In the deep, deep blackness, the blackness of the void, 'neath the parched, thirsting lands where no thing remains free. the Dark Lord was angry. The annoying human Emperor had failed him again, and would be punished for it. For now. he would search for some stronger, more reliable servants. He would search for those who skulked in the shadows. yes, they had proven themselves strong enough. And then he would capture the gang who had beaten his human pet - they would aid him well in the conquering of the worlds. Brooding in the dark silence, the Dark Lord retreated from the cave in which his Beast waited. He waited too. for the Beast's partner to be found and brought there, and for his most powerful minion ever to be created.

Chapter 7 - Freedom and failure

Thir was woken by Lyomon nudging her elbow and demanding she get up. "Wha'? Whas' time?" She said groggily. Lyomon growled impatiently. "Breakfast time! I'm starved!" She said. Thir propped herself up on her elbows to look around. Nabu was sitting next to a bush with a patiently bored look on her face; Tai, Matt and their digimon were still sleeping. Suddenly, Thir felt a weight land on her, and a huge green something filled her vision. She yelled in surprise and fell backwards. Megmon - for that was what it was - laughed and scampered back to her partner. Thir stood up indignantly, giving the digimon a Look, and moved over to the boys. "Just like boys to sleep in," she grumbled, giving them each a gentle nudge in the ribs with her foot. "They're the laziest creatures alive." "Y'know, you just did exactly that," Nabu pointed out. Thir turned to her with a grin. "I know," she said. Before long, both boys were up and hunting for breakfast. The girls watched them with amusement as they looked at bushes and trees, complaining that there were no edible berries or anything, and what were they supposed to live on out here anyway? "Look," Thir explained with a patronising sigh. Nabu lifted a branch of the bush she was sitting next to, and scraped away a layer of dirt. A piece of material showed through. Nabu gave this a few tugs - on the third, it erupted from the earth in a shower of pebbles and dirt. Once the dust cleared, Tai and Matt could see in her hand a large rucksack, which she promptly and unceremoniously dropped on the floor. "Boy, am I hungry!" Thir said as the contents of the bag spilled over the ground. The boys' eyes widened in wonder. Bags of chips, pot-noodles, chocolate, even an apple or two here and there. A large, fleecy scrap of black material fell out last of all. Thir grabbed it, laughing with delight, and slipped her arms through holes in it. Once on, it turned out to be a sleeveless black hoodie, which she left unzipped for style - it was not very cold anyway. For some reason, as he watched her, Tai missed his goggles. If the boys had been expecting to sit down and eat properly, no knives, forks or plates appeared from the bag. As it happened, they needed no prompting - they fell on the food like a couple of ravenous wolves, gulping it down and enjoying all of it not for its flavour but purely for the fact that it was food. Nabu surveyed them with disgust, despite the mess she herself was making with a pot noodle. Even the digimon joined in with just as much gusto, cramming the food into their mouths with signs of the greatest enjoyment. Finally, they had all eaten as much as they dared - some still had to be saved, having seen how useful that tactic proved to be. The humans packed it away reluctantly, while their digimon looked on wistfully. "OK," said Thir, taking a deep breath, "Now we go back in." Lyomon immediately growled in anticipation and began crawling through the undergrowth. Megmon giggled. "Wait, wait! There might be digimon out there!" Matt called them to a halt. Nabu snorted derisively. "That's OK," said Thir, "there's nothing Megmon and Lyomon like better than a good scrap." "No, you idiots, the two of them would be no match for one of those evil ones!" Matt said in frustration. "Look, we may not seem much now, but we can digevolve, you know!" Lyomon said angrily. "Hey, guys, cool it, OK? You're doing my head in," Agumon interrupted their argument. They all stopped, and Nabu gave a grateful sigh of relief. "We can't just barge in there without a plan," Tai said incredulously. Nabu muttered: "Well, if we formulate a plan, it'll just backfire, which is even more frustrating." "Yeah, and besides, it's worked so far," Thir said; correcting herself straight away, "Fine, so maybe it went slightly wrong. But that's just it - if there's no plan, it can't go wrong!" And she stood, beaming smugly, at Tai. Nabu shook her head in despair; Agumon and Megmon were stuffing long claws in their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. "It's not as if it's a hard task," Tai said, rolling his eyes. "We decide to get in there by, say distracting the Dark Lord at the same time. Two of us will go down under; the other two will stay outside to attack the Fortress from up on top." "I'm good at the sneak jobs, but I can't resist a chance to give the Dark Lord a teasing of the nyah-nyah-can't-catch-me sort," Lyomon said. Megmon started to say, "Yeah, we'll fight too!" But Nabu stopped her and said resignedly, "I'd love to go kick some Dark Lord ass, but I've heard a rumour that the Dark Lord has a secret weapon - a really powerful water digimon. I like water, so in case we meet it I might come close to figuring out what to do. The rumour's probably not even true, though." "Such an optimist," Agumon said with humour in his tone. "Although Greymon's a better fighter than me, he's got the crest of Courage - which he's going to need down there in the dungeons." Gabumon offered his thoughts. "No fair, I wanna fight!" Tai protested, but Agumon saw the sense in this decision, and managed to talk him into it. "So we're agreed. See? Simple plan, and I bet it'll work the best," Tai said, turning to the girls. They both gave him a Look, and then everyone burst out laughing. "Agreed!" "Yeah, OK then!"

