.

"So, you got what you wanted...l-look where your plan led you," she stuttered, looking more and more agitated as she spoke.

I blinked. If she hadn't already gone too far by falling in here on top of me then she had now. "It's your own damn fault you're in this bloody shit-hole!" I screamed at her hoarsely. "Which brings me back to my original question. WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

She closed her mouth and drew her lips in tightly. "We came to rescue you," she finally answered, averting her eyes away from me.

"You-" I stopped myself from another round of cursing as her words sunk in. "You what?"

She crossed her arms and nodded slowly. "Oliver came back and said we needed to go save you. I-I didn't want to."

"But you came anyway?" I asked slowly.

"It wasn't because of me," she admitted. "It was Jason, Oliver, and Sandy...even Adam, that-"

"Jackass?" I offered absent-mindedly. Jason, Oliver, Sandy and Adam... even Jinjing, all coming to rescue me? After everything I had done? After everything I had said? I didn't...I didn't deserve them. "Really? You guys all came to rescue me?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? They're your team," Jinjing answered with a frown. "Don't you...don't you trust them?"

I met her eyes. "I-I don't know," I admitted. "I guess I didn't. Even though I've had all of these people around me for so long, I guess I've always kind of felt like I was on my own."

Jinjing's eyes flashed in surprise, but she only nodded.

"I was so wrapped up in proving myself that I almost joined Arigettamon. I never thought about them, but they still came for me...I wish they hadn't, though. I'm not worth saving." I hung my head.

The sound of large echoing footsteps made me whip my head around involuntarily. What was it this time? I strained my ears. No claw sounds. Just walking. Whatever it was, something was coming. Something big.

"What's-" Jinjing started, but then she seemed to hear it too.

The footsteps got louder and louder until finally a blue Coredramon loomed into view from the tunnel that Arigettamon had gone down. He peeked his large head into the dungeon and grinned wickedly at us.

"'Ello scum," he said, coming over to our cage and staring in at us.

"What do you want?" I asked, doing my best to stare him steadily in the eye. He seemed to think for a minute about whether he should say anymore to us but then shrugged.

"I'm here for your lil device," he said to Jinjing. "Master would love another for his collection."

Despite everything, my mind whirled with possibilities. Maybe I didn't deserve to get out of here, but...Jinjing. It wasn't fair of me to hate her any longer. Maybe we weren't friends, but she had been right about a lot of things.

"You're going to have to unlock the cage," I told him.

"Just hand it to me through the bars," he demanded, starting to get impatient.

Jinjing took out her Digivice but I put an arm out in front of her.

"Believe me, you don't want to risk touching this girl. She's crawling with disease."

Jinjing looked at me in surprise and I gave her a quick shrug.

The Coredramon gave me a hard look but then seemed to falter. "I'm not scared of any disease...Just give me the Digivice or I'll bite off your little arms."

"Look, I may still be in this cage but I...I am an official of Arigettamon's army! I just joined and he hasn't had time to release me yet. So...unlock this cage and then you can take the Digivice back to him. Understand?"

The Coredramon looked at me in confusion. "Fine. Just do as I say," The Coredramon said, reaching into the small pouch that was tied at his waist.

"Okay, here's the plan," I whispered quickly to a stunned Jinjing. "As soon as he unlocks the cage, I'm gonna take off running down that tunnel with your Digivice. He'll chase me, but then I'll double back and we can escape, you got it?"

"That doesn't sound like a very good plan," she said with wide eyes.

"I know, but it's all we've got right now."

"What if you don't come back? I can't be left here all alone!"

"I'm gonna come back, I promise!"

Her eyes darted rapidly back and forth between me and the Coredramon. "I-"

Before she could answer, the Coredramon finally pulled out his key and stuck it into the bottom of the cage. The bottom flipped open and Jinjing and I were flung onto the floor in a heap.

"Where's that Digivice?" The Coredramon growled as he loomed over us.

I looked desperately at Jinjing who still clutched her Digivice tight. "I trust you," she said, placing it into my hands and looking me in the eye.

"Give it to-" the impatient Digimon was interrupted by a burst of light that came from...Jinjing. The crest around her neck glowed brilliantly, flooding the room with beautiful white light. My mouth fell open at the sight of it.

