Chapter 3: Paradise Lost
* * *
Tsumago- A quiet village in south central Japan, three years after the arrival of the Digimon in the real world…
“That was cool!”
“Yeah! We have to do it again sometime.” The boy grinned, his white hair blowing in the cool night breeze. All around him, the trees on the side of the valleys stood silhouetted against the starry sky. He looked down at his companion, still grinning.
The small creature walking by his side smiled back at him. “You looked good when you were doing all those moves.”
The boy swelled with pride. “Yeah, and I bet you would if you ever got the chance to.”
The small creature whirled round excitedly, swinging its blue scaly tail through the air and whipping it against a tree. The bark split and scattered into the darkness.
“Hey, careful Veedramon! Mr Yakumoto wouldn’t like you breaking his trees.” The boy scolded. The dragon digimon looked back at him apologetically.
“Sorry Aidan.”
Aidan smiled. “Hey, it’s alright. Trees are made to withstand things like that. Just don’t-”
Veedramon had disappeared. Aidan darted round, searching the darkness for a sign of his partner.
“Veedramon?” he called. He heard a ‘snap’ behind him. Just as he turned to see what it was, something large and wet clapped around his mouth and a bulky arm wrapped around his neck. He tore at the man’s armour, trying to break free, but the chloroform smell was beginning to make him dizzy. His hands dropped limply to his sides as he felt his body slipping into unconsciousness...
* * *
Matt slammed his fists down hard on Aidan’s chest. It was like trying to resuscitate a pillow full of cement. But he had to keep trying.
Gabumon watched anxiously as he desperately battled to save Aidan’s life. Matt threw his fists onto his chest again and again, each time feeling for a pulse. Still nothing.
The rookie digimon stepped forwards to put a paw on Matt’s shoulder when Aidan lurched upwards, a gurgling rasp screeching from his mouth. He rolled over onto his front and coughed water up onto the sand. Rearing his head back, he could feel the air wheezing back into his lungs. Finally, he threw up a second load of water, which splattered noisily onto the ground. They were on a rocky beach somewhere. Thin grey clouds shrouded the sky. Palm trees swayed in the breeze and the water lapped gently at the sandy beach. Above them was a fairly steep cliff face.
Gabumon rubbed Aidan’s back to help him. “Welcome back, Aidan. We thought we’d lost you for a minute there,” he said softly as Aidan vomited a third time. Matt sat wearily down next to him.
“Where’s... MetalArmadillomon?” he rasped inbetween fits of painfully ejecting the salt water from his lungs. Matt pointed over to a group of trees a few metres away. Breathing heavily, Aidan looked over to where Matt pointed and saw MetalArmadillomon sitting on his own, looking forlorn. Aidan tried to pull himself up, but collapsed from weakness.
“Don’t try and move.” Matt stopped him. “Your wing’s in bad shape.”
Aidan rested on his arms. “What... happened to the... Haven?” he spluttered.
Matt shook his head. “Gone.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe they found us. Now we’re all scattered again... It took us years to put Ken’s flying fortress back together…”
Gabumon’s head drooped. “Don’t worry, Matt. We found Sora before. I’m sure we can do it again...”
Matt looked doubtful. His sunglasses were cracked and he had seaweed in his hair. Sighing, he stood up and looked around.
“It looks like we may be here a while. I’ll go see if I can find some firewood.” Gabumon rose to help him, but he shook his head. “You stay here, Gabumon. You need to protect Aidan.”
A look of deep concern shadowed Gabumon’s face. “Are you sure, Matt?”
Matt shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a revolver.
“I’ll be fine.” Shaking the water from it, he strode off down the beach.
* * *
Kamagata Naraku cracked his knuckles in frustration. He’d waited too long for news of the digimon’s capture. The commander had failed.
Snorting in disgust, he stood up and walked over to one of the walls. A single blue button, unused in years, lay on the wall. He jabbed it hard. The wall opened up to reveal a huge window overlooking a brightly lit laboratory. Naraku squinted through the light- it was the first he’d seen in weeks.
Down below was the creature. In a green cryogenics tube she lay dormant, small tubes pumping information to computers with huge monitor screens. She twitched slightly, prompting one of the units to bleep. The researchers jumped and gathered around the computer.
Naraku reached for a radio receiver next to the window.
“I don’t want her waking up yet. Make sure she stays sedated.”
The scientists immediately ran around the lab, adjusting levers and buttons. Satisfied, Naraku closed the observation window. Darkness filled the room again, and he relaxed slightly.
“They will pay for what they did to this Earth…” He hissed to himself. Suddenly, a shrill beep pierced his ears. He threw the receiver to his ear and barked down it. “What is it?”
“Sir, we can confirm that the digidestined’s base has been destroyed. There is no sign of the escaped digimon.”
