Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes of Olympus. I'm just riding the train...

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

Also written for July's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 6,886/40,000. I've been a little under the weather the past few days. I'm a little concerned about my word count so far, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that I can catch back up. Here's to hoping! Also, a little hot and cold with this chapter. There are some things that I like about it, and some that I'm not quite as sure about. Either way, though, I hope you...

Enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Two

Davis woke up with a mouth full of grass.

For a moment, he had no idea where he was. It was a sunny morning. The air was brisk but not unpleasant for laying in the grass outside. Leaves rustled in the wind. A little ways away, a little hut village of digimon went about their business without sparing him or his friends any attention whatsoever.

The grass and trees were deadened by winter, and the smell of snow hung in the air, as if it were going to fall at any minute. He could see the hustle and bustle of the digimon in the village as they moved in and out of shops. There were no signs of Vajramon, Vikaralamon, Kumbhiramon, or Ebonwumon.

In other words: they had made it.

His friends were strewn out on the grass all around him – digimon and humans alike, each of them starting to come to. Davis clutched at his pounding head. "What happened?"

"Run! We're being chased!" Veemon jumped to his feet and look around, looking confused. "No—not being chased. Where are we?"

Takato blinked, trying to get his bearings. He pulled out his D-Power and gave a small sigh. "We're on the eastern edge of Folder. Somehow."

Ken rubbed at the back of his neck. "Vikaralamon blew up the TV just as we were coming through. I sure hope we don't have a reason to go back there."

"Are you alright, Ken?" Wormmon asked.

He gave him a small smile. "I'm fine."

Davis gave his best friend a look over, but decided that he was probably telling the truth. Other than looking like he desperately needed a shower (and honestly, they all did), he looked no worse than he did standing in front of Ebonwumon, which was about as good as any of them looked.

"So what happened to Vajramon?" Cody asked. "I thought he was going to hold Vikaralamon off, but if Vikaralamon caught up with us…"

"That doesn't mean he's been destroyed, Cody," Armadillomon said. "It may just mean that Vikaralamon was too fast for him. He did move like a speeding bullet."

"A really big speeding bullet," Yolei added.

"He may have given his life for us," Kari said quietly. "To make sure we got here safely."

"And we got him fire," Davis said. "Man, we suck."

"I'm sure he's fine," Elecmon said. "He may have been a lot smaller than Vikaralamon, but devas aren't pushovers. They're formidable digimon, all on their own."

"You can say that again," Takato muttered.

Davis moved to sit a bit more comfortably on the grass, not quite feeling like getting up to move yet. Yolei started to dig around in her bag.

"Anybody want some crushed snack food?" she asked. "I've got Oreos, Ritz crackers, and – oh, Joe gave me some Mentos, too."

Davis leaned forward to take a package of crackers – which was more like a package of crumbs thanks to Yolei crushing her bag two days ago. "Joe gave you Mentos?" he asked, pouring half of the crumbs into Veemon's hands. "Seriously? Mentos?"

Yolei shrugged. "He said we should be sure to keep our mouths clean. It will keep our breath fresh if nothing else."

They all awkwardly shared a look before each taking a candy. In the midst of trying to save the world, personal hygiene was definitely suffering a bit. Davis resisted the urge to try to smell his breath and instead just finished his crumbly breakfast before popping the Mentos in his mouth. Davis pulled out his D-3 and let out a sigh.

"It's 9 AM. Today's the solstice," he said.

"That's three hours until Barbamon's deadline," Gatomon said.

"Assuming he's even waiting for it," Kari said quietly. "Cerberumon made it sound like they had given up on me actually showing."

"I agree with Izzy," Ken said. "Barbamon has no reason to get rid of Tai and Agumon until he knows for sure that you won't be there. Until then, even if he believes that we're hoping to attack him head-on, that's still a better reason to keep Tai alive than to get rid of him, because then he has a chance to capture us anyway."

"That's a cheerful thought," Yolei said.

"Okay, but where is this Mount Blue Screen?" Hawkmon asked.

"I'll give you two guesses," Elecmon said, "and the first one doesn't count."

His eyes were locked on a place somewhere behind Davis, and he spun around to see exactly what he was talking about. He didn't have to guess, because he could see it on the horizon, right at the edge of the forest. The trees and foliage running up the mountain had leaves that were almost a blue in color, giving it – Davis assumed – it's name. Or at the very least he liked that explanation better than thinking of it as the blue screen of death, but he knew that was probably a more apt title, especially for today.

