Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes of Olympus. There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do...
Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "sturdy".
Also written for July's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 20,424/40,000. I fear that my quick updating has maybe tired people of this story. My reviews have definitely dropped off quite a bit. I also got a weird comment recently that said that people aren't aware that I actually read my reviews. But I do! Every single one of them! And I reply to them too. For those of you who are still unaware, you just need to go the Forums here on FFnet, go to Anime then Digimon, find the forum called Digital Connections. I have a topic there called "Blurring Boundaries: And so it begins..." where I respond to my reviews.
Enjoy!
Chapter Forty-Eight
Flying into the storm was like flying into a freezer. The first gust of wind nearly threw them out of the sky, and the second threatened to form icicles on Cody's eyelashes. His breath misted in front of him, and he leaned back into Stingmon's warmth as far as he could.
"Is it always this freezing down here?" Yolei shouted over the wind. "Didn't we just leave a desert!?"
Cody had no idea, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent – like it was intentionally slamming into them with everything it had.
Takato woke up quickly. He fumbled for his D-Power and clung to WarGrowlmon's armor for balance. "We've got to be getting close."
Cody was too busy trying not to bite off his own tongue from shivering too violently to reply. Stingmon's flight suddenly didn't seem too easy. His movements turned sluggish and jerky. Stingmon shivered from the icy wind. None of them had exactly been prepared to fly into another blizzard. The four digimon in flight started to lose altitude.
Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them, and Stingmon had to jerk up to avoid the treetops.
"There it is!" Gatomon shouted.
A dark fortress loomed on the horizon, a murky shape against the dreary landscape. The flying digimon aimed right for it. As they neared the building, Cody began to hear shouting as the surrounding area exploded with flashes of light that reminded him of the tracer fire at Datamon's mansion. Trees cracked and caught fire at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be happening all around them.
They landed in an open clearing about fifty yards from the crumbled stone walls around the ruins of the decrepit castle. Stingmon set him down, and he let out a sigh of relief as his feet touched the ground. He was about to relax when he heard a low growling and saw a dark shape hurtling toward him out of the mist.
"Duck!" Ken screamed at him.
Cody hit the deck just as a Fangmon went flying overhead and barely missed taking off his head by inches. The Fangmon tried to tuck and roll away into the darkness, but AeroVeedramon caught his tail. The blades on his wrists glowed, and he slashed the digimon in two before he exploded into data.
Cody got up shakily, waiting for other Fangmon to follow, but he either had been the only one to notice their landing or the others were more hesitant join in from the fear of getting destroyed.
"You all right?" Armadillomon ran up to him, Kari and Gatomon at his side. Everybody else looked fine except for being speckled with mud and soot.
"Yeah." Cody shivered. "Guess they know we're here."
Yolei pointed south. "Fighting's over there." Then she frowned. "No… it's all around us."
She was right. The sounds of combat rang cross the entire forest. The storm and mist made it hard to tell for sure, but there seemed to be a circle of fight all around Myotismon's abandoned castle.
Behind them loomed darkness's dream home – a massive ruin of black stone and never-ending corridors. Cody could only imagine how it looked before it was left to become nothing more than a bad memory – a fortress of nightmares, a place that digimon from all around knew to avoid. And in the midst of the howling winds and mist in the air, the place had a haunted, evil feel. Cody could totally believe that the ruins were cursed.
"Kari!" a guy's voice called.
Matt appeared on top of Garurumon from the fog, his dark blonde hair damp with rain. Garurumon looked beat up and exhausted, and Matt had a cut across his cheek to let them know that he was no better off. Garurumon bound toward them, but made it only a few steps before a demon dog – one of the Devidramon – burst out of the tree line behind him, his red eyes lighting up, and ready to attack.
"Look out!" Takato yelled.
They rushed to help, but Matt and Garurumon had it under control. Garurumon launched himself into the air, pivoted toward the Devidramon, and shot off a Howling Blast before landing on all fours. The Devidramon took the blast to the face and melted into data.
"Nice shot!" Davis said.
Matt slid off of Garurumon's back and ignored Davis as usual. "Stupid Devidramon. He's been tailing us for an hour." He turned toward the group. "How's Tai? And who is that?" His eyes had landed on AeroVeedramon.
"Just the coolest digimon ever," Davis replied. "This is AeroVeedramon."
"He activated his crest," Kari translated. "And Tai's fine. He's back in the Real World."
Matt nodded. "Nice job." Then he grew serious. "You're just in time. Izzy and the others are doing their best to hold the perimeter around the mansion, but we're going to be overrun."
"By the Devidramon and Fangmon?" Yolei asked.
"Man, how many minions do these guys have?" Davis complained.
"There are also armor digimon," Matt said.
Their eyes widened.
"But we took the digicores away from Sirenmon!" Kari protested. "How could there be more armor digimon?"
"Ebonwumon did try to kill us," Cody reminded her. "Maybe he handed the digicores back over to Huang."
