Chapter 8

As for pictures and museums, that don't trouble me. The worst of going abroad is that you've always got to look at things of that sort. To have to do it at home would be beyond a joke.
Margaret Oliphant

Ten minutes later, Zach, Savannah and their digimon walked up the street, scanning the signs on the buildings for a place to eat lunch. "I can't believe someone would steal Base," Zach was fuming. "He's just a baseball bat! Why would someone take him?"

Savannah muttered something that sounded like, "Good riddance," then added aloud, "Let's try this place." She pointed at the restaurant sign, which said 'Digitavernmon'. "That's cute."

"You've never seen a Digitamamon," muttered Spikemon, who was healed of his snakebites, but missed his wheelbarrow.

Lunch was uneventful, except for a dispute with Digitamamon about prices. Afterward, as they stepped back into the sunlit street, Zach said, "It's one-thirty. What should we do now?"

"The museum's about a block from here," said Hissmon, who was slithering along on his own steam. "It has lots of interesting digital artifacts. It also has the world's only known existing digivice."

"Wow, let's go, then," said Savannah, smoothing her black hair. "Zach, do I look okay?"

"You look fine, do we have to go to a museum?" said Zach without looking at her hair.

"This won't be like a human museum," said Savannah, waving a hand. "You'll like it."

The Gigaterra Museum was a marble building with pillars lining the front, and garage-sized doors that opened into a lobby as big as a cathedral. A statue of a solemn-looking Centaurumon stood opposite the doors. The museum had been dedicated to his memory, said a plaque on the base.

Zach had to admit that the museum was interesting. He had only visited them during field trips, and only remembered his sore feet. But with Savannah and their partners, the experience was radically different. Savannah dashed from one exhibit to another, exclaiming over the display cards, and calling her findings to Zach if he lagged. They saw fossilized remains of ancient digimon, preserved remains of data bits as big as a human head, a tusk from the biggest Mammothmon ever born (twenty feet long), a Black Gear (broken), a Black Spiral (also broken), and many other odd artifacts. Last of all, occupying a room by itself, was the only known digivice remaining in the Digital World.

There was a lengthy fact sheet detailing its history. As Zach examined the digivice itself (violet, and more square-shaped than his own), Savannah read the sheet out loud. The device had belonged to a boy named Joshua Cunningham, who had been killed when his partner failed to protect him. His partner had been devastated, and donated the surviving digivice to the museum.

"I didn't know we could die here," said Savannah in a hushed voice, gazing at the abandoned digivice. "Hissmon, you'd better protect me."

"Ditto," said Zach, looking around for his partner. "Hey, where'd Spikemon go?" The green dinosaur had vanished.

Savannah continued studying the card, and Zach left the room in search of Spikemon. He found the dinosaur a few feet up the corridor, head low and tail stiff. "Spikemon?" Zach began, but Spikemon interrupted him with a savage growl.

"A virus-type."

"Where?" Zach said, not so alarmed as curious. He rested a hand on Spikemon's back, and felt the muscles as taut as wire.

"Outside," said Spikemon, head turning as he tracked the enemy digimon's progress. "He's headed for the door."

There was a boom that shook the marble walls, and the front doors burst open. A thing like a moving mountain stooped and stepped through. Vaguely man-shaped, it was a collection of boulders held together by an invisible force. The topmost rock had two red chips for eyes, and these swiveled about before settling on Zach and Spikemon.

Zach felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He backed away, never taking his eyes from the rock monster. Spikemon stood his ground, a tiny green shape between the rows of exhibits, facing down the intruder.

The monster moved forward, every step rattling the building to its foundations. Behind it, the digimon who worked in the museum scurried for cover or phones, moving in desperate silence. The monster ignored them. Its attention was fixed on Zach and Spikemon.

Or the doorway behind them.

Zach bumped into the wall, still staring. Savannah was distracted from her reading and looked out of the display room. "Zach, what is--oh my gosh." She stared for a fraction of a second, then said, "Run!" She grabbed his arm and hurried him behind a staircase, groping for her digivice with her free hand.

Spikemon had not moved, and now Hissmon was in the doorway of the digivice room, tongue flickering inquisitively. "Oh dear, not another battle," he remarked.

"Terramon, champion level," panted Savannah. "Make Spikemon digivolve with your stick!"

"Oh yeah," said Zach, fumbling out his digivice. His hands shook so much he could hardly slide his data stick into its slot. "Spikemon digivolve to Carnomon," he read, then peered toward his partner.

Spikemon's body was encircled in a sphere of light for a second, and when it vanished, he had transformed into a green tyrannosaur-like creature with long metal horns above each eye. He didn't attack, but bared his teeth and blocked Terramon's progress.

"He's a carnotarus," exclaimed Zach, as it was the first time he had seen Carnomon by daylight. "Sort of." Carnomon also wore an armor vest, and his arms and legs were banded with bronze.

His appearance had no effect on Terramon, who lifted a heavy limb and made as though to brush Carnomon out of the way. The green dinosaur backed away, teeth still bared. "Zach," he rumbled, "my fire-attacks aren't going to hurt him."

"So go for contact!" Savannah called, before Zach could respond. "Ram him!"

Carnomon obediently lowered his head and charged into Terramon's midsection. There was a clang of steel on rock, but Terramon kept moving, shoving Carnomon ahead of him. "This isn't working!" said Carnomon through his teeth, his claws screeching along the smooth floor.

