Chapter 22: Slave of Machines
Lucidia entered a large chamber through two metal doors. The room was pitch black except for the occasional light blinking on and off. She entered with something behind her. It was tied up by her cloth blades and was being dragged by its feet.
The chamber came to life as it recognized her. Lights on the ceiling shined brightly on her and her prize. A voice came from the walls, "ah... Lucidia... Do you have him?"
"Lucidia's metal lined face flashed, "Yes, master." She nodded and released what she was dragging, "I have brought Ashton to you."
Ashton dropped to the ground. His limp body moved ever so slightly as he unconsciously drew in air to breathe. He had a few cuts on his face as well as on his arms, but it wasn't anything serious. His swords were held in another cloth blade of Tiria's.
The voice from the walls applauded Tiria's efforts, "Well done, Lucidia." A blue light went over Ashton's body and sent data to the chamber walls, "It seems he is in stable condition."
Lucidia stood and watched as the chamber extended several devices from its walls. The devices drew blood samples from Ashton and injected chemicals to keep him in a light coma. Several probes were placed into Ashton's skin. They buzzed as they scanned every cell of Ashton's body and sent their findings to a computer in the back wall of the chamber.
This went on for a few minutes until the voice completed his analysis, "Subject: 4th child, 1st generation. Stable life signs. Digital Fusion capabilities active." It scanned Ashton again, "Your presence is no longer necessary, Lucidia." The door behind her opened, "You may leave."
Lucidia bowed in recognition, "Yes, master."
As the door slid shut, the chamber injected a green fluid into Ashton. As the fluid began to circulate through his body, Ashton regained consciousness. He quickly tried to get up, but was rewarded with sharp pains throughout his body. He collapsed back onto the ground, "where am I?"
The chamber's voice echoed, "Welcome, Ashton Menthius. You are in my central chamber."
Ashton quickly recognized the voice. Anger burned through him. He wanted more than anything to find his swords and destroy the chamber, but neither his strength nor his weapons were with him. He decided to speak, "TeraDatamon!"
The chamber remained silent. It scanned Ashton again, but with a red light this time, "Subject has 0 viruses present. No contaminants found, prepare probes for injection."
"What do you intend to do with me!?" Ashton demanded. He tightened his muscles to try to move, but the pain returned and quickly forced him to rethink trying to escape.
"Isn't it obvious?"The chamber replied, "I am going to place you with your friends." A table rose out of the floor and lifted Ashton. It stopped at about half way to the ceiling. Numerous bright lights went on and shined on Ashton, "I am going to make you into one of my warriors."
Ashton suddenly jerked around, "No way! You can't do this!"
"Oh, but I have." The chamber's voice remained silent, "I did it to your friends."
"Let me go!" Ashton ignored the pain that bit into him as he fought to move.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that." Metal braces extended from the table and locked Ashton into place. A blue laser aimed a dot onto his forehead and started to make a high pitched buzzing sound. "Don't worry," the chamber said, "You won't remember a thing of your past. Only what I tell you."
A small chip floated down through the path the laser made. It entered his forehead and covered itself with his skin. Ashton flinched as the chip went on and sent electrical shocks through him. "What are you doing?"
"You already know the answer to that." The chamber insisted, "I believe you also know what happens next.
Ashton's eyes went wide as the memories of his friends being reprogrammed returned to him. He had formed a mind link with Tiria when she was reprogrammed. He witnessed with her as she re-lived her entire life backwards in seconds and as the metal probes overtook her body. "No!" Ashton cried as the final probe descended down to his chest. "No!"
"Yes, my warrior," the chamber said as the probe went through Ashton's chest and attached to his heart. It's cold, metal shell made Ashton's heart quiver. It spread metal lines across Ashton's body in a pattern that followed his viens and arteries. The same lines that controlled his friends were now taking him over.
"No!" Ashton shouted as his memories of life flashed through his head as they were deleted. The lines of metal crawled up to his face and began to take over his senses.
Ashton's body jerked in his braces. the chamber continually scanned his body as the probes made their changes. "Subject's mental patterns are stable. Memory being deleted. Command functions under control." The final scan was made and the data was complete, "Welcome to my world, Ashton Menthius."
Ashton's blue eyes became brighter as his vision was altered to link with TeraDatamon's. He stopped screaming as his entire brain and body was consumed by the probes. He lay there silently. A soldier for TeraDatamon to play with. A slave.
