Litanya: Hi again guys! Thanks to everyone that reviewed… I really appreciate it! I have no idea where most of that last chapter came from, it just popped into my head. I guess that's what you get when you write a chapter on a sugar high… Anyway, I do not own Digimon; I only own the plot of this fic. I also own 'Master' and Entier… so don't steal them!
An Old Box
Chapter 4
There was no way he could get out; he was trapped. He knew that Tyrannamon guarded all of the exits and they were all loyal to 'Master.' He was bruised all over from the 'experiments' that 'Master' had already tried on him. A long, deep cut was spilling blood down his left arm, making a soft dripping sound on the ground. There was nothing he could do but hope that 'Master' wasn't going to come back for a while. His thoughts were not consistent, one second he was thinking about how he could escape, the next he was thinking about coconuts dropping from trees in Bali. The pain in his body was making him dizzy and the loss of blood was draining the life out of him. Soon he would not be alive anymore, if this continued.
"Ah, my precious experiment, you are bleeding too much. I think that I can stop that," he struggled to stay awake as the cruel voice came closer. His eyes struggled to keep open and when they saw the box in 'Master's' hands, he unconsciously screamed. But by now his screams were weak. He didn't have enough strength to fight and 'Master' picked up an instrument already covered in dried blood and brought his hand closer and closer…
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The screams had stopped for a while, but now they had started again. She couldn't take it anymore.
"What are they doing to him? Normally nothing happens when he gets taken here…" Yolie trailed off, noticing that Kari was looking a little sick, "I mean, maybe 'Master' has invented a speaker or something that makes it sound like Rage is screaming. It is possible that that's the answer you know." They were all awake now, trying to think of a plan to get out of there. Yolie was seated next to Ken, the two of them having the best knowledge of the place. Sora had been unconscious when she had been taken away from this place by Entier, but Ken and Yolie had been awake when they had escaped. The digidestined needed their knowledge of the place to plan an escape.
"So there is an exit somewhere to the right of here, right?" Izzy questioned them again, determined to get back on track. He didn't want to think about the screams that they could all hear he just wanted to find a way to stop them.
"Yeah, I think so, unless this cell is in a different block to the one we were in last time," Ken answered, looking out of a small hole he had managed to make beside the doorway. Through the hole he could see a bright blue pole that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. As he watched a wave of energy began to radiate from the pole, the energy waves going in all directions. He moved away from the hole and motioned for Yolie to look. When she had seen the pole she leaned back and bit her lip. Her face was a little paler than usual.
"What's wrong?" Mimi sensed immediately that the pair wasn't telling them something and she hated people keeping important things a secret.
"There's something out there that will stop us from using our 'gift.' It radiates some sort of reverse energy wave that messes with the waves of our 'gift' with disastrous results. I remember when 'Master' tested it. There were two others with Rage, Yolie and I. Davis and Cody. Cody was three years younger than us and Davis was about the same age as Kari and T.K. 'Master' decided that he needed two of us to test this device that is out there. He played a cruel chance game to pick them. Davis and Cody were chosen to test out these machines, whilst Rage, Yolie and I had to watch. First they turned on the machine, which to us only looked like a blue pole. Then he got Cody to use his 'gift' of colour to try and change the pole to a green colour. The machine turned everything around… I'm not really sure what happened, and then Cody began screaming. And he still hadn't stopped screaming when they took him away, out of the room somewhere," Ken's voice trembled and Yolie let out a little squeak, and Ken continued the story, "Then 'Master' got Davis to try and turn the machine off, with his 'gift.' Davis tried and something sent him flying across the room. He stayed still for a moment, Davis always was brave and didn't let anyone know when he was in pain, but then he screamed. They took him away too. From that day on we never saw them again and we NEVER use our 'gift' whenever one of those machines is around. If we're going to get out of this cell, we're going to have to find another way instead of using our 'gift,'"
"What are we going to do then? We have to get out of here and help my brother!" Kari exclaimed, pounding the ground with her right hand a little angrily. Yolie was looking at the ground, her eyes watering as she tried to hold back her tears at the memory of her two friends. Ken was looking at the roof, not wanting to let the others see that his eyes were watering too. T.K crawled over to the hole Ken had made. He had injured his ankle when the tunnel had collapsed around them and as he moved Joe protested.
"T.K, if you move that ankle anymore it won't heal!" but the younger boy didn't answer and he kept on crawling. He had to help to get them out of there so that they could get Tai back and then send that 'Master' guy somewhere where he could not hurt another thing ever again. He had to, even if it would only help Kari out.
"I'll be fine Joe, stop worrying about it," he winced as he moved again, hoping that the doctor's son would not see it. Sora saw it, but she didn't say anything. She knew that T.K just wanted to help, but that wasn't the only reason she didn't say anything. The screams were making it so that she couldn't think. Now they weren't the same as they had been before, it was almost as if Tai or Rage or whatever he was called now was exhausted, or badly injured. And she couldn't get that thought out of her head. What if 'Master' was slowly killing her best friend? She couldn't say anything because she was trying desperately to get the screams out of her head. And then, just as suddenly as they had begun, they stopped.
