For They Shall Be Filled
By:
Vain (Vainglorious696) 5/31/2001
__________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I am not that fortunate. Digimon is owned by Fox Kids, Saban (I
think), and a bunch of now-wealthy Japanese people.
Lucky bastards. Moreover, I am American. I take French.
If you want to know French words, names, and
spellings, e-mail me. Do not ask me for
Japanese.
I
love Asian culture, but I can't spell anything Asian worth a damn.
Hell,
I can't spell anything in English worth a damn.
If
I have mauled Japanese names (particularly for places and digimon),
PLEASE
FORGIVE ME AND E-MAIL ME CORRECTIONS.
Also,
this is one of the reasons why I use the American names
(despite the fact that I prefer the names
Osamu, Iori, and Yamato over the English).
Please
don't sue me or steal from me; I'm poor and a real bitch when it comes to my
work.
Feedback
is a rose in December--novel, beautiful, and always welcome.
ENJOY
THE FIC.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~Let them alone. They are the blind leaders of the blind.
And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a
ditch.
-Matthew
15: 14
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part
Nine
Gennai was sitting down on
a chair the wasn't quite real, patiently waiting to be escorted out of one
not-quite-real room and into another of similar dimensional disproportion. He looked down at his watched and was not at
all surprised to see the long hand rapidly spinning around without rhyme or
reason. A raccoon floated past with a
Chihuahua in its mouth and the young-looking inter-dimensional traveler
frowned. What is taking so long?
On cue, a large rectangle
of fire appeared in the air, hovered a moment, and then exploded inward,
leaving a door in the theoretical wall of the non-room. Gennai stood and carefully gathered his
robes around him before stepping through the door into a brightly lit
area.
The light did not come from
one source, but rather from the four beings that stood before him. The creature on Gennai's far left emitted a
yellow light; the one in front of him and to the left, a blue light; the
creature to the blue one's left threw off an overtone of red; while the last
creature to the far right added in it's own silver light to the spectrum. The lights all blended together to create a
sharp white brilliance that filled the pseudo room's immensity and stretched
beyond into infinity. These were the
Four Guardians of the Digital World.
Gennai knelt before his
former masters. Normally, the creatures
would have appeared in a corporeal form to the traveler and Gennai would have
embraced them as friends instead of kneeling before them as an inferior, but
circumstance and time now prevented such a thing from occurring, and for
cleanliness' sake everyone knew that it was best to just do things by the Book.
"You summoned me?"
The red entity spoke
first. "Yes, Gennai." It was neither a voice nor a thought, but
something in between. "The Crest of
Kindness has been awakened. Were you
aware of this?"
"Yes. It is due to my manipulations that--"
The silver one pulsed
slightly. "Did you ask for our
approval in this matter?"
Gennai's head snapped up,
blue eyes hardening. "No, I assumed--"
"You assume too much,
old friend." This gentle rebuff came from the blue
entity.
The red entity spoke
again. "Were you also responsible
for the reformatting of this Child's Wormmon?"
Gennai frowned darkly and
stood. "You charged me with protecting
the Digidestined and their partners. That is what I was doing. Granted,
Ken Ichijouji has made errors, terrible, terrible errors, in the past, but he
is still Digidestined!"
"He is dangerous!" replied the
silver one sharply. "How can you
justify his return to the Digital World--a world which you are sworn to
preserve?"
"You judge too harshly." rumbled the blue entity to the silver. "The Child could prove to be a great
asset to us."
Gennai looked from one
Guardian to another, still scowling. "If he is dangerous it is our own fault and no one else's. He did the best he could given the materials
presented. The problem is the Dark
Spore Milleniummon implanted in him when he was destroyed."
"That," interjected the yellow being, "is only part of the
problem. Are you not aware of what has
been transpiring in the Sixth Dimension-- the Dark World?"
"No . . . I thought that you were to make sure Ken was
safe from the Dark Ocean's reach."
"We tried," sighed the blue one. "But we are chained beyond the Digital World and our powers only
extend so far . . . It was the
influence of the Dark Ocean in conjunction with the Dark Spore which was
driving the Child of Kindness mad. And,
while the Spore now lays dormant, the Darkness reaches for him still."
"Indeed," agreed the silver being. "The Dark Undersea Master is quite interested in Ichijouji--
and it is through Kindness that he has seen another Child: the Child of Light."
Gennai sat down
heavily. "Oh, no . . ."
"Yes," the other continued grimly. "It was only due to our negligence that either Child was
exposed to the Dark World, but--"
"Wait a minute,"
interrupted the traveler, "Kari was never in the Dark World."
The red one seemed to shift
and look to its companions. "Yes,
she was. And Hope pursued her there and
returned her to her own dimension. The
fact that not one, but three of the Chosen Children have ventured that far away
from their own dimensions is proof that the Dimensional Seals are weakening and
that the Dark Undersea Master's grip on all three dimensions is getting
stronger."
"What can be done?"
"The Dark Undersea
Master is intent on possessing the powers of Light and Kindness," the yellow being replied. "Ichijouji and the young Kamiya present both the greatest
possible threats and allies to his supremacy and cannot be allowed to fall
under his power. Both are capable of
finding, focusing, and channeling tremendous amounts of energy and both possess
awareness far above the others of their kind. They must be protected. If the Child of Kindness had not activated his Crest, he would have been
safe with the Dark Spore in hibernation. Now however, he is in grave danger."
