Legend of the Digidestined
Book one
Chapter nine
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
`This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely face)
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany Twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain
`Please bring me my wine'
He said `We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely face)
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said `We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find a passage back
To the place I was before
`Relax,' said the night man,
`We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave.'
"Hotel California"
by Don Felder, Don Henly, and Glenn Frey
from the album Hotel California by The Eagles
Chapter nine
Sleeping With The Devil
The Digidestined had been traveling up the base of Infinity Mountain all day, but they could never have told it to you themselves. The whole day, they had been underground, half-crawling up the steep banks of the river. The ground wasn't at quite enough of an angle to require them to be on all fours, but they had been traveling upward so long that they were too afraid of falling to do otherwise. Up at the top, as usual, Centarumon valiantly lead the way. Shortly behind him, Unimon followed. Juts far enough behind to seem like they were lagging, their heroic Digidestined slowly brought up the rear. Matt and Tai were usually the closest to their guides, whereas Joe, Mimi, and their Digimon took up the very back, thanks to the considerable luggage they insisted on carrying with them.
"How much further is it?" T.K. groaned for God only knew what time.
"It had better not be much." Matt replied, more to Centarumon and Unimon than his brother.
"I'll say, all this water is getting me SOAKED!" Mimi concurred "I though we were supposed to be beside the river, not IN it!"
"Hey, why don't you take a nice leap into that thing and see what it feels like?" Tai replied, having unintentionally done so himself earlier "All that splashing around back there is NOTHING!"
"It's bad enough." Mimi shot back.
"I don't recall ever saying that climbing the tallest mountain in the Digital World was going to be easy." Unimon reminded his companions.
"I don't seem to recall you mentioning that `tallest' part at all." Joe panted, dragging his duffel bag behind him.
"I said I was sorry about that." Unimon sighed "It's just the kind of thing most Digimon think goes without saying."
"Well, we would appreciate it if you refrained from assuming that we know anything about this world." Izzy suggested.
"I would have hoped that your partners would have brought you up to speed on such matters." Unimon pointed out.
"Um... Well... You see..." Tentomon stuttered "We've just been so caught up in life or death situations that there really hasn't been time for that sort of thing lately..."
"Anyway, it's too late now." Matt interrupted "We've probably spent a whole day going up this thing. Whadda ya want to do? Turn around and go all that way down again?"
"Matt's right." Gabumon concurred "We should just press on!"
"Um... Actually, it would be quicker to go back down." Agumon whispered to his friend "We're still nowhere near the top."
"I know that and you know that..." Gabumon whispered back.
"Besides, there's some level ground not too far above us where we can set up camp." Centarumon commented.
"Well, we'd better get there QUICK..." Mimi grunted.
Of course, it still took several hours, but eventually, a dim light began to appear above them from an opening in the rock.
"There it is!" Unimon declared "This is where the river and us part ways!"
"And not a moment too soon!" Sora replied.
"Well, don't go rejoicing just yet." Centarumon called down, having leapt up to the opening "You'll probably not be very pleased with what's out here."
"As long as it's not a lake or anything, we'll be fine!" Mimi assured him.
Well, it wasn't a lake, but that probably would have been far nicer than what WAS waiting outside. The mouth in the stone opened into a huge, dreary landscape that looked like something out of the final scene on a disaster movie. By a long stretch of imagination, it could have been called a city, but cities require buildings. Intact ones, at that. Instead, nothing but debris ashen rubble stretched out before them until vanishing into the black, hazy air. Portions of walls jutted up from the piles of wreckage like withered fingers reaching out of the mud to try and grab hold of something. What at one point must have been streets now looked more like graveyards: endless stretches of broken pavement knocked on it's side so that they seemed like sick tombstones. Aside from the splashing of the river over rocks behind them, the only sound in this place was the mournful whistling of the cold wind snakeing it's way through the dead wreckage, occasionally dislodging a piece of something and sending it crashing into the broken ground.
"Well... This is cheery..." Tai muttered, trying to seem less frightened than he truly was.
"Where are we?" Sora asked.
"There's no name for this place." Unimon answered "For most Digimon, it's the farthest they ever climb Infinity Mountain. They either turn around or keep going and disappear in the caverns afterwards."
"Y-Y-You mean we're not at the top?" Mimi stuttered.
"Oh, far from it." Unimon replied "But this is the last time we'll be above ground while we're here."
"Too bad it's not someplace where we could enjoy it..." Gomamon muttered.
"Well, come on." Unimon instructed, seeing Centarumon beacon for them in the distance "There's not much of anything worth guarding in this place, so we shouldn't have to worry about Devimon's minions just yet."
"So where are we going?" Sora asked.
"To find someplace to rest, of course!" he answered.
"Oh, yeah. We'll be getting a REAL good night's sleep in this place..." Joe sardonically joked.
For what seemed like hours, the group wandered through the dark, lifeless rubble. Unlike most of the areas the seven humans had encountered so far, this place, in all it's ghastly nature, seemed far more 'real' to them. These empty shells of buildings weren't just a few burnt walls over piles of trash. They actually looked like someone had lived in them before... whatever it was happened. Stores still had charred signs advertising the special of the day in their shattered windows. Street signs poked out of the ground at funny angles, still trying to give directions with signs that had most of the paint scraped off for streets that didn't exist outside of long stretches of rockpiles. Battered welcome mats sat in front of ragged door frames that opened into four abandoned piles of trash that were once walls. It was all terribly unsettling.
"You know..." Matt half-conciously muttered to Gabumon "I used to have dreams about places like this. All the time..."