Truthfully, after seeing File Island, Mount Blue Screen didn't look very large, nor was it covered in snow. It seemed downright peaceful. But sizes could be deceptive, especially when it came to mountains. Mount Takao in Tokyo didn't look like much either, but when Davis tried to climb it as part of a class trip, he was pretty sure he had nearly died of exhaustion. Which meant that this Mount Blue Screen was probably a lot bigger up close. And appearances could be deceptive too. In one direction sat an extremely peaceful rural village filled with rookie digimon who probably had no idea what was going on in the Digital World right now. The area was filled with sunny skies, mild weather, and Ritz cracker crumbs. But only a few miles away, somewhere on that peaceful mountain, a super powerful and super evil Demon Lord was about to murder one of their own.

Takato pulled something out of his pocket – the old paper notebook Ebonwumon had given him. His fingers shook as he run them gently over the hastily done drawing of Guilmon, as if the image were the most important thing in the world to him.

"What is that?" Kari asked.

Takato flipped the notebook shut gingerly and put it away. "Nothing. You don't want to see my elementary school artwork."

"It's more than that," Ken said quietly. "Ebonwumon said something about it… it being how you created Guilmon? Is that true?"

Takato shook his head. "I'm sure I've said this a few times, but… I don't remember."

"But you're starting to," Yolei accused. "You're starting to remember things."

"Slowly, but…" Takato looked away uncertainly. "I don't… I don't know…"

"Why does it matter if Takato created me or not?" Guilmon asked. "Takato is my best friend. That's all that matters to me."

Takato stared at Guilmon with a grateful look. "Thanks, Guilmon."

Ken and Cody shared an uneasy look, but Davis didn't see what the big deal was either. As far as they had seen, it wasn't like Guilmon took pleasure is running around and rampaging innocent digimon villages. The differences between Guilmon and Kimeramon were night and day.

"Well," Davis said, "now that that's settled… What's the plan?"

"Climb the mountain," Veemon said. "Rescue Tai and Agumon. Defeat Barbamon. Then leave."

"Great plan, genius," Davis teased.

"Guilmon, what would you say to switching partners?" Veemon said.

Davis rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha."

"Guys," Kari said. "There's more you need to know."

That's when Kari told them about her dream and the history behind Davis's favorite digimon in the whole wide digital world: Huanglongmon.

"A hero?" Davis said. "Huang? Are we sure we're still talking about the same psychopathic dragon?"

"He didn't start out that way, Davis," Kari said. "He just… turned out this way."

"Okay, but—"

"Listen, kid." Elecmon swallowed down his half of an Oreo. "Kari's telling us some serious stuff here. This story sounds eerily familiar, like a scary bedtime story they used to tell us baby digimon to make sure we didn't wander too far out of Primary Village. It's similar to one I use myself."

Cody blinked. "Really?"

Elecmon nodded. "This earth dragon – the basic idea was that he would eat any baby digimon that would wander too far away from their crib."

"Sounds cheerful," Gatomon deadpanned.

"It was meant as a warning," Elecmon defended. "See, the story goes that there once was a dragon that watched over the Digital World, protected it from all evil. But then the dragon got lonely. He decided he wanted to leave his watchtower from where he protected the Digital World to try to find some friends, but what he didn't know was that darkness waited for him on the other side of the door. When he stepped down from his throne, he was immediately consumed and turned into something awful—"

"This sounds a bit closer to the Huang I know," Davis said.

"Let me finish. So, he turned into something awful. The friends that he sought were suddenly his enemies. The only thing he cared about was conquering the whole entire Digital World and destroying it for forcing him to waste so much of his life watching over it. However, out of the darkness, the powers of goodness arrived to push the dragon back to his watchtower, but it was now his prison. He wasn't done, though, and from his perch, he planned and plotted to destroy the Digital World one day… starting with everything good and pure in the world… like baby digimon."

Nobody said anything. Davis suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore. Even though Kari had just told them the true story, there was something extremely eerie about hearing it in the form of a digi-baby fable. He thought about how the very first attack had been at Primary Village. Was Elecmon's version simply just a story to scare young digimon or was there some truth in it after all?

"Definitely sounds like Huang," Yolei decided.

"Huanglongmon is so old and powerful," Cody said. "He may be the most powerful digimon we've ever faced."

"He's also so huge – and not to mention trapped," Kari said. "It's hard for him to be fully conscious. Homeostasis told me that he is forced to sleep, because it takes more energy than he can exert in his prison to wake up."

"And that's the way we like him – snoring," Elecmon said.

"But he talked to me," Davis said. "How can he be asleep?"

"It must be part of his power," Cody said. "Or he's grown to have that sort of power during his time of being imprisoned. While he sleeps, part of his consciousness stays awake… keeping watch… commanding those under him."

"Somehow, I don't think we want to see him fully awake," Yolei said.

"Even now, he's growing more powerful, though," Ken said. "He's gathering the Demon Lords. He's getting ready for war."

"If the last Demon Lord wakes up…" Kari trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.

"Nothing will stop them," Takato said quietly. "The doors to the Dark World will be open… evil digimon will come and go freely… And Gennai will be destroyed."

