Chapter Four

"M... Matt?" began Sora quietly.

"Hmm?" the boy answered sullenly, still slumped against the wall with his knees cradled in his arms.

How do I even start this? What do I say?

The girl was about to open her mouth to speak again when the attention of each of the imprisoned teens was drawn to an unexpected, mad scrambling just outside their cell door. "Get him, fool!" the girl, whom their captor Daven had called 'Rio', shouted. A violent, feral howl was the immediate response to the command.

Sora and Matt rushed to the door to see what they could, then waited for a few moments in total silence until the clamor had passed while exchanging a quizzical glance. "What happened?" she whispered.

"Don't know."

"Matt? Sora?" a familiar voice whispered from just outside the door.

"Kari?" Matt echoed back at her.

"Uh huh," the other responded softly, and in another moment the door to the cell swung inwards. There was the younger girl, glancing over her shoulder with a worried look on her face and the shimmering Crest of Light in her hand. Matt stared at the open door. "How did you-- "

"The crests," Kari interrupted. "We found out that they open all the doors around this place. I think everybody here has one."

"Crests?" Sora returned, a bit puzzled.

"These people… they're evil, Sora," Kari continued quietly. She looked at the pair. "But I guess you figured that out by now. And they don't just use their crests to manipulate digimon, but people too. That's what happened to you two and Tai when we were back there with Roan. T.K. and I are almost sure that his crest makes people angry at one other."

Sora looked overwhelmed and very nearly bewildered, but Matt heard only his brother's name. "T.K.? Where is he?"

"Leading that girl Rio and her Garurumon away," the other, again looking pensively at the hallway down which she'd last seen the boy run. "It was the only way we could think of to get you free."

Sora frowned. "So they've all got Digimon?"

But the older boy was no longer listening, and instead turned and started to trot towards the hallway down which he had heard Rio and her partner chase his brother. "Matt? Where are you going?" Sora demanded.

"I told you before we got caught. I'm going after T.K."

"But Matt, they've got their Digimon and we don't," she protested. "What do you think you can do? We can't fight them like that."

Kari clearly agreed with Matt, but stopped before following him. The crest of Light glowed warm in her hand. "Wait, Matt!" she whispered urgently, looking down the hallway in the opposite direction that the older boy was headed. "This way. We'll get to him faster."

The two older children glanced at the talisman in the girl's hand and saw the truth in her eyes before nodding, allowing her to lead them further down the long corridor.

*****

T.K.'s breath was coming in hurried, ragged gasps as he scrambled through the narrow hallway. He could hear the furious pounding of the Garurumon's paws just at his heels and feel its hot, fetid breath upon his neck each time he slowed to round another bend. It was only because of the creature's awkward gait through such a narrow tunnel that he hadn't been caught already. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

"Might as well stop running now, little boy, and save us all some effort!" the dark-haired girl Rio shouted from somewhere behind him. "This beast of mine is hungry, and I'd like your help feeding him!"

The boy skidded around another corner when…"Oh, no!"

The deep crevice which he had warned Kari of earlier loomed before him in the darkness, and he was still moving towards it at full speed. It seemed to him that he heard voices calling his name from somewhere behind and above him, but didn't dare stop to hear what they were saying. Ten seconds and he would be at the lip of the cliff... now five seconds...

And then, just as he started to slip on the gravel near the edge, an idea occurred to him. The Garurumon was nipping at his heels now, but the boy had eyes only for the underground roots which penetrated the cavern floor directly in front of him. And at the last moment before he went over the edge, T.K. slipped on the gravelly floor and tumbled down, headfirst, towards the cliff. The Garurumon, unable to check its attack, snapped at him as it charged past... but then lost its own footing and tumbled, head-over-paws, into the crevice with a howling wail. In desperation, T.K. grabbed for the gnarled roots on the floor as he continued to slide ever closer to the precipice. But in the end his momentum was too great and carried him too far, and with a cry he followed the creature over the edge.

"T.K.!" screamed Matt and Kari in unison from their position at another entrance to the cavern, elevated above the other. The young girl turned away from what she'd just seen and buried her face into his shoulder, her heart feeling as if it had just burst within her chest. The older boy could only look on in a stunned silence, placing his arm around Kari's shoulder and holding her close.

Then, below them on the cavern floor, they heard the sound of several enraged oaths being called down upon T.K.'s head. The one called Rio had entered the cave just behind her canine beast and had watched the scene, and was now swearing furiously over the loss of her partner. "Damned child!" she spat, raging after the young boy. "Stupid mewling little bastard!"

Sora's lips quivered in silence as she looked at Kari and Matt. The younger girl's knees were trembling so badly that she would obviously have collapsed to the ground if Matt were not there to hold her on her feet.

