Chapter 10: The Resurrection Woman
The cage marched on along the dirt path. Chris sat in a corner, not speaking to anybody. Kristen looked about, trying to figure out a plan to stop Myotismon. Joey lied unconscious from Myotismon's fresh beatings. Jennifer watched over him with tears in her eyes.
"Well we could... no. Oh! How about... no we'd still be killed."
"Shut up Kristen. Nobody feels like hearing your idiotic plans right now. We can't do anything except get tossed out the digital world and hope for the best." Chris was being an jerk to everybody when he wasn't silent.
"At least I'm trying to think of something instead of just sitting around doing nothing! Some leader you are!" Kristen snapped at Chris.
"Face it. Myotismon destroyed Agumon and Tentomon. What makes you think he won't hesitate to kill us?" Chris was standing up now, holding onto some of the cage bars. They could have escaped easily through the huge gap left behind from the fight, but they wouldn't get far. Everybody was in pain physically as well as mentally.
"Because he knew Agumon and Tentomon would be reloaded. Besides, he isn't here right now is he?"
"No, but a army of Ogremon sure are. And don't forget that thing up front." Chris pointed to the Devidramon pulling the cage.
"Hey you two, be quiet." Jennifer was sitting and leaning over Joey. His breathing was haphazard and segmented. She stroked his hair and whispered to him, as if she were a mother and he her child. "How much longer until we're at the gate?" She shouted to the nearest Ogremon.
"Soon enough! Now shut up and mind yourself. Lord Myotismon may have set you free, but it doesn't necessarily mean we have to!" The Ogremon growled at Jen and turned back to the direction he was marching.
"What's wrong Jennifer?" Kristen forgot about the argument and walked toward her. "Is he okay?"
"No, he isn't!" Jennifer screamed and shoved her face in her hands. "Why did it have to be him? He's only a little kid! He shouldn't have to face things like that!" She wept uncontrollably in anger.
"Calm down, calm down! He'll be okay! We're digidestined, remember?" Jennifer looked up. "All of our predecessors made it out okay, and we all will too."
"Yeah, you're right. You're always right." Jennifer wiped the tears from her face. "Look at me! I'm the oldest and bawling like a baby. I should be telling you this, not the other way around."
The cage marched on in silence...
A few hours had passed when they came out of the forest again and into a large clearing. In it, there was a massive stone castle, reaching to the skies. "Wake up! We're here. Get your things and get out. We're not keeping up with you longer than necessary." The Ogremon rattled the bars of the cage with his club and the caravan came to a halt.
"Chris, would you carry Joey for me?" Jennifer stood up and looked at Chris, still standing in the corner looking out on the landscape.
"Sure Jennifer. I'd help you with anything." Chris snapped from his lethargic state and jumped at the chance to help Jennifer. His response was overly done and sounded awkward, being so happy in such a gloomy situation.
"Thanks." Jennifer didn't really notice how Chris had said it. She was preoccupied with gathering the packs together. It was when she noticed that my pack was with them too. She opened it up and looked inside to find the two digieggs he had chosen to carry. "I wouldn't want to leave these behind." She picked up the second pack and walked up the dirt path with the others to the citadel. Chris carried his pack and Joey; Kristen carried her pack as well as the new eggs from Agumon's and Tentomon's data; Jennifer carried two packs. The Ogremon marched in a ring formation around them as they walked through the massive gates.
The castle was huge. The ceilings seemed to rise to heaven itself and the cavernous chambers echoed even the slightest sound. Digimon could be heard in the shadows murmuring pointlessly, as if they had lost their sanity. There were no windows; the rooms were lit by flaming torches that didn't burn away. As the digidestined quickly walked through to the stairway to the gate, they marveled at the dark castle.
"Where did they get the stone for all of this?" Chris whispered to himself as he looked up, nearly tripping on a loose stone in the floor.
