"You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun."-Shaun Hick
Taichi and Agumon had only walked for a few minutes before a dark, well, darker, shadow passed over head. "Oh now what?" Taichi gasped.
"Up there!" Agumon shouted.
A black bird circled overhead. Taichi held his digivice, "Can you evolve again?"
Agumon shook his head. "Not for a while yet!"
"What? What do you mean?"
"I just don't have the energy!"
Taichi swallowed, "Then run!"
They darted across the sand, but the bird easily overtook them. It dropped to the ground inches in front of them. Both human and digimon fell onto their rears and stared at the bird's mouth full of razor teeth.
"Hold Sabirdramon," a voice called. The bird dropped its head and Taichi could now see there was a teenage girl on its back. She had short orange hair and wore a suit of dark armor. She dropped off of the bird's back and pulled a short sword from her side.
"I am Sora Takenouchi, captain of her majesty's guards. Who are you and what are you doing in the Dark Ocean?"
The Dead Princess
Chapter 2
Princess Hikari, the Undead Ruler
The girl held up her sword as her partner leaned forward, displaying it's row of sharp teeth. "Well? Who are you?"
Taichi waved his hands in front of him. "Just chill out! My name is…"
"Step into the light," she ordered.
The Sabirdramon roared and Taichi and Agumon ran into the moonlight. The girl's eyes shot open and the sword fell from her hand. "No!"
Taichi glanced at Agumon, who only shrugged. "Got me."
The human took a step towards the girl. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Y-yes. I am. I…" She gasped and grabbed her sword again. "Don't move!"
Taichi held up his hands. "Okay! Okay."
"What is your name?"
"Taichi, all right? My name is Taichi Yagami."
She took a step forward so she was visible in the moonlight. She turned her head slightly, as if she wanted him to get a good look at her face. "And?"
"And what?"
The Sabirdramon made a noise that was not quite a growl, but Taichi could not describe it any other way. Sora nodded. "Yes, I agree."
"What did she say?" Agumon asked.
"Quiet!" Sora barked.
Taichi blinked. "She? How can you tell that?"
Agumon stared back. "You can't?"
"No!"
The dinosaur sighed. "Well, boys have a p…"
"I know that!" Taichi snapped.
Agumon motioned to Sora. "How did you know she was a girl?"
"Because it's obvious that under that armor she has boobs…"
"Both of you be quiet!" Sora snapped. She pointed at Taichi with her sword. "You! How did you get here?"
Her eyes were as red as her hair; probably not a good idea to test her patience. "I don't know. We were in this forest," he said as he looked at Agumon.
The dinosaur nodded quickly.
"Forest," Taichi continued, "And we were attacked by these two humans who said they were part of the Digital Army and then this stone started glowing…."
"The Digital Army?" Sora asked, "They attacked you?"
Both human and digimon nodded.
"Why?"
"I don't know. They just showed up!"
"How long have you been in the Digital World?"
"I just got here! I was at the D-1 Grand Prix, and then there was this light and then I was in that forest and…"
Sora stared for another moment before lowering her sword. "You activated the entrance gate by accident it seems." She dropped her weapon into the sheath at her side, "But the fact that you just entered the Digital World and already came here can't be mere chance."
The Sabirdramon made the same non-growl and shrunk down to a small bird that Taichi recognized as a Piyomon. "Should we take them to the castle?"
"Yes, that's what we'll do," Sora said.
"You can talk?" Taichi gasped.
"Of course," the bird said.
Taichi opened his mouth to continue, but Agumon kicked him in the shin. "That's rude!" he hissed.
Taichi had played the Digimon virtual pets, had loved the card game, the video games, read all the manga, but he was starting to learn that he knew nothing about digimon.
Sora addressed him. "You will come with us and meet the ruler of this area." She turned and began walking, "Follow me."
"I don't know, Taichi," Agumon said, "I've got a bad feeling…"
Sora nodded at her partner, "Yes, Sabirdramon, we will be in time for dinner."
Agumon pulled on his partner's hand, "Come on, don't get left behind!"
AAAAAA
Taichi studied Sora as they walked across the black sand. Her reddish hair ended in near her shoulders, and was a stark contrast to her pale face. Was she sick? Nah, she was walking around just fine. Even though she wore armor, it was nothing like the female armor he had seen in various video games; not that he really expected women in combat to wear that skimpy stuff. Although her arms were bare and her boots covered her dark leggings up to her knees; the torso connected to a metal 'skirt' that ended near her mid thighs, making her look like she was wearing a metal formal dress.
Her eyes darted to him and he looked out over the black water to the sun barely visible behind the thick clouds. "Um, where are we, anyway?"
"This is the Dark Ocean," she answered.
"Are we still in the Digital World?"
"Yes. This place is a sub dimension."
"That we could only enter through that rock in the forest?"
"Correct."
"Why's that?"
"My lady, that is, the ruler of this area can answer that for you," she replied.
Taichi found himself lost in her big brown eyes. "Um, how old are you?"
"16."
"Oh really? So am I. What a coincidence."
