Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei, Fox Kids, etc Amy Normal Amy 2 2 2001-11-07T11:26:00Z 2001-11-07T11:42:00Z 2 1612 9194 Home 76 18 11290 9.2720

Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei, Fox Kids, etc., not me.

Light in the Shadows

By stormchild

Chapter Two: Revelations

Gatomon crouched warily in the shadows of a tree, watching Kari's lithe form. Her human friend sighed contentedly and leaned against the trunk, casting a gaze at the little cat Digimon before turning back to the beautiful sight of the sunset over the mountains of the Digiworld. "It's all mine," she murmured with satisfaction.

Gatomon frowned, then stepped forward to stand beside Kari. "Hey... Kari..." She hesitated, trying to form what she wanted to say. "The old days, with Myotismon... they weren't exactly a picnic. But... you're my partner and my friend, so... so I support you no matter what you choose to do."

Kari smiled--it was more of a smirk, actually--and squatted down to pat her. "You're a good friend, Gatomon." Her face twisted for a second in furious remembrance, but the look faded as quickly as it had appeared. "A good friend."

Gatomon sighed and leaned into Kari's hand, feeling regret for a reason she didn't quite understand. Kari had been this way for years now, ever since she had emerged into the Digiworld from that strange dark one. It wasn't right, it wasn't Kari, her sweet and loving friend, but something inside of Gatomon enjoyed it. It made her feel powerful. Maybe some of the evil was leaking from her partner. Or maybe she was just meant to be an evil Digimon in the first place... fate did seem to enjoy tossing her about.

All she knew is that she felt more loyalty to Kari than to anyone, including the Digidestined. There was something deep and almost spiritual between the two, and it was that for which Gatomon lived, even.

She glanced up and Kari, still scratching behind Gatomon's ears absently, and sighed. The former chosen child was staring out over the landscape with a look that reminded her of Myotismon. Gatomon looked away, afraid to see what Kari was becoming. Oh, well... maybe it was destiny.

*****

Gennai's breath didn't come easily, and when it did it was laboured, hoarse, and wheezing. His squat little body felt like it was a mass of bruises, and pain assaulted his head at the slightest provocation. He curled up on the dank stone floor, wondering what time it was, what day. But he still had something to cling onto. Hope. Hope that the children from the other world had received his message.

He recited in his mind, as if just saying it would draw the children to him. "Kids, you must come to the Digiworld. Kari has taken over and has captured me. You must come. Hurry!"

He had whispered the message over the crude communications equipment he'd managed to gather when he was treated more like a guest than a prisoner. But when Kari had discovered his actions... Gennai shuddered and coughed, pain arcing through his chest. They had to come soon. They had to.

Because sometimes, the only thing you can count on is hope.

*****

"Oh my gosh..."

The whispered comment from Yolei was the only thing intruding the silence upon the Digidestined's entrance to the other world. Cody moved closer to her, and she hugged him tightly, a protective gesture left over from when he was still a young child.

The sight before them was one Yolei couldn't have imagined in her wildest nightmares. Blood... She swallowed. Digimon didn't have blood.

TK expressionlessly knelt beside a well-decayed body of what was once a young boy, no older than Cody. The blonde boy flipped it over, and gave a strangled gasp, the most emotion she'd seen out of him for a long time. He stood grimly and turned back towards the others, holding up a Digivice Yolei didn't recognize.

"He was a Digidestined," Matt said softly. "From another part of the world." There was a mixed array of reactions.

Joe glanced around at the others, then quietly said, "What about the ones we met? Catherine, and Yuri, and Rosa, and all those others..."

"They could be dead," Matt replied gruffly. "Probably are. Look at the carnage here. Hundreds of people must have died here."

Tai had turned delicately pale, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Kari... what if the same thing...?"

"We can't think like this," Sora announced firmly. "Positivity is the key. If we believe, we can do this. We'll save the Digiworld from... this... monster!"

The others murmured half-hearted agreements. Yolei nodded inwardly. Yeah, they had to stop this, before more people got hurt. And of course they could do it. They were the Digidestined. "Let's go, guys," she said, forcing herself to sound bright. "We're gonna win this."

"Go where?" Joe asked bleakly. "We don't know who this enemy is, or where to find him. We don't know anything."

The group fell silent, mulling over the problem. Mostly, at least. Some just gazed around helplessly at the bodies that littered the small clearing. Yolei tried to focus, to help out, but her eyes kept straying to the blood, the twisted limbs, and the sickly sweet smell of death...

This new opponent was ruthless... and absolutely heartless... Yolei tried not to think of what he might be doing to sweet, loving Kari.

No, Yolei, focus. You can't go all helpless in this situation. Okay, so the outlook's not so great, but it'll be worse if you turn into a useless, crying baby. You can do this.

So she did focus, at least more, but every so often she would glance at a body, and hug Cody closer, and have to psyche herself up again.

*****

Kari stared, uncomprehending, at the video screen in front of her. "No!" she shrieked finally. "No! You can't be here! You CAN'T!"

