Chapter 18

This is not the enemy
Flesh and blood have been deceived
When we've moved beyond the anger
We will see
We've got to rescue the prisoner
Rescue the prisoner
-Rescue the Prisoner, Twila Paris

As they ascended the winding passage, the Digidestined saw holes bored into the rock on either side, barred with metal, and each hole contained a prisoner. They looked at the Digidestined with frightened eyes, but did not make a sound. Only one of them dared speak. "Careful," he whispered, winding cat-paws around the bards. "Hydramon's waiting at the top, he's trying to trap you. Please, save us from him!"

"We will," said Tithonia, looking in at the cat. "Once we take him down, we'll come back for you."

The cat laid his paws on one of her hands and whispered, "Thank you."

As they continued climbing, Spikemon and Mulemon took the lead, treading lightly and straining their senses for danger. Hissmon brought up the rear, his eyes flickering red as if he were waging some battle with himself.

The passage spiraled higher and higher, and the wailing of Conch Rock grew louder. The digimon they saw in the cells were more subdued, and some were ill. The air took on the faint smell of rotting meat. Spikemon growled deep in his throat. "We're close."

They rounded the final bend and the passage opened into a tall cavern, smaller than the one down below, but with smoothly curving walls of a pinkish stone. Covering the floor was a tangled mass of necks, limbs and heads they realized was Hydramon. His skin was sleek blue and had no scales, and on the back of each neck was a plume of red spines. The whole mass gently rose and fell as it breathed, and its numerous eyes were closed. A claw twitched. They had caught Hydramon napping.

Or so it seemed. As they stared in bewilderment at the sinuous necks and narrow heads, they saw one head was awake. Its red eye was fixed on them, unblinking, and watchful.

"Savannah, Tithonia," said Zach softly, "Digivolve, now."

The awake head reared away from its fellows and curved overhead, its red frill standing erect like a mohawk. "Surprise," it hissed. "No hydra sleeps without an eye open." At once other eyes opened in the tangled mass, and four other heads reared up, each with red eyes, a tall frill, and long, fish-like teeth.

Zach jammed a data stick into his digivice and handed his second one to Savannah. Tithonia inserted her own two, but before Savannah could fit Zach's stick into her digivice, Hissmon sprang away from her feet, eyes glowing.

"Fiend!" he hissed shrilly. He slithered toward the hydra, but the monster smiled with all five heads.

"I eat rookies like you, reptile." One of its heads lashed out, caught Hissmon in the middle of his body, and gave him a violent shake. Then it flung him away, and Hissmon slithered to the floor and lay still, nearly bitten in two.

"Hissmon!" cried Savannah. Sobbing, she backed into the tunnel, clutching her digivice. All the menus had become unavailable, which could only mean Hissmon was dead. The only reason he did not vaporize was because the node was jammed.

Zach, however, was too panicked to worry about compassion. "Give me the stick!" he said, snatching his extra data stick out of her hand. He jammed it into his digivice and watched as Spikemon went to ultimate for the first time.

From Carnomon, he became Thornmon. His head was armored, his horns became hooked at the ends, and his forearms encased in metal and sprouted long, dagger-like claws.

Nearby, Mulemon had become MetalChargermon. Like Thornmon, she increased in size, and red armor replaced her medieval silks. She stamped her hooves and brayed a challenge to Hydramon.

"Ultimates, how nice," said Hydramon, his heads weaving up and down and side to side. "Electric Javelin!" His heads lashed forward, and the crest on each formed a glowing red spear that flashed toward the Digidestined. Thornmon sliced two of the javelins out of the air with his claws. MetalChargermon took the other three in her opened wings, and both of them returned to the ground panting with pain.

Hydramon sized them up through narrowed eyes, then did it again. And again.

Savannah took no notice of the warring digimon, or of the fact that Hydramon had the upper hand. Her eyes were fixed on Hissmon, lying so still, and she was crying, sitting on the floor.

Chamelemon crept up to her, trembling. "Savannah, if your partner is down, you must get away from here. There is no one to protect you."

