~ Well, here's Chapter 4 of my Tamers fanfic. I hope you enjoy it! And
please, Ryou fans and those of you who watched past Episode 25, DON'T flame
me for making Ryou out of character. It's part of the story. In fact. *
Evil smile * You might even be able to figure out just how it's a part of
the story if you read this chapter carefully enough. Enough said, now on
with the show! Just R, E&R!!! ~
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The Shadow Realms: Part IV - The Castle of Doom
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The next morning, all the Tamers awoke refreshed and ready for whatever the day threw at them. It was as if they'd never spent those cold, terrified hours among the snow drifts, at the mercy of the fierce blizzard, fearing that they would never, ever get out of there alive.
Takato was one of the first to emerge from the cave. He reveled in the warmth as the bright, cheery sunshine touched him and erased the last vestiges of yesterday's snowy terrors.
'Ah, it feels good to be in the sun again,' he thought contentedly, settling down on a rock to sit in the sun for awhile, 'Sure is a beautiful morning. Not that it wasn't a good night, even with Guilmon's snoring.'
He chuckled. That was one habit his partner had 'never' seemed to be able to break, not even under threat of suspension of peanut butter.
Takato sighed to himself, 'I wonder how Okaa-san and Otou-san are taking my disappearing again. They're probably really worried. I hope we'll be able to go home soon.'
He looked back at the cave, 'I guess I'll just let them all sleep in for a while.'
***
He was joined, shortly, by all of the Tamers save Kenta and Jenrya, who came out while they were all washing up at a small pond nearby.
"Any luck on finding breakfast?" Jenrya asked Takato, rubbing his eyes and looking comically half-asleep, though not nearly as funny as Kenta, of whom half the hair was sticking straight up.
Terriermon and the other Digimon came out on their heels, and Terriermon took it as his personal task to ensure that Kenta's hair was put in order, which meant riding on the unfortunate boy's head for the rest of the morning.
"You guys, get this oversized bunny off of me! He's strangling me with his ears!" Kenta cried as the others fell over laughing.
***
"Well, back to the subject, Takato, breakfast?" Ruki turned to the person in question.
Takato shrugged, looking sheepish. He mumbled something incoherent.
"What? What were you saying, Takato-kun?" Juri prodded.
"Well, we were in such a hurry to get to the portal. None of us packed any supplies," Takato said, grabbing his head in both hands in his distress.
"WHAT?! You're telling me, gogglehead, that we're out here without food, water or anything else except a useless blanket?!" Ruki exclaimed in disbelief, her voice unconsciously rising.
"That's enough," Jenrya said firmly, stepping between the two, "We have enough troubles as it is. We don't need a fight added to them."
Both Tamers glared at each other, then turned their backs silently but vehemently. Jenrya sighed.
'Why can't we get along?' he wondered unhappily, 'We need to work together to survive here.'
"Don't worry about breakfast, we'll forage," Renamon announced as the other Digimon nodded.
***
As the morning wore on, the Digimon helped forage in order to provide a meager breakfast of berries, water, and some cookie pieces found in Kenta's pocket.
"Kenta, are you sure this cookie isn't moldy?" Hirokazu whined, making a face as he bit into his tiny piece, "It tastes like your Mom's broccoli tarts, Takato."
"Quit complaining, Hirokazu," Ruki snapped as she popped a sour berry into her mouth, "We're lucky we found anything to eat at all."
"What's this? The Digimon Queen giving lectures?!" Hirokazu pretended to be shocked, ignoring Ruki's furious glare.
***
Just before noon, the Tamers set out, with Guilmon and Renamon scouting ahead, trying to catch the scent of the other Digimon. Guardromon brought up the rear, and Terriermon was still atop Kenta's head despite his protests and Jenrya's wheedling.
"Terriermon, I think his hair is quite flat enough now," Jenrya said, finally losing his temper just a little and pulling Terriermon off of Kenta by the ear.
"Ow ouch ooch! Momentai, Jen, that hurt!" Terriermon squealed, squirming and accidentally smacking Ruki with his free ear.
She immediately grabbed that ear and lowered her voice menacingly.
"If you ever lay an ear on me again, little rabbit." she hissed into Terriermon's ear.
"What about a paw?" Terriermon had the impudence to ask.
Ruki swatted him away disgustedly as Jenrya, Takato and Hirokazu chuckled.
***
Hirokazu was stuck walking beside Ryou. Even now, he could feel the barely suppressed rage emanating from the other boy. Hirokazu noticed that Ryou's eyes spent more time on Juri than on what was in front of him.
'And that might be put to use.' he thought with a mischievous grin.
Deliberately, he nudged a little boulder in front of Ryou, who, as planned, tripped and fell on Kenta, who let out a muffled yelp and grabbed Guilmon by the foot in his panic, resulting in all three of them falling down on top of each other.
***
"Behold!" Hirokazu made a dramatic gesture towards the resulting pile, "The Eighth Wonder of the World, the Pile of Data!"
