Dark and Light: Part Four

By: Sakura

A Tyrannomon came stalking into view and aimed an attack at Kari. Kari, not seeing the Tyrannomon, was trying to find Dylan, who seemed to have disappeared into thin air. She hadn't seen him since the other Tyrannomon attacked him. Could he be…No. She knew he was still alive. She felt sure of it.

"Kari!" came a voice, interrupting her thoughts. She turned and saw T.K. running toward her. He was pointing to something behind her. "Look out!" Kari turned and looked up, just as the Tyrannomon was getting ready to attack. She was inert, rooted to the ground, unable to move.

The Tyrannomon reared back, a fireball forming in his mouth. Kari's eyes widened in terror. T.K. suddenly flew out and tackled Kari. Tyrannomon shot his attack, missed the DigiDestined, and hit the rocks surrounding the waterfall. Stomping around, in search of the DigiDestined, the Digimon couldn't find them anywhere. Angrily, it headed to regroup with the other Tyrannomon. The Tyrannomon had given up and were heading back to the lab.

After a few minutes, the peace of the forest returned. The waterfall flowed smoothly, serenely, and undisturbed. The harsh steps of the Tyrannomon had faded into the distance. T.K. slowly lifted his head and looked around. Kari was still shaking a bit in his arms. He stood up and helped her up, too.

When Kari saw the Tyrannomon directly in front of her, she told every inch of her body to move, but it wouldn't listen. In fact, if it hadn't been for T.K., she could be d-

It had all happened so quickly. T.K., seeing Kari not moving when he warned her about the danger, ran forward and tackled her to the ground. Because they had both hit the ground with such force, they had begun to roll down a small ravine into the forest. They stopped at the foot of a tall tree, motionless. T.K. was on top of Kari, and when he looked down, he could see Kari was visibly shaken. He held her tight in his arms to calm her. The two kept their heads low and stayed as still as possible until the Tyrannomon left.

As soon as the Rookie Digimon saw their partners, they went to them to see if they were all right. Besides a few scratches and bruises, both DigiDestined were fine. Kari turned to T.K. and thanked him for saving her life. T.K. blushed and said it was nothing. Kari nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips because of the boy turning crimson red in front of her. And then she remembered.

"Dylan!"

T.K. had stopped blushing and looked at her in confusion. "Who's Dylan?" he asked. He looked out, past the waterfall. Then it dawned to him. It must be the other guy he had seen running toward them, the one that had been hit by the Tyrannomon's attack.

"…helped me find Gatomon." T.K. looked at Kari, noticing that he had missed what she had just said. Kari was looking at him imploringly. "T.K., we have to find him."

"Wait a minute, could you repeat that?" asked T.K. "Who is this guy?" Kari looked a little surprised, but told him again that Dylan was the Ninth DigiDestined and what he had done to help her. T.K. couldn't help it, but listening to Kari talk about this new guy with such warmth stirred a little jealousy in T.K.'s heart. When Kari said they should go look for Dylan to see if he was all right, T.K. immediately agreed. He could never turn down Kari's requests, nor could he not help her since, after all, this Dylan person had saved Kari and Gatomon's lives.

As soon as T.K. agreed to help find Dylan, the DigiDestined went on their way. Having had a short break, Salamon was able to digivolve to Gatomon and Patamon digivolved to Angemon. Seeing how searching by air would be a great deal faster than searching on foot, Angemon carried T.K. and Kari in his arms while Kari held Gatomon. Scanning the area, neither of the two could see Dylan anywhere.

Landing at the spot where the Tyrannomon had attacked their friend, Angemon de-digivolved back to Patamon and Kari and T.K. continued their search there on the ground. After looking for a few minutes and calling out for him, Kari looked over to see how T.K. was faring. He just shook his head. Kari sighed. How could it be? It was as if Dylan had disappeared without a trace…

~*~*~*~*~*~

"It's time those DigiDestined were finished off," Dark Wing thought to himself, with a malicious grin. Raremon still had Agumon and Gabumon occupied, Gesomon never stopped trailing Biyomon and Palmon, and Mammothmon was giving Tentomon and Gomamon a hard time. The other six DigiDestined were meaningless to him. They were far too weak to cause him much worry. But the youngest two did cause him some uneasiness. They were far stronger than the others, though they never realized it yet.

