Dark and Light: Part Five

By: Sakura

Kari!

T.K. stopped moving. That was Kari, he knew it. He could feel it. She was in danger. If anything happened to her…it would be all his fault for leaving her! T.K. turned around and broke into a sprint. He ran aimlessly, without any sense of direction, and yet, he knew exactly where to go to find her.

"Kari, I'm sorry…" thought T.K. His mind shifted to the dream he had two nights ago. "Just be okay when I get there!" he shouted.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Kari's in trouble!" cried Gatomon.

Without wasting a second, Gatomon digivolved to Angewomon. Patamon, following suit, digivolved to Angemon. Angewomon and Angemon spread their white wings and soared into the sky, stopping short upon being over the treetops. The former immediately sensed Kari's location and informed the latter to follow her. The two Angel Digimon flew swiftly through the sky, which was growing darker by the minute.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kari backed away as Virumon moved slowly towards her. She looked up at the boy. "You're Dark Wing, aren't you?"

Dark Wing laughed. "Good. No introductions will be necessary then." He jumped off Virumon and landed neatly on the ground. Straightening up, Dark Wing advanced toward Kari.

Kari kept retreating until she came up against a rock wall. She realized she was cornered and had nowhere to run. Dark Wing had this in mind all along. She didn't know why, but Kari had a strange feeling that help was on the way and she could get out of this jam if she stalled Dark Wing for just a little while.

"What do you want from me?" asked Kari, trying to keep the fear she felt out of her tone.

Dark Wing stopped a foot in front of Kari. "It's very simple," he said. "Your power."

"What power are you talking about?" Kari asked candidly.

Dark Wing rolled his eyes. "You are far too naïve, DigiDestined," he said. "A lot like your 'friend', Dylan."

Now shock registered on her face. "Dylan?" Kari clenched her fists. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

"I made sure that he'd never come back." In an instant, Dark Wing closed his right hand around Kari's neck, pushing her back into the rock face. Kari gasped and struggled to breathe but nearly couldn't because Dark Wing had his hand locked tight on her throat. "Give me your power," he whispered fiercely. "Release the power of the Light!"

"…no…" Kari said, her voice barely audible.

Dark Wing glared at her contemptuously. "If you won't give it to me, then I'll have to take it from you."

Dark Wing placed his left hand flat against the base of her neck and strove to draw in her power. It was working well, for Kari's power was being drained. The power she had for the Crest of Light. It was weakening her and making him stronger. Kari placed a grip on Dark Wing's right arm with her hands and attempted to make him release her from his hold on her, but all in vain. He was much stronger than she was and because he was taking her power, she hadn't much energy left to fight back. Everything in Kari's mind was slowly turning into an empty black space…except she could still see something - or someone - clearly. Her arms dropped to her side limply. "…I'm…sorry…T.…K.…"

Dark Wing smirked. "T.K. can't help you anymore."

~*~*~*~*~*~

T.K. halted so quickly that he crashed into a small tree. He sat up, feeling rather dazed and a little dizzy. Then the feeling came, a sharp pain in his chest. Could someone be hurting Kari? He quickly got up and saw that he had arrived at the scene. But whether or not he had come on time or not was hard to say.

T.K. crept in the undergrowth as quietly as possible, so as not to call the attention of the Digimon standing in the clearing. He knew the Digimon was Virumon because it looked exactly as it had in his dream. Looking a few feet away, T.K. saw Kari with someone wearing a black mask that was similar to Myotismon's. Dark Wing. It had to be. He watched in horror as Dark Wing clamped his hand around Kari's throat and then began to drain her power.