" 'Very' funny, Hirokazu, but aren't there already supposed to be eight wonders of the world?" Ruki replied sarcastically, trying to hide a smile as she watched Ryou struggling to get out from under Kenta, his face in the dirt.
'Serves him right, the smug thing,' she thought with satisfaction.
"Uh, well, no history books hanging around, so I presume this is the eighth," Hirokazu retorted.
"Did you just use a big word, Hirokazu?" Rika shot back.
"Can it, Ruki!"
"Hey, c'mon, you guys, disentangle yourselves, we haven't got all day!" Takato said impatiently, cutting short their bickering.
Grumbling, Ryou, Kenta and Guilmon managed to sort themselves out and they were about to go on their way again when Ryou strode over and grabbed Hirokazu by the collar.
"I know what you did, little toothpick, and this is what you get for it," Ryou hissed as he raised a fist.
"Hey, take it easy, chumley, I didn't do nothin'!" Hirokazu protested, twisting his way free before Ryou could punch him.
"Hey, you guys, stop it!" Juri intervened, "This is no time to fight. Do you want to find the other Digimon or not?"
Both of the boys stared at her, then Ryou reluctantly turned away and Hirokazu nodded. Soon, they were finally able to get going again.
***
"Boy, Katou-san sure has a lot of influence over that Ryou guy," Jenrya said quietly to Ruki as they continued to scour the desert wasteland.
"Uh-huh," Ruki agreed, "And that could be a good thing and a bad thing."
"Yeah, good thing is she has influence over him that none of us have, and bad thing is he keeps eyeing Takato like he's a bug, or something," Jenrya replied, chuckling.
Ruki nodded, with a slight smile lighting up her features. Just then, Takato let out a shout.
***
"Hey, guys, look!" he waved at them, then pointed, "Do you see what I see?!"
"If you mean your big ugly face as a mirage, sure, we see, though we'd rather not," Hirokazu joked.
There was a great stone castle in the distance, and it looked quite solid.
"This better not be another rock formation," Ruki said quietly.
"Don't worry, I know what it is," Renamon replied, craning her head to get a better look.
"You do?" Rika looked up at her Digimon in surprise.
"Yes," Renamon lowered her head and met her partner's gaze, "It's an ancient castle within which the Digital Ruler of this desert lived, once. You might be able to find some interesting things in it."
She wouldn't say anything more, and neither Terriermon nor Guilmon knew much about the castle, except that they were both certain it was haunted.
"Well, looks like the only way to find out what this castle is like is to go," Jenrya remarked.
Just then Juri gasped.
"What is it, Katou-san?" Takato turned around in surprise.
Juri was looking at her buzzing D-Ark with an expression of shock.
"I- I think my D-Ark's indicating that Leomon's in there!" she said breathlessly.
"But he can't be," Ruki shook her head with conviction, "He was absorbed by Beelzebumon. He can't be back."
"Well, looks like the only way to know for sure is to go see," Takato said.
"It could be a trap..." Jenrya said slowly, running his hand through his hair and looking very confused.
But Takato couldn't resist the hopeful look on Juri's face.
"Well, only way to know is to go!" Takato pumped his fist into the air.
"Yeah!" the rest cheered, though all had misgivings.
None of them saw what Ryou saw: a strange, very thin dark halo surrounding Juri's D-Ark. Ryou stared at it for a moment, then smiled.
'It is done,' he thought with satisfaction.
And so they set off for the strange castle.
***
In his chamber, the mysterious stranger chuckled as he watched the Tamers making unsuspectingly right for his trap.
'Good work, my little relay station,' he thought, then snapped his fingers.
"Yes, my lord?" a bat-like wispy creature appeared at his side and spoke in a shrill, grating voice.
"Set up the little trap I conceived at the old Dark Castle," the Prince of Darkness replied, "I want to give these children a little surprise welcome."
A thin-lipped smile spread over his sallow features, which were shadowed but not hidden.
"As you wish, Dark One," the bat creature bowed its head obediently and vanished.
***
Then the Prince turned to someone shackled to the wall behind him, in the corner, who was watching his every move.
"Well, my distinguished 'guest'," he chuckled at the irony, "What do you think of my 'wonderful' little plan?"
"You're scum, Shadowmagemon, nothing but a coward!" the prisoner spat out, refusing to look at his captor.
"My, my, aren't we grouchy today," the Prince of Darkness said with feigned pleasantness, "You're going to appreciate my powers all the more, pathetic human, when you see what I have in store for your little comrades."
With a chuckle, he turned back to his mirror.
***
Meanwhile, the Tamers had reached the outskirts of the castle, which was protected by a deep moat of which the bottom could not be seen. The castle itself stood on what could only be described as the top of a small, or perhaps, not so small mountain. The children halted at the edge of the moat, dismayed.
"How are we ever gonna get across that thing?" Takato wondered aloud.
"Can you carry us across?" Ruki queried Guardromon anxiously.
"I don't know," Guardromon replied, "I'm afraid of heights, you know."
"You're 'what'?!"
