Chapter 7
Return to the Temple
From the moment TK awoke the next morning, Patamon pestered him about visiting the temple again. It was a tough sell. TK was dead set against the idea, afraid its effects would bring another near disaster upon them all. But Patamon was insistent. He told TK he knew the Digital World's current problems were centred there, and if he would just go there again they could try to make things right.
"One of the reasons we were defeated there the last time was because we were caught off guard," he told TK. "This time we'll know what we're getting into, and won't be so surprised and so tired."
Just before they left for school TK finally agreed to go, but half-heartedly, and only so Patamon would be quiet. He already took a bit of teasing from some of his friends for bringing what appeared to be a stuffed animal to school every day, and had no desire to see the ridicule pushed up several notches if they discovered he carried on conversations with it as well. He was afraid if he did not agreee, Patamon would bug him about it all the way there.
TK was surprised to find Cyan and Cantomon waiting for him in the foyer when he came off the elevator. "What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with my brother."
"True," Cyan replied. "But I haven't switched schools. I caught a bus to school and just got off a few blocks early."
"Well, I'm happy for the company," TK replied. "Let's go."
They headed out, taking as they went. TK mentioned that ever since the fight with Davis, both Yolie and Cody seem to be avoiding him.
"That's strange," Cyan replied. "I met Cody yesterday in the computer lab. He was there specifically to find out what's going on."
"What did you tell him?"
"Told him about the fight. First time he'd heard about it--I guess Davis hasn't been telling him and Yolie everything. It also turns out Davis has been sending out e-mails to them making excuses as to why we weren't showing up."
TK shook his head. "I don't know what it is with Davis," he said.
"I'd say it has something to do with Kari, but she's in our little group instead of his. I don't know what he thinks he's doing, either. Could it have to do with what's going on with the Digital World and that temple?"
"Perhaps. It does seem to affect people. Patamon made me promise to go back there today."
"Patamon's bothering you about it? That's new to me. Any idea why?"
Patamon answered for TK. "It's just that I'm sure if you people go back there we can fix what's wrong with the Digital World."
"You seem to be rather confident of our abilities," said Cyan.
"You're Digidestined!" said Patamon. "You can do anything!"
Almost to himself, Cyan said, "I'll settle for protecting TK and Kari, thanks." Then to TK and Patamon, "I don't know what we'll find, but I'll go if you will. Besides, I have a score to settle there."
"We'll be going there," said TK. "I promised Patamon we would. As for settling scores, just be careful, Cyan. I don't want you getting hurt."
When they arrived at school, TK as usual surreptitiously slipped Patamon
into one of the many hiding places they used around the grounds. Later that
morning he and Cantomon carefully made their way over to a regular gathering
place to meet with Gatomon. There Patamon told them of his meeting the night
before and their planned return to the temple. Poromon, Demi-Veemon, and
Upamon were not there, and it seemed that so long as the Digidestined were
split into two groups, their digimon would be also. All Patamon and his
companions could do was hope little Demi-Veemon would remember what he had to
do.
TK met Kari and Cyan at their normal after-hours time in the school computer lab. Much to Patamon's relief, TK started out by saying they would make a return visit to the Temple.
"Is it safe to go back, TK?" was Kari's first thought.
"I don't know," TK replied. "Besides, safe isn't really an option here. I feel we should go back, so we can find out what's going on in the Digital World."
As usual, Cyan supported TK. "I agree. Nothing we ever do is safe. The answer is there, we can be sure of that."
"We'll be all right," said Gatomon. "If something attacks, we can still protect you."
And Cantomon added, "Even if we are tired, anything we fight there will be just as tired."
Cyan was not quite as assured as his digimon. "I don't know if I can win in a fight, but I'll try anyway."
"It's settled, then," said TK. "Digiport open!"
The Temple's influence had grown considerably over the last couple of days. The air was chill, for overhead the sky was blanketed to the horizon with low, dark clouds. And almost immediately they were nearly overcome with weariness. Although they had tried to prepare for this, the speed and force with which the lethargy gripped them was astonishing.
"This is worse than I had imagined!" cried Kari. "I was wide awake a minute ago, but now I just want to lay down and sleep."
"I have something that might help," said TK. "Do you have anything to drink in your school-pack?"
"No, I don't," Kari replied. "I'm always afraid it will spill all over my books."