"Hey, the screaming stopped. That's good, right?" Kari asked, her voice trembling. Sora didn't know how to answer her. She didn't know if Rage had stopped screaming because he had passed out or worse or maybe he hadn't even been screaming at all. Maybe that machine was making them all think that he had been screaming. She didn't know what was real anymore. Maybe all of this was a dream and she would wake up to find that none of this had happened at all. Well, she hoped that that was true.
"Is that blue pole that machine you were talking about?" T.K had reached the hole and was staring through it at the surrounding area. Ken looked back down from the roof and nodded, slowly.
"Yeah, that's it."
"Do you think that Rage used his 'gift' and that is why he was screaming?" Izzy asked, coming up with the possibility that none of the other digidestined had wanted to ask. Now it was out in the open and they were scared of the answer.
"No, it's not possible. 'Master' would never do anything that would destroy Rage. 'Master' is more than a little insane and Rage was his first 'experiment.' That reminds 'Master' of how fun it was to 'experiment' on him. As Rage was the first 'experiment' 'Master' didn't really know how to do this, so basically Rage was tortured a lot to go through with it. The person after Rage, an Australian girl named Emma, didn't survive the 'experiment.' Now 'Master' takes precautions to make sure that Rage is never in any danger whilst he is here. If Rage is screaming when he's here, it's probably because 'Master' takes a cruel delight in other people's pain. He's a sadist," Yolie replied, taking her eyes off the ground. She couldn't help but be upset whenever she remembered Cody and Davis. Cody had been almost like a younger brother to her. He had lived next door to her ever since he was born and she had often been invited over to baby-sit for the younger boy. Davis had been one of her best friends at school, infuriating after a while, but always fun to be around. And now they were both gone.
"This 'Master' guy sounds really sick..." Matt trailed off as he heard someone coming down the hallway. It sounded like whoever was coming had a T.V, because melodramatic music could be heard along with a woman's scream.
"He's coming!" Ken hissed and T.K instantly scrambled away from the hole, smashing his ankle against the ground. He winced, but didn't cry out. He didn't know what would happen if he did. This 'Master' guy didn't sound very nice and so if they made noise, he didn't know what could happen. There was a creaking of hinges and then 'Master' entered the room. T.K scrutinized the man that was unquestionably insane. He had small black eyes that sent an aura of power to whatever they laid on. His hair was cut short and black, as if his hair wanted to be the same as his eyes. He was clothed all in black, with an additional black pouch attached at his side which carried a small-screen T.V. Around 'Master's' neck was a sharp silver spike, which was attached by a thin chain of silver. He was standing tall, as though he was the one in authority and that no one had the right to question him or his actions.
"Ah, my 'experiments' and the rest of the digidestined, how wonderful it is to have you all here in my abode," his voice was high, with a certain pitch to it that suggested that his mind was not entirely there.
"And it is such a nice place that I always just love to come here," Ken said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Yolie elbowed him, but he continued as if she had never done anything. It was obvious that he was in one of his honesty moments, "And the staff that are here are just wonderful. Please remind me later to thank them for arranging our room." 'Master' just laughed.
"Ah, I remember you. Always going on about what you thought and then stopping… I enjoyed programming that into you. Before you were always boring, always being so kind and polite to everyone. I know now that I was right to do so," he cackled, a sound that chilled the blood of everyone else in the room, "Give me your left hand, NOW!" This last was a command and Ken's hand jerked out immediately, almost as if it was a habit to do so. The digidestined saw that Ken was wearing a light brown fingerless glove, just like the one that Rage wore. 'Master' walked over until he was in front of Ken before he ripped the glove off. Ken didn't move; it was almost as if he had frozen in terror. Mimi gasped in shock. She was the only one of the digidestined other than Sora that could see what was on the back of Ken's hand. Engraved there was a small rectangle, approximately the same size as their crests. The rectangle area was a light pink in colour, the same shade as his eyes. And in the center of the rectangle was the sign of Kindness. It was Ken's crest. Mimi backed away as far as she could, which was only two steps, and continued to stare at the back of Ken's hand. Neither Ken nor Yolie noticed, their eyes were transfixed with terror on 'Master.' Sora wasn't much better than them, but at least there wasn't the same degree of terror in her eyes than what shined in theirs. The others looked at Mimi, wondering what had made her so shocked.
"W-why do you have us here?" Matt called bravely, showing that he wasn't scared of 'Master.' The latter just turned to the blonde-haired musician and smiled, a cruel sight.
"I have need of more minions. My servant will be here soon to pick you up, so you'll be ready. Now, you, you and you, FOLLOW ME!" and with an insane giggle he turned and marched out of the room, Sora, Yolie and Ken following him as if they were in some sort of trance…
To be continued…
Litanya: I'm really sorry about the short chapter and the long time between updates, but I'm really busy at the moment and I'm getting a bit of writer's block for this fic. I'm in the process of writing another, which is probably a one-shot and will maybe come out later… I'm doing the best I can with this fic but I probably won't be able to update it for at least another week… Sorry for the lack of updates, and thank you very much for sticking with me this far! I'd have given up if it wasn't for your support. Thanks guys!