Note: Xtoyil is a Mayan word for "spider." The x is pronounced like "sh."
Chapter 6: Xtoyilmon
Yolei looked around at everyone who was left: Kari, Davis, and Izzy. Tsukiyo's disappearance had left Izzy nearly useless. None of them understood what was going on. And Ken was missing. It was that thought that pushed Yolei to action.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Whatever this thing is, it's going after us one at a time. We're not going to just wait until it gets us all. We're going to fight."
"How?" Kari asked.
"Come on." Yolei led them to the kitchen, rooted through the silverware until she found some steak knives, and passed them out. "We'll set up our defense in the upstairs bedroom; it's a relatively open space without many places to hide. We wait for this thing to come for another one of us, and then we fight it."
They began ascending the stairs, then a whoosh of wind extinguished their candles. There was the sound of scurrying legs, then a scream.
"Kari?" Davis reached out. "She's gone."
Yolei bit her lip to keep it from quivering. She was surprised by how little fear there was in her voice. "Let's keep going. When it comes for the rest of us, we'll be ready. I have a flashlight in my duffel bag."
In the girls' bedroom, they set up the flashlight and made a circle around it. Holding their knives in sweaty hands, they waited. They didn't have to wait long.
A scratching sound announced the creature's approach. Then there was an eerie silence.
"Well, where is it?" Davis asked right before a dark, spindly leg darted from the ceiling and clasped his arm.
"Hiya! Take that!" Yolei slashed at the leg.
There was an unearthly screech of pain. A puff of dark smoke emerged from the wound. Another long leg hit Yolei, throwing her against the wall.
Izzy began slashing with a ferocity no one would have expected from him. The creature screeched angrily, grasped Izzy with a long claw-like pincher and pulled him to the ceiling. Izzy fell limp, then the creature darted out the window, opening and closing it in seconds with nothing more than a high-pitched squeak, effortlessly dragging Izzy behind it.
Davis helped Yolei up. "Fighting doesn't seem to be working."
"Do you have a better idea?" Yolei challenged. She picked up Izzy's fallen knife, and looked intently at the window.
Davis stared at her. Usually, she would be in a state of panic by this point. Then it occurred to him: this was the way she acted when her friends were in danger.
"Davis, the window..." she whispered, but too late.
The long, thin legs darted out and grabbed Davis. As he struggled, stabbing blindly, Yolei ran up and began slashing at the creature as it retreated toward the window. It pulled Davis outside and began climbing toward the wet roof, but Yolei grabbed onto one of the legs holding Davis and slashed her blade across it.
Davis was aware of falling, then he landed hard in the mud at the base of the cabin. One severed, arachnoid foot twitched beside him. He looked up in time to see the monster dive back into the room after Yolei.
Yolei could only hope Davis was alright. She retreated back as the creature advanced on her. She could see it clearly now: Shiny green eyes—eight of them—stared at her from a large head. It didn't have a mouth, only a long proboscis that dripped venom as it stretched hungrily toward her. Its eight long, spindly legs, one of them held off the ground and trailing a wisp of black smoke, inched toward her. Its legs outstretched took up the room, but its body was comparatively small.
She took a deep breath and fought down despair. She'd been in seemingly-hopeless battles with terrifying monsters before, she reminded herself. "What did you do with my friends?" she asked.
The creature crouched down, preparing to attack, and she braced her footing. Its front legs darted out toward her. She screamed, and a second later she felt its proboscis jab her shoulder. Paralyzing venom entered her body. She could barely breathe, but she had somehow managed to grab the proboscis with one hand. She jerked the knife she still held across the proboscis, but her vision went black before she could see what effect if any the action had.
"Is it because of Kari?"
Tora's question drew Ken out of a contemplative silence. "What do you mean?"
"Do you hate me because I was flirting with Kari?"
"No," Ken responded. "I don't hate you. And if I did, it certainly wouldn't be because you flirted with Kari. I didn't even notice you flirting with Kari."
"Mimi, then?"
"No." Ken leaned over his digivice to keep the rain off its screen. They were getting closer to whatever it was detecting.
"Kari and Mimi are so beautiful. I kind of feel sorry for Yolei."
Ken didn't have a quick temper, so he didn't turn around and punch Tora. "I disagree. And, anyway, beauty is only skin deep," he said. "Personality is what's important."
