Chapter 7: You Asked For It!

 

          Coro had done a lot of explaining and apologizing. Now everything was back to normal, well, as normal as could be expected of eight kids trapped in a digital world.

 

            “Near….far….whereEVER you are!!” belted out Tim in horrible harmony. Jess twirled a stick like a baton as the group marched along.

 

            “Hey, look!” exclaimed Lizzie, “My tag has a crest in it. That must have happened back when I was asleep”

 

            “It’s the crest of creativity,” said Emulnomon as she bobbed along.

 

            “And I know that my heart will go ooooonnnnnnnurf!”  Rab clapped his hand over Tim’s mouth.

 

            “You sing one more time and you’ll be flatter than your notes,” said Rab menacingly. Tim nodded frantically. After a few more minutes of walking he was whistling Titanic music as loudly as humanly possible.

 

            “Look Bozo!” yelled Rab, “I thought I told you to…to…” he broke off. Up in front of him was an enormous black wall stretching as high and far as the eye could see. Set in it, blending almost seamlessly into the granite was a single black door with something engraved on it.

 

            “Beware all who enter by this door. The rooms are simple, four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. A choice you must make. Don’t let it be a mistake. Right brings freedom. Wrong brings pain. Choose three times, then choose again,” read Kappymon.

 

            “Yeah, dig it,” said Tim snapping his fingers beatnik style.

 

            “Psychicmon can’t sense anyway around this wall,” said Shinobi.

 

            “Then I guess we’re going in,” said Coro gritting his teeth and putting his hand on the knob. Dema whimpered slightly and skittered behind Jess. Coro pushed open the door, and everyone stepped cautiously inside. Their footsteps echoed in the perfectly square room, which was lit by a brightly burning torch in each corner. On the far wall there were two doors one labeled Only one of these signs in false, and the other one This is the door you should go through. As soon as Coro let go of the door that they had entered by it slammed closed.

 

            “Do I even have to check, or do we just assume that we’re locked in here?” asked Tim earning himself a few nervous chuckles.

 

            “I’m scared,” whispered Dema, startling at every flickering shadow.

 

            “I guess we just have to pick the right door,” said Jess with forced confidence, “No biggie”

 

            “But what if we pick the wrong door,” piped in Prehimon worriedly, “I’m afraid that I’m still too weak to fight right now”

 

            “If we open the wrong door it brings pain,” whimpered Dema, “I don’t like pain!”

 

            “That’s it?” asked Rab disgustedly, “Big, scary, dark room and we don’t even fight anything?”

 

            “I for one am glad about that,” shot back Jess.

 

            “Do you suppose those words on might be important?” squeaked Voltomon.

 

            “Of course they do Airhead!” yelled Penquimon.

 

            “I thought they were decorations,” she cried defensively.

 

            “I’ve got it!” announced Lizzie, “You see, if the sign on the second door was true then the sign on the second door couldn’t be false or it would be true and then it would be false! It’s a paradox!”

 

            She was met by eleven blank stares.

 

            “Oh….the sign on the second door is wrong so we go through the first door okay?” she sighed.

 

            “Are you sure?” asked Dema.

 

            “Well, if the signs on the doors mean anything then I’m right,” said Lizzie turning the knob.

 

            “Wait a minute! Why should I trust you? You might be wrong,” said Rab in agitation.

 

            “Why don’t you just try the other door if you don’t believe me?” asked Lizzie smiling sweetly. Rab gulped and fell silent. Lizzie pushed the door open. Several of the group members flinched as though they expected something to come barreling out at them, but all that was there was a room that looked very similar to the one that they were in. Jess shrugged, Tim breathed a very audible sigh of relief, and everyone stepped into the new room.

 

            A plaque over both doors read, “One can subtract 5 from 25 five times” One door was marked True, the other False. Dema immediately perked up and began carefully counting on her fingers and mumbling to herself.

