Chapter 12
He lives not long who battles with the immortals, nor do his children prattle about his knees when he has come back from battle and the dread fray. -Homer
The old digivice lay in pieces on a table, neatly sorted into rows. A battered swivel lamp threw a circle of light across the table, and it illuminated a short fat rat wearing a grungy red T-shirt. His buckteeth were comically large.
"Well?" hissed three voices in unison in the dimness behind him.
The rat did not turn around. "It seems in working order. All the parts are in good condition."
"So why doesn't it work?" growled five voices at once.
The rat picked up a tiny white object, still without turning around. "This isn't running. It's the connection between a digimon and the device."
Hydramon's five heads leaned over Haxormon's shoulder for a closer look, and Haxormon closed his eyes until he withdrew. "How do you activate it?" asked one of the heads.
"Not sure," said the rat. "Nobody's ever looked at the inside of a digivice before. I'm making history here."
"If you live to tell anyone about it," whispered the heads in stereo menace. "Find a way to activate that device or I'll eat you, one bite at a time."
Haxormon shivered. "I'll do my best. But I need some extra data to work with."
Without a word Hydramon dropped five zip coins on the table. The rat picked up all but one and put them in his shirt pocket. "Thanks." He unzipped the last coin and poured its data into a paper folder, then stirred it with a pencil. It made his flesh crawl to touch virus data, but money was money. He didn't choose his employers, but he always made sure they paid well.
Hissmon, Spikemon and Mulemon took a train to the little town of Rom, where they knew another node existed. It was where Mulemon had met Tithonia, and they supposed that the real-world town had several nodes connected to it.
"Hey Mulemon," said Spikemon, "know the difference between Rom and Ram? Ram is where all the sheep live."
"Hee haw," said Mulemon without mirth. "I think we're too late."
Rom's buildings were weird geometric shapes, and data types of all kinds lived there. They had no walls around their town and boasted three champion vaccines to protect them.
As the rookies stepped off the train, they saw a large crowd gathered around a burning building. Most of the building was already cinders, and it looked as if the roof had been torn off beforehand. It was easy to guess that it had been where Rom's node was kept.
Spikemon strode up to a small pig-like Tapirmon, who was watching the efforts of the water-types to douse the flames. "What happened here?"
The Tapirmon looked at him in disgust. "Two hoodlums walked in here and smashed our node. Apart from starting a fire, the node will take weeks to repair."
"My friends and I are tracking the viruses," said Spikemon. "How long ago were they here?"
"A few hours," said the Tapirmon, looking him up and down. "Got a posse, eh? Good idea. I'll pass the idea along to our guards."
"Excuse me," said Mulemon, trotting up, "but what did the viruses look like?"
"Thrashmon and Moltenmon," said the tapir, his long snout twitching in distaste. "Robot-type and fire-type, and they were both ultimates. Your posse is gonna need some bigger mon."
"Thanks anyway," said Spikemon. "Where's the next nearest node?"
"There's one outside of Chipset, but they'd be insane to go near there," said Tapirmon. "Gigaterra might have some, but they'd have their nodes under lock and key."
Spikemon thanked him, and he and his companions withdrew a short distance. "Ultimates!" said Hissmon. "He's right, unless we can digivolve, there's no way we could stop them."
"But think!" said Mulemon, eyes bright. "Either place they go, the nodes are guarded. We could have some bigger vaccines arrange an ambush!"
"Right!" said Spikemon, a grin stealing across his face. "So where would they go, Gigaterra or Chipset?"
"Chipset," said Hissmon. "If they go to Gigaterra, the Code Enforcement would be on them like a Nuumon on a vending machine."
"Then let's go!" said Spikemon. "Actually, let's go after lunch." He had spotted a fast food joint across the street.
They spent the last of their zip coins on lunch and train tickets, and ate on the train to Chipset. Spikemon pointed out that they needed all the energy they could get before picking a fight with two ultimates.
"Last meal before our execution, you mean," said Hissmon.
At that, Mulemon lost her appetite, and let her companions finish her lunch.
Chamelemon had sat down in the sun to bask for a while, thinking that extra warmth might restore his energy, and dozed off. He awoke that afternoon to Base's frantic whispering. "Wake up! Two thugs are coming! Wake up, Chamelemon!"
The orange chameleon scurried under a bush and lay flat, his skin taking on the gray green color of the foliage. He tucked Base beneath him and the two lay quiet, watching and listening.
Heavy footfalls were coming toward them, and after a moment they heard two voices.
"You're a fool to lead us here. Those chaps in Chipset aren't scared of us."
"They can't touch ultimates," said a low, calm voice. "You think a Mosquitomon could hurt you?"
The first voice snickered, a hot, hissing sound. "I guess not."
A shadow fell over Chamelemon's hiding place, and a massive robot digimon stepped into view. It was built like a man, but with thick armored legs and feet. Long spikes stuck forward from its shoulders like horns. Behind it came a fat, thick-bodied creature made of glowing lava, and the grass caught fire beneath it with every step. Chamelemon shrank together and gripped Base. He knew from their size that they were ultimates.
Moltenmon looked around at the marshland. "This is bad country," he muttered. "Too much water. Ugh!"
"I like it as little as you," growled Thrashmon. "But it must be done to lock out those humans. You know they can force their digimon to digivolve to any level?"
Moltenmon made a disapproving sound, and the pair moved off.
"What are they doing to lock out the kids?" whispered Base.
"It must be bad," whispered Chamelemon. "What do we do?"
"Attack 'em!"
"They're ultimates, you idiot. They'd step on me without even looking."
"So go to Chipset and tell them there's a free meal," said Base. "Honestly, must I think of everything?"
