Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about Gennai! Is it just me or are my chapters getting longer?
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 105: The Search for Gennai
Gabumon
Cyber, Western Hemisphere, Digital World
Gabumon crept slowly towards the edge of the forest and settled himself in a large clump of bushes. After a brief hesitation, he glanced warily through the branches brushing up against his face and found himself gazing at a tall, dark castle.
"Nice place, isn't it. No wonder Vampiramon's master likes it here," Ogremon snorted, leaning around a large tree trunk for a better look.
I wonder if Ryoko and his friends have made it here yet. Matt won't be too happy if Spritemon and DarkAngelicmon end up capturing his son, or worse...
"Well, it's a good thing Vampiramon's master isn't here otherwise our job would be a lot harder," Leomon said dryly.
Gabumon nodded in agreement and frowned at the castle. He, along with his friends, had been forced to take a bit of a detour in order to slip around Vampiramon and her followers, but after passing the enemies' camp they had been able to get back on track again, and from there they had started heading in the direction Vampiramon and the others had appeared to be guarding. The digimon in the forest they had spoken to earlier had been too frightened in order to give them much more than a vague description of where the castle was located, but nevertheless they had thanked the frightened group for the information they had received on the fort, despite the fact that, when it came to direction, they had nothing to rely on but their own instincts. Luckily they had passed a wandering Gekomon on their way through the forest, after they had gotten past Vampiramon and her evil digimon, and the little champion had been able to tell them exactly where the castle was located. Without the little digimon's help, they would not have gotten as far as they had.
"I hope Jackie and the others are okay," Agumon said slowly. "I heard shouting in the forest just as we were passing by Vampiramon's campsite. Jestermon and the others must have discovered our friends."
"I knew we could count on Jackie and Andromon," Benjamin said, beaming at Tai's digimon partner. "Don't worry, Agumon, I'm sure our friends are fine. They'll keep themselves hidden just enough to prevent Vampiramon from discovering the fact that there are a few of us missing. I didn't hear any sounds that would indicate there was a battle taking place so I think it's pretty safe to assume our friends are still alright."
"I hope so."
Me, too, Agumon.
"Something doesn't feel right," Leomon murmured, stepping forward and crouching next to Benjamin beneath the trees. He nodded his head towards the front doors of the castle and loosened his sword in its scabbard. "There are hardly any guards patrolling the area. Those digimon back in the forest told us this place was surrounded by evil digimon, but if that's the case then where did they all go?"
Gabumon glanced uneasily at the lion digimon and shifted closer to Agumon's side. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before turning to look at the castle. Leomon was right. There were two DarkTyrannomon guarding the front entrance, but neither of them were paying the slightest bit of attention to their surroundings. The only other digimon in the area were some Vilemon, several Bakemon, and a few Phantomon hovering around the North Tower.
Benjamin pulled up the hood of his robe and gently placed his hand on Leomon's shoulder. "It's the Digidestined. They must be inside the castle. Look at the way the guards keep glancing behind themselves. I bet the rest of the sentries were ordered to get back inside the castle."
"Does that mean Dai and the others have been captured?" Ogremon asked sharply.
Benjamin lifted his gaze and frowned at the green virus digimon standing behind him. "I don't know. Maybe Spritemon and DarkAngelicmon know the Digidestined are inside, but they haven't gotten their hands on them yet, and that's why DarkAngelicmon has ordered some of the sentries to come inside and help him look. Our friends could be hiding in there waiting for a chance to escape, and if they are then we'd better help them out before they're discovered."
"Now that's my kind of plan. I'm good at causing distractions!" Ogremon smirked.
"What about Gennai?" Agumon asked hesitantly.
Benjamin huddled deeper into his robe and smiled slightly. "The first thing we're going to do after we've entered the castle is find Gennai because I have a feeling he'll lead us right to the Digidestined."
"Besides, I'm sure our efforts to save Gennai will cause quite a stir, and that may give the Digidestined a chance to escape from the castle, but we'd better make sure no one sees us until after we've gotten our hands on Gennai," Leomon said seriously.
Gabumon turned to look at the castle again and slowly shook his head. "Benjamin, how can we be sure Ryoko and the others are really in there? How could they have managed to get inside without getting caught?"
"Well, Davis and Daichi are the leaders of their little group, and those two are nothing if not creative! I know they're in there. I can feel it. I know it's asking a lot, but you have to trust me."
"I do trust you."
And I trust Davis and Dai, too, but something still doesn't feel right. If only Matt were here. If I could digivolve into Garurumon then maybe I wouldn't feel so vulnerable...
