Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to Toei, Fox Kids, etc Amy Normal Amy 1 1 2001-11-07T13:06:00Z 2001-11-07T13:07:00Z 3 1090 6214 Home 51 12 7631 9.2720

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

Light in the Shadows

By stormchild

Chapter Three: Decisions

Ken felt sick to his stomach. He leaned back against a tree trunk, eyes closing, and swallowed, willing himself not to throw up. Wormmon shimmied up to his shoulder, murmuring comforting words. Ken didn't hear them.

"Mimi, Mimi, Mimi…" He opened his eyes, and then frowned. Joe was crying. Ken had never seen Joe cry before. A quick glance told him that most of the Digidestined were sobbing, actually. Even the Digimon, who had seen this before.

It felt strange, seeing them all lost in their own sorrow. Oddly, he didn't feel like crying, or even particularly sad. Just… numb. And sick. He wondered if there was a reason for it. Perhaps it had something to do with his past as the Digimon Emperor. Or even… no. There was no use thinking about… that.

Yolei pulled away from Sora, calm now, and wiped her tear-stained face. She murmured something Ken couldn't hear at this distance, then her gaze fell upon Ken. Yolei bit her lip, hesitating, then crossed the distance towards him.

"Are you okay?" she asked once in earshot.

He blinked. Of all the people here, why was she asking him? He was the most composed of the group, aside from TK. "Yes, I… I'm fine."

She frowned and nodded uncertainly. "Okay. As long as you're sure."

Ken stared after her as she rejoined Joe and Sora, head cocked. She was a mystery, Yolei. A puzzle he couldn't quite solve. Intriguing…

He had always liked puzzles.

*****

The Digidestined sat in a large group, minus Joe, who was nearby, digging a grave. Most had stopped crying, and were now looking at nothing, with dull, wide eyes. Matt sighed and turned away from them, toward Gabumon. That was little better. The wolf-like Digimon looked almost as sullen and confused as the rest.

"What are we going to do?" he asked finally, not liking the hopeless note in his own voice. The others blinked and shook their heads as if startled out of sleep, then gazed at him silently. Matt blinked. He was to be leader, was he? Tai certainly seemed to have no desire to take over his old responsibilities. For a moment a wave of panic swept him, but he squelched it firmly. Leaders had to act confident and sure, especially when they weren't.

Matt glanced at the Digimon. "You guys know absolutely nothing about this new threat to the Digiworld, right?"

It was Tentomon who replied, in a quiet voice halfway to a whimper. It was odd to hear, out of him. "Not really. We know it's very powerful, unstoppable so far. It seems to have some sort of vendetta against Digidestined in particular."

Matt nodded thoughtfully. "Obviously…" he mumbled, trying to block out pictures of the dead littered over the land. "Um. This… thing. Do we know what exactly it is? Human, Digimon, something else…?"

"We don't know," the beetle Digimon replied.

"I… may be able to shed some light on that, at least," a new voice spoke up. The group turned to Ken in surprise. He blinked, then shrugged self-consciously. "Well, whoever it is has the ability to"—he glanced at Biyomon—"tear… people apart. As the Digimon Emperor, I studied every single type of Digimon, learned everything about them. There was no record of any with that sort of power. But…" He swallowed, gaze becoming shadowed. "I could do that."

A startled gasp rose from the group. Matt was among them.

"It was part of what happened, in that dark world. It became a part of me at the pool, where the evil first… bloomed… inside of me. I never used it, because I didn't like the idea of killing." He gave a bitter laugh. "Enslaving, yes, killing, no." Ken frowned and lapsed into silence, apparently absorbed in his own thoughts. Wormmon gave him a worried glance.

Matt nodded slowly. "So it sounds like a human, at least. Maybe."

Izzy, who had been quiet for some time, spoke up. "I think the most reasonable thing to do at this point is seek out Gennai. He sent the message, and obviously knows more than we do about what's going on."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Matt asked.

"His house, of course. I still remember the location of the lake his home is located. The only question is whether or not he'll be there. The e-mail we received was very bad-quality, and the equipment he owns is much more advanced than that. But even if we don't find him, maybe we'll find a clue."

Matt grinned and leaned across the circle to clap Izzy on the shoulder. "Izzy, my man, you are a genius. Looks like our next stop is Gennai's house."

*****

Cody tried not to look at the bodies as the silent procession marched across the Digital World, lead by Izzy and Matt. It was near impossible, though—there were piles of the mutilated figures everywhere. He carried Armadillomon clutched closely to his chest, who seemed to be taking it even harder than Cody himself was. He could feel the tremors running through his Digimon's body. There was nothing he could do, though.

He fervently hoped Gennai could help. Whoever killed so many people, and so painfully, must be a monster. He frowned slightly, recalling a time he had thought the same about Oikawa, but this was different. Oikawa didn't brutally murder children.

Death had always frightened him, he realized as he stepped around a pale arm. His father, Oikawa, the Digimon during Ken's rule… They all affected him deeply, despite his grandfather's assurances that death was a natural thing. Not this way. Murder wasn't natural, and he knew he had to stop it. Somehow.

It was hard not to break down in this situation, though. These people were innocent! Just look at them! This is… beyond evil. He shuddered, and Armadillomon snuggled closer. "It's okay, Cody," he mumbled into the boy's shirt. "We're going to be okay."

He knew the words were meant to be reassuring, but they weren't. Yes, they probably were going to be okay. They seemed to have the strangest luck for getting out of tough situations. The problem was that all these people weren't. It was too late for them.

Cody glanced towards a body and quickly fixed his eyes on Davis' back, who was walking ahead of him. What if Kari was among those bodies? He wasn't sure Tai or TK could take it. He wasn't even sure if he could take it. Kari had been a sweet girl, almost like a big sister to him.

He realized he was thinking of her in terms of 'had been' and sighed, berating himself inwardly. He had to be optimistic. Their group couldn't afford any more depression. Kari was out there, alive, and they were going to rescue her, if not these people who were already dead.

A sudden determination grew within Cody, and he raised his head defiantly. No one could get away with this. No one.

*****

Kari sat at the foot of her bed, attention focused on the large television in front of her. She tapped a finger absently against her chin. "Interesting," she murmured. "They were smart enough to figure out I must be human, but not a single one of them suspects it might be me." Her face contorted into a silent snarl as she studied Tai, her… former brother. Acting as though he was worried, when he had done nothing to stop her from being kidnapped.

Abruptly her mood changed, and a giggle exploded from her. "They're going to Gennai's house, the poor old fool. He could have been treated with respect and honor, and instead he chose to call them here. Much good that did him."

As she giggled helplessly, Gatomon poked her head around the door and wondered, not for the first time, if Kari was completely sane anymore.