Digimon: A Bigger Threat
Episode 2
"Loosing Davis"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
Author's note: I do not own Digimon, or any of the characters. This series is based off a couple of dreams I've been having. I'm introducing new characters, including my babies, my cartoon monsters, Garz and Zarg. The Digimon and Digidestined are not mine, but Garz, Zarg, and Keesma are. The morning after I wrote the, uh... boat scene in this one, '20,000 Digi-Leagues Under the Sea' was the new episode! *Taps fingers together and smirks evily* Soon, I will be to the point when it gets REALLY good. *Shmeilia's too lazy to re-write her early episodes, so please forgive*
From a distance a pair of glowing red eyes watched the unsuspecting Digidestined as they trod along the dirt path. "Foolish children. They have no idea what they have gotten themselves into." The voice rasped, cold, inhuman.
The kids came nearer to some ruins at the base of Infinity Mountain, where their Digimon were supposedly hiding. That location had been far from the center of the Dark Explosion that had ripped the Digital World to its knees. That was the only reason those miserable creatures passing themselves as monsters had survived.
The eyes scanned each kid, looking for the perfect target.
Immeditately, they were drawn to Kari. She gave off such a strong aura it was almost as if she had a spotlight on her. There existed in her a power so great that only one with an outside view of things could understand it. Could she be the Key, the individual destined to reshape the universe to create Paradise? Control her, and not even the great Powers could interfere. But there was no getting directly to her. Period. She was protected. The same went for TK, her gaurdian and soul mate. But there was a way of getting at her indirectly.
Next came the youngest member, Cody. He was out because of his intimate connection to the Powers, he could see anything coming from a thousand miles away.
Neither Yolei nor Ken were very close to Kari, therefore had no use. The evil presence barely gave them a glance.
But there was one other member. His feelings for her could be easily manipulated. They made him weak. Yes, Davis was the perfect choice.
"Sheesh, I haven't done this much walking since...Never!" Davis complained. "Aren't we there yet?"
"No!" was the collective responce.
"Oh, man, I'm out of shape," he mumbled to himself. "As soon as we get back I'm hittin' the gym."
"Doesn't playing soccer give you enough exercise?" Ken asked.
"Not really."
"He eats too much junk food," TK jokingly commented. He had already put their earlier disagreement behind him.
Unfortunately, Davis had not. "You should know, T.Z., I'm not the one with half a package of Jolly Ranchers in my pocket!"
TK rolled his eyes and decided he wouldn't even bother responding to that.
"I could draw up a training schedule for you, Davis," Ken offered enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.
Davis knew that probably ment getting up at the crack of dawn, and running fifty miles every day, rain or shine. For better or for worse. "Um, that's nice, Ken. Thanks for offering, but I don't-"
Ken slapped him on the back. "Nonsense! This will be more fun than ANY gym!"
Davis could only cough in responce.
"You see those ruins over there?" Cody called from way out in front. "Our Digimon should be in there somewhere."
Yolei trotted up next to him. "That's great, Cody, but how do we find them?"
"One of them will find us, I guess."
Now that they were getting so close, their spirits began to lift. "Come on, what are we waiting for?" TK broke into a run. Laughing, he yelled, "I'll race you!"
It was a bit further away than any of them had anticipated, and when they got there, they were completely out of breath.
"Where do we start looking?" Kari asked, resting against a cold granite block. After the long run it felt simply wonderful. "They could be anywhere!"
"I don't know where to begin," Cody confessed, leaning his on his knees and gasping for breath. "Wish I did. Sorry."
Ken was the only one unaffected by the sudden burst of exercise. In fact, he wasn't even slightly winded. He sat next to Kari and looked around at the rest of the team huffing and puffing just from a little sprint. "I think you could all use my training advice. You guys are in sorry condition."
"Lets split up," Davis instructed, momentarily forgetting that he was no longer in charge.
But Cody waved that suggestion away. "That's probably not a good idea. We need to stick together for as long as possible. Remember that there are demons still out here, and if we're looking for our Digimon, then you can bet they are too."
"Yeah, whatever."
Cody finally snapped. "WOULD YOU STOP TREATING ME LIKE I'M A LITTLE KID! I COULD BEAT YOU UP, if I wanted to. Which I don't"
"Oh, yeah, right!"
Yolei stepped up in between the two before something really serious could go wrong. "He really could, Davis. Remember, he knows not only kendo, but almost every form of Martial Arts on the face of the planet. He could beat your butt every day of the week!"
"Take that back you little-"
Kari grabbed his arm. "Please, don't do this, Davis. Stop picking fights with everybody!"
"I'm-Kari, I'm not-" he looked into those big eyes, now almost overflowing with tears. He just couldn't be mad. Not if it hurt her. "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a little useless, and I'm not used to it. I'm just frustrated. I'll try to stay in control from now on."
"Thank you!" Kari gave him a huge hug. She knew just how to manipulate him to get him to do almost anything she wanted.
Now that things were under control again, Davis stood up and looked around for the first time since arriving there. Nothing. Just rubble and ashes. "Uh, guys, there's nothing h-"
Out of the corner of his eye was a faint shimmer of blue where it shouldn't have been. After squinting at it for what seemed like an incredible amount of time, it clicked. Davis couldn't believe it, either. "Wha-ha-huh?"
The others stood up, suddenly on their gaurd. "What is it, Davis?" Ken asked, searching the ruins for any unatural disturbance.
"It's-It's..." He took off in a quick jog. He came to the crumbling remains of a wall, vaulted over it and disappeared. There remained only an echo of his voice. "Come on, you guys. It's Veemon! They're alive! They're ALIVE!"
"Well, I told you they would be," Cody mumbled as he scrambled over the decaying wall after him.
Sitting in the middle of the ruins, Veemon seemed incredibly small. There he was, just staring at his hands, oblivious to any danger he might be putting himself in out in the open. Hopelessness lingered in his eyes. He didn't even look up as Davis approached. "You're too late," he whispered.
"Too late? What do you mean? Too late for what?"
"They're all..." Veemon choked back a sob. "They made it to the loopholes, but you took too long getting here. They're dead."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Cody got in the poor Digimon's face. "I should know. They have to be alive!"
