Chapter 21: To the Ocean
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Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Digimon, peeps.
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"How long have we been walking?" Tadashi inquired.
"We got to the Dark World at about 10 AM and now it's 5:13 PM," Ayaka told him.
"Okay, I'd say it's time for a break," the blond told the group before sitting down. "Man, I kind of need to use the bathroom."
"Where is there to go?" Ed questioned. They were currently in the middle of a vast plain that they had reached after finally getting out of that canyon and it didn't seem to end. The only landmarks in view were the Control Spires, the nearest one being about a hundred feet away.
"Uh, I guess you can go behind one of those control spires," Tadashi suggested.
"Yeah, and other than that one, there are spires every mile or so, so that means that we'd all have to share one," Abby objected.
"Maybe we should take turns," Ed remarked.
"Sounds like a good idea," Gunter replied.
"Just remember to dig a hole if you go number two," Abby told the group.
"Makes sense to me," Miki said, shuddering at the thought.
"Hey, so how much food do we have?" Coronamon asked, sitting down.
"I grabbed a bunch at the store last night and filled several backpacks with it," Ayaka told the group.
"It's mostly cliff bars, granola bars and fruit, though," Ed warned. "I'm a little hungry too."
"Me too," Prokyomon said, going over and grabbing a banana from Ayaka's backpack and biting into it.
"I guess I'll go to the bathroom first. Keramon, coming?" Gunter asked his partner.
"Oh, yeah! You won't see any of those freaky things from the show going after you!" the little alien exclaimed, following his partner.
Miki noticed him leave. "I guess I'll go after him," she suggested after a few seconds, putting her sandwich down. This was her chance to make amends for her untimely remark the night before. "Coming, Syakomon?"
"But you might accidentally see something you don't like," Ayaka warned her.
"Oh please, as if he won't use the opposite side of the tower. Plus, I won't look."
###
The dark-haired girl followed the large teen from a distance, and sure enough, he used the opposite side of the obelisk so she didn't see anything. Instead, she decided to wait until he was done doing whatever and talk to him then.
She felt nervous. As it was, she didn't usually apologize, but she figured that she should since she had been treating the others like garbage and had gotten on the wrong foot with the new guy.
The girl took a deep breath when Gunter came out from behind the tower. He walked past her uncomfortably and was several feet past the dark-haired girl when she spoke.
"Gunter, I need to tell you something," she said. The brown-haired teen turned toward her, not knowing what to expect. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean what I said."
He looked at the ground before continuing his walk.
The dark-haired girl shook her head. "Great, I try to be nice and he barely acknowledges me."
"What you said yesterday wasn't very nice, Ayaka," Syakomon told her.
"I know…" The girl took a little longer to get back.
###
After a few more hours of walking, the group decided to set-up camp. They chose a spot right by one of the Control Spires in case they were ambushed in the middle of the night or something. "Wow, it doesn't even feel like ten," Ed commented, lying down.
"No kidding," Abby replied. "It feels like noon."
Miki yawned. "Yeah, really," the dark-haired girl said groggily, falling to the ground.
"Okay, so what are the shifts for keeping watch?" Tadashi asked the group.
"I guess I could do it first," Gunter suggested. "I've spent late nights studying so I should be able to keep my eyes open."
"Yeah, and I'll do it with him," Keramon added cheerfully.
Tadashi smiled at that one. "Okay, who will do it after him?"
"I'll do it," Ayaka said. "Just wake me up around midnight, Gunter."
The tall German blushed a little. "Okay, thanks."
"I'll do it after him," Ed volunteered, determined.
"And me after him," Abby added.
"Hey, Miki, do you want that last shift?" Tadashi asked the dark-haired girl.
"Sure, why not?" Miki replied, her eyes closed as she drifted off to sleep.
###
A purple figure landed in the middle of the field in the Digimon Emperor's domain before splitting up in two. The human figure looked at his digivice.
