For They Shall Be Filled
By:
Vain
__________________________________________________________
Vain: Hey, I'm updating! Yeah . . . I
still do that.
Ken: Please ignore her . . .
Remy: Vain don't own nothing,' and she ain't dat bright, so she sure as hell
ain't smart 'nough ta try an' make money offa dis.
Ken: What's with him?
Vain: He
thinks I killed him off in "What Someone is Willing to Give."
Remy: *twitches*
Ken: Please R&R
Vain: I'M
STILL LOOKING FOR GUARDIAN INFO!!!!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~ "He who is not with Me is against Me,
and he who does not
gather with Me scatters abroad."
-Matthew 12: 30
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Gennai paced the
center of the glade with his hands clasped tight behind his back. The Digidestined would be arriving in a
little more than a half an hour. Oh
why, oh why, oh why can't my job ever be easy? He stopped sharply, a flicker just out of the corner of his eye
startling him.
The traveler's
eyes narrowed and he cast an alarmed glance at the surrounding vegetation. Great, he rubbed his eyes
wearily. "Now you're seeing things,
Gennai. You need to start getting more
sleep, my friend."
"Talking to
yourself, traveler?"
"What?!" Gennai whirled around with incredible speed,
searching for the source of the mockingly familiar voice. There was no one around. "Who are you? Where are you?"
"I can't say that
I blame you, of course. Yours must be a
very lonely existence . . ."
Gennai
scowled. The voice was slightly
distorted and followed by a ghostly echo, almost as though it were moving
across far more time and space than it should have. The white-clad man turned around in a slow circle, eyes looking
upward. "Perhaps. But this hardly seems fair—you have me at a
disadvantage. Won't you at least let me
see your face?"
This seemed to be
vastly amusing to the voice. "If you
believe it will do you any good. There
is one condition, though."
"Which is?"
"You mustn't ever
tell him that you've seen me."
"And who is 'him?'
"
"… You'll
understand."
Gennai waited for
a moment and then his mouth tensed in irritation. "So where are you?"
"I'm right behind
you, Gennai."
The traveler
turned around slowly, his instincts warning him not to show weakness to whoever
had joined him in the clearing. Much to
his incredulity, he found himself facing a translucent young man roughly the
age of fourteen or fifteen who bore a striking resemblance to the Digimon
Emperor. Violet-blue eyes gleamed at
him critically behind gold-rimmed glasses and an eerily familiar smirk played
across the youth's lips.
Gennai's eyes
narrowed as he took in the boy's appearance. "You're not really here, are you? You don't exist on this plane."
Those thin lips
quirked slightly. "Oh, come now," he
chided gently. "Don't you recognize
me?"
Gennai stiffened
at the child's mockery. "Should I?"
Another
smirk. "My name," he offered with a
sweeping bow, "is Osamu Ichijouji. And
I think that we may be of some help to one another."
"Oh, really?" Gennai smiled without humor. "How's that?"
"We both have the
same goals, Gennai. I want to save my
brother and you wish to save all the Children. We need to work together if either of us are to be effective."
Gennai lifted his
eyebrows. "And what's in it for you?"
"Salvation."
"For whom? You . . . or Ken?"
This question
seemed to shake Osamu's composure and for the first time since his appearance,
the confident smirk vanished and he looked away from Gennai's eyes. The boy's shoulders seemed to slump
slightly. "I can only show Kenny-chan
the path, he must choose to walk it himself." Osamu looked back up into Gennai's eyes. His voice was intense. "But I can do nothing if I cannot speak to him!"
Gennai frowned in
concern. "He refuses to heed you?"
"No." Osamu looked away again, this time in
anger. "I cannot speak to him on the
dream plane. The Dark One
interferes. On the mortal plane . . .
He is angry. He is alone and
afraid. He will not hear me. He refuses to see." The boy's eyes rose to Gennai's once more
and shone with brilliant tears. "He
hurts, Gennai! And I must help
him . . . Please."
A look of intense
sympathy passed over Gennai's face and he felt a swell of compassion as he
looked into the eyes of the proud boy now humbled. Both Ichijouji boys carried tragic pride the way the Hida family
carried their honor. He didn't know
why, but he trusted this child—not because of his cold pride, but due to his
bleeding desperation. "What do you need
from me?"
Osamu bit his lip
in an attempt to compose himself. "Have
you ever heard of the Golden Radiance?"
