(A/N):
Oh my god, I am so sorry! This certainly took longer than I wanted it to.
I really missed writing this story and I missed you guys! I feel as though my life really is worse if I don't have the time to draw or to write...
So, I hope that I'll upload more regularly from now on, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story :)
Here we go!
"Are you ready?"
"For the third time, yes I am ready! Now get on with it."
"Koji, you can still say that you don't want to do it. I mean, I'd understand."
Koji's only answer was a really annoyed eye roll. He turned to Takuya's general direction with an expression that screamed murder.
In any other situation Kari would've found this funny, really, but in the moment she felt only dread.
For some reason it made her nervous. To see the Warrior discuss this matter so heatedly. Or rather see Takuya and Koji discuss it. JP, Tommy, Sukai, Koichi and Zoe were surprisingly quite and withdrawn.
Kari would've thought that at least Koichi and Zoe would argue a lot more.
But after Zoe had pulled Koji into a corner this morning she hadn't uttered a single word concerning the beats spirits. And even though Koichi looked worried – probably because Zoe had insisted that this whole digivolving thing was nuts and shouldn't happen – he didn't protest either. He seemed to trust Koji or the spirits greatly.
The only one who seemed to have a problem with Koji digivolving was Takuya.
"TAKUYA! Just break this glass! Or do I have to do it myself?" Koji threatened and took a step towards Takuya.
"Nononono", Takuya replied hastily and held one hand up, "You just stay there. Don't come too close. I'm just asking… because Zoe said that it was a bad idea."
Koji threw his hands in the air and turned around again.
"Of course I am sure, now GET ON WITH IT!"
Next to Kari, Gatomon crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as she observed the pair that stood maybe fifty meters away.
"How long is this going to take", Davis groaned. He sat on one of the swings and kicked his legs impatiently.
Kari shrugged with an awkward smile and scanned their surroundings again.
They had gone to the closest playground as soon as the sun had begun to set. Apparently they couldn't let Koji digivolve in the house or in an area with humans in general because it was too dangerous.
Ken had suggested the playground since nearly no one came there at night. They had spent the day by making up strategies to get to the Crests.
The digimon had been hyper and impatient and thus hard to deal with. But luckily most of them had understood that they couldn't just rush in the graveyard without a plan.
"What is he doing? Why isn't he just doing his job?"
Kari shot a quick glance over her shoulder. Behind her BlackGatomon stood next to Tai and Agumon with an incredible annoyed expression. His paws were tied up behind his back but he didn't seem to be bothered by it.
Kari didn't really know what she was supposed to think of the dark digimon. Of course, he had helped TK, Zoe and Koji, but he also had worked for their enemy. Who was telling them that it wasn't a trap?
"Damn it, Takuya! Just crush the bowl or I will do it myself!"
Takuya fidgeted a bit but nodded finally. He took a few steps back with the bowl so that he was circa ten meters away from Koji. They had told Kari and the other Chosen that they shouldn't be too close to Koji if he would go on a rampage as soon as he digivolved.
Apparently he did exactly that the last first time he digivolved with his Beast Spirit, and destroyed a whole cliff.
Kari was bit skeptical about this thing; Zoe hadn't been that bad when they had found her. Just a little bit confused and frightened.
And TK hadn't told them anything really crass either.
Kari shook her head to shake these thoughts away. They had to concentrate.
"Alright! Be ready!", Takuya yelled one last time before he brought down a flaming fist on the glass. The bowl shattered loudly and the spirit, which had been dancing around hectically, flew straight towards Koji.
When it reached Koji it looked similar to when they had seen them digivolve for the first time in Gennai's labor.
The light grew, swallowing Koji, and digicodes appeared out of thin air.
Then Kari heard the scream.
She jumped horribly in shock at the sudden loud noise, and out of the corner of her eye she could see that the others didn't react differently. Only Zoe was still with a serious and… sad look on her face.
"What the hell is this?", Mimi yelled over the scream.
Kari shook her head. It sounded like Koji and it was only logical that it was him, but the scream sounded so animalistic. Like an animal that is cornered and wounded. So desperate, so much pain.
Kari turned to TK with shocked and teary eyes. But TK didn't even notice. He stared directly at the bright like with wide, pained and shocked eyes.
Kari was confused. Didn't TK know what was happening? Zoe must've reacted the same way, right? So why was he so shocked?
