Y/N: Ken intruded on the Yagami's family time in this chapter—not literally, but he's in the chapter, and it's only Yuuko, Taichi and Hikari otherwise. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, it's building up for something really big next chapter.
U/N: Soooooooooooooooooo this chapter has less people in it than most of them. Though, like almost every other chapter, a character was added during the writing process, and that was Ken, imposing on the family chapter. Loser. Anyway, Hikari is the hardest for me to write as, so sorry if that doesn't work right because, well, I genuinely believe that her chapters never do. Anyway. Enjoyyyyyyy and reviewwwwwwwww
Title: Digimon Adventure 05
By: Yukira and Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 2: Shaped By Sin
Chapter 38: Finding Honour
Yuuko Yagami:
"Uhm, yes. Let me in." I said flatly.
"No ma'am. I can't do that." The guard said, "You are not authorized in this Temple."
"Yeah I don't care." I growled, "Let me in. Now." The guard pursed his lips and decided to ignored me, looking off into the distance, standing tall and proud. "Oh, real mature." I needed into the Temple. I'd lost Kamemon, and I was too scared to go back to Susumu until I'd found his partner. I felt bad for having left him all alone for so long. But I hadn't even been aware that it had been that long. But now I knew that the time was messed up, so if I wasn't careful I would have made the same mistake again.
Luckily, this time I knew what the digivices could do. I knew that by using that I could travel between the two worlds. Unfortunately I didn't know how to get into the Temple without causing an alarm.
"Move bucko." Dorumon snipped. I turned to look at him as he looked up to the guard. "I'm one of Ambassador Taichi's Royal Knights. If you don't get out of my way I can get you executed. I'm on real close terms with Mr Yagami." I crossed my fingers to demonstrate just how close Dorumon and Taichi 'were'. The guard looked hesitant, but eventually nodded, frightened, stepping aside and pulling the door open.
"Thank you, kind sir." I said, curtseying politely before stepping through the door and into the town of the Temple. I looked to Dorumon and smiled, "Good job!" I said, my thumbs raised. I glanced over my shoulder and sighed as the guard followed me into the Temple, clearly he was going to accompany me to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. Lucky for me, I wasn't planning on doing so.
"You're welcome!" Dorumon said, puffing his chest out proudly. I winked at him and looked around. This place was enormous. How was I supposed to find him? "Follow me." Dorumon decided. "The council knows everything that goes on in the Temple, they'll know where he is." I nodded and set off at a quick pace following behind Dorumon's endless enthusiasm as, with each step he bounced excitedly until we were climbing a set of stairs. I looked over my shoulder every now and then, the guard was still following us.
The moment we'd stepped into the council building I knew where we were. I was really bad with directions, but that Marrow fellow had taken me here once.
"I'll go talk to them." Dorumon decided, "You stay here, and I'll tell you what I find." I nodded, and before I knew it Dorumon was gone, running down the hallway.
The guard seemed more interested in Dorumon than me at this point and he set off after him, leaving me all alone. I got bored of waiting after only a few seconds and so I pushed open one of the doors. It led to the room with the long table where I'd found Taichi in the first place. The actual council room.
I heard Dorumon talking to someone in the room across the hall about where Kamemon might've been, but he hadn't come to a conclusion yet so I moved to the next door and pushed it open.
Inside this one was the meadow where I'd met Dorumon initially, but what caught my eye wasn't the grass inside the building or the fake trees, it was the small green and blue turtle who was sitting by himself in the corner, looking very sad.
"Kamemon!" I said brightly. He looked up with a grin, and jumped to his feet, instantly running toward me. I ran too, making up the difference and he leapt into my arms. "I'm so sorry for leaving you behind."
"It's okay!" Kamemon grinned hugging me tighter, "I met some really nice digimon—and one guy named Benjamin! I just thought you'd never come back... I miss home."
"Well what do you say we head home then? Maybe we can try baking again—this time we can actually finish."
"That sounds awesome!" Kamemon cheered as Dorumon ran into the room.
"Oh good, you found him." Dorumon smiled.
"Yep," I said, "Ready to go home?" I asked.
Dorumon's face fell as he shook his head. "No, I can't." He said, "I'm training you see... I can't abandon Taichi. I need to become a Royal Knight first. Then we can be partners again."
