Followed by his regressed mother, Mako carefully walked down the dim corridor.
He frowned. "Hasn't she ever heard of electric light?" he murmured.
ChibiD'Arcmon chuckled. "Mommy says that we don't need it, cuz the sunlight shining through the windows is bright enough."
"Well, yeah, but obviously, there aren't any windows in this corridor," the TinyDevimon pointed out. "Well, whatever... you sure this is the way out?"
The little angel girl nodded. "The elevator is over there," she said and gestured ahead of them.
"You sure? I haven't seen anything like an elevator the first time I came past there."
She giggled. "That's because you didn't know it was an elevator."
Mako rolled his eyes. "Oh, suuure..." he grumbled. "Because everyone knows that elevators in towers that are owned by Angel Digimon don't look like normal elevators..."
"Do Devil Digimon build their elevators differently?" ChibiD'Arcmon wanted to know.
"How am I supposed to know?" Mako asked. "Listen, ChibiD'Arc..." He sighed. "Say, can't I just call you Chibi? Your name is kinda long..."
"Sure, why not?"
"Okay... Chibi, are you sure we can just get out of here? Doesn't Ai... I mean... doesn't your mother have put up guards somewhere?"
"What for?" Chibi wondered. "Everyone loves her, so why should she need protection? Besides, we still have Fluffy."
"Fluffy?" Mako wondered. "Never mind, I'm not going to ask... I still wonder where Ai brought Rika and the others," he murmured.
"Did you just say Rika?" Chibi asked. She smiled. "One of Mommy's pets is called Rika."
Mako stopped and turned around to look at her. "What... did you just say?"
"Mommy has a couple of cute pets," Chibi explained. "She sometimes allows me to look at them. I'd love to cuddle them, but Mommy says I can't do that." She sighed. "What a pity..."
"And... where are those pets right now?" Mako asked her.
"On the seventh floor," Chibi said. "You wanna see them?"
Mako did not have to ponder that question. "Yes, yes, please!"
"Alrighty then, follow me!" the little girl smiled and ran ahead.
They reached a cross-way of corridors, and Chibi stopped in the middle.
"Why did you stop?" Mako wondered. "Don't we want to go to the elevator?"
Chibi smirked. "This IS the elevator!"
Mako frowned. "This isn't an elevator, this is just an intersection of corridors. Elevators are small cabins behind sliding doors. Look, we don't have the time for these silly games." He groaned. "I shouldn't have taken her along... girls can be so dumb at times..."
"I'm not dumb!" she protested angrily and stomped her foot. "And this IS an elevator. And I'm gonna prove it to you!"
"Oh, I can't wait..." Mako grumbled sarcastically.
"Just you wait and see," she said. She pushed him in the middle of the intersection. "Stay here!" she said and ran over to a small star pattern that was engraved in the marble floor. She knelt down in front of it, spread the fingers of her right hand and put her palm down on the gravure. "Now pay attention!" she grinned. The golden bracelet around her right wrist began glowing, and bright light was streaming down from her arm into the floor. The star lit up as brightly as the bracelet, and it rose out of the floor, floating and spinning in front of Chibi and Mako.
Mako watched the spinning star with awe. "Wow... how did you do that?"
"A device that only Angel Digimon can use," Chibi smiled. "It activates the elevator."
"But there IS no elevator around here," Mako insisted.
"Oh yes, there is," Chibi giggled. "Just watch!"
With her index finger, she touched several of the star's points, and the speed in which the star was spinning, as well as the brightness of the light, changed several times.
"Only the right combination activates the elevator," Chibi explained. "Mommy made me memorize it when I became a Rookie. Back when I was still an In-Training Digimon, she took me along every time I wanted to use it." She laughed. "I still remember how I always wanted to ride the elevator just for the fun of it..."
Mako wondered why she would believe that. He knew this never happened, this tower didn't even exist a few days ago. Besides, d'Arcmon was really his and Ai's mother, not the other way around.