It was one of many Darktyrannomon which first saw two large digimon spring forth from the trees. It was well trained (no Rings were used on naturally evil digimon, since this seemed to be a waste of time making them), and immediately opened its jaws to give vent to a roar that shook the foundations of the earth. Other Darktyrannomon standing on watch soon joined in the alert and came stamping to attack. Matt loved the feeling of wind streaming through his hair, his fingers buried in Garurumon's thick white fur and clutching tightly the feathers which sprouted from his shoulder blades. The wolf digimon was a fast runner; his agile paws pounded the ground in a light gallop, keeping pace with Thir, who was flying on Dichamon up above. Dichamon was another four-legged, canine digimon, but she was red-brown in colour. She wore a black fur with fiery patterns, tied by the legs around her neck and rear, with the feline head over her own forehead and the pointed canines falling in front of her eyes. There were still black, jagged stripes on her legs and her ear-tufts and tailtip were black; and now, she had two crudely-painted black smears beneath either eye. Cream- coloured, feathery wings erupted from her shoulders, lifting the fur coat as they rose and fell rhythmically. Thir enjoyed flying on her digimon as much as Matt did riding his, and the two were not at all reluctant about going deliberately to fight the evil digimon - rather, they were looking forward to the roller-coaster ride it would provide them with. On a command, the Darktyrannomon simultaneously launched flamethrowers at the charging wolf. Garurumon made a flying leap to jump straight over them. He howled, and a blast of blue ice flew from his mouth. Several Darktyrannomon fell screaming from the black rock battlements of the Fortress. Matt, however, was looking worried. "Be careful, Garurmon," he cautioned his partner, "Fire's good against ice." Garurumon nodded his fearsome head in acknowledgement.

Up in the air, Thir and Dichamon were soaring higher and higher on a thermal, trying to get a good view of the Fortress. They were, from this angle, able to see in over the outer walls - inside was a large courtyard open to the sky. A thin trickle of smoke emanated from a large lump of metal in the centre of it, next to which stood a veritable swimming pool. A forge, thought Thir. Around the edges of the courtyard, on the inside, were various doorways. Two vast iron gates barred the main entrance; but Thir counted a total of five other dark, sinister-looking openings leading underground. "I'm tempted here," Dichamon said. Her voice was a savage bark, but to Thir it was just as normal as any human's. "We need to do a bit of reconnoitring anyway; who knows just how many dungeons, and in what layout, there are?" Thir reasoned. "And there's always the possibility we'll discover the Dark Lord's plans. Or even his secret weapon." Dichamon turned her head around to pierce Thir with one orange, fierce eye. Thir returned the grin. "You up for it, Dichamon?" She asked her digimon. In reply, Dichamon howled wolf-style and plunged down into a steep dive.