Dark Wing knew he had to destroy the two DigiDestined. But deep down, in the depths of his heart, he still loved the child of Light, and nothing could change that. Taking off his mask, he stared at it, long and hard. It had originally been Myotismon's mask, but it had turned black when an evil force merged with it. Just putting on that mask could change someone, drastically. They forget the good things of life and only remembered all the evil. Without the mask on, the boy felt doubt fill his heart. Was he doing the right thing? Did he really have to destroy the DigiDestined?

He looked up at the screen and watched T.K. and Kari. They both looked so worried about not finding Dylan, especially Kari. They cared for him as a friend…and as an ally, since they thought he was the Ninth DigiDestined. His eyes lingered on Kari a little longer. Then he closed his eyes and whispered softly, "I'm sorry, Kari. Dylan can no longer exist." He put the mask back on his face. All of the weak emotions he had felt earlier were reduced to almost nothingness.

Dark Wing stood up. "Virumon!" he shouted. Virumon burst through the wall and stood in front of his master, awaiting his orders. Dark Wing smiled, with an evil glint in his eyes, and said, "Let's go, Virumon. We have a few DigiDestined to erase from this world." Virumon growled and stalked out of the lab, with his master standing on his shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kari sighed again.

"It's no use," she said. T.K. and Kari had spent over than an hour searching for Dylan, but with no luck. "We'll never find him."

T.K. put a hand on her shoulder, as a comforting gesture. "Don't give up hope, Kari," he said. "We will find him." Kari didn't answer him.

"Wait a minute, you guys," piped up Patamon. Both DigiDestined turned to him. "There's an easy way to find him. Hmm…I wonder why we never thought about it before."

"What is it, Patamon?" asked T.K.

"Use your digivices." T.K. and Kari stared at him blankly. "You did say he told you that he was the Ninth DigiDestined, didn't you, Kari?" Kari nodded. "Your digivices can track him down, because, if he were a DigiDestined, he'd have a digivice, too."

T.K. smacked himself lightly in the head. "Of course! I forgot all about that!" T.K. unhooked his digivice and tried to get a reading.

Gatomon walked over to T.K. and asked him, "Any luck?"

T.K. shook his head sadly. "I don't get it," he said. "I can't get any reading on his whatsoever." He turned to Kari. "Dylan could be…"

Kari covered her ears and turned away from T.K. "Don't say that! He isn't! I know he isn't!" She dropped to the ground, tears in her eyes. "He can't be…" she whispered. T.K. was speechless at her sudden outburst. This was something one might expect from Mimi, but never mild-mannered Kari. She wouldn't be like that unless she really cared for him…But the thought of Kari liking someone other than him hurt T.K., badly, though he could never admit it. Not to her, not to anyone, not even to himself.

Gatomon had to admit, not aloud, that she was rather glad that they couldn't locate Dylan. Not that she wanted him to be deleted or anything, it's just…she didn't trust him at all. Gatomon pretended that she did because Kari seemed to have so much faith in Dylan. There was something peculiar about him. One thing that worried Gatomon most about Dylan was the coldness in his eyes, the feeling of dread she received when she saw them. It reminded her of Myotismon, of the torture she had endured before finally being reunited with Kari…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tai was running at top speed. Not watching where he was going, he crashed into Izzy.

"Izzy!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Izzy was panting when he stood up. "I'm trying to lose the Mammothmon that has been chasing me, Joe, and our Digimon." He saw the Digimon behind Tai and began running deeper into the forest, with Tai right behind him. "I guess you're trying to do the same with that Raremon on your tail."

"You got that right!"

"Tai!"

Tai halted and so did Izzy. Tai turned to look for who had called him when he was wrenched into a tree. Izzy was pulled in, too.

"Whoa…Where am I?" thought Tai. He looked up and came face-to-face with Sora. "What the…!" He shifted back and fell through the tree. Sora quickly pulled Tai into the tree again.

"Shh!"

"Huh?" Tai realized the tree they were in was very similar to the one he and Izzy were hiding in on their first day in the Digi-World, just bigger.

