Disclaimer: We do not own Digimon; we just like to write about them.
Tai and the Enchanted Blackberry—Chapter Two
By Fenris5000—Angelica
After a quick breakfast, the digidestined and their digimon packed up their belongings and headed out on the path.
Izzy consulted his laptop. The Emerald Glade was really not even close to the direction Tai was leading them. Where was Tai leading them anyway? The area they were headed looked desolate. The forest started to get denser as they walked. Barely any sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees.
Mimi shivered. "Are we nearly through this stupid forest yet? I'm cold."
Tai stopped and turned around. "Well if you guys would walk a little bit faster, you'd be able to stay warm." He whined. He glared at the boy and digimon bringing up the rear. "Hurry up Matt. You're holding up the show!"
Matt staggered up to Tai and glared back. "Tai, we've been walking for hours. I have a splitting headache here. You go on ahead and we'll catch up if you're really that anxious to get wherever it is you're taking us that soon. Your trail isn't exactly hard to follow." He sat down and leaned his head back against a tree and closed his eyes. "I'm stopping for a rest. The rest of you guys can do whatever you want. I don't care."
TK ambled over to his brother and snuggled up beside him. "I'm with Matt." He grinned.
Mimi collapsed into a heap next to them. "Oh thank goodness." She proceeded to take off her boots and wiggle her toes in the grass.
Izzy set his laptop down and started clacking away at the keyboard. There had to be a rational explanation for Tai's shortcut. Izzy just couldn't believe Tai would purposefully lead them astray. Maybe the aliens possessed him. He glanced up at Tai. Yes, he had a certain wild look about him today. He seemed fidgety. Nervous.
"So you are all voting for a little break then." Tai said in a cold voice.
Joe gulped. "Just a little one. It won't take long."
"Alright then." Tai replied. "I'm going to scout on ahead a little ways to see what the trail is like. When I get back, I expect you all to be ready to go." He stalked off without looking back.
Sora's eyes followed Tai. "Anyone notice Tai's acting a little tense today?"
"A little?" Mimi repeated. "That's an understatement." She got up. "I hear a stream close by. Anyone want to walk with me?"
TK got up. "Is it okay if me and Patamon go with Mimi and Palmon, Matt?"
Matt nodded slowly. "Just be careful TK. Gabumon, you go with them too."
Gabumon got up. "Okay Matt, I'll make sure they are all safe." He followed the four down the same trail Tai had taken a few minutes ago. Izzy got up and stretched.
"I think maybe I'll check to see if there's anything edible in the vicinity. Come on Tentomon." He closed his laptop and headed off in the opposite direction.
Joe put his bag down. "I think I need to um visit the um, you know…" He headed off towards a nice secluded looking area, followed closely by his ever-loyal digimon Gomomon.
"Don't worry Joe, I'll make sure you're safe." The little white digimon with the amused eyes said.
Sora sat down and sighed, her gaze troubled.
Matt regarded her through weary eyes. "What?"
"I'm worried about what will happen if we don't get our digivices and crests back." She cried. "Don't you think it's weird how they all disappeared and nobody even woke up?"
Rubbing his temple, Matt frowned. "And I'll tell you what's even weirder, why was Tai in such an all fire hurry to get us moving this morning? He didn't give any of us a chance to look for any clues. I think he's acting like he knows exactly where they are."
Sora stood up, outraged. "Are you accusing Tai of the theft? I can't believe you can even think that!" Her face was turning a bright shade of red and her hands were placed on her hips.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Just think about it."
"I will not." She huffed, turning away.
The calm of the secluded forest was broken by a shrill shriek and some desperate splashing sounds.
"TK!" Matt yelled, struggling to his feet and staggering off towards the sounds of the creek, followed closely by Sora and Biyomon.
"You little brat!" They heard Mimi screech. She was sitting in the creek, completely drenched. Her face was as pink as her dress, and her eyes were wildly on fire.
TK was sitting on the bank of the creek hiding behind Gabumon and Patamon, his soft blue eyes wide as saucers and filling with unshed tears. "But… I didn't Mimi, honest. You've gotta believe me." He cried.
