Legend of the Digidestined
Book one
Chapter eight
You say hop and I'll hop
You say stop and I'll stop
You say come and I'll come
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
With one wave of your hand
I'm your slave to command
But I'm glad, it's OK
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
You can stretch me until I'm ten feet tall
Or cut me down to the size of a rubber ball
You can use me, abuse me, but never refuse me
Without your love, I ain't a-nothin' at all
Well, they all think I'm a fool
`Cause you treat me so cruel
But I'll go on this way
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
You can stretch me until I'm ten feet tall
Or cut me down to the size of a rubber ball
You can use me, abuse me, but never refuse me
Without your love, I ain't a-nothin' at all
Well, they all think I'm a fool
`Cause you treat me so cruel
But I'll go on this way
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
"Putty (in your hands)'
by K. Rodgers and J. Patton
from the album "The Yardbirds Greatest Hits Vol. One" by The Yardbirds(gee, really?)
Chapter eight:
Angels and Devils and Digidestined. OH MY!
The many caverns of Infinity Mountain had quite a hellish reputation through out File Island. It was hardly a suprise that the Digimon who lived within them were feared, but those on the outside feared even the caves themselves. The mountain's very name came from the idea that some of the caverns spiraled downward for eternity. The atmosphere was quite infamous as well. It was often said that the darkness that filled the nighttime sky slept there in the day and that anyone who ventured into it while it slept would be driven mad. While quite morbid, it was perfectly understandable. Few Digimon ever ventured into Infinity Mountain and simple minds often feared the unfamiliar.
Of course, Pandoramon was quite familiar with it, so there was nothing for her to fear.
The all encompassing darkness was quite peaceful if you asked her. There was nothing at all to interrupt one's thoughts once inside it. It was a shame most of the armies amassed within Infinity Mountain were in no mental condition to enjoy the serenity, but then, there wasn't any other way to get them inside, was there? They were all far too wrapped up in folklore and simple minded idiocy to align with Devimon willingly. Fortunately, Pandoramon was much more open minded than most of File Island.
She could still remember when she first heard Devimon tell her about the Darkness, about the rejuvenation that it brought, about the rebirth that the entire Digiworld could experience if it was freed from the confines Myotismon was attempting to place upon it. Oh, she had heard plenty of unflattering things about Devimon before and she certainly heard plenty more once it became known that she was meeting with him. From the first day, she was flooded with opposition from virtually everyone she knew, all still steeped in their folklore. But Devimon won out easily. His simple, unorthodox logic never failed to fascinate her. "It is a simple fact that Darkness is more primary than light." he'd said once "Lock yourself in a room, blocking out all outside influence, and what do you find? Darkness. Only when you bring light in from the outside does it vanish, but it's always there, always returning when the outside influence is gone. It is the constant, not light." That was not all Devimon had told her "When is it that we sleep?" he'd asked one particularly memorable evening "We sleep at night, of course! That is when we rest, when eveything is calm. So imagine if there was a night spread all across this world. Not simply a absence of luminescence, but a kind of night that could penetrate straight through everything: a night that could cause every particle to sleep. Imagine the rest that everything would receive, never having to wake up!"
Eventually, Pandoramon had had enough of simply being a guest who happened to be around to hear the pearls of Devimon's wisdom. Of course, once she aligned herself with him wholly, she was no longer welcome anywhere amongst the blind fools of File Island. It was then that Devimon took her to Infinity Mountain.
She certainly didn't seem to fit among the dark, imposing cavern at first, and she DEFINITELY didn't seem to fit along side Devimon. Her small, fragile frame couldn't have contrasted more against Devimon's phantasmagoric body: For the most part, she looked like a young human, roughly thirteen. Her short, dark, messy hair surrounded a delicate face that seemed to portray a since of constant worry. Her large, soft eyes were dominated by eery white pupils that neatly matched her ghostly pale complexion. Unlike most Digimon her level, there was very little about her that lent it's self to combat outside of a simple, thin staff that virtually a part of her body. Far more eye catching were the two limp wings that branched from her back and hung at her side. They were far too weak to ever bring her flight or even raise themselves fully, but rather dragged along the ground behind her like a bird with both wings broken. The overall impression was terribly sad looking, but Pandoramon hardly cared for her appearance. She had far more important things to worry about.
Because of File Island's distance for the rift where The Darkness was attempting to enter the Digital World, even the great Devimon couldn't communicate with it any more; and Myotismon wouldn't allow him to approach it. It had become necessary to find a new way to communicate with The Darkness. That was Pandoramon's purpose in Infinity Mountain. She had constructed the giant device that could connect Devimon's mind directly to the consciouses that was The Darkness just as it was when he approached it in person. However, there was an important difference. The manner in which Devimon communicated with The Darkness was something that only another Devimon could comprehend, something that was imbedded deep within his being that Pandoramon was unable to decipher scientifically. To confiscate, she had somehow managed to build a converter within the apparatus that could, in theory, allow any Digimon to contact The Darkness. Of course, that was hardly something that could be allowed, only Devimon had the mental and emotional strength to withstand the unprecedented stress that would result from having one's mind invaded by another in that matter. Anyone else would probably receive irreparable madness along with the wisdom of The Darkness, provided they survived at all. And if some misguided Digimon did attempt it and was indeed driven insane, it could do remarkable damage with the knowledge that it's shattered mind suddenly held. To prevent this, Pandoramon had specially constructed the device to not allow and Digimon other than Devimon to access The Darkness with it. Even Pandoramon herself had never attempted to make contact; only Devimon had ever spoken with it.
As he was doing at that very moment.
The transmitter was, appearances wise, a giant dome over the user with dozens of tendrils extending from all sides to the user's head. The point at which the tendrils converged was far to high up for most Digimon to reach, but because it was designed for Devimon alone, they reached the top of his tall, ghastly frame easily. His entire body was totally stiff as The Darkness poured into his mind, filling him with it's knowledge. At the far end of the room, perched next to a large monitor, Pandoramon still couldn't help but be jealous of him.
Suddenly, one of the indicators flashed and signalled that the conversation was through. Pandoramon quickly deactivate the transmitter and the tendrils receded enough to allow Devimon to move without hitting them.
"I trust your majesty found wisdom in your meeting?" Pandoramon stated, trying as always to be as formal as possible.
"Always." Devimon answered, his otherworldly voice seeming to whisper from the entire room at once.
"Might I inquire as to what you have learned?" she asked.
"Not at the moment, no." Devimon curtly replied "In time, perhaps."
"I see." Pandoramon sighed, only partially hiding her disappointment "I apologize. I was only wishing to learn what course of action your majesty plans to take."
"Of course." Devimon muttered quietly, obviously caught up in whatever he had conversed with The Darkness over. After several second of silence, Pandoramon prodded again.
"It puzzles me why you did not chose to illuminate me as to the arrival of the Digidestined so soon." she said, cautiously "It is obviously a part of the greater will of The Darkness that you didn't, but I must confess that it is beyond my comprehending."
"It is very often that things are that way." Devimon reminded her, only then truly acknowledging her presence in the room "You must have faith and follow the path The Darkness as laid out for you and all of us."
"Yes, but how can I fully serve if I am not fully aware of the will I am seeking to serve?" she asked, unable to hide her frustration.
"The more one knows the lest one can act." Devimon reminded her, quoting one of his favorite saying "The burden and responsibility all but cripples the one who posses it. This is why The Darkness must operate through me and why I must rely upon you!"
"But what if I fail you?" she blurted out, allowing her composure to slip somewhat in frustration "There's just so much responsibility on me already, and I have so many questions I've yet to have answered, and...What if I mess up?"
"You do yourself a great disservice by worrying so." Devimon assured her, wrapping his frightening talons around her fragile body "You would not have been chosen for this duty if you were not ready for it."
"I suppose not..." Pandoramon sighed, not quite convinced.
Rather than continue to pressure the subject, Devimon simply turned to leave, treading on the tip of one of Pandoramon's wings the process. Although it hurt, she never made a sound.
***************************
Night in the Digital World made for quite a spectacle. Of course, the endlessly oscillating mass of colors that was the mid-day sky was fascinating as well, but the night was different. The inky blue that filled the sky at that time blocked most of the light out and most color with it. Still, the brightest waves managed to shine through the haze. And waves they were: soft, flowing ripples of light slowly mingling with each other from every imaginable direction. It was like watching some impossible ocean suspended in the heavens. Like the kaleidoscope of the day, it was almost hypnotizing, but a different kind of hypnosis. The day's sky had a way of exiting whoever spent too long starring into it, where as the night subdued with it's sleepy, meandering motions. It was as if God had designed night in the Digiworld to lull all it's occupants to sleep.
One of those occupants refused to comply.
Matt sat perched in one of the largest trees in the small woods the group had camped in. The nightmarish desert that had taken so long to traverse was finally behind them, but Matt was very troubled with were they were headed. Roughly a few day's journey from the woods was a mountain range in the center of File Island. Correction: it was really a single mountain, they had been told. A gigantic peak known as Infinity Mountain.
The realm of Devimon.
No matter how much Matt thought about it, he couldn't bring himself to believe it. They were actually going to challenge the dictator of the entire island! The shear stupidity of it alone boggled his mind; let alone the actual reality of the idea. How on earth - or the Digiworld, for that matter - did any of those fools actually expect to accomplish this?
Oh, that's right. It was because they were the "Magical Digidestined"...
Matt wished with all of his heart that they had never allowed Centarumon or Unimon to even talk to them, much less accompany them. Then neither of those maniacs would have had a chance to fill the other's heads with all their nonsense.
