FROM THE DEPTHS
Part 9: Digi-Pranksters
"We are so sorry, Armaggedamon," Mamemon apologized as he, Metal Mamemon, and Giromon stood in front of Armaggedamon's throne with their heads hung down.
"We did the best we could, sir," Giromon added a bit nervously.
"You call that your best?" Armaggedamon asked angrily, his eyes blazing a fiery red. "You allowed the Digi-Destined to escape, and now you'll pay the ultimate price for failure!"
A ball of black electricity formed in Armaggedamon's hand and he threw the ball at the Mamemon Brothers. The three Digimon screamed in horror and closed their eyes. After a few grueling minutes have passed with incident, they slowly opened their eyes.
To the Mamemon Brothers' surprise, they were surrounded by a large cage, which was constructed of the black electricity. Giromon cautiously reached out and grabbed one of the bars of the cage, but he ended up getting electrocuted in the process.
"Giromon, you idiot!" Metal Mamemon retorted as he and Mamemon helped Giromon up. Armaggedamon snickered sinisterly as he snapped his fingers. Instantly, the cage started to slowly shrink, with the Mamemon Brothers still in it.
"Please spare us, Armaggedamon!" Mamemon pleaded as the black electric bars came closer to him and his Digimon brothers.
"Give me one good reason why I should spare your miserable lives!" Armaggedamon retorted coldly.
"Because we separated the Digi-Destined!" Giromon shouted quickly.
Armaggedamon snapped his fingers again, causing the cage to stop shrinking just inches away from the three Mamemon Brothers. "What was that, Giromon?" he asked with slight interest.
"When those kids were trying to escape in Piximon's bubble, all three of us attacked the bubble at the same time with our bombs, and the weirdest thing happened," Giromon quickly explained as he recalled what had happened the previous day. "The bubble, it split apart into twelve smaller bubbles. Each bubble held one of those brats and their Digimon."
"Hmm..." Armaggedamon murmured thoughtfully as he picked up the walkie-talkie on his armrest. "Is this true, Cloakmon?" he asked Cloakmon, who had been listening to the entire conversation through the walkie-talkie.
"Yes, sir," Cloakmon confirmed. "The twelve children and their Digimon are no longer together."
"Perhaps I can use this to my advantage," Armaggedamon muttered thoughtfully. "Keep me posted, Cloakmon." He snapped his fingers once again, which caused the black electric cage that encased the Mamemon Brothers to disappear. Mamemon, Metal Mamemon, and Giromon all fell to their knees and gasped deeply for air.
"With the Digi-Destined separated from each other, it will be much easier to capture them all. Listen up!" Armaggedamon shouted to all of the evil Digimon in front of him. "I want you all to spread the word to all our Digimon allies: if any of them spot one of the Digi-Destined children, capture them on sight! This goes for everyone! However, do not destroy them. I want all twelve of them brought to me alive. If anyone is going to have the pleasure of destroying the Digi-Destined children, it's going to be me! Understand?"
"Yes, Armaggedamon, sir!" the evil Digimon inside the dark hallway chorused simultaneously. Armaggedamon chuckled evilly as his minions began to leave the hall to search for the Digi-Destined...
"Tai? Wake up, Tai!" Tai heard Koromon's voice shout. He slowly opened his eyes to see his Digimon sitting on his stomach with a big smile.
"Morning, Koromon," Tai muttered out loud as he sat up in the transparent pink bubble.
Ever since the other kids became separated from them the other day, Tai and Koromon had drifted far away from Mamemon City. Tai had tried to stay awake as long as he could, so he could see if he caught up with any of his friends, but he eventually succumbed and fell asleep. As he looked around, Tai realized that he and Koromon were floating above a dense forest.
"Aww, man!" Tai whispered worriedly as he looked down at the forest below him. "My friends and I have been separated before, but nothing like this has ever happened, Koromon!"
"Don't worry, Tai," Koromon assured his human friend. "We'll find everyone and defeat Armaggedamon together!"
