Yeah, so this might be a little, uh, weird. There was definitely a lot of angst in the last chapter I realized, and this one may have some too, so you have been warned. I have been reading a lot and have gotten several ideas that aren't exactly copying, but the ideas kind of help me get new ideas. Well, enjoy the chapter, and let me know what you think of it :)
Chapter 10
Darkness and Defeat
"You are free to go," Osamu entered the dungeon where the Digi-Destined were being held.
"What about Ken?" Daisuke asked. "What's Lucemon going to do to him?"
Osamu sighed, "I'm not entirely sure, but I think he might be planning on doing something to the dark spore inside of him."
"How can he do something to it?" Takeru asked.
"I've heard that there is a way to control the dark spore and the one who bears it. But once this happens, I don't know if there will be a way to stop Ken like the last time. But he needs to see you before you leave, or else he won't go through with it. Lucemon just sent me to get you."
"Isn't there any way you could help him?" Miyako asked.
Osamu shook his head, "No, I'm sorry, but there is no way that I can save him now."
They left the dungeon and the children were giving their digivices back, and their Digimon partners returned to them.
"As soon as you leave, Lucemon will begin," Osamu said, frowning.
"Begin what?" Kelly asked.
"Lucemon doesn't know how to control the dark spore yet, so he plans to try several ways to control it, but none of us, Ken especially, want you here for that. And besides, part of the deal was that you would be able to leave as soon as Lucemon began, which is going to be soon."
The older boy led all of them out of the dungeon, into the stone halls, and out a big wooden door. They were outside in the middle of a desert. Lucemon stood before them with Ken next to him, his hands tied behind his back as if to stop him from fighting back.
"Now, I think it's time for you to say one final good bye," Lucemon said. "And also, if you try anything, we are surrounded by ultimate and mega level Digimon who will kill you where you stand."
Kelly ran forward to the boy who started as her friend, and soon after became her boyfriend and wrapped her arms around him, almost knocking him over with his lack of balance. "I'm sorry," she whispered to him.
"For what?" he asked.
"For bringing you here," she replied, closing her eyes tightly to hold back tears. For what would be the final time, she pressed her lips against his. Their second kiss and it was going to be their last. Wow, life sucks like that.
"Now get going before I change my mind," Lucemon snapped. "We have a lot of work to do in the next couple of days."
Osamu gave the Digi-destined one last glance before they left.
Days went by. They left Ellie, but found a way to keep in touch with her incase she were to change her mind, but Kelly coldly assured them at as long as the teen had a castle and servants, she would never go back to the real world.
The Warrior of Love was affected most by what happened. The other Digi-Destined were dealing with it as best they could, but it was hard to hide the fact that one of their friends was taken by the enemy.
"Digi-Destined, I have been sent by Princess Ellie to destroy you," a Mermaimon said to them as they walked.
"I'll take care of her," Kelly said, pulling out her D-Tector. "It'll be easy." And besides, I need something to take my mind off of Ken
"Execute – Spirit Evolution!" she was surrounded in pink data, but it suddenly faded and turned to black and grey.
"Kelly, what happened?" Mindy called to her friend as Kouji and Takuya spirit evolved to their human forms.
Kelly shook her head and ran to her friend, "I don't know," she said. "But I don't think I can feel love anymore."
Sora looked at her with a worried expression. Not feeling love. She had once thought that she didn't have any love, so much that she left the Digi-Destined. She thought it must have been from Ken leaving, the girl loved him so much, but once he left with Lucemon and Osamu, Kelly must have thought that she couldn't feel love again, causing her to not be able to access her spirits of love.
The battle went by quickly, "And tell Ellie that she is gonna need a lot more than an ultimate Digimon to beat us," Agunimon called after the Mermaimon who was fleeing the battle as quickly as possible.
Days went by, and no one really said anything, until one morning, one of them was missing.
It happened late at night shortly after they had made camp and all gone to bed. Kelly felt the ring that the Kaiser had put around her neck just before she became Deathmon and battled with ShadowWereGarurumon.
It started to get slightly tighter suddenly, which worried her, and made it feel uncomfortable. She tugged at it slightly, hoping that it would miraculously come off, but nothing happened.
It started flashing red, and she grasped her neck as electricity began to run through her. Nobody noticed; they never did. They never noticed the ring that had been placed on her, and they didn't notice and she held to her neck tightly, falling over onto her side as it continued to burn her.
