Kirin stared down at his Crest. It had gone back to the same lavender colour that it normally was. But in his minds eye, he could see it turn black with his hatred, could hear his own voice calling out that Dragomon didn't deserve to live after what he'd done. He watched Gatomon change and he felt the desire to make those who threatened his friends pay! The blond boy shivered and shut his eyes, but he could still see LadyDevimon attack Wizardmon, stab him, choke him! He clenched his hand around the Crest. Maybe he really didn't deserve the Crest of Kindness. "Kirin?" the boy snapped his eyes open. Gatomon was staring at him with a worried look on her face. He tried to smile, "hey Gatomon, what's up?" he asked. "Since Wizardmon is recovered now, he wants to tell us more about Dragomon's plans" the Cat-like Digimon replied.
Kirin nodded and put his Crest back into his pocket, "right," he replied, standing up and making his way over to the others with his Partner by his side. Upon reaching the rest of the Digidestined, they saw Wizardmon with clean and repaired clothes. He smiled at them, "Kirin, Gatomon, thanks for joining us" he said cheerfully. Kirin didn't know how to reply to that, so he kept quiet. As soon as he'd made sure that everyone was listening, the wizard Digimon became more serious, "alright, now, while I may have been captured for the last few weeks-" no one mentioned that it had only been days as far as they knew, "and under Dragomon's control, I still remember enough of what I saw and heard in that place to tell you about it" Wizardmon explained. Shiro frowned, "are you sure you're up for that? I mean, if it had been me, I wouldn't want to even think about what I'd been forced to do for a long time" she muttered.
The Wizard Digimon smiled slightly and shook his head, "it's fine, if you we ever want to defeat that bastard, you're going to need to know as much about him and what he's planning as possible" he replied. Izumi nodded, "okay, if you're okay with this, then please, tell us as much as you can" she said. Wizardmon nodded and continued, "Dragomon's plan is to flood most of both the Digital World and Earth with the Dark Ocean then use the remaining dry land to hold his slaves, those being any Digimon or humans that are left. He figures with a smaller amount of each, he'll be able to control the better with his evil aquatic Digimon and in that way, become the ruler of both worlds" Wizardmon explained. Everyone looked horrified by the thought. "And what about those who go insane from being so close to such a high amount of evil?" Mark asked.
Wizardmon sighed dejectedly, "he has no use for the weak" he muttered. At that, many of the kids looked sick. "We can't let that happen! W-we have to stop this somehow!" Shiro cried. "We can't just run in there; we need some kind of plan first!" Etsuko reminded her. "Estuko is right, now the hard part is coming up with a plan that will work" Izumi agreed.
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The group spent hours trying to come up with a plan that had even the slightest chance of actually succeeding. So far though- "has anyone had any ideas?" Etsuko asked dejectedly. A collective groan was her answer, "me neither *sigh*!" she leaned back against the side of the cave, desperately trying to think of something, but was coming up with a blank. Izumi covered her face with her hands, "we have to at least try something! If we don't then we may as well just give up and let everyone we love either die, go insane or become slaves!" the blue-haired girl cried. Patamon looked up, "hey Wizardmon, do you even know when Dragomon is planning to do this whole thing?" she asked. The Wizard Digimon shook his head, "no, I was never given that much information" he replied. The Ice type Digimon looked down, "great" she muttered with a sigh. Wizardmon looked down, dejected, "I'm sorry that I can't be much help to you-" he began, but Gatomon tentatively placed a paw on her friends arm, "you've already helped us more than enough" she replied with a smile.
Etsuko nodded, "true, I may not know you as well as the others, but I can tell that you're a good Digimon who's had to put up with a lot of bad stuff happening to you. We can handle this, so you're more than welcome to sit this one out if you want to" she said. Wizardmon looked ready to object, but Kirin placed his hand on the shorter human-like Digimon's shoulder, "please, let us do this for you?" he asked. The Wizard Digimon sighed before sitting down again, "okay fine, but if you need help I'll come, okay?" he asked. The human's and Digimon nodded, "why don't you get some more rest for now?" Koko asked gently. Wizardmon nodded, "okay, thanks for saving me by the way guys" he replied, before laying back down again.
The children all turned back to look at each other, "how are we gonna do this?" Shiro whispered. Izumi shook her head, "I don't know, but whatever happens, we're in this together" she replied. Everyone nodded, "right".
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As everyone else was sleeping, Kirin tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep. However, no matter what he did, the blond boy couldn't get to sleep. Sighing, the Uchiwa sat up and looked around. As he did, he glanced down at his Crest again. He frowned, what if he couldn't control his hatred again? What if, during the next battle he ended up hurting someone else through his actions? Kirin shivered covering his face with his hand, and tried to bite down his whimpers so as not to wake anyone else up, knowing that they needed their sleep. Suddenly a noise from behind him caught his attention, making him spin around to the source. Wizardmon was looking at the boy with wide, expressive eyes. "hey" he muttered quietly. The corner of Kirin's mouth quirked up a bit, "hey" he replied, watching the Digimon sit down next to him.
"Can't sleep either?" the Wizard Digimon asked, staring out over the Dark Ocean-flooded world. Kirin looked down, not being able to look at the dark water, "something like that" he muttered in reply. Wizardmon watched the boy out of the corner of his eye, "*sigh* It wasn't your fault Kirin- not yours or Gatomons" he said quietly. Kirin flinched- hard. He shivered, "but I was the one who made her Dark Digivolve, how is it not my fault?!" he asked, voice becoming high-pitched to avoid waking anyone else up. The Uchiwa placed his hand over one of his eyes, shuddering, "I turned my friend into that evil monster- LadyDevimon could have killed all of us, she nearly killed Wizardmon- and it was all my fault. Because I let my hatred get the best of me- if that happened again, it won't just be one person that's in danger, everyone would be in danger. A-and do know the w-worst part? *Sob* I can still feel that hatred *sniff* deep inside my heart. I could n-never forgive myself if it happened again" Kirin whimpered, sobbing quietly into his hands.
Wizardmon placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "I can barely forgive myself for the first time *sob*" after he'd finished talking, Kirin began to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. "It'll be okay Kirin. We're going to beat this thing- together" he replied. Gatomon lay curled up near where her Partner had been sleeping, wide awake and biting her lip to keep from sobbing loudly. Tears were streaming down the Cat Digimon's face, soaking her fur, wishing that she could make her Partner, her friend forgive himself. The amount of pain in Kirin's voice stabbed right though her heart. 'Oh Kirin, I promise, no matter what, we will beat this evil together, and then go home' Gatomon thought.
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The next day, (though with how dark it was now it could have been night time still) everyone began to get ready to go take on Dragomon. They were still very scared, but if they just ran away, who would protect their families and world? They all had too much to loose if they didn't fight, and they might die if they did. Kirin was silent, as was everyone else, though his silence was a different kind. He was lost in his thoughts, and nervous all at the same time. Suddenly a paw was placed on his shoulder. The blond Uchiwa looked over his shoulder at Gatomon, who smiled back. "Okay everyone, let's do this!" Izumi exclaimed. Everyone nodded and began to climb down the mountain towards the Dark Ocean itself.
To Be Continued
