Sorry, for the wait, minna-san! Aol sorta lost us for a little while, so I couldn't get on-line at all. Here's chapter 11!! Only two more left after this............
"Ken, I'm your family too. I'll make sure you're never alone again."
Then she slipped back out of the room and over to her parents. Ken however opened his eyes just a crack.
"Thanks Yolei."
The next morning all the families had breakfast together. Afterwards it was time to open the Dark Gate. Ken and Yolei took a little extra time not saying goodbye. Then Ken braced himself. He remembered how much it took to open it the last time, and this time he was a lot weaker.
"Dark Digiport Open!" He said it as he held his digivice to the screen.
At first nothing happened. Then Ken felt a burst go through him. It was extremely uncomfortable, but compared to what he had been through recently, it seemed like nothing.
At first.
Then, something changed. It started to feel like his body was catching fire. A black flame surrounded him, but while he could feel it's heat, it didn't scorch him. It seemed to be beckoning him. It's warmth was almost inviting. He suddenly felt tired, very tired. His body yearned to give in, to just sleep, but somewhere in the back of his mind, something held him back.
That was what Ken knew. What the others saw was completely different.
"Dark Digiport Open!"
The second he said these words, darkness came out of the computer screen. It surrounded him. All of the digidestined rushed at Ken, but were stopped by an invisible barrier. The darkness became so thick, Ken was no longer visible. Then they saw the flames. They looked evil. Red, yellow and orange were replaced with black and white. All were relieved that Ken appeared unhurt. Then Ken began to look weary. His originally stiff form began to waver. His arms started to lower. That was when Yolei yelled.
Ken looked at the hypnotic flames. He thought he could see his family in there. Who was standing next to his parents, though? 'It's Sam! Sam's in there with my parents!' He took a step towards them. Something didn't seem right. Something was still nagging at the back of his mind. Something.......... No, not something, someone.............. He heard Yolei yelling. It snapped him back to reality. His family disappeared. But Yolei replaced them. Her worried face was enough to bring him out of his illusion. He shook his head and smiled at her gratefully. In minutes, and with no further complications, everyone except, Kari, Yolei and Izzy were at the Dark Ocean.
TK couldn't believe his eyes. It was them. They were there. He ran towards them, hoping it wasn't just a dream. The closer he got, the more convinced he was that it was real. 'That means they came for me!' He thought to himself. He ran faster. When he was almost there, he called out to them. 'Strange,' he thought, 'They should hear me by now.' He kept running. 'Wait, who's that? No, can't be. I must be seeing things.'
"Okay, what now?" Davis looked around himself at the Dark Ocean. "TK, do you remember anything that would help us find Daemon?"
"Not much, I do remember that he was in a cave, but there are a lot of caves here. I don't know which one."
Matt looked at his brother. He seemed upset. "Hey, don't worry, bro. We'll find something."
TK looked in the direction his brother's voice had come from, thankfully. "Hai."
The group set off towards the rocks that seemed to encompass a large part of the Dark Ocean.
"Wait, why aren't you answering me?" 'What's going on?' he thought. He continued running towards them. 'They must be trying to play a trick on me. Not very funny.' He didn't slow down until he was a couple of feet away from them. He reached his hand up to tap his brother on the shoulder. As he brought it down he was shocked. It didn't stop. It went right through him.
"What!?! No, it can't be." He tried it again. "No........... what's going on?!" He walked out in front of the group. "Come on, this isn't funny. Can't you see me?" He was seriously starting to panic. After all the time he spent alone, now when everyone was here, they couldn't see or hear him. 'Kari, where's Kari?' Then he began to search their faces. He was stopped short. 'No way.' There right in front of him was.................HIM?!
"Oh man, what's going on? This can't be.................. no way!"
As soon as the others had gone through the porthole, Izzy, Yolei and Kari decided to take turns watching what was going on. Figuring that, if it took as long as they expected it might, they would need to be rested when they were needed. Izzy watched first. Kari and Yolei decided to go bake some cookies. (AN: Oooooo peanut butter with dark chocolate chips, yummy) Mixing the dough took no time at all, and while they were waiting for the oven they talked about the events of the past couple of days.
"Okay Kari, I'm just gonna ask. What's going on between you and TK?"
Kari started choking on the dough she was 'testing'.
"Huh? What brought this on?" She asked while Yolei was hitting her back to stop the choking.
"Well, it just seems that ever since he got back you've been....... Oh, I don't know, not quite yourself? If that makes any sense."