- Ice region of File Island -
Matt watched as DarkAngemon circled around him with his scythe ready to strike. He had fused with Darius and now possessed a means to fight DarkAngemon. Gabumon was still unconscious from DarkAngemon's attack. The furry digimon laid in the snow, motionless, but breathing.
DarkAngemon smiled with his teeth showing. He lifted his fist, "Hand of hate!"
Matt jumped over the attack and ran forward. He swung downwards with his sword as he reached a position directly in front of darkAngemon. DarkAngemon blocked his swing with the staff of his scythe. He used his strength to knock Matt back and fired his Hand of hate attack again. Matt dropped to his belly and let the shot fly over him. He saw DarkAngemon leap into the air and prepare his scythe to slash him in two.
Without thinking, Matt twisted onto his back and fired a burst of energy into DarkAngemon as he dropped in for his attack. DarkAngemon went flying back with smoke boiling off of his chest plate. The snow melted as he sank into the ground.
Matt got to his feet. He put his sword away in the sheath on his back and walked over to Gabumon. A thin layer of snow had blanketed his digimon friend. Matt rubbed the snow off and shook Gabumon by the shoulders, "Gabumon! Wake up!"
Gabumon sneezed as he came to. He slowly opened his eyes, "er? Matt?" Gabumon shook his head to try to calm his spinning head ache, "What happened? I get the strangest feeling that we ran into DarkAngemon."
"We did," Matt said in a voice that said sorry.
DarkAngemon got up and shed the coat of snow that covered him. His black wings spread wide and blocked the sunlight, "Ran into doesn't begin to describe what has happened!" He flew into the sky and filled his hands with energy, "Hell's Rain!"
He punched at the air with his fists rapidly. With each punch a ball of energy shot at the ground. The balls exploded as they collided with the white snow and burned a black color into their debris. The rain of fire continued for nearly a minute. Matt created a force field to protect him and Gabumon from the explosions. When DarkAngemon stopped, he powered up a larger ball. He used his entire body to launch it at the ground.
As the ball raged forward Matt and Gabumon could hear the air around it evaporate and felt the wind being pushed back by it. They covered their eyes as it became too bright to look at and dropped to their knees as it exploded around them.
Matt's force feild held against the violent blast, but it couldn't keep out all of the flaming debris and smoke. Matt and Gabumon coughed heavily as their lungs were filled with burning ozone. As the smoke cleared, they saw DarkAngemon hovering over them. He held his scythe in a relaxed position, "I've made my point." He floated away, "You better get to your friends before I do..."
Matt helped Gabumon onto his feet, "Man! I can't believe he's back!" He brushed some dirt from his left shoulder, "We have to get to the others and warn them."
They both wiped off the snow and dirt on their bodies and walked back the way they came. What was once a valley had became a battle ground, and now a wasteland. Black smoke leaked from the white snow. Ice walls collapsed and formed jagged spikes. Trees cracked as flames ate them. Their sap sent a spicy smell into the air. Patches of snow were dyed red from digimon that had been hiding in the snowy blanket. Matt shuddered, He's made his point alright.
- Grassland region of File Island -
For the Digidestined the grasslands was a welcome break. Nightmaremon had stopped chasing them and they had finally gotten a good meal and some rest. Joe and Gomamon were the first to wake up.
Joe rubbed his eyes from under his glasses. He got up slowly as the never setting sun blasted his newly opened eyes with white light. He squinted as he saw the outline of a man with a crazy hair style in the light. "Wha?"
"Geez! You guys sleep forever!"
"Wha!" Gomamon screamed and fell back at the sound of the voice.
Tai's voice surprised Joe and caused him to lose his balance in shock. "Tai! Hey, everybody! Wake up! It's Tai!" Joe shouted in disbelief. He hadn't seen Tai for nearly a week.
Everyone moaned as they woke up. They rubbed their eyes as the light filtered through their eye lashes. The y all groaned and completely ignored what Joe had said. Sora was the first to speak, "What's that, Joe?"
Joe didn't answer verbally. Instead he pointed. Sora turned her head slowly as the light entered her open eyes. She widened them as she saw what Joe was freaking out about. "Oh my God! Tai!" Sora shouted as she sprang to her feet and hugged him. "Where have you been?"
Tai returned the hug and smiled, "I've been around the Island looking for you guys." He released Sora from his embrace, "so what has been happening?"
Everyone remained silent. PhantomWizardmon stood up and decided to tell tai of their run in with Nightmaremon, "well..."
