Chapter Ten

"Willis?" Lopmon called out softly, his voice small in the dark. Terriermon was still fast asleep as Lopmon slid out of his bed. He looked around and saw Willis leaning against the railing of the balcony. "Willis?" Lopmon flew into the air and gently landed on Willis's shoulder. "Willis, what's wrong?"

"All of this is my fault," he muttered as he wiped a tear that threatened to fall out of his eyes.

"You didn't do anything, Willis," Lopmon said as he raised an ear and put it on Willis's head.

"Yes I did!" He said as he pounded his fist on the railing. "I created Diaboromon in the first place! I almost caused the whole world to be destroyed! If I never tried to make another Digimon, Diaboromon wouldn't be back and the whole world wouldn't be in danger. This is my entire fault."

"Even so, we're here to fix the problem," Lopmon said with a smile. "You don't have to do things by yourself anymore. You have friends who will stick by you and to help you out."

"There has to be a reason as to why Diaboromon won't be defeated," Willis said, deep in thought. "There must be something that's keeping him alive and keeping him in power, but what?"

"Willis, you need to get some sleep, we can think about it in the morning when you're more wide awake," Lopmon said in a caring tone. Willis didn't say anything as he turned around and went back into his room. He closed the sliding glass door before crossing the room to his bed and flopping down onto it. Lopmon curled up next to him and instantly went to sleep as Willis lies there, staring at the ceiling.

Morning came all too soon for him because Willis barley got any sleep. He stayed up most of the night, staring at the ceiling, blaming himself for Diaboromon still being alive and still trying to gain more power.

"Don't worry about it so much, Willis," Terriermon said as he watched Willis walk around, getting his things ready for school. "Whatever's been happening isn't your entire fault."

"Is that supposed to make him feel better?" Lopmon asked as he looked over at his twin as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yes, because he didn't do anything to provoke Diaboromon," Terruermon responded as he came down from the fan blade he was sitting on. "Sure, he created Diaboromon, but he wasn't the one who made Diaboromon come back."

"Terriermon, that's enough!" Lopmon said as he glanced over at Willis.

"It's all right," Willis said as he went over to them and he gently patted their heads. "Even if the whole thing isn't my fault part of it is and I won't rest until we clean up this mess."

"Willis, honey, you're going to be late for school," Ms. Nelson said as she walked into her son's room, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"Thanks Mom," Willis said as he opened his backpack and waited for Terriermon and Lopmon to jump inside. "I might be late tonight; it depends on when the coach decides to let us out of practice."

"All right, behave," Ms. Nelson said as she kissed the top of Willis's head.

"You don't need to remind me of that," Willis said with a smile before slipping on his shoes and closed the door of his apartment behind himself. Like usual, Willis felt a sense of peace as he walked down the street towards his school. He stopped on the way to get something to eat for breakfast and he split it with Terriermon and Lopmon.

"I see with twin Digimon their appetites are bigger," Kari said with a laugh as she patted Terriermon and Lopmon on the head with her gloved hand.

"That's true," Willis agreed in a distracted tone as they continued walking down the street.

"What's on your mind now?" Kari asked as she fell into step with him.

"I've just been thinking about how the Chrysalimon are taking over the Digital World," Willis responded with a sigh. "This wouldn't have happened if I didn't try to create a Digimon in the first place. We would all be fine and we wouldn't have to deal with this along with keeping our Digimon a secret. I feel as if all of this is my fault." He let out a sigh before continuing. "So, I decided that I'll go into the Digital World and fix this by myself."

"Even if you convinced yourself about that you're not going to go alone," Kari said in a serious tone as she stopped walking and he stopped to look back at her. "Willis, I thought we told you that you're part of a team, a team that will always have each other's backs. You don't have to do anything alone anymore; we're here to help you out."

Willis just nodded before they made their way to the school once more. They let their Digimon out of their packs before rushing inside and putting their things into their lockers. "It's amazing how they can all have normal lives and we've been selected to help protect them and make sure their lives are normal," Willis muttered as he watched students walk by laughing and talking about gossip or what was on TV.

"The way I see it, we're lucky not to be normal," Crystal commented as she appeared by his side, causing him to jump. "Normal is boring and seriously overrated."

"You're only saying that because you've never been normal a day in your life," Willis commented as he closed his locker door and tucked his books under his arm.

"Being my own identity is a lot more fun than being a conformist," she said as they started walking down the hallway. "Or being a goody-goody like you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Willis said with a laugh. To Crystal it sounded forced so she looked at him with questioning eyes. "Nothing's wrong," he said once he noticed the look that she was giving him. "I promise," he added when she didn't stop giving him the look. "If there was something wrong I'll tell you."

"That's all I ask," she replied as she pulled her hat off of her head and sat down at her desk, immediately turning to look out the window. Willis let out a sigh before turning his attention to the teacher, which was hard seeing as he wasn't all there. He thought too much about the fact that Chrysalimon were taking over and how they could make the Digimon go back a stage with one blow.

'This is all my fault,' he thought sadly as he moved from class to class. 'I almost destroyed Japan and the U.S. because of Diabormon and the missiles. Now that the Chrusalimon are in the Digital World they could take that over and the other Digimon would be destroyed one by one and that'll be my fault too.'

He stopped walking when the sound of a stone dropping in water caught his attention. He was standing in the middle of the hallway yet he could feel cool breeze and he could hear the ocean as if he were standing on the beach. He blinked and the breeze stopped, but he could still hear the crashing of the waves.

"The beach," he muttered as he turned to look out the window towards the beach that was right across from the school. "Why's it…calling to me?"

"Willis." Willis blinked as he tried to find the owner of the voice. It sounded so far away, as if his ears were filled with water. "Willis!" He slowly turned around as everything flashed from color to black, gray, and white and everything seemed to move in slow motion. He felt a hand on his shoulder as the sound of a wave crashing on shore filled his ears.

The beach.