Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Donkey Madness ❯ Puzzle Room Wisdom ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Started: November 13, 2000
Finished: November 18, 2000

Part 5:
Puzzle Room Wisdom

Kari Kamiya held Cody Hida's hand tightly as she took the final step off of the bridge, her teeth still clenched tightly in apprehension. Cody patted the older girl's hand, comforting her with the small gesture. Carefully releasing the boy's hand, Kari followed the other Digidestined off towards the exit of the danger zone.

"Just our luck," T.K. muttered, slowing in his walk to speak with her. "We can't see anything past that hole."

"Maybe they want to 'surprise' us," Cody replied, emphasizing on the 'surprise.' "We really don't have much of a choice but to keep going."

The brunette nodded in agreement, watching Cody hurry to catch up with Yolei and Davis. "We have a means to defend ourselves now," she said, pointing ahead at their current leader.

T.K. gave the Digimon Emperor a suspicious look. "We can't trust him," he stated. "We may be allied with him right now, but the minute we're out--" he snapped his fingers for proper emphasis "-- he'll be our enemy again."

". . . I don't know, T.K." Kari looked at her best friend, then at the back of the Digimon Emperor. She tugged at one strap of her backpack, glad that she had something to occupy herself with when she was nervous. "We still have a long way to go; he may change his mind."

"I hate to be a cynic, Kari, but I have to say that I doubt it," the blonde sighed, tipping his hat in order to occupy himself as well. He crossed his arms, a forlorn look abruptly crossing his face. "God, I miss Patamon."

Kari hooked her arm around T.K.'s, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I miss Gatomon," she murmured. ". . . I really hope those digimon weren't lying when they said they're better off than we are."

"Same here," T.K. murmured, leaning his head on Kari's. They continued to walk in silence.

Cody turned to look back at the two, blinking slowly at the sight of the two leaning their heads over each other. Smiling faintly, the little boy turned his attention back to where he was walking.

* * * * *

Davis scratched his head, looking at the new room curiously. "Where are we?" he asked outloud, not really expecting an answer.

"This must be the first puzzle room," Ken said from in front of him. The blue-clad emperor turned, gesturing to the reflective walls. ". . . What kind of puzzle might this be, though. . .?"

The Digidestined of Courage and Friendship shrugged as he watched the boy think, then said, "Well, if you look at it from here, you can see these weird things on the ceiling." He pointed upward.

Ken looked upward, frowning as much as his current impediments allowed him to -- which really wasn't much. "What are those?" he wondered outloud, scanning the ceiling to see large, colorful spheres lining the ceiling. Purple, green, red, yellow, blue, orange, white, and even black spheres glittered down at him, flickering occasionally.

T.K. raised his head as well and stared at the spheres for a long moment. "Those things remind me of this video game I played before," he remarked.

The other Digidestined looked his way. "What kind of game?" queried Yolei.

"It was called Bust-A-Move," T.K. replied. "You played as these little dinosaurs that controlled catapults and shot spheres like those--" he pointed up again "-- onto the ceiling. Three same-colored spheres touching would make them disappear."

"I think I've played that," Ken said, lowering his gaze. He set Wormmon down and crossed his arms. "That doesn't explain much, though."

"Actually, it explains a lot!"

The six Digidestined tensed, looking to the far side of the room to see two reptilian digimon smiling at them. Both had big, friendly eyes and wore bright smiles. Wormmon blinked at the two digimon. "Those are Bubblemon and Popmon," he said. "They're trickster digimon that love to play games."

"Really?" T.K. looked genuinely surprised. "I thought they were those dinosaurs from the video game. . ."

Bubblemon, bright green in color, giggled. "We were told that we have to challenge you guys in here!" he said cheerfully. "This is your first puzzle test!" He pointed up to the ceiling. "Those balls on the ceiling need to be cleared out for you to continue." Popmon, the blue dinosaur, snapped his claws and two wood-and-metal contraptions appeared in the room. "These catapults will be used to shoot balls up on the ceiling. Three balls touching will trigger them to disappear. Do you understand?"