"hey, who's this guy?" Tai interrupted.
"I am PhantomWizardmon." The cloaked figure offered his hand.
Tai shook, "Ok, you were saying?"
PhantomWizardmon took his hand back and continued, "We had a run in with a very powerful Digimon. A digimon made of billions of nightmares, Nightmaremon. His power is fueled by the nightmares that you humans have everyday."
Tai scratched his chin. He hadn't shaved and was starting to look a little rough. "So he gets stronger everyday?"
"Every moment, actually," Izzy corrected his friend. "You see, with over 6 billion people on Earth, half of which in poverty, there could very well be several thousand nightmares every minute."
Tai gave Izzy a strange face, "Thank's for the current events update, Izzy." He turned back to PhantomWizardmon, "Tell me more about this digimon."
Sora stopped PhantomWizardmon before he could continue, "It's a long story, Tai. Right now we have get to Server."
Tai nodded, "What about Matt?"
TK remained seated, "My brother still hasn't returned."
"I see," Tai crossed his arms and looked into the sky. "Huh?" he said as he saw some smoke rising from the Ice region. "Look, there's smoke!"
Everyone looked up to the north and saw a cloud of snoke rising from the Ice region of File Island. Mimi gasped as a thought came to her, "Do you think maybe Matt is there and that he's in trouble?"
TK took his eyes off of the growing mass of black gas, "I hope not."
Patamon flew up to TK's head, "Don't worry, TK," he assured, "Matt can take care of himself and he has Gabumon with him."
TK laughed a bit, "You're right, Patamon."
Tai shook his head, "Still..." He said, "If Matt's up there then we have to go find him."
"Why's that?" Kari asked. She had recovered from the last attack by Nightmaremon and was now able to speak again. Too scared to fight, Kari's inability stopped Gatomon from digivolving. It was an experience that she didn't wish to come across again.
"If we're going to Server we'll need to be together." Tai said, "We must stand as a team. Leave no one behind." He un-crossed his arms and made his hands into fists, "Let's go find him!"
"Let's go!" Joe shouted with Tai with his right fist in the air.
They all packed their things and set off to the north where the smoke pointed. PhantomWizardmon hovered next to Tai, "You are a natural leader."
Tai let his eyes relax, "You think so?"
"Yes," PhantomWizardmon said, "They follow your lead and support your ideas."
"I guess they do, "Tai said as he realized how respected he was.
They walked at a steady pace through the relatively flat grasslands. They had been walking for nearly an hour when PhantomWizardmon stopped. The group stopped and turned around, "What is it, PhantomWizardmon?" KAri asked.
PhantomWizardmon hovered a little higher than usual, "I must go ahead to Server."
"What?" Sora asked, "Why?"
"There are things I must take care of." PhantomWizardmon began to float in the opposite direction, "I must prepare for the upcoming battle."
"but we need you here!" Mimi shouted as the cloaked digimon became smaller, "What if Nightmaremon comes!?"
PhantomWizardmon didn't stop moving, "Tai is with you." He pointed at Tai's sword with his staff, "He possesses the Divine blade. He can handle protecting you."
"Wait!" Joe cried, "How can you be so sure?"
"I know how Nightmaremon works." The cloaked digimon disappeared.
Everyone remained still. They didn't like the idea of being without PhantomWizardmon. Luciedmon had already perished protecting them from Nightmaremon. PhantomWizardmon knew everything about the creature, and was able to allow them to escape its grip twice.
Tai looked at each of his friends. He could tell that whatever this digimon they spoke of was, it must have been very powerful. "Look," Tai finally broke the silence. Everyone looked at him, "I don't know what this Nightmaremon is, but when we face it we'll do it as a team." He held his head high, "Together we've been able to overcome everything that has stood in our way and we can do it again."
Everyone nodded. They decided that Tai's words were enough and continued on their way to the Ice regions. Only Matt, Mimi, Joe and Tai had ventured into them before. It had happened when Devimon separated them from each other and placed each child on a separate piece of File Island. Tai and Matt were placed into the Ice region. Mimi and Joe ventured into it when they were searching for allies to fight against Piedmon.
Tai felt fear spike in his heart. He didn't know where it was from. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to hide any attackers, but something told him that there was danger ahead. He thought hat was a given, but Myn's spirit within his sword spoke to his mind and told him otherwise. A great evil had returned. An evil that hungered for revenge.