Malfunction?

by Penpusher

Re-submitted because it disappeared! This is definitely Taiora - or is it Sorato? Or Sorshiro? Or even Jyouora? Read and find out. And dont' forget to review - I need the encouragement.

5. Chapter Five - Decisions and Discoveries

Malfunction?

Chapter Five – Decisions and Discoveries

"I've lost them, damnit!" this was as close as Izzy ever got to bad language, "Still, at least we know they're alive."

"Correction." Argued Joe, "At least we know Sora's alive – I didn't hear anything about Matt in that conversation."

"We just have to assume he's okay, Joe," Izzy explained patiently, "Otherwise the future of both our worlds is finished. Still, at least I managed to reassure Sora, despite the shortness of the connection."

"Yeah, just why did the connection break down?" demanded Taichi, "I thought these things were reliable, and now we find they're behaving like cell phones." Izzy scratched his head.

"That's a very good point, Tai, and not one I can answer at the moment." He said, thoughtfully, "The digivices only work partly on geographical proximity, the rest is due to the connection between them and between us. Simply put, we should either be able to talk to Sora and Matt clearly and with no interference, or not at all." Taichi raised a speculative eyebrow but refrained from comment, and in fact changed the subject by calling everyone to move off. Once the humans and their digimon companions were on the move once again, Izzy sidled unobtrusively up to Taichi again and started to talk in low tones.

"The more I think about that broken connection, the less I like it." He began. Taichi agreed.

"Yeah, I picked that up, that's why I didn't say anything. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Izzy nodded.

"Another nail in the coffin." He confirmed, "Someone is tracking us, Tai, and they're removing the obstacles to make absolutely certain that we reach Matt and Sora. And just to make things interesting, they're making very sure that we don't communicate in the interim. Now, just what do Sora and Matt know that is so important that the enemy has to show their hand by jamming our digivices, huh? And more to the point, Tai, who is taking such a deal of trouble to herd us into this hell-hole in the first place?" Taichi frowned.

"Not the Arachnamon?" Izzy shook his head slowly.

"I think they're just servants, soldiers, slaves – call them what you like. I don't think they're masterminding this. No, whoever took Matt and Sora prisoner will not be satisfied with the mere destruction of two worlds, otherwise he would have killed them already. He wants all of us, every one. That makes it personal - and I find that extremely interesting. Tai, this scam has a very familiar smell to it; I can't quite identify it yet, but give me time." Taichi ran an exasperated hand through his hair.

"That's all very well, Izzy, but we don't have time! We've no water and precious little food, and I don't see a whole lot of snack bars or even an eensy hot dog stand here. That means we've got to go straight for it: just find Sora and Matt and blast our way out. And we can't take too long doing it, or the digimon'll be too tired to digivolve!"

"I know, Tai, I know." Izzy leaned his head momentarily in his hands, "Okay, I'll keep you posted."

Yamato looked up at a slight change in the quality of the darkness and frowned at Sora standing over him.

"Go away." He spat, turning round. She sat down next to him, close but not touching.

"Matt, we have to talk."

"That's all girls ever want to do – yack, yack, yack – it drives me nuts!"

"That may be so, but if we're going to get out of this alive, we have to work together, and we can't do that while you're sitting on the floor sulking and NOT LISTENING TO ME, MATT!" On the last words, Sora grabbed the blonde boy by his shoulders and forced him to turn and look her in the face.

"Whatever happened here is not relevant to our present situation." She began, slowly and distinctly, "We don't need to handle it now, we don't have the time or the emotional stability to tackle it – so we won't. What we have to do now, Matt, is to work together to try to get us, and the others, out of here. We're imprisoned in this small cell which doesn't give us much of a chance, but what little we can do, we must – it could mean the difference between success and failure, between life and death." Sora's eyes were almost boring into Yamato's skull with the intensity of her determination. Yamato resisted briefly, then nodded curtly in acceptance.

"And that means full co-operation, Matt; no half-measures or holding back because of injured pride or anything else. Okay?"

"Whatever!" the blonde boy, waved a negligent hand, but Sora was confident; she had made her point. She sat down beside him, ignoring his blatant movement away from her.

