DARK ADDICTION PART 4: THE SAGA ENDS; ULTIMATUM



Author's Notes: Digimon does not belong to us. But all new humans/digimon do belong to us. Remember, Japanese names are being used.

Sora ran through the building, through the halls, down the stairs, and finally through the front door. Light from the sun enveloped her as she burst through the front door, and ran to her car which was parked in a parking space in the front of the building. She quickly opened the car door and hopped in the driver's seat. Before taking off, Sora closed the door and without thinking, grabbed the pack of cigarettes on her dashboard and pulled one out. She placed the pack back on the dashboard and popped the cigarette into her mouth. Her free hand grabbed the lighter and she lit the end of the cigarette and she started to puff away. Sora's eyes quickly widened, just realizing what she just did.

'I'll let it pass just this once,' Sora thought to herself. 'At least it's not some cocaine going up my nose.' With that, Sora started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * * * *

"You must be a partner-less digimon," Wakehiko said as he carried Reiyakumon to an empty cage. Despite Reiyakumon's size, Wakehiko was able to carry him without Pidmon's help. Pidmon just opened the cage door and Wakehiko plopped Reiyakumon down, who went into a sitting position.

"You don't know Sora?" Reiyakumon asked.

"Nah, never heard of her. Is she your partner?"

"No, but..." Reiyakumon trailed off.

"Well, if I was your partner, I'd love it," Wakehiko said somewhat dreamily.

Pidmon glared at his partner. "What? What about me?"

Wakehiko laughed. "I was kidding, buddy," Wakehiko laughed some more as he patted Pidmon on the back. Reiyakumon stayed silent through the ordeal.



At the zoo's parking lot, Sora pulled into her parking space and ran out of her car, eager to get to the zoo. Sora payed emission when she got to the front gate, and started to walk, so she wouldn't get unwanted attention by running. She walked through the zoo, looking at every cage to see if Reiyakumon was there. She imagined that if Reiyakumon appeared in the zoo, then the zoo personnel would put Reiyakumon in a cage. She noticed the Plesiomon cage's ceiling was destroyed, and people were fixing it.

A minute later, Sora came across a cage that was all shadowy on the inside. Sora couldn't make out what was in there, and there was no sign saying what it was. "Reiyakumon, are you in there?" Sora asked cautiously, hoping she didn't disturb a sleeping digimon. She saw something stir in the darkness, and saw a gray, reptilian head poke out of the shadows.

"Sora?"

"Yes, Reiyakumon, its me." Sora said triumphantly, happy that she found him.

"Oh, Sora, how did you know I was here?" Reiyakumon asked.

"It was on the radio, while I was in therapy."

"Therapy?"

"Yes, I went into therapy so I can be rid of my drug problem. So far, it hasn't worked," Sora laughed as she pointed to the cigarette in her mouth.

"You mustn't..." Reiyakumon said weakly.

"Why?"

"It's time I told you the truth about my creation... I was created from the depressed feelings in your heart and the effects the drugs have taken on your soul. If you get rid of your drug problem, I go with it. That's why I have smoke coming from my body because of the effects of your smoking problem."

Sora looked astonished. She covered her mouth in horror. "Oh my God, I had no idea..."

"On the radio you must have heard that I am the strongest mega digimon alive. Yet I do not know how to control my powers, let alone unlock them. They will be unlocked until you face the center of your drug problem. So you see, I need your problem to make myself powerful."

Sora took her hand away from her mouth, and started to shake her head madly. "No! I will not let myself do this for your own needs," Sora said.

Suddenly, Reiyakumon's eyes turned a pure blue color, something Sora had never seen before. He reached through the bars of the cage and quickly grabbed her shirt. Sora was pulled towards the cage, and all she could do was gasp in shock.

"You will do it, or I will die," Reiyakumon said coldly, eyes still glowing with power. Sora just looked deep into Reiyakumon's blue eyes, and for a moment, she saw a hint of evil inside of him. Sora's mouth widened, allowing the cigarette to fall out and crash to the ground.

The two just stared into each other's eyes, Reiyakumon looked on with bitterness, while Sora looked on in fright. Suddenly, Reiyakumon's eyes faded back to their normal color. It was then that Reiyakumon let go of Sora, pushing her away from him. Sora backed away slowly, looking at Reiyakumon. She turned and started to run, still watching Reiyakumon closely. When she got a good distance away, her eyes turned from Reiyakumon to what lay ahead of her.

Reiyakumon sighed and went back into the shadows of his cage.

* * * * *

"Would you be this depressed if Yamato were killed?" Ms. Nagawa asked. Sora returned to therapy, and she was back laying on the couch, with Ms. Nagawa asking questions.