"It's just that I don't really know. He never really said anything before about wanting us to be a couple. Now, I guess it's probably that he's trying to get used to the idea of being blind, but it seems like he hardly notices when I'm there. It's kinda got me a little discouraged."
"I figured it might be something like that. TK doesn't really seem the same as he did before. I guess something like this just changes you."
Kari's gaze went to her feet. Yolei mentally chided herself for her poor choice of words. She should have known the child of light would take that hard.
"Kari? Gomen, I shouldn't have said that. I think if you give him a little time to accept what's happened, things will go back to normal. He is the child chosen to bear the crest of hope after all. If something like this could take him out, we would have been in trouble a long time ago, ne?"
It took a couple of seconds for all of what she'd said to sink in, but when it did Kari looked up at Yolei. "Hai!"
"Guys, get in here, hayaku!" Izzy's voice yelled from the bedroom, bordering on panic.
Kari had just gotten the cookies out of the oven and was about to test one when Izzy called. Immediately she and Yolei were on there way. The latter hadn't really registered the tone of voice he used, she was upset about something else.
"Izzy, how many times have I told you we're gir......."
"Not now Yolei, come over here and look at this."
Both of them went over to the computer screen. At first they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and Yolei was considering hitting him in the back of the head. Then something hit her, not physically, but she realized then why he had been in such a hurry. On the computer screen she saw the signs for all of the digidestined. At first when the others had gone through it surprised her that she couldn't see the faces of her friends like she would normally be able to do, if they were in the Digital World. Instead all the crest's created signatures that could be seen on a dark screen, surrounded by a light aura. What she noticed now was that the crest of hope, which hadn't shone at all before was flickering.
"The crest of hope!? Izzy, what's going on? Why is the crest of hope reacting? Have they found TK's tag and crest?"
"No, I just asked them that, but they said they haven't found much of anything."
"So why is it suddenly appearing?"
"I don't know, I told them to search the area around them for it, but so far no luck."
"Izzy," Tai's voice floated through the speakers, "are you sure about this? We can't find anything."
"My crest?" TK began looking around for it himself figuring maybe if he could find it the others would be able to see him. He went a little bit away from the group to search an area they hadn't yet.
"I don't know what happened, but the crest of hope disappeared again."
"What? But we haven't moved."
TK was listening to Tai and Izzy's conversation. An idea struck him. 'They haven't, but I have.....' He walked back toward the group.
"There it is!" This was Kari's voice.
'Kari....' TK took it in like water to a dehydrated man. 'So I was right. They can see me, but only when I'm close to the others.
"Tk, Daijobu?" Matt and Davis asked in unison.
"Uh, yeah, I think so. It's just that when Kari spoke, I started to feel weird. Like........"
"Like that time at my house?" Davis whispered to him.
"Yeah, except it wasn't sorrow this time, it was more like joy, almost like her voice was refreshing me in some way." TK whispered back in the direction Davis' voice came from.
"Uh, I hate to break up the love fest guys, but there are others here." Matt sounded slightly irritated. "Care to share?"
There was silence for a few seconds. Finally TK spoke up.
"Well, yesterday when you were in the Digital World I got a strange sensation, like my heart was breaking, and a picture of, I think it was Kari, but I'm not really sure, showed in my mind, like a memory. It was when we were much younger Patamon and Gatomon were there too, I think we were at the park playing on the swing." TK smiled at the recollection, "I know it doesn't make much sense. It seemed so happy, but I felt so sad. Then just now when she spoke it was like I had been yearning to hear her voice for a long time. Yet, I just heard it a little while ago. Strange, ne?"
Kari was overjoyed. TK did really care about her. The thought brought tears to her eyes.
TK was shocked. That had been the EXACT picture that had flashed through his mind when, he had thought of her. Just now her voice....... It was like the two of them were somehow connected. 'What if he's not really an impostor?' Then TK got another idea.... He stepped in toward the other TK until they were occupying the same spot.
"Hey, guys, the crest of Hope is getting stronger! The signal is still weak, but it's steady now, instead of flickering."
TK stepped away when he heard Izzy's exclamation.
"Wait it's flickering again."
'So, I was right... we are connected, somehow.'
"It seems I underestimated you, child of hope."
TK shuddered. When he turned to look at the face that went with the voice he shuddered even harder............ Daemon.
"Oh, well, it's not like it really matters. Yes you are connected with the other child of hope, in fact you are two halves of a whole....."
"What are you saying? You knew that my brother and my parents didn't think I was dead, and you let me believe...... Why?"