"Ai made her believe all of this..." he murmured. "But this isn't right... we're supposed to be living with Daddy, in our old house..."
"Did you say something?" Chibi wondered. "Well, whatever... now all I have to do is to touch the middle of the star, see?" She did it, and suddenly, the star stopped spinning completely and just hung motionless in the air. The floor beneath their feet then began to move and rose up into the air, carrying the two of them along. A glowing field of digital energy was keeping the platform airborne.
Chibi grinned triumphantly. "See? I TOLD you there was an elevator!"
"All right already," he said. "How was I supposed to know? That place didn't look like an elevator at all."
"Well, shows what you know about angel architecture," she said and stuck out her tongue. "Lemme guess, Devil Digimon like to live in dark, dirty caves, isn't that right?" She giggled. "Whenever Mommy invites one of her devil buddies, I get the feeling that they don't know how to behave themselves at all... they are always so rude..."
"Look, can't you just tell this thing to bring us to the seventh floor?" Mako asked her. "I really need to see those pets you mentioned."
"Okeedokee!" Chibi said. She pressed the middle of the star again, and the platform floated upwards, where it vanished in a dark shaft that had just opened.
Only a couple of seconds later, the elevator reached its destination floor. The platform came shooting out of the ground, stopped in mid-air and slowly lowered itself down until it touched the ground, where it anchored itself into the marble floor, blocking off the shaft beneath it. The star-shaped control panel slowly floated down as well, until it stopped glowing and became just a normal marble gravure in the floor again.
Chibi giggled and fluttered into one of the corridors. "C'mon, this way! Their enclosures are scattered all over this floor, but lemme show you Rika first. She really is the cutest..."
Mako hoped Rika would never hear that when things were back to normal and followed ChibiD'Arcmon.
Finally, they reached a small, empty room. The walls on the left and right looked pretty normal, but the wall in front of them was different. It wasn't really a wall, it looked more like a barrier, a spherical energy field that was illuminating the chamber with a blue light.
Mako tried looking through it. "Can't see anything..." he muttered.
"Wait, you'll see her in a minute," Chibi said and walked over to another star gravure at the left wall. It was a bit smaller than the control panel of the elevator, though. She pressed her palm on it, and, again, her bracelet began to glow.
And all of a sudden, the barrier became transparent, and Mako was able to look through it.
And behind it, Mako could see a big forest, with trees twice as big as a Cherrymon.
"What the...?" he gasped. "How did you manage to put a whole forest in there? It looks like it's bigger as the tower itself..."
Chibi nodded. "It IS bigger as the tower," she said. "This barrier is actually a gate to something Mommy likes to call a 'dimensional pocket'. I don't really know how it all works, but she told me that it's kind of like the entrance to the Digital World... only that it's much smaller than the Digital World and is just made of this forest. Mommy made it herself so Rika and her family have a nice place to live."
Mako approached the glowing barrier and touched it with his small hands. It tickled a bit, but otherwise, it felt just like it was made of glass. He looked into the depth of the forest but saw nothing but trees. "Where is Rika?" he wondered.
"We might have to wait a couple of minutes," Chibi said. "They probably won't come out at once, but this is their favorite place, right after the cave they live in."
And indeed, just two minutes later, a couple of little In-Training Digimon, a Kitmon and a Viximon, came tumbling into the clearing. They giggled as they playfully wrestled with each other, Kitmon pinning her sister on the ground with her two tails.
"I won, I won!" she cheered.
"No fair..." Viximon shouted, but she had to giggle. "Get off, sis, you're heavy..."
"Now, now, play nice, kids," a soft voice spoke up. A large Kyubimon entered the clearing, nuzzling the two small Digimon gently.
"Mommy, Mommy!" Kitmon shouted. "Can we join you when you go hunting?"
"Yes, please?" Viximon asked as well.
