73
Making Plans
"No longer did I think him merely mad; for I knew the thing which he sought and could attain; and I remembered, with a new significance, that line of Baudelaire's poem – 'The hell wherein my heart delights.'" – Clark Ashton Smith, "The Devotee of Evil"
Within hours of the Dark Man's rendezvous with Sato in the desert, the transition between worlds was complete. It was a part of the World of Darkness that Sato had never been to before, far removed from the monochrome ocean. On a barren plateau a windowless black structure stood. From a distance, without any other object for reference, its size would have been impossible to judge; it was only up close that its vast extent became apparent.
The interior was as labyrinthine as the headquarters they had left behind, with the added unpleasantness of being completely unlighted. With the majority of its space left unoccupied, audible sounds were rare, and yet it was easy to imagine hearing stealthy slitherings and scuttlings in the blackness. There were no decorations, or anything to offer comfort – nothing to relieve the inhumanity of the place. What it could originally have been used for was a mystery, and any occupants it might once have concealed were gone. It stood silent and empty, as dark and cold as despair.
Near the center of the structure was a domed room, the largest in the place. Here sat Sato Katsu upon a block of stone protruding from the floor. He was staring at a computer screen which had just then been installed in the room. On it was displayed a map of the Digital World, looking empty without the six colored dots that represented the Chosen Children. As a precaution, all dimensional gates had been closed, but the now derelict base in the Digital World was being monitored, and supplies could be retrieved from it as required.
The Dark Man stood nearby, looking perfectly at home. His eyes twinkled with more than the reflected light of the computer screen, and they followed Sato as the human stood up and walked over to a nearby mesa growing out of the stone floor. On it, twelve small electronic devices were arranged in two rows – the captured D-3s and D-Terminals. Sato put a finger on the D-Terminal adjacent to Hikari's pink Digivice and slid it aside.
"What will you do with these?" the Dark Man asked, indicating the Digivices.
"I'm tempted to destroy them," Sato answered. "We've seen many demonstrations of their power to disrupt the forces of darkness. The Homeostasis learned well from their mistakes with the original Chosen Children. But although these Digivices are dangerous, there's a possibility that they can be made useful to us. Or, in the case of this one…" He picked up Ken's black D-3. "…be reclaimed for its original purpose. Yes…for now there is no reason not to leave the Digivices intact."
"And the children?"
"For the moment, I will leave them intact as well. There could be a hitch in the plan if they died too soon."
"Won't your god want them?"
"That will also come later. For now, they're mine." He set Ken's Digivice down, picking up Hikari's D-Terminal instead. He put it into his pocket, and faced the Dark Man. "Tonight, we may get the other six as well. Lilithmon is arranging an ambush for them in their world."
"Your world, you mean?"
"Not anymore," Sato muttered before quickly returning to his original train of thought. "The odds are good that she will succeed. Their luck can't hold forever. The six Chosen Children we've captured have defeated two Digimon of the Demon Lord class before, but only due to special circumstances which their elders cannot recreate. That reminds me… You did talk to Demon, didn't you? Or were you too focused on your scheme with Wisemon?"
"Oh yes, I saw him," the Dark Man answered. "Before I opened the final gate I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet a Digimon of his stature. He had some interest in my offer… but I don't think you'll be able to make him your ally. He doesn't think much of you and your master."
"That may be, but we won't give up just yet," Sato said. "And what about those new recruits you promised me?"
"Oh, I've found just the thing, and I think you're going to like them," the Dark Man said. "The Digital World is crawling with mercenaries and devotees of darkness, if you know where to look. I was searching specifically for those that could have some non-fatal fun with your prisoners. And for the grunt work, I'm going to make some more of these!"
He waved his hand, and the room grew slightly brighter as a gate opened to the base Sato had so recently abandoned. A Digimon stood there, dressed in some baggy, rubbery gray material, its face concealed by an apparatus resembling a gasmask.
"Adorable, isn't it? They're called Troopmon. This one I created myself, but I think I can convince Anubimon to help me out in future."
He walked over to it and grabbed hold of one of its puffy forearms, which deflated like a balloon as he squeezed it, causing the three-fingered "hand" and upper arm to bulge outwards.
"Nothing in it!" he said delightedly. "Well, almost nothing. Just the life force of a Digimon that I've stuffed into this suit. And don't worry; they can keep their shape when they want to."
"Won't they be hard to control?" Sato asked, looking at the thing doubtfully.
"Nope! That's the best part. It's just energy in there. No personality from the original Digimon. In fact, no personality at all! No fear, no free will, they never get tired, and they never talk back. Not nearly as entertaining as humans or other kinds of Digimon, but certainly useful."
"I see," Sato said. "How many will you make?"
"However many we need. That's the real beauty of it, Sato-kun. Think about it. With Anubimon's power, any Digimon destroyed for resisting your grand revolution can be remade as a mindless Troopmon, instead of being reborn to become a further nuisance."
"Yes…" Sato said, turning things over in his mind. "We can simultaneously eliminate a threat and create a new servant. I approve. It's another method of hastening the inevitable triumph of Darkness. And at last the day will come when only its worshippers and its slaves remain, and we will see the end of Light's whole miserable charade."