"I trust you," she repeated, sounding more confident. "Now go!"

Realizing that the light was exactly what I needed to get a headstart, I got to my feet. Pain shot through my leg and I crumpled on the ground. I tried again, this time trying to put more weight on my right leg. I began hobbling down the tunnel as fast as I could, hoping the Coredramon would follow me. I put my hand up against the wall and leaned against it as I continued on. The floor shook as the Coredramon began to pursue me at top speed.

"Damn it," I grunted, beginning to lose steam.

"Where do you think you're going?" he cried, scooping me up into his arms and carrying me back the other way.

"No!" I cried, pounding my fists against his gigantic arms. Before long, he had plucked the Digivice from my hands and stuffed Jinjing and I back into the cage.

"Nice try," he snickered as he disappeared down the hall with his prize.

"I'm sorry," I panted, doing my best to prop myself up against the bars. "Looks like I failed again-"

To my surprise, she lunged forward and hugged me.

"I got the crest of Trust, Hailee," she told me, scooting back and holding it up for me to see.

"So you...you really trusted me back there, huh?"

She nodded slowly. "I-I've never really done that before," she explained shyly.

"But why me?" I asked in disbelief. "I mean, what about Jason or your parents?"

"I've never told anyone this," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "but I was adopted."

"Oh." I blinked at her, not really sure where this was going.

"I figured out about it, even though I was adopted as a baby," she continued. "But Huan and Becky led me to believe that they knew nothing about my real parents. A while ago, I...I discovered a photograph of myself and my birth mother. I wanted to talk to them about it before the evacuation. But I was too afraid."

"You've just kind of been running away this whole time, haven't you?"

She nodded. "I trusted Jason enough to join the group with him...but that was about it."

"But, you still haven't answered my question...why me?" I asked "I was awful to you. I...I never even gave you a chance. Now you're trusting me with stuff you've never told anyone."

"You know, I hated you from the first moment we met. Even more so when I was introduced to you as a Digidestined. You were rude, arrogant, and rough...but I see now that the real reason was because, deep down, you reminded me of myself."

"I did?"

"All of that stuff you said about feeling alone and only having yourself to rely on...that's exactly how I felt. Especially after discovering the picture of my real mother. But now, I guess I don't feel that way anymore."

"I, er, I hope you get to talk to them...Huan and Becky. I hope you can trust them too. It's really hard not knowing where you fit in your own family, Jinjing," I said, unable to believe what was happening.

"Thank you, Hailee. And, uh, it's Wilhelmina."

"What?"

"My real name is Wilhelmina. Huan and Becky changed it when they adopted me."

"Wilhelmina? That's way too hard to say. How about Willi?"

"No, it's Wilhelmina," she frowned at me seriously.

"No, no, I like Willi," I said, hitting her shoulder.

We were interrupted by another scraping sound, but this time it was multiplied. We exchanged a glance. Suddenly, in the cage right across from us fell Sandy, Jason, and Oliver in one giant heap. In the cage beside Kanemon on the other side of the room fell Muchomon, Rorimon, Popimon, and Slothmon.

I stared at them all, unable to take it in.

"Hailee, Jinjing!" Sandy burst out.

"Hail, you're alive!" Oliver cried.

"Jinjing, I'm so glad you're okay!" Jason said from where he lay at the bottom of the cage, underneath Sandy and Oliver.

Jinjing leaned over and told them about her crest and everyone was suddenly talking at once. But I couldn't hear a word they were saying. They had all come for me. It didn't matter that they were trapped too. Despite everything that I had done, they still had come for me. I had been fine just a second ago, but seeing them all before me...did something to me. My heart felt weird and full and my dry eyes began to well up with tears again. Everything I had done suddenly hit me like a freight train.

"You shouldn't have come!" I burst out and everyone went quiet.

"Hail?" Oliver whimpered.

"I don't deserve to be rescued, I don't deserve any of you," I told them fiercely, trying to ignore the tears that were blurring my vision. "I killed a Digimon, and I almost joined Arigettamon and I put you all in danger so many times. I'm just...just a stupid l-little girl who was trying to prove how great she was. I can't be your leader anymore. You...you shouldn't have come."

