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For They Shall Be Filled
By: Vain 5/31/2001-1/26/2002
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Vain: *sighs* Here's more. Yay.
Hisoka: What are you so depressed about.
Vain: Leave me alone, Soka-chan.
Hisoka: Why aren't you happy? You're done.
Vain: But—Oh, I don't know!
Hisoka: Baka.
Vain: Just Read and Review, ne?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~And about the ninth hour [He] cried out saying,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
-Matthew 27: 46
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part Thirty-Two
And the Truth Will Make You Free
"Strike Fishing!!"
Yolei grabbed a Scubamon that ventured too close and threw it back into the crowd. "This isn't working!!!"
"Star shower!!"
"V Laser!!"
Another scubamon tried to attack them only to be met by Gatomon's glove. "Lightening Paw!!"
Davis frowned as several of the creature leapt onto XV-mon's back. "Well, I'm open to suggestions!"
"Double Stars!!"
"Tail Hammer!!"
"Pegasusmon dedigivolve!"
"What?!" The horse-like vaccine looked at TK in confusion.
"You can do more good as Angemon! Are you strong enough to go Champion?"
He nodded, tossing his mane, and rose up higher than the scubamon could reach. There was a faint glow and the proud Armor digimon returned to his rookie form and coasted his way over to the shrinking circle where the Children stood.
Patamon settled down in front of TK. "Ready! Patamon digivolve to . . . Angemon!!"
The newly evolved Champion instantly turned his back to the Children and glared through his mask at the oncoming mass of blue-gray. "Hand of Fate!!"
Small bodies went flying as a bolt of light shot from Angemon's fist and tore a path straight through the scubamon to the edge of the water.
Ankylamon pulled himself up. "Nice shot!" he congratulated. "Tail Hammer!!"
Scubamon scattered.
Stingmon broke free of a crowd of the creatures and took to the air. "Spinning Spiking Strike!!" The fast-paced series of kicks made several of the creatures explode into a burst of digital data.
Yolei gasped. "Stingmon's destroying them!"
"Well, what do you expect?" Gatomon glared at the red-eyed scubamon surrounding them. "If I was out there, I'd be doing the same."
The Child of Love and Purity stared at her in horror. "But they're living creatures!!"
"Angel Staff!!" The blond angel turned and frowned sadly at the girl from beneath his mask. "Sometimes you don't have a choice, Yolei. In this situation, there are simply too many of them to scare away or knock out on an individual level."
"Angemon's right, Yolei," TK said quietly. "It's never easy or pleasant though."
"Stingmon doesn't seem to be having any qualms," she snapped.
"Stingmon," Angemon countered as he wielded his staff at the other digimon, "tend to be rather ruthless when it comes to protecting what they consider theirs, and Wormmon's loyalty to Ken is unquestionable."
Gatomon lashed her tail. "If I could digivolve or had my Tail Ring, I'd be doing the same." Another scubamon tried to slip past. "Lightening Paw!!" It was sent flying. "I wish I could digivolve to Angewoman! These creeps would be kitty litter!"
"Hand of Fate!!" Another wave of light shot from Angemon's fist.
Cody ducked as sand flew at him. "There's just too many of them!!"
Then everything stopped. The scubamon stopped surging forward, the digimon stopped fighting, and everyone turned towards the Ocean. It was the water. It looked like it was boiling.
Davis stared. "That's it. Now I've seen everything!"
Far out in the water, something big and dark began to rise up, pulling free of the water. The scubamon let loose a strange, strangled moan all at once and turned and began to dive into the water.
XV-mon took to the air. "They're getting away."
Shurimon gripped his throwing stars tightly and leapt up to land protectively in front of Yolei. "I think that we have bigger problems now.
His human looked out at the Darkness rising in the Ocean. "What is that thing??"
Gatomon growled and all her fur stood on end. "Hey, Stingmon!!"
The insect type looked down at her curiously.
She looked up at him grimly. "Give me a boost, huh? I want to see that thing."
He obligingly landed and crouched down low to the ground so that she could climb onto his back. Once she was securely on his shoulder, he lifted off, flying out towards the Ocean. TK and the others all watched anxiously as their partners came closer, hovering protectively over their charges.
"What are they doing?" Cody demanded, shading his eyes with one hand.
TK watched the two digimon fly out over the waves, his blue eyes shining with concern. "Gatomon knows more about digimon than anyone else here as far as I know. If anybody can identify that thing, she can."
Stingmon shifted a bit to protect his cargo against the wind. "Is that what I think it is?"
The towering digimon in the water seemed to skim the surface as it moved inordinately forward, some of it's tentacles trailing behind, bound by two black metal bands into separate sections of squirming flesh that appeared to have once acted like legs. The skin seemed to sag off its body, barely hanging onto the muscle tissue underneath. Two burnt-looking, stunted wings protruded from its back, but they looked rather useless, and the digimon appeared to lean over heavily so that its face hung down low. Two red eyes stared out and pulsed like gaping wounds in its flat, formless face and the entire monstrosity was black in color and reeked of both power and death.
The eight tentacles in the front were unbound and hung before the creature heavily like a burden. One of them was wrapped around an enormous bone white trident with code running up the center prong. Another was firmly wrapped around a white bundle that was held high above its head like a tattered trophy. Stingmon considered trying to get a closer look at it, but had no desire to endanger Gatomon by risking an encounter with that nasty-looking creature and its trident alone in the middle of the Ocean.
Gatomon lashed her tail in agitation and the wind caught the purple tips of her ears and blew them slightly back. "Only if we're both thinking the same thing. That looks like Dagomon; he's an Ultimate undersea virus, but I've never actually seen one, have you?"
