Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. Ah, but to dream...

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "rabbit".

Not much to say this time. I hope you...

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cody stopped at the doors and tried to control his breathing. Veemon's shouting still rung in his ears, demanding someone to leave Davis alone, but Davis had said it was nothing. Cody really didn't believe him, so the last thing he wanted to do right now was to plunge into a dark warehouse with unknown horrors and enemies within, but he knew he didn't have a choice. He felt five years old again, hiding in his grandfather's dojo so that he didn't have to go to his father's funeral on some naïve belief that if he didn't attend, his father would somehow miraculously return. To avoid being found, he'd kept the lights off despite his fear of the dark. His only company had been the sound of the rain against the roof and the sound of his own breathing – remarkably similar to now.

Stop it, he told himself. This isn't helping!

But that didn't make him feel any less frightened. He took a deep breath and peered inside. He could feel Armadillomon leaning around his ankle and Gatomon looking over his shoulder at the same time. On the other side of the doorway stood Davis with Hawkmon and Veemon, being just as cautious as him. Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the parting clouds to shine through the hole in the roof. A few light bulbs flickered, but most of the factory floor was still lost in shadows. He could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of strange machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of the others.

Davis made a move to call out, but Cody slapped a hand over his mouth before he could. Something told him that it wouldn't be a good idea – a sense that he couldn't identify.

"I don't think we should do that, Davis," Cody whispered.

"Agreed," Gatomon said just as quietly.

Armadillomon glanced toward them. "Why not?"

"Something smells off." Gatomon's claws threatened to dig into Cody's shoulder.

The other three digimon closed their eyes and lifted their noses into the air and sniffed.

"Something… not human," Hawkmon agreed. "And not a digimon I recognize."

Cody didn't have a digimon's sense of smell, but he immediately knew they were right. His body shifted into high gear, all of his nerves tingling.

Davis and Veemon slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. Nervously, Cody followed with Armadillomon as Davis continued to work his way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and large barrels. At one point, Gatomon stuck out a claw and stopped them in their tracks before pointing out some silvery white webbing glinting in the darkness that they had been about to barrel into. They dodged around it and moved at a slower pace, using Gatomon's feline eyes to avoid the spider web traps. Finally, they reached an assembly line. They crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery – some weird robotic looking arm that didn't look functional at all.

Cody peeked around the machinery. Hanging above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from the crane on the opposite side, was a massive engine – just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there by whoever abandoned this weird factory. Below it on the conveyer belt sat several strange machines that didn't seem to have any real function, and clustered in front of the belt were ten organic shapes. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were six smaller shapes – maybe more engines or robotic parts, but three of them were twisting around as if alive.

Then one of the organic shapes rose, and Cody realized it looked like a gorilla about the size of a school bus. "Did you hear that?" the digimon rumbled.

One of the other lumps shifted, this one a bit smaller, and called out in a deep but feminine voice, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" A beat passed, then it continued, "There's nobody out there! Humans can't be that quiet!"

The first digimon chuckled. "They probably ran away if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about the two other humans. Can we get to cooking now? I'm hungry."

"Me too!" the second voice concurred. "But I don't understand why we can't just eat them fresh. They'd be so tasty."

"Seems like they'd taste all stringy to me," the first digimon said. "What do you think, boss?"

"Ssssilence!" said a third voice. "I do not want them fresh. I want them cooked! Inferno Blast!"

A bright red stream of fire suddenly lit up the entire area, and Cody was temporarily blinded. Davis grabbed his arm and dragged them behind a crane while Cody waited for the spots to clear from his eyes. Then he took another peek and was faced with a nightmarish scene.

The six dangling things from the crane arms weren't engines. They were Kari, Yolei, Takato, Ken, Wormmon, and Guilmon. All of them hung upside down, suspended by their ankles and cocooned in spider web up to their necks. The girls and Guilmon were flailing in an obvious attempt to free themselves. All of their mouths were gagged, except for Guilmon who had been muzzled, but at least they were alive. Takato, Ken, and Wormmon didn't look so good. The three of them hung limply, eyes rolled up in their head.

On the conveyer belt, a pile of old junk was being used to fuel the impromptu fire pit. Guilmon kept sending concerned looks over at Takato, who had a bruise forming on his forehead. Several feet below them on the conveyer belt sat a pile of all of their digivices and D-Terminals. Suspended over the flames was a long metal pole – a spit, Cody realized with a sinking feeling, which meant that it was a cooking fire.

