Chapter 4 - "What was lost: Part 2 -
Reunion."
"We're what?" Several members of the group shouted in unison. They had all turned to face Tai; he looked very pale and worried.
"There's no way we can get through, the entrance is completely blocked." He said very quietly. At this point Erin, Izzy and Joe all produced flashlight torches, and Erin went to check on the cave entrance. There was a stunned silence throughout the group. T.K was holding onto Kari as she looked very worried, Sora, meanwhile, was comforting Tai. They had moved to the edge of the cave and had sat down, Sora had her arm around Tai but he just stared with a blank expression at the wall opposite them. Joe came over to them and started to examine Tai. After a short while he exclaimed,
"Mild shock, he'll be fine in a little bit." This seemed to relax Sora and Kari slightly. Erin then returned.
"He's right, there's no way we can get trough that way," she said, "Is Tai okay?" She asked Sora after seeing him all pale and staring blankly.
"He's fine, just a little shocked." Sora answered. There was then a moment's silence after which Davis spoke.
"There's got to be something we can do to get through." He said.
"There really isn't, the rocks covering the entrance are far too heavy for us to move." Erin replied.
"Well what about the Digimon." Davis argued.
"There's no room for them to digivolve," Izzy said, "and they can't use their attacks as that may bring more rocks down, on us this time." He added.
"Well we have to do something." Davis continued.
"Does anybody have any ideas?" Mimi asked.
"Well far be it from me to take charge on my first day on the job, but I've been in a situation like this before, and Tai's in no fit state to do anything right now." Erin said to the group.
This comment had the effect of rousing Tai from his trance like state. He jumped as if being awoken suddenly, and started looking around erratically. Sora was the only person to notice him wake up, and noticing his disorientation, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tai looked up to see everyone gathered around Erin. The group was shocked to hear that she had been in the same situation before, and as such had said nothing since Erin last spoke.
"When?" Davis asked her timidly. But before she had a chance to answer Tai spoke.
"Later Davis, do you have a plan?" He asked Erin. All eyes now turned to Tai as no one had seen him wake up.
"Yes, the only thing we can do. Follow the cave around and try to find another way out." Erin answered Tai.
"That sounds reasonable." Tai said, standing up. As he did a wave of dizziness passed over him and Sora had to grab hold of him to keep him steady. He smiled at her gratefully and then turned back to Erin.
"The cave tunnels round in this direction." Erin said indicating a tunnel in the opposite direction of the cave entrance.
"Okay then, let's find a way out of this cave." Tai said moving off in the direction Erin had indicated, still holding onto Sora. The group followed the pair, with Davis and Erin bringing up the rear.
"Hey, where did that flashlight come from?" Davis asked Erin, noticing for the first time the torch she had produced as if from nowhere.
"Ah, that would be from behind my coat, I like to be prepared for all situations. That's also why I like my long coat so much, I can hide things like this behind it." Erin answered.
"You're not hiding anything else I should know about behind it are you?" He asked.
"Now that would be telling." She replied with a sly grin at Davis. She then quickened her pace to catch up with the rest of the group.
The group walked silently through the cave tunnels for what seemed to them to be hours. Izzy voiced a theory that the tunnels were artificially made for travel through the mountain. After a while they came across a branch in the tunnel. It split into three separate tunnels.
"This complicates things." Erin said looking at the three tunnels.
"We're going to have to split up, Izzy said, "Lucky we have three flashlights." He added. The group then split into three smaller groups. Everyone, that is, apart from Davis. While the other members of the party were discussing which tunnel to go down, Davis had backed towards the wall of the cave and sat down. He was very pale and he was sweating, he kept looking round nervously and was breathing very deeply and quickly. Cody was the first to notice Davis' strange behaviour.
"Hey Davis, what's up?" He asked.
"I, err, I don't feel to well. I really need to get out of this cave now." Davis muttered, not looking at anyone in particular. Joe went over to examine him.
"His pulse is racing." He said after a short while.
