A:N: So this piece was written as part of the Digimon Adventure Bang challenge on tumblr. It's a great challenge where writers and artists collaborate to produce content for the Bang. Check out the tag on tumblr, there's some great pieces out there. Chapter 2 is to come later on today!

The Ocean's Call

Chapter 1

Everything was black.

The surrounding atmosphere was suffocating, the air heavy with an evil presence that could almost crush anyone foolish enough to be there.

Of course, that's what was happening to one person.

The figure struggled to breathe, her chest heaving as she felt an overwhelming crushing sensation sweep over her. She didn't know where she was or how she got there. The last thing she remembered was talking with her brother before going to bed.

'Where am I? Why….can't I breathe properly?' the girl tried to control her breathing, taking several deep breaths to try and regulate it, but to no avail. The crushing feeling still lingered.

'This-this can't be….can it?'

A sudden realisation came over the young girl. She had felt this kind of darkness before. Her eyes widened as the memories started to flood her mind, filling her with a sense of dread and panic.

'Oh no! No no no no no!'

The girl's body began to shake as the panic began to take over. Her mind filling with unpleasant thoughts as she recalled the awful place that haunted her dreams. She tried to look around her to see if she could pinpoint anything familiar, but all she could see was darkness. That cold, dreading feeling swept through her once again.

'Please, don't let it be true! Please-' her thoughts were disturbed as she suddenly heard muffled voices in the distance.

They were getting louder. They spoke in unison, almost like they were chanting something. They sounded VERY familiar, almost too familiar for the girl's liking.

The darkness around her began to dissipate bit by bit, that's when she caught the shadowy outlines of the voices.

"Our Queen is here! Our Queen!" the voices chanted.

The dreaded sound made her feel queasy, her breathing was getting more rapid as the panic continued to build within her. They looked exactly like the corrupted Scubamon she encountered a few years ago, the same ones who tried to make her be their queen for their ruler. Their blackened forms came into her view, but the thing that caught her eye was the towering figure behind them, a menacing presence emerging from the ocean behind. Her gut feeling was right and she wasn't happy about it. She was in the Dark Ocean.

Her eyes followed the body of the figure upwards until she met the menacing eyes of the towering monster- and leader of this awful place, his orbs glowing red. This was the leader who wanted to take her and make her his queen. That thought almost made her vomit.

"Ah yesss, the chosen of Light has returned to ussss." His voice hissed slightly, making her feel very uncomfortable and frightened. She tried closing her eyes tight, hoping that this was just a bad dream, and that she would open her eyes and be in her bed again.

That wasn't the case.

She was still faced with those hideous, black silhouettes when she opened her eyes.

"It's time for you to become my queen! I will eradicate your Light and darkness will rule everything, even your own world!" the leader's voice boomed above her, making her flinch.

His words went right through her; the colour drained from her face and her knees almost gave way. She was frightened now. She was absolutely terrified and she didn't know how to get away. Last time, she had the help of her friends and her digimon, right now, she didn't have anyone.

'This isn't real. This is all a bad dream, it isn't real!' she repeated this over and over in her head. 'I'll just wake up in my bed and everything will be fine.'

"Get her."

Her head whipped up, she noticed the shadowy figures walk towards her, their spindly arms reaching out for their queen. She began to panic, trying to look for an escape route but finding nothing. The suffocating feeling returned, it felt like something was crushing her chest; breathing became difficult as she tried to keep the dark beings away from her.

'Get away! Don't touch me, just go away.' She tried to scream but her voice failed, only gasps came out of her mouth. The beings were almost upon her, ready to take her away and corrupt her so she could become the queen of darkness.

She suddenly felt a cold hand grip her arm. She flinched at the contact, struggling to try and get the being off her. She tried to scream again but no sound came out. It was almost like her voice had been sucked out of her. She looked up to find herself faced with nothing but darkness once again.

'GO AWAY!'

The brunette jolted upright in her bed, beads of sweat glittered on her forehead as she tried to control her racing heart. She shot her head back and forth, expecting those dark figures to be around her, but all she was greeted with was the stillness of her room.