Gennai felt suddenly
ill. "And Kari?"
The rumble that came from
the red creature sounded like rolling thunder. "Because of the nature of her Crest, she will always bear the
touch of Darkness on her soul, but she is in no immediate danger. The Dark One is focusing most his attention
on Kindness because he has already tried to taint the Child's soul. He very nearly succeeded. The Black Digivice, which Kindness bears, is
a testament to this fact. Another
entity, a spirit from a different dimension where we hold no sway, is trying to
intercede of behalf of the Child, but this one has little influence here and
the Dark One interferes and uses him to frighten the boy. Do not underestimate our opponent's intelligence
or skill. He knows that, having once
been turned to Darkness, the boy can easily be turned again."
"But you have a solution?"
There was a shifting
amongst the Guardians and Gennai watched them closely. They looked almost . . . afraid?
The yellow being answered
his question. "It is possible that
the power of their digivolutions can be increased even while the taint in their
souls is . . . equalized."
"I don't understand."
There was another
discontented shift and then the blue Guardian explained further, saying simply:
"You must release to them the Dark Crests."
The non-world around Gennai
spun for a moment as he tried to absorb the implications of those words. Release the Dark Crests . . . Such a thing
had been done only once before and it had nearly resulted in the destruction of
the Digital World as well as the Real World. In the end it had worked out, but things had been very close for a
while. Kari, Gennai knew, would most
likely be able to handle the effects of possessing her Anti-Crest eventually,
but Ken . . . That boy was hanging onto his sanity by a thread. A very, very thin thread.
"Y-You just can't do that,"
the young man finally stuttered. "It
could destroy them . . ."
"There is another
option," offered the red one.
"What?"
"They must all be
tested. They must use their Crests to
accept the Blessings of the Light into their soul. Our Blessing cannot expel the Darkness, but it can offer them
protection from the Dark One."
The traveler's eyes
narrowed in suspicion. "And what is the
nature of this test?"
The blue Guardian seemed
almost sad for a moment. "That
knowledge is for the Digidestined alone, Gennai."
**************
A shadow was moving through
that place where Gennai was. It knew
how to navigate the pockets between worlds and to how to slide to the place
that lay between a second: the place where Gennai met with the Four Guardians
of the Digital world. It saw and heard
the meeting between the forces which protected the worlds, and it listened
closely as Gennai was carefully instructed on what must be done before it
scurried back to it's own world: the Dark Dimension. Once there, it wasted no time in finding its master--for one
simply did not keep the Dark Undersea Master waiting--and proceeded to report
everything it had seen and heard in great detail.
The Master was not pleased.
"So the fools think to
plot against me?"
The creature cringed,
praying to whatever deity that would condescend to listen to a being such as
itself that the Master didn't destroy
it--or at least that he destroyed it quickly. The Master, however, was oblivious to his cowering slave.
"Can they see
nothing? I AM A GOD! What are they
to me?! They are nothing! They re only toys for my amusements:
something to be used until it is worthless and then discarded. The fools . . ."
A figure detached itself
from the wall and cautiously approached the Master. It was not wise to disturb him during one of his rages. "Shall I destroy the Children?" she asked.
"Destroy the Children?!" He struck her
hard, sending her flying in a shower of white hair. "Imbecile. The Child
of Kindness is already mine, I must only move to claim him. And the Child of Light? What is she in comparison with my
might? The lightest touch of but a
fragment of my power reduces her to a whimpering heap! She is almost as useless as the other
Digi-fools. Those two children will
make especially lovely pets. Ha! No, let the Guardians and their simpleton
servant play their little mind games . . . It will be to no avail. But perhaps
I can use this to my advantage . . ."
The dark figure began to
pace, deep in thought. Finally he
stopped and turned to the crumpled figure he had tossed across the room. "Has Devimon been reformatted yet? The one that Angemon destroyed on File Island?"
"Yes, Master." She pulled herself to her feet, struggling
not to whimper in pain. "He recently
digivolved into the demidevimon stage. He
does not have any memories of his past incarnation, though."
"Excellent. Go to him
and give him these tasks. First:
destroy the Child of Hope. He is source
of the Kamiya girl's strength and intrinsic to the team. If possible, blame Ichijouji. This will alienate him and the loss will
destroy the girl's inner light. Second:
Ken Ichijouji must NOT pass his test for the Blessings. This will force Gennai to surrender a Dark
Crest to the Child, not only increasing his own power, but cementing my hold
over him."
"And what of Gennai and the
Guardians?"
"Let them alone. They are the blind leaders of the blind and
if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch. You are to join Demidevimon in these tasks. I will not accept failure. Now go."
"Yes, Master," replied the
woman with a bow. Her purple sunglasses
glittered dully and her long white hair caught the poor light. Then she stood
and exited the chamber with quiet relief. She was, of course, only using the Dark One to further her own goals,
but the promise of eliminating those irritating brats was simply too good to
pass by. As for the Dark Master . . .
well, if she was lucky, they would all destroy each other, delivering the
Digital World to her on a golden platter . . .
Hovering lightly above the
entire scene, an unknown ghostly entity frowned in displeasure. Kenny-boy . . . What will become of you .
. . ?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
