Hypnotic Links
"OW!" John cried out, tripping over a root, landing right in the middle of a bunch of thorns. Mythicmon would have helped him, if he hadn't been in danger of falling of his branch because he was laughing so hard.
"Oh my god," the part-bird, part-dragon Digimon laughed, "That was priceless. It... You... I'm sorry, it's just so funny!"
"Hilarious," John muttered, getting to his feet. Then he gestured to a tear in his T-shirt, from which blood was now flowing freely, "I'm guessing this is funny too?"
Mythicmon's response was to fall out of his tree. John snarled, shifted his backpack slightly, and trudged on. As he walked, he muttered all the things he would like to do to his Digimon under his breath.
"Oh, come on," Mythicmon flew up to him, "You have to admit it was funny."
John just glared at him. The mythical Digimon noticed his eyes seemed to have darkened, and his fists were clenched. Danger. He gulped, and whispered, in a voice that was much higher than his usual one, "Sorry."
The boy glared at him for a bit longer, then looked away and stalked off. Mythicmon followed, wondering how in the Digiworld he was going to get out of this one.
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Mary sighed as she manoeuvred around another patch of thorns. Jewelmon hovered over them, "How come, if you humans don't like thorns, you haven't got wings to avoid them with?"
The girl smiled, partly at Jewelmon's comment, and partly in triumph at managing to successfully find a path round the thorns. She stretched, "Well, on Earth, we have a little thing called evolution. It's a bit like digivolution, but it's more gradual, and, whilst you guys just get your data modified, and no one else is affected, our entire species feels the effect, and begins to take that shape. If you want something better, ask John sometime, but as it is, that's about the best I can say. And the reason we don't have wings is we haven't developed them, and probably never will. Our environment can be travelled without flying, you see. And besides, we actually evolved from monkeys, so we're much more comfortable holding onto something when in the air."
Jewelmon blinked, "Oh. I thought you were descended from those naked apple- eaters."
Mary stared at her Digimon, "Come again?"
"I heard Steve, John and Violet talking about them. Violet was talking about them, Steve was trying to say that she should stop using weird nicknames, and John was giving them his theories about how it was scientifically impossible for them to have existed."
Mary sighed, "Might have guessed it was something to do with Violet. She's always called them that."
The jewel Digimon smiled, then flew down to Mary, a thought crossing her mind, "Hey, Mary, did you know Violet well back home? I know you've mentioned it before, but my memory's not that good. Care to refresh it?"
There was a pause as the girl thought about how she would put it, "Well, actually I knew her quite well. We made a sort of trio with Lizzie, she's a girl back home. Actually, Lizzie's like Violet's second cousin, or her first one twice moved, we never worked out which. Anyway, we tend to call ourselves the `Ladies of the Digital World`, because on our website, all our names relate to that sort of thing. Violet's Lady Moon, Lizzie's Digimon Empress, and I'm Night Slayer. So yeah, I guess you could say I knew Violet pretty well back home."
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"Whoa." John's reaction probably mirrored most people's. He, with Mythicmon flying behind, had just made it out of the thorny forest. Before them was something like a graveyard. It was surrounded by a high iron fence, and inside were thousands of gravestones. And in the centre was a statue.
Now, most graveyard statues are of angels guiding dead people, or something not unlike that, but this was an exception. It resembled an angel, because it was human formed and had wings, but it would never be a true angel. It was carved out of black stone, and had its arms crossed over its chest, wings raised, eyes closed. Its wings looked like a dragon's, its hair came down to the ground, and it was dressed in a flowing dress. So that made it a she.
He didn't know why, but John felt drawn to it somehow. Before he realised what he was doing, he was walking towards the gate, feeling a pull on him he'd never felt before. Mythicmon flew onto his shoulder, and waved a wing in front of his eyes, "Hello? John? Anyone home?"
John was just reaching out to open the gate, when he stopped, and shook his head, "What?" He glanced at Mythicmon, then looked back at the gate, "What was I just doing?"
His Digimon did his version of raising his eyebrows, "Er, looked like opening the gate. Is there any reason you can't remember what you did about thirty seconds ago, or has your memory been completely erased?"
For once, John didn't bother answering back. He just sighed, then looked at the statue, "I don't know... I just looked at the statue, and I can't remember anything else." For a moment, he just looked at it. Then Mythicmon gave a small screech of alarm as a purple glow began to surround the boy, whilst another began to spread around the statue.
Then it faded, and John pushed the gate open. His Digimon flew in front of him, "Yo, John? Anyone home?" His digidestined just walked forwards towards the statue, completely ignoring him. 'OK, this is now officially creeping me out,' the Digimon thought, as he flew after him.
When he reached the statue, John looked up at it, then took off his crest, and was about to lay it down on the podium when Mythicmon grabbed it. He flew behind his digidestined, and yelled, "HEY! JOHN!"
He spun around, then blinked, "Mythicmon? What are you doing?"
"John, I think that statue thing's trying to get the crest by hypnotising you or something. Every time you look at it, it's like you get put under some kind of spell. Now, please don't look at it, because you are seriously starting to freak me out!"
The boy blinked, then shut his eyes and held out his hand, "OK, I can't look at it now, so can I have my crest back? It feels really weird not having it on." Carefully, the Digimon obeyed.
Then he screeched. About ten rotting human shaped Digimon had just appeared from behind the statue. Each one, where its skin had rotted away completely, showed its innards, "Oh God, Zombiemon. These guys are so disgusting; they don't need to use their Breath of the Dead to defend themselves. No one's going to go near them long enough to be a threat!"
One held out its rotting hand, "Give us Knowledge. He is the Key. GIVE US KNOWLEDGE."
John eyes shot open and he turned around. Luckily though, since he was focusing on the Zombiemon and not the statue, he didn't fall under its spell again. Instead, he just looked as if he was going to throw up at the sight of the undead Digimon.
One of them leapt forwards, "Give the goddess your crest." The rest of them took this up, so that it sounded like a very echoey cave. Only they were outside.
The digidestined took a step backwards, then screamed as one jumped at him, "Breath of the Dead!"
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"
The firebird swept one wing forwards, and the skull-shaped toxic attack disappeared. Then he spread his wings out wide, "Phoenix Fire!"
And so it went. John started to back away, thinking to quickly run to the exit, when something hit him from behind. He just had time to note the obviously Zombiemon hands (they were half rotted away, and quite a lot of black bone was showing), when he smashed into the statue. The crest, which had still been in his hand, flew out, and landed on one of the statue's hands.
There was complete silence for a second that felt like a year. Then a purple glow began to spread out from the crest across the statue. Overhead, the crescent moon slowly disappeared. And when the glow faded, the statue was alive. The skin had become pale, practically white, and for the first time John noticed two purple rings, one inside the other, on its dress.
Phoenixomon's eyes widened in terror, "Oh no, Hekatemon! She's one of the Digimon who controls the Moon, and it shows in her power. Her Moon's Judgement is one of the most powerful attacks an Ultimate ever had!"
John's mouth opened and shut like a goldfish, whilst around him, the Zombiemon dropped to their knees. Then Hekatemon lifted one arm and aimed at Phoenixomon, "Moon's Judgement!"
A pure white beam shot out at the Digimon, who screamed out in pain as he de-digivolved. Then Hekatemon looked down at John, "This is Knowledge?"
The lead Zombiemon nodded, "Yes, my mistress."
She raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't look like much. But then, few do." She leant forwards and grabbed John by the T-shirt, "Do you know who I am, boy?" When he didn't answer, she smiled, "Ah, I see that story has been kept a secret. Well, we don't want to be changing anything do we..."
The Zombiemon got back to their (decayed) feet, and exited. Their task was done, and their mistress did not need them now. And what she was about to do required complete silence and concentration.
Hekatemon let go of John and leapt down next to him. Before he could run, however, she grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up, so that they were looking each other straight in the eye. Then the female Digimon whispered so quietly none but she could hear it, "Moon's Hypnotism."
As John stared into her eyes, he saw a small white circle forming in them. Then, slowly, it began to turn, like the Moon. It became Gibbous, then Half, then Crescent, then New, then Crescent, then Half, then Gibbous, then Full, then Gibbous...
The turnings began to quicken, and the boy couldn't look away. There was something... hypnotic about them. Then he felt his eyelids begin to droop. He fought to keep them open, and heard Hekatemon's voice, as if from a great distance, "Sleep Knowledge, sleep..." Those mystical eyes bore into him, and he felt his eyes obeying to the call... No. He struggled with his eyelids, but he could feel himself drifting away. A warmth began to spread through him, and through it he could hear Hekatemon whispering, "Just relax... Calm... Peace..." Then he was gone.