"What happened?" Sora demanded, her eyes darting between their soaked debutante and the little snuffling blond boy.
Mimi tottered to a standing position and flung a pointed finger in TK's direction. "That little URCHIN pushed me in!" She spluttered, half way between a shriek and a sob. She lurched out of the creek and started bawling uncontrollably.
TK started crying too. "I didn't! I wouldn't! I couldn't." He hiccupped, rubbing his eyes, looking miserable.
Matt knelt down by his little brother and gave him a hug. "I believe you." He gave Mimi a dirty look. "And you had better quit calling my little brother names."
"Gabumon, did you see what happened?" Sora asked.
Gabumon looked down sadly. "N…no. I was leaning over to get a drink." He looked even more miserable than TK and Mimi.
Patamon and Palmon both nodded. "And we were checking those bushes over there for berries because we were all getting hungry." Patamon said.
"So there are no witnesses." Sora began.
"And it's Mimi's word against TK's." Matt concluded with a long sigh. This trip to the Emerald Glade was getting more and more frustrating.
"Well if TK didn't push me in then who did?" Mimi demanded shrilly. "Come on out forest phantom. We know you're hiding around here somewhere!"
"Mimi." Sora said gently. "Now come on, lets get back to the others."
A long anguished yell interrupted the silence again.
"Hey, that sounded like Izzy!" TK shouted. They all quickly made their way back to the clearing at top speed.
"I can't believe you!" Izzy's angry voice continued.
"I didn't!" Joe's voice came back.
"Yeah!" Gomomon added.
"Oh, and I suppose my laptop just opened by itself and decided it wanted a mudpack to keep it looking young." Izzy said. His face was purple and he was on the ground trying to gently clean the dirt from the keyboard. "Ohhh, my poor laptop." He moaned.
Joe looked around helplessly. "Well I could say the same about you, you know. My bag wasn't exactly tipped upside down with its contents spewed all over the Digiworld when I left, you know."
Izzy scowled. "Well I left before you. The probability that I did it is about a million to one."
Joe folded his arms across his chest and tapped his foot, also scowling. "Oh really. And what is the probability that I abused your laptop, huh? And who's to say you didn't double back?"
Izzy snorted. "That is ridiculous. It would be counterproductive."
Sora got between them. "That is enough, you two. You are supposed to be reliable and knowledgeable here. You're acting more like spoiled and bratty if you ask me."
"Don't forget Sora, we don't even have our crests anymore." Joe said, kneeling to refill the big bag with Gomomon, Biyomon and Tentomon's help.
A rustle of the nearby path caught their attention to Agumon. "Hey, has anyone seen Tai?" The orange dinosaur-type digimon said looking worried. "We got separated on the trail and I can't find him anywhere."
Matt smirked. "There's your answer. Tai probably doubled back and played a little joke on us."
Sora whirled around. "Matt Ishida! You quit picking on poor Tai. He's out there lost. Maybe hurt even."
He rolled his eyes. "Poor Tai?"
"Hellooooo!" A voice called from the trail. "Did I hear someone say my name?"
"Tai." Sora said, clearly relieved.
Mimi was still sniffling.
"Hey, what's going on around here?" Tai asked with a big frown on his face.
"Trouble." TK said worriedly. "Something pushed Mimi into the creek to get me in trouble, and then messed up Izzy's laptop and Joe's bag. Matt thought it was you and made Sora mad."
"Me?" Tai laughed. "I was lost on the trail. I almost didn't find my way back." He smirked at Matt. "Anyways, you're just still sore about letting someone get past you on guard duty last night. It's natural that you'd want to shift the blame to someone else."
Matt nodded calmly. "Yes, that's another thing, don't you think we should have looked for clues about who might have walked off with our crests and digivices?"
Tai's grin widened. "Well dude, where do you think we're going? I'm following the trail left by our midnight intruder." He turned around and headed back down the path. "Come on guys, before the trail gets cold."
"See?" Sora spat in Matt's direction. "I told you Tai was on the level. You owe him an apology, Matt."
Matt shrugged his shoulders as they left the clearing. "Well if you don't mind, I think I'll wait until he leads us to the digivices and crests before I do that."
