I do not own anything.


Chapter Nine: Remnants of the Lost

Time seemed to have simply passed Jun by while she watched the screens flicker from tragedy to tragedy. As soon as her eyes left one screen they gravitated to another. The scenes they showed reflected in her eyes which had tears forming at the brim. Some of the scenes she was seeing were just outright tragic. Her ears weren't spared either.

Metal scratching against more metal or flesh vibrating in her eardrums hand in hand with the near constant screaming. Words blurred together forming a senseless cacophony threatening to tear her ears apart.

Collapsing onto her knees Jun wrapped her arms entirely around her head. "Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop."

Jun felt like she was drowning again, drowning in the misery she was surrounded by. It didn't matter that she'd covered her eyes, her mind was able to form images from the sounds alone. Why the hell was she doing this? Why was her mind doing this? She screamed at the top of her lungs in an attempt to drown out the noise. All it did was trigger a burning headache that silenced her screaming.

You can't leave me!

WHY! I've given you everything! So why did you do it!?

I'm not going to lose! I'm not going to lose!

Mommy? Mommy? MOMMY!

It's not my fault…no way. It can't be my fault…

You stole everything from me! Now it's my turn!

Gunshots. That's what Jun could hear after that last bit. She tightened her arms around her head as the sounds of despair were replaced by the roar of violence.

BANG! BANG!

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Jun sprung upward, club in hand and rage burning in her eyes.

She swung with reckless abandonment, smashing everything within sight.

GLING! GLING! GLING! GLING!

Jun was lost in the mad dance the strange room had sent her into. Every flicker of a TV screen or even the smallest sound from a speaker caused her to spin her body around, her club moving at an insane speed. Some shards of glass and pieces of metal pierced her face and palms due to the force she'd swung with. The pain didn't even register for Jun nor did she attempt to shield her eyes from the shrapnel. Sound and light seemed to blur together in Jun's world forming a faceless, colorless mass that Jun knew was laughing at her.

"Leave me the hell alone!" She screeched swinging again at the mass. It didn't disappeared then reappeared by her left side, expanding. Shrieking again Jun put all her strength into the next swing, completely knocking the flat screen off the wall. "Leave me…leave me…"

Sinking to her knees she dropped the bat and merely stared at the soggy ground. Tears and blood mixed together to form a small pool right before Jun's eyes. The red head kept her eyes glowed to the puddle watching it slowly grow totally blind to why and how it was growing.

I…I just…wanted…t-t-to…be happy…happy…happy…I j-just w-wa-wanted…to be happy…happy. Th-That-That-That's all I-I wan-wan-wan-wanted. That's…all…

Jun was too far gone to see her reflection in the still function TV screen only a foot away from her.

Happy…that's…all…


It was the pain in her hand that shocked Jun back into reality. The prickling and warm feeling in her hand opened up her senses. Her vision was foggy but soon it cleared up with the rush of pain. The first thing she saw was her fist firmly implanted inside the sin inch TV screen. After blinking a few times Jun carefully pulled her left hand out of the screen and cradled it closely to her chest. Sitting cross legged she silently began rocking herself back and forth in the middle of the field of garbage and metal shards. Scanning her surroundings the rage she felt only a moment ago was replaced by tears and a cold horror Jun had never felt.

"…At least it's quiet." Jun remarked realizing she hadn't heard one sound besides the water running since she'd come to her senses. Her breathing slowed down while her eyes grew heavy like she was about to fall asleep. Sleep would have been a wonderful option. Maybe then she'd awaken from this hell she'd walked into. A grimace in pain remained her she couldn't afford to fall asleep. "If I live through this I maybe I will give some thought to joining the baseball team."

She had to use her club to help herself up due to the exhaustion and pain she felt consuming her body. Her left hand screamed in pain such pain Jun couldn't stop a whimper from coming out of her lips. "Great plan, smash my hand into a TV screen." Even if she was in a rage, or insanity, induced daze it still horrified Jun what sort of violence she could cause. Carefully she did her best to step around anything sharp enough to cut through her already worn shoes while at the same time struggling to find a clear passage out of the chamber. The problem with destroying nearly all the TV screens was now she was alone in a dark subterranean chamber with little to no light.

Shuffling along in the quiet darkness gave Jun some time to clear her head of the white noise that had still been plaguing it. The things she witnessed and saw were horrible yet it seemed to burrow inside her brain like someone had injected it inside of her like some drug or medicine. Normally Jun would say such a thing was impossible, but she'd be proven wrong on a lot of things in the past few days. As painful as they were it was the last words she heard before she flew into a rage; I just wanted to be happy. The words were spoken in a mix of voices and dialogues but Jun could have sworn she recognized some of the voices. For a moment she wondered if she'd heard her own voice or was it really all just her own insane muttering. Whatever the reason was Jun refused to think about it seeing as it would only make her situation worse.

Leaning against the wall she took out her Digivice hoping her map was still working. It was. Orgemon was somewhere east of her, down one of the tunnels that Jun hoped lead upward instead of downward like some of the other tunnels did. Jun couldn't tell if an hour or more had passed when the tunnel she was walking through became submerged in knee-deep water. Various items floated on top the surface; key chains, cell phones, flowers, jewelry, schoolbags, and various books. One caught her eye; a sketchbook bond in green leather and the initials K.U on the cover.

