Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Kitty ❯ Separation ( Chapter 5 )

The Digital Gate was better, or at least less unpleasant, than the usual unknown force that had sucked them to the Digital World in the past. It was a rough ride, but it didn't leave them feeling like they'd been run over by a GrandLocomon and it didn't last as long. In seconds, they were translated into data and sent to their destination. A moment's disorientation, and perhaps five seconds of what felt like being a leaf blown by a hurricane through an area that had to have once been someone's screen saver. Joe and Mimi were ejected from the lights show and onto a hammock, which promptly dumped them onto the wooden floor. They tried to stand, but were bowled over by Palmon and Gomamon.

"Aren't we graceful?" Gomamon said. "We oughta start throwing a mattress in front of us before digi-gating."

"I don't feel so good," Mimi groaned.

"Me neither," Joe said. The two of them disentangled themselves and stood up.

"I think we've got more to worry about than a rough ride," Palmon warned.

"Huh?"

She gestured to the room around them with a leaf-hand. "Weren't we the last ones in?"

Joe, Gomamon, and Mimi looked around, and confirmed that the four of them were the only ones in the room. The television set they had come through had already shut off.

"Any idea what could have happened?" Mimi wondered.

"That's more Izzy's department," Palmon said. "But I think we know by now that the gate has its moods. They're around here somewhere." I hope.

"Where's here, anyway?" Joe said. He glanced around the room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were wooden planks, and the room was lavishly decorated. Gold coins, jewels, and assorted artifacts lay around the room like clothes and books lay around Joe's own. The room was lit by large candles, one on each of the four walls. Starkly out of place was the modern television set across the room from the hammock, which served as the threshhold of the Digital Gate they'd come through.

"Looks like some kind of boat," Gomamon said.

Joe and Mimi groaned. The question of their earlier discomfort had been answered. "Just great," Joe said. "How come the only two Digidestined who get seasick get to wind up on a boat?"

Mimi shrugged. "What can I say, the Gate doesn't like us. I say we get off this boat like yesterday."

"Uh, there's going to be a problem with that," Palmon said. "I don't see any door around here."

"It's got to be around here somewhere," Joe said. The old impulse to panic was trying to rise up, but by now, he was wise to the Digital World's tricks, and tried to roll with the punches. "All this stuff got in here somehow. Maybe if I hit this?" Joe said. He placed his hand on an engraving in the wall. It was like a long shark that was wearing armor over the top half of its face. The shark's tail ended in a point.

"What kind of shark is that, anyway?" Mimi wondered.

"It's not a shark, it's a Tylomon," Gomamon said. "Supposed to have been the deadliest thing in the water, once upon a time. Fins of steel, impossible speed... nothing you want to run into behind a dark coral reef. But they've been extinct for at least four thousand years, so I don't think we've got to worry about 'em."

Joe pushed the engraving a couple of times, and nothing happened. "And they don't open doors, either."

Mimi reached to twist one of the candles, but it didn't budge. Joe raised an eyebrow in her direction. Mimi shrugged, half-smiled, and tried the next candle.

Joe tried a candle. Nothing. He tried the next. Nothing. "I guess that only works in the movies."

The boat shifted and tilted as if changing course, and Joe and Mimi turned a rather unattractive shade of green and held onto each other for support. "What's that?" Mimi asked.

"We're turning around," Gomamon said. "I'd say 120 degrees or so from whatever direction we were headed in before."

"How do you know that?" Palmon asked.

"I can feel it. Ocean Beast Digimon have a perfect sense of direction."

The various times they'd all gotten lost returned to Palmon's mind, and only with a Herculean effort did she bite back a sarcastic remark. Instead, she asked, "Do you think they know we're here?"

"No way to know," Gomamon mused. "Whoever 'they' even are. Let's hope they're friendly."

*****

"Ahoy, Cap'n Hookmon!" the crew chorused.

"Ahoy," Hookmon greeted them. "Good work, mates, we took in quite a haul today." He bit a golden coin to check its authenticity, and appeared satisfied. "The Gizamon were generous! We should visit them more often. You think Lord Myotismon would mind if we kept a little for ourselves?"

Hookmon's crew-mon laughed and cheered.

"Ha ha!" Hookmon chortled. "Now there's..." A beeping sounded, and Hookmon produced what looked like a miniature wheel from the pockets of his coat. "Ahoy!"

Myotismon's face appeared across the wheel. "Hookmon," he said, saying it as if 'Hookmon' was the name of something unpleasant that he'd stepped in.

"Uh... Lord Myotismon! What may we do for you, oh wise and mighty master?"

"First, stop kissing up. That's what Mikemon's for." In the background, Mikemon could be heard saying "Hey!"

"A-a-aye-aye, sir!" Hookmon stammered.

"Next, the Digidestined should be arriving aboard your vessel any moment now. I take it you know what to do?"

"Aye. I'll have them hung from a yardarm afore the sun sets."

"See that you do. You remember what happened to poor Captain Gigasmon?"

Hookmon tried and failed to suppress a shudder. He nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Fail me and you'll envy him by the time I'm done with you." Myotismon's face vanished from the wheel.

Hookmon swallowed hard and composed himself. "Avast!" he yelled to the crew-mon who were still celebrating. "It seems we've some stowaways aboard."

*****

"I can't find anything," Mimi said. "I've tried the bookcases, the wardrobe... and whoever this guy is doesn't even know the meaning of the words fashion sense... I've even tried saying 'open sesame.'"