"Now, children, that is too dangerous for little kits like you are," Kyubimon smiled.
"Oh, pretty pleeeaaaaasssee?" the two little fox-girls pleaded with big, shiny eyes.
"You know the puppy dog eyes don't work on Mommy," she chuckled and licked them with her tongue. "Stay at home where it's safe, and I'm gonna bring you a biiig steak for dinner."
"Aww, just one?" Kitmon whined.
Kyubimon smiled. "One for each of you!"
"Yay!"
Mako frowned while he was watching this. "What's going on?" he murmured.
Chibi came walking up next to him. "Sweet, isn't it?" she smiled. "Rika and Vixi are so cute... too bad Mommy doesn't allow me to keep either of them in my room."
'Something is not right here...' Mako thought. 'If those are Rika and Renamon, who is that Kyubimon? Did Ai capture their mother?'
"Chibi... how can I get in there?" he asked.
Chibi looked at him in confusion. "Huh? You can't get in there. Only Mommy knows how to open the barrier, and she always tells me that they need to stay in their forest, where they are free to do whatever they want. Sounds nice, doesn't it?"
"But, you don't understand..." Mako said. "Remember my friends I told you about? Rika... she's one of them!"
Chibi blinked. Then she started to giggle. "Ah, stop pulling my leg! Rika and her family have never left their forest, so there's no way that you could have met her."
'Now what do I do?' Mako wondered. 'Rika and Renamon are right in front of me, I have their D-Powers, but I still can't do anything to help them... unless...'
"Say... you said only Angel Digimon can use those panels?" he asked, gesturing at the star at the wall.
"Yes, that's true," Chibi nodded. "But why...?"
"I'm going to prove to you that Rika and her sister are my friends," he said. "TinyDevimon digivolve to... Twilimon!"
And once again, Mako digivolved into his new Rookie form, spreading his white bat wings and his black bird wings.
"W-wow!" Chibi gushed. "You're as big as me now! W-wait, what are you doing?"
Twilimon stepped up to the star. "In this form, I am not just an angel or a devil... I am both! And therefore, I should be able to use this as well."
He raised his hand and wanted to bring it down on the control panel... but a deep growl coming from the entrance of the room made him stop.
A big, black-furred wolf with a mask and a pair of black wings came walking into the room. Mako recognized him at once: It was the feral guard dog Ai had turned Impmon into.
"Garmon..." he nervously murmured.
Chibi clapped her hands. "Hi, Fluffy!" she shouted cheerfully. "Did you come to play?"
Mako stared at her. "Th-THAT'S Fluffy?"
Chibi nodded. "Yeah! Isn't he cute?"
Well, there were many words Mako would use to describe Garmon... but 'cute' was definitely not one of them.
Garmon growled as he slowly approached the two kids.
"Isn't that nice?" Chibi smiled. "I think he likes you."
'What's wrong with her?' Mako thought. 'Doesn't she realize he's about to attack?'
"N-nice doggy..." he muttered. "Good doggy... don't hurt me, please..."
"Aww, don't worry, he just wants to play with you," Chibi smiled.
Garmon then barked and leapt at Twilimon. Twilimon knew he could easily defend himself... but he didn't want to hurt Impmon. And there was no room to avoid the attack, he was cornered.
He gasped when the wolf Digimon's heavy body came crashing down on this. He winced when he saw the huge muzzle in front of his face, filled with sharp teeth, he felt Garmon's hot breath, and then...
Garmon gave his face a big, wet lick.
Mako blinked in surprise. He looked up at the panting form of Garmon. He still looked scary, but for some reason, he was wagging his tail.
"See?" Chibimon chuckled. "I told you he just wanted to play."
'But how?' Mako wondered. 'I thought Ai said he was now loyal to her... so why didn't he attack me?'
Was it Impmon's influence from within the feral Digimon's soul? Or was it because she never directly told him that Mako was an enemy?
