Disclaimer: I got an idea from Star Wars. You'll know what it is the moment you read it (unless you haven't seen Episode 2).
Author's Note: I like this chapter :)
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Chapter Eighteen
Digital World Gladiators
Riki slowly opened his eyes, then shut them again. The light that had filled his vision stung him after hours of darkness.
"Get up," said a demanding voice. The voice's owner grabbed Riki by the upper arm and half-dragged him out of the subdungeon.
"…Riki?" Daiki opened his eyes in time to see the guard drag his older brother out of the cell. "Riki!" Daiki scrambled to his feet, but he was too late. The door closed with a loud bang in the boy's face. He slammed his fists against the metal door, efficiently waking up the others.
"Daiki? What the hell are you doing?" grumbled Riley.
"They took Riki! They took Riki!" the boy screeched.
"What!?" Lina demanded. "They did what?"
"They took my brother!"
"Jessie, do you have any more matches?"
The girl in question checked her pockets. "Uh…" A sudden light flared. "Just three more after this one."
Lina nodded. "Okay. Who here can pick locks?"
Riley, Josh, and Daiki raised their hands. Riley then slowly lowered her hand. "Actually," she said, "I can only pick the simple locks."
"Okay then. Jessie? Could you shine the light on the door lock? Josh? Daiki? Do you think you could pick this?"
While Jessie carefully held the match so the light shone on the door and lock, Josh and Daiki took turns trying to raise the lock pegs. It was a Yale lock, and a very complex one. Josh figured it had ten pegs instead of the usual five, and he and Daiki each raised five pegs. They were done when the light was dangerously low on the match.
"Okay, Jessie, you can put out the light now," instructed Lina.
Jessie thankfully doused the match and cooled off her hand in the icy water, which had been hot from the fire.
Lina rolled up her sleeves. "I'm going out."
"Wait, Lina." David handed her a thick, pointed stick about a foot and a half long. "I was carving that earlier. The point's really sharp, so sharp it sliced through the fabric of my shirt. Be cautious with that. Only utilize it when you must."
"Thanks, David." Armed with the stick, Lina slowly opened the door. There was only one guard outside. She turned back to her friends. "Okay, there's only one guard. Any ideas?"
Mikara nodded. "If we can get the keys from him, we can lock him in here while we look for Riki."
"It's not that easy, though," Compass noted. "But we can try. We'll fight if we have to."
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Daiki banged on the metal door once again. "Hey! Hey! We're hungry in here! We want some food!"
The Devidramon guard hit the door with the end of his spear. "Quiet in there! You should be glad I'm delivering the food now." He opened the door, too dumb to notice it was unlocked. He put the tray of food down in front of Daiki. "Here you go. …Hey. Where are the others?"
"Right here, hotshot!"
The Devidramon turned to see what was behind him when Jessie drop-kicked him. Lina popped up from nowhere and high-kicked the guard's chin. She adopted a fighting stance and brandished the stick in front of her. The Devidramon raised a clawed hand to brush aside the weapon when Lina flung it with practiced ease at his belt. The belt fabric tore off, stuck to the stick, and so was a decoration on the handle of the key ring. The stick, keys, and belt cloth slid to a stop at Mikara's feet. She tore the keys and stick free from each other and headed out of the cell. Jessie and Lina backed out of the cell as well. The Devidramon snarled at them and slowly advanced, only to have David cut an almost-invisible rope with his knife and send a bucket of water toppling onto the Devidramon's head. David and Riku shut the cell door while Mikara locked it.
But it wasn't over. With Riku and David in the lead, the Tamers ran down the hallway towards a set of stairs going up. Lina took the lead, her stick in hand, as they headed up the stairs. Jessie was behind her, gripping a fully-loaded slingshot she had made when she was ten. Lina kicked open the door and stepped through. The room was empty of any Digimon.
But not for long.
When all of the Tamers had entered the room, they were taken by surprise when a tall, blonde-haired Digimon stepped in front of them and several Devidramon grabbed them.
"Well, well, well," the blonde Digimon said. "I see you've escaped the subdungeon."
"Let us go, you bastard," Riku growled.
"My, my, you're feisty today. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Myotismon, and this is the produngeon… in a sense." He grinned, and the Tamers could easily see his vampire fangs. "Because you have escaped the subdungeon—and with such cleverness, if I might add—I had suggested to the Masters that you would be killed with honor."
"What honor can you possibly give us?" asked Riley.
"Oh, much honor. You will be all executed in public." He grinned wider at their expressions. "But wait! You will be executed in the arena, with a Digimon each to fight. You will be armed with whatever weapon you desire. If you kill the Digimon, you will have proven yourself and you will be set free. If you are killed—or worse, eaten—by the Digimon you were to fight… well, you lose, right?" Myotismon adopted an almost pleasant smile. "Any questions?"
Jessie struggled against her captors. "One—when does the party start?"
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Lina glared at the black-haired girl. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"
Jessie shrugged. "If we die, we die with honor, remember? Be glad we're not being left to rot for a thousand years, or to be eaten by Amemitmon, or to be—"
"We get the picture."
A Devimon eyed each Tamer before nodding to let them pass through the gates. Each Tamer was armed with a weapon—no, two weapons, but they didn't know their digivices were weapons of light. Lina had a javelin; she had wanted to keep her stick, but her friends wouldn't let her fight with something so small. David had a short sword, which he looked stupid carrying. Daiki and Josh had spears, too. Mikara wielded a bo staff, which she had learned in such a short time to channel what psychic powers she had through it. Riku and Compass had a daggers, Riley had two daggers, and Jessie had a dual-bladed sword.