Below him, Matt heard one of the two trouble makers making their rounds guarding the woods. If they were so sure about all this Digidestined business, Matt though, why were they making such a fuss about protecting them? Just standing guard was all well and good, but as long as they had been with the group, all the two fools ever did was fuss that everything they did was too dangerous. The way Matt saw it, they probably didn't really believe any of their claims any more than he did. They probably were just grabbing at what little happened to resemble these "Digidestined" all their ancient texts talked about and ignoring all the signs to the contrary. Matt had tried as hard as he could to make the others realize this, but it wasn't any use. That idiot Tai took to the thought of being a "messiah" immediately and managed to talk the others into it as well. And they were a stubborn bunch once they got their minds set on something. Izzy could probably be dissuaded, and he might be able to scare Joe or Mimi back into reality for a little bit, but the cowards would undoubtedly return to the majority's preferences eventually. Sora he wasn't sure about. She was level headed enough to listen to reason, but her friendship with the others - Tai in particular - would undoubtedly cause problems. Matt didn't have a clue if she would pull out on the rest of the group.
In the end, it didn't wouldn't have really mattered if he'd convinced all of them; T.K. had bought into the idea hook, line, and sinker and refused to believe anything else. Every time Matt tried to get him to see things is a half-way sane manner, T.K. always replied with something along the lines of "But they said!". Somehow, Matt just couldn't bring himself to injure T.K.'s innocence and inform him that "they" didn't always know what was true and, this time, were probably saying otherwise even though they did. Not that T.K. wasn't well aware of the concept of lying; he wasn't stupid after all. It was just that he'd never seen something like this: here was something potentially life altering coming from people he trusted with his life. He couldn't fathom how someone so close could be lying about something so important.
It was a shame that T.K. was too young during the divorce to remember clearly; he'd need no convincing then...
Eventually, Matt's attention turned from the past back to the future. What was he going to do? He had very seriously considered ditching the whole group that very night and setting out to find a way of returning to Earth on his own. There were obviously plenty of knowledgeable Digimon out there. If he looked long enough, he'd probably be able to get himself home solo. As much as Matt liked the thought, he eventually gave up on it. After all, he knew next to nothing about the Digiworld; and even if he did, Devimon was making it a very dangerous place for one person to be alone. Well, sure he had Gabumon, but there was no doubt in Matt's mind that he would oppose any such idea. Also, T.K. would never agree, and there was no way in Hell Matt was leaving him alone in any group with Tai in it. The only course of action Matt could see was to remain with the group a little while longer and see how things played out. After all, It was easy for them to make one's self out to be a messiah in conversation, but when one actually came face to face with something like Devimon, things would no doubt be different. There was a chance that he would be able to sway them from this fool's crusade once it actually began in earnest.
Another thought had briefly entered Matt's mind. What if they actually made themselves into these "Digidestined"? Not literally, of course, but if they played the roles Centarumon and Unimon were trying to pin on them, they might be able to curry favor with the locals of File Island (something they had had very little of up to then). If they played their cards right, they might be able to fashion their own little Digimon army. From what Matt had been told, no island wide uprising had ever been attempted against Devimon; maybe their shear numbers would overpower Devimon's strength without the "Digidestined" having to lift a finger?
"Not bloody likely..." Matt laughed grimly to himself. Someone would probably see through the little show or demand that their "messiahs" lead them in battle themselves or something else. They simply knew too little about the "Digidestined" to accurately portray them. Centarumon and Unimon probably wouldn't be much help either. If they ever got so much as a wiff of what they were planing, they'd probably blab it to the whole island. And even if they somehow managed to pull the wool over File Island's collective eyes, it was doubtful that a horde of villagers - even brainwashed, fanatical villagers - would ever overcome Devimon. No; he'd wait until they reached Infinity Mountain and try to get them to turn around again. Seeing how easily they turned away from the right course of action when things got dangerous, it ought to be child's play to sway them from a wrong one...
A sudden, involuntary yawn made Matt realize that he wasn't as immune to the sedating effects of the night sky as he'd thought. He reached up to rub his eyes and only then realized just how stiff his body had become. Matt didn't take very kindly to falling asleep in a tree as high as the one he was in; there was a long way to fall. Carefully, he made his way back to the ground and walked back to where the others had set up camp. Soon, he had drifted to sleep; but, given what was being planed for the days ahead, waking up wasn't something that he looked forward too.
***************************
"Rise and shine everybody!" Gomamon shouted, as he shook his companions awake. Well, he tried to, at least.
"Mmmph...Just five more minutes mommy..." Tai mumbled, rolling over.
"Or hours." Agumon added, groaning.
"Or years." Mimi moaned, trying to ignore the little seal jabbing her side.
"Man...What time is it?" Joe mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes (without much success)
"Whatever it is, it's too early..." Tai answered, starting - despite his best efforts - to wake up.
"What time isn't `too early' for you?" Gomamon sighed.
"Tomorrow." Tai stated plainly "At the very least."
"And that'd be pushing it." Agumon added.
"What are so tired for anyway?" Tentomon asked.
"Cause it was so long before we got to sleep last night, that's why!" Tai grouched with a yawn.
"Tai, the only reason we kept going so late is because you slept in so late yesterday morning!" Matt pointed out, himself having awoke an hour before "If we'd just start moving earlier, we'd be able to stop sooner!"
"Of course, you realize that now he's going to start getting up late deliberately so that he annoys you." Joe sighed, noticing the wicked glint that showed up in Tai's eye.
"Not if I can help it, he won't." Sora assured with a yawn before Tai had a chance to say anything (he still didn't get up). Sora started to fuss at him, but noticed something was amiss:
"Hey...Where's Biyomon?"
"Over here!" Biyomon called from behind the prickly bush that they had bedded down next too. A second later, she emerged from behind it, covered in stickers.
"Whoa... What happened to you?" T.K. and Patamon asked in unison, both rather amused at the sight.
"I suppose that the ground here is at a steeper slant than I thought." Biyomon sighed, picking the thistles from her pink feathers.
"It could have been worse!" Tentomon pointed out from the small pond behind the said bush "If you had rolled very much farther, you'd have taken a little midnight swim!"
"That doesn't take stickers out of your feathers." Biyomon grunted as she tugged at a particularly stubborn one.
"But at least they're not wet ones!" Sora pointed out, giving her partner a hand.
"Well, give me a call when you're done pruning the Digimon." Tai said, rolling over to block out the noise.
"Tai Kamiya, you are getting up right now!" Sora firmly informed her (once) sleeping companion.
"Yeah, Tai," Joe agreed "don't delay the inevitable!"
"And quit dragging it out!" T.K. added, stretching.
"This is getting kind of old." Agumon continued.
"Yeah, whatever. Thanks a lot, Sora..." Tai grumbled, not taking kindly to suddenly being made into the least popular person in the Digiworld.
"Oh, come on Tai..." Sora sighed, shaking her head.
"No no no, you just go right on!" Tai interrupted, getting up and leaving "I just love having everybody fuss at me!"
"Well seeing how often you make us do it..." Matt muttered, just loud enough for Tai to hear. Tai gust grunted something that probably wasn't meant to be understood and wandered out to the edge of the woods.
"What's up with him?" T.K. asked to no one in particular.
"Well, is every one ready to start moving again?" Centarumon asked, wandering in before anyone had a chance to answer T.K.
"Give us a minute." Sora instructed, going off to find Tai. She came across him crouching by a tree at the abrupt edge of the woods.
"Tai?... TAI?... HEY, TAI! HELLO?" Sora shouted, trying to get his attention.
"I heard ya the first time." Tai grouched without looking at her.
"Oh... OK..." Sora sighed, somewhat awkwardly "Look... I'm sorry about back there..."
"Naw, it's all right." Tai slurred "You know how much I love to be put on the spot like that."
Sora couldn't help but wince at that. Having know Tai as long as she did, she knew that it was the exact opposite with him. He loved to be "the popular one". It was actually a little funny when you though about it: he made such an effort to be the careless, independent clown because he DID care. There was this part of him that always seemed to be looking for some way to get approval from those around him. He needed it. Not exactly unusual, especially for a boy Tai's age, but he just took it so seriously. Not that he'd never once said any of this to Sora, of course, she had simply figured it out over the years.
After several awkward seconds of silence, Sora gave up and decided to head back to the others. Before she'd gotten more than a step away, however, Tai finally spoke again:
"It's all right." he sighed "It's not your fault. Matt's the one who made it into a big deal."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Sora "agreed", not wanting to tell him that she thought Matt was right.
"You do know why he's like that, don't you?" Tai asked, with that wicked glint back in his eye.
"No, Tai. I don't..." Sora replied, happy to humoring him if it would make him more co-operative.
"It's all that leather." Tai explained "Let's see you be all sunshine-y when you running around 24-7 in leather underwear!"
"I don't think he's got that much of an ensemble going." Sora giggled, sitting down next to Tai.
"I bet he does!" Tai insisted "And they've probably got tacks in `em to prove how macho he is!"
"Well, I have to admit, I'd have trouble questioning the macho quality of a guy who runs around in leather, tack-filled undies." Sora laughed, picturing it for a moment.
"Kinda like that dude who was hanging around the beach on that one field trip." Tai continued "Remember him? Man... And it must have been 200 degrees too..."
Sora started to think back, not to the incident Tai mentioned, but to her childhood in general. Specifically, the fact that Tai seemed to be present for just about all of it. It was kind of strange really, Tai seemed present for practically every event worth remembering (in fact, he instigated many of them himself). It was very ironic, or appropriate perhaps, that he should wind up with her in this: easily the most unforgettable event she would ever experience. Tai had obviously been thinking about the same thing:
"You know what?" he asked, sounding uncharacteristic lost in thought.
"What?" Sora asked, snapping back to reality.
"I was just thinking..." Tai continued, still strangely quiet "And... Well... I just... I wanted to make sure you knew that I'm glad you're here."
"Huh?"
"Well, you know..." Tai explained "I'm just glad that, if I'm gonna get yanked off of the Earth and plopped on some... whatever this place actually is... Not that I'm really that glad at all, of course... Anyway, If I gotta go through that, I'm glad I'm going through it with you."
"Oh...Thanks" Sora smiled, blushing.
"I mean, if it weren't for you I'd a killed Matt after five minutes!" Tai laughed wickedly.
"WHAT?"