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Mary yawned, then stiffened. Why was she tired all of a sudden? She'd just finished her (small) version of lunch, which Jewelmon had said contained enough sugar to make up for any coffee on the Earth.
Of course, Mary hadn't mentioned that with great amounts of coffee, comes a great bladder problem.
Anyway, if she's had so much sugar, how come she was tired? For a moment, her vision started to swim. Then the drowsiness disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and she blinked. She sighed, and muttered, "Okaaaaaaaaaaaay... That was weird."
"What was?" Jewelmon swooped down onto her shoulder.
"I just felt sleepy all of a sudden, and then I was wide awake again."
Her Digimon blinked, "OK, I've heard of a lot of strange things, but that is definitely up there with stuff like seeing two humans become Digimon."
"Mmm..." Mary's expression became distant, before suddenly snapping into focus, "Jewelmon, that's a graveyard!"
Her Digimon squinted, "Oh yeah. So?"
"WHY THE HECK HAS IT GOT A LARGE HOLE IN THE CENTRE?!"
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John stirred slightly. There was a very loud buzzing in his brain, which sounded a lot like a bunch of bees trying to buzz Beethoven's 9th, and when he tried to think, it interrupted his thoughts by being even louder than before. 'Ow...' he thought, reaching up to rub his head...
Or rather, TRIED to reach up. The thought was there, the need, and the hand necessary to do so... They just didn't seem to be connected. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control any part of himself. Then, to his horror, he began to move... WITHOUT his input.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' The mental scream was loud enough to disrupt the airwaves, had they been able to hear it. However, they hadn't, and carried on life as per usual. John's, meanwhile, was far from usual. A being other than himself was controlling his body. In that scenario, even the calmest and brainiest person will be forced to lose it. Even for a tiny bit.
Through his screams, though, a conversation began to filter through. Deciding he would just waste mental energy if he carried on as he was, he decided to listen in. The first voice was very powerful, yet elegant. In fact, in some strange way, it sort of reminded him of Violet. Searching his memory, he finally came up with the name `Hekatemon`.
The second... He gulped. It was him. Or at least, whatever was now in control of him. Whilst he'd never previously believed in hypnotism and possession, he was beginning to realise that those things were about the only things that explained his current situation.
"You understand?" Hekatemon asked.
"Yes," `John` replied in a strangely zombie-like voice. This was also accompanied by a mental whimper.
"Then tell me."
"I take my Digimon down to the guardian and demand the star. If he doesn't give it to me straight away, I fight, and destroy."
John growled as he felt Hekatemon pat him on the head. Just because she was in control now didn't mean she could do that to him. NO ONE had done that to him for as long as he could remember, and it wasn't going to start again now.
Then Hekatemon pointed two fingers at the ground, "Black Magic!" Several streams of darkness erupted from the two extended digits, hitting the ground.
The effect was something like that when Moses parted the sea. The ground began to crack apart and shoot upwards, before gravity took over and it fell back down. However, it curved in its descent, so it crashed down on either side of the now very large hole in the earth. Inside his head, John did the mental version of fainting.
Hekatemon smiled at the boy, then seemed to melt away into the shadows. `John` smiled in a way that would make small children run for their mothers, screaming in terror, before descending down a set of steps that had formed inside, leading into the darker regions of the pit.
Mythicmon groaned as he opened his eyes, before they widened as they saw John descending. There was a brief moment of panic, before a heavy blanket seemed to wrap itself around his brain. He was dimly aware that his body was moving of its own accord. But the blanket was wrapping itself more and more around his brain, before he lost contact with any thought, any feeling...
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Mary looked down; "There is a very large hole in the centre of a graveyard. Either Howard Carter (LM: That's what the guy who opened Tutankhamun's tomb was called. I think) has been a very busy boy, despite the fact I think he's dead, or we have a huge problem."
Jewelmon stared past the digidestined, "Um, Mary?"
"Mmm?"
"I don't think that's the only one."
The girl looked up at the Digimon in surprise, before turning. There was a very long silence as her brain registered the fifteen or so Zombiemon coming towards her. Then, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!"
The sheer volume of the scream was enough to stop the decaying Digimon for long enough. Noticing their enemies current state, Jewelmon decided to ignore the ringing in her `ears` (technically she didn't have them AS SUCH) and just attack, "Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"
The cat Digimon lunged towards them, baring her teeth, "Diamond Strike!"
Several Zombiemon were knocked down by that, whilst another was actually destroyed. It (he?) was soon avenged though, "Breath of the Dead!"
Now, as things go, that attack wasn't nearly as terrifying as, say, Blizzard Triangle, but when fired from fourteen different Digimon, it became quite lethal. Diamondmon growled as she was forced to hop back into the air, "Mary, get down there! I don't know where it leads, but it has to be better than this!"
The girl nodded, before vanishing down the staircase. Diamondmon fired one last Diamond Strike at the Zombiemon, to distract them, before she swooped up, then down into the pit.
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There was a distinct booming sound coming from up ahead as Mary and her Digimon walked down the passage. It was very much like an Egyptian tomb, with markings on the walls, which resembled hieroglyphics, but were actually a more ancient version of Digispeak. There was also the rather nifty (LM: NOT MY WORD) attachment of flaming torches. However, apparently this wasn't really helping Mary.
"If a SINGLE scarab beetle DARES to try and get under my skin, I fear I may lose it. In a way that involves taking over the world so I can have access to all the nuclear bombs, so I can blow up the Earth! Mwahahahahahaha..."
Diamondmon gave her a very strange look, "OK, two questions. One: What the heck was the deal with suddenly acting like Witchmon or something and laughing evilly, and two: What did you mean by that comment about scarabs?"
Mary went red, "Er... Well, first, you remember that website thing I was talking about? Violet, Lizzie and I tend to start acting a bit weird and evil on that. And second, there's this really scary movie called The Mummy we were watching once, and there were these really scary scarab beetles that crawled under your skin."
"Lovely."
"Yep. I remember when we first saw them doing that."
FLASHBACK (LM: I just slipped this in 'cos Dad kept nagging me about Lizzie. So Dad, here's a scene with `The Mysterious Lizzie`. Enjoy!)
*** Mary was clutching a large teddy bear tightly. VERY tightly. It was the sort of grip drowning men have on life belts, bookworms have on books, computer geeks have on computers... or long, black-haired girls have on teddy bears when watching The Mummy.
Violet had opted for the simple `Smile, they'll think you're enjoying it. Only panic if everyone else is`, whilst next to her, Lizzie gave Mary a pitying look. Whilst she was practically wetting her pants, she most certainly wasn't going to tell Mary that, "I pity people who can't even watch a simple horror movie acting their age. I mean, come on Slayer, that's absolutely pathetic."
Mary just glared at her, before they turned back to the screen. They watched as the stone turned into a live scarab without much display of emotion. Then the scarab began to crawl into the guy's skin and head up, as nothing more than a bump. At this point, Mary's grip on the teddy began to increase to a kind never before seen in nature, Violet's smile became far more fixed, and Lizzie's pants began to resemble a rainforest. And then the edge of the scarab appeared in his eye.
There was a very long silence, before, "YAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!!"
Mary ran out of the room, still screaming and still clutching the teddy, Violet scrambled as far back on the sofa as she could, and Lizzie latched onto her, screaming loud enough to wake the dead. It was at this point that they decided Buffy and Angel episodes were quite scary enough for them. ***
END FLASHBACK
Mary was brought out of her musings by a particularly loud boom from up ahead. She and Diamondmon exchanged glances, before, in the true style of Digidestined, running ahead in a way that could easily get them killed.
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They emerged in a very large chamber. No, a COLOSSAL chamber. No, actually there is no word to describe its largeness. I'll just say that it was BIG.
Ancient symbols covered the walls, of the same type as there had been in the corridor. Near the back, a set of steps led up to an altar with a single flickering candle on it. The flame itself was a very unusual one, bright enough to light the whole chamber, and constantly changing colour. Orange, blue, red, green, purple, grey, purple, yellow, pink, gold, bluey- green, reddy-brown, a lighter pink, white...
The strange colour changing light showed two Digimon in the centre of the chamber. One looked a bit like Centarumon, except he didn't have any of the markings or helmet. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their shape. This Digimon's human chest had four lines meeting in the centre as a star. The horse part looked like a very powerful blonde-coloured horse, with some kind of raised ridge running along its back down to its tail. The tail was a deeper golden colour, as was his hair, which came down to about level with the star. A crossbow seemed to be attached to his left arm, whilst his right was reaching up to take an arrow from the quiver on his human back.
