Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes of Olympus. But it's not about the money, money, money...
Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "meal".
Also written for April's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 18,992/25,000. I always have planned author's notes. Like, today I will talk about this or that or something within the chapter... And then I always forget them when I go to upload the chapter. I don't prewrite my author's notes. That's probably why you may have noticed that they are often riddled with typos. I tend to just write them really quickly, which means that I often forget words or use the wrong word entirely. It's super annoying... I've forgotten what I was going to say in this chapter. Hm. Oh well. Reminder: If you've left a review, be sure to check out my forum topic "Blurring Boundaries: And so it begins..." found on the Digital Connections forum right here on this site under the Digimon section for all of my review replies.
Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-One
The door was unlocked.
After the insane security system right outside the walls, Takato had expected something a bit more dramatic when they tried to actually enter the building itself. The digimon went in first to sniff out the place, but when Takato tried to follow, Kari caught his arm.
"Thank you for that," she said.
They were alone on the stoop outside of the mansion. "For what?"
"For getting those goggles back to Davis," she explained. "They mean a lot to him even if he didn't say it."
"They were a gift right?" Takato asked. "From your brother?"
A strange look crossed Kari's face. "Yes… How did you—?"
"Memory," Takato said quickly as a way to avoid having to answer that. He didn't like lying. And he knew how he'd come across that information – at least, he had a pretty good idea. But he didn't think that telling Kari that it was because he'd seen it on a children's TV show that displayed their entire lives for millions to see would work out very well. "Listen, do you think Davis is going to be okay?"
Kari smiled. "He'll bounce back. He's hardheaded like that."
"Yeah," Takato said. "Yeah, okay."
But he still worried. Back in Sirenmon's palace, they'd all said some pretty harsh stuff—and he'd probably taken the award for managing to insult all of them at once. Nobody had brought up what he'd said or the fact that he'd nearly attacked the very kids who were doing everything in their power to help him get his memory back (even going as far as to apparently sacrifice brothers and boyfriends), but he still felt terrible. If it hadn't been for Kari, Gatomon, and Yolei, they'd all be dead and murderers in one go. And the girls hadn't gotten out of that encounter easily either – Kari least of all.
"Kari," he said, "I know I wasn't exactly with it back in Circuit, but that stuff about your brother – if he's in trouble, I want to help. I don't care if it's a trap or not."
Kari's façade of strength seemed to shatter before his very eyes, and he wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. "Takato, you don't know what you're saying. Please – I don't want to talk about it. Come on. We should stick together."
She ducked inside.
"Together," Takato said to himself. "Yeah, we're doing a great job of that."
x X x
Takato's first impression of the house: Dark.
From the echo of his footsteps and everybody's breathing, he could tell that the entry hall was enormous, nearly as large as Baihumon's chambers; but the only illumination came from the moonlight outside. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick velvet curtains, covering windows nearly ten feet tall. As Takato's eyes adjusted, he saw several sofas and armchairs situated around the room in a U-pattern in front of the fireplace with a single coffee table between them all. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. A row of closed doors lined the back of the room.
"Hey, where's the lights?" His voice echoed so loudly in the room that he made himself wince.
"We don't know," Armadillomon said. "I don't see a lightswitch. Do you, Cody?"
Cody shook his head. "No, I don't."
"Maybe we could light a fire?" Ken suggested.
Guilmon perked up. "I could do it. What do you think, Takato?"
Takato stepped up next to Guilmon and frowned a bit. "I don't know, boy…"
"I'm with Takato," Kari said. "We don't know who lives here, and we could end up announcing our presence if we do that."
"Assuming the noise didn't do that for us already," Gatomon added.
"They'd be out here if it did, right?" Yolei said. "Plus I'd rather not burn down the house with us inside, thank you."
"Always so dramatic, Yolei," Hawkmon said.
"Alright," Davis said slowly, still cradling the lump under his jacket. "What do you want to do, then? Explore?"
Cody shuddered. "After the security guards outside? Bad idea. Who knows what other traps are waiting for us."
Takato's senses tingled. That statement immediately set him on high alert. Looking around, he didn't see a comfortable room to hang out in. He had a sudden image of a Knightmon roaming these halls, looking for victims to decapitate. He resisted the urge to shiver in fear and pushed the lost memory out of his mind as a silly ghost story.
"Cody's right," he said. "We shouldn't separate again – not after what happened at the warehouse."
"Oh, thanks for reminding me of the digimon cannibals who were going to turn us into milkshakes." Yolei's voice quivered. "Just what I needed!"
Ken pulled out his D-3. "It's a few hours until dawn," he said. "It's too cold to wait outside. We should bring Elecmon in, grab the Digicores, and try to make camp in this room. Once it's light outside, we'll have a better chance of deciding what we should do."
Nobody offered a better idea, so they rolled in Elecmon's cage and settled in. No guard digimon appeared to try to blast them into smithereens, so Takato figured that was lucky. Davis didn't really seem to be in the mood to make more ramen, and they'd already nixed the idea of making a fire indoors even with the empty fireplace nearby, so they settled for cold rations.
