Loud snores emanated from the dungeon, filling the nearby hallway with noise. Gatomon clamped her paws over her eyes and cast a dark look at Bakemon, who had once again drifted off to sleep.

"He's worse than Tai!" she proclaimed, surprised anything could be worse than Tai's snoring. Over the noise, she didn't hear the door creak open, and with her eyes shut tight, she didn't see Tapirmon slowly creep into the room. He poked the inflating and deflating snot bubble Bakemon had formed in his sleep, popping it and waking at ghost. Gatomon lifted her paws and opened her eyes at the cease of the dreaded noise.

"Look, I'll handle guard duty now, get some rest. Oh, and if you see the master, tell him this is my punishment for myself for failing his orders."

"Uh, sure," Bakemon answered, drifting out the room. Tapirmon watched him leave and sat down on the floor in front of Gatomon's cell.

"What do you want?" she hissed.

At first he was taken aback by her harshness, but he swallowed up the feeling and spoke back. "Listen, you probably don't trust me, and I don't expect you too, but I have something important to tell you. Your friends, the younger digidestined, are on their way here right now. They should arrive shortly."

"Why should I believe you? I never told them where this base was hidden, so they shouldn't even be here."

"Just hear me out first. I don't know what he's planning, but whatever it is Myotismon isn't quite ready for their arrival. There's a chance you all can make it out of this situation, alive."

"I'm listening."

"I haven't worked out all the details, but I'm going to find a way to get you out of here. You stood up against the master and lived, now it's my turn. I going to do some scouting and maybe then I can formulate a plan. I'll be back as soon as I can," he assured her, floating out tot he door.

"Wait!" She called out, pushing off from her sitting position, wobbling awkwardly.

"You should get some sleep. You're lost a lot of blood and must be tired. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."

"At least tell me how they got here," she said, sitting back down on her scruffy old mattress.

He paused, looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. "If I told you, I doubt you'd get any sleep. You'll find out later."

---

Tapirmon floated through the hideout, careful to avoid any of his fellow henchmen. He pressed his back to a vacant wall, glancing about to make sure no one was watching. Tapping his arm band against a lone brick, the wall suddenly spun around and he was faced to a brand new corridor. He glanced about again in pure paranoia, though no one but himself knew of this passageway. Tapirmon crept down the hallway, thankful for his own ability to see in darkness as his path continued to descend further into the dark. His paw hit a step and he began to climb again until he found a trapdoor just above his head.

He pushed it up and light radiated into the dark tunnel. Tapirmon poked his head up, careful to stay mostly underground until he found what he was looking for.

"Pst!" he whispered. A large orange wing-like ear twitched and the head of it's owner turned to Tapirmon.

"Hey T.K., look." Patamon told his partner.

"Hm?" T.K. questioned looking up at the digimon perched on his white hat. He turned in the direction Patamon was facing to notice Tapirmon's small head peeking out. "Hey guys, he's back." The other children at digimon stopped and turned around. Tapirmon beckoned them forward and disappeared to his tunnel. Shrugging, the digidestined came up to the hole at stared into it, until Davis and Veemon finally jumped down into it, tumbling down the stairs that were put there for a reason.

"We're okay!" they called up. The group sighed and descended to the tunnel, this time using the steps.

---

"What!" Myotismon yelled, leaning forward in his chair. He stared in anger as, one-by-one, the red blips on his map of the forest disappeared.

---

"What is this place? It's too dark to see," Veemon asked, rubbing his sore head.

"Oh, sorry." Tapirmon floated up to one of the torches and lit it. All the other ones decorating the hall sprang to life, illuminating the space. "This is a secret tunnel under the forest. It connects straight to the hideout. Not even Myotismon knows of it, so it doesn't show up on his radar," Tapirmon explained.

"Radar?" Veemon questioned again.

Wizardmon spoke up. "He has radar on this entire forest, except for inside the hideout. When any intruder appears, they will show up as a red blip on a map of the forest in his throne room. No doubt he's been tracking our moves until this point."

"Right, but now we should be able to sneak into his base, undetected." He turned his back to the children and began to progress up the slightly slanted walkway, digidestined in tow.

As the came towards a dead-end, Tapirmon stopped.

"I only need Wizardmon to come with me, the rest of you stay put." Davis opened his mouth to protest, but Yolei swung her hand around and covered his mouth, giving Tapirmon a thumbs-up.

"This isn't the time," she warned him. Tapirmon nodded and came up to the wall that blocked their path, whispering something to Wizardmon. The sorcerer nodded and made another hand sign just as Tapirmon swung the trapdoor around.

"I thought you were going to disguise yourself!" Tapirmon whispered when they where back in plain site.

"I just set up the illusion. To you I'm still Wizardmon, but to anyone else I appear to be just another Bakemon."

"How does that even work?"

"A magician never gives away his secrets," Wizardmon told him.

"But you're a wizard."

He shrugged. "Either way, now how do we get to the dungeon from here? I don't quite remember my way around after all these years."

"It's this way, just follow me." And with that, the two digimon casually went down the corridor so as to not arouse suspicion.

"Have you spoken to Gatomon?"

"Yes, just before I brought you guys here. I told her the digidestined we're coming for her, but she doesn't know how they got here. basically, I told her everything except for you're return. She needed to get some rest after Myotismon dealt with her for nearly escaping. I didn't want the news keeping her awa--."

"Hey Tapirmon!" someone interrupted.

He froze. We've been discovered!

"The master wants to see you now. It's urgent," a Bakemon floating down the hall told him.

He let out a short breath. "Can you get to dungeon on your own from here?" he whispered so only Wizardmon could hear. He nodded. "Okay, I'll be there as fast as I can." Tapirmon left for the thrown room, leaving Wizardmon alone with the Bakemon.

"Hm, I don't remember seeing you around before. Are you new?"

"Yes, I was just recruited last week, down by Infinity Mountain," he bluffed, reading the Bakemon's mind first to get the details.

"Oh right, I almost forgot. Well, carry on." He nodded and continued to make his way to the hall, stopping at a fork. Wizardmon looked down both paths, then took the left, hoping his memory of the place was still accurate. He took another left and there before him in black letters was 'Dungeon.' Wizardmon pushed open the door and descended into a seemingly empty room.

Then he saw her. Gatomon was lying in the back on the first cell asleep, covered in stained bandages and bruises. Angry at the vampire for what he did to her, Wizardmon took the key off of the small table and unlocked the cage. Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of the rusty door swinging open, but what she saw was a Bakemon hovering here with the key in his hand.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Wizardmon stared in confusion until he remembered the illusion was still up. "Tapirmon brought me here."

She blinked at the familiarity of his voice, but brushed it away. It can't be. "So where is he?"

"Myotismon summoned him, so I had to come alone. He told me you wanted to know how the digidestined found this hideout."

"You know?"

"I'm the reason they're here." And saying those words, he dropped the illusion.