The insect shook his head. "Ken did some research into rare and mythical digimon, but the database didn't have a picture of Dagomon, only the file. But I don't really think that it should look like that. Something doesn't feel right here. Let's go back and see the others. Something's going on."
The feline nodded in agreement and Stingmon turned around and headed back towards the beach.
**************
Sanghee eyed the Child of Light uncertainly. "You're not Yagami, are you . . .?"
"Well, you're certainly quick on the uptake," the girl snapped. "You know we don't have time for this right now, Sanghee, so either move or you'll be moved."
Ken narrowed his violet eyes and cocked his head to the side. He heard something . . . grinding . . . "I do so hate to interrupt you ladies, but what is that noise?"
They both glared at him, but Sanghee suddenly raised one of her hands in a motion for quiet. For an instant nobody moved and gradually a scratchy grating noise became evident. Sanghee dropped her hand. "So it's really started."
"You'll lose, you know," Kari said in an almost conversation tone of voice.
The woman turned back to her and smiled sweetly. "That depends on whose side you're on, little girl. Who are you really?"
"Your replacement."
"You?" Sanghee's eyes widened in amusement. "The living spirit? You're Gennai's apprentice? Oh, this is just too amusing! Do your precious Guardians know you're here?"
Kari frowned and took a step back towards Ken. "What are you playing at, witch?"
"Temper, temper, little girl. I don't know who you are, but I do know that if you were still in Miss Yagami's body when she met an . . . unpleasant end that your soul would be forced to transcend with hers. I doubt that the Holy Beasts would be pleased." She turned to Ken. "Now, come along, little Emperor. We have to be going."
"I'm not going with either of you," the indigo-haired Child stated flatly as he tried to think of some way to get out of the room without them following him. "And quite frankly I wouldn't much care if this ceiling came crashing down on all our heads right this second."
"If you keep stalling, it just might," Sanghee snapped in return.
"What are you trying to do?!" Kari ground out. "You know Kazunori can't win this fight!"
Sanghee laughed and both the Children shuddered. "Oh, I know that and you know that, but he doesn't have a clue."
Kari paled. "You-you're turning from him?!"
Sanghee flicked a long strand of teal hair out of her eyes. "Well, you're certainly quick on the uptake," she drawled carelessly.
And then Kari started laughing. Both Ken and Sanghee stared at her with narrowed eyes.
"You thought . . ." she sputtered between gales of laughter, "you thought you could take him as a replacement?!" she hooted, pointing to Ken.
Ken took a step away from both women, his gaze flickering between the two of them.
Sanghee's face twisted in anger. "So? He and Kazunori are the same. Their pride, their goals, their ambition, their powers . . . Everything that Kazunori was is in Ichijouji-even the Spore makes them the same. When it comes to fruition-"
"That is never going to happen!" Kari snarled, a look of rage twisting her face.
Ken looked from face to face. "Spore?"
They both ignored him.
"So you say."
"Yeah." Kari whirled around faster than Ken would have thought possible, grabbed his right hand, and jerked the boy forward holding his palm so that Sanghee could see the brand. "So I say."
The woman's mouth dropped open like a gaping fish and first shock, then fury, transfigured her face. "You little-"
"Down!!"
Kari threw Ken to the side and landed on top of him as one of Sanghee's hands slashed the space they had just occupied. She smiled at Ken and he stared in awe at what he saw reflected in her eyes. "Trust me, Kenny-boy."
It was the image of a boy with spiky brown hair and white gloves-
Gennai's words came back to him in a rush. "Kari has the ability to see and channel spirits . . ."
The Child of Kindness and Miracles smirked unpleasantly. "Alright then."
The two children rolled in opposite directions as another hand slashed the ground, tearing up stone and producing a grating noise where her claw got caught in the rock. Sanghee jerked against it futilely and turned her eyeless sockets to track Kari's movements, hunched low to the ground and keeping her other hand free, the clawed fingers splayed wide. Her hair fell into her face and she bared her teeth like a fox caught in a trap.
Kari blinked for a moment before pulling up from her defensive crouch. "You're stuck, aren't you?"
Sanghee snarled something unintelligible.
Ken stared for a moment in shock and then threw back his head and laughed. This was ludicrous. This was beyond ridiculous. "You're stuck?! You got your claws stuck in the floor?! You idiot!! You don't have any power at all, do you? All you've got is an empty head and scary hands! No wonder you needed me and the Dark Undersea Master-you're useless!"
"I am not useless!" She lunged towards him, but was jerked to a sharp halt by her arm. She groaned in fury and frantically tried to work her hand free. "I have the Sight, Brat Emperor, and I know what Destiny has I store for you!"
He jerked back as though he had been bitten.
"Why do you think I came after you, Ichijouji? You were chosen by the Darkness for the Darkness-you can't change that or hide from it like a coward! It goes against your very nature. I know the darkness that lurked your heart long before you donned the garb of the Emperor-I know the hunger in your soul-that same hunger that pit you against your own broth-"
"You shut up!"The scream cut through the air and froze them all. Even as the Emperor, Ken had never, ever, ever screamed like that. Never. And the sound of it was like breaking glass in a quiet room. Kari stared, shocked. He inhaled deeply and tried to calm himself-whatever coldness had wrapped itself around his heart was gone, evaporated by her words.
"You shut up," he hissed in a deadly cold whisper. "You know nothing about me-nothing at all."
Sanghee smiled and sat up as best she could. "How you must have relished it-the way the light shone off the blood . . . Did he scream, Ken?"
"I told you to shut up," he hissed, taking a menacing step forward.
"Ken, let her go!" Kari ordered as she moved to intercept him. The girl stepped between them and gripped his biceps. "She's no threat now; she just wants to get under your skin."
"I've seen your past, little Emperor. And I know your future!"
"Ken! We have to go!"