The rain slackened to a stop. A moment later, the moon pierced through the clouds to glimmer off the dripping trees
"What an enlightened opinion," Tora said disdainfully. "It's not that she isn't pretty, just not compared to the other two."
Ken opened his mouth to say something, but Tora interrupted him.
"Do you believe in fairies?"
"That depends on the definition. Why?"
"Because I think I'm looking at one right now."
Ken looked up and followed Tora's gaze through the trees. Standing motionless several meters away was what looked like a beautiful woman wearing a shimmering kimono of iridescent white with ruby sleeves. Her skin was translucent milky white; her hair was black with fiery points of purple and green.
"Do you think it's a ghost?" Tora whispered.
"No, I think she's a digimon."
They didn't speak as she glided toward them. "I'm Opalmon," she stated. She looked directly at Ken. "I was going to ask how you knew I was a digimon, but I recognize you now. I'm here on a mission from the Fireshield League."
"A group of digimon without partners who work to protect the digital world," Ken explained to Tora, "Mostly through espionage and subterfuge."
"We like to call it using brains instead of brute force," she said crisply. Her glittering eyes fell on Tora. "Are you digidestined?"
"No," he said. "You're the first digimon I've ever seen, except in pictures or on TV. My name's Tora."
"What are you doing here?" Ken asked her.
"I was investigating rumors that Daemon was courting allies in the Demon Underworld when one of the demons I was following, a giant spider named Xtoyilmon, found a rift between his world and this world. I came here looking for him."
"That explains the reading my digivice was picking up. Xtoyilmon must be the monster you saw," Ken told Tora.
"You know where it is?" Opalmon asked urgently.
"It could be at the cabin where we're staying," Tora said.
"Some of our friends have disappeared," Ken added.
Opalmon's eyes widened. "How many humans were there?"
"Twelve, including us. No digimon."
"Xtoyilmon will start feeding once it's captured everyone. We don't have much time."
"This way," Ken said as he turned around and started back toward the cabin. He thought of his friends at the mercy of Xtoyilmon, and he increased his speed until he was sprinting through the woods. Tora had to struggle to keep up with him.
They reached the cabin in a few minutes.
"Yolei!" Ken called. "Davis? Izzy? Tsukiyo!" He heard Tora's gasping breath and turned to him. "We're too late."
"Mmmmm!"
They looked up and saw someone wrapped in spider silk hanging off the roof.
"Nacre Beam!" Shafts of light radiated from Opalmon's fingertips, cutting through the threads. She caught the falling human and quickly cut through the rest of the binding, revealing Davis.
He spat a soggy mass of webbing out of his mouth. "Monster," he said. "Yolei and Izzy and I tried to fight it. We thought we were the only ones left. Who are you?"
"I'm Opalmon. Where's Xtoyilmon now?"
"I don't know. I fell out the window, then it went after Yolei, then it came back for me. It took me up on the roof. That's where the others are. They're all stuck up there. They weren't moving."
"How long ago was that?" Opalmon asked intently.
"I don't know, five minutes."
Opalmon looked up. "We're not too late to save some," she said somberly.
"How do we get up there?" Tora asked.
Opalmon walked to the wall, grabbed the a thread from which Davis had been hanging, gave it a solid tug, and started climbing. Ken followed her without hesitation. Davis and Tora gave each other looks, then started climbing after them.
The roof was steep, but it was nearly carpeted with sticky spiderweb, providing ample traction. Opalmon cut loose the first body she came to: Matt. He was clearly unconscious.
"They've been bitten," Opalmon explained. "Xtoyilmon injects its pray with a paralyzing poison."
"Will they recover?" Ken asked darkly.
"I don't know. A digimon would, but I don't know how Xtoyilmon's venom affects humans. But if we don't cut them out soon, they'll suffocate." She went around to the other bodies, cutting away the webbing around their faces. "It doesn't make sense," she said. "Xtoyilmon should have started feeding by now."
Ken walked around looking at the faces of his friends: Matt, Izzy, Kari, Tai, T.K., Mimi, Cody, Tsukiyo. "Yolei's not here," he said.
"She might still be in the bedroom, where we fought the thing," Davis suggested.
Ken began climbing down. As soon as his feet touched the ground he ran inside. The others followed him a moment later.
In the girls' bedroom, Ken found Yolei's glasses and the fallen knife by the light of the moon shining through the window.