Joe sat down on the bed of whoever owned the room. "I say we lay low until we reach land. If we go out there and they're not friendly, we could walk the plank, or get keelhauled... what's that mean, anyway?" The ship rocked again, and Joe leaned against a wall... and fell through.

"Did you see that?" Palmon stuck a vine into the wall, and it passed through. "I don't think this wall's really here. Just some sort of projection to hide the pathway, like Etemon's pyramid." She pulled her vine back.

"And we aren't going through it," Joe insisted. "For all we know, humans are the captain's favorite delicacy."

"If that's the case &emdash; and it usually is &emdash; then I'd say it's better to go out and take a look than to stay here and wait for them to come to us. We're cornered in here. We'd be fed to the sharks in a minute flat," Gomamon said.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Joe sighed.

"I agree with him," Mimi said. "I mean, it's probably better to be out where we've got more room to fight if they've got things like crossbows and swords and guns and you know those big, long curved daggers that..."

"I get the idea!" Joe said quickly, getting laughs from Palmon and Gomamon.

Mimi slung an arm around Joe's shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," she teased.

The boat began to rock again.

"And it's probably better if we're closer to the side of the boat, if you get the picture," Mimi groaned. "This is about the worst boat ride I've ever been on. Feels almost worse than flying."

"Yeah, I know what you mean... hey, you get airsick too?" Joe said.

"Yeah, this is going to be an interesting trip," Gomamon muttered. "In cyberspace, no one can hear you spew."

"Not funny," Joe and Mimi growled in unison.

The foursome walked through the wall, and found themselves at the foot of stairs. They tiptoed up, silently as they could, testing the walls for surprises every few feet. They arrived above decks and stayed close to the walls, not daring to step out into the open.

They couldn't tell what kind of boat it was, nor did they very much care. The sides were so high they couldn't see the water from where they were. On the crow's nest extended a flag with crossbones and instead of a skull, something that looked like a squared-off version of a dinosaur's head.

"Do you know whose symbol that is?" Joe asked Gomamon, figuring the aquatic Digimon probably knew his ships.

"I've never seen it before," Gomamon said. "Skulls and crossbones are popular, but dino head and crossbones?"

"So what are we looking for?" Mimi asked.

Joe stopped to think for a moment. "I'm thinking we take a look at the crew, see if we can figure out what they're up to. If they're legit, we ask nicely and they tell us where we are. If our usual luck holds and they turn out to be bad news, we look for lifeboats. Get off this boat and let Gomamon's fish friends get us to land."

"Sounds good to me," Mimi said.

And so the four of them snuck around the old ship, darting from one hiding place to another, but it never proved necessary. The crew never made an appearance. The only signs that someone other than them had ever been there were the black rectangular objects scattered hither and thither around the starboard side of the deck.

"What are these things?" Palmon wondered, picking one up. "I don't remember any ship having them."

"Looks like a big Lego," Joe said. "I wouldn't touch those if I were you. Who knows what they could be for? Maybe it's all that's keeping this place afloat somehow."

"Maybe they've got something to do with where everyone went," Gomamon suggested.

"I hope not," Mimi said. "We're in the middle of about a hundred of them, and it'd be a real drag if they started up now."

The sails seemed to adjust themselves, and the familiar sick feeling came over Joe and Mimi when the boat swayed as it changed direction slightly. Despite the lack of any visible sign of a crew, someone or something was very much in control of it.

"Maybe it's a ghost ship?" Joe whispered. "Lost souls roaming the seas for all eternity, preying on anyone who dares to venture into their waters?"

"You watch too many movies, Joe," Mimi forced a laugh she didn't feel. "Besides, this is the Digital World. Abandoned cable cars, abandoned factories that run themselves, entire cities with nobody but a few machine goons. Some things here are just... here. Maybe we should just ride it out, let it take us wherever it's going."

A wind gust caused the boat to start swaying again, causing Joe and Mimi to waver. This time, the boat wasn't settling back to its relatively smooth ride, and it wasn't pleasant for the two teenagers. "Maybe it doesn't go anywhere," Gomamon said, deciding to have a little fun at the expense of his two favorite humans, who were starting to look a little green. "Maybe it's like that perpetual motion thing in Andromon's factory, and it just goes back, and forth, and back, and forth across the waves." he demonstrated by slowly tilting his head back and forth.

Joe and Mimi's eyes went wide as they made a quick run for the side of the boat. The sides were so high that they had to stand on tiptoe to lean over it.

Palmon shook her head. "You're demented."

"Aren't I, though?" Gomamon laughed.

"Guys, look at this!" Mimi shouted breathlessly once she was able to speak again.

Palmon and Gomamon looked at each other. "Uh, no thanks," they said together.

"No, not that! Joe said. "We're in the air! I don't know how, but this boat's flying."

The two Digimon came to the edge of the boat, and with a lift from their partners, looked over the side. Beneath them were clouds, as many as were above them. They weren't particulary thick, but there were enough of them to make it impossible to tell just how far away the ground was. The farthest cloud could have been almost half a mile beneath them.

"What? How?" Palmon said.

"That's 'cause ye be on the Tylomon," a male voice said from behind them. The four turned around. "Shiver me timbers, if it isn't the Digidestined."

While Joe, Mimi, and Palmon simply stared, Gomamon's mouth hung open and his eyes were almost as wide. "You can't be," he said. "Y-you're not real."

"Oh, I be real, all right," the short man laughed. He was dressed in a blue pirate's outfit, with the dinosaur-and-crossbones emblem on his hat. One arm ended in a much larger version of the stereotypical pirate's hook. His collar was high and the brim of his hat was low, so most of his face couldn't be seen. What could was none too attractive. His lips resembled a Divermon's, and were hideously out of place on his otherwise humanoid face. His grin was truly ear-to-ear. "I see ye know who I be." He addressed the others. "And the lot of ye would fear me just as much if ye knew me too."