 

            “How stupid do they think we are?” asked Rab laughing scornfully, “Any idiot knows that five times five is 25!” Dema cringed and dropped her hands dejectedly.

 

            “Hold on” said Tim warily, “It’s a trick!”

 

            “How da ya figure?” asked Rab.

 

            “You can only subtract 5 from 25 once,” said Tim matter of factly, “After that you’re subtracting it from 20 and then 15 and then 10 and so on!”

 

            “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” shouted Rab. But before he could do anything about it, Tim lunged for the False door and heaved it open. Rab glowered fiercely as everyone entered a third room nearly identical to the first two. This time the sign over both doors was quite long.

 

            “On Take Your Daughter To Work Day a contractor’s child was hit by a falling beam and had to be rushed to the hospital. A passing truck driver happened to be going by at the time. Pulling the truck to a screeching halt, the driver ran over to the ambulance shouting, “What happened! That’s my daughter!” Could the truck driver have been telling the truth?”

 

            The first door said yes. The second door said no. Dema frowned and tapped Lizzie on the shoulder.

 

            “Um….” She started, blushing furiously, “Can two boys have a baby?”

 

            “No!” shouted Lizzie hastily. Rab chuckled.

 

            “Then the answer must be no,” said Coro.

 

            “Ha,” laughed Jess dryly, “Prejudiced all of you!”

 

            “What are you talking about?” asked Coro in confusion.

 

            “Sexual discrimination,” said Jess her freckles standing out more than usual, “You just assume the trucker and the contractor are both men. Well, one of them could have been female, the girl’s mother!”

 

            “Oh!” said Coro nearly slapping himself on the forehead, “Sorry about that”

 

            “No prob Bob,” chirped Jess her usual merry nature returning.

 

            “It’s a good thing you can be so open minded Jess,” Shinobi said appreciatively.

 

            Confidently, the group opened the “Yes” door to reveal, surprise surprise, another torch lit room.

 

            “Um guys?” asked Lamatomon, “Not to be negative, but what if these rooms just go on forever?”

 

            “What if we’re stuck in here and we starve to death!!?” wailed Voltomon, “I’m hungryyyyyy!!!”

 

            Dema gave a little gasp that was almost a sob. Though she was on the verge of tears, she tried desperately to hide it. Kappymon patted Dema’s arm with her antennae, “The sign on the door said choose three times then choose again,” she said reassuringly, “We’ve already chosen three times, so this should be the last choice”

 

            “Oh!” said Dema brightening a little, “Then what does the sign say?”

 

            As they moved in closer everyone was surprised to see that there was only one door in front of them. It’s sign read, “This is the way out”

 

            Coro gave a whoop of joy and reached for the door handle, “You were right Kappymon! We made it. Lets get out of here!”

 

            “Wait,” said Lizzie, an uneasy feeling settling into the pit of her stomach, “What if that’s the wrong door?”

 

            “What do you mean?” asked Shinobi, her brow furrowing prettily.

 

            “Well,” said Lizzie working it out in her mind, “The first sign said that we would choose again. One door isn’t a choice”

 

            “Oh come on!” said Rab impatiently, “It’s either go through the door or sit here and starve to death. I vote we go through the door!”

 

            “But what if the sign on the door is false, like the sign on the first set of doors?” asked Lizzie, her concern growing.

 

            “You’re not making very much sense Sis,” said Coro cautiously, “I’m going to open the door”

 

            “You can’t!” she screamed becoming afraid now, “You’re just doing what who ever built this place knows you’ll do! You’re walking into a trap!”

 

            “You’re insane!” growled Penquimon.

 

            “Don’t talk to her like that!” cried Emulnomon, “Emulnomon digivolve to……Osomon!”

 

            Now the small chamber was nearly filled up by the large bird.

 

            “We don’t need this,” said Rab pushing past Lizzie’s digimon to pull open the door. “No!!” screamed Lizzie, but it was too late. There was a blinding flash of light. When Lizzie’s eyes could finally focus she saw that she was alone outside with her digimon. The black wall was behind her. Just as she was getting to her feet, she heard a scream of many voices from inside the wall. To her surprise, her crest was glowing brightly.