Something clicked inside of Jun's head as she reached for the notebook. It was soggy but the pages weren't completely ruined by being submerged in water. She could make out the various sketches; bugs, flowers, animals, and people. "This is…I've seen this before." Her hands began trembling as she turned the pages. "This is Mrs. Yokota's sketchbook."

Almost six years ago there was a nice woman who lived in her family's apartment, two levels down from them. She was Kameko Yokota and one of the nicest people Jun and her brother had ever known. She always loved showing off her drawing to anyone who'd take the time to look. Jun always loved stopping by in front of her apartment to look at her drawing, sometimes she drew specific pictures for Davis and her just for them to keep. One day Jun heard she'd lost her husband and son in a fire at a restaurant. After that day Mrs. Yokota practically lost all the life in her as evident in her drawings. Instead of birds and people the drawings became more and more morbid, some of them had words written under them that simply made Jun's heart clench in sorrow. Less than a year after the incident a neighbor found her body in the apartment, a bottle of sleeping pills by her side.

Jun never tried to think back to that day but looking at the sketchbook Jun was remained so painfully of it. Mrs. Yokota had always wanted to be an artist and seeing her love for sketching once convinced Jun she wanted to be an artist too.

A slightly poking at her leg caused Jun to look down to see multiple sketchbooks as well as diaries now appearing on the surface.

Jun saw one of her old sketchbooks she'd thrown away when she was fourteen not that far from her.

A series of clings and shuddering nearly caused Jun's heart to explode from inside her chest before she realized it was the pipes and vents above her. The pipes visibly shuttered as if a large mass was being transported through them while the noises grew louder and louder. Shining her Digivice towards the ceilings she saw various openings where the pipes pointed down into the tunnel's waters.

Jun's eyes went bug-eyed at what she saw coming down the pipes and tubes. It was more of the various items she'd seen littering the tunnels. Taking a few steps back Jun watched the objects collide with the water in various splashes, some of the heavier items sank while others floated back to the surface. It took Jun a moment to realize it but slowly she began to understand what they truly were.

Rings, sketchbooks, toys, books, and clothing. It wasn't garbage, they were items you cherish because they represent something.

"Is that what these are?" Jun mumbled deciding to push the sketchbook back into her bag she'd flung over her shoulder. She could ponder later, for now she had to regroup with Orgemon.

Further along the tunnel discovered it not only lead upward but it also grew nearly three times larger as well as dirtier. Now she was passing over the remains of cars, bikes, and even motorcycles. Like all the other items they were in rusted, ruined condition. Some were sports cars, others common vans.

The most amazing sight Jun came to was when she saw the tunnel moving upward only the only way to go up was to climb a mountain comprised of battered vehicles. It shouldn't have been possible for a forty-foot stack of cars to exist inside of a network of watery caves but there it stood ascending upward.

"Awesome, as if this cave couldn't get any weirder." For the most part Jun could move her left hand though she still had some slight pain in her fingers.

All she did was put her hand on the hood of one car when a familiar scale-covered hand grabbed hers. Between her heart rate leaping to insane heights and the fish-man lunging at her from the darkness inside the car Jun's scream was loud and nearly drained all the air out of her lungs. The fish-man's other hand shot towards her throat only to meet her club instead. Heart still pounding, Jun grabbed the creature slammed her club into its face. Once its grip went slack she hurried up the pile, not caring that the monster was still moaning behind her. She heard its gurgled shouting at her retreating backside.

"Stop!"

Jun didn't let the fact that it could talk coherently stop her, in fact it seemed to encourage her to move faster. Latching onto everything she could she hauled herself upward, ignoring the searing pain in her left hand. When she could she pulled down various objects such as loose seats, doors, and anything else she could to stop the fish-man now greedily climbing after her.

GONK!

A feeling of relief ran through Jun when she heard the sounds of a body tumbling against metal. It was soon replaced by more moaning. Pausing for only a brief second she turned her head to look down at the fish-man.

He was lying on the ground, motionless, and surrounded by at least four other fish-men. All their disturbing eyes focused on Jun. One pointed at and screeched then like ants the others began crawling towards her.

"Get the hell away from me!" Jun screamed pushing down broken doors and metal. Her fear ridden eyes stayed on the blue light at the top of the pile. If she looked down she would have seen the fish-men trying to grab at her.

One of them tore a side view mirror off and threw it at her. It barely missed her by a few centimeters. In retaliation she pulled a car door off its hinges and let it drop down on top of one of the fish-men. She didn't waste time to gloat, instead pulling herself on top of the hood of a car. When she stood up to reach for the next ledge Jun felt herself sliding backwards. Suddenly it dawned on her maybe this pile wasn't as secure as she thought it was.

Bending her legs she jumped for the next ledge just as the previous car slide out of the pile triggering a chain reaction. Hanging onto a door handle Jun had just enough time to see some parts of the pile start tumbling down. More fish-men arrived at the entrance only to shriek back in horror at the collapsing mass. Jun on the other hand looked upward to see she was near the top.

