Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of the main characters in this fic except for Rime and Phloem. I also came up with the idea of 'weremon.' Most Digimon that appear in this fic I looked up at Sora's Digimon Palace Digidex (http://boesv061.speed.planet.nl/).
Chapter 14: Portal to Hell
"You want me to teleport you in where?" Kurai looked at Rime as if he had been dropped on his head when he was little. "Are you insane?" They were currently back in the Village of the Weremon.
Pixie, who had been listening, interjected, "He has a point, Kurai. The noblemen, being politicians, have refused to believe any report that Rime is alive, but they wouldn't mind killing an 'imposter'. We wouldn't be able to get close to the castle."
A vein in Kurai's forehead twitched. "B…But teleporting into the Throne Room in front of a full court? The guards shoot intruders on sight. We'd all die!"
"Not if I'm around," Relaina stated. "Not even one bullet would be able to get past me."
Exasperated, she retorted, "Then why don't I just teleport us all in, then?!"
Brian nodded in agreement. "They would be more likely to believe us if Pixie and I did come along."
Kurai hung her head in defeat. "Okay," she acquiesced. "I'll do it. Even if it is a stupid plan…" She looked up with a mischievous look in her eye and smirked at the Digidestined and their Digimon. "Get ready to go!" With a small 'pop', they all vanished.
Then they reappeared in the middle of a council session at the palace. Kurai's aim had landed them right on the dais. As she had expected, the guards fired on them. Relaina simply held the bullets in midair.
Rime lazily walked over to the emperor's throne and sat down in the magnificent white and gold monument. "I'm back," was all he said. Sorcerymon stood defensively at his side. The council erupted into chaos.
********
Phloem smiled happily as he walked through the Imperial Guard's headquarters. He thought back to how Rime had eventually convinced the nobles that he wasn't an imposter, the Havens were dead, and that Phloem wasn't a criminal in slightly more than a week. The latter had surprised them the most, considering that the last time they had seen the prince was just after he had Phloem arrested. But now Rime was officially the emperor, and Phloem had somehow been promoted from a cadet to a captain. On top of that, Rime had informed him that Phloem would soon be inducted into Lord Haven's former position since the aforementioned was now dead. He hadn't really been given a choice in the matter. Rime had insisted that he be ennobled.
The other Digidestined were also staying the palace. Relaina was in a bad mood because she'd wanted to go back to her former position, but she was getting over it. He often saw her in the training grounds practicing with Magnus. Sho had wandered off somewhere the day after they had arrived in Sanctus. Alan was even more quiet than usual. He had been shaken after almost killing his opponent, Killey, and was rebalancing himself by going through the library and learning as much as he could about the pre-Digital Realization world.
Magnus had stopped being quite so obsessive about guarding Brian and was spending more time with Relaina. Pixie and Brian were officially going out, and they often went to the city to relax or find some form of entertainment. After being given official pardon, Kurai was reluctantly learning court manners, but Phloem sensed that she was slightly bored with her situation. Tatsu and Sakura were searching the palace libraries for any more information on hybrids.
And Rime was making the nobles sweat by instating a large number of reforms that sharply increased the rights of Digimon and commoners. He had remarked to Phloem that it was fun to see the more obstinate ones scramble to hold onto their power. Even the more complacent ones were still resisting a bill that gave as many rights to a partnerless human or Digimon as the partnered ones had. That one was still going through the works because of the nobles' resistance and because of the need to define exactly when a partnerless human or Digimon was considered dangerous. In the meantime, Rime had completely halted all executions of partnerless humans.
Upon Vahn's request, no one said what exactly he was or why he didn't have a Digimon. The whole court wondered who he was almost as much as they wondered what had happened to change Emperor Rime's attitude so greatly. Vahn had taken to relaxing on the rooftop of the Imperial Guard headquarters when he wasn't having talks with Rime about introducing the weremon to the rest of society.
Finally, Phloem spotted Vahn on the top of one of the towers. He needed to talk to him because he had seen something disturbing underneath the palace, and Vahn was the only one not busy doing something. He turned to his Digimon. "Tapirmon, can you tell him to meet me at the bottom of the tower? I think he needs to see this."