His eyes flickered from one female to other for a moment before he suddenly relaxed and gave Kari a tired nod. "I . . . You're right." He looked back down at Sanghee and his lips twitched towards a contemptuous smirk. "She's not going anywhere anytime soon."
The woman paled and tried to jerk her hand free once more.
He gently took Kari's hand in his own and walked around the glowering woman to the door.
"You don't know what you're missing, Brat Emperor," the woman snarled as he opened the door. "You have no idea."
He turned around and his eyes scanned the floor for a moment before he looked her over coldly. "You really have something to say?"
She nodded and Kari stopped in the doorway and frowned at them both. "Ken, what are you-?"
He shoved the girl out the door, slammed it tight behind him, and quickly bent down. His nimble fingers seized a small stone and wedged it in the corner of the door, effectively jamming it shut. He turned his attention back to Sanghee. "Talk then."
Kari's small fists beat on the other side of the door. "Damnit, Ken, this isn't funny!! I'm on a time limit here! I can't stay here forever!! Ken?! Ken, you open this door right now!! Ken!"
He stepped closer to Sanghee and put both his hands on his hips, careful to stay out of range of the woman's free arm.
She smirked. "And what could I say that you don't already know? You are a fraud, little boy! You may as well not even be here. You say you want your memories, but you're the one who locked them away! You say that you want to change yourself, but it's your denial that prevents you from doing so! Do you really want to know what's in that room in your head? It's not darkness. It's not emptiness. It is the future."
A boom sounded, as though Kari had thrown her entire body against the door and her reedy voice carried over through the walls. "Ken!! Ken, please! Don't listen to her-you can't trust her!! She just wants to use you! Ken!" The beating stopped then, as though the girl's small frame had simply been screamed out.
Ken watched Sanghee with narrowed eyes as she continued, her smile still fixed firmly in place and heedless of Kari's pleas. "I've been in the white room, seen the debt you owe to those you loved-those whom you destroyed. I've spoken to the child you abandoned on the beach that day you put the broken digivice into the water and sold your soul-the same soul that was claimed long ago. I've tasted the blood of your victims, felt the delight, the hunger, that you felt when you did all those terrible, terrible things." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Those things that you crave and dream about . . . those things that you lust for more than life's breath . . . It felt so good didn't it? Watching them scream like that . . . watching them foam at the mouth and kick until they were still . . . And you hated them all-everyone for what they did to you, didn't you?"
A look of pain contorted Ken's face and he took a step back, covering his ears with his hands. He shook his head rapidly and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. "No . . . it wasn't like that . . ."
"But it was," Sanghee interrupted him gently. "It was and you loved it all. And you crave it, too . . . the way their soft skin yields, the way they screamed when the whip fell . . . And now what are you?" Her mouth twisted and she spat out the next word: "Ordinary. Now you're nothing and nobody, utterly forgettable, just like everyone else, aren't you?"
He shook his head rapidly, unable to block out the truth in the words. "No . . ."
"But you're not really, are you? I can hear what you've heard. I know the darkness that you are-that you've tried so hard to deny. It feels so good, Ken. It feels like love all over . . . and you want it. We all do. That's why we're different from all the rest-stronger." She worked her fingers carefully, trying to free herself. "We know the Darkness and are not afraid of it. You understand now, don't you? You and Kazunori are the same, only you can control it. You know better than to lose yourself in it. It's a part of you-not you. I've seen the wires cutting into your skin, seen you bound to that stake in the dark room, bathed in your own delicious blood. I tasted it. I heard you beg for it. You belong to it."
Stake? The youth shook his head in an attempt to clear away the confusion. "No." The word was flat and hard. "No," Ken repeated. He looked at her. "I'm not like you, like that. Not anymore."
"You are exactly like us, Ichijouji! You are an abomination-just like us!! Hmph. The way you are now, you may as well not even be real-utterly forgettable."
Ken flinched and his features froze into a harsh mask. "No."
"Yes! It could be you up there now-fighting for what's yours by right of power! It was you once! You're no Chosen Child. You are a lie. You knew that once, when you created your reality. That's the truth-the truth your brother knew and the truth the Emperor lived by: nothing is real. So what does any of this matter?
"You couldn't save your brother, you couldn't save Ryou and his partner, you couldn't even save your own partner from yourself . . . why are you even trying? Don't you know that nothing you can do will matter? The Chosen don't need you-look how well they've done without you! No, Ken . . . Why put yourself through all this torment? Serve yourself! For once in your life, stop trying to be what everyone else wants! There is no reality but what you make."
The boy clenched his hands and then opened his right palm and looked at it. The Crest of Cruelty-he knew that that was what it was down to the very marrow of his bones. He stared at it for a minute, vaguely aware that Sanghee was talking again, but unable to hear her.
His palm tingled. His throat burned. He didn't understand this and knew that there was some truth to her words, but lies rang through painfully loud, hiding somewhere there. He didn't know what he was anymore-who he was. He was a Digidestined. He was a tyrant. He was a genius. He was a gullible fool. He was the Child of Kindness and Miracles. He was the epitome of Cruelty and hypocrisy. He was a monster. He was an abomination. He didn't understand this at all. But the one thing he knew, the only thing that he had to cling to, was that somehow, for some reason, he was not the same as what she said. He could not be the same-for better or for worse.
Then something seemed to mesh inside him-it felt like he had brushed something awesome and inconceivable-like the face of god. And he knew that he was close to something. He knew that this path-Sanghee's claims-were not quite right. So he looked up at her and interrupted her in mid sentence.
"I don't know what I am. I don't know if what you're saying is true. But I do know that I am Ken Ichijouji, and whatever else I may be or display, I am perfection. I have to be. It's all I have, you see. It's a promise that I made to Osamu."