Chamelemon circled around through the outskirts of the woods and dashed back toward Chipset, hoping the viruses wouldn't see him.
The first guards he saw upon reaching Chipset were two Snimon, which were giant praying mantises with blades for front legs. They looked at him curiously as he ran up. "Two ultimate viruses," he panted, pointing. "They're going to destroy something, I don't know what."
"What types, kid?" asked a Snimon.
"Fire and robot," said Chamelemon.
"Idiots," said one Snimon to the other. "That's all marsh out there. Call Vinegarmon and let's go."
Spikemon, Hissmon and Mulemon got off the train and ran through Chipset, looking for the node. Everything looked quiet, and no one paid them any attention, except to look hungrily at Hissmon for being a virus-type.
"It's outside of town, remember?" said Spikemon, racing ahead. They reached the edge of town and met two excited Hornetmon. "Seen any viruses?" Spikemon asked them.
"Our best guards just went out to bag two big ones," said a Hornetmon. "Fresh meat! I can hardly wait!"
The three rookies ran out without another word, and dashed into the marshland where a flash of fire showed a battle was going on. "Remember, don't attract attention," said Hissmon. "We're just here to watch."
"Speak for yourself," said Spikemon, splashing through muddy water. "Oh boy! Look at them!"
Moltenmon and Thrashmon were attacking the two green Snimon, who looked small by comparison. The node had already been destroyed, for the ground was burned in a wide circle around the viruses, and the Snimon were furious. They attacked, wing-shields upraised, slashing with their blades. Thrashmon let them come to him, grinning, then seized their claws and tried to break them. Moltenmon was hurling fire from both hands as fast as he could go.
Then a giant vaccine crawled out of the swamp near the rookies, streaming mud. It looked like a scorpion, but lacked a tail. Its front legs had razor-sharp pinchers, and it crawled toward the viruses, dripping swamp-muck as it moved.
Spikemon and Hissmon watched Vinegarmon in awe, but Mulemon noticed something else. Floundering in the un-scorpion's wake was a small digimon in distress. She waded into the muddy water and moved out to it. It was a frog, smaller than she was, and it was tangled in swampgrass, drowning. She pawed at the tough grass, breaking its stems, and nudged the frog to the surface. It clambered up on the grass, gasping. "Thank you," it said. "That big guy swamp past and knocked me under the weeds." He blinked his golden eyes and gulped. "Oh my. What's going on over there?"
Vinegarmon had locked claws with Thrashmon, and the two were having a colossal wrestling match. Moltenmon was exchanging blows with the Snimon, but was clearly losing his nerve.
"Those viruses have been destroying uplink nodes," said Mulemon. "The Chipset guys are going to stop them."
"Look what they're doing to the marsh!" croaked Frogmon. "They can't fight here!" He leaped off the bank and swam toward the battling digimon with powerful kicks of his webbed feet.
Mulemon waded back to higher ground, watching him anxiously. "Don't! You're just a rookie!"
Frogmon climbed up onto the little hill where the ultimates were fighting and hopped fearlessly into their midst. It was several minutes before a Snimon noticed him. It shrieked and retreated, as did its companion. Moltenmon looked down and saw the frog at his feet, and gave a gurgling scream. He jumped backward, stumbled, and fell full-length into the water.
Vinegarmon and Thrashmon looked down, saw Frogmon, and parted. Thrashmon turned and ran, crashing through the water, heedless of what the water would do to his metal body.
Moltenmon perished in a burst of steam, and his fog spread over the swamp. Presently the Snimon and Vinegarmon appeared out of the mist, dragging the quenched, frozen data of Moltenmon, muttering and buzzing to each other.
"Good night," breathed Spikemon. "Was that frog a mega or something?"
"No, he was just a rookie," said Mulemon. "I don't get it."
Hissmon pulled his long body into a protective coil. "Oh no, I hope he's not..."
Frogmon hopped out of the mist, looking small and harmless, but Hissmon curled into a knot and hid his head. "That took care of them," said Frogmon cheerfully. "How do you do? I'm Frogmon."
Spikemon sniffed him, then gasped and retreated. "You're an anti-virus type."
Mulemon tilted her head to one side. "Isn't that the same as a vaccine?"
"It's stronger," said Spikemon, watching the frog's every move. "I thought they were a myth."
"I'm no myth," said Frogmon. "Just a fluke." He sighed and his yellow eyes looked dull. "Nobody likes me because I'm an anti-virus, so I just live out here in the marsh." He brightened. "It's a very nice marsh. Want me to show you around?"
"No thanks," said Spikemon, still looking wary. "I think we need to go now."
"Come visit again sometime," said Frogmon, looking glum. "And I owe you one, miss," he added to Mulemon.
Hissmon had already left, so Spikemon and Mulemon followed his wide slither-tracks out of the marsh. "He seemed nice enough," said Mulemon. "And we're vaccines, so why be scared of him?"
Spikemon didn't look at her. "Anti-virus types can kill and assimilate any digimon, not just viruses. Nobody knows how big they have to be, but legend has it that a rookie anti-virus starts out with all attacks."
"Gosh." Mulemon walked in silence a moment. "Is that why Hissmon was scared?"
"If you were a virus, wouldn't you be?"
They found Hissmon waiting for them outside the swamp, weaving back and forth as he scanned the mist. "Thank goodness," he said as they approached. "I was afraid he had attacked you."
"Some help you would have been," said Spikemon, showing his teeth. "You ran off and left us to him."
"I did not!" Hissmon snarled. "I left as you were saying goodbye."
"Liar!"
The two flew at each other, but Mulemon stepped between them. "Stop it, you two. We need to find a working node and try to contact our partners."
"Right," said Hissmon, sticking out his tongue at Spikemon. "Let's go."