"He's gone," she sobbed, holding up her digivice to show him the dead menus. "He attacked before I could digivolve him, his eyes were glowing, he didn't know what he was doing--"

"Savannah, you must get away from here," repeated the lizard. "You can't do anything more here."

"Oh yes I can," said Savannah. She snatched Base out of his hand and jumped to her feet. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Savannah!" cried Chamelemon, scurrying after her. "Don't go in there, they'll kill you!"

She strode into the cavern, not listening, face set like stone.

"Savannah!" Zach said as she marched past him. "What are you doing? Savannah!"

She broke into a run toward the hydra, swinging Base.

"Hoo boy, this is bad," said the bat. "Wait a minute, let's talk about this, he's a mega and you're a human! Savannah! Hello!"

Up close, Hydramon was enormous. The only part of him she could reach was one of his forelegs, so she charged that and used Base's three-strike attack on it. To her amazement it had no effect.

A head curled down to her level, the size of a car. "I'm a mega, fool," it hissed, fanning her with stinking icy breath. "Do you think a real-world artifact can harm me?"

Savannah was too angry to be frightened. She threw Base as hard as she could, and struck one red eye dead in the center.

All five heads went berserk, hissing, writhing and snapping in frantic pain. Savannah had the sense to sprint out of the way as Thornmon and MetalChargermon attacked simultaneously, one with a fireball barrage and the other with a whirlwind. She retrieved Base as she ran, and spun about, ready to attack again.

"She's lost her mind," said Zach. "Tithonia, get her out of there, I'll keep him distracted."

"I can't leave my partner!" Tithonia shouted back, gripping her digivice and white with fear. "Chamelemon, you go get her!"

Chamelemon was standing back in the tunnel, terrified. Now that it had come down to it, he was afraid to challenge a mega. Hissmon was a rookie, and look what had happened to him. Chamelemon's sense of disconnection had grown worse. Not only had he lost his attacks, he had lost his strength as well. He doubted he would make it to Savannah. One of those angry heads would snap him up on the way. "I'm going to die," he whimpered, crouching on the floor. "Either way, I'm going to die." He was a bit of meaningless data, cut adrift from the Digital World, yet still in it.

He watched as Savannah charged at Hydramon again. Three heads pounced on her. There was a second of confusion and flashes of light, then the heads parted and she was lying on the floor in a heap.

Zach cried her name with such anguish that Chamelemon was moved to action. If he was going to die, he might as well die trying to help Savannah. He bolted out into the cavern, and to his amazement he reached her unscathed. As he bent over her she stirred and lifted her head.

"Help me," she said. She had been stunned, and could not get up. Chamelemon lacked the strength to lift her. He crouched beside her, panting, trying to watch all five of Hydramon's heads at once.

"Chamelemon," she said, and he looked down at her. "Take Base," she said, handing the bat to him. "When he gets a chance he's going to polish me off, and you try to blind him."

"Right." Chamelemon licked his dry lips and extended a hand to her. She took it.

Just as in Vinegarden, as soon as Savannah touched him Chamelemon was back in the Digital World and possessed all of his attacks. He was also ravenously hungry, such as he had not been in weeks. This time she felt the change, too, and her eyes widened.

Two heads whipped down, their jaws open and teeth flashing. "Hold my tail!" Chamelemon commanded, curling his tail around her hand and gripping Base. "Chameleon Blast!" His white energy attack went up the throat of one, and he sent one of Base's attacks into the eye of the other.

The hydra shrieked with all five heads as the one with the lacerated throat flopped to the floor and was still. "Watch out!" cried Chamelemon as the remaining heads came down upon them, seeking to tear and kill. One of the heads sank its teeth into Savannah before Chamelemon could defend her.

The chameleon saw red. His anger was sudden and more powerful than any emotion he had ever felt in his life. He leaped into the air with an enraged scream, he and Base together, and swung the bat at the base of the head's skull. As the baseball bat came down, its metal took on the sharpness of Chamelemon's wrath, and sliced the head off the neck.

Chamelemon had dragged Savannah to a safe distance before he knew what had happened. She was bleeding from a set of bitemarks across her torso, but Chamelemon had acted so swiftly that Hydramon had not had time to bite deeper. She clung to him like a drowning person, half-crying with pain. He knelt over her, murmuring soothing words, and caught sight of Base. The baseball bat was now a sword, and his face grinned from the hilt.