"They aren't. I'm not sure what went wrong, but... They're all gone... And I wish I could join them."
"Hey, now, Veemon, old buddy, don't be like that! I can't see how anyone could wish to die. But you don't have to worry, I'm here now."
"Yeah, well, where were you when I needed you the most, huh? Where were you, Davis?"
Ouch.
"I-I got here as quickly as I could."
"You weren't quick enough."
Those words went straight to his heart, and stayed there. He stepped back from his now former best friend.
Cody wasn't convinced. "My sources told me that they are alive and well!"
"Wait," Ken put up his hand. His voice was soft and quiet. "Did they really?"
"What?"
"You told us they were hiding, but you never said that they were all right."
"Gennai said-"
"Are you sure he knew what he was talking about?"
"Hey, Gennai's always been reliable!" TK probably had known him the longest.
"Well, all I'm saying is we ought to be ready to go on this mission without them."
TK growled. "No, I don't believe you!"
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Veemon jumped from atop of the big block he'd been sitting on.
"I don't beleive you! Patamon is still alive, I can feel it!" Before anyone could say anything else, he took off in a random direction. Tears flew from his eyes.
Kari ran after him. "Oh, TK, come back! Where are you going?"
"Patamon, where are you? Patamon!" His voice back echoed back, swallowed up by the wind.
"TK don't do this!" Kari grabbed his hand. Somewhere in the distance, a sound filtered in from the howling of the wind.
"Did you hear that?"
"No," she squeezed his hand.
"There it was again. Didn't you hear it?"
There was a pause. "TK-"
He yanked his hand away from her. "I'm not crazy, Kari."
"I never said you-"
"I hear Patamon." He turned away from her, into the wind. "Patamon! Patamon!"
A faint, inaudible responce.
"Patamon! Where are you?"
"TK!"
Kari finally heard it too. "I don't believe it! That really is Patamon."
"I told you. Now come on, I think I know where it's coming from." TK led the way, now more determined than ever to find his long lost friend.
Veemon turned up his nose away from that direction and crossed his arms. "I don't see why he doesn't believe me."
"Frankly, I find it kinda hard to believe myself," Cody told him, still stuck on that idea that since stuff that he shouldn't have known kept popping in his head, it must be true.
"Hey, I don't like you questioning Veemon," Davis said (in a calm, non-threatening way, mind you) "Why would he lie about something like this?"
What sounded like a strange cackle came from his Digipartner, but it quickly became a hacking cough. "Are you all right, old buddy?"
"Oh, I'll be *cough-cough* fine, my good *hack-gasp* friend."
"Uh, okaay."
From the direction Kari and TK had headed, a blast of green light cut through the dark eerie landscape. The forest grew insanely fast around the ruins, up the side of the mountain, and across the horizon. It continued until it had reached all parts of the Digital World.
Then, suddenly, a rumble shook the ground like a herd of angry elephant mothers.
"What in the good Digi-World is going on here?" Yolei shouted over the approaching stampede.
"Yolei! At long last, I have found you!" Suddenly, a rather scrawny Hawkmon dropped onto her head, causing her to shreik uncontrolably. "Calm down there. It's only me."
Her eyes grew as wide as her glasses. "HAWKMON, YOU'RE ALIVE!"
He smiled down at her. "Of course I'm alive, my dear. I knew you'd come eventually."
She yanked him from her helmet and squished him in a choking bear hug. "I don't know wether to kiss you or kill you. I thought you were dead!"
"I'm not now, but I will be if you don't let go soon!" He flapped his wings and lost a few feathers.
Just then the others popped over and around the boulders.
Armadillomon tackled Cody. "I'm so glad to see you-I was startin' to think you'd never come-neat outfit-My how you've grown-oh, it looks like you lost your helmet-man, you need a haircut!"
Cody's head spun slightly from that sudden impact. "I sure didn't see that one coming! Yes, I'm glad to see you too, Armadillomon. Now clam down and get off me. I can't breathe."
"Ken!" Wormmon hugged the boy's boot. "I'm so glad to see you again!"
Tears sprang into Ken's eyes as he hugged his partner. "Me too, old friend. Me too!"
Kari came back with Gatomon in her arms followed by TK who, it seemed had undergone his transformation. Like Cody his armor was mostly gold, but the other color was viridian. The helmet he wore strangly resembled that weird hat he wore as a kid, execpt it had the Crest of Hope in the blue jewel. Patamon perched himself ontop of that helmet, and he wouldn't have been happier if he'd found a whole mountain made of ice cream.
Last and most confusingly came...Veemon?
"Davis!" Veemon started to run to his partner, but stopped short when he realized there was another him. "Who's that?"
"Yeah," TK laughed. "I knew there was something weird going on when that one started being mean."
Davis looked from one Veemon to the other. "They look the-"
With a growl the first one leaped at Davis, who easily dodged. Before anyone could do anything, it grew and twisted into a monster that made Kabuterrimon look adorable. Too many legs, too many eyes. Way too big. It opened a mouth lined with thousands of needle teeth and spoke in an animal-like voice that sent chills down the kids' spines. "Master requests your presence, Davis."
Now if a big, nasty, demon-monster formally adressed you and told you that it's master wanted an aduience with you, I don't think you'd be too thrilled, either. "No!" Davis backed up as quickly as possible. He smacked into one of the larger blocks and found there was no other place to run.
"There's no escaping it," the thing told him, coming slowly closer. Enjoying the fear that radiated off him. "Your destiny awaits."
"Guys? Help!" his voice squeaked, almost unrecognizable. Unfortunately, the demon had placed itself between Davis and the rest of the Digidestined. There was nothing they could do for him.
With a laugh, it swallowed the shreiking Davis. Then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
It happened so fast. No one had even seen it coming.
"He's gone!" Veemon ran to the spot where the demon had been just seconds before.
Cody swallowed hard. "All right. I hate to do this but...let's split up. Two people stay here and search for that thing, while the rest of us continue on our next mission."
"I'll volunteer to stay here." Kari jumped up and waved her hand.
TK couldn't believe she was so eagar to help Davis. And there was no way he was going to leave the two of them alone. "I'll stay too."
