Chapter Seventeen
The Lair of Evil
It was mid morning, but the sky was dark and foreboding. Thunderclouds blotted out the sun, sending streaks of lightning down to the earth. The Tamers were oblivious to it all as they headed up the dormant volcano, their goal in mind.
"Look, someone's up there!" Tetramon exclaimed, pointing with a paw at a large cloaked figure at the pinnacle of the volcano.
"Greetings, children," the being rasped. "My name is SkullMeramon."
"Oh, do we have to fight you too?" Riki demanded.
SkullMeramon laughed. "No, no, children. You merely have to follow me. I'll take you to my masters."
Mikara's eyes widened. "You'll take us to VileDevimon and Satanmon?"
The cloaked Digimon's red eyes flared angrily. "Silence, fool! Satanmon's name always comes first!"
"Mikara, I think you better listen to him," Patamon said quietly. "He's an Ultimate, after all."
"So was LadyDevimon, and this guy's no different," the girl replied.
SkullMeramon's red eyes narrowed. "Do you not believe me when I say I am to bring you to my masters?" Black cables rose from the ground. "Or must I enforce a more… painful method?"
A single black cable slithered towards Tetramon. The little foxlike Digimon snarled and struck the cable, and when his paw connected with it, electricity ran through his furry body. Tetramon shrieked, and when the electricity stopped, he slumped to the ground. Daiki knelt beside his partner and hugged him close.
"You evil bastard!" Daiki screamed at SkullMeramon. "What was that for, huh!?"
"To prove you are weak," the Ultimate-level Digimon sneered.
Daiki looked at Riki. "Can we get 'im? Please say we can!"
Riki turned to Lina. "Well…?"
The goggle-headed girl shook her head. "We can't do anything about it this time. If we did, we'd all be deep fried sushi."
Daiki stood up, still clutching Tetramon. "WHAT!!!? You're just gonna let him win like that? I don't care if I'm deep fried sushi! He hurt Tetramon, and he's gotta pay!"
"Dai… ki…" Tetramon opened his eyes slightly. "Don't fight… yet…"
The ten-year-old boy's violet eyes became somber as he looked down at his partner. "But Tetramon… he hurt you."
"He'll hurt you too… if you become reckless. Don't fight… for our sake."
Daiki nodded. "Oh… okay."
Lina stepped forward, facing SkullMeramon. "Bring us to your masters. We wish to fight them."
SkullMeramon smirked. "As you wish." He swiftly turned on his heel and headed into the mountainside.
* * *
The Tamers and their Digimon cautiously followed SkullMeramon down a long, crescent-shaped corridor. They were silent-no words passed between two or more people. Tetramon gave the occasional whimper if Daiki hugged him too hard, but other than that, there was no sound.
Without warning, ten black cables burst from the walls and latched onto the Digimon. Daiki and Josh yelled with surprise as the cables took their Digimon from their arms. Mikara fought with the cable that held Nekomon, desperately trying to save her Digimon. A cable had latched onto Terriermon's ear while the rest of his body still clung to Jessie's shoulder. No matter what they did, however, the cables wrapped around the Digimon and sucked them into the walls.
Lina lost her balance slightly as the last cable—the one that held Sytamon—slipped out of her hands. The girl grabbed onto her brother's shoulder for support, then regained her composure. She turned to face SkullMeramon's cloaked back.
"You… you… you…!" she hissed.
"You son of a bitch! Damn you bastard!" Daiki screeched, his hands balled into fists.
Riki clamped his hand over Daiki's mouth. "Daiki! What would Mom say if she heard you scream like that?"
"Well, if you ruminate about it," David said, "they most likely howled like that when fighting the D-Reaper."
"Shut up."
Suddenly, all conversation ceased as the floor beneath the Tamers opened up and swallowed them up. The Tamers screamed in shock and terror, falling freely until they landed hard on rock.
"Ow…" Riku groaned, struggling to sit up. "I've never experienced such intense upper back pain. Never. Even when I was in the hospital…"
Several others were complaining as well.
"I can't see!"
"Mikara, I miss Patamon."
"Where are we?"
"A grotto, I presume. If not, a cavernous tunnel."
"Great."
Lina crawled around a bit until she felt something cold and wet. "Hey! Huh? Water?"
"Or something else, maybe," came Daiki's voice. There was a splashing noise. "Let's hope it's water. It's really icy cold."
"Daiki, stay away from the water!" Riki yelped. "We don't know how deep this water is. You might drown, and Mom and Dad would kill me if I let something happen to you."
"Don't be such a worrywart, Riki."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Shut up."
"Why don't you?"
Compass interrupted the conversation. "Who has some sort of light?"
Jessie called out, "I do! …I think. Let's hope I have some matches left." There is a moment of silence, and in the vast darkness, a small light suddenly flared to life. "Aha! Success!"
"Great," grumbled Riley. "We're stuck here with a match and a puddle of water, and our Digimon are God-knows-where."
Compass nudged her with her elbow. "Hey, try to lighten up. First of all, let's eat."
"You're always thinking of food."
"No, seriously, I'm hungry."
* * *
Sytamon snarled viciously. She bit down on the metal bars of her cage, fruitlessly attempting to escape. A Devidramon glared at her from the other side of the bars, mocking her.
Suddenly, all of the Devidramon guards glanced at the doorway of the dungeon. The door flung open wide as Satanmon and VileDevimon entered. Satanmon was huge, towering over the cages. His horns were wicked and curved, his eyes a stark white. His fur was blood red and shimmering in the firelight. A black cloak swirled around him and around his boots. He was a large red Minotaur, cloaked and dressed as a king without the crown.
VileDevimon, however, was similar to Devimon, only with blood-stained horns, blood-red wings, and a blood-stained tunic. The familiar white tattoos of Devimon were more foul and evil on this Mega's leathery skin. He hovered above the cages, silently laughing and sneering at the prisoners.
"You have done well, SsskullMeramon," VileDevimon chattered, scratching at one of his boots with his taloned hand. "You brought usss more ssslavesss, and you have trapped thossse pathetic children in the sssubdungeon."
"Where is my reward?" SkullMeramon demanded impatiently. "You promised me a reward."
"Yesss, yesss, of courssse." VileDevimon snapped his claws, and a nearby Devidramon guard produced from his belt a brown pouch. "Here isss your reward."
SkullMeramon took the pouch and emptied its contents in his other hand. Three black cables suddenly shot out from it and wrapped around the fiery Digimon. Screaming as the electricity flew through his veins, SkullMeramon fell to the floor and started dedigivolving. When the electricity stopped, he was a mere DemiMeramon. The same Devidramon guard scooped the unconscious In-Training, stuffed him into a small mesh bag, and dropped him in a glass box slightly filled with water to cool off.
Meanwhile, Satanmon turned to the ten caged Digimon. With a wave of his hand, the cages disappeared and black cables held down the captives. "You are now our slaves," the red Minotaur roared, his voice like thunder. "If one of you does extraordinarily well, you shall become a personal servant. But disobey our commands and you will suffer the consequences."
Gabumon snarled. "We will never bow down to you."
Satanmon turned his eerie white eyes to the head guard. "Torture them."
The Devidramon saluted, his raspy voice hissing a reply. "Yesss sssir."
Satanmon and VileDevimon turned and exited the dungeon, slamming the double doors behind them. Throughout the hallways, the sound of ten voices screaming with agony pierced the air.