"Oh, come on! You know what I mean." Tai explained "Admit it: we're lucky to have you around to play ref. I would have dug Matt a nice, gloomy little grave if you weren't around to keep me my nice, friendly self!"
"Yeah, right..." Sora sighed, laughing softly at something totally different.
"Hey, guys?" Agumon piped up from behind them "We're ready to go whenever you are!"
"We're coming!" Sora called, still laughing a bit to herself as she got up.
"OK, what'd I say?" Tai asked, starting to get that it wasn't his marvelous sense of humor she was laughing at.
"Nothing, Tai..."
"Come on, what?"
"Really, it's nothing." Sora insisted "Nothing at all..."
***************************
It was reasonably warm that day, but there was enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable enough. The little caravan of humans and Digimon was far more organized that day that it had been in the past, thanks in no small part to their virtual drill sergeant Centarumon. He had insisted on grouping all the humans together in the center of what he called their "expedition" and organizing all their Digimon in a neat perimeter around them. If he had had his way, Centarumon would probably have tried to make them march in time as well, but he was fortunately kept in check by Unimon.
Centarumon had insisted on their rescuing Unimon as soon as he had been freed from The Temple of Quadra. Apparently, Unimon had been infected by a black gear just before him and had while he had been successful in fighting of Devimon's direct control, the gear had driven him virtually insane. Centarumon guessed that Unimon had hidden himself where he couldn't do any harm, as he had done. After doing some snooping around, they found him living in an extremely unpleasant bog (needless to say, Mimi wasn't exactly thrilled during their visit) and got the gear out of him.
It was that night, as the group spoke with the old Unicorn for the first time, that the seven children found out who they were.
"There is a legend we Digimon have." Unimon had explained "It's a very old legend, passed down for centuries in this world. Most Digimon think of it as little more than a bedtime story; indeed, there's enough different versions of it floating around to pacify whole world of infants. But there are some, such as Centarumon and myself, who know it to be more. We have dedicated our existence to collecting and preserving ancient text concerning these legends, or as the most important ones are, `prophecies', dating back to long before they were corrupted to the level of campfire tales."
"You mean those things that were burned up back at the temple?" Tentomon inquired.
"Some of them were there," Unimon answered, more amused than annoyed at Tentomon's interruption "but most of the texts are hidden in other places. Certainly, never in as close proximity to each other as the scrolls of Quadra.
"Anyway, the legend goes like this: Once, long ago, when the Digital Universe was still young, a great evil swept through this world. This being was the most powerful creature ever to spawn from our realm; every fiber of it's being was focused upon a single goal: DESTRUCTION. No Digimon alone could stand against him. But there was hope. A group of beings from a totally different dimension arrived and lead the Digimon against their enemy. Somehow, they had the power to trigger digivolutions in Digimon, which allowed them to defeat this dark menace."
Unimon paused for a moment before continuing, letting his audience begin to piece together where he was going on their own first.
"Hey, wait a minute!" T.K. finally piped up "That kind of sounds a bit like us! I mean, we came from earth and we can make our Digimon digivolve!"
"Exactly!" Unimon said with a grin "And wait ;till you here this: It was said that if any evil so great ever threatened to swallow the entire Digital World again, a new group of warriors would arrive and save our world once again."
For a few short moments, the crackling of the camp fire was the only sound coming from their camp ground.
"W-W-Wait a minute..." Tentomon stuttered "You're not seriously suggesting that we're The Digidestined, are you?"
"I'm afraid that I'm not suggesting anything." Unimon answered firmly "This is something I'm telling you. It was prophesied that roughly six or eight children from another realm than this would arrive in our time of peril. The would each be accompanied by a Digimon who could digivolve with the help of a device that each of the children would carry. Don't you see? You fit these prophecies perfectly! The Digital World is drowning in corruption. Vile warlords such as Devimon are raining terror upon Digimon everywhere. And here you are: seven children dropped down upon us from another dimension, accompanied by seven Digimon whom you can make to digivolve with your Digivices... You are the ones the prophesies have told us of! You are the ones who have come to save us!"
"If you don't mind my asking," Matt interrupted, not buying any of this for a second "Where exactly did these `prophesies' or whatever come from?"
"No one knows who first recorded them." Unimon answered "All we know is that they were recorded and have been preserved as accurately as we could manage."
"And exactly how long have you been `preserving' these things?" Matt continued.
"No one knows for sure." Unimon explained "Thousands of years, most likely."
Then Matt did something no one (besides T.K.) had ever seen or heard:
He laughed out loud.
It wasn't a very pleasant laugh either, it was more like a sound a wild animal would make while playing with it's prey. A cold, mocking, quiet, yet powerful chuckle that somehow managed to sent chills down the spines of everyone who heard it. "So, let me get this straight..." Matt continued "You've got these prophesies. You don't know who they're by. You don't know when they were made. You've been passing them down for THOUSANDS of years-"
"You have trouble believing what I'm telling you?" Unimon interrupted.
"WHO WOULDN'T?" Matt shouted "Hell, it sounds like you didn't even have a sure number of these... `Digidestined' or whatever the were. How can you possibly have any idea this stuff is talking about us, or if it's even true at all?"
"THE ANCIENT TEXTS ARE NO FRAUDS!!!" Centarumon bellowed angrily "YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TO BE SLANDERING THEN SO!!!"
"Calm yourself, friend." Unimon the old horse insisted "He has every right to be asking questions. You would too if you were in his situation."
"So, in other words, we're like heros?" Tai asked, taking to the idea far more readily than Matt.
"In every sense of the word." Unimon replied, glad that at least someone was listening.
"No, Tai. NO." Matt firmly countered "I know that look. I've got a pretty good Idea where this is going and I won't let it. This is stupid."
"Hey, maybe you think so, but think is sounds kind of cool!" Tai replied.
"Yeah, and I think hanging you by your own hair would be cool, but that doesn't make it a good idea." Matt countered "Now, I've never seen any legendary heros or anything up close, but I don't think they look very much like us!"
"He does have a point there." Joe agreed.
"And even you have to admit that this whole idea is pretty tough to swallow." Matt continued.
"I know I will..." Mimi concurred.
"Well, if were NOT the Digidestined, then what the hell are we doing here?"
Tai challenged.
Try as he might, Matt couldn't come up with a response to that.
"That's a good point." Tentomon mussed "I certainly can't come up with another reason why you would ever be brought to the Digiworld."
"Do any other humans ever come here?" Sora asked Unimon.
"No. Only the Digidestined may cross into this realm." Unimon answered.
"Well that settles it!" Tai announced "We're the Digidestined and that makes us HEROS!!!"
And so it was. Within minutes, Tai had succeeded in convincing everyone but Matt that what Unimon and Centarumon were saying was true. And now, here they were; trekking off to pay Devimon a visit.
"So, run this by me again." Matt asked Unimon "HOW exactly are we supposed to sneak up on someone who controls practically every inch of the island interior?"
"Just because he commands it in theory, he doesn't have to physically control it." Unimon explained "We are headed to Systems Canyon, it is the only waterway from the coast to Infinity Mountain. It is also the only entrance to a number of mines that Devimon needs to manufacture his Black Gears. Now, the mines are extremely dangerous to navigate and working in them is more of an art than a science. Thus, Digimon with Gears in them are incapable of working them."
"So instead, he made a deal with the miners already there that he'd leave them alone if they started working for him." Matt finished, catching on quickly.
"Very good!" Unimon congratulated "Obviously, these Digimon are driven by greed and self preservation as opposed to any major sense of loyalty or morals; otherwise, they wouldn't be aligned with Devimon. Fortunately for us, that can be made to work against Devimon as easily as it has been to make it work for him."
"You want to try to bribe them into helping us?" Matt asked "What can our little... bunch out bid Devimon?"
"We can't." Unimon explained "Not in terms of buying out everyone, anyway. However, we should be able to convince some individuals to assist us long enough to get us what we need."
"And that is..."
"Safe passage along the Canyon River straight into Infinity Mountain." Unimon answered "Once there, we'll already be behind most of Devimon's lines of defence and we can hid him by surprise."
As much as Matt hatted to admit it, the plan did seem to have merit to it. There was one problem though: "What if no one is willing to help us?"
"Don't worry, there's always at least one Digimon in that canyon who's willing to do what you need for the right price." Unimon laughed "most of them would sell you the guy standing right next to them if you could pay them enough."
"I assume that YOU are going to be doing all this paying?" Matt asked "I doubt that any of us would have anything of interest."
"Don't worry." Unimon assured him "We've thought of everything."
If there was any saying that truly terrified Matt, that was definitely one of them.
***************************
The water that slowly slipped along the bottom of Systems Canyon wasn't anywhere as dirty as it looked, but in what little light actually made it down that far, everything looked dirty. At least, that's what Myrtilemon thought. He hated coming here. He hated the trip across the ocean, he hated the sickening food he had to bring with him, he hatted the smelly, smart- aleck Digimon he had to talk too once he got there, and most of all, he hated the ugly, stinking, grimy dirt that was all over EVERYTHING. It was like the miners made sure to grind everything into dust and spread it all over whatever they could find just to bug him. He desperately missed his home back on Server and his nice, clean shop. How he'd ever allowed himself to get locked into that lousy contract was more than Myrtilemon could ever figure out. Somehow, he'd wound up having to accompany every single shipment of supplies to the mines himself instead of sending a currier like normal Digimon did.
So there he was, floating around at the bottom of that smelly canyon waiting for some smelly messenger from The Mining Consortium to come take the supplies and make him wait a few smelly days to be paid. The it was another week on the ocean before the torturously short two months were over and he'd have to lock up the shop and do it all again. Not only was it bad business, but it was bad for his health, and most of all IT WAS STUPID!
"Hey, you ready for us to take the stuff up now?" a voice called from the top of the lifting arm at the dock.
"What kind of question is that?" Myrtilemon fumed "OF COURSE I AM!!!"
"All right, just a sec!" the operator shouted back, bringing giant arm around to lift the barge up onto the loading platform. It took forever, as usual. And, also as usual, Myrtilemon would have given ANYTHING for it to all just vanish off the face of the Digital World.