Down on the ground, things were not going too well. Even though nearly all of the Darktyrannomon had been wiped out by Garurumon, no other signs of life from within the Fortress had shown themselves. "Matt, look! Thir and Dichamon are going in," Garurumon cried. "Then it doesn't look as if the Dark Lord's taking the bait," said Matt frustratedly. "But Tai and Nabu will be in by now. we have to distract him somehow!" "It looks like we'll have to use more drastic measures," the wolf digimon said, looking back at his friend. Matt nodded grimly. "Go for it, Garurumon!" Immediately after the next wave of fire blasts from the Darktyrannomon sentries, Garurumon leaped forward, ice spewing from his lupine jaws. This time, though, instead of aiming at the dinosaurs, he was aiming at a portion of the wall, where it met the floor. "That's it! Nearly there," Matt called encouragingly to his digimon. Thick layers of freezing ice were building up next to the wall. Finally, once the ice was piled up nearly as high as the battlements, Garurumon stopped, panting for breath. But there was no time to rest; Dichamon was speeding downwards, Thir just visible clinging on tightly between the folded wings. Garurumon ran towards the wall as fast as possible, and straight up the rough slope that the ice had created. His claws and rough pads were designed for this sort of work, and where other creatures would have slid off the slippery slope, he kept on running at almost the same speed. With one last bound high above the heads of the Darktyrannomon, he cleared the battlements and fell a long way down to the ground on the other side at almost exactly the same time as Dichamon spread her wings and alighted. With no more than a quick clasp of hands between the humans and a nuzzle from the digimon, they were pounding on through the first random entrance they saw, before any enemies caught up with them.

Tai, Nabu, Agumon and Megmon were meanwhile back in the slimy tunnel yet again. The digimon had attempted to start up a conversation, but their human friends didn't seem in the mood to talk. Or, as Megmon companionably put it, they were not the talking types. "Urk," was all Nabu said as she emerged into gloom at the end of the slide. This time, they had slid down sitting, as if on a water slide - this made it less painful and uncomfortable, but they stood up with green, slimy rears. Megmon drenched Nabu with a shower of water to clean her off, and then moved on to Tai in a generous mood. "Megmon!" Nabu shouted crossly. "Now I'm saturated!" Tai laughed, as he knew what his digimon was thinking even as he thought it. With a light breath of scalding hot air, Agumon dried the humans off quickly, and they proceeded down the tunnel. It was different to the way Tai remembered it, but he couldn't put his finger on how. "I wonder what's up with the digimon?" Nabu asked herself quietly. "They're kinda tense." Megmon provided the answer. "There's lots of 'em that have gone now. Presumably they've been Ringed. but how?" She finished darkly. Seeing Tai's puzzled look, Agumon explained. "We reckon the Dark Lord's been working on a new type of Dark Ring. That would prove why he needed an entire dungeon for all the digimon waiting for Rings when he had plenty already - it was a different kind he wanted." "Well, let's get to work," Tai said in a falsely light-hearted manner, and turned to face the block running down the middle. Nabu stood the other side, and as one their digivices began to whine. "Agumon digevolved to." The dinosaur cried, and finished three times bigger, with an added skull: ".Greymon!" "Megmon digevolved to." Megmon said cheerily, herself growing though not as much, falling almost on all fours but not quite - her hind legs were too huge and powerful for that. Blueish fins sprouted elegantly from her elbows and back-pointing knees, and a fin-like crest erupted vertically over her head. ".Caprimon!" She roared. The pair matched well - two dinosaurs, a tyrannosaur - like creature and one more like a velociraptor. One whose element was fire; the other, water. Nabu and Tai both had seen their digimon digevolve before, though; and as Nabu kept a cold air of indifference about seeing the two together, Tai decided not to make a fool of himself, and remained silent. Their digimon knew what to do. Greymon opened his jaws and began by letting loose a blast of searing flames, which travelled along the middle section like a wildfire, ruining the circuits which held the doors in place. One by one, they opened wide, and the digimon within stirred and looked out in wonder and suspicion. "OK, guys," Tai addressed the newly-freed digimon and the ones still held captive, "We're letting you go. But only on the condition that you leave us alone, escape through that tunnel -" he pointed to the hidden exit - "and go far away or hide until all this is over." The last part of his pronouncement was almost drowned out by cheers all around and cries of "Yes! Yes, of course!". He grinned happily; and behind him, not even Nabu could hold back a smile. "Tidal claw!" Caprimon bellowed, not to be outdone, and for a moment everything stood still as the enormous water energy built up within her. Then, with all the force she could muster, she slammed her hand into the metal machine, digging her claws in to puncture the casing, rupture the wires inside. The water energy that travelled with them flowed along the electricity lines - and, as any sciency person knows, water and electricity don't mix. The lock machine juddered slightly, bolts and flashes of electricity running over its surface and racing to catch up with Greymon's fire, which was still in sight - just - but was beginning to dwindle. Tai and Nabu shared a glance full, for once, of true emotions - excitement, hope, amazement, daring. Then they started to run along the path their digimon's attacks had caused, to free the next block. With a roar of laughter that made some newly-rescued digimon scurry back into their cells in fright, Greymon and Caprimon pounded after.

