Author's Note: There's no Phil Collins or Genesis song used for the title of this chapter. That's because I thought that the title it does have was far more appropriate. T.K. suffers a bit of a setback in this chapter I'm afraid. I can be real evil sometimes. Well, you've been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.


Chapter 10: So Close, Yet So Far

Kari walked along that grey dismal beach for what seemed like many hours. Just before she escaped from her prison at that dark inn she though that the fresh air would do her good, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. The smell of salt and dead fish was too much to take at times, and Kari swore that if she ever got home she would never touch fish as long as she lived. Though the horrid and ill prepared meals that were served to her in the room that was her cell helped see to that quite some time ago. Along the seemingly endless beach, Kari saw nothing but huge rocks and a few caves that she dared not explore. It seemed to her that she was in the most desolate spot of all at The Dark Ocean.

Every now and then, Kari would rest by one of the large rocks and boulders that lined the beach, or use them to hide from small groups of the fish-frog things that had captured her. She had forgotten just how horrible the things looked, their glassy sunken eyes and long gangly arms, and the weird skin that made them look like living shadows. Each time Kari had come across a group of the things she would freeze behind one of the rocks and watch them, her heart beating a mile a minute from fear. It took every ounce of her willpower for her not to scream or make any noise when she saw them. Fortune seemed to be with Kari though, as the creatures never noticed her. They would mostly talk amongst themselves in their blasphemous croaking tongue and then walk into the ocean.

As Kari walked she tried to figure out what her next move was. She realized that by escaping she had made it a little harder for any rescuers to find her, although Kari had mostly given up hope of rescue quite some time ago. Her only hope seemed to be finding some sort of escape route from The Dark Ocean on her own. Surely there had to be a portal of some kind that existed there that could at least take her to the normal Digital World. If Kari could find that, then returning home would be a simple matter.

Suddenly Kari spotted a structure of some kind in the distance. She ran a short ways to get a better look at it, and what she saw seemed to crush whatever hope of escape she had left. The building was the inn where Kari had been held prisoner. She then realized the horrid reality of exactly where she was. Kari was at The Dark Ocean that much she already knew, but it suddenly became clear that she was at a different part than the one she was at before. It looked as though Kari was on a very small island completely separate from the beach with that abandoned village she had been to previously. All Kari had done was go in one big circle; her attempt at escape seemed not only impossible but also completely pointless. Giving into despair, Kari turned and looked out over the ocean as tears started to roll down her face.


T.K. and his three companions continued to follow what they all hoped were Kari's footprints, every now and than T.K. would check his D-3 to see if Kari was near, but each time it showed no signal. Kari's trail was easy to follow though. It was fortunate that she had walked so far away from the water, and that there was very little wind on that beach. Suddenly Gatomon stopped walking. The feline Digimon's ears had picked up some subtle noise. T.K., Angemon, and Devimon stopped walking and tensed up in preparation to face whatever was the source of the unknown sound. Sure enough, a group of the horrid fish-frog creatures that Devimon had referred to as Deep Ones had appeared.

There were about sixteen of them, all of them surrounding the group. The things did not make a move right away; they only stared at the group with their glassy eyes. Suddenly one of the Deep Ones lunged at T.K., and like lightning Angemon moved and knocked it to the ground with his staff. Then with one more hit from his golden staff, Angemon destroyed the creature, its body evaporating into bits of data that faded away. This proved that the creatures were still Digimon in some way.

Another one attacked, and Gatomon jumped up and managed to knock it away. Angemon finished the thing off with a beam of golden light from his right fist. Devimon meanwhile fired on the other creatures with purple beams of light from his claws. The combined attacks from both Devimon and Angemon gravely wounded the attacking Deep Ones, though it was clear that the things had no intention of retreating. Angemon decided that it was time to finish them off.

"Omni Typhoon!" Angemon cried as he raised his staff in the air and began spinning it.

The Angel Digimon's move sent forth a large twister that finished off what remained of the attacking Deep Ones. With their enemies slain the group continued on their path. More hours seemed to pass as they walked on. Suddenly T.K.'s D-3 started making a beeping noise. He looked at the small screen and saw a red dot flashing on it. It indicated that a signal from another D-3 was not too far ahead of them. T.K. looked up and saw that there was indeed a human figure sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean. Immediately T.K. began running towards the figure, his three companions matching his speed.