Cyan came to the rescue. "I do. Be prepared, I always say." And he produced a bottle of water from a side pocket in his backpack.
Despite his weariness, TK smiled. "I say that, too." He removed his hat and put both hands inside. There came an an odd ripping sound, then out of the hat he produced a small plastic bag containing a dozen pills. "We'll take these, and our digimon can take them, too. They'll help us stay awake."
Kari was shocked. "TK! Where'd you get those?"
"Relax ... they're just ginsing pills. Mom takes them every once in a while if she gets tired during the day."
"Why are they in your hat?" asked Kari. "And how did you hide them there?"
Cyan grinned. "I always wondered if your hat was a Tilley! That just proved it."
"It's a Tilley, all right," said TK. "One of my cousins is an exchange student in Vancouver, and she discovered them over there. She thought they were so neat she sent me one for my birthday last year."
Cyan filled in the picture. "They've got a velcro-sealed pocket in the top for hiding little things like that. Putting the pills there sure makes it a lot easier to find them than searching through your whole backpack."
"Right." TK didn't tell them about the thousand yen note he kept hidden there, too. "OK, take the pills, and let's start walking."
"And take it easy on the water," Cyan added. "A litre's all I have, and
we may need it for later."
The pills helped. On its own the ginsing would have been only mildly effective, but in the Digital World it was a novelty, and its effects were magnified. So instead of feeling as though they had to sleep immediately, the weariness receded into the background, still noticeable, but not debilitating.
Between them, TK and Cyan had plotted an entry point into Digiworld that put them into close range of the Temple. The three kids and their digimon made the hike inside of twenty minutes, and once there walked directly to the same door through which they had entered the last time. Immediately they noticed the Goldtyrramon had not moved at all from where it had fallen after throwing Cyan into the wall. They approached it gingerly, not knowing if it was dead or merely asleep. Eventually Cyan touched it. It was warm; still alive. They quickly walked away.
"Well, we're here," said Cantomon. "Now what?"
"See that tower?" asked TK. Of course they could; it was impossible not to. It dominated the entire temple. "I'm going to climb it. I think the answer's there."
Cyan tried to dissuade him. "Is that a good idea? That would be quite the fall...."
"It doesn't matter, I have to go up." TK was determined; he had made up his mind, and would not change it.
They walked around the inner enclosure, looking for a way in, for its walls were even higher than ones surrounding the entire temple. Around the other side they found an ornate gate-house. There were no doors here, just a broad opening. On either side sat two large stone sphinxes, looking toward the outer wall of the temple two hundred and fifty feet away, as if on guard. The outer wall sported not one but two elaborately adorned identical gate-houses separated by a watch tower. The gates were big, solid double doors covered in beaten brass, tarnished almost black. Obviously it was the main entrance; they had come in by the back door.
Looking into the inner enclosure, they at last saw fully the tower at the centre of the whole temple complex. It was not really a tower at all, but a tall and slender step pyramid rising in ten flights from its base to its tip over two hundred feet above. In Mayan style, a steep staircase ran up the front face to a small structure at the top. TK paused only a moment before declaring he would climb it.
"Be careful, TK," said Kari.
"Don't worry, I will."
"I'm going with you," said Cyan.
TK refused. "I'll go alone. There's no sense in risking more than one of us up there."
"And you intend to stop me how?"
TK looked at Cyan, trying to gauge his determination. There was no mistaking the intent in his eyes, and TK knew Cyan could be stubborn, all the more where his and Kari's safety was concerned. "All right... Kari, you and Gatomon stay out here. If something attacks, it will be from the inside, and you two can get away."
"What about you?" asked Kari.
"We'll be able to protect ourselves. Right, Cyan?"
"I'll be able to distract anything that attacks long enough for you to get away."
TK's face narrowed in concern. "What about you?"
"If I can't get away, then so's my destiny." And he started toward the pyramid. TK followed.
"Good luck," Gatomon said behind them.
Together TK and Cyan walked past sphinxes and entered the inner temple. But
they did not get far. No sooner had they passed the gate-house than the
lethargy they been able to ignore all day returned in force, and grew and grew
with every step they took. What started out as a confident march immediately
turned into a slow walk, and then into a struggle simply to put one foot in
front of the other. Finally, about fifty feet short of the pyramid, as
exhausted as he had ever been before in his life, TK stopped in his tracks and
collapsed to the ground.
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Thank you from both Cyan and Bradmon.