I grabbed my heaving sides and broke down. Broke down in front of everyone. I didn't care anymore. Just as I had finally seen the real Jinjing, they were all seeing the real me. Weak, pathetic, worthless. The reason they were all in cages. My tears fell and spattered at the bottom of the cage, creating a rusty river.

"Hailee."

It was Sandy who spoke. I raised my head just a little, too ashamed to meet her eyes.

"Hailee," she repeated. I finally looked up at her. She sat in the squished cage, her hands grasping the bars in front of her. But her expression was clear and serene. "Do you really think that we came to rescue you just because you're our leader?"

"Yeah, Hail," Oliver continued, smiling. "You weren't always my leader, but you've always been my cousin."

"All of us have made mistakes, but we're not here based on the choices that you've made," Jason added calmly.

"The truth is, Hailee…" Sandy breathed. "Whether you want to be our leader or not, we love you."

"But, we also really want you as leader," Oliver added.

"You're not in this alone," Jinjing said, touching my shoulder.

I wiped my eyes and looked back and forth between all of them.

This...this was what a team was. It wasn't efficiency, or getting the job done correctly. It was just people. People who worked together and treated each other as equals. People who stayed by each other no matter what happened. Maybe I didn't have to be good enough, maybe I didn't have to prove myself at all. I had all of these people around me, loving me, despite all of my flaws and weaknesses. What was left to prove?

"I don't know what to say," I hiccuped.

"You don't have to say anything. Just come back to us...to the team," Sandy answered.

"I...I-" I answered, meeting her eyes and smiling. Even as I was saying the words, the crest around my neck lit up. Everyone gasped and quickly broke out into cheers and applause.

"Your crest!" Jinjing cried. "What is it?"

"Unity," I said, holding it up to my face. "I earned the crest of Unity."

That had been the key all along. The harder I had tried to prove myself, the further away from the truth I had been. Only once I had finally understood what the team was meant for could I earn my crest and take my place as the true leader.

"I'll do it," I said confidently. "I'll be your leader! That is...if you'll all have me."

"I'm so proud of you, Hailee!" Sandy said, wiping her eyes.

"Nice work," Jason said with a smile.

"What do we do now, leader?" Oliver asked, flashing me a confident grin.

"First things first," I said, taking a breath. "We need to get out of here."

Before anything more could be said, the door leading from the Lighting Room opened again. I expected another Komodomon to come running past, but instead, in came Adam Beckerton followed by his Komodomon. Somehow they had managed to avoid capture. Whatever the case, this was perfect. Adam would be able to figure out how to get us out of here in no time.

"Oi, Adam!" I yelled, sticking my arm easily through the bars and waving at him.

He looked up at me for a split second before turning his head and continuing quickly through the room. Komodomon gave me a longer look but continued following Adam dutifully.

"Adam! Look at me, you son of a bitch!" I yelled even louder, but he just kept on going until he disappeared down the hall. "What the hell is wrong with that bloody bastard?" I growled, hitting the bars in frustration.

"We forgot to tell you," Oliver said looking grim. "They ditched us up there. That's how we got captured."

"Damn it! I'm gonna-"

"Er, Hailee. Maybe we should focus on escaping first?" Jason suggested in a soothing tone.

I took a deep breath and lowered my fists. "You're right," I said, shaking my head to erase that infuriating image from my mind. "Jinjing, tell me about the lock on this thing."

"Hm?" she said, her eyes widening.

"You heard me. I know you notice everything," I said, rolling my eyes.

She gave me a wry smile and pointed to the bottom of the cage near the front. "I'm sure it's just a simple tumbler lock, but judging by your messy hair, I'm guessing you don't have a bobby pin?"

"Yeah, yeah, speak for yourself," I laughed turning towards the others. "Guys! The cages open up from the bottom, does anyone have some kind of tool?"

"I, er, actually do have something. It's your bobby pin," Sandy said, pulling the crooked thing from her frizzy hair.

"What, why do you have that?" I asked, pretty impressed.

"I saw it on your dresser before we left yesterday. I thought it could be useful. Do you think you can catch it?"

"Nah, too risky, you're going to have to do it yourself."