She let out a sigh of relief and tried to regulate her breathing. Her throat felt like sandpaper and her body felt moist with sweat. She looked down and saw her top clinging to her body. Her hand reached out for the glass of water she had placed on her bedside table and she shakenly brought it to her lips.

She gulped down the cool liquid, bringing relief to her parched mouth. Her mind was still reeling from her encounter. Was it real? Or was it just another bad dream? She had been having these regularly, each of them getting increasingly worse each night. Once she finished her water, she placed the glass back to its rightful place.

Her body was still shaking slightly; the encounter had been the worse one yet. Every night, the corrupt Scubamon would get closer to her, and this was the first night that they had managed to grab her. She could still feel the indents from the claw that had gripped her arm.

'It was just a dream; it was just a dream…just a dream…' Her mind was scattered.

"Kari?"

The brunette glanced over to the end of her bed, her eyes coming into contact with her digimon; who was looking at her with concern.

"I'm sorry if I woke you Gatomon." She whispered, her voice cracked slightly but she was relieved her voice was actually working. The cat digimon stood up from her position at the end of the bed and walked over to her.

"You seem pretty freaked out, is everyone alright?" the feline studied her carefully. Kari's shirt stuck to her like glue from the sweat, her breathing was uneven and she looked she was on the edge of a panic attack. Whatever was going on, Kari was definitely not okay.

"It was just a bad dream that's all." Kari explained. She glanced at her clock on her wall that read 2:50am.

"That can't be it if it's got you in state like this, you can talk to me Kari." The feline digimon replied, gently placing her paw on Kari's leg to show her that she was here to give Kari support.

Kari was grateful for her digimon's support but she couldn't find the courage in her to talk about the encounter. It almost felt too real to be a dream; though she wanted it to be, and she didn't want to bother anyone with it. She was hoping that it would go away with time and she could go back to having a normal night's sleep.

"Honestly, I'm fine Gatomon. Like I said, it was just a bad dream. Now we better get back to sleep, I have school in the morning." Kari smiled, trying her best to hide the fear she was feeling.

Gatomon narrowed her eyes but decided not to push it. She knew there was something wrong and that Kari would try to hide it. She was always putting others before herself, and sometimes that scared Gatomon.

"Okay. But if there's something bothering you, you know I'm always here."

"Thank you."

Gatomon shifted back to her usual position and curled up. Kari took one last deep breath and lowered herself back down on her mattress. She knew fully well that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight. Her nightmare was still way too fresh in her mind and she couldn't quell the intense fear she was feeling.

She tried to think that this whole thing was nothing, but she had a nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen.

"Hey Kari, you up yet?"

A young man poked his head into Kari's room, expecting to see his younger sister ready for the journey to school. He did not expect to see her still asleep in her bed, especially when she was due to leave in ten minutes, normally she was the one pestering him to wake up in the morning.

"Hey! You're going to be late for school!" he walked over to the side of his sister's bed and began to shake her slightly. She groaned at the interruption but made no move to get out of bed, the young man shook her a little harder.

"Kari, wake up!"

Kari groaned before squinting to see her older brother standing above her. She became very confused as to why her brother was in her room trying to wake her up.

"What are doing Tai?" she mumbled groggily.

"Waking you up for school, you have to leave in ten minutes." Tai replied.

Kari shot up so fast that she got head rush. She hadn't realized just how late it was. That nightmare must have really knocked her out of it. Kari quickly shot out of bed and sprinted towards the bathroom, cursing slightly at the fact she had overslept.

The reality was that her nightmare of the Dark Ocean had really thrown her out of whack. After she had convinced Gatomon that she was alright, she had spent the rest of night trying to calm her racing heart and sweating body. Her body was so tense that she found it hard to relax, her fear of being dragged into ocean crippling her sleep. Eventually, her body must've gotten too exhausted to stay awake.

She tried to keep that dark place off her mind as she tried to make her appearance presentable. Once she had fixed her hair, she quickly put on her school uniform and ran back to her room to grab her schoolbag.