"Kari", Gatomon called and tugged at her sleeve. "Do you feel this too?"
Kari gave Gatomon a confused look, about to ask what her friend meant. But then she felt it too, a soft pulsing energy inside her. It wasn't very strong but warm and it felt like home. A look at Gatomon confirmed that she was feeling the same thing.
Suddenly the scream cut off. It stopped as abruptly as it had started.
When Kari looked back to where Koji had stood she saw how the light and digicodes vanished around a tall figure.
She had been worried that they wouldn't be able to see him since it has gotten dark by now, but her worry was unjustified. The new creature seemed to glow in a soft light.
Despite herself Kari took a step back, overcome by feeling of… she couldn't really describe it! She still felt the warm energy somewhere inside her, but at the same time she felt cold. Maybe it was fear?
The digimon looked frightening.
He wasn't as tall as Kari had suspected him to be but he still was way taller than an average human. And unnaturally thin with really long limbs.
And he was bright. Like, really bright. His skin was white, and the broken parts of what looked like armor had the color of snow. It was decorate by a few golden ornaments. His body was partly covered by light brown fur and littered with deep brown scars.
His left hand was covered by a claw-like glove, just like his prior form, the right arm from the elbow downwards was covered by a long cloth.
And then his face… it could've been described as cute, with its long, fluffy ears, but his eyes were purely black, it was actually hard to make them out in the dark at all. To Kari they looked like an abyss.
And then there was the mask that covered the lower part of his face. The only indicator to where his mouth was, were two long and sharp fangs.
At least his hair looked fairly normal. It was white too, with a hue of blue, and stood up from his head.
If Kari would've had to describe the digimon in one sentence she would've said, that he was one of these creatures that would appear in your dreams and you wouldn't be sure if it was a nightmare or not.
He stood oddly still though. He hadn't moved one bit since the light and digicodes had vanished, he was just staring at them.
Kari fidgeted under the gaze; she couldn't even say for sure if he was looking at her, or maybe at Davis or Joe or maybe at none at all.
But it was unsettling. No one dared to speak or to move, anxious what would happen if they did.
But the digimon wouldn't move either. He didn't speak, he didn't even scrutinize them, he was just staring.
"Koji", Takuya's voice cut through the silence. The digimon's head snapped in the direction of the noise at a speed that made Kari fear he snapped his neck.
"Can you hear me Koji?", Takuya asked with a calm voice.
The digimon didn't react. He remained motionless, simply staring at Takuya now.
"Are you Koji?", Takuya asked again and took a small step forward.
The digimon didn't even blink.
Kari shuddered at the sight. It was impossible to know what the digimon was thinking, if it was thinking at all, or if it was Koji.
Would Koji act like this if he still had all his senses? Maybe he wanted to play a prank on Takuya.
Kari shook her head inwardly. Koji wouldn't do this, he knew how serious this was.
But if the Spirit had control over Koji, wouldn't he lash out then? Attack and defend himself?
"Why isn't he doing anything", Izzy whispered behind Kari. She could see Zoe shake her head out of the corner of her eye.
"I don't know" she whispered back. "I don't remember too well what happened after I digivolved", she admitted. "I just know that I was looking for the source of the feeling of security. I remember coming back to my senses when we left the mansion."
"But he isn't acting one bit like you did", TK stated the obvious.
No one answered simply because no one had an answer.
Kari squinted at the digimon.
They could deal with a rampaging digimon; they knew what they had to do in that case. But this utter stillness, calmness and void of emotion was scary.
"Koji, please do something", Takuya addressed the digimon again. His voice was still calm but Kari could hear that he had to force it.
He took another few steps towards the digimon, and this time he reacted.
It wasn't a good reaction though. The digimon raised his right arm, his expression still completely void of emotion.
Takuya faltered in his steps just as the end of the cloth began to glow and a shadow of light stormed at Takuya.
On its way it formed into something but Kari couldn't make out what it was.
With a chocked cry Takuya managed to jump out of the mist's way just in time.
His yell of "Koji, what the hell", fell on deaf ears as the digimon made a strange sound between a howl and growl and stormed at Takuya.
"TAKUYA", Kari heard Zoe yell and in the next second she saw her and a few others storm towards the digimon and Takuya.
As Kari saw the digimon slash at her friends with his sharp claws, his face a picture of anger with soulless black eyes, she realized that she had been wrong before. There was no way that a dream with him in it wouldn't be a nightmare.