She met my eyes and nodded firmly. "I'll try my best!" She reached her long thin arm out of the bars and felt around the bottom of the cage until she found the lock. "Okay, what now?"

"Just stick it in and apply some pressure. If it's just a tumbler, just feel around with the pins until they're all lined up."

"Okay," she said, sounding a little strained as she stretched. She got to work wiggling the pin around as we all sat watching with bated breath. "I think I'm almost there…"

With a sudden click the bottom to their cage fell out and they were all thrown into a heap on the stone floor.

"Well, it worked," Oliver groaned, picking himself up and helping Sandy and Jason to their feet.

"Bloody oath, Sandy! That was amazing!" I said, beaming.

"My mum would be proud," she answered with a laugh. She walked over and carefully tossed the bobby pin into Jinjing and I's cage. I hurriedly grabbed it and stretched as hard as I could to reach the bottom of the cage. In a flash I had it open and Jinjing and I had little time to brace ourselves as we plummeted to the floor to join the others. In an instant I was in the warm embrace of Sandy and Oliver. Jason had other plans and swept Jinjing up into a hug.

"I'm so happy," Sandy sighed.

"Love you, Hail," Oliver said.

"I love you guys, too," I whispered, hugging them back with all of my might.

"Oh, here, I kept this safe for you," Oliver said, pulling my Digivice out of his pocket and putting it in my hand.

"Thanks, Ollie," I said, putting it in my vest pocket.

"Hello?!" Muchomon called from the Digimon's cage. "Aren't you guys gonna let us out so we can join in on the group hugs?"

"Of course," I answered, suddenly getting a stab of worry in my heart as I thought of Kanemon's limp body. She was going to be okay.

I tried walking over but instantly crumpled when I tried to put pressure on my left leg.

"Are you all right?" Sandy asked, helping me up.

"It's my damn leg," I sighed, leaning on her and letting her walk me over to the Digimons cage.

"Oh no," she gasped, looking at it. "It looks awful. You really need some medical attention. That could get infected."

"We'll worry about that later," I said through clenched teeth. "Let's focus on how the hell we're going to unlock their cage."

"It is pretty high," Sandy said, stretching her arms, but still coming short a couple of feet.

"Maybe if you got on my shoulders?" Oliver offered, coming up beside us. "We've done it before."

"I dunno know if I can," I said, attempting to stand on my own.

"I can help," Sandy said, putting her hands under my arms and lifting me with surprising strength.

"Holy shit, Sandy, when'd you get so strong?" I gasped as she helped me scramble into a sitting position on Oliver's shoulders.

"Muchomon really isn't that much heavier than you, and I carry him all the time," Sandy explained, sounding a little embarrassed.

"Can you reach it, Hail?" Oliver asked as I stretched my arms upwards.

"Just about," I grunted. After a bit more stretching I managed to fit the pin into the lock and got to work jimmying it. Before I knew it, I was being knocked off of Oliver's shoulders as the Digimon rained down from the open cage. All of the Digimon ran to embrace their respective partners, leaving me feeling even more anxious about Kanemon.

Oliver and Sandy both seemed to sense this and helped me get back on Oliver's shoulders once again. The lock clicked and an unconscious Kanemon fell right into my arms. Oliver lowered me onto the floor where I cradled her small body in my arms.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, stroking her soft fur. Her eyes fluttered open at my touch.

"Hailee?" she murmured weakly.

"Kanemon!" I gasped, hugging her tighter. "I'm so so sorry you got captured, it's all my fault! But I'm the leader again and I got my crest!"

"That's great…" she said quietly.

"Here, give her this," Sandy said, pulling a slightly crushed bikkie from her pocket. I took it and waved it in front of her nose. Her eyes got a little wider and she opened up her mouth. I popped it in and she chewed it up with relish.

"Got any more?" I asked Sandy. Between her and Oliver they pulled together a granola bar, another bikkie, and some kind of wilted leaf. Kanemon ate it all down quickly and seemed much better.

"That was good!" she said, her energy already returning.

"You ready for this?" I asked, slowly pulling out my Digivice and showing it to her.

"I think so," she said with a nod. I set her down on the stone floor and held up the Digivice. In an instant, Roomon was standing before me, same as always.

"All right, we should go before that Coredramon comes back," I said, rising to my feet.