"Alright. The rest of us move out," Cody instructed, pointing the way to another path. He was starting to get used to the leadership position.
"Us too?" The Digimon asked.
"You too!" Cody marched away. Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged.
* * * *
A dungeon. The only light came from a lone torch at the end of the room that threw an eerie pale light over the uneven stone floor and an orange glow on the walls. And silence. A ringing silence. The only sounds to be heard came from Davis. His heavy breathing sent little icy clouds into the freezing air and his heart pounded like a drum in his ears. There was no way of knowing how long he'd been there, by himself, chained to the wall. The last thing he remembered happening was that big thing had eaten him. Not a pleasent experience, mind you. It had unimaginably bad breath.
"Hello, Davis," a silky voice called from in the shadows. The very sound of it made him want to hide somewhere. "Don't be afraid, My Pet."
My Pet? "Wh-who are you?"
A pair of red eyes opened. "I have many names."
Out of the darkness stepped a woman who looked (only to Davis, mind you) almost exactly like Kari, only with purple hair and black, depthless eyes. She wore a tight fitting velvet red dress that flowed all the way to the floor. A golden chain hung around her waist. She put her hands on her hips. "I've been waiting for you."
"Me?" Davis squeaked.
She got extremely close to him and ran a long, cold finger slowly over his lips. He sharply inhaled the stale dungeon air and held it in. No one so beautiful had ever come so close before. She moved her hand gently down his neck and across his chest. He squirmed at her dominating touch, which was exactly the reaction she wanted. She spoke softly -almost whispering- fully enjoying the fear she could feel growing inside of him. "Yes you, silly."
He tried to remove himself from under her gaze, but there was no excaping. He was chained to the wall, after all. "What do you want from me?"
Suddenly, she pushed away. "It's always about you, isn't it, Davis?"
"Huh?"
She put on a mock-hurt face. "What about my needs?" He said nothing in return, only struggled against his bonds. She sighed and moved in closer. "Look, I'll cut to the chase. I want you to give me your body."
His eyes went wide as he finally figured out what was going on. "You're one of those demon-things!"
"'One of those demon-things'? Honey, I am the queen demon-thing, thank you very much. One of my names you might know is Hecate, the Greek godess of Black Magic. Never heard of it? Okay. My favorite name is Keesma, Emperess of Evil. It has a very pleasant ring to it, don't you think, My Pet?"
"There's no way I'm letting you control me!"
"Oh, I won't really control you. Your moral mortal soul will just be devoured and I'll take it's place. You won't even notice I'm there. Besides, there are several ways I can get you to give yourself to me, Davis. Very few of which you will enjoy, so why don't you just save both of us a lot of time and pain by just-"
"No!"
This wasn't going to be a piece of cake after all. He wasn't as weak as she had made him out to be. That stupid Crest of Courage was in the way. She picked through the almost endless methods of torture she could use on him, looking for the most effective one. "Hmm...What do you fear the most?"
Davis hadn't really thought about that before. "I-I'm not telling you."
She took his head in her hands and stared deep into his eyes. He tried to break free of her grasp, but she had an unusal strength. "Come on now. You can't lie to me. What, more than anything else, makes you want to die to get away from it. And don't say me, because that's a given."
There was a pause. Her empty black eyes to reached around inside of him, and there was absoultely no way he could resist. Finally, a small, pathetic voice answered. "Rejection."
"What do you mean?"
Davis tried to resist saying anything, but the words came straight from the depths of his soul. "I don't want to be alone."
Bingo. "But you are alone, aren't you?"
"Yes, completely alone." It was almost like someone else was talking.
This was precisely what she'd been looking for. "Let me in, and you'll never be alone again."
Tempting. Davis snapped out of it. "No! You're evil!"
She snorted. "And there's a problem?"
Nothing. Davis looked away.
She scratched her head in thought, then slowly, an evil smile creeped across her face. She laughed, "You've never had the attention of a female before, have you?"
The way she phrased that didn't seem quite right.
The demon queen laughed even more in his silence. Then, without warning, she drew him into a full kiss. It was a cold, agressive kiss, lacking the one thing needed to make it special: Feeling. You know, love. Still, it was wonderful. Davis found himself kissing back, hungerly. A wonderful, tingling feeling washed over him. Her kiss was a sweet nectar, and he'd never before tasted the likes of it. More, more. He needed more. Finally, he had found someone to give him the attention he ached for.
Just as he was getting into it, she purposefully broke away. "Did you like that?"
More. He needed it. He only whimpered slightly.
"Do you want me?"
A small voice in the back of his mind was asking 'What do you think you're doing? That is the embodiment of evil! Don't talk to her. She doesn't care about you. She's using you!'
He nodded, trying not to listen to it, but found he could not. "It's-This isn't right. You don't lo-"
"Did I ever mention the word love? I asked you if you wanted me."
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to sort out his conflicting emotions. "I want...someone...who will care about me. For me. N-No matter what. You can't give that to me."
"Oh, can't I?" She ran the back of her cold hand over gently over his neck, and he could feel himself blush. She spoke in a soft voice, "Forget that silly notion of love. I know what you really want."
"What's that?" he whispered, almost afraid to know.
She brushed her lips slightly against his and played with the hair at the base of his neck. "Whether you realize it or not, you want a girl who will control you. Who will use you. PUNISH you. For everything. You may think you want to be loved, but you know no one will ever really care that much about you. Besides, a loving relationship would be too easy. You'd get bored."
Those harsh words actually brought hot tears to his eyes. "No, I don't believe you." But he did; deep down inside he knew she was only mirroring the truth. It was wrong, but she was right. Why was it like this? Why didn't anyone want to be with him?
She wrapped her arms tightly around him and nuzzled him softly, listening with some amusement to his soft, trembling breaths. Her voice took on a deadlier tone. "Give yourself to me, and I'll give you everything you need. I can make that horrible lonely feeling go away."
'Don't listen to her!'
"No, thank you. I think I can live without your help."
She sighed. "What am I going to do with you? My patientice is wearing thin. There are many better things I could be doing at this moment."
"Please, can't you just let me go?"