A harsh tug on her sleeve ripped Kari out of her thoughts.
"We have to help them", Gatomon hissed, her eyes narrowed. Kari nodded hectically, still a bit dazed, and rushed after her friends.
As far as she could tell only Bokomon, Neemon and a few Chosen like her brother stayed back.
Kari was greeted with a "Don't come closer!", from Tommy when she arrived. Only a second later TK jumped at her and dragged her out of the way of another strange mist attack. This time she could identify the form. It looked like the shadow of a wolf with bared teeth.
"He has gone nuts", TK exclaimed with frightened eyes. Kari nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. It must've be hard for TK to be under attack for the second time.
"You all have to go away!", Zoe yelled as she jumped out of the way of another attack. "It'll only get worse if we fight him!"
"Worse than this?!", Kari could hear Davis yell.
She was about to run towards Takuya to help him but TK held her back. Kari gave him a surprised look, but TK shook his head.
"We have to retreat. It's either trusting the Warriors to bring Koji back to his senses or hurting him until he is forced to dedigivolve. I'd rather let them try."
Kari was surprised but agreed reluctantly. She didn't want to hurt Koji – even when he wasn't himself in the moment.
"Davis!", TK called out for their friend, "tell the others to keep their distance, let the Warriors deal with Koji!"
Davis shot them a bewildered look but nodded and waved at Yolei to inform her about the decision.
"Are you sure this is wise", Gatomon asked as they hurried to a safe distance. Kari could see Davis and the others following suit as Takuya and JP tried to distract Koji.
"It's our best chance", TK answered and Patamon nodded affirmatively.
Kari glanced at Gatomon out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to look away from Koji and the other Warriors. Gatomon still looked suspicious but didn't comment any further.
In the moment Koichi was apparently trying to talk Koji. It seemed to work for exactly 5 seconds, and then the digimon growled again and slashed at Koichi.
Koichi jumped out of the way and Tommy took his place, his hands held up in the air.
"CALM DOWN KOJI", Takuya yelled behind Tommy, "You don't have to be afraid!"
The digimon shook his head a few times and lashed out again. Tommy turned around and ran a few steps, Koji hot on his heels.
"Koji, stop it!", Zoe bellowed now and ran towards Tommy, probably trying to distract Koji.
But he ignored her and continued to run after Tommy. And he was catching up.
Kari watched in horror when Tommy suddenly stumbled and fell.
Koji still didn't stop, he even sped up.
Kari had no doubt that he would kill Tommy. This wasn't Koji anymore – this was a digimon that was ought to kill.
She saw Takuya and Zoe jump in front of Tommy in slow motion. Next to her she felt TK move and behind Koji she could see Davis and Yolei breaking into a sprint too.
Then suddenly, Zoe yelled and the spell was broken.
"I TOLD YOU! STAY AWAKE!"
The first thing Koji noticed was welcoming warmth when his spirit approached him.
It only lasted for a brief moment though. As soon as his spirit reached him the world around him shattered into tiny bits and pain consumed him.
It was the only thing on his mind, the only thought repeating nonstop in his head.
'Make it stop`.
And then, after what felt like hours, days, it stopped. It stopped as sudden as sudden as it had started.
Koji opened his eyes slowly and saw darkness.
It was odd. Wasn't his spirit the spirit of light? Why was it so dark?
And then there was the noise.
It grew louder, louder and louder until Koji had to cover his ears.
But it didn't stop. It grew clearer, formed into a voice that surrounded him.
And the voice told him. It told him what would happen. It told him what had to happen.
Around Koji the scenery changed.
It showed pictures of battles, fought long ago before he was even born.
It showed pictures of great Warriors and of Protectors. Of the future and the past.
And when the pictures vanished, the darkness returned and the voice grew silent with one last whisper of 'Remember Aftmon' Koji fell back into the darkness.
He wanted to sleep. Just sleep and never wake up, never remember what happened.
And the darkness promised such things. It embraced him and lulled him to sleep.
And Koji wanted to go.
He really wanted.
But he felt an imaginary itch in his mind. Like a reminder what he was supposed to do. Or maybe what he wasn't supposed to do.
It was unsettling.
It felt as though he was forgetting something. Something really important.
But he couldn't remember and his limbs and mind were getting heavier.