* * *
TK shivered slightly beside Joe as they continued their way through the spooky dark forest. Every now and then he would sneak a peek over his shoulder to check if Matt and Gabumon were still there. Matt had been taking it a bit slow. Maybe he had been hurt like he said.
He and Patamon stopped and waited for his brother and digimon to catch up. Matt did look a little paler than usual.
Matt eyed his brother carefully. "What's up TK?"
"Nothing." TK sighed, falling into step beside him. "I just wanted to walk with you guys for awhile."
Matt nodded as they continued. He had this creepy feeling that they were being watched, but every time he looked, he couldn't see anything but the dark shadowy trees.
That was the moment the bushes ahead of them exploded with digimon. One after the other, a group of grotesque large digimon appeared from out of nowhere. They were probably six feet tall, wiry long legs and arms and the color of shiny midnight.
"Oh no." Tentomon twittered.
"What?" Izzy demanded, his voice cracking with stress.
"Diabolicomon." Tentomon continued. "We'd better get out of here. These guys are bad news."
No sooner were the words out of the little red bug-like digimon's mouth than all seven digidestined and their digimon partners experienced one of Diabolicomon's favorite attacks: sleeping gas. One by one, the children and digimon slipped to the cool forest ground unconscious. There had not been time to even think of fighting.
* * *
Mimi's eyes popped open and she yawned hugely. She rolled over, trying to get more comfortable, but was horrified to discover herself laying on a dirt floor wedged between Joe and Agumon. She sat up with a loud shriek that woke everybody up.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" Tai asked, covering his ears quickly.
"Waaaahhhh." Mimi cried, tears cascading from her eyes like Niagara Falls. "I want my digivice."
Joe adjusted his glasses and fearfully glanced around the room hoping he wouldn't see any hostile digimon watching them through the bars on the window. "Looks like we've been tossed into a dungeon."
Sora sighed. "Okay, so we know where we are, let's figure out how to escape." She approached the door and stood on tiptoe to see out the window.
"Well?" Matt asked.
"It's too dark to see anything." She said, turning her back to the door and leaning against it.
The clickety clack of computer keys brought their attention to Izzy and his laptop. "Gennai gave me this great new program the other day." He said matter of factly. "It's called: Where am I."
"What does it do?" TK asked moving over for a better look.
Izzy scratched his red head. "Well, it is supposed to tell you where you are on the map of the digital world." He pointed at a big yellow X on the screen. "See? We're here."
"Where is here?" Joe asked, he reached into his bag and pulled out his supply of emergency rations.
Izzy looked up with a perplexed expression painting his face. "We're in a dungeon alright. We're in Condormon's dungeon to be more precise."
"Condormon?" Matt repeated. "Has anyone ever even heard of Condormon?"
Everyone shook his or her heads.
"What does he want with us then?"
"He must be the one who's after our crests and digivices!" Tai exclaimed, jumping up. "Yeah. Hey Izzy, there probably aren't any more digimon in this forest are there. Just Condormon and his little minions the Diabolicomon, Right?"
Izzy consulted his laptop. "That's right Tai. No other digimon will dare to cross into this forest."
Matt stood up with a glare at their leader. "Okay Tai. I ask you again. What does he want with us? He already HAS our crests and digivices. Doesn't he?" He grabbed a fistful of Tai's blue T-shirt and continued to give him a menacing stare.
"Hey Matt, will you calm down?" Tai frowned back. "What's got into you? He um probably just needs us to… er, make them work. Yeah. And he would need our Digimon too. Since our crests and digivices are useless to anyone else. Duh."
Matt let him go, but still glared. "Smooth Tai."
Tai glared back. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Matt shrugged his shoulders. "What do you think?" He shook his head. "Something just isn't adding up."
"Would you two please cut it out?" Sora said stepping between them. "This is not the time to be fighting. We should be trying to figure a way out of here."
The kids and their digimon went quiet for a minute as they heard crunching footsteps approach their cell door. A loud clanking sound was soon heard, followed by and earsplitting squeak of the hinges as the door slowly opened. The slight draft wafted in a stale stench like rotten potatoes.