"Oh." I said, trying to pretend it didn't hurt when it really did. I'd gotten so quickly attached to the ball of energy. "Will that be soon?"
Dorumon shrugged. "No clue," He said, "But I promise we'll be partners again one day!"
I nodded and knelt down to give him a hug.
"Good luck." I said to him, patting him on the head before leaving his training room with Kamemon.
"You're sad." Kamemon noticed. I nodded and he hugged me again. "You know what makes me happy when I'm sad?" I nodded, I did know. "Broccoli cookies!" He cheered, and I couldn't help but laugh.
Hikari Yagami:
I was getting the feeling that I was being ignored. I couldn't find anyone at all.
I'd cleaned the house at least a dozen times in anticipation for something to arise, my phone waiting anxiously on the counter for someone to contact me.
Were they doing something without me? I could help. Why didn't they believe that? Maybe they did. Or maybe they didn't. I didn't know. They were probably just trying to protect me again. Being one of the Holy three was pretty annoying. Just because I was important didn't mean I'd suddenly become useless. It just meant that without me the world would fall... besides—they had no honest proof that I was the Holy One. I mean, that magical book of answers seemed fairly legitimate, but still!
Also, I kept debating whether or not to just go to the Dark Ocean. They'd brought a decent team, but I couldn't help but feel like I was letting them down. Iori, Takeru and Daisuke had been left behind while Ken was left to save Miyako—we were a team! An epic, slightly younger than my brother's team but still just as amazing, team. I could bring Takeru, Iori and Daisuke along with me and we could save the day. I couldn't go though. I needed to make sure that we still had a way to the Dark Ocean and back no matter what happened.
It was getting frustrating though. Gatomon was trying her best to keep me calm by telling jokes about fish but they just weren't funny enough. I really needed to be out doing something. Miyako was in danger, and everyone else was gone, so they must have been doing something to. Suddenly I realized that I was getting the Willis treatment. No one was telling me what was going on!
"I'm going to make a list." I said suddenly, cutting off a joke about a halibut.
"What kind of list?" Gatomon asked as she jumped from furniture to furniture, following me to the kitchen.
"Well," I said, pulling a piece of paper and a pencil from the desk along the way. "I'm going to try and figure out who I can help and where everyone is."
I pulled out the kitchen chair and sat down.
"Alright," I said, "Taichi. Don't know. Yamato. Don't know. Sora. Don't know—this isn't working well." The list continued similarly through Koushiro, Mimi, Takeru, Iori and Daisuke. Ken, Michael and Kurayami were saving Miyako, and Jou was going to get Gomamon.
"What about those others?" Gatomon asked.
"Who?" I asked her.
"Mari? That quiet boy?" She prompted, "Hideto?"
"Oh!" I smiled as I wrote them down. But it just made the list even more depressing writing the same 'don't know' next to each of them. "I don't even know where my own mother is." I groaned, realizing that I was hungry.
"You made food for yourself every day in America," Gatomon sighed.
"I know... but old habits die hard you know?" I said, "I'm so used to Mom cooking me food." I just didn't know what to do... "Maybe I'll clean again!"
"Hikari!" Gatomon said, grabbing my arm as I tried to stand up. "Stop! The house smells like a hospital—stop cleaning it."
"Sorry," I said quietly.
"You know," She said, "I get the feeling that you're cleaning to hide what's really bothering you. You've been on edge ever since you and Willis broke up."
"Not true." I said calmly. "Willis and I are perfectly happy with how things turned out."
"Really?" Gatomon asked, "Really? Is that why you're here and not with him? Is that why you didn't write him on your list? It's okay to talk about it. It's okay to be sad."
"I'm not sad." I lied. I was sad. I had cried for three hours straight the night of our breakup. I honestly wasn't sure what to do with my time now since I'd literally moved countries to be with him. I'd spent so much time with him and him alone that I'd neglected all my other friends. Takeru, Iori, Kurayami and I used to be so close, but I'd barely seen them in so long... I wondered if they hated me. I wouldn't blame them... "I'm just looking for something to fill my time. I don't have to clean up after Willis anymore. There's no Jenna to calm down after she comes home from school—Tatum and I haven't seen each other in a while so there's no one to gossip with. I can't comfort Lopmon anymore—Terriermon isn't making awful jokes—and I just want everything to be normal!"