Something really important…
"STAY AWAKE!"
The yell echoed through the darkness like a canon and Koji's eyes flew open.
Something really important!
Zoe had told him before! He couldn't sleep. Stay awake. She had told him what would happen.
Slowly the darkness vanished and a, at first blurry, picture formed in front of his eyes.
Slowly it grew sharper, and Koji blinked a few times.
There was Tommy lying in front of him in on a meadow.
Zoe and Takuya were standing in front of him. Both looked scared but they didn't move.
Koji stared long and hard at them, trying to grasp the situation.
What had happened?
He had digivolved and then?
Koji took a hesitant step back and squinted at Zoe. Had she really yelled or had it just been his imagination?
"Koji? Are you there now?",
Koji turned his head slowly to the voice and saw Koichi and Sukai standing a few meters away from Tommy.
They obviously had been running towards their friend.
"Is this you now?", Koichi asked carefully, "You can dedigivolve now".
Right, dedigivolving.
Koji suspected it to hurt, his body was taking a new shape after all, but strangely he only felt a rush of warmth flow through his veins as the digicodes surrounded him.
Before Kari could break into a sprint too, the digimon stopped. Davis and Yolei slowed down, but didn't stop completely in case the digimon would attack again.
But he didn't. The digimon stared long and hard at Tommy with a confused look.
Then he took a small step back and then turned his head slowly to Koichi and Sukai. Someone of them must have said something.
The digimon stood in front of Sukai and Koichi for one more moment and then digicodes and white light surrounded him.
Kari could feel everyone on the playground breathe out in relief.
She smiled and walked towards the Warriors. Behind her TK barked out a nervous laugh and followed.
"Glad to have you back buddy", Takuya laughed and hit Koji on the back.
Koji winced lightly and glared at Takuya.
"What happened?", he asked. His voice cracked and he cleared his throat.
"Just the usual", JP said with a grin. Koji frowned, obviously not happy that he hadn't had a clue what he had done.
"Alright. Great that this is done", BlackGatomon said and everyone turned around to Tai, Matt, Bokomon and Neemon who were escorting BlackGatomon toward their group.
"Can we please get going? You guys need your Crests and I really want to be untied."
Everyone shut up and gave BlackGatomon a scrutinizing glare.
"How do we know that you speak the truth?",Tai asked finally. BlackGatomon rolled his eyes.
"We had this conversation before. Remember? You didn't trust me, Koji told you that I helped him, everyone was happy."
"No one was happy", Matt growled, "We barely accepted it. We tolerated you."
BlackGatomon whistled and shrugged. "Well, then you can continue doing just that. If you would be so nice?". He wiggled with his paws.
TK snorted, much to Kari's surprise.
"We won't untie you, but we will trust you for now. How's that?"
BlackGatomon faked a sigh and nodded. "Humans are so suspicious…"
Kari suppressed a half smile. She didn't really know why, but BlackGatomon didn't seem like a bad guy to her.
"I have a question", Izzy interrupted them. He looked a bit nervous but also curious and worried. "For the Warriors".
"Oh, uhm sure", Takuya answered hesitantly and glanced at his friends.
Izzy glanced at Koji and Zoe with an expression as though he felt guilty about asking.
"Does it mean that you can control the Spirit now? I mean…", he trailed off and made an odd motion with his hand. "You… will be able to control it the next time too?"
Zoe pursed her lips and shrugged.
"Well, we could last time. I think it's just something that you have to achieve once."
Koji nodded. "It's not as though you have to overpower something all of the time while you are the digimon. It's… it's a bit weird", he explained and frowned.
"So it will work 100percent the next time?", Tai asked seriously. The unspoken 'We don't need one of you running amok' was clear to everyone.
Takuya gave him a half grin. "Nothing is 100percent certain".
Tai looked almost offended but before he could say something Takuya continued, this time with a serious expression.
"No we can't be certain. But we don't have the time or energy to try it again. Besides, it worked the last time – why shouldn't it work this time?"
"It's just behind this city block", BlackGatomon said and nodded at some old houses.
"I didn't know there is a graveyard here", Yolei muttered and gave the houses a suspicious look.
BlackGatomon shrugged, "It's an old graveyard".
"Come on, we better hurry", Ken interrupted them and gave BlackGatomon a gentle shove. "The others probably are already there."
BlackGatomon rolled his eyes. "Well, it was your brilliant plan to split up."
