Part Two: The Gizumon Conspiracy

Merge

"He said 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them'."

Kyoto Underground

12:00 A.M.

Monday, April 30, 2018

The light from the torches danced across the floor, snatching away at the darkness in the late hours of the night. Alone amidst the flickering torchlight, a Gizumon made its rounds, circling the pathways lining the walls, watching for anything moving within the black. All seemed quiet to the machine as it scanned the openings within the walls, ever vigilant should one of the prisoners attempt to move about in the night, trying to make their escape.

The Gizumon on duty had kept a close eye on the ever-increasing prisoners the last thirty days, and not one had escaped their sights. A small number had attempted an escape in the first week, but they were captured quickly and made an example to the rest of the prisoners. A Gizumon guarded each level of the prison, its mechanical eyes quick to catch any movement.

As the Gizumon passed by the last row of prison cells before reaching the pathway to the other work areas, it registered a disturbance. Shifting its body around, its eye trained on a small cascade of dirt and stone streaming down the side of the path. Quickly the Gizumon turned its body around in a 360o motion, scanning for the source of the disturbed ground. Its eye settled on the path out of the prisoner's cells, contemplating the likelihood that someone had passed by the unit unseen. The Gizumon determined the probability to be low, that a rock had just become unsettled throughout the day and finally fallen as it passed. It continued on its rounds, secure in its assessment of the situation, knowing that were it wrong and something had gotten passed, that the security units within the rest of the facility would not miss their target.

Within the darkness of the hallway, around a crook in the tunnel, a lone man stood motionless against the wall, the edge of his face peering around the curve. He watched the Gizumon scan the area and leave, but dared not move until he was certain the creature was out of range. He had trailed the Gizumon from his own cell to the exit, quiet as a mouse as he tiptoed barefoot behind the machine. An unfortunate circumstance had caused him to bump into a small pebble as he tried to slip into the exit unnoticed, so acted as quickly as he could, kicking it past the Gizumon and over the edge of the walkway, in an attempt to distract the monster in the other direction as he made his way down the path. The ordeal had taken seconds as he dashed down the path and around the bend, stopping immediately to press his body against the wall and disappear into the shadows. Fortunately, the Gizumon had fallen for his ploy and turned in the opposite direction first, giving him the time he needed to escape from the Digimon's sight.

The man stood with his back to the wall, close but not pressing against it, lest he dislodge more earth once he moved and attract the attention of another one of the machines. Taking the time to catch his breath, he finally chanced movement, confident that the Gizumon had long passed and would not detect him. Slowly he crept down the pathway, eyes trained forward, wary of further patrols. He had been studying the movements of the guards all day, one eye trained on the work he was assigned, and the other on the circulating Gizumon. Once the day was done, and he'd been herded back to his sleeping chambers, he'd spent the last few hours keeping a close watch outside, noting how often the monster passed by. Making some educated assumptions on troop movements, he soon mustered the confidence to slip into the walkway behind one of the guards, careful not to make a sound and cause the creature to turn around.

The man crept low, his back hunched over and body hugging the wall, to reduce his size. Should another Gizumon approach, he would have only seconds to find a hiding spot or risk capture. At every bend he stopped, back against the wall, staring into the dark as he watched for patrols, the stray torch the only thing guiding him. Stone and dirt dug into his bare feet, causing him to wince with every step the further he moved. His pain was short lived, however, as he soon felt his feet brush against the smooth and cold texture of concrete. The torchlight had vanished, and he could only make out the semblance of a proper hallway. He moved through the dark and cold corridor for another minute before rounding a corner and finding himself exposed to dim, fluorescent lighting.