I turned to see Jason and Jinjing talking quietly to one another as they held and examined each other's crest necklaces.

"Oi, lovebirds, you ready to go?" I asked, putting a hand on my hip. They quickly came over, both blushing.

"So, right down that hall is Adam's Digivice?" Jinjing asked. We all stood together, staring down the dark hallway, wondering what exactly it would bring. Oliver, sensing the tension, stepped forward.

"Yeah!" he cried enthusiastically. "Let's go kick some names and take some ass!"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Oliver, that's not the-nevermind, let's go."

No lights came on as we stepped into the hallway, but just by feeling around I could tell that this hall was much different than the ones on the higher level. The floor and walls were smooth and warm and hummed with the same horrible energy from the Lighting Room. I looked around at the shadows beside me, reminding myself that I wasn't in this alone. I smiled and pressed forward, squinting at the green light which glowed at the very end of the dark tunnel. That had to be the light from Arigettamon's corridors. We passed several darkened doorways as we walked on. There was no telling what was beyond any of them.

Right at the end of the tunnel there was a brilliant flash of blue light. Then it was gone. I looked around at everyone and took off running down the tunnel, ignoring the shooting pains in my leg. There was only one thing that blue light could be. Someone had opened a portal. We finally made our way to the end of the tunnel and rushed into the doorway, which led into an enormous cavern.

"There's nobody here…" Jason said, looking around.

"That flash we saw...maybe it was Adam and Komodomon," Jinjing suggested.

The high ceiling was covered in large green stalactites while just a few large stalagmites stretched upwards around the room. On the left wall lay a mountain of electronics. This was where the stolen goods had been stashed. Computers, monitors, wires and everything else they had stolen were all piled up against the wall. I spotted a purple gleam right on top of the pile. I eagerly rushed over and scooped it up.

"Oh! My Digivice," Jinjing exclaimed.

"Looks like I got it back after all." I smiled and handed it to her. She smiled back and we continued our exploration.

Over on the other wall was a vast network of live computer monitors that seemed to show every part of the fortress both inside and out. We all walked slowly through, taking in the impressive sight that was Arigettamon's private corridors.

At the far wall stood an oddly familiar device that was planted firmly into the stone floor. It stood upright but had several different control pads looking things sticking out this way and that. At the top was a circular piece that looked like it held something.

"He finally got what he wanted. He got his Digivice," I said, grazing the top part of the machine with my finger tips.

"I can't believe he would just...leave us here," Sandy breathed.

"Does that mean we're stuck?" Oliver asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

"Wait, I think I have something that could help," I said, trying not to show how panicked I was. Adam really didn't care about us at all. He left us to die in Arigettamon's fortress...I pushed it out of my mind and took out the crumpled paper from my vest pocket. I examined it closely then held it up for everyone else to see.

"I think these are the original designs for this machine," I explained, letting Jinjing take it from me. "It looks like a Digivice is supposed to go in the top there."

"But if we put one of ours in, how will we get it back?" Oliver asked.

"I guess it worked for Adam," I sighed.

"Well, in any case, we can use mine," Jinjing said, taking her Digivice and placing it carefully in the perfectly fitted slot.

The machine whirred to life as soon as she did so. She looked closely at the blueprints and slowly started pressing some of the buttons on the keypads. In an instant a bright blue portal flashed before us.

"I'm not sure exactly where it leads to, but I'm guessing somewhere in Avalon. I just input the first sequence that's listed here."

"Somebody want to test it out?" I asked.

When no one said anything, Sandy nodded slowly. "Muchomon and I can test it. But, please, everyone be careful." She and Muchomon bravely stepped up to the portal and then jumped in, quickly disappearing from sight. Oliver was next, then Jason.

"Hailee, is this going to work?" Jinjing asked, turning towards me seriously.

"I don't know, but I guess I'm going to try. You go on ahead, Jinjing."

She nodded and stepped into the portal, leaving Roomon and I alone.

"All right, Roo, I'm gonna get the Digivice out and then we're going to jump into the portal before it disappears. Ready?"

"I was born ready," she answered, leaning forward. Without wasting another second, I ripped Jinjing's Digivice from the machine and raced into the dying portal.