"Just kidding!"
"Aaaauugh!" Ruki crossed her arms, scowling fiercely, "I think you're having a bad influence on him, Hirokazu."
"My pleasure," the spiky-haired boy replied, grinning.
Ruki rolled her eyes and turned her back on the pair of them.
"I think it's possible," Jenrya remarked, "But for safety, he should ferry us across one at a time."
"Then let's do it!" Takato yelled.
***
Guardromon ferried the Tamers and their Digimon one by one across the abyss- like moat, with the obvious exception of Jenrya, on whose shoulder Terriermon rode, clinging tightly.
"Well, we made it," Takato sighed in relief when everyone was across, "Whew! Guardromon, we owe you one."
"Don't mention it," Guardromon replied, clasping his mechanical hands behind his squarish brown head.
"Hey, what are we waiting for?! Let's get in there!" Hirokazu started to move away when Ruki's voice, dripping sarcasm, halted him.
"Do you at least know where the entrance is?" she demanded.
"Uh, no," Hirokazu admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
With that, the rest fell over.
***
"Well it's a good thing we have Renamon with us," Jenrya noted as Renamon led them to a tiny door hidden by a jagged rock somewhere up on a very narrow ledge that jutted out over a very steep precipice.
"Yeah, without her, I think we could still be circling the castle a couple of weeks from now looking for the entrance," Takato added.
Ryou said nothing, but he stopped the others as they were about to open the little oak door.
"Renamon, have you ever been inside the castle?" he asked stiffly.
"Not through this door," Renamon admitted.
Ryou didn't reply, but picked up a rock, hefted it, and threw it at the door. The moment it hit, it disintegrated.
"I thought so," he turned back to the others, who were speechless, "It's got a special shield. It's fairly easy to break."
He lapsed into silence, looking at the Digimon expectantly.
"Oh, right," Jenrya caught on, "Guys, blast the door in."
Ryou's lips twitched and he feigned a cough to hide his amusement.
'Not exactly what I had in mind,' he thought.
Guilmon shattered the door and the shield, which went up in a flash of red, with his Fireball attack, and they all piled in, for it was getting cold outside, standing on the cliff.
***
As they made their way through the dark, damp stone hallways, trying their best not to make noise, their steps resonated on the stone and gave the whole place an eerie feeling.
"Guys, it's. kinda creepy in here, isn't it?" Takato remarked as quietly as he could.
"Takatomon, I'm scared," Guilmon whined loudly, trying to cling to his Tamer and walk at the same time.
"Ouch, Guilmon, you're crushing me!" Takato yelped.
"Oh, brother, whatever is in this castle probably knows we're here by now, what with the racket you two are making," was Ruki's annoyed comment.
"Well, you have to admit, Ruki, it's not exactly welcoming," Jenrya reprimanded her.
Ruki glared at him but didn't make any further comments. Juri was leading the way with her D-Ark compass, and soon they came to a turning, and emerged in another hallway, this time with doors on each side.
***
"Guys, we're getting closer, I think," Juri's voice floated back to the rest, "I- Aaaaah!"
Her scream was abruptly cut short and silence reigned.
"Katou-san? Katou-san!" Takato rushed forward, with Ryo on his heels.
The rest followed, and they all scanned wildly in all directions.
"Katou-san! Juri, where are you? Katou-san!" their futile cries filled the air.
"JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Guardromon's extremely loud voice thundered and reverberated about the passage, making everyone wince.
"Guys, she's gone," Takato said tightly, looking very agitated and upset, "Did any of you see what happened?"
In the little group, all the heads shook from side to side in a general "No".
Ryou's sky-blue eyes flickered everywhere. He caught a flash of movement above them.
"Look out!" he yelled.
Everyone ducked, and something just missed them with a swish of air that was generally heard.
***
"Whew! That was a close one," Jenrya said as everyone unbent themselves.
Suddenly Ruki let out a cry of terror. Something cold had her by the waist and was dragging her away from the others.
"Jen! Do something!" she yelled to the boy in front of her, struggling against her invisible captor.
But whatever it was, it had a grip of iron.
"Ruki! Hold on!" Jenrya had whipped around at her cry and grabbed her by the ankle and, with Terriermon's help, he began a tug of war with whatever was trying to take Ruki.
Guilmon tried his Fireball, to no effect.
'I can't let it take her! If anything happens to her.' Jenrya didn't dare complete the thought, and threw his entire being into wrestling the girl away from his adversary.
Unfortunately, the floor chose that moment to disappear from beneath him, and he lost his grip on Ruki's ankle in his shock. He, the remaining Tamers and their Digimon tumbled into darkness.
***
"No!" Ruki let out a cry of horror when she saw a hole open up beneath Jenrya and the others, and watched the ground swallow them up in its gaping darkness.
The last thing she saw was Jenrya's wide, anxious gray eyes, fastened almost desperately on her own. Then she felt a blow on the back of her head, and everything faded into complete blackness.
