Chapter 5:
The Rescue
When they opened their eyes, they saw dead and crumbling trees surrounding them and heard Digital-crows cawing. They shielded their eyes and faces as a cold wind whipped around them, freezing them to the bone marrow and sending ash swirling around them.
Once the wind had died, the ash settled back onto the ground and the group could open their eyes. "This is the Digital World?" Takato asked as he stared at the dead and gray landscape before them.
"What's happened to it?" Rika asked, shocked.
"I…don't know…" Renamon answered.
Impmon stared at the mess, a feeling of deja vu hitting him. "I've…been here…before…" he said, his voice just above a whisper.
"You have? What is the place? And where is it?" Takato asked.
Impmon glared at the human. "I dunno! It was fifteen years ago! Am I supposed to remember every little detail of my life?! Jeez!" he snapped.
"Sorry…" Takato mumbled, returning to his pondering.
"…If this is a part of the Digital World, where're all the Digimon?" Henry asked, looking around.
Guilmon sniffed the air and looked at Takato worriedly. "We're the only Digimon here!" he said, shivering.
"You mean here as in, 'not in our area', or here as in, 'there are no Digimon in the place'? Please say it's the former." Guilmon's partner asked.
Impmon sniffed the air, then the ground and said, straitening, "Dino-breath here means in this godforsaken place. No Digimon have pasted through here for a long time now. So, no troubles!" He started forward but stopped when he realized the others weren't following him. He turned and looked at them, tapping his foot as he planted his hands on his hips. "Well? What is it now? Forgot how to walk?"
"No…Its just that…from what Izzy had told us, the Digital World was full of plant life and kind Digimon. So…" Takato started. Impmon slapped himself on the forehead.
"Lemme guess; you twits forgot to bring food?" he asked, wondering if he could just ditch them.
"No. We brought food, it's just that we didn't think we'd need tents." Impmon face faulted.
"THAT'S ALL?! Remind me to buy you all baby rattles!" He shouted, stomping off. He paused long enough to shout over his shoulder, "Well? Are you guys gonna come, or are you gonna stand there like a bunch of idiots?!"
The others, fighting the urge to strangle the obnoxious Digimon, soon followed him, their feet kicking up ash as they went.
~~~~~~~~Meanwhile…
Nabiki was still trying to get the keys when a shadow fell over her. She stopped and slowly looked up. "Sam…" she whispered, standing and ready to kick the boy's butt six ways still Sunday.
"Yep. My guard tells me that your causing trouble again. Time for yet another lesson for you to learn…" he grinned at Nabiki's look of horror as he opened the cell door and entered, cracking his knuckles as he stepped toward the girl.
~~~~~~~~Meanwhile…
Impmon led the Tamers and their Digimon across the gray plain, no one speaking. The only sounds were the sounds of their feet against the cold ground and their breathing. They had been walking for several hours and were now wondering if this was even the right way.
After another two hours, they could see a large, square building with barred windows. It, like the rest of the place, was dark and creepy.
"That's where she'll be…" Impmon said, stopping to point at the dark building.
"How can you tell?" Henry asked.
"Because. That's where Sam used to keep me…" the Digimon said, continuing to walk.
It was only about ten minutes before they were standing before the dark, cold structure. Impmon couldn't help but shiver. This nightmarish place brought back memories of pain, hate and fear.
He clutched his fists as he frowned up at the stone building. I swear…If he hurt her, I'll give him the same pain that he gave her ten times over…he thought.
Suddenly, he was brought back to reality by deep laughter. The group looked up and saw MegaDevimon. They yelped and jumped out of the way of an energy blast that the mega had delivered.
MegaDevimon landed and laughed as the kids and their Digimon stood and faced the mega. "Time to die, Digimon Tamers!" the Digimon shouted in his deep voice.
Takato was the first to strike. He did a Card Slash and shouted, "Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate!"
"Guilmon, Digivolve to…" Guilmon was surrounded by bright red light as he grew in size. That of a large dinosaur with a silver mane replaced his smaller body. "…Growlmon!" his voice hadn't changed at all but he was certainly more heinous.
"Terriermon! Time to hit it!" Henry said, doing a Card Slash. "Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate!"