With her last reserves of energy she pushed herself forward feeling the metal slide out from beneath her feet. She met the wet cave floor face first followed by the rest of her body. Jun lay flat on the ground letting her breathe come out in rapid huffs she made no attempt to control. Rolling over onto her back allowed her breathing to become somewhat easier. Unrestricted tears ran down Jun's cheeks along with the drops of water from leaking pipes. Pushing herself up after a minute she crawled towards the edge just to catch a glimpse of the aftermath.

As she thought the collapse of the pile of cars hadn't been pretty. Pieces of cars lay everywhere with no sign of the fish-men from before. No doubt they were all probably crushed underneath the crash. The pipes on the ceiling had burst causing water to rapidly rain down over the chamber giving it an even more morbid look.

Moving away from the edge Jun thanked her lucky stars she'd been more than half way up when the whole tower started collapsing.

Along the tunnel Jun had found more TVs embedded in the walls. Unlike the others she didn't let the various depictions affect her. She was thankful for the light it offered.

SQUINK! SQUINK!

She pressed herself against the wall then lowered herself so she was well hidden in the shadows of the corner. She listened to the squeaking and judged there were at least two fish-men patrolling the tunnels. A quick glance at her Digivice confirmed her guess.

"One to the right and another further down the tunnel to the left," she whispered quietly. In her injured hand she kept the Digivice in map mode and in the other her club. Still hugging the walls along with the corners Jun moved closer and closer towards the fish-man, behind his back and always out of his sight. "…Three…two…" Flipping the bat to the sharp end Jun swung her club right at the fish-man's head, killing it instantly. It fell against the wall with a quiet thud then faded into darkness.

Jun was glade she kept her relief as small as a nut when she saw three new dots appear on her map. Two were to her right, one further down where she'd previously come from and another standing seemingly still up ahead. Judging from the series of moans and gurgles directed at each other Jun guessed they were communicating, probably about capturing her.

As slow as a turtle and as quiet as a mouse she moved through the tunnels hugging the walls. Jun had never felt this way before; all her senses high and alert. The dripping water, the ripples in the puddles, the squeak of webbed feet, and even her own faint breathing. The thrill that ran through her when she managed to avoid one of the fish-men or flat out take one of them out.

It both excited Jun and terrified her.

The terror and excitement blended together at the sight of the last fish-man guarding the vault like door. It was much bigger than the others, standing at almost six and three feet tall. From what she could see the guardian wasn't going to move from his position, at least not without a good reason.

Jun back tracked through the tunnel she'd came through hoping to find something she could use. "Tons of puddles everywhere, dozens of stupid TVs…" Her thoughts trailed off as she realized the implications of what she was planning.

She was going to electrocute another creature to death.

Jun felt sick, so sick she had to steady herself against a wall. "D-Did I really just plan that?" Whatever excitement inside her had been replaced by flat-out horror. She was planning murder. "Murder? This things are monsters! They turn back into fade away when they die!" A part of Jun's mind voiced as she stared at a sizable puddle that would have gone up to the creature's waist. "B-B-But they're still…we're possibly inside a computer!" Jun argued back.

"Fine! When they're delated! Whatever! You've taken down at least twenty of these things. They're after you. You've seen enough horror movies to know what the monster does when it's got a victim in its lair." The voice went quiet allowing Jun to take the words into consideration. "If they catch you, you ARE going to die."

"…"

The voices came back. The countless TVs showing her all kinds of despairing images. "Do these things live down here? Do they get off on watching peoples' lives go down the gutter?" Steely determination replaced the fear.

Her eyes darted back and forth between the cables connecting the TVs and the puddle. Along the way Jun had picked up a rusty pocket knife with traces of blood on it. It was sharp enough for her to cut through some of the cables which happened to be long enough to extend to the small pool. Arcs of white electricity sparked between the served cables. Another quick glance around the chamber and Jun had a plan that would end in either her death or that of the fish-man's.


Its disturbing eyes caught the light immediately then in no time was dashing towards it. Its webbed feet squeaked with every step it took while its breathe continued coming out in that strange rasp.

Jun was partly happy these things had relatively good eyesight, it meant she didn't have to get leave the shadows to catch its attention. That also meant she had a quick start in her mad dash down the tunnel.

SPLANSH! SPLANSH! SQEAUK! SQAUEAK!

Every few times she turned, the fish-man followed without even knowing he was being lead into trap. While she was huffing and running she grinned in a way that many who knew her would describe as unsettling.

At the pool the fish-man stopped in the middle, bewildered at how it'd lost its prey. Its eyes grew somewhat wider when it noticed the various cables in the water.

Behind him Jun pressed two wires together, sparks illuminating her face just as the fish-man turned around. It screamed in terror when it saw her.

Even after the fish-man faded away after be electrocuted Jun continued to stare at the now smoking pool. She blinked several times while her hands trembled severely before dropping the cables.

She'd done it. She'd cleared out an underground tunnel network full of ugly fish-men all by herself. Proud swelled within Jun's chest as she walked back to the vault-like door the final fish-man had been guarding.