***
"Everything is going as according to plan," the Dark Prince bared his teeth in a wolfish, satisfied smile as he watched the Tamers' confusion as he snatched two of them from their midst, "With the girls as hostages, the boys will eventually follow. Even my rebellious little relay station. Serves him right for falling for that slip of a girl. Tsk, tsk, tsk, humans. Always in season."
His smile grew even wider as he heard sounds of struggling from behind him. He turned, and laughed at his prisoner, who was pulling desperately on his chains, eyes locked on the horrible vision in the mirror.
"Yes, very sad, is it not, to see your friends in such a predicament?" he licked his lips and chuckled, "Not to worry, my friend, there is plenty more to come."
With that he threw back his head and laughed, laughed at the boy who was scraping his wrists bloody trying to shatter the chains that bound him.
***
"Uuuunh." Takato groaned as he sat up and looked around.
There was nothing to see. Only darkness. Wait. was that the light of a torch?
'Where am I?' he wondered, as he got to his feet and began to walk towards the faint, flickering glow.
"Guilmon?"
A dark shape rose in the shadows.
"Takatomon, it's dark, I can't see anything."
"Guilmon!" Takato hurried towards his friend, relieved.
He trod on something soft and a yelp made him jump a foot in the air.
"Who is it?" he whispered.
A dark form sat up at his feet.
"Takato, you dimwit, you almost broke my wrist, ya happy?!" Hirokazu glared up at his friend for a moment.
He looked quite unlike his usual confident self, covered in dirt, scrapes and without his visor.
He gave up trying to find it, and looked around, "What happened?"
Just then a third form sat up beside them, startling them both.
"A hole opened up in the ground, that's what happened," Jenrya's voice came, weak and raspy.
"Is everyone here?" Takato queried the tired-looking boy anxiously.
"I dunno, I just woke up," Jenrya replied, "But we're minus Katou-san and Ruki."
"What happened to Ruki?" Takato asked.
"Something grabbed her," Jenrya sounded very upset, "It was all my fault! She was right behind me. I should have been watching her back."
He buried his face in his knees.
"Look, Jen, stop blaming yourself, we need to do something," Takato took Jenrya by the shoulders and shook him, hard.
"Momentai, Takato, Momentai," they all jumped, and Terriermon alighted on Jenrya's shoulder.
"Terriermon! You're all right! I was worried about you, pal," Jenrya said in relief, stroking Terriermon's ear.
"Well, I'm here now," Terriermon replied, looking much the worse for the wear, with one of his ears all crumpled and tattered, "And I think I broke my ear. Where's Guilmon?"
"Over here!" something moved back and forth behind Takato, making them all jump again, until they realized it was just Guilmon waving.
"What about Renamon?" Jenrya looked up, startled.
"Well, where is she?" Takato persisted.
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen or heard her since we entered the castle!" the blue-haired boy exclaimed, bewildered.
"There's definitely something weird going on here," Takato looked scared.
"Where're Kenta, and Ryou?" Hirokazu, who had not heard a word of the anxious conversation, piped up.
***
"We're here," Kenta and Ryou emerged in the faint, flickering light cast by the torch.
Kenta was covered in bruises, and his glasses were crooked. As for Ryou, he was scratched up pretty bad, and he was limping.
"Now that we're all here, let's check out that light," Takato announced.
"Let's go," Jenrya agreed, giving Takato a side-glance that said, clearly, that they shouldn't alarm the others by telling them about Renamon's disappearance.
Takato nodded, then began leading them towards the glow.
"Guys, be careful," Ryou said warningly, following just behind Takato.
"Where's Guardromon?" Hirokazu looked around wildly for his partner, then sighed in relief as a massive shape loomed up behind him.
"You called?" Guardromon put a very scratched up metallic hand on his Tamer's shoulder.
"Yeah, stay with us, buddy," Hirokazu replied with a rather forced grin before following the others towards the torchlight.
***
They rounded the corner, and there, chained to the stone wall, lay.
"Leomon!" Takato gasped.
The others, except for Ryou, hurried up to look. Leomon didn't stir.
"I think he's hurt or something," Jenrya approached Leomon and examined him, "He's unconscious. I think he was captured and thrown in here."
"Well, duh, Jenrya, but what are we gonna do about it?" Hirokazu snapped.
"Momentai!" Terriermon shot back.
"Takatomon, I'm scared," Guilmon whimpered, trying to hide behind his Tamer, "He doesn't smell good."
"Who, Leomon?" Takato asked, confused.
"We have to get out of here," Ryou burst out, sounding very nervous and taking everyone by surprise.
Just then Leomon lifted his head, startling everyone again, and opened his eyes. They were a glowing blood red.
"Uh, guys... I... don't think that's normal," Hirokazu said slowly as they all backed away.
'This is definitely 'not' good,' Ryou thought as he slipped into the shadows, hoping their concealment would grant him protection.
Leomon got to his feet, knocking Jenrya over, and, with a roar, he attacked with swift and deadly accuracy.