****************************
Izzy had remarked that the interior of Systems Canyon looked like Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest dream or worst nightmare, depending on how one looked at it. He certainly was right. Even if the canyon had been shallow enough for one at the top to see the bottom (but it was many times too deep for that), it would have been hidden for the amazing web of platforms that jutted straight out of the wall and almost seemed to float in midair. There were levels upon levels of walkways and platforms sticking so far out that it was amazing that they could even support their own weight, much less their inhabitants. The whole canyon was abuzz with more Digimon than any of the humans could ever have imagined. Every single size and shape and color that any of them could dream up was wandering around somewhere down in that mess of a canyon. And as impressive at it was from above, it was even more amazing up close.
"Um, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sora whispered (or as close to it as could be heard over the droning sounds of the crowds and machinery) to Unimon "What if someone sees us and runs off to tell Devimon?"
"As long as you stay out of their business, they won't care what you do or what Devimon thinks of you." Unimon assured her "Besides, Digimon from all over this world come through here. You're hardly the most unusual thing they've ever seen."
"I'll take that as a complement." Mimi piped up from behind.
"Man, this place is COOL!" T.K. shouted in awe, peering over a handrail into the dozens of levels below.
"And LOUD..." Palmon complained, trying her best to shut the endless droning out of her ears.
"I would LOVE to have a chance to speak with some of the architects who built this place." Izzy commented, looking around with T.K. "These structures are absolutely incredible!"
"Good luck." Tentomon replied "Most of this stuff is older than all of us put together."
"Let's just do what we need to do and get out!" Matt pressured, dragging T.K. back from the ledge "I'm sure that a few of these guys would imagine that Devimon would give a pretty hefty reward for turning us in."
"And risk having Devimon venture down into these depths himself?" Centarumon laughed "Never. These cowards want to keep him as far away as they can!"
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Tai asked "Let's do this thing!"
It took a VERY long time to weave their way through the pulsating crowds and to climb down the layers of platforms before reaching the river. Along the way, various peddlers tried to either sell them all sorts of useless brick a brack or to buy things off of them. One restaurant owner even made an offer to Unimon to purchase Sora and Mimi as waiters! Tai, of course, leapt at the chance to have something new to torment them over. It took a well placed fist from Mimi to finally shut him up. After several more hours of wandering, the finally arrived at the docks of Canyon River.
By the time they were that far down, most of the light from above had been blocked out by the platforms or absorbed by the increasingly dirty air. Thus, most of the illumination came from flickering, artificial sources that bathed the docks in a dim, blue light. Somehow, it seemed to make the whole area seem colder looking at it.
"Well, here we are." Unimon announced, somewhat needlessly.
"Oh, goodie..." Mimi grumbled.
"Well, now that were here, how are we supposed to find someone who'll be willing to help us?" Matt asked.
Before Unimon had a chance to answer, a loud, obnoxious voice rang out from inside the small bar just in front of them:
"YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW WHAT DEVIMON SAYS ABOUT THE TAX JUNK DOWN HERE, AND I DON'T CARE! I DON'T EVEN LIVE ON THIS STINKIN' ISLAND! HE'S GOT NOTHING ON ME, OK? NOW HURRY UP AND GET ME THAT DRINK!!!"
"That sounds encouraging!" Gomamon laughed, wandering inside.
"Say, there's not an age limit for that place is there?" Tai asked.
"Don't worry, I'll keep nice and sober Tai!" Sora assured him.
"What's all that about?" T.K. asked Matt, the two of them taking up the rear.
"Nothing you need to worry about." Matt replied "Just stick close tome, OK?"
Just as Matt was about to enter, he suddenly got the feeling that someone behind him was watching him. He turned around to look, and found several Digimon wandering around the walkways in front of the bar door, but none that seemed particularly interested in him or any of his companions. Still, he nearly went out to take another look; but T.K. tugged at his side and brought him in with the rest of them. Had Matt actually gone looking, he might have spied a strange form that had indeed been watching him from the far end of that particular platform: the from of a girl, roughly his age, with a pair of limp wings hanging behind her.
The maker of all the commotion was a short, stubby Digimon by the name of Myrtilemon. Most of his face was hidden behind the collar of his jacket, he shaggy yellow hair and his dark derby hat. All that was clear visible was two large, yellow eyes.
"OK, so lemme get this straight..." Myrtilemon said, downing his umpteenth glass of a strange, green liquid "This bunch of looser are supposed to be the Digidestined and you want me to take you to Infinity Mountain so you can go do you hero thing, right?"
"That's it in a nutshell." Unimon replied.
"Well, let me go ahead and say this straight off..." Myrtilemon replied, whipping his mouth "You're crazy. All of ya."
"Well, I'm glad at least ONE other person thinks so..." Matt mumbled, just loud enough to be heard.
"But then, this is about business, not my personal feelings, right? So let's see..." Myrtilemon continued "If you are crazy, I don't have much reason to care, do I? All I have to do is get you to the foot of Infinity Mountain and hightail it outa there. Then I go home with twice what I woulda made otherwise. Doesn't sound that bad..."
"I'm glad you think so." Unimon replied.
"But who knows? You just might be right about all this Digidestined mumbo jumbo!" Myrtilemon pointed out "If you off Devimon, then there's no more full-on mining around here anymore and I don't have any more customers here no more..."
"Which DOES sound bad..." Sora piped up, getting worried.
"Are you kidding?" Myrtilemon laughed "That's even BETTER! If you could get me outa this lousy contract, I'd pay YOU! If I never see this lousy pit again, it'll be too soon!"
"Well then, it's settled!" Unimon grinned "You'll get half your fee up front, and the rest when we're at Infinity Mountain plus a little extra if we enjoy the trip."
"Well, I ain't much of a tour guide, but I'll see what I can do!" their new guide agreed.
"When will we be departing?" Centarumon asked "We would like to be gone as soon as possible."
"Well, first I gotta get all my cargo on shore and stuff." Myrtilemon thought aloud "That'll take the better part of the day; and I don't think you wanna be spending the night here... How's this evening sound?"
"Sounds fine too me!" Tai declared.
"Well, the sooner we get moving the better." Joe agreed "Let's just get all this stuff over with."
"Well, if you don't mind, might we take a look around your ship?" Tentomon requested.
"Yeah, sure. Knock yourself out. It's at port five." Myrtilemon sighed, singling for another drink "Just don't touch anything, especially the cargo. Those miner bozos beat the crate up enough as it is."
"Don't worry!" Biyomon assured him "We'll be as careful as we can!"
"Um, Matt?" T.K. asked as the whole group filed out "Do I still have to go to sleep at a bedtime again?"
"I think we'll make an exception this time." Matt told him.
"You'll be lucky if you sleep at all my little friend." Centarumon pointed out as they made their way down the steps to the boat.
Back in the bar, Myrtilemon was lost in thought. This whole deal wasn't sitting well with him at all. The timing wasn't the way he would have liked. Maybe if those lunatics had come up first, and THEN the counter offer was made, he'd have been more comfortable. But he didn't like having to play babysitter for them all night knowing what he did. There were too many chances for someone to catch on and way too many of them were going to be on the boat. If they figured him out, he was toast. Almost on cue, Pandoramon emerged from the shadows behind him.
"I trust everything went well?" she asked, even though she'd been there for the whole conversation.
"Yeah." Myrtilemon assured her "They don't suspect nothing."
"Good." Pandoramon sighed "As wee discussed, there will be no attempts made on them while they are on your barge. There will be no danger."
"And you're gonna make SURE my contract gets changed?" Myrtilemon pressured "THAT'S all that matters to me. Not you, not Devimon, not those weirdos. I wanna go home and never come back here again. NEVER. Got that?"
"Absolutely." Pandoramon assured him "No one will dare question it."
"Good..." Myrtilemon sighed "And you better made sure that they never find out that I did it, OK? If they manage to weasel outa all this, I don't wanna have any of `em coming after me."
"None of the will `weasel out' of our grasp." Pandoramon insisted "But it will be as you wish."
"All right... I'll have `em at the Mountain by 2. Give me about thirty minutes to get good and far away before you go and do whatever ya got planed. OK?"
"Fine." Pandoramon agreed, slipping back into the shadows again.
Myrtilemon wasn't kidding, he was hardly a tour guide and his barge was hardly a pleasure craft, but it managed to get them where they were going fine. By the time they were near Infinity Mountain, the canyon was so dark that they could have simply sat still all night and no one would have ever noticed. Some how, though, they wound up at a sudden wall of stone that jutted up in front of them. At the base of the wall was a large gap that the river flowed out of. At first, it seemed that they would have to take the boat straight in, but Centarumon insisted that there were dry walkways on either side of the water way.
"Well, here we are!" Myrtilemon declared "Everybody off!"
One by one, the passenger fumbled down the dimly lit stairs to the slippery rocks below.
"WHOA!" Mimi shouted, stumbling around on the stones "I thought you said this stuff was supposed to be dry!"
"Well, it's better than wadding around in the river!" Gabumon pointed out.
"But it's worse than being on dry land, too!" Palmon countered.
"Whatever..." Tai groaned "Let's just try to stay out of the water, OK?"
"Um, why don't we have any flashlights?" Sora asked "I know Joe has some."
"Ask general Centarumon." Joe grumbled, wanting more than anything to get them out of his bag.
"Those lights would attract too much attention." Centarumon explained "We need to stay unnoticed until we are right on top of Devimon!"
Meanwhile, back on the boat, Unimon took care of paying Myrtilemon.
"Oh, come on!" he whined "The trip couldn't have been THAT bad!"
"It wasn't." Unimon explained "But then, I never said you'd get a BIG bonus, did I?"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." Myrtilemon sighed, getting back at the wheel as Unimon leapt off the boat "Nice knowing ya..."
With that, Myrtilemon left the unfortunate travelers to wander straight into their trap...
To be continued...