As he hugged the wall in the dark hallway and allowed his eyes to adjust to the light, he scanned his surroundings, noting the features of the corridor: narrow, the ceiling hanging low and lined with pipes and cables. I'm in the subway's service tunnels, he reasoned. It's bright here. If a Gizumon shows up… His apprehensions aside, the man kept moving. He checked a number of closed doors as he walked, but most were locked, save for one. Slowly and quietly he pushed his head through the door, peering into the dark room to watch for anyone residing within. The room seemed empty, possibly a storage area back before the invasion, judging by the random assortment of boxes lying around. He slipped inside, taking a moment to rest, and let out a sigh.

"Anyone there?" The man's heart skipped a beat when he heard the high pitched voice. He instinctively dropped to the ground, his chest sweeping millimeters from the floor, as his eyes darted around the room, looking for somewhere to hide. "Come on, you can't leave me alone in this cage all day, can you Phelesmon?" The voice spoke again. This time the man turned toward the source of the noise, where in the back corner of the room he could make out a gated doorway, previously invisible in the shadows. The man contemplated his options, then deciding to take the risk, stood up and walked to the cage.

"And who might you be?" The bars were welded into the corner, obviously made in a hurry to cage the creature within. The man's question was directed at a small blue creature, whose details were shrouded in the black.

"You're not Phelesmon." The monster noted from his seated position in the cage. "I wasn't aware he had any humans in his employ."

"Wait a second…" As his eyes further adjusted to the dark, the Digimon's form became more defined, his oversized head with jagged ears, his lanky arms, large padded feet. "Veemon?"

"How do you know me?" Veemon stared intently at the man, his cat-like eyes absorbing everything about him. "Wait, aren't you the noodle cart guy?"

"Heh," The man knelt down, extending an open palm through the bars. "Davis Motomiya. Looks like it's your lucky day." Veemon gladly shook the man's hand. "Now last I heard, you had gone with some of those other Digidestined to check out Kyoto. What are you doing down here?"

"I was wounded in a fight, but we found another group of refugees." As Veemon spoke, Davis began to pull at the bars, testing for any weak points. "I was recovering there, but we were attacked by the Gizumon. Koji and Majester weren't there at the time, but I don't know what happened to the others."

"The Gizumon attacked us too." Davis explained. "The digital army appeared at the hotel, and the Digidestined were keeping them at bay, but then the Gizumon and some other Digimon appeared. They tore through the digital army and started capturing us humans as we tried to flee, and brought us here. They have us working on some project, but I don't know what it is."

"I got separated from Tommy when the attack happened. From what you've told me, it sounds like he's safe, at the least." Veemon smiled.

"I think that's a safe bet." Davis nodded. "These bars are welded in; I don't think we can break you free."

"No, I tried head-butting my way out earlier, but all it did was give me a headache. If only I were a Monochromon. What are you doing wondering around at night anyway?" Veemon inquired.

"I wanted to see what was going on here." Davis answered. "It's not every day you get kidnapped by robots and taken to an underground work camp. I figured reconnaissance was the best option, and should I happen to find a way out I was going to go looking for you guys. Guess that's not an option anymore."

"This is good though. If you can get me out of here, and we can find Tommy, I can digivolve, get us out of here, and find the rest of the Digidestined."

"You can't digivolve by yourself?" Davis inquired. "I heard that was kind of your thing."

"I'm still not fully recovered from my battle, and I'm pretty tired and hungry as it is. On top of that, Digivolution is a trying experience. At an evolved form, I can maintain it, and switch between my two armor forms, but the transition from rookie to champion is a completely different phenomenon."

"Alright then," Davis began fiddling with the lock on the cage. Though the welded metal was solid and unmovable, the contraption was locked by a sliding bar kept in place by a thick padlock.

"Let me look around and see if there's something that can break this thing." Davis set out to the other side of the room, sorting through the crates and cardboard boxes lying around. "Hey, a toolbox." He cheered. "Here we go." He returned moments later. "Bolt cutters. I guess the Gizumon didn't think anything lying around in here would be of use, much less there'd be anyone to use it."