"Didn't I tell you that when I told you, you would have out-lived your usefulness?"
"What use could you possibly have for me now?"
"You're right, I don't need you, but it would be fun to see you suffer more. Okay, I'll tell you and then I'll let you live long enough to see yourself destroy your friends."
Just then another figure appeared next to Daemon. When TK recognized who it was his legs nearly gave out............................ Malomyotismon.
"No, not you...."
"Haha, you're right Daemon. It is fun to see him squirm. You see we two have teemed up. We will have our revenge on all you Digi-destined."
TK looked at the two of them, resigned to his fate, "What is it? What are you planning?"
"Simple, first off we took you because we knew you would be the easiest one to manipulate. The child of hope, the one who always looks for the good in every bad situation. We figured you wouldn't see what was coming until it was too late. We were right, and to ensure that we decided to get your mind on something else. So the convenient ruse with your death provided that superbly. Next we only had to wait until you slept so that you wouldn't be able to remember anything. Hence the reason you we let you go. That way you wouldn't connect us to anything that happened."
"It was the fish, wasn't it? After I woke up that's when I started feeling funny."
"No actually the fish were just fine, it was the juice from your back pack. We placed a small amount of the spore of a wild digi-flower in one of your juice packets. Luckily for us, it was the first one you drank."
"That flower not only had the power to put you to sleep, it also made you susceptible to our master plan." Malomyotismon interjected.
"Right. So when you were knocked out we took you to our laboratory and began the process of trying to get you to forget. Unfortunately it wasn't working. You held out rather well against us, all for the sake of your beloved Kari. Every time we tried to make you forget, all you would say is "No... Kari...." We knew it was useless to keep trying it this way, so we decided to try something a little more dangerous to you. Using my dark digi-magic we split your mind and body."
"My mind and body?" TK echoed.
"Yes, the you that exists on this plane is the mind. The 'you' you see there is your body. When we split you we found something interesting. We still couldn't make you turn on the others, not directly anyway. Part of you remained with your other self. Basically all the traits that make you the child of hope split between you two. Seeing as how we couldn't reprogram you, we decided to implant dark memories instead. These dark memories will spring to life at exactly the right time, and effectively turn the other you into the child of despair."
"What?"
"The fact that you have been split for this long is weakening the traits of hope in your body. When they can take over the dark memories will be all that is left. Thus turning you into the child of despair. Beautiful is it not?" Malomyotismon laughed evilly.
"But what about my crest and tag? My digivice too?"
"Oh well, we had those. I wanted to perform some experiments on them, so I took them from you when you entered this realm. However when you split all of them vanished."
"And without the child of hope, it will be completely impossible for the others to defeat us. For only a combination of hope, light and kindness would be able to keep us here for eternity."
"Oh yes, it's true. Malomyotismon is completely right. However with the child of hope out of the way, once we defeat the rest of the digi-destined, we will take over the world. You see without hope, kindness will be weakened. It will be a simple matter to kill Ken and take the Dark Spore. By now it should have grown large enough to summon the one digimon that would be indestructible."
"Daemon, shall we go? I believe it's just about time to begin our final battle with the digi-destined. If I have timed this right, TK, will give up right in the middle of the fight. A perfect anti-climax, don't you think?"
Meanwhile the rest of the digi-destined continued searching for TK's crest. Unfortunately it was to no avail. The more they searched the less Izzy could see of it. Until it was as if it had completely disappeared. Still they continued the search. TK who couldn't be much help told the others not to worry about him and that he would just go sit down. Patamon went with him.
"Patamon? Could I ask you a question?"
"You just did!"
TK laughed, "Okay then I'm gonna ask you another one. What is Kari like? She has the crest of light, right?" The winged digimon nodded. " Well, what is she like?"
"What do you mean TK?"
TK shifted. "Uh, well, I guess what I mean is what kind of relationship do we have? It's funny, hers is the only face I remember out of all of the digi-destined. I think I'm in love with her. But it seems like she feels uncomfortable around me. Have I ever done anything to her? Did I hurt her in some way? Is the old me not as kind and caring as the others said?"
TK looked miserable. He knew he probably wasn't making any sense. And he was dreading the answer he knew Patamon would give in honesty.
"TK!? What do you mean? Of course you are kind and caring. You are one of the most caring of the team, course my opinion might be a little biased. I think the reason Kari seems uncomfortable is because she's confused. Now mind you I don't know this for sure, but I think she really likes you too. Only the two of you are so shy. Neither one of you has ever gotten the courage to tell the other how you feel. Now that you don't remember anything, I think she is even more confused than she was before."
