Chapter 8 - "Once more unto the breach: Part1 -
Into the lion's den."
At nine o' clock on Friday morning at the Kamiya's apartment, eight members of the digi-destined were sitting around the small coffee table in the lounge. There were two large coffee pots on the table surrounded by five coffee cups. The small room was quite crowded because as well as the eight humans there were nine Digimon as well. Tai had decided the previous night that they should bring back all of the Digimon for two reasons. First to let them know what was going to happen the following day, and second to allow them to get fed up properly. The Digimon were all sitting in one corner of the room eating from a large plate of toast that Matt had just brought in from the kitchen. The remaining occupants of the room were sitting on the sofas or on the floor. Tai and Sora were sitting on one of the sofas with Izzy. Matt, T.K and Kari were sitting on the other one. Erin was on the armchair and Davis was sitting on the floor in front of it. The TV was playing in the opposite corner to the Digimon but nobody was paying any real attention to it. The group was rather subdued, although that didn't stop anyone from making jokes when Davis turned up half an hour early. Erin reached over Davis to her cup, only to find it was empty. She went to refill it from the nearest coffee pot, only to find that was empty as well.
"Is there any coffee left in that pot?" She asked Tai. He picked up the put and shook it slightly.
"Empty." He answered.
"Okay, whose turn it is this time." Erin asked looking around the group.
"I think its Matt's." Sora answered.
"Oh no, I made the toast for the Digimon." Matt replied.
"Well I made the last batch." Tai chipped in.
"It must be Izzy's then." Erin said looking in his direction. Izzy looked up from his laptop, oblivious to the conversation that had just occurred.
"I heard my name, what did I miss?" He asked, looking around the group.
"It's your turn to make the coffee." Tai said.
"Already!" Izzy exclaimed. "How much coffee do you people drink?" He asked rhetorically as he got up and collected the pots from the Table. He headed for the kitchen.
"I'm so glad I don't drink that stuff." Kari said.
"Why's that?" Sora asked.
"Well I don't have to keep getting up to refill the pots." Kari answered.
"I can see why that's an advantage. Comfortable?" Sora asked grinning. She had just noticed how she was sitting. Kari was half lying across T.K, with his arm draped across her shoulders. Kari blushed slightly.
"Yes, thank you." Kari said back. T.K on the other hand was barely awake and as such didn't react to Sora's comment. The group then heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it." Izzy called from the kitchen.
"Hey Izzy." Mimi said from the doorway. It was obvious that Mimi, like most of the digi-destined, didn't care much for early mornings. Her eyes were half open, and she was in the middle of yawning when Izzy opened the door.
"Hey Mimi, hey Palmon." Izzy answered standing aside to let Mimi into the apartment. "You look just like I feel," he said wearily, commenting on the look of tiredness about her. "Coffee?" He asked. Mimi's eyes picked up at hearing the word 'coffee.
"Do you even need to ask?" She asked back. Izzy grinned a little and returned to the kitchen as Mimi and Palmon made their way to the lounge.
"Hey guys." She said from behind one of the sofas.
"Hey Mimi." The group replied, not moving. Palmon joined the other Digimon and started on the toast, while Mimi took a place on the floor in front of Tai's sofa.
"I see it's all go in here this morning." She said as sarcastically as she could at ten past nine in the morning. Most of the group groaned.
"What do you expect it's still midnight." Davis said, stifling a yawn.
"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Sora defended, but before anyone could argue the doorbell went again. Izzy had just returned carrying two coffee pots, so was in no position to answer the door. So instead Tai stood up.
"I'll get it then." He said to the group as he made his way slowly to the front door. He found Joe on the other side of the door.
"Morning." Joe said. Tai didn't return the greeting, instead he just said.
"Izzy's just made coffee. If you're quick you might get a cup." This was all Joe needed to hear. He headed straight for the lounge, not even pausing to collect the cup that Tai held out for him.
"Hey guys." He said as he entered the lounge, and before anyone had a chance to reply he was filling his cup. It was just after this that he noticed Gomamon sitting with the other Digimon.
"Gomamon, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"Tai brought me back last night." Gomamon replied through a mouthful of toast.
"We tried to let you know but your phone was busy all last night." Tai explained.