Sora suddenly felt uncomfortably cold, as if a river of ice had replaced the hot blood in her veins. When she looked down and saw the one who had been responsible for T.K.'s death now cursing him, something snapped within her. And so it was with a severe and conscious slowness that she left the pair and hopped down to the other girl's level. She said not a word as she walked deliberately up to the other, then doubled up a fist and smashed it into Rio's face. A gush of blood exploded from the older girl's nose and the Crest of Apathy dropped from her unfeeling fingers as she collapsed backwards to the floor, quite unconscious.

Sora could barely see though the tears as she stared down at the offensive talisman and forcefully stomped down upon it, grinding the dark charm into pieces. Then she stumbled back away from the edge of the chasm and, with no one to support her, crumpled to her hands and knees in grief. But then, after a moment or so of emotional anguish, the tears began to trail off, for she was certain that she'd heard a choked, panting sound coming from the region where T.K. had fallen. Matt and Kari must have heard it too, for as one they hopped off the crag, rushed to the edge and peered over.

There was T.K. The root that he'd grabbed had broken off and was still dangling loosely from his arm, but apparently it had slowed him just enough to prevent him from falling further than the narrow ledge beneath the cliff. The young boy was looking down into the depths sorrowfully.

"T... T.K.?" Kari murmured in disbelief, as if she dared not believe what her own eyes told her.

"Hi Kari," he answered simply, obviously ignorant of what the others thought had occurred. He then turned and looked back sadly over the edge. "My hat."

Kari didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. In the end, what came out of her throat was a rather hiccupping mixture of both. It was another moment later and with the aid of some more of the cave roots that Matt and Sora had hauled the boy back up to the edge of the cliff. Matt hugged his brother warmly for a time before Kari removed him from the embrace.

"You... you promised you'd be careful," she chided him, tears in her eyes.

T.K. managed a weak grin. "It was either grab the root and fall or get eaten by a hungry Garurumon. I figured falling was the more careful alternative." He ran his fingers through his blond, now very dirty hair. "And I lost my hat."

Kari collapsed against the boy in relief, resting her forehead on his shoulder and replacing his fingers in his hair with her own. "Tell you what -- when we're out of here I promise that I'll get you a new one. Just not green this time, okay?"

*****

Tai stared intently at the monster before him, his eyes locked with those of the beast. The thick, hulking creature before him would never substitute for the friend that he'd left back in the digital world... but still, it was a Greymon and he was certain that he could control it. It had stopped its incessant roaring when Tai had come into the room where it was shackled, and was now studying the boy just as intently as he was studying it.

Roan directed a clandestine nod at Ian, who continued to lurk nearby and was flanked by his Kabuterimon. Tai was as good as theirs. Soon he would teach them how to make these Digimon evolve to their higher forms, something that their benefactor had assured them could be done. For he had told them that the stronger the bond forged between them became, the more abilities they would learn. And now, with Tai and the Greymon on his side, nothing could stop him.

Tai looked back over his shoulder at Roan, concern etched on his face. "We're just going to do this for everyone's good, right?"

Roan tried his best to look offended and moved to put an arm around the younger boy's shoulders. "Of course, Tai! And being who we are obligates us to do so. We cannot just stand idly by while the authorities in this world turn a blind eye to the threats that we both know exist. If this is the only way that they can be made to listen and believe... then so be it."

There was a spark kindled somewhere within Tai's brain… something that he had not felt for some time. Certainly not since his encounter with Piedmon's spirit, but perhaps even before then. Once again he would be respected and have his voice acknowledged... once again his strength would countermand the fear. The Kabuterimon was undoing the Greymon's chains as it and Tai continued to stare at one another. When finally the chains fell away, Tai motioned the creature over to his side.

He could again feel the power of courage coursing through his body, fearless and secure in his domination of the creature. Then, at his command, the Digimon picked him up and placed him upon its shoulder. He felt like a king.

It was then that Leiko slunk, unseen, into the room and grabbed Roan by the shoulder. Urgently she pulled him lower and started to whisper into his ear.

"What?" he hissed in disbelief, his teeth clenched together in an angry scowl.

The girl cringed away from obsessive teen. "Rio has been captured and her creature killed," she repeated, slowly inching her hand from his shoulder lest it irritate him further.

"That's not possible!"

"I'm swear it to you, Roan, I saw it with my own eyes! At her command it was trying to kill the youngest boy, but he eluded it and the creature fell into the canyon."

Even from her position several feet away she could hear the grinding of his teeth. "Where is Daven?"

"Standing watch at the entrance. Rio wanted to make sure that none of the others escaped."

Roan snorted. "She had enough sense to do that, at least. Listen, I want you to take Ian and find those children. Kill them. Kill them quickly and then get back here."

"But what about Rio? They must have her with them."

The adolescent turned, his dark eyes burning the words into her soul like a brand. "Kill them all. If Rio should happen to be in the way… well, without her creature she's very little good to us anyway. She will not be missed."

*****

"Matt this is crazy!" whispered Sora, panting as she peeked up at the boy who stood on the walkway above her. She had lead the Kabuterimon here at his insistence, but what he intended to do now truly did border on lunacy.