It was a very rare occasion that Tai saw his sister in such a hurry, she was always the first one to wake up in the morning and pester him to get out of bed. It almost made him wonder if something was wrong with how panicked she looked.

"Are you alright Kari?" he asked

The brunette was in the middle of scoffing down some food and organizing the stuff in her bag. It seemed that she hadn't heard her brother's question, or she was just getting herself too flustered to talk.

Once Kari had scoffed down what she could, she sprinted for the front door.

"Bye Tai see you later!" she yelled. Tai tried to yell something back but she was gone before he could even get the first word out of his mouth.

He just hoped everything was okay with his sister.

"Damn it, I'm going to be so late!" Kari thought as she panted. She couldn't believe that she had overslept and now she was almost going to be late for school.

"Damn it damn it damn it." She huffed as her body started to ache and she started to lose breath. She hadn't realized it earlier, but she was still feeling exhausted from the terrible night's sleep. She honestly didn't know how she was going to get through today.

The images from her nightmare came racing back. Her heart began to race with anxiety as she remembered how Dragomon towered above her, threatening to eradicate her Light and make her his queen. The suffocating feeling came back to her and she tried to shake it off.

"No, it's not real." She tried her hardest to convince herself that, but the fear was still there, lingering.

She shook her head, took a deep breath, and broke into a sprint once again.

Kari burst through the school's door just as the first bell rang. She hunched over and tried to regain her breath, relief filling her as she just made it in the nick of time.

"Thank god." She thought as she gasped for air. Her lungs were burning from all the running, her face flushed and her head hung low. She could feel her body sweating and her sides ached from the stitch she had gotten. She was completely out of breath, but soon enough, the short, shallow gasps slowly turned into deep breaths.

She straightened up slowly only to feel her body sway slightly and her head go dizzy. She hadn't really eaten much back at home due to her panicked mind about being late, so she had exerted herself a bit too much. She leaned against the corridor wall slightly so she could focus on her breathing before heading to class. It was only a few seconds, but her breathing slowed down and she stopped seeing spots in her vision.

"It's not like you to be late, maybe I should've called to wake you up?" Kari turned to face her best friend smiling at her. He had a face full of mischief as he often did when he was teasing her, but honestly, it was just the distraction she needed right now.

"And just how many times have I had to call you to make sure you're actually awake?" she replied. "Besides, it's not like I overslept on purpose."

"Are you insinuating that I would do such a thing?" the blonde said, trying to show how offended he was by her words, but Kari saw right through him.

"I swear you spend more time in bed than my cat TK." She said, giggling at TK's attempt to look offended, but she knew better than to take his bait.

They laughed together for a minute before Kari started to feel her body sway again. She felt TK steady her, thankful that he was there to support her.

"Jesus Kari, did you run all the way here?" TK asked. Kari nodded, feeling a little embarrassed but she had never been late to school before, and she didn't want to start now.

The two teens heard the school bell ring for the second time, signalling them that it was time to head to class. Kari straightened herself up and walked to her first class with TK by her side.

Everything was a blur.

Kari tried focusing on the board in front of her but the words written by the teacher just seemed to merge together, creating an ineligible mess or swirls.

Once she had managed to sit down, the exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes felt heavy from the strain of trying to keep them open, her body numb-her mind elsewhere. She closed her eyes for a moment, hoping to just give them a little rest when she thought she could hear the sound of the ocean.

She jolted upright, panicking at the thought of being back there again, but she found herself in her classroom, the teacher still babbling on about god knows what.

She felt a nudge on her side and turned her head to face TK.

"Are you feeling alright?" he whispered with concern. He had started noticing that Kari was acting like herself ever since they had got to class. Now that they had sat down, TK got a good look of Kari and noticed just how tired she looked. The bags under her eyes were dark and puffy, like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night.

Kari stared at him and bit her lip, she wanted to tell him about her nightmare, he was her best friend and he was probably the one she trusted the most when it came to the Dark Ocean, especially since he had been a witness to her first kidnapping, but Kari didn't want to worry him and she knew now was not the time and place to talk.