Dichamon and Garurumon were both running now, at once to and from evil digimon. They had to make sure the Dark Lord's attention was focused on them; and it seemed that if he would not be drawn to them, they would have to go to him. Suddenly, the corridor broadened out into a large cave. They had been running downhill for a while now, so Matt estimated they were many metres underground. Thir held up a hand for them to slow down into a gentle lope, cocking her head on one side to listen. A distant roar floated down to them; Dichamon pawed the ground nervously. However, it was too distant to be of immediate worry, and the humans dismounted to look around. The cave was lit by numerous glass cages imprisoning hundreds of tiny Glowflymon, tiny fairy-like digimon which gave out a soft, pale light. As a result, despite the number of these creatures, the cave was still fairly dark and gloomy. It was otherwise filled with flat, rectangular rocks, most with chains attached. The walls were hung with more chains and Dark Rings, and a crate at one end had strange and horrible symbols painted on it. Thir shuddered. "Even if we weren't trying to draw attention to ourselves, I'd still have to wreck this place," she said softly. "Matt!" A voice echoed from the far side of the vast space. Matt turned incredulously. "Gomamon?" He said. Garurumon prowled cautiously over, then abruptly pricked up his ears and wagged his tail slightly. "Gomamon, Biyomon, Tentomon! What are you doing here?" He growled in surprise. "Isn't it kinda obvious?" Biyomon asked patronisingly. Matt jogged to join his digimon, followed by a confused Thir and her partner. The three digimon were chained to the wall, sitting with their chains at full stretch to avoid a nearby pile of Dark Rings. "Oh yeah, this is Thir and Dichamon. Thir, this is Gomamon, Biyomon." "And Tentomon. I gathered. But, um. how do you know them exactly?" "We know their partners - and so do you. Joe, Sora and Izzy." Thir's eyes widened, and she giggled. "But, guys, I mean, how long have you been here?" Matt asked. Tentomon replied. "Two days, two nights. We were caught late that night after we talked on the computer." Seeing Matt's mouth open in question, Gomamon quickly explained. "If you're wondering why we haven't been Ringed yet, it's because the Dark Lord has a new kind of Ring that he'd really prefer to use nowadays. It's used on the human partner as well as the digimon - not only are they both then under his control with no-one the wiser, but they can digevolve to a new, even more powerful level. Just lately, he's had rock digimon hammering on that forge without respite for more than a day. And that crate over there." He gestured to it with his oversized forearm - "Well, we've seen 'em putting little gems in it. They're all black, but we haven't seen them in action yet. Except for. Ken. Ken was the one who invented them. From what we've seen, they make the human and digimon "duo-digevolve" to a new, more powerful level under the Dark Lord's control. But since Ken used them on himself, he for some reason was unable to make any more. So now the Dark Lord is trying to create his own. It's kinda funny sometimes - for such a big cheese, he gets a little dumb. " Matt and Thir stood wide-mouthed, processing this information. Then their glances met as they heard a crash behind them. The Darktyrannomon had entered the cave. " You tackle the heaps of Rings and the rocks. I'll go smash the glass cages." Thir said quickly. Matt nodded. "Garurumon?" The ice wolf placed a frozen claw on the three digimon's chains, and before long the metal cracked under the unbearably low temperature. "You three just stay outta trouble," Matt advised them. Though they wanted to help, they could not digevolve without their human friends and the digivices they possessed. Understanding the urgency of the situation, Gomamon led them into a dark corner to wait out the storm. "This'll be fun," said Thir. Matt grinned in agreement, then stood back as Garurumon leaped forward, straight into a flat stone. It tumbled over, and the backlash of his whiplike tail sent a pile of Dark Rings clattering to the floor on the far side of the cave. They were then crushed underfoot by the advancing Darktyrannomon, who promptly sent a well-aimed fiery breath attack at the ice wolf. Garurumon narrowly escaped being torched. "Little help!" He growled up at Dichamon, who was