Notes: Well, I had a great time in Vancouver. It only rained part of the time, so it was okay.
Digi Destiny Will Always Be There
Part 4 - Treachery
"Ow! Get off me TK!"
"Hey, don't yell at me. You're the one who didn't see the hole."
"You're the one with the flashlight."
"Where is the flashlight, anyways?"
"You dropped it?!"
"No, I'm just asking you because I want to make sure it's the flashlight in my hand, not some slimy worm. Of course, I dropped it!"
"Sarcasm will not help TK."
Somewhere in the pitch darkness, there was a THUNK! followed by a "That is the last time I follow instructions."
"Mimi?!"
"Huh? Who's there? One minute." A bright light jumped out of the blackness, into Kari and TK's eyes. They leaped back, a mass of arms and legs.
A beam of light shone on the tangled up teens. "TK? Kari? Are you all right?"
Neither had time to answer because there was a call of "Look out below!" from the tunnel Mimi had just slid out of. She jumped away just in time to avoid getting impaled by Sora's fishing rod, sticking out of her pack.
"Kari? TK? Is that you? Do you know where the others are? Where's Clothomon?" Sora rang out the questions like they were sale prices but no one had time to answer these either.
The wall off to the side was crumbling inward and, very dirty and very tired, Izzy and Joe crawled out. Izzy, who still had a measure of sarcasm in him, said. "Well, fancy meeting all you here."
By this point, TK and Kari had managed to untangled themselves and find their flashlight, only to discover, after all the abuse it had taken, it had finally broken.
They scanned around with the two remaining flashlights. They were altogether again, omit Tai, Matt, and the digimon in yet another mysterious cavern. And they could see why no digimon that had ever come down her, ever came back out. The chute they had come down were nearly vertical. They only person getting out was the one with wings, which nobody had.
"Where's Clothomon?" Mimi asked.
Kari explained Clothomon's fear of the dark and how she was pretty sure she thought both TK and Kari were dead. She'd probably gone back to look for the others, not knowing most of them were down here. Trapped. Well, not completely.
On one wall were inscriptions and they knew right away it was a puzzle. There was no doubt in their minds that they had stumbled accidentally upon the place they had been heading all along, the entrance to the chamber that held the barrier device.
"I hate riddles." Izzy muttered and he truly did. Casey loved them and she loved to quiz her boyfriend and even took a secret delight when his logical mind could not make heads or tails of the twisted metaphors. Mimi translated the riddle on the wall for the benefit of Joe, Sora, Kari and TK, who were struggling over the vaguely familiar symbols. "My life is always in or out. I'm hidden least that I'm found out. I'm hard to hold onto forever. I don't want to be given away ever. To find me out, you need only seek, My whole is hidden so very deep."
Sora had a smug smile on her face, which she was trying to hid behind her hand.
"You know the answer, don't you." Izzy accused.
Sora nodded, still trying to hide the smile, and walked up to the wall. She picked the microphone that was hanging by a wire. She cupped her hand around the mike and whispered the answer.
The wall did not turn to sand and blow away, nor did it turn like a garbage bin lid. Instead, starting every slowly from the top, it became transparent. You could see straight through to the other side. But the picture was distorted because the wall also seemed to be moving, like JELL-O.
Kari moved forward and, before any one could stop her, pushed her hand in the wall. It went through and when she pulled it out, it was no worse for wear. It wasn't sticky or cold or wet. It was obvious what they needed to do next, but nobody was too eager to proceed. Silently, they linked arms, for support or in case they somehow got lost (You never knew with the Digi World), took a deep breath and walked into the gelatin.
They were in another cavern but they really didn't have time to think much more than that they had made it in one piece before they were fired upon.
It was just dumb luck that nobody was hit, at least at first. The digidestined were standing on a reflective surface so that when a laser was fired, it simply bounced off the floor and back, to destroy the gun. TK always did have sharp eyes. Maybe that's why he saw the gun first and where, or more specifically who, it was aimed at. Or maybe it was just another case of dumb luck.
"Kari!!!!" Even before he screamed, TK was running, knowing full well Kari would not be able to get out of the way in time by herself. The gun fired. TK hit Kari at a running tackle. They landed on the floor and skidded across the polished surface. Kari was unhurt but TK's cry of warning had turned into one of agony.
You'd expect lasers to burn, only these didn't. They cut, like a knife or a sword. It had gotten TK in his right thigh and there was blood everywhere. It soaked through his jeans, the dark stain spreading by the second.