Nobody cares,she thought. Not anymore, not after Ken was taken by Lucemon.
"That's right, they don't care anymore. The Chlid of Kindness is gone, and soon you will be too."A voice said to her.
The burning eased and she looked to find whoever was talking to her, but nobody was there.
"Who's there?" she asked.
"I am right here," the voice said, and a small black ball appeared in front of her.
"You?" she scoffed.
"Yes, and I will answer your questions, Warrior of Hate,"the ball said.
"Don't call me that," she said.
"I only say what you are,"he replied. "Ken Ichijoujileft and you have lost your love now. I can help you find it again, but these people you are with will never help you with your problems."
"You can?" she asked, glancing over at the sleeping Digi-Destined who obviously didn't hear her speaking with the strange black ball.
"They won't notice," he said. "They are too wrapped up in their own misery to notice."
Kelly didn't know what to say now. She knew that they were hurting also, especially the new Digi-Destined that they had recently met. She didn't know if she was taking it to far being to upset, but she did love him, more than anything or anyone she had ever loved before, and without having somebody to love anymore, she lost her powers.
"You know full well that you will never love again until you get him back, but will you get him?"
"I will," she said. "I have to, or else I might lose all of my powers."
"But you still have the spirits of hate, and they will give you power at this time," it said. "Your hatred toward Osamu and Lucemon for taking Ken away from you, your hatred toward the Digi-Destined for not finding a way to keep him from leaving, and your hatred toward yourself, for not being there for him when he needed you."
"You're right," she said. "I am angry, the hatred is boiling over inside of me, and I can't take it out, not on them, though. My sister betrayed me, my boyfriend left me, the people who raised me practically hold me prisoner, and I can't stop them. I can't help myself at all, and I am angry for everything that I've lost, and that hatred is pulling me into a ditch, and nobody is there to pull me out of it."
"What about me?" a voice asked. "I pulled you out before, and I could pull you out again."
She turned to see Kouji standing behind her, eyeing the black ball suspiciously.
He walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her, "I know that you're hurting," he said. "We all are, but I know for a fact that this is much harder for you, and that you couldn't digivolve to Venusmon because you had lost your love, but please, we can help you."
"I thought I couldn't feel love," another voice said, who appeared to be Sora. "I had the crest of love, and I never felt I deserved it, because I had no love. But Kelly, you have your friends, and your brothers, and we are standing by you every step of the way, and we all miss Ken also. We all know that you hurt more than any of us, but we will find him, and we will help him. All you need to do is help us, and find the love that I know is still inside of you."
Kelly looked down, "You're right," she said. "I still have my friends, even though I lost the one I loved. I still have my love, but I just locked it away, not allowing it to come out because I was so deep in my misery."
"I can help you much more than they can," the ball said, blood red eyes flashing on it. "I can help you get revenge on everyone who ever hurt you, everyone who ever allowed your hatred to go so far as to let you become Deathmon in the first place!"
"You will not help me at all," she said. "You want to use this hatred within me to destroy everyone, all of the other people that I love. You want to bury me in my grief by murdering everyone else that I love, and you used Ken to start it."
"I will be back, Digi-Destined,"it warned, flying off through the bushes.
"Thanks, you guys," she said, smiling at her two friends.
Kouji put his arm around her shoulder, "Never let darkness and grief engulf you," he said smiling. "You will get lost in your pain and lock everyone out."
Sora smiled also, "Love is a funny thing; you have the kind of love that you have with friends and family, and you also have the kind of love that you share with another person, where you know that he or she is the one you want to spend he rest of your life with."
The three went back to sleep, but the next morning when Kouji awoke, Kelly was gone, nowhere to be seen.
Ken watched in silence as his friends left. His brother stood on one side of him while Lucemon stood on the other. He didn't know where Wormmon was, but he hoped that his partner wasn't going to see what was going to happen, though he didn't even know himself.
"Well, let's begin," Lucemon said, motioning for Osamu to lead his brother inside.
"You ready little brother?" the older boy whispered to him as he walked beside him into the building.
Ken nodded slightly, "I think."
They led him into an odd room that looked almost like a lab. There was a metal table with a whole the size of a head in the top of it, several wires next to it. For a Digimon, Lucemon seemed to know a lot about human objects. The table also had straps on it for hands and feet that looked almost like hospital restraints, obviously used for restraining whoever was being experimented on, which Ken worries that he might have been the next victim.