"Yeah, you're right, Koromon," Tai replied with a small smile. "Nothing can go wrong now."
Suddenly, to their surprise, the bubble unexpectedly popped. Tai and Koromon screamed as they fell from the sky right into a tree. Tai landed on a branch and managed to catch Koromon.
"Well...I guess I can be wrong sometimes," Tai admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"Tai!" he heard a familiar voice shout from below him. Both Tai and Koromon looked down and were relieved to see Kari and Gatomon standing next to the tree.
"Kari!" Tai exclaimed happily as he slowly made his way down the tree, being careful not to drop Koromon. As soon as he reached the bottom, Tai hugged his little sister with one arm, while holding Koromon in the other arm.
"I was getting really worried about you, Kari. Are you okay?" Tai asked as he backed away a little bit.
"Yeah, Tai. I'm okay," Kari replied.
"What happened? How long have you two been on the ground?" Tai asked curiously.
"We're not exactly sure," Kari replied slowly.
"Huh?" Tai and Koromon exclaimed simultaneously.
"When we fell asleep last night, we were still in the bubble, but when we woke up this morning, we were lying on the ground," Gatomon explained. Tai let out a silent sigh of relief, glad that his sister didn't experience the rough landing that he and Koromon had a while ago.
"Let's go see if we can find any of our friends. Okay, Kari?" Tai asked.
"Okay," Kari agreed as they started walking down a worn dirt path. No sooner have they started walking then there was a loud grumbling noise coming from Koromon.
"Tai, I'm hungry!" the pink Digimon complained.
"I know you're hungry, Koromon," Tai replied. "You'll just have to wait till we can find something to eat."
Suddenly, there was another grumbling noise, only this time, it came from Tai. "Looks like I'm just as hungry as you are, Koromon!" Tai admitted as his face turned red with embarrassment.
"Don't worry, Tai. We can take care of that," Kari announced.
"What are you talking about, Kari?" Tai asked curiously.
"Just follow us!" Gatomon shouted as she and Kari ran ahead of Tai and Koromon.
"Hey, wait up!" Tai shouted as he ran after them. He found Kari and Gatomon standing under a small tree on the side of the path. Tai and Koromon looked up and practically drooled when they saw the small pale green melons hanging in the tree. As Tai put Koromon down so he could pick out some melons for them to eat, he noticed some melon rinds lying on the ground.
"When we woke up this morning, this was where we woke up," Kari explained. "We had just finished eating when we heard you two scream."
Tai nodded as he picked two of the melons from the tree. He split both of the fruits in half and laid two melon halves in front of Koromon. Tai and Koromon greedily ate the pieces of melon as though they haven't eaten in days, while Kari and Gatomon watched in amusement. In less than a minute, only the rinds were remaining.
"You want another one?" Tai asked his Digimon.
"No thanks, Tai. I'm stuffed!" Koromon openly admitted. To Tai and Kari's surprise, Koromon became engulfed in a familiar white light.
"Koromon digivolve to...Agumon."
"Hey, Agumon!" Tai greeted as he hugged his Digimon.
"I guess that food was all I needed to help me digivolve!" Agumon admitted with a toothy grin.
"Glad to have you back, Agumon," Kari admitted as Gatomon nodded in agreement.
"Okay!" Tai announced as he stood up. "Ready to go, guys?" Agumon, Kari, and Gatomon nodded as the three of them stood up and the foursome continued walking down the trail...
"Aww, man! This forest seems to go on forever!" Tai complained as he looked around. "We've been walking for hours, and we still haven't seen anything or anyone."
"You're right, Tai. We should have found someone by now," Agumon admitted. Suddenly, he started to sniff the air in front of him. "What's that smell?" he asked as he continued to sniff around.
"What do you mean?" Kari asked curiously.
"I recognize this smell! I think it's one of our friends," Agumon explained as he sniffed around some more.