Just before the door Jun took notice of a small TV screen notched by the door's right bottom corner. She recognized the voice coming from it as Chiyo's. Dark knots replaced the proud Jun had cared to the vault. Whenever this TVs was playing on these TVs was never good.

With one hand she wiped away the dirt covering the screen to find what could have been a home movie playing. Chiyo, no older than six or seven was playing in the field with two adults Jun knew immediately were her parents. The difference between the young girl she was watching and the one she knew today was clear; the Chiyo in the video was much happier than the current one was. The video continued playing showing more happy memories that brought a smile to her dirt-ridden face.

Tearing her gaze to the wall the TV was stuck in she narrowed her eyes on a feint gleam right above the screen. It took a little prying but the object came out. It was a wedding ring.

Turning it around in her hands felt like she was holding the heart of some little girl. The fact it was down here meant something had gone bad in the marriage of Chiyo's parents. With great pain Jun's eyes turned back to the TV screen, now having changed to a new scene. Jun was thankful the picture was fuzzy. The sound however was still clear enough for her to hear the moans of pleasure.

"Oh Chiyo," Snapping her head away for she had no desire to see her friend's father continue having sex with a woman she knew wasn't Chiyo's mother. "That's why you're so…so…" Only when the moaning stopped did she turn her head back to examine the wall around the TV. Some of the pictures were of Chiyo's family, others were simply of her however all were dirt covered and torn. To be specific most of the pictures of just Chiyo were torn like someone had tried their hardest to rip them apart yet couldn't go through with it completely. It somewhat matched up with the current video of her parents arguing with each other with a scared Chiyo in the background. Odds were they'd found out about the affair.

There was shouting and slapping to which Jun fletched right alongside the young Chiyo. At one point Chiyo's father picked up a glass bottle and hurled it at her mother. Screaming in horror Chiyo tackled her mother to the ground just as the glass shattered against the wall, one of the shards leaving a nasty wound on her right shoulder.

From there the TV only seemed to show scattered images of the rest of the night up until she saw Chiyo's father jump into the car and drive off into the night. Chiyo's mother came out less than a minute later screaming at the retreating car.

Then the car collided with two others ending a in a fireball so bright it lit up the entire screen.

Speechlessly Jun stared at the screen. She'd never known this is what happened to Chiyo. Sure she'd seemed a little shy but she'd just assumed that was because she probably didn't get out much. Now however…

To her horror there was more to be shown. Chiyo, now a little older, sat in a corner nursing a red cheek while her mother towered over her with an insane look of rage on her face. Clearly she was drunk. In the next she must have been on drugs due to the insane look in her eyes. "Oh my God." Jun cried watching Chiyo endure abuse after abuse at the hands of her mother. Burning, hitting, hell even locking her out, her mother did it all. Puzzlement replaced horror when the screen flickered to a video of one of Davis's soccer games. "That makes sense. It's obvious she really likes Davis." Her confusing grew when the screen shifted to pictures and videos of Kari, mostly of Davis failing to win her attention. "Oh no Chiyo don't tell me…" If Davis was beside her Jun was sure she would have bonked her brother on the head for never noticing the abused brunette watching him. Because he never noticed her and only focused on Kari he never noticed Chiyo or for that matter any other girl that might have been interested in him.

Somewhere inside Jun was aware she was being a bit of a hypocrite, regardless the anger she felt at seeing her friend ignored infuriated her. Suddenly the screen froze on an image of Kari laughing and stayed there.

There was something deeply unsettling about the way it stayed focused on Kari's face. The way the cracks cut her face in half didn't exactly help either.


Beyond the door Jun had come to a larger network what one could only describe as an aquatic prison mixed with some kind of lounge area that had been hit by a hurricane. Cages and prison cells had been molded out of the cave walls yet they had been heavily decorated that they seemed less like cells and more like beds and couches. Flames licked at what furniture wasn't destroyed while cracks and dents seemed to have spread all over the chamber like a spider's web.

A few dying fish-men moaned in pain at the sight of Jun. Clearly they weren't a threat but Jun wasn't taking any chances. Stepping closer and closer she could hear the familiar roars and swings of a certain club-wielding Digimon.

"Orgemon!" Jun called out into the chamber over the roar of flames and screams of fury.

"Jun? Jun! Is that you!?" His distant voice called back

Scrambling over the stones and ridges she came upon a ledge overlooking a vast lagoon, one large enough to completely submerge an entire house. Around the pool were glass mirrors, many of which had been shattered, and computer screens similar in appearance to the TV screens she'd encountered earlier. All of them lay in broken and destroyed states courtesy of Jun's rampaging partner.

Speaking of Orgemon he wasn't having much issue with holding off what she saw as hordes of fish-men crawling up and out of every hole in the place. None of them had the strength to go toe to toe with him head on so they instead used mass swarm tactics. Dozens upon dozens of them piled on top of the ogre believing their combined weight would be enough to hold him down. They were sorely mistaken.