"We rock, Chamelemon. We totally rock."

The digivice dropped from Savannah's pocket, and Chamelemon picked it up. He pressed it into her hand, and as he did, the screen flickered. Savannah looked at it and saw it was scanning for a partner, and there was a line of gibberish, just as there had been when she entered the Digital World. Then the line cleared and was replaced with 'Chamelemon'.

Two data sticks flickered into existence on the ground beside them. Savannah smiled through her tears. One of the sticks had a small chip clipped to it, and they both knew what it did. She slipped them into her digivice.

Chamelemon warp-digivolved straight to Mega.

* * *

Hydramon only had three heads remaining, and those three were insane with rage and pain. He charged at Zach and Tithonia's digimon, dragging his two lifeless heads. Thornmon and MetalChargermon danced out of the way, and Thornmon attacked from behind, leaping on the hydra's smooth back like a predatory dinosaur. Tithonia and Zach sprinted across the cave, out of the way. It was in the midst of this confusion that Chamelemon digivolved.

"Who's digivolving?" said Tithonia, looking bewildered. "Hissmon's still over there!"

"It's Chamelemon," said Zach, squinting. "Look at him now!"

Chamelemon had become Knifemon, a tall orange lizard dressed in a black ninja outfit with katanas crossed across his back. But in his hands he held Base, who was now a flashing steel sword.

"Great jumping gosh almighty," said Zach, which was a curse he saved for special occasions. "We've won now."

Knifemon moved like lightning, and lent his sword to the battle. But the three digimon combined were hardly a match for Hydramon, who blocked their attacks and retaliated with mind-blowing speed. A fog of data particles was forming around his damaged heads as well, for he was healing himself.

Tithonia ran to Savannah, who was leaning against the cave wall, watching the battle. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," said Savannah. "I've been thinking. We won't be able to kill Hydramon because the node's jammed. You don't think that's where the stolen digivice is, do you?"

Tithonia nodded. "Chamelemon said something about that, didn't he? So where's the node?"

"Nearby, maybe around where we came in," said Savannah, coughing and holding her chest. "Somebody needs to find the digivice."

"You're so smart," said Tithonia, squeezing her hand. "I'll tell Zach." She dashed to Zach and passed on the information.

"You go, then," he said to her. "Chargermon can fly, and you two will travel faster."

"In Greek mythology, Hercules burned the stumps of the hydra's heads," Tithonia told him. "They kept growing back. Have Spikemon do that."

"Right."

Tithonia called MetalChargermon, and they galloped around the spiral of the Conch Rock's mouth and out into the open air. Zach whistled to Thornmon. "Burn his heads!"

"They're not easy to hit!" Thornmon roared. "Knifemon, hold one still!"

Knifemon jumped on a bleeding stump and held it down, fighting Hydramon's violent thrashing, and Thornmon roared, "Atomic Fireball!"

Zach covered his face with his hands, and it wasn't from the heat of the flames.

The fire cauterized the stump, and that head ceased to heal itself. The remaining three heads bit and tore at Knifemon, who sat perfectly still, letting them tear at his gear and skin. Then he slashed like lightning with his sword, and cut off another head in mid-bite. Thornmon repeated the cauterization process. It was a grim, violent business, but Hydramon was slowing.

"This ... can't be happening," his remaining two heads panted in unison. The two pairs of eyes fastened on Thornmon. "Black Haze!"

At once Thornmon stumbled back and stood still, moving in such a way that showed he had been blinded.

"As for you," panted the heads, looking at Knifemon, "we've always hated you. Even thought you lacked attacks, you've always been a liability. And now ... now it is too late."

Knifemon lopped off another head and the remaining head hung low, breathing four times as much as usual. "Kill me," whispered the hydra through its long teeth. "You'll never defeat Him. His will outrun you, outthink you, outplan you, outshine you. When I die ... He will find you Himself."

Thornmon shook his head as the blindness wore off, and he and Knifemon made short work of the rest of Hydramon.

