Magician's Note: This is yet another sequel. In fact, it is the sequel to a sequel, the first sequel being Spiders and Skeletons, and the second sequel being…well, this. Please enjoy it, but read the other stories first, as it'll make very little sense if you don't. Pie!
************
"Thence woke to being all broods of evil,
monsters and elves and spirits of darkness,
giants likewise, that for days long and dreary,
warred against God; he paid them their wages."
—Beowulf—
"Like one who, on a lonely road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And, having once turned round, walks on,
And no more turns his head.
Because he knows a frightful fiend,
Doth close behind him tread."
—Frankenstein—
************
"Now don't peek,' said Retailmon. He fanned the deck of cards out in front of him.
"I thought you said we were going to play 'Go Fish'," said Kari, sounding disappointed.
"We can play Fish after we finish this game, okay?"
"Okay." Tai, standing in the doorway to Gennai's living room, watched this with interest. Retailmon pulled a card from the deck and held it in front of his face with the back facing Kari.
"I want you to try and tell me what's on this card," he said.
"How?" asked Kari. "I can't see it."
"Guess." Kari frowned in thought.
"Is it…an eight?" Retailmon didn't answer. Instead, he took a second card and held it out as he had the first.
"What about this one?" While Tai watched, Sora walked quietly up behind him and peered over his shoulder.
"What are they doing?" she asked.
"Remember how Kari said she heard that voice in the forest?" When Sora nodded, he said, "When I told Gennai about it, he thought she might have some kind of extra sense. He says this is a classic way to test it."
"Do you think he's right?" Sora asked, looking surprised. Tai just shrugged.
"I don't really know. Kari's been right about weird little things, but what Gennai is suggesting is, like, LSD or something." Sora covered her mouth and tried to hide her laughter. "What?" Tai demanded. "What's so funny?"
"LSD is a drug, Tai. I think you mean ESP."
"Er…right. I knew that. But seriously, I don't think it's anything that big."
"Why not?" asked Sora. Tai grinned and gestured to the two in the living room.
"Because she's guessing eight for every card." Sora paused and listened.
"What about this one?"
"Eight again."
"And this one?"
"Um…eight."
"Are you sure?"
"Am I wrong?" The Digimon paused, then shrugged.
"Never mind. We're done anyway." He started to put the cards away.
"Wait," said Kari, "don't you want to play Fish?"
"Right," Retailmon said. He sounded distracted, clearly having forgotten about this. "We'll play in just a moment. Will you go wait in the other room?" Kari nodded and went out. As soon as she was gone, Tai walked over and plopped down.
"Well," he said, "that was a bust."
"What makes you say that?" asked Retailmon nonchalantly.
"She guessed the same for every card. There's no way she could have been right." Retailmon's smile hummed to life. He held up the deck which was now back in its box.
"These are magician's cards, used for tricks. Every one is an eight of spades."
************
"So," asked Gennai, setting a huge plate on the table, "who's hungry?" The Digi-Destined stared at it with distaste.
"Oh," said Joe, trying not to cry, "fish." He stifled a groan as their host plopped a huge piece of trout onto his plate.
"It looks…even better than last night's fish, Gennai," said Matt with forced enthusiasm, "thanks."
"It does look good," agreed Mimi, "it's too bad I'm allergic to fish."
"Right," said Gennai quickly, "I put your steamed vegetables under the fish so you could get all the wonderful the
flavor without any of the hives." Mimi turned green at this display of thoughtfulness.
"Wow," said Gomamon joyfully, "It's fish again!". "We never get to have fish eight nights in a row at the cave!" He turned to Joe with a mouthful of tuna, "Can we just live with Gennai forever?"
Collectively, every human at the table said, "NO!"
"Why not?" asked Gennai, looking hurt. "You don't like my cooking?"
"We love your cooking," Sora assured him, "we just don't want to overstay our welcome."
"Oh, you're always wel--"
"Which is why we'll be leaving as soon as we find that monster," said Tai. "Right everyone?" Everyone agreed, just a little too eagerly.
************
"You'd think it could do this itself," thought Gendamon grumpily. He crouched in the shadows and waited until the ape came down from the tree. Fast as lightning, he sprang upon it and sank his needlelike fangs deep into its neck.
Despite the sedative toxin he was pumping into its body, it still put up quite a fight. As the creature thrashed, a familiar black dust drifted down from the night sky and settled on the beast's back. After a moment, it stopped struggling. Gendamon leaped off and looked expectantly at it.
"Well? What about this one?" There was a pause as the ape examined its hands and looked itself over. It opened its mouth as if to speak, then froze. The head jerked first to one side, then the other, and Gendamon recoiled as the ape's entire chest ruptured and exploded outward. The black dust floated up and spiraled, almost casually, in the space above him.
"Still not good enough, eh?" the spider asked, not trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. Why did it have to be so picky anyway? "All right, we'll find another one. Come on."
************
Gennai looked over the plates from dinner with confusion. The only ones who had even made a dent in their fish were the Digimon, and that was really just Gomamon. He couldn't understand for the life of him how anyone could resist such exquisite fish, (why anyone would want to, for that matter) but decided not to mull over it too much. He dropped the plates carelessly into the sink and went into his living room where everyone was waiting.
"All right," he said, stepping up to the projector screen, "can I please have everyone's attention?" He had most of it already, but Tentomon, Gomamon, and Patamon were huddled in the corner by his bookshelf, laughing hysterically about something. "That includes Digimon, boys." The three managed to tone down to quiet snickers while he spoke.
"Basically, I'd like to know what everyone found on their scouting missions. We've been sending out several teams daily, but we haven't really shared everything at once, and I think it's important that everyone stay informed."
"No one's seen much of anything, Gennai," said Sora. "Unless you count that little, er, incident with the S'moremon." She shuddered at the memory.
"I don't," said Gennai, "those stupid beasts are always causing trouble. What I mean is, has anyone seen anything unusual? Even vaguely out of the ordinary will do." There was a long moment of silence as everyone pondered this.
"Well," said Matt slowly, "Gabumon and I did see something a little strange the first day…"
"That's right," Gabumon agreed, "but I forgot all about it after we ran into that poison ivy bush." He and Matt both scratched involuntarily.
"What was it?" coaxed Gennai.
"We found a clearing full of cows," Matt recalled, "Tentomon told us later they were called Bovinmon, but that wasn't the weird thing. There was this creepy little spider, and it was fighting with a huge bull. Gabumon took it out pretty easily, but the spider seemed pretty ticked, and yelled at us until we left." He shrugged. "I dunno, that just seemed kinda odd, considering he was about to be a pancake." Gennai rubbed his moustache thoughtfully.
"A spider, you say? Hmm…"
"What is it, Gennai?" asked Sora.
"I'm not sure, but I think there was something in a prophecy about a spider. It was on the same tablet," he added,
"that we used to defeat Myotismon in Japan." He stepped away from the screen and turned to Retailmon. "I'm going to go work on translating that prophecy. Would you mind holding down the fort for a while? This could take some time."
"Me? You want to leave me in charge?" Retailmon asked, surprised and beaming. "Thank you! I'm honored, Gennai."
"Don't let it go to your head," the old man warned, heading for his workshop, "all you'll really be doing is making dinner and scaling fish." The Digi-Destined groaned inwardly.
"Ah," said Retailmon slowly, "so I've actually been downgraded from traveling salesman to fish cook. Interesting."