Releasing a monstrous roar Orgemon threw all of the fish-men off then went right back to swinging his club and fists with reckless abandonment. Usually all it took was one blow for the fish-men to dissolve into darkness though some managed to take two blows before falling to the wet ground. Those foolishly enough to attack him either found themselves sharing face with his bone club or his fist. The battle was so one-sided Jun felt more like watching it than interfering.

"Holy shit," She muttered watching her partner effortlessly fend off the horde. "I knew he was tough but I seriously never thought he was that strong." Jun visible flinched when she saw him curb-stomp a fish-man trying to latch onto his leg. "Or that brutal." Watching the slaughter reminded Jun of just who her partner was; he was the Digimon Hunter. That title had never meant much to Jun however seeing him in battle had changed that perspective. Now she knew why Orgemon had been given that title. Strangely she felt no fear from what she saw because she knew deep down Orgemon would never turn that brutal power on her. "I guess I should count myself lucky I got him for a partner. Huh?"

While Orgemon was focused on his front he failed to notice a rather large fish-man emerging from a nearby pool holding a freighting sharp harpoon in its hands. Once its eyes looked onto Orgemon's pale white hair it ran full speed at him while he was preoccupied with fending off three of its brethren.

Panicked Jun searched for something she could use as a projectile until she spied some rocks garbage lying by her feet. Hefting one of them into her hand she silently prayed her aim hadn't been diminished by time and fear. After tossing the rock into the air she hit it with her club as if she were back at baseball practice.

The rock flew totally straight into the fish-man's head knocking him to the ground. When Orgemon kicked the three fish-men away he turned to look at the downed fish-man than at Jun. The two exchanged a smile before going back to fighting the ever growing horde. Orgemon bashed everything that got close to him while Jun continued hitting rocks off her club, each hit nailing an enemy either in the face or neck.

"If I make it out of this maybe I should consider taking baseball seriously!" Jun thought watching one of her rocks pelt a fish-man right in between the eyes. A sudden chill ran up her spine followed by the faint sound of hissing in her ears. On reflex she swings both her club and head back. She never sees her attacker but she does feel its scaly body slam into her, knocking all the air out of her lungs.

The shock gave way to fear once she felt herself slam into the surface of water then submerged in it. Seeing the horrifying eyes of the fish-man holding her down turned Jun's fear into anger. She kicked and bit at the digital aquatic monster yet never let go of her club. None of it did any good until she managed to free her left hand, reach behind her and withdraw a knife she'd picked up from earlier. Driving it into the fish-man's eye releasing his grip on Jun. If she didn't need oxygen she would have stabbed the fish-man again instead of swimming for the surface.

Once she broke the surface she saw Orgemon swimming towards her at a speed she didn't believe he possessed with his size and bulk. He grabbed her and quickly dragged her back to the ground. "Jun! Are you okay! Where the hell were you! Damn it I told you to stay still!"

Jun spent nearly five minutes coughing her lungs out before she could answer, "I saw some weird things in those tunnels okay! If you were in my situation there's no way you would have stayed."

Orgemon was quiet for a minute before speaking, "Did you see any of those whacked out TVs too?"

"I wish I didn't."

Whatever Orgemon was going to say afterwards he never got the chance to. While they were talking the fish-men had taken the time to surround them. Surprisingly the fish-man Jun had stabbed in the eye was among them, glaring at Jun with his remaining eye.

"Looks like we're not getting out of here without a fight." Orgemon declared readying himself. "The good news we're directly under that seaside town we saw earlier."

Jun clenched her club tightly as she stood back to back with him. "How do you know that?"

"First while I was searching for you I found a few letters that lead to the surface. Second," He chuckled darkly then beckoned to the fish-men. "Some of these guys were kind enough to tell me where to go and where their place was."

As scary as it was Jun returned Orgemon's dark grin. Facing down the fish-men she felt the thundering in her heart pick up. They had come so close, now all they had to do was just push a little further. Meeting one fish-man in the eye Jun steeled her nerves. She'd survived that hellish maze. Compared to that these unholy things weren't going to be a problem, especially with her partner at her back.

Maybe it was the adrenaline that kept Jun going, whatever it was she was thankful for it. Maybe the relief at having found Orgemon kept her mind devoid of fear. That was probably true.

All Jun knew for certain was that she and Orgemon had for all purposes destroyed enough fish-man to fill every pod in the gym-sized chamber.

Granted Orgemon was doing most of the work Jun was smashing every fish-man's head in, one after another. It only took one swing and they went down, for the larger ones it took two or three. They both made sure to steer clear of the pools knowing what was waiting in the dark depths. Of the water. A few times Orgemon threw a Pummel Whack at a crowd or larger than average fish-man. The attack continued past its target and into the walls and ceiling of the chamber. Chunks of stone and broken screens began raining down adding another layer of chaos to the fight. Jun didn't discourage him from aiming at the environment. She wanted this things to have their home destroyed for dragging her away from her home and friends. The joy, the retribution, she felt was beyond anything she'd thought possible.

Some of the fish-men began to wise up upon seeing how the scared girl they'd accidentally kidnapped had changed into a near-crazed manic and began to retreat. Orgemon was willing to let some of them escape though not before sending a wild Pummel Whack their way just to scare the crap out of them.