"Okay," she began, "Now, we don't know our location, and the only way we're going to find that out is by raising the others on the digivice."

"I've been trying for the last half hour." Admitted Yamato with chagrin, "No luck."

"Hmm." Sora frowned, "Matt, in all the time we've been using the digivices for communication, have you ever known them break down?" Yamato shook his head.

"No, I haven't. And come to think of it, I've never known the signal break up like that either." He pursed his lips in concentration. "Sora, did the signal break up at your end at all?"

"No, Matt, Izzy was perfectly clear to me. Apparently, it was my signal which was failing to reach him."

"Now that's weird." Matt stood up and started to pace back and forth. "These things don't work like cell phones – they don't depend upon broadcasting stations to receive their signals: at least that's how Izzy explained it to me."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that the only way the signal could fail like that is by interference from another source – and there aren't any other sources in digiworld – at least not natural ones anyhow." Sora' eyes were wide.

"Are you saying that this was deliberate? That someone is preventing us from being in contact with the others?" Yamato nodded slowly.

"That's the only reason I can come up with for the digivices failing." He sat down again and pulled at his lower lip in concentration.

"I guess it's got to be Metaldevimon." He said at last. "He doesn't want the other to know he's alive until they reach us – a nice little surprise for them, I guess. In that case, we can't expect to contact them via the digivices at all." Sora nodded, then grimaced.

"So we have no way of fixing our location?" Yamato shook his head.

"Doesn't seem likely. Okay, then let's try another tack." He pondered for a moment. "Sora, the only useful thing I can think of is your original idea – to try to break through this webbing somehow. I think we need to go over this cell with a fine-toothed comb – floor and ceiling too – to try to find a way out. If we can escape, then perhaps we can confuse the situation enough to give the others a chance to avoid capture." Sora pursed her lips doubtfully.

"We'll have to make sure we're good and far away then. Izzy must be using his laptop to track our life signals. If we're too close to this place, the others will fall into Metaldevimon's trap anyway."

"That's a chance we have to take, Sora." Said Yamato with a shrug, "Besides, I don't see that we have much choice: it's either try to escape or sit here on our butts while Metaldevimon kills our friends." Sora winced at his bluntness, but agreed totally with the sentiment.

They started to explore their cell inch by inch. It was extremely hard work – there was little or no light and the coarse material stung and tore at their hands, while they had great difficulty in keeping track of what areas they had covered and what were still to be explored. Fortunately, the ceiling was low enough that they could touch it comfortably without stretching too much, but the resulting search was still backbreaking.

"I don't believe there's any break at all in this stuff." muttered Sora, nursing her sore and aching limbs. Yamato straightened his spine with a groan and a sigh.

"This is no good," he said, in frustration, "But I'm fresh out of any other ideas. Sora, let's try the floor for a change – at least my back will be bent in the other direction." Sora obediently switched direction and began to examine the floor minutely, crouching on her hands and knees. She was working mainly by touch as there was hardly any light to speak of, and her torn and roughened hands had become incredibly sensitive to contact with the spider silk. She bit her lip against the pain and continued to search for – something, some difference, anything that was not quite uniform with the rest of the floor. And she found it.

"Matt!" Sora's low, excited voice penetrated his discomfort, "I think I've got something." Yamato was at her side in an instant, crawling on hands and knees.

"Where?" In the darkness, she guided his hands to a part of the floor that did not quite match. Using his sore fingertips, Yamato slowly explored the small patch of spider silk, tracing the weave, trying to determine exactly what was different.

"They didn't quite match the pattern." He said at last, "The stuff is joined together, but not completely. This isn't a seam, Sora, it's simply – well, glued together!"

Yamato turned his triumphant face towards her, his wayward blonde hair close enough to brush her cheek. Sora was suddenly and acutely aware of his closeness, but curbed her immediate instinct to pull away by directing herself firmly towards re-examining the floor. Disregarding the pain, she began to pull at the fibres, but failed to make any impression. Then she had a brainwave. Searching frantically in the pocket which contained the first aid supplies, she unearthed the medical scissors.

