Author's Note: First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long to update this. I've been really busy with the end of school, and I'd been lacking inspiration for awhile.
Also, this chapter is rather long, so hopefully that makes up for my absence. Now that I'm out of school, however, updates should be happening more frequently. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, and left feedback! I really appreciate it.
Finally, the rating might change in future chapters, for violence, and sexual implications. Nothing graphic, but the material presented might not suit anything less than a mature rating.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, or its characters, just as much as I don't own the concept of the labyrinth, or any of the ideas I've incorporated from the sources I've already mentioned. This was written for recreational purposes only.
She opened her eyes to an obstructed landscape. Everything around her spoke of agony, disarray. The trees bent forward as though burdened with the weight of the world. Bruised plants all around her seemed to mutely cry out in pain. Kari gasped at the sight of it all. Everything around her seemed corrupted, tainted. As she lifted herself off her back, she caught a better look at the soiled scenery around her.
Was that blood? She quickly hurried to her feet to examine the stained ground closer. Much to her dismay, she found the telling, dried brown pool all too real. She turned away, disgusted. What had happened here? And, even more importantly, where, exactly, was "here?"
She started at the crude sound of a savage bird. She clamped her hands over her mouth, trying to silence herself lest whatever had made that awful noise took notice of her presence. She was marooned, cut off from the world in malignant forest. She struggled not to cry. She was a strong girl, she could make it through this. Internally, she acknowledged that it was just a lie. She longed for someone-TK, Gatomon, Tai-anyone at all. She'd never before felt so alone.
She tried to focus. She needed to be alert. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know how she had gotten there, and she didn't know what was to happen to her now. She felt powerless, and bleak. "Get a grip." She muttered to herself, trying desperately to increase her confidence. She couldn't afford such paranoia and trepidation. Her life could quite possibly be on the line.
Still, the bleak scene around her did little to soothe her frayed nerves, alert and prone to panicking should anything else disturbing decide to intrude upon the broken landscape before her. She frowned sadly. Who could do such a terrible thing? Clearly, blood, perhaps something more, had been shed here. For what purpose, she did not know, but she was positive that it was not a pleasant one. The pacifist within her wept at the horrid imagery around her. The scattered branches and twigs seemed like severed limbs to her. The mud and uprooted soil pooled like shed blood within her mind. War. Decimation. Violence. Everything about this place screamed of untold horrors.
She found herself kneeling down beside one lone flower a moment later. The only evidence of life for miles around, it seemed, caught up within the midst of garish ruin. Kari gazed upon it despondently. It was a pretty thing, with pearly white petals and a golden core. It held the elegance of a tulip, with its picturesque petals, and yet it also seemed as dualistic as the rose. On the one hand, it was a beautiful piece of nature. On the other, its stem was covered by thorns, short, yet sharp, like waiting daggers. It was unlike any flower she had ever seen before. She couldn't help but watch it, mesmerized by how pure it seemed in contrast with the disaster surrounding it. How much longer until its petals succumbed to the atrocities of whatever chaos had ruined the environment around her? How long did this fragile creature have until it, too, lost its life to brute violence?
"Kari?" She started, jumping up from her position, absolutely stunned. She knew that voice anywhere. It sounded like…but it couldn't be! Surely, she was dreaming. It had been so long since she had last seen her old friend. Could it be?
"Gatomon!" She felt a smile, somewhat strained, stretch itself across her face at the sight of the feline digimon, otherwise known as one of her closest friends. "I can't believe it's really you! It seems like it's been forever since I last saw you!" She bent down to sweep up her partner into a tight embrace. It struck her suddenly that she must be in the Digital World.
"Kari!" The somewhat vertically challenged creature couldn't help but smile back. "Oh, you don't know how much I've missed you! The Digiworld's a mess, and I thought I was a goner, but then-" The pace of her voice had increased with each word she spoke.
"Whoa, slow down!" Kari interrupted; releasing the creature from her embrace and helping her back the ground. "Why don't you start from the beginning and just tell me everything?"
