Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. The poem is "Ulalume" by Edgar A. Poe, and the chapter titles come from "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Po Chu-i.
Chapter 9: Under the Earth
Stars were just beginning to twinkle in the twilight sky when Kari and Yolei passed a cave on a hillside from which delicious scents drifted. They realized suddenly how very, very hungry they were.
"We should keep going," Kari said. "We're already in the Underworld; I don't think going any deeper would be a good idea."
"You're absolutely right," Yolei agreed vigorously. "Let's just keep going."
Neither of them continued.
"What do you think that smell is?" Yolei asked.
"I have no idea. It smells like some kind of herb."
"Maybe it's mushrooms."
Kari looked at the dark hole in the rock. "I'm telling you, Yolei, we'd be crazy to go down there."
"I brought a flashlight." Yolei dug through her backpack until she found the small flashlight, which she turned on and pointed into the mouth of the cave. "Remember that pool of soup where we found the last Destiny Stone? It could be something like that."
"Okay," Kari finally reluctantly agreed. "We'll go in for just a minute, then we have to keep going."
Yolei led the way into the mouth of the cave. They went deeper into the hillside until they came to place where there was a table set with all sorts of aromatic food. No one was there.
"I've had dreams like this," Yolei said, salivating.
"We need to get out of here now. Come on."
They began to retreat, but then they heard footsteps behind them.
"Hide," Kari suggested. She pulled Yolei into a crevasse. They held their breath and listened to the footsteps getting closer.
"The food smells delicious, Fomon," one said. "It almost smells like human."
One pair of footsteps stopped, and they heard a loud sniffing. "I think that is human. Where did you get human, Fomon?"
The other footsteps stopped. "I didn't cook human." This one sniffed, as well. "But you're right. There is human here. It's been a while since I've had human, but it smells fresh.
One lit a lamp, and Yolei was able to see their forms. There were four of them. They were huge, muscular, and grey, with horns protruding from their heads, chins, and cheekbones. Their jaws stuck out, with long, curved, interlocking teeth exposed. Their eyes glowed green.
As Yolei watched the one that carried the lamp, another one came into view, its face inches from hers. "Found you!"
She squeaked a miniature scream as the creatures long-clawed hand grasped her by her shirt collar and pulled her out.
"Ah, another one." The creature's other hand reached out and grabbed Kari.
"A rare feast," said another. "They look young and tender."
"No," Yolei said, "we really aren't. Trust me, we're very tough and chewy...and way too salty."
The monsters laughed. "Put them on the table," said the one with the lamp.
"You really don't want to eat us," Kari said. "We..."
"We don't have all that much meat on us," Yolei tried. "And we'd be so bland. You'll need spices. Some parsley...maybe some oregano...and definitely a dash of cilantro. Not to mention some onions and mushrooms to top us off."
"Yolei!" Kari gave her a look. "We're not a pizza!"
"Well I don't know about you, but if I'm going to be eaten I at least want to make a memorable meal."
The creatures were laughing harder. "With food like this, who needs entertainment?" chuckled the one carrying them.
"Look," said Kari, "you've already got a good meal tonight. Why don't you let us go?"
"Or save us for later?" Yolei suggested. "Fatten us up to eat us?"
The one with the lamp brought it close to her face. "They are rather skinny, and it would be a shame to waste the meal I've already made for tonight's dinner. Put them in the cage, Faimon. We can eat them tomorrow."
Faimon carried them into the kitchen, where it shoved them into a cage next to the stove and locked the door. "At least that bought us some time," Kari said.
They could hear the monsters talking and laughing as they ate their dinner in the other room. Then one asked another to make more tapioca pudding. The kitchen door opened, and one of the monsters came in. It opened the refrigerator and took out a plastic container full of tapioca. It then took out a large bowl, put a teaspoon of tapioca pudding in it, and began stirring it with a large wooden spoon, all while Kari and Yolei watched with interest. With each stir, the amount of pudding doubled until the bowl was full. The monster put the spoon in the sink and took the bowl of pudding into the dining room.