And then there were the cooks.

The trio of digimon were gathered around the fire. Two of them looked very familiar. The first, a gorilla-looking creature, sat staring into the fire with a vaguely vacant expression on his face, throwing kindle in the flames every so often: Gorillamon. Champion level. Standing next to him was an enormous spider with a stick in one of her many sticky hands as she stoked the fire: Dokugumon. Also champion level. And the last creature, the one closest to Cody and Davis, with his back mercifully toward them, was some sort of eight-headed serpentine creature with scales that glowed in the firelight. He was not a digimon that Cody recognized or knew anything about, but it wasn't necessary. He was frightening enough all on his own.

Cody's hands started to shake. He'd faced worst in the past before – Daemon and MaloMyotismon to name a few. But this was different. It was just him and Davis with no DNA Digivolution at their fingertips and three digimon that looked ready to eat their friends for dinner.

His mind went painfully blank. If only TK were here. Even if TK had absolutely no idea what to do to rescue their friends, his presence and optimism alone would have been enough to give him the fuel to at least try. But right now, the idea of Ankylomon wrestling with those three goons seemed about as bright of an idea as wrestling with fire.

He thought suddenly of an old folktale that his father used to tell him when he was young about a boy born out of a peach who saved his village from an island of demons with only the company of a dog, monkey, and pheasant. He could remember his father's gentle smile as he said, "Only the bravest warriors can overcome great challenges when faced with unbelievable odds."

Cody stared up at his father and asked, "Is that all he needed? A lot of courage?"

"Well, as strange as they may have been, I wouldn't have counted out his loyal companions either."

Cody turned to look at his current roster of loyal companions. Davis's eyes seemed to glow in the firelight with a determination that almost immediately quelled Cody's fear, and Veemon looked about as ready as him to jump in on the action. Hawkmon and Gatomon were looking a lot more aware in wake of seeing their partners in danger, and whatever residual sluggishness from their fall that still stuck around had been pushed to the side in favor of getting ready for a fight. And then there was Armadillomon; his best friend who had never let him down before.

They weren't quite a dog, monkey, and pheasant, but they would do.

"I don't see a dark ring or spiral or anything," Cody whispered, his eyes scanning over the three digimon that currently held their friends hostage. "Why are they doing this?"

"Does it matter, dude?" Davis whispered back. "Our friends are in danger. We have to save them."

"Yes, but…"

"You'll remember both Gorillamon and Dokugumon, I expect," Gatomon said quietly, "but that other digimon… Orochimon. Ultimate level. Special attack: Inferno Blast. I don't know much about him other than the fact that he's nasty, and he's not someone you'd want to tangle with on a good day…" She shot Cody a look. "I don't know why they're here and attacking us, but we don't have time to play Mr Nice Kitty."

Cody grimaced, but he had a very strong feeling that she was right. Still, he wouldn't feel right about it unless he knew that they had no other choice, but how was he going to determine that? Going up to them and asking? That would not be one of his more brilliant ideas.

Dokugumon climbed up the chains and scaffolding to Kari and Yolei. Kari went very still, her eyes wide with wariness at the digimon's sudden approach, but Yolei squirmed and tried to head-butt her. Dokugumon simply dodged. "Can I take off their gags now? I want to hear some screaming!"

The question was directed at the third digimon, Orochimon, who was apparently their leader of a sort. The slithery figure hissed in response, and Dokugumon ripped the gags off of Kari and Yolei's mouths.

Neither of them screamed, though Yolei certainly looked like she wanted to – in anger. Her face was red – either from all of the blood rushing to her head or from repressed emotion – and she turned away, refusing to give Dokugumon the satisfaction. Kari took a shaky breath like she was trying to keep herself calm.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Veemon asked.

"Yes, if we don't act fast, Yolei and the others are going to end up digi-kabobs!" Hawkmon whispered.

Davis looked at Cody. "Any ideas?"

Cody tried to think, but his mind appeared more interested in dragging itself through muck. "Our goal should be to rescue the others… we can deal with these three later."

"I don't think we're going to be able to do that, Cody, without picking a fight," Armadillomon pointed out. "Any attempt to release our friends, and we'll definitely be seen."

"But we're out powered," Cody pointed out. "Ankylomon and ExVeemon won't be able to take on the three of them all on their own."