"Sorry," Joe said back, "I was on the Internet all last night researching"
"Can anyone remember when we started becoming caffeine addicts?" Matt asked out of the blue, draining his cup of coffee.
"That's easy, the very moment we started taking important exams." Sora answered.
"I'll say it again, I am so glad I don't drink that stuff." Kari said smugly.
"You don't know what you're missing." Erin said tiredly. She then turned to Izzy.
"Izzy, did you have any luck finding a way to take down the digi-port?" She asked.
"Partially." Izzy answered. "I managed to access the port dialling program, and found that if you keep dialling different exit ports before the entry port has had a chance to connect properly, then the port becomes unstable and crashes." He explained. Tai looked around at the other occupants of the room.
"Did anyone understand a word of that?" He asked. The rest of the group just looked blank.
"The only thing is that won't close the port permanently." Izzy said.
"That leaves us with something of a problem." Erin said.
"I've got a few ideas, but nothing solid yet. I'll keep trying." Izzy told Erin. While the latter part of the conversation was proceeding, the doorbell went for a third time. This time Sora answered the door and found Yolei, Ken and Cody with their Digimon waiting outside. She let them in and they joined the others in the lounge. Upamon, Poromon and Minomon joined the other Digimon in the corner of the room, while their partners joined the others round the table.
"How much toast did you make for then?" Sora asked Matt as she retook her place next to Tai on the sofa.
"More than enough, obviously." Matt answered.
"Well the Digimon aren't complaining." T.K remarked.
"You are awake then." Kari said, looking up at T.K.
"Only just." He groaned.
"Okay now that everyone's here," Tai said addressing the group, "And awake," he added looking at certain members of the group. "Are you all ready for today?" He asked. There was a mummer throughout the group. "I'll take that as a yes then." Tai said. "Any idea how long this is likely to take?" He asked.
"Not really." Erin answered. "It depends on so many things." She explained.
"Like what?" Ken asked.
"Well for a start we have no guarantee that we will come out anywhere near the port we dial into. On top of that we still don't know how to take down their gate." She answered.
"I see. So it could take some time then." Ken commented.
"Yes." Erin replied.
"It might be a good idea then to tell everyone that you're all staying here tonight then." Tai suggested.
"That's not a bad idea, and if we are done then we can have a big party tonight." Sora said. With this agreed on, everyone took it in turns to phone their parents to let them know that they were staying at Tai and Kari's for the night. Ten minutes later and everyone had finished with the phone.
"Okay now that that's out of the way, we need supplies." Tai said.
"Already taken care of." Yolei said cheerfully. "We stopped by my parents store this morning, that's why we were later than everyone else." She said.
"That's good, 'cause I don't think we have anything here. That's why the Digimon are eating toast." Kari said, then added, "Were eating toast." As she noticed that the large plate was now empty.
"Right, is there anything else we need before we leave?" Tai asked. The group shook their heads. "Well then I suggest we start moving. The quicker we get there, the quicker it will be over and we can start on the party." Tai said. The group silently agreed and all moved towards Tai's room, after the coffee drinkers had drained the last from their cups. The group stood uncertainly as Erin set up the computer to take them into the Digital World.
"Everything set?" Tai asked after a few minutes.
"I think so." Erin answered. The computer was displaying the familiar Digi-port configuration.
"It looks like everything's okay. Where have you dialled up?" Tai asked.
"I've set it to take us to this exit port." She said indicating a port on a map of the Digital World. "It should be about thirty minutes from the cave. That's if that's where we end up." She added.
"Okay then. Do you want the honours?" Tai asked indicating that she should open the port.
"Sure." She answered uncertainly. She moved to stand in front of the computer as the rest of the group readied their digivices. She held her digivice up to the computer and then looked round the group before turning back to the computer.
"Digi-port open." She called just as uncertainly, but it worked none the less. The familiar flash of light emanated from the computer and the group were pulled in.
When the group emerged, in the usual heap at the foot of the small television, they immediately noticed that they weren't where they were supposed to be. They also noticed that the weather conditions were a lot worse than the last time they were in the Digital World. The clouds were now so bad, that it was almost impossible to tell if it was day or night. The temperature had also dropped quite drastically, and there was a strong wind. They had landed near a beach and as such were being attacked by the sand being blown around by the wind.