Gennai smiled
indulgently. "Are you asking me to put
my stock in a myth?"
"It is no myth!"
Brown hair moved
as the traveler cocked his head to the side. "The Golden Radiance hasn't been seen since the Dark One was
banished. The Holy Ones refuse to hear
anything on the subject."
"No." Osamu's shade shook its head. "The Radiance is very much real, it is only
hidden. The Faux Crests were made when
the schism within the Ninth Child's soul caused it to split into two equal
halves. With the Radiance freed once
more, you would not need to worry about the Blessings."
"You are asking me
to defy the Guardians."
"I am asking you
to do your job! The Digidestined are
your responsibility, Gennai, or have you forgotten?"
That shot
told—Gennai's eyes widened and his pupils dilated in fury. "How dare you! I have dedicated my life towards preserving—"
Osamu smiled
unpleasantly. "I'm sure that Ken and
Ryou would appreciate your sacrifice."
The two glared
coldly at one another, separated by a meter and literally dimensions
apart. They each vied for dominance in
a silent war neither wanted to lose and could have stood like that for eternity
if the voice of the wind through the trees hadn't interrupted them.
"This is stupid,"
Gennai said, breaking the tension into a thousand pieces. " . . . The Guardians will not be pleased if
I interfere with their tests."
"Look," Osamu
breathed in capitulation. "I'm not
asking you to defy your Guardians directly: just do nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Just give me what
I need."
"You have my
attention."
"I only need you
to listen and allow Ken and I the room to do what we must."
"Listen?"
The boy
nodded. "There is another who needs to
speak with you. He dwells on my plane."
The traveler frowned. "A spirit?"
"Yes," he nodded
his affirmative and then stepped slightly to the side. "This," he gestured to a slowly clarifying
purple mass, "is Wizardmon. He doesn't
have much time, so listen closely."
**************
The Digidestined
were assembled and ready to leave—well, most of them were. Yolei, and Kari were talking with Cody and
TK about the upcoming "test," while Tai, Izzy, and Matt stared at the field.
The blond-haired
lead of the Teenage Wolves watched soccer game in amazement. "Those two are just hell-bent on killing
each other, aren't they?"
Tai's lips slid
into a smile of their own accord. "It's
soccer," he explained.
Matt shot his best
friend a look of befuddlement. He
turned to his brother as the younger Children joined them. "Do they even know we're here?"
TK shrugged. "I don't know—probably not, though. They've been at it for over twenty minutes."
"Look at Ken go!"
Yolei declared with a broad grin. "He's
even better than the first time I saw him!"
Izzy's head
snapped away from the indigo-haired boy to stare at Yolei, startled. His black eyes blinked as he felt a hot
emotion run through him and he looked from Yolei to Ken and back, scowling
darkly.
Davis swore
explosively as he tripped, falling down hard. Ken swept in and stole the ball and slammed the black and white sphere
into the tree that was serving as their goal with cold precision.
The Rocket smirked
in triumph as the ball rolled to a stop at his feet. He turned to Davis, who remained on his knees. He offered the other boy a hand. "Surrender, Digidestined?"
Davis's brown eyes
locked onto his opponent's blue-violet ones. They stayed that way for a moment, entangled in each other's gaze. Then Davis offered Ken a sly smile.
"NEVER!!!"
Ken's eyes widened
and his jaw dropped in a comical expression of shock as Davis's foot swung up,
hit the backs of his knees, and effectively knocked the taller boy off his
feet. The breath lurched from his pale
body as Ken's back and the ground met on intimate terms.
The two were still
for a moment, Ken suddenly looking at the sky and Davis propped up on one arm
and grinning broadly, before the dark-skinned goggle-boy casually offered his
opponent his free hand. "Surrender,
Digidestined?"
Ken pushed himself
up, for the first time since Davis met him totally poiseless, and gaped like a
fish out of water. "Y—you . . . You
cheated!" he sputtered in accusation.
Davis's grin
stretched. "Ain't life grand?"
Ken stared at him
as though he'd lost his mind.
"C'mon." Davis pushed himself to his feet. "The others are staring at us."
This reminder of
his image was more than enough to close Ken's mouth and bring the young genius
to his feet with his typical grace and aplomb. "Has anybody ever told you that you bear a striking resemblance to the
Chestershire Cat?"
"Chesty-what?"