Armadillomon nodded. "Which is why it was a good idea for us to stay off the ground as much as possible."

Hawkmon stared at a spot over Davis's head. "So, I suppose this means that climbing a mountain on foot would be bad?"

Davis's heart sank. He turned slowly to stare at Mount Blue Screen. Oh, great.

"Guys, I can't ask you to do this," Kari said. "This is too dangerous."

"Danger?" Yolei scoffed. "We laugh in the face of danger! Who's ready to save the world?"

x X x

Davis thought it was the altitude that was making the hike up the mountain so difficult, but about halfway up, he realized it was much, much more than that. With every step, his shoes were sinking into the dirt path as if it were made of quicksand. Not fast – just enough to make his steps heavier and take more effort than would have been normal.

The view from the mountain was pretty amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Blue Screen was a patchwork of rural villages – little isolated communities in a sea of trees and fields. They'd left Elecmon behind in the closest village knowing that the fight they were walking into was no place for a rookie digimon. He hadn't been happy about it, but Kari had smoothed it over by pointing out that they needed someone to stay behind to protect the village – all of the villages. He'd felt better about it then. She hadn't been completely lying. All these normal and innocent digimon living normal and innocent lives – they were lives they had to protect.

Davis tried to move his foot, but his small break to admire the view had given his heel enough time to sink far enough into the ground that it was now completely embedded in the dirt.

"Uh, guys?" he said. "Little help here?"

The others noticed his problem. Takato and Ken worked together to yank him out of the sinking earth.

"Huanglongmon must be stronger up here," Cody said. He yanked his own sinking feet free. "Because there's no reason why we should be sinking."

"It's just regular dry dirt," Ken agreed. "Huang's just manipulating it to make our lives harder."

"Stop it, you overgrown lizard!" Veemon shouted as he yanked his feet out of the ground.

Davis crouched down. "Here, I'll carry you."

Veemon blinked at him. "Seriously?"

"Can't have you exhausted before we reach the top."

Veemon climbed onto Davis's back, and he started to carry him piggyback style. The others followed his example, picking their partners off of the ground, except for Takato and Guilmon.

"Are you going to carry me, too, Takato?" Guilmon asked.

Takato let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, boy. You're a little big."

Guilmon's ears drooped. "Aww…"

"We better finish hiking up this mountain while we still can," Cody said. "I have a feeling the longer we're up here, the harder it's going to be to walk."

"How do we know where Barbamon is?" Kari asked.

Ken pointed toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, Davis had thought it was a cloud, but it wasn't. Something was burning.

"Smoke equals fire," Ken said. "We'd better hurry."

Davis had played sports since he was old enough to hold a soccer ball. He thought he was in pretty good shape. But climbing up a mountain while carrying a rookie digimon while the earth was trying to swallow his feet was like jogging on a flypaper treadmill.

In no time, Davis had shed his winter coat and rolled up the long sleeves of his collarless red shirt, even though the wind was cold and sharp. He wished he'd remembered to pack some walking shorts and some more comfortable shoes – or at least a second pair since these seemed about ready to fall apart on him – and he was starting to wonder if it was possible to get sunburned in the Digital World from the way the sun was beating down on them.

By the time they neared the crest of the mountain, Davis was the least fashionable, sweatiest, and dirtiest digidestined ever. His shoes and the hem of his pants were covered with dust. In fact, his entire body felt caked with dirt and sweat. The only thing that didn't seem to need at least four washes when he finally made it home was the crest dangling from his neck. Davis knew that the arrival of his crest was just a sign that his destiny was just around the corner, but that entire idea was about as frustrating as this stupid mountain. Every time Davis thought they'd reached the summit, it turned out to be just another ridge with an even higher one behind it.

First things first, Davis told himself. Survive today. Figure out why I have a crest and what to do with it later.

Finally, Takato crouched behind a wall of rock. He gestured for the others to do the same. Davis quietly put Veemon down and crawled up next to him. The others followed.

Just over the ridge where they were hiding, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a soccer field where the Demon Lord Barbamon had set up camp.

Trees had been burned down to make a towering purple bonfire. The outer rim of the clearing was littered with ash and burnt tree limbs. Who did the fire breathing and whether or not they were still around, Davis wasn't sure. But whoever did it had used some serious firepower. He sure hoped that it hadn't been Barbamon. Or his companion. The companion that made Davis's heart stop beating for a moment.

"TK," Kari gasped.

But no, it wasn't TK, but Davis had to blink rapidly several times before he realized that. For one, the blonde kid was too short to be TK. He stood about the same height as a 12-year-old. For another, he had white feathers – some sort of miniature wings – in his hair and large white wings on his back. He was a digimon, Davis realized. An angel digimon.

"What is going on?" Davis whispered. "Who is that?"