"Could it be any colder here?" Davis asked as he pulled his goggles over his eyes.
"They really do serve a purpose then." Kari called over the wind. Davis just looked at her.
"Where are we?" Tai called over to Izzy, who was looking at his D-Terminal.
"Were about two sectors from where we should be," he answered. "In fact there is the forest we should be in." He added, pointing to a nearby wooded area.
"Then I suggest we start moving, get out of this sand." Tai called to the group. They hastily agreed and moved in the direction of the forest.
At half past midnight on Friday morning in London, England, several people in a large white and green coloured building on the bank of the river Thames were scrabbling around at several computers.
"We have an incursion into the Digital World." One of the people said.
"Can you get an ID?" Another asked.
"IDC confirmed, its 4-5-2." The first person answered.
"Get Johns." The other told a third person, who immediately left. A short while later Johns entered the large control room of the DWC.
"What's the problem?" He asked the first person.
"About ten minutes ago we registered an incursion into the Digital World. We picked up an identification code. It's 4-5-2." He replied.
"Good work Mr. Jackson," he turned to the second person. "Worth, where are they headed?" He asked.
"We've tracked them going through this forest so far, but we don't know where they're going." Worth answered.
"Anything of interest in that general area?" Johns asked.
"We have an equipment store about two miles from their current position, but that's all." Jackson answered.
"Ready the sentinels and keep me apprised of any further developments." Johns ordered as he left the room.
The forest offered little shelter from the wind, but at least the digi-destined weren't being attacked by sand any more.
"So how far is it to this cave?" Matt called to Izzy.
"About two miles." Izzy called back
"I'll be glad when the ports are working properly again, all this walking isn't healthy." Davis complained.
"Here's me thinking that you're this great sports star, and here you are complaining about a little walk." Erin teased. The group laughed a little at Erin's joke, but then carried on walking in silence.
"Have you had any thoughts about how to take the gate down?" Izzy asked Yolei after a while.
"Not really," Yolei answered, "The only thing I could think of was to send garbage at it through an open port and hope to overload it." She said.
"That might work. If after it crashes there is an open connection we can try unloading everything on it. I'll run a few tests once we reach the attack area." Izzy said. The group returned to silence.
"Are we ever going to get our sun back?" Gatomon asked quietly.
"I think so," Kari answered reassuringly. "Gennai thinks that this is just a result of the invasion. So once we stop the invasion we should be able to see the sky again." She told the cat like Digimon.
"I do find the wind quite unsettling." Hawkmon told the group as he desperately tried to fly in a straight line.
"Why don't you walk for a little while, you'll need to conserve your energy." Yolei told her Digimon.
"Excellent suggestion." He said as he narrowly avoided being blown into a tree.
The group made little conversation on their way to the cave that held the equipment store. It took them almost an hour to reach the cave and much to the surprise of everyone, they didn't encounter any resistance.
"Does anyone else get the feeling we're being watched?" Yolei asked the group.
"Yeah," answered Sora, "I've had the feeling for a while now." She said.
"That's probably because we are." Erin said nonchalantly.
"What do you mean?" Matt said with a hint of anger in his voice. The group stopped walking.
"They've most likely been tracking us," she answered. "Probably from the signals our digivices give off"
"They can do that?" Cody asked.
"Of course, they are in effective control of the entire Digital World." She explained.
"Well they can't identify us can they?" Mimi asked.
"Actually they probably can. Apart from the fact that your group visits here more frequently than the others, all DWC members have their digivices modified to emit an identification code. If they are tracking us, they will have picked up my IDC by now." Erin said.
"And you were planning on letting us know this?" Matt asked hotly.
"Nobody asked," Erin shot back. "Look did we come here to kick them out of the Digital World, or did we did we come here to argue about weather they know who we are or not? Lets keep moving." She said as she walked off ahead of the group. Matt looked like he was about to reply, but Tai put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Drop it Matt, she's right." He said as he walked off as well. The rest of the group also moved off in pursuit of Erin, although at a significantly quicker pace. After more walking, they finally reached the cave. Everyone rushed inside to escape the wind, but Davis was more hesitant.