************
"It would appear," said Gendamon as he stepped onto sand, "that we've run out of trees." He looked out across the moonlit beach, wondering if they'd have any better luck here than they'd had in the forest. White sand stretched for miles in either direction, and dark water crashed against it with stars reflecting brightly across the surface.
The black dust swept low in front of him, which he interpreted as, "It can't hurt to try." With a resigned sigh, he set out once again, and wondered if he would ever not have to be searching for something. First he had had to find the mountain, and now this new development had reared its head. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't see the spiny lump until he tripped over it, and he landed facedown on the soft ground. Spitting sand, he climbed to his feet and turned to see a Pukumon hauling itself from the ground with thick, muscular arms.
"Whaddya think yer doin' on my beach, punk?" it snarled.
"Your beach, is it?' Gendamon asked cautiously. This could be exactly what he was looking for; Pukumon spent a lot of time in the ground and weren't too bright, but they were mesomorphic and incredibly tough. Its head was covered with a spiked shell that ended just above its red eyes, and muscular arms protruded from underneath it. In a strange biological twist, it had no legs to speak of.
"Yeah, it's my beach. You got a problem with that?
"No, no problem at all," the spider assured him, "I was just wondering if you would mind if I built a condo here. A little one, mind you." The other Digimon paused, and Gendamon waited while the question found its way through his exceptionally thick skull.
"What're you talkin' about? What's a condo?" He raised his fists threateningly. "Don't you mess wit' me, or I'll whop yer head in."
"I'm sure you will, you legless, illiterate, underdeveloped freak of nature," Gendamon thought scornfully. Out loud, he said, "It's rather like an apartment complex. It would only take up," he looked around, pretending to estimate distance, "a few thousand feet."
"What?! Are you outta yer buggy little mind?" The Pukumon raised itself onto its fists and half-walked, half-dragged itself up to Gendamon. "There's no way I'm lettin' you have any of my beach, and you can forget about a few thousand feet!" He swung a fist back and punched Gendamon hard enough to make an unpleasant 'crunch'. As it turned out, this was all the black dust needed to see. It hurtled down and enveloped the Pukumon, swirling around it for a few moments in a dark cloud. Then it found the mouth and shot down its unfortunate victim's throat. The creature jerked around limply on the sand, then started to bubble as if it were made of wax. It reared up and began to change shape, and as it transformed, Gendamon could only wonder what he had gotten himself into.
************
"Gin," said Gomamon cheerfully. "That's two hundred, five million and sixty dollars you owe me, Joe." Joe stared sullenly at the carpet.
"Right. I'll give it to you as soon as I figure out why I even agreed to play this stupid game."
"Because the only alternative was doing dishes, and the dishwater smelled like fish, and you said if you ever smelled fish again you would give a new meaning to the phrase 'projectile vomit', and blow big drippy chunks all over Gennai's kitchen."
"Oh," said Joe, "I knew it was something like that, but thanks for putting it in such graphic detail."
"My pleasure," said Gomamon. "How about double or nothing?" Joe sighed.
************
At long last, Gendamon's search seemed to be over. He had found his master, and his master had a body suitable to his needs. The spider stared at the dark form on the ground, then stepped back as it rose to its feet. He realized with amazement that it actually had feet; all traces of the Pukumon had vanished. In its place was a humanoid figure of a most striking design.
He was completely garbed in black. His clothes were loose, but not overly so, and seemed to absorb any light that had the courage to approach him. His hands were long and pale, and the bones showed through tightly drawn skin.
Most of his head was covered in the same black cloth his clothes were made of, and a short ponytail ran down his spine. All of this, however, seemed to fade away when Gendamon saw his face. It was exposed in a shape similar to that of a capital 'y', and the skin was silver. Luminescent green eyes pierced the night, and Gendamon shivered. He gave off a feeling of cunning, intelligence, and above all, power. After a long moment, Gendamon found his voice again.
"Are…are you…?" he asked haltingly, staring up at the dark man. He turned his glowing eyes down to the spider.
"I am," he said. Gendamon felt his breath escape in a rush and excitement pounded in his chest. This was it. This was him.
"Devyn."
************
Matt couldn't breathe.
Everywhere, silver and black circuitry loomed. He thrashed and kicked, but his breath was gone, stolen by the dark world that surrounded him.
Somewhere, a voice, smooth and soft, promised him salvation.
Join us.
Join me.
Or die.
"NO!" he gasped, sitting straight up. His chest heaved faster than he knew it could, and sweat poured off him and soaked his sleeping bag until it stuck to him. "What the heck was that?" he wondered, trying to will his night vision to kick in. "That was a whole new nightmare." After a few minutes of deep breathing, he managed to get himself back under control. He slipped quietly outside as he had for the past eight nights. You fell into habits when you woke up shaking every night, he thought, wandering across the bridge in Gennai's yard. He sat down on the smooth wood and let out a deep sigh. He had never had dreams this terrible in his entire life, and now he was getting one or two every night. "Freud would get a kick out of me," he thought scornfully, "probably say it has something to do with my mother." He stared blankly into the night until he heard the boards of the bridge creak under stress. He turned and saw Sora walking quietly toward him.
"Matt? Are you okay?" He sighed again, and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm all right. Just having some wild dreams." She slid down beside him and dangled her legs over the side of the bridge.
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Not really."
She waited for a moment, then said, "If these dreams are bad enough that they wake you up for a week running, then you might want to get them off your chest." He turned and looked at her in surprise.
"You knew?" She shrugged.
"It's kind of hard not to when the person sleeping beside you gasps themselves awake every night. You shouldn't keep things inside you like this. You'll end up just like Joe."
"How do you know Joe's not my idol?" he asked.
"Is he?"
"Nah. My idol is Tinky Winky, from the Teletubbies."
"I really hope you're kidding." He grinned and assured her he was. "I'm serious though," she said, "you should talk about something if it's bothering you this much."
"You act like you've never had a nightmare before," he muttered.
"I have, just not one that wakes me every single night. But," she said, getting to her feet, "if you really don't want to, I can't make you tell me. You know where to find me." She started back toward the house.
"Sora," he said quietly, and she paused. "You're right." She sat back down, and put her hand on his back.
"So," she said, smiling lightly, "what's so awful it could make our fearless Matt lose sleep?" He shook his head in frustration.
"That's the problem: I don't know. I had the old one down; it was someone who wanted me to give you guys up. Betray you. I dunno where it came from, maybe some leftover from fighting Myotismon. But this new one is…a lot worse. And I can't even remember it yet."
"Do you think it means anything?"
"What are you," he asked, "the new team counselor?"
"Sorry," she said, sounding hurt, "but I just think we should pay attention to things like this. It looks like Kari may be developing some kind of sixth sense, and if you're having prophetic dreams--"
"They're not 'prophetic'," he retorted. "They're just stupid nightmares that keep me up at night and make me even less pleasant the next day." He paused. "Kari's got a sixth sense?"
"Didn't you know? Retailmon did a few basic tests, then Gennai used some stuff to scan her brainwaves. He was spouting all kinds of techno-babble, but that was the gist of it."
"Wow," Matt breathed, "what a mind job. Does she know?"
"You mean Kari? She just thought it was a check up. That's what Tai told her; he didn't want to scare her."
"Is it all the time?"
"Yep. One of the things Retailmon tried was having her guess what was on cards. She got every one right."
Matt nodded thoughtfully, then stood up.
"I actually do a feel a little better. Thanks, Sora." She smiled up at him.
"No problem. If you need to talk about anything else, just tell me." He nodded and started to walk away, then looked back.
"This isn't gonna turn into a romance fic, is it?"