He pointed his left hand at her and opened his mind in way that he had only done in the Digital World-in a way he hadn't known was possible outside of the Digital World-and felt for something in the air. When he found it, he smiled a gentle benevolent smile that few people in his world had ever seen. "And we are not the same." He reached into the air and mentally pulled at something.
And then Sanghee Kiangtsu burst into flames.
Ken stared at he emotionlessly for a moment as a scream tore its way free from her throat and then frowned pensively. The flames were hot and burned extremely fast and the heavy smoke that rose up into the air soon lost the scent of burnt hair as her flesh was devoured. Her screams bounced off the walls and echoed back, horribly loud.
"Yet you thought that you could challenge the Holy Beasts and nearly won?" He shook his head. "How pathetic. What sad gods you all are." He walked around the flaming, shrieking woman towards the door and carelessly kicked loose the makeshift door stop. The acrid scent of burnt flesh was overpowering. "Fools, really."
The door boomed shut behind him, cutting off Sanghee's last screams.
For a long moment, Kari merely stared at him in the shadows of the hall. Then she slapped him so hard that the entire world seemed to flash red. He looked up at her, remorse nowhere evident on his face. "You would have done the same, Tamer. Don't think I don't recognize you in Yagami's eyes. You would have done the same and we both know it. What would have happened if she lived?"
Kari—the spirit inside Kari—turned away, blinking back tears. "I won't let her remember this if you can get her out."
"You can't come with us?"
Kari shook her head. "I've been here interfering for far too long. If my presence were discovered . . ." She drifted off and Ken was silent for a moment.
"How do we get back? Where are we?"
Kari turned back around to face him. "Give me your digivice."
He wordlessly pulled the little machine out and handed it to her. The black color seemed to startle her, but she accepted it anyway and began to punch in numbers. "You're under the Ocean in some sort of stronghold. Kazunori's magic maintains it, I think."
"And this Kazunori is the Dark One?"
"No!" Kari looked up sharply and frowned. "That's a misnomer. The Dark Undersea Master is a result of a spell preformed by the Guardian of the West. His name was Kazunori Saito. He thought the he was destined to stand against the Guardians, so he tried to steal the power of a Ultimate digimon called Dagomon. The spell failed and the two ended up merging. Unfortunately, both wills survived and Kazunori has been continuously fighting the virus. The continuous struggle has only driven him further over the edge and impaired his judgment. He's been fixating on Gennai-that's why everything's gone so wrong. Well, one of the reasons, anyway. We thought that things were going to be the same as the last time, with armies and legions and great battles. Instead, Kazunori's dying-already dead; all you have to do is bury him."
She looked back down at the digivice and resumed typing. "This is all wrong-this should have been foreseen . . . Do you remember when the Digiport opened at the camp site?"
Ken blinked rapidly as he tried to process all that. "Yes. What do you mean-?"
"No questions," she snapped. "Kari will explain everything later. Now pay attention. Gennai didn't open that-he used your energy to open it for him. You've been opening independent portals the entire time you've been going to the Digital World and in that first instance you came to the Dark Ocean. Now you have to focus that energy and do it consciously. It's the exact same as pulling the elements out of the air, only instead of looking for an element, you're trying to feel the flow of space itself as it moves around you. You need to concentrate. Once you've found it, instead of reaching out directly into the flow and bending it, you have to send your will through the digivice and draw the flow into the digivice. After you do that, the digivice will do the rest." She stopped typing and handed the device back. "Understand?"
Ken's lips twisted into a wry smile. "Would it matter if I did?"
Her face softened then and regret shone clear in her eyes. "No. No, it wouldn't." She looked away and bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Kenny-boy . . ."
"I know."
They stood in a heavy uncomfortable silence for a moment before Kari looked back up. Her expression hadn't changed, if anything it had only grown more intense. "But that was still monstrous."
Kari collapsed and the boy had to move quickly to catch her before she hit the ground. He stared into her face for a moment; she could have been sleeping. Tears shone in Ken's eyes and he blinked them back. "I know. And I'm sorry, old friend, but what else could I do with her?"
The girl's eyes fluttered open then and she looked at him weakly. "K-Ken . . .? How . . .?"
"Don't worry about that. A friend found you and brought you here. He's gone now. Can you stand? We have to hurry now."
"I . . ." She struggled weakly in his arms. "I think so . . . My strength is coming back now I think." He helped her stand and she swayed for a moment before she was standing strongly without help. She looked up at him and her eyes were dark and shadowed. "I know what they are, Ken. Sanghee . . . Kazunori . . . I saw them . . ."
"I know . . . and Sanghee's dead."
Her eyes widened and he stepped slightly in front of her, his digivice extended. "Not now. There'll be time for this later. Things aren't what they seem to be; Kazunori's dying."
He heard the girl speaking and felt her tugging at his shoulder, but ignored her. He opened his mind again and felt for the elements. His mind brushed against the barren space where Sanghee died and he quickly pulled away. When he found the silvery trails of power he was looking for he dug deeper, seeking the swirling energy they traveled on. He gasped involuntarily when he found it, his mind unable to comprehend the sheer immensity of the power he felt. He bent his will into his digivice before he could lose himself in the stream. "Digiport open."
The air rippled, and then warped, and then seemed to twist as a hole was opened to the beach. Ken stared through the hole in the air for a moment as Kari came to stand by his side, surprise on his face and confusion on hers.
"Well . . . It worked."
She gave him a hard look. "You will explain this later, right?"
A flash of something green appeared in the distance on the other side and Ken suddenly scowled, grabbed her hand, and stepped through the opening without responding.
The Portal hissed closed behind them.