Diamondmon identified him, "Sagittariusmon. He's a Starsign Digimon who takes his power, as well as his name, from the constellation of Sagittarius. His Centaur's Star Arrow strikes his enemies down with the power of the heavens."
The other Digimon was much more recognisable. As Mary and Diamondmon watched, Phoenixomon swooped down, "Phoenix Fire!"
Sagittariusmon leapt out of the way with almost relative ease. As he turned back to face the firebird, Mary heard someone curse. Squinting past the fighters, she stared as she saw John mutter something under his breath that clearly wasn't `Oh poor thing`. She leant towards her Digimon, "Diamondmon, there's John. But what the heck's he doing?"
"No idea. But we'd best stop him fast. Sagittariusmon's too important to kill. If he dies, it'll send the Zodiac Circle spinning out of control."
"I know that! Now let's go!" Mary hopped onto her Digimon's back, and the cat Digimon swooped over to the Digidestined. John stared at them in surprise, then made a tiny motion at Phoenixomon.
The bird Digimon raised his wings, "Phoenix Fire!" Diamondmon just managed to swerve out of the way, but the edge of the attack caught her and whacked her to the side. Mary screamed as she went flying, but it was cut off as she hit the ground. She bent down as she landed, her legs absorbing most of the crash.
Now, most girls would probably be thinking `I wanna go home. This is too scary. Let's just leave the scary Digimon things alone and get the heck outta here`. But, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, Mary was not most girls. And at that moment, all she felt was anger.
She stood straight up, then grabbed John by the front of his shirt, "WHAT? I COME ALL THE WAY HERE, AND YOU ALMOST KILL ME?" she screamed, almost deafening him.
John blinked at her, and for a moment the real boy began to break out. He squinted and whispered, "MARY?" But before he got any kind of reaction, the Zombie-John took over, and shoved her off him.
She stared at him for a second or so, before beginning to give a primal growl. Diamondmon narrowed her eyes at Phoenixomon, and a growl, almost exactly the same as her Digidestined's, began to emit from her throat. Sagittariusmon had leapt back onto the steps, so that his back was covered in the eerie light the candle gave. For a moment, all you could hear were the two growls, beginning to combine into one steady buzz.
Then the wall opposite Sagittariusmon began to turn black and melt away. The females leapt back, stunned, Sagittariusmon's eyes narrowed, and only `John` and Phoenixomon seemed unfazed. Then, from the dripping hole, Hekatemon stepped out, "What's going on now? A bit more action?"
Mary leaned over to Diamondmon, who'd landed next to her, "Did I really see someone burn a hole in the wall and walk through it, or am I hallucinating?"
Her Digimon smiled at her, "If so, I'm hallucinating too."
Hekatemon looked over at them, only then registering their presence. Then she walked calmly over to them, and bent down to look at Mary eye-to-eye, "Another Digidestined. Nice to know the feminine streak is still going strong. Now, girl, I suggest you leave. There is work being done here, and I don't need Digidestined getting in the way."
Mary looked confused, "But, what's John doing here then? Technically, he's a Digidestined too."
Hekatemon smiled evilly and straightened up, "Ah, but I need him. And, at the moment, he's not John."
Mary and Diamondmon exchanged glances. Then Mary took a long step around Hekatemon and looked very closely at John. Then she looked back at Hekatemon, "Hypnotised or possessed?"
The evil Digimon looked surprised, "Oh, you're good."
"Nah, I just watch and read about this kind of thing all the time. His eyes look kinda dim and misty, and he didn't seem to notice I was about a centimetre away from him, so it's quite clear that's what happened to him. Now, is he hypnotised or possessed?"
"Hypnotised." This voice was a new one. They all turned around to see Sagittariusmon walking towards them, "She's hypnotised him in order to get that which I guard. And then she'll keep him under her control. She thinks he belongs to her."
That statement seemed to anger Hekatemon more than anything, "What do you mean, `thinks`? He is, by all rights, mine."
"Look, you can't take him just because of something that happened over a millennium ago. And you can't take the star either."
Mary and Diamondmon had identical looks of puzzlement on at this point. Then Mary managed to insert a comment, "Um... Excuse me?" They both turned to face her. She continued, "Well, normally there's a way to wake people up when they've been hypnotise. So, what do you do to get John out of it?"
Hekatemon smirked, whilst Sagittariusmon sighed, "The only one who can save him now is you. You have to defeat him."
There was a long silence. Then Mary groaned, "Great. I'm guessing a real battle, not on Etherlords or some other computer game?" Sagittariusmon shook his head, "Ger-reat."
Hekatemon grinned, then clicked her fingers. Instantly Phoenixomon swooped down towards Diamondmon, "Phoenix Fire!"
The cat Digimon sprang out of the way, "Diamond Strike!"
Mary's mouth dropped open, "Hey, what are you doing? You're not meant to be fighting each other!"
Diamondmon growled as she dodged again, "How else are we going to beat him?"
"There has to be some other way!" Mary never thought she'd see the two Digimon fighting each other. Throughout their time in the Digiworld, she'd noticed a particular friendship between those two. And now they were fighting. She whimpered slightly, 'I know there has to be some kind of catch. S.P.L.A.T. never had to defeat/kill all of those hypnotised kids. They just had to defeat the... Demon... Headmaster...'
Suddenly it hit her. They'd thought Sagittariusmon meant they had to defeat John and Mythicmon! But... She looked up at Diamondmon, still going at it, "Diamondmon! Stop it!"
Her Digimon stared at her, barely avoiding yet another Phoenix Fire, "Are you crazy? If I stop he'll kill both of us!"
"I didn't mean stop attacking him! I meant aim at someone else!"
Now one of Phoenixomon's attacks did catch the cat Digimon, and she crash- landed in front of her Digidestined, "Like who? Is firing at Sagittariusmon really going to help?"
Mary smiled, "No. But firing at Hekatemon should. She said it herself: John isn't really John at the moment. So by firing at Hekatemon AKA the one who started this, we're much more likely to get a result!"
Diamondmon's look turned into one of understanding, whilst Mary just smiled. Then her smile faded as her crest began to glow with flesh-pink light. Phoenixomon stopped his dive to stare, whilst Hekatemon muttered a curse. Sagittariusmon smiled, and John's real mind was able to take over for a moment as the Zombie one stared. Then the same glow began to spread throughout Diamondmon's body.
"Diamondmon digivolve to Silvermon!"
The diamond, gold and silver on her back disappeared, to be replaced by a silver piece of armour, covered in runes. Her wings grew larger and finer, with silver feathers appearing amongst the white. Rings of the same silver with the same runes covered her tail, except for the hairs at the end. These were a darker silver than the rest, with beads of a lighter silver threaded on them. Her head changed, abandoning a cat's playful grin for a lioness' cold stare. A piece of silver armour fixed itself over each of her cheeks, and another larger one covered her head from the forehead to the opposite side.
Sagittariusmon smiled, partly from surprise, partly from happiness, "Looks like our troubles are over for now. Silvermon is a powerful Lioness Digimon who fights mainly with her Silver Beam. I say `mainly` because she's never afraid to fall back on the old solution: a good old catfight!"
Silvermon growled at Hekatemon, who wasn't looking quite as confident now. Then the humanoid Digimon held up one hand, "Moon's Judgement!"
With one sweep of her wings, Silvermon flew into the air, before noting the mad Phoenixomon heading towards her. With a slightly sympathetic smile, she half-closed her eyes and the pieces of silver on her cheeks began to glow, "Silver Beam!"
Two beams of silvery light shot out, joining together into one broad one. It smashed into the phoenix Digimon with so much force it knocked him straight back into the wall. He groaned as he glowed and shrank down to Mythicmon again.
Hekatemon grabbed onto John's shoulder as the lioness Digimon turned to face her. Then she smiled, squeezing so hard his blood began to ooze out between her fingers, "Give it up Silvermon. You try and hit me, he dies. And we both know how much you want THAT to happen."
Silvermon growled, not moving. Then Hekatemon gave a short startled scream as Mary tackled her from behind. She lost her grip on John, and Silvermon dived forward to help the assault. After that, they became almost a blur of hair and fur and fists and claws. John looked stunned, and could feel Hekatemon's power slipping slightly. Not so much that he was in control, but enough for him to control his blinking and where he looked.