Gatomon sat silently in front of me on the table and nodded. "I get it." She said finally, "You miss them. But you said it yourself. You belong here Hikari. They're not going to forget you, and you won't forget them—you'll see each other less, but you'll see the others more. And you've still got me." She winked at me. She was so good at making me feel better, I only wish there was always something I could do for her in return. Instead I just pulled her into a hug. "Besides, don't you have your finals to be studying for?"
"Uh..." I froze, trying to find a way out of that one, but I was saved when someone knocked on the door, "Oops! Got to get that!" I laughed nervously and Gatomon rolled her eyes. I hurried to the door and pulled it open. On the other side stood Mari, nervously looking to her right. Her hair was in a braid today and she was wearing her glasses instead of contacts. "Mari?"
Mari jumped and turned to me, "Oh thank goodness..." She said relieved, "I thought I'd never find you. Did you know that your neighbor answers the door naked?"
"Yeah..." I said awkwardly, "We've talked to him about that, but he just doesn't care." Mari laughed as I stepped aside to let her in. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I need your key." She said without hesitation.
"You can't," I said, taken aback by the boldness of her request. Mari had never overly enjoyed talking with me, so I knew she was very serious in this matter, but I couldn't just hand it over. "Why do you need it?"
"My best friend is trapped and no one told me." Mari growled, "I need the key. I need to save her."
I couldn't just give her the key... without that key on this side there was no way into the Dark Ocean. If they were both there... there were too many variables to contemplate. But I also couldn't keep her from saving Miyako. I slowly looked to my bedroom and then back to Mari.
"Alright." I said quietly. I led her quickly through the kitchen and down the hallway, pushing my bedroom door open quickly. I picked the key off of the computer desk and turned to her, holding the white key up to my eye level and looking at her seriously. "Keep the door open Mari. Okay? You have to keep it open, or you won't be able to get back."
"Alright." She nodded, "Got it." She reached for the key and I reluctantly handed it to her. Before I'd even fully let go of the key Mari was running out of my room.
"You can't go alone!" I yelled, suddenly realizing she had no digimon with her, "It's dangerous!"
"I'm going to find Lalamon first!" Mari yelled back before I heard the sound of the front door slamming.
I slowly worked my way back to Gatomon in the kitchen and sighed, sitting down.
"You could have gone with her—"
"I could have gone with her!" I realized a second later than Gatomon had. I groaned and rested my head down on the table. "I feel useless. I just want to help do something. I'm just a lot better than everyone else, so I think they should have asked me to help. But none of them did. They probably think I'll show them up."
"You sound like Daisuke," Gatomon laughed a little, but then froze.
"No, Daisuke sounds like me." I declared, "I'm older. Therefore I came first and thus am better."
"Aren't you younger than him?" Gatomon asked slowly. I shook my head, lying. Of course I was younger than Daisuke, but I couldn't let her catch on! I was better!
"Woah..." I said, suddenly realizing what I'd just been saying, I snapped myself out of it quickly.
"Pride." Gatomon nodded, "He must be close. Come on!" Gatomon was running toward the door a second later.
As I was following her my phone vibrated. I excitedly grabbed it and read the message.
Hey—Hideto.
That was it? I quickly typed my response.
Hi, going to defeat the sin of Pride and save the world. Come join?
I quickly grabbed my digivice from the counter and followed Gatomon out the door, locking it behind me.
"Can you sense him?" I asked Gatomon who was already jumping from the handrail up to the next balcony above us. She landed and sniffed the air for a few seconds, "He's escaping!" She said sharply. "Let's get him!"
"Don't you think it might be a trap?" I asked, "Maybe he's luring us..."
"So?" Gatomon asked, "We'll whip him into shape no problem."
"But..." I trailed off.
"You said you wanted to do something Hikari, this could be it." Gatomon said. I couldn't help but nod. She was right. I felt useless sitting there doing nothing—and even if this was a trap, Gatomon was very strong—strong enough to defeat a simple digimon. They were all so easy to defeat that it was actually getting suspicious...