"I don't know, my feelings for Yamato faded right after the divorce. Taichi, like the good friend he was, took me in and helped me through the effects after the divorce. During that time, I learned to trust him with my life, something I wouldn't have done for Yamato."

Ms. Nagawa nodded as she scribbled something onto a pad of paper she kept with her during therapy. "I see, so even during the marriage, you had feelings for Taichi. Is that correct?"

Sora thought for a moment, then she shook her head. "No. When we went to the Digital World for the first time, I had a crush on him, and he had one on me. We didn't admit to one another, too afraid of the other person's answer. I guess my feelings toward him came back when he helped me. That was when he told me about his crush on me while in the Digital World for the first time. Shortly after that, we kissed for the first time."

"I see," Ms. Nagawa repeated as she jotted some more things onto her pad of paper. "So Taichi was very important to you in your life."

Sora smiled and nodded. "Yes. He did everything for me; We went on dates often and we never got in fights, like Yamato and I did."

"So Taichi was the love of your life?"

"Of course he was. I never realized how much someone could love another person, but then I understood. I understood that Taichi loved me more than life itself, and that was way less than Yamato had loved me."

"Okay, you loved Taichi, and you never wanted to be separated from him. Yet when that man killed him, you were separated from him. The feelings of love triggered you to be depressed over his death, and to relieve the constant pain of his death, you started to use drugs," Ms. Nagawa summarized based on her notes.

Sora nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Good. Now that we have pinpointed your problem and why it started, we can go in and cure it." Ms. Nagawa explained.

"All right," Sora said, ready to get this problem settled.

"Then let's begin."

* * * * *

Late that afternoon, Sora returned to her apartment from therapy. She walked down the hall and into the living room, where the kids were watching TV. Before she could say anything, the kids turned from the TV to face their mother.

"Welcome back, mom," the kids said in unison.

"Hi kids, were there any phone calls?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," her daughter answered. "Just one."

"Okay." Sora said as she left the room. The kids turned back to the TV. Sora entered the bedroom, where the answering machine lied on an end table. She walked to the answering machine and pressed a button on it, which replayed the phone call. She waited for a moment until a voice came from the machine.

"Hi Sora, this is Ken. I believe I found something on Taichi's assassin. I'll be in the station the whole day, so come to the station as soon as you can. Thank you." A clicking noise was heard and the answering machine stopped the tape and rewound it. Sora turned off the answering machine and walked out of the bedroom, back into the living room.

"Kids, I have to go somewhere right now. I'll be back in time for dinner. See you later." Sora said.

The kids said their goodbyes and Sora walked out of the apartment to her car. She popped a cigarette in her mouth and drove off.

* * * * *

At the station, Ken was at his desk. His desk was fairly clean, with a few loose papers lying around. Other than that, there were neat piles of papers stacked at the sides of the desk. In the top left corner laid a picture of his family. At the other corner was a computer monitor. A keyboard lay right in front of him, with a phone to his right. Right now, he was busy on the phone with Miyako.

"But Miyako, I still have some work to do here and won't be able to come home now..." Ken spoke into the phone.

"I need you home right now. Plus it's your turn to do the dishes," the voice on the other line, obviously Miyako, said.

"This is more important than the dishes," Ken argued.

"...Fine. I'll see you later. I love you."

"I love you too," Ken said before he hung up the phone. As soon as he hung up the phone, he looked up to see Sora standing there. "Hi Sora."

"Hi Ken."

"Have a seat," Ken said as he motioned to a chair right in front of his desk. Sora sat down and watched Ken type on his computer. "I've been searching for files on this 'Kage' guy ever since Taichi was killed. This morning, I found a file on him in the Pentagon database," he explained as he continued to type.

"Is that legal?" Sora asked.

"I've been given permission to go through the files," Ken said. "Ok, here it is." Ken turned the monitor so it faced Sora.

Sora pushed the chair towards Ken's desk to get a better look at what the screen showed. In the top right corner it showed a picture, though all you could make out was ripples in the air revealing a man there. Sora read through the file:

First Name: Kage

Last Name: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Digimon Partner: Phantomon

Additional Information: Kage always has an advanced stealth suit on him, making detection hard, as you can see from the picture. Kage has killed few people, even though it would be easy for him to kill more. Kage's identity is unknown, and he is currently a part of Exodus.

"What's Exodus?" Sora asked after she read through the file.

"A terrorist group," Ken said as he turned the monitor back to face him.

"Do you think Exodus has something to do with this?"

"I'm sure of it. Kage would not act alone without Mashou's permission." Ken explained.

"Mashou?"

"The leader of Exodus."

"Oh. Well I thank you Ken, at least I have some background on this guy," Sora said a she got up from her seat.

"I'm just glad I could help." Ken smiled. "And remember, all of us are here for you. If you need any help, you can come to any of us and we'll help you." Ken assured Sora.

