Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Chapter 6: Nightmare #2-The Aquarium

T.K. found himself walking through an aquarium. It looked like a fairly normal one at first, something that one would find at just about any well-funded zoo. All around were tanks filled with various fish from all over the world, some were very pretty to behold. There was even one large windowed enclosure that held penguins that were diving and frolicking in the water. There was one odd thing about the place that T.K. noticed however. There were very few people at this aquarium, and the people who were there all had faces that T.K. could not seem to make out.

As T.K. continued to walk, he found himself entering another wing of the aquarium, a darker wing dimly lit by a green light. The sea creatures kept in this wing were far stranger than the ones in the previous wing. It mostly contained things that lived in the deeper and darker parts of the ocean. Alien looking things that glowed on parts of their body with bright blue lights and sinister red lights that gave them an heir of terror. There were also tanks in that wing that seemed to house sea life from prehistoric times, like the extinct-shelled cephalopod known as the Ammonite.

Several times T.K. wanted to turn around and leave that sinister alien wing of the aquarium, but something kept driving him forward. At last, T.K. came to another entrance and entered yet another section of the strange wing. This section was even more dimly lit and filled with almost cavernous tanks that contained sea life that was even more terrifying than the creatures from the last section. Some of the tanks contained great white sharks, while others contained the feared giant squid. One tank contained the massive basking shark, a harmless plankton feeder to be sure. But looking into the gaping mouth of such a shark as it fed was enough to make one back away in fear, especially in that darkly lit tank.

Suddenly T.K. noticed a small pink light at the distant end of that aquarium of horrors. It was somehow warm and familiar to T.K., and he headed for it was quickly as he could, trying to avoid looking at the other creatures kept in those enormous tanks. There was one tank that held a shark far bigger than the basking shark. T.K. thought that perhaps it was some sort of ancestor to all shark kind. He did not dwell on it though and kept heading for the light. All he tried to think about was the light.

At last, T.K. had reached the source of the light. It was coming from something behind the immense glass wall of a tank that seemed to stretch out endlessly in both directions. Slowly, T.K. approached the tank to see what the light was. In front of the tank was a crowed of people with indistinguishable faces. At last, T.K. got a good look at the source of the light. It was a mermaid with a pink tail, milky white skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. She was wearing the typical clamshell bra that's seen on most mermaids in fiction. Of course right away T.K. recognized who the mermaid was, it was Kari.

Suddenly a dark realization came upon T.K., one that sent a chill down his spine. The tank that Mermaid Kari was in was far bigger than it needed to be. It was like a giant abyss. Why would Kari need all of that space? Then T.K. noticed the terrified expression on Kari's face, and it occurred to him that something else was in the tank with her. Suddenly in the far distance of the tank a pair of blue lights flared into existence. It was obvious to T.K. that the lights were the eyes of some unnamable horror. Then the crowed gathered in front of the tank transformed into the hideous fish-frog things that inhabited The Dark Ocean.

The creatures started chanting something in their blasphemous croaking language. At that point, Kari started pounding on the glass with her fists, trying to shout something under water. T.K. of course could not hear what Kari was shouting, but her lips clearly showed that she was trying to shout the words, "Help me."

The eyes of the unknown horror in the tank with Kari were getting larger, telling T.K. that it was getting closer. Whatever the thing was, T.K. could tell that it was enormous. After all, why else would it be in such a huge almost abyssal tank? The thing was suddenly seemed to quicken its pace, and soon part of it was made visible by the light emanating from Kari. It seemed to be some sort of snout that one would find on a reptile. As T.K. looked on in horror at the site before him, a voice called out a phrase that T.K. had heard before.

"Home by the sea!"

At last, the creature was on Kari, and it opened it's massive jaws and brought them swinging down upon its helpless prey!

T.K. shot up in bed, cold sweat dripping down his face. Very quickly he realized that he had had another nightmare, although this new nightmare was more horrifying than the last one. Suddenly T.K. realized that he was being watched. He looked at the foot of the bed and saw Patamon looking at him with concern.

"Are you okay T.K.?" the bat-wing eared Digimon asked.

"I'm fine Patamon… I just had a nightmare." T.K. replied.

"You wanna tell me about it?" Patamon asked. "Talking about a nightmare helps make it go away quicker you know."

T.K. thought hard about Patamon's offer. He wasn't sure if telling Patamon about the nightmare was a good idea, he was afraid that his Digimon companion would think he was crazy. Then again, T.K. felt that he needed to tell someone, and Patamon was probably the best person he could tell.

"Promise you won't think I'm crazy?" T.K. asked.

"Why would I think that?" Patamon asked with a quirked brow.

"Okay…" T.K. replied, taking a breath before he told Patamon of his latest vision. "I was in this weird dark aquarium, and suddenly I saw this bright light. I walked toward it and saw that it was Kari as a mermaid. Then this huge thing showed up in the tank with her, and all of the people there turned into those things from The Dark Ocean."

"You mean those things that wanted to take Kari?" Patamon asked.

"Yeah, and they started cheering for that thing that was in the tank with Kari." T.K. continued. "It swam towards her… and suddenly it, it… it ate her."

T.K. paused his recounting there. It took all that he had to finish that sentence.

"You know what the most horrible part of that nightmare was Patamon?" T.K. suddenly asked. "I was helpless to save Kari."

"…Well, it was just a dream." Patamon said, not knowing exactly what else to say that could comfort his human friend.

"I'm not so sure…" T.K. said, causing Patamon to look in surprise. "You see I had another nightmare like it the night before. It wasn't as bad, but it also had those creatures in it, and I couldn't save Kair in that one either… I think that maybe… maybe these nightmares are trying to tell me that Kari is at The Dark Ocean again. Then again maybe I'm just losing my mind."

Patamon looked at T.K. with a worried expression. The Digimon could not think of anything to say to comfort his human friend.

"There's one other thing." T.K. added. "In both nightmares there was a voice that called out something. 'Home by the Sea' or something like that."

"What's that mean?" Patamon asked.

"I have no idea." T.K. replied. "But the voice that said it was familiar. It's like I've hard it somewhere before but can't remember where. There's something evil about it though, something that frightens me."

"Well, I think that maybe you should try and get back to sleep." Patamon suggested. "Things will look better in the morning."

"That sounds like a good idea." T.K. replied with a worried smile.

"Goodnight T.K." Patamon said as he lied back down on his place at the foot of the bed.

"Goodnight." T.K. replied as he too lied back down. He tried following Patamon's suggestion, but found it almost impossible to get back to sleep.

Author's Note: The nightmare in this chapter is actually based on dreams that I've actually had in the past. They weren't exactly nightmares, but they were very unsettling.

Review and let me know what you think.