"Come back and fight you cowards! Have you no shame! No sense of pride or honor! This is our home!" One of the larger fish-men screamed at his fleeing brethren.

"Funny thing about pride, it can rarely bit you in the butt sometimes if you let it!" Orgemon yelled bringing his club down on top of a senior fish-man.

Jun examined the fish-man that had just spoken. Clearly it was the ruler or leader of the strange monsters; its skin was more defined, it was larger, and possessed a ring of sea shells around its neck. Quietly she began making her way towards it, fending off swings from pipes or weapons along the way. "Hey you!"

Seeing the fear race through its eyes only accelerated Jun's advance towards the leader. She was about seven feet away when she saw the fish man withdraw a gun it had been concealing behind its back. Jun's froze at the sight of the barrel pointed at her. She closed her eyes and braced fro the pain she knew was coming.

SWOOSH!

"Idiot! You let us waste half yer' guys and now you pull out a gun!" Knocking the gun out of its hands Orgemon leveled his glare at the lead fish-man. "Don't ever aim a gun at my partner!" The sound of bones cracking echoed as he drove his fist directly into the creature's face.

The fish-man skid across the ground coming to a stop in front of a broken statue. Seeing their leader wounded the rest of the fish-men finally decided to call it quits and fled into the water. Shaking its head it glanced got to its feet just in time to see Jun charging it screaming bloody murder.

Savagely Jun rained down blow after blow with her club and even fists. She gave no pause in her assault on the fish-man, relishing the cries of pain that left its bloated lips. Pulling the club back like it was a baseball bat Jun let loose with one last war cry before slamming it into the creature's bruised face.

CRACK!

Teeth flew out in clusters as the creature hit the ground coughing up black blood. Amazingly it managed to get to its feet though it was obvious it was going to collapse at any moment. "Stupid girl! D-D-Do you really thing I'm going t-t-to be done in my some s-stupid-AH!"

Orgemon had lowered the intensity of his Pummel Whack just enough that it wouldn't destroy the fish-man. It was just enough to send him crashing through a set of double doors into a collection of computers so hard he nearly wrecked the entire console.

Pushing the doors open the duo watched with clear disdain as the creature attempted to stand again with its grievous wounds. "I-I'm…g-g-going to ma-make y-y-you both su-suffer for this!" It managed to say between breathes and the blood trickling out of its nostrils and mouth.

Stepping forward Orgemon wrapped his hand around the creature's neck, putting a squeeze on to let it know escape was an option. "Okay start talking."

"A-About what?" it whizzed struggling to break free.

"For starters what the hell is this place? What the hell are you guys! What the hell is going on here and why the hell did you kidnap me!" Jun nearly screamed stepping right beside him.

Realizing it was trapped the fish-man stopped struggling. "For starters this place is the Dark Ocean, collectively dumping ground for all of reality."

"What do you mean dumping ground?" Jun ordered.

"This place…" The fish-man began rolling its head back. "is a realm of darkness. The lack of color, the uneasiness, and even we are all because of the darkness within the hearts of human and Digimon. It was formed from the darkness and everything that is lost to it finds its way here. Hopes, dreams, all broken, all of them return here as if being thrown out to see."

All the pieces clicked together in Jun's mind. That was the reason why she ran into so many ruined items and saw all those awful things. "So you're saying this place is basically…a graveyard?"

"Yes, a graveyard for lost dreams and those who have succumbed to darkness. Whenever people throw away a hope or dream for the future it manifests here, enlarging the realm. That's the power of this realm; manifesting dark thoughts." It gave a pained chuckle at the horrified look in Jun's eyes. "Sometimes people end up here too though they barely resemble who they used to be."

Orgemon was not enjoying the joy the creature was taking in Jun's fear. He squeezed tighter on the creature's neck causing it to cough out more blood and struggle for air. "If this is a graveyard then what the hell are you guys? The grave keepers?"

"No…we are…more like the ghouls and ghosts." Its voice was quiet yet the underlying of anger was auditable. "E-Ever since the network first began we have existed. We are revenants created from discarded and corrupted pieces of data."

"So in other words you guys are made of digital garbage." Orgemon stated. Judging from the look of pure rage in the fish-man's eyes Orgemon knew he'd hit a sore spot.

After a pained grunt the creature nodded to confirm his statement. "Speaking bluntly yes. Everything you stupid humans and Digimon throw out or suppress, we are made of. The ocean you see out there is basically a giant manifestation of the negative energy all living things produced. You could keep swimming for an eternity and never reach the end because as long as people can be happy they'll always have a reason to be sad."

"That's not true!" Jun suddenly yelled. "That can't be…it just…."

'Just what girl?" it sneered at her. "You saw it on the monitors right? Every day you humans do horrible things to each other and drown yourselves in misery. You know that's where most of our power comes from right? Sure we get a good chunk from Digimon too but you human beings, hah!" The sick joy made both Jun and Orgemon's skin crawl in disgust. "You guys practically force feed this world on an hourly basis. This world records the despair and memorializes it while we feed off it."