"Well, the Dimension Key is still holding. Who said these things couldn't hold humans?" the figure questioned before snorting. "Oh, this is just great. I've detected seven signals and one of them is him. Good…"
The figure smiled madly. Soon, everything would begin.
###
The Digimon Emperor looked over his video screens and detected the humanoid figure. He looked at him in surprise. An adult? In the Digital World? What kind of heresy is this?
The Emperor would do nothing unless this figure posed a threat to him.
Strangely enough, the mysterious man seemed to be walking toward his castle. He would let him take his time so he could formulate his attack plan. Of course, there was always the chance that the man would lose his patience and hurry his pace, so that meant that the Emperor would have to make sure that his soldiers were on high alert.
###
Taizou was just done with this. True, at least he had Yuji and Robert to talk to, but unfortunately they were all in different cells ever since they got back from that expedition.
The brown-haired Japanese teen was constantly trying to find a way out of that place. Unfortunately for him, the only way out seemed to be an air duct that was far too small for him to go through. Then there were the guards, girls that didn't even seem to react to his advances. They were obviously brainwashed.
They would have to figure out a way out of that stupid place soon.
"Bored. Bored. Boredy. Bored. Can't they give us some board games or something?" Yuji complained. "Oh yeah, I said bored again. Get it, bored games?"
"You know we're losing our minds when we have to deal with bad puns," Robert commented. "I at least wish I had a book to read or something."
Taizou liked that idea. Maybe they could even use that against their enemies. So, he got up and headed toward the bars of the cell he was in and called out to one of the guards, a brown-skinned girl with a Lalamon for a partner. "Hey, you? Does the Digimon Emperor have a library or something?"
"I don't know," the girl replied after a pause.
"Right, right… So, maybe you could ask around and, if it's alright with Symanski, you could take me there," Taizou suggested.
"I will talk to him," the girl replied before heading off, leaving only Lalamon behind to keep track of the trio.
"Okay, so I've been asking myself the same question: why the heck does the Emperor just brainwash us like he did to the girls?" Yuji asked, really confused. Robert just shrugged.
"Maybe he only like's girls," the black-haired teen replied.
"A tyrannical overlord with his own personal army of hot, female bodyguards," Taizou remarked. "Sounds good to me, though wouldn't he be worried that we'd be able to flirt with one of them and turn her over to our side?"
"He brainwashed them to be completely loyal to him," Robert replied.
"So, Robbie, how come you never talk about yourself?" Yuji asked Robert from his cell on the other side of the hall.
"Don't call me Robbie. As for your question: Not much to tell. The mom's in jail. I never knew my pop. Oh, and I live in New York." The bulky teen chuckled. "It was a godsend when I got my digivice. It was nice to meet some decent people for a change." Robert smiled. "Plus, I didn't have many friends that were girls before coming here." Then his face shifted to a frown. "Then everything went downhill when the Emperor came. We tried to stop him but failed."
"Bummer, man," Yuji replied, frowning as well.
It was about then that Angela came back in with handcuffs. "You will come with me," she told Taizou sternly as she opened up the holding cell. The buzz-haired teen complied, holding out his hands and letting her cuff him. She led him out of the dungeon and through the castle. It was nice for him to see what that place looked like since he hadn't seen much of it. From what he saw out the windows were that they were currently in a castle on top of a mountain overlooking a vast valley.
His mere glance made him want to escape more than anything.
###
"So, what kind of books do you like?" Emperor Symanski inquired of Taizou as soon as he walked into the room, amazed at the sight of the vast library. The Emperor was wearing bright orange today. "Impressive, isn't it?"
"How did you…?" Taizou's voice trailed off but the Emperor answered for him.
"Digital Gold. It looks just like the real thing and I was able to sell some. Using that money, I raided a few bookstores." The teen chuckled a bit.
"So, what's with the bright colors?" the Japanese teen inquired of his enemy's outfit.