"I thought dogs were the ones with strong noses, not reptiles!" Gatomon joked.
"It's T.K. and Patamon!" Agumon exclaimed. Tai, Kari, and Gatomon gasped when they heard this news.
"Are you sure?" Tai asked. Agumon quickly nodded his head.
"Which way, Agumon?" Gatomon asked.
"I think it's this way!" Agumon announced as he ran ahead of his friends.
"Wait for us, Agumon!" Tai shouted as he, Kari, and Gatomon chased after him.
Suddenly, Agumon was caught in a snare, which left him hanging upside-down in a nearby tree. "Help!" he shouted, trying frantically to get the rope off of his leg.
"Hold on, Agumon!" Gatomon shouted as she ran ahead to help him. She suddenly tripped over a thin wire and a net dropped down from the trees above her.
"Gatomon!" Kari shouted as she and Tai ran towards their Digimon. Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way and they both fell into a deep hole, which had been concealed with sticks, dirt, and leaves.
"What is with all these traps?" Tai asked angrily to himself. "You'd think someone was purposely planting these traps." Tai quickly stood up and rubbed his head before he helped his sister get to her feet.
"Congratulations! You've won the grand prize!" an unfamiliar voice retorted sarcastically.
Tai and Kari gasped when they saw four small unfamiliar creatures staring down at them from around the hole. The new Digimon were no bigger than Gatomon and resembled gargoyles with small bat-like wings. Their scaly skin was olive green and their claws were deep maroon. In a way, the four Digimon reminded Tai of Ogremon.
Not knowing whether or not these Digimon were friendly, Tai asked cautiously, "Who are you?"
"We are Gremlimon," one of the Digimon replied.
"Are you good Digimon?" Kari asked uncertainly.
"That all depends," the same Gremlimon replied.
"On what?" Tai asked suspiciously.
"Oh, umm...never mind! Now come with us!"
"We have a couple of friends that would just love to meet you," another Gremlimon added.
"What makes you think we'll go anywhere with you?" Tai shouted.
"We'll show you why," a third Gremlimon told him as he turned around and waved his hand. Two more Gremlimon showed up by the edge of the hole, one holding a struggling Agumon and the other restraining a squirming Gatomon.
"Agumon!" Tai shouted.
"Gatomon!" Kari gasped.
Tai groaned slightly, knowing that he and Kari had no choice. "Fine, we'll go with you," he finally answered.
"No, don't, Tai!" Agumon protested as Tai helped Kari out of the hole before climbing out himself.
"Let's go, and no funny business!" a Gremlimon warned them as they started marching down the path. A few minutes later, the group approached a Digimon village that was inhabited with Gremlimon.
"Wow!" one of the several Gremlimon in the village exclaimed out of surprise as Tai, Kari, Agumon, Gatomon, and the six Gremlimon entered the village. "You got two of those kids! What are you gonna do with them?"
"We'll let our guest decide," one of the six Gremlimon replied. Tai gasped when he heard this unexpected news.
Oh, no! I hope this 'guest' isn't one of Armaggedamon's hench-mon! Tai thought despairingly.
"This way!" one of the Gremlimon announced as they led the two kids and their Digimon towards a nearby hut.
As they started to enter the hut, one of the Gremlimon announced, "Oh, T.K.! We found some of your friends!" Tai, Kari, Agumon, and Gatomon gasped out of surprise when they saw T.K. and Patamon standing in the hut.
"T.K.!" Tai and Kari exclaimed simultaneously.
"Tai! Kari!" T.K. exclaimed happily as he ran forward and hugged Tai around his legs.
"How are you doing, T.K.?" Tai asked as he looked down at the little boy.
"Much better, now that you guys are here!" T.K. admitted with a big smile.
Tai looked back at the six Gremlimon that brought them into the hut. "How did you end up this place, T.K.?" he asked suspiciously. "Did these Gremlimon force you to come here?"
"No, they didn't," Patamon admitted.
