Disclaimer: Here we go again! I don't own Digimon, that belongs to Toei, Fox, and some other people that I don't know anything about. I'll also mention that the Australian morning show Cheez TV have the rights to screen the Digimon show, (albeit randomly) and that's how I get to see it.

This chapter isn't quite as good as the others, in my opinion, as I've been really busy this week (it was my birthday on Monday) and didn't get a chance to go through the heavy editing process that my stories usually suffer from. However, I have given it a quick run through and it shouldn't be too bad.

Chapter 4 – Enter Mordremon

The door swung silently open.

"Time for you to meet my master," Cronomon croaked, fluttering off into the darkness.

"This looks great," Taichi muttered, peering around in the darkness, "First the kids go missing, we come to find them, get chased up a mountain by a bunch of weird digimon, then wind up here!"

"Uh, you forgot 'teleported to a creepy castle by a weird digimon that happens to look like a crow'," Yamato added.

"Yep, things just keep getting better and better." Sora joined in.

"Oh, it's too dark in here," Jyou muttered to himself. But Gomamon heard.

"Hey, can we have a bit of light over here?" he called out.

"Why, certainly." A strange voice said. "Welcome to Mordremon's castle."

Immediately, torches all along the walls burst into flame, and another digimon stood before them.

"Phantomon!" Koushiro exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Yes, I thought you were destroyed during Myotismon's reign!" Tentomon said.

"Oh, that wasn't me, that was my brother," Phantomon said mildly. "Thank you for getting rid of him, by the way. He always was rather annoying, you know. Always saying he could swing his Nanoscythe further than me. Well I guess he finally swung it too far, ha!"

"Umm… you're welcome," Agumon muttered, looking confused.

"Oh yes, where was I?" Phantomon wondered. "That's right, I'm supposed to take you to meet my master, Mordremon. Come along then."

"Wait there one minute!" Mimi cried. "We're not going to just blindly follow this thing, are we?"

But everyone else was already leaving her behind, following Phantomon down the long, torch lit hall.

"C'mon, Mimi!" Palmon called. "It'll be okay."

"We always end up somewhere dark and scary, with no idea what's going to happen." Mimi said, stubbornly. "I've had it!"

"We'll be fine, Mimi. I'm her to protect you!" Palmon reassured her friend.

"Well, that wasn't a great lot of help when there were all those other Digimon, was it?"

"Yeah, well, there's only Phantomon and Cronomon here, and I could beat them both without even digivolving," Palmon boasted.

"One day, I am going to just stay home." Mimi sighed, giving up and following behind everyone else.

The hallway, despite the burning torches that lined the walls, seemed very dank and gloomy. The bare stone walls made the place seem awfully empty, and although the torches lit the path of the children and monsters, they could never quite see right into the shadows.

And the end of the hall there was a stone arch, which led them into a smaller hall, which had stairs and doors going all over the place.

"Where do they all go?" Koushiro wondered. "There are so many different ways to go. You could get lost so easily in a maze like this."

"Oh, it's not so hard when you know where to go," Phantomon replied, "You just have to learn the way things work around here. I know this place perfectly. That door leads to the kitchens, that's the dining hall, that's the dungeons, that's the astrology tower, that's a bunch of empty rooms, and those are the guest quarters." Phantomon told them, gesturing around the room at various staircases and wooden doors.

"Well, what about that door?" Biyomon asked, pointing to a heavy, decorated door at the foot of one staircase. She was perched higher up, on a windowsill.

"Ah, now that is the place where I must take you now. That is where my master Mordremon is." Phantomon replied, with a sneaky look. "Now, be good little digimon, won't you, and you too, children, or Mordremon may not take much of a liking to you!"

Not that Mordremon takes a liking to anyone. Phantomon thought, dragging open the door.

Inside, the Digidestined were treated to a very strange sight. Ranged around the room were the four digimon they had met during their trip up the mountain: Tauromon, Serpentmon, Kappamon and Banemon. In the middle of the room was a throne made of black rock. And seated in the throne was a digimon that none of them had ever seen before. It seemed human, but nobody could be sure because it was wearing a long, black cloak that completely covered its face and body. As they watched, Cronomon fluttered down to land on its shoulder.

Koushiro frowned as he opened his computer. "The Digimon Analyser on my computer doesn't have any information on this digimon at all."

"Well, very few people or digimon have ever seen me before." The digimon replied. "I'm not surprised that your computer has no recorded information about me. My name is Mordremon."

"I don't like it, whatever it is." Taichi muttered, suspiciously. "We don't know what it could have done with the other kids."