"Did you see that?" Yolei asked in an excited whisper. "Do you know what that means? Tsukiyo wrote an essay about the possibility of digital matter replication devices. Sure, we're not in the digiworld, but this at least proves it's possible."
"But can it help us escape?" Kari asked.
Yolei became thoughtful. "Maybe...But first we have to get out of this cage."
Kari sighed as she poked at the lock. "If only Gatomon were here."
They worked for hours, trying everything they could think of to pick the lock, long after the Onimon went to sleep. One of them fell asleep against the kitchen door, blocking it with its body. They could hear it snoring.
"We might be able to break the lock."
"How?"
Yolei examined the lock and the strength of the bars around it. "If we both kick it at the same time, as hard as we can, it may break open."
Kari looked at her skeptically, but nodded. "It's worth a try."
"When I count to 'three' you kick right below the lock with your right foot, and I'll kick right above it with my left foot."
They both backed up and took careful aim. "One...two...THREE!"
Their efforts rewarded them with nothing more than a loud clank and jarring pain in both their legs.
"That sure worked," Kari said.
"It can, we just have to try it again." Yolei winced as she rubbed her leg in a futile effort to ease the pain.
"Just one more time," Kari agreed reluctantly.
They switched places. "One...two...three."
Once again, they kicked the bars around the lock forcefully, and once again there was a loud noise and incredible pain, but this time the lock bent and the door swung open. They instinctively held their breath to see if their guard had heard. After a long, tense moment of silence, its soft snoring resumed.
"Now what?" Kari whispered.
Yolei stepped out of the cage into the kitchen and began searching around until she found a sharp knife. "Find a pot and put it on the stove," she said.
Kari did, then turned on the stove. Yolei took the magic spoon and placed it next to the pot, then held her arm over the pot and tentatively touched the knife to it.
"What are you doing!" Kari asked in a shocked and worried whisper.
"Making blood pudding," she whispered back. "With any luck, the monsters will smell it and open the door, and we can escape while they're eating it."
Kari looked slightly disgusted, but didn't protest. "Hold on a second," She took a cotton washcloth, soaked a corner of it with water from the sink, and washed Yolei's arm.
Yolei took a deep breath as she pushed the serrated knife into her skin, then closed her eyes. 'I have to do this to escape,' she thought. 'I have to escape to live. I have to live to see Hawkmon and my family again, to find out if Ken likes me, to grow up and make a lot of money and have a family. I have to do this or Kari will die.' She pulled the knife across her skin and exhaled. Blood ran down her arm and dripped into the pot. Wasting no time, she began stirring with the magic spoon until the pot was full of blood. A horrible metallic stench filled the room.
Kari washed the blood off, then tied the cloth firmly around Yolei's arm.
They heard the monster in the next room sniff. They heard it stand up, then slowly creak open the door. The two girls hid in the shadows next to the door and waited. The monster walked past without noticing them. It went straight to the pot of blood on the stove. Its long tongue flicked out to taste it.
"Run," Yolei breathed. In a second, they were off, sprinting down the darkened hall.
They heard a sound like a reversed roar that sent chills down their spines. They glanced back and saw that two of the monsters were chasing them.
They emerged from the cave mouth into a moonlit night. Cicadas and crickets sang in the grasses, but the girls didn't notice them. They began running down the path as fast as they could.
"Are they still chasing us?" Kari asked.
Yolei glanced back. "Yes. And I think they're gaining."
"If we survive this..." Before she could finish that thought, she saw the wooden spoon in Yolei's hand, still wet with her blood. "You still have the spoon?"
"Yeah. I figured we could at least get something out of this ordeal."
"That's why they're chasing us!" Kari said in dismay. "You stole it!"
"They tried to eat us!"
"That's no excuse for stealing, Yolei. Give it back."
"Fine," Yolei said with a sigh that sounded just like a pant. She turned around and tossed the spoon as far as she could into the grassland. The two monsters ran after it, giving their quarry time to complete their escape.
Kari and Yolei didn't stop running until dawn, when they collapsed, exhausted, in the forest near the castle.
After a minute, Yolei began laughing hysterically.
"What…is…so…funny?" Kari asked between gasps.
"I think I dropped my flashlight."
Kari started laughing too.