Jun had been wanted an answer to what this place was but she wasn't expecting something as horrible as this. This entire realm was made from the collective darkness of humans and Digimon. Worse it was primarily humans who fueled it? Tearing her eyes away from the digital revenant she walked back outside to stare at the destruction. "How could something like this exist? How monsters like those things feed off it?"

"Those with darkness in their hearts are drawn here." The fish-man spoke up. "When the darkness becomes too much it pulls them in regardless of where they are. It's one of the only ways to enter this realm."

"I heard stories this place was run by some super evil Digimon." Orgemon started. "Is that true?"

When they received no answer Jun walked up to the fish-man's trembling form. With a slight gasp she realized it was trembling with rage.

Through what teeth it had left it answered in a voice filled with sheer loathing. "Yes, the Ruler of the Dark Ocean…Dagomon."

At the sound of the name Orgemon's eyes rose in shock. "Orgemon? Do you know who or what Dagomon is?" Jun asked somewhat alarmed.

"Yeah I do but he's…he's something of a boogeyman in the Digital World." He answered in a serious voice. "He' called the Deprived Monk of the Deep. Word goes he was formed from some kind of computer virus that affected ships in your world, some of your world's ship wrecks were his doing. Apparently he resides in some dark ocean far, far away from the main Digital World." Slowly he turned his gaze back to their captive. "This is it isn't it, he's the god of this realm isn't he?"

"Yes, he is, or at least still thinks he does. For nearly as long as the Dark Ocean has existed he's been its unquestioned ruler. He was our master." It spoke with venom in its tone. "He treated us like slaves! It was hell!"

"A hell for ghosts and ghouls huh? Can't imagine what that's like." Orgemon joked.

"Oh ya' know, it was kind of like when you were Devimon's bitch Orgemon." It countered.

Snarling in fury Orgemon slammed the fish-man against the already wrecked console. By this point Jun had begun to feel somewhat sorry for the fish-men after learning they were basically ghosts bound in slavery. "Wait a minute, you've been mentioning a lot of stuff in past tense. That means something's happened right? The fact you guys are running around in tunnels fighting everyone means someone had to have freed you right? Who was it?"

Watching the pain and anger evaporate from the digital revenant's face was somewhat unsettling for Jun and Orgemon. "We were set free. Our freedom came at her hands, the Bearer of the Crest of Light, Kari Kamiya."

Jun's stomach hit the floor at the name. "Kari was here!? She set you guys free!"

It nodded its head with a somewhat dreamy look in its eyes. "She used her light to free us from the control of the Digimon Emperor. Ah the light….it was so radiant, so beautiful." Its voice had gone simply being soft to almost…lustful. "She was everything we had dreamed her to be, the one who freed us from our bondage to both the Digimon Emperor and Dagomon. She was to be our queen, the one to rule us."

Both Jun and Orgemon felt like gagging as the creature continued its ramblings. Orgemon couldn't believe what he was hearing! "Drasil! what the hell is wrong with these things? They sound like psychotic stalkers!"

What Jun was feeling was total disgust and revulsion. From the tone deprived and twisted tone the creature was talking in it sounded almost like she was listening to a pedophile. She had to bite back the urge to command Orgemon to end the creature's existence for she knew they still needed more answers. Problem was she had a feeling those answers were not going to be pleasant.

"Hey ugly!" Orgemon yelled shacking the creature in his hand. "Since I saw her fighting MaloMyotismon a few months ago that must mean she escaped right? What happened after she freed you!?"

Sighing in pain and annoyance it returned its gaze towards the duo. "She was taken from us, taken back to your world so we were forced to face our god's wrath alone. We refused to become his slaves again so we fought against him. Then a portal to the Digital World opened up courtesy of the Digimon Emperor. Sometime after that Daemon showed up…" Without warning its eyes locked with Jun's. "We can blame your brother for that."

Jun face palmed. "Oh God Davis what did you do?"

"The Digidestined couldn't defeat Daemon when he appeared in your world so you sent him here, to our world."

"Shit." Orgemon cursed putting the pieces together.

"Davis told me a little about that." Jun muttered. "He said Daemon was one of the toughest enemies they'd ever faced."

"He was too powerful for them to defeat so the former Digimon Emperor, Ken Ichijouji, who you should know has already been here once, opened a portal to our home and dumped him here!" Now its voice had gone from seething rage to hate-filled barking. "All of this is your fault!"

"How is any of this my fault? How is any of this the fault of this my brother's fault?" Jun demanded.

"When Daemon got here he wasn't pleased but when he realized where he was, what power our world contained he began plotting to take it over." It paused to look toward the ceiling again as if recalling a memory. "Dagomon didn't take it well. They went to war, for the first time the Dark Ocean became a war-zone! They both began harvesting all the dark energy and thoughts they could in order to wipe each other out!"

"Let me guess you guys were caught in the crossfire." Orgemon asked.

"This was our home! We have a right to it!" it seethed trying to break free. "That's why we needed you to bring our queen back! To save us!"

"Me? You wanted me to bring Kari back here?" Jun was furious now. She didn't back down from the creature's glare, meeting it with her own. "Why the hell would I bring Kari back here and how did you expect me to do that? What the hell could she have done anyway?"