***
~ I've noticed that I haven't left a single cliffhanger so far, so I decided to leave this chapter at one! Hehe, aren't I evil? -) So who did Leomon attack? Who is this Dark Prince? And who is his prisoner? Hope you liked it! Review, please! ~
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The Shadow Realms: Part IV - The Castle of Doom
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The next morning, all the Tamers awoke refreshed and ready for whatever the day threw at them. It was as if they'd never spent those cold, terrified hours among the snow drifts, at the mercy of the fierce blizzard, fearing that they would never, ever get out of there alive.
Takato was one of the first to emerge from the cave. He reveled in the warmth as the bright, cheery sunshine touched him and erased the last vestiges of yesterday's snowy terrors.
'Ah, it feels good to be in the sun again,' he thought contentedly, settling down on a rock to sit in the sun for awhile, 'Sure is a beautiful morning. Not that it wasn't a good night, even with Guilmon's snoring.'
He chuckled. That was one habit his partner had 'never' seemed to be able to break, not even under threat of suspension of peanut butter.
Takato sighed to himself, 'I wonder how Okaa-san and Otou-san are taking my disappearing again. They're probably really worried. I hope we'll be able to go home soon.'
He looked back at the cave, 'I guess I'll just let them all sleep in for a while.'
***
He was joined, shortly, by all of the Tamers save Kenta and Jenrya, who came out while they were all washing up at a small pond nearby.
"Any luck on finding breakfast?" Jenrya asked Takato, rubbing his eyes and looking comically half-asleep, though not nearly as funny as Kenta, of whom half the hair was sticking straight up.
Terriermon and the other Digimon came out on their heels, and Terriermon took it as his personal task to ensure that Kenta's hair was put in order, which meant riding on the unfortunate boy's head for the rest of the morning.
"You guys, get this oversized bunny off of me! He's strangling me with his ears!" Kenta cried as the others fell over laughing.
***
"Well, back to the subject, Takato, breakfast?" Ruki turned to the person in question.
Takato shrugged, looking sheepish. He mumbled something incoherent.
"What? What were you saying, Takato-kun?" Juri prodded.
"Well, we were in such a hurry to get to the portal. None of us packed any supplies," Takato said, grabbing his head in both hands in his distress.
"WHAT?! You're telling me, gogglehead, that we're out here without food, water or anything else except a useless blanket?!" Ruki exclaimed in disbelief, her voice unconsciously rising.
"That's enough," Jenrya said firmly, stepping between the two, "We have enough troubles as it is. We don't need a fight added to them."
Both Tamers glared at each other, then turned their backs silently but vehemently. Jenrya sighed.
'Why can't we get along?' he wondered unhappily, 'We need to work together to survive here.'
"Don't worry about breakfast, we'll forage," Renamon announced as the other Digimon nodded.
***
As the morning wore on, the Digimon helped forage in order to provide a meager breakfast of berries, water, and some cookie pieces found in Kenta's pocket.
"Kenta, are you sure this cookie isn't moldy?" Hirokazu whined, making a face as he bit into his tiny piece, "It tastes like your Mom's broccoli tarts, Takato."
"Quit complaining, Hirokazu," Ruki snapped as she popped a sour berry into her mouth, "We're lucky we found anything to eat at all."
"What's this? The Digimon Queen giving lectures?!" Hirokazu pretended to be shocked, ignoring Ruki's furious glare.
***
Just before noon, the Tamers set out, with Guilmon and Renamon scouting ahead, trying to catch the scent of the other Digimon. Guardromon brought up the rear, and Terriermon was still atop Kenta's head despite his protests and Jenrya's wheedling.
"Terriermon, I think his hair is quite flat enough now," Jenrya said, finally losing his temper just a little and pulling Terriermon off of Kenta by the ear.
"Ow ouch ooch! Momentai, Jen, that hurt!" Terriermon squealed, squirming and accidentally smacking Ruki with his free ear.
She immediately grabbed that ear and lowered her voice menacingly.
"If you ever lay an ear on me again, little rabbit." she hissed into Terriermon's ear.
"What about a paw?" Terriermon had the impudence to ask.
Ruki swatted him away disgustedly as Jenrya, Takato and Hirokazu chuckled.
***
Hirokazu was stuck walking beside Ryou. Even now, he could feel the barely suppressed rage emanating from the other boy. Hirokazu noticed that Ryou's eyes spent more time on Juri than on what was in front of him.
'And that might be put to use.' he thought with a mischievous grin.
Deliberately, he nudged a little boulder in front of Ryou, who, as planned, tripped and fell on Kenta, who let out a muffled yelp and grabbed Guilmon by the foot in his panic, resulting in all three of them falling down on top of each other.
***
"Behold!" Hirokazu made a dramatic gesture towards the resulting pile, "The Eighth Wonder of the World, the Pile of Data!"
" 'Very' funny, Hirokazu, but aren't there already supposed to be eight wonders of the world?" Ruki replied sarcastically, trying to hide a smile as she watched Ryou struggling to get out from under Kenta, his face in the dirt.