"So I didn't hurt her then? Thank God!"
At this point the rest of the Digi-Destined gathered around TK.
"I'm sorry TK, we couldn't find your crest anywhere. Even Izzy says it's vanished."
"Don't worry about it, Cody. I'm sure we'll find it when we need it. I have a feeling it might just turn up. So why don't we keep searching for Daemon. The sooner we find him, the sooner we beat him, the sooner we get everyone back!"
"That won't be necessary. Well, well, well....."
"That's a deep subject." Davis interjected.
Daemon glared at him and he glared right back.
"As I was saying, you don't need to come looking for me, seeing as how I'm right here! Do you honestly think you little children could even come close to defeating me? Especially here, in the Dark Ocean? It's almost funny."
"You better believe we're gonna beat you! No problem!!" Davis shot back.
"I forgot how tiresome he could be. This is how he was able to defeat my Dark Mist. (AN: I can't for the life of me remember the real name of the attack, but it's from the epi when they're in the dream dimension and Malomyotismon makes everyone think about where they're most vulnerable, you know the one, ne?) But don't think it'll work this time!"
All of the chosen stared. None of them wanting to believe what they saw in front of them. Malomyotismon.
"Oh big deal. You think we're afraid just because the two of you decided to team up? Think again. We can do it right guys?"
"Right Davis! We'll defeat you just like the last what was it? Four times?"
The rest of the digi-destined stared at the two chosen of courage. Tai and Davis were now standing at the front of the group staring down the two most dangerous villains they'd ever dealt with like it was nothing. And contrary to popular opinion they were afraid, thank you very much. Daemon and Malomyotismon just laughed at the two hot-heads who dared defy them.
"Okay enough play time, let's do it! Time to digivolve!" Davis shouted.
"You got it! Veemon digivolve to............ X-Veemon!"
"Armadillomon digivolve to................. Ankylomon!"
"Augumon digivolve to.................. Greymon!"
"Gabumon digivolve to.................. Garurumon!"
"Come on Ken, what are you waiting for?"
"Right...... Wormmon!"
"Wormmon digivolve to.............. Stingmon!"
"You ready Guys? Cause it's time to show these digimon that the digi-destined are nobody to mess with!"
And with that the battle began.
"Nova Blast!"
"Howling Blaster!"
"Tail Hammer!"
"V-laser!"
"Spiking Strike!"
The combination of all five attacks knocked Daemon into Malomyotismon, sending both of them sprawling back at least a hundred feet. Unfortunately after the cloud of smoke cleared both were obviously unharmed. Malomyotismon looked angry, while Daemon only smirked.
"Oh man, what do we do?" Davis asked, "We can't DNA digivolve anymore, so where do we get the strength we need to defeat them?"
"If we can't do it with strength alone, then we need some kind of plan. We'll hit them with brains instead of brawn," TK said.
"Okay, how about if X-Veemon and Stingmon attack, while the rest sneak around back and wait for an opening?"
"Good idea Davis. You heard him Augumon. Take the others and go for it!"
So X-Veemon and Stingmon attacked the two evil Digimon with renewed strength. Unfortunately nothing seemed to work. Shouts of V-laser and Spiking Strike could be heard echoing throughout the fight, but not a single one landed on it's intended target. Finally Stingmon got an idea. He jumped at Daemon with his arm in the air like he was going in for a right hook. Just as Daemon raised his arms to protect himself, Greymon, Garurumon and Ankylomon attacked simultaneously with Stingmon. Howling Blaster, Spiking Strike, Nova Blast and Tail Hammer all hit him full force sending him sprawling to the ground in a daze. Then all five Digimon turned on Malomyotismon. However, when they turned their backs on Daemon he saw his chance and went after the Digi-Destined. Luckily for them he wasn't quite one hundred percent and was a little slow in getting there. This gave Ken time to shout for the digimon. All five turned to rescue the children. Malomyotismon attacked. His blast knocked them all the way to the Digi-Destined, and back to their rookie levels.
Suddenly TK felt a sharp pain in his heart. It was difficult to breathe and he wondered what was going on. The pain got steadily worse until he sank to his knees in tears clutching at his chest. Malomyotismon and Daemon noticed and halted there attack, ready to watch the show. Keeping a wary eye on the two, Ken, Davis, Tai, Matt and Cody all gathered around TK. Who was screaming now, in agony. Matt dropped to his knees next to his brother and held him close.