The table was tilted upward at an angle in a way that whoever was on it would almost be standing, but not completely, though their feet would be up against the bar that sat at the bottom.
There were some Gekomon in the room who were messing around with some machines, but they stopped hat they were doing once the three walked in. They evened out the table which made it able to lye on, and Osamu helped his brother onto it so that he was lying on it with his face in the hole so that he could breathe, and for some other reason that he was unaware of, though he would have liked to know.
The Gekomon quickly tied the restraints around his wrists and ankles.
Ken flinched as he felt something sharp stab into the back of his neck, and several other things followed the first. It felt almost like when the dark spore was placed inside of him, but he hoped that these things wouldn't have the same effects.
"Well, I guess we can begin," Lucemon said.
The next thing Ken knew, there was pain coming from the back of his neck, and it grew stringer by the second. He fought the keep consciousness, but soon lost the battle and dropped into unconsciousness.
"Keep going," Lucemon said. "He doesn't need to be awake for this, anyway."
Ken woke up several times during the next few hours, but just as quickly went back to sleep, knowing that he would rather be unconscious during it than to be wide awake and screaming in pain.
He opened his eyes slightly and the first thing he noticed was that the pain wasn't as bad, which meant that whatever they had been doing to him had been stopped for the moment. The back of his neck still hurt, but he knew that he could deal with it.
"Take him out of here," Lucemon ordered, and Osamu walked forward while the Gekomon unfastened the restraints.
The older boy grabbed his brother and helped him off to the dungeon.
Days went by, and he hadn't seen Wormmon, though Osamu had assured him that the Digimon was fine.
Another day came, and Ken was sure that he couldn't go into the room again, so when Osamu came to get him, he finally confronted him about it.
"You ready, Ken?" Osamu asked, just like the last days that went by.
"I can't do this anymore," the younger brother said.
"What do you mean?" Osamu asked.
"I don't want to go see Lucemon anymore."
A small smiled crept over Osmaus' lips, "Then you can leave."
Ken glanced up at his brother, a little confused by what he had just heard. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean that I'm gonna get you out of here," the older boy replied. "You have people that need you to help them, and you are part of the key in defeating Lucemon, that is why he kept you here."
"What key?" Ken asked.
"There are two parts of the riddle, but there is a key that will allow certain Digimon the ability to Armor Digivolve, or even digivolve to ultimate, and Wormmon is one of those Digimon."
"Wormmon can Armor Digivolve?" Ken asked. "I never heard of a Digi-egg of Kindness, though…"
"Someone has it, but I don't have time to explain everything to you," Osamu replied, helping Ken stand up. "Wormmon is outside waiting for you, and will fill you in on the rest. He will take you to the other Digi-Destined, and together you guys have to find the other part of the key."
"Will you come with me?" Ken asked.
Osamu shook his head, "There is no time, and I must stay here to hold off Lucemon until you and Stingmon can get out of here."
"But Lucemon will—"
"Kill me, I know," Osamu said sadly.
"Don't do it, Osamu," Ken said.
"I am not here, though," Osamu explained. "You see, something similar happened to Kouichi when he first came here. I am but a spirit, called here to help you. When I came here, I was lost, and met Lucemon, and he told me that he would help me, and revive me. He lied to me, I soon discovered, but I couldn't leave, for I had made a friend in this world, and if she were to lose me, then her world would fall apart, and I couldn't do that to her, so I have stayed. But I realize now that bringing you here was wrong, and I only did it for her. I have to make it up to you, and protect you from Lucemon, and not let him take control over you. You love someone, Ken, and she is in danger, I can feel it. You are the only one who can save her from herself, and I know that you can."
"What if I can't?" Ken asked.
"You can, I believe that you can," Osamu said, smiling at his younger brother. "You have overcome many trials, and I know that you will overcome this one. But we have to go now, before Lucemon grows impatient and sends somebody to find us."
The two ran threw the deep corridors of the fortress and to the big, wooden double doors that led outside. They heard several alarms sound as guard Digimon obviously saw them over security cameras.
"Go on," Osamu said, pushing Ken toward the doors. "You need to continue on your own now. Wormmon should be waiting," he said. "Ad you'll need this," he threw the D-3 to his little brother, who caught it.
Ken wrapper his arms around his brother one last time before running out the doors without looking back.
He found Wormmon wait out there, just as Osamu said the small caterpillar would be.