"Those dreams didn't happen to mention any good places to stay, did that?" Gabumon asked, trying to liven the mood.
"Naw..." Matt replied "I usually just wandered around until I woke up..."
"Oh, that's pleasant." Tai spoke up.
"I'm glad you approve." Matt sighed.
"HEY! Everybody! Look at this!" Biyomon shouted from behind There's something off to the right!"
Centarumon immediately ran off to check and, sure enough, a solid, intact roof was sticking up above the ruined skyline.
"Whadda ya think?" Gomamon asked him.
"I think we might have found where we're spending the night." Centarumon answered "Let's check it out!"
It didn't take long to reach what turned out to be a giant mansion, totally intact and without any visible damage at all. The tall sides of the building were mostly black and covered in strange, intricate carvings. Apparently, it was on the edge of the very river they had followed earlier and the back seemed to hang right over it. Although all the many windows had their curtains drawn there was obviously plenty of light on inside.
"Well! This sure looks like a nice place to crash!" Tai declared, making his way to the door.
"If I tell you that I don't like it, would you even bother listening?" Matt asked.
"Nope! Not for a second!" Tai replied.
"I would" Centarumon said quietly "Something's not right here..."
"What, that there's a big fancy mansion in the middle of this trash heap?" Tai asked "Sure. I think it's kinda funky too, but since when was that anything out of the ordinary in the Digiworld?"
"You have to admit, we've seen stranger stuff." Joe agreed.
"No... It's not that..." Centarumon continued "Something else is wrong here..."
"Well I for one couldn't care less!" Mimi declared, following Tai "I'm sick and tired of walking around! I'm going inside!"
"I'm right behind ya Mimi!" Palmon piped up, mimicking Mimi's determined stride.
"Don't worry, old friend." Unimon assured Centarumon "I don't think we've got anything to worry about just yet."
"Aside from the fact that this whole place seems like the perfect setting for a trap." Matt added.
"Except that no one knows we're here." Unimon corrected "Even Devimon would have needed to know we were coming in advance to throw someplace like that together."
"And how do you know that he doesn't?" Matt pressured.
"Trust me." Unimon began.
"Not likely pal..." Matt grunted, following the others inside
****************************
Someone had told Pandoramon once that she thought too much for her own good, that her endless theorizing and suspicion would eventually get the better of her. She had to admit it, sometimes she began to think they were right. Ever since the arival of the Digidestined, something about the way Devimon was acting struck her as strange. Suddenly, he seem a bit quieter about his plans. While he used to enjoy explaining the simple genius of his and The Darkness' plans, now he seemed to be keeping it to himself.
If it had been anyone else, Pandoramon might have started to think he was hiding something.
For as long as Pandoramon could remember, she had had a little voice in her head that loved to point out when something didn't add up. When she was just a rookie, the village elders had told her the same little fairy tales they told all young Digimon who asked where they came from or how they digivolved. It was that little voice that made her realize that there proboly weren't any "magi Digi-fairies" that visit good little Digimon at night and help her digivolve. It was that little voice that made her see that was just what they said to cover up the fact that they had no idea. It was that same little voice that pushed her to leave her village behind in favor of Infinity Mountain to study under Devimon despite the elder's objections. After all, how could they know for a fact that he was a dangerous, lying lunatic when not one of them had even seen him themselves? All her life, Pandoramon had questioned what was presented to her and felt like a better Digimon for it.
But now that little voice was beginning to question some things that she didn't dare doubt anymore.
What if the reason Devimon was acting odd was because he wasn't expecting the Digidestined to arive so soon? It could be that he'd hoped that he would already have all of File Island under control first and now was having to re-write his plans.
"Yeah." Pandoramon laughed to herself "And it could be that I'm actually three Gekomon in disguise."
Obviously, that whole idea was riiculous. Devimon had done too much, come too far; no one could have just been making something like this up when they when along. Even now, he was clearly operating on some kind of a plan, even if it wasn't exactly clear to her just what it was yet. And what about The Darkness? He had been in contact the whole time, after all...
That's where that little voice really kicked in.
He had spent a lot of time contacting The Darkness, much more time than usual. It made a resonable amount of sense, of course. With the Digidestined suddenly on his doorstep, why wouldn't he be seeing as much guidence as he could? Yet he was always so quiet afterwards, so lost in thought, he almost seemed troubled. Had he indeed been caught off guard and was now having to face it? Could it be that he really had no idea with the Digidestined?
There was one sure fire way to have all her questions answered: Pandoramon could try contacting The Darkness herself. Devimon had forbiden it for anyone but himself, but it was still possible. After all, she built the transmitter in the first place, she could deactivate the security systems in her sleep. No one would ever know...
NO she told herself. It was too risky. Even if, somehow, Devimon didn't find out (and he probobly would) the transmitter itself was just too dangerous. It was custom built for Devimon and he had made it very clear that no other Digimon could handel the mental stress of contacting The Darkness. For all her studying, Pandoramon still had only the vaugest idea how Devimon's brain was constructed, so she had every reason to believe him. That thing was built to transmit a specific frequency of thought patterns into Devimon's highly unique brain structure, it could tear Pandoramon's mind apart from the inside if she tried it. Besides, what good would it do her anyway? She didn't have any proof that something odd was really going on, just a hazy suspicion. Also, Devimon had every right to keep his plans to himself. There was no reason for Pandoramon to risk her life just because she wanted more information than she needed.
Still, that little voice hadn't steered her wrong before, right?