"I'll, err, keep a lookout here while you go and get whatever it is you need to get." He told the group timidly.
"Davis this cave is fine, we won't get stuck in here." Kari said reassuringly.
"She's right. They wouldn't have picked a cave if it wasn't stable." Erin explained. Davis looked at the pair, and then at the rest of the group who had congregated at the mouth of the cave.
"Davis, the first step to beating a fear like this is facing it." Erin said. Davis locked eyes with her. He could see that she was sincere about what she was saying, but he was still hesitant about entering the cave. After a few minutes he said.
"Okay, but if we get stuck in this cave I'm holding you personally responsible." Erin smiled at the remark then took Davis' hand and led him into the cave.
After about five minutes of walking, the group came to several large chests stacked against one of the cave walls. Erin began examining the crates, after a short while she turned to the group.
"Can anyone pick locks?" She asked.
"Can't you?" Davis asked in return.
"No, otherwise I wouldn't be asking." Erin answered, a little annoyed.
"I thought you were 'Junior Miss Tough Chick of the digital world' and you could do anything." Davis remarked, a grin spreading across his face.
"Look now isn't the time for jokes. Okay so I can't pick locks, believe it or not, I'm not totally disreputable. Can anyone get these things open?" She asked again.
"I'll have a go." Tai said stepping towards the crates. The group watched him for several minutes trying to open the top most crate, without success. Once he accepted defeat, he turned to the group.
"Next." He said walking away from the boxes. Each member of the group attempted to open the crates. Agumon even suggested letting him blast it open, but everyone agreed that would be a bad idea, as it would probably destroy the contents of the crate as well. Finally it was Joe's turn at trying to open the crate. He moved the top box so that it was sitting on the floor of the cave, looked at it for a while, then reached in his pocket for something. Once he had retrieved what he was looking for he started work on the lock. After about twenty seconds he had the lock undone and the lid of the crate open.
"I didn't know you could do that." Mimi said impressed.
"My brother taught me years ago." Joe explained. No one else questioned him about his hidden skill, as they were more interested in the contents of the box.
Erin stepped forward to examine the contents of the crate. It was indeed a weapons locker. It held several large rifles and several smaller pistol sized weapons, which were in holsters. She picked out one of the smaller weapons and strapped the holster to her thigh. She then picked out one of the bigger guns and threw it to Tai; he caught it and began examining it quizzically. She distributed the remaining weapons to the rest of the group.
"I'm really not comfortable with this," T.K remarked, "We've never had to use weapons before, why should this be any different? It's not us." He said.
"The reason this is different is because you have never had to face upwards of a thousand enemies at once. Not even the strongest Digimon could win against those odds. The longer those viruses are present in the Digital World, the more damage they are doing." Erin explained. A lot of the group looked like they had the same feelings as T.K, and as such they accepted their weapons reluctantly. Tai however was still examining his with a confused look on his face.
"I hate to bring this up, but we've not had training on how to use these things." He said.
"It's easy," Erin remarked, removing her gun from the holster on her leg. "You simply aim and shoot. Point and click." She said. She demonstrated by firing at a small rock lying on the ground of the cave. The small rock vanished in a shower of what could only be described as data bits. "Simple as that." Erin added after the demo. The rest of the group looked shocked at the display. Erin just re-holstered her gun and continued to look through the crate for anything else that might be useful.
"What do we do about the rest of the boxes?" Yolei asked.
"We can just shoot them like the rock." Davis suggested. Without a word Erin turned from her position and fired at one of the other crates. Nothing happened.
"Why didn't it blow up?" Davis asked, confused.
"These guns fire a directed electromagnetic pulse designed to destroy anything with an electric circuit or anything that's digital in nature. These crates are from our world therefore they can't be destroyed by the guns." She explained. "That's why you must be very careful when firing them. Only aim at anything that isn't friendly otherwise you will end up loosing it." She cautioned.
"What about us?" Sora asked.
"I don't know what effect the guns will have on humans in the Digital World, and I really don't want to find out." Erin said.
In the DWC control room, Johns, Worth and Jackson were huddled around a computer screen displaying a map of an area of the Digital World. On this map was a small red dot.