Book one
Chapter eight
You say hop and I'll hop
You say stop and I'll stop
You say come and I'll come
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
With one wave of your hand
I'm your slave to command
But I'm glad, it's OK
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
You can stretch me until I'm ten feet tall
Or cut me down to the size of a rubber ball
You can use me, abuse me, but never refuse me
Without your love, I ain't a-nothin' at all
Well, they all think I'm a fool
`Cause you treat me so cruel
But I'll go on this way
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
You can stretch me until I'm ten feet tall
Or cut me down to the size of a rubber ball
You can use me, abuse me, but never refuse me
Without your love, I ain't a-nothin' at all
Well, they all think I'm a fool
`Cause you treat me so cruel
But I'll go on this way
Anything you say
I'm like a hunk of clay
I'm just like putty
Putty in your hands, uh huh
"Putty (in your hands)'
by K. Rodgers and J. Patton
from the album "The Yardbirds Greatest Hits Vol. One" by The Yardbirds(gee, really?)
Chapter eight:
Angels and Devils and Digidestined. OH MY!
The many caverns of Infinity Mountain had quite a hellish reputation through out File Island. It was hardly a suprise that the Digimon who lived within them were feared, but those on the outside feared even the caves themselves. The mountain's very name came from the idea that some of the caverns spiraled downward for eternity. The atmosphere was quite infamous as well. It was often said that the darkness that filled the nighttime sky slept there in the day and that anyone who ventured into it while it slept would be driven mad. While quite morbid, it was perfectly understandable. Few Digimon ever ventured into Infinity Mountain and simple minds often feared the unfamiliar.
Of course, Pandoramon was quite familiar with it, so there was nothing for her to fear.
The all encompassing darkness was quite peaceful if you asked her. There was nothing at all to interrupt one's thoughts once inside it. It was a shame most of the armies amassed within Infinity Mountain were in no mental condition to enjoy the serenity, but then, there wasn't any other way to get them inside, was there? They were all far too wrapped up in folklore and simple minded idiocy to align with Devimon willingly. Fortunately, Pandoramon was much more open minded than most of File Island.
She could still remember when she first heard Devimon tell her about the Darkness, about the rejuvenation that it brought, about the rebirth that the entire Digiworld could experience if it was freed from the confines Myotismon was attempting to place upon it. Oh, she had heard plenty of unflattering things about Devimon before and she certainly heard plenty more once it became known that she was meeting with him. From the first day, she was flooded with opposition from virtually everyone she knew, all still steeped in their folklore. But Devimon won out easily. His simple, unorthodox logic never failed to fascinate her. "It is a simple fact that Darkness is more primary than light." he'd said once "Lock yourself in a room, blocking out all outside influence, and what do you find? Darkness. Only when you bring light in from the outside does it vanish, but it's always there, always returning when the outside influence is gone. It is the constant, not light." That was not all Devimon had told her "When is it that we sleep?" he'd asked one particularly memorable evening "We sleep at night, of course! That is when we rest, when eveything is calm. So imagine if there was a night spread all across this world. Not simply a absence of luminescence, but a kind of night that could penetrate straight through everything: a night that could cause every particle to sleep. Imagine the rest that everything would receive, never having to wake up!"
Eventually, Pandoramon had had enough of simply being a guest who happened to be around to hear the pearls of Devimon's wisdom. Of course, once she aligned herself with him wholly, she was no longer welcome anywhere amongst the blind fools of File Island. It was then that Devimon took her to Infinity Mountain.
She certainly didn't seem to fit among the dark, imposing cavern at first, and she DEFINITELY didn't seem to fit along side Devimon. Her small, fragile frame couldn't have contrasted more against Devimon's phantasmagoric body: For the most part, she looked like a young human, roughly thirteen. Her short, dark, messy hair surrounded a delicate face that seemed to portray a since of constant worry. Her large, soft eyes were dominated by eery white pupils that neatly matched her ghostly pale complexion. Unlike most Digimon her level, there was very little about her that lent it's self to combat outside of a simple, thin staff that virtually a part of her body. Far more eye catching were the two limp wings that branched from her back and hung at her side. They were far too weak to ever bring her flight or even raise themselves fully, but rather dragged along the ground behind her like a bird with both wings broken. The overall impression was terribly sad looking, but Pandoramon hardly cared for her appearance. She had far more important things to worry about.
Because of File Island's distance for the rift where The Darkness was attempting to enter the Digital World, even the great Devimon couldn't communicate with it any more; and Myotismon wouldn't allow him to approach it. It had become necessary to find a new way to communicate with The Darkness. That was Pandoramon's purpose in Infinity Mountain. She had constructed the giant device that could connect Devimon's mind directly to the consciouses that was The Darkness just as it was when he approached it in person. However, there was an important difference. The manner in which Devimon communicated with The Darkness was something that only another Devimon could comprehend, something that was imbedded deep within his being that Pandoramon was unable to decipher scientifically. To confiscate, she had somehow managed to build a converter within the apparatus that could, in theory, allow any Digimon to contact The Darkness. Of course, that was hardly something that could be allowed, only Devimon had the mental and emotional strength to withstand the unprecedented stress that would result from having one's mind invaded by another in that matter. Anyone else would probably receive irreparable madness along with the wisdom of The Darkness, provided they survived at all. And if some misguided Digimon did attempt it and was indeed driven insane, it could do remarkable damage with the knowledge that it's shattered mind suddenly held. To prevent this, Pandoramon had specially constructed the device to not allow and Digimon other than Devimon to access The Darkness with it. Even Pandoramon herself had never attempted to make contact; only Devimon had ever spoken with it.
As he was doing at that very moment.
The transmitter was, appearances wise, a giant dome over the user with dozens of tendrils extending from all sides to the user's head. The point at which the tendrils converged was far to high up for most Digimon to reach, but because it was designed for Devimon alone, they reached the top of his tall, ghastly frame easily. His entire body was totally stiff as The Darkness poured into his mind, filling him with it's knowledge. At the far end of the room, perched next to a large monitor, Pandoramon still couldn't help but be jealous of him.
Suddenly, one of the indicators flashed and signalled that the conversation was through. Pandoramon quickly deactivate the transmitter and the tendrils receded enough to allow Devimon to move without hitting them.
"I trust your majesty found wisdom in your meeting?" Pandoramon stated, trying as always to be as formal as possible.
"Always." Devimon answered, his otherworldly voice seeming to whisper from the entire room at once.
"Might I inquire as to what you have learned?" she asked.
"Not at the moment, no." Devimon curtly replied "In time, perhaps."
"I see." Pandoramon sighed, only partially hiding her disappointment "I apologize. I was only wishing to learn what course of action your majesty plans to take."
"Of course." Devimon muttered quietly, obviously caught up in whatever he had conversed with The Darkness over. After several second of silence, Pandoramon prodded again.
"It puzzles me why you did not chose to illuminate me as to the arrival of the Digidestined so soon." she said, cautiously "It is obviously a part of the greater will of The Darkness that you didn't, but I must confess that it is beyond my comprehending."
"It is very often that things are that way." Devimon reminded her, only then truly acknowledging her presence in the room "You must have faith and follow the path The Darkness as laid out for you and all of us."
"Yes, but how can I fully serve if I am not fully aware of the will I am seeking to serve?" she asked, unable to hide her frustration.
"The more one knows the lest one can act." Devimon reminded her, quoting one of his favorite saying "The burden and responsibility all but cripples the one who posses it. This is why The Darkness must operate through me and why I must rely upon you!"
"But what if I fail you?" she blurted out, allowing her composure to slip somewhat in frustration "There's just so much responsibility on me already, and I have so many questions I've yet to have answered, and...What if I mess up?"
"You do yourself a great disservice by worrying so." Devimon assured her, wrapping his frightening talons around her fragile body "You would not have been chosen for this duty if you were not ready for it."
"I suppose not..." Pandoramon sighed, not quite convinced.
Rather than continue to pressure the subject, Devimon simply turned to leave, treading on the tip of one of Pandoramon's wings the process. Although it hurt, she never made a sound.
***************************
Night in the Digital World made for quite a spectacle. Of course, the endlessly oscillating mass of colors that was the mid-day sky was fascinating as well, but the night was different. The inky blue that filled the sky at that time blocked most of the light out and most color with it. Still, the brightest waves managed to shine through the haze. And waves they were: soft, flowing ripples of light slowly mingling with each other from every imaginable direction. It was like watching some impossible ocean suspended in the heavens. Like the kaleidoscope of the day, it was almost hypnotizing, but a different kind of hypnosis. The day's sky had a way of exiting whoever spent too long starring into it, where as the night subdued with it's sleepy, meandering motions. It was as if God had designed night in the Digiworld to lull all it's occupants to sleep.
One of those occupants refused to comply.
Matt sat perched in one of the largest trees in the small woods the group had camped in. The nightmarish desert that had taken so long to traverse was finally behind them, but Matt was very troubled with were they were headed. Roughly a few day's journey from the woods was a mountain range in the center of File Island. Correction: it was really a single mountain, they had been told. A gigantic peak known as Infinity Mountain.
The realm of Devimon.
No matter how much Matt thought about it, he couldn't bring himself to believe it. They were actually going to challenge the dictator of the entire island! The shear stupidity of it alone boggled his mind; let alone the actual reality of the idea. How on earth - or the Digiworld, for that matter - did any of those fools actually expect to accomplish this?
Oh, that's right. It was because they were the "Magical Digidestined"...
Matt wished with all of his heart that they had never allowed Centarumon or Unimon to even talk to them, much less accompany them. Then neither of those maniacs would have had a chance to fill the other's heads with all their nonsense.
