Disclaimer

Disclaimer: It's becoming almost automatic, putting disclaimers at the start. I was writing a poem the other day and I almost wrote 'Disclaimer' at the top!

Oh, yeah, and by the way, I. DON'T. OWN. DIGIMON.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed in these last couple of weeks. And a special thank you to FireFinch, who has named this story the undiscovered fic of the week! Thank you to Sunny Aino, my friend in real life as well as on the net, for pointing out a little typo back in chapter three. And thank you to ::dragonfire:: for the chocolate. I forgive you. Many thanks, everybody! And since several people seem to want to see the 02 kids again, I've decided to cross back to Mordremon herself this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 10 - A minor distraction

"Uh, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining," Armadillomon said, "but I am really hungry!"

"I'm sure Phantomon will come back with some food for us soon." Cody reminded his ravenous 'mon. "Just be patient."

"How can we be patient when we're stuck in here?!" Davis had spent the last few days pacing up and down the dungeon in which they were imprisoned. "Mordremon and her freaky gang are up there plotting the death of the digiworld, the others are off fighting goodness knows what, and we're sitting here doing nothing!"

"Well what do you expect us to do, Davis?" Yolei demanded. "None of the digimon can digivolve and Phantomon's the only one with the keys. It's not like we have a choice!"

"But we aren't even trying!" Davis argued.

"What do you expect us to do, go around kicking the walls?"

"It's better than sitting around staring at them."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be much help with a broken leg, would you?"

"Oh, shut up." TK growled. Everyone turned to stare at him. "It might be a help if we could do something, but we can't. At least we do know what's going on down below where the older kids are fighting. They've got no idea what's happening to us. And I'm sure that if they did, they'd be disappointed to hear us fighting like this."

Kari nodded in agreement. "I know that Tai would want us to be doing something useful."

"Exactly!" Davis jumped up.

"But he'd also want us to do it sensibly." Gatomon pointed out.

"Just what I was saying." Yolei nodded.

"I think we should try to at least distract Mordremon and the others." Ken said, quietly. "It is a terrible thing that she is trying to do. I lost Wormmon once..." he looked fondly at his digimon, then shook his head, unable to go on.

"I know, I know." TK lowered his head. "I lost Patamon once too. It is an awful thing, to lose a digimon like that."

"But I came back, didn't I?" Patamon jumped on top of TK's hat and the boy smiled sadly.

"Yes, Patamon, but if Mordremon succeeds then any digimon that... we lose... won't be able to come back."

"I don't know what I would have done if Wormmon hadn't come back." Ken whispered. "I don't think I could have survived without him. I just don't know."

"Which is why we have to stop Mordremon." Wormmon told him. "So that nobody ever has to suffer the pain of losing a digimon."

"And so that none of us digimon are ever truly lost." Hawkmon pointed out.

"I couldn't go away." Veemon announced. "Davish needs me!"

"So we all agree that we have to do something." Kari announced. "To stop Mordremon's dreadful scheme!"

"But first," Armadillomon interrupted, "I gotta eat!"

Cody smiled and leaned back against the wall. "I told you, Phantomon's gonna be - whoa!" the smallest boy stumbled as a large stone block slid into the wall, leaving a gaping hole. "Where'd that come from?"

"Whatever it is, it hasn't been used for a while." TK said, peering inside. "It's packed with rocks and stuff. Besides, we won't fit through, that's way too narrow."

"You won't fit, but I will." Patamon pointed out.

"We still need to get through all that packed rock." Davis said. "Can you help, Veemon?"

"I'm not very good at digging." Veemon shook his head.

"No problem." Armadillomon scrambled into the hole that the stone had left and immediately set to work, sending rock shards and clumps of dirt flying backwards into the dungeon.

"Ugh, earth creature." Hawkmon grimaced. "I can't imagine how he can just leap into a hole like that and actually feel at home. It's unnatural, being surrounded by earth."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Gatomon agreed. "There's no way you're getting me down that hole. It'd take hours to get all that out of my fur."

"I don't think you need to worry, Gatomon." Kari smiled.

"Yeah, we seem to have plenty of volunteers." Yolei said, dryly.

Patamon, Veemon and Wormmon had all climbed into the hole after Armadillomon and were following him up the rapidly lengthening tunnel. It was heading slightly upwards, but it was quite cramped in there and several of the digimon were beginning to get annoyed.