Eventually, she put all those thoughts out of her min; she had more importabt things to worry about. The Digidestined were all inside the mansion now, she would need to get to work soon.
After that, all those questions would become irrelevant and everythng would be back to normal again.
****************************
The inside of the mansion was hardly like anything the Digidestined had ever seen. In many ways, it was quite close to the Temple of Quadra, but it was also the exact opposite of it as well. All the rooms were far taller than their width would have required, making everyone within feel terribly small by comparison. Everything inside was adorned with elaborate carvings of plants and animals and anything else one could imagine. In these senses, the mansion should have been the most beutiful place they'd ever seen.
But it was so dark...
Everything about it was dark. All the walls were pitch black. Most of the furniture was as well, and any color in the ornamentation was dark enough that it barely registered as such. What dim light fixtures there were seemed deliberately placed where they would cast more shadow than light. Obviously, it had hardly the most comforting place to spend the night.
"This place gives me the creeps!" Patamon had said when they entered the lobby.
"Me too..." Sora agreed, shuddering for no apparent reason "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"No..." Tai replied "But would you rather camp out in rubble land?"
"I hate to admit it, but he's got a point." Matt sighed "It would be a better idea to sleep in a building that actually has a roof..."
"Well, let's go see what kind of accommodations this place has!" Gomamon insisted.
"OK..." Joe said apprehensively "But, from the looks of this place, I bet there's all kinds of gargoyles and stuff all over the place..."
Well, fortunately for Joe, there weren't any gargoyles hung up over the beds, but there hardly needed to be. Everything was creepy enough. Besides, no one could sleep that night anyway. How could they, knowing who they were on the way to do battle with? It's hard to pick out who was more intimidated by the thought of Devimon: the Digimon, who had become quite familiar with him over the years, or the humans, to whom the whole idea was new. It didn't really matter in the end; they were all scared out of their wits. So, with sleep out of the question, there was nothing left to do but talk...
"So, um... I was curious, Joe..." Gomamon asked, a little uncomfortably "What made you decide to be a doctor? I mean, it really doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd be interested in..."
"Well... I dunno... I guess I'd always just liked the thought of helping people..." Joe replied, somewhat absentmindedly.
"Well, pretty much everybody does..." Gomamon continued "But most of them would want a job like that. Sounds... I dunno... Just sounds MESSY..."
"Well... There's a little more to it than that..." Joe confessed "See, when I was a kid, we had this kitten somebody gave us. I dunno why they did, `cause our apartment didn't allow pets. So we gave it away to some friends of ours to take care of."
"Tough luck..." Gomamon mussed.
"That's not the half of it." Joe sighed "They hadn't even had it for a week when it got run over in their garage. It didn't die... Well, not then, anyway, but it got banged up pretty bad. Eventually, they had to just put it to sleep."
"Ouch..."
"Tell me about it... But I got to thinking, and one day it hit me that that sort of thing happens to people all the time. The get into accidents and wind up so bad that they decide that it'd be better to just put them out of their misery! That sort of thing just didn't sit well with me. `there has to be SOME way to help people like that' I though... So I finally decided that, if no one else could do it, then I would."
"And thus, your illustrious quest into medicine began?"
"Basically, yeah."
"You know, a lot of people say that you're bearing intense emotional scarring because of that..."
"Well, my Dad watches a lot of ER too..." Joe added with a grin "That probably had something to do with it..."
"Weeee!!!" Patamon giggled, bouncing around on the bed "This thing is SPRINGY!!!"
"I know!" T.K. agreed, rolling around "I used to have a bed like this once, it wasn't as big though."
"I though you said your old bed felt like all that moss and stuff that was back in the forest."
"It did." T.K. explained "But that was a different bed."
"So... Did you have any more beds?"
"Oh, yeah, a bunch of `em. See right after Mom and Dad broke up we moved around a bunch. Mom kept hopping around between different jobs... and different boyfriends."
"Ohhh.... Were they nice?"
"I dunno, I never really got to know many of `em." T.K. said, thinking back
"There was this one guy, right after it happened, that I she married. But I was too little to remember when it happened and they broke up too pretty quick. After that, she just stuck to dateing for a while, lately she hasn't even done that..."
"How come?" Patamon asked "Did they not like her?"
"I don't think that's it. I think that she didn't like them. I kind of remember her fussing with them a bunch."
"I wonder why..."
"You wanna know what I think?" T.K. whispered, like he had a VERY important secret.
"Sure, what?"
"I think she misses Daddy."
"Well then, why don't they just get married again?"
"She says it's `cause he's probably still mad at her, but Matt said he wasn't. But then, Matt doesn't like to talk to Mom, so he may not have told her that yet..."
"Come on, Mimi!" Palmon yawned "Let's go to bed! I'm tired!"
"Don't worry, this is the last load..." Mimi assured her, cramming the last of her clothes into the washing machine "If this place has a fully functioning washer and drier, I plan to use `em!"
"But it's LATE! Can't you do this tomorrow?"
"TOMORROW?" Mimi replied, exasperated "How am I supposed to sleep knowing what a horrible condition my clothes are in? If you want to sleep, you go right ahead back to our room."
"WHAT?" Palmon shrieked "I'm not going all the way back there by myself! It's scarry!!!"
"Then help me get this stuff in and we'll be done quicker!"
"Oh, all right..."
Tentomon was still sound asleep when Izzy got back from the kitchen. He wasn't sure what it was about his metabolism that gave him such a weakness for midnight snacks, but he was ALWAYS at his hungriest at night. Especially on the eve of something important.