T.K. felt helpless, completely helpless. There was no way he could save her, not with the Virumon standing guard. He looked back toward Kari's direction and felt anger fill him at the sight of Dark Wing hurting Kari. "Wait a minute," he thought, looking at the rock wall Kari was backed against. "That's it!" T.K. quickly ran through the trees, heading toward the other end of the clearing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

What was this? Why was doubt beginning to creep into his mind again? Dark Wing stared into Kari's half-closed eyes that had been filled with fear not so long ago. Now they were nearly blank because she was losing consciousness. Why was he hurting her like this? He shook his head, clearing away all doubt. He needed her power - and T.K.'s - and nothing would stop him from taking it.

Kari struggled to lift her eyelids. They felt so heavy. She was drifting away, away from the light…or was she heading toward it? She felt so confused. Kari finally succeeded in opening her eyelids, but just a slit. She could see Dark Wing's face, set and determined to finish his task. Why was it so important that he take her power? When she caught sight of his eyes…she gasped inwardly. "Those eyes…" thought Kari. "…they were exactly like…Dylan's? No, it couldn't be him. It's not possible."

It didn't make sense to her. Her friend was really her enemy. Kari's thoughts were in total turmoil. And yet, it made a little sense. "Dark Wing…Dylan West…DW…" She could have kicked herself for not seeing it earlier. Dark Wing was right, she was naïve. Almost everything made sense to her now, except, the reason why. "…Dylan…" Kari choked out. "…please…stop…"

Dark Wing's eyes widened. How did she know? His hold on her loosened for a moment, but tightened again. "Dylan is gone," he hissed. "He'll never come back."

"Never?"

Kari no longer seemed to be losing her energy. Instead, it looked as if it had been renewed. Fear had disappeared from her expression and in its place was indifference, as if nothing could touch her. She reached out with one hand and touched Dark Wing's mask. A flash of light emitted from Kari as she attempted to take it off his face. Dark Wing tightened his hand on her throat again, but she didn't seem to notice. The mask was beginning to loosen. With a final desperate attempt, Dark Wing threw Kari to the ground, releasing his hold on her. Kari hit the ground hard, the light vanished, and she lay there, motionless.

Dark Wing felt stricken again. Why had he done that? What was really to be gained by his hurting her? He almost felt sorry for the child of Light. Sorry about what he had just done to her. He pressed the mask firmly onto his face again.

Hearing a rustle in the bushes above the rock wall, Dark Wing turned around, only to be knocked to the ground by T.K.

~*~*~*~*~*~

T.K. was mad.

In actuality, he was more than mad, he was enraged. After dashing Dark Wing to the ground, T.K. threw a swift punch to his jaw, causing a little blood to trickle down his mouth. Dark Wing shoved T.K. off roughly and wiped the blood from his mouth. He scowled at T.K., who was standing up. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

T.K. glared at him. "Why do you think I'm here?"

Dark Wing looked over at Kari's unmoving form, then turned back to T.K. with a smirk. "If you came to save her," he said. "You're too late." Dark Wing took a step toward T.K. but was forced to move back when an arrow whizzed by, less than an inch away from his face. He looked up and saw the two DigiDestined's Digimon. It was Angewomon who had shot the arrow.

Angemon and Angewomon landed on the ground, blocking Dark Wing from reaching either T.K. or Kari. The masked boy retreated and called for his minion. "Virumon! Go get them!" he cried, pointing to the Angel Digimon. Virumon growled and began attacking.

Angewomon spoke to T.K. before responding to Virumon's attacks. "Take care of Kari," she said. T.K. nodded in reply. Both Angewomon and Angemon flew into the air and used their customary attacks on Virumon.

T.K. ran over to where Kari was lying and kneeled down by her side. He gently nudged her and tried to get a response from her. "Kari," he said. "Please get up." When she didn't respond, T.K. moved her to a sitting position and continued to say, "I'm sorry, Kari, I was being stupid. I shouldn't have tried to pick an argument with you. Well, I didn't "try" to. I just don't want to argue with you. I care for you too much to do something stupid like that. I was wrong, I should've trusted your judgement. I'm really sorry, Kari. Please get up. Please be okay."

"You were right, T.K."

