The bolt of light sliced through the Monochromon’s armour like a knife through butter. It shook for a moment, its eyes wide open with terror, before dissolving into the atmosphere. The metal bow shrank back to its original size and clipped back onto the creature’s wrist.
“Very good.” The man in the shadows licked his lips. “Deploy the next subjects.”
Two doors shuddered open at the other side of the room. From them emerged a Mammothmon and a Tuskmon, both charging forwards with abject fury.
The creature held his sword tightly. It was time to kill. As the two digimon raced towards him, he opened his wings and took flight. The blade began to glow a bright white...
* * *
Gabumon studied the various buttons on the lift control panel. There were a lot of underground floors to the station- they numbered 11. The translucent white buttons looked dirty, unwashed after hundreds of presses by armoured fingers fresh from the battlefields. Underneath them was another button- striped yellow and black, and would have been hidden by a metal cover, had it not recently been damaged. He poked a claw inside and returned a bullet, the same that Matt used in his gun.
“Matt’s on this floor.” He said urgently, pointing at the switch labelled “R”.
Aidan contemplated his scarred nose. “Well, it’s a start.” He grunted.
The man in his arms twitched slightly. Aidan looked at his nametag.
‘Tetsuo, Lance’, it read. He had a name. Aidan thought about his own name. It didn’t suit him. It was too noble. Aidan Phoenix. He hated himself sometimes, for having a name that shouldn’t exist any more.
He would have thought further into it, but the lift jerked to a stop, disorientating them. He almost dropped Lance.
‘No. Not Lance,’ he thought. ‘The human.’
It was best to think of things that way, otherwise it was impossible to fight wars. It was easier for humans to do that because they had an almost innate ability to hurt each other effectively.
The doors shuddered open. The lift was on the side of a corridor. Hauling Lance onto his shoulder, he used his sword as a mirror to see what was either side of the door.
No-one. Good.
Gently, he lowered himself to the ground and let Lance lie on the floor, blood seeping from his wounds. He groaned quietly, his eyes trying to flicker open.
“We’re just leaving him like that?” MetalArmadillomon grimaced.
“We haven’t got time for ceremony and heroics, MetalArmadillomon. We need to find Matt as soon as possible and get out of here.”
Gabumon was apprehensive. “Won’t we get seen?”
“There’s always a risk.” Aidan said coolly, drawing his sword from its scabbard.
MetalArmadillomon jabbed the door shut and carefully pressed the “R” button. The lift jerked downwards and started to descend again.
* * *
In the dark room, Kamagata Naraku paced up and down while the experiment down below carried on cautiously. He didn’t want any mistakes this time, so he was making sure they had everything prepared. It was very rarely that he felt nervous, but now his stomach felt like it was held in a vice. Sweat trickled down his forehead.
If this was successful, they would finally have a weapon that would be able to bring the Digimon to their knees. The previous entity was weak and unwilling to accept his destiny, but this time all of those mistakes would be ironed out. And with the digidestined out of the way, they would be ale to continue with ease.
In the lab below, the scientists and computer programmers were setting up the equipment for the final stage of the experiment. Several of them looked at each other nervously while making the computer connections, as if they were volatile explosives.
The creature in the tube stayed motionless, the only indication of any life being the monotonous ping of the electrocardiogram.
One of the scientists picked up a radio communications device and clicked it on nervously. “We’ll be ready to begin in approximately ninety minutes, sir.” His voice shook as he spoke.
Naraku clenched his fist. “That’s too long! Is there any way of shortening the preparations?”
The scientists looked at each other nervously. “If we miss anything out we could risk a recurrence of the previous incident, sir. We have to be thorough.”
Naraku breathed in deeply. “Fine...”
* * *
Gabumon wrung his claws. Horrific visions of what could have happened to Matt kept shooting through his mind. Why was the floor he went to restricted access? Perhaps there was another creature like Aidan down there, more ruthless than before. He stared at the wall, constantly trying to reassure himself that everything was going to be alright.
It had been hard trying to keep hope throughout the war. With the loss of each friend Matt became colder, and Gabumon began to feel more and more useless with each battle they lost. Even being able to digivolve to MetalGarurumon wasn’t enough anymore. And when T.K was lost, Matt was never the same.
Perhaps it was time for them to accept their fate after all.
The lift came to a sudden stop. The ‘R’ button lit up a deep red and the doors hissed open. They were greeted by a dimly-lit warehouse, its floor of dirty brown sections of metal grating. Rusty pipes ran along the ceiling and floor, dripping liquid and venting steam sporadically. Numerous cables climbed the ceiling and disappeared into walls, which themselves were splattered with sinister shades of red and brown. Gouge marks and bullet shots littered the concrete walls, signs of pervious struggles.
Aidan swallowed hard. He remembered this...
His grip tightened around his sword as he stepped through the lift doors, watching around him for signs of humans. Seeing nothing, he gestured to the others.
Opposite the lift, in the darkness, the red LED of a security camera flashed softly...
* * *
Naraku grew more impatient.
“Sir, seeing as the subject seems to be in optimum condition, we could bypass the routine tests and start the procedure now.”
Naraku straightened himself.
“Then you have my permission to proceed.”
The scientist nodded shakily and gave a thumbs-up to the rest of the team, all standing by their own screens. Immediately, they began typing and a status screen appeared on the large monitor screen mounted on the wall behind the creature.
“5...” a computer-generated voice boomed.
Naraku could feel the sweat running down his forehead.
“4...”
This was it.
“3...”
Finally, he would be able to rid himself of the Digimon. He closed his eyes in anticipation.
“2... 1... Procedure initiated.”
A surge of electricity buzzed through the cables and lit up the green liquid concealing the creature. It twitched slightly as the downloads began to take hold in its mind.
A shrill beep made Naraku jump. He looked behind him at the phone on his desk and ripped the receiver from its stand.
“What is it?” he yelled.
“Sir, three digimon have entered the restricted area!”
Naraku’s eyes widened in fright. “Stop them, you idiot! Don’t let them get to Research Chamber Three at all costs!” he screamed.
* * *