"Has he gone into shock like Tai?" Sora asked
"No, this is different," Joe answered, and then turning to Davis he said, "Davis, can you tell us what's wrong"
"I can't breath," Davis said in the same shaky, quiet tone, "It feels like the cave walls are closing in on me," he added, everyone in the group looked very concerned. "I need to get out of this cave now, I need air." Davis shouted quite suddenly, making everyone jump. Erin then walked over to Davis.
"He's claustrophobic," she said to the group. "Didn't you guys know?" She asked.
"He never told us." Yolei said, a bit indignantly, but she still looked as concerned as the rest. Erin crouched down next to Davis and began talking quietly to him. The others couldn't hear what she was saying so just watched. After a while, what she was saying had some effect, he stopped looking round erratically and his breathing had slowed, but was still deep. Erin then stood up and turned to the rest of the group.
"I'm going to stay here with Davis, the rest of you, split up and head down the tunnels to find a way out." She said taking charge once again.
"But we only have three flashlights." Ken said, voicing the concern of several of the group.
"One group will have to take my torch." Erin said.
"But then you and Davis will be in the dark." Mimi said.
"Don't worry about us, besides it's better in the dark." Davis made an indistinct noise at this comment, but the rest of the group had the feeling that he disagreed with Erin. "We'll meet back here in fifteen minuets regardless of whether any of you have found another way out. If you haven't then we will have to think of another plan." Erin continued. The rest of the group nodded in agreement and then split into three smaller groups. T.K, Kari and Mimi took the tunnel on the far left, while Cody, Matt, Yolei and Ken took the tunnel in the centre, which left Tai, Sora, Izzy and Joe to take the tunnel on the far right. Erin gave her torch to T.K and Joe gave his to Matt and the three groups left for their tunnels leaving Erin, Davis, Veemon and Terriormon in almost complete darkens. The rest of the Digimon had accompanied their partners down the tunnels.
Erin sat down next to Davis while there was still enough light to see where she was going and picked up Terriormon and put him on her lap. Veemon was standing next to Davis with an extremely worried look in his face. As the light in the cave faded, Davis' breathing became faster again.
"Davis, you need to stop panicking, that only makes things worse." Erin said gently to him.
"That's easy for you to say." Davis replies weakly.
"Well think of it this way, without any light you can't see the walls of the cave." Erin countered. She then removed a small flask from her belt; this was also concealed by her long coat. She handed it to Davis.
"Here," she said, "Drink this." Davis took the flask from her and started to drink from it. When he finished, he said,
"Is there anything you don't have behind that coat?" Erin grinned.
"I told you I like to be prepared." She said. There followed a pause in the conversation. Davis had calmed down a little and his breathing was becoming slower again. Erin grinned inwardly at hearing this. After a while Davis spoke.
"You now, it just occurred to me that I know hardly anything about you. We've been spending all this time together and you haven't really said anything about yourself"
"That's because there isn't really anything to know about me." Erin said. Davis considered this for a moment and then said.
"Humour me, I need something to take my mind off being in here." Erin thought for a minute.
"Okay, Erin Carter 101," she began, "Well I was born in England, in a city called Canterbury in Kent, which is down the bottom of the country. I lived there until I left my first school at eleven. From there my family moved to London. Then we moved here a few months ago, when my dad got transferred." She broke off; she noticed that Terriormon had fallen asleep on her lap just as she was fidgeting to make herself more comfortable. "You know, my little Terriormon here's really very cuddly." She said giving him a small hug, and changing the subject.
"You haven't finished telling me about your self." Davis said, paying no attention to her previous comment.
"Well what do you want to know?" She asked.
"I don't know, anything, what are you good at in school?" He asked in return.