"I think this answers the question of if they're friendly," Joe deadpanned.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Maybe ye should let us go before we have to teach you a lesson. And that hat's way outdated. Maybe you should get a..."

"Quiet! Don't make him mad!" Gomamon stage-whispered.

"What, who is he?" Joe said.

"He's Hookmon. Captain of a vessel which was lost years ago. They say he wanders the ocean as an evil spirit now. He's supposed to have laid waste to cities, butchered the crews of the ships he'd rob. It was just a story to scare kids, you know, if you don't eat all your seaweed, Hookmon will come for you, if you go out alone at night, the ghost ship will come from the sky and take you away, that kind of thing. Or at least, we thought so."

"I'm not afraid of the bogeyman," Mimi said. "We've had worse enemies than him. We'll get rid of this Cap'n Crunch wannabe before you can say lip gloss."

Joe, who had been afraid of the bogeyman, kept silent.

"A saucy wench, I like that," Hookmon laughed. "Maybe I'll keep ye 'round to... entertain me after I finish with the others. Hold them!"

In response, the Lego-like blocks began to stir. Like iron filings being drawn towards a magnet, the blocks were yanked towards each other by an unseen force, forming several small mounds. From there, the mounds arranged themselves into shapes that looked as if a four-year-old giant had tried to make several Agumon out of oversize Legos.

"Arr!" the lego-Agumon growled in unison.

Hookmon laughed. "So what say ye, ToyAgumon? We keep the wench, and throw the annoying one back?"

"I don't think so," Palmon said. "Palmon digivolve to... Togemon!" Gomamon followed suit.

The pirate leader wasn't impressed. "Arr, have at ye then!" He looked comical raising his hook arm like a deadly weapon at the two Digimon who towered high above him.

Togemon brought down a large, arboreal foot towards him. Hookmon's hook hand left his arm, attached by a cord. It wrapped around a yardarm, and Hookmon swung away and out of their reach.

"Huh?" Togemon and Ikkakumon said together.

Hookmon's arm retracted, swinging him up onto the yardarm and giving him an easy shot at the two Digimon. His left arm transformed into the barrel of a musket, and he took aim.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon shouted, taking a shot at Hookmon before he could fire.

"Captain Cannon!" Hookmon retorted. The blast from his gun arm took the torpedo out of the sky. Two more shots sent Ikkakumon and Togemon flying towards the edge of the boat. "Hah! This is too easy," Hookmon gloated. "So who wants to be the first to sleep with the fishes?"

Joe and Mimi shouted their partners' names, but the ToyAgumon held them back. "Don't be getting any ideas," one warned.

Togemon and Ikkakumon struggled to their feet. "I think... you... should go... first," Togemon said. "Ikkakumon, cover me!" She charged at full speed towards Hookmon's yardarm.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon lauched missiles over her head at Hookmon. He managed to shoot some of them down, but one sent him flying back to the floor.

"Arr, so that's how it's going to be." Hookmon ran to stand directly in Togemon's path, putting her between himself and Ikkakumon. His hook arm fired, wrapping around Togemon's legs and pulling her onto her face at his feet. "How good is your aim?" he shouted at Ikkakumon.

"Let her go!" Ikkakumon yelled.

"You want her?" Hookmon said. "Take her!" With a flip of his wrist, he used Togemon as a wrecking ball, swinging her into Ikkakumon. Needles hard as steel pierced the marine mammal's flesh in a thousand places and ripped free.

"Come on, work," Mimi slapped her digivice. "Work!"

"Ha ha!" one of the ToyAgumon shouted. "Give 'em hell, cap'n!"

"That and more, mate!" Hookmon laughed. But cockiness was the downfall of many of the Digidestineds' enemies, and Hookmon was no exception. While Hookmon was busy gloating, Togemon gave him some poetic justice with a Needle Spray.

"Yeowch! Arr, you'll pay for that! Captain Can- whoa!"

Togemon grabbed the rope and pulled for all she was worth, pulling Hookmon onto his face. Hookmon retracted his hook and stood up, determination in his eyes now. Now that things were turning out to not be quite as easy as he'd imagined, and defeat became a possibility, he knew his pride was at stake. He wasn't letting the Digidestined show him up on his own vessel. Next to the shame of that, even what fate he might suffer at the hands of Myotismon was a secondary concern.

He leveled his hook on Ikkakumon. "You'll be first. I'll have your hide for a rug." His hook fired at the Ikkakumon, and of course, Togemon, who was closer, stepped in to grab it. When her attention was on the hook and not its owner, Hookmon nailed her solidly with a gun blast. Togemon went flying away from the hook and onto the ground.

"That's it, you..." Ikkakumon began. Hookmon didn't let him finish talking, something that Cerberumon had taught him once. Hookmon swung his hook arm, which was still extended, and it wound around Ikkakumon's front left paw in mid-charge, sending him facefirst to the deck.

"That's defeat you're tasting!" Hookmon crowed. "How'd you beasties survive this long, if that's all you can do?" Hookmon set his hook retracting. With it under Ikkakumon's full weight for the moment, it served instead to yank Hookmon directly in front of his prey. Maybe this was as easy as he'd thought after all. "Now, die like the dogs ye be," Hookmon said with finality as he pointed his gun directly between Ikkakumon's eyes.

Mimi's digivice began to glow.