Below him, Matt heard one of the two trouble makers making their rounds guarding the woods. If they were so sure about all this Digidestined business, Matt though, why were they making such a fuss about protecting them? Just standing guard was all well and good, but as long as they had been with the group, all the two fools ever did was fuss that everything they did was too dangerous. The way Matt saw it, they probably didn't really believe any of their claims any more than he did. They probably were just grabbing at what little happened to resemble these "Digidestined" all their ancient texts talked about and ignoring all the signs to the contrary. Matt had tried as hard as he could to make the others realize this, but it wasn't any use. That idiot Tai took to the thought of being a "messiah" immediately and managed to talk the others into it as well. And they were a stubborn bunch once they got their minds set on something. Izzy could probably be dissuaded, and he might be able to scare Joe or Mimi back into reality for a little bit, but the cowards would undoubtedly return to the majority's preferences eventually. Sora he wasn't sure about. She was level headed enough to listen to reason, but her friendship with the others - Tai in particular - would undoubtedly cause problems. Matt didn't have a clue if she would pull out on the rest of the group.
In the end, it didn't wouldn't have really mattered if he'd convinced all of them; T.K. had bought into the idea hook, line, and sinker and refused to believe anything else. Every time Matt tried to get him to see things is a half-way sane manner, T.K. always replied with something along the lines of "But they said!". Somehow, Matt just couldn't bring himself to injure T.K.'s innocence and inform him that "they" didn't always know what was true and, this time, were probably saying otherwise even though they did. Not that T.K. wasn't well aware of the concept of lying; he wasn't stupid after all. It was just that he'd never seen something like this: here was something potentially life altering coming from people he trusted with his life. He couldn't fathom how someone so close could be lying about something so important.
It was a shame that T.K. was too young during the divorce to remember clearly; he'd need no convincing then...
Eventually, Matt's attention turned from the past back to the future. What was he going to do? He had very seriously considered ditching the whole group that very night and setting out to find a way of returning to Earth on his own. There were obviously plenty of knowledgeable Digimon out there. If he looked long enough, he'd probably be able to get himself home solo. As much as Matt liked the thought, he eventually gave up on it. After all, he knew next to nothing about the Digiworld; and even if he did, Devimon was making it a very dangerous place for one person to be alone. Well, sure he had Gabumon, but there was no doubt in Matt's mind that he would oppose any such idea. Also, T.K. would never agree, and there was no way in Hell Matt was leaving him alone in any group with Tai in it. The only course of action Matt could see was to remain with the group a little while longer and see how things played out. After all, It was easy for them to make one's self out to be a messiah in conversation, but when one actually came face to face with something like Devimon, things would no doubt be different. There was a chance that he would be able to sway them from this fool's crusade once it actually began in earnest.
Another thought had briefly entered Matt's mind. What if they actually made themselves into these "Digidestined"? Not literally, of course, but if they played the roles Centarumon and Unimon were trying to pin on them, they might be able to curry favor with the locals of File Island (something they had had very little of up to then). If they played their cards right, they might be able to fashion their own little Digimon army. From what Matt had been told, no island wide uprising had ever been attempted against Devimon; maybe their shear numbers would overpower Devimon's strength without the "Digidestined" having to lift a finger?
"Not bloody likely..." Matt laughed grimly to himself. Someone would probably see through the little show or demand that their "messiahs" lead them in battle themselves or something else. They simply knew too little about the "Digidestined" to accurately portray them. Centarumon and Unimon probably wouldn't be much help either. If they ever got so much as a wiff of what they were planing, they'd probably blab it to the whole island. And even if they somehow managed to pull the wool over File Island's collective eyes, it was doubtful that a horde of villagers - even brainwashed, fanatical villagers - would ever overcome Devimon. No; he'd wait until they reached Infinity Mountain and try to get them to turn around again. Seeing how easily they turned away from the right course of action when things got dangerous, it ought to be child's play to sway them from a wrong one...
A sudden, involuntary yawn made Matt realize that he wasn't as immune to the sedating effects of the night sky as he'd thought. He reached up to rub his eyes and only then realized just how stiff his body had become. Matt didn't take very kindly to falling asleep in a tree as high as the one he was in; there was a long way to fall. Carefully, he made his way back to the ground and walked back to where the others had set up camp. Soon, he had drifted to sleep; but, given what was being planed for the days ahead, waking up wasn't something that he looked forward too.
***************************
"Rise and shine everybody!" Gomamon shouted, as he shook his companions awake. Well, he tried to, at least.
"Mmmph...Just five more minutes mommy..." Tai mumbled, rolling over.
"Or hours." Agumon added, groaning.
"Or years." Mimi moaned, trying to ignore the little seal jabbing her side.
"Man...What time is it?" Joe mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes (without much success)
"Whatever it is, it's too early..." Tai answered, starting - despite his best efforts - to wake up.
"What time isn't `too early' for you?" Gomamon sighed.
"Tomorrow." Tai stated plainly "At the very least."
"And that'd be pushing it." Agumon added.
"What are so tired for anyway?" Tentomon asked.
"Cause it was so long before we got to sleep last night, that's why!" Tai grouched with a yawn.
"Tai, the only reason we kept going so late is because you slept in so late yesterday morning!" Matt pointed out, himself having awoke an hour before "If we'd just start moving earlier, we'd be able to stop sooner!"
"Of course, you realize that now he's going to start getting up late deliberately so that he annoys you." Joe sighed, noticing the wicked glint that showed up in Tai's eye.
"Not if I can help it, he won't." Sora assured with a yawn before Tai had a chance to say anything (he still didn't get up). Sora started to fuss at him, but noticed something was amiss:
"Hey...Where's Biyomon?"
"Over here!" Biyomon called from behind the prickly bush that they had bedded down next too. A second later, she emerged from behind it, covered in stickers.
"Whoa... What happened to you?" T.K. and Patamon asked in unison, both rather amused at the sight.
"I suppose that the ground here is at a steeper slant than I thought." Biyomon sighed, picking the thistles from her pink feathers.
"It could have been worse!" Tentomon pointed out from the small pond behind the said bush "If you had rolled very much farther, you'd have taken a little midnight swim!"
"That doesn't take stickers out of your feathers." Biyomon grunted as she tugged at a particularly stubborn one.
"But at least they're not wet ones!" Sora pointed out, giving her partner a hand.
"Well, give me a call when you're done pruning the Digimon." Tai said, rolling over to block out the noise.
"Tai Kamiya, you are getting up right now!" Sora firmly informed her (once) sleeping companion.
"Yeah, Tai," Joe agreed "don't delay the inevitable!"
"And quit dragging it out!" T.K. added, stretching.
"This is getting kind of old." Agumon continued.
"Yeah, whatever. Thanks a lot, Sora..." Tai grumbled, not taking kindly to suddenly being made into the least popular person in the Digiworld.
"Oh, come on Tai..." Sora sighed, shaking her head.
"No no no, you just go right on!" Tai interrupted, getting up and leaving "I just love having everybody fuss at me!"
"Well seeing how often you make us do it..." Matt muttered, just loud enough for Tai to hear. Tai gust grunted something that probably wasn't meant to be understood and wandered out to the edge of the woods.
"What's up with him?" T.K. asked to no one in particular.
"Well, is every one ready to start moving again?" Centarumon asked, wandering in before anyone had a chance to answer T.K.
"Give us a minute." Sora instructed, going off to find Tai. She came across him crouching by a tree at the abrupt edge of the woods.
"Tai?... TAI?... HEY, TAI! HELLO?" Sora shouted, trying to get his attention.
"I heard ya the first time." Tai grouched without looking at her.
"Oh... OK..." Sora sighed, somewhat awkwardly "Look... I'm sorry about back there..."
"Naw, it's all right." Tai slurred "You know how much I love to be put on the spot like that."
Sora couldn't help but wince at that. Having know Tai as long as she did, she knew that it was the exact opposite with him. He loved to be "the popular one". It was actually a little funny when you though about it: he made such an effort to be the careless, independent clown because he DID care. There was this part of him that always seemed to be looking for some way to get approval from those around him. He needed it. Not exactly unusual, especially for a boy Tai's age, but he just took it so seriously. Not that he'd never once said any of this to Sora, of course, she had simply figured it out over the years.
After several awkward seconds of silence, Sora gave up and decided to head back to the others. Before she'd gotten more than a step away, however, Tai finally spoke again:
"It's all right." he sighed "It's not your fault. Matt's the one who made it into a big deal."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Sora "agreed", not wanting to tell him that she thought Matt was right.
"You do know why he's like that, don't you?" Tai asked, with that wicked glint back in his eye.
"No, Tai. I don't..." Sora replied, happy to humoring him if it would make him more co-operative.
"It's all that leather." Tai explained "Let's see you be all sunshine-y when you running around 24-7 in leather underwear!"
"I don't think he's got that much of an ensemble going." Sora giggled, sitting down next to Tai.
"I bet he does!" Tai insisted "And they've probably got tacks in `em to prove how macho he is!"
"Well, I have to admit, I'd have trouble questioning the macho quality of a guy who runs around in leather, tack-filled undies." Sora laughed, picturing it for a moment.
"Kinda like that dude who was hanging around the beach on that one field trip." Tai continued "Remember him? Man... And it must have been 200 degrees too..."
Sora started to think back, not to the incident Tai mentioned, but to her childhood in general. Specifically, the fact that Tai seemed to be present for just about all of it. It was kind of strange really, Tai seemed present for practically every event worth remembering (in fact, he instigated many of them himself). It was very ironic, or appropriate perhaps, that he should wind up with her in this: easily the most unforgettable event she would ever experience. Tai had obviously been thinking about the same thing:
"You know what?" he asked, sounding uncharacteristic lost in thought.
"What?" Sora asked, snapping back to reality.
"I was just thinking..." Tai continued, still strangely quiet "And... Well... I just... I wanted to make sure you knew that I'm glad you're here."
"Huh?"
"Well, you know..." Tai explained "I'm just glad that, if I'm gonna get yanked off of the Earth and plopped on some... whatever this place actually is... Not that I'm really that glad at all, of course... Anyway, If I gotta go through that, I'm glad I'm going through it with you."
"Oh...Thanks" Sora smiled, blushing.
"I mean, if it weren't for you I'd a killed Matt after five minutes!" Tai laughed wickedly.
"WHAT?"