"Patamon, will you keep your wings out of my face?" Veemon growled.

"I'm sorry, Veemon," Patamon said from up ahead, "but I have to stick them behind me or they'll get squashed by the roof!"

Veemon just snorted. "Yeah, wouldn't that be a disaster. You flying digimon are all the same."

"But Veemon, you can fly too when you digivolve." Wormmon said from the back of the line. Veemon ignored him and went on criticizing Patamon.

"You just have to have room for your precious wings, don't you? Never mind what I think."

"Veemon, you could just slow down so that you're not walking into the back of me." Patamon shot back.

"Well, I could, but I wouldn't want to slow Wormmon down." Veemon replied, in a voice which suggested that he was being very considerate and that Patamon should do the same.

"Actually, Veemon, I wouldn't really mind." Wormmon said, tapping the blue one on the shoulder. Veemon just shrugged him off and Wormmon sighed. He had been wishing that they could slow down. He wasn't the fasted of digimon.

"What's a flying digimon doing in a tunnel anyway, Patamon?" Veemon kept going. "Don't you feel terribly trapped with no room to flap your wings? Shouldn't you be back with Gatomon where you won't get your paws dirty?"

"If you care so much about Gatomon," Patamon asked, "then why aren't you backs there keeping her company?"

Veemon straightened up so fast that he hit his head on the roof of the tunnel. How could he have been so stupid? This was his one chance to get to Gatomon while Patamon was out of the way! Furious with himself, he shut his eyes and charged forwards blindly - and collided with Patamon's backside.

"Veemon, what do you want now?" Patamon demanded, irritably. "You've been complaining ever since we started."

"If you weren't so annoying I wouldn't have anything to complain about!" Veemon snapped back.

"Me? What have I done? I can't help it if my wings get in the way, stupid."

"Oh come on, you're always acting like you're the best, just because you did all this four years before we did."

"I do not! And Gatomon's been with the digidestined for as long as I have."

"And that's another thing, how come you're always so friendly with Gatomon?" the blue monster demanded.

"Because we're friends." Patamon said, exasperated.

"Deep worms, shut up." Wormmon growled. "I've had about as much as I can take of you two. Just be quiet, please. It's terribly annoying."

Veemon and Patamon, both stunned, nodded and turned their attention back to the climb. Armadillomon had turned around and signaled for them to be silent and stay where they were. He dug his claws into something above his head and with a slight scraping sound a hole opened with a faint light streaming through. One by one, the digimon scrambled out. Next to the exit was a sack, which Armadillomon had moved aside. They emerged into a narrow, dark space full of various boxes; the ceiling seemed to be very far away.

"What is this place?" Patamon wondered.

"Beats me." Veemon replied, sniffing at a box.

"No idea." Wormmon agreed, investigating the sack.

"I know where we are!" A grinning Armadillomon popped up from behind a stack of boxes, his face smeared with something sticky. "We're in a storeroom for food! This is Phantomon's pantry."

Wormmon emerged from the sack holding a couple of potatoes. Veemon realized what was in the boxes and immediately began to rip a couple of them open.

"Wait a moment!" Patamon held his hands out towards the others. "We can't just rip things open and eat what we like. Someone might notice, and then we'd be in real trouble."

"Well what do you think we should do?" Veemon asked, with only a trace of sarcasm.

"Maybe we should see if we can get out." Patamon suggested, fluttering upwards and pushing against the doors with absolutely no result. "Locked, I'm afraid."

"If we can't get out, we could at least raid this place for food." Armadillomon grinned.

"I suppose it might be a minor distraction to Phantomon if he ran out of something." Wormmon said, slowly.

"Anything we can do to help!" Patamon smiled. But the smile disappeared when he peered through the keyhole. "Let's get out of here, someone's coming!"

So the four digimon left their discovery behind and Armadillomon pulled the sack of potatoes back over the hole - but not before he had nicked a few bags of Twisties.

******

Phantomon drifted into the kitchen, whistling to himself. Cooking was his favourite job out of all those he did at Mordremon's castle. He didn't have to do much for the prisoners' lunch, just throw a few dozen sandwiches together, bung 'em on a plate and deliver them to the hungry ones in the dungeon. He'd come back to do Mordremon's soup later, that took longer. She wasn't a fussy eater, but she could certainly appreciate good food.