Outside, Tithonia was on MetalChargermon's broad back, and the great donkey was flying around the coast. Tithonia's digivice was set to Tracking Mode, and she was trying to decipher the colored dots. The weather was improving, for the wind had dropped and the clouds were breaking up.

"A digivice!" said Tithonia. "That way, on the cliffs. Down! Lower!"

"Who's the one flying, here?" said MetalChargermon, laying back her ears. "I can't get that close without landing."

"Then land," said Tithonia. "We're right on top of it." They landed on the rocky cliff top, and MetalChargermon folded her wings as Tithonia slid off. "It's right here, we're so close..." She peered at the rocks. "Oh, there it is!" Two tiny wires protruded from the ground, and wired to them was the old violet digivice. Tithonia pulled it free of the wires and flipped it off.

At once every dead digimon in the vicinity vaporized, and their data poured into the node. In the cave, Hydramon faded like smoke. Savannah looked toward the corner where Hissmon had been, then looked away. He was gone, too. "I'll never see him again," she thought.

A moment later there came the patter of many feet from the downward passage, and rookie digimon of all kinds ran into the cave, shouting and singing, "We're free! He's dead, he's dead!" They ran out of the conch and back again, rejoicing. Behind them came Rick and Frogmon, Frogmon hopping wearily, but both beaming. They had been releasing prisoners.

Tithonia rode in on MetalChargermon, carrying the recovered digivice and grinning. The Digidestined converged on Savannah, and they all exchanged glad hugs, removing their data sticks so their partners could join in. They slapped Chamelemon on the back and knocked him around, and admired Base, who was so proud of himself he could have burst. The freed digimon ran up to them and thanked them over and over for their freedom. Some of them noticed Savannah's injury, and they insisted upon taking her to a village a little below Conch Rock where they kept their repair data. The Digidestined allowed themselves to be marched off.

Conchtown had been abandoned for weeks, ever since Hydramon had marched off the inhabitants, but he had not bothered with the town itself. Before long it was bustling with activity as doors were opened, food was checked, and lights turned on. All the buildings were patterned after shells, and it was marvelous to simply stroll through it. The Digidestined and their partners were begged to stay for a 'thank you' feast, and they agreed.

Savannah was whisked away to a windowless house like a scallop, where she was placed in a warm bath and entertained by a set of female digimon, and hardly noticed as they tended her wounds. By the time they helped her out of the tub, the bitemarks were gone.

Chamelemon was skulking outside, waiting for her, and he raced up to her as she emerged from the scallop. "Savannah! Are you better now?"

"I think so," she said, looking at him. She hated to admit it, but he was cuter than Hissmon.

He held out Base the sword. "These digimon want to give me a sheath for him, but they want you to be there. Will you come?"

"Sure." She followed him down the winding street, looking at the various spirals and sea-shapes of the houses, and wishing Hissmon could have been there.

Zach, Tithonia and Rick were waiting with their partners on the back of a giant red abalone shell. The steps up to the top were made of polished mother of pearl that gleamed like a rainbow in the sun. Savannah and Chamelemon climbed the steps and stood with their friends.

A small scaly horse-like creature hopped up to them and bowed. "I am Horsedramon," it said. "The human called Rick Sterling defeated Scorpionmon and released us from our prisons. For that, I give his digimon Frogmon this instant revive." There was a murmur among the assembled crowd of digimon as Horsedramon handed Rick a flat red wafer. Horsedramon bowed and retreated.

An octopus-like creature wriggled forward. "Tithonia disabled the ancient digivice," it burbled, "and thereby released our brethren into the node. May they regenerate without reformatting." The watching crowd repeated this like a benediction. The octopus went on, "To her I give this Oystermon pearl. It is worth thousands of zip coins." It handed her a white pearl the size of a baseball, and Tithonia blushed crimson as she took it.

The same Crabmon who had aided them scuttled forward, carrying an ornate leather sheath in its claws. "Savannah the Digidestined sacrificed her health and her partner for the defense of her team. May he regenerate without reformatting."

"May he regenerate without reformatting," repeated the crowd.

"To her I present this sheath for her partner's sword. May you only draw the sword in gravest need." Chamelemon took the sheath and slid Base in, who fit perfectly.

