Dark and Light: Part Three
By: Sakura
"Kari!"
T.K. and Angemon had been travelling in circles, in search of Kari. Angemon had remembered that one time, when he had been Patamon, he had also fallen through the same passageway that had swallowed up Kari. It happened sometime the year before. At the bottom of the passageway was a small room, but it had multiple exits. He got out of there with no problem and never gave a thought to it since. Angemon figured that after Kari reached the room, she might take one of the exits out and start searching for them. So now he and T.K. were searching for her around this vicinity. Unknown to either Angemon or T.K., the Dark Wing had taken over that room, enlarging it into a laboratory. He had reconstructed the whole area, but left the small room as a cell.
T.K. was angry at himself. He was supposed to watch her, protect her, take care of her! Instead, he had let Kari down. He had Angemon with him now, but she was alone, without anyone there to protect her. T.K. had heard Kari cry out his name when she disappeared through the passageway, but he hadn't reacted quickly enough. He had lost her. Tai was going to kill him. And she was all alone…
"T.K., are you there?" T.K. had stopped walking for a few minutes already and was staring at the ground, still blaming himself. He looked up to see Patamon waving his hand in front of T.K.'s eyes.
"Patamon!" he exclaimed. "You de-digivolved!" Patamon nodded. T.K. looked at the ground again. "It's my fault," he whispered, slowly clenching his fists. "Why can't I do anything right?!" he yelled. "I'm useless to everyone!" Tears were beginning to roll down his cheeks. "I can't protect Kari…I can't even help my own Digimon!" Angrily, he brushed away his tears. "Why do I have to be one of the DigiDestined? Especially when I'm such a disappointment to everyone…"
Patamon was getting worried. He had never heard T.K. speak like this before. "T.K.," he started. T.K. didn't look at his Digimon. "Do you remember what your crest represents?"
T.K. didn't answer right away. "Hope." he said, finally.
"That's right," Patamon said. "Have hope - and faith - in yourself. We will find Kari. Just believe in yourself." T.K. turned to him slowly and nodded.
"You're right, Patamon," he said. "Kari wouldn't want me to be standing here feeling sorry for myself. She'd want me to be out there helping her and Gatomon, no matter what the circumstances are."
Patamon smiled. "The main reason I de-digivolved is because I'm hungry." He looked imploringly at T.K. "Do you have anything to eat?"
T.K. pulled out Kari's backpack. Opening it, he picked up a cookie. Patamon took it and finished it quickly. He digivolved back to Angemon.
"Come on, T.K.," his Digimon said, "Let's recommence our search."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Gatomon, Gatomon, Gatomon!"
Kari had picked Gatomon up and was hugging her very tightly. Gatomon came to and began to choke out, "…Kari…I…ca - n't…brea - the…"
Kari stopped and held her Digimon out at arms length. She smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry, Gatomon," she said. "I was just so excited to see you and…" Kari stopped in mid-sentence when she saw Gatomon glaring at someone behind Kari.
Dylan walked up to Kari and Gatomon. Gatomon watched him suspiciously. Dylan offered her his hand. Seeing that she wasn't going to accept it, he took Gatomon's paw and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Gatomon," he said.
Gatomon glanced at Kari. Kari smiled a bit. "This is Dylan. He helped me get out of a cell I was stuck in and also helped me to find you." Gatomon still eyed Dylan warily, but she didn't comment.
Dylan looked around the laboratory. "Know what, Kari?" he said. "We better get out of here before the Dark Wing or his minions return here." Kari nodded. Dylan ran to an entryway and poked his head through. Seeing no one, he gestured for Kari and Gatomon to follow. Kari glanced down at Gatomon, who shrugged and gave her a look saying let's follow anyway. The trio hastily left the lab.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kari leaned against a tree, trying to catch her breath.
Upon leaving the laboratory, Dylan, Kari, and Gatomon, were attacked by several Tyrannomon that guarded the exterior of the lab. Gatomon had digivolved to Angewomon, but, the fact that there were too many Tyrannomon and also that she had been greatly weakened in the captivity of Dark Wing, she de-digivolved all the way back to Salamon. Kari had then picked up her Digimon and tried to lose the Tyrannomon on their tail, but all in vain. There wasn't much cover in the area and the Tyrannomon could track them easily.
Dylan quickly formulated a plan in his mind. He would divert the Tyrannomons' attention and then retreat into the forest. The Tyrannomon would have a much harder time tracking him, for the forest was very dark and very dense. After advising Kari of his plans, Dylan told her that he'd meet up with her and Gatomon by the waterfall that could be seen in the far distance after he had lost the Tyrannomon.