"Oh, I've been reading the 'Evil Overlord List' and this is what it suggested. It throws my adversaries off." The Emperor smiled before inviting the brown-haired teen to check out his selection of books. "Come on, don't be shy."
The teen glanced through them. "Any good sci-fi?"
David chuckled. "You're a sci-fi person, I see. Let's see... what do you prefer? Space opera? Modern day sci-fi? Trade paperback based on your favorite franchise?" The man seemed somewhat enthusiastic to have someone that was more than a prisoner. Immediately, he grabbed a dark-colored book and handed it to his hostage. "Here, this should keep you busy for a few hours at least."
Taizou examined the front. "Jurassic Park? This is a movie, right?" the brown-haired teen inquired, eliciting a nod from the Emperor.
"Yes, it is. But the book's quite a bit different from the movie. You see, Hammond isn't quite as kind here as in the movie. Oh, and Ian Malcolm dies at the end only to come back in the sequel without explanation." The man chuckled a bit. "Now, the sequel is almost completely different from the movie made from it."
Taizou nodded a bit before sitting down and attempting to read the book despite his hand-cuffs. The Emperor noticed them.
"Angela, feel free to take off the cuffs," he ordered the Latina who promptly walked over and unlocked them before pulling them off.
"You're taking these off?" the brown-haired boy questioned, surprised.
"Oh, yes, think of it as a privilege granted due to good behavior," the American replied. "I also had Sorcerymon upload massive amounts of vocabulary into your mind so you can read that without the help of a dictionary. I know your English skills aren't bad, but I figured that you'd want to enjoy what you're reading."
Taizou didn't know what to think of someone poking through his mind like that, but he simply accepted it and moved on, figuring he had better comply. He then realized that gaining the trust of the Emperor might be his key to getting him and the others out of here.
And he also thought of how willing the Emperor was to do this, realizing that the despot was probably lonely, another trait to take advantage of.
###
It was the end of Ed's shift at the campsite when Abby came to relieve him. "Time for you to go to bed," the girl told him playfully.
The black-haired teen smiled at her. He was sitting against the foot of the control spire that the group set camp around.
"Can it wait a few minutes?" he asked.
"I suppose," the girl responded, sitting next to him. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke. "I can't believe we're here."
"Neither can I," the heavy boy replied, taking everything in.
"It feels like… I don't know. Some sort of daydream I had," Abby said wistfully, "I remember when that episode of 02 aired about this place and how psyched up I was about seeing the 'Dark Undersea Master' and looking forward to how it turned out. Then I was disappointed when they didn't do anything with it."
Ed nodded. "Yeah, no kidding. That was one big plot-hole that needed filling."
The girl smiled at him. "That's why I write fanfic."
The heavy teen narrowed his eyes. "You write fanfic…" He didn't know what to think of that.
"What?" the girl asked, not knowing what to make of his lack of enthusiasm about the subject.
"Oh, it's nothing. What do you write?" he inquired, trying not to make it seem like he was all negative about it.
"Well, I write stuff pairing my favorite couples. For instance, I ship Tai and Sora and Kari and TK." The girl thought about a few other things. "Oh, and I like to pair Henry/Rika and Koji/Zoe as well."
"Didn't Sora get together with Matt?" he asked.
"Yeah, but I like to pretend that doesn't happen, like the Chakotay/Seven pairing on 'Star Trek: Voyager'," she explained. "I prefer Janeway/Chakotay instead."
"Oh, okay. So, who are Koji and Zoe?" the black-haired teen inquired before yawning, covering his mouth in the process.
"Well, Koji's a character from Digimon Frontier with long, black hair who I think is super-hot and Zoe's the only girl in the group," the brunette explained cheerfully. "Basically, I like pairing the two of them up such as in my fanfic. Of course, the Dub isn't out yet for another few months, but I still think they're the perfect match." She went on and gave a lengthy description of her story and didn't realize Ed had fallen asleep until his head had fallen onto her shoulder.
