Digimon: Digital Monsters
Mirror, Mirror—Part VII
By 7 of 11
The guard snapped to attention as he noticed the armor-clad figure walking down the newly converted prison corridor, pushing three children in front of him. Their hands were bound behind their backs, and they obviously were trying to put up a charade of bravery.
"Yes, Master Shade?" he inquired of his superior.
Shade responded by slamming a spiked gauntlet into the guard's temple. He dropped without a sound, shuddered slightly, and then lay still, blood streaming from his nostrils.
He leaned in close to the children. "Remember, Kana, Masayoshi, Jun, act afraid of me. And look like you are hurt, or injured, or…something. We still need to fool the warden in there."
"Right, Dad." The girl nodded. "We can do this, it's not like…well, we ARE just kids, but we have been through a lot."
Although his face was hidden under his helmet—which sported several new scratches—the children could almost see him smiling. "I know. I have faith in you guys!"
Mimi looked through the bars that were penning the Digidestined into the cell, mortified. The prison guard was planning on executing Koushiro! And none of them could do a single thing about it. She tried one more time to break the plasma bindings on her hand, but the electrical current would not budge, and gave her a painful shock in reward for her efforts. And as another side effect, it reduced all the Digimon to their In-Training stage; none of them was strong enough to break through the walls.
She turned around to where Sora was trying to console Koushiro's wife, Mata. The latter was looking pale and gaunt, as if she still believed that this was just a bad dream. And then the door clicked, and opened.
Mimi felt a surge of hope as she saw Jun Ishida, and her own son Masayoshi walk through the door, followed by Takeru and Hikari's daughter Kana. Maybe they had come to rescue them! But then her heart sank as she realized that the children had obviously been captured as well. And herding them into the jail was the same horrifying figure that had taken the Digidestined and their Digimon earlier, without even touching them! This was it; their last hope was gone.
"Yes, Master Shade?" The guard said, pushing the pistol up against the base of Koushiro's skull.
The man—Shade, that was it—pushed the children to their knees; and Mimi could tell that they were terrified of him. "I have captured these brats trying to infiltrate the building. Lock them up."
The guard nodded. "Yes, sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Shade paused as if to think. "Yes. You can die."
He turned to the side. A shout came from behind him. "Hand of Fate! HYA!" The red and white beam cut through the air, smashing into the warden and throwing him back into the wall. Mimi saw his silhouette, and then he was gone, completely vaporized.
Shade reached up and took off his helmet, and shook his blond hair. To Mimi's left, Hikari cried out in joy. It was Takeru. "Takeru!" she shouted.
As the children stood up and helped Koushiro, who was looking quite relieved, to his feet, Takeru removed his gauntlets and opened the gate to the cell. He kissed Hikari warmly. "Oh…Hikari, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing!"
"We understand, Takeru. You weren't in control of your actions," Yamato said. He held up his hands. "And can you…you know, deactivate these bindings?" Takeru waved his hand in midair and the electric flow stopped. "Thanks! And cool outfit." He added, glancing at Takeru's armor.
Three figures walked through the door behind Shade. "Who are you?" Tokomon asked.
"Don't you recognize me, Dad? My Champion stage is Aphroditemon." ArchAphroditemon laughed.
"And I was Marshmon!" Vinmon said.
"I used to be Sikamon, but we all Digivolved to our Ultimate stages." Oraclemon added in his deep voice.
Shade cleared his throat. "The minute I deactivated your plasma bindings, an alarm was sent to the Headquarters. We need to get out of here, and I mean FAST!"
Taichi nodded, once again taking his place leading the team. "Right! Let's get out of here!" He ran through the door, and stopped abruptly as he encountered a corridor that split into four different branches. "What? Who designs these airports? We were knocked out when we came here, so we don't know the way…"
Alt-Yamato pointed down one hallway. "That's the way out." He said. Alt-Yamato began to walk down the corridor, but he stopped in his tracks. "This isn't good…," he said.