"Ken, I'm your family too. I'll make sure you're never alone again."
Then she slipped back out of the room and over to her parents. Ken however opened his eyes just a crack.
"Thanks Yolei."
The next morning all the families had breakfast together. Afterwards it was time to open the Dark Gate. Ken and Yolei took a little extra time not saying goodbye. Then Ken braced himself. He remembered how much it took to open it the last time, and this time he was a lot weaker.
"Dark Digiport Open!" He said it as he held his digivice to the screen.
At first nothing happened. Then Ken felt a burst go through him. It was extremely uncomfortable, but compared to what he had been through recently, it seemed like nothing.
At first.
Then, something changed. It started to feel like his body was catching fire. A black flame surrounded him, but while he could feel it's heat, it didn't scorch him. It seemed to be beckoning him. It's warmth was almost inviting. He suddenly felt tired, very tired. His body yearned to give in, to just sleep, but somewhere in the back of his mind, something held him back.
That was what Ken knew. What the others saw was completely different.
"Dark Digiport Open!"
The second he said these words, darkness came out of the computer screen. It surrounded him. All of the digidestined rushed at Ken, but were stopped by an invisible barrier. The darkness became so thick, Ken was no longer visible. Then they saw the flames. They looked evil. Red, yellow and orange were replaced with black and white. All were relieved that Ken appeared unhurt. Then Ken began to look weary. His originally stiff form began to waver. His arms started to lower. That was when Yolei yelled.
Ken looked at the hypnotic flames. He thought he could see his family in there. Who was standing next to his parents, though? 'It's Sam! Sam's in there with my parents!' He took a step towards them. Something didn't seem right. Something was still nagging at the back of his mind. Something.......... No, not something, someone.............. He heard Yolei yelling. It snapped him back to reality. His family disappeared. But Yolei replaced them. Her worried face was enough to bring him out of his illusion. He shook his head and smiled at her gratefully. In minutes, and with no further complications, everyone except, Kari, Yolei and Izzy were at the Dark Ocean.
TK couldn't believe his eyes. It was them. They were there. He ran towards them, hoping it wasn't just a dream. The closer he got, the more convinced he was that it was real. 'That means they came for me!' He thought to himself. He ran faster. When he was almost there, he called out to them. 'Strange,' he thought, 'They should hear me by now.' He kept running. 'Wait, who's that? No, can't be. I must be seeing things.'
"Okay, what now?" Davis looked around himself at the Dark Ocean. "TK, do you remember anything that would help us find Daemon?"
"Not much, I do remember that he was in a cave, but there are a lot of caves here. I don't know which one."
Matt looked at his brother. He seemed upset. "Hey, don't worry, bro. We'll find something."
TK looked in the direction his brother's voice had come from, thankfully. "Hai."
The group set off towards the rocks that seemed to encompass a large part of the Dark Ocean.
"Wait, why aren't you answering me?" 'What's going on?' he thought. He continued running towards them. 'They must be trying to play a trick on me. Not very funny.' He didn't slow down until he was a couple of feet away from them. He reached his hand up to tap his brother on the shoulder. As he brought it down he was shocked. It didn't stop. It went right through him.
"What!?! No, it can't be." He tried it again. "No........... what's going on?!" He walked out in front of the group. "Come on, this isn't funny. Can't you see me?" He was seriously starting to panic. After all the time he spent alone, now when everyone was here, they couldn't see or hear him. 'Kari, where's Kari?' Then he began to search their faces. He was stopped short. 'No way.' There right in front of him was.................HIM?!
"Oh man, what's going on? This can't be.................. no way!"
As soon as the others had gone through the porthole, Izzy, Yolei and Kari decided to take turns watching what was going on. Figuring that, if it took as long as they expected it might, they would need to be rested when they were needed. Izzy watched first. Kari and Yolei decided to go bake some cookies. (AN: Oooooo peanut butter with dark chocolate chips, yummy) Mixing the dough took no time at all, and while they were waiting for the oven they talked about the events of the past couple of days.
"Okay Kari, I'm just gonna ask. What's going on between you and TK?"
Kari started choking on the dough she was 'testing'.
"Huh? What brought this on?" She asked while Yolei was hitting her back to stop the choking.
"Well, it just seems that ever since he got back you've been....... Oh, I don't know, not quite yourself? If that makes any sense."