"Kutouruu futagun," the Dark Man murmured.
"Fungurui muguruunafu Kutouruu Ruruie ugahunaguru futagun," Sato responded automatically, in monotone. He refocused his eyes on the Dark Man. "What will you do now?"
"I was about to ask you the same question," said the Dark Man, closing the portal on the Troopmon with a flick of his wrist.
"First I'll be giving the other Chosen Children added incentive to go after Lilithmon," Sato said. "I'll turn my attention to the others later, once we have all of our resources assembled."
"How characteristically systematic of you," the Dark Man said. "But it must be hard to hold back for so long."
"I assure you that there will be no holding back when the time is right," Sato answered. "Maybe I would start now, but my own satisfaction must come after the plan as a whole."
"And should I wake them up in the meantime?"
"We'll wait. It would be best if their physical stamina is relatively high."
"I see. But what about their mental stamina? Their emotional stamina?"
"You already know the answer to that," Sato said. "For the past five days and nights we have been working tirelessly to break down their spirits. If we have done our job well, they are on the verge of collapse. Not merely the events of this past week, but all the painful trials that came before, have been necessary steps to prepare the Chosen Children for what will begin on their next awakening: their final submersion in a darkness that they can never escape."
The Dark Man was smiling at him, but Sato wasn't looking at the Dark Man or anything else as he continued speaking. He seemed oblivious to the world, staring at nothingness, trembling with a mixture of black emotions.
"Up until now, they have always had someone to fall back on, and share their burdens with. A family, a human friend, a partner Digimon. And while they had that someone there was no way to defeat them. But now it's over! When they were together, the light of each fed that of the others. But get them alone, in the dark…make them afraid…hurt them…rip them away from all they've known and loved…and we've won. There was never any other ending. Never. Never."
Sato stood still a moment in the silence that followed the end of his speech. Slowly he became cognizant once more of his surroundings, and looked down as he fished the D-Terminal out of his pocket. He raised his eyes to where the Dark Man had been standing, but the Dark Man was no longer there. The Dark One had relocated to a distant part of the building, far enough away to prevent Sato from hearing it as it howled with laughter.
Taichi couldn't keep still. He paced around his bedroom, with the door closed so that his mother wouldn't notice how strange he was acting. It had been all he could do since returning from the Motomiya residence. Yamato's concern about Jun had turned out to be unfounded; she wasn't home. She'd remembered to take Caprimon with her this time, so the only person Taichi had to interact with was Mrs. Motomiya, who, like his own mother, was a full-time homemaker.
She'd believed what he told her about Daisuke's whereabouts. Taichi didn't know it, but she had been much more worried about Jun. As a teenaged girl, Jun fit the description of the victims of most of the previous night's assaults. She'd been allowed to go out with her friends, on the grounds that it was broad daylight (and, "I'm almost out of high school!"), but with strict instructions to come home when the sun began to set. Mrs. Motomiya felt less concern on behalf of her son. His Digimon had always protected him before, while Caprimon's usefulness as a guardian was yet to be seen.
Taichi had left as soon as he decently could. He didn't want to put up with anybody at the moment, least of all Daisuke's vapid mom. So he paced, while Agumon stood silent in a corner of the room looking worried and miserable.
Taichi desperately wanted a better way to release his pent up stress and energy. The speed and violence of soccer would be perfect, but he wasn't in a mood to play games, and didn't dare to leave his apartment. The thought had occurred to him that he and his friends had no idea as to how Lilithmon or her promised messenger would contact them, or where. Those of his fellow Chosen Children that he had messaged on the subject were of the opinion that the enemy knew where they all lived, and couldn't fail to deliver their invitations.
But Taichi couldn't dismiss the possibility that if the messenger missed one of the Chosen Children at home, it might decide to forget about the whole thing, leaving him with no clues in the search for Hikari and his missing friends. The Searea apartments would be the most likely place for the messenger to stop at, and he needed to be there when it arrived. He also didn't want it to come across his parents unprotected and decide to take advantage of the situation.
When his D-Terminal beeped he pounced on it and tore open the cover. There was a new message there, from Hikari's D-Terminal, but that didn't mean it was from Hikari.
Yagami-san:
By now I'm sure that your fears have been confirmed. Your sister and friends are indeed in our custody. However, they look forward to seeing you tonight when you accept Lilithmon's invitation. Be sure to attend, with your fellow Chosen Children. The others will suffer until you do.
He read it, or rather glanced through it. Clearly it was nothing more than what he had feared and expected. What had he been hoping for? "Iori was just kidding?" "Never mind, you can have them back?" He brought his fists down on the surface of his desk and sat there, hunched over it and the D-Terminal.
"Taichi?" Agumon asked in concern, crossing the room to him.
He would have slammed the desk again, but didn't want his mom to hear and wonder what was going on. Instead he stayed still as the first hot tears began leaking from his eyes.
"I'm so stupid, Agumon," he said. "I – I…" But he couldn't think of a way to finish his sentence.