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.