All of the kids looked warily at the two dinosaurs, then huddled. "Those rules are just like Bust-A-Move's rules," T.K. reported. "I think we can take 'em."

"This kinda sounds fun!" Yolei said, smiling. "It's like a big game!"

Ken glanced at the girl. "This whole test is a game," he said flatly. "If you've been scared of this test so far, you shouldn't stop being worried yet."

Here comes that high-and-mighty attitude again, Yolei thought to herself. I was starting to like him again, too! "Yeah, whatever!" She rolled her eyes at Ken and started toward the catapult. The other Digidestined slowly followed her example, leaving Ken and Wormmon to follow.

Davis pushed at the catapult on one side. "Geez, this thing's hard to move!" he exclaimed, frowning. "Hey, someone give me a hand!"

Kari and Cody joined Davis on one side of the machine, all of them pushing together. The catapult shifted as they pushed, causing the bottom half of the mechanism to shift right while the top shifted to the left. ". . . I guess that's how we're supposed to move it," Ken mumbled, getting on the opposite side of the catapult with T.K. and Yolei. They pushed the catapult back, reversing the actions of the other three Digidestined.

"So, are ya ready?" chirped Popmon in an annoyingly-cute voice.

"Yeah, we are!" confirmed Davis, turning his head to nod at the two digimon.

"GO!"

A blue sphere appeared in the Digidestined's catapult, followed shortly by the two digimon's. The six nervously watched as the two digimon aimed their catapult, shooting the ball to strike two blue spheres in the ceiling. They all disappeared together. The Digimon Emperor cleared his throat to regain the Digidestined's attention.

"Pull!" ordered Ken, looking at T.K. and Yolei. They pulled at the catapult, aiming the top half to two blue spheres. The Digimon Emperor looked back at his digimon and glared meaningfully. Wormmon jerked on a small lever at the bottom of the contraption, launching the ball into the air.

The ball missed its mark, a red sphere appearing in the catapult. Davis looked over at Bubblemon and Popmon, seeing them rapidly firing off the catapult. "C'mon!" the boy growled. "Let's pick up the pace!" He moved from the catapult and promptly assumed position of catapult-launcher.

Six rapidly-shot spheres later, Ken turned and shot the Digidestined of Courage and Friendship a venomous glare. "What are you doing?!" he demanded, fists clenched. "We're going to lose at this rate!"

Davis blinked, releasing two balls in his surprise. The machine began to shake as soon as the red and orange balls became stuck between green and purple balls. "Davis, you broke it!" Cody gasped, releasing the catapult and backing away.

T.K. shook his head, pushing the catapult aimer to a relatively-safe spot and pulling on the lever. The black ball shot up into the air and the catapult stopped shaking. However, another row of balls appeared behind the already-existing rows. "Every eight balls, the screen begins to shake. . . Every ten balls, another row appears," he explained, frowning. "We need to get rid of these spheres before the rows reach the ground . . . or we'll lose."

"Not to mention get crushed!" piped up Wormmon, nervously looking at the ceiling in fear of it falling down on them without warning.

Yolei began wailing again. "I don't like this game anymore!!"

The Digidestined of Light gripped her side of the catapult firmly. "I thought these puzzles were supposed to be non-lethal," she sighed.

"Another change made by the Game Lords," Cody muttered morbidly.

Davis' gaze wandered to the two digimon, who had just popped a trio of red spheres and released free four spheres. They fell towards the ground, then abruptly shot up to the Digidestined's side of the puzzle. "What the--!!?"

Bubblemon and Popmon giggled loudly, looking at the distraught Digidestined in amusement. "Feeling stressed, kids?" they taunted in unison before returning to their work.