"Ewwww." Mimi moaned, hiding her face in Joe's shirt.
The Diabolicomon stepped into the doorframe and jabbed a long arm in Tai's direction. "You. Come with me to the Master's Chamber."
Tai's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Me?" He squeaked.
"You." The monster hissed.
"Okay." Tai shrugged, following the monster out the door nonchalantly. "Later guys."
TK looked troubled.
"Wow, Tai sure is brave." Patamon said. "He didn't look scared at all."
"Well he is the digidestined holder of the crest of courage." Agumon reminded them from his spot beside Gabumon.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes, wondering what was happening to Tai. Was Condormon making the wild-haired boy show him how to use the digivices and crests like Tai had figured? Did Condormon even have the crests and digivices?
Matt was pacing. What was up with Tai? He just wasn't acting like himself. Was he on the level? Or was some outside force influencing him? Matt looked up as he heard the prison door being opened. It was Tai. Just Tai. With a set of keys. The boy stepped inside the cell and motioned to TK.
"Come on. Condormon wants to meet you."
TK's jaw dropped. "Mmmmee?"
"Yeah you, TK." Tai replied. "So come on. Oh, and don't forget your packsack."
TK looked up at Matt, who was glaring at their leader and moving closer to him, his gloved hands balled into fists.
"He's staying right here with the rest of us Tai."
"Hey, how come Tai's not being guarded?" Mimi asked.
Agumon started jumping up and down excitedly. "Yay! Tai must have given them the slip. He's come back to set us free so we can all escape together!"
Tai snickered. "Ha! You wish, you pathetic little digimon." He stood up straighter and faced TK. "Come on little boy. The Master doesn't like to be kept waiting."
TK hid behind Matt. "What's wrong with Tai? He's scary." TK cried, shivering with fear.
"And I say he's staying right here." Matt said in an even quiet tone. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me first."
Tai sighed.
Sora got between them. "What are you two talking about? Tai, you have the keys. Let's get out of this place."
Tai laughed shortly. "Aw, do the little digidestineds wanna run away?" He said in a mocking tone.
They all nodded numbly.
"Well it isn't going to happen." He spat, pushing Sora out of the way. "Come on TK." He lunged past Matt and grabbed TK's arm, causing the scared young blond to cry out.
"Alright, that's it." Matt snarled, pulling back his fist and punching Tai square in the nose, causing their wild-haired, goggle-wearing psycho-leader to stagger back into the door, his hand covering his face.
"Owwwww." Tai moaned, glaring up at Matt. "Hey! What did you do that for, Matt?"
Matt was still looking somewhat dangerous as he stood protectively in front of TK and Sora. "You're not taking TK."
"Huh? Take TK where?" Tai asked, pulling his hand away from his face and wiggling his nose.
Izzy stepped forward. "You said Condormon wanted to meet TK."
"I did?" Tai looked slightly dazed.
"Are you alright, Tai?" Mimi asked cautiously.
"Yeah." Tai said. "Except I think Matt's broken my nose." He looked around at his surroundings now. "Hey, are we locked in a dungeon or something?"
Matt's eyes narrowed. "We were captured by Condormon. You were acting kind of weird. Like he had you under his control or something. Can you remember anything?"
Tai closed his eyes tightly. "Yeah. He wants the digivices and crests."
Mimi snorted. "Well that's rich, we don't have them either."
"Yeah we do." Tai said with his old grin. "I hid them in TK's packsack while I was er… under the influence of that poisoned blackberry."
"Poisoned blackberry?" Joe repeated, suddenly feeling quite ill.
Gomomon sidled up to him with a grin. "Don't worry Joe, from now on, I'll taste everything before you eat it."
"Thanks a lot." Joe rolled his eyes, thinking of some of the meager meals they had feasted on.
Matt rubbed his temple as he watched Tai. "So we have our crests and digivices. And we have the key to this cell door. Let's go and pay this Condormon a little visit."
"But what about the Diabolicomon?" Sora asked.
Tai frowned. "All they can do is that stupid sleep gas attack thing. We just were not prepared last time. Our digimon can take them out. Besides, they are all in the sleeping chamber right now."