Kari looked over to the direction Dylan had taken. She could see all the Tyrannomon struggling to keep up with him. With little Salamon in her arms, Kari ran swiftly toward the waterfall.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ahhh!" cried Patamon.
T.K. picked up Patamon and ran. They had been walking, still in search of Kari, when two Tyrannomon came out of nowhere and began attacking them. Angemon had done his best to protect T.K., but more Tyrannomon joined up with the two already attacking and it was no use. Angemon had been greatly outnumbered. And with very little energy left, he de-digivolved back to Patamon.
"Where did all of them come from?" asked T.K. Spotting a cave a short distance away, he quickly sprinted toward it. He ducked in the entrance and stood up, still running from the entryway. The Tyrannomon couldn't follow anymore, being too big for the entrance. T.K. stopped and sat down on the cave floor, exhausted. He held up Patamon. "How are you doing, Patamon?" he asked.
"I'll be okay," the Digimon answered, wearily.
T.K. hugged him lightly. "Thanks," he said. "For protecting me."
Patamon nodded, flapping his wings. He paused for a moment. Patamon turned his head and looked down further into the cave. "What is it, Patamon?" asked T.K. "Do you hear something?"
Patamon flew up. "I hear water," he said, pointing to the direction opposite of the cave's entrance.
T.K. looked at the way Patamon pointed, then to the cave entrance. He could still hear the Tyrannomon outside, trying to find a way to break into the cave. T.K. stood up. "Then let's go there." he said. "I don't want to face the Tyrannomon again until we're at full strength." Patamon lead the way, deeper into the cave.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kari splashed a little water on her face.
Kari and Salamon had reached the waterfall and were now sitting by the edge of a large pool of water. She looked sadly at her Digimon. "I'm sorry, Salamon," Kari said. "If I still had my backpack with me, I could give you something to eat so you could digivolve to Gatomon."
"Being at the rookie level isn't so bad," said Salamon, with a wan smile. "I'm just not used to it, that's all." Thinking back, she hadn't been Salamon since the time she had first been discovered by Myotismon. She walked over to Kari and settled into her lap, tired and sleepy, not to mention a little hungry. Kari lightly stroked Salamon's back and sighed. She missed T.K. already. She hadn't seen him since early this morning, when the pit was collapsing and she had fallen into the cell. What had happened to him and Patamon? And Tai, her big brother. How was he faring? Had he found Agumon already? She was sure he'd be fine. Kari's thoughts then drifted to Dylan. He was risking his life to save hers and Salamon's. Quite a brave act. She hoped he was okay, too.
Hearing voices behind her, Kari spun around quickly to see who - or what - was behind her. Salamon stepped in front of her partner, as a protective gesture. The voices were getting louder.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"When will this passage end? It seems like a long time since we entered this passageway."
"Don't worry, T.K.," said Patamon, perched atop T.K.'s head, pointing ahead of them. "We're getting close. I can hear the water clearly now." They continued to walk silently for a few minutes. They halted when the pathway they took forked in two. "Uh-oh." Patamon muttered.
"Hmm…"Uh-oh" is right." T.K. looked up at Patamon. "So, which way do we go?"
Patamon lifted his wings. He closed his eyes and listened carefully. His eyes opened and he pointed to the path to the right. "That one."
T.K. peered down the path Patamon pointed to. Then he looked to the opposite one. "You sure, Patamon?" he asked. "That path is so much darker than the other."
"I'm positive," answered Patamon. "The water is coming from there." He flew into the path on the right. "Come on." T.K. shrugged, then followed his Digimon. They kept walking until water came into view. A waterfall to be exact. The sunlight shone through the water.
"Do we have to go through the waterfall, Patamon?" asked T.K.
Patamon flew to the mouth of the passageway. He shook his head. "There's a way out right here." He said. Patamon flew out and T.K. followed.
"T.K.!"
T.K. looked up in surprise to see Kari and…Salamon? Kari gave him a big hug. "I didn't think I'd see you again!" she cried.
T.K. hugged Kari back. "I'm so glad you're okay," he said.
Heavy footsteps were approaching. "The Tyrannomon are back!" cried Salamon. "We have to leave here!"
"But what about Dylan?" asked Kari.
"Dylan?" thought T.K. "Who's that?" he asked aloud.
The Tyrannomon came into view, growling fiercely at the sight of the DigiDestined and their Digimon. "Get out of here, Kari!" called Dylan, running up almost alongside the Tyrannomon. One of the Tyrannomon caught sight of Dylan and attacked him with a ball of fire. Dylan seemed to disappear from sight within the flame.
"Dylan, no!"