"Are we going to rescue Gennai or are we just going to stand around staring at the castle all day?" Ogremon complained, smashing his club impatiently against a tree trunk. "Gennai's not going to suddenly come walking out the front door to save us the trouble of finding him, you know."
"If only it were that simple," Leomon muttered. "Do you have a plan, Benjamin?"
The robed figure nodded and pointed towards the guards. The Phantomon had disappeared behind the northwest side of the tower, and the Vilemon were engaged in a heated argument with both DarkTyrannomon. The three Bakemon were whispering excitedly to one another close by, and every so often they would send dirty looks in the direction of the Vilemon. Gabumon nudged Agumon in the ribs and smiled. In others words, they had a perfect opportunity to ambush the guards without so much as lifting a finger.
Tai would have liked these odds, and Matt would have been right behind him.
"We'll attack as soon as the Vilemon have their backs turned," Benjamin said simply. "I'll go first."
They waited in silence until all six Vilemon had their backs turned towards the forest, and as soon as the last one had let his attention wander, Benjamin motioned for everyone to move forwards.
"Now you're talking!" Ogremon growled, bursting out of the forest and racing towards the Vilemon. Benjamin reached the group of digimon first and pulled something out of his robe. There was a flash of blinding white light and the evil digimon stumbled backwards to avoid the bright glow coming from the object in Benjamin's hand. By that time, Leomon and Ogremon had descended upon the disoriented group and two of the Bakemon went flying into the stone wall, courtesy of Ogremon's club. Gabumon quickly joined the group and motioned for Agumon to help him take out the smaller digimon.
This is for you, Matt. I won't let anyone hurt Ryoko!
"No, the light! It's hurting my eyes!" one of the Vilemon wailed, trying desperately to hide behind the DarkTyrannomon standing closest to him.
"Now!" Benjamin shouted.
"Out of our way before we turn you into data! Bone Cudgel!" Ogremon snapped, swinging his weapon and sending the third Bakemon crashing into the two who were still lying in a heap on the groud.
Leomon leaped forward and slashed one of the DarkTyrannomon in the legs with his sword. The large dinosaur digimon let out a growl of pain and toppled over onto his back. Ogremon and Leomon immediately descended upon the fallen digimon and began to shoot their attacks at him. "Fist of the Best King!" Leomon shouted, his orange blast slamming into the dinosaur digimon's stomach.
Ogremon hit DarkTyrannomon in the face with his Pummel Whack attack, and Leomon thrust his sword into the evil digimon's heart. DarkTyrannomon exploded into tiny particles of data, and the Vilemon began to panic.
"The Digidestined have sent reinforcements!"
"We're all going to be turned into data!"
"What's going on? I can't see!" the second DarkTyrannomon snarled.
"Keep doing whatever you're doing, Benjamin. We can't let any of them escape!" Agumon called out. "Pepper Breath!"
A blast of fire flew into the six Vilemon and sent them scrambling for safety. Gabumon leaped on top of the one trying to get past him and glared at the other five who were trying to slip around DarkTyrannomon. Benjamin had the light shining directly on the evil digimon, and all of them were squinting in an effort to make out their attackers.
They can't see us, but we can see them!
"Keep your backs to the light!" Leomon advised. It was almost as if the lion digimon had read his mind. DarkTyrannomon and the other digimon could not turn away from the bright glow because that would leave them vulnerable to blasts of energy and dangerous weapons.
We don't have the same problem, which means we have the edge in this battle.
"Nightmare Shocker!" one of the Vilemon shouted, shooting blindly into the light. The attack missed Benjamin by several feet and flew harmlessly into the forest.
"What are you doing? I say run while we still can!" a second Vilemon wailed.
"Even Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon had more courage than you guys do. They proved their worth, but you cowards haven't. You will never be friends to us! Blue Blaster!"
Two of the Vilemon went down, and another one tripped over them in a useless attempt to escape. Agumon's Pepper Breath engulfed all three of them and they exploded into data.
"That's three down. Only three more to go!"
Gabumon smiled at his friend and nodded. "Next time save some for me, Agumon!"
"Let's put this evil digimon out of his misery," Leomon said, motioning for Ogremon to join him again. The two digimon launched themselves at the second DarkTyrannomon, and Ogremon swung his club at the dinosaur digimon's knees.
"I'm not going to die that easily!" DarkTyrannomon growled, stepping out of Ogremon's reach.
Leomon swung his sword at the dinosaur digimon from behind and knocked the evil champion's legs out from under his huge body. DarkTyrannomon crashed to the ground with a roar of pain and was quickly silenced by Ogremon's Bone Cudgel attack.
