Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction. Thanks and enjoy!
Within Dreams—Chapter 16
"Hey, aren't you Joe's older brother?"
Jim snapped his attention over to the woman sitting near him in the waiting room, surprise evident on his face. Before he could reply, the woman added: "it's Jim, isn't it? Jim Kido?" He nodded.
He furrowed his
brow, trying to remember who the woman was. He'd seen her before, but he couldn't remember exactly where. She was one of Joe's friends parents, that
much he could remember. He remembered
meeting them all when Myotismon invaded Japan. It's not Mrs. Izumi or Tachikawa. And it's not TK and Matt's mom or Sora's mom…. It must be Mrs. Kamiya.
"Mrs. Kamiya? What are you doing here?"
"I'd…rather not talk about it." She paused and said: "you know, I saw Joe yesterday night here. He went home with you, didn't he?"
"Yeah," Jim acknowledged. "But he's back again."
Mrs. Kamiya frowned and said: "oh. I'm sorry."
They sat in silence for a moment until Jim haltingly inquired: "did Joe tell you anything about where he was all day yesterday?"
"No. Why?"
"He was missing all day. We were all getting really worried about him. Mom and Dad were about ready to call the cops. I just kinda seemed weird that he showed up at the hospital all of a sudden."
"That is strange…."
"Excuse me," Jim said, getting out of his chair and walking out of the waiting room. He knew he wasn't supposed to be in his brother's room. Even his parents weren't allowed in yet. But he just wanted to see that he was comfortable. Surely the doctors wouldn't mind that. Besides, they knew his Dad.
He was nearing Joe's room when he noticed that two people were inside, talking in hushed voices. Maybe they're talking about what's wrong with Joe, Jim thought. He usually wasn't one to listen in on other people's conversations, but this time his curiosity got the better of him.
Cautiously, he flattened his back against the wall just outside the door, where neither of the people would be able to see him and listened.
"Wasn't this kid in here yesterday?" came one voice.
"Come to think of it, he was. See? I remember him. He got stitches on his left cheek."
"Hey, isn't this the kid that called from the Ishida's apartment? The one that got the ambulance sent for those two brothers?"
"You're right. Now he's got the same thing. It sure is strange."
Jim's eyes widened. Ishida's apartment? Brothers? I think I'm seeing a pattern here, he thought as he walked away from the room. Joe's friends are all getting put in the hospital….
He decided that maybe it would be a good idea to find out more about this.
~*~
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Matt screamed in surprise and fear. He was falling! Falling through a thick darkness, a darkness he could not see through, that prevented his being able to tell how far he was from the end of the drop. His stomach was weightless and his body powerless to stop his descent.
Thump! His fall stopped quite abruptly when he landed atop a large pile of what felt like leaves. Though the fall was cushioned, it still hurt when he landed hard on his shoulder.
"Matt, is that you?" came TK's voice.
"Yeah," he answered.
It was so dark he couldn't see anything at all. "Where are you?" he inquired.
"We're all just at the bottom of the leaf pile," Mimi said.
Matt started to stand to get to the bottom of the pile, but he slipped and rolled down, landing hard on his already bruised shoulder.
"So now what?" Sora wondered. "We can't just stay down here."
"Well, I don't see any exit signs anywhere," Joe replied. "Is there even a way out?"
Rea suddenly cut in: "I think I know where we are!"
"Where?" all seven of the children demanded of her.
"If I'm not mistaken, we're in a tunnel that leads directly to Malign's castle."
Kari asked the question that everyone was now wondering: "why would he be silly enough to build a tunnel that led right to his castle?"
"Well, his power generator is down here. You know, the thing that keeps all his lights going? The reason for the tunnel is so he can get to it from anywhere on his grounds. There're a bunch of places to enter it."
"If his power generator is down here, isn't it possible he's down here, trying to get the lights back on?" Izzy inquired.
"Not likely. If the lights go out, that's one thing. But if all the lights break apart, that's quite another. I'm thinking he knows something's up and he knows better than to leave the castle."
"Then let's go," Matt said. "This has to be the safest way there."
Rea nodded, then realized nobody would be able to see her in the dark and said: "yeah. Just stay close and keep a hand on a wall at all times and we should be OK."
~*~
Malign sat in his room, puzzling over what
the search of his castle grounds had turned up: nothing. He knew something was going on,
and yet the full-scale search had shown nothing wrong.
He
was angry, frustrated and generally not happy. It had to be the worst time for Vitriol to enter his room.
"What
do you want?" he demanded as his young ally entered the room.
"Malign,
sir, I was wondering…"
"Whatever
it is, the answer is no." Vitriol never
called Malign 'sir' unless she wanted something.
"You
didn't even let me finish!"
"I
don't want to hear it. I don't have
time for this! We are in a crisis!"
Vitriol sighed and quickly blurted: "I was wondering if I could take the
shackles off of the boy now!"
"No."
"But—"
"No
buts. Now leave me alone! I am attempting to
concentrate!"
Vitriol sighed and thought: I
am going to get those chains off him with or without his permission before putting her hand in her pocket and
touching the small brass key it hid.