The digimon sliced up the sandwiches with a few swipes of his scythe, then leapt forward to keep one of them from toppling over. That kid with the goggles sure had a decent appetite, he always wanted tons of stuff on his sandwiches. What was his name again? Something weird like Danish. Now those girls, Kari and Yoyo, they hardly ate a thing. Strange creatures, children.

As Phantomon balanced the sandwiches on the wobbling tray and headed for the door, he stopped suddenly and listened intently. He could have sworn he heard something rustling in the pantry... but the kitchen was silent. He must be hearing things. How could anything get into that cupboard when he always had it locked?

******

Armadillomon had barely finished shoving the stone slab back in to cover the tunnel when the entire group heard the rattle of keys as Phantomon floated lazily down the stairs to the large grille that was the door to their prison.

"Ah, you are hungry, my little friends?" Phantomon asked as the door swung open.

"We're not little and we're not your friends." Davis snarled, curling his hands into fists. "And I'm certainly not hungry!"

Then the goggled one's stomach growled rather loudly.

Everyone laughed along with Phantomon as Davis' face grew red. Annoyed, humiliated and cranky, Davis grabbed one of the larger sandwiches off Phantomon's plate and stuffed the whole thing angrily into his mouth. When he choked and started coughing everyone laughed all the more, although Kari kindly strolled over and whacked him on the back - laughing all the while.

"Well, I might just leave you lot to it, then." Phantomon remarked, placing the tray on a small table in the corner. "You certainly seem capable of amusing yourself."

TK snorted with laughter as Phantomon locked the grille door behind him, hiding a smile as he drifted back up the stairs. Those humans weren't so bad, really. A pity they had to be kept locked up.

Ken grinned after Phantomon. He was a pretty decent digimon, really. A pity he had to work for Mordremon.

Then Ken turned his attention back to Daisuke, who had stopped choking but was still eating rapidly. So were Veemon and Armadillomon, though that was to be expected. But then, all the digimon seemed to be eating a lot. Was it harder for them to maintain their energy in this strange castle? Did the absence of the digivices sap their power in some way? Anything was possible in the digital world.

Realizing that there were only a few sandwiches left on the plate, Ken abandoned his theorizing and decided that it might be better to grab some food - while it was still there!

Half an hour later, Davis was lying in his bed (yes, it's a four star dungeon and they don't have to sleep on the floor. It also has a bathroom complete with leaky taps to keep you awake all night!) with a severe case of indigestion. Phantomon still hadn't come back, so Davis would probably be rolling around in agony for quite some time.

"They probably don't have much in the way of medicine here anyway." Kari remarked.

Davis groaned again and stuffed his head under a pillow.

"Sorry to tell you this, Kari, but I don't think Davis found that very comforting." Gatomon told her, dryly.

"Well, I wouldn't want him to be disappointed if he gets told that there's nothing we can do to help." Kari shrugged.

"Kari?" Davis lifted his head from under the pillow and glared at her. "Do me a favour. Go away."

As Kari stormed off, offended, Ken tried not to laugh as he sat down next to his friend.

"I think you've just about ruined your chances with Kari, my dear Daisuke." he grinned.

"Oh, shut up." Davis grumbled. "Who cares about Kari, anyway?"

"You do." Veemon replied, promptly. "Or you used to, anyway."

"Yeah, well, she's being annoying today."

"Ah, but we all have our bad days." Ken smiled.

"I suppose you'd know, wouldn't you?" Davis remarked. He instantly regretted it when he saw the dark look on the other boy's face. "Hey, Ken, I didn't mean-"

"I know, Davis." Ken said, quietly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to walk off like Kari did." he smiled. "I think you're having a bad enough day as is."

"Too right I am." Davis fell back onto the pillows with a sigh. "Ken, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure thing, Davis."

"Get me a glass of water, will you?"

"No problem." Ken strolled into the bathroom. Then a moment later, there was an exclamation and Ken walked quickly back out. "Davis, we don't have any glasses!"

"Now you get it." Davis winked and Veemon giggled. "Guess even a genius will make mistakes."

Ken glared for a moment, then burst out laughing as well. They had to get what laughs they could whilst they were trapped with nowhere to go.