"Don't command him, he's MY digimon1" said Zach, glaring at Savannah. "Worry about your own digimon. Carnomon, get out of the way!"

The walking hunk of rock had reached the doorway leading to the room with the digivice, and for a moment Carnomon was pinned between Terramon and the wall. He gave a strangled cry, and then the wall gave way. Mortar and dust crashed to the floor, filling the hall with white fog.

Zach ran for the hole in the wall and found Carnomon lying on the floor, the breath crushed from his lungs, gagging and gasping. Terramon was oblivious to his attacker, and grasped the display case with the old digivice in it. It tore free of the floor, and Terramon turned to leave the way he had come.

"Carnomon, get out of the way!" Zach exclaimed, seizing his digimon's steel horns and trying to drag him by his head.

The green dinosaur heaved himself to one side and struggled to rise as their foe stalked past, lugging the display case.

"Zach!" Savannah cried. "Don't let him take that!"

"So what do you want me to do, spit on him?" Zach yelled back.

Carnomon gained his feet at last, his tongue hanging out. "Gotta stop him," he gasped, and stumbled out after Terramon. Zach followed, picking his way through the debris that littered the floor.

Outside, Savannah nervously trailed Terramon, Hissmon slithering beside her. "I need one of those data sticks," she whispered. "Where do I get one?"

"No idea, and it wouldn't help, anyway," said Hissmon. "My ability is venom-based, and I can't bite rocks."

The Digidestined trailed Terramon as far as the entry hall before anything happened.

As the moving mountain clunked toward the door, a lizard appeared in the doorway, clutching a baseball bat.

"Hey!" said Zach. "He's got Base!"

The little orange lizard darted forward, swarmed up Terramon's leg and onto his arm, and began smashing open the glass display case. "Woo! Yeah! Man! Rocking!" yelled the baseball bat with each blow. When the lizard had demolished the glass, Base said, "That was the most satisfying experience I've ever had."

On the ground, Hissmon was peering at the orange lizard, rearing his long body up higher and higher. Suddenly his eyes flashed red and he snarled, "Snake-eye Hypnosis!"

The lizard's head turned at the sound, and he froze where he was perched on Terramon's arm, paralyzed. In his hand, Base said, "What did you do, you slimy beast? Oh, hi Hissmon. I didn't recognize you."

At the same time, Carnomon ran forward and butted Terramon from behind.

The mass of rocks overbalanced and fell through the museum doors, dropping the display case, which crashed in ruin on the road outside. The frozen orange lizard bounced away like a plastic toy, coming to rest a short distance away, still holding Base.

Before anyone could recover, a shadow fell over the street, and a great black bird dropped from the sky. It had a pink, naked head, and its body was criss-crossed with chains. As the digidestined looked on, the condor seized the old digivice in its hooked beak and leaped into the sky again.

Traffic had come to a halt when Terramon fell into the road, and suddenly the area was swarming with a variety of digimon, all wearing bright red vests. Several of them pounced on Terramon and accused him of grand theft of a valuable digiartifact. As this was going on, a metal-clad robot called Andromon approached the Digidestined, and questioned them about what had happened.

By the time the Digidestined had finished talking to him, Terramon had been taken away, traffic had resumed, and the museum digimon were cleaning up the rubble from the shattered wall. The orange lizard who had kidnapped Base was nowhere to be seen.

Zach sat down on the museum steps. "Well, that was the most interesting museum visit I ever had."

Savannah sat down beside him and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "No kidding." There was a moment of silence. Spikemon had devolved and now stood at Zach's elbow, watching the traffic. Hissmon crawled up to Savannah and rested his sleek head on her knee. She stroked him. "Why did you attack that little lizard?"

"I didn't attack him," said the snake. "I just looked at him. He had Base, did you notice?"

"You froze him," said Savannah. "How come?"

Hissmon looked blank. "I did? I don't remember attacking anyone."

"His eyes did turn red," said Zach. "Maybe he didn't have control over it."

"My eyes turned red?" said Hissmon, troubled. "Oh my. Perhaps it was a side effect of my injuries."

"Hate to interrupt you," said Spikemon, sounding bored, "but that Leomon guy we saw at the doctor is coming over here."

They looked up and saw the burly lion in trousers stalking across the street toward them, oblivious to the traffic of digimon hurrying to and fro. Now that he was well, they all noticed the size of his muscles and the long knife strapped across his back.

Zach and Savannah stood up, but Spikemon and Hissmon were unperturbed. "He's a vaccine-type," said Spikemon. "He's not gonna hurt us."

Leomon stepped onto the sidewalk and stood looking down at them, arms folded. When he did not speak, Savannah ventured, "Hi."

"Hello, little girl," rumbled Leomon. "Are you the ones who stood up to Terramon?"

"Yes sir," said Zach, feeling a spurt of pride. Even this Leomon fellow had heard of their prowess!

"You did a poor job," said Leomon. "You let him hand off the digivice to his partner."

Zach felt as if cold water had been splashed in his face. He looked at Savannah, whose face mirrored his own. "But he was made of rock!" she said indignantly. "We couldn't hurt him!"

"Did you try?"

When neither of them answered, Leomon smiled grimly. "You need more practice. Anyway, I was sent to tell you that I'm going to Tusk Mountain. You're coming with me."