Gatomon sighed. "Well, it's a long story, so it might take me awhile but-"
Kari shook her head. "I don't care. There has to be some sort of explanation for this." She gestured to the practically barren area around them. "There's a reason I'm back in the Digital World again, and I know I can rely on you to tell me about what's going on." She looked at her digimon pointedly.
"Well, alright, but, I'm warning you, it's a pretty lengthy tale." Kari met her feline friend's gaze, noticing that the former, fiery spirit that had resided there seemed to have been extinguished. She wondered what had happened to dampen Gatomon's character so.
"But first, I've got a surprise for you!" A weak, though genuine, smile shone in the midst of the cat's grim composure. "Trust me." She turned, falling onto all fours, nodding her head, indicating that Kari should follow.
"Where are we going?" The bearer of light questioned as she followed the digimon into what seemed like an even thicker darkness. She couldn't control the shivers that slithered their way down her spine. Fear crawled along her skin like some kind of insect with multiple legs.
"Not too far." Gatomon replied casually as they continued along. Kari refrained from commenting further, fully trusting her partner's judgment as they traveled onwards, blanketed by a comfortable sort of silence. Soon enough, they broke through a patch of trees, emerging into some sort of clearing. In the middle of it stood a rather pathetic looking house of rotting wood and not much else. If she squinted, it seemed to resemble a tree house that had just taken a tumble from the highest of branches. She wondered what of interest could possibly reside within the decaying structure.
"Is this what you wanted to show me, Gatomon?" Kari asked, skeptical. Apart from the strange, tiny little house, there remained nothing in the area that seemed of much importance.
"Hmm, nope." She shook her head in response. "Wait here. I'll be back in a second!"
---
He awoke to a strange spectacle before him. Tenacious tides of thick, dark waters crept up and around his form, almost as if they were reaching for him. Fog as thick as smoke imprisoned him from the rest of the world. He shuddered on instinct. The Dark Ocean. Ken bolted up immediately, panic clinging to him like sickly tendrils of steam. What could the world of darkness possibly want with him now?
He fought to contain the bile rising within his throat. Here he was, caught up within a universe he had never wanted to see again. What force could have dragged him back there now, he wondered, stumbling forward, just out of the grisly tides garish reach.
Everything about the Dark Ocean frightened the living hell out of him. He'd seen the extent of which its true horrors could reach first hand, having been a victim of darkness himself. He'd witnessed Kari's own struggles with the gruesome place, watched as even light became susceptible to crude corruption. Standing there now, it felt like he would never escape his demons. He tried to suppress the trembling rage rising up within him.
He shivered as a bitter cold descended upon his skin. The thin material of his outfit did little to protect him from the callous breeze that had swarmed upon him suddenly. Oppressive, like the dominating heat of the desert, the darkness seemed to consume him. He felt as though he were apart of the walking wounded, forever burdened by injuries much more than skin deep.
"Why me? Why now?" He asked of no one in particular. It was just him and the silence. He wanted nothing more than to scream. He wanted to be found, to be saved from such a dismal, awful world. But there was no one there, or so he thought. Then, off in the distance, a sudden movement caught his eye. A figure, human-like, and covered in shadows, walked slowly towards what looked to be a gigantic wall. Wait. A wall?
Recognition didn't so much dawn on him as much as it punched him in the face. He ran towards the stranger, knowing that it had to be either TK or Kari. After hearing their stories respectively, he had always wondered as to the origins of the wall itself. Now, as he grew closer, it finally all made sense. Of course something so powerful as to draw people to it in their dreams would lay in a alternate universe of such a dreary nature.
The off-white hat gave away the figure's identity immediately, as Ken at last covered enough distance between them to see him properly. TK, the crest of hope. He halted, abruptly, as the other boy did the same.