"Okay, I'll keep that mind, but I think I can handle my problem myself." Sora said before she turned around and left the station.

* * * * *

That night, Sora sat up in bed in a cold sweat. She'd been having dreams about Taichi's assassination again. Sora shook her head, trying to rid herself of that horrible memory; Her love being killed. Sora climbed out of her bed and walked to the bathroom, where she splashed water on her face. Sora took a handful of water and brought to her face, where she rubbed it on. When that was done, Sora took her hands away to reveal her face. She looked very tired, with bloodshot eyes and water dripping down her face. Sora turned to her side, where a towel lay on a rack. She walked over to the towel and brought it over her face, engulfing it. She rubbed the water onto the towel and then put it on the rack. She returned to the mirror and looked at herself. The mirror was a medicine cabinet, which Sora opened. She sighted a small bag of white powder and she grabbed it. She opened the bag and let most of the content sprinkle onto her hand. Satisfied, she lay the bag on the rim of the sink to her left and brought her hand, full of the powder, up to her face. She sniffed all of the powder in with one sniff. After that was done, she looked at herself in the mirror once again.

'Oh, Taichi, this therapy is not helping me. I wish so much that you were here, and I wouldn't be doing this right now. Why did you have to die? Why?!' Those thoughts ran through Sora's head as he looked at herself in the mirror. She grabbed the bag again and poured the rest of the contents onto her hand. She threw the bag away, and sniffed the rest of the powder into her nose. 'Look at me, Taichi. I'm only doing this because you bring me so much pain. Don't be sorry.' Sora continued to think. She grabbed a cigarette, which was also in the medicine cabinet. She brought the cigarette up to her mouth and lighted it. She started to puff on it, with smoke quickly filling up the bathroom. Luckily the bathroom door was closed, so much of the smoke wouldn't seep through. After a few puffs, Sora felt a tingling in her head. She clutched her head in pain. The cigarette fell from her mouth and plunged to the ground. Seconds later, Sora fainted, falling backward onto the bathroom tile. One thought went through her head before she fainted:

"The center of your problem..."

* * * * *

In his shadowy cage at the zoo, Reiyakumon was peacefully sleeping, along with all the other resident animals and digimon at the zoo. Reiyakumon felt a jolt go through his body, immediately waking him up. His eyelids went upwards, revealing Reiyakumon's eyes to be purely blue in power. Suddenly, a blue aura surrounded him, illuminating his form. The only light in the whole closed zoo was the aura of power that surrounded Reiyakumon's body. Reiyakumon smiled, knowing what just happened.

'She reached the center of her problem,' Reiyakumon felt happily as he rose from the cold floor of his cage. Reiyakumon's hands went into fists. Thin strips of power seeped from Reiyakumon's closed hands and ran down his arms, up his shoulders, and finally reaching his head. As soon as that happened, Reiyakumon raised his head to the ceiling of the cage and cried out so loud, that it echoed throughout the whole zoo, waking up every digimon and animal resident to it. Shortly after that, a huge implosion of power shot out from Reiyakumon's body, sending a shockwave that decimated the whole zoo.

* * * * *

Sora woke up on the bathroom floor that morning. She looked around and saw the cigarette on the ground, and realized what happened. She sat up and grabbed the cigarette and threw it into the garbage can. Sora got to her feet and staggered through the doorway, into the hallway. Without looking, she crashed into the wall ahead of her. As if nothing happened, Sora turned around and staggered into the living room, where she collapsed onto the couch. Sora found the remote control and switched the TV on, which was showing the news right now. Sora decided to watch it.

"If you just tuned in to Channel 4 News, we were covering the story of the zoo explosion. Last night, the zoo's newest guest, the hugely powerful Reiyakumon, surprisingly had a huge power surge and blew up the whole zoo, deleting every digimon and killing every animal in captivity at the zoo. Luckily Reiyakumon collapsed after his power surge and the police, who heard of the incident by a person living near the zoo, were able to capture the rogue digimon and take him to a warehouse, where he is being kept. Hopefully the police can..."

Suddenly, the TV went blank for a moment, and then switched to a figure sitting in a chair facing the camera. The figure was muscular, with a red shirt and pants, covered by a black overcoat. The figure also sported some black combat boots. The figure's hair was all black and it stuck up much like Daisuke's hair, with a thick red strand of hair hanging over the left side of the person's face.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, we hate to interrupt your program, but this is more important than the crap you're showing right now. Now, I'm sure you're watching this prime minister, so now we can cut to the chase. I'm sure all of you are already know about this Reiyakumon character, who's supposed to be the strongest digimon alive. Now I know the government has him, so we'd like to deliver an ultimatum to all of you: Bring us Reiyakumon, or we'll destroy the Digital World."