Beware the Eastern Sun
Chapter 15
"Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good."
-Macbeth, by
William Shakespeare
"Mmmmnnnnn..."
Kari looked at Gatomon, moaning on the
bed. She seemed so frail and broken, both physically and mentally. It was like
her whole spirit had been crushed in their encounter with...no, no. She would
not let herself remember that. It was too painful, both for her and her
friends. Turning her attention back to Gatomon, she noticed something that she
had never noticed before.
Hanging around her neck was a charm on
a chain, a sort of short necklace. It was a small golden heart-like shape with
a few shiny gems embedded in it. At the moment it seemed to glow. Soon Kari's
curiosity overwhelmed her. She reached her hand over slowly, as not to disturb
Gatomon. She began taking in shorter breaths, feeling a sort of anxiety as she
furtively reached her hand out for the pendant. As she was just about to touch
it, Gatomon's eyes shot open. Kari withdrew her hand with a snap and held it in
her lap. Gatomon sat up straight suddenly, and turned to look at her with her
wide eyes.
"Kari?" she asked, somewhat
dazed.
"Gatomon!" she exclaimed,
reaching forth to hug her. When Gatomon winced at her embrace, she slackened
up. "Oh yeah. I'm sorry; I forgot about your wounds."
"How long have I been out?"
"Maybe a little less than a
week."
Gatomon looked around. "Where are
we?"
"With the others."
"The others?"
Kari jumped up with eagerness,
forgetting her own pains. "I'll go get them." She ran to the door
screaming, "Tai! Joe! Izzy! She's awake! Sora! Mimi!" Soon the whole
group, with their digimon, were in the hut.
Joe came in first, and looked over
Gatomon. "You feeling alright?" When Gatomon nodded, he responded,
"Good, because you look fine too." He smiled.
Then Tai rushed forward and spoke
urgently, "What happened to you two? Do you remember?"
Gatomon scratched her head. "I'm
not sure. I was following Kari when suddenly I was hit from behind.
Everything's sketchy from there on. And even before then."
"But who did it?"
Gatomon was about to speak when she
caught a look from Kari. "I...I'm not sure. It was really dark."
They chatted idly about this or that
for a while, filling in each other as to what had gone on in the past few
years. The digimon were having an animated conversation with Gatomon, except
for Agumon, who remained relatively silent. He kept scratching his chin with
his claws and looking out the windows and doorway of the hut, as if expecting
something.
Soon, they tired, though, and decided
to let Gatomon rest with Kari. When they left, Gatomon immediately gave Kari a
strange look and said, "Why didn't you want me to tell them that it
was...him?"
Kari looked away. "How do you
think Tai would handle it? He would go ballistic." She turned and gave
Gatomon a fierce look. "If there's anything I don't want it's my friends
dying, and if Matt and Tai have a confrontation, there's going to be death. No
matter what happens, Matt is still my friend." She collapsed into her
chair, covering her face with her hands to stifle her sobs. "I just wish
it weren't this way. It's too much for me to handle."
Gatomon placed a hand on her shoulder,
for that was as far as she could reach. Kari rushed forward and embraced
Gatomon, as Gatomon cooed to her that everything was going to work out. Then
Kari suddenly composed herself and reposted herself in her chair. "Gatomon,
where did you get that amulet?"
"Hmmm? Oh this." Gatomon
looked at the amulet in a distorted fashion. "I'm not sure. I've always
had it...I guess."
"Why didn't you ever talk about
it?"
Gatomon shrugged. "I guess it
just never occurred to me that it was important."
"Can I see it?" Kari asked.
"Sure." Gatomon leaned so
Kari could get a good look at it.
"No, can I see it,"
Kari said, indicating to her that she wanted her to hand it to her.
"Oh," Gatomon answered
waveringly. "I...well...I've never had it off before."
"You're not afraid of losing it,
are you?"
"No, no," Gatomon said
quickly. "It's something more than that. I can't really explain it."
"Oh," Kari said simply.
"I hope you don't take it the
wrong..."
"No, no. I understand." Kari
smiled. "Well, you better get your rest. Sweet dreams." Kari gave
Gatomon one last hug before she began to prepare herself for bed.
"Leomon?" Tai asked,
unbelievably.
"Yup," Agumon confirmed.
Tai scratched his head. "And
that's what he said?"
"Yes, yes," Agumon said in
an itchy manner
Tai frowned,
thinking hard. Agumon paced back and forth. "So," Agumon asked
without looking up. "What do we do?"
Tai sighed. "I guess we don't
have much choice. Unless you've got an idea." He turned to look
skeptically at Agumon.
"Actually I was thinking that we
should consult Izzy and Tentamon," he said.
"Hmmm. You're probably
right."
