Part 16: The Discovery of Ichijouji's Base!
When Ken got to the area where Iori was with Digmon, he noticed Iori was digging through the sand, along with Digmon.
"Where is that damn thing," the boy muttered as he ferociously dug, tossing sand in all directions.
"Iori-kun!"
The young, dark-haired boy looked up, trying to figure out whom it was that had called him.
"Who is there!" He then threatened, "I will have Digmon kill you if you do not identify yourself right now!!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down now," a spiky-haired person wearing a cape and glasses waved his arms around after hopping off of his Airdramon. "Do you not recognize me?" He then gave his infamous, arrogant smirk. "You should if you're under my control."
The boy looked on, his eyes wide, and bowed down continuously.
"Ichijouji-sama! I am sorry for speaking so harshly to you!"
"I will forgive you this time; just make sure that it doesn't happen again!"
"Hai, Ichijouji-sama!"
****
RP: Hai means, "yes." As for the -sama honorific, I am using
it in the sense of it meaning "Master" or "Lord." You choose which
you prefer, "Master Ichijouji," or "Lord Ichijouji"
****
"Oh, how I love obedience. I have him eating out of the palms
of my hands!" Ken said to Wormmon with a smirk. He then walked over
towards Iori. "So, what exactly is it are you looking for?"
"I cannot find my D-3, sir. It seems to have disappeared."
"It doesn't matter; you don't need it. Now, I want a report about those annoying kids."
"Sir, Digmon and I did not defeat them, but we promise to do better next time."
"We have some other business to attend to, and I want you to find them and destroy them and their Digimon!"
"No sir, don't do that sir!" Wormmon gasped. "Please, do not kill the other Chosen Children and their Digimon partners!"
"And why not?" Ken asked with no feeling. "All I have to do is hit restart if they are."
His statement confused Wormmon. He didn't understand what he meant when he said, "All I have to do is hit restart."
"But I don't understand, Ken-chan…"
"It is all done in fun!" Iori smirked evilly.
Iori went back to searching in the sand.
"What are you doing!!" Ken demanded, annoyance in his voice.
"I am looking for my D-3! I cannot part with it!"
"That thing is useless now! You don't need it! You are under my control entirely and that D-3 has served its purpose! Your Digimon is now incredibly strong, and is under your control, thanks to that Digivice of yours."
Iori got a slightly angered look, but decided to listen to him anyway.
"Good, now let's go and find those kids. We will search all over this area, and this should help me."
He took out a small device and studied it.
"This should help me to locate them. It should pick up on Digivice signals that are nearby or within range. Now let's get going!"
Iori nodded reluctantly and followed behind him with Digmon...
****
In no time at all, all of the children arrived in a woodsy-like area
that wasn't familiar to most of them at all, minus Palmon whose area was
pretty close by. She had an idea as to where she was.
"Is this the right place?" Daisuke asked with uncertainty. "Is this really where Ichijouji's base is?"
"We won't know until we find out," Taichi said. "Let's look around, guys!"
"Here you go, oniichan," Hikari smiled up to her brother, handing him her D-Terminal.
"Thanks," he said as he looked down at it. "According the directions Miyako and Koushirou gave Hikari, we go," he pointed to the right of him, "this way."
The kids, along with their Digimon, followed Taichi who was leading. After a while, they ended up at the exact spot that Koushirou and Miyako had instructed them to go, but there was nothing there but more trees...
"Hey, what gives! Where's the base!" Yamato asked.
"You don't think Koushirou and Miyako were wrong, do you?" Gabumon questioned.
"No way!" Pyocomon protested from Sora's arms. "They never get stuff wrong."
"Then maybe Taichi read the directions wrong."
"No, I'm sure oniichan didn't read them wrong, Yamato-san," Hikari meekly spoke up, defending her older brother. "He wouldn't make a mistake like that. I know he wouldn't!"
Daisuke frowned.
"Great, just great! We end up at a dead end! It's probably another trap set up by Ichijouji!" the boy growled in annoyance. He then sighed as he sat down by a nearby tree, resting his head in the palms of his hands. "I hate the idea of giving up, but what can we do if we can't find his base?"
The boy then leaned his back against the tree he was sitting by, falling back onto something. All of a sudden, the ground started to rumble and the ground started to move some.
"Daisuke, what did you do!"
"I don't know, V-mon!" the boy said in alarm as he stood up quickly. "I'm sorry, whatever it is! I didn't mean to---"
"No wait, look," Tailmon interrupted, pointing.
Something seemed to be coming up from under the ground. The trees seemed to sink into the ground, as the ground opened up, something rising from it.
"Is that, the Digimon Kaiser's base?" Patamon asked while resting on top of Takeru's head.
The "thing" that was emerging from the ground looked like a giant mansion.
"Looks like it," Taichi uttered in amazement.
"Wow, good job Daisuke-kun! You found his base!"
The boy blushed a bit and put his hand behind his head, giving out a small, nervous laugh. "It was nothing, Hikari-chan."
"Well, at least we found it," Sora said in relief. "Now we don't have to bother Koushirou-kun or Miyako-chan about our not being able to find it."
"Okay, let's go in!"
The goggle-headed boy was about to take off in a sprint, until Takeru stopped him by holding his shoulder.
"Hey, let go of me! What are you doing!?!"