 

            “Digivolve Osomon!” she yelled still very disoriented, “Everyone in there is in trouble!”

 

            “Osomon digivolve to…….Kujakumon!” http://www.geocities.com/celestia414/kujaku.html

 

 With on mighty sweep of her wing that portion of the wall was reduced to rubble. On one of the three standing walls were the other digidestined and their digimon, chained and gagged. Near the center of the dungeon was a digimon that for the most part looked like an iron ball covered with spikes. It had arms and legs though, and it was carrying a long whip in one hand.

 

            “You let them go!” cried Lizzie clutching her crest. The ball was silent. It only snapped its whip into the air sending a shower of white-hot sparks over Lizzie’s head. Before any of them could make contact and burn her, Kujakumons wing was there. The gigantic bird creature winced as each spark hit her wing, singeing her beautiful feathers.

 

            “She said let them go!” screeched Lizzie’s digimon bringing her beak down on the evil digimon. In one lightning quick movement the whip was around Kujakumon’s beak, electrifying. The bird screamed and convulsed as the energy ran through her.

 

            “Fight Kujakumon! You can do it!” yelled Lizzie. Sparks flashed in Kujakumon’s eyes. The whip stretched, and then finally broke as she wrenched her beak apart.

 

            “Hurricane Winds!” she shouted triumphantly. Beams of emerald circling energy shot out of each of the spots on her tail feathers. Twisting together to form one thick beam, they hit and destroyed the evil digimon. Kujakumon chirped in delight, and dedigivolved clear back to Chicomon. The manacles and gags binding the rest of the team dissolved, and everyone fell roughly to the floor.

 

            “That’s three ultimates down, three to go,” said Shinobi happily once the group had collected themselves.

 

            “Don’t you mean four to go?” asked Coro indicating the silent Psychicmon.

 

            “Yes, of course four. How silly of me,” she said with a sheepish smile.

 

            “I learned to count on Sesame Street, so I can help you if you need it,” piped in Tim.

 

*   *   *

 

            As the lights went out Mimi shrieked and clung to Joe.

 

            “Hey! Cut it out!” said Joe rubbing his sore ears. He was glad that the darkness hid the blush that was creeping over his face.

 

            “It’s only the virus,” said Izzy.

 

            “ONLY THE VIRUS!?!?” screamed Mimi her voice rising to a shrill soprano, “ONLY THE VIRUS THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY THE WORLD, AND JOE TELLS ME TO CUT IT OUT!?!?!?!?!?!?!” Moaned and clapped his hands over his ears.

 

            “I’m too young to be deaf,” he complained.

 

            “Due to the lack of light I suggest that we attempt to find an exit,” said Izzy calmly.

 

            “Let’s hold hands so we don’t get lost,” suggested Mimi. Joe grimaced at how childish this sounded, but never the less, the prospect of holding hands with Mimi wasn’t so bad. The group made for the faint illumination of the exit sign hand in hand. Joe breathed a huge sigh of relied as his hand felt the door handle. His relief was short lived as the door came swinging open in his face knocking him to the floor.

 

            Mimi and Izzy squinted in the sudden light that came rushing in the open door. Silhouetted against the light was the figure of a man with very bushy hair.

 

            “Ok guys,” he was saying to some people behind him, “The signal from my digivice says that we’re almost on top of them,”

 

            “I think I have a bloody nose,” moaned Joe from somewhere near the floor.

 

            “You always have a bloody nose Joe,” laughed Tai. He paused for a minute and then did a double take, “Wait a minute….Joe?”

 

            “Tai!” exclaimed Sora, “You open the door in that poor man’s face!”

 

            “But it’s Joe!” said Tai as thought this justified everything.

 

            “Tai?” asked Izzy squinting at his, his eyes adjusting to the light.