" … The others are
staring, Davis."
Izzy watched the
two as they approached and went out to meet them, the other Digidestined in
tow. "Good game," he greeted the
exhausted pair. "Who won?"
Ken lifted an
eyebrow and smirked as if to say: Who else?
Davis blushed
dusky rose and put a hand behind his head, laughing uncomfortably. "Well, I didn't really keep score . . ."
"Really?" Izzy smiled knowingly and turned to
Ken. "Did you?"
The odd
blue-violet eyes flashed in the sun, almost luminescent, and bore deep into
Izzy's. The older genius could almost
hear the younger's thoughts. I know
what you're trying to do, Izzumi . . . Visibly, he merely shrugged and
smiled unpleasantly, a slight twist of the lips. "It's only a game."
Izzy matched him
smile for smile. "Yeah . . ."
"Nice moves,
Davis," Tai broke in, eager to alleviate the tension. "You were pretty good out there."
"Yes," Ken agreed,
allowing his smile to soften as he turned to the shorter boy. "You've really improved."
"Really?!" Davis lit up like a thousand watt bulb. "Thanks, guys! You know, I've really been working hard and studying you guys
moves! All that practice with you has
helped me out a lot! In fact . . ."
Ken regarded Davis
with analytical amusement as the other boy rattled on. He had never seen another boy . . .
bubble. That was the only word for
it. Davis was bubbly. The others seemed engrossed by the line of
conversation (for, while Davis wasn't a very poignant or disciplined speaker,
he was most certainly an enthusiastic one) and the Child of Kindness took the
opportunity to step away and avoid Izzy's foreboding gaze.
The slender boy
bent and picked up Minomon who had left the table and returned to his partner's
side along with a proud Demiveemon. The
little blue digimon had been lifted up by the mahogany-skinned boy and
clambered up to rest in his dark hair. Ken stiffened as he stood, his fingers tightening around Minomon's
cocoon and the little hairs on the back of his neck suddenly leapt upright to
stiff attention. Something . . . something is not right here.
"Ken?" Minomon looked up at his partner,
confused. The boy's face was paler than
normal and his pupils were dilated wide. "What is it?"
A tingling began
to crawl from the base of Ken's neck down his spine and out along his limbs,
forcing the hair all over his body to stand on end. The tingling grew to an itch and then a terrible burning that
shot back up his body and then concentrated itself behind his eyes. Ken dropped Minomon, oblivious to his cry or
the others' stares, and his hands flew to his head, covering his tightly closed
eyes. A tortured moan ripped out his throat.
"Ken?!" Minomon waved his arms helplessly and looked
frantic. "Ken?!"
Then the pain
peaked and vanished and stars seemed to explode behind his eyelids. The energy that he felt trembling inside him
was wrenched away with terrible finality and . . . moved out of him to his right.
Where Davis was
standing.
Ken's head snapped
up. "Get down!" he yelled as he threw
himself at Davis and knocked the shorter boy to the ground. The other Digidestined leapt backwards in
surprise and confusion.
"Ow! Wh—" The words stopped just short of Davis's lips. A gaping hole had been torn through the very fabric of time and
space right over the spot where Davis had been standing. It was a Digiport.
Izzy's eyes were
as round as saucers. "Prodigious . . ."
"A
Digiport?!" Yolei's gaze skipped from
face to face in a desperate search for answers. "How did it open? Where's
the computer? Well?! Who opened the 'Port?"
Ken and Davis
untangled themselves from one another and Davis's paled face moved to stare at
the gateway in total shock. He turned
his huge eyes to Ken. "You saved my life,"
he whispered in awe.
Ken didn't even
hear him.
TK and Patamon
approached the Portal and peered inside cautiously.
"Be careful!" Kari
chided, taking a step towards them.
"Everything
appears to be okay," the blond said doubtfully.
"Just wait a
minute," Izzy said sharply, finding both his wits and his laptop at the same
time. "We have to be certain that it's
safe before anyone even thinks of going through that Digiport!" TK stepped away from the Portal and the
maroon-haired Keeper of Knowledge began to type busily, oblivious to anyone's
actions.
Chibimon left his
partner's side and hopped up to the gate and looked through with wide ruby
eyes. "It looks safe enough to me!"
declared the fearless blue digimon and promptly stuck a flipper through the
gate.