"Quiet! Look forward and nowhere else!" The Ogremon turned his head around, looking Chris in the eyes. Everybody stopped looking and snapped their gazes forward. The group made their way down a large stairway that stretched on for what seemed an eternity. When they finally reached the bottom, everybody gasped. They had reached the gate. It towered over them menacingly as they remembered the fight that the original digidestined went through to get home. It was almost a shame to know that they were being forced through.
"Make sure you have all of your things. Anything left behind will be destroyed." One Ogremon spoke to the group as the rest went to the gate.
"Joey, hey man, wake up. You've gotta see this." Chris shook Joey slightly and waited. "Please man, you ain't going to get another chance." Chris shook him again and smiled when his eyes opened.
"Uhhh... whe m I?" Joey's speech was slurred and incomprehensible.
"Were at the gate man! Remember on the show? I know you do, that's all you would talk about back in the forest. You wanted to have a show of your own. Well were at the gate. Look!" Joey turned his head and saw the gate. His eyes grew wide for a moment, but snapped back shut. He began to shake violently. "Joey? Joey! Hey! He needs help now!"
"What do you expect us to do?" The Ogremon snarled at Chris, who was panicking as Joey went into a seizure in his arms. "Let him die for all we care."
"Open the gate!" Jennifer screamed at the Ogremon. "Open it now!"
"Gladly." The Ogremon yanked at the giant stone gate and it budged slightly. After a few more moments, it was open wide enough for everybody to get through.
"Come on! Maybe we can get help on the other side!" Kristen ran through the gate, followed by Chris still holding Joey. Jennifer ran up to the gate and turned around. She didn't want to be Myotismon's castle to be the last place Joey ever saw. She turned back around and ran though.
"Finally, they're gone." One Ogremon sighed after they closed the gate back. "Hey, where does the big man keep the booze?"
It was cold. Jennifer opened her eyes and jumped up. There was no time to figure out what was going on, they needed to get Joey to a hospital. She looked around. The packs were scattered on the ground along with everybody else. "Wake up!" Everybody jumped up and realized what was happening at Jen's command. They ran about and picked up their things, following Jennifer who had taken a lead ahead of the rest, looking for a friendly face. It was night and little could be seen. "Help! We need help now!!!" Jennifer looked around. She could see the oriental style hut behind them as her eyes got used to the dark. They were at the camp that the original digidestined had started from. "Please help!"
"What's all that noise?" A man stepped out of another building nearby and looked at them. He was standing only in a robe and looked rough. "Who's there?"
"Hello? Oh thank god! Hurry! We need to get to a hospital now!"
"What? What's going on?" The man ran up to Jennifer as the others caught up.
"He's hurt!" Fresh tears rose to Jennifer's eyes. Joey was still shaking, light from his digivice flickering on and off. "We need to get to a hospital now; all of us; especially him!"
"Oh god! Get him inside! I'll call the ambulance!" The man began to turn around.
"There is no time! Just tell me where the hospital is!" Jennifer dropped both packs she carried and ran up behind the man.
"It's in the city, about five miles north of here; what do you mean no time?"
"Are you sure it's north?"
"Positive. Injured kids get flown there all the time! Now get inside..." Jennifer cut him off.
"Screw the ambulance! Spirit Code Activate!" Light surrounded and flew about Jennifer furiously as her digivice showered everyone in energy. The light faded and Kazemon stood in her place. "Give me Joey!" Chris nodded; his mouth slightly agape as Kazemon took Joey and flew into the air. With a beat of her wings, she streaked across the sky. The man who had come to help stared in amazement.
"What is she!?" His voice rattled.
"What is she? She's a digidestined, a damn good one too." Chris smirked and gazed into the sky that Kazemon had been in just a moment before.
The hospital was centered on the edge of downtown. Kazemon landed in the parking lot and ran in the emergency room, unworried about her appearance. She burst in through the doors, inadvertently blowing gusts of wind into the waiting room.
"I need a doctor! NOW!!!" Joey shook more violently than ever in her arms and it took her greatest care not to drop him. People sitting about who had also brought loved ones for care stared at Kazemon, who stood in the center of the room holding the blonde haired child who shook like an earthquake dwelled within him.