"TK!" He called out to the other digidestined, wondering as to how long the other had been here. It was strange; he had to admit, to see the usually optimistic boy of hope in a place like the Dark Ocean. Personally, he couldn't help but imagine TK as some sort paladin figure, bathed in light, invincible to the cruelties of the darkness. But no, that wasn't right, he reprimanded himself. TK had been exposed to the ways of evil before, especially in his previous trials in the Digital World. He, too, had seen a loved fall to the whims of darkness. Still, it was odd to see him so stoic and still, standing before the wall. He looked as if he hadn't even heard what Ken had just said.
He called out again, but to no avail. Then TK began moving forward. The expression upon his face was a mix of determination and fear. In horror, he watched as his friend fell to his knees, almost as if he were struggling. It appeared as if some other force were propelling him forward, like he had lost control over his body.
Ken, paralyzed by fear, could only watch as a feeble whisper escaped his friend's lips: "No." Something inside him snapped. Instinctively, he knew his friend was deeply in trouble. Ken had to do something to help. He raced forward unabashedly, hoping to reach his friend in time.
He tried calling out his name again, but it was as if the other boy had gone deaf. Much to his dismay, TK had picked himself off the ground, and was now almost within reaching distance of the wall. A shudder slithered down his spine, delicate, yet demanding. Trepidation dictated to him that something horrible was about to take place. That same instinct alerted him to the fact that it would somehow involve TK.
The boy of hope had reached the wall before he'd even gotten the chance to do anything more than scream. Ken helplessly looked on as the contact made between the wall and TK swallowed the aforementioned boy up, quite literally. He felt guilt sink into his blood. He'd let his friend down. He failed as a digidestined…
He opened his eyes to a slightly less dismal environment. Around him, for miles, it seemed, stood an audience of trees, observing his startled performance. He gasped as he realized that it had all been just a dream. Well, more like nightmare, really, but nonetheless, what he'd seen happen had not actually been relief. Which meant that TK was more than likely alright.
He sighed in relief. It had all been just a horrific figment of his vivid imagination. He rose up onto his knees before standing up fully, taking his time to catch up to his racing breath. That was when he decided to focus in around him. Evergreen reality hit him a moment later when he realized that he was, in fact, outdoors, and certainly, nowhere near his home. He felt fear once more take a hold of him violently. Where, exactly, was he?
"Ken?" He almost jumped at the sound of the voice. Pivoting quickly, behind him he saw Kari, along with Gatomon, Patamon, and was that Wizardmon? He did a double take to find that, no, his sight wasn't actually deceiving him. He could only utter one word in response to the bizarre scenario around him: "How?"
"It's a long story." Wizardmon replied, looking at him knowingly. "I'll explain it all later, when we've met up with the rest of the digidestined. For now, all you need to know is that you've all been called back to the Digital World because of a powerful, ancient danger." The mage's purposeful gaze seemed to sear through his confusion as easily as a blade of ice might cut through pliant skin. "I think you know what I'm getting at."
He gasped. "The wall Kari and TK keep seeing?"
Patamon nodded. "Yes. Wizardmon figured out that it's the entrance to a giant labyrinth, made up from the ruins of Nightmare Castle. Something inside there has gathered forces and has enhanced them using some sort of magic."
"Yeah." Gatomon piped in. "It's mostly just rookies and champions, but even the rookies are powerful enough to overcome even a bunch of us together. That's what happened to Patamon and I."
Ken paid rapt attention. The idea of someone enhancing the digimons' power made him ill. It was the exact sort of trick he might have pulled as the Digimon Emperor. He suppressed a shudder at the thought, before responding. "A labyrinth. Huh. Well, it makes sense considering what Yolei said last night."
Kari nodded grimly. "But they haven't been able to pinpoint the location of this labyrinth place yet. Wizardmon figures that the place has an entrance in both this world and another."
He gasped, paling visibly. His "dream." TK. Suddenly, it all made sense. The wall resided in the Dark Ocean, which explained why he'd been able to see what he had-he'd been there before. TK had never been pulled to the Dark Ocean as a victim; he'd gone in only to rescue Kari. Perhaps that was why he'd been so prone to the sinister influences that had forced him through the wall-he was more vulnerable than either Ken or Kari because of his more innocent nature.