Suddenly, he saw the answer right in front of him. "Of course..." he murmured. "It's so easy... Ai might have changed Impmon and forced him to obey her... but he's still my partner, too."
He stood up and slowly reached out to touch Garmon's head. When the black wolf allowed it, he softly petted his head fur. Garmon blissfully closed his eyes.
Mako smiled. "So, you're not the big, bad dog I thought you were, huh? That's right, you're a nice doggy, aren't you?"
Garmon tried licking his face again, and Mako knew that Impmon must have recognized him.
Chibi giggled. "Everyone thinks he's so scary, while actually, he's just a big softie who loves to have his belly rubbed... but he's extremely loyal."
"I guess so," Mako smirked. "Now, Garmon, I want you to guard the door and warn me if anyone approaches... and I mean ANYONE!"
Garmon barked once and obediently walked over to the door.
"Amazing!" Chibi said. "Usually, he just listens to Mommy..."
'Even more proof that I am his second Tamer,' Mako thought while walking up to the control panel. 'Now, let's try this again...'
One more time, he raised his hand and put it on the star on the wall.
Still, nothing happened.
Mako tried it again, but the results were the same: The barrier in front of the forest Rika and her sister were trapped in didn't vanish.
"But why?" he asked himself. "I have the powers of darkness and light, so why can't I open it?"
He looked at his regressed mother. "Chibi? Can you do me a favor? Please use your bracelet to open the barrier, okay?"
"I... I can't do that," she replied. "Mommy told me not to..."
"But Chibi," he shouted. "Didn't you tell me we were going to be James Bond and Rouge the Bat? Since when do they listen to others? Since when do they give up when they face a barrier?"
"I... I can't do it," Chibi whined. "Please... don't make me do this. Mommy will be angry with me."
"That's just it," Mako said. "She isn't your Mommy, YOU are HER Mommy."
"Stop that!" she shouted. "That's not funny at all! I don't want to play with you anymore!"
"But it's true," Mako insisted. "And not just that, but you are MY Mom as well..."
"No, no, not listening!" Chibi shouted and pressed her hands on her ears. "LALALALALA!" she sang, trying to block off Twilimon's voice.
Mako was taken aback. Her behavior reminded him too much of Ai. Did his mother really act like this back when she was a child, or... did Ai make her like this?
"I'm sorry..." he murmured. "I thought I could save you... and my friends..."
He looked back at where Viximon and Kitmon were once again playing with each other, and at the confused face of ChibiD'Arcmon. He then sighed. 'At least I have the D-Powers,' he said. 'I have to try and get out of here... I will have to come back later. I need help if I want to free them...'
"I will come back, Mom," he whispered. "I promise..."
Suddenly, Garmon barked loudly. Mako quickly ran to the entrance of the room and peered around the corner.
And gasped when he saw the tall figure of Lucemon walking down the corridor.
She smirked. "Little brother, sneaking away like that was a naughty thing to do. Now get back to your room!"
Twilimon stepped out into the corridor. "No, I won't!" he said. "I'm leaving, Ai, and you can't stop me!"
"Oh, I can't?" Lucemon grinned. "Just watch me... Garmon, why don't you convince him a bit?"
"Don't do this, Garmon!" Mako shouted. "I'm your friend..."
"And I am his mistress!" Lucemon shouted. "Obey me, Garmon!"
The black wolf looked back and forth between his two Tamers. He was confused. Ai had changed his mind to obey his Tamer, but they were both his Tamers... so what was he supposed to do? With a pitiful whine, he crouched down on the floor.
"Pathetic dog!" Lucemon yelled. "Get out of my way!" She shot an orb of darkness at Garmon, and he was flung aside. Garmon yelped when he collided with the wall.
"That was unnecessary, Ai," Mako said. "He's not your enemy."
