Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Sometimes I wonder whether or not I even own my own ideas. I mean, don't I just synthesize what I see, hear, and read into something else? Food for thought.

Chapter 4: No Thanks for the Memories

"How's he doing?" Takuya asked, impatiently. After Kouji fainted at the Himi house, the Fire Warrior had rushed him to the infirmary in the Digitizer department of Fractal HQ. About five hours had passed without word of the raven.

"His condition has stabilized, but he's still in a lot of pain. Regular anesthetics aren't working. We are trying our best to develop an antidote. Unfortunately, we have never come across this poison before, so it might take a while," the doctor replied.

Takuya scowled. "I'll wait here then."

The doctor said, "That won't be necessary. Mr. Minamoto's appointed guardian shall be arriving shortly."

"Lady Fan Ting's coming? The Celestial Warrior?" was the gogglehead's shocked reply.

"The one and only."

Xxx

"Are you sure about this?" Zoe asked. "There is no turning back." After Takuya's hurried departure, the wind and thunder users had been left to tie up loose ends.

"Wouldn't you kill me otherwise? That's what Takuya said." Tommy's face remained expressionless. Forming a contract with an Ice Mon definitely helped him in dealing with emotional matters such as these. The old sayings about hearts made of ice did hold merit after all.

"True. Especially so now that you've formed a contract with a Mon. It's far too dangerous to let someone like you to roam free," J.P. asserted. "However, as a Warrior, you will soon come to realize that there are worse things in this world than death. You might regret it, kid." The older boy pulled out a thin hexagon-shaped slab of plastic from his coat pocket. With a few swipes, a holographic screen appeared. He began typing furiously away at the blue keypad with his left hand.

"When someone joins Fractal, he must cut all ties that he had to his previous life. Friends, family, anyone who knew about his association with Mon-they must all have their memories erased," Zoe recited. "I've been doing this for years, but this is still one of the worst parts of the job." The blonde stepped up to the unconscious members of the Himi family and retrieved a rectangular device from the folds of her clothing. One by one, she sprayed their exposed Kodes with a brown mist.

"What's that?" Tommy asked, gesturing at the canister.

"A chemical used to wipe memories. Our scientist guys made it from some kind of forgetfulness mushroom." Zoe returned the object back to its compartment.

A loud "click" sounded from J.P.'s direction as his keyboard powered down. He gazed somberly at their newest member. "As of 3.5 seconds ago, Tomoki Himi no longer exists in this world. All records and memories of you have been deleted."

"Now is your chance to start completely anew. You can keep your old name or choose something completely different. I changed my name from Izumi to Zoe when I joined."

"And I use a variant of my given name. It went from Junpei to J.P."

The addressed boy carefully considered his seniors' words. "I want to be Tommy Himi. Permanently," he added.

The veteran agents smiled. "Welcome to Fractal, Tommy." They pulled him into a bone-crushing embrace.

Xxx

Burning. Everything was burning. The fire was consuming him. Eating him alive. Robbing him of essential oxygen. His very soul was tearing itself apart from the inside out.

Amidst the overwhelming agony, Kouji was hit with a sharp sense of recognition. The pain was familiar. It was the same one that he endured all of those years ago. This was the substance that he had used.

***flashback***

"Trying to escape again, are we? My, my. Little boys should behave. Did your mother not teach you anything?" a deep male voice chastised. He raised his finger to his temple in thought. "Aaah, right. I forgot," he smirked.

Kouji tensed. "How dare he insult our dead mother? I'm gonna kill him..." the child thought. Two arms strained feebly against the shackles keeping him dangling from the ceiling. Rusty metal chains bit through papery thin skin and sunk mercilessly into the bone. Any semblance of flesh had long wasted away from lack of nourishment, thus amplifying the pain tenfold.

"In any event, naughty little boys must be disciplined." A steel needle glinted ominously in the dim light.

Kouji's eyes widened in trepidation. "No, not that. Anything but that," the sea blue orbs pleaded. But it came anyway. The sharp point pierced his exposed neck, unleashing its hellish contents into his bloodstream. If he had not been hanging two feet from the ground by his wrists, he would have punched his tormentor. As it were, he involuntarily doubled backwards in white-hot agony. The vertical chains swung back with his body and oscillated forward again. The repetitive movements made the child dizzy, adding nausea to the poison's effects. He did not have the chance to catch his breath before another wave of pain washed over him, slamming every cell of his being with the force of ten thousand pins. Every new onslaught proved more excruciating than the last.

"You know," the man grabbed the suffering raven's face between his bony fingers. He caressed the fringe of the duct tape covering the boy's mouth. "There's a reason why I silenced you this way. First, it prevents you from screaming properly. Screaming can be considered to be a coping mechanism for pain, so taping your mouth shut ensures that you feel the full brunt of the Sting Venom. Second, it keeps you from breathing through your mouth. Do you feel it, my dear boy? The searing sensation building in your chest as your lungs fight desperately for oxygen that never comes?"

The scientist only received a weak shudder in response. Between the poison, motion sickness, and lack of air, Kouji was barely conscious. His tormentor cackled before releasing the boy from his shackles. The same cold hands yanked tape off of his mouth as he crashed to the floor. Turning to his side, the raven alternated between choking on bile and gasping for oxygen. The room faded in and out of focus.

"Let this be a lesson to you. You best do what I say because no matter what you do, where you go, or who you hide behind, you can never escape me. I will always find you."

***end flashback***

Trembling, Kouji woke with a heart-wrenching scream. A woman with long blonde hair rushed to his bedside, bowl of cold water in hand. She wore a green version of the standard Warrior uniform. The colored outfit suggested that she was one of the highest-ranked Fractal agents. Warm arms wrapped around his shaking form. "Are you okay, honey?" Lady Fan Ting asked. It had been years since her charge displayed such raw fear.

The blue-haired teen swallowed hard. "It was him. He found me."

A/N: Hehe. Back to my normal short chapters! My sister throws a fit because her chapters average about 3x as many words as mine. She's on this site too, but she writes for a different fandom. Anyways, this has been one of my favorite chapters by far. It's mainly Kouji-centered! We finally get some backstory on our main character. Yay! Unfortunately, Kouji doesn't talk to me as much as Takuya, so somehow Takuya ended up monopolizing most of the story thus far. I hope to turn that around, but Kouji's just not cooperating. (sigh) On another note, thank you to all who have reviewed, read, favorited or alerted. You make my day. I hope that you continue to offer me support. I really want to know what you think of these new developments. Until next time. :)