"Ken? What's wrong?" Kari asked, concern etched in her frail eyes. Beside her, Gatomon, Patamon, and Wizardmon looked equally as worried. Ken struggled as to whether or not he should give them reason to worry further.
He sighed. He had to tell them. He had no right keeping such important information to himself, especially when it regarded the well being of a very close friend. He spoke sadly, and softly. "It's TK. I…had a vision about the Dark Ocean. He walked right into that wall." He felt paralyzed under their petrified gazes. "I'm afraid that whatever's in that labyrinth now has taken him prisoner, if not worse."
---
A vivid discomfort woke him with a start. He found himself breathing hard, chained to an artic stone wall. He opened his eyes reluctantly. Where the hell was he? TK tried desperately to quell the panic, rising like an epic tidal wave within him. In vain, he glanced about hurriedly, as if he thought the answers could be found on the opposing wall.
He tried moving, only to find that he was bound quite tightly by the steel devices from which he hung against the cold surface of what he imagined was the dungeon of some sort of fortress or palace. "Damn it." He muttered in frustration. He remembered being attacked by a digimon that looked like something out of Greek mythology, and he could recall that this had occurred once he'd been pulled through the monolithic wall.
An abrupt noise intruded upon his dismal thoughts as he contemplated on just how he might escape his current predicament. Much to his chagrin, that same, half-human, half-goat digimon appeared in the doorway, his short form bathed in sickly, yellow light. "The master will see you now."
TK silently cursed himself. Of course. How could he have forgotten? The being had mentioned something about some master or another. He felt all traces of optimism drain from his body, as if some invisible monster was bleeding him dry of all the hope he possessed. He was entirely screwed.
No, stop thinking like that. He reprimanded himself as Panmon strode over and began undoing him from his chains. He couldn't give up hope; after all, it was the very element he embodied. He couldn't let the darkness overcome him. He had to fight his pessimistic tendencies for all it was worth. He was not about to let evil win so easily.
Unfortunately for him, currently, the forces of darkness were winning. He was hefted rather clumsily over the small, yet powerful digimon's shoulder, his hands and legs having been bound by some kind of rope while he was still lost in thought. He'd forgotten completely about this so-called master. Now he was on his way to face some megalomaniac monster who'd decided to include him in his special plans.
"Yes, the master will be most pleased with you." TK imagined Panmon to be smirking gruesomely, like any other generic minion. "It appears that darkness has done little to corrupt you, boy." TK grimaced as he bounced along, in time with the mythical digimon's quick pace. "He'll appreciate that."
So the darkness hadn't corrupted him, as Panmon so aptly put it. So he hadn't succumbed to the likes of the dark spores and transformed into an egocentric Emperor. That didn't mean, by any means, that the darkness hadn't hurt him any less. For the love of God, he'd seen his own brother struggle with his own inner shadows. Sora too. And he would never be able to forget his experience in the Dark Ocean with Kari. It angered him greatly, the digimon's assumptions, almost as much as his experiences with darkness themselves.
But he didn't have the opportunity to voice such an opinion. Before he knew it, they'd arrived in what appeared to be the throne room, or so he assumed, making use of what he'd learned from his humanities classes. From his position atop Panmon's shoulder, TK was left almost breathless at the grandeur of it all. As much as he loathed admitting it, he couldn't not be amazed. The mixed onyx-gray interior looked to be made of some kind of rich marble. The ceiling seemed to rise for miles above, appearing as far away as he imagined heaven to be. Even more impressive than its height was how closely it seemed to resemble the stark beauty of a starless night in all its ebony glory. Meanwhile, intricate images jumped out at him from within the stone of the walls around him, some of which he recognized from the wall just outside the labyrinth. Whoever was behind all this certainly had taste.
"Like what you see?" He started at the sound of the eerily familiar voice just as Panmon decided that now would be a great time to drop him carelessly onto the floor. With an agitated "oomph," TK looked up into the artic eyes of a former foe he had thought that they had finally triumphed over for good.