"Just be careful, and quick. You never know when the Gizumon will appear." Davis shook his head quickly, clasped the bolt cutters around the padlock, and squeezed, grunting as he put all his strength into snapping the lock. He stopped in defeat, massaging his arms. "I've an idea." Veemon proposed. "Here, put the bolt cutters up against the cage." Veemon guided Davis as he clasped the padlock once again, this time pressing one handle of the bolt cutters against the bars as well. Veemon then grabbed the handle that was against the bars, pulling tightly, and planted his foot against the cage, locking the tool in place. "Now push."

"Good idea." Davis then began to push against the other handle as Veemon held the cutters in place. The man strained his arms and legs as he worked, but this time the blades snapped through the lock after a few moments, the bolt cutters bashing against the cage with a rattle, and the padlock clattering onto the floor. "Someone will have heard that." Davis noted as he dropped the tool and unlocked the cage, giving Veemon his freedom. The rookie stood up with a stretch, then jumped out of the prison cell.

"Let's hurry and find Tommy." He ran towards the door, with Davis close behind. The man took a moment to return the bolt cutters to the toolbox. The two peered into the hallway, luckily finding no one outside.

"This way." Davis led him back towards the prison sleeping chambers, into the darkness and the rough dirt and stone. They moved faster than Davis had his first way through, for urgency's sake as Davis not wanting to scrape up his feet any more. They took caution at each turn, careful not to stumble into the waiting arms of a Gizumon. At one point they reached a four way, where Veemon stopped them. "What is it?"

"Shh…" Veemon pulled him back down the hall, rounding a corner, where they dropped to the floor. A moment later they watched a Gizumon appear from the left, turn into the forward path, and disappear into darkness. "That isn't where we need to go, is it?"

"No," Davis whispered, "There was only one split in the path on my way here, and I went left." After a minute of waiting, Davis and Veemon left their hiding spot and made their way to the right. A few more minutes of wondering in darkness from torchlight to torchlight, and the path finally opened up into the sleeping chambers. Davis held Veemon back as they waited for the next patrol to pass by, the Digimon twitching with anticipation. Four minutes passed before they saw the creature slip through the air on its patrol, and Davis then led the rookie quietly back into his cell.

"Alright, we're safe for now." Davis sighed once they were comfortably inside the small spherical cave, the torch by the door casting shadows against their faces. "Now I don't know where Tommy is sleeping, so we have two options: we can go out now and look for him, but we'd risk getting captured by the Gizumon, and there's one patrolling every floor."

"How many floors are there?" Veemon whispered.

"I didn't take a full count, but I think there were around five." Davis answered. "And with maybe twenty cells per floor."

"That's a hundred cells. It could take hours." Veemon contemplated.

"Yeah. The other option is to wait until the morning and let me find him." Davis proposed. "I can look for him safely that way, but if he's not in the same work group as me I won't be able to find him until lunch. And I couldn't reasonably get back to my cell until the next night."

"There's also no way they won't check up on my cell before that happens." Veemon reasoned. "They'll be looking for me, and if they figure out that a human helped me escape, then they'll know exactly where to find me: trapped in this hole."

"I put the bolt cutter back, so there isn't immediate evidence that you had outside help, so that might buy us some time, but there's no guarantee how long."

"Neither of these options are good." Veemon scratched his cheek. "But if we split up, we might move fast enough to check all the floors tonight."

"We'd have to dodge all the Gizumon separately, and find a way to communicate to each other when we'd found him."

"It'll be difficult, but I think-" A thundering boom sounded from outside the cave.

Kyoto, Japan

12:00 A.M.

"Forgive me if I sound rude, but why the hell would you want to help us?" Koji eyed the ice demon suspiciously.

"I won't pretend to not know who you are. I've read the reports about human children cooperating with Digimon against us. But from what it seems, the Gizumon are indiscriminate in who they attack. For the moment, at least, we have a common enemy." IceDevimon explained. "Those monsters murdered my soldiers without mercy. I intend to see them destroyed."