"It's just that I don't really know. He never really said anything before about wanting us to be a couple. Now, I guess it's probably that he's trying to get used to the idea of being blind, but it seems like he hardly notices when I'm there. It's kinda got me a little discouraged."
"I figured it might be something like that. TK doesn't really seem the same as he did before. I guess something like this just changes you."
Kari's gaze went to her feet. Yolei mentally chided herself for her poor choice of words. She should have known the child of light would take that hard.
"Kari? Gomen, I shouldn't have said that. I think if you give him a little time to accept what's happened, things will go back to normal. He is the child chosen to bear the crest of hope after all. If something like this could take him out, we would have been in trouble a long time ago, ne?"
It took a couple of seconds for all of what she'd said to sink in, but when it did Kari looked up at Yolei. "Hai!"
"Guys, get in here, hayaku!" Izzy's voice yelled from the bedroom, bordering on panic.
Kari had just gotten the cookies out of the oven and was about to test one when Izzy called. Immediately she and Yolei were on there way. The latter hadn't really registered the tone of voice he used, she was upset about something else.
"Izzy, how many times have I told you we're gir......."
"Not now Yolei, come over here and look at this."
Both of them went over to the computer screen. At first they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary and Yolei was considering hitting him in the back of the head. Then something hit her, not physically, but she realized then why he had been in such a hurry. On the computer screen she saw the signs for all of the digidestined. At first when the others had gone through it surprised her that she couldn't see the faces of her friends like she would normally be able to do, if they were in the Digital World. Instead all the crest's created signatures that could be seen on a dark screen, surrounded by a light aura. What she noticed now was that the crest of hope, which hadn't shone at all before was flickering.
"The crest of hope!? Izzy, what's going on? Why is the crest of hope reacting? Have they found TK's tag and crest?"
"No, I just asked them that, but they said they haven't found much of anything."
"So why is it suddenly appearing?"
"I don't know, I told them to search the area around them for it, but so far no luck."
"Izzy," Tai's voice floated through the speakers, "are you sure about this? We can't find anything."
"My crest?" TK began looking around for it himself figuring maybe if he could find it the others would be able to see him. He went a little bit away from the group to search an area they hadn't yet.
"I don't know what happened, but the crest of hope disappeared again."
"What? But we haven't moved."
TK was listening to Tai and Izzy's conversation. An idea struck him. 'They haven't, but I have.....' He walked back toward the group.
"There it is!" This was Kari's voice.
'Kari....' TK took it in like water to a dehydrated man. 'So I was right. They can see me, but only when I'm close to the others.
"Tk, Daijobu?" Matt and Davis asked in unison.
"Uh, yeah, I think so. It's just that when Kari spoke, I started to feel weird. Like........"
"Like that time at my house?" Davis whispered to him.
"Yeah, except it wasn't sorrow this time, it was more like joy, almost like her voice was refreshing me in some way." TK whispered back in the direction Davis' voice came from.
"Uh, I hate to break up the love fest guys, but there are others here." Matt sounded slightly irritated. "Care to share?"
There was silence for a few seconds. Finally TK spoke up.
"Well, yesterday when you were in the Digital World I got a strange sensation, like my heart was breaking, and a picture of, I think it was Kari, but I'm not really sure, showed in my mind, like a memory. It was when we were much younger Patamon and Gatomon were there too, I think we were at the park playing on the swing." TK smiled at the recollection, "I know it doesn't make much sense. It seemed so happy, but I felt so sad. Then just now when she spoke it was like I had been yearning to hear her voice for a long time. Yet, I just heard it a little while ago. Strange, ne?"
Kari was overjoyed. TK did really care about her. The thought brought tears to her eyes.
TK was shocked. That had been the EXACT picture that had flashed through his mind when, he had thought of her. Just now her voice....... It was like the two of them were somehow connected. 'What if he's not really an impostor?' Then TK got another idea.... He stepped in toward the other TK until they were occupying the same spot.
"Hey, guys, the crest of Hope is getting stronger! The signal is still weak, but it's steady now, instead of flickering."
TK stepped away when he heard Izzy's exclamation.
"Wait it's flickering again."
'So, I was right... we are connected, somehow.'
"It seems I underestimated you, child of hope."
TK shuddered. When he turned to look at the face that went with the voice he shuddered even harder............ Daemon.
"Oh, well, it's not like it really matters. Yes you are connected with the other child of hope, in fact you are two halves of a whole....."
"What are you saying? You knew that my brother and my parents didn't think I was dead, and you let me believe...... Why?"