Gatomon approached her worriedly, but Kari ignored her, and huddled over, shaking. "They can't be here," she whimpered. "They'll ruin it all. All of it, and I'll have nothing."

"Who, Kari?" the kitty Digimon asked gently.

The girl slowly regained her composure and unfurled herself, then held the mini screen out before Gatomon. "The others... the... Digidestined."

Gatomon's eyes widened with understanding.

"Why are they here?" Kari screeched, rage unfolding rapidly and enveloping her helplessness. "To save the Digital World? Well it's not going to happen, Gatomon! This world is mine, and it obeys me! ME!"

Her Digimon crouched back slightly, cautiously. "Kari... I will stand by you."

Kari's face relaxed into a smile, almost like the old days, except for the hint of a smirk. "Yes, Gatomon, I know you will." She held up the mini screen again, studying the Digidestined's varied reactions to the carnage she didn't really notice anymore. "And we have... advantages, too. I know their weaknesses and how to exploit them. Yes, yes, this will be no challenge at all." She chuckled to herself. "In fact, I might want to play with them for a bit, let them all destroy one another...I won't even have to get my hands dirty." She chuckled throatily again.

*****

"We should find our Digimon," Yolei spoke up finally.

Izzy nodded in agreement. "Yes, that would be the most logical course of action at this point."

Davis was worried, though. He hoped it didn't show. "Where could they be, though? What if they're hurt and we're too late?"

"DAVISH!"

The one in question screamed something unintelligible as a furry blue shape suddenly plummeted out of the sky and attached itself to his head. Davis leapt around yelling, batting at the...thing?

Matt burst out laughing all of a sudden. "Davis," he gasped, "It's DemiVeemon!"

Davis stopped in mid-leap, a sweat drop trailing down his face. DemiVeemon's upside down face peered down into his. "Davish!" he cried again joyfully, with that familiar slurred speech.

Davis let out another yell, but this one happy, and as he plucked his friend off his head and hugged him, the other Digimon came parading out of the trees to their respectful partners.

"Well... that wasn't as hard as I thought," Davis said sheepishly.

"Biyomon," Sora asked quietly, but in a way that cut off all other conversation as well as a scream, "What has happened here?"

The group turned to the pink bird Digimon, who drew back slightly into Sora's arms at the attention. "It's... it's horrible, Sora," she cried.

"I know... I know it is."

"Well..." Biyomon began hesitantly. "It all started about two years ago. First, the weather."

Davis blinked than looked around. The... bodies... had distracted him from really noticing anything else, but for the first time he realized it was cold. Very cold. And although it was daytime, the sky was dim, clouds roiling fitfully overhead.

"And then," Biyomon continued, "Digimon started disappearing. Around this time we all"--her gesture took in all the Digidestined Digimon--"went into hiding. Then... the fighting started. Human children and Digimon alike were brutally slaughtered. By what, we don't know. There are these strange, invisible... forces... that..." She drew a long, shuddering breath. "That just tear them apart. Our attacks aren't effective. We couldn't Digivolve. All we could do was hide, and watch." Her eyes were filled with pain. "Good friends we met, other Digidestined and their Digimon, are dead. And... and..."

"And?" Sora prompted.

"And... well... follow me."

The pink bird led the group to the thick trees, stumbling over roots and getting slapped by branches. Davis' mouth tightened. There was a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, one that threatened to overwhelm him if he wasn't careful.

"Here," Biyomon called from the head, and they emerged into a clearing. Where Mimi's disfigured form lay.

Davis's eyes widened and he heard various gasps and shrieks from the others. Joe, Sora and Yolei rushed forward together, to the body.

The body of someone they knew and loved, the body of who was once a friend. Once. Now, just a body, blood-soaked and mangled. He watched, trembling, as Joe gently lifted her into a sitting position, as if she were still alive, just injured. Yolei sobbed loudly, then looked ashamed, while Sora tried to comfort her. And Joe just stared, shaking visibly even from the distance.

"Mimi," Matt said quietly from behind Davis. "She..."

TK strode up to the small group of mourners and looked at Mimi critically. "Yes," he muttered, "You always lose those who mean a lot to you. It's inevitable." Tai dropped to his hands and knees, no doubt hoping Kari hadn't suffered so needlessly.

"Where's Palmon?" asked Sora quietly, still hugging a weeping Yolei.

"Gone," Biyomon murmured. "She just... was reconfigured one day. That's how we figured out something must have happened to Mimi." She lowered her eyes. "Some of us wanted to give everyone proper burials... but there's just so many, and we can't stay out in the open. Plus... it would be too hard... too, too hard..." she trailed off, looking lost.

Davis turned his face away from the others. Dead. Mimi was dead.

*****

Kari snickered from her precarious perch on a tree branch, still watching the others over her mini video screen. "Poor, sweet Mimi, never hurt a fly," she murmured with a small grin. "It's too bad, really."

Gatomon watched the screen too, with a great deal less emotion. Killing, she was used to it. No big deal. Yeah, it was no problem for her. She was tough.