"You! Stop that!" one of the ToyAgumon shouted.

Mimi shrugged. "I'm not touching it." She tried to come up with an explanation that wasn't too lame. "It's just my pager. See, I try and try to get Joe to fix the stupid thing, but no, he's always got something better to do than..."

"Togemon digivolve to... Lillymon!"

"Huh?" Hookmon looked past Ikkakumon at the glowing fairy. She was small, barely the size of Hookmon himself.

Lillymon wasn't wasting any time. She fired three quick bursts at Hookmon, who had to perform various acrobatic feats to keep from being blasted. She'd never have imagined that the pirate was capable of such a perfect pirouette.

"Look, we don't want to hurt you," Lillymon said. "We just want to find out where we are and how to get to land. Just tell us that, and we'll be on our way."

"You'll be on your way down soon enough." Hookmon launched his hook arm at Lillymon, who avoided it easily. "Captain Cannon!" He fired his gun arm at the zigging, zagging Lillymon, but she dodged them so easily he may as well have been throwing rocks.

"That privilege is yours, Popeye," Lillymon said. The plant Digimon caught Hookmon's hook arm and began to swing him around in the air. "Grab your partner, do-si-do!" She let him fly, and he did a good imitation of a football, coming to the ground with an "Oomph!" His gun arm transformed back into a normal hand.

"Oh yeah, that felt good," Lillymon said, pretending to wipe away sweat for effect.. "All in favor of keelhauling him, say 'aye-aye, cap'n.'"

"What is keelhauling, anyway?" Joe wondered.

"Arr, you'll get your chance to find out," Hookmon said, re-forming his gun arm and pointing it directly at Joe's head. He hadn't missed the human's antics during the battle, and Lillymon's evolution was the last piece to the puzzle. "Well, I'll be a Makuramon's uncle. It was you humans all along. Don't come any closer, you two," he shouted to the Digimon, "or your friend decorates the decks with his brains!"

Joe's digivice began to glow, and the Reliability symbol appeared over his heart. Hookmon dodged out of the way a moment before a hammer crashed down where he'd been standing. It broke through the deck, leaving a hole in the ceiling of the cabin beneath. In the cabin, lying in a hammock, was a green-skinned, bikini-clad girl with a seashell-themed head covering and matching gauntlets. She looked up at the battle annoyedly, and spoke in a southern-accented voice. "Geez, cain't a girl git a li'l sleep 'round here? What's all the racket?"

"Arr, get off your backside, lazybones!" Hookmon demanded. "The Digidestined are aboard!"

"Cain't yo' men take care of it?" the girl groaned. "Ain't that what you're payin' 'em for?"

Hookmon started to give a retort, but he had to dodge. The girl saw a chrome digizoid hammer pass through the area where her captain had been. "Get back here, you!" a gruff voice yelled as something gigantic and furry lumbered after him.

"Geez, cain't he take care o' nothin' himself?" the girl groaned, climbing out of the hammock. "Ah try'n take a leetle ol' nap, and everything goes straight down the sewer." With a quick hop, she was above decks. The ToyAgumon whistled at her when they saw her, and she waved and bowed to her adoring public. "All right," she said, "Who's up for a heapin' helpin' o' hurtin'?"

"Who's she?" Joe wondered aloud.

"Yo' worst nightmare, that's who," the girl said. "Don't nobody interrupt Ranamon's beauty sleep and git away with it."

She turned to face Hookmon, who was cornered by Lillymon and Zudomon by now. "Don' worry, sugah, these two are on me. Y'know what this boat's missin'? Water!"

The ToyAgumon didn't look so happy now, as if they knew what was coming and didn't like it.

"Whippin' Waves!" Ranamon called, raising a hand.

A tsunami came from nowhere and washed onto the ship. Lillymon and Zudomon were washed away from Hookmon and caught up in a tornado of water that held them high above the boat. The evil waterspout writhed and pulsed to keep them towards the center no matter how they moved. It seemed to be alive.

"Lillymon!" "Zudomon!" Mimi and Joe tried to fight their way free of the ToyAgumon, but they were still kept back.

"You want me to let your pals go?" Ranamon laughed. "Sho'nuff, kiddies." Ranamon nodded, and the waterspout seemed to turn itself over the edge of the boat like a Slinky toy, taking Lillymon and Zudomon and along for the ride. A spluttering Hookmon was lying on his face in a puddle.

Ranamon shrugged. "Guess that's that," she said. "You all right, cap?"

"Of course, lass," Hookmon said, standing.

"Now, what should we do with their adorable li'l pet humans? 'f it's all the same to you, Ah'd throw 'em overboard and be done with it."

Joe and Mimi barely heard the two villains discussing their fate, more concerned with their partners. Lillymon could fly, so she would probably be safe if she could break free of the wall of water. Zudomon was another story. From where Joe and Mimi stood, there was no way to tell what had happened.

"Don't worry, darlin's, you'll be joinin' 'em soon," Ranamon assured them.

*****

"What is the meaning of this?" the Ancient One demanded.

"I don't know," Myotismon said. "The Tinmon suspect the Digidestined tried to enter the Digital World and the gate malfunctioned. Two of them are currently being dealt with by Hookmon and his crew. We're working to locate the others."

"Locate them quickly. The last thing we need is their interference."

"You have no need to fear them," Myotismon said. "Their doom is at hand. When you arrive, I shall present you with their heads."

"I do not fear them," the Ancient One said. "I fear nothing."

Myotismon couldn't see the creature well enough to tell if its teeth were clenched, but the voice definitely sounded like it. You'll learn to fear before the day is over, he thought. "Will that be all?" he said, careful to keep his tone neutral.