"Not on your life."
************
Thoughts raced through Gendamon's mind, as numerous as the stars in the sky above him. He walked next to Devyn and tried to make his mouth keep up with the questions that came forth, finding the task nearly impossible.
"Why me?"
"Because," said Devyn after a short pause, "I needed you."
"I know, but why me specifically? Why not some other Digimon?"
"Your soul is right. I'm not the same as you, Gendamon, and because of that I know things you never can."
"What sort of things?"
"Never mind that. For the time being, anyway. For now, just be content to know that no other being, human, Digimon, or otherwise, could have filled in your place." The spider had to work hard to keep his chest from puffing with pride at hearing this. Him, irreplaceable! He'd had no idea he would ever do anything important, let alone be a critical part in Devyn's plan.
After a while, he asked, "What do we do now? Do you know?" Devyn's green eyes glowed with excitement.
"Yes." The next thing Gendamon wanted to ask was when they would start, but it seemed somehow foolish. He didn't need to know everything; Devyn was here to tell him when the time was right. He was insatiably curious though, and couldn't resist one last inquiry.
"Will you always need me?" The green eyes slowly turned to him, and Gendamon knew the answer was yes.
************
A feeling of dread filled Tai's stomach as he watched the sun rise slowly over the hills. He had left the lake to watch it come up, and partially to prolong what he knew would happen when he returned to Gennai's house.
Breakfast.
Omelets.
Fish omelets.
He swallowed, and tried to will the bile rising in his throat back down. With a heavy sigh, he stood and trudged down the steps to meet his fate.
************
"Keep your stupid mouth closed," Gendamon chided himself, "and you won't get sand in it." He glanced up at Devyn to see if he was having the same problem. He was. That was the one thing that bothered the Digimon about his new lord and master: he wasn't perfect. During his two months of searching, Gendamon had developed a pristine vision of Devyn in his mind, and it had been shattered by the fact that he seemed to have weaknesses just as anyone else. There was no doubt he was powerful, but a desert sandstorm was just as much of an obstacle to him as anybody.
"I think we're almost there," said Devyn, shouting to make himself heard over the howling winds. Gendamon nodded in reply, although he doubted his response mattered much. Devyn seemed to be completely wrapped up in his thoughts, and the spider was on the edge of his proverbial seat with excitement. He had no idea what was going to happen next, but it was going to be interesting at the very least. Over the next dune, he could make out the peak of a stone building, weathered by time and wind, but still strong.
"A pyramid," he thought. "Could there be something inside it? Is that what we're here for?" They trudged on for a few more minutes, Gendamon's claws leaving birdlike tracks in the sand, Devyn's heavy boots leaving tread marks.
At last, he slowed and they stood amid the screaming winds. Gendamon looked toward the structure, which was still a good bit off. Maybe not in it, he wondered, but just around it? He looked questioningly at Devyn, but Devyn was occupied. His face was rigid with concentration, several veins visible against his silver skin. Teeth gritted, sweating with effort, he was making the ground beneath him fall away. As Gendamon watched, the sand simply dug itself back until there was a deep crater beneath his master, who hung in the air. All at once, his arms shot straight up.
There was a monumental noise, a huge roaring, and something began to emerge from the sand. It was black and silver, and seemed to pulse with its own life although it was clearly a machine. Gendamon started to look for Devyn, but realized that he was already standing beside him.
"Do you see it?" he asked, his voice filled with wonder and exhilaration. "Do you see it, my friend?"
"What…is it?" Gendamon asked, also awestruck.
"It is a power as old as time itself…or perhaps even older. It was once harnessed by another Digimon, a fool called Etemon who claimed to have built it. He was wrong, though. He thought he had control over it, but in reality it was controlling him."
"I still don't understand," said the spider, wishing for a straight answer, "what is it used for? What does it do?"
"This, my dear arachnid, is the ultimate might. It will do whatever it is told, but only by one who can control it. And no one ever could…until now. I will succeed where others have failed," he cried, throwing his arms out to the sphere of black and silver, "I will harness its power! I will take its power!" A high pitched whine began deep inside the mass of technology before him as if acknowledging his vows. "I will control the Dark Network!" Thick silver cables exploded outward and snaked like conscious vines toward Devyn, embedding themselves in his chest and sides. He screamed, half out of pain, half out of pleasure, as the throbbing, pulsating sphere before him began to grow.
************
"Is Green Peace just dedicated to saving dolphins, or all fish?" Tai wondered aloud.
"Why?" Matt asked.
"Because, if it's all fish, then we could say we've become members and never have to eat another halibut omelet again."
"I don't think Gennai is that gullible," said Matt with a grin, "but I bet we can come up with something if we keep at it. I didn't even know there were so many kinds of fish."
"The thing that amazes me is that they all taste exactly the same," said Sora. She sat down beside them and sighed, glad to be out of the seafood-scented kitchen. They were on the bridge overlooking Gennai's stream. It was about ten o'clock in the morning, and everyone had just finished another odious fish meal. Now, there seemed to be nothing to do but wait until Retailmon gave the go-ahead to start the scouting missions. For the time being, however, everyone was content with a moment of nothing.
"Maybe we could steal all the fish from his fridge and replace it with tofu or something," said Tai brightly.
"Tofu?" said Sora and Matt in unison.
"Sure. You can make tofu look like whatever you want, and anything is better than more fish, right?" There was a long silence as they tried to decide if it would work.
"I think--" said Matt, but no one ever found out what he thought. Retailmon, followed by the rest of the Digi-Destined, had just emerged from the house. The monsters were in their Metal forms, and everyone was clearly ready to go.
"All right," said Retailmon, "I'm willing to bet you all know the drill pretty well by now."
"Cover a twenty mile grid…" said Joe mechanically.
"…report anything unusual…" added Mimi.
"…and above all else--" said Tai.
"—be careful!" bellowed the entire group. Gennai gave them the exact same speech every morning, and they could each recite it by heart.
"Right," said Retailmon. "Well, off you go then." Birdramon leaned down and extended a ramp from her chest, allowing Sora to climb in. Overhead, the lake split open, and the Digimon who were able to fly (namely SonicBirdramon, MetalGomamon, and Hyperactive MetalPatamon) rocketed out. On the ground, Gatomon transformed into her dune buggy mode, and Kari, Tai, and Agumon clambered inside. She squealed her tires, kicked up a dust cloud, and shot up the steps.
"I want to be a transformer," said Gabumon enviously.
************
The sand closed slowly over the Dark Network, boosting Gendamon's confusion to a record high.
"I don't understand," he said to a calmly smiling Devyn, "why did we wander over miles of desert just so we could bury it all over again?"
"Patience, my eager friend," said Devyn soothingly. "We've done all we can do for now. The catalyst has been provided, and all that's left is to go about our other business while we wait. The time will come." He pulled on a heavy black trench coat, hiding his torn shirt. Gendamon wasn't sure where the coat had come from, but he was becoming increasingly more convinced than ever that there was more to Devyn than just a man with a silver face.
"Other business? There's something else we have to do?" The dark man nodded calmly.
"Yes, there is a great deal left to do. I know," he said, and his voice took on an apologetic tone, "that you're very tired of searching for things. But I need you to go on one last hunt." He reached into a pocket Gendamon hadn't even known was there and handed the spider a small piece of paper. "Find these for me."
"But I already--"
"Trust me," said Devyn, and Gendamon did. "And don't worry," he added, "I won't be sitting idle. I have a task of my own to complete. Meet me back here once you're done." In the blink of an eye, he had vanished.