Either way. I was a Holy One. I was apparently special—and that wasn't Pride talking. It was me. I could handle him.
"Let's go." I said to Gatomon who smile and leapt from the balcony, soaring over the edge and falling straight down to the ground below.
"It's a good thing cat's always land on their feet!" Gatomon laughed.
I couldn't do this alone though, I'd need help—and if Hideto couldn't come... My thoughts fell on Daisuke. He was the one affected most by pride anyway... I pulled out my phone and dialled his number.
"No autographs today!" He said boldly into the phone halfway through the first ring.
"Excuse me?" I tried. "No—Daisuke come. I need your help."
"I'm on my way!" He said quickly, hanging up the phone.
"You don't even know where I am!" I yelled into the phone, hanging it up angrily. I set off down the stairs after Gatomon, I figured I could just text him the details along the way.
Taichi Yagami:
I didn't like way that the wind wasn't going through my hair the way it used to. It was so different without there being so much hair for the wind to latch onto. I was with WarGreymon, flying across the Digital World as we made our way towards Fanglongmon's den. Apparently, the Death Knights had decided to use that as the base of their operations. I wasn't sure why. Maybe they figured we would never guess it? Since we'd defeated Fanglongmon ages ago now, and once we beat a bad guy, we never did really go back to their hideout. It was a pretty good choice on their part now that I thought about it. Of course, they spoiled their secret when they attacked Yamato and Ken's mothers, and I was pretty sure even my own mother was there. And looking to my present company, the leftover Death Knights that called that place home were in for quite a surprise.
Koushiro was with TyrantKabuterimon—who I was told was the result of an agreement with Ken, and that I didn't need to know anything more—resting on the purple insect king's shoulder as his sixteen different wings buzzed about behind him. Phoenixmon was carrying Sora in one clawed foot, and Neo and Dracomon in the other. Her powerful wings flapping in quick succession, as she speeded ahead of us. Catherine, Floramon and Yamato were seated on MetalGarurumon's back. The blue—I thought purple, but Yamato insists that I'm wrong—cybernetic wolf slashing through the wind with his yellow, electronic wings. Mimi brought up the rear as she flew with her own partner. Rosemon's cape was fluttering in the wind behind her. WarGreymon had his game face on, and I had to put mine in place as well.
We were nearing the underground base, and I didn't like what I saw. There were hordes of digimon waiting outside, all of them lined up in perfectly spaced lines, with a larger digimon at the forefront of them all. All of their eyes were trained on us as we neared them, and they prepared to attack.
"Get down!" I ordered. They swooped down to the ground just in time. There were two groups of the opposing army that moved forwards; an array of cybernetic wasps, and six wolves with metal armor covering their bodies. The wasps shouted a battle cry of "Turbo Stinger!" letting loose a rapid-fire salvo from their wide-aperture laser cannons. Catherine screamed as one of the lasers nearly hit her in the face—thankfully, MetalGarurumon dodged. I didn't think we'd hear the end of it if she got hurt.
The wolves were up next, with a shout of their own. "Sticker Blade!" I was convinced it was going to be another stupid attack, based on its name, but the wolves launched a volley of tiny blades at us. They looked sharp. WarGreymon turned his back to them, allowing his shield to keep them from hitting me.
Then we were on the ground, running towards the others, so we could throw together a plan we desperately needed.
"I never imagined this was something I would have to deal with twice in such a short time span," Koushiro commented when we made it over to them. "Some of the digimon within the army are even the same as the last time."
"Of course they are," Neo snapped. "They're all digimon that naturally carry the x-antibody. They're resistant to the x-virus I created."
"You don't suppose that's why these specific digimon were chosen?" I asked.
"I'd say so," Neo agreed.
"So these guys mean business. They were planning ways to get around you and the Alias III if they needed to. It wasn't just the digidestined," I surmised.
"They want total world domination," Yamato added.
"And they mean that literally," Mimi moaned. "If we can't get those Digimentals back before nightfall then they'll have it. The worlds can't combine. We can't handle such a wide-spread attack again. Not with us all scattered like this."