"Don't you get it yet, you fool?" Lucemon hissed. She let an orb of light appear in her right hand and another orb of darkness in her left hand. "Your pathetic little sister is no more. I am Lucemon, reborn from the sin data that corrupted your sister... and I will make this world my world."
"NO!" Mako shouted. "Ai is still in there, somewhere, I know it!"
"You are such a fool," Lucemon glowered. "This whole world may have been born because of Ai's ridiculous ideas of an Utopia where children rule over the adults... but now, I can use it to control everything. That's why all the adults have been turned into little kids." She snickered. "Children are so much easier to control than adults. And as long as I give them what they want, they will do ANYTHING for me. As for the former children... they are grateful that I placed them in charge of the new tykes, making them the best servants I could ask for."
"No..." Mako sobbed. "All of our old friends... they are not like this. They will realize that you are bad and..."
"I have some news for you," Lucemon said. "Did you know that the old Lucemon had some personal servants? High-ranked Devil Digimon that were hers to command... and when my old body got destroyed, their data was absorbed by my own data stream. And when little Ai finally reached her Ultimate Level - my TRUE form - I was able to release their souls, transforming Manami and all the others into my true lieutenants."
She spread her arms and laughed. "All of the children that had been willing to join Ai don't exist anymore. The darkness has consumed them all, and only Lucemon and her dark regime remain."
"I don't believe you," Mako whispered. "Ai is still in you, or else you wouldn't have spared our mom..."
"Idiot..." Lucemon hissed. "That little bitch means NOTHING to me. I just kept her as a plaything, nothing more, nothing less. Her powers of light prevented me to make her one of my lieutenants as well, and on top of that, Ai's silly little wish turned her into a Rookie. That's the reason why I keep her around as my 'daughter'. I still hope that I somehow will be able to turn her into my general, a fallen angel more powerful than d'Arcmon has ever been... but if that turns out to be impossible, I will gladly dispose of her myself."
A loud sob made both Twilimon and Lucemon turn around.
ChibiD'Arcmon came out of the room. "M-m-mommy..." she sniffed. "Y-you... you don't mean that... d-don't you?" She sniffled again. "You... you said you loved me..." Tears ran down the little angel's face.
"What... what are you doing in there?" Lucemon asked. "I told you not to leave your room, didn't I? You are such a disobedient little brat..."
Chibi sobbed even louder. "No, Mommy... tell me that's not true... you're not bad... aren't you?"
"Chibi..." Mako murmured. He really didn't know what to say.
"QUIET!" Lucemon shouted. "I'll deal with you later." A shove of power, and ChibiD'Arcmon was pushed back into the barrier room. She then looked back at Twilimon. "Now to deal with you, you little abomination..." She snarled. "You know that this cursed form of yours only exists because of your bond to your sister. But NOBODY except me deserves such a form, such a fusion of light and darkness, this symbol of my corruption..."
"I am who I am," Twilimon said. "And as long there is no proof for your words, I will keep on believing that I will some day be able to save her... as well as Mom and all the others you have imprisoned."
"That will be hard to do... considering that you will be dead in a couple of minutes," Lucemon smiled.
"You know, there's one thing you really should consider..." Twilimon said as he slowly backed off.
"Oh? And what, pray tell, is that?"
"The next time you design a tower of evil... hire a bunch of more competent architects."
And with these words, Twilimon grabbed the sack with the D-Powers, turned around, jumped through the open window behind him, spread his wings and flew away from the tower as fast as he could.
Lucemon was tempted to go after him. Then she shook his head. "He may be a little pest, but he can't do anything..." she grumbled. "I am all powerful... not even the Four Sovereigns' powers combined would be enough to take me down."
She grinned. "Especially not after having absorbed the powers of Barbamon, Daemon, Beelzemon, Belphemon and Leviamon," she grinned. "All I need is the sin data of Lust, and then I will be UNSTOPPABLE!"
And, in the manner of all classic evil overlord type villains in any good RPG, she laughed diabolically.
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(Posted Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:06)
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