Tapirmon nodded. "I will get him." Phloem impatiently walked to the tower and began to pace. What he had seen should not have even existed, yet Tapirmon had not acted surprised to see it at all. He had only looked worried, as if he had encountered something like it long, long ago.
Vahn came down the tower with Tapirmon. Smiling worryingly, Phloem grasped Vahn's arm. "There's something bad beneath the palace, but I'm not sure what it is," he said. His wide eyes showed a tinge of fear.
"What does it look like?" Vahn asked as Phloem began to pull him back towards the palace. "Where beneath the palace is it?" He was surprised at how firm Phloem was acting. Usually he had a more passive personality.
Phloem didn't stop. "You'll see. It's near the underground River, and I was walking around there and found… it. I know that the others all have jobs to do, but I wanted someone to see it." Vahn allowed himself to be led by the very worried Phloem as Tapirmon floated in front of them. The shorter boy didn't seem to notice anything, but was concentrated on whatever "it" was.
*******
Out in the city, Brian blew on a hot cup of tea to cool it. He was with Pixie in one of the city's many restaurants. He looked up suddenly, squinting as if he was seeing something very far away.
Across the table from him, Pixie asked, "Is something wrong?"
He looked troubled. "I'm not sure. I thought I sensed something at the palace, but I can't tell what it is. I just know that something's happening." He took a sip of tea. "I can tell it's being taken care of, but I don't feel like the problem is being completely solved, whatever it is."
"Should we go back?"
Brian shook his head. "It doesn't seem like anything will come of it anytime soon. We might as well enjoy our meal." However, the event that he couldn't quite see hovered ominously in his mind.
********
Rime looked at his Digivice. It was glowing slightly, and that disturbed him. There was no apparent reason for it to be shining like it was. Most of the Digidestined were out of the palace, and he didn't know where most of them in the palace were. That was why he was heading towards Kurai's rooms. Finding the correct door, he walked in, but perhaps he should have knocked first…
There came a cry of "PERVERT!" Rime quickly had to shut the door before a heavy tome connected with his head. As it was, the strong wooden door shuddered at the impact. Muttering something along the lines of, "It's not like I saw anything anyway," he quickly walked away with Sorcerymon. The Digimon looked amused.
A few moments later, BlackGatomon and a now-fully dressed Kurai opened the door and peeked outside. 'Good, he left,' was her first thought. Then came, 'The inconsiderate moron! He could've at least stayed to apologize!' With a sound of indignation, she slammed the door shut again, never noticing that her D-Seed was shimmering.
********
Outside the castle, at the training courts, Magnus and Relaina were having a short practice duel. The pace of sword-hitting-sword slowed only slightly when they heard someone yell and then a door slam inside the castle. "I wonder what that was about?" Relaina said as she blocked Magnus's strike and then counterattacked.
"No idea," he replied shortly as he dodged and quickly struck at her again. Their duel continued in silence, both of them going all-out with the blunted practice blades. From the fence, Guilmon and Gabumon watched the mock battle.
"Is this their idea of a date?" Gabumon asked Guilmon, who just shrugged with a confused expression.
********
Alan worked quietly inside the quiet palace library as he sorted through some of the older files that Rime had just released to the public from the Emperor's formerly private library. There were compilations of information on everything from popular music to the government. Sakura and Tatsu were also in there as they tried to find more on the subject of hybrids.
Suddenly, one of Sakura's Gatomon ear's twitched and she and Gatomon both sat straight up. "It seems," said Sakura with a smile, "that Rime forgot to knock before entering Kurai's room."
Tatsu continued to page through a book. "She's going to kill him." Monodramon nodded in agreement.
"I doubt it," Alan murmured as he tried to decipher some faded writing, "but they certainly do make an odd couple." He glanced at his wrist as a flicker of light caught his eye. "My D-Seed is glowing," he said, a tinge of surprise apparent in his voice
Veemon looked at it curiously. "I'm not Digivolving, so why's it shining like that?"
Tatsu and Sakura glanced at their own wrists before meeting each other's gaze. "Ours are glowing, too."
"Is something happening that we don't know about?" Sakura wondered. "Maybe we should go investigate." In silent agreement, the three Digidestined and their Digimon got up and left the library.
********
Somewhere in the countryside, Sho and SnowAgumon walked on a small trail through a forest. For a second, Sho paused and looked behind him before continuing forward. "What was that for?" asked SnowAgumon quietly.