"I'm fine, I just had a hard time sleeping last night." She replied as she turned back to try and focus on the board.

TK knew she was hiding something. He knew his best friend too well to know when something was wrong and knew when she would try and hide it. He wanted to question her more but they would probably get into trouble for talking in class, so he let it drop for now and concentrated on the lesson. He would try asking her again after class.

Towards the end of the lesson, he felt a weight on his shoulder and turned to see Kari's head resting on it. That just made him even more concerned for his best friend as she was always very attentive in their classes. He stared at the clock and hoped their teacher didn't notice that the brunette had fallen asleep on him.

"What's wrong Kari, this is not like you."

Kari rubbed her eyes as she tried to concentrate on TK's words. She hadn't noticed that she had drifted off in her first class until TK had to nudge her awake at the end.

"I said I'm fine TK, just tired is all." She replied.

He knew she was lying. The look in her eyes showed the exhaustion she was feeling, but of course she would lie, she never wanted to make other people worry about her. It frustrated TK sometimes.

"You fell asleep in class; it's not like you to do that on a normal day."

Kari continued to stare downwards, refusing to meet TK's eyes. She knew that she couldn't keep lying like this, since TK could see right through her ruse, but she knew that he of all people would become paranoid if she told him about the ocean. He saw first-hand what that dark place was like, so she knew without a doubt that he would worry the most.

"Does….does this have anything to do with the Dark Ocean?"

She lifted her head to make eye contact with him. The look on his face conveyed concern, but also fear for her well-being. She could see him reliving that day she was taken. She didn't want this, she didn't want him fretting over her. He had enough to deal with; and she wasn't worth the extra stress.

Trying to erase any hit of exhaustion and fear from her face, she stood up from the chair she had been sitting on and faced TK.

"I just haven't been sleeping well lately, I guess I'm just stressed from the schoolwork. I'll be okay." Kari was surprised that she managed to keep her composure, though it didn't feel good lying to one of her closest friends, but it was she could do to keep them safe from whatever was haunting her.

TK studied her carefully. He could tell that she was hiding something from him, her eyes portrayed a certain fear, she was scared, and it killed him to think that she was hiding it from him.

"You promise?" he asked. He knew he should push her, his gut instinct screamed that something definitely wasn't right, but he also knew that pushing it might make it worse.

Kari opened her mouth to reply but found herself hesitating. How could she promise him that? She wasn't okay. All she wanted to do was cry and tell him everything that had been going on, but that could potentially put him in danger, and all of her friends too.

"I promise" she lied. She hated lying to her friends.

The blonde knew he wasn't going to get any further, not until she was ready to talk, so he begrudgingly accepted her promise.

"At least go and get a little bit of rest in the nurse's office. I'll let the teacher know you're not feeling well." He demanded, if she wasn't going to talk to him, then the least he could do is make sure she caught up on some sleep.

Kari stiffened at the command. She was not ready to face those demons again, but the sternness in his eyes told her that this wasn't up for debate. She reluctantly agreed.

Kari dawdled down the corridor towards the school infirmary, on strict instructions to 'get some rest' from her best friend, though if she was being honest with herself, she was absolutely terrified about the thought of even napping. She knew she needed the rest, as her body felt heavy and she was dragging her feet along the floor, clear signs that her body couldn't keep this up.

She made it to the top of the stairs which lead to the floor the infirmary was on. Very slowly, she descended the stairs.

She managed to get halfway when everything around her began to blur. She noticed her environment began to distort; the colours disappearing until nothing but grey surrounded her. Her eyes widened when she realized she could hear ocean waves in the background. A shiver shot through her and everything around her suddenly became very cold. She tried not to panic.

'It's a just your imagination.' She thought to herself, shutting her eyes tightly before opening them, hoping that the grey would have dispersed and that she would find herself on the school stairs, but that was not the case.

'Come….m….queen'

She could hear a very faint whisper. Something was calling out to her; and that scared her.