'Serves him right, the smug thing,' she thought with satisfaction.
"Uh, well, no history books hanging around, so I presume this is the eighth," Hirokazu retorted.
"Did you just use a big word, Hirokazu?" Rika shot back.
"Can it, Ruki!"
"Hey, c'mon, you guys, disentangle yourselves, we haven't got all day!" Takato said impatiently, cutting short their bickering.
Grumbling, Ryou, Kenta and Guilmon managed to sort themselves out and they were about to go on their way again when Ryou strode over and grabbed Hirokazu by the collar.
"I know what you did, little toothpick, and this is what you get for it," Ryou hissed as he raised a fist.
"Hey, take it easy, chumley, I didn't do nothin'!" Hirokazu protested, twisting his way free before Ryou could punch him.
"Hey, you guys, stop it!" Juri intervened, "This is no time to fight. Do you want to find the other Digimon or not?"
Both of the boys stared at her, then Ryou reluctantly turned away and Hirokazu nodded. Soon, they were finally able to get going again.
***
"Boy, Katou-san sure has a lot of influence over that Ryou guy," Jenrya said quietly to Ruki as they continued to scour the desert wasteland.
"Uh-huh," Ruki agreed, "And that could be a good thing and a bad thing."
"Yeah, good thing is she has influence over him that none of us have, and bad thing is he keeps eyeing Takato like he's a bug, or something," Jenrya replied, chuckling.
Ruki nodded, with a slight smile lighting up her features. Just then, Takato let out a shout.
***
"Hey, guys, look!" he waved at them, then pointed, "Do you see what I see?!"
"If you mean your big ugly face as a mirage, sure, we see, though we'd rather not," Hirokazu joked.
There was a great stone castle in the distance, and it looked quite solid.
"This better not be another rock formation," Ruki said quietly.
"Don't worry, I know what it is," Renamon replied, craning her head to get a better look.
"You do?" Rika looked up at her Digimon in surprise.
"Yes," Renamon lowered her head and met her partner's gaze, "It's an ancient castle within which the Digital Ruler of this desert lived, once. You might be able to find some interesting things in it."
She wouldn't say anything more, and neither Terriermon nor Guilmon knew much about the castle, except that they were both certain it was haunted.
"Well, looks like the only way to find out what this castle is like is to go," Jenrya remarked.
Just then Juri gasped.
"What is it, Katou-san?" Takato turned around in surprise.
Juri was looking at her buzzing D-Ark with an expression of shock.
"I- I think my D-Ark's indicating that Leomon's in there!" she said breathlessly.
"But he can't be," Ruki shook her head with conviction, "He was absorbed by Beelzebumon. He can't be back."
"Well, looks like the only way to know for sure is to go see," Takato said.
"It could be a trap..." Jenrya said slowly, running his hand through his hair and looking very confused.
But Takato couldn't resist the hopeful look on Juri's face.
"Well, only way to know is to go!" Takato pumped his fist into the air.
"Yeah!" the rest cheered, though all had misgivings.
None of them saw what Ryou saw: a strange, very thin dark halo surrounding Juri's D-Ark. Ryou stared at it for a moment, then smiled.
'It is done,' he thought with satisfaction.
And so they set off for the strange castle.
***
In his chamber, the mysterious stranger chuckled as he watched the Tamers making unsuspectingly right for his trap.
'Good work, my little relay station,' he thought, then snapped his fingers.
"Yes, my lord?" a bat-like wispy creature appeared at his side and spoke in a shrill, grating voice.
"Set up the little trap I conceived at the old Dark Castle," the Prince of Darkness replied, "I want to give these children a little surprise welcome."
A thin-lipped smile spread over his sallow features, which were shadowed but not hidden.
"As you wish, Dark One," the bat creature bowed its head obediently and vanished.
***
Then the Prince turned to someone shackled to the wall behind him, in the corner, who was watching his every move.
"Well, my distinguished 'guest'," he chuckled at the irony, "What do you think of my 'wonderful' little plan?"
"You're scum, Shadowmagemon, nothing but a coward!" the prisoner spat out, refusing to look at his captor.
"My, my, aren't we grouchy today," the Prince of Darkness said with feigned pleasantness, "You're going to appreciate my powers all the more, pathetic human, when you see what I have in store for your little comrades."
With a chuckle, he turned back to his mirror.
***
Meanwhile, the Tamers had reached the outskirts of the castle, which was protected by a deep moat of which the bottom could not be seen. The castle itself stood on what could only be described as the top of a small, or perhaps, not so small mountain. The children halted at the edge of the moat, dismayed.
"How are we ever gonna get across that thing?" Takato wondered aloud.
"Can you carry us across?" Ruki queried Guardromon anxiously.
"I don't know," Guardromon replied, "I'm afraid of heights, you know."
"You're 'what'?!"
"Just kidding!"
"Aaaauugh!" Ruki crossed her arms, scowling fiercely, "I think you're having a bad influence on him, Hirokazu."
"My pleasure," the spiky-haired boy replied, grinning.