 

            “Tai!” exclaimed Mimi rushing up to him.

 

            “Mimi?” asked Tai in surprise.

 

            “Joe?” asked Takeru as he nearly tripped over the figure sprawled out on the ground.

 

            “Yeah T.K.” replied a nasally voice that belonged to Joe.

 

            “It’s Takeru,” said T.K. in annoyance.

 

            “If we all know each other’s names….” Prompted Matt impatiently, “Maybe we should go outside and straighten things out,

 

            “Yeah,” said Kari suddenly serious, “This may be a surprise, but we want you guys to come to the digiworld with us again”

 

            “Really?” exclaimed Mimi, “We were just trying to get there too!”

 

            “Wow,” said Takeru, “It’s like we were destined to go back again or something,”

 

            “They don’t call us the digidestined for nothing,” laughed Sora.

 

            “I’m getting blood all over my new suit and all you can do is make stupid puns,” complained Joe as he stood up.

 

            “Let’s go to my apartment,” suggested Tai, “We can explain everything on the way”

 

*   *   *

 

            “Hey! Look up there!” cried Jess who had skipped several paces beyond the others, “It’s a ladder!”

 

            As they rounded the bend, a peculiar site met their eyes. There was an absurdly gigantic tree standing in the middle of a clearing with a sturdy looking wooden ladder leading up the trunk. That trunk was so wide that if all seven of the digidestined were to link hands the still wouldn’t have been able to reach even halfway around the it.

 

            “Where do you suppose it goes?” asked Lizzie peering up to the point where the ladder disappeared into the foliage.

 

            “To a tree house of course!” laughed Tim, “Don’t you have tree houses in the forests by your houses or something?”

 

            Coro frowned, “We don’t have forests, just a few trees in a park, and I don’t think any of them have houses in them,” he replied.

 

            “Why you’re a plumb bunch’a city slickers,” said Tim in a corny sounding accent, “Follow me”

 

            “I know I’ve never seen one of those before either,” said Prehimon comforting Coro. The group followed Tim up the long ladder, some of the digimon needing a little extra help. Just when Dema was beginning to complain that she was getting tired they reached an opening in some kind of platform that was wrapped around the tree trunk. As they climbed in one word described what they saw.

 

            “Cool,” whispered Coro. The wooden platform on which they stood easily was as large as four football fields. A waist high wall came up around the edges, presumably to prevent anyone from falling off. Comfortable looking pillows and blankets were strewn across the floor. Dema yawned, and immediately lay down on a pillow.

 

            “Do you have tree houses like this where you live?” asked Lamatomon.

 

            “Are you kidding?!” shouted Tim, “I mean…well kind of, but not nearly this big!”

 

            “I wonder who built this place?” mused Lizzie.

 

            “Same person who built that wall back there and the bogus hotel that we found in the very beginning and that boat that you took on the lake probably,” said Jess dismissing it with a shrug, “Who’s up for a pillow fight?”

 

            “After being in the digiworld for a while one must learn to expect strange strange, abandoned, structures in the middle of nowhere,” said Tim very seriously, “Now if only there was a video arcade somewhere around here….”

 

            “But every time we’ve found a weird place some bad digimon has come,” said Dema half waking up from her nap.

 

            “Psychicmon says that it’s safe here,” Shinobi promised, “We might as well spend the night”

 

            Coro nodded. Shinobi’s word was good enough for him any day. Busily, he tried to arrange his pillows to be nearer to hers.

 

*   *   *

 

            Rab woke up with a start in the middle of the night by bumping into something. Sitting up sleepily, he realized that it was Psychicmon. As he further shook off sleep he realized something very odd. Psychicmon was sleeping by herself. She never went anywhere with out Shinobi, but as Rab looked around, the girl was nowhere in sight. She wouldn’t have climbed down the tree in the middle of the night and left her digimon would she? Even as Rab considered waking the others, Psychicmon blinked sleepily. As he watched Shinobi’s sleeping form became apparent beside her looking slightly out of focus. It was though he was viewing her through a really old grainy TV. set. With a shout of horror, Rab began backpedaling furiously. Alerted by Rab’s cries, Psychicmon’s eyes snapped open, and Shinobi flashed into being. The others around him were all looking around sleepy and confused at he lack of an evil digimon attacking them.