**************
The two Champions landed on the beach silently and Gatomon leapt to the ground. Davis frowned at her as X-Vmon shifted uneasily in the air. The digimon out in the water was fully revealed now and it simply stood there, waiting for something, its tentacles twisting and writhing together. The be-goggled Child of Courage and Friendship raised his eyes to stare at it for a moment before looking back down at Gatomon again. "Well?"
The feline lashed her tail unhappily. "It's a Dagomon-an Aquatic Man Beast Digimon. His major attack is Thousand Waves. Dagomon are vicious anyway, but there's something more here. Something's not right with this digimon."
Then a new voice cut through the whispering waves and expectation, cool, clinical, and utterly in character. "That because it's not a digimon."
A second voice spoke up, completing the explanation. "Not anymore at least. His name was Kazunori Saito. He was a the Guardian of Courage and Friendship."
For a moment nobody moved, unable to believe what they were hearing. Then everyone was moving at once. Yolei nearly knocked Kari down as she threw herself at the slender girl and Ken stumbled backwards as the others surged forward.
"Kari!!" Gatomon shot forward and launched herself at her human, joy and relief shining her eyes. The girl chuckled and scooped the feline up in her arms, hugging the Champion tight.
A large hand reached down and gently lifted Ken up so that he was eye level with Stingmon. The cynical genius surprised everyone by smiling and wrapping his arm around the big insect's neck. "I missed you too, my friend."
"Hey guys . . ." They all turned to see Davis frowning darkly out over the waters.
Kari's face twisted worriedly and they all spread out, unconsciously taking up defensive positions. "What is it, Davis? Do you see something?"
"Yah." He pointed out towards the waves. "Is it just me or is that Dago-thingamajig getting closer?"
TK narrowed his eyes and then turned to Kari and Ken. "I take it that's the Dark Undersea Master?" They both nodded and he sighed and turned back to the Ocean. "Of course it is. Can't we ever fight anything small and cute?"
Stingmon gently set Ken down on the ground and lifted up in the air, his wings beating rapidly. The former Emperor ran a careless hand through his hair and smirked at TK. "Where's the fun in that?"
The blond tossed him a sour look.
Kari set Gatomon down. "Ready?"
The vaccine nodded and set her mouth in a stern line. "It's about time!"
"Digi Armor Energize!!"
"Gatomon Armor digivolve to . . . Nefertimon!! The Angel of Light!"
They had all taken up defensive positions and were prepared to fight when Yolei suddenly frowned at Ken and Kari and broke the mood. "Hey, where's Gennai?"
Ken tossed Stingmon a worried look. "Wasn't he with you?"
The digimon shook his head negative and Ken cursed under his breath. "Nothing can ever easy, can it?"
**************
A large pair of red eyes narrowed as the former man moved forward at a slow and steady pace. "Sanghee . . . My love . . . They'll pay for what they've done to you . . . I swear it!"
A soft groan arose from somewhere and the Dagomon shifted until a tentacle came into view. It was wrapped around a man in a dirtied white robe. Gennai opened his eyes blearily and Kazunori shook him violently. "Do you hear that, apprentice? Your little pets are going to pay for killing my Sanghee . . . and I know just what I'll do, too . . . After all, Gennai, an eye for an eye."
The man glared hatefully at his former Master. "There's no way their partners are going to let you close enough to the Children for that to happen."
"Who said I was going to kill one of the Children, apprentice?"Gennai swallowed hard.
**************
Osamu watched the two forces as they came in contact worriedly from his place near his brother. He couldn't reach Ken, Gennai was a no-show, and Kari's powers were exhausted to the point of almost being burnt out. All of the Chosen were exhausted, especially the three most of this was riding on, and he knew that things were only going to get worse before they got better. There had been too many errors and miscalculations on everyone's part. Osamu had not foreseen his old friend's interference, or Sanghee's foolish error.
Nor had he foreseen his little brother intentionally and willfully killing another human being. That had come as a nasty shock. He was beginning to see what Ryou had so tirelessly warned him about when he had been alive-there was far too much of Osamu in his little brother and that frightened him badly. That was something he was trying to protect Ken from and he had failed miserably.
The spirit closed his eyes and wished that none of this was necessary, that he could go back and undo all the things that he had done. This never should have happened.
Ototochan, I'm here for you.
Kazunori stopped at the very edge of the water and the Children and their digimon all held back, waiting for something. Osamu hovered anxiously, knowing that he would need to act soon. The soft exterior of the huge Ultimate seemed to pulse and his red eyes glowed. The tension was palpable.
**************
Cody's lips drew into a thin line as the Dagomon came to a halt at the edge of the water, the trident held before it like a shield and the white thing in its grip held high. The other Children unconsciously pulled back towards the cliff wall, but the smallest of them stayed where he was. "Why are you doing this?" he muttered. A noise that was a cross between a growl and a groan left the boy's lips and he clenched his hands and glared up at the black blob in front of him. "Why are you doing this?!"
The sound of the child's voice seemed to startle the digimon for a moment and it halted abruptly, barely twenty feet from the beach. The others had retreated to halfway between the cliffs and the surf and stared at Cody with something close to abject horror.
Ankylomon tried to get his partner away, but Cody stepped aside undeterred. "Cody-"
The smallest of the Digidestined never took his eyes off of Dagomon. There was no fear there, merely anger and some sort of deep sadness that looked like pity, but wasn't. Ankylomon heaved a sigh and tried to look as menacing as possible from his place by his boy's side.
"Why are you causing all this misery?" he demanded with righteous fury. When no reply was forthcoming, the boy took another step towards the monster in the water. "Why? There's no point! There's-"
The trident in the Ultimate's tentacles was suddenly driven upright into the waves where it stabbed at the sky, the bone white disconcerting against the dull gray. Dagomon seemed to draw himself up. "Why do you stand against me, Child?"
Cody stared back at him wordlessly, his breathing harsh and loud.