Eventually, Hekatemon managed to pull away, her wings beating frantically. She looked a complete mess. There were several claw marks all over her skin, and she was bleeding from most of them, especially one that had come dangerously close to splitting her windpipe. There was a noticeable clump of hair missing from her scalp, and the hairs she was gripping in her fist didn't look like them, more like some of Mary's. Silvermon's white fur was all over her dress, which was now only just holding together. Even her wings had holes torn in them.
Mary and Silvermon didn't look great either, though they were better off than the dark Digimon. Silvermon's armour had several dents and scratches, and the armour on her head looked like it had almost been mashed into her head. Her fur was gone in some places, and pieces of Hekatemon's hair lay amongst the remaining bits. Her wings had taken a battering too, and it looked like Hekatemon had been trying to tear them apart. Blood was dripping from her claws, clearly Hekatemon's.
The girl was breathing heavily. Her hair was noticeably thinner, but not as much as Hekatemon's. An alarmingly big clump of the Moon Digimon's hair was in her hand, along with some accidental pieces of Silvermon's fur. She had some slashes from her enemy, and her dress wasn't looking great, but it was clear she wasn't dying or anything. Just exhausted.
John was staring, whilst Sagittariusmon's mouth was hanging open. It looked like the ultimate girl-fight of the century had just ended.
Hekatemon tried to take off, but with her torn wings, it was hard for her to go high enough and fast enough. Silvermon balanced on her hind legs longs enough to knock her out of the air with one paw. The dark Digimon was just getting to her feet when she felt someone grab her.
Looking up, she was just in time to see Mary lift her hand, before the girl slapped her across the right cheek. The shock paralysed her for an instant, but she heard Mary speaking, punctuating it with more slaps, "You think you can just waltz in here," SLAP! "Just take one of the Digidestined," SLAP! "hypnotise him," SLAP! "then say it's your `RIGHT`!" SLAP! "Well let me tell you something," SLAP! "we don't like people hypnotising us!" SLAP! "And now there's only one thing to do."
The girl stepped away as Hekatemon sagged. Then she brought her leg up so high it was unnatural, kicking Hekatemon's jaw and knocking the Digimon's head back into the wall. Then she turned to her own Digimon, "Finish it."
Silvermon looked at her with respect, then turned to the dark Digimon, "Ready to go?" Hekatemon looked at her in horror, and the cat Digimon reared onto her back legs, "Return to the shadows from which you came. Runes of Silver!"
Silver light shot out of the runes on her armour and hit Hekatemon. For a moment, it looked like she was just going to survive. Then Sagittariusmon stepped up next to Silvermon, "Oh no you don't. Centaur's Star Arrow!"
He drew out one of the arrows from his quiver and fitted it to his bow. As he drew it back, pure white light began to gather in it, until he fired a glowing mass of arrow at Hekatemon. It pierced her straight through the heart. There was a scream, then she exploded.
Mary sighed, than gave into exhaustion and fell backwards. There was a grunt as a pair of hands stopped her, "Mary, you need to go on a diet."
She blinked, then leapt up and turned around. John gasped slightly, massaging his wrists. Then he gave an involuntary yelp as Mary suddenly picked him up and hugged him, "Yes! You're OK! It worked!"
John tapped her back, "Can't... Breathe..."
She blinked, "Oh, right." Then she dropped him onto the floor.
"YEEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She looked down at him, "Oops."
Silvermon laughed. Then she began to glow, and shrunk down to about an eighth of her size. She was now about the size of a ball, and similarly shaped. Four tiny legs grew out of her sides in an arrangement that would let her move, and a tiny cattish tail grew out of her back. She looked like she was carved out of stone, but if so, highly polished black stone. She blinked at Mary, "Hi! I'm Coalmon, the in-training form of Silvermon! I may not look like much, but my Coal Duster strikes fear into the hearts of any Digimon who prides themselves on appearance!"
Mary stared, "Silver, Diamond, Jewel, COAL? How the HECK does that work?"
"Coal's of the same type. It's a rock, and it comes out of the ground. Just doesn't look as pretty," John pointed out.
"I hate to interrupt this interesting discussion," Sagittariusmon stepped between them, "but I only have five more minutes with you. The balance's been thrown off now she's gone, and the Star needs to be passed on."
The boy stared at him, "Hekatemon said something about a `Star`. Is that what this has all been about?"
The Starsign Digimon sighed, "Yes. She hoped to use you to gain it and its power. Only a Digidestined of its constellation can have it, you see."
Mary squealed, "Ooh, the Zodiac Circle! Cool! What sign?"
Sagittariusmon looked at her, then began to walk towards the altar, "Let's see. Do you really think I'd be guarding a Star of Pisces? It's Sagittarius."
The Digidestined were following him (Coalmon was checking on Mythicmon), but at that John stopped. The centaur carried on walking, but he looked back at him, "Yes. It's your Starsign, John. And it was Izzy's too. That's part of the reason Hekatemon was here. Something. HAPPENED between her and the previous Keeper of Knowledge, and she was waiting for you to follow. But as it is, she is dead, and you receive the Star."
He'd reached the altar by now, and picked up the ever-changing candle. He positioned it in his hand so that the fame flickered against the wall, but instead of charring it, the wall began to melt away. Then a blast of pure white light swept out from the hole that had formed, blinding all of them for a second. Somehow, it recharged Mythicmon's `batteries`, as well as mending Mary's dress and healing the scratches she'd gained in the battle.
When it had faded, Sagittariusmon reached inside the hole and drew out a glowing mass of... light. In his other hand, the flame flickered out, and the candle dissolved into dust. Then the Starsign Digimon held out the mass to John, "Take it. Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told."
Hesitantly, John reached out, and closed his hand over Sagittariusmon's. Instantly, the light returned, only a thousand times brighter. The entire chamber was filled with it, and then it began to shoot down tunnels, exploding out of the entrance. Even Sagittariusmon stared in awe, before they all blacked out.
**************************************************************************** **
John came to at the edge of the forest of thorns, along with Mary, Mythicmon and Coalmon. Strangely, Sagittariusmon was not with them.
Looking up, the first thing he saw... or rather, DIDN'T see... was the graveyard. In its place was a charred wasteland, sparks of light still jumping around at random points. Looking down at his hand, he could see that he was clutching the Star. Its light had dimmed slightly, but it still hurt to look at it. He stuffed it into his pocket as he heard his friends moving.
Maybe Sagittariusmon WAS gone. But he could at least obey his last command: `Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told...`
WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE STAR? AND WHY DID HEKATEMON THINK JOHN BELONGED TO HER? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!
Author's Note: And so ends the longest Digimon episode I have ever written. I mean, before, I think the longest was 10 or so pages. And now I have one 16 pages long. #German accent # Wunderbar!
Anyway, you may notice some of the quotes from the last episode were not here. That's mainly because this episode has taken over 6 months to write and therefore my ideas have changed loads. I've tried, but the last few quotes had to be cut out.
A few random notes to answer most question: No, I don't know when Izzy's birthday is. I just gave him and John the same Starsign. John's birthday WAS going to be 25th December, but Sis tells me that, whilst Sagittarius IS a December sign, Capricorn's the Christmas one. And I sooooooooo didn't want to edit everything about Sagittariusmon so that he could be Capricornmon. I'd nearly finished, you see.
Next, the Star. I am aware that stars are balls of gas and are way to big to hold, but this is a SPECIAL Star. There will be more about it in... 10 episodes or so. Heh heh...
You may notice that at the end of the `girl-fight` (those who know me probably know that I call it a stronger name), it says that Mary brings `her leg up so high it was unnatural`. For those of you who can't wait a few episodes to find out, it really is unnatural. It's practically straight up, ya see. How? Simple. She has John Cleese legs. If you don't know what that means, I recommend you find out.
There's probably more glitches, but I feel those are the main ones that need to be dealt with. Any more, just say, and I will give you an answer. There's just the quotes left for the next episode now, so I'll be saying Arreviderchi (how do you spell that), Auf Wiedersien (or whatever), Adios, Au Revoir, See ya!
"Sometimes I'm scared that V's going to leave me soon. Like in my dream..."
"`The union of Courage and Love was broken by denial. Only their descendants can reconnect it...`"
"She STILL can't tell! Has this girl ever heard of denial?"
"Entering Praying Mantis mode... NOW!"
"Oooooo... Ultimates..."
"Oh wonderful. I hate bats."
"This is like a Buffy episode gone wrong..."
"Don't worry Digidestined... You'll be dead soon enough..."
Episode 23: Dreams and Nightmares
Lady Moon
P.S. I haven't check through this, so say if there are any mistakes!
L.M.