She giggled and turned away. Taichi groaned to himself and shook his head. How stupid was that? Two teenagers being the same age? Real world shattering stuff there!
"Taichi!" Agumon gasped, "Look!"
Situated at the end of the beach was a towering cliff on which sat a black, European style castle. Taichi swallowed. "Um, o-okay. How do we get up there?"
Sora pointed to a path that twisted up the mountainside. "Follow me."
Taichi was heaving by the time they reached the summit. "No wonder it's up here," he panted, "Any army on foot'd be dead by the time they got up here."
Sora smiled. "Yes, I am impressed. You know more strategy then…"
Taichi was sure that a little red appeared in her pale white cheeks. "Then who?"
Sora spoke to two Devidramon standing guard outside the gates. "Let us in."
The roared and the wooden doors swung open. Sora opened her mouth but Taichi just said, "Yeah, I know, follow you."
Sora giggled again.
AAAAAAAA
A Floramon, but one who had a darker color than normal brought Taichi and Agumon to a guest room. Agumon hopped onto the bed. "Well, this isn't that bad."
Taichi shook his head. "Something strange is going on here. What do you know about the Dark Ocean?"
"Just rumors really," he said, "That it belonged to an evil digimon name Dagomon a long time ago, but nothing more than that."
There was a knock on the door and Sora stepped inside. She had removed her armor and was wearing a sleeveless shirt tied around the waist, giving her another 'dress' like look, and dark green leggings. "Her majesty will see you now."
"Doesn't a low ranking servant usually do this?" Taichi asked as he and Agumon stepped through the door.
"Yes," she answered, "But you are no ordinary guest."
Sora brought him to a room he expected: a large room with a tall throne at the far end. Taichi followed her down the dark red carpet to the raised platform. Sora bowed. "My lady, I present Taichi Yagami."
A teenage girl, slightly younger than either Taichi or Sora sat on the throne. She was pale, even paler than Sora, with short brown hair and piercing brown eyes. She wore a long black dress cut low near the top of her breasts, along with a black cape, lined red on the inside. On her head was a dirty gold crown.
She stared at Taichi, but just like Sora before, almost seemed to be waiting until he studied her face before speaking. Unlike Sora there was something about her, something her could not identify, but something there.
"Greetings, Taichi," she smiled, "Welcome to the Dark Ocean."
Taichi's mouth was dry. "Who are you?"
The girl in black smiled. "My name is Hikari, but you may call me the Dead Princess."
They continued to stare at each other. "Am I familiar to you?" she asked.
Taichi stared for a long while before shaking his head. "No, no I guess not."
"And my name?"
"No."
She smiled again. "Then I suppose you do not know me. Where should I begin?"
"How about your title?" Agumon blurted. Taichi had forgotten he was there.
"Ah, yes." She sighed, "This will not come easy, but, it's not really accurate."
Taichi let out the breath he was holding; he was sure she was going to say that she was a zombie or something.
"I'm a vampire, so Undead would be the better term. I suppose the Chosen Masters didn't think it had the same evilness to it."
Taichi sweated. "V-vampire?"
Hikari pulled back her lips to reveal two sharp, glistening fangs.
The boy whirled to Sora, who was displaying her own set of teeth
"That would explain why you two look like you haven't been in the sun in years," he muttered. Then he gasped and his hands flew to the sides of his neck.
Hikari giggled. "Don't worry, we haven't ever drank the blood of living creatures. We strictly get our blood from manipulated digital data." She frowned, "Becoming this was not our intention." Her long nails, like talons, curled into a fist. "I hate what I've become."
How could someone look so deathly and yet have such sadness in their eyes? "Can I help?" Taichi asked.
Hikari nodded. "I think you can, yes." She took another breath, "Do you remember a Parrotmon attack in Hikarigaoka almost ten years ago?"
He shook his head. "I'm sure I would have remembered that."
"Then you are not from our Earth," she replied, "As more and more Chosen enter the Digital World, we've discovered that there are multiple Earths, alternate dimensions parallel timelines."
Her smile returned, "There may be another version of you with a V-dramon as a partner. I don't know why, but I picture you with a cape, or a different version with a Greymon as a partner but only one Digital World tying them all together."
"How's that possible?"
She shrugged. "All we know is it exists."
He look to Sora, "So you're both from the same Earth?"
Sora nodded and Hikari continued, "In our Earth, there were seven Chosen Children that entered the Digital World from their summer camp. They fought various digimon until encountering an evil, demonic Virus named Myotismon. He was obsessed with finding the prophesied Eighth Chosen Child, the Child of Light, me. He managed to come to Earth and destroyed so many lives that I had no choice but to give myself up to him. To my horror, he didn't kill me, he turned me into what you see before you. With his mission complete, he killed my family and brought me back to the Digital World."
Agumon gasped and Taichi hissed. His mind raced. "Is that…that all he did?"
She looked away. "He not only made me a vampire, he tried to break me, countless times over countless years. He made me his princess." She gave a bitter laugh, "Not even worthy enough to be his queen."