"Wonderful," muttered the Digimon, "he teleports around while I get stuck lumping along in a burning desert all day. But do I complain? Nooo, I don't complain, and that's just peachy."
************
"What about eggs?" suggested Izzy.
"What about them?" asked Tai.
"We could scramble some eggs, then shape them to look like fish and paint them." Tai stared dubiously at the screen.
"I dunno…I still think tofu would work better." Matt appeared beside Izzy, holding something gray in his hands.
"How about this clay? It's simple, it's easy, and with a little sculpting and some paint, it would look just like fish." Tai opened his mouth to remind Matt they would have to eat whatever they used, then steadied the computer as Gatomon went over a bump. Each of the kids was now equipped with a small gray laptop for communication purposes, courtesy of Retailmon and his bottomless briefcase.
"I think we should just tell him how tired everyone is of fish," said Kari quietly.
"Nah," said Tai, shaking his head, "we don't want to hurt his feelings."
"Like discovering a pile of tofu in place of the meal he made wouldn't hurt his feelings?" Matt shot back. "I still think we should use clay, right Tai? Tai?" Tai wasn't listening. Gatomon had pulled over and the four were now inspecting a very odd mess on the grassy forest floor.
"What is it?" Kari. She stood behind her brother, not wanting to get to close to the thing.
"The question," said Gatomon, "is what was it?" Tai poked it with a stick, and a horde of flies buzzed away.
"It was some kind of Digimon," he muttered.
"An Apemon," said Agumon. "I wonder what happened to it?"
"It looks like it," said Kari, swallowing nervously, "popped." All four of them took an involuntary step back. "Do you think the monster did this?"
"Could be," said Tai solemnly. "We may have just picked up the trail again. Everybody spread out. Look for clues that could tell us which way it went. Footprints, broken branches, anything." They each walked in opposite directions, examining everything they passed. After about ten minutes of silence, there was a shout from Agumon.
Tai rushed over, followed by Kari and Gatomon.
"What is it?" shouted the cat. "What did you find?"
"Is it the monster?" asked Tai.
"No," said Agumon excitedly. "Better!" He was standing by a bush and poking his nose inside, and occasionally licking his ample chops. Tai walked cautiously up and peeked in, then stared in amazed joy.
"Chicken…" he breathed. There was a sudden stampede as Kari and her Digimon fought to get a good look. Indeed, there was a Digimon that looked a great deal like a very large, very plump chicken clucking around in the grove.
"Chicken," Gatomon agreed.
"Yum," Kari added. Agumon said nothing. He was to busy drooling. They pulled back from the bush and got into a huddle.
"Okay," said Tai, "this is our only chance, unless we want to be eating salmon every day for the rest of our lives. We have to catch that thing, and we have to do it now."
"It's so plump and juicy…" slobbered Agumon.
"Yeah, it is. That's why it's gonna be dinner tonight. Gatomon, you have an net, right?" Gatomon held up her right arm and a small panel slid back.
"One net launcher, built right in."
"Okay, you try and grab it with that. If she misses, Agumon can try and hit it with a fireball. Even singed chicken is better that no chicken."
"What about us?" Kari asked. "We can't let them do all the work."
"Right," said Tai. "You and I will be the backup in case it tries to run away. Everybody got it?"
"Have at thee, knave," said Agumon enthusiastically.
"What?" Tai asked, confused.
"Gomamon got him to read some book by a guy named Shakespeare," said Gatomon, rolling her eyes. "He and Tentomon have been talking like that for a while, and it looks like they've gotten Agumon too."
"I didn't even know you could read," said Tai. Agumon shrugged. "Whatever. Let's go." They spread out around the bush, with Tai and Kari each hiding behind a tree. Gatomon readied her net, leapt out, and fired.
"Missed!" she shouted. "Agumon, nail it!" He tried, but the fowl was too fast, dodging each fireball with expert moves. Tai tried to tackle it as it ran by, but it went underneath him and he ended up with a mouthful of dirt. Kari watched it run by.
"Why didn't you go after it?" Tai asked. He spat out some mud and wiped his face off.
"I thought I heard something." All three of them froze.
"What kind of something?"
"I'm not sure," she said curiously, "it sounded a little like singing."
"Hmm…singing, voices. Close enough. Everybody be ready to fight."
"What about the Chickenmon?" asked Agumon, pointing. It was standing bay the base of a tree, scratching at the ground for seeds. Tai's stomach growled audibly.
"Right. Dinner first, then fight. Let's get it!" The chicken 'bawked' nervously.
************
"Back in the woods," Gendamon growled. "Well that's all right. I like the woods. It doesn't bother me at all that I'd been in them for the past eight days!" He stormed through the colorful underbrush, kicking aside various smaller Digimon that got in his way. "Whatever he wants this for, it had better be very, very good."
************
" 'Let's get it,' ", muttered Gatomon. " 'Let's get it'. Any other brilliant suggestions, oh fearless leader?" Tai glowered at her.
"How was I supposed to know it could shoot electricity? It looked like a chicken!" He brushed at his burned clothes for emphasis.
"Do you still want it?" asked Kari.
"Why?"
"Because, it's right over there." She pointed to the bird, which was staring at them from behind a large leaf. Tai and Gatomon exchanged hungry glances.
"This time," said Tai, "we will get it." Gatomon nodded, and the merry chase began once again. The chicken dashed into a patch of dense shrubs, and they crashed through after it.
************
Gendamon blinked in surprise.
"Well, what do you know," he said happily. "Looks like my work has been done for me." He took a step toward the Chickenmon, which had just come bursting through a wall of bushes in front of him. "Come on, little birdy. Come to uncle Gendamon…"
"Buh-gawk!" said the chicken, and darted back into the foliage.
"Oh, for crying out loud," shouted Gendamon in frustration, "why can't anything ever be easy?" He plunged into the sea of leaves after his target.
************
For the next few minutes, nothing seemed to make sense. Tai, Gatomon, Kari, and Agumon came from one direction, while Gendamon and a very distressed chicken came from the other. They slammed into each other and tumbled to the ground, a pile of tangled bodies. Tai kicked his way free, as did Gendamon, and they stared at each other in surprise.
"Hey," said Tai, "you're that spider!"
"You're a Digi-Destined!" said Gendamon. They stared a little longer, not quite sure how to proceed.
"Um, well, we'll be taking our chicken now," said Tai, getting to his feet.
"Your chicken?" repeated Gendamon. "That's my chicken!"
"Oh yeah? We'll fight you for it!"
"Not good timing," thought the spider with alarm. Out loud, he said, "How about we just talk this over?" Tai gave him a superior grin.
"Whatsa matter? Chicken?"
"No," said Gendamon, "you just seem to be a little tied up at the moment." Before Tai could react, a line of sticky web spun from the Digimon's mouth and wrapped him into a neat bundle.
"Hey!" Tai protested. "Lemme go!"
"Not likely," said Gendamon cheerfully. He webbed the now-unconscious chicken and started to drag it away, but stopped abruptly when Gatomon stepped in front of him.
"Going somewhere, bug?"
"Actually," he said, "yes." Seizing the Chickenmon with two of his arms, he threw it at the cat's face. She dodged, allowing it to fly past her head, which was exactly how he had hoped she would react. Leaping swiftly past her, he plucked the chicken from midair and disappeared into the bushes, leaving the four Digi-Destined reeling.
************
"Do you see something down there?" Sora asked, scanning the screens that surrounded her. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but she had thought there had been a commotion.