"OW!" John cried out, tripping over a root, landing right in the middle of a bunch of thorns. Mythicmon would have helped him, if he hadn't been in danger of falling of his branch because he was laughing so hard.
"Oh my god," the part-bird, part-dragon Digimon laughed, "That was priceless. It... You... I'm sorry, it's just so funny!"
"Hilarious," John muttered, getting to his feet. Then he gestured to a tear in his T-shirt, from which blood was now flowing freely, "I'm guessing this is funny too?"
Mythicmon's response was to fall out of his tree. John snarled, shifted his backpack slightly, and trudged on. As he walked, he muttered all the things he would like to do to his Digimon under his breath.
"Oh, come on," Mythicmon flew up to him, "You have to admit it was funny."
John just glared at him. The mythical Digimon noticed his eyes seemed to have darkened, and his fists were clenched. Danger. He gulped, and whispered, in a voice that was much higher than his usual one, "Sorry."
The boy glared at him for a bit longer, then looked away and stalked off. Mythicmon followed, wondering how in the Digiworld he was going to get out of this one.
****************************************************************************
Mary sighed as she manoeuvred around another patch of thorns. Jewelmon hovered over them, "How come, if you humans don't like thorns, you haven't got wings to avoid them with?"
The girl smiled, partly at Jewelmon's comment, and partly in triumph at managing to successfully find a path round the thorns. She stretched, "Well, on Earth, we have a little thing called evolution. It's a bit like digivolution, but it's more gradual, and, whilst you guys just get your data modified, and no one else is affected, our entire species feels the effect, and begins to take that shape. If you want something better, ask John sometime, but as it is, that's about the best I can say. And the reason we don't have wings is we haven't developed them, and probably never will. Our environment can be travelled without flying, you see. And besides, we actually evolved from monkeys, so we're much more comfortable holding onto something when in the air."
Jewelmon blinked, "Oh. I thought you were descended from those naked apple- eaters."
Mary stared at her Digimon, "Come again?"
"I heard Steve, John and Violet talking about them. Violet was talking about them, Steve was trying to say that she should stop using weird nicknames, and John was giving them his theories about how it was scientifically impossible for them to have existed."
Mary sighed, "Might have guessed it was something to do with Violet. She's always called them that."
The jewel Digimon smiled, then flew down to Mary, a thought crossing her mind, "Hey, Mary, did you know Violet well back home? I know you've mentioned it before, but my memory's not that good. Care to refresh it?"
There was a pause as the girl thought about how she would put it, "Well, actually I knew her quite well. We made a sort of trio with Lizzie, she's a girl back home. Actually, Lizzie's like Violet's second cousin, or her first one twice moved, we never worked out which. Anyway, we tend to call ourselves the `Ladies of the Digital World`, because on our website, all our names relate to that sort of thing. Violet's Lady Moon, Lizzie's Digimon Empress, and I'm Night Slayer. So yeah, I guess you could say I knew Violet pretty well back home."
**************************************************************************
"Whoa." John's reaction probably mirrored most people's. He, with Mythicmon flying behind, had just made it out of the thorny forest. Before them was something like a graveyard. It was surrounded by a high iron fence, and inside were thousands of gravestones. And in the centre was a statue.
Now, most graveyard statues are of angels guiding dead people, or something not unlike that, but this was an exception. It resembled an angel, because it was human formed and had wings, but it would never be a true angel. It was carved out of black stone, and had its arms crossed over its chest, wings raised, eyes closed. Its wings looked like a dragon's, its hair came down to the ground, and it was dressed in a flowing dress. So that made it a she.
He didn't know why, but John felt drawn to it somehow. Before he realised what he was doing, he was walking towards the gate, feeling a pull on him he'd never felt before. Mythicmon flew onto his shoulder, and waved a wing in front of his eyes, "Hello? John? Anyone home?"
John was just reaching out to open the gate, when he stopped, and shook his head, "What?" He glanced at Mythicmon, then looked back at the gate, "What was I just doing?"
His Digimon did his version of raising his eyebrows, "Er, looked like opening the gate. Is there any reason you can't remember what you did about thirty seconds ago, or has your memory been completely erased?"
For once, John didn't bother answering back. He just sighed, then looked at the statue, "I don't know... I just looked at the statue, and I can't remember anything else." For a moment, he just looked at it. Then Mythicmon gave a small screech of alarm as a purple glow began to surround the boy, whilst another began to spread around the statue.
Then it faded, and John pushed the gate open. His Digimon flew in front of him, "Yo, John? Anyone home?" His digidestined just walked forwards towards the statue, completely ignoring him. 'OK, this is now officially creeping me out,' the Digimon thought, as he flew after him.
When he reached the statue, John looked up at it, then took off his crest, and was about to lay it down on the podium when Mythicmon grabbed it. He flew behind his digidestined, and yelled, "HEY! JOHN!"
He spun around, then blinked, "Mythicmon? What are you doing?"
"John, I think that statue thing's trying to get the crest by hypnotising you or something. Every time you look at it, it's like you get put under some kind of spell. Now, please don't look at it, because you are seriously starting to freak me out!"
The boy blinked, then shut his eyes and held out his hand, "OK, I can't look at it now, so can I have my crest back? It feels really weird not having it on." Carefully, the Digimon obeyed.
Then he screeched. About ten rotting human shaped Digimon had just appeared from behind the statue. Each one, where its skin had rotted away completely, showed its innards, "Oh God, Zombiemon. These guys are so disgusting; they don't need to use their Breath of the Dead to defend themselves. No one's going to go near them long enough to be a threat!"
One held out its rotting hand, "Give us Knowledge. He is the Key. GIVE US KNOWLEDGE."
John eyes shot open and he turned around. Luckily though, since he was focusing on the Zombiemon and not the statue, he didn't fall under its spell again. Instead, he just looked as if he was going to throw up at the sight of the undead Digimon.
One of them leapt forwards, "Give the goddess your crest." The rest of them took this up, so that it sounded like a very echoey cave. Only they were outside.
The digidestined took a step backwards, then screamed as one jumped at him, "Breath of the Dead!"
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"
The firebird swept one wing forwards, and the skull-shaped toxic attack disappeared. Then he spread his wings out wide, "Phoenix Fire!"
And so it went. John started to back away, thinking to quickly run to the exit, when something hit him from behind. He just had time to note the obviously Zombiemon hands (they were half rotted away, and quite a lot of black bone was showing), when he smashed into the statue. The crest, which had still been in his hand, flew out, and landed on one of the statue's hands.
There was complete silence for a second that felt like a year. Then a purple glow began to spread out from the crest across the statue. Overhead, the crescent moon slowly disappeared. And when the glow faded, the statue was alive. The skin had become pale, practically white, and for the first time John noticed two purple rings, one inside the other, on its dress.
Phoenixomon's eyes widened in terror, "Oh no, Hekatemon! She's one of the Digimon who controls the Moon, and it shows in her power. Her Moon's Judgement is one of the most powerful attacks an Ultimate ever had!"
John's mouth opened and shut like a goldfish, whilst around him, the Zombiemon dropped to their knees. Then Hekatemon lifted one arm and aimed at Phoenixomon, "Moon's Judgement!"
A pure white beam shot out at the Digimon, who screamed out in pain as he de-digivolved. Then Hekatemon looked down at John, "This is Knowledge?"
The lead Zombiemon nodded, "Yes, my mistress."
She raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't look like much. But then, few do." She leant forwards and grabbed John by the T-shirt, "Do you know who I am, boy?" When he didn't answer, she smiled, "Ah, I see that story has been kept a secret. Well, we don't want to be changing anything do we..."
The Zombiemon got back to their (decayed) feet, and exited. Their task was done, and their mistress did not need them now. And what she was about to do required complete silence and concentration.
Hekatemon let go of John and leapt down next to him. Before he could run, however, she grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up, so that they were looking each other straight in the eye. Then the female Digimon whispered so quietly none but she could hear it, "Moon's Hypnotism."
As John stared into her eyes, he saw a small white circle forming in them. Then, slowly, it began to turn, like the Moon. It became Gibbous, then Half, then Crescent, then New, then Crescent, then Half, then Gibbous, then Full, then Gibbous...
The turnings began to quicken, and the boy couldn't look away. There was something... hypnotic about them. Then he felt his eyelids begin to droop. He fought to keep them open, and heard Hekatemon's voice, as if from a great distance, "Sleep Knowledge, sleep..." Those mystical eyes bore into him, and he felt his eyes obeying to the call... No. He struggled with his eyelids, but he could feel himself drifting away. A warmth began to spread through him, and through it he could hear Hekatemon whispering, "Just relax... Calm... Peace..." Then he was gone.