"Didn't I tell you that when I told you, you would have out-lived your usefulness?"
"What use could you possibly have for me now?"
"You're right, I don't need you, but it would be fun to see you suffer more. Okay, I'll tell you and then I'll let you live long enough to see yourself destroy your friends."
Just then another figure appeared next to Daemon. When TK recognized who it was his legs nearly gave out............................ Malomyotismon.
"No, not you...."
"Haha, you're right Daemon. It is fun to see him squirm. You see we two have teemed up. We will have our revenge on all you Digi-destined."
TK looked at the two of them, resigned to his fate, "What is it? What are you planning?"
"Simple, first off we took you because we knew you would be the easiest one to manipulate. The child of hope, the one who always looks for the good in every bad situation. We figured you wouldn't see what was coming until it was too late. We were right, and to ensure that we decided to get your mind on something else. So the convenient ruse with your death provided that superbly. Next we only had to wait until you slept so that you wouldn't be able to remember anything. Hence the reason you we let you go. That way you wouldn't connect us to anything that happened."
"It was the fish, wasn't it? After I woke up that's when I started feeling funny."
"No actually the fish were just fine, it was the juice from your back pack. We placed a small amount of the spore of a wild digi-flower in one of your juice packets. Luckily for us, it was the first one you drank."
"That flower not only had the power to put you to sleep, it also made you susceptible to our master plan." Malomyotismon interjected.
"Right. So when you were knocked out we took you to our laboratory and began the process of trying to get you to forget. Unfortunately it wasn't working. You held out rather well against us, all for the sake of your beloved Kari. Every time we tried to make you forget, all you would say is "No... Kari...." We knew it was useless to keep trying it this way, so we decided to try something a little more dangerous to you. Using my dark digi-magic we split your mind and body."
"My mind and body?" TK echoed.
"Yes, the you that exists on this plane is the mind. The 'you' you see there is your body. When we split you we found something interesting. We still couldn't make you turn on the others, not directly anyway. Part of you remained with your other self. Basically all the traits that make you the child of hope split between you two. Seeing as how we couldn't reprogram you, we decided to implant dark memories instead. These dark memories will spring to life at exactly the right time, and effectively turn the other you into the child of despair."
"What?"
"The fact that you have been split for this long is weakening the traits of hope in your body. When they can take over the dark memories will be all that is left. Thus turning you into the child of despair. Beautiful is it not?" Malomyotismon laughed evilly.
"But what about my crest and tag? My digivice too?"
"Oh well, we had those. I wanted to perform some experiments on them, so I took them from you when you entered this realm. However when you split all of them vanished."
"And without the child of hope, it will be completely impossible for the others to defeat us. For only a combination of hope, light and kindness would be able to keep us here for eternity."
"Oh yes, it's true. Malomyotismon is completely right. However with the child of hope out of the way, once we defeat the rest of the digi-destined, we will take over the world. You see without hope, kindness will be weakened. It will be a simple matter to kill Ken and take the Dark Spore. By now it should have grown large enough to summon the one digimon that would be indestructible."
"Daemon, shall we go? I believe it's just about time to begin our final battle with the digi-destined. If I have timed this right, TK, will give up right in the middle of the fight. A perfect anti-climax, don't you think?"
Meanwhile the rest of the digi-destined continued searching for TK's crest. Unfortunately it was to no avail. The more they searched the less Izzy could see of it. Until it was as if it had completely disappeared. Still they continued the search. TK who couldn't be much help told the others not to worry about him and that he would just go sit down. Patamon went with him.
"Patamon? Could I ask you a question?"
"You just did!"
TK laughed, "Okay then I'm gonna ask you another one. What is Kari like? She has the crest of light, right?" The winged digimon nodded. " Well, what is she like?"
"What do you mean TK?"
TK shifted. "Uh, well, I guess what I mean is what kind of relationship do we have? It's funny, hers is the only face I remember out of all of the digi-destined. I think I'm in love with her. But it seems like she feels uncomfortable around me. Have I ever done anything to her? Did I hurt her in some way? Is the old me not as kind and caring as the others said?"
TK looked miserable. He knew he probably wasn't making any sense. And he was dreading the answer he knew Patamon would give in honesty.
"TK!? What do you mean? Of course you are kind and caring. You are one of the most caring of the team, course my opinion might be a little biased. I think the reason Kari seems uncomfortable is because she's confused. Now mind you I don't know this for sure, but I think she really likes you too. Only the two of you are so shy. Neither one of you has ever gotten the courage to tell the other how you feel. Now that you don't remember anything, I think she is even more confused than she was before."