"So what does Condormon do?" Joe asked. He didn't really want to know, but someone had to ask the question.
Tai shrugged. "I dunno. I only just met the guy. He looks like a big ugly vulture. Big."
Tentomon perked up. "He plays games with the mind, like leaving an enchanted blackberry for one of us to find. He can't directly hit you with any spells, but he can enchant objects that may contact us and complete the spell."
TK opened his packsack and handed everyone's digivices and crests to their proper owner.
"So in other words," Izzy said, accepting his belongings, "don't touch anything on the way to Condormon's lair."
"Well how about the floor?" Mimi asked fearfully.
"Don't fall down and scrape your knee." Izzy said confidently. "Don't eat anything and don't touch anything sharp. My laptop says his spell must be ingested or absorbed into the body for it to work. Probably all the fruit was infected in that little oasis. I touched a piece of fruit, but did not have a chance to actually pick it and eat it, therefore I was not affected by the spell."
"So let's go then." Patamon said, sounding like he was getting a little bit impatient.
"Alright." Tai smiled hugely. "Let's show this creep what we're made of."
The digidestined and their digimon crept out of the dungeon and tip-toed down the long, cold, dark corridor towards what Tai called: Condormon's Lair. Tai stopped at a large opening and motioned everyone to have a look. The cavern must have been the Diabolicomon's sleep chamber. There were more evil digimon than they could count.
Tai closed the door carefully and turned the key. "Don't need any distractions while we're battling Condormon." He whispered, pocketing the key. "Come on." He led them further down the corridor for a few minutes. It felt like they were walking down a slight slope and the air was starting to feel cold.
A dim golden light spilled out of an opening up ahead. "There it is." Tai replied in barely a whisper. "Okay, TK and I will go first. When I give the signal, the rest of you charge in digivolving. I just met the guy, so I don't know what exactly he's capable of, okay? So we'll hit him fast and hard."
"He'll probably have a skeleton crew of Diabolicomon on sentry duty as well." Izzy added. "If you see one, cover your nose and mouth quick so you don't get gassed."
Everyone nodded silently. Tai took TK's hand and led him into the light, followed closely by Patamon and Agumon. The rest of the digimon and children watched from outside in the passage.
Tarnished metal torches along the walls lighted the room and the floor was covered in a ratty looking red colored fabric. Beside a large stone fireplace sat the immense digimon on a high-backed throne-like chair. TK cringed. The creature did look like a giant shiny black vulture. He was watching as they approached his chair.
"Digidestined child of courage." Condormon said in a deep slow timber. "You have brought me the crests and digivices?" His beady black eyes reflected the flickering light of the torches eerily.
Tai nodded. "Yes Master. Also I brought you our youngest digidestined, the child of hope; as requested."
TK couldn't take his eyes off the evil digimon. He hoped Tai would hurry up and give the signal. He did not like the way Condormon was looking at him.
"Bring me the digivices and crests." Condormon said.
Tai shrugged. "Okay. Now!" He shouted.
The whole chamber exploded with bright colorful light as the rest of the digimon joined Agumon and Patamon digivolving and advancing on the evil digimon.
"What is the meaning of this?" Condormon hissed angrily, standing up as the now champion level digimon were together hitting him with everything they had.
"Nova Blast!"
"Howling Blaster!"
"Meteor Wing!"
"Electro Shocker!"
"Needle Spray!"
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
"Hand of Fate!"
"Your spell has been broken, Condormon!" Tai shouted exuberantly. "You don't control me anymore, but I have control over Greymon. Go get him, Dude!"
"Nooooo!" Condormon wailed, leaping back and knocking over his throne. Greymon hurled another nova blast at the huge black vulture-like digimon as Garurumon aimed his icy cold howling blaster at the same time. With each attack, Condormon was getting smaller and smaller and looking ragged around the edges. Birdramon swooped over and fired a few of her meteor shower-like blasts before ramming the beast. They barreled into the far wall with a thunderous crash. Condormon raised himself wearily out of the fray and gave the rest of the digimon and digidestined a withering glare. "You cursed digidestined have not seen the last of me." His voice dripped acid. He disappeared into a puff of black smoke.