"I don't know," Matt said. "But these digimon – they keep reforming almost as fast as we can destroy them. We took the castle no problem: surprised the guards and got rid of them. But then this freak storm blew in. Wave after wave of digimon started attacking. Now we're surrounded. We don't know who or what is leading the attack, but this feels planned."
"A trap for anyone who tried to rescue Gennai," Ken said.
Matt nodded. "That's what Izzy thinks."
"Where is Gennai?" Takato asked.
"Inside," Matt said. "We tried to free him, but like Izzy told you, we can't figure out how to break the cage. Izzy thinks only Yolei and Cody can do it, but we don't have a lot of time. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Gennai's pretty sure that's all the time he has."
"And the darker it gets, the stronger the darkness becomes," Gatomon said darkly. "If we're still fighting when nightfall hits, it's not going to be good."
"And if we don't free Gennai in time—" Kari didn't need to finish the thought.
Matt led the way into the castle, and the others followed.
x X x
Takato stepped into the castle, took one look around at all of the staircases leading every which way and making no sense, and then collapsed.
"Whoa!" Davis caught him. "What's wrong? Are you okay, dude?"
"This place…" Takato shook his head. "Sorry… It's just all coming back to me."
"So you have been here," Yolei said.
"Not exactly," Takato said. His expression was grim, like he was remembering a terrifying movie he had once seen. "This is where the original digidestined first met up with Gatomon, and where Myotismon first made his way to the Real World using the gate. The digidestined were left behind, and they had to figure out the lock on their own."
"That's… exactly what happened," Matt said.
"Yes, it is," Gatomon said, staring up at him with a funny expression. "This is where I spent most of my life up until I left for the Real World and met you, Kari."
"I've never been here." Kari frowned. "It must've been awful."
"Takato, how do you know all of this if you weren't here?" Ken asked.
An explosion shook the building. Just outside, a gigantic storm was brewing, and the wind was picking up as if the beginnings of a tornado was in the works.
"Maybe this isn't the time for questions," Cody suggested. "Show us where Gennai is."
Once inside, Takato seemed a little more stable. Gatomon took a second to get her bearings before she and Matt led the way together. The castle was built like a gigantic maze, with staircases that appeared to have been built upside down for reasons Cody didn't understand, but Matt and Gatomon seemed to know where they were going. And Takato to a certain extent. The three of them led the others through a crumbling archway into a large room with an expansive ceiling. At the bottom of the staircase, just as Takato had described from his dream, two sturdy spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation.
In the center of the room, a strange creature sat – apparently asleep – in the middle of a makeshift reflecting pool. From his vantage point, Cody could make out fur and a very strange green and black aura. He looked strangely like a teddy bear with an oversized head, but just looking at the creature hurt – like he was staring into the depths of Hell itself.
The spires at the back of the room acted as a cage. The two spires were connected via woven vines. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that Cody doubted he could've gotten his arm through. Still, he could see inside. And in the center of the cage stood Gennai.
He looked exactly how Cody remembered him: brown hair covered with a hood, long robes worn by all of his brethren, a youthful face with a kind smile. He looked like a regular human.
The staircase didn't lead all the way down to the floor, as age had made the last several steps crumble away, so the digidestined were forced to drop down the last several feet. Cody followed after Davis before approaching the cage.
"Gennai, you're alright!" he said.
Gennai crossed his arms and gave a tired smile. "For now. But I think we better hurry."
Matt stepped next to him and looked at the cage in distaste – or maybe he was looking at the digital entity. "We tried everything we could think of… but maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it were up to me, I'd leave him in there."
"Matt!" Kari admonished.
"He's the reason TK's missing," Matt growled. "He admitted it!"
"Matt, please," Garurumon tried.
"It's true," Gennai said, "and I can better explain why once we all get out of here."
"I don't want an explanation." Matt's voice cracked with emotion. "I don't want more destiny related crap talk. I want my brother back!"
"I didn't have a choice. The Digital World—"
"We should leave him to rot!"
"Hey," Davis intervened. "Matt—dude—I know. But this isn't really the time. Maybe you should go help the others outside. We'll deal with this."
Matt clenched his jaw, like he wanted to argue, before he finally gave a jerky nod. "Fine. But if you ask me, he isn't worth it."
Matt turned, climbed onto Garurumon's back, and they leapt out of the room.
Cody turned to Gennai with a quivering glare. "Did you really take TK?"
"Focus on the cage, Cody," Gennai said calmly. "Everything has a reason. Even if it's not clear at the time. And Takato – it's good to see you in person."
"I wish I could say the same," Takato said. "Matt kind of has a point."
"Uh, Takato—" WarGrowlmon started.
Takato held up a hand. "I know. We're going to help you, Gennai, anyway we can. But it's only because you took my memory, know where TK is, and you're better than the alternative."
"Speaking of which," AeroVeedramon cut in, "what in the Digi-World is going on with that?"
He nodded to the sleeping teddy bear digimon in the middle of the pool of water. Was Cody imagining it, or had it grown larger since they'd gotten here?
"That," Gennai said, "is the Demon Lord of Sloth attempting to wake."