Naraku smiled. “Are you sure there’s nothing left?”
“The base has sunk underwater. If there are any survivors, they won’t make it out.”
He slammed the receiver down, a twisted grin spreading across his face.
* * *
Back on the beach, Aidan was sitting next to Gabumon. The wind had picked up slightly and kept catching his wings, pulling him off balance. He thrust his arms out behind him to keep himself upright.
“You think Matt’s handling things okay?” he asked.
Gabumon sighed. “He should be okay. But… he’s not been the same since T.K went missing. He started isolating himself from me. I’d have lost him if Sora wasn’t there.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Gabumon looked deep in thought. “It reminds me of when we were in that cave during our battle against the Dark Masters... he’s been my partner for twenty-one years, but ever since T.K disappeared he’s been strangely distant…” He stood up objectively and stared down the beach. “I don’t care what Matt says. I’m not going to leave him alone out there. I am his partner and that means I’m going to be with him no matter what.”
“I’ll be back soon.” Gabumon called back as he ran up the beach, his fur coat blowing in the breeze.
“And besides…” Aidan thought to himself out loud for a moment. “If this is where I think it is, he could be in more trouble than you know....”
He looked over to MetalArmadillomon, who was covering his face with his claws. He needed cheering up. Slowly, Aidan walked towards him and sat down next to him.
MetalArmadillomon did nothing.
Feeling awkward, Aidan coughed to try to get his attention.
Still nothing.
Aidan sighed.
“Hey, you alright?” He asked quietly.
MetalArmadillomon removed a claw from his face and scraped the sand with it. “None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. They came after me. Matt would still be with his friends and you wouldn’t have nearly died,” he spat, angry with himself.
Aidan shook his head. “No. That’s not true.”
“Yes it is,” MetalArmadillomon said solemnly. “They followed me.”
A look of curiosity coloured Aidan’s features. “Why were they following you?” he asked.
“You tell me!” the digimon snapped. “I’ve been tracked by the humans and digimon my whole life and no-one’s ever explained why. I don’t know why they think I’m so important.” He sank back onto the ground. “I don’t see it.”
Aidan stood up shakily. “We’ll find out when the time comes. Right now, we have to find Matt and Gabumon.”
MetalArmadillomon looked up at him. “Why?”
“We’re on Midway Island- a research centre set up by the humans to create weapons of biological warfare.”
The steel digimon’s eyes widened. “You serious? Why did you let them go off on their own?”
“Hey!” Aidan hissed. “You try drowning and see how good you feel after being resuscitated.” He paused, staring at MetalArmadillomon intently.
He looked away. The wolf’s eyes were cold, almost unfeeling.
“Now come on.”
* * *
The wind turned cold. Matt, his thin shirt flapping about in the breeze, shivered slightly. It moved the trees all around him, giving the feeling that he wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t.
Using the gun to move a large leaf out of his way, he came to a steep bank. He crept up it, cocking his pistol.
When he reached the top, he was standing on the top of a high rocky mountain that sloped down to the sea below. He could see several grates littering the mountainside, leading into the rock. Some spewed a fine vapour, which swirled calmly in the breeze. Far down below, behind the edge of the cliff face several hundred metres away, he could see a large black object moving out to sea- a human stealth boat. He couldn’t guess where it might be going to, but that meant there had to be a dock nearby.
“I wonder what they’re doing here…” Matt thought out loud. He took a few steps further to try to get a better look as to where the ship may be headed. Suddenly, a series of mechanical clicks broke the silence on the breeze. A sentry turret shot out of a hatch in the ground and pointed at him, whirling it barrels in preparation to fire. Bullets exploded from it wildly- Matt dived down the bank to avoid getting hit. He could hear the bullets thudding into the ground on the other side.
“Damn!” he growled. “They’ll be out to find me soon. That’s bound to have raised the alarm.”
Jumping to his feet, he ran down the bank to find the others. He had to warn them. As he came past a small waterfall, he heard a mechanical whirring noise and hid behind a large moss-covered rock above it. Several quiet, angry voices were barely audible above the waterfall’s loud splashing.
“...where he went?” he heard one say.
“Either we’ve got to pick up a body on the beach or he’s run somewhere into Epsilon quadrant. We’ll find him. It’s not like he’s got anywhere to hide…”
Matt waited until they were out of sight, and then swung himself underneath the waterfall. He landed smartly in front of a large metal door. A swipe-card panel was loosely attached to the wall next to it- the moisture had corroded it slightly.
He gave it a hard hit with his gun and it burst open, spilling degraded plastic over the floor. He immediately regretted it. The swipe-card mechanism fell off, leaving him with a sparking mesh of wires.
“Izzy, what I would do for your knowledge right now…”