Wait, what? She thought, not saying it out loud so as not to wake the heavy teen that was sitting next to her. At least that meant that she could concentrate on keeping watch.
Though, most of that time was spent thinking about the boy next to her. She had only known him a couple of days and yet she was already good friends with him. She was really happy about that and looked forward to working with him even more in the future. At the same time, she was worried she may have hurt their relationship by rambling on like she did. The boy didn't like fanfic that much and she wondered why. Maybe he accidentally came across some really bad fanfic, which it seemed most of it was.
Maybe she'd ask him sometime.
She gently pulled the sleeping boy's head off her shoulder and put it on her lap, not thinking of what that may have entailed. All she wanted was for him to be comfortable and he would certainly get a kink in his neck if he stayed in the position that he was in for very long.
For the first time since the Digimon Emperor revealed himself as her brother and took away four of her friends, she felt truly happy.
###
Everyone woke up at about eight when their alarms rang. Ed got up off of Abby's lap, not realizing where he was until after about ten seconds. "I was on your lap?"
"You were on my shoulder, but I figured you'd be more comfortable on my lap so I moved you. Sorry about my rambling, by the way," the girl apologized. "I tend to do that sometimes."
"Oh, okay," the black-haired teen replied, getting up.
"So, let's eat breakfast and then leave! How about it, guys?" Tadashi called out to the rest of the team.
"Man, I so want a shower right now," Miki commented, not liking her current level of cleanliness even as she bit into a cliff bar. "And who chose this food?"
"Well, we need it all to last for as long as we're here in the Dark World," Ayaka told the dark-haired girl.
"Yeah, but I want more than just crappy chocolate bars," Miki responded, biting into it and not liking it.
"At least the Digimon seem to like it," the blonde said, gesturing toward Syakomon and Salamon who were both eating the bars like crazy.
"Still… meh," the dark-haired girl replied.
"And we only have enough food to last the next couple of days at most," Tadashi remarked.
"Yeah, these'll all be gone by tomorrow afternoon," Gunter stated before exclaiming enthusiastically. "But, hey! At least we still have toilet paper!"
"Yeah, at least," Miki responded, not impressed and lying back in the grass.
"Still, we might all need showers soon," Ed said as he bit into a banana.
"Why did Taizou have to get captured?" Miki complained. "Why couldn't someone like Ed have gotten captured instead?"
Ed glared at her. "Um, excuse me, I'm right here."
"Yeah, that wasn't very nice," Abby told the dark-haired girl point blank.
The Japanese girl realized what she did wrong. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Miki exclaimed.
Ed smiled slightly, despite having a bit of anger in his eyes. "Just… Learn from your mistakes, please."
###
It was a few minutes later when they started moving again. Unfortunately, the field seemed to continue to take forever and the lack of digivolution didn't help any. Eventually, however, they spotted mountains in the distance. Still, it wasn't until about 2:30 PM that they reached the foot of the giant peaks, all dotted with numerous control spires.
"What's with all these control spires?" Syakomon asked, frightened by the fact that there were still so many around.
"Yeah, I know, right?" Coronamon replied. "It's not like there are many digimon other than us to deal with right? This place is practically deserted!"
"We don't know that," Ayaka objected. "For all we know we just haven't come across anything yet."
"She's right," Abby confirmed. "I don't know what it is, but I feel like there's something on the other side of these mountains calling for me."
Ed looked at her in shock. "Okay, that's more than a bit creepy."
Then Gunter saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Look!" he shouted, pointing to a rock formation along the mountain path they were on.
"What is it? I don't see anything," Miki inquired, narrowing her eyes at the formation.
"I saw something move," the large German explained. "I swear."
"Oh, great, so now we're losing our minds," Coronamon commented.