"And let you go crawl back to your little Digi-friends for help? I don't think so." Suddenly, her eyes glowed blood red. She reached her clawed hand into his gut and twisted, sending a wave of hot pain searing through him. "What no screams?"
Davis barely held back the urge to just start screaming and never stop. He clenched his teeth together and managed to choke out, "I won't give you that satisfaction, beast."
She twisted a little more, and delighted to see him squirm in agony. "You should just give up. Do you think they care that you're gone? They're not even looking for you."
"LAIR!" it was true they didn't love him, but they wouldn't just give up on him. They WOULDN'T!
Finally, she let go of him, and he slumped down, almost completely drained of energy. Laughing, the demon queen snapped his goggles. "You've only begun to feel my powers, Boy."
His insides were throbing. It was painful to even breathe.
Even though he knew it was a mistake, Davis managed to a deep breath and dare to ask a question of his captor. "If you're so powerful, then why do you need...me?"
"Ya know, that's a really good question, Davis." She pondered that for a moment. "Well, I guess I really don't mind telling you. You are a stepping stone in my master plan. You're the weak link in the Digidestined chain. You're easy to get at, and you do have a considerable amount of untapped power hidden deep within your heart. If I could get to it, there would be just enough there to last me until I take the big one down."
In his present condition, Davis couldn't understand half of what she was saying. The room, which wouldn't quit moving, kept getting fuzzy.
She threw him against the wall with the force of a truck. "Are you payin' any attention to me? You're not slipping on me, now are you, My Pet?"
He focused his eyes with more than a little effort. His mind was beginning to cloud over. "I think you punctured somethin'."
"Oh, poor baby," she whispered in his ear. "Now see some of what else I can do."
* * * *
*Author's note: I wrote this the night before I saw the episode '20,000 Digi-leagues Under the Sea' and discovered this had been an awful lot like Cody's nightmare as a kid. Strange, huh? Oh, well...Maybe this is why Davis kept bagging his head against the railing in that episode.*
In the blink of an eye, he plunged into the black ocean. The ocean. Not a hallucination, but really real. Tall waves broke over Davis's head, forcing cold salty water down his throat, trying to drown him. His first, natural reaction was to kick to the surface, but every time he did, another wave would come crashing down on him, shoving him under again before he could fill his lungs with enough sweet air. It didn't help that it was so dark he couldn't see a foot in front of him. Already cloudy, his mind couldn't handle the stress. Panic overwhelmed him, and with what little air he found he cried for help. Although it was a futile action, he had nightmares as a kid of drownding in the middle of the ocean, all alone. It couldn't end like that.
Suddenly, about twenty feet in front of him, the turbulant waters calmed until the surface was as smooth as glass and a gental fog rolled arcoss it. The water around Davis, however, remained violent. What strength he had left back in the dungeon had been sucked out of him by his failing struggle in the near freezing sea. Plus, the wind was blowing him in the opposite direction. There was no way he could reach safety, now. Just as he began to give up hope, he saw a light in the darkness. It came from a little lantern hung on a row boat. All his friends were in that boat, and it was being piloted by TK
"Guys, help. Please!" Davis called with the last of his strength.
"Did you hear something?" Ken looked around the perfectly calm waters, but not past them into the stormy darkness where Davis failed hopelessly. It was almost as if he couldn't see him.
TK, however, seemed to be staring straight at him. With a smile he swung the boat around so the others had there backs to him. "Oh, its just your imagination. Let's keep going. Remember, we've got a mission to accomplish. And the sooner we finish, the sooner we get home."
"What about Davis?" Kari asked him.
TK snorted. "Davis is a traitor. Just forget about him."
"You're right, TK," Kari scooted next to him and gave him a big hug. "You're always right."
With that, the rowboat and everyone on it disappeared into the mist. And Davis slipped under for good.
* * * * *
"How'd you like that?"
His mind snapped back to reality. Back to the silent, still dungeon. Precious air filled his lungs once again, and he coughed just for the sheer ability to do so.
"Pleasant, wasn't it?" Keesma wrapped her arms around him and licked his ear. "I could do that all day, but unfortunately, you cannot. Give up now, before I'm forced to do something really nasty."
He tried to shake her off, but found could barely move. His muscles still had fatigue from flailing around in the freezing ocean, and his insides were still bleeding. He coughed again and spoke in a raw voice. "You'll never get to me."
There was a pause. "Oh, really. Is that so?"
He refused to give her anything else.
She sighed. "Fine. I can control every muscle in your body. In theory, I could just take over you, but it just wouldn't be the same."
He looked away. "If you're looking to impress me, than you're holding your breath."
"You know what," she said, ignoring him. She ran her finger over his chest. "Your heart is the strongest muscle in your body."
Her finger stopped directly over his heart, and it stopped. Just stopped beating, like it was natural or something. The blood slowed to a cold stop in his veins, a rather eerie, disturbing feeling. "You now have only a few minutes to live, so if you have anything important to say, you should say it now."
'Something's wrong. Air! You're drownding. Air! AIR!' His brain screamed because of the sudden lack of oxygen. Out of instinct Davis began gulping more and more air, but it was only getting worse. A cold tingling feeling washed over him, and his vision began to go red.
She ran her fingers through his hair and forced him to look into her empty black eyes. His eyes rolled momentarily back and she laughed, "Just like a fish out of water. Breath all you want, it will never get to your brain."
"Please, help me," he gasped. He was panting now, panic and instinct overwhelming him. "I don't want to die like this."
She stepped back into the shadows. Only her eyes glowing red could be seen. "Nope. You've got to ask nicely."
Something inside of Davis told him to just let go. 'Never give in. It would be better to die, than to let that thing get ahold of you.' But his instincts were screaming a lot louder than that. He cried, "Help me, please!...I-I'll do...ANYTHING!"
Victory! An evil smile spread across her face. "Anything?"
"...Yes. Anything."
"Then let me into your soul, and I shall restore you."
'No, no no NO! Don't! Think of your friends. It will be better for them if you die now. Have courage!' But, no. "Alright, I...give up."
Then the darkness closed in.
And he embraced it.
What will happen now that Davis has given in to the Demon Queen?
And what about the others?