Kari slowly shook her head. "I… I have no idea."

"Where are they, Barbamon?" the blonde kid suddenly said. "You assured me this plan of yours would work."

"It will," Barbamon said.

"Do not make my time here wasted," the angel digimon said. "I played the part of your victim; I tricked the girl into thinking that you had the Child of Hope since you could not procure the boy yourself. Where is the pay off?"

"Watch your tongue, Lucemon," Barbamon hissed. "Do not forget, you are still a rookie. And until the time that Belphemon wakes and all seven pillars rise giving you the power to digivolve, you will remain that way. And until then, you are about as useful to me as a pawn."

"Ouch," Lucemon said, though he didn't sound hurt at all. "And here I thought we were becoming friends."

"I was such an idiot," Kari whispered, her voice shaking with emotion. "How could this have happened?"

Yolei reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "Kari, it's not your fault. You were just thinking of TK. Any of us would have done the same in your position."

Davis forced himself to look away from the terrible scene playing out in front of him. Barbamon and Lucemon were just conversing as if they had all day to be talking back and forth, and despite their biting tones and scathing replies, they did not seem at all concerned about a possible digidestined trap being sprung on them. Because they weren't the trap, were they? No, they were the ones walking into a trap.

"Okay," he whispered. "Who's got a plan?"

"We could just charge him," Veemon said. "Catch them by surprise."

"I don't know how well that would work, Veemon," Cody said.

Kari choked back a sudden sob. "Look."

Just visible on the other side of the bonfire, now evident with Barbamon having left his position stoking the fire, was a young man tied to a post with a gagged and bound orange dinosaur next to him. The young man's head was slumped like he was unconscious, so Davis couldn't make out his face, but that didn't really matter. He knew who it was, and it wasn't a trick of the light this time.

"Tai," he whispered.

He swallowed. He wished this were a movie. Then Tai would be faking unconsciousness. He'd maneuver his way out of his bonds using some super ninja trick and then knock out both digimon before Agumon could even catch up to his heroics. Music would start to play, and he'd save some nameless gorgeous heroine just before making his amazing escape as the mountain exploded behind him. Then they'd ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after.

But this wasn't a movie. Tai looked bad – like really bad. Like he probably hadn't eaten or been treated well at all in two days, and he was probably halfway to dead. And the only people who could save him were six dirty teenagers and their six trusty exhausted digimon.

"There's twelve of us and only two of them," Veemon whispered urgently. "That has to count for something."

"Did you miss the fact that he's a Demon Lord?" Gatomon asked.

Cody pulled his sinking shoe out of the ground. "Armadillomon – Ankylomon, he's not going to be much use, not while he's stuck on the ground."

Armadillomon deflated a bit. "I'm sorry, Cody. I wish I could fly."

"It's okay," Ken said. "Cody, you and Kari should focus on saving Tai. The rest of us will fight."

"How about this?" Takato said. "Me, Davis, Ken, and Yolei will distract Barbamon and the angel dude. Our digimon will attack. Meanwhile, Kari, Cody, Gatomon, and Armadillomon will sneak around to free Tai and Agumon."

They all turned to look at Davis.

"Why are all of you looking at me?" Davis asked.

"Because you're the leader," Takato said.

Davis blinked. "I am?"

"Of course you are," Kari said softly.

Davis wasn't sure why he was so surprised by the revelation. He figured it had something to do with Takato's presence. Seeing someone else wearing the goggles that he had associated with Tai's leadership and his own four years ago had set him a little off-kilter. But no one disagreed, especially not Takato who had said it first. Coming this far had been a team effort, but right now, they needed someone to either veto the plan or approve it. And thinking about the prophecy, Davis realized that he might have to make decisions like this a few more times before the end.

He looked up at Takato and felt a small moment of relief. Davis might be the leader, but when it came to life-and-death decisions, he knew that he could rely on Takato to at least have some idea of what to do. Even if he had no memory and Davis couldn't help but think of him as a bit of a little brother, Takato – whether he saw it or not – had a certain amount of balance to him that allowed him a cool head in tough situations. You could tell just by watching him that he'd been in battles before, and he knew how to think straight in the worst of them. Davis trusted Takato with his life – and even more importantly, with the life of his friends.

"I think Takato's right," he said finally. "A distraction is probably Kari and Cody's best chance to rescue Tai. Besides, we've got this."

"Yeah, we do!" Veemon cheered.

Not a good chance, Davis thought to himself, not daring to say that aloud. Not even a survivable chance. Just the best chance.

They couldn't sit there all day and talk about it, though. According to Davis's D-3, they were just a few minutes off from noon – Barbamon's deadline – and the ground was still trying to pull them down. Shove off, Huang. Davis's own knees had already sunk two inches into the dirt.

"Alright," he said, "let's kick some Demon Lord butt."