"We're only here to save our people." Alice explained. "If we can get them out without violence, we'll do that."

"If you think you can encounter the Gizumon and the Grimmon without bloodshed," IceDevimon glared, "Then humans are greater fools then I ever imagined."

"He's not wrong," Majester added, "If we go into the Gizumon's lair, we should expect to have to fight our way out. There shouldn't be any misgivings about being able to sneak in and sneak back out."

"There were over 200 people in your encampment," Koji said to Alice, "If even only a tenth of them were captured, there's no way we can get them out of there without being seen."

"You need the bodies, and I am more than willing to oblige." IceDevimon spoke.

"You can come," Koji and Alice both agreed, "But it doesn't mean we trust you."

"You'd be fools to trust me. And know that I feel the same. Perhaps a simple truce is in order. I won't attack you as long as you don't attack me. Nothing more need be done in the way of our agreement."

"We should still coordinate our attack." Majester objected.

"Agreed." IceDevimon bowed. Their terms set, Lopmon continued to guide them down the tunnel, the fivesome taking caution at each turn. While they knew the battle was imminent, they still were cautious of being taken by surprise. However, the rest of the tunnel was dark, quiet, and uneventful. They moved for a long time, until they reached the end of the tunnel, where it had collapsed, most likely by the Gizumon, since to the right a wide gap in the wall led them into further tunnels, these ones built into the dirt. The way was narrow, and IceDevimon had to crouch to move through the corridor, struggling to pass by the occasional torches that lined the walls. They slowed their movements, taking caution in the unknown territory, until the tunnel ended, opening up again into an underground, man-made facility.

"It's weird we haven't run into any Gizumon so far," Alice noted, "We walked right into their hideout."

"The group of Gizumon I encountered must have been guarding it," IceDevimon explained, "None of them escaped me, just like none of my soldiers escaped them."

"I think this would be a good time to split up," Koji proposed, "We can cover more ground that way."

"And what should happen if we encounter Gizumon?" IceDevimon growled. "We'd be at reduced fighting strength."

"He's got a point." Alice agreed. "We should stick together: choose a direction and all go down that path. Once we hit Gizumon, we're going to need all the fighting strength in one place as we can get."

"Fine," Koji relented. Alice then guided them down the left path, choosing the route arbitrarily. They moved for another minute before they found a large set of double doors to the right. The group nodded to each other silently, and then opened the doors, walking into a room filled with illuminated computer monitors.

"What is this place?" Koji pondered.

"It must have something to do with the subway. Maybe these computers were the control point for the trains." Alice answered.

"And what are they being used for now?" Lopmon jumped out of Alice's arms, hopping across the floor to land on the closest console. "I don't understand these numbers."

"Wait…" Koji's draw dropped. "This can't be…" He ran up to Lopmon's console and began interacting with it. The computer was unresponsive, not yielding to mouse or keyboard.

"Koji, what is it?" Majester inquired.

"These computers…" They're… on." Majester immediately understood. Koji turned to Alice. "All the technology in the city went down after the digital field went up: Majester and Dinoster explained it to us."

"That's correct." IceDevimon noted. "The digital field has multiple purposes, one of which was to shut down human communication networks by preventing the function of human technology. These computers shouldn't be running."

"They're completely unresponsive to outside input," Lopmon performed the same experiment as Koji, tapping at the keyboard uselessly. "They're all obviously doing something, but what could the Gizumon want with all of these?"

"There's dozens of computers down here." Alice observed. "Collectively their processing power is huge."

"I hope you're proud of your discovery." A sinister voice chuckled as the doors slammed behind them. The five turned quickly as a pair of Grimmon slithered into the room. One of them immediately pounced on IceDevimon, knocking him into the wall. It curled its body around the monster, its scythe planted firmly against his neck. The other Grimmon quickly wrapped around Alice and Majester, snatching up the rookie Digimon before he could respond.