"Now we're really in business!" crowed Yamato as she held them up. Unfortunately, their points were blunt, but apart from this the scissors seemed admirably suited to the job of slicing through the sticky glue that held the fibres together. However, try as she might Sora could not make any headway with the silk itself. Growling impatiently, Yamato pushed her aside and grabbed the scissors as she started to tire. Soon he had a sizeable split in the floor matting, wide enough to accommodate an arm.

"We'll soon be through here, Sora." He said with a grim smile as he sat up to nurse his aching back. However, Sora's face remained serious and she put out a hand to restrain him as he turned to continue the work.

"Matt," She began in an odd tone, "Where do you think we are?" He breathed out impatiently.

"We've already discussed that, Sora, there's no point in going over old ground. We have no reference points, so we can't work out our location." But the girl was shaking her head.

"No, Matt, I didn't mean that." She stopped suddenly, and her demeanour was so strange that Yamato did indeed pause in his work to stare at her in the dim light. She chewed on her lower lip, then finally turned to him.

"What are you aiming to achieve with that tear you're making in the spider silk?"

"Well, I'm aiming to take it as far as I can, preferably to the wall, and then, if I'm lucky we'll be able to crawl out under it." Sora shook her head absently.

"I've got a strange feeling about this." She began, slowly, "Matt, these creatures are spiders. They not only work right, left, forward and back, but also up and down too. Have you ever watched a spider make a web? Of course you have, we all have. Didn't it ever occur to you that if you were the spider, you'd choose a place more sympathetic to the force of gravity?" Yamato frowned.

"What are you getting at?"

"Spiders don't mind living upside down, Matt, it doesn't phase them like it does us. Maybe they're just lighter and don't feel gravity like we do; maybe they've got better-behaved stomachs – I don't know. All I know is that I'm beginning to think that we should be very careful with that split we've just made in the floor, because there may be nothing at all beneath it – just a very long drop and silence at the bottom."

"We must be nearly there by now." Mimi's whine was more of a whisper than a complaint. Joe looked sharply at her and registered her deeply shadowed eyes and stumbling gait. On a couple of occasions, she had nearly dropped Tsunamon, who was now talking to her, quietly and incessantly, to keep her awake. By her side, Kari's dark head was drooping. Joe decided to act. He quickly moved forward and annexed Izzy from Tai's side.

"Look, I know you've got more important things on your mind, and I know it's essential to keep going, but we've been walking for the best part of a day now and we need a good rest, otherwise we're just going to fold at the first opportunity." Izzy looked at him, puzzled.

"I agree, but why are you putting this proposition to me and not Tai?" Joe shrugged.

"You seem to have taken over Matt's post temporarily. I just thought Tai might take it better from you, that's all. Izzy, we really need a rest – when Mimi stops whining, I start worrying." Izzy smiled; just a small smile with a lot of pain behind it, but nevertheless a smile.

"Joe, you never stop worrying! Okay, I'll try." Joe nodded and returned to his position with TK at the rear. Kari turned her head.

"Thanks Joe." She said quietly. He flushed slightly.

"That's okay, you need some rest." The smaller, dark-haired girl smiled gently at Joe.

"Not as much as Mimi." She replied, "Gatomon's been helping me carry Yokomon, but Palmon can't carry things for long periods of time without digivolving, so Mimi's had extra work." Joe stared at the girl in amazement. Mimi blushed faintly and hung her head.

"Mimi, if you'd only asked …" Joe trailed off as she shook her head.

"Joe, you and TK have a very dangerous role bringing up the rear." She said. "I'm in a protected position here in the middle. I can't ask you to put yourselves and the rest of us at risk by carrying Tsunamon for me; what if we were attacked?" Joe was really gobsmacked. Mimi, thinking of the good of the group before her own comfort? How long had this particular development been creeping up on her? Why hadn't he noticed it before? Involuntarily, he turned his gaze towards Kari and their eyes met. She gave him a tiny knowing shrug and a complex grimace, which seemed to say "I'll talk to you later about that". Just then, Taichi called a rest period and began to assign lookouts. Joe and Gomamon found themselves on the first watch.