T.K. looked confused but overjoyed because Kari was all right. Kari slowly sat upright and held her head with one hand. She turned and looked straight into T.K.'s clear blue eyes. "I should be the one to say sorry, T.K.," she said. "After all, you were right about Dylan. When you said not to trust him."

"Why do you say that?" asked T.K., surprise etched on his face.

"Because he is Dark Wing."

T.K.'s eyes widened at this. He glanced at Dark Wing shouting orders to Virumon to attack their Digimon. "But T.K.," she continued. "I know he's not evil. He's just confused. It's that mask he's wearing. The one that looks like Myotismon's. If we can get it off him I know he'll be okay again." Kari fixed her eyes on T.K., waiting for his answer.

T.K. looked away for a moment. He then turned back to Kari with a small smile on his face. He nodded. "We'll help Dylan together."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dark Wing smirked. Virumon was faring well against the two Angel Digimon. They were near exhaustion while it was using only part of its power. Virumon shot out repeated attacks against Angewomon that she could no longer block. He hit her one last time and she fell to the ground, her energy nearly spent. Darkness soon claimed her.

"Angewomon!" shouted Angemon. He ducked just in time to miss Virumon's attack on him. "Hand of Fate!" he called. It struck Virumon hard, but Virumon took no notice to the attack. Instead, he lifted Angemon by his wings and flung him into the trees. "Déjà vu all over again," thought Angemon as he crashed into the branches. His wings became entangled with the branches and the leaves. He was trapped. "I'm sorry, T.K.," thought Angemon dimly. He, too, was claimed by darkness.

"Angemon, no!" cried T.K.

Dark Wing laughed. This was going to be much easier than he thought. Who knew the DigiDestined's Digimon could be so weak as opposed to Virumon? His eyes swept over to the two DigiDestined. T.K. was helping Kari stand up and he had his arm around her as support.

"Hmm…" thought Dark Wing, tapping his chin thoughtfully. As it stood, Kari's power seemed to be much stronger when joined with T.K.'s. If T.K. was out of the way, her power would be lessened. Then again, Dark Wing had other reasons for wanting T.K. out of the way. One was because he absolutely hated him! The second was that he still wanted Kari.

Yes, he admits it. He still loved Kari. From the first moment he laid his eyes on her three years ago, he wanted her. But T.K. never seemed to leave her side. That would have to be taken care of. Now.

"Virumon!" summoned Dark Wing. Virumon turned around and watched his master, awaiting his orders. Dark Wing smiled and gestured toward T.K. "Finish off that DigiDestined with your strongest attack." Virumon turned to face T.K., preparing for his attack.

T.K. saw this and instantly left Kari by the edge of the clearing. He then began running in a direction opposite from her. If Dark Wing wanted Virumon to attack him, there was no way he was going to let Kari get caught in the attack. Virumon continued to pursue T.K. until it was ready to use its strongest attack.

"Virus Blast!"

T.K. didn't have enough time to dodge the attack. He was going to be hit, that was a sure fact. The blast came down upon him and an explosion ensued. The area immediately took on a foggy appearance. Dark Wing really believed this was the end of the DigiDestined of Hope. But he was wrong.

Seeing through the fog, Dark Wing could see T.K. lying several metres away from the place of the explosion, his arms protecting his head from any flying debris. Dark Wing became irate. How did T.K. avoid the blast? It was impossible! Dark Wing glanced over at the site of the blast and he couldn't believe what he saw.

~*~*~*~*~*~

T.K. groggily lifted up his head. What had happened? One minute he was standing, with Virumon directly in front of him, ready to knock him off the face of the planet with his attack. The next minute, he was lying on the ground, several metres away. It was as if someone had moved him out of harm's way. As the fog cleared, T.K. looked towards the area the explosion had taken place. What he saw caused a fist to clench his heart and a tightness formed in his throat.

Kari was lying motionless in front of Virumon.