"Not a lot. I was hopeless at maths; I kept blowing things up in science. I was quite good at learning new languages though. By the time I was twelve I could speak English, French and German. I can now speak Japanese and Russian as well"
"That is impressive, five different languages. I can barely speak one." Davis said, Erin chuckled at this remark. The conversation carried on like this for some time, Erin let on very little about herself, just enough to keep Davis quiet. After a while silence fell over the pair and Veemon had joined Terriormon in falling asleep. Abruptly, Davis burst out laughing, which startled Erin, as she wasn't expecting anything like this to happen; however she soon joined him and the pair were laughing hysterically. Once Erin had gained some level of composure she asked,
"Why are we laughing?" To which Davis replied.
"I really have no idea." He added, in between gasping for breath, "Maybe something to do with this whole situation. You know, us being stuck in here and me freaking out, what else is there to do?" Once the laughter had subsided, Davis took on a more serious tone, and said,
"Thanks for staying here with me and keeping me calm and everything"
"That's not a problem, after everything you've all done for me, especially you, it's the very least I could do." Erin answered in a similar tone. More silence followed.
Not long after, lights began appearing in the tunnels. Erin and Davis quickly woke Terriormon and Veemon, as they would soon have to move.
"Has it really been fifteen minuets?" Davis asked, breaking the silence as people and Digimon were appearing from the tunnels.
"Apparently." Was Erin's reply. Once the whole group had reconvened, Erin stood up to face them.
"Any luck?" She asked. She turned first to T.K's group.
"Nothing, just tunnel as far as the eye could see." T.K answered. Erin turned next to Cody's group.
"We may have," Cody said, "There was some light and we could feel a slight breeze." He added.
"Okay, that sounds promising." Erin said before turning to Tai's group.
"Same as T.K, nothing, just tunnel." Tai said. Upon hearing Tai's statement, Erin reacted immediately.
"Right, we have two options. Either we take are chances with this tunnel, or we go back to the entrance and try, somehow, to get through those rocks." She said.
"Well the only way we're getting through those rocks is if a Digimon blasts their way through, and that will most likely bring the cave down on us, so I say we take are chances with the tunnel." Tai said. The group nodded in agreement. "However," he continued, "If we haven't found anything after half an hour, we come back and we get through those rocks. Regardless." The group once again nodded, but this time more uncertain in their agreement than the last time.
"You up for a walk?" Erin asked Davis.
"Yeah, I guess." He answered, getting shakily to his feet. Veemon held on to him uncertainly with a worried look on his face.
"Thanks pal." He said to Veemon.
"Not a problem, Davis." Veemon replied. The group then proceeded to walk along the central tunnel.
It took ten minuets for the group to find the light that Cody had mentioned seeing, and it was defiantly daylight. They could also feel the breeze, although it was now like a slow wind. They walked for a further ten minuets before finding the source of the light. Right at the end of the tunnel was a small hole, about the size of Patamon, in the cave wall.
"Great, we'll never get through that." Matt said looking at the hole.
"Is there anyway of making it bigger?" Joe asked.
"Probably not, at least not without bringing the whole of that wall down." Izzy answered.
"Well what are we going to do now?" Yolei asked
"I'm still not too comfortable with the idea of blasting through those rocks, there's still two more tunnels to explore." Cody answered
"But we can't even be sure those tunnels go anywhere." Mimi said adding to the debate.
"Guys can we just decide to do something. Being able to see how small it is in here really isn't helping." Davis said concentrating very hard on the hole in the wall and not on the surroundings of the cave.
"Okay, we go for the entrance," Tai said, "Is everybody okay with that?" He asked. The group nodded in agreement, some more reluctantly than others.
The group then turned around and moved off in the direction they came from. It was twenty minuets before they reached the branching of the tunnels, and a further fifteen minuets before they reached the cave's entrance again.
"My old friend, the rock slide." Davis said sarcastically, as they reached the entrance of the cave. Tai then turned to the group.
"Okay, we're here. We know the Digimon can't digivolve, there's not enough room, so whose attacks are the strongest in rookie form?" He asked. Izzy was the one to answer.