Izzy and Joe pulled TK off Kari and Sora pulled Kari to her feet. TK was off on something about gloves. Kari wiggled her way out of Sora's grasp and headed for TK, only feet away.
Sharply and suddenly things fell into place for Sora. Okay, not all of it but enough to trigger her warning bell. She was all reflex and instinct. She grabbed Kari around the waist and planted her feet into the ground. Kari couldn't move unless Sora did and Sora wasn't moving. Kari struggled. Sora held tight. Kari screamed. Sora blocked it out. She didn't know why yet, except in the hidden deeps of her mind, but Sora was convinced that letting go of Kari would mean death.
*Why won't Sora let me go? Can't she see TK needs help? Let me go! Let me go!!! I need to help him!!*
-You won't be helping him.-
The words, if you could call them words because they were really more like images, just popped into Kari's head.
And then she stepped out of the shadows.
She was just as Kari remember her. She walked on all fours, proud. Her front paws covered in yellow gloves. Her fur was pure, clean white, except for the red scar hidden under on of the gloves. Her eyes were as blue as ever.
Obviously, no one else saw Gatomon, or at least acknowledged her, as she simply walked through Joe and TK, as if they weren't there at all. She stopped at Kari's feet and looked up with her sad, cold, hard stare. Kari had supposed, had guessed, that maybe that the digimon weren't gone. Somebody, or somebodies, had saved TK's life. But even with her old friend right in front of her, it was hard to believe.
*Maybe they are dead.* Kari thought, *Maybe I'm seeing ghosts. She did walked through Joe and TK, after all.*
Kari tried to speak but her vocal cords had snapped. Gatomon seemed to understand and spoke instead. "You can't help him. You can only hurt yourself." Gatomon smiled on of those smiles that you give to reassure someone when you're getting bad news. Like getting told your house burnt down. Or when someone died. Or when someone has a terminal illness. "Kari, TK has AIDS."
Kari went limp and Sora feared she'd fainted from shock. But no, she was crying. Quiet sobs, but not quite enough to go undetected, escaped her lips. Sora hugged Kari and tried to comfort her, saying TK would be all right, not knowing she was lying.
Joe could hear Kari crying but it was the farthest thing from his mind. Now his immediate concern was TK. He was shaking and his skin was cool and clammy. He was going into shock and there was no doubt in Joe's mind that he'd die if he didn't get into a hospital, ASAP. He reached for TK's digivice and TK's bloody hand grabbed Joe's, safely protected by latex.
"No."
"TK, you're going into shock. We need to get you to a hospital. You could die."
"We all die."
"I meant soon."
"So did I. What a mean is, I'm the only one who can put in my crest. You heard what Genni said."
Joe gave a look of disapproval but he backed his hand away. No matter how much he didn't like it, and how what Matt wouldn't like it, Joe knew TK was right.
Joe torn off TK's shirt and tied them around the wound, using it as an extra bandage on top of the ones Joe had already brought and used. "Mimi, help me lift TK. Izzy, where is this device?"
Izzy was already venturing deeper into the room. "It's not far." He called back. "I can see it."
"Okay, here's the deal. We get your tag and crest into the device and them you're going home. No ifs, ands or buts." To Mimi, Joe said. "We lift on three. One. Two. Three. Lift!" They lifted. Mimi gave a grunt but didn't let go of TK's legs.
"It looks safe." Izzy was already half way across. "Only us and a few statues. Nasty looking but harmless."
Ya, right.
As you might of guessed, they weren't harmless statues. Izzy must of tripped something as he walked towards the device, which was only a flat platform about two feet high in the shape of a stop sign. At first, you didn't notice the stone eyes blink or the jade fingers bend. But when a coal black one, with green dragon wings swooped down at Izzy, it was hard to miss. If he hadn't have bent down to examine a tiling on the floor, Izzy would have been dinner. His curiosity, which had gotten him into trouble so many time before, actually saved his life.
"Run!!!" Joe commanded. Now that they were here, they had to get to the device. They had to get their tags and crests in before going home and hope Matt and Tai managed to find their ways here too.
"I'm running!" Mimi yelled back, just as she tripped over the same tiles Izzy had been inspecting moments before. TK, barely conscious now, could only give a low moan as his injured side slammed into the floor.