"No. Find SaberNekomon first, before she gets too far out of pocket. Send her after the Digidestined you find nearest her."

"Yes, O Ancient One," Myotismon said evenly. He placed his hand on the artifact and terminated the connection once more.

The Ancient One apparently suspected nothing. How did you and yours rule the Digital World for more than a century if you were this blind? While it was to his advantage, he was still disappointed. He'd expected more. The Ancient One was falling far short of the legends of the evil warlords who had held the Digital World in their iron fists for so long. Myotismon had heard the tales since he'd been a Yaamon, and in the early days of his rule, ages ago when he had taken over his own hometown and was starting to assimilate the towns around it, he had aspired to be as powerful as they were. Of course, long since then, he'd decided to make his own legacy. Instead of being as they once were, he would leave future evil leaders hoping to someday be as the great and terrible Myotismon, the most powerful and most feared ruler in history, once was. He would conquer both worlds and leave future generations hoping to someday be worthy of him. Still, when his disincorporated data particles had floated, part in the real world and part in the Digital World, and one of the Ancients had reached out to him across the rift to offer him life in exchange for service, he hadn't expected the Ancient One be as foolish as most of his defeated foes.

Or is he? Myotismon had underestimated foes before. Now that he really thought of it, there were three possibilities that he could see. One, the Ancient One was prepared for some sort of treachery, and was formulating some scheme of his own. Two, he really was as naïve as he appeared, in which case, to have ruled as long as he did, he would have to have been immensely powerful. Three, he suspected Myotismon of treachery, but, as Myotismon was the only one who could bring him back, he was stuck.

Myotismon figured it was time to pick up the pace. He had never relished the idea of the Ancient One being able to kill him with a thought, and if the Ancient One suspected treachery, there was nothing to stop him from releasing the power that held Myotismon's individual bits together. He had to stabilize himself quickly, and for that, he needed SaberNekomon. And for that, he needed someone for SaberNekomon to chase to the castle. He decided to look in on the Digidestined and see who would make the best candidate.

*****

The ToyAgumon stepped away from Joe and Mimi as Hookmon raised his gun arm and took off his hat, revealing large bloodshot eyes and a few white strands of hair still clinging to his misshapen head. "Here we have the greatest treasure of 'em all. We managed to do what no one's ever done before. The Dark Masters themselves couldn't handle these digi-tadpoles, and we've got 'em dead to rights."

Ranamon stuck her tongue out at Joe and Mimi and began to walk away. "Wake me if anything interesting happens," she yawned.

"We'll show you interesting," Lillymon's voice came from the side of the boat. "Flower Cannon!"

Joe and Mimi brightened. "'We?'" Joe whispered to Mimi. "She did say 'we,' right?"

Mimi nodded vigorously. "Yeah! But I think we'd better get ready to run."

"Hey, don't you... whoa... whaah!" Ranamon was shouting as she scrambled and shuffled to avoid the blasts punching the floor around her.

"Come on, dance, 'sugah!'" Lillymon teased.

When Hookmon and the ToyAgumon looked up at Lillymon, Joe and Mimi immediately ran for it.

"Stop them! Or the lot of ye will walk the plank!" Hookmon shouted after them.

"You know we don't have a plank, sugah," Ranamon told him.

"Never mind that," Hookmon grumbled. "When I say, aim for..."

The floor under them cracked, dropping them below decks for a hard landing.

"Don't even twitch," Zudomon's voice said. He was crouched as small as he could make himself but still scraping the ceiling. He was holding his hammer about two inches above their heads.

"Mama said there'd be days like this," Ranamon sighed.

*****

"Where should we go?" Mimi asked.

"How should I know?!" Joe demanded.

"Plastic Blaze!" came the high-pitched voice of one of the ToyAgumon. A flat, plastic fireball exploded within a foot of Mimi with a dull thack sound.

"With those stubby Lego legs, how do they move so fast?" Mimi wondered.

"How fast would you run if you had to answer to a guy with a cannon for an arm?"

Three more gray plastic fireballs spun past them and exploded around them. "Avast, ye scurvy sea-slugs!" one of the ToyAgumon screamed in a hideous imitation of Hookmon. "Arr, you'll sleep with the fishes!"

"What B-movie are these guys rejects from?" Mimi wondered. She caught Joe's arm and pulled him between two stacks of crates.

"Plastic Blaze!" Gray Lego fireballs passed within inches of Joe and Mimi as they hung a quick left. Joe tried to kick the stack of crates over and into the ToyAgumons' path, but the crates were full, and didn't move an inch. Yeah, that's about right, Joe groused internally.

"Joe, I think I've got an idea."

"Say it already!" A plastic fireball flew past him and thacked a few feet away from him, scorching his leg. "Yeow!"

"It's, uh, I saw something like it in a movie once..." Mimi said sheepishly.

Joe opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again, a couple of times. "Oh, boy," he finally said.

"Just come on!" Mimi caught his hand and pulled him onward.

*****

Cerberumon set about the next phase of his work. He was sure that, if Myotismon had been in his position now, he'd be laughing evilly about how his latest grand scheme had prevailed. But gloating wasn't Cerberumon's style. He had successfully devised a way to do what he needed to do under Myotismon's nose and yet avoid detection, so now to do it once more. There would be all the time in the Digital World for celebration once his mission was complete. He made sure no one was around, and ducked into an empty room. "Portals of Darkness!" he called.