******

Phantomon, completing his lunchtime duties, delivered a bowl of soup to Mordremon up in her tower. She was watching intently out of one of the windows and sipped the soup absentmindedly.

"Thanks, Phantomon." she said, vaguely, not even looking his way. When he hesitated at the door, she turned and glared. "Well, don't wait around, get going!"

Phantomon needed no second bidding and vanished as quickly as he had arrived. Cronomon dropped down to perch next to her mistress.

"Uh, may I ask a question, Darcy?" the bird queried.

"Don't call me that." Mordremon growled. "You don't know who's listening, you know. If I can see what the children are doing, then someone could just as easily know what we do."

"Sorry." Cronomon muttered. "I just wanted to know why you're not attacking the digidestined while they're asleep."

Mordremon shrugged. "It wouldn't really be fair on them, would it? Give them a chance to fight."

"That's what you told Tauromon," Cronomon muttered, "and where is he now? Gone! Dead!"

"Tauromon fought as well as he knew how. With rage. Besides, he'll be back. They all come back. No matter what you do, things in the digiworld always come back." she said, bitterly, and turned away from the window.

"They won't if you succeed." Cronomon pointed out.

"We still have a while to wait before then." Mordremon ruffled the bird's feathers fondly and looked up at the stars on the ceiling. The ring of six were right next to the digivices now, but still had a little way to travel.

"You aren't like the other evil digimon that have tried to take control, are you?" Cronomon asked, looking sideways at her mistress.

"Well, I don't think any other digimon ever thought of things other than world domination." Mordremon replied, dryly.

"No, it's more than that." Cronomon shook her head. "Myotismon or the Dark Masters would have destroyed the children by now. There have been enough opportunities. Look at them right now, sleeping there at the edge of the forest as if there were not a thing that could harm them. You could be rid of these children, right now, but you don't."

"All those evil ones that have been before me - Devimon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters - they were cowards." the girl spat. "They were afraid to take the risk of playing fair. If they were fair then they might lose."

"So they attacked the digidestined when they would have trouble putting up a good defence."

"And lost anyway." Mordremon pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose that's a point." Cronomon admitted. "But if they were unfair and still managed to lose, then isn't it even easier for you to lose while you're being fairer on the children?"

"Why should it?" Mordremon's asked, excitedly. "Have you never thought that maybe being unfair was the mistake that all those other digimon made? That the way to success isn't ruthlessness, but in mercy? Well, a little mercy." she thought. "Too much and I might not be able to go through with all this."

"If I may be so bold," Cronomon ventured, "May I ask why you are doing this? Ending the cycle of digital life?"

"You may certainly be bold, Cronomon." Mordremon nodded approvingly. "And it is a good question. you have every right to know the answer."

"Which is..?"

"That eternal life is not all it's cracked up to be." Mordremon said, shortly and bitterly. Cronomon wisely made no reply.

"What are we going to do next, mistress?" the bird asked, at last.

"You don't have to call me 'mistress', you know." Mordremon smiled. "Since the children have reached the forest, I suppose you'd better go and tell Serpentmon to-"

"No need, Missstresss." Said a drawling voice, and Serpentmon's head appeared suddenly just outside the window. Her thick reptilian body was coiled around the tower and she swung her head slightly as she spoke.

"Nice to see you're so punctual, Serpentmon." Mordremon said, trying to hide her surprise.

"I do my best." The huge head nodded slowly.

"Good to hear." Mordremon replied. "It'd time for you to have a shot at the digidestined. Be fair on them, but don't be too easy. They're incredibly powerful."

"Yes, I noticed." the snake said, looking away suddenly. "I saw what happened to Tauromon."

"We all grieve for Tauromon, my friend." Cronomon whispered.

"Tauromon was a great fighter!" Serpentmon looked up again, her eyes burning with emotion. "I cannot fight the way he did, but I shall try to be equally useful the way he was."

"In that case you are already doing well." Mordremon said, "Good luck, Serpentmon, and remember to fight fair."

"As always, mistress." Serpentmon nodded once more, then slithered away out of sight.

"That snake isn't what she seems either, you know." Cronomon commented.

"None of us are." Mordremon replied.

~~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed that chapter. It wasn't what I originally planned, but I'm glad that I wrote that in now. I'll be back next week or the week after with another chapter. See you then!