"See you back at Primary Village! Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon growled, thrusting his fist into DarkTyrannomon's face. The evil digimon disappeared in a blaze of orange light that illuminated the three unconscious Bakemon lying at the base of the stone wall.
"I never wanted to be a guard in the first place!" the second Vilemon whined.
"The Digidestined will never escape from the castle!" another one screamed. "Nightmare Shocker!"
Gabumon leaped off the sixth Vilemon, who was still struggling beneath him, and the first Vilemon's blast slammed into the unfortunate imp digimon who had been stuck with the unlucky task of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sixth Vilemon exploded into data, courtesy of the first Vilemon's attack, and the second Vilemon let out a whimper of fear.
"Two more to go! Pepper Breath!" Agumon shouted.
"Blue Blaster!"
Their combined attacks flew into the remaining two Vilemon and both of them disappeared before they had a chance to make a run for it.
"Now for the Bakemon," Ogremon smirked.
All three ghost digimon were only now getting themselves into the air again, and they froze when they realized their fellow guards were no longer in the area. Leomon stepped forward with his sword held high in the air, and the light coming from the object in Benjamin's hand made it look like it was glowing. The Bakemon took one look at what appeared to be a flaming sword and flew screaming towards the forest before disappearing from sight beneath the trees.
"Cowards," Ogremon muttered.
Gabumon slowly turned towards Benjamin and stared at the object in the Watcher's hand in astonishment. Now that the thing was no longer glowing, it was easy to figure out exactly what it was.
"I see Azulongmon has had a hand in this, as well," Leomon said dryly. "How did you manage to come by one of his Digicores?"
"A gift," Benjamin said softly, tucking the Digicore back inside his robe. "I promised I would take good care of it, and I mean to keep my promise. It's only a loan. Jackie, Jose, Hogan, and Ilya all have one, as well. Gennai did, too, but I don't know what happened to his..."
"The D-Coders!" Agumon gasped. "Gennai gave his Digicore to Piximon in order to send the D-Coders to the Digidestined!"
"You may be right," Leomon murmured. "That's really the only explanation that makes sense. You told us Daichi and his friends got their Digivices from a Digicore. I doubt Gennai still has his because if he did, DarkAngelicmon and the others would have found it."
"And obviously they haven't," Benjamin agreed. "We'd know if they had. By the way, Agumon, thank you for informing us about the fact that the new Digivices are called D-Coders. Everything is starting to make a lot more sense now. Piximon must have had Gennai's Digicore, because according to you and Gabumon, Dai said Piximon had mentioned something about a friend giving him the Digicore, and he also mentioned something about it belonging to a friend of a friend of his. Gennai is the only one who could possibly fit that description."
"Well, either way that was a nice touch with the light. I guess you helped us out a little," Ogremon grumbled.
"I'd say he helped us out quite a bit," Agumon muttered.
Gabumon jumped as Leomon suddenly knelt in front of him and nodded towards the spot where the Vilemon had been. "You and Agumon did well to fight all those Vilemon and win. They are champion level digimon, after all."
"Champion level digimon have their weaknesses, especially when they're caught off guard."
"I couldn't agree more, Gabumon. Come, my friends, we should get inside the castle before those Phantomon make an appearance again," Benjamin interrupted.
"I'll tell you one thing. I doubt we'll be seeing those Bakemon again," Ogremon snorted. "That'll be one less distraction we'll have to worry about."
Gabumon quickly followed the others into the castle and paused in the middle of a large foyer. A huge chandelier hung above his head, and he glanced uneasily at the large staircase located directly across from him. At the moment there were no evil digimon in sight.
"Which way?" Agumon asked.
Benjamin frowned and pointed towards a hallway on the right-hand side of the room. "I think we should go that way. The dungeons are probably below ground. That seems like the most logical place they would hold Gennai to keep him from trying to escape."
"You're right. In that case we'd better find a set of stairs that lead down instead of up," Leomon said quietly.
Gabumon followed the others into the right-hand corridor and nudged Benjamin's leg to get the robed figure's attention. "What happened to Azulongmon's other six Digicores? You and your counterparts were each given one, but that leaves six still unaccounted for. Where are they?"
"I assume Azulongmon still has them. He gave us his Digicores a long time ago, but he never told us why. The only thing he told us was that we might need them someday. He said we were to have them 'just in case'. I guess Gennai finally figured out what he was supposed to do with his. Either that or Azulongmon told him."
"That still doesn't explain why the rest of you have one."
"I think they're more for protection than anything else, but we'll see."
Gabumon nodded slowly and lapsed into silence. He did not really understand what was going on, but Benjamin seemed to have an answer for everything, and that made him feel a little bit better. He has answers for questions he doesn't even know the answers to!