"Oh, come on! You know what I mean." Tai explained "Admit it: we're lucky to have you around to play ref. I would have dug Matt a nice, gloomy little grave if you weren't around to keep me my nice, friendly self!"
"Yeah, right..." Sora sighed, laughing softly at something totally different.
"Hey, guys?" Agumon piped up from behind them "We're ready to go whenever you are!"
"We're coming!" Sora called, still laughing a bit to herself as she got up.
"OK, what'd I say?" Tai asked, starting to get that it wasn't his marvelous sense of humor she was laughing at.
"Nothing, Tai..."
"Come on, what?"
"Really, it's nothing." Sora insisted "Nothing at all..."
***************************
It was reasonably warm that day, but there was enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable enough. The little caravan of humans and Digimon was far more organized that day that it had been in the past, thanks in no small part to their virtual drill sergeant Centarumon. He had insisted on grouping all the humans together in the center of what he called their "expedition" and organizing all their Digimon in a neat perimeter around them. If he had had his way, Centarumon would probably have tried to make them march in time as well, but he was fortunately kept in check by Unimon.
Centarumon had insisted on their rescuing Unimon as soon as he had been freed from The Temple of Quadra. Apparently, Unimon had been infected by a black gear just before him and had while he had been successful in fighting of Devimon's direct control, the gear had driven him virtually insane. Centarumon guessed that Unimon had hidden himself where he couldn't do any harm, as he had done. After doing some snooping around, they found him living in an extremely unpleasant bog (needless to say, Mimi wasn't exactly thrilled during their visit) and got the gear out of him.
It was that night, as the group spoke with the old Unicorn for the first time, that the seven children found out who they were.
"There is a legend we Digimon have." Unimon had explained "It's a very old legend, passed down for centuries in this world. Most Digimon think of it as little more than a bedtime story; indeed, there's enough different versions of it floating around to pacify whole world of infants. But there are some, such as Centarumon and myself, who know it to be more. We have dedicated our existence to collecting and preserving ancient text concerning these legends, or as the most important ones are, `prophecies', dating back to long before they were corrupted to the level of campfire tales."
"You mean those things that were burned up back at the temple?" Tentomon inquired.
"Some of them were there," Unimon answered, more amused than annoyed at Tentomon's interruption "but most of the texts are hidden in other places. Certainly, never in as close proximity to each other as the scrolls of Quadra.
"Anyway, the legend goes like this: Once, long ago, when the Digital Universe was still young, a great evil swept through this world. This being was the most powerful creature ever to spawn from our realm; every fiber of it's being was focused upon a single goal: DESTRUCTION. No Digimon alone could stand against him. But there was hope. A group of beings from a totally different dimension arrived and lead the Digimon against their enemy. Somehow, they had the power to trigger digivolutions in Digimon, which allowed them to defeat this dark menace."
Unimon paused for a moment before continuing, letting his audience begin to piece together where he was going on their own first.
"Hey, wait a minute!" T.K. finally piped up "That kind of sounds a bit like us! I mean, we came from earth and we can make our Digimon digivolve!"
"Exactly!" Unimon said with a grin "And wait ;till you here this: It was said that if any evil so great ever threatened to swallow the entire Digital World again, a new group of warriors would arrive and save our world once again."
For a few short moments, the crackling of the camp fire was the only sound coming from their camp ground.
"W-W-Wait a minute..." Tentomon stuttered "You're not seriously suggesting that we're The Digidestined, are you?"
"I'm afraid that I'm not suggesting anything." Unimon answered firmly "This is something I'm telling you. It was prophesied that roughly six or eight children from another realm than this would arrive in our time of peril. The would each be accompanied by a Digimon who could digivolve with the help of a device that each of the children would carry. Don't you see? You fit these prophecies perfectly! The Digital World is drowning in corruption. Vile warlords such as Devimon are raining terror upon Digimon everywhere. And here you are: seven children dropped down upon us from another dimension, accompanied by seven Digimon whom you can make to digivolve with your Digivices... You are the ones the prophesies have told us of! You are the ones who have come to save us!"
"If you don't mind my asking," Matt interrupted, not buying any of this for a second "Where exactly did these `prophesies' or whatever come from?"
"No one knows who first recorded them." Unimon answered "All we know is that they were recorded and have been preserved as accurately as we could manage."
"And exactly how long have you been `preserving' these things?" Matt continued.
"No one knows for sure." Unimon explained "Thousands of years, most likely."
Then Matt did something no one (besides T.K.) had ever seen or heard:
He laughed out loud.
It wasn't a very pleasant laugh either, it was more like a sound a wild animal would make while playing with it's prey. A cold, mocking, quiet, yet powerful chuckle that somehow managed to sent chills down the spines of everyone who heard it. "So, let me get this straight..." Matt continued "You've got these prophesies. You don't know who they're by. You don't know when they were made. You've been passing them down for THOUSANDS of years-"
"You have trouble believing what I'm telling you?" Unimon interrupted.
"WHO WOULDN'T?" Matt shouted "Hell, it sounds like you didn't even have a sure number of these... `Digidestined' or whatever the were. How can you possibly have any idea this stuff is talking about us, or if it's even true at all?"
"THE ANCIENT TEXTS ARE NO FRAUDS!!!" Centarumon bellowed angrily "YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS TO BE SLANDERING THEN SO!!!"
"Calm yourself, friend." Unimon the old horse insisted "He has every right to be asking questions. You would too if you were in his situation."
"So, in other words, we're like heros?" Tai asked, taking to the idea far more readily than Matt.
"In every sense of the word." Unimon replied, glad that at least someone was listening.
"No, Tai. NO." Matt firmly countered "I know that look. I've got a pretty good Idea where this is going and I won't let it. This is stupid."
"Hey, maybe you think so, but think is sounds kind of cool!" Tai replied.
"Yeah, and I think hanging you by your own hair would be cool, but that doesn't make it a good idea." Matt countered "Now, I've never seen any legendary heros or anything up close, but I don't think they look very much like us!"
"He does have a point there." Joe agreed.
"And even you have to admit that this whole idea is pretty tough to swallow." Matt continued.
"I know I will..." Mimi concurred.
"Well, if were NOT the Digidestined, then what the hell are we doing here?"
Tai challenged.
Try as he might, Matt couldn't come up with a response to that.
"That's a good point." Tentomon mussed "I certainly can't come up with another reason why you would ever be brought to the Digiworld."
"Do any other humans ever come here?" Sora asked Unimon.
"No. Only the Digidestined may cross into this realm." Unimon answered.
"Well that settles it!" Tai announced "We're the Digidestined and that makes us HEROS!!!"
And so it was. Within minutes, Tai had succeeded in convincing everyone but Matt that what Unimon and Centarumon were saying was true. And now, here they were; trekking off to pay Devimon a visit.
"So, run this by me again." Matt asked Unimon "HOW exactly are we supposed to sneak up on someone who controls practically every inch of the island interior?"
"Just because he commands it in theory, he doesn't have to physically control it." Unimon explained "We are headed to Systems Canyon, it is the only waterway from the coast to Infinity Mountain. It is also the only entrance to a number of mines that Devimon needs to manufacture his Black Gears. Now, the mines are extremely dangerous to navigate and working in them is more of an art than a science. Thus, Digimon with Gears in them are incapable of working them."
"So instead, he made a deal with the miners already there that he'd leave them alone if they started working for him." Matt finished, catching on quickly.
"Very good!" Unimon congratulated "Obviously, these Digimon are driven by greed and self preservation as opposed to any major sense of loyalty or morals; otherwise, they wouldn't be aligned with Devimon. Fortunately for us, that can be made to work against Devimon as easily as it has been to make it work for him."
"You want to try to bribe them into helping us?" Matt asked "What can our little... bunch out bid Devimon?"
"We can't." Unimon explained "Not in terms of buying out everyone, anyway. However, we should be able to convince some individuals to assist us long enough to get us what we need."
"And that is..."
"Safe passage along the Canyon River straight into Infinity Mountain." Unimon answered "Once there, we'll already be behind most of Devimon's lines of defence and we can hid him by surprise."
As much as Matt hatted to admit it, the plan did seem to have merit to it. There was one problem though: "What if no one is willing to help us?"
"Don't worry, there's always at least one Digimon in that canyon who's willing to do what you need for the right price." Unimon laughed "most of them would sell you the guy standing right next to them if you could pay them enough."
"I assume that YOU are going to be doing all this paying?" Matt asked "I doubt that any of us would have anything of interest."
"Don't worry." Unimon assured him "We've thought of everything."
If there was any saying that truly terrified Matt, that was definitely one of them.
***************************
The water that slowly slipped along the bottom of Systems Canyon wasn't anywhere as dirty as it looked, but in what little light actually made it down that far, everything looked dirty. At least, that's what Myrtilemon thought. He hated coming here. He hated the trip across the ocean, he hated the sickening food he had to bring with him, he hatted the smelly, smart- aleck Digimon he had to talk too once he got there, and most of all, he hated the ugly, stinking, grimy dirt that was all over EVERYTHING. It was like the miners made sure to grind everything into dust and spread it all over whatever they could find just to bug him. He desperately missed his home back on Server and his nice, clean shop. How he'd ever allowed himself to get locked into that lousy contract was more than Myrtilemon could ever figure out. Somehow, he'd wound up having to accompany every single shipment of supplies to the mines himself instead of sending a currier like normal Digimon did.
So there he was, floating around at the bottom of that smelly canyon waiting for some smelly messenger from The Mining Consortium to come take the supplies and make him wait a few smelly days to be paid. The it was another week on the ocean before the torturously short two months were over and he'd have to lock up the shop and do it all again. Not only was it bad business, but it was bad for his health, and most of all IT WAS STUPID!
"Hey, you ready for us to take the stuff up now?" a voice called from the top of the lifting arm at the dock.
"What kind of question is that?" Myrtilemon fumed "OF COURSE I AM!!!"
"All right, just a sec!" the operator shouted back, bringing giant arm around to lift the barge up onto the loading platform. It took forever, as usual. And, also as usual, Myrtilemon would have given ANYTHING for it to all just vanish off the face of the Digital World.
