Billy and Devimon toiled away, day after day trying to find the rebels. Billy refused to be defeated by this trap. One of these holograms or illusions or hallucinations or whatever you wnated to call them had to be the real rebel group. He just knew it.
Devimon was beginning to wonder if his partner had lost his mind in the heat of the Wastes. Or if maybe he was letting his power go to his head. He worried about his master and what this LadyDevimon was doing to him. Was she really working in Billy's best interests? It was not his place to decide, Devimon concluded. It was Devimon's job to do as he was told and to not pass judgment or make an opinion.
At about midday, Billy decided to break for lunch. He tossed some food to Devimon who sat perched atop a large rock as a lookout. Just as Billy was finishing his meal, Devimon grunted to catch Billy's attention. Billy looked to Devimon, then towards the direction that the digimon was pointing. Off in the pixelated distance was a figure walking towards where Billy sat. As the figure came closer, he became less and less pixelated until Billy could tell that it was an old man. Not a digimon like what would be expected. Was this old man digidestined? How could he be? And yet at the same time, how else could he have come to his Digital World? The old man did not appear to have a digimon. This puzzled Billy. Every digidestined he had met was partnered with a digimon.
Billy decided that he was curious enough to allow the old man to approach him. The old man boldly walked up to where Billy sat. So boldly in fact that it agitated Billy. "Who do you think you are, old man?" Billy asked snidely. In response the old man clonked Billy on the head with his staff and sat down in front of him.
Hope sat there in the desert sun. She was hot, and she was hungry. The sweat clung to hear skin and seemed to just drop onto her from the air itself, which she concluded could not be happening because the air of the Wastes was much too dry. And, as if only to make things worse, the Bakemon reallly creeped her out. Sometimes, as a sick game or a prank or whatever reason they did it for, one would change shape to look like Brian and walk out of the Wastes to greet her, only to turn back into the horrible ghost creature.
Or sometimes theyd turn into Billy and just say horribly disgusting things to seduce her. The first few times they did this, she immediately kicked "Billy" right in the manhood. The faux-Billy fell over and turn back into Bakemon who sat their clutching at something beneath its ragged and torn cover while the others laughed. The laugh is what freaked her out the most. It was cold, lifeless. Void of any emotion. She couldn't understand how a laugh could lack something as important to a laugh as emotion.
Evertything about the Bakemon was monotone. Grey. Humanless. She missed Gatomon and Agumon. They were funny when she needed that and serious when that was needed. And they comforting whenever she needed that too. It was right now when she needed it most. A prisoner by a demonic lover-boy on a power trip. Surrounded by inhuman sacks of darkness.
She'd even accept comfort form Brian right about now. It's not like he was ugly anyway... and he had a nice charm that grew on you
after a while.
Shut up, Hope thought to herself, Brian's an idiot. He probably doesn't even care that I'm gone. He wanted me gone from the beginning. But he's sweet sometimes... and obnoxious. But kinda cute... Hope tugged at her hair. The heat was making her go crazy, she decided. Yes, that was it. She was deluding herself into thinking that she wanted to be back with Brian. She just wanted Gatomon. And she wanted to be away from the sadistic Billy and all of his digimon minions.
One of the Bakemon brought her a bowl of soup. She had no idea what type of soup it was. But whatever was in it tasted really good. Maybe because she hadnt eaten at all yesterday or today?
Maybe. Maybe that was it. Then she started to feel sleepy. Her eyes drooped a bit and she felt herself fall and hit the ground. She tried to keep her eyes open, to fight whatever made her sleepy. It was just an instinct, that she shouldn't go to sleep. That rescue was too close to be put to sleep. Her eyes fell and she drifted again. She rememebered her life back home. Back in the Real World. Back before digimon and the Digital Wastes. Back before all the danger.
She jerked her eyes back open. You have to stay awake, she thought. she tried to get up. As she did the Bakemon desintegrated into data. she half took notice of this. more like thinking of it as odd rather than wonder why. As the sleep took hold of her agian, she fell back to the ground.
Her family was there. Her mom and her brother, Heath. And her dog, Mokie, too. She could see her house back in Minnesota.
She jerked back into consciousness and saw an old man with a walking stick standing above her. "Sleep, my child." The old man said. "All will be better when you wake. Shhh..." She couldn't resist the lure of his voice. The sound was so mesmerizing that all she could do was obey. She laid her hands beneath her head and closed her eyes. As Hope drifted for the final time, her thoughts weren't on her family or her dog or her home. The last thing she saw with her mind's eye was Brian. And that made her smile because the Dream-Brian had smiled at her first.
Billy rubbed his head where a lump had begun to gather. it hurt a lot. "Who do you think you are, old man?" He repeated, dropping his hand to his side.
"Boy you are a stubborn, one ain't ya?" The old man had replied in that cliched hick sounding drall that old men usually talk with. The one that kinda has a slight whistle with certain words. "My name is Gennai. I look over the Digital World, or I did. Now it appears as though I look over something that is much more commonly reffered to as the Digital Wastes. From the knowledge I can gather up, it would seem as though you are the one who has created this mess, ain't ya? Well I've come to warn you about two things, sonny. The first is the obvious and overused line from many Real World plot lines. And it is that you are upsetting the balance of the Digital World. And with it you are upsettingthe balance of the Real World, to boot!"
"This is a lame conversation, geiser." Billy told him as Devimon flew over to his side and sat down. He returned some of his power to the digivice and dedigivolved to DemiDevimon.
"Yeah pops." DemiDevimon put in. "Yous best be gettin tuh the real point here perdy quick like. Ya don't want tuh be seein this kid here when he gets the angries ya knows. He'll put the woop-down on ya, just like that thar Brian kid we keepsa runnin inter, huh boss?"
"You see there," The Gennai continued. "Its that Brian lad that is the other thing. Your destinies are intertwined. Together, you are more than you could ever be seperate. Your destiny is not darkness as LadyDevimon might tell you. It is not to control and conquer and rule. Your destiny is the same as Brian's. And Hope's for that matter. And now that I think of it there are other digidestined out there too which once again share your destiny. Your destinies are to save the digital world. To bring prosperity back to the lands and cause another peace time. A new peace time."
"I think I've heard enough out of you, Gennai." Billy said as he got up and turned aways. His plan was to ignore the old man. forget the incident ever happened and go back to searching for the rebels.
"You keep searching for what you cannot find," Gennai whispered loud enough for Billy to hear. "And yet you do not realize that its been right infront of you the whole time."
Billy turned to ask what it was that was supposed to mean. But when his eyes reached to point where Gennai was sitting, the old man was gone. "Good riddence, I say."
"I agree wit you wholly boss. So now what're we gunna do, eh?"
Billy thought for a moment. "We got back to the Light. We will leave a few Bakemon here to solve this puzzle and then we'll continue on our way to LadyDevimon's castle. She will be very pleased to find that we have found out so much. And we must also inform her of this Gennai." And with that, the two walked off back in the direction of their campsite. DemiDevimon digivolved and pulled his partner into the air in one fluid motion.
The two had reached the campsite just in time to see all of the Bakemon be shattered into data and Hope fall to the ground as Gennai stood above her.
"Heed my warnings Billy," Gennai had said, "This is not the real you. Your programming has been corrupted. You are not a tool. You are a member of an elite group of people with a specific task at hand. Quit fooling around and get yours done." The old man and Hope were then surrounded by a gust of wind and then disappeared as Billy sheilded his eyes against the dust. He was not pleased with what he had just seen.