They reached the end of the corridor without encountering any guards, and Leomon pointed down a new hallway that led to the left. "Look, Benjamin, you were right. There's a staircase just ahead on the right. It leads down, not up, which is exactly where we want to go."
"There should be more guards around here," Agumon whispered.
"Yes, but it is as I feared," Benjamin sighed. "You heard what that Vilemon said earlier. The Digidestined are in the castle, and they've been discovered. Let's hurry and rescue Gennai. The guards are occupied at the moment, but they won't be for long. The sooner we get our hands on Gennai, the sooner we can find the Digidestined."
They hurried down the corridor and made their way down the stairs as silently as possible in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Gabumon glanced uneasily at the stone walls and moved closer to Agumon's side. There were torches hanging on the walls, but the light did not shine bright enough to illuminate the whole hallway. There are shadows everywhere. A guard could be hiding in the darkness watching us and we wouldn't even know it until it was too late. This place feels...familiar. It's like I've been here before, but I know I haven't. It feels kind of like that cave where Matt had almost given in to the darkness in his heart.
"How long is this tunnel? I feel like we've been walking forever," Ogremon grumbled.
Leomon held up his hand for silence and sent the virus digimon a disapproving look. "Quiet, Ogremon, do you hear that? There are voices coming from somewhere ahead of us. I think we're getting close now."
Gabumon paused to listen and realized he could hear two voices drifting out of the darkness towards them. Both were arguing loudly about something, but their voices were too far away to make out exactly what is was they were saying. They sound really angry. I wonder if they are the ones who are guarding Gennai. Be careful, Ryoko, wherever you are. I won't fail Matt, and I won't fail you either.
He was glad Palmon had gone with Ryoko otherwise he would have been even more worried. She was a tough digimon, and he knew she would keep Ryoko safe, but that did not stop him from wanting to help, too.
Alopemon will protect my partner's son. He's a loyal digimon, and I can tell he cares a lot about Ryoko, just like I care a lot about Matt...
"Let's keep going, but keep your voices down. I do not want us to lose the element of surprise," Benjamin whispered.
They reached the end of the damp tunnel in a tense silence, and Benjamin poked his head around the corner for a better look. Almost immediately the Watcher let out a soft gasp and quickly backed away from what appeared to be the entrance to the dungeons.
"What is it?" Leomon murmured.
Benjamin took a deep breath and laid his hand on the lion digimon's arm. "Gennai's in there, but there are two digimon guarding his cell. We need to get rid of them before they can inform the other guards of our presence inside the castle."
"Who are they?" Agumon asked, glancing warily at the doorway.
"Devidramon and SkullSatamon."
"Nasty digimon," Ogremon confirmed. "They'll be tough to beat, but I can handle them."
"Of course you can," Leomon agreed, coughing into his hand and quickly turning away.
Ogremon glanced suspiciously at the lion digimon, but Gabumon ignored them both and turned his attention to the dungeons instead. We'll beat them, even if Agumon and I are rookies. Matt's always with me, even when he's not around to help me digivolve. He has always believed in me, and I will always believe in him.
"The guards didn't see me, but Gennai did. He is as perceptive as ever," Benjamin said, smiling slightly.
Gabumon poked his head around the corner for a good look of his own, and his breath caught in his throat. There was more light in the dungeons than there was in the tunnel, and he could see the two digimon arguing in front of Gennai's cell. Gennai, himself, was sitting quietly on the cold, stone floor with his arms wrapped around his knees and his hood pulled over his head. The expression on the Watcher's face gave away absolutely nothing, but Gabumon could tell he was trying to help them keep their presence a secret by keeping the guards' attention away from the door.
He knows what we're going to do already.
It was almost as if Gennai had read his mind because the Watcher suddenly turned towards him and their eyes met.
You have helped us out many times in the past, Gennai. Now it's time for us to help you.
He had not said a single word out loud, but Gennai smiled at him all the same before turning back to the guards.
"Well, shouldn't we get moving?" Agumon whispered.
Gabumon stepped back from the door and nodded. "Let's do this."
"Hey, Benji, do you still have that Digicore handy? Who says the same trick won't work twice in a row?" Ogremon smirked.
Benjamin slipped his hand inside his robe, and without a word he leaped out of the darkness and entered the dungeons in a blaze of bright yellow light. The glow was so strong it appeared almost to be as white as snow.
Don't worry, Matt, I will make you proud, and I will protect your son, no matter what. The Crest of Friendship is here. I feel its power, and I feel you, too. We'll fight this battle together, just like old times, and we'll win, just like we always do.
With that thought in mind, he leaped through the doorway after Benjamin and the dungeon erupted into chaos.