"What kind of something?" asked Birdramon, voice crackling over a speaker. Since Sora was inside her, communication had changed a little.
"I'm pretty sure it was Tai, " said Sora, "he was showing up on the radar, but I think we passed him."
"Should we go back?"
"Mmm…no, I don't think so. If it was anything really important, he would have called us." They rode on in silence for a few moments.
"We're coming to a desert," said Birdramon. Sora frowned.
"Really?" She tapped a few buttons on the console in front of her and got a picture of the vast, sandy expanse ahead.
"Wow. This world sure does change fast."
"Things do change fast, don't they?"
"Yeah." There was a companionable silence as they went, neither really needing to speak. Finally, Sora said, "about
Tai's idea for using tofu instead of fish…"
"I liked the egg idea better, myself," Birdramon said.
"Really?"
"Yes. I've never actually had tofu, but it sounds a little scary. Exactly what part of the bean is it? That's what I'd like to know."
"Well," started Sora, but she broke off as a shock went through Birdramon's metal frame. "What's wrong?" There was no reply. "Birdramon? Are you okay?" She tapped the console and saw with alarm that they were losing altitude quickly, and the ground was rising to meet them. "Birdramon, pull up! We're going to crash!"
"I'm afraid," said a calm, silky voice, "that your friend indisposed at the moment." The screens surrounding Sora blanked out briefly, then came back on with a new image on them. A man's face, but like no man she had ever seen now stared at her from all sides. His skin was silver, and his eyes glowed a bright green. He didn't look especially unkind, but there was still something dangerous about him.
"Who are you?" she demanded, trying hard not to think about how close the exceptionally hard ground must be by now.
"That's not important. In fact, you're not that important either. I just wanted to see what you look like before you crash." He smiled coldly. "You're quite pretty, actually." His face vanished from the screens, and everything went black.
************
"Something's wrong," said Izzy. Matt walked over and looked at the laptop from behind him.
"How wrong?"
"Very wrong. I've been tracking everyone all morning, but Sora just went off the radar."
"Went off the radar?" Matt repeated. "How is that possible? It covers the whole Digital world, doesn't it?"
"Yes. That's the problem. She shouldn't be able to disappear."
"Well, try and find her!"
"I will, if you'll stop breathing down my neck!" Izzy began typing furiously, and Matt paced Gennai's kitchen in the most helpful manner he could. The two of them, along with Mimi, TK, and their Digimon, had been told to take the second shift for scout patrol. Matt decided not to mention that it seemed as if Mimi got fewer shifts than anyone. After almost ten minutes, he finally stopped trying to wear out the floor and sat down next to Izzy.
"Isn't there something I can do?"
"Unless you know how to read and type Digi-World code," snapped Izzy irritably, "no."
"Fine," retorted Matt, "how about I just sit down and shut up?"
"Sounds like a plan."
"That was sarcasm."
"For sarcasm that was the best suggestion I've heard all day."
************
Tai trudged along in stony silence. Losing the only chicken he'd seen in months hadn't left him in a good mood, and it having been stolen by Gendamon hadn't helped. Gatomon walked beside him with an equally cheerful demeanor, and Agumon didn't seem much better. Kari was the only one who was still even trying to be pleasant.
"At least we know there's chicken here, right?" she suggested. Several monosyllabic grunts were offered up in reply.
"If we saw one, there must be more. We're sure catch another one sometime, so cheer up!"
"Hmph," said Agumon.
"Humph," Gatomon replied.
"Harumph," muttered Tai, then smiled despite himself. "I win. My grunt had the most letters."
************
Gennai's hands ran quickly over the smooth stone tablet, feeling the symbols rather than trying to read them. Deciphering these particular prophecies through reading was about as effective as eating steak through a straw, so he tried to think of them as a form of highly complicated Braille. He had noticed several recurring symbols, one of which he knew meant warrior. Another translated to angel, but there was a third giving him some trouble. He tried comparing it to the tablet that had been instrumental in Myotismon's defeat, and found that it was similar to the glyph for demon. There were a few extra lines on it that kept him puzzled for a bit though. Finally, its meaning dawned on him.
Spider.
************
Sora awoke to find herself in an extremely cold, extremely dark place.
"I'm a prisoner," was her first thought. It didn't seem real at first; people only got put in dark cells in movies. Then again, people generally didn't get stranded in a world composed of computer data with a bunch of talking monsters either. She rubbed here eyes, blinked a few times to get her night vision going, then stood up.
"I'm lucky I can stand up after that crash," she thought gratefully. She had fully expected to wake up dead. She didn't seem to be deceased though, and all her limbs were in working order, although one arm was a bit sore. There was something nagging at the back of her still-slightly-foggy mind, and she stumbled around foolishly looking for a light switch for a few minutes. Then it hit her, harder than any ton of bricks could ever hope to.
"Biyomon!" She sucked breath in so sharply she had to cough for a few seconds to get over it. Biyomon was not in the room with her. That crash… Her knees went weak, and for a few seconds she tottered on the edge of consciousness. She gave herself a mental slap, and after that didn't work, a real one. After a moment, she snapped back to reality and forced herself to think logically, no matter how painful it was. Biyomon might be dead, a fact she had to face. The room wasn't very big, and she had covered the whole floor in the vain search for light. That meant she was alone in her dark prison, seemingly with no way out.
"You have to stay calm. Panicking isn't going to save anyone." Feeling along the wall, which seemed to be made out of stone, Sora searched for any kind of cracks which might be a door. There was nothing.
"Breathe." She tried hard to inhale normally, but her chest was heaving. Dead…gone forever. But the bird had been in her Metal body. Wouldn't that have given her some added durability?
"Of course it would. That means she's fine. She's probably off somewhere right now in the desert, building sandcastles…" Sora gave herself a mental shake, realizing she was getting silly. Even the faintest glimmer of hope seemed to be enough to practically make her delirious.
"I think I had better sit down." She plopped down on the hard stone floor and hurt her backside, but didn't even care. Biyomon might be alive, probably was alive, and that was enough for now.
"And when I find her, I can tell her about all the fun I had in my dark little prison!" Right. She knew there had been another problem. With her confidence in Biyomon reinforced, the main thing now seemed to be escape. But how did one go about escaping from a pitch-black room made entirely of rock?
"What would the others do?" she wondered. Mimi would scream until someone rescued her. TK would probably start to cry, and Kari would probably just wait quietly. Matt would keep trying to find a trapdoor, or any kind of exit, which she guessed would be a futile search. Tai, she decided, would run around blindly and most likely knock an escape route in the wall with his head. Sora doubted her skull was as thick as Tai's, so she ruled this option out immediately. Joe would sit in a corner and complain to himself, and Izzy could calculate the weakest point in the stone and turn it to dust with a tap of his finger.
"But what can I do?" Crying and screaming wouldn't help, there was no door, and the wall was to thick to break down…waiting seemed to be the only choice. With a deep, exhausted sigh, she pushed her back against the cold wall. Before she realized it, she was asleep.
************
Reclining in a tall chair, Devyn let his mind wander. He sat in total darkness, although he could have lit the room with a thought. In one hand was Sora's crest. In the other was her Digivice. Having her nearby pleased him to no end, although she served no set part in his plan. The sheer thrill of capturing her had been almost intoxicating, and he was itching to bring her out. What would happen after, he wasn't sure.