"They definitely went to the equipment store." Jackson reported.
"We also registered two weapons discharges." Worth told Johns.
"They clearly expect to be attacked in great numbers. I know how much 4-5-2 hated using those things, and she was only testing them." Johns said. "Well let's not disappoint them. The second you know what they are going to do send the sentinels after them." Johns ordered.
"Mr. Johns, about the sentinels. Last night we were running a check on the systems and we found an extraneous section of code in the master program." Jackson said.
"What sort of code?" Johns asked.
"We're not sure, it doesn't appear to do anything. The only thing we do know is it wasn't there the last time we checked the systems." Jackson answered.
"Very well. Continue as planned. Let me know if you find anything out." Johns ordered.
The digi-destined had now moved out of the cave and were on their way to area they would begin their attack from. There was still no sign of any sentinels, which worried the group.
"Why haven't we been attacked yet?" Cody asked.
"They're waiting to find out what we're going to do then send everything at us at once." Erin said.
"That's comforting." Davis said sarcastically. The level of alertness within the group had never been so high. Everyone was looking in one direction as if waiting for something to attack them from there.
"Hey, you know with that coat on, nobody would know you have a gun strapped to you leg." Davis said to Erin.
"That's another reason I like my coat." She replied winking at Davis.
"I have got to get me one of those." Davis said grinning at Erin. After walking for about half an hour, the group came to a small clearing in the woods they were walking through, with only three trees close together in the centre of the clearing.
"Is this the place?" Tai asked. Izzy checked his D-Terminal.
"This is the place." He said.
"Great. We need to set up." Erin said, "Is there any way to get these trees down?" She asked indicating the three trees in the middle of the clearing.
"Leave that to us." Yolei said, "Ready Hawkmon?" She asked.
"As always." He replied.
"Digi-Armour Energise." Yolei called.
"Hawkmon armour-digivolve to... Shurimon, the samurai of sincerity"
"That was cool." Erin remarked.
"Could everyone stand back please?" Shurimon asked. Everyone complied and stood behind the Digimon. "Double stars." Shurimon called, as the two ninja like stars on his hands shot forwards and sliced through the trees like a hot knife through butter. The tops of the trees fell backwards safely away from the group.
"Good work." Erin said, a little astonished. She then moved towards the three stumps and removed three laptop computers from the bag she had been carrying. She put one on each stump and wired them together.
"I was going to ask what was in that bag." Davis remarked as he watched her set up. Izzy and Yolei joined her at the tree stumps, and Erin directed them to which laptop they would be working on.
"Okay the rest of you, set up a perimeter around us." Erin directed. The rest of the group formed a circle around the three people at the computers.
"Guys, do you think we should digivolve now?" Agumon asked.
"Yeah that's a good idea, only champion at the moment though. We should save some energy for when it gets really tough." Tai said.
"What about me?" Gatomon asked.
"You can go to ultimate." Kari suggested.
"Good. I hope I can remember how to do it." Gatomon commented.
"Sure you can, it's just like riding a bike." T.K said supportively.
"But I've never ridden a bike." Gatomon said. The group laughed a little at the small Digimon's joke.
"Okay, now." Tai said. As he did all of the Digimon began digivolving at once. Erin stood in awe as the small creatures she had become familiar with suddenly changed into their larger more dangerous looking forms.
"That is impressive." She said as she looked around at the, now champion level, Digimon. She quickly recovered from her distraction and began typing at her laptop.
"Okay, you should have access to the areas you are going to attack any minute now." She told Yolei and Izzy. The rest of the group stood with their Digimon, anxiously waiting for the inevitable attack.
"Got it." Erin shouted suddenly, "Start now." She said to Izzy and Yolei. They knew exactly what to do and so began typing at their laptops as well.
"Sir, we have three unauthorised accesses of the main computer." Worth shouted across the relatively quiet DWC control room. Several people ran up to the computer he was monitoring.
"What are they doing?" Asked a woman to the right of the screen. It looks like their trying to circumvent the security measures around the main parts of the computer." Worth explained. Almost at that exact moment Johns arrived at the computer as well.
"What are they doing?" He asked.
"They look to be attacking the main computer systems." Worth answered.