"And we won't have to," Sora said. "We'll just have to win. Koushiro, we'll need to fuse." She paused to look to Mimi, probably to see how she was going to react. Mimi agreed instantly, saying it was probably the best choice tactics-wise. "Let's hope it still works with TyrantKabuterimon instead of HerculesKabuterimon…." Sora and Koushiro clenched their digivices in their hands and prayed that this would work. It did! Koushiro's lit up red, and Sora's purple.
"Phoenixmon digivolve to…"
"TyrantKabuterimon digivolve to…"
"Eaglemon!"
"Yes!" Mimi cheered. "Now let's go beat some baddies."
The digimon launched into attack mode and flew at the opposing army. Rosemon looked scary in her red cat suit, thigh high black books and her matching whips twirled around each arms. I couldn't see her eyes—I never could with her rose petal helmet in the way—but I didn't need to, to understand the other digimon's fear as she approached them. "Rose Spear!" she screamed as one of the whips in her hands straightened into a rapier and she struck the nearest enemy—one of those cybernetic wasps that Koushiro identified as a Waspmon.
"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon howled as he flung himself into the fray, taking down an armored wolf—a Sangloupmon. His fierce demeanor was enough to frighten the other five, but they weren't going to give up without a fight. The four wolves struggled to keep up against our hero.
"Digivolve, Floramon," Catherine suggested. Floramon nodded and digivolved into a Kiwimon, before running at the nearest rookie digimon in the army, a Ryudamon. "Pummel Peck!" Kiwimon shouted, letting loose a small army of his own ChibiKiwimon, who swarmed the small yellow dragon digimon. His Japanese-style armor was good for defense though, and although theoretically the armor should have made his speed next to nothing, he was surprisingly nimble.
"Katana Attack!" Ryudamon shouted, launching blades out of his mouth at the ChibiKiwimon.
"Dracomon…I suppose you'd better join in too…" Neo said half-heartedly. I knew he didn't particularly like his digimon partner, but his half-ass support was all Dracomon needed. He beamed at the chance to join in, and digivolved into Coredramon—a much larger, blue dragon with well defined muscles, sharp teeth and a large red horn on the tip of his nose like a rhinoceros. There were red spikes all the way down his back and long tail, and three pearly white claws on both his hands and feet. He looked dangerous, and the smile on his face at the thought of tearing enemy digimon apart was just creepy.
"Blue Flare Breath!" he called, attacking the nearest digimon, a Reptilemon. He blew a flaming blue breath at the yellow, cybernetic Velociraptor, which seemed to decompose the texture data of the dinosaur digimon's body surface, leaving his digicore open to attack. Coredramon was all too willing to take advantage of that, swinging his tail around to strike him with a loud "Strike Bomber!" The Reptilemon was destroyed in seconds.
"Mega Claw!" WarGreymon roared, catching my attention. He swung his Dramon Killer gauntlets at the cat-like digimon that was flying around his head. A TobuCatmon, if my memory served me right. His claws sunk into the cat's stomach, leaving the digimon to disperse into data.
I looked around to see that Eaglemon was trying to take on the bulk of the army with his "Mystic Break!" attack. He was firing white rays at any digimon that got too close, that reduced the enemy into nothing but data on contact.
"Keep fighting!" the larger digimon, that I'd thought was in charge from afar, called out. "I'll inform Marrow of the intruders!"
The army didn't have much choice in the matter. Even if their leader had waited before running off into a concealed doorway, they didn't have time to stop and answer his orders; they were too busy fighting against the small army of our own. Agumon and Gabumon's training was working wonders. They were slashing through the enemies with ease.
"Marrow," Yamato growled. "He's going to lead us directly to him."
"What?" I said shocked. "We can't leave in the middle of a battle. If we turn our backs, we'll get slaughtered."
"Not if most of us stay to fight," Mimi commented. "Rosemon, you stay and fight! I'm going with Yamato!"
"You are?" he asked.
"Of course I am," she said. "We'll take MetalGarurumon just in case, but Rosemon can fight. We'll save your brother and Iori right under Marrow's nose."
"Go ahead," I said. I had a battle to worry about. They were smart enough to handle this on their own. And I trusted them without a doubt. "We'll hold them off."
"On it," Yamato said. He called MetalGarurumon over, and he helped Mimi onto his back before jumping on himself. Mimi waved at Koushiro before they darted into the opening that the digimon had gone through.