"Not just yet, though. The time isn't right…" Drifting even further from conscious thought, his mind began to compose. This was an ability he had always had, even before acquiring a solid form, and it was all that had kept him going at times. Symphonic chords played a dark melody, a tale of gothic castles, cold-skinned monsters, and unspeakable actions. Gallows, with nooses swaying in the wind of a coming storm. An executioner's block, the axe buried in its wood, and gleaming with the blood of a recent sentence. These were the things he reveled in; those that few or none had the urge to touch, and others had simply forgotten. But he had seen all these, absorbed them when others had pushed them aside. He had remembered. With his plan, his grand design, the world would be his to shape.
All the tales of the past, the medieval horrors, would be again. Awakening them would not be an easy task, but he knew it could be accomplished. The world was his to mold. To darken. And, if he chose…
…to destroy.
************
A tired, dirty, and in places, singed group of Digi-Destined stomped into Gennai's house. Matt sprang up from his seat at the table.
"Where the heck were you guys? You were supposed to report back almost five hours ago!"
"We had a run in with an unpleasant chicken," muttered Gatomon.
"No to mention that spider you saw," Tai added. Izzy now joined the group.
"You saw it?" Tai nodded. "Let me have your Digivice then. I want to compare it to the spider Matt saw, and try to figure out if it's the same one."
"What's with him?" Tai asked Matt after handing his Digivice over. "It was just a stupid bug. Plus, it stole our chicken." Matt shrugged and watched Tai root around in Gennai's refrigerator.
"He's worried about Sora. She went off the radar a while ago, and he hasn't been able to pick her signal up again. I guess he just wants to work on something he can have some success with." Tai emerged from the fridge holding a jar of applesauce.
"Sora's gone?" Matt nodded. "Aren't you worried?"
"Not really. She can take care of herself, I think we all know that. Besides, you guys were late, and you're just fine."
"I guess you're right. I just figured that if anyone was worried about Sora, it'd be you." Tai dug in a drawer for a spoon and started toward the table.
"And why exactly is that?" Matt demanded, stepping in front of Tai.
"Well," Tai said, tugging at his collar nervously, "because you guys are, well, you know…a thing."
"We are not!" Matt protested. Tai grinned.
"Of course not. That's why I saw you guys out on the bridge the other night, having a romantic chat under the stars." He sat down at the table and looked at Matt, who was snorting suspiciously like a bull. "Want some applesauce?"
************
A pang of worry shot through Gendamon when he saw the figure slumped in the chair. He dropped the Chickenmon to the floor and scurried over.
"Devyn! Are you all right? Devyn?" He tapped at the man's face with a black claw, and sighed with relief when his eyes opened.
"Gendamon. Did you get it?" The spider nodded.
"Yes, but why in the world would you need that?"
"All in due time, my friend." Devyn crossed the room and picked the bundle of webbing from the spot where it lay.
"Excellent. An pitiful choice for a body, but it will suit my other needs when the moment comes." He turned and was alarmed to see Gendamon examining the crest and Digivice. "Don't touch those!"
"Why?" Gendamon asked with a scowl. "I'm not stupid. I won't break them."
"I know," said Devyn soothingly, plucking the items from his claws, "I just want to be very careful. Getting them wasn't easy." He strode toward a wall of consoles and computer screens. As he approached, each flickered to life, bathing the room in blue-green light.
Gendamon, trotting along behind him, asked, "Where did you get them anyway? Only the Digi-Destined have Digivices." Devyn turned his head just enough to let the spider see his smirk. Gendamon gasped. "You didn't!" He paused. "You did. You caught one of the Digi-Destined."
"That's correct." A small tray slid from one of the terminals, and Devyn placed Sora's crest on it. The tray retracted with a mechanical grinding sound, and the computers started to hum with mindless efficiency. Gendamon waited while Devyn stared at the machines. Finally, he could stand it no longer.
"Well? Where is he?"
"She," said Devyn, "is behind the wall." He directed Gendamon's gaze to the wall in front of them, which was covered with a gigantic mirror. Gendamon grimaced.
"It's not the little one, is it? I hate little things." Devyn raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well," added the spider, "I know I'm not exactly big myself, but…er…sufficed to say…I don't like cute. There, how was that?"
"Articulate."
************
Cold stones did not make a good place for a nap, and Sora eventually woke up. When she did, one of the first things she noticed were the voices. The actual first thing she noticed was how incredibly sore her rear end was. In addition to being bad for sleeping one, stone seemed to be bad for sitting as well. Then she heard the voices.
For one terrifying moment, she thought they were in her head, and in addition to being a captive, she had also gone insane. Then she realized they were drifting through the wall to her left. Only snatches of a conversation, but she could make out two voices. One was low, smooth, and calm; this was the voice of someone who was patient, or at least pretended very well. The second was slightly rough, and higher. It seemed impetuous, and she decided that the two speakers must balance each other.
"Maybe they'll let me out," she thought, then told herself to wake up. Whoever was out there was no doubt her captor. People who locked you in a pitch-black room for hours on end generally weren't very nice. But what if they just intended to leave her there? Alone in the dark…forever…
"Not a good thing to think about," she told herself. But still, what would be the harm in shouting? Staying silent would only prolong the inevitable, and it was better to face things than put them off. She stood and faced the wall the voices had come through, gathering her breath. Later, she would reflect on how profoundly embarrassed she had been when a door opened, bathing her in light, and finding her with her mouth incredibly wide in preparation for a yell.
************
By morning, everyone had lost enough faith in Sora's ability to take care of herself to send out search parties. Even Mimi, who generally didn't want to search for anything but a sale, was surprisingly adamant about going.
"But not with Tai," she insisted.
"Please, not with Tai," Tai agreed. Mimi had been giving him the silent treatment for several days, and didn't see any reason to stop now.
"He's just so loud and obnoxious, and his Afro would probably get in the way," she reasoned. Retailmon, who was assigning teams, nodded.
"All right, you can go with Joe."
"Aww," groaned Gomamon, "Palmon will never be able to keep up with me! Can't they go with someone else?"
"Don't complain too much," said Gabumon, "at least you get to be a transformer."
************
Sora tried to swallow and discovered this was nearly impossible to do with one's mouth open. She closed it and stared for a moment at the figure in the doorway. He wasn't terribly tall; only about six feet, but it was enough to make him feel huge. He wore a long black coat and his face seemed to be silver. He looked down at her with green eyes that gave off a shimmering glow, and she felt eerily like a rabbit trapped in a set of approaching headlights.
"Tired of the dark yet?" Sora swallowed uncertainly. Did he really expect an answer? If this truly was her captor, then maybe she shouldn't talk to him. "Oh, come now," he said, interrupting her thoughts, "I don't bite. I don't even have fangs." He smiled at her, displaying normal-sized teeth.
"Who are you?" she asked cautiously. Can't be too careful around weirdoes.
"My name is Devyn." He waited a moment , then prompted, "And you are…?"
"Sora," she said, then blurted, "where's Biyomon? What did you do with her?"
"Was that the bird you were riding in?" She nodded. "I have no idea. Still in the desert, I suppose." Sora felt a mixture of relief and horror at this; relief in that that meant this strange man didn't have Biyomon captive as well, and horror at the thought of her being alone in the wasteland. "She was of no use to me," he said casually.
"What about me?" asked Sora slowly. "What do you need me for?"
"As a matter of fact, nothing. You've already given me what I required." Sora started to ask what that was, then realized her crest and Digivice were gone. "But," he continued, "I'm afraid I can't let you go. You know too much to let me be comfortable."
"Uh-oh," thought Sora. Anyone who had seen a gangster movie knew what that meant. He raised his arm, palm facing outward. Green energy started to swirl around it, and she took a step back.