**************************************************************************
Mary yawned, then stiffened. Why was she tired all of a sudden? She'd just finished her (small) version of lunch, which Jewelmon had said contained enough sugar to make up for any coffee on the Earth.
Of course, Mary hadn't mentioned that with great amounts of coffee, comes a great bladder problem.
Anyway, if she's had so much sugar, how come she was tired? For a moment, her vision started to swim. Then the drowsiness disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and she blinked. She sighed, and muttered, "Okaaaaaaaaaaaay... That was weird."
"What was?" Jewelmon swooped down onto her shoulder.
"I just felt sleepy all of a sudden, and then I was wide awake again."
Her Digimon blinked, "OK, I've heard of a lot of strange things, but that is definitely up there with stuff like seeing two humans become Digimon."
"Mmm..." Mary's expression became distant, before suddenly snapping into focus, "Jewelmon, that's a graveyard!"
Her Digimon squinted, "Oh yeah. So?"
"WHY THE HECK HAS IT GOT A LARGE HOLE IN THE CENTRE?!"
**************************************************************************
John stirred slightly. There was a very loud buzzing in his brain, which sounded a lot like a bunch of bees trying to buzz Beethoven's 9th, and when he tried to think, it interrupted his thoughts by being even louder than before. 'Ow...' he thought, reaching up to rub his head...
Or rather, TRIED to reach up. The thought was there, the need, and the hand necessary to do so... They just didn't seem to be connected. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control any part of himself. Then, to his horror, he began to move... WITHOUT his input.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' The mental scream was loud enough to disrupt the airwaves, had they been able to hear it. However, they hadn't, and carried on life as per usual. John's, meanwhile, was far from usual. A being other than himself was controlling his body. In that scenario, even the calmest and brainiest person will be forced to lose it. Even for a tiny bit.
Through his screams, though, a conversation began to filter through. Deciding he would just waste mental energy if he carried on as he was, he decided to listen in. The first voice was very powerful, yet elegant. In fact, in some strange way, it sort of reminded him of Violet. Searching his memory, he finally came up with the name `Hekatemon`.
The second... He gulped. It was him. Or at least, whatever was now in control of him. Whilst he'd never previously believed in hypnotism and possession, he was beginning to realise that those things were about the only things that explained his current situation.
"You understand?" Hekatemon asked.
"Yes," `John` replied in a strangely zombie-like voice. This was also accompanied by a mental whimper.
"Then tell me."
"I take my Digimon down to the guardian and demand the star. If he doesn't give it to me straight away, I fight, and destroy."
John growled as he felt Hekatemon pat him on the head. Just because she was in control now didn't mean she could do that to him. NO ONE had done that to him for as long as he could remember, and it wasn't going to start again now.
Then Hekatemon pointed two fingers at the ground, "Black Magic!" Several streams of darkness erupted from the two extended digits, hitting the ground.
The effect was something like that when Moses parted the sea. The ground began to crack apart and shoot upwards, before gravity took over and it fell back down. However, it curved in its descent, so it crashed down on either side of the now very large hole in the earth. Inside his head, John did the mental version of fainting.
Hekatemon smiled at the boy, then seemed to melt away into the shadows. `John` smiled in a way that would make small children run for their mothers, screaming in terror, before descending down a set of steps that had formed inside, leading into the darker regions of the pit.
Mythicmon groaned as he opened his eyes, before they widened as they saw John descending. There was a brief moment of panic, before a heavy blanket seemed to wrap itself around his brain. He was dimly aware that his body was moving of its own accord. But the blanket was wrapping itself more and more around his brain, before he lost contact with any thought, any feeling...
**************************************************************************
Mary looked down; "There is a very large hole in the centre of a graveyard. Either Howard Carter (LM: That's what the guy who opened Tutankhamun's tomb was called. I think) has been a very busy boy, despite the fact I think he's dead, or we have a huge problem."
Jewelmon stared past the digidestined, "Um, Mary?"
"Mmm?"
"I don't think that's the only one."
The girl looked up at the Digimon in surprise, before turning. There was a very long silence as her brain registered the fifteen or so Zombiemon coming towards her. Then, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!"
The sheer volume of the scream was enough to stop the decaying Digimon for long enough. Noticing their enemies current state, Jewelmon decided to ignore the ringing in her `ears` (technically she didn't have them AS SUCH) and just attack, "Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"
The cat Digimon lunged towards them, baring her teeth, "Diamond Strike!"
Several Zombiemon were knocked down by that, whilst another was actually destroyed. It (he?) was soon avenged though, "Breath of the Dead!"
Now, as things go, that attack wasn't nearly as terrifying as, say, Blizzard Triangle, but when fired from fourteen different Digimon, it became quite lethal. Diamondmon growled as she was forced to hop back into the air, "Mary, get down there! I don't know where it leads, but it has to be better than this!"
The girl nodded, before vanishing down the staircase. Diamondmon fired one last Diamond Strike at the Zombiemon, to distract them, before she swooped up, then down into the pit.
**************************************************************************** *
There was a distinct booming sound coming from up ahead as Mary and her Digimon walked down the passage. It was very much like an Egyptian tomb, with markings on the walls, which resembled hieroglyphics, but were actually a more ancient version of Digispeak. There was also the rather nifty (LM: NOT MY WORD) attachment of flaming torches. However, apparently this wasn't really helping Mary.
"If a SINGLE scarab beetle DARES to try and get under my skin, I fear I may lose it. In a way that involves taking over the world so I can have access to all the nuclear bombs, so I can blow up the Earth! Mwahahahahahaha..."
Diamondmon gave her a very strange look, "OK, two questions. One: What the heck was the deal with suddenly acting like Witchmon or something and laughing evilly, and two: What did you mean by that comment about scarabs?"
Mary went red, "Er... Well, first, you remember that website thing I was talking about? Violet, Lizzie and I tend to start acting a bit weird and evil on that. And second, there's this really scary movie called The Mummy we were watching once, and there were these really scary scarab beetles that crawled under your skin."
"Lovely."
"Yep. I remember when we first saw them doing that."
FLASHBACK (LM: I just slipped this in 'cos Dad kept nagging me about Lizzie. So Dad, here's a scene with `The Mysterious Lizzie`. Enjoy!)
*** Mary was clutching a large teddy bear tightly. VERY tightly. It was the sort of grip drowning men have on life belts, bookworms have on books, computer geeks have on computers... or long, black-haired girls have on teddy bears when watching The Mummy.
Violet had opted for the simple `Smile, they'll think you're enjoying it. Only panic if everyone else is`, whilst next to her, Lizzie gave Mary a pitying look. Whilst she was practically wetting her pants, she most certainly wasn't going to tell Mary that, "I pity people who can't even watch a simple horror movie acting their age. I mean, come on Slayer, that's absolutely pathetic."
Mary just glared at her, before they turned back to the screen. They watched as the stone turned into a live scarab without much display of emotion. Then the scarab began to crawl into the guy's skin and head up, as nothing more than a bump. At this point, Mary's grip on the teddy began to increase to a kind never before seen in nature, Violet's smile became far more fixed, and Lizzie's pants began to resemble a rainforest. And then the edge of the scarab appeared in his eye.
There was a very long silence, before, "YAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!!"
Mary ran out of the room, still screaming and still clutching the teddy, Violet scrambled as far back on the sofa as she could, and Lizzie latched onto her, screaming loud enough to wake the dead. It was at this point that they decided Buffy and Angel episodes were quite scary enough for them. ***
END FLASHBACK
Mary was brought out of her musings by a particularly loud boom from up ahead. She and Diamondmon exchanged glances, before, in the true style of Digidestined, running ahead in a way that could easily get them killed.
****************************************************************************
They emerged in a very large chamber. No, a COLOSSAL chamber. No, actually there is no word to describe its largeness. I'll just say that it was BIG.
Ancient symbols covered the walls, of the same type as there had been in the corridor. Near the back, a set of steps led up to an altar with a single flickering candle on it. The flame itself was a very unusual one, bright enough to light the whole chamber, and constantly changing colour. Orange, blue, red, green, purple, grey, purple, yellow, pink, gold, bluey- green, reddy-brown, a lighter pink, white...
The strange colour changing light showed two Digimon in the centre of the chamber. One looked a bit like Centarumon, except he didn't have any of the markings or helmet. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their shape. This Digimon's human chest had four lines meeting in the centre as a star. The horse part looked like a very powerful blonde-coloured horse, with some kind of raised ridge running along its back down to its tail. The tail was a deeper golden colour, as was his hair, which came down to about level with the star. A crossbow seemed to be attached to his left arm, whilst his right was reaching up to take an arrow from the quiver on his human back.