flapping high up near the roof to reach the Glowflymon. She glared at him; most winged digimon would have trouble trying to fly even in this amount of space, but because she was only the size of a small but incredibly strong pony - barely big enough to ride - she had no problems. Evidently, she was telling Garurumon to count his blessings. Just then, though, Thir reckoned her digimon had got into position. "Now, Dichamon!" She called. The winged creature made a noise somewhere between a bark and a howl in response, and plunged forward. Her large front paws stretched out in front of her and her wing- and tail-tips smashing the ones they missed, she flew straight along the rows of living lanterns. The delicate glass shattered easily, and the tiny balls of light that were the Glowflymon immediately put themselves to use. As they were set free, alternate individuals went either to cluster around the Darktyrannomon so Garurumon could see where they were and avoid them, or to light the way before Dichamon in her destructive path through the air. The overall effect was dramatic, with Garurumon and Matt all but hidden in the advancing shadows, the DarkTyrannomon lit dimly from a multitude of angles, and Dichamon and Thir seeming to chase after the light, sending them into stark contrast. Garurumon was not doing badly for himself either in terms of destruction. Not a Ring remained whole unless it was hung up out of reach; most of the stones were overturned, some with writhing Darktyrannomon tangled in their chains. At his speedy run, Garurumon went charging into another flat stone, sending it flying; the one behind it, he jumped on top of, only to push off it and so into an advancing gang of evil dinosaurs. They did not see him coming - he was in darkness, for all the lights had now gone out except for those alerting him to the positions of the enemies. "Time to go, I think!" Matt shouted over the turmoil of angry and confused roars and crashes. With that, Dichamon dropped from straight above them, making them jump - not to mention the surrounding scrap metal, at the force of those huge front feet. Garurumon appeared from nowhere, leaping from the bunfight to land squarely in front of his partner. The humans climbed onto their digimon, and they were off again, back out the way they had come, through the courtyard - now filled with digimon of all strengths and sizes, all running in the opposite direction before they realised who they had just seen - and in through the next door. Yes, this was fun indeed.

Caprimon could feel something in the air. She sensed a water power stronger than any other, or perhaps many water digimon. she shivered. "What is it, Caprimon?" Nabu asked her. Caprimon looked down at her partner. Tai and Greymon were supervising the deserting digimon, teaching them to climb up the tunnel. "Can't you hear it? It's a, a plea. a desperate cry for help. we must hurry!" The giant lizard was suddenly agitated. Nabu sighed and called Tai over. "She says she feels a cry, a "cry for help"." "What d'you reckon? Water digimon next?" Tai asked. Nabu nodded. Greymon, sensing his friend's wish to leave before it was even expressed, came stomping up to them. "We going so soon?" He asked in disappointment. But Caprimon had already lowered herself for Nabu to climb on. The girl looked at her dubiously - she was used to riding horses, but dinosaurs? "Don't worry, I won't let you fall, now come on! We need to go!" Caprimon assured her impatiently. Nabu sat astride the digimon's back, gripping her neck tightly. It looked uncomfortable. Tai watched her mournfully, knowing he had no choice but to do the same. Otherwise, he would be left behind. Tai ended up sitting on Greymon's strong shoulders, laughing aloud with exhilaration as they pounded down the dark, stony passage. "This is some fun!" He cheered. "Why didn't we think to do this before, Greymon?" Greymon merely growled in answer. Suddenly, Caprimon ground to a halt, throwing Nabu against her neck with a force which made them both squeal. Greymon promptly turned the corner, skidding hard to stop before hitting the girls, and launching Tai through the air, to slide down to the ground in front of a thick, heavy wooden door with metal studs. "Move, Tai! We don't have time to sit around, we have to get through there!" Nabu said, glaring at him with just a hint of amusement well hidden behind her fierce dark eyes.