"I wanted to go…" Catherine muttered. But I didn't have time to comfort her, or to assure her that they would be okay, or that they would even save Takeru. The army wasn't as strong as us, but they had something we severely lacked: numbers. Kiwimon was pecking a rookie digimon with her "Nose Mattock!" Rosemon was using one of her whips as a collar for one of the stronger enemies as she controlled his movements and had him fight against his own team members while she dealt with another on her own. Coredramon continued to use his one-two attack combination to eliminate his enemies while WarGreymon charged up a brilliant "Terra Force!" to take down three x-antibody digimon. Eaglemon continued his extermination tactic.
"This is taking a long time," Catherine commented.
"It'll take as long as it has to," Sora said. "Be glad that we're not the ones being slaughtered out there."
"I hope Takeru's okay…" she said. Did she have a one track mind? She was very nice, and very pretty, but she wasn't focussing on Kiwimon who was risking her life out there to help us win this battle. Yamato and Mimi were taking care of Takeru and Iori with the help of MetalGarurumon. Takeru would be fine.
"It's Marrow!" Koushiro announced. I turned to the hidden doorway, and sure enough Marrow was standing there continuing to masquerade as one of Gennai's clones. He was glaring at the all out brawl, clearly furious that we were winning. I stormed over to him without thinking, and punched him square in the face.
"Think about who you're dealing with Marrow," I snarled, as if my hand wasn't freaking killing me at that moment. What was his jaw made of, lead?
"It's you that doesn't know who you're dealing with, Taichi," he growled, his voice dropping more and more into a rumbling roar with every word. His skin and clothing seemed to burst off of him as he exploded into a digimon that looked like a demon, skeleton dog. His giant body was made up of long, icy blue bones, and his eyes glowed bright red in pitch black sockets. His tendons were visible, holding his body together, and he had long, sharp incisors. He stood on his four legs, with a long bony tail, skeletal demon wings sticking out of his back, and two horns on the top of his head.
"Monkey Feathers," I said the first two words that came to my mind in disbelief. I'd just ticked off the wrong guy. I swallowed thickly as the giant digimon stepped towards me with his teeth bared and with the intent to kill.
Ken Ichijouji:
A strangled gasp ripped its way out of my throat as I was forced into being awake. My shoulders were shaking and sweat poured down my face. It was absolutely horrible. Gut wrenchingly terrifying. I had been helpless, unable to do anything more than watch as my wife had been torn to pieces, and Wormmon killed slowly and deliberately. My mother had been put through excruciating pain. Michael was attacked and killed by the Betamon that had been masquerading as his partner for all of these years. And then I was left in absolute darkness, unsure where the next victim would appear, what horrifying methods would be used, who would commit the act. The worst part of it was the anticipation. I couldn't guard myself against the visions. The visions looked so vivid and sounded so realistic that I had a hard time holding on to the thread of belief that these weren't truly real. What pushed me over the edge was Miyako as she pleaded, not for the shadows to stop, but for me to save her. But I couldn't move. Not because I was frozen in fear, but because my body had been paralyzed. The only defense I had was that I could close my eyes to the horrific scenes. And then the shadows turned on me, tearing at my legs, trying to get to me.
That's when I was thrust awake.
Immediately upon awakening, I was aware of three things. I was still shaking in fright from the images I'd bore witness too, and I didn't think there would ever be a time where I could unsee them. I was also furious with myself for falling asleep when I had far more important things to worry about, the main one, of course, was my wife! And third…there was a god awful taste in my mouth.
"What the hell did you give me?" I had to ask.
"Water," Wormmon said from beside me. I could barely see him. It wasn't until I squinted into the darkness that I realized I wasn't on the beach anymore. I was in a shadowy room that suddenly felt really small. There were shadows just waiting in the darkness to slaughter everyone around me. I'd already seen it happen once, I wasn't going to be able to watch it again. I didn't want to have to watch it again.
"Calm down, Ken," Kurayami snapped. "We're just trapped in a dungeon. Wormmon and Labramon tried the door already, but there are shadows guarding it."
"Sh-shadows?" I asked. I cursed my voice for wavering. I didn't have time to be afraid. I had a wife to save.
"Yes," she hissed quietly. "So be quiet. We're trying to think up a plan."