"Because it's smarter", Koichi answered as they crossed the street. "Such a huge group of humans and digimon is bound to attract attention."
It had been his plan to split up in at least two groups. As soon as they had left the playground they had started to discuss if they should change their plans since Koji's digitation had been a success. The digimon had been annoyed by the suggestion to wait until it would be getting dark, but in the end they had needed all the time to plan a strategy.
Both groups had one of the Warriors who could digivolve into their Beast Spirit and two others that could digivolve.
Takuya was incredible grumpy that he wasn't counted as able to fight.
He had asked BlackGatomon if his Beats Spirit was in the graveyard too, but BlackGatomon had told him that he didn't know where it was.
Koichi thought he was lying, but he had shut up. The others mistrusted BlackGatomon enough already, he didn't have to put fuel in the fire.
"I'm so happy that we'll get our Crests!", Biyomon cried happily. Sora chuckled and patted her head. "I know, but we need to be quiet". Biyomon clapped one of her wings over her mouth and nodded hurriedly.
"We can just walk through this house", BlackGatomon said and kicked lightly against one of the doors. "Not many people want to live near a graveyard", he told them, "thus most of the houses are empty."
Matt frowned at BlackGatomon. "How should we know that there aren't digimon waiting inside this house for us?"
BlackGatomon winked at him as Koji stormed past them.
"This is getting ridiculous", he snapped at Matt and turned the doorknob. Surprisingly it wasn't locked and the door opened with a creak.
Sukai hurried after him and glanced into the dark hallway.
"Just how old is this house supposed to be?", she asked quietly.
Koichi looked over her and Koji's shoulder to get a look at the hallway. It was dusty, the floor looked rotten at some parts and the wallpaper was starting to fall off.
BlackGatomon shrugged again and showed his teeth in a grin.
"Maybe they saw something horrible before they left."
Matt shot him a glare and Koichi sighed. He wasn't such a great fan of BlackGatomon either, but he did trust Koji when he said that BlackGatomon was okay.
"Who cares", Takuya said and stepped into the hallway, "Let's get going!"
It was obvious that Takuya hoped that his Spirit would be there too. Koichi feared that it would make him careless.
Sora gave Matt a reassuring smile and followed Takuya into the house.
Matt frowned unhappily but let it go. Gabumon smiled apologetically at BlackGatomon but the digimon ignored him.
When Koichi arrived with Matt at the back door Takuya was in the process of kicking it down.
"It's locked", Ken informed them and Koichi nodded.
"We can see that", Matt grumbled. Koichi frowned at Matt, but he could understand the boy; they all were tense.
Finally the door gave in and fell out of the frame. It made a loud bang it hit the ground and Koichi grimaced.
He hoped no one had heard them.
They stepped inside a small garden. The fences were low enough for them to climb over and behind the garden there was the graveyard. It didn't even have a fence or wall, it was more like a meadow with gravestones.
"Alright, and what now?", Takuya asked. They hid behind a bush in the garden, just in case if there were enemies.
"I am not sure where the digimon are", BlackGatomon answered with a hushed voice, "but the mausoleum with the chest should be in this direction". He didn't move to show them the direction though.
"Which direction?", Izzy asked with a frown.
BlackGatomon made a mock shocked expression. "Oh I didn't think of it. I think I could point in the direction if you would untie me."
Matt glared sharply at him. "Not going to happen. Just use your foot."
BlackGatomon rolled his eyes and lifted his leg awkwardly. "There. Happy?"
"Tremendously."
"You two stop it!", Sora hissed. "Izzy, have the others confirmed that they have arrived?"
Izzy took out his mobile phone and nodded.
"They say that they're ready when we are."
"Alright", Takuya said with a grin, "we're going in!"
(A/N):
*gasp* I hope Takuya doesn't do something stupid. (Tbh He probably will do something stupid it's Takuya after all, but we'll see)
And thanks to all of you for your understanding! And I know it's late but… A HAPPY NEW YEAR! You certainly deserve it because you are amazing!
I hope you'll have an awesome year!
Aftmon is the name of Koji's Beats Form, the name's inspired by Aftiel which is the Angel of Twilight :)
As always I will upload the picture of Aftmon on DeviantArt tomorrow!
HAVE A NICE WEEK!
Anyway,
Liked it? Hate it? Want to hit me with a chair?
Let me know! :)