A few Diabolicomon rushed in and eyed the group warily.
"Get them!" Tai yelled.
The Diabolicomon prepared to strike, but the digidestined and their digimon were anticipating the gas attack this time covering their mouths and noses or holding their breath and were able to fight; each champion level digimon blasting them into digital data one after another, the room glowing with bright energy until there were no foes left.
"Do you think he's going to come back?" Sora asked looking around nervously. It had not taken much to defeat Condormon. They had actually done it without even going to ultimate. It just seemed too easy.
Tai shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt he'll come after us again today, but I don't think we should stick around here to find out."
The digimon dedigivolved back to their rookie forms and along with their digidestined, followed Tai to the mouth of the secret lair of Condormon, hoping they would never see it or him ever again. The sight of the cool dark forest was a huge relief after being stuck in the dank dungeon-like underground complex.
"Do you think we should do anything about those Diabolicomon we trapped in their sleep cave?" Mimi asked quietly.
Izzy shook his head. "They are not a threat to us right now, it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to open that door, so I say we leave them to it and get ourselves out of here."
"Sounds good." Matt responded, rubbing his temple again.
Tai stopped. "Um, I'm sorry about your head, Matt."
The rest of the digidestined stopped also and gazed curiously at their leader. "What do you mean by that, Tai?" Sora asked.
"Well. Um. While I was er… under the um, influence of the poisoned blackberry, I sort of hit Matt from behind with a rock." He pulled at the collar of his blue shirt uncomfortably. "I was possessed I tell ya. Matt didn't fall asleep on guard duty. I knocked him out." He paused, looking sheepish. "I also did sort of roll that log on purpose so he'd get a little wet."
Everyone but Matt and Tai gasped in surprise.
Matt nodded. "Apology accepted Tai." TK grabbed his brother around the legs in a big hug.
"I'm sorry I thought you fell asleep Matt." He cried.
Everyone else murmured an echo.
Tai straightened. "Okay then everybody. It's a long way to Emerald Glade, so let's get going already!"
Izzy had his laptop out. "Yes it is a long way. According to my calculations, your little possession by the enchanted blackberry has set us back three days. This is the last time we follow one of your hair-brained shortcuts!"
Tai shook his head in frustration. "I knew I should have dumped that laptop of yours into the creek."
"Excuse me?" Izzy spluttered.
"You would have killed TK though."
TK looked up at Izzy with horror filled eyes. "You would have?"
"Yeah, you guys actually got off real light with the exception of Matt of course." Tai said, smiling wistfully. "Ha, ha, ha, you should have seen your face when you fell into the creek, Mimi. Absolutely priceless."
"You mean that was you? After all that; it was you?" Sora demanded, her face turning a deep shade of burgundy.
Tai nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty funny, huh? Being controlled by an evil blackberry isn't all bad I guess."
Sora turned to Matt, her fists clenched. "Matt, I apologize for being such a jerk earlier. Tai, I can't believe you can laugh about it. Do you realize that we could have all split up over this?"
Tai waved her off. "Now, now, I came back and made everything better."
"You dumped over my bag!" Joe steamed on the verge of hyperventilation. Even his glasses were fogging up.
"You put digi-dirt in my laptop!" Izzy stormed. His hair and face were the same color and he was starting to crack his knuckles.
"You pushed me into the creek." Mimi screeched. "And this dress is dry clean only." If looks could kill, Tai would be dead.
"You made Mimi think I'd pushed her into the water!" TK cried. "She called me all sorts of horrible things that I don't even know what they mean!"
"I defended you, without any evidence." Sora moaned.
Tai stopped chortling as realization dawned on him. "Hey!" He held up his hands. "Now don't be hasty here, after all, I was possessed." He let out a nervous little laugh. "Right?" He did not like what he saw, so turned to run.
The five angry digidestined followed like wildfire.
Matt sighed and addressed the seven confused digimon around him. "Well at this rate, we'll certainly make up for those three days we're behind." They followed the sounds of Tai's yelling, towards the elusive Emerald Glade.
The End