As Takato ate, he studied the room around them. He couldn't really see much outside of the thin strips of moonlight through the curtains, but he thought he could make out wires running up the walls. He wondered if they were connected to some sort of security system. They hadn't set off any alarms (as far as he knew) and they weren't dead yet, but he wondered if they were all being watched right now on some night-vision cameras. The idea freaked him out, so he decided not to share it.
The digicores didn't make the place any less creepy. The golden glow they gave off bathed everyone in an eerie light that reminded him of Baihumon's chambers. The light made everybody's face seem even more shrouded in shadows, their features elongating, and the exhaustion and fear appearing more apparent than ever. The digicores seemed to be giving off some weird vibe, too – like they themselves were trying to speak to Takato, tell him that he didn't belong. Nothing about those digicores seemed right to him, and in turn, he didn't seem right to them either.
As for Elecmon in his cage, he was still frozen mid-shout, his hindquarters raised to the sky. Cody, Armadillmon, and Gatomon were working on the cage, trying to open it with various tricks, but the lock seemed to be giving them a hard time. Takato figured that Cody was no hardened criminal who saw picking lots as a simple pastime, but Gatomon seemed to have a good idea what she needed to do. He had confidence that she'd get him out before long.
Despite how wired he felt, once his stomach was full, Takato started to nod off. The sofas were a little too comfortable – a lot more than Halsemon's back – and he'd taken the last two watches while his new friends slept. He was exhausted.
Kari and Yolei were already laying down on their sofa. Earlier while they ate, they had been having a whispered conversation, but now they were curled up together in a way that only girls could do without it being weird. Takato wondered if they were really asleep, or if Kari was just dodging another conversation about her brother. Whatever Sirenmon had meant in Circuit, about Kari getting Tai back if she cooperated – it didn't sound good. If Kari had risked her brother's life in exchange for saving them, that made him feel even guiltier.
And they were running desperately out of time. If Takato had his days straight (which was hard since so much had happened in such a short period of time), it was the very early morning of December 21. Which meant tomorrow was the winter solstice.
"The rest of you should get some sleep," Cody said, still working with Armadillomon and Gatomon on the locked cage. "I'll keep watch with these two."
"What about Armadillmon and Gatomon?" Takato asked. "Don't they need some rest?"
"Ah, don't worry about me," Armadillmon said. "I had a nice nap up in the air earlier. I'm fresh as a daisy!"
Gatomon shrugged. "As for me, it can't be helped. These are our lockpicks." She held up her paws and extended her claws that seemed to gleam in the moonlight. "Besides, without the Digiegg of Light, I won't be able to digivolve, so it's not like I'll be flying anytime soon. I can still fight, but I'm not going to be nearly as useful as I was."
"Aww, Gatomon, don't talk like that," Guilmon said. "You're still plenty useful!"
"Guilmon's right, Gatomon," Wormmon said. "We'd be lost without you and Kari."
Gatomon gave a sad sigh as she glanced toward her partner. "Yeah…"
"You really saved our necks back at Circuit, Gatomon," Davis said.
Gatomon sent an uncertain look toward Davis. "Davis, I—"
Davis waved off whatever she was about to say. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault Huang is a jerk. He probably picked this spot for us to fall. When I get my hands on him…"
"How's Chibomon?" Ken asked.
Davis pulled the little digimon out of his jacket. He was no longer struggling to breathe, which Takato took as a good sign. Davis let out a relieved sigh. "Better, I think."
"He's got a nice thick skull," Armadillomon said cheerfully. "He'll be fine."
Unable to keep it to himself anymore, Takato took a deep breath. "Guys, about what I said back in Circuit… I'm really sorry. That's not me. I don't find this group annoying at all. I… I'd be completely lost without all of you. I know I have friends somewhere else, and I know they're waiting on me… but it feels really nice to know that I have friends here, too."
Ken and Cody shared a look while Davis dropped his head back to shake his head toward the ceiling like, What are we going to do with this guy?
"Takato, you aren't the only one that needs to apologize for the things we said," Cody said slowly. "Davis, Ken, I—"
Ken shook his head. "We all said things we didn't mean, Cody."
"Yeah, even us!" Armadillomon said.
"I know I in particular made some grievous errors while under Sirenmon's control," Hawkmon said. "I'm certain I'll be making it up to Yolei for quite a while."
Guilmon's ears drooped. "I didn't want to hurt any of you… honest. I just couldn't seem to stop myself."
"Okay, first of all," Davis interrupted, "Takato, dude, we are your friends. Even if we wanted to hate you for some reason, with you going around apologizing for everything all the time, how are we ever supposed to stay mad at you for anything?"
"You and Guilmon really are quite the nice pair," Wormmon added.
"And second of all, I try very hard to be annoying," Davis continued. "Don't insult my ability to annoy."