Ruki rolled her eyes and turned her back on the pair of them.
"I think it's possible," Jenrya remarked, "But for safety, he should ferry us across one at a time."
"Then let's do it!" Takato yelled.
***
Guardromon ferried the Tamers and their Digimon one by one across the abyss- like moat, with the obvious exception of Jenrya, on whose shoulder Terriermon rode, clinging tightly.
"Well, we made it," Takato sighed in relief when everyone was across, "Whew! Guardromon, we owe you one."
"Don't mention it," Guardromon replied, clasping his mechanical hands behind his squarish brown head.
"Hey, what are we waiting for?! Let's get in there!" Hirokazu started to move away when Ruki's voice, dripping sarcasm, halted him.
"Do you at least know where the entrance is?" she demanded.
"Uh, no," Hirokazu admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
With that, the rest fell over.
***
"Well it's a good thing we have Renamon with us," Jenrya noted as Renamon led them to a tiny door hidden by a jagged rock somewhere up on a very narrow ledge that jutted out over a very steep precipice.
"Yeah, without her, I think we could still be circling the castle a couple of weeks from now looking for the entrance," Takato added.
Ryou said nothing, but he stopped the others as they were about to open the little oak door.
"Renamon, have you ever been inside the castle?" he asked stiffly.
"Not through this door," Renamon admitted.
Ryou didn't reply, but picked up a rock, hefted it, and threw it at the door. The moment it hit, it disintegrated.
"I thought so," he turned back to the others, who were speechless, "It's got a special shield. It's fairly easy to break."
He lapsed into silence, looking at the Digimon expectantly.
"Oh, right," Jenrya caught on, "Guys, blast the door in."
Ryou's lips twitched and he feigned a cough to hide his amusement.
'Not exactly what I had in mind,' he thought.
Guilmon shattered the door and the shield, which went up in a flash of red, with his Fireball attack, and they all piled in, for it was getting cold outside, standing on the cliff.
***
As they made their way through the dark, damp stone hallways, trying their best not to make noise, their steps resonated on the stone and gave the whole place an eerie feeling.
"Guys, it's. kinda creepy in here, isn't it?" Takato remarked as quietly as he could.
"Takatomon, I'm scared," Guilmon whined loudly, trying to cling to his Tamer and walk at the same time.
"Ouch, Guilmon, you're crushing me!" Takato yelped.
"Oh, brother, whatever is in this castle probably knows we're here by now, what with the racket you two are making," was Ruki's annoyed comment.
"Well, you have to admit, Ruki, it's not exactly welcoming," Jenrya reprimanded her.
Ruki glared at him but didn't make any further comments. Juri was leading the way with her D-Ark compass, and soon they came to a turning, and emerged in another hallway, this time with doors on each side.
***
"Guys, we're getting closer, I think," Juri's voice floated back to the rest, "I- Aaaaah!"
Her scream was abruptly cut short and silence reigned.
"Katou-san? Katou-san!" Takato rushed forward, with Ryo on his heels.
The rest followed, and they all scanned wildly in all directions.
"Katou-san! Juri, where are you? Katou-san!" their futile cries filled the air.
"JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Guardromon's extremely loud voice thundered and reverberated about the passage, making everyone wince.
"Guys, she's gone," Takato said tightly, looking very agitated and upset, "Did any of you see what happened?"
In the little group, all the heads shook from side to side in a general "No".
Ryou's sky-blue eyes flickered everywhere. He caught a flash of movement above them.
"Look out!" he yelled.
Everyone ducked, and something just missed them with a swish of air that was generally heard.
***
"Whew! That was a close one," Jenrya said as everyone unbent themselves.
Suddenly Ruki let out a cry of terror. Something cold had her by the waist and was dragging her away from the others.
"Jen! Do something!" she yelled to the boy in front of her, struggling against her invisible captor.
But whatever it was, it had a grip of iron.
"Ruki! Hold on!" Jenrya had whipped around at her cry and grabbed her by the ankle and, with Terriermon's help, he began a tug of war with whatever was trying to take Ruki.
Guilmon tried his Fireball, to no effect.
'I can't let it take her! If anything happens to her.' Jenrya didn't dare complete the thought, and threw his entire being into wrestling the girl away from his adversary.
Unfortunately, the floor chose that moment to disappear from beneath him, and he lost his grip on Ruki's ankle in his shock. He, the remaining Tamers and their Digimon tumbled into darkness.
***
"No!" Ruki let out a cry of horror when she saw a hole open up beneath Jenrya and the others, and watched the ground swallow them up in its gaping darkness.
The last thing she saw was Jenrya's wide, anxious gray eyes, fastened almost desperately on her own. Then she felt a blow on the back of her head, and everything faded into complete blackness.
***
"Everything is going as according to plan," the Dark Prince bared his teeth in a wolfish, satisfied smile as he watched the Tamers' confusion as he snatched two of them from their midst, "With the girls as hostages, the boys will eventually follow. Even my rebellious little relay station. Serves him right for falling for that slip of a girl. Tsk, tsk, tsk, humans. Always in season."