Taichi's fists clenched. That bastard! Not only destroying her innocence, but also turning the light into darkness. "How long were you his prisoner?"
She smiled again. "While I was still his prisoner, he decided I needed another human here to keep me company. So, in a twisted moment of compassion, he found Sora and made her a vampire as well."
Taichi looked to Sora, who nodded. "Yes. I was forced to become her handmaiden, her bodyguard." She sighed and stared at her feet, "We were both taken away from our family, our friends…"
"But to answer your question," Hikari interrupted, "Two years. We were both his prisoner for two years. That was when the other Chosen finally found us and their leader destroyed Myotismon forever."
"They couldn't save you?" Agumon asked.
She shook her head. "Their leader thought that destroying Myotismon would change us back, but it seemed that the rules of vampires in all the old stories didn't apply here."
"Why not?" Taichi asked.
She frowned again. "Because while Sora and I had been prisoners of Myotismon in his own area, the rest of the Digital World had been conquered by a group of digimon calling themselves the Dark Masters."
Agumon shivered, "I've heard stories about them."
"They were every bit as true as you thought," Hikari said, "The Chosen had managed to defeat them, but in an effort to gain more power they took the Digitamas of the Dark Masters and used them as power sources. They became corrupted by their own greed!"
Taichi blinked. "O-okay, so the Chosen Children used the power of the evil Dark Masters for themselves?"
"Yes. The only one who would not take that power was their leader. When they finally came for us, it was not to save us, but to destroy Myotismon's empire, and all within in."
She held her breath and Taichi guessed it was to stop from crying. "The only one who tried to save us was their leader, my older brother."
"Your brother?" Taichi gasped.
"But after he destroyed Myotismon, Yamato Ishida betrayed him and killed him. I had waited for two long years for my brother to save me, and when he finally did, he was killed right in front of my eyes."
"Damn it," he said in a soft voice, "That really. I mean, I'm sorry."
Hikari continued, "Yamato Ishida took command of the remaining Chosen and they renamed themselves the Chosen Masters. They recruited other Chosen into their Digital Army and began to conquer the Digital World. When Sora and I opposed them, we were banished to the Dark Ocean. Here we have been quietly gaining an army to march against the Chosen Masters. That was four years ago."
"Four years? Why haven't you done anything yet?" he asked.
"Because of the power of the Dark Masters' Digitamas. While the Chosen Masters draw strength from it, it also acts as a seal, binding us here. Sora and some other servants are able to travel to the main Digital World and back, I am trapped here. We could send our army through the exit gate, but it would require going through one at a time. It would take centuries."
Taichi nodded. "Yeah, I get it. So I take it you want me to help you get rid of the chosen Masters?"
She nodded and her dead eyes seemed to twinkle. "Would you?"
He shrugged. "If they're as evil as you say. Plus those two Digital Army goons were ready to fight me without question." He looked to Agumon, "What do you think?"
He nodded. "I hate what the Chosen Masters are doing. Plus I've always wanted to be a hero."
Taichi grinned and looked to Hikari. "Yeah, I'm your hero."
Hikari grinned again and giggled. "Thank you, thank you so much."
"So what do I need to do?"
She frowned again, "It would have been easier had you come at the beginning of the Chosen Masters' reign, but three years ago, a Chosen calling himself the Digimon Kaiser arose. He had developed horrible technology, Black Rings, that allowed him to control digimon like mindless slaves. He also constructed Black Towers that stopped evolution in their vicinity."
Taichi nodded. "Okay, but what has that got to do with…?"
"The Kaiser was quickly defeated," Hikari continued, "But his Black Tower technology was taken by the Chosen Masters and implemented in the strongholds that contain the Dark Masters' Digitamas. In order to destroy those towers, and then destroy the Digitamas, you will need to free Ken Ichijoji, the Digimon Kaiser, from his prison and convince him to help you."
Taichi nodded again. "Okay, I think I've got it. Um, one more thing. What was your brother's name?"
Her eyes seemed to flash for a moment. "Kamiya. His name was Kamiya."
Taichi smirked, "Then I'm going to enjoy paying Yamato Ishida back for him."
Hikari smiled. "Good." She motioned to Sora, "She will go with you and help you assemble a team. Good luck. The entire Digital World is counting on you."
"We'll try our best," Agumon said.
Hikari motioned with her hand again, and another dark colored Floramon appeared. "Escort him back to his room."
Agumon raised his hand. "Um, not to be rude, but we were promised dinner…"
Hikari smiled, "And see that the kitchen prepares a feast."
Taichi and Agumon cheered as they exited the room. "All right!"
Once the door had been shut, Sora turned to Hikari, "You didn't tell him?"
She shook her head. "I think it would be easier for him to do what needs to be done without knowing."
Sora nodded. "As you wish, my lady."
To be continued…
Next: Taichi and Sora enter a village where digimon battle for sport to recruit a powerful Chosen, but when the Digital Army shows up, will she join them? Chapter 3: Ruki Makino, the Digimon Battle Queen!