"Let's just keep moving," Tadashi told the group, feeling a bit uneasy himself. Now the Control Spires were no longer in their path. Up until then the large group went from Spire to Spire in case they ran into anything. Now, though, they were about fifty feet from the spires and it only seemed to increase with the way the path was winding. At least the view wasn't so bad with all the conifers along their path, though with how dreary it was, there still wasn't much to look at.
The group continued on until Ed stopped. "Guys, I saw something move too." The group looked around to see what it was but couldn't spot anything.
"What was it?" Tadashi asked, concerned.
"I don't know. It popped up from a crevice. I can't see it now." The dark-haired teen's eyes narrowed. "I think we're being followed."
"Okay, I'll admit that this place is a little creepy but don't you think you're overreacting?" Miki questioned.
"No, we're in the middle of a foreign world and the nearest Control Spire that we can destroy is about a half-mile away from us," Ayaka told the girl.
"Let's just keep on moving, okay?" Tadashi told the group, continuing on ahead. He was going to need a back-up plan in case they were too far from a Spire to destroy it with rookies. He glanced over to Ayaka and Salamon and thought about it.
"Hey, does anybody have a Digi-egg of Light card?" he requested from the group.
Ayaka pulled the card out of her deck. "I figured I might need this."
"Yeah, but your partner doesn't digivolve into Gatomon so how can you use it?" Abby asked the blonde.
"I don't know if I can, yet, but we'll see if we need it," the blonde responded.
Abby nodded, hoping they wouldn't.
The group hurried along, holding their partner so that in case the digimon needed to fight. They didn't know what was starting to pursue them, but they realized that if there was something following them, it was more than likely hostile.
Eventually, after about five o'clock, they reached the edge of the mountain range, not knowing exactly how many miles they traveled. After that it was a long trek through yet-another field but at least they could travel closer to the spires. However, Gunter started to notice something. "They're closer together here."
"What do you mean?" Tadashi asked, watching the German examine the area with his digivice.
"It means that their anti-digivolution fields overlap and so we'll have to destroy two, possibly four, Control Spires before we can digivolve!" the brown-haired teen exclaimed in a panic.
"Oh, no, that's not good!" Keramon shouted dramatically.
"We're getting closer to the darkness," Abby commented, feeling the dread emanating from the distance.
"I hope that your armor-digivolution works when we need it, Ayaka," Tadashi told the blonde.
"I hope it does too," she responded.
They continued on until the grass turned to sand. Then they found themselves at the edge of a cliff. That was when they heard a buzzing in the distance, coming from behind.
Coronamon looked in the distance, spotting the digimon that was headed straight for them. It had golden armor all over its insectoid body, large hands with blue cannons on the fingertips and golden, beetle-like horns on its helmeted head. "I see it!"
Tadashi pulled out his digivice. "MetallifeKuwagamon, Ultimate Level, Virus Attribute. Attacks: Homing Laser and Emit Blade." The blond looked on in fright. "Ayaka, pull off your plan, now!"
The blonde girl slid her digi-egg card through her D-Arc. "Digi-Modify, Armor Digivolution Activate!"
ARMOR DIGIVOLUTION_
"Salamon armor digivolve to… Nefertimon!" The rest of the group heaved a sigh of relief as the digimon soared into the sky as quickly as possible. She flew toward the nearest control spire, destroying it. Unfortunately, she realized that the enemy digimon had noticed her and so did her partner.
Ayaka pulled out a second card. "Digi-modify, Speed Activate!"
Time seemed to slow down for the armor digimon as she sped up, soaring toward the second control spire. "Rosetta Stone!" the Egyptian digimon yelled out, causing it to crumble. Two down, two to go… she thought, flying as fast as she possibly could toward the third one in the little square. She noticed that MetallifeKuwagamon had also sped up, so she needed to make this quick. She realized that she needed to destroy these two spires from a long distance.
The third spire was jutting out of the middle of the ocean. Trying to save as much time as possible, Nefertimon fired her attack from several hundred feet away. "Beam of Isis!" she yelled out, firing a laser from her headdress and destroying the third control spire instantly. All she had was the fourth. She hoped that she could make it before MetallifeKuwagamon caught up with her. The massive insect was definitely gaining on her and was about ten feet away when the winged cat shot her last attack.