"What do you mean?" Kari asked curiously.
"Well, Patamon and I were riding around in that pink bubble for what felt like forever," T.K. explained. "When we finally landed on the ground, the sun was going down. Patamon showed me a path, and we decided we would follow it. We kept walking until it started to get dark. I was getting tired, and so was Patamon. Just as we were about to fall asleep, we heard some noises ahead, and we found the Gremlimon village. They were scared of us at first, but I told them what had happened, and since Patamon and I were tired, I asked them if we could spend the night. The Gremlimon were very nice and let us stay. They even made us breakfast this morning!"
"They were very polite to us, and got us anything we needed," Patamon added.
"That's kinda hard to believe," Tai muttered out loud as he cautiously eyed the six Gremlimon that were standing in the hut with them.
"It's true, Tai," T.K. admitted.
"Yeah, it is," one of the Gremlimon confessed. "We like T.K. Actually, we like all children!"
"You do?" Kari asked. The six Gremlimon nodded their heads.
"Is that why you set up those traps, so you could catch us?" Tai asked suspiciously.
"No, of course not!" the same Gremlimon replied. "We're really sorry about that. We didn't mean any harm by it."
"Please let us make it up to you," a second Gremlimon added. "It's almost lunchtime. Would you like to stay and eat with us?"
Tai thought long and hard about the lunch invitation. He was still suspicious about the Gremlimon. For all he knew, their bizarre behavior was probably just a distraction to keep them in the Gremlimon village until one of Armaggedamon's hench-mon could arrive. Then again, it has been a while since Tai, Kari, Agumon, and Gatomon had anything to eat.
If this does turn out to be a trap, our Digimon should have no problem fighting off all these Gremlimon, especially when they digivolve, Tai thought to himself.
"Tai?" T.K. asked loudly, interrupting Tai from his thoughts.
"Yeah, T.K.?" Tai asked.
"Is it okay if we stay for lunch?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah, I guess so," Tai answered.
"This way, everyone," the third Gremlimon announced as he and the five other Gremlimon led the three kids and their Digimon out of the hut towards a small tower in the center of the village...
"We're really sorry about the way we treated you guys before," one of the Gremlimon apologized as he handed Tai a platter of sandwiches.
Tai nodded slowly as he took a sandwich from the platter and set it down so T.K., Kari, Agumon, Patamon, and Gatomon could help themselves.
"We didn't mean to sound so mean, but we didn't think you'd be willing to come with us since you all fell into our traps," another Gremlimon added.
"That's another thing I've been meaning to ask you about. What's with all of those traps?" Tai asked curiously.
"They're for protection," the third Gremlimon admitted. "Despite the way we look, we don't like to fight. We normally don't have a lot of traps so close together, like the ones we found you four in, but we didn't really have much of a choice."
"Why not?" Kari asked curiously.
"Well, you see...for a couple of days now, there have been some Digimon going past our village," the fourth Gremlimon hesitantly confessed.
"They've been asking about the Digi-Destined children," the fifth Gremlimon added.
"Those Digimon must work for Armaggedamon!" Agumon exclaimed.
"That was our guess," the sixth Gremlimon admitted. "Truth is...one of them came around late last night, while T.K. and Patamon were asleep in one of our huts!" T.K. and Patamon gasped loudly when they heard this news.
"Don't worry, T.K. We didn't tell him anything about you," the same Gremlimon assured T.K. and Patamon.
"Weren't you guys scared?" T.K. asked curiously.
"Uh-huh," the six Gremlimon replied simultaneously, nodding their heads.
"He threatened us," the first Gremlimon sadly admitted. "He said that if he found out we were lying, he would flatten our village and make us into Armaggedamon's slaves!"
"That's just terrible!" Kari replied.
"Who is this Digimon that you guys are talking about?" Tai asked curiously.
Before any of the Gremlimon could answer him, there was a loud, distant rumbling noise. The ground shook violently, causing everyone to fall down.