'Come…..my….queen'

The voice started to become clearer and her heart rate rose. She tried to look around, frantically trying to spot whatever was trying to call to her.

'Go away!'

She gripped her head in panic, trying to fight the voices she was hearing. Her chest became tight and she started to find very difficult to breathe.

'Come my queen!'

Before Kari could have a chance to fight whatever it was, everything went black.

TK swerved between students as he powerwalked down the hall. He had just finished his lesson; though he couldn't even remember the content that was covered because his mind was preoccupied. He couldn't stop worrying about his best friend after he commanded her to go and get some rest.

It was exactly like the time she was disappearing in class. She acted very distant, found it hard to concentrate in class and was just not herself. It scared him to think that the ocean might be bothering her again, but he also felt a little bit of hurt and anger because she refused to let him help her. If only she would open up.

He began to notice some students jog past him. He then noticed a huge crowd of students gathered at the top of the stairs that led to the lower floor, most of them whispering and gasping at something that he couldn't see.

Intrigued, the blonde pushed his way through the crowd to see what everyone was looking at. When he reached the front of the crowd and looked down, his face paled.

"KARI!" he screamed as he leaped down the stairs. At the bottom of them lay the brunette girl, unconscious with some other students crowded around her. Once TK reached the bottom, he fell to his knees to try and get a good look at her. He cradled her head gently with his hand only to feel a slight wetness.

He panicked slightly when he saw the small pool of blood beneath where her head had been. He whipped his head to face the nearest student, begging to tell him what had happened.

"She-she just fell unconscious on the stairs. She-she must've hit her head on the way d-down."

This wasn't good. TK knew he had to get to her to the hospital as soon as possible. He yelled for someone to call an ambulance.

He tried to wake her up- but stopped in fear when he noticed parts of body starting to phase in and out of focus.

She was disappearing again.

'Where am I?'

Kari groaned as she started to become aware of her surroundings. The first thing she registered was just how cold she was, a chill shooting through her body, goose bumps rising on her skin. The last thing she remembered was walking down the stairs and then…nothing but blackness.

She slowly opened her eyes to find nothing but grey, the land so desolate and bleak, but very familiar to the young brunette.

She jolted upright when she became aware of where she was.

'Not again!'

She tried to remain calm; panicking wouldn't help in this situation but the fright she felt before began to creep back. This place, so dreary and full of darkness, was the stuff of nightmares, and Kari knew too well just how frightening this place was.

She felt the damp sand beneath her and could see the ocean expanding into the horizon, but no signs of the dark creatures that resided here that tried to abduct her before.

'It's just a dream, that's all it is, just a dream. Nothing can hurt you.' She chanted in her head over and over again.

She closed her eyes tightly and stayed like that for a few seconds. When she opened them again, she hoped she would be back in school, but the dreary ocean was still in her sight. Her heart rate sped up and she began to feel nauseous.

"No no no no no no no!" she cried out, her hands digging into the sand as she tried to regain some sort of sanity.

Suddenly, the ocean waters rippled in front of her. The same black figures from her nightmares emerged from the water; their eyes glowing and heading straight towards her.

"Our queen has returned." Their voices hissed, sending shivers down her spine. She tried to look around for an escape route, but there was nothing but sand around her; and this wasn't a dream either.

Kari tried to stand up from the ground, but she was frozen in fear. The figures closed in on her. Kari stared up at the blackness surrounded; her body shaking as she felt the breath of the creatures down her neck.

"What..what do you want with me?" she asked in a brittle voice; which did a good job in conveying her fear to the enemy. She felt very vulnerable right now.

She jumped when one of the creatures grabbed her arm and forced her to stand. Her legs felt unsteady as her body was still shaking, and she felt too weak to fight them off.

"Our master wants us to bring you to his domain." The voices hissed around her. She wished Gatomon were here with her, that way she had a slight chance to fight off this creatures, but she was here on her own; and she wasn't strong enough.

"Come."

She was shoved forward at the command and was forced to walk towards the water. She panicked as she got closer to the water; the thought of drowning making her body tremble. Before they touched the water, the corrupt figures managed to forge a protective bubble around them; allowing them to walk into the water without Kari drowning.