"Alice!" Lopmon cried as she jumped down from the workstation.

"I wouldn't move any further." The third monster in the room warned. Koji and Lopmon's eyes snapped up to the demon, his red and black skin illuminated by the light of a dozen monitors. "The Grimmon are patient by my order, but should anyone resist, they will not hesitate."

"Who the devil are you?" Alice glared at the Digimon as he walked into the center of the room.

"Now that's a little on the nose, isn't it?" He laughed. "My name is Phelesmon, the leader of the Grimmon and the Gizumon, as you could probably tell. Now, what pray tell are you lot doing in my home?"

"Your home?" Alice barked. "You're the ones who came into my camp and took my people!"

"Oh, I see. We missed a few." Phelesmon scoffed. "And I suppose you're from the tower to the east then?" Phelesmon looked to Koji. "Come to save your friends as well?"

"Did you… attack Otsu too?" Koji gasped.

"Oops, cat's out of the bag." Phelesmon turned around, opening the doors, allowing two more Grimmon to slither inside. "I really should keep my mouth shut. Grimmon, silence them." Phelesmon departed the room.

"Tundra Freeze!" Before the Grimmon could act a beam consumed one of the Grimmon, encasing it in a tomb of ice. IceDevimon then flipped his unsuspecting captor over his head and slammed him into the ground. Alice and Koji followed his command, their hands on their digivices within the second.

"Dracomon digivolve to… Coredramon!"

"Lopmon digivolve to… Wendigomon!"

The green dragon swept Alice under his tail, protecting her from harm as he bashed his fist into the reaper's chest, throwing him into the wall. Wendigomon leaped into the air after her digivolution, pouncing on the third Grimmon and tearing into its face. The monster had no time to protect itself as Wendigomon tore it apart. The fourth Grimmon, encased in ice, shattered free just as IceDevimon and the Digidestined took command of the room.

"Out of my way!" IceDevimon lunged over the two Gizumon and Wendigomon, his eyes narrowed on the demon that had just left them to their fate.

"Danger…" The creature hissed. "Enemy too great. Assimilate!"

"The hell does that mean?" Koji exclaimed, giving them no time to reflect on IceDevimon's retreat. Majester didn't wait to find out, instead pouncing on the creature he had thrown into the wall. The monster swerved past his attacks, barely noticing the dragon as he flew straight towards his ally. The second Grimmon quickly complied as well, joining his ally with no resistance, due to Devimon's departure. Wendigomon finished tearing its opponent to pieces, but not before the three Grimmon collided. A bright burst of light filled the room, as the three mechanical serpents rearranged and combined.

The light soon faded, and a single new creature stood atop the shards of ice, towering over Wendigomon. Its body was coated in metal, blue on the left and red on the right, with pointed black shoulders and chest plate. Its legs were like a bird's, thighs thick with thin, taloned feet. Like Grimmon, a long sickled blade functioned as its left arm, while a three-pronged blaster was supported in its right. Giant pronged wings extended from its back, with exhaust ports on the underside, and its helmet completely covered the creature's face, with long feathered horns protruding from the sides.

"This is new." Alice whimpered. Wendigomon didn't shy away from her knew opponent. Immediately she lunged up at the giant, but the machine smacked the champion back down onto the floor with the back of its bladed arm.

"Tommy and Flamedramon ran into this," Koji said through clenched teeth, "But it was with the Gizumon. We should have known the Grimmon could do it too."

"Grimmons have strength a little above a champion," Majester added. "I fear this fusion may be far beyond our abilities."

"No weak!" Wendigomon launched herself off the ground and wrapped her large arms around the monster's leg, trying to pull the creature down.

"Help her!" Alice barked.

Majester flung itself at the creature's other leg, swinging his tail into its knee. But the machine didn't topple. It kicked Wendigomon back, throwing her out of the room, and bashed Majester with the back of his cannon arm, then raising it at Koji and Alice. "Chrono Destruction!"