"What do we look like?" Gatomon asked, affronted. "Chopped liver? I'm ready to fight!"

"Me too!" Hawkmon said.

"No," Cody said stubbornly. "We need you two to fly."

"Uh, dude, we might need them to do both," Davis said. "We're running out of time."

Davis was right. While Gorillamon seemed content to stare stupidly into the fire as he poked at it with a large stick, his buddy Dokugumon was quickly growing impatient with the silence. She glowered at the girls, waiting for them to do something entertaining. "One of you scream! You don't have red hair, but I'll still enjoy ripping you to shreds if you don't!"

When Yolei finally spoke, she sounded just as annoyed and angry as she appeared to be. "Oh, I'd like to see you try. When Hawkmon gets a hold of you—!"

A sinister laugh echoed from the serpentine creature in front of them. "Isn't it obvious, girl? Your digimon partners and your other so-called friendssss have abandoned you. Now, you better start showing the appropriate level of fear, or do I need to roast one of your friendssss here before you do?"

Kari sucked in a breath. "Please… if we've fallen into your territory, we didn't mean to. We're just trying to get on our way—"

"Bah!" Dokugumon cut her off. "This pleading is annoying! I want some screaming! Can I?"

Cody feared that Orochimon would give Dokugumon the permission to torture one of them to make them scream. He wasn't sure if he could bear to watch that. But then Orochimon started to hiss on about how simpleminded Dokugumon was.

Davis inched along the machines, trying to get closer. Cody wasn't sure if he had a plan in mind or what, but he didn't question him. He just followed, keeping a close eye on the three enemy digimon as they went.

"…Ever since you were reconfigured, you've been obsesssssed with getting revenge on that fox and that girl!"

"Yeah," Gorillamon piped up. "You don't see me going on about Terriermon, do you? Though… that entire time is a bit fuzzy…"

"It's the reconfiguration," Orochimon explained. "Our Lord had to pull some sssserious strings to put our data back together after those blasted kids destroyed ussss, so a few things were lost to the wind… Of course, he also had to drop us in thissss awful world instead of home, but I'm sure he had his reasonssss."

Gorillamon blinked. "I thought it was so the barriers between worlds would weaken?"

Cody realized that from the sound of things, these three digimon weren't exactly friends, just allies by circumstance. He wondered if he could use that to his advantage, but he didn't know enough about their master or them to make any bold deductions.

"Don't try to correct me!" Orochimon bellowed. "Keep sssstoking the fire, Gorillamon. And Dokugumon, where are my milkshakessss? We caught these puny humans and their digimon to be my final ingredient, and now it'ssss not even here!"

"Well, it's not like you plan on sharing…" Dokugumon said.

"Go get it!" Seven heads shot forward to snap at Dokugumon threateningly, but Dokugumon, apparently used to this reaction, dodged out of range of the heads with expert grace. The slightly frightened look remained on her face though as she sped off to apparently fetch the milkshakes.

"Davis," Cody whispered urgently. "We need to act now while they're separated."

"We're still going to be at a disadvantage while he's around," Gatomon said, nodding toward Orochimon.

"We need to get Kari and Yolei their D-3's," Hawkmon said. "Then we could digivolve!"

"But we're not going to… I mean…" Cody struggled as he tried to find the words. "Do you think we'll have to destroy them?"

Davis's expression didn't change, but his jaw tightened in the firelight. "I don't know, Cody. Maybe once they see that they're outnumbered, they'll listen to reason. But they might not…"

Cody looked down. He could feel his stomach twisting at the idea, but he tried to push the feeling aside. "Okay. Then our priority is still to get the others free."

"How do you propose we do that, Cody?" Armadillomon asked.

He was quiet for a moment until finally saying, "Gatomon and Hawkmon should go. Gatomon to get everybody down, and Hawkmon… your job is to get the D-3's to the girls once their hands are loose."

"Got it," Gatomon said. "They'll never know I'm there."

Hawkmon saluted. "Roger."

"What do we do?" Veemon asked.

"We watch and make sure nothing goes wrong," Davis said with a grimace as if he'd much prefer to just attack now. Cody figured that was probably accurate. "And if something does, we attack to buy them more time."

Even with Davis's obvious reluctance to the plan of waiting, Cody felt appreciative at his agreement, no matter how begrudging. Davis nodded at the group before he dashed between machines, Cody and the digimon right on his heels. Orochimon and Gorillamon didn't see them, but Kari did. Her expression turned from terror to disbelief, and she gasped.