His smile grew even wider as he heard sounds of struggling from behind him. He turned, and laughed at his prisoner, who was pulling desperately on his chains, eyes locked on the horrible vision in the mirror.
"Yes, very sad, is it not, to see your friends in such a predicament?" he licked his lips and chuckled, "Not to worry, my friend, there is plenty more to come."
With that he threw back his head and laughed, laughed at the boy who was scraping his wrists bloody trying to shatter the chains that bound him.
***
"Uuuunh." Takato groaned as he sat up and looked around.
There was nothing to see. Only darkness. Wait. was that the light of a torch?
'Where am I?' he wondered, as he got to his feet and began to walk towards the faint, flickering glow.
"Guilmon?"
A dark shape rose in the shadows.
"Takatomon, it's dark, I can't see anything."
"Guilmon!" Takato hurried towards his friend, relieved.
He trod on something soft and a yelp made him jump a foot in the air.
"Who is it?" he whispered.
A dark form sat up at his feet.
"Takato, you dimwit, you almost broke my wrist, ya happy?!" Hirokazu glared up at his friend for a moment.
He looked quite unlike his usual confident self, covered in dirt, scrapes and without his visor.
He gave up trying to find it, and looked around, "What happened?"
Just then a third form sat up beside them, startling them both.
"A hole opened up in the ground, that's what happened," Jenrya's voice came, weak and raspy.
"Is everyone here?" Takato queried the tired-looking boy anxiously.
"I dunno, I just woke up," Jenrya replied, "But we're minus Katou-san and Ruki."
"What happened to Ruki?" Takato asked.
"Something grabbed her," Jenrya sounded very upset, "It was all my fault! She was right behind me. I should have been watching her back."
He buried his face in his knees.
"Look, Jen, stop blaming yourself, we need to do something," Takato took Jenrya by the shoulders and shook him, hard.
"Momentai, Takato, Momentai," they all jumped, and Terriermon alighted on Jenrya's shoulder.
"Terriermon! You're all right! I was worried about you, pal," Jenrya said in relief, stroking Terriermon's ear.
"Well, I'm here now," Terriermon replied, looking much the worse for the wear, with one of his ears all crumpled and tattered, "And I think I broke my ear. Where's Guilmon?"
"Over here!" something moved back and forth behind Takato, making them all jump again, until they realized it was just Guilmon waving.
"What about Renamon?" Jenrya looked up, startled.
"Well, where is she?" Takato persisted.
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen or heard her since we entered the castle!" the blue-haired boy exclaimed, bewildered.
"There's definitely something weird going on here," Takato looked scared.
"Where're Kenta, and Ryou?" Hirokazu, who had not heard a word of the anxious conversation, piped up.
***
"We're here," Kenta and Ryou emerged in the faint, flickering light cast by the torch.
Kenta was covered in bruises, and his glasses were crooked. As for Ryou, he was scratched up pretty bad, and he was limping.
"Now that we're all here, let's check out that light," Takato announced.
"Let's go," Jenrya agreed, giving Takato a side-glance that said, clearly, that they shouldn't alarm the others by telling them about Renamon's disappearance.
Takato nodded, then began leading them towards the glow.
"Guys, be careful," Ryou said warningly, following just behind Takato.
"Where's Guardromon?" Hirokazu looked around wildly for his partner, then sighed in relief as a massive shape loomed up behind him.
"You called?" Guardromon put a very scratched up metallic hand on his Tamer's shoulder.
"Yeah, stay with us, buddy," Hirokazu replied with a rather forced grin before following the others towards the torchlight.
***
They rounded the corner, and there, chained to the stone wall, lay.
"Leomon!" Takato gasped.
The others, except for Ryou, hurried up to look. Leomon didn't stir.
"I think he's hurt or something," Jenrya approached Leomon and examined him, "He's unconscious. I think he was captured and thrown in here."
"Well, duh, Jenrya, but what are we gonna do about it?" Hirokazu snapped.
"Momentai!" Terriermon shot back.
"Takatomon, I'm scared," Guilmon whimpered, trying to hide behind his Tamer, "He doesn't smell good."
"Who, Leomon?" Takato asked, confused.
"We have to get out of here," Ryou burst out, sounding very nervous and taking everyone by surprise.
Just then Leomon lifted his head, startling everyone again, and opened his eyes. They were a glowing blood red.
"Uh, guys... I... don't think that's normal," Hirokazu said slowly as they all backed away.
'This is definitely 'not' good,' Ryou thought as he slipped into the shadows, hoping their concealment would grant him protection.
Leomon got to his feet, knocking Jenrya over, and, with a roar, he attacked with swift and deadly accuracy.
***
~ I've noticed that I haven't left a single cliffhanger so far, so I decided to leave this chapter at one! Hehe, aren't I evil? -) So who did Leomon attack? Who is this Dark Prince? And who is his prisoner? Hope you liked it! Review, please! ~