The eyes of his side heads glowed, and fired beams of green light in front of him. A hole into a realm of pure blackness appeared. He hopped inside, and the hole closed above him. Here, in his personal dimension, his actions would go undetected by anyone in the castle.

He found the communicator he'd left behind the last time he'd used the portals, and switched it on. "They're here," he said. "Two sets of them are approaching your position, ETA four minutes. I'll inform you if anything changes."

"Good," answered the voice on the other end. "No one suspects?"

"You know my skills better than anyone," Cerberumon said.

The voice chuckled. "That, I do. I don't doubt you, old friend. But you understand how important this is. If you're lost, all is lost."

"I understand," Cerberumon said. "But there's no need for concern. Everything here is under control for now."

The voice on the other end was silent, so Cerberumon continued.

"SaberNekomon, however, isn't. She's loose, and she's not far from you. Keep an eye out; she tends to make things not go as planned."

"All right," the voice said. "Thanks for the heads-up."

"Of course. Cerberumon out." Cerberumon switched off the communicator and leapt. A portal opened in front of him and he sailed through it, returning to reality. He trotted back into the hallway, where Mikemon was passing through.

Cerberumon blew a line of green fire from each of his side heads, so that they both passed within an inch of Mikemon on either side.

"Oh, hey, Cerberumon," Mikemon said nonchalantly without even turning around. "What's up?"

"Just thought you'd like to your old friend wound up in Sector J-93. Myotismon's in a relatively good mood about now, so it'd be a good time to ask him."

"Yes!" Mikemon said, turning around and running past Cerberumon. It was about time. By ascending to Gatomon's old position, he'd proven to himself that he was at least as good as she was. Now Mikemon's chance to prove it to her had finally come.

*****

"You, command the Cannondramon? Surely you jest." Ever since Mikemon had earned the Golden Ring, Myotismon knew that he would want to face Gatomon in combat now that he was back on a level playing field with her. He had no problem with sending him, as getting rid of either of them would mean one less annoyance for him. He had no intention of making it easy on him, though.

"Come on, when has Mikemon ever failed you before?" Mikemon pleaded. "Let him do this and he swears he'll never call you Myo again! Promise!"

"You are not worthy to polish the Cannondramons' armor. Why should I put a worthless little runt like you in charge of a mission such as this?"

"Please! Mikemon will do anything! He'll do your laundry for a month, rotate the wheels on all your carriages, swab Hookmon's decks for a year, anything!"

Myotismon made a show of sighing gravely. "Fine. Just to get you out of my hair for a few hours, I will send you."

"Thank you, gracious and mighty Master Myo! Mikemon will not disappoint you, he promises! The Digidestined will pay dearly, Mikemon swears! He'll..."

"But remember, Mikemon, since I'm placing you in charge of this mission, if it fails, that will mean you have failed." He knelt down to Mikemon's eye level and whispered, "I shall be rather cross if you fail me, Mikemon."

Mikemon's eyes widened as a shudder ran through his body. He stiffened as if he'd been turned into cardboard. "Y-y-yes sir! Mikemon shall never fail you, master!"

"Good." Myotismon stood up straight. "Now that we have an understanding..." Myotismon raised his hand, and bats circled around it. He flipped his wrist, and they formed a window to a valley with several Cannondramon milling about. Unlike the communication windows, the other side of the portal could be seen clearly, to the last blade of grass. Somehow, the steel-visaged cyborg dinosaurs managed to look bored out of their central processing units. "Begone!" Myotismon took Mikemon by the scruff of the neck and tossed the annoying feline into the portal.

"Thanks, Master Myooooooo!" Mikemon yelled as he fell through the dark tunnel.

"Don't. Call. Me. Myo," Myotismon growled through clenched teeth.

*****

"I don't hear them," Mimi whispered. "You think they're close?"

"Ssh!" Joe whispered. "They'll find us!"

Crouched uncomfortably in a lifeboat covered with a cloth, Joe and Mimi were safe from the ToyAgumon for the moment. The Digimon probably had their hands full with Hookmon and Ranamon, but Joe and Mimi weren't in a position to do anything about it. Joe was trying to think of a plan, but Mimi was annoyingly tapping on the side of the boat.

"And would you cut that out?" Joe whispered.

"I'm looking for some hidden... I don't know, something," Mimi said. "Something's got to make this thing work." Mimi resumed tapping.

"Work? What makes you think it actually does anything?"

"It must fly, or it wouldn't be much use here," Mimi said.

"It's probably just for show. Now, quit tapping or they'll hear it. "

"Please. These guys wouldn't know style if it clobbered them with an anchor. Trust me, nothing's here just because it looks cool. There's got to be a button or a switch or something."

Joe sighed. Classic Mimi logic. He loved the girl, really he did, but it was times like these that he wondered just how far into the Twilight Zone her mind could go. "Really, Mimi, you can't think that their sense of style has anything to do with..."

Suddenly, light flooded into the boat as the cloth was yanked away. "A-ha!" came a triumphant high-pitched ToyAgumon shout. Several small gray Lego heads peeked into the boat.

*****

"Whaaaaah!" Mikemon shouted as the bat-portal spat him out. He bounced off of the back of one of the Cannondramon and flopped onto the ground amidst them.

"What are you doing here?" one of the dinosaur Digimon said in a grating, gravelly voice.

"Uh... Mikemon's sorta... supposed to... take over. Myotismon sent him."

The Cannondramon gnashed their metal teeth together as they surrounded him, and began to close in on him from all sides.

"Uh, d-d-don't b-b-be... h-hasty... guys," Mikemon stammered. "Whatever it is, Mikemon didn't do it, honest!"