Tai looked around and realized that everyone was there. Besides him and Agumon, five DigiDestined and their Digimon partners had all gathered inside the tree. They were trying to come up with a strategy to stop the evil Digimon. It would be better than just trying to run away from them. Tai then noticed that Kari and T.K. were absent from the group.

Tai stood up quickly. "Where's Kari?" he asked. "And T.K.?" Tentomon pushed Tai back down to sit on the ground and when Tai protested against this, Agumon covered his mouth.

"Be quiet, Tai," whispered Sora. "The evil Digimon are still out there." Tai nodded. Amidst the noise made by the three Digimon outside the tree, Tai's mind wandered to things other than the immediate danger he and his friends were in. What happened to Kari?

~*~*~*~*~*~

T.K. wished he hadn't stated so quickly that Dylan could be gone, but it was a possibility. He didn't see how anyone could have survived being hit by a fireball. After he had made that statement, he and Kari had gotten into a huge fight and with the comments they made toward each other fresh in their mind, neither wished to apologize right away.

Taking in Kari's side profile in a glance, T.K. turned and slowly walked away from her and pretended to still be searching for Dylan. T.K. just wanted time alone to think. Patamon started to follow him but T.K. signaled for him to stop. Patamon landed on the ground and watched T.K. walk alone deeper into the forest. Kari watched T.K.'s retreat into the forest, but she didn't say anything to stop him. She pulled her legs up and hugged them to her. Kari felt a tear fall, but she didn't try to stop it. She felt like crying at that moment. The words they had said to each other still stuck in her mind.

~*Flashback*~

"How could you care for him so much?" T.K. demanded.

"What do you mean?" Kari retorted. "I care for everyone! All my friends! He's my friend, too, so why shouldn't I care for him?"

"Because…because…" T.K. couldn't get the words to come out right. "I can't explain it…"

"Try to," said Kari.

"I just…I just don't trust him!"

"You haven't even met him yet!" she cried. "What gives you the right to judge him? You don't know him!"

"Well," said T.K. "When it comes to that, you don't know him very well either."

"Maybe so," Kari answered. "But at least he doesn't act like an overprotective person!"

"Overprotective, huh?" said T.K. "Well, I'll assume you mean me."

"What do you think?"

T.K. was silent for a long time. "Fine," he said finally. "Fine. If you want Dylan, go to him. Be with him! You'd probably like him better than me, anyway!" Kari gave him no answer.

~*End Flashback*~

T.K. knocked his head against a tree trunk. "You're so stupid, T.K.," he said to himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He stopped and turned around to lean against the tree. He never fought with Kari like that before. He wished he hadn't. T.K. wished he could take back all the words he had said. But he couldn't. T.K. slouched against the tree with a tremendous sigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dark Wing laughed out loud. He never knew the DigiDestined would pick such a doltish topic to argue about. It did nothing more than drive them further apart. He smiled as Virumon continued his pace. This was definitely to his benefit.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kari?" Gatomon looked up at her partner, her eyes and expression filled with concern.

"Leave me alone, Gatomon," Kari said, turning away from her Digimon. Gatomon and Patamon looked at each other, casting worried glances at each other. Kari suddenly stood up and began walking in the opposite direction T.K. went, also heading deeper into the forest.

"Kari, wait!" called Gatomon. But Kari has disappeared from sight. Gatomon and Patamon looked at each other again, saddened expressions on both faces.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why? Why? Why?" Kari asked herself over and over.

She cared for T.K., more than anyone else, besides her own family. Why couldn't he see that? She didn't love Dylan, she loved him. Kari stopped walking and brushed away all the tears that had fallen. But no matter how many times she brushed them away, more kept forming and falling.

"T.K.…" whispered Kari.

Suddenly hearing pounding footsteps, Kari looked up. It was a Digimon; that much was obvious. He was very dark in colour, with large razor-sharp teeth protruding out of his mouth. Above his hands were cannons and they also criss-crossed over his back, sticking out over his shoulders. Someone was sitting on top of the Digimon's left shoulder. A young boy, with a black mask, not unlike Myotismon's, and a shadowy-aura around him that seemed to engulf him completely.

Dark Wing's mouth curved up to a smile. "Get her, Virumon."

Kari's piercing scream echoed through the forest.