The white bundle in the creature's tentacles was dropped to the sand where it landed with a dead thud and a groan. It shifted and twitched and slowly pushed itself upright on its forearms to slowly blink in the dull light.
Kari's whisper was barely more than a breath, but clearly audible. "Gennai!!"
Cody felt more than heard Ken moving towards his former mentor, but he didn't dare take his eyes away from the enemy. His legs were rooted to the spot and despite the need to run forward and grab the traveler, he remained frozen.
Gennai's stop Ken with a glare. He looked awful, bruised and bedraggled with blood and dirt encrusted on his normally sparkling robes. "No, Ken!"
"Your guardian had nothing to present against my might but lies and treachery."
Cody opened his mouth to speak, but the digimon before him seemed to convulse then, as though a powerful bolt of electricity had struck it and then it did something totally unexpected. It turned inside out.
Of all the things Cody would ever remember from his time as a Digidestined, Dagomon's metamorphosis would have to one of the single most horrible things he was to see. The stunted wings on his back began to flap, sending sand and water outward in small waves. The bound tentacles rose off the ground, exposing the Ultimate's black, leathery looking underbelly as they lifted and the creature somehow seemed to flip over in mid air so that the tentacles were on the ground once more, its head was covered, and what had once been hidden was now exposed to the faded gray light. It had literally turned upside down.
For an instant it seemed as though Dagomon was finished, but then the smooth exposed top appeared to throb like an angry wound and then there was a distinct popping sound as what appeared to be the upper half of a man tore its way free of the digimon, violent and painful as any birth could be. Thick viscous fluid flowed from the torn flesh.
Cody's jaw hung a bit slack as the half-man, half-Ultimate pulled himself upright and turned to stare down at him. His cheekbones were high and well defined and his nose had a distinctly aristocratic build. Slanted black eyes stared down into Cody's. The iris color was not black-there was no iris. There was nothing except a large pupil floating in rotten yellow sclera.
The child slowly clenched his jaw and swallowed hard against the dryness in his throat. "What-"
"Why do you stand against me, Child?" The voice did not thunder as it had before, but it held the same depthless Darkness as before.
Cody's voice was hard and uncompromising despite his deathly pallor. "Because you are an abomination."
He didn't see Ken flinch.
Laughter boomed out, a cruel an unnatural sound that put to shame any other horror that Cody had experienced in his short life. "I am an abomination?!" The laughter sounded again, and Cody grit his teeth, clearly not amused. "I am an abomination? NO!" The laughter was gone now and a single tentacle snapped out, cracking like an enormous whip, and pointed across the beach. "That . . . creature there is an abomination!"
Cody turned and was somehow not surprise to see the slimy appendage pointing to Ken. The dark-haired genius stiffened as though struck and then bared his teeth in a parody of a smile; his canines shown too prominently for it to be mistaken as genuine. His left hand was scratching at his right palm with thoughtless compulsion. "I am nothing like you." It was a caustic hiss and Cody flinch at the sound of it.
"You are exactly like me!""You-" For a moment it looked like Ken would choke on the insult lodged in his throat. His nails dug painfully hard into his right hand and he sputtered for an instant before a shallow gasp calmed him and he sneered: "You are nothing. You seek to fight the Holy Beasts? With what? Your lover is dead and you yourself are dying! You're already dead, Kazunori-can't you feel it?"
The man's face twisted. "My . . . beloved . . ." A look of outrage further distorted his normally handsome face. "It was you!"
A smirk transformed Ken's face into an uncomfortably familiar mask. "Oh, you're certainly clever."
A dull, wrenching groaning noise filled the air and Cody began to back up slowly when he realized that Kazunori was the source. The tentacle slithered back like a wounded snake and the water around Kazunori churned restlessly.
Ken's amethyst eyes narrowed as he drove on ruthlessly. "You should really thank me, though . . . After all, she was just going to leave you to die. And you will die, Kazunori. You're going to die for all the horror that you've forced us to endure if nothing else. You're going to die because killing you is going to be mercy for everyone-penance. Besides," he paused and flipped his hair out of his eyes.
Davis tried to ease forward without being noticed. Ken's little show of temper was not helping anyone, least of all Cody and Gennai who were far too close to the enemy for the wild-haired boy's tastes. "Ken-!"
The former despot's left hand was scratching madly at his right palm and a flow of red was visible, but he didn't seem to notice as his smirk broadened to something that could have been angelic if not for the gleam in his eyes. "I really don't like you."
Gennai's head snapped up again and his eyes locked on Ken's face. He knew that look-he had seen it before, on his own face, on Anya's face, on Kazunori's face, on Elaine's face. He knew that look. It was the look of someone who was about two seconds away from losing his mind. And something inside Gennai's heart broke at that look.
"One day you're going to fail Ken. And I don't mean a test or playing Emperor. I mean FAIL-as in lose everything. One day you're going to break. Then you'll understand."
And then everything happened at once and Davis began running towards them, pausing only to grab Ken's arm and throw him carelessly back towards the others.
A whistling noise startled Gennai and his eyes flickered from Davis to the air above him just in time to see something long and dark shoot past him-two tentacles. The first was moving like a lash and hit Ankylomon before anyone could even register the movement. The second, slower, one was pointed like a spear. And it was headed straight towards Cody.
Somebody was screaming.
Instincts older than Gennai knew kicked in and he immediately pulled upon every last reserve in his body and mentally reached out and twisted. It was a small spatial warp, just enough to get there and knock Cody out of the way. But it was nowhere near enough to move again. It wasn't even close.
Cody's had barely enough time to hear the tentacles flying out at him before something knocked him down to the ground. The gritty sand flew up into his eyes and he cried out in pain and the resultant burning sensation shot through him instantly. A grunt sounded and he knew without opening his eyes that Ankylomon had been hit. What he did not expect was the strange liquid noise that immediately followed, or the wet spray of warmth that hit him, splashing his face and clothing.