There was an unbearable moment of silence as the seventeen immense Megas looked down upon the two-foot-tall Champion.

And then, one by one, the Cannondramon began to laugh.

"H-huh?"

"Just having fun with you," one of them said as the others began to walk away. "Not much else to do around here." He patted Mikemon on the back with a huge paw that sent the less-than-huge Digimon sprawling.

"Well, that's about to change," Mikemon said, trying to hide the pain and sound tough for the bigger, stronger Digimon around him. "The Digidestined are about a couple of miles south of here, and they're headed this way."

All conversation stopped as the Cannondramon instantly looked up at him.

"Yeah, that's right," Mikemon said. "Two sets of 'em landed close by. So naturally, the boss sent in the best he had to take over." Mikemon ignored the snorts of laughter and went on. "And Gatomon's with them. Waste the others, but save her for yours truly."

The Cannondramon spread out and took up positions at the foot of the mountain.

Mikemon rubbed his paws together. Oh, yeah, this was going to rock!

*****

"You're offically more trouble than you're worth," the lead ToyAgumon said, pointing a three-fingered hand at the two humans. It was impossible for his high-pitched voice, higher than even Mimi's, to sound threatening, but the danger was clear. Though unimpressive even for a Rookie attack, one Plastic Blaze could easily blow a human in half.

The ToyAgumon opened their mouths as one, the gray plastic fireballs appearing in each of them.

And impossibly, Joe, as he and Mimi sat up in surprise, accidentally found an unseen indentation in the wood with his elbow. In response, two joysticks popped out on either side of him, and a control panel rose in front of him. A holographic 'screen' appeared above it. A second later, all the controls began to move, tailoring themselves to Joe's size and shape, so that the joysticks were at his hands, and the 'screen' was just below his eye level so he could watch it and what was in front of the boat at the same time. Belts extended from the bottom to strap Joe and Mimi into place.

Still in adrenaline-filled 'something, anything, now!' mode, Joe's hand was already pushing the lever next to the right joystick long before his conscious mind was working. The boat went rocketing out from under the ToyAgumon and careened down the Tylomon's decks. Joe and Mimi screamed as one.

The boat skated and skittered its way towards the bow of the Tylomon as Joe pulled back on the lever, which he assumed to be the throttle. He was correct, of course, but the boat had gained enough momentum that it wasn't stopping any time soon.

"Look out!" Mimi shouted.

Joe pulled back on one of the sticks, and the ever-increasingly misnamed lifeboat pulled up, but not quickly enough to avoid taking a small chunk of the side of the ship with it as well. The boat continued to pull up, and by by the time Joe realized easing off of the stick would be a good idea, the dinghy was three-fourths of the way into a loop-the-loop that would plunge it straight through the Tylomon if he didn't pull out of it.

"Pull out!" Mimi yelled. "Pull out!" Her voice rose to glass-shattering shrillness.

"Would you quit screaming!" Joe shouted back. He tried to make the stupid contraption turn right-side-up, but succeeded only in throwing it into a barrel roll. Reality turned into a screen-saver as the blood rushed to their heads.

Joe fought down the panic and pulled the joystick to the side just enough to stop the spinning, and pulled the boat's prow up. The dinghy tore through some rigging as it narrowly missed the Tylomon's mainmast. Several ToyAgumon shouted up at them in indignation.

After several seconds that felt like minutes, Mimi spoke. "You think you've got control?"

"Uh, more or less."

"In that case," she jerked a thumb at the ToyAgumon, "I wonder what kind of weapons this boat has."

*****

"What's going on?" Hookmon wondered as the din rose outside. A beeping sounded, and Hookmon's hand instinctively went to his jacket.

"Uh-uh," Zudomon said, causing yellow electricity to spark across his hammer.

"Relax, lad, it's just a communicator. I don't need to reach in me pocket for me gun, remember?" He opened his jacket to reveal the wheel communicator, and took it out slowly, and raised it to his lips. "What in the Dark Area is going on out there!" he bellowed.

"It's those kids! They're in one of the lifeboats and they're flying 'round the place like maniacs! They almost took out the mainmast!"

"How'd they even start it up?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Arr, now why's that not surprise me?" Hookmon growled. "Of all the stupid..." He turned back to Zudomon, but the giant Digimon was gone. "Huh?"

*****

Guns rat-tat-tatted as bullets left the madly fluttering dinghy. A dotted line of holes was drawn across the Tylomon's deck.

Several yards away stood the ToyAgumon that were the targets.

"Ha ha!" Ranamon chortled. "Their aim's even worse than you turkeys. We ain't in as much trouble as I thought!"

The dinghy zipped past, and Lillymon and Zudomon chased after their partners.

"Ain't none of you done with me yet," Ranamon drawled, rising up on a miniature geyser of water. She raised her arms, and a tower of water assaulted the dinghy, but its speed was such that it passed straight through. Ranamon grumbled, and with a flick of her wrist, made the waters change targets, washing back towards Lillymon and Zudomon.

"So, whose turn is it to do the honors?" Lillymon asked.

"Allow me," Zudomon said. "Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon swung his hammer into the rushing waters. Electricity traveled along them back to Ranamon. The reaction was instantaneous.

"Yeeaaaargh!" Ranamon screamed. The jolt tossed her from her tower of water and sent her flying through the air, to finally slam against the flag and drop into the crow's nest. The water assualt crashed to the floor and dried up in a matter of seconds.

"Good one," Lillymon complimented. "But I don't think that's going to keep her down for too long."