He replied, "I just had a bad feeling. It's nothing." They continued to walk for a while, but suddenly the landscape shifted and they were standing in front of a cave. It didn't look too far from where they had been, but it was definitely not on the path. SnowAgumon and Sho traded glances before walking inside.
It seemed like a completely normal cave, except for one thing: There was something hanging in the air in front of him. "What is it?" Sho said with fascinated disgust. It seemed like a dark, jagged rip in the very fabric of the world itself, a portal to some kind of hell. An uneasy feeling overcame both of them, but then Sho's D-Seed made a small beeping noise. He held it up to look at it, and it burst into light.
********
Phloem, Vahn and Tapirmon stood in front of something similar to what Sho and SnowAgumon had seen, but much, much larger. In the burial caverns beneath the palace, it stretched from the floor to the ceiling in one of the less used part of the caves. "This is what I was talking about," Phloem said in a breathless whisper. The thing was terrible to look at. Shapes and shadows shifted in a chaotic pattern just after the fabric of the "real" world ended and just before the shadow world began. In the back of it all was the shadow of a sea monster-like Digimon, terrible to behold for just the feeling of cruelty that seemed to radiate off it as its image flickered in and out.
Tapirmon was contemplative and quiet. He looked almost saddened by the sight of it. "It was supposed to have been sealed long, long ago," he said with a sigh. "But the greatest of the evils sealed in there… I cannot sense it."
Vahn's eyes flashed in recognition. "Now I understand what it is. Because most Weremon can trace their history back to the son of Hikari, the Bearer of Light, we have legends of this place. Supposedly both she and Ken, the Bearer of Kindness, were able to step across the barriers of the worlds more easily than those of the rest of the Digidestined, whom could only cross between the Digital and Real Worlds. This is the world known as the realm of darkness, the Dark Ocean, where a shadow with the form of a Dragomon resides and Daemon was sealed long ago…"
"Yes," Tapirmon agreed with a heavy sigh, "but it seems as if Daemon has escaped."
~To Be Continued…~
Chibigreen's Notes: Whoa! A cliffhanger-ish ending for this chapter… I didn't meant to have one there, actually, but I decided to post this chapter now since I hit a small writer's block there. Sorry for the late update. Real life intruded once again. And I didn't feel like writing anymore at all. I hated the last chapter. *burns hard copy of the story* Mwahahaha! Ahem. Anyhow, other people seemed to like it, so I guess I don't mind it too much… And it seems like the links to the pictures of people in this story didn't work out correctly, so I'm posting the links once again. Just copy and paste the addresses if you want to see them.
Sho (http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/ri2/darkside2/Shoa.JPG) by Steel Knight
Tatsu (http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/anime4/takatomon/images/Images.html) by Tatsu no Houou
Rime (http://members.tripod.com/chibigreenmagic/muses/rime2.gif) by me
Phloem (http://members.tripod.com/chibigreenmagic/muses/phloem.gif) by me again
Steel Knight has also written a story that continues this one, but focuses on Sho. (http://fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1101581)
Also, someone named Lanen (http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=23214) drew an amazingly good picture of all of my muses, including Phloem (who looks quite different from what I drew him as) and Rime (who looks very good). (http://chibigreenmagic.tripod.com/muses/picforchibigreen.gif)
ChibiSora – I figured Relaina wouldn't mind killing she considered 'bad'. It seems to be in her personality. ^___^
PrincessKitty-Chan – Calm down, calm down. You'll find out soon enough just how much "history is repeating itself" in this fic. And thinking in Japanese in Hebrew class isn't that bad… I was thinking in Spanish in English class. You know, you might want to concentrate on Geometry instead of this story. ^__^;;
Takeru and Hikari – I'm glad someone liked the bloody battle scene. (I didn't, and I was the one who wrote it!) I hope you're able to continue with "Destiny" soon. Parents are Evil… ^___^
Red Wolf – You know, you could just use the books at your library to look up info on Kansas. I didn't get any of the info for you, but by the time I looked at the review a few weeks had passed. Sorry! I'm glad you like the story. ^___^
Steel Knight – I put the link to your story above, just in case anyone else wanted to read it. Though I think your timeline clashes slightly with mine…
So, you want to click that little button below this, right? ^___^