"No!!"
"Gennai!!"
"V-Laser!!"
"Rosetta Stone!!"
He tried to force his eyes open, but someone grabbed him and jerked him off his feet. Davis's voice sounded close behind him. "Christ, don't look!"
"Hand of Fate!!"
"Spiking Strike!!"
"Tail Hammer!!"
"Davis, let go!" Why was everyone yelling?
"Forbidden Trident!!"
What was happening?
"Davis, what's happened?"
"Double Stars!!"
"V-Laser!!"
A choked sob was his only reply.
"Davis!!"
He was literally dropped onto the ground. Tears slid down his cheeks as his eyes tried to clear the sand out and he forced them open, the battle more important than the discomfort. He felt sticky and couldn't quite make his eyes focus. Someone was running towards something on the beach, a flask of white moving towards something else. A blur of brown ran after it and it sounded like Yolei. It sounded like she was screaming out Ken's name.
He blinked painfully and rubbed his eyes. "Ankylomon?!"
"Hand of Fate!!"
"Forbidden Trident!!"
Someone grabbed him and jerked him to the side as he blinked uncertainly. A loud boom was heard and something fell to the ground he had just been standing on.
He stumbled and cried out in blind confusion. "Ankylomon!!" Then he felt a creeping horror and despair as a buzzing warmth was felt at his side. There was only one sensation in any world like that: the energy of his digimon's current digivolution returning to his digivice. And judging by the amount of energy he felt, Ankylomon was now Upamon.
Kazunori let out a bark of laughter as the first digimon fell and didn't rise. X-Vmon let out a growl of fury at the gloating monster and darted forward. Human form or no human form, he was getting really tired of this thing. The move however, did not go unnoticed and Dagomon's bone trident came up and slapped him away like an insect.
Ken pulled Gennai's crumpled form up into his lap, oblivious to the blood soaking into his clothes, and stared down into the man's eyes. They fluttered open and blinked at him uncertainly in the dead light.
"That . . . really . . . hurt . . ."
The boy began to tug at him, flinching involuntarily as sand flew towards them when one of the digimon hit the ground nearby. "Shut up." His voice was trembling. "We need to get away from here before we're killed."
X-Veemon growled again and peeled himself up off the ground.
Davis's voice cut through his frustration like a bell. "You have to work together!!"
The Champion turned to the beach to find his human and was stunned to Angemon go flying past him, his hand slack around his staff as he glowed with the light of devolution.
Gennai looked into his former protégé's eyes and smiled faintly at the wild denial and confusion he saw in them. It seemed to fit the child's face, somehow.
He coughed and tasted blood and convulsively gripped Ken's hand hard. "Destiny . . ." the words were a painful rasping noise, "is not etched in stone, Child. It . . . is a path . . . with a fork at every step . . . He's wrong-you're not like him . . . But you could be . . ." It was getting harder to see, but he could feel four Presences close by—strong magic. He wasn't going to die this day. "But you have so much potential." He closed his eyes and felt himself begin to fade from that place, unaware of the soft keening sound that Ken emitted. "The Masters are bringing me home . . . Be good, Kenny-boy . . . Be strong . . ."
He felt Ken's hands fade from his own and reached longingly towards the Presences he knew were calling him away.
Something slapped X-Veemon hard in the back and he felt his own strength flee as he and Stingmon both flew towards the cliffs. He closed his eyes and felt an explosion of pain the instant he returned to Demiveemon's form. He didn't hear Leafmon's cry of pain next to him.
Shurimon slammed into Nefertimon with similar force and they both slammed into the beach with crushing speed. The Armor Digimon of Purity instantly returned to Poromon, but the light around Nefertimon flickered intensely for an instant as she struggled to maintain her shape. When she gave up, Salamon lay still and lifeless in the sand.
Ken's eyes widened as Gennai began to glow faintly and he was so shocked that he was barely aware of Stingmon's energy returning to his obsidian digivice. He didn't feel the spirit near him, nor did he hear it's frantic pleas for him to breath and stop fighting. He was aware that the battle had been lost, but he couldn't seem to move-the hot blood on his clothes, his hands, had welded him to the ground until he and it were all the same substance and all he could do was stare in horror as his former friend and betrayer's data broke down into raindrops of light that rose towards the sky. He didn't hear Dagomon's laughter. All he saw was the traveler vanish like so many others had before-right in front of his very eyes-and all he felt was a terrible void inside and the same old, tired throbbing in his hand-a pain which grew with every breath.
**************
Osamu tried to reach his brother, tried desperately, but was unable to batter down the shield he had erected.
Take it, Ken. Remember your promise, and just take it!! It's yours now. It's yours by right, so just stop fighting it before you kill yourself! You made me a promise, so don't you dare forget it now! They need you . . . they need you and you have to do what you promised . . . you have to do what I said . . . Ototochan, please! Just remember what I told you. . . . Ken . . . Let it go. Please . . . just let it go . . .
**************
Ken's palm throbbed horribly and spots danced behind his eyes. He was vaguely aware that he was screaming but somehow that seemed far less important than the god-awful pain in his hand. It hurt. It itched. It burned. It ached. It felt like his skin was boiling off of his palm.
Arms wrapped around him, pulled him up off the ground to his knees. A voice called out over his. "Ken!"
Who was it? Takeru . . .?
"Ken, stop it!"
A whisper sounded in Ken's mind. A youthful voice, a familiar voice. It was a voice he once knew-a voice he should know. // Take it, Ken. //
He tried to close his mouth, but couldn't. It HURT. Somewhere next to him he could hear the others calling out, someone's voice . . . Takeru held him so tightly he thought that he might break in two. But the pain . . .