Takato held his hands up in surrender, and his lips twitched in a smile. "Alright, alright. I apologize for apologizing."
"That's more like it," Davis said. He stretched out on the sofa, Chibomon no longer hiding in his jacket and instead resting comfortably on his chest.
"There," Armadillmon said. "Don't we all feel better now?"
"I feel confused," Gatomon quipped.
Despite Gatomon's confusion, Takato actually agreed with Armadillmon. Silence settled over them again, but the tension seemed to just evaporate around them. They all still looked on edge and exhausted – but not angry and not like they were all a million miles away from each other.
"Go ahead and go to sleep," Cody ordered. "Hopefully it won't take us too long to get Elecmon free, but we need all the rest we can get."
The other digimon that weren't helping Cody out with the cage nodded wearily and curled up in various spots around the room.
"Davis," Ken said softly just as the other gogglehead was about to close his eyes. "Chibomon just needs some rest. He'll be back to his old self in no time."
Takato held his breath, wondering if Ken had blown it, but Davis just smiled tiredly. He nodded.
"Yeah, he will," he said. "Let's get some shut eye."
Takato wanted to stay up a bit longer and make sure that he didn't miss any further conversation, but his heavy eyelids quickly won out after he rested his head against the armrest of the big comfy armchair he was parked in. He closed his eyes and had a long and blissfully dreamless sleep.
He didn't wake again until the screaming started.
"—THUNDER STRIKE!"
Takato leapt to his feet. He wasn't sure what was more jarring – the bright sunlight that now flooded the room, or the screaming digimon.
"Elecmon's out," Gatomon announced, a bit unnecessarily. Elecmon's half-stated attack hadn't gone off, but he was standing on the edge of the room, his fur standing on end, looking ready to attack whoever approached. His gaze appeared a bit unfocused – like someone who had just woken from a very deep sleep – and he didn't seem to know where he was or who he was with just yet.
"Elecmon!" Takato shouted.
Elecmon turned, his fur charging with electricity. His eyes were wide and wild, like a caged animal (no pun intended), and his face was low to the ground with his hindquarters raised in the air, ready to pounce on the enemy. As his eyes seemed to focus on Takato, though, he relaxed some, a look of confusion crossing his face.
"You're the new kid," he said, standing up so that he was standing on only his back two legs. "Takato, right?"
He looked around the room, his eyes taking in the rest of the digidestined. Davis was busy stretching his arms up to the sky, and the girls were each rubbing their eyes trying to catch up with what was going on. Yolei's hair looked like it had become a nest for a nice furry rodent to sleep in, but he figured if he said that aloud, he wouldn't live to see next week. Ken seemed the most alert out of everybody who had been asleep, including the digimon that were all trying to shake off the grogginess.
"Kari? Davis? What's going on?" he asked. "Wait… where's TK and Patamon? And what are we doing here? Takato and I were at Primary Village, and then Thunderbirmon attacked and… and then…"
"And then you were captured," Takato finished, "and we found you locked up in that cage."
"Yeah, we just managed to spring you from it," Armadillomon explained, "all thanks to Gatomon."
Gatomon grinned behind her razor-sharp claws. "It was nothing."
"Cage?" Elecmon repeated. "What cage?" He turned and then froze as he finally spotted the open gilded cage at the other end of the room. He blinked a few times. "Oh, I see… I have a feeling that is quite the story. But first… where are we, and what's with all the screens?"
"Screens?" Takato looked around. From the way the others caught their breath, he guessed they hadn't noticed either.
While the exterior of the mansion had given it an old fashioned feel and the sofas in front of the fireplace had been comfortable, the rest of the room was in complete contrast. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with LCD screens, each about the size of a big screen television. Dozens were stacked on top of each other, covering every square inch possible. The wiring that Takato remembered seeing last night actually ran up and down the curtains and underneath the carpet they stood on. None of the LCD screens were on, but Takato figured that whoever could watch that many stations at once would have to have at least a hundred different pairs of eyes.
"Big brother's watching," Davis deadpanned.
"Maybe this is why they have such tight security," Yolei said slowly. "They're afraid of someone walking off with one of their TVs."
"We're not quite sure where we are, Elecmon," Kari answered. "We just crash-landed here and took shelter inside this mansion."
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Elecmon offered, "starting with where TK and Patamon are."
Before Takato could tell if any of the digidestined were up for going through that particular tale again or if it would be up to him to get Elecmon up to speed, a door opened at the far end of the entrance hall.
A small metallic machine-like digimon walked out of the room – or, at least, Takato assumed it was a digimon. The robot-looking creature was about the side of a rookie with a tin can shaped head, four robotic legs, long over extended arms, and a clear cylindrical dome over the hardwiring that made up his brain. His face was cracked over his left eye, revealing wrinkled flesh from a long forgotten wound.
He froze when he saw them before calling out back the way he came, "Karatenmon, I believe we have visitors. It seems the alarms didn't go off to alert us to their presence. How rude of us to not have been here to greet them when they arrived."