Find out in Episode 3:
"When Courage is lost"
Episode 2
"Loosing Davis"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
Author's note: I do not own Digimon, or any of the characters. This series is based off a couple of dreams I've been having. I'm introducing new characters, including my babies, my cartoon monsters, Garz and Zarg. The Digimon and Digidestined are not mine, but Garz, Zarg, and Keesma are. The morning after I wrote the, uh... boat scene in this one, '20,000 Digi-Leagues Under the Sea' was the new episode! *Taps fingers together and smirks evily* Soon, I will be to the point when it gets REALLY good. *Shmeilia's too lazy to re-write her early episodes, so please forgive*
From a distance a pair of glowing red eyes watched the unsuspecting Digidestined as they trod along the dirt path. "Foolish children. They have no idea what they have gotten themselves into." The voice rasped, cold, inhuman.
The kids came nearer to some ruins at the base of Infinity Mountain, where their Digimon were supposedly hiding. That location had been far from the center of the Dark Explosion that had ripped the Digital World to its knees. That was the only reason those miserable creatures passing themselves as monsters had survived.
The eyes scanned each kid, looking for the perfect target.
Immeditately, they were drawn to Kari. She gave off such a strong aura it was almost as if she had a spotlight on her. There existed in her a power so great that only one with an outside view of things could understand it. Could she be the Key, the individual destined to reshape the universe to create Paradise? Control her, and not even the great Powers could interfere. But there was no getting directly to her. Period. She was protected. The same went for TK, her gaurdian and soul mate. But there was a way of getting at her indirectly.
Next came the youngest member, Cody. He was out because of his intimate connection to the Powers, he could see anything coming from a thousand miles away.
Neither Yolei nor Ken were very close to Kari, therefore had no use. The evil presence barely gave them a glance.
But there was one other member. His feelings for her could be easily manipulated. They made him weak. Yes, Davis was the perfect choice.
"Sheesh, I haven't done this much walking since...Never!" Davis complained. "Aren't we there yet?"
"No!" was the collective responce.
"Oh, man, I'm out of shape," he mumbled to himself. "As soon as we get back I'm hittin' the gym."
"Doesn't playing soccer give you enough exercise?" Ken asked.
"Not really."
"He eats too much junk food," TK jokingly commented. He had already put their earlier disagreement behind him.
Unfortunately, Davis had not. "You should know, T.Z., I'm not the one with half a package of Jolly Ranchers in my pocket!"
TK rolled his eyes and decided he wouldn't even bother responding to that.
"I could draw up a training schedule for you, Davis," Ken offered enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.
Davis knew that probably ment getting up at the crack of dawn, and running fifty miles every day, rain or shine. For better or for worse. "Um, that's nice, Ken. Thanks for offering, but I don't-"
Ken slapped him on the back. "Nonsense! This will be more fun than ANY gym!"
Davis could only cough in responce.
"You see those ruins over there?" Cody called from way out in front. "Our Digimon should be in there somewhere."
Yolei trotted up next to him. "That's great, Cody, but how do we find them?"
"One of them will find us, I guess."
Now that they were getting so close, their spirits began to lift. "Come on, what are we waiting for?" TK broke into a run. Laughing, he yelled, "I'll race you!"
It was a bit further away than any of them had anticipated, and when they got there, they were completely out of breath.
"Where do we start looking?" Kari asked, resting against a cold granite block. After the long run it felt simply wonderful. "They could be anywhere!"
"I don't know where to begin," Cody confessed, leaning his on his knees and gasping for breath. "Wish I did. Sorry."
Ken was the only one unaffected by the sudden burst of exercise. In fact, he wasn't even slightly winded. He sat next to Kari and looked around at the rest of the team huffing and puffing just from a little sprint. "I think you could all use my training advice. You guys are in sorry condition."
"Lets split up," Davis instructed, momentarily forgetting that he was no longer in charge.
But Cody waved that suggestion away. "That's probably not a good idea. We need to stick together for as long as possible. Remember that there are demons still out here, and if we're looking for our Digimon, then you can bet they are too."
"Yeah, whatever."
Cody finally snapped. "WOULD YOU STOP TREATING ME LIKE I'M A LITTLE KID! I COULD BEAT YOU UP, if I wanted to. Which I don't"
"Oh, yeah, right!"
Yolei stepped up in between the two before something really serious could go wrong. "He really could, Davis. Remember, he knows not only kendo, but almost every form of Martial Arts on the face of the planet. He could beat your butt every day of the week!"
"Take that back you little-"
Kari grabbed his arm. "Please, don't do this, Davis. Stop picking fights with everybody!"
"I'm-Kari, I'm not-" he looked into those big eyes, now almost overflowing with tears. He just couldn't be mad. Not if it hurt her. "I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a little useless, and I'm not used to it. I'm just frustrated. I'll try to stay in control from now on."
"Thank you!" Kari gave him a huge hug. She knew just how to manipulate him to get him to do almost anything she wanted.
Now that things were under control again, Davis stood up and looked around for the first time since arriving there. Nothing. Just rubble and ashes. "Uh, guys, there's nothing h-"
Out of the corner of his eye was a faint shimmer of blue where it shouldn't have been. After squinting at it for what seemed like an incredible amount of time, it clicked. Davis couldn't believe it, either. "Wha-ha-huh?"
The others stood up, suddenly on their gaurd. "What is it, Davis?" Ken asked, searching the ruins for any unatural disturbance.
"It's-It's..." He took off in a quick jog. He came to the crumbling remains of a wall, vaulted over it and disappeared. There remained only an echo of his voice. "Come on, you guys. It's Veemon! They're alive! They're ALIVE!"
"Well, I told you they would be," Cody mumbled as he scrambled over the decaying wall after him.
Sitting in the middle of the ruins, Veemon seemed incredibly small. There he was, just staring at his hands, oblivious to any danger he might be putting himself in out in the open. Hopelessness lingered in his eyes. He didn't even look up as Davis approached. "You're too late," he whispered.
"Too late? What do you mean? Too late for what?"
"They're all..." Veemon choked back a sob. "They made it to the loopholes, but you took too long getting here. They're dead."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Cody got in the poor Digimon's face. "I should know. They have to be alive!"