"According to my Digimon analyser, Agumon and Terriormon's attacks are the strongest in their current forms. Not counting Gatomon, as she's a champion but none of her attacks are really of any use to us right now." He said.
"Right, looks like we're up, Erin." Tai said turning to face her.
"Okay then. You up for some action little guy?" She asked Terriormon.
"We're ready for anything." He said defiantly, looking in Agumon's direction
"Absolutely." Agumon added. The wave of energy from the two Digimon swept around the group and lifted their sprits. Most of the group were now grinning confidently, except Davis who was still shaken up from being trapped in the cave.
"Okay, everyone move back to a safe distance. If anything does go wrong I don't want any more people than is necessary getting hurt." The group didn't question this order as they all knew that Tai wouldn't back down, so everyone, apart from Tai, Erin Agumon and Terriormon, moved further down the cave away from the entrance.
Erin and Tai stood shoulder to shoulder and a little way in front of them stood Terriormon and Agumon in a similar fashion, each in front of their partner. They stood this way, in silence for a little while before Tai said,
"Ready guys"
"Ready." The two Digimon said simultaneously. Tai and Erin both looked straight ahead, and then grabbed each other hand for support, before shouting,
"Go," to their Digimon.
"BUNNY BLAST." Shouted Terriormon.
"PEPPER BREATH." Agumon shouted. They each did this several times until all that could be heard was the crashing of rock, and dust obscured all vision. The cave shook violently. The rest of the digi-destined all held on to each other in a large group. Once the dust had cleared, and the shaking had stopped, Tai and Erin looked around and to their surprise the cave hadn't collapsed around them. They were still standing in the same spot with their Digimon standing in front of them, panting slightly. The only difference this time was that daylight was pouring into the cave form the newly excavated cave entrance. The light was so bright, compared to the darkness of the cave, it hurt their eyes but they didn't care. They stared at the opening in the cave for a short while before looking at each other and burst out laughing. They hugged each other as the rest of the group came running up to them. Tai was almost jumped on by Sora, and the pair started kissing passionately. Davis ran straight to Erin, all thoughts of his claustrophobia gone, to see if she was okay. He then hugged her very tightly to the surprised looks of the rest of the group, once he noticed the group looking at him he turned a very deep shade of crimson, but he didn't care he just carried on hugging her until she said,
"Err, Davis. I'd like to leave the cave now"
"Oh, right." He said breaking apart from her. The entire group, Digimon included, then ran, en masse, to the cave entrance. They were all laughing and cheering so much that they didn't notice the sky was still as angry as it was before they took refuge in the cave, however the wind had dropped sharply and all other adverse weather conditions had ceased.
They headed straight to Gennai's place from leaving the cave. They continued in the same high sprit all the way there, talking, laughing and cheering. It wasn't until they reached Gennai's place that they're sprits dropped. When they arrived, they found Gennai standing outside waiting for them, wearing a very grim expression. Without any greeting, he led them over to a clearing near his house, which wasn't anywhere near big enough to hold fourteen people and thirteen Digimon. They sat in a circle with Gennai standing near a tree.
"Greetings my young friends," he said, and before allowing anyone to reply he added, "When you didn't arrive through the pre-determined port, I began to get quite concerned, so I traced the port through which you did emerge and sent your Digimon there. Then, when you didn't arrive after that big storm I became very worried. I am pleased to see you are all alright." He now smiled slightly.
"Yeah, sorry about that, we had a bit of a cave problem." Tai said to Gennai.
"Indeed." Gennai replied, nodding his head. There followed a short silence, before the group launched into discussion.
"My reasons for calling you here have now changed," Gennai told the group, "It appears that something or someone has infiltrated the Digital World." He explained.
"What makes you say that?" Davis asked.
"Simply the weather. This is very uncharacteristic weather for this part of the Digital World, which means that something is interfering with the flow of data and this is the result"
"Kind of like the symptoms of a virus in a human." Erin interrupted.
"Exactly." Gennai replied.
"So do we know who or what is attacking?" Tai asked.