Like that night before the trip to his uncle's wedding, for example...
Actually, the wedding it's self was quite forgettable aside from the unfortunate disaster of the cake collapsing (injuring several people), it was what had happened that night that Izzy remembered so vividly. Izzy's parent's room was just up the hall from the doorway to the den, so Izzy had to pass it to raid the fridge. Usually, the door was shut tight, but that night, of all nights, it was cracked open enough for Izzy to hear what was going on inside:
"I really don't think that this is the time to tell him..." his father insisted "Think of what an effect it would have on him!"
"But what about the effect NOT telling him will have?" his mother cried "He'll find out on his one eventually, he's to smart not to! And then what? What will he think of us if we knows what we've been hiding? That-"
"Honey, he's a very mature boy!" his father reminded her "And he'll get even more mature over time. When he's old enough, he'll understand!"
Suddenly, Tentomon rolled over and brought Izzy back to reality with a start. He figured that he owed the Digimon for the favor. That particular night was one best not to dwell upon.
Sora quietly wandered around the halls of the vast, imposing mansion, trying her best to keep track of where she was and how to find her way back. Earlier, before going to sleep, Biyomon had innocently remarked about how their room could have benefit from having some flower arrangements.
"I know, I bet my Mom would have a field day with this place..." Sora absent mindedly remarked.
"Does she like flowers?" Biyomon asked.
"Are you kidding?" Sora laughed "She LOVES them! That's her job, doing floral arrangements."
"That sounds like fun!" Biyomon yawned "I bet she likes it..."
"Yeah..." Sora agreed, suddenly less cheerful "In fact... they're her whole life..."
Biyomon was fast asleep when Sora left, to caught in her thoughts to rest. At first, she was just wandering for the sake of wandering, but the dark, unsettling nature of the mansion had driven her to seek a window or something. Finally, she came across a balcony overlooking the river.
The view was hardly serene, as the terrifying destruction that surrounded the building was still visibly through the darkness and the mist, but the cold air was at least somewhat refreshing. After a moment of savoring the breeze, Sora realized that she wasn't alone.
To her right, not far above, Matt was perched on the edge of another balcony.
It wasn't that far, but Matt seemed totally unaware of Sora's presence. Instead, she was caught up in playing softly on his harmonica. Sora vaguely recalled hearing him play it before, when they were all spending the night in that street car (funny how long ago that seemed), but this was the first time she'd ever heard it clearly.
The tune, or whatever you wanted to call it, didn't seem to be any particular song. It seemed to constantly slide around from key to key, rhythm to rhythm; almost like skipping around on a CD from one track to another. As soon as Sora thought she'd figured out the basic melody, Matt would change it. After a few minutes, she grew weary of listening to him fumble around with notes and began to go back in side, but then, abruptly, Matt stopped.
For a second, Sora worried that he had realized he was being watched, but he still see her. Instead, he simply held the harmonica in his hands and seemed to be considering something. Then, he took a somewhat deep breath...
And began to sing.
Somehow, Sora had never even considered that Matt could be much of singer, seeing how quiet he usually was. Yet his voice turned out to be absolutely beutiful. Quietly, softly, portrayed an emotion that he never would exhibit in normal speech as he delivered a dark, chilling set of lyrics over a haunting melody only enhanced by his voice:
Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, "This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem."
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Well, I heard the hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear the undertaker's bell
Yeah, nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
There's a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He's dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There's a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Well, God is in heaven
And we all want what's his
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I'm gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell *
Then, as suddenly as it begun, the song stopped and Matt began playing again like nothing had happened. Only then did Sora realized how strangely entranced she had become. With a bit of a shiver, she decided that the air was getting a bit too cold for her taste and wandered back to her room.
Matt remained totally unaware that there had ever been anyone else outside other than him and remained for some time. After all, he could barely sleep in a wonderfully cozy place, how was he supposed to doze of in this horror movie reject?
"You're definitely the most uncooperative of them aren't you?" an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind. In a flash, Matt whirled around to find a strange girl standing next to him. Well, it looked like a girl, at least. She was dressed in a plain, dark red dress and was clutching a silvery staff. But her sink was extremely pale and her pupils were just as white. Strangest of all were two wings that seemed to sprout out of her back and drooped straight down to the ground.
"Who are you?" Matt demanded.
"I don't have time for this." she sighed "You all should have been asleep hours ago."
"Why?" Matt asked unconsciously.
"You'll find out in good time." she assured him, holding her right hand out before him "Sleeping Wave."
Matt tried to say something else, but as soon as the worlds left the girl's lips, he began to tire quickly. Suddenly, Matt realized that this was a trap. Somehow, Devimon must have figured out that they were here and sent this girl to incapacitate them. Of course, there was nothing he could do about it now. Matt collapsed unceremoniously to the floor, in a sleep as deep as his companions'
Looking down at the helpless human, Pandoramon felt a wave of guilt like she hadn't in many years. She usually didn't come face to face with any of the victims. Usually, she was quite comfortable in Infinity Mountain, some distance from where the devices of her invention were going about doing Devimon's business. Up close, it was far more difficult to rationalize it. For a moment, she genuinely regretted sending this unfortunate soul to Devimon. But then reality set in: He would have found them any way. She was only allowing it to happen quickly.
With one last, pained look at the fallen boy, Pandoramon left to signal Devimon
Additional Song Credits:
* "Blind Willie McTell"
by Bob Dylan
from the album The Bootleg Series: Volume Three by Bob Dylan
To be continued...