"Ken! I've got you! We're not leaving you, Ken. We won't leave you."
And there was that voice again, so close . . . // Take it, Ken. It's yours now. It's yours by right. //
Who-// Take it. . . . Ken . . . //
Take what? Please . . .
"We're here, Ken. It's alright!"
"We're here."
Davis?It hurt so bad. It was unbearable.
I don't understand. Oh, god, please . . .
"We're together."
Kari?// Ken . . . //
Help me . . .
"We're here."
Yolei?
// It's yours. Just . . . let it all go, Kenny-boy. //
"Come back, Ken."
I don't know how . . .
"Ken. We need you, Ken. Please. Whatever you're fighting, let it go . . ."
Takeru, I can't!"Ken . . ."
Kari . . .
A cool voice broke though the darkness around him, wrapping him up in its gentle confidence and lifting him away from that awful pain. "Let it go, Ken. Let it go. I believe in you."
Who . . .?"I believe in you, Ken."
// Let it go. //
And so he did. For the first time in years, Ken let it go. Fear, guilt, anger, cruelty, grief, all of it; he just . . . . let it all go. And when he opened his eyes, he saw the Darkness. He saw the Light.
"No more."
**************
TK watched in horror Gennai vanished. For an instant Ken stared down at his empty lap, his mouth open in shock. Then, the boy suddenly tossed his head back and shrieked, violet eyes screwed shut, back slightly arched, and his mouth open wide. He rushed to the indigo-haired boy's side. "Ken!"
He wrapped his arms around the slender boy's waist and jerked him up to a kneeling position, squinting when the cry didn't stop. Ken was scratching desperately at the palm of his right hand, the apparent source of his agony. TK sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the brand on the center of the other boy's palm. How . . .?
**Sean: The How should be italicized if it's TK's thought.
Ken's sharp, well-manicured nails were beginning to cut through his skin. It seemed as though he were trying to rip the brand off. "Ken, stop it!" He grabbed at the trembling youth's hand and pulled it away.
Violent shivers racked the other's frame and he just wouldn't stop screaming. Dagomon was laughing. Tears slid down TK's cheeks. What to do? What to do?! The others cradled their limp partners in their arms. Where was Patamon . . .?
Everything just wouldn't stop. It all blurred together and seemed to drain Takeru's strength. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. Oh, my god . . .
// Help him! //
The blonde's head snapped up at the sharp rebuke.
"Who-"
// Ken . . . //
"Ken?" the blond repeated stupidly, still looking for the unidentified voice.
// Hope!! // It was a mental shriek of frustration.
Takeru looked back down at the boy in his arms. Ken was phasing. But where to? We're already in the Dark Ocean.
Gatomon's words came back to his mind. "People who shift into other dimensions normally do so because they have nothing to hold them in their own dimension."
Nothing to hold them . . .
The words were flying out of Takeru's mouth before he could even think of them. "Ken! I've got you! We're not leaving you, Ken. We won't leave you."
A small distance away, Davis's head snapped up from Chibimon when he heard TK's voice. They're . . . They're glowing. The two boys were glowing. Not their Crests, but the boys themselves, were glowing.
The Dagomon had noticed that phenomena, too, and looked none-too-pleased by it. The tide surged as he prepared to make another strike.
Davis jumped as his guide's voice suddenly screamed in his head. // Help them! //
The leader of the neo-Digidestined half pulled, half drug himself to his feet. He spied Kari a small distance away holding Salamon's limp form and sobbing and stumbled over, hold his partner close to him. He reached down to grip her wrist. "Help them!" The boy yanked her viciously to her feet and whirled around, still holding Chibimon with his free hand. His chocolate brown eyes were hard as he raked them over the stunned and burnt out forms of Cody and Yolei. "HELP THEM!"
He threw Kari down next to TK and then staggered down to sit beside Ken.
The young girl pushed herself up and caught a good look at Ken and TK's face. The blonde's expression was frightened and anguished as he tried to hold Ken. The indigo-haired youth was phasing and trembling and his lips were stretched wide around a horrible scream that didn't seem to be ending. The two of them looked like they were barely holding on . . .
"We're here, Ken. It's alright!" Takeru whispered. It looked like he was the only thing stopping Ken from shaking himself apart.
"No!"
His blue eyes flickered up and met Davis's brown ones as the other boy fell to the ground next to him.
"NO!"
Davis threw him free arm around Ken's waist. "We're here," he murmured.
They aren't even Blessed, Kari realized suddenly. A wave of shame swept through her. They weren't Blessed and yet they were still struggling.
Kari hugged TK close to her. "We're together."
An immense wave rose out of the water.
Yolei had Poromon and Patamon in her arms. She sat down in the sand beside Davis and rested her head against his shoulder. "We're here."
"We're here, Ken. It's alright!" Takeru called again, desperation and panic tingeing his voice.
The other boy had stopped fading and his image was solidifying with the addition of every Digidestined. He was still trembling, however—still struggling.
Cody set Leafmon and Upamon down on the ground and knelt next to Ken. He placed his tiny hand on TK's and looked at the quaking genius. His voice was quiet and grave. "Come back, Ken."
Ken solidified.
"Thousand-""Ken. We need you, Ken. Please. Whatever you're fighting, let it go . . ."
Tears slid down Kari's cheeks. "Ken . . ."
Cody watched Ken and felt a sudden pain contract his heart. "Let it go, Ken. Let it go. I believe in you."
A massive shudder wracked the boy's body and then he was completely still.
"Waves!!!"The enormous wave exploded outward towards the huddled group of children and unconscious digimon. At that instant Ken's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright.
He extended his bleeding right hand towards the coming darkness and his words were calm and emotionless. "No more."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