"When we learned you were here we set out to capture you because we discovered you two shared a friendship. The queen is compassionate beyond all others, she gladly would have returned to us if it meant returning you to your world. As for he-"

Orgemon kept his grip on the fish-man when Jun delivered a sudden left hook. He saw his partner huffing with a mixture of tears and rage swelling in her eyes.

"You sick bastards! You were going make Kari come back to this hellhole using me as a bartering chip!"

"It…argh…wasn't beyond reasoning."

As wrong as it was Jun knew it was true. If it meant assuring the safety of innocence people Kari would gladly turn herself over to anyone. It was a kindness Jun couldn't help but admire.

"Anyways you don't know it but the Queen has a hidden power that could defeat both Dagomon and Daemon. We need to her defeat Daemon first, his plan is advancing too fast even for Dagomon to stop."

"What's Daemon's plan anyways?" Orgemon barked bringing the creature within an inch of his face. "In the Digital World there have been Digimon going crazy all over the place. In Jun's world Control Spires having been popping up like weeds. It's all connected."

Its eyes darted back between the two of them as if debating if it was wise to reveal what it knew. Seeing he was going to take convincing Orgemon tightened his hold cutting off the creature's oxygen supply.

"Okay! Okay! Daemon's planning on resurrecting the other Seven Deadly Digimon!"

"What did you say!?" Orgemon nearly squeezed the last life out of the revenant. "That's impossible! All of them were sealed so tightly no one knows how to unlock them! Even Daemon isn't strong enough to undo one of the seals!"

Inside her mind Jun realized where she'd heard the story of the seven deadly sins. "He's collecting sin isn't he? Daemon's collecting energy created from the seven deadly sins right?"

The revenant pointed at the monitors showing various Control Spires all over the world. "Since this world can manifest dark thoughts he's learned how to link it with the Human World and Digital World. It's allowed him to summon Control Spires to the Human World but not for Digimon, while there they collect the energy created from sins."

"Pride, lust, sloth, greed, wrath, envy, and gluttony." Jun finished.

"Exactly! The Control Spires act as magnets in the human world, drawing the energy in and transferring it to Daemon's fortress. In the Digital World the disruptions are causing Digimon to indulge in these sins, giving him even more power. If he sets them loose it'll be the end of everything!"

For once Orgemon was stunned into total silence. This wasn't what he was expecting. Hell this was way out of his league. "We can't do this on our own. We need help from the others!" "How close is he to resurrecting them?" Orgemon shook him again. "How close damn it!?"

"I don't know! From what we found out he's been helped by some human besides he can't crack open all the seals like it's nothing! The human he's with, apparently she's the key to unsealing Leviamon and he's got a plan to use the Digimon Emperor to bring back Lucemon!"

"SHIT!"

It was at that moment that gigantic cracks began appearing in the walls with water seeping through. Jun and Orgemon didn't wait a second. Spying a steel door to the right Orgemon threw the revenant to the ground then made a break for the door with Jun close behind. At the exact moment he tore the door off massive amounts of water began flooding the chamber. The sound of rock breaking was drowned out by the snarling of fierce Digimon in the process of tearing each other apart.

"The queen! The queen! Only the queen can save us! ONLY HER LIGHT CAN DEFEAT THEM! THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN!"

The insane rambling came to a sudden stop followed by a sickening crush sound that neither turned their heads to examine. Beyond the steel door was a hallway and at the end of that was a metal ladder leading upward.

Rather than waist time climbing Orgemon grabbed Jun then run upward, jumping from one end of the wall to the other. "Jun hold on tight!"

"Trust me until I get a reason to I'm not letting go!" She screamed.

Focusing his power into his legs Orgemon burst through the wooden covering that awaited at the top of the tunnel. Besides minor pain in his shoulders he was unharmed and was happy to see Jun was as well. Setting her down Orgemon sniffed the air with his noise noting the smell of sea water.

Turning on the light in her Digivice Jun found a stairway leading up towards a door. Flashing the light around her revealed they were inside some kind of basement. As quietly as they could they moved up the stairs and opened the door. Thankfully nothing lay behind the door, in fact judging from their surroundings it looked like they were in some kind of house. They broke off in different directions to confirm their suspicions and indeed they discovered they were in a simple two=floor home.

Rushing over to the highest window in the house Jun let out a relived sigh. "Well the good news is we're finally at the town." Finding a seat on a chair she sat down, dropping her club and bag by her side. "So how much trouble are we in?"

Orgemon sighed to himself and took a seat on the the bed. "Well I don't want to scare you but we're pretty much screwed."

"I kind of figured that, mind elaborating on who Leviamon and Lucemon are?"

By the time Orgemon was finished explaining Jun had practically become a statue. Orgemon couldn't really blame her. "I think now would be a good time to call in back. Lots of back up."

"Definitely which means one thing," Jun held up her Digivice wishing once again it had come with some kind of instruction manual. "We need to find a computer…fast."


Sorry if this chapter was too long but I hope you guys enjoyed it. What did you guys think? Any guesses on what's going to happen now that Jun and Orgemon have made it to town? Leave it in a Review!