Inside, there was not really much to look at. A vast stretch of dark, faintly glinting water ended all around in stony walls. The only land available to stand on was a narrow ledge - even that did not run far. At the end of it was a wooden box; Tai walked over to it and found that it contained little devices for breathing underwater. They were strange things, like masks only covering the bottom half of the face. A loud splash from the pool indicated where Caprimon had just gone - she needed no breathing or swimming aid, for water was her element. "Fairly obvious what we have to do here," he said. Greymon gazed fearfully at the water. "It's OK, Greymon, you don't have to go in," Tai told him gently. "No, but we are." Nabu's voice sounded from behind. He tossed her a breathing-mask, placing another over his own mouth and nose. They stood there a little awkwardly, until Tai said there was no need to undress, they would just have to get wet, they would dry off anyway afterwards. he stopped muttering, and they walked to the water's edge together; not even Nabu could fully hide her fear at the sight of those pitch-black depths. Just then, the blunt reptilian head of Caprimon broke the surface, showering them with chill spray. "Yep, it's digimon all right," she reported, "rows upon rows of them. It's like a giant filing cabinet in there. The controls are at the bottom - you two sort them out, I'll tell the digimon the rules of the game. Quickly - we're running out of time. Don't forget, Matt and Thir can't keep that diversion going for days." And with that, she dived under in a smooth movement, her long ears trailing behind her. Nabu looked briefly at Tai for reassurance; no words were needed. Then they jumped in. Underneath, there was a dim light - just enough to illuminate the lining of the watery cavern. It was filled with row upon row of cages of all sizes - at the top were Scubamon and Gizamon sized creatures, then below them monsters like Dolphmon and several Seadramon. Nabu and Tai swam further down, intrigued and fearful of what lay in the bottom cages. The spaces grew larger and gloomier, even though there was actually more light down here - dark shapes shifted within them, and eyes of all colours and sizes glared curiously out at the intruders. Tai even thought he once saw, in a particularly huge cage, a flash of metal and serpentine body - a Metalseadramon? Surely no-one was strong enough to capture this malicious devil, it must have multiplied or something. As they dove deeper and deeper, the bubble of light which contained the control panel grew clearer and larger. Soon they could see the rows of slots and levers that operated the entire cavern. A few metres away from the bubble, Tai eagerly swan forward with a burst of energy, reaching out to touch it. CRASH! Tai fell through the surface, landing hard on a concrete floor. He spat out the breathing device and rubbed his head ruefully, just as Nabu walked calmly in from the side. She frowned at him, removing her breather and putting it carefully on a surface. "Tai, there's no time for a rest now. I didn't know you were so unfit - it was only a short swim." "Hey! I'm not unfit!" Tai protested, meaning to tell her the truth. Then he realised that the truth was probably more embarrassing than the deception, and that she more than likely knew anyway. So instead, he righted himself, and looked despondently at the panel. "Will Caprimon have told the digimon what to do yet?" He asked Nabu. She scowled thoughtfully. "I think I can see her now. you see that dark thing up there? She's communicating by the water-speak we don't understand and, for the most part, can't hear. Obviously, she couldn't talk normally underwater, and it wouldn't carry so well." Tai nodded. An elegant form was gently twisting and looping around the cave, presumably "talking" as she went. Tai watched her for a while, then looked around the cavern again. "Hey, look over there," he said suddenly, pointing to the far wall. Behind them a grated steel gate stretched from ceiling to underwater floor - a big red button on the panel (just itching to be pressed) indicated that it would open this. But in the other direction, where Tai was indicating, was a huge portcullis, nearly the size of the gate itself. Nabu shrugged with a noncommittal grunt. In silence, she turned back to her partner, while Tai watched the portcullis thoughtfully. I wonder what's behind that, he thought. It must be something pretty important to get a chamber all to itself. at that moment, a very, very faint tremor rippled the side of the bubble just slightly. Tai's eyes opened wide - the ripples had come from the portcullis. Or perhaps I should be asking who is behind it. He frowned. "OK, she's done, let's get going!" Nabu said from behind him. He jumped, and looked