"Well, it hasn't exactly attacked us," Agumon pointed out.

"Oh yeah?" Mimi burst out "What about those other digimon? Tauromon and Banemon and Kappamon and that snake looking thing, you're saying they didn't attack us?!"

"I have to admit, Mimi does seem to have a point." Yamato agreed.

"Yes, it does seem that those other digimon are working with Mordremon," said Sora, "but let's not jump to conclusions. There could be more to this than we think."

"Well said." Mordremon interrupted, rising from the throne, "You're obviously wise enough to keep an open mind. You're right, I admit there has been a bit of misunderstanding, but I'm sure we can sort it all –"

"Don't listen!" Takeru's muffled voice said, from somewhere out of sight. "Don't listen to Mordremon, she's lying!"

Yamato shrugged.

Koushiro typed.

Jyou fidgeted.

"Ha!" said Mimi.

"Oh well," said Sora.

"She?" said Taichi, looking confused.

"Yeah, she." Mordremon replied, slightly annoyed. "Believe it or not, I happen to be a girl. And I suppose I might as well show you everything then."

She strode over to a trapdoor in the floor and wrenched it open. "Alright, Phantomon, let 'em out for a bit of air."

Phantomon ducked down into the hole. There was a lot of noise down below, of clattering chains and outraged voices.

"This trapdoor leads directly to the dungeon." Cronomon explained, fluttering from Mordremon's shoulder and landing on the edge of the hole. "Phantomon is just getting our prisoners out so that they can come and see you. I believe you may know them…"

Suddenly, it all clicked.

"I was right!" Taichi shouted angrily, "You're the ones that took the other kids! I should have known. Come on, everybody, let's go get –"

"No, Tai, wait." Hikari said, climbing up from the trapdoor. Clamped to her wrist was a chain, which Phantomon was holding onto. "You see," she continued, if you fight Mordremon and the others here, now, you'll lose. You can't win here in the castle."

"That's right." Takeru agreed, scrambling up behind Hikari. "And even if had a chance, these other digimon could kill any one of us before you could reach for your digivices."

All the other children, and their digimon, all chained, slowly emerged from the trapdoor. Daisuke, Iori, Miyako and Ken, along with Gatomon, Patamon, Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon and Wormmon stood helpless, captives of this strange new digimon.

"She took out digivices." the goggle-boy muttered, hanging his head.

"Told you, didn't I," Miyako said, defiantly, "I told you we shouldn't have followed that Cronomon."

"Yeah, we heard you the first fifty times," Iori grumbled. "Will you lay off already?"

Ken stood silent at the back, like he was pretending he wasn't there. But he couldn't hide, not really.

"Don't you have anything to say, Ken?" Sora asked, looking straight at him.

"No, not really," the former Digimon Emperor said, quietly, "Just that… well… I've been the bad guy. I've made mistakes. But even the bad guys are living creatures, and the Digiworld isn't just a game. Even Mordremon has feelings. There's more than one way to win."

Mordremon regarded him for a long moment. "Words won't break down the dungeon walls. Send them back, Phantomon."

"As you wish, master." Phantomon replied, mildly, sweeping his scythe over the group. A few gasps were heard as the air around the six suddenly spiralled upwards, and the other Digidestined were nowhere to be seen. The trapdoor slammed shut.

"Oh, you liked my little magic trick, did you?" Phantomon asked, sounding please. "Oh, it was nothing, just a little something I picked up when –"

"Excuse me, Phantomon, but I believe you have other things to do." Mordremon said firmly, sounding faintly annoyed.

"No, I don't believe I do, what do you mean?"

"You know, just… things." Cronomon hissed.

"I really don't think I –"

"Oh, go clean the toilets or something." Mordremon grumbled, and Phantomon hurried quickly out of the room, suddenly remembering that he did have things to do.

"Now, children – and digimon – I believe we have matters to discuss. I wasn't aware that you'd be here so soon." Mordremon said.

"Well, we have a few questions for you," Taichi told her, furious. "Why are you keeping our friends in chains? Why are you doing this? What have we ever done to you?!"

"I was just getting to that," the digimon replied, glaring at Taichi. "If you'll just follow me up to the tower, maybe I can explain things a little better."

Mordremon rose out of her seat and headed towards the door, Cronomon fluttering above her head. A few of the larger digimon scrambled up and began to follow, when Mordremon turned around and gave them one of her icy glares. "You lot are staying here." She said, in an equally cold voice. Then she turned and floated out the door.

~~~~~~

Well, thank you for reading, review if you want, thank you to ::dragonfire:: and I promise the next bit will be better. Bye!