Book one
Chapter nine
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
`This could be Heaven or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely face)
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany Twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain
`Please bring me my wine'
He said `We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely face)
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling
The pink champagne on ice
And she said `We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find a passage back
To the place I was before
`Relax,' said the night man,
`We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave.'
"Hotel California"
by Don Felder, Don Henly, and Glenn Frey
from the album Hotel California by The Eagles
Chapter nine
Sleeping With The Devil
The Digidestined had been traveling up the base of Infinity Mountain all day, but they could never have told it to you themselves. The whole day, they had been underground, half-crawling up the steep banks of the river. The ground wasn't at quite enough of an angle to require them to be on all fours, but they had been traveling upward so long that they were too afraid of falling to do otherwise. Up at the top, as usual, Centarumon valiantly lead the way. Shortly behind him, Unimon followed. Juts far enough behind to seem like they were lagging, their heroic Digidestined slowly brought up the rear. Matt and Tai were usually the closest to their guides, whereas Joe, Mimi, and their Digimon took up the very back, thanks to the considerable luggage they insisted on carrying with them.
"How much further is it?" T.K. groaned for God only knew what time.
"It had better not be much." Matt replied, more to Centarumon and Unimon than his brother.
"I'll say, all this water is getting me SOAKED!" Mimi concurred "I though we were supposed to be beside the river, not IN it!"
"Hey, why don't you take a nice leap into that thing and see what it feels like?" Tai replied, having unintentionally done so himself earlier "All that splashing around back there is NOTHING!"
"It's bad enough." Mimi shot back.
"I don't recall ever saying that climbing the tallest mountain in the Digital World was going to be easy." Unimon reminded his companions.
"I don't seem to recall you mentioning that `tallest' part at all." Joe panted, dragging his duffel bag behind him.
"I said I was sorry about that." Unimon sighed "It's just the kind of thing most Digimon think goes without saying."
"Well, we would appreciate it if you refrained from assuming that we know anything about this world." Izzy suggested.
"I would have hoped that your partners would have brought you up to speed on such matters." Unimon pointed out.
"Um... Well... You see..." Tentomon stuttered "We've just been so caught up in life or death situations that there really hasn't been time for that sort of thing lately..."
"Anyway, it's too late now." Matt interrupted "We've probably spent a whole day going up this thing. Whadda ya want to do? Turn around and go all that way down again?"
"Matt's right." Gabumon concurred "We should just press on!"
"Um... Actually, it would be quicker to go back down." Agumon whispered to his friend "We're still nowhere near the top."
"I know that and you know that..." Gabumon whispered back.
"Besides, there's some level ground not too far above us where we can set up camp." Centarumon commented.
"Well, we'd better get there QUICK..." Mimi grunted.
Of course, it still took several hours, but eventually, a dim light began to appear above them from an opening in the rock.
"There it is!" Unimon declared "This is where the river and us part ways!"
"And not a moment too soon!" Sora replied.
"Well, don't go rejoicing just yet." Centarumon called down, having leapt up to the opening "You'll probably not be very pleased with what's out here."
"As long as it's not a lake or anything, we'll be fine!" Mimi assured him.
Well, it wasn't a lake, but that probably would have been far nicer than what WAS waiting outside. The mouth in the stone opened into a huge, dreary landscape that looked like something out of the final scene on a disaster movie. By a long stretch of imagination, it could have been called a city, but cities require buildings. Intact ones, at that. Instead, nothing but debris ashen rubble stretched out before them until vanishing into the black, hazy air. Portions of walls jutted up from the piles of wreckage like withered fingers reaching out of the mud to try and grab hold of something. What at one point must have been streets now looked more like graveyards: endless stretches of broken pavement knocked on it's side so that they seemed like sick tombstones. Aside from the splashing of the river over rocks behind them, the only sound in this place was the mournful whistling of the cold wind snakeing it's way through the dead wreckage, occasionally dislodging a piece of something and sending it crashing into the broken ground.
"Well... This is cheery..." Tai muttered, trying to seem less frightened than he truly was.
"Where are we?" Sora asked.
"There's no name for this place." Unimon answered "For most Digimon, it's the farthest they ever climb Infinity Mountain. They either turn around or keep going and disappear in the caverns afterwards."
"Y-Y-You mean we're not at the top?" Mimi stuttered.
"Oh, far from it." Unimon replied "But this is the last time we'll be above ground while we're here."
"Too bad it's not someplace where we could enjoy it..." Gomamon muttered.
"Well, come on." Unimon instructed, seeing Centarumon beacon for them in the distance "There's not much of anything worth guarding in this place, so we shouldn't have to worry about Devimon's minions just yet."
"So where are we going?" Sora asked.
"To find someplace to rest, of course!" he answered.
"Oh, yeah. We'll be getting a REAL good night's sleep in this place..." Joe sardonically joked.
For what seemed like hours, the group wandered through the dark, lifeless rubble. Unlike most of the areas the seven humans had encountered so far, this place, in all it's ghastly nature, seemed far more 'real' to them. These empty shells of buildings weren't just a few burnt walls over piles of trash. They actually looked like someone had lived in them before... whatever it was happened. Stores still had charred signs advertising the special of the day in their shattered windows. Street signs poked out of the ground at funny angles, still trying to give directions with signs that had most of the paint scraped off for streets that didn't exist outside of long stretches of rockpiles. Battered welcome mats sat in front of ragged door frames that opened into four abandoned piles of trash that were once walls. It was all terribly unsettling.