"Not as of yet." Gennai answered.
"Could it be another evil Digimon?" Mimi asked.
"No, whatever is attacking is foreign to the Digital World and not digital in nature"
"So, could it be another digi-destined trying to palm then selves off as a Digimon emperor?" Ken asked.
"No, I have not detected anything that would lead to that conclusion"
"Well, if it's not a Digimon or digital in nature, then it must be someone from our world who has gained access to the Digital World." Izzy concluded.
"That is the most likely assumption." Gennai said agreeing with Izzy.
"But that brings up the question, how did they get access to the Digital World. I thought only digi-destined could get in." Tai said.
"We can't rule out the possibility that this is another digi-destined, of group of digi-destined." Ken told Tai.
"This is true, in any case I believe I may have a reason for this breach of the Digital World." Gennai said, he now had the group's undivided attention.
"Four and a half years ago, when you gave up the power of your crests, a shield was placed over the Digital World to prevent occurrences such as this from happening. When you defeated Malomyotismon last year, we thought the threat to the Digital World was over and were able to recover these." The faces of the original eight digi-destined all lit up simultaneously as Gennai removed nine crest tags from his pocket. The group was speechless.
"This was the main reason I called you here in the first place, to return these to you. And also to meet you new addition and examine her somewhat unique digivice." Gennai told the group. He then handed round the tags to their owners. "You will find that they already contain your crests." He told them as they examined their newly recovered crests. Tai was the first to speak.
"Hey, who's that last one for?" He asked.
"There is another crest holder among your group is there not." He said turning to Ken. He handed the last tag to Ken, who looked puzzled by it.
"What do I do with it?" He asked.
"You place your crest within it and it allows your Digimon partner to digivolve to his ultimate stage." At this comment the rest of those who had received looked up in Gennai's direction, and as if anticipating their next question said,
"Yes, your Digimon can now digivolve to their ultimate stages." Silence followed as the eight digi-destined reacquainted them selves with their crests. Gennai spoke again.
"This also means that the shield covering the Digital World has been lifted, and it looks like it is this that the intruders have used to gain access to he Digital World." More silence followed before Gennai spoke again. "This is all we know at the moment, we also believe it is these intruders that caused you to emerge at the wrong port this morning. However that may have been an effect of what they were doing rather that direct intervention." He told them.
"What about us, who don't have crests. Can we get to ultimate?" Davis asked Gennai.
"Unfortunately not, however you can still armour digivolve and utilise DNA digivolving." He answered, then added, "Which reminds me, Gatomon may I borrow you tail ring for a moment?" He asked.
"Sure." Gatomon answered handing it to him. Gennai took it, studied it for a moment then tapped it twice. It glowed very brightly for a second before returning to normal. He than handed it back to Gatomon.
"Thanks," she said, "What did you just do to it?" She asked.
"I have altered it so that it allows you to use your digi egg to armour digivolve while keeping your power as an ultimate." Gatomon didn't reply she just beamed at her new ability.
"Now on to business. Miss. Carter allow me to introduce my self. I am Gennai, friend of the digi-destined." Gennai said bowing to Erin.
"Hi, I'm Erin Carter, but Carter is fine. Pleased to meet you." She said.
"I am to understand that you have a different type of digivice than the rest of your group, may I see it please." Gennai asked her.
"Absolutely." Erin said, removing it from her thigh pocket as before. She handed it to Gennai.
"This is indeed very different to any model I have seen before." He said. He spent the next five minuets examining it thoroughly. "Impressive, most impressive." He said finally. "It appears that your digivice is even more powerful that your friends who have similar models, D-3s do you call them. Apparently it holds enough power to allow your Digimon to achieve ultimate status without the need of a crest." Erin didn't know what to say so she remained silent. He handed it back to Erin who took it more carefully than she had before hearing of its unique ability. Without saying anymore about Erin's digivice, Gennai turned to the rest of the group.