"Doctor! Come here quick! He's having a seizure!" The nurse talking with the people waiting jogged over to Joey tried to hold him still.
"Jesus Christ, what happened!?" A doctor placed Joey down and wheeled him off, the nurse and a squad of other doctors, all dressed in white medical coats. Kazemon fell to her knees and sighed.
"I hope he'll be okay." She looked down a moment and sat in her thoughts before she realized that everybody was staring, whispering to each other about the oddly clad, human-like thing that sat before them. "Oh man, how do I explain this?"
"Oh dear god. I remember you." One woman stood up from her chair and walked shakily over to Kazemon, who was still on her knees.
"What?" Kazemon looked up at the woman.
"You're one of those digimon. After all these years, I can't believe I ever forgot about you things." It seemed that the memory works that the old digidestined and Gennai had used had faded over time. The woman looked over Kazemon for a few moments before speaking again. "You took my daughter away before, but you brought her back."
"What? I'm sorry ma'am, but I've never taken anybody anywhere."
"I don't care. Maybe you can bring her back again." Kazemon finally noticed the tears and running makeup on the lady's face. She collapsed onto Kazemon, who reacted just in time to catch her. "Please! You've got to!" She cried uncontrollably.
"How? Where is your daughter? Who is your daughter?" Kazemon pushed the woman away far enough to look back into her face.
"Her name is Sora Takenouchi. She is in room 211. Please, you helped her before, you have to help her again. You helped him!" She was talking about Joey.
"Show me where she is. I'll see what I can do." Murmuring erupted around the room as people spoke with one another, amazed at the events in the emergency room. Ms. Takenouchi ran up to the stairs and Kazemon followed, making sure her wings didn't knock into anybody. They rounded a corner and ran down a sterile white hallway that looked like all the others. The rooms zoomed by until they finally reached room 211. The lady walked in and up to the girl lying in the bed.
"Honey? A friend is here to see you. Somebody you haven't seen in a long time. You may not know her, but I'm sure she can help." Sora's mom spoke softly to her daughter, holding her hand. IV's were plugged into Sora's body in various spot and a tube supplying air was inserted into her mouth.
"What happened to her?" Kazemon stood, somewhat horrified at Sora's condition.
"The doctors say she tried to kill herself. They say she took a lot of pills from the medicine cabinet and... and..." Sora's mother broke down, unable to finish the sentence. Jennifer wanted to cry with her. The girl who had once been the wielder of love was now trying to end her life.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just talk some sense into her! Before she ever left she was always so mad at me, and when she came back from the digital world. She was like a whole new person! And then she broke up with Matt and became worse than before, but I never thought she could get like this!"
"Wait? Who? Matt? You mean that blonde haired kid with the guitar?"
"Yes!" The mother jumped up, relieved that she was getting the message across.
"What happened between them?"
"They dated for a long time, I even thought they might get married, but they broke up for some reason. He left Japan on some tour with his band and left Sora behind." The mother sat down in one of the chairs in the room and began to calm down. "She started to do things to herself. I would find messages on her computer about how she wanted to just die. I didn't know what to do!"
"I'll stay here for the night then. Maybe I can help her in the morning."
"Why not now?" Sora's mom looked worried. She thought Kazemon was going to try and ditch them.
"Because I'm not in the best of shape myself right now and I'm tired. And besides, you haven't even seen me yet." Kazemon pulled out her digivice.
"What do you mean? What's that?" Kazemon relaxed and data blew off her like and into her digivice. Jennifer had devolved and sat down in a chair beside Ms. Takenouchi. "You're not a...?"
"No, but I can help her." Jennifer looked at Sora lying in the bed, breathing slowly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Jennifer showed her digivice to the mother. The Crest of Love glowed; pulsing light showed from the screen. "We have the same crest. We're practically the same person." Sora shifted in the hospital bed, fists closing tight.