Orochimon turned his attention onto her. "What's the matter, girl? Just realize your situation did you, hm?"

Thankfully, Kari was a quick thinker. As Gatomon and Hawkmon continued their trek around the machinery to get to work, Kari looked away from the corner where Davis and Cody were hiding and said, "You're going to cook us into milkshakes? But why? Surely we'll ruin the flavor."

"And what's with the milkshakes anyway?" Yolei added. "You seem like a 'mon who'd like something a bit stronger."

"You dare insult my taste!? Are you questioning my milkshakessss!?" Orochimon bellowed.

"No!" Kari said quickly. "Not at all! We're just saying… we'd taste awful in milkshakes. Too… bony and bloody… No, it wouldn't be good at all."

"Not to mention we'd probably give you indigestion," Yolei said.

Orochimon hissed. "But the ssssecret ingredient… It is data packets! And there are no free flowing data packets in this world, so I must extract the excess data from digimon and puny humans like you! You will be my secret ingredient for my milkshakessss. Yessss."

Yolei gulped. "Oh great…"

Kari forced herself to take a shaky but deep breath. "You don't have to destroy us. We could be your friends. We could help you find excess data somewhere else, where nobody has to get hurt. We don't have to fight."

Something about that seemed to catch Gorillamon's attention, because he finally looked up from the fire. "Not have to fight?"

All eight of Orochimon's heads shook with laughter. "Gorillamon, didn't the digimon that deleted you… that rabbit… didn't he try the same thing? Saying that you didn't have to fight?"

"Hey, yeah, he did!" he said. "Terriermon and his human. And then the human used a card to make him more powerful, and it wasn't fair."

Orochimon growled. "Blasted cards…"

Davis and Cody exchanged shocked looks. Apparently, Kari was having the same thought they were, because she asked, "Cards? He used cards to defeat you?"

"That Leomon…" the snake hissed at the reminder. "Point is, girl, we are digimon, and it is our destiny to fight and get stronger! That is our only goal! That and milkshakessss."

"Who does he think we are?" Armadillomon whispered. "Punching bags!?"

"That does sound kind of familiar…" Cody muttered.

His eyes slid up to Ken's unconscious form before he immediately looked away, feeling ashamed with himself. He knew that Ken had left that thinking and personage behind a long time ago, but he couldn't shake how similar those words had sounded for a moment, as if the Digimon Emperor himself were feeding those lies to Orochimon. But Orochimon didn't appear to be under any sort of spell or control, and Cody didn't see any sort of device on him like a black gear that could be causing this thinking. The only thing that made sense was that this was truly the lifestyle that Orochimon believed he was meant to live, which meant… what? That Orochimon was acting of his own will? That he was looking to fry all of Cody's friends because he wanted a milkshake?

The thought was ludicrous, and yet Cody couldn't shake the thought that it might be true. The threat definitely felt real. Then there was the whole business of the kid with a Terriermon and cards that Gorillamon had battled before – a kid whose battle style seemed to match Takato's. He didn't know what that meant, but he figured he could hazard a guess. Izzy had been right. Somewhere out there, other digidestined existed like Takato. Too bad Takato was too busy being unconscious to hear any of this.

He looked up where Takato hung upside down on the line, and his eyes widened as he saw a small feline shape perched along one of the cranes. Gatomon was in place to try to release everybody, but she knew that she couldn't dare with Orochimon and Gorillamon's attention on their captives. She hung back, her back arched, ready to pounce at the first opportune moment. Cody wasn't sure where Hawkmon was, but he figured he was also just waiting for some sort of sign.

"I'm thirsty!" said Orochimon, his other seven heads nodding eagerly. "Slay the boys first before they wither away on their own, weak as humans are. Don't want tainted data in my milkshakessss. We can use the girls to sssserve it for us."

"Serve you?" Yolei shot back with a grimace. "No thanks!

"Uh-oh," Veemon whispered. "Looks like we're out of time."

"What do we do now?" Armadillomon asked.

"Back to Plan A," Davis said. "Time to digivolve!"

Cody gripped his D-3 in agreement, knowing that they were out of ideas. Veemon and Armadillomon were engulfed in the light of digivolution. Orochimon and Gorillamon froze and turned in their direction. Then Gorillamon picked up a cargo container about the size of Cody's apartment and threw it at them.