Matt bit his lip, his eyes shifting away from hers. "I know. God knows how I know. But it's too late to worry about that now, and there's no other way that I can think to do this. Now get over there with Kari and T.K. and try to keep them quiet -- especially T.K. -- if something should go… wrong… here."

His lips were trembling; the look in his eyes terrified, but resolved. He could hear the buzzing wings of the enormous insect-creature in the corridor beneath him. "Now go!" he hissed.

Sora hesitated for one moment more, then gave in and went to join the younger two on the narrow ledge which had saved T.K.'s life only an hour earlier. Matt nodded and closed off all of his senses to concentrate on hearing the beating wings. He knew that sound almost by heart; had heard it all of those times when fighting shoulder to shoulder beside Izzy in the other world. But this would require better than split second timing…

Then he hurled himself off the edge on which he'd stood and onto the shoulders of the creature passing beneath him. The Kabuterimon lost its equilibrium and veered wildly at the sudden change of weight, and before it could adjust, Matt had wrapped the belt that he had taken from Sora around its throat with both hands and pulled hard.

A gasp came from the creature as it struggled for breath, its pincer-like hands reaching up in a desperate effort to pry the leathery strap from its neck. In its throes it circled higher and higher in the large cavern, until they were so far above the ground that Matt was forced to duck for fear that his head would strike the ceiling. Frantically he began kicking at one of the insect-like wings where it joined with the creature's body, desperate to keep it from rising any further.

The creature exhaled another gasp as Matt's attacks on its fragile wing finally had the desired effect, breaking the limb at the base. The Digimon instantly plummeted from the air in an unmanageable spiral while choking feverishly and still wheezing desperately for breath. Matt, meanwhile, continued to hold tightly to the belt, which at the moment was serving both as his weapon and his lifeline. As the two approached the ground at a horrific speed, the boy gave the leather strap one final, tremendous yank and caused the creature to veer wildly into the unyielding portion of the cave atop which Matt had stood to initially ambush it.

The blond boy was hurled from the creature's back by the impact and felt his body slam into the cavern wall, the violent collision jarring his bones and rattling his teeth. He tumbled to the floor in a shower of debris and lay there quite motionless for a moment before finally glancing up, blood from a cut above his eye trickling down his face. The Kabuterimon lay opposite him on the cavern floor, its insect wings still fluttering in instinctive action that belied the fact that the creature was wholly dead.

Then he took notice of a single, taunting clapping sound coming from the entrance opposite him. Struggling to his hands and knees, he looked past the blood to the dark girl who had lead them to this in the first place, the one called Leiko. At her side loomed an enormous Togemon, its color scheme appearing as awkward to his eyes as all the others had. "That was certainly creative," she said, leering at him as if he were a piece of meat at market. "You know, before I thought that you were simply an obnoxious little boy like the other. Now if I had known that you were capable of something like this..."

The Digimon at her side was stomping its "feet" and looking him over anxiously, its hollow eyes unnerving to the boy like they had never been in the other world. Leiko frowned, turning on the creature and extended her hand towards it, crest included. A glimmer of dark power sprung forth from the talisman and struck the monster in the back, injuring it mightily and sending it crumpling to the ground. In another moment, the sound of the creature's tortured whimpering filled the cavern.

She exhaled a snort as she smirked at the fallen boy. "These creatures are so difficult to maintain sometimes. But enough pain usually does the trick. As I was saying, its too bad that I didn't get to know you better before Roan decided to have you killed. We might have had some fun together. But since you've done me the enormous favor of getting rid of that bitch Rio, it may be that his attention will finally come to me."

Now she walked over to her partner's rear. "Get up!" she hissed, kicking it in a spot where she could find no needles growing. "Or I'll do at lot worse than that!"

Matt groaned and lay back on the floor, the blood from his cut now almost totally obscuring his vision. At least T.K. and the others will be safe.

"Oh, and if you're wondering about your group of friends under the edge of the cliff over there, I'll get to them just as soon as I'm done with you." She turned to her partner. "Now get him!"

The Togemon started towards the boy on the ground and then stopped, turning to look at her mistress. "What are you looking at?" Leiko demanded, taking a step backwards. "I said go!" And she punctuated the shouted command with another explosive burst from her crest.

The Digimon cringed as the dark energy again permeated its body, then glanced from the boy to the girl and back again. Then, with what sounded like a sob, it turned and rushed at Leiko, grabbing her in its gloved hands and locking her in a deadly embrace while the jagged quills drove deep into her flesh. The girl screamed in shock and ghastly pain, but neither was destined to be long lived. With an almost joyful cry the abused Digimon tightened its grip and then turned and rushed to the edge of the chasm, hurling itself over the lip of the canyon into the depths below. Matt looked on in astonishment, and in only a moment the sounds of pain and triumph were gone, replaced by the still quiet of the cave.

"Matt?" whispered T.K. from his haven. The older boy was quite appreciative that his brother had not witnessed that particular scene.

"Yeah, T.K." he said, then paused for a moment. "I'm coming…"