"You know..." Matt half-conciously muttered to Gabumon "I used to have dreams about places like this. All the time..."
"Those dreams didn't happen to mention any good places to stay, did that?" Gabumon asked, trying to liven the mood.
"Naw..." Matt replied "I usually just wandered around until I woke up..."
"Oh, that's pleasant." Tai spoke up.
"I'm glad you approve." Matt sighed.
"HEY! Everybody! Look at this!" Biyomon shouted from behind There's something off to the right!"
Centarumon immediately ran off to check and, sure enough, a solid, intact roof was sticking up above the ruined skyline.
"Whadda ya think?" Gomamon asked him.
"I think we might have found where we're spending the night." Centarumon answered "Let's check it out!"
It didn't take long to reach what turned out to be a giant mansion, totally intact and without any visible damage at all. The tall sides of the building were mostly black and covered in strange, intricate carvings. Apparently, it was on the edge of the very river they had followed earlier and the back seemed to hang right over it. Although all the many windows had their curtains drawn there was obviously plenty of light on inside.
"Well! This sure looks like a nice place to crash!" Tai declared, making his way to the door.
"If I tell you that I don't like it, would you even bother listening?" Matt asked.
"Nope! Not for a second!" Tai replied.
"I would" Centarumon said quietly "Something's not right here..."
"What, that there's a big fancy mansion in the middle of this trash heap?" Tai asked "Sure. I think it's kinda funky too, but since when was that anything out of the ordinary in the Digiworld?"
"You have to admit, we've seen stranger stuff." Joe agreed.
"No... It's not that..." Centarumon continued "Something else is wrong here..."
"Well I for one couldn't care less!" Mimi declared, following Tai "I'm sick and tired of walking around! I'm going inside!"
"I'm right behind ya Mimi!" Palmon piped up, mimicking Mimi's determined stride.
"Don't worry, old friend." Unimon assured Centarumon "I don't think we've got anything to worry about just yet."
"Aside from the fact that this whole place seems like the perfect setting for a trap." Matt added.
"Except that no one knows we're here." Unimon corrected "Even Devimon would have needed to know we were coming in advance to throw someplace like that together."
"And how do you know that he doesn't?" Matt pressured.
"Trust me." Unimon began.
"Not likely pal..." Matt grunted, following the others inside
****************************
Someone had told Pandoramon once that she thought too much for her own good, that her endless theorizing and suspicion would eventually get the better of her. She had to admit it, sometimes she began to think they were right. Ever since the arival of the Digidestined, something about the way Devimon was acting struck her as strange. Suddenly, he seem a bit quieter about his plans. While he used to enjoy explaining the simple genius of his and The Darkness' plans, now he seemed to be keeping it to himself.
If it had been anyone else, Pandoramon might have started to think he was hiding something.
For as long as Pandoramon could remember, she had had a little voice in her head that loved to point out when something didn't add up. When she was just a rookie, the village elders had told her the same little fairy tales they told all young Digimon who asked where they came from or how they digivolved. It was that little voice that made her realize that there proboly weren't any "magi Digi-fairies" that visit good little Digimon at night and help her digivolve. It was that little voice that made her see that was just what they said to cover up the fact that they had no idea. It was that same little voice that pushed her to leave her village behind in favor of Infinity Mountain to study under Devimon despite the elder's objections. After all, how could they know for a fact that he was a dangerous, lying lunatic when not one of them had even seen him themselves? All her life, Pandoramon had questioned what was presented to her and felt like a better Digimon for it.
But now that little voice was beginning to question some things that she didn't dare doubt anymore.
What if the reason Devimon was acting odd was because he wasn't expecting the Digidestined to arive so soon? It could be that he'd hoped that he would already have all of File Island under control first and now was having to re-write his plans.
"Yeah." Pandoramon laughed to herself "And it could be that I'm actually three Gekomon in disguise."
Obviously, that whole idea was riiculous. Devimon had done too much, come too far; no one could have just been making something like this up when they when along. Even now, he was clearly operating on some kind of a plan, even if it wasn't exactly clear to her just what it was yet. And what about The Darkness? He had been in contact the whole time, after all...
That's where that little voice really kicked in.
He had spent a lot of time contacting The Darkness, much more time than usual. It made a resonable amount of sense, of course. With the Digidestined suddenly on his doorstep, why wouldn't he be seeing as much guidence as he could? Yet he was always so quiet afterwards, so lost in thought, he almost seemed troubled. Had he indeed been caught off guard and was now having to face it? Could it be that he really had no idea with the Digidestined?
There was one sure fire way to have all her questions answered: Pandoramon could try contacting The Darkness herself. Devimon had forbiden it for anyone but himself, but it was still possible. After all, she built the transmitter in the first place, she could deactivate the security systems in her sleep. No one would ever know...
NO she told herself. It was too risky. Even if, somehow, Devimon didn't find out (and he probobly would) the transmitter itself was just too dangerous. It was custom built for Devimon and he had made it very clear that no other Digimon could handel the mental stress of contacting The Darkness. For all her studying, Pandoramon still had only the vaugest idea how Devimon's brain was constructed, so she had every reason to believe him. That thing was built to transmit a specific frequency of thought patterns into Devimon's highly unique brain structure, it could tear Pandoramon's mind apart from the inside if she tried it. Besides, what good would it do her anyway? She didn't have any proof that something odd was really going on, just a hazy suspicion. Also, Devimon had every right to keep his plans to himself. There was no reason for Pandoramon to risk her life just because she wanted more information than she needed.
Still, that little voice hadn't steered her wrong before, right?