"On the bright side," Labramon inputted. "We're a lot closer to finding Miyako now. There's no better place to keep someone than a castle."
"And I'm sorry about the water," Kurayami said, in a much gentler voice. She must've been just as terrified as I was being trapped here. The Dark Ocean was her biggest fear too. "But you needed a drink, and I really thought the nightmares would be better than hallucinations."
"I made her do it," Wormmon said forlornly. "You were so scared. I didn't mean to make you scared. I just wanted to help you. You needed water or else you wouldn't have the energy to save Miyako. And I know how much you want to—need to—save her…"
"You made the right choice," I said. It was hard to get those words out, but I managed. Miyako was more than worth enduring those nightmares the water created. If I could get her out of this alive, then it could all be forgotten. I couldn't let fear of the shadows get in the way of getting to her.
I tried harder to see through the endless darkness. I could see the shifting form of Labramon as he rocked from side to side next to Kurayami who was sitting perfectly still. I could hear Wormmon tapping his feet next to me, and I put an arm around him. That left Hawkmon. Where could he be?
"I'm glad you're awake," Kurayami commented after a long silence. "We didn't have a chance of saving Miyako without you. Not only would we be useless in a battle, but we'd have to lug you around too."
"I'm not useless," Labramon muttered.
I sighed. So Kurayami was still being protective over her digimon. I could understand her reasoning though. I really could. She didn't want to lose her digimon partner. But it was more than that. Labramon was one of the few truly good things that Kurayami had in her life. If she lost him, she could spiral back into the girl she was before Daisuke charmed her with his less-than desirable wit. She was afraid of letting the darkness take her again. And that was fine. Well, not fine, but understandable. I would have thought, though, that she would have learned from Takeru's mistake with Patamon. Unfortunately, she was doing more than confining Labramon's abilities; she was hindering her own as well. She wouldn't allow herself to grow as a partner for Labramon, for them to work as a team. I wasn't going to be able to do this on my own. Kurayami was gambling a lot on this quest. I knew that she wanted to help save Miyako—and I was really and truly grateful for that—but if she wasn't going to be able to help in the inevitable fight…she may as well have stayed home.
I could only hope that Miyako was alive and conscious when we got to her, so that she and Hawkmon could help me help her. It wasn't fair to put this pressure on Miyako, since she was undoubtedly traumatized by everything involving this miserable place. I didn't want to make her have to fight her own way out. While it could be beneficial in the long run for her to have fought against this shadow that took her, and thus helping with the healing process…I wanted that to be an option…not an obligation.
"How long was I out for?" I asked, instead of voicing my opinions. Kurayami wouldn't appreciate it, and I while I usually wouldn't have gave a damn about that, I was trapped in a small, dark dungeon with her…and she was almost as terrifying as the shadows when she was angry.
"Awhile," she said uncertainly.
"We don't really know exactly…" Labramon admitted.
"We don't have any light, so we can't judge by the sun, and none of us have watches," Wormmon told me. "I don't think it was too long though."
"Great," I muttered. Who knew how long I'd been out, and Miyako was trapped here somewhere waiting for her doom. What's worse, was that I didn't know where she was. She could be in this castle. Like Labramon said it seemed dramatic enough, and there weren't many options in the Dark Ocean, but was 'likely' enough to bet the life of my wife on? I needed to know for sure.
I was distracted from my internal lamenting by the sounds of a scuffle outside the door.
"Beak Pecker!"
It was the most glorious noise I'd heard in my life. Hawkmon was shouting out an attack. I heard the shadow grunt and groan as Hawkmon pecked at him like a woodpecker.
"Take that," Hawkmon called enthusiastically. "And that, and that! And I will take these."
There was a clanking sound of metal on metal as he inserted the keys into the lock on the door. The door opened slowly, and he grunted from the weight of it.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," I told him with a relieved smile.
"You too," he informed me. "I wasn't sure where you got off to. I followed a few shadows to this place. I was worried I'd be too late. I've already checked the other cells in the dungeon. One of the doors was smashed open. I suspect it was Armadillomon's doing."
"So they are here," I said. Suddenly I was eager to get out of the dungeon to face countless shadows. My wife was within my grasp. I just had to get to her now.