at the switchboard. There seemed to be just one major problem - they had no card keys to fit inside. Nabu was standing next to him, in the same situation. She snorted with desperate laughter briefly. Tai glanced around him, aware of the need for speed. Surely, there would be something, or even the Evil Emperor could not get in without a whole bunch of keys, which he wouldn't want to risk losing or forgetting. "Ah-hah!" He cried triumphantly. In a little box with a warning sign on it and a front of glass, a black card was visible. Smugly, he picked up Nabu's breather and used it to smash the glass, delicately picking away the splinters remaining. Behind him, Nabu had grown bored. There was a sigh, a loud click. and then the siren started. Startled, he leaped to face her. "What did you. oh," he said weakly, looking at the way she was standing with her hands behind her back, maintaining as innocent an expression as possible (a smile still treacherously showed through), and at the way the big red button was flat on the surface. Frantically, he tried to pluck it back up again; but it was stuck there. "At least I opened something," Nabu said. Tai looked around. The larger steel gate was slowly grinding open - and beyond it was nothing but beautiful, blue ocean. Nabu's eyes filled, for the first time, with hope, and she snatched the card key from its fixture. Driven by a new force, she slashed it through slot after slot. "Come on, help me here!" She called to Tai, galvanising him into sudden action. As she drove the card through the slot, he pulled down the lever; once he caught up, they were soon into a systematic routine, working in harmony at a great speed. Above them, door after wire door flew open, and dark shapes began to swarm around their bubble. Tai gasped as a large, malevolent eye peered in at him - a Coelamon? He had no time to tell. The distinctive form of Caprimon, however, had disappeared from view. Nabu noticed this, too, and said shortly that she was probably fighting with Greymon. Before long, the doors they were opening were twice the size they were - and the aquine monsters that flowed from their interiors, too terrifying to think about. The above water was a writhing mass of marine digimon, not knowing which way to go or what to do. The siren was wailing in the human's ears, a red light somewhere was flashing - but then, plunging down toward them through the murky, shifting tangle, was a small, orange dinosaur and a large, greenish one. They both fell through the bubble, landing in a panting heap on the floor. At least they didn't land on my head, thought Tai, looking at Caprimon's heavy muscles. But even as he watched, they shrank. She was exhausted - so, by the look of him, was Agumon. "Who set off the alarm?" Agumon asked through gulps of air. "Yeah, who do we blame for the chaos up there?" Megmon chirped. Nabu giggled guiltily. "Wait, wait. chaos?" Repeated Tai, his face paling as he guessed what was coming. Agumon nodded. "A full compliment of Dark digimon, Ringed digimon, and digimon with funny little stones in them. Only a couple of those, but they looked powerful. Oh yes. and our old friend Ken is there, in all his gear, Wormmon on a chain being dragged along behind him." "Can't help feeling kinda sorry for the little guy, you know?" Megmon said, grinning. Nabu was gazing at the open gateway. The first, smaller digimon were swimming through it, and larger monsters were crowding round frantically. Tai sighed shakily. "Come on, we've done our job," he said, "now let's get going." Agumon opened his mouth to ask where - then he saw where Tai was looking. Plainly, the way out on the surface was closed to them. The light of the open blue shone on their faces as they marvelled at it. After spending so long in the dark, it was a wondrous and glorious sight. A gigantic, dark shape flowed smoothly past their bright bubble - they stared in fear as the light revealed its serpentine body, metal armour and weed-like grey hair. Metalseadramon had been previously strong enough to command his own battalion against the Digidestined; now, he gave the duo and their digimon a wink of gratitude, before weaving his way down back into the depths, where he belonged. As if inspired by his awesome example, Tai, Nabu and Agumon all grabbed a breathing device - luckily, Agumon had thought to bring spares. Caprimon joined them as they leaped out of the strange coating, suddenly feeling the difference in gravity and pressure, and began the swim for freedom. Even as they took their first stroke, though, vibrations shot through the water. A loud grinding noise of metal on metal reached their ears, as far down as they were, though distorted by the liquid it had to pass through. Tai peered up through the murk. No. this could NOT be happening. he tugged urgently