Izzy was poring over a hardcopy of the
prophecy at the wooden table. On the paper, he had made marks and notes in such
a haphazard way that the once neat work of art now seemed like a plan to design
a space-going vessel. When they approached, Tentamon intercepted them. "Be
quiet!" he whispered. "I think he's about to make one of those great
'breakthroughs.'"
They inched forward silently and took
seats around him. He had a look of deep concentration on his face and seemed
oblivious to them anyway. On the paper where he was staring were a few diagrams
with notes. He was tapping his pencil on the table incessantly. As each tense
moment passed, his face grew more firm and his tapping seemed to get louder.
This continued for some time until suddenly Izzy slammed the table and threw up
his hands in the air.
"Ugh!!! Why can't I get
this!" he screamed accusingly up at the sky.
The others nearly fell out of their
seats. When Izzy looked around him and saw them, he quickly composed himself.
"Oh, hi guys. When did you come here?"
They got up and dusted themselves off.
"Izzy," Tai began. "Do you have any plans as to our future
actions?"
Izzy thought for a moment. "Well,
I thought that if we could crack this prophecy, then we might have some idea as
to what to do. But it doesn't look like we'll be doing that anytime soon."
"Good. Izzy, we just got a
message. Tell me what you think..."
"The armies from Armhad and
Ingolar have arrived, great sir," his steward announced.
Matt gave a wave of his hand.
"See to it that they get what they require."
"Very good sir," he said,
receding out of the Great Hall.
Matt returned to his brooding in the
silent, echoing confines of the Great Hall. He stared into nothingness,
pondering idly with his drifting mind. As his eyes wandered about the Hall,
they came to rest upon a tall jar sitting on a stone pedestal within arms reach
of the throne. The jar had a red cloth covering it.
Considering for a moment, he whipped
off the cover to reveal the display. The jar was filled with a
liquid-alcohol-which gave off a drunken stench, only stifled by the fact that
the lid was on the jar. But this liquid was only the medium for the jar's more
purposeful occupant. Occasionally bobbing or drifting, it floated with a few
bubbles clinging to it as it remained deathly still. It was an arm.
Matt's arm, to be more precise. The
jar was still as he had received it. After the first great battle with
Akaramon, when the evil digimon had sliced off his arm in single combat, he
returned to his castle to lick his wounds. Shortly thereafter, Akaramon had
sent him his arm in a jar with alcohol to preserve it. A note had accompanied this
gift. It read: "To my dear friend Matt, as a symbol of my affection. I
believe that the great He left this on my estate upon his last visit. I salute
the next time he shall make a call to arms. -Akaramon"
Ever since then, Matt had left the jar
in plain view to remind him of his failures and of his duty to the occupants of
the digital world. Then he donned his mechanical arm as another reminder, and
as an unspoken symbol of change. In his old flesh, he could see a weakness and
a vileness that made him sick. With his new arm there was a strength; it
enhanced his power in many ways, physically and psychologically.
And now he sat, thinking of these
things, turning them over in his mind. He felt the coldness of his mechanical
arm and liked it. In fact, he relished the feeling, as pain was but a measure
of one's strength. He embraced the cold; he embraced the dark; he embraced
pain, for in order to gain in one place, one must sacrifice in another.
He took a ceremonial goblet he always
kept by his throne and removed the lid of the jar. Dipping deep into it with
his mechanical right arm, he filled the goblet to its rim with the tainted
alcohol. Bringing this to his lips, he deeply inhaled the fumes, and then took
a long draught of the libation.
Kari opened her eyes and looked around
her. All was still. Gatomon lay in bed, as did the others around the room and
in the neighboring huts. She thought she had heard someone calling her name,
but there was not a sound to be heard save the busy sounds of sleepless Nature.
Feeling restless, she got up and exited the hut on her bare feet.
There was a light breeze out, just
enough to dissipate the evening heat. She could still feel some of the warmth
radiating from the ground under her feet. The crickets chirped quickly from the
warmth of the night and the other creatures of the forest did little to mask
their similar sentiments. In the clear sky, hundreds of pinpoints of light were
visible, spanning the black void from horizon to horizon. She spent some time
looking into the deep void, contemplating the beyond.
She was about to re-enter the hut when
something caught her eye. It was a shadow, sitting on the grass that sloped
down towards the lake. The identity of the figure was unmistakable-it was Tai.
She took a few steps forward, but stopped dead as if there were an invisible
barrier before her. And in fact, to her, there was. She could feel it. It
emanated from Tai. She could see him, his lips moving slightly and hands
gesturing. But even more so she could feel his presence. And his want to
be alone. This was not mere loneliness, however. She had known him far too
long. No, this was something greater.
It was then that she knew she had to
tell him.
Gathering her courage, she broke the
barrier and proceeded down the hill. Somehow, she had a strange feeling that
the message she bore would be labeled by future historians as the grand
catalyst of the apocalypse that she knew would follow.