Diamondmon identified him, "Sagittariusmon. He's a Starsign Digimon who takes his power, as well as his name, from the constellation of Sagittarius. His Centaur's Star Arrow strikes his enemies down with the power of the heavens."
The other Digimon was much more recognisable. As Mary and Diamondmon watched, Phoenixomon swooped down, "Phoenix Fire!"
Sagittariusmon leapt out of the way with almost relative ease. As he turned back to face the firebird, Mary heard someone curse. Squinting past the fighters, she stared as she saw John mutter something under his breath that clearly wasn't `Oh poor thing`. She leant towards her Digimon, "Diamondmon, there's John. But what the heck's he doing?"
"No idea. But we'd best stop him fast. Sagittariusmon's too important to kill. If he dies, it'll send the Zodiac Circle spinning out of control."
"I know that! Now let's go!" Mary hopped onto her Digimon's back, and the cat Digimon swooped over to the Digidestined. John stared at them in surprise, then made a tiny motion at Phoenixomon.
The bird Digimon raised his wings, "Phoenix Fire!" Diamondmon just managed to swerve out of the way, but the edge of the attack caught her and whacked her to the side. Mary screamed as she went flying, but it was cut off as she hit the ground. She bent down as she landed, her legs absorbing most of the crash.
Now, most girls would probably be thinking `I wanna go home. This is too scary. Let's just leave the scary Digimon things alone and get the heck outta here`. But, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, Mary was not most girls. And at that moment, all she felt was anger.
She stood straight up, then grabbed John by the front of his shirt, "WHAT? I COME ALL THE WAY HERE, AND YOU ALMOST KILL ME?" she screamed, almost deafening him.
John blinked at her, and for a moment the real boy began to break out. He squinted and whispered, "MARY?" But before he got any kind of reaction, the Zombie-John took over, and shoved her off him.
She stared at him for a second or so, before beginning to give a primal growl. Diamondmon narrowed her eyes at Phoenixomon, and a growl, almost exactly the same as her Digidestined's, began to emit from her throat. Sagittariusmon had leapt back onto the steps, so that his back was covered in the eerie light the candle gave. For a moment, all you could hear were the two growls, beginning to combine into one steady buzz.
Then the wall opposite Sagittariusmon began to turn black and melt away. The females leapt back, stunned, Sagittariusmon's eyes narrowed, and only `John` and Phoenixomon seemed unfazed. Then, from the dripping hole, Hekatemon stepped out, "What's going on now? A bit more action?"
Mary leaned over to Diamondmon, who'd landed next to her, "Did I really see someone burn a hole in the wall and walk through it, or am I hallucinating?"
Her Digimon smiled at her, "If so, I'm hallucinating too."
Hekatemon looked over at them, only then registering their presence. Then she walked calmly over to them, and bent down to look at Mary eye-to-eye, "Another Digidestined. Nice to know the feminine streak is still going strong. Now, girl, I suggest you leave. There is work being done here, and I don't need Digidestined getting in the way."
Mary looked confused, "But, what's John doing here then? Technically, he's a Digidestined too."
Hekatemon smiled evilly and straightened up, "Ah, but I need him. And, at the moment, he's not John."
Mary and Diamondmon exchanged glances. Then Mary took a long step around Hekatemon and looked very closely at John. Then she looked back at Hekatemon, "Hypnotised or possessed?"
The evil Digimon looked surprised, "Oh, you're good."
"Nah, I just watch and read about this kind of thing all the time. His eyes look kinda dim and misty, and he didn't seem to notice I was about a centimetre away from him, so it's quite clear that's what happened to him. Now, is he hypnotised or possessed?"
"Hypnotised." This voice was a new one. They all turned around to see Sagittariusmon walking towards them, "She's hypnotised him in order to get that which I guard. And then she'll keep him under her control. She thinks he belongs to her."
That statement seemed to anger Hekatemon more than anything, "What do you mean, `thinks`? He is, by all rights, mine."
"Look, you can't take him just because of something that happened over a millennium ago. And you can't take the star either."
Mary and Diamondmon had identical looks of puzzlement on at this point. Then Mary managed to insert a comment, "Um... Excuse me?" They both turned to face her. She continued, "Well, normally there's a way to wake people up when they've been hypnotise. So, what do you do to get John out of it?"
Hekatemon smirked, whilst Sagittariusmon sighed, "The only one who can save him now is you. You have to defeat him."
There was a long silence. Then Mary groaned, "Great. I'm guessing a real battle, not on Etherlords or some other computer game?" Sagittariusmon shook his head, "Ger-reat."
Hekatemon grinned, then clicked her fingers. Instantly Phoenixomon swooped down towards Diamondmon, "Phoenix Fire!"
The cat Digimon sprang out of the way, "Diamond Strike!"
Mary's mouth dropped open, "Hey, what are you doing? You're not meant to be fighting each other!"
Diamondmon growled as she dodged again, "How else are we going to beat him?"
"There has to be some other way!" Mary never thought she'd see the two Digimon fighting each other. Throughout their time in the Digiworld, she'd noticed a particular friendship between those two. And now they were fighting. She whimpered slightly, 'I know there has to be some kind of catch. S.P.L.A.T. never had to defeat/kill all of those hypnotised kids. They just had to defeat the... Demon... Headmaster...'
Suddenly it hit her. They'd thought Sagittariusmon meant they had to defeat John and Mythicmon! But... She looked up at Diamondmon, still going at it, "Diamondmon! Stop it!"
Her Digimon stared at her, barely avoiding yet another Phoenix Fire, "Are you crazy? If I stop he'll kill both of us!"
"I didn't mean stop attacking him! I meant aim at someone else!"
Now one of Phoenixomon's attacks did catch the cat Digimon, and she crash- landed in front of her Digidestined, "Like who? Is firing at Sagittariusmon really going to help?"
Mary smiled, "No. But firing at Hekatemon should. She said it herself: John isn't really John at the moment. So by firing at Hekatemon AKA the one who started this, we're much more likely to get a result!"
Diamondmon's look turned into one of understanding, whilst Mary just smiled. Then her smile faded as her crest began to glow with flesh-pink light. Phoenixomon stopped his dive to stare, whilst Hekatemon muttered a curse. Sagittariusmon smiled, and John's real mind was able to take over for a moment as the Zombie one stared. Then the same glow began to spread throughout Diamondmon's body.
"Diamondmon digivolve to Silvermon!"
The diamond, gold and silver on her back disappeared, to be replaced by a silver piece of armour, covered in runes. Her wings grew larger and finer, with silver feathers appearing amongst the white. Rings of the same silver with the same runes covered her tail, except for the hairs at the end. These were a darker silver than the rest, with beads of a lighter silver threaded on them. Her head changed, abandoning a cat's playful grin for a lioness' cold stare. A piece of silver armour fixed itself over each of her cheeks, and another larger one covered her head from the forehead to the opposite side.
Sagittariusmon smiled, partly from surprise, partly from happiness, "Looks like our troubles are over for now. Silvermon is a powerful Lioness Digimon who fights mainly with her Silver Beam. I say `mainly` because she's never afraid to fall back on the old solution: a good old catfight!"
Silvermon growled at Hekatemon, who wasn't looking quite as confident now. Then the humanoid Digimon held up one hand, "Moon's Judgement!"
With one sweep of her wings, Silvermon flew into the air, before noting the mad Phoenixomon heading towards her. With a slightly sympathetic smile, she half-closed her eyes and the pieces of silver on her cheeks began to glow, "Silver Beam!"
Two beams of silvery light shot out, joining together into one broad one. It smashed into the phoenix Digimon with so much force it knocked him straight back into the wall. He groaned as he glowed and shrank down to Mythicmon again.
Hekatemon grabbed onto John's shoulder as the lioness Digimon turned to face her. Then she smiled, squeezing so hard his blood began to ooze out between her fingers, "Give it up Silvermon. You try and hit me, he dies. And we both know how much you want THAT to happen."
Silvermon growled, not moving. Then Hekatemon gave a short startled scream as Mary tackled her from behind. She lost her grip on John, and Silvermon dived forward to help the assault. After that, they became almost a blur of hair and fur and fists and claws. John looked stunned, and could feel Hekatemon's power slipping slightly. Not so much that he was in control, but enough for him to control his blinking and where he looked.
