64
Meeting
"'I caught sight of the man, but it was only for a moment, and the agony you witnessed was the agony of suspense… I shuddered at the idea of this incarnate fiend, whose soul is black with shocking crimes, mingling free and unobserved amongst the harmless crowds, meditating perhaps a new and more fearful cycle of infamies. I tell you, sir, that an awful being stalks through the streets, a being before whom the sunlight itself should blacken, and the summer air grow chill and dank.'" – Arthur Machen, "Novel of the Dark Valley"
Sato still stood on the generator room's balcony, silent. The Chosen Children and their partners were regrouping near the center of the room, but he could see that they were clearly concerned about the Digimon suffering around them. As he watched, his eyes grew ever harder, and his lips drew back from clenched teeth. Everything had fallen apart so quickly, starting with the appearance of Yagami and Motomiya. The Hanumon had not been able to hold them long enough, and the artificial Armor Digimon were even weaker than Coatlmon and Setmon had been, maybe due to mass production, or some other flaw that he didn't have time to address.
Calming himself with an effort, he stepped forward, out of shadow and up to the balcony railing. It was only a matter of time before the Chosen Children began messing around with the machinery, and that could have disastrous results. For now he would stall them and wait for reinforcements.
"What the hell's going on here?" Daisuke asked, posing the question to no one in particular. His voice was equal parts horrified and outraged.
"They're… being drained of something," Ken said. "But I – I don't know why." He dropped his eyes from a twisted and fractured Floramon to his clenched fists.
"It's going to that place…" Hikari murmured, too low for any of the others to catch it over the wails from the generators.
"We must get them out of there!" Hawkmon said.
"Yeah!" agreed V-mon. "Come on, let's find a way to—"
"Don't bother, Chosen Children."
Twelve pairs of eyes flew to the end of the room, where a man was standing upon a balcony. His voice had been raised just enough to get the Chosen's attention. In its wake there was an audible change in cries of the tortured Digimon, as if that one sentence – or the presence of that particular speaker – caused them immense agitation.
"Silence!" Just that additional word and the yelps and groans ceased, dwindling to pitiful whimpers. "I want to speak to my guests."
Hikari, for one, had recognized the voice, though she had only heard it a few times in her life, and it was no exaggeration to say that it affected her just as powerfully as it had the wretched things in the generators. He existed, then. The man who stalked her through her nightmares now stood on the balcony in the flesh.
"It is nice to finally meet you all," the man continued, his voice now lower, but just as icy. "Motomiya Daisuke, Inoue Miyako, and Hida Iori. Takaishi Takeru. Ichijouji Ken. Yagami Hikari." Into the last word – Hikari – Light – he put a strange emphasis. There was hatred in it, mingled with some other feeling harder to identify. Whatever it was, it sent a chill through Hikari herself. Daisuke was less impressed.
"Cut the crap! Who are you?"
There was a brief pause before the man answered. "Why ask? My name means nothing to you. But I will tell you. I am Sato Katsu."
He was right. It did mean nothing to them. But the implication was clear: he didn't expect them to leave this place to make use of the information.
"And what are you doing to these Digimon?" Takeru demanded.
"Isn't it obvious?" the man replied. "They are my fuel source. These once useless beings have become tools for a higher purpose."
"What's wrong with you?" V-mon yelled. "Can't you see it's hurting them?"
"I can. Does it disturb you? Rest assured I would use humans just as readily if we had the technology."
"You—!"
"And for what?" Miyako asked, her eyes flashing behind her glasses. "Why do you keep attacking us?"
"The Chosen Children have stood in our way for too long. They must all be dealt with if Darkness is to triumph in this world."
Ken stepped forward.
"Sato Katsu, I don't know what your goal is. But I do know that the powers of Darkness cannot be controlled, by anyone. Please, stop all of this! In the end, you'll only be used yourself."
Up on the balcony, Sato couldn't resist sneering before speaking.
"And you assume I don't know."
"What?"
The answer took the Chosen Children aback. They could only gape at the man on the balcony as he continued.
"There is no using the powers of Darkness. Nor is there any fighting them. All that a human being can do is to allow the Dark power to use them as it will! We're all pawns, you and I. The difference is that I'm aware of it."
"And you think this is necessary?" Ken asked, the first to find his voice, "All of this – this cruelty and suffering?"
"Stop there," Sato said by way of reply. "I will not be lectured by you on the proper treatment of Digimon, dear Kaiser."
"That's not fair!" Miyako said. "Ken-kun is different from what he was before. You can't…"
"You're disgusting!" Takeru said, speaking up when she paused. "Nothing you say can justify all of this!" He was shaking in his fury. All of his fear and concern for his partner had now been channeled into anger. Iori knew that Takeru the merciless avenger had returned, but now it did not trouble him, because at the moment he shared all those feelings now coursing through his friend.