"Well that about wraps up what I wanted to see you about. I will keep you apprised of the situation regarding the intruders to the Digital World. Until we find out anymore though I suggest you stay in your own world as it may not be safe here." He told them
"That's a good idea." Joe said.
"Yeah, it might also be a good idea if us older digi-destined left our Digimon here, like we did when the Digimon emperor was in charge." Tai added.
"Yes, we can place them in strategic locations, they will be able to protect the Digital World and provide us with information about the intruders, should any arise." Gennai said.
"The rest of us will keep our Digimon with us in case we need to get somewhere fast and dont have time to have to collect our Digimon." T.K said.
"Precisely." Gennai responded. The older members of the group than said their goodbyes to their Digimon as the rest of the group readied themselves for the walk back to the open port.
"Before you begin your journey back to the port I must show you something that will make your trip a little quicker." Gennai said as he darted into his house. He emerged a minuet later holding a very odd device. "This is my new invention, it is what I used to get your Digimon to you earlier." He said brandishing the device at them.
"Cool, that's the teleporter?" Davis asked.
"Yes it is." Gennai said beaming at the device.
"What do we have to do?" Yolei asked.
"Nothing, just stand in a group and this will transport you together." Gennai said.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Cody asked a little worried.
"Of course it is. I haven't actually tested it on humans yet, but I'm sure there will be no side effects." This wasn't the response Cody was hoping for but he took his place with the group anyway. Once the group was standing together, Gennai aimed the device at them and said,
"Stand very still and this won't hurt a bit"
"Famous last words." Kari said with a little apprehension.
"See you soon." Gennai said as he pressed a button on the device. A bright light enveloped the group as they began to disappear one at a time.
The sensation, the group felt, was rather odd. It felt as though each of their molecules was being torn form each other, but rather than hurting, it tickled. As the group remateralised near the small television screen they entered from, nearly all of them were in fits of giggles. All except Tai who had the misfortune of having the only side effect of the journey. His left eye kept twitching erratically and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Hey, what's happened to my eye?" He asked, once he had regained full control of his body.
"I'm sure it will stop soon." Sora said trying her hardest not to laugh too much.
"Can we leave already?" Tai asked, now rather annoyed.
"Okay, okay." Kari said also trying not to laugh. She got out her D-3 and held it up to the TV screen, as the others did. Once they all had their digivices pointed at the screen she shouted,
"Digi-port open." Once again the blinding flash of light engulfed the group of digi-destined and their Digimon and they began their trip back to the real world.
The trip back was a lot less rough than the outgoing journey, however when they arrived back in Tai and Kari's apartment they were still deposited in a large heap at the foot of the computer.
"Well, at least my eye has stopped twitching." Tai said from somewhere near the bottom of the pile. Once they had disengaged themselves from each other, Davis looked at the clock near the computer.
"Hey we had better start making our way back, it's getting really late." He said. It had already started getting dark outside.
"Okay, well than I suggest we meet tomorrow to discuss what to do now." Tai said. The rest of the group agreed.
"So we say, here at midday." Tai suggested. Again the group nodded in agreement. They then said their good byes, Kari and T.K a little more intimately than the others, and then Kari suggested that she would take the lift down with T.K, as they hadn't had much time alone during the day. T.K agreed with a big grin on his face and they left. Some of them were trying to conceal Digimon, a job made a little easier because Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon had reverted to their smaller In-Training forms.
T.K and Kari took their own lift down to the ground floor, and when the arrived T.K emerged, once again, rearranging his hat. He waved goodbye to Kari as the doors closed and she returned to her apartment.
"I gotta' ask. What do you two keep doing together that makes you have to keep rearranging that hat of yours?" Davis asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Nothing." T.K said sheepishly. The group eyed him suspiciously. Yolei then hissed in Davis's ear,
"Use your imagination." Davis considered this for a moment before turning to Yolei and saying,
"I'd rather not." At this the group started laughing, and began their trips back to their homes.
To Be Continued...