"Yeah, it's way past time this cruise ended. Too bad the only way down from here is..." Zudomon gestured at the mad dinghy. If one listened carefully, Joe's and Mimi's faint voices could be heard yelling at each other.

"I'll get 'em," Lillymon said. "Keep an eye on our friends here." She flew after the kids' lifeboat.

Zudomon turned to the nearby ToyAgumon and grinned toothily. "That will be my pleasure."

The ToyAgumon shuddered and slowly began inching backwards.

*****

Joe and Mimi were speeding for the stratosphere in the infuriating boat when it stopped suddenly, throwing them both forward.

"Huh?" Joe said, reaching for his glasses that had flown off when the boat stopped.

"Wha?" Mimi added a moment later.

"I'm not even gonna ask how this happened," Lillymon said with a smirk. Joe and Mimi turned to see her holding the boat from behind with her left hand. Her right was on her hip. "You sure you know how to use this thing?"

"Yes!" Joe said.

"No," Mimi said at the same instant.

Lillymon shook her head like a disapproving mother of mischievous children. "This one says autopilot," she said, pointing to a button. "The ones next to it have numbers on them, one, two, three, four." She pointed to each in turn. "I'll bet they're courses. Remind me to have Tentomon teach you digital world writing someday."

Joe and Mimi couldn't respond to that. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, they were engaged in the all-consuming task of keeping breakfast inside.

"Hang in there, guys," Lillymon said sympathetically. "I'm going to go collect our favorite seal before Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Dumb and his goons get back into a fighting mood. Catch you later! And please, don't push any buttons." The beautiful fairy Digimon waved at them with her usual bright smile, then flipped over in midair and darted back towards the boat, her leaf-wings buzzing with a soothing hum.

She hadn't gotten far when she heard Mimi's warning to Joe, who'd apparently accidentally touched one of the joysticks. The boat rocketed away again. "Humans," Lillymon sighed, rolling her eyes.

*****

"Just give it up already, sugah," Ranamon was saying. "Not even yo' thick hide can keep out mah rain fo' long."

Zudomon was realizing that Ranamon was right. The rain Ranamon had brought down was sapping his strength. His attacks were becoming weaker and more unfocused, and with each swing, his hammer felt ever closer to being as heavy as it looked. After Ranamon had recovered from Zudomon's attack and gotten up enough nerve to come down from the crow's nest, Ranamon had employed her Drainin' Rain attack, whose name was very fitting.

"Arr, now that's the stuff," Hookmon was saying from next to her. "Finish 'im!"

"Flower Cannon!" The blast collided with Ranamon, who went flying into Hookmon. The two looked up to see Lillymon hovering above them with the cannon pointed at them both. "You know, you two are really starting to annoy me. Now, I don't know who put the barnacles up your shorts, but I'm this close to turning you into digi-fertilizer. Zudomon, come on!"

Zudomon tried to shake off the evil water and its effects, and wound up making his fur so bushy he looked like a gray Koosh ball carrying a hammer. "Thanks, Lillymon. But I had 'em right where I wanted 'em."

Lillymon didn't dignify that with a response, and grabbed him by the arm to carry towards the errant boat. Lillymon may have been small, but she was still an Ultimate with all the rights and privileges thereof, and had no problem lifting Zudomon off of the Tylomon.

Ranamon watched with her hands on her hips as the two flew away. "Darn. I was sure I had 'im."

"This isn't over yet," Hookmon said. He turned to the ToyAgumon. "Get ready."

"Yes sir!" a hundred high-pitched voices answered.

*****

Several minutes later, Lillymon had managed to get catch up with Joe and Mimi, get the boat back under control (which mostly involved taking the controls herself after leaving Joe and Mimi Flower Wreathed together in the back to be sure they couldn't accidentally push any buttons) and descending. A newly devolved Gomamon lounged on Joe and Mimi's heads. Joe and Mimi's eyes were closed as they tried not to think about how high up they were, or anything else related to flying, boats, or flying boats.

As usual, the serenity was short-lived. "Don't look now, guys," Gomamon advised, "but the Tylomon's on the move, and something's happening to it."

Everyone turned to look in the direction Gomamon was looking in. "How fast can this thing go?" Joe said.

"Hang on, we're about to find out."

*****

"Report!" Hookmon ordered.

"All danger zones clear, sugah," Ranamon said. "Everybody's at battle stations and rarin' to kick some booty."

"Arr, that's what I like hear," Hookmon said. "Let's not keep 'em waiting!" He took out his wheel communicator and pressed it into the center of the actual wheel. It locked in place with a snapping sound. "Come alive, Tylomon!"

The great ship responded instantly, trembling as long-unused machinery whirred and clattered to life. Massive engines extended from the hull and powered up with an almost-subsonic hum. Particle cannons also slid out of hiding. Once the engines and armament were in place, armor plating began to extend from the hull. In seconds, the vessel was sheathed in solid iron.

Inside, the same was happening. Sails retracted, masts telescoped down and retreated below decks, and a steel canopy covered the boat. Control panels extended from below decks to line the walls, and holographic screens appeared from projectors in the floor. By now, the bridge of the Tylomon looked more like the inside of the starship Enterprise.

"Ironclad Mode transformation complete," an androgynous computerized voice said.

"Arr, now let's show those landlubbers what we're made of!" Hookmon shouted, waving his hook in the air. The Tylomon lumbered after its prey.

-----
Voice of Davis: "Looks like Hookmon's barque is worse than his bite. You know that's not good. Let's hope Joe and Mimi stay alive long enough to find the others. Something tells me they're not having much more fun right now. See you next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.