Revised on 24/03/2018 to more clearly convey the original intent.
Kari gazed out over the Dark Ocean, not particularly bothered by the cold air.
The obsidian water surged and receded, almost hypnotic in its motion, ahead of her as far as she could see and further still, out beyond the mists. She could hear the voices, from down in the depths - a thousand and a thousand for each one of them and another thousand in turn, each one different from the others, some male and some female and some beyond her to place.
The cacophony formed no words, none that she could recognize, but she didn't care anymore.
Deep Ones... their name still sounded weird to her. They who had called her to this realm four years ago. They who had wanted her to join them in the Dark Ocean again, be their mate and their queen again. They who she had refused.
Maybe, if they had been clearer with their message or if she had been less afraid to listen, she could have embraced their gifts sooner. She could have lived forever, savored their adorations and the joys they knew of here. She could have been free, in every sense of the word.
Her own voice sounded in her mind, "Understand also that there is the healing creative power and there is the tainting destructive power. There is the Darkness and the Light, and they can be both in equal measure. All that matters is what you choose."
It went against everything she had ever learned. Yet... it made sense. She liked it.
Gatomon studied her, hoping despite everything her brain and her gut instinct told her that something wasn't getting into her head again. "That noise doesn't sound good, no sir."
"Oh, Lady of Light, oh my queen," the voice unlike a voice whispered, soft and warm despite the strange sound of it. Unmistakably old, ancient, yet welcome. "Your coronation is almost complete. Now is the moment of your rebirth. Come into the waters, to us."
Without looking at the cat, the girl began to walk forward, into the oily waters. She looked back to the cat, meeting her unease with a smile. She didn't stop smiling, even as the waters crawled up her legs.
The voices spoke louder now, a million and a million more all as one.
"Now is Hastur come again," called their voices, at once jubilant and quiet, in japanese and in what she recognized as english and in another language or many that she didn't know at all. "Now is the Mother Hydra come again."
Bewilderment mixed with the worry in Gatomon's eyes at those terms. While unfamiliar, she knew it meant nothing good.
Her vision stopped working. A voice from nowhere thought to her that she should not let it concern her. It was merely the natural consequence of not having eyes for the moment. She decided against questioning that, didn't really want to.
What she then felt, was the warm and wide embrace of another mind around her and against her own. She relaxed into it. A peaceful numbness filled her.
For a moment that felt longer than the cat knew it was, she saw nothing happen. A slight hand rose from the waters, the cat watched, a yellow sleeve whose dim glowing was unmissable especially among this world's faded colors.
It took little more than a moment's time for her to almost fully emerge from the sea, silence reigning as she came out. She looked pale now to the cat's eye, and different in a way she couldn't place.
The feline Digimon watched her human, deep sadness in her eyes. Whatever it was that had just happened here, the meaning was all too clear.
"Don't worry, Kari," she said firmly. "We're going to help you get back to normal, I promise."
The brunette simply smiled, inwardly amused by the idea.
A blue creature, clusters of tentacles wrapped together in crude imitations of arms and legs held together by assorted implements like bands and belts and chains, appeared from nowhere beside her. She couldn't bring herself to be surprised anymore, her gaze remaining worried and fixed on her human.
"Let us depart," said Dagomon, deciding to speak for Gatomon's benefit. "Your castle awaits you to reacquaint yourself with it, after all."
She smiled, feeling mildly curious to see it. It would be fascinating to see it in person, not just from implanted memories.
"You can't go with him!" the cat shouted frantically. As soon as she did, she found herself wondering why, what the point was. Another part of her shushed that part.
She shot the cat a disdainful look. "I can do as I please," she wondered what Gatomon would do if she understood everything that meant. The thought pleased her.
Gatomon looked firmly back at her partner. "Kari, maybe you don't remember anymore, or maybe you don't care, but you helped save me from Myotismon. Now I'm going to do the same for you."
Yolei glanced anxiously around the apartment's living room. All nine of her closest companions were within her field of vision, her gaze aimed squarely at the wildly-haired brunet on the couch. Everyone - and in Tai's case his literal mother, she commented mentally, a failed jest - was staring back at her, with varying degrees of uncertainty and concern.
"C'mon, Yolei, don't try and build up the suspense here," joked Tai, cheerfully defying the uneasy atmosphere around her.
"Besides, if this is about anything serious," added Cody, "it's best if we don't waste any more time than we have."
Hawkmon announced, "Kari's been kidnapped, back to the Dark Ocean."
A tense silence filled the room. Ken leaned forward, sighing. He had expected this would happen someday.
"Okay," responded Davis, straightening in his seat. He punched his palm. "Let's just get over there, kick the asses of everybody standing in our way, and get her back."
Patamon breathed a sigh of relief, a smile growing on the guinea pig thing's face. Yuuko couldn't say she had any indication of what this 'Dark Ocean' place was, but the situation's severity was apparent.
"So, what's your plan?" inquired the woman. Tai focused, looking expectantly around at them. To his dismay, none of them seemed much sure about that.
"I don't think we can have one, Mrs Kamiya," answered Ken, formally. "We don't really know anything about the dimension she's been taken to, or what kind of creatures there are over there," Yuuko could see the dilemma in that.
Tai frowned, almost scowled. "So what, you're just going to go in with blazing guns and search the entire dimension," he emphazised, "until you find her?"
TK looked apologetic. He couldn't disagree - it was a bad plan.
"I know, Tai, but it's the best we can do right now," Cody answered. Tai still wanted to argue the point, and shouting and raging also sounded appealing.
Uneasy silence filled the air again. It practically flooded the room, for chrissakes.
"Let's look on the bright side," voiced Hawkmon, hoping to ease the mood. "We do have other options, like asking Izzy if he can contact Gennai, and see if we can get another power boost from Azulongmon, and recruit back-up from around Tokyo."
The others watched him with mixed uncertainty and concern, differing levels depending on the individual.
"I like those ideas," Tai voiced, with a grin. "Who do you guys have in mind for back-up?
Davis mentally sighed in relief.
"Well, you guys remember Rika?" asked Cody. "Me and Armadillomon got curious last month, and went to check if there's one of her living in our world, and it turns out she does. Her name is Ruki, and she has a Kyubimon as a partner too. She could really help us."
Wormmon looked peevishly at him. TK mulled it over.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask," said TK. "There's a girl, Sayaka, over in Shibuya. Her partner's an Angemon," he went on, listing a list of names and places that Yuuko only partly remembered hearing before; Jotaro, in Yokohama, a Bearmon... Jun, Davis's sister, a Veemon... a girl named Kyoko, in Adachi, who had another Agumon. A boy named Yuya, who lived over in Koto, with another Gatomon, and others in turn.
All in all, it reassured her to know that Tai and his friends would do something to help Kari.