"They aren't. I'm not sure what went wrong, but... They're all gone... And I wish I could join them."
"Hey, now, Veemon, old buddy, don't be like that! I can't see how anyone could wish to die. But you don't have to worry, I'm here now."
"Yeah, well, where were you when I needed you the most, huh? Where were you, Davis?"
Ouch.
"I-I got here as quickly as I could."
"You weren't quick enough."
Those words went straight to his heart, and stayed there. He stepped back from his now former best friend.
Cody wasn't convinced. "My sources told me that they are alive and well!"
"Wait," Ken put up his hand. His voice was soft and quiet. "Did they really?"
"What?"
"You told us they were hiding, but you never said that they were all right."
"Gennai said-"
"Are you sure he knew what he was talking about?"
"Hey, Gennai's always been reliable!" TK probably had known him the longest.
"Well, all I'm saying is we ought to be ready to go on this mission without them."
TK growled. "No, I don't believe you!"
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Veemon jumped from atop of the big block he'd been sitting on.
"I don't beleive you! Patamon is still alive, I can feel it!" Before anyone could say anything else, he took off in a random direction. Tears flew from his eyes.
Kari ran after him. "Oh, TK, come back! Where are you going?"
"Patamon, where are you? Patamon!" His voice back echoed back, swallowed up by the wind.
"TK don't do this!" Kari grabbed his hand. Somewhere in the distance, a sound filtered in from the howling of the wind.
"Did you hear that?"
"No," she squeezed his hand.
"There it was again. Didn't you hear it?"
There was a pause. "TK-"
He yanked his hand away from her. "I'm not crazy, Kari."
"I never said you-"
"I hear Patamon." He turned away from her, into the wind. "Patamon! Patamon!"
A faint, inaudible responce.
"Patamon! Where are you?"
"TK!"
Kari finally heard it too. "I don't believe it! That really is Patamon."
"I told you. Now come on, I think I know where it's coming from." TK led the way, now more determined than ever to find his long lost friend.
Veemon turned up his nose away from that direction and crossed his arms. "I don't see why he doesn't believe me."
"Frankly, I find it kinda hard to believe myself," Cody told him, still stuck on that idea that since stuff that he shouldn't have known kept popping in his head, it must be true.
"Hey, I don't like you questioning Veemon," Davis said (in a calm, non-threatening way, mind you) "Why would he lie about something like this?"
What sounded like a strange cackle came from his Digipartner, but it quickly became a hacking cough. "Are you all right, old buddy?"
"Oh, I'll be *cough-cough* fine, my good *hack-gasp* friend."
"Uh, okaay."
From the direction Kari and TK had headed, a blast of green light cut through the dark eerie landscape. The forest grew insanely fast around the ruins, up the side of the mountain, and across the horizon. It continued until it had reached all parts of the Digital World.
Then, suddenly, a rumble shook the ground like a herd of angry elephant mothers.
"What in the good Digi-World is going on here?" Yolei shouted over the approaching stampede.
"Yolei! At long last, I have found you!" Suddenly, a rather scrawny Hawkmon dropped onto her head, causing her to shreik uncontrolably. "Calm down there. It's only me."
Her eyes grew as wide as her glasses. "HAWKMON, YOU'RE ALIVE!"
He smiled down at her. "Of course I'm alive, my dear. I knew you'd come eventually."
She yanked him from her helmet and squished him in a choking bear hug. "I don't know wether to kiss you or kill you. I thought you were dead!"
"I'm not now, but I will be if you don't let go soon!" He flapped his wings and lost a few feathers.
Just then the others popped over and around the boulders.
Armadillomon tackled Cody. "I'm so glad to see you-I was startin' to think you'd never come-neat outfit-My how you've grown-oh, it looks like you lost your helmet-man, you need a haircut!"
Cody's head spun slightly from that sudden impact. "I sure didn't see that one coming! Yes, I'm glad to see you too, Armadillomon. Now clam down and get off me. I can't breathe."
"Ken!" Wormmon hugged the boy's boot. "I'm so glad to see you again!"
Tears sprang into Ken's eyes as he hugged his partner. "Me too, old friend. Me too!"
Kari came back with Gatomon in her arms followed by TK who, it seemed had undergone his transformation. Like Cody his armor was mostly gold, but the other color was viridian. The helmet he wore strangly resembled that weird hat he wore as a kid, execpt it had the Crest of Hope in the blue jewel. Patamon perched himself ontop of that helmet, and he wouldn't have been happier if he'd found a whole mountain made of ice cream.
Last and most confusingly came...Veemon?
"Davis!" Veemon started to run to his partner, but stopped short when he realized there was another him. "Who's that?"
"Yeah," TK laughed. "I knew there was something weird going on when that one started being mean."
Davis looked from one Veemon to the other. "They look the-"
With a growl the first one leaped at Davis, who easily dodged. Before anyone could do anything, it grew and twisted into a monster that made Kabuterrimon look adorable. Too many legs, too many eyes. Way too big. It opened a mouth lined with thousands of needle teeth and spoke in an animal-like voice that sent chills down the kids' spines. "Master requests your presence, Davis."
Now if a big, nasty, demon-monster formally adressed you and told you that it's master wanted an aduience with you, I don't think you'd be too thrilled, either. "No!" Davis backed up as quickly as possible. He smacked into one of the larger blocks and found there was no other place to run.
"There's no escaping it," the thing told him, coming slowly closer. Enjoying the fear that radiated off him. "Your destiny awaits."
"Guys? Help!" his voice squeaked, almost unrecognizable. Unfortunately, the demon had placed itself between Davis and the rest of the Digidestined. There was nothing they could do for him.
With a laugh, it swallowed the shreiking Davis. Then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
It happened so fast. No one had even seen it coming.
"He's gone!" Veemon ran to the spot where the demon had been just seconds before.
Cody swallowed hard. "All right. I hate to do this but...let's split up. Two people stay here and search for that thing, while the rest of us continue on our next mission."
"I'll volunteer to stay here." Kari jumped up and waved her hand.
TK couldn't believe she was so eagar to help Davis. And there was no way he was going to leave the two of them alone. "I'll stay too."