 

            “What’s wrong Rab?” asked Shinobi looking concerned, “Bad dream?”

 

            Rab stared at her. “Stay back!” he yelled getting to his feet and backing away a quickly as he could, “You’re…you’re….you’re a…a…a..”

 

            “A what?” asked Shinobi sharply, her pretty features instantly contorting into a furious expression.

 

            “Dude, chill out Rab,” said Tim, “It’s just Shinobi”

 

            Something clicked in Rab’s mind. Shinobi Kansei. It meant spy illusion!

 

            “You’re not a human! You’re an illusion!” he shouted. This definitely got the other digidestined interested.

 

            “It doesn’t matter!” barked Shinobi, “I have already sent tons of information about you all back to my master. However, what I already know about you should be enough for me to destroy you all with ease!” Eerie laughter filled the clearing, but it wasn’t Shinobi’s. The girl’s form flickered and finally disappeared for the last time.

 

            “No!” cried Coro in horror, “It can’t be!”

 

            “Penquimon digivolve to….Polarfreezmon!”

 

            “Very impressive,” said a cold unfamiliar female voice. Those words weren’t spoken out loud, they were projected into their very minds, almost melding with their thoughts. It took only a moment to to realize that those thoughts must be coming from Psychicmon.

 

            “Psychicmon digivolve to….Kenisismon!”

 

            Psychicmon’s small form shimmered and began to elongate and grow. Soon there stood a tall, blue, feminine figure with blue plated armor that blended perfectly into her skin. She had no nose and no mouth, only those two black unblinking eyes that she shared with Psychicmon.

 

            “Now,” projected Kenisismon, “Since you found me out I think I’ll start with you Rab”

 

            Kenisismon lunged forward towards Rab. Rab lunged backwards away from Kenisismon. The end result was that Rab threw himself right over the low wall around the perimeter of the tree house and began rapidly falling toward the ground.

 

            “Rab!” shouted Polarfreezmon diving after him. Reaching out even as they were falling, the digimon quickly grabbed Rab and pulled him on top of himself. They landed hard on the forest floor. The fall was cushioned for Rab by Polarfreezmon’s belly. The human rolled off and on to the ground. The digimon rose with a slight groan, rubbing his bruised back. Rab glanced up at the ladder, and began walking away into the forest.

 

            “What are you doing!?” shouted Polarfreezmon, “We’ve got to go back up there and help them!”

 

            “I knew something was wrong with Shinobi all along,” scoffed Rab, “Since they were all stupid enough to fall for it they can handle Kenisismon by themselves”

 

            “That’s not the way it works,” said Polarfreezmon angrily grabbing Rab and pinning him to his chest with one arm, “You’re part of their stupid team whether you like it or not”

 

            With that he began using his free claws to climb a tree near the edge of the platform. Rab kicked and struggled all the while. When they neared the tree house a high pitched electronic whining noise began to fill Rab’s ears. It was like the sound the TV. makes when it is put on mute. In a momentary burst of common sense, Rab clamped his hands over his ears. That noise couldn’t be a good sign. Even his hands over his ears couldn’t drown out the sounds of the raging battle that he beheld as Polarfreezmon heaved them onto the platform. It wasn’t a battle between the good digimon and Kenisismon though. She hovered over the scene with her back to him, and the good digimon were floating around her, seemingly paralyzed. The battle was taking place between the digidestined themselves.

 

            Tim and Coro were throwing punches at each other left and right. Rab could make out words like “Slacker!” and “Gullible Idiot!” being shouted. Lizzie and Jess were pulling each other’s hair viciously while Dema lay in the middle of the fray kicking, screaming, and basically throwing an all out temper tantrum.