"Well, it looks like Izzy's good sense prevailed for once." Joe remarked quietly to his digi-companion as they settled themselves for their shift. Gomamon snorted.

"Just luck, I guess." He said, "On matters of opinion rather than knowledge or logic, Tai doesn't listen to anyone – except occasionally Matt." Joe sighed.

"Yeah, Matt. We need him very badly right now."

"And we need Sora, probably more so than Matt." The speaker, Kari, sat down next to Joe, followed by a flash of white as Gatomon made herself comfortable and began her nightly manicure. Joe looked up questioningly.

"Not that I want to underrate Sora's contribution to our happy band," he replied, "But in Matt's absence, we are a little short of men of action, and it's that type of strength that we need at the moment." Kari shook her head slowly.

"Friendship is very important in a group such as ours, when we are facing danger often," Kari continued, "But friendship alone can't survive for long without love. Tai is very uncomfortable without Matt at his side, but he is far more distressed knowing that Sora is at risk, and that he is not with her." Joe considered this in silence for a short while.

"We're all trying to cover for each other and for those who are missing," continued Kari's quiet voice, "But in the very attempt we are even more painfully aware of the gaping holes in our partnership."

"So is that why Mimi is coping with the difficulties of this journey so much better than usual?" Joe asked her, "Because she is trying to step into Sora's shoes, like Izzy into Matt's?" Kari's solemn face broke into a genuinely amused smile and she shook her head wonderingly.

"Joe, Joe." She sighed in exasperation, "Will you never learn to look beyond your nose?"

"What?" Joe was totally confused. Still shaking her head, Kari stood up.

"Mimi has been suffering a lot since Sora and Matt were kidnapped - but she does not worry for them with equal attention." And before he could question her further, she started to walk away.

"I must get some rest – my watch is next. Goodnight Joe." Still chuckling, she left to find a place to sleep. Joe tried to work it out but it beat him.

"I'll never understand girls." He muttered under his breath.

"Not until you treat them like people instead of aliens." He jumped at the unexpected voice and whirled round. Gatomon fixed him with her unwinking gaze and nonchalantly licked a paw.

"What did you say?" Joe demanded. Gatomon shrugged.

"If you only paid attention, you might find out the answer to some of your questions."

"You mean that Mimi …" Gatomon growled quietly, negatively.

"What I'm referring to has nothing whatsoever to do with Mimi." With a sudden leap, the graceful cat digimon had disappeared into the darkness after her beloved mistress. Joe stared after her, completely baffled.

"Gomamon, did you hear…?" The words died on his lips as he observed the seal digimon red-faced with suppressed laughter. At the sight of Joe's quizzical face, Gomamon exploded into loud guffaws of hysterical mirth. Muffled protests came from sleepy humans and digimon.

"Hey, can't a guy get some shut-eye!" hissed Taichi, irritably. Gomamon put a sock in it with difficulty, and by the time he had his laughter under control, Joe felt strangely unwilling to discuss its cause. He was uncomfortably aware of missing a beat somewhere, and with three people supposedly in the know about something that had totally eluded him, he concluded that discretion was the better part of it.

Joe's watch gave way to Kari's. Gomamon was already asleep and Joe hadn't the heart to disturb him, so he lay down next to him where they were. He watched Kari and Gatomon settle nearby and listened to the low murmur of their conversation until sleep finally overtook him. Gatomon's sensitive ears registered the deepening of his breathing pattern. She glanced over at Joe and his digimon, curled up together, and pondered.

"They're not so different in character underneath." Kari spoke quietly into her friend's ear. Gatomon twitched her whiskers in agreement.

"Gomamon is Joe with more confidence in what he can do."

"He's more laid back about life you mean!" The two giggled quietly.

"He is not aware of you yet." Gatomon spoke flatly. Kari's expression did not falter.

"I know that."

"He thinks you are still a child." Still Kari did not look at her friend.

"Perhaps he is right." She said eventually. The silence was deep but companionable. Gatomon stirred.

"I will take a little walk, I think." She stretched each limb carefully, "I am not happy about our present situation, although I think it unlikely that we will be attacked tonight." Kari looked up.

"Take care."

"Don't I always?"