"Not good," Armadillomon said.
"Indeed," Gennai said. "Belphemon, the last of the seven. He had to be created from nothing, from pure darkness. Huang needed a great deal of power to birth him – the power of my counterparts, and now my power to wake him. For weeks, I've watched my comrades be destroyed while he grew stronger, and now my essence is helping him wake."
"So you're like smelling salts," Davis guessed. "Or an alarm clock."
Cody turned to give Davis a funny look, but he didn't really mind his less than serious attitude right now. Gennai had just been adding to their problems the last few days. Sure, Gennai felt bad for the guy, having to watch his friends be destroyed one by one, but he was too exhausted and scared to muster up much sympathy. When all of this was over with, Cody figured he'd understand Gennai's reasoning behind everything – maybe – but right now was not that time.
"Something like that," Gennai said. "At sundown, it will be over. Belphemon will wake. His first action will be to consume my data so that he might reach his full power potential. We will all be destroyed. And if we fail here today, Huang will awaken and escape his prison."
AeroVeedramon turned to frown at the sleeping digimon. "Why not just destroy him now, before he wakes up?"
"The darkness in this place is acting as protection," Gennai said. "The glow you see around him is an impenetrable barrier. You might as well try to destroy a mountain."
"Done that once today," Davis said.
"You need to hurry," Gennai said.
Takato scratched his head. "Okay… Cody, Yolei, you guys got any ideas?"
"Who, me?" Yolei squeaked.
Cody tried not to panic. "Uh…"
"Why haven't you just busted yourself out?" Armadillomon asked, saving Cody from having to answer.
"This cage is containing any powers I have over the Digital World," Gennai explained. "Any attempts to leave it disperses my data, effectively destroying me. But if I am destroyed here, there will be no rebirth for me. My data will simply be absorbed, just as Huang wants it to be. The cage itself must be removed."
"Why Cody and Yolei?" Ken murmured.
Gennai shook his head. "Only they can answer that. I do not write the prophecies. But you both are here. You must figure it out."
"Figure what out?" Yolei said. "How to remove an entire cage that is made out of—what is this? I don't even know what this is!"
Cody placed his hand against the tendrils, but he couldn't figure it out either. It seemed to be made of some strange material that was a mixture of rock and wood. Resistant to fire, no doubt, but also able to grow. How were they supposed to do this? He glanced toward Yolei and then did a double-take. Her D-3 was attached to her belt, and it was glowing. In the shadow of the black and green light (which in itself was too weird to think about too hard), it wasn't noticeable, but now that Cody was staring at her D-3 intently, he was certain of it. Her D-3 was reacting to something. He pulled his own D-3 out of his pocket and stared down in shock at the yellow glow.
He felt dizzy. The line of their prophecy came back to him: Justice and Passion shall break the bind.
"I have an idea," he said.
Everybody turned to stare at him as he took a step back and stared up at the thick tendril he stood in front of. Just barely, through the cracks of the woven spire, he could make out the faintest yellow glow trying to work its way out.
"I think I know what to do."
Then the air grew thin. The oxygen in the room seemed to be almost entirely sucked out so fast that Cody swayed on the spot and Kari dropped to her knees. A gush of wind shot through the area, and Cody swept up Armadillomon so that he wasn't blown away by the sudden tornado-force winds. Armor digimon rushed in – all shapes, sizes, and looks. Cody didn't recognize any from Sirenmon's mansion, but he wasn't exactly expecting to. Many of them looked to have come straight from battle with scorch marks and scratches along their flanks. Behind them came the Fangmon and then several Devidramon.
Kari got to her feet. Takato pulled out his D-Power and his cards. Cody knew that he should do something to get ready for the obvious battle about to start, but he was so shaken up, he just stood there, hugging Armadillomon to his chest. He leaned back against the cage and hoped that nobody noticed his fear.
The pack of Fangmon padded forward. Each were dragging something behind them – someone by the leg. At the edge of the pool of water, the lead Fangmon opened his maw and dropped its prize for them to see – Gabumon, defeated, unconscious, and bound. The others revealed the other digidestined and chosen digimon.
"Matt! Sora!" Kari rushed forward, but Davis and Takato held her back. A moment later, a gust of wind came through so strong that it picked the Fangmon's prizes right off the ground and slammed the five captured digidestined and their digimon into the far wall, held there by an invisible cyclone. Cody wasn't sure if they could breathe through the zephyr, but he tried not to think about the alternative.
"Who did this?" Davis yelled. AeroVeedramon crackled with threatening energy. "You'll let our friends go, or you're going to pay!"
From somewhere behind the monsters, Cody heard a low laugh, clear and cold. The digimon stepped out from the shadows, his ever present canine grin in place. He regarded them with his lifeless ruby red eyes that Cody had found so creepy at Baihumon's palace.
"Hello, digidestined," said Caturamon, the dog deva. He gave Cody an eerie grin. "Alas, Child of Justice, you say you know how to free poor Gennai? That is something that I must not allow."