"TK!" Kari cried out, trying to turn back to TK. Sora pulled her forward. All around them tiny particles of sand with blowing up from the floor. It was a mini indoor sand storm.
Izzy fell to his knees and slid the last few feet to the device, gently knocking his knees against the platform. He brushed away the sand in vain as he tried to study the device. Had Genni told them that they had to do something to start in up? If so, what was it? Izzy could feel the panic bubbling in his stomach, mixing with the acid. He looked for his friends but the swarm of blandness hid them. Even the howl of the wind drowned out most sound.
*And if I can't see them, they can't see me.* Izzy reasoned. He cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled from the bottom of his diaphragm. "OVER HERE!!!"
Mimi head the Izzy's yell, just before the wind rose and drowned it out. The sand was everywhere. In her hair. In the folds of her clothes. In her mouth and nose and eyes. She'd taken off her shirt and covered her face but it still got through.
"Oh,........." Joe swore and he stopped his attempt to keep TK's wound clean. Mimi turned and saw another one of the statues that came to life, walking calmly through the storm, towards them. This one had the body of a tiger or panther and it's eyes were ruby red. Maybe they were rubies. Those eyes were very hypnotic. They seemed to say "You can't win. You can't run. Just give up." Joe reached for TK's digivice and this time TK was too out of it to argue. He fully intended to send them all home. Their was no way to get to the device now. TK's digivice pounded in Joe's hand. It reminded Mimi of when the digimon use to digivolve and when... Mimi took out her digivice and sure enough, it was acting up too. She'd just hadn't heard it over the noise. Joe watched Mimi carefully as she lifted up her digivice and pointed it towards the creature.
"Bad kitty." Mimi said as the light that helped repealed Leomon so long ago, chased away this new evil.
Joe gave TK back his digivice. "Let's get out of here."
Mimi nodded but before she did she yelled out to, she hoped, Izzy. "Leomon!!!!"
"Who's Leomon?" Kari asked.
It Sora a moment to process what Kari was asking and another to remember Kari hadn't been there at the beginning. "A friend, from a long time ago. Why?"
"I think maybe Mimi just screamed that. Could it be a code?"
Sora thought back years to Leomon. It had been a long time. "Maybe, but I don't see the connection. Maybe Izzy'll know." Sora took a deep breath and passed the message along the line. "Leomon!!!!"
"Olay! Olay!" Izzy called out, shaking Casey's blanket beside him. The creature went for it. That crazy dragon looked scary but he wasn't too bright. This was the fourth time he'd gone for the moving blanket, instead of the still human. From behind him, someone screamed, "Leomon!!!!"
*Leomon?* Izzy thought as the dragon wings took another pass, ripping the end of the blanket, the closest he'd gotten yet. *What did Leomon have to do with any of this?* Izzy tried to think back to Leomon. He'd been their friend. Well, not all the time. He was their friends when he didn't have a black gear stuck in his back. Then, all you had to do was us your handy, dandy digivice and chase the gears out or, at least, stop Leomon from killing you. Hey, was that it. Could you make these creatures go away with your digivice? Izzy dropped the blanket, he couldn't hold it and his digivice, and dragon breath noticed him again. Izzy pulled out the digivice and it worked. With a high, pitched whine, the creature flew back into the sand.
But that wasn't the end of them. There was one more, who kind have looked like the abominable snowman. He'd turned Kari's pack into an ice cube, when she'd thrown it at him. She and Sora were backing away very quietly and quickly, towards where they hoped Izzy and the device was. "Scissor Swipe!!"
"Pelt Shot!!"
'Frosty' gave a howl of anger and ran off towards his attackers, forgetting the humans. They dashed to the device, just as Mimi and Joe arrived with TK. The wind died down and the sand melted back into the tiles that covered the floor. The tiger and the dragon had returned to their stone form but all that remained of 'Frosty' was a puddle of water at Folxmon and Dumbomon's feet.
The two digimon, immensely proud with themselves, walked towards the others. The digidestined hadn't realized how much they had missed those 'defected' digimon. This feeling lasted a brief two seconds before Folxmon pulled out Matt's gun and pointed it at them.
"Step away from the device." Step away from the device the digimon commanded.
"Folxmon, why are you doing this?"
"Step away and I'll tell you." The digidestined moved away. "I'm doing this for the same reason I told Szolomon where Joe and Izzy were or tricked the bees into thinking Mimi and Sora were their enemy. I can't have you putting up another barrier, just when the old one is almost gone. Now, you can stay and I'll kill you or you can go back to your world and live."