"Hey, I like this," said Base. "Kind of like wearing clothes!"

Last of all, a seagull waddled up to Zach and bowed. "Zach led the attack on Hydramon, and he and his partner never gave up, even in the midst of a distortion."

Zach shifted his weight, embarrassed.

"To him," continued Gullmon, "I present this pair of goggles. May they defend your eyes from energy attacks."

Zach took the goggles, looked at them, then put them on, sliding them up on his forehead. "Thanks," he said.

The surrounding crowd broke into cheers and ushered the Digidestined from the abalone shell. They herded them down to the seashore, where a vast bonfire and picnic were being prepared. The digimon were anxious to see them eat, and the Digidestined were happy to oblige them.

As afternoon wore toward evening and the bonfire was lit by an elaborate dance from the fire-types, Zach slipped away. He strolled down the beach away from Conchtown, feeling the sand beneath his feet and a wind from the ocean lift his hair. He wanted to be alone for a while and think about the day's events. It had all happened so fast! And they had defeated Hydramon after all. Thinking about it, he wondered if it had been too easy. Hydramon all but surrendered at the end, claiming there was another. His flesh crawled. Another digimon, even stronger than Hydramon?

The sounds of the picnic faded behind him into the wash of the surf. Zach spied a rock several feet above the sand and climbed it. From there he sat and stared out at the ocean, watching the sun sink into its orange reflection. Birds were diving far out on the water.

After a while he glanced back up the beach and saw Spikemon waddling along, following Zach's footprints. He followed them to the rock, then looked up and smiled. Zach waved two fingers, and Spikemon climbed up on the rock beside him. "Pretty, isn't it?" said the dinosaur, gazing out to sea and inhaling the salty air.

"Yeah."

The sun was a red disk now, and was slipping below the horizon. They watched until the final sliver had vanished, and the wind picked up, fanning their faces.

"I can't believe it's over," muttered Zach.

Spikemon looked at him. "What is?"

"This. Our quest to get back the digivice. We defeated Hydramon. We won, and it's over now."

"Oh, it's never over," said Spikemon, settling himself on the top of the rock. "There's always a virus popping up somewhere. It'll be like that until the Programmer upgrades the Digital World and erases their bad data."

"If your Programmer is so powerful," said Zach, "then why do you have viruses?"

Spikemon eyed him. "You think viruses are born viruses?"

"No, but--" Zach stopped. "They aren't?"

"The first digimon were data types," said Spikemon, looking at the ocean. "But there were some who wanted the power of the Digital World for themselves. There's a lot of power here, if you know how to use it." Zach nodded, and his partner went on, "When those digimon started amassing power, they started killing off other digimon. And when a digimon starts killing like that, it goes to their heads and corrupts their data. They were the first viruses, and vaccines were made to fight them."

"So viruses made themselves," said Zach. He shivered in the wind and hugged himself. "I wish there was a Programmer in our world."

"There has to be one," said Spikemon. "Where did your world come from?"

"The big bang," said Zach. "Then the universe sort of, you know, evolved into what it is now."

"You sound like Hissmon," said Spikemon. "There's data in your world. It's a different kind, but it translates from here to there and back. What are you made of in your world?"

"Cells," said Zach. "Or maybe DNA. That's a kind of code."

"Okay so you do have data," said Spikemon. "Who programmed it?"

"It ... I guess it programmed itself." Zach blinked. "Are you saying there's a god or something in my world?"

"Well, somebody had to program it," said Spikemon. "You might call him a God."

"I'm freezing," said Zach, who was growing uncomfortable with the conversation. "Let's go back to the fire."

"Okay."

He and Spikemon climbed off the rock and walked back across the wet sand, letting the incoming tide lap at their feet. Conch Rock reared up against the dusky sky, a graceful, poised shape that had nothing of the sinister aura of earlier that day. Zach wondered how he had ever found it frightening. "I guess it was because of Hydramon," he thought as they padded toward the bonfire and the frolicking shapes of the digimon. He thought of Hydramon's last words and shook off a cold shudder. "I'm glad the fighting is over now."