She didn't know where she was going but she kept quiet the whole time.

She didn't know how long they had been walking or even how it happened; but she soon found herself walking through a dark hall. She didn't even how there could even be a place like this under the ocean but somehow it was.

The place was just as dark as the ocean itself; she could sense the darkness strongly in this place due to the power of her crest. She felt like she was suffocating in this place; the darkness was definitely taking its toll on her.

She dragged her feet down the hallway until she reached a set of double doors. Some of the corrupt digimon went forward and hissed something too low for her to hear. Suddenly, the doors creaked open; allowing her to look into a massive room. It was huge; the walls were plain and there were only a few candles lit up; giving off a faint glow in the room. It was still hard to see her surroundings; everything was just so dark.

She was suddenly shoved forward by the creatures and she fell to her knees; her body still too unstable for her to stand on her feet. She glanced ahead of her but nothing but darkness greeted her.

Suddenly, the room went extremely cold; almost like a menacing presence had just entered the room. The creatures behind her started to hiss and whisper excitedly amongst themselves, but Kari was to focussed on the chill to even try and make out what they were saying.

"Finally, my Queen has returned."

Kari recognised that voice. It was the same voice that tried to take her in her dreams; the voice of the master of this realm. She remembered the last nightmare she had where she managed to gaze upon the master.

Darkness began to swirl in front of her, taking shape of the towering monster that haunted her dreams. She recognised the menacing red eyes that she saw in her nightmare from the previous night. Her stomach was doing somersaults due to fright, making her nauseous and almost like she was about to pass out.

Keeping her eyes on the monsters, she gathered a little of her strength to talk.

"What do y-you want with m-me?" she stuttered and silently cursed how weak her voice sounded, cursed at her lack of strength to fight off the monsters behind and cursed at how weak she actually was.

The master roared with laughter, the sound reverberating throughout the room they were in. Kari winced at the sound, feeling extremely intimidated by the monster in front of her.

"I want you as my Queen. With your power, I can rule both the real world and the Digital world."

The brunette was suddenly jerked up onto her feet, finding herself trapped as two of the corrupt digimon held onto one arm each. The Chosen of Light started to thrash in panic, trying her hardest to escape from the monsters' grip, but to no avail. They held onto her arms tight- there was no escape for her.

The master of the realm inched forward towards Kari. The limited light source within the room still managed to illuminate the monster, allowing Kari to make out the bluish colour of its skin. His body was made almost entirely of tentacles, some bound down by huge rings- almost creating the illusion of legs. He had small wings protruding from his back and large, sharp teeth.

Kari swallowed down the bile that was rising from her stomach. Never had she felt so sick with fear.

"But first, I must eradicate your Light."

Kari's eyes widened when she noticed trials of darkness flow from the monster in front of her slowly creep towards her. She tried to fight back, thrashing and twisting her body to loosen the corrupt digimon's grip on her arms, but it was no use. They were just too strong.

She screamed. The darkness slithered up her legs and continued upwards. Kari started to feel some pain from being touched by the darkness; and the further it went up, the more intense the pain.

Her legs collapsed beneath her but she was still being held up by the digimon. The darkness now twisted around her neck and head. It felt like there were claws clutching at her head, almost like the monster in front of her was invading her mind. She felt sharp pains; like the claws were sinking into her head and she continued to scream. It felt like her mind was on fire.

She realised now that the darkness was trying to take over her mind. She tried to use the power of her crest to push back the darkness, but slowly the light was burning out. The pain was getting to much. The claws were sinking further and further into her head, trying to smother the light she held inside.

"Now, submit to the darkness!"

All of a sudden, there was white hot pain as the darkness finally smothered the last of her light. The grip on her mind got too unbearable; the pressure was too much.

SNAP

Then there was nothing but darkness. Kari's eyes dulled as she stared ahead. Her body slumped forward.

The last of her Light was gone.

Keep an eye out for chapter 2 later on today!