18
Thinning Barriers
"They say foul things of Old Times still lurk
In dark forgotten corners of the world.
And Gates still gape to loose, on certain nights
Shapes pent in Hell."
– Robert E. Howard, "The Black Stone"
The morning came at last, and it was time for the Chosen Children to get back to work. Their partners had evolved back to their normal states during the night, and were ready to resume their destruction of the Dark Towers. The Digimon felt, though they didn't say so even to each other, that they had to be strong for their partners, who were visibly tired and preoccupied. Even the group's most cheerful personalities were somewhat subdued today. The previous night, and the thought of who knew how many similar nights to come, weighed on their minds.
Rather than the ten-tower clusters they had dealt with on the previous day, there was a blanket of sparser towers spread over a large area of the Digital World. It would be hard for the enemy to guard them all, but it was decided that the Chosen would split into the same groups as yesterday in case they ran into resistance.
An interesting discovery was made early on. A number of the areas where Dark Towers had been built were composed entirely of ocean. Hikari and Miyako had told the others about the half-buried towers they had found in the rotting town by the train tracks. Takeru and Iori had also informed their friends of the subterranean Dark Towers they had found in the town Gennai called Kingsport. Apparently they would now have to seek out underwater towers as well. Ken reflected that this was only to be expected given the Dark Towers' place of origin.
Since Iori's partner was the only Digimon of much use in water, he and Submarimon would sweep the sea bottom while Takeru and Pegasmon provided any necessary support from the air. The land-based Dark Towers were divided up between the remaining two groups, with the girls and their flying Digimon generally taking the rougher ground, leaving Daisuke and Ken with the plains where Lighdramon could run relatively unimpeded.
On his way from the shrine to the map room, Sato Katsu noticed that something had changed during the night. An alcove had appeared in one of the hallways that had not been there before. In it stood one of the metal rings used to contain the portals which connected the base to other locations. There was a portal open in it now, and on the other side Sato could see the ever-shifting image of a stone door.
Sato paused. His eyes narrowed. He started forward, only to see the door open and a dark, nebulous shape step through it. The thing emerged from the portal, and Sato saw that it was the Dark Man, his eyes brighter than ever.
"What is that?" Sato asked softly.
"New recruit," the other answered, his face splitting in a grin. Sato considered his next words carefully.
"I was not informed," he said, slowly.
"I was just on my way to tell you," the Dark Man replied. "You'll like him. I think he'll work out great."
"What is his name?" Sato asked.
"Wisemon. I went ahead and helped him get settled. Come inside. I'll introduce you."
Sato stepped after him through the portal. The Dark Man had left the stone door open on the other side, and they passed through into a shadowy antechamber.
"Where is this place?" Sato asked.
"It doesn't matter," the Dark Man said. "I assure you that no one will be getting in except through that portal."
There was another of the stone doors in this room, which flew open when the Dark Man touched it with his fingertips. On the other side was a small, torch-lit room, the walls lined with books of all shapes, sizes, and ages.
"Wisemon?"
A Digimon sat at a table of petrified wood. He was humanoid, robed in brown, his head hooded in light-colored cloth. The Digimon turned at the voice, and Sato saw round yellow eyes looking out of the shadows under the hood.
"Yes, Dark One?"
"This is Sato Katsu-san. He's the one who called me here. You'll do what he tells you."
Wisemon stood and bowed deeply. Sato considered saying something, but the Dark Man's introduction seemed sufficient. There would be time for conversation with this Digimon once he knew what its purpose was. The Dark Man tapped Sato on the shoulder. Sato shivered involuntarily at the contact. "That will do," the Dark Man said. "Go back through the portal."
Sato turned and looked at the Dark Man. There was puzzlement in his expression, and a shadow passed briefly over his face. For a moment he looked… frightened. The Dark Man raised his eyebrows and Sato resumed his usual expression. He retreated through the door, leaving the Dark Man alone with Wisemon.
"I'll let you get back to your studies," the Dark Man said.
"Many thanks, Dark One. There is so much…"
"Yes." The Dark Man began to exit the room, paused, and looked back. "Oh, Wisemon. You'll do what Sato tells you – unless I've told you to do differently."
"Of course, Dark One."
"We will be sending our first group of Digimon into the human world today," Sato said when the Dark Man reemerged from the portal.
"Good, good. You're progressing rapidly."
"I would like you to be present, but we must start soon, before the children destroy too many Dark Towers. Anubimon won't be able to resume opening the gates for some time."
"We can do it now," the Dark Man announced. They walked on a ways in silence. Eventually Sato spoke.
"Who is Wisemon?"
The Dark Man chuckled.
"An Anubimon of sorts," he said. "Not yet, but one day. Trust me. Just wait and see."
The destruction of the Dark Towers progressed slowly but steadily. Whoever had built them had taken the idea of hiding and disguising the towers to an extreme. In a few instances they were hidden in places where it should have been impossible to insert them without leaving behind a good deal more evidence than the Chosen found. It was as though these towers had simply materialized out of the air rather than been built. Had the Chosen Children and their partners not known that there were Dark Towers in these areas, they would have missed them entirely.
Despite these difficulties, however, the Dark Towers had been left unguarded.
"This is strange," Takeru said to Pegasmon. "We haven't run into any of the enemy." He got out his D-Terminal and sent the others a message containing the same thought.
We've seen plenty of normal Digimon down here, Iori typed back, but none guarding the Dark Towers.
I'm worried that the enemy may be doing something while we destroy the towers, Hikari messaged.
Archnemon and Mummymon kidnapped those children in 2002 while we were destroying the Dark Towers around the world, Ken said.
"What if the same thing is happening now?" Miyako wondered aloud.
"What do you think?" Daisuke asked Ken, some distance away. "Could it be happening again?"
Ken pondered the question for a minute.
"It could be," he said, "but we don't know what the enemy's plan is. What are they after?"
"The Dark Towers are used to break down the walls between the worlds, right?" Daisuke asked.
"Yeah," Ken confirmed. He thought for a while. "If I had to guess, I would say that they want to bring something out of the Dark World."
Daisuke pondered on this, his expression worried.
"Well," he said at last. "All we can do right now is take out these Dark Towers. We can keep the barriers strong until those guys show themselves!"
Ken smiled.
"You're right," he said. "Let's go."