on Nabu's ankle, the only part of her he could reach as she rapidly swam ahead. When she turned around, he pointed upwards. An expression of dull horror registered on her face for a moment, before it was hid from view as she turned back to the gate and swam harder than she had ever thought possible. The gate was closing. And this time, thought Tai bitterly and furiously, I'll make it through. Somehow, the steel grid was falling, but not the solid wall that had previously backed it. Perhaps as a result, it was falling fast, faster by far than it had risen. Desperately, Tai put on a surge of energy, swimming faster than he had ever thought he could, faster than the athletic boys at school who raced; and grabbing hold of Agumon on the way, who was floundering helplessly. Megmon came back to aid the fire digimon and human, and between them, they managed to keep up with Nabu, who was a natural swimmer in situations that demanded it. The gate was closing fast - but (Tai calculated quickly in his head) they would cross it just before it blocked them. The last digimon, a Seadramon, wriggled past him; giddy with excitement at the thought of freedom and success, he dared even to stroke it gently. They were going to. But far above, on the surface, the Evil Emperor had made the same calculations as Tai. Furiously, he whipped a huge, muscular armoured digimon in the direction of the gate. The digimon bounded toward it, jumping high up until it was actually level with the sinking top of the gate. landed with cruel precision, forcing the gate down, snapping the chains which held it in place, thrashing madly as it realised too late the logic of it standing on a sinking surface, the loose chains dragging it down. The gate clanged, painfully loudly to Tai, Nabu and their digimon, as it hit the bottom with a fatalistic boom. Then, and only then, did they reach it, staring through crossed bars that were not there before, struggling to swim through a metal grid. No way out. There was no escape. the Evil Emperor was laughing up there on the surface, and they did not have to hear him to know. Trapped. Must be something about gates, thought Tai dismally. They really don't like letting me through.

Matt groaned - yet another dungeon. They were running as they had been for fifteen minutes, through dungeon after dungeon, always filled with digimon, sometimes kids - either Dark-Ringed digimon, or kid-digimon teams waiting for Dark Gems, though they didn't know it. It was getting extremely depressing. They could not stop and free anyone, because they were on the run now. When they had entered the first tunnel from the courtyard, it happened to be the meeting-chamber for all the more powerful captains around, who promptly began a fast and furious chase. By now, Dark and Ringed digimon were running about all over the place, all convinced they were chasing Matt, Thir and their digimon. As long as the team kept running full stretch, they could not be caught. But Dichamon and Garurumon were finally beginning to tire, however much the humans urged them on. Then they rounded a corner and, upon entering a large chamber, saw the sight that would change their luck again - and again, for the worse. The Evil Emperor suddenly found himself face-to-face with a white wolf and a red wolf with cat-skin. He jumped in surprise, instantly recovering himself enough to yell, "Get those duos!" At the same time, the foursome had taken in a large, monstrous array of fearsome digimon, and four wire cages being carried at the back. Reflex actions caused them to leap away just before a huge dinosaur they didn't recognise took a swipe at them; Dichamon took flight, while Garurumon reared backwards. straight into a gang of pursuing Darktyrannomon. One of the black lizards sent Garurumon sliding across the floor on his side; a feline monstrosity kicked him further. The wolf shuddered, but could not rise. Matt stood and moved protectively in front of his partner; but there was nothing he could do against such force. Dichamon was wheeling around the small space in panic, howling with her strange fox-howl. A strange mix between a boar and an elephant shot a horn attack at her; she dodged it, clipping her wings on the wall, and Thir narrowly avoided scraping her head on the ceiling. But the next attack, a sludge bomb shot by a two-legged eel digimon, did not miss its target. It slammed into Dichamon, coating her wings with sludge, and rapidly being absorbed into her body. She flapped once, feebly, then fell like a stone, landing with a crash on the hard floor. Thir, luckily, was that bit lighter, so fell a millisecond later on top of her digimon. The last thing she remembered was seeing Matt, with hands tied behind his back, go down under a mountain of monsters; and of a waiting chain noose for her canine partner.