"No! Wait!" Davis and Ken's voice both rang out
in identical horror as they scrambled to stop the digimon. They were too late.
A bright flash of
light exploded from the Digiport at Demiveemon's touch. Everyone gasped and pulled back, cringing
slightly. When the light was gone, six
of the Children were missing.
Tai looked from
Matt's shocked face to Izzy's, wearing an identical expression. He shook his head in denial. "What the HELL just happened here?!"
Izzy stood and
stared blankly at the space where the Digiport had been. His voice was an echo of its normal
confidence. "They're . . . gone."
**************
Demidevimon
fluttered anxiously around Arukenimon's head as they huddled down in the
underbrush around clearing just in time to see two ghostly figures vanish. Gennai stared at the spot where they had
been for a long moment and then shook his head. Arukenimon watched with avid curiosity as the traveler clenched
his eyes shut and arched his back. His
face twisted as though he was in pain. Totally disregarding both safety and common sense, the white-haired
woman stood up and leaned forward to get a better look. White light wrapped around Gennai and pulsed
outward, lifting the young man a good three or four feet off the ground. The light flashed brightly once and Gennai
disappeared.
Arukenimon's mouth
dropped open and Demidevimon was so surprised that he stopped flapping his
wings, an act which result in him hitting the ground with a painful thud. Where Gennai had been, a Digiport snapped
open with an angry buzz and moments later, six small bodies were pulled through
and the Portal snapped shut, hissing its displeasure.
Arukenimon's
eyebrow shot up until her hat hid them. "It's the brats."
The six forms were
laid out in a circle in the clearing, their digimon laying at their sides. They appeared to be asleep.
After a moment of
speculation, the tall woman walked out into the clearing and bent down to
examine the Child closest to her. An
Armadillomon was curled up next to him. Ignoring Demidevimon's frantic whispers, she stood back up, frowned,
walked around to the boy's other side, and proceeded to kick the little boy in
the ribs.
Her foot passed
right through him.
"Hmph, this is
going to be harder than I thought."
"What's wrong with
them?" demanded Demidevimon as he stood through Yolei Inoue's chest and frowned
at the ground. He flapped his wings
again and fluttered around the woman's white hair. "How come we can see them but we can't touch them?"
"They're not
totally in this dimension anymore. Their bodies are here, but their minds, hearts, and souls are with the
Guardians." She scowled behind her
glasses. "Basically, only a portion of
their data was sent to the Digital World, so only a portion of their information
is represented."
"Oh."
Arukenimon waltzed
over to where Ken lay and looked down at his prone body with something akin to
hunger. She made a small noise of
disgust. "This is sickening! Here you are, laid out for me like a
platter, helpless!! And I can't touch
one perfect hair on your pretty little head." She glared at him hatefully.
"This changes
things, Arukenimon," protested Demidevimon.
"Oh," the woman
turned around with an innocent smile. "This just changes the field, not the battle."
"But how am I
supposed to kill the Takaishi boy if I can't touch him?"
She grinned at the
undead's growing discomfort. An idea
was beginning to form in her warped mind and she cast a grateful glance at
Ken. One perfect hair on your pretty
little head . . .
She licked her
lips in anticipation as the little rookie began to shy away from her, some
over-wrought instinct screaming at him that his "partner" was not really safe
to be around. Her smile was a knife,
cutting through his growing fear and going straight to mortal terror. "Hmm. Lord Devimon was not strong enough to withstand Angemon, let alone the
possibility of Magna Angemon. Perhaps
the next level then?"
"Wha-what a-are
you talking about?" stuttered Demidevimon.
She took a step towards him. A gloved hand
reached up and yanked out three long strands of white hair. The strands stiffened like silver
needles. "This will hurt, but rest
assured, you will be thanking me later. Spirit Needle!"
The silver
projectile flew at Demidevimon and struck the fleeing undead square in the
back. Demidevimon screamed. Images overloaded his mind and he felt like
he was falling into a puddle of broken glass. His body seemed to out-growing his skin.
A ray of light
. . . A screaming
angel . . . A crying
child . . . "Hand of
Fate!!!" "
'The smallest will destroy me . . .' "
"Angemon, be careful! ANGEMON!!!!!!"
Demidevimon's
words were gasps of pain. "W—What iizz
. . . th—thisss?!"
"Your revenge,
Demidevimon. Or perhaps I should say
Lord Damon."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