Meanwhile Kari noticed the beeping sound coming from her own D-3, which had been clipped to her belt since she arrived at The Dark Ocean. Then out of the corner of her eye she noticed the small group that was running towards her. She saw right away that they were not the creatures that she had been hiding from. In fact she could just make out that one was a large white cat and the other a young man with blond hair. With her hope suddenly renewed, Kari got to her feet and began running towards the familiar figures.

Meanwhile as T.K. got closer to the person that was now running towards him, he could see that it was clearly Kari. Her hair was a bit longer and she was a little thinner but it was definitely Kari. Upon this confirmation T.K. started running faster and calling out Kari's name. Gatomon started doing the same thing. On the other end of this encounter Kari started running faster and calling out T.K.'s name in response. Tears were streaming down her face.

Then, just as the runners were only a few feet away from being reunited a gigantic pillar of fire came between them, cutting them off from each other. The pillar vanished revealing a robed, hooded figure in red. A silver medallion was around the figure's neck. Above the hole in the hood that only revealed a pair of blue glowing eyes was a gold inverted pentagram. A pair of hands with light-blue skin and red claws peeked out from the long sleeves of the robe, and a pair of long curved horns stuck out of the sides of the figure's head. On its back was a pair of large black and purple bat-like wings. Immediately T.K. recognized the figure as Daemon, the evil Digimon that Ken had sent to The Dark Ocean many years ago.

"So the child of hope has somehow managed to make it here despite all that has been done to keep him out." Daemon said in a low and evil sounding voice. "This is quite inconvenient, but not a problem beyond my power to remedy."

"At last one of The Old Ones has revealed himself!" Devimon said with glee as he flew in front of T.K. "I knew that I would encounter one of you if I helped this pathetic boy reach this realm."

T.K. was startled by Devimon's news that Daemon was one of The Old Ones that were said to be more powerful than Dragomon, the god of the Deep Ones. It actually made some sense to T.K. When the Digidestined fought Daemon originally they couldn't destroy him, only banish him to The Dark Ocean. Still, if what Devimon had said about the power of The Old Ones was true, than it meant that Daemon was far more powerful than he thought. It also meant that getting past Daemon to get to Kari might be impossible.

"You helped the child of hope?" Daemon asked Devimon. "Why would you help an enemy?"

"He may be an enemy, but he is also useful." Devimon replied. "For I can use both him and the girl to gain what I seek, which is the power of The Old Ones, your power!"

At last it all made sense to T.K. why Devimon was helping him. It was all so he could gain more power. It didn't really matter to T.K. at that moment though. Kari was in far more trouble than before and he needed all the help he could get. T.K. decided that he would deal with Devimon once Kari was safe. In the meantime the combined power of both Devimon and Angemon was his best hope.

"Ambitious." Daemon commented wryly. "But also traitorous! My brethren and I are gods to Demon and Fallen Angel Digimon like you Lord Devimon. You should serve us! I admire your lust for power, but I cannot stand your insolence! If you choose to stand against me or my comrades you shall parish!"

"We shall see." Devimon said defiantly. "Now stand aside and let us get to the girl!"

"Or what, you'll destroy me?" Daemon asked amused. "Perhaps if you actually had the child of light I would be somewhat worried, but as it is she is still my captive. You were not able to get to her fast enough, so your plan has failed."

"Devimon is not the only opponent you have to deal with evil one!" Angemon said as he took a position next to Devimon. "Now do as he said and stand aside!"

"An Angel Digimon?" Daemon laughed. "You have indeed become desperate Lord Devimon. But even if you had an army of Angel Digimon you still could not defeat me!"

With that boasting both Devimon and Angemon fired purple and gold beams at Daemon. The attacks seemed to cause the Demon Lord Digimon some pain, but he brushed it off and sent back a burst of flames that not only hit Devimon and Angemon, but T.K. and Gatomon as well. After that T.K. started blacking in and out. He had lost site of Devimon, but he saw a knocked out Angemon revert back to Patamon. Then he blacked out again, but in the blackness he could he Kari scream his name and Gatomon's. When T.K. came to again he saw Daemon fly off into the sky with Kari. Then he fell back again into black unconsciousness.


Bet you thought I forgot about Daemon, didn't you? Like I said, I can be real evil sometimes.

Don't worry, I'll get to the next chapter as soon as I can. In the meantime, review and tell me what you think.