"What?" Jyou asked, looking over the Alternate's shoulder. "Uh-oh…" he muttered, seeing what had caused Alt-Yamato's worries. A squad of Robomon troops was marching down that hallway, guns raised.
"Quickly! This way!" Kana shouted, running down an adjacent branch of the corridor.
Hikari chased after her daughter. "Kana! Wait!" she called, and everyone followed the two women.
The escapees turned a corner—only to stop as a heavy iron doorway barred their path. "It's a dead end!" Mata said.
"No, really?" Alt-Yamato retorted. His forehead furrowed in deep thought. "If I'm right, what's behind this door could actually help us undo all that the Alt-Destined have done here…first we have to get in, though." He walked over to the code panel mounted on the wall, and pressed a sequence of buttons. Another heavy barricade crashed down, and the corridor went red.
Through the ringing in his ears, Koushiro dimly heard Alt-Yamato say. "They changed the codes!"
"I can figure it out…" the computer expert said. He reached into his pocket and brought out a small palmtop computer. He inserted one end of it into a little socket on the wall. Mumbling some techno-babble, which apparently only Mata and Jun understood, Koushiro tapped several buttons, and the doors slid open with a wheezing sound.
"Way to go, Koushiro!" Sora shouted. All of the Digidestined could feel the mood hanging over them. It was as if they were back in the Digiworld. The group entered the chamber beyond, and Mata closed the door.
It was a bare, circular chamber, with a small pedestal in the middle—much like the arena where Masayoshi and Vinmon had dueled Alt-Mimi and BlackRosemon. However, on this platform, there was only a small device. It looked like a Digivice, except it was a bit larger, and more round then rectangular. Also, it had several angular protrusions from the center. "What's this?" asked Masayoshi.
Alt-Yamato picked the device up. "This is what allowed us to get from our world to this one. Our Koushiro," Alt-Yamato saw Jun wince. "could probably explain it in more detail, but somehow these alter the space-time fabric of the universes, creating warps that transport you between the different realities."
"So how can that help us?" Taichi wanted to know.
Slowly, as if speaking to a child, Alt-Yamato outlined the beginning of his plan. "Like I said, these warp the space and time continuum. We use them for travel through space, but…"
"…if we alter them, we could send ourselves back in time and defeat the Alt-Destined before they can do any damage here!" finished Kana. Alt-Yamato nodded.
"And we have two of the most brilliant scientists in the world right here." Jyou said. Everyone turned to look at Koushiro and Mata, who were now a bright magenta.
Koushiro looked at the object in Alt-Yamato's hand. "Well, uh, I suppose that we could try to reconfigure it…Mata?" His wife nodded, and took it from Alt-Yamato. The two of them went over to a corner to try and tinker with it.
The door suddenly rang again. "What?" Hikari asked, whirling around.
"It's the Robomon…" Takeru answered grimly, wiping sweat from his blond hair. "They're trying to break in." The door began to glow red as energy was poured into it from the other side.
"Mata, Koushiro, we could use it now!" Mimi hissed.
Mata stood up. "We think we've gotten it, but…"
"But what?" Taichi asked, throwing nervous glances at the now-golden door.
"If we made the slightest miscalculation, there is a possibility that instead of opening a warp, we could destroy both universes!" Koushiro explained.
Yamato shook his head. "We've got to chance it. Let's see what it's got, Koushiro!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes! Push the button!" Koromon yelled. "We don't have much time!"
"Well…"
Jyou looked at the white-hot door. "PUSH THE STUPID BUTTON, NOW!!!" he roared.
At that second, the door burst open. "Quantum Beam!" intoned the robots. A burst of blue light spat from the leader's laser rifle, but that was overwhelmed by the luminescence that came from the dimensional gateway device. A bright white light enveloped all the Digidestined and the Digimon…
To Be Continued…