"Alright. The rest of us move out," Cody instructed, pointing the way to another path. He was starting to get used to the leadership position.
"Us too?" The Digimon asked.
"You too!" Cody marched away. Everyone else looked at each other and shrugged.
* * * *
A dungeon. The only light came from a lone torch at the end of the room that threw an eerie pale light over the uneven stone floor and an orange glow on the walls. And silence. A ringing silence. The only sounds to be heard came from Davis. His heavy breathing sent little icy clouds into the freezing air and his heart pounded like a drum in his ears. There was no way of knowing how long he'd been there, by himself, chained to the wall. The last thing he remembered happening was that big thing had eaten him. Not a pleasent experience, mind you. It had unimaginably bad breath.
"Hello, Davis," a silky voice called from in the shadows. The very sound of it made him want to hide somewhere. "Don't be afraid, My Pet."
My Pet? "Wh-who are you?"
A pair of red eyes opened. "I have many names."
Out of the darkness stepped a woman who looked (only to Davis, mind you) almost exactly like Kari, only with purple hair and black, depthless eyes. She wore a tight fitting velvet red dress that flowed all the way to the floor. A golden chain hung around her waist. She put her hands on her hips. "I've been waiting for you."
"Me?" Davis squeaked.
She got extremely close to him and ran a long, cold finger slowly over his lips. He sharply inhaled the stale dungeon air and held it in. No one so beautiful had ever come so close before. She moved her hand gently down his neck and across his chest. He squirmed at her dominating touch, which was exactly the reaction she wanted. She spoke softly -almost whispering- fully enjoying the fear she could feel growing inside of him. "Yes you, silly."
He tried to remove himself from under her gaze, but there was no excaping. He was chained to the wall, after all. "What do you want from me?"
Suddenly, she pushed away. "It's always about you, isn't it, Davis?"
"Huh?"
She put on a mock-hurt face. "What about my needs?" He said nothing in return, only struggled against his bonds. She sighed and moved in closer. "Look, I'll cut to the chase. I want you to give me your body."
His eyes went wide as he finally figured out what was going on. "You're one of those demon-things!"
"'One of those demon-things'? Honey, I am the queen demon-thing, thank you very much. One of my names you might know is Hecate, the Greek godess of Black Magic. Never heard of it? Okay. My favorite name is Keesma, Emperess of Evil. It has a very pleasant ring to it, don't you think, My Pet?"
"There's no way I'm letting you control me!"
"Oh, I won't really control you. Your moral mortal soul will just be devoured and I'll take it's place. You won't even notice I'm there. Besides, there are several ways I can get you to give yourself to me, Davis. Very few of which you will enjoy, so why don't you just save both of us a lot of time and pain by just-"
"No!"
This wasn't going to be a piece of cake after all. He wasn't as weak as she had made him out to be. That stupid Crest of Courage was in the way. She picked through the almost endless methods of torture she could use on him, looking for the most effective one. "Hmm...What do you fear the most?"
Davis hadn't really thought about that before. "I-I'm not telling you."
She took his head in her hands and stared deep into his eyes. He tried to break free of her grasp, but she had an unusal strength. "Come on now. You can't lie to me. What, more than anything else, makes you want to die to get away from it. And don't say me, because that's a given."
There was a pause. Her empty black eyes to reached around inside of him, and there was absoultely no way he could resist. Finally, a small, pathetic voice answered. "Rejection."
"What do you mean?"
Davis tried to resist saying anything, but the words came straight from the depths of his soul. "I don't want to be alone."
Bingo. "But you are alone, aren't you?"
"Yes, completely alone." It was almost like someone else was talking.
This was precisely what she'd been looking for. "Let me in, and you'll never be alone again."
Tempting. Davis snapped out of it. "No! You're evil!"
She snorted. "And there's a problem?"
Nothing. Davis looked away.
She scratched her head in thought, then slowly, an evil smile creeped across her face. She laughed, "You've never had the attention of a female before, have you?"
The way she phrased that didn't seem quite right.
The demon queen laughed even more in his silence. Then, without warning, she drew him into a full kiss. It was a cold, agressive kiss, lacking the one thing needed to make it special: Feeling. You know, love. Still, it was wonderful. Davis found himself kissing back, hungerly. A wonderful, tingling feeling washed over him. Her kiss was a sweet nectar, and he'd never before tasted the likes of it. More, more. He needed more. Finally, he had found someone to give him the attention he ached for.
Just as he was getting into it, she purposefully broke away. "Did you like that?"
More. He needed it. He only whimpered slightly.
"Do you want me?"
A small voice in the back of his mind was asking 'What do you think you're doing? That is the embodiment of evil! Don't talk to her. She doesn't care about you. She's using you!'
He nodded, trying not to listen to it, but found he could not. "It's-This isn't right. You don't lo-"
"Did I ever mention the word love? I asked you if you wanted me."
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to sort out his conflicting emotions. "I want...someone...who will care about me. For me. N-No matter what. You can't give that to me."
"Oh, can't I?" She ran the back of her cold hand over gently over his neck, and he could feel himself blush. She spoke in a soft voice, "Forget that silly notion of love. I know what you really want."
"What's that?" he whispered, almost afraid to know.
She brushed her lips slightly against his and played with the hair at the base of his neck. "Whether you realize it or not, you want a girl who will control you. Who will use you. PUNISH you. For everything. You may think you want to be loved, but you know no one will ever really care that much about you. Besides, a loving relationship would be too easy. You'd get bored."
Those harsh words actually brought hot tears to his eyes. "No, I don't believe you." But he did; deep down inside he knew she was only mirroring the truth. It was wrong, but she was right. Why was it like this? Why didn't anyone want to be with him?
She wrapped her arms tightly around him and nuzzled him softly, listening with some amusement to his soft, trembling breaths. Her voice took on a deadlier tone. "Give yourself to me, and I'll give you everything you need. I can make that horrible lonely feeling go away."
'Don't listen to her!'
"No, thank you. I think I can live without your help."
She sighed. "What am I going to do with you? My patientice is wearing thin. There are many better things I could be doing at this moment."
"Please, can't you just let me go?"