Eventually, she put all those thoughts out of her min; she had more importabt things to worry about. The Digidestined were all inside the mansion now, she would need to get to work soon.
After that, all those questions would become irrelevant and everythng would be back to normal again.
****************************
The inside of the mansion was hardly like anything the Digidestined had ever seen. In many ways, it was quite close to the Temple of Quadra, but it was also the exact opposite of it as well. All the rooms were far taller than their width would have required, making everyone within feel terribly small by comparison. Everything inside was adorned with elaborate carvings of plants and animals and anything else one could imagine. In these senses, the mansion should have been the most beutiful place they'd ever seen.
But it was so dark...
Everything about it was dark. All the walls were pitch black. Most of the furniture was as well, and any color in the ornamentation was dark enough that it barely registered as such. What dim light fixtures there were seemed deliberately placed where they would cast more shadow than light. Obviously, it had hardly the most comforting place to spend the night.
"This place gives me the creeps!" Patamon had said when they entered the lobby.
"Me too..." Sora agreed, shuddering for no apparent reason "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"No..." Tai replied "But would you rather camp out in rubble land?"
"I hate to admit it, but he's got a point." Matt sighed "It would be a better idea to sleep in a building that actually has a roof..."
"Well, let's go see what kind of accommodations this place has!" Gomamon insisted.
"OK..." Joe said apprehensively "But, from the looks of this place, I bet there's all kinds of gargoyles and stuff all over the place..."
Well, fortunately for Joe, there weren't any gargoyles hung up over the beds, but there hardly needed to be. Everything was creepy enough. Besides, no one could sleep that night anyway. How could they, knowing who they were on the way to do battle with? It's hard to pick out who was more intimidated by the thought of Devimon: the Digimon, who had become quite familiar with him over the years, or the humans, to whom the whole idea was new. It didn't really matter in the end; they were all scared out of their wits. So, with sleep out of the question, there was nothing left to do but talk...
"So, um... I was curious, Joe..." Gomamon asked, a little uncomfortably "What made you decide to be a doctor? I mean, it really doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd be interested in..."
"Well... I dunno... I guess I'd always just liked the thought of helping people..." Joe replied, somewhat absentmindedly.
"Well, pretty much everybody does..." Gomamon continued "But most of them would want a job like that. Sounds... I dunno... Just sounds MESSY..."
"Well... There's a little more to it than that..." Joe confessed "See, when I was a kid, we had this kitten somebody gave us. I dunno why they did, `cause our apartment didn't allow pets. So we gave it away to some friends of ours to take care of."
"Tough luck..." Gomamon mussed.
"That's not the half of it." Joe sighed "They hadn't even had it for a week when it got run over in their garage. It didn't die... Well, not then, anyway, but it got banged up pretty bad. Eventually, they had to just put it to sleep."
"Ouch..."
"Tell me about it... But I got to thinking, and one day it hit me that that sort of thing happens to people all the time. The get into accidents and wind up so bad that they decide that it'd be better to just put them out of their misery! That sort of thing just didn't sit well with me. `there has to be SOME way to help people like that' I though... So I finally decided that, if no one else could do it, then I would."
"And thus, your illustrious quest into medicine began?"
"Basically, yeah."
"You know, a lot of people say that you're bearing intense emotional scarring because of that..."
"Well, my Dad watches a lot of ER too..." Joe added with a grin "That probably had something to do with it..."
"Weeee!!!" Patamon giggled, bouncing around on the bed "This thing is SPRINGY!!!"
"I know!" T.K. agreed, rolling around "I used to have a bed like this once, it wasn't as big though."
"I though you said your old bed felt like all that moss and stuff that was back in the forest."
"It did." T.K. explained "But that was a different bed."
"So... Did you have any more beds?"
"Oh, yeah, a bunch of `em. See right after Mom and Dad broke up we moved around a bunch. Mom kept hopping around between different jobs... and different boyfriends."
"Ohhh.... Were they nice?"
"I dunno, I never really got to know many of `em." T.K. said, thinking back
"There was this one guy, right after it happened, that I she married. But I was too little to remember when it happened and they broke up too pretty quick. After that, she just stuck to dateing for a while, lately she hasn't even done that..."
"How come?" Patamon asked "Did they not like her?"
"I don't think that's it. I think that she didn't like them. I kind of remember her fussing with them a bunch."
"I wonder why..."
"You wanna know what I think?" T.K. whispered, like he had a VERY important secret.
"Sure, what?"
"I think she misses Daddy."
"Well then, why don't they just get married again?"
"She says it's `cause he's probably still mad at her, but Matt said he wasn't. But then, Matt doesn't like to talk to Mom, so he may not have told her that yet..."
"Come on, Mimi!" Palmon yawned "Let's go to bed! I'm tired!"
"Don't worry, this is the last load..." Mimi assured her, cramming the last of her clothes into the washing machine "If this place has a fully functioning washer and drier, I plan to use `em!"
"But it's LATE! Can't you do this tomorrow?"
"TOMORROW?" Mimi replied, exasperated "How am I supposed to sleep knowing what a horrible condition my clothes are in? If you want to sleep, you go right ahead back to our room."
"WHAT?" Palmon shrieked "I'm not going all the way back there by myself! It's scarry!!!"
"Then help me get this stuff in and we'll be done quicker!"
"Oh, all right..."
Tentomon was still sound asleep when Izzy got back from the kitchen. He wasn't sure what it was about his metabolism that gave him such a weakness for midnight snacks, but he was ALWAYS at his hungriest at night. Especially on the eve of something important.