"Oh, no! Golemon's back!" one of the Gremlimon shouted a bit fearfully.
"Who's Golemon?" Tai asked as he helped Kari and T.K. stand up.
"Just take a look for yourselves," the same Gremlimon announced as he got out of the way of a small window.
Tai, Kari, and T.K. cautiously approached the window and looked through it. Just outside of the village, they could see a huge rock Digimon, about the size of Metal Greymon, slowly approaching the village. He looked as though he was made from boulders that were somehow linked together. His face and hands looked as though they had been chiseled.
"He looks bad!" Tai commented.
"He is! Believe me!" a second Gremlimon admitted. "The only Digimon scarier than Golemon is Armaggedamon!"
"What are we going to do?" Kari asked worriedly.
"You guys have gotta leave. If Golemon finds you, who knows what he's gonna do to you!" the third Gremlimon exclaimed in a hushed whisper, so Golemon wouldn't hear him.
"How can we get out of here?" Tai whispered.
"You can go through the back," the fourth Gremlimon whispered as he pulled back a tarp hanging on the back wall, revealing a secret exit.
"But, what about Golemon?" T.K. asked.
"We'll distract him, so don't worry!" the fifth Gremlimon assured T.K. "Now go, you guys!"
As five of the Gremlimon headed out the front door, the same Gremlimon that moved the tarp ushered Tai, Kari, T.K., and their Digimon out the back door and led them to a forest behind the village.
"The fastest way to get out of here is by train," Gremlimon revealed. "There's a train station nearby. If you just keep following this trail, it'll lead you right to the station."
"Do you know who drives the train, Gremlimon?" Tai asked.
"Well, I don't know him personally, but my friends and I have heard that he's a friend of Gennai, so you should be safe with him," Gremlimon admitted.
"Thank you, Gremlimon!" T.K. replied.
"Yeah. You and your friends helped us out a lot," Kari admitted.
"Don't worry about it! Just get going, and please save our world!" Gremlimon proclaimed.
"We'll try not to let you down, Gremlimon," Tai told the little Digimon.
Before the three kids and their Digimon could continue down the path, a deep gravely voice shouted, "You're not going anywhere!"
Tai, Kari, T.K., Agumon, Gatomon, Patamon, and Gremlimon turned around and gasped when they saw Golemon steadily approaching them. Each step the massive Digimon took caused the earth to shake violently, like a mini-earthquake.
"No way! How did he follow us?" Gremlimon asked out of complete shock.
"You must be kidding me, little Gremlimon. I could see you leaving from miles away," Golemon announced with a deep-throated chuckle.
"Come on, you guys!" Agumon shouted as he, Patamon, and Gatomon ran towards Golemon. "Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!"
"Patamon digivolve to...Angemon!"
"Gatomon digivolve to...Angewomon!"
"Nova Blast!" Greymon shouted, spitting out a massive fireball at Golemon.
"You show him, Greymon!" Tai cheered on his Digimon.
"Hand of Fate!" Angemon shouted.
"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon shouted. All three attacks combined struck Golemon, but he barely even moved an inch.
"No way!" T.K. gasped loudly.
"That didn't even leave a scratch on him!" Tai exclaimed.
"Umm, did I forget to mention that Golemon's a Mega Digimon?" Gremlimon asked uncertainly.
"What?" Tai, Kari, and T.K. exclaimed loudly out of shock.
"Uh...I guess not," Gremlimon admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"Just great!" Tai muttered. "There's no way we can beat him now!"
"Well, you don't exactly need to beat him to escape," Gremlimon admitted.
"What do you mean?" Kari asked curiously.
"Although Golemon is very strong, he's very heavy and kinda slow. You probably noticed that it took him a long time to catch up with us. Anyway, if you can knock Golemon on his back, it'll take almost forever for him to get back up!"
"So, all we have to do is knock Golemon on his back, and he won't be able to follow us?" Tai asked curiously.