****************************
Izzy had remarked that the interior of Systems Canyon looked like Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest dream or worst nightmare, depending on how one looked at it. He certainly was right. Even if the canyon had been shallow enough for one at the top to see the bottom (but it was many times too deep for that), it would have been hidden for the amazing web of platforms that jutted straight out of the wall and almost seemed to float in midair. There were levels upon levels of walkways and platforms sticking so far out that it was amazing that they could even support their own weight, much less their inhabitants. The whole canyon was abuzz with more Digimon than any of the humans could ever have imagined. Every single size and shape and color that any of them could dream up was wandering around somewhere down in that mess of a canyon. And as impressive at it was from above, it was even more amazing up close.
"Um, are you sure this is a good idea?" Sora whispered (or as close to it as could be heard over the droning sounds of the crowds and machinery) to Unimon "What if someone sees us and runs off to tell Devimon?"
"As long as you stay out of their business, they won't care what you do or what Devimon thinks of you." Unimon assured her "Besides, Digimon from all over this world come through here. You're hardly the most unusual thing they've ever seen."
"I'll take that as a complement." Mimi piped up from behind.
"Man, this place is COOL!" T.K. shouted in awe, peering over a handrail into the dozens of levels below.
"And LOUD..." Palmon complained, trying her best to shut the endless droning out of her ears.
"I would LOVE to have a chance to speak with some of the architects who built this place." Izzy commented, looking around with T.K. "These structures are absolutely incredible!"
"Good luck." Tentomon replied "Most of this stuff is older than all of us put together."
"Let's just do what we need to do and get out!" Matt pressured, dragging T.K. back from the ledge "I'm sure that a few of these guys would imagine that Devimon would give a pretty hefty reward for turning us in."
"And risk having Devimon venture down into these depths himself?" Centarumon laughed "Never. These cowards want to keep him as far away as they can!"
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Tai asked "Let's do this thing!"
It took a VERY long time to weave their way through the pulsating crowds and to climb down the layers of platforms before reaching the river. Along the way, various peddlers tried to either sell them all sorts of useless brick a brack or to buy things off of them. One restaurant owner even made an offer to Unimon to purchase Sora and Mimi as waiters! Tai, of course, leapt at the chance to have something new to torment them over. It took a well placed fist from Mimi to finally shut him up. After several more hours of wandering, the finally arrived at the docks of Canyon River.
By the time they were that far down, most of the light from above had been blocked out by the platforms or absorbed by the increasingly dirty air. Thus, most of the illumination came from flickering, artificial sources that bathed the docks in a dim, blue light. Somehow, it seemed to make the whole area seem colder looking at it.
"Well, here we are." Unimon announced, somewhat needlessly.
"Oh, goodie..." Mimi grumbled.
"Well, now that were here, how are we supposed to find someone who'll be willing to help us?" Matt asked.
Before Unimon had a chance to answer, a loud, obnoxious voice rang out from inside the small bar just in front of them:
"YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW WHAT DEVIMON SAYS ABOUT THE TAX JUNK DOWN HERE, AND I DON'T CARE! I DON'T EVEN LIVE ON THIS STINKIN' ISLAND! HE'S GOT NOTHING ON ME, OK? NOW HURRY UP AND GET ME THAT DRINK!!!"
"That sounds encouraging!" Gomamon laughed, wandering inside.
"Say, there's not an age limit for that place is there?" Tai asked.
"Don't worry, I'll keep nice and sober Tai!" Sora assured him.
"What's all that about?" T.K. asked Matt, the two of them taking up the rear.
"Nothing you need to worry about." Matt replied "Just stick close tome, OK?"
Just as Matt was about to enter, he suddenly got the feeling that someone behind him was watching him. He turned around to look, and found several Digimon wandering around the walkways in front of the bar door, but none that seemed particularly interested in him or any of his companions. Still, he nearly went out to take another look; but T.K. tugged at his side and brought him in with the rest of them. Had Matt actually gone looking, he might have spied a strange form that had indeed been watching him from the far end of that particular platform: the from of a girl, roughly his age, with a pair of limp wings hanging behind her.
The maker of all the commotion was a short, stubby Digimon by the name of Myrtilemon. Most of his face was hidden behind the collar of his jacket, he shaggy yellow hair and his dark derby hat. All that was clear visible was two large, yellow eyes.
"OK, so lemme get this straight..." Myrtilemon said, downing his umpteenth glass of a strange, green liquid "This bunch of looser are supposed to be the Digidestined and you want me to take you to Infinity Mountain so you can go do you hero thing, right?"
"That's it in a nutshell." Unimon replied.
"Well, let me go ahead and say this straight off..." Myrtilemon replied, whipping his mouth "You're crazy. All of ya."
"Well, I'm glad at least ONE other person thinks so..." Matt mumbled, just loud enough to be heard.
"But then, this is about business, not my personal feelings, right? So let's see..." Myrtilemon continued "If you are crazy, I don't have much reason to care, do I? All I have to do is get you to the foot of Infinity Mountain and hightail it outa there. Then I go home with twice what I woulda made otherwise. Doesn't sound that bad..."
"I'm glad you think so." Unimon replied.
"But who knows? You just might be right about all this Digidestined mumbo jumbo!" Myrtilemon pointed out "If you off Devimon, then there's no more full-on mining around here anymore and I don't have any more customers here no more..."
"Which DOES sound bad..." Sora piped up, getting worried.
"Are you kidding?" Myrtilemon laughed "That's even BETTER! If you could get me outa this lousy contract, I'd pay YOU! If I never see this lousy pit again, it'll be too soon!"
"Well then, it's settled!" Unimon grinned "You'll get half your fee up front, and the rest when we're at Infinity Mountain plus a little extra if we enjoy the trip."
"Well, I ain't much of a tour guide, but I'll see what I can do!" their new guide agreed.
"When will we be departing?" Centarumon asked "We would like to be gone as soon as possible."
"Well, first I gotta get all my cargo on shore and stuff." Myrtilemon thought aloud "That'll take the better part of the day; and I don't think you wanna be spending the night here... How's this evening sound?"
"Sounds fine too me!" Tai declared.
"Well, the sooner we get moving the better." Joe agreed "Let's just get all this stuff over with."
"Well, if you don't mind, might we take a look around your ship?" Tentomon requested.
"Yeah, sure. Knock yourself out. It's at port five." Myrtilemon sighed, singling for another drink "Just don't touch anything, especially the cargo. Those miner bozos beat the crate up enough as it is."
"Don't worry!" Biyomon assured him "We'll be as careful as we can!"
"Um, Matt?" T.K. asked as the whole group filed out "Do I still have to go to sleep at a bedtime again?"
"I think we'll make an exception this time." Matt told him.
"You'll be lucky if you sleep at all my little friend." Centarumon pointed out as they made their way down the steps to the boat.
Back in the bar, Myrtilemon was lost in thought. This whole deal wasn't sitting well with him at all. The timing wasn't the way he would have liked. Maybe if those lunatics had come up first, and THEN the counter offer was made, he'd have been more comfortable. But he didn't like having to play babysitter for them all night knowing what he did. There were too many chances for someone to catch on and way too many of them were going to be on the boat. If they figured him out, he was toast. Almost on cue, Pandoramon emerged from the shadows behind him.
"I trust everything went well?" she asked, even though she'd been there for the whole conversation.
"Yeah." Myrtilemon assured her "They don't suspect nothing."
"Good." Pandoramon sighed "As wee discussed, there will be no attempts made on them while they are on your barge. There will be no danger."
"And you're gonna make SURE my contract gets changed?" Myrtilemon pressured "THAT'S all that matters to me. Not you, not Devimon, not those weirdos. I wanna go home and never come back here again. NEVER. Got that?"
"Absolutely." Pandoramon assured him "No one will dare question it."
"Good..." Myrtilemon sighed "And you better made sure that they never find out that I did it, OK? If they manage to weasel outa all this, I don't wanna have any of `em coming after me."
"None of the will `weasel out' of our grasp." Pandoramon insisted "But it will be as you wish."
"All right... I'll have `em at the Mountain by 2. Give me about thirty minutes to get good and far away before you go and do whatever ya got planed. OK?"
"Fine." Pandoramon agreed, slipping back into the shadows again.
Myrtilemon wasn't kidding, he was hardly a tour guide and his barge was hardly a pleasure craft, but it managed to get them where they were going fine. By the time they were near Infinity Mountain, the canyon was so dark that they could have simply sat still all night and no one would have ever noticed. Some how, though, they wound up at a sudden wall of stone that jutted up in front of them. At the base of the wall was a large gap that the river flowed out of. At first, it seemed that they would have to take the boat straight in, but Centarumon insisted that there were dry walkways on either side of the water way.
"Well, here we are!" Myrtilemon declared "Everybody off!"
One by one, the passenger fumbled down the dimly lit stairs to the slippery rocks below.
"WHOA!" Mimi shouted, stumbling around on the stones "I thought you said this stuff was supposed to be dry!"
"Well, it's better than wadding around in the river!" Gabumon pointed out.
"But it's worse than being on dry land, too!" Palmon countered.
"Whatever..." Tai groaned "Let's just try to stay out of the water, OK?"
"Um, why don't we have any flashlights?" Sora asked "I know Joe has some."
"Ask general Centarumon." Joe grumbled, wanting more than anything to get them out of his bag.
"Those lights would attract too much attention." Centarumon explained "We need to stay unnoticed until we are right on top of Devimon!"
Meanwhile, back on the boat, Unimon took care of paying Myrtilemon.
"Oh, come on!" he whined "The trip couldn't have been THAT bad!"
"It wasn't." Unimon explained "But then, I never said you'd get a BIG bonus, did I?"
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." Myrtilemon sighed, getting back at the wheel as Unimon leapt off the boat "Nice knowing ya..."
With that, Myrtilemon left the unfortunate travelers to wander straight into their trap...
To be continued...