"So I didn't hurt her then? Thank God!"
At this point the rest of the Digi-Destined gathered around TK.
"I'm sorry TK, we couldn't find your crest anywhere. Even Izzy says it's vanished."
"Don't worry about it, Cody. I'm sure we'll find it when we need it. I have a feeling it might just turn up. So why don't we keep searching for Daemon. The sooner we find him, the sooner we beat him, the sooner we get everyone back!"
"That won't be necessary. Well, well, well....."
"That's a deep subject." Davis interjected.
Daemon glared at him and he glared right back.
"As I was saying, you don't need to come looking for me, seeing as how I'm right here! Do you honestly think you little children could even come close to defeating me? Especially here, in the Dark Ocean? It's almost funny."
"You better believe we're gonna beat you! No problem!!" Davis shot back.
"I forgot how tiresome he could be. This is how he was able to defeat my Dark Mist. (AN: I can't for the life of me remember the real name of the attack, but it's from the epi when they're in the dream dimension and Malomyotismon makes everyone think about where they're most vulnerable, you know the one, ne?) But don't think it'll work this time!"
All of the chosen stared. None of them wanting to believe what they saw in front of them. Malomyotismon.
"Oh big deal. You think we're afraid just because the two of you decided to team up? Think again. We can do it right guys?"
"Right Davis! We'll defeat you just like the last what was it? Four times?"
The rest of the digi-destined stared at the two chosen of courage. Tai and Davis were now standing at the front of the group staring down the two most dangerous villains they'd ever dealt with like it was nothing. And contrary to popular opinion they were afraid, thank you very much. Daemon and Malomyotismon just laughed at the two hot-heads who dared defy them.
"Okay enough play time, let's do it! Time to digivolve!" Davis shouted.
"You got it! Veemon digivolve to............ X-Veemon!"
"Armadillomon digivolve to................. Ankylomon!"
"Augumon digivolve to.................. Greymon!"
"Gabumon digivolve to.................. Garurumon!"
"Come on Ken, what are you waiting for?"
"Right...... Wormmon!"
"Wormmon digivolve to.............. Stingmon!"
"You ready Guys? Cause it's time to show these digimon that the digi-destined are nobody to mess with!"
And with that the battle began.
"Nova Blast!"
"Howling Blaster!"
"Tail Hammer!"
"V-laser!"
"Spiking Strike!"
The combination of all five attacks knocked Daemon into Malomyotismon, sending both of them sprawling back at least a hundred feet. Unfortunately after the cloud of smoke cleared both were obviously unharmed. Malomyotismon looked angry, while Daemon only smirked.
"Oh man, what do we do?" Davis asked, "We can't DNA digivolve anymore, so where do we get the strength we need to defeat them?"
"If we can't do it with strength alone, then we need some kind of plan. We'll hit them with brains instead of brawn," TK said.
"Okay, how about if X-Veemon and Stingmon attack, while the rest sneak around back and wait for an opening?"
"Good idea Davis. You heard him Augumon. Take the others and go for it!"
So X-Veemon and Stingmon attacked the two evil Digimon with renewed strength. Unfortunately nothing seemed to work. Shouts of V-laser and Spiking Strike could be heard echoing throughout the fight, but not a single one landed on it's intended target. Finally Stingmon got an idea. He jumped at Daemon with his arm in the air like he was going in for a right hook. Just as Daemon raised his arms to protect himself, Greymon, Garurumon and Ankylomon attacked simultaneously with Stingmon. Howling Blaster, Spiking Strike, Nova Blast and Tail Hammer all hit him full force sending him sprawling to the ground in a daze. Then all five Digimon turned on Malomyotismon. However, when they turned their backs on Daemon he saw his chance and went after the Digi-Destined. Luckily for them he wasn't quite one hundred percent and was a little slow in getting there. This gave Ken time to shout for the digimon. All five turned to rescue the children. Malomyotismon attacked. His blast knocked them all the way to the Digi-Destined, and back to their rookie levels.
Suddenly TK felt a sharp pain in his heart. It was difficult to breathe and he wondered what was going on. The pain got steadily worse until he sank to his knees in tears clutching at his chest. Malomyotismon and Daemon noticed and halted there attack, ready to watch the show. Keeping a wary eye on the two, Ken, Davis, Tai, Matt and Cody all gathered around TK. Who was screaming now, in agony. Matt dropped to his knees next to his brother and held him close.