"Take extra care tonight. I am not sure, but I sense something more than just these Arachnamon." Kari paused, Gatomon waited. "There is a brooding sense of evil in this place, a malevolence, a wish to do harm which I have not experienced before in the digiworld." Gatomon blinked her great eyes.

"I too sense a wrongness here, but unlike you I fear that I may recognise it." Kari's head jerked up.

"Why have you not mentioned this before?"

"I was not sure – I am still not positive. That is what I am going to try to discover." Kari nodded and said no more as Gatomon departed noiselessly to begin her reconnaissance. Kari knew that her friend was without doubt one of the best spies in the business: a scent on the air, a little whisper of sound – something, anything might give her a faint clue as to the state of things in this strange world beneath the earth, and she was best left to pursue her craft alone.

When Izzy took over watch from Kari and Gatomon still had not returned, Kari did not worry unduly. She knew her friend always had good reason for anything she did, but when Taichi roused them all and told them to eat the rest of the food they were carrying as they walked, a small needle of concern began to jab at her. She pushed her way forward and caught hold of Taichi's sleeve.

"Tai," she began, "I need to …"

"Not now, Kari," he said, irritably, "We must get going."

"Tai, Gatomon is missing." She told him, flatly, "She went out on reconnaissance last night, and she hasn't returned." Taichi was furious; Kari scarcely remembered ever having seen him so angry.

"What in digiworld did you think you were doing letting her go like that? Now that's another of us to worry about, not to mention being a crucial member of the assault force down at a critical time. Kari, I don't know how you could be so irresponsible!"

"Tai, Gatomon doesn't belong to me, she's simply my friend." Protested Kari, "I can't forbid her to take a walk any more than you can control Agumon in that way!"

"Agumon obeys my orders, just like you should be doing …"

"Tai, that's enough - just stop shouting at people. Gatomon's not here, that's plain. Now all we can do is carry on ourselves and hope that she joins us shortly. Gatomon's a much better tracker than any of us, and if she's at all able to, she will catch us up wherever we are. Now stop ripping up Kari for something that isn't her fault and start leading!" The voice was Joe's. Taichi's jaw hung open in amazement, Mimi and TK were completely lost for words.

"Tai, before we move off, I need to speak to you about this programme of Gennai's." Izzy jumped in quickly, pulling Taichi away into a huddle over his laptop before he could retaliate. Joe let out a pent-up breath and flushed a dull, angry red.

"I'm sorry guys, I must be more strung out than I thought." Joe sighed.

"Relax, Joe," Gomamon padded over to him, "Someone had to cool down Mr. Hothead there. I'm glad you managed it 'cos Kari didn't deserve what he said."

"That's okay, Gomamon." Kari smiled gently at his goofy face, "I get torn apart by my big brother quite frequently. He doesn't really mean it. But I was grateful that Joe stuck up for me – it's a little hard to fight Tai all on my own!" Kari flashed a grateful smile of such brilliance at Joe that he flushed brick red. The others relaxed, the tension dissolved and at that moment Izzy and Taichi finished their discussion and came over to the others.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Kari; I overreacted." Taichi ran a hand through his more than usually wild hair and sighed. "I'm sure Gatomon knows what she's doing, but we need to keep an eye open for anything unusual that might relate to her, just in case she's in some kind of trouble. Now, let's move!"

The humans and digimon set off once again in the darkness, munching the food they had kept back until it was all finished. Now they knew they had to find Sora and Matt and free them from whatever was holding them prisoner within the next few hours, or they would be too weak to do battle. Izzy finished chewing his apple, core and all, and took out his laptop. He tapped at it for a few minutes, then studied it closely, trying to dislodge a stray pip from between his teeth.

"Yes!" he muttered, explosively, "I was right!" He turned to the grim-faced boy next to him.

"Tai!" he said, excitedly, "What I was telling you just now? About the signals changing position? They are definitely moving away from their original spot. It was quite slow at first, but now they are really motoring. We're going to have to adjust our route to intercept them."

"Hmm!" Taichi stroked his lower lip thoughtfully, "Now that's interesting. The question is, are they moving or being moved? Are the Arachnamon taking them somewhere - or have they escaped?"