"Jesus," Josh breathed. "It's like we're reliving Gladiator."
"Or Star Wars," said a voice. The Tamers turned to see Riki also wielding a duel-bladed sword.
"Riki!" exclaimed Daiki.
"Hey, bro. Glad we're all here, huh? What a way to die."
"Why do you think we'll die so easily?" Jessie wanted to know.
Riki shrugged. "I don't know. It's hot and sunny, and we're tired and hungry. And we're facing Digimon. Do you really think we'll win?"
It was Jessie's turn to shrug. "Hey, they never said what kind of Digimon."
The Tamers finally left the shade of the gates and entered the arena. It was huge, the size of a football field, and the ground was covered with sand. There were four columns on one end where the Tamers were exiting and several other gates on the other end. It was like something from a movie. The stands—yes, there were stands—were filled with hundreds upon hundreds of Digimon, all corrupted by evil.
"Krie Lorl'," whispered Jessie. "T'es es anorrebl'…"
"Whatever you said, I agree," commented Mikara, looking around the arena.
The Tamers stood where they were told to, which was in front of the four columns facing the gates on the opposite end of the arena. Satanmon and VileDevimon suddenly appeared in a booth high above the stands, near the top of the arena. VileDevimon raised his clawed hands for silence. When all was quiet, he said, "Welcome, welcome! Today we will sssee the execution of ten prisssonersss. We have a ssspecial sssurprissse for thessse pessstsss. Shall we begin?" There was a chorus of 'yeah's from the crowd. "Releassse them!"
The Tamers were tense, holding their given weapons before them as the gates across the arena slowly rose. The Digimon they were to fight stepped forward and out of the shadows, their eyes gleaming with the evil in them. Some roared, some howled, and some merely growled. But only when they stepped into the light did the Tamers and the crowd see who they were.
And time stopped.
Facing each Tamer was a Digimon with a black cable wrapped around each of their necks. Their eyes glowed red, their mouths dripped with saliva, and their hearts beat with the pain and agony they had endured up till then. But that's not what frightened the Tamers.
Lina was first to speak. I don't believe it… "………Kelaramon?"
The dinosaur-like Digimon roared a challenge to her Tamer. The other corrupted Digimon did likewise to theirs.
Daiki had to lean on his spear to support himself, for his knees had suddenly given way. The boy gave his Digimon a somber look. "No… Chagremon…" What happened to you?
Riley dropped her daggers. "Garurumon…" Forgive me, Garurumon, for failing you…
Tears were streaming down Mikara's cheeks. "R-Reno… Renokomon…" No! No! No!!!
David gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I can't believe this…" Goddammit, Stingmon…
Riki stared wide-eyed at his Digimon. No… it can't be… He whirled around and glared furiously at Satanmon and VileDevimon. "What did you do to them!? What did you do to Dragymon!?"
Josh was trembling. I… I can't do anything! I couldn't save them, and I can't now… no… I'm so sorry, Angemon…
Damn! Jessie swore mentally. Goddammit! How could I let them do this to Gargomon???
Compass took a step back. "Jesus… how are we supposed to fight them?" How are we supposed to free them?
Riku sheathed her dagger, closed her eyes, and put a hand to her heart. Then, loud and clear, she started reciting Kimigayo, "His Majesty's Reign", an ancient poem that had become the Japanese national anthem. When she finished, she opened her eyes. "We're not giving up. Not because we don't wanna die, but because we wanna save the Digimon. We wanna save this world, and not just this world, either, but our world, too. We won't give up on the Digimon, on the Digital World, on Earth, or on our people. Because they're our people, and the people—of any world—is first on the priority list." She gripped her dagger. "And because of that, we will NOT give up!" She glared at Satanmon and VileDevimon. "Do you hear me? We're not giving up!"
As she drew forth her dagger, her D-Force glowed with immense power and light, as did the other Tamers' D-Forces. The light was so bright, so blinding, that even the Digimon at the other end of the arena had to shield their eyes.
When the light dimmed so everyone could see, the black cables around the Tamers' Digimon's necks had dissolved and vanished, and the Champion Digimon were now roaring and howling and snarling at the crowd and at their torturers. They made a circle around their Tamers, facing outwards.
Lina clapped Riku's shoulder. "Good going there, Riku! I thought we'd lose that one."
"Thanks, Lina, but the battle's not over yet." Riku looked down at her dagger, which promptly vanished with the other Tamers' given weapons. "At least we won't have to fight with the tools of darkness."
"That's right. We'll fight alongside our Digimon!" Lina pulled on her goggles and let go of them, effectively snapping them squarely on her forehead. "Go get 'em!"
Fire, electricity, bullets, arrows, beams of light, and swords flew in all directions as the battle began. The crowd of hundreds fled in fear, most of them evaporating into clouds of data as the angered Champions wrecked havoc. Only Satanmon and VileDevimon stood unbowed in their booth.
The columns had toppled and the bleachers were in ruins in just minutes. The Tamers and their adrenaline-fueled Digimon faced the two Megas. The Tamers gripped their D-Forces while their Digimon simply adopted fighting and ready stances.
Mikara…
Eyes widening only slightly, Mikara searched her mind to find the owner of the thought message.
Mikara… it's us. We're sending you a gift each…
And, suddenly, in front of every Tamer appeared ten simple rectangles.
Blue cards.
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Author's Note: See what I mean? I think this was a good chapter. And yep, the arena thing was from Episode 2 of SW.