"This is going to be a lot harder than we thought, isn't it? I can barely see my hand in front of my face," Yolei groaned when she landed in the darkness of the digital world with the others.
"It would have been a lot easier if you turned on your flashlight before we got here," said Davis
"Yeah, yeah, I was just conserving battery power," She sighed and fidgeted with her helmet-mounted L.E.D. Light. "Cody's lucky, he's got all the best gear and it doesn't even fit him! My mining helmet hasn't been used in ages."
Cody lowered his night vision goggles into place, "This equipment used to be my father's. There's no way I'm letting anyone else use it."
"Come on everyone, we need to focus," T.K. reminded them. "Kari and I have been in the digital world at night before, but this is new to the rest of you. Stay alert, and stay in your groups. Remember, Davis, you're coming with me. Cody and Yolei will go with Kari. If you get separated, don't continue the mission alone. Find shelter and try to lie low until it's light."
"Got it!" Davis said, and they all nodded.
"If you find Ken, or the Digimon Emperor's base, send us a message via D-terminal, and we'll group up at your coordinates before moving in," Kari reminded them. "Everyone ready."
Cody took a deep breath and sighed, "As ready as we'll ever be."
Davis put his hands up, "Come on guys, let's do this! I didn't drink a 30 ounce coffee so I could stand around all night!"
Pegasusmon carried T.K. and Davis into the night, and Nefertimon took Kari and the others in the opposite direction.
The Digimon Emperor fell asleep at his control terminal after instructing the Bakemon and other digimon with their special orders for the night. He had intended to reinforce some of the areas around the 8th sector, but even maniacal overlords can't stay awake forever. His dreams had always been strange, so it was not out of the ordinary that he dreamed of walking hand in hand with his brother deep into a tunnel with no light at the end. He wouldn't remember it when he woke up, anyway.
"So, um, I was thinking," Davis said to T.K. as they used the lights they brought to search across the landscape, "If I were a genius in the Digital World, where would I be? Think about it. When Ken surrendered, he wasn't chained up or anything. He might have been able to just walk out of the Emperor's base once the evil jerk fell asleep!"
"I seriously doubt that," T.K. shook his head, "Remember, the Emperor is smart too. Maybe almost as smart as Ken. I don't think he'd just let someone see the inside of his base and head back to tell all his buddies all about it."
Davis grimaced, "Anyway, what I was saying is that I would want to go somewhere really high up with a good vantage point, so I could watch for anyone coming or going."
"That's better than no ideas," T.K. conceded, "We can check the peaks and cliff-sides first."
"I'm on it," Pegasusmon said to them, ascending into the dark sky.
Davis was almost thrown from his seat by a sharp swerve. T.K.'s digimon failed to see a looming mountainside ahead while the search lights were pointed below.
"Woah, slow down there, hot shot!" Davis yelled, "I don't wanna know what it's like to drop from this height. I can't even see how far we are from the ground," he swallowed hard.
"Just try to keep at least one of the lights trained ahead of me," Pegasusmon replied, "And you'd better zip up your jackets, we'll enter snowfall soon at this altitude."
They flew on into the cold of the night, calling out and searching everywhere they could. The few times they thought they saw something, it turned out to be only the same burrow of sleeping digimon. It seemed they had been flying in circles.
"... Maybe a genius wouldn't actually make camp on top of a snowy mountain... for a vantage point... in the dark," Davis admitted with a shiver.
"Hey, wait a minute!" T.K. flashed his search light back onto a tiny patch of color against a gray peak in the distance, "There's something else out there!"
"I don't see anything. All I see is that it's cold as hell!" Davis said folding his arms, trying to peer through the snow ahead.
"Well you wouldn't be far from the mark, Davis," Pegasusmon said to him, "It looks like Icedevimon down there... and something bright I can't make out. Should we swoop in closer?"
T.K. clenched his fists, "We should get a good look at what else is down there, but if it's just trouble, we shouldn't stick around."
"Right," Pegasusmon dived toward the peak. The bright colors T.K. had seen from a distance were slowly coming into view as well.
The Icedevimon floated soundlessly back into one of the valleys below when it saw them approach.
"Hey! I think it's Wormmon down there!" Veemon cried.
"Pegasusmon, land here!" Davis shouted. Not waiting for the landing, he and Veemon jumped into the powdery snow below. What Davis saw shining his flashlight ahead froze him in place; he couldn't breathe. Veemon gasped.
Blood. It seeped through and pooled into eerie blotches where it had melted the snow. The green figure was Wormmon.
Davis took a step forward, his heart faltering, and he stumbled down to his knees. Scraps of cloth, white stained with red, were strewn across the ground. This hadn't been a fight, it was a slaughter. There were bits of human flesh, organs... entrails were everywhere... his abdomen had been shredded open and flayed out. His left arm had been torn from its socket and was lying limp two feet from the rest of his body. The limbs that remained were sprawled, bent or broken, into unnatural positions. His hair parted in a matted purple mess where the skull had been split. His eyes were empty, his lips were blue, Ken Ichijouchi was definitely dead.
Davis's stomach churned in abject disgust.
"Ken," Davis choked, but the small sound his voice could make was swallowed by the howling winds.
Wormmon was sobbing over what remained of his partner. He was badly bruised, and Ken's blood was painted all over the front of his exoskeleton. Veemon wrapped him in a firm hug, muttering something.
Pegasusmon and T.K. came in for a landing beside them, taking in the grisly details for themselves.
Davis buried his face in his hands. It was too late. His mind was racing to regret everything that lead up to these moments. They should never have gone home to have dinner. They should have stayed in the digital world until they brought Ken back safely. It was his fault that Ken had come here. It was his fault that Ken had been captured. His fault that he died. His fault. His fault...
Davis screamed against the lashing wind as tears ran down from his eyes. He turned his face away from Ken's cold, pale body. He didn't want to look at what he had allowed to happen to his friend. He clenched his teeth and bent his head down into the snow. Darkness surrounded him.
He could hear T.K. saying something in the distance, but it sounded like nothing but white noise. Davis felt more than cold. He felt broken and empty. He had failed his friends completely. Ken was dead and the Digimon Emperor would soon rule the entire digital world, because of Davis's inadequacy.
"Davis... Davis... DAVIS!" T.K. was shouting. Davis felt far away.