"He'll be too busy trying to get back up to follow you guys!" Gremlimon openly admitted.
"All right, then. Greymon, Angemon, Angewomon! You gotta knock Golemon on his back!" Tai shouted to the three Digimon.
Greymon nodded in approval as he charged towards Golemon. "Nova Blast!" he shouted. The massive fireball struck Golemon, but it didn't even singe him.
"That didn't even tingle!" Golemon boasted. He punched Greymon in the stomach, knocking the Champion Digimon on his back.
"Come on, Greymon! You gotta get up!" Tai shouted. Greymon growled a bit out of pain as he slowly stood up.
"Now it's my turn, Digi-Destined. Rock Slide!" Golemon shouted. He lifted his arms above his head, and massive boulders came flying out of nowhere and headed straight for the three Digimon. Greymon managed to avoid the jagged slabs of rock, but unfortunately, two of the boulders struck both Angemon and Angewomon head-on and pinned them against the ground.
"Angemon!" T.K. shouted.
"Oh, no! Angewomon!" Kari cried out.
"Hold on, you two!" Greymon shouted as he quickly turned around and pushed the boulders off of his Digimon friends, using all of his remaining strength. From the looks of Angemon and Angewomon, it was obvious that they were unable to battle. Just then, the two angel-type Digimon de-digivolved to Patamon and Gatomon.
"Are you okay, Patamon?" T.K. shouted. Patamon slowly nodded as he managed to fly into T.K.'s waiting arms.
"Gatomon? How are you doing?" Kari asked with concern as the cat-type Digimon slowly stood up.
"Good thing I got eight more lives left," Gatomon muttered out loud.
Gatomon looked up and gasped when she realized that Golemon was about to strike Greymon from behind. "Look out, Greymon!" she shouted in warning. Greymon turned around, only to be knocked down to the ground by Golemon's heavy fists.
If I don't do something soon, Greymon's gonna be seriously hurt! Tai thought as he watched the fight. He slowly curled up his fist and gathered some courage from within.
"Get ready to run," Tai muttered out loud to his friends.
"Hey, you! Yeah, you, the slowest monster in the Digiworld! If you don't like that, then come and get me!" Tai shouted boldly as he, Kari, T.K., Gatomon, Patamon, and Gremlimon started to run. Golemon growled angrily and ignored Greymon as he started to walk as fast as he could after the kids. Greymon saw what was going on and gathered some of the courage from his friend, Tai.
"Greymon digivolve to...Metal Greymon!"
"Hey, you ugly pile of rocks! Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet!" Metal Greymon shouted as he ran after Golemon. "Mega Claw!" Metal Greymon's metal claw sprung out and struck Golemon in the back.
"You had better quit! That's not going to work on me!" Golemon growled angrily.
"Oh, yeah? Try this on for size! Giga Blaster!" Metal Greymon shouted as he released two missiles out of his chest. The impact of the exploding missiles caused Golemon to fall on his back. He attempted to get up, but it was impossible for him.
"Way to go, Metal Greymon!" Kari cheered as Tai and T.K. nodded approvingly. Metal Greymon chuckled deeply before he started to glow and de-digivolve to Koromon.
"Good job, Koromon. Now let's get out of here before he gets back up!" Tai announced as he picked up the little pink Digimon.
T.K, Kari, Patamon, and Gatomon nodded as they ran down the path that would eventually lead them to the train station.
"Thank you for everything, Gremlimon! We won't forget you!" Kari shouted back to the Gremlimon, who had stayed behind.
"Aww, thanks! You kids take care of yourselves! Just remember, you're always welcome in our village!" Gremlimon shouted.
"If you see any of our friends, can you tell them we're looking for them?" Tai asked.
"No problem, Tai!" Gremlimon agreed.
"See ya, Gremlimon! Thanks for all the good food!" T.K. shouted as the three kids and their Digimon walked out of Gremlimon and Golemon's sight...TO BE CONTINUED