 

            “Oh, so you survived the fall after all,” projected Kenisismon, her back still turned to him, “Come join our little party” The whining noise became louder and Rab could hear it no matter what he did. Polarfreezmon howled and fell to the ground in pain, paws clamped over his ears. The noise seemed to permeate Rab’s brain, ringing impossibly loud.

 

            The fighting intensified. The girls now seemed to be clawing at each other’s eyes, and Tim and Coro wrestled on the ground trying to strangle each other. Even in his horror of watching this Rab felt stray angry thoughts begin creeping into his brain.

 

            “What did those guys ever do for me anyways? Always disagreeing with me, always bossing me around,” he thought to himself clenching his fists, “Now there’s an enemy, and all they can do is argue! Well, I’ll give them a piece of my mind!”

 

            Rab was about to throw himself headlong into the fight when Polarfreezmon’s strained voice suddenly rang out over the noise.

 

            “Don’t…..she’s using your own little disagreements to destroy you…” he called each word seeming painful, “You’re….a…..team!”

 

            “Silence!” shrieked Kenisismon the noise growing still louder. Polarfreezmon gave a cry of pain and fell back to the ground.

 

            The digidestined were literally trying their best to kill each other now. All except for Rab. The noise was just that to him now, an annoying noise.

 

            “Stop it!” he yelled desperately trying to break up the fight, and earning himself a black eye in the process, “If we fight each other we’ll never win! We have to fight together as a team!” As those words left his mouth his crest began to glow brilliantly, freezing the digidestined mid-battle. With a roar of triumph Polarfreezmon reared up on his hind legs calling, “Polarfreezmon digivolve to…….Arcticmon!!” (I apologize for the lack of illustration here. My computer kind of screwed it up. Basically, Arcticmon is Polarfreezmon only bigger and with armor, and Rab’s crest is three silver interlinking rings. Ok! On with the story!)

 

            Kenisismon turned around in circles, confused by the new development. Arcticmon held his paws out in front of himself, an icy blue ball of energy forming between them.

 

            “Blizzard Blast!!” he shouted using a throwing motion to set the ball on a collision course with Kenisismon. She saw it coming, and knew she couldn’t dodge out of the way in time.

 

            “It doesn’t matter!” her voice echoed in their heads even as she was destroyed, “My mission is accomplished. You will loose in the end!” Kenisismon was no more.

 

            Arcticmon dedigivolved to Coosbmon. Coro sat down hard, a look of shock and sadness on his face. The other digidestined were instantly in a flurry of apologizing to each other, comforting Coro, and congratulating Rab and Coosbmon. In the end, it was agreed that everyone should just go back to sleep and see how things looked in the morning.

 

*   *   *

 

            “Are you absolutely positive that this is the computer that  you saw your offspring on?” asked Izzy as he seated himself in front of Lizzie and Coro’s computer. Mysteriously, it was still working despite the lack of electricity.

 

            “Uh huh,” nodded Sora.

 

            “Then I suspect that I may be able to re-open a channel into the digital world using this computer,” Izzy said, his fingers flying over the keyboard. After a few tense moments the computer beeped and Izzy looked up triumphantly.

 

            “Anyone up for a trip to the digiworld?” he asked.

 

            “I can’t wait to see Patamon,” said Takeru happily.

 

            “And Palmon,” put in Mimi.

 

            “We’ll get to see all of our digimon,” said Kari, “Let’s go Izzy”

 

            “On the could to three everyone turn on you digivices,” said Izzy taking his out, “One…..two….THREE!!”

 

            In a chorus of electronic beeps the digivices were activated and the computer screen began to dance with colored lights. The digidestined were pulled forwards, and into the computer. Soon they landed in a head in front of the entrance to a cave. The cave had strange digital hieroglyphics etched in the side of it.

 

            “Home sweet home,” sighed Matt.