"So that's what she meant when she said she could put her training to 'good' use." Johns said to himself. "Jackson, send in the sentinels." He ordered.
"Yes sir." Jackson said as he ran to his terminal. After a few minutes he turned to the people surrounding Worth's computer.
"Mr. Johns you had better look at this." He said. Johns rushed over to Jackson's computer.
"What is it?" He asked hurriedly.
"I think I just found out what that code is for." Jackson answered.
"Well?" Johns said impatiently.
"It looks like it's removed the sentinels camouflage ability, and made them all assume one form. Something I'm not familiar with." Jackson reported. An image of Keramon was displayed on the screen.
"It looks like 4-5-2s been busy." Johns said, "Try to take it down." Johns ordered.
"Yes sir." Jackson replied.
"Send what we've got at them." Johns said.
"Right away sir." Jackson obeyed.
"Here they come." Tai called.
"I see them." Matt said from the other side of the circle.
"Don't let them get too close." Joe said from another area of the circle.
"You don't need to tell me that." Several of the group shouted at once.
"How many are there?" Mimi shouted from her place in the circle.
"I'm not sure, lots." Sora shouted.
"Let's rock." Davis shouted, which was quickly followed by,
"Ex-Vee laser." Shouted by Ex-Veemon. Several more attacks followed from each of the Digimon. Meanwhile, Izzy, Yolei and Erin wee busy typing madly at their laptops, looks of sheer determination on their faces.
"You know those explosions are really quite off-putting." Yolei complained.
"Stop complaining and keep working." Izzy said.
"They just keep coming." T.K said, as Angemon dispersed a large group with one
"Hand of fate"
"My bad, I probably should have told you, they're self replicating." Erin said from behind her computer.
"Fantastic, anything else you have neglected to tell us?" Matt shouted.
"Not that I can think of, but if I do I'll let you know." Erin shouted back, "Use the guns that's what they're for." Erin suggested. It was clear that most of the group wasn't at all comfortable using the weapons that they had collected. However they did as they were told, they aimed the guns at the oncoming crowd of Keramon.
"Okay, point and shoot." Davis said to himself, as he steadied his pulse pistol with both hands.
"Davis, look out." Erin shouted from behind him. But before he could look round to see what she wanted, he saw a pulse blast fly past his head and collide with a sentinel mere meters from where he was standing. The Keramon exploded in a way similar to the rock in the cave.
"Sorry about the mess." Erin shouted to Davis, as she returned to work.
"How did I miss that one?" Davis asked himself.
"Davis we don't have time for that now." Ex-Veemon told him.
"Right, thanks pal." Davis said as he returned to his aiming. None of the other digi-destined had fired their weapons yet either. A large group of Keramon started moving in T.K's direction. These were quickly dispatched by Angemon, but he said.
"T.K, you must be prepared to shoot at these things. If a group any larger than that one attacks I won't be able to clear them all." T.K looked at him.
"You can't be serious, we've never had to rely on weapons before." T.K said.
"This is different, they aren't real Digimon." Angemon told him in between dispersing a few sentinels. T.K looked up at him again, then readied his own gun at the oncoming horde of viruses. Slowly the remaining members of the group were persuaded to use their weapons as well. Davis, however, was the first to fire. A large group of sentinels were headed in his direction.
"Davis, you'll have to help with this one. There are far too many for me to take down on my own." Ex-Veemon told him. Davis looked a little worried.
"Ex-Veemon, get behind me." He told his Digimon. Ex-Veemon complied, and Davis brought his gun up to aim at the fast approaching viruses.
"Davis, now." Ex-Veemon called.
"AAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!" Davis screamed as he unleashed a barrage of fire from his pulse pistol. Soon after the other digi-destined got the idea and were all firing along with their Digimon.
"They seem to have gotten the idea." Erin said to Izzy and Yolei, who were still typing madly at their computers.
"Hey Erin, you said these things self replicate." Matt called between dispersing Keramon with his pulse rifle.
"Yeah, why?" Erin called back.
"Well does that mean they appear out of thin air?" Matt asked.
"It shouldn't." Erin answered.
"Well then we have a problem." Matt called back.
To Be Continued...