Like that night before the trip to his uncle's wedding, for example...
Actually, the wedding it's self was quite forgettable aside from the unfortunate disaster of the cake collapsing (injuring several people), it was what had happened that night that Izzy remembered so vividly. Izzy's parent's room was just up the hall from the doorway to the den, so Izzy had to pass it to raid the fridge. Usually, the door was shut tight, but that night, of all nights, it was cracked open enough for Izzy to hear what was going on inside:
"I really don't think that this is the time to tell him..." his father insisted "Think of what an effect it would have on him!"
"But what about the effect NOT telling him will have?" his mother cried "He'll find out on his one eventually, he's to smart not to! And then what? What will he think of us if we knows what we've been hiding? That-"
"Honey, he's a very mature boy!" his father reminded her "And he'll get even more mature over time. When he's old enough, he'll understand!"
Suddenly, Tentomon rolled over and brought Izzy back to reality with a start. He figured that he owed the Digimon for the favor. That particular night was one best not to dwell upon.
Sora quietly wandered around the halls of the vast, imposing mansion, trying her best to keep track of where she was and how to find her way back. Earlier, before going to sleep, Biyomon had innocently remarked about how their room could have benefit from having some flower arrangements.
"I know, I bet my Mom would have a field day with this place..." Sora absent mindedly remarked.
"Does she like flowers?" Biyomon asked.
"Are you kidding?" Sora laughed "She LOVES them! That's her job, doing floral arrangements."
"That sounds like fun!" Biyomon yawned "I bet she likes it..."
"Yeah..." Sora agreed, suddenly less cheerful "In fact... they're her whole life..."
Biyomon was fast asleep when Sora left, to caught in her thoughts to rest. At first, she was just wandering for the sake of wandering, but the dark, unsettling nature of the mansion had driven her to seek a window or something. Finally, she came across a balcony overlooking the river.
The view was hardly serene, as the terrifying destruction that surrounded the building was still visibly through the darkness and the mist, but the cold air was at least somewhat refreshing. After a moment of savoring the breeze, Sora realized that she wasn't alone.
To her right, not far above, Matt was perched on the edge of another balcony.
It wasn't that far, but Matt seemed totally unaware of Sora's presence. Instead, she was caught up in playing softly on his harmonica. Sora vaguely recalled hearing him play it before, when they were all spending the night in that street car (funny how long ago that seemed), but this was the first time she'd ever heard it clearly.
The tune, or whatever you wanted to call it, didn't seem to be any particular song. It seemed to constantly slide around from key to key, rhythm to rhythm; almost like skipping around on a CD from one track to another. As soon as Sora thought she'd figured out the basic melody, Matt would change it. After a few minutes, she grew weary of listening to him fumble around with notes and began to go back in side, but then, abruptly, Matt stopped.
For a second, Sora worried that he had realized he was being watched, but he still see her. Instead, he simply held the harmonica in his hands and seemed to be considering something. Then, he took a somewhat deep breath...
And began to sing.
Somehow, Sora had never even considered that Matt could be much of singer, seeing how quiet he usually was. Yet his voice turned out to be absolutely beutiful. Quietly, softly, portrayed an emotion that he never would exhibit in normal speech as he delivered a dark, chilling set of lyrics over a haunting melody only enhanced by his voice:
Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, "This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem."
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Well, I heard the hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear the undertaker's bell
Yeah, nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
There's a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He's dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There's a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell
Well, God is in heaven
And we all want what's his
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I'm gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell *
Then, as suddenly as it begun, the song stopped and Matt began playing again like nothing had happened. Only then did Sora realized how strangely entranced she had become. With a bit of a shiver, she decided that the air was getting a bit too cold for her taste and wandered back to her room.
Matt remained totally unaware that there had ever been anyone else outside other than him and remained for some time. After all, he could barely sleep in a wonderfully cozy place, how was he supposed to doze of in this horror movie reject?
"You're definitely the most uncooperative of them aren't you?" an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind. In a flash, Matt whirled around to find a strange girl standing next to him. Well, it looked like a girl, at least. She was dressed in a plain, dark red dress and was clutching a silvery staff. But her sink was extremely pale and her pupils were just as white. Strangest of all were two wings that seemed to sprout out of her back and drooped straight down to the ground.
"Who are you?" Matt demanded.
"I don't have time for this." she sighed "You all should have been asleep hours ago."
"Why?" Matt asked unconsciously.
"You'll find out in good time." she assured him, holding her right hand out before him "Sleeping Wave."
Matt tried to say something else, but as soon as the worlds left the girl's lips, he began to tire quickly. Suddenly, Matt realized that this was a trap. Somehow, Devimon must have figured out that they were here and sent this girl to incapacitate them. Of course, there was nothing he could do about it now. Matt collapsed unceremoniously to the floor, in a sleep as deep as his companions'
Looking down at the helpless human, Pandoramon felt a wave of guilt like she hadn't in many years. She usually didn't come face to face with any of the victims. Usually, she was quite comfortable in Infinity Mountain, some distance from where the devices of her invention were going about doing Devimon's business. Up close, it was far more difficult to rationalize it. For a moment, she genuinely regretted sending this unfortunate soul to Devimon. But then reality set in: He would have found them any way. She was only allowing it to happen quickly.
With one last, pained look at the fallen boy, Pandoramon left to signal Devimon
Additional Song Credits:
* "Blind Willie McTell"
by Bob Dylan
from the album The Bootleg Series: Volume Three by Bob Dylan
To be continued...