T.K. frowned deeply. "Just as I thought," he mumbled, rubbing his chin as he looked at the ceiling. "The balls that fall free without popping go to the opposite team's side -- just like in the game. Once the balls hit the floor on one team, the ones on the opposite team's side disappear and the game's over."

Ken was silently seething, seeing as his present amount of emotions didn't allow him to throw a tantrum. "You should have told us sooner!" he hissed. "Let's waste those annoying digimon!"

Davis flashed the blue-haired boy a wide grin. "All right! I like the way you're talkin', Ken!" The two boys took hold of the catapult again, leading the rest of the children into a series of precise shots that would have made snipers weep in envy.

"Okay, we've got one long chain growin' here!" exclaimed Davis, motioning to the long, curling string of spheres only a few feet above him.

"And four more shots before another row appears!" Wormmon added. The Digidestined allowed themselves to glance at Bubblemon and Popmon's side, seeing that the two digimon were struggling to maintain a level a few feet above their heads.

Ken smirked a little at the two digimon's misfortune. "Let's make those four count. . . We have an orange at the top of the chain, along with the one on the catapult." He gestured to the two in turn. "Hopefully we'll have another orange right after this." The six kids adjusted the catapult again, firing the orange sphere to hit the one already on the ceiling. As the Digimon Emperor had hoped, another orange appeared on the catapult. However, the catapult began to shake again.

The boy turned to glare at his green partner. "'And four more shots before another row appears,'" he mimicked sarcastically, frowning angrily. "You can't even count right, you imbecile!"

Wormmon winced at his master's words, bringing up his little arms to shield his face. When no blow came, the little digimon looked up to see Ken trying to adjust the catapult despite the shaking. Yolei sighed as she noticed the fearful look on Wormmon's face, leaving her place at the catapult to comfort the little digimon. "Don't feel bad," she said quietly, picking Wormmon up and hugging him to her chest. "I wasn't even counting."

Cody quietly manned the firing lever as Ken and Davis tried to set up the catapult; the two boys had had T.K. and Kari step away so they could work at it together. Ken looked between the far wall and the current setting of the catapult, calculating the angles and ending results in his head and then recalculating them. ". . . Let it go," he finally said, nodding at Cody.

The little boy nodded, pulling on the lever and releasing the sphere into the air. Everyone crossed their fingers as it bounced off the wall, striking the two orange balls right on. The three oranges disappeared, the long chain collapsing and shooting to the digimon's side of the room. They shrieked as the balls piled up before smashing down on them. All of the kids and Wormmon winced at the sight.
Silence hung in the air for a few moments as the two catapults vanished completely.

". . . I feel sorry for them," Kari finally said, fidgeting with a strap of her backpack. "They weren't that bad."

". . . For dangerous, bloodthirsty digimon, they weren't," muttered Ken. "Don't feel sorry for them; there was more to them than what they showed."

Cody looked at the Digimon Emperor skeptically, standing close to Yolei and Wormmon. "Somehow I doubt that."

". . . . Oh, you should listen to the Digimon Emperor, children. He's absolutely right."

Gasps flooded the room as the colorful spheres shifted and fell away, revealing Bubblemon and Popmon, completely unscathed. Their large eyes gleamed crimson as they sneered, and they didn't look at all as innocent and friendly as before. They giggled at the expressions on the Digidestined's faces, their resounding laughter wicked and horribly twisted. Bubblemon, as usual, spoke for the two, taking a step forward on the pile of balls.

"Play time's over, kiddies. Now we fight."



Bust-A-Move, also known as Puzzle Bobble, is copyrighted by Taito. If you're in any way interested in the video game by reading this, please give it a try -- it's a great game to play whenever you're bored or with friends. I play it quite often. ^_^ Bubblemon and Popmon are totally new digimon and shouldn't be used without my permission.
Heh heh. . . I wonder just how long I can keep making cliffhangers like this. . .? I guess we'll find out, right? *grins*