"Beam of Isis!" Nefertimon took a deep breath when the last control spire crumbled over the edge of a cliff before turning towards the others to join them. Hopefully one of them would digivolve and fight against MetallifeKuwagamon before he caught up with her.
"Now what? You think one of you can go Ultimate?" Tadashi asked the rest of the group back at the edge of the cliff. Gunter moved forward as he pulled his digivice out of the pocket.
"Sure, haven't you reached that level already?" the German teen asked the blond.
"Yeah, but I haven't been able to do it again, yet," he responded.
"Watch and learn, boy!" the brown-haired teen shouted, holding out his digivice and shouting the phrase. "Super Digivolution Activate!"
SUPER DIGIVOLUTION_
"Keramon digivolve to… Infermon!" the digimon yelled, turning into the massive, bug-like computer virus that he was. Tadashi felt a bit embarrassed at the sight. Wait, you mean it was that simple?
"Now, Infermon, take this guy out!" Gunter exclaimed, his expression a mad one.
"Oh yeah! I sure will!" Infermon responded, leaping forward at MetalLifeKuwagamon and getting between it and Nefertimon.
###
When Taizou was done with his books, he expected to be led back to his cell. Instead, he was brought by Angela to a dining room to eat with the Emperor, something he definitely hadn't expected. The room was quite ornate with a crystal chandelier and gold-painted walls as well as a table made of solid oak, or so it seemed. When the brown-haired teen got seated, the Emperor snapped his fingers and a Veggiemon walked in with two full plates of pizza.
"Bon appetite," the Emperor stated with a smile. Taizou didn't know what to think of getting fed pizza. For all he knew, it was poisoned with some sort of mind-control drug. Still, he was hungry, so he reached out and grabbed a slice, biting into it.
"Tastes good," Taizou complemented.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. It's something different from all that prison food, after all," the Emperor commented in reply.
"You're right, it is. However, I kind of prefer sushi," the buzz-haired teen responded, causing a dark expression to cross the emperor's face. "Still, thank you."
"Not a problem. So, what would you think of working for me?" Damien inquired. "You can get your partner back without a ring."
"No, I'd rather not," Taizou responded. It would betray my friends and everything I believe in.
"Suit yourself. Still, you can finish your food," the Emperor told him. "My offer still stands, though."
"And the answer's still no," Taizou replied with a smile.
After eating, he was escorted back to the cell. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring anything back with him to give to the others. And besides, would they want pizza that was in his pants?
When he got back to the cell, Robert spoke to him. "So, did he give you pizza?" the big Italian-American digidestined inquired.
"Yeah. Did he give you some one time?" Taizou replied.
"Oh, yeah, but I refused it saying that since it wasn't from New York it wasn't worth my time," Robert stated before grinning widely. "You should have seen the look on his face."
"Oh, man, I would love pizza right about now!" Yuji exclaimed.
Taizou smiled. He was glad he didn't give in.
###
The figure continued to wait. After twenty-four hours, he would start destroying spires. That would hopefully bring the Digimon Emperor's wrath upon him.
Then he would have a chance to turn the key and his plans for domination of all worlds would begin.
He chuckled madly at the thought. It would work. His plans would always work from here on out even if they didn't in the past. Well, the past from his point of view. Still, he was pragmatic and tried to learn from his mistakes.
The man adjusted his glasses as he settled down with his partner at the base of a control spire, eating a piece of fruit while he did so.
###
A/N: Welcome to the Dark Ocean. It's definitely not a nice place to be, don't you think. Wait till they reach Dagomon's city…
This chapter was a bit shorter than usual and I even expanded the scene with Nefertimon destroying Control Spires. For those that want to see Jeri and the others: at least she will appear in the next chapter. See you then.