"Wormmon!" he cried, running over to his partner.
Wormmon ran toward Ken and leapt into the humans arms, rubbing his head against his partners' chest repeatedly.
"You need to Digivolve," Ken ordered as he heard the running sound of footsteps getting closer as Digimon raced through the fortress to take him back in the awful place.
Wormmon nodded, "Wormmon digivolve to – Stingmon!"
Stingmon grabbed Ken in his arms and flew off as the doors of the fortress flew open and dozens of Digimon stormed out with Osamu leading them.
"We should be approaching the Digi-Destined soon," Stingmon announced after a long flight that had lasted a few hours.
Ken nodded, "Osamu said that Kelly was in danger, but I just hope that we aren't too late."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?" Daisuke screamed at Kouji, who was equally surprised that his sister was missing. "Ken is going to freaking kill me!"
"She just left last night, I guess," Kouji replied.
Sora pulled him aside quickly, "What about that talk we had with her last night?"
Kouji sighed, "Like you said, 'love is a complicated thing,' I guess it was more complicated in her case, and we just didn't see it. I only hope that she didn't go to follow that weird orb that was talking to her last night."
"What's that?" Izumi suddenly asked, and everyone followed her gaze toward the large bug flying toward them.
"Is that…Stingmon?" Takeru asked, squinting his eyes see the figure through the sunlight.
The bug Digimon flew down and landed in the middle of the big group, letting Ken out of his arms before de-digivolving back to Wormmon.
"Ken!" Hikari cried, running over and wrapping her arms around her friend.
"What happened?" Daisuke asked. "Weren't you with Lucemon?"
Ken nodded, and told them of what had happened, and how Osamu helped him escape.
"Where's Kelly?" He asked, suddenly remembering what his brother had told him about her being in danger.
"Uh, well, you see…" Daisuke stuttered, "Uh, Kouji knows."
Kouji shot the goggle head a look and tried to quickly think of an explanation for his sisters' absence.
"If you won't tell him then I will," a voice said from behind them. "She has been taken by darkness."
They all turned to see Ellie standing there with a small Digimon next to her.
"What are you doing here?" Kouji asked. "Come to kill us yourself this time?"
Ellie shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry about that," she said. "I don't know what came over me, but that is not important now. I heard some of my people saying something about how Kelly lost her love, and wasn't able to spirit evolve."
"Yeah," Takuya said. "What about it?"
"I also heard that she has been spotted by the area where the Kaisers fortress was."
"What was she doing over there?" Daisuke wondered out loud.
"This is the danger Osamu was telling me about," Ken said.
"What danger?" Takeru asked.
"Before I left, Osmau told me that the one I loved was in danger, it was obvious that he meant Kelly, but I guess we got here to late," Ken explained.
"Yeah, she left the camp last night," Sora said, knowing that it would be a bad idea to bring up the talk she and Kouji had with the girl the night before. That topic could wait until later.
"Well what are we doing sitting around here?" Daisuke asked. "We have to go find her, now!"
"I'm going with you," Ellie said.
"No, you're not," Mindy said. "Even if we wanted you to come, you would only get in the way."
"I could be a big help to you," Ellie said. "After all, I am a Chosen Child."
"What do you mean?" Taichi asked.
Ellie pulled out one of the original Digivices and showed it to them. "Not only that, but I have the Crest of Beauty."
"The Crest of Beauty?" Sora asked. "It sounds like something Mimi would have."
"Who's your partner?" Miyako asked.
"She is," Ellie said, pointing to the Digimon that stood next to her.
The Digimon bowed gracefully, "My name is Lunamon," she said.
"Well, can I join you?" Ellie asked. "Please, I feel that this is my fault that all of this happened, and if you still want me to, I can go home as soon as we find Kelly."
Daisuke and Taichi turned to Takuya, "Well, you're the leader," they said.
Takuya nodded, "She comes with us. We don't know what we're facing, and we might need all of the help we can get."
And so the flyers Digivolved and carried the others who could not fly. Away they went to find their partner.
A/N: Yes, I am calling it A/N, now, because I have seen a lot of people do it, and I figure that it makes more sense to do that. Sorry that this one took a little longer than they have been taking, but I get writers block again, and so I had to wait a few days, and the next update might not be for a while, because sadly, I do have a life, even though I don't always act like it. Well, tell me what you think of the story so far, and if you have any idea, let me know, because I'd love to hear them. :3