Terriermon was engulfed by bright green light as he shouted, "Terriermon, Digivolve to…" he grew in size until he was at least as tall as a human instead of a stuffed animal. Two machine guns appeared where his two paws had been and green fur covered the upper part of his face as well as the ends of his ears. A bandoleer was strapped on him as he shouted, "Gargomon!"
"Digi-Modify! Digivolution activate!" Rika shouted, also doing a Card Slash.
"Renamon, Digivolve to…" Renamon was soon engulfed in bright blue light as her one tail split into nine. She became more of a yellow and white wolf instead of a humanoid fox. A red and white bow appeared around her neck as the fur on her paws and at the ends of her tails turned into blue flame. "Kyuubimon!" she yelled.
"Alright! Lets go!!" Takato shouted, readying another card, just in case.
"Night of—" Impmon was cut short when Takato said, "Go save her, Impmon! We'll hold MegaDevimon off until she's safe! Then we can hop, skip and jump outta the Digital World and back to the real one! Growlmon!" Takato turned his attention back to the fight, doing another Card Slash to help Growlmon out.
Impmon glanced at the Tamers and their Digimon before nodding and running into the building.
The hallway was dark and cold, sending chills up Impmon's spine as he walked down it. He hugged himself and looked around nervously, expecting Sam to step out in front of him at any moment.
His memories came back to him in a rush, making him stop in his tracks and stare at the ground, his eyes glazed over.
---------Flashback---------
"You stupid toy!" a younger Sam shouted, throwing a younger Impmon into a wall. Impmon sat up slowly on his elbows, wincing as pain shot through his body. Sam stood over him, his fists clutched tightly and his face hidden from view by his spiked hair.
"You weak, petty toy…Time to toughen up…" Sam said, raising his fist.
Impmon closed his eyes tightly, knowing what was soon to come.
--------End Flashback--------
"Impmon!" someone sobbed, shaking Impmon out of his memories. He looked up and thought, Nabiki…he bolted down the hall, his green eyes searching for the source of the heart-wrenching sob.
Finally, he skidded to a stop before a door. He looked in and saw Nabiki, curled up in a ball, shivering in the corner of a cell. He ran over and grabbed the bars as he said, "Hey! Wimp!" he whistled to get the girl's attention.
Nabiki opened her eyes and looked up. Her face was stained with tears and she had a scratch across her cheek and several littering her arms and legs. Anger flared up inside of Impmon when he saw the wounds and the dried blood that stained her pale skin.
She smiled and crawled over to the cage door. "You came…" she whispered, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.
Impmon nodded and climbed up onto a chair and grabbed the keys that hung on the far wall. He ran back and unlocked the cage. "Yeah, yeah. Lets just get outta here." He mumbled, dragging Nabiki over to the door and peering up and down the hall.
"C'mon. Lets get goin'…" he whispered as him and Nabiki ran silently down the hall.
"Itai (Ow)!" Nabiki yelped as she tripped and fell, scraping her knees on the hard ground.
Impmon ran over and said, "Sheesh! Do you want us be caught?! Get up so that we can get goin'!!" He wasn't trying to sound annoyed, but being in that place made him nervous and made him remember things he had shoved to the back of his mind.
She stood and started to follow Impmon when she remembered something. "Oh! My D-Arc! I have to go back!" she turned and ran the other way before Impmon could protest.
He sighed and raced after her, silently reminding himself that he was there to save her, not Bada-Boom her. "Hey! Wait up!" he said in a stage whisper.
Nabiki slowed down so that her friend could catch up. They ran up a set of stairs, neither bothering to use the railing.
"Hey! How do ya know where your D-Arc is?!" he asked as they ran up another set of stairs.
"Because, the guards have an IQ of, like, –30 and they told me when I asked!" she huffed as they opened a door.
Impmon grinned and said, "The guards must've been Numermon…"
They stopped on the forth landing, their hands on their knees as they struggled to catch their breath. After recovering, they opened the door and entered the hall. They walked slowly and quietly, ducking into doorways whenever a guard passed. They were, as Impmon had guessed, Numermon.
It took several minutes for them to find the room with Nabiki's D-Arc in it but when they did, Sam was there, waiting.
"Looking for this?" Sam asked, holding Nabiki's D-Arc up for them to see.