"I believe so. He won't stay down for long," Hawkmon said, gesturing to the shadow at his feet. The hallways were lit with tiny candle flames in lanterns on the wall. They were few and far between, but it was enough for me. Seeing anything at all was better than the darkness of our dungeon cell. "Come along, quickly now."
Kurayami grabbed Labramon, and I followed her example, scooping Wormmon under one arm. He wasn't the fastest runner, and I wasn't about to leave him behind. Hawkmon ushered us out of the dungeons, keeping his eyes peeled for more shadows. He seemed to get more energy the closer we got to finding Miyako. It was as if he could feel her close by, and was excited about their reunion. I couldn't lie. I was feeling the same thing. I was beyond ecstatic to be finding her. I almost didn't feel the exhaustion anymore.
"Shh!" Labramon suddenly hissed. Everyone ceased their movements. I was sure Wormmon was even holding his breath. "Do you hear that?"
Sure enough, there were shadows talking to one another about a big event that was taking place in just a short while. They were tasked with collecting the guest of honour. They were coming up on us fast, so we high tailed it up the nearest set of steps, hoping to lose them, and find Miyako at the same time. Luck, however, was not on our side. At the top of the stairs we took, was a small opening leading to two separate doors. And waiting for us, was a shadow. He was most likely guarding a door, but that didn't help us. To make matters worse, those shadows we'd taken the stairs to avoid, were following us up them.
"Beak Pecker!" Hawkmon cried quietly, throwing himself at the shadow as Kurayami ran towards the nearest door. It opened easily, and I took the fallen shadow and crammed him inside. Not wanting to be in the same room as him when he woke up, we ran to check on the second door.
No luck. It was locked.
Kurayami's breathing quickened as the shadows got closer to us, but the whimpering that I heard wasn't coming from her mouth, and it was decidedly feminine. It was a sound I had unfortunately become accustomed to over the past few months as Miyako continuously awoke with new scratches and fears.
"Miyako," I whispered to the door.
"Ken," Kurayami hissed. "We don't have time, we have to hide."
"Miyako!" I called louder.
"K-Ken?"
"Yes, Miyako, baby, it's me. I'm here now. Are you okay? They haven't hurt you?" I asked.
"I-I'm s-scared," she hiccoughed through her tears. "But I'm n-not h-hurt."
"Good," I said. "That's good."
"Ken," Kurayami called again. "They're almost here."
"But she's right here. We have to save her now," I insisted.
"Ken," Miyako called. "You can't h-help me if you're c-caught."
"She's right, Ken," Wormmon told me.
"But she's right there," I insisted.
"Go, Ken," Miyako ordered. "Find me when it's safe!"
I let Kurayami drag me into the room we'd stored the shadow in. Wormmon used his webbing attack to bind him, though we knew it wouldn't amount to much when he awoke. Apparently webbing couldn't hold a shadow if he didn't want to be held. Who knew? The two shadows had made it to the top of the stairs, and to my absolute horror headed directly to Miyako's prison.
"We've come to collect tonight's entertainment," one of them said with a vicious amusement.
"W-what?" Miyako gasped. They must have grabbed her, because she started shouting out, and I could hear her trying to get out of their hold. I heard her nearly trip down the stairs as they dragged her along. I couldn't take it. I needed to get to her. I'd take on one of the shadows myself if Hawkmon, Labramon and Wormmon couldn't handle the two of them. Kurayami held me tightly, not letting me run after her until the noises were long gone.
"They've got her again," I told her coldly.
"And we'll get her back," she said firmly.
"We don't know where they're going," I snapped. "And we don't know the castle."
"But I do."
I turned to see Armadillomon coming out of the room that Miyako had been confined in. He held Miyako's long sleeved T-shirt and jeans in his mouth. I could only imagine what Miyako must be wearing now if she was the 'entertainment' of the evening. He set the clothing down to speak again.
"I know the castle, and I know where they'll take her. I can bring you, but we'll have to be fast. I don't like the sounds of things," he told us. We agreed to hurry, and let him lead us after the shadows and my wife. I could only hope we got there on time.
Next on Digimon Adventure 05:Arc four (That is technically still arc two) reaches its action packed—almost—conclusion.