"There is no need to justify a simple reality. If I wasn't the one to accomplish the inevitable, it would have been another."
Another. The word reechoed in Ken's mind. Since the man on the balcony had revealed himself, Ken had had the sensation that something was wrong or out of place, and now he realized that this was not the man who had stood in his room on that first night. The voice and personality – and the feel of his presence – didn't carry the same dark hilarity.
"Where is the other?" he asked. "Aren't there two of you?"
"Surely you don't expect me to answer all of your questions," Sato answered after a brief pause. "There's no reason why I should when you've been content to remain ignorant for so long."
"What are you talking about?" Daisuke asked. "I don't care who you are or what you want. Just let these Digimon go!"
"Let them go? I never let go of anything. And look at them. Even if I wanted to release them, it would mean their destruction to remove them from the generators now. There's nothing you can do, children. They're already dead."
"That…" Daisuke shifted his eyes to his friends, suddenly in doubt. "That can't be right. We're going to get them out of there."
The others said nothing. They wanted to believe that the man was lying, but all of them had a sinking sensation in the pit of their stomachs, an appalling conviction that there would be no rescuing done today. There was a moment of relative silence, broken only by the whimpering of the Digimon in the generators, some of the sounds sporadically breaking into groans or low moaning.
It was only because of the quiet that everyone heard the harsh metallic scrape of something along the room's stone floor. Looking around, the Chosen could see that some of the fallen Pipismon were gathering themselves up in preparation to go airborne, and could also see what had led them to make their move – spilling out of several doorways came the silent Hanumon.
"I'll leave you to them, Chosen Children, though I expect to see you again shortly," Sato said, turning away from the balcony railing. "Your partners will make a fine addition to this power plant."
"That won't happen!" Takeru called after him. He turned to Patamon with a raised D-3, and his expression softened somewhat. "Are you able?"
With his expression determined, Patamon nodded. The Chosen Children's voices rang out.
"Digimental Up!"
"V-mon, Armor Evolve! … Burning Courage, Fladramon!"
"Hawkmon, Armor Evolve! … Bursting Purity, Shurimon!"
"Armadimon, Armor Evolve! … Steel Knowledge, Digmon!"
"Patamon, Armor Evolve! … Soaring Hope, Pegasmon!"
"Tailmon, Armor Evolve! … Light of Smiles, Nefertimon!"
"Wormmon, Armor Evolve! … Midsummer Night of Kindness, Pucchiemon!"
The six partner Digimon readied themselves as the remnants of Sato's forces came at them, the Hanumon darting between generators as the Pipismon took to the air. But before the opposing sides could clash, a loud rumble sprang up from deep beneath the Chosen Children's feet, and the room itself began to shudder and vibrate. The children let out cries of surprise and sudden terror. A couple Hanumon lost their footing and stumbled against the cylindrical machines.
An earthquake. And this the absolute worst place for it. The Chosen had gone underground without giving a thought to the Digital World's increasing seismic activity, but they regretted it now.
The sourceless light of the base suddenly began to dim, and the room grew rapidly dark as the screams of the tortured Digimon rose again in volume. Unlike everyone else in the room, the surviving Pipismon were unfazed, tittering madly and mimicking the sounds of suffering in the cacophonous darkness.
For a moment there was pandemonium. Miyako was crouched on the floor, hands covering her head. Earthquakes always frightened her, but here, deep underground, with memories of her last nightmare swirling through her mind, she was near to panic. Amid the shrieks from the generators she caught Nefertimon's cry as a Pipismon's sickle found her in the dark, and somewhere nearby Iori was squeaking, "Light! We need light!"
Then, all at once, there was light. A red glow suffused the room, and looking up Miyako saw Fladramon hanging in the air above them, his body clothed in flame.
"Heartener Beam!"
Pucchiemon's technique flashed out repeatedly, illuminating the room, and at its touch the Pipismon ceased their swooping, began swaying unsteadily in midair.
"Curse of Queen!"
"Silver Blaze!"
The Pipismon exploded into data as the Hanumon, their balance regained with the lessening of the quake, engaged the Chosen Digimon on the ground. Standing protectively over his Miyako-san, Shurimon beat them back with his Momiji Oroshi while Digmon drilled into any that dared get within range. Aloft, Fladramon plummeted suddenly downward.
"Fire Rocket!"
The last of the Hanumon burned away to nothing, and the rumblings of the earthquake faded. Slowly the base's lighting returned to its former setting – gloomy, but so bright after what had just passed. The Chosen Children would have greeted it with sensations of relief…but instead they looked at the rows of cylinders, each with its hatch slid open, each containing a ravaged, mutilated Digimon, and all positive emotions died within them.