"This is it," she thought, "this is how it all ends. No epic battle, no fighting chance. Just one blast…in the dark." The glow brightened, and she brought her arms up to her face instinctively. Then, all at once, the light faded. She peeked at the man, and saw the energy was gone. He was standing with a pensive expression, stroking his chin in thought.
"There may be one you can do for me," he said with a smile. He turned his head and barked, "Gendamon! Come here!" There was a clicking sound, and a small black spider approached. "My friend," said Devyn, still smiling, "has a rather slow metabolism. In fact, I believe his last meal was almost ten days ago. Is that correct, Gendamon?"
"It certainly is," said the spider, licking its chops.
"Of course," said the man, "everyone has to eat eventually. Even small people like my friend. Gendamon," he said, looking at the monster, "would you like to eat Sora?" He grinned hugely.
"I think I might." Sora noticed with alarm that he was drooling.
"Very well then." Gendamon eagerly started toward her, but Devyn put a hand in front of him. "But," he said cheerfully, "I'll tell you what. I'm a sporting fellow. I'll give you a five-minute head start. If you can escape before he finds you, you're free to go."
She studied him levelly while Gendamon groaned with impatience. Was he serious? Or did he intend to attack as soon as her back was to him? "Go on," he urged. "Shoo! I wouldn't waste time, and the clock is ticking, as of right…now."
************
"I don't see why we couldn't just fly," muttered Gomamon, staring through a window. Outside, dirt, roots, and other various objects hurtled by.
"Because we weren't having much luck flying, if you'll recall," said Izzy. "I still can't get a lock on Sora's Digivice. Togemon, can you go a few more meters toward the surface?"
"Elevator, going up," replied Togemon through a speaker on the dashboard. The floor tilted slightly, then leveled out.
"Thanks."
"No problem," said the cactus.
"I think I'm getting seasick," Joe groaned. There was a moment of silence.
"Um, Joe?" Mimi asked. "We're underground."
"There's always water underground. And if there's none where we happen to be, we'll hit a pipe sooner or later, and then we'll break a water main. Other pipes will rupture, and utility services will be thrown into pandemonium. Then," he continued, his eyes glazing over slightly, "the pressure will back up, and fire hydrants all over the world will explode. Entire cities will flood, and soon the balance of nature will shift and the polar ice caps will melt and we'll all die!"
"Don't be ridiculous," said Izzy skeptically, "there are no water mains in the Digi-World." As if to prove him wrong, there was a metallic screech as Togemon slammed into something. All five of the cabin's occupants were thrown back against the far wall, where they lay in a heap until Togemon's vice came over the intercom again.
"Hey, guys? I think we hit a water main."
"We're doomed," said Joe.
************
"And mom said soccer would never amount to anything useful," Sora thought with a rueful laugh. Turning a corner into yet another dark corridor, she was extremely glad that her sport of choice involved so much running. The spider on her heels was deceptively fast, and she could still hear it behind her. Her feet and breathing fell into a rhythm as she got her stride; another corner, another hall, another corner, another—dead end. Uh oh. She swung around, intending to go back the way she had come, but four yellow eyes gleamed in the shadows.
"Well, well," said the Gendamon's raspy voice, "looks like you're all out of running room." He smacked his lips.
"How sad." Sora pressed her back against the wall and watched him advance. He was only a few feet away when a thought struck her.
"Do you realize how much smaller than me you are?" she asked. The spider blinked.
"What?"
"You're only a few feet high. And I bet you don't weigh much either." Gendamon shifted uncomfortably.
"I suppose not. Why?" Sora smiled, and Gendamon's pleased expression vanished. "What are you looking at me like that for?" he asked, retreating slightly. She brought one foot back, swung forward, and sent the spider flying. He landed a good ways down the hall and she dashed past him.
"Mom was really wrong about soccer," she thought.
************
The Digi-Destined stared at the object in puzzlement. Behind them, MetalTogemon towered like a burnished steel Golem, spiky and angular. She had received one of the largest Metal forms, with her head nearly reaching the treetops, and vehicle mode looking like a drilling tank of sorts. Traveling underground wasn't as fast as flying, but it was a different view of the land. The six of them stood around a massive hole in the ground, peering at what looked to be a pipe. It was shiny and segmented in some places. There was also a large dent where Togemon had crashed into it.
"That is definitely not a water main," said Izzy.
"I wish it was," said Mimi. "I've always thought they needed to be prettier, and just look! That one's made of nice silver." Izzy turned and looked up at Togemon, shielding his eyes from the morning sun.
"Can you pull that thing out? I'd like to try and see what it is." Togemon cracked her enormous metal knuckles.
"Time for my kind of archeology," she rumbled. Plunging one tree-trunk arm into the hole, she grasped the pipe with one hand and braced herself with the other. Under her metallic skin, thick muscles rippled and bulged but the object stayed firmly put.
"It must be bigger than we thought," said Izzy. "I wonder if we can track it to its origin. He sat down on the grass and flipped his laptop open. "Let's see…if I adapt the radar to track metal instead of Digivices, then I'll bet we can follow this thing all the way." He tapped keys for a moment, then nodded. "That should do it. Okay, everybody, time to go digging again." Joe groaned.
************
"No one, and I mean no one, should have to work this hard for a meal," Gendamon growled. He stepped around a corner and shouted, "Ah-ha!" even though he didn't know if the girl was there or not. She wasn't. He sighed and started down this new hall, wondering why Devyn had to make everything so big and complex. Why not just leave the pyramid the way it was? It looked much less out of place than the building it had become. Reaching the end of the hall, he stepped up to the corner and swung around it.
"Ah--" he started, but never got the rest out. Instead, he found himself flying through the air once again, courtesy of another kick. He coasted gracelessly into the wall with a light 'smack'. Sora walked over and grinned down at him.
"Wasn't there some rumor about you trying to eat me? Or was that just talk?" Gendamon clambered to his feet, spat out a tooth, and launched himself at her face. She reared back in surprise, but he still managed to grab some of her hair with a claw. "Let go, you midget, horror movie reject!" she shouted, trying to pull him off.
"Stop squirming," he snarled, "and things will be much easier." He was using three claws just to hold on, and the fourth wasn't doing much good. She kept shaking left and right, just barely avoiding his grabs.
"Do you know," she asked, grabbing at his spindly legs, "what I do to spiders? I squash them! With a newspaper, or a flyswatter, or sometimes I just stomp on them! How 'bout it? You wanna be a pancake?"
"Pancakes," Gendamon mused, avoiding her hands with ease, "what a splendid idea. I can see you now, dunked in batter and sizzling on a griddle…"
"You are one sick little bug, you know that?" she shouted, and out of sheer luck got one of his stubby knees in her grasp. She brought her arm forward and slammed him against the floor with all her might. He lay there groaning, and for a moment she seriously considered following through with her pancake threat. That was when she heard the footsteps approaching from behind. Swinging around, she saw the silver-skinned man walking slowly toward her.
To her further surprise, he was clapping.
"Very nice. Very nice indeed. I have to admit," he said, stopping a few feet away, "I expected you to be an hors d'oeuvre by now." He looked toward Gendamon. "You, I'm a little disappointed in. I thought you were a bit stronger than that. You hardly broke a sweat when you killed Myotismon, yet you can hardly handle one little girl in a silly hat. Quite disturbing." Sora gasped.
"You killed Myotismon?" She stared at Gendamon, disbelieving. "But how…?" He pulled himself off the floor and glowered at her.