"Don't do it!"
Folxmon spun around to face Tai and Matt who had just crossed through the doorway. "Shot them if they move." Folxmon said to Dumbomon and gestured to the digidestined and Dumbomon raises his trunk. "I'll deal with these two."
Folxmon took careful aim and the two men. "Go back or I'll kill you."
"Go ahead. Shot. For whatever good it'll do you."
Folxmon's finger pressed down on the trigger. There was a click but no bang. Folxmon shock the gun. Matt's sly smile turned into a wide grin and his clutched hand opened up to reveal several bullets laying on his palm.
"But I doubt it'll do much good without these."
Matt tossed the bullets back into the door and they kind of jiggled around in the gelatin. Then they attacked. They ran straight for Folxmon. Folxmon dropped the gun and readied her claws.
"Thread of Life!!" Clothomon flew up from behind Tai and attacked. Folxmon, caught completely off guard, stumbled backward. Matt and Tai rushed past her.
"Attack Clothomon!!" Folxmon was in a rage. Dumbomon took his eyes off the digidestined and began shooting wildly at the fairy digimon.
Clothomon dodged easily. "Thread of Life!!"
Folxmon jumped nimbly away. "Give it up Clothomon! The others will be here soon. Scissor Swipe!!"
"She's right." Kari whispered to her brother as he hugged her close. "I can hear them."
"We'd better go." Sora said. "Clothomon can hold off these two but no more."
Matt was already guiding TK's hand toward a slot on one side of the octagon, where the tag would fit.
"It looks like it works." Izzy observed, as that one side of the octagon glowed to life.
"I hope so." Matt put his tag and crest in.
Mimi gasped and pointed towards the gelatin entrance. An army of digimon, most none of them had ever seen, were forcing their way through.
"Matt, you get TK out of here NOW!!" Tai yelled but Matt was already half way through punching the code into TK's digivice.
"Get him to a hospital as soon as possible." Joe told Matt before he disappeared. "And keep lots of bandages on the wound."
"Kari, you're next. Put in your crest."
"No, Tai!"
"What do you mean no."
"Not until you do."
Tai saw the evil digimon coming. There was no time for them all to get out, no time to argue. Tai slammed his crest and tag into the third pocket, just seconds before the cavalry arrived.
Greymon. Gurumon. Birdramon. Angemon. Angewomon. Togemon. Ikkakumon. Kabuterimon. How long had it been? They attacked the oncoming digimon with ten times their strength. It was amazing to see a champion take down a mega but Tai had to remind himself that these champions were really digimon who had digivolved way beyond Mega.
"Okay, Kari. Fair's fair. Get moving."
"No.
"What?" Tai didn't see Joe sneaking up behind him and by the time he felt the needle, it was too. Tai tottered and fell back, into Sora's arms.
"You'll wake up with a head ache but other than that you'll be fine."
"Traitors." Tai accused but inside he was smiling. They knew him too well.
"Now, I'll go." Kari said. Punching the code into her digivice and Tai's. "See you on the other side!" She called out before leaving.
"You go next, Izzy." Sora said.
"You sure?"
"Positive. What's-her-face Casey is waiting, isn't she?"
Izzy nodded and left without an argument. Suddenly, the same thought crossed both of the women's minds at the same time and from the looks on each others faces, Mimi knew Sora knew and Sora knew Mimi knew. "Joe, you go!". They yelled together.
"Huh? I don't know. Tai won't be too happy with that."
"Screw Tai!"
"Just go Joe!"
"Okay. Okay. I'm going." And he was. He'd seen death and destruction and he'd lived through it all but he didn't think he'd live through an encounter with both Mimi and Sora mad at him.
Mimi and Sora were the only ones left. They stared at each other. Neither moved. The good digimon were holding off the evil and even advancing on them but that was not the problem now. It had come down to the question who would stay and who would leave. Neither wanted to be the unlucky one to stay. Neither wanted to be the guilty one to leave.
"One of us has to go."
"We could both stay."
"No, that's like paying twice for the same sweater you can get half price for."
"There isn't anyway we can make it both through, is there?"
Mimi shook her head. "Once the barrier goes up, there will be no way for the digivices to work. I'm pretty sure on that."
"So, one of has to stay."
."Yes."
"It should be me."