"We can't just rush right in there! What if Ichijouji was in there?"
"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that…"
"Looks like we're going to need ourselves a plan," Mimi somberly stated. She was anxious to hurry up and get back to their hideout.
"Well, some of us could go in, find the source of the problem and destroy it while some of us wait out here in case that Ichijouji guy shows up."
"What makes you so sure that he isn't here, Jyou?" Gomamon asked.
"He hasn't come after us since Daisuke-kun found the switch to reveal his base, has he?"
"Hey yeah, that's right!"
"Now, as I was saying, some of us should go in and destroy whatever that source is, while some of us stay out here to, I guess, re-hide his base."
"I get it! That way, if he does come back, it'll look as if nobody had been here!" Taichi exclaimed.
"Exactly!" Jyou nodded.
"Good plan, Jyou-san!" Takeru complimented.
"But who stays and who goes?" Sora asked.
"Hikari-chan, Takeru-kun, and Daisuke-kun should go, of course, since their Digimon can armor evolve."
"Good thinking, Mimi."
"Thank you Taichi!" the girl smiled.
"I'll go along with them," Jyou decided. "I don't really want to hang out here. Besides, there could be some stuff in there of great importance."
"I don't want to stay out here either. It's kind of warm out, and I'm sure that the inside of that place is air-conditioned," Mimi said while fanning herself. "I couldn't see it not being air conditioned, but if it isn't, I'm coming right back out here!"
"All of this heat isn't too good for my hair!" Yamato stated, his arms crossed. "The gel is melting right out of it."
"Since I can't do much with Pyocomon since she still needs to rest, I'll just stay out here and stand guard."
"Agumon and I could stay with her!" Taichi volunteered. He then turned to Sora. "It wouldn't be too much fun if you stayed out here by yourself."
Sora smiled at Taichi, he always thought of others.
"Suit yourself," Yamato shrugged.
"Let's go, everyone!" Tailmon instructed.
"Right!" the other Digimon nodded.
"Wait a minute, guys."
"What's the matter, Daisuke?" Taichi asked.
"Sora-san doesn't have a D-Terminal to communicate through and neither does Taichi-senpai. Do you guys want to borrow mine?"
"Aww, Daisuke-kun, that's very considerate of you, but what if you need to have V-mon armor evolve?" Sora asked. "Don't you need your D-Terminal with you?"
He shook his head. "I don't think so, but don't worry about it! We'll manage!" He turned to Takeru and Hikari. "Right!"
"Right!!" the two nodded.
"Okay, but you guys be careful," Taichi said, looking right at Hikari.
"And e-mail us when you need us to let you out!" Sora added.
They all nodded...
"And those who don't come back alive will be in big trouble!"
They all laughed at Mimi's comment and then took off on their assigned
tasks. After the kids got into the building safely, Tai pressed the
button to hide the base again...
****
Back to the desert...
"I just don't understand how a bunch of kids could disappear in the middle of a desert!!" Ken screamed as he and Iori scouted the area, the only thing they could see being sand and a few scattered pyramids.
"Neither do I, sir, but if I had my Digivice, I could---"
"Will you shut up about that stupid Digivice!" Ken snapped at Iori stopping at one of the pyramids to bask in the shade. "Those kids are more important right now!"
"Yes sir," Iori huffed out in annoyance.
Ken noticed the annoyance and irritable way Iori was reacting and talking.
"You know what, why don't you just go back to the base. They just may try and search for it."
"Yes sir," Iori bowed.
"Since you are under my control and, in a way, I programmed you, you should be able to find the switch to reveal my base and find your way to it with no problems at all. Take Airdramon and MegaSeadramon back with you. Wormmon and I will be fine on our own."
"Right." Iori stopped bowing and turned to Digmon. "Let's go, Digmon!"
"All right, Iori!"
With that, the two, along with Airdramon and MegaSeadramon took off, leaving Ken and Wormmon behind.
"Why did you let him leave?" Wormmon asked. "What if he gets hurt going back the base or something?"
"Because he is expendable, that's why! He's served his purpose, pretty much."
"His purpose?"
"Yeah, I just needed him to get the others here so I could dispose of them." He then scoffed, "I don't care what happens to that little freak with the bad bowl haircut!"
"If you say so," Wormmon sighed.
"Okay, now let's go. I'm picking up on something on this little tracker device I made, meaning some of those brats are nearby! C'mon!!"
"Yes, Ken-chan."
The two left, but nearby was a very angered and disturbed little boy with a "bad bowl haircut," who had told Airdramon and MegaSeadramon to go on ahead of him since he wanted to ask his "master" something. ::Insert dramatic music here:: lol
"I'm expendable, am I? What happens to me isn't important, is it?" The boy started to growl in pure anger and malevolence as he shook, glaring evilly after Ken. "I'll show him! I'll get him back for that! He's worse than my so-called friends!"
"Do you want me to attack him for you, Iori?"
"No, Digmon; let him go. I'm going back to the base like he requested of me, but when he returns, he'll get what's coming to him! I have all the knowledge I need to run that place. That was his gravest, and biggest mistake, allowing me to obtain such information, and allowing me to have the knowledge of how everything is run in his base! Let's go, Digmon!"
The metallic, bug-like Digimon nodded and obeyed and they headed back towards Ken's base in the forest...