Eventually, Hekatemon managed to pull away, her wings beating frantically. She looked a complete mess. There were several claw marks all over her skin, and she was bleeding from most of them, especially one that had come dangerously close to splitting her windpipe. There was a noticeable clump of hair missing from her scalp, and the hairs she was gripping in her fist didn't look like them, more like some of Mary's. Silvermon's white fur was all over her dress, which was now only just holding together. Even her wings had holes torn in them.
Mary and Silvermon didn't look great either, though they were better off than the dark Digimon. Silvermon's armour had several dents and scratches, and the armour on her head looked like it had almost been mashed into her head. Her fur was gone in some places, and pieces of Hekatemon's hair lay amongst the remaining bits. Her wings had taken a battering too, and it looked like Hekatemon had been trying to tear them apart. Blood was dripping from her claws, clearly Hekatemon's.
The girl was breathing heavily. Her hair was noticeably thinner, but not as much as Hekatemon's. An alarmingly big clump of the Moon Digimon's hair was in her hand, along with some accidental pieces of Silvermon's fur. She had some slashes from her enemy, and her dress wasn't looking great, but it was clear she wasn't dying or anything. Just exhausted.
John was staring, whilst Sagittariusmon's mouth was hanging open. It looked like the ultimate girl-fight of the century had just ended.
Hekatemon tried to take off, but with her torn wings, it was hard for her to go high enough and fast enough. Silvermon balanced on her hind legs longs enough to knock her out of the air with one paw. The dark Digimon was just getting to her feet when she felt someone grab her.
Looking up, she was just in time to see Mary lift her hand, before the girl slapped her across the right cheek. The shock paralysed her for an instant, but she heard Mary speaking, punctuating it with more slaps, "You think you can just waltz in here," SLAP! "Just take one of the Digidestined," SLAP! "hypnotise him," SLAP! "then say it's your `RIGHT`!" SLAP! "Well let me tell you something," SLAP! "we don't like people hypnotising us!" SLAP! "And now there's only one thing to do."
The girl stepped away as Hekatemon sagged. Then she brought her leg up so high it was unnatural, kicking Hekatemon's jaw and knocking the Digimon's head back into the wall. Then she turned to her own Digimon, "Finish it."
Silvermon looked at her with respect, then turned to the dark Digimon, "Ready to go?" Hekatemon looked at her in horror, and the cat Digimon reared onto her back legs, "Return to the shadows from which you came. Runes of Silver!"
Silver light shot out of the runes on her armour and hit Hekatemon. For a moment, it looked like she was just going to survive. Then Sagittariusmon stepped up next to Silvermon, "Oh no you don't. Centaur's Star Arrow!"
He drew out one of the arrows from his quiver and fitted it to his bow. As he drew it back, pure white light began to gather in it, until he fired a glowing mass of arrow at Hekatemon. It pierced her straight through the heart. There was a scream, then she exploded.
Mary sighed, than gave into exhaustion and fell backwards. There was a grunt as a pair of hands stopped her, "Mary, you need to go on a diet."
She blinked, then leapt up and turned around. John gasped slightly, massaging his wrists. Then he gave an involuntary yelp as Mary suddenly picked him up and hugged him, "Yes! You're OK! It worked!"
John tapped her back, "Can't... Breathe..."
She blinked, "Oh, right." Then she dropped him onto the floor.
"YEEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She looked down at him, "Oops."
Silvermon laughed. Then she began to glow, and shrunk down to about an eighth of her size. She was now about the size of a ball, and similarly shaped. Four tiny legs grew out of her sides in an arrangement that would let her move, and a tiny cattish tail grew out of her back. She looked like she was carved out of stone, but if so, highly polished black stone. She blinked at Mary, "Hi! I'm Coalmon, the in-training form of Silvermon! I may not look like much, but my Coal Duster strikes fear into the hearts of any Digimon who prides themselves on appearance!"
Mary stared, "Silver, Diamond, Jewel, COAL? How the HECK does that work?"
"Coal's of the same type. It's a rock, and it comes out of the ground. Just doesn't look as pretty," John pointed out.
"I hate to interrupt this interesting discussion," Sagittariusmon stepped between them, "but I only have five more minutes with you. The balance's been thrown off now she's gone, and the Star needs to be passed on."
The boy stared at him, "Hekatemon said something about a `Star`. Is that what this has all been about?"
The Starsign Digimon sighed, "Yes. She hoped to use you to gain it and its power. Only a Digidestined of its constellation can have it, you see."
Mary squealed, "Ooh, the Zodiac Circle! Cool! What sign?"
Sagittariusmon looked at her, then began to walk towards the altar, "Let's see. Do you really think I'd be guarding a Star of Pisces? It's Sagittarius."
The Digidestined were following him (Coalmon was checking on Mythicmon), but at that John stopped. The centaur carried on walking, but he looked back at him, "Yes. It's your Starsign, John. And it was Izzy's too. That's part of the reason Hekatemon was here. Something. HAPPENED between her and the previous Keeper of Knowledge, and she was waiting for you to follow. But as it is, she is dead, and you receive the Star."
He'd reached the altar by now, and picked up the ever-changing candle. He positioned it in his hand so that the fame flickered against the wall, but instead of charring it, the wall began to melt away. Then a blast of pure white light swept out from the hole that had formed, blinding all of them for a second. Somehow, it recharged Mythicmon's `batteries`, as well as mending Mary's dress and healing the scratches she'd gained in the battle.
When it had faded, Sagittariusmon reached inside the hole and drew out a glowing mass of... light. In his other hand, the flame flickered out, and the candle dissolved into dust. Then the Starsign Digimon held out the mass to John, "Take it. Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told."
Hesitantly, John reached out, and closed his hand over Sagittariusmon's. Instantly, the light returned, only a thousand times brighter. The entire chamber was filled with it, and then it began to shoot down tunnels, exploding out of the entrance. Even Sagittariusmon stared in awe, before they all blacked out.
**************************************************************************** **
John came to at the edge of the forest of thorns, along with Mary, Mythicmon and Coalmon. Strangely, Sagittariusmon was not with them.
Looking up, the first thing he saw... or rather, DIDN'T see... was the graveyard. In its place was a charred wasteland, sparks of light still jumping around at random points. Looking down at his hand, he could see that he was clutching the Star. Its light had dimmed slightly, but it still hurt to look at it. He stuffed it into his pocket as he heard his friends moving.
Maybe Sagittariusmon WAS gone. But he could at least obey his last command: `Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told...`
WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE STAR? AND WHY DID HEKATEMON THINK JOHN BELONGED TO HER? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!
Author's Note: And so ends the longest Digimon episode I have ever written. I mean, before, I think the longest was 10 or so pages. And now I have one 16 pages long. #German accent # Wunderbar!
Anyway, you may notice some of the quotes from the last episode were not here. That's mainly because this episode has taken over 6 months to write and therefore my ideas have changed loads. I've tried, but the last few quotes had to be cut out.
A few random notes to answer most question: No, I don't know when Izzy's birthday is. I just gave him and John the same Starsign. John's birthday WAS going to be 25th December, but Sis tells me that, whilst Sagittarius IS a December sign, Capricorn's the Christmas one. And I sooooooooo didn't want to edit everything about Sagittariusmon so that he could be Capricornmon. I'd nearly finished, you see.
Next, the Star. I am aware that stars are balls of gas and are way to big to hold, but this is a SPECIAL Star. There will be more about it in... 10 episodes or so. Heh heh...
You may notice that at the end of the `girl-fight` (those who know me probably know that I call it a stronger name), it says that Mary brings `her leg up so high it was unnatural`. For those of you who can't wait a few episodes to find out, it really is unnatural. It's practically straight up, ya see. How? Simple. She has John Cleese legs. If you don't know what that means, I recommend you find out.
There's probably more glitches, but I feel those are the main ones that need to be dealt with. Any more, just say, and I will give you an answer. There's just the quotes left for the next episode now, so I'll be saying Arreviderchi (how do you spell that), Auf Wiedersien (or whatever), Adios, Au Revoir, See ya!
"Sometimes I'm scared that V's going to leave me soon. Like in my dream..."
"`The union of Courage and Love was broken by denial. Only their descendants can reconnect it...`"
"She STILL can't tell! Has this girl ever heard of denial?"
"Entering Praying Mantis mode... NOW!"
"Oooooo... Ultimates..."
"Oh wonderful. I hate bats."
"This is like a Buffy episode gone wrong..."
"Don't worry Digidestined... You'll be dead soon enough..."
Episode 23: Dreams and Nightmares
Lady Moon
P.S. I haven't check through this, so say if there are any mistakes!
L.M.