Davis walked up behind him. He could sense Ken's devastation. "You should have seen her. She was so brave," he whispered.
Ken folded up the glasses and put them in his pocket. "We'll find her," he vowed.
Opalmon began looking around, using her Nacre Beam for light. "In here," she called from the boys' bedroom. She'd found Yolei hanging from the rafters in a spiderweb.
"Yolei!" Ken's cry came out as a pained whimper.
"Nacre Beam!" Opalmon cut her down. Yolei fell limply to the floor.
Ken ran to her and kneeled beside her. She looked so pale, almost blue. He frantically pulled the spiderweb away from her. He paused. "I think I found why it hasn't started feeding yet." He pointed to the proboscis, still stuck in Yolei's shoulder.
"Get it out!" Opalmon ordered. "It might still have venom in it."
Ken put his hand on her shoulder, noting how swollen it was, and yanked out the proboscis and tossed it away from her. Then his fingers slid across her neck searching for a pulse. He exhaled sharply in relief when he found one.
Opalmon heard a swish of movement. Her eyes darted around the room, then up. "Look out!"
Ken looked up in time to see Xtoyilmon drop from the rafters. He curled over Yolei protectively.
"Nacre Beam!" Opalmon's attack caused Xtoyilmon to fall to the ground, but it was instantly on its various feet, facing her.
"Spider Spray!"
Opalmon dodged—barely–the acidic sparks.
"Fire Opal!" A red sphere formed in her sleeve and flew toward her foe.
With a flick of one of its legs, Xtoyilmon deflected it back at her. She dodged, but was unprepared for the next attack. "Arachnistrike!"
A stream of energy enveloped her. She de-digivolved to her in-training form.
"Opalmon!" Tora ran across the path of the spider demon and swept the little digimon out of the path of another Spider Spray. Tora saw Xtoyilmon effortlessly change its direction mid stride to chase after him. He ducked through the closest door—the bathroom—but before he could pull the door shut Xtoyilmon slipped inside, its long legs bent at odd angles to fit within the small room. Tora dove between its legs and out the door, slamming it behind him. A couple of the spider demon's legs were smashed in the door frame. Tora backed away from the door quickly. He put down the digimon when she began struggling against his tight grip.
"Wow, Tora. That was some quick thinking," Davis complimented.
"Thinking?" Tora asked in bemusement. "I wasn't thinking. I just had to protect Opalmon." He looked at the digimon, who now looked like a translucent pink lizard. "What were you doing, attacking a digimon that size, Opalmon?"
"My name is Quartzmon now. It wasn't a digimon, it was a Xibalban. And what else could I do? No one else is here to fight it."
"Just a second." Davis ran into the other room and returned with the three knives he, Yolei, and Izzy had used to fight Xtoyilmon before. He gave one to Tora, one to Ken, and held one as he cautiously approached the door where the giant spider legs still flailed futilely. He threw open the door.
And the severed limbs fell to the ground. Xtoyilmon was gone.
"Where did it go?" Davis asked.
"There are spaces between the walls and ceiling in each room," Tora told him. "Xtoyilmon might be able to fit through them."
"It could be anywhere," Ken said.
"But my guess is that it's staying close," Quartzmon stated.
The window squeaked open. They turned to see the spider demon climb through the window. Quartzmon leaped forward to face it.
"Quartzmon, no!" Tora started running toward her. A bright light flashed from his hand, and he found himself holding a digivice.
"Quartzmon digivolve to...Opalmon! Fire Opal!" The attack knocked Xtoyilmon off its feet, but it quickly launched a counter-attack.
"Arachnistrike!"
"Opalmon digivolve to...Lazulimon!" Now in the form of a dark blue tiger, the champion-level digimon knocked Xtoyilmon with its tail, then struck at it with her claws. "Lapis Claw!"
A glowing scratch mark appeared on Xtoyilmon, then it melted into a cloud of black smoke.
Lazulimon returned to the form of Opalmon. "It's finished." She turned to Tora with amazement. "But now I have a human partner."
"Try not to sound so excited," said Tora, who couldn't have looked happier.
"You don't understand. I'm in the Fireshield League. They're...they're not going to like this."
"They'll get used to it. Xtoyilmon would have killed us all if you hadn't digivolved."
Opalmon didn't comment.