CHAPTER 4

POWER EXPLAINED

"And that's what happened."

"I can't believe you were attacked."

"I just don't get how Veemon did that?"

Veemon heard voices. He opened his eyes and saw Davis, Gatomon and the other Digidestined around him. "Where am I?" he asked and stood up. He was lying on a steel table.

"Full Metal City." said a voice. Veemon looked around and saw Gennai with Andromon beside him.

"Why am I here?" asked Veemon.

"After the battle with Gaiomon, I told Davis and the others what happened." said Gatomon. Veemon saw her bandaged foot. "We didn't know what was wrong with you so we asked Gennai."

"You look fine to me." Davis said.

"We'll see about that." Gennai said. "Please lie down so we can figure out what is wrong with you."

Veemon followed and lay down. Andromon began typing into a computer. The ceiling opened up and a machine descended from it. The machine shot out a straight red line scanned Veemon's body. After Veemon was scanned several times the machine went back into the ceiling.

"Now, let's see…" said Andromon as he continued to type with Gennai beside him. Veemon sat up and watched.

"Oh my-"Gennai said after a while with wide eyes.

"What is it Gennai?" Kari asked.

"You all have to see it to believe it." he replied.

Startled, Veemon and the rest of the Digidestined ran over to the monitor. On it was an outline of Veemon's body. There was what looked like a small black cloud in the chest area.

"What is that thing?" Yolei exclaimed.

"Is that thing inside me?" Veemon asked.

"Yes. I'm trying to find out what it is." Andromon said as he began typing again. Eventually his eyes widened in shock and so did Gennai's.

"It's…It's…" he muttered.

"What is it?" Davis asked.

Andromon turned to the anxious Digidestined before saying: "It's…a…soul."

The silence that followed this was broken by Veemon.

"A soul?" he said.

"Yes, a small fragment of it. One completely independent from yours." Gennai said. "And it's growing, slowly but it's growing." Gennai added causing everyone to gasp. "Andromon, do you know whose soul it is?"

"Yes. I can get an image of whoever owns this soul." Andromon began typing again. On the monitor appeared the image of someone in pitch black robes.

"The Dark Being!" they all cried.

"Yes and it looks like the powers Veemon possesses are probably a side effect from it." Gennai said.

"Wait, I thought you beat him Veemon." Armadillomon said.

"I did." Veemon said.

"He must have transferred a portion of to soul to you before that." Gennai said.

"I don't even remember the Dark Being having that power." Ken said.

"When I fought him he said he had new powers. I guess soul transferring was one of them." Veemon explained.

"But when did he do it?" asked Patamon and they all started to think.

"Hey, remember his last moments?" Gatomon said. "Before he collapsed, he struck out his hand at Veemon."

"Yeah, that must have been the moment when he did it." Cody said.

"So it's because of the fragment of the Dark Being's soul inside me that I can do this?"Veemon said as he pointed his finger at Davis. At the flick of a finger, Davis found himself floating in midair.

"Whoa!" he cried as he was tossed around a few times while everyone else laughed.

"No, stop!" Gennai shouted. Veemon lowered his arm and Davis fell to the ground with a thud.

"Why'd you stop him?" Davis asked as he got up.

"It's a lot worse than I thought." Andromon said.

"What do you mean?" Wormmon asked.

"It looks like every time Veemon uses those powers, the Dark Being's soul grows faster." Andromon explained and he turned to Veemon. "Has anything else connected to the Dark Being happened to you?"

"Yeah." Veemon replied. "I had a nightmare recently and he was in it. So what happens if the soul keeps growing?"

Andromon looked grim as he said: "Eventually, the soul will be large enough to…posses you." Everyone looked shocked. "He will take over your body and do whatever he wants with it."

Now, Veemon was more scarred than ever before. He looked at those around him, the ones who might get hurt if he does get possessed, and saw that they were just as frightened as he was.

Meanwhile…

A large computer screen flashed numerous streams of data. Sitting in front of it and typing on the keyboard was Craniamon. He seemed to be analyzing something.

He heard footsteps and stood up to find out their owner.

"Lord Gaiomon." Craniamon said as he bowed to his master.

"What are you doing?" Gaiomon asked.

"I am in the middle of analyzing data from my past experiments. I plan to conduct another experiment in a few weeks. But my lord, why are you here?"

"I come with great news Craniamon. Your theory was correct; he has the Dark Being's soul inside him."

"My theories are always right." Craniamon said proudly.

"Then you know what to do?" Gaiomon asked.

"Yes my lord.

"What about the device I instructed you to make?"

"It is in here my lord." Craniamon took out a small box and handed it to Gaiomon. "It has yet to be tested so I recommend that it be used as a last resort."

"Very well then." began Gaiomon. "I have to tell the others about this great news."

He walked away clutching the device and Craniamon went back to his analysis.