Mimi raised an eyebrow. It shouldn't be either of them. "Why?"
"You know."
"Oh, Sora you can't keep blaming yourself for that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's his fault just as much as it is yours!"
"He'd have stayed. If we hadn't have drugged him!"
"He'd have stayed because he's the stupid, fearless, dumb-ass leader, not because he'd be punishing himself."
"I still have to stay."
"No, you don't."
Mimi and Sora turned. They'd been so involved with their argument, hadn't seen Birdramon come over. The huge digimon began to melt and shirk into the form of Biyomon. "Mimi's right. You can't keep punishing yourself. It's not your fault." "Fourteen year olds are not suppose to get pregnant!!"
"But it does happen. It happened to you, just like it's happened to so others. And some, like you, did the right thing. They put those children up for adoption."
"That doesn't matter. It shouldn't have happened in the first place."
"You're right. It shouldn't have. But it did. And you can't ruin the rest of your life because of it." Biyomon took a deep breath, "Besides, you have to go back to tell Tai Nikki's all right."
"Nikki?"
"Your daughter. And his daughter. She's a happy little girl. She loves to paint and sing. Her favorite colour is yellow and she hates lima beans. You might not have meant to bring her into this world, but nobody, least of her, has suffered for it."
Sora broke down. Mimi wrapped her hand around her friends shoulder. "Go Sora, please."
Sora whipped away her tears. "What about you? I can't have you ruin your life either."
Mimi smiled. "Don't worry. Remember what I said, about every life having a purpose. Well, I think I just found mine."
"But Jake! Your wedding! Your life!"
"Don't mean half as much as this. Jake will find someone else. Dresses can be returned. I think this is my life, here in the Digi World." They hugged. "But, I wouldn't mind it if you tried to explain to him and my parents."
"I'll try."
"And tell the others, I'll miss them and I hope TK get's well soon."
"I promise."
Mimi let go of Sora and stepped back. The fight was still going on in the background but it sounded distant and far away. Sora took off her crest and tag and slid it into one of the two remaining slots. "Bye Palamon. Bye Mimi. Bye Biyo." "We'll met again. I don't know where and i don't know when but we will met again." Mimi called out, tears streaming down her cheeks, just as Sora pressed in the code on her digivice and, in a flash of light, she was gone. Mimi stood, alone in the crowded room of warring digimon, the only human left in the Digi World.
Now it was Mimi's turn. She had the final tag and crest needed. She stepped towards the device and kneeled down in front of that last slot, where the crest of sincerity would go. Mimi pulled it out from under her shirt and looked at it, seeing it for the first time. It wasn't much to look at. Old, scuffed and yet in was the key to everything. The key to this device. The key to digivolving. The key to herself. She'd discovered, when she'd turned the lock, that she had always been sincere. She was honest, even if the truth hurt and she was frank with herself now. She didn't want to do it. She didn't want to spend the rest on her existence in the Digi World. She didn't like the Digi World at the best of times, let alone when it looked like a World War was going to break out. She cared for Jake and her parents and felt horrible at leaving them, without a trace, forever. And she knew could back out, keep the crest and tag and leave. But for what? To have her world run over. No, that would never do. She had to do this.
Palamon was beside her now, Biyomon having returned to the fight, and that's all Mimi needed, for the strength to do what she had to do. Palamon didn't say anything while pressed Mimi tag and crest into the empty slot, but she didn't have to.
There was a soft click as the tag and crest slid into its spot on the octagon and Mimi knew she had burnt all her bridges behind her. The machine whirled to life and the designated colours of the crests began to pulse. The flat top of the device came alive as well, swirling and mixing the colors. it colours became darker in some spots and lighter in others, forming lines and shadows and highlights. Mimi could see things in the colour that became shapes, that became objects, that became faces. There were faces she knew, her parents, her friends, the digimon, Jake and there were others that she did not know, except maybe in her dreams and, if she survived, her future.
Of course, this takes quite a while to explain but hardly seconds to happen. For a millionth of a second, all the faces changed from happy, sad, upset, frustrated, relaxed or confused to pure horror. Mimi stumbled back, shielding her eyes, just as a dark brightness exploded from the octagon, enveloping Mimi and everyone else in the room. Ending Notes: Well, congratulations to anyone who guessed TK had AIDS and an additional applause from those you who thought Sora might have been pregnant. I was hoping someone would pick up on all those clues.