"Myotismon!" He glared up the aristocratic figure seated elegantly upon a decadent throne. He could hardly believe the sight before him: their old enemy, in his ultimate form. And yet, there he sat, dressed up like a royal soldier in his uniform of cobalt and gold, his trademark, sinister grin plastered upon his pale face. TK thought that, with the defeat of MaloMyotismon the year before, they had finally put the stubborn megalomaniac to rest for good. His vision now told him otherwise.
The vampire just chuckled in response. "Nice to know that you haven't forgotten me, Digidestined." The way his violet lips curled into an arrogant smirk sent waves of anger coursing through the boy slumped upon the elegant floor. That awful laughter still could infuriate him so easily.
"How?" It was the only word he could muster at the moment. In the face of a danger long thought to be exterminated, TK stared long and hard, hoping with all his might to uncover some logical explanation for all of this. After being defeated not just once, but three times, Myotismon had still yet to accept the fact that he would never win.
The evil digimon's garish grin grew further at the question. "Nothing overtly complicated; as I was killed in the digital world, I was reborn into Primary Village." His eyes flashed in amusement, catching sight of the rapid in which TK's face paled.
"But we completely destroyed your data. How is that even possible?" His fists, shaking, clenched at his side in an attempt to reign in his anger. He was horrified, and it showed, he knew. He hated the way he sounded weak, especially before such darkness. It would only serve to further fuel the digimon's ego, thus making him more vulnerable to outbursts of said ego.
"You underestimate my abilities, Digidestined." His gaze, although amused, grew even more artic with each word spoken. "There are ways to get around death, loopholes if you will. A pathetically imbecile human could hardly fathom the extent of which such ancient magic works."
TK growled. "What do you want with me if I'm so 'pathetic' then? What do you want with Kari?"
The vampire laughed, glancing at his hands as though he were bored. "You really are very ignorant. As my strength is the darkness, my downfall has always been the light. Hope and light are very close. So close, in fact, that they are very nearly the same thing." He shifted his gaze towards TK again. "But as I have failed in destroying the lot of you as a whole, I have come to realize that I must employ more…subtle methods in order to conquer over you all."
He didn't like where Myotismon seemed to be going with this. He tried to constrain the fierce tides of helplessness that threatened to overwhelm him as he spoke. "And just what does that mean?"
The ultimate only smiled. "Now, what would be the fun of revealing the full of my plans all at once? You'll find out, soon enough. In the meantime, I grow bored of your insipid questioning. And I am…hungry." The gleam in his eyes seemed to paralyze TK, who felt his stomach drop at the implications within his gaze. "It's been so long since I've last had human blood."
"Don't you need a human girl for that?" He snarled, although he was visibly shaking. He struggled as Panmon, whom he'd forgotten about in the wake of discovering that Myotismon was alive, lifted him up and shoved him towards the vampire, who'd risen from his seat to meet them.
Cradled in the sickly embrace of the digimon, he squirmed, desperately hoping for some miracle, preferably in the form of the rest of the digidestined bursting in to come and save him. But no, he realized with horror. They didn't even know where he was, or that he had even disappeared.
"Human blood is human blood." They were uncomfortably close, now. TK felt the dense fog of the digimon's breath as it clashed against the exposed skin of his cheeks. He fought with defiance, trying to protect his neck with all the might he could muster. Unfortunately, Myotismon was much stronger; he used such knowledge to his advantage. Propping one large, gloved hand beneath TK's chin, he managed to get him to drop his defenses rather effortlessly.
Looking up, he felt his vision captured by a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes. So much like his brother's. So much like his own. As he was lost inside a world of stark sapphire, he vaguely became aware of a strange sort of heat rising up about him as violet lips intruded upon his virgin skin. Strange sensations of lust and confusion distorted his vision just as he felt the vampire's fangs sink deeply beneath the surface of his vulnerable flesh. He cried out at the pain, razor sharp and immediate. He wilted like the decaying roots of blossoms left out in winter, falling onto the chest of his enemy. His coherency flickered in and out as he felt his sight give out beneath him. Once more, he fell victim to the embrace of darkness.