"It's very simple, really," said Devyn, smiling. "Would you care to show her, Gendamon?" The spider shifted uncomfortably.
"Well…you see, it's not quite as easy as that." Devyn's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"I…it's complicated."
"Complicated?" Devyn repeated, not quite seeming to grasp the word's meaning. "What about the prophecy?"
"Prophecy?" asked Gendamon.
"Prophecy?" asked Sora.
"Oh dear," said Devyn.
************
Almost an hour passed, and still the metal object went on. Togemon covered almost a hundred miles, but Izzy continually said, "Keep going." There was a small 'beep' from his computer every few seconds, a product of the radar, but there seemed to be no end in sight. Mimi slumped in her chair while Joe, in the seat beside her, tried not to hyperventilate.
"I think," said Tentomon, "that we could be doing more productive things with our time, Izzy."
"Just a few more minutes," Izzy insisted. "I know we're close."
"I told you we should have flown," said Gomamon haughtily. "If I was up there instead of down here," he pointed at the ceiling, then at the floor, "we could have found the end of that thing by now." Joe clambered out of his seat and made his way over.
"I think he's right, Izzy. If Gomamon and I go and fly ahead, we can tell you if it's dangerous." Izzy repented.
"Okay, okay. You win. Although I suspect you have ulterior motives, Joe." Joe shrugged.
"So I'm claustrophobic. Shoot me."
"I thought you were acrophobic," said Palmon.
"You told me you were arachnophobic," said Mimi.
"I remember you saying you were hydrophobic," said Izzy thoughtfully.
"You said you got motion sickness the last time we were flying," recalled Gomamon.
"All right," Joe shouted, throwing his arms up above his head, "I admit it! I'm not an anything-phobic! I don't get motion sick! I'm just a big chicken!"
"Joe!" cried Gomamon gleefully. He leapt onto Joe's chest, knocking him over. "You've had a breakthrough!"
"That explains that odd pain I now have in my ribs," Joe gasped. "Get off."
************
"I sincerely wish you would tell me things like this beforehand, Gendamon," Devyn growled. "This may ruin several parts of my plan, or at least make them require some fine-tuning."
"Well I'm sorry," said Gendamon indignantly, "but everything just isn't as easy as turning on a light."
"I understand that," Devyn said, trying to stay calm, "but it would be useful to know what those things are so I don't make a fool of myself!"
"Um," said Sora meekly, "can I go? 'Cause it really looks like you guys have enough problems without me here."
"No!" shouted Devyn and Gendamon in unison.
"I'm still going to eat you," insisted the spider. "You're not getting off the hook that easily." Sora sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Look, you're two feet tall. I've been kicking you all over the place for the last twenty minutes, and whatever your secret weapon was, it seems to be out of ammo. I understand you're hungry, so why don't I just leave and you get some Chinese food or something?" Gendamon was about to ask what Chinese food was when Devyn stepped in front of him.
"I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience," he said with a sigh, "but I am currently short on time. I have a million tiny details to attend to thanks to my friend's little blunder," Gendamon cringed slightly, "and none of them involve you. So, my dear Sora, adieu." He turned and started to walk away.
"Wait a minute," cried Gendamon, "what do we do with her? We can't just leave her!"
"Unlike you, my friend," said Devyn smoothly, "I am in a state of perpetual control. Forget about her; she plays no role in the prophecy. Now, come along, and I'll explain how our task has changed." Gendamon shot a last, hungry look at Sora and skittered after the man in black. She watched them go around one of the many corners, feeling quite bewildered. For a moment, she expected them to come back, but they didn't.
"Great," she muttered, throwing her hat to the ground in frustration. "Now what?"
************
"Joe's a big chicken, Joe's a big chicken," sang Gomamon, executing another barrel roll. Joe made an 'urp' noise, and employed another doggie bag. "Come on," said the Digimon enthusiastically, "flying is fun! Just think of it as drifting gently through the summer sky, dancing among the clouds and breeze…"
"The clouds and breeze are gonna be a lot more colorful if I run out of doggie bags," Joe groaned.
"Okay, then just try not to think of how incredibly fast we're going, and all the terrible disasters that could happen."
Joe swallowed.
"Disasters?"
"Oh, sure. There could be tornadoes, typhoons, lightning, flying Digimon, stray comets…"
"Okay," the human shrieked, "I get the message! Just slow down and watch out for any unexplained weather phenomenon!"
"Like that big, scary, gray cloud up ahead that could contain dangerous, hurricane-force winds and which, incidentally, we're about to pass right through?"
"Ahhhh!"
************
In Devyn's main room, everything had gone insane.
The bank of computers, which had just recently pulsed with orderly green light, now shouted out beeps and squeals every other second. The majority of them were flashing schematics for some sort of huge machine, but they changed so quickly Gendamon couldn't make out what they were. Others scrolled white text, all zeroes and ones, in an erratic ballet of technology.
"What's happened?" he demanded, scurrying over to Devyn. "What's going on?" In a stark contrast to the computers, the man seemed even more calm and reserved than ever. He stood beside his tall chair watching the consoles flash their knowledge, and a gentle smile played across his lips. His glowing eyes made their way to the spider.
"The future," he said, his smile breaking into radiance, "is upon us."
************
"This cannot be good," thought Sora. She braced herself against the wall as yet another tremor ran through the floor. They had begun roughly ten minutes after Devyn and the spider had left, and had been getting gradually worse until the point when she feared the whole floor would shake itself apart.
"I wish Matt was here."
************
"Didn't there used to be pyramids in the desert?" Gomamon asked quietly. Joe's green face appeared over the back of his chair, where even more doggie bags had been meeting their fate.
"Yeah, I think so. But what do you mean, 'used to be'?"
"Well," said the Digimon, "the spot where the biggest one was now has a huge, creepy looking building on it…" Joe leapt into his seat and started tapping keys on his laptop, "…and the other ones are just big, black and silver towers."
"I don't believe it," Joe gasped. His jaw dropped, and he stared at the laptop's screen with huge eyes.
"What is it? Joe, what do you see?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Joe admitted after a short pause, "but whoever put a big, techno-version of the Notre Dame cathedral in the desert instead of the pyramids was really confused."
************
Sora felt as if she were in a surrealist painter's nightmare.
The tremors had grown to the point where each one threw her to the ground, no matter how stable she thought she might be. But when she had just come to the conclusion that she now knew what being in a dryer felt like, they ceased altogether. She stood for a moment, uncertain as to what to do next. The question was quickly answered as the entire floor suddenly lurched as if it were an elevator. That was exactly the sensation actually; a huge elevator.
Wherever she was, it was going up.
As if this weren't bad enough, her seemingly paranoid thoughts were coming back to haunt her, live and in person.
A rumbling sound began behind her, and she turned to see the hallway simply collapsing into space. She could see the bright sun outside, and the yellow sand growing ever further below.
Dumbfounded, Sora watched the disappearing ground race forward at breathtaking speed. When her mind finally came to terms with what was happening, it was almost too late. She managed about three consecutive strides before the stones vanished, and she was taking a thousand-foot drop to the desert below.
************
For a time, Joe had been quite certain that he had seen everything. He had battled giant insects, cyborgs, vampires…you name it. He had even been to, and extensively explored, a whole different world. He was one of eight children destined to save that world, not to mention his own. But some things, he decided, you were just never ready for.
"Gomamon," he said slowly, "what is that?" Silence filled the cockpit. "Gomamon?"
"It looks," said the monster weakly, "like a very, very bad dream…come to life."