"And let you go crawl back to your little Digi-friends for help? I don't think so." Suddenly, her eyes glowed blood red. She reached her clawed hand into his gut and twisted, sending a wave of hot pain searing through him. "What no screams?"
Davis barely held back the urge to just start screaming and never stop. He clenched his teeth together and managed to choke out, "I won't give you that satisfaction, beast."
She twisted a little more, and delighted to see him squirm in agony. "You should just give up. Do you think they care that you're gone? They're not even looking for you."
"LAIR!" it was true they didn't love him, but they wouldn't just give up on him. They WOULDN'T!
Finally, she let go of him, and he slumped down, almost completely drained of energy. Laughing, the demon queen snapped his goggles. "You've only begun to feel my powers, Boy."
His insides were throbing. It was painful to even breathe.
Even though he knew it was a mistake, Davis managed to a deep breath and dare to ask a question of his captor. "If you're so powerful, then why do you need...me?"
"Ya know, that's a really good question, Davis." She pondered that for a moment. "Well, I guess I really don't mind telling you. You are a stepping stone in my master plan. You're the weak link in the Digidestined chain. You're easy to get at, and you do have a considerable amount of untapped power hidden deep within your heart. If I could get to it, there would be just enough there to last me until I take the big one down."
In his present condition, Davis couldn't understand half of what she was saying. The room, which wouldn't quit moving, kept getting fuzzy.
She threw him against the wall with the force of a truck. "Are you payin' any attention to me? You're not slipping on me, now are you, My Pet?"
He focused his eyes with more than a little effort. His mind was beginning to cloud over. "I think you punctured somethin'."
"Oh, poor baby," she whispered in his ear. "Now see some of what else I can do."
* * * *
*Author's note: I wrote this the night before I saw the episode '20,000 Digi-leagues Under the Sea' and discovered this had been an awful lot like Cody's nightmare as a kid. Strange, huh? Oh, well...Maybe this is why Davis kept bagging his head against the railing in that episode.*
In the blink of an eye, he plunged into the black ocean. The ocean. Not a hallucination, but really real. Tall waves broke over Davis's head, forcing cold salty water down his throat, trying to drown him. His first, natural reaction was to kick to the surface, but every time he did, another wave would come crashing down on him, shoving him under again before he could fill his lungs with enough sweet air. It didn't help that it was so dark he couldn't see a foot in front of him. Already cloudy, his mind couldn't handle the stress. Panic overwhelmed him, and with what little air he found he cried for help. Although it was a futile action, he had nightmares as a kid of drownding in the middle of the ocean, all alone. It couldn't end like that.
Suddenly, about twenty feet in front of him, the turbulant waters calmed until the surface was as smooth as glass and a gental fog rolled arcoss it. The water around Davis, however, remained violent. What strength he had left back in the dungeon had been sucked out of him by his failing struggle in the near freezing sea. Plus, the wind was blowing him in the opposite direction. There was no way he could reach safety, now. Just as he began to give up hope, he saw a light in the darkness. It came from a little lantern hung on a row boat. All his friends were in that boat, and it was being piloted by TK
"Guys, help. Please!" Davis called with the last of his strength.
"Did you hear something?" Ken looked around the perfectly calm waters, but not past them into the stormy darkness where Davis failed hopelessly. It was almost as if he couldn't see him.
TK, however, seemed to be staring straight at him. With a smile he swung the boat around so the others had there backs to him. "Oh, its just your imagination. Let's keep going. Remember, we've got a mission to accomplish. And the sooner we finish, the sooner we get home."
"What about Davis?" Kari asked him.
TK snorted. "Davis is a traitor. Just forget about him."
"You're right, TK," Kari scooted next to him and gave him a big hug. "You're always right."
With that, the rowboat and everyone on it disappeared into the mist. And Davis slipped under for good.
* * * * *
"How'd you like that?"
His mind snapped back to reality. Back to the silent, still dungeon. Precious air filled his lungs once again, and he coughed just for the sheer ability to do so.
"Pleasant, wasn't it?" Keesma wrapped her arms around him and licked his ear. "I could do that all day, but unfortunately, you cannot. Give up now, before I'm forced to do something really nasty."
He tried to shake her off, but found could barely move. His muscles still had fatigue from flailing around in the freezing ocean, and his insides were still bleeding. He coughed again and spoke in a raw voice. "You'll never get to me."
There was a pause. "Oh, really. Is that so?"
He refused to give her anything else.
She sighed. "Fine. I can control every muscle in your body. In theory, I could just take over you, but it just wouldn't be the same."
He looked away. "If you're looking to impress me, than you're holding your breath."
"You know what," she said, ignoring him. She ran her finger over his chest. "Your heart is the strongest muscle in your body."
Her finger stopped directly over his heart, and it stopped. Just stopped beating, like it was natural or something. The blood slowed to a cold stop in his veins, a rather eerie, disturbing feeling. "You now have only a few minutes to live, so if you have anything important to say, you should say it now."
'Something's wrong. Air! You're drownding. Air! AIR!' His brain screamed because of the sudden lack of oxygen. Out of instinct Davis began gulping more and more air, but it was only getting worse. A cold tingling feeling washed over him, and his vision began to go red.
She ran her fingers through his hair and forced him to look into her empty black eyes. His eyes rolled momentarily back and she laughed, "Just like a fish out of water. Breath all you want, it will never get to your brain."
"Please, help me," he gasped. He was panting now, panic and instinct overwhelming him. "I don't want to die like this."
She stepped back into the shadows. Only her eyes glowing red could be seen. "Nope. You've got to ask nicely."
Something inside of Davis told him to just let go. 'Never give in. It would be better to die, than to let that thing get ahold of you.' But his instincts were screaming a lot louder than that. He cried, "Help me, please!...I-I'll do...ANYTHING!"
Victory! An evil smile spread across her face. "Anything?"
"...Yes. Anything."
"Then let me into your soul, and I shall restore you."
'No, no no NO! Don't! Think of your friends. It will be better for them if you die now. Have courage!' But, no. "Alright, I...give up."
Then the darkness closed in.
And he